Most recent movie you saw

You should definitely watch Space Seed. But man, Ricardo Montalbán's acting abilities improved immensely between Space Seed and Star Trek 2.

I've watched a rather large number of random Tales From The Crypt episodes, the best ones tend to have a fairly simple concept, hammy overacting from rather good actors, and an ironic gory death at the end. "Carrion Death" and "Til Death" are probably my favorite ones so far, simple ideas and gruesome violent endings, all done tongue in cheek, very much like the movie Creepshow. Of course everyone has fucking seen this show so there's no point going more into it, some episodes are better than others.

I've read of this show making a comeback, giving it to M. Night Shyamalan is pretty much tossing it in the trash. It's also going to be on the TNT network, and though violence on regular TV is beyond what would get a movie an NC-17 rating in 1992 I feel maybe it should have come out on Netflix or Amazon or even HBO again. If it doesn't suck I'll have something to watch, if not, then it's no loss.

I watched "The Founder" last night. Michael Keaton is great, and the story itself is quite interesting, but I somehow felt the film couldn't get away from the usual Hollywood corniness. I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of "Social Network", but I had a good time. 

"Passengers"

Train to Busan. It's a South Korean zombie film that was released last year. It was pretty good.

just saw Logan in teh movie theatres. I don't watch much tv so I hadn't actually seen any trailers for it and was unprepared for the defeated western-ish nature of the film. it was really great and really well-paced and the events in it felt so fitting that they didn't particularly call attention to the plot holes that arose, plus the acting got really touching at points. whenever I've watched comic book movies in the past there's always been a layer of smarminess and a certain level of SFX battle fatigue whereas Logan was a folk tale first where the characters happened to remind you they're superheroes from time to time.

The Donald Pierce character could have used fleshing out, he got a lot of screen time for an overpromoted grunt. >:)

"I'm Not Ashamed" - Purflix's angle on the Columbine shooting centering around Rachael Joy Scott, the first killed victim. I saw some attention to detail in the trailers surrounding the aesthetics and general look of things, but the actual film was a fine shit show. Characters were thinly written and dialogue was incredibly poor and cliched. I couldn't tell what was based on fact and what wasn't. The shooters themselves came off as cartoon villains that, once they set out upon the main--and atrocious--actors, I actually kind of rooted for them, knowing that the movie would finally end.

Masey McLain, who portrayed Scott, did a serviceable job in her role, and looked great when she did all of those narmy trailer shots that were actually terrible. While cartoonish in their performances, the kids who played the shooter actually appeared to be having some fun in their rather comical portrayals, and along with McLain they came off as the most capable of the acting talent in the film. I kind of hope they get to continue their careers and get their hands on better scripts and movies. I only really rented this movie in order to complete the work I started on IMFDB.

One thing I liked about this work though was that I got to compare the trailer and the finished film, and had some fun comparing the used and unused takes. Also, take a note of the lighitng in these screenshots. In most of the actual film shots I did some minor color correcting because it was just really bad, otherwise. I gotta say the film just looked really cheap as far as the production went. Bad lighting, the camera never stopped moving, the general cinematography was just bland.... It just flat out looks bad. 

"Fist Fight" - I have less to say about this one. High-Pitched Voice Guy from Horrible Bosses and Ice Cube are High School teachers in a really shitty urban High School that, aside from the over-the-top senior pranks, actually seemed pretty realistic for a high school, which is kind of rare to see. The story was overall meh and the "message" behind it was iffy, but I still enjoyed the film. Ice Cube playing angry characters works pretty well, and while the film's comedy is basically of the "Throw It At The Wall And See What Sticks" variety, most of the Ice Cube related scenes were pretty solid. He did tend to eat the scenes he was in, but given that an angry Ice Cube beating people up was the draw of the film anyways, it works. High-Pitched Voice Guy has a decent sub-plot involving his daughter that eventually works up to a serviceable punch-line.

