Recently watched movies

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sounds yummy!

So many things taste better when the cook shows a little restraint.  I never much cared for cinnamon until I ate some cinnamon-raisin mochi (sort of rice popovers) from the health-food store.  They have  just enough cinnamon to add a nice touch.

[Arcadia]

I'd ask for a mocha but I'm too humiliated. 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Why are you humiliated? 

 

Just hop a flight to MN, rent a car and drive about an hour northwest on the Interstate (Unless it's rush hour, then it can easily be 2 hours), follow the exit that has a highway that could resemble a first year uni course number and travel north about 10 minutes (again rush hour can make this longer) and hang a left at the 3rd traffic light followed by a left at the first intersection and go to the end of the road.  You will have passed my work getting to the traffic light.  I'd be more than willing to make you a mocha.  When you leave, it's easier to make a right than a left, but watch out for traffic.  It can be heavy at times.

[Van Buren Supernova]

If you offer cake too, I'd hop in Mycroft car to get to you. Pretty sure he would be heading there.

[Artemis]

10 hours ago, SherlockedCAMPer said:

Just hop a flight to MN, rent a car and drive about an hour northwest on the Interstate (Unless it's rush hour, then it can easily be 2 hours), follow the exit that has a highway that could resemble a first year uni course number and travel north about 10 minutes (again rush hour can make this longer) and hang a left at the 3rd traffic light followed by a left at the first intersection and go to the end of the road.  You will have passed my work getting to the traffic light.  I'd be more than willing to make you a mocha.  When you leave, it's easier to make a right than a left, but watch out for traffic.  It can be heavy at times.

Oooo, a map!  Now you can wonder if every customer is me.   

 

[Arcadia]

14 hours ago, SherlockedCAMPer said:

Why are you humiliated? 

My puns are more pitiful than Carol's.  

[SherlockedCAMPer]

11 hours ago, Arcadia said:

My puns are more pitiful than Carol's.  

There'a a radio station I listen to when I'm driving that does tell a joke Tuesday during their afternoon show.  The jokes are described as "dad jokes".  These are family friendly bad jokes that are likely to be told by a dad.  The more horrendous the better.  Maybe your pitiful puns will fit in there.  Also we do have the terrible puns thread on here somewhere started by Bendydoodle if I'm remembering correctly.

[Arcadia]

Somehow that isn't making me feel better....  

😉 

[Carol the Dabbler]

 

[Arcadia]

Pile it on, Dabbler.

I just noticed Frankenstein is making the rounds in theaters again, and one of them's right down the road from me. I'm tempted to go see it again, but with BC in the monster's role this time … if I can figure out which showing it is. The website is being decidedly unhelpful. Grrrr.

[besleybean]

Are you able to phone the venue and ask?  I went to our venue and asked, when I bought the tickets.

[Arcadia]

That is one of the things they are being unhelpful about … I can't find a phone number either.

It's not until October, as I recall from last time, I had to wait until the last minute to get better information. So I've got time to do some research.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You do realize that October is next week?

[Arcadia]

Great scott, it is, isn't it? Still, Frankenstein's not until the 22nd, so I've got time.

Wonder if we're going to have any fall color this year? With all this rain, I suspect everything will just turn into a sodden brown mess and go plop.

[Artemis]

Ooooo, I'm getting a seat!

Arcadia, my local theater says that the 7:00 (CT) showing on October 22 is the one with BC as the monster, so I'm guessing that would be the one you'd want to attend.

 

[Arcadia]

Thanks Artemis! And if worse comes to worse, I could go to that one, and if turns out to be the wrong one, go again the following week. (Two doses of Cumbers in as many weeks, torture! )

[Hikari]

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

This movie is rated 84% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why? 

That is a mystery even too great for the likes of Sherlock Holmes to solve.  If you are among the 84%, I recommend you skip the following, because you are not going to read anything you like.

*********************

Without giving away specific spoilers . . . the final act of this film seems to demonstrate that Kevin Feige and Co. are done making MCU movies.  They haven't left themselves much to work with, if they aren't.  

Within moments of the start, we lose one of the franchise's most beloved and identifiable characters.  The dominoes just keep falling.

Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers raved, calling this 'An explosion of action and laughs!' . . a comment posted prominently on the DVD box.

Peter Travers, I have to tell you that I did not laugh once.  There were some attempts at the patented Avengers snarky quips, but they fell completely flat in the context of what can only be called a non-stop fiesta of CGI carnage that goes on and on . . and on for 149 minutes.  'Infinity War' is aptly named . . .these battles were even more tedious than any of the Orc battles in LOTR and the Hobbit movies combined.

I feel like the victim of an all-out CGI assault on my eyeballs and brain.  10 years have been devoted to this and untold millions, possibly billions, of dollars and man-hours to such inexplicable effect.  Talk about a tale of sound and fury signifying nothing.

