Sweeping Strings

'We should watch the Clone Wars movie before we watch the TV show ... I want George Lucas to disappoint me in the order he intended!' - Sheldon with what (for my money) is one of Big Bang's best-ever gags. I definitely saw Psycho 2 (and also possibly 3, memory's fuzzier on that) before I saw Psycho.

The Shadow - fun, pacy action-adventure based on the 30s pulp hero, whose influence on the likes of Batman is apparent. Alec Baldwin is suitably dark 'n' dashing in the title role and as alter-ego Lamont Cranston, John Lone grandstands as Genghis Khan's last living ancestor with an eeeevil plot, Penelope Anne Miller makes for a suitably easy-on-the-eye love interest, Ian McKellen adds class as her father and Tim Curry hams it up as a comic villain. Stirring Jerry Goldsmith score, too.

I've read about comedies that left 'room' for the actors to improvise. You can spot those bits, they're the ones where the actors clearly had much more fun doing them than we are watching them.

Weren't there rumours that Pirates 3 started shooting without a finished script? Would certainly explain the 'unrevealed character agendas' thing that bollemaneke mentioned, and also something that I found weird (just as it seems Sao Feng has been set up as a major character, he gets killed).

I don't know about crickets, but a certain 'Kockroach' seemed to like it. Another couple I have never made it through more than about half-an-hour of ... Superman IV (Cannon clearly thought they could do it on the cheap ... erm, no) and the '67 spoof version of Casino Royale (a chaotic production doesn't always show in the finished film, but it does here).

It was admittedly more like half-an-hour to 45 minutes, but ... the original Red Dawn. Terrible film.

At first I read that as 'Movies you flicked off TO after five minutes', thought 'Ooh, a thread for the ladies' and then remembered that this forum is a sausage-fest. Move along, nothing to see here .

Gothika - I've flushed scarier things than this Halle Berry *horror*. Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver are amongst the producers, but on this evidence they just did the on-set catering or something. A Million Ways To Die In The West - normally I have a pretty good time with Seth McFarlane's stuff. Not so with this deeply unamusing comedy Western.

Transformers : Revenge Of The Fallen - the first one was kinda better than I'd been expecting, so hey ... why not give the sequel a go? After 150 minutes of feeling like I'd been screamed at by angry household appliances whilst they also continually slapped me, I had my answer. And I get why Bay would shoot Megan Fox leeringly, but I'd rather not ponder why he also does it with military hardware. I see others have mentioned Man Of Steel ... yes indeed. Way to suck all the fun out of Superman (which the film can barely bring itself to call him) Snyder, you absolute dick. Terminator : Salvation - Bale should've had an onset meltdown during the production of something that was actually worth it, not this dreary-ass crap.

A companion thread to the 'Movies you should see ... ' thread. I'll kick it off with The Hateful Eight; a story waaaaaay too slight to support its bloated runtime and QT banging on about shooting in 70mm Panavision and then setting most of it in a fucking cabin. Boring, boring, boring.

'Films you did see but wish you hadn't' ... possible companion thread to this one?

Indeed. Must say I don't do that either, though.

I liked Anthony Head in that Doctor Who episode he was in, and his appearances in the early Noughties Beeb sketch show Little Britain. He also shared his chips with somebody I know at a convention ... nice guy, it seems.

Yeah, I found the 'American small town in the 80s' stuff in Chapter 1 much more engaging than the Pennywise stuff, which apart from a couple of moments wasn't particularly frightening. And I can see my patience with that being stretched to breaking point over a near 3-hour runtime. Maybe three 105-120 minute movies would've been the way to go instead.

Pet Sematary and the original Wicker Man both came to mind while watching it ... Buffy not so much, although granted I never watched that.

I see IT Chapter 2's runtime is 2 hours 50, which is kinda off-putting if I'm honest. Seems far too long a tme for a horror to sustain its 'momentum', if you see what I mean.

Wake Wood - reasonably creepy Irish horror about a couple who lose their young daughter via a dog attack and upon moving to the titular small town by way of dealing with their grief discover that there is a ritual by which she can be 'brought back' for 3 days, with warnings of serious consequences if they breach the terms of said ritual. With Aidan Gillen and Timothy Spall.

R.I.P Terrance Dicks ... Classic Who writer, script editor and novelist.

Chronicle - 'found footage' superhero-esque flick in which 3 high-school seniors develop telekinesis after discovering a mysterious object underground. After using their powers for pranking etc at first, things take a dark turn when 'cameraman' Andrew (Dane DeHaan) starts to use his in 'apex predator' ways. Fairly enjoyable, and at a brisk 80 minutes doesn't outstay its welcome. Dog Soldiers - tremendously entertaining action-horror in which squaddies on manevoures in the Scottish Highlands are besieged by a pack of werewolves. With Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd and Liam Cunningham.

Hmm, maybe there's hope. Salvation's shittiness meant I skipped Genysis.

I know that this one picks up from T2 and has Linda Hamilton in it, but I still fear another watered-down-to-a-12A/PG-13 crappenfest.

Patriots Day - gripping, well-paced drama about the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers which despite being released only 3 years after the event manages not to feel cheaply exploitative. With Mark Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, JK Simmons and Michelle Monaghan.

I do so hate martial music.

With the Joker, you kinda expect an e-cigarette that sprays poison gas into the face of the people nearest to him instead.

Crawl - this 'OH SHIT, 'GATOR-INFESTED FLORIDA FLOODWATERS!' flick is basically a classier version of the sort of thing that regularly clags up the SyFy/Horror Channel's daytime schedules. Quite fun, and at a snappy (sorry) 87 minutes it doesn't outstay its welcome.