I'd say Now TV sounds more like TV2 Play. They purchased exclusive rights to Norwegian football and wall it behind their most expensive subscription, so football fans uninterested in watching their movies and tv shows in poor quality still have to pony up a pretty penny. Additionally, many movies, you'll have to pay to rent on top of that, still only in stereo and HD. SkyShowtime at least realises that their offering is subpar and has the decency to have the cheapest subscription on the market over here (they also claim that they're considering adding 5.1 audio, so maybe they'll be worth it one day).
Glad to hear that your rental service carries the HBO shows you're interested in. Weird that they don't offer Max over there, though. I guess existing rights agreements are even more tangled in the UK than they were over here when they launched HBO Nordic way back when. Things were messy. Now, though, there's almost parity between Max in the US and here (well, when it comes to their originals, at least. Licensed content is a different kettle of fish altogether)
@ralphdibny Completely agree with you there. And the movie was simply a good, enjoyable time at the cinema, something I'll always prefer when it comes to the superhero stuff
After the gang gets caught up in bizarre shenanigans while visiting a newly opened amusement park, Ataru & Lum's relationship is tested when she vanishes shortly after he's transformed into a hippo. Has she really given up on him or is there something else at play?
Feels like they were trying to replicate the magic of Beautiful Dreamer, just to lesser results.
It's still a fine watch in and of itself though, and I'd say I still liked it more than Only You.
National Lampoon's Vacation (Blu-Ray)
Probably overrating this due to nostalgia, but it is such a comfort food summertime movie for me.
Rewatch it every summer if I get the chance, and just so much of it reminds me of the summer road trips my family would take when I was a kid (although they never went off the rails to this degree, lol), and it just feels oh so very much classic Americana (& I know I've been to at least two of the roadside attractions pictured in the postcard montage at the beginning of the film).
That said it can still deliver some laughs as well. I perhaps find the conclusion of the Aunt Edna subplot more & more distasteful everytime I watch it, but otherwise it's largely good stuff.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (4K UHD BluRay)
So, I really want to like these movies, i really do, but.. well, at least I didn't hate this one, like I did the previous entry. The movie was just a big nothing-burger for me, basically, and I did find the Witwicky character rather obnoxious in this one. Ditto with Turturro's character, but he was supposed to be obnoxious, I guess. Anyway, I had better luck with
Transformers: Age of Extinction (4K UHD BluRay)
This one I actually kind of liked. It was waaaay too long and while Mark Wahlberg's never managed to excite me on any level, he was perfectly fine here. I did like the scrappy young lad who was dating his daughter, though (I forget his name) and said daughter was good too (though Bay's lingering dirty old man gaze is getting a bit cringey at times). Titus Welliver is always a welcome addition to any movie and so is Stanley Tucci, especially when he's playing this particular kind of amoral d-bag, but I must say that the biggest surprise was just how incredibly well Kelsey Grammer worked as the bad guy! Would love to see him tackle more roles like this, preferably in better projects, though.
Another plus for this movie was that I felt that the Transformers other than Optimus Prime and Bumblebee now had some decent personalities and designs that made them stand out from each other in the melee. Great voice work from John Goodman and Ken Watanabe also works in the movie's favour. The geography in the action sequences was clearer in this one, too, and not as much of an incoherent jumble of steel and gears like some of the sequences in the earlier movies.
Becky (BluRay)
Seeing that this one had a sequel released, I managed to borrow this from my hoarder... eh.. collector friend (hope he doesn't read this ). It was a solid little revenge-flick that I found quite enjoyable. Nothing earth-shattering, but a fun and somewhat gory hour-and-a-half that never overstayed its welcome. Extra credit: Kevin James playing waaaaay against type. Paul Blart this ain't (thankfully)
One of the cool things about ripping DVDs is finding Easter Eggs I wouldn't have found just in the DVD menus. I just found one on Cabin Fever that I'm surprised made it onto a 15 certificate DVD!
this week and the next last week of this month Im doing an Indiana Jones movie marathon from watching the regular blu ray collection along with the 2 disc Special edition of Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls since the DVD special edition has more bonus features for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull than the blu ray collection does.
Been a long long time since I actually sat down and watched Last Crusade.
also i watched the 1980s King Solomon's Mines that had a young Sharon Stone in it and this weekend im planning on watching the sequel City of the Lost Gold
@LN78@XandertheWise I'm also prepping for the Dial of Destiny by checking out my 4K Indy collection. Only done Raiders and Temple so far, but they are still stone cold classics. Back in the old days I preferred Crusade over Temple, so I'm curious to see if that still holds true.
