On 4/9/2022 10:00 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 2022-04-09 08:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:
>
>> What did you watch?
>
> I did get some things done... but "Quarantine", a movie I've been
> wanting to watch for over a decade, finally popped up on Tubi, so I made
> an effort to watch that, and its sequel:
>
> The Boys Presents: Diabolical (Prime) - "I'm Your Pusher" and "Boyd in
> 3D" (ep's #3 & #4).
>   I liked ep. #3 quite a bit, though I can't figure out why Jason
> Isaacs was voicing Butcher, when the episode had a bunch of other
> regular "The Boys" cast members (e.g. Antony Starr, Simon Pegg) voicing
> their own characters. Anyway, in this one, Butcher leans on and flips a
> "drug dealer to the Supes", causing one of the (non-Seven) Supes to go
> out of control and instigate a bloodbath at an high-profile Vought event
> with Homelander and Queen Maeve present, who have to scramble in
> response. This one was written by Garth Ennis, so its "fidelity" to the
> source material makes sense... One thing that confused me: in this, one
> of the Seven was an "alien" Supe named Jack From Jupiter - that means
> this either takes place before Lamplighter or The Deep or A-Train was
> even in the Seven... or this takes place in an "alternate universe". I
> couldn't be sure which...
>   Ep. #4 was by far the weakest entry. I did not like the animation
> style, and it felt like it had almost nothing to do with "The Boys"
> (Colby Minifie has a cameo as EVOL!!1! PR minion Ashley from Vought, but
> that's pretty much it). But this one, which was trying to be a
> commentary on social media obsession (and drug use?), was just weak.
>

I think maybe I liked this one a little more than you did.

