Movies you've just watched

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Sure is a lot of hype with promoting the upcoming Battleship flick...noticed that some scenes shown in the trailer of BB look like a tribute to the CG transformers movies.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

Well perhaps battleship will renew your confidence.

I'd pay £13 just to see Rhianna's acting talent.

[BIL]

Robocop. Beautiful, grotesque, cathartic and ruefully funny. Gets better as I age. Unlike the sequels. Still have a minor and mostly nostalgic soft spot for Robocop 2, as it was the most mythically off-limits R movie of my childhood. Would sooner fish for piranha with my cock than glance sideways at Robocop 3.

[xbl0x180]

Well perhaps battleship will renew your confidence.

I'd pay £13 just to see Rhianna's acting talent.

I concur. I've never heard her songs, but I can tell she's very talented. I think she's wasting it this music thing


Been a fan of Paul Verhoeven since I saw Soldaat Van Oranje and "The 4th Man." I guess they were big budget films back in The Netherlands, but his budgets were even bigger once he got to Hollywood... yet, he managed to handle it pretty well: Robocop, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct were good. The Criterion Collection video of Robocop comes cheep, even if it's outta print, so I definitely recommend getting that one over any other North American release

[BIL]

Thanks - it was a rip of the Criterion one I watched, everything seemed in order. This is one of the few movies I own on physical format, but my current disc is some no-name release of the censored theatrical cut.

[MJR]

I just watched John Carter and that was a bad movie. They took perfectly clear and filmable story, and turned it into uncomprehensive mess. Sure there were nice scenes here and there, but they could have just filmed the book and it would have been perfect. Why mess around? Unlike many other books, the story in Princess of Mars was perfect popcorn material; simple and filmable enough without needing to do such major revisions.

Gotta love hollywood. They change plots from book to film when it is unnecessary (John Carter), but stay faithful to source material when changes could have improved the result (any Harry Potter)

PS. speaking of Verhoeven, my all time favourite director.. watch Black Book, that is a brilliant film.

[neorichieb1971]

I respect your opinion but honestly, comparing books to movies is a pointless exercise. Take the book for what it is, take the movie for what it is.

I never read books, so I always consider things like John Carter to be 2hrs 15 minutes worth or entertainment, not a cross examination of authenticity.

[MJR]

I respect your opinion but honestly, comparing books to movies is a pointless exercise. Take the book for what it is, take the movie for what it is.

I never read books, so I always consider things like John Carter to be 2hrs 15 minutes worth or entertainment, not a cross examination of authenticity.

Yeah, sure.

Even if I shut the book from my mind, I think the film was at best mediocre, at worst pretty bad. I could watch it once but not for second time.

[neorichieb1971]

If you think the book was absolutely fantastic and the movie absolutely mediocre, then perhaps your sensitivity is far too great. Even if the movie slightly resembled the book you would feel somewhat rewarded for watching it.

Like I said, for me it was 2hrs 15 mins entertainment. It was also much better than alot of movies I watched in the past 2 years. JC was 100x better than breaking dawn (that I watched with my wife)

[MJR]

If you think the book was absolutely fantastic and the movie absolutely mediocre, then perhaps your sensitivity is far too great.

You are now putting words into my mouth, I think the book is good entertainment at best, nothing more. I don't mind changing the books, I can stomach the changes made to Lotr trilogy.

Film had many pacing problems and dull moments (overexposition, characters talking crap about 9th rays when even I have no clue about what the heck it is), unnecessary running around from location to other (having to go to issis just to explain how john got to mars was completely unnecessary to the plot), no chance for proper character arc. I had lot of trouble to follow what the heck was going on even though I thought I knew the material.

But I do confess that my expectations were also very high, not because of the book, but because of Andrew Stanton and Pixar, whom I always had lot of faith. I really wanted this movie to rock. Only the beginning and the end (scenes on earth) worked perfectly.

