I have now watched all the Rocky films and the Creed films in a row (rewatched obviously) - despite the fact they pretty much all have the same story line, i STILL love a training montage…
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I found John Wick 4 really disappointing which is a big shame as I thought the first was great. The restraint in the first couple probably is what I Iiked about it which I think has made the sequels increasingly less enjoyable.
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That’s a shame, but not surprising. I watched the first three recently and thought the first film was excellent, but found the expanded world-building of the sequels made everything much, much worse. As an aspect which was mostly only hinted-at in the original film (and potentially didn’t even exist much beyond that), it added a little intrigue. The moment the sequels started making it more concrete, I wished they hadn’t.
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I also feel there’s only so many times you can watch Keanu Reeves judo throw someone to the ground and then shoot them twice in the head. That’s a majority of all of the films, I think.
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Ummm
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We are still watching The Catch on Disney. Found it probably because it was recommended after we had seen Only Murders in The Building. It‘s about a private investigator who is about to marry the love of her life as her company comes under attack. We‘ve had a lot of fun with the characters, the heists, the tables turning all the time… we like how quite a few „case of the week“ plots are foils to the over-arching plotline. It‘s not a new show, but I had never heard of it (though that shouldn‘t surprise anyone who knows that I hardly follow TV / movie news).
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I thought Cocaine Bear was pretty entertaining
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I’m a huge sucker for larger-than-life institutions portrayed with almost bureaucratic mundanity (The Good Place, Harley Quinn, Super Crooks, etc.), but I didn’t care for any of the John Wick movies. I like the idea of an organization of assassins with quirkily arcane rules and traditions, but everything in the franchise felt like a flimsy excuse for another plot point or character introduction, rather than an organic addition to a coherent universe. I also never bought John Wick as the unstoppable force he’s presented as, not because Keanu Reeves can’t sell it, but because Wick only wins most of his fights because his rivals are borderline incompetent.
For anyone similarly disappointed with the series, who also enjoys reading manga, I highly recommend Sakamoto Days! It has the same broad premise (retired legendary super-assassin reluctantly gets re-entangled with a startlingly intricate web of professional assassins), but has a lot more fun with it, and the weird assassin organizations that crop up feel more fleshed out and interesting.
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Watched Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special (S3E11). The first half was very funny and sweet (which is really what I adore about the show) and the second half went off the rails in spectacular, hilarious, and disturbing fashion.
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Like others have said, Picard Season 3 is the best Trek I’ve watched in a while (okay, haven’t seen Strange New Worlds, and not counting Lower Decks, which is a lot of fun).
The Mandalorian and the Bad Batch are with Andor, the keeping the SW universe alive (I should add I loved TFA, but the two sequels were a muddle from being a mess of contradictions).
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We went to see D&D: Honour among Thieves yesterday. Judging from the trailers, I was expecting a tongue in cheek a la Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and it sort of was. Enjoyed it enough, it dropped a fair few hints to the world of Faerun, and was mainly carried by Pine and Rodriguez, with the odd bit of Hugh Grant being slimey like only he can be for counter-balance (but rare enough not to outstay its welcome).
Would I recommend it? Yes, it is entertaining, quite funny at times, and besides the odd couple of occasions where it is obvious that they used animatronics (not very well) instead of computer generated effects, the movie is very well produced, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has enough in-jokes for the D&D connoisseur, and not too many to be too niche. The plot is quite flat, but I don’t think it needed to be too complex, they have made it for the big public, and it shows.
It is definitely way better than the one from 20 years ago (with Jeremy Irons), here they have spent the money in the right places, the main characters that carry the show (which were unsufferable on the older one).
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We saw it last night as well, and thoroughly enjoyed it! They leaned further into comedy than I expected, but it worked, and really when I thought about it, made it feel like an actual RPG group, as you often get such silly jokes and comments when playing.
Highly recommended for anyone who is already a fan of D&D, but I think it is even good for the average movie-goer, as long as they are okay with fantasy in general. But there are definitely a lot of easter eggs for fans of the source material and it’s other media.
Included special guest appearances by live-action versions of the old D&D animated series characters. I lol’d so hard at that.
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I’m somewhere in the target audience for that, and I’ve never heard of it. Apparently none of their advertising reached me whatsoever…
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Really, I only saw trailers for it at other movies I went to, and also noted a book (not sure if just a novelization of, or prequel to the film) in stores with Chris Pine’s face on it, so I knew it was related. But then, I watch zero network television, so get no commercials, and have ad blockers on my computer. So yeah, without seeing other movies and catching the trailer there, I likely would not have known about it.
I started watching Ted Lasso, and was amused to see Paul Foxcroft (of D&D in a castle DMing fame) playing “John Paul Pope” behind the desk of a hotel.
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It was all over my YouTube, but then again, I follow and watch a fair few D&D channels there, so the algorithm got me… Plus it was all over the Geek community here in Hawke’s Bay, they even organised an early screening in Napier two Sundays ago, but I preferred to wait and go to Hastings instead, with the rumbling seats, and 5 mins from home.
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Anyone have Apple TV+? There are several series on there I’d like to watch.
Can it be watched on Amazon firestick or Android?
You can get Apple TV+ plus through your Firestick if you sign up (and pay) for Apple TV+. The same is true of many streaming services.
Bad Batch season finished with a sad.
We are also watching Mandalorian.
In the last week’s episode (S2E5) did anyone else spot Zeb?
We have theories as to who is the armorer, this would go along with our theories.
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Also finished Bad Batch last night. I think it lulled me into treating it as a kid’s show.
As soon as I saw (and then heard) the Lasat I thought it must be and then was confirmed in the credits. Putting all the pieces in play for Ahsoka I presume.
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