Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo [�] sequence where Brandon [�] takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax

eh, what?

Also: i don't get it. you guys are blaming TOLKIEN for the bad lotr movie? What?! I blame nietsche for the passion of the christ not having the atheist ending i wished for.

meet the feebles is exactly why peter jackson was not the right director for a script that requires as much sublety as lotr. And yes, it requires loads of subtlety. 

You are likely understand the point made better on a second read. Blame is not the correct word to use as it connotes that there is something wrong or perhaps lacking in quality in Tolkein's writing. I never touch the subject.

Tolkein's narrative structure makes it difficult to translate the story into a screenplay; at least, a screenplay that follows the story faithfully. I went over the problem this creates for Return of the King, but the other books have there on structural ticks as well.

Yeah, Kinn

Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo [�] sequence where Brandon [�] takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax

What's up with that? 

re-reading kinn's comment now, I see your point :) 

Megaman, HeadThump - if you've seen the film you'll know which bit I mean. As soon as Superman starts coming he takes a piping hot load to the face and chest then when he's spent, the bad guy pulls out his own weapon and pops one off into Superman's eye and he takes it like a pro and doesn't even flinch.

Also: I'm not really getting the LotR hate here. I can't even imagine how horrible these films could have turned out in the hands of other directors at the time who might have been interested in filming them. If you'd followed the production of this trilogy you'd appreciate the absolutely crazy shit that the production company were trying to pull on this project and Peter Jackson had to lobby like a madman to get them to even accept a script that resembled Tolkien.

The fact that they even allowed him to make it into three films took nothing less than divine intervention.

Seriously, there is not an alternate universe where these films could have turned out as well as they did. 

i have seen the first lotr ;) it was more a general comment on the way you guys argued

Most memorable scene: probably the slowmo [�] sequence where Brandon [�] takes a hot load in the eye from the machinegun guy during the climax
This just could easily describe a porn movie ;) 

you found the point 

It was almost as much a relief that the lord of the ring films didn't suck as I was happy that they were actually quite good :-) 

what point? 

I just got this on DVD tonight. I was never much of a fan of the first one, but I have to admit Johnny Depp made it supremely watchable, even if the story itself wasn't up to snuff.

I did enjoy this slightly more, although it suffered from similar problems. The plot is spread very thinly to cover the two and a half hour running time but still managed to jump all over the place. I was pretty bored of the constant Kraken attacks towards the end of the film, but Davy Jones and his crew were cool to look at, and a lot more menacing than the zombie pirates of the first film. Bill Nighy made a good Quarren.

Overall though I think this is a perfect case of the film just getting lost in visual spectacle. Less is sometimes more. 

What a great little thriller about a young held hostage under demand on an airliner. Fast paced, but well worth seeing, probably one of the most tense and just creepy films I've seen that didn't involve horror - and came from Wes Craven. 

it was above average and reasonably well made but the silly ending was a bit much.

But way better than I thought it would be. 

Felt so, so contrived. And the heat-seeking missile that locks on to... a hotel room? wtf? 

2. to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage: He contrived to gain their votes.

Well, yeah. And? 

Les Amants (1958) - The second collabration between Louis Malle and Jeanne Moreau is nowhere near the quality of their first, Elevator to the Gallows, but it's still an above average look at the emptiness of an upper class socialite's life in 50's France.

Malle's direction is good and Moreau once again demonstrates why she was one of the best actresses in history but it feels quite dated and the second half in particular comes across as lazily scripted.

6.5/10


Kenny (2006)- Aussie film done in the Spinal Tap mockumentary format about a portable toilet deliverer.

Very funny, and surprisingly, its also a very good film when it's not being funny. That second apsect is really why I think this really works as well as it does, because while the comedy would have been good enough on its own, it would have become a bit one note.

Plenty of poo jokes and plenty of very funny non-poo related jokes.

8/10 

Daisy (2006) - how you go from making Infernal Affairs to this is hard to understand but this is quite a bad movie. Its well shot but there is next to zero directing ability shown here and the script is a hopeless mess of B grade melodrama mixed with B grade crime thriller.

4/10 

Jindabyne (2006) - another aussie film and this one's a potentially great movie marred by some overportentous (and completely unnecessary) camerawork and background score. Its at its best in the second half, where Ray Lawrence sits back a bit and lets the script and acting come to the fore.

Petty good as it is, but could have been much much more.

