My Community
General => TV & Film => Topic started by: harv on February 27, 2012, 07:51:05 PM
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There you go, I think that's everything from the old Shared General forum covered ;D
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Recently watched the American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Very good film, and I'm now looking forward to seeing the other films in the "Millenium Trilogy". I'm sorely tempted to watch the original (Norwegian?) versions, but I don't know if the first film is exactly the same - ie can you watch the US version of 1 then watch 2 and 3 in foreign, or should I start from 1 again (and likely spend 2 hours watching something I've pretty much already seen).
Had a quick glance at the foreign version of film 1 and it looked strikingly similar throughout - though the ending might be slightly different...
Semi-tempted to just get the Stig Laarsson (sp?) books and be damned with the film versions, but our lass enjoyed the film too and is keen to see 2 and 3 - but she's not really one for reading much.
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I too just watched "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". Thought it was very good!
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I watched Abduction last night... an action film that starts when a teenager that suffers identity issues finds one of his baby pictures posted on a missing persons website...
....annoying sums up the film. Drab action film with dull and wooden action scenes featuring two annoying american teenagers who cant act and a half-assed, cliched ridden plot. I was waiting and waiting for something good to happen or some proper action to begin, but that never happened... so I was hoping for and looking for a sudden twist that could turn the film around and redeem it in some way... but there were none.... it was really pointless watching the film... and felt a sudden feeling of "crap, I've just spent my sunday evening watching this guff".... at the end of the film..
Dont bother - 2/10.
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guff?
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Hopefully off to see John Carter at the weekend. Looks very good. Read the books many years ago.
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It got terrible reviews.. not my cuppa tea.. would rather go watch the plain jane action film that is "SafeHouse"... which I might do at the weekend.
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Safehouse is another option, though woman in black is third choice I think.
I'm just waiting for the Avengers movie, but I'm not sure I'll get to see it at the cinema as I'm going to be out of action for the whole of April and stuck indoors after my shoulder op on the 23rd March.
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I didnt go to the cinema in the end.. too expensive.. just watched a few movies at home instead..
The Change Up (Jason Bateman/Ryan Reynolds).. sounded a bit gay from the synopsis.. and thought the storyline had been done to death, but actually this film is suprisingly funny and refreshing - even with Ryan Ringpiece in... lots of adult humour from the get-go.. A lot of bad language, loads of titty shots (even Olivia Wilde gets her breasticles out)... although a lot of the nudity in the film looked fake... the film does get a little bit gay towards the last 20 minutes as it wraps things up... but overall it kept me entertained...
7.5/10
Set-Up (50 Cent, Bruce Willis)... I didnt finish watching this film to be honest.. turned it off after half way through, fiddy obviously needs acting lessons.. his acting was so wooden and although these types of heist/action films are right up my street.. it failed to deliver on every level.
1/10 (only gets 1 for having Brucie in it)
Colombiana (no-one I know)... Good action movie, seen it done before.. but little girl see's her parents slaughtered in front of her, grows up to become an assassin and seek revenge.. whilst the plot wasnt anything spectacular and slightly predictable, the action in the movie is good and clever, some of the story is a bit laughable and some of the action is OTT.. but its entertaining regardless
6/10
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The price of going to the cinema these days is bloody ridiculous :o
I only ever go to the cinema these days to watch a 'big' film, everything else I quite happily watch at home. :-\
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Tell me 'bout it. Paying for my eldest and 4 mates to go to the flicks this weekend (birthday treat). Didn't really think it through. This is going to get bloody expensive when you factor in travel, cinema tickets, food, etc. :(
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To be fair.. everyone knows about orange wednesday... but showcase cinemas.. (small chain) do a member card which gives you roughly the same discount as an orange wednesday.. its called insider and you can use it every tuesday... which compared to a wednesday night is usually empty.... dont know if theres one of those round your way but sure beats paying full price or sitting in crowded showings.
I cant resist cinema popcorn though.. so I still end up paying a fortune ;D
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Saw John Carter on Saturday. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Good action movie, some laughs, good effects but not over the top. It was also one of the few films where the 3D has been used to give real depth and has been used consistently throughout to help immerse you in the production, without being over the top and not just to gratuitously show off special effects or things flying around the screen. The only other films I think the 3D has been as good in were Avatar and Legend of the Guardian.
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From my experience of 3D.. the only decent uses of it in a film are when you have a film that was shot for 3D... the technique to add 3D in post production just doesnt work... either way, Im not overly keen on either method, I dont feel like it greatly enhances the film experience... its just a gimmick and should be left to the theme parks.. you know those 3D, 4D, 5D type rides...
I might feel different if I didnt have to wear glasses to watch a film.. I think thats the main distraction for me.. they get annoying after a while too.
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Just watched kickboxer, how cheesy is that film, jcvd at his best though
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Am in the process of downloading 'Movies With A Twist Collection [Part 1]' from Demonoid, 53 films altogether...64.2GB in total lol. I've seen a few of them but the ones I have seen I'll quite happily watch again, some real classics. ;D
I stumbled upon it when I was looking for Pink Floyd The Wall. 8)
Edit: Here's a list of the films I've downloaded:
A Beautiful Mind
A Clockwork Orange[1971]
A.Scanner.Darkly[2006]
American psyko[DVDRip]
Angel Heart 1987
Arlington.Road.1999
Barton.Fink
Basic.2003.
Blue.Velvet[1986]
Chaos (2005)
Chinatown_1974
Cube 1997
Cypher.LIMITED.
Dark City - Director's Cut
Dead.Man.1995
Derailed[2005]
Diabolique.1996
Event Horizon[1997]
eXistenZ
Fallen (1998)
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Fight Club
Forgotten, The
Frailty.DVDrip
Friday the 13th
From Dusk Till Dawn
Gattaca
Ghost Ship
Gone Baby Gone
Hide.and.Seek
High Tension
Identity (2003)
In The Mouth of Madness
Jacobs Ladder (1990)
K-PAX (2001)
Lucky.Number.Slevin
Matchstick.Men.2003.DVDRip.XviD.AR
Memento [10th Anniversary Edition]
Misery[1990]
Next
No Way Out1987
Oldboy
Paranoia.1.0.One.Point.O.2004
Passengers 2008
Passengers[2008]
Pink Floyd The Wall 1982
Planet Of The Apes
Premonition[2007]
Primal Fear (1996)
Reindeer Games (2000)
Remember Me (2010)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Revolver[2005]
Have just watched A Scanner Darkly and really enjoyed it but it was a little predictable tbh. Still, I like Phillip K Dick's writing and the two films I've seen - Bladerunner and A Scanner Darkly - have both been good...might have to check and see if any more of his work has made it to the big screen. ;D
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Love Arlington Road.
