. . .
10/10. Great job. Nice wrapup, epic battle, great vibes all around.
On 7/20/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
Two-day catch-up.
FRI:
What Hides in Silence (LMN) - Aubrey Reynolds and Gina Vitori are
reunited again!! Unfortunately, this time they aren't trying to duck sharks... :(
This was an odd little flick, not one of Reynolds' better ones (unfortunately), and I say that as a fan.
The flick opens with Reynolds' character, a deaf teacher,
losing one
of her students in a freak circumstance when he wanders away when she's
not looking and getting himself run over.
It's two years later now, and Reynolds' character is a mess, and
she's living with her engaged sister (Vitori). In one of the flick's
more realistic bits, Vitori's fiance (Aaron Mees, I think) is a jerk who doesn't like the sister played by Reynolds and wants her OUT OF THE
HOUSE! A.S.A.P.!!
Reynolds' character gets a job to interpret for a recently deaf high school senior (Haley Baird Riemer) in summer school - The high
schooler's dad (John Castle) is OK, and in fact is sweet on Reynolds' character. But her mom (Liza Jaine) is a total nightmare.
Anyway, Reynolds' character eventually breaks down the high
schooler's walls. And soon enough, the girl picks up a potential
boyfriend (Alec Anderson-Carrasco).
But all along, someone is harassing and threatening Reynolds' character. We're led to think it's the high schooler's nightmare mom,
but of course that is too easy.
I had this one figured out pretty early on, and unfortunately they didn't really go anywhere with it that I wasn't expecting.
So, this was... OK, I guess, but Reynolds has done other Lifetime flicks that I've enjoyed much more.
What did you watch?
On 7/20/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
Two-day catch-up.
FRI:
I think this may have been the day I watched ep. #7(?) of "Shifting
Gears" off Hulu - This is the epie that Nancy Travis guest-starred on.
Her guest stint immediately perked the show up - too bad it looks like
her stint was a one-off and it doesn't appear like she'll be back again.
SAT:
Heads of State (Prime) - Idris Elba and John Cena... are... Heads of State!!
Of Cena's recent action-comedy flicks for streaming (have they all
been for Prime?! I want to say I watched at least one of them on
Hulu...), I may have enjoyed this one the most.
The film seems to open with a non sequitur - some operation to take
down a Russian arms dealer (it's Paddy Considine!!) lead by Priyanka
Chopra (Jonas) - the op fails and the entire team is taken down deader-than-dead, even apparently Chopra at the end.
The film then segues to:
Cena plays... Ronald Reagan? Sly Stalone?!... an action film star
who gets himself elected President of the United States. He's an
optimist who likes to make bold statements and wants to be liked by the people.
Elba plays the Prime Minister of the UK - a cynic who has been in
office for 6 years and is facing declining popularity. Oh, and Elba
thinks Cena is a joke, and has no respect for him!
Anyway, in a contrivance, they are both put on Air Force One
together when it is taken down by inside saboteurs and an outside aircraft.
Sidenote: BTR must hate this flick - the Secret Service is either
ignored, an afterthought, or generally compromised or incompetent in
this flick!
Though one stalwart SS agent gets Cena and Elba off the plane in parachutes before it goes down.
Now everyone thinks the US Pres and UK Prime Minister are dead, but
Elba and Cena are instead stranded in Belarus and have to get back to
the NATO conference (in eastern Italy) before it is sabotaged!
Wacky action-comedy shenanigans ensue as Elba and Cena attempt to
get back while being chased by Considine's baddies!
This wasn't deep. And there was a little too much RW commentary
going on here. But this was mostly fun. I actually enjoyed that Elba was shown to be the more competent action hero here, with Cena being more
the bumbler this time.
Witch Hunt (Prime) - Low-budget 2021 fantasy(?) alt-history(?) flick
starring Gideon Adlon, the lovely Abigail Cowen, and Elizabeth Mitchell.
In this tale, witches are real!!
So real in fact that there was an 11th Amendment to the Constitution
in 1789 about them that said "No witchcraft!"
