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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 9, 2009 10:14:11 GMT -5
Zap, can you go ahead and combine the two of those posts into an official review of the film to put up in the Review Board section? I know I haven't done much there (most of my recent viewing no one else has heard of, so no use there), but it would be nice to at least pretend we have a section there. Silent Predators-Pretty much the standard definition of a 'been there, done that before' type of film, as nothing big either way. www.imdb.com/title/tt0203139/usercomments-10King Cobra-A much more enjoyable than expected outing that actually managed to surprise with it's good parts. www.imdb.com/title/tt0138797/usercomments-52Snake Island-Yeah, there's a reason why giant snakes are great, demonstrated here, but it's still got a lot of good stuff going for it. www.imdb.com/title/tt0320483/usercomments-16Fair Game-Inherently lame barely-horror, further proof killer snakes need to be gigantic or in massive swarms. www.imdb.com/title/tt0095126/usercomments-8Vipers-Incredibly enjoyable, exciting snake film with a lot of great, fun points about it and very few flaws to hinder it. www.imdb.com/title/tt1152403/usercomments-8Anaconda 3: The Offspring-Continues the long string of enjoyable entries in the series with an all-around blast of an entry. www.imdb.com/title/tt1137996/usercomments-24Anaconda 4: Trail of Blood-Not nearly as good as the previous entries, but the good parts on display are a blast at least. www.imdb.com/title/tt1150934/usercomments-5Copperhead-Yet another all-around blast of an entry, with so much good stuff to come in it becomes all the better. www.imdb.com/title/tt1027806/usercomments-12 |
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Post by Termination on Mar 9, 2009 14:11:29 GMT -5
Re-Cycle (2006)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio dts-HDMA - 9/10
Rest Stop: Dead Ahead (2006)
HD Video - 6/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - 8/10
Rest Stop: Don't Look Back (2008)
HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - 7/10
The Sixth Sense (1999)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio dts - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 8/10
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raina
Junior Member
Posts: 77
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Post by raina on Mar 9, 2009 16:02:32 GMT -5
The Nines (2007)
Three stories, one is about a troubled actor under house arrest, another about a producer who is trying to launch a new television series starring his best friend, and the last is about a husband trying to find help for his family after they encounter car trouble.
Very interesting, a tad baffling at the beginning, but comes together pretty quickly (much more quickly then you would expect, not sure the writer didn't give away too much too soon, really) and its touching. I REALLY like this movie, but its not perfect.
7/10
Primer (2004)
A time travel film that is impressive (considering the budget) and hard to follow. Honestly, not sure how I feel about it without watching it again. I found it fascinating, but a tad frustrating. Others might find it boring. Not even sure how to rate it...lol...but lets say....
7/10
Night of the Living Dorks (2004)
A teen comedy that centers around losers Philip, Wurst and Konrad. Philip wants to attempt a voodoo ritual in order to win the affection of a girl that he has a crush on, but instead the three find themselves brought back as zombies after a fatal car accident.
A German film and I unfortunately watched a dubbed version. I think I might have liked it more had I watched with subtitles, I have a feeling it might be funnier than it seemed to be (the potential was certainly there). But this is definitely more teen sex comedy than Night of the Living Dead. It had it moments though.
5.5/10
Plasterhead (2006)
Four college students are on their way to Miami during winter break, when they end up stuck in a small town in West Virginia No way they are going to break down in West Virgina without running into some deformed psycho with a grudge....
Okay....so they run out of gas trying to be good samaritans, and get stuck in Rolling Glen. Turns out Ray Williams, a truck driver that was beaten severely and left for dead 15 years earlier, ain't dead. He kills people.
A whole lot of nothing special.
3/10
The Tooth Fairy (2006)
A woman and daughter head out to visit the bed and breakfast that the woman's boyfriend is opening. The daughter, Pamela, meets a local girl that warns her about the legend of the witch that used to live in the place. A woman that couldn't bear to look at her own face, that would give gifts to the children for their last baby tooth. Only she didn't give gifts so much as well.....kill them and steal their teeth. Nice lady. And even death is not going to stop her from collecting them. No idea why, its just what she does..... ;D
Mostly stupid, but some fun if you can ignore the more obvious ridiculousness (the first murder being written off as "an accident", a woman that works in law office not bothering to call the police when she is assaulted, oh just too much to list really).
4/10
The Back Lot Murders (2002)
Low budget horror comedy about a rock band that is on the brink of stardom who is shooting a video on a well known movie set. Soon a masked killer starts stalking the set.
Has its moments and it never takes itself too seriously. But it doesn't work most of the time.
