What are you watching?

[spoRv]

Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) - I must admit I can't remember the original one, so I can't say how it compares to it; but, for someone like me that doesn't remember, or never saw the original, it's a nice horror flick; acting is "almost" good, characters are spot on, gory scenes are there for every genre lovers... so, let's say that is a passable example - 6.5/10

Annihilation (2018) - A strange, slow sci-fi movie - it reminded me a bit of Arrival (2016); the story is not the most original, but it works; I appreciated the acting, and the strange beast, the second one, not the almost-ordinary croc found in the first part. So, if you can live without a lot of action, and like slow stories that let you think, this is the right movie for you. - 6/10

31 (2016) - Dunno why I saw this film... acting was quite bad, and, instead being scared or thrilled, I laughed more than once; but I must admit the "clown" character is very well developed, and the actor perfectly portraied a psycho killer. Just for that the vote is raised a bit... still, can't reccomend this, even if I'm pretty sure there will be some fan around there! - 4.5/10

Deja Vu (2006) - Incredibly, I haven't watched this until few days ago. That's a very good sci-fi action thriller, with great actors, the right dose of action, car chasing, explosions etc. you know, everything you might expect, plus a bit of time travels, just to get the things even more interesting! - 8/10

Beyond Skyline (2017) - I loved the first film, and I waited so long for a sequel, that I can't lose it. What can I say? It's less that what I hoped for, but more than what I may expect from a low budget sci-fi sequel; CGI are good except in few shots, acting is pretty decent, story is not entirely original, but hey, it's a sequel, after all. Well, they could leaved out the kung-fu style fighting at the end, but, apart that, a nice B-movie! - 6/10

Grabbers (2012) - A nice little horror comedy flick about acquatic monsters from space that attack a placid village in a small Irish island. Good acting, decent SFX, some gory shots, and many humourous moments. Reccomended to any horror comedies fans - this is a very niche genre, so probably you'll enjoy it! - 6.5/10

Air (2015) - What if your job is about maintenance of a underground facility full of cryosleeping scientist, there due to a nuclear war, waiting for the right time to awake them, and you have a problem with your own cryobed? A psychological thriller with only two+one characters, but that works very well! - 7.5/10

Elysium (2013) - Well, I still have to find out a movie directed by Neill Blomkamp that I don't like, and this is no exeption; there is the usual techno "gadgets" everywhere, poors and richs, robots etc. Great actors, great acting, and Sharlto Copley is really a very good actor! Good story, perfect CGI, what else could we ask to a sci-fi movie? - 8.5/10

Fast & Furious (2009) - Yes, I do like the franchise, fast cars chasings, shootings, fighting etc. and this movie (as all the others in the series) have them all. Original? Not so much. Fun? You can bet on it! - 6/10

The Fate of the Furious (2017) - This time a super bad guy girl played by a wonderful (as usual) and very nasty Charlize Theron helps, along with an all-star casting; the story is more original this time - if you give a superficial look, it may recall a new XXX episode sometimes! Entertaining. - 7/10

Deadheads (2011)- Stumbled upon this, as a zombie lover I can't give it a try... well, this was one of the few movies I haven't seen 'til the end... too stupid, bad acted, bad SFX (if you can call them "special"), bad story... everything was bad to me - and I watched A LOT of so-called bad films... I say, leave it alone, do not waste your time! - 2/10 (only because one of the protagonists continued to lose his arm, and reattach it as he was Mr Potato, and this is the only thing I found almost funny...)

Primeval + Primeval New World (TV series) - OK, I love dinosaurs, so I was almost "forced" to watch it. The original UK series is nice, in particular the first three series (that are really short, by the way); characters are good, there is a bit of humour, but creatures are often quite rough... understandable, given the year it was made, and the (presumably) low budget. Still, stories are often original. The Canadian spin-off earns better CGI creatures, but lacks that quid found in the original series. Maybe a second season could have save it, but sadly it was canceled after just one season... - 6.5/10 + 5.5/10

[CourtlyHades296]

The Last Jedi - Still the amazing film it was in theaters, but some flaws are more apparent on repeat viewings.

