DVD's and Films You Have Watched Recently

[Egg Shen]

If you watched this instead of the original, shame on you.

don't really agree with the 'you have to see the original first' thing with this film.it's a shot-for-shot remake, plus it's directed by the original director....the remake got rave reviews. I ain't seen either so i can't comment. Seven, you've seen both? would you def. recommend i seek the original first? I was planning on picking up the US version on release.

[Chest Rockwell]

Rod, stop being an arrogant cunt, it doesn't suit you.

You pull it off great, though :love:

[chokeout]

Watched the Orphange last night, good little film, wasn't the amazing horror film everyone was saying it was but certainly had its moments. A bit too similar to The Devils Backbone in places and I think it was hurt slightly by having the constant references to Pans Labarynth in the marketing but still really good

[Steveo2007]

Watched the fifth element. Didn't really like it to be honest.

[Mr. Seven]

Rod, stop being an arrogant cunt, it doesn't suit you.

You pull it off great, though :love:

I know.Re: Funny Games. I have seen both, and yep, the remake is indeed shot for shot. It's fine, but I felt the original had much more impact. Michael Haneke is a great talent (with Hidden being one of the best films I've ever seen) but I simply don't understand why he remade Funny Games.

[Loki]

I thought you were talking about Funny Bones, which I don't remember being violent at all. I don't think I've seen either in that case.

[ukedge87]

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Edited October 31, 2016 by ukedge87

[Harvey Dent]

Took the Mrs to see Wall E last night. The first half was the most painfully boring thing I've seen in ages, the second half was decent. On top of that it took nearly 40 minutes of adverts and shorts before the film even started, hence taknig up the whole evening pretty much. Not impressed.

[JLM]

Finally watched Warrior King/The Protector/Tom-Yum-Goong/Dude, Where are my elephants? last night. I bought it a while ago but I lost my glasses and have been too blind to read subtitles until the recent purchase of a 40" TV.

 

I loved Ong Bak and this delivered more of the same, except with added cute elephants and Lateef Motherfucking Crowder. It's a damn shame his injury cut their scene short because I could watch those two go for an hour and not get bored. I may be 22 years old, but watching Capoeiristas still makes me want to go to the local park and most likely cripple myself in an attempt to imitate them. Just beautiful.

 

The bit where Tony takes on shitloads of suits in a scene reminiscent of Neo vs Smiths is amazing. So many broken bones and horrific dislocations, all done in super-innovative fashion. I enjoyed this, the fights with Johnny Nguyen, Lateef Crowder, Nathan Jones and the Wu Shu guy a lot more than the famed single-shot fight up the staircase sequence. I know that scene is incredible from a film making perspective and for the sheer enormity of the task, but it felt like a stage from Virtua Cop/Time Crisis more than a fluid fight scene. Dirty Balls speaking English is cringeworthy most of the time, but that seems to be the intention.

 

A lot of the actors are wooden as hell and the story can't have taken longer than five minutes to write, but Jaa has intensity flowing from every pore and the action is rarely short of breathtaking, and I wasn't looking for much more than that. Also, elephants are awesome.

[Mr. Seven]

Vantage Point. I've not seen a film get so progressively stupid since I watched Deja V

[Metallica]

I watched X Files 2 today. I hadn't read any reviews beforehand but I've not read a positive one yet.

 

I'm a big fan of the show though (I was 'that' nerdy kid in school who was into the X Files so much he had not one but two X File watches) even today I have the logo wall clock I've had since 97.

 

Anyhoo, I enjoyed it. It wasn't what I was expecting as it wasn't scary and would probably just be an average thriller without the X Files name and characters.

 

A few quick notes:

 

* Scully Googling 'Stem Cell Research' really felt wrong! Maybe it was more interesting than seeing her read a medical journal on a desk but still, you'd expect her to already know about something as big as stem cell research.

