Last movie watched...

[Charlie boy]

If you like the idea of Zombie POV films then 'Colin' and 'Deadheads' would be ones to look into.

I've seen Colin, pal; got it for £1 a while back. Thought it was OK like but the film's £45 budget really shows and can be a little distracting! Deadheads is on Amazon for under £3 so could be a future purchase but I'll have to look into it a little more first.

[JudgeE1M1RT]

Watched Donnie Darko last night. Brilliant film, such a great story.

Theatrical release or director's cut?

Unsure, it was on TV. Probably the directors cut though.

[pictsy]

Blitz - Just finished watching this film.  Certainly one of Stathem's better films.

I know what you mean about Colin, Charlie Boy.  I like to think they did a good job with such a low budget but [spoiler]the scene where it blacks out for five minutes[/spoiler] was jarring and unnecessary.

JudgeE1M1RT, I saw the director's cut recently and it's probably the first time I preferred a theatrical release.  The theatrical release was more enigmatic imo.

[JudgeE1M1RT]

JudgeE1M1RT, I saw the director's cut recently and it's probably the first time I preferred a theatrical release.  The theatrical release was more enigmatic imo.

Hm, I'll try and get my hands on a copy of the theatrical release version and give it a watch. I've seen it on tv a few times before and I'm not 100% sure its the director's cut but its still a great movie nonetheless. Definitely Gyllenhaal's best performance.

[pictsy]

Hm, I'll try and get my hands on a copy of the theatrical release version and give it a watch. I've seen it on tv a few times before and I'm not 100% sure its the director's cut but its still a great movie nonetheless. Definitely Gyllenhaal's best performance.

I agree, it is a great film.  I thought he did well in source code, as well.

[Mabs]

Heavy Metal: one bad-ass animated fantasy rollercoaster! The sum of all evils - the Loc-Narr is basically a macguffin, an object to move the plot forward and show some brilliant short stories. My favourite was Harry Canyon, set in a futuristic New York with a Chandler-esque cabbie coming to the aid of a mysterious and seductive damsel in distress (quite reminiscent of Night Zero!). The animation looks very dated, having been released in 1981 (the year of my birth!), but is still captivating. Fans of 2000ad would probably love Heavy Metal, seeing as it's based on another comics anthology "Metal Hurlant". Den was also great fun, an abridged version of Richard Corben's Neverwhere, with a more comedic tone. The main character Den is voiced by the late John Candy and he does a marvellous job. "So beautiful, so dangerous" was also a lot of fun with some wicked humour, robot and human coupling being one and the 'Jewish wedding/ circumcision' line was a cracker. The last story " Taarna" was also brilliant, Elmer Bernstein's magnificent score really shines through in this concluding chapter and there are some awesome visuals on show, not least the (computer assisted?) shot of Taarna flying on her petrodactyl-like stead through some mesmerising scenery. It was very evocative of Moebius' 'silent' comic, Arzach. Along with Harry Canyon this was the standout piece for me, it was like a perfect blend of fantasy, sorcery and sci-fi with some topless shots of Taarna thrown in for good measure. By the end, I was awed by this excellent film and hoped it would've lasted a little longer!

Conan the Barbarian: the re-make starring Jason Momoa as the titular character Conan was also great fun - much more than I expected to be. I'm a fan of the original film, but I thought Momoa's Conan was more faithful to the original stories by Robert E. Howard. The film was quite unflinching in places, especially violence, although a little tame in the frolicking department. There were some fun turns from the supporting cast, Stephen Lang and Rose McGowan being the standout as the father and daughter duo intent on capturing Tamara (a sassy Rachel Nichols) who carries the bloodline of Acheronian Necromamcers. McGowan in particular looked scary as fuck with her shaved eyebrows and sharp bladed fingers. The scene of her disfiguring and stabbing  the maidens from the monastery was very shocking. Ron Perlman as Conan's heavily bearded father was also good, it's always a pleasure to see Perlman on screen as I'm a big fan of his. Saïd Taghmaoui as the thief Ela-Shan was also great fun, like Perlman I'm a fan of Taghmaoui and have followed his career closely since his excellent turn in Matthieu Kossovitz's visceral and moving masterpiece, La Haine. There were some memorable set pieces in the film, such as Conan's fight with the 'sand demons' and the escape from the tentacled 'H.P Lovecraft' monster near the end. As it was filmed on a lower budget than most Hollywood blockbusters, the visual effects do seem poor in a few places, but on the whole it was a great job. There were some great scenic shots such as Conan's entrance into the Kingdom of thieves, and Khalar Zym's palace, scenes which evoke Robert E. Howard's prose to great effect. It's not a perfect film, far from it in fact, but Marcus Nispel's attempts at trying to potray a more faithfil Conan to screen is admirable. I see a certain similarity between this film and John Carter; both films flopped, both are based on famous works from prominent writer's of fantasy and adventure, and both are films which contrary to their poor critical reponses, I enjoyed immensely.