Can't believe Usual Suspects isn't in that collection - especially as the compiler appears to be a Kevin Spacey fan (though it seems he's more of a sci-fi fan). I'd have The Devil's Advocate on that list too.
"American psyko" lol
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I've got loads of those... Gattaca and Memento are the pick of the bunch ;)
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The Usual Suspects is in one of the other 3 parts...there's over 2.4Tb of films in total lol. I watched American Psycho last night, that's one I've seen before and was quite happy to see again. A brilliant film. ;D
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Dances with Smurfs was on C4 last night. I sky+'d it just too see what all the fuss was about. I'll give it a look see at some point.
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I watched Kevin & Perry Go Large last night.. for about the hundredth time.. great film ;D
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Dances with Smurfs was on C4 last night. I sky+'d it just too see what all the fuss was about. I'll give it a look see at some point.
You need to see it in 3D to really appreciate the film, one of the only films to use it well. Overall a basic plot, analogy to the destructon of our own planet and rainforests, but it's actually quite watchable. Some real holes in the plot though.
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No way out - class film
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I watched....
Wrath of the Titans (3D) on Saturday - they werent showing the normal film at a reasonable time in 2D.. only in 3D in which they had about 12 showings throughout the day - dont know why because there was about 8 people (including us) in the whole cinema watching it in 3D... would of had to of gone into town to see it in 2D.. and to be honest, I wish I had of done because it cost over £20 for 2 tickets and thats without the glasses... (we have a ton of glasses.. I dont understand why the cinema has "recycling" boxes for 3D glasses when they quite clearly just re-sell them again.. we just pinched a load from one of these boxes once and keep them for when we go to watch 3D films again)... Actually just commenting on the 3D usage throughout the film, it was OK, some bits were good, but overriding all that, towards the end of the film, the glasses were irritating me and I just wanted to watch something in normal vision again.. so Im still not impressed.. even at one point in the film I did actually move out of the way of a falling rock ;D
Anyway, I dont think the film was as good as the first - I actually rather enjoyed the first one......but the sequel's story is just ridiculous.. its like... right.. perseus wife from the first film - yeah she's dead, zeus is mates with poseiden.. they get tricked by hades.. (again durrrrrr)... hades is going to sacrifice zeus to his father (Kronos) who is a creature made up of rock and lava (no shit)... and perseus must find him before this all happens... and thats it.. but the stupid thing is... that all happens within the first 15 minutes, theres no backstory to main plot elements (like who the eff is Kronos and how did he have children), theres no real development of the plot either... its just fight scene to fight scene to fight scene.. the special effects and everything associated with the fight scenes were technically brilliant in this sequel, but its all CGI, and to be honest, a lot of the action happens too fast and the camera moves too quickly, so sometimes its hard to work out whats going on.. not as bad as transformers 3.. but getting there imo... for example, it took me a while to realise he was fighting a minotaur at one stage in the film..
It was all just a bit meh for me... and despite the stellar cast of the film, everything just revolves around the action rather than the acting... which I guess I should of known by watching the trailer... go watch if you want to switch your brain off for 2 hours..
4/10
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I didn't think a huge amount of the first one to be honest. Bought the DVD after not having had the time to go to the cinema and wished I'd saved my money. I'll not be bothering with "Wrath of the Titans".
On another note, being off work, revovering from surgery, leads to watching a fair few films. If anyone offers you the chance to watch a film called "Camel Spiders", turn it down. I've seen some bad films recently but this has to be one of the worst films I have ever seen in my life. Acting - bad, plot - ridiculous, special effects - atrocious. Some films are so bad they are funny. This was so bad it was painful. I'd rather pull out my stitches and undo the repairs to my tendons by sawing through them with a spoon than sit through that film again, it was that bad.
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Recently saw Mission Impossible 4. I wasn't expecting much - I thought the first film okay, the next two rather rubbish - so was pleasantly surprised.
It doesn't take itself seriously (in fact it's tongue-in-cheek throughout the entire film) and benefits massively from that. There's some fantastic action and the usual array of fancy gizmos (the fact that a fair few of them don't work as well as they should only serves to emphasise how great the gadget would be if working as advertised).
8/10 - definitely the best of the MI films.
Also re-watched "From Paris With Love" over the weekend. Another action film that doesn't take itself seriously, and I loved it - definitely worth more than it's 6.2 rating on imdb, imo.
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Watched my favourite dreamworks film of recent times again today - "How to train your dragon". Great show.
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I watched
The Promotion - thought it was boring.. few funny scenes in but I fell asleep towards the end. Basically its a film about two people who work in a supermarket vying for a managers job at a new store.. with Seann William Scott in, I was expecting more laughs..
2.5/10
and
Insidious - I actually really enjoyed the story (for a horror film).. but I felt personally that the film relied too heavily on loud piano crashes/sudden ghostly appearances to make you jump.. its suspenseful.. but not scary... I felt paranormal activity was better... however I did enjoy it
6.5/10
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"Tiptoe through the tulips with me..."
That kid can throw some shapes.
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lol I just realised what the hell you were talking about... I just found that song annoying lol
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The problem with watching these films with a twist is that because you know there's a twist at the end you can almost always work it out before it happens lol. Arlington Road was excellent, as was Basic. Barton Fink was okay but had too much arty farty symbolism in it for my liking, a bit too far stuck up its own arse imo; the only thing it had missing was the obligatory shot down a spiral staircase lol.
Angel Dark was good, but because you know there's a twist on the end you know that it's easy to work out...although this one wasn't too subtle. Still, a good film all the same.
Blue Velvet is up next, but I can't remember if I've seen it before. Think so though. :D
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Not a fan of unnecessary remakes or of Colin Farrell, and I like the original - but the remake of Total Recall is looking pretty good.
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Wonder if they're going to remake the HUGE cock up they made at the end of the original lol. At the very end when Arnie and his bit of fluff are looking out at the Mars landscape the camera pulled back too far and you could see the hooks holding up the scenery at the top of the screen lololol. A mate of mine noticed it either at the cinema or on video, I think it was the former. $18m on special effects wasted lol :o
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Thor on sky this weekend. hopefully squeeze it in between the masters and all the sport
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Thor was quite watchable. Saw it at the cinema. (the 3D was a waste of time though). Good lead in to the Avengers movie, keep watching after the credits.
