Films! good, bad, recomendations, and general film talk

[Modular1]

Tentatively good news. Major drop in quality so far and some major streamlining and out of character moments don't bode well. Hopefully it's just to try and quickly introduce characters and trim things a little for mainstream audiences.

I think they have done really well with game of thrones so far although the scale of the places where the events take place is totally lost. The first 3 books were awesome but book 4 (feast) was disappointing and book 5 (dance) was awful.
If the tv show stays good, season 3 will be the best season, season 4 will be ok (probably better cut down for tv) but season 5 will bore people and then really piss them off.

[Loomer]

watched a film called 'Moon' last night.. a kind of arty sci-fi. Liked it alot.

Moon is a classic. No fighting robots or explosions. Good old-style sci-fi told well. Reminded me of a cross between Silent Running and 2001 (in tone rather than content). Great film.

This post reminded me I'd never seen Silent Running so I watched it last night. Quite enjoyed it aside from the honking Baez tunes. So cheers.

It's now inspired me to go back and watch the other stuff from that wee blitz of 70s sci fi like Dark Star, THX1138 and Solaris.

I need to check out those films too then. I love 70s scifi! In related news, I saw Disney's "The Black Hole" yesterday. Very good, actually. Nicely plotted, and quite dark. Especially considering it's a Disney film!

Also watched "Paul". Overall a quite good little flick.

[nfe]

Tentatively good news. Major drop in quality so far and some major streamlining and out of character moments don't bode well. Hopefully it's just to try and quickly introduce characters and trim things a little for mainstream audiences.

I think they have done really well with game of thrones so far although the scale of the places where the events take place is totally lost. The first 3 books were awesome but book 4 (feast) was disappointing and book 5 (dance) was awful.
If the tv show stays good, season 3 will be the best season, season 4 will be ok (probably better cut down for tv) but season 5 will bore people and then really piss them off.

If the series lasts as long as that they wont be structured like the books. AFFC and ADWD would have to be mashed together. You couldn't cut out several central characters for a a whole season, and then another bunch for the next.

Episode 3 is a big improvement on the first two of season 2.

[Modular1]

He also needs to get his arse in gear and get writing. The gaps between books have been a joke.

[Philly Q]

watched a film called 'Moon' last night.. a kind of arty sci-fi. Liked it alot.

Moon is a classic. No fighting robots or explosions. Good old-style sci-fi told well. Reminded me of a cross between Silent Running and 2001 (in tone rather than content). Great film.

This post reminded me I'd never seen Silent Running so I watched it last night. Quite enjoyed it aside from the honking Baez tunes. So cheers.

It's now inspired me to go back and watch the other stuff from that wee blitz of 70s sci fi like Dark Star, THX1138 and Solaris.

Silent Running is a classic, always makes me cry.  :oops:  :roll:  :lol:

I still haven't seen Solaris (except the Clooney version).  Keep meaning to buy the Criterion Blu-ray but it's always a bit pricey.



Anyway, what was I saying about rubbish horror franchises?  I watched Hostel Part III.  :|

[Loomer]

Why on earth would you go and do that?!

[Philly Q]

Why on earth would you go and do that?!

I must admit I am a terrible film snob, and I make all sorts of contemptuous comments, especially about mainstream Hollywood films.

However.... you have to be in the right mood to watch something highbrow.

But when it comes to horror movies, I will watch anything.  If it's a bad one, at least you can play spot-the-cliché ("there's no signal on my cellphone!").  And, like kids' films, they're hardly ever more than 90 minutes.

[_tom_]

Finished Parks and Recreation season 2, the ending was a bit sad but an awesome series. Can't wait to watch the 3rd now :D

[_tom_]

Looking forward to this - Django Unchained

[Philly Q]

Looking forward to this - Django Unchained

Hmmm.  Shame about the cast.  And the director.  I'm afraid it'll be standard Tarantino - a few moments of genius buried under several tons of self-indulgent tripe.

But I'd recommend the original 1966 Django, with Franco Nero.  Great film, and the best theme song ever.

[Mr. Air]

I watched Mad Max 2 and 3 not so long ago. The second film is pretty cool. I have always enjoyed post-apocalyptic scenarios and Mad Max nails it. The great thing about the second film is that there's really not a lot of a plot going on. It's just kind of an "every day" tale of the wasteland. The music score is quite horrible though. Maybe not horrible, but it's overly dramatic and way over done which I think is typical for the time of production.

Mad Max 3 was a downer compared to its predecessor(s). It has some good moments, but all in all it's just not a good film.

Mad Max 2 has one of my favoirite quotes: Lord Humungus. The Warrior of the Wasteland. The Ayatollah of Rock N Roller. That's just brilliant!  :D

[_tom_]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - once again took me ages to get round to watching this but I thought it was great, and now I have a massive crush on Mila Kunis :lol:

Not really a film but watched Louis CK Live at the Beacon Theatre last night, awesome. I wasn't sure about him when I first saw some stand ups of his but now he's one of my favourites!

[blue]

One I enjoyed more than I expected to recently was the Thing remake/prequel. I'm going to be a harsh critic of it as I consider Carpenter's Thing in the top 3 monster movies of all time (Alien and Cronenberg's The Fly being the other two). So I went in expecting a travesty and found myself quite enjoying it.

What's good is that it's quite reverential to the Carpenter film and sticks rigidly to things that happen in it. That also counts against it as you know exactly how things are going to turn out. I suppose knowing that removes a bit of suspense, but I don't see how it could have been done any other way. The other thing that jars slightly is the need for a couple of Americans in there. I understand why however and they mostly get away with it.

Finally the Thing itself. The reason the original worked as well as it did was down to what Carpenter could do with very little and he was at the very peak of his powers on the Thing. The new film is a little hobbled by modern CGI (I know it's animatronics enhanced by CGI in this...) and the modern need to show you how impressive it is in absolute graphic detail. Which leaves nothing to the imagination. Carpenter would keep it dark and give you a glimpse of what was in the darkness. Which just works better. As such when it does split open for the umpteenth time, it's no shock. It, and to be fair a lot of modern horror, has lost that impact and suspense.

It's worth a watch though. Carpenters film is an utter masterpiece (and needs seeing first if this has somehow passed you by), this is kind of a nice companion piece to go with it which you can enjoy even if you really liked the original.

i pretty much felt the same as you, until i thought about it!  this film shouldn't have been made, it is completely pointless.  it's there to fill in blanks which were, frankly, better left blank.  it doesn't diminish the original for me, because it's been one of my favourite films for 20 years, but for any modern audience i feel it will.  in modern hollywood where the sequel/prequel/remake is king, it is a cut above most, but it is still symptomatic of that need to feed off someone else's ideas rather than have any of your own.

[Copperhead]

27 Dresses

Pathetic pretty girl poses as a doormat for spoiled stupid people with a host of first world problems. The only redeeming quality of this film is that it made me think and realize that sometimes there is a logical explanation for mass murder, such as should have happened on the set to prevent this movie from being completed and afflicting trapped males who have been coerced into watching it with their female companions.

[nfe]

I think having a wee huff about sitting through a film you dislike to appease a woman is the very definition of ‘first world problem’  :lol:

Next time tell get some balls and go watch Predator with your pals instead  8)