[JamesC]

Warm Bodies

Half of it anyway. I thought it was really, incredibly boring so I could only manage about an hour and then I went in the other room and read some comics instead.

I thought this film was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn't. I don't really know what it was supposed to be. It wasn't a romance or a horror or a comedy or even a straight drama. I guess maybe it was supposed to be a bit if everything but the horror wasn't scary, the comedy wasn't funny....you get the drift. I didn't like it.

[Ghost MacRoth]

Deadheads is on Amazon for under £3 so could be a future purchase but I'll have to look into it a little more first.

Warm Bodies
I thought this film was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn't.

Deadheads is about as funny as Warm Bodies.

Actually.....it's not as funny at all.  And I'd agree, Warm Bodies was almost as funny as watching your house burn down with all of your possessions still inside.

[pictsy]

You piqued my interest with Warm Bodies despite the dislike.  Just watched the first 4 minutes of it over at IMDB and I think I'll probably watch it.  Although it does look like a mainstream cross between the aforementioned Colin and Deadheads. 

Speaking of Deadheads, I didn't think it was overtly funny but I did like the concept of a romantic comedy with Zombies so I'll probably find Warm Bodies watchable.

[radiator]

The Way Way Back.

Funny and heartwarming - perfect film for a slightly hungover Saturday night. Loved it. Already admired Jim Rash a huge amount for his turn as Dean Pelton in Community, but my admiration for him just went up several notches. Best film of the Summer for me, except maybe Pacific Rim.

Whether you would like it or not will depend on your tolerance for quasi-indie dramadies with fey indie rock soundtracks - basically films like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, and especially Adventureland. I like them.

[Tiplodocus]

CLOUD ATLAS

Saw this in the cinema earlier in the year and loved it.  Possibly more so this time - I spotted more of one story echoing in the past or future stories this time round. Plus I'd forgotten what a gorgeous looking film it is. Taken in isolation, there's nothing remarkable about any of the six story strands but when woven together it becomes an entirely different proposition. Halle Berry and Tom Hanks have the most obvious of all the character and story paths laid out for them ([spoiler]the love of a good woman redeems him and allows him to help save humanity[/spoiler]) but my favourite has got to be the way the pacific voyage of A. Ewing (not of this parish) bounces of the future story of Soon-Mi.

Top Quality stuff from the siblings (and I note one is now a lady) that brought you the utter bollocks of Matrix 2 & 3.

[Ghost MacRoth]

Worked on that while it was in Glasgow, and was hugely looking forward to seeing it.

Was then hugely disappointed when I did!  But I will agree, it looks stunning.

[JudgeE1M1RT]

Watched Full Metal Jacket again. Dark and brilliant, everyone needs to see this movie at least once in their lives. 

[TordelBack]

The Little Mermaid.  I saw this with my then-future-wife on its original release sometime in the late '80's, and must have enjoyed it enough that the snippet "darling it's better / down where it's wetter / take it from me" became a running joke in our relationship.  On watching it for a second time yesterday as part of our youngest's 4th birthday celebrations, I decided that the tuneful innuendo was far from unintentional.  Obviously noticing this stuff at all marks me out as a pervert or regular commenter on One Million Moms (same thing), but Little Mermaid is genuinely full of very odd sexual winks and nudges, from Ursula repeatedly waggling her boobs at the camera to the rather strange concession to realism that has 16-yr old Ariel's newly human lower half be devoid of clothing for a good 5 minutes, a fact highlighted by what can only be described as her teasing lurches across camera and slow pans up her legs. If a squid-witch can turn your tail into legs, surely she can rustle up some pants?   There are some very strange choices that I can only conclude are Disney deliberately playing to the grown-ups, but it all left me rather unhappy.

[Mabs]

Watched Full Metal Jacket again. Dark and brilliant, everyone needs to see this movie at least once in their lives. 

Sergeant Hartman: "How tall are you, private?"
Private Cowboy: "Sir, five-foot-nine, sir"
Sergeant Hartman: "Five-foot-nine? I didn't know they stacked shit that high" 

Full Metal Jacket is one of my favourite 'Nam films, not to mention one of Kubrick's best. R. Lee Ermey almost steals the show as Sergeant Hartman (he was a real life Sergeant in the Marine Corps before taking on acting). But Matthew Modine and Vincent D'Onofrio more than hold their own. Its full of wicked humour, shocking moments showing the insanity of war and some mouth-watering directorial flourishes by Kubrick, not least that awesome one take tracking shot of the Marine's surging forward on the ground. And it has an awesome soundtrack to boot, were it not for Apocalypse Now, this would probably rank as my favourite 'Nam picture of all time!

An awesome film, and I agree, everyone needs to see it at least once!