DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[tiger_rick]

I watched Fargo last night. I have absolutley no idea what to make of it. I'm not entirely sure what the point was, who it was about or why it was made. I liked it though, as odd as that sounds. It was really amusing.

 

Steve Buscemi is incredible, I forgot to say. He's absolutely superb.

Edited May 20, 2010 by tiger_rick

[Egg Shen]

Hot Tub Time Machine is clearly aimed to ride The Hangover coattails...i enjoyed the film though, Craig Robinson is one of the funniest people in movies, everything he says makes me laugh.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Ebb

[Lee]

I love Craig Robinson.

 

Watched Adventureland this morning. Any film that starts out with Bastards of Young is off to a flyer.

 

Watched half of Fanboys too, quite enjoying it but the fat guy is doing my head in.

[cobystag]

The Human Centipede: I don't know if I liked it or not. It was... Different. Interesting. Had no real sense of horror or ultimately being disturbing. It just looked like they were tossing salad, no matter how much the bandages "left to your imagination". I did enjoy the Dr's performance, but it wasn't anything special.

 

The highlight of this film is that it's now been lent to a (thick) girly-girl at work who assumed that a horror film called The Human Centipede would be a creature feature...... I didn't bother to correct that assumption and hope she watches it tonight. That'll make work tomorrow more intriguing.

[Jimmy_kahoona]

The Invasion

 

I got watching this one last night on Channel 5, stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig

 

Its a 2007 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers

 

The Invasion of the Body snatchers is an excellent premise, Alien beings come along and duplicate a human (this version has the person being taken over). The duplicate has no emotions but retains memories and experiences of the original, so its a copy of the original just not quite all there.

 

This version starts off quite slow, setting the scene around strange things happening to others while Kidmans character being the centre point. On Halloween night shes out with her kid and friends when a dog goes mental and attacks one of the kids. They discover a strange piece of skin lying on the ground and as Kidmans characters boyfriend works in a hospital she picks it up and takes it along to him (Craig) then he takes it to the lab to get checked out. (now and this point I kinda found it strange how a psychologist (kidman) randomly picks up a piece of skin off the ground and just happens to be going out with a doctor who has friends in the Bio lab who can spend time analysing random pieces of things lying in the street).

 

As this is going on the ex husband of kidman turns up (Not Cruise, the characters ex) and wants to take his son out. But hes acting strange. So Kidman hands over her son. That night a strange man turns up at the door of Kidmans and wants in. She fights him off, calls Craig, they get the results back from the lab, the pieces start fitting together, they discover whats happening, que lots of running and searching about.

 

Apparently it was a flop in the cinemas (I didnt even know it had been released!) and I can understand why, It just feels like a TV Movie. Theres no real cinematic feeling to it. Theres plenty here to be going on with, I liked the transfer of `virus` from person to person and I liked the fact some humans are unaffected, kept the story interesting. The action scenes although in certain places felt out of place (why would Craigs character suddenly know how to drive like james Bond?) were quite good, the car covered in people was especially good in my opinion. The atmosphere was again created, especially in the shop scene. But overall it certainly isnt a cinema movie.

 

If your a fan of zombie, apocolyptic or Nicole Kidman (she gets down to her pants a few times) films then certainly watch the movie. Just dont think too hard about it.

[tiger_rick]

Watched Adventureland this morning. Any film that starts out with Bastards of Young is off to a flyer.

I enjoyed that. The music was very good and the two main characters were strong. I'd watch it again.

[JLM]

I liked Adventureland also.

 

Cobystag, I need an update. I've seen the trailer for Human Centipede and wiki'd it and whatnot and I can't imagine what it'd be like to watch it without knowing the premise.

[bAzTNM#1]

"The Wrestler" premieres on Sky Premiere tonight. It's on at various times until next Thursday. First showing is tonight at 10pm.

Edited May 21, 2010 by bAzTNM#1

[Vamp]

Watched Canniball Holocaust for the first time yesterday evening. Despite not being a fan of exploitation movies, or the horror genre in general apart from a select few, I have to confess to be interested in viewing this particular film. Perhaps it just hasn't aged well but I can't say I found it as horrific as other people claimed it was. The turtle scene was kinda brutal, more from the fact that I didn't quite see why they felt the need to do it for real when it didn't really add much to the film and I must admit that the fire scene tugged at the heart strings a bit but it didn't effect me much at all. I had no real emotional investment with any of the characters, and therefore didn't find myself caring much about the atrocities depicted on screen.