[PDB]

Haven't done this in a while (again) so time for an update (watch for spoilers)

Seen nothing in the theater for a while, basically switched back to home viewing

Video

Disaster Artist- I was looking forward to this since it was announced, which is saying a lot since I'm not a particular fan of James Franco and his stalwarts. Having been "charmed" by the garbage that is the original, The Room. I was hoping for a lite send-up, in the vein of Ed Wood. A film I love greatly. Didn't hit that lofty mark but I was still happy with what was left. The cast was charming and you got to love an against the odds story, even one where the characters are grossly oblivious to their talents. 3/5

Shape Of Water- Not sure what it is with Guillermo del Toro. You ever have a director, where you think you should love his work but you don't? For God's sakes the man's car is the car from The Car (https://twitter.com/realgdt/status/77347...76?lang=en). We should be totally simpatico. But I really don't love any of del Toro's films and I honestly try every single time. Sadly SOW is no different. Love the look, dislike the characters and the plot was subpar. Must of been an especially weak year for Oscar movies. Oh well 2/5

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle- When I saw the trailer for this movie I thought it was the world's dumbest idea. Love the Rock but come on, a sequel to a decades old movie that is really only average at best? Then I saw it made a lot of money and the reviews were good so when it hit video I figured; what the hell. And I really enjoyed it. The Rock and Jack Black playing against character was a wonderful choice. The actors were very game and clearly enjoying themselves. It was also a fun poking of video game plots and devices. All-in-all just a fun movie. 3/5

Justice League- Pretty, pretty, pretty bad. Not much more to say except the worse part of this is I have grown to like Gadot and Cavill as Wonder Woman and Superman but once again, they are given nothing to work with. 1/5

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - I'm going a little longer with this one. Not as good as the the proponents say but not as bad the detractors say. Still I was left a bit meh by the whole experience. Very much the way I felt about Rogue One. (Full disclosure; I did love Force Awakens and the new characters. So I'm in from the beginning with no prejudice.)

I was confused why people thought this was a new, original and fresh idea. It pretty much is as much a remake of Empire as much as Force was of A New Hope. Only the characters aren't left in as bad a position as the ones in Empire. In reading the promotional material before the movie's release I thought taking the characters to a new place was the whole point of this chapter. Rey is left ok, having wasted her time for most of the film. She is still super powerful and learns, basically nothing from Luke and was again more then a match for the Kylo. Someone who was trained by both a light and dark side master. Contrast that with Luke who learns a lot in Empire but fails the most important of lessons resulting in him getting destroyed physically and emotionally by a far more capable Vader. Poe kind of learns to be a leader but the movie tells us that more then shows it. But really he is kind of static. Han is cocksure and always one step ahead of everyone until his luck runs out and he is captured, losing everything. Finn is the worse, being both completely static and learning nothing in a time waster that is the Canto-Bight sub-plot. I didn't think that Finn and Rose had any chemistry despite John being a very charismatic actor. And don't get me started on the Holdo plot. Everyone's criticism of that is more then valid. In Empire, Leia is the hardened leader of the rebellion who learns to be vulnerable and love only to have that taken away from her. None of the Last Jedi characters were challenged like the characters were in Empire. Which is sad to say because the main actors of Last Jedi (Daisy, Jon and Oscar) are damn charming and effective actors. Sadly, only Driver, Fisher and Hamill get to really expand their characters.

But I disagree with a lot of the other complaints. I'm glad Snoke is gone, so the focus can be on Kylo in the next movie. The sequence of Snoke's death, the fight after and the standoff between Rey and Kylo was just great. In fact all the Rey and Kylo "conversations" were wonderful. I'm iffy on Luke's character state in TLJ but I think Mark Hamill did one of his best acting jobs ever. I loved seeing Luke's day-to-day life in exile. The space chase scenes where nice and kept the tension running even when cutting back to the slow Canto plot. The opening bombing run was great and I didn't mind the humor. I loved the fact that Rey's parents were no one special. It brings you back to A New Hope, where anyone can have this special force without being a blood relative of someone special. I'm happy the movie didn't go to a gray Jedi place. A stupid merger of the light and dark side or something similar. The Jedi are still the good guys, regardless of faults. Puppet Yoda just rules. I loved that whole beat. I know some people complain Yoda was in his fake crazy mode from Empire but it didn't bother me one bit.

