Author Topic: What are you watching?  (Read 303313 times)

Offline mikeyw64

  • Arena
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 325
  • Country: wales
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1000 on: August 07, 2017, 06:12:46 AM »
Just watched "Fleming" (mini series from  from SKy Atlantic) a dramatised version of Ian Fleming wartime service, really quite interesting and (allowing for some artisitic licence) reasonably close to the truth
--
space reserved for humourous sig file

Offline VirginiaJim

  • Administrator
  • Elite Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11333
  • Country: england
  • I've forgotten more than I'll ever know...
    • Kawasaki 1400GTR
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1001 on: August 07, 2017, 06:21:03 AM »
Repeats of Endeavour..
"LOCTITE®"  The original thread locker...  #11  2020 Indian Roadmaster, ABS, Cruise control, heated grips and seats/w/AC 46 Monitoring with cutting edge technology U.N.I.T is Back! Member in good standing with the Knights of MEH.

Offline B.D.F.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4955
  • Country: 00
  • It's only really cold if you fall down in it.
    • C-14 farkles you almost cannot ride without.
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1002 on: August 07, 2017, 06:25:02 AM »
Finished Episodes, or at least am up to current, which is 2015. There is supposed to be one more season coming. Overall, I liked it. Not great but OK, and the real treat was to watch 'Joey' act like a total jerk and use every bad word known to man. In every third sentence it seemed.

Now onto Ozark. Watched one episode and it was not great other than Esai Morales, who was excellent. Will probably watch a couple more waiting to see if any part of the hook catches my cheek but not holding out hope for that.

Brian
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com

Offline Rhino

  • Arena
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3963
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1003 on: August 07, 2017, 01:16:28 PM »
Conrad, did you see Dark Tower yet? I read that fans of the book were disappointed but others whom have never read the book thought the movie was great! Based on a recommendation from a friend that falls into the later category, I'll probably go see it next weekend.

Offline VirginiaJim

  • Administrator
  • Elite Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11333
  • Country: england
  • I've forgotten more than I'll ever know...
    • Kawasaki 1400GTR
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1004 on: August 07, 2017, 07:33:07 PM »
Last episode of Game of Thrones!  :yikes:   
"LOCTITE®"  The original thread locker...  #11  2020 Indian Roadmaster, ABS, Cruise control, heated grips and seats/w/AC 46 Monitoring with cutting edge technology U.N.I.T is Back! Member in good standing with the Knights of MEH.

Offline Conrad

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5822
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1005 on: August 08, 2017, 04:06:05 AM »
Conrad, did you see Dark Tower yet? I read that fans of the book were disappointed but others whom have never read the book thought the movie was great! Based on a recommendation from a friend that falls into the later category, I'll probably go see it next weekend.

Not yet but my wife and I plan on going out sometime within the next couple of weeks to see it. She's reading Eyes of The Dragon now and wants to read the series. I've been trying to get her to read the series for years. Now that the movie is out she's finally reading it. I hope that the movie doesn't change her plans...

Please let me know what you thought of the flick.
Northern Illinois   Silverdammit '08 C-14 ABS

"Don't bother me with facts, Son. I've already made up my mind." -Foghorn Leghorn

Offline Rhino

  • Arena
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3963
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1006 on: August 08, 2017, 09:06:22 AM »
Last episode of Game of Thrones!  :yikes:

Ohhhhh Yeah!

Offline VirginiaJim

  • Administrator
  • Elite Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11333
  • Country: england
  • I've forgotten more than I'll ever know...
    • Kawasaki 1400GTR
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1007 on: August 09, 2017, 04:11:54 PM »
It's driving us crazy!
"LOCTITE®"  The original thread locker...  #11  2020 Indian Roadmaster, ABS, Cruise control, heated grips and seats/w/AC 46 Monitoring with cutting edge technology U.N.I.T is Back! Member in good standing with the Knights of MEH.

Offline B.D.F.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4955
  • Country: 00
  • It's only really cold if you fall down in it.
    • C-14 farkles you almost cannot ride without.
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1008 on: August 10, 2017, 04:40:22 PM »
Watched two episodes of The Sinner. The first one was interesting but the second one is starting to get formulaic and not liking it as much. Will give it a couple more episodes before committing either way.

Read in today's news that someone is re- booting The Munsters. Oh man, that ought to be good.

