[Blazingmonga]

Dark Shadows.

Not as camp as I had anticipated (though it was silly in parts). A lot of it was funny, though a good deal of the humor was fairly dark. Johnny Depp played Barnabas Collins like a more benevolent Sweeney Todd, and managed to be entertaining throughout. Watching him discuss love with a circle of hippies was one of the highlights.
The rest of the cast did well, Eva Green in particular. She knows how to play a nasty bitch. The Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper cameos were fun. The only real complaint is that the final showdown could have felt stronger, though it was decent enough. The final scene was also predictable, though if they make a follow up film, it might be interesting.
Not a perfect film, but better than I thought it would be, and worth checking out.

Saw this the other day, and I agree with what you say. Very entertaining but not a life changer. A nice little film. Great cast all round - Johnny Depp was great as always.

As a Tim Burton fan though I am glad that he made this kind of film again, as I prefer this style (more like his older stuff) than his recent big films.

[EphelDuath666]

tons of Blade Runner. Like, seriously a lot! Watched several different cuts of the movie and a shit ton of bonus material. Still don't like the voice over in the US theatrical cut. Yeah, it may give it an additional old school film noir touch but it just doesn't work for me. I have to say I love the final cut. On Blu-ray it's absolutely mind bending. The opening sequence alone is worth the money I spent on the 5 disc set. I could watch that over and over again.

Have you heard the sequel is on the way? Hampton Fancher is writing the script and Scott is on board to direct.
At the moment it looks like a sequel set long after the original, with possibly only minor ties (kind of like Alien/Prometheus) and a female lead.

Hobo With a Shotgun - Utterly ridiculous, miiiiiiiiles over the top and just as gory as I was expecting. Not a hint of anything decent in terms of acting or the script but I quite enjoyed the violence anyway!

Collateral - A movie that I've seen bits and pieces of on TV for years but never bothered to sit down and watch it all until yesterday. It's bloody excellent as well! Two great performances from Foxx and Cruise.

Piranha 3D - I was expecting lots of boobs and lots of blood, and got both in spades. Happy out.

Sherlock Holmes II: A Game of Shadows - Pretty hugely disappointed by this. Thought it was too long, too slow and I actually fell asleep before the end I was so bored. I really enjoyed the first film but this one... I dunno what it was. Downey Jr. was getting on my nerves for a lot of it and I usually think he's great. It's quite possible that it can't stand up in my mind to the Sherlock TV series, which it can't, and every performance and character in the film just appeared weaker by comparison to the TV show.

Next up, The Dictator, which looks fucking hilarious. Very high hopes for that one!

[EphelDuath666]

Have you heard the sequel is on the way? Hampton Fancher is writing the script and Scott is on board to direct.
At the moment it looks like a sequel set long after the original, with possibly only minor ties (kind of like Alien/Prometheus) and a female lead.

yup, I read about it. Not so sure if I'm all that happy about Fancher being on board. After watching all the bonus material it sounds like his original screenplay for Blade Runner sucked balls and David Peoples had to step in to actual write a good screenplay.

Hobo With a Shotgun - Utterly ridiculous, miiiiiiiiles over the top and just as gory as I was expecting. Not a hint of anything decent in terms of acting or the script but I quite enjoyed the violence anyway!

Next up, The Dictator, which looks fucking hilarious. Very high hopes for that one!

yes and hell yes

Saw Slumdog Millionaire last night. Had no idea what to expect, definitely didn't imagine it being as gritty as it was. Ended up liking the main character's brother, not because he was a likable character (because he certainly wasn't) but because even though he was completely unpredictable you could see what drove him to his actions. It was nice how many really creative, often abstract, shots would often just flash up on a regular basis just to add a bit of prettiness to all the drama.
I also liked the direct parallels to the English Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

[JuZ]

I'm so emotionally "invested" in Bladerunner that I don't know what to feel about the sequel thingy.

As for the Director's Cut/s... Favourite movie of all time.

Oh and the theatrical version is death. I haven't watched it in years and won't ever watch it again if I can help it. Film noir be damned, the narration is patronising, cheesy and bleurgh and reeks of the heavy hands of producers.

Not that I'm opinionated at all. Eyes... I just do eyes.

[EphelDuath666]

Oh and the theatrical version is death. I haven't watched it in years and won't ever watch it again if I can help it. Film noir be damned, the narration is patronising, cheesy and bleurgh and reeks of the heavy hands of producers.

this basically. It was fun to watch the Dangerous Days documentary and seeing how annoyed Harrison Ford was when he had to do the narration So yeah, if there's narration in the sequel and the story overall sucks, it is probably safe to blame Fancher for it.


The past few days it was time for a Paul Verhoeven double feature. I watched Starship Troopers and Robocop. First of all I got to say that Sony's US/Canadian Blu-ray release of Starship Troopers looks amazing, especially considering that the movie's from 1997. Alas the same can't be said about MGM's Blu-ray release of Robocop. Doesn't look much better than the DVD and considering that MGM is pretty fucked financially I doubt there will be a better HD transfer for this movie in the foreseeable future. Well, maybe they'll give this movie a better HD treatment when the remake hits theaters and people are talking about Robocop again.
Anywhoo, both movies are awesome and they were fun to watch as always. I remember watching Starship Troopers in theaters with friends when I was 15 and it's still just as awesome today. And Robocop is a timeless classic anyways.

