Dai

Seven Phychopaths - Brilliant film. All the main characters are superb, and the humour is spot on. Woody Harrelson is great, as is Walken. Loads of great moments throughout, too.

Django - Wasn't as good as I hoped. Id take Bastards over this, which considering the reviews I'd read beforehand, I didn't expect to be the case. Still very good, mind.

Thought the Life's Too Short special was very good. Far better than the series, essentially because it was an episode of Extras, rather than an episode of LTS. Cheggars and co carried the episode brilliantly, with Davies' character pretty much doing a 180 and becoming the straight man.

Also am about half way through S2 of Breaking Bad. Is there a general opinion on how the Seasons are ranked?

The Mindy Project starts tonight on E4 I think. Im about 8 episodes in, and its been decent so far. Nothing outstanding, but definately watchable. Mindy herself carries the show well, and theres some solid supporting characters, too. Nothing that will blow you away by how good it is, but definately something to watch if you have a spare 20 minutes.

More from the Falls Count Anywhere DVD:

- Cactus/Triple H at MSG. I remember there was a thread a while back about great sub-10 minute matches, and I dont think this came up. It should do, as its a really great 10 minute match. The piledriver through the table was a superb finish. Ive watched this match loads of times, and every time am amazed that the table didnt break when Foley is standing on the middle of it.

- Taz vs Bam Bam, Triple H vs Rock. Both of these are fairly dull for the most part. Brawling through crowds is almost always tedious, and a pretty lazy way to pad out a FCA match. I think theres a reason why this Triple H/Rock match is completley forgotten when their rivalry is talked about. Very bland match. It also has Chyna distracting the ref to allow Billy Gunn (wearing a thong and see-through trunks) to interfere, even though its a NO DQ MATCH. Awful finish, too.

- Shane vs Test. Havent watched it in ages, but its still as good as I remembered. The Posse in their Hawaiian shirts and casts remains one of the funniest things from around that period. Despite more "distracting the ref" bollocks, its a brilliantly booked match, where all the interference adds to the match.

- Al Anow vs Hardcore. Great hardcore match, which slightly dragged toward the end. Theyve dubbed out Hardcore's/the JOB Squads theme here. 15 seconds into the match, Snow hits Holly over the head (no hands to protect) with a chair, which made me realise how silly they used to be with the liberal use of chair shots (I have also just watched a Benoit/Venis match, which has 3 chair shots to the head).

I disagree slightly that it was a great debut for Page. Had it been a highlight reel KO, then it would be different, but it was (visually) a pretty lame KO, that didnt make him look that good. 3 or 4 minutes of Page dancing around, then finishing the guy would have been much better for him.

Agree that the main event was very good. Even in the 3rd, when Held was running on empty, he still looked dangerous. Considering Held hardly had the power to throw a strike in the 3rd, it was questionable tactics to try the GnP for the last half of it.

Have to mention the ref with the comb-over, and seemingly was using a litre of oil to greese his hair.

I watched the first 2 minutes of that last night, and Flair has already corrected RF twice on his questions. Put me off watching it any further. Will try again tonight.

Been making my way through the "Falls Count Anywhere" DVD. Some things that have crossed my mind:

- LOD vs Booker/Sting lasts (bell to bell) 30 MINUTES. I felt it dragging toward the end, but was shocked when I checked how long it lasted. Crazy length for a street fight. Would have been a cracking 15 minute match, this.

- That match is followed by the great Nation vs LOD/Ahmend Mania 13 match, which still holds up fairly well today. Whats interesting is that between the last match and this one, theres about 40-odd minutes of Hawk fighting, and I dont think he sells a single thing for the entire time. Piledriver on floor? No-sell. Choked with a noose? No-sell. I know he had a rep for his selling, but this was crazy.

- They have edited out the noose parts of the WM13 match, which means Simmons' crazy, Foley-esque bump from the middle rope to the floor is also cut. Not that it matters that much, as the angle shown of it is unbelievably bad anyway.

- Theres a really good Doom vs Arn/Wimdham match, that I dont think gets much attention when people look back at WCW.

Frodo Khasbulaev is a fucking animal at 145, he's my kind of fighter, lots of aggression and just throws punches from everywhere, whatever position he found himself in he was trying to damage from it. He basically made a hard nosed veteran in Sandro quit, Marlon clearly didn't wanna come out for round 3 and Frodo quickly despatched of him after that.

His reaction to the low blow was hilarious. Loud moans of pain for 5 minutes straight. Funny shit. The only thing that soured me on him was doing the scummy "sly punch after touching gloves" at the start of Round 3. Cheap shot, and even worse considering Sandro was clearly done even before the round had started.

