What Is The Last Film You Watched?

[A24 4,338]

I probably buy the DVD. Does it look good?

[Quintus 5,399]

I just watched the second episode now, it's good stuff. Has potential. To be honest I had zombie fatigue - I was bored with anything zombies, but this is well made enough for me to want to stick with 'em a little while longer. For a tv show it's extremely violent and gory, but here there's quite a bit of emphasis placed on the act of a person killing another person and the emotional effect it has on them, which is probably why they got away with it uncut. So far I'm enjoying it.

[Jay 37,368]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Wow. Probably my favorite Harry Potter film? It was just a perfect adaptation of the book, covering not only all the important plot points, but so many of the smaller moments as well. A lot of people think its too similar to the first movie, but I didn't think it was at all. There's a lot of new characters, a different kind of mystery, and the directing DOES take on a new style. I loved the odd camera angles and stretched imagery for scenes relating to the Chamber and Harry's viewpoint of what is going on. Again, like HP1, the film is definitely much more effective with the deleted scenes put back in - they cut several sequences that show how many students thought Harry was the heir of Slytherin and was going to come after them all, and how isolated he felt.

The only problem with the film is the score - not its quality, but its unfinished-ness. All the scenes where it was clear they wrote a new cue, the music is great - its a perfect sequel score, maintaining the "sound" of the first, while introducing new themes (a surprising amount, actually), and going in a slightly new direction. But then, there are so many scenes where no new cue was written, and they just literally tracked music in from the first movie, and for someone like me who knows that score very well, it takes me out of the movie a bit. Its a shame they didnt have more time to compose an entirely new score and have no tracking. Oh well.

My final thought is on the ending of the film - it is indeed terrible. I get that they needed to do SOMETHING after the Harry/Dobby/Lucius scene... and having it be a banquet was nice, showing Hermione's return and her hugging Harry and shaking Ron's hand was fine. But then Dumbledore canceling finals was weird, as was Hagrid returning to a HUGE round of applause by ALL the students, most of whom have have probably never interacted with him before at all. Its all just way too syrupy-happy of an ending that doesn't mesh with the rest of the film at all. Now, I'm not saying I have a better idea for how to end the film. I flipped through the book after the movie was over, and not much more happens there either - they just get on the train and leave Hogwarts again. I dunno.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

It had me at Goldsmith's Universal theme in 8-bit.

[Morlock 11]

Saw the pilot of The Walking Dead, it was superb. A character driven zombie show? Yes please.

Good'ol Frank Darabont.

I've been hearing good stuff...but I'm just not that into zombies. I was about to watch the pilot...but then I stumbled onto Sons of Anarchy, which so far is pretty damn good. One can forget that Ron Perlman is really a good actor, and Charlie Hunnam's resemblance of Heath Ledger is kinda uncanny.

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah that's another one I've been getting told to watch by my American serial loving friend (he watches 'em all). It's the bikers one isn't it? I'll get to it eventually.

[John Crichton 4]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

It had me at Goldsmith's Universal theme in 8-bit.

I've GOT to hear that.

[Wojo 2,453]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

It had me at Goldsmith's Universal theme in 8-bit.

I've GOT to hear that.

WOW!!!

[John Crichton 4]

I don't give a damn what anyone else says, that's friggin' cool.

[Red 75]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

It had me at Goldsmith's Universal theme in 8-bit.

One of the funnest experiences I've ever had watching a movie.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

It's coming out in theaters here in two weeks (rediculously late). I am so going.

[Jacob 0]

Goldsmith's Universal theme in 8-bit.

Epicly epic.

[Marian Schedenig 8,195]

That's cool. Though Hülsbeck would have made it sound better on the SID.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Due to all the talk about it on this site, I watched The Lost World for the first time in over 6 years. I must admit that time has not been unkind to this movie -- when it released, people were expecting a literal retread of Jurassic Park and were disappointed when they didn't get it. All this time I thought this movie had no internal logic, I couldn't even make out what it tried to be, but I was pleasantly surprised this time. Still not a good movie by any means but way better when you take it for what it is.

