DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[Mr. Seven]

Yeah. It's an odd one Avatar. I feel it's best summed up as a three-star film with five-star visuals. I have no desire to ever see it again.

[Egg Shen]

This is really depressing for so many reasons.

 

Firstly, the original Edge Of Darkness series is possibly the best tv series ever made, certainly in the UK. Secondly, the new film version is actually being directed by the guy who directed the series, so you'd think he'd protect his own legacy. Thirdly, it's Mel Gibson's first on-screen role in about 8 years, and I like Gibson and think he's a decent movie actor (there, I said it).

 

Given all that, the fact that it looks fairly likely to be fucking awful is a bit sad.

Completely agree. The original series is amazing, and if you see it for cheap, then get hold of the double-DVD set of it, crammed with decent, interesting special features. Maybe the director guy has just ceased to care in the last 25 years. Wonder if it'll still have a thinly-veiled reference to the SWP in the first few minutes like the old one did?

 

For them to remake something like this, you'd have to imagine a decent reason, at least. I hope so.

 

Oh, and ebb:

 

never understand people who turn off movies after half hour!?

Because I wasn't enjoying it and didn't want to waste another hour on it? I also fairly clearly said that while I may have missed a few classics with crap first half hours, by having this rule down the years I've saved myself thousands of hours of misery.

 

I can't understand why people carry on watching films that are shit, personally.

well, if you ain't enjoying it, fair enough. But to turn it off and complain that the film isn't delivering what was advertised when it clearly does if you'd watched it is just stupid.

[Egg Shen]

My Name Is Bruce

 

Ouch. Bought it on blu-ray as part of a deal, and was at least expecting it to be silly fun. But it was piss-poor, and I ended up turning it off after half an hour. The sort of film that expects to just coast by on its references and for the audience's love for its star. Lazy, boring, and not funny.

 

think i have to agree there. Bruce is without doubt a cult icon, but he kind of dropped the ball there. It's fun to certain degree, but overall it's a shit movie.

[Famous Mortimer]

well, if you ain't enjoying it, fair enough. But to turn it off and complain that the film isn't delivering what was advertised when it clearly does if you'd watched it is just stupid.

Thanks for calling me stupid! My exact words were:

 

Well, after 35 minutes, when not a single zombified Nazi had turned up on screen

My feeling, which you clearly don't share, is that zombie films with no zombies in them for the first 35 minutes, and nothing else to hold the interest, aren't all that exciting- it very clearly does not "deliver what was advertised" in that time. As far as zombie films go, there aren't any good ones that I can think of which take so damn long to get to the fun stuff - "Dawn of the Dead", the greatest of them all, has them right from the beginning; "The Zombie Dead", one of my favourite cheap-ass Italian films, has them from about 15 minutes in; "Night Of The Living Dead", first scene; "Shaun Of The Dead", I forget...15 minutes or so? "28 Days Later" might be a possible exception (but it's probably still not that long) but it's a much much more interesting film than "Dead Snow".

 

I, personally, didn't see what was so great about "Dead Snow" that it could take that long establishing the characters it was going to kill off - and it's not even like they were all that interesting or well-defined, they were just a bunch of one-word stereotypes.

 

I'm a bit tired of justifying what I thought was a fairly innocuous opinion now.

[Egg Shen]

haha, you've made your point.

 

I just recommend you go back and watch the end, it's fun! and you get some cool ass nazi zombies!

[Gladstones Bitch]

I still really want to see Edge Of Darkness even after seeing the reviews, I love Mel Gibson films and this seems like it'll be a good if maybe dumb film in parts

[insert_name_here]

Astroboy. I was a little aprehensive about seeing this because i'm a big fan of the original manga/anime series and after being badly letdown by Speed Racer i was planning on giving all future Adaptations of Japanese cartoons a wide berth. But i then i got some free tickets to an advanced screening of it and i thought fuck it why not it might be alright and i'm glad i went because i was pleasently surprised by it. Sure it's by no means a 5-star classic and sure it's a very loose adaptation of the original stuff but that's all i was expecting it to be at best and it's a very fun movie to watch.

[CAREBEAR LUVVA]

My feeling, which you clearly don't share, is that zombie films with no zombies in them for the first 35 minutes, and nothing else to hold the interest, aren't all that exciting- it very clearly does not "deliver what was advertised" in that time. As far as zombie films go, there aren't any good ones that I can think of which take so damn long to get to the fun stuff - "Dawn of the Dead", the greatest of them all, has them right from the beginning; "The Zombie Dead", one of my favourite cheap-ass Italian films, has them from about 15 minutes in; "Night Of The Living Dead", first scene; "Shaun Of The Dead", I forget...15 minutes or so? "28 Days Later" might be a possible exception (but it's probably still not that long) but it's a much much more interesting film than "Dead Snow".

 

The Zombie Dead is absolutely amazing. I'm made up to have seen a mention of it on here! I still don't know what it is about them, but no matter how many times I watch it the zombies in that film are really unsettling. And it also features the naughtiest boy in any film ever.

 

On the subject of switching stuff off after half an hour - back in the days before DVDs, me and my mates used to go shopping for cheap ex-rental videos and would swear by the "half an hour rule". If something looked like it might be interesting but we weren't totally sure about spending money on it, we would open the box to look at the tape inside. If it had clearly been left after being watched for about half an hour and then not rewound, someone's obviously thought "this is shit" and got rid of it. Then we'd buy it. Then again, we're probably a bit of an odd bunch. If it's got a budget, chances are none of my mates are going to appreciate it.

[Murtz]

Has anyone seen the film 'Precious' that everyone seems to be raving about?

[Rob Lowe]

Has anyone seen the film 'Precious' that everyone seems to be raving about?

Ive heard about the plot and that was enough to make me feel ill.

 

If you like depressing shit like crimewatch, then you'll enjoy it. One for the miserable housewives.

[LaGoosh]

I think the same. I'm sure it's very well made and the actors are great in it but it sounds like a film versin of those non-fiction books you see on the shelves of Tesco's that go into horrific detail on some person who got raped and abused as a child but turned out alright in the end due to some strangers show of love and care but while it has a happy ending doesn't make it any less gross or depressing.

[Chest Rockwell]

I read a review in the Culture section of the Sunday Times yesterday.. The write up made me think it sounded exactly like one of those books, and from the sounds of things the film isn't really even all that well directed. One to avoid for sure.

[Jimmy_kahoona]

Domino

 

Kiera Knightly and Mickey Rourke star in this Bounty Hunter film based on the real life experiences of Domino, a rich kid who decides she wants to be more than a spoiled kid and live on the dangerious side of life.

 

The film begins as Domino is being questioned by a FBI agent (Lucy Liu) about a missing 10million dollars highjacked from a security van. Now this is supposed to be based on the true life events of the character Domino, but i suspect theres quite a bit of artistic licence. the next 2 hours is pretty much a blur, not because of all the action, rough cuts , spinning camera angles, dodgy special effects, weird plot twists, confussing character inclusions, dark dessert backgrounds, weird psychodelic priests, gun fights, lap dances, gangsta rappers, vegas bombings or helecopter chases but because theres too much plot and backstories!

 

Theres the bounty hunter group themselfs, a harder version of Dog packing an amazing amount of firepower. Then theres the bail bond guy and his group of inside informants, then theres the FBI, then the gangsters, then the other gangsters, oh and theres some hillbillys, and the WB executive and the TV presenters, and Dominos family cant forget about them and the 4 young guys that are quite crucial to the plot, not the sub plot, but the main plot.

 

Theres just too much plotting going on here. Sure the action and set ups are quite good but you`ll spend most of your time trying to remember whos who and what they`re doing there than realising the action is quite gritty and enjoyable. Each character has a back story which is mentioned, so before you know it theres 30 characters all with plots and stories and why they`re doing the things they`re doing and why they`re essential to the main plot and then we`re confussed.

 

Plus its based on the real life character of Domino dont you know.

 

Its worth a watch, but expect to be somewhat confussed by it all.

[NEWM]

Antichrist - Imagery, cinematography and visuals as beautiful as any movie I've ever seen, but can't really recomend it as a film in good faith. Two very strong acting performances keep you with it, but I got the impression that Lars Von Trier wanted to be so understated at times that he forgot to express what he wanted to portray. The gore, if you can call it that, just about had enough purpose to justify it, and don't believe the drones that compare it to one of those TrueHorror comedy gore films just because of a few heavy scenes. In the end of course, the levels of violence meant that the film would be reviewed and promoted around them more than the plot or anything else, so people will inevitably watch it just waiting for those bits anyway.

[HBAndy]

Anyone a fan of Richard Linklater's films? I've been on a right kick with him recently, Waking Life is awesome. The visuals are amazing, its freaky, dreamlike and a strange wandering through the imagination. Also, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are interesting little flicks. Slacker's another fine example, although the student film look and shite acting can get annoying.

 

Watched Darren Aronofsky's Pi recently too. I'm a big fan of Requiem for a Dream and this was another astounding piece of film, the disintegration of the human mind was so involving.