*******One point of interest was sadly not dealt with except in nearly cameo form.  Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision/Formerly Jarvis (Paul Bettany) are a romantic item and have been for 2 years.  Just before things really, really go FUBAR for our circuit-crossed lovers, Viz (her pet name for him . .it?) says to her:  "We should have stayed in bed."  This relationship takes interracial love to a whole new level . . Boy loves Girl; Boy is AI.  Essentially a really cool tricked-out robot that can simulate a human appearance.  His human appearance is quite nice and looks just exactly like Jennifer Connelly's husband.  But when a girl takes Vision to bed, is that fundamentally different than spending quality time with her B.O.B.?  Not that Viz operates on anything so old-school as batteries.  Tony Stark said of Vision . .'He's evolving.'  I guess so! 

Spoiler

 

Though sadly, Vision's evolution has ceased.  Unless they do the patented MCU 'thing' and bring previously killed off characters back to life.  Gee, Nick Fury is almost the only figure from the MCU we don't see in this extravaganza of computer-generated mayhem.

 

Benedict's Dr. Strange

Spoiler

who may or may not be one of the casualties

appears.  All I can think to say is 'Ben, Ben . . .you gave up Sherlock for this??

I am not a complete Avengers hater.  I can heartily recommend Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and the first The Avengers.  All are well-worth multiple rewatches.  The sequels have been, in my opinion, without fail, disappointing, and each subsequent film gets weaker than the one before it.  This most recent one hits rock bottom.  

[Hikari]

On 9/25/2018 at 4:37 PM, Arcadia said:

Pile it on, Dabbler.

I just noticed Frankenstein is making the rounds in theaters again, and one of them's right down the road from me. I'm tempted to go see it again, but with BC in the monster's role this time … if I can figure out which showing it is. The website is being decidedly unhelpful. Grrrr.

I would really love to see a showing of that, I don't care who plays what, though just off the top of my head, I'd say Ben is a more natural fit for the Doctor, perhaps.  I've seen him in makeup as The Creature (let's not use the pejorative 'Monster'--Frankenstein's Monster is a misnomer) and he makes for a very elegant animated collection of corpse parts.  Jonny Lee Miller seems to be a more natural fit for the brutish/thuggee part, though I imagine he could make a good Doctor Frankenstein as well.  It would be imperative to see both versions before rendering a judgment.

I resisted reading Mary Shelley's book for a long time, so steeped was I in the popular (mis)conceptions about this Creature.  He is basically misunderstood, unloved and rejected by his Father, with a poet's soul and the articulateness and self-awareness to match.  Proto-Hulk he is not.  He will break your heart, and he's been done very wrong by Hollywood all these years.  Maybe this play gets closer to the spirit of Shelley's book.

[besleybean]

Yes, the story is all heart...

[Carol the Dabbler]

5 hours ago, Hikari said:

Infinity War' is aptly named . . .these battles were even more tedious than any of the Orc battles in LOTR and the Hobbit movies combined.

Thanks for the warning!  (Though I must admit that Jackson's battle scenes were great nap opportunities during those long midnight showings.)  

 

[Hikari]

19 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Thanks for the warning!  (Though I must admit that Jackson's battle scenes were great nap opportunities during those long midnight showings.)  

 

You're welcome.  The movie is almost 100% battle sequences for 2.5 hours, so you may just want to skip it altogether and get a proper nap at home instead.

I was not prepared for the outcome of the Infinity War to say the least.  Most of the MCU will be looking for other employment after this.  I will say no more.

On the plus side, 

Spoiler

Benedict and Tom Hiddleston are now free to pursue more Shakespearean opportunities or other.  Loki's appearance is very brief before his rapid demise.  Several times, Tom's face looked like he was thinking  ."I have a double first from Cambridge.  What the hell am I doing HERE?

I will say on the record that I feel severely duped by that fun 'Brady Bunch' spoof trailer as sung by the cast.  That primed me for more of a comedic lark ala the first Avengers movie.

This movie is not fun nor a lark of any kind.  This is more like Hacksaw Ridge meets Armegeddon.

[Arcadia]

Oh well. Just as a counterpoint -- I liked it so much I paid to see it twice, and thought about it for days afterward. And plan to get the DVD as soon as I remember to look for it (drat, I walked right past the DVD section in Walmart today, if only my mind hadn't been on something else.)

Was it constant fighting? It probably was, but so was Two Towers and RotK, basically, and for some reason that didn't phase me either. (I do, however, object to the prolonged scenes with orcs in The Hobbit … they are BORING!!!!!) But it's easy for me to understand why it would put off others.

And I believe I did laugh at points, but I don't remember what they were, my overall impression is more one of shock. Oh wait … a lot of the exchanges between Thor and the Guardians, I found funny. Some of Spidey's stuff, as I recall. But it was no comedy, that's fer shure.

[Hikari]

Just now, Arcadia said:

Oh well. Just as a counterpoint -- I liked it so much I paid to see it twice, and thought about it for days afterward. And plan to get the DVD as soon as I remember to look for it (drat, I walked right past the DVD section in Walmart today, if only my mind hadn't been on something else.)

Was it constant fighting? It probably was, but so was Two Towers and RotK, basically, and for some reason that didn't phase me either. (I do, however, object to the prolonged scenes with orcs in The Hobbit … they are BORING!!!!!) But it's easy for me to understand why it would put off others.

