Movies you've just watched

[MintyTheCat]

Not a movie as such but I have gotten back into Red-Dwarf and I still have the RD movie to watch.

It never gets old no matter how many times I watch it

[Xyga]

Terminator 2
...
I've seen this so many times I know it beat for beat, yet every time I watch it over the years it's increasingly disappointing. This is probably the second most overrated of Cameron's work after Avatar.
In the end it's not as good as The Terminator by a long shot, lacking the same horror or consistency, and not as good as other Hollywood blockbusters of the era, like Jurassic Park or Cameron's own Aliens.

Oh well, you know, even Aliens. I mean I fucking love that movie (check my location) but without its visuals, catchphrases and super-heroine that makes most male action heroes look like little bois, it's an empty shell, er...egg, like most of Cameron's movies.
Terminator is his only 'grail'.

[Skykid]

Yeah but Aliens is really fucking rad. It looks amazing, the premise is iconic, the one liners are indulgently served up, and it actually keeps pace very well - even the director's cut.

It's much more watchable than T2 and there's a lot more in it to connect with.

T2 has absolutely no one you want to root for, no real hero. It's not Furlong, Hamilton's a wreck, Arnie is lightweight and unconvincing. I think the T1000 is the most consistent character in it, much like Arnie was in T1.

[kaicooper]

Saving Private Ryan

Apocalypse Now will probably always be my favorite war movie, but I gotta say SPR was probably the most immersive.

Dude have you seen Come and See ? (1985, Elem Klimov)

Come and See is totally in my top 3 War movies list with Apocalyps Now and FULL METAL JACKET

[kaicooper]

Terminator 2

i'll be honest with u..Terminator 2 is always my best action movies since kid
i keep watching it..but only one Stuntman scene totally piss me off..he looks like van damme lol..the rest
is tottaly fine cus the other looks like Arnold..

movie still one of the best actions but after watching The Terminator 1984 again and again..i think i might like the first
more then second ..a bit..better atmosphere and horror and retro stuff

[xxx1993]

The Purge: Anarchy was what the Purge should have been. I hope The Purge: Election Year ends up being even better.

[BryanM]

Saw this brand new and exciting movie called "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Well... skimmed through it more like it.

Really, really very glad didn't see this one in the theater.

i'll be honest with u..Terminator 2 is always my best action movies since kid

For anyone to say Jurassic Park is "better than" T2.. lul just lul.

We can still have conversations about the morality involved in most scenes of T2 - like how the generic street tough bravely put his life at risk offering to help the kid who appeared to be possibly be getting raped in an alley by a gorilla man wrapped in leather. His reward for attempting to be a hero/decent human being, is for John Conner to be a huge dick to him and then getting fucked up by said beforementioned gorilla.

That other movie, is a cartoon where generic victims run away from CGI monsters for 2 hours.

Two examples of the "chase" plot, but lightyears apart in content.

[boagman]

That other movie, is a cartoon where generic victims run away from CGI monsters for 2 hours.

Two examples of the "chase" plot, but lightyears apart in content.

Hmm. While both are popcorn movies, T2 is more straight chase/action, where JP certainly does a better job in providing a more harrowing feeling in the viewer, I'd say. Kind of like the difference between "Alien" and "Aliens", only in reverse. Very, very different movies in my opinion.

But no...you're right: JP isn't better than T2.

[Mischief Maker]

T2's failings lie in the realm of schmaltz.

Jurassic Park's failings fall in the realm of schlock.

If physical transformations are reasons to give male actors their due, Linda Hamilton deserves hers for T2. I remember in the T2 commentary track they said when Arnold saw Hamilton for the first time on set he said, "Jesus, Linda, you're fucking ripped to shreds!"

[GaijinPunch]

Jurassic Park's failings fall in the realm of schlock.

It was overrated... right out of the gates. Charming, to an extent, but the way it was hyped up. I'd have enjoyed it had I been in a vacuum until it started.

