Spartacus - The Criterion print is spectacular but I found this to be quite underwhelming. It starts off well enough but after Spartacus' escape and the beginning of the revolution, I found it fairly unremarkable.

At 198 min, I also found it to be extremely bloated, especially given the poor writing of many scenes. The acting, like most aspects of the movie, varied in quality with Kirk Douglas quite average in the title role. I enjoyed Peter Ustinov, Lawrence Olivier and the ever reliable Charles Laughton but Jean Simmons single handedly undid their good work with a very weak show. It probably didnt help that her character was not well written though.

The score was also fairly variable, great towards the start but being overly bombastic far too frequently.

And it is also the most un-Kubirck film I've encoutnered thus far, but that in itself is not necesarrily a bad thing IMHO.

5/10 

Get Shorty - Underwhelmed again. Leonard thinks this is the best adaptation of his work but I'd take Out of Sight or Jackie Brown over this anyday.

Not that this is bad, far from it. But it's strictly average and just seems as if everything was by the numbers. Maybe that comes from Barry Sonnenfeld being not much of a director and Soderbergh and Tarantino being far more capable.

5.5/10 

It was hilarious. I'm glad that after the first movie they got the idea to have more fun with the concept, since it was a bit too preposterous to be otherwise. It continues to be in the third installment, but it's always fun to watch Rube Goldberg as Death hatch his little plans and manage to get rid of the latest annoying teen. You've got to admit -- it's better than Chucky. 

I was searching credits at IMDB for the PC game Mafia, and one of the VO actors is in a Cthulu movie:

http://www.cthulhuthemovie.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478126/

A Seattle history professor, drawn back to his estranged family on the Oregon coast to execute his late mother's estate, is reaquainted with his best friend from childhood, with whom he has a long-awaited tryst. Caught in an accelerating series of events, he discovers aspects of his father's New Age cult which take on a dangerous and apocalyptic significance. 

Phait, you unworthy little human, how can you mispell Cthulhu twice when it's written correctly in the url and everywhere on those sites. Please kill yourself, if the old ones don't get you first. ;D

Anyways, that movie looks pretty cheap, not really expecting much. =\

Anyone played the Call of Cthulhu game that finally came out? (on console only I think) 

I've been waiting for that game for years, then out of nowhere they release an Xbox version first (in OCTOBER!) and the PC version (the platform it was originally developed for) STILL isn't out.

Damn the Xbox's theft of PC games!
I've even heard microsoft will pay a developer to release their game on xbox and delay the release to PC for 6 months, which may have been what happened to this game. 

I have the Call of Cthulhu game on Xbox - I played it for a bit a couple of months ago, but I had to put it on hold in favour of RE4, and I never got around to getting back to it.

It was ok - kinda creepy, mostly adventure game-feel, where you have to scour every dark corner for clues and stuff. I wasn't that convinced by the atmosphere, which felt more like 40s film noir, rather than turn-of-the-century Lovecraftian stuff (mostly due to the cheesy voice comments from the world-weary detective character that you play). I didn't really play enough of it to be qualified to have much of an opinion though. 

This is the FILM THREAD, duh. To pleasantly divert the discussion down the right path, I submit this: http://www.cthulhulives.org/cocmovie/index.html 

Deadwood Season 1 - HBO is responsible for many quality shows but this is IMHO their best. Pretty much perfect throughout the entire season, it hardly puts a foot wrong in any of the 12 epsiodes.

The production values are first rate, the writing is excellent, and most the acting is brilliant. It also features arguably the most interesting character yet in a tv series, Al Swearengen, expertly played by Ian McShane.

There has been a lot of hoopla over the swearing but it is so well integrated into the writing, that after a little while it's hardly noticeable, unlike some other shows (The Sopranos comes to mind) where at times the swearing draws attention to itself.

9/10 

I've seen Deadwood -- my sister got addicted to it with the OnDemand cable service available in Knoxville, and made me sit and watch a couple of episodes. Of course, it has Brad Dourif (Doc Cochran) in it, and that immediately had me watching -- but I rather liked the show. Too bad I don't have HBO, or else I'd still be a fan. However, I don't agree with you about the swearing, it seemed like someone went behind the writer and added as many bad words as they could to many of the scenes, and the whole thing seemed forced. It doesn't detract one bit from the show, however.

And dammit, this is the FILM THREAD. Sigh. 

Phait, you unworthy little human, how can you mispell Cthulhu twice when it's written correctly in the url and everywhere on those sites. Please kill yourself, if the old ones don't get you first. ;D

Maybe he was just trying to avoid their attention? I know I'd try to do that. 