I do hate the way political correctness spills into films though, where they completely re-write characters. Norse Gods who are black (though whatisface that plays Luther is quite good as Heimdall) or Asian, Hogun the Grimm is of East Asian origin. Then there's the whole Nick Fury thing. Yes they've taken it from the Ultimates version of Marvel's comics, but when you've grown up reading Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos, only for the white one eyed Sgt who later went on to become Colonel Fury and then Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, to see him with an intense sun tan is just wrong. That said, I'd rather see Samuel L Jackson playing Fury than David Hasselhoff (if you've ever seen the original Nick Fury film, you'll know what I mean).
The Kingpin in the Daredevil film went from being a big white guy to a big black guy, thiugh in fairness Michael Clarke Duncan was probably the only person the right size to play the part.
To an extent I can understand it because when a lot of these early Marvel characters were about in the early 60's and 70's, comics didn't have a lot of black characters (the same as TV didn't have a lot of black lead characters). Marvel actually broke a lot of ground by introducing lead black characters and even the first gay superhero, but I'm a traditionalist and would prefer to see characters kept as they were originally designed. There are plenty of black characters who can be used now, without altering things to be PC.
I think it's just as insulting to suddenly make characters black because otherwise there wouldn't be any representation of other races in a comic or film.
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Have just started watching the first film from the Cube trilogy. Four people have woken up in what looks like an alien spaceship, filled with square rooms with a door in the center of each face. The rooms have motion detectors and traps. One bloke right at the beginning just got diced lol :o ;D
Going to be interesting to see how this plays out 8)
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Cube 1 was great. 2 was dire. 3rd was okay, with a good twist.
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Really enjoyed it, what a great concept for a film! Brilliant stuff! ;D
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And the second one was bloody terrible :o
Edit: Have now watched the third one and liked the twist at the end. First one was the best of the lot with the third one coming a very close second. ;D
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Watched "The Devil Inside" tonight. Not a big fan of horror but had it recommended by a couple of people (both of whom I've always considered to have pretty poor taste in movies tbh).
Should've trusted my initial gut reaction and swerved it. What a terrible film. It's only redeeming feature is its length - fortunately I've only lost 85 minutes of my life to that pile o' crap.
Its small budget is scant excuse for the poor script and the poor acting.
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You should've watched The Devil Inside Miss Jones instead lol
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Am now watching Event Horizon and am quite enjoying it so far. Think the music could have done with a little improvement because there are plenty of stingers that aren't as effective as they could be. Quite a common mistake that Directors of films, TV programmes and video games make, although surprisingly the latter medium gets it right more often than not. :)
Edit: Just finished watching it and it was pretty good until Weir gouged his eyes out and went mental. Went downhill from there unfortunately :(
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You should definitely start a masterclass so you can teach all the directors - let them know where they're going wrong.
Couldn't stand Event Horizon. I love sci-fi, but am not a big fan of horror - and I found that film to be a very irritating blend of the two genres.
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Lol, they don't all get it wrong, I can see why he kept the music to a minimum - to convey the sense of isolation. I just think it would have been better to build tension before the stingers. Still, not a terrible film by any means but could have been better. Would have been better being more psychological thriller rather than horror I think.
Edit: Have just seen that film that you're not supposed to talk about and forgot just how good it was, the writing, casting and direction are all top notch. Great stuff. ;D
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Have just seen that film that you're not supposed to talk about and forgot just how good it was, the writing, casting and direction are all top notch. Great stuff. ;D
Which films that then? ;) ;D
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You should know full well that the first rule of that other Project is that you can't ask questions :P
I'm really tempted to download the other 3 parts of this 'Movies With A Twist' compilation but I'm short on disk space. Perhaps just part two... ;D 8)
Should have Seven in one of the other three, love that film!
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You should definitely start a masterclass so you can teach all the directors - let them know where they're going wrong.
lol
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Watched American History X this morning and remembered how much I love Edward Norton. Great bit of acting from him and the guy who plays his little brother. BIG cringe moment when he kills the black guys who try to steal from his van.
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Have been working my way through 'Movies With A Twist Part Two' which consists of the following:
Saw I-VI
Scream Trilogy
Se7en
Secret Window
Session 9
Shutter Island
Sleepaway.Camp
Solaris [2002]
Sphere.1998.
Spider(2002)
Stay[2005]
Suicide Kings [1998]
Taking.Lives[2004]
THE 13TH FLOOR.
The Crying Game(1992)
The Devil's Advocate.1997
The Game
The Jacket (2005)
The Man From Earth (2007)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Mist (2007)
The Nines[2007]
The Ninth Gate
The Others 2001
THE RING 2002
The Score (2001)
The Sixth Sense 1999
The.Descent.Unrated(2005)
The.Illusionist2006
The.Life.Of.David.Gale.2003
The.Machinist.2004
The.Orphanage[El.Orfanato][2007]
The.Prestige.2006
The.Salton.Sea.2002
The.Skeleton.Key 2005
The.Usual.Suspects.1995
The.Wicker.Man[2006]
They Live.1988.
Total Recall
Twelve.Monkeys.1995
Unbreakable (2000)
Vanilla Sky
Wanted 2008
Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)
Just finished watching Sleepover Camp and the twist was a real cracker. A low budget 80s film with crap acting but definitely worth watching right to the end. Wasn't the twist I was expecting!!! :o
Shutter Island, Session 9 and Secret Window were all pretty good too. 8)
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avengers - any good?
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Not bad but nowhere near as good as the series when Emma Peel was in it. Hubba! Hubba! Hubba! :D :-*
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Off to watch the Avengers tonight.. everyone raving about it.. have to see it really...
...will get dragged along to watch American Pie : The Reunion next week as well although Im really not fussed about that at all..
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Just noticed that The Crying Game is one of the films I listed above, love that film! ;D
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Avengers is a great superhero film.. enjoyed that.. few comedic elements in it and lots of fantastic action scenes.... hulk is great although I didnt get the fact that he is fighting black widow one second (seemingly because he cant control the hulk).. but at the end of the film.. works together with all the other avengers (seemingly being able to control the hulk).. was also impressed with the Hawkeye character.. they need to do a solo film with him in it - as it was.. there was talk of a lot of his backstory in the film but not being a fan of the comics.. it meant nothing to me...
..nor did the scene after the credits roll.. no idea who that guy is ;)
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Can't wait to see it ...
