spintheblackestcircles.org

I started Marianne from Netflix over the weekend. I'm 3 episodes in and enjoying it quite a bit. Some genuinely creepy imagery. My only issue at this point is the awful book transitions, they feel cheap and don't match the atmosphere the darker elements of the show set up. Excited to continue though.


Any of you watch the show on Netflix, The Toys That Made Us? I tried to watch it in the first season and just couldn't get into it. The overall production is super cheesy and feels like a VH1 docu-series. Well they did an episode on TMNT and me being a complete turtle fan boy I had to watch it. It's still the same show, it flies by glossing over most of the stuff but it did have interviews with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. For those that don't know or care they are the original creators of the comic starting in the early 90's it got a little heated between Kevin & Peter, Kevin was notoriously a dick and wanted money over their integrity, eventually he was bought out and no longer had anything to do with the Turtles. Fast forward to now, Peter sold his rights to the Turtles to Viacom for a couple million dollars and retired, Kevin was actually brought back into the fold by Viacom and has been involved in the shows and comics ever since. History lesson over. I bring this up because there is a scene at the very end of the episode that actually has Kevin & Peter getting together at an old office, they are looking at stuff and reminiscing, it's kind of sweet. Peter is older than Kevin and showing his age, he looks like a frail old man now. There was one scene in particular where they went into a room and Peter starts talking about how they had this window installed so him and Kevin could pass pages back and forth for inking, at the end he pauses and just says "but we never got to do that did we?" It wasn't said to be mean, it was an old man who was hurt (still is) that this never happened. It made me tear up and I looked over at my wife and she had tears running down her face. It was the most honest and emotional part of that entire episode and while sad at least made it worth watching through to completion. On the bright side Kevin & Peter are working a Turtles comic mini series at IDW called The Last Ronin coming next year. It will be nice to have Peter do a little more Turtles before he draw any more.

Sorry for the long winded write up but I didn't expect that episode to have that effect on me and figured I would share the story because you're the only folks who read my blathering about film and TV.

inksb wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 2:16 pm I started Marianne from Netflix over the weekend. I'm 3 episodes in and enjoying it quite a bit. Some genuinely creepy imagery. My only issue at this point is the awful book transitions, they feel cheap and don't match the atmosphere the darker elements of the show set up. Excited to continue though.


Any of you watch the show on Netflix, The Toys That Made Us? I tried to watch it in the first season and just couldn't get into it. The overall production is super cheesy and feels like a VH1 docu-series. Well they did an episode on TMNT and me being a complete turtle fan boy I had to watch it. It's still the same show, it flies by glossing over most of the stuff but it did have interviews with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. For those that don't know or care they are the original creators of the comic starting in the early 90's it got a little heated between Kevin & Peter, Kevin was notoriously a dick and wanted money over their integrity, eventually he was bought out and no longer had anything to do with the Turtles. Fast forward to now, Peter sold his rights to the Turtles to Viacom for a couple million dollars and retired, Kevin was actually brought back into the fold by Viacom and has been involved in the shows and comics ever since. History lesson over. I bring this up because there is a scene at the very end of the episode that actually has Kevin & Peter getting together at an old office, they are looking at stuff and reminiscing, it's kind of sweet. Peter is older than Kevin and showing his age, he looks like a frail old man now. There was one scene in particular where they went into a room and Peter starts talking about how they had this window installed so him and Kevin could pass pages back and forth for inking, at the end he pauses and just says "but we never got to do that did we?" It wasn't said to be mean, it was an old man who was hurt (still is) that this never happened. It made me tear up and I looked over at my wife and she had tears running down her face. It was the most honest and emotional part of that entire episode and while sad at least made it worth watching through to completion. On the bright side Kevin & Peter are working a Turtles comic mini series at IDW called The Last Ronin coming next year. It will be nice to have Peter do a little more Turtles before he draw any more.

Sorry for the long winded write up but I didn't expect that episode to have that effect on me and figured I would share the story because you're the only folks who read my blathering about film and TV.

