951

(80 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Thanks for the invite Dave! I have to say, this is a genius idea, love the idea of the quests (though they appear to be dominated by barbell exercises at the mo).

Going to do the "As Seen On Tv!" quest tomorrow as that's my cardio day. Thankfully the quest only includes 5 push-ups, my shoulder muscles are still aching a bit from my workout at the beginning of the week! I find I'm running out of energy for the last couple of exercises, so may need to eat a bit more before.

In the meantime, I have to figure out a way to do pull-ups in my flat. I've seen some folks using a table and doing an incline version to begin with, so will probably give that a go (and hope my table doesn't break!). Does anyone have one of those fancy door contraptions that allow you to have a bar in a doorway?

952

(80 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Where do I sign? Would love to do this.

953

(27 replies, posted in Episodes)

I mentioned it in the chat during the episode but it likely got lost amidst the discussion or no-one had ever heard of it, but there's a European comic called The Wheel - The Prophecy of Korot (and by European I meant it's non-English). It's set in a future society where criminals are sentenced to live out their lives in an alternate dimension/dream state, and the story involves a man whose sentence involves him living out a life in this fantasy Conan the Barbarian-like realm... as a princess. It's a bizarre story and involves this guy-as-a-girl leading a kingdom to victory in a war. At the end he returns back to his reality and with his sentence over continues his normal life, no-one being any the wiser about what he accomplished whilst in the form of this princess.

I thought it was a really interesting twist on the hero/heroine's journey. Worth googling and reading a scanalation, since I don't believe it's published in English.

An example of a movie where the hero loses all his powers and is ok with being normal at the end is TRON.

954

(2,061 replies, posted in Episodes)

You've done Karate Kid, how about the sort of adult version, Rocky? You can then perhaps do an intermission covering the sequels (and how Rocky IV is clearly the best of them all smile)

I'd love to hear Eddie get involved in another martial arts themed commentary, perhaps Warrior?

955

(1,649 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Awesome and genius clip. Fantastic turn from Guy Pierce too.

956

(43 replies, posted in Episodes)

That video has to be the greatest thing I've seen on youtube. Thanks Teague, you've brightened up the day.

957

(19 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Added me, did I do it right though? Looks different to the others

958

(57 replies, posted in Episodes)

Love it! Good find Rikkitikkitaavi.

959

(4 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Great interview, thanks for the link. She sounds like a genuinely nice person (on top of being gorgeous).

960

(2,061 replies, posted in Episodes)

Haven't they already done Source Code, or am I imagining things again?

961

(25 replies, posted in Episodes)

I have to admit I'm really surprised that so few of the forum members appear to have watched many westerns. Mainly because as a kid, one of the most obvious toy or roleplaying games was to play cowboys and indians and movies of that genre were the inspiration for new characters and stories etc. Like others, I was born long after the genre's heyday but I was still able to watch a fair amount of them due to the fact that they were often shown on daytime TV here in the UK. The afternoon film on one of the 4 terrestial TV channels over here would invariably be an old movie - either a WW2 film, a Western or perhaps a black and white adventure film.

It's tempting to think of Unforgiven as a landmark but it wasn't entirely a new approach - the Western genre has always had 'darker' revisions over the decades. The Searchers for example was not a typical Western at the time (compare and contrast to Stagecoach), and others like Little Big Man, Soldier Blue and the Wild Bunch have all had different takes on the genre. Even Eastwood himself had been in several movies which were far removed from the typical John Wayne adventure long before Unforgiven came around (Pale Rider, Outlaw Josey Wales), and the Spagetti Westerns are a very different take on the standard set of tropes. Young Guns and Dances with Wolves both preceded Unforgiven as well.

Good Westerns worth a watch (no particular order):
Wild Bunch
The Searchers
Young Guns
Tombstone
True Grit
Geronimo (both Wes Studi and 1962 versions)
Gunfight at the OK Corral
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Last Outlaw
The Quick and the Dead
Maverick
Silverado
A Man Called Horse
Broken Arrow

And then there's Deadwood, which is a fantastic series.

The first one is still my favourite, it's the most spy-like and grounded.

963

(23 replies, posted in Episodes)

John Woo is another director who has a distinct style, or used to have. You can definitely see a common style between Hard Target, Face Off and Mission Impossible 2, though these are admittedly an over-emphasized version of the style in his early Hong Kong films (e.g. The Killer, Hard Boiled).

Just saw Inkheart, it looked mildly interestly and I had added it to my Lovefilm rental list months ago. It's this odd tale of a man who can bring characters (and more) to life when reading aloud from books. I had expected an American film, what with Brendan Fraser as the lead, but it's a British film by all accounts.

