Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Tough choice... I have new BRs of the LOTR and Hobbit extended trilogies that keep calling my name... It's been very hard to devote the two full days needed for them this year.

"Watch a superhero movie" - Sure - Probably should have been included long ago as those seem to be the summer "tent pole" movies these days. I know I have over a dozen just waiting for my attention (mostly BR upgrades but there're a few I've never seen before) and likely won't get to any of them this year (partly due to wanting to watch them with my grandson who's been quite busy this summer).

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I went with Raiders. It was shorter than the extended version of Fellowship. Depending on time, I may try to fit in the next 3, but I do want to try to fit the LOTRs in too. Decisions, decisions!

There are so many and if you combine them with the superhero movies pre-Marvel, I think there are more than enough for people not to be stuck watching one or two films over and over.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I did a quick search on IMDB with "Feature Film - Science Fiction - Superhero (key word)" and came up with 387(!) titles. Wow! I'd have never guessed there were that many. I tend to think only of the "big" ones - Superman, Batman, Marvel Universe (and those only in the past ~15 years), and a handful of others. Until I did that search I was thinking there'd be 50 or so and felt that might be generous. Looking at that search's results it seems Marvel movies make up the majority of the top 50. That's just insane!

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Both Rutger Hauer and David Hedison have passed. I'll be pluging in Split Second (1992) and The Lost World (1960) tomorrow.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

That is a LOT of superhero movies...though looking at the list a bit, they do include Matrix and Tron and other films that I'm not sure fall under the category normally!

I can put their names down for next year since they died during the challenge.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

It's interesting, how I never realized there are some slight similarities between 'Field of Dreams' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' - finally hooked up a new 4K player to my 4K TV and have gotten into a swing of rewatching and buying more in the format, saw the steelbook for 'Dreams' the other day at Best Buy and said, aw what the heck ... haven't seen this movie in years, and rewatching it made me appreciate it even more.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Yeah... I saw that too and wondered just how they, and some others, have "superhero" as a tag/keyword. That list also includes a number of movies that are supposedly being released in 2020. It'll need some tweaking to be useful next year but still returns a surprising number of truly qualifying titles.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Another actor to add to the list would be Tim Thomerson. He has a ton of movies.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched Logan last night with my grandson. We both felt it was kind of "meh" and generally like the previous Wolverine movies better. To us it felt like a bunch of action sequences strung together with a very loose script. A "road movie" without much road. What did we miss that others see to make this one rank higher than the other Wolverine efforts?

We both felt like there was a build-up movie we'd missed but looking it up find that was not the case. It needed one...

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Done, thanks!

I can't believe how fast the month has flown. I plan on not going out much myself the next few days, so hope to get more watches in than usual. Never too early to watch animation!

This has been on my to watch list for a couple challenges. I need to just sit down and watch it, but I've been wondering myself if it'll match up to the hype.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Head's up. The Boys starts streaming on Prime today. If you like your superheroes with a dash of gore and buckets of blood, check it out.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

November is so far my favorite first-time viewing movie of the month. Though I imagine it's not a movie many have heard of (let alone seen). The stark B&W cinematography is striking and really contributes to the atmosphere. 19th century Estonian folklore is such a foreign thing to me, and I love movies that expose me to something new. It's arty for sure, but the underlying story wasn't difficult to follow. And the movie was constantly filled with weird and surreal things (like werewolves, ghosts, deals with the devil, witches, talking snowmen, giant chickens, and a cow-stealing flying robot) that my interest never wavered. I also liked that the movie wasn't afraid to lighten up and have a laugh at things.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Sounds interesting. Looks like I'll need to pick up a copy for the Horror Challenge...

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Last night, I started watching Return of the King. Of the three LOTR movies, it's my favorite. I did have to split it into two viewings, but it didn't suffer for the break.

I also decided to watch Star Trek Into Darkness. It's been about 5 years since I watched it last and am enjoying it. I think it really gets a bad rap. I know that when it first was released, I thought of it as more of a homage than a remake.

The challenge is quickly coming to a close! Anyone running out of shows to watch? Or more likely, too many to watch? Don't forget the last day you do get double credit with the animation challenge!

