Inspired by the question I watched Lost in Translation the other night as I'd gathered it was like a lot to the movies I usually go for. You'd think as at it sounded my sort of thing I would've watched a lot earlier but I had a sixth sense telling me it wouldn't be that good. It was right. The point of isolation was continually laboured throughout the film, getting the way of the relationship between the two main characters, whose interaction and dialogue seemed minimal. As though the writer had an idea of what type of film they were trying to make but didn't have enough conversation to execute it. For me exemplified by the ending which I gather a lot of people find gloriously enigmatic, but for me just another sign that they couldn't come up with anything interesting.

Much superior films of the genre are Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, In Search of a Midnight Kiss and Garden State. Before Sunset is as close to perfection as you'll get and a note on Garden State - it needs Natalie Portman to turn uo before it gets any good. Although Jim Parsons makes an appearance, which is nice.

In sticking with my current theme, 30’s horror was again on the cards this evening, beginning with a British effort from 1939: The Face at the Window. I enjoyed this film thoroughly.



This one had a truly old school feel to it, actually set in 1880 (though acted with lovely vintage English accents). The villain was played by Todd Slaughter. That’s obviously a stage name, but how awesome does it sound? Todd mother fucking Slaughter, bitch.

A series of murders occur for which a mysterious wolf man is blamed, but Slaughter’s truly devious character ends up being behind it, which we suspect within seconds of seeing him. He does a series of killings in order to win himself a bank manager’s lovely young daughter, and tries to frame the daughter’s true lover for the crimes.

The end scenes had echoes of Frankenstein, with the suspected young man supposedly re animating the corpse of the wolf’s last victim with powerful electricity to reveal the true identity of the murderer. Anyways, Slaughter ends up in a river and is presumed dead. The young couple live happily ever after.

Pure escapism with this film, I loved it. And could you ask for a more classic villain than this? Just look at the devious little bastard. You know he’s a nasty piece of work:

I went to see Journey 2 - The Mysterious Island. I really enjoyed it - completely daft, but very entertaining, despite one massive plot hole. They crammed it full of references to Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Lord Of The Rings, there are loads of allusions to classic literature, Vanessa Hudgens looks good, and The Rock carries the whole thing splendidly.


Basically, if you ever wanted to see The Rock and Michael Caine sitting round a campfire singing 'What A Wonderful World', this is the film for you. One of the most surreal, but immensly enjoyable, scenes I think I've ever seen.

I watched Big Trouble in Little China the other day. It's a bit rubbish and nonsensical, but it's quite charming. The ghost version of David Lo-Pan really reminds me of Liam Neeson as well.

Finally got around to watching Melancholia, Ill separate it into its parts to properly review it.
The introduction had me hooked, It looked really beautiful.
Part 1 was boring as hell. It was a drag to get through, he could have easily cut out half of this stuff and it wouldn't have made much difference to the film as a whole.
Part 2 was where it really got going, and its where Ill agree with you about it been Von Trier's Masterpiece. Every aspect is wonderfully done and by the end sequence I was in complete awe.

The last hour was so good, ill give it a 7.5. it would have been a 9 if the first hour didn't drag so much.

Okay, let's have some love for The Breakfast Club in this thread right now.

Just watched it for the first time last night, absolutely loved it. I bloody want to see this version right now, though.

I love The Breakfast Club. It's brilliant. Don't know what else to say, really.

Paul Gleason was excellent in The Breakfast Club. He does the devil horns far better than any metalhead. Much like Ferris Bueller, I was rooting for the teacher all the way.

The Breakfast Club is one of those films that is sentimental but in a way guys can relate to. I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy it.

I was surprised that he hadn't been in more of note. I obviously remembered him from Die Hard but I was really surprised that he had mostly done guest TV slots. He was far too good an actor to have been that limited in what he ended up doing, a real shame.

His "Fuck off" in Trading Places still makes me laugh every time I see it.

Breakfast Club is great, found it a little slow when I first watched it but have grown to really love it. Sixteen Candles and Weird Science are other fun little John Hughes teen films from around that period with a similar cast.

Dazed and Confused is probably my favourite teen 'coming of age' film that takes place over one day/night still, just ridiculously entertaining, just beats out American Graffiti for me.

Chronicle

3 High school guys (1 guy is a high school popular, 1 guy is average, 1 guy is an emotional wreck) go investigate a hole while at a party (!) and they end up with telekenetic powers.
Using the `found footage` style of film making, it manages to jigsaw the documented adventure together for a before, during and after the events of these 3 guys.