 

It must be said, however, that the music is pretty cool.

 

It also brings me to another point. Why have exploitation movies become the "in" thing for the horror genre? I've got nothing against violence and brutality on screen, but so many times i just isn't done well. You need to create an emotional investment with characters for people to give a crap about them, its as simple as that. Final Destination is the worst at this particular crime, its like they don't realise that movies are a storytelling device. I can't stand these films and I really don't understand why they're so popular. I just find myself bored by them all. Its just meaningless spectacle that I can't even give a damn about. It seems as the horror genre, and I'm really only talking about Hollywood here, has gone back to the origins of cinema where people were amazed to watch trains pull up at stations.

[Jimmy_kahoona]

It also brings me to another point. Why have exploitation movies become the "in" thing for the horror genre? I've got nothing against violence and brutality on screen, but so many times i just isn't done well. You need to create an emotional investment with characters for people to give a crap about them, its as simple as that. Final Destination is the worst at this particular crime, its like they don't realise that movies are a storytelling device. I can't stand these films and I really don't understand why they're so popular. I just find myself bored by them all. Its just meaningless spectacle that I can't even give a damn about. It seems as the horror genre, and I'm really only talking about Hollywood here, has gone back to the origins of cinema where people were amazed to watch trains pull up at stations.

 

These films are safe. people know that if they go to the cinema, they can safely let themselfs be drawn into the crappy film knowing that in about 90 minutes later they can stand up and go home. Everything they see on screen will be made up and controlled by the director. Everyone knows they`re crap movies but their safe. Now if you sat infront of your PC for 90minutes looking for exploitation noone would walk away safely. Infact the amount of stuff i`ve seen i`m suprised i`ve not put a gun to my head!

 

The reason that Canniball Holocaust was so `good` wasn`t the fact it was a good movie it was the fact noone knew during the boom days of the Video Nasties, that it was staged and just a movie. The inclusion of the animal deaths was to help blend these reality and fiction barriers. The 2nd and 3rd generation videos blurred the crappy special effects and with no info on it (the internet didnt exist in those days) all you knew was the urban myths and what your schoolmate who leant you it had made up about it.

 

Special effects are always being pushed, balanced with the advancements of digital effects now its almost impossible to spot real & fake things in a film. But if its on the big screen you know its fake. so visually your imagination is like `FUCK He just got his head exploded!` while emotionally your saying, `No worries, its all CGI`

 

Canniball Holocaust, Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity are the 3 key aspects of movie blurring between reality and fiction. Canniball did it for home movies, Blair witch did it for handheld camcorders and Paranormal did it for youtube. They were all the first to use the media outlet of the time to combine the reality and fiction wall.

 

So to cut a long story short,,,,

 

TOO LATE

 

Crappy horror films are safe to watch.

[CleetusVanDamme]

Had a few joints last night at a mates house and watched Street Fighter. I dont care what anyone else says this film is a masterpiece, the comedic timing of everyone involved is simply stunning. How Andrew Bryniarski was overlooked at the Oscar's i will never know, his heartwarming portrayal of Zangief the lovable Russian is simply majestic and in a day and age where films just get by on fancy CGI and explosions we may never see this type of performance again. QUICK CHANGE THE CHANNEL! indeed. ******

 

Tonight i'll be having a few mates round for a smoke and a drink so something funny will need to go on after Pro Evo. I'm thinking it'll be a tossup between Hercules in New York, Wrestlemaniac, Ninja Terminator, or Scarecrow Gone Wild.

[JLM]

Streetfighter is undeniably entertaining. I'm a huge SF nerd, so the first time I saw it I hated it because everything is so wrong in every way. However, since then I have come to appreciate it. Raul Julia is absolutely magnificent as Bison. So, so good. It's sad that his last film was such a laughing stock but his performance adds at least two stars to the film's rating. His dialogue is fucking brilliant too. If you don't love Bison in that movie then you have problems.