How stupid was Bezerra in the first fight? Round 1, he absolutley destroyed Richman on the ground. So what does he do in Round 2? Tries to box with him, and gets completley outclassed from bell to bell, therefore gassing him out, and not being able to do much in the 3rd, and loses the fight. Crazy.

Aliev got screwed, I thought. Round 1 was clearly his. Round 2 Aliev got rocked with a kick, so can see how he lost that round. But giving Marshall that last round is VERY harsh on Aliev. I just skimmed back through that last round, and nearly all of it is Aliev on top, controlling Marshall, and Marshall being pissed off.

I thought it was just another run of the mill episode of Derek. As someone said in this topic, it was yet another "subtle as a sledgehammer" episode, done in possibly the laziest fashion ever (the sit down interviews). That said, now that my expectations for the show are at the right level (its an OK sitcom, nothing more), then its a fairly easy watch.

Finished off Homeland Season 2, which was very good until the last few episodes. You can tell its got the 24 influence, as Dana is almost a clone of Kim Bauer in the "annoying as fuck side story" role. I think the show is better when its doing the slower paced, character-driven stuff, and it actually gets weaker when they turn the action up. Thats why Id say the first half of the season was better than the second half.

The Inbetweeners US is decent. Nothing outstanding, but its an easy 20 minute watch, and theres enough good stuff (usually involving Jay, who is very good) to make me keep watching. All 4 are pretty good actors, too.

Then stop watching it before season 5 because it gets shit.

Really? I dont think theres been a noticable dip at all. Theres been some great episodes this season, too. There was a very cheesy and soppy one recently, but even that was very good.

Been making my way through the Invasion episodes of Raw and Smackdown. During the whole DDP/Taker stalker angle, before it was revealed to be DDP, there was a segment where Taker was waiting for Shane in the car park. A WCW limo pulls up, Taker goes to see whose in it, and says something to the effect of "What are you doing here? You'll have to wait 'till another day to be famous", and the limo pulls away. Was it ever revealed who was in the limo? Its a pretty irrelevant angle, but it's intruiged me.

Yeah, I read your review from a while back in this thread, and have to disagree. Theres a fine line between a loveable kid whose scared, and an annoying kid who moans far too much. Personally I didnt think it was pulled off. Compared to that girl from Beasts of the Sourthern Wild, which is a slightly similar role, then that girl is a hundred times better in my opinion.

Wreck It Ralph - Thought it was fantastic. On the surface, its a pretty basic story, but theres enough charm and clever/funny one-liners that make it really stand out. It also has top notch characters and some visually great scenes.

The Impossible - Thought it was OK, and nothing more. Thought the main boy was an annoying shit, which made it hard for me to find any sympothy for him. The end pushes the boundries of believability (wonder how much leeway they used from the true story).

The last episode of The Walking Dead sums up the entire show, ie, 30 minutes of shit, drivel and bad monologues, followed by a phenmoninal last 10 minutes, thus making you almost forget about how bad the rest of the episode was.

Very minor US S1+S2 spoiler:

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

Might start watching The Killing. Unsure whether to go with the American one or the Scandinavian one. Let The Right One In was crap and has made me wary of believing people's hyperbolic lies about things made in that part of the world. And AMC make some really good stuff, so I'm leaning towards the US one. I'm open to persuasion though, if the original one is loads better.

Id recommend watching the Scandi Season 1 first. Its 20, one hour episodes, all focused on one story, but never gets tedious. Brilliant, and extremely addictive.

I thought the US one had been cancelled after Season 2, but looks like it was brought back from the brink. I havent watched it yet, but I know someone who has, and I think they told me that it starts off very similar to the original, but veers off on its on direction about halfway throught S1. Think its meant to be a pretty solid show.

Season 2 of the Scandi one isnt up to much. Ive watched Season 3 recently, and its very good, but not as great as Season 1. Highly recommend S1, if nothing else.

Another stupendous Office last night. The first 40 minuter in a while but it was totally worth it.

 

I can't get the spoiler box to work on my phone, but without giving loads away, I loved the Jim and Pam story again (especially the manager of that office), the long awaited Toby payoff was great, and the end sequence reveal was again an exciting reward for long running fans. What a fantastic final flurry this show is going out with.

Yeah it was great. One of Andy's best. Everything but the Dwight stuff, I thought. Those scenes felt like a mini-pilot to that rumoured Dwight spin-off. Wasnt very good. Wonder if it was just a coincedence that Pam, Jim and Dwight were all away from the office for most of the episode. Maybe they are still trying to convince the bosses to try and season without them.

Spartacus is up to episode 3, and has been decent, not great. I think it was a bit slow at the start of Season 2, but then picked up to be great, so hopefully its the same with this season. Seems to be a lack of solid characters/villans so far. As an example, the three generals to Spartacus have become fairly bland characters (Crixus has almost become irrelevant for this season).

The Sessions - Extremely original and great film. Its based on a true story, about a man who is essentially paralysed from the neck down wanting to lose his viginity. Funny and touching film.

 

Right, bottom line this for me, brother. None of this artistic merit nonsense, does Helen Hunt get in the raw much?

Yup. Quite a few times showing the lot, too.

The Sessions - Extremely original and great film. Its based on a true story, about a man who is essentially paralysed from the neck down wanting to lose his viginity. Funny and touching film.

Flight - Very good film. From what I read of it beforehand, I thought it could have been overly cliched. Whilst cliched to some degree, it is still original enough to be gripping throughout, and doesnt have a clear sense of "right or wrong" for the main character. Denzel is top class, as are all the other main characters (especially Don Cheadle). There's a few scenes which are a waste of time (a lot of the hospital scene in particular), and should have been chopped (cutting it to 2 hours instead of 2.20 would have been a decent idea).

Clark has been the standout character in The Office for the last few episodes. A great character, and a shame you wont see him develop. Pete is also pretty good. When you look back at all the new characters they have introduced (Andy, Karen, Holly, Charles Miner, Robert California, Erin, etc), they pretty much have a 100% record of being at least good. Catherine Tate is good, so they've introduced 3 new characters recently, who are all solid. Makes me wish they went ahead and tried the 'reboot', without Pam/Jim/Andy/Dwight. I think they could have pulled it off.

Its been pretty good for most of the new season, just nothing great any more. The episode where they brought back all of Dwight's friends was great. Seeing the Karate guy who appeared for 2 minutes in that episode yonks back when Michael and Dwight had a fight, or Dwights babysitter who appeared for a few minutes at Michael/Jan's dinner party, was a nice attention to detail, which I always like.

Crowbarring the sound guy into the Pam/Jim storyline wasnt very good, but on the whole, its been pretty good recently.

The Fighter - Excellent. Bale is outstanding in it. Easy to see why he won an Oscar for this performance. Hes backed up by good performances from everyone else, too. Far better than Warrior, I think.

Lawless - Good, but not great. Hardy and LaBeouf are both great, but all the other characters seem to have been neglected. The two women were pointless, and the main bad guy should have had more screen time.

Argo - Great. Builds up to a great climax, and the 2 hours flew by. Affleck isnt particularly great as the main actor, but solid enough.

Speaking of Black Mirror, I saw an advert for the new series during Derek last night. If I remember correctly, all three were entertaining, particularly the one where everything in your life was recorded.

Derek has been OK, but nothing more. The problem is, its not half as clever, complex, or statement making as Gervais probbably thinks. Its a fairly average sitcom, and nothing more. They even resorted to "LOL man having a shit", complete with shitting noises, as the big finish to last nights show.

Africa, much like Frozen Planet, finished with an episode about how people are fucking everything up. Its obviously a point that needs a lot of attention, but theres so many other shows and news reports about all of that stuff, it seems like a huge waste of an episode for a series this good. They spent 2 years, and filmed an insane amount of footage (into the thousands of hours I think), so it was a shame that we didnt get to see more of it.

Finished up the Nash Youshoot. What are peoples opinions on it? Thought it was disappointing, and far worse than his 95 timeline. Not much in the way of funny/interesting answers, and the mini-segments (particularly the 10+ minute wine one) were crap.

I would implore everyone to go and see Beasts of the Southern Wild. Absolutely beautiful film, which packs an incredible emotional punch. I don't want to give away too much so will just recommend that you go and see it! It's probably my second favourite film of the year (after The Muppets).

Watched this last night. Very good film, with the lead girl being outstanding. I assume anybody who watched it will be so impressed with the girl that the Dad wont get half the credit he deserves.

Cloud Atlas was very good, I thought. Very ambitious film to make, and it was executed well. You can see how it had such a big budget, as there was lots of visually great locations and scenes. They did a good job of fleshing out all the stories, and explained the relationship between each story well. Unlike the book, where they tell 50% of each story continuously, then cycle back around to finish each story, the film dipped in and out of each story multiple times. Maybe the book format would have been better, who knows. Worth a watch.