The first 75-80% or so of Sunshine is awesome.

Watching ID4 for the holiday!

That's a pretty fair assessment. That last bit was where I had most of my issues.
I might just throw that one on as well as it's been a few years since I last did a screening. I saw it in the theater the summer it opened when my wife and I did a dinner/movie "double-date" with one of my cousins and his wife. That was the film selected and my wife actually wanted to see it which was a huge surprise as SF is a genre she normally eschews completely. I had lots and lots of issues with the film but overall thought it was a pretty good turn-off-your-brain "popcorn flick." I watch it now for the over-the-top acting and camp appeal. My grandson is still here and he may enjoy it.

*EDIT*
...and... it's in the player. It was easily found so I threw it in to get his reaction. Now if I can only get his attention away from the "Minecraft" videos (I don't understand the appeal of the game much less watching videos of other people playing...).

I've gotten off to a pretty good start, focusing on rewatching Firefly as well as some new acquisitions (Gamera and Flash Gordon). Of course, the show is excellent, and I love the ensemble so very much! The crew of the Serenity is a lovable bunch of misfits.

Flash Gordon is fun in a low budget way. Buster Crabbe is great. Part of me really wishes all the supporting cast were more attractive. There's a lot of bare legs and torso, but all the men are middle-aged and stocky. I want a little more beefcake!

The Gamera series is just as low budget but not as fun. The first two films were paint-by-the-number affairs that focused too much on uninteresting characters. I'm curious about how the series is going to progress.

It's almost criminal the way Fox treated Firefly. I stopped trying to watch it during the original run. The DVDs made the difference and proved it to be a quality show that *should* have run for several years had it not been bungled, both in scheduling *and* marketing. It's one of my favorites.
Those were produced primarily for prepubescent boys who want action, adventure, and a good looking girl or two. They couldn't care less about "beefcake!"

Seriously though, you can't put any other good looking men against your star! After all, he's the main reason the ladies watched!
I picked up the 11 film DVD set a few weeks back. I think I've only seen a couple of the Gamera films up until now, mainly focusing on the Godzilla films. I always looked upon Gamera as a poor relation and the ones I've seen appear to be aimed squarely at the above mentioned prepubescent boys. I've always enjoyed the first one, and I'm somewhat excited to finally get to see it in the OAR and language, so we'll see how the series progresses as I get into the ones I've never before seen.

My challenge has been off to a bit of a slow start, though I have managed to watch the Back to the Future trilogy which is always enjoyable. Now I look forward to several days off in the near future with plans to catch up on many things in my unwatched pile.

This is why I bought Profiler for my iPod. I love being able to pull it out while shopping and see if I already have it. I'm pretty good at remembering, but when there are sequels involved or seasons, I can never remember the right one!

Very sad!

I saw Catwoman many years ago. A friend had it and since I hadn't watched it, we put it in. I knew at the time that it was supposed to be awful, but I honestly enjoyed it. That was the only time I watched it, so I don't know if I'd have the same feelings now (it's the only Batman film I don't own, I believe) but I remember it being campy fun. I didn't think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I think sometimes those types of films pick up a reputation that is only partly deserved... My biggest thing with these types of films, is you just can't go looking for the plot holes. Because as soon as you do, you find them and then you (well, at least I can't!) can't enjoy the rest of it. But if you can suspend disbelief enough, you can at least get enough entertainment to make it not a waste of 2 hours.

As for Hansel & Gretel I picked that up Black Friday and I'm glad you mentioned it because I think I would have forgotten about it. I mainly picked it up because Jeremy Renner is in it and I've become...attached... since the Avengers movie. I am just hoping it's not so bad as to be unwatchable and I'll be happy with the investment.

I still haven't watched Firefly. I finally saw the series a couple years ago and just haven't gotten to the movie. I need to put that on my list to watch, I guess!

I enjoy the '80s Flash Gordon myself. Such a fun watch. I remember it playing all the time on TV back then and eventually I made a copy, commercials and all. I love the winged guys and the battle on that platform with the spikes. Don't ask me why! I've long since lost the VHS copy, but have picked up the DVD...hmm, this may also go on the list...

