What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

There was no explanation that I noticed anyway.

It's one of those films that you're better off just soaking in and not thinking too hard about. If you do, you'll start getting annoyed by stuff.

For example, given that he knew that the zombies are super-sensitive to ultra-violet, and he went through the extremely large amount of trouble to rig that defensive perimeter, how come he didn't think of scavenging some solariums and rigging those up in his lab -- if only as a precaution in case one of his test subjects got loose? How the hell did that Blackbird manage to land on the aircraft carrier? Why didn't he even try injecting some of the cure that he already knew to work on the rat into his dog? Where did the water that in his shower come from?

@Gallifrey: That new Bladerunner cut is just... awesome (for want of a better word).

I Am Legend

At first, totally stoked. As the movie wore on, the dependance on complete cgi for the darkhunters was a major downer. I like movie monsters, and they needed to be good here for me to really get into this film. I can understand a little touching up here and there or for impossible stunts or whatever, but total CGI at all times was unnecessary and really made them look totally fake to me. His defensive perimeter was absolutely retarded too.

Also, youd think he would have trained his dog better as well, or at least kept the dumbass on a lead of some type.

xSamhainx said:

I Am Legend

At first, totally stoked. As the movie wore on, the dependance on complete cgi for the darkhunters was a major downer. I like movie monsters, and they needed to be good here for me to really get into this film. I can understand a little touching up here and there or for impossible stunts or whatever, but total CGI at all times was unnecessary and really made them look totally fake to me. His defensive perimeter was absolutely retarded too.

Also, youd think he would have trained his dog better as well, or at least kept the dumbass on a lead of some type.

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Sammy - How would you rate the movie compared to the film that it's a remake of, namely "The Omega Man"? I really love the original and I was wondering if the remake is anywhere near as good.

The thing that got me was the obvious relationship between the lead bad guy and the captured female. That issue begged to be developed, as it could have added an additional angle to the final confrontation. I expect there's a few scenes on the cutting room floor that dealt with that.

Anyone seen Cloverfield yet??? Looks like I've got a surprise date night tonight and I'm really wanting to see that movie. Would hate to darken date night with a disappointing show.

If you do see it, be sure to give us your impressions. I'm intrigued by this one.

(Is it me, or is "Armageddon comes to America" something of a fashion in films, games, and such these days?)

Word on the street is that Cloverfield rocks, one of my more trusted sources seems to dig it.

Narpet, it's very unlike the Omega man, at least from what I remember of it when I saw it quite a while ago vhs. Mainly because of the outright monsters in this envisioning, as opposed to the vengeful and crazed anti-tech albino cult of Omega Man. This actually has more in common I feel with The Last Man on Earth w/ Vincent Price, as more of a monster movie w/ awful monsters, instead of the sort of 70's socially-conscious metaphors duking it out w/ Heston in Omega. Will Smith's enemy dont hate him, they are outright hunters. That's where the movie falls short, as dte pointed out, there begs to be something more to these creatures that would actually fill the movie out a little more. Either that, or go pure horror and have them really be scary as hell and bump up the suspense a little. In the end, you cant help but feel like youre watching a video game cutscene every time theyre shown, it's the most un-scary thing how cheesy they look.

All 3 are character-study films for part of their running time that rely on the strength of the protagonist's scenery-chewing abilities, but I think this one lingers far more on Smith just like the original did on Price. I think Will Smith does a good job here. He is simply a scientist tho, he isnt battling the enemy as much as he's almost sympathetic, and trying to cure them, or right this monolithic wrong in some way. Heston is busy kicking ass and taking names first and foremost, and only after he finds he truly isnt alone does he try to do what he can. In that way, Omega is definitely more an action film with it's era's prerequisite social messages and such, and Legend is more character study with monsters.. at least that's how I see it.

Purrsonally I'd rather sit and watch Omega Man than Legend because I love 70's sci fi and camp. I think Legend is worth the rental, but I doubt that you'll have half the fun that you have watching Omega Man.

I thought the bad guys were the spitting image of the Unnamed One from PS:T.

xSamhainx said:

Word on the street is that Cloverfield rocks, one of my more trusted sources seems to dig it.

Narpet, it's very unlike the Omega man, at least from what I remember of it when I saw it quite a while ago vhs. Mainly because of the outright monsters in this envisioning, as opposed to the vengeful and crazed anti-tech albino cult of Omega Man. This actually has more in common I feel with The Last Man on Earth w/ Vincent Price, as more of a monster movie w/ awful monsters, instead of the sort of 70's socially-conscious metaphors duking it out w/ Heston in Omega. Will Smith's enemy dont hate him, they are outright hunters. That's where the movie falls short, as dte pointed out, there begs to be something more to these creatures that would actually fill the movie out a little more. Either that, or go pure horror and have them really be scary as hell and bump up the suspense a little. In the end, you cant help but feel like youre watching a video game cutscene every time theyre shown, it's the most un-scary thing how cheesy they look.

