Switch Theme:

Movies, and the hills you will die on.  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






StraightSilver wrote:
Doomsday 2008 starring Rhona Mitra and Bob Hoskins. I love this movie, and I watched it again during COVID lockdown and it doesn't seem quite so silly any more.....


A cracking and thoroughly mental movie. Very inventive.

   
Made in gb
Pious Warrior Priest




UK

Chappie, didn't get great ratings and flopped, but I love it.

Very good depiction of machine consciousness and learning, and also some deeper themes like the nature of consciousness / transhumanism.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 13:04:58


 
   
Made in it
Waaagh! Ork Warboss




Italy

StraightSilver wrote:
Doomsday 2008 starring Rhona Mitra and Bob Hoskins. I love this movie, and I watched it again during COVID lockdown and it doesn't seem quite so silly any more.....


Did the same thing, lol. I love that movie as well .

 
   
Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

Ice Pirates. Kung Fu Robots in space!
Speaking of: Bruce Leroy in Last Dragon.
Race the Devil, kind of Deliverance but in an RV chased by a cult.

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
 
   
Made in us
Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos






Toledo, OH

I was going to push back on Starship Troopers receiving such bad reviews, but a look over the old wikipedia page showed that neither critics nor audiences really enjoyed it at the time.

I saw it in the theaters, but I was in high school, so I think I just enjoyed the blend of action, humor, and casual nudity.

Looking back, it's interesting because it's clearly a satire of the book it's based on, which is just fantastic. As time went on, I think it got a lot of credit for satirizing jingoism and fear of the other (themes that unfortunately became far more common a few years after it was released). It also benefits from the NPH glow up. Where it get into murky, "was this a joke or was this just bad" territory is the acting of main characters. I've seen people try to argue that NPH and Michael Ironside were "in on the joke" while Van Dien and Denise Richards were not, leaving them to play this farce completely straight (like Dusty Bottoms in Dr. Strangelove). I don't buy it. Van Dien and Richards weren't being earnest, they were limited actors. The rest of the cast managers to vary from competent to actually pretty decent (shout out to Jake Busey), so claiming that the leads were bad actors as part of the gag seems like when a troll tries to say they were just "running a social experiment"

I'm also proud of Dakka for not flooding this thread with highly regarded but simply less mainstream movies.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 13:22:54


 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

David Lynch's Dune is an amazing film. I love it, all of it, and every cut of it.

Flash Gordon and Highlander which both feature Queen sound tracks, even though I am not a huge Queen fan. I was so pumped when they used the Flash Gordon theme for a phone cam commercial in the last couple years.

Double impact with twice the Van Damage! You know an action star is reaching the end when they star in a movie that has two of them!

Any version of a Mortal Kombat movie..... any of them!

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Speaking of Van Damme? I’ve got a massive soft spot for Time Cop.

Actually, I’ve got a massive soft spot for most SciFi action movies of that era. I’m particularly desperate to see Fortress and No Escape again.

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 Polonius wrote:
I was going to push back on Starship Troopers receiving such bad reviews, but a look over the old wikipedia page showed that neither critics nor audiences really enjoyed it at the time.


This always surprises me because it was a film I watched with my friends almost weekly for a while. I didn't realize that people didn't like it until I started hearing people trying to defend it online literally decades later.
   
Made in ca
Pustulating Plague Priest






Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is a joy if you want a dumb popcorn action flick. The whole thing is bonkers, but in that cool b-movie sort of way.

Alien 3, Ressurection, and Covenant are just as good as the first two. To paraphrase a certain YouTube video on the series, it seems each movie covers a different kind of horror subgenre. While not always horror, each of the three movies take their own spin on the synopsis.

The Sweeney Todd movie is a good rendition. There have been a myriad of Sweeneys now, and each seems to help set a tone for the performance. If you check the performances of Lou Cariou and George Hearn, you get hammier and angrier performances. Johnny Depp doesn’t quite use the vocal range, but he does carry a more subdued tone to his singing that contrasts with the others in an interesting way. You can’t beat Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett, but Helena Bonham Carter does a reasonably good job.

 Jammer87 wrote:
The Nightmare Before Christmas! I've watched it every year since it came out. Everyone I've talked to thinks I'm a weirdo and it's a "creepy" movie.