I didnt know anything about this film, except for the trailer, before I went to see this film. Its a strange feeling film and at only around 85 minutes its quick. The first half feels like any found footage film, monolouged and alot of single person shots, then it adds in another camera for a couple of shots then during the last segment uses (in my opinion) some great use of multi camera stuff, a very nice twist to the found footage style.



Overall I didnt like it though. it just felt that although it was `found footage` the shots were too professional to give any graininess to them. It was a teenage boys film aimed at teenage boys (my 14 year old daughter didnt like it). Plus it all seemed like one big set up purely for the last 15 minutes of the film.

It looks like this is the first major film for the director and I know we`ll be seeing his work again in the future, the last 15 minutes are worth the watch but the first hour or so doesnt seem to give anything worthy.

on a side note or two:
I`ve been reading more reviews elsewhere and alot of folk are shouting `AKIRA` but since I havent watched Akira in about 10 years i`ll not pass comment.

and the main character just looked far too much like skywalker from empire in my opinion!

They had a dvd combo set of the breakfast club/weird science in sainsburys before christmas for a fiver so nabbed it. Thebreakfast club is awesome even ifya could see them all going from hating each othr to becoming mates at the end of it. Plus paul gleason is brilliant in it i ended up looking on imdb to see hat else he'd made and found out he was dead.

Got it for my wife as a stocking filler at Christmas and I'm glad I did now, it's quite possibly my favourite John Hughes film now.

Watched a couple of other things recently (by the way, The Breakfast Club gets 9/10 from the Redhill panel):-

Taxi

The original French one. I actually saw the sequel at the cinema and only just got round to seeing the first. It's okay. I can't help but feel it's been massively overtaken by The Transporter series since it was released but it's still good fun if completely loopy - in a pretty good way.

I quite enjoyed it but whilst it's a distinctly un-French film, you can tell it's French immediately when one of the actresses (Marion Cotillard in this case, for the win!) gives a gratuitous tit and beaver flash. God bless France. Pretty disappointing ending, though. I think the sequel's better.

6/10

A Perfect Getaway

Seen this before but gave it another viewing to see if it really was as great as I remember it. It is!

In fact, it's so good that I might give David Twohy's Pitch Black another go because I really didn't like it when I first saw it but I figure I might be missing out on something if this is this good. You think it's going to be your usual stalk and slash thriller and it's really not and even when things get slightly silly at the end it's really unpredictable. Absolutely cracking little film that snuck under the radar.

Plus, just how bloody great is Steve Zahn? That man is all kinds of excellent.

8/10

Pitch Black is a cracker, Gladders. I'm totally gay for Vin Diesel anyway, but I really like this film.

Mind you, I liked the sequel too which everyone seemed to shit on

I will track down A Perfect Getaway though; sounds like the film The Beach should have been.

It's been years since I saw it for the first time so I reckon I'll give it another shot. Can't even remember why I didn't enjoy it, to be honest!

Pitch Black was class. You should definitely watch it again at some point.

I hate Vin diesels stupid face and voice, but I have heard good things about Pitch Black. Will I still be able to enjoy it?

Probably not as much, but if any film was to make you a fan of him it would be this one.

My favourite film of all time, This is Spinal Tap is on ITV4 right now. Just switched on a few minutes in as they're discussing their drummers. That's for now sorted (32nd viewing or there about), while afterwards on the same side is Escape from New York. Should see me nicely before Raw starts tonight.

Ahh, NOW I remember why I didn't like it.

I also watched that. Great as always. Although a really big laugh was during the ad breaks for it, when they advertised Van Halens new album.

Seeing knackered looking Eddie and David Lee Roth gurn and girate, after watching Spinal Tap do it satirically made me piss myself.

Someone's Watching Me!

Quite often termed as John Carpenter's 'lost film', he made this around the same time he made Halloween in 1978. Seems strange for a director coming off the back of a commercial and critical hit like Assault On Precinct 13 to go backwards into making a TV film, but that's what this is.

I have to say that this looks like a TV film, but it's far better than the vast majority of them you will ever see. The cast, for a start, which includes Lauren Hutton along with Adrienne Barbeau and Charles Cyphers (both Carpenter semi-regulars) is top class - and hey look, it's Uncle Leo! He-llo!

It's a quality little thriller that throws a couple of nice twists in there. It's clearly heavily influenced by Rear Window in a few ways but that's no bad thing, and it even throws in a couple of surreal moments that you wouldn't expect from a 1970s TV movie.

