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philraid

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Members
Join date
17-Jun-2019
Last activity
11-Dec-2023
Posts
45

Post History

Post
#1565009
Topic
<strong>The 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special</strong> - a general discussion thread
Time

I’ve only ever been able to watch the entire thing once. Reading about the production of it and watching reviews of it is much more fun (the Red Letter Media review of it is hilarious for example). Whenever people ask me about it I always warn them not to watch it.
I am very interested in that documentary. I’m not sure when they’re releasing it, but the production history of that thing is so fascinating to me.
I love that when Harrison Ford was asked whether he’d seen it, he said “I was there, man. I didn’t have to see it.”

Post
#1563483
Topic
Plinkett's Prequel reviews
Time

I rewatched them about a month ago. There’s some good jokes and I agree with some of their points. Before those videos I hadn’t really seen a long form review of a movie like that, so it was very new at the time. Also the first time I saw them I didn’t really understand why people hated the prequels so much, so seeing those reviews helped me understand the criticisms. I do enjoy a lot of Red Letter Media videos, although I think they can be too cynical sometimes.

Post
#1550397
Topic
What are you reading?
Time

I’m kind of reading two books at the same time. I’m re-reading Dune since the second movie is coming out this year. Really looking forward to that movie.

I’m also reading the novelization for Revenge of the Sith. So far it has a very different feel from the movie. Almost all of the dialogue is different and it goes more in-depth on the story, characters and their motivations.

Post
#1544019
Topic
What are you reading?
Time

Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House by Steve Stoliar. I’m a little over halfway done with it and I’m really liking it.
It’s about a guy who’s a huge fan of comedian Groucho Marx that ended up working for him as a secretary the last few years of Groucho’s life. Parts of it are funny and parts of it are depressing because of what he had to deal with in his later years. They’re making it into a movie, and based on what I’ve read of it so far it should be an interesting movie.

Post
#1543244
Topic
Your DVD Collection
Time

Bought a bunch yesterday as a belated birthday gift. A lot of it was just me buying stuff that I couldn’t believe I didn’t already have:
The Addams Family and Addams Family Values- DVD
Back to the Future Trilogy- Blu-ray
The Big Sleep (1946)- DVD
Never Say Never Again- DVD
Coming to America- DVD
Deliverance- DVD
Dumb and Dumber- DVD
Escape from New York- Blu-ray
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off- DVD
Flash Gordon (1980)- Blu-ray
Forbidden Planet- Blu-ray
Ghostbusters 2- DVD
King Kong (1933)- DVD
The Last Starfighter- Blu-ray
The Marx Brothers Collection boxset which has A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, and A Night in Casablanca- DVD (technically was a rebuy as I had six of these, but I didn’t have A Day at the Races or the boxset)
Short Circuit- DVD
Total Recall (1990)- Blu-ray
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)- DVD

Post
#1541032
Topic
favorite songs
Time

My favorite band is Queen, so you’re basically asking me to pick a favorite Queen song, which is impossible. I did rewatch Highlander recently for a podcast, so I’ve had a lot of their songs from the soundtrack stuck in my head.
I couldn’t list favorite songs. I could list favorite bands and artists, though. The aforementioned Queen, The Beatles (George Harrison’s probably my favorite), Pink Floyd, Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, The Who, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, John Williams, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Warren Zevon, 70’s era Joni Mitchell, Erik Satie, The Doors.
As you can see, some of it is a bit eclectic, although I definitely favor stuff from the 60’s and 70’s.

Post
#1541027
Topic
Rank The Indiana Jones Films
Time

I should point out that the Top 3 are all 10/10 movies for me, so ranking them is kind of pointless.

  1. Raiders- Perfect escapism. Perfect hero, perfect villain, perfect action set pieces, an engaging plot line. Good balance between intensity and humor. What else is there to say?
  2. Temple of Doom- I like that they took risks and tried to do something different. It’s such an insane ride. Of the four, it feels the most to me like a 30’s adventure movie.
  3. Last Crusade- Used to be my favorite and I do still really love it (mainly because of Sean Connery), but I like the intensity of the first two more. I will say though, this one is the funniest of the series and probably the most quotable.
  4. Crystal Skull- I don’t think it’s as bad as some say, but it’s not good either. Has its moments, but it’s pretty lackluster. It loses me around the halfway point. I didn’t think the plot or action scenes were that great. Hopefully Dial of Destiny is better.
Post
#1541022
Topic
Heir to the Empire Trilogy. A General Discussion
Time

They were good. Felt like a logical extension of the original trilogy, especially compared to stuff like Darksaber or The Crystal Star.

I liked that Leia was a politician in it. Luke felt like Luke. Han felt like Han.

Mara Jade’s a cool character. I have mixed thoughts on the expanded universe (at least the parts I’ve read, I’ll admit my knowledge of it is pretty limited), but she’s definitely one of the best characters to come out of it.

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really get the big deal with Thrawn. He’s an okay villain, but I guess I don’t entirely understand the hype around him. I get that he’s a military tactician, but I guess I just don’t find him cold and ruthless enough.

Also, The Last Command I thought they kind of dropped the ball with the story. The whole Luke having an evil clone plot point (and that they got the DNA from his severed hand) I thought was pretty stupid. Especially the fact they named him Luuke. That was dumb.

But overall, I thought they were decent. Not great, but good. I can see why Timothy Zahn’s considered one of the better EU writers.