Thus, "now", in the present day, there is an entire government
enforcement agency - basically, the "FBI for witches"! - that exists, populated by "witch hunters" who track down witches for some righteous
stake burning.
The witches, of course, are all trying to escape down Mexico way,
where the government and population is apparently much more chill with witches and witchcraftery.
Mitchell and Adlon play mother and daughter living in So. Cal. - the mother (Mitchell) is basically part of a "secret underground" for
witches, who try to smuggle witches into Mexico.
Adlon just wants to be a regular teen, and not be part of this
dangerous witch smuggling business.
The first charge of theirs that we see is a fleeing witch played by
Ashley Bell, and she's not so lucky as the witch hunters track her (and
her smuggler down) and torch them.
Soon enough, the next charges appear - two sisters (the lovely
Cowen, and Echo Campbell who plays the younger sister) whose witch
mother we see get stake-burned in the film's open.
The mother and daughter are forced to conceal the two sisters for
longer than usual with the witch hunters breathing down their neck. Of course, Cowan ends up breaking down Adlon's character's defenses.
Anyway, I don't know if the "twist" in this film was supposed to be obvious from the get-go, or they just did a horrible job of hiding it,
but I knew where this was going from early on.
Despite the obvious allegory they were trying to set up here, I
though this flick turned out better than I was expecting because, 1) the allegory was very secondary, and 2) they did a lot of other atmospheric
or unexpected stuff to keep this engaging.
What did you watch?
Whnile continuing to struggle with intermitant Internet service, I watched:
PCB | SUPERMAN REVIEWS | FANTASTIC 4 BABY BLUES | DR WHO TIRED | RIAN
TRILOGY WAS FAKE | SPIDERMAN 2:
POP CULTURE BREAKDOWN returns TONIGHT as our panel of pop culture pundits reviews one of the most divisive and polarizing movies of 2025 - SUPERMAN!
I will be giving my detailed review with spoilers, and I look forward to hearing the what the rest of the panel thought, and discussing the agenda behind all the people rooting for this movie to fail - is it fair? Or are
we being manipulated? We'll also discuss the latest leaked scene from Fantastic Four, which is the worst of them all, we'll laugh at Ncuti Gatwa basically saying he got the vapors shooting Dr. Who, and needed a rest because it was SOOOO hard! And tonight our movie we love is one of the greatest, if not THE greatest superhero movie of all time Spider-Man 2!
Join us tonight as we breakdown the highs and lows of the week in pop culture!
0:10:31 THE BREAKDOWN
0:10:43 The "News" That Said, "Reed Richards and Ben Grimm Will Have a Romantic
Past" Were So Plausible That People Believed They Might Be True 0:15:58 The Fantastic Four: First Steps "Are We Safe?" Clip, Released 14 July, Is Simply "WtF?" Material
0:35:06 'Ruin' Johnson Admits His Star Wars Trilogy, Announced in 2017,
Was Never More Than
Just "Highly Conceptual"
0:44.35 GamesRadar Writes, Ncuti Gatwa says Doctor Who role was "physically, emotionally,
and mentally" taxing as he reveals reasons for his unexpectedly
early exit: "It was
time" - At the Age of 32
0:47:38 For comparison: The number of episodes each Doctor Who
(2005-2025) lead actor filmed
0:53:47 Rumor: Netflix to Buy Star Wars from Disney?
1:04:13 SUPER CHATS
1:07:13 News: India cuts kisses from Superman (2025) for being "too sensual" 1:09:12 News: A buried clause uncovered from Ubisoft Terms of Service, requiring users to destroy
their copy of a game when Ubisoft ends support
1:11:48 ? Rumor: For your view to count, YouTube requires you to 'engage' with the video
1:22:19 Superman (2025) - Panel review
( Welcome, Andy Masterson )
1:22:33 A word on the campaign to destroy Superman (2025)
1:23:02 The Snyder Fans
1:25:11 The W0kies
1:27:20 The fact that Hollywood hates David Zaslav because, among other things, he cancelled
the black Superman movie by Ta-Shini-what's-his-name
1:30:12 Review discussion
2:27:02 SUPER CHATS
2:41:28 MOVIES WE LOVE o Spider-Man 2 (2004)
3:14:01 SUPER CHATS
https://www.youtube.com/live/ADUhB5-0fuw?si=HqDEaZSx3ge-QXfb
DOCTOR WHO:
"State of Decay". Still trapped in E-Space, the Doctor's TARDIS materialises on a medieval-style planet. The townsfolk live in fear of the Three Who Rule, who govern from their mighty castle. Investigating, the Fourth Doctor discovers that the Three Who Rule are ancient astronauts who became vampires long ago, and their castle is actually their spaceship.
