What is the last movie you saw?

[Zanahoria_Picante]

^ They are *hilarious,* though. Laugh-a-minute comedies.

And yes, Christian, definitely see Pans Labyrinth. Great.

Last saw...

The Roommate. It was so bad, so boring, that it wasn't even funny. Sad.

[SpudNuts]

just go with it and the hitlist

[Jenn and tonic]

Arranged. I liked it a lot.

[ablethevoice]

I happened upon an old Lucio Fulci horror "classic" The House by the Cemetery.
Ahem
There was a house. And it was next to a cemetery. And it was directed by a guy who only knows how to film special effects. He knows nothing about structuring a scene, good dialog, how to get the most from his actors. "Actors". Heh. That's a laugh in itself. I've never seen such bizarre and stilted performances in any other euro-horror from the same period. And whoever had anything to do with whoever it was that ended up doing the so-called "voice" dubbing of the Bizarre Little Kid should be shot. Not on film. Shot.. If for nothing else, you must see enough of this film to experience the true awe and majestic inappropriateness of this kid's voice. In the film, he looks as if he's about 6 - maybe younger. Hard to tell cus his hairstyle looks like a little girl. The voice actor chosen to do his dub sounded as if it were a woman in her mid-30s using a higher register in her voice like you would use to speak to a child. As I read the IMDB user comments on the film I kept seeing references to that child's annoying voice and it was that, more than anything else that steered me towards watching it. I'm not too much of a Fulci fan. I get it... what he did and why he's a cult icon. I just don't get into Italian horror.

Anyway. Its cheesy and gory and has bad acting and bad 70s/early80s cinematography and directing - story goes everywhere with nonsense cuts going from place to place. I just shut up and took the ride... well the end was worth waiting for storywise - took me by surprise.



no I'm not telling you

In my own research on the film, I also learned a little secret. There are two versions of this film; one of them heavily cut for gore scenes and which can be distinguished from the uncut version by the color used in the opening credits: white or red.

Meh. It was interesting.... kind of. Entertaining more in its sheer awfulness of dialog and directing than in any attempt at coherent storytelling.

[EmperorChaos]

Originally Said by Christian

The Big Lebowski was funnier then I thought, I liked the nihilistic Germans, though I didn't get the end

What didn't you get about the ending? The Big Lebowski is one of my favorite movies.

And yes, those nihilistic Germans are quite funny. I like how they were in that new wave pop band Autobahn (presumably in East Germany). I guess they became nihilists when the wall fell?

And yeah, go watch Pan's Labyrinth.

[Thoughtcrime]

Originally Said by ablethevoice

THOR

Better than TRANSFORMERS but still a CGI pile with a difference. A good story. It was, much to my surprise, written by one J. Michael Straczinsky. You know... Babylon 5??

Anyway, it almost completely sucked except for the story. Poor dialog, poorly delivered, weird continuity issues, (thankfully) not too much shaky cam - I didn't know who directed it but I could tell it wasn't Bey. I didn't like the lackadaisical directing of Branagh either. I didn't like the latest piece of cardboard they set up to play Thor+++YAWN+++ All his delivery was as heavy and leaden as that hammer he wielded. I did like Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He played the knife-edge character quite well. Poor Natalie. You'd think after all this time she'd be able to act against greenscreen. You'd think wrong.

The score and sound work was competent and suitably big and symphonic but ultimately unmemorable.
Meh. I've seen worse. Seen better. Decent entertainment. 47/100.

Thor was SO BAD. I left before the end. Everything about it pissed me off. The story was totally contrived - it doesn't get points for the story at ALL. It gets points for NOTHING.

[EmperorChaos]

I love torrents.

I'mma go watch some movies now.

[EmperorChaos]

I am Number Four

This film lacked substance. Why people like seeing flashy things and people spinning about is beyond me. Also, what the fuck? Jedi, anyone? The hand gestures were strikingly similar to the Force Push and what's the deal with steel weapons glowing blue or red when wielded? The only part I got on the edge of my seat for was the battle of the "chimera" and that was because I wanted a better view (watching on a small 15'' monitor) of what turned out to be horrible CGI.

I put chimera in quotes because, as many of you know, I am a fan of Greek myth. Chimeras are beings that have parts of others beings. They don't shapeshift. What the fuck?
That was just another similarity or reference to something pre-existing that was used inappropriately by this movie (and, by extension, the writers of the book, one of which is none other than James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces).
Another similarity is the name of the home planet of the Numbered people being "Lorien" which is, in Tolkien's world, the home of Irmo, also known as Lorien, one of the Vala, Lord of Dreams. Este also resides in Lorien. She is Queen of healers.
And the Modorians, the alien race hunting the Loriens, is strikingly similar to the name Tralfamadorian, Vonnegut's fictional aliens.

If there is one thing I can't stand in fiction, it's the inability to produce new or original names for things, unless the name is paying obvious homage to something from the past. (In my work, I make mostly obscure historical references, such as Bucephalus (the name of Alexander the Great's horse and my character Alexander's starship) and Khresmoi (the transliteration of the Greek word for Oracle, or another starship).