This is primarily David Koepp's movie. With Spielberg in complete auto-pilot after four years of not working, the direction and visuals are dull at best. Its more inspired visual moments hark back to the first movie (shapes of dinosaurs projected on blankets, etc.) With the exception of the Hatari-based hunt, this movie could have been directed by anyone, really. The tone and style are all sourced in the script, where Koepp tried to be smart and turn Ian Malcolm into a fast-talking, neurotic New York intellectual. It's not a bad idea -- you get the adult-yet-juvenile tone that fans of the original would crave now, four years later. It also allows to sex up the film a little bit -- everything can be more badass in a juvenile sense. The problem is that he had to write the other characters around him (see Eddie Carr, Nick van Owen and Ludlow's posh East Coast accent...). I guess that tone works in Californication and even in blockbusterland somestimes (when Robert Downey Jr is playing it). But, while it gives the movie its best lines, it doesn't quite work with the science fantasy element. Everything the characters care for is obviously not on the island, meaning it is off-screen, meaning you can't root for any of them, meaning these are incredibly boring people running in front of dinosaurs. (Character dynamics also suffer from this -- everything about them is purely verbal and you want images to explain things on a supposedly visceral film as this). Jeff Golblum and Julianne Moore have to be worst action heroes ever, too.

And it's not like they decided to focus on the dinosaurs. For some reason, in all this increase-badassery mode, the dinosaurs got demoted from "creatures" each with different personalities, to "animals" acting under BBC documentary logic. Yes, the Rexes still look cool -- but if you understand their motivation (every time they attack is to protect the infant), their threatening presence kinda looses its edge. You want them awesome and beastly, like at the end of the first movie. The raptors only appear in the film's silliest set-piece. Acting as a motorbike gang, the go for the characters, who in turn just wait on a tense pose until the last minute to go somewhere else. Jeff Goldblum basically just sits in the car while the raptor tries to break in and then he decides to go out without a clear place to go (he just sees Sarah and Kelly, who were previously trapped somewhere else with raptors getting trapped somewhere else with raptors).

The movie truly shines, though, during the T-Rex walk on San Diego. The self-aware humor, the shameless joy Spielberg takes from just making a little Godzilla movie clearly bring something to the epilogue. Just that shot of the Rex walking to the city by breaking a "Welcome to America - no animals past this point" sign and then roaring like the movie monster he's finally allowed to be is worth it. There's also the only Spielberg-ian note on the whole mess -- a little kid sees the Rex on the backyard, goes tell his parents, who, in true Spielberg fashion, reject the kid's imagination and bicker over it. I used to hate this sequence when I first saw the movie, age 12, because it was so unlike anything in Jurassic Park. But now I truly think that this is the kind of dino fun that drew Spielberg to do this.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's possibly a writing flaw, but it's also possible Roland figured to use Sarah to actually attract the T-Rexes with the blood. Remember he was obsessed with hunting the male. Of course, he forgets about it when he leaves the group to search for Dieter.

The scene with the trailer on the cliff is awesome, but it seems unfinished. Ever since I first saw the movie I was confused. The T-Rexes retreat into the jungle and then you see Malcolm suddenly react and the long shot of the interior of the trailer as it flips over. You only very briefly see the T-Rexes munching on the windshield (?), but you never actually see them pushing the vehicle or coming in to attack. It could have been the intention, but it seems like the budget got cut or something.

"Hang on. They're pushing us over the cliff!"

I'll take your word for that, Ian.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Oops, I edited my post and now it no longer asks the question you were answering (Why did the Great White Hunter think that letting Sarah smell like baby Rex's blood would be okay?). I like your explanation, though.

The scene with the trailer on the cliff is awesome, but it seems unfinished. Ever since I first saw the movie I was confused. The T-Rexes retreat into the jungle and then you see Malcolm suddenly react and the long shot of the interior of the trailer as it flips over. You only very briefly see the T-Rexes munching on the windshield (?), but you never actually see them pushing the vehicle or coming in to attack. It could have been the intention, but it seems like the budget got cut or something.

"Hang on. They're pushing us over the cliff!"

I'll take your word for that, Ian.

Yeah, same here. I think that a set-piece of the hide high was also called for.

The problem with both Jurassic Park sequels is that the stakes are never too high. Everyone knows what they are encountering on the island and they don't have the same sense of doom as the characters in the first one (where practically everything that was meant to be awesome and practical gets destroyed or looses its original purpose, leaving the characters alone with their wit).

[Jeff 10]

A) I don't care what anyone else says, Scott Pilgrim was one of the best movies of the year.

B) I think you hit the nail on the head with this analysis:

The problem with both Jurassic Park sequels is that the stakes are never too high. Everyone knows what they are encountering on the island and they don't have the same sense of doom as the characters in the first one (where practically everything that was meant to be awesome and practical gets destroyed or looses its original purpose, leaving the characters alone with their wit).

The rest of your thoughts are intriguing, but I don't know if I necessarily agree. As a 14-year-old in a dark theater, the raptor scene - from the long grass, to the car, to digging the whole in the shed - was extremely effective, the scariest moment of the movie. I was genuinely terrified (especially during the long grass scene).

The San Diego rampage, on the other hand, was just cheesy to me. I'm glad it was in there, and I can see why it was done, but to be honest, T-Rex isn't scary in a city. T-Rex is scary in the forest where you don't know where he'll come from. In a city you can see him coming from miles away and hide in your basement. That being said, Spielberg made the idea work as well as anyone could have, but the sequence is more funny than thrilling.

I do agree that the high hide scene is another great moment. I never had any problems with the continuity of the scene - I'll have to watch it again to see what you're talking about. Maybe I knew what was happening because I had read the book.

[Quintus 5,399]

The Lost World is a really good 3 star movie. The brilliantly constructed setpieces make it well worthwhile on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and for everything it lacks; it's still better directed than anything churned out by Michael Bay.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

The rest of your thoughts are intriguing, but I don't know if I necessarily agree. As a 14-year-old in a dark theater, the raptor scene - from the long grass, to the car, to digging the whole in the shed - was extremely effective, the scariest moment of the movie. I was genuinely terrified (especially during the long grass scene).

How could I forget the long grass scene. It's only a minute long but it's the film's true moment of B-movie brilliance. Thank you for reminding me -- that scene is everything the rest of the movie is not: visual, effective and downright scary. I also love the way the scene ends: the first time you see a full raptor he's jumping on a victim (like Spielberg once wanted to introduce the shark during Chrissie's death scene in Jaws). True movie monster fare.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Nice post Tom, pity i disagree with most of it.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

What am I, the next Morlock?

[Wojo 2,453]

As with JP, I read TLW before I saw the film, and I was not initially thrilled with TLW when I saw it. The action was nice but it completely butchered the plot of the book. It's as if Spielberg and Koepp saw that Crichton had written a sequel but only used the title.

Ok, they used a few basic plot elements -- the second island, the compys, the high hide, Malcolm's daughter, taking baby Rex to the trailer, etc. -- but they excised the InGen/Biosyn competition, and without Dodgson, Nedry's defection in the first film/book becomes a standalone incident.

I admit that the differences between the first movie's book and film, namely who survives and who dies, directed some of the sequel movie, and bringing back Hammond for a family feud was ok.

These days, I personally don't care for bringing the dinosaurs to San Diego. I understand that the idea is to show the arrogance of man over nature and technology, but if one saboteur could cause so much death and destruction on a tiny island, and the genetically sterile dinosaurs could switch on their genes to breed, then bringing them by droves to the North American continent represents just about the worst idea ever conceived by people in a movie. It gave Spielberg his Godzilla/King Kong movie, which is probably all that he wanted.

The score's great, though.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Skyline. It's among the worst movies I've seen in a long time. The ending is so unbelievably bad it should not be experienced. Please save your money. I would have seen Unstoppable but I got home late and we didn't have time to make the 4:50 showing so we saw Skyline instead. We'll see Unstoppable or Megamind Monday and Tuesday, hope they get the bad taste of this movie out of my mouth.

[Trent B 337]

I actually watched The Lost World today on DVD. One thing though I've always been puzzled about. How did the crew of the S.S. Venture die? Did Compy's get to them before they were able to set sail or what? I am not a book reader so I don't know what happened. Maybe someone can fill in the blank for me on this matter.

[publicist 4,643]

I actually watched The Lost World today on DVD. One thing though I've always been puzzled about. How did the crew of the S.S. Venture die? Did Compy's get to them before they were able to set sail or what? I am not a book reader so I don't know what happened. Maybe someone can fill in the blank for me on this matter.

Nobody can, it's just one of the 250 gaping plot holes of TLW, which are half of the fun.

Just for starters: Ken Begg's 101 reasons why he hated TLW

And half of the shit he stirs i only realized after reading his column. This only makes me like the movie more for it' silliness.

[Datameister 2,044]

I'm gonna enjoy reading this.

- Data, who has always found TLW to be a merely enjoyable film that can't compete with its predecessor.

[Trent B 337]

I actually did a bit of googling. Supposedly there was a deleted scene that some of the Velociraptors managed to get on board the ship before they sailed out and killed the crew aboard. Whether this is true or not, who knows...

If it was true you would think there would have been a velociratpor still on board or a body of one.

[publicist 4,643]

I actually did a bit of googling. Supposedly there was a deleted scene that some of the Velociraptors managed to get on board the ship before they sailed out and killed the crew aboard. Whether this is true or not, who knows...

If it was true you would think there would have been a velociratpor still on board or a body of one.

It sounds a bit like Michael Caine in JAWS 4, climbing out of the water completely dry. Asked how he managed this (and to escape the rubber shark) he answers straight-faced with one of my favourite b-movie lines:

'It wasn't easy...' Guess this explains it...

[Marian Schedenig 8,195]

'It wasn't easy...' Guess this explains it...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging

[Quintus 5,399]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and it was as barking as it was brilliant. A plot development in the third act jarred a little and took the shine off everything before, but on the whole I loved it.

It warms the heart to know there are one or two people making movies who love retro videogame culture as much as I do.

[Morlock 11]

I loved the too-much-ness of the film. The third act did get a bit unwieldy, yes, but it still got its message across effectively enough.

[Demondm810 399]

I liked everything except for Michael Cera.

[Morlock 11]

I liked him, but my favorite was Kieran Culkin.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Culkin was hysterical and stole the show. I liked Cera a lot. And I fell in love with Winstead (it's her eyes).

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Kieran Culkin definitely was the best part. The end got a little unsure of itself with the whole Knives vs. Ramona thing. It seems pretty evident that

he was gonna end up with Knives in the end and focus groups didn't like that.

[Quintus 5,399]

I loved the too-much-ness of the film. The third act did get a bit unwieldy, yes, but it still got its message across effectively enough.

It did, thankfully. And it worked, just. For a moment there I thought the whole thing was ruined.

I disagree with the sentiment here that Culkin was the best character.

[Andy 4,133]

If I don't play many video games (and kinda missed the video game boat in the 90s), will I "get" Scott Pilgrim, or should I just skip it and accept that I am not the target audience?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yes, definitely see it. There are little things that older video game fans can appreciate, like Zelda music and the "Hey check it out, I learned the bass-line from Final Fantasty III," but I think it can appeal to everyone.

[Red 75]

It seems pretty evident that

he was gonna end up with Knives in the end and focus groups didn't like that.

No. Originally the script had Scott end up with Knives because the comic series from which the movie was based wasn't actually finished yet. Once that ended and Scott ended up with Ramona, they rewrote the ending to the film.

[Morlock 11]

I loved the too-much-ness of the film. The third act did get a bit unwieldy, yes, but it still got its message across effectively enough.

I disagree with the sentiment here that Culkin was the best character.

Not the best character...but the most pleasant surprise.

Caught a few minutes of From Hell...I really like the film. Really, a terrific gothic horror film.

[A24 4,338]

Serenity:

The Good:

1) Well, it's better than the Star Wars prequels. Writer/Director Whedon keeps it entertaining with a nice mixture of action, tension and humor.

2) The fights and their choreography are of a surprisingly high standard.

3) Some attractive women (and men I suppose, I'm not an expert).

4) Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Operative makes a very good villain.

The Bad:

1) The Reavers (there's absolutely nothing scary about them).

2) Whedon's dialog doesn't always hit the mark.

3) Story or characters can be a bit vague if you haven't seen the series that preceded the film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

3) Some attractive women (and men I suppose, I'm not an expert).

You seem very keen keep stating that, don't you?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I found Mal to be the Lidl equivalent of Han Solo.

[A24 4,338]

And like Harrison Ford, he's the only one of the bunch who has a 'successful' career, I guess.

You seem very keen keep stating that, don't you?

Yes, the impression doesn't go away.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I found Mal to be the Lidl equivalent of Han Solo.

Like Michael J. Fox was the softened down TV version of Tom Cruise?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Somewhat.

Halloween. I miss the times when John Carpenter was a genius.

[Quintus 5,399]

Halloween is my least favourite Carpenter movie from his 'golden era'.

[crocodile 8,017]

He's doing some comic book movie at the moment, isn't he?

Weird choice. But then again Aronofsky is strange choice for directing Wolverine movie. Ah, well. At least there is something to look forward too. Even if only out of curiosity.

Anyway, I'm about to finish the first season of Mad Men. It took me a while. I like it quite a bit, expecially the red-headed lady.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Blu)

I finally revisit an early childhood favorite, and man is it good. I've seen the film countless times, but never to my own accord ever since the VHS days. Here the claymation shines in crisp 1080p, and Eflman's score never sounded so good. I almost want to watch the "new" commentary with Burton and Elfman, and I never watch film commentaries. Ken Page as Oogie Boogie is one of the best voice performances ever, despite how small his role is. Can't wait for the Burton/Elfman box.

[crocodile 8,017]

There are few good commentaries, really. They are either too technical or don't say anything relevant at all.

Karol