3.5/10
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Mar 10, 2009 2:23:53 GMT -5
Big difference of opinion here. ;D WATCHMEN (2009) Saw it last night and liked it A LOT. My wife, who has not read the book, also enjoyed it and had no trouble following the story. There is a lot cut from the book, for the sake of time, but the essential story is pretty much all there. I assumed all the backstory for the characters would be cut, but a lot of it is still in there. I do agree that you should never have to read a book to enjoy a movie adaptation, but in this case, if you have read it, you'll just appreciate the film that much more. The screen is just crammed with little background details that are right out of the book and it's just neat to see them on screen. I found myself smiling a lot during this movie because of stuff like that. I don't know if reading the book will help anyone understand the film better or anything like that, like I said, the basic story is already there in the movie. The only thing the book would do is present you with a couple of subplots and more backstory that were dropped from the film. The on-screen characters are pretty much true, in personality and appearance, to their graphic novel counterparts, and the acting is everywhere from decent to great. The main female Silk Spectre, isn't really that interesting a character, neither in the book or the film, but the male leads really stand out, especially Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl. Visually, the movie is "must see on the big screen" stunning. The cgi, stunts and fight scenes were all really well done and it seemed like there was always something going on visually. With the only real technical weakness, imho, being the old age makeup, which wasn't too convincing, and the guy playing Nixon looked more like a wax figure of a caricature of Nixon. Those are minor quibbles. I was also impressed by how dark the overall tone of the film was. Snyder didn't water it down at all. Lots of graphic violence, adult language, sex and nudity. In terms of comic book movies with serious overtones, WATCHMEN makes THE DARK KNIGHT look almost campy. As for it being too long or boring, the only time it dragged just a little bit for me was some of the stuff on Mars, but that wasn't one of my favorite sequences in the book either. When the film was over, I turned to my wife and said, "I could watch another hour of this.", and when that extended director's cut dvd is released, I'll definitely be picking it up. 9/10 I'm sure he could have cut the film's running time in half if he had decided to present more of it at normal speed. That's a huge exaggeration. The slo-mo isn't overdone and it certainly wouldn't have cut the movie by half. More like a minute or so overall. This is why it's called an adaptation. Zack Snyder wasn't "visionary" here, because he was using someone else's vision. He used the comic as a storyboard, and basically gave us a 99% faithful adatation. Well, if that's the case, why make the movie? We already have the comic book. In that case, Robert Rodriguez wasn't visionary either and shouldn't have made SIN CITY. He did the exact same thing that Snyder is doing here: An extremely faithful adaptation where the comic is used as a storyboard and the comic's panels are recreated in live-action. Yeah, I suppose there's a little hypocrisy here... I let Sin City slide because I found it far more enjoyable. And not only that, but Frank Miller himself was heavily involved with the project. Rodriguez wasn't so much the visionary when it came to Sin City, it was Frank Miller. I'm glad you enjoyed Watchmen though. I don't think of it as a terrible film at all, but it just simply failed to resonate with me, aside from a few scenes (the jail-break comes to mind). Visually, it was fantastic. I'm hoping the Academy remembers this for the technical categories (they left 300 out a couple years ago), because it's a visual marvel. I was disappointed by the pacing, and how long it took to hit certain points. I feel the climax wasn't rewarding enough for my time (even if it was true to the book). I know I sound harsh, but I really did not hate the movie. I was just merely disappointed by it. It collapsed under the weight of its hype. Damn you, 20th Century Fox!  |
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Mar 11, 2009 8:24:42 GMT -5
Yeah, I suppose there's a little hypocrisy here... I let Sin City slide because I found it far more enjoyable. And not only that, but Frank Miller himself was heavily involved with the project. Rodriguez wasn't so much the visionary when it came to Sin City, it was Frank Miller. I disagree. The SIN CITY book was Frank Miller's vision. The movie was Rodriguez' vision. I loved it too, but had it been left entirely in Miller's hands it may have turned out as "well-received" as THE SPIRIT. I remember one review for THE SPIRIT where the critic hilariously mentioned that judging by the on-screen results of THE SPIRIT, the extent of Miller's involvement in filming SIN CITY was probably getting Rodriguez his morning coffee. ;D Which means that Zack Snyder should be given even more credit for bringing WATCHMEN to the screen so closely to the original book, without Alan Moore's involvement. Unlike Rodriguez who could just turn around and ask Miller his opinion. Would WATCHMEN be an even better film had Alan Moore been involved? Who knows? He would've been forced to edit things out and change things around for the film too, and he'd probably end up an even more bitter man than he already is. About WATCHMEN, he's already stated he "...will never watch this fucking thing!". Snyder was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He's being criticized by some for sticking too closely to the book and he's being criticized by others for the changes and edits he did make in order to bring the movie to a reasonable running time as well as trying to keep it coherent. As much as I enjoyed the film, I'm pretty sure no one wants to sit through a 5 - 6 hour WATCHMEN film in a theater. A really long director's cut at home on dvd is different. You can pause the movie, hit the bathroom, stretch your legs, get a bite, return to the movie at your leisure, etc. Anyway, I realize that WATCHMEN is not for everyone. It is long, it's not your typical "comic book" or "superhero" movie, it's very layered and has a depth not found in your average popcorn blockbuster action film, it pokes holes in superhero mythology, it's rated R which eliminates a section of the audience who would normally be interested in seeing this kind of movie. It definitely has an uphill battle in converting people who haven't read the book or even completely appeasing folks who are die-hard fans of the book. Remember, even the much-loved LORD OF THE RINGS films were criticized by some for the changes Jackson had to make in order to bring it to the screen. Anyway, if it's seen as a failure by some, then it's a spectacular failure, imho. |