As it happens, I was not in the mindset that the film was going to end in a fistfight, despite the title. I figured the plot was going to resolve itself before such a fight could occur, but to my surprise there was a pretty goddamn violent beat-down that made the jokes that didn't work and occasional narrative lulls all worth it. If you want something to kick back too an laugh at without having to use your brain, or maybe have something to watch with friends and get stoned, Fist Fight can do the job. 

Just watched Crimson Tide, A very well done military drama. I highly recommend it to everyone 

The Discovery. It's an excellent movie. If you have Netflix you should watch it right now.

I saw USS Indianapolis: Men of Honor because it had Nicholas Cage, Thomas Jane, Tom Siezmore, Ajax from the Warriors and other men from 90s movies with guns. It was even directed by Mario Van Peebles. If I knew anything about the real USS Indianapolis, I had forgotten it all going into this movie. From the get go its obviously a budget movie... a budget movie to the tune of $40 million when it should have probably been $100 million and the results would have still made the same amount of money.

It is a shame that this true story could never be a good or pleasing movie. Here is a spoiler warning for the rest of the paragraph... You take a real story about the boat that delivered the first atomic bomb to kill millions of people and win a war. Then you couple it with 800 men losing their lives, dying via shark attack for the next hour and you put the icing on the cake with, the captain of the ship who had no escort on trial to take the fall... who then dealt with the grief of how many men he lost and suicides. This is one of those tragedies that needs to be told and archived in a film so future generations could look at it and be reminded of their sacrifice to win a war and even other untold sacrifices to win wars.

The special effects were too clear and artificial without looking cheap. They were only there for the first five or ten minutes other than the sharks later on and the reason why I bring up the special effects is that's the first impression I have of the movie. It stuck with me how artificial they looked. Special effects followed by practical effects, real sets, real boats, just real all around. Another big issue with the movie is that soaked in seawater, I'd wager 90% of the cast looked the same. Who just died? 3 of the major characters looked similar enough before they were hanging out in the ocean. The issues kept rolling as some things seemed spliced together and mentioned rather than shown. They were mentioned so briefly I had to rewind to catch things. One character with dark hair appears in a raft and says everyone died... who died? Who are you? Are you the guy that went off with a group to find an island?

I looked up on wikipedia how much it had made and it earned $800,000 at the box office with most of its money coming from International sources.

I watched "The Midnight Express" recently. I don't know why, but it is and will be one of my favourite movies of all time.

Plot: A young American, Billy Haze, is in Turkey and tries to pass the airport with drugs and return home. Before the plane lifts off, the military checks the passengers one by one for illegal things and when they find the drugs, they take Billy to a prison, where he has to go on a trial, just so he can be free again. Long story short, they convict him on 30 years of prison and he then does his best in order to escape.

This movie depicts accurately how harsh the conditions are in prison, while the characters are excellently developed and I always feel nostalgic and get so complete whenever I watch it. Plus it has its soundtrack composed by Giorgio di Moroder and I think it is phenomenal. I highly recommend this movie to anybody in here (not an April fools prank).

P.S.: I was going to write about the Friday the 13th series or Halloween series. It was fun playing with myself <<Who dies afterwards?>>, while watching the movies. Though, it has been months since I last watched them, so they don't count. 

Watched the remake of Pete's Dragon with my son. I may have shed a manly tear or two during this movie. Feels ahoy.

The Cloud Atlas. It's fun to watch. I feel like 30% or so of the different timelines should have been weeded out to strengthen the whole. There is some cheesy weirdness with actors wearing makeup to play different characters at different times. The editing is pretty cool, and how everything is woven together to increase the drama.

Not a movie in the strictest sense, but I watched the documentary Silicon Cowboys which covers the birth and rise of Compaq and the dawn of the "IBM-Compatible" era of computers.

Escape from New York! It shows you how to be a badass just by talking really slow and not freaking out when other people are.

On 3/15/2017 at 11:15 AM, Ajora said:

I mostly remember Westworld as that one movie that was referenced in System Shock 2. Only just now have I seen it. Quite excellent and very unique. Interested in watching the TV series now.

