LJG765

Well...I can't say I hated it but it really wasn't in my top ten, to put it lightly. It was ok and it didn't help that I knew what the ending was going be before seeing it for the first time, so I didn't have that "wow" moment.

I just finished "Idaho Transfer." Has anyone seen this as all? I am totally confused about the whole thing. I only watched this because it's on the same disc as "Prisoners of the Lost Universe" and having watched that, wanted to finish the other movies on the disc. Spoiling the rest:



I'm usually pretty good at suspending disbelief but this movie made no sense. It was directed by Peter Fonda, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad...guess I was wrong!

Two more on this disc to go. Not sure if I'm going to make it...!

I am going on a mini vacation here for the next few days so I'm probably not going to get a lot of viewings in. Bringing some discs with me, just don't know if I'll get to them.

shadokitty

Have fun on your vacation.

BobO'Link

Last night I watched the restored, original length version of She (1935). Again, I'd have to play the 95 minute version alongside the 102 minute one to see what's been added. It's a very good film but not one I've seen with any regularity so I was unable to pick out the additions.

Then I watched the colorized version so I could listen to the commentary by Ray Harryhausen and Marion Cooper biographer Mark Cotta Vaz. The commentary is only available on the colorized version! While listening I found out why - at least a third of the commentary is solely to extol the virtues of Legend's colorization of the film, which was done under Harryhausen's supervision! The parts *not* dealing with the colorization were quite good but I found myself wishing they'd done the commentary on the B/W version so as to not be constantly pointing out the process. That said, the colorization on this film actually works fairly well and fits the "feel" of the film. Harryhausen said several times that Cooper had wanted to film She in color but the budget was cut at the last minute forcing him to use B/W stock. Of course he's said pretty much the same thing about his works that were colorized under his supervision. There's a high probability that I'll watch the colorized version of this one in the future. Yeah, I know... blasphemy, eh? - I guess I'll have to find a way to reconcile myself with that one... I *do* know I want to watch the colorized version at least *once* again *without* the commentary to see if it truly holds up.

My grandson is back at the house so it's going to be a "Apes" afternoon, starting with the last film of the original POTA series: Battle for the Planet of the Apes. After that one I'll see if he wants to watch the Tim Burton adaptation...

BobO'Link

It's been ~4 years since I've seen it but from what I recall:

For your other questions I'd have to watch the film again. As you've now piqued my interest I may do just that...
Enjoy! The one I did last week was a nice break - especially so since we were pretty much cut off from all technology.

LJG765

Thanks, I'm going to try!



I'm hoping this small break will be fun. It's a full family affair so it might get a little close quarters, but we're right on a lake, so as long as the weather cooperates, I'm planning on spending quite a bit of time in it. Normally we are all cut off from everything but the TV, but I think my brother is getting wi-fi that we can all use as his work needs him to be on call...so I'm totally taking advantage of it.

See you all in a few days!

BobO'Link

Well... it's my turn for tech problems this time out...

My main computer crashed a hour or so ago. I let it cool (the PS felt a bit warmer than I'd like) but that didn't work so I sucked it up and pulled it out (it has lots of DVDs around it so removal involves relocating a few stacks...), opened it up and nothing felt "hot" - that's when I saw the capacitors... at least 4 bad ones and at a point I'm surprised it's lasted this long! I'm currently using my work laptop and attempting to get one of the "spares" I have up and working. Of course the last one I messed around with has also decided to be problematic... sigh... at least I do this for a living so I'm not beholden to anyone else for support.

On a brighter note...

My grandson and I watched Battle for the Planet of the Apes (which he proclaimed to be the worst one), the Tim Burton reimagined one (which he liked better than "Battle..." but said it wasn't all that good - bright kid), and the first of the latest relaunch, Rise of... which he liked. I made sure he saw it and understood what was going on as he's somewhat interested in seeing the latest installment. We'll see... I've not yet decided if I want to see it in the theater or just wait for the DVD.

