What was the last movie you've seen?

[CRTGAMER]

Star Trek Complete Original Series Remastered
I own a few of the episodes, first five movies on Laser Disc (Leonard Nimoy and Walter Koenig autographs on movie 3 cover) and all the movies on DVDs. I had already seen one of the remastered volumes checked out from the local Library. Purists will throw rocks at the remaster CGI of the outer space scenes, but I love it! Still at three DVD volumes to purchase, that takes up a lot of shelf space and pricey.

Ooh, bought the complete series single case just today at Walmart for only $44.96, just came out!

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Star-Trek-The-Complete-Original-Series-Remastered/21423

All 3 seasons in their 'remastered' versions come together this November.

In 2004, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution first released the original Star Trek series on DVD in season sets, and then in a Complete Series bundle. Then, in 2007-08, they famously re-released the show in "Remastered" versions, concluding with another 3-series "complete" bundle. Blu-ray Disc versions followed in 2009, and then in 2014 CBS/Paramount repackaged the individual DVD-format Remastered season sets in "uniform shirt" box art.

Now, with a 3rd "JJ-verse" (alternate timeline reboot with new cast) theatrical film in-the-works for the 50th Anniversary of the show in 2016 (the film's lead writer is also the reboot cast's "Scotty," Simon Pegg), CBS/Paramount wants to celebrate the show's golden jubilee on home video with a November 3rd release of Star Trek - The Complete Original Series: Remastered on DVD. It's expected to have the same discs, with the same on-disc content, as found in the three individual "uniform" season sets...but bundled together into one single 25-DVD gift set with "shelf-friendly" packaging. You can see that package art below. Pricing isn't available at the time of this writing, but the rumor is that it will be "an incredible value." Nice!

Inside that cardboard sleeve is a hard shell plastic case. So many great episodes, the Tribbles, Romulans and of course The Menagerie retelling the dropped pilot episode. I have hours and hours of great viewing to rediscover!



City On The Edge Of Forever
A time travel story with strong emphasis of how past events changed could affect the present, leaving a cliff hanger at the end. This is a must see for anyone who has not seen the original series.



Doomsday Machine
A relatively forgotten episode, a somewhat inspired take on Moby Dick. Commodore Decker almost maddened in his quest to revenge the death of his crew by a Planet Killer takes over the Enterprise in a suicide attack.



The Ultimate Computer
M5 computer designed to automate ship defenses, takes over attacking other Starships. A study of how far the Dr Engineer will go, having instilled his personality into the main frame, protecting it as if his own child.



Mirror Mirror
The crew discovers they are trapped in an alternate conquering empire universe versions of themselves. Episode gives actors a different new way to portray their characters, the evil "dark" side.



The Changeling
This episode had to be the inspiration of the first Star Trek movie. The concept of an outdated earth launched robot probe returning decades late. The probe upgraded with encounter with Alien Technology, its programming altered accidentally to sterilize Earth instead of sterilizing planets for habitation. Kirk has a trick up his sleeve, the probe believes he is the creator with no capability of error. A twist of what to sterilize due to not perfect.

The very last disc which has many Special Features is mounted separately on the inside back cover. The holder is very tight which could CRACK the disc upon placing back in. An easy fix with a jewelers file.

As mentioned earlier, the Remaster video only change the outer space scenes. The modern day CGI really improves over 1960s low budget use of toy models. Watch the series again for the great stories with the new special effects just icing on the cake. In the Doomsday Machine for example, the Starships pitch and roll and are not just hanging from a string.



I watched the first six discs so far and am very impressed. The CGI as mentioned is not radical and keeps faith to the series retro type of special effects. Interesting that the earliest two episodes has antenna probes at the front of the two starship engines. In addition even though CGI, the swirling lens at the front of each engine looks like built in lights designed from the era when the series came out. Every disc has a bonus special feature, the first disc documents the CGI enhancements and other improvements.All the regular footage is cleaned up with great contrast, clean colors and booming stereo sound. Watching the Special Feature documentary shows the huge improvement of the non CGI regular scenes.

One episode that did get a definite noticeable CGI upgrade has to be Galileo 7. The shuttle craft leaving the docking bay pitches as it catches the "wind" to hover out. The fuel dump burn at the end and the green foggy radiation around the planet adds for much better realism.

[Ack]

They Came to Rob Las Vegas

This movie is about a bunch of poorly-dubbed European actors who get together to rip off an armored car service out of revenge for a guy's brother, not realizing that they're also ripping off La Cosa Nostra who happen to be involved in the armored car business while the US Treasury department investigates. What follows is an example of everything going bad that possibly could, set to a soundtrack that is ridiculously upbeat at the worst of times, while Jack Palance gives a master class in overacting and nearly everyone else stands around and make comments with homoerotic undertones. Oh, and there are some weird, weird cuts and camera angles in this movie. It has an avant-garde quality in that weird 1960s way where I think it was trying to be edgy but instead just became a chore to watch.

Ok, it's not all bad. The plan for the big heist involves hiding an armored car under the sand in the desert, and it's actually a really good plan. But the flaws are always the unforeseen problems: the ongoing Treasury investigation, the extra man in the truck, once-loyal criminals going stir crazy in the enclosed, oppressive heat of a man-made cave. It also has the perfect "oh shit" moment, when our calculating anti-hero Tony discovers gold bars hidden on the truck and suddenly realizes he has stolen something far, far worse than what he believed. He's also driven by revenge, which makes for the most interesting component of the movie; Tony really doesn't care about the money, he just wants to get into the armored truck to show it can be done because his older brother was killed trying to do it. It's a quest that kills his friends, ruins his relationship, and leaves him with a bullet in him and possible mental delusion. And then it ends.

