NOW CLOSED ; List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

[DigDog]

i watched .. not sure for what reason .. The Running Man - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093894/

oh boy, this film did not age well.
Exceptionally cool and upstanding policeman Ben Richards is ordered to kill a bunch of unarmed civilians. When he refuses he is framed for their murder, sent to prison, escapes, becomes a resistance fighter, infiltrates his old apartment, attempts a covert escape, is noticed by the local TV network, who then scheme together with the DoJ to capture him and bring him as a "guest" on their rating-smashing bloodsport show, The Running Man.
And all in less than half an hour !! Talk about pacing.
Then you get the stuff we all remember, good ol' schwarzie making short work of overweight bad dudes in horrible costumes while spittin' quips in a bad austrian accent. Cue final confrontation and poetic justice.

There's still a couple of performances - not schwarzie's - in the film which are worth watching today, namely the tv host, and the lady who bets on Richards ("he's a mean motherfucker"), but the supporting cast is awful, the direction is awful, the photography is awful, the music is terrible, the sets are pathetic, and the story is really cool, which is why we even remember this film at all. Even Schwarzenegger does a bad job acting and delivering his lines, compared to .. well, compared to Predator, which was the following film, where he also has very few lines, or 1990's Total Recall.

It's a film that's lost to time. If you didn't enjoy it when it came out, it's too late now.

My vote: 6.5/10 - for a first viewing, 5.5/10 if you've seen it before.

 

[JujuFish]

I read Who Goes There? yesterday and followed it by watching The Thing (1982). It was okay, I guess. It might have been effective had I seen it as a child, but every time I saw a Thing changing, I couldn't help but laugh at how bad it looked. Cool idea. Novella was better than the movie.

 

[sactoking]

I think original Running Man holds up OK. It wasn't spectacular upon release but it's still fine.

Running Man remake was very bad upon release.

 

[shortylickens]

Running Man holds up better than most other sci-fi flicks from the 80's. They didn't rely too heavily on post-production visual effects like lasers and shit.
Of course Conan still works because its a simple fantasy setting, mostly timeless. Again, not heavy on post effects.

 

[DigDog]

I read Who Goes There? yesterday and followed it by watching The Thing (1982). It was okay, I guess. It might have been effective had I seen it as a child, but every time I saw a Thing changing, I couldn't help but laugh at how bad it looked. Cool idea. Novella was better than the movie.

dude .. no. come on. the practical effects on that film are still among the best ever made, even today.

 

[DigDog]

Running Man holds up better than most other sci-fi flicks from the 80's. They didn't rely too heavily on post-production visual effects like lasers and shit.
Of course Conan still works because its a simple fantasy setting, mostly timeless. Again, not heavy on post effects.

this was the golden decade of Aaaarnold, he did Conan, Terminator, Commando, Predator, Twins (!!) and Total Recall.
Back then, i though Commando was the more bare-bones, done on the cheap, between the two, but now that years have gone by, film technology has improved, i feel Commando is the better film. It's a case of "there's less components that can fail".

Total Recall - which was at the time his best .. or at least, most loved film, *the one met with the most enthusiasm*, and that too has not aged terribly well, due to its heavy reliance on plasticky sets and toy laz0r guns. It looks ... eighties. But the story still holds up well, i would say, even an improvement over Dick's original, Arnold's performance is pretty darn solid (remember the "sweat" scene?). AND it's got triple-tittied hookers.
The Kwato prostethics don't hold up well, pretty much all the special effects and sets look bad, but you still got a film that you'd recommend to anyone if they had not watched it yet.


Running Man .. not so much. The story itself is decent, but it didn't get put on-screen well. The only decent actor is the guy portraying the tv presenter, the supporting cast is cringeworthy, and the direction by none other that #Supermediocre film director Paul Glaser (of tv Starsky & Hutch fame!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Michael_Glaser#Film is terrible; his idea of a character group is to "just throw them all in the frame".

If it's Today and you have never seen Total Recall: you need to watch Total Recall.
If it's Today and you have never seen The Running Man: meh, take it or leave it.

Back in the late 80s we were so starved for Scifi and action-comedy that we didn't care. All we focused on was Buzzsaw getting castrated and Arnold noting that "he had to split".
We don't have that kind of sensibility anymore, today.



(Conan is a masterpiece. I put Conan up there in my all-time favourite films, and it's a film that is *so good*, i am still baffled as to HOW they managed to make it)

 

[mikeymikec]

Of course Conan still works because its a simple fantasy setting, mostly timeless. Again, not heavy on post effects.

