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
John Wick: Chapter 2
Loren: The original was surprisingly good (even after starting the movie with puppy murder). I love the world they’ve created with the assassin’s hotel and code of conduct. I look forward to seeing this.
RDT:
Rick :
Jen: I didn’t see the first one, but listening to the Hollywood Picture News podcast has pretty much filled me in on the backstory. I’m a strong maybe on this.
Fifty Shades Darker
Loren: Not only am I not the audience for this movie, I’m having trouble trying to figure out who is.
RDT:
Rick: Nope. Not even a little bit.
Jen: Maybe when it’s on HBO Go and my husband is out of town and I just scroll through to the naughty bits? Nah, probably not even then.
The LEGO Batman Movie
Loren: Look, LEGO is my jam. I have a suspiciously large collection for an adult. That being said, comedy Batman is not my favorite kind of Batman. This does look pretty great though, a decent send up of the DCEU. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that we got a bunch of rad LEGO sets out of the deal.
RDT:
Rick: My sincerest hope for this movie is that they manage to sneak in some kind of dig at the terrible live-action DCU movies.
Jen: We just got a LEGO Batman cup as the toy in a Happy Meal yesterday and my daughter is very interested. Holy cross-promotional tie-ins! That aside, yes, this looks cute (in a positive not pejorative way) and I will be seeing it.
Netflix is bringing its final Defender to the small screen this March and they dropped a trailer for him this week. Iron Fisttells the story of Danny Rand (Finn Jones), a rich kid who gets marooned in the Himalayas after a plane crash and learns martial arts in the mystical city of K’un Lun before returning to New York to reclaim what’s rightfully his. If this sounds familiar that’s because it is. Iron Fist has a very similar origin story to Ollie on Arrow and even Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins. Hopefully Marvel will put their own spin on it and that it will blend nicely into the Netflix universe we’ve already gotten with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage.
Other things of note for Danny Rand are what he can do. Not only is he one of the best martial artists in the Marvel Universe (I’d go as far as to say he’s probably the best in the whole of the MCU), he also has the power of the iron fist. He is able to concentrate his own chi into his hand, causing it to glow. The chi energy is so concentrated, that he can strike with superhuman force, while his hand stays impervious to pain or injury. In the comics Danny is also best friends with Luke Cage and they have a Heroes for Hire business. It’ll be interesting to see if this interconnects with Luke Cage, seeing as Luke was a main fixture in Jessica Jones but Jessica wasn’t in Luke Cage. At any rate they’ll all be coming together with Daredevil and almost every side character for The Defenders at the end of the year. But enough about all that, let’s talk about the first Marvel’s Iron Fist trailer: Continue reading →
That trailer’s pretty good right? In all fairness it doesn’t show much, but the stuff it does show is pretty cool. Overall the Pirates movies have had a rough go of it following Curse of the Black Pearl. The sequel, Dead Man’s Chest, is very lacklustre, and has that sort of non-finish a la The Empire Strikes Back (but you know, not as good). At World’s End is actually kinda an ok finish to the series, but then the series didn’t finish because studios like money so they made the pretty terrible On Stranger Tides. Sexy evil mermaids! Blackbeard! Christianity! All the things you’ve ever wanted in a movie franchise based on a theme park ride!
Dead Men Tell No Tales looks to right the ship, so to speak, and bring the fun of the original back. We know that Orlando Bloom‘s Will Turner is back and there have been hints that Keira Knightley will return as Elizabeth Swann-Turner. As long as they reign in Johnny Depp and have Jack Sparrow return to a supporting cast member and not the focus we might be ok. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Oh well. Let’s get on with it and Talk About The First Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Trailer. 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
The Space Between Us
Loren: Ah, The Fault In Our Mars. No thanks.
RDT: Gary Oldman, you, sir, are better than this movie. I hope you’re enjoying your boat.
Rick: I like the concept enough that I can look past the sappiness, but not enough to rush out and see it. I’ll wind up streaming this down the line.
Jen: 100% what Loren said.
Rings
Loren: I still can see Amber Tamblyn’s petrified face in the closet from the first one. That movie was good enough, and though I do like the idea of updating the video to an email attachment, it feels like then everyone would be dead. Seeing as how things go viral these days everyone in the world would have seen Samara’s video. I’m looking too much into this, aren’t I?
RDT: Many years ago, around the time it came out on dvd, I actually watched the original, well, not original original, the American original Ring. If you’re a regular reader of this column, this might come as a surprise to you (I, usually, don’t do horror). I was home one random weekday afternoon and I had it from Netflix (this was pre-streaming, but I still get the discs, even now). I popped it in the dvd player, plopped down on the couch, covered my eyes with one hand and hit play with the other.
Mere minutes into the film, the phone rings. I pause the movie, walk over to it (this was in the days of landlines), pick up and no one is there. Weird. Whatever. I got back to the movie. A couple minutes later, we’re still in the opening scene, the phone rings again. Pause the movie, walk over to the phone, answer it. No one there again. I walk back to the dvd player, eject the disc, go into my room and close the door.
