What was the last movie you've seen?

[Mendoza]

Drive Angry

What a fun little trashy exploitation movie.

What can I say about a movie where the hero drinks beer from a man's skull.

Oh yeah, AWESOME!

[KillerJuan77]

Drive Angry

What a fun little trashy exploitation movie.

What can I say about a movie where the hero drinks beer from a man's skull.

Oh yeah, AWESOME!

I loved that film, probably I'm getting a 3DTV just because I want to see it again in 3D.

[Nintendork666]

Vampire Circus (1972)

[BurningDoom]

I thought it was a great! VERY impressive special effects. Good action, and respect for the comics. However it definetly felt like a set-up movie for a franchise of films.

[BurningDoom]

Vampire Circus (1972)

Ha! What did you think? I loved it as a little kid, but seeing it when I was older made think it was one of the cheesiest things ever made.

[Gamerforlife]

For starters, I didn't buy into the soul transfer thing. So what happens to the professor's soul? He just ceases to exist? What would he even go through with that? What was the point of making these little rag doll creatures? How is that going to save the world? He says the thing needs a soul, but it absorbs souls throughout the movie and that doesn't make it any weaker or give it a conscious. That stupid number six character annoyed me too. He basically knew what to do the whole movie but was too stupid to actually communicate it. Also, we see the machine get activated in the movie when it absorbs a soul, yet it somehow functioned throughout the war with no soul at all

The movie's plot has more holes than swiss cheese and the ending is predictable and boring.

First off, swiss cheese has "eyes", not "holes".

The professor's soul was divided across 9 rag dolls, and when the last one (ragdoll 9) got his part of the professor's soul, the professor just died because he had no soul.

Now, I haven't seen it in a while, but it wasn't the soul that powered the machine. It was something 9 found (I can't remember what it was), that activated the machine.

As for the ending, SPOILER ALERT!!!!:




When the machine was destroyed, the souls were released and merged with the clouds to create an energy that restored the world.



And it makes enough sense to make it more than just something pretty. And yes, it's very pretty.

The professor's soul not existing anymore doesn't make sense. In fact, the whole soul transferance he did doesn't make sense, but it's pointless to debate the point as it's metaphysical stuff that ultimately comes down to whatever you believe

The machine wasn't activated until it took number 2's soul. The device that was inserted into the machine simply made the soul transferance possible

I didn't pick up on the souls restoring the world. I just saw them go up into the clouds and it rained. I may have to re-watch that part, but don't even get me started on how ridiculous the idea of some souls going into the clouds and restoring the world is

To be fair, I enjoyed the movie as I was watching it. However, when it was over and I really thought about it, I realized that NOTHING made sense. That left a bad taste in my mouth. The whole movie is a fun ride though if you leave your brain at the door IMO and the characters have strong personalities to help carry the movie along with the action and pretty visuals

Anyway, I just recently saw X-MEN WOLVERINE ORIGINS. I'm sure whatever I say about it has already been said as I'm so late to the party on this. Still, here's a few thoughts with a few SPOILERS!!!!!!

I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first. The movie has tons of flaws. There are the action movie cliches like Wolvie walking towards the camera with a big fireball behind him. That's a Michael Bay moment right there. Also, I read Wolverine's origin story. I'd say about 5 minutes of the whole movie is actually taken from the original origin story and they mostly get that out of the way right at the beginning of the movie. That's disappointing as the book told a stronger tale than the movie. The X-Men cameos are pointless and the scene with Blob was kind of ridiculous. Also, Gambit seemed to have way more super human abilities than he's supposed to and Creed running around on all fours looked ridiculous. The fight with Gambit was really, really lame. I could have done without that. The only fights this movie needed were between Logan and Creed, which I enjoyed. Then there's Deadpool....well, I have mixed feelings on that

That said, I kind of enjoyed it for what it was. It was a decent action movie with a plot that holds together well enough and some good performances and decent dialog. The movie's one chase sequence was pretty cool and was the action highlight of the movie. The performances as I said were strong, though I didn't like the casting for Striker. It's a big step down from the guy who played him in X2. Gambit's casting I'm sort of neutral on. He was okay. Wolverine, Creed and the love interest were all played really well. The chemistry between those three characters really elevated the movie for me and made it fairly enjoyable and watchable. I really like the early scenes with Deadpool. He was a bad ass with a big mouth like I expect him to be. What they did with him later on in the movie I wasn't too keen on though

Overall, it was decent I think. I'll say it again. The performances from Wolvie, Creed and Kayla really held the movie together for me and made it at least somewhat enjoyable for me. I give props to Hugh Jackman, Liev Schrieber and Lynn Collins

[Luke]

The X-Men cameos are pointless and the scene with Blob was kind of ridiculous.

That scene is so hilariously bad that I love it.

Wolvie in boxing gloves; 'nuff said.

[BoringSupreez]

The X-Men cameos are pointless and the scene with Blob was kind of ridiculous.

That scene is so hilariously bad that I love it.

