Movies (recently seen)

[End Master]

[EDIT]

By the way, End and Katie, have you guys seen The Road yet? I see it's playing in Royal Oak, but it looks like that's it for Michigan -- I guess the producers decided to put it on limited release at the last second.

Blah.

Oh well... hopefully they'll roll it out to more theaters in a couple weeks.

Didn't see it yet. We've been kind of busy with a bunch of other stuff.

Though we probably would've seen it already if it had been in regular theaters rather than a single art theater in an area we don't usually travel to. Maybe we'll get around to it, but at this point we'll probably just wait for it on DVD.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Since the topic of ninjas is still fresh, I may as well go ahead and post a brief review of Ninja Assassin.

Fans of V for Vendetta who are expecting the same sort of movie will be dissapointed -- obviously the "style" of the movie feels somewhat similar, but unlike V for Vendetta, there aren't any political overtones in this one. And it's got so much gore that it makes Reservoir Dogs look like child's play.

That being said, for the most part it's about as good as I can imagine any ninja movie to be (unless said ninja movie had cheerleaders in it, of course) and it's certainly consistent with the theory that the more ninjas you have, the less powerful they are. One thing that really made it lose points with me, though: it's corny.

I'm talking bushels of corn.

A guess V for Vendetta was somewhat corny, too, but it worked for that movie. It made it kind of funny. This film is just too serious for the corniness to be allowed.

Anyway, here's my rating:

7.5

[End Master]

No point in making up a new thread for TV Shows...

Over the last few months I've been getting complete series of TV shows I've seen and liked a lot, but was never able to catch them on a regular basis.

Battlestar Galactica (The new one): Liked this a lot more than I thought I would. The pilot for Caprica was okay, but I don't think the show will last as long as Battlestar.

The Shield: I finally finished all the episodes of this show and I can't say enough positive stuff about this series. I liked most of the characters (Especially the main protagonist) and it seemed like each season got better. I wasn't disappointed with the finale and it's probably good that they ended when they did even though part of me wishes there were still more episodes to watch.

Sopranos: I've only seen season 1 of this and that was back when it originally came on, so I'm looking forward to finally seeing all it now.

Life on Mars & Kings: both had interesting concepts, but got canceled pretty quickly. I think I only got to see about 4 episodes each before they started switching the time slots and then just pulling them before airing the rest.

Sons of Anarchy: This show isn't over yet, but I got season 1 and I liked it a lot. It's sort of like a cross between The Shield and The Sopranos (Except with Bikers instead of corrupt cops or mafia)

Anyone watched any of these shows? The complete series of Oz will probably be next on my list. Maybe The Wire too, haven't seen that one at all, but I heard good things about it.

[Ryan_DuBois]

I haven't seen any of those... 24, The Office, and South Park are all I really watch nowdays.

The first few seasons of 24, from what I remember, were excellent. Back when I was like 14 or so, my brother-in-law let my sister borrow the first season, saying how good it was. She didn't really want it, but didn't have the heart to refuse it. So she took it. Watched an episode. A day later, after finishing the entire season, she came into my room, halfway dazed, and told me about it.

For the following couple weeks that's all we did. Once in a while we'd go to parties in town and then we'd stagger in later that night and make popcorn and watch 24 till the morning came (my in-law had all the seasons, so we were set for a good while). Then one day, one of our friends was over, and he ended up getting curious about this 24.

Sure enough, that night he was in the room with us, eating popcorn and watching the TV with glazed eyes. Then of course we ran out of episodes and we all went through "24 withdrawls", but man they were good while they lasted.

Well, maybe they weren't "good" -- just addicting. I still catch the new seasons on TV every year, but it isn't the same just watching one a week.



THE END

[apotheosis]

Not sure if anyone keeps up on Dexter, but the season finale raped my life.

It's the best show on television right now, hands down. Writing is phenomenal.

[Ryan_DuBois]

The one with the serial killer, right? My older brother told me he's been watching that one, along with True Blood. I haven't seen either of them, but I'd like to check them out someday.

[End Master]

Yeah I've got the first 3 seasons of Dexter, but so far I've only watched season one. Another collection of DVDs I need to get to!

[Shabti]

I was absolutely ADDICTED to Dexter! I have to wait til the 4th season comes out on DVD to finish it. I found the first and second episodes online. Ten minutes into the second episode the program detected an error in the file.