I just finished watching Jack and the Giant Slayer. This one has gotten some negative press, if I remember right, but I found it entertaining. I wasn't looking for Oscar material and didn't get it, but I enjoyed what was presented. I'd watch it again. I don't know that I need to own it, but if I came across it in a bargain bin, I'd pick it up.

All this talk of Hansel and Gretel makes me want to give it another shot, as I see it on quite a few channels on Roku. Maybe even the Asylum ripoff, Hansel and Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft. Not tonight though. After taking most of the day off the challenge due to sadness, ready to get back into it, with something easy. Maybe kaiju or sci fi cartoons.

For those who have cable, Encore is doing an Independence Day marathon.

Cool, I'll watch it some time.

When it was on, I wasn't paying much attention to television and missed it entirely. A friend introduced me to it a couple years after it aired. The sad thing is that it often takes science fiction shows a season to settle and really get going (Star Trek: TNG, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate SG-1), but Firefly starts out extremely strong and delivers fourteen extremely good episodes. It's a mystery that Fox couldn't see that they had a quality show on their hands.

Sometimes I forget that there was a time I didn't care about beefcake! I will say that Buster Crabbe is quite the looker, and that hair! One of my favorite aspects so fair has to be Eve Arden's bad lungs. Twice, everyone has been in a situation where they don't have enough air, and she is always the first one to react. The second instance had her fainting before anyone else in the room (including other women) really reacted to the lack of oxygen.

I'm pretty busy this weekend, but hopefully I will find the time to finish up the first set of serials. No one in my family shares my interest in such things, so I'll have to sneak away.

Hopefully, I can find a copy and watch it after I finish the serials. I've never seen it, though I do have the Queen song on my iPod. Flash! Savior of the universe!

While a lot of people watched Independence Day today, I opted for the alien invasion movie that came out around the same time (and the one I liked a lot more), Mars Attacks!. Such a great cast (Jack Nicholson (playing two different roles for no particular reason), Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Danny Devito, Natalie Portman, a young Jack Black, Joe Don Baker (MITCHELL!!), and even Tom freakin' Jones! I personally found it much more enjoyable then ID4, and just as plausible when you think about it.

I ordered a TCM Sci-Fi Greatest Hits with 4 classic sci-fi movies from Amazon today. The set contains 2001: A Space Odyssey, Soylent Green, Forbidden Planet, and the 1960 Time Machine. Hopefully, this time when I watch 2001, I might be able to understand the ending, as last time I saw it, it went right over my head.

The ending is inexplicable unless you've read the book. It's not just you.

I absolutely love Mars Attacks!. A few years ago, they reissued the trading cards, and I had to pick up a couple packs. I think my favorite characters are Pierce Brosnan's perpetually optimistic scientist and Glenn Close's stylish first lady.

I also decided against Independence Day, opting instead for Captain America: The First Avenger as my patriotic selection. I watched it with my grandparents who were extremely entertained. It's my favorite of the first wave of Marvel films. I sometimes prefer my superheroes less pompous than Iron Man or Thor and more memorable than the Incredible Hulk. (For the life of me, I can't remember that movie. I think Liv Tyler runs around reacting to things.)

Well, I ended up watching a movie tonight that I thought I'd never see and wasn't on my list to watch. My brother convinced me to watch "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" which I had no desire to ever see. I have to admit it wasn't as bad as I was fearing (hate James Franco and the CGI wasn't very consistent) but I doubt I'll watch the sequel or even feel the need to. I admit, I'm not a fan of the originals or the other remake that Burton? did.

It's funny that "Mars Attacks" is being mentioned as I had planned on watching that tonight, but perhaps I'll get to it later. I love all of it. It's such a fun watch.

We watched I Am Legend last night, the first (and I expect only) time with the alternate ending. I don't think they could have come up with a worse ending. If I had seen the alternate ending version first, I don't think I would have ever watched the movie again.

While searching for my copy of The Last Unicorn the other day, I came across my set with the trilogy of the first 3 Resident Evil movies, so I decided to watch them today. Milla really kicks some serious ***. Just finished the first movie. Seen the first two, but never seen any mire after that. May watch Afterlife after that, as I see it online.

