What are you watching?

[Majsju]

Season 3 of Prison Break just started on telly here, so I'm watching that, and thinking about doing a marathon of the first two seasons just because.

[Shendare]

I just finished the Samurai Champloo anime series, and I really enjoyed it. It was apparently directed by the same guy as Cowboy Bebop.

 

It took a while to get through seven DVDs for a single-season series, but the number of episodes gave them time to explore plenty of story arcs.

 

The semi-regular contemporary references to hip-hop culture anachronized into 1800's Japan was a little off-putting for me, but that was a part of the series, and I learned to appreciate the show despite them.

 

The three-part final episode had me wanting to cuss a couple of times (which is very rare for me), but the series finished off much better than it appeared it would. *laugh*

 

So, good story and setting, high quality animation, main characters you can really get to like, and plenty of plot variety, without the confusion that can sometimes bring. I give it 4 stars.

 

Now I'm starting with Serial Experiments: Lain, and it's starting out pretty good and mind bending.

[Cadsuane]

Caddy, I was watching the same marathon!  By the end I was wanting to wear something sparkly and dance around the apartment.   But Empy would have laughed at me, so I didn't.

 

Ditto. It's things like that that make me wish I had never stopped dancing. However, as I am trying to ease back into it this semester, my body is telling me that I even if I wanted to, it'd never happen.  :P  :D

 

 

I watched My Life Without Me last night, and really enjoyed it. It's not brilliant, nor perfect, but it's undoubtedly good. It's a cliched premise - a young girl married to the guy she got pregnant by in high school lives in a trailer with her family and has a night job cleaning the local Uni, learns she is very sick and has only a short while to live. The story is about a list of things she wants to do before she dies, and how that works out over the next few weeks. What I liked about it was the non-melodramatic way the movie handled the story. It's a quiet little movie that feels more like real life than one of the awful Lifetime movies with the same premise. Scott Speedman and Mark Ruffalo are her love interests, although I didn't recognize any of the other actors/actresses. It was touching without beeing cheesy, and while I teared up several times, it was not a sob story, either.

[Haxorsist]

I finished season 4 of The Wire the other day. I definately think that it's the coolest tv-show ever. I can't wait for season 5 to start next year.

[Majsju]

I managed to completely forget season 4 of Stargate Atlantis started in september, so now I have the first 7 episodes just waiting to be watched :D

[Lupin]

Watched Mission Impossible 3 last night and thought it was very good.

[Emperor]

Ok somehow the movie Oldboy got on my radar.  Was it from this post?  Is netflix having a laugh at me?  Wait... it is #111 out of the top 250 on IMDB... that is how it got on my list. 

 

Well let me explain the premise of the movie.  I promise I am not making this up.  Let me preface all of this that other than the plot of the movie, I thought it was well done and can see where people could spot genius in the film.  I am going to spoil the whole movie below so if you EVER plan to see it, then skip this.

 

A man is taken off the street and locked in a room for 15 years.  He is released.  He wants to figure out who imprisoned him.  He meets a young girl at a suishi bar.  He passes out.  The waitress brings him home.  He goes out and beats up a bunch of people.  He comes home after being stabbed and the girl takes care of him.  He sleeps with girl.  He goes back out to figure out what is happening.  He finds the guy who locks him up.  He falls in love with the girl.  He figures out that the bad guy is mad at him because he spread a rumor about how easy his sister was in high school.  Turns out the sister killed herself because of the rumors and the brother was banging the sister.  The bad guy then reveals to the man that the girl he is love with and has slept with is his daughter.  WTF!!!!  I honestly did not see that coming.  Seems the baddie hipnotized the two people to fall in love when they met.  In the end, the baddie kills himself and the man finds the person that hypnotizes him to make him forget the girl is his daughter.  In the end, the daughter and father end up together.  WTF!!!  Disturbing....

 

 

 

 

[Majsju]

I finally got around to start watching Battlestar Galactica. Something about the pilot made me too sceptical to continue watching, but now I had a gap with all other series off the air, so I started. And it took about two episodes for me to get hooked. Three weeks later, I'm almost done with season 3  ;D

[Cadsuane]

I just finished the first episode of Jericho, and I am amazed. Even with crappy internet video quality, it's really good. I know what I'll be doing all weekend while I'm sick. ^_^

 

 

EDIT: After a few more episodes, I'm a little less impressed, but still enjoying it. The romantic storylines are way cheesy, and a couple of the actors/actresses are mediocre, but overall it's still worth watching.

[Samuraiflip05]

Well for christmas I got the first 2 seasons of American Dad and my wife got the first season of Dirt.  So I will be getting to those soon.

[Emperor]

Caddy I agree with your assessment of the romantic story line... but other than that I like the show and am glad to see it return for season 2.

 

Yveva and I are watching Rome atm.  I really love this series.  I have Eastern Promises sitting at home and hope to see it over the next few days.