 

"Every Bison dollar will be worth five English pounds. That is the exchange rate the Bank of England will set once I've kidnapped their Queen!"

 

Oh, and the "Tuesday" line of course.

 

As for your other quandry, the answe is Ninja Terminator. Always Ninja Terminator.

 

We watch a shit film from CEX every Sunday. We've watched lots and lots and lots of them. Sometimes a mid-week screening, sometimes double features. It's a bit of an institution. After all of this, and after watching a varied selection of Godfrey Ho's other output, Ninja Terminator remains head and shoulders above the rest as a the benchmark by which all hilariously shit movies should be judged. It is gut-wrenchingly funny. You don't even have to make smart arse remarks to find the humour in it, it is just a constant barrage of pure comedy. The Garfield phone, the robot, Tiger Chan's wig, Jaguar Wong's cigarette trick, Tiger Chan's USELESS henchman, Jaguar Wong getting into fights with every single person he meets, the fact that it's clearly a couple of films pasted together and linked only using the aforementioned Garfield phone. It's absolutely perfect and one of my favourite films of all time.

 

We have of course watched Hercules in New York at one of these mini-events as well, and it was almost unwatchably bad. The notorious bear scene is hilarious, Arnold's accent is funny and you could probably play a drinking game for the number of times Arnie takes his shirt off for no reason at all, but aside from that it's quite dull at times. Oh, and Hercules' little offensive Jewish stereotype manager character is fucking hateful. Difficult to watch his scenes, or at least it is for me. I did enjoy the sounds of passing traffic during the Mount Olympus scenes though.

 

If you're a fellow shit film buff I'd recommend "Daydream Believer" with Martin Kemp. He falls in love with a woman who acts like a horse when she's stressed. There's also a scene where Martin Grooms a horse and the woman watches and does horse mannerisms and simulates an orgasm. The film is not intended to be a comedy.

 

Last Sunday we watched "Primal Species". Terrorists hijack a truck trying to steal ten tonnes of Uranium. Little do they know that they've actually stolen ten tonnes of DINOSAURS! Yup, that was the premise. It had the guy who played Imhotep from The Mummy in it also. It was very bad. 1997 too, so the dinosaurs didn't need to look quite so bad. It also appeared to be missing about 30 minutes' worth of exposition, because there's a point where they all end up on a boat with all the dinosaurs and you have no Earthly idea how or why this situation has arisen. Bizarre.

Edited May 21, 2010 by JLM

[CleetusVanDamme]

Ninja Terminator. Always Ninja Terminator.

 

We watch a shit film from CEX every Sunday. We've watched lots and lots and lots of them. Sometimes a mid-week screening, sometimes double features. It's a bit of an institution. After all of this, and after watching a varied selection of Godfrey Ho's other output, Ninja Terminator remains head and shoulders above the rest as a the benchmark by which all hilariously shit movies should be judged. It is gut-wrenchingly funny. You don't even have to make smart arse remarks to find the humour in it, it is just a constant barrage of pure comedy. The Garfield phone, the robot, Tiger Chan's wig, Jaguar Wong's cigarette trick, Tiger Chan's USELESS henchman, Jaguar Wong getting into fights with every single person he meets, the fact that it's clearly a couple of films pasted together and linked only using the aforementioned Garfield phone. It's absolutely perfect and one of my favourite films of all time.

 

We have of course watched Hercules in New York at one of these mini-events as well, and it was almost unwatchably bad. The notorious bear scene is hilarious, Arnold's accent is funny and you could probably play a drinking game for the number of times Arnie takes his shirt off for no reason at all, but aside from that it's quite dull at times. Oh, and Hercules' little offensive Jewish stereotype manager character is fucking hateful. Difficult to watch his scenes, or at least it is for me. I did enjoy the sounds of passing traffic during the Mount Olympus scenes though.

 

If you're a fellow shit film buff I'd recommend "Daydream Believer" with Martin Kemp. He falls in love with a woman who acts like a horse when she's stressed. There's also a scene where Martin Grooms a horse and the woman watches and does horse mannerisms and simulates an orgasm. The film is not intended to be a comedy.

