theprequelsrule

There is only one question that should be asked when it comes to abortion: should a woman have the final say over the fate of something inside her?

I feel that the opposition to abortion, from the ancient world to today, is based on keeping women under control of men. And I am a semi-misogynistic male myself, so I don't usually take the Feminist perspective. I think if you agree with modern Western values, then you must automatically grant women the right to decide if the child they carry lives or dies.

I'm not saying we should throw a party when an abortion is performed or anything.

It is one of those funny issues right? Liberals and conservatives are often on the side of the issue opposite to what you would expect. Conservatives should want the decision to remain with the family, while liberals would be more likely for the government to interfere to "protect" the child.

bkev said:

"You wanna play games, I'll play your fucking games."

The Deer Hunter (1978)

I watched this about a month ago and loved the hell out of it.  Keep in mind, that another one of my favorite movies is Apocalypse Now - and both of these movies deal with Vietnam.  However, what makes Deer Hunter unique is it deals a lot more with the difficulties of going back home after war.

The contrast between the serenity and peace provided by a routine shared with family and friends versus the harsh reality of war is explored through the three characters of Michael, Steven and Nick - and how each of them is damaged by the war.  To explain how would be to give away the emotional impact the movie has.

Any criticisms? Well, it drags in the beginning.  I understand the usefulness of showing how great their life was before the war, but a lot of the scenes - especially the wedding - tend to slow the pace.  I'm curious to see how the official shorter cut fares, but I doubt we'll ever see it. 

Not necessarily a plus or a minus, but I think the cinematography has aged a little more than that of Apocalypse Now.  I would be able to identify it as being from the 1970's right away, whereas Apocalypse Now is shot in a way that leaves it looking modern still today. Your taste will vary, but for me that didn't hinder my enjoyment.

Starring Robert de Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage and Meryl Streep (whom purportedly wrote a fair share of her dialogue at the behest of the director.)

A fair assessment of the film. It's weird seeing Christopher Walken before he was a parody of himself isn't it?

marcus brooks said:

That's an interesting opinion....I wonder how many would agree with that?

Vader was always the "cool" Bad Guy. Vader never frightened me as a child. I thought he was totally awesome, but not scary. The Emperor on the hand I found quite frightening (as a 6 year old).

He had great delivery on every line of dialogue in Star Wars. Superb timing and vocal tone. Tarkin is actually a more chilling character than Vader.

But seriously, how hot is Aayla Secura? I mean lekku that sexy should be banned. Daaaamn.

CatBus said:

doubleofive said:

Strangest day of class ever.

Context is everything.  I had that exact lecture but it came off really well in my heathen class, there was cheering and goat blood smoothies and everything.  Maybe the professor recycles material from previous teaching positions?

Lol.

Great name by the way Catbus. MNT always makes me cry. Such a wonderful film.

A lot of fun speculation in this thread. There have been so many changes as the SW canon has expanded in terms of Vader's position. Remember, it is entirely possible that Vader was originally intended as one of many Sith Lords in service to the Empire. As late as the 90s Lucas was okay with the idea of the Emperor having other darkside users in his service

But when watching SW77, it is clear that both Tarkin and Vader are given relatively equal weight as the main antagonists. Their exact place within the Empire is interesting. Vader's power seems to be very much in the vein of how Mara Jade is later depicted by Zahn; a special envoy of the Emperor who has power and authority only at the behest of the Emperor. Tarkin has traditional authority via his position as a Governor, but is also a "Grand Moff" and had been granted (from the Emperor) widespread dictatorial power over a vast amount of territory in order to suppress dissidents. Tarkin is very similar to certain figures in Roman history in this respect.

Point #1 by Chevelle.

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

captainsolo said:

I think there are really only three Dracula films ever worth mentioning: the '31 Lugosi film, Nosferatu, and Horror of Dracula.

To that list I would add Vampyr (1932), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), and Shadow of the Vampire (2000). And maybe Dracula (1979) - the one with Frank Langella, just for the creepy scene in the sewer.

Langella's performance is quite interesting - very different than any other. He is just so damn charming and cheerful.

The best version of Dracula is the 1977 BBC miniseries. The Lugosi film has become iconic but I have always found it quite terrible. Unfortunately Lugosi's ridiculous performance became associated with the character.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) was pretty good, although not great (Keanu Reeves as Harker? WTF?). It was very, very sexy. Winona Rider and Monica Bellucci kissing other girls!