I've not seen the original movie, but the TV show is absolutely phenomenal. Genuinely one of the best things I've seen in a long time. It's essentially a show about RPG NPCs, and as a video game fan there was a lot to enjoy as the NPCs fight against their pre-set routines. Put the likes of Skyrim in a whole new light!

Personally, I watched Now You See Me over the weekend. It was a brilliant premise with a great cast executed absolutely terribly. Genuinely a bad film. A shame really!

Westworld '74 is actually a super fun movie. It's not terribly good, but it's fun. Like Ajora I only knew of its existence because of System Shock 2, though, but when the TV show started making waves I decided to put the movie on.

Anyway the other week we watched Dr. Strange, which was pretty good, if weird.

This week we're watching Arrival, I'm looking forward.

Hardcore Henry. An FPS in film form. I loved that movie, it was crazy, fast paced, and never took itself too seriously and never forced you to care for the story. Some of the most fun I have had with an action movie in a long time and cranked the Ultra-Violence up to 100.

Seriously though, the live-action remake of The BFG is funny and charming. The animation is among the most detailed and lifelike I've ever seen. I'll always have a place in my heart for the traditionally animated movie, it was a part of my childhood after all, but I was thoroughly impressed with this version. We're watching it again right now.

pancakes/10

Star Trek: The Motion Picture. One of the last great 70s sci-fi movies where the future looks like a 1970s mall with atrocious disco era hair styles and clothing, and way too much use of hideous beige pastels. The Enterprise looks very much like a retro-futurist waiting room at a hospital and even a lobby for a very bright hotel resort. Bloated and overlong with never ending setup shots in a clumsy attempt to mimic 2001 A Space Odyssey, extremely stiff Trek acting mirrored against hammy overacting, and incredibly stupid ending, make this honestly my favorite Star Trek film as it feels the most like the first season of the original series. The giant V'ger spaceship/mini-universe is a fantastic villain, it is such a shame they wasted it on such a dumb fucking surprise reveal. Star Trek at one point in time came THISCLOSE to Lovecraftian cosmic horror, then dropped the fucking ball in the most idiotic way imaginable.

A solid 7/10

Guardians of The Galaxy. Possibly the best of all the Marvel movies, easy to follow space opera plot with likable characters, sorta flattened by cheeseball attempts at having "heart" in a very manipulative way that probably works on a lot of people. Mostly interested in this being a James Gunn joint, he even gives Lloyd Kaufman a cameo which is commendable, and I am fucking ecstatic Michael Rooker is still getting work these days as he is one of the best things in this movie. Weirdly the little snappy raccoon guy is the most annoying thing in the movie, you can see what they're going for but it doesn't work. This being a new billion dollar movie there is a cluster fuck of CGI shit happening across multiple cuts at the end that sort of make my brain give up and greatly devalue everything going onscreen. The third act where the "plot" picks up are always the worst things about these movies as are the villains which I never ever fucking care about.

Another solid 8/10, and I don't even like shit like this

X-Men Days of Future Past. Again the second X-Men trilogy is the best of the lot, I really don't know how to review this one as I was drunk watching it but it was entertaining and not fucking boring which is more than I can say for the first trilogy. I still haven't seen Logan but I don't think Hugh Jackman is the Wolverine I liked as a kid in the comics and animated TV show. He's a good character but he never feels like Wolverine. Overall, a bunch of shit happens, I should probably watch it again but I am really annoyed at how these movies give a mock feeling of being "important" or having real dramatic weight. Guardians of The Galaxy triumphs over this because it just wants to be entertaining and puts more focus of visual gags and jokes.

7/10

Just finished watching a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds called Life. It's about an alien from Mars chasing astronauts aboard the International Space Station. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Arrival was really, really good -- but giving more than the very basic premise (a linguist gets summoned to communicate with mysterious aliens who've landed in rural Montana) would constitute massive spoilers as to how the aliens' language and perception relates to the film's arching themes and structure. Suffice it to say, it's definitely one of the top 10 sci-fi movies I've seen.

I've just seen Necromancy, the original version of a 1972 film also known as The Witching. Orson Welles plays a mumbling toy factory owner who runs a Satanic cult, or something. The film's only really worth watching for the presence of 'The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie' starlet Pamela Franklin though. Her attempt at an American accent is pretty poor, by the way.

Ghost in the Shell - 6/10

The first half was extremely muddled, to the point that the superior second half felt like a different, and better film. I thought the casting choices were well enough selected. 

Life - man, this was legitimately rather creepy and thrilling. The alien life form was great: I could really appreciate the irrational fear and hatred it created within me. Nice characters too, they seemed human enough to me. It's like they were going for a trashy sort of monster movie but took it a little more seriously than usual, which resulted in a quite satisfying experience. Cool stuff. Also something about the ending made me smile a bit, good one.

Reptilicus (MST3K version) - about as ridiculous as it gets, especially when Denmark's version of Earnest P. Worrell purposely sticks his hand in a tank with an electric eel.

David Lynch: The Art Life - nice interview\documentary\early biography. Instead of focusing on major events, David talks more about seemingly little things that can sometimes influence us and change our lives drastically. His slow, calm and thoughtful way of speaking is very comforting and makes everything seem insightful. The film also displays some of Lynch's art and shows him working and spending time with his daughter, which is nice to see. Quite enchanting stuff overall, just like everything the guy touches. If you like him at all, go see it. :)

Going in Style - wow, good one! For some reason I was expecting a kinda shallow and unfunny predictable comedy that would just make me feel embarrassed for these great actors. But actually it's a pretty well-thought-out film with colorful characters and witty dialogues that are only a little cheesy sometimes. The biggest surprise was that it actually managed to stay tense till the very end with its effective mood changes. Cool feel-good movie, can recommend if you want something touching that will make you love life a bit more.

Split - it was thrilling for sure, and the idea seemed catchy of course. But the plot development and the climax made it seem to me like the movie relied mainly on its shock value and failed to say anything profound (it tried but ehh...) or to simply tell a good story. As soon as it ended I felt a "poof" in my head and stopped caring about what I just saw. Some scenes also seemed unintentionally funny, which makes sense considering the theme but still I wonder if that could have been avoided with better directing.

Independence Day: Resurgence.  1/10.  My god, it's got to be the worst movie I've ever watched.  I wanted to see the aliens do some armageddon shit, but after that FINALLY happened, I couldn't turn it off.  It was so bad, I had to keep watching it to see if they muffed it up further. and they did.

I watched Kanashimi no Belladonna this afternoon, an artsy and highly psychedelic 1973 Japanese anime movie, it was a pretty great experience and a interesting movie to watch...

Sandy Wexler with Adam Sandler and friends! Jennifer Hudson is a star while Adam Sandler is... Adam Sandler. Its everything people hate about Adam Sandler but turned up to 110% as he portrays a character that is intentionally annoying. The cameos even point out how annoying the character is because its based on his real life manager, which explains all the cameos in his movies. They're all managed by the same man.

I made it through all 2+ hours of the movie. I was done after 15 minutes, but I kept going thinking I'd fall asleep. I don't have the hate that others have for Adam Sandler movies. Like his other movies this one has heart, quirky characters and an abundance of cameos in the first two movies. Perhaps more than any other movie. Its a variety show of a movie: Comedy, famous people, ventriloquism, failed stunt shows, 90s nostalgia and Jennifer Hudson singing.

My cousin and I compared notes. She watched it with her boyfriend. I told her it was 2 hours long and she said she must have had a great nap then because she was out by 10 minutes and woke up just as it was ending!

Lastly, damn Netflix for having thumbs up or thumbs down. I'm so middle of the road on this one. If I didn't like it I would have turned it off... but I can't recommend it unless you want to take a visit to Cameo City in the 90s. So is that a thumbs up or thumbs down?