LJG765

I hear you, it's 9:30ish for me (like 9:37 or there about). I sort of thought about starting The Fellowship of the Ring but that's way too long for me to watch tonight, though since it is summer, I don't have to get up early. Leaning towards either a Harryhausen film or maybe a MST3K one.

orlmac

It's 9:57 for me here so my hands are tied somewhat. I'm thinking of starting with God Told Me To on Shudder just in case it leaves in the middle of the month.

LJG765

Oh! I just remembered, the checklist is now finalized. I'll update the starting post here and in the list thread with the one I posted a bit ago. I don't remember any more additions or comments though I'll double check. I'll do that right now. Was just about to pop in It Came from beneath the Sea when I realized I hadn't done that yet. Sorry!

lisadoris

I started the Challenge by finishing season 3 of Jessica Jones. Overall it was a satisfying ending to the series.

BobO'Link

Off to a slow start... I sort of wanted to finish the 2nd season of The Rebel I'd started last week. Didn't get it done... may do a few episodes scattered in so it's not sitting there staring me in the face all month waiting to be completed.

Still trying to decide what I want to watch first... I *did* at least get things a bit more organized this year and have all my unwatched SF/Fantasy in an easily accessible location.

numbercrunch

i started Jessica Jones but just couldnt get into it. i watched a couple episodes of the first season.

I am going to kick it off with Star Trek the original series. i have worked my way through season one and halfway through season 2

shadokitty

numbercrunch

you should check out Phil Hendrie. he does a podcast comedy spoof and sometimes he does Art Bell

shadokitty

brainee

I'm debating whether I want to use one of my wildcards on Rocketman (which I managed to catch before it gets booted from all theaters in my area for Spiderman). Even though every synopsis describes it a musical fantasy, no one lists "fantasy" as one of the genres.

My official kick-off viewing was for a Swedish movie called Border. I didn't realize until the credits that it was based on a story by the author of Let the Right One In. While I didn't find it anywhere near as engrossing as that movie, I'm certainly glad I watched it. It's a low-key build-up to the fantasy elements of the story. What starts off as a quiet drama about a Neanderthal-looking woman trying to get by in life morphs into an modern-day fantasy/fairy story about ...

numbercrunch

I watched Star Trek Generations (1994). My plan is to watch all four of the Picard films. I historically was a snob that preferred the original series, but i have to say i really enjoyed Generations and the 'handoff' between Kirk and Picard worked for me.

LJG765

Me too. Unexpected company showed up yesterday and are staying till tomorrow. Not sure if I'll get anything watched today, but hopeful for tomorrow. Also, for me, having a smaller selection really helps my decision making! It's most of the battle for me, making a decision of what exactly I want to watch!

My first watch was It Came From Beneath the Sea. Several years ago, I picked up a 3 movie set from Big Lots and that one I go back to a lot. This year, I watched one of the features and decided to finally hunt down a couple of the others that Harryhausen did, Jason and the Argonauts and the 7th Voyage of Sinbad. I also didn't realize but he did The Thief of Bagdad. It's been a long time since I watched that one, so may add that in as well.

BobO'Link

Mine wasn't unexpected - my son and his family (3 kids, wife, and dog - a small schnauzer that's OK for a dog [I'm absolutely not a dog person]) came in a week and a half ago. They're going home this Saturday. I love seeing them but them staying at my house during the visit really puts a dent in my viewing time. It seems that every year the first week of this challenge is slow for something in that vein. A couple of years we've gone to see them, they've been here a couple of years, or other family shows up.
I think shadokitty's managed to work in episodes of that one in just about every challenge. If I've been keeping up correctly this looks to be the 3rd or 4th time through.
Harryhausen is one of my all-time favorites. I love Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad movies. His more mainstream SF and monster movies are also tops in my book. The only one I'm not that fond of is The Three Worlds of Gulliver, but I've never really cared for the story so that somewhat colors things.

