What did you watch last night?

[WappingIron]

Alien Earth – Episode 5...now that’s more like it. But I do have questions….

1. Why do people always practically press their faces up to the containers containing the alien species they have collected and try and wind them up???? Just asking for trouble!

2. Why do people still smoke in the future? Even in this day and age we have electronic cigarettes! And considering that Alien Earth is set 95 years from now, how much would a pack of fags cost then??

Anyways, the series is looking good again….

[Jonah]

One of my favourite lines, that. Just so wonderfully rude.

Looks up at my.....

Preparation
Preparation
Preparation

....picture on the office hut wall.

Dying for sex on Disney plus
Got recommended this my a mate,and two episodes in, its good so far.
About a cancer victim and her trying to make up for things she hasn't done.Its a comendy of sorts,but is equally sad as well.

Started this last night with the Mrs. Will give the Podcast a listen also.

[SirStoneyOfBow]

Mickey 17

A smart and pretty entertaining science-fiction satire set in the future with Robert Pattinson playing Mickey Barnes, a bit of a daft lad who signs up to be an expendable test subject for a expedition led by nasty power couple Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette.
Every time he dies in the name of science, he’s cloned with his memories restored.
16 clones later something goes awry and well, it will not end well for him and his project at all.
Underrated stuff.

Novocaine

In a market brimming with over the top gimmick action-comedy flicks, this is the epitome of bang average, I’m afraid.
Jack Quaid is Nathan Caine. He feels no pain. He works with a hot chick at a local bank. The bank is robbed and she is taken hostage.
Enter Nathan Caine to save the day and blah blah blah etc.
The action is just fine but **** me, the story is straddling tedium with the finale just dragging too much. It kept going and never seemed to want to stop. I was begging for it to be done with 15 minutes to go.

[The Old Man of Storr]

For one reason or another of late I've been left on my own or there's just been Dan and myself and I only saw him when it was Breakfast or Dinner time , so..........


I've been able to spend quality time with my one true love....my Sony XF9005 .


And seeing as LC was gushing like a schoolboy on crack about ' Sinners ' I decided I'd re-visit .....twice .


I'll begin by saying....this was a VERY entertaining film and it's full of all the good things lovers of cinema want to see -

Cinematography is Top Notch

Acting & Performance - Superb

Script / Soundtrack - More than superb

The 2 hours 5 mins fly past but I'd have loved another thirty minutes or so added on .

People will [ wrongly ] compare it to From Dusk Till Dawn but unlike the George Clooney classic there's a story going on here -

It's been described as an Action/Horror but I'd say that was misleading -

It's a story about two tough black brothers come home to Mississippi to somehow try to discover the freedom they so richly deserve but society is so unwilling to give them so for one night only they're going to grab freedom by the throat in the shape of an overnight Juke Joint they've set up with the aid of some old musicians and associates .

Deep down in their hearts they know Freedom won't come , not in the Deep South of 1932 America and as they party the night away , singing , dancing , gambling the threat to their happiness appears in the form of three Vampires .

That thirty minutes I wanted added on could have been spent in developing these characters and in fleshing out the ending some more but maybe I just didn't want it to end ?

If you've not seen it , the scenes in the Juke Joint make for some wonderful Cinema .

[last.caress]

There's a lot more going on in Sinners than in From Dusk Till Dawn for sure. And, even as someone who adores Robert Rodriguez's Tex-Mex shabby-chic sensibilities and who still isn't sure how much he likes Ryan Coogler, it is undeniable that Sinners is a richer, more layered experience top to bottom (although FDTD's muscular simplicity and grindhouse aesthetic is undoubtedly deliberate). But I think comparisons between the two pictures is fair inasmuch as, at their very base level, they're both about a steadily dwindling handful of humans trying to survive the night against a horde of vampires who had previously been their fellow patrons in a wild music venue and bar within which the majority of both movies are set. There, the similarities end of course.

I've watched Sinners four times now. Owned it for less than 3 weeks and bought maybe a dozen movies since (including, coincidentally, a Blu-ray copy of From Dusk Till Dawn as an upgrade on my decades-old DVD copy), and it's still the picture with which I'm most intrigued atm. Michael B. Jordan's portrayal of a pair of twins with clear and distinct personalities (like Tom Hardy playing both Kray twins in Legend or Nic Cage playing a pair of sibling screenwriters in Adaptation) is excellent.

