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Post by katina2nd on Feb 10, 2008 21:03:50 GMT -6
My computer desk is just across the room from my tv, kat, so I can do both. Of course, with one eye on tv, and one eye on the computer screen, my typing mugjt be a bot iff. In No Company..., kat, is Tommy Lee Jones as good as usual? Yep, very good, so laid back that a couple of times I thought he'd fallen asleep. He's an actor I've come to appreciate more and more the older he's gotten. Saw the trailer for The Jane Austen Book Club and was interested to see one of my favourites in it, the wonderful Kathy Baker, does she have a very big role?
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Post by Siren on Feb 12, 2008 17:36:22 GMT -6
"Yep, very good, so laid back that a couple of times I thought he'd fallen asleep." LOL! Now, that's what I call "underplaying".
Kathy Baker does have a decent-size role in that, kat. But IMO she over-acted. Her character was a free spirit, a bit eccentric, and very colorful. And Kathy really sank her teeth into it. But in her defense, her dialogue was, at times, too much for anyone to put across convincingly.
I should've mentioned the other cast members besides Maria Bello. They are Kathy Baker, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Jimmy Smits, Maggie Grace, and Kevin Zegers. I'd give it 6 of 10 stars. But my friend liked it more than I did.
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Post by Siren on Feb 19, 2008 0:09:29 GMT -6
We saw a rarity last night - an intelligent romantic comedy. I usually avoid "chick flicks" like the plague. And this one appeared to be a "chick flick". But I followed James Berardinelli's advice in seeing it. And we did enjoy it. It's quite slow to get started. But once it did, it pulled me in. Here's a synopsis: "Will Hayes is a 30-something Manhattan dad in the midst of a divorce when his 10-year-old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will's story begins in 1992, as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the presidential campaign. For Maya, Will relives his past as an idealistic young man learning the ins and outs of big city politics, and recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. Will hopelessly attempts a gentler version of his story for his daughter and changes the names so Maya has to guess which woman her father finally married. Is her mother Will's college sweetheart, the dependable girl next door Emily? Is she his longtime best friend and confidante, the apolitical April? Or, is she the free-spirited but ambitious journalist Summer? As Maya puts together the pieces of her dad's romantic puzzle, she begins to understand that love is not so simple or easy. And as Will tells her his tale, Maya helps him to understand that it's definitely never too late to go back... and maybe even possible to find a happy ending." And here's a review from James Berardinelli: www.reelviews.net/movies/d/definitely_maybe.html
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Post by Siren on Feb 23, 2008 17:54:54 GMT -6
Just going by the poster and the trailer, I wouldn't have chosen the film "Charlie Bartlett". But after reading a positive review of it from James Berardinelli, we gave it a try. And it was surprisingly good. In this intelligent teen comedy/drama/satire (yes, the mood changes that much), Charlie Bartlett, high school outcast, finds popularity through dispensing restroom psychiatry (and prescription drugs). Though the title and poster art may intentionally remind you of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", I think "Charlie Bartlett" has more substance than that film. The strong cast includes Robert Downey Jr, who is so good, you realize why directors want to take a chance on him. And though it goes just a few minutes too long, the story kept my attention. Thumbs up from me. Here's Berardinelli's review: www.reelviews.net/movies/c/charlie_bartlett.html
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Post by katina2nd on Mar 24, 2008 6:20:04 GMT -6
A "Dexter" marathon today, the entire first season back to back, started at 9AM and finished at 8.30 PM, watched all twelve episodes, needless to say it now feels like there's a coating of fur on my eyeballs, still it was worth it, excellent show and I hadn't seen the first five episodes when it first screened.
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Post by Siren on Aug 27, 2008 23:38:47 GMT -6
I read that Woody Allen's latest, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", is his love letter to Barcelona. I can believe it. The movie is so full of gorgeous Barcelona sights, I leaned over to my friend several times during the movie and said, "We have GOT to go there!" The film's beauties extend to its cast: Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, and Javier Bardem. The plot: two young women, best friends, take an extended vacation in Barcelona, and encounter a handsome, intriguing artist. Romantic entanglements ensue. But then, his crazy, charismatic ex-wife shows up. Cruz is magnetic and very funny as the ex-wife. In fact, she just about steals the movie. And Javier is just mmmmmmwaaaah gorgeous. You can see why the gals were swept off their feet.
