Last movie watched...

[Greg M.]

What we do in the shadows. Instant classic. Great humour, and the film manages to show horror from a different perspective. Contender for best comedy horror ever.

Saw it a while ago - enjoyed it well enough, but not to the extent you clearly have. (For my money, the best horror comedy ever does come from New Zealand, but it's Braindead.) Some good lines and moments though, particularly the scenes involving the werewolves. I felt that whilst the chap playing Viago (who's also the director) put in an endearing performance, it maybe relied a bit too much on pulling silly faces whilst glancing at the camera. The bit I enjoyed most was the least overtly funny section - the monsters' ball - probably because it reminded me of The Monster Club.

[Link Prime]

Hadn't heard anything about What we do in the Shadows, so cheers for the heads up on it.
Currently unavailable on Amazon.co.uk, but it's on my radar at least.

The Monster Club.

"Humans are the most despicable Monsters of all"; http://forums.2000adonline.com/index.php/topic,28209.msg859856/boardseen.html#new

[Ghastly McNasty]

Yeah, the Director's acting is probably what grated the most for the whole film. In fact, the documentary style of it almost makes in feel unfilmy. More like a long TV show. It was packed with great ideas and funny lines though. Genius.

[ThryllSeekyr]

What we do in the shadows. Instant classic. Great humour, and the film manages to show horror from a different perspective. Contender for best comedy horror ever.

Saw it a while ago - enjoyed it well enough, but not to the extent you clearly have. (For my money, the best horror comedy ever does come from New Zealand, but it's Braindead.) Some good lines and moments though, particularly the scenes involving the werewolves. I felt that whilst the chap playing Viago (who's also the director) put in an endearing performance, it maybe relied a bit too much on pulling silly faces whilst glancing at the camera. The bit I enjoyed most was the least overtly funny section - the monsters' ball - probably because it reminded me of The Monster Club.

Interesting stuff.....but Peter Jackson's earlier work is in Bad-Taste fortunately his latest work makes up for this.

Regarding stuff I have recently watched......

Steer clear of  Station 76 which doesn't now wether it wants to be retro social experiment or sci-fi or both at the same time. I barely watched this in parts twice before giving up and going to bed.

[Greg M.]

Interesting stuff..

I confidently predict you will love What We Do in the Shadows - though knowing you, you'll probably spend the film trying to decide which RPG tribe the werewolves are from (Glasswalkers, inevitably) or which clans the main vampires represent.

[TordelBack]

Prometheus, despite feeling I have seen it about five times already from discussions here and elsewhere, I finally put eyeball to screen last night.  Ay caramba, where to even begin.  Would it actually be possible for Ridley Scott to have any more contempt for his characters than is on display here?  Or is it contempt for his audience?  As bewildering scene lurched in unconnected fashion into bewildering scene, a very beautifully designed and shot Plan 9 From Outer Space was all I could think of.

[Tiplodocus]

DJANGO UNCHAINED
Good fun but despite the eruptions of claret in the final scenes, I feel this kind of ran out of steam when they met up with Leonardo. Shame, he is a good actor (and star!) and should have been aces but none of the lengthy dialogue scenes had anything like the tension of those in the equally unevern Inglorios Basterds. This was better overall though - and the first half looked lush.

[WeirdLordSulphur]

Unbroken : Really good film. I put it up there with Saving Private Ryan within war films. Check it out.

[shaolin_monkey]

I was browsing films on Netflix last night and settled on 'A Long Way Down' as users had given it five stars, and it was billed as dark humour.

What it actually was was mawkish, hamfisted and sentimental bollocks with a completely unengaging ensemble. It was neither dark not humorous, and the acting was appalling, particularly that young blonde woman, who was intensely irritating.

I have a masochistic tendency to watch films all the way through to the bitter end, a trait I severely regretted having last night.

