It wasn't until last week that I realized that Con Air is actually one of the best movies ever. I can't think of anything more stupid that I have more fun watching (with the obvious exception of The Running Man, which is the trump card in every conversation).

The only people who like action who hate The Running Man are Bachman book purists, because it deviates immensely. Surprisingly Arnie hates it and in his book quickly brushes over it as a failure as a result of a bad director, I'm thinking he views his films based on how much it makes at the box office, double back and it's a good movie, etc. Meanwhile he gives Staying Hungry a standing ovation when it's mediocre at best.

Only last week? Fastowl were preaching the praises of Con Air years and years ago!

The world needs more Fastowl.

I think it's his weakest 80s action film. Even Red Heat and Raw Deal are better. The production design on The Running Man is what really dates it, especially Arnold's retarded yellow jumpsuit and the 80s-trash aesthetic of the sets. I can understand how the film had to gloss over the darkness of the book and have Richards emerge triumphant at the end, but it could have been so much better with a decent director like Verhoeven or McTiernan.

Everyone is entitled to their own humble opinion but you are wrong.
That's the whole point though. Not every future has to look 100% believable (especially an Arnold action movie), next thing you'll be dissing Commando for it's lack of realism and the 80's retro future look is goddamn cool.

Nah u

edit - I just hate how it looks, doesn't have anything to do with realism. Total Recall is also ridiculous but it looks awesome, especially how they utilized existing buildings in Mexico City. Running Man just looks like tacky 70s future-chic trying to mix Kubrick-ish colour schemes with 80s neon cheapness. It just comes across like a cheap TV movie. Commando, on the other hand, comes across like an awesome TV movie.

I guess at least it's not as bad as Twins. Raw Deal almost loses due to his bad hair, but then it has that awesome scene where he goes on a rampage while blasting Rolling Stones on a car stereo.

No no no, it's definitely "so bad it's good." Boom mics floating into camera shots, royalty-free sub-Lifetime music in practically every seen, cardboard sets that occasionally get dented on screen etc etc.

I don't care what most of the world tends to say about this movie... you take out the Mario names and have a pretty imaginative out there pseudo fantasy/cyberpunk adventure. I've always liked this movie growing up, finally got around to getting it on DVD for a rewatch... it's probably been a decade since I've seen it. And I still really enjoyed it. It's so damn weird and out there, has some of the closest aesthetics to Blade Runner out there, a great cast in admittedly hilarious roles (never realized Dennis Hopper here is so Dr Evil) and yeah. I just can't really fathom how so many rage "never should have been made". What plot or idea would have made a better Mario movie? lmao. It's not Mario and I don't care, it's fun stuff.

The DVD release is hilariously bad, you can just tell people don't want this preserved. Video quality looks like a straight VHS transfer. I had to max out the volume on my TV to hear anything, put it up to 100, when I usually have the sound around 20 for everything else. The aspect ratio was 4:3, but the video is cropped to widescreen, so I had to manually change my TV to make it fit a little better. First time I've had to do that. Hot damn, what a hilariously bad release.

Oh man, I loved that movie as a kid. So much fun.

Watched Species II a few days ago - better than the first one, though maybe just because I expected zilch this time and got it. Friend of mine and I had a shitload of fun riffing on this...so many funny moments.

Actually the US DVD of that one is the only non-anamorphic release. All the PAL versions are anamorphic, and there's even a region B Blu Ray as of last year. I remember seeing it at the cinema and being rather baffled but amused. Apparently the directors tried to make it a full-blown R rated adult film before having to cut out lots of stuff for the PG.

If anything it's a Beetlejuice ripoff though, especially the design of the Goombas.

Wow wish I would have known that. PAL stuff works just fine on a PS3/PS4 thesedays right? I might have to import it.

I find the R-rating a little hard to believe, but I can imagine they at least wanted PG-13 originally, there was definitely some adult humor and nods about. "XXX When I was a teen mammal" or something was one of the neon signs haha.

Wait, the UK has the original TMNT movie in BD too?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IGRO3UW

Um what else do they have? lol...

There'a actually a box set available in the US with that, plus the two sequels and TMNT. It's a lot harder to get region-free BD players than DVD players, unfortunately. My BD player is 100% region free for DVDs and 100% locked for BD

Good lord this actually seems stupidly complex. So what I'm seeing is that some BD's can be region coded (A,B,C or something?), but then some are not. The ones that aren't coded can be played on anything that's "region free" so my PS3/PS4 would probably work here. But... so how do I know if a movie is region coded or not?

Do they not want my money? I really wish media (games/movies) were completely universal in this modern digital era that we're in. Japan gets physical releases of games we'll only get digital releases of, UK gets more BD releases, etc. So annoying having to get around these loops!

The best source of info is generally Blu-ray.com or dvdcompare.net. Those sites endeavour to provide accurate region code info, but it doesn't help that a lot of discs are region-free even though they say A or B on the packaging.

Generally region coding is applied when different companies own the rights in different territories. Pretty much all Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers and Sony Blu Rays are region free, but then sometime they're not.