I was very entertained by this film. The Barcelona scenery alone is worth the price of admission. But let me know what you think about the narrator. I was ready to strangle him within the first 5 minutes.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 8, 2008 9:01:25 GMT -6
I haven’t seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Siren. Our VCR/DVD player seems only able to play the girls’ movies lately, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been to see a movie in the theater – and even longer than that since I’ve seen a just-us-girls movie that didn’t involve watching with one or both of my daughters. But last night I got the opportunity for some grown-up girl time when I went to see The Women with a couple of girlfriends.
My old movie buff friend saw it this past weekend, and he said it followed the original 1939 version starring Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, and Norma Shearer pretty closely. He liked the original, but didn’t care for this one starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mender, Chloris Leachman, Candice Bergen and Bette Midler. I’ve heard other comments too that it wasn’t that good a movie; a waste of time.
It’s definitely a chick-flick – not a single male actor; not even a taxi-driver, doorman or even a guy walking down New York’s streets was seen. The theater – though not crowded at all on a Tuesday night in a small town – was full of only women. The movie was not thought-provoking, didn’t contain a moment of having some kind of hidden-below-the-surface deeper meaning, but I liked it. It was enjoyable to just sit back and watch without thinking, and have a few good laughs….even made more enjoyable by sharing them with a room full of women.
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Post by Siren on Oct 13, 2008 20:21:36 GMT -6
I agree with your friend, Gams. But maybe that's the problem. If I didn't know how great the original movie was, maybe this one wouldn't suffer by comparison.
The biggest reason this movie didn't work for me was that I didn't like Meg Ryan's character. And if you don't find "Mary" sympathetic, it seriously hurts your ability to care about the film. I thought Annette Bening was very good as Sylvia. In fact, I thought she was much better than Meg, who has lost every bit of her appeal to me. And she's done so much to her face, it hardly moves. Eva Mendes, IMO, showed that she cannot do comedy. But when you look like Eva, who cares?
Here's the trailer for the original movie. It's a pretty broad comedy. But when I first saw it, on the late show on tv, I laughed so hard I literally woke my mom from a sound sleep, back in her bedroom. And the cast is sensational: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell, Marjorie Main, and one of my very favorite shoulda-been-a-bigger-stars, Virginia Grey.
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Post by katina2nd on Oct 14, 2008 23:02:18 GMT -6
..... In fact, I thought she was much better than Meg, who has lost every bit of her appeal to me. And she's done so much to her face, it hardly moves. Had a placard up of this at the local cinema and I did a double take when I saw it, thought Meg had reversed the aging process, looked about twenty five.
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Hippy Amazon
Whooshite Apprentice
I'm a Conscientious Objector in the Game of Life...
Posts: 142
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Post by Hippy Amazon on Oct 17, 2008 13:29:53 GMT -6
I've been addicted to Burn Notice and Psych...
They both feature ex-Xenite actors, which is fun, but they are just great shows!
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Post by Siren on Nov 18, 2008 0:05:15 GMT -6
I've seen "Burn Notice" a couple of times, Hippy, and liked it. I'm a fan of the lead actress, Mary McCormack. Though, the first time I saw her, I thought it was Maria Bello (another favorite). Mary McCormack Maria Bello Uncanny, isn't it? Those 2 need to make sure they weren't separated at birth.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 20, 2009 9:44:54 GMT -6
I watched a few heavy-duty movies this past weekend.
I caught only about the last half of "Life is Beautiful" on television Saturday. The laundry I was folding as I flipped channels looking background noise sat unfolded in the basket as I got totally absorbed into the movie. LX came home just after the movie ended, and asked what was wrong. With tears streaming down my face, I told her I'd just seen "Life is Beautiful". "You watched that alone?!", she said, giving me a hug. They'd watched it in school last year while studying the Holocaust; I remember now signing the permission slip for her to see the movie.
It's a bitter, bitter sweet story of a man who will do anything for his wife and child. Living in German occupied Italy, and being Jewish-Italian, he and his young son are taken to a concentration camp. His Italian wife follows voluntarily, and is detained as a prisoner in the camp also. Throughout, he finds ways to communicate with her, and let her know their son is still alive. He keeps his son hidden by calling their imprisonment a game; a sort of game of hide-without-the-seek part, and the big prize for the winner is a tank. The film is dubbed in English, and won three Oscars. Very, very worthwhile watching, but have plenty of tissues on hand.
