Last movie watched...

[Mardroid]

Survival of the Dead

Just finished it actually.


First time I've seen it.  Those people who believe that the films went downhill after Dawn... I have to disagree.

I think maybe, Dawn... was such a landmark film that it somehow colours peoples oppinions on the latter films. Yet as I've said, I think I prefer Day... to Dawn.. (although thinking about it, they're probably just as good in their own ways, I certainly wouldn't begrude people preferring Dawn...). And this film, is the last in the series, and I would say it's up there with the best. A decent story with something to say about the stubborn nature of humanity, just like the others had, yet different enough in it's own way to warrant it's place.

And the usual over-the-top gore, of course.

I haven't seen Diary... all the way through, so I can't fairly compare them, but I know the parts I've seen did not grab me as much. I'd happily give it another go though.

Actually, aren't these the only two Romero Dead films to actually share characters, albeit the ones from this only appear briefly?

[JamesC]

Edge of Tomorrow

I really enjoyed this - say what you want about Cruise but he makes some decent films. Emily Blunt was really good too.
The only slight bugbear I have is that I didn't really understand the ending- [spoiler]after they kill the Omega, Cruise absorbs the blood of the Alpha and regains his ability to restart the day. This time the day starts with the news that a 'power surge' has occurred in Paris and the Omega is apparently already dead. How has this happened? Is the implication that the Omega died in the midst of resetting time and so arrives in the past already dead? Is it that Blunt had already been infected with the blood and went back first and killed the thing already (or set events in motion that led to its death)?[/spoiler] Any ideas?

[Dark Jimbo]

Unfortunately  the film-maker is unable to directly interview Miscavige, a man who looks as if he was plucked straight out of the role of 'evil executive' from an 80s action movie...

Blimey, you're not wrong!

[Keef Monkey]

I remember being really disappointed with Diary of The Dead on release in the cinema, then revisiting it a couple of years later on DVD and really enjoying it. Come to think of it, the same thing might have happened with Land (my first reaction wasn't actually all that negative but I do appreciate and enjoy it more as the years go on, need to revisit it soon).

Have only seen Survival once but it seemed okay (didn't hate it/didn't love it), so maybe in a few years I'll be rewatching that and finding it's grown on me.

My biggest problem with the last couple is the CG gore, it really doesn't work for those movies and I wish he'd kept pushing in the practical effects direction. Can only imagine it's a budget thing, cheaper to use some ropey digital effects than to come up with a practical solution that might take a few tries to perfect.

[NapalmKev]

Mad Max: Fury Road - Excellent film, I need say no more.

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead - The first 5 minutes were hysterically funny with a crazy old man killing some hapless fools with a bow and arrow. The 'Action' then shifted to a Prison and some Guff about a transfer/escape and then my Xbox crashed, which frankly came as relief. 5 Turds for this one, even without watching the rest of it.

Cheers

[JamesC]

Black Jack

I recorded this off the telly because, from the short write up, I thought it sounded like a fun old swashbuckler.
It wasn't. It was an old Ken Loach film that I'd never heard of.
I have to say I really enjoyed it though - it had bags of charm, lovely naturalistic performances and a simultaneously dark but quite sweet story. Definitely worth a look if it's on TV again.

[Theblazeuk]

Lone Ranger . Actually quite enjoyable, not as bad as I'd heard and a lot of fun in many places. At its best when embracing rather than mocking its source material. My favourite Johnny Depp performance for a while, largely because I can pretend its not him under that facepaint. Questionable racial casting aside. Also would not have suffered one bit by removing its tired framing device, but overall a surprisingly good watch that far surpassed Jonah Hex.

[radiator]

Being in America on July 4th, I naturally watched Independence Day.

Heard all the criticisms and don't care - maybe my opinion is clouded by nostalgia, but I still think it's a solidly entertaining movie and one of the best blockbusters of the 90s. Is it silly? Yep. Is the characterisation broad? Yep. A little naive and jingoistic? Yep. Cheese factor? Through the roof. Do these things make it an objectively bad movie? I say no.

While the plot hinges on some pretty whopping coincidences and contrivances, it's still, for my money, far tighter, more consistent, better-paced and infinitely less cynical than the vast majority of modern blockbusters. It also has a cast populated with great mid-nineties character actors and in Goldblum and Smith, two bona-fide movie stars at the peak of their charm and popularity. It also has some really underrated production design, not to mention some great practical effects work and - for a nearly twenty year old film - some cgi work that holds up fairly well.

The infamous 'alien invaders brought down by a 1995 Macbook and computer virus' is admittedly goofy and a bit of stretch, but imo kind of works as a contemporary (90s) twist on the ending of War of the Worlds.

I feel like it's the Pacific Rim of it's day - a film that most people seem to hate, but the only 'criticism' they can come up with it that 'it's silly/cheesy'.

[JamesC]

Being in America on July 4th, I naturally watched Independence Day.

Heard all the criticisms and don't care - maybe my opinion is clouded by nostalgia, but I still think it's a solidly entertaining movie and one of the best blockbusters of the 90s. Is it silly? Yep. Is the characterisation broad? Yep. A little naive and jingoistic? Yep. Cheese factor? Through the roof. Do these things make it an objectively bad movie? I say no.

