Last movie watched...

[JamesC]

Link.

An old 80s film about a murderous ape. I remember this being in the video shop when I was younger but I never got around to renting it. It was nothing at all like I'd imagined and I really quite enjoyed it.
Terence Stamp and Elizabeth Shue starred but the best actor was the orangutan.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Pan's Labyrinth

Dark-as-pitch fantasy from del Toro - rightly praised I think as a perfect mix between heady fantasy and brutal reality. Perhaps there could be some criticism levelled at how thickly they lay on that Captain Vidal is a baddy YES we get it he's a baddy. YES WE GET IT. Really though that's splitting hairs as it's so cleverly weighted otherwise and fantastically shot. Truly a modern classic.

[Professor Bear]

I wouldn't know as I can't watch anything with subtitles as that takes concentration and I can't text or talk with mates like you're supposed to do with films so I'll have to wait for the English remake and if they don't do an English remake it can't be that good anyway.

[Dandontdare]

I wouldn't know as I can't watch anything with subtitles as that takes concentration and I can't text or talk with mates like you're supposed to do with films so I'll have to wait for the English remake and if they don't do an English remake it can't be that good anyway.

As an avid comics reader I have no trouble at all with subtitles, as long as they're clear* - my brain is just so used to skim-reading text whilst absorbing images I barely notice them after a while.

If this is widespread (and it makes sense to me, which counts as SCIENCE on the internet), then it's ironic that the people whose brains are perfectly wired to cope with subtitles may never realise they have this gift 'cos they only go and see things with giant robots and exploding vehicles. Wonder if it would help if they appeared in speech bubbles?

*but I hate those white-text and no background subtitles that are simply invisible 50% of the time, usually at the most important reveal.

[Professor Bear]

That may have been sarcasm, DDD.

*but I hate those white-text and no background subtitles that are simply invisible 50% of the time, usually at the most important reveal.

I am often surprised to see fansubbing on kids' toku shows that is of much higher quality and attention to detail than official English-language subtitles on movies aimed at adults and sold in stores.  As with those dvd box sets where you can't skip aggressive anti-piracy promos, the Other Method is sometimes more rewarding for the viewer.

[Hoagy]

Austin Powers did a great take on the white subtitle debacles.

I watched Family Business, nice partnering of some deft talent.

[TordelBack]

I can see that but I had the good fortune to see at least some of Picnic [at Hanging Rock] when Channel 4 first showed it. I'd have been ten or eleven and I always associate it with the sensation of being pleasantly mystified.

I had the same experience at about the same age, and ever since it's had an elevated position in my memory.  Even properly watching it many years later didn't dislodge the feeling that it was significant and enigmatic rather than ponderously dull. 

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Didn't thinking Hanging Rock was dull at all - just frustratingly oblique. If I'd seen it in a non film studies setting I probably would have found it far more enchanting but when you're sat in front of a film and told "analyse this" and it starts unfolding and getting more symbolic it just feels like work. I was once told before I took it up that "film studies ruins films" - which is simply not true - but it DOES ruin meandering allegorical films because all you can visualise is taking them apart in essay-form afterwards. "Yes... Susan seeing the rat here symbolises death - or possibly rebirth. Or maybe both"

Ahem. On the other side of the coin....

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Not something many forumers can empathise with but I was a Potter lad, for sure. The first book came out when I was ten and I was the right age (possibly) for it all and, global brand as it was, it just struck me and was into it for the whole of my teens. By the time this film rolled along the franchise was a decade old, the books were about to finish (later that same month in fact) and I was off to university. I sort of lost interest in the whole sheboodle after that. The fanwanky final chapter and all the hilariously unnecessary deaths of the last book were the final nails in my Potter coffin and shook me awake from it all. "What an earth am I thinking?! I'm 20 and there are amazing comics to read!" I've never even seen the last two films - although watching this again has made me consider it.

The films do a tolerable job of reminding you of the good bits of the books with some grand designs and some great casting - Staunton is perfect here and Fiennes' gloriously hammy Voldy-boy is always fun. It's like your past imagination being replayed by well-known actors.... however ggawwd knows what moviegoers who've not read the books feel - without the pages of context there's a lot of reeling loose ends and awfully cheap Chekov's guns strewn about - and the quirky humour of the book is largely bleached out leaving it feeling a bit sullen.