Davnes007 said:

theprequelsrule said:

Overall, it seems that Star Wars sucks. Being a fan, I think that is the worse thing about the last 15 years. For a good long time most of the products were pretty damn good (OOT, original Kenner toys, Zahn Trilogy, the X-wing and TIE Fighter video games). Then, sometime in the late 90s, things went to shit and I would say 9 out of every 10 Star Wars products is absolute garbage.

That's not exactly "random".

It's more like "the kind of thing you say often".

Lol. I suppose that's true.

Playing and enjoying Allan Wake.

captainsolo said:

I did all the Hammer Draculas...finally seeing all of them in consecutive order. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF??

The Brides of Dracula-No Dracula, odd vampire substitute but is still classic Hammer. Peter Cushing is brilliant but doesn't return until the last three sadly. 3 vampire bites seared by a hot iron out of 4 rubber bats.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness-Lee returns for this very classy sequel that unfortunately is the first of the series to suffer from acute boredom. I saw this as  a kid and it certainly doesn't play as well now. Aside from Dracula getting resurrected, the only other memorable moment is the death scene (which really is great.) 2.5 icy balls out of 4.

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave-Change in directors made this one have a different feel-mostly in the visuals. The major overtone is religion so we have a priest, atheist, and Monsignor for Dracula to play with. Dracula goes on the first of his wonderfully boring "revenge" plots and people get knocked off one by one. 2 holy balls out of 4.

Taste the Blood of Dracula-Brilliant first act that was all psycholgical...and it all suddenly grids to a screeching halt to become yet another Dracula getting revenge movie. Then it also lifts untold amounts from Has Risen. And to add insult to injury the ending is confusing, stupid, and absolutely incomprehensible. 2 balls out of 4.

Scars of Dracula-intended as a reboot for the series. Essentially a whole new Drac film, but all of the budget and interest has gone completely. This is really terrible. Terrible rubber bats, a scene where Dracula randomly stabs the living hell out of a girl vampire for NO APPARENT REASON!, the most gore of any Hammer film, more cardboard stock characters that are even worse this time around, and a stupid death for the Count. At least the first 10 minutes are ok. Dracula is resurrected, girl found dead with marks in neck, villagers storm castle and burn it down, and they return to their homes to find all of the women and children slaughtered. But afterwards it's terrible. Even Lee isn't any good. And when he is awful you know it's BAD. 1 gory ball out of 4.

Dracula A.D. 1972-The one I swore I'd never watch again. It's Dracula for a few minutes and he is killed as always. Then he arises again in 1972 with yet another revenge plot! (cue funky Blaxploitation music.) Awful, but at least there is a plot and budget. Peter Cushing returns and is the only reason to watch this terrible mess. 1 groovy ball out of 4.

The Satanic Rites of Dracula-I'd never seen this one before and had wondered why it had lapsed into the public domain. Somehow this is simultaneously better and worse than A.D. 1972. Part espionage movie, part cultists movie, part Dracula movie. The budget looks to have been two sticks of used chewing gum. Truly god-awful yet it has an ingeniously clever and diabolical plot. (Drac reinvents himself as a Howard Hughes type reclusive millionaire and recruits top government officials to aid his scheme of releasing a new deadly strain of plague that will decimate all populations. He does this because he wants to die and take the whole world with him.) Once again, only Peter rescues this dreadful mess. And Dracula gets hurt by a tree. No, I'm not kidding. 1 satanic ball out of 4.

Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires-the last of the cycle, a co-production with the Shaw Brothers. That's right, Kung-fu vampires! But even without Dracula and being so obviously bad, it works much better than the three previous films. Good ridiculous fun. Cushing is again a joy. 1.5 kung-fu balls out of 4.

And for some odd reason, I started writing reviews of these on my blog...

I think all the Hammer Dracula films are quite terrible. In fact, there were no good Dracula films between 1922 and 1977.

Bingowings said:

Quest For Fire (1981).

Somehow this flew under my radar until tonight.

If you can put aside any Paleoanthropological pedantry you may bring to the table for the duration of the piece, it's a rather charming and human film and has much better dialogue than any of the PT films.

