TV/Movies Megathread

[frunk]

Did you think Shaolin Soccer was good, or just better than shit?  I gave up on it about 30 minutes in.  Somewhere around the rock and roll monks scene.

Shaolin Soccer is alright, Kung Fu Hustle (by the same guy) is waaaaaay better.

[Josquius]

One thing I didn't fully understand though... is that in the following resurrection he tries to do it all on his own, without risking Blunt. But won't she die at the beach then?

Yeah, that was a head scratcher for me too.

Oh, and I agree about Gleeson looking like a bum. Personally I also thought [spoiler]the whole "I'm going to take this high ranked official that's also a pretty public face, summarily strip him of his rank and send him to the front because he annoyed me, and nobody will really find out" at the beginning was a bit forced and implausible, but I rolled with it. They could just have made him regular joe that's drafted into the army right before the attack on France.[/spoiler]

Basically agree, but I think it helped more than hurt that [spoiler]Cruise starts out as an unsympathetic character getting his just desserts, and a coward to boot.  Not sure I can think of a more logically consistent plot mechanism for achieving those.[/spoiler]

I didn't really see that. I just saw it as a poor guy helping the war in his own little way being screwed over for no reason. That the general would actively sabotage one of his units like that....

And yes. The tacked on happy ending sucked. They should have stuck to the original ending from the novel....but would probably have had to change a few things to get there.

[Josephus]

I'm intersted in some good horror flicks too. I like creepy. Jacobs Ladder was great.

Celedhring...did you ever watch The Changelling (the original one, nothing to do with the recent one)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080516/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[Josephus]

It dawned on me yesterday that I'd never seen the original Prom Night. I thought it was supposed to be a classic slasher, but oh, was it boring. First killing didn't even come till the hour mark. Quite disappointing. I guess though it was geared to my generation---30 years ago.

[Josquius]

Switchblade Romance is a critically overlooked slasher that everyone should watch.
Generally I don't like such films. I find them dull. But it was pretty exciting.

[celedhring]

I'm intersted in some good horror flicks too. I like creepy. Jacobs Ladder was great.

Celedhring...did you ever watch The Changelling (the original one, nothing to do with the recent one)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080516/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I have, it's great. Haven't seen the remake but I suppose it's awful.

I'm having a Halloween party with some friends and we'll watch some films. They'll leave screaming if I screen something made before the 2000s, so it has to be something recent.

[Syt]

Have you watched the Korean movie "Thirst"?

[celedhring]

Have you watched the Korean movie "Thirst"?

I have, I'm a big fan of that director's work actually. Not nearly his best film, but a refreshing take on the vampire genre.

[celedhring]

Solomon Kane. An unremarkable dark fantasy film starring James Purefoy; I hoped he would make it at least vaguely entertaining, but that's not the case.

[crazy canuck]

I didn't really see that. I just saw it as a poor guy helping the war in his own little way being screwed over for no reason. That the general would actively sabotage one of his units like that....

The character arc from unlikeable coward to reluctant hero is what made that movie great.

[Josquius]

I didn't really see that. I just saw it as a poor guy helping the war in his own little way being screwed over for no reason. That the general would actively sabotage one of his units like that....

The character arc from unlikeable coward to reluctant hero is what made that movie great.

I don't see what was so unlikeable about him at the start. He didn't do anything bad. He just wanted to continue doing his job from the safety of a desk rather than being thrown onto the front line, something he has absolutely no experience of and scares the crap out of him.
And then the general up and decided to screw with him for little good reason.

[celedhring]

I didn't really see that. I just saw it as a poor guy helping the war in his own little way being screwed over for no reason. That the general would actively sabotage one of his units like that....

The character arc from unlikeable coward to reluctant hero is what made that movie great.

I don't see what was so unlikeable about him at the start. He didn't do anything bad. He just wanted to continue doing his job from the safety of a desk rather than being thrown onto the front line, something he has absolutely no experience of and scares the crap out of him.
And then the general up and decided to screw with him for little good reason.

Yeah, I get what the filmmakers are trying to do here - and I think they succeed to a degree - but the way they set it up is pretty clumsy.

[CountDeMoney]

You said new, but have you seen Jacob's Ladder?

Probably the second creepiest movie I've seen, after The Exorcist.

I totally concur.

[celedhring]

Godzilla. The monster mayhem is pretty cool, but oh god the movie's so slow to get there; and they seem to think I give a damn about those human characters they litter the movie with (it's not like there's any noticeable character arc anyhow). [spoiler]And why the hell hire Brian fucking Cranston just to kill him right before the film actually starts getting interesting[/spoiler]?

And that almost concludes my summer blockbuster catch-up. Only lacking Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which is not coming out in DVD/BR until the end of November over here.

[Admiral Yi]

Shaolin Soccer is alright, Kung Fu Hustle (by the same guy) is waaaaaay better.

Absolutely.  It's a flawless flick.  Not a single line of dialogue nor a single frame could be improved.