DVD's and Films You Have Watched Recently

[Harvey Dent]

I got the Watchmen directors cut Blu ray from amazon and watched it on friday. Its only really worth it for big Watchmen fans like myself, none of the added scenes really add much to the film, despite clocking in at 24 minutes longer. Its a good film, a decent attempt at it, but it doesnt come close to the source material.

[Au]

Has anyone actually seen the Black Freighter cartoon? Worth picking up?

 

I'd rather have seen that worked into the film instead of the extra scenes in the Directors Cut. Especially the ones with Laurie and the Government after Manhattan went to Mars, they added absolutely nothing to the film.

[Harvey Dent]

Has anyone actually seen the Black Freighter cartoon? Worth picking up?

 

I'd rather have seen that worked into the film instead of the extra scenes in the Directors Cut. Especially the ones with Laurie and the Government after Manhattan went to Mars, they added absolutely nothing to the film.

 

yeah I rented the black freighter disk. It's cool for what it is but a little odd to digest just by itself. The coolest thing about it is the "under the hood" feature on the DVD. I don't know how the black freighter would integrate into the movie, I think the films pacing seems a bit off in places where snyder has stuck almost page for page to the episodic structure of the original 12 comics so maybe having the BF stuff in wouldn't work so well. Apparently there will be an "ultimate" edition with it all in.

[patiirc]

Watched Big Nothing last night. Simon Pegg, Ross Schwimmer, Alice Eve and Natascha McElrhone. Its billed as a Coen Brothers style Black Comedy, about Call Centre workers, who decide to commit Black Mail on a Porno watching Rev. It however goes a bit wrong.

 

The Film is okay, but its a bit predicatble and is helluva longwinded for what it is. It tries too hard to be some kind of 'proper' film, and seems like a load of mates have got together to make a film to feel better about so they can showcase their talents. The twists are conveniant MacGuffins, the FBI agent is utterly pointless, and the revelations dont exactly me feel any empathy with any of the characters. Some might like it. I was dissapointed though

[Au]

yeah I rented the black freighter disk. It's cool for what it is but a little odd to digest just by itself. The coolest thing about it is the "under the hood" feature on the DVD. I don't know how the black freighter would integrate into the movie, I think the films pacing seems a bit off in places where snyder has stuck almost page for page to the episodic structure of the original 12 comics so maybe having the BF stuff in wouldn't work so well. Apparently there will be an "ultimate" edition with it all in.

The comic utilised techniques that are borrowed from film in TV in that they juxtaposed images, themes and text from one story to the other. As such, assuming all the bits that juxtapose are left in, it should integrate fine. If there is an ultimate edition, I really hope it's just the theatrical cut with the Black Freighter stuff added in and not tacked into the Directors Cut. The extra footage was worthless and added nothing to the film other than the time it took to watch it whereas the Black Freighter could add another level to the film entirely.

 

I can see how it would be odd to watch it by itself though. They really should have found a way to get it into the theatrical cut and just slim it down a bit. On its own, you don't really get how it fits into the story.

[Astro Hollywood]

Supposedly there's a 5 disc SE due in December. Maybe that'll have the Black Freighter stuff edited in properly. Under the Hood too, if we're lucky. Probably just be everything lumped in on seperate discs though.

[Devon Malcolm]

Ed Wood tonight. Probably my favourite Tim Burton film which he couldn't even spoil with the needless Orson Welles scene. Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi was one of my favourite performances in any film ever, I think - absolutely perfect in every way. I didn't mind the historical inaccuracies that much, aside from the one mentioned, and this was really great fun.

 

8 angora sweaters out of 10.

[Surf Digby]

The Hollow Man: Director's Cut

I like The Hollow Man. I like Kevin Bacon. I like Elizabeth Shue. I like Elizabeth Shue in her pants. I really liked the idea of The Hollow Man with extra scenes and stuff in. I watched it with a couple of friends, and none of us noticed anything different from the regular Hollow Man.