[Haxorsist]

I watched all seasons of Buffy, and thought it was alright, so now I'm watching Angel. I'm only a couple of episodes into Season 1, so I'm not sure if I like it yet. When I'm done with Angel I'm thinking about checking out 30 Rock. Has anyone seen it? Is it good?

[Emperor]

30 rock is great in my opinion. 

 

Angel gets better after more characters are introduced.  Stick with it and you will greatly enjoy it.

[Jelly]

I'm watching Porridge.  :P

[Cadsuane]

I've seen 2 or 3 episodes of 30 Rock, and not been all that impressed. I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as the awards it's been nominated for seem to indicate. That said, it really was just a couple eps, and that's not necessarily a good indication of it's true quality.

 

 

I started Dexter this weekend, and I think I like it. It's a sort of creepy premise, but it seems more original than most of what's on, and I like the quirky characters. Anyone else watched this??

 

 

 

Jelly - what flavor?? ^_^

[Emperor]

Cads what did you think of Dexter.  One of my favorite shows on TV these days.

 

 

Stomp the Yard:  Did you see Drumline?  Well take away the drums.... ummm... and now do some spasmic dancing.  You have Stomp the Yard.  Really... it was the EXACT SAME PLOT.  I watched the whole thing though and liked it.  Not loved it... but it was cool. 

 

Waitress:  Really cute movie.  Makes me want to bake pies.  Yveva liked it much more than me.

 

Razor:  Finally, after trying to buy it at Best Buy for months, I got it through Netflix.  It was nice to get a dose of BSG after waiting for months for a new season. 

 

[Emperor]

I knew I was missing one.

 

Superbad:  Maybe I am too old now to laugh at the dirty humor, but this movie did not blow me away like it did most people.  True, there were some funny points.  I was not overly impressed though.  So much so that I did my taxes during the end of the movie.

[SinisterDeath]

I knew I was missing one.

 

Superbad:  Maybe I am too old now to laugh at the dirty humor, but this movie did not blow me away like it did most people.  True, there were some funny points.  I was not overly impressed though.  So much so that I did my taxes during the end of the movie.

 

What, you didn't like the penis jokes?!

[Emperor]

One or two penis jokes... ok thats funny.  An entire movie devoted to it kind of was too much.

[SinisterDeath]

One or two penis jokes... ok thats funny.  An entire movie devoted to it kind of was too much.

 

But.. but... The Picture book was the funniest part of the movie!

[Cadsuane]

Cads what did you think of Dexter.  One of my favorite shows on TV these days.

 

I liked it. I think I watched all available episodes, inside of a week or so. It was interesting to watch his character evolve into someone that actually sort of DOES care about some people. Lila was hot but creepy, and I felt a bit sorry for Doakes.

 

 

Waitress:  Really cute movie.  Makes me want to bake pies.  Yveva liked it much more than me.

Loved Waitress. Preferred it to Juno. (Unrelated) Made a pie yesterday for the superbowl. ^_^

[Samuraiflip05]

Been digging The Sarah Conner Chronicles" on Fox on Demand.

 

And Superbad was exactly that Super Bad.  This movie was the furthest stretch of teen angst comedy I have ever seen.  They took the same two jokes through the entire movie and just ran it into the ground, put it up the A** of a dead horse then beat the horse with the same two joke lines.  I have enjoyed lots of off the wall odd comedies, but this one was not good at all.  Sorry my little rant of the day.

[Shendare]

My recent Netflixes have included: Rage in Placid Lake, Seven Samurai, Boondock Saints, Rush Hour 3, Shaun of the Dead, Spider-Man 3, Librarian II, Hot Fuzz, Resident Evil: Extinction, Soylent Green, Messenger: Joan of Arc, and Ice Pirates.

 

All 4 Star movies for the most part. I don't think I'd watch any of them over and over again (my personal requirement for 5 Stars), though Messenger would probably be the closest out of the list.  I gave Ice Pirates 3 stars, and it almost hurt to do so. It might have gotten 4 out of me if it were still the 80's, but the screenplay really didn't save it from the 80's camp. Oh well, 3 stars means I'm still glad I saw it. I just didn't love it.

 

Up and coming are: Caveman, Andromeda Strain, Omega Man, Clash of the Titans (1981), Lord Protector, Crossworlds, and a few anime and documentary series (Samurai 7, Challenge of Flight, History of NY Mafia -- chosen BEFORE I got into the Seanchan Org, oddly enough).

 

Hmm... Netflix lists Omega Man as "very long wait". Maybe that one will end me up on a waiting list for a while. The 1984 release of 1984 still shows up as "Unavailable, availability unknown", and it's been that way for months. I wonder if their only copy got trashed in the mail or something.

[Emperor]

Upcoming this week for me:

The Assassination of Jesse James

Sunshine

 

After that:

The Host

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

La Vie en Rose

 

I have a queue list about 150 long. 

 

 

[Majsju]

I really should get around to watching Elisabeth. Heard a lot of good things about it, but never taken the time.