What I've been watching

[sarahmichigan]

Movies
Transformers –I thought it sucked. It might have been a better movie if they’d cut it down to 90 minutes. There was no excuse for this to be 2 hours and 20 minutes. I think this movie would be enjoyed by boys and men who used to play with Transformers, but boy, I am not this movie’s target audience.

Better Than Chocolate – Recommended to me by spnkygrl, I loved this! Sexy, nice visuals, fun. I loved how trans-positive it was, too. I liked most of the minor characters better than the main characters. I wish there was a club like “The Cat’s Ass” near where I live.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Saw this on the big screen at the second run theater and I’m glad I saw it in the theater. Better than HP4. They keep getting darker and scarier. There were some throw-away bits that I think you’d only get if you’ve read the books (and I haven’t) or bits that might come into play in future movies, but this didn’t bother me.

Thank you for Smoking – Pretty darn funny but scary. I recommend it.

The US vs. John Lennon – I liked this a lot. When I watch stuff like this and “Steal this Movie,” it makes me upset at how apathetic we’ve become in this country. It makes me want to start a revolution.

The Sex Pistols: The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle – The swindle is that we paid good money for this piece of crap. Couldn’t finish it.

TV on DVD
Mad TV season 1 – Good fun, but dated. It was really topical when it aired, but some of the “ripped from the headlines” skits are pretty stale by now. The cast has great chemistry, though.

Kids in the Hall Season 3 – Still really fun. It always makes me sad to know that there was dog-eat-dog competition on the show for screen time and for the guys to have their ideas used, because they always look like they’re having so much fun.

30 Rock Season Pilot – Eh. I love Tina Fey, but a TV show about people making a TV show is not high on my list of things to watch.

Original BattleStar Galactica – J. has been watching this. It’s interesting from a cultural viewpoint and to compare to the new series, but the new BSG series is so much better from the acting to the special effects to the quality of the dialogue.

Red Dwarf 7 – Eh, not as good without Rimmer. I never thought I’d miss him, but he’s a much better foil for slobby Lister than Kochansky is.

Xena: Warrior Princess- pilot episode. Good god this was cheesy! They meant it to be, right?

Comments

[custardfairy.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad you loved the movie! Judy was my favorite character in the whole film, and one of my favorite film characters in general. The "house painting" scene rocks. :)

[meecie.livejournal.com]

Heh - I never got into the Xena series as much as some of my friends at the time did. But I watched enough to know that yes, it was meant to be cheesy. She's a comic book hero! But there was a fair amount of redeeming writing and character development, from what I'm told.

[trebor1415.livejournal.com]

Xena gets better. I couldn't watch it at first, but got into it as Marie kept watching it. Yeah, it's supposed to be cheezy, but the the characters and relationships drag you in.

I was a HUGE Battlestar Galactica fan back in the day. The show was always uneven, but I still think there are certain episodes that hold up well. The first half of the pilot episode is pretty good, and the two-part episode where they find the *other* surviving Battlestar is pretty good.

Did you notice one of the characters in the pilot was a "companion?" I forgot what they called it in the movie, but it was 20 years before Irina in "Firefly." Of course, the producers wimped out once the series was picked up and she went from being a companion and wearing sexy clothes to being a med tech and wearing a uniform.

Yeah, the effects are dated for today, but they were state of the art for 1978. The Star Wars influence is obvious in the design of the ships and general effects. One thing that drives me nuts watching eps back to back is the amount of effects they reuse. That wasn't as noticeable when you only watched one a week, but gets irritating when you watch a bunch in a row.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
This had its moments, but overall, I think this is the first Harry Potter movie I actually don't like. Making the shortest movie out of the longest book just wasn't bright.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I think not having read the book made me less critical, though it did seem like they were trying to cram a lot of action and a lot of new characters into the movie. They introduced a handful of new characters, and aside from Umbridge, they really did very little (thinking Lula Lovegood and the Helena Bonham Carter characters in particular).

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

For the most part, for me, Luna and Bellatrix were the bright spots. Even if we didn't see a whole lot of them.

[rikhei.livejournal.com]

I recently rented Transformers as well, and I wasn't able to get through it. I don't hate it or anything, it just was not able to hold my interest.

[entaru.livejournal.com]

You say you want a revolution? Well you know, we all want to change the world.


Sorry couldn't resist.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Transformers, and I'm pretty sure I'm not their target audience, either. I'm not normally the type to go to movies just because of their nifty special effects.

Thank You for Smoking: Isn't it great?