[Josh Journey]

Jim Gaffigan's 2017 release of Cinco was great. He strongly stands as my favorite comedian. Loved his anti-hiking segment and specifically called out us PNWers. Clean humor. Just be sure not to watch this hungry due to his injection of food jokes.

[GaliWalker]

[kbatku]

The wrod "robot" was concocted by a Chezk sci-fi writer

[GaliWalker]

SciFi writers rule.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I watched the Hollywood version of "I, Robot" when it came out, years later read Asimov's novel that it was only very loosely based on. I think it's cool how much of what's come after him either directly or indirectly tips their caps to Asimov and his Laws.

[gb]

[NacMacFeegle]

Alice: Through the Looking Glass I highly enjoyed this movie, though not nearly so much as the first film in the series. Despite how much fun it was to watch, I couldn't help but notice a number of subtle yet significant issues that really bothered me once I thought about them. First of all, the pacing was really bad in the beginning - For the first quarter of the movie most scenes seem to have been cut short and hurried along to cut the running time down. Thankfully once the plot is set up this disconcerting acceleration ceases. The second problem is far more fundamental and bothersome once noticed; where in the first film Wonderland was allowed to be weird and wonderful in a uniquely dark Tim Burton way, this second film tries to make sense of Wonderland, and in doing so shoots itself in the foot. It tries to explain everything and give backstories and motivations to all the ridiculous characters, and doing this they rob Wonderland and its inhabitants of much of their charm and mystery. They try their very hardest to rationalize a place whose most essential characteristic is irrationality. Also, the darkly and morbidly fascinating Tim Burton imagery have been scrubbed away, and this movie feels strangely sanitized as a result. The visuals are really the only reason I enjoyed it so much (the high quality of the actors involved certainly helped too). Some parts of this movie are breathtakingly stunning and bizarre - whenever it went someplace new I couldn't help but be absorbed by the gorgeous environments. It's in these environments that the most interesting parts of the film occur, and they spent enough time there to make up for the portions that took place in more familiar locations. I feel like what we have here are tidbits of a really amazing film that has been roughly painted over with mediocrity. If they had just kept the unique locations and concepts, fleshed them out, and built a story around them then I think we would have seen something much more interesting. I still recommend seeing it, especially if you enjoyed the last movie as much as I.

[Steve Erickson]

Gone Girl Did not ever have an interest in watching Gone Girl but started watching it out of boredom last night. I was good enough that I had to sit and watch how it ended up. Easy to watch and difficult to predict all the twists in the movie.

[Tom]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I tried watching "The Deer Hunter." Didn't make it. I was kinda shocked when I saw the run time was 3 hours. About 30 minutes into it I just wasn't slightly interested in the characters or the story that was being told. I've seen bits and pieces of it on TV so I knew there were scenes shot in the North Cascades. Fast forwarded to the good parts. I think there was brief footage around Ross or Diablo Lake. Definitely a scene on the FS road that goes to the Heliotrope Ridge TH, w/ North Face of Baker and it's glaciers dominating the background. And then several scenes around the Mt. Baker Ski Area w/ shots of Baker and Shuksan in the background. What's the deal w/ that cabin they were staying in? I'm sure that's not there anymore. Did they build it just for the film and then dismantle it, or was it an existing structure that worked well for shooting the movie? Anybody know? It just cracks me up that they passed off the North Cascades for somewhere in Pennsylvania or upstate New York or whatever. When it was originally released, I'm curious if people actually thought there was some scenery like that w/ big glaciers anywhere on the East Coast. I know it was considered an important film because it tried to portray the effects the Vietnam War had on the veterans after they came back. I just couldn't stick with it. Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep looked like younger versions of the actors I'm familiar w/, but I didn't even recognize Robert DeNiro. I was kinda shocked when I saw the credits at the end.

[Josh Journey]

Rogue One Indeed was better than the Force Awakens. The American Empire strikes strong in this one. The Death Star explosions were like that of nuclear bombs. And of course the usage of Darth Vader near the end was outstanding.

[Ringangleclaw]

[Sore Feet]

All of the rave that Arrival (which I have not seen yet) has been getting piqued my interest in Denis Villenueve's work, so I recently finally got around to watching Prisoners, not expecting much more than a predictable hollywood thriller. Holy crap was I wrong. Easily the best crime / thriller movie I've seen in years. That in turn motivated me to watch Sicario, which absolutely blew me away. Like 5 stars out of 4 good. Can not recommend enough. I would further encourage those who haven't seen either to go in blind - don't read reviews, don't watch previews if you haven't seen them already. Just watch them. I was originally extremely skeptical about the upcoming Bladerunner 2049, because the original Blade Runner is one of the greatest scifi movies of all time and it doesn't need a sequel. But having now seen Villenueve's work I can confidently say I am 110% on board with the idea. If it's even remotely close to as good as his other movies it should be fantastic. Further, if he is indeed tapped to direct the new Dune movie that's in the works (not officially announced yet though), I will probably poop my pants in excitement.

[Toni]

"Lion"