Just Watched Movies: 2007

[ZapRowsdower]

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones with Rifftrax

Those of you not familiar with Rifftrax, I just found it thanks to IMDb.com, but it's essentially what I've been hoping for: MST3K living on. Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy (Voice of Tom Servo) record MP3 tracks designed to sync up with movies, so that modern movies get the MST3K treatment. Star Wars Ep. 2 was my first download, and it was hilarious. Fans of MST3K should definitely check this out. Downloads are about 2.99 each. They've already done Star Wars Ep. 1 & 2, the Matrix, Predator, Fantastic Four, Battlefield Earth, Glitter, the first episode of Lost and more.

Sorry to go into an ad campaign, but I'm just excited to see MST3K back again.

[Phoenix]

Smitty-

I miss MST3K alot. Thanks so much for the Rifftrax link! I'd never heard of it. The samples are hilarious. I'm not sure which one I'm going to download first...

[Quorthon]

I most recently saw Hostel 2. And I loved it.

[ZapRowsdower]

The Good German - I liked it, but I can see why people disliked it. I really thought the editing was God awful. I mean, I know you're going for 40's noir style, but that was just overdoing it. Also, I don't know how many shots of George Clooney's face I can take. He's the lead and all, but when a camera cuts to his face simply for the purpose of cutting to his face with his smug "Look at me, I'm George Clooney and I just won an Oscar" look, that hurts the movie more than helps it. But there are moments when Clooney shines, and as usual Cate Blanchett was fantastic. Towards the end, the movie gets much better and the editing smooths out. But my God, I really thought it was slapped together poorly. 7/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

iamthesmitty said:

Those of you not familiar with Rifftrax, I just found it thanks to IMDb.com, but it's essentially what I've been hoping for: MST3K living on. Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy (Voice of Tom Servo) record MP3 tracks designed to sync up with movies, so that modern movies get the MST3K treatment.

That is very cool and this way they can give the MST3K treatment to much bigger films than they ever would've been able to on the old show. Thanks for the heads up!

Just watched

A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961)

Based on the stage play about a young man (Sidney Poitier) who shares a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother. A life insurance payout comes into their lives and could either be their salvation or tear them apart even further.
A little outdated at times, and it definitely shows it "stagey" origins, with almost the entire film taking place in the apartment, but the raw emotion is still there and the basic story is still powerful. Nice performannces all around and look for a young Lou Gossett in his first film role.

7/10

[Phoenix]

Last night the hubby and I bought the Rifftrack (thanks again Smitty!) for the movie Daredevil. We actually cried we laughed so hard. Syncing it up was a little tricky and about 3/4 through it was "off" but we fixed it again in less than a minute. No biggie. I plan to buy another one very soon.

Daredevil without the rifftrack: 5/10

With the rifftrack: 10/10

[Termination]

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season - Disc 2 (2006) (Blu-Ray)

Chlamydia

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Zombies

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Satisfaction

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

The Last Waltz (1978) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

[Termination]

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season - Disc 3 (2006) (Blu-Ray)

Karate

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Pieces

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Retards

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Only 3 eps left to watch. The picture so far is very consistent. More so than I thought. There are few scenes which look flat during each ep & grain is present during dark light scenes. Other than that I really have no complaints about the transfers. Color reproduction is top notch & there are lots of scenes during eps that stand out with three dimenional looking images. The sound is great too, though not much of a leap ahead of the Dolby Digital track. Surrounds are active during heavy action scenes, but there isn't as many of these type scenes to blow your hair back. Mostly front heavy, dialog is a step up on the DD track as well with clearer, more distinct vocals & the mains also sound more crisp with the LPCM track. From what I've seen & heard so far (10 episodes) I'm diggin the level of consistentcy. Not perfect in both A/V, but pretty darn close.

[Heineken Skywalker]

THE HAUNTING (1963)

Atmospheric and creepy, for it's time, and a much better film overall than the '99 remake, which mostly tried to wow us with special effects.
Still, I couldn't help but feel a bit underwhelmed when it was all over. After building up much suspense, the payoff wasn't really that great.

