Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
> 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
>
>

I worked on it. It was the most miserable experience I’ve had for a studio
that wasn’t Disney.

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.