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 Lathe Biosas wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
Before or after the lobotomy?

I think it's clinical depression.

I bought this instead:

No idea how good that is/isn't - but it's gotta be better than Section 31.

ccs wrote:

 Lathe Biosas wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
Before or after the lobotomy?

I think it's clinical depression.

I bought this instead:

No idea how good that is/isn't - but it's gotta be better than Section 31.

It was a thousand times better than the HALO TV series.

It was about a military school and their first run in with the Covenant.

Unlike the TV show Master Chief acts like himself (albeit 18 years old at this point), and you can tell that the writers really loved the games. And they even try and feth with the viewers by thinking old MC is going to take off his helmet.

Oh. And there are ODSTs. Which were absent from the show for some reason.

Overall it was pretty good. If it hadn't had a bookend dealing with the HALO 4 game, I think it would've been better. But that's just me.

Just finished my second watch of Predator Badlands, this time at home. That means I’m not being thrown around in the fancy cinema seat. Not even if I have very bad windy pops.

I’m still highly impressed. Like its predecessor Prey, it delivers the beats we’ve come to expect in a new and interesting way.

I was originally worried by its low rating. But there’s violence aplenty - it just happens to Synthetics, so is a more acceptable gore.

I particularly enjoy Dek doing a Dutch, and replacing the traditional Yautja arsenal with things scavenged in the wild.

There is some silliness, such as the autonomous legs kicking ass, and Dek’s shoulder gribbly which is highly trained in no time. But, it makes for cool scenes so I’m happy to overlook.

Also fond of how Weyland-Yutani is involved without also including Xenomoprhs. And it’s still doing its “exploit all we can, even if it’s super dangerous” that got some focus in Alien Romulus. Plus, how about that industrial sized power lifter, eh? That’s hella cool.

It ain’t perfect (see slight silliness), but it is damned good fun. Not sure if it would work as someone’s first Predator film though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Bone Temple

What the flip did I just watch? This film is a trip. It’s post-apocaylpse done so, so right. It’s like a fever dream of madness.

It paints a vivid picture of survivors with basically nothing left to really live for, other than trying to survive from day to day. And it’s a world of senseless insanity.

As you probably know, I watch a lot of horror films. And I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It’s highly stylised, without ever disappearing up its own arse. But, for all that? This isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea overall.

The Beekeeper

Have you seen a Jason Statham movie? How about one also produced by Jason Statham starring Jason Statham? That is the best way to describe this film.

Killer Elite
Contract killers in 1980 go to kill some SAS for what they did in Oman to a Sheikh's sons. Claims to be based on actual events from a on-fiction book called "The Feathermen" about a secret SAS society post-Oman.

This movie features Jason Statham, Robert De Niro slumming, and Clive Owen. It reminds me a lot of Ronin but with less car chases.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
There is some silliness, such as the autonomous legs kicking ass, ....

I thought the leg fight was a really cool idea... but the execution of it just completely ignores physics. If they had put a little more thought into how centres of gravity work, or had top and legs working together, it would have worked much better.

Yeah. Points for style, not necessarily for execution.

I liked Killer Elite quite a bit. Maybe one turn too many, but it's good stuff. Moustache Clive Owen, Statham being Statham, two guys who are serious men doing seriously manly things, mainly foightin'.

I have no idea why we're at a stage now at which we find any of the non-animated Street Fighter films acceptable. Do not watch the Dragonball film; why would one. Watch the Dead of Alive film. That one's at least kinda fun.

I'm basically just here to congratulate MDG on his amazing Danii Minogue story. That's good stuff. I wonder if I could have such stories if I didn't sit on my behind all the time, painting little toy critters (or, if I'm lucky, toy soldiers). Anyway, great story, that.

I thank you! This was some years ago. Longer than I care to admit. But it is a completely, 100% true story.

And with Big Breakfast being a week day show? It may very well have been a Tuesday.

If so? The day I came closer than most mortal men to scoring with a Minogue was a formative moment in my then young life. To her? It was a Tuesday.

Even if it was a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or a Friday, it would still work.

Exalted!

A Better Tomorrow

I was traveling and a theatre near me was playing this stone cold, Hong Kong action, heroic Bloodshed, classic. I had only seen crappy boot leg copies with terrible subs. I wanted to see this on the big screen. Therefore I walked through the freezing cold weather to see it.

I learned that those were not crappy bootlegs with terrible subs I had seen before! That WAS the movie! Still really glad I got to see it on the big screen. Maybe someday I can catch Hard Boiled or The Killers someday.

