probably quite a few I even missed, but my argument is that they dont make the film any more interesting. Admittedly, westerns have a lot of talk but in this case the talk isnt interesting, despite the numerous references. 

Yah, the strong Sergio Leone references and the DePalma split-screen stuff were my fave kudos in Vol. 1 -- haven't seen 2 yet.

Meanwhile, Master & Commander kicks un-Godly amounts of ass. I wholy recommend it to anyone who digs historical drama, ship-tp-ship dogfights, and a bit of wacky humor. 

The shot showing the girl on a rooftop aiming down was very memorable 

Pure rockage. I guess the biggest compliment I can give it is that it blows all of Kaufman's other work right out of the water. 

And the previews for Troy and Hero got my blood all circulated in my groin.

Do you mean this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299977/ ? 

Hard to be sure, but that definitely seems like it, except Jet Li was fighting the Imperial Army and their 4 best assassins because they killed his village or something, so the descriptions are a little off. Looked amazing. 

Sounds like it. Good movie, especially for the visuals and the fight scenes. It's not really excellent, and some may find it overly patriotic.

Came out here over a year ago, BTW, so you're pretty late. 

http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=5005

"Universal Pictures has optioned Doom for producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and John Wells, with Enda McCallion attached to make his directorial debut, reports Variety.

The script, originated by Dave Callaham, is adapted from the plotline for the id Software and Activision video game "Doom 3," slated for release July 15.

The story is set at a Mars space station, where an aerospace conglom is conducting secret experiments when something unleashes a demonic force that threatens to overtake the facility." 

i don't know what to make of this...

wasn't there suppose to have been a doom movie that was scrapped way back in 1990ish? 

Not that I ever heard of. Didn't Doom come out in 1991 or later? 

Notice that they're getting a n00b director in - not one who's done this sort of thing (or anything) before. I bet one long bent thing with a sort of lump on the end that if this movie ever appears, the director is Alan Smithee. 

of there being a doom film, a quake film, and a quake 2 film before. I've heard the new rumours that there'll be a doom 3 film. If they make it, it will suck. No doubt.

There's no way they'd get a top director to make a game tie-in... and to make a movie with the basis of doom 3 work, you'd need someone like James Cameron to give us a repeat performance of what he did with the amazing Aliens. Admittedly that'd be awesome, but if they get a crappy director and acting nobodies, the fact that it's based on a game wouldn't make it much more watchable than the standard Hollywood sci-fi fare. 

that the hollywood sci-fi movies of late are about as watchable as seeing your village brutally murdered and your family raped. 

There were reports of a Duke Nukem movie getting made, and they even started hyping it and got a website, etc. That was 3-4 years ago.

And then there was the American McGee's Alice movie, which was listed on IMDb, etc, and has since been taked off IMDb. 

Anyone familiar with GW's Space Hulk ( anyone? hello? ) might remember that they reported plans to make a Space Hulk movie featuring the Deathwing space marines, sometime around...1990? '91? Yeah. Right. Like that would ever happen.
The rather obvious pitfall with this sort of project is that most of these games are non-copyright, other-franchise versions of the classics - Space Hulk was GW's direct answer to Aliens. Doom3 plagiarises so much of that stuff it's not even funny anymore ( well, it is still sort of funny ) Remember the upside-down-head-spiders? Rob Bottin won't see a dime for those either :P
But without the original pieces of incredible design, engaging story and characters that made these movies classics in the first place, all you have is 'Doom3: Aliens Without The Cool Stuff' or 'Alice: Not Quite A Tim Burton Movie'
In other words, pointless. 

Van Helsing - it crosses that line where it's so bad it's funny. Utter utter rubbish.

bridge ont he river kwai - fine fine film, lots of mood and good acting.

high noon - found it boring and rather one dimensional.

runaway jury - messy and formulaic, not really worth a look.

speed - I never saw this before becuase I'd seen speed2 and that put me off. Pity, because this one's obivously a lot more fun.


