Last movie watched...

[Ghost MacRoth]

Good point.  I was brought up watching old movies on the 3 channels we had, so I'm a tad fond of the classics!

[Charlie boy]

The Hunger Games
Another film I didn't particularly want to watch but my mate really wanted to so we put it on and I'll be honest, I quite enjoyed it. Putting it in alongside other popular films based on books written in the last few years that were aimed at readers a few years younger than me but attracted their share of adult readers, I was also surprised at how quiet it was; no big orchestral score or, going for the seemingly more popular or modern move nowadays, screechy guitars as a whiny vocalist goes on with lyrics about- I don't know- how it's impossible to survive when you're in love or something.
Moved along at a decent pace, putting character and actions/consequences in place as it clearly goes about building up for the next films. I remember people scoffing at how blood had been removed from some scenes so it could get its 12 certificate (yeah, dumbass producers et al making changes to be sure their target audience can go and see the film! What dumbasses!) but what's shown on screen worked fine for me the way it is but then again, I'd best admit I can name quite a few films I've enjoyed which don't make a big thing about open wounds.
So yeah, pleasantly surprised by this.

[Professor Bear]

Hachiko: A Dog's Story ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSkgXhHbCSw ), in which a base beast fails to surmount its nature and grasp the concept of mortality - as is to be expected - and through this ignorance that is no fault of its own dooms itself to a living Hell when its human owners wash their hands of its care.
It's unusual to see a film about animals reveling in the inherent cruelty of its central premise in the way this one does, as usually they have the animals display human traits and some level of self-awareness (like that time Marmaduke looked into the camera as if to say "yes, I understand that this is a terrible film"), and this is so that we - the viewers - can be assured that they have the capacity to one day acknowledge our lord Jesus Christ as their savior and thus achieve the absolution necessary to enter the kingdom of Heaven, but this film doesn't do that, it merely reinforces that animals have no souls or capacity for reason and then suggests that despite this, they may enter the realm eternal simply because higher beings (humans) observe their acts of base obedience and judge them to be similar to human virtues such as loyalty, rather than simply the inevitable result of poor animal welfare.
A godless and cruel film that betrays the void at the heart of its makers with every frame.

Also Casey Jones, ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LWrEDkzaF4 ), a TMNT fan movie made for zero dollars.  Surprisingly well-made and I enjoyed it quite a bit even if I thought it was a terrible mistake to have [spoiler]one of the TMNT in it via a costume that you would laugh at even if you were at a cosplay convention and it was worn by a kid in a wheelchair who was actually dying right there in front of you.[/spoiler]  But still, surprisingly fun.

[Dandontdare]

Also Casey Jones, ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LWrEDkzaF4 ), a TMNT fan movie made for zero dollars.  Surprisingly well-made and I enjoyed it quite a bit even if I thought it was a terrible mistake to have [spoiler]one of the TMNT in it via a costume that you would laugh at even if you were at a cosplay convention and it was worn by a kid in a wheelchair who was actually dying right there in front of you.[/spoiler]  But still, surprisingly fun.

so nothing to do with the bloke with the train? 

[Recrewt]

The point of remaking films like this is to save the producers from ever taking a risk, or having an original idea once in their lives.

The twenty year olds at my work won't generally watch anything with pre-year-2000 effects or production values. They lap up every remake of an old (eighties) horror film, but would never dream of watching the original. Love The Expendables and Rambo 4; not interested in any of those guys' old movies. To be fair, most of those old films are shite, but then so are the remakes.

I'm not really interested in seeing the new Robocop film but I don't think it is bad that they have remade it.  On the whole, people go to the cinema to see new movies and it has been 27 years since the original was made so many cinema-goers will never have seen it.  It's also too great an idea to not re-use.

I can't imagine it is better than the original, but hollywood has a long history of remaking films.  Many of the films I enjoyed in the 90s were remakes of older B&W movies. 

I'm just waiting for the Casablanca remake with Channing Tatum!   

[Daveycandlish]

Been to see The Book Thief. Bloody good film. I knew nowt about it going in so didn't know where this tale of a child growing up in a town in Germany in WWII was going to go. I'll tell you nothing more about it other than Death is the narrator (but don't go expecting a Terry Pratchett fantasy). Heartily recommended.

