Last movie watched...

[Keef Monkey]

Yes, it's the Arrow Blu-ray.

They do indeed have a knack for putting together great packages for their releases.

They'd passed under my radar a bit but my mam got me a Hellraiser blu-ray set for my birthday (The Scarlet Box) and it's an incredibly lovely package. Hardback book, art cards, posters, lovely presentation and fantastic extras. If they put that much care into their other releases then I'll need to check them out.

Saw The Hateful Eight at the weekend (digital, our local weren't showing the print). I loved it, but I should probably say that I've always been a big Tarantino fan so I'm aware it won't be for everyone. It looks fantastic (he really uses the added width of the aspect ratio brilliantly, even if it did occur to me that the blu-ray release may be more black bar than picture), sounds amazing (the sound design is impeccable and the Morricone score is stunning, including some very good use of in-world ambience and instruments) and the performances are excellent all round.

One thing I didn't expect was how much it riffs on John Carpenter and Sam Raimi. The way the cabin is shot and the way the violence and gore is heightened to the point of slapstick ludicrousness is total Raimi, and there's at least one distinctive shot of Russell just walking across the room that seems to be lifted straight from Evil Dead as an out and out homage, like it's Tarantino tipping his hat to it and acknowledging the influence. And I guess you can't do a movie about paranoia in an isolated snowy location without The Thing springing to mind, but the movie plays on that overtly with a couple of sequences and the occasional Kurt Russell line seems to have put in playfully as a reference to that movie (I could be wrong but I think one or two lines are direct lifts).

There's a lot to love, and I only had very minor quibbles, main one being the constant use of the N-Bomb. Not because I was offended, because it's all very appropriate to the period and the characters and the racial tension is thematically a huge part of the movie. I think it was more just that hearing the same word in almost every line started to grate on me. At times I thought the idea was to repeat it to the point that it became amusing, and at first the brazen use of it leads to some genuinely funny exchanges, but as it wore on it just became a bit irritating. Maybe any other word used as heavily would be just as annoying, or maybe that word itself was indeed making me uncomfortable and maybe that was entirely the purpose (it certainly serves to froth up a real anger at some characters). Not sure, but it definitely had me wincing after a while.

Other than that though I had a great time. I'd like to see the 70mm print if it comes to Glasgow, but I have heard that it's 20mins longer and I'm really not sure if it's a film that would benefit from that on a first viewing. It's a long film as is and I'd love to see the extra content on my next viewing, but personally with the cinema seat I was squashed into I was quite happy with the shorter edit. I worry that the extra 20mins might have caused it to sag and drag for me. Will be a different matter when it gets a home release and I can watch it on a couch without my knees being slowly crushed into powder.   

[Tiplodocus]

I had a similar problem with the constant n-bombs and muddy funster use in Pulp Fiction. It might be that now I'm all mature (sic) and hardly go to the pub, I don't swear anywhere near as much as I used to.

[Jabberwocky]

20 minutes longer? Good lord, how much more could have happened! If anything I think it could have been 20 minutes shorter without losing anything essential. The dialogue in the carriage really dragged for me, [spoiler]especially the bit after they picked up Mannix[/spoiler]

J

[Satanist]

One thing I didn't expect was how much it riffs on John Carpenter and Sam Raimi.

I'm positive there's a section of music that Morricone re-uses from The Thing. Near the end of the film I'm sure its the score used for when they first arrive at the Norwegian site.

[Tiplodocus]

47 Ronin
There's a good movie waiting to be made of the tale of the 47 ronin.

This isn't it despite a stellar cast, some gorgeous production design and costumes and sets and... trust me, it looks gorgeous!

It's marred by, amongst other things, a dreadful voice over at beginning and end, being set in a mythical version of Japan crossed with Middle Earth and the drector cutting every 2 or 3 seconds and, despite not spending much time on action set pieces, somehow manages to not spend the time on character either.

(He builds a sort of threat of a 12 foot tall samurai robot then casually tosses this villain aside in an explosion.  And he often does the rookie director sin of not establishing the geography of a scene, the number of characters, where they are positioned, what their surroundings are etc. before wading into the action)

Adding the fantasy elements and making the Samurai Lord so obviously wronged (by a wicked Witch no less) seems a bonkers idea when the original story could have been filled  intrigue and tension and a study of the difference between honour and vengenace and when even bushido gets the two mixed up.

But it looks lush.

[Jabberwocky]

47 Ronin is indeed a pile of crap. Keanu redeemed himself with John Wick, which I found moderately entertaining.

A really good contemporary Samurai film would be 13 Assassins. The action packed climax is superb.

[JamesC]

The Revenant.

Disappointing.