That dvd sat on that player for weeks, until one night my then roommate made me watch it with him. We sat in the dark, and were scared by a pizza delivery guy, but I watched it.
Anyway, I will not be seeing Rings.
Rick: Not that you were asking, but here’s The Ring series by the numbers:
Number of novels – 6
Japanese TV series – 1: Ring: Kanzenban – 1995
Japanese features – 7: Ring, Ring 2, and Ring 0 – 1998-2000 Rasen – 1998, a substitute sequel to the first film from a different company, based on the second novel. (I wish we were able to do that with American films and get away with it.) Sadako 3D and Sadako 3D 2 – 2012-2013, based on the fourth novel, no relation to the other films. Sadako vs. Kayako, the 2016 crossover film pitting the villain from Ring against the ghost from Ju-on (The Grudge, to US audiences). At least we’re not the only ones doing ridiculous “vs.” movies.
Korean feature adaptations – 1: The Ring Virus – 1999
US adaptations – 4: The Ring – 2002 Rings (short film that precedes the sequel) – 2005 The Ring 2 – 2005 Rings – 2017
Got all that? Hell, I barely do and I wrote this up. Nevertheless, there’s clearly an audience for this material. Rings got bumped from last year’s schedule to avoid competition from Ouija: Origin of Evil (which is actually decent, unlike its predecessor), a smart move on Paramount’s part. This may just wind up being a cash-in, but at least it looks like a decent evolution of the concept. I’m in.
Jen: You guys have a lot to say about this movie. I actually enjoyed The Ring (the American original version from 2002 as listed out by Rick above.) And the sequel seems to have the same feel – horror but not gross-out horror. I could give this a shake.
A little over a year ago a couple of guys found themselves at social gatherings going on and on about the state of pop culture and decided, “Hey, we should do a podcast.” Well flash forward one year and we’ve done 52 of them. And we’re just getting started.
Check out this week’s episode where we get into news bits like:
Star The Last Jedi Wars
Woody is Garris Shrike in Han Solo
HPN at SWC:O
McNulty is Lara Croft’s father
Millie Bobby Brown gets down with some giant monsters
Sundance updates
ABC renews a show that we’ve never watched… for its 9th season
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
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Loren: Man, Ser Jorah can’t seem to get away from zombies and dragons. I think I’m ok here.
RDT: Ahh, the final chapter. Our national nightmare is finally over. (Until the inevitable reboot…)
Rick: People who know me/frequent readers of this column know I have fairly wide-ranging tastes. I can say, without shame, that I’ve seen the previous six Resident Evils in the theater. I even paid extra to see the fourth movie in its native 3D. They’ve gotten increasingly ridiculous as the series has gone on and I can’t wait to see what weird lunacy they inject into the last chapter.
Jen: Seven? There are seven of these? You’d think based on sheer dumb luck I’d have seen one of them. Congrats on Milla Jovovich to still kicking ass at 41.
A Dog’s Purpose
Loren: NOPE.
RDT: What Rick said below. Based on that trailer, I have no desire to see a dog die and get reincarnated over and over again.
Rick: Even before the whole kerfuffle about animal abuse surfaced, there was zero chance of me seeing this movie.
Jen: What Ryan said about about having no desire to see a dog die over and over, and what Loren said about nope.
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
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
Loren: I used to LOVE movies like this and in the right mood I’m all about them. But this, this looks pretty awful. Outlook not so good.
RDT: I’m sure I’ll see it eventually. But I just can’t get excited for it the way I do for the Fast & Furious movies.
Rick: I’ve seen the previous two xXx movies and they’re…okay? I mean, they’re ridiculous, almost in a Transporter 2 kind of way, but not nearly as fun. My only real interest in seeing this stems from the fact that Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa are in it. Even if their fight scenes are edited within an inch of their lives (They probably are. We live in the age of 10 frame edits.), they’re always worth watching.
Jen: Wait, The Rock ISN’T in this movie? I’m out.
Split
Loren: I’ve only seen The Sixth Sense. Why start watching his movies now?
RDT: So the twist is that he doesn’t have multiple personalities, he’s actually multiple people, right? I hear Shyamalan is getting better and the reviews are decent, but I still have no desire to see this movie.
Rick: Shyamalan has felt like a one trick pony for ages now. I haven’t watched one of his movies since I laughed my way through The Happening (For those who haven’t seen it, it is not a comedy). He’s had such a wonky track record that it’s hard to entrust my time and dollars to this guy. That said, I’m interested in this. Still hesitant, but interested.
Jen: The reviews on this are… GOOD! I can’t believe it. The premise is so… silly and Shyamalan is… Shyamalan. I can’t imagine a world in which I see this… but maybe I should be more open minded? I’ve got a lot of confused feelings here. Continue reading →
