Good link, thanks Jerry.
I watched it in Sony 4k hi-res 2D digital projection and it was fab. They can keep their 3D shite :rolleyes:
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Good link, thanks Jerry.
I watched it in Sony 4k hi-res 2D digital projection and it was fab. They can keep their 3D shite :rolleyes:
I ordered a copy from Amazon and it arrived here at work today! Should have time to watch it in between getting home and the footie starting - hopefully it will make me forget my pre-match nerves :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
The Thing (2011) [Blu-ray]
The original The Thing (1982, John Carpenter, itself a remake) was an icon of the horror/SF genre and one of my all-time favourite films. It features a very strong cast, real build up of suspense, some very unnerving scenes, a feeling of impending doom, great soundtrack (Morricone), excellent special effects for its time and something convincingly other-worldly and uniquely horrible in the portrayed creature. I challenge anyone to watch it without feeling for the predicament of the base scientists or being bloody unnerved by it. Only Carpenter could have made it, and it stands tall as a relatively low budget but superb achievement.
This prequel, set in the Norwegian camp that discovers the alien ship, has none of these attributes. Disappointment began fairly early on as I realised that it doesn't build any suspense, it takes no great care of characterisation, the special effects are weak because the creature looks like something from a nightmare and not something we simply could not conceive of. In the Carpenter film, you 'know' the characters (or at least their type) because they are so skillfully introduced. In this one, you really couldn't care less about any of them. There is precious little soundtrack to help with any suspense created. It is so standard as a B-grade horror film that I could barely bring myself to finish it.
Get the 1982 The Thing on Blu-ray and relish a cinema great.
Well said, sir! :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
I thoroughly agree with you Martin. The 1982 version is a masterclass on how to build suspense in a movie. I think what makes it so impactful is that the viewer has no idea what form the creature is going to take next or from where it will appear. When I watched it for the first time, the scene where a head turns into a spider unnerved me a great deal. It wasn't so much that it became a spider, more that I just wasn't expecting it. In fact there's a hell of a lot going on in that scene which sets everything up for the appearance of the spider, so upon first viewing it's almost a case of sensory overload with a big payoff at the end. As I said, it's masterful scene construction on Carpenters part.
Great opening sequence if I remember correctly-a dog being chased by a helicopter. The dog makes it to the camp and then the trouble starts.....
...and the superb Ennio Morricone score, with it's boom-boom motif, chills the spine to perfection.Quote:
Originally Posted by Covenant
And that's how the new one should have ended. But it did'nt.... Or did I miss something? I was only paying about 10% attention by that stage! :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Covenant
John Carpenters own musical scores aren't bad either, really adds to the tension in 'Assault on Precinct 13'
Rory gallagher - live in montreux
Explorers (DVD): I borrowed this off my daughter who bought it recently from Amazon.
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...qyhqI-jSMWxkzw
This is my first viewing of Explorers since I went to the pictures to watch it back in the early 80's. I like everything about this movie, the storyline, the cinematography, the excellent score written by Jerry Goldsmith. It has been described by some as The Goonies in Space. Not too far off the mark that, but I reckon Explorers is even better. I like its irreverence and how it captures the ambience of adolescent friendships.
I think I identify with this film so well because it describes the sort of relationships I had with my friends as I grew up. We were always building camps in old Bramble bushes and kitting them out with discarded furniture and kitchen appliances. We would cook meals in them with our Primus stoves and after, pretend we were crewing huge, Galaxy class starships plying the space lanes looking for new civilizations. And yes, going places no man has ever been before. Ah, the innocence of yoof!!! 9/10 :)
Flight Of The Navigator (DVD): Again, borrowed off my daughter who acquired it from Amazon.
https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/im...636OSy1o7JqwCO
Is it possible for a film to be cheesy, fun and moving? Well, yes it is as FotN plainly demonstrates. At it's heart it is a powerful and moving story about a victim of alien abduction although not in the 'traditional' sense, but that is far removed from the board on which the cheese sits. There is some good acting going on in this movie and the lad who plays the main character, David, deserves praise here as he outshines the more experienced adult cast members.