[apotheosis]

www.sidereel.com

That's how I watch Dexter. Great site. Only use the megavideo links though, the other ones sometimes contain malware.

[Locke]

The first season of Dexter was decent. I'm told they get better, but haven't watched any of the others myself.

I watched Kings for one reason, Ian McShane (Al Swearengen from Deadwood). He's an amazing actor and actually pulls off being an absolute monarch rather well. The cinematography and music were great, too, but the dialogue was pretentious in some parts and the plot twists predictable. I liked it in spite of all its failings just to watch Ian play king though.

I still watch House, though it has become increasingly gimmicky recently.

Dollhouse is one of my current favorites, so naturally, they've gone and canceled it; I think there are three episodes left to air.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Saw Inglourious Basterds (or however it's mispelled) tonight and really liked it. Could be my favorite Quintin Tarantino film... it's right up there with Pulp Fiction.

9

[ChubbyTeletubby]

Firstly, I'm very glad Dragavan AT LEAST liked Office Space because that is one of my all time favorite movies.

As far as TV shows.....

I've seen the American version of the Office and really don't like it. I watched the British version recently and found it fairly amusing. British stuff is hit and miss with me.

Um, I tend to watch a lot of Top Gear on BBC America lately, too.

Sopranos was great, of course. Haven't checked out any of the others EndMaster mentioned. Sci-Fi typically isn't my thing, anymore.

Breaking Bad is a gem. It's about a high school chem teacher turned meth-cook. It's gotten rave reviews. At least the first season was, but I haven't been following it lately.

For some reason I'm always a sucker for Top Chef.

I've just been sorta channel surfing lately, though, and coming up disappointed. There's no shows I really look forward to.

I just read this book on Lewis & Clark that was fantastic, though. What an amazing and oft times HILARIOUS story. Every member of the expedition, with the exception of perhaps Lewis and Clark, came down with VDs. I was glued to this book like I haven't been glued to ANYTHING in a LOOOONG time. Only reason I bring it up. I've always been a sucker for history though. Especially that era.

Um, I'll have to check out Inglorious Bastards. Has anyone seen Avatar? It didn't look all that great to me.

I might go see Sherlock Holmes on Christmas, though.

[MikaelL]

I saw "the Road" yesterday, and it probably is the best post-apocalyptic film I've seen so far. There is still room for a better one, though. Honest and simple in the right way, it doesn't have any cheap dramatization or other commercial tricks intended to make it "easier". The only thing that struck me wrong was something that I very often don't like in movies, unnecessary background music. No Land For Old Men (also a good movie) doesn't do this, if I remember correctly.

It's also very, very depressing at points. The world it portrays, gray, dead forests and abandoned cities and roads, with very, very few survivors are much more disturbing and grim than a sunny, desolate desert, in my opinion. It is very near to my vision of an ideal post-apoc movie. I recommend it.

Mad Max 2 would come as a strong second, being a "good" action movie. It doesn't have anything unnecessary. It has a deep (although perhaps not very) level to it, too.

Haven't seen the first one yet, except for maybe the first 15 minutes, which didn't impress me much. Beyond thunderdome was bad, except for a few moments. The lost boys gang just felt a little too corny to me.

I had high expectations for Besson's Le Dernier Combat. It had some good moments to it, but all in all, it was a disappointment. Visually, it has some very good shots. It has also some original ideas (the muteness). The soundtrack, however, is poor, like in some other movies by Besson (Nikita). This is arguable, but they go against my own taste. I think they sound cheap, and not cheap in a good way. Just bad. Also, some other things provoke in it: some moments seem childish. But I think this is a theme of sorts for Besson, he often depicts the loss of innocense in his movies, which might explain some things. I've often tought that he chooses good themes (or themes that interest me aswell) for his movies, but somehow just more or less screws them up. Nikita is maybe his strongest movie, Le Dernier in 2nd place and Leon 3rd. I won't go into that now.

Omega man started well, but sort of descend into a mix of unintended comedy and low quality, overall crappyness. Not a good pa movie, or even a good movie at all. Same thing for it's newest rebirth "I Am Legend". It had some good moments in the start, but ended up being shitty and commercial.

What's wrong with Will Smith, huh? I haven't probably seen a single decent, "real" movie with him in it. The man has the iq of wittgenstein, he would be capable of making Kubrikian masterpieces, if he wanted to. The good thing is, he's a reminder and proof that pure, "raw" intellect does not make up for creativity and artistic vision when it comes to making something meaningful. At least "Ali" had potential.