If I recall correctly, that movie was kind of absorbed into the whole “emo outcast” phase of the 2000s/early 2010s. I wonder if that association brought it closer to being perceived as a “weird and creepy” movie. Agreed though, it’s a great film.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/09/20 14:30:37


 
   
Made in ca
Veteran Wolf Guard Squad Leader






 LordofHats wrote:
Battle Los Angeles

This is one of the greatest satires ever made. It's the encapsulation of every film ever made to blow the American military before the public and anyone who isn't laughing at how stupid and dumb this movie, its characters, and everything about it is, has missed the only thing worthwhile about watching it.

The fact that the people making it didn't intend it to be a satire is irrelevant.Even hacks can make a masterpiece if they hate what they're doing enough to make an entire military porn flick that provides every reason we should hate military porn flicks.

I'd actually list the Red Dawn Remake, virtually everything made by Michael Bay, and Battleship as the same kind of movies. They're most enjoyable when you accept then as nothing more than ego trips showcasing all the things wrong with the military-entertainment complex.


I love the combat scenes in this movie, especially the first half of the movie. It sets the tone really well with the sense of unknown and claustrophobia in the house-house fighting. I find it's the end where it falls apart in the final set-piece. Until then, it has a real 'Black Hawk Down' vibe.

Wolfspear's 2k
Harlequins 2k
Chaos Knights 2k
Spiderfangs 2k
Ossiarch Bonereapers 1k 
   
Made in us
Rogue Daemonhunter fueled by Chaos






Toledo, OH

A movie that everybody I know who has watched it loved it, but sports a 12% Rotten Tomatos score is the Kelsey Grammar submarine comedy Down Periscope.

If you approach Down Periscope as either a gag a minute comedy or a tense submarine movie, you'll probably be disappointed. If you approach it as a perfectly good submarine move about goofy, but not strictly cartoonish, group of rejects, it holds up. In a bizarre bit of foreshadowing, Kelsey Grammar plays an almost washed up submarine officer, denied promotion due to some personal and professional mishaps. He's given the role of captain in a wargame meant to see how well a rogue diesel submarine could perform against the nuclear navy. His crew, picked by an admiral so openly villainous he could be from Star Fleet, are the sorts of colorful but secretly talented characters that 90s movies loved. In practice, that basically meant giving a slate of talented dudes a job and a quirk, and letting them riff on it. If you like material that, even if not improved, seems like it is, you'll enjoy big chunks of this flick.

Outside of the protagonists, you have a murderers row of talent: rip Torn, Bruce Dern, and William H Macy.

One final note: my friends who have served on submarines LOVE this movie, as they always say that comedies match the day to day experience in most militaries more than action or war movies. So, take that with a grain of salt.
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Wishmaster

It’s just fun. Sure the sequels get increasingly worse, but they’re still a decent laugh.

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Battleship is a supreme slice of nonsense.

But for all it’s abject nonsense and dodgy acting? You simply cannot whack The Old Boys having a great time in getting the USS Missouri ready for combat. And….when the Big Guns give it some dakka? Just….just *Chef’s Kiss


Every once in a while someone hits this perfect moment where the emotional investment is just right and something mind blistering dumb is so engaging that you're on your feet cheering regardless. Drifting the Battleship definitely ranks high on my list for those moments.

Another good one is the final race in Speed Racer.

Also I love how the aliens in Battleship explicitly only attack military complexes, avoid harming any civilians and only fire after being fired upon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 LordofHats wrote:
Battle Los Angeles

This is one of the greatest satires ever made. It's the encapsulation of every film ever made to blow the American military before the public and anyone who isn't laughing at how stupid and dumb this movie, its characters, and everything about it is, has missed the only thing worthwhile about watching it.


It's basically a videogame movie, right down to a complete nonsense timed arena fight to revel the last boss's final form.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 15:22:34


 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

 Polonius wrote:
A movie that everybody I know who has watched it loved it, but sports a 12% Rotten Tomatos score is the Kelsey Grammar submarine comedy Down Periscope.
"Balls to the wall, boys!"

Saw that on a bus ride for a school trip... God... 25 years ago? 24? I thought it was great fun.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 Jammer87 wrote:
The Nightmare Before Christmas! I've watched it every year since it came out. Everyone I've talked to thinks I'm a weirdo and it's a "creepy" movie.