Neil Gaiman + Dave McKean + Jim Henson Studios - a big budget - action - any actors you could think of = a small, strange indy(ish) flick with limited potential and a long way to go to achieve any.

I was a bit disappointed in this because McKean's imagination and Gaiman's writing go so well together -- in books -- but there wasn't any real sense that Neil wrote this screenplay. McKean's abstract imagination was represented well in a few CG scenes, but the costuming nearly ruined the whole thing for me. Still, the girl was cute and Valentine was a good character so I give it a 1 out of 3 fish. 

Does anybody have an recommendations for free DVD player software? I'm currently using VLC, but it seems to startup on the wrong menu track on some DVDs, and that's started to annoy me. DVD players without flashy menu stuff are preferred, and keyboard shortcuts are handy. 

I dont know, to me after about 10 min, I didnt notice the swearing at all. It just fit with the rhtyms of the dialogue.

And if you listen to some of the audio commentaries and interviews on the dvd, the creator David Milch talks about how he tried to replicate the bizzare nature of how people talked in the town, a strange mix of Victorian English and foul mouthed swearing. 

is pile. of something. boring too. first one was better 

The Proposition - extremely well shot, the landscape is as much of a character as the actors. It's a rather oblique and elliptic film though, never really developing the characters enough to understand them. Yet, for all that, it's extremely lyrical and definitely memorable in its depiction of Australia during colonisation.

The music by nick cave, whilst fine by itself, never really went with what was on screen. And the films does feel a bit too overly ponderous at times.

7.5/10


The Gift - strong acting, especially from blanchett who turns what could have been a standard role into something more. But the rest is pretty by the numbers stuff, and rather predictable.

5.5/10


Stalag 17 - perhaps I was expecting too much given that it was a Billy Wilder film, but I wasnt too impressed. It's all rather slight really, with everything too neat and cute to really have any impact. And the Billy Wilder dialog is missing too. Only William Holden comes off well, but this was not a role to deserve an Oscar IMHO.

5.5/10


Veronica Mars - Overrated a fair bit, this is fairly light, throwaway tv. The scripts arent as sharp and clever as they think they are and I found myself staying one or more steps ahead of most mysteries throughout the season, inclduing the main season long plotline (although that was handled better than most other episodic mysteries).

The one thing that is worth watching is Kristen Bell who should be a star in the making. She takes the show to a higher level, and without her it would be even more mediocre. A very capable perfomer, unfortunately most the rest of the cast dont pull up anywhere near as well.

6/10


Kiss of Death - fairly decent noir which is a bit aytpical, more crime drama than traditional noir. Missing the snappy dialogue but still retaining the noir atmosphere, and featuring Richard Widmark in a truly slimy performance as gangster Udo.

7/10


The Last Emperor - um, this may have been a good movie, it's a bit difficult to tell. I was extremely distracted by the fact that the majority of the film was in English.

Like the recently released Memoirs of a Geisha (I've only seen the trailer), it just comes across as really artificial and unnatrual when the speakers arent communicating in their native language. Sure, there are some bits that needed English, but I would have much preferred a subtitled film in Mandarin/Canotnese.

It made all the dialogue sound really strange and some of it was quite poorly written anyway.

Nicely shot, but I just couldnt get into it at all.


4/10 (but that's really just what I felt and probably not an accurate score).


The Unbearable Lightness of Being - One fabulously executed sequence, when the russians first invade czechoslovakia, but the rest came across as laborious quasi-arty claptrap. Acting was ok, despite a few dodgy and unstable accidents, but the script came across as half-baked. I dont know how true it was to the original source but some of the lines were very hokey.


4/10

The Fly - B grade story given A grade treatment by David Cronenberg. I havent seen anything else by him (although looking forward to A History of Violence), but he has a very distinct style. I was also especially surprised by the attention to character, this could so easily have been just a b grade monster film.

Easily the best thing Jeff Goldblum has done and some of it was wickedly disgusting.

7/10


Ong Bak - Does exactly what it sets out to do. Probably a bit too long, with a bit too much "plot", but the action scenes are executed very well.

They still lack impact, as is the case in most modern day martial art scenes, and thus appear more as sped up spars rather than actual fights. However, in this film, the fighting is very precise which raises up onto a different level. The chase scenes are also excellently done.

6.5/10


Unleashed - Indulges in every cliche that exists, but in a very earnest and self assured fashion. C grade story given almost A grade treatment. Still, despite all the gloss, the cliched script shines through a bit too often.

The action scenes, although far less frequent than Ong Bak, are also well done. Again, although most of the fight scenes lack impact, there are a few near the start that are excellent and definitely highlight the brutality and exhilaration that are now out of fashion.