Oh and a doom3 movie wont be good unless there's an experienced hand behind it all. On a sie note, doesnt the upcoming avp2 movie look terrible? 

It doesn't look terrible, it looks generic. Which, I admit, may be a synonym for terrible :P 

Kill Bill Vol 2:

Finally got around to seeing it and while I didn�t enjoy it as much as I did Vol 1, it was a good flick and definately worth checking out. Vol 2 is noticably larger than Vol 1 (2.5 hours vs 1.5 hours) and doesn�t have as much shock value as Vol 1 did, but the dialogue and fight scenes are good. And Tarantino managed to bring much more depth to the characters with this one.

American Wedding (aka American Pie 3):
Overall, worse than the first one, better than the 2nd one. "Stifler�s Mom" got old this time. Not in the sense that the actress has gotten old, but in the sense that the joke(s) related to her got old. Some truly hilarious moments here and there (especially Stifler�s dance competition at a gay bar).

Next in line are: The Rundown, The Savage, Spirited Away and Gothika. 

The last movie I saw that has made the biggest impact on me in the past year is Fellini's Roma.

There's something about the way it's shot that just grabs you. The movie isn't really about anything, but rather it provides an impression of the sights and sounds of Rome as Fellini knew it. The segments are strange to say the least, but they really do leave you with a feeling of completeness after you watch the whole movie.

I would say that the movie is about history and how an ancient city like Rome evolves to become something totally fresh and new, while still retaining a fantastic sense of self.

Roma is like a living postcard, drawn by a great artist, sent to you simultaneously throughout hundreds of years. It's tremendous, and I highly recommend it. 

http://www.maxpaynehero.com 

Smabherl actually went to see a film, yes really =).

My one film for this year and I thought it was really rather good. Unusually intelligent for a Hollywood blockbuster, I particularly appreciated the political conflicts depicted, and the notable lack of any obvious "good" or "bad" - plenty of flawed characters and the escalation of human error and misjudgement. No doubt this is due to the raw material of the story, and were I more familiar with the story and thus having to rely on the surface execution of the film for effect, I expect I'd have found it considerably less intriguing. As it was, I did find there was too much schmaltz, the politics should have been deeper, and worst of all the Trojan Horse, surely one of the most memorable features of human conflict ever, was woefully skimmed over when it should have been much more central. Nevertheless, still a surprisingly good film. 

they should have called it Brad Pitt's Pout-a-rama. And Helen wasn't fine enough. In fact, she wasn't fine at all. 'Face that launched a thousand ships' my ass.

Also, Orlando Blooms acting made me projectile vomit at the movie screen. You milk-drinking cockmop.

I also saw Harry Potter 3: When Puberty Attacks! recently... I really don't know why. I mean, I've read all the books and seen all the movies, and i've hated them all...I must hate myself. Hermione is hot though, better than Ron anyway. 

Apparently Harry is supposed to die about the end of book six - not that I've even bothered to check out the fifth one yet.

If this is true, it'll be interesting to see if Rowling succumbs to Doyle's affliction. 

i had the impression he killed sherlock off because he was uncomfortable with how popular the series got, i don't know a lot about him though. 

After killing Holmes off at the Reichenbach falls ("The Final Problem," I think it was) fans of Holmes bayed so vehemently and so loudly that Doyle reluctantly had to bring the great detective back. Reading the stories from this period, their quality seems to go seriously downhill. Doyle clearly was sick of Watson's roomie towards the end.

Fortunately for Doyle, he didn't have a motor accident and wake up tended by his number one psycho fan!

In short: hopefully, Rowling won't give in to fan/commercial pressures and resurrect poor Potter.

Which makes me think of a possible alternate universe follow-on: Harry Potter and the Unfinished Business. In which an adult Potter, when not scandalising the wizardly establishment with novel application of the scientific method (especially one D. Malfoy, who thinks Mr. P. is trying to steal a march on him), is aggravating same with novel approaches to "Mundane Studies"...