And in poking around in AppleTV, thinking I was in Netflix (it is easy to slip out of Netflix without realizing it (Easy Boys!) and keep going (Extra Easy Boys!) until you come to the part where they want money (Triple Extra Easy Boys!). Anyway, of all things, in the 'New' category is Gilligan's Island. So not being able to find anything else to watch and maybe hitting a nostalgic nerve, I hit the icon and.... and.... and they want $2.99 for me to watch an episode of Gilligan's Island! I laughed so hard my eyes watered! Now that right there is funny! Gotta' go and find my credit card... yeah, that's it.  :o ;D

Brian
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com

Offline Conrad

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5822
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1009 on: August 11, 2017, 06:41:15 AM »
Conrad, did you see Dark Tower yet? I read that fans of the book were disappointed but others whom have never read the book thought the movie was great! Based on a recommendation from a friend that falls into the later category, I'll probably go see it next weekend.

Not yet but my wife and I plan on going out sometime within the next couple of weeks to see it. She's reading Eyes of The Dragon now and wants to read the series. I've been trying to get her to read the series for years. Now that the movie is out she's finally reading it. I hope that the movie doesn't change her plans...

Please let me know what you thought of the flick.

Upon further review(s)...

I've read some of the reviews for The Dark Tower and to say that I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

WTF?    :o

The Dark Tower movies were originally intended to be a series of flix based on 8 books that King wrote. It seems that this was scrapped and the entire Dark Tower universe was packed into one movie! The story is MUCH too large for just one movie treatment.

See this review posted on IMDB

Bad beyond your wildest imagination
Author: Kane Gao  8/5/2017


*** This review may contain spoilers ***

"Being a tower junkie for over a decade, I honestly don't have much expectation on this movie adaption. Much of The Dark Tower series' charm comes from Stephen King's narration, which doesn't easily convert into the visual language of movies. Since the bar was set extremely low, I thought there's no way I could be disappointed in the cinema.

But dude, this Nikolaj Arcel guy has one heck of a way to prove me wrong.

Judging by what's revealed in trailers, I thought this one should cover The Gungslinger and *part of* Drawing of the Three, starting a whole franchise, with more installments to follow. But no. The director took pieces from all seven Tower books, glued them onto a self-made storyline (a lame one), and called it a day. Yes, you're reading it right. This is the whole thing, the entire package.

What kind of idiotic mind ever thinks of packing SEVEN novels into ONE SINGLE movie?

Within 1.5 hours you will see Roland Deschain fighting the army of the Man in Black (vol IV), having his ass handed to him, embarking on a chase (vol I), picking up Jake Chambers from New York (vol I & II), although the Jake in this movie is really Jake Chambers and Patrick Danville rolled into one (vol VII). They fooled around in Mid-world for a bit, then discovered Algul Siento (vol VI), where the Man in Black's force are hording up breakers to destroy the Dark Tower. In order the thwart the evil operation, they went to this village that looks suspiciously like Calla Bryan Sturgis (vol V), activated a portal to Keystone Earth, trying to infiltrate en route the can-toi headquarter, a restaurant called Dixie Pig (vol VII). Then there comes a ton of pew pew pew and bang bang bang. All baddies died, including the Man in Black (vol WTF). They destroyed the tower-breaking machine, and lived happily ever after (vol WTF). End of story.

No Oy. No Eddie Dean. No Susannah Holmes. Even the Crimson King is axed, while references to him can be seen everywhere in the movie. This version of Roland didn't even attempt to enter the Tower.

I've thought hard, for nice things to say about this movie, and came up with only the following:

1. All sorts of creative reloading techniques.

2. Walter O'Dim is super duper kickass cool in the movie adaption, way cooler than in the original novels. Matthew McConaughey did portray the "Walking Dude" true to his name, always on the move, casually passing through lives and worlds, leaving havoc in his wake.

Otherwise... it's a dozen bucks wasted. Should have donated it to the charity.

BTW, IMDb should change its rating mechanism a bit, allowing us to give a 0 rate.

Oh, there's one nice touch at the very beginning of the movie. Among the names and logos of producers and investors, there's a screen featuring "Tet Corporation", accompanied by a turtle and a rose, kindling false hope in me. "


Looks like I'll be waiting for this poor SK screen adaptation (how many now?) to come out on disc. Crap!

And now I see how they could cast a black man as Roland. When I first heard this I thought, No way! How's that going to work? If you read the series you'd know about Susannah Holmes/Detta Walker. She's a black woman and has a HUGE part in the series and the interaction between the white Roland (in the books) and her was an important part of the storyline. Well it seems that she was written out of the movie, along with other MAJOR characters. And no Oy, the Billy Bumbler? Boo!!!
 