The film tells the story of a 12 year old lad from a middle class suburb of Miami who is sent out by his Mum to look for his mischievous younger brother who is on his way home from a friends house. During his journey David takes a tumble into a wooded ravine near his home and is knocked unconscious. He wakes up eight years later. David is unaware of the march of time and returns home to find it occupied by strangers (This is one of the best scenes in the movie which is well acted and it can't fail to pluck at the heartstrings).
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city a sleek, silver, seashell like spaceship is captured by NASA after it crashes into an electricity pylon. It is recovered and transported to a NASA facility (presumably somewhere on the Cape) where it is deposited in a hanger attached to a lab. Obviously the NASA personnel are excited at such a find and they begin to examine the craft. They quickly discover that there appears to be no way to enter the craft so they resort to brute force to no avail. The story winds on from here detailing David's subsequent adventures and his eventual return home.
This is a wonderful movie which is very well executed. It does get a little cheesy in places but quite honestly it all adds to the fun factor and never strays too far into the realms of silliness. The CG effects utilised for the spacecraft were cutting edge at the time (1984). The next time we'd see a shape-shifting chromium entity on the big screen would be a few years later in Terminator 2, so I like to think that James Cameron drew his inspiration for the T1000 from Max's craft.
https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/im...YLrZo20DAqVXdQ
There is a remake of FotN currently under production. I know nothing about it but I dearly hope it will be handled sensitively and not ruined. If there is one minor criticism I would level at the original it is that it pandered a little too much to a younger audience. It would be quite possible to harden up the storyline a little to allow the power and despair of David's predicament to grow in stature thus bringing out the plots inner thriller. 10/10
The Last Starfighter (DVD):
https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/im...sxb5_qKJ1E-GlE
Ah! Well now, we seem to have found that cheeseboard I alluded to earlier, and do you know what, it rounded off the meal perfectly. :D
This is a fun sci-fi romp with no pretensions whatsoever. It is what it is and for that I appreciate it. Alex is an 18 year old kid stuck living on his mums trailer park. He dreams of going to university but feels guilty because if he does leave, his mum will lose her erstwhile site handyman. To complicate matters even further the love of Alex's life, Maggie, seems quite content with her lot in the sticks. To escape his dilemma Alex immerses himself in The Last Starfighter, a video game console located next to the entrance to the trailer parks diner and shop. What Alex doesn't know is that the game has been designed by Centauri, an alien Arthur Daley character, for the purpose of recruiting talented pilots for the Rylan Star League to defend against the evil Ko-Dan Empire.
It is a well thrashed plot straight off the back of any 1980's computer game box, but the irony works in this context. This was the first hit movie to use extensive CGI throughout, although not exclusively as a good part of the movie is live action. The CGI effects are very clunky by todays standards but they were groundbreaking for the time and it certainly wowed the audience that I was a part of. The casts acting ability isn't exactly Shakespearian in stature but it is just about acceptable. No, it would be terribly unfair to criticise this film because in fact what it was, was a showcase for what was to come. In 1984 this was a statement that CGI had arrived and what it said was, "Things will never be the same again..." 6/10
Well reminded Dave, quite forgot about these....
Never saw Explorers and will look out for it in the bargain bins, but agree with your comments on the other two.
I remember trying to watch both with my kids, and however cheesy, it was indeed fun, even if it was Dad who seemed more engaged with them at times....
The Last Starfighter seemed to have every part of the leftover wardrobe from every Scifi film that had been made for some reason, and the sets seemed similarly "borrowed", but the late Robert Preston's hammed up performance was priceless, even if totally different from anything he had done before....
Yes, I too think 'Flight of the Navigator' is a good film, and although aimed at children, actually contains some good science fiction ideas.
I loved the 'shape shifting' alien spacecraft.
I liked all three films at the time, but the Last Starfighter has aged really badly. I agree with all of your ratings. Nice mini reviews :)
Marco, this might be one for you. ;)
I recently watched “God Bless America”.
I think it’s rather well done.
watched iron sky & new muppets last night could not get two more diffrerent films
Hi,
This has had me amused. Quite like the music.
http://youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en...&v=BsQlK7D0VdU
Kind Regards,
Stephen
I have been going through a few DVDs recently :)
Started off with Surface, which was broadcast on TV in widescreen & I recorded it in the same format from freeview to DVD. Decided to purchase the original DVD set (quite a while ago) only to find it was in 4:3 :scratch:
Never mind, it was a great Sci Fi series imo..