[von Boom]

Been to see The Book Thief. Bloody good film. I knew nowt about it going in so didn't know where this tale of a child growing up in a town in Germany in WWII was going to go. I'll tell you nothing more about it other than Death is the narrator (but don't go expecting a Terry Pratchett fantasy). Heartily recommended.

I saw this recently as well. It's an incredibly well done film.

[Theblazeuk]

I will wait for a recommendation from someone who read the book, as I think its one of those things that the differences in adaptation could prove significant.

[SmallBlueThing]

In no particular order:

EUROPA REPORT (2013)

Found-footage sci-fi about the first manned mission to Jupiter's moon, Europa, and their search for life. I love this whole film-making genre, and this made a lovely change from the endless haunted houses/ asylums/ ruins premises that I've seen of late. Very reminiscent of 'Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets', the BBC "real science" drama of a decade or so ago (which is incidentally one of my favourite things ever), it has a likeable cast (including someone who I'm told was in 'The girl with the dragon tattoo'), fabulous visuals and a compelling story. I'd been waiting to see this for a good six months, and it did not disappoint. My worry was that it would end up being too "real sciency" and copping out of anything wonderful once they actually got to Europa. I needn't have been concerned. Loved it unreservedly.

WHITE BUFFALO (1977)

I remembered this from childhood, and that it scared the crap out of me. An old friend of this forum mentioned it on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, and I had to track down a copy. Very glad I did. Charles Bronson plays Wild Bill Hickok, returned to the Old West after a sojourn abroad as a showman, plagued by nightmares in which a monstrous white buffalo rampages. He knows his destiny is to meet the beast, and either kill it or die. Will Sampson (Taylor, the Indian, in Poltergeist 2) is Crazy Horse, set on revenge after the white buffalo kills his daughter. Both hunt the creature, coming together, despite their mutual distrust and hatred.
On the surface a Dino De Laurentiis quick-buck Jaws-alike, and one of a trio of such creature features he knocked out at the time, White Buffalo is an underrated gem. Deeply weird, full of dialogue and sequences that throw you off, it's unlike any other western I've ever seen. Strangely adult in tone, and full of seventies attitudes that disarm the modern viewer, it's an absolute treat.

Dog Soldiers
A treat for the kids, as they were begging for a good werewolf movie. Both responded to it, wowing at the wolves, laughing at the funny bits and going "yuck!" a lot. Youngest especially loved it.

Jeepers Creepers 2
Also a "family movie night" treat, after they'd loved the first one, which is apparently "the scariest film ever made". They didn't think this was as good as the original, but was still "brilliant". Both desperately now want a third. As do I, to tell the truth.

SBT

[Keef Monkey]

In no particular order:

EUROPA REPORT (2013)

Found-footage sci-fi about the first manned mission to Jupiter's moon, Europa, and their search for life. I love this whole film-making genre, and this made a lovely change from the endless haunted houses/ asylums/ ruins premises that I've seen of late. Very reminiscent of 'Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets', the BBC "real science" drama of a decade or so ago (which is incidentally one of my favourite things ever), it has a likeable cast (including someone who I'm told was in 'The girl with the dragon tattoo'), fabulous visuals and a compelling story. I'd been waiting to see this for a good six months, and it did not disappoint. My worry was that it would end up being too "real sciency" and copping out of anything wonderful once they actually got to Europa. I needn't have been concerned. Loved it unreservedly.

Me too, it really is brilliant. It seems to have snuck out a bit, anyone I mention it to has never heard of it, but I've been recommending it heartily to anyone into sci-fi. One of my favourite movies of last year and the best sci-fi film I think I've seen in a long time (I saw it around the same time as Gravity, which I liked but didn't enjoy quite as much as ER to be honest).

[SmallBlueThing]

We are watching Gravity tonight, but it'll have to go some to beat ER. The final payoff had me grinning from ear to ear. Exceptional film, and one I heartily recommended.

SBT

[JamesC]

Where did you pick Europa Report up? Was it expensive?
I've just tried to add it to my Lovefilm list and it isn't available. The DVD is pretty pricey on Amazon too.

[SmallBlueThing]

PlayStation Store- £3.49 download rental.

SBT

[JamesC]

Excellent - thank you!

[Keef Monkey]

It's also on Netflix, which is where we saw it! I forget if it's the UK or US Netflix mind you, can never remember which one I'm logged into.