From: arthur@alum.calberkeley.org   
      
   On 12/31/2025 9:48 AM, Ian J. Ball wrote:   
   > On 12/31/25 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:   
   >   
   >> What did you watch?   
   >   
   > My brother let his Netflix lapse (I don't blame him!) so I could not   
   > watch "House of Dynamite".   
   >   
   > But he still has Prime Video, so I watched:   
   >   
   > A Working Man (Prime) - Personal fave Jason Statham plays a man named...   
   > Don Chick?... or something, and after some Russian mobsters makes him   
   > mad by kidnapping his boss's (Michael Pena) daughter (Arianna Rivas, who   
   > I thought was super hott - she's sort of like a young Emmanuelle   
   > Chriqui) to traffic her... It just so happens that (Don Chick??) is an   
   > ex-mob assassin ex-special forces dude who has connections (David   
   > Harbour).   
   >     Anyway, this flick sees Statham take righteous justice/vengeance on   
   > Russian mobsters and various related American accomplices while trying   
   > to rescue the girl.   
   >     I enjoyed this for what it was, and I think it was Arthur who   
   > pointed out that this flick has an extra level of enjoyment as the   
   > victim (Rivas) is constantly fighting back against her attackers rather   
   > than crying and whining lost most victims in these flicks do.   
   >   
      
   I was thinking to myself, there's no kidnap victim fighting back in   
   "Wrath of Man" then I realized you were talking about "Working Man."   
   These Statham flicks could at least come up with different sounding   
   names.  LOL   
      
   > I also watched soaps (episodes from late last week):   
   >   
   > DOOL - Everyone is rescued from Kristen's EVOL! brother who hangs near   
   > death. Brady confronts Kritsen for lying to him about Rachel's role in   
   > EJ's shooting, but allows Kristen to be reunited with Rachel for X-Mas.   
   > (Meanwhile, still waiting for them to write out Chad, though that seems   
   > like it's being set up...)   
   >   
   > GH - They kind of bungled one of the marquee storylines in this ep -   
   > Willow manages to convince EVOL! Drew to allow daughter Scout to spend   
   > Boxing Day with Alexis & co. but they end the epie before anyone can   
   > profusely thank Willow for it (would have loved to see awful Kristina   
   > eat crow over this!). Meanwhile, Ned's annoying kid finds the violin   
   > that Ned & Sonny bought for Gio, and everyone guilts poor Gio into   
   > playing it - but this was an effective scene nonetheless (it helps that   
   > the actor actually plays violin).   
   >   
   > What did you watch?   
   >   
   >   
      
   I watched:   
      
   Robot Jox (blu-ray) 1990 post-apocalyptic movie produced by Albert Band   
   and Charles Band.  The movie is set after World War III where   
   territorial disputes between nations are settled by giant robots   
   fighting.  Gary Graham stars as a Jox who pilots a giant robot.   
      
      
   Crash and Burn (blu-ray) 1990 post-apocalyptic movie directed by Charles   
   Band.  The movie is set in the future after evil corporations have taken   
   over Earth and the plot revoles around one of the evil corporation's   
   cyborg's murdering a group of people because one of them is against the   
   corporation.  I saw this once on VHS when it first came out and the way   
   I remembered it this movie had giant robots fighting.  The cover of the   
   blu-ray case has a giant robot and the Wikipedia page says the original   
   title was Robot Jox 2.  So I was more than a bit disappointed when the   
   plot revolved around a stupid killer cyborg.  Although to be fair there   
   is about 5 minutes of giant robot footage shoehorned in at the end of   
   the movie.   
      
      
   Robot Wars (Streamed on DVR) 1993 post-apocalyptic movie produced and   
   directed by Albert Band.  This movie brings back Danny Kamekona who   
   co-stared in Robot Jox as a different character and he is joined by Yuji   
   Okumoto who costared with Kameknona in Karate Kid 2.  The two of them   
   play the bad guys in this movie.  The movie has them steal a giant robot   
   and it's up to the good guys who repurpose a decommissioned giant robot   
   to save the day.  I also saw this once on VHS when it first came out.  I   
   think this was the movie I was expecting to watch when I put "Crash and   
   Burn" on.   
      
      
   Pacific Rim (blu-ray) 2013 post-apocalyptic movie directed by Guillermo   
   del Toro.  The movie stars Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba as a pair of   
   Jox who pilot giant robots which are used to fight giant monsters.  For   
   the first time, I skipped the 3D version and I finally got around to   
   listening to the excellent del Toro commentary track.   
      
      
   Pacific Rim Uprising (4K disc) 2018 post-apocalyptic sequel with John   
   Boyega and Scott Eastwood as a pair of Jox who pilot giant robots to   
   fight more giant aliens.  This isn't as good as the first one, but as   
   long as you turn your brain all the way off... All the way off!  It   
   kills the time.  This was mostly background noise with the director   
   commentary.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)