[The Old Man of Storr]

Do you think The Vampires were suppose to represent The Klan ....I'm a bit unsure but I can't see past it , reason being of course we have Stack and Mary left as the only surviving Vamps - more Love Story than Birth of a Nation .

I've watched it 3 times now though yesterday could have been the 4th ?

One of those films that needs to be watched several times as there's a lot going on .

Lots of excellent performances , my personal favourite being Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim -

The scene when Preacherboy sings his song and all the black ancestors and those who will follow join in the fun , amazing - Pearline's rendition of Pale Pale Moon got me stomping my feet too - You should see my dance moves whilst glued to this old chair of mine .


There is NOTHING like a good film .

[SirStoneyOfBow]

SPOILERS

I think I recall that even the vampires in Sinners look down at the Klan as pathetic, even giving their plan to ambush the club in the early hours away.
When the vampires have more of a togetherness than the Klan…

[last.caress]

Do you think The Vampires were suppose to represent The Klan

Even having seen as many movies as I have, I've never been any good with allegory, analogy, metaphors or symbolism; to me, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (any version) is just a really good creature feature.*

So I suspect that the vampires are just vampires, mainly because the actual klan are explicitly referenced and make a violent, climactic appearance. Remmick's solution to the ills of the black man in southern USA is compelling, as one would expect from a vampire that charming, and I guess even from an immigrant who doubtless took as much flak over in the New World for his Irishness as those plantation workers took for their black skin. He's offering wholesale equality and immediate, eternal change by horrifying but no less retributive - and maybe even cathartic - means.

Or maybe they're supposed to represent the Klan! As I say, I'm no good at that stuff.

There is NOTHING like a good film .

Absolutely. To that end, I'm expecting a couple of new arrivals today: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Yates, 1973) on Blu-ray (I've never seen it before), and High Noon (Zinnemann, 1952) on 4K (a movie I've seen many times).



* Director of the 1956 original, Don Siegel, agrees with me, despite everyone else seeing it as a McCarthyist anti-Communism piece. I don't know what author Jack Finney's intentions were.

[The Old Man of Storr]

When Remmick lands at the house of Bert & Joan he notices a Klan Hood -

By killing his victims he is able to assimilate their inner selves so I thought for one second that PERHAPS they could have been an allegory for The Klan but Stoney is correct in that Remmick says they've big enough numbers to take out Hogwood and his boys so they're probably just Vampires ....

Stoney + LC .....on whether The Vampires were meant to represent The Klan .....

Using ChatGPT


'' In Summary

Sinners uses vampires as powerful metaphors for cultural exploitation, assimilation, and the haunting persistence of oppressive systems.

The KKK, embodied by Hogwood, represents a more literal and immediate historical threat to Black life and agency.

The vampires and Klan elements are distinct but complementary: one symbolic, one real—together, they deepen the film’s commentary on systemic racial harm, cultural erasure, and the struggle for Black autonomy.


Coogler's Intent: Viewer Interpretation Matters

Open to Individual Meaning
Director Ryan Coogler himself has stated that while allegory and metaphor are present in his work, he doesn’t necessarily impose a single meaning. He prefers to evoke feelings and let audiences interpret the symbols based on their own experiences and insights . ''



Think I'll settle for they were just Vampires .

[Colne Dynamo]

Watched the season finale of Dexter Ressurection.

Have been watching this Argentinian Sci-fi series on Netflix called 'The Eternaut'. I've had to abandon it four episodes in. Utterly tedious stuff.

After loving the fantastic season 1 of the korean series 'Sweet Home', I thought I'd start watching season 2. I'm only 2 episodes in but feels like its fell off a cliff.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

Have been watching this Argentinian Sci-fi series on Netflix called 'The Eternaut'. I've had to abandon it four episodes in. Utterly tedious stuff.

bugger, it got such good write ups too, I was really looking forward to that. however, maybe the fact that the bloke who wrote it, was disappeared by the Argentine regime, has tilted critics views ????

shame if so...

in a similar vein, The Walking Dead - Darryl Dixon season 3 begins at least in the States on Sunday. I have to say, of all of the spin offs so far at least, this is really the best imvho. I liked Dead City but Jeffrey Dean Morgan carried that really as he did when he was in The Walking Dead again imvho...

