FANTASY ISLAND
? "Fool for a Client". A brilliant yet insecure lawyer wishes to
experience the excitement of a big courtroom trial.
? "Double Your Pleasure". The winner of a raffle ticket for a weekend
on Fantasy Island is caught between two girls - twins no less.
What did you watch?
What did you watch?
I watched a movie called Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. A crazy-seeming
man appears in a diner and says that he must recruit certain exact,
specific people in order to save the world. Through present-day scenes
and a flashback with each volunteer, we gradually learn what's
threatening the world and what to do to save it. At least, we think we
know what to do.
There are multiple twists and turns and fakeouts, including a twist
ending. The first part is like an action movie with a horror twist, as
Future Guy shepherds the others past threats he already knows. It gets
more tense when we go past the limits of his knowledge.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. The characters felt real, the acting was good (especially the actor playing a certain nine-year-old-
boy), and the twists made sense. It's currently on Hulu, if you're interested. I recommend it.
What did everyone else watch?
I watched:
Basic Instinct (4K disc) 1992 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and
starring Michael Douglas as a cop protecting the Streets of San
Francisco.ÿ Sharon Stone also stars as a woman that Douglas is
investigating for murder.
Total Recall (4K disc) 1990 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven based on a
book by Philip K. Dick.ÿ The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an
average man who when push comes to shove will use an innocent bystander
as a human shield then toss the bystander?s bullet riddled corpse down a flight of stairs at the bad guys.ÿ Sharon Stone stars as
Schwarzenegger?s wife, whose Basic Instinct is to kill him.ÿ Rachel
Ticotin stars as Schwarzenegger?s love interest who is both sleezy and demure.ÿ And Ronny Cox stars as a man who after being fired from being
the evil head of OCP decided to change jobs and now evil head of Mars.
The movie holds up great in all of its' Paul Verhoeven "R" rated glory.
Total Recall (blu-ray) 2012 remake directed by Len Wiseman and starring Colin Farrell as a PG13 action hero who never spills a drop of blood.ÿ I actually like the movie, but it has little to do with the original.
On 7/27/26 12:38 PM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
I watched:
Basic Instinct (4K disc) 1992 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and
starring Michael Douglas as a cop protecting the Streets of San
Francisco.ÿ Sharon Stone also stars as a woman that Douglas is
investigating for murder.
But she couldn't possibly have done it! There's no way!!1!
Total Recall (4K disc) 1990 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven based on
a book by Philip K. Dick.ÿ The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an
average man who when push comes to shove will use an innocent
bystander as a human shield then toss the bystander?s bullet riddled
corpse down a flight of stairs at the bad guys.ÿ Sharon Stone stars as
Schwarzenegger?s wife, whose Basic Instinct is to kill him.ÿ Rachel
Ticotin stars as Schwarzenegger?s love interest who is both sleezy and
demure.ÿ And Ronny Cox stars as a man who after being fired from being
the evil head of OCP decided to change jobs and now evil head of Mars.
The movie holds up great in all of its' Paul Verhoeven "R" rated glory.
A classic.
Total Recall (blu-ray) 2012 remake directed by Len Wiseman and
starring Colin Farrell as a PG13 action hero who never spills a drop
of blood.ÿ I actually like the movie, but it has little to do with the
original.
IIRC, I still have never seen this. I am in no hurry to...
What did you watch?
On 7/27/2026 12:55 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
On 7/27/26 12:38 PM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
I watched:
Basic Instinct (4K disc) 1992 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and
starring Michael Douglas as a cop protecting the Streets of San
Francisco.ÿ Sharon Stone also stars as a woman that Douglas is
investigating for murder.
But she couldn't possibly have done it! There's no way!!1!
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ubj naq jura. Naq jura gur zbivr jnf bire, V fgvyy jnfa'g fher vs fur
qvq vg be abg. YBY V xabj Ireubrira *guvaxf* fur'f thvygl, ohg...
Total Recall (4K disc) 1990 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven based on
a book by Philip K. Dick.ÿ The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an
average man who when push comes to shove will use an innocent
bystander as a human shield then toss the bystander?s bullet riddled
corpse down a flight of stairs at the bad guys.ÿ Sharon Stone stars as
Schwarzenegger?s wife, whose Basic Instinct is to kill him.ÿ Rachel
Ticotin stars as Schwarzenegger?s love interest who is both sleezy and
demure.ÿ And Ronny Cox stars as a man who after being fired from being
the evil head of OCP decided to change jobs and now evil head of Mars.