I really liked the Toys that Made us. And the Turtles episode is a great one. I do am baffled to see that many of those toy lines I knew growing up still make big bucks. Some fancy marketing going on.

All I know is, you just couldn’t get the turtles toys in the UK until they absolutely flooded the shops with them. Same with ghostbusters toys, it was a long wait. Everyone who had any of these at the time had been on a waiting list of over six months and had savvy parents because the Argos Catalogue was the only way to see them. I’d imagine this unfulfilled dreaming is the root of the nostalgia. These days the companies have smartened up and order much more efficiently

Watching the Arrow director’s cut of Robocop.

Only two more weeks to finish my poliziotteschi streak... If my counting is correct this was number 71 this year.

Don't let the image below fool you, this is not a spaghetti western :-)

Umberto Lenzi's 1976 Il trucido e lo sbirro a.k.a. Free Hand for a Tough Cop
score by Bruno Canfora

Bez you should use Letterboxd to keep track of what you watch, make lists so others can see, etc.

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:08 am Bez you should use Letterboxd to keep track of what you watch, make lists so others can see, etc.

I only share this with the good folks at STBC :-)
And I have my excel files to keep track.

fair enough; i also did that for a while until i googled "app to keep track of movies" and haven't looked back!

static14 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:52 am Watching the Arrow director’s cut of Robocop.

It's the same cut that's been on the last two US bluray's of Robocop so don't expect anything new. I heard their transfer is quite nice but not drastically different than the last bluray version.

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:24 am fair enough; i also did that for a while until i googled "app to keep track of movies" and haven't looked back!

I used to use Letterboxd but fell off after about a year and just post about movies here. Then if I need to look something up I just scroll through this thread, it's a terrible way to do things but it's what I do at the moment. I should update my Letterboxd. What's your username on there?

inksb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:34 pm

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:24 am fair enough; i also did that for a while until i googled "app to keep track of movies" and haven't looked back!

I used to use Letterboxd but fell off after about a year and just post about movies here. Then if I need to look something up I just scroll through this thread, it's a terrible way to do things but it's what I do at the moment. I should update my Letterboxd. What's your username on there?

we already follow each other on there, but i didn't realize you haven't been using it. i think because i mostly watch old things and you've already logged a lot of old stuff so i see your ratings pop up often. i don't use it for the social aspect and i don't write any reviews, but it is handy to quickly add a movie to my watchlist, or for when you can't remember if you've seen something (or what you thought of it if you had). i follow a handful of movie podcasters and it can also be a good way to discover new movies.

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:50 pm

inksb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:34 pm

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:24 am fair enough; i also did that for a while until i googled "app to keep track of movies" and haven't looked back!

I used to use Letterboxd but fell off after about a year and just post about movies here. Then if I need to look something up I just scroll through this thread, it's a terrible way to do things but it's what I do at the moment. I should update my Letterboxd. What's your username on there?

we already follow each other on there, but i didn't realize you haven't been using it. i think because i mostly watch old things and you've already logged a lot of old stuff so i see your ratings pop up often. i don't use it for the social aspect and i don't write any reviews, but it is handy to quickly add a movie to my watchlist, or for when you can't remember if you've seen something (or what you thought of it if you had). i follow a handful of movie podcasters and it can also be a good way to discover new movies.

Haha, well now I need to log in and see what's happening. I'll update some stuff this week ;)

inksb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:32 pm

static14 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:52 am Watching the Arrow director’s cut of Robocop.

It's the same cut that's been on the last two US bluray's of Robocop so don't expect anything new. I heard their transfer is quite nice but not drastically different than the last bluray version.

All i had before this was the original recalled bluray which looked like ass so a huge step up for me. :)

static14 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:41 pm

inksb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:32 pm

static14 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:52 am Watching the Arrow director’s cut of Robocop.

It's the same cut that's been on the last two US bluray's of Robocop so don't expect anything new. I heard their transfer is quite nice but not drastically different than the last bluray version.

