Personally my friends and I didn’t like the first Hobbit movie, so I’m honestly amazed the sequels got made.
I am like the lone apologist for those films.
I like Rogue One better every time I see it.
Maybe if like the rest of the Disney Ourvre, it didn’t constantly remind me of the OOT I can never see again, I might be more receptive to it. I’ll revisit it one of these days.
Please stop saying that. You know perfectly well you can watch the OOT thanks to Harmy.
Oh, on a side note, can a Blu-ray player play back 720/24p without scaling it up to 1080/60p?
I like Rogue One better every time I see it.
Maybe if like the rest of the Disney Ourvre, it didn’t constantly remind me of the OOT I can never see again, I might be more receptive to it. I’ll revisit it one of these days.
Point Blank- Existential, experimental, iconoclastic 1960s crime thriller in the mold of the then-popular French New Waves movies. Icy, odd, distant, and structurally fairly unusual, even today. Uses the novel’s The Hunter’s basic premise as the springboard for an odd tale about existential emptiness and revenge. Great performance from Lee Marvin, some stunning cinematography, and very stylish, moody direction. A touch dated, but an interesting curio of a time when American cinema was willing to fund more than blockbusters.
Payback- Directorial debut of screenwriter Brian Helgeland, recut by Mel Gibson’s production company in an attempt to make it into Lethal Weapon 5, complete with Gibson’s obligatory torture scene and eventually him taking on the whole mob and blowing stuff up. An odd blend of Helgeland’s attempt at Stark’s aesthetic and a recut by someone going in a completely different direction.
Payback: Straight Up: The Director’s Cut- Though not quite as rough as the Westlake novel, Helgeland’s original cut hews closer to the original. It’s a small movie of a small tale, and works much better than Gibson’s knowingly ridiculous cut and plays like a 70s crime thrillers Helgeland wants to emulate, though without the existential underpinnings or rawness. Still pretty good for what it is, and probably the closest adaptation outside of Darwyn Cooke’s graphic novel.
Full Contact- Though not officially an adaptation of The Hunter, it does have a similar setup. Chow Yun Fat stars in this version from director Ring Lam Ling-Tung, a brutally violet, viciously nihilistic tale of a double-crossed thief who then proceeds to kill his way to revenge. Shot with a sucker-punch visual style and full of grimy, disreputable people, with the unique energy you’ll find only in Honk Kong Action Cinema of the period and nowhere else. Interesting, but kind of punishing and so brutal that you eventually run out of people to care about and sort of watch it like a car accident. The famous “bullet-cam” shots still have a certain novelty value.
The Crazies- George Romero’s tale of infected humans and bureaucracy trying to contain a virus. Intelligent and interesting in the way it deconstruction bureaucracy and social breakdown, but its raw, low-budget quality means that time has been very unkind to it in places. Interesting, but flawed.
The Crazies- Breck Eisener’s remake of the above, loses most of sociological clout and depth of the original, but works much better as a thriller, one crackerjack set piece after another, and nicely nihilistic tone and electric energy. If only there were a way to fall between the two.
…28 Days Later- Despite director Danny Boyle’s usual hyperactive visual tics, this derivative but highly effective horror thriller is one of the better ones of recent years. Yes, I know “THEY’RE NOT ZOMBIES!” and the infected hew more closely to the infected of the above-mentioned Romero film, but the plot and feeling seem more like Dawn of the Dead, and the whole third act is basically stolen from Day of the Dead. That said, it’s done well, there’s a nice intelligence behind it, it’s properly gory and viscerally frightening when it needs to be, with a nice human edge. Shot on interlaced digital video at 576i, probably in an attempt to call back to the grainy 16mm of yore.
28 Weeks Later- Though this one is shot on grainy Super 16 (And looks fantastic, it must be said.), this sequel aims more broadly. I’m not sure what its budget was, but I bet it was significantly higher than its predecessor. There are lot more impressive FX shots and a much bigger scale, though still grounded, at least nominally, in human drama. Said human drama isn’t quite as effective this time around, but it’s a nice backbone for the super-bloody thrills which build to splattery bloodbath finale, ending in a cruel apocalyptic joke. Selfishness has a way of coming back to haunt you, and interventionism is scarier than you bargain for.
