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Post by No Morpho, Only Bánh mì on Sept 7, 2018 21:28:09 GMT
Fun fact: As a weird mind association I have, Any time I see Alan Cumming in something, I then picture Joel Gray in his place. Just because of Cabaret. Joel Gray as Nightcrawler? 🤦♂️ I don’t hate Alan Cumming, but I like Joel Grey a lot more. There’s some great clip on YouTube where he sings a large part of the MC’s opening number from Cabaret, and then the interviewer asks, “So, do you remember anything from Cabaret?” Grey (rightfully, I thought) looks at him like he’s got three heads. Ha! Too funny. Also, saw him walking in the city twice, probably ten years apart. Joel, not Alan.
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Post by No Morpho, Only Bánh mì on Sept 7, 2018 21:28:48 GMT
Problem is (and I really don’t mean to sound snooty), but Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Brian Cox are really good compared to the rest of everything here. Oh yeah, the bromates were a huuuuge get for them.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 7, 2018 21:29:07 GMT
Not sure I’m all that into this movie. I’m kinda bored, actually.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 7, 2018 21:39:47 GMT
God, this dialogue.
“Can’t sleep?”
“How can you tell?”
“’Cause you’re awake.”
It’s not that funny as written, and it’s also not played well. Yeah, I dunno how much more of this thing I’m going to sit through. Sorry for pooping out on this one.
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Post by No Morpho, Only Bánh mì on Sept 7, 2018 21:42:26 GMT
God, this dialogue. “Oh, you’re awake too.” “How can you tell?” “You’re awake.” It’s not that funny as written, and it’s also not played well. Yeah, I dunno how much more of thing I’m going to sit through. Sorry for pooping out on this one. Do Spider-Man 3 next! It’s on Netflix now
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 7, 2018 21:44:21 GMT
God, this dialogue. “Oh, you’re awake too.” “How can you tell?” “You’re awake.” It’s not that funny as written, and it’s also not played well. Yeah, I dunno how much more of thing I’m going to sit through. Sorry for pooping out on this one. Do Spider-Man 3 next! It’s on Netflix now That one I saw in theaters, actually. I’ve actually got a genuinely good Spidey movie, Spider-Man 2, out. Longtime fan of that one. As for this one, the only people who keep me watching this are Stewart, McKellan, and Cox. McKellan was the best thing about The Da Vinci Code movie (which I prefer to this) too.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 7, 2018 21:55:16 GMT
If anyone’s reading, sorry, I’m out. It’s not the goofiness I mind, I just find it kinda slow.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2018 22:14:15 GMT
All in all, folks, after having some time to mull it over while doing lawn work, I feel that, while there’s a lot that I liked about Thor: Ragnarok (Hemsworth’s appealing goofiness, Mark Ruffalo’s Banner/Hulk, Jeff Goldblum, the humor), it just didn’t work for me. Many of the elements, even the ones I like, are just too disparate and even incomplete: as I wrote to No Morpho, Only Bánh mì , the Ragnarök scenes and the funny Goldblum scenes don’t fit, and I ended up wondering if I were supposed to be concerned or interested in the destruction of Asgard—because I wasn’t, to be frank. This is the first Marvel movie I’ve seen where I’ve understood the complaint (here and elsewhere) that Marvel’s movies don’t have “real stakes.” Now, I disagree with that assertion per se, still, as I felt like Iron Man, Captain America, and Winter Soldier (and even Spider-Man: Homecoming in its own modest, awkward way) had real stakes, and I found them really very good movies. But Thor: Ragnarok seemed to disarm our concern at every stage. Thor’s trapped in a cage by a fire-demon? He gets out offstage. Loki’s taken over Asgard? He just uses his newfound power to have everyone else flatter him. Asgard’s destroyed, all the gods die? Ehh, take whoever’s left and rebuild somewhere else. “It’s not a place, it’s a people,” after all. I have absolutely no problem with a goofy, irreverent sci-fi flick, but this is not the story to tell for it. And the Cate Blanchett character (Hela) quite literally comes out of nowhere, unless there’s some earlier flick where she’s mentioned that I’m not aware of. (In the mythology, Hel was one of Loki’s three children, along with the Fenris Wolf and the Midgard Serpent.) She just pops up and ruins the realm/planet/country/city—ehh, and why not, if all everyone needed to do from the beginning was get out of Asgard and rebuild it somewhere else? And I’m annoyed at myself for summing up against it, as I enjoyed Goldblum’s humor (though the Goldblum character is rather irrelevant to the proceedings) and several other parts as well. But the ground is undercut at every stage, the filmmakers are afraid of making a serious story too serious, and I felt that the movie came off as a missed opportunity more than anything. I feel similarly to you. I like the movie, but was disappointed by it. There is so much more they could have done with the Ragnarok premise. They focused too much on comedy and the stuff on Sakaar, and not enough on Asgard and it's imminent destruction. The joke that Korg makes after Asgard is destroyed almost killed the scene. I also hate how it glazes over plot points from the previous Thor movie as quickly as possible. Loki replacing Odin was completely wasted.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 7, 2018 23:44:49 GMT
I don’t hate Alan Cumming, but I like Joel Grey a lot more. There’s some great clip on YouTube where he sings a large part of the MC’s opening number from Cabaret, and then the interviewer asks, “So, do you remember anything from Cabaret?” Grey (rightfully, I thought) looks at him like he’s got three heads. Ha! Too funny. Also, saw him walking in the city twice, probably ten years apart. Joel, not Alan. Wow! That’s pretty cool. When I was in New York two months ago I passed by an ad for his Fiddler on the Roof production (in Yiddish!) every day. I actually tried finding contact info for him a few months ago to ask about the Sleuth singer… (Long story, but basically he had something to do with Sondheim, who had something to do with Anthony Shaffer, who wrote Sleuth. Also, he was of course in musical theatre, and I was wondering if he knew the singer’s voice.) I found some e-mail that was supposed to be for him, but if so he never got back to me. Not all that surprising, though.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Sept 7, 2018 23:49:33 GMT
Joel Grey was in a Night Gallery episode There Aren't Any More MacBanes.