I tried to watch Conan for the first time a few years ago and couldn't get through it. I realise the narration is meant to be cheesy, but it's too much cheese for me.

 

[purbeast0]

Life of Pi - 7/10

Act 1 is a 10/10, and once the film moves to the boat it begins its descent into how much CGI and fake cinematography can we pack up in this bitch with not much in the movement of the plot or character development. The film then becomes a 5/10 and well it averages to 7!

Plot holes, or an assuming lazy audience by the Director on this whimsical tale who they just expected to enjoy the CGI. With all that murderous murdering that boat sure cleaned up nicely.

I watched this movie again for the first time since around when it came to bluray. We were looking to watch something with our 5 year old and came across it and I had forgotten about this movie.

It's still fantastic to me and he enjoyed it quite a bit as well.

 

[JujuFish]

dude .. no. come on. the practical effects on that film are still among the best ever made, even today.

I don't know what to say. I got more laughs out of that movie than anything I've watched in a long time.

I should also note that I rarely watch horror because I don't get scared, so maybe I'm just more prone to laugh at the absurdity than be terrified by it.

 

[Exterous]

Boss Level is on Hulu now. It's an "interesting" action film... like Crank meets Groundhog Day.

It's better than a lot of junk that's showed up on Netflix recently. I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Just watched it and had made a similar comparison. Very enjoyable movie although I liked it a little more at 8/10

 

[shortylickens]

I finally sat down and watched the Hill Street Blues pilot. Its OK as a drama, but it absolutely would not fly in the MeToo era. Loaded with sexism most of which is mindless and propagated by the alleged heroes. A product of its time. Great when it was new, today would likely cause rioting in the streets. They do make the average street cop look a little smarter and more introspective than most other police shows up until 1981.

9/10.

Watch it with someone you love.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Hill Street Blues was a good show. And to think it was during the conservative Reagan years, too.

 

[shortylickens]

Hill Street Blues was a good show. And to think it was during the conservative Reagan years, too.

81 thru 89, correct.

 

[SKORPI0]

Zack Snyder's Justice league - 9/10.

Wow, beginning to ending story line so much different from the 2017 release.
Darkseid, Martian Manhunter, Deathstroke and Joker added. Worth watching the 4:02:40.

Zack Snyder's Justice League - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[PingSpike]

Man, I have basically no movies to watch.

Recently rewatched the Fly and the Fly II with my wife. Prior to watching, I was of the opinion that Fly II was quite good and I liked it as much as the original, maybe more. After watching, no...Fly is clearly better. The secondary characters are cartoonish in the Fly II, including the villains. I still liked the Fly II final rampage but it lacks the tragedy of the first movie, the acting is worse and the script (while not horrible) is just to simplistic.

Tenet: Wanted to like this movie, after finishing I eventually had to accept that it sucked. The action scenes were weird, but worse they ended up boring. The final fight was like they were battling ghosts. I get the concept but it just didn't look cool on screen. I didn't bother thinking about the concept to much since a character basically says "don't think to much, its all magic" in the early scene.

Peanutbutter Falcon: Its alright, basically one of those sundance kind of movies where the characters go on a spirit quest. Its was pretty funny sometimes, decent performances.

I've been watching a bunch of clips from movies I've seen before recently. I've noticed that the HD treatment often makes 1980s special effects, which looked decent at the time, look like crap now. This is most noticeable on some kinds of miniatures. Terminator 2 is not one of those examples, this movie still looks great. I watched a making of and was actually kind of shocked how many T-1000 effects were actually practical and not CG. I also watched a hilarious deleted scene where the T-1000 kills a dog then tactile scans John Conner's room. Glad they deleted that one.

 

[Muadib]

Zack Snyder's Justice league - 9/10.

Wow, beginning to ending story line so much different from the 2017 release.
Darkseid, Martian Manhunter, Deathstroke and Joker added. Worth watching the 4:02:40.

Zack Snyder's Justice League - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

View attachment 41287

I hated what they did with the 2017 release, but I now understand what happened. I want to see this, but I notice that you have bars on the side of your pic. Why is this not 16:9???

 

[SKORPI0]

I hated what they did with the 2017 release, but I now understand what happened. I want to see this, but I notice that you have bars on the side of your pic. Why is this not 16:9???

I was surprised that it wasn't 16:9 and wished it were.