This is a beloved classic. I just watched it last week. Make them watch Coraline next.
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Speaking of Van Damme? I’ve got a massive soft spot for Time Cop.

Actually, I’ve got a massive soft spot for most SciFi action movies of that era. I’m particularly desperate to see Fortress and No Escape again.


No Escape...... that was surprisingly good! I have based an RPG campaign on that one.


I also really, really, really love the Speed Racer movie. The cuts and transitions are so good. The plot makes almost no sense, but somehow the cast carry it off in a sincere yet cartoony way. Sooooo goooood. I think the reason it is not more popular is because it is too long.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 15:37:33


Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in us
Member of a Lodge? I Can't Say





Philadelphia PA

 Blackie wrote:
Terminator Salvation: I like it more than T2, which I know it sound heresy for many people But I've always wanted to see a Terminator which is entirely set into the future and that's the only movie in which the protagonist isn't Sarah or John. Honestly I love everything about Terminator Salvation.

Starship Troopers is a masterpiece! I love both the movie and the novel.


I wouldn't put it above T2 but Salvation and Sarah Connor Chronicles definitely showed that a future timeline story could work, and has a lot of potential.

Two novels with tie in plots were actually published with Salvation and while they're not high literature they're pretty decent.

I prefer to buy from miniature manufacturers that *don't* support the overthrow of democracy. 
   
Made in us
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






Southeastern PA, USA

Well, veteran Dakkaites know I'd die on the hill called Man of Steel (although not what came after). But reviews were really more mixed, and I'm convinced it would fare a little better review-wise if released today.

So let's really go for it. How about Cabin Boy? That movie got eviscerated on release...but I found it pretty funny when I finally saw it years later. It was in the vein of Anchorman before Anchorman. It's even kinda quotable like Anchorman.

"We're just here to catch fish and stink. Mostly the latter."

"Heh. Purple Lightning. That's always a good sign."

"Paps, you've been like the drunken, abusive grandfather I never had."
"Ah stop that. You'll have my glass eye fogging over."

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just pondering what drifter's corpse you stole those shoes from."

"THESE PIPES...ARE CLEEEEAAN!"

My AT Gallery
My World Eaters Showcase
View my Genestealer Cult! Article - Gallery - Blog
Best Appearance - GW Baltimore GT 2008, Colonial GT 2012

DQ:70+S++++G+M++++B++I+Pw40k90#+D++A+++/fWD66R++T(Ot)DM+++

 
   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I almost forgot, I would die on the hill for a little film called......

Circle of Iron

.... I was actually forced to watch this in school, and I love it now!


Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing 
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

 jaredb wrote:

I love the combat scenes in this movie, especially the first half of the movie. It sets the tone really well with the sense of unknown and claustrophobia in the house-house fighting. I find it's the end where it falls apart in the final set-piece. Until then, it has a real 'Black Hawk Down' vibe.


I suspect few, if any, people will ever share my opinion that Battle LA is so bad it's good but that seems like it's what the thread is for

Kind of funny to mention it (Battle LA) and Starship Troopers at the same time though. There's probably some parallels in what the movies are "films about grunts on the ground" and how they went about that POV and what it meant. I think back when Starship Troopers hit people were hoping for a more serious movie that more closely adapted the book. The Cold War was over but people were still in that mindset a bit in the mid-90s I think. Because of that, Starship Troopers came off as bizarre and 'wtf' with how much tongue it was jamming into its cheek. It's really only in the post-Bush era where I feel like the general audience, myself included, is really coming around to what the movie is and that it's actually a really good movie if you just take it for what it is.

In comparison, I feel like Battle LA is kind of the reverse. If you just take Battle LA for what it is, it's a god awful film. Nothing but old cliches and wtf scenes that barely make any sense in context and make even less out. I definitely agree that the start of the film is much better conceived. Honestly, everything up to their arrival at the police state/school (I forget what the building was) it was a pretty solid film in the vein of Blackhawk Down but with aliens. After that though, the movie nosedives hard like all the original ideas had been used up, no one really wanted to be there anymore, but they needed to fit the runtime so everyone from the actors to the writers to the directors just started phoning it in and the movie became atrocious, but atrocious in a way that I can laugh at.

