Last movie watched...

[Cursed Earth Dweller]

As for The Raid, i dont think i could ever be arsed to even give it a go to be honest. Chop socky films are the lowest of the low *in my opinion*, and usually worse and more amateurish than the worst of porn.

...well thank you for giving us porno addicts some dignity.

Anyway, just watched Casablanca and loved it! Can't really think of any praise that hasn't already been said so I''ll let you guys take it away...

[Professor Bear]

Chop socky films are the lowest of the low *in my opinion*, and usually worse and more amateurish than the worst of porn.

Your opinion might have been worth more if the top of that page of the thread didn't have a review in which you extol the excellence of a Jake Busey film.

I'm just about to watch a chop-socky film now as it happens: Silver Hawk, a superhero flick in which the main character jumps a motorcycle over the Great Wall of China to rescue a kidnapped panda by fighting the kidnappers on, around and under the kidnap van as it is in transit, then gets her phone out to take photos of her and the panda wrestling each other.  Later, one of the members of Bros shows up with bionic arms.

[Frank]

The Raid: The film makers HAVE BLATENTLY ripped off the early released Dredd script ... a few of the locations look like cheap rip-offs of Peach Trees interior locations.

That would have to be put down to coincidence. As far as I'm aware, the only on-set snaps that surfaced of Peach Trees prior to The Raid's March 2011 shooting date were a couple of very dark corridors in Empire magazine and the pictures of some balconies Joe Soap posted here around the end of last year. Some of the hallways look a little similar to the new film, but then they look quite similar to the corridors in the 1995 film too. They're corridors.

[Cursed Earth Dweller]

Actually, scratch my throw away comment from earlier.

I generally have no time for movies that cost upwards of 100m dollars- i cant get my head around that obscene amount of cash being spent on something as inherently worthless as a film, when there's a worldwide recession and people are suffering in the first world, let alone the third. Movie budgets, like footballers' salaries, should be capped or taxed to fucking buggery. Id rather have 100 $2m horror films than one dark knight rises. Spending that amount of cash on a film about (cont)

While I totally agree with this term of thinking, don't you think there are even more inherently worthless things that money gets blown on? Yes it's a sad fact that most of that money goes into the pockets of greedy executives and producers or whoever the hell runs the show, but at least films to a certain extent help keep mankind sane and occupied. I think if a film can fill you with a sense of spirit and wonder like say Lord of the Rings or the afformentioned Casablanca(don't know how much that cost btw) and Mobey Dick(again, not sure the budget for that one) then it totally earns a place in society.

[Frank]

While I totally agree with this term of thinking, don't you think there are even more inherently worthless things that money gets blown on? I think if a film can fill you with a sense of spirit and wonder like say Lord of the Rings or the afformentioned Casablanca (don't know how much that cost btw) and Mobey Dick (again, not sure the budget for that one) then it totally earns a place in society.

The Return of the King (2003): production budget of $94 million

Mobey Dick (1956): production budget of $4,500,000

Casablanca (1943): production budget of $1,093,000

Even taking inflation into account, I think whoever was supplying wonder and spirit to Peter Jackson saw him coming. Beasts of the Southern Wild seems to be adopting a lower budget and overtly anti-realist approach to its special effects, and the disproportionate success of films like District 9 and The Raid should be evidence enough that films don't need to spend a fortune on effects or a fortune on anything to entertain and affect audiences.

Everyone in Hollywood's too terrified of failure to ever stop spending at least $1 million more than the last film, though. Those massive budgets are (perversely and counter-intuitively) like security blankets to nervous executives.

[Keef Monkey]

Have watched Prometheus twice this week. Loved it in the cinema and am loving it on rewatches. It seems to be a real marmite film but even as a huge fan of the original Alien and going in with very high expectations I think it's fantastic. I find the whole [spoiler]Gestation of Noomi's embryo to be a bit rushed from reveal to Caesarian, and wish there was more on-ship banter between the pilots so that their demise packed more of a punch. I'd hoped for an extended edition that addresses these niggles, but alas the cut remains the same. There are a couple of deleted scenes that give the captain a bit more flesh, which if included would have made his sacrifice a little more understandable.[/spoiler]

Overall, still loving it. The much touted new beginning and ending are thankfully bonus features and aren't stitched into the film, because they would in my opinion make for an inferior film. The new intro is fairly inconsequential but doesn't have the same alien sense of mystery as the theatrical intro, and the new ending basically adds a bunch of exposition to over-explain something that me and my friends found really exciting to chat about and work out for ourselves. The documentary is fantastic though, at over 3 hours long it's a real feast, and it's great to see how much of a commitment there was to practical effects over CG.

