Last movie seen — Page 219

Will it make any of George A. Romeros latest films any better???

Nothing could save George Romero's later films.

Right At Your Door (2006).

It's straight out of the George Romero school of cheap cinema.

Largely off screen somewhat obscure catastrophe... CHECK.

Small group of characters played by well chosen unknowns... CHECK

Self initiated barricading of a single location... CHECK

Child in peril... CHECK

Emergency Broadcast... CHECK

The only problem is that it lacks the genre film get out clause.

It's clearly a post 9/11 War On Terror paranoia piece.

The catastrophe isn't zombies or an inhibition lifting toxin (probably) it seems to be some kind of bio terrorism (or is that a cover story??).

Anyway it doesn't really work largely because of the lack of a gimmick. The actors give it their all but if you have seen one of these sort of films you have seen them all.

At least When The Wind Blows (1989) was beautifully animated.

3 reels of Gaffer Tape

The Black Hole (1979)

I watched this movie a couple weeks ago, and meant to comment on it then, but I got distracted and never got around to it. Well, now's as good a time as any to do so, and it's still fresh enough in my mind to recount the major points of the film I liked/disliked.

The Good

The robots V.I.N.C.E.N.T and B.O.B - though their design was a little too cutesy for my tastes - had lots of personality and were easily the highlights of the film.

Maximillian Schell did a great job as the villainous Hans Reinhardt

The special effects were excellent

The Bad

With the sole exception of Reinhardt, all the human characters were colourless cyphers - I couldn't even remember any of their names, not even Anthony Perkins'.

The film was thematically all over the place. It tried to be a serious, philosophical movie like 2001 while also trying to be whimsically adventurous like Star Wars, but only ended up a confused mess.

The Darth Vader robots were really, really uninspired and lame.

The Ugly

The score is a mixed bag. At times it was ominously great, while at others it fell completely flat (this is most notable during the gunfight scenes).


The Rugrats Movie (1998)

I'll say this right away - I'm a fan of the show; for the most part, it is a well-written and intelligent show (the first three seasons, anyway; the fourth & fifth seasons are a little watered down in comparison, and I'm not familiar enough with seasons 6-9 to comment on them), peppered with enough in-jokes and cultural references to make it entertaining for older viewers. This movie, though ... ugh ...

Gone is the quaint pathos of the series. Instead, we now have unnecessary musical numbers, a stupid subplot with escaped circus monkeys, scenes that go on for too long, and a horrible addition to the cast in the form of Dil. It's all just childish padding and filler, rendered in the most nauseatingly over-detailed, frenetic animation possible.

I do have a few nice things to say about this film, though; most of the humour revolving around the adult characters works, the parts with the wolf are pretty well done, and the scene where the family dog Spike seemingly falls to his death is moving.

Oblivion.

I liked the style of it but the story was just a re-hash of MOON [a much better film] with some Total Recall thrown in [Also a better film].

Hard to hate it but there's really nothing original about it.

1 ball.

<i>Dune</i> (1984)

I liked this movie more now than when I first watched it a couple of years ago - I was actually able to follow the story this time around. I still have to say, though, that the film's strength lies in its direction, not in its story; some things - like the whole bit with the "water of life" - still don't make much sense to me, and I have the sneaking suspicion that the story's been condensed to fit the two hour+ running time, sacrificing a lot of detail in the process.

Still, I liked it - Patrick Stewart charging into battle with a pug under his arm not withstanding - and I definately want to read the book some time in the near future.

Blue Velvet (1986)

This is definately my second favourite Lynch film, and that's largely due to this one character

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrizW4QQTC0

Lynch should have made him a recurring character in his films. Alas, that ship has definately sailed.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

I think the main failing of this movie is that it just isn't bizarre enough. Practically everything in between the first appearance of the cowboy character and the opera scene is pretty mundane (disjointed, yes, but still mundane), with most of the captivating surreal moments crammed into the film's final half hour.

So while it was okay, it's not the best I've seen from Lynch and definately not as good as it could have been.

Inland Empire (2006)

I'll make this short and sweet - I've never hated a Lynch movie ... until now. I won't bother elaborating, 'cause doing so will only serve to make me relive the sliver of Hell that is this most cruel and unusual form of punishment.

I think you are trying to watch too many in one go.

I really like Inland Empire but it's something you really have to have a lot of hypnospace between your eyes to appreciate it (it's a pretty odd movie).

If you had watched a few episodes of On The Air or Straight Story or even Fire Walk With Me before attempting it it might have been less of a chore.

I cried at the end of that movie and that only happened once before (King Kong).

Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunter's Unrated (or whatever) version. Not a great movie but I had fun. 2 balls.

Texas Chainsaw. I managed 3/4 of it before stretching diving at the eject button. I'm always searching for those rare jems that IMDB gets mixed reviews for. Should have listened to the nay sayers (i rarely turn a movie off before the end, no matter how bad it may-be).

Still, they've got my money now.....*sigh*

-(minus)4 chopped off balls

Burnt Offerings (1976)

What is it with haunted house movies from the late 70's-early 80's, anyway? It seems that, without a single exception, they're always awesome - awesome cinematography, awesome casting, awesome atmosphere, etc. In addition, they always seem to feature some hidden or isolated room which the supernatural presence seems to use as its base of operations; that's always, always a cool motif that never loses its effectiveness.

And may I just add that this guy



is the perfect stuff of nightmares.

Mama (2013)

You know what - I'm going to make a vow, right here and now. Beyond the very small number of movies I've already seen and liked, I am never - and I mean never, ever, ever, EVER - going to watch another Hollywood movie made in this godforsaken shitpit of a century.