I'm determined to give the Crystal Skull a fair shake, but it's kind of funny that it feels more like a chore I have to do rather than something I want to do. Still gonna do it, though
@FuriousMachine yeah itll be a little while til i get the 2 disc DVD special edition of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull since i need to get it for its bonus features.
But as of right now, for this week and the weekend and little bit of next week im going to be busy binge watch my Indiana Jones movie marathon before i go to the movie theater next week to see Dial of Destiny or as I call it the Dial of the McGuffin
Yesterday I watched Speak No Evil - A Danish film that can't be exactly described as horror, it's more a drama that builds tension until it's almost unbearable. I enjoyed it and it's certainly been on my mind today. Anybody else seen it?
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
@LN78 Glad to hear it! I find that most "blockbusters" these days could stand some extra trim to their length. Seems like most filmmakers are allowed to indulge in their cuts and quite often the movie suffers a little bit for it (of course, some movies simply become overlong and boring if they overstay their welcome, but that doesn't sound like the case here, thankfully)
Across the Spider-Verse was a terrific experience. Possibly one of the most dazzlingly animated films I've ever seen.
It was a little too lengthy for my liking (why does every superhero epic need to be 2.5 hours now?!), but, even so, there were few points in the film where I felt like I could tear my eyes away from the screen.
Currently Playing: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (NS2); Corpse Factory (PC)
I've caught this in bits and pieces before, but have never actually sit down to watch the whole thing until now.
It's at that point where it's at the cusp of being just a bit too "before my time", which is why I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much of this I found genuinely hilarious. Not every gag landed, but there were definitely a few that had me in stitches.
InuYasha Movie 4: Fire on Mystic Island (Blu-Ray)
Well animated with some cool action scenes and something for everyone in the cast to do, it's worth a watch for fans of the series, but amongst all of the movies this is the one that most feels "here are a few random baddies who want to take over the world or something" without much else of a hook.
The first two films have moments that seemingly move forward InuYasha & Kagome's romance (even if the events aren't recognized in the series proper), the second movie is the only one that involves the main series villain, movies 1 & 3 connect the big bad to InuYasha's father (with the third movie in particular going massively in depth with that background lore in a way not explored anywhere else in the series), and this movie is just completely lacking in that kinda hook. Sure, they half heartedly jerry rig some connection between InuYasha/Kikyo/Sesshomaru and the mysterious island, but it feels forced comparatively.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (IMAX theatre)
I think I should preface this by mentioning that due to some health issues and poor sleep the last few days, I noticed I was a bit out of it at times and occasionally disconnected from the movie. This was not necessarily the movie's fault, but the result was that it didn't fully "click" with me. I will reserve judgement until I've seen it again, though that will probably not be until the home release is out.
Some initial thoughts, though:
I fully agree with @LN78
It was a 5 or 6 of 10 and way better than Crystal Skull (which I didn't completely hate on my rewatch but, oof, there were some really poor parts that smelled of an overindulgent George Lucas).
Dial of Destiny was at least free of the Lucas stink and it felt like a proper Indiana Jones movie (which Skull didn't, IMHO). Ford was excellent, he was definitely not phoning anything in, and I enjyed the other performances as well. Banderas seemed a bit wasted, I felt, but that's a minor niggle.
The ending was also quite unusual, but I think I kind of dug it. There was a beautiful callback to the first movie there that almost choked me up a bit. Speaking of callbacks, I was expecting Callback City throughout the entire movie, as franchise swansongs are wont to do, but this was blessedly free of them (well, I think, I was a bit out if at times, as I mentioned). Not that I mind a good callback if it's well done and well placed, but it was refreshing that this one wanted to stand on its own two feet
All in all a fine time at the cinema and I have a feeling that I might have enjoyed it even more if I'd been "all there", as it were
@RR529 Glad you liked Airplane! Like you, I was just a bit too young when this came out, not to mention the movies it spoofed, but the sequel was watched so many times that the VHS tape crumbled Having seen them both again only a few years back, I would say the original holds up best, but there are still quite a few gags that still land very well in both. I would say the same holds true for Top Secret and, to some extent, Naked Gun as well, though the latter contains a fairly decent amount of gags that were very much of its time and will feel quaint or even baffling for those who didn't live through those days.
watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull earlier today. i still think the movie's pretty good. Then this weekend on Saturday Im going to the movie theater to see Dial of Destiny
and tonight Im watching Fast and the Furious 7 and watch Fast and the Furious 8 later this weekend
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