I didn't like "the Postman" either. All the nationalism and overly dramatic and just shoddy dialogue ruins it.

Now, if zombie apocalypse qualifies, then "Day of the Dead" IS a good movie. It has many levels to it. I recommend it as well for anyone who hasn't seen it. Probably the only truly credible and GOOD zombie movie I've seen.

Talking about zombies, 28 days later begins very well. The shots of a desolate London are very, very good and atmospheric. When the army kicks in, the movie starts to go downhill, in my opinion. I won't spoil anything though. Same thing for the sequel, 28 weeks later, although the curvature from good to shitty is steeper, as in faster. It has a very strong beginning, but maybe just as equally a weak unfolding. What bothered me most where the cheap tricks that were meant to shock the audience with either some "saw"-like gorish, disgusting scenes or some other horrory ding-dong.

I guess waterworld is OK. I should really watch it again, but I liked the originality of the world. Nothing special besides that, maybe.

Even though hollywood-garbage seems to grow larger and appear increasingly often, there will always be the few good moviemakers that will do what they want, how they want it. A good portion of "good art" is not compromising one's vision. And having one, too.

Oh, and also, I'm watching the first moments of "Threads" right now on youtube. Looks promising! Nice symbolismsmsms, webs and all, yeah.

And fuck, I still wanted to mention that I'm looking forward to see a pa movie by Mika Kaurismäki (brother of Aki Kaurismäki, author of "I Hired a Contract Killer", "The Man Without a Past"). I'm told it's good, though I don't know it's title yet! Have to do some research in imbd.

Also wanted to mention Delicatessen, which is a good pa movie with a more "light", not worse approach, but now I need some sleep.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Damn. I am so fucking stoked for The Road... and so sad that I'm going to have to wait for the DVD and watch it on a normal-sized television. So sad. It breaks my heart.

[End Master]

Ryan: Yeah at this point I'm probably going to see The Road on DVD as well, but I'm definitely going to go see The Book of Eli in January.

Mikael: Mad Max is alright. It lacks when you compare it to Road Warrior, but I can't really seperate MM & RW since they're better linked than RW and Thunderdome which of course dropped the ball severely. Mad Max is more of a "pre-apocalypse" movie, since its showing more of a break down of society before the bombs fell.

I saw part of I am Legend and while it looked like it would be something I'd be into, I just couldn't bother watching the rest of it, mainly because I already saw Last Man on Earth and Omega Man and I already know how the story is going to end. Not to mention I'm sick of Will Smith too at this point.

I think I'm probably the only person that liked The Postman. I think I just enjoyed the whole idea that you had a bunch of "postmen" which mostly consisted of teenagers running around shooting people...just like in real life! (Oh okay they were actually focused on shooting the bad guys rather than random innocents in the movie)

Day of the Dead was alright, but the "good survivors" weren't particularly likable or interesting. Actually I could see more of the side of the military personnel despite them being class A assholes since they did have a point that it was stupid for them to continue risking their lives trying to capture zombies just so the scientists could try to "find a cure". It would've been better if ALL of them got eaten by zombies though.

We'll avoid the debate on whether the "28 series movies" qualify as "zombie movies", but I didn't like 28 Days Later, and you're right, it started sucking even more after the military guys showed up. I liked 28 Months Later a lot more since I could at least enjoy it on a blood and gore level rather than the clumsy attempts at social commentary that the 28 Days Later movie was trying to do.

I think that's probably why I ended up liking the remake of Dawn of the Dead the best as far the whole zombie genre goes. (Heresy, I know) since it was just zombies trying to kill people and that was basically it. None of this "The military are always a bunch evil rapists and racists!", "We're actually worse than the zombies!", "Consumerism is bad!" messages. I like Romero and all, but sheesh, we get the point already.

Waterworld was basically Road Warrior on the water, so it was pretty much impossible for me not to like it on some level.

Threads is good. It's probably the most realistic portrayal of an "After the Bomb" scenario.

I thought Delicatessen was okay.

Assuming you haven't seen them already I'd suggest Children of Men for another bleak society decending into anarchy type setting.

Escape From New York, but avoid Escape From LA which sucked.

If you're not put off by bad B-Movies I'd say go for Doomsday and After the Fall of New York too. Both of these movies shove every "PA theme" you can think of, (mutants, zombies, cyborgs, battle cars, plagues, etc).