Turns out that there's something like 3 or 4 scenes that are a bit longer. That's it. A few extra lines of dialogue. If it weren't from Elizabeth Shue in her pants, and me liking the film anyway, I would have been quite annoyed at spending

[JLM]

Oh lordy do I have a round-up for you. Hear my call, fellow bored work-placers, for I have returned to my rambling ways!

 

The Proposal

 

Went to see this at the cinema a few weeks ago. For anyone doubting my Bullock fandom, it's no gimmick y'all! It was obviously the best film of the year because the finest actress of our generation was in it.

 

Putting that aside for a moment, it was surprisingly fun anyway. Ryan Reynolds is a likeable guy. He's sometimes a bit over the top (Blade 3) but he is generally watchable and usually someone I'm happy to see in a film. The crazy old grandmother character is sweet and genuinely funny until they go into total overkill on it with a woodland scene that sees here dressed up in tribal gear and chanting around a fire. She goes from an eccentric old lady to WHACKY WHACKY WHACKY LOLZ in the space of one scene and it's a real shame because it was going well until that point.

 

Speaking of that scene, the subsequent dance with Sandy () dancing around the fire and shakin' that thang to the tune of "Get Low" by Lil John is probably the most cringeworthy thing I've ever seen her do. It was physically painful to watch. It goes on for aaaages. She gets told to dance around the fire and start chanting with whatever comes into her head. Fine. So she starts reciting the hook the aforementioned song. This isn't a funny idea to begin with (and is totally out of sync with her character in a "Errmmm... no" sense rather than a "Look! She's loosening up!" sense), but it's made worse when it's dragged out for minutes and they then start playing the instrumental to the song as if to hammer home their fucking fantastic joke. AWful awful awful. I wanted to die until it was over.

 

Fortunately though, there was also a scene that I never wanted to be over, that being the revealing post-shower scene. She's 45 years old people. The woman is not human I swear. Ryan Reynolds is built like He Man and she still looked awesome to the max when standing next to him wearing just her strategically placed hands. The projecitonist didn't hear my pleas for a freeze frame.

 

The film is a gigantic string of tired ideas and lazy writing, but the two leads are likeable (one of them particularly so. If you follow me. I think you do.) and it's mostly executed well with the jokes finding their mark and stuff.

 

Forty two stars out of a possible ten.

 

Bruno

 

I'm pretty sure I posted in the Bruno thread but I might as well round this up in here as well because my memory is hazy and I'm feeling lazy. Poetry for you there. Anyway, this was hilarious. Gut-wrenchingly, airway-restrictingly so at times. Bits of it missed, but the hits hit so damn hard that I didn't particularly care. Two uber-funny films, tonnes of great TV and he managed to bag himself Isla Fisher. Sacha Baron Cohen might just be my hero.

 

Serving Sara

 

The worst romantic comedy I have seen to date. If you have been following my writings to date, you will know that this is a big statement to make. A review will follow, but first I'll have to *shudder* watch it again.

 

Under Siege

 

8 Segal movies for 8 pounds. God bless you CEX.

 

Anyway, this is brilliant. I love Segal more than his peers because it's so obvious that he thinks he's as cool as his characters are meant to be. It's like Stallone in Cobra, where he just tried to write himself to be the biggest bad-ass of all time. Segal is like that in every film.

 

The major benefit that this particular one has over his other work is that Tommy Lee Jones is AMAZING in it. He chews the scenery, swallows it, shits it back out again and then smears it all over the viewer's face. Rarely have I seen an actor having so much fun playing a role. His outfits are amazing, his insane dialogue is brilliant and his death is absolutely magnificent.

 

I should probably note that Gary Busey is outstanding as well.

 

I know Predator is a genuinely great film and everyone loves Commando, but for me Under Siege is a near-perfect action movie.

 

Exit Wounds

 

Segal is more doughy and leathery in this because it's much more recent. He still essentially plays Casey Ryback though. DMX co-stars and it's great because he also provides much of the soundtrack, thus he drives around listening to his own music on a number of occasions. Flossin'. Also, Eva Mendes is in it in a really small role that I'd totally erased from my memory. Bonus points there.