The second in the heavy-duty line-up was "Lions for Lambs", a political war drama about the U.S. involvement and occupation in Afghanistan. I don't really care for action-type war movies, but while this one had some battle scenes, the main focus was dialog, and there was lots of it. It stars Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, and Tom Cruise, and was directed by Redford. Three different story lines, taking place in three different parts of the world - in Washington D.C, as a presidential hopeful Senator gives a reporter the "story of a life-time"; in a California college professor's office as he tries to convince a once-involved, but now lackadaisical student to make a difference, and not skate through life......and on a snow-covered mountain in Afghanistan as two friends fight for survival.
And lastly, "The Air That I Breathe", another movie with different story lines that connect the characters in off-the-wall ways they would never supspect....kind of like that game "The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" - who, btw, has a role in the movie. Hubs didn't like this one; I'm not sure quite how I felt about it. Excessive foul language, and some bloody Mafia strong-arm type scenes didn't really have anything to do with my like or dislike....the movie, although everything is connected in the end, felt kind of disjointed, and it left me feeling the same way.
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Post by quettalee on Feb 5, 2009 10:14:26 GMT -6
Watched a decent new video release last night. "The Secret Life of Bees". It reminded all through the movie of "Fried Green Tomatoes", but with a slightly different storyline. It had Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Hudson--but no singing, as you might expect with that line-up of heavy-duty soultry divas. Dakota Fanning stole the movie. She is really talented and I love her little attitude.
I would give it a "thumbs-up" on renting.
I also rented "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" with Adam Sandler and Kevin James. I had seen it when it originally "came out", but it was better last night. I love both those guys and the movie itself has a good message...and some moderate humor.
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Post by losttvseries on Mar 6, 2009 1:13:58 GMT -6
house md season 5
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 6, 2009 1:17:04 GMT -6
:wtw1: :wtw2: losttvseries :wtw3:
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Post by Phalon on Mar 20, 2009 4:25:40 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Aug 12, 2009 4:06:58 GMT -6
Has anyone ever seen the movie "Pumpkin", released in 2002? It was on television a couple of nights ago and when I saw the description calling it a "black comedy", we had to watch. I love satire. It's about a very shallow and self-centered sorority girl, (played by Christina Ricci), who falls in love with the mentally challenged boy she's coaching for a Special Olympics type sporting event. www.imdb.com/title/tt0265591/Every stereotype in the book is portrayed in this movie - the perfect sorority girl image, her boyfriend "the Jock", the mentally and physically challenged viewed as "retarded", school counselors, and well-meaning, but misguided mothers. In the end, Carolyn (Ricci) and Pumpkin overcome the odds and walk off into the proverbial sunset, leaving behind all those stereotypes and the characters that portrayed them. Or do they? The last shot of the movie shows Carolyn looking back at them with the oddest expression on her face - the kind of look that makes you go, "hmmmm.....". The "hmmm..." lead me to a two-minute drill to find I was not the only one hmmmming; the movie's message board page on imdb contained seven pages of posts on a thread titled "Why did Carolyn look back at the end of the movie?" Skimming through it seemed most posters viewed the movie literally as opposed to the satire it was supposed to be. All but a few viewed "the look" similar to how I viewed it, and no one viewed it in exactly the same way. Just wondering if anyone here saw the movie, and what you thought of the ending?
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 12, 2009 17:40:19 GMT -6
Nopers, I haven't seen it. But I will try to catch it sometime.
I thought only those with accounts & logged in could see the boards. When I first started going there, they were open to the public, then they became private. I guess they opened back up at some point and I wasn't aware of it. They probably got a lot of complaints from lurkers. Personally, I didn't see the benefit is closing them off to lurkers. I figured keeping them open to the public would be more beneficial to the site.
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Post by Phalon on Aug 13, 2009 22:33:37 GMT -6
Just keep in mind, Joxie, if you watch the movie that it's a satire. It's not a comedy, or a love story, and it's most certainly not to be taken literally, (which coincidentally is part of the fuss about the ending - the last line of the movie right before "the look" is, "Did you mean it metaphorically or literally?)
