Last movie watched...

[abelardsnazz]

The Children Act. Quality drama with a great performance from Emma Thompson in the lead, backed up by a top supporting cast. Ian McEwan adapts his own novel into a top-class piece of work all round.

[GordyM]

Slender Man. Well, 30 minutes of it. The first time I've ever walked out of the cinema. So, so bad.

[Mardroid]

I was thinking of going to see that.

Maybe I'll wait for the download.

[GordyM]

I was thinking of going to see that.

Maybe I'll wait for the download.

Yeah, seriously, don't waste your money. On a basic level it fails: it's terribly shot and edited, acting's piss poor etc. Plus it's not scary and uses tired cliches like a character being strangled only to see their reflection and that they're actually strangling themselves.

[von Boom]

Red Sparrow. Not what I was expecting, but rather a good film in the end. I'm not a fan of Jennifer Lawrence, and she was flat yet again, but for this role it works. The most unbelievable part is her as a prima ballerina. It was like watching a seal in a tutu dance.

[dweezil2]

Upgrade-shameless B movie high jinks of the highest order!

It wears it's influences pretty obviously on it's sleeve-everything from prime time Cronenberg to prime directive Verhoeven, but none the less, manages a little ingenuity and identity of its own.
There's even a bit of a subversive 2000AD feel to the film's comic book aesthetic and tone.

Solidified by a simply fantastic performance from Logan Marshall-Green and "voice in the head", Stem, played by Simon Maiden and a script just the right side of knowing parody, upgrade is one guilty pleasure you won't feel guilty about watching!

[abelardsnazz]

The Equalizer 2. Fairly contrived if reasonably enjoyable sequel which flags up a couple of moral quandaries, then abandons them in favour of action set-pieces. 6 out of 10, like the first one.

[Colin YNWA]

Put a great wrong to rights last night. Not only had I not seen Lost Highway for whatever reason until a year or so ago and some conversation here, some how I'd missed its existance.

So yeah its bloody great, superb. I of course have no idea what's going on, but as ever with David Lynch its best to immerse yourself and allow events to wash over you and by the end (though of course the circular nature of this story doesn't really leave you with an end) I find I've pulled together a story that works with what I'm given. Watch it again and I'll get something else. Its just great and the idea that there's no likable characters could hold but they are all engaging.

What really struck me however was the parallels to Twin Peaks. They seemed many fold and I do wonder if there is some deliberate links. I'm not suggesting its meant to be set in some kinda Twin Peaks universe but I do wonder if its not just recycling ideas but addressing some problems with the middle of season 2? Is this how David Lynch wanted to tell Mike's story in the that famous Twin Peaks lull? I'm almost certainly over reading it and there's no intentional linkage at all... but as I say the great thing about Lynch is you let in wash over you and draw from it what you can!

Mind as ever I forgot the golden rule. Don't watch spooky ass David Lynch films on your own. It doesn't make for a good nights sleep. So for my second night of freedom tonight I went to safer ground... but I'm just off to find some comments I've made on that movie before... hold onto ya hats...

[Colin YNWA]

Well Beyond Thunderdome wasn't as bad as I remember, though I've only seen it all once before and was so disappointed haven't seen it in its entirity since. This time I quite enjoyed it, but its a film with many flaws and is for me by far the weakest of the trilogy (that is no more)... SOME... WELL A LOT OF RAMBLING ON....

Yet still for all its problems it was entertaining, it worked as a film in its own terms, just not sure its a great addition to the series of films, well aside from the fact it looks like the perfect evolution of the work, the design is exemparliy once again, but that aside its kinda Goons meets Time Bandits meets Mad Max, not the third Mad Max film.

All of this is true but I've washed it again tonight with expectations managed and you know what I really enjoyed it. It felt far more coherant. Told a strong, worthwhile narrative and is entertaining from start to finish. Now its still the weakest in the trilogy of four but by heck its a strong bottom.

[Professor Bear]

Island In The Sky - atypical John Wayne outing as though he plays someone impossible to tell apart from any other John Wayne character (for a change), the voiceover informs us of how up shit creek the crew of a crashed plane really are and how Wayne's Dooly character is forced into shallow bravado to hide his fear and self doubt, which makes an amusing meta observation about other Wayne performances that - let's be honest - may not have been the most subtle or nuanced.  It's enjoyable enough, but dated horrendously, especially with the addition of some forced melodrama that would never fly in a modern movie oh wait I also watched

Tag - in which a group of childhood buddies continue a game of tag well into middle age and come together to break the unbroken streak of a ridiculously elusive friend who's never been "it" in three decades.  An okay but unexceptional comedy based on a true story, it crowbars in some forced sentiment near the end that only serves to highlight how it could really have done with being shorter and more to the point, or maybe even just sketched in some better characters.  May also possibly have benefited from some jokes, but then I'm old fashioned when it comes to comedy.

Rollerball (1975) - bo-ring.  I couldn't get a grasp on Johnathan E at all, or what motivated him.  Do I understand this correctly: he wanted to know how the corporations make decisions?  How does this actually help him in any way?  What was his endgame?  What was the point of the dumb computer?  I had to check online to see what I'd missed and found an interview wherein James Caan admitted he didn't know what to do with the character and just went with it, though he apparently fondly remembers the games of Rollerball he and the crew would play between takes.  Passable, but dull.

