What Have You Watched Recently?

[Bazza]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Well it won't come as a surprise to some, I enjoyed Unforgiven more than TGTBTU.

 

Bazza's Flawless Comment: Unforgiven is reasonable entertainment.

[Susano]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Well it won't come as a surprise to some, I enjoyed Unforgiven more than TGTBTU.

 

Bazza's Flawless Comment: Unforgiven is reasonable entertainment.

 

And yet I feel Unforgiven is too slow for me (and I love TGTBTU.)

[L. Marcus]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Reasonable entertainment?! It's Hight Art, consarn it!

 

^^

[Bazza]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

And yet I feel Unforgiven is too slow for me (and I love TGTBTU.)

 

Yeah I can understand that. it takes a long time for the simple story to be told and on reflection, it does plod along, and takes way to long to reach the climax of the film -where the protagonists interact with the plot of the movie.

Reasonable entertainment?! It's Hight Art, consarn it!

 

^^

*chuckle*

 

Well next on the menu, Spartacus. Today is Tuesday and it goes for 3 hours so I reckon it finish it by Friday.

[Nolgroth]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Ninja Assassin

 

I once saw a man on a motorcycle hit by one of those land boat Cadillac sedans, and subsequently pushed through a cinderblock wall. To this day, there are some details that my mind will not recall, even though I know for a fact that I never took my eyes off the incident. Ninja Assassin was nearly as traumatic. So much so that I found myself skipping scenes and creating artificial gaps in the narrative that are very similar to the gaps in my memory of the motorcycle vs sedan accident. Poor acting, crappy special effects, idiotic writing and a lack of knowing what kind of a movie it truly wanted to be make this one bad bad bad. I heartily recommend that anybody who is considering the movie buy a blender and sticking your hand down in it first. That is probably less painful.

 

As always, I try to find good things to go with the bad. In this case, the portrayal of the lead ninja/grandfather of assassins character was the shining highlight of the movie. I could easily see his performance carry over to a much better crafted movie. Dude positively oozed menace as he "raised" all those children to be elite assassins. Though most of the CGI was crap, the chain fighting scenes were interesting. I could see a character with that skill.

 

I think the worst part of this movie is that it could have been good. Not just okay, but good. Instead, the creative direction amped up the cheese factor, the casting department cast people with almost no talent, and the CGI sucked. Curiously, the backstory scenes were pretty engaging. The treatment that these children received was delivered in a very stark, matter of fact manor that clashed terribly with the Wuxia style martial arts that dominate the "Present Day" portions of the movie. If only those present day scenes could have had half the heart of the flashbacks and a third of the acting talent, it might have been one of those fun, action-packed movies. As it was, there were just too many bad elements drowning out the few good elements of the film.

 

This new trend to have CGI blood effects sucks on toast, but the blood effects in Ninja Assassin were so bad that they sucked on toast that had been moldy bread before being dropped between the heating elements. During one of the later fight scenes, the hero lost so much blood that he should have been completely drained of blood about halfway through. And he kept losing blood. Lots of it.

 

If you still insist on seeing it, don't blame me. I warned you not to.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

batman the brave and the bold

[FenrisUlf]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I might as well ask this here: I'm waffling between watching two recent horror films on DVD, The Descent and Drag Me To Hell. Can anyone give me any recommendations for either of those films, for or against?

[Nolgroth]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Have not seen Drag Me To Hell. Descent, on the other hand, I did see. Not really knowing your taste in film, it's hard to say. There is some good, creepy stuff before all hell breaks loose. After that, to me anyway, the movie becomes dull and predictable. You get the immediate sense that none of the protagonists are going to make it and the rest of the movie just becomes an exercise in watching the creative ways in which the director visually demonstrates cruel and nasty ways to die. The ending was weird and a little jarring. All in all, "Meh." Watch it if you liked the Hills Have Eyes or some other form of slaughterfest.

 

Even though I am a tough critic when it comes to horror, I can usually find something to like about any particular movie. Not so with Descent. Just mindlessly slaughtering off all the characters in an orgy of death is not much fun for me. I like things to be a little more unpredictable and suspenseful. Hope that helps.

[matrix3]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Do you like non-Spiderman Sam Raimi works? If so, see Drag Me to Hell. Better than The Descent, even if you haven't seen anything by Raimi but Spiderman...

[RexMundi]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Drag me to Hell is the better movie. Descent has it's moments if you are a Spelunker or into what I like to call, Inbred Horror. It roaches out towards the end though but in the Theater, it played Far Far better on a giant Ultra Screen. Could just be a presentation thing with that. I enjoyed it, but it's one of those flicks that's strong out of the gate then ends up limping across the finish line.....(Unlike Pig Hunt!)...

 

Drag Me to Hell was a nice return to the old Possesion/Demon horror with some very good presentation and a great ending. It's one of the few Horror flicks I actually bothered to purchase.

 

As for what I've watched recently.

 

Mega Shark vs Everything (picked up the entire Giant Critter pile from SyFy....so all the Mega critter movies, and the Python Boa Stuff.....)

Caught up on Leverage.....Really like that show and that's saying a lot because I tend to HATE that type of show.

Made more friends of mine watch Grand Master Ip Man ......That movie is a must for Martial Arts fans.

 

~Rex

[death tribble]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

I saw both The Descent and Drag Me To Hell. Whereas the former is in the Dog Soldiers bump off one by one category the latter is a suspensful horror.

