is on the to watch last. High Tension is still the one for me (provided I turn off 10 min before the end). 

Pandorum - Actually surprised me a bit - worth a watch if you like Sci Fi - interesting twist at the end.

Gamer - Predictable, but fun-ish. Some amusing parts. Some terrible acting made the regular acting in it look good.

Both had OK/good special effects which kinda helped :D 

For me it had a couple of strong scenes and that's pretty much it, as for stylish I have to say I found the style appalling even if there might have been a point in matching the style of the tv-show. 

I was pretty hyped for this movie, and I ended up hating it. It was quite boring and felt completely pointless, a few of the scenes were ok, but I was just waiting for it to pickup, and then it ended instead (the end was particularly MEH). 

Had you read the book beforehand? 

No, maybe it's better? Is it much different?
It's quite strange, it had many things I enjoy, I like brooding dark movies, and post-apoc stuff, and to be fair the acting was pretty good, but I just really did not like it. 

It's a taste thing, obviously. The Road is very bleak and not uplifting at all. It's a love/hate thing I've noticed with most people. 

it did have non millionaire scenes too you know :) 

no other Avatar comments?

If you are going to watch it, it is only a cinema movie as there's not much beyond the visuals. 

http://i35.tinypic.com/sor6sj.jpg 

but im not going to see it because it looks like something i wouldn't like 

and I liked Hillcoat's previous movie The Proposition even more. I'll be keeping track of what he does next.

Haven't seen Avatar, not really interested - the trailer makes it look like Dances with Wolves in space, with really good CGI. Meh. I'm really sick of this whole storyline (ahem, Last Samurai), it's a shitty cliche. 

yeah its pretty much Dances with Wolves with giant smurfs. And atrocious acting and dialogue.

And apart from one scene, I thought the CGI was not that impressive either. 

I don't get all these references to Dances With Wolves in space, Fern Gully in space, Last Samurai in space...

It's clearly Dune, but in space.

(haven't seen it yet) 

exactly, and don't even try to wonder if those visuals make sense.

It's still great in 3d though :)

CG wise, they took a lot of shortcuts with their materials, I think. All the skin is quite.. diffuse ;-) 

when there is only live action no? Some weird perspective/depth perception issue (to me anyway). When its totally cgi though, it doesnt seem to be an issue. 

I saw it a couple of days ago. The 3D effect is very hit n miss. One of the obvious problems is that the camera has it's (maybe unnecessarily narrow) focus which of course doesn't match your own as your gaze move around the screen, staring at blurry objects in the foreground doesn't look very good. Wonder how much better it would work with a broader depth of field or simply composing your scenes with a stronger focal point (although I suppose that in longer scenes on a big screen your eyes will start to wander still).

As for the movie it feels rather crudely divided into two halves: introducing the world of Pandora and setting the conflict loose.

During the introduction there are visually interesting parts but it fails to engage and feels more like watching a succession of concept art.

Can't help but blame James Cameron for a lack of sensibility as a director, failing to make the slow parts interesting and when it comes to the big conflict and action scenes he feels more at home but still lacks finesse, maxing everything out to the the point of silliness in typical hollywood block-buster style.

In the end I still thought it was worth seeing but perhaps it was mostly due to it being the first modern 3D movie I watch. Personally I'd much rather see a movie concentrating on exploring the 3D movie medium.

They did show the Alice trailer in 3D before the movie and it got me excited about seeing that as the more fantastic imagery should be a better match for the technology.

Otherwise one of the most memorable parts of seeing Avatar was that a friend's seat was missing (he did get another one) and instead there was a knife on the floor... 

It was OK, I guess. The plot was super predictable. I thought Sam Worthington's character was quite well done.

Almost the same film with a script written by someone older than 5 could have been really impressive. 

zoe saldana came out the best, Worthington was unconvincing to me.

Iron Man 2 trailer is looking good. 

Stop Loss (2008) � Kimberley Pierce�s Iraq themed film attempts to distinguish itself from other films about the war by limiting its focus on the impact on participating soldiers who have successfully returned back home after serving their time but are forced back due to the Stop-Loss clause in army contracts.

Ultimately though, as reasonably well made as it is, it ends up going through the same stock characters and same stock situations that other war films focusing on soldiers do, offering nothing new in the process.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489281/

6-6.5/10


Umberto D (1951) � another one of Vittorio De Sica�s neorealist features, this time centring around the life of a lonely and elderly pensioner in 50�s Rome. There are some undeniably great scenes in this but it is also filled with more than its share of rather forced moments. Not quite on the same level as the great The Bicycle Thieves but a worthwhile watch nevertheless.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045274/

7/10


The Watchmaker of St Paul (1974)/b> � amiable but ultimately unsatisfying drama from Bertrand Tavernier focusing on the reaction and impact on the father of an arrested murderer and also his attempts to fathom and understand his otherwise normal son�s actions.