 

This is a fun film but the more modern and hip stylings detract from what Segal movies are about. Plus Steve looks absolutely ridiculous on a motorbike. There's a top notch vehicle chase scene though, which hilariously sees this lady police chief woman (who is driving Segal while he leans out the window and shoots at his attackers) get face-planted horribly against a windscreen, instantly killing her. Steve climbs out of the car, grabs a bike and just fucks off. Doesn't even glance at her. She's never mentioned again. Tremendous.

 

I'd recommend watching this movie if only for the absolutely mind-bogglingly stupid way in which the criminals/crooked cops move heroin without detection. I had seen the film before but had somehow forgotten about that beauty. I was in quite literal slack-jawed amazement as I watched that scene.

 

Ghost World

 

Seen this a few times before but we watched it again recently so I thought I'd stick it in. Always an enjoyable watch and I somehow manage to forget about some of the funniest bits before each re-watching. The super-pretentious film that the art teacher shows them is absolutely classic. Steve Buscemi is just a fantastic man, and he delivers here as you'd expect. I like this role for Scarlett Johansson and wish she'd play more characters like it. Thora Birch is cool and her character is interesting but she also has a Juno-factor about her (you'd punch her right in the mouth if you really knew her). The film is cool but doesn't (to me at least) feel like it's trying too hard in a super-contrived way. The characters do at times, but then they're supposed to. Lastly, re-watching this reminded me that Brad Renfro is dead. That's a sad thing.

 

I know how many runs you scored last summer

 

This is a cricket themed horror movie. The world could use more of these.

 

First off, just let the brilliance of that title sink in for a moment.

 

Got it?

 

OK, now point your peepers at this tag line:

 

This time, they get to keep the ashes!

 

Bam! That is, how you say, a six, right there. Also at one point a guy gets gutted and crucified and displayed with a sign saying "HOWZAT?" above his head in blood.

 

All it lacks is a scene where the killer chases someone back and forth between two locations quickly like they're scoring runs. Shame.

 

Right, anyway, a gigantic dude in cricket whites who looks like a sort of all-white Undertaker is killing people. His cricket team were horrible to him when he was a child and on one occasion gave him a severe towel-whipping that left his genitals all mangled. True story. Anyway, he's pissed and is now dispatching them through the medium of cricket-themed weaponry. A solid premise I'm sure you'll agree.

 

The upshot of this is a string of rather excellent kills. One guy gets a cricket stump lodged in his throat and then driven home by the bat. One gets twatted right in the eye socket by a cricket ball stuffed with nails and other sharp objects. There's also a graphic disemboweling via razor sharp cricket glove.

 

The main event, however, is a scene where one of the guys is made to strip down to his boxers and kneel before the killer. The killer hands him a cricket cup that is absolutely stuffed with nails and pointy things. The man takes it and puts it on. The killer, without hesitaiton, proceeds to kick him extremely hard in the nuts, driving the cup home. The man then makes an attempt to remove it. The sounds that accompany this will remain etched in my memory. Oh yeah, during this time, the killer strolls round behind him and drives three cricket stumps through his back to seal the deal.

 

There are predictable plot twists, shocking attempts at British accents by Australians (it's an Australian movie) and there's also an unbelievably gratuitous shower scene where the lady detective goes for a shower in the safehouse for no reason at all. We then cut to three minutes or so of boob soaping, extended ass and muff slow motion shots and then more boob soaping. The funny thing is that they use a body double for this, and the double in question is "Miss nude Australia". She's credited as "Shower body". I'm sure her family were first in line to watch this. The DVD extras list has "Extended shower scene" as an option too. Miss nude Australia is clearly younger and in far, far better shape than the actress who plays the showering detective, but they don't really make an effort to convince you that it's the same person anyway. It might as well jusy flash up "and now, here's titties!" on screen before it. She doesn't get attacked in the shower or anything. She just showers and then climbs out and dries off and then we move on. Amazing.