Northern Illinois   Silverdammit '08 C-14 ABS

"Don't bother me with facts, Son. I've already made up my mind." -Foghorn Leghorn

Offline gPink

  • Arena
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5686
  • Country: cn
  • MMVIII C XIV
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1010 on: August 11, 2017, 06:46:26 AM »
"What kind of idiotic mind ever thinks of packing SEVEN novels into ONE SINGLE movie?"

Geo. R. R. Martin  >:(

Offline B.D.F.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4955
  • Country: 00
  • It's only really cold if you fall down in it.
    • C-14 farkles you almost cannot ride without.
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1011 on: August 11, 2017, 07:33:40 AM »
I have not read the books nor seen the movie but this sounds exactly like King's 'The Stand'. And that was a mini- series with plenty of time available and still, it just did not make the transition to visual media IMO. Also IMO, it was a terrible as the book was excellent.

Again, not having read this series so this may or may not apply but the problem with The Stand was that so much was explained by the narrator that it just could not be explained visually. And the plot itself was incredible simple: the western concept of good vs. evil with the entire book (and mini- series) being merely an example of that concept. So if this series is anything like that at all, it is going to be tough or impossible to 'make the jump' to TV, or a movie theater.

Sorry to hear it is so disappointing to the fans of the printed series though- my D-I-L is a huge fan and is waiting for this movie.

Brian

Upon further review(s)...

I've read some of the reviews for The Dark Tower and to say that I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

WTF?    :o

The Dark Tower movies were originally intended to be a series of flix based on 8 books that King wrote. It seems that this was scrapped and the entire Dark Tower universe was packed into one movie! The story is MUCH too large for just one movie treatment.

See this review posted on IMDB

Bad beyond your wildest imagination

<snip>

Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com

Offline Conrad

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5822
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1012 on: August 11, 2017, 07:56:26 AM »
I agree with your review of The Stand, both the book and the miniseries. I also agree on your assessment of the 'issues' adapting/making the jump from novel to screen. The Dark Tower, like The Stand, is/was just too big to make the jump and explain everything adequately.

Adapting some novels (especially SK books) for the screen is just about impossible to do them justice. No matter how much narration is given, it just doesn't work. SK's book Cujo is a good example. I really liked that book. If you've read it you'll know that in the book we can 'be inside the dog's head' and know what's going on in there, mostly. No way can that be done on the screen, not properly anyways.

I'm glad that you brought up The Stand. There's a lot of parallels between The Stand and The Dark Tower. Randall Flagg, aka The Walking Dude and Walter o'Dim, is the villain in both books. He also shows up in Eyes of The Dragon.


I have not read the books nor seen the movie but this sounds exactly like King's 'The Stand'. And that was a mini- series with plenty of time available and still, it just did not make the transition to visual media IMO. Also IMO, it was a terrible as the book was excellent.

Again, not having read this series so this may or may not apply but the problem with The Stand was that so much was explained by the narrator that it just could not be explained visually. And the plot itself was incredible simple: the western concept of good vs. evil with the entire book (and mini- series) being merely an example of that concept. So if this series is anything like that at all, it is going to be tough or impossible to 'make the jump' to TV, or a movie theater.

Sorry to hear it is so disappointing to the fans of the printed series though- my D-I-L is a huge fan and is waiting for this movie.

Brian
Northern Illinois   Silverdammit '08 C-14 ABS

"Don't bother me with facts, Son. I've already made up my mind." -Foghorn Leghorn

Offline Rhino

  • Arena
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3963
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1013 on: August 11, 2017, 10:35:06 AM »
"What kind of idiotic mind ever thinks of packing SEVEN novels into ONE SINGLE movie?"

Geo. R. R. Martin  >:(

What? The 5 books are in 7 seasons. 67 hours so far. Exact opposite of what they are saying about Dark Tower.

BTW: I think the HBO Game of Thrones show is MUCH better than the books. Very rare for me to say that.

Offline B.D.F.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4955
  • Country: 00
  • It's only really cold if you fall down in it.
    • C-14 farkles you almost cannot ride without.
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1014 on: August 11, 2017, 11:29:24 AM »
Some of his books have made excellent movies although those I think great are ones that I never read the book so cannot compare the two: The Shawshank Redemption (with Morgan Freeman reading the book to us... er, I mean explaining the movie to us), The Green Mile, which used a lot of physical example to convey what would be done with words, and a fav. of mine, Needful Things.

But The Stand is just too idea- based to make into a video story IMO. The entire book is about the western concept of good and evil, and further that all there reall is is good and evil is merely an included facet. That is impossible to convey in a film I believe. Someone may be able to get close but the concept would have to be shifted; that may be the problem with The Stand because it did follow the book so very closely.