The A-Team- Every now and then, you see a film that reaffirms your faith in the power of cinema as an art form, challenging you in exciting ways. The A-Team is not that film. It’s dumb, trashy, and flashy, and totally superficial. It is also, however, a lot of fun. Disposable, forgettable, and unpretentious, with some quotable funny lines, the film is basically like watching an action film on caffeine. It’s braindead, yes, but it has the sense to know it, and the actors, particularly a scene-stealing Sharlto Copley, are all in on the joke. As far as junk food action cinema goes, you could do far worse.
Battleship- Generally terrible, but better than the Transformers movies, though that’s the definition of faint praise. A bunch of aliens invade the water, the Navy has to stop them, and I do not care. Some neat design elements (apparently noted comic book artist Jock worked on the designs) and a little less misogynistic leering up women’s’ skirts than the Bay films, but even if it’s unpretentious, it still eventually collapses under the weight of its own stupidity.
Drive- This is what digital cinematography is all about, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie this visually stunning. It’s not surprising, director Nicholas Winding Refn’s father worked as an editor for digital pioneer Lars Von Trier back during the early years of digital during the Dogme movement. Refn describes the film as a fairytale, but it hews most closely to a Michael Mann film’s neon existential romanticism. The film is kind of slight and not exactly intellectually substantial, to be honest, but it’s so gorgeous that for once, style-over substance works. Refn calls it a “fetish film,” and it’s designed to within an inch of it’s life. Explosively violent and occasionally poetic, the film is pure mythmaming. If you’re looking for a crime that actually examines anything with moral value and sociological causes, go watch The Wire. Ryan Gosling is terrific as the monosyllabic driver with no name. A weird but surprisingly effective blend of existential archetypal exploitation movie storytelling and art-house aesthetics.
Looper- Fun, twisty time-travel thriller from Rian Johnson, combining the director’s penchant for noir with a sci-fi twist. Plot summary would take pages, but all of the pieces fit together pretty well. The plot doesn’t much sense on close scrutiny perhaps, but it rattles along so quickly that you don’t notice. Much stronger with the beats of the screenplay than any particular visuals, though the performances are uniformly excellent, Bruce Willis finally get a meaty role again, and makes the most of it.
Dredd- Sadly missing the scathing social satire that made Robocop, one of the imitators of the original comic so memorable, but as a balls-to-the walls action flick, that’s a throwback to the ultraviolence of the 80s and 90s, it’s a ruthlessly efficient machine. Proudly R-rated, violent as hell, and visually gritty, and Karl Urban is flint-hard as the monosyllabic title character, a raw force of nature. Disappointingly predictable screenplay, but for a movie that gives the fans what they want, it’s hard to beat. Shot digitally by the great Anthony Dod Mantle, it’s like six degrees of Lars Von Trier.
The World’s End- Maniacal mash-up from writer director Edgar Wright, the film is so busy and madcap that it’d be easy to dismiss as overwrought, but it’s a much smarter than its post-modern pastiche surface would suggest. A film about the dangers of nostalgia and the fragmentation of our technological world, shot on 35mm and Super 16 with that lovely texture that film has, it has a little bit of everything, but it works better than it has any right to work. Wright may be throwing everything but the kitchen sink in, but he has a remarkably deft hand, and under it’s frantic surface is a smart and heartfelt film.