> Quarantine (Tubi) - I've been wanting to see the 2008 film pretty much
> since it was first released! But for whatever reason, I didn't see it in
> the early 2010's, and it's been locked up by Starz ever since, and has
> never gone to another streamer... until it finally showed up on Tubi
> this week!!
>   I wonder how Arthur feels about this film? - It's both "found
> footage" (well, sort of...) and a "fast zombie" flick!
>   This takes too long to get going, sporting a pointless roughly
> 15-minute opening segment in which reporter Angela (a young-looking
> Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott ("The Practice's" Steve
> Harris) cover the nigthshift at an L.A. firehouse when nothing is
> happening, all filmed from the viewpoint of Scott's camera (so, it's not
> really "found footage", just filmed in that same style). This sequence
> adds absolutely nothing to the film, and is basically a "network
> time-killer", as we get no relevant "character development" from this
> that is later applied to the rest of the film.
>   However, once the principals, Angela, Scott, and two fireman,
> including Jake (Faux-Dumas Magdum, Jay Hernandez), get a call to an L.A.
> appartment house with a "sick" old woman screaming, the movie picks up
> substantially. Soon enough, they and the building's residents are
> forcably "quarantined" inside. As the building's residents include the
> likes of Rade Serbedzija, Greg Germann, Marin Hinkle (with an almost
> baby-aged Joey King!!), and Denis O'Hare, you know they are all doomed!!
>   In the end, I would say this is one of the best "found footage"
> thriller/horror movies - it is pretty effective at deploying "jump
> scares" at just the right time. The ending is downbeat, but here that
> probably works.
>   I did not know that this is virtually a shot-for-shot remake of a
> 2007 Spanish film named "Rec", or that the Spanish "Rec" movie spawned a
> film series with total of *four* "Rec" films. Maybe one of these days,
> I'll watch this Spanish-language film series...
>
> Legacies (recorded) - "The Only Way Out Is Through" (ep. #4.14). This
> may be the first episode of season #4 that I consider to be actually
> "good".
>   EVOL!!1! Hope calls in Vardemus (Alexis Denisof) to "wargame" the
> battle with the gods. (How they knew of the existence of the God "Ken"
> is nowhere explained!) However EVOL!!1! Hope keeps employing the
> Salvatore School students like cannonfodder and keeps losing the battle.
> The whole time Hope's "conscience" tells EVOL!!1! Hope that she is doing
> it wrong, and eventually EVOL!!1! Hope is forced to listen to her. This
> leads to them "winning" the wargame, but EVOL!!1! Hope is starting to
> crack as her humanity/conscience battle to retake control...
>   Meanwhile, Lizzie and Aurora get the backstory on the "Gods" from Jen
> (Piper Curda), and realize that bringing "Ken" back is a bad idea.
> Aurora convinces Lizzie that they need to revive the God Chronus instead.
>   And Landon and The Necromancer continue to have adventures in Limbo,
> eventually being taken captive by some bandit group there.
>
> Nightmare Neighborhood Moms (LMN) - A relatively wan entry. Gina Simms
> plays a completely homicidally crazed suburban wife who is immediately
> jealous of anyone her husband takes an interest in. The new mom to the
> neighborhood (April Hale) is her newest intended victim, and she
> immediately targets the woman and her daughter (Summer Madison). This
> was nothing we hadn't seen before, and was even frustrating as there is
> no explanation as to why Simms' character was so psycho.
>   About the only good things here are the pretty Brey Noelle, who
> recently popped up in Lifetime in another flick, playing Simms' previous
> victim, and Sarah Jirgal, who is as cute as a tiny button, playing the
> daughter's friend.
>
> Quarantine 2: Terminal (IMDb TV via Prime) - I had it in the back of my
> mind that I had seen this 2011 movie before. Once I started watching it,
> I realized that I had not seen the first portion of the movie, on the
> plane, before - but I *had* seen the latter portion of the film, set in
> the abanonded airport terminal before!... [checking...] Yep - it took me
> a while to search the RAT archives, but I watched the second half of
> this flick off the Chiller channel on Oct. 10, 2015 (according to the
> "2015-10-10" WDYW? thread!).
>   Anyway, this stars Mercedes Masohn, and co-stars Bre Blair (who
> mostly disappears from the latter half of the film), as a couple of
> flight attendants who get more than the bargained for when the
> "Quarantine" virus breaks out on their L.A. to Kansas City flight. The
> plane is forced to make an emergency landing (they don't reveal where
> until the very ending...). The rest of the film is everyone on the
> plane, and one airport worker (Ignacio Serricchio) quarantined inside an
> abandoned portion of an airplane terminal.
>   (Double "bottle show"!! - virtually the only sets in the movie are
> the plane's interior, and the abandoned portion of the airport terminal!!)
>   This flick only shares a bare minimum of linkage to the original film
> - they show footage of and reference the L.A. apartment building in the
> original film. And one key character in this film is referenced in the
> original film (IOW, the sequel kind of carries one character over...)
>   It seems clear that this one was trying to set up a film series based
> on this, but this flick went direct-to-video, and I guess killed the
> franchise... Maybe it's time to revisit it?
>   Note: IMDb TV is *much worse* with their ad insertions than Tubi is -
> IMDb TV ads were awkwardly placed, and the transitions were bad.
>
>
> Recorded for later: soaps (saved for the weekend!), and The Blacklist!
> (aka. "The Red Show"!!!).
>
>

I have no memory of Quarantine or Quarantine 2, but I gave both movies 2
stars on Netflix, so I must not have cared much for them.

I watched:

Atlanta (FX) - "The Big Payback" - There have only been 4 episodes so
far this season, and this makes the second episode with none of the
original cast members. Yet it's the one off episode that have nothing
to do with the show that always stand out as the best ones. This one
starred Justin Bartha from the Hangover movies as an average guy sort of
living his life not paying much attention to world events. In the
background on the radio and on TV there are stories about an African
American man who sued a Tesla exec for slavery reparations and won. I'm
guessing Tesla was chosen due to real world events where the company has
been at the center of lawsuits for racial discrimination. Anyway, this
sets a major legal precedent and soon White people all over the country
are being sued for slavery reparations. But Justin's character
continues to stick his head down and ignore it all until one day he's
served legal papers and moments later a loud obnoxious African American
woman shows up at his front door proclaiming he owes her $3 million and
his house now belongs to her. The rest of the episode is this guy
trying desperate to ignore the situation, but she won't let him and
continues to hound him. This was a really good social commentary
episode. This was another one where the ep guide description was a
commentary as well. The ep guide described this episode as a "horror"
episode. And for someone like Justin it would be.