I suspect there's not enough meme fodder in Battle LA to keep it going for 20 years to see if it ends up like Starship Troopers and people come around to different opinions on it unfortunately. Starship Troopers really survived because almost every scene contains at least one meme worthy gif and it came out at just the right time in the development of the internet to endure despite being a movie everyone hated at the time.

   
Made in ca
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought




Monarchy of TBD

Tank Girl definitely belongs on here. A massive flop for the studio, and something that everyone involved in the film clearly loved, it costs 25 million to make, and pulled in 5 million. If it were remade today, in the hands of one of the unhinged creative lunatics (like Taika Waititi or James Gunn) with minimal studio interference, it would be a stunning masterpiece.

As it is, it is one of those wonderful 90s films that tried so, so hard to be different, despite the studio wanting it so badly to be generic. The result is strange and weird, and tremendously entertaining. Some films can be saved purely by how much the actors and actresses enjoy them- and Lori Petty carries this one.

Klawz-Ramming is a subset of citrus fruit?
Gwar- "And everyone wants a bigger Spleen!"
Mercurial wrote:
I admire your aplomb and instate you as Baron of the Seas and Lord Marshall of Privateers.
Orkeosaurus wrote:Star Trek also said we'd have X-Wings by now. We all see how that prediction turned out.
Orkeosaurus, on homophobia, the nature of homosexuality, and the greatness of George Takei.
English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleyways and mugs them for loose grammar.

 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Yeah Tank Girl is brilliant. Almost ahead of it’s time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
AvP Requiem.

I love that movie, and rate it above the original. There’s just something about it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 21:48:18


   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Oh, speaking of films that got a totally different reception years later; Contagion. I remember when the film came out when it was new but that's all I remember about it. I didn't go see it and I never heard anyone talking about it. It's actually not a bad movie. Not great, but not bad. It might be a purely situational thing, but watching the movie and compare/constrasting its events with real life is a surreal experience that I'm betting the people who made it never intended to happen.

A similar experience might be the film Outbreak from 1995 and the Ebola scare in the mid-2010s.

Movies + time = newfound entertainment/horror value

AvP Requiem.

I love that movie, and rate it above the original. There’s just something about it.


I've watched the movie more than the first AVP or Predators. I agree. The movie's nowhere near as bad as people think it is. Some of the best alien and predator action in either franchises. If this movie commits a grave sin, it's that the film is constantly too dark. Even in a dark room with contrast turned up, it's amazing how hard it can be to make things out (contrast hardly helps at all since everything is so damn dark turning it up just makes everything gray). There's a few scenes too that feel like they're needlessly gratuitous in a 'wow really you're gonna slap that on the screen guys' sort of way but I feel like most of this movies flaws are forgivable for a popcorn flick and it's the piss poor lighting that really brings it down.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/09/20 21:57:31


   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Requiem also does some patch work on the first AvP, by showing us what an experienced Predator can do, compared to the newbies in the first movie, who came across as embarrassingly crap.

   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






The message I took from AvP was that you shouldn't bother kicking the heroin and getting a doctorate in geology, because you'll just get killed by an alien under Antarctica. Should've stayed on the smack in Leith, Spud.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
For me, Ang Lee's Hulk was a better film than the sequel/reboot The Incredible Hulk. The latter just devolves into two green cartoons hitting each other, I thought Hulk did more interesting things with the character.

And I remember being a little disappointed in the 2012 Avengers film, because it relied fairly heavily on having seen Thor first - which I think is one of the weaker of the films that led up to Avengers - down there with Iron Man 2.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/21 11:52:04


 
   
Made in us
Shadowy Grot Kommittee Memba






scarletsquig wrote:
Chappie, didn't get great ratings and flopped, but I love it.

Very good depiction of machine consciousness and learning, and also some deeper themes like the nature of consciousness / transhumanism.


And also one of the best drinking games in cinema if you're familiar with the work of Die Antwerd, who I can only describe persona-wise as a south african combination of Insane Clown Posse and Pit Bull.

The drinking game is "drink every time a plot element, prop or scene element is clearly in the film because it was demanded to be there by Ninja and Yolandi."