... will flaming well have to though :(
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Oops, thought we were talking about Uma Thurman in leather gear the other day lol :-[ ;D :P
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Yup going to watch American Pie : The Reunion tonight.. by the 2 trailers I saw.. it looks OK.. but Im haphazarding a guess here that they are the best bits of the film.. the rest will be drivel.. interspersed with annoying trashy american rock music... but the missus wants to see it...
...I guess I should be thankful that its not that crappy Johnny Depp Adams Family knockoff film.. which looks bloody awful!!
Would rather go and see Safe which looks more appealing to me.. JS looks badass in it...
...then theres The Dictator out soon.. which should be funny
...and MIB3 at the end of the month.. which looks OK..
...the new Expendables 2 trailer looks so good too..
could be a busy summer at the cinema!!
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MIB3 has cheapened itself by having Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga in it. Unless their part is as an alien that Tommy Lee Jones blasts to shreds.
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Watched the Hunger Games last week. Wasn't expecting much, so wasn't disappointed - it's okay. I've not read the books, but the story was okay if a little predictable, the acting was okay, and the visuals were good (or rather they'd be good if I weren't watching a dodgy camcorder rip).
Mainly, though, it just reminded me that I need to get Battle Royale and watch that again - as BR was far superior... but I do need to see how much that opinion is clouded by nostalgia.
Also watched Bad Teacher. Barely watchable drivel (only watched it cos I was home with one of the kids (she's off school for a month or two) and we were working our way through a load of films). Only highlight is when Cameron Diaz is considering getting breast enlargement surgery and she has a good grope of a model's tits at the hospital to see how they feel. Well it'd be a highlight if I weren't watching it with my teenage daughter. It just becomes embarrassing under those circumstances, but I can't blame the film director for that.
I think the rest of the films we watched last week were all ones I'd seen before, including Thor, Captain America, and Incredible Hulk (in anticipation of seeing Avengers some time soon), Mission Impossible 4, the four Lethal Weapon films, and the first two Jurassic Park films.
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Battle Royale is excellent. Would make an excellent video game too if done right. 8)
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Yup going to watch American Pie : The Reunion tonight.. by the 2 trailers I saw.. it looks OK.. but Im haphazarding a guess here that they are the best bits of the film.. the rest will be drivel.. interspersed with annoying trashy american rock music... but the missus wants to see it...
Well I was mostly right, some of the funniest bits in the film were ruined by watching the trailers.. however there were other amusing bits.. the ending was great!!
...if you've seen the film "Grown Ups" then its in that same kind of vein, but obviously with the cast of the original american pie.. theres no real story to it - but it does have a few good laughs in it.. its nowhere near as bad as the wedding one (AP3), so I'd say if your a fan of the original or the 2nd one then go see it... its been 13 years since the first one came out and I did feel a bit old watching the new one.. :o ;D
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Have to say as well... I watched the trailer for Piranha 3DD last night as well and it looks absolutely hilarious!!
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Here's a question for you...how many funny films have you watched that have had you in hysterical or near hysterical laughter..?
Only a few for me:
A Fish Called Wanda
Airplane
Naked Gun
The first one there had me laughing so much that it physically hurt lol ;D
'You owe me, a p-p-p-p-pound' lololol :P
Might have to download and watch that again now 8)
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Dead men don't wear Plaid
Space balls and the very best...
Life of Brian.
All hilarious to me.
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Loads.
Anchorman stands out though - I'm not a Will Ferrell fan but Steve Carrol's character had me in tears.
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Aw christ on a bike, how could I forget about Life of Brian..?!!?!? That's another one to add to my list. He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!!! ;D
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Here's a question for you...how many funny films have you watched that have had you in hysterical or near hysterical laughter..?
One always springs to mind. "My Cousin Vinny". Never fails to make me laugh.
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Role models
Anchorman
The Hangover.
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Fish Called Wanda was the best for me, had tears from laughter when those chips went up the nose lololol ;D
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I'll add There's Something About Mary to the list. Probably my favourite comedy ever.
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hangover
inbetweeners
superbad
life of Brian
40 year old virgin (me so fing stupid lol)
quite a few for me
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Watched Chronicle last week. Looked good from the trailers last year, but then I heard a couple of bad reviews and kinda forgot about it.
Very much enjoyed it - gotta be worth at least 8/10 in my book.
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Dumb and Dumber has to be the best slapstick comedy ever made.. Jim Carrey films are awesome...
"It feels like your running at an incredible rate Harry"... never makes a car journey boring ;D
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I'll add There's Something About Mary to the list. Probably my favourite comedy ever.
Forgot about that one too, nearly wet myself when the dog died lololol ;D
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Watched the first half of Battleships tonight.
I pray I never have to sit through the rest of the film.
I don't think I have the vocabulary and literary skills to adequately convey how bad this film is. Suffice to say it's even worse than Knight And Day - the only film I've ever rated as 1/10 on IMDB.
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Finally saw the Avengers. Some minor gripes about character changes and I wouldn't have cast the bloke playing Hawkeye personally. Other than that I thought it was excellent. Good ensemble cast, great action scenes, reasonable story and some real laugh out loud moments with the Hulk. The scene after the end credits I'm like "whoa it's """ (I won't give it away for those who have not seen it, not that they actually gave the character's name anyway, only comic book fans would have known who the character was. The friends I went with just went "who?" so I had to explain lol.
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Watched "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" (aka "Get The Gringo").
Fairly enjoyable action film in the "turn off your brain and sit back" style. Have heard it described as Lethal Weapon without Danny Glover, and that's not a bad description - nor a damning one. It's Lethal Weapon but with more blood and slow-motion.
I'll give it 6.5 outta 10.
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Anchorman 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q3ML9_NDJI0) trailer.
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(http://i.imgur.com/0TnXq.gif)
Wasn't sure where to post this gif but it has to be the most disturbing animated gif I've ever seen lololol :o :P
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I don't find it that disturbing. ??? lol.
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I don't find it that disturbing. ??? lol.
That's because you're twisted :P
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I don't find it that disturbing. ??? lol.
That's because you're twisted :P
Yeah, can't argue with that, I am definitely twisted. lol
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Finally watched Avengers. Good film but I found myself faintly disappointed - was hoping it'd be better. I think my main concern was that the heroes spent so much time bickering and fighting amongst themselves. I get it - they're individual heroes and it's against their nature to work with others - but the infighting got tiresome. Some of the quips were great though, as we're the Hulk's sudden fits of destruction.
8.5 - very good but could have been better.