[Spikes]

The 3+ hour documentary is indeed great, and the Bluray is a pretty good bundle all told. Shame that the film wasnt all it should have been.
Directors cut will be out around the same time as Prometheus 2 i'd imagine, 

[Professor Bear]

Those massive budgets are (perversely and counter-intuitively) like security blankets to nervous executives.

Or huge budgets help to hide how executives are pocketing the money themselves and screwing everybody else actually involved in physically making the film out of their cut: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121018/01054720744/hollywood-accounting-how-19-million-movie-makes-150-million-still-isnt-profitable.shtml

[Cursed Earth Dweller]

The Return of the King (2003): production budget of $94 million

Mobey Dick (1956): production budget of $4,500,000

Casablanca (1943): production budget of $1,093,000

Cheers!

Everyone in Hollywood's too terrified of failure to ever stop spending at least $1 million more than the last film, though. Those massive budgets are (perversely and counter-intuitively) like security blankets to nervous executives.

I know I should be talking about this on the film discussion forum but I can't post there yet, but that is exactly why Dredd feels sooooooo refreshing! Not just to fans of 2000ad but for those of us who appreciate the less is more mentality of classic and contemporary filmmaking. Wheres films like the Raid seem only concerned with appealing to an action oriented demographic whom have plenty of such films to choose from already(still haven't seen it btw and after what's been said about the film on this thread I am not eager). I just love a film that harkens back to the days of Die Hard, Assault on Presinct 13, Robocop and the first Terminator. Sadly such nostalgia doesn't seem to have a place in todays industry.......oh wait, the T5 film and the Robocop remake....yeah.

[Mardroid]

Stardust.

A bit soppy, but charming. I'll admit I rather liked it. And I'm a bit of a sucker for other world stuff.

Also worth it for seeing Robert De Niro's airship captain [spoiler]prancing around in drag.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]"We always knew you were a whoopsy, captain."[/spoiler] Heh. What a good sport.

[SmallBlueThing]

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Nothing like i expected it to be, and both disappointing in the lack of time spent out on the ice in comparison to that spent in mcmurdo interviewing the inhabitants, fascinating due to exactly that, and breathtakingly beautiful when they went below. More than breathtaking actually, it's frightening. Truly alien in every sense, even in the science fictional sense of being antagonistic to human life. There's little in werner herzog's film i'll forget in a hurry, and i hope they let him tag along when they eventually go to mars.

There is little i wouldnt do to secure a ticket to antarctica and the chance to spend time at mcmurdo- it's the best and most incredible place on earth. This documentary took me as close as im likely to get, sadly. So for that im both grateful and full of ire.

SBT

[TordelBack]

There is little I wouldn't do to secure a ticket to antarctica and the chance to spend time at mcmurdo- it's the best and most incredible place on earth.

I have a friend who spent two years at Scott Base (near McMurdo).  Her Facebook updates were essential reading, and her photographs of the ice and its inhabitants staggeringly beautiful,  but as the southern winter came on and the last plane left you could feel the desperation rising, and the whole thing degenerated into months of alcohol, insomnia, claustrophobia and misery.  I very much doubt she'd go back for more.  I'd fancy a shot myself, even so.

I have got to see that film - I adore Herzog, nobody gets at the heart of something quite like him.

[Daveycandlish]

Skyfall. It's certainly better than the last Bond.

Javier Bardem at least looks like he could win a fight or two - much better than the protagonist in Quantum of Solace, who I felt would be a bit ... slappy in up close fight. Ben Whishaw channels Moss from the IT Crowd as Q. Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris are pretty good additions to the cast. Judi Dench and Rory Kinnear are given substantial roles this time around, but there's no David Arnold on the soundtrack and that was noticeable. One of the best parts of the film is when Bond gets behind the wheel of the Aston Martin and the Bond theme bursts out - it needed more of these beats.

[Spikes]

A Prophet, or if you prefer - Un prophète. Caught this film for the first time last Christmas, and have now snagged the dirt cheap Bluray. Brilliant stuff.
And an old fave of mine - Silent Running. For those that havent seen it, [spoiler]its about a crew of a spaceship that find themselves up against a 'Charles Manson' style kill-crazy Hippy. It doesnt end well for the crew,  [/spoiler]

[JOE SOAP]

but as the southern winter came on and the last plane left you could feel the desperation rising, and the whole thing degenerated into months of alcohol, insomnia, claustrophobia and misery.

Another 6 month Winter in neo-depression Ireland.