The theater near me is showing all three of those movies next month. We’re definitely going to see The Killer. I hope they use the good translation.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

For the umpteenth time, because the weather is grotty and I do enjoy these movies.

This time though? I noted some welcome verisimilitude, which helps root a fantasy film in real world troubles.

Specifically? When Hermione is hiding in the lavvy from the Troll? The lavvy pan has some light besmirchment. OK, by school toilet standards it’s positively nipping clean. It’s not like there’s a Bungle’s Finger or Night Watchman awaiting the unwary. But it is a realistic level of grottiness.

One can only help Mr Filch was called up on his substandard Khazi Cleaning Efforts.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The theater near me is showing all three of those movies next month. We’re definitely going to see The Killer. I hope they use the good translation.

Next month? Maybe I will be someplace besides my podunk town and can catch them!

Some very mini-reviews that hopefully will spur discussion from others who have seen these flicks.

Eddington

I can't say it is good, but it touches on a lot of issues... shakes them up.... and then leaves you asking, "What the hell did I just watch?"

Good Fortunes

How did this movie get made in this day and age? Not sure if I would call it good, but..... it's heart was in the right place.

The Long Walk

A fairly repetitive premise that plays out a lot better than I expected it too. You can do much worse for the running time.

I …think… I watched the first Paddington movie with my son, but must not have found it captivating since I remember almost nothing.

Paddington 2, on the other hand, is an instant classic.


I’ve read The Long Walk and enjoyed it a lot, but I can’t quite bring myself into o watch the film. My family would hate how it makes them feel.

War Machine (2026) Basically War of The Worlds via Predator. It doesn't get any points for originalty but it was solidly put together with nice clean cinematography and action scenes. It is well paced until the end and then it dos't know wen to stop and just feels like a different movie. Ritchson is fine but is a bit "we have Reaqcher at home". It does give plausible reasons for why things happen as as they do, which is nice.

 Ahtman wrote:
War Machine (2026) Basically War of The Worlds via Predator. It doesn't get any points for originalty but it was solidly put together with nice clean cinematography and action scenes. It is well paced until the end and then it dos't know wen to stop and just feels like a different movie. Ritchson is fine but is a bit "we have Reaqcher at home". It does give plausible reasons for why things happen as as they do, which is nice.

Spoiler:

I was rather surprised when I saw that pop up, because Netflix had produced (? Not sure. It's got the big red N on it though.) a film of the same name in 2017, that kinda lazy-seeming Brad Pitt war farce. Maybe Netflix want to erase anything that didn't get that good reviews even though it must have cost a fortune then. Or maybe they wanted to hide away anything that makes the US military look less than great.

LA Confidential

“A whore cut to look like Lana Turner is still just a whore.”
“Detective, that is Lana Turner.”
*pikachu face*


LA Confidential is a noir story about organized crime and corrupt cops. When the crime boss Mickey Cohen goes to prison, a new player massacres the competition to claim the top spot. Three different flavors of acab working different cases find themselves pulled into the power struggle, and into the glitz of old Hollywood fame. LA Confidential is an excellent crime drama with an all star cast, including Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, Guy Pierce, Zephram Cochran, and Danny DeVito.

The movie also introduces the great mythologized criminal Rollo Tomasi, up almost to Keyser Soze levels of memorable movie criminality.

Watch it.

Really is an all time classic. It’s one that I get the urge to rewatch every few years.

Yeah, L.A.Confidential is just good. Good point about the Tomasi name.

The Prisoner of Azkaban

Probably my least favourite Harry Potter film.

It’s not awful, but the CGI hasn’t aged well compared to the others. And the plot doesn’t quite come together.

The Werewolf is particularly unconvincing. I get you can’t have it too scary in a kids film, but it’s just too stringy and goofy looking.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The Prisoner of Azkaban

Probably my least favourite Harry Potter film.

It’s not awful, but the CGI hasn’t aged well compared to the others. And the plot doesn’t quite come together.

The Werewolf is particularly unconvincing. I get you can’t have it too scary in a kids film, but it’s just too stringy and goofy looking.

Is that the one with Gary Oldman and the Ringwraiths? If so, it's the only Harry Potter movie I've seen.

The Bride

The first 30 minutes to an hour and I was wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. I was wondering what I was watching. Lot's of song and dance numbers.

Then it settles into a more familiar Bonnie and Clyde folk-hero vibe.

Some big names in this one. It is very feminist and not hiding it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The Prisoner of Azkaban

Probably my least favourite Harry Potter film.

