How did you like that movie / TV show / book?

[Isaac Sauvage]

I finally saw the Netflix film based on one of my favorite graphic novels, Nimona. Much of the concept revolves around a shapeshifter who experiences chronic intolerance at the hands of others, for example in this scene:

The critics seemed to like this one, and I'd agree it's above-average fare for modern American animation. It's always kind of sad loving a book or graphic novel and seeing so much of the subtlety and/or complexity lost in translation, but oh well. They have to adapt to the target audience, after all.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Dang, I was just browsing YT, and noticed a free movie with ads called "Gleason,"
specifically about one of the 50's American great entertainers.

TBH, altho I was a big Fred Flintstone fan, I was never a big Jackie Gleason fan specifically, and never claimed to understand the guy.

That might be just about to change, tho...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Right, I'm a big, wanking Father Ted fan, and have always been curious about other series the two creators came up with across the years.

So, "Big Train" was a neat sketch show, more or less in the spirit of Monty Python, but oh so short. Then I tried watching "Black Books," and sadly, found it rather pants. Also, Graham Linehan kept getting in the news due to his anti-trans stances for a while there, and I just kinda... peaced out.

Until... UNTIL! Youtube randomly showed me an IT Crowd clip the other day.
Last night I decided to watch a full ep, and... that's all she wrote.

4AM in the morning rolled around and I'd finished the lot of 'em. (24 eps)
Thank Saint Bushwicke!! there weren't more episodes made, or I'd likely be comatose right now.

Anyway, here's how a true Brit (also a total computer geek) deals with an emergency:

 

[walkers8]

I recently watched the movie - Mission Stone. I really liked it, such an interesting spy thriller.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I recently watched the movie - Mission Stone. I really liked it, such an interesting spy thriller.

Cool! Do you know what that would be called in English, or have the wiki / IMDB entry?

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Oh, boy! I just rediscovered this little Disney classic from 1938:

Later, it got me curious if the View-Master conversion did the film any justice. I was thinking as with the HB and WtP stories, they'd lovingly recreate everything with clay models and such. Examples:

.

(these come from a really nice blog post here)​

Unfortunately, it looks like in the early 90's, VM took a different approach with Mickey's Trailer, simply redrawing / reinterpreting a selection of the stills instead of doing the classic detailed miniature approach. The magic is sadly lost IMO, for example:

(from WorldofSlides)​

Now TBF, going from that first pic, VM's clay-model versions were being constructed by a crew of talented technicians and artists sometime in the 60's. I would imagine VM shut that dept down at some point, and starting it back up again decades later might not have been a winner.

@DanLShane if you're around, can you confirm about the View-Master thoughts?

 

[DanLShane]

It cheers me to know that you esteem the beautiful and charming work of Florence Thomas, the artist who created most of the 3D models in the Sawyers era of View-Master. It's true that when View-Master began moving away from the scenic travel subjects in favor of the movie and TV tie-ins, especially after GAF bought the company, the art department began to cut corners. Many of the later commercial tie-ins didn't even use true 3D on-set photography.

You would probably enjoy learning more about Ms. Thomas and her history with VM, so here you go!

The View-Master Database

 

[DanLShane]

Florence Thomas was probably the most prolific of the diorama creators, but there were several others, especially those involved with the Disney and TV cartoon characters. The VM Database has profiles of these artists as well:

The View-Master Database

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Florence Thomas was probably the most prolific of the diorama creators, but there were several others, especially those involved with the Disney and TV cartoon characters. The VM Database has profiles of these artists as well:

The View-Master Database

Thanks, Dan! As an artist myself, I'm always curious about others' work, especially such a master like Thomas. I did find another blog post with a bit more info about her life here:

Unsung Geniuses: Florence Thomas of ViewMaster

by BK Munn Most fans of the tiny fantasy worlds glimpsed through the lens of a View-Master viewer are probably unaware of the name Flore...

frequential.blogspot.com

Which also made me realise that the fellow's pic I posted earlier was in fact her successor, Joe Liptak (edit: actually it's possible he's mislabeled based on the link you shared above), one of the people on the list you just posted.

You can also see that Florence looks much older in her second pic (in the link above), which seems to correspond to her working such a long time in this niche-like area (40's to 70's was it?). It's really great to see that she was able to work in to old-ish age, presumably in charge of the whole dept, directing people around her. Compare that to so many women from that era who were generally confined to being housewives, secretaries, etc.

Btw, you mentioned "Sawyers" again, and I guess the penny dropped for me. I believe you mentioned the name in a previous convo, which I kind of glossed over, but I understand now that they were the original owners & showrunners of View-Master, if I got it correctly.

Anyway yeah-- I'll continue to look at all the cool art and read up in the next few days...

