Post-Weekend Open Thread…

Updated on November 22, 2010 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

Friends came by work to surprise me a day early for my birthday; the joke was on them, I had the day off.  They called me at home and I drove to the library to meet them for dinner at the Houlihan’s right across the street. I proved a cheap date, because I had a Houlihan’s e-coupon for a free entree.

Then we went to see Red. It was cute, well done, but not great. I think I’m generally past that over the top thing. The best element of the flick was easily the cast. Bruce Willis was Bruce Willis, but the supporting cast was made up of actors so good it was basically a gag: Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and (yay!) Brian Cox. Even more heartwarming was the appearance of Ernest Borgnine, still game at the age of 93 (!). Everyone should put him in their movies while they still have time.

Other than that I didn’t watch much. I actually (gasp) got some writing done; I should have my Corman piece done by the end of the month deadline.  Then we have a secret Santa roundtable in December, and I promised Roger I’d do something with that copy of Secret Ceremony he kindly burned for me.  So that’s three whole pieces in the next month and a half. Crazy, huh?

Reading wise I read part of the new, and gigantic (35 tales!) Amos Walker detective short story collection by Loren D. Estleman. Old school PI stuff at it’s finest.

One thing I noticed flicking through TCM this weekend; Eve Arden is the female Vincent Price. Seriously, next time you see here listen to her accent and cadence, and watch her facial expressions. It’s kind of weird.

What about you guys?

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  • The Rev.

    I hardly watched anything this weekend. I put on the MST version of The Giant Spider Invasion while I was painting, as I find MST3K episodes I’ve seen several times before to be good background noise.

    I did watch The Magnificent Butcher, which was my first Sammo Hung movie, and I now understand why he’s so respected. I expected him to be skilled and strong, but no one that size should be able to move with so much grace and agility. He was unreal. The movie had enough plot to fill in spaces between fight scenes, and said plot was a little more intricate than your average kung-fu movie. There are lots of fights, and I had to revise my declared favorite fight of the movie twice as they just got better and better. The final showdown with Sammo and the main bad guy is spectacular. Multiple styles, great stunts, and as previously stated, Sammo is more acrobatic than he has any right to be. HIGHLY recommended. I might very well watch it again during the holiday, despite the many things I need to watch for a first time.

  • BeckoningChasm

    I finally finished the soundtrack to my old Super-8 film (transferred to DVD by a friend of mine). Did a bit of painting but not much. Fought this frickin’ cold.

    Saturday I watched “The Atomic Submarine,” “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and “Fantastic Voyage.” There’s a theme in there, can you guess what it is? “Bottom” had to have the briefest giant octopus scene of all time.

  • Gamera

    Sorry I haven’t been around but just got back from vacation in sunny Florida. Not much going on with the movie front, been reading James Clavell’s ‘Tai-Pan’ and ‘Gai-Jin’ as well as dusting off ‘Dragon Age: Orgins’ and started replaying it on my PC.

  • MarshallDog

    Saw Avatar. It was an impressive feat of animation, but the story was quite boring. I don’t need sequels. Also saw the MST3K version of Tormented, and I don’t remember laughing. That doesn’t happen often. Just got Y Tu Mama Tambien from Netflix, might be able to see it tomorrow.

  • Watched She Shoots Straight, a HK “Girls n’ Guns” film starring Joyce Mina Godenzi, Sammo Hung’s wife. Good characterizations and some good action courtesy of Corey Yuen (X-Men, Jet Li’s American films, The Enforcer).

    I’m almost done with watching Angel Force, another Hong Kong Girls n’ Guns flick starring Moon Lee. That one is pretty entertaining, despite an unnecessary scene where one of the protagonists tries to rape a female vllain (the scene seems to exist just to give the film some nudity).

  • GalaxyJane

    I lost my cable, along with internet and phone Thursday afternoon,so I had LOTS of time to catch up on DVDs over the weekend. Even now, I am sitting in Starbucks to read this, because not having a phone or ‘net while job-hunting is SUPER-convenient.

