Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you WATCHING?

These may not be equal to 'Life on Mars' but I saw trailers for 2 new movies this week.

*One was for a new Will Smith movie ~ it looked interesting but I'm not really sure what it's about.

*The other was for a new Star Trek movie ~ I was just so shocked! I hadn't heard anything about it before this.
I'm a Trekkie, a kind of layed back one.
But, I HAVE dressed up like a Bajorian for Halloween before.
blush

I didn't recognize any cast members but it seemed to be a prequel to the original series with Spock and Kirk like characters.
I can't wait.

picture of new cast here

Pegg looks good as Scotty, Urban looks surprisingly good as McCoy, and the rest, eh. They'll do.

Spock isn't in that picture, but he's being played by the dude who plays Sylar on Heroes. Yikes...

They got a Russian kid to play Chekov, but he just doesn't look right to me. Such irony!

I haven't seen the US version. I loved the British version. And that makes me wary of seeing this. I don't want to be comparing the two.

The library FINALLY got in a Legion of Superheroes, vol 3. Since I don't have cable, I've not had the pleasure.

Substitutes, Ferro Lad.

I have to put in a good word for Cartoon Network's Friday night lineup from 8:00 to 10:00. "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" has far surpassed my expectations and is lots of fun, "Secret Saturdays" is pretty interesting, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is hit or miss but not bad and "Ben 10 Alien Force" is really good for those of you missing the DCAU house style (a lot of veterans from JLU seem to have taken up residency on the series.) What makes it great is that my 2 1/2 year old is into them too so it's good father and son time. He really likes Ben 10 and Clone Wars, and anything to get a break from his obsession with "Ratatouille" is most welcome. Frankly, those are about the only shows on CN these days outside of a few Adult Swim programs that I can even watch. I really wish they'd have taken the opportunity to pick up the Legion cartoon for this block, it would have fit right in.

I watched 88 Minutes with Pacino. Horrible. It was a psychological drama.

Tried too hard to be sexy. I've never been so disappointed to see beautiful women making out. It was just so out of left fied and forced. (there was a naked yoga scene for a split second I enjoyed).

The good? I love Alicia Witt! Some other good looking ladies besides here...Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Kara Unger(The Game), Leah Cairns(Battlestar...naked yoga!).

The bad? Everything else. I admit Pacino did a good job but the story was weak. Everybody is a suspect was done good for a while then got old. The forced girl on girl stuff was horrible.

Basically failed at being smarty and sexy. Not smart enough and forced sexyness.

Thanks, Set!
(I wish ther was a 'genufleck'(sp?) Graemlin that I knew!)

I'm just hoping for the old team gestalt!
It's just so rare.

Note to self: pick up "88 minutes." Turn down volume.

I've enjoyed watching 'Leverage' for the last two nights.
The show has a likeable cast and good bad-guys.
I've always loved Robin Hood stories.

JLU cartoons on Netflix. The ep with Morgaine was awful, and there was one other clunker that I've blocked out all memory of-- mostly, however, it's fun.

Right now i am watching the Big Bang Theory, and am trying to see 3rd rock from the Sun online, but its kinda frustrating, the only sites i can find break up the eps, or dont finish them at all.

I did find the japanese version of youtube that has a lot of the big bang stuff on them.

My god i have no life.

rickshaw1:



But can your socks stand up on their own ?

I just watched Airplane last night for the 9,234,658th time since its premier. Yeah, yeah, I know. But I hate this time of year for more reasons than I could post, even if you all were interested. Desperate times, desperate measures, blah blah blah...