Next up was Invasion, which is also pretty entertaining if you like that sort of thing :D
Last night I watched The Triangle, which while on an 8.5Gb dual layer DVD (recorded from freeview) is now going to be replaced with a 2 disc version which I won on ebay yesterday :cool:
Give me a good sci fi & it'll keep me happy... Whether that is a book or film :lol:
'Star Wreck'
From the director of 'Iron Sky'. Essentially, a screwed-up Star Trek universe invades a screwed up Babylon 5 universe through a wormhole - with hilarious results. Would probably be funnier if it wasn't in Finnish but the subtitles do contain some amusing mis-translations to add to the fun.
The sad thing is that neither Surface nor Invasion were finished as both series got cancelled. I liked Surface a lot but was a little less fussed on Invasion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reid Malenfant
The other series from in and around the same time that never saw completion was Odyssey 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey_5 Which was imho fantastic but got killed off as well :(
Odyssey 5 was really excellent and I was annoyed that it got canned.
Last night I watched the original Swedish version of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo'.
Not for the faint-harted, I found it a gripping and well filmed 'detective' story.
Agreed, Barry, and better than the Hollywood remake.
I have tried watching it and gave up. I will try again, but I found it very dry and matter of fact and a tad boring. I watched the first 45 mins or so
It takes a while to get going but it is worth it in the end. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L
I will Barry its just I don't have a lot of free time at the minute to watch it again but I will; some day, week, month, year...... :mental:Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
I agree entirely with your sentiments Neil, I really liked Surface, when I missed recording episode three due to it switching channels I nearly popped a fuse :steam: I did manage to source it though thankfully.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L
I find just about every series that I get interested in gets killed off :( I bought the blu ray of Stargate Universe (series one), only to find that they killed it after series two & only released series two on DVD :steam:
I got really pi**ed off when they didn't go ahead with Flashforward series two, which is when I gave up watching broadcast TV :rolleyes:
I might have to look into this Oddysey 5.
I watched all of Stargate Universe and it was generally of high quality with an interesting story arc. The cast were strong and it had great promise. A real shame, that one.
I still haven't lined up the second series yet, thought I had, but looking through the collection it appears I haven't as yet..Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
The DVD will be fine, the DVDO iScan scaler makes DVDs a thing to behold even on a full HD TV :)
Watching a few series two on ebay as I type :cool:
Flashforward was an interesting idea but to be honest for me it had begun to become a sort of Lost and I lost interest in it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reid Malenfant
Stargate Universe was poor imho. It got better towards the end but that was to little too late. Sad but there you have it. Sci Fi series always struggle to survive BSG nearly didn't make it fully and while it was a success the follow up Caprica was awful. I hope the next one is better. Babylon 5 was nearly cancelled several times but at least it made it through, more or less to the end :)
Oddysey 5 was very tasty, great ideas and quite scary ones at that. I enjoyed it and was pretty pissed off when it got axed.
I have the complete series on DVD winging it's way to me as I type :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L
Looking at the reviews on IMDB & your & Martins comments about it proved too much to resist :D
Anyone taken a look at Primeval? I didn't know it existed until I caught something in the TV section of Weekend magazine (Daily Mail). Checked it out on Youtube, then bought the series 1 - 3 DVD box set for just over £8 delivered on fleabay...
Lets say I was happy for the money :cool:
Primeval has been frustrating, good and bad, sometimes at the same time. Its ok but I had hoped for more with the reboot after it had been saved from the axe, but so far I am not that impressed. I like the premise but too little is being revealed about the nature of the time portals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reid Malenfant
I will keep watching in hope it gets better.
As I'm not up to date on things I can only comment on what I have seen ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L
I think I saw the second episode of series five on Youtube, I wasn't impressed with the effects, yet I see the earlier series are quite good in that respect :scratch:
I have series five here on blu ray, but I'm waiting for the forth to get here (again on blu ray - £5 sealed :)) before I go any further.