Also watched John Carter. Definitely more one for the missus than me, but a decent film. I kept expecting to see Jar-Jar Binks though. Thin on story and physics, but strong cgi and action scenes, it's an enjoyable enough experience - just don't expect your brain to get a workout!
7.5 - better than I'd expected.
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Shame you didn't see John Carter in 3D, it was the best live action 3D film I;d seen since Avatar. Consistent the whole way through and the 3D gave real depth to the film.
It would probably make a better TV series though as the Burroughs books are a whole series and explore the whole thing a lot better. I am a bit surprised they didn't expand on the science part of it though. You can understand the physics in the original books being a bit weak, given the era in which they were written.
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One of the kids is blind in one eye, so I tend to avoid 3d stuff. It'd be unfair on her, and generally it's no great loss to stick to 2d (there are exceptions, of course, but as a rule 3d doesn't seem to do much to enhance games or films in my limited experience).
Recently bought the Robocop trilogy on blu-ray. I like the first two (the third is a coaster as far as I'm concerned).
Watched the first one tonight. The effects on ED209 are woeful, but on the whole the film still stands up pretty well today. :)
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One of the kids is blind in one eye, so I tend to avoid 3d stuff. It'd be unfair on her, and generally it's no great loss to stick to 2d (there are exceptions, of course, but as a rule 3d doesn't seem to do much to enhance games or films in my limited experience).
Good reason, but you're absolutely right about 3D. The only films I;ve seen where it was worth bothering with were John Carter, Avatar and the animated film Legend of the Guardian.
The others, wouldn't have been any great loss not seeing them in 3D.
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That gif's bugging me. Definitely looks familiar (pre edit).
Gary Oldman? Possibly in Leon?
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Yeah I'd go with that.. definitely gary oldman..
Talking of gary oldman.. I was searching for him on google the other day and thought "Wow he's let himself go quite a bit".. then I realised I had missed an "r" out when spelling his name..
..ok I'll get my coat lol.
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That gif's bugging me.
You'd give your eye teeth not to have to look at it any more eh!
;)
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Oh dear god, you didn't just post that...
lol
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Lololol, that was brilliant yet terrible at the same time :-\ ;D :P
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Watched Chronicle last week. Looked good from the trailers last year, but then I heard a couple of bad reviews and kinda forgot about it.
Very much enjoyed it - gotta be worth at least 8/10 in my book.
I watched this last night.. to be honest Im indifferent about it..
I thought the plot was good, bit slow but almost entirely predictable...
..it wasnt helped by the 3 main characters... only 1 of which had some depth to him, he was mainly annoying and didnt seem balanced at all.. in some scenes he would seem quite intelligent and in others quite thick...
..I did however like the scenes in the supermarket as they are discovering their powers...
..the end sucked, the film just seemed a bit pointless with it, the special fx were good though...
it was better than I was expecting though.. 5/10
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Watched "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "Journey 2 The Mysterious Island" over the weekend.
I'd seen the former before, in 3D, a few years ago at the flicks. As a 3d experience with the family it was okay. We weren't looking for a good plot, acting, or direction - just some "woah" and "ahhh" moments as things fly out of the screen at you. The current generation of 3D was fairly new at the time.
It's more accurate to say I watched the first twenty minutes of each film this weekend. Both terrible.
The former was full of things flying toward (or away from) the camera - enthralling to those watching in 3D on the big screen and not yet jaded by by the way the tech was affecting cinematography. Watching it in 2D you're left with just a very silly adaptation of a classic tale.
Didn't watch much of the latter. Seems to star the same kid, now a few years older. Last time he went with his uncle to try and follow in his dad's footsteps to a mystical place. This time he went with his step-dad to try and follow his grandad's footsteps to a mystical place. If you've got a winning formula don't change it. Seems the same applies to a shit formula.
They found the titular mysterious island by overlaying three incomplete maps from the front pages of Treasure Island, The Mysterious Island, and Gulliver's Travels. Apparently nobody had noticed the maps were each incomplete but formed a complete map of an island when put together. Equally nobody had questioned the random numbers by the side of each map - which when put together gave lat and long of the island. I gave up at that point. Each time I glanced up at the screen (the wife and kids watched both films in full (inexplicable, really - I thought they had better taste)) there was a more ridiculous cgi bastardisation of the aforementioned classic novels.
I'll give each film 3/10.
Will probably re-watch Anchorman this week. The trailers for Anchorman 2 reminded me how much I love Steve Carell's character. (The trailers don't actually give any idea of the story, era, etc - which probably hasn't yet been decided - they just feature Burgundy and his team speaking to camera.)
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Watched "21 Grams" for the first time the other night when it was on Channel 4. Thought it was a very well-written story with excellent acting from all involved. 8.5/10 from me.
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Ordered the box set of Avengers films to date on Blu-ray. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America & Avengers Assemble.
I rarely do pre-orders (it's out Sept) as the price often drops shortly after release, but can't argue with £35 for six films (Sainsburys (http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/marvel-avengers-6-movie-collection-blu-ray-collection-34-99-sainsburys-1239704)/Amazon (http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/marvel-avengers-6-disc-blu-ray-box-set-34-99-amazon-1240133)). I'm a big fan of Iron Man 1 and 2, and enjoyed all the other films in the series - and surprisingly I don't yet have any on Blu (there haven't been any good deals for them) - so it wasn't a hard choice.
It's sometimes a bit awkward buying box sets when there's more films coming out, but I hear this set is known as Phase One, and a box set of Phase Two is expected after in a few years' time, with Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Avengers 2, and a handful of others. If that's right then I like it.
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I've heard rumours they are going to be doing a new Hulk TV series, a proper Hulk tv series though.
The Marvel franchise is red hot at the moment. Amazing Spiderman out soon, so far trailers have left me a bit cold though but can't be worse than Tobey Maguire, thought he was crap as Peter Parker. Some of the CGI in the trailers looks ropey, but they are already in planning or even pre-proiduction for the sequel.
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I liked the Spidey films, personally - and think the new one looks great.
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I thought the new spidey trailer looked uninspiring myself... I enjoyed some of the previous spiderman films with Tobey in.. compared to the reboot of Batman, they are pretty lame though... the new reboot of spiderman just looks exactly the same as before.. and I dont particularly want to pay more money to just watch a different intrepretation of the same film... so what if they have a different actor for spiderman.. no need to reboot the whole series again.. feels like a money spinner to me.. if reviews say different then I might be tempted but dont think they will
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The new Spiderman film is more representatative of the original comics though, with Gwen Stacey and her police captain dad. Though still some inconsistencies from what I've read. It's the CGI in the trailers that has put me off though.