6.5/10


Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Had heard quiet a few good things about this one and came out extremely disappointed. Not anywhere near as clever or witty as it thinks it is, a few jokes hit the mark but overall I thought it was try hard noir.

5/10 

Crash (2004?).

First of all: I had strong expectations for this one, thus it's probably getting a harder look.

Hm, mixed feelings. It's definately a step in the right direction, but it still feels too hollywood like. Lots of stuff that felt like someone created it rather than it happening. Accels at the really intense parts though (maybe a bit too cliche in parts).

Music was effective, but still annoying in places. felt like i was listening to tori amos at times (not that i dislike her, but everything at its time / place!).

Also, i had a hard time getting certain nuances - this MIGHT be a language issue, but I feel like I understood most of the talk and still didnt get stuff. A few seconds of shots detailing certain stuff (not necessarily with language) would've been nice; for non-US citizens anyway.

Photography was nice at 'effects': against the light shots, overall exposure in all the night shots, etc. all was nice - but the rest wasn't any special (it focused on the characters, really). That might be exactly the right thing though - like great design that you just dont notice. Just that nothing besides the stuff they put into the q1 engine nowadays stood out to me ;).

Acting was.. OK to good. Some of the characters felt too cliche in their execution. i just tried compiling a lost of thechars that did - and i stopped at 7. I think this is the main bad thing with this movie: the chars are made up, and it feels like they are. The best chars were those you DIDN't get a background to.

7/10 (with the average hollywood flick rating between 4/10) 

....I just tried compiling a list of the chars that did [feel made up/cliche]... 

Went to see this because the action in the trailer looked cool (how often is this my undoing!)

There really is a limit that I am often pushed to and beyond, with people who vote the same way as me.

Yes, I like the idea of trashing conservative politics and all, but can't they do it in a remotely intelligent and reasonable way? 

Since I don't know the first thing about politics, I can't tell if this has any political leanings and I don't really care. I see the core of the story and it's about not giving into fear, facing unjust resistance, and especially questioning the world we live in and those in power. I think no doubt it will arouse questioning and consideration in most every individual in the audience, it certainly did me. The biggest question being "is what V is doing, right or wrong?". Doesn't that come down to motive? I felt myself rooting for V, and yet at the same time feeling just a bit unsure as I laughed inside at some of the things he did.

The story progresses quickly within it's 2+ hour timespan, V is introduced very early on. I didn't really pay attention to the acting here - I just wanted to take it all in. But I enjoyed Hugo's performance behind the mask, and I can never not enjoy Natalie, she's a modern day Audrey Hepburn. I was really thrown a bit of an emotional twist in a particular area of the movie involving Evey's (Natalie) capture and detention. There were a few eccentric moments with V (especially a dialogue of his where 98% of the words started with the letter V... it seemed overboard, yet I think the intention was just so for a reason). I felt V was a human too, not just some masked crusader - but a conflicted human. Not much of John Hurt as Chancelor Sutler other than seeing him on a big conference screen, but his demeanor was convincing enough. The action wasn't heavy in this movie, actually - but it was enjoyable and I absolutely loved the ending sequence.

I thought the movie was great. I'm extremely tired of all the Bush allusions in the overboard political/analytical reviews - it's not that you can't make comparisons in the movie (I think anybody can in any country with any government), but I took it for what it was - a look at a corrupt government puppeteering the country with fear, and the uprising against it with the manifestation of an idea. 

...opened in Oz last week. Anyone seen it? What's the verdict?

(I can't help thinking that casting Charlize Theron as the protagonist was the worst decision eva...) 

ahahahahahahah save your money.

A hot woman.
A woman with 4 hands.
Some sharp grass.
A flying squid.
Some other things.

Seriously no, it was utter POO 

...ta for the heads up DaZ! 

Stalker - I cant say I fully understand the whole thing or that overall, it works as a film, but there's something about Andrei Tarovsky's movie that burns itself into your mind.

Not quite the sum of its parts, but there are some brilliant parts nevertheless. It has loads of atmosphere, excellent visuals and sound use, and a slew of interesting ideas that, although presented not quite coherently, are a welcome break from the many dumb sci-fi films. Although, technically this really isnt a sci-fi film at all, it merely uses that genre to spin off its own ideas.

7/10


The Adventures of Robin Hood - I know it's meant to be Robin Hood and his merry men, but this is far too merry. It's probably not as bad as I thought it was but the continuous campiness and corniness just didnt sit well with me.

3.5/10 

Wes Craven has lost it, what a waste of time. Rachel McAdams is a hottie but doesn't get her boobs out. Stale, boring, vapid useless thriller. Cillian Murphy is unimpressive and the plot has no depth. The dialogue is particularly wank... especially the last scene nof the film, cringe cringe cringe cringe arghhhh.