That's harsh. I'd hate the re-visit the terribleness with you, but what about this movie stood out to you that was terrible? I've never seen it, but I'd like to know what not to do when I start trying my hand at film-making.

Yeah, It's great. My favourite scene is this one

I might have been able to tolerate it if it wasn't so completely saturated in thinly-veiled Randian philosophy. Hardcore libertarian bait, that film was. Douglas was fine in it, I guess, and it was definitely one of Schumacher's least terrible films.

Goodfellas, hands-down. As amazing as Casino is, there's just something so very perfect about 'Fellas. I don't know if it's the characters, or the interplay between Pesci and Liotta, or Robert De Niro (just because), or the unbelievable soundtrack, or just the epic script, but it tears me a new one every goddamn time.
I find Casino a little TOO long, with mostly similar characters from Goodfellas, and even though its an epic ride, it lacks the punch that 'Fellas has.

Live Action Blood: Blood the Last Vampire - 6/10

Holy shit was this wasted potential. The anime Blood is easily one of the most influential and memorable animes period, so you'd think doing an adaption for it would result in something big. There a few things they changed I didn't mind. Instead of it being I think a nurse that Saya has to save all the time, it's a high school girl that bonds with her, I got nothing against that. We also have more of a lead villian and more back story for Saya as opposed to the vampire monsters that are just feeding, I got nothing against that. And the things that are still the same felt good to see loyal and well done. However, embarssingly bad SFX, dull and uninspired acting, unexplained sub plots, badly cut flash backs and a confusing ending really hurt it. The only thing that bearly saves this is the few loyal scenes that are done well and a few action/martial arts scenes (it is kind of a martial arts film) kept me watching. It's sad to see sutch an influential and famous anime be adapted into half ass live aciton film.

Two impressive 80's films recently.

Risky Business.
Kinda picked this as a bad 80's chic flick that just happen to star Tom Cruise dancing in his socks, but i read that it's actually good. Turns out it is good! A solid, charming film. Pretty much every teen/coming of age movie owes it a massive debt. I'm not even 30 yet and it made me feel quite old with it's youthful energy. 3.5 out of 5.

The Abyss: Directors Cut.
I'd seen and liked the original VHS version years ago. However the Directors Cut with 30 minutes of extra footage is long, but fucking radness. A epic blend of genres this Action/Sci -Fi/Drama/Suspense holds up very well more than 20 years later. Interesting story, well acted, with amazing props and sets. Even the special effects look ok in 2012. Fuck Titanic, and fuck Avatar. 4.5 out of 5.

Now i really want to see the Alien 3:Assembly Cut!

Has anyone seen Dark City? I ordered it yesterday for a couple bucks on Amazon... been curious about this one for awhile.

Dark City is a neat movie, it has some cool ideas and a cool atmosphere for sure, but they really fuck it up I think by explaining the mysteries in a stupid voice-over at the very beginning, and then making it way too obvious what the main dude can do (you'll see). It would've been much better without the narration at the beginning, and without it being so fucking obvious from early on what makes the protagonist so special. Also I think the ending is a bit of a letdown. I felt sorry for the aliens. Overall though it's not bad, it's pretty memorable despite its flaws.

Yeah I like both Kiefer Sutherland and Jennifer Connelly in it, but the ending was a bit of a disappointment. The atmosphere is pretty good though, rather dark and weird.

lennon- yeah, The Abyss kicks ass and it holds up very well. The idea of drowning in the ocean kinda freaks me out and they play up that submerged, clausterphobic vibe very well. I also love the scene where Ed Harris revives his ex-wife by slapping her a bunch of times and calling her a bitch- it’s so over the top.

Interesting, thank you. I'll come back here once I've seen it and have more to say about it. As long as they've nailed the atmosphere I should be pretty happy.

Agree with this. It's pretty much the only thing I can stand Sutherland in. What I liked most was definitely the atmosphere.

Having Kiefer Sutherland in it was a handicap that Dark City overcame quite well...it's been a few years and I don't remember some parts, but I remember enjoying that movie well enough.

Just saw Drive. Extremely slow burning film with little dialogue, yet it's immensely enjoyable. Probably the best thing I've seen this year.