And I believe I did laugh at points, but I don't remember what they were, my overall impression is more one of shock. Oh wait … a lot of the exchanges between Thor and the Guardians, I found funny. Some of Spidey's stuff, as I recall. But it was no comedy, that's fer shure.

Well, Arcadia, you are not alone.  I"m in the minority, considering that it got an 84% favorable rating on RT.

There were some funny lines in there, but I struggled with what i viewed as a tonality problem . . . the levity felt very misplaced and jammed in to cater to audience expectation in light of the very violent, somber  . . . I will go ahead and call it nihilistic action going on at the same time.  There's black humor on the battlefield, I'm sure . .but this felt a bit too quippy for the situation.  Having the Guardians and Spider Man be part of this action was also discordant to me . .but then I guess I find a p*ssed off raccoon toting an Uzi patently silly . . as is a high school boy in fancy Underoos.   Too many of our MCU characters lack the heft for this kind of battle.

It does end on a philosophical note very unexpected for a comic franchise movie . . the philosophy being straight out of Jean Paul Sartre, despite the last words of the film as spoken by Cap:  "Oh, god."

I'm thinking there has to be a sequel in which resurrection is going to feature heavily because I don't see the MCU ending like this.

In this installment, which shows so many of our Avengers being defeated and seeming quite small and also ordinary, it occurs to me just how many of them are middle-aged.  Iron Man is 53 years old.  Bruce Banner has grey hair.  Maybe this will be the new dawn of a new generation of Avengers to pick up were these have left off.

I was not prepared for the direction this went in, which has colored my perceptions of it, but even if I had been, this was just a tough, tough watch.

[Artemis]

9 hours ago, Hikari said:

Within moments of the start, we lose one of the franchise's most beloved and identifiable characters.

Ugh, I am still not quite over that.    So much wasted potential.

9 hours ago, Hikari said:

Unless they do the patented MCU 'thing' and bring previously killed off characters back to life.

...

Spoiler

The 'dusted' characters will almost certainly be returned, so no worries there.  Vision can most likely be 'reprogrammed' in some way, and Gamora may still be resurrected through the soul stone somehow.  Heimdall is almost certainly gone for good (but you never know, there will probably be time manipulation in the next one), and Loki is in question.  The writers have claimed that this was a permanent death, but people are reluctant to believe it, and it is Loki.  Personally I'm not getting my hopes up until I receive further information.  I was super depressed about his death.  His slow, senseless death, 5 minutes into the movie.

...

9 hours ago, Hikari said:

Gee, Nick Fury is almost the only figure from the MCU we don't see in this extravaganza of computer-generated mayhem.

You must not have watched the credits all the way through the end. 

3 hours ago, Hikari said:

I'm thinking there has to be a sequel in which resurrection is going to feature heavily because I don't see the MCU ending like this.

There is, it was filmed alongside 'Infinity War' and premieres in theaters next May.

3 hours ago, Hikari said:

Too many of our MCU characters lack the heft for this kind of battle.

Some of that was on purpose, especially with Spiderman, who's still just a boy.  That's part of the tragedy of it all.  The writers said they wanted to explore what would happen if heroes lost, and we are meant to get the feeling that these people are in way over their heads, involved in something too big for them.  They were facing an insurmountable threat, and for better or worse, it was supposed to be a tough watch.  Ideally, that will make the victory sweeter, when it happens.  But that remains to be seen.

 

[Arcadia]

3 hours ago, Hikari said:

It does end on a philosophical note very unexpected for a comic franchise movie . . the philosophy being straight out of Jean Paul Sartre, despite the last words of the film as spoken by Cap:  "Oh, god."

I'm thinking there has to be a sequel in which resurrection is going to feature heavily because I don't see the MCU ending like this.

In this installment, which shows so many of our Avengers being defeated and seeming quite small and also ordinary, it occurs to me just how many of them are middle-aged.  Iron Man is 53 years old.  Bruce Banner has grey hair.  Maybe this will be the new dawn of a new generation of Avengers to pick up were these have left off.

I was not prepared for the direction this went in, which has colored my perceptions of it, but even if I had been, this was just a tough, tough watch.

Well, it probably doesn't hurt that I was a Marvel fan for many many years, and that my particular favorites were the Avengers, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and Spiderman. (And the X-Men, but they don't count, alas.) So I was pretty invested in what happened anyway. But it's when they turned philosophical or complicated or unexpected is when I always liked them the best, so this was right up my alley.

1 hour ago, Artemis said:

Some of that was on purpose, especially with Spiderman, who's still just a boy.  That's part of the tragedy of it all.  The writers said they wanted to explore what would happen if heroes lost, and we are meant to get the feeling that these people are in way over their heads, involved in something too big for them.  They were facing an insurmountable threat, and for better or worse, it was supposed to be a tough watch.  Ideally, that will make the victory sweeter, when it happens.  But that remains to be seen.

It's a sure bet they won't please everyone.