 

* Billy Conolly's "this isn't right....you've taken me to the wrong house" would have been a lot more dramatic if the actual house wasn't a few meters away with CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS tape all around it. Made Unnecessarily Angry Black FBI Agent and Pretty FBI Female seem stupid.

 

* Xzibit (if that's his name) isn't a good actor. Billy Conolly was good.

 

* If they get to make X Files 3 I hope they go all out and make a proper horror story.

[The Gaffer]

I watched X Files 2 today. I hadn't read any reviews beforehand but I've not read a positive one yet. I'm a big fan of the show though (I was 'that' nerdy kid in school who was into the X Files so much he had not one but two X File watches) even today I have the logo wall clock I've had since 97.Anyhoo, I enjoyed it. It wasn't what I was expecting as it wasn't scary and would probably just be an average thriller without the X Files name and characters. A few quick notes:* Scully Googling 'Stem Cell Research' really felt wrong! Maybe it was more interesting than seeing her read a medical journal on a desk but still, you'd expect her to already know about something as big as stem cell research.* Billy Conolly's "this isn't right....you've taken me to the wrong house" would have been a lot more dramatic if the actual house wasn't a few meters away with CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS tape all around it. Made Unnecessarily Angry Black FBI Agent and Pretty FBI Female seem stupid.* Xzibit (if that's his name) isn't a good actor. Billy Conolly was good.* If they get to make X Files 3 I hope they go all out and make a proper horror story.

Chris Carter has stated the third X-Files, if made, will deal with the alien colonisation set to take place in 2012, as predicted in the shows mythology. Edited August 1, 2008 by Toilet Duck

[Steveo2007]

Watched the Dark Knight.2 words.Fucking Amazing.

[Mr. Seven]

Here's another two words:Highly overrated.

[DEF]

Mama Mia

 

If you don not like Abba or musicals then this obviously is not for you. That being said I have nothing against Abba and I'm quite partial to a musical. So I'm happy to say this ticked enough of the right boxes so I was happy enough. The wife laughed to the point of crying, as did the other near full crowd of women watching. So women obviously love it, from the male perspective the Comedy ranged from ropey to mediocre but was always charming.

 

The plot its self was as well thought through as it could possibly be if it were written on the back of a match box, but that's forgiveable because of the aforementioned charm of the comedy and a lot of the actors. Not to mention the inherent nostalgia of the Abba back catalogue in all its cheesy glory.

 

My real complaints come from three sources, the music production, the film production and my personal taste in musicals. Not the Abba but rather the sub par backing tracks that accompanied the Abba let the film down for me. It was a bit of annoyance when really the selling point of the film is that it lets you listen to all your 'favourite' classics in the structure of laugh riot comedy talkie. So not only were we treated to Pierce Brosnan's ahem singing but also a dodgy backing track which really aren't on a par with any Abba greatest hits CD.

 

The film production values aren't bad but they clearly don't have the kind of budget that older musicals sport and often I felt that the edit had to be constructed round what they managed to shoot. This leads to a great deal of out of synch lip sync and non linear montages in the sing songs which can feel very disjointed. In the first big song for the three male leads I found this particularly distracting. Like my action and martial arts scenes I like my musicals as linear as possible as I find that it really takes me out of the film and completely demolishes my suspension of disbelief. This doesn't happen in every musical scene but it iritates me none the less.

 

I like musicals quite a lot and I'm not ashamed to say it. That's probably because I like every other genre of film just as much. The thing is I like them a certain way. What it boils down to is I need big choreographed Dance routines in my musicals. Mama Mia does have its moments of dance but they are also a bit choppy and clearly were a bit of an afterthought. Obviously the casting of actors actually of the age that they are playing doesn't help the situation. I can understand 50+ actors such as Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski not being physically able to do huge routines but that's why in my opinion that's all roles should be played by unbelievably good looking healthy late 20 year olds.

 

Ok I may have over thought this one a bit and there are far worse films to take your missus too but ultimately there is little excuse to see it over The Dark Knight. Far better than Hairspray but far from the classic musical masterpiece it could have been.