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Re: Last movie you watched

https://latimesherocomplex.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/star-crash-poster.jpg

Every now and again I watch something so ridiculous that I am genuinely IMPRESSED by how bad it is. It is complete malarkey, but also completely hilarious malarkey, and I watched the whole thing with a stupid smirk on my face.

There’s a moment early on when the weird head tentacle thing sentences Stella to work on a penal colony, and I swear to god he reads the line as if someone had JUST stuck the script in his face and he’d never encountered the phrase “penal colony” before. AMAZING.

I know most movies shoot the movie out of order for various reasons, but Starcrash really seems like even within a short 30-second scene, they filmed it out of order. Also, oh man, I loved, LOVED the way that the reaction shots of every single person in this film were completely inappropriate. Especially Stella Star who reacts to everything by smiling and shaking her head as if she was remembering that time she set the DVR to record the wrong show.

Oh, and the movie soundtrack. Wow. Come on. Seriously? It sounded like an otherwise-talented horn section trying to play the Star Wars theme, but none of them realized that some dopey twat transcribed each line of sheet music the wrong way round. It’s like an uncanny valley for music.

And oh my god! There's a stop motion robot thing that looks like a C3P0 sex-doll trying to walk after getting royally munted on quaaludes.

This whole film is a bit like that, really. It’s got practical models, it’s got people reading words from a script who I suppose you could call actors, there’s makeup, costumes, camera angles, flashing things, a lot of matte-shots etc, but that doesn’t really make it a movie just by default. It’s like if you see a 3-year old walking around in Daddy’s business shoes and dragging a briefcase just ‘cause they think that’s the thing that makes Daddy a businessman. Except, instead of being adorable, the 3-year old in this analogy totters around until it slips over and bangs its head on the coffee table, and then instead of calling an ambulance, the parents start arguing about which is the best kind of baking soda to use to remove the blood from the carpet, and then the kid dies and there’s a tiny coffin at the funeral and it’s really quite tragic.

So um, yeah, Starcrash. This film is a hot mess. Get drunk and watch it!

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful smile

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Re: Last movie you watched

I'll be honest, I played it at one-and-a-half times the speed just so I didn't have to spend more than an hour on it. It's amazing though. It's basically Surrogates, but for Star Wars, and whatever-the-hell the Italian equivalent of coffee&bagels is.

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful smile

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Re: Last movie you watched

Squiggly_P wrote:

I just watched Prisoners.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/Prisoners2013Poster.jpg

It's fucking great and I loved every second of it. Now by law I'm required to watch ten more shot on shiteo films before I can watch another real movie.

Late to the game here; but yowza, that was a film. Stupendous, I say.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Ex Machina Ex Machina Ex Machina Ex Machina Ex Machina




Go see it immediately

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Re: Last movie you watched

bullet3 wrote:

Go see it immediately

Which film was that?  tongue

Extended Edition - 146 - The Rise Of Skywalker
VFX Reel | Twitter | IMDB | Blog

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Re: Last movie you watched

http://www.showbiz411.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/avengers.jpg

AVENGERS!!! Man, it was fuck'n awes----

Nah, just kidding, didn't see it. I'm gonna be that one asshole that's getting too old for this shit.

not long to go now...

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Re: Last movie you watched

avatar wrote:

http://www.showbiz411.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/avengers.jpg

AVENGERS!!! Man, it was fuck'n awes----

Nah, just kidding, didn't see it. I'm gonna be that one asshole that's getting too old for this shit.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll198/evilash1990/dannygloverwarmachine.jpg

Re: Last movie you watched

avatar wrote:

http://www.showbiz411.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/avengers.jpg

AVENGERS!!! Man, it was fuck'n awes----

Nah, just kidding, didn't see it. I'm gonna be that one asshole that's getting too old for this shit.

Are you also a day from retirement? wink

God loves you!

