Movies you've seen recently

[Fighter]

But I do kind of wonder what the message is here.

 

"America **** yeah."

[HoonDing]

Invasion by Mexican drug cartel gangs would be quite realistic, no?

Edited August 13, 2012 by Drudanae

[Raithe]

Isn't it the North Koreans or some such for that one? Following in the steps of Homefront...

 

Now, Total Recall - they do manage to throw in the three-breasted girl early in the film for that shout out, and for some reason they've combined the characters that Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside originally played into the one played by Kate Beckinsale.

It's got some really silly "shut-off-the-brain-and-enjoy" elements to the whole thing, especially since they've changed the Earth/Mars into the UK/Australia...

A few other small nods to the original film turn up here and there, but I couldn't really be bothered to pay attention to it enough to immediately notice some of them.

The whole "The Fall" elevator through the center of the Earth does have some brain jarring elements, but you can do your best to ignore it and enjoy Kate and Jessica running around with Colin doing his "confused but rugged" action hero thing.

[Hurlshort]

Invasion by Mexican drug cartel gangs would be quite realistic, no?

 

While there are plenty of drug cartel movies out there, and invasion makes no logical sense. The point of the cartel is to make money, not overthrow governments.

[Hurlshort]

Isn't it the North Koreans or some such for that one? Following in the steps of Homefront...

 

Now, Total Recall - they do manage to throw in the three-breasted girl early in the film for that shout out, and for some reason they've combined the characters that Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside originally played into the one played by Kate Beckinsale.

It's got some really silly "shut-off-the-brain-and-enjoy" elements to the whole thing, especially since they've changed the Earth/Mars into the UK/Australia...

A few other small nods to the original film turn up here and there, but I couldn't really be bothered to pay attention to it enough to immediately notice some of them.

The whole "The Fall" elevator through the center of the Earth does have some brain jarring elements, but you can do your best to ignore it and enjoy Kate and Jessica running around with Colin doing his "confused but rugged" action hero thing.

 

Wait...they don't go to Mars? What the heck?

[Raithe]

Yup, No Mars. No aliens. No terraforming. Just Earth. The UK and Australia instead, with the rest of the world being a toxic No-go zone for some reason... Australia being "The Colony" where workers get paid crap and commute to the UK through a "chunnel" that goes through the center of the planet (in 18 minutes no less).

[HoonDing]

That's another remake that can be safely skipped then, no matter the presence of Rhona Mitra/Kate Beckinsale.

[Monte Carlo]

Red Dawn? Canada should have invaded. That would be funny.

 

Jesus, it looks awful. And the idea that any of the major powers could actually invade the continental USA apres-Cold War is actually offensive. In the midwest folks will be watching the skies after this one. It really does look like Team America made flesh. Of course, it could simply be the most subversive piece of cinema of the 21st century, a thinly-disguised Iraq parable. "Look what we do abroad guys... this is how we're seen..."

 

Nah. It's Team America made flesh.

[Hurlshort]

Did you see the original? Is was also super silly, but it had Patrick Swayze so all is forgiven.

 

Now I want to watch Roadhouse, dangit.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I watched Lockout the other day. I wasn't expecting much, therefore I was not completely dissapointed. Not a great film by any stretch, but I thought it played to its strengths well. Guy Pearce nails the campiness of his character, which made it all the more watchable.

 

It also had Rudy from the British series Misfits. He played the psychotic role quite well.

[Monte Carlo]

Did you see the original? Is was also super silly, but it had Patrick Swayze so all is forgiven.

 

Now I want to watch Roadhouse, dangit.

 

Yes, I saw the original. It was funny.

[kirottu]

I watched Lockout the other day. I wasn't expecting much, therefore I was not completely dissapointed. Not a great film by any stretch, but I thought it played to its strengths well. Guy Pearce nails the campiness of his character, which made it all the more watchable.

 

It also had Rudy from the British series Misfits. He played the psychotic role quite well.

 

I loved the scenes with voice activated grenades.

[HoonDing]

Now I want to watch Roadhouse, dangit.

Roadhouse is like an A-Team episode, only with killing.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Drudanae

[Blarghagh]

I just saw a British film called Death at a Funeral which cracked me up to no end. I almost died laughing.

[Fighter]

Saw Hunger Games. I didn't get the the fuss was about.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Fighter

[Blarghagh]

That's because you're presumably not a thirteen year old girl.

[Hurlshort]

That's because you're presumably not a thirteen year old girl.

 

While Hunger Games isn't exactly adult entertainment, it isn't the Twilight series either.

[Blarghagh]

Obviously, the Twilight series is for creepy middle-aged moms, not teenagers.

[Kor Qel Droma]

After finally getting a chance to watch Sundays' Breaking Bad, all I can say is wow. Totally saw that ending coming, but it didn't make it any less shocking.

 

And over the past week or so I've been watching Twin Peaks. I remember back when it aired how everyone was raving about how weird it was. And I can't really say why I never got around to watching it, but it's pretty good. Some of the time it feels like a daytime soap opera, and sometimes I'm amazed at how brilliant some scattered moments of it are. A scene from season two the other day where

Leland admits to killing Jacques Renault

was absolutely wonderful. But it's also David Lynch, so some of it is just plain bat**** goofy.

 

That reminds me that I haven't watched Wild At Heart in a few years.

[Oerwinde]

The movie looks like a fun little action flick, and I really did enjoy the original. But I do kind of wonder what the message is here. We aren't in a Cold War anymore. The bad guys look Chinese, but given that China is the US's biggest trading partner, that seems like an awkward choice. I don't know, I guess I should just realize it is a silly movie and not a political statement

 

It was originally supposed to be China invading in order to collect on all the money the US owes them. But they went in and digitally altered and redubbed it to make it a coalition lead by the North Koreans. Because its ok for the North Koreans to be bad guys, but if they made China the bad guys they couldn't release the movie in China and make more money.

[Fighter]

While Hunger Games isn't exactly adult entertainment, it isn't the Twilight series either.

 

Yeah. But being better than Twilight is no achievement.

[Monte Carlo]

It was originally supposed to be China invading in order to collect on all the money the US owes them. But they went in and digitally altered and redubbed it to make it a coalition lead by the North Koreans. Because its ok for the North Koreans to be bad guys, but if they made China the bad guys they couldn't release the movie in China and make more money.

 

This movie is dull, lazy, insulting. Not for any political reason, you can demonise the North Koreans as much as you like but this is a country with no infrastructure or diplomatic muscle to lead a girl scout cookie sale, let alone a military coalition capable of threatening a super-power.

 

The first premise of any fiction, especially incredible fiction, is to create suspension of disbelief. Was there some sort of natural disaster that led to NK becoming a credible threat to the US? Is there some sort of political instability that renders America less able to defend itself? These issues need to be addressed to create suspension of disbelief.

 

IIRC, in the original (where, laughably, Cubans played a similar role) the movie starts with parachutes just falling out of the sky. The exposition, hazy as it is, comes later. In the 1980s Cold War environment you could (almost) get away with that. Now? It's just laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

 

The people who made this movie need to be punished. Do not go and see it.

[Gorgon]

The recent Aussie version was sortof credible, having Chinese or North Koreans invade mainland US, that would require a Sci Fi / re imagined cold war setting. They didn't even bother adressing the extreme unlikelyhood of such an event, which is just lazy.

[Gorgon]

I would rather watch this movie. They made it into a TV series which got a single season then got the axe. Nothing special. The comic is more Wasteland/Fallouty though, taking place several decades after the collaps of the US government - without the sci fi and BOS - but Chinese army remnants still causing trouble.

 

It's a Western really. The duo travels from town to town, getting into adventures.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Gorgon

[LadyCrimson]

Wait, they remade Red Dawn? I have some 80's nostalgia-fondness for the original one, but seriously, it did not need to be remade.

 

 

I saw Happy Feet Two. The first one was cute and gelled together nicely, with fun song/dance animations. This sequel was .... well, it had a few moments but meh.

 

I've also been watching this show called 24 Hours in the ER on BBC-America. I find it fairly interesting, both in content and especially in the filming style. eg, I keep trying to imagine how the US would film/edit such a show... "FOX presents 24 Hours in ER Hell, with host Gordon Ramsay"