On 11/20/2022 3:11 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
> Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>> On 11/20/2022 12:26 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
>>> Obviously should be "Saturday"...:
>>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> What did you watch?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I had this planned out for a while...and was finally able to watch:
>>
>
> Hey, I’ve made a marathon out of the abyss and all it’s rip offs too! :-)
>

This was my first time watching them back to back. It never even
crossed my mind to pair them before. I *think* it might have been
someone in this group who suggested the idea.

> I caught part of one of them a couple weeks ago while flipping channels and
> realized they had the big Blinky computer from the Seaview (and desk set)
> but they had installed it at an angle leaning forward at the top which
> actually made it look a whole lot cooler.
>
>
>>
>> Deep Rising (blu-ray) 1998 horror movie about a group of thieves who
>> plot the robbery of a luxury cruise ship but when they arrive, they find
>> almost everyone (with the notable exception of Fanke Janssen) has been
>> eaten and partially digested by a sea monster. I think this is the
>> first time I've ever watched this movie. I know when it was first
>> released in theaters I actively avoided it because I was offended by the
>> movie's trailer which clearly gave the ending away by showing the lead
>> (Treat Williams) heroically jumping off the cruise ship with Fanke in
>> tow while riding a jet ski as the cruise ship explodes behind them.
>> That image was also on the DVD cover art, and probably the theatrical
>> poster too! And I know I never rented it from Netflix. The only reason
>> I even have on disc is because it's on a double feature with a different
>> movie on the same disc. But as I was watching it, several of the scenes
>> were very familiar. I'm not sure if they were familiar because they
>> were in the trailer or because I watched the movie on TV once. I'm
>> guessing they were all just trailer shots that I still remembered. The
>> only reason I watched it now is because I read it would pair well with
>> Leviathan and DeepStar Six and curiosity got the better of me, plus I
>> already had it sitting on a shelf. I guess it wasn't so bad. The movie
>> is full of familiar names and faces.
>
> Really? Other than Treat and Famke the only person I even recognize is the
> obnoxious Australian from JAG.
>
>

In addition to Treat and Famke the cast includes Anthony Heald as a
villain, along with Wes Studi, Clifton Powell, Cliff Curtis and Djimon
Hounsou as henchmen.

>
>> "Leviathan" (PlutoTV) 1989 deep sea sci-fi movie about a team of
>> deep-sea workers who get exposed to a secret Russian genetic program
>> that causes them to mutate into sea monsters. It has a pretty solid
>> cast including Peter Weller, Richard Crenna,
>
> Richard Crenna must’ve had the worst agent in the world. He’s a fine actor;
> I’ve never seen him give a bad or lazy performance. He gets some high key
> rolls like playing my buddy Vinny Bugliosi and then the next thing you know
> he’s just doing schlock again.
>
>
> Ernie Hudson, Amanda Pays,
>> and Meg Foster's eyes. I don't think I've watched this since around the
>> time of the original release. I never had any illusions that it was a
>> good movie, but I could have sworn it was better than this, especially
>> with this cast. I've had this movie on a planned watch list for several
>> months (maybe a year?) and even though at the time I put the list
>> together I knew I didn't own the movie on disc, I figured that problem
>> would fix itself by the time I needed to watch it. The blu-ray has been
>> long out of print, but they announced the movie was being released on 4K
>> disc this year. And I had plans to just buy the disc, but that release
>> never materialized. So, I was forced to stream it, and every streaming
>> service I sampled had the movie in the wrong aspect ratio. I could spit
>> fire, but I broke down and watched it in the wrong aspect ratio. And
>> with commercials. :-/
>
> Speaking of the wrong aspect ratio, Syfy channel was running King Kong 2005
> yesterday in 16:9. I flipped on a streamer of it in the correct aspect
> ratio (2.4) just to see how badly they butchered it and was amazed to see
> that they were the same image side to side and the “correct“ aspect ratio
> was just hard matting down the top and bottom.
>
>
>
>> DeepStar Six (Blu-ray) 1989 deep sea sci-fi movie about a team of
>> deep-sea workers who have to fight a sea monster. I don't think I've
>> watched this movie since the time of the original release, and this is
>> definitely the first time I've ever watched it in the proper 2.35 aspect
>> ratio. It's not a good movie, but I knew that going in and bought the
>> disc anyway specially so I could watch it as part of this movie marathon.
>>
>
> With Thom Bray from Riptide! Cindy Pickett! Matt McCoy from those
> commercials for Insurance you don’t want to buy! Nia Peeples from Walker!
> Miguel Ferrer from NCIS Los Angeles!

That's Miguel Ferrer from RoboCop! His death scene at the end is pretty
much the only thing I remembered about this movie.

Greg Evigan from BJ and the Bear

That's Greg Evigan from TekWar!

and
> Nancy Everhard because Ian demands a ginger and does anybody think that’s
> her real name?
>
>
>>
>> The Abyss (Starz) 1989 deep sea sci-fi movie directed by James Cameron
>> and starring Michael Biehn as a soldier who has to contend with Aliens
>> where the solution is to nuke the site because that's the only way to be
>> sure. Just like "Leviathan" the movie involves deep-sea workers who
>> must contend with a storm overhead and just like "DeepStar Six"
>> decompression issues causes trouble for one of the characters. In spite
>> of the similarities with "Leviathan" and "Deepstar Six" this is by far
>> the better movie.
>
> I’ve always thought they could have dropped the aliens entirely and
> probably made an even better movie out of it.
>
>

You know, that could work. But since aliens are in it, I really,
*really* hope Cameron sticks them in Avatar as a cameo. The second
movie does take place on a water planet...

>
> I haven't watched it in years, and never with a print
>> that looks this good. I actually recorded this movie half a year ago
>> with no intent of ever having to watch the recording because I was
>> *sure* they'd release the movie on 4K disc (or at a minimum blu-ray) in
>> time for Avatar 2's release so they could cross promote. I remember
>> back in the day this movie would air on HD cable but be a grainy pan and
>> scan image, so this new 2.35 print they are using now is the best this
>> movie has looked since the theater. Too bad they can't be bothered to
>> slap it on a disc. And it's a good thing I've been saving this
>> recording for all of these months because the movie isn't available to
>> stream anywhere, at least nowhere through Comcast. I have been
>> encountering this problem a *lot* lately and it just reinforces my
>> strong preference for physical media over streaming.
>
> When I first saw this in the theater (yes I am that old) it had been
> released without finishing it. All the special effects with the giant waves
> and such weren’t there.

Sounds like a test screening. I now I've seen the special edition
version once or twice. I think that's the version they released on the
nonanamorphic (yet THX certified) DVD back in the day.

Years later they finally did that for the special
> edition whole video. But I don’t know what resolution they completed it out
> so it may be that there is no 4K master available and they have to redo it
> from scratch like they did with Star Trek the motion picture Directors cut.
>
>

Here's an article talking about it:
https://www.darkhorizons.com/cameron-offers-the-abyss-4k-blu-update/

But speaking of the Star Trek Motion picture they recently released a a
new set that includes the theatrical version, the director's cut and a
"special longer version" where they fixed some continuity issues with
Kirk's space walk scene. The reviews have been great for all the new
Star Trek 4K discs, but I'm using every ounce of willpower to hold off
watching them until the release all the movies.

Here's a full review of the new Motion picture release:
https://thedigitalbits.com/item/star-trek-tmp-de-complete-adventure-4k-uhd-2022