I only thought one of the girls in the Descent should have been up for the chop, the rest could have lived. I would say The Descent is better than The Cave which is similar.

I would recommend both.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Have not seen Drag Me To Hell. Descent' date=' on the other hand, I did see. Not really knowing your taste in film, it's hard to say. There is some good, creepy stuff before all hell breaks loose. After that, to me anyway, the movie becomes dull and predictable. You get the immediate sense that none of the protagonists are going to make it and the rest of the movie just becomes an exercise in watching the creative ways in which the director visually demonstrates cruel and nasty ways to die. The ending was weird and a little jarring. All in all, "Meh." Watch it if you liked the [i']Hills Have Eyes[/i] or some other form of slaughterfest.

 

Even though I am a tough critic when it comes to horror, I can usually find something to like about any particular movie. Not so with Descent. Just mindlessly slaughtering off all the characters in an orgy of death is not much fun for me. I like things to be a little more unpredictable and suspenseful. Hope that helps.

 

First of all thanks to everyone who responded to my post. Secondly, the main thing I can say about my tastes in horror is I'm not big on films that rely too heavily on gore, especially when it replaces things like plot, characterization, and so forth. So from what's been said I think I'll go for Drag Me To Hell before The Descent.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

iron man the cliffs of doom

[csyphrett]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

my name is bruce.

Bruce Campbell, king of the b-movies versus Guan Di, the saint of Bean Curd.

CES

[kahuna's bro]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

x-play and aots

mormally i skip the friday shows since x-plays a rerun and aots is a best of the week show but they hada power girl sketch i was curious about

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I'm looking forward to the rest of the new season.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

The Guns of Navarone, a WWII commando drama based on a novel by Alistair MacLean in which hand-picked men, each with unique capabilities and flaws, but break into an impregnable Nazi fortress and destroy a pair of powerful naval artillery pieces before they can sink a British fleet. The movie is from the early 1960s and holds up very well all things considered -- including a few decidedly non-heroic acts committed by the ostensible hero of the piece.

[csyphrett]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Alistair MacLean had a ton of books that were turned into movies. That one was one of the better adaptions. Where Eagles Dare with Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton, and Ice Station Zebra with Rock Hudson and Patrick MacGoohan were also pretty good.

 

CES

[kahuna's bro]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

semenoles vs byu

[death tribble]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

The Guns of Navarone' date=' a WWII commando drama based on a novel by Alistair MacLean in which hand-picked men, each with unique capabilities and flaws, but break into an impregnable Nazi fortress and destroy a pair of powerful naval artillery pieces before they can sink a British fleet. The movie is from the early 1960s and holds up very well all things considered -- including a few decidedly [i']non-heroic[/i] acts committed by the ostensible hero of the piece.

 

I have this on special edition DVD. Top notch cast Gregory Peck, David Niven, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quinn and Anthony Quayle. The Fleet is on its way to rescue soldiers trapped on an island. Richard Harris appears as a pilot of a bomber crew who fail to blow the guns up from the air. Also Walter Gotell is one of the Germans.

 

Alistair MacLean had a ton of books that were turned into movies. That one was one of the better adaptions. Where Eagles Dare with Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton, and Ice Station Zebra with Rock Hudson and Patrick MacGoohan were also pretty good.

 

CES

 

The films tend to be better than the books. Take my word for it.

 

What have I seen.

 

How am I funny ? Funny like a clown, I amuse you ?

[kahuna's bro]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

dolphins vs vikings

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies....for some reason I didn't like this as much as some of the other recent DC animated features. I think this might be primarily due to the lack of some established heroes. Besides the title characters, none of the Justice League is present in this movie in an way...which seemed a bit...off. That said...wasn't a bad watch...if a tad predictable.

[Nolgroth]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Been keeping up with Covert Affairs, The Gates, and Haven. I must be easily entertained, as each of these shows has been fun. I imagine that The Gates will be as close to a soap opera as I would ever watch, but it is my least favorite of the three. In fact the only reason I started watching it is because of Claire Radcliff (played by Rhona Mitra). The first few episodes highlighted just how unearthly vampires can be. It is starting to wear down though.

 

Covert Affairs is pretty light fare, but surprisingly engaging. It is the character interaction with this one. If you are looking for anything resembling a real spy thriller, well Burn Notice would be closer but neither really does the genre justice. Doubt that a long term TV show could pull that particular genre off very well.

 

Of the three, I am really liking Haven. It started out slow and awkward, but each new episode adds new layers to the evolving story and disparate elements are starting to get wound together. I think it took me by surprise just how much I really do like how the story is progressing. Looking forward to seeing how this all ties together. I am a little worried that Audrey Parker may get totally Mary Sued, but I'm willing to hold out at least until that time to find out. One of the things that makes the show is how Deputy Wournos (Lucas Bryant) and Duke (Eric Balfour) have this sort of history of conflict and yet they make a pretty decent team when put together. Classic clash of personality coupled with augmented skill sets. Keeps things entertaining when they trade barbs.

 

Saw a preview for No Ordinary Family and that looks like it may be really fun. Love the bit where the Father character is talking to his partner about turning his garage into a "lair." If it goes onto Hulu I will definitely watch a few episodes.

[Bazza]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

Finished watching Spartacus, it was better than The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

 

I really liked Jean Simmons, who played the female lead.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

 

jags vs chrargers i lost interest and went to dinner