7/10 

Casino Royale - return to form ? Sort of.

Craig makes a fine Bond and Eva Green is also well upto the task but this needed to have been trimmed by around 30 minutes. It could have gotten away with its length if the pacing was better, but the movie starts off on acid and is hobbling on crutches by the end.

In the middle of all that is not a bad little action film with competently handled action scenes, but nothing extradordinary.

6.5/10 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - rewatch, and while the watching on a big screen with surround sound plays up to two of its strengths, namely some fine cinematography and John Williams' impressive score, this still doesnt really work for me.

I find the acting shoddy, the drama not believable and the narrative pretty much non existent.

Worth a watch for some isolated scenes.

6/10 

Simpsons season 8 - The last of the good seasons IMHO, sure there were good episodes after this, but not good seasons on the whole.

This one was actually better than 7 and had some great episodes and event he lesser ones were very consistent.

8/10 

Paths of Glory (1957) - Stanley Kubrick's later work might have been bloated and overly ponderous but his early career is littered with great films. This is arguably his tightest film, an amazing achievement considering how tightly wound his fabulous film noir The Killing was.

Quite possibly being the second greatest war film, it is staggeringly well made with one of those great endings that only appear in a handful of movies. Its impeccably shot, I believe Spielberg when he said he was basing the war scenes in Saving Private Ryan partially on what Kubrick did here. It might not have the effects but the intensity is still captured in some great camerawork. And it's not only great cinematography during the war scenes, every scene is shot not just as an exercise in style but as supportive of the content.

Kirk Douglas was a limited actor but this is his best role. And the script about 3 men who are tried as scapegoats during a military failure is very well written, never bowing to cheap sentimentality, but still remaining very powerful.

The only minor flaw is that some of the supporting cast could have been slightly better.

9/10


The Thin Man (1934) - Above average comedy-thriller with some sharp dialgoue between its two leads, one a retired private detctive and the other his affluent wife. The script is better than the plot allowing its main characters some great dilaogue. Unfortunately the plot manages to retain too much focus, something that works against the film given its tongue in cheek tone.

6.5/10 

Frida - another middle of the road biopic.

It's nicely scored and, although it only looks stylistically beautiful without the cinematography serving any real functional purpoe, its well shot.

Salma Hayek tries hard and is ok in the title role but the script suffers from the same problem as the majority of biopic scripts, trying to cram the whole life of its subject into the running time, rather than picking on a period or certain events to highlight what the character was all about.

5.5/10 

Carnivale Season 2- ok, I have 3 main problems with this season so I'll get those out of the way first. None of them are related with the show being canceled and not finishing as it should have (although that is another negative but one that cant be helped).

Anyway :

- The pacing this season is very schizophrenic. Some of the episodes are very chaotic (especially the first 4) and seem completely at odds with the pacing of season 1 and also the majority of the second half of this season. It does settle down after the first 4 but there's still few in the scond half that display the same chaoticness.

- The manner in which some of the questions raised during the entire first season are answered is clumsily handled. This is quite a pity as it is really apparent that the majority of the major plotline was worked out well in advance and was not being made up as the show went along (eg Lost). This is also the reason most of it links together and fits reasonably well but if the execution of the exposition was better, the show would have been even greater.

- It plays the weird card far too often and for no real purpose. Season 1 had the balance right, this season felt as if it was trying to be weirdjust for weirdness' sake.

Right, with all that out of the way, this show is extremely well put together and even with all those problems, this is still great television. It might not be as close to perfection as season 1 was, but there's lots to admire and like. And at least it provided some answers, unlike certain other shows which just like to keep piling on the questions.

8/10 

I've seen this in an on and off bits and pieces -fashion, but being a snapshotty story, it didn't bother me that muhc... I just now watched the last part.

I find a lot of it strangely... sobering? Stiller is a pretty strong character here and feels natural in the lead role.

One of those films that stand out a bit for me.. I guess it's the unordinary but still somehow reality-connected life that is so fascinating.
It's not a perfect family life shattered by a mass murderer, but instead just some guy trying to get by and stumbling a lot on the way. Explained in a sort of inadequate way.


Oh and twin peaks is re-running again... I never really watched it before.
The pilot and the first episode at least mostly make sense but from what I remember it goes downhill with time. :/ 

Saw this over the weekend. A simple, well-crafted dark fairy tale. Recommended. 

looking forward to it.