S-T

Star Trek V, The Final Frontier: I remember not liking it at all when I saw it 30+ years ago, but it is much better than I remember. Definitely worth a rewatch and I am looking forward to it being covered on The Edge of Forever. Films watched: 28

The various Earth-2 podcasts, obviously. One podcast I've started in the last year is "We Hate Movies." Very funny, but not as good as the Tranquil Tirades. Tyrus and Timpf is also quite funny as they look at silly news stories of the week. Also, The Ringer NBA podcast and ESPN's NBA podcast. I listen to a bunch of conservative podcasts and news podcasts, as well.

The World is Not Enough: This movie is 21 years old, but I will put this in spoiler tags anyway. The film suffers through the Scott Evil Was Right problem on several occasions, where simply shooting James Bond in the face at point blank range would be much smarter. Films Watched: 27

That's really cool. Anxiously awaiting the others getting released. Love the podcast.

Wow, that was a fast turnaround from the last one. Really looking forward to listening to this.

The Invisible Man: Some of the scenes stretch the limits of being believable. And by that I mean how characters would react if this were real. If I got punched in the face and the only person in the room was too far away to have traversed the distance to hit me, I would be willing to believe her story about an invisible stalker - especially since strange things have been happening and she is convinced her ex-husband has made himself invisible. And people being punched and thrown around in the mental hospital would have been captured on security camera and saved in the cloud. The minute he goes on a rampage in the sanitarium, the gig is up in terms of hiding the fact that he has the suit. Also, does the suit give him super-strength too? Because he's a little too powerful. Films Watched: 26

You're not "Karen-ing" when you complain about bad service. Asking to be given what you paid for isn't the same as complaining about petty things.

I didn’t like it when I saw it in the theater but when I re-watched it I liked it a lot more. I think a lot of that was the way it was filmed and edited literally gave me a headache. Too much shaky cam, especially in the theater. I had to stare at the floor during the fight in the helicarrier.

The Hangman: Karl Urban is great, but Al Pacino is very toned down compared to some of the crazy performances he has delivered in other movies. I get the killer's grudge against one character but I do not understand the grudge against the other one at all. If it was explained, I missed it. I don't think this next observation spoils anything, but I will use the tag anyway: And a major gripe. I'm putting this in spoiler tags not just because it gives away the ending, but because I am going to go on a political mini-rant. Films Watched: 25

I saw this in the theater in 2014. I actually agreed with the film's political message against drone warfare and especially about the dangers of police militarization but I found the delivery to be overly heavy-handed. In fairness, there was a ton of political messaging in the original, so in hindsight I can't really fault this one for being political. The first one was just a LOT more fun in the way it presented that message. They should have gone for a hard R, because the PG-13 rating hurt it.

Hilarious as that is, will we have movie theaters back in business yet? Maybe better to hold off until 8/20/2021. I'm an eternal optimist.

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War - That was amazing. Watch it. Maybe the best movie I have ever seen. It was that good, even if the ending is a little cheap. Imagine if DC built their live action cinematic universe the way they built their animated movies. Films Watched: 24

Maniac Cop 2: I saw this when it came out but haven't seen it since. There's a really obvious homage to the first Terminator movie. Worth watching as a classic horror movie but the ending scene was too political. Hollywood crime movies were very right-wing populist in the 80's. I could rant, but I won't. Films Watched: 23

I have a picture of me at 2 years old in front of a giant box TV. The picture was from 1976. I was explaining the TV to my sons - the one where you had to walk over and turn the dial to change the channel, where you got three channels over the air and could only watch something when it was broadcast. They were lost on how it worked. No Disney Plus? No streaming? How is that possible? They are 8 and 6. The rotary phone attached to the wall was even harder to believe.

Rest Stop: I have no idea what is going on in this mess of a movie. Films Watched: 22

Wow. I didn't know about that, and it is bad. Demeans the character. I think they did that in Mad Love, too, because she had great compassion for the Joker due to his fictitious sob stories about his life and his abusive father. Mad Love also plays into Joker's past being multiple choice, which was done well in The Dark Knight. I think the Suicide Squad movie glorified the domestic violence aspect a too much. Maybe I'm being overly touchy about this, but I know people who have been abused mentally and physically, and am really uncomfortable with any positive light on the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn. That's probably unfair, I admit, and I am allowing real world issues to color my perception of the storylines I have seen. But it's difficult to objectively approach something like this.

Tomorrow Never Dies: I could nitpick this to death but I won’t. It is in my opinion the least entertaining of the Bronson Bond films and the villain is a little too cartoonish. But at least in this movie, it is clear that the Fake News media really is the enemy of the people. Sorry. Could not resist. Films Watched: 21

I am not sure I have ever watched Mad Love all the way through and WOW is it dark. I can’t believe some of the stuff they got away with. Having Harley blame herself for not getting the joke is horrifying because it mirrors how abusers manipulate their victims. While this episode is a critical part of the history of Harley Quinn’s character but I think the lasting legacy is overly toxic. In the decades since too many interpretations have almost glorified domestic violence.

Outbreak: This is probably not the best movie to watch during a global pandemic. Very good, nonetheless. The premise is “let’s all act as stupid as possible to spread the disease as wide as possible.” Lots and lots of jumping to conclusions and a one-in-a-billion shot leads to the resolution. Too convenient. I recommend anyway... After the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Films Watched: 20

I'm listening to Episode 32 of WFP, and @James D. and @The Master are discussing DVD sets for the 90's Marvel cartoons and how the obstacles to releasing seem insurmountable. With Disney Plus it has all worked out well. I've got a big backlog of TV shows to watch. Plus Netflix and so forth, so I'm basically never going to catch up. It's a good problem to have.

Good. I've been with GoDaddy since 2006 or 2007 and I'm considering moving to BlueHost over this.

I would look at BlueHost.

Sickening. You can't tell me they are losing money on your hosting. That's crap.

Austin Powers in Goldmember: This is a lot of fun. The Dr. Evil character continues to be the best thing about this franchise. Films watched: 19

That is a good point and something I never thought of. She got pregnant just before the events of the first movie and her boyfriend was being a (expletive) and blew her off after getting what he wanted. She latches onto Reese being the father because her ex is an (expletive). But the movie is pretty explicit that Reese is the father... which is poetic but makes NO sense.