Reviews were either black or white; people either loved it or hated it, and there was no inbetween. I think, many of those who hated it, based on the reasons they stated, may have missed the mark....and the point of the movie. 'It didn't do the subject matter justice - the dialog was ridiculous; the characters were flat and unlikable' was the way most of them went. Hello? Satire not comedy. Characters representing shallow people are supposed to appear flat and without dimension. Self-centered, bigoted people utter ridiculous things; they are idiots. And they're very unlikeable.
Oddly, and perhaps sadly, is that some of the people who really liked the film expressed that they thought it was a sweet love story. I think they too, missed the point. It's definitely not a love story, except perhaps, that the main character is in love with herself. I dunno; I liked the movie just because the ending made me go back through the entire film and rethink what I thought I was watching. Shrugs. Maybe I'm missing the point. I certainly wouldn't be the only one.
I didn't know imdb had message boards at all; it just happened to come up during my drill.
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Post by Mini Mia on Aug 13, 2009 22:56:56 GMT -6
I like movies that make me think. Then again, whether or not I like a movie depends on the mood I'm in when viewing. I wasn't crazy about the Pirates of the Caribbean movies the first time I saw them, but with each viewing I liked them more and more, and now I'm addicted to them. I've been that away about other movies too, so I've decided that I should watch a movie at least twice before deciding I don't like it. Of course, some movies don't deserve a second viewing, and those I will refrain from watching again.
I joined IMDb years ago, and I post on several of the boards. I like their ignore feature.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 13, 2009 21:09:14 GMT -6
Big night last night for action-type movies. BP was sleeping over a friend's, so LX and I rented a few movies; Hubs was sitting in too, so they had to be action packed, (eye-roll).
First up was "Push". It's a government-wanting-to-use-the-not-so-average-Joe-for-experiments-to-develop-a-superior-human-weapon kinda thing. Pushers, movers, shakers, and swingers...well, maybe not all of those, but there are people born with special gifts that the government wants, and will do almost anything to get. I liked this one; had to pay a bit of attention to what was going on, but I didn't think there were a lot of holes, or plot inconsistencies.
Then we watched "Cloverfield". Hhmmm....Godzilla and Rodan have an offspring and it somehow ends up in Manhattan having offspring of its own. And everyone is very hungry. Filmed as was "The Blair Witch Project" (shiver), the movie itself is the video tape (now government property) made by a group of friends trying to survive the monster's attack on the city. Interesting. I can't decide if I liked it or not - though I hated the ending. Grrrr. (That's not my monster impression; the one in the movie was a whole lot scarier.)
Last one was "Taken". Absentee father due to his job as a spy, retires to be near his daughter, who is living with his ex-wife and her new rich husband. Daughter goes to France with a friend, and gets 'taken' by a ring of human-traffickers in the sex trade. Half Rambo/half Columbo, daddy sets out to find her. Lots of kick-butt fight scenes, disturbing images of drugged young woman forced into prostitution, but I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying this one at least has a happy ending. And I've always liked Liam Neeson who plays the father.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 14, 2009 0:19:08 GMT -6
The first movie sounds interesting, and the third movie I want to watch ... but I hate Godzilla and all it's related monster flicks. You'd have to pay me a lot to sit and watch any of them. Zombie movies too. I know I've seen one all the way through. Possibly two, but ain't gonna watch another one. Or 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' for that matter. Not even for Billy Wirth & Gabrielle Anwar who starred in the 1993 version. And I thought I'd watch them in anything. Shoot I watched Renee in her two crappy sci-fi movies, but I would draw the line if she were in 'Snatchers'. Guess I'm not a very loyal fan to the actors I love dearly.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 16, 2009 6:49:30 GMT -6
Don't base your judgement of Cloverfield on what I said about it, Joxie. The movie won a Saturn Award for the Best Science Fiction Film of 2008.
Last night, a bunch of us went to see "Julie and Julia". I've been looking forward to seeing this one, and wasn't disappointed. Meryl Streep's Julia Child is phenominal. And remember that old Saturday Night Live sketch when Dan Akroyd played Julia cutting up a chicken? It's a classic, and when the clip was shown in the movie my friend and I were laughing so hard, I nearly choked on my popcorn.