    Among other things, finally finished Season 5 of nu-Who on DVD. Other than absolutely hating the latest iteration of the theme, which dropped the middle eight again, I am quite pleased with the direction the show is taking under Stephen Moffet. If nothing else it’s a relief to get a break from the aggressively self-conscious camp of the RTD years,which got tiresome very quickly.

    Also picked up a copy of the recent New Zealand version of “Under the Mountain” for no other reason than I had fond, if creepy, memories of the Australian mini-series that aired as part of Nickelodeon’s “Third Eye” anthology series in the early ’80s. It was a bit of a mixed bag, Sam Niell, who I assumed was hired to be someone Americans could recognize, puts in absolutely the worst performance I’ve ever seen him give. The monstrous Wilberforces were absolutely wonderful however. WETA workshop realized them with a very effective mix of old school makeup, prostheses and CGI.In fact, several of the performers were involved in LOTR as Uruk-Hai.If you can ignore Niell’s scenery-chewing and complete indifference to the project, it is a surprisingly creepy and gruesome little film. I actually found myself having to cover my eyes a couple of times as despite the PG-13 rating it contained one of the more gruesome on-screen deaths I’ve ever seen. In the end, I was glad that I hadn’t watched it with the kids the way I’d originally intended.

    I did watch Mulan with the kids,my favorite Disney flick. I know,I know, who’d have thought I’d like a story about a girl who runs away to join the army.

    Sunday I watched the Redskins eak out a victory in an overtime that would never have had to happen if Gano wasn’t the worst kicker in the NFL.

    On the literary front, I managed to make it through “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” again, in anticipation of hopefully actually seeing the movie while it is still in the theater. If I do, it’ll be the first movie I’ve seen in a theater all year.

    Also made and canned homemade cranberry chutney on Saturday, which turned out absolutely fantastic. I suspect I’ll have to do another batch before Christmas, because this batch is already almost gone.

  • fish eye no miko

    I saw the new Harry Potter film last night. I rather enjoyed it. That’s about it… (-:

  • KeithB

    GJ:
    You didn’t get the recipe from here:
    http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath/2010/11/21/thanksgiving-recipe-marks-cranberry-chutney/

    by any chance?

    What a small internet!

  • roger h

    I saw “The Little Girl who Lives Down The Lane” (surprisingly) for the first time. Good.

    Saw “Lucifer Complex”. Bad.

  • joliet jake blues

    Well, I managed not to watch any movies…but I did start reading Lorelei of the Red Mist, a collection of Leigh Brackett’s short fiction from the 1940’s.

  • GalaxyJane

    @ Keith – I did not,I got mine from the 2010 Taste Of Home Holiday issue. Quite a bit different recipe, more fruit-based (in addition to the cranberry and apple,it has oranges, lemons, golden raisins and apricots) and with jalepenos instead of the serranos. I have to say that yours looks good too though.

  • GalaxyJane

    Also, my internet is back. Thank heavens, I had major TV Tropes withdrawals over the weekend.

  • Terrahawk

    Rewatched Gamers: Dorkness Rising which you can stream from NetFlix. I recommend it. It’s low production values but pretty funny and with respectable acting.

    Also, I went and saw Skyline. It’s bad but not in a good way. I could handle following some “regular” people during an alien invasion. But they should be interesting and have some intelligence. Also, the aliens suffered from the “their near impossible to kill” to “I can kill one with my bare hands.”

    *** Spoilers ***

    Yes, the aliens came from across the galaxy for our brains.

  • BeckoningChasm

    After seeing “Aliens vs Predator: Requiem” I would never ever see anything made by the Brothers Strauss even if they got down on their lousy, stinking, purulent knees and begged me. So while “Skyline” looked intriguing, their presence made me instantly write it off.

  • Terrahawk

    BC, I hadn’t seen AvP:R so I had nothing to go by. All I can say is that you were wise in your decision.