Last movie watched...

[Professor Bear]

Maybe I forgot as soon as it was over, but I couldn't tell what Laurie's plan or endgame was - [spoiler]Tomorrowland didn't seem to have a population, for one thing, and making the end of the world happen because it was inevitable?  I didn't really get that, either, nor did I feel Laurie's character was actually evil as much as misguided, and that the real soul of the film would come from convincing him of his error and helping him find the hope for the future that the titular city represents - as it is, what makes the protagonists any better than anyone else if their solution is more killing?  There's not even any sense that perhaps Laurie's character was reaping what he'd sown so much as he just got unlucky.[/spoiler]

[TordelBack]

Yup, that was exactly my reaction to the end, Bear. I was left feeling I'd missed something important about [spoiler]why Tomorrowland had about 20 people in it, an unspecified number of those being androids, and in particular I  thought it would have worked better for Laurie's character to have seen the light - especially given that his motivation was born of despair, and the general message was optimsm. He was far from an irredemable villain, not least because in his key speech he was utterly, painfully right. I couldn't help but suspect last minute rewrites.[/spoiler]

That said, I was mainly put out because I actually cared about what was going on - I thought the ideas in it were excellent, and loved the visuals. And maybe a rewatch will make some of that clearer.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Ava's Possessions

Great little film. The most 2000ad-esque film I've seen in years (Dredd excepted!).

A dark comedy about AA for those who've been possessed. That either piques your interest or you are in the wrong forum. It's on UK Netflix.

[Michael Knight]

Would really like to check out Tomorrowland as have heard a lot of good things about it! 

[Theblazeuk]

Pandemic Not as bad as I thought it would be! Doesn't do anything original at all and has lots of massive holes in (the infected all act like rabid zombies attacking for little to no reason, despite claims that rabid behaviour is only seen in later stages and a lot of contradictory behaviour), but the heavily used First Person POV makes for some great action pieces and reminds me thoroughly of Left 4 Dead. Main character is a bit of a wet rag but Alfie Allen is alreet as a mouthy cynical ex-con, and the overall post-apocalyptic feel is achieved fairly well. Weakens quite a lot as the narrative reaches for emotional depth it should really have steered clear of, but the first half is solidly entertaining direness.

People have said it's not 'B Movie' material, I disagree entirely. It's a one-off bit of fun.

[Professor Bear]

I didn't make it all the way through Pandemic.  Every time it tried to do character stories or went outside the bus to the cheapest apocalypse I've ever seen (and I watch Last Of Us and Fallout fan films), it fell apart.

The Shadow - better than I remember, but crucially flawed in key places, such as the lead character being a cold-blooded murderer and drug kingpin at the start and then "seven years later" he's gone full babyface for no reason.  The camp atmosphere also gets too dark or too comedic at times to be considered consistent.  I now cannot shake the idea that it would have been great to see a The Shadow vs The Phantom movie.

[TordelBack]

300: Rise of an Empire.  Starz' first double length episode of Spartacus is a huge disappointment, lacking the hearty charm and creatively stylised visuals we've come to expect. Despite Peter Mensah's Onamaeus reprising his career as Doctore, and the last minute arrival of the Ma-Ma Clan this is a disjointed and repetitive mess devoid of characters, which shows up the limitations of the TV format in a way the regular episodes seldom do.

Wait, this is actually a movie sequel costing $100 million..?  Disgraceful crap. 



Oh alright, I suppose Eva Green tries her limited best, but nobody else does.

[ThryllSeekyr]

300: Rise of an Empire.  Starz' first double length episode of Spartacus is a huge disappointment, lacking the hearty charm and creatively stylised visuals we've come to expect. Despite Peter Mensah's Onamaeus reprising his career as Doctore, and the last minute arrival of the Ma-Ma Clan this is a disjointed and repetitive mess devoid of characters, which shows up the limitations of the TV format in a way the regular episodes seldom do.

Wait, this is actually a movie sequel costing $100 million..?  Disgraceful crap. 



Oh alright, I suppose Eva Green tries her limited best, but nobody else does.

I like the ship battles in that one!

[TordelBack]

I like the ship battles in that one!

Those were supposed to be ships? They didn't seem to move, respond or even look much like ships.  I assumed they were some magical wooden version of the giant rhino from the first one.

I loved the message that the Athenians took from Themopylae: not "300 lions stood alone against all of Persia for three days", but "a hunchback betrayed them and they were defeated".  I don't mind all the ahistorical nonsense, it's really a fantasy after all, but the weird things they do with the themes and characters... Artemisia not a noblewoman from Bodrum but an orphaned sex slave, Miltiades and Pheidippides replaced by Themistokles, Darius killed at Marathon... like, why? Much like the bit in the Pitt Troy where Menelaus is killed and Helen escapes, I'm left wondering why bother using a story you obviously don't like.

[ThryllSeekyr]

I like the ship battles in that one!

Those were supposed to be ships? They didn't seem to move, respond or even look much like ships.  I assumed they were some magical wooden version of the giant rhino from the first one.

I loved the message that the Athenians took from Themopylae: not "300 lions stood alone against all of Persia for three days", but "a hunchback betrayed them and they were defeated".  I don't mind all the ahistorical nonsense, it's really a fantasy after all, but the weird things they do with the themes and characters... Artemisia not a noblewoman from Bodrum but an orphaned sex slave, Miltiades and Pheidippides replaced by Themistokles, Darius killed at Marathon... like, why? Much like the bit in the Pitt Troy where Menelaus is killed and Helen escapes, I'm left wondering why bother using a story you obviously don't like.

I'll have to see it again to get your point!

[Professor Bear]

It's not that they don't like the story, TB, it's that it's historical record and/or entered the cultural lexicon and resonated for centuries as myth/allegory - so clearly it needed to be fixed and improved upon.

[Tiplodocus]

But you can do it well - I really liked the "updating" of BEOWULF.

[Michael Knight]

300: rise of empire = Eva Green! So it was ok with me!

[TordelBack]

300: rise of empire = Eva Green! So it was ok with me!

She was its only saving grace, although she did seem have lost a disturbing amount of weight training for it.

Yeah, I've no real problem with revisionist historical fantasy - Robin of Sherwood or (Gods forgive me) Hercules/Xena, Rome, even Troy is a guilty pleasure - it's when films make a great fuss of depicting historical events but seem to have completely erased the point, and haven't replaced it with anything new. The first 300, for example, took a story of proto-nationalistic heroism and replaced it with pseudo-homo-eroticism and the struggle of noble western civilisation with the corrupt and perverse swarms of the Muslim world. It was dodgy as feck, but at least it was something.

[Judge Olde]

300 - rise of an empire.

Why would anyone watch this again?

I just watched Captain America