What Did You Watch? 2021-03-27 (Saturday)

[Ubiquitous]

On a red-level allergy day, I watched:

WILD WILD WEST:
"The Night of Sudden Death". A group of black clad acrobats break into the US
mint in Carson City, Nevada to steal currency plates and replace them with
forgeries while trying to make their caper look like an accident. The ruse
does not fool anyone, so too bad for them. Jim follows a lead from a pretty
girl to a traveling circus run by big game hunter Warren Trevor (hey, it's
Robert Loggia!), who has stolen the plates so he can print up enough cash to
buy his own country in Africa. I expected to see an homage to The Most
Dangerous Game in which Trevor wants to hut the famed Secret Service agent as
the ultimate challenge, but Trevor is your typical power hungry villain who
wants to be a banana dictator who only uses his hunting skills after Jim and
Artie have foiled his plan by recovering the plates and then ends up eaten by
an alligator, which is strange, because Jim surviced a smilar encounter
earlier. I liked how Artie acted like a full partner to Jim rather than just
acting as the gadget man who shows up in a goofy disguise at the climax this
week.

THE WILD WILD WEST:
"The Night of the Casual Killer". Jim and Artie are assigned to find a former
corrupt associate of Ulysses S. Grant named John Avery (hey, it's that guy!)
who has enough dirt on the president’s administration to warrant his capture.
Fortunately, he has killed the 22 cavalrymen who first tried to bring him
back to Washington, so there actually is a good reason to arrest him, other
than political embarrassment. Avery is a formidable villain who is cunning
enough to be one step ahead of Jim and Artie at every turn, including during
the climactic escape from the mining town he has taken over with his dim-
witted girlfriend, an ex-singer who apparently was not all that great since
there are deliberate attempts to keep her from doing so (hey, it's Ruta
Lee!). The climatic escape from town involved a mining car chase that was
cleverly done for a low budget 1960’s TV show. Avery makes for a good villain
and an enjoyable ep. It is also good to see Artie take the spotlight for
once, even though he does not get the girl.

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"Union Brewery of Death". Zak and the crew are back in Virginia City,
Nevada, to investigate the dark spirits haunting a historic brewery.

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"Nightmare In Antelope". Zak and the crew travel to the Antelope Valley
in Sacramento, California, to confront a demonic entity that's tearing
a family apart. Zak believes an exorcism may be the only way to save
them from the dark and powerful forces plaguing their home. Ugh.

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"Ghost Train of Ely". Zak and the crew hop aboard a 100-year-old steam
engine for a lockdown they will never forget. That was fun and
different, and it involved GHOSTS, however, I am pretty sure Mud the
cat was responsible for a lot of what they found.

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"El Rancho Hotel". Zak and the crew investigate a historic New Mexico hotel
where a spike in paranormal activity has caused several employees to quit.
The guys suspect the dark wave of supernatural energy was unleashed after a
demonic ritual was conducted on the property.

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"Painted Lady Brothel". The crew travels to Albuquerque, NM, to
investigate the Swastica Inn, a former brothel and saloon inhabited by
an aggressive male spirit. The vicious entity pushes the guys to their
limits as they try to get to the bottom of the haunting and save the
owner from further harm. I lost almost all interest when the owner
described his ghostly attacks as a classical case of sleep paralysis.

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"The Comedy Store". The GAC are in West Hollywood, California
investigating the historic and World Famous Comedy Store.

GHOST ADVENTURE:
"Pasadena Ritual House". Scooby Douche and the gang visit Pasadena,
California to investigate the home of self-proclaimed Satanist, Richard-Lael
Lillard. A seance conducted inside this historic Victorian house reveals an
inhuman presence which attaches itself to Aaron, trying to communicate with
him. Yeah, as if a seance held in the guys home couldn't be staged or
anything...

GHOST ADVENTURES:
"Franklin Castle". Didldo Baggins travel to Cleveland, Ohio to investigate
Franklin Castle, the most-haunted residence in Ohio. Built by Hannes
Tiedemann, a German banker in the early 1880s, it is believed that he and his
family were cursed after they all died. Whispers of murder, suicide, and
arson have led many to believe the majestic mansion carries a deadly curse.

SVENGHOULIE:
"The Beast Must Die". When big-game hunter Tom Newcliffe invites a group of
people to stay at his estate, they expect a relaxing weekend. Instead, they
discover he thinks one of them is a werewolf and that no one can leave until
that person is exposed and destroyed. I'm not sure if this is a repeat, but I
remember waching this movie before recently, but the "werewolf break" for
the audience to guess the werewolf's identity was a nice touch.

FAMILY GUY:
Several eps.

What did you watch?

--
Trump won.

[anim8rfsk]

Yes, both of those are good work men like episodes. A lot of people prefer
the later shows where they get weird fantastic villains but I kind of like
these early ones where are you can think “that could actually happen”


>
> What did you watch?


Several Jesse Stone reruns.
Some stuff that Netflix and the prime recommended that was just horrible.
One was a movie with Alana de la Garza and Sandrine Holt. Everybody just
read their lines flat like there was anesthesia gas Loose in the room. I
don’t even remember the title. Here it is: deadly Hope from 2012. The
closest it came to naked nudity was when de la Garza changes clothes and we
get to see a shoulder. From behind.

Oh and the worst and weirdest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Deep in the valley
It’s like one of those porno films where the gal says “I don’t have any
money for that pizza can I pay you some other way“ but then no nudity or
sex occurs. I guess it’s supposed to be some sort of Takeoff of that stuff
but it was just completely pointless. I stuck with it longer than I should
have because it starred a young flabby Chris Platt from guardians of the
galaxy and Jurassic World, Brandon Hines, Scott Caan, and Denise Richards.