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Mar 11, 2009 20:50:38 GMT -5
Anyway, if it's seen as a failure by some, then it's a spectacular failure, imho. Here, here. Snyder deserves credit for trying. Warner Bros. deserves credit for being bold enough to put up the cash. I hope this movie succeeds, for the sake of cinema in general. I would hate to see the major studios discouraged from taking chances. Because it's those chances that make great films. Perhaps Watchmen was too bold for its own good. But when a studio has the cajones to just go and do it... I think that studio deserves to be rewarded. Even if the end product wasn't that good. God knows that studios today play it too damn safe... 20th Century Fox, I'm looking at you! |
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Mar 12, 2009 13:15:24 GMT -5
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Mar 13, 2009 8:19:40 GMT -5
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES (1995)
Based on poet/writer Jim Carroll's autobiographical account of his teen years, playing high school basketball, hanging out with his buddies and his eventual descent into the world of hard drugs and heroin addiction. Leonardo DiCaprio, in one of his earliest starring roles, does a great job as Carroll. The scene where he's begging and pleading with his mom (Lorraine Bracco) to let him back into the house after she's kicked him out is gut-wrenching. And if seeing him prostitute himself for drug money doesn't deter you from doing hard drugs than nothing will. Mark Wahlberg does good work here too in one of his earliest film roles as one of Carroll's buddies.
The movie is not the end all be all of drug movies, but it's especially worth watching for DiCaprio's performance.
7/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 13, 2009 10:12:27 GMT -5
Doom-See thoughts in Movie Genre thread.
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars-See thoughts in Movie Genre thread.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Mar 14, 2009 16:35:41 GMT -5
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO (2008)
Two platonic friends (Seth Rogen & Elizabeth Banks) decide to film an adult movie in order to make some fast cash when the bills start piling up and they're in danger of getting kicked out of their apartment. The first half is hilarious with a lot of Kevin Smith's usual brand of humor, but once they realize they might want to be more than friends, the second half is a little more typical of "romantic comedy" fare. But it's still a pretty funny movie overall.
7/10
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Post by Termination on Mar 14, 2009 21:14:27 GMT -5
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - 8/10
The Amityville Horror (1979) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio dts-HDMA - 8/10
Beetlejuice (1988) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - 8/10
Body Heat (1981) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 6/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - 7/10
Body of Lies (2008) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby TrueHD - 10/10
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio LPCM - 8/10
Transporter 3 (2008) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio dts-HDMA - Reference
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raina
Junior Member
Posts: 77
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Post by raina on Mar 15, 2009 14:04:21 GMT -5
Let the Right One In (2008)
Oskar, a lonely, bullied twelve year old boy, meets his new neighbor Eli, a strange girl, who has never seen a Rubiks Cube but can solve it quickly, who seems oblivious to the cold, and only comes out at night. Eli of course, is a vampire and she must kill to live.
This is a horror movie, but it is not a gorefest. If that is what you are looking for, look elsewhere. The acting is actually quite good, and there is real beauty and tenderness here, with scenes of horror, blood and brutality mixed in. Its a sometimes very slow story primarily about loneliness, love and friendship. Its a fascinating mix, and makes this film probably the best vampire film I have seen in years. And also one of the best horror films.
9/10
The Condemned (2007)
A television producer has come up with the next big thing is reality television, he is going bring together a group of brutal convicts, all awaiting the death penalty, to an island where they have to fight each other to the death. The last one standing gets his freedom. And it will all be caught on camera and streamed online for the world to see.
Its not exactly a masterpiece, but its actually very entertaining and better than I was expecting it to be.
6/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Mar 17, 2009 8:28:31 GMT -5
THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE (2001)
Billy Bob Thornton plays a barber in 1949 who gets an opportunity to invest in a business venture, but he needs $10,000.00. He decides to blackmail his wife's boss for the money, since he knows he and his wife are having an affair. And since this is a Coen brothers flick, things go terribly wrong.
Good performances by Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, etc., but I found it a little too slow-paced and not as inspired as some other Coen films.
Not terrible, just not their best work.
6/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Mar 18, 2009 9:15:24 GMT -5
THE RUINS (2008)
Two couples vacationing in Mexico, accept an invitation to visit the ruins of a Mayan temple deep in the jungles. When they arrive they are surrounded by locals who won't allow them to leave and are forced to climb up to the top of the temple to avoid being killed by them. On the temple they face an even greater horror as the ruins seem to be alive.
Not great, but gets points for not being yet another horror flick about a masked killer stalking teens in the woods.
6.5/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Mar 18, 2009 10:02:33 GMT -5
Winc Commander-See thoughts in Movie Genre thread.
Xtro-See thoughts in Movie Genre thread.
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