Monster of the Day #1567

Updated on May 22, 2017 By Ken Begg 27 Comments

I saw three movies in weekends this (sorta) weekend, although two of them were old. Thursday night I saw the Bond film You Only Live Twice, Saturday early I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 which was pretty fab. That’s 15 or 16 films for Marvel Studios so far, and not a single real dud yet. With Spider-Man Homecoming and Thor Ragnarok later this year, the streak seems likely to continue. Meanwhile, the Justice League trailer makes it look awful, although there are still hopes for the Wonder Woman movie. (Although the joke in the trailer was a clunker.) Luckily I have but a passing interest in those anyway.

Yesterday I saw Smokey and the Bandit at my local cinema, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies. I guess I’m not the only one who loves that film.

I also watched Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, TV’s second run at the character. It reminded me strongly of the new Amazon adaptation of The Tick, with Elijah Wood playing a guy living (sort of) a life of quiet desperation who finds himself made an assistant against his will by a guy who is seemingly mad. Both shows are funny and quite dark, and both pretty good. Dirk Gently has been renewed for a second season.

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  • Beckoning Chasm

    “You Only Live Twice”–that’s the one where Donald Pleasance captures space capsules as sloooooooooooowly as he possibly can, right?

  • The Rev.

    I didn’t know there was a new Tick series. I’ll have to look into that.

    So the new GotG movie has a kaiju? Well, I was already planning to see it, but that just means it’ll happen sooner than I thought.

  • Marsden

    Doesn’t that resemble the “Monster Trucks” monster?

  • Gamera977

    Yes, it also contains gratuitous David Hasselhoff….

  • Gamera977

    Plus a volcano lair, ninja with sub-machine guns, and a Japanese gal in a bikini. One of the best Bond movies ever.

  • Gamera977

    I hadn’t even heard about a TV version of Dirk Gently (either of them). It sounds interesting.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Same two Japanese ladies from “Key of Keys” aka “What’s up Tiger Lily”.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Also the white cat finally had enough and split. Donald had a heck of a time trying to hang onto him.

  • Smokey and the Bandit is one of those few films that I quite literally just can’t not watch if I run across it on TV. It’s one of those lightning-in-a-bottle films that just works perfectly for what it is.

  • Rock Baker

    I’d argue it’s THE best of the series. Know why? It’s because this one has a shot which features both Ed Bishop AND Shane Rimmer on screen at the same time!

  • Rock Baker

    A lot of credit goes to the song “East Bound and Down.” It’s one of those songs it’s almost impossible not to feel just great listening to.

  • CFKane

    /delurking

    “That’s 15 or 16 films for Marvel Studios so far, and not a single real dud yet.”

    *cough* Iron Man 3 *cough*

    /relurking

  • bgbear_rnh

    All-American Canadians ;-)

  • Flangepart

    >It reminded me strongly of the new Amazon adaptation of The Tick, with
    Elijah Wood playing a guy living (sort of) a life of quiet desperation
    who finds himself made an assistant against his will by a guy who is
    seemingly mad.<
    Describes two things. Pence/Trump, and Arthur/The Tick…The Tick, in the comic book, is an escapee from a nut house, and Arthur gets the sidekick job…and it all gets better from there. loved the cartoon.

  • Ken_Begg

    Compared to the interminable scuba scenes in Thunderball, he’s greased lightning.

  • Ken_Begg

    Yes, it’s the one where Bond does it with a Martian princess.

    He was also the most convincing Japanese guy this side of Mickey Rooney.

  • Ken_Begg

    I love that movie. Tiger Lily, I mean, I haven’t seen the original.

  • Gamera977

    Lol, I hope Pleasance received hazard pay!

  • Ken_Begg

    As far as I know only the pilot is up now, but the first season will drop soon, I think.

    Tick creator Ben Edlund has worked on all three shows, and the interesting thing is that each is tonally different from the other two.

    Three shows! Who would have thought?

  • Ken_Begg

    The first one was British, the second for BBC America. I guess it’s on Netflix, although I picked it up at the library. The first show is less dark and paranoid, and (if I remember correctly) each episode features a different case. The new eight-part show is one story. Both are pretty good, I thought.

  • Ken_Begg

    I agree! That film would not work half as well without it. Good thing they cast Jerry Reed to be in the movie! It sounded especially fine issuing from theater speakers.

  • Ken_Begg

    Well, not great certainly, but a dud might be a bit much. I’m not sure Warners has made a single DC film even as good as that one since the Nolan Batman movies, which they had little to do with.

  • Marsden

    Iron Man 3 is a dud? I do not think it means what you think it means.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Speaking of Bond RIP Roger Moore :(

  • Toby Clark

    Iron Man 3’s still a top-fiver for me. The only MCU movie I even come close to disliking is The Incredible Hulk (it’s the only one I rank below the last few DC movies).

  • CFKane

    I guess I’m just a comic-book purist. I go to an Iron Man movie, I expect to see Iron Man, not Tony Stark hanging around in a garage half the movie with a pimply-faced, know-it-all Wesley Crusher wannabe. Not to mention SuperPepper saving the day…or the Mandarin being a fake. Yeah, can’t have the Mandarin actually be, y’know, CHINESE, like he’s been in the comics since the 1960s. (We can’t offend Hollywood’s Chinese investors.) Because Asian tyrants can’t POSSIBLY be evil — but an American businessman? Now, THAT’S eeeeeee-vil!

  • Maria Kelly

    Shane Rimmer played the Captain of the USS Wayne in The Spy Who Loved Me.