Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen

[Stogi]

Beast Wars is definitely awesome. I'll watch TF3 at some point but I'm not paying for it....oh no, i'm not making that mistake again.

[bustin98]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Personally, I prefer Machines over Wars but the amount of production values is what taints my view. And better toys.

[Ceric]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Personally, I prefer Machines over Wars but the amount of production values is what taints my view. And better toys.

Personally think Fox limited Beast Machines to much and it lost the fun of Beast Wars.  Though I still need to watch the last few episodes.

[Morari]

I never much cared for the animation style of Beast Wars (or Beast Machines, for that matter). I'll just stick to my faithful Gen One stuff.

[Ceric]

I never much cared for the animation style of Beast Wars (or Beast Machines, for that matter). I'll just stick to my faithful Gen One stuff.

I have the First Season, the First part of the Second Season, and the Movie.  I need to pick up the rest but I got those back when it was really expensive with Rhino.  I saw them in a smaller package for cheaper and it was the whole seasons in on go.

[pearlsparrow21]

The Last Movie I have seen is  X-Men: First Class . Before Charles Xavier and Erik took the names Lensherr Prof. X and Magnetothey were two young people men are discovering powers the first time. i rate this movie 9.03 out of 10.

[broodwars]

I never much cared for the animation style of Beast Wars (or Beast Machines, for that matter). I'll just stick to my faithful Gen One stuff.

Yeah, Season 1 of Beast Wars hasn't aged very well.  Mainframe went with much more stylized models for the second and third seasons, though, and those have aged MUCH better in the animation department.  Beast Machines has a pretty unique art style that has aged very well IMO.

I do have to agree that Beast Machines lost a lot of the fun of Beast Wars, and honestly it committed some pretty major character assassination on characters I really liked in Beast Wars.  I do think the series being one 26-episode arc does make up for that, though.  The writing in both series is pretty good, leagues beyond the shitty writing of the original Transformers (which was so terrible it made the writing in the original Thundercats look good by comparison).

[Stogi]

hahahahahahaha greatest review ever

[Ceric]

I've seen all the episodes of Transformer Animated.  It is pretty darn good.  Should have had a longer run but, the toys are really great.

[broodwars]

I've started watching some old 80s movies I've either not seen in a while or haven't seen at all, starting with The Running Man and Escape from New York.

I actually really enjoyed The Running Man.  The dialogue is silly and dumb; the acting is vintage Schwartzenegger cheese; and the effects are at best hilarious, but the movie's obviously supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek satire and it really succeeds at that.  While watching the movie, I had to wonder in places if this movie might have inspired Hideo Kojima a bit with the Metal Gear Solid bosses, since the "bosses" in this movie are so over-the-top and ridiculous.  Despite coming from the 1980s, the movie is pretty well-paced and consistently entertaining.  I might pick it up again on Blu-Ray sometime.

Incidentally, I have some other Ah-nold films on the stack I'll be watching as well, including the two Predator films (which I've never seen) and Total Recall (which I haven't seen in well over a decade).

As for Escape from New York, that movie bored me pretty badly, despite some good moments here and there.  Kurt Russell just doesn't seem to have much to do in this movie, something I remember being rectified in the 90s with Escape from L.A., a movie I remember liking a lot more.

[ThePerm]

i love Predator, i need to re-watch Total-Recall. Running Man is great in a Hobo with a shotgun sort of way, probably a source of inspiration for Hobo. Escape from New York is decent, but it didn't live up to my expectations.

[broodwars]

I just finished watching Green Lantern.  I've been hearing all summer all across the internet how bad this movie supposedly was, but I unexpectedly enjoyed it.  I didn't think it was anywhere near as good or consistent as the Christopher Nolan Batman movies or the first Iron Man movie, but I would put it about on par with a B-class Superhero movie like Thor or The Incredible Hulk.  The story was reasonably coherent, the constructs were fun to watch, the acting was pretty solid, and I got a good sense of what Green Lantern was capable of (which is not something that can be said about Thor in his movie).  The pacing's pretty rushed and it feels like some major content was left on the cutting room floor (which I suppose is why there's an extended director's cut being released).  Probably my biggest problem with the movie is that there's a lot of emphasis in the story on the Green Lantern "Corp", yet the "Corp" doesn't show up in a single action scene in the movie (which is especially egregious in the final battle).  That's just odd.

Now, it's worth noting that a lot of the complaints I've heard about this movie lie in the special effects, namely how bad Green Lantern's costume supposedly looks with the actor's head floating over a CG body.  Now, it possibly could have been due to video compression, but I honestly didn't see this effect so it didn't diminish my experience.  If I ever watch the movie again in higher definition and see that effect, it probably would but for now the special effects looked fine to me....with one exception: I can see where they were going with Parallax's look, but they really didn't pull it off.  He does look like a giant oozing space turd.