Wolvie in boxing gloves; 'nuff said.

Ok, I know next-to-nothing about X-Men, but even I know that Wolverine in boxing gloves is an absurd idea.

[Luke]

Ok, I know next-to-nothing about X-Men, but even I know that Wolverine in boxing gloves is an absurd idea.

I know, it is so great. My hat is off to the writer who convinced producers that a character with indestructible claws should wear boxing gloves in an unnecessary scene where he fights an albino professor Klump for no real reason.

It's no STANDING OVATION, but THE ORIGINS OF THE X-MEN MEMBER WOLVERINE: X-MEN WOLVERINE AND SO FORTH has some great stupid moments.

[dsheinem]

I haven’t posted any reviews since my controversial 1/5 for Scott Pilgrim last month, but I have been watching a lot of movies . I am going to stick to short reviews this time in the interest of shitting them all out in one post.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) – I have never read a word of a Harry Potter book nor seen a single film prior to last month, but I figured I may as well see the films since the last one is releasing soon. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by the film: the acting is generally good, the sets are nicely designed, the pacing works, and the effects are fun to watch. It isn’t always easy to pull off a believable fantasy-world in a film, but it works here. The story obviously borrows many fantasy tropes, but that’s typical of the genre. It really seemed to be a captivating story that the ten year old version of me would have fallen in love with and the 31 year old version of me can still enjoy for what it is.
Grade: 4/5

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) – I can’t help but feel that this film suffers from sequelitis, and I wonder if the book was received the same way. Not only is the plot very similar to that in the first film, but there’s very little new or interesting ideas introduced until the last half hour or so of the movie. It is technically competent, acted well enough, and the pacing is generally ok – but the sense of wonder of discovering this world is now gone, and the film needs more than a new monster.
Grade: 2.5/5

Prince of Darkness (1987) – This is one of the few Carpenter films I had yet to see, and frankly I don’t think I was missing much. It seems to borrow better ideas from his previous films (Halloween , The Thing, and even Assault on Precinct 13), but those elements don’t come together here. At his best, Carpenter’s films teeter between polished cinema and “B-movie” quality. It is a very delicate balance, as the films run the risk of either being seen as a poorly done big production or as a B-movie that tries too hard. This one falls too far into the “B-movie that tries too hard” category for me to really enjoy it. It gets bumped a half point for Alice Cooper as a murdering psychopath though.
Grade: 2/5

Special When Lit (2009) – This is a very well done documentary about the history and culture of pinball, and I would very strongly recommend it to anyone on this board (even if you don’t care for pinball much). Not only did I come away feeling like I had learned a good deal, but the documentary itself was really well done. The only serious gripe I had was that it spent too long in the second half covering competitive pinball, and I felt like it veered into King of Kong or Spellbound territory, which was out of place with much of the rest of the film. I caught this on the Documentary Channel, so look for it there if you get that station.
Grade: 4/5

Date Night (2010) – This movie wasn’t really what I expected it to be, and while it held my attention and was somewhat fun to watch, it was also guilty of the same crime as most other recent comedies: it very rarely made me laugh. Carrell and Fey are both great on screen together, there are some good smaller parts and cameos, and the story itself is certainly engaging, so it might be fun to watch if you are a fan of either or if you want something different from your typical romantic comedy. If you want a ton of laughs, it might not do the trick.
Grade: 2/5

The next four films I showed in my summer film class, so they are things I’ve seen many times before. I’ll just post a few thoughts on each….

Alien (1979)– The first is still the best. Beautiful sets, palpable tension, and pitch perfect directing. A good argument could be made that Scott has never bested his work here.
Grade: 5/5

Some Like it Hot (1959) – AFI lists it as the #1 comedy of all time. My students certainly didn’t find it funny, but I find its wit and humor – especially for the time of its release – to be second to few. Monroe is gorgeous, Cutis and Lemmon are hilarious, and the film fires on all cylinders.
Grade: 5/5

The Princess Bride (1987) – If I were going to suggest to someone how to make a movie that is as appealing as possible to the widest audience possible, The Princess Bride would be the blueprint I would recommend. Wonderful dialogue, great casting and acting, humor, suspense, action, and Kevin and Columbo to boot. I can’t see this movie with anything other than nostalgia goggles, and for me it is one of the all time greats.
Grade: 5/5

300 (2006) – Some films get better every time you watch them. Others, like 300, get worse. Outside of the still impressive technical wizardry at work on the screen and the always compelling few against many narrative, there are a lot of other parts of this film which are just plain bad. In this case, dialogue which works well in a comic just doesn’t translate to the medium of film. Additionally, the pacing is a little off, the casting is questionable, and the score seems misplaced. Add in a bizarre mix of homophobia and homoeroticism and a dash of xenophobia, and it becomes even harder to watch. Granted, none of these are problems I noticed when I saw it in theaters the day it came out – I was fixated on the action. Now, though, the gore is not enough.
Grade: 3/5

I plan to see the rest of the Potter films over the summer, so thoughts on those will be forthcoming...