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Re: Last movie you watched

I'm quite surprised we don't have an Age of Ultron thread. Awesome film.  big_smile

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: Last movie you watched

It premieres here tonight, I'm sure a thread will be up by that point. I plan on catching it Saturday.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Given my experience watching anime, my guess would be the subtitles are basically an English translation of the script provided by the studio, not a translation of what's actually said on screen. So, anything ad-libbed on the day won't be subtitled. A cheap way to release a foreign film.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Last movie you watched

http://jasinboland.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mad-max-fury-road-poster-T.jpg

Movie of the year, every year.

Last edited by Ewing (2015-05-18 16:18:30)

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Re: Last movie you watched

The Village (2004) - 8/10 (6.5)


http://i.imgur.com/wPKWYyd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QLlBlSo.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/5xoyePp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6qgBxvQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9HdYqMF.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cnu3vJT.jpg


Rewatching this and I always forget how utterly mesmerizing some moments are. I have to feel that this is still Shyamalan when he was at his best. Not necessarily the peak of his storytelling, but his filmmaking instincts in general are still very sharp here.

Don't mind the twist ending. Seeing it again knowing it's coming, there is still very effective and moving storytelling underneath that grabbed my attention. My only true quibble in the film is Shyamalans cameo scene. It's junk unnecessary exposition interrupting an emotional climax of score and tension.

This film has some of the absolutely gorgeous sound design Shyamalan employed in Unbreakable. The artistic use of echo and reberb on certain sounds is very effective, and other techniques, like leaving only low frequency rumble and atmospherics to put you into the mind of a character, can really turn what on paper is a pretty flat scene into a real attention-grabber.

Acting is actually pretty great overall, though I can see how the dialogue as written could come across as unappetizing. Scenes have Shyamalans early trademark of feeling quite stilted, but that also yields an uneasiness which also keeps your attention.

Add to that Roger Deakins exceptional visuals. Truly wonderful in their understated beauty. Together with James Newton Howards hauntingly beautiful score they both collaborate to really steal the show. If you remove some of the visual flair and the score, what's left is probably again pretty flat and drawn out, but the devil is really in the details here. Shyamalan really manages to make pretty much every scene interesting by virtue of either the score, the lighting, uneasy tension, effective camera work, or great atmospheric sound design. It's just really tight and controlled. Everything feels intended. With a purpose.

It can be a truly hauntingly beautiful film, and one scene in the film (my guess is you will know it when it happens) is still one of the most effective I have ever seen.

The cheesy-feeling elements could get in the way of enjoyment for some. However if they do, I feel you are missing the deeper meaning. This isn't so much a supernatural thriller, as an almost Malick-ian poem to nature and love and loss. I almost wish there was even less plot than there is, leaving me free to infer events further and really make the film more my own in that sense.

If you haven't seen it, really recommend it. Maybe check out Unbreakable first as a primer to Shyamalans particular style. If you saw it a long time ago, might be worth a rewatch for the visual and aural experience.

Last edited by TechNoir (2015-05-29 19:24:58)

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Re: Last movie you watched

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll198/evilash1990/cloak_and_dagger_xlg.jpg

"11-year-old Davey, whose mother is dead and whose father is preoccupied with his own problems, has retreated into a world of video games and an imaginary hero-pal, the swashbuckling superspy Jack Flack. When an FBI agent about to be murdered slips him a video cartridge containing top-secret data, Davey is suddenly plunged into the intrigue and danger of real-life espionage. No adult believes his story, so he must run a gauntlet of violence and villainy aided only by a younger girl and the encouragement of "Jack Flack" at his side. How long can a comic-book role model guide him through this encounter with reality?"

http://atariage.com/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2013/post-30924-0-31140900-1362545137.png

Holy shit, this movie is INSANE! Elliot from E.T. is running away from agents that are trying to murder him and take his Atari game. Oh yeah, and the kid is a paranoid schizophrenic... he has an imaginary super spy friend "Jack Flack" who tells him what to do. At some point Jack Flack tells the kid to kill his enemies! Written by Tom "Fright Night" Holland and directed by the Australian Hitchcock Richard Franklin (Road Games, Psycho 2) Cloak & Dagger is like a Walt Disney film made by Alfred Hitchcock. It's an absolute must-watch. A kids film that Hollywood simply doesn't make today...