6/10

[Termination]

Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season - Disc 4 (2006) (Blu-Ray)

Twilight

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Hell

HD Video - 8/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Beached

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Blood Diamond (2006) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

Coming to America (1988) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10

[slayrrr666]

New DVD acquisitions:

Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain-Not as bad as originally expected, but still quite good. Lots more fun now knowing what to expect, and you simply have to see the uncut scenes offered as extras. Can't tell which one I liked more, but they're alone the price of needing to check this one out.

The Curse of the Komodo-Fun and quite cheesy creature feature, the kind I love. A bit of gore thankfully inserted over the broadcast TV version, and a nice helping of nudity. A solid pick and makes it seem better than it should be on DVD.

Also
Creepshow 2 uncut-Saw it earlier in the year on Chiller, first time seeing it uncut. A lot more fun than before, and has a lot going for it than seeing it otherwise. As usual, though, seeing it uncut always works over seeing it cut.

[ZapRowsdower]

The Hustler - You know when everyone starts telling you how great and monumental a movie is, and you sit down and watch it, and then wind up disappointed? The Hustler, to me, was that movie. Don't get me wrong, it was very good, but I thought it was just slow - and coming from me, that says a lot. It does pick up in the second half and ends up being a brilliant flick because of it, but that first half was difficult to sit through. 8/10 (Yes, I know I rated it higher than it would sound like I would rate it, but trust me, I think it's a fair rating)

[frankenjohn]

1408- A very weird King adaptation, but it adds a lot of depth to the story. A flaw is that it confuses and really only tries to pick out random creepy stuff just to keep us on the edge of our chairs. B-.

[Termination]

Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Band: Live in Dublin (2006) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 7/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 9/10
HD Audio LPCM - 10/10

Trading Places (1983) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 7/10

The Messengers (2007) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 9/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 8/10

For a film less than a year old, the PQ isn't that bad, but not great either. There are a few soft spots (Actually more of blur) which can be distracting & there is also a consistent amount of grain & minor noise. Despite that, blacks are solid & color really leaps off the screen with very fine vivid detail leaving most of the 90 minute runtime with a good level of depth to the overall image. As per audio, subtle sounds are more discrete with the LPCM track but dialog sounds louder & clearer with DD. Also I don't know what the heck happened during mixing, but this track is one heavy sh!t mix. Dynamic Range is completely out of wack. I compare the same time codes btw, when making a final judgement call on which is better. Every test, the DD track was much better balanced throughout + the dialog was more louder & clear. With the LPCM one, everytime there was a scene which had lots of sound effects going on, the db level sky rocketed 15+db . This imo, is not a good mix but because there are scenes where you can easily distinguish sounds which are not apparent at all with the standard DD track, I can't rate one better than the other.

Hellboy (2004) (Blu-Ray)

HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio Dolby Digital - 8/10
HD Audio LPCM - 9/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

iamthesmitty said:

The Hustler8/10 (Yes, I know I rated it higher than it would sound like I would rate it, but trust me, I think it's a fair rating)

Yeah, I think I liked it more than you and I'd rate it no more than a 7/10.

GALLIPOLI (1981)

Two Australians (Mel Gibson & Mark Lee) enlist and end up fighting the Turkish army at the battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Other than the battle scenes in the last 25 minutes or so, I was just kind of bored. This was no SAVING PRIVATE RYAN or PLATOON or GLORY or APOCALYPSE NOW, or... well, you get the point.

4.5/10

BRICK (2005)

I've enjoyed some film noir, but this wasn't my cup of tea. Kudos to writer/director Rian Johnson for trying something different, but in the end it just felt like a bunch of teens playing "dress-up". When the mom showed up to offer cookies, cereal and apple juice it really made all these tough, "hardboiled" teens in the film seem like, well, kids. Kind of took the wind right out of everyone's sails. Maybe that was the point, I don't know. I do know I was unsatisfied when it was over. The cast was good, but the story just never really held my interest.

5.5/10

An overall disapointing day of movie watching.