Last movie watched...

[Mardroid]

What we do in the Shadows

A documentary style comedy horror film from New Zealand about a bunch of vampires sharing a house.[spoiler]These vampires are not the kind of many modern films/shows that are fighting to regain their humanity and resist their blood-lust. Know, these guys are cold-blooded killers who are quite happy to bring victims back to their place and drain them.[/spoiler]  Yet it's all played for laughs, and the vampires manage to be endearing.

Oh, and is very funny.

[El Chivo]

It Follows for the second time
Still good, parts of it reminded me stylistically of Gus Van Sant's masterpiece Elephant which i just re-watched and kind of blows the other movie away

Cheers

Chi

[radiator]

Housebound, on Netflix.

A nifty little horror-comedy from New Zealand, very reminiscent of Peter Jackson's early work. Not too scary, but has some very funny and gruesome moments (including a [spoiler]cheese-grater-to-the-face[/spoiler] scene for the ages) and a likeable cast of relative unknowns. I must confess I was extremely tired while watching so feel like I missed a few plot beats, but it is incredibly densely plotted, with twist piling upon red herring piling upon implausible twist, so be prepared to concentrate quite hard to keep up with it.

Good solid effort, worth a watch. 3/5.

[radiator]

I've never known anyone have so much to say about the virtues of Jurassic Park. I think most of my friends think of it as the first so/so instalment in a franchise that quickly went off the boil (but then, we were old enough to see Ghostbusters and Back to the Future at the cinema so we had high standards  )

Whereas I'm quite surprised at the general lack of love for it on this board - everyone I know in real life holds it in similar reverence to me!

It's easily among my favourite films of all time (personally I'd rank it comfortably above any of the Ghostbusters of Back to the Future films with the exception of the original BTTF), and to be honest I think its status as a landmark special effects movie somewhat overshadows what an utterly brilliant film it is in every other department.

However, I don't really see Jurassic World as any less believable - there's a lot of implausible stupidity in JP too... and that as a failing business military contracts might be explored by members of the board, seem no dafter than (say) safari park cars with no locks on the doors

I'll bite. Unlocked doors are surely down to the park being half-finished? And its hardly as if those doors are the only thing separating the guests from the attractions anyway. The other points are surely the kind of nitpicks you could level at any film ever made.

As for the 'military contracts' plot from World, nothing can convince me its not a maddeningly dumb premise. It makes total sense to weaponise the creature from Aliens (where this plot element is lifted wholesale from). The organism from that film is so devastatingly lethal and adaptable that it has obvious military applications. It's practically a living weapon anyway.

By comparison, the usefulness of velociraptors on a modern battlefield would, I imagine, be roughly comparable to that of lions or tigers. I suspect even something like a (cringe) Indominus Rex would be largely useless in a military context compared to, say, a tank or missile launcher or something.

[TordelBack]

What, they were planning to add locks to the car doors at some later point?  Seems like an awkward way to do things, and Bob Peck seems to have suggested that and been ignored. And locks were (would have been) the only thing stopping the visitors from wandering off among the dinos, as happens in the film.  I doubt a triceratops is any less dangerous than a rhino or a hippo, and safari parks don't generally let you mingle with them.

But my point wasn't to suggest JP is crap because there's stupid things in it - it's a great film, I love it, we watch it here several times a year, far more now the kids are into it - but rather to suggest that equally JW isn't a bad film just because there's stupid things in it too.

Yes, military use of dinosaurs is a stupid idea.  But so is the whole idea of an isolated hurricane-prone island filled with genetic chimera being served meals on wheels.  Something I believe is pointed out a number of times in the film itself. By no stretch of the imagination is Ingen a smart corporation.

[Spaceghost]

I'd just like to offer my support and say that Radiator is one hundred percent correct in everything he says about Jurassic Park. It's a beautifully crafted film in every regard.

Jurassic World can be most charitably described as 'content'.

In the same way that I reckon NOBODY would have anything nice to say about The Phantom Menace if, instead of being a Star Wars film, it was just called 'Generic Space Adventure Film', I'm completely convinced that nobody would have any time for Jurassic World without the nostalgic connection to the far, far superior Jurassic Park.

[TordelBack]

In the same way that I reckon NOBODY would have anything nice to say about The Phantom Menace if, instead of being a Star Wars film, it was just called 'Generic Space Adventure Film', I'm completely convinced that nobody would have any time for Jurassic World without the nostalgic connection to the far, far superior Jurassic Park.

Excellent point!

[Spaceghost]

In the same way that I reckon NOBODY would have anything nice to say about The Phantom Menace if, instead of being a Star Wars film, it was just called 'Generic Space Adventure Film', I'm completely convinced that nobody would have any time for Jurassic World without the nostalgic connection to the far, far superior Jurassic Park.

Excellent point!

I feel a sense of pride that I managed to coax some sarcasm out of you T-back.

[TordelBack]

No sarcasm intended, it's hard to refute. There's no way I'd have dragged the family to see The Dino Theme Park of Dr Moreau (although...), and it's very difficult to disentangle brand nostalgia from the experience of any of these franchise things.  Course part of my enthusiasm for the original JP was inspired by my enjoyment of the book, which it is in most (but not all) ways superior to, as well as childhood addiction to Valley of the Gwangii and all things dino, so it's hard to know where to dispense with nostalgia and expectation...

[Spaceghost]

No sarcasm intended, it's hard to refute. There's no way I'd have dragged the family to see The Dino Theme Park of Dr Moreau (although...), and it's very difficult to disentangle brand nostalgia from the experience of any of these franchise things.  Course part of my enthusiasm for the original JP was inspired by my enjoyment of the book, which it is in most (but not all) ways superior to, as well as childhood addiction to Valley of the Gwangii and all things dino, so it's hard to know where to dispense with nostalgia and expectation...

I should have known you were, as usual, being a nice man.

Your perceived sarcasm did make me realise that, especially these days, you could say the same for most films.

[Theblazeuk]

When does The Dino Theme Park of Dr Moreau come out?

[I, Cosh]

Really surprised to find Turbo Kid showing at the pictures locally as it's a fairly low budget affair which I'd expect to appeal to a lot of people on here. It was a bit less surprising to find me and my pal were the only people there.

This was a really good fun film which manages to tread a fine line between playing its post-Apocalyptic setting reasonably straight and gently taking the piss out of genre.  Michael Ironside has a great time playing the corpulent villain and I was pleasantly surprised with the amusing gore effects, which put me in mind of a family friendly Bad Taste.

It's neither the funniest nor the best film you'll ever see but I couldn't help finding it endearing and smile at its good intentions even when they didn't quite pay off. Like a really nice Shaun of the Dead.


Also recently saw Bill Drummond documentary Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow and All Music Has Disappeared. Bill rolls out a few of the old KLF stories as he wanders aimlessly around Europe trying to get random people to take part in his conceptual, site-specific musical performances.

It's repeating a lot of the same ideas from his No Music Day and there's a whiff of the second-rate avant gardener about some of his pieces. This is all just about offset by Bill's gruff charm and the way he manages to leave the majority of his random vocalists slightly bemused but clearly happy about having done something daft.

[The Legendary Shark]

SPECTRE. The first of the new Bond films I haven't enjoyed. Plodding, boring, thin.

[Professor Bear]

At some point, I'm going to copy and paste Radiator's comments, only with "Batman & Robin" where "Jurassic Park" would be.

[Hawkmumbler]

You evil sod, bear!