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Run out of sci-fi/fantasy to watch? Never! I did put a dent in my streaming queue and unwatched pile for the genres. I should be able to finish off the time travel anime Stein's Gate (something I blind bought over last year's Black Friday sale) soon (I've watched 12 of 25 episodes). I hope to be caught with the Arrowverse shows to watch episodes the week they air in the fall, but I still have some catching up to do (I just passed the crossover episodes from last season). Doesn't look like I'll get to the classics I own that I thought I might have a chance to rewatch.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I suspect most people will be on the side of not getting enough of their unwatched pile watched! I really haven't gotten into the Arrowverse, but hope you catch up!

I'm happy that I was able to get 2 specific films of my own collection watched. One I've owned 10 years, the other 11. They almost always end up on my watch list, but I never got to them or had the desire to watch them.

The first was Jumper and it wasn't bad. It wasn't great either, but watchable. The second will probably be a bit more controversial...Serenity. I watched the show several years ago but didn't love it. I've wanted to get it off the unwatched list, but figured I wouldn't enjoy it that much. I'm about half way through it and it's not as bad as I thought it would be, but still wishing I was further along. I am enjoying the cameos from actors I didn't realize were in it. David Krumholtz from Numb3rs and Tamara Taylor from Bones, for example.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I'm trying to decide if I want to start the LOTR trilogy this late in the challenge. I normally watch all three in a single day, and that's not likely to happen right now, so splitting them up would feel rather odd.

I still can't quite get into the "New Trek" movies. They're just not "Trek" but more rather generic SF action movies in a Star Trek wrapper. For me, Into Darkness felt like just another retread they've done far too many of with Trek, both old and new.

Run out of stuff to watch? No chance. SF/Fantasy is my favorite genre. Because of that I have enough unopened product on the shelf to do this at least a couple more times before that's exhausted.

Last week, when I realized how close we are to the end, I went through the unopened SF/Fantasy movies and pulled out any that qualify for Horror to save for October. That took at least 25 titles out of the queue and there's still enough left for 3-4 weeks without touching the unopened TV series. There are enough of those to do 3+ months.
I have a couple of movies like that on my shelf. I picked up Terminator: Genisys and 9 from Hastings a year or so before they closed shop. I've said I'm finally watching both this year so we'll see... 9 counts as a crossover title with the Animation challenge so there's that.

I didn't care for Jumper. It was a bit too generic and predictable. It didn't help having Hayden Christensen as the star since I felt he did a horrible job in the SW movies. It certainly colored my opinion going in.

I absolutely love Firefly and hated the way Fox treated the series. It was cancelled far too soon. I was reservedly excited about Serenity, as it was billed as pretty much a wrap up for the series. After seeing it... I really don't care for it much. It does close loose ends but does so rather unsatisfyingly. A lot of that is because at least a season of story is crammed into the movie run time. And there are some tough things to accept with the way it all plays out. Sure, they'd have been tough in the series but those events seemed too quick and unfulfilling in the movie. I rewatch the move once for every 5 or 6 times through the series.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched a couple of favorites last night - new BR upgrades, although I can't say they look that much better than my old DVDs.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - a great vehicle for Kurt Russell. Nice martial arts action, magic, mayhem with a side of comedy. What more do you need?

Minority Report (2002) - The *one* SF title from Spielberg I actually like. Based on a story by a favorite author, Phillip K. Dick, it's a good adaptation and, for a change, Spielberg doesn't ruin it.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I can see why people would feel that, but I guess I enjoy them enough that I personally still accept them as Trek. Regular Trek did enough time travel/alternative universes so it's not like it's totally out of left field. And most sci-fi/action films now have that glossy, over-the-top look to them so even if they had created a new trek line without re-doing Kirk and crew, it'd still look similar. I kind of like how we expect one thing but they do another.

LOTRs-I usually like to watch them in order, but like you realized I wouldn't have time to get to all 3 extended versions. The third is the one I really wanted to watch anyway, so I just skipped to it. I've seen them all enough before it's not like I'm missing things!