The movie holds up great in all of its' Paul Verhoeven "R" rated glory.
A classic.
Total Recall (blu-ray) 2012 remake directed by Len Wiseman and
starring Colin Farrell as a PG13 action hero who never spills a drop
of blood.ÿ I actually like the movie, but it has little to do with the
original.
IIRC, I still have never seen this. I am in no hurry to...
It's a solid PG13 bloodless, glossy, action flick that stars the
director's wife, and has no relation to the Schwarzenegger version. They don't even go to Mars. And now that I think about it, there were no
mutants or clairvoyants either. Why wouldn't you be in a hurry to see it?
On 7/27/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
OK, this is basically a 2(+) day catch-up - and I've seen a lot of
movies so it's long!
On Saturday, I finally decided to pull the trigger - I've been waiting
for all three "Equalizer" films with Denzel! to show up on the same
streamer and this month all three films showed up on HBO/HBO Max. So I decided to sit down and watch them.
The background here is that I found this remake to be almost as
offensive as "The Fugitive" film remake, for many of the same reasons -
"The Fugitive" film took a thoughtful man-on-the-run-helping-common-folk premise and devolved it into a dumb action movie (keeping none of the
grace of the original series).
I had similar problems with "The Equalizer" - as it took the premise of
a thoughtful elderly British "spook" and turned him into an
African-American ex-spec ops "action hero". This seems to me to miss the boat on the original premise almost as badly as "The Fugitive" film did.
The difference, I guess, is that "The Fugitive" films are ultimately
"revenge flicks", which is basically my "staple genre"! (LOL!), so
somehow that makes them a little less offensive to me that the Harrison
Ford travesty. Also, by the time they had put out three of them, I
figured I probably needed to bite the bullet and watch them:
The Equalizer - Definitely the best of the three flicks - it's the most stylish, has probably the best "guest" cast (Marton Csokas (I remember
when he was on "Xena"! LOL!), David Harbour, Haley Bennett, and Chlo‰
Grace Moretz, along with Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo), and has probably
the best storyline. Don't get me wrong - it still commits violence
against the premise of the original TV series (Denzel! doesn't even get
to the "ad" part of his "business" until the end of the film). But this
one is very much in the style of "John Wick" or a Jason Statham flick (though no one ever seems to lay a hand on Denzel in this so it's even
less realistic than "John Wick"!). Overall, it's an enjoyable "revenge" action flick, I guess.
The Equalizer 2 - I thought this was the weakest entry in the series, by far. Anim may like it because Pedro Pascal plays the villain and gets
his by the end. But I didn't like any of the developments in this one,
from what happened to Melissa Leo's character, to the Big Bads turning
out to be Denzel!'s old crew. And the secondary stories in this one
weren't any good either. (I did appreciate Jonathan Scarfe ("Van
Helsing"!!) getting a fairly meaty part in this, though.)
The Equalizer 3 - I enjoyed this one a lot more than "2", despite this
one completely throwing out the premise of the *film series*! (not even
the TV series, but the film series itself!!) by setting this one
entirely in Italy. (Were Antoine Fuqua and Denzel! just looking for an excuse to vacation in Italy?!) Anyway, this one has a better supporting
cast - primarily Dakota Fanning, along with some native Italian actors -
a great setting (even if it has nothing to do with the first two films),
and a decent storyline and villain (Andrea Scarduzio).
I did like how Fanning's seemingly random connection to the events
of the film are ultimately explained.
This one seems to pretty definitively close the door on this film
series, and with how far "3" goes "off script" from the first two films, that's probably the right call.
In addition to that, I also watched a couple of Lifetime flicks:
Nowhere Left to Hide (LMN, Fri) - Remember how I said that this had the
same basic plot as last Sunday's Kabby Borders film "He'll Never Find
Me"?! Well, "He'll Never Find Me" is "high art" compared to "Nowhere
Left to Hide"!!
Also remember how Arthur and I have been complaining about how
unhelpful the cops in Lifetime movies are?! - Well the cop detective in
this flick blows right past "unhelpful" and even by "willfully obtuse
and obstructionist" all the way to "quasi-accomplice"! (Actually, it
would have been a lot more interesting if it turned out the detective
was actually conspiring with the abusive husband rather than being mind-numbingly stupid.)