[smuts]

The Bear season 4, first 2 episodes.

A return to form.

[simonirons]

Not just last night but since late may I have been watching Dexter.

I’ve watched them in the new chronological order.

Dexter: First Blood it spends half the series exploring Harry and his mother’s back story and Dexter in his late teens / early 20’s. - a little corny in places but still entertaining enough.

Dexter. - On to the original 7 series, I watched these when they aired originally, I’d mentioned on here how disappointed I was after season 4. - it did take a massive slump after season 4, but now I’ve been binge watching instead of waiting a week for each anti-climax, they wasn’t as bad as I remembered.

Dexter: - new blood , again, I watched this when it aired a few years ago, at the time it was good to see his return but all in all, pretty forgettable.

Dexter Resurrection: The season finale has just aired and really enjoyed it, plenty of nods to the past a thoroughly decent, all star supporting cast. - it’s not quite carrying the dark tone of the original series, but definitely worth a visit if you liked the originals.


95% fresh over on Rotten Tomatoes too, making it the second highest reviewed season of all of them. (season 2 took the No. 1 spot)

[Monkeybubbles]

Somehow, i got persuaded to watch Hostage. All five episodes. I can't think of a good thing to say, except that Julie Delpy is in it.

[Ozza]

Somehow, i got persuaded to watch Hostage. All five episodes. I can't think of a good thing to say, except that Julie Delpy is in it.

Got to episode 2 and managed to divert the wife to watching something else, I’m hoping with slow horses coming back at the end of Sept she’ll forget about Hostage

[The Old Man of Storr]

Remmick's solution to the ills of the black man in southern USA is compelling, as one would expect from a vampire that charming, and I guess even from an immigrant who doubtless took as much flak over in the New World for his Irishness as those plantation workers took for their black skin. He's offering wholesale equality and immediate, eternal change by horrifying but no less retributive - and maybe even cathartic - means.

Or maybe they're supposed to represent the Klan! As I say, I'm no good at that stuff.

You make a rather excellent point regarding Remmick being Irish .

The Irish were treated almost as bad as the Blacks and the Chinese were during the early days of America and they would have been advocating Equality just as loudly as their downtrodden brothers .

I was thinking had I been one of the Smokestack Brothers I'd have gladly walked out the Joint and offered the Vamps my throat , being treated as an equal in a life eternal would have had its appeal ....but doggone it , Annie had to go all Religion on them and spoil whatever Remmick had in store for them all .


I keep returning to that Klan Hoodie scene though - Remmick spotted it straight away and with his power of assimilation would he in turn have adopted Klan ways ?? Maybe I'm reading too much into too little ?


Got the TV all to myself again today , Jen has just this minute set off for Inverness , back tomorrow .

I might just draw the curtains and stick on Sinners once more .

[last.caress]

I keep returning to that Klan Hoodie scene though - Remmick spotted it straight away and with his power of assimilation would he in turn have adopted Klan ways ??

My take on that was that he knows everything his victims know - and they he - but, as the vampire doing the turning here, he remains resolutely "Remmick" whereas those he's turned do indeed assimilate elements of him; hence the first couple not only knowing how to sing and play like Remmick (acquiring his knowledge like a hive mind) but also being completely coordinated with his movements as they played (they've assimilated him) and, indeed, all of the vampires feel it when he is fighting Smoke, but they don't all feel the pain of each other. Remmick even mentions turning the Klan upon their imminent arrival. The scene where he notes the Klan hood in the couple's house might've just been there to suggest the couple's motivation in protecting this complete stranger - a white man - from the filthy Injuns hunting him.

So, would it follow that a victim who is turned into a vampire by a vampire who was themselves in life a Klan enthusiast might also become a Klan enthusiast? I don't think petty differences like that apply once they've become Nosferatu. I think the turned victims only assimilate elements of the vampire, not the human belief systems and prejudices he may have held dear in life. The vampires' only prejudicial distinction appears to be between living folks, and dead folks.