All 3 are character-study films for part of their running time that rely on the strength of the protagonist's scenery-chewing abilities, but I think this one lingers far more on Smith just like the original did on Price. I think Will Smith does a good job here. He is simply a scientist tho, he isnt battling the enemy as much as he's almost sympathetic, and trying to cure them, or right this monolithic wrong in some way. Heston is busy kicking ass and taking names first and foremost, and only after he finds he truly isnt alone does he try to do what he can. In that way, Omega is definitely more an action film with it's era's prerequisite social messages and such, and Legend is more character study with monsters.. at least that's how I see it.

Purrsonally I'd rather sit and watch Omega Man than Legend because I love 70's sci fi and camp. I think Legend is worth the rental, but I doubt that you'll have half the fun that you have watching Omega Man.

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Thanks for the report Sam... I was really looking forward to seeing Legend in the theater, but now I will probably just wait for the rental and save a ton of money

And now I will probably watch Omega Man tonight

Prime Junta said:

Why didn't he even try injecting some of the cure that he already knew to work on the rat into his dog??

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Iirc, that was the first thing he did when they got back to his lab.

Yep, he injected his dog first thing.

Cloverfield
I can sum this one up very easily. Blair Witch on a Hollywood budget. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I do get a little irritated when an 84 minute movie spends nearly the first 30 minutes doing nothing beyond introducing characters and setting the scene. There's a lot of holes in the story, but in most cases that's appropriate given the first-person presentation. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the critter seems to change size (between tree-sized and really huge) based on the needs of the story, and that they should have paid royalties to Clash of the Titans for ripping off the Kraken models.

Overall, a good solid "meh".

I stand corrected about the dog; must've missed that bit. Looks like Cloverfield is on my to-see list then...

Barbarella

Wow.

I'm a conneisseur of cinematic cheese, but I had no clue of really the degree of such I was getting into here! This was something else, like a film school example of fine grade 60's cheese (tho I was sure it was 70's until I checked imdb). Definitely a bad film in every sense of the word, but the masochist within found it pretty enjoyable. There was a few pretty good laugh out loud moments, like the aerial laser fight between Jane (being carried by an angel) and the flying contraptions of "the Great Tyrant". The fact that the first 5 mins of the movie is spent studying the disrobing, then fully nude body of the still quite pretty Jane Fonda in zero gravity certainly didnt hurt, and was a good opener.

The whole thing reminded me of the comic magazine Heavy Metal, looks like some of the sexy sci fi stuff they routinely put out

Have you seen Zardoz? If you liked Barbarella, I think you'll like it.

Last night the gang from the University talked me into going to Cloverfield.

Good film. Yes it is an update of Godzilla (the main character gets a marketing job for Slusho in Japan). The shaky cam affect ala Blair Witch Project is nauseating for sure. It was definitely a professional cameraman though as you could tell he was keeping a small gap between the heads of the characters in the scene for the most part. Most amateurs would screw that up, cutting off the top or trying to center it.

The choice of New York buildings falling down was risky and is an obvious allusion to 9/11. The Statue of Liberty's head flying off reminds you Independence Day. But at least to me I finally understood who Taylor (Chuck Heston) was calling maniacs in Planet of the Apes. I now know how it got there.

The motivations for the characters make no sense, especially Hud the cameraman, but that's another nod to other story writing, in particular teen slasher movies and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Yes, once again the characters in the movie are kids but these are in their early 20's, which, these days, is surprisingly old for Hollywood movies. Neverthless, the first 20 minutes of the movie is getting to know and relate or like these characters. Its a very human movie.

All in All it was a good thrill ride. There was a bunch of audience gab (even by us) during the movie and it actually fits as it feels like a drive-in picture. It just added to the fun.

Few websites have picked up on the name Cloverfield yet. Buddy from college tells me that was the miltary's codename for Roswell New Mexico, so there is an Alien/The Thing reference there. It also speaks of Cthulhu which has been denied too.

Speaking of websites, Cloverfield has been inundating the web with some terrific viral marketing. This makes sense for JJ Abrams is the producer and he's one of the writers for Lost. He did something similar with The Lost Experience.

Check out the Slusho official website for the movie and especially check out the History section if you can find it. Youu can't just drink six!

