I actually had to go into work yesterday (I used to get the Tuesdays
before Thanksgiving off basically, but not so in my new position) and it
went longer than I expected.

So I got home, had an early dinner, and watched:

GH - Jason has mostly figured out what's going on with Brit, but she
doesn't trust Jason enough to let him in on the truth (duh!). Laura is
all twitchy after finding Prof. Dalton's body in her trunk and calling
in Sonny in to erase the (planted) "evidence", and then gets lectured by Martin Gray about her too close relationship with Sonny. Carly continues stringing NuJack Brennan along (for REVENGE!!) but I think he's catching
on (I really hope he does!); also, Brennan has Vaughn "removed from the equation" for playing footsies with Joss (Josslyn loses another one!!).

Sisu (Hulu) - I remember Arthur reviewing this probably a year ago now,
and I remember being intrigued by the review, so I've been looking
forward to watching it since.
This is kind of like "John Wick as an old crusty taciturn Finnish
dude", but also set during WWII so he's fighting against Nazis. But this
old curmudgeon, while as deadly as John Wick, seems even *less* lucky.
Anyway, this was enjoyable for what it was, as a "John Wick" flick
thrown in a blender with a WWII war flick and a neo-western, and made by Finns(!!). The last act was ridiculously over-the-top (is it possible to
make the "John Wick" flicks seem reasonable in comparison?!), but the
whole theme of the flick was that this "old crusty taciturn Finnish
dude" "refuses to die", so I went with it.
I was surprised that, though a Finnish flick, this looks to have
been filmed mostly in English - i.e. spoken English, not dubbed (unless
it's the best dub job in the universe!) - but one of the actors (Jack
Doolan) is actually an English actor, so I think it was legitimately
filmed in English. (Were there two versions, an English one and a
Finnish one?)
Anyway, this was enjoyable for what it was.

What did you watch?



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

Sisu (Hulu) - I remember Arthur reviewing this probably a year ago now,
and I remember being intrigued by the review, so I've been looking
forward to watching it since.
This is kind of like "John Wick as an old crusty taciturn Finnish
dude", but also set during WWII so he's fighting against Nazis. But this
old curmudgeon, while as deadly as John Wick, seems even *less* lucky.
Anyway, this was enjoyable for what it was, as a "John Wick" flick
thrown in a blender with a WWII war flick and a neo-western, and made by >Finns(!!). The last act was ridiculously over-the-top (is it possible to >make the "John Wick" flicks seem reasonable in comparison?!), but the
whole theme of the flick was that this "old crusty taciturn Finnish
dude" "refuses to die", so I went with it.
I was surprised that, though a Finnish flick, this looks to have
been filmed mostly in English - i.e. spoken English, not dubbed (unless
it's the best dub job in the universe!) - but one of the actors (Jack >Doolan) is actually an English actor, so I think it was legitimately
filmed in English. (Were there two versions, an English one and a
Finnish one?)
Anyway, this was enjoyable for what it was.

You know everybody speaks English, yes? The Finns are damn well aware
that no one will learn Finnish. They probably film the Finnish version
at the same time.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 11/26/2025 3:20 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

Sisu (Hulu) - I remember Arthur reviewing this probably a year ago now,
and I remember being intrigued by the review, so I've been looking
forward to watching it since.
This is kind of like "John Wick as an old crusty taciturn Finnish
dude", but also set during WWII so he's fighting against Nazis. But this
old curmudgeon, while as deadly as John Wick, seems even *less* lucky.
Anyway, this was enjoyable for what it was, as a "John Wick" flick
thrown in a blender with a WWII war flick and a neo-western, and made by
Finns(!!). The last act was ridiculously over-the-top (is it possible to
make the "John Wick" flicks seem reasonable in comparison?!), but the
whole theme of the flick was that this "old crusty taciturn Finnish
dude" "refuses to die", so I went with it.
I was surprised that, though a Finnish flick, this looks to have
been filmed mostly in English - i.e. spoken English, not dubbed (unless
it's the best dub job in the universe!) - but one of the actors (Jack
Doolan) is actually an English actor, so I think it was legitimately
filmed in English. (Were there two versions, an English one and a
Finnish one?)
Anyway, this was enjoyable for what it was.

You know everybody speaks English, yes? The Finns are damn well aware
that no one will learn Finnish. They probably film the Finnish version
at the same time.

I just saw the sequel the other week. The sequel is a rehash of the
first one except he's killing Russians. I didn't notice until towards
the end, but the main guy never speaks. And now that I think about it,
does he have any dialogue in the first one, other than the one line?


On Tuesday I went to the theater and saw "Rental Family." It's a new
dramedy starring Brendan Fraser as an American actor living in Japan.
He reluctantly takes a job working for a company that rents out actors
who pretend to be family members and others in personal relationships
with people. The movie follows Fraser and some of the Japanese actors
on their jobs. The drama comes in when Fraser is hired by a single
mother to pretend to be a young girl's father so the girl can get into
an exclusive private school. But the girl is told Fraser is her real
father and the two end of bonding. It's an OK movie.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

On Tuesday I went to the theater and saw "Rental Family." It's a new >dramedy starring Brendan Fraser as an American actor living in Japan.
He reluctantly takes a job working for a company that rents out actors
who pretend to be family members and others in personal relationships
with people. The movie follows Fraser and some of the Japanese actors
on their jobs. The drama comes in when Fraser is hired by a single
mother to pretend to be a young girl's father so the girl can get into
an exclusive private school. But the girl is told Fraser is her real
father and the two end of bonding. It's an OK movie.

I recall an episode of Lucifer in which actors were hired to play
friends and family.

Was he living in Japan at the time that he could have fathered her or
did the mother flat out lie? Surely he would have remembered the mother.

I'm confused.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 11/27/2025 3:44 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

On Tuesday I went to the theater and saw "Rental Family." It's a new
dramedy starring Brendan Fraser as an American actor living in Japan.
He reluctantly takes a job working for a company that rents out actors
who pretend to be family members and others in personal relationships
with people. The movie follows Fraser and some of the Japanese actors
on their jobs. The drama comes in when Fraser is hired by a single
mother to pretend to be a young girl's father so the girl can get into
an exclusive private school. But the girl is told Fraser is her real
father and the two end of bonding. It's an OK movie.

I recall an episode of Lucifer in which actors were hired to play
friends and family.

Was he living in Japan at the time that he could have fathered her or
did the mother flat out lie? Surely he would have remembered the mother.

I'm confused.

He was *not* the girl's father. That was never even hinted at. He was
an actor hired by the mother to pretend to be the father so a snooty
private school wouldn't think they were admitting the child of a single parent. Fraser's character has some issues with the roles he's asked to
play and keeps getting emotionally involved. Pretending the be the
father of a little girl who thinks he really is her father put him in a
bit of an emotional dilemma. It was made worse as Fraser and the girl
began to bond but the mother didn't want Fraser to bond with the girl.

Some of the jobs the actors took were one day and out, but others lasted several days or weeks. The job with the girl lasted weeks.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Arthur Lipscomb <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

He was *not* the girl's father. . . .

Thanks

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)