 

Last Sunday we watched "Primal Species". Terrorists hijack a truck trying to steal ten tonnes of Uranium. Little do they know that they've actually stolen ten tonnes of DINOSAURS! Yup, that was the premise. It had the guy who played Imhotep from The Mummy in it also. It was very bad. 1997 too, so the dinosaurs didn't need to look quite so bad. It also appeared to be missing about 30 minutes' worth of exposition, because there's a point where they all end up on a boat with all the dinosaurs and you have no Earthly idea how or why this situation has arisen. Bizarre.

 

Lol we had this same conversation months and months ago. There is nothing better than being fried and watching a really shit film. I've still never seen Daydream Believer but have heard really bad things so im definitely looking for it. That Primal Species sounds cracking as well. I really need to take a trip to CEX soon and stock up on my shit films. I dunno if you have Sky but there's a channel called Zone Horror that may as well just be named The Shit film Zone, the other week there was a film on called Sabretooth that had Sawyer from Lost in it, and honestly the CGI tiger is one of the most laughable uses of techmology i've ever seen, I'm sure the film was made this decade as well which just makes it even more inexcusable. Yeah it'll probably be Ninja Terminator it always is, easily the best

[Glen Quagmire]

Please don't ask, but I managed to get roped into watching The Back-up Plan last night. A definite chick flick, has been getting panned in reviews. I have to say that I found it at worst passable and at best warming in parts. The script is rather clich

[DEF]

Ninja Terminator. Always Ninja Terminator.

 

We watch a shit film from CEX every Sunday. We've watched lots and lots and lots of them. Sometimes a mid-week screening, sometimes double features. It's a bit of an institution. After all of this, and after watching a varied selection of Godfrey Ho's other output, Ninja Terminator remains head and shoulders above the rest as a the benchmark by which all hilariously shit movies should be judged. It is gut-wrenchingly funny. You don't even have to make smart arse remarks to find the humour in it, it is just a constant barrage of pure comedy. The Garfield phone, the robot, Tiger Chan's wig, Jaguar Wong's cigarette trick, Tiger Chan's USELESS henchman, Jaguar Wong getting into fights with every single person he meets, the fact that it's clearly a couple of films pasted together and linked only using the aforementioned Garfield phone. It's absolutely perfect and one of my favourite films of all time.

 

We have of course watched Hercules in New York at one of these mini-events as well, and it was almost unwatchably bad. The notorious bear scene is hilarious, Arnold's accent is funny and you could probably play a drinking game for the number of times Arnie takes his shirt off for no reason at all, but aside from that it's quite dull at times. Oh, and Hercules' little offensive Jewish stereotype manager character is fucking hateful. Difficult to watch his scenes, or at least it is for me. I did enjoy the sounds of passing traffic during the Mount Olympus scenes though.

 

If you're a fellow shit film buff I'd recommend "Daydream Believer" with Martin Kemp. He falls in love with a woman who acts like a horse when she's stressed. There's also a scene where Martin Grooms a horse and the woman watches and does horse mannerisms and simulates an orgasm. The film is not intended to be a comedy.

 

Last Sunday we watched "Primal Species". Terrorists hijack a truck trying to steal ten tonnes of Uranium. Little do they know that they've actually stolen ten tonnes of DINOSAURS! Yup, that was the premise. It had the guy who played Imhotep from The Mummy in it also. It was very bad. 1997 too, so the dinosaurs didn't need to look quite so bad. It also appeared to be missing about 30 minutes' worth of exposition, because there's a point where they all end up on a boat with all the dinosaurs and you have no Earthly idea how or why this situation has arisen. Bizarre.

 

Lol we had this same conversation months and months ago. There is nothing better than being fried and watching a really shit film. I've still never seen Daydream Believer but have heard really bad things so im definitely looking for it. That Primal Species sounds cracking as well. I really need to take a trip to CEX soon and stock up on my shit films. I dunno if you have Sky but there's a channel called Zone Horror that may as well just be named The Shit film Zone, the other week there was a film on called Sabretooth that had Sawyer from Lost in it, and honestly the CGI tiger is one of the most laughable uses of techmology i've ever seen, I'm sure the film was made this decade as well which just makes it even more inexcusable. Yeah it'll probably be Ninja Terminator it always is, easily the best