When I put the last one in the player he commented "If that's another Ape movie I'm going to be all aped out when it's over..." As it started I assured him there were *no more* to watch unless we go to the theater!

*EDIT*
I'm back on a desktop which makes me happy. I'm not too fond of laptop or tablet systems...

mrcellophane

I may try to fit in some of the PotA films. I hadn't planned on revisiting the series, but it may be time with the new film hitting theaters. The sequels are definitely not up to par with the original, but they're still a lot of fun!

Today, I finished the first Flash Gordon serial and started Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars which must have had a larger budget. There are some cool effects - I especially liked the clay men dissolving in the cave walls - and the costumes look more convincing. Flash is as dashing as ever. I looked up photos of Buster Crabbe, and he looks much different as a brunette. Speaking of which, Eve Arden is now a brunette; unfortunately, she still has that darn fainting problem.

I also continued my foray into the Gamera series with Gamera vs. Viras. Wow... just wow... vs. Gyaos was a step in the right direction, easily besting vs. Barugon, but vs. Viras was just the worst. It's basically a clips show, recycling the monster battles from the first three films and shoehorning them into a frame story that has aliens kidnapping two boy scouts in order to control Gamera. Thankfully, the boys are not as annoying as the kids in previous films. Anyway, I hope the series picks up in the 70s; if not, I just have to hold out until the 90s trilogy.

shadokitty

Prizes are all pulled and ready to go. I have updated the first post with the prizes. Here they are. They are in 3 groups.

Group 1: OOP Double DVD set of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, with the Theatrical Edition; Event Horizon; Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Group 2: Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition; Gamera Legacy Collection, 1965-1999: 11 Movie Set
Group 3: King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson (book); Battle: Los Angeles

Once again, a big thanks go out to Goldenwheels.

On another note, watched the original King Kong this afternoon, for the first time in about a year. Always enjoyed that movie.

Cardsfan111

Watched a Kubrick double feature this afternoon: 2001: A Space Odyssey & A Clockwork Orange. I had never seen either one. I wish I could have the afternoon back to do-over. Hard to understand the mass appeal regarding these 2 films.

Gobear

I watched Jodorowsky's Dune on demand. I find Jodorowsky to be a fascinating director whose visions do not always translate to the mass market. The costume designs and the Proustian length of his script (14 hours!) would not have worked, but I would have loved to have seen his version. Guillermo del Toro would be a great choice to create a new film of Frank Herbert's novel. IMO.

mrcellophane

I want to check out this documentary; I've heard such good things. Now, I really want to watch Guillermo del Toro's Dune. I also feel that Darren Aronofsky could be up to the task.

This morning I think I encountered a John Woo film. I was driving to work, and suddenly an explosion of birds flew in front of my car. When I got to work, I was confronted with my credit card statement and two cartons of sound recordings that needed to be entered into a database of the archives. This meant a day of dull data entry and invoice shuffling. To alleviate some of my boredom, I watched Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and enjoyed its 70s campiness. I will say that the children are a lot creepier than intended. Oh, and Eddie Albert's hair is massive.

I also delved into The Captains Close Up. The episodes are compiled from interview footage that William Shatner didn't use in his documentary. I loved it. The documentary pretty much focused on Shatner and his journey, and these episodes give us a clearer picture of the actors that have sat in the Captain's seat. The three I watched were fascinating.

When I got home, I shifted back to kiddie entertainment with Gamera vs. Guiron which was a definite step up from vs. Viras. Two boys end up on a distant planet, and Gamera has to come to the rescue. While the puppets are just as terrible, the miniature work was really good. I loved the design of the alien buildings. Also, there are sexy space vixens with a taste for children's brains, so that's a point in the movie's favor.

SterlingBen

It might be the alcohol talking but I am really liking the Planet Of The Apes TV series.

BobO'Link

She, too, dyed her hair blonde for that first one. Brunette is her natural hair color.
I need to open my copy of that set and start watching. My problem is I much prefer the original Japanese with subtitles but if I start it too late I'll easily fall asleep on it. Maybe this weekend...

