saw "death race" at the weekend. it was ok. certainly you can't think about the plot too much though.

last night saw "the fall". saw trailers for this online ages ago, looked great, but never appeared. till now. was looking through the listings and thought what the hell is this the fall? looked it up again, and was like oh yes, that! its great. heart broken stunt man lies in a hospital bed after a stunt gone wrong. there he is found by a little girl, who has also had a fall. he starts to tell her a fantastic story of a handful of warriors gathered together in their hatred of governer odious. filmed in 26 countries, even if some of the scenes are only seconds long. big, and mad, and glouriously spectacular. some folk will hate this so much.

FRINGE S01E04 - The plot thickens!

"True Blood" Sparks Fly Out S01E05

OK, can any more good characters die?

I continue to be ambivalent about this show. If it wasn't for the sound track, I'd be tipped on the 'its shite' direction.

Vera Drake - Depressing as hell, but very well done.

Pitch Black (2000)

Skiffy. Saw this a long time ago. Forgot how good it was for the time.

Good quaility filming with some interesting filter effects. (Not blue.) Good quality fake blood. Only fair wounding make-up.

Diesel plays his standard role. Frankly, Diesel reminds me a bit of editengine, only older, buffer, and generally better looking. Black is very hot here, in pre- Farscape fine fettle. Mitchell is OK.

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

Skiffy. Sequel to Pitch Black. Makes more sense when seen shortly after.

Good filming. CGI is very good. I like the Necromonger chic. Good quality fake blood, average wounding make-up.

Diesel puts in his time. Dench puts in a decent performance. Newton is tasty.

Anonymous Rex (2004)

Skiffy. Made for TV. Clever concept. I liked the use of the plastic toys.

Filming is cable premium. Fake blood was OK. CGI was barely adequate.

Cast was nobody you ever heard of. Bunch of TV regulars.

friday night "mutant chronicles" and saturday evening "city of ember". both quite similar in certain ways, rough elements of plot, elements of aesthetic. but very different results. MC is very "sky captain and the world of tomorrow" with crappy zombie mutants, running around ala 28 days later, but looking like will-smith-i-am-legend. its one of those films that is soo horrible, yet kind of has an appeal from sheer novelty. CoE is the much better film, even if is aimed at a younger audience, its get better characters, and is just damn well more fun.

while we were out yesterday we came across the dvd of "dante 01", the marc caro film that was being advertised in paris when we were there for new year. so we watched that when we got home. interesting. not sure it matches the plot described on the dvd sleeve. but worth watching.

16 blocks was on tv when dvd finished, so ended up sitting watching that as well. bruce willis, mos def, average enough thriller.

quote:

Originally posted by King Real:
saw "death race" at the weekend. it was ok. certainly you can't think about the plot too much though.

Ever see the original?

Greek
The whole Greek system is infuriating.
But Cappie being best friends with Dale is worth it all

Fringe - Episode 4
Getting more and more like X-Files.
I like it.
The opening scene had me laughing out loud.

Starship Troopers 3 : Marauder
It's cheesy.
But the power-armors are cool.
And all the Federation Network footage was hilarious.
And... and... the song! That was so great.

The Wire - Season 1 - Episode 1
I see why so many people enjoy this show.
I plan on watching more.

South Park (the latest one, about China)
Awesome.
Although I did like the new Indiana Jones.

How I Met Your Mother
Perfect, as always.

Watched Southland Tales Yesterday.

I liked some of the side stories/ideas and the styling quite a lot. Even if the styling was not as harmonious as in Donnie Darko though, thankfully something different.

The movie starts of deliberately confusing, and I was quite surprised that in the end it came together to make sense.

I am a bit disapointed that 'the core story' is a very similar time travel paradox to the one from Donnie Darko.

Some of the added explanations are very far fetched (not to say impossible) and only saved by the complete surrealism of the scientist themself.

Overall, it was okay.

the film of southland tales is the second half of the story, first half is in the comic book. it makes a little more sense after reading the comic. though, yeah, its still a bit barking.

Should I read the comic before I watch the movie?
Or should I get the full-blown confusion?

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:
Should I read the comic before I watch the movie?
Or should I get the full-blown confusion?

I haven't read the comic at all, but it is good fun if you just watch the movie. For the first hour and a bit you will have no clue what is going on at all. Just random weirdness.

from memory the comic is chapters 1-3, and the film is 4-6. so in straight sequential terms, it makes sense to read the comic first. but i don't think it made huge amounts of difference, it was still quite mad.

The comic background makes a lot of sense. The styling and characters is very much like a comic.

Would love to read it one day, just to see what I missed.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Having a soft spot for Mr. Allen's unending stream of work this one was IMO much better than, say, the previous two films. Still the tourist board travelogue flavor of the whole thing is way too pungent. Solid if clichéd acting by Bardem and Cruz, and Johansson's character seems shallow and tacked-on until the end. Seeing this amid an specific audience that laughed at the 'wrong' times was revealing. Too much (and too little) happens, way too fast; this is more of a fantasy film but still interesting to see.

And to balance... Rollerball, 2002 remake. Great for some alcohol-fueled laughs at the expense of the incredibly bad editing, wannabe cyberpunk aesthetic, inane plot and Best Keanu Imitation via the lead character. If you're a fan of the original prepare to have your fond memories mangled. If you've never seen it, do it now and don't even get near this remake. And, something tells me that Mr. Kahn's Neuromancer film will look something like this...

Plus, catched a couple Jpod episodes. I'm underwhelmed. Trite, old sitcom fare with a web 2.0 veneer. Sad.

quote:

Originally posted by ArkanGL:
The Wire - Season 1 - Episode 1
I see why so many people enjoy this show.
I plan on watching more.

Wow, so you were able to stop after just one, eh? A master of self-control and restraint!

I watched Orgazmo last night on recommendation of someone in the Overlooked Films thread. It was fairly entertaining in about the same way South Park is entertaining. Over-the-top humor and about a million dick jokes while pointing and laughing at religion and sex.

Rollerball 2002: another piece of paper in the "what the fuck happened to John McTiernan?" file.

quote:

Originally posted by King Real:
last night saw "the fall". saw trailers for this online ages ago, looked great, but never appeared. till now.

Ever since watching the trailer I've been waiting for this one. Unlikely to appear on local megaplexes so guess will have to hunt for the dvd.