The Conjuring- The Warren Files would’ve been a much better title. A very stylish ghost movie from director James Wan. Wan’s a rock star, but he dials that back a bit here, going for a more classical approach, though his freewheeling camera and penchant for loud noises that go “BANG!” mean it’s not exactly Val Lewton. Shot digitally, John R. Leonetti’s cinematography is stunning and makes good use of shadows and light. Wan idolizes Argento, but Argeno’s pop expressionism at least had bad dubbing to fall back on, some of the dialogue here is really horrible, and the storyline is a bit ham-fisted, regardless of your religious beliefs. “Witches believe sacrificing their child is the ultimate gift to Satan!” Ooga-booga! Stylish as hell though, with Wan’s clean gliding camera and compositions. Vera Farminga is luminous as always, but everyone else is just a prop for Wan to throw around. I jumped a lot, it did it’s job well, but lets see how memorable time decides it is.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story- Another Star Wars prequel. Yawn. Not a bad film, but one the feels calculated to within an inch of its life for commercial appeal, down to every character’s gender, ethnicity, etc. Unbelievably expensive-looking and curiously joyless. Again, whether you like Lucas or not, he did things that were once new. Oh, look. It’s the Battle of Endor again. Nearly everything about Rouge One feels too calculated towards gritty reboots, towards toy sales, towards practically everything but straightforward storytelling. Compare this to the lean economy of Lucas’ 1977 film. That said, Donnie Yen Ji-Dan kicking ass in an English-language film is loads of fun, there are some cool effects, and the set pieces are decent if overlong. But it feel like way too much of mediocre thing. Fun, but forgettable.
I hope my new years resolution is 4K.
Bah-dum-tish. Try the veal, tip your waiter.
In a way The Last Jedi is Disney’s veiled message, that we will probably never see the OOT released on (4K) bluray or any other form. TLJ’s message is clear. Out with the old, and in with the new. As a fan you either adapt or die. The OOT is the posterboy for the first generation of Star Wars fans. It represents the old, perhaps even the ancient, and not the new. Disney will put all their marketing power in selling this next generation Star Wars. The OOT has no place in this.
I think people are already getting tired of Star Wars. They seem to be miscalculating the market.
Much as I’d like to think so, there’s no evidence I know of to support this thesis.
I have an antivirus program I inherited (It’s my mom’s old laptop), but I think it’s expired. I’m getting a particular error message which I’ll type once I see it again.
Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:
But it’s so cold out there 😉. What’d you disagree with, just out of curiosity?
Your sentiments on The Last Jedi. I’ve seen it four times and I really, thoroughly, completely adore that movie! (I do appreciate that my opinion is not one that’s shared by many though!)
Fair enough. I know it’s proving divisive.
Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:
Go outside Mike O, get some fresh air, you can’t watch movies all day long! Seriously though, I love reading your reviews (even if some of them are VERY, VERY WRONG!) Keep them coming.
But it’s so cold out there 😉. What’d you disagree with, just out of curiosity?
Snowing, bitterly cold, sometimes dropping down as low as -2-6.
Doesn’t sound like you’d enjoy the -20 to -26 weather we’ve had for the past week (and it’s not at all abnormal here for it to go down to -40 for a couple days every winter).
And if you mean -2 degrees Celsius, then that’s just pathetic. 😉
No, -2° Celsius would be quite warm here 😉. I would certainly not enjoy your -26 :p.
Snowing, bitterly cold, sometimes dropping down as low as -2-6. Summers are beautiful here though. That’s what I get for living in the Great Lakes State, I suppose. I hate winter, but I’ve lived with it my whole life, and having four seasons proper is admittedly a lot better than murderous heat, though we’ve had our share of 100° days the last few years. All things considered, it could be way worse; we’ve only had some stray inches of snow so far this winter. We’ll see how long that lasts.
This is really turning out to be very convoluted 😄.
That’s the point! If it’s not hard to get, everyone will be downloading it and it increases the potential of everything being copyrighted and shut down.
But I’m stupid. By the time I manage to figure out has to get it, 3.0 may already be out 😉. In all seriousness, I know it’s an effort to combat potential bootleggers, I just wish I could get the download to work as a single piece.
JEDIT: Well, I got the folder open, but man, he wasn’t kidding when he said it was in a lot of pieces. It could seriously take weeks.
EDIT 2: Why can’t I download Mega Downloader?!
Andy Serkis is frigging mesmerizing.
Lights Out- Surprisingly effective high-concept horror flick from a YouTube filmmaker who made it big. Nothing groundbreaking, but a terrific central performance from Maria Bello gives her character more depth than the script. The allegory is a bit muddled-without spoiling the ending, let’s just say that what it suggests about depression has been highly controversial. The characterizations are serviceable, if a little thinly sketched, but the scares are lots of fun, and the movie has a good time adding a new icon to the horror pantheon.