Creepy monster in that-and Mark Hamill plays a smart alecy courier.
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Post by No Morpho, Only Bánh mì on Sept 7, 2018 23:49:47 GMT
Ha! Too funny. Also, saw him walking in the city twice, probably ten years apart. Joel, not Alan. Wow! That’s pretty cool. When I was in New York two months ago I passed by an ad for his Fiddler on the Roof production (in Yiddish!) every day. I actually tried finding contact info for him a few months ago to ask about the Sleuth singer… (Long story, but basically he had something to do with Sondheim, who had something to do with Anthony Shaffer, who wrote Sleuth. Also, he was of course in musical theatre, and I was wondering if he knew the singer’s voice.) I found some e-mail that was supposed to be for him, but if so he never got back to me. Not all that surprising, though. Neato! Any luck with the David Kernan lead?
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 7, 2018 23:52:56 GMT
Wow! That’s pretty cool. When I was in New York two months ago I passed by an ad for his Fiddler on the Roof production (in Yiddish!) every day. I actually tried finding contact info for him a few months ago to ask about the Sleuth singer… (Long story, but basically he had something to do with Sondheim, who had something to do with Anthony Shaffer, who wrote Sleuth. Also, he was of course in musical theatre, and I was wondering if he knew the singer’s voice.) I found some e-mail that was supposed to be for him, but if so he never got back to me. Not all that surprising, though. Neato! Any luck with the David Kernan lead? Nothing, unfortunately. I can’t even find who his agent is! I did reach out to Julie McKenzie’s agent; she was in a number of shows and revues with him. He hasn’t gotten back to me either, though.
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Post by No Morpho, Only Bánh mì on Sept 7, 2018 23:59:14 GMT
Neato! Any luck with the David Kernan lead? Nothing, unfortunately. I can’t even find who his agent is! I did reach out to Julie McKenzie’s agent; she was in a number of shows and revues with him. He hasn’t gotten back to me either, though. Have you ever had a thread not turn to the sleuth singer? If only he knew what he meant...
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 8, 2018 0:03:33 GMT
Nothing, unfortunately. I can’t even find who his agent is! I did reach out to Julie McKenzie’s agent; she was in a number of shows and revues with him. He hasn’t gotten back to me either, though. Have you ever had a thread not turn to the sleuth singer? If only he knew what he meant… Ah! Yes—yes, I’ve had… Wait, a whole thread not turn to the singer? Seriously, though, it’s not really that major for me, as much as I’ve tried hunting the singer down. It’s just interesting.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 9, 2018 0:57:10 GMT
I’m actually watching something else superhero-y, somewhat, kinda… Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, which I found for free online while looking for episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. It’s fun, goofy, and has kept my interest much more so far than the X-Men movie. I’m surprised by how well Bats fits into a Victorian/Edwardian setting—it feels like Sherlock Holmes, specifically the moody but atmospheric Holmes-meets-the-Ripper pastiche Murder by Decree. (If Edward VII ends up being Jack the Ripper, though, I’m bailing! ) Biggest problem is throwing in random Batman references where they’re not needed, and the animation seeming a bit flat. It also reminds me a great deal of the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes. For a cartoon movie, though, it’s a lot of fun, even if they’re amusingly (and obviously) conflating Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes (Gotham is standing in for Chicago, as it did in the Nolan movies—except this is set in the 1890s, of course, with a “Gotham Columbian Exposition”!). Because of the conflation, the setting and accents are all over the place; it looks like London and replicates the Ripper slayings, yet is set in America. And the writers have obviously never met a nun—this nun character is swearing right and left! I like Commissioner Gordon as Insp. Lestrade, though. The writers are so obviously setting up the alienist, “Dr. Strange,” as the Ripper that it can’t be him—my money’s on its being revealed as the Joker or something. Unless it’s like Dirda’s The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, and the Ripper ends up being Batman!
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 9, 2018 1:07:20 GMT
So this pretty much is Batman as Sherlock Holmes. He just did a string of Holmesian deductions, à la the Watson pocket watch bit in The Sign of the Four. Fun!
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 9, 2018 1:15:53 GMT
Alfred even looks like Watson!
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 9, 2018 1:21:41 GMT
All this and the Ripper’s mask still doesn’t come off!
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 9, 2018 1:23:21 GMT
OK, Ripper can’t be Batman, obviously. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s Gordon. I can’t think of who else it could be—unless it’s Selina in some elaborate bulk-up disguise to look like a man? Phantasm stuff?
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 9, 2018 1:23:54 GMT
Nope, Gordon just popped up too. Who’s left? Alfred? The goon in the beginning whom Batman beat up? Some random character we haven’t met yet?
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