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Bingowings said:


5.1????
Maybe the LFE channel was really good.

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Bingowings said:


5.1????

That's crazy talk!

At the very least it's one of the most important special effects films ever made.

Sister Ruth has to go mad near the end because of the tensions (sexual, sensual etc) have reached boiling point.

She is pretty warm to start with as it is, if you started with her at boiling point she would have evaporated by the end of the film.


I rate a movie by my reaction to it, not by how well the movie was put together; if I did rate movies that way, this would have gotten somewhere in the neighbourhood of 9/10. But that isn't the way my pendulum swings, so I went with 5.1/10, which - IMHO - doesn't mean it was a bad film, just an okay one.

As for Ruth, no, I didn't want her crazy from the get-go. I just would have liked that chilling atmosphere from the last part of the movie where she is crazy present throughout the entire film. That alone would have made me like the film more; no script changes, no change in actors or performances, no scenes added or cut, just an overall more sinister tone.

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 (Edited)

Reflections in a Golden Eye, starring Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. Despite the phoniest southern accents I've ever heard, it wasn't half-bad!

9/10

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Splice (2009).

Sometimes silly, sometimes genuinely disturbing update of Frankenstein.

Nice to see Sarah Polley doing her contractually mandated looking utterly weirded out look yet again.

In a way it's what Species (1995) should have been.

Imagine a film with something resembling a storyline but with Giger's designs.

Not that the designs aren't too bad in this film but they are a bit too literal with their physical manifestations of mythological allegories.

If you are in the mood for Chronenberg lite it's worth a watch.

8 parents.

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Bingowings said:

but they are a bit too literal with their physical manifestations of mythological allegories.

Care to elaborate?

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Don't you love it when a Bowie song starts playing at the end of a movie during the end credits and gives you a heart attack from all the awesomeness? 

Se7en. <3

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 (Edited)

Tobar said:

Bingowings said:

but they are a bit too literal with their physical manifestations of mythological allegories.

Care to elaborate?

SPOILERS

 

 

 

 

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 (Edited)

[SAFE] (1995).

Set in 1987 Julianne Moore plays malfunctioning Stepford Wife Carol White.

Forced out of her gigantic San Fernando ziggurat home and ritualistically consumer aristocratic lifestyle by what may or may not be Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She moves into an equally alienating pseudo religious commune ran by a manipulative leech of a self help guru and learns to love herself in a ceramic igloo.

It's the sort of film I wish Kubrick had made in his later years.

The sense of synthetic isolation and phony emotional connection is stifling.

Not a feel good film by any means, I found myself wanting to reach inside the film and slap almost every character in the piece.

I don't think I'd get on well Guru Peter.

Keep those toxic balls away from this film.

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 (Edited)

It's been Daniel Craig night here at the Chateau.

Starting with Cowboys And Aliens (2011).

Strictly speaking it should be Cowboys, Desperadoes, Prospector Townsfolk, Native Americans, A Dog And Aliens but despite everything I could imagine it being and could be bothered to read about it, it works.

It works both as a reasonable stab at a pre-Spaghetti Western and as a nice sprinkle of pulp science fiction.

One of the things that was said in what I could be bothered to read was that it looked like it was an adaptation of a computer game.

I think that's only true of the pulp sci-fi elements.

There have been a few Western themed games but the rescue, final boss and end level set up stuff is all in the Aliens end of the title equation.

The Western side has likable characters, enough grit to ring true to genre and the Aliens side is a justified excuse to allow for the sort of Western that nobody has made in a long while to happen.

A rare instance of a family orientated film where booze, smoking, mind altering drugs and guns seriously extend the life span.

Next up Copenhagen (2002).

Interesting... 

The ghosts of Margrethe and Niels Bohr come back to their Copenhagen home to have a reunion with the spirit of Werner Heisenberg to try and nail the position and velocity of a much pondered similar meeting back in 1941.

It would be a handy film for someone revising before an exam.