I looked at that box set Late, it's around the £30 mark on Play.com. I won;t be getting it though as it appears to be the single disk version of the films. I already have Iron Man (and I think Iron Man 2 as well but can't remember if I bought it or not - it's a problem when you have a large collection lol). Although I don't have them on Blu-Ray ...
Hmm, now I'm tempting myself. I may well wait and see what versions of the Avengers are avaialble when it is released. Always annoying to buy a film and then have them release a special extended edition (though that sometimes means waiting 20 years. (Rip off merchants that the film and music industry are).
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Aye, it's bound to be the single disk editions of all the films. Suits me though - I hardly ever watch bonus stuff (though I do like extended editions/directors cuts).
Cancelled my order with Amazon at £35, and ordered with Sainsbury's, using 10% discount code (new customers only, so set up a new account). Then I got an email from Sainsburys saying they've cancelled it, so I've now re-ordered it from Amazon!
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Pirannah 3DD - erm, well less said the better. Some funny bits. Some nice things that rhyme with bits. Apart from that, dreadful. But then it never intended to take itself seriously in the slightest.
The PAct. Run of the mill. Predictable. Not scary in the slightest.
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After months of mediocrity, sky have had a couple of decent films of late (not our late)
Bridesmaids - made me lol and entertained. 8/10
X-men first class - second class if u ask me but still ok 7/10
We need to talk about Kevin - best I've seen in ages 8.5/10
Stakeland - vampire version of zombieland 7.5/10, i liked it
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After months of mediocrity, sky have had a couple of decent films of late (not our late)
I' so glad you clarified that. If Sky were showing films of Late I'd imagine their subscription figures would crash somewhat. ;D
They'd also presumably have to start a horror channel.
Sorry Late lol :P
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It'd be more like Britain's next top model, of course... ;D
Watched the first 12 mins of Iron Sky last night. Says it all really.
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That's why broadband internet + torrents + streaming > cable or satellite television.
I'm surprised so many people are stupid enough (no offense meant chaps, you know it doesn't make sense) to fork out a subscription fee each month for seriously limited viewing. With even a poor broadband connection you can download whatever films and telly series you want to watch without annoying adverts every 15 minutes and watch just about any sporting event you want - including Pay Per View stuff and stuff such as Saturday matches with 3pm kickoffs that aren't available in the UK - often in HD, for nowt.
I just can't see the sense in it tbh :-\
If you have the range of viewing options available in the States I'd understand it a bit better but with cable and satellite telly in the UK you're just throwing money away.
And you don't even need a decent graphics card and modern telly to do it these days either. Back when I had my old (and we're talking maybe around 20 years old :o ) telly donkeys years ago I bought an adapter to switch my telly between my telly/video/PC using my video's SCART socket - telly was so old it didn't have one, just a bog standard aerial connection. And you don't even need to have your PC in the same room or cables all over the place if you have a drill and cable ties.
Makes no sense at all to give that blood sucking twat Murdoch any money at all. :o
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There is the legality of downloading films harv.
Plus the big issue for me is the sound/picture quality
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Why bother going to work either people... go down the dole office and get free money and you can do what you want all week!!! LOL SUCKERZZZZ!!!!!
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Watched "Man on a Ledge" and "Lockout" in the last couple of days.
Man on a Ledge is a thriller/heist movie without a great many thrills. It's watchable but predictable. 6.5/10
Lockout is an action film with strong comedy undertones. I'm pretty sure the comedy's deliberate, but sometimes you can't be sure. Very silly, but again a watchable flick. I'll go with 6.5/10 for this one, too.
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There is the legality of downloading films harv.
Plus the big issue for me is the sound/picture quality
Meh to the legality of it lol ;D
And the sound and picture quality isn't an issue these days, a great deal of stuff is HD. The only problem with sound and picture quality is with downloading stuff that's currently only available to watch in the cinema. It used to be an issue with some stuff years ago but not nowadays. ;D
I just think it's a complete waste of money forking out a monthly fee for severely restricted viewing with adverts.
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Should get rid of our Sky subscription, to be honest. Pay about £25 a month I think, and aside from the footy last month I watch about 2-3 hours a week - whereas I watch about 20-30 hours a week of downloaded material.
As Harv says, quality of downloads is okay these days, if you go to the right places and pick the right files. The copy of Lockout I watched last night was very high quality (much better than dvd - comparable to full blu-ray), with the file coming in at a shade under 8gb.
There are loads of other copies of the film available, including the more traditional 750mb versions (quality slightly less than dvd) and loads of camcorder versions. You pick the one you want, cross your fingers, and leave the computer for a while. If it's a small file you'll usually have it in a couple hours. If it's a big file it might take a day or two.
I usually stick with the 750mb versions, though. Not great quality, but if I enjoy it I'm more than happy to then go and buy the bluray version - so long as I can find it for around £6 (which is usually do-able if you're patient).
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Yup, things have come along in leaps and bounds during the last few years and if it's going to be on Sky then you're pretty much guaranteed that there's a Blu-Ray rip out there which will also save you subscribing to a Sky HD channel. And with the help of Google you'll be able to find plenty of seeds and will be able to download a HD video file in minutes assuming you've got a decent internet connection.
But the biggest difference for me is the football. It's a major pain in the arse that we can't see whatever football match we want.
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There is the legality of downloading films harv.
Plus the big issue for me is the sound/picture quality
Don't even get me started on this debate. Oh damn it. Too late.
The immoral practices of the media companies who produce music and films is unbelievable and it's not the casual buyer who they target with their practices but the real fans. How many different versions of a film can they release. Lord of the Rings or Star Wars are very good examples. We have special editions, Ltd editions, director's cuts, anniversary editions etc etc etc.
When they released Star Wars parts 1 and 2 (Phantom Menace etc) as a two DVD set (before the third one had been released) the back cover of the box set contained the following "contains deleted scenes specially made for this edition). Well they weren't deleted then were they, they were created for the DVD release. It's a great way of getting the real fan to not only see the film at the cinema but then buy the DVD for all these little extras and any subsequent special editions for the additional extras. Music is no different either.
I've heard the argument that you can simply wait for the special edition to come out. Yeah maybe, except you don't know when that will be. It could be as little as two weeks after the initial release, a year, 10 years or 25 years (anniversary editions) after the original. They claim we have a choice, but the fact is we don't have a choice because in 95% of cases we don't know what that choice is until long after we have made an initial purchase.