Trust me, I get pissed off too. Especially at Lions Gate USA, because they almost always have better specs on the Region A locked US version and then everyone else gets one with inferior specs, less extras etc etc. Possibly you could get a region unlocking hack for Playstations though, that's probably easier than finding a fully region-free standalone BD player...

Movies I've recently watched:

Detachment: Super sad and touching. I wouldn't say it's non-linear but it follows many stories that don't connect at all. You kinda have to pull together a general theme yourself but I think there is a message of kindness triumphing over selfishness even though a lot of the stories are sensational and far-fetched, it's just so god-damn adorable. Didn't get very good ratings. I may be uninitiated in this style of film but I loved it.

Under the Skin: Scarlet Johansson is naked and looks way hotter than her Hollywood life alter-ego. That's about all I've got for this film. The concept is great but the directing and writing is horrible. I like slow movies with vague messages, but unlike Detachment, or a Lynchian movie or anything like that, the message of the film in't confirmed by the ending. Plus, a Lynch film would use a multitude of ideas and sequences to create symbolism in your mind's eye, wherease this movie pedals on the same scene over and over and over again. It could be done in 20 minutes and make a lot more sense.

Really want to see Frank.

You are fucking insane.

Repo Man. Best thrift store VHS score I have ever made. All time favorite movie. Anyone know anything similarly bizarre and subliminal?

You could probably do a lot worse than Alex Cox's follow-up, Straight To Hell.

Also, David Cronenberg's adaption of Naked Lunch is pretty good as far as "guy's job takes him to very strange places" films go.

Kingsman: The Secret Service was pretty damn fantastic. Highly entertaining spy movie! I hope they'll do a franchise with that.

Man, I bet that church scene will become cult (pun intended)

Avenging Force- 80's Cannon actioner starting Michael Dudikoff as a reasonably badass dude attempting to take down a sadistic right-wing organization called Pentangle. Entertaining enough of a movie, though it is a bit schizo in it's tone, going from hilariously awkward (laughable acting, atrocious, dialed-in fight choreography,) to weirdly bleak and brutal (the cold murder of one child and attempted whoring off of another). Good for a watch on like a boring afternoon or something.

I was worried this would be typical indie-film pap, but it turned out to be a pretty sharp and humorous deconstruction of the whole "troubled artist" trope. Really great film.

This is unreal. Ann Coulter is going to play the vice president of the US in Sharknado 3. And yes, that Ann Coulter.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/20 ... p=features

Hate to say it, but Housebound was really damned decent. The rest are probably horrible, though.

Housebound is an indie New Zealand film, it doesn't belong in a list of garbage Hollywood PG-13 cash-grab sequels.


Speaking of NZ indie horror, this one looks like a fucking riot:

Yeah, I netflixed Housebound a few days ago and enjoyed it. You never know where it's going and the lead actress is great. A lot of fun. It was a combination of quite a few things but I expected it to balance horror and comedy more. After the first half hour it became a straight comedy.

I recommend getting an all region player. I got one a couple years ago and it's great. Nothing's off limits.

http://www.220-electronics.com/region-f ... ayers.html

Awesome, the prices don't seem that bad too. Bookmarked.

It was the same with me. I saw the first 10 minutes or so and thought "this isn't for me" but after hearing so much good things about it, I decided to give it a second chance and I'm very happy I did.
It's very "likable"

FASTOWLISFAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone else feel some pretty strong Book of the New/Long Sun vibes going on in Interstellar?

Faint hints, maybe, but I'm not sure about strong vibes. I would be curious to know if it was an actual influence though, for sure.

Star Trek Into Darkness... more like, Into Lens Flares?

It was decent. But I really hope the new Star War doesn't *look* like this. 90% mug shots, shaky cam, WTF lightning, boring ultra slick modern sci-fi aesthetics, I dunno, is it just me?

It could just be a coincidence, for sure, but since there were several scenes/concepts/details in the film that made me immediately think of Gene Wolfe, I couldn't help but wonder. The novels weren't mentioned in the list of influences on the Wiki article, though.

The Hunger Games, Part III-(A): Mockingjay, Part 1 of Two - I've read (or at least, skimmed) the books, and as expected most of the memorable parts from Mockingjay will have to wait until part 2. This was probably inevitable. You try to squeeze two movies from one book, and the first sort of feels like its own movie, yet sort of feels like an advertisement for the next one. Part 1 does build to a decent enough climax given that approach, but I'm sure they could have filmed all of the final book as a single, fast-paced 2.5-hour movie.

I shouldn't be too harsh though. This was still watchable, and a clear step up from the other crap I've been renting lately like Lucy and V/H/S Viral.

Of course it will, its Abrams. Besides, it would be cruel and ironic for him to make Trek's shittiest feature ever and not do the same with its rival counterpart. And I actually think ST is harder to fuck up than SW. Maybe he'll make it slow-burning and cerebral, something Trek is meant to be and Wars isn't.

Weird that Interstellar came up here today, I was listening to some of the soundtrack today. That main theme really is something the more I listen to it. The second vid below is really...my face was one giant for the whole duration of that particular scene.

He's much more a fan of SW than ST from what I gather. So he probably has a better understanding of SW, if we're lucky.

Then again we have to remember this is the guy who co-wrote the script for Armageddon...