And now that I have said that, about not being able to convey a society's beliefs and convictions through a visual story, I just thought of the movie Witness, which did exactly that and so very well too. And no Morgan Freeman to explain it to us either. And just because I am thinking of it, I think the real star of that movie was the grandfather (Jan Rubes, who was, of course, Czechoslovakian)...... I could watch that man make a ham sandwich I think.

Back to the Dark Tower: I think I may watch the movie (series?) without reading the books. Might make it better or at  least less disappointing perhaps.

I agree with your review of The Stand, both the book and the miniseries. I also agree on your assessment of the 'issues' adapting/making the jump from novel to screen. The Dark Tower, like The Stand, is/was just too big to make the jump and explain everything adequately.

Adapting some novels (especially SK books) for the screen is just about impossible to do them justice. No matter how much narration is given, it just doesn't work. SK's book Cujo is a good example. I really liked that book. If you've read it you'll know that in the book we can 'be inside the dog's head' and know what's going on in there, mostly. No way can that be done on the screen, not properly anyways.

I'm glad that you brought up The Stand. There's a lot of parallels between The Stand and The Dark Tower. Randall Flagg, aka The Walking Dude and Walter o'Dim, is the villain in both books. He also shows up in Eyes of The Dragon.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com

Offline maxtog

  • Elite Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 8869
  • Country: us
  • 2011 Silver
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1015 on: August 11, 2017, 02:06:24 PM »
So I open my Cox Communications bill TODAY to pay it and it jumped +$22!  Oh, my "one year loyalty" discount from last year expired, so my bill went up to $170 (that is just basic internet and basic cable, and for one person, one TV).  So as I have to do each year, I spent an hour calling and going through several "customer agents" before they "found" a plan to reduce my plan for the next 12 months.  This time for only $1 more a month that my last year price (which is unusual, each time it usually ends up being more like $5 more; last year my bill jumped $45/mo before they "helped" me get it to only $7 more/mo).

Here is the funny part.  Although I have no premium services, the "deal" that got me back to a painful rate instead of insane rate today forced me to take HBO.  So now it seems I have HBO.  Meh.  At least I can now watch season 7 of Game of Thrones....

Meanwhile, I had just started watching Daredevil on Netflix.  Three episodes in so far.  Not bad.
Shoodaben (was Guhl) Mountain Runner ECU flash, Canyon Cages front/rear, Helibars risers, Phil's wedges, Grip Puppies, Sargent World seat-low & heated & pod, Muzzy lowering links, Soupy's stand, Nautilus air horn, Admore lightbar, Ronnie's highway pegs, front running lights, all LED, helmet locks, RAM Xgrip, Sena SMH10, Throttle Tamer, MRA X-Creen, BearingUp Shifter, PR4-GT, Scorpion EXO-T1200,etc

Offline gPink

  • Arena
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5686
  • Country: cn
  • MMVIII C XIV
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1016 on: August 11, 2017, 03:05:30 PM »
What? The 5 books are in 7 seasons. 67 hours so far. Exact opposite of what they are saying about Dark Tower.

BTW: I think the HBO Game of Thrones show is MUCH better than the books. Very rare for me to say that.
Only the first three were any good then Martin went off the deep end and changed the format and it went to **** when he finally got the fourth one out. The fat fck can eat sht and die for all I care and never get another dime from me.

Offline Conrad

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5822
  • Country: us
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1017 on: August 12, 2017, 07:27:58 AM »
Only the first three were any good then Martin went off the deep end and changed the format and it went to **** when he finally got the fourth one out. The fat fck can eat sht and die for all I care and never get another dime from me.

I take it that you don't care for the man?
Northern Illinois   Silverdammit '08 C-14 ABS

"Don't bother me with facts, Son. I've already made up my mind." -Foghorn Leghorn

Offline gPink

  • Arena
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5686
  • Country: cn
  • MMVIII C XIV
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1018 on: August 12, 2017, 07:44:41 AM »
Martin is dead to me.

Offline B.D.F.

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4955
  • Country: 00
  • It's only really cold if you fall down in it.
    • C-14 farkles you almost cannot ride without.
Re: What are you watching?
« Reply #1019 on: August 12, 2017, 10:43:50 AM »
I am getting some kind of subtle, hidden feelings from you Gary but I cannot put my finger on them.... could you be a little more clear on your feelings here?

 :rotflmao:

The only writers I generally have any negative emotions for are those who write legislative bills.... and then only the bad ones.  ;)

Brian

Only the first three were any good then Martin went off the deep end and changed the format and it went to **** when he finally got the fourth one out. The fat fck can eat sht and die for all I care and never get another dime from me.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com