This one fairly anonymous entry in the film series will always be the weird one for me - what a year 2007 was...

[The Bissler]

Watched the Lone Ranger last night. It was ok but not anything great or truly awful. I thought it would be more fun than it was and I was surprised how (unnecessarily) dark some of the film was; I had been expecting a kind of Western Raiders of the Lost Ark. Needed to be funnier and have more action set pieces.

Another example of Hollywood making a film which is neither for children nor adults, all just to achieve the commercial Holy Grail of the 12 / PG-13 certificate. I think everyone is being cheated out of good films because of this. I feel sorry for younger kids who only seem to get animations made for them. It would be nice to see some live action films made for them as well.

[Keef Monkey]

On the subtitles subject, far and away my favorite subtitle colour is yellow. Always pops nicely and never gets lost in the mix. Never understood why everyone doesn't use it.

Was on a plane to Canada yesterday (and am suffering from my first ever bout of jet lag, always thought it was a doddle but it's messed me right up!) and the inflight selection was surprisingly good! Watched The Lego Movie which was marvellous, didn't at all expect to like it but it was funny and warm and smart.

Also watched Wolf Of Wall Street, which being lengthy was a perfect flight movie! There were points where I found the characters loathsome, then I'd be laughing at their antics two scenes later. It's a weird balance it treads but I think it does it well. The film it reminded me most of was Goodfellas, and I loved it. DiCaprio is actually incredible in it too, he's been turning in some blinding performances the last few years and this is the role of a lifetime for him, absolutely amazing. Jonah Hill is great too, in fact everyone in it is, it's that kind of film.

[Jim_Campbell]

Seven Psychopaths. Hilarious with a dash of surprisingly poignant. Excellent movie.

Cheers

Jim

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Days of Future Past.

Frankly, I never thought we'd get to see any version of this on screen, and so it is a geek-out achievement.

It lacked any real Mk I sentinel action, but was daft entertaining fun.

[Mabs]

I too watched Days of Future Past last night, and I really enjoyed it.

It was a pleasure seeing Bryan Singer back on X-Men duty, his first two films (esp. the second one) were two of my favourite comic book films at the time. Indeed, I still think X2 is one of the best comic book movies ever made (just behind Dredd!).

DoFP was superb, quite a lot of standout moments to choose from, but the sentinel attack at the start, and Quicksilver's slo-mo escape scenes were outstanding. And he was definitely the standout from the film and was sadly underused in my opinion.

One thing I'm thinking about is whether [spoiler]Wolverine still retains his boney claws at the end of film. Because as we see, the future has been re-written, and so Wolverine might not have gotten his adamantium skeleton in this timeline. We do see Striker rescuing his body from the river, but of course, we then realise it's actually Mystique in disguise.
[/spoiler]

I'm wondering how this change might impact on future storylines. Nonetheless, I thought it was a fun film, and here's hoping if we do get another X-Men movie in the future (which is likely), then Singer stays on board. He is to the X-Men films what Nolan was to the recent Batman films; and it could be argued Singer was the one who showed everyone how to go the dark and gritty route (or 'versimilitude' as he likes to call it) via the first X-Men film.

[Jim_Campbell]

Hardware on blu-ray. I only mention this because of the blu-ray transfer -- if you hated this movie before (or if low-budget SF movies that Channel 4 could have made aren't your thing) then there's nothing here for you.

But, damn, the blu-ray transfer makes this film look good. No idea what the source was, but the overwhelming red bleed you'll have seen if you saw this movie anywhere but the 1990 cinema release is gone and the lovely art house lighting/cinematography is revealed.

I really hope there's a version of Dust Devil in the works that's of similar quality.

For all it's (very many) faults, Hardware always makes me wonder what Richard Stanley's film career would have looked like without the catastrophic derailment of Dr Moreau...

Cheers

Jim

[Hawkmumbler]

It's funny you should mention Hardware, Jim, as thats what I have lined up for tonight. My BD though is the Synapse import so it would be interesting to know if the transfer is the same...

Dr. Moreau. Ah, I just pre-ordered that blu as well. A film I feel is slightly misjudged, considering it's the addaptation closest to the book. Also, worth it for the "I am the law" line.