Kevin's Watch

Posted: **Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:42 pm**

Rigel wrote:We're actually the only people I know who preferred Sigourney Weaver narrating... my wife pointed out something about the parts where animals die or get eaten, how Weaver actually sounds sad about it, while that British guy rolls it off like the afternoon weather.

Hm. They're always done like that, at least here. It's a documentary, not a soap.

Posted: **Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:29 am**

we have instituted fridays as movie night here. you pick a film that has meaning and cook a meal to go with it.

first night i chose Animal Factory.
2nd was combined julie & her son - Marley & Me.
i am pondering what i want to show this weekend.

Posted: **Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:05 am**

sgt.null wrote:we have instituted fridays as movie night here. you pick a film that has meaning and cook a meal to go with it.

first night i chose Animal Factory.
2nd was combined julie & her son - Marley & Me.
i am pondering what i want to show this weekend.

It's good to have a regular movie night. Nothing like a good - or a bad - movie to get a conversation going. It's usually Fridays for me, too. Putting on a favorite film is a nice way to unwind for the weekend. However, I've not seen those two films.

I watched the remaining episodes of Planet Earth this evening, a 5-hour marathon, and loved every minute of it.

Posted: **Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:59 am**

matrixman wrote:It's good to have a regular movie night. Nothing like a good - or a bad - movie to get a conversation going. It's usually Fridays for me, too. Putting on a favorite film is a nice way to unwind for the weekend. However, I've not seen those two films.

I watched the remaining episodes of Planet Earth this evening, a 5-hour marathon, and loved every minute of it.

Im a big fan of the movie night and the movie marathon. However, I have difficulty staying awake these days if Im sitting in front of the TV screen. Knitting usually prevents that from happening tho.

*Granny Felice puts her falsies in a glass of water and adjusts her spectacles*

Posted: **Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:35 am**

I bought the Dune miniseries today.

Posted: **Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:11 pm**

Loremaster wrote:I bought the Dune miniseries today.

Good purchase - it's much better than the movie.

Posted: **Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:02 pm**

CovenantJr wrote:
Rigel wrote:We're actually the only people I know who preferred Sigourney Weaver narrating... my wife pointed out something about the parts where animals die or get eaten, how Weaver actually sounds sad about it, while that British guy rolls it off like the afternoon weather.
Hm. They're always done like that, at least here. It's a documentary, not a soap.

Hmm...even though the conversation is long over, I thought I should clarify this. To my mind, having Attenborough (or whichever narrator) sounding saddened by an animal death in a documentary would be like having the biology teacher sounding aroused during the class on reproduction, or the news reader sounding terrified while reporting on conflicts abroad.

Plus, in a more instinctive way, sadness in the narrator feels a bit Disney.

Posted: **Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:13 pm**

CovenantJr wrote:
CovenantJr wrote: Hmm...even though the conversation is long over, I thought I should clarify this. To my mind, having Attenborough (or whichever narrator) sounding saddened by an animal death in a documentary would be like having the biology teacher sounding aroused during the class on reproduction, or the news reader sounding terrified while reporting on conflicts abroad.
I should probably clarify as well. We've no problem with animals killing animals, or dieing in the wild due to it being... well... wild. But things like the polar bear who drowns in the ocean because he can't find an ice floe large enough to hold him, where it's clearly our fault that the animal dies... these really show how little we take care of this amazing world we've been given.

Posted: **Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:06 pm**

Fair enough. I've got no argument with that.

Posted: **Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:08 pm**

Loremaster wrote:I bought the Dune miniseries today.

I really liked both of the SciFi Dune MiniSeries, and have both myself. Matter of fact, I think I got them for about $5.00 each at different times

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:20 am**

sindatur wrote:
Loremaster wrote:I bought the Dune miniseries today.
I really liked both of the SciFi Dune MiniSeries, and have both myself. Matter of fact, I think I got them for about $5.00 each at different times

I only like the Dune. I didn't like the 2nd one (was it Children of Dune?)

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:21 am**

dlbpharmd wrote:
sindatur wrote:
Loremaster wrote:I bought the Dune miniseries today.
I really liked both of the SciFi Dune MiniSeries, and have both myself. Matter of fact, I think I got them for about $5.00 each at different times
I only like the Dune. I didn't like the 2nd one (was it Children of Dune?)

It wasn't as good as the Dune MiniSeries, but, IMHO, it was leagues beyond the original Kyle McLaughlin movie

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:46 am**

Rigel wrote:
CovenantJr wrote: Hmm...even though the conversation is long over, I thought I should clarify this. To my mind, having Attenborough (or whichever narrator) sounding saddened by an animal death in a documentary would be like having the biology teacher sounding aroused during the class on reproduction, or the news reader sounding terrified while reporting on conflicts abroad.
I should probably clarify as well. We've no problem with animals killing animals, or dieing in the wild due to it being... well... wild. But things like the polar bear who drowns in the ocean because he can't find an ice floe large enough to hold him, where it's clearly our fault that the animal dies... these really show how little we take care of this amazing world we've been given.