Slightly chewed balls.

One of my favs.

I have gotten over my rage at these pieces of shit quite quickly. I don't even feel regret over the poor quality anymore.

Of course, I never bought them...

Maybe one day I'll borrow them from a friend, but I don't have any friends who have them!

Overall, it seems that Star Wars sucks. Being a fan, I think that is the worse thing about the last 15 years. For a good long time most of the products were pretty damn good (OOT, original Kenner toys, Zahn Trilogy, the X-wing and TIE Fighter video games). Then, sometime in the late 90s, things went to shit and I would say 9 out of every 10 Star Wars products is absolute garbage.

Anchorhead said:

This is on the shoulders of several people here.  I've reached a new level of nerdiness -  I created a Wookieepedia account...and I've already corrected an EU mistake.

;-)

 

One of us, one of us, one of us...

I think that when the Star Wars phenomenon became viewed as a great work of art rather than just a great, fun movie with some simple (yet timeless) themes ,it was inevitable that the more serious and mature film in the series would become more highly regarded. This happened around the time of that PBS Joseph Campbell special.

I don't buy any new video games any longer. It kills me not to get Skyrim right away, but I know waiting 2 to 3 years to buy the inevitable Game of the Year edition that includes all the patches and DLC for around $30.00 is the right move. As I get older time goes by more quickly, so it is not a big deal.

I feel that the whole industry turned the corner a few years back and is now just like any other big industry - money can be made through hype and clever advertising, and nobody cares if the games are buggy as hell.

The video game review industry is also corrupt as hell; games that are strictly average get ridiculously high scores on most websites, companies refuse to allow advance reviews (that would expose their mediocre product) etc.

I'm currently enjoying Dead Rising, which I just bought for $10.

Anchorhead said:

An aside;  I never had strong feelings about Lando one way or the other.  Liked him in Empire, but gave him little thought after that.  In the Zahn novels, he's become one of my favorite characters. Well written and with substance.  For me, his chapters are right up there with Skywalker and Mara.

Good point. I forgot how well Zahn handles Lando.

Monolithium said:

Adium said:

George can eat a bag of dicks at this point.

Best.  Quote.  Ever.

+1

doubleofive said:

 

theprequelsrule said:

IIRC correctly there was to be a novel (fortunately canceled) that explained how humans got to the Star Wars galaxy. They would have portrayed humans fleeing from Earth (!) from sentient machines in the 22nd century. They get sent backwards in time and simultaneously flung across the universe to another galaxy - the Star Wars Galaxy.

IIRC correctly it also would have tied in THX 1138 with the Star Wars universe!

That's terrible. And a rip-off of Battlestar Galatica.

 

I would say it rips off Dune and Battlestar Galactica equally. I forgot to mention how the Earthlings learn about the force, and how the first one of them to use the force gets dubbed "The Skywalker".

A dark part of my soul kind of wants this novel written just to see how bad it actually would be in execution.

doubleofive said:

 

theprequelsrule said:

I have a feeling I'm NOT going to like:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Dawn_of_the_Jedi

Let's go back further. I want to see the dawn of life in the Star Wars universe.

 

IIRC correctly there was to be a novel (fortunately canceled) that explained how humans got to the Star Wars galaxy. They would have portrayed humans fleeing from Earth (!) from sentient machines in the 22nd century. They get sent backwards in time and simultaneously flung across the universe to another galaxy - the Star Wars Galaxy.

IIRC correctly it also would have tied in THX 1138 with the Star Wars universe!

darth_ender said:

I have to say that while the new games are fun, I do miss the old days.  I think my first exposure to the original NES was when I was 6, and I loved it.  I still have a fondness for the original Mario Bros., Zelda, and other games.  Now I play them via emulation.  Nice to play them on a more reliable system.

I personally loved the 1988-2003 era. Space Quests 1 to 4, KOTOR, Wing Commander 1 to 4, Star Control 2 (greatest game of all time), Resident Evil 1 & 2, Might and Magic 3 to 5, Morrowind, Street Fighter 2...

In terms of location it all depends on whhich city has the best Strip Clubs. Up here in Canada the chicks get, like, totally naked at every rippers! I hear in the U.S. that they only show their titties. Lame.

I have a feeling I'm NOT going to like:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Dawn_of_the_Jedi