[Skykid]

For anyone to say Jurassic Park is "better than" T2.. lul just lul.

No really. I rewatched JP recently, and here's what I thought:

JURASSIC PARK: ONE


So after all this talk, I went back to it.

It was better than I remembered it being, and between this and Jurassic World it's a case of night and day. Importantly, owing to Jurassic Park's summer blockbuster angle it retroactively serves as a wonderful comparison piece to Jurassic World. It highlights everything missing from modern blockbusters and the critical failings of the modern producer system - something that's robbing adventure film of all personality and placing a glossy husk in its place.

From the top then:

Jurassic Park has characters, and I was surprised to rediscover exactly how much time is invested in those characters to properly engineer the direction of the movie. From the word go it's pure character development, oodles of dialogue that round and shape your protagonists and an ensemble who all have a meaningful place within the fracas. From the English game hunter watching over the Raptors to Samuel L. chain smoking the fuck out of the control room.

It's surprising, in-fact, how written a film it is: there's a huge amount of emphasis placed on dialogue and interaction between the endangered humans, and the pacing is somehow quite divine, managing to give everyone just enough time to solidify before the train wreck starts. Goldblum is a fantastic key, his womanising, chaos theorising and verbal pathos leading into the park's disassembly quite perfectly.

Of course the movie has an edge Spielberg has all but lost. It opens with a worker being mutilated by a raptor and doesn't let up. Nedry gets blinded and butchered by something horrible, the lawyer is wrenched up by the T-Rex and thrown about in its jaws like a rag doll, and the Raptors at the end are really terrifying in their patience as they stalk the kitchen for child food. It's no way near as bloodless or disposable as Jurassic World.

And the reason why it all works so well is there's imagination in the making. The opening really leads you in to a theme park wonderland, shows you around, gives you a cast with opinions, personal interest, vulnerability, strength, knowledge, greed and ethics (or a lack of). And when all the power goes out at the T-Rex paddock there's absolutely zero dramatic music throughout the entire scene - just the sound of rainfall and the Rex screeching like a nightmare as it walks between the cars. The lack of CG is incredibly uplifting too, with the combined and impressive animatronics saving it from early ageing in remarkable fashion. It still holds up better than... well Jurassic World, and that's brand new.

So all in all, it helps to have a novel to write your screenplay from. It helps to have a director who knows how to construct tension and give enough time to flesh out his universe. It's not a masterpiece of film, but within its specific genre and goals, it overachieves, especially retrospectively now that basically everything has turned to shit in modern Hollywood.

For those moments, for the impressive effects, sound design and execution, and genuine terror, it manages to suppress the weaker aspects of dialogue, acting and nonsensical acts. Simply, it's still a helluva ride.

I don't have a problem if someone prefers the concept of T2 to Crichton's JP, that's fair enough. I like a good Harlan Ellison tale as much as the next guy.

My assessment is more about the execution in component terms and how successful they work to build a movie. T2 lacks some really critical elements that any movie needs. It has no hero and little direction. It becomes mired by its event sequences in that they slow the momentum of whatever plot there is. Arnie's superficial violence has no impact and detracts from the film's power. Hamilton may be ripped but physique doesn't equal performance quality: she's mostly forgettable and occasionally horrible in this.

JP and T2 share one commonality that allows you to draw a parallel: they're both big Hollywood blockbusters. While one gets poorer with age, the other goes the opposite way because of its emphasis on dialogue, scene building, pacing, performance and most importantly, script writing. The latter is almost nonexistent in T2.

I don't like Spielberg schmaltz/schlock either, and elements of JP I don't care for much - but the man knows his trade in film assembly, and it shows.

[EmperorIng]

If Jurassic Park is a little too Hollywood for people, then there's always Carnosaur!

And Carnosaur 2!

[Skykid]

Oh it's Hollywood, just good Hollywood.

