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wraithfodder ([personal profile] wraithfodder) wrote2011-08-21 06:21 pm
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This and that...

I realized I've probably seen more movies this summer, than I have in the last three years (in the theater, that is)...



Super 8 - attracted by Kyle Chandler and the retro plot. It worked well. Nothing too deep, but it was fun.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2 - since I missed part 1 in the theaters, I had to borrow friend's DVD so I could remember the plot. So watched that on a SAturday, and saw part 2 on a Sunday. The HP series is great. I remember when the books first came out I was like, 'eh, no thanks' but then my friends ranted on about them and I figured, hmm, I should just check it out and got hooked.

Cowboys & Aliens - basically, that's it. Cowboys vs. aliens. Nothing at all deep but whoa, Daniel Craig can rustle my cows any time. Woof! It was sorta like the old Gary Cooper movies (the ending).

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - total mindless drivel. However, both my friend and I wanted to see something that fell into that category and it fit the bill. I'd never buy the film, heck no, and it's weird to say that the new vapid girl-of-the-movie is a better actor than Meghan whatsername.

Captain America - never read the comics, but the movie was good. Nothing earthshattering, nothing deep, but it was fun.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - okay, I saw this one mainly because I wanted to see David Hewlett in it (hear that, David, I spent $8.50 to see  YOU!) And oh hey, Ty Olssen (1st Deputy Andy on Eureka) and Mike Dupod (bounty hunter on SG1) were in it. It was fun to see them, but alas none of their characters fared very well. In fact, not well at all. Ouch. The special effects with the chimps, etc. was very well done. The plot holes/ logic flaws were big enough to drive Donald Trump's ego through.


Overall, I enjoyed them all. Saw trailers for Battleship. OMG, they've made a movie out of a *board game*! I snorted, thinking, eh, it's like Transformers (probably is) but wait, it has Liam Neeson. Okay, I may check it out. The Apollo 18 film looks interesting, but.... on DVD. The Debt looks like a meaty film, but it also looks dismal. I'm undecided on watching that, despite Sam Worthington being in it. I'd be tempted to watch Brad Pitt's Moneyball because the trailer looked good, even though I couldn't give a rat's patootie about baseball. Oh yeah, there was Shark Attack 3D or something/whatever, in which stupid young people go to a remote island for the weekend (and I'm sure they have NO cellphone reception) and are promptly harrassed and devoured by an evil shark in the lake, lagoon, whatever. It's just a higher production quality SyFy flick in 3D.


I did see Unstoppable on HBO (although I will probably ditch the movie channels - too pricey now). Great flick! Makes me wonder when on earth they'll get around to make Star Trek 2. I hear they want to; just have to get the cast together. Anyway, Unstoppable was great and I really liked the one supporting character, Ned, the guy with the long blond hair, sunglasses, who helped save the day at the end. I'm surprised this film didn't get more press as it was very entertaining.


Meanwhile, my pumpkin is no more (waaah!) but the gourd vine has two gourds on it! Of course, this probably means I've cursed it. The tomato plants may be done. The bean plants are GONE. Something ate them before they could even sprout a single pod. Bummer. The zinnias, however, are growing. I have two HUGE zucchinis to eat. I can always count on squash to grow.


As for TV, let's see, Flashpoint ended its run. CBS is still undecided on more episodes while CTV will debut new season in September. I'll get copies *somehow*. Um, um, Eureka will be toast soon (sigh). Haven is okay, but better than Warehouse 13, because, alas, I'm getting tired of young geeky know-it-all females with colored hair (perhaps I've watched too much TV). I would love to see Gibbs from NCIS come in and slap DiNozzo, I mean Pete, across the head ;) Alphas hasn't warmed to me yet. Darn.


But....! A friend introduced me to the Joe Pickett novels by writer C.J. Box. I started with listening to some audiobooks, so of course I'm reading it all out of order, but it's okay. I'm now starting with the first novel (library has them all, thank you thank you!). If they ever made a movie out of one of these novels, Joe Flanigan would be *perfect* as Joe Pickett. I could see him as the game warden, with conflicts, with marital problems, kids, a friend whom the Feds want for several crimes, and of course, in blue jeans :)

[identity profile] astrumporta.livejournal.com 2011-08-21 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I really like "Apes"! What huge holes did you see, other than their very poor safety practices, d'oh. David played such a jerk. He had to, to motivate the story, but man...

Poor Jason's Conan movie tanked. Not his fault -- I heard the storyline was really bad, and so much violence. Too bad!

[identity profile] cynatnite.livejournal.com 2011-08-21 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Jason's movie did really badly. That surprised me. I didn't see it, though.

[identity profile] wraithfodder.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
well, it was the safety practices, or distinct lack thereof. If they'd practiced safe science, then, oh, wait, we wouldn't have a movie! never mind ;)

Well, I didn't think the first Conan was all that great (of the ten minutes I saw). But if this propels Jason onto better things, then good. He was good in Game of Thrones.

[identity profile] black-raven135.livejournal.com 2011-08-21 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Very interesting and I just took a look at C.J.Box and a game warden sounds marvelous for Joe..........
I am dying to see him do series work again and get of the B
film list....
:-/
Would love to see him do cable e.g. TNT *we know drama*, USA
etc. The writing is much better than network........
I think it is why most of network tanks after just a few
episodes.
I was so upset when I saw the Chaos was network and it turned into
a poor showing.

[identity profile] wraithfodder.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd love to see him do a series, Yes, USA or TNT.

As for the game warden dream role... this character does get beat up quite a bit. Ah, Shep whump.....

