On 5/15/2022 9:08 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> I actually got some meaningful grading done yesterday. This freed up
> some time in the evning to watch an actual movie!!:
>
> Single Drunk Female (Hulu) - "James" (ep. #1.8). I didn't care much for
> this episode. It was a flashback to when James was still a drunk (over 2
> years from sobriety they tell us). He runs into Samantha, calling
> herself "Katrina" on a lark, who is back home from NYC for Thanksgiving.
> They mess around, as drunken drunks do, with Samantha blowing off her
> mom for Thanksgiving (Carol is not in this episode at all,
> unfortunately). In the end, Samantha seems to determine that James has a
> death wish, which turns her off. (I guess we're just supposed to think
> that both were so drunk that they don't remember this night in the
> "present"?...) The episode ends with a "flashback-flashforward" with
> James going to AA for the first time. Meh.
>
> golf - I didn't pay much attention to Day 3 at the Byron Nelson, though
> previous winner Jordan Speith is in the hunt, in second place, with
> Joaquim Niemann in third.
>
> The Blacklist (recorded) - "Caelum Bank" (ep. #9.20). Covered in Adam's
> separate thread.
>   I really don't have much to add, except to say that this was probably
> one of the better episodes this season. But it played out exactly how I
> expected to, right up to setting up the season finale.
>

I haven't gotten to this yet. Maybe today.

> I skipped "Revenge Best Served Chilled" on Lifetime, which starred no
> one I had ever heard of, and which didn't look very interesting, for:
>
> The World, The Flesh and The Devil (HBO Max) - I had never seen this
> before, but had been wanting to see it for years.

I may watch this next week.

>
> What did you watch?
>
>

I watched:

Our Man Flint (Amazon Streaming) - 1967 spoof of Bond films starring
James Coburn as Flint. Hey, and the boss from Knight Rider is in this
as well. When evil scientists cook up a plot at world domination that
even 0008 can't stop, only Flint can save the day. I've been waiting
months to do a spy spoof marathon, and specifically for this movie to
air so I could record it. It finally aired a couple of weeks ago and
the print used was standard definition and in the wrong aspect ratio. I
was going to give it a shot, but it was unwatchable! So, I broke down
and just paid to stream it off of Amazon. They say it's HD, which I'm
skeptical of, but at least it's in the right aspect ratio.

In Like Flint (FXM) 1967 sequel which finds Flint (James Coburn) once
again having to save the world while spoofing Bond at the same time.
Hey, Batgirl, is in this! This time Flint goes up against a cabal of
women bent on world domination.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (blu-ray) 1997 spoof of Bond
films starring Mike Meyers as Austin Powers. When an evil Dr. cooks up
a plot for world domination only Austin Powers can save the day. I
could swear I've heard Austin's ringtone somewhere before... The movie
holds up very well. And no one could have predicted that if you put
Austin in an overly complicated trap then leave and just assume it all
went to plan, that Austin would manage to escape. That was just
impossible to predict!

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (blu-ray) "Hey, In Like Flint.
That's my favorite movie." If I didn't know any better, I'd think
there's a connection between Austin Powers movies and the Flint movies.
Anyway, Dr. Evil uses a time machine to travel to 1969 and steal
Austin's mojo. So, Austin has to travel back to 1969 to stop him. This
is also the movie that introduces mini-me. I'd say something about the
logic of time travel as used in this movie, but they looked right at the
camera and said don't worry about it, just enjoy yourself, which renders
me powerless to criticize any time travel plot holes. This movie was
much funnier than I remembered. The one thing I didn't see coming was
when Austin Powers and Felicity Shagwell were captured, they managed to
escape in spite of being watched over by 1 inept guard. I was sure that
1 inept guard would do the trick this time.

Austin Powers in Goldmember (blu-ray) 2002 sequel. It's the weakest of
the Austin Powers movies, but wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was
going to be. The opening parody was really funny. And Michael Caine
was great as Austin's father. "Do you know who I am? Have you got any
idea how many anonymous henchmen I've killed over the years? I mean,
look at you. You don't even have a name tag. You've got no chance. Why
don't you just fall down?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFhrc32kF6E

Get Smart (blu-ray) 2008 spy comedy based on the TV series. I don't
know what to make of this. It sort of works but mostly doesn't. I
liked all the references to the original TV show and cameo. It was
occasionally funny, but not consistently funny. Tonally it was all over
the place, with Anne Hathaway (99) and Terecne Stamp (Siegfried)
thinking they were in a serious spy movie while everyone else knew they
were in a comedy.

This was absolutely not on my radar to watch. I forgot I even had the
movie. Then I was thinking about how Madonna did a good theme song for
Austin Powers 2 and a bad theme song for a legit Bond movie. Then it
occurred to me that she did the theme song for Get Smart. And I have it
on my shelf. Might as well squeeze it in. But the way I remembered it,
the Madonna song "4 minutes" played at the end of the movie and was
synced to the action as they saved the day in exactly 4 minutes. Except
that's not how the movie ended! I think there might be a different
movie that also used that song and I must have conflated it in my head.
Either that or I just completely remembered it wrong.

On 5/15/2022 12:32 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
> A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
>> In article <t5rfod$f9p$3@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
>> <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Get Smart (blu-ray) 2008 spy comedy based on the TV series. I don't
>>>> know what to make of this. It sort of works but mostly doesn't. I
>>>> liked all the references to the original TV show and cameo. It was
>>>> occasionally funny, but not consistently funny. Tonally it was all over
>>>> the place, with Anne Hathaway (99) and Terecne Stamp (Siegfried)
>>>> thinking they were in a serious spy movie while everyone else knew they
>>>> were in a comedy.
>>>
>>> This is a terrible terrible movie, but The Nude Bomb (1980) was even
>>> worse. I remember seeing it in theater as a kid. Written by a team of
>>> script writers including Leonard Stern, who had been executive producer
>>> of the original series so there was really no excuse. Neither Buck Henry
>>> nor Mel Brooks wrote the script.
>>
>>
>> It is indeed a terrible, terrible movie. All that people really wanted
>> was more of what they were used to from the first few seasons of Get
>> Smart. The Nude Bomb (which was on broadcast TV as The Return of
>> Maxwell Smart) was just awful. I don't think there was a laugh in it.
>> Also: no Feldon, no show.
>

Yeah, not having Feldon made *no* sense! I think I only ever saw it
once on TV when I was a kid and even at the time I knew something was
off with her not being in the movie. I think that was one of the main
reasons I never had any interest in revisiting it.

> And some of the best looking women in show business and no nudity. A script
> where the evil villains evil plan is to make everybody’s clothes go away
> and there’s no nudity. That’s what’s truly evil.
>
>
>>
>> That successor series with Andy Dick was even worse.
>

I remember watching the series. I don't recall if I liked it or not,
but I was just happy to have more Get Smart with the original actors.

> Yeah, I have no idea why Dick went on to have a career after that.
>
> Speaking of dick:
>
> https://www.al.com/life/2022/05/andy-dick-charged-with-felony-sexual-battery-arrest-captured-on-live-stream.html?outputType=amp
>
>
>
>
>
>

I think I used to like Andy Dick. Or at least he popped up in stuff I
liked. Then he seemed to set to systematically destroy his career.