[JamesC]

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

I hadn't seen this in years and really, really enjoyed it. It's so hard and brutal in places yet almost sentimental in others - it's also funny, with Napoleon Wilson's lines guaranteed to raise a snigger. Just brilliant.
It does an excellent job of making you wonder what's happening off camera. What are this crazy gang/cult up to? Where did they come from? What happens next?

This got me in a John Carpenter mood, so the next day I went for my copy of The Thing.
I have the 2 movie Blu Ray set, so I felt obliged to re-watch...

The Thing (2011)

I'm not really sure what to say about this. It isn't a terrible film - in fact there's a lot to like - but it's very much a straight forward monster flick. All The Thing does is attack - there's very little to make you wonder what's its motivation or broader plan is (since reading Peter Watts's The Things http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/, I can't help wondering about the situation from the creature's perspective). I can reconcile the ceature's behaviour to some extent - it's probably quite disorentated from spending 100,000 years in the ice.
Something of a missed opportunity though.

The Thing (1982)

This is more like it. The creature has got its shit together and has a more devious, cautious nature, leading to an atmosphere of extreme paranoia. It really fucked up by not waiting a bit before trying to absorb all those dogs though (seriously, the bloke's only just left the room - at least let him get out of earshot).
Like 'Assault...' it does a great job of making you wonder about the befores, afters etc.
I do have some small criticisms - such as using the same scalpel to draw blood for testing (a great way to infect everyone) and the creature's final gambit of confronting MacCready as a giant dog-headed weirdo and writhing about a bit. Why not just face grab him in human form like you did to the other guy 2 minutes ago?
There's a reason it's a classic though - a bloody entertaining and thought provoking couple of hours.

[Mattofthespurs]

Rollerball (1975) - bo-ring.  I couldn't get a grasp on Johnathan E at all, or what motivated him.  Do I understand this correctly: he wanted to know how the corporations make decisions?  How does this actually help him in any way?  What was his endgame?  What was the point of the dumb computer?  I had to check online to see what I'd missed and found an interview wherein James Caan admitted he didn't know what to do with the character and just went with it, though he apparently fondly remembers the games of Rollerball he and the crew would play between takes.  Passable, but dull.

Heresay! I thought, if anything, this film would be more appropriate now than when it was made.

A stone cold classic in my book (helps if you like football and hate the Premier League I have to admit).

[Mattofthespurs]

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

I hadn't seen this in years and really, really enjoyed it. It's so hard and brutal in places yet almost sentimental in others - it's also funny, with Napoleon Wilson's lines guaranteed to raise a snigger. Just brilliant.
It does an excellent job of making you wonder what's happening off camera. What are this crazy gang/cult up to? Where did they come from? What happens next?

This got me in a John Carpenter mood, so the next day I went for my copy of The Thing.
I have the 2 movie Blu Ray set, so I felt obliged to re-watch...

The Thing (2011)

I'm not really sure what to say about this. It isn't a terrible film - in fact there's a lot to like - but it's very much a straight forward monster flick. All The Thing does is attack - there's very little to make you wonder what's its motivation or broader plan is (since reading Peter Watts's The Things http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/, I can't help wondering about the situation from the creature's perspective). I can reconcile the ceature's behaviour to some extent - it's probably quite disorentated from spending 100,000 years in the ice.
Something of a missed opportunity though.

The Thing (1982)

This is more like it. The creature has got its shit together and has a more devious, cautious nature, leading to an atmosphere of extreme paranoia. It really fucked up by not waiting a bit before trying to absorb all those dogs though (seriously, the bloke's only just left the room - at least let him get out of earshot).
Like 'Assault...' it does a great job of making you wonder about the befores, afters etc.
I do have some small criticisms - such as using the same scalpel to draw blood for testing (a great way to infect everyone) and the creature's final gambit of confronting MacCready as a giant dog-headed weirdo and writhing about a bit. Why not just face grab him in human form like you did to the other guy 2 minutes ago?
There's a reason it's a classic though - a bloody entertaining and thought provoking couple of hours.

Assault is awesome. Simple.
The Thing (re-imaging) is a good shot but never comes close to the original which is in my top 3 fave films of all time.

[Hawkmumbler]

Rollerball (1975) - bo-ring.  I couldn't get a grasp on Johnathan E at all, or what motivated him.  Do I understand this correctly: he wanted to know how the corporations make decisions?  How does this actually help him in any way?  What was his endgame?  What was the point of the dumb computer?  I had to check online to see what I'd missed and found an interview wherein James Caan admitted he didn't know what to do with the character and just went with it, though he apparently fondly remembers the games of Rollerball he and the crew would play between takes.  Passable, but dull.

Heresay! I thought, if anything, this film would be more appropriate now than when it was made.

A stone cold classic in my book (helps if you like football and hate the Premier League I have to admit).

Seconded, a dystopian flick thats only got better with age and was strangely prophetic.

[Professor Bear]

Is it dystopian?  There's little evidence of a wider world beyond the ego struggle between two alphas and one of its biggest storytelling problems for me was that there seemed to be little context to any of it.  I'd hoped that was where E's arc was ultimately leading, but we got nothing but questions about how or why any of this was supposed to work, and all it made me think of was how pro wrestlers fight for the "Champion of the Whole Universe" title belt or whatever.  It really only works as a power struggle drama between Johnathan and Bartholomew, to the point where the remake apparently eschews the entire future setting and social commentary for a straight sports drama set in the (then) present.
Although I gather the remake was utterly terrible, and was responsible for the sad downfall of John McTiernan, so I'll probably give it a miss.