The media companies are ripping real fans off left right and centre. They get away with it because their immoral practices are deemed legal. It's the effect on the media companies ability to continue these rip offs that really has them up in arms and the loss of their ability to rip people off, not a loss of general sales.
For a start, the big companies did everything they could to stop the likes of Play.com from selling films and music more cheaply (fortunately the internet based companies got around that one). Independent commisions in the past have ruled and categorically stated that media is over-priced, even drawing admissions of that fact from the media moguls themselves. Not that the Government will do anything about these inflated prices because they lose 20p for every £1 we save. Often I'll download a film if I've missed it at the cinema but will wait until it's a reasonable price on Play or in Asda for a fiver before purchasing it - prices that the industry can absorb but don't like to because they are ripping us off. All downloaders are doing is fighting back against this.
I don't buy DVD box sets when they are first released now. The prices at that time are artificially inflated to maximise income from a high demand. Many a box set I've bought in the past has been available 6 months to a year later for less than half the price of the original release. If I didn't download the TV programmes then I would never buy the box sets. Most of which are actually free to air in America or have not even been shown in the UK yet. In the past I have actively written to terrestrial TV channels to promote a show that has not aired here yet, urging them to buy it before Sky get their grubby mitts on it. Nothing wrong in downloading a show that is free to air in my opinion, no different to recording it from the TV.
Another argument they might use is the loss of advertising revenue for the stations that air the shows. Well simple solution, get the cappers and rippers to leave the ads in. People have options now for skipping ads then those that don't want to watch them in the downloaded file can still skip them, as they would if they were using some of the advanced features on a TIVO box or some freeview boxes, or a recording of the show they have made themselves.
Then there's the fact that the companies making shows don't care about the fans. A show could have a few million followers, sell a lot of box sets of its first season but still get axed for low ratings, leaving millions of people with no ending to a story and a box set with no subsequent ending. The fans do ot matter to the corporations producing these tv shows.
They claim that downloading hurts the industry. An absolute lie. It has been proven in studies by respected universities such as Harvard that downloading has a "less than negligible effect on sales". Downloaders fall into two categories. 1. The ones who would never have bought the product themselves in the first place (no effect on sales). 2. The ones who not only still buy the product after they have downloaded it but also buy more as a result of discovering new films, TV programmes and music as a result. (an increase in sales, people seeing live performances).
It has been proven that a large majority of downloaders purchase far more as a result of downloading. Stopping downloading will have a negative effect on sales.
Then there's the fact that artists these days get a miniscule amount of the money from the sales of music these days. I prefer to buy an artist's CD's at a gig if I can, because they get a number of copies to sell themselves and they get a full slice of the money when they sell them at gigs. Most acts make their money from live performances these days.
It's why X-factor is great for Simon Cowell. The recording contracts he gives the winners makes him a fortune from sales to the mugs who buy them, while the winners themselves get a pretty poor deal out of it.
I fall into category 2. I don't often download films, usually as a result of missing it at the cinema but don't want to waste money buying it on DVD/Blu-ray unless it's any good, so I like to see it first. It's bad enough when you waste £10 on a cinema ticket to see a film that turns out to have been overhyped. You can't get your money back for a crap product at a cinema. I would save a fortune on music and films if I didn't download because I'd never have kown about half the stuff I have bought. I have seen a lot of bands/singers live I would never have bothered with if not for downloading.
There's also the fact that many people, like myself, prefer a hard copy of a CD, DVD/Blu-ray or a book to a digital copy of the media. A digital copy is a temporary thing for me or, in the case of music, something I can slap on a DVD/CD for playing in the car without having to carry the original media around with me. (I'll leave DRM, the disgraceful way it has been used and the way it infringes our consumer rights out of this debate for now).
Then there's Sky, who wait until a series is popular then poach it from terrestrial TV to basically try and force people to subscribe to Sky on top of a TV license to continue watching those programmes. Immoral. Lost being a very good example. Thank you torrents. (I own all six series of Lost on DVD but have only opened the packaging to watch some of the special features).
The final thing to note here is that government plans to stop downloading will fail miserably. New technology will be developed to circumvent it. It will also backfire on their attempts to stop what they claim are crimes funded by piracy because most people who download using torrents and the like don't pay for it, thereby not providing the criminals with any money. By stopping downloading they will see an increase in actual piracy, which with the advent of sites such as e-bay, will lead to unstoppable levels of piracy and people buying what they think are genuine products there but being ripped off by untraceable companies selling pirated copies on the net.
The use of proxy servers will rocket. Again leading to a greater awareeness of these and an increase in their use to mask real crime. The development of greater encryption levels for use in downloading software will also lead to more safeguards for criminals. Attempts by goverment security departments to break this encryption will affect confidence in e-commerce.
Whoever is advising the government is misguided (or in the pockets of the media companies) and the government are a bunch of idiots. They won't stop downloading, but they will increase crime and help facilitate crime by their actions. The Government's advisors clearly have no I.T backgrounds/qualifications, that's for sure.
A simple solution, which would bring in large sums for the media industry beyond what they already get, is to implement a levy on downloaded data. It only has to be a very small sum. Say 1 or 2 pence per gig. It would hardly be noticeable for those not downloading large amounts. For those downloading a lot of data, be it legal or otherwise, it wouldn't be a lot. It wouldn't put off those who already buy what they download from buying it and would still rake in extra money from those who wouldn't buy it in the first place.
It's the same as is already in place and a principal that lead to a judge in Canada ruling that file sharing is legal because the media corporations are already being paid a levy from the sales of recording equipment and blank media, which was first introduced when the humble cassette tape was invented and the argument about people taping from the radio and from LP's and then CD's raged in the way that the downloading issue does today.
People are already paying a levy on their internet connections and broadband to supposedly fund upgrades in the systems, the roll out of broadband to underserved areas etc. So any argument of why people who aren't doing anything wrong should pay is moot. We're already paying for other people's connections.
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Probably the longest post I've ever read. Seen longer ones of course but usually give up a quarter of the way though.
Some fantastic points there, Drags. If i had a cap I'd be doffing it in your greneral direction right now.
Of course, your arguments are un ikely to change anyones minds, though. Its easy (and I suppose understandable) for folk to believe downloading to be wrong without looking into it - irrespective of the facts.
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Something can be illegal but that doesn't mean you have to agree with it.
Downloading films is illegal in the eyes of the law. You make very good points drag.