[Zanahoria_Picante]

Originally Said by EmperorChaos

If there is one thing I can't stand in fiction, it's the inability to produce new or original names for things, unless the name is paying obvious homage to something from the past. (In my work, I make mostly obscure historical references, such as Bucephalus (the name of Alexander the Great's horse and my character Alexander's starship) and Khresmoi (the transliteration of the Greek word for Oracle, or another starship).

The T.S. Eliot quote that seems to apply to most art forms (even "cinema"): "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different."

Or: If you're going to rip something off, do it right.

[/that's what she said] >.<

Last saw...

The Hours. Really... interesting. Great acting, great score (Philip Glass), and really well executed cinematography and plot (and how those two inter-played) but a little dark. Just a little. Worth a view, though, no doubt.

[EmperorChaos]

I think this thread should be moved to the "Movies and TV" sub-forum. We're a small forum now and we're starting to make bigger posts in this thread.

Anyway, the last movie I saw was The Green Hornet. I thought it was a good movie with ample amounts of comic relief... Oh that Seth Rogen. I don't really have anything positive or negative to say about it otherwise.

[ablethevoice]

MARTYRS

Another entry in the new "extreme" French horror genre the first of which is generally agreed to be "Haute Tension" (the original - not the dreadful American re-make "High Tension").

Here, writer-director Pascal Laugier gives us a film which is absolutely and simultaneously riveting and revolting. Definitely not boring; at no point was I even close to reaching for the FFWD button because I was bored enough. This was the second film out of 4 or 5 I've seen lately where the ending completely snuck up on me. I didn't see it coming at all and when it did ... whoa! Weird.

This film is extremely difficult to watch actually. There's only one happy scene in the whole film and that doesn't last anyway. MARTYRS is grim, depressing, violent, misogynist, puzzling... and entertaining. Yes, I did use that word. The film is entertaining on two levels: The alligator brain and the part of the brain that wonders about what happens after you die. That part of the story-the question about the afterlife- is key to the events in the film. I won't say any more about it because I don't want to spoil it.

So. Do I recommend it? No, unless you can stand female degradation and extreme torture scenes yadda yadda
Did I like it? well, yeah
but not, repeat not for the female torture scenes.. I'm not into that stuff on a sexual level and certainly don't get off watching it happen. But don't take me the wrong way: there's no sex in this film.

Now on other levels of filmmaking, it was beautifully done. Very crisp cinematography and something which took me a few minutes to latch on to: it was a much more leisurely paced film. The editing was slower than your typical Hollywood strobe movies with 15 cuts in 30 seconds. It asked much of the actress who endured the... treatment.

Sound was good and it had a bizarre musical score which was almost as surreal as the events which transpired in the film. Technically, a very well made film and I enjoyed that part if it a lot. My only complaint was the dubbing. Being a French film it was, naturally, filmed in the French language. I found an English dubbed version which was in places grimacingly (I don't care if my spellcheck didn't like that) bad, indeed. But it wasn't opera we're talking about anyway so it isn't a major issue.

Hell, I dunno. Watch the fucking thing. Thank me later or not, I saw it and it was different (although depressing) and I liked it.

88/100

[EmperorChaos]

^Did you watch it subbed or dubbed? I'm downloading the subtitled version.

[ablethevoice]

The dubbed one. I had a hard enough time locating an active source so I couldn't be too picky. At least it was the uncut version.

I've been on a movie kick today. Just finished THE RAGE... actually its Robert Kurtzman's THE RAGE. LOL This was an interesting and wayyy out there gross out gory action/horror/sci fi... even a little comedy in odd places adventure a little like a cross between Evil Dead and Re-Animator. Great physical gore effects... not-at-all great and painfully obvious CGI gore effects. What we have here is a film about a mad scientist (Andrew Divoff of WISHMASTER; indeed much of the SFX crew of Wishmaster were instrumental in getting this film put together) working alone in the woods. He's perfected a rage plague which he plans to loose on humanity. He also is the only one with the cure so he'll be the one to come to to beg for your life... (mad dude, see?) Oh, did I mention he was hideously deformed, indeed he was himself infected with the rage enzyme but he could "resist the urges". Oh, and there's zombie vultures outside.

One of the things that made this film really cool was although we were mostly in the woods with our 20-something crew trying not to be eaten by zombie vultures, once inside the mad Professor's lair there's some fucking weird shit and a hilarious little... being who scuttles around with a stuffed monkey who speaks in a weird nasal squirnk so garbled the director was obliged to provide subtitles. This is the funniest dude in the film... at least he gets the funniest lines IMO. Even with all that, the film actually found time to fit a flashback in explaining (quite well, actually) why the doctor was doing what he was doing.

Overall it was sinister, dark, apocalyptic and a helluvalot of fun. It certainly wasn't a perfect movie, nosiree! Acting wise it was ....sigh.. well they pretty much sucked
but I think it was more a poor script and perhaps an inexperienced director I dunno. The writing was..... oh... well....
crappy with plot holes and weird time jumps that somehow didn't make sense. And if I heard the phrase , "C'Mon, we gotta go.. C'Mon!" just one more time, I think I was gonna hurl. Lame dialog. But with the director, its all about the gore and we get plenty of that. I was reading through what I have here about 15 minutes after I started this fool blather of mine now... in retrospect... it wasn't the poor script that made this film weaker, it was the acting - which was, actually, pretty bad except for Divoff and the various zombie aids the Good Doctor has in his lab.

