I know a fair bit of french from school but when people converse in their native language, they talk a lot lot faster! 

sorry, I didn't know if you knew french. But I think watching with subtitles where you see the thing before they say it makes understanding easier / remotely possible in some instances where they don't talk so much. Although it might hurt the feeling a bit. 

Even knowing very little Japanese gives me a little more insight into subtitled Japanese movies. Especially when the subtitles are not a literal translation, I think you get a little more out of it by seeing one and hearing the other. 

...why is there an 'Alien' in the Doom movie poster? 

distrans: you're right: there's an 'Alien' in the Doom movie poster !! God, there're back as well... 

how alieny of an imp.. 

id's hellknight head design for that 

The Talented Mr Ripley - Ok, its overlong, a little overdirected in parts but I still found it to be quite enjoyable thanks to the performances, the settings and a smart enough script.



Rio Bravo - Also overlong, has quite contrived plot points and fairly stereotypical characters, but this western from Howard Hawks is still quite entertaining.



Cinema Paradiso - I just didnt like this. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I thought this was just overly-sentimental tosh. I'd bought the R1 DVD to check out both cuts but since I saw the shorter theatrical and didnt think much of it, I'm not going to bother with the director's cut.

Also, I should mention, that despite all that I didnt like about this movie, the ending is a perfectly judged and executed scene. 

Cape Fear (1991) - I dont know if it was entirely deliberate but I found this to be gloriously campy and if it was all intentional, it was a masterstroke to go over the top in every department. I havent seen the original but this is not strictly a remake, it's more of a semi-serious parody.

If, on the other hand, this was not intended tongue in cheek, I dont know what Martin Scorsese was thinking. 

Worth seeing? 

at the time, he meant it to be over the top in every way. I loved it, that lurid, EC comics feel . The camera work feels like it was shot using gamma rays. Half the cast should be dead from cancer mutations by now. 

good to hear.

And yes, quite a lot of it was shot on acid. 

Through a Glass Darkly - Part of bergman's loose trilogy along with The Silence and the far superior Winter Light. This one had some good acting and cinematography but the direction was too heavy handed and despite being 87 min, it felt 10-15 min far too long.

Above average fare from the great director.


La Dolce Vita - Once I'd gotten over the shoddy sound design and the dodgy dubbing used for some actors, I started enjoying it a bit more.

But, I dont get it. There's some memeorable sequences and nice scenes but, as a whole, this just didnt work for me. And at 160 min, it began to get frustrating 

Extremely well made and shot, with very good performances. It also features a script with a bit of a copout last act.

Luckily, the limp finish doesnt completely detract from the rest of the quality on offer and it still ends being a decent film overall. 

The Scarlett Empress - Heavily flawed but very watchable movie with Marlene Dietrich as Catherine of Russia. Most notable aspect and drawcard are the very impressive costume designs and sets that put a lot of recent productions to shame. 

anyone seen it?
the trailer looks interesting... 

La Dolce Vita is one the best movies ever
maybe not for everyone. old but gold


Nochnoy Dozor (night watch) is bleh, honestly
casting sux, script is a mess (based on quite good but very legthy book)
picture is nice, some cool camera\directing
Its ok-ish, nothing more

whatever I watched lately..
blade3 (got this by accident) - sux big time, boring and very forgetable

closer - unconvincing, clive owen fails

The Island (with mcGregor) alot of nobrainer/commonplace in the plot, but really entertaining with good stunts and chases, prolly best action Iv seen this year 

Amores Perros is very good indeed.

Tarkovsky` stalker movie has nothing to do with action really. The game could borrow only some ideas for the setting. It�s quite a philosophic flick, Im afraid a lot of it is lost in translation.

Speaking of Solaris - I love the original, but the american version is not bad, surprisingly.
(And the book did nothing for me - I dont even remember much of it) 

Serenity:

Saw one episode of Firefly and didn't like it. Decided to give the movie a try and it bloody ruled. Definitely one of the better sf movies I have seen in a fair while and has inspired me to give the series another chance when I see it cheap on DVD.

Pride and Prejudice:

*sigh*, yeah I know, but I got dragged along with my girlfriend. Never actually seen any previous version of this so can't say how it compares, but there are some truly hideous edits and camera shot choices. I'm not a cinematography buff at all but even I cringed at the cheesiness of how some of the shots were filmed. Guess most of us wouldn't like it but your historical romance buffs (ie women) will lap it up. 

I dont know, Dolce Vita just didnt click with me.

I intend on watching the original Solaris this weekend actually. I've heard the american version's not bad (soderbergh and clonney work well together generally) but have only heard good things about the original. 

There needs to be made an over the top, garish, cocaine scene American version. No, I mean it. 

there is Russian version (somewhat different) of Dolce Vita, not a bad one 

"There needs to be made an over the top, garish, cocaine scene American version"

Scarface 

makes you want to drop everything, fill up the tank, and head down to Miami.

Just don't blow your own snow. 

The Uninvited - korean "horror" film whihc is really more a psychogical drama rather than a horror movie. As a former, it works reasonably well with good direction and acting. But, the script, is really what should be a ough draft and not a final cut. It's overlong by about 30 mins and a little scattered and incoherent. With some more judicious editing, this could have been a very good film rather than an above avergae one.


Solaris - Saw the russian version on the weekend like I planned to. Outstanding stuff.

It drags a little in some parts, but is quality all the way apart from that. The ending is fabulous and I'm now keen to check out the remake, just to see what's kept and what's not.


To speedy and anyone else that's seen it, do you know the reasoning behind the colour/b&w shooting. This is one movie where I couldnt work otu why it was done.