Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Loren: Good for them. Not for me.

RDT: I totally support a fully animated Smurfs movie. I will likely never see it though.

Rick: 

Jen: It would not hurt me to see this with my daughter. I guess that’s a ringing endorsement?

---

Going in Style

Loren: There’s a true story about something very similar to this that one of the shows I worked on (Evil Genius on History Channel) covered. A group of old men dug a tunnel from their own property into a bank vault and made off with the money. They were stupid enough to then brag about it at their local pub and got caught. This however looks like Last Vegas but slightly better. I think I’m good.

RDT: There’s some kind of click-baity review title there. “Going in Style? More like Gone Without Style!” Ok, that was horrible, but this doesn’t look much better either.

Rick: As many are probably unaware, this is a remake of the 1979 film starring George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg. If you have not seen the original, seek it out. It’s a solid heist comedy with more than a few touching moments. I like the cast for the remake, but I’m not sure how much of the warmness of the original will carry over. I may not give it a shot in theaters, but I’m curious enough to seek it out eventually to see how it compares to the original.

Jen: Meh, I’m not going to see this, but it looks… fine?

---

Continue reading →

This week, RDT is upset at math and we talk a lot about The Terminator franchise, rant (yet again) about Avatar, spoil the fuck out of Passengers, and, of course, cover the news!   

• Terminator terminated
• Barbie de-Shumered
• IT trailer destroys records
• Tomb Raider pics and plot
• Renner bolts MI:6 
• Ralph wrecks the internet
• New Kingsman poster
• Valerian and another trailer
• Expendables no longer as Sly as they once were
• Time Out of Time
• Rainn Wilson gets ST:D
• Black Lightning revealed
• The Flash’s season 4 big bad won’t be a speedster
• Katie Cassidy returns to Arrow, but Laurel Lance does not
• Cash Cab rises
• Westworld gets some familiar cast members
• Sandler and Netflix chill
• Joss Whedon getting his own Batflick
• Jordan Peele to direct everything ever
• Nicole Kidman cast as Aquamom
• A quick chat about the new Spidey trailer, plus whatever the fuck Sony is doing with the rest of the Spidey-verse

All that, the Weekly Watched, and the usual tangents. 

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review us on iTunes and/or Stitcher. We’d really appreciate it!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Pardon the click-bait title, but it is fairly accurate, as I have “rated” the “X”-men movies.

Here’s the list:

1. Deadpool
2. Logan
3. X2: X-Men United
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past
5. X-Men: First Class
6. X-Men
7. The Wolverine
8. X-Men: Apocalypse
9. X-Men: The Last Stand
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I feel the first three are some of the best comic book movies of all time, not just in X-canon. They will stand the test of time with the likes of Superman, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and any of the really good Marvel movies (let’s say Guardians of the Galaxy).

The next three, I could almost swap them around. Maybe X-Men should be higher (I need to revisit it), given it did usher in our current comic book movie renaissance. But, for me, it’s not about its place in comic book movie history, so much as I just straight up enjoy the others more. And, given my mood, I could easily swap First Class and Days of Future Past.

The next three, to me, are just wasted potential. The Wolverine starts strong, but falls apart in the end. And Apocalypse and The Last Stand are just examples of lazy, rushed filmmaking. Both could have been amazing, given different (better) circumstances, but instead were pushed out to hit release dates.

And finally, X-Men Origins: Wolverine…. pure shit.

Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Comment below.

From my new couch in Culver City,

–RDT

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Ghost in the Shell

Loren: I mean, it looks visually amazing, but early reviews are not stellar. I may just rewatch the anime instead. Too bad.

RDT: I’ll probably see it eventually, but I really have no feelings about this movie at all.

Rick: I outlined my feelings on the whitewashing controversy in this week’s podcast (Go listen to our podcast! –RDT), so I won’t go into it here. I do plan on seeing this. It’s mostly out of curiosity. I don’t know that the original anime (and subsequent movies/series) can be topped, but I want to see how the creatives went about the adaptation.

Jen: What RDT said, this seems, fine… I’ll probably watch it once it’s streaming somewhere to check it out..

---

The Boss Baby

Loren: Nope.

RDT: No thank you.