Avoid avoid avoid.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Recently bought one of the best motion picture trilogies ever made and have been working my way through it:

Toy Story
Has aged remarkably well - when I saw it this year (it's 20th!!) I thought I'd struggle to find the love again since last watching my parentally-bought VHS of it moons ago. Some of the Randy (Newman that is) sequences are a little much and there's a scene which undermines pretty much the entire mechanic of the Toy Story universe (if Sid's sister can hear Woody shouting how come humans aren't always hearing them yelling away?!) - but here Toy Story is the worthy foundation stone of not only Pixar but most entirely CGI films of the last twenty years. Rarely do such ground-breaking technological marvels stand-up to time and it's a testament to the care and talent of the original team that in 2015 it still really does.

Toy Story 2
Not as solid as I recall it being when I first saw it - but for a rushed (relatively for the time) sequel it's a fun caper and a good continuation of what was laid out four years previously. It leans a little on heavy-handedly referencing the first on occasion but there's enough expansion going on here to keep it interesting.

Toy Story 3
When this first came out nearly five (!) years ago I was completely nonplussed - I loved Toy Story as a kid but the idea of revisiting their world wasn't tickling my tuna particularly. Then the good reviews started rolling in and I thought perhaps I should rethink my ambivalence. Finally I've seen it and it's a remarkably well-structured piece of sequelage that may actually be the strongest 'third part' in cinema history - using the passage of time very well and managing a large cast of returning favourites and strong new characters with care. Frequently sequences are hilarious - or moving - or both, and the whole thing is such a well-judged and fitting 'end' to the original in both tone and quality that it defies belief. Rarely do things work as well as this.

We can only hope that Lasseter and the gang are REALLY sure there needs to be a fourth. Although having said that the three shorts and two 'long shorts' set in the years since have all been solid and consistent. A rare thing is a leviathan commercial franchise that actually has heart and Toy Story 3 has it in spades.

[radiator]

Prometheus, despite feeling I have seen it about five times already from discussions here and elsewhere, I finally put eyeball to screen last night.  Ay caramba, where to even begin.  Would it actually be possible for Ridley Scott to have any more contempt for his characters than is on display here?  Or is it contempt for his audience?  As bewildering scene lurched in unconnected fashion into bewildering scene, a very beautifully designed and shot Plan 9 From Outer Space was all I could think of.

[DaveGYNWA]

3 films right there that I could happily watch any time they are on. The Jessie song and story in TS2 originally didn't have any effect on me pre-kids, but since the girls came along it gets me all the time.....the 'toy down the side of the bed' thing happens so often with them, and has happened a few times with a toy Jessie too. Thankfully, they love Jessie at the moment hehe.

I love the third one the most though - it's got it all. And the closing scenes, with the handover.....ooofff. When we went to the flicks to see it, I did get something in my eye but when I looked around and saw half the place in tears then I didn't feel too self-conscious at all. Don't think a 4th is needed, but I've got confidence that they'll do a good job there.

[radiator]

Toy Story may well be the greatest movie trilogy of all time. The first film especially is so tight and economical, not a wasted second of screen time. Very ambivalent about them doing a fourth one - if the plot yet again boils down to 'the toys get lost and have to find a way home' it'll be a huge let-down.

[radiator]

Also, this outstanding Toy Story 3 prank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phFISjORzQs

[Dark Jimbo]

Late to the party as ever, I still haven't seen Toy Story 2 or 3, so I shall instead talk about Frank, a kooky wee film about a band whose eccentric frontman lives behind a giant papier-mache head (loosely based on the Frank Sidebottom character who gave a young Jimbo many an unplesant dream in the 80s.) It's essentially a three-hander between Michael Fassbender as Frank, Maggie Gyllenhall, and Domhnall Gleeson as the wide-eyed young musician looking for a break who stumbles into Frank's band. It's very hard to describe much about it, but it's by turns very funny, very odd, a little bleak and weirdly uplifting. Maybe just a little long for its own good but highly recommended overall.