I jumped out of movie mode a bit to start Season 2 of Deep Space 9. It's been years since I've seen that one and I recently caved and purchased S2-4 (I already had S1 & S5 and watched S1 sometime back). I can also watch TV episodes late at night and easily catch up/re-watch any sections I fall asleep on. At this point I'm thinking I enjoyed S1 better than the first 8 episodes I've seen of S2. Most of them have felt pretty generic/disposable but I see some of the coming turmoil beginning to build.

shadokitty

I've watched Deep Space 9 off and on on Netflix. Still on Season 1, but enjoying what I see so far.

davidh777

Turn-off-your-brain popcorn pretty much sums it up. My kid had never seen it but was doing some eye-rolling.

I followed it up with some more Will Smith: I, Robot, which I haven't seen in years but looks very good on BD and has some cool imagery.

The TCM sets are great for both shelf space and challenges.

I'm trying to finish up the first season, which I started for the Action challenge. Watched eps 5-7 last night.

BobO'Link

I think what threw me off is the season starts with a *three* parter that could have easily been done in two. Most of the episodes so far (5 of 8) have dealt with the Cardassians in some way or another. Looking over the synopsis of episodes to come shows this to be significantly lessened with a return to more character development and less about the Cardassians. I don't have a issue with the episodes other than they seemed to drag down the season beginning a bit. Had they put these later in the season, or had I gone directly from S1 to S2 with no time between, I think I'd have a better opinion of them. based on some of the synopsis I read I'm looking forward to some upcoming episodes.

shadokitty

Very true. I think tonight I'm going to watch Beast From 20,000 Fathoms from the TCM set I already own, and then go into my Harryhausen set.

shadokitty

I've decided to start a long term challenge for myself, and what better time to start it than this time of month. I'm going to work through all Star Trek episodes and movies. While this month won't be all Star Trek, I'm going to watch a lot of it.

mrcellophane

Sounds like quite the challenge! In the last couple of years, I've watched all of TOS and TNG as well as all of the films. I haven't started DS9 yet. It's the only series I haven't really watched before. I've seen all of Voyager and much of Enterprise either during their original run or in reruns. Not sure if I'll get back to it during this challenge.

BobO'Link

Good luck! That's a *lot* of content there!

LJG765

Travis and I watched all of TOS last year, plus the animated series and some of the movies. We're sort of trying to finish off the rest of the movies, but life got in the way for both of us. I really enjoyed the marathon, though. I'm not sure if I could have done ALL the series (heck, I only have one season of TNG, all of Enterprise and most of the fan packs (like the Time Travel one) so I couldn't actually do them all) even with taking my time without getting a bit overwhelmed. I hope you manage it!

I'm back from vacation, weather did not cooperate which was a bit sad-rain for 3 days and then 60s today, but I hope to get back this weekend and get in some swimming yet. Did get out on the lake today which was probably the funnest part of the week (by the end, we were all getting a bit cooped up). I had brought some dvds with me, but they did not get watched. Oh well. I'm enjoying the quiet tonight, but plan to get a couple watches in tomorrow after my appointments.

shadokitty

After thinking about it, I realized it -would- be too much of an undertaking, just wishful thinking I guess.

LJG765

I didn't mean to discourage you! Maybe make a goal of getting through TOS and the animated series in a certain time frame. Then maybe the movies related to the TOS cast. And then go on to the other series from there?

lisadoris

I made my way through the entire Trek franchise in 2012. It took about eight months to do but it is doable - if not exhausting. The various challenges helped me push through the episodes a tad faster than I probably would have done on my own. It was totally worth it to finally see the episodes I had never watched before and to relive some of the great ones and it helped me remember why I'm a Trekkie in the first place.

shadokitty

Maybe do TOS, the animated series, and the TOS movies over a period of 6 months, then if I'm not worn out, pick another series.