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

[dave_mc]

The Dalton films seem to be lacking in "Britishness", somehow, they have a different atmosphere from all other Bond films.

Connery had most of the best films, but he should never have come back for Diamonds Are Forever - he looks about 500 years old and his hairpiece looks like it came off a shop window dummy.

In some ways Roger Moore is my favourite Bond, I like that self-deprecating humour he had (and seems to have in real life), but some of his films are really weak.  I do really like For Your Eyes Only, that's one of the best of the lot I think.

oh yeah i like moore, he had the best one-liners. some of the moore films were a bit weak, but some were awesome (view to a kill was awesome).

[WezV]

So I watched Dark Shadows last night.

i was kinda thinking it might be a bit cheesy.  it might be one of those films they don't know how to advertise but could be reasonably enjoyable


instead it was the worst pile of cr@p i have ever sat through.   if i was in a cinema i would have walked out and demanded my money back.

i can accept cheesy Gothic from Tim Burton, I quite like sleepy hollow.   This had none of the charms that usually make Tim Burton's films forgiveable if not enjoyable


too many characters, none of them with stories - but I am a werewolf, get over it.   an apology/excuse for the whole film

[Philly Q]

^

I always think I like Tim Burton as a director, but in reality I find most of his recent films deeply unsatisfying.  They look great, there's that Tim Burton style, everyone loves Johnny Depp....but in fact there's no substance whatsoever. 

Alice in Wonderland is a good example - as soon as I knew he was doing that, I knew exactly how it would look, exactly how Depp would play the Mad Hatter.... it's just a load of rubbish really.


Changing the subject, I watched The Cabin in the Woods today - pretty clever concept, done quite well, but because of the way the story's set up the "horror" aspects don't work at all, sadly.

[juansolo]

I enjoyed CITW. But it's not a horror. It's a comedy with quite a bit of gore that pays homage to horror films IMO. I think if you chuckled at the Harbinger phone call, you pretty much got the tone of it. If not, you may as well switch off.

[Philly Q]

^

Oh yeah, the comedy aspect worked OK - but I think it's one of those cases where it would be better to watch it with a cinema audience, where, if you're lucky, a "positive atmosphere" builds up and everyone laughs together.  I find comedy horror often falls a bit flat when you're watching it on your own.

In some ways it would've been better to let it develop as a typical horror movie setup before revealing anything about the fact that (without giving too much away) all was not as it seemed.  At least then the jump-scares and the (very well done) zombies wouldn't have been wasted.  But that would've been a much less imaginative, conventional "oooh, there's a twist" film, I'm not saying they should have done that.

[Brow]

I watched Tucker and Dale Vs Evil a few days ago and quite enjoyed it.

It's a 'Redneck in the woods' type film but it's played very much for laughs and doesn't work like you think it's going to.

[juansolo]

The woodchipper amused me ;)  I watched that smashed out of my brains so I have fond memories of chuckling at that. That's one to avoid ALL the trailers about. Best going into that knowing nothing.

[Philly Q]

That's one I did watch with a cinema audience.  I liked it.  :D

[Brow]

Watched Ted tonight, really enjoyed it  :lol:

[Mr. Air]

Back on the Bond track.

I saw "Skyfall" a week or so ago and I found it pretty good, but in my opinion it's too hyped. I like the new Craig bond films because they're darker, more serious and more mature which I think really suits Bond. To me Roger Mores Bond was way too cartoonish and that's not what i assosiate Bond with or think was the intended image in Ian Flemming's novels.

Well, back to Skyfall (SPOILER ALERT, just in case). The acting is spot on and Javier Bardem is excellent as the bad guy with the soft facade but ice cold killer lurking beneath. But I think the story could be better. I can't really understand why Bond's childhood has to be brought in to play as I think this part of the movie is unresolved or just irrelevant. To me the movie strands between Bardem's revenge and the problematic childhood of Bond and this makes the film lose focus. At the same time I have a hard time understanding why they named the film "Skyfall" when the past of Bond plays such a marginal role as it does. It's still a good film, but I liked "Casino Royale" better because the storylines about Le Chifre and Bond stopping his plans bonded (ha ha ha) very well with the tragic events that lead to Bond being Bond.

[Philly Q]

To me Roger Mores Bond was way too cartoonish and that's not what i assosiate Bond with or think was the intended image in Ian Flemming's novels.

Then again, Ian Fleming's first choice to play Bond was (apparently) Cary Grant, who would've been quite Moore-ish.... he was way too old by the time they made Dr No, anyway.

My dad always says the best Bond-who-never-was would've been Patrick McGoohan (from The Prisoner and Danger Man).  That might have been interesting.

[Ian Price]

I watched Skyfall last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it - the new 'Moneypenny' being a bit of a bonus.

[Andrew W]

To me Roger Mores Bond was way too cartoonish and that's not what i assosiate Bond with or think was the intended image in Ian Flemming's novels.

My dad always says the best Bond-who-never-was would've been Patrick McGoohan (from The Prisoner and Danger Man).  That might have been interesting.

I think Patrick McGoohan was offered it but turned it down because he didn't agree with all the sex and casual violence. I agree he'd have been very good though.

It's interesting hearing all the opinions on Skyfall. I don't know what I think because I'm too close to it (I supervised the VFX for the pre-title sequence, the Shanghai sequence and Silva's Island): all I see are things I'd have done differently in hindsight :). I need to see it by myself (rather than in a cast and crew screening) at a quiet matinee and then I'll have a better idea what I think. I do think the photography is spectacular though, Deakins is a genius.

[_tom_]

Silent Hill Revelation. Not amazing but definitely better than the first one! For once I remembered to take my glasses to the cinema and the 3D worked so much better with those on. The ash falling at the start etc looked great.

[Brow]

It's interesting hearing all the opinions on Skyfall. I don't know what I think because I'm too close to it (I supervised the VFX for the pre-title sequence, the Shanghai sequence and Silva's Island): all I see are things I'd have done differently in hindsight :). I need to see it by myself (rather than in a cast and crew screening) at a quiet matinee and then I'll have a better idea what I think. I do think the photography is spectacular though, Deakins is a genius.

That's pretty cool!

When you say VFX (which I assume is Visual FX?) is that stuff done with PCs or stunts done in real life etc?

I was only saying to my girlfriend after we'd watched Skyfall how I like the Bond films as they tend to be more about real stunts than CGI as in alot of other films of similar style. Hopefully I'm right when I say that!  :lol:

Silent Hill Revelation. Not amazing but definitely better than the first one! For once I remembered to take my glasses to the cinema and the 3D worked so much better with those on. The ash falling at the start etc looked great.

I quite liked the 1st film, although I think I may be in a minority there.