It's based on a novel, which I've not read but I'm sure is wonderful and has a lot of fans, and I can't help but feel that this was shortchanged as an adaptation. It didn't feel especially like a childrens' film, not in the way, say, the Narnia films are, but it sort of felt like it should have had that vibe. And judging from the Wikipage on the book, it seems that the novel is much more told from the perspective of the child heroine, as opposed to the film's adult hero. Also seems to have had a bit of a panning by critics.

Amazingly, it starts with a mystery and doesn't tell you what it is until the end of the first act. Which is unusual in this day and age where films like Green Lantern obnoxiously tell you everything up front. Too bad Inkheart handles it a little clumsily.

965

(198 replies, posted in Episodes)

LA Confidential has a moment like that and I remember thinking that it was an awesome movie. Years later I watched it again and surprised myself by just having a meh reaction to the whole film.

And a lot of Korean films manage to shock, and not always in that 'twist' way that you see favoured in most Western movies. Which is probably why I enjoy watching Korean films so much.

Leading me to suggest an intermission topic in the future could be on the key differences between American films and those from the rest of the world, e.g., British, European, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Indian, Korean and Japanese, and why Americans usually aren't enamoured with foreign films.

966

(31 replies, posted in Episodes)

I think you'd have to be giving Harrison a major wadge of cash to get him to be even in the same room as the Holiday Special.

Someone earlier (Zarban, quel surprise) made an excellent comment about these commentaries becoming a record of the creative talent's thoughts and feelings about the work. Actually hearing John Ford or David Lean talking about their films minute by minute, even if it's the thin recollective kind the likes of which we like to mock, would have been wonderful.

Just remembered another good set of commentaries. Platoon. Oliver Stone's is pretty good, but Captain Dale Dyle's is especially enlightening - he talks about Vietnam, combat, and the military. As a history buff, that kind of thing really appeals.

967

(1,019 replies, posted in Episodes)

This has one of my favourite one-liners - "Eat floor... high fibre". Looking forward to the commentary guys, should be an interesting one.

968

(32 replies, posted in Episodes)

Loved this episode. Really informative as well as funny and totally endearing. Thanks guys and special thanks to Trey of course. I'm definitely interested in seeing Ark now, and have recently taken advantage of your generous private YouTube posting.

I wonder, could we hear similar stories in the future from the rest of DiF, e.g. Dorkman on the RvsD shorts and Eddie on One More Round (when that finishes)?

969

(14 replies, posted in Off Topic)

This looks amazing, actually looking forward to this.

970

(31 replies, posted in Episodes)

I must have listened to hundreds of commentaries that aren't DiF. Among my favourite are Stephen Prince's commentaries for various Akira Kurosawa films, and Bey Logan's commentaries for various Hong Kong movies under the UK 'Hong Kong Legends' label (the Jackie Chan and Korean movies especially). Both are meticulously planned and extremely informative.

I second the recommendation of Ridley Scott's tracks too.

971

(2,061 replies, posted in Episodes)

GELFLING!

I love Dark Crystal and will fight any man, woman, child or beast that dare say anything negative about it. Or I'll get my brothers to do it for me  smile

I guess it's a movie that you had to see growing up, rather like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which I never saw when I was a kid and think is a bit pants... so there!

972

(198 replies, posted in Episodes)

Neither film deserved to win imo. I remember being surprised that Avatar was even nominated, it's just not a very good movie.

973

(27 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Yeah, I saw that too. I've not seen it myself, but is it one of those terrible films that people say that they like because it's 'intellectual' to do so?

So the visual effects noms are:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Very interesting, especially in light of The Potter Fuckup. No Captain America and no Ghost Protocol. Shame really as like Trey I was kinda amazed to hear that it's actually Evans in all the scenes and not just a pasted  head - I wonder if the effect itself wasn't considered good enough.

974

(11 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Do you have a link to a news article? I'm not really inclined to believe your version of what Cameron said in light of your biased attitude!

And it's a logical argument. If the British film industry wants to be successful and grow, then it needs to make films that appeal on a commercial as well as award level.

I agree. For too long now, British films have remained in this 'we only do period dramas or Mike Leigh-like films' mindset and it was not always so.

975

(2,061 replies, posted in Episodes)

Interesting, whilst I like Barry Lyndon, I feel it's a fundamentally flawed movie in some way. I can't really articulate what I think that flaw is  - maybe it's the distance from which the story is told. The combination of the narration and O'Neil's vacant acting mean that the story is never quite intimate (maybe?) enough.