I'd love to have a DiF commentary for the two Conan the Barbarian movies and the Planet of the Apes original and remake, done in the same double bill comparative style as Dawn of the Dead.

I like it. I've been cautiously optimistic since they started, because this didn't need two movies and is no doubt padded with 'new stuff', which Jackson and Co aren't nearly as good as they think they are at doing. This looks to continue the subtlety level of LOTR, which is to say it's not.

An interesting Westerns double bill would be The Searchers and Unforgiven. As a critically successful as Unforgiven was, it did not revive what was an extremely popular genre. Twenty years on, and Westerns are a dying if not dead breed (though I personally loved the new True Grit).

It might make for an interesting Intermission one day - why certain genres come and go. Why do fantasy films struggle to be successful (LOTR is the exception) and why do others have periods of success every few decades (like WW2 movies).

My own suggestion would be to do Green Lantern, since I've only just now seen it and think it's right in that sweet spot for DiF discussion. Surprisingly, I didn't dislike it and thought aside from such huge plot holes, it was entertaining. It's certainly better than Transformers 3 (which could just as well be my mantra these days, since that film has lowered the bar so much).

Ah, comedy rears its ugly head again, where slapstick is mistakenly added in place of wit (see Gimli in the Lord of the Rings movie).

That said, I don't actually mind Marcus or Sallah in this, though bear in mind that I watched both Doom and Crusade before watching Raiders.

Arguably, Marcus the fish out of water, bumbling scholar is a little more interesting dramatically than Marcus the mother hen (I won't comment on how Marcus is an American stereotype of the Englishman). There was no need for the latter in Crusade since the stakes of finding the Grail were more personal for Indiana. And without the need for someone sensible at home telling him that the quest is dangerous, Marcus ends up filling another role - that of hapless assistant, damsel, or comedy sidekick. I just don't see how Raiders Marcus would have fitted in to the story - unless the argument is essentially that no Marcus is better than goofball Marcus.

Sallah not knowing what a tank is called is pretty stupid though. I never quite understand the need for writers to undercut their characters like this. Was Sallah similarly befuddled by the magic of the metal whale in Raiders? No. I guess the line could just be poetic, emphasising Sallah's education and his grim prognosis?

Oh damn.

Hmm... not that I'm disputing your argument and maybe I'm misunderstanding but do you have any examples of movie studios being owned entirely by just one person? What sort of past day are you talking about here, the 70s, 50s, pre-war?

So I guess the question is, have you ever watched a bluray or HD-DVD, perhaps at a friend's house?

There's a crucial difference between a mysterious character and a character who isn't developed. I've not seen Drive yet, but I'm guessing that landporpus' complaint is that the main character is the latter, not the former.

I can sympathise with being frustated at not being able to understand a protagonist's motivations. I recently watched The Social Network and it suffers a similar problem.

That's interesting and definitely not bad for a phone. I can think of a number of ways a phone camera such as that could be useful (emergency 'C' camera, location scouting, prep work, and in those tight places where a DSLR just won't fit).

I found KFH thoroughly unremarkable. It's not that I disliked it, it just didn't do anything for me and I honestly struggle to recall anything about it. I never felt it was trying to be a Shaun of the Dead or Galaxy Quest for the genre, it's just another typical Stephen Chow movie, who's made a career out of these types of silly films.

There are much better intro to Kung fu movies out there, some of Jackie Chan's 80s films for instance.

Yeah, I started with HD-DVD (via xbox add-on) and wanted that format to win. It was completely region-free and was just as good as blurays in most instances despite the large capacity gap. What won the war was Sony's marketing (where they made sure that every store sold blurays and more of them than hd-dvd) and their stubborness (which was just that little bit greater than Toshiba's).

Ah, those were the days. I still remember hearing the news that Warner had gone bluray exclusive.