Another movie that challenges T2 in the entertainment stakes:

Cliffhanger

That opening scene. Still got grip. I'm not quite sure how Harlin nailed it, but it's got an almost too-real level of horror in *instances* that seem to almost subvert the subject material. You went in for a Stallone actioner, and in the first five minutes it suddenly becomes a spectacular horrifying snuff movie. Really, I'm not sure "I don't want to die" has ever been uttered quite so fittingly as it is by the poor girl at the end of the rope.

It's a movie of many thrills, however. Not art, but with a good sense of pace and a fairly great cast of bickering villains and football analogies. And the backdrop is pretty amazing.

I just found out the guy who crossed between planes on a zip wire at the beginning is in the Guinness book of records for highest paid stuntman. A million for that particular one.

Ah, the days before CG made everything unspectacular and safe.

[Xyga]

^ Vertical Limit is better. :p :p :p

[GaijinPunch]

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

I actually got a girl to watch this with me, as I was telling her that not all anime is crap. While this one ranks very high, it's length really hampers it. At 82 minutes, there's no excuse for some story elements to be so crammed. Things slow down a bit, and characters do a decent job of explaining what has just happened, but I feel it could have been done better at 105 minutes. Then again, I recall Innocence being an even worse offender with a longer run time. Oh, well. Akira beats this in every category, but I'd still consider it a must see.

[Ixmucane2]

The Neon Demon

A young girl goes to Los Angeles to become a model; she is so beautiful that a bubble of admirers and competitors immediately forms around her. The bubble bursts tragically.

Excellent photography and gorgeous actresses, but a strange story that probably suffers from cuts and afterthoughts.
Given the impressively intense atmosphere of menace and derangement of the whole film I would have greatly preferred the expressionist but realistic depiction of a model's career to be used as a foundation for a violent/horror/supernatural payoff rather than brought to a sudden, symbolic and exaggerated breaking point.

There's also a problem with nudity, with the protagonist (Elle Fanning) never undressed and awkwardly shown from the neck up in situations like a shower or a nude photo shoot. It's so wrong that I saw some male teenagers walk out of the cinema.

[Mortificator]

I watched Venus Wars on bluray.... man, this one was quite a surprise. Excellent animation, right up my alley.

Ironically never saw this... was always told the manga was better. Maybe I grab all the manga then watch the movie.

I was about to say that there wasn't much memorable in the anime besides the government spying on everyone having sex because the aliens would turn people they subverted into nymphomaniacs.

... but a search shows that I was thinking of Big Wars. Which was on Mars.

[lilmanjs]

Police Story: Lockdown.

I'm assuming you didn't enjoy this. I sure didn't and clearly can tell the action scenes are tacked onto what is supposed to be a drama.
The Young Master
Yuen Biao totally steals the movie in this one. So arrogant and smug that he can defeat Jackie Chan, and just does it nicely in a comedic way. Jackie Chan goes to find his big brother after he betrays the school by doing his dragon dance for their rivals. Fight scene at the end is a little too long, but still works.

[xxx1993]

I did enjoy Police Story: Lockdown, somewhat. Though the outtakes at the end credits totally felt out of place for a movie that's supposed to be a serious action thriller.

[boagman]

"Smokey and the Bandit" (1977)

And I do mean *very* 1977. Yes, it's proof that at one time Sally Field was all right to look at, and you can see why Burt Reynolds' stardom happened. You can also see why other chase movies followed so quickly and without regard for content, script, or any other production value. It's actually kind of cute in its own way, but it is the very definition of "schlock".

That's not to say that I feel ripped off of my two hours, but I did kind of ask myself "What did I just spend two hours watching?" Very, very throwaway, but you can see why stuff like "The Dukes of Hazzard" was out and in heavy production by 1979. By the end of the movie, you're kind of upset that you can't get the tune "Eastbound and Down" out of your head, and you're kind of questioning every part of the reasons behind almost every scene in the movie (especially with regards to Snowman), but you're not mad about it.

It's...weird, but not strange.