I still liked it.
Like I said, apocalyptic.. also, bizarre, surreal, intense, and twisted. 0gets you by surprise. Its also dark as fuck, but there are some (at least to me) laugh out loud moments... mostly that little monkey imp I talked about. His subtitles were FUNNY. As dark as the film is, you can still tell the filmmakers were having fun. Oh there were little cameos too. Like Reggie Bannister from the PHANTASM franchise. LOL He actually mentions the Phantasm video game in the film. Anyway Yeah recommended.

lets see...79/100. (I'd have gone as high as 85 or 86 if the acting had been better)

[EmperorChaos]

I found both. I have been downloading the subtitled one for 10 minutes with 9 minutes to go going at ~600kB/s. However, I'm not gonna wait that nine minutes... I am going to start watching another movie someone recommended. A German comedy called Soul Kitchen.

[Zanahoria_Picante]

I already told you the last movie I saw. *Sneer of genuine and fiery disgust*

[ablethevoice]

THE OTHERS

I know its at least 10 years old, but I only just saw it for the first time today. I'm not much of a fan of Nicole Kidman, but I must say I really enjoyed her performance. Actually, the whole film was great and it had a twist ending I didn't expect.

91/100

[EmperorChaos]

^Yes, that is a good movie.

The last movie I saw was The Adjustment Bureau and I didn't like it. It's loosely based Philip K. Dick's short story "Adjustment Team" and when I say loosely, I mean as in a loose stool. That's what this film was to me... diarrhea. The similarities pretty much end at the name.

I don't know why its reviews were so good... but this is just another example of why I typically hate the opinions of other critics. Had any of those who reviewed this film read Asimov's Foundation series, they'd note that while it greatly differed from Dick's short story, it blatantly ripped off key aspects of the novel Second Foundation. Math was all that was missing.

Also... hats? Really? HATS!?! You gain the power to traverse through doors to anywhere from hats but lose another power when it rains or there's water about? I guess no one informed the writer/director that the human body is 70-75% water.

[GoddessDivine]

naked ambition

a nice documentary about a photographer and the porn awards. Interesting but i wouldnt watch again

[Thoughtcrime]

Originally Said by EmperorChaos

^Yes, that is a good movie.

The last movie I saw was The Adjustment Bureau and I didn't like it. It's loosely based Philip K. Dick's short story "Adjustment Team" and when I say loosely, I mean as in a loose stool. That's what this film was to me... diarrhea. The similarities pretty much end at the name.

I don't know why its reviews were so good... but this is just another example of why I typically hate the opinions of other critics. Had any of those who reviewed this film read Asimov's Foundation series, they'd note that while it greatly differed from Dick's short story, it blatantly ripped off key aspects of the novel Second Foundation. Math was all that was missing.

Also... hats? Really? HATS!?! You gain the power to traverse through doors to anywhere from hats but lose another power when it rains or there's water about? I guess no one informed the writer/director that the human body is 70-75% water.

Yeah the Adjustment Bureau looked pretty, pretty retarded.

Last movie I saw was The Hangover 2. There were definitely a handful of funny moments, but the whole film seemed painfully aware that it just didn't pack the same punch as The Hangover, and tried too hard to compensate by making everything that much more EXTRRRREEEEEEME, MAN! C+ overall. Not a waste of time, but not of the same caliber as the first (which I give a B+).

On my list to see are Bridesmaids, which just looks fucking FUNNY, and X-Men: First Class. Don't be confused - this is a reboot of the series. We can finally wash our hands of the disaster that was the previous X-Men series. The trailers had me really excited. From the bits and pieces I've seen in the past few days, it looks like C+ material as well. But we shall see.

[Christian]

The Doors (Movie)

Originally Said by EmperorChaos

What didn't you get about the ending? The Big Lebowski is one of my favorite movies.

The movie ended too suddenly for me. I mean: They just spread the ashes of their friend who died of a heart attack in front of the bowling alley and The Dude was back bowling and ordering another White Russian when he met that narrator-like guy again. ..and then the movie ended.

And yes, those nihilistic Germans are quite funny. I like how they were in that new wave pop band Autobahn (presumably in East Germany). I guess they became nihilists when the wall fell?

Rather West Germany. The band "Autobahn" from the movie is an allusion to the German band "Kraftwerk" that once had a song and album named "Autobahn". the group was formed 1970 in Düsseldorf, West Germany. [Wikipedia]

I never met a nihilist in person, neither in East Germany nor in Berlin (that is basically east too, but bleh) ;-)

Originally Said by ablethevoice

SEE IT. Pan's Labyrinth is an incredible film.

Now as I think of it and after checking a [trailer] do I believe to remember that I've seen it on TV once. The two third of the movie that I was able to see were indeed great