It's very earnest and worthy sounding, I can't tire of Francesca Annis whatever she does so I came away with my moneys worth but the conclusions drawn are a bit narrow.

There are very good reasons why the Americans made the bomb first.

It had the human and mineral resources all in the same place and that place wasn't being bombed or repelling a land invasion.

It also had the benefit of not being being run by an institutionally anti-semitic regime, which was kind of handy as most of the big brains in the field were Jewish brains.

Any fog which may or may not have descended on Werner or any delaying tactics he may or may not have employed would certainly not have made a quantum of difference.

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For some reason I challenged myself to revisit the Matrix films.

I forgot how much I actually enjoy the first film, and have always stuck with my 1999 DVD for the theatrical color timing. It looks quite good upscaled too. Simply a great ride of a movie. 13 years on and still fun.

4 balls out of 4 spoons.

I thought Reloaded was always a bit of good action sequences with middling to bad dialogue. Theatrically it was an overlong mess. Coming back to it, I found myself hating the film and finding it incredibly stupid as it went on. The key phrase here is "GET ON WITH IT!". The Merovingian was a great character though and sadly was only really in one scene.  The car chase is not very good despite its elaborate structure. And what's with the CGI animated Neo and fight sequences? What we can't even have real people doing the fights any longer? And don't even get me started on the "we're all going to die, so let's mass techno dance/grope in slow motion" sequence. Stupidity.

1.5 balls out of 4 dress/robe thingys. I'm being generous.

Revolutions. I swore I'd never watch this again. An obviously bad film, and theatrically everyone was in a stunned silence of disbelief. Really this is just the second half of the same film as both sequels were shot simultaneously. But this one has all of the really bad elements. I thought it couldn't be as bad as I remembered. There is no redeeming quality to this junk. It is terrible, badly written, pathetic, meandering, nonsensical, mindless and complete stupid in every conceivable way. Words cannot even begin to describe the depths of it's absolute stupidity in every conceivable element of filmmaking. 

Zero balls. Ball-less crap. Worse than any of the prequels. And that's saying something.

So essentially here is another franchise that should have never been. There are no Matrix sequels. Like Anchorhead has said many times about ESB and ROTJ but to a much greater degree, the sequels opened things up too much. There was no imagination or focus left.

And the sad thing is, I wanted to like these sequels.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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 (Edited)

Green Lantern (2011).

The plot was a bit messed up.

It's hard to tell what the point of Hal Jordan making his case to the Guardians was if he ended up having to ask for permission to try and save the Earth.

It would have made more sense to have Hal discover the ring and uncover his basic powers through it.

Defeat Hector (though not necessarily kill him) and then come to the attention of the Corp, get a bit more training but prove to be a bit crap find out that Earth is the next target of Parallax .

Then plead with the Guardians to defend Earth rather than sacrifice it for time and when that failed ask to go back to try and save Earth on his own.

It might have also have been better as a purely CGI film as the CGI heavy elements never gel enough with mostly dull live action and the need to flash Ryan Reynolds full face all the time does diminish his superhero persona a bit (though not as much as Stallone's Judge Dredd).

3 Rings.

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Night Of The Blood Beast (1958)

I only ever had the eight minute 8mm version of this, so last night I watched the whole film.

Fun film about a creature (of the man in a rubber suit variety) who has plans for his species to take over the world using humans as incubaters for the new spawn so we can all live together as many minds in one body.

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The Change-Up [unrated]

Two friends wind up swapping bodies ala freaky friday [that old chestnut]

Funny but kinda forgettable. 2 Balls.

 

 

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captainsolo said:

For some reason I challenged myself to revisit the Matrix films.

I forgot how much I actually enjoy the first film, and have always stuck with my 1999 DVD for the theatrical color timing. It looks quite good upscaled too. Simply a great ride of a movie. 13 years on and still fun.

4 balls out of 4 spoons.

I thought Reloaded was always a bit of good action sequences with middling to bad dialogue. Theatrically it was an overlong mess. Coming back to it, I found myself hating the film and finding it incredibly stupid as it went on. The key phrase here is "GET ON WITH IT!". The Merovingian was a great character though and sadly was only really in one scene.  The car chase is not very good despite its elaborate structure. And what's with the CGI animated Neo and fight sequences? What we can't even have real people doing the fights any longer? And don't even get me started on the "we're all going to die, so let's mass techno dance/grope in slow motion" sequence. Stupidity.

1.5 balls out of 4 dress/robe thingys. I'm being generous.

Revolutions. I swore I'd never watch this again. An obviously bad film, and theatrically everyone was in a stunned silence of disbelief. Really this is just the second half of the same film as both sequels were shot simultaneously. But this one has all of the really bad elements. I thought it couldn't be as bad as I remembered. There is no redeeming quality to this junk. It is terrible, badly written, pathetic, meandering, nonsensical, mindless and complete stupid in every conceivable way. Words cannot even begin to describe the depths of it's absolute stupidity in every conceivable element of filmmaking. 

Zero balls. Ball-less crap. Worse than any of the prequels. And that's saying something.

So essentially here is another franchise that should have never been. There are no Matrix sequels. Like Anchorhead has said many times about ESB and ROTJ but to a much greater degree, the sequels opened things up too much. There was no imagination or focus left.

And the sad thing is, I wanted to like these sequels.

I agree with you for the most part, although I'd probably give Reloaded 2 balls as I sort of enjoy it.

I recommend trying out some of the fanedits of 2 and 3.  My personal favorites are the Hacked versions by Dr. M.

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TV's Frink said:

I recommend trying out some of the fanedits of 2 and 3.  My personal favorites are the Hacked versions by Dr. M.

How does the "De-Zionized" edit compare? (Already downloaded that one).

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captainsolo said:

Revolutions. I swore I'd never watch this again. An obviously bad film, and theatrically everyone was in a stunned silence of disbelief. Really this is just the second half of the same film as both sequels were shot simultaneously. But this one has all of the really bad elements. I thought it couldn't be as bad as I remembered. There is no redeeming quality to this junk. It is terrible, badly written, pathetic, meandering, nonsensical, mindless and complete stupid in every conceivable way. Words cannot even begin to describe the depths of it's absolute stupidity in every conceivable element of filmmaking. 

Zero balls. Ball-less crap. Worse than any of the prequels. And that's saying something.

Stop being so vague and tell us what you thought of it.

Since they're like poetry, what with the rhyming and all, I find that I only need to watch three out of the six films.

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I've started a bit of a marathon this week of asian horror movies. I've been watching them all in their respective languages.

Ju-on : The Grudge

While this movie didn't offer up any scares, it kept me very interested. The film was very gritty, unlike it's over produced American counterpart. While they are both the same director, I think having a lower budget made for greater creativity in the Japanese version.

9/10

Ringu

While I don't see the American version as being all that scary, it's terrifying compared to the original. What the japanese version destroys it with, is the overall composition of the film. It looks amazingly gritty. It reminds me of Jacob's Ladder at times, as far as look. It looks much older than it actually is.

7/10

Dark Water

I saw the American version a long while back. I didn't really hate the movie, I just felt it was more boring than scarey. This film like the others, isn't really that terrifying, but it definitely sets the mood. I loved the overall look of the film. Like Ringu, it looked more like it was shot in the 80's than the early 00's. This film doesn't really try to get you with many hooks. Like many J-horror films, this one plays on your emotions more than your fears.

7.5/10

Uzumaki

This wasn't part of my marathon, but I figured since it's j-horror, and this is an asian horror list, it had to get a mention.

Uzumaki is such an odd film. Like most j-horror, it's shot in such a different way. This film is weird. So weird, I laughed at times at how weird it is.

It's not effective as a horror film. I recommend watching this as you would a dark comedy.

8/10 as a comedy

3/10 as a horror.

 

To be continued...

 

 

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

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I saw Uzumaki as more of a darkly comedic weird piece than a horror too.

I loved the snails.

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The asian horror marathon continued tonight with..

Kairo : Pulse

This film isn't easy to get into. You really have to give your full attention. There were some moments where I would go "Ok, what?" So I would have to rewind to get what was going on. It's a very dark film. Might have been the director's choice, but most of the time, I couldn't see a thing.

That being said, the movie isn't lacking in the beauty of the other films I listed. This movie didn't scare me, but it did grab my attention. What really made the movie creepy was the sound.

Instead of showing your baddies in nice bold lighting, they are hidden. The sound takes their place.

This film has some good special effects later on. Considering the film is 11 years old, it's got some good CGI, I've seen worse done recently on a much bigger budget. Can't complain too much. Some of the effects could be seen as a little cheesy, but they are used sparingly and only carry the story.

Overall these films have focused more on feelings of dread than a cheap scare. While I probably won't have nightmares, this film will stay in my memories. It's very much it's own film.

7/10

The marathon will continue... after which I will seek more foreign horror films. Feel free to suggest some, though I refuse to watch anything with gore. I want to be scared, not disgusted.

 

 

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

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Monolithium said:

captainsolo said:

Revolutions. I swore I'd never watch this again. An obviously bad film, and theatrically everyone was in a stunned silence of disbelief. Really this is just the second half of the same film as both sequels were shot simultaneously. But this one has all of the really bad elements. I thought it couldn't be as bad as I remembered. There is no redeeming quality to this junk. It is terrible, badly written, pathetic, meandering, nonsensical, mindless and complete stupid in every conceivable way. Words cannot even begin to describe the depths of it's absolute stupidity in every conceivable element of filmmaking. 

Zero balls. Ball-less crap. Worse than any of the prequels. And that's saying something.

Stop being so vague and tell us what you thought of it.

Don't worry, big review of both sequels coming...but after all these years I still can't fully wrap my head around what they were thinking on Revolutions. It's just so unbelievably uninteresting.

How would they do the rumored sequels with Neo though?

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

I went in thinking, "This got pretty good reviews, it can't possibly be as lame as MI:3." (which I thought was okay, but rather tepid.) I was wrong. This is a film that decides to never really involve the viewer, and never really gets up off the ground to anything of much interest. The story is really pointless and serves as a way to get from one over CGI'd action sequence to the next. At least the awful MI:2 had John Woo to make some great looking action setpieces. I can't actually decide if this is worse than that or not. In the end it's just pretty darn lifeless and reminds me that the first film was really good for a summer blockbuster. It had spies, who did some spying...and the ending cameo in the fourth entry makes you yearn for just a truer espionage sequel like the first film.

Saw this in a second run theater, in which the 35mm print looked great. (Save for the CGI which stuck out like a sore thumb.) Much better than any digital presentation around. And what's with the whole, "we shot 5 minutes in IMAX" gag? Just swallow the cost and do the whole thing!

1.5 balls out of 4 "Tom Cruise needing a career boost"s.


VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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I personally enjoyed it, in many ways better than 1 and 2 (never saw 3).  In fact, 2 was my least favorite, and I find Woo's action sequences to be far too unrealistic to be enjoyable.  I would agree that the second half of the movie slowed down significantly.  Let me say that they all fall short in the story when compared to the original M:I series.  I loved that show, the real spying, the real outfoxing the bad guys...very clever writing, even with the 60's special effects.  I wish they could pattern a movie much closer to the series.

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captainsolo said:

Saw this in a second run theater, in which the 35mm print looked great. (Save for the CGI which stuck out like a sore thumb.) Much better than any digital presentation around. And what's with the whole, "we shot 5 minutes in IMAX" gag? Just swallow the cost and do the whole thing!

To be fair didn't The Dark Knight do that too?

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Bandits, starring Cate Blanchett and Bruce Willis.

I give it about six balls, it's pretty dated, even thought it's only 11 years old, and it was about 45 minutes to long. It had some funny moments, I enjoyed it for the most part.