But this was also one of the worst written (or maybe worst edited?) Lifetime flicks I have ever seen - the heroine (Ashley Brinkman)
literally had *solid alibis* for the two attacks! - In the first one,
she was literally being interrogated by the Detective at the time, and
in the second one, she was literally at the hospital with one of the victims. She very literally could not have done it! The film has the detective just ignore this and arrest her anyway. (What?!)
If given the choice between these two very similar Lifetime flicks,
you are much better off with the Kabby Borders film (and it's not even
that great, but it's better than this one!).
What She Didn't Tell Me (Lifetime) - This was just OK (maybe barely). It wasn't great, and the two teen "heroines" (using the term *loosely*)
were very unlikeable. But the red herring being a red herring and the identity of the real 'big bad' were obvious to me, so I guess in the end
I thought it wasn't very good.
Luckily, it seems there are some better Lifetime flicks (starring the
likes of Marisol Nichols or Sara Paxton) coming up the next few weeks.
In addition, I also had "Crowning at the Prom" on in the background at
one point yesterday - and it occurred to me!: Danielle Panabaker should absolutely NOT be playing Anwen O'Driscoll's mother in the film!!
Panabaker is just 38 - O'Driscoll is 27!! I call BS!! [LOL!]
On 7/27/2026 4:09 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
snip
What did you watch?
I watched a movie called Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. A crazy-seeming
man appears in a diner and says that he must recruit certain exact,
specific people in order to save the world. Through present-day scenes
and a flashback with each volunteer, we gradually learn what's
threatening the world and what to do to save it. At least, we think we
know what to do.
There are multiple twists and turns and fakeouts, including a twist
ending. The first part is like an action movie with a horror twist, as
Future Guy shepherds the others past threats he already knows. It gets
more tense when we go past the limits of his knowledge.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. The characters felt real, the
acting was good (especially the actor playing a certain nine-year-old-
boy), and the twists made sense. It's currently on Hulu, if you're
interested. I recommend it.
Yes, it's a good movie. I recommend "John Dies at the End" for a very similar experience.
What did everyone else watch?
I watched:
Basic Instinct (4K disc) 1992 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and
starring Michael Douglas as a cop protecting the Streets of San
Francisco. Sharon Stone also stars as a woman that Douglas is
investigating for murder.
Total Recall (4K disc) 1990 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven based on a
book by Philip K. Dick. The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an
average man who when push comes to shove will use an innocent bystander
as a human shield then toss the bystander?s bullet riddled corpse down a flight of stairs at the bad guys. Sharon Stone stars as
Schwarzenegger?s wife, whose Basic Instinct is to kill him. Rachel
Ticotin stars as Schwarzenegger?s love interest who is both sleezy and demure. And Ronny Cox stars as a man who after being fired from being
the evil head of OCP decided to change jobs and now evil head of Mars.
The movie holds up great in all of its' Paul Verhoeven "R" rated glory.
Total Recall (blu-ray) 2012 remake directed by Len Wiseman and starring Colin Farrell as a PG13 action hero who never spills a drop of blood. I actually like the movie, but it has little to do with the original.
Minority Report (4K disc) 2002 movie directed by Steven Spielberg based
on a book by Philip K. Dick. The movie stars Tom Cruise as a cop in a dystopian future that uses ?precogs? to see the future and warn of
pending murders, then Cruise and his team swoop in an arrest someone
before they commit the crime. Cruise is a true believer in the system
until he?s accused of a murder he hasn?t committed yet and he sets out
to prove his innocence. The movie holds up well. And I really like the scene when Cruise finally encounters the man he is supposed to murder.
Paycheck (blu-ray) 2003 movie directed by John Woo based on a book by Philip K. Dick. The movie stars Ben Affleck as an engineer who
reveres engineers machines for companies then voluntarily has his memory wiped for money.
can see the future but thanks to the memory wipe he doesn?t know why
people are now trying to kill him. Luckily for himself, he used the
machine before the memory wipe and has left clues for his memory wiped future self to follow. I generally like this movie, but it always felt
like it should have been better. Too often it felt like Woo and Affleck were just phoning it in. Now that I think about it, this might have
worked better if it wasn?t an action movie, but with hiring John Woo,
this could have been based on ?The Piano? and he would have had the
piano exploding by the end.
