From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv
On 9/30/2026 5:09 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
snip
What did you watch?
I watched the latest Futurama finale again, because I couldn't
remember the ending. After sitting through it a second time, I
realized that this was because the ending was so bad.
This latest revival should not have happened. I wish there were a
way for fans of a property to block ill-advised revivals, but I
know that's crazy. I may watch "The Devil's Hand Are Idle
Playthings" to get the taste out of my mouth.
LOL
I also watched some Superstore reruns. That show is a good
example of a long-running sitcom done right. The situation is
realistically tweaked as they go, but it's always funny even if
you're just dropping in.
This is a multi-day catch-up. Over the past few days I watched:
Constantine (4K disc) 2005 movie starring Keanu Reeves as an exorcist
who is trying to prevent a plot by demon to unleash hell on Earth. Shia LaBeouf costars as Reeves' young sidekick who helps him battle evil.
And Peter Stomare has a scene stilling role as the devil. I really like
this movie. It's a shame it flopped at the box office.
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (blu-ray) 2011 movie starring Brandon Routh as
a paranormal detective trying to stop vampires from doing something or
other. I'm not entirely sure what the plot was. Sam Huntington costars
as Routh's young sidekick who must cope with being turned into a zombie
early on. And Peter Stomare phones in a performance as a vampire, or
maybe a werewolf. I don't know or really care which.
Heart of the Beast (theatrical) New movie directed by David Ayer and
starring Brad Pitt as a retired special forces soldier vacationing in
the Alaskan wilderness with his highly trained combat dog. Both of them
have PTSD from too many battles. As their vacation wraps up and they
are flying home the plane crashes stranding the two of the in the
Alaskan wilderness. The two must battled the elements, bears, and packs
of wild wolves in order to survive. I really liked this movie, probably
more after the fact as I thought more and more about it. If you like
movies about dogs or movies about man vs. nature, this movie has both
elements rolled into one.
Dark Matter (AppleTV+) - I watched episodes 2 through 5 and caught up
with the series. A little background, the first season followed a
scientist played by Joel Edgerton who is kidnapped by an alternate
version of himself from a parallel dimension. The alternate version
invented a machine that allows anyone who takes a certain drug first, to travel to any parallel world by concentrating on the world they want to
travel to. It's a very imprecise technology since it depends on the
traveling trying to pick a world from the infinite multiverse. The
machine basically puts you wherever you *subconscious* is thinking, not
where you consciously want to go. The first half of the season focused
on the original Egerton trying to find his way back home to his wife and
son. The second half had Edgerton returning home, only to then have to
deal with an infinite number of alternate versions of himself who also returned home, wanting to be with his wife, and each believing they were
the original.
As I previously complained, season 2 kicks off without a proper recap,
and I was often loss trying to follow what's what because the show never identifies which "clone" is which, or which world they are on. And it's
not just Edgerton and his clones; the show is also following several
other "clones" of his friends who are also independently traveling the multiverse.
Now if that wasn't bad enough, episode 5, "Love and Be Loved" decided to
do something different and have a side quest episode that followed the
life of a random Edgerton clone on a random world that none of the main characters had anything to do with. Of course, I didn't realize this
and spent half the episode trying to figure out which clone this episode focused on and which world they were on. Because none of it made any
sense within the framework of the characters the show usually follows.
Why are they doing a side quest focusing on a "clone" who has never been
seen before and will never be seen again?
The one bright light I have really been enjoying this season, and it's
only a very small part of this season, but back on the main Earth a
government agent (Chris Diamantopoulos) has slowly begun to figure out something is up. He doesn't know there's a multiverse, but he is well
aware there are a bunch of Edgerton "clones" appearing, and now he's
aware there are also "clones" of other people showing up too. At this
point I'd be totally fine with them dumping Edgerton and his whole
pointless storyline just to focus on Diamantopoulos investigating the multiverse and trying to stop, from his perspective, an invasion.
I loved a scene in one of the episode when Diamantopoulos and a bunch of
armed guys were in the same room with the machine, but had no idea what
the machine does. To them, it's just a big empty box. They *know* the
box is empty, when suddenly the door opens and out walks another guy who
has been traveling the multiverse. The guy opens the door to see a room
full of armed soldiers, and Diamantopoulos looks up, smiles, and
immediately welcomes him. But the multiverse travelers starts saying,
"No, no, no!" Immediately turns around back into the box and escapes
before he can be captured. I want more of that!
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