Last movie watched...

[JamesC]

One particular criticism was that the CGI creatures are given far too much screen time, but you could argue that Bottin's beasties were given the same treatment in Carpenter's.

Their use in the Carpenter version was for shock value, as the nature of the film was that it was about how nobody knew who was or wasn't an alien, while the new version uses the creatures not as punctuation but as text, with lots of sequences with the monsters chasing people about at length compared to the 1982 version only having one such sequence right at the end of the film.  The monsters' behavior in the new flick is also odd - why does that woman just go all "arg" on Romana Flowers that time, or why does that monster fuse to that dude's face a bit and then leave it at that?  This does not seem like "blending in" to me.  Also why the bit in the spaceship, and did I miss the bit where it blew up when I took that slash?

I also watched this recently and really enjoyed it. I didn't think the creature seemed to be acting odd to be honest. It seems to me it woke up in a strange place with potentially hosile creatures around it and it's plan was to camoflage itself (so it attacked the dog), get strong and get back to it's ship (presumably with the hope of repairing it and escaping the planet). Things go awry but it maybe it would have left the planet if it had been able to get distance from the camp and then take over the helicopter (perhaps it could have even used parts of the helipcopter to make repairs). Maybe it went 'arg' on Romana because she was the one who'd buggered up its hope of escape.
After that it's more of an all out battle although there is still some paranoia as to who is and who isn't a Thing. During this portion of the film it seems the Thing's intention is still to get back to the spaceship and escape - which it almost achieves (with a secondary objective of leaving part of itself on Earth maybe to colonise or maybe just as self preservation). Unfortunatley for the Thing it is attacked and as a result the spaceship is further damaged presumably this time beyond repair.
The remaining dog-Thing left at the Norwegian camp now has an objective to escape its enemies, stay camoflaged and infiltartate another centre of civilisation where it can bide its time while building a new craft in which to escape the planet. This accounts for the slower paced nature of the second (in story terms) film. 

[ICONIC_TM]

Just Watching Went The Day Well? 1942 Channel4

Quote
All These Story About Invasion! The News Papers Keep Makeing Up Just To Scare
Us!

[Roger Godpleton]

Shame - I found that the directorial voice was perhaps overly insistent but still less than invasive. I would like to see a genre film from this fellow. A couple of bits did fail to ring true but this was mainly because these bells had been rung before. Also could have done with more Fassbender wang.

Margin Call - Had an unpleasant type of B-list stank about it (Penn Badgely, I'm sorry, but you are just not going to happen) and it frequently became crashingly obvious to the point of being crass.

[radiator]

Just got back from seeing The Artist. Knew next to nothing about it going in, but was pleasantly surprised. Was expecting something a bit, well, arty, but it's a crowd-pleaser, and a good one. Beautifully shot, lavish production and art direction, and well-acted - the lead actor who I've never seen before, is absolutely brilliant - a huge talent and perfectly cast, and it's always good to see John Goodman too.

Perhaps a little overlong in parts, and a bit silly in places, like the 'lassie' scene, but a big thumbs up from me.

[Keef Monkey]

Me and Bea watched Sucker Punch the other night, which we'd been meaning to see for a long time after ooh-ing and ah-ing at the trailer when it popped out (just like everyone did I think).

Hmmmm. It was very Zack Snyder, lots of flash and not a lot of substance. The story wasn't as bad as I'd heard but it wasn't told particularly well and came off as thinking it was far smarter than it actually was. Even the eye candy fell pretty flat for some reason, despite it being essentially incredible-looking women in fetish cosplay gear in various massively over the top anime-style action scenes, it was all just a bit too clean and glossy to ever actually be exciting (either from an action or lady watching standpoint). Great trailer though, and some of the designs are pretty cool so it wasn't a total loss.

Also watched Child's Play, which I was given as a secret santa gift and despite seeing the sequels have never actually seen. Bea confessed she had nightmares as a kid about it, but hadn't ever seen it either so I suggested watching it would dispel that fear (I had nightmares about Kreuger before I saw Elm Street, then wasn't too bothered about him). Not sure if that was the case, as she demanded the lights on the instant it finished! It's a fun movie, not all that scary these days although there's some great creepy moments. Not familiar with the director but he seems to have/had a great sense of how to really sell a very hokey idea. Good stuff.

[Richmond Clements]

I really wanted to like Sucker Punch, and still do really want to like it, but it is just poor.

ANyway - we watched Che part 2 last night. Very powerful stuff. It's a disgrace that Del Toro did not win an oscar for this role, he is astounding in it.

[radiator]

Snyder makes astounding trailers, and even certain scenes in his films like the opening credits and the Dr Manhattan origin in Watchmen are fantastic pieces of work but in my experience the actual films fall some way short.

[Richmond Clements]

Snyder makes astounding trailers, and even certain scenes in his films like the opening credits and the Dr Manhattan origin in Watchmen are fantastic pieces of work but in my experience the actual films fall some way short.

Yeah, I really do think there's a good film maker in there trying to get out, but he needs to work out all the flashy bang bang stuff first.

[Davek]

Burke and Hare - pleasant surprise this, typical John Landis style which suited the film perfectly.  Throw in a great supporting cast (e.g. Ronnie Corbett, Paul Whitehouse cameo, Bill Bryson to name a few) and this lighthearted look at the story is well worth a watch.  Serkis and Pegg are great in the lead roles.  Favourite line in the film comes from Simon Pegg - 'I had confidence in a fart once, I shat all over myself' 

Henry's Crime - quite a slow plodding crime comedy with Keanu Reeves and James Caan.  Reeves and Caan are ex cons plotting a bank robbery.  Wouldnt overly reccomend it but I was strangely compelled to watch the whole thing so it cant have been all bad.

[radiator]

Bill Bryson

Bailey?

[Davek]

Bill Bryson

Bailey?

Yep 

[radiator]

A friend invited us over on the weekend to watch a couple of films, one of them being Tommy Wiseau's The Room.

I'd heard about it and seen clips on YouTube, but tbh I was a bit skeptical - im not really a fan of ironically watching 'so bad they're good' type films as they tend to get very boring after five minutes. I was surprised at how entertaining it actually was - just mind-bendingly, mesmerisingly bad. Indescribable. I laughed more during the film than I do at pretty much any actual comedy.

I wouldn't watch it again, but everyone should see it once - ideally with a few beers and friends.

[Mardroid]

Pan's Labyrinth.

I've seen it a few times now but I still thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly watching it with a friend who'd never seen it all the way through. (I bought her the Del Toro boxset also including Cronos and The Devil's Backbone for Christmas.)

[JamesC]

Pan's Labyrinth.

I bought her the Del Toro boxset also including Cronos and The Devil's Backbone for Christmas.

Get in there!

[I, Cosh]

Saturday before last I picked up the three extended editions of Lord of the Rings for a pound each and last week I watched the lot. It's the first time I've sat down and watched them all in sequence since they were at the pictures and, in truth, I was a little worn out by the end. Anyway, may dig out the appropriate old threads and illuminate them with my ruminations at some point but the short version is: Fellowship of the Ring - fabulous; Two Towers - adequate; Return of the King - excellent.

On Thursday night I took a break to watch The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Those Shaw Brothers films of that period are a bit of a puzzle: the straight fight choreography is definitely a step backward from what you had in Bruce Lee's films but they do tend to have some inventive use of ridiculous weapons and this one is enlivened by what must be the ultimate in ludicrous kung fu training sequences. Good fun and I'm even contemplating watching it again to hear the commentary by The Rza.