Rick: 

Jen: Whenever my daughter sees anything related to this movie she says “baby MAD” and I agree with that assessment. I asked her if she wanted to see the “MAD baby show” and she said “no, Moana,” so there you go.

---

Continue reading →

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Power Rangers

Loren: I mean it’s no Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, but what is? This looks fine, not amazing or anything but it’s a Power Rangers movie. I’m not expecting Shakespeare. I’ll check it out eventually but I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to the theater.

RDT: Ummm…I kinda wanna see this.

Rick: Apparently they’re planning on a six movie story arc for this series. Seems a little ambitious, but there have been no less than 21 different Power Rangers-related series/movies, and that doesn’t count the Super Sentai series the whole thing is based on. All that makes six movies seem positively modest in comparison. Oh, and yes, I’ll check this out. Looks like fun.

Jen: Sure, fine, why not? This doesn’t look bad, I likely won’t see it, but not looking bad is actually high praise since I was not expecting it to look this good.

---

Life

Loren: That’s literally the first time I’ve heard of this movie and I think I want to see it. It might just be a good trailer for a bad movie though. Time will tell.

RDT: This was briefly rumored to be a Venom prequel. When it was, I was somewhat intrigued. Now that it’s been confirmed that it’s not, I’m less intrigued, but still a little interested. I like everyone involved, but I think I’d rather see this from the comfort of my couch.

Rick: It must be hard being a sci-fi/horror screenwriter. Being able to make that “haunted house in space” trope work and be different enough from Ridley Scott’s Alien poses a big challenge. I want this to be good, but I can’t shake the feeling that we got about 99% of the story from the trailer. But who knows. Maybe (hopefully) there’s more to it than the standard fare.

Jen: Finally, I keep seeing the billboards for this all over LA and yet knew nothing about it. It feels like many other sci-fi/horror hybrid films, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At bare minimum, it’s about time someone used “Goodnight Moon” for it’s obviously horrific subtext.

---

Continue reading →

This week, we’re talking all the major pop culture news, like….

• The (re)Matrix?
• Malin Akerman will Rampage against The Rock
• You get an Alien movie and you get an Alien movie and you get an Alien movie!
• Cavill, Henry Cavill
• Coming 2 America…?
• SNL x 4 (aka RDT doesn’t understand timezones) 
• This Is Us kills some walkers
• ALL THE CABLE SHOWS, and one streaming show, renewed! 
• Heathers on the move
• American Gods trailer
• Master of None, season 2 debut date announced
• Where you AT-AT?
• Holy Delayed Production, Batman!
• Merry Aqua-Christmas!
• Hey, when you’re having issues with your current slate of films, why not put another into production?
• Guardians, Vol 3 will happen
• And, apparently, so will Venom…?

All that, what we watched, and the usual tangents.

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review us on iTunes and/or Stitcher. We’d really appreciate it!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Beauty and the Beast

Loren: I don’t think I’ll be seeing this in the theater but it looks pretty good. I did a whole breakdown for it when the trailer dropped a few months back. I’ll definitely check it out eventually.

RDT: I’m sure I’ll see it eventually, but I feel no compunction to rush out this weekend.

Rick: I didn’t see the animated version of this until three or four years ago. It’s enjoyable, but not enough that I have any need to see it done in live action. Also, why is Beast’s face/head CGI? It’s not the least bit convincing. It’s not like this story hasn’t been done in live action before. Hell, the makeup in Jean Cocteau’s 1946 version still holds up today. I have nothing against CGI, but I just wish that practical effects wouldn’t be discounted in favor of it.

Jen: I already have my tickets for this tomorrow night. I am a little worried that I’ll be freaked out by the weird CGI of Lumiere and Cogsworth, et al. but the original version holds such a dear place in my heart, and the live-action version of Cinderella was surprisingly delightful, that I’ve got some high hopes for this.

---

T2 Trainspotting

Loren: I won’t lie, I don’t remember the original all that well. I remember the baby on the ceiling and the crawling out of the toilet. You know, the simple stuff. This does look like a very “Trainspotting” take on the reemergence of heroin and designer drugs.

RDT: Is it bad that I haven’t seen the original?

Rick: I’m not sure we needed this sequel, but I’m in for it.

Jen: Why did they call this T2? Are they hoping to confuse people? I was never into the first film so can’t see myself with enough nostalgic desire to see the second.

---

Continue reading →