Watch and Rewatching of Movies/TV
They installed wifi at work which I have been using for nefarious purposes. I downloaded a couple movies, which inspired me to dig out my DVD box and rewatch some older ones.
Interstellar: I downloaded a rip of this mostly because it was one of the few that I could find working links for. I wasn't expecting a whole lot as I've never been a big fan of anyone in it. I liked Memento and The Prestige from Nolan well enough, but on rewatch I felt like after you know what's going on there is a definite style > substance factor. I was absolutely meh over the TDK and his comic stuff.
But I really liked this movie. All the character interactions work and the humor is rather spot-on, IMO. Not too much; nothing is LOL funny. No outright jokes, just touches of gallows humor in the right amounts at the right times. Also everyone does a pretty good job making their characters likeable, even the Murph character who had a tough row to hoe. I can't say I liked Murph, but I might have absolutely hated her otherwise. I love the TARS and CASE robots. I was not put off at all by Hathaway or McMisspelling, both do great jobs.
The plot is kinda Lost-like toward the end. I'm not 100% sure some of the things make sense, like how Cooper is able to interact with the past after the tesseract closes. Or how They could be humans, but that's just Cooper's assumption. It might not be true. I also squint at the logic of attempting to colonize a world orbiting a supermassive blackhole when the one orbiting a neutron star isn't that much further away, but it's more a hindsight being 20/20 thing. I've rewatched it twice and enjoyed it both times.
Alien: Which is more than I can say for Alien. I was a fan of the Alien franchise, even Fincher's Alien 3, up until A4, which I disavow. So it pains me a little to say I did not care for it on this rewatch. I know it's from the 70's and it could very well be that I've been spoiled by modern production values but I found so much to be cringe-y. The acting, the dialogue, even the set designs seem so paper thin. I did not remember the Ash stuff being so stilted. I was quite sad when it ended. I originally planned to watch the trilogy, but stopped so as not to potentially step on more childhood memories.
Jurassic Park: Definitely held up on this rewatch. I'll probably see Jurassic World even though it will undoubtedly be horrible. The dinos all still look amazing to me. I've been told it doesn't look as great on blu-ray, but this is why I don't have a blu-ray. DVD is just find for me. Not a great deal to say about it. It's still just as fun as it was then.
Hells Bells: For some reason I was also possessed to rewatch this. It's not an ep I regularly rewatch because I was never a fan of it. I was slightly taken aback at how angry Nicky plays Xander, right from the beginning. Maybe it's supposed to be jitters, but to me he just sounds downright angry instead of anxious. Also I wonder why Buffy and Dawn did not have to suffer those horrible sleeves on their dresses. Also, why is Clem there? Does he just show up at parties for the food? Hey, a guy's gotta get his snacks somewhere. Speaking of which, the demon-side of it all needed a little more set-up. Anya is never shown to have many friends so it's odd that there is so much turn-out.
I do not get Xander here or after this episode. I mean, I do. He's scared and what Anya said in The Gift was probably more true than false. That's all well and good, if cowardly. But how he could possibly think she'd want to see him after what he does in this ep is beyond me. I know it's part of his character--probably from his father--that he doesn't see (possibly doesn't care) how his actions affect those around him, but he just comes off as off-the-charts childish. Also I can't help but feel that he wouldn't have such reservations if it were Buffy instead of Anya. I think the one thing that kills any sympathy at all for me in this ep. is that at the end he just walks out and let's Anya deal with it. After killing the demon, acknowledging it was all a fake and he knew it, he still forces her through the indignity of having to tell all the guests it was off. No go. And it's only just starting 'cause he gets worse later.
Interstellar: I downloaded a rip of this mostly because it was one of the few that I could find working links for. I wasn't expecting a whole lot as I've never been a big fan of anyone in it. I liked Memento and The Prestige from Nolan well enough, but on rewatch I felt like after you know what's going on there is a definite style > substance factor. I was absolutely meh over the TDK and his comic stuff.
But I really liked this movie. All the character interactions work and the humor is rather spot-on, IMO. Not too much; nothing is LOL funny. No outright jokes, just touches of gallows humor in the right amounts at the right times. Also everyone does a pretty good job making their characters likeable, even the Murph character who had a tough row to hoe. I can't say I liked Murph, but I might have absolutely hated her otherwise. I love the TARS and CASE robots. I was not put off at all by Hathaway or McMisspelling, both do great jobs.
The plot is kinda Lost-like toward the end. I'm not 100% sure some of the things make sense, like how Cooper is able to interact with the past after the tesseract closes. Or how They could be humans, but that's just Cooper's assumption. It might not be true. I also squint at the logic of attempting to colonize a world orbiting a supermassive blackhole when the one orbiting a neutron star isn't that much further away, but it's more a hindsight being 20/20 thing. I've rewatched it twice and enjoyed it both times.
Alien: Which is more than I can say for Alien. I was a fan of the Alien franchise, even Fincher's Alien 3, up until A4, which I disavow. So it pains me a little to say I did not care for it on this rewatch. I know it's from the 70's and it could very well be that I've been spoiled by modern production values but I found so much to be cringe-y. The acting, the dialogue, even the set designs seem so paper thin. I did not remember the Ash stuff being so stilted. I was quite sad when it ended. I originally planned to watch the trilogy, but stopped so as not to potentially step on more childhood memories.
Jurassic Park: Definitely held up on this rewatch. I'll probably see Jurassic World even though it will undoubtedly be horrible. The dinos all still look amazing to me. I've been told it doesn't look as great on blu-ray, but this is why I don't have a blu-ray. DVD is just find for me. Not a great deal to say about it. It's still just as fun as it was then.
Hells Bells: For some reason I was also possessed to rewatch this. It's not an ep I regularly rewatch because I was never a fan of it. I was slightly taken aback at how angry Nicky plays Xander, right from the beginning. Maybe it's supposed to be jitters, but to me he just sounds downright angry instead of anxious. Also I wonder why Buffy and Dawn did not have to suffer those horrible sleeves on their dresses. Also, why is Clem there? Does he just show up at parties for the food? Hey, a guy's gotta get his snacks somewhere. Speaking of which, the demon-side of it all needed a little more set-up. Anya is never shown to have many friends so it's odd that there is so much turn-out.
I do not get Xander here or after this episode. I mean, I do. He's scared and what Anya said in The Gift was probably more true than false. That's all well and good, if cowardly. But how he could possibly think she'd want to see him after what he does in this ep is beyond me. I know it's part of his character--probably from his father--that he doesn't see (possibly doesn't care) how his actions affect those around him, but he just comes off as off-the-charts childish. Also I can't help but feel that he wouldn't have such reservations if it were Buffy instead of Anya. I think the one thing that kills any sympathy at all for me in this ep. is that at the end he just walks out and let's Anya deal with it. After killing the demon, acknowledging it was all a fake and he knew it, he still forces her through the indignity of having to tell all the guests it was off. No go. And it's only just starting 'cause he gets worse later.