I am sick of colourless, lameass characters; I am sick of generic by-the-numbers plots; and I am DEAD, BURIED, and PUTRIFIED from characters made out of RETARDED, BULL-FUCKING-SHIT, DISCHARGED-FROM-THE-SLIT-OF-A-BLOATED-WHORE'S-CORPSE CG-GOD RAPING-I when they could have been portrayed by LIVING, BREATHING, FLESH-AND-BLOOD HUMAN ACTORS!!!!!!!!!

Die, Hollywood, DIE! DIE, you BRAINDEAD, TALENTLESS, VISIONLESS, SOUL-STRANGLING, ART-MURDERING, MONEY-WASTING, WORLD-POISONING, INCESTUOUS, FESTERING, DEMONIC TUMOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's your fault for watching Mama, not the century's fault for making some duds (as was also the case in the previous century).

^Agreed.

Oh, and the generalfrevious transformation is nearly complete.  You just need to up your hyperbole a tad.

DominicCobb said:

That's your fault for watching Mama, not the century's fault for making some duds (as was also the case in the previous century).

TV's Frink said:

Oh, and the generalfrevious transformation is nearly complete.  You just need to up your hyperbole a tad.

House of Frankenstein (1997)

Had this been shorter, I could've forgiven the overwhelming use of cliches and the lack of internal consistency. However, its a two-part miniseries, which makes it a lot longer than it should have been, which makes it a tedious chore to slough through.

I do have two nice things to say about it, though; first was the scene where the protagonist's sister uses her mother's blessed ashes to defeat a vampire, the second was the scene where the cops raided the vampire nightclub - the former due to its originality, the latter because the Smashing Pumpkins song "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was playing through it.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

I first saw this movie a couple of years ago, and I really liked it then. This time, though, it just fell kind of flat for me. It's not bad by any means - the cast is good, and I didn't mind most of the CG (being someone who is pretty much against large amounts of CGI in non-animated films, that's saying something). I suppose a number of elements of the storyline itself just don't work for me anymore.

For example, I just can't get emotionally invested in Aslan's sacrifice to save Edmund's life, since - as He is literally just Christ in another form - I already know He's gone through death once before, and it was a helluva lot more demeaning and brutal the first time around, so there's nothing really at stake here. Also, I just can't buy into the idea that a bunch of average kids could take up arms and fight like professional soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and actually hold their own in such a short period of time without any real training. I know that both examples are faithful to the book itself - which I enjoyed - but it just doesn't translate well to screen for me.

Stay (2005)

A good, well-made movie, and it only gets more interesting as it goes along. The only real bad thing I have to say about this film is Ryan Gosling's performance; he's supposed to be playing a character who is intelligent and artistic, but he just comes off as a slow-witted douchebag.

The Hidden (1987)

I didn't know whether or not I was going to like this movie going into it, and I initially got the impression that Kyle MacLaughlin's character was going to turn out to be a pretty flat and lifeless personality. As I got further into the movie, though, the story clicked for me, and MacLaughlin's character proved to have a lot more gravitas than I was initially led to believe. The ending was a bit perplexing, I'll admit, but it's no big deal in the greater scheme of things.

All-in-all, I really liked this movie, and its going on my "must-own" list.

Planet Earth (1974)

If this is typical of all of the non-Trek pilots Roddenberry's made, I'm not surprised in the least that none of them were ever picked up.

The expositional voiceover at the beginning is not an adequate means of introducing the audience to the characters or the world they live in, and the overwhelming goofiness of the storyline - the white Indian character, "dinks", the bizarre characterization of the pseudo-Klingons - is off-putting and gives you no clear picture of what type of show the creators were going for here.

I'll admit, this was fun to watch (albeit due to the excessive corniness more than anything else), I liked John Saxon and the short-haired brunette (I don't know the name of the actress, sorry), and I do think this would have been a fine episode in an already established and running TV series. As the pilot episode for a proposed new series, though, it just doesn't work to any degree.

DuracellEnergizer said:

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

For example, I just can't get emotionally invested in Aslan's sacrifice to save Edmund's life, since - as He is literally just Christ in another form - I already know He's gone through death once before, and it was a helluva lot more demeaning and brutal the first time around, so there's nothing really at stake here.

I'm an atheist and I still love those books! I've always liked taking The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as an allegory rather than a literal Aslan actually is Jesus visiting another universe interpretation.

But either way, not sure why that should ruin it or leave nothing at stake... It is just a kids fantasy story. A really fun one, IMHO.

Also, I just can't buy into the idea that a bunch of average kids could take up arms and fight like professional soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and actually hold their own in such a short period of time without any real training. I know that both examples are faithful to the book itself - which I enjoyed - but it just doesn't translate well to screen for me.

Lol, I think maybe you watch way too many movies at way too great of a frequency. You should probably come up for air occasionally. Again, the genre is children's fantasy, it features a cast of talking animals and English speaking mythical creatures from folklore around the world, you have to suspend your belief just a little bit.

When you were a kid didn't you ever run out into the woods with a stick for a sword and spend the day pretending you had just stepped into some other realm where you instantaneously became a great swordsman and held your own against goblins, trolls, and enemy warriors? That was the sort of thing being a kid was about for me, and part of the reason why I'll always have a soft spot for Narnia, they felt so genuine as kids books. They told the sort of stories I imagined myself in as a kid, and so hit quit close to home in capturing my imagination.

Well, there are more reasons to why I wish I could return to childhood beyond simple nostalgia; I miss having the ability to see things through the ends of a child.