[identity profile] black-raven135.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
ah yes, whump, the elixir of life
:P

[identity profile] black-raven135.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
You might like a book that rubygirl29 suggested which WE think JF would do very well in, perhaps a series.
>:-)
In fact she wanted to take him a copy.
It is a detective from LA? who is a recovering heroin addict and he gets a job in a small community.
I cannot remember the title but do recall the story line

[identity profile] cynatnite.livejournal.com 2011-08-21 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Saw a lot of flicks this summer, too. HP part 2, Transformers, Captain America and Rise of the Apes. I enjoyed them all for the most part.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was my favorite and I didn't see the big plot holes you did, but then again I usually wind up missing stuff like that anyway. I hated Hewlitt being a jerk, but he did a fantastic job of it. Seems like things got worse for the poor guy every time he was on the screen.

On our garden front, the watermelon and cantaloupe are slowly maturing. We've taken all the cucumbers we can out of the garden. The bell peppers are nearly done. Next year, I want red and yellow ones.

[identity profile] wraithfodder.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, your garden is doing better than mine! I just need a moat, some minefields, laser guns, and perhaps I'd get a pumpkin ;)

I think David Hewlett has perfected the 'jerk' role. He's sooo good at it. This is what Rodney would be like if he was taken off Atlantis and given a dumb Earth job ;) Well, the science aspects (lack of safety precautions) were the big plot holes, but without them, there'd be no movie.

[identity profile] tristen84.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
Flashpoint is made of awesome! Such good, intelligent writing and so much TEAM!

It's such a shame CBS doesn't realize what a gem they had. It no longer owns the broadcast rights to the show so it's unlikely it'll ever be back on CBS, but you do know Flashpoint is switching to ION, right? ION now owns the rights to all the old episodes as well as the remaining episodes of season 4 and season 5. They're going to start airing the show in the US this fall, but they haven't given us an exact date yet.

So. What did you think of the latest Flashpoint ep "Shockwave"? ;o)

[identity profile] wraithfodder.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I was very glad they did NOT blow up Spike! I love the team aspect of it. I don't know about CBS. They're being PITAs in not picking it up again. Half their schedule is going to fail miserably, so they should definitely keep Flashpoint. It did well in its last run. I heard Ion picked up the series, but it could take a while before we get the entire series aired (like years!)

[identity profile] tristen84.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
So was I! I love me some Spike h/c, but I certainly DO NOT want them to blow him up! (unless he survives and remains on the show, of course ;o))

I'm hoping ION will do a couple of marathons of the older eps so they'll catch up to CTV quickly, but I'm not holding my breath. Or they may just decide to go ahead and air the newest eps first, though that seems unlikely.

Flashpoint did pretty well on CBS, but CBS treated the show rather poorly and I think that's why it never lived up to its full potential in the US (I mean, Friday nights in the summer -- what kind of timeslot is that?). Kinda like SyFy with Stargate, actually. Here's hoping ION will take better care of Flashpoint than CBS did.

[identity profile] kriadydragon.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Cowboys and Aliens made me long for more westerns - good old fashioned westerns that are exciting and action packed and not R rated, drawn out and depressing.

Unstoppable was so wonderfully intense. Who knew train chases could be so exciting?

When I saw the preview for Battleship my mind went straight to the Minesweeper movie parody on Youtube ;)

Alphas I've come to like mostly for Gary because the actor does such a superb job as playing someone with autism (I have an autistic nephew who's high functioning like Gary). But it's not a "must see!" show for me yet as the show's attempt at internal strife gets on my nerves (I keep wanting to tell these people to get over themselves already, the world does not revolve around only their issues).

[identity profile] wraithfodder.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
Minesweeper movie parody? I must go to YouTube! :)

Yeah, train chases, who would have known? Very well done flick.

I'd love to see Joe Flanigan do a western. I think he'd be great.

[identity profile] cimmerdeux.livejournal.com 2011-08-22 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Liked Super 8, although I did have a couple of issues with 'why' the alien was interacting with some of the folk (don't want to ruin it) but huh?

Didn't see PotA - Sorry David. Did see Conan. Jason is cute Rose is abysmal. Didn't bother with Transformers. Did see Cowboys and Aliens and loved it. It was exactly as advertised, a rarity these days. Waiting for 'Contagion' to come out, have a sick fondness for pandemic movies, what can I say. Going to see the 'Fright Night' remake because, well, David Tennant.

Never got into HP although I love me some Alan Rickman as Snape.

I've heard Capt. America was very good.

[identity profile] wraithfodder.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
Gawd, I love your icon :)

Oh yes, the trailer for Contagion looked good. If it arrives here, I want to see it. I love pandemic movies. "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman was one of the better ones, and I have this wonderful library of books just on that topic. Yeah, Fright Night looks worth seeing to see David Tenant. And Alan Rickman as Snape. Ah, loved him in that role. He's got a voice that could melt butter.

[identity profile] cimmerdeux.livejournal.com 2011-08-23 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
My icon came from Wondercon. hee hee.

Ohh yes, "Outbreak", I watch it every time it comes on as well as "The Stand" (at least the first part). If you ever get a chance, there's an old one with Sam Waterson and Kathleen Quinlan called "Warning Sign" - good plague movie.

Saw this great special on the Science Channel about the Great Plague and a recessive gene that saved people (who had it as a dominant) during that time and their descendents during the second coming of the plague which also works against HIV. It's Delta 36 - effective against bubonic plague and HIV but rare to have it dominant. It was fascinating.

Ah Snape's voice, yup, up there with the 'greats': Morgan Freeman, James Earle Jones, John Houseman, Richard Burton. :)

[identity profile] archersangel.livejournal.com 2011-08-24 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
The plot holes/ logic flaws were big enough to drive Donald Trump's ego through.


*snort*

Saw trailers for Battleship. OMG, they've made a movie out of a *board game*!

my brother showed me the trailer online & i went WTF? at it.