I haven't seen the theatrical version, but the director's cut is indeed sweet. Gotta love Micheal Biehn's performance, you truly see an evolution of his character, slowly getting crazy as they get deeper for a long period of time.


Speaking of which, the Alien 3 with William Gibson's script (with Hicks, Micheal Biehn's character) should have happened. It would have been great and probably helped his career quite a bit.

As for Alien 3: Assembly Cut, it's worse than the theatrical cut I'd say. It just stretches the film with some more random bald dudes running around with the alien, it just makes you sigh. And it obviously couldn't fix the film-breaking problems that happens at the beginning.

I tend to pretend that everything after Aliens didn't happen.

Honestly even Aliens wasn't that good. I re-watched it recently and it just wasn't nearly as cool as I remembered it, aside from Ripley being awesome. They made the aliens wayyyyy too destructible, and the space marines + corporate guy were like cartoons. I mean it wasn't awful, but it was basically fun action shlock with a great lead, whereas Alien was a sci-fi/horror classic.

I thought the space marines had a certain charm. Granted the film might have been better if they were less "cartoony", but I thought the contrast with the other elements of the film wasn't that big. Alien is definitely superior though, but I always loved the universe Aliens was starting to pen, so I'm always bitter when talking about Alien 3.

I wonder what Prometheus will be like. I remember reading that it was going to be about the Pilot race from Alien but I guess they abandoned that idea? Either way, can't wait to see it.

Agreed 100%. It was awesome when I was 15, but looking back on it, it's just very cartoonish and Universal Studios-esque. It's still great for an action flick, at least. Which isn't saying a whole hell of a lot, but yeah...it's good fun, and Ripley kicks ass. It probably goes without saying, but the special effects are also incredible.

Anyway, Alien completely eclipses it cinematically.

The director's cut doesn't suffer from the stupid beginning. When I first saw the it it was with that stupid thing in the beginning, but then when I watched it again some years later it was much better, having forgotten a lot of what happened.

Bad Santa - 0/10

Were it Christmas, I may have felt more generous. Luckily, it isn't and I don't. I've rather enjoyed all of Zwigoff's other films, so this came as a mild and totally unwelcome surprise.

The Woman in Black - 4/5

A horror movie featuring Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. It's got a pretty basic story about a ghost who wants revenge and the outsider who comes into town and has to save it and the usual stuff - from the premise alone I didn't really expect much, but The Woman in Black is a solid flick. Its main draw is the atmosphere - really wintry, desolate setting with old fancy houses and lots of open land and forests and everything, and it looks excellent. Sometimes in the first act it drags a little, with too many shots of Radcliffe walking around getting jump scared by random stuff, but once it picks up in the second half it just flies by - and with an incredibly dark ending, too. This isn't revolutionary but it's a lot of fun. Horror fans should enjoy it.

The Last Winter - 0/5

Unbelievable. I really can't even find words...I mean I thought I had seen the worst of Ron Perlman's career? Fuck no; THIS SHIT is practically cancerous. It's downright unwatchable. The first half is boring drollery with nothing interesting at all and the second half is ridiculous plot-free insanity with an awful environmentalist message and special effects that look like something a fifth grader could draw. One of the characters says "I don't believe in a God that condones oil drillings." Yeah, fuck this.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - 4.5/5

John Carpenter is awesome, and this movie has a lot of the reasons why. It's a suspenseful, action-packed flick with a serious attitude and a great soundtrack. It's about a new police station that comes under siege in the night by a deadly street gang. The plot is over the top, sure, but the execution is just awesome. I really like the steady pace of this movie, and how much fun it is to watch the good guys strategize and plan their next moves. The only thing that maybe could've made it better is some perspective from the gang members' side - but maybe that would have ruined the film's silent predatory aspect. Great flick.

Word.

I thought The Last Winter was an amusing attempt at an atmospheric, environmentally-conscious horror flick. Larry Fessenden is a great directer, especially with the subtle and fascinating Wendigo. What the film lacked in substance, it made up tenfold in atmosphere. There's many, many worse Ron Perelman films. Then again, Emp legitimately enjoyed sub-bottomfeeding overweight teenage anime nerd pandering bullshit pretend-movies like Sucker Punch, so I guess it's not a huge surprise.