Of course, sap that I am, I teared up in the end.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 16, 2009 17:23:53 GMT -6
Nopers, sorry. I don't care how many awards 'Godzilla' movies get, I don't like'em. (I haven't seen a commercial of it yet either. It would really have to draw me in to make me change my mind. And, I haven't seen 'The Blair Witch' all the way through. Only bits and pieces, here and there. Didn't much cared for what I saw, so never took the time to sit and watch the whole thing.)
I do want to watch 'Julie & Julia' though. I never followed Julia, but I enjoyed her whenever I happen to catch her on. And I LOVED the SNL skit. I always wondered what Julia thought of it. I discovered she has an autobiography out, and I'm thinking of getting it. 'Thinking' ... so, ya know, I may never get around to buying it. The movie just might get me past the 'thinking' stage.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 6, 2011 8:23:30 GMT -6
I always forget this thread is in the television and not movie forum.
Funny how the last time I posted in here a year and a half ago, I'd just seen "Julie and Julia" and I'm now reading the book.
Last night's movie was based on a book too...six of them, actually, although the plot had little to do with the books the movie were based on; in a round about way, yes, but only loosely.
"The Jane Austen Book Club", and it was a long-time coming. I'd rented it when it was a new-release, but never got around to watching it before it was due. Later, when it hit the "nearly new" racks, I gave it another try which ended up same as the first. Now in the "2 for a $1" section, I checked it out once more to complete the set when LX wanted to watch "I Am Legend" for the hundredth time and "J" comes after "I" so it was close enough on the shelves to avoid browsing aisles and aisles aimlessly without a clue, (I actually hate the "2 for a $1 section; I usually have a difficult time finding a second movie).
When we sat down to watch it though, the audio sounded like my dog snorting into a microphone, and the video was just a black-screen before the snowstorm hit. I took it back (on time, I might add), and the woman at the video store said she'd credit my account (50 cents?). "Don't you just have another copy?" I asked.
They did, which she ran through the cleaner thingy just in case this one starred the dog also. She apologized for the inconvenience and said to pick out another movie on the dreaded 2 for 1 racks. "Why don't you?" I asked not in a sarcastic way at all; I just didn't want to deal with indecision and grab something just because, it end up being a bad choice, and me feel like I wasted money. (huge eye-roll) "Surprise me." I ended up with "A Good Year", which I never heard of, which she said, most other people haven't either.
"The Jane Austen Book Club" was fun; I'm glad I finally got around to watching it. I don't know about "A Good Year"; I never got around to watching it. Sometimes I don't know why I even bother renting movies.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 6, 2011 23:15:29 GMT -6
I liked "The Jane Austen Book Club." I tend to stop on it if I've got nothing else to watch and I got time to kill.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 6, 2011 23:18:30 GMT -6
Now that I have the other board, this should probably be the "What Are You Watchin' On TV?" thread ... and DVDs/VHSs would count. And start a "What Are You Watchin' At The Theater?" on the Stage & Screen board.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 7, 2011 8:27:48 GMT -6
Now that I've finally seen it, I can see myself doing the same.
Oh, and when I was getting ready to return the movies yesterday, LX reminded me that the 2 for $1 ones are five night rentals, not three nights. So I still have a chance to watch "A Good Year"...if I get around to it. I think over the years I've probably returned just as many unwatched movies as the ones I've actually watched.
Makes sense.....although I'd personally probably never post in it, only because I get to the theater even less than I get around to watching the movies I've rented. (eye-roll)
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 7, 2011 21:05:36 GMT -6
Yeah, I hadn't been to the movies in ages, until Twilight ... I wanted to watch those movies on the big screen. I didn't get to watch Eclipse on the big screen though. I'm hoping to get to see Breaking Dawn 1&2 at the theater, cross fingers. My niece and her husband like the movies too, so they took me to the first two as a Christmas present. Each drew my name each winter. The third movie was during the summer when everyone was busy.
My niece & nephew-in-law hadn't read the books, so I was worried they'd be bored during the first movie, but both like it. They await the DVDs and new movies as impatiently as I.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 17, 2011 6:33:41 GMT -6
Joxie!!! Or anyone else that watches Criminal Minds!!! (Actually, Joxie, I'm not sure you watch it, except that you may have mentioned once that you heard Prentiss was leaving the show.)
In the event that you actually do watch the show, I don't want to blurt out anything in case you haven't seen last night's episode yet....but, but, but have you seen last night's episode yet?!
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