All i had before this was the original recalled bluray which looked like ass so a huge step up for me. :)

You must be in heaven. Robocop is such a glorious film. I've been tempted to pick up the Arrow version because it's a nice release, I am just going to wait until the standard version goes on sale though.

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:50 pm

inksb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:34 pm

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:24 am fair enough; i also did that for a while until i googled "app to keep track of movies" and haven't looked back!

I used to use Letterboxd but fell off after about a year and just post about movies here. Then if I need to look something up I just scroll through this thread, it's a terrible way to do things but it's what I do at the moment. I should update my Letterboxd. What's your username on there?

we already follow each other on there, but i didn't realize you haven't been using it. i think because i mostly watch old things and you've already logged a lot of old stuff so i see your ratings pop up often. i don't use it for the social aspect and i don't write any reviews, but it is handy to quickly add a movie to my watchlist, or for when you can't remember if you've seen something (or what you thought of it if you had). i follow a handful of movie podcasters and it can also be a good way to discover new movies.

All right, since I was looking for an excuse to not really do work, I just updated with all of my 2019 viewings from what I documented here, obviously there were others but I can't remember every thing, haha.

Could you refresh my memory what your user name on there is? I don't know which one it is, there's a few that I don't remember who they are.

I went through my database again and I made a mistake. Yesterday I watched poliziottesco number 70.
Today number 71 and the only one of Umberto Lenzi I was still missing.

Umberto Lenzi's 1975 L'uomo della strada fa giustizia a.k.a. Manhunt in the City
score by Bruno Nicolai
starring Henry Silva

@bez is your plan to watch 100 or just in one year?

I’m watching new rick and Morty. It’s ok

maxlevel wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:10 pm @bez is your plan to watch 100 or just in one year?

I’m watching new rick and Morty. It’s ok

I've been enjoying the new Rick & Morty. The magic feels kinda gone now and they are aware of it. They at least are putting a ton of effort into the animation which is kind of insane at times.

Saw Ronnie Spector and the Ronnettes last night.

She's 76. 'Be My Baby' was the start of everything for me.

There were three too many white middle aged Moby-lookalike session musos in her backing band for my comfort.

The sound was appalling, was like a school hall.

She was fabulous and clearly nuts and fucking rock and roll royalty- the show was sooooo Vegas, baby.

That is all.

maxlevel wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:10 pm @bez is your plan to watch 100 or just in one year?

I’m watching new rick and Morty. It’s ok

The plan was 52 this year. Next year the focus will be on euro-spy and maybe film noir but I probably will be mixing it up more. Although I do like to really delve into a genre. Maybe add some peplum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword-and-sandal) but I am afraid those will be a bit too boring.
And sci-fi... need to watch more of that. I will make up my mind before January 1st. Need to do more research and start a list.

I still have at least 30 politziotteschi ready to watch and I was pleasantly surprised how much fun these are. More fun than giallo overall.

@bez if you want a tip out of left field, Polish cinema has some belters. I saw the Saragossa Manuscript at the BFI years ago with a live orchestra. Beautiful stuff

maxlevel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:19 pm @bez if you want a tip out of left field, Polish cinema has some belters. I saw the Saragossa Manuscript at the BFI years ago with a live orchestra. Beautiful stuff

good idea!

^ that was very interesting :-)

For 2020 I might set myself the goal of watching at least one movie of each exploitation genre mentioned here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_film

Of course you can debate til the end of times about the genres and movies one finds there. But it is an interesting start.
I can take shortcuts (but will not)like this:
Under Biker Films:

Stone (1974) , Mad Max (1979), and 1% (2017) combine elements of this subgenre with Ozploitation.

I am looking forward to this! Some picks:

Carsploitation: Vanishing Point (1971)
Ozploitation: Turkey Shoot (1982)
Britsploitation: An American Werewolf in London (1981)

who is making this up?: Swimsploitation: The Swimmer (1968)

And I am watching Wolfen soon! Finally!