Last edited by Xtroid (2015-06-14 19:41:31)

Re: Last movie you watched

I watched that when I was younger.

Quite traumatizing at some points wink

Absolutely a must see if you have not seen it. Glad it is still around smile

Last edited by fireproof78 (2015-06-13 06:42:24)

God loves you!

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Re: Last movie you watched

I loved that movie SO MUCH.  I forget how big a part of my childhood Dabney Coleman was.

Eddie Doty

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Re: Last movie you watched

So random...Just last week I took a bunch of samples from this movie and put it in a song. 
It was one of those movies I saw a ton when i was little...I have a vague memory that there's a chase scene along the river walk in San Antonio.
and I agree with Eddie...Dabney Coleman was all over my childhood...in a non creepy way.

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Re: Last movie you watched

This sounds absolutely glorious.

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Re: Last movie you watched

Recently rewatched one of my childhood family favorite movies:

Baby's Day Out:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Babys_day_out_poster.jpg

This movie is an absurd premise, taken to 11, and I love all of it. You do have to buy in to the premise, and it is a lot of slap stick humor, but it is such a fun film that I love it for the absurdity of it all.

It features an incredible cast with Lara Flynn Boyle, Joe Mantega, Joe Pantoliano, Fred Thompson, and Cynthia Nixon.

If you want a fun movie, enjoy this one smile

God loves you!

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Re: Last movie you watched

...Not to be a prude, but what the fuck were you expecting?

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Re: Last movie you watched

To be entertained I guess. It's not an unrealistic expectation with these sorts of films. That this series fails is a testament to how bad they are.

That said, Extinction was more entertaining, mostly due to Stanley Tucci, than the utter shite that was the third film.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: Last movie you watched

I've not actually seen the entire film, I gave up around the hour and a half mark, where there was still a solid hour of bullshit left. You are a better man than me Squiggly.

I have to agree with what you said, and add that T4 is to me by far the most disjointed and idiotic entry in the series. You really cannot follow it, halfway through reading your plot description I already had given up trying to figure out who did what and why.
It's like they purposefully write it as diffusely and messy as possible to make sure people feel compelled to buy the retail product later to assimilate the parts they missed the first time. I've seen the previous entries a few times each with Rifftrax accompaniment, and god knows I still cannot remember half of the plot details in those things. They're like the movie equivalent of Gish gallop, drowning you in stuff and things and look at that flag and shiny metal flying past the screen and short shorts on a 17-year-old and that dude just got burned alive and Mark Wahlberg just randomly chugged a branded drink on the street and please help me I don't even remember who I am anymore.

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Re: Last movie you watched

So you missed the part where after the climactic destruction battle of Chicago, the movie decides to migrate to China and has ANOTHER SOLID HOUR of destruction action scenes for no reason.

What I'll say in its defense, is it does have the most coherent action of the series, and it also has the least amount of obnoxious humour. Still as incoherent as ever story-wise, but it would be kinda watchable if it wasn't THREE HOURS LONG

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Re: Last movie you watched

bullet3 wrote:

So you missed the part where after the climactic destruction battle of Chicago, the movie decides to migrate to China and has ANOTHER SOLID HOUR of destruction action scenes for no reason.

What I'll say in its defense, is it does have the most coherent action of the series, and it also has the least amount of obnoxious humour. Still as incoherent as ever story-wise, but it would be kinda watchable if it wasn't THREE HOURS LONG


I think I skipped through it and saw some metal dinosaur at some point. I don't think they had any purpose at all other than to amp up the destruction by adding more mass to our Transformers as they hurl themselves into infrastructure.

