Last movie watched...

[TordelBack]

I totally appreciate tne direction they've taken and am looking forward to what they've made but would also like a DREDD That I can take Tiny Tips to see. And that is possible with the character and source material.

Agree with you completely, Tips.  I really love how Dredd appears to be shaping up, but I honestly would have preferred a version I could have taken my son to.  They chose one direction out of many, it looks like it was successful, but it doesn't stop me wishing for something lighter: the ultra-violence has never been the core appeal of Dredd for me.  However, I think Radiator's point about the risk of watering it down until it pleases nobody is sadly on the money.

[Tiplodocus]

True. But if you have the same creative bods on board and the same consultation with Wagner etc. surely it could end up undiluted.  The DREDD stories that don't have lashings of the old ultra-violence aren't as a result of somebody saying to John Wagner "That's a bit much, can you tone it down a bit. And have Dredd kiss someone at the end."


PS: I just couldn't help myself typing "lashings of the old...". Is that a quote from somewhere that has lodged itself in my brain without me realising it?

[JOE SOAP]

True. But if you have the same creative bods on board and the same consultation with Wagner etc. surely it could end up undiluted.  The DREDD stories that don't have lashings of the old ultra-violence aren't as a result of somebody saying to John Wagner "That's a bit much, can you tone it down a bit. And have Dredd kiss someone at the end."

I think it's more to do with the fine line drawn by the film classifiers and unfortunately Dredd uses his Lawgiver quite frequently even in the old 'fun' Dredd stories and I'd hate tho think he couldn't shoot anybody, use different types of bullets, or shoot someone and not be able to see any blood, that's more insulting. Films aren't comics.

[Apestrife]

I saw Kubrick's The Killing and Huston's Asphalt Jungle to other night. Great films, especially The killing. The pun of the time he'd get for robbing small vs large dollars really summed it up beautifully in the end: "Eh what's the difference" haha.

And I just saw Pi. Quite mad with great photo. A work of art. For me it felt more interesting than good. I'd recommend it  to people to make their minds up about it.

I think i'll continue this journey through very "grey" movies shot in black and white with Tirez su pianiste and Rififi tonight.

[Frank]

True. But if you have the same creative bods on board and the same consultation with Wagner etc. surely it could end up undiluted.  The DREDD stories that don't have lashings of the old ultra-violence aren't as a result of somebody saying to John Wagner "That's a bit much, can you tone it down a bit. And have Dredd kiss someone at the end."


PS: I just couldn't help myself typing "lashings of the old...". Is that a quote from somewhere that has lodged itself in my brain without me realising it?

"That was a real kick and good for laughs and lashings of the old ultraviolence" from A Clockwork Orande, which itself refers to The Famous Five and the enthusiasm for ginger beer exhibited by Enid Blyton's prose.

I don't think films should shrink from the showing the brutality and ugliness of violence and the casual manner in which it's often used, and a Dredd film that didn't deal with that would be missing a good deal of the point of the character and the system he embodies.

The ratings system and market forces dictate that, once you've made that decision, you have to target a fairly narrow spectrum of the film audience- for whom Otto Sump and Eck Muttocks would represent an unwelcome distraction from all the disintegrating jaws and flayed flesh.

A decent animated TV show would represent our best chance of seeing a screen adaptation that managed to balance representing Dredd's uncompromising methods and retaining the wit, invention and glorious designs of the Megacity One we all remember. I don't see anything wrong with having one Dredd for the kids and one for fans of John Woo.

[JOE SOAP]

I don't think films should shrink from the showing the brutality and ugliness of violence and the casual manner in which it's often used, and a Dredd film that didn't deal with that would be missing a good deal of the point of the character and the system he embodies.

He wouldn't be Judge, Jury & Executioner in a 12A film.

[TordelBack]

A decent animated TV show would represent our best chance of seeing a screen adaptation that managed to balance representing Dredd's uncompromising methods and retaining the wit, invention and glorious designs of the Megacity One we all remember.

The level of sentient-on-sentient gunplay apparently acceptable in the The Clone Wars cartoon would be quite sufficent for a workable Dredd, IMHO.  When you have the heroes using flamethrowers (complete with writhing, burning victims), shooting wounded aliens and indeed each other, and baddies shooting prisoners in the head and dumping their bodies in space to drift slowly towards the camera, I think six kinds of ammunition should be fine. 

Again looking at TCW the main problem with a computer-animated feature seems to be populating a megapolis.  They nail MC-1-alike Coruscant perfectly as an environment, but even after four seasons the background human/alien character models are appallingly repetitive.  The same Hammerhead wanders in and out of frame repeatedly, sometimes wearing a different coloured tunic. 

[I, Cosh]

I'm half-heartedly watching Hellboy 2 on the telly and it's not very good. In fact I'd pretty much decided to go to bed but then there was a pretty cool bit after they'd had a big fight with Swamp Thing. Now it's gone all X-Men "they hate us because we're different" so bed it is.

[TordelBack]

Arlington Road.  Andy Dufresne and the Dude in a tense psychological suburban terrorist conspiracy thriller amongst the neatly trimmed lawns of suburban DC!  How could this not be worthy of investing some after-midnight insominiac hours!  HEAVY SPOILERS follow., but trust me, I'm doing you a favour.

Oh look, it's the credit sequence from Millennium, ah well, made in 1999, what can you expect.  Hang about, here's Debbie Jablinsky from Addams Family Values, playing... Debbie Jablinsky from Addams Family Values.  That's odd casting for someone whose believability were supposed to be unsure about, as the major plot point.  Wow, that Flynn gives some very strange classes, some unstructured shouting and some slides, a field trip to the scene of his wife's death, and some more shouting.  That must be one very relaxed university. 

Wait now, sure this bit doesn't make any sense?  Nor does this bit.  Nor this one.  Nor this.  And they put the bomb where?  Was that before or after they intentionally rammed the car at high speed?  What were the chances that he'd actually get that car into the basement - he has no security clearance to enter FBI HQ, he has to run a gauntlet of armed guards, drive across a tire shredder thing and jump a barrier ramp, and then presumably has to park at an apppropriate place, all without knowing he's supposed to be doing it.  And that's an awfully impressive and precise piece of demolition for a single bomb that fits comfortably in the boot trunk of a hire car randomly parked in a basement.

And then, afterwards is no-one, absolutely no-one, going to notice that this 'lone bomber' and the previous one were both involved with the Cub Scouts, indeed with the self-same troops as was his good friend and neighbour, the convicted pipe-bomber?  The one who his son is staying with?

What a disappointing heap of poo that was.

[Tiplodocus]

SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD.I think this was an improvement on LAND and DIARY but I just don't know. Really I don't. Almost a zom-com but not quite. That can't be right.

NINE SONGS
Neither me nor Mrs Tips get what this was supposed to be saying.  The minimal dialogue leaves you guessing what people are meant to be thinking and seeing as the camera doesn't focus much on their faces (well, not both at the same time!) that makes it hard.  yes, hard. That was intentional.

[Spaceghost]

Avatar was on Film 4 on Saturday, so I watched it for the first time. It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe. Yes, it was simplistic and the characters were either VERY BAD BADDIES or VERY GOOD GOODIES and it po-facedly runs through every 'noble indigenous peoples' cliche in the Hollywood book, but it was exciting and good looking enough to sustain my interest over its 3 hour runtime.

The effects were fantastic for the most part. I only occasionally felt like I was watching a cartoon. I did wonder why such a big deal was made of the fact that [spoiler]taming the big dragon thing was so difficult, only 5 others had done so since records began. It looked like a right doddle to me.[/spoiler]

Overall - Big dumb enjoyable Hollywood film which succeeds by throwing money into my face.

[Professor Bear]

Megaforce.  I am not entirely sure what I just watched.  Someone in 1982 basically decided to pre-empt any future GI Joe movie and made a flick about some hippies who show the English bloke from Knight Rider how awesome their toys are for around forty minutes, then the rest is about driving about on buggies and dirt bikes in the desert while wearing uniforms from the tv version of Buck Rogers shooting lasers while things explode, then the head hippy turns on his bike's flight mode and everyone cheers as he gives a thumbs up to a fit Persis Khambatta.  I suspect I may not have been drunk enough to appreciate this fully, but it is intermittently entertaining, particularly the laughable bluescreen flying bike sequence, the digital clock that counts down the amount of time the heroes have to complete their raiding mission, the hero knocking on Henry DiSilva's tank to "come by to tell you the good guys always win - EVEN IN THE 80S!" and the shrill metal shredding of the - YES - proprietary theme tune where someone is clearly getting their Journey on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EUmWhITPOA
It's not good, but it is one of those films a few mates can get mileage out of laughing at.

[JOE SOAP]

and it cost twice as much as Star Wars.

[Zarjazzer]

And every penny spent on "the most sophisticated weapons ever seen on a movie screen." I subjected myself to the trailer as well. I won't put a link in to save you all. Their bikes do produce smoke though. Lots of it so you can zero in on them more easily.

[SmallBlueThing]

ABBOTT & COSTELLO GO TO MARS (1953)

I missed most of this, due to a bath, but what i caught was great. Not only did it have some of the best model shots and visual effects ive ever seen in a 50s movie, but latterly takes place on venus: man-less planet of scantily-clad glamour-girls.

Unsure of what went on before, but they land on venus, get captured and lou costello briefly becomes king. Only when shown a video of some body-builder types- the men of venus before they were exiled 400 years ago- do the venusian women cease desiring our heroes. Even then, a number agree to be crammed into cargo holds and cupboards on board their ship to be smuggled back to Earth... until the excess weight gives them away and puts paid to lou's plan of sex.

They return to Earth (in an excellent fx sequence) and lou snogs an earth-girl, necessitating an intergalactic custard pie on his head, as revenge.

All good fun, ruined somewhat by the shitty sound quality on this disc- a double bill with '...meet the invisible man'.