While the plot hinges on some pretty whopping coincidences and contrivances, it's still, for my money, far tighter, more consistent, better-paced and infinitely less cynical than the vast majority of modern blockbusters. It also has a cast populated with great mid-nineties character actors and in Goldblum and Smith, two bona-fide movie stars at the peak of their charm and popularity. It also has some really underrated production design, not to mention some great practical effects work and - for a nearly twenty year old film - some cgi work that holds up fairly well.

The infamous 'alien invaders brought down by a 1995 Macbook and computer virus' is admittedly goofy and a bit of stretch, but imo kind of works as a contemporary (90s) twist on the ending of War of the Worlds.

I feel like it's the Pacific Rim of it's day - a film that most people seem to hate, but the only 'criticism' they can come up with it that 'it's silly/cheesy'.

Now I feel I have to defend my dislike of both Independence Day and Pacific Rim.

Independence Day just doesn't have any characters I care about or identify with.
Will Smith is a fighter pilot and..erm...that's all I can remember about him. Goldblum is a computer genius with a Jewish dad that sits in the park and plays chess. I can't remember anything else about him.
There are about 3 bits in the film that really work - Saucers appear, destruction of Whitehouse, 'Welcome to Earth'. The rest is a load of waffle to tie that lot together.
I just find it all so boring and charmless.
I'd actually argue that it's contemporary Mars Attacks, while being played for laughs, does a better job in terms of pacing, memorable performances and character building. You've got to love that young lad and his Grandma!

As for Pacific Rim, I just can't be bothered. It's just terrible and terribly boring. It's like Starship Troopers with all the humour and characters removed.

[Jim_Campbell]

It's like Starship Troopers with all the humour and characters removed. And not like Starship Troopers in any way.

Fixed that for you...

Cheers

Jim

[radiator]

The characters are indeed very broadly-drawn and a little thin - it's an ensemble disaster movie - but imo they are bolstered by casting genuinely likable actors. And I'd argue they all have clear arcs, however slight (using your example, Will Smith's character both avenges his dead friend, grows up a little and achieves his goal of becoming a space pilot over the course of the film), and pretty much all of the characters have something to do. On a story level it's functional, which is a lot more than the likes of Jurassic World can manage.

It's 'switch your brain off' popcorn entertainment in the true sense - light and a little goofy, not meant to be taken too seriously. Not in the modern sense of 'makes absolutely no sense whatsoever but hey look at this overlong cgi set-piece/callback to a much better film'.

As for 'it's boring/terrible', that's the kind of knee-jerk non-criticism I'm talking about.

[JamesC]

Ok, so to shed a little more light on my dislike of Pacific Rim.
It has that kind of 'Hoo rah' military fiction vibe that works best when it's funny (Aliens is an example) or ironic (the aforementioned Starship Troopers - which is what I was getting at before Jim), or even desperate (Alien 3 maybe). In Pacific Rim it's none of these.
Other than that, I can't remember much apart from Robots punching each other. This probably illustrates my criticism as much as anything else - I saw it on the big screen on release, it's only a couple of years old and I can remember almost nothing about it. I'd literally have to watch the film again in order to criticise it in more depth - which I don't have the inclination to do.
If that's 'non-criticism' then so be it but I certainly think it justifies my dislike.


Mind you, I feel the same about most of the Del Toro films I've seen apart from Pan's Labyrinth.

[Jim_Campbell]

that works best when it's funny (Aliens is an example) or ironic (the aforementioned Starship Troopers - which is what I was getting at before Jim), or even desperate (Alien 3 maybe).

I'm not entirely convinced you've actually seen any of the movies you list in that sentence, given that Aliens isn't funny,* Starship Troopers isn't ironic and there aren't any military in Alien 3.

Baffled.

Jim

*Which isn't to say there aren't funny lines in Aliens.

[Dark Jimbo]

...Starship Troopers isn't ironic...

Baffled.

Really? All those gung-ho military recruitment vids peppered throughout are pure tongue-in-cheek, surely.

[JamesC]

that works best when it's funny (Aliens is an example) or ironic (the aforementioned Starship Troopers - which is what I was getting at before Jim), or even desperate (Alien 3 maybe).

I'm not entirely convinced you've actually seen any of the movies you list in that sentence, given that Aliens isn't funny,* Starship Troopers isn't ironic and there aren't any military in Alien 3.

Baffled.

Jim

*Which isn't to say there aren't funny lines in Aliens.

I'm obviously not explaining myself properly.

What I meant by 'Hoo rah' was that kind of macho testosterone filled group mentality that writers try to get across when military characters are spoiling for a fight.

All of those scenes in Aliens are funny - they basically rip the piss out of each other, and everyone else until they actually meet the enemy they're up against. I didn't mean that Aliens is a funny film so much as its handling of the military mindset is handled in a way that's funny. It's the black humour of the barracks.

Starship Troopers, definitely approaches this same thing in an ironic way. They actively promote young men and women into this 'invincible' mind set, when the audience knows damn well they're just grunts. One minute they're getting tattooed and literally howling like a pack of dogs, the next they're bug food. Cut to recruitment commercial for more grunts.

Alien 3 may not be the best example (hence the question mark) but it shows the way that a group of tough guys (ok, not military), when scared will resort to aggression when their back's against the wall.
A better example would be Dog Soldiers where the guy (Spoons?) throws plates at the wolf and says he hopes he gives it the shits.

All examples of interesting, tough guy talk that adds something to the film.