From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv
On 8/7/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
Last night I watched:
Friends Until the End (LMN) - This premiered back in May, and I think I
must have watched it then but I also think I totally didn't pay
attention to it back then. Because watching it last night was like
watching it "fresh" - I didn't remember much of anything that happened!
Christa Rose (Lifetime's earlier "Stalked by My Stepsister") plays
the "good girl" (some kind of "crisis manager") in a relatively
poisonous clique of former college buddies (Liz Fenning is the most
notable member of the rest of the clique) who are gathered (or
summoned!) by the prodigal(?!) member of their group (Sarah Malfara,
whose only previous Lifetime credit is "Lies Beneath the Surface", I
think) to a get-together hosted at her mansion estate.
Anyway, after several very uncomfortable catty interactions, the
hostess turns up dead (poisoned!), which of course means everyone starts pointing fingers at each other.
But, wait!... There's a twist!!
This was actually not bad. I thought the ending was a little weak
(it's a bit of a letdown, really). But this is pretty (uncomfortable!) suspense before that point, as the viewer is slowly let in on what is
really going on.
Other stuff I have watched recently:
Dead End (believe it or not - CW app!!) - Classic low-budget 2003... "horror"(? - it has gore, yes, but it's really more like supernatural suspense!) flick, starring Ray Wise!! and Lin Shayne!
This actually plays much more like an extra-long episode of "The
Twilight Zone" (or maybe the new "Outer Limits").
Gist - Husband and father (Wise) spontaneously takes a back-road
"short cut" with his family (Shayne plays his wife; Alexandra Holden
plays their adult headshrinker daughter - her boyfriend and younger
brother are along for the ride) while driving at night to get to his
in-law's place.
But, once on this road, they seemingly can't ever get off it! -
There are no sideroads or crossroads, and they basically never see
anyone else on the road. What is going on here?! Wackiness, creepiness,
and death(?!) ensues!!
This is a good premise, and Wise, Shayne and Holden (and even Mick
Cain as the bratty teenage son/brother) make this fun. But it doesn't
stick the landing, IMO, which is unfortunate.
Fortunately, it's just a brisk 80 minutes long.
Complicity (Tubi) - Not sure why I had never heard of this 2013 teen
drama film before - I guess by 2013 I had "aged out" of this kind of
fare, and I think this movie was barely released at the time.
What got me in the door is that this flick stars a young Heather
Hemmens (I think before anyone knew who she was!), along with Shoshana
Bush, Logan Huffman and Haley Ramm. (Ramm's inclusion in this makes me surprised it never went to Lifetime - but I think it just wasn't a good
enough film for Lifetime to even bother with.)
Anyway, much, much more than "Dead End", I found this to be a case
of "decent premise, but awful execution"!!
Gist: Something terrible happens(!!!) at a teen party, after
Hemmens's character makes a claim about another teen at the party. This
leads to a moral quandary - "What do we do now?" - which takes up the
rest of the film.
The film was both written and directed by the same guy (C.B.
Harding), and I found both lacking. Particularly perplexing was the
final shot (of Hemmens) in the film - I have no idea what they were
trying to say or imply with that.
I may have watched one or two other movies recently, but they don't
register with me.
I have also been watching soaps - again, not much to comment on except
on DOOL the war between Joy and Stephanie is heating up (also they just
wrote out Kristen), and on GH Drew is 100% back and while
Willow/Nina/Jack Brennan neutralized him Drew is still plotting his
Revenge! REVENGE!! against Willow (meanwhile Willow is blowing it by
trying to go too hard after Michael).
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