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[50 First Dates]

50 First Dates  Was looking for something relatively short and easy to watch.  This film fit the bill and was sweet for the most part.  I probably enjoy Wedding Singers more, but I've seen that film plenty of times already.

[Betel]

Thanks Betel.  I may need your help with some of the stragglers in the near future.

MoniusJon that sounds like an excellent deal.  I don't know how you would like to proceed.  I have paypal and I don't mind going through ebay either for that added seller/buyer protection they can provide.  Please feel free to drop me a message with your thoughts on how to go about the transaction.

Cheers. 

And don't get me started on the fecking lens-flare, it was like a hideously exaggerated spoof of an Abrams film, mindlessly and pointlessly blocking out a quarter of the screen in every second frame.

Abrams is spoofing his own films?

Abrams as writer and director is what has expunged me of any desire to watch Super 8.  I guess it could be worse.  It could be written by Damon Lindelof.

[Alien]

Alien - I started another thread about the franchise and decided to rewatch the films.  Do you remember the days when you could smoke on space ships? 

I am in the middle of reading Game of Thrones.  I'm taking my time with it.  The first series of the TV show was such a close adaptation I'm not really getting anything new from the book so it isn't turning into a page turner for me.

I was planning on reading Virtual Light by William Gibson.  I really enjoyed the Sprawl trilogy.  I got the Bridge trilogy for Christmas last year (except Idoru, which I've had for years).  I haven't been getting through so many books this year because I have been reading:

2000AD!  I started with the first prog I got back in '94 and have been slowly working my way to the current progs.  I started this a year a go.  I had a hiatus of a few months because there was a five year gap in my collection and I needed to save my pennies so I could buy the back issues.  I am now approaching the point I started collecting again.  It has been really interesting to see the changes in the last twenty years. 

I can help with that i reckon.....have you sorted these out yet?

I haven't arranged anything yet and I'm still on the look out for a good deal on these.

..it is often given as an example of poor-Moore, especially book 1. Crazy!

Blasphemy!!!
*foams-at-mouth*

Awww, leave Ghostbusters 2 alone.  It is one of my earliest cinematic memories and I loved it.  At that age, Ghostbusters was my favouritest film in the whole wide world. 

I prefer Alien Resurrection to Terminator Salvation. At least with Resurrection, there was some nice stylistic touches which I loved and the cast were fun. There's a very Heavy Metal vibe in Resurrection, from the look and humour. Jean Pierre Jeunet is far more an exciting and accomplished director than McG, if you pit City of Lost Children and Amelie against Charlie's Angel: Full Throttle, there is no contest as to who is better. Yes Joss Whedon's script for Resurrection could've been better and even he admits that. But it is still a worthy addition to the Alien series in my opinion. Salvation had its moments but overall I was a tad disappointed with it. There was a lot of promise but ultimately it failed to materialise on screen.

And Resurrection's 'Betty' was far more sexier than all the machines in Salvation put together.

I had really low expectations of Salvation.  Really, really low.  T3 was truly terrible and I've never rated the franchise to highly anyway.  When I finally saw Salvation it turned out to be better than what I was expecting and even entertaining.  I don't really know whether I'd say Salvation was better than Resurrection, but in the context of their retrospective franchises I think Salvation comes off better than Resurrection.

I love Delicatessen, City of Lost Children and Amilie, but I never thought Resurrection held a torch to them.  Resurrection has its good qualities - I like the cast, I like the lighting and I like the directorial touches.

I never watched Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.  You don't need to step in shit to know it stinks.

Oddly, I quite enjoyed Salvation,even though that was a mess, but that's probably more to do with the setting than anything else. At least it was better than Alien Resurrection...

I agree.  Salvation managed to entertain me. Probably because it had some cool robot concepts.  It's not a great film but I don't think any of the Terminator films are great.  T1 was alright.  Melodramatic and slightly ridiculous, but the simple plot keeps it from being unbearable.  Had a good production team.  T2 just comes across as over the top to me now.  It is really the same concept as the first with a few twists and a lot more spectacle.  T3 was just plain awful.

£100?!? 

I find it hard justifying £20 for an art book.

1000 people disagreed ;-)

1000 people disagree that I find it hard justifying £20 for an art book?

seeing as it's likely that geeks galore will look at this thread, what are the main manga/japanimations/anime movies that i should have seen.

Much to my chagrin, i've only ever seen Akira and Vampire Hunter D!!! 

what are the essential ones?

Ooh, and while im here, are there any movies that are entirely like the anime part of kill bill?  that was awesome (i might get shouted at right now, mightn't I!!)

Dave

Oooh Akira and Vampire Hunter D are both classics.  Ghost in the Shell is essential. 

Off the top of my head, from my childhood there was Urotsukidôji (be aware, turns out this is apparently an early hentai [anime porn] pioneer), Fist of the North Star, Ninja Scroll, Dark Myth, Monster City, Wicked City, Street Fighter II the Movie, The Guyver series, Patlabor 1 and 2, Dominion Tank Police, Crying Freeman (never seen it, always meant to though - eventually I will), Cyber City Oedo 808, A.D. Police, Devil Man, 3x3 Eyes, Genocyber and Detonator Organ.

I can't say what in that list is essential.  Checking out the Studio Ghibli productions might be considered essential.  People go on about Neon Evangelist and Cowboy Beebop a lot, so they're probably essential, but I've never watched them.  I did watch Death Note, which was a thoroughly enjoyable series and is highly regarded.

I don't think I've seen anything that quite approaches the anime segment of Kill Bill.  That was a very stylistic piece.  From what I recall Blood: The Last Vampire was a more stylistic animation and I certainly enjoyed it for what it is, but it doesn't have that look that the Kill Bill anime does.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was a real treat for me, but it might be because it's more a girly story.  Well, I thought so, anyway.

And as this post grows in length I am starting to wonder if there is a conspiracy to reveal my inner geekdom!

You actually called Anime manga?

Yeesh, that's worse then calling it 'Japanimations'![/geek]

Yes, we are silly old fuddy-duddies.

It gets me all nostalgic when I think of the Manga days.  I remember the excitement of seeing the Ghost in the Shell trailer on my VHS copy of Street Fighter II the Movie.  It looked really cool and interesting.  Then I managed to get a copy of it and I was blown away.  The boat scene with the haunting music is still, to this day, one of my favourite scenes in any movie and certainly the most evocative for me.

There's a scene in Patlabor that comes close to achieving the same effect for me when the two detectives are searching the hovels across Tokyo.  A little montage with a lovely soundtrack.  It was only later I discovered it was the same director and he has these scenes in all the films of his I have seen.  GitS is my favourite one, though.

OK, I'm done gushing.

I would have liked more as well....

... yet I didn't think the series ended in a bad place.

Yeah, we can be thankful of that much