So yeah, I enjoyed Green Lantern, apparently the "worst" superhero movie in years (with apparently everyone forgetting Iron Man 2).  Go figure.

[ThePerm]

there was only one scene that he had the floating head look, and that was when he was talking to his stupid sidekick friend in his apartment, the scene that was in the trailer. Other than that he looked just fine, and I dug the suit design really. Actually, I also watched it in 3d and I thought the special effects looked great, not the most 3d movie, but the 3d made things seem even higher resolution.

Speaking of 3d, i found out something interesting the other day. Laser holograms still look 3d if you cover one eye, which is weird because usually if you close one eye the effect is ruined. I was at wal-mart the other day looking at dvd cases, and I was like thats kinda interesting.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm not a fan of The Green Lantern and not really familiar with him outside of cartoons, but
The Green Lantern was just not good. The acting was alright and I'm a fan of RR, but the special effects of the costume just kept getting your attention to much and it breaks the suspension of disbelief repeatedly taking you out of the movie. The worst part was that stupid mask he was wearing. Everytime it was on, it was obvious that it was CGI and it was really distracting.

As far as the plot is concerned... it wasn't horrible, and it made sense I guess, but as part of the general audience who isn't really familiar with The Green Lantern and how he works, it was all kinda stupid. His powers are only limited by his imagination and his will to fight.... not to mention the battery power left in his ring. All these aliens and another giant cloud monster yet he is fighting this thing all alone. I think in my my I have fused details from the cartoon movie that came out recently with the live action one, but I'm just not a fan of the character.

Maybe they could do better in a sequel, but after seeing it bomb in theaters, I don't think it's gonna get one, nor do I think I would be all that interested in watching it.

[bustin98]

I have heard that a sequel to GL is in the works, may possibly be a reboot of sorts, kinda like the 2 Hulk films, the second ignoring that the first exists. But both Batman and Superman are receiving the same treatment. DC is trying to catch up to Marvel in all areas that it lacks in, and they are trying to focus on the mainstream outlets available to them.

I have said before what I think of the film. I don't think its the worse hero movie ever. I do like Iron Man 2 more though.

[ThePerm]

thats the thing about GL though, even if it wasn't that popular, its a movie where they should move on. A sequel to green lantern would be much more interesting than the first movie. Also, they have some feedback, so they know what to change. Drop the stupid one liners, go full on space, make a live action suit.

[Stogi]

Yeah GL was pretty decent. Even though they had an enemy and a message that could kill the universe, it lacked being epic.

Even at the very end, it seemed stupid and not epic at all. I would have RR's fear played up much stronger, I would have also had more GL's die. I also would have SHOWN paralax destroying the world the red GL was talking about. All that would have helped the feeling of helplessness, making defeating him more epic.

[Adrock]

I didn't hate Green Lantern. There was just so much lost potential and so many missed opportunities. There were a lot of pointless scenes. It needed more OA and the Green Lantern Corp. Also, use the ring more! The power ring pretty much the coolest item in all of comics (and I'm including Wolverine's adamantium claws and Cap's shield) because it can literally make anything a reality.

Anyway...

Mouchette
This was my last Netflix DVD. It's an old French film that many consider to be one of Robert Bresson's best. It was good, not great. There were some odd choices in terms of direction. I didn't understand some of symbolism whether due to the time period or cultural differences. I watched some of the commentary by a film scholar which cleared some things up.

Bresson apparently liked to cast non-actors. Mouchette was played by Nadine Nortier who, according to imdb, never appeared in another film. She did a good job of playing a quietly rebellious adolescent trying to escape her poor circumstances.

The ending has Kate Chopin "The Awakening" vibe to it. I felt that it seemed too sudden though maybe that's because the film is roughly 80 minutes. The story ended like many adolescent stories end: on a down note.

[broodwars]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Green Lantern either.  My first exposure to him was in the Superman: The Animated Series episode that introduced Kyle Raynor (comic artist) as a new Green Lantern, and I enjoyed the episode and thought his powers were cool.  However, the more and more stories that focused on the enigmatic "Green Lantern Corps" out in the cosmos, the less I liked the character.  Once these comic stories leave the Earth, they have a lot of trouble making me care about the fate of random people on random planets I don't know.  Plus, it's hard to see the Green Lantern as "special" when there are hundreds of thousands of other individuals in the universe with the exact same powers.

That's why I had a lot of problems with how the Green Lantern Corps were used in this movie.  I can enjoy a story where there's only one Green Lantern of interest and he's protecting Earth, but don't show so much of the Corps if you have no intention of using it.  Pick one or the other if you're going to do a Green Lantern story, because otherwise it just demeans the character.

