The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[jvince]

Predator (1987)
dir. John McTiernan

The Good: Action-packed badassery. Great character work (including the Predator). Stan Winston's special effects. Alan Silvestri's score. Perfect pacing and editing. The final act (it's absolutely f*cking epic).

The Bad: The film's so cool until that cheesy end credits.

The Bottom Line: Although it inevitably comes off as a poor-man's Alien, Predator is just plain, good, old-fashioned fun that does everything right. Recommended.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Not really, it's a lot more grounded in reality but far more whimsical, where Pan's Labyrinth is gothic and gloomy. Beasts seems more like a fairytale where Pan's has more to do with fairytales.

And I haven't seen Casino Royale recently either, probably a year ago since I've seen it.

I honestly didn't know this has some fantasy elements in it until just recently. I love these types of films and I would've sought for it when it came out in theaters. I've been reading comparisons to Miyazaki's movies. Is that more accurate?

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by jvince

Predator (1987)
dir. John McTiernan

[Show spoiler]

The Good: Action-packed badassery. Great character work (including the Predator). Stan Winston's special effects. Alan Silvestri's score. Perfect pacing and editing. The final act (it's absolutely f*cking epic).

The Bad: The film's so cool until that cheesy end credits.

[Show spoiler]The Bottom Line: Although it inevitably comes off as a poor-man's Alien, Predator is just plain, good, old-fashioned fun that does everything right. Recommended.

Dude, those end credits are awesome!

Originally Posted by jvince

I honestly didn't know this has some fantasy elements in it until just recently. I love these types of films and I would've sought for it when it came out in theaters. I've been reading comparisons to Miyazaki's movies. Is that more accurate?

I'm not seen a whole Miyazaki film, but I can see the comparisons a little.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Foggy

^^^ Great Review

Thanks, man! I'm glad that it was actually understandable - it wasn't as well written as yours, but I just wanted people to know how good it actually was. It needs to be seen in the cinema so that MGM can make its money back and get on making another Bond!

[iam1bearcat]

i don't get to watch movies (or anything) a lot these days, but while working from home the last few weeks i've constantly been putting on Up in the Air and it has steadily been growing into a favorite of mine.

i love the life that Ryan leads and i agree with him in many regards to his life stances and ideas however, i am not a big fan of flying, not because of my fear of heights but because of sh*tty planes and long delays

aside from when Natalie fires the guy at the car company over the computer and then he walks out of the room crying and walks right past THE BIG GLASS WINDOW IN THE ROOM NEXT TO HIM WHERE NATALIE AND RYAN ARE as if they aren't there or how he can't hear them but theyu hear him i love every scene in the film.

the dark humor of when Natalie freaks out over the woman who says she will jump off the bridge and she asks Ryan if he checks up the people and he says, "god no, that goes nowhere good" to learning how Natalie gets

[Show spoiler]dumped

and

[Show spoiler]quits

is cold, cruel and hilarious. perfectly sums up my generation.

don't think i see it as a 5/5, but at least a 4.5/5

[Diesel]

-pokes his head in-


Hey guys


I've been gone from this thread for quite a while now.
Almost 2 months since my last real post and not just some random pop in and use smilies post


My lack of free time won't be going away any time soon however, it's probably going to go down actually


I'll be back with some free time in Mid-December though after Graduation. I'll be taking a weeks vacation and hoping to catch up on some seriously lacking sleep and movie watching.

[jvince]

Friday the 13th (1980)
dir. Sean S. Cunningham

The Good: Hot chicks.

The Bad: Boring. Extremely lazy and stupid. Overlong. Feeble attempts at building tension and scares. Terrible acting. Some laughable moments. No Jason.

The Bottom Line: How this earned a cult following and a ton of sequels, spin-offs, and a reboot, I will never understand. Pass.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Diesel

-pokes his head in-


Hey guys


I've been gone from this thread for quite a while now.
Almost 2 months since my last real post and not just some random pop in and use smilies post


My lack of free time won't be going away any time soon however, it's probably going to go down actually


I'll be back with some free time in Mid-December though after Graduation. I'll be taking a weeks vacation and hoping to catch up on some seriously lacking sleep and movie watching.

Right on! Good luck with all your endeavors.

Originally Posted by jvince

Friday the 13th (1980)
dir. Sean S. Cunningham

The Good: Hot chicks.

The Bad: Boring. Extremely lazy and stupid. Overlong. Feeble attempts at building tension and scares. Terrible acting. Some laughable moments. No Jason.

The Bottom Line: How this earned a cult following and a ton of sequels, spin-offs, and a reboot, I will never understand. Pass.