I’ve had amazingly good luck at my AMC over the years.
You have to download MegaDownload MegaDownloader first 😉
This is really turning out to be very convoluted 😄.
My laptop won’t let me download MegaDownload for whatever reason. Weird.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - 4.5/5
I wish it was longer. The only reason it isn’t 5/5 is because I feel like most shots could’ve held a bit longer. More atmosphere and longer beats would’ve benefited it.
It’s amazing it turned out as well as it did. It was going to go straight to video, and WB changed their minds at the last minute. The production values suffer a tiny bit (compare it to the TMS gloss of Return of the Joker), but you could still make a case it’s the best Batman movie of all.
Oh geez, I have seen Rashomon too, it slipped my mind earlier. I’ve been trying to find a good time to watch Seven Samurai for a while, but the three-hour running time makes it difficult. Kagemusha isn’t on Filmstruck, but it looks like I can snag a used copy of the blu-ray for twelve bucks on Amazon, so that’s happening.
The 3.5 hours of Seven Samurai really breeze by.
Lawless- Another John Hillcoat-Nick Cave collaboration, with a top-tier cast. LeBouf tries mightily to break away from being typecast. Gorgeously, gorgeously shot (If 35mm is foretold to die, may all digitally shot films look half as good as this), it’s so pretty. Sadly, it’s full of repugnant people whom I don’t like very much, but the rich period detail is fun, and the actors are having a blast. Hardy and Pierce are positively feral, and the film is full of Hillycoat’s brutal but artfully shot violence. Short of greatness and perhaps ultimately slight, but it is pretty. Good God, is it pretty though.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown- Basically a feature-length episode of Unsolved Mysteries, like most little exploitation movies, the pleasures are small things that probably were things the filmmakers weren’t even aiming for. The Arkansas atmosphere of the 70s looks nice and the almost documentary-like sense of place. And of course that beautiful grain you get on 35mm film, the movie has a nice sense of place. But it’s basically just a slasher movie when all is said and done, mostly special because it was unavailable for so long. Decent.
Even the greatest films ever tend to age, whether because of their specific ties to the times in which they were made, their political incorrectness, changing social mores, cultural ideas, endless imitators, or the fact that in the age of endless post-modern pop culture references, almost every film is chopped up and spit out, or any number of factors. And then there’s The Maltese Falcon. A glittering, ageless gem, as juicy today as it was 75 years ago. Rich, almost tactile atmosphere, dialogue that Tarantino would borrow from heavily, superb performances, and a surprisingly dark tone, with the ever iconic and brilliant Humphrey Bogart at the center. Even in an age of flippant nihilism and fragmented culture, The Maltese Falcon is as rich and mysterious as ever. The stuff that dreams are made of indeed.
Pitch Black- Saying a movie is "a good Alien ripoff is the very definition of faint praise, but in this case, it’s actually a hell of a compliment. A terrific B-movie with the heart of a classic John Carpenter flick, David Twohy’s sci-fi thriller is an effective sci-fi horror flick with elements of many genre movies past, but it hinges on a terrific high-concept premise and a role that perfectly utilizes Vin Diesel’s monosyllabic presence. A great premise, a sexy heroine, good monsters, nice FX work, and superb nighttime cinematography from Mad Max DP David Eggby. Good stuff, and a nice reminder that B-movie isn’t quite dead yet.
The Chronicles of Riddick- A woefully misguided sequel to Pitch Black that tried to turn the whole thing into a big Star Wars-style space opera, but the thin screenplay doesn’t work when you stretch something so confined onto a wider canvas. Lots of already dated FX, a bunch of furious action scenes which don’t really work, and a bunch of babbling about a mythology that doesn’t make much sense. A well-designed but turgid misfire.
Riddick- A back-to-basics return to form for the franchise that probably shouldn’t be a franchise, this gets things back to the B-movie high-concept roots. A bunch of foul-mouthed space mercenaries land on a planet with Riddick and a bunch of monsters, much chaos ensues. Surprisingly scrappy fun, and throwback to the 80s when these flick were R-rated.
