On 5/6/2022 5:44 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
> On 2022-05-06 08:30:41 +0000, Ubiquitous said:
>
>> What did you watch?
>
> Just:
>
> soaps: DOOL - Ciara and Ben "psychically connect", and Ciara is about to
> leave the Devil in the dust when her water breaks. Meanwhile, Eli is
> about to wake up, and Lani is trying to track down TR's ex, so I think
> TR is about to get blown out of the water for the abusive junkie he is.
>
> Recorded for later: Legacies.
>

I watched:

Atlanta - "New Jazz" - Donald Glover wrote this episode which once
features the original cast. With so many episode with the cast no
shows, you have to make special mention when they are actually in an
episode. I do not know what to make of this episode. Nothing happens,
which is mentioned in the DVR plot description! It's sort of a day in
the life episode. The highlight was probably the cameo by Liam Neeson.
I had completely forgotten there was a bit of controversy a while back
when Neeson was caught on tape making disparaging remarks about African
Americans. And at first glance it looked like his came was trying to
smooth things over. But this is Atlanta and nothing is ever that easy!
Paper Boi says to him so is everything good now between you and Black
people and Neeson looks at him and says No! You people tried to cancel
me, I still don't like Black people. My jaw dropped when he said that
line. I have to really respect Neeson for having the guts to take the
part, address the controversy head on, then deliver that line with all
seriousness. Only Atlanta could pull that off!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) - "Strange New Worlds" -
Premier episode of the latest Star Trek series. This one is set on
board the Starship Enterprise with Captain Pike, Spoke, Nurse Chappel
and Uhura. And the name Kirk is more than name dropped... First up the
Enterprise has to deal with a first contact mission gone horribly wrong.
The script was a little derivative and could have fit into any Star
Trek series, but I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing. Overall I
liked the episode and I'm looking forward to the continuing voyages of
the Star Trek Enterprise.

Star Trek: Picard - "Farewell" - Season 2 wraps up both the Borg and the
Q storylines in a way that was set up from the start but I didn't see
coming. Now I have to go back and rewatch the first part of the premier
to see if I missed anything or not. I have to add, I won't spoil who,
but I loved the cameo this episode had. :-)

WandaVision (Disney+) "The Series Finale" - I had wanted to revisit the
entire show, but I was never able to get my act together. So the best I
could do was watch the last episode. In the final episode of
WandaVision Wanda officially becomes the Scarlet Witch, they establish
she is more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme, and she begins to read
the Necronomicon, I mean Darkhold. The series ends Wanda hearing the
voices of her two children calling out from the multiverse.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (theatrical) - No spoilers.
The movie is nonstop action from start to finish. It picks up pretty
much right where WandaVision ends, but the focus starts off on a new
character named America Chavez who has the ability to punch a whole in
multiverse to travel between dimensions. She's on the run from demons
that want her powers and winds up in the "our" MCU. Doctor Strange
rescues her and then goes to Wanda for help since a powerful wielder of
magic with knowledge of the multiverse is needed to protect America
Chavez. And I'll end the plot description there.

I left the theater still in a bit of a state of shock. I'm still
processing what I witnesses, but the more I think about it, the more I
like it. One thing to be aware of is this IMO, is not a "superhero"
movie. This is a *horror* movie with superheroes in it! I've been
trying to think if I've seen any other movies like it, and I can't
really think of any. There was that one scene in Superman 3 of the
woman being turned into a cyborg that terrified me and millions of other
children at the time. There's "Blade" but that's more vampire than
superhero. Then most recently there was "Brightburn" but that was all
supervillains, without superheroes. This movie is superheroes in a
horror movie. "Multiverse" was directed by Sam Raimi who before he
became a superhero director with the Spider-Man movies came to fame
directing horror movies and he clearly has not lost his touch. There
are some very disturbing imagery in this movie and a very high body
count that feels almost like a Suicide Squad body count. They worked
some serious magic to pull off a PG-13 rating, but I hope there's an "R"
cut out there that doesn't pull back, that I eventually get to see. I'm
definitely going to have to see this movie in the theater again.

On 5/18/2022 9:41 AM, BTR1701 wrote:
> In article <t53h99$ogp$1@dont-email.me>,
> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>
>> Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (theatrical) - No spoilers.
>> The movie is nonstop action from start to finish. It picks up pretty
>> much right where WandaVision ends, but the focus starts off on a new
>> character named America Chavez who has the ability to punch a whole in
>> multiverse to travel between dimensions. She's on the run from demons
>> that want her powers and winds up in the "our" MCU. Doctor Strange
>> rescues her and then goes to Wanda for help since a powerful wielder of
>> magic with knowledge of the multiverse is needed to protect America
>> Chavez. And I'll end the plot description there.
>>
>> I left the theater still in a bit of a state of shock. I'm still
>> processing what I witnessed, but the more I think about it, the more I
>> like it.
>
> I liked it quite a bit, too. Just so much nerd-fuel everywhere you
> looked.
>
> Gur Fpneyrg Jvgpu snyyf sebz Niratre gb ivyynva, Crttl Pnegre nf Pncgnva
> Oevgnva (jub'f fyvprq va unys ol ure bja fuvryq),

I was not expecting that! It was brutal. Somewhere out there I hope
there's a proper R-rated cut of that scene... And now that I think
about it, that was probably one of the least brutal deaths.

Puevfgbcure Cvxr nf
> Oynpxobyg sebz GUR VAUHZNAF,

Yes, that was a great unexpected touch!

naq gur vagebqhpgvba bs gur Snagnfgvp Sbhe
> naq gur K-Zra vagb gur ZPH (va gur sbez bs Wbua Xenfvafxv nf Errq
> Evpuneqf naq Cngevpx Fgrjneg'f Puneyrf Knivre). Rira JNYXVAT QRNQ'f Ebff
> Znedhnaq vf va gurer qbvat n Wnzrf Fcnqre vzcerffvba nf gur ibvpr bs
> Hygeba.

I missed that.

Naq svanyyl, Puneyvmr Gureba fubjf hc nf Pyrn Fgenatr. V jnf
> jbaqrevat vs gurl jrer whfg tbvat gb vtaber ure va gur zbivrf be jung.
>

I didn't realize who the character was or the actor who played them
until after the movie.

I'm heading out for my vacation next week. On the first day of my trip
I'll have some time to kill. And I'll be staying right next to a real
IMAX laser theater. So I will take that opportunity to see the movie
again in IMAX Laser 3D.

For those who have already watched the movie, or don't care about
spoilers, here's a link to a discussion about some interesting things
that were cut from the movie but some of which was filmed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA9S7rOMvTM