It’s not awful, but the CGI hasn’t aged well compared to the others. And the plot doesn’t quite come together.

The Werewolf is particularly unconvincing. I get you can’t have it too scary in a kids film, but it’s just too stringy and goofy looking.

Are we best friends now?

After the book, which was fantastic, the movie was a mess. The werewolf is so bad it makes me angry. And the little stylistic touches that Alfonso Cuaron gets all kinds of credit for adding made the movie feel goofy and inept to me. It felt like it was trying to be something different when the previous Potter movie had just figured out the formula.

It feels like editing room meddling.

As I said, it’s by no means a bad film. We get some cracking performances, and Michael Gambon takes up Dumbledore’s mantle pretty flawlessly.

But it just doesn’t quite work as a whole. For me I think it’s when we get into the Tina Time Turner shenanigans. It’s a neat plot device, but it feels like a messy execution.

Dementors look sweet and pretty damned terrifying though.

It's a pretty beloved film and definitely helps shift the series into its darker second half. As its own film its honestly one of the best of the series, but it's also the one that most glosses over things that become increasingly more important to the story later. It's got a lot of practical/CGI hybrid effects that I think hold up fine. I think the werewolf design is more of an issue than the effects on it, but I do appreciate it as more body horror styled than the trend of cooler wolf men.

Mostly I appreciate that its when its clear the series lucked out and got WAY better child actors than anyone expected. Radcliffe and Watson hold their own with one of the most overqualified ensembles out there.

The film probably moves too fast and is greatly improved by knowing the marauders stuff that got cut out, but as a film on its own its one of the better ones, IMO.

For me it just feels like “so, where did you spend the budget?”

Chamber of Secrets is hands down my favourite. As you say, they absolutely struck gold with the younger actors, and it’s in the second one where you can tell they’ve become far more comfortable with the whole process and developed their acting chops. It also has fantastic effects.

Here? Again I’m not going to call the effects bad, because they’re not. But they are noticeably weaker. Especially when Harry is riding Buckbeak, and his hand just sort of sits above the feathers.

There’s also the overuse of a Twilight Style blue filter, which is something I’m not peronsally fond of.

I mean, I’ll never skip it in a watch through. It just isn’t quite as solid as the others. And I’m certainly no interest in harshing the next persons mellow if it’s their favourite.

To its credit, I do like the seasonal establishing shots. Those are welcome. But, the plot really doesn’t feel like it took most of an academic year. Maybe that’s what irks me about it?

I read this quote from Alec Guinness

"A sweet-faced boy of twelve told me proudly that he had seen Star Wars over a hundred times? I said, 'do you think you could promise never to see Star Wars again?' He burst into tears. I just hope the lad, now in his thirties, is not living in a fantasy world of secondhand, childish banalities"

and decided to watch the original Star Wars earlier tonight.

I seemed to have blocked out most of the Special Edition nonsense from my brain as I'd forgotten how absolutely terrible the Jabba the Hutt scene was.

The rest was okay.

I'm just not feeling the Star Wars movies like I used to. I tried to rewatch the latest trilogy, but it's so terrible, that I gave up and watched Star Trek First Contact instead.

I should go back and watch the vastly more entertaining Humanoid(1979), the Italian knockoff of Star Wars.

I don't mind the Jabba scene. More Harrison Ford is always good. The main issue I have with it is its extremely redundant with the Greedo scene though I do feel like the actual conversation with Jabba does a better job getting the information across. I used to actually prefer its inclusion for this reason, though I've come back around the opinion that it takes more away than it adds overall.

My favorite HP movies are Chamber and Order of the Phoenix. Goblet is my third favorite. The two part finale probably comes next, followed by Prisoner and then Sorcerer’s Philosopher. I’ve seen Half Blood Prince twice, maybe three times, and have yet to form an opinion, or remember any stand out scenes. Even the big event everyone spoiled about that story came across somehow unmemorable for me.



The Star Wars special editions added nothing of value. Nothing.

Okay, “Macklunkey” is pretty funny. But other than that, not one thing.

Gonna politely disagree on the Special Editions.

First, they smartened up and preserved the print, ensuring the film is now functionally immortal.

Second, whilst yes some additions add nothing to little? The improved VFX are noticeable improvements. Cloud City for instance has gone from a pretty bland backdrop to one able to sell A City In The Clouds. And the tarting up to the battle of Yavin also adds some spit and polish. Luke meeting Biggs on Yavin also explains why, of all the pilots shot down in that battle, Luke particularly reacts to Biggs.