@ Sammy- you should have seen the comic books.
@Prime Junta--I will never think of Sean Connery the same again.

@ Lucky--RE; Cloverfield--sorry to hear it has that shaky camera thing going on--I can't take too much of that and not get sick. Otherwise it sounds like something I'd really enjoy. I heard the name came from the street next to the studio, they used it for a code name while they were making it, but I like the other explanations better.

I found this pretty good review of Zardoz. Definitely worth seeing.

By the way, Sara Kestelman, also known as the Voice of Kreia (in KOTOR II) was in it.

fucken-A, I'm so there!

Just ordered it off Amazon, for 8 bucks out the door. Good recon work lieutenant PJ, I'll let you know how the mission turns out

Upcoming new horror film, REC - looks promising. More on youtube (including one interesting/funny video about audience responses: female reactions tend to be - jolted, scream and hidding her face/close her eyes, while male also jolted but then tend to laugh at himself. In early clip a male audience jerked his head/ear from screaming female on his right).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i53g8yf4SkY&feature=user

Good Lord of the Tigers, it's been a cinematic rollercoaster for me the last couple days. I started out watching Black Sheep and Slither w/ friends, then today I burned a few thousand brain cells watching Lady Snowblood, Zardoz, and Dracula's Fiancee by myself because nobody else was brave enough.

Or foolish enough, depending on your vantage point of the whole mess.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Black Sheep was a crowd favorite yet I found it pretty lame, purrsonally. Damn hippies let loose a horrible mutagen on one of their ill-fated eco-missions, and mutant sheep run amok. They in turn chow down on humans who become were-sheep (theres a stupid D&D monster for ya) and much hilarity ensures. At least that was the plan.

Unlike the cute-animals-go-berserk antics of Night of the Lepus (Lepus means bunny in latin-ese) which was played with a straight face, this one is out for comedy yucks from the get go. Unfortunately, the gags arent all that good, and I'm more a fan of unintentional humor anyway than I am something thats aiming square for my funny bone. Had some suprisingly nasty gore at times tho, it was like watching an old Andrew Dice Clay routine - doesnt really succeed at being funny most of the time, but definitely succeeds at being gross. While I wouldnt say it was a truly bad horror-comedy, this certainly was no Sean of the Dead.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Slither, on the other paw... kicked total ass! Loved it. Worthy of a spot in my vaunted collection.

Youve seen the story before: meteorite lands on the outskirts of some one-horse midwest town, cracks open like an egg, and someone getting high/taking a leak/making out gets too close. All hell breaks loose.

I'm not the kind of person who cares about overall originality, really. In movies, in games, music, women, etc. I like what I like, and I like nothing more than MORE of what I like. Does that like, make sense? It's not that I'm not open to new things, I just dont turn my nose up and get all bent or bored when I get more of the same w/ new accoutrements. So someone slapped some interesting tattoos and piercings on this 80's dame, yet left her ultra-feathered Heather Locklear hairdo alone. I'm cool w/ that.

Slither is basically every small-town alien infestation horror film concept youve seen before, yet updated for the New Era. It's really funny, gory, and has awesome special effects that dont solely rely on CGI. Slither is bred of the classics, and that aint bein copy-cat in my book if it's done well- it's being old school horror.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lady Snowblood is a 70's Japanese revenge flick, supposedly the inspiration behind Tarantino's Kill Bill. Supposedly a lot of nice swordplay. I did think of Kill Bill while watching this, but more for a few crazy arterial sprays than for the rest of the film. Yes, she's totally out for revenge, and yes she goes thru a ridiculous amount of training for decades to prepare for said vengeance, but there's actually a very meager amount of swordplay in the film. The way I see it, she could have taken lessons at the YMCA on weekends for a year or so to prepare for the amount of combat she actually engages in.

Needless to say (buy I'll say it anyway of course), I was kinda disappointed.

I'm not saying it wasnt a good film at all, it was decent. However, if I go to to Idaho, I want a potato. If I go to Vegas, I want to wake up broke, hungover, and confused in a motel room. And if I rent what is supposedly some influential martial arts film, then I want some of that old kung fu fighting and fancy clashing of melee weapons. This was like drinking non-alchoholic beer, all the pleasure of hoisting a bottle and peeing for hours without getting a buzz.

In that respect, I guess it does resemble the horribly anti-climactic letdown that was The Final Encounter in Kill Bill #2. So I hoist my O'Douls to ya on that one, Quentin.

I'll get to the other two later, it's late and those last two films Zardoz and Dracula's Fiancee had me drinking like a college pledge!