"Got you, Yugi! Your Rubric Marines can't fall back because I have declared the tertiary kaptaris ka'tah stance two, after the secondary dacatarai ka'tah last turn!"

"So you think, Kaiba! I declared my Thousand Sons the cult of Duplicity, which means all my psykers have access to the Sorcerous Facade power! Furthermore I will spend 8 Cabal Points to invoke Cabbalistic Focus, causing the rubrics to appear behind your custodes! The Vengeance for the Wronged and Sorcerous Fullisade stratagems along with the Malefic Maelstrom infernal pact evoked earlier in the command phase allows me to double their firepower, letting me wound on 2s and 3s!"

"you think it is you who has gotten me, yugi, but it is I who have gotten you! I declare the ever-vigilant stratagem to attack your rubrics with my custodes' ranged weapons, which with the new codex are now DAMAGE 2!!"

"...which leads you straight into my trap, Kaiba, you see I now declare the stratagem Implacable Automata, reducing all damage from your attacks by 1 and triggering my All is Dust special rule!"  
   
Made in es
Inquisitorial Keeper of the Xenobanks






your mind

Tankgirl was definitely ahead of its time. Lori Petty was the thinking man’s dream girl for a short time.

Dark City, brilliant.

Starship Troopers, also ahead of its time. I think that it plays better in this era than that, so obvious are the social parallels. Indeed, the same can be said of both of those above.

The Outlaw Josie Wales… not supposed to be so great, but my favorite western and maybe one of my favorite movies of all time.


   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

My take away from this thread is that I really need to go see Dark City

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







Yes, yes you do.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Shadowy Grot Kommittee Memba






For my film i'm going to put out Annihilation.

In my eyes, that movie hit the perfect mark of "enough women in the movie for the gakky nerdbros that didnt actually watch it to decry it as feminist" and "too weird/horrific for the feminists to fully embrace it" and it flopped HARD.

but what you've actually got is one of the very best examples of a movie with more than one good, strong female character who have agency and drive the plot of the movie forward in any movie I've seen since. Granted, you are starting from a point of 'the whole film is an allegory for how different types of people choose to deal with cancer' so a lot of that agency is based around what choice you make as a person when you've got extremely good odds of losing control of your body and it killing you, but what you've got is a classic horror movie setup of 'introduce cast of characters, only one survives to the end' and to my memory, there is only one single person among that cast who dies without making the choice to do so.

To me, that's the real essence of what a "feminist female character" ought to be. She doesn't have to be an emotionless, fearless, omnicompetent ultrabadass - she can be, that works in the context of stuff like action movies and superhero movies where that's what the fantasy is supposed to be - but that doesnt make for any more of a realistic character portrayal than the traditional damsel in distress who can't do anything.

Annihilation does this absolutely perfectly. The characters are competent - in the fields where they're supposed to be competent. The protagonist is a competent soldier who's cool under fire and good in a fight. The scientist is a competent scientist, who is understandably far less competent when it comes to being attacked by terrifying mutated animals. And as the squad falls apart, we as an audience understand that they're falling apart not 'because they're wimminz' because we know that they're following in the tracks of a group of male soldiers who also fell apart in this situation.

"Got you, Yugi! Your Rubric Marines can't fall back because I have declared the tertiary kaptaris ka'tah stance two, after the secondary dacatarai ka'tah last turn!"

"So you think, Kaiba! I declared my Thousand Sons the cult of Duplicity, which means all my psykers have access to the Sorcerous Facade power! Furthermore I will spend 8 Cabal Points to invoke Cabbalistic Focus, causing the rubrics to appear behind your custodes! The Vengeance for the Wronged and Sorcerous Fullisade stratagems along with the Malefic Maelstrom infernal pact evoked earlier in the command phase allows me to double their firepower, letting me wound on 2s and 3s!"

"you think it is you who has gotten me, yugi, but it is I who have gotten you! I declare the ever-vigilant stratagem to attack your rubrics with my custodes' ranged weapons, which with the new codex are now DAMAGE 2!!"

"...which leads you straight into my trap, Kaiba, you see I now declare the stratagem Implacable Automata, reducing all damage from your attacks by 1 and triggering my All is Dust special rule!"  
   
 
Forum Index » Geek Media
Go to: