DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[Egg Shen]

just watched Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, for some reason ive never rewatched this one, ive seen the first two loads of times but i think this was only my sedond time watching it (the first being when i was about 12), fucking great! Just that brilliant mixture of action, adventure and comedy. Why don't they make em like this anymore?

 

just makes me wonder what could have been with Kingdom of The Crystal Skull?? all the elements were in place, but it just wasn't the same.

[Surf Digby]

Last night I watched "Paradise", or as it said on the menu screen "Pradise".

 

Early 80s film with posh totty going round Iraq sometime around the turn of the 19th century. Desert bandits kill lots of people, posh totty and son of crazy preacher end up stranded in the desert with just a camel. They then find a beach, and set up a Gilligan's Island style house out of sticks, take in an intelligent chimpanzee (and at some point a second, female chimpanzee appears), and spend the days wandering round in bikini and loincloth made of animal hides, being all sexually repressed with each other.

Then the bandits catch up with them, so they move. Then the bandits catch up with them again, so they move again (and a baby chimpanzee appears). Then they spot a town in distance and so realise that they've found somewhere with civilisation. They're stood under a big stone viaduct at the time and don't seem to register it being there. And posh totty is now several months pregnant, despite it not being alluded to until this point.

 

Shit, shit, shit. Why did I watch this? Oh yes, Phoebe Cates gets her tits out in it several times. 5 stars.

 

 

 

I'm now watching "Private School", also with Phoebe Cates. 80's sex "comedy", with cheerleaders, shower scenes, and frat boys in drag sneaking into the girls dorm. Enough said.

[Harvey Dent]

Made the somewhat ill advised trip to see A Nightmare On Elm Street tonight. Its not completely awful, but it tries its best to be. Jackie Earl Haley to his credit did the most with what he had, but that was very little. The scenes they tried to carbon copy for the original just looked silly, especially Freddie through the wall over Nancys bed. The acting was pretty poor bar Haley as you'd expect and a lot of it was laughable. The biggest problem it has is there's just no tension whatsoever. The only thing it does is try to make you jump by going quiet and then something happens really fast and the sound gets SUDDENLY LOUD. Even then 90% of the time it even fails to register as its either too late, left too long or just has a total lack of impact. They dabble in a slightly different origin story which is near enough completely pointless and added nothing. There were a couple of quite cool bits, notably the very last scene, but overall it seems forced and pointless. 1 star, and even thats just for the novelty of it.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Harvey Dent

[Lee]

They Live - Roddy Piper machine gunning aliens. Class.

 

Ferris Beuller's Day Off - Five times I've put this on and I still haven't made it all the way through. Apart from the montage in the museum with instrumental Smiths in the background, one of the most overrated films I've ever encountered. The principal has been alright but Ferris and Cameron are two of the most unintentionally dislikeable characters I've ever come across and their acting is horrendous. Shame really because Breakfast Club is ace.

 

The Phantom Menace - Watched it properly for the first time in eleven years. Decent ideas messily produced. Ewan McGregor is completely wooden and Anakin Skywalker in no way comes across like the underlying sinister bastard he's supposed to be. Too long as well for the story being told, should have been tighter. And Jar Jar Binks? I don't hate him like everyone else does.

[Carbomb]

The Phantom Menace - Watched it properly for the first time in eleven years. Decent ideas messily produced. Ewan McGregor is completely wooden and Anakin Skywalker in no way comes across like the underlying sinister bastard he's supposed to be. Too long as well for the story being told, should have been tighter. And Jar Jar Binks? I don't hate him like everyone else does.

 

I think this is an awful film, but in its defence, the bolded sentence is exactly how its supposed to be. We're supposed to be shocked at how an innocent child with seemingly no bad tendencies goes on to become a murderous, cybernetic villain later.

[Lee]

I get what you're saying but I just find it lacking where you have Yoda and Mace Windu who basically suspect him to be evil but he just comes across like a nice amiable 9 year old. I actually quite like Jake Lloyd in it but he's just too nice to convincingly be the guy who's supposed to grow into Darth Vader for my taste. Call it sledgehammer of plot if you will but not making more of a point like that just leaves things too vague and underwhelming.

 

I also don't think we're "supposed to be shocked" by it either given that pretty much everyone watching, even in sequential order, are aware that he's destined to become Vader but there's barely anything to suggest he's got it in him. A different actor, some better dialogue and a tighter, more concise script would have helped that I think.

 

I dunno, maybe it comes out more in II and III, I've never got round to watching those properly.

[frank]

Ended up watching two Woody Harrelson movies yesterday for some reason.

 

Zombieland

[Carbomb]

I get what you're saying but I just find it lacking where you have Yoda and Mace Windu who basically suspect him to be evil but he just comes across like a nice amiable 9 year old. I actually quite like Jake Lloyd in it but he's just too nice to convincingly be the guy who's supposed to grow into Darth Vader for my taste. Call it sledgehammer of plot if you will but not making more of a point like that just leaves things too vague and underwhelming.

 

I also don't think we're "supposed to be shocked" by it either given that pretty much everyone watching, even in sequential order, are aware that he's destined to become Vader but there's barely anything to suggest he's got it in him. A different actor, some better dialogue and a tighter, more concise script would have helped that I think.

 

I dunno, maybe it comes out more in II and III, I've never got round to watching those properly.

 

What I meant by "shocked" wasn't that we'd be surprised to see him turn into Vader, but more that we were supposed to be shocked at the sheer contrast between what he was as a child and what he eventually became. Perhaps "shocked" isn't quite as apt a word as "disturbed" or "horrified".

 

Also, I'm not sure, but I think Lucas was trying to emphasise the innocence of childhood, hence why TPM was so kiddy. In II and III, when he becomes a more volatile teenage, you clearly see it more, and it's comparatively well-constructed in that regard. Overall, though, it's best not to expect the same quality we got from the original movies, because ultimately, they were a massive disappointment. "Revenge of the Sith" was probably the closest we got to that kind of quality as it was pretty decent, but it still didn't compare.

[Keith Houchen]

Four Lions.

 

Excellent stuff. The dialogue is typical Morris, not a single word is wasted or is filler. There are also a couple of genuinely touching moments, such as when SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

Omar goes to the hospital and pretends to be a Doctor to say goodbye to his wife before he goes on his suicide mission, her expression of pride and pain while trying to not give the game away to the Police was really nice.

Some of the main characters were brilliantly assembled, you really feel sorry for them, they aren't evil, just really really stupid.

[Smeg_&_The_Heads]

Nightmare On Elm St The remake

 

Well I can honestly say it is one of the worse things I have ever watched in my life

[Jas]

Ended up watching two Woody Harrelson movies yesterday for some reason.

 

Zombieland

[LaGoosh]

Just got back from Four Lions. Fantastic movie which everyone should see. Funny as hell, really smart and quite moving in places too.

[Monkee]

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

 

Ive not seen this for, oh, 20 years!

 

Animated Star Wars style epic from 1984. Animation looks like the same team behind Bravestarr/He Man with added Kray 1 Spaceship Modelling

 

It starts off horrendously grim, seriously! As cartoons go its a bit adult themed/gory (perhaps best to view before kids letting them watch Nightmares a plenty possible especially the mandroids and so forth)

 

The language is also a bit harsh I think was the first 15 rated cartoon, then revised down to PG with cuts, but has no Region 2 release.

 

Definately worth a watch, it really is! Its comparable to Lensman in quality look and there are obvious similarities., which given source material isnt massively surprising.

 

Lots of big set pieces, some romance, lots of tragedy, some double dealing, some thrills and some regime change.. I rate it a solid 8/10.

 

 

Wow, I remember this being one of my favourite films when I was little. My brother had it on VHS and I watched it all the time. I remember it being something about slaves in a mine who are freed by Orin? I need to track this down.

[DEF]

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

 

Ive not seen this for, oh, 20 years!

 

Animated Star Wars style epic from 1984. Animation looks like the same team behind Bravestarr/He Man with added Kray 1 Spaceship Modelling

 

It starts off horrendously grim, seriously! As cartoons go its a bit adult themed/gory (perhaps best to view before kids letting them watch Nightmares a plenty possible especially the mandroids and so forth)

 

The language is also a bit harsh I think was the first 15 rated cartoon, then revised down to PG with cuts, but has no Region 2 release.

 

Definately worth a watch, it really is! Its comparable to Lensman in quality look and there are obvious similarities., which given source material isnt massively surprising.

 

Lots of big set pieces, some romance, lots of tragedy, some double dealing, some thrills and some regime change.. I rate it a solid 8/10.

 

 

Wow, I remember this being one of my favourite films when I was little. My brother had it on VHS and I watched it all the time. I remember it being something about slaves in a mine who are freed by Orin? I need to track this down.

 

Yeah thats the one. Its pretty damn violent by todays kids cartoons standards. I've got the region 1 dvd which is the only place its available these days. Apparently in cinemas it was in 3D which unfortunately isn't on the dvd.

[KingOfMetal]

 

working my way through this at the minute.