The ending basically has all the bad guys lose as Jack Palance stands up and shouts from a dune. That's it, there is no real resolution, the movie just suddenly stops. We don't even know if the Treasury department arrested folks or not. This is a shame, because the movie was already just over two hours. I would rather it lose some of the fat in the middle and the weird, poorly-acted banter between the criminals in exchange for a proper ending. Hell, just show the cops arrive and Jack Palance run in to arrest everyone. Boom, done, put it in the can. Instead...we get nothing. Just Europeans being Europeans while they pretend to be Americans.

For fans of heist films, you might be interested. But place this one way down your list. There are a lot of heist films that are significantly better. Save this one for after you've exhausted those.

[REPO Man]

First time I've seen this in almost a decade/decade and a half:



Not as good as I remember but I'm still glad I bought it on DVD.



While I'm not entirely familiar with the original Kamen Rider series (I know just enough to point out the odd differences), I can honestly say this is pretty damn good.



Or more specifically the US dub "Attack of the Monster" (which is public domain BTW).

Seen it before and it's a pretty serviceable Japanese monster film. IIRC there's a good deal of Gamera films in the public domain here in the states (all of which are dubs).

[Pulsar_t]

Marvel Logic™ (i.e. stupid)

[REPO Man]

Like "Little Nemo" for adults, a brilliant dark fantasy film for the ages.

[Erik_Twice]

Copypasting from another forum:

MPW-21790.jpg (68.35 KiB) Viewed 737 times

I watched Streets of Fire.

This film has a terrible reputation. Back when it was released critics were largely dimissive of it, citing "archetypical" characters, cliché dialogue and the shallowness of the plot. They considered it an exercise in stylishness and a failure of substance. Well, I think that in this case style was the substance and they were judging the film for something it was not.

Consider this: When you see films like Alien, The Avengers or James Bond how much do you care about the plot? Is it a important part of those movies, or it a conduct for something else? How important is plot for an action film? How important is plot and deep characters to a film that defines itself as a rock and roll fable?

Every single line in this movie is one-liner, a brake-less cliché or both and it's all delivered in such a honest manner that you can't help but root for the characters while you laugh. Streets of Fire makes clear early on that it's going to romp through every narrative expectation with its tongue firm in its check so you either love it or you better jump ship because it has no intention to stop.

It's a film that is at its best when it blends its subversive elements with the inherent fun of playing something straight. It's not a dumb meta film like Machete, Planet Terror or other self-congratulatory Robert Rodriguez films, there are no pop culture references, nothing is taken to the extreme and despite its violence nobody gets seriously injured or dies. It's the good kind of fun and the art direction, editing and photography are top-notch because being cheeky doesn't mean it has to be a joke as an actual film.

I think the real problem with the film is that it cannot sustain the strenght of its opening. The first 50 minutes are amazing, full of fun fights, cool characters and lots of lots of style. The next 20 minutes are much softer, with barely any action and a heavier focus on dialogue. At this point the movie is still entertaining but cheeky drama is significantly less interesting than cheeky action. The remaining 20 are just anticlimatic because a cool fight takes 5 minutes of them and tired drama elements and two different musical numbers make up the rest. It's the kind of dragged-on finale that is normally fixed after revising the script, but for some reason it's still here. It's a really big problem and I think it brings down the film at least one or two notches.

I admit I feel like a weirdo for defending this film, though.

This movie was very popular in Japan and impacted games in a big way, specially Streets of Rage and Final Fight which take a lot of elements from it. If I can take some screenshots from the film, I might write something fluffy and brief about what they took from it.

By the way, this film has an incredible poster

[Nemoide]

Yeah! Another Streets of Fire defender!
It's not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly awesome enough to be worthwhile. I know a number of folks who love The Warriors, the director's earlier (similar) film, but for my money Streets of Fire is better.

Also this is one of the few films to have gotten an HD-DVD release but no Blu-Ray. MAYBE SOMEDAY. I'd buy it.

[Gunstar Green]

While I'm not entirely familiar with the original Kamen Rider series (I know just enough to point out the odd differences), I can honestly say this is pretty damn good.

Kamen Rider: The First is really excellent. I'd even recommend it to casual sci-fi action fans. They did an amazing job of meshing the silliness of tokusatsu with a more modern and serious film that older audiences would enjoy not just as campy fun, but as a competent super hero movie.

I didn't like the sequel quite as much, but it's still well worth watching.

Anyway I just saw Spectre in the theater. I know a lot of people have been griping it was a letdown but I got all the Bond goodness I signed up for and really enjoyed it. It also puts a nice ribbon on Daniel Craig's stint as Bond if he chooses to retire the mantle here.

You can definitely feel its length as it slows down in parts to awkwardly poke at its romance subplot.

My only real gripe:

The whole Blofeld is your foster brother thing was a little silly. Way to take a page out of Austin Powers' playbook. Bond villains often have weak motives but this was ridiculous.

As a side note it inspired me to go back and play James Bond: Blood Stone which was a fun little game that did a good job of feeling like a Bond film. It's short and linear but I was really surprised at how fun it was. Cover shooters are the perfect genre for a Bond game and I wish there were more of these.

I think I'll pick up Goldeneye: Reloaded while I'm still on this 007 kick.

[REPO Man]

Rewatcged Imaginaerum. Still excellent.

[Fragems]

Saw Spectre today and it was pretty meh. It had some decent action sequences but the story was just way to predictable. The whole movie is just so horribly riddled with idiotic situations as well.