I just wish they hadn't killed off Cutter in the third series :rolleyes:
While I can understand you are frustrated about the anomalies, from what I have seen so far, more is being revealed, but gradually..
Still I can't moan at very many hours of entertainment for less than £20, not forgetting I can spin them again (& I have done) :)
Mike The Knight on CBeebees... I don't watch TV, but should get back into watching films for sure.
'The World's Fastest Indian'
Not just a film for the petrol heads out there, but a life-affirming film about a man and his ambition. And one which says that thaose 'of an open heart' will benefit from the 'comfort of strangers'.
A wonderful warm-hearted film, much in the same way as the film 'Mediterraneo'.
'The Plank'
Watched in tribute to the late Eric Sykes who died a couple of days ago. A sad loss - he was the last link to The Goons, having written many of the scripts with Spike Milligan.
The Plank is a slapstick comedy, based on the simple story of a couple of workmen, who upon finding they are one plank short of the number required to finish laying a floor, set off to the builder's yard. For an inanimate object, the plank seems to have a remarkable life of it's own!
There were a couple of versions made. The best one, in my opinion, is the 1968 version starring Eric Sykes and Tommy Cooper (another sad loss).
Agreed on both your posts Barry.
Hopkins played Bert perfectly.... The script and sets were wonderful, and on HD, stunning. I swore I could hear the salt crystals crack on the Salt Flats.... Brilliant film, sadly underrated....
Sykes and Cooper were from the same comedic mould as Chaplin etc., taking their craft from vaudeville stage to film.... Future classics for sure...
At least they left behind their finely crafted creations to be admired in future....
Must dig them out again this evening after your reminder....
Cheers
A truly wonderful film this. I saw it for the very first time about six months ago and decided to watch it on the sole premise that it starred Anthony Hopkins. I am so glad I did. All the better for it being a true story too ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
A quirky film from 2010, which Will Ferrel carries off with panache, abetted by a surprising cast...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386588/
Not the usual frenetically paced special effects laden stuff, almost slow, but full of comedic comments and moments all too easily missed.
Fully deserving of a second viewing for all that....
'The Hill'
An all time favourite of mine and a film I come back to watch every so often despite I have seen it so many times I can repeat the dialogue verbatim.
Black and white pic from 1965, directed by Sidney Lumet and shot on location in North Africa. Here is the IMDB link that gives the gist of the story:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059274/
It's set in the war but it is not a war film and there is no 'action' as such. It is a character study and a study of the workings of the military machine and the insanity it becomes when it is taken too far. Everything about this film is outstanding. The perfomances are out of the top draw, everyone concerned did their best work on this one. Yet despite that Ian Hendry still stands out as as a total acting genius (just watch how throughout he uses nothing more than his facial expressions to develop his charater).
If you haven't seen this one before you really need to, it is up there with the best of Kurosawa's work. It is a film that will blow you away with its power and intensity.
http://img.imaginecasting.com/blog/convoy.jpg
Watched this earlier, I haven't seen it for years. Reminds me of me yoof when I was into CB Radio and I enjoyed it as much as I did back then, 10-4 good buddy!!!
Cowboys & Aliens - panned by the critics, but I rather enjoyed it.
Still Game. Absolute hoot! Never get tired of watching this episode:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CcWesuj7mBI
Man on a Ledge - should have been absolute crap, but it was cleverly built up so that the reason for him being on a ledge is only slowly unfolded. Stylish and more enjoyable than I expected.
Just back from seeing The Amazing Spider Man and well :scratch: not so amazing. Frankly Tobey Maquire is Peter Parker the new guy is well....naff imho.
Saw Batman 1st thing this morning- oooh it's good....lots of redemption.
I've been teetering (excuse the pun) over whether to watch this or not and then the excellent Phonebooth starring Colin Farrel, Forest Whittaker & Kiefer Sutherland came to mind which I enjoyed immensely. Man On A ledge seems to be in a similar vein so perhaps I should give it a go...Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinT
http://jackasscritics.com/images/mov...e_booth_01.jpg
Not watched it yet but will next year!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeSTmsNq13g
(watch it in 1080p full screen with sound turned up)
wow, NOT what I expected...
and alternative trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zld8i2mRxb0
Pint a Guiness.... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Kipling
Poor Victor.