 

A true CEX movie and one that I'd recommend if you love appalling acting and schlocky horror. The final fight scene sees our hero dressed with pads and helmet and there is a cricket bat duel between him and the villain. If you're not sold on this yet then we ain't friends.

 

Stay tuned for forthcoming reviews of the Amanda Bynes classic "What a Girl wants" and the aforementioned "Serving Sara".

[Harvey Dent]

I know how many runs you scored last summer

 

This is a cricket themed horror movie. The world could use more of these.

 

First off, just let the brilliance of that title sink in for a moment.

 

Got it?

 

OK, now point your peepers at this tag line:

 

This time, they get to keep the ashes!

 

Bam! That is, how you say, a six, right there. Also at one point a guy gets gutted and crucified and displayed with a sign saying "HOWZAT?" above his head in blood.

 

All it lacks is a scene where the killer chases someone back and forth between two locations quickly like they're scoring runs. Shame.

 

Right, anyway, a gigantic dude in cricket whites who looks like a sort of all-white Undertaker is killing people. His cricket team were horrible to him when he was a child and on one occasion gave him a severe towel-whipping that left his genitals all mangled. True story. Anyway, he's pissed and is now dispatching them through the medium of cricket-themed weaponry. A solid premise I'm sure you'll agree.

 

The upshot of this is a string of rather excellent kills. One guy gets a cricket stump lodged in his throat and then driven home by the bat. One gets twatted right in the eye socket by a cricket ball stuffed with nails and other sharp objects. There's also a graphic disemboweling via razor sharp cricket glove.

 

The main event, however, is a scene where one of the guys is made to strip down to his boxers and kneel before the killer. The killer hands him a cricket cup that is absolutely stuffed with nails and pointy things. The man takes it and puts it on. The killer, without hesitaiton, proceeds to kick him extremely hard in the nuts, driving the cup home. The man then makes an attempt to remove it. The sounds that accompany this will remain etched in my memory. Oh yeah, during this time, the killer strolls round behind him and drives three cricket stumps through his back to seal the deal.

 

There are predictable plot twists, shocking attempts at British accents by Australians (it's an Australian movie) and there's also an unbelievably gratuitous shower scene where the lady detective goes for a shower in the safehouse for no reason at all. We then cut to three minutes or so of boob soaping, extended ass and muff slow motion shots and then more boob soaping. The funny thing is that they use a body double for this, and the double in question is "Miss nude Australia". She's credited as "Shower body". I'm sure her family were first in line to watch this. The DVD extras list has "Extended shower scene" as an option too. Miss nude Australia is clearly younger and in far, far better shape than the actress who plays the showering detective, but they don't really make an effort to convince you that it's the same person anyway. It might as well jusy flash up "and now, here's titties!" on screen before it. She doesn't get attacked in the shower or anything. She just showers and then climbs out and dries off and then we move on. Amazing.

 

A true CEX movie and one that I'd recommend if you love appalling acting and schlocky horror. The final fight scene sees our hero dressed with pads and helmet and there is a cricket bat duel between him and the villain. If you're not sold on this yet then we ain't friends.

 

Stay tuned for forthcoming reviews of the Amanda Bynes classic "What a Girl wants" and the aforementioned "Serving Sara".

 

 

Sold. I have GOT to see that.

[CoreyVandal]

Supposedly there's a 5 disc SE due in December. Maybe that'll have the Black Freighter stuff edited in properly. Under the Hood too, if we're lucky. Probably just be everything lumped in on seperate discs though.

 

With 5 discs I'd imagine they'd include the excellent animated comic which runs at about 6 hours.

[Devon Malcolm]

JLM's film reviews are great. But for me the best parts of Under Siege were Erika Eleniak's top cobblers. Ghost World is great though.

[martyngnr]

I know how many runs you scored last summer

 

This is a cricket themed horror movie. The world could use more of these.

 

First off, just let the brilliance of that title sink in for a moment.

 

Got it?