As for the effects, maybe it's just my years upon years of watching animated TV shows and movies, but they really didn't bother me.  I've seen far worse CG and live-action integration than this.  Try watching Gundam G-Savior sometime.  Hell, thanks to Linkara and Nash, I've seen far worse Green Lantern CG and live-action integration than this.  And since Ryan Renold's face is usually the only "real" asset in any given scene Green Lantern's in, my suspension of disbelief wasn't broken more than a couple of times.  It was just CG characters talking and interacting with CG characters in a CG world.  The scenes I had major issues with were usually ones where the camera did a close-up on Hal's face, where you could see those horrible CG eyes behind the Green Lantern mask.

As for Parallax, I know this is going to sound blasphemous but I was fine with the whole "evil cloud" concept, just as I was for Galactus in the 2nd Fantastic Four movie.  I'm sorry, but THIS is not intimidating, and I'm not sure a giant yellow tick would look all that threatening on the big screen either.  A storm cloud is formless and impenetrable.  It represents a powerful force of nature, and it gives the impression that somewhere within that cloud is an evil whose appearance is up to the imagination of the viewer.  Do I think that either movie really delivered on that idea?  No, but I can see what they were driving at.

[Morari]

Trollhunter

Awesome. The special effects were used sparingly, but nicely integrated into the scenes when they did appear. This is saying something too, as the panoramic scenes through Norway are simply beautiful. The camera work was actually very tolerable... perhaps the first-ever "found footage" type of film to not lapse in that regard. Otto Jespersen pretty much steals the show as the titular troll hunter.

My gripe? A little too much time was spent simply driving around. I would have preferred to hear more about the underlying biological reasons for trolls to exist. We're given some pretty interesting insight into them as is, but more would have been better given the scenario.

I'd recommend watching the film before Hollywood remakes it for an American audience, dumbing-down and destroying everything good in the process.

[ThePerm]

so much good stuff comes out of northern europe right now, its kinda amazing. Its like a new Scandinavian renaissance.

[Halbred]

Trollhunter

Awesome. The special effects were used sparingly, but nicely integrated into the scenes when they did appear. This is saying something too, as the panoramic scenes through Norway are simply beautiful. The camera work was actually very tolerable... perhaps the first-ever "found footage" type of film to not lapse in that regard. Otto Jespersen pretty much steals the show as the titular troll hunter.

My gripe? A little too much time was spent simply driving around. I would have preferred to hear more about the underlying biological reasons for trolls to exist. We're given some pretty interesting insight into them as is, but more would have been better given the scenario.

I'd recommend watching the film before Hollywood remakes it for an American audience, dumbing-down and destroying everything good in the process.

I liked it too, but I was similarly disappointed about the lack of information ABOUT trolls. I also didn't really understand why they went from troll to troll. But it was pretty awesome--the three-headed troll was the best one, IMO.

[BlackNMild2k1]

i have that movie and started to watch it twice.... fell asleep both times. Maybe I should revisit it... one of the 31 movies in 31 days perhaps.

[broodwars]

Recently finished two more movies, and they couldn't be more different...

Total Recall - To be honest, this movie was pretty average, and I don't think it ever made up its mind whether it wanted to be a serious Sci-Fi story, some sort of weird satire, or a flat-out Arnold shoot 'em up.  If it was supposed to be the first, casting Arnold Schwartzenegger was a bad move, since he's never really been a great "serious actor".  If it was supposed to be the second, having Arnold play the lead role so straight was a bad move, since it doesn't take advantage of his natural skills at cheesy acting.  I can see why this movie got a cult following, but it just feels a bit loose and not fully realized to me.  Being on Blu-Ray doesn't do the film any favors, either, since it makes the sets and props look pretty cheap and fake.

I'll be interested to see how the coming remake of that film turns out, since I think there's a genuinely good Phillip K. Dick Sci-Fi story hidden in there.

As for the other movie, I've been playing a lot of Prince of Persia lately on the Sands of Time Trilogy disc.  Fittingly, it got me in the mood to revisit a movie I hadn't seen in a while: Aladdin & the King of Thieves, the 3rd movie in the Aladdin "trilogy" and the 2nd direct-to-video one.

While the music is pretty mediocre (I think Disney lost its touch for original songs after the Golden Age of Disney Animation in the 90s) and the animation is likewise average...for an episode of the Aladdin TV series, I still like this film pretty well overall.  The story is well-written for this source material, and it's well-told.  Having all the original actors from the first movie (including Robin Williams as the Genie) certainly helped sell the material, and John Rhy-Davies as the King of Thieves was a great addition to the cast.  And the ending bookends the franchise nicely.

The Disney direct-to-video animated sequels deservedly get a lot of criticism for being pretty terrible cash-ins, but Aladdin & the King of Thieves is one of the few good ones.  Check it out sometime if you haven't and had a fondness for the original movie.

[oohhboy]

Total Recall is a Paul Verhoeven movie, which means it does all 3 at the same time. You made the mistake of trying to peg it into one category. His best movies don't work like that. The remake will be bollocks. See what happened last time someone remade an Arnold movie.