Last movie watched...

[Dark Jimbo]

Devil's Pass (2013), which is better than it has any right to be. A 'found footage'-type film about a group o' sexy students who travel through Russia following in the footsteps of the Dyatlov Pass trekkers of 1959 - and if you know anything about that incident (or, indeed, this genre of film), you can guess a little of what's going to happen. You very much have to suspend disbelief and allow yourself to buy into proceedings - viewers who have no inclination to do that will most likely hate the film. Those who can will find a lot to like. It wins points from me simply for being a well-handled exploration of such a fascinating paranormal incident, and later it somehow manages to work the even-groovier Philadelphia Experiment into proceedings. True to form, the ending is as clever as it is silly. Very good stuff, although your own mileage may vary.

[HdE]

Tonight's TV treat was 'Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil', starring Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine.

Got this cheap at the supermarket, and expected little of it. I'd worried that the movie couldn't live up to its genius premise (basically, two hillbillies are terrorized in the woods by a bunch of college kids).

Turns out, this movie is a little gem! The comedy aspect of it is a little obvious, and you can see some of the bigger gags coming, but that just adds to the fun. There are some truly inventive jokes in there as well - and it scores points for being properly funny as opposed to leaning too heavily on gross-out splatterfest gore, which it could have done so easily.

[Theblazeuk]

Ah the wood chipper moment. Has me in stitches

[Tiplodocus]

Tonight's TV treat was 'Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil', starring Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine.

Got this cheap at the supermarket, and expected little of it. I'd worried that the movie couldn't live up to its genius premise (basically, two hillbillies are terrorized in the woods by a bunch of college kids).

Turns out, this movie is a little gem! The comedy aspect of it is a little obvious, and you can see some of the bigger gags coming, but that just adds to the fun. There are some truly inventive jokes in there as well - and it scores points for being properly funny as opposed to leaning too heavily on gross-out splatterfest gore, which it could have done so easily.

I recall thoroughly enjoying this. The excuse for madly waving a chainsaw about was great.  I recall I didn't quite like the ending though.

[Hawkmumbler]

This has been recomended to me constantly for years. Gonna have to give it a go soon.

[Theblazeuk]

It's on Netflix for those who have it. Alan Tudyk is great

[HdE]

What I loved about the movie was the unexpected brilliance of some of the gags. Like I said before, you can see a lot of the stuff that happens coming. But my favourite gag is right at the end, in the hospital!

(I'd say more but... spoilers!)

[TordelBack]

The Lego Movie.  Very enjoyable, with some great scenes and gags, although it unravels a bit towards the end with overlong schmaltzy live-action sequences that had the younger audience members fidgetting.  Every scene that has Batman in it is superb, and this is definitely my favourite big screen version of the character.  His serious song is outstanding, worth sitting through the credits to hear it in full.  The 80's Lego Space stuff( and there's a fair amount) had me grinning ear to ear.

Some genius visuals, rendering fire, smoke and waves in Lego bricks, and there's a lovely touch where the distant views are just smaller scale models (i.e. a skyscraper becomes a simple tower of 2X2 blocks).  The 3D was very sharp, but as usual added little. 

My big problem with the film is that I can't for the life of me understand why there wasn't a female 'human' character, because as it is we're left with the understanding that Lego is a boy's pursuit. 

Ultimately where else can you see [spoiler]Batman steal the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive, while lamenting the revelation that C3PO is a dude[/spoiler]?  And it made everyone in the family want to dive into the Lego box as soon as we got home.

[Frank]

The Lego Movie.  Very enjoyable, with some great scenes and gags, although it unravels a bit towards the end

The Lego Movie.  Very enjoyable, with some great scenes and gags, although it unravels a bit falls apart towards the end.

[TordelBack]

What are your rates for pre-Post editing, Sauchie?  I could cut you in for a co-writer credit and a point or two of the box office.

[Professor Bear]

Ender's Game - dull, and endorses machismo and militarist structures without irony, including the blatant faults of those systems such as turning a blind eye to bullying and discrimination, and the use of violence to beat down dissenting voices.  The main character's relationship with his older sister is super-weird, too, presented in exactly the same way you would expect a movie to present the relationship between boyfriend and girlfriend, right down to his constant "mail to his Valentine back home", and there's a bit that flashes back to the war that looks very similar to the end of Independence Day.  Make of that what you may.

After Earth - Smith has some presence as an emotionally distant patriarch and his lad aquits himself well, but the dialogue is so, so bad in this that it overshadows what is actually a pretty decent coming-of-age sci-fi b-movie.  It's been shat on from a great height by many gleeful detractors, but doesn't deserve it - some silly bits, certainly, and at least two instances of massive coincidence upon which the plot relies, but otherwise it's pretty inoffensive.

[SmallBlueThing]

Dark Jimbo:  Did you mean THE DYALTOV PASS INCIDENT? Cos we watched that tonight, and it was magnificent!

SBT

[Frank]

Devil's Pass (2013), which is better than it has any right to be. A 'found footage'-type film about a group o' sexy students who travel through Russia following in the footsteps of the Dyatlov Pass trekkers of 1959

Dark Jimbo:  Did you mean THE DYALTOV PASS INCIDENT? Cos we watched that tonight, and it was magnificent!

Jimbo forgot to mention the clinchers - it's a Renny Harlin film, starring Lisa from that show based on the Hollyoaks calendar. Added to my Lovefilm list.

[Dark Jimbo]

Dark Jimbo:  Did you mean THE DYALTOV PASS INCIDENT? Cos we watched that tonight, and it was magnificent!

That's the one - I think they renamed it. And yes, it does have her off Hollyoaks in it. I was trying to act highbrow by not mentioning that. 

[Frank]

It's got him off E4's Misfits too, if that makes things any more classy. The two titles definitely seems to be a case of the name being changed to avoid giving less discerning viewers the impression that the film might be foreign or a bit weird. The poster art gets progressively more classy and allusive the further away you get from Burbank: