Movies You've Seen Recently

[LadyCrimson]

That Pacific Rim trailer: "Today we are canceling the Apocalypse!" .... I think there should be a new Academy Award for "Best Cheesey Line in an Action or Sci-Fi movie."

[Cariannis]

Contact lenses are nice for situations like that.

 

I used contacts in high school till I had an allergic reaction to some I’d gotten from lens crafter.

 

Pacific Rim reminds me of the old Godzilla movies. At the end of that The Prototype trailer I couldn’t help but thinking about Robocop without his helmet.

 

Watched the Crow last night. Forgot how much I loved that movie.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm guessing that's the Golden Gate Bridge they're destroying in Pacific Rim. Our poor bridge ... so often used when there's a bridge than needs smooshing. And yes, it does make me think of Godzilla.

 

The Prototype robotic face with the giant eyes makes me think of Asimov robots. It seems a curiously old-fashioned design.

[Raithe]

To take a further step away from the Movie times...

And the new year brings close to me :

 

 

I think a night out at the theatre is called for in the New Year...

[LadyCrimson]

TV series: American Horror Story. Ok, finally tried to watch this show. Pilot episode left me all 'wtf is going on?' 2nd episode was 'oh, ok, I think I get it now.' 3rd was 'this isn't scary, it's just weird and all over the place.' Not sure I'll watch more. It's not terrible and occasionally it's kind of cool, but I feel like I'm watching Twin Peaks Ghosts Lost In An X-Files House. There are better things to watch.

[Humanoid]

Watched Ingmar Bergman's 1955 Smiles of a Summer Night. First Bergman I've seen in years, so it felt odd to come back to what is essentially a rom-com, but hey. Though I can't see why it made Time's 100 movies list, it was fun, particularly Eva Dahlbeck's performance. In the meantime, picked up a five film box set of Bergman's earlier work which I will work my way through.

 

 

Aside, I'm still waiting on a Barnes and Noble order of twenty Criterion Collection movies from their early November sale to come through, they've always been slow but this time even moreso. Not that I'm short on stuff to watch, but still, there's a few titles in that bunch I'd like to prioritise.

[Tale]

I saw The Hobbit. Didn't want to see it in 3D, but that was the only way to get IMAX at my theatre.

 

It was good, it does suffer from Lord of the Rings comparisons, especially since tone is drastically different at times. But I can get over that.

[Raithe]

Watched the 25th Anniversary Phantom of the Opera blu-ray. Shot during the performance at the Royal Albert Hall, nicely done. And at the end, they had a showing of the original London cast, along with a grouping of the "best" Phantoms in the role.

[Kor Qel Droma]

TV series: American Horror Story. Ok, finally tried to watch this show. Pilot episode left me all 'wtf is going on?' 2nd episode was 'oh, ok, I think I get it now.' 3rd was 'this isn't scary, it's just weird and all over the place.' Not sure I'll watch more. It's not terrible and occasionally it's kind of cool, but I feel like I'm watching Twin Peaks Ghosts Lost In An X-Files House. There are better things to watch.

 

I was thinking about checking that out too. I think I'm due for a Band Of Brothers rewatch first.

 

I just finished episode ten of season four of BSG, and I have to say that was my favorite episode of the series so far. I wasn't overly impressed with the first few outings of the final season, and I hated the reveal of the hidden four, but that episode I just watched totally made up for it.

 

Now it's time for the finale of Homeland. I'm interested to see where it goes.

[LadyCrimson]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - I haven't read the book or seen the mini-series (altho I've heard of the mini-series, I think my parents saw it). With that in mind, I didn't have trouble following the film, but I did have problems with lack of characterization and "how did he reach that conclusion?" or "why did he do what he did?" type stuff, because of the compressed story. Some good acting in the few lead roles...but everyone else was mostly there for brief scenes of staring into the camera or walking across the screen while looking serious. It's actually a good movie, I think...just slow and deliberate. But if you don't know who the characters are in the first place, it's kinda hard to know why all those stares are supposed to be meaningful I guess.

 

Makes me want to see the mini-series. Think I'll get on that.

[Blarghagh]

I saw The Hobbit. Didn't want to see it in 3D, but that was the only way to get IMAX at my theatre.

 

It was good, it does suffer from Lord of the Rings comparisons, especially since tone is drastically different at times. But I can get over that.

 

Saw The Hobbit too, and while it's not without it's problems I felt it's sense of adventure made up for most of those problems. I kept thinking how much of the D&D experience must have been based on Tolkien because it felt like a fun D&D game - going from setpiece and encounter to setpiece and encounter and all those encounters were quite fun.

 

I would have liked to have been told, however, that I was going to see a musical.

[Hiro Protagonist]

TV series: American Horror Story. Ok, finally tried to watch this show. Pilot episode left me all 'wtf is going on?' 2nd episode was 'oh, ok, I think I get it now.' 3rd was 'this isn't scary, it's just weird and all over the place.' Not sure I'll watch more. It's not terrible and occasionally it's kind of cool, but I feel like I'm watching Twin Peaks Ghosts Lost In An X-Files House. There are better things to watch.

 

It's a great show. It all makes sense in the last few episodes of the season.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Watched Dungeons and Dragons 3 - Book of Vile Darkness. Better than the first movie, but that's not saying much.

[JFSOCC]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - I haven't read the book or seen the mini-series (altho I've heard of the mini-series, I think my parents saw it). With that in mind, I didn't have trouble following the film, but I did have problems with lack of characterization and "how did he reach that conclusion?" or "why did he do what he did?" type stuff, because of the compressed story. Some good acting in the few lead roles...but everyone else was mostly there for brief scenes of staring into the camera or walking across the screen while looking serious. It's actually a good movie, I think...just slow and deliberate. But if you don't know who the characters are in the first place, it's kinda hard to know why all those stares are supposed to be meaningful I guess.

 

Makes me want to see the mini-series. Think I'll get on that.

That movie was sheer genius. It's the best John le Carré transliteration (I don't know a better world for book to film, anyone can help me out?) yet.

And that is saying something after movies like The Constant Gardener.

I watched the hobbit as wel yesterday.

 

I liked it despite some of it's flaws. I like what Peter Jackson did with making it more of a prequel to the lord of the rings. Though there are some choices that he made which I wouldn't have. I watched it in 2D (Don't like 3D film so much, for practical reasons (glasses, tires the eyes)

but with 48 frames. I did feel my eyes tire faster.

[Raithe]

On the film news, potential Tron follow-up

 

http://collider.com/...osinski/217942/

 

Read the full transcript of the portion of Steve’s interview with Kosinski below, and look out for the entire interview on Collider soon.

 

Please tell people the status of another Tron sequel.

Kosinski: Well the only reason to go back, for me and I think for anyone involved would be if we could do something truly spectacular. We’ve been talking about it for a couple years and there’s always been this idea, a big idea, in the back of my head that we’ve been talking about. The idea itself, the notion of what the next Tron could be, is exciting enough that it would be worth going back to do it. Obviously we hinted some things at the end of Legacy, it’s kind of there for people to see what that potential is. So we just want to make sure that we have a script that delivers on that promise on an epic scale. I’ve said it would have to be our Empire Strikes Back for me to come back and for me to pull the whole team back together. I think we do have that idea. We do have the idea that feels big and really blows the doors off this franchise. It’s hinted at promises of something for two movies now, for thirty years, so it’s time to deliver on that. But the script’s got to be at a level that makes it worth going back for, because it’s a lot of work to make a movie like this and it’s a multi-year project. So we’ve got our writer Jesse Wigutow on it right now writing, and fingers crossed if it all comes together, as we hope it will, there could be another Tron in the next few years, and it’s going to be awesome.

 

Obviously they have new leadership under Alan Horn, have you actually talked to Alan and said, “How do you feel about Tron?”

Kosinski: I haven’t talked to him directly. I mean, Sean Bailey was my producer on Tron, now he’s the president over there at Disney. So Disney has their full support behind it, which is great, but again it’s got to be the right story. It’s got to be a script that’s up to snuff and worth going back for. The idea’s there, the ambition’s there, the excitement’s there; but we need to have all the pieces in place before they would ever pull the trigger on that. So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.

 

Obviously you’ll be done with Oblivion in April, then you’ll go on tour with it, then it will be a question of what project you want to do next. Do you think that there is a real chance that Tron could be the next project, or do you think there might be something that goes in first?

Kosinski: There is certainly a chance, like I said; we’re writing the script now. Sometimes with these things all the pieces fall into place. I mean, we’ve been talking about this for years and we don’t have the script now, but sometimes things fall into place very quickly, and if everything lines up it could happen. That’s all I can say, it’s too early.

 

As I’ve mentioned many times, I loved the soundtrack, do you think that you would be able to get Daft Punk back again to do it?

Kosinski: When it comes to building the team up for soundtrack they would absolutely be my first call. As to whether or not they would do it, it depends on what they’re doing at the time. They are very methodical in how they pick their next project, and they would only do it if they felt that they could dedicate themselves a hundred percent to that. I know they have another album coming out, I’m sure that’s going to be their next big project, which I assume is going to be followed by a massive tour. So, you know, hopefully if they’ve got the time and the creative willingness to dive back in. Remember, there are a lot of tracks that they created that I still have that I wasn’t able to fit into Tron: Legacy. So we’ve already got a head start on some great tracks for the future, which I’m really excited about. Like I said, they would be my first call.

 

I actually don’t know how the soundtrack sold. Did it sell well?

Kosinski: It did. In fact, where is it? I have a gold record here.

Where’s my gold record? Is it in there (he asks his assistant in another room. She say’s it’s in storage)?

Kosinski: My gold record was delivered to me on the Oblivion set; it was in my trailer one day. Disney sent it over, Sean Bailey sent it with a very nice note that it sold whatever gold is, that must be a million copies I guess? And it was the highest selling soundtrack since the last Star Wars, The Revenge of the Sith. So that’s the highest soundtrack in seven years, or whatever that is. Like I said, that was a really wonderful thing; it was everything we wanted it to be.

 

From a design perspective, because I know you’re very passionate about design, have you already been thinking of cool ships and cool new additions to the Tron universe that you’ve been doodling when you have some time? Or is it still just in the brain and not on paper yet?

Kosinski: It’s definitely there. I don’t want to say too much about it but the goal would not be to simply re-use. We’re not going to re-use the assets from Legacy, that’s no fun. If we’re going to do to it we’re going to reinvent all over again and it’s going to be a whole new generation for reasons that are very story-driven. That’s all I can say.

 

Do you see a sequel starting moments from when the last one ended or do you foresee some time passing before the next chapter might start?

Kosinski: I think time has passed. It feels like we’re kind of real-time in step. So however much time has passed since Legacy came out would also have transpired in the real world. So it will still be contemporary. So let’s say if the Tron sequel comes out in 2015, then four or five years have passed since the last movie.

 

[Cariannis]

I watched Necessary Roughness (1991)…and yes I enjoyed it. It was a guilty enjoyment.

[Raithe]

Sushi Girl.

 

Starts off with a naked girl having sushi placed artfully across her body to the strains of "Diamonds are Forever"...

 

Before a reunion of a heist crew consisting of Tony Todd as the machiavellian leader, Mark Hamill doing an almost real life joker, Andi Mackenzie as the psychotic pit bull, James Duval the team pot head, and the fresh from six years of prison Noah Hathaway have a reunion around said Sushi Girl to find out what actually happened on the last heist they worked together where the score went missing.

 

Including some short appearances of Jeff Fahey, Michael Beihn, Sonny Chiba and Danny Trejo.

 

Mainly consisting of the dark and brooding abandoned chinese restuarant with a single room done up as a japanese sushi bar and the principle characters, with flashbacks to the heist inbetween. Very grindhouse feel, but quite entertaining if you enjoy some of the Kurosawa / Tarantino styling. Although there are a couple of moments of almost Torture-Porn that hover on the edges.

[LadyCrimson]

Total Recall (remake) - not that I was expecting much in the first place, but yeah, ok, that wasn't very good. The whole "The Fall" (elevator through the center of the Earth, haha) and split land areas isn't nearly as interesting as Mars. And the ending was way over the top.

[HoonDing]

Saw Doc Hollywood again after last seeing it around twenty years ago. Pretty good, I wonder what happened to Michael Jay Fox.

[Blarghagh]

Saw Doc Hollywood again after last seeing it around twenty years ago. Pretty good, I wonder what happened to Michael Jay Fox.

 

Parkinsons.

[LadyCrimson]

Saw Doc Hollywood again after last seeing it around twenty years ago. Pretty good, I wonder what happened to Michael Jay Fox.

He has Parkinson's disease (since 1991). It's why he quit/left Spin City. He's occasionally done some acting work here and there (the episode of him in Scrubs was great) but not very often.

[Jasede]

I saw The Hobbit.

It sucked.

 

A) Three hours of bad CGI and poorly choreographed fight-scenes that had no reason to exist other than to fill time.

B) Thirteen or something dwarves with rhyming names that are identical other than the name. Who thought this would work in a movie?

C) Gollum, what a horrible waste of time that was. And people like this? No wonder I'm bitter!

D) Sock'em, Rock'em Golems. Are you seriously?

E) Endless repetition. Gandalf saves the day. And again. And again.

 

If my ticket hadn't been free and hadn't come with an excellent dinner I'd have written off the night as a complete waste of time.

 

f) Not a single dwarf can read old dwarven?

g) Radagast more like wastingmytimegast

h) Pointless witch-king tie-in

i) Uninspired music

j) 48 frames is eye-torture, boycott

Edited December 22, 2012 by Jasede

[Tale]

Galaxy Quest

Everything I ask for in a movie. Self-awareness, character development, and a few decent laughs.

[Guest The Architect]

If that's the worst you have to say about The Hobbit, Jasede, then I can't wait to see it when it hits the cinemas in Perth.

[Jasede]

I'm just not a huge movie person and modern movies rub me the wrong way. You can probably tell.