Last movie watched...

[Dominic O'Rourke]

Me too. It's a great little independent which over the last few years,  has gone from strength to strength and I would think it's on the cusp of becoming Brixton-Ritzy-esque,

But at £4.99 a ticket, all day, every day, it's a cinema you could spend all day at for the price of a single ticket in Leicester Square.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

...possibly belongs in the 'I demand you revoke my right to be called a nerd at official functions' thread...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I'm an enormous Hitchhiker's fan and have been the entirety of my life. Safe to say though - this ain'tcher dad's worn-out edition and that's not especially a good thing. This decade-old mainstream attempt is a star-studded and gorgeously designed affair - with Jim Henson puppetry and some really stunning effects that have dated well. Plotwise though it is a somewhat watered-down Guide we have here - with a whole lot of Hollywood nonsense that attempts to give Freeman's just-a-bloke Dent an entirely romantic motivation and cheaply uses Trillian and Anna Chancellor for nothing more than  "something our plucky heroes can get with at the end" - stir into that the grimly stupid humour of the POV gun ("it won't work on me I'm already a woman") and the picture is offbalanced into a creative whirligig that pleases just about as much as it profoundly irritates.

An enormous shame - as the lore is smartly woven in (scintillating jeweled scuttling crabs anyone?) and the energetic Jennings is a great talent. It is benefited slightly by now standing as an off-kilter curio than a stark sign of a franchise to come.

[Goaty]

As last night, as I pick random film on Netflix, Circle

Wow, that was better and got me hooked from start! Worth it to check out.

[radiator]

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

It kind of got on my nerves tbh, don't think I made it past the first hour. Not a terrible film, but I just think I've aged past the point of tolerance for these overly stylised, self consciously quirky indie comedy-dramas that admittedly used to be right up my alley. I just found it all a bit forced and cringey rather than endearing, funny or charming.

[radiator]

Oh, and it had a gag that I'm convinced was lifted wholesale from an episode of Community.

[The Adventurer]

...possibly belongs in the 'I demand you revoke my right to be called a nerd at official functions' thread...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I'm an enormous Hitchhiker's fan and have been the entirety of my life. Safe to say though - this ain'tcher dad's worn-out edition and that's not especially a good thing. This decade-old mainstream attempt is a star-studded and gorgeously designed affair - with Jim Henson puppetry and some really stunning effects that have dated well. Plotwise though it is a somewhat watered-down Guide we have here - with a whole lot of Hollywood nonsense that attempts to give Freeman's just-a-bloke Dent an entirely romantic motivation and cheaply uses Trillian and Anna Chancellor for nothing more than  "something our plucky heroes can get with at the end" - stir into that the grimly stupid humour of the POV gun ("it won't work on me I'm already a woman") and the picture is offbalanced into a creative whirligig that pleases just about as much as it profoundly irritates.

An enormous shame - as the lore is smartly woven in (scintillating jeweled scuttling crabs anyone?) and the energetic Jennings is a great talent. It is benefited slightly by now standing as an off-kilter curio than a stark sign of a franchise to come.

I liked the 2005 HGttG flick. It's not perfect, but for film it's solid I think.

[TordelBack]

Tremors 5: Bloodlines

The missus loves her some Graboids (ooo-err), so in we dove, despite my finding the last couple pretty much unwatchable. Turned out way to be way more fun that it had any right to be, lifted by an entertaining South African supporting cast including the gorgeous Pearl Thusi, and bizarrely injected with life by Jaimie Kennedy's constant ad libbing.  Now I'm not a fan of Kennedy's comedy by any means, but the out-takes on the DVD confirm that huge chunks of his dialogue were off the cuff (and admittedly about half of this is his quoting better action movies at appropriate moments), and that the reactions of the rest of cast were often genuine, which goes a long way. 

Less fortunately some of this humour was borderline racist, but this is sadly in keeping with the picture the movie as a whole paints of SA, much of which would be at home in Daktari or even a Johnny Weissmuller flick.  25 years on Michael Gross struggles a bit as both USP and straight man in all this (Rebe McEntire is missed), and the extensive Deleted Scenes make sense of odd gaps which were CGI-heavy sequences obviously jettisoned due to budget.

The plot makes no sense whatsoever  ([spoiler]Where did that last egg come from?  How do the locals not know about the Graboids when they have elaborate tribal dances in graboid costumes? How come the copter's missiles were pointed straight at the cave when the pilot didn't know where it was[/spoiler]?), and while possibly the strongest sequel it's still the palest shadow of the original, but actually not a bad way to waste 90 minutes.  Hopefully it does okay and Bacon and Ward can be enticed back for Tremors 6. 

[Hawkmumbler]

Waitwaitwaitwait when the hell did a new Tremors come out? TO NETFLIX!

[Colin YNWA]

So yeah finished my Mad Max watch and I've whittered about the glory that is Fury Road elsewhere, its possibly, maybe, could be, my favourite film of all time BUT anyway what a weird set of films. There are common things that run through them, but they are wonderfully diverse as films, which is to their credit. I guess you could say Road Warrior and Fury Road are the two that really feel the same and are by far the best, but damn I'd glad the whole lot of them exist.

On reflection is this the franchise of films I should have invested more energy in over the years, in the way I have Star Wars, or is it the addition of Fury Road that really brings it to life... well who knows but I'll be watchin' um all again soon.

[Dandontdare]

On reflection is this the franchise of films I should have invested more energy in over the years, in the way I have Star Wars, or is it the addition of Fury Road that really brings it to life

More likely the fact that it's not been flogged to death with expanded universes, ubiquitous merchandising of every possible kind, billions of pop-culture references and too many psychotic internet fanatics

[TordelBack]

Hotel Transylvania. I'd heard very little good about this, and had avoided it until my kids pestered me into watching it as bait for a putative trip to see the sequel (cunning gits). It's actually pretty good, very soft stuff, but I like the character design and the animation style. And it tells a really simple story with very little clutter, which is a bit of a rarity.  Steve Buscemi's werewolf steals the show, in what is probably the best Adam Sandler flick since Coneheads [/damnswithfaintpraise].

[Goaty]

what is probably the best Adam Sandler flick since Coneheads [/damnswithfaintpraise].

What about Airheads? As it was just on Netflix and just watched it.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

It's actually pretty good, very soft stuff, but I like the character design and the animation style.

This is nearly entirely down to, I suspect, the directorial skills of the glorious Genndy Tartakovsky. The animation auteur behind Samurai Jack, Dexter's Lab and the good (imo) Clone Wars series.

I've not seen it myself yet though because Adam Sandler makes me feel bad in my goolies and gut.

[TordelBack]

This is nearly entirely down to, I suspect, the directorial skills of the glorious Genndy Tartakovsky. The animation auteur behind Samurai Jack, Dexter's Lab and the good (imo) Clone Wars series.

And, IIRC, the glorious Powerpuff Girls, which my 5yr old daughter and I consumed in its entirety over a wet weekend this Summer just gone (the answer is 'Buttercup'). Hadn't realised it was him, but at least my enjoyment of a Sandler-related thing makes sense now.

And to quote my favourite Mojo Jojo line:

I do not talk like that! The way I communicate is much different! I do not reiterate, repeat, reinstate the same thing over and over again! I am clear, concise, to the point!

[DaveGYNWA]

Hotel Transylvania

Yep, that's a good one. The girls love it, and it probably goes on about once a month now. Off to see the sequel tomorrow with them, and really looking forward to it.

And I had not realised that was Adam Sandler. Never looked at the credits (that song over them does my head in, so out of the room I go) and never bothered looking it up on imdb or the like.

Blah blah blah!!