 

OK, now point your peepers at this tag line:

 

This time, they get to keep the ashes!

 

Bam! That is, how you say, a six, right there. Also at one point a guy gets gutted and crucified and displayed with a sign saying "HOWZAT?" above his head in blood.

 

All it lacks is a scene where the killer chases someone back and forth between two locations quickly like they're scoring runs. Shame.

 

Right, anyway, a gigantic dude in cricket whites who looks like a sort of all-white Undertaker is killing people. His cricket team were horrible to him when he was a child and on one occasion gave him a severe towel-whipping that left his genitals all mangled. True story. Anyway, he's pissed and is now dispatching them through the medium of cricket-themed weaponry. A solid premise I'm sure you'll agree.

 

The upshot of this is a string of rather excellent kills. One guy gets a cricket stump lodged in his throat and then driven home by the bat. One gets twatted right in the eye socket by a cricket ball stuffed with nails and other sharp objects. There's also a graphic disemboweling via razor sharp cricket glove.

 

The main event, however, is a scene where one of the guys is made to strip down to his boxers and kneel before the killer. The killer hands him a cricket cup that is absolutely stuffed with nails and pointy things. The man takes it and puts it on. The killer, without hesitaiton, proceeds to kick him extremely hard in the nuts, driving the cup home. The man then makes an attempt to remove it. The sounds that accompany this will remain etched in my memory. Oh yeah, during this time, the killer strolls round behind him and drives three cricket stumps through his back to seal the deal.

 

There are predictable plot twists, shocking attempts at British accents by Australians (it's an Australian movie) and there's also an unbelievably gratuitous shower scene where the lady detective goes for a shower in the safehouse for no reason at all. We then cut to three minutes or so of boob soaping, extended ass and muff slow motion shots and then more boob soaping. The funny thing is that they use a body double for this, and the double in question is "Miss nude Australia". She's credited as "Shower body". I'm sure her family were first in line to watch this. The DVD extras list has "Extended shower scene" as an option too. Miss nude Australia is clearly younger and in far, far better shape than the actress who plays the showering detective, but they don't really make an effort to convince you that it's the same person anyway. It might as well jusy flash up "and now, here's titties!" on screen before it. She doesn't get attacked in the shower or anything. She just showers and then climbs out and dries off and then we move on. Amazing.

 

A true CEX movie and one that I'd recommend if you love appalling acting and schlocky horror. The final fight scene sees our hero dressed with pads and helmet and there is a cricket bat duel between him and the villain. If you're not sold on this yet then we ain't friends.

 

Stay tuned for forthcoming reviews of the Amanda Bynes classic "What a Girl wants" and the aforementioned "Serving Sara".

 

 

Sold. I have GOT to see that.

 

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Switchblade Romance tonight and I thought it was quite shit.

 

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

Well, it wasn't all bad. I love short-haired girls so Maiwenn made it worth watching. Up until the climax, it was really just a standard slasher film with a couple of decently inventive deaths. Nothing wrong with that, and the best bit was probably in the gas station. Shortly after that, it fell apart.

 

Really, the twist to me just felt like a lazy way of covering up the gaping plot holes although I'd say that probably wasn't the intent on behalf of Alexandre Aja. But it just felt like that to me. It also meant that a couple of scenes ended up meaning nothing - the 'head with a head' scene is completely out of place most notably. And there's no way she could have knocked that bloke's head off with that bookcase, although I like that bit. There just aren't enough bookcase-related deaths in films for me. And why did he/she look so fucking weird during that fucking ridiculous circular saw bit at the end?

 

[close spoiler]

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At least Aja picked things up with The Hills Have Eyes, which was far better than this.

 

4 barbed wire wrapped clubs that Mick Foley would be proud of out of 10.

[King of Hamptons]

Just watching The Mist, One of the best horror films i've seen in ages!

 

Slighly different then the short story its based on, but i seriously love the un hollywood ending

 

Who are really the monsters in the film ? The ones outside or the ones inside? Shows Religon to be a very dangerous thing...