The early scenes are fantastic and economical in their storytelling and impact. Unfortunately, then it starts to drag a little and continues to do so until the ultimately unsatisfying ending.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071622/

6-6.5/10


Bleak House � impeccably acted and solidly written BBC miniseries of the labyrinthine Dickens novel. It would be even better if the directors had more faith in the material and actors and didn�t feel the need to jazz up proceedings, especially scene transitions, with cheap B horror tricks like swish pans, zooms, rapid cutting and overbearing music. I found some of this really distracting and detracting from the rest of the production which is otherwise first rate.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442632/

7/10


The Old Maid (1939) - Average melodrama with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins. The plotting is a little too contrived and convoluted and although Davis tries her best to overcome the material, Hopkins� overdramatic histrionics ensures that their scenes together remain strictly in soap territory.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031750/

5.5/10


Ordet (1955) � I was blown away by Dreyer�s Day of Wrath last year and I was similarly blown away by this, his later film about faith and religion and their inherent hypocrisies.

Dreyer shows two families, one steeped in a fundamentalist faith, the other with a Christian faith that lacks real power or conviction. And without revealing too much of the plot he contrasts both of them with each other, contrasts each of them within themselves, and creates a moody, atmospheric, almost dreamlike rural setting, using light and shadow to contrast life-affirming attitudes with those that deny joy.

And then there�s the ending, one of the most powerful that I have seen and one that is shot with such beauty that it makes you forget you ever saw Transformers 2.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048452/

8.5-9/10 

Transformers 2 (2009) � If you made it to the last half hour of the first one, there was at least some reward in a well staged half hour of carnage. There�s no such reward here, its just 2.5 hrs of pure tedium. Sure, the scale of carnage has been upped, particularly for the final showdown (but one where far too much is going on to really be enthralled), but the scale of stupidity for everything else has also been upped dramatically.

Before we see another one, I think someone needs to really address the following question : why do films about fighting robots need to be 2.5 hrs long with subplots about Shia le Boeuf�s parents?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1055369/

3/10


Terminator Salvation (2009) � Definitely drops the ball, this may as well not be part of the Terminator franchise because apart from a forced cameo near the end, it never feels like part of the same series. Even the unfairly maligned Terminator 3 managed that aspect.

And on its own, without the franchise stamping, its just an average by the numbers post apocalyptic sci-fi flick with bland, interchangeable characters and laughable attempts at establishing emotion.

But there is an action scene for the ages about 1/3 of the way in, the Harvester chase being more thrilling than any other action scene from Hollywood in recent times.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/

5/10


Burn Notice Season 2 � almost on par with Season 1 in terms of quality but longer and more repetitive. Its basically a smarter, more entertaining and character driven version of MacGyver that really needs a change of scene for the new season to keep things interesting (and judging by the ending, we might get it).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810788/

6.5/10 

... so you could empathize with some of the terrible reviews it got. "I found it at once loud and boring, like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan" sticks in the memory and http://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-review.php still makes me laugh.

I was actually more disappointed with Terminator Salvation though, because there was a slim chance it might have been good, and it was just tripe. 

Yeah, I too thought that Zoe Saldana stole the show in Avatar. 

Scrubs. Fuck! 

I liked it.

Transformers 2

OK, well I think Im missing something here. Why does everybody bust on Machael Bay or whoever he is? From watching TF1 and TF2 (TransFormers that is lol) it would strike me that what is wrong with his directing is that he is too good at it. Perfect infact.
I mean everybody be real here - its a franchise which is and always was aimed at kids. Its a kiddies movie. A very spectacular, fantastic, comic-strip-esque, pobably very difficult to make masterpiece. Everyone just gets all up their own ass busting on the guy cause they are jealous that they didnt get to make it. Or be in it opposite that chick - whatever her name was.
I liked the movie.

TS I had to watch it twice, and watching it at the cinema helped (cause the first copy I saw was a bad CAM version which did it absolutely no justice whatsoever. Infact I had to stop watching it). Good film! I mean they had to do something different with the story a bit or else it just wouldnt work. They need to follow it up now with a film showing what happens in like 2027 - the time that you get to see in T2. Terminator Salvation is about Marcus. Thats who it is about - not John Connor. Some of the imagery in the film is brilliant. Like the Terminator and JC lying on either side of the helicopter near the start.

Meh