When Romana II and Adric are kidnapped, the Doctor must ally himself with a band of renegade peasants to stop the resurrection of one of Gallifrey's greatest enemies: the King Vampire itself.
What did you watch?
Witch Hunt (Prime) - Low-budget 2021 fantasy(?) alt-history(?) flick
starring Gideon Adlon, the lovely Abigail Cowen, and Elizabeth Mitchell.
In this tale, witches are real!!
So real in fact that there was an 11th Amendment to the Constitution
in 1789 about them that said "No witchcraft!"
Thus, "now", in the present day, there is an entire government enforcement agency - basically, the "FBI for witches"! - that exists, populated by "witch hunters" who track down witches for some righteous
stake burning.
The witches, of course, are all trying to escape down Mexico way,
where the government and population is apparently much more chill with witches and witchcraftery.
On Jul 20, 2025 at 9:42:55 PM PDT, ""Ian J. Ball"" <ijball@mac.invalid>wrote:
traveling? By snail?Witch Hunt (Prime) - Low-budget 2021 fantasy(?) alt-history(?) flick
starring Gideon Adlon, the lovely Abigail Cowen, and Elizabeth Mitchell.
In this tale, witches are real!!
So real in fact that there was an 11th Amendment to the Constitution
in 1789 about them that said "No witchcraft!"
Thus, "now", in the present day, there is an entire government
enforcement agency - basically, the "FBI for witches"! - that exists,
populated by "witch hunters" who track down witches for some righteous
stake burning.
The witches, of course, are all trying to escape down Mexico way,
where the government and population is apparently much more chill with
witches and witchcraftery.
200+ years later and they're still trying to make it to Mexico? How are they
Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:
On 7/20/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
Two-day catch-up.
I hope this cuts the mustard.
FRI:
I think this may have been the day I watched ep. #7(?) of "Shifting
Gears" off Hulu - This is the epie that Nancy Travis guest-starred on.
Her guest stint immediately perked the show up - too bad it looks like
her stint was a one-off and it doesn't appear like she'll be back again.
Agreed to all the above
SAT:
Witch Hunt (Prime) - Low-budget 2021 fantasy(?) alt-history(?) flick
starring Gideon Adlon, the lovely Abigail Cowen, and Elizabeth Mitchell.
In this tale, witches are real!!
So real in fact that there was an 11th Amendment to the Constitution
in 1789 about them that said "No witchcraft!"
Thus, "now", in the present day, there is an entire government
enforcement agency - basically, the "FBI for witches"! - that exists,
populated by "witch hunters" who track down witches for some righteous
stake burning.
The witches, of course, are all trying to escape down Mexico way,
All they have to do is cross the gulf of America, but witches can’t cross running water. The only bonus is that running. Water is always pure and
safe to drink.
where the government and population is apparently much more chill with
witches and witchcraftery.
Mitchell and Adlon play mother and daughter living in So. Cal. - the
mother (Mitchell) is basically part of a "secret underground" for
witches, who try to smuggle witches into Mexico.
What do we do with witches if we catch them? Exile them to Mexico?
Adlon just wants to be a regular teen, and not be part of this
dangerous witch smuggling business.
The first charge of theirs that we see is a fleeing witch played by
Ashley Bell, and she's not so lucky as the witch hunters track her (and
her smuggler down) and torch them.