Well, so then I figured "Hell, I'm gonna watch Robocop 2 and Robocop 3 as well". Well, they didn't age too well. Robocop 2 isn't all that bad, although waaaaay too long. I think it would have been a much better movie if they had cut it down to a 90 minute flick. The whole thing where Murphy gets chopped up, rebuilt and reprogrammed and then acts weird for 5 minutes in the movie is just totally pointless. And a 12 year old turning into some type of gangster boss? Oh man...but it was still not too bad.

But then came Robocop 3. God, I don't think it seemed that awful to me when I saw it for the first time many years ago. It's almost like a Disney movie. They just took everything that makes a Robocop movie awesome and flushed it down the toilet. No graphic violence, no swearing, no nothing. Surprise, surprise: Another kid's playing a main character, this time an even younger one. Oh and Robocop saves the day in the end using a jetpack. And the whole thing with the japanese android assassin that gets killed after like 30 seconds each time it appears....ugh. But Stephen Root, Daniel von Bargen and Stanley Anderson are in it. That's at least something, I guess.

Heh heh, yeah Robocop 2 has got serious Frank Miller streaks all over it. OCP as the 3rd reich, corrupted children, hero torn apart etc. It works to a certain degree but as you said it just goes on too long. Plus Frankie boy takes himself waaaaaay too seriously, even when he's being funny. I remember being pretty disgusted by 3 when I saw it back in the day, even then I figured it was just a lead in to the TV show which I believe had already started by the time I caught the third film.
I had heard that Darren Aronofsky was signed on to write and direct the remake/reboot which got me really excited at the prospect but alas it seems not to be the case. I'll withold judgement until I see it.

Troopers is just fantastic. The main characters are lied to and manipulated all the way through the film with propaganda and mental coersion to essentially destroy an indigenous race purely for profit. Probably the greatest metaphor for War ever put to film. The dehumanisation of the enemy (making them insects), the false flag of the meteor attack, the constant lies from the authorities. All just brilliant, brilliant story telling. In fact, it's been a few years since I watched it, time for a re-viewing I think.

[EphelDuath666]

Troopers is just fantastic. The main characters are lied to and manipulated all the way through the film with propaganda and mental coersion to essentially destroy an indigenous race purely for profit. Probably the greatest metaphor for War ever put to film. The dehumanisation of the enemy (making them insects), the false flag of the meteor attack, the constant lies from the authorities. All just brilliant, brilliant story telling. In fact, it's been a few years since I watched it, time for a re-viewing I think.

I agree 100%. I actually rewatched it today with enabled audio commentary by Verhoeven and the cast. That was a lot of fun to listen to and you get to hear plenty of interesting stories about the making of the movie. And Verhoeven is quite a fun guy actually. The world needs more Paul Verhoeven action movies!

[EphelDuath666]

watched John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' on Blu-ray. Got the fancy German mediabook edition from Capelight. They did a great job restoring this movie and it looks pretty amazing considering its age. It was fun to watch the movie as always. It's kind of like Night of the living Dead minus zombies.

watched John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' on Blu-ray. Got the fancy German mediabook edition from Capelight. They did a great job restoring this movie and it looks pretty amazing considering its age. It was fun to watch the movie as always. It's kind of like Night of the living Dead minus zombies.

That gangster with the blond hair was like Michael Myers with a pistol. Really want that film on BD.

safe house

i have new found respect for the ryan reynolds

[EphelDuath666]

watched John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' on Blu-ray. Got the fancy German mediabook edition from Capelight. They did a great job restoring this movie and it looks pretty amazing considering its age. It was fun to watch the movie as always. It's kind of like Night of the living Dead minus zombies.

That gangster with the blond hair was like Michael Myers with a pistol. Really want that film on BD.

you could get the German BD on Amazon.de . It's region B and looks really good and the digibook is real pretty too! And it contains both English audio and English subtitles too.
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B006VPA2TC/ref=s9_simh_gw_p74_d0_g74_i1?pf_rd_m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0AE5REGPKNCW9WDAA663&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463375173&pf_rd_i=301128

watched John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' on Blu-ray. Got the fancy German mediabook edition from Capelight. They did a great job restoring this movie and it looks pretty amazing considering its age. It was fun to watch the movie as always. It's kind of like Night of the living Dead minus zombies.

That gangster with the blond hair was like Michael Myers with a pistol. Really want that film on BD.

you could get the German BD on Amazon.de . It's region B and looks really good and the digibook is real pretty too! And it contains both English audio and English subtitles too.
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B006VPA2TC/ref=s9_simh_gw_p74_d0_g74_i1?pf_rd_m=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0AE5REGPKNCW9WDAA663&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463375173&pf_rd_i=301128

Thanks for the heads up!