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Originally posted by Paradox Lost Caught a midnight screening of The Thing last year at a local theater, and despite having seen it millions of times, one thing I realized by the end is that they would simply never pace a movie like this again. I personally love a good slow burner, but slow, lingering shots and negative space between lines of dialogue just would not fly these days. The defibrillator scene still gets me though.

The practical effects work that went into The Thing were fabulous. The 2011 "prequel" ditched practical and went with "dumb CGI alien that attacks everyone/everything," and I think the film suffered even more as a result. The practical effects, combined with Morricone's/Carpenter's music just seal the deal, for me, on the 1982 version being impossible to beat. Also, for giggles, if you've never seen it, the OG-OG "The Thing From Another World" is worth watching, too. It strays much, much further from the short story "Who Goes There?" upon which all the films are based.

Completely unrelated, I picked up the remastered Blu-ray of Days of Thunder last week, fresh off a 4K restoration by Paramount, and it looks glorious. It's a guilty pleasure of mine, essentially Top Gun in stock cars.

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Originally posted by Zoso Completely unrelated, I picked up the remastered Blu-ray of Days of Thunder last week, fresh off a 4K restoration by Paramount, and it looks glorious. It's a guilty pleasure of mine, essentially Top Gun in stock cars.

Funny, that along with every Fast And The Furious movie has been on near constant repeat on TV for the past few months, and weirdly, on BBC America. Many of us Stateside associate the BBC with somewhat higher brow entertainment, but it's mostly been a meathead madness marathon.

Is this just what the Brits think we like to see?

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He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales

There's a new Charlie Kaufman movie on Netflix, 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' and it is totally peak Kaufman. Gonna have to watch it at least one or two more times.

Speaking of Netflix, the wife and I watched The Social Dilemma documentary a few evenings ago. It was surprisingly good. If you have any friends or family that don't fully appreciate just how much social media can be tuned/abused to exert a certain "force" on you, have them watch it with you. I'm surprised that so many of those interviewed, who were former high-ranking employees of various platforms, spoke so openly and honestly. I assumed it would be an hour of circle jerk "politician speak" where a simple yes or no question takes 5 minutes to "answer".

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Originally posted by Paradox Lost Funny, that along with every Fast And The Furious movie has been on near constant repeat on TV for the past few months, and weirdly, on BBC America. Many of us Stateside associate the BBC with somewhat higher brow entertainment, but it's mostly been a meathead madness marathon. Is this just what the Brits think we like to see?

We have a BBC America channel as part of our digital/IP-based TV service thru our ISP. It's so far down on the list, I almost never remember to check it. But, when I do, it's always running Star Trek The Next Generation. Now, I do love me some TNG, but I have all 7 seasons on Blu-ray, which just shits all over the old standard def NTSC broadcast/mastered to tape stuff. That's one of the best restoration/upgrade projects I have ever seen. I have no clue what it cost CBS Digital to go back to the original camera negatives and edit decision lists (the show was shot on film, but edited and finished on tape, so there was no "conformed" or final negative cut) to reconstruct every episode as originally broadcast was just nuts at the time. Hell, most studios wouldn't put in that level of effort even today, when even boutique labels have gone to a full 4K workflow. I wish Deep Space Nine would get the same treatment, but so many digital FX shots were used (and the files destroyed or lost), it would require way more rebuild.

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Originally posted by Zoso We have a BBC America channel as part of our digital/IP-based TV service thru our ISP. It's so far down on the list, I almost never remember to check it. But, when I do, it's always running Star Trek The Next Generation. Now, I do love me some TNG, but I have all 7 seasons on Blu-ray, which just shits all over the old standard def NTSC broadcast/mastered to tape stuff. That's one of the best restoration/upgrade projects I have ever seen.

I've noticed that too, and it's generally DS9 after midnight, and then a TNG marathon from about 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM every single day. Not that I have much a problem with this, as I love having it running in the background while I do other things (which is kind of the function that TV and movies mostly has in my life these days), but it still strikes me as just incredibly lazy programming. Why does BBC America even bother to exist if it's just going to endlessly broadcast marathons of the same few movies and shows 24 hours a day?

I have all seven seasons of TNG too, though I was one of those people who bought them when they were first released on DVD back in 2002 and priced for like 90-120 dollars a season! It's still taking up way too much shelf space.

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He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales

The full DVD box set is a freaking bargain, now. Unfortunately, they are based off the old 480i masters. I really kept hoping CBS would release a new DVD set based off the the new HD masters, but hell no, they're too lazy for that. I would have purchased them, too, as I like having all my Trek on both DVD and Blu-ray. I've spent a lot on that franchise over the years, but in turn Star Trek has brought me a lot of joy over the years, so I'm fine with that.

Last edited by Zoso on Sep-20-2020 at 21:22

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Originally posted by Paradox Lost I have all seven seasons of TNG too, though I was one of those people who bought them when they were first released on DVD back in 2002 and priced for like 90-120 dollars a season! It's still taking up way too much shelf space.

This is me with five seasons on DVD of Babylon 5, fuck they were expensive. I seem to recall paying $140 for one of them. Ouch.

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Originally posted by Sushipunk This is me with five seasons on DVD of Babylon 5, fuck they were expensive. I seem to recall paying $140 for one of them. Ouch.

I need to watch B5 sometime. I never got around to it, despite saying I would do so, over and over. I'm liking the preview for the upcoming take on Dune, as well, speaking of sci fi.

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Originally posted by Zoso I need to watch B5 sometime. I never got around to it, despite saying I would do so, over and over. I'm liking the preview for the upcoming take on Dune, as well, speaking of sci fi.

B5 is awesome. Better than any of the Star Treks, at least in my opinion. The CGI looks super clunky and dated now (it was early/mid 90s after all), but the story arc is epic.

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I can handle dated looking effects so long as the story is compelling, and from what I hear, B5 is just that.