So ends the first half of my Philip K. Dick movie marathon. I will
finish the second half next month when I return from vacation.
Technically, I wasn?t supposed to even start the first half until next
month so I could watch all the Philip K. Dick movies back-to-back. But
I just couldn?t watch RoboCop and not follow it with Total Recall. I
just didn?t have enough willpower to wait until next month.
Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:
On 7/27/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
OK, this is basically a 2(+) day catch-up - and I've seen a lot of
movies so it's long!
On Saturday, I finally decided to pull the trigger - I've been waiting
for all three "Equalizer" films with Denzel! to show up on the same
streamer and this month all three films showed up on HBO/HBO Max. So I
decided to sit down and watch them.
I have HBO Max, I didn?t know these movies existed, and I don?t think I can be bothered
The background here is that I found this remake to be almost as
offensive as "The Fugitive" film remake, for many of the same reasons -
"The Fugitive" film took a thoughtful man-on-the-run-helping-common-folk
premise and devolved it into a dumb action movie (keeping none of the
grace of the original series).
The whole point of the TV show (the original) is that he?s an innocent
victim of blind justice. This could happen to anybody. The cops are the bad guys. And they completely blew that in the movie.
Plus Sela Ward is way too beautiful to die gratuitously
I had similar problems with "The Equalizer" - as it took the premise of
a thoughtful elderly British "spook" and turned him into an
African-American ex-spec ops "action hero". This seems to me to miss the
boat on the original premise almost as badly as "The Fugitive" film did.
The difference, I guess, is that "The Fugitive" films are ultimately
I think you booted the name of the movies there. If not, I don?t get your point.
"revenge flicks", which is basically my "staple genre"! (LOL!), so
somehow that makes them a little less offensive to me that the Harrison
Ford travesty. Also, by the time they had put out three of them, I
figured I probably needed to bite the bullet and watch them:
On 7/27/26 12:38 PM, Arthur Lipscomb wrote:
I watched:
Basic Instinct (4K disc) 1992 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and
starring Michael Douglas as a cop protecting the Streets of San
Francisco.ÿ Sharon Stone also stars as a woman that Douglas is
investigating for murder.
But she couldn't possibly have done it! There's no way!!1!
Total Recall (4K disc) 1990 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven based on a
book by Philip K. Dick.ÿ The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an
average man who when push comes to shove will use an innocent bystander
as a human shield then toss the bystander?s bullet riddled corpse down a >> flight of stairs at the bad guys.ÿ Sharon Stone stars as
Schwarzenegger?s wife, whose Basic Instinct is to kill him.ÿ Rachel
Ticotin stars as Schwarzenegger?s love interest who is both sleezy and
demure.ÿ And Ronny Cox stars as a man who after being fired from being
the evil head of OCP decided to change jobs and now evil head of Mars.
The movie holds up great in all of its' Paul Verhoeven "R" rated glory.
A classic.
Total Recall (blu-ray) 2012 remake directed by Len Wiseman and starring
Colin Farrell as a PG13 action hero who never spills a drop of blood.ÿ I >> actually like the movie, but it has little to do with the original.
IIRC, I still have never seen this. I am in no hurry to...
On 7/27/26 2:34 PM, anim8rfsk wrote:
Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:
On 7/27/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
OK, this is basically a 2(+) day catch-up - and I've seen a lot of
movies so it's long!
On Saturday, I finally decided to pull the trigger - I've been waiting
for all three "Equalizer" films with Denzel! to show up on the same
streamer and this month all three films showed up on HBO/HBO Max. So I
decided to sit down and watch them.
I have HBO Max, I didn?t know these movies existed, and I don?t think I can >> be bothered
The background here is that I found this remake to be almost as
offensive as "The Fugitive" film remake, for many of the same reasons -
"The Fugitive" film took a thoughtful man-on-the-run-helping-common-folk >>> premise and devolved it into a dumb action movie (keeping none of the
grace of the original series).
The whole point of the TV show (the original) is that he?s an innocent
victim of blind justice. This could happen to anybody. The cops are the bad >> guys. And they completely blew that in the movie.