On 4/23/2022 2:20 AM, Micky DuPree wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:
>
>> Atlanta (FX) - "The Big Payback" - There have only been 4 episodes so
>> far this season, and this makes the second episode with none of the
>> original cast members. Yet it's the one off episode that have nothing
>> to do with the show that always stand out as the best ones.
>
> You lost me on that last bit. I want the regular characters. Even if
> it's just, "And then Earn woke up from the dream."
>
>> This one starred Justin Bartha from the Hangover movies as an average
>> guy sort of living his life not paying much attention to world events.
>> In the background on the radio and on TV there are stories about an
>> African American man who sued a Tesla exec for slavery reparations and
>> won. I'm guessing Tesla was chosen due to real world events where the
>> company has been at the center of lawsuits for racial discrimination.
>> Anyway, this sets a major legal precedent and soon White people all
>> over the country are being sued for slavery reparations. But Justin's
>> character continues to stick his head down and ignore it all until one
>> day he's served legal papers and moments later a loud obnoxious
>> African American woman shows up at his front door proclaiming he owes
>> her $3 million and his house now belongs to her. The rest of the
>> episode is this guy trying desperate to ignore the situation, but she
>> won't let him and continues to hound him. This was a really good
>> social commentary episode.
>
> I disagree there as well. It would work as a fantasy episode or a dream
> episode for Earn,

But it was a fantasy episode, or horror depending on how you think of it.

but even with the most expansive and individual
> approach to reparations you could think of, this just isn't how it would
> work through the legal system, neither in terms of qualitatively nor in
> terms of time frame.
>
>> This was another one where the ep guide description was a commentary
>> as well. The ep guide described this episode as a "horror" episode.
>> And for someone like Justin it would be.
>
> That I agree with. I can see a lot of white people envisioning the end
> where all the white people are in subservient jobs while all the black
> people are dining at the nice restaurant as what "reparations" are all
> about: black supremacy.
>
>
> Having not so long ago finished another free Amazon Prime month, I don't
> have much to add about the more famous Prime series. I continue to
> watch more of _The Man in the High Castle_ with each freebie, and caught
> up on _The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel_ (apparently agreeing with the other
> Prime viewers that season 4 was O.K., but not as good as the previous
> seasons). Polished off _Bosch_, which was a bit complicated at the end
> even for _Bosch_, but they left the door open, which I was a bit
> surprised by. Watched the first season of _The Boys_ and liked it
> better than I was expecting. Watched _Invincible_.

Only the pilot or the whole series? It's a great series that only gets
better as it goes.

Found it so-so.
> Finished off _The Expanse_. Found it satisfying if unbelievably well
> wrapped up at the end (enemies don't just get along because you tell
> them to).
>
> I added two more episodes to my viewing of reluctant spy drama
> _Patriot_, bringing the total to three episodes. Based on the
> description, I should enjoy it vastly more than I have done, but I find
> it a slog watching the hyper-competent but deeply traumatized lead spy
> trying to improvise his way through his poorly prepared cover identity
> with little help from home base (which is his father in the CIA, who
> seems to be running him off the books).
>
> The one surprisingly pleasurable find (or maybe I've just missed other
> people talkiing about it) was _Goliath_, a noir drama starring Billy Bob
> Thornton as Billy McBride, a brilliant high-functioning alcoholic lawyer
> on the skids who manages to take on huge cases with only piss and duct
> tape to hold things together. In the broader strokes it's reminscent of
> the 1982 Sidney Lumet movie _The Verdict_, starring Paul Newman. Each
> of the four seasons of _Goliath_ has Billy dealing with a different
> legal case. Highly recommended if you like legal dramas or David vs.
> Goliath stories. William Hurt plays Billy's former law partner, who
> fell out with him years before.
>
>
> Now I'm catching up on what'a available via cable On Demand: broadcast,
> basic cable (which I think I've pared down to just _Atlanta_ and _Better
> Call Saul_), and premium cable (_The Gilded Age_ and _Billions_, which I
> guess you could call _The Second Gilded Age_).
>
> -Micky
>

The Gilded Age was on my radar but I never got around to watching it,
and probably won't. I still have "The Great" really high on my watch
list, but no idea when I'm ever going to get to it.