So overall I'm left with the feeling like Rogue One or Alien Covenant. There is just not enough good stuff to pave over the bad. So like Alien I'm going 2.5 or 3 out of 5 for now.

I, Tonya- Good performances all around, particularly Allison Janney who deserved her win. Not a fan of figure skating but this film was very effective in drawing you into that world and showing you how important Tonya Harding was to the sport and how much the sport was important to her before the incident. Loved the forth wall breaking and low-brow characters trying hard to pull off a caper. One minus in my book is that the movie tries hard to exonerate Tonya from guilt. That is patently wrong in the light of reality. But hey this is fiction. 3/5

Logan Lucky- The movie refers to itself as the redneck Ocean's Eleven and I can't think of a better description. Like the Ocean movies it was fun, well directed, well acted, clever and ultimately forgettable 3/5

Demon Knight- Was revisiting this on DVD after reading a old review and it still holds up as a fun, trashy B-grade movie 3.5/5

[OogieBoogie]

"Logan Lucky- The movie refers to itself as the redneck Ocean's Eleven and I can't think of a better description. Like the Ocean movies it was fun, well directed, well acted, clever and ultimately forgettable 3/5"

lmao, I couldnt agree more

[zoidberg]

I had a bumper weekend in London at the good old Prince Charles Cinema.

Saturday night was the Arnie All-Nighter! 7 movies back-to-back. I went to the first show in the downstairs screen, it was a sell-out. No-one knew whether the films would be screened from 35mm/DCP until they ran. The films in order:
Conan The Barbarian (DCP): A fairly rough DCP most likely from IP. Lots of edge halos. The sound seemed mono to me but I really couldn't be sure. I think it's censored in the UK for horse stuff. Really got the audience going, lots of laughter especially the camel punch!
Predator (35mm): If they had only showed this in 35mm I would have been a happy bunny. Really nice condition print with very dynamic Dolby Stereo. I was surprised at how 'amber' it was on 35mm, with the jungle's palette comprising strongly of green/yellow brown and skintones being anywhere between yellow/orange/brown. All the blue stuff was that 'lush' film blue with the heavily saturated cyan tones. Very good detail and even the supposed 'grainy' stuff wasn't especially grainy. Lots of quoting the classic one liners.
Total Recall (DCP): This was a pleasant surprise because it confirmed a lot of what we suspected about the remastered blu ray, ie it was a bodge. Blue sky on Mars! It looked really good in DCP. A lot of people were genuinely taken aback by just how violent it is, nearly 30 years after its release. Lot's of laughter and quote-alongs.
The Running Man (DCP): Looked like quite an old IP scan. A lot of love from the crowd.
Commando (DCP): This looked like a 4K remaster much like Robocop. Very nicely detailed but some shots looked a bit 'smooth' (but still had grain), most likely focus. I think this was the main event for a lot of the audience, it was an absolute riot. A lot of people left after this one. Their loss!
The Terminator (35mm): Holy s**t! As good as Predator was this was next level. It was stunning. The colour was literally magical. Like Predator it was surprisingly golden/amber when it wanted to be, skintones were luminous (and surprisingly consistent). The blues were shades and saturations I never even knew existed! Luxuriously lush. I should mention this was a re-release print with the Rydstrom remix which, despite it's many shortcomings was surprisingly effective in a far-field environment. The notorious 'silencer' .45 had tons of LFE wallop during the Sarah Connor execution, it was loud. The audience was mostly quiet in awed reverence.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (DCP): The projectionist covered the 3D title card at the start, it was embarrassing really. Not much to say really other than much like Total Recall this proves that they bodged the blu as there was no green push. It's got to be a P3->Rec709 thing. I'm pretty certain the grade is different from the 3D DCP as there is less cyan blue in a lot of scenes. Very smooth looking. The sound was the same as the 3D DCP ie the 'CDS' mix with stunning dynamics but no LFE. All in all it's very depressing to think this is what will be shown theatrically for the foreseeable in lieu of the 3D, personally I would happily watch the 3D DCP but I appreciate that's not for everyone. 