I agree with your points aswell. For me though the 4th film feels kind of soulless. I was quite surprised at how much I missed Shia and his presence in the 4th one, even his parents. Whatever humanity the 3 previous entries had went away when they introduced new characters in 4, so 4 just feels detached from the rest of the series. Like Michael Bay wants us to stick around for another 2 entries before they have waded through enough clichés to have the new characters feel somewhat relatable and have some semblance of depth.

T4 would have needed to feel more playful like T1, since we probably need a more down-to-earth movie to introduce new characters. Instead it felt as if they had Transformers 2 as the first entry in the first 3. None of that Shia goes to school, wants a new car, developing love interest bit. As stupid as that could be at times in T1, atleast they went through the motions.

Here we just meet Mark Wahlberg, he is down on his luck. The girl already has a boyfriend to she has nothing to do for us to invest emotionally in. These characters really do nothing before all hell breaks loose. I'm guessing the girl still has her boyfriend at the end? Mark Wahlberg is down on his luck?

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Re: Last movie you watched

Jurassic World.

My one blockbuster visit for the summer (maybe) and I had a pretty good time. It felt somewhat predictable, but I kind of expected that so that is ok, I guess.

Chris Pratt is a lot of fun, and provides a bit of a different take on the dinosaurs that I really enjoyed. He has good chemistry with the female lead, as well as with Vincent D'Onofrio.

Rest of the review is spoiled just as a precaution. If you liked other Jurassic Park films, you'll probably enjoy this one.

  Show

It is definitely a thrill ride from beginning to end, with the score pulling you in from the get-go. Michael Giacchino does a great job with the score, carrying Williams' thematic torch with gusto.

But, you didn't come here to read about the score did you? Of course not. You came to hear about the dinosaurs.

I'll say this. I liked the dinosaurs, and what they did with them. It was a fascinating way to take the world and consequences of the previous films, and craft it in a way that feels for the most part believable. I've heard it stated that the dinosaurs feel CG, but, aside from a couple of specific parts, I didn't get that impression.

There is a great undercurrent of understanding nature and nurture, and the instincts that can be developed, and the ones that lie beneath the surface. Chris Pratt's character (Owen?) is by and far the most interesting because he has a whole different view on the dinosaurs, than everyone else on the island.

Likewise, D'Onofrio has a different point of view on the dinosaurs, and he has a good point. However, much in the way that the first Jurassic Park film underestimated the level of human control, so this film establishes that the control the humans think they have is in error.

Claire, the park runner and operations officer, is fun and interesting, and has a good variety of moments that make her both fallible and heroic. Her chemistry with Pratt is great, and the two definitely serve as an interesting tug-of-war of perspectives on the dinosaurs.

The rest of the characters are hit and miss for me. There is a control room coworker "couple" (in the sense that they work side by side and play off each other) who sometimes serve as a bit of self-aware humor for the film. They have some good jokes, and trope reversal moments, and are fun.

The kids are frustrating. They definitely play as siblings, because in one minute they are fighting and the next they are working together despite their differences. The problem is that their tension is surface level, and even with the underlying subtext of their personal life in turmoil, they still don't feel like they actually deal with anything. They go through a crisis, think their aunt is cool again, the end.

The owner of the park is a likeable enough guy that doesn't get enough screen time and meets an untimely end. He really could have been more interesting if they felt like they could give him more to do.

The story is, unfortunately, fairly predictable. the only differences being that Pratt has been training the raptors, and the park developed (genetically engineered) a dino who turns out to be too much to handle. Unfortunately, the movie treads too heavily on the concept that are hero is really the only competent one, and the rest of the park employees are either too dumb or something to handle a crisis.

The ending is epic, and well done. The battle is such that there really is a feeling of the unknown of who might win and who might lose.

Overall, the visuals are fun, the story is basic, and Pratt's character carries a lot of the weight. I'm sure many will enjoy it.

God loves you!

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