I didn't hate Sucker Punch enough to overreact and give it a 0/10 review like you did but I didn't say I really liked it or anything...try to at least get that right before you take some bullshit pot-shot at me because I didn't agree with you on every little thing. And are you kidding me; The Last Winter was abominable. There wasn't anything good about it.

I saw a preview of Prometheus tonight before This Means War (wasn't that bad actually, definitely not the chick flick I expected it to be). Short and sweet trailer, looked really good. And seeing Ridley Scott's name on it got me pretty excited.

This is what people think when a product meets expectations. Low expectations.

Naturally, I suppose. Had a free ticket from AAA, just wanted an excuse to sit in the theatre and eat their popcorn. Wasn't bad popcorn for $8. Didn't have low expectations for that. But conversely I got free popcorn and payed to see a movie that surpassed my low-expectations. So I enjoyed the popcorn.

I hear you. I only go to the cinemas while I'm hungry.

Is that why you have such terrible taste in film? You'll eat anything the movie throws at you.

The Artist - 2/5
Wait, you mean that movie that's nominated for 11 Oscars? So it has to be good, right? Nope. The idea of making a silent film about silent films might be a perfect vehicle for winning over film critics, but it isn't enough to win me over, sorry. Some good performances but going past the novelty presentation it was nothing more than a nostalgic retread suitable only for a senile audience who want the impression of being challenged without any challenge itself. Not only that but it was way overlong, with some scenes extended way beyond what is reasonable in order to get it up to feature film length. Towards the end I was eagerly anticipating my departure from the cinema.

Whoa, puns.

Mirrors - 4/5

Nice one. Story's about a father who quit his job as a police offer and becomes a guard at a shopping during the night. He starts to see weird things in the mirrors that are there and eventually deaths start to happend and eventually his family is in danger while no one believes him...you've probably heard a plot like this before. Anyway, I did enjoy the movie; the story is decent, the acting is alright and there's nothing exaggerating going on, though there were some ''scary'' scenes that could shock you. Took me a while before I got excited but from the second half this movie definitely delivered.

The number 23 - 3/5

This one is about a father who gets a book named 23 from his wife. He reads it and eventually finds out the strange things that happend is something he can relate to. He and his family try to reveal the secret about the book and eventually find out what's the book really about. The mysterious storyline is something I like though I've had the feeling something was missing. Can't really put my finger on it. Still a decent movie though.

No, I've never had the nachos. And I don't like candy. The guy behind me though had one of those red plastic crates loaded with stuff, now that's gorging (he brought along someone else but she was rather impish and he; not so surprisingly being the bearer of the tray, kinda corpulent. I have a sneaky suspicion who did most of the eating). But oh c'mon, I hardly think mentioning one film I saw validates "terrible taste."

Back on track, I've been watching each Blackadder season again and I'm afraid to say I've never seen the subsequent movie. I really want to, and I'm pretty sure it's on one of the box sets, I'll have to go looking for it.

Colin, hah, I didn't like either of those movies at all...

Expedience - The Artist was indeed a bit hyped up but I still enjoyed it alright. It was a fun flick. Didn't have the substance or weight I wanted but I found it a pretty easy, smooth viewing. I'd probably give it around 4 stars if I had to rate it.

Hahaha, somehow I could expect you to come here and tell me that.

Granted, you've probably seen more movies than I have and I guess I'm easily pleased. Ah well.

The Number 23 was probably the worst movie I've ever seen.

I don't think it's really about movie watching experience necessarily...well maybe it is a little. But a lot of people really seem to like Mirrors and Number 23 for some weird reason so it isn't like you're in the minority there...

Yeah you're right. It wasn't a bad movie and I'd probably revise my score to a passing grade, taking into account that I'm probably not the best target for such a film and that I wrote the review while still annoyed at the people in the cinema who couldn't keep quiet. That last part was actually the most interesting, watching how people dealt with the silence. We're so used to talking to understand what's going on, it was good to get away from that for a while.

The only eco-centric horror movie I need is Prophecy (1979). Manbearpig FTW!