[atheistgod1999]

Jackass: The Movie for the third time yesterday. My dad made me watch a movie of my choice with him yesterday and I chose that. Before watching, he thought it was stupid and that those people were just retards who were going to get themselves killed. While watching, however, my dad was laughing harder than I was the first time I saw it.

[boagman]

Jackass: The Movie for the third time yesterday. My dad made me watch a movie of my choice with him yesterday and I chose that. Before watching, he thought it was stupid and that those people were just retards who were going to get themselves killed. While watching, however, my dad was laughing harder than I was the first time I saw it.

I've watched that movie multiple times, laughed myself into the fetal position at certain points, and still share your father's initial opinion.

[GaijinPunch]

Finding Dory: First Pixar film I've really enjoyed since Toy Story 3. Not to say it's as good as the Toy Story franchise but it's right up there.

[BrianC]

Lately, I have seen Captain America Civil War, Ant-Man, and Casablanca..

I enjoyed Civil War quite a bit. I also read the comic. I didn't like the comic version as much. Unlike the movie,

Spoiler

there is no real villain, and some of the superheroes (most notably Tony Stark and Mr. Fantastic) act very out of character and act more like villains than heroes.

I found the movie very good at what it sets out to be, a comic book movie. I also enjoyed the new Spider-Man and Ant-Man was great in the movie.

Ant-Man was a very fun movie. I like how it was a caper movie and had some funny parts in it.

Casablanca is something I should have watched a long time ago. A real classic. I heard many of the lines before, but never seen the full movie. Bogart was excellent in it.

[Mischief Maker]

Casablanca is something I should have watched a long time ago. A real classic. I heard many of the lines before, but never seen the full movie. Bogart was excellent in it.

A key thing to keep in mind while watching this movie is that it came out while it was still an open question whether or not the US was going to get involved in WWII.

[Vexorg]

Hail, Caesar!: ***1/2

This seems to be a movie the critics loved, but the moviegoing public's reaction to was decidedly mixed (85% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 46% from the audience.) That said, I actually liked it quite a bit, but I can see where they're coming from with their criticisms. The actual story of the film (such as it is) was rather confusing and all of the problems that Eddie Mannix was dealing with basically seemed to sort themselves out in the end, which may or may not have been the point of the whole thing. The big elaborate (and indeed ridiculously overdone) musical numbers were probably the best parts of the film, aside from possibly the film editing scene.

[BrianC]

Hail, Caesar!: ***1/2

This seems to be a movie the critics loved, but the moviegoing public's reaction to was decidedly mixed (85% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 46% from the audience.)

I think that has more to do with the flawed rating system. Three star reviews are counted as rotten. When I looked at the user reviews, most of them were 3 or 3.5 stars rather than negative.

[Skykid]

Hardcore Henry is rather interesting, surprisingly. Wouldn't watch it for anything except ultra violence of course, although Sharlto Copley is excellent in it.

It's totally off the wall in premise, and I liked that; and totally un-hollywood in its FPP styling.

But most impressive is the budget... 2 million!! Unreal, it looks 50 times that. Just proves the efficiency outside of the wasteful Hollywood producer system.

[BrianC]

Casablanca is something I should have watched a long time ago. A real classic. I heard many of the lines before, but never seen the full movie. Bogart was excellent in it.

A key thing to keep in mind while watching this movie is that it came out while it was still an open question whether or not the US was going to get involved in WWII.

Thanks. That was one of the facts the person introducing the movie mentioned and it definitely helped me enjoy the movie more.

[rapoon]

Hardcore Henry is rather interesting, surprisingly. Wouldn't watch it for anything except ultra violence of course, although Sharlto Copley is excellent in it.

It's totally off the wall in premise, and I liked that; and totally un-hollywood in its FPP styling.

But most impressive is the budget... 2 million!! Unreal, it looks 50 times that. Just proves the efficiency outside of the wasteful Hollywood producer system.

definitely an unconventional flick. one of the most violent movies i've ever seen (particularly towards the end). Copley was awesome. enjoyed every scene with him. he reminds me a bit of peter sellers.