Went to the theater and saw Snowpiercer today. What an interesting film. It was worth the price of admission to watch Chris Evans slip on a fish during a fight scene. I think I read that the graphic novel the film is based on has been translated into English, I think I'll pick it up.

Don't think I've heard of that movie. On another note, watched my first bonus feature today with the Cast Commentary on Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Watching these movies made me decide to order Resident Evil: Afterlife, so I only need Retribution now.

Orphan Black's on Amazon Prime, and it's really good.



I lowered my expectations as far as I could, and still thought it was terrible a year or so ago..! But the underlined part is my problem, certainly. Why call it Catwoman if you aren't going to base it on Catwoman?!

It's the steampunk effect, certainly.. although I enjoyed it quite a lot more than I'd thought I would when I saw it. I actually thought that without the 'modern' touches it wouldn't have been as enjoyable as it was..

He's really a brunette - I read he had his hair dyed blond in order to appear more like the comic strip. He was very self-conscious about this and kept his hat on in public at all times, even with women present. He did not like men whistling at him.

Because of your post I got out my copy and watched a couple of chapters with my grandson. He really enjoyed what he saw before falling asleep (in all fairness I *did* wait until 9:30 or so before I started them). I hope to get the entire first serial in with him before the challenge ends.
IDW Comics issued a 10 issue mini-series comic in 2012/13 based on the cards. The first issue had 55 variant covers - each a large version of one of the original cards! They sold that in a special box set if you wanted them all. The comic was quite good and lots of fun with each issue coming with a reprint card! It was so well received they went off the deep end and started a series of Mars Attacks crossovers with other comic characters. I've ignored those...

I, too, like Mars Attacks better than ID4.
Exactly. Read the book and *lots* of things will be better understood.

Yes... Tim Burton did the rather poor "reimagined" version. I'd never planned to see "Rise..." but got a copy very cheap so went ahead. I wasn't expecting much but it was better than my expectations - much better than the Burton film. I *do* plan to see the sequel but it's not high on my "must see" list.

But you surely are not including the original POTA with Charlton Heston? That one is a SF classic!

On that note, my grandson and I watched "Beneath...", "Escape from...", and "Conquest of...", yesterday in a mini-marathon. I'm waiting on him to come back over to watch "Battle for..." (IMHO the absolute worst one made - even worse than the Burton film) and will probably watch the Burton version and the new relaunch series. He's really enjoying them, which is understandable as those last 4 were primarily aimed at the kid market.

I'm not much of a fan of the sequels but had wanted a copy of "Beneath...", even though it's not truly all that good, mainly for the bit of closure it provides (until someone figured out how to get around that for the third film). I got all 5 in a set for less than the cost of "Beneath..." alone so figured "Why not?"

I watched the set's bonus documentary (checklist item!), Behind the Planet of the Apes, this morning and found it to be quite good and highly entertaining. Over half of the 2 hour + (!) run time was devoted to the original with the sequels and TV shows each getting about as much attention as they truly deserve.

Is there a 'new' new version.. or is this one the one you mean?

My feelings exactly. I watched a bit of the mini-documentary on the disc because it had Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether doing some of the talking head stuff. At some point someone (don't recall just who) said it deviated from the "origin" as Catwoman never really had one and every era has a different version of Catwoman. I guess that kind of works - *but* when the majority of people going to see the film are expecting the Selina Kyle version but get a all new interpretation you're just asking for trouble! I guess someone didn't pay attention to Burton's reimagined POTA, eh?

To whomever mentioned/recommended The Mighty Peking Man in one of the challenge threads the past few months:

THANK YOU!

I did a blind buy based on the comments that were made and finally watched it this morning. What a hoot! It's one of the funniest films I've seen this year!

Well, I've used up my second wildcard already, although I don't think I necessarily should have needed to, for Terry Gilliam's Tideland. Neither IMDB nor allmovie.com mentioned fantasy in their genres but Wikipedia calls it a "fantasy thriller". I didn't know anything about it before watching it but assumed it would qualify, being a Gilliam picture after all. It definitely had fantasy elements in it.

I'm going on a bit of a Gilliam kick this week, because Zero Theorem starts here on Friday! Man! I can't wait to see that!