The cut was filmed in and will be released in an open matte 1.33:1 aspect ratio alongside IMAX 1.43:1.[156][157][158] The cut will also be available to stream in 4K, HDR (in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision), and Dolby Atmos on HBO Max.[159]

Zack Snyder's Justice League - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DigDog]

i just noticed this

i watched again (saw it when it released) Up In The Air - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1193138/reference

the 2009 George Clooney film; directed by Jason Reitman, otherwise known for Juno (2007) and not much else.

.... 7.5/10

i watched for the third (or fourth) time Up In The Air - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1193138/

...

My vote: 7.5/10 - a sleeper that will get you in the end.

Same vote, 3 years apart. That's consistency, guys.

 

[Ajay]

Picard. 7/10.
Walk down memory lane of sorts. The very end kind of spoiled it a bit, IMHO.

 

[JujuFish]

Picard. 7/10.
Walk down memory lane of sorts. The very end kind of spoiled it a bit, IMHO.

The episode where Picard is (not sure if this should be spoiler tagged since it's so mild, but I'll do it anyway)

Spoiler

hanging out with Deanna and Riker

got me good.

 

[DigDog]

friendly reminder that if you hated The Cabin In The Woods (like i did, initially) you should watch this:

 

[RearAdmiral]

friendly reminder that if you hated The Cabin In The Woods (like i did, initially) you should watch this:

Cliff notes or things you found most interesting? Generally I liked Cabin in the Woods.

 

[DigDog]

Cliff notes or things you found most interesting? Generally I liked Cabin in the Woods.

well, when i first saw CITW, i was pretty much of the same opinion as the Cinema Sins guys. Please let me clarify that i hate cinema sins, they are shit.
But when i saw this video, it explains exactly WHY everything happens in the movies. it is a complex collection of reference to tropes that i was completely oblivious to, and as such, i just was not *getting* what was happening in the movie. Right in front of my eyes, and yet i was not seeing it.

After watching this video a f* light came on and i understood the movie.

.. this isn't something that happens to me .. often. I tend.. i *believe* that i tend to be on the other side of things, i am weary and disillusioned but, actually not being privy to what a film is trying to convey, is not normal for me. Bored yes, ignorant, not so much.

In my defense i have nearly zero experience of horror films, for me it's only ever been Dawn of The Dead, the Evil Dead series, and that's about it. I know what a "final girl" trope is, but it's not something that i would recognize a spoof of unless you reeeeeally explain it to me, which is what this film does.

TLDR: DigDog dumb, film smart.

Note that this video is "everything wrong WITH Everything Wrong with" Cabin In The Woods.

 

[shortylickens]

the new Justice League is 4 hours long.
So yeah, I'll be skipping it. If one of you fuckers wants to watch, go ahead. Let us know how it looks.

 

[DigDog]

i got it queued up, i'll let you know. I did not watch the previous iteration, not my kinda stuff.

I am watching (but can review it, as i've seen it 4 times already) Brainstorm - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085271/

A film that i have a weird love-hate relationship with.

I watched this film first when it came out in the theaters, around 1983 (maybe 1-2 years later for the dub), i would have been 12. I both loved it and hated it, it amazed me, terrified me, confused me, and bored me, all at the same time.
Back in 1983 this film was a disaster; both because one of the main actors, Natalie Wood, died during (but not related to) production (and quite likely murdered). The film got put on hold for 2 years, sold to an insurance company, and when it hit the theaters (competing with Trading Places, Risky Business, Krull, Cujo, Wargames, Flashdance, Yentl, Superman 3, Rumble Fish, two James Bond films, the Twilight Zone movie, National Lampoon's vacation .. etc) it did really poorly, also due to a barebones promotional campaign.

The story is of two scientists, played by Woods and Christopher Walken, who build a Mind-Machine Interface. Obviously there are many buyers interested in the machine, some of which do not have the best intentions.

The film uses some interesting devices, such as the change of optics in the camera during real-life and machine- sequences. The sets are nice, the props are gorgeous, holding up even today. The script is ok, dialogue is average, the pacing is not great.
Christopher Walken is terrible. He had not adopted that weird, almost-stuttering persona that has used in the recent years, and is just really wooden in delivering his lines. All the supporting characters are fairly solid, but there are no standout performances.
The film was finished with a substantially reduced budget (due to what described above) and as such, some scenes are a bit confusing. They may be a bit more obvious today, but back in the 80s i didn't know wtf was going on.

For a film set in the current period, there was a stronk SciFi vibe here. Some sequences are visually memorable, but unfortunately some other are really not, and the result is not great.
Still, it's a film i would recommend. See it and i bet you will be as confused, amused, perplexed, excited as i was, all at the same time.

My vote: 7/10