I finally started last night with a long overdue viewing of my BR copy of Revenge of the Creature. I'd purchased this "day of release" and didn't open it due to the reports of botched 3D on this title (and I don't own 3D equipment - just wanting a proper, corrected, version). I got the replacement disc and opted to wait for this challenge. Last night was a good time. I also compared the new disc to the original for the 2D version and didn't notice any difference so the reports that nothing was done to fix that version are true (as I'd suspected). It looks a bit better than my DVD (the more recent single-sided disc DVD box set) except in WS (finally). I'll watch Creature Walks... or Creature from... tonight if possible.

Still deciding on just what TV show to put in rotation. I like to use those for late night viewings when I don't have time for a full movie, am too tired for a full movie, or just as a break from movies. I keep looking at Andromeda as I've only seen S1 of that, and recently as I purchased a very inexpensive S1 DVD set. I enjoyed it enough that I picked up a region free BR full series set so it's sitting there daring me to open it and start watching.

BobO'Link

OK... I have to say it... That's a horrible name for that biopic! Every time... EVERY TIME I see the name I think of the 1999 Disney movie of the same name and have to stop and remind myself it's not that movie but the new one about Elton John.

coyoteblue

I've decided to alternate TV days/movie days for the Challenge. The will hopefully keep me from burning out on either one and I can use the extra time to decide what movies/shows to watch the next day. Tomorrow for instance I've decided to go with a caveman double feature of Caveman (1981) and MST3K "I Was A Teenage Caveman". I've mostly got the TV stuff mapped out, Final Space, Slayers, a second Ace of Wands serial, on the Twelfth I'll start the second season of 3Below. I'm eyeballing The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 2 for the later half of the month and I'll fill in any gaps with whatever catches my eye.

BobO'Link

I managed to watch The Creature Walks Among Us last night. It's a pretty weak entry into the Creature series but I still enjoy it... mostly. My middle granddaughter (age 8) came in while I was watching and started trash talking the underwater bits saying "The monster looks fake and those underwater parts look like green screen." I gave her grief over the "fake" looking monster (OK... it kind of does but it's not that bad) and let her know those underwater bits were filmed underwater. I don't think she believed me...

shadokitty

LJG765

numbercrunch

Made it through all four Picard Star Trek films. I really enjoyed all of them. I think this series is under-rated.

brainee

That's Jason and the Argonauts, though you'll see Harryhausen's trial run for that scene (with just a single skeleton).

LJG765

I started Trek with TNG so these films are my favorite, too. I do enjoy ST: Voyage Home though. Gotta save the whales!

D'oh! I have about 15 minutes left and was wondering when they would show up! Luckily, I do have that one on order too, but likely won't get it for another week or two. I ordered another one tonight as well, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. I'm enjoying this one a fair amount. I might pop in Thief of Bagdad tonight as well since I'm enjoying the fantasy aspect of this (as opposed to the sci-fi ness of It Came From Beneath the Sea).

Oh, and here's the skeleton! Was starting to wonder if I missed him somehow. You totally have to give Harryhausen credit. Even though it's pretty obviously filmed in two parts, they go together pretty darn seamlessly. The movements of the puppet and the actor match up very well!

BobO'Link

When I was a kid I saw through all those effects and wished they could make them more realistic. Now we have CGI that looks very good and realistic and I find myself wishing we had someone like Harryhausen to make new stop action features. The grass ain't always greener...

LJG765

Very true! I'm a huge Disney fan, have been since I was a kid, so I grew up with all the old Disney live action films along with the animated films. So many of them need to use special effects (The Parent Trap, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Darby O'Gill). I went from being thrilled by it to seeing how dated it was and then eventually to admiring how well they did with what they had. The effects person/team had to be ahead of the times to invent new ways of showing the effects and do their best to make it seamless.

I find the newer CGI is amazing, but one bad scene can kick me out of the magic the film creates whereas an older film I appreciate the effects for what they are and it's easier to go with the flow. I mean, there are definitely films where the effects are laughable, but that's another fun aspect of movie watching!

shadokitty

BobO'Link

I'm *always* more impressed by "practical effects" visuals than CGI. While there are some excellent and amazing looking CGI sequences in films there's little "artistry" involved outside producing the artwork for the sequence(s). For CGI all you really need is a good starting image and software that can take that image from point A to point B while keeping perspective correct. No matter how good the original artwork may be, the visuals on film are only as good as the software and rendering hardware are capable of producing. I stopped being impressed by CGI long ago.