Plus Sela Ward is way too beautiful to die gratuitously
I had similar problems with "The Equalizer" - as it took the premise of
a thoughtful elderly British "spook" and turned him into an
African-American ex-spec ops "action hero". This seems to me to miss the >>> boat on the original premise almost as badly as "The Fugitive" film did. >>>
The difference, I guess, is that "The Fugitive" films are ultimately
I think you booted the name of the movies there. If not, I don?t get your >> point.
You are right, I did - I meant to say "...that "The Equalizer" films are ultimately..." there.
Thanks for catching that.
"revenge flicks", which is basically my "staple genre"! (LOL!), so
somehow that makes them a little less offensive to me that the Harrison
Ford travesty. Also, by the time they had put out three of them, I
figured I probably needed to bite the bullet and watch them:
On 7/27/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
What did you watch?
The Equalizer 3 - I enjoyed this one a lot more than "2", despite this
one completely throwing out the premise of the *film series*! (not even
the TV series, but the film series itself!!) by setting this one
entirely in Italy. (Were Antoine Fuqua and Denzel! just looking for an excuse to vacation in Italy?!)
cast - primarily Dakota Fanning, along with some native Italian actors -
a great setting (even if it has nothing to do with the first two films),
and a decent storyline and villain (Andrea Scarduzio).
ÿÿ I did like how Fanning's seemingly random connection to the events
of the film are ultimately explained.
ÿÿ This one seems to pretty definitively close the door on this film series, and with how far "3" goes "off script" from the first two films, that's probably the right call.
On 7/27/2026 1:46 PM, Ian J. Ball wrote:
On 7/27/26 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:snip
What did you watch?
The Equalizer 3 - I enjoyed this one a lot more than "2", despite this
one completely throwing out the premise of the *film series*! (not even
the TV series, but the film series itself!!) by setting this one
entirely in Italy. (Were Antoine Fuqua and Denzel! just looking for an
excuse to vacation in Italy?!)
It's not a vacation if you're paid to be there. ;-)
Anyway, this one has a better supporting
cast - primarily Dakota Fanning, along with some native Italian actors - >> a great setting (even if it has nothing to do with the first two films), >> and a decent storyline and villain (Andrea Scarduzio).
ÿÿ I did like how Fanning's seemingly random connection to the events
of the film are ultimately explained.
Don't forget Denzel saved her from kidnappers when she was a child. A connection like that you never forget.
ÿÿ This one seems to pretty definitively close the door on this filmI liked the 3 movies a *lot* more than you did. The first is the best,
series, and with how far "3" goes "off script" from the first two films, >> that's probably the right call.
but the sequels are good too. I don't think I've seen the third one
since it was in the theater.
There are still talks of another Equalizer movie, but who knows if it
will be made or not.
I watched:
Basic Instinct (4K disc) 1992 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and
starring Michael Douglas as a cop protecting the Streets of San
Francisco. Sharon Stone also stars as a woman that Douglas is
investigating for murder.
Total Recall (4K disc) 1990 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven based on a
book by Philip K. Dick.
The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an
average man who when push comes to shove will use an innocent bystander
as a human shield then toss the bystander's bullet riddled corpse down a >flight of stairs at the bad guys. Sharon Stone stars as
Schwarzenegger's wife, whose Basic Instinct is to kill him. Rachel
Ticotin stars as Schwarzenegger's love interest who is both sleezy and >demure. And Ronny Cox stars as a man who after being fired from being
the evil head of OCP decided to change jobs and now evil head of Mars.
The movie holds up great in all of its' Paul Verhoeven "R" rated glory.
Minority Report (4K disc) 2002 movie directed by Steven Spielberg based
on a book by Philip K. Dick.
The movie stars Tom Cruise as a cop in a
dystopian future that uses ?precogs? to see the future and warn of
pending murders, then Cruise and his team swoop in an arrest someone
before they commit the crime. Cruise is a true believer in the system
until he?s accused of a murder he hasn?t committed yet and he sets out
to prove his innocence. The movie holds up well. And I really like the >scene when Cruise finally encounters the man he is supposed to murder.
Paycheck (blu-ray) 2003 movie directed by John Woo based on a book by >Philip K. Dick. The movie stars Ben Affleck as an engineer who
reveres engineers machines for companies then voluntarily has his memory >wiped for money.
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