DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[Hyperion]

How could I have left the tit shot out of the review.

 

Yeah Hector is a bit clunky at moving, looks pretty cool though in some shots especially the poster.

Edited May 12, 2011 by Hyperion

[Surf Digby]

The brain tissue in his core, the metal banding echoing muscle striation, the fluid tubes all over him. The head makes him look like a cyborg version of Sockman from Freaked (AKA Butt Ugly Freaks), though.

[neil's bitch]

Last night i checked out:

 

The Incredible Hulk (*with Edward Norton)

 

Ok so, for the most part i enjoyed this film. I hadent seen it before, and didnt really fancy seeing it as it was to long since the previous Eric Bana version. Overall they skip briefly over the origin of the hulk, (during the opening credits), and the films starts from there.

 

I wont spoil the story for those who hadent seen it, but again its a cracking little film, and filled with little tiny bits to keep the geeks (like me) happy. You see the actor who played the original bruce (or David) Banner on a TV show in the movie, as well as Lou "The Hulk" Ferrigno, Stan Lee and other little Nuggets of geeky goodness.

 

Over all better than the Previous Hulk movie, although I alwasy prefer the old school Lou Ferrigno movies / Tv shows, so make of that what you will. Ultimately this is for the evengers stuff, which in itself lets the movie down as Edward Norton will not be in the avengers, so you kind of get a "Meh" feeling about the whole thing, as you know he wont be in another film.

 

Either way, as a stand along movie, its ok, not the best superhero job, but by far not the worst.

 

Worth a rent/borrow, 7/10

[Steve Justice]

Last night i checked out:

 

The Incredible Hulk (*with Edward Norton)

 

Ok so, for the most part i enjoyed this film. I hadent seen it before, and didnt really fancy seeing it as it was to long since the previous Eric Bana version. Overall they skip briefly over the origin of the hulk, (during the opening credits), and the films starts from there.

 

I wont spoil the story for those who hadent seen it, but again its a cracking little film, and filled with little tiny bits to keep the geeks (like me) happy. You see the actor who played the original bruce (or David) Banner on a TV show in the movie, as well as Lou "The Hulk" Ferrigno, Stan Lee and other little Nuggets of geeky goodness.

 

Over all better than the Previous Hulk movie, although I alwasy prefer the old school Lou Ferrigno movies / Tv shows, so make of that what you will. Ultimately this is for the evengers stuff, which in itself lets the movie down as Edward Norton will not be in the avengers, so you kind of get a "Meh" feeling about the whole thing, as you know he wont be in another film.

 

Either way, as a stand along movie, its ok, not the best superhero job, but by far not the worst.

 

Worth a rent/borrow, 7/10

 

I prefer the Eric Bana version. How do other people compare the two?

 

I Am Number Four - It's essentially Twilight but with Aliens. And more tolerable and enjoyable. It has Timmothy Olyphant & Kevin Durand in it which helps. No tits though.

[neil's bitch]

I actually really liked the eric bana version when it came out yet it got hugely panned.

 

Again i still prefer the old school lou ferrigno jobbies.

[Surf Digby]

lou ferrigno jobbies.

*Sniggers.....*

[Loki]

Just got another film on my retro rewatch done.

 

3) Saturn 3

A 1980 Sci-fi film starring Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett & Harvey Keitel. There isn't a great deal of plot but I like it and I'd quite enjoy a modern day re-imagining of the film if I'm honest. The film starts when the unstable Benson (Keitel) murders a fellow pilot and steals his spot as the captain of a one man ship heading to Titan, Saturn's 3rd moon hence the title. Upon landing at the moonbase he meets his hosts, scientists Adam (Douglas) and Alex (Fawcett). Adam and Alex have been there 3 years alone with their dog and despite an age gap have become a couple. Benson takes an immediate interest in Alex and the fact she has never been to earth, he also announces he has brought the components to build an Android that will replace one of them, hinting it will be Adam. Adam realises his paradise with Alex is under threat and talks about murdering Benson to Alex. Meanwhile Benson continues to try lure Alex into bed and constructing the big robot called Hector. Using a head jack he uses his own thoughts to educate Hector's A.I., unfortunately this means he absorbs his obsession with Alex and his murderous impulses as he becomes more and more independent.

So basically an old bloke, a younger bloke and a big Android all wanna bang the same chick in outer space and none are above considering murder.

The main interest of the film is how cool the above sounds and possibly to see Keitel in space. The bad points are probably the low budget, Lew Grade financed this and 'Raise The Titanic' at the same time, as the latter went over budget the former had to have its budget cut to compensate. The SFX in the space scenes are laughable compared to Empire Strikes Back, this must have been where the budget was cut.

The acting is nothing of note, Keitel looks menacing but his lines are dubbed over and Grade ordered two violent scenes to be cut, in fact there's meant to be 20 minutes cut but I don't know if they'd improve the film, if anything the 83 minute runtime is enough.

The Android is pretty cool and the scenes of them running from him under the grating of the endless corridors not knowing where he is, is reminiscent of Alien but less tense. Not a great film but an interesting piece that I had fun watching again.

 

I have sampled the shit out of that movie. Cool film, and as has been said, Fawcett's tits are specTACular.

[Harvey Dent]

I prefer the one with Ed Norton, that Ang Lee/Eric Bana one is terrible.

 

Last night I finally saw The Social Network. When it was released last year I instantly dismissed it as something I didn't care about seeing and thought it was just a cash in on the popularity of Facebook. How wrong I was. I don't how much artistic license has been taken with the true story, but there's a really great drama here with superb performances from Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. Definitely recommend checking it out if you took the same idiotic opinion as me previously.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Harvey Dent

[Mr. Seven]

Social Network is excellent.

 

I watched Collateral for about the fifth time last night. There's something so very engaging about that film. Every time I watch it I gain further appreciation for Michael Mann. The script isn't fantastic and there's plenty of holes if you look for them, but Mann holds everything together with such skill that it's impossible not to admire while also wondering what a hack director would have done with the material. Even the little things like Audioslave appearing on the soundtrack out of nowhere - while a classic Mann tonally-jarring move (see the song that closes Manhunter for another example) work and the acting from the biggest to the smallest role is note perfect.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Mr. Seven

[WU LYF 4 LYF]

Saw Mean Girls last night, didn't realise Lindsay Lohan could actually act back in the day, it isn't oscar worthy or anything but it's not too bad. Fun little teen comedy, audience is mainly teenage girls so not aimed towards me but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Hyperion]

Watched two more retro movies tonight, both Roger Corman 'classics'

 

4) Battle Beyond The Stars

The seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven crossed with Star Wars with trashy results.

The Evil Sador (John Saxon) and his Malmori mutants hover their Warship over the planet of Akir (a homage to Akira Kurosawa like the whole plot). Sador tells the peace loving residents of the planet (or "bunch of fuckin' pussies" as Kenny Powers would call them) that they'll be back in a few days and when they are they better surrender to him or he'll destroy their planet. Why doesn't he demand immediate surrender, he's got all the weapons and an army, its not like the farmers can do much back but no, this procrastinating conqueror will get round to it next week sometime. So after he's gone, they decide they need help and off flies Shad on his own to search out help.

Shad is played by John Boy Walton actor Richard Thomas and is a bit of an annoying dipshit, think even the ship's computer thinks so. Anyway through a series of contrived meetings he has convinced a bird from an Android repair shop (his love interest), Space Cowboy (George Peppard, who has a ship full of weapons he was gonna deliver to a planet, Sador destroys at that very moment, now he's giving them away to Shad, how convenient), Nestor (who is 5 alien clones out to help for a laugh), Cayman (a lizard man and his crew), Gelt (Robert Vaughn pretty much reprising his Magnificent Seven part) and Saint-Exmin (a heaving chested Valkyrie who wants to fight, Shad tells her to sling her hook at first, one minute he's begging for help then next he's turning it down, the thick lump).

Anyway Sador comes back and they raise up to fight him and save the people of Akir.

The SFX are nothing to write home about, everything flashes on the screen in one second cuts to hide the cheapness (cause they blew the whole budget on Vaughn & Peppard). The models are pretty good, they were made by James Cameron (yes that one) who got noticed here and met Gale Anne Hurd on the set, who he married and made Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss with, so some good came out of this film. It also made a tidy profit.

Personally I have a lower opinion of this than I used to, its fun but a bit long and badly written so I found myself taking the piss out of it rather than reminiscing. It still must have its fans, its out on Blu-ray in 2 months.

 

 

5)Space Raiders

Made in 1983, 3 years after the above, it saves money in its budget by re-using the James Horner soundtrack, Spaceships and SFX from Battle Beyond The Stars. It also uses pretty much unknown actors as well. It cracks off with a crappy gun battle between Space Pirates and Security Forces, a young lad stows away on the Pirates ship and gets whisked off on the run with them, after he helps repair their ship by getting into a small gap only he can fit in and replace a rod allowing them to escape the security force ships, they agree to take him home instead of ransoming him back, but they have to contend with a Alien gangster they owe money too, bounty hunters, stealing some ships and the Security forces huge robot ship tracking them first.

Its still quite enjoyable even if it is more 80's trash, the story is much more straight forward and the battle scenes are better than the above, not a patch on 'Return Of The Jedi' mind but I've seen worse. Couldn't help but think of Firefly/Serenity whilst watching it, I wonder if Joss Whedon took any influence from it.

They don't really make films like this anymore, fantasy space adventures are sorely lacking in number nowadays.

Edited May 14, 2011 by Hyperion

[Jimmy_kahoona]

Insidious

 

its essentially a film of 2 parts.

 

the first part is a not too bad thriller/suspense film, similar in style to a 70`s Italian horror. Figures in the background, noises here and there, camera pan following the character through the house. Its not too bad.

 

The second part is an early 80`s horror film, i`d most compare it to `House`, blackness, smoke, cool creepy monsters and a plot so far gone its not coming back and essentially the complete opposite to the first half.

 

and that, in my opinion, is where it fails. Its advertised as a paranormal activity style movie from the makers of SAW but essentially its a B Horror which has had excellent advertising campaigns making it look like its a must see horror, but a quick look at the american side and its a PG13! A heart stopping scaring horror thats a PG13? Please!

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

 

 

The ending sucks. I`ve read a few reviews elsewhere and the phrases `a cool twist ending` `suprise ending` and `scary ending` have been used. Has noone ever seen an 80`s Horror? The `happy ending,,,, oh no its not!` is rather cliche but I suppose the target audience of teenagers havent grown up with these styles of stuff.

 

 

 

[close spoiler]

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I`m a fan of both first half and second half styles, seen them done before and find Insidious versions not too bad but I have never seen a film that combines both styles. It doesnt work, the target demographic wont get it and the wife (who was the one who actually wanted to see this) lost every ounce of interest at the cross over point.

 

This seems to be the new trend, `the last Exorcism` was also a great potential for a horror which nose dived. Make dodgy horror films, make them look attractive and scary, then make a shit load of money before anyone catches on that they`re actually shit.

 

I would certainly avoid this movie unless you know your getting a B class movie, then grab some popcorn and enjoy a wasted evening.

[Hyperion]

That's why European Horror stuff is so good, they rarely short change you or try to be overly clever, whereas Hollywood just phones it in most of the time.

 

 

Anyway I completed my current retro watch this afternoon with a 1984 Sci-fi film:

Runaway

Written & Directed by Michael Crichton and starring Tom Selleck as Jack Ramsey a cop who specialises in dealing with robots who have run amok (just like in Patlabor but on a smaller scale) and who has a fear of heights. He is teamed up with a new female partner, Karen, who he refreshingly likes, no cliched sexism or arguments, in fact they are both likable characters throughout the movie. They deal with a standard case which is then followed by a murder committed by a housekeeping robot which is an oddity. They soon end up discovering that chips are being added to robots that can turn them into killers. These chips are in the hands of Villain Dr Charles Luther (played by Gene Simmons in his cinematic debut), who has mini robot spiders (like Smythe's Spider Slayers in Spider-man) and a gun that fires personalised body heat seeking rockets. Ramsey and Co. try to take him down and recover the chips before he sells them to terrorists and the mob, meeting along the way Luther's girlfriend (played by Kirstie Alley when she was pretty fit).

Best thing about this film is that its dated well, its not said when its set and the futuristic stuff all looks pretty much like stuff we'd have today. None of the robots are humanoid, they are mainly Robot Wars style stuff with arms or Spiders about the size of a human foot. The Police have flat screen pads to use in the field just like iPads today, nothing seems too silly.

Of course it never became the Sci-fi hit of the year as intended because a B-movie took that honour, The Terminator, but its still a good watch all these years later.

Trailer

[Surf Digby]

Ah yes, another of my childhood classics, and another example of films where I can never remember whether it's Tom Selleck or Burt Reynolds in the lead role.

Anne Marie Martin has a small role as a hooker in it.

[Gordon_The_Gopher]

Company: Myself and my good friend, Dave Mastiff

Fil...: we saw Scream 4. It was shit.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

It was Sidney's cousin all along.

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close(); There, I just saved you money and time. We entertained ourselves throughout, making us bad cinema goers. This is truly how bad the film is, because normally I hate those people. That film made me hate myself.

 

Rating: -1,111,111,000 out of 2

Edited May 15, 2011 by Gordon_The_Gopher