Soon enough, the next charges appear - two sisters (the lovely
Cowen, and Echo Campbell who plays the younger sister) whose witch
mother we see get stake-burned in the film's open.
The mother and daughter are forced to conceal the two sisters for
longer than usual with the witch hunters breathing down their neck. Of
course, Cowan ends up breaking down Adlon's character's defenses.
Anyway, I don't know if the "twist" in this film was supposed to be
obvious from the get-go, or they just did a horrible job of hiding it,
but I knew where this was going from early on.
Despite the obvious allegory they were trying to set up here, I
though this flick turned out better than I was expecting because, 1) the
allegory was very secondary, and 2) they did a lot of other atmospheric
or unexpected stuff to keep this engaging.
So would I like this?
What did you watch?
Mostly ELEMENTARY reruns on the prime as background noise.
I did pay special attention to the episodes with Hooten’s lady.
On 7/20/25 11:32 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:
On 7/20/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
Two-day catch-up.
I hope this cuts the mustard.
FRI:
I think this may have been the day I watched ep. #7(?) of "Shifting
Gears" off Hulu - This is the epie that Nancy Travis guest-starred on.
Her guest stint immediately perked the show up - too bad it looks like
her stint was a one-off and it doesn't appear like she'll be back again.
Agreed to all the above
SAT:
Witch Hunt (Prime) - Low-budget 2021 fantasy(?) alt-history(?) flick
starring Gideon Adlon, the lovely Abigail Cowen, and Elizabeth Mitchell. >>> In this tale, witches are real!!
So real in fact that there was an 11th Amendment to the Constitution
in 1789 about them that said "No witchcraft!"
Thus, "now", in the present day, there is an entire government
enforcement agency - basically, the "FBI for witches"! - that exists,
populated by "witch hunters" who track down witches for some righteous
stake burning.
The witches, of course, are all trying to escape down Mexico way,
All they have to do is cross the gulf of America, but witches can’t cross >> running water. The only bonus is that running. Water is always pure and
safe to drink.
where the government and population is apparently much more chill with
witches and witchcraftery.
Mitchell and Adlon play mother and daughter living in So. Cal. - the
mother (Mitchell) is basically part of a "secret underground" for
witches, who try to smuggle witches into Mexico.
What do we do with witches if we catch them? Exile them to Mexico?
Based on the movie's open (and with what happens later), we would stake
burn them!
Adlon just wants to be a regular teen, and not be part of this
dangerous witch smuggling business.
The first charge of theirs that we see is a fleeing witch played by
Ashley Bell, and she's not so lucky as the witch hunters track her (and
her smuggler down) and torch them.
Soon enough, the next charges appear - two sisters (the lovely
Cowen, and Echo Campbell who plays the younger sister) whose witch
mother we see get stake-burned in the film's open.
The mother and daughter are forced to conceal the two sisters for
longer than usual with the witch hunters breathing down their neck. Of
course, Cowan ends up breaking down Adlon's character's defenses.
Anyway, I don't know if the "twist" in this film was supposed to be
obvious from the get-go, or they just did a horrible job of hiding it,
but I knew where this was going from early on.
Despite the obvious allegory they were trying to set up here, I
though this flick turned out better than I was expecting because, 1) the >>> allegory was very secondary, and 2) they did a lot of other atmospheric
or unexpected stuff to keep this engaging.
So would I like this?
I don't know. I liked it more than I was expecting to, even with them
putting zero makeup on Cowen ;p
You might like it. Or you might hate it!
What did you watch?
Mostly ELEMENTARY reruns on the prime as background noise.
I did pay special attention to the episodes with Hooten’s lady.
I wish she had gotten more work.
weberm@polaris.net did deliver unto us this message:
DOCTOR WHO:
"State of Decay". Still trapped in E-Space, the Doctor's TARDIS
materialises on a medieval-style planet. The townsfolk live in fear
of the Three Who Rule, who govern from their mighty castle.
I love this one.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 546 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 01:01:03 |
| Calls: | 10,387 |
| Calls today: | 2 |
| Files: | 14,061 |
| Messages: | 6,416,725 |