I got some sleep and took a bath and I was back again Sunday evening for Big Trouble in Little China in 70mm. Absolutely brilliant. It would have been worth the trip for this alone. Lovely 6-track magnetic sound with some hefty bass, dynamics and of course that John Carpenter score. Colour timing wise it was blue! Blue blue blue. It looks like the Netflix was a genuine attempt to recreate the original timing.

Obviously there's more, much more to say about these screenings but I'll keep any discussion to the specific threads. So if anyone wants to ask please bring it up on the relevant threads (or start a new one) so as to avoid derailing this thread.

[Beber]

Tonight, it was Solo: a Star Wars Story. NO SPOILERS!
That was pretty good. I enjoyed the 2nd half better than the 1st one. The story is kind of the classic outlaw that works in a gang for a big shot, with heists, competitors, double crossings and whatnot. Some stuff are expected, but there are a couple of surprises. Overall a fun space adventure. Alden Ehrenreich portrays a better than decent Han Solo; a pretty good one actually. Glover's Lando Calrissian is totally on point! Chewie's interactions with Solo and others are fun. And it's always nice to hear some familiar Falcon sound effects and classic tunes pertaining the ship. Prepare to nod in rhythm like an idiot just like in The Last Jedi Crait cave scene. I'll probalby see it 3 times in the theater.

Last week, it was Deadpool 2, twice. The 1st one was a better naratively constructed film, to me. However, this 2nd one is such an amazing laugh-out-loud blast! Stay until at least mid end credits for 2 extra scenes that you'd kick yourself if you had missed them.

[Beber]

Tonight, it was Solo: a Star Wars Story... again. Well, the 1st half took some time to grow on me at my 1st viewing, but on my 2nd viewing, since I was already familiar with the whole thing, I enjoyed it more, and the whole movie, too, for that matter. So, from "pretty good" yesterday, I'll go now for "good movie".

[The Griff]

Smashed out a few the other night with some friends. Not a lot of thought was put into these choices but we had fun with all of them and, boy, did we go through a lot of booze.

Space Truckers (1996, dir: Stuart Gordon) - low budget sci-fi action/comedy. Dennis Hopper ditches his regular haul of square pigs and takes a quick cash job that lands him in deep (space) shit. [blu-ray]
Class of 1999 (1990, dir: Mark L. Lester) - Loose follow-up to Class of 1984 ups the cheese, violence and special effects. [blu-ray]
Doctor Detroit (1983, dir: Michael Pressman) - Er... the movie Aykroyd made after the death of Belushi and before Trading Places? [blu-ray]
Terrifying Girls' High School: Violent Womens Classroom (1972, dir: Norifumi Suzuki) - The first in this 4-part series of "Pinky Violence" or "Sukeban" flicks. Great fun but not quite as awesome as the 2nd part. [fan-subbed DVD]
Over the Edge (1979, dir: Jonathan Kaplan) - Juvenile delinquents run amok to a killer 70s rock soundtrack. One of my all-time faves. [1080p WEB-DL]

So there you have it... hey, where'd everybody go?!

[Pitcher]

I watched A Quiet Place last night. It's really not a horror movie at all. No jump scares or suspense. But I liked it a lot. It's pretty good, just don't expect a horror movie.

[Beber]

Just got back from a 35mm screening of Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. Just compared to the Blu-ray: it's so wrong. On top of being too smoothed via DNR, its color timing is way too cold. This is supposed to be a very warm and colorfull movie, very brown and orange and a bit golden, kind of like Batman Begins. Already in the opening credits, it's very bland. Some shots at the Canadian border should have a cyan sky and fall/autumn rust color nature. In the night scenes, the sidewalks, pavement, asphalt should be very much cyan blue in the bright areas and purplish blue in the dark areas. The same goes with Malone's building when he gets attacked at his place. These cyan and purple blues reminded me of the 35mm Terminator 2 print I saw in 2014. Capone's bed sheets and pillows should look light cyan, too. The second-to-last scene in Ness's office should look like late afternoon with a warm orangy lighting. I wonder how previous home video releases looked like. Maybe there's a good Laserdisc out there?