It's not one of Carpenter's best, but this is what he could achieve within the confines of TV. That's how good he was.

Check it out yourself here:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV_2TAWG1GA...nel_video_title

8/10

I watched Faster last night starring Wrestlemania main eventer Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton.

I really enjoyed Faster and not in an 'it's enjoyable and easy to watch with little effort' way. I thought it was a really good movie with a superb soundtrack, some interesting characters, clever dialogue and was what could be a landmark moment in Johnson's acting career.

In Rock's (he's still The Rock to me dammit) early films, such as Welcome To The Jungle, Gridiron Gang and Walking Tall, there is a clear and slightly bland good guy vs bad guy story that plays out. He's then got the back catalogue of Disney films about learning life lessons (i've seen Game Plan, Race To Witch Mountain and Tooth Fairy) and the odd over the top comedy role (Be Cool and The Other Guys). None of these roles have really asked him to do a lot more than look tough, occasionally pull out the Hollywood Rock smile or be childish. In Faster, I thought he was marvellous as an emotionally scarred ex-con looking for vengeance. His portrayal of his former self as a scared, naive young man who was blindly loyal to his brother was first rate, as was his battle with deciding how to treat a man of the church. Rock also has a real talent for portraying uncertainty. Whilst he's always going to be accused of getting roles because he's a wrestler, if Rock ever wants to prove his talent, he should show this to people.

Other highlights for me were Billy Bob Thornton who was great as a shaky, heroin addicted cop who was desperate to win back his ex, Oliver Jackson-Cohen as the egotistical, therapy seeking, appallingly accented hitman chasing Rock down (incidentally, that character didn't get enough attention) and the filming itself, which was fantastic and really helped Faster depart from the action movie norm.

Top film.

I really liked him too, he reminded me of an English Patrick Bateman, much preferred him to the Rock's character and would have gladly watched a film where he was the main character.

Currently watching this masterpiece.

Watched In Time recently and thought Justin Timberlake did a pretty good job of it. Its a shame that there wasn't more Matt Bomer in it as he is scrummy. Very similar to Equilibrium at times and certainly at the end of the film. Reminded me a little of how this country is; the haves and have nots.

The guy on the left looks like a hoot, I want in.

Started watching Showdown in Little Tokyo last night. It was on my Netflix recommendations after watching Big Trouble in Little China the other day. Made it about halfway through. It's just utter shite. The performances are terrible, and the production values and look of it are about on par with an episode of Highlander, if not worse. There's one bit where a bloke gets crushed in a car and it cuts to a shot of an obvious dummy in the car, while we can still hear him talking and screaming on the soundtrack.

I watched Escape From New York then, which was much better. Maybe Steel Dawn tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEIGMwcNiEY...feature=related

Is it popular? Surely even in the pantheon of 80s gung-ho romps, it's seen as shit?

Showdown in Little Tokyo is a great little film. It’s one that I watch fairly regularly as it just breezes by in little over an hour and is so ridiculously over the top. It’s a perfect action film.

"This is gonna sound weird coming from a cop, but let's get the hell out of here!"

From the first half, it wasn't that over the top, outside of the main character having unexplained superpowers like all the protagonists in these films do. The jump over the car was funny. Mostly though, it was just rubbish. Perhaps it picked up in the second half, but I'd be surprised, unless the evil Chinese bloke becomes the main character. Lundgren and Lee's performances, characters and chemistry are dreadful -- some of which may be down to the terrible editing, and a lot of which must be down to the terrible script and direction. Was it theatrically released or straight to video?

A question for the experts, why do men in 1980s martial arts film always have their hands in that two fingers up, two fingers down stance when they're fighting?

If you mean the thumb and little finger hand position, then it's because Bruce Lee did it.

Some martial arts (predominantly Chinese ones) do have strange hand positions, as they favour jabby strikes to the eyes and throat, etc... but in movie land it's largely just a "See my hand? It's not a fist, because I'm not a boxer. I'm a martial arts guy" thing.

No, not the Bruce Lee one. Like a peace sign, but with a closed V.

went to see the muppets tonight with my girlfriend and i gotta say its bloody awesome, also got to see carrie for the first time ever last week which i found to be ok but not great

I also loved The Muppets - and the Toy Story short in front of it. Dave Grohl cameo + Swedish Chef quoting Scarface + general happiness and feelings of joy = good stuff.