Agreed.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i don't get to watch movies (or anything) a lot these days, but while working from home the last few weeks i've constantly been putting on Up in the Air and it has steadily been growing into a favorite of mine.

i love the life that Ryan leads and i agree with him in many regards to his life stances and ideas however, i am not a big fan of flying, not because of my fear of heights but because of sh*tty planes and long delays

aside from when Natalie fires the guy at the car company over the computer and then he walks out of the room crying and walks right past THE BIG GLASS WINDOW IN THE ROOM NEXT TO HIM WHERE NATALIE AND RYAN ARE as if they aren't there or how he can't hear them but theyu hear him i love every scene in the film.

the dark humor of when Natalie freaks out over the woman who says she will jump off the bridge and she asks Ryan if he checks up the people and he says, "god no, that goes nowhere good" to learning how Natalie gets

[Show spoiler]dumped

and

[Show spoiler]quits

is cold, cruel and hilarious. perfectly sums up my generation.

don't think i see it as a 5/5, but at least a 4.5/5

I never tire of Up in the Air, or any of Reitman's films. This is somewhere in my Top 20.

[Al_The_Strange]

Haven't really been reviewing much around these parts lately. I reckon I oughta post a lil' somethin' 'bout these here films I gone done seen...

Cockneys vs Zombies

Pretty much the same type of stuff that goes into Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead; all three of these films come off as thrilling and amusing, but are never laugh-out-loud funny for me or anything. At least the blood and gore is decent.

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: Sure, why not?

Blu-Ray looks and sounds decent.

PQ: 4/5, AQ: 4/5

Disc is region-B locked.



Basket Case

Pretty absurd little film with some cheap creature effects. Blood and guts are still pretty wicked. It can be a little cheesy, but it's nowhere near as "bad" as I expected. I'm happy with it.

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Average | Film: Average)

Recommendation: As a rental to anybody interested in all things weird and gnarly.

This Blu-Ray looks pretty gaudy, with all kinds of dirt, specks, scratches, etc. It's in full-screen only (I guess that's the OAR). Grain is heavy. Fortunately, the disc looks sufficiently sharp and detailed. Sound quality kinda sucks.

PQ: 3/5, AQ: 2.5/5

Got the UK Steelbook. It's region-free.



Class of Nuke 'Em High

Disappointed that Duke Nukem's not in it.

Regardless, coming from the same campy low-rate people who made Poultrygeist, I was pleased to see more of the same: disgusting blood and guts, silly comedy, and a totally absurd plot. It plays out a bit like a standard 80s high-school comedy, but the crazy blood and guts and gnarly creature effects place it firmly in the realm of a proper gorefest comedy. Hence, it's totally bodacious, dude!

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Average | Film: Average)

Recommendation: Only for fans of this type of cinema.

This Blu-Ray is a bit gaudy with the specks and dirt and scratches, but it still looks sharp with good color/contrast. Sound quality sucks big time.

PQ: 3/5, AQ: 1/5



Bowery at Midnight

BORING!

2/5 (Entertainment: None | Story: Marginal | Film: Marginal)

Recommendation: As a sleeping pill, insert into player, then allow three minutes for sedative to take effect. Side effects may include restlessness, and bewilderment over why people consider Bella Lugosi to be such a great actor.



Attack of the Giant Leeches

BORING!

2/5 (Entertainment: Very Poor | Story: Marginal | Film: Marginal)

Recommendation: Visiting a medieval surgeon? Be sure to bring along this film for a proper blood-letting.



Woman in Black (2012)

Pretty decent ghost story with decent acting and a decent production value. It's a bit slow, but there's nothing I can really fault this film for. It'll go down as one of those movies that I think is good, but would never want to see again.

4/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: As a rental.



Great Expectations

A nice classy film, and a proper adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel (at least as far as I can remember). It does a fine job of underscoring the key themes revolving around class and character. A lot of scenes are realized exactly as I pictured them from reading the novel. My complaints are the same as the book, however: I'm never really sure what the plot's driving force is, especially in the last acts (eh, some kid inherits a bunch of money, then people chase him for no reason). It might just boil down to me not understanding how stuff worked in the Victorian age, but as it is, I consider the characters of this story to be far superior to its actual plot structure or conflict.

4/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Very Good | Film: Very Good)

Recommendation: Sure, why not?



Silent Hill

Is it a great, mind-blowing story?! Nope. Is it entertaining? Yep. Is it well-made? Frakk yeah! If nothing else, I've always loved the look, style, and atmosphere of this film. I loved the creepy unnatural monsters and the fugly settings and all the fog and all the ash and the creepy little girls and blah blah blah! It seems like this film gets a lot of flak for various things, but the only one thing that ever bothered me was understanding the specifics of the plot (made easier on repeat viewings, and it's now intuitive enough for me to "get it" in full), and the very very ending (which might be rectified with the sequel).

4/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: As a rental.

I swapped out my US Blu-Ray for the French edition. Holy crap, I can see monsters and weird s**t I never saw before! The black levels are so much improved that everything is visible without compromising any amount of detail or image consistency. On top of all that, the film has very few artifacts, and looks super-sharp, clean, and clear. Sound quality is insane!

