Last movie watched...

[SIP]

Ex machina, one of my favourite films of recent years.  It looks lovely as well.

[Theblazeuk]

Away We Go.

Suprisingly pleasant, best scenes are with Hippy-dippy Maggie Gyllenhaal

[Dark Jimbo]

Maverick, the ridiculously good fun comedy-Western caper. Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner, Danny Glover, Alfred Molina - a top cast all seeming to have a great time, although maybe it's a smidge too long for its own good.

[JamesC]

300 - Rise of an Empire

It was okay - worth a watch. It wasn't as good as the first one and never felt like it quite got going but there were some good bits here and there.

[Tiplodocus]

The last half hour of NAKED GUN.  Hilarious.

Incidentally, I always thought the idea of naming one line cast members by the line they say (like they do in the credits in Naked Gun) was a great idea and wondered why more films don't do it.  I certainly recall the line "Hey, It's Enrique Palazzo" more than "Man in red t-shirt".

[I, Cosh]

The last half hour of NAKED GUN.  Hilarious.

Incidentally, I always thought the idea of naming one line cast members by the line they say (like they do in the credits in Naked Gun) was a great idea and wondered why more films don't do it.  I certainly recall the line "Hey, It's Enrique Palazzo" more than "Man in red t-shirt".

Can't remember if it's a Naked Gun or an Airplane which has a credit for "Author of A Tale of Two Cities"

[Link Prime]

I attempted to watch Inherent Vice twice over the weekend, fell asleep on both occasions.
It may have been critically lauded, but I found it incomprehensible and self indulgent.

Doubt I'll ever watch those still-to-be-seen 87 minutes.

[JamesC]

I'd never heard of this film until someone put a similar comment of Facebook -so it's not just you!

[radiator]

I found it incomprehensible and self indulgent.

A Paul Thomas Anderson film? Self-indulgent, you say? I find that very hard to believe!

[Mardroid]

Killl Zombie! A short while ago.

A comedy horror about some guys fighting their way through a zombie outbreak in Amsterdam.

I thought it an interesting coincidence finding a Dutch film when I only came back from there recently. i wondered if I would recognise any of the places.

I didn't, but most of my time in Amsterdam was in the centre.This looked more like a business district.

It was a silly fun film. Rather cliched in places, (but not in a bad way) and some very dark humour too. I enjoyed it a lot.

Last night I finally sat down for The Thing double bill. I've seen Carpenter's original a few times, but this was my first time watching the prequel.

I watched them in order of production, so Carpenter's, then the prequel of the same name.*

I think this would be when most people say how much better the original is, and how the other just did not need to be made... and the fact we know the fate of the Norwegians means there is no sense of jeopardy -, yada yada. and the original physical affects are so much better than CGI, blahedy blah** -- but I'm going to go against the grain and say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Don't get me wrong, the Carpenter film is probably still the better movie. And I think it should be the one to watch first. Yet I did find the original dragged a bit for me in places. I'm not sure if that's because I've seen it before, i.e I can imagine that slower pace stoking up the tension when you're experiencing it for the first time. Or maybe I've got too used to the smash! bang! of faster paced modern movies, but I did enjoy the prequel more, but I think that's partly because it was a new experience for me.

I would not consider it a better film though. I want to emphasise that. The original is a true classic.

I would agree the effects are not better, although they can do a bit more with them with CGI. I.e. running fast paced monsters and bubbly skin effects, but the original used the technology it had in the way it could in such a way that it stands up to the effects of today. And the prequel film.

I was curious to learn that much of what I thought was slightly unrealistic but workable CGI was in fact done with physical puppetry though. In fact a LOT of it is. Just goes to show.. Not to say it was bad.

I liked how they linked the prequel to the first. And the characters were entertaining and (in many cases) endearing. I loved the mid credits bit at the end. [spoiler]Consdiering how the main film ended I wondered how they got to that...[/spoiler]

*Why, oh why did they call it the same name? Okay it's a very similar film so I guess it works as a remake as well as a prequel, but....,

**That's something I've never really agreed with. The story is the imortant thing for me as much as the outcome. And in this case it turned out, the fate of the Norwegian outpost members [spoiler](as in the members of that outposts team, rather than the actual nationality of the actors.) was not as cut and dry as it seemed anyway.[/spoiler]

[Goaty]

So last night I random pick a film on Netflix,

Odd Thomas

wow what a great entertaining film! Anton Yelchin is great as Odd Thomas!

[Link Prime]

I found it incomprehensible and self indulgent.

A Paul Thomas Anderson film? Self-indulgent, you say? I find that very hard to believe!

Good point, but I at least enjoyed his other movies.

Or at least didn't need to be the 4th day into a week long crystal meth session to follow the plot.

[Tiplodocus]

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER
Haven't seen this in an age and my goodness it's still cracking stuff (despite the odd dollop of cheese with one character buying the farm). John McTiernan could do very little wrong in the eighties action stakes and there's a cracking Basil Poledourus score. And it's good to be reminded of Alec Baldwin in his prime.

Tiny Tips said "That would make a cracking Star Trek movie" and I couldn't disagree.

Things I thought were interesting but nobody else will:
A submarine movie, next to a prison movie or a front line war movie is probably in the category "Most Likely to fail the Bechdel test". But, especially with a historical piece, it should be pretty obvious why.  But would it killed them to have made one of the politicians a woman? (Say the Richard Jordan part). As it stands, the lines for females are
1) Daughter talking about a teddy bear
2) Wife (Doctor Crusher!) barking a to do list as she wafts off on some important business
3) An Air Stewardess asking if Alec Baldwin is comfortable
4) Another Stewardess asking someone else if they are comfortable while Baldwin sleeps.

Jack Ryan and wives have been:
Shadow Recruit - Chris Pine - Kiera Knightly
Hunt - Alec Baldwin - Gates McFadden
Patriot - Harrison Ford - Anne Archer?
Clear - Harrison Ford - Anne Archer?
Sum of all fears - Ben Affleck? And who - without resorting to google?

[sheridan]

Last night I finally sat down for The Thing double bill. I've seen Carpenter's original a few times, but this was my first time watching the prequel.

I prefer the Carpenter version, but with all the references to the original, I kept thinking you were referring to the Howard Hawks version (full title - The Thing From Another World - which is what the Dark Horse comic was also called).



The cover of the first Thing From Another World comic - artwork by, oh, whatzisname...

[Richmond Clements]

Last night I finally sat down for The Thing double bill. I've seen Carpenter's original a few times, but this was my first time watching the prequel.

I prefer the Carpenter version, but with all the references to the original, I kept thinking you were referring to the Howard Hawks version (full title - The Thing From Another World - which is what the Dark Horse comic was also called).



The cover of the first Thing From Another World comic - artwork by, oh, whatzisname...

I've got both issues of that somewhere. Lovely stuff.