I was thinking had I been one of the Smokestack Brothers I'd have gladly walked out the Joint and offered the Vamps my throat , being treated as an equal in a life eternal would have had its appeal

I guess it depends on your take with regards to vampires generally (or certainly the lore around whatever vampire film or book you're watching/reading, if it's been explained explicitly enough), but my take has always been:

They bite you -- you die -- you come back inasmuch as your body springs back to life, but that's no longer you in there. You - the real you - died when you were bitten. What's in there now is a parasitic wurdalak who knows all of your thoughts and experiences (hence their ability to sound so convincingly "you") but... it ain't you. Nossir. So, to succumb to Merrick's compelling argument of a conditional Utopia would nonetheless be a fatal mistake.

Of course, many films go the other way and contend that a vampire is still that exact same person, made immortal and gifted with several superpowers, albeit with some horrifying conditions attached. Near Dark is explicit in this take, as is Only Lovers Left Alive, Interview With the Vampire and, I'm pretty sure, the Twilight franchise. Still, I don't think I'd want to risk that I wasn't being conned out of my physical being by a smooth-talking strigoi. ~^(;,;)^~

[Colne Dynamo]

bugger, it got such good write ups too, I was really looking forward to that. however, maybe the fact that the bloke who wrote it, was disappeared by the Argentine regime, has tilted critics views ????

shame if so...

From a bit of digging....

Bruno Stagnaro’s The Eternaut is based on Hector German Oesterheld and Francisco Solano Lopez’s comic book of the same name... Oesterheld created The Eternaut when Argentina was in the clutches of brutal fascism. He used sci-fi to comment on the times he was living in while criticizing politicians and the armed forces for their merciless crackdown on rebels and even people who didn’t want to pick sides. And after his alleged custodial death, Oesterheld and the protagonist of his comic, Juan, became symbols of the anti-fascist movement in the country. If you read about Oesterheld’s life, the Dirty War, and the Falklands War—because these things (and more) have been incorporated into the show by Stagnaro and co-writer Ariel Staltari—and then watch the show, you’ll definitely feel inspired to rebel against the forces that render us voiceless, while also gaining a deep understanding of the relationship between art, history, and fascism in South America.

and then goes on to say

But if you go into it blind, the writing is probably going to inspire you to close the video player.

Which feels accurate. I didn't know any of that history. I just watched it as a sci-fi alien invasion TV show, and found it tedious.

https://dmtalkies.com/the-eternaut-netf ... view-2025/

[smuts]

Yeah Hostage was pretty ropey. A script that felt like it was written by AI with plot "twists" you could see a mile off.

[The Old Man of Storr]

The scene where he notes the Klan hood in the couple's house might've just been there to suggest the couple's motivation in protecting this complete stranger - a white man - from the filthy Injuns hunting him.







They bite you -- you die -- you come back inasmuch as your body springs back to life, but that's no longer you in there. You - the real you - died when you were bitten. What's in there now is a parasitic wurdalak who knows all of your thoughts and experiences (hence their ability to sound so convincingly "you") but... it ain't you. Nossir. So, to succumb to Merrick's compelling argument of a conditional Utopia would nonetheless be a fatal mistake.

Of course, many films go the other way and contend that a vampire is still that exact same person, made immortal and gifted with several superpowers, albeit with some horrifying conditions attached. Near Dark is explicit in this take, as is Only Lovers Left Alive, Interview With the Vampire and, I'm pretty sure, the Twilight franchise. Still, I don't think I'd want to risk that I wasn't being conned out of my physical being by a smooth-talking strigoi. ~^(;,;)^~

Happy to dismiss the thought that the Vampires were there to represent the Klan symbolically -


As for offering the Vamps my throat in exchange for a Happy Ever After .....


I guess it's a matter of trust but Stack and Mary looked happy enough at the end .


p.s. Hasn't Hailee Steinfeld turned out nice - I absolutely LOVED her in True Grit .


........................



Just taking in ' Django Unchained ' .....the writing is as sharp as a sharp thing , the opening scenes contain some of the wittiest lines ever put to film , Christoph Waltz was never better [ well maybe as the SS Officer in ' Basterds ' ? ] - Samuel L Jackson gives a bravura performance as the cunning Stephen , never fails to unsettle me , gives me the willies .