So, like in all years, while I was shopping for people for Christmas, I decided that it was me that is the person I buy the best presents for, and I went and bought myself like 8 or 9 movies on Amazon.com. They are all movies from the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s from a few genres: Hitchcock suspense thrillers, 50’s Westerns, Noir films or 50’s science-fiction thrillers. The only problem is now I have about an additional 30+ I want to add to my collection and I can’t justify spending more than $70 on myself for Christmas (I even feel guilty about that when I still haven’t bought most my presents )

Anyway, these films include mostly ones I’ve seen before and loved, though some I just bought on impulse. So far I’ve (re)watched 2:

Rope – EDE and I were discussing Rope about a year or so back and I ordered the movie and rewatched it. Even better the second time around. This is one of those gems that all movie fans love to find: the Hitchcock movie overlooked that ranks right up there with all of his best, and when you see it you’re blown away. There are so many good things already covered in this thread but for me the best part is two things that are pure Hitchcock: (1) the way he builds suspense by focusing the camera on his actors faces while events are occurring off-screen, so you’re becoming more and more anxious along with actor, almost seeing the wheels turn in their head, while at the same time assuming the worst, and (2) the way Hitch makes you feel incredibly nervous for the villains. Just like in Psycho, you aren’t really rooting for the bad guy, but you can’t help but feel nervous for them when they are on the verge of getting caught. It’s a complex and intriguing feeling when you watch his films. Rope remains the surprise Hitchcock film of the year for me.

Strangers on a Train – this is another one EDE mentioned to me that I had never seen though I of course knew of the plot and knew it was widely recognized as a great film. But WOW! It really is a great film. And so much of that has to do with the two actors and the way Hitchcock plays them against the rest of the movie (cast, setting, each other, really everything). Farley Granger, who I really only know from the aforementioned Rope is really a terrific and likeable actor, and he does a great job here of letting the viewer relate to him and suffer with him throughout. But the real show-stealer is Robert Walker who plays Bruno Anthony! He is superb! I would say he ranks up there for me as Hitch’s greatest on screen villain / menace EVER (better than Norman Bates definitely, though Raymond Burr’s menacing on screen persona in Rear Window is an honorable mention but just too brief to really compare). Walker is so many things: likeable but completely menacing and terrifying; totally believable; completely insane. Just thinking of this now as I type, Walker is really doing an incredible job bringing the Joker to life on the screen in terms of presence. Great, great movie.

BTW, isn’t it cool how you can always tell when a film is in Washington D.C. in these old films? Just like The Day the Earth Stood Still, Strangers on a Train’s setting is *so* D.C. even without all the monuments. I wonder if it’s a common set or location they use. You can always tell when a movie is in New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco or Los Angeles (blech on that last one!).

Some others I bought (both those I’ve seen before and some I haven’t), that I hope to maybe review: The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet (both I’ve seen many times but the remake made me recently long for the original and I figured I’d get what I consider the other great sci-fi movie of the 1950’s). The Big Sleep—my favorite noir film, at least tied with the Maltese Falcon as the two best detective and two best Bogart films outsides Casablanca. I’ve watched the Big Sleep so many times, and it’s a real pleasure knowing I’ll be watching again. The Searchers, which I *always* considered one of the best westerns ever before AFI ranked it that way, though I’m not sure I’d rank it as *the* best; certainly, its fantastic. The Third Man which I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never watched, which is an oversight I must fix. I generally do love Welles, either as director or actor, though I’m not one of those people that will grab you by the ear and explain to you his greatness (Although I have to say this recent notion in the last 20 years of A Touch of Evil being better than Citizen Kane doesn’t quite ring true with me). Hm, there are one or two more I ordered but haven’t gotten in the mail yet so I’ve forgotten what they are (yay for me for being surprised when they come in).

My wife is not really a movie buff like I am, and never watched ‘older’ movies when she was growing up (whereas I would watch endless amounts of them with my mom and dad). So my goal is that for each one I have to ‘push’ her into watching each one with me and then hopefully she will appreciate them, like she’s done with all of Hitch’s films so far.

Shady, everyone I know whose watched this is raving about how good it is. I'm curious but have never watched it...hopefully I can rectify (TNT is usually good about showing reruns). Timothy Hutton is generally fantastic.