I really enjoyed 9 if that counts for anything. I saw the short first and really liked it, so I watched the movie fairly quickly after it was released. I think it's different which is always hard to do.

Hmm, maybe that's part of why I didn't want to watch it, I don't like Christensen either because of those movies, but honestly, I couldn't have told you who starred in it before I watched it. I picked the DVD up on a sale back when I was splurging a LOT more on my film and buying lots of blind buys. It was watchable, but if someone told me I had to get rid of some movies in my collection, that would def. be on the chopping block.

Firefly definitely got the short end of the stick by Fox. I know the movie was supposed to make up for it, but I kind of felt like the first half was getting viewers up to date who had never watched the TV show before, so they lost a lot of time rehashing what most fans already knew. The ending did pick up for me but, like you, thought it was unsatisfying. Reading the IMDb.com trivia, it seems like they were hoping for a sequel but that just never panned out. Thinking they left things open ended so they could go back and do another film about 'em.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I have no problem with how they look - the "glossy, over-the-top" you mention. It's the stories that don't feel like Trek stories. I'm also not a fan of J.J. Abrams and his directorial style. Of all of them I like the first the best. The 2nd just rips off Khan, even though it's not exactly a remake, and the 3rd is full of absolutely ludicrous scenes and events. It, more than the other two, is a very generic SF Action movie with Trek grafted on.
I thought I remembered you talking about 9 quite favorably in the past. I believe I purchased my copy on the strength of your comments. In any event, if I don't like it I'm blaming you for the purchase. ;)

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I can see that. I honestly don't remember the 3rd that much, so you're probably right that it's pretty bland. I'm with you on Abrams. Not my favorite director. Like I mentioned, I'm okay with the Khan story line. I don't mind the retread of it. *shrugs*

Well, if you got the deal I got for 9, ($7.88), I'm not too worried about you blaming me for buying it. Of course, now that I've mentioned it again, you're going to hate it! But honestly, I think you'll appreciate it.

I broke into my Stranger Things: season 2 today. Decided to skip s.1 this year since I have watched the shows and wanted to see s. 2. My original plan was to watch both, but time flies! I'm 1/3 of the way through, 3 episodes down. Liking them so far, though I do wish they stayed longer on certain story lines at a time. Did not realize that Sean Astin was in it. He's not a main character but is getting there. I kind of feel like if there is a show that takes place in the 80s, it's appropriate that he's in it.

Oh! Meant to add that disc 1 has an unskippable ad for the new Lost in Space. It's about 2:40 long, so not horrible, but still annoying!

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Here's a question that is about a horror movie that watching another movie last night had me struggling to remember what it was (and I figure you guys probably watch horror too):

What horror movie had the classic story of a group of people gathering at a mansion for a will-reading, only to start being murdered one-by-one? Yeah, dozens of them, but here was the twist ... the person responsible for all of the deaths was the recently deceased rich guy. He wasn't a ghost or anything, but he was a genius who hated his relatives and he knew them so well that he could set up traps to kill them all before he died. I'm pretty sure it was a late 60's/early 70's movie.

By the way, the movie that had me thinking about this was a 2017 Italian movie called The Laplace's Demon. Which has nothing to do with demons ... "Laplace's demon" is a real scientific concept about the predictability of the universe. The movie was about a group of people who were invited to an isolated mansion by a scientist to participate in an experiment. Once everyone got there, they were locked in and in a video the scientist claims to have found equations that solve "Laplace's demon" for human actions. And to test it ... well, at one point a killer robot is unleashed :D

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I got mine (DVD) for ~$2.70 ($1.30 for the title, the rest tax & shipping - Hastings before they went under. I really miss that store, especially their online presence).
Thanks for the heads-up on the promo. Did you try the "insert disc 2" trick to skip it?

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Been a tough month, with so many plans on what to watch, but a hectic month not allowing much viewing. I had planned to finally move beyond season one of Stranger Things. Been too long, so I re-started and enjoyed the first few episodes again.

Then our daughter took a 180 and started wanting to spend time with us again, so I’ve been soaking that up while we can. She told me she was tired of Stranger Things and was super excited about The OA, so I switched to that series.