 

[pinhead1]

i didn't read the whole thread but i think you missed some really great classics
Cool Hand Luke
the original "The Getaway" 1972
the conversation 1974

silent running 1972
bruce clobbers robot huey headon
running over huey scene...

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bruce+runs+over+huey+in+silent+running

original pilotmovie "planet of the apes" 1968
benea th the planet of the apes 1970

i really like "bad Company" 1972...it's about some young draft dodgers during the civil war.
they feel it better to live as an outlaw on the run than go to war.
they get a rude awakening by getting robbed out on the plains by the other outlaws.
opening credits.
patty wagon coming for the dodgers that didn't report.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bad+company+1972+opening+scene+patty+wagon

stealing food from a farm.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bad+company+movie+kid+stealing+a+pie+on+a+farm

more clips down the page.
trading a gun for a meal.....sour sowbelly

 

[pinhead1]

well, don't let me stop the discussion.
i have noticed, it's always the same ones in the discussion.
out of the 27k members i don't see too many others in the conversations.
hmmm,,,,,

 

[xenonph]

well, don't let me stop the discussion.
i have noticed, it's always the same ones in the discussion.
out of the 27k members i don't see too many others in the conversations.
hmmm,,,,,

You are not stopping the discussion.
Alot of people do not sign in to the site everyday.
Alot more people never post anything, and just lurk in the background, reading posts.
Then you have even more people who don't even read the posts in the forum, and go straight to downloads section.

I suggest you find a little more patience.
People will respond to your post eventually.
Hang in there.

 

[pinhead1]

maybe

 

[xenonph]

i spend too much time here anyway.
i have plenty other things that i need to do.
i'll be around to t

Well we enjoy your company.
But don't let us keep you from things that you need to do.
We will be here when you come back.

 

[pinhead1]

i'll still be around but i really got a lot to do.
my car took a fire under the hood.
it's bad.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

The other day I bumped in to a channel in which Curly Howard's youngest grandson, Bradley Server (or "Curly G"), is sharing a bunch of lesser-known, high-quality content of his grandfather's comedy troupe.

While I'm fond of the Stooges, I often find the casual violence a little off-putting.
With this next video, however, I couldn't stop laughing:

Curly G is a pretty good impressionist himself, doing a nice Curly imitation and original video material. I think any Stooges fan should get a kick out of his channel.

 

[xenonph]

Thor was one of my favorite comics growing up.
Out of all of the Thor movies Marvel made, Ragnarok was the best I think.
I don't think they could have found a better song to add to this action sequence!
When it got to this part of the movie, and the music started playing, gave me chills up my spine!
Love it!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Thor was one of my favorite comics growing up.

Same here!
I loved that long, long arc which built up to Marvel's Thor #300 which included a load of Norse mythology and Wagner's Ring-Cycle. I guess that would have been late 70's / early 80's.

Later, Walt Simonson got a hold of the comic, and IMO took it to even greater heights never seen before in the mid 80's or so. Me, I was generally done with superhero comics at that point, but to me, a great master working in any particular field sort of makes it irrelevant to me what the genre it is, if that makes sense.

Even more recently, Simonson came back to Thor and imagined what the god of thunder would be like after the disaster of Ragnorak. It wasn't pretty, as Thor was naught more than a skeletal being at that point, but dang if the first series wasn't another masterpiece!

I don't think they could have found a better song to add to this action sequence!
When it got to this part of the movie, and the music started playing, gave me chills up my spine!

Oh wow, Led Zep was an unexpectedly killer choice.
Bravo!

I gotta admit, I'm kinda of a hypocrite about being 'totally done with superhero comics.'
I don't read them anymore, but I do watch an odd movie or two, or the clips (heavily on the X-men). With this clip here, there was definitely 'something in my eye':

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

hahaha

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

This one really got me.

A chef in China asked his wife to get a more energy-efficient lightbulb, but she reasoned that a voice-activated one was the best deal.

As it turns out, the way it was placed meant that someone would need to sort of scream to activate it.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I still can't believe they got this movie made in the early 80's.

People back then ragged on it for being too niche-y, and not a traditional movie. And then people later on dismissed the CG / imagery as being too primitive.

I thought it was amazing though, with a bunch of cool sequences like the above that any moviegoer should be able to appreciate.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I only watched snippets from this series, but I liked this scene, in which the little Mandalorian crew is about to be exterminated by killer droids until a certain familiar X-wing appears in the sky:

Bonus pts for a fan taking the mediocre production music and replacing it with original trilogy themes.

 

[StevOz]

Not sure how I missed this one, the best dystopian movie I have seen for some time, highly recommended.

Whatever Happened to Monday...

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Bob-daggit!
So many classic 60's sci-fi series I missed... :-/

 

[AnonTet]

Not sure how I missed this one, the best dystopian movie I have seen for some time, highly recommended.

Whatever Happened to Monday...

Makes two of us. Thanks for the heads up.