For example, the plot twist at the end was not in the book, but it was brilliant idea. And I loved how the world was realized visually, everything looked right. I loved that they had the jumping movement in. I also loved that edgar rice burroughs was character in the film.

But overall this was still a bitter disappointment for me.

Maybe if I adjust my expectations I may be able to enjoy this in few years time. But I doubt it. I think the 49% this has currently at rotten tomatoes is pretty spot-on. They did many things right but overall it just is not very good film.

[Skykid]

Even if I shut the book from my mind, I think the film was at best mediocre, at worst pretty bad. I could watch it once but not for second time.

Thanks for dashing my hopes, but thanks for saving me £13.

What happened Andrew Stanton, I believed in you.

[BIL]

PS. speaking of Verhoeven, my all time favourite director.. watch Black Book, that is a brilliant film.

Will do. I love his style and I'm really in the mood for European directors generally.

[JBC]

I just dreamed the entirety of 'Top Gun 2', which starred a dishonorably discharged, overweight Maverick who delivers pizzas on a Huffy and has a sassy, rebellious teenage daughter. There are no jets this time, but Maverick finally lands a decent job as a security guard and along with the help of Iceman foils a training session/faux robbery and gets fired at the end of the movie. At this point, he's twice as fat and still hasn't gotten laid and the movie ends with him bothering random strangers in a parking lot, desperate for someone to talk to. Take My Breath Away and Kenny Loggins are still all over the soundtrack.

[Acid King]

If you think the book was absolutely fantastic and the movie absolutely mediocre, then perhaps your sensitivity is far too great. Even if the movie slightly resembled the book you would feel somewhat rewarded for watching it.

Or maybe the movie just wasn't very good.

[BIL]

Oh my god, Robocop 2 is fucking retarded. But loveably, ultraviolent Saturday morning cartoonishly so. Nice DECO commercial during the arcade beatdown!

" We need test subjects who will welcome the power our law enforcement technology provides! I think death row is a pretty good place to look! >:[ "

edit: Dan O'Herlihy was awesome though, even here. I want to watch Robinson Crusoe (1954) now.

[Skykid]

Oh my god, Robocop 2 is fucking retarded. But loveably, ultraviolent Saturday morning cartoonishly so. Nice DECO commercial during the arcade beatdown!

I have a soft spot for Robocop 2. Written by Frank Miller and with the most ludicrously ultraviolent bystander massacre at the end, it's got some good stuff in there.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Even the stop-motion magic done by Phil Tippet is quite impressive with the Cain armored mecha suit.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BIL]

Yeah Skykid, I have to admit by the end of the movie I'd really enjoyed it. Dramatically it doesn't do anything the first movie didn't already, and better (the Verhoeven-style commercials are authentically ghastly, though). But the plot works fine as an action vehicle and delivers some monstrous setpieces. As far as superfluous sequels to iconic material go it's definitely more Aliens than Predator 2.

Mecha Cain is a pretty killer machine design, PCEFX! Makes me want to replay the Assault Suits games.

[CMoon]

I haven't seen Robocop 2 since the 90's. As said above, its biggest problem is following Robocop 1, arguable among the more important films of the 80's.

[mesh control]

Senna - Documentary about Ayrton Senna. I wasn't born when he won his first championship, so I used this as a primer. Tons of good pre-race meeting drama footage and interviews, also some grisly wreck footage that could have been left out.
Muoi - South Korean/Vietnamese ghost story/revenge film.
Red State - I like the part where every protagonist except John Goodman dies. Pretty boring for the most part.
Valhalla Rising - A better film than Drive. Well, almost.
Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade - Video game documentaries are irritating, turned this off after a 20 minutes. I would still like to see Billy Mitchell try to beat any of SOF-WTN's records.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade made it's official debut at the 2008 California Extreme show. I missed the showing but managed to record a copy of it on DVD-R when it aired on Showtime 2 cable channel a few years back. Fascinating documentary of what it was like to play arcade games back in the early 1980s. If you watch a bit further in, you'll see some footage filmed at the 2003 & 2004 CAX shows & at the 2004 CGE show as well (both gaming events that took place in San Jose, CA indeed).

