The Watching Thread #4

[RJDiogenes]

I've got to remember to catch up on those Star Wars movies. I think there are three that I haven't seen. There's Last Jedi, Rogue One, and Solo (which I still think they should have called Solo Solo). I'm pretty sure those are the only three I need to see.

[Gary]

I recently watched the Ken Burns documentary on The Vietnam War. It was very well done and did a great job explaining how it was originally due to the Vietnamese kicking the French out of their country. Then, the US was sucked into an unwinnable conflict we never should have meddled. Amazing how the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts ring so similar. I now have a better understanding why conservatives view the Media as "The Enemy of The People" since the lies of Johnson and Nixon were exposed, hence the removal of the blinders that Washington is not 100% transparent.

Netflix has an original series titled The Kominsky Method.

Michael Douglas plays an actor who made it big a long time ago and who now is an acting coach at his studio named after himself, "The Kominsky Method." His best friend and agent loses his wife to cancer, which leaves both of them questioning their existence as they struggle through choices and relationships, old and new. As Kominsky teaches a class to actors he meets a woman whom he has deep feelings for, but lacks the skills to make a relationship work. Meanwhile his agent struggles with the pain of his wife's death and a drug addicted daughter. Throughout the series it becomes clear that their advanced age has challenges that neither one knows how to overcome, and as they keep onboard this train of life, which is closer to death then ever before, they learn to navigate their way through pain and character growth and set backs.

Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) is the series creator. Unlike the other shows, the writing is more creative, plus Arkin and Douglas work very well together.

The other movie I recently watch was Kong: Skull Island.

A washed up monster chaser convinces the U.S. Government to fund a trip to an unexplored island in the South Pacific. Under the guise of geological research, the team travels to "Skull Island". Upon arrival, the group discover that their mission may be complicated by the wildlife which inhabits the island. The beautiful vistas and deadly creatures create a visually stunning experience that is sure to keep your attention.

This one takes place in the very early 1970s as the Vietnam war is winding down. It was actually a good monster movie with fantastic effects.

[RJDiogenes]

I'm betting Ken Burns didn't mention Kong.

[Gary]

I'm betting Ken Burns didn't mention Kong.

Oddly enough, no.

[Gary]

Another Netflix original I watched this week: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

My take is that it's like Creepshow, but with a western flair.

An anthology film comprised of six stories, each dealing with a different aspect of life in the Old West.

[RJDiogenes]

Wow, a Western anthology-- there hasn't been anything like that, I don't think, since the days of Zane Grey Theater and Death Valley Days.

Speaking of Creepshow, I found out accidentally (and confirmed on the Creepshow Wiki page) that a TV series is in development by some of the people involved in Walking Dead. No clue yet if they are going to resurrect the EC Comic format of the classic original, which was abandoned by the horrible sequels. If so, this could be really good.

[emma glitch]

I recently watched the Ken Burns documentary on The Vietnam War. It was very well done and did a great job explaining how it was originally due to the Vietnamese kicking the French out of their country. Then, the US was sucked into an unwinnable conflict we never should have meddled. Amazing how the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts ring so similar. I now have a better understanding why conservatives view the Media as "The Enemy of The People" since the lies of Johnson and Nixon were exposed, hence the removal of the blinders that Washington is not 100% transparent.

No we were not supposed to fight our way out oi it, the whole point was to make loads of money for Johnson, who never caught on to the fact that the thousands of men and women he had killed to get his money made him a monster and that he would never regain anything resembling a good reputation. The horrible ending poisoning the whole country with Agent Orange makes sense as someday the burn pits of the Iraq abd Afganistan war will: young people gotta die so that old politicians can get insultingly rich.

This one takes place in the very early 1970s as the Vietnam war is winding down. It was actually a good monster movie with fantastic effects.

I gotta see this one someday. That is when I served. I was lucky I never had to go in country, so I never was exposed to Agent Orqnge.

[emma glitch]

I recently watched the Ken Burns documentary on The Vietnam War. It was very well done and did a great job explaining how it was originally due to the Vietnamese kicking the French out of their country. Then, the US was sucked into an unwinnable conflict we never should have meddled. Amazing how the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts ring so similar. I now have a better understanding why conservatives view the Media as "The Enemy of The People" since the lies of Johnson and Nixon were exposed, hence the removal of the blinders that Washington is not 100% transparent.

Does it tell how much Ho Chi Mihn used to admire America, and why he did.

[Gary]

I recently watched the Ken Burns documentary on The Vietnam War. It was very well done and did a great job explaining how it was originally due to the Vietnamese kicking the French out of their country. Then, the US was sucked into an unwinnable conflict we never should have meddled. Amazing how the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts ring so similar. I now have a better understanding why conservatives view the Media as "The Enemy of The People" since the lies of Johnson and Nixon were exposed, hence the removal of the blinders that Washington is not 100% transparent.

Does it tell how much Ho Chi Mihn used to admire America, and why he did.

Yes. It does a good job detailing Ho Chi Mihn's rise to power followed by the later struggles with his top aides.

[Gary]

The usual streaming sites don't have the current season of The Walking Dead. I made up for that by catching up on The Good Place along with the completely ridiculous series The Last Ship.

[RJDiogenes]

I've watched a couple of recent episodes of the DC series Legends of Tomorrow. It's kind of lighthearted and comical. One episode focused on Woodstock and the other on a Kaiju attack in 1950s Tokyo. I may start watching on a regular basis. I also noticed that Kaya from Z Nation has joined the cast.

[Gary]

I watched the Netflix series GLOW, starting last weekend and finishing by Thursday evening. There are two seasons with 10 episodes per season.

A look at the personal and professional lives of a group of women who perform for a wrestling organization in Los Angeles during the 1980s.

At first glance, people think the show is filled with gratuitous nudity and cheap sex scenes. Not at all. The story for all the characters is really good, and the comedic moments are pure gold. Marc Maron nails it as the surely creator/director of the fiction series GLOW.

[RJDiogenes]

At first glance, people think the show is filled with gratuitous nudity and cheap sex scenes.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I just watched a DVD of a locally produced, independent, Kickstarter-funded Old-Dark-House mystery movie called Ten that was really awfully terribly bad, but pretty amusing because of it.

[Gary]

A couple of movies I recently watched:
The Night Comes for Us

Ito (Joe Taslim), a gangland enforcer, caught amidst a treacherous and violent insurrection within his Triad crime family upon his return home from a stint abroad.

This is an Indonesian film wherein a majority of the dialog is Indonesia, but sometimes the characters speak English (no idea why), while a few other times I could tell French and Russian were spoken. The latter two, I believe, were because one of the characters was a French or Russian national. The choreography for the fights rivaled that of the Netflix series Daredevil, and the gore from those fights was off the charts. One took place in a butcher shop with one man versus about eight others. Overall, a great movie.

The Outsider

An epic set in post-WWII Japan and centered on an American former G.I. who joins the yakuza.

Jared Leto is great in this one. I can't imagine having an entire back tattoo done old school like it's shown in this movie.

I'm caught up on The Good Place and decided to rewatch the British version of The IT Crowd. S2E1 is probably the funniest of the entire run.

[RJDiogenes]

My Orville DVDs have arrived. I'll try to watch at least a couple before the new season begins. It's also got some extras, which I didn't expect.