WestRider Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 Yeah, it was clearly a case of being a product of its time. It's not something inherently bad in the film, and I understand why it ended up like that. I just didn't, personally, enjoy watching it because of that. Straczynski said somewhere that it had fallen apart, and wasn't in progress as far as he knew. Unfortunate, I think he could have done amazing things with a remake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 The Rocketeer was a favorite of mine as a kid, but I don’t think I’ve rewatched in in a least 20 years. Gave it a re-watch last night and it’s still great. Okay, sure, Billy Campbell is a bit wooden (Brendan Fraser, Brandon Routh, and Nathan Fillion are so much better at playing this sort of Square-Jawed, All-American Hero) but he’s not terrible. He’s mostly just upstaged by Alan Akron, Jennifer Connelly, and Paul Sorvino stealing the show... and Timothy Dalton is clearly relishing every bite of the set, gleefully scenery chewing his way through the whole film. Since he basically gets to play an Errol Flynn type swashbuckler, a dashing debonair romantic lead, and a Bond Villain simultaneously, you can’t help but enjoy watching him enjoy the part. Special effects are, well, they’re thirty years old. The flying scenes are quite as seamless as I remember, which might rob the movie of some of its magic... But everything else holds up great. Rumors of a sequel or remake have swirled around forever, but I don’t think it will ever happen. If you’ve never seen The Rocketeer or just haven’t seen it this century, give it a whirl. Four stars. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 2 hours ago, Ish said: If you’ve never seen The Rocketeer or just haven’t seen it this century, give it a whirl. Thanks for reminding me of this one. I remember it being a lot of fun. Def gonna give it a rewatch at some point here now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 Combined with the resurgence of Battletech and Shadowrun, rewatching The Rocketeer does now suddenly make me nostalgic for Crimson Skies... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 17, 2019 Report Share Posted November 17, 2019 The Wicker Man: The good version this time, with Christopher Lee. Seriously, such a great flick. I can see why Lee considered it his best. The music in particular was an amazing touch that really brought the whole thing to life in a way the remake never came close to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarbicus Posted November 18, 2019 Report Share Posted November 18, 2019 My dad took me to The Shining when I was 13 and it really got to me. After watching Doctor Sleep, it looks like the Outlook Hotel will feature in my nightmares again! The movie was really well done. I'm not a huge horror fan but I love King's books. So nice to see them turned into decent movies finally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 19, 2019 Report Share Posted November 19, 2019 Fragile: Decent. Not great, nothing special, but nothing wrong with it, either. I just felt like watching some run-of-the-mill haunting flick, and it fit the bill perfectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 Blood Redd: Not bad at all for a low budget indy flick. It takes a while to get going, but the middle section is awesome, and then it really picks up again at the end. Fun flick with a different take on werewolves that I quite liked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 The Omen 3: Hit and miss. Damien's monologues in particular just don't end up working out. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of script and direction, because I know Sam Neill can do better than that. The overall plot works out pretty well tho, and there are some great bits here and there. It'll never be a classic the way the original was, but it's far better than most cases of sequel-itis. Leprechaun: Origin: Only nominally related to the Warwick Kinrade franchise. Apparently it got kinda panned, but I'm guessing that it's one of those cases where it's not "original" or "groundbreaking" enough for the critics. In and of itself, it seemed pretty solid to me. Stephanie Bennett seems like she could actually make a pretty good action hera if someone gave her the right roles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 27, 2019 Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 The Tunnel (2011): Basically an indie found footage remake of C.H.U.D. It's solid. Not terrible, not great. I would be interested to see what the director can do with a proper budget, because there's definitely promise here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted November 27, 2019 Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 12 hours ago, WestRider said: The Tunnel (2011): Basically an indie found footage remake of C.H.U.D. It's solid. Not terrible, not great. I would be interested to see what the director can do with a proper budget, because there's definitely promise here. I'm waiting for the Portland homeless problem to become a CHUD problem. Peace in our time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted November 27, 2019 Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Script 1/5 Plot 2/5 Graphics 4/5 Acting 2.5/5 Score 4/5 We are introduced to a Galaxy Spanning United Nations utilizing Advanced Technology and Science to enforce the will of some members onto others in the name of peace. This, while allowing black market operations to exist within the capital of said Galaxy wide organization, allowing a healthy slave trade to exist, and promoting negative realworld stereotypes. Action scenes are well choreographed, for the most part. The soundtrack is probably the best aspect of this movie. None of the acting gets by unscathed, even from veterans. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 27, 2019 Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 Music 10/5 Say what you will about the Star Wars franchise (even the most devout Fandalorian has to concede they’re of variable quality) but there’s no denying that John Williams’ scores are outstanding. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 4 hours ago, Ish said: Music 10/5 Say what you will about the Star Wars franchise (even the most devout Fandalorian has to concede they’re of variable quality) but there’s no denying that John Williams’ scores are outstanding. I remember when I finally watched Revenge of the Sith, I kept feeling serious dissonance, because the music was evoking so much emotion, and everything else in the film was falling so flat. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 The weird thing about Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, at least for me, is the knowledge that Francis Ford Coppola is officially acknowledged as having done some rewrites on the script... Francis Motherloving Ford Goddamn Coppola. How bad must the original scripts have been if Coppola is your script doctor and we still get the “I don’t like sand” soliloquy as the big romance moment and “Not the younglings!” as the big tragic moment? I mean, it’s Star Wars, so I wasn’t expecting Dostoevsky. I was expecting space-wizards and laserswords, cornball jokes, and cliché villains who call themselves “the Dark Side.” The franchise is supposed to be a recreation of the pulp serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood... But, yikes. I wanted Edgar Rice Burrows, not Ed Wood. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munkie Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 On 11/28/2019 at 12:23 AM, Ish said: and “Not the younglings!” as the big tragic moment? I would like to submit "Annie, you're breaking my heart!" as an even more cringe-worthy tragic moment. Especially because the medical droid at the end confirms that she did indeed die of a "broken heart". And that's why 30-seconds-old Leia was able to form a memory of her mom being "very beautiful, yet very sad". I'd be sad too if I had only a few seconds left before my heart split in half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfestedKerrigan Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 On 11/28/2019 at 12:23 AM, Ish said: I wanted Edgar Rice Burrows, not Ed Wood. Maybe I wanted a Glen Carter of Kashyyyk. Or was it Glenda? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 The Star Wars prequels were astonishing in their ability to pull off feats of cinematography I never thought possible: They made Christopher Lee appear non-threatening as a villain; They made Natalie Portman seem unemotional; They made Ewan McGregor seem uncharismatic; They made Samuel L. Jackson seem boring... The Star Wars sequel trilogy (well, the two I’ve seen anyway) have a really bland set of characters ( “Hi, I’m Poe Dameron, you’ll forget I exist whenever I’m not on screen.” “Hi, I’m Captain Phasma. You’ll forget I exist before the end of this sent—“ ) but they seem much more competently directed overall. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalmer Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 Hell or High Water Not too shabby... easily a 4 out of 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 The Irishman (or I Heard You Paint Houses) is a new film from Martin Scorsese, made directly for Netflix. It stars stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci; Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, and Harvey Keitel all play prominent supporting roles... Okay, Paquin only speaks like seven words in the whole movie, she’s basically a walk-on extra, but it’s Martin freakin’ Scorsese. He makes those seven words work and just about any actor would kill for a part in a Scorsese picture. The story is an adaptation of an throughly debunked biography of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, a mob hitman and union organizer who claimed to have been the person who killed Hoffa. The film is outstanding, but don’t treat it as an actual work of history... It’s one of those films where what it’s about isn’t what the films really about. Five outta five. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romans832 Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 Star Wars 9 - 8/10 - Good movie, happy with it, have questions but that's where spoiler thread gets used. Good movie, we had a great time 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted January 13, 2020 Report Share Posted January 13, 2020 Red Tails (2012) the last movie Lucasfilm made before being sold to the House of Skaven Mouse. Spent years in development hell and had trouble finding a distributor... and then fell short of its budget by about $8 million at the box office. Oof. Having finally gotten a chance to see it, I can see why it wasn’t a big hit. It’s not a bad film, not at all. The acting is great, the cinematography is gorgeous, the air combat action scenes are better choreographed than anything in the last six Star Wars... and need I really say anything about Lucasfilm and ILM’s sheer mastery of digital sorcery? The trouble with Red Tails is a combination of two things: First, the filmmakers were clearly set on making an "old school" war movie, a homage to classics like Flying Leathernecks or Twelve O’Clock High, but about the Tuskegee Airmen who never got (although they totally deserved) a classic WWII film. But in doing so, they embraced all the dated cliches and plot devices we’ve all seen in these movies – spoiler that isn’t a spoiler: the pilot who puts the photo of his new fiancé up in his cockpit doesn’t get a happy ending – making it just fall a bi flat emotionally. Secondly, I couldn’t shake the feeling the whole film that I was watching the second part of a trilogy or the third- and fourth-episodes of an eight part miniseries. Maybe I’ve been spoilt by things like Band of Brothers, The Pacific, or other more recent “prestige television” type presentations over the “old school” John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart fare... But character introductions and characterization was rushed, we don’t get anything about the Tuskegee Airmen’s formation or training, there’s no prologue, and we don’t even get much of an epilogue. It just kinda starts en media res and then ends the same way. Nevertheless, it’s a good film overall. Any fan of WWII films (and especially fans of WWII air combat films) will enjoy it and the Tuskegee Airmen are certainly deserving of a starring role... 2.4 outta 5, overall, but actually a lot better than that score implies if the classic WWII movie is your cup of tea. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestRider Posted January 13, 2020 Report Share Posted January 13, 2020 Tremors, Tremors 2: Not high cinema, by any means, but they are a whole lot of fun. (I do think the first one would have been better with Christian Kane instead of Kevin Bacon, but the timeline couldn't have worked out for that.) The second one is way better than any direct-to-video sequel has any right to be. A clear addition to the list of properties that didn't suffer from sequelitis. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romans832 Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 23 hours ago, Ish said: Red Tails (2012) Looks fabulous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted January 14, 2020 Report Share Posted January 14, 2020 Just now, Romans832 said: Looks fabulous Oh, it looks absolutely beautiful. It's just kind of blandly written. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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