LOL, good idea. Fast foward also.

Cobie, I've been meaning on going on a Hitchcock kick. Sounds like an awesome present. I did the same. I bought myself the Spanish Prisoner and the Maltese Falcon. Can't wait to rewatch these. It's been about 10 years since I've seen either.

Speaking of Hitchcock, I watched Stage Fright a week or so ago. Another movie which doesn't get much attention, but is actually pretty close to a top-tier Hitch film. The twist in it actually caught me completely by surprise, which hasn't happened in awhile.

Speaking of Stage Fright did anyone else catch Stage Beauty? Pretty good film about the theater world during the reign of Charles the II. Billy Crudup and Claire Danes. Rupert Everett as Charless II.

So anyone want to name the best (or their favorite) Hitchcock films.

I started looking at his work and recognize the famous ones but some I wasn't so sure if I heard of them or not.

Anyone willing to rank them?

(Doesn't Christmas get you in a Hitchcock mood?!)

Favorite Hitchcock? Hmm... probably "Vertigo". Or "Spellbound"

I thought Crudup did a bang-up job. Very compelling portrayal.

I recently watched the Russian flick Nightwatch.

It's kind of a Harry Potter meets Matrix horror movie. Lots of humor actually...reminds me of the 5th Element.

Anyways I am going to watch the sequel tonight Daywatch. The effects for this one look really crazy. You can youtube it.

My wife got me a copy of "Prince Caspian" for Christmas and I have to say that though it was pretty to look at I was disappointed in it. They took far too many liberties with the adaptation for my tastes. A made up a rivalry between Caspian and Peter, and a lame stab at romance between Caspian and Susan left me cold. I could go on and on but suffice to say when you are tasked with adapting a very short book and manage to omit pieces of the original narrative in favor of "original" material you will lose my interest every time. Well, maybe with Disney bowing out of any potential version of "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" we can get something a little closer to the charm of the Lewis originals.

I never read any of Lewis' books. I am eager to see Caspian though.

Just watched the La Dolce Vita. I was very suprissed. I guess I was expecting a cooler version of Roman Holiday. Boy was I wrong. I have heard it's non-linear but that didn't bother me. I can see for others it can become frustrating but basically it was just 7 short stories about the same character that make a whole.

Things I got out of it? Fellini was condemning and praising modern culture a bit and vice versa with the old school ways. Commentary of has man becomed to civilized or are we supposed to be this civilized? It's a discussion I have with my friends often. I believe we are animals and thus can't ignore that side of us.

Certainly seemed to have some statements about excess. In fact each short story seemed to be about some excess or another and how it can really turn ugly. The main character's obsession with women and not wanting to settle down. That is a statement in man's animal nature and in excess as well.

Throw in having sex with a rich but insane putana at a prostitute's house (who made them cafe), a disturbing religious scene (the "miracle"), annoying paparazzi, some celebrity scenes with the famous dip in the Trevi fountain, and a quasi violent tame orgy...and, um, well...you have it, kind of.

I can see how this was popular back in the day (and now). Films about rich, famous, good looking people partying themselves to death are always attractive.

Not what I expected. It was good but not great. It's a bit out there.

My Christmas gift to myself this year was season two of The BeastMaster on DVD. It's silly fun and, in some places, fairly well-written fantasy TV, but I'd be lying if I said that the main reason I remember this (1999-2002) show so fondly was anything other than the gorgeous Daniel Goddard running around in a loincloth.

In addition to the scenery, it really is quite watchable. And it does make me nostalgic for the days about 10 years ago when fantasy/science fiction TV series were plentiful on weekend afternoons.

Having had a bit of free time in the last week or so, I've caught up on the first season of Burn Notice (I like), the first season of Life (also cool) and the first two seasons of Bones (pretty cool).

Currently halfway through the first season of Supernatural (awesomeness personified).