>
> —> Trump won.
>
>



—
“The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on my list.”

[Arthur Lipscomb]

I only ever watched one or two episodes, but I thought all the episodes
had strange sci-fi or fantasy villains. I have the movie on blu-ray. I
haven't seen the movie since watching it in the theater, but I didn't
hate it the way most people did. I'm thinking I'll probably watch it
again soon. Almost definitely along with "The Lone Ranger" which I've
had sitting on my DVR for about a year now.


I watched:


Dragonslayer (Paramount+) 1981 fantasy action movie which I have been
waiting years to see again. It appears that they finally struck a new
print. I didn't do a side by side comparison, but I guess it looked
better than my old DVD. Anyway the movie stars Peter MacNicol (yes, the
guy from Ally McBeal) as a wizard's apprentice who has to step up and
battle a dragon after his boss is seemingly killed. The movie holds up
well enough.


Dragonheart 1996 fantasy action movie starring Denise Quaid as a knight
from the dark ages. After believing a dragon betrayed him he becomes a
dragonslayer (yes, they use the term in the movie) and hunts down all of
the dragons. When he encounters the last dragon, named Draco (Sean
Connery), they fight to a standstill until Draco suggests a mutually
beneficial arrangement. They start to con villages by having Draco show
up and cause a scene, then Quaid would show up and "kill" him. Then
they'd move off to scam the next village. But the heart of the plot
involves an evil king played by David Thewlis who Draco saved when he
was a boy by giving him half of his heart. Quaid originally blamed the
dragon's heart for the king being evil, not realizing he was always evil.

I've never cared much for this movie, although I do keep trying to like
it more. I decided this time to finally listen to the commentary track
with the movie on as background noise. There were a few nice anecdotes
like the actor who played the young king won millions in the lottery.
And the script had been floating around for years with Connery
originally eager to play Quaid's role. Once the movie was finally
green-lit, he jumped at the chance to voice the dragon. The director
also made a point to say he set the movie in the year 984 and talks at
length about all the various period specific details he put in the
movie, down to the type of weeds they planted. All I could think was no
one cares that you planted period appropriate wheat!


Dungeons & Dragons (DVD) 2000 fantasy action movie based on the game. I
don't think I've seen this since it first came out; mainly because It's
a bad movie, and I also avoid watching DVDs. But it's a dragon movie,
so it just barely made the watch list. With special effects which are
somehow worse than 1996's Dragonheart, this not so epic movie features a
large cast of wizards and warriors battling for control of dragons.
Jeremy Irons stars as the main villain who wants to control the dragons
so he can take the thrown from the empress (Thora Birch). Justin Whalin
and Marlon Wayans star as thieves who find themselves in the middle of
this coup attempt then reluctantly go on a Fellowship, I mean quest with
a wizard, or um mage, a dwarf and an elf to save the day. Irons was
clearly having the time of his life chewing the scenery in this movie.
But it didn't really help the movie much.


Eragon (blu-ray) 2006 fantasy action movie staring Jeromy Irons in his
second dragon movie. But this time he plays the mentor to the young
hero, "Eragon" (Ed Speleers), teaching him how to be a "dragon rider."
Irons doesn't get to chew any scenery this time unfortunately. I
haven't watched this since it was in theaters. I knew John Malkovich
was in the movie as the bad guy, but to my surprise he's little more
than a glorified cameo. The real villain is Robert Carlyle as an evil
wizard who spends the movie hunting Eragon, before Eragon can fulfill a
prophesy to save the kingdom from the evil king (Malkovich). Rachel
Weisz also costars as the voice of Eragon's dragon, Saphira. The two of
them have a psychic bond and can hear each other's thoughts. Of the
dragon movies I've watched up to this point, this definitely has the
best dragon battles. I knew this going in, but the movie ends on a bit
of a cliffhanger setting up a sequel that never happened. Why does
Dragonheart get umpteen sequels, but this movie, which is better than
Dragonheart (yeah, I said that!) can't get one.


Dragon Wars: D-War (blu-ray) 2007 fantasy action movie set in the
present-day starring Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, and Robert Forster.
There are still wizards and dragons, but the having the action take
place in the modern world where they have to fight the modern military
is what makes this movie work. And unlike "Reign of Fire" (spit) this
movie actually has dragons vs. attack copters! This is one of those
turn your brain off and enjoy the ride flicks.


Invincible (Amazon Prime) - "Who You Calling Ugly?" - Episode 3
continues the ongoing sorry with the Robot (one of the Fantastic 4 rip
off characters) being asked by the "SHIELD" agency to assemble a team of
heroes. I question the team of heroes he assembled. Anyway, Invincible
tags along to geek out at all the heroes in one place. There's also a
love triangle building between Invincible and a girl from school who
likes his alter ego, and the forcefield girl (also one of the Fantastic
4 rip off characters) which he not so secretly likes. And she not so
secretly likes him, but she already has a boyfriend. Meanwhile two of
the more powerful supervillains from the first episode escape from
prison with some unseen help. When the identity of the unseen help is
revealed, I have to say I did *not* see that coming. So far, this show
is three for three. I wish I could be more specific about what's
happening in this show, but it's all massive spoilers. I highly
recommend checking it out.


SNL - Maya Rudolph hosts an OK episode. I particularly liked the
"Shining" parody.

[Ubiquitous]

I'd have to look for them, but there are a few implausible ones.
It didn't help that in the latter seasons, they recycled the villian-wants-to-seize-land-for-his-own plot too much.

> I only ever watched one or two episodes, but I thought all the episodes
> had strange sci-fi or fantasy villains. I have the movie on blu-ray.

Don't bother watching the movies, ESPECIALLY the Will Smith one.

-
Trump won.