[Hawkmumbler]

Say what you will about it's repetative story, being to much akin to the first film and in general being a bit of a step down from Aliens, but Alien3 (or alien cubed....whatever) is actualy not as bad as people make it out to be. It has as strong a cast as either of it's prior series titles and everyone pull's off a superb turn (special hats off to Paul McGann who is at once utterly deranged and quite terrified and gentle). CGI Xeno hasn't stood the test of time but they did at least experiment with the idea of none human originated xeno's, as you can't really beat the first chestbuster scene. Directors cut is the one too see.

Alien Ressurection on the other hand is more than a little pants. Despite having another star studded cast (Ron f'ckin' Perlman for godsake!) it's just so, so bland. It plays out with all the twists and mind numbing eploitations you expect from a low rent sci-fi channel movie (it even has a boring ass and totaly unrealistic underwater sequence). Naff ffeom beggining to end, not even it's vagualy enticing final scene could save it from all the negative's.

Onward I guess, must revisit the Av.P movies now, at least I kind of enjoy one of them...

[ThryllSeekyr]

About Alien Resurrection I like the Betty, the merc's ship. I like lot of the ship design in general in those films.

[Goaty]

So I watch some films on Netflix last night

Dead Snow - I thought it was nice slowly film, and very low budget film. Ahh another Nazi Zombie as same in Outpost films. Enjoy it.

Dead Snow 2 - As before I watch it, I thought, a sequel? that would copy plot or doing same to another group got meet Nazi Zombie like other b-movie sequel films. But when I watch it, I went WFT, glad to be a total wrong, that was so insane, funny, brilliant, brutal (I can't believe they did [spoiler]kill that boy,[/spoiler] [spoiler]tank over children,[/spoiler] [spoiler]blow up mothers with babies![/spoiler] )
Again that was brilliant enjoyable film!

[von Boom]

Die Hard followed by Die Hard 2. Both are still excellent films.

[Mardroid]

CGI Xeno hasn't stood the test of time but they did at least experiment with the idea of none human originated xeno's, as you can't really beat the first chestbuster scene.

They actually used practical affects for the creature in Alien 3 I believe. I know they made a small  figure with moveable legs for the scampering scenes (or that might have just been the 'bambi chestburster').  And they had a guy in a costume and puppetry type stuff for the closer in jaw scenes,  etc.

Some of the compositing looked a bit dodgy though.

I agree that the Assembly Cut is the best version. Actually is a good film, period,albeit there's some redundancy that needs trimming, but then it is an assembly cut.

Alien Resurrection is the weakest for me, although I did like it. The underwater scene was great, in my opinion.

Last film I watched: Serenity. A couple of [spoiler]rather too convenient resolutions [/spoiler] aside, a great film, and decent closure to a very good series.

[Tiplodocus]

Die Hard followed by Die Hard 2. Both are still excellent films.

TWO has a little too much cheese for my liking but still jolly good. And I totally never saw the twist.

[Spikes]

And another shout out for Alien³ from me as well.
A film that borders on being stillborn really, but closing one eye and squinting with the other, there is still much to admire. And makes for a suitably downbeat conclusion to the trilogy. No other Alien films were made after this one...

[sheridan]

Say what you will about it's repetative story, being to much akin to the first film and in general being a bit of a step down from Aliens, but Alien3 (or alien cubed....whatever) is actualy not as bad as people make it out to be. It has as strong a cast as either of it's prior series titles and everyone pull's off a superb turn (special hats off to Paul McGann who is at once utterly deranged and quite terrified and gentle). CGI Xeno hasn't stood the test of time but they did at least experiment with the idea of none human originated xeno's, as you can't really beat the first chestbuster scene. Directors cut is the one too see.

Didn't realise there was a director's cut - shall have to check it out.

Alien Ressurection on the other hand is more than a little pants. Despite having another star studded cast (Ron f'ckin' Perlman for godsake!) it's just so, so bland. It plays out with all the twists and mind numbing eploitations you expect from a low rent sci-fi channel movie (it even has a boring ass and totaly unrealistic underwater sequence). Naff ffeom beggining to end, not even it's vagualy enticing final scene could save it from all the negative's.

I don't like the flesh xeno at the end, but I do like most of it (Mary-Sueness of Ripley and Call notwithstanding).  Guess I'm a sucker for small starships with non-military crew travelling through a void.  I'm currently working my way through Blakes 7 and Lexx.  Think I'll start on Farscape once I've finished!

Onward I guess, must revisit the Av.P movies now, at least I kind of enjoy one of them...

I know a lot of people get very sniffy about them, but I like 'em both (think I liked the second, small-town one more).

Any opinion on Predators?