I also wish to say again that, although Attenborough may not be as emotive as you'd like him to be, I don't think he is unemotional. Besides, with something like Planet Earth, the beautiful visuals and the swelling of music at "big" moments do much of the emoting for Attenborough. I think bluntness can underline the sadness of a scene as effectively as a heart-on-a-sleeve delivery. But I have no real problem with a more emotive narrator either. As I said, I'd like to hear Sigourney Weaver's version.

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:54 am**

I have to say the Ian McNeice's Baron Harkonnen is much better than the Baron in Lynch's version.

Posted: **Fri May 01, 2009 11:51 am**

I'm giving Lost a shot.

Last DVD I saw was Eternal Sunshine on a Spotless Mind

Posted: **Sat May 16, 2009 3:16 am**

Loremaster wrote:I have to say the Ian McNeice's Baron Harkonnen is much better than the Baron in Lynch's version.

It's been a while since I've seen the TV miniseries, but my impression of McNeice was that he brought out the aristocrat in the Baron, whereas Kenneth McMillan's Baron in Lynch's version was all about his personal filth and perversions. (Perversion in a David Lynch movie? Shocking!)

I think both actors put their own stamp on the Baron.

I thought I was going to see the new Star Trek movie today, but I happened to drop into Best Buy and saw they had the "original motion picture collection" (ST:I to ST:VI) on blu-ray for a great price so I grabbed it. The Motion Picture is my Friday night event.

I really had no intention of acquiring ST:V and ST:VI - they were my least favorite of the Trek films featuring the original cast. I thought I'd just be getting the "trilogy" edition (II - IV) plus The Motion Picture. But for a little over $20 more, I got the whole shebang. I just don't know if I'll ever actually want to put on The Final Frontier, but we'll see.

Posted: **Sat May 16, 2009 2:50 pm**

I thought I was going to see the new Star Trek movie today, but I happened to drop into Best Buy and saw they had the "original motion picture collection" (ST:I to ST:VI) on blu-ray for a great price so I grabbed it. The Motion Picture is my Friday night event.

I'll stop by Best Buy today to see if I can be so fortunate. Thanks for the tip!

Posted: **Tue May 19, 2009 6:22 am**

So, over the weekend, I watched the first four Trek films on blu-ray.

My first observation is that I'm a bit surprised by how soft Wrath of Khan looks compared to the others. Since the other films look pretty sharp in comparison, I have to conclude it's not some problem in the digital transfer, but that Wrath of Khan had an inherently softer picture. I don't know why. Maybe the film stock used for that movie was subpar.

The other thing is that I'm disappointed that these blu-ray versions aren't the "Director's Cut" versions as released on the earlier double DVD sets. Rather, the blu-rays all appear to be the original theatrical versions. It's especially disappointing in the case of The Motion Picture. For the DVD release, Robert Wise and company had given TMP a lot of TLC, restoring it to its rightful place as a sci fi masterpiece (in my opinion). The Director's Cut of that film was as definitive as one could have hoped for.

The most pleasant surprise of the bunch, image quality-wise, was The Search for Spock. I couldn't believe how clean and crisp the picture was: it jumped out at me. The Voyage Home looked very good, too, though it didn't knock me out like Search for Spock.

Also, in watching ST III, I was struck again by its bittersweet quality, an emotional vulnerability - and grace - that is unique to it. That was the genius (if I may call it that) of the film: that the whole thing revolved around getting Spock back, so that when Spock did return, it felt like a hard-earned return. ST III did an extraordinary job of making Spock's return not look like a big cinematic cheat. Imagine if there were no Search for Spock, if they went right to Voyage Home and Spock's resurrection only occupied the first 10 minutes of the film before everyone went to save some whales. Oh, and I'm more convinced than ever that ST III represents Kirk's finest hour (and a half) on the big screen. Montalban may have owned Wrath of Khan, but the depth of feeling Shatner puts into Kirk in ST III is something special, too.

The Voyage Home, meanwhile, remains the most fun Trek film ever. The camaraderie here has never been matched. I like to think that, in some alternate movie universe, Kirk and crew went on to more awesome adventures after they had boarded their new Enterprise at the end of ST IV.

The new bonus blu-ray features are, annoyingly, randomly inserted in with material previously released on the DVD sets. Not that there's much in the new stuff, as the material from the DVD releases was already fairly deep. I haven't listened to the new commentaries - that may be the only way that I'll sit through ST V and VI.

Haven't watched it yet, but this blu-ray collection also has a seventh disc called "The Captain's Summit" - a round table discussion featuring Shatner, Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and Whoopi Goldberg. (Gee, Goldberg was a starship captain on Trek? That's news to me.)

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 7:57 am**

I just purchased Valkyrie on dvd, and Quantum of Solace for my mother.

Posted: **Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:08 pm**

teh Happening - once we get the dvd problems fixed out.

Kevin's Watch

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