But then I remembered that our free month of CBS All-Access ends in about a week, so I’ve switched over to Star Trek: Discovery. Hopefully can squeeze both seasons in, but it’ll be close.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Kids... I have a dozen movies just sitting here waiting for one or another of the grandkids to decide "it's time" to finally watch it with me. Several are unopened and qualify this month...

In spite of not being overly impressed with ST: Discovery I caved and purchased a copy from Amazon during "Amazon Days" when it was on sale for $17 + tax. I don't figure it'll be cheaper any time soon so I gave in to my completist mentality for Trek. It came in yesterday. I'm trying to decide if I want to move it up in the queue and get it watched this year. If I don't there's no telling how long it'll sit on the shelf... I'm still trying to make time for S1 of The Orville (that I purchased release week) and I like it far better than Discovery.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Wow, good deal! So, yeah, I think you'll def. get at LEAST 2.70 worth of enjoyment out of the film!

I did not, as I was watching the trailer and didn't think to check right away. I just watched the whole disc (3 epis/disc) and after, I restarted it and tried to get past it. I wrote the trick down in the notes section of Profiler, so I should remember it the next time I want to watch either season!

My original plan was to watch both, but time came into play. I'm glad you got to spend time with you daughter even if you didn't get to ST 2! I think next year I'll be getting either a trial for CBS All-Access or just get it for a month. I've watched to see Discovery but even more so want to see the new Picard series.

Wow, prolific is an understatement! I'll add his name to the list for next year, but am also thinking of adding it to the Animation challenge this year as well...thanks for the suggestion!

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

It sounds like a variation on Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (And Then There Were None) where a group of 10 strangers is invited to a party at a mansion in the Alps. Each arrives expecting entertainment. However, a recorded message from their absent host informs them that each guest has been responsible for someone's death, and consequently each will be killed.

I have no idea what it might be if not that.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I'm pretty sure the movie is Arnold (1973). It has some interesting kills for the early 70's.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

So I'm watching Season 2 of Stranger Things and Max's brother, Billy has been bugging me. Then it hit me. They took his inspiration from The Lost Boys. The earring, the smoking, the hair...

Anyway, I'm down to the last 2 episodes and really liking it. They know how to ramp up the energy and I'm very glad I don't have to wait a week for the next episode! Going to be hard to wait until I can watch Season 3!

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

The title doesn't sound familiar (though it seems like something easily forgotten), but the story line certainly sounds like what I was thinking of. I'll have to see if I can track down anywhere (besides the used VHS for sale from Amazon for $75).

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Try your local library. I know I've gotten a lot of out of print movies from mine over the years. My local library is actually connected with every one on this side of the state, so it's not just my tiny local one, but hundreds. Worth a shot especially since you're not 100% of if it's the right movie...

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

It's on youtube.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I finished The Outer Limits (original) and the last two seasons of X Files, so goal achieved. Surprised how much I liked the new X Files, especially after not liking season nine. I think next year I will delve into the 90's revival of The Outer Limits (if it's still on Hulu).

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I finished the Godzilla set a couple of days ago. The last movie, Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) was just about as silly as some of the 70s movies - lots of what looked to be throw-back/homage type moments.

Last night I watched Season of the Witch (2011). It wasn't bad - IMHO better than the IMDB numbers (5.4) would have you believe. I'm not a huge fan of Nicolas Cage but he does a good job here, and it's a genre I think works better for him. Ron Perlman is also quite good. I'd watch it again.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched the Director's cut of Army of Darkness last night. I really like that particular cut and wish they'd made the 4th movie. Oh well...

After that I went very old school with Tarzan: The Ape Man (1932) - an all time favorite that I've not watched in several years. When I was a kid I watched a Tarzan movie *every* Saturday afternoon for over a decade. I followed it with Tarzan Escapes (1936) - another favorite. Those first half dozen with both Weissmuller and O'Sullivan were the best and defined Tarzan for us 60s kids.

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Reminder! Today is not only the last day of this challenge, but the first day of the animation one. If you're participating in both, today is a double credit day!

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Re: 12th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread