That seems to be a running theme in Blomkamp’s films. They start off strong before sputtering out and reverting to yet another gratuitous bloodbath to cap the film.
That seems to be a running theme in Blomkamp’s films. They start off strong before sputtering out and reverting to yet another gratuitous bloodbath to cap the film.
I don’t disagree, but I think it worked much better in District 9. Maybe because it was the first one.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Coens.
That is all.
9/10
Rewatched ‘The Ridiculous Menace’ and ‘Attack of the Ridiculousness’ last night. Hilarious.
<span style=“font-weight: bold;”>The Most Handsomest Guy on OT.com</span>
^LoOk
The Thing (1982)
What an amazing movie this was! Everything, from the fantastic practical effects, to the chilling score, to the simple yet iconic storyline, to the great acting and fun characters, everything worked. I really don’t have too much to say, I can’t fault this movie.
10/10
They Live (1988)
I loved this movie in a similar way that I loved Evil Dead II, in that it was so charming and irreverent it became a great movie in it’s own right. The premise was great, I’ve heard many a conspiracy theory like it, and the acting was hammy, but fun. That’s actually a good way to describe the film. Hammy but fun.
8/10
Not enough people read the EU.
I think of David Icke watching They Live, Society and the original series of V while reading the Illuminatus trilogy wearing a turquoise shell suit.
Them eighties aye?
I pretty much agree with your review there, Lucky! I love both of those films!
Logan’s Run-A+. 70s dystopia along the lines of The Omega Man and Soylent Green, but more escapist. The society is perfect, of course…but there’s one catch. The 70s feel of the film is palpable, but that’s what makes it so intriguing (to me, anyway). Jerry Goldsmith delivers a wonderful score.
Strangers on a Train-A. Hitchcock from 1951. Interesting. The bad guy is a real weirdo. To me, not as good as the Hitchcocks with Bernard Herrmann on board.
Jar-Jar is the Emperor in the extra special edition of ROTJ (scenes 1, 3, and then 6 to the end).
8 1/2 - A movie that never fails to make me excited about movies in general. One of my absolute favorites.
Eyes Without a Face - Very cool French horror flick from the 60s. It’s common knowledge that it was the inspiration for Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, but I can also see echoes of it in Ex Machina. Worth checking out of that’s your bag.
Darling - Very basic from a story standpoint, which I could see turning a lot of people off, but it was so artfully executed and Lauren Ashley Carter had such weird charisma that I felt those shortcomings were more than compensated for. Polanski’s early psychological thriller/horror stuff gets mentioned a lot in the reviews I’ve read, and I don’t disagree.
Hail, Caesar! - Definitely minor Coens, but fun as hell. I got the distinct impression the whole thing was an excuse to shoot the set pieces from the fake 50s movies, and I’m fine with that because they were delightful. I feel really good about Alden Ehrenreich playing Han Solo after seeing this.
Hardcore Henry (2015)
Yes, it was far from perfect, a little rough around the edges, but I am a fourteen year old boy, and deep down, I really just want to see some truly hardcore action, and this film delivered that wholeheartedly.
7/10
Not enough people read the EU.
8 1/2 - A movie that never fails to make me excited about movies in general. One of my absolute favorites.
At first I thought you were giving an 8.5/10 rating to a film you failed to identify.
Escape from L.A. (1996)
I’ve yet to see the first one, so my opinion on this may change after I view it, but I thought this film was pretty good. It was cheesy as hell and dated beyond belief (90s computer generated effects are always hilarious to watch), but it made up for its flaws by being charming, hilarious and a really fun movie to watch with friends. Kurt Russell was hilariously over the top in his macho delivery of lines, and it was also nice to see Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson, Pam Grier and Bruce Campbell in supporting roles. I thought it was quite good and I had an absolute blast watching it.
7/10
Not enough people read the EU.
Escape from L.A. (1996)
I’ve yet to see the first one–
Don’t do drugs, unless you’re with me.
More serious reply. It’s kinda cool you watched the “bad sequel” first. I love/hate this movie. There’s some great set pieces and story bits, like the fact that Snake is given a set of tools in Act 1 and we actually see him use everything. Screenwriting 101 done beautifully. When he uses the match to light an illegal cigarette and walks away like a boss, I cheered.
I’ll be curious if you find …New York to be boring, because then you’ll see that …LA is a beat for beat remake.
Don’t do drugs, unless you’re with me.
I’ll be curious if you find …New York to be boring, because then you’ll see that …LA is a beat for beat remake.
Yeah, I’ve heard that, which is why is suspect I may not like the film as much after viewing Escape from New York.
Not enough people read the EU.
Escape From LA’s soundtrack has The One, the last track White Zombie ever released. And while it’s got too much techno overriding the live band, it still kicks ass. So, there’s something in the films favor…
The Jungle Book (2016) 8/10
Still really liked it the second time around, it’s like Disney’s Avatar but with a way better script.
A Beautiful Mind 8.5/10
Picks up in the second act and the twist halfway through is great. Not historically valuable but a fine piece of entertainment.
The Conjuring 7.5/10
Sorcerer (1977) 4.5/10
Pretty disappointed by this one. Most of the characters were flat, too many scenes were way too long, the editing is nonsensical, and I laughed out loud at many of the “exciting” moments. The only thing the film did well was build great suspense in many scenes.
Prequel Fan-Edit thread: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Yet-another-series-of-prequel-edits/id/17329
I rather see Escape From Earth get made than a lame ass remake of EFNY.
Where were you in '77?
Battle Royale (2000)
Man, that was a really good movie. Good social satire, likable and complex characters, and exciting, thrilling action scenes. It had flaws, sure, like the fact that there are too many characters for the audience to care when each dies, which it seems the movie was going for, and the fact that it makes no sense for the characters to not know of Battle Royale, when it’s been going on for years in this universe, and how it really dragged towards the end, and some other stuff, but overall, this movie’s really good. It’s kind of like The Hunger Games if it took chances.
7/10
Not enough people read the EU.
Fact: Battle Royale (2000) is a masterpiece.
Don’t do drugs, unless you’re with me.
Agreed, but don’t bother with the sequel. It was so stupid I couldn’t even finish it.
Fact: Battle Royale (2000) is a masterpiece.
Truth.
but don’t bother with the sequel. It was so stupid I couldn’t even finish it.
The Truth continues.
Pod (2015)
Others who’ve seen this movie criticize it for focusing on the three main characters arguing instead of cutting to the chase and getting down to the paranormal stuff, but I didn’t mind that at all; I thought it helped establish mood as the depths of the brother’s mental instability were revealed, as the siblings became evermore disturbed by his erratic behaviour.
What let me down about the movie was the ending. It felt too abrupt, too half-assed, like the writer/director just shot whatever idea came to mind without fleshing it out/refining it first.
6/10
Knick Knack (1989)
Moderately amusing, but nothing to write home about.
(BTW, I watched the original version, just in case Frink was wondering.)
6/10
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
I liked the locale. I liked the nightmarish atmosphere. I liked the performance of the lead actress. I liked the ambiguity pertaining to the strange events which occur in the film. I didn’t like that it wasn’t ambiguous enough.
8/10
This Island Earth (1955)
I rather liked Jeff Morrow as Exeter, and the matte paintings used to realize the world of Metaluna were pretty damn gorgeous. Unfortunately, the first half of the movie before everyone gets to Metaluna is pretty disinteresting, and the mutant’s antics towards the end were more amusing than menacing.
This in the first time I’ve watched This Island Earth in its un-MST3Ked form. Once will probably be enough for me.
7/10
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
It’s not as abysmal as I remember it being, but it’s still a very poor movie. Had the story focused on the eldest daughter instead of the son, if she had survived, and had the film come to a close with the shootings – thus excising that faux Exorcist garbage – it could have been at least as slightly above average as the first film.
4/10
Amityville 3-D (1983)
I’d say this sequel was better than the one previous. Sure, many of the scares weren’t really scary, the editing was iffy, and the ending was laughably stupid, but the actors gave decent performances (largely) and the “car fire” and “wet ghost” scenes were effectively offputting, so I’d say this sequel more-or-less lives up to the original.
6/10
Titan A.E. (2000)
The good: Akima’s character design.
The bad: the Drej’s weak-as-piss reason for destroying the Earth; the tepid characters; the bland/cornball alien designs; the fact that there’s nothing to stop the Drej from destroying New Earth, since its location doesn’t appear to be kept secret (Or were the Drej supposed to have been completely wiped out by film’s end? If that’s the case, the damn movie certainly didn’t make that clear.).
The ugly: the fusion of traditional animation with 3D animation. I just didn’t care for the final result at all.
6/10
Oculus (2013)
Early in the film, you get the impression that this movie is going to be a horror version of Rashomon, with the sister and brother giving equal but mutually exclusive descriptions of the trauma they experienced as children – she believing it was all caused by an evil enchanted mirror, he believing it was the result of more mundane phenomena. The movie does run with that engrossing idea – for about the first twenty minutes; then it decides to dispense with any possibility that there could be a rational explanation behind their childhood trauma and completely goes for supernatural shenanigans.
The movie from there on out is still very good – mixing the real with the unreal and the past with the present rather flowingly – though it does get to be a bit of a mess towards the end. Still, I think the film would’ve been better than good – a true masterpiece – if it had just stuck to ambiguity.
8/10
Next (2007)
I’d say this movie dishonours the name of Philip K. Dick by associating it with such cinematic swill, but Nic Cage’s hair’s a bird, so my argument’s invalid.
4/10
Balto (1995)
I have only two things in particular to say in regards to this movie:
8/10
7/10 for This Island Earth, non-MST3K style? That’s about 5 too high.
Ugh.