A Perfect Getaway-Another Twohy flick, once again hinging on a nice high concept. Good performances, but one the film turns its cards over, it basically becomes another violent slasher flick. Still, Twohy has that proper B-movie swagger, and there’s fun to be had.
The Arrival- If you can get past the fact that they’ve cast a surprisingly effective Charlie Sheen as an astronomer and some rather glaring plot holes, this is another fun Twohy B-movie, which really makes the most of a limited budget and pulpy premise. Got it for free in SD registering for Ultraviolet.
Tell No One- Rather mediocre French thriller from a pulpy Harlan Coben novel that got glowing reviews. If it was in English, I don’t think it would’ve. Apart from some sexual frankness that you wouldn’t find a in a movie on this side of the pond, it’s not hugely different from a run-of-the-mill thriller here. OK, and good performances, but the comparisons to Hitchcock are a little baffling.
Henry V- Kenneth Branagh’s extraordinarily confident directorial debut, with the young actor in his prime. Easily one of the best films of Shakespeare, and probably the most fully-realized of all of his Bard adaptions, without some of the Hollywood casting which would show up later. Robust, exciting, and accessible, great stuff. And a great battle scene too.
Ocean’s Eleven- Sleek, cool, laid-back, star-powered, old-fashioned heist movie from Steven Soderberg. A very lightweight movie by design, but very light on its feet, and lots of fun, the stars are obviously having a blast, and you can’t blame them, and you should too.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi- And I thought that JJ Abrams was an eager-to-please fanboy. Rian Johnson’s new installment starts fast and moves faster thereafter, bombarding the audience with nonstop dialogue and VFX. But whether you like George Lucas or not, the fact is that he once did things which were stylistically new; Disney sequel trilogy too often reeks of empty nostalgia. There are good things scattered about; a terrific central performance from Mark Hamill as an embittered Luke Skywalker, some nifty visuals (Kicking up salt, a cool lightsaber kill), but the film is way too long and feels a bit too desperate to please. Still, there’s fun to be had; Ridley remains an engaging new lead, and some of Johnson’s set pieces, though occasionally exhausting, have some fun zip. But it feels like a little too much of something that’s only OK.
I don’t quite understand the way you asked the question, but you’ll eventually get everything.
Sounds like it could literally take weeks though. So it goes. Then I have to figure out how to burn them and make disc art 😉.
If I simply keep going to days and days, without paying for anything, how long will it take? Will it reset every time, or will I be able to eventually download all the pieces?
I was kind of wondering this too. I don’t think there’s a cost-free way of getting around spending several days on the download.
We can only hope.
I’ve actually been trying to do the same thing, but I don’t think my laptop can handle a data-load that big.
A few years ago, I got see a 35mm print of the original Planet of the Apes. The guy in front of me brought his grandkids, and they exclaimed with surprise during the big reveal at the end. It was so cool.
This has been the worst day I’ve had in years, and it honestly has nothing to do with my recent alcohol cessation or week long stay in a psych ward/detox clinic.
Jesus, man, I’m genuinely sorry 😦. No one should have to suffer like that. I hope things look up for you.
Happy Birthday, by the way.
The harm: Lucasfilm/Disney only leaves us alone because nobody is profiting and they don’t see us as a threat to their revenue. If they start to see people selling these projects, they may crack down on us harder. It’s also just morally messed up to profit off of other people’s hard work they are providing for free.
Skill: it’s not hard to do. Just need to take a few minutes to learn.
Equipment: really not expensive nowadays.
There may be members willing to do that, but again, I think it’s worth the time and small investment to learn to do it yourself.
I agree that it’s morally questionable for a third-party to profit off Harmy’s work. However, they are providing a service and/or product that’s not easily obtainable elsewhere. (I am specifically talking about LDS Entertainment here).
I don’t know how much their cost is for sourcing blank BD-50 discs, cases, ink, high quality paper, printers, disc authoring software, plus S&H. Maybe $60 for three discs is a bit high, but they do bear significant costs in creating the finished product. For me, a non-tekkie with an old B&W HP printer, I do see value in having a competent party author and press the discs for me with (somewhat professional) menus and artwork.
Edit by moderator.
This is going to be a big meme in the wake of TLJ, isn’t it 😉?