Saw Hugo last night, and thought it was superb. Scorsese's absolute passion and love for cinema shines through, and after watching it, how could you not agree with him? Films are just brilliant. If you haven't seen Hugo yet, you owe it to yourself. Go!

Megan is Missing - grubby piece of crap, quite horribly assembled, and some waaaay overripe acting, but I won't claim that it's not shocking.

Submarine - British comedy drama from Richard Ayoade (of The IT Crowd). 15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life. We really enjoyed this, it's 'indie' as anything & as such may irritate as much as charm depending on your viewpoint. Well acted all round with Paddy Considine adding another tremendous character to his CV as a mullet topped psychic.

Paddy Considine is like something from Dungeons and Dragons - he's a +10 actor of making the film exponentially better.

Hellboy. I picked this up on Blu-Ray when I first purchased my PS3 a few months back. I thought visually it would look great in Blu-Ray, and it didn't disappoint. I like the film a lot too. I'm not a great lover of superhero movies, but this is one of the few that I do. Shame the sequel was a pile of pants.

It also got me thinking who would win in a fight between Hellboy and Marv from Sin City.

Really? I preferred the sequel to the original. I thought Hellboy suffered from a lack of real baddy leading into a big CGI mess at the end, the second outing had a better story imo.

Not to mention the fantastic acoustic soundtrack by Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys

It definitely needed a big finish, someone or something that pushed Hellboy to his limits. Other than that I think it's pretty great. Although Selma Blair just looked bored as fuck all the way through it.

I thought the sequel was a little confusing, didn't flow and dragged in places.

Twilight- Well I watched it out of curiosity. Rather I watched it til there was some baseball game, was utterly bored by that point, so gave up. It's not uber shit, just really uninspiring and dull. Not being a teenage girl. I struggled to find any interest in it, but at least gave it ago.

It's up there with the Harry Potter Movies in so much I tried to see them (Ive seen the first three and the dark edgy one, which ever one that is) and cant see what all the fuss is about. Oh well

Watched Blue Valentine last night, thought it was intense and rather good. Although I guess you are meant to feel equal parts sympathy for both of them (and the kid) but i found myself not really liking Michelle Williams character. Flakey, and rather manipulative...Perhaps I've got issues there! Oh dear... But as relationships go its a really true film, and watching it was rather painful sometimes. Great stuff

Also it was rather unintentionally funny, Goslings meltdown in the nurses office produced some gems.

I follwed this up with Drive which i thought was incredible, the more I think about it the more I like it.

I really liked Hellboy, but Golden Army was better - just awesome visuals, and yeah, as Dead Mike said, there was a proper baddie.

A little back story before I get to the film I just finished.

For years now every once in a while I would have a flashback to film I watched as a child about killer kids but not only could I not remember the name of the film but I also couldn't remember anything other then the closing shot and a little of the beginning (the god awful Giant Spider Invasion was another long forgotton film that drove me nuts for years) anyway recently I finally cracked after it popped into my head again in work and did a google for films about killer kids and not only did I finally find the name of the film but I also found it on Netflix SCORE.

Anyway the film in question is.......



Summed up three children are born at the same time during an eclipse and after fast forwarding 10 years the three of them are about to celebrate their birthday only it is revealed that the eclipse blocked out Saturn meaning that they were born "missing something" (look it's the 80's so just go with it) and have developed a taste for murder be it random strangers, the school teacher of even their own family members.

Just finished it and as I suspected it's pretty bad.

The kill count is pretty modest by slasher flick standards (though to be fair it was made before slasher flicks became a game of can you top this so it may be respectable for the time), it's pretty light on the gore front and the motive if you can even call it that is typical 80's absurdity and like a lot of horror films it ends setting up a sequel that never came.

Some good points though is that kids cast as the killers do a pretty decent job and one section of the film where the nerdy looking boy is wandering the streets at night with a gun looking for someone to kill is pretty disturbing in a Son of Sam kind of way.

As bad as it is though I still have a fondness for it since it is one of my earliest film memories and fans of little known 80's slasher flicks may very well enjoy it more then me.

I watched a film called The Vicious Kind last night and really liked it. Indie dark comedy/drama. It stars Adam Scott off Parks and Recreation, he hates/loves/is obsessed by his little brother's new girlfriend. The dad in it is in lots of comedies, too. He was the dad in I Love You, Man. The film ended up being quite a bit about daddy issues and it was a bit rote on that front, which was a letdown.