I seriously doubt if SOF-WTN could beat Billy Mitchell's perfect Pac-Man score.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xbl0x180]

I haven't seen Robocop 2 since the 90's. As said above, its biggest problem is following Robocop 1, arguable among the more important films of the 80's.

I saw this at the Santa Fe drive-in cinema back in the 90s. The one scene I liked was where Robocop was being scraped on the graffiti wall by the van he was trying to stop... I loved graff back then, so any scene that featured it was etched in my mind

[NTSC-J]

I seriously doubt if SOF-WTN could beat Billy Mitchell's perfect Pac-Man score.

Well, its a max score so it would be impossible to `beat`, but I am sure SOF-WTN could match it in a lot less time than it took Billy. Its a game that has far fewer variables than the stuff the top Japanese players deal with on a regular basis, and the only reason that the West seems to reign supreme over these classic games is due to lack of interest in the East.

Chasing Ghosts is a fun movie though and a nice supplement to The King of Kong.

[Skykid]

The Last Starfighter

Brilliantly cheesy. And those special effects! Holy moley.

Didn't realise this was the originator of the term 'Gunstar'.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Last Starfighter Factoid time:

Atari Inc. made the actual Starfighter arcade cabinet but it was regarded as a non-working prop at best. Not to mention that Atari was working on a raster-scan arcade game of Starfighter for release to the arcades but was axed during development. Would've been ace to have played it at the arcades properly in 1984-1985.

If you look at the arcade controls used in the later released Atari Games' Space Lords cab (is up to 8 player linkable with four seperate SL cabs indeed -- two players per cab), it uses the same exact arcade layout/controls found on the Starfighter cab shown in the film. How cool is that? So, the Starfighter arcade controls/layout wasn't forgotten at all & in fact, is a homage towards that groundbreaking CG film.

Even American toy manufacturer, Galoob, had fabricated some prototype TLSF action figures but they were never released at retail for the U.S. toy market (as a promotional tie-in for the movie itself).

Indie dev Rogue Synapse did make a freeware Starfighter game (with the same classical graphics shown in the film, HUD, etc. -- even has a checksum boot up sequence that runs through it's paces before the actual SF game starts) & requires WinXP OS to run it properly. http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BIL]

Black Book

Watched it this evening, excellent movie - thanks again for the recommendation! Pretty heavy stuff, as you'd expect given the subject matter. Quite thrilling too, lots of intrigue and just the right tautness of pacing. Gonna rewatch it before the week's out.

[Daigohji]

Just got back from seeing the John Carter movie. It rides the line between very good and great, never settling on either side. It's a solid adaptation of a pulp classic, and well worth seeing if you're in the mood for a swash-buckling adventure. The way that Disney's marketing department has failed this movie is a tragedy.

[emphatic]

Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame. 5/5 from me, just got more epic and cool for every minute.

[JBC]

Wernor Herzog's Rescue Dawn. Wow.

I feel like I'VE been a POW in Laos.

Edit - Also I watched The Keep last night. Pretty good horror film but it has a total shit ending. Was surprised to see some big names associated with the picture.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Ruckus - about a Vietnam vet going Battle Garegga on some rednecks' arses, like First Blood filmed before the first Rambo flick.
Where should I start? To begin with, it was one of the films I just had to watch regardless of their quality. The title got stuck in my memory in the VHS days. I needed to set it free.
Furthermore, in the DVD-rip I watched the picture quality and the music would spontaneously alter every now and then, and the German dub would kick in. Surprisingly decent German dub I might add (I like the language, but their dubs tend to suck). Added to the sense of bewilderment. Watched it in two drinking sessions.
Not a great film at all, with a strong direct-to-video vibe to it, but some scenes are quite memorable and it played the "jungle freak" note well.