PQ: 5/5, AQ: 5/5

This edition is region-free.

[P@t_Mtl]

Dracula (1931)

Directed by : Tod Browning
Starring : Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler. David Manners
Format : DVD

Story : A English man come's to Transylvania on business with a very strange local count name Dracula (Lugosi). After buying a property near London they both travel to England aboard a ship. Once in England the entire crew is found dead except for the business man, now quite mad. After meeting the family living next to his property, Dracula start a plan to convert Mina (Chandler) into a vampire to spend eternity with him. He soon meet's Van Helsing who plan to stop the count at any cost.

Comments : After 80 years one can find more intense and without a doubt more scary Dracula movies. Now a days when we look at this movie there is more chances of dying of laughter than of fright. Even with all the over acting and silly gestures, Lugosi is still the standard for Dracula. Often iminated but never really surpass. This is a classic that even with all of the dust on it never get's old to watch

Ratings : 3.5/5

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Dracula (1931)

Comments : After 80 years one can find more intense and without a doubt more scary Dracula movies. Now a days when we look at this movie there is more chances of dying of laughter than of fright. Even with all the over acting and silly gestures, Lugosi is still the standard for Dracula. Often iminated but never really surpass. This is a classic that even with all of the dust on it never get's old to watch

Ratings : 3.5/5

Exactly!

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Diesel

I've been gone from this thread for quite a while now.

I had not noticed.

[Show spoiler] Graduating in December?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Silent Hill

Is it a great, mind-blowing story?! Nope. Is it entertaining? Yep. Is it well-made? Frakk yeah! If nothing else, I've always loved the look, style, and atmosphere of this film. I loved the creepy unnatural monsters and the fugly settings and all the fog and all the ash and the creepy little girls and blah blah blah! It seems like this film gets a lot of flak for various things, but the only one thing that ever bothered me was understanding the specifics of the plot (made easier on repeat viewings, and it's now intuitive enough for me to "get it" in full), and the very very ending (which might be rectified with the sequel).

4/5 (Entertainment: Very Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Good)

Recommendation: As a rental.

I swapped out my US Blu-Ray for the French edition. Holy crap, I can see monsters and weird s**t I never saw before! The black levels are so much improved that everything is visible without compromising any amount of detail or image consistency. On top of all that, the film has very few artifacts, and looks super-sharp, clean, and clear. Sound quality is insane!

PQ: 5/5, AQ: 5/5

This edition is region-free.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Exactly!

The thing with many of these Universal Monsters movies was just how innocent they were but also how scary they actually felt for the public of the 1930's

Different times, different styles. Can you imagine that audience of the time watching some of the movies we now have?

[P@t_Mtl]

Frankenstein (1931)

Directed by : James Whale
Starring : Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff
Format : DVD

Story : Brillant scientist, doctor Frankenstein (Clive) is trying to bring back to life a body that as as constructed from different body part. He manage's to do but his creation, with a brain that is far from normal, is a monster, if a innocent one. After the escape of the monster and his accidental killing of a young child, the entire village goes out and try to capture the monster.

Comments : If Lugosi is forever Dracula, Karloff is forever the monster. While made the same year as Dracula this movie hold's up a little better even after 80 years. Still things in it that would make any modern audience chuckle and Clive's over acting seem more "drole" now than actual acting. Still brush off a few things, alter a few lines and change the style of a few characters and this movie could have been made today. A classic to be seen if you claim to be a fan of horror.

Ratings : 3.5/5

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I neglected to mention that, as much as I love Silent Hill, I'll probably wait for the sequel to hit home video, rather than checking it out at theaters.

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

The thing with many of these Universal Monsters movies was just how innocent they were but also how scary they actually felt for the public of the 1930's

Different times, different styles. Can you imagine that audience of the time watching some of the movies we now have?

I've wondered about that sometimes. I imagine our modern films would freak a 1930s or 1950s audience out.

I'd rather see their reaction to a movie like Avatar.

[Romulus]

*arises back from the dead*

Howdy folks, hope all is well. This is my Capstone week so we had to pick a film that I hadn't seen before. I ended up with Umberto D. and I'm in the process of writing a massive analysis of it. I can post it here Thursday or Friday if people want to read it.

What do you guys think of the movie?

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I neglected to mention that, as much as I love Silent Hill, I'll probably wait for the sequel to hit home video, rather than checking it out at theaters.

It's been given a proper critically bashing, that's for sure. Something like 6% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not that that makes it any less likely that it's a good film - it might well be - but it doesn't inspire hope...especially when the trailer didn't even look that good.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Romulus

*arises back from the dead*

No kidding.

Howdy folks, hope all is well. This is my Capstone week so we had to pick a film that I hadn't seen before. I ended up with Umberto D. and I'm in the process of writing a massive analysis of it. I can post it here Thursday or Friday if people want to read it.

What do you guys think of the movie?

Never saw it.