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Well there are issues there as well. Downloading is not, as far as I'm aware, a crminal offence. Any legal action has to be taken as a civil case which is why the media corporations have to take out individual prosecutions in every case.
What is happening with these cases is that the crown, who are supposed to remain impartial in these cases are in fact taking sides. The new regulations being brought in whereby ISPs have to provide information to media corporations is taking sides. Then there is this business of ISPs having to issue three warnings to individuals before taking further action such as slowing their connections or cutting them off altogether. Even worse is the fact that an individual accused in this way, even if they are innocent and know they are innocent (many ways it could happen, victims of IP address cloning, having an unsecured wireless connection amongst others) they will have to pay to have the right to appeal against such an accusation. There is a presumption of guilty until proven innocent, completely contrary to one of the main principles of law in this (and most) country. Even worse you have to pay to be able to even claim your innocence, let alone fight your own corner.
The ISPs are against it. They know full well that a large amount of customers will no longer have a need for the fastes connection speeds and will simply drop to a lower connection for less money.
However, the Government in this case are totally in the pocket of these media corporations, allowing them to systematically rip us off, just as they have allowed the financial institutions to do the same. Now I wouldn't be as cyincial as to say many of those in Goverment stand to profit from this or land jobs with these institutions (okay, actually I would be that cynical, which is borne out by the kind of wining and dining Mandelson received in America from many of these companies when he was proposing measures like this).
Now if people are encrypting torrent traffic using a program such as Utorrent, the only way the ISPs and media companies will really be able to tell what people are downloading will be to crack that encryption, which as I've said will lead to two things. 1. The implemenation of higher rates of encryption in the software, which if they then try to crack it will lead to 2. The undermining of e-commerce and online banking because it will be less safe than it is now.
Apart from cracking the encryption, they will have to base their assumptions that people are file sharing on the amount of upload data. Many private torrent trackers have options to pay for leaching without having any requirement to upload data. As long as the uploaders are from countries which don't have the laws we have, those people who do this will not necessarily have to upload a lot of data and will stay under the radar.
Alternatively, or in conjunction with this, there is the option of a proxy server or a seedbox, or a combination of the two. With a proxy server, what you download and upload will disappear into the ether, the people watching your connection will still see the amount of data uploaded and downloaded but not where from or where to. The use of a seedbox enables users to download data to it (think of it as an online storage area you pay for) however the isp will only see the amount of data downloaded not what is uploaded because those downloading from you are downloading from this online storage area. For all the ISPs know, you will be downloading perfectly legal data/films/music or whatever (remember it's still going to be encrypted) while not appearing to be uploading anything. Therefore there can be no presumption and no proof of guilt. They would fail miserably if they tried to take you to court because you could just say you were watching videos on youtube or hidefinition webcams, they would not be able to prove otherwise.
The only people who will get caught will be those who aren't that well informed and those using public trackers. As I said, more people will become wise to technology such as proxy servers and seedboxes. Which in turn will facilitate other types of crime as well.
Those who aren't aware of these things may well turn to buying physical pirated copies of films and music. Often they may be unaware of the fact they are buying pirated material if purchased online from a site such as E-bay. This passes the legal burden from the media corporations, having to take out civil actions against offenders, to both law enforcement and local authority trading standards departments. The end result of which will be that convictions of pirates will be minimal, while those ripped off by them get no justice, but the media companies will be able to continue their immoral practices aided and abetted by the peoplke we are stupid enough to elect.
Copyright law needs to be seriously reformed in this country. Making material fall into the public domain much more quickly than it does now and preventing companies from extending copyright protections. That would at least stop the proliferation of all of these special editions and anniversary editions, where any old material should be in the public domain and free. Won't happen though because of many of the already stated reasons.
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Everything that drags said.. 8)
There was a great deal of fuss a couple of years ago about Davenport Lyons, a law firm that started to sue supposed 'copyright infringers' allegedly uploading copyrighted material. There was talk of them being disbarred I think lol.
There were pensioners accused of filesharing gay porn as far as I remember lololol ;D I think that Which magazine took up their case.
Load of old bollocks imo, I encrypt everything so don't have any worries. 8)
Like I've said, I have no problem ripping off Murdoch, the bloke is pure scum.
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Personally there are parts of drags arguments that I find a bit skeptical and dont agree with.. however the size of his posts make me fearful to even bother to try and argue against them all lol... I'll start with two bits though...
They claim that downloading hurts the industry. An absolute lie. It has been proven in studies by respected universities such as Harvard that downloading has a "less than negligible effect on sales". Downloaders fall into two categories. 1. The ones who would never have bought the product themselves in the first place (no effect on sales). 2. The ones who not only still buy the product after they have downloaded it but also buy more as a result of discovering new films, TV programmes and music as a result. (an increase in sales, people seeing live performances).
a) Im a downloader.. sometimes I have missed films at the cinema and download them before they even come out on dvd.. hence killing the sale I would of made... im not going to buy a dvd at full price of a film that I can watch anytime, I think its laughable to think anyone even does that more often than my scenario (in which you have also attested too)... a small amount of sales at full price, beats a lot of sales at a low price - so how does that not have an effect... ?
b) How do you discover new films, TV programmes and music as a result of downloading ?? Surely when films and TV programmes usually contain adverts or trailers that are appropriate to the thing your watching.. surely that has more of a beneficial effect than having a download which doesnt include them. If your searching for stuff and come across new things.. surely your just going to download them "for free" as well anyway. The idea of uploaders leaving the adverts in is a bit ridiculous to be honest.. would you download a film with adverts or no adverts in if you were given a choice?
It has been proven that a large majority of downloaders purchase far more as a result of downloading. Stopping downloading will have a negative effect on sales.
Baloney.. again, this would assume that people who download stuff actually go out and buy the same material at full price.. you dont, I dont, they dont... negative effect on sales doesnt equate to negative effect on profit margins either...
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I hope you're prepared for what you've gotten yourself into, Jman. :P
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lol im used to disagreeing with drags.. and I havent totally disagreed with him.. I do agree with him on parts.. such as technology finding ways round most restrictions put in place.. virgin media customers have been "blocked" from piratebay for instance.. but there are ways around the ban already.... but drags' main point is to blame the rising costs of media for the increase of illegal downloading.. when you consider a song on itunes costs about 79p to download.. Im afraid I have to beg to differ.
Films can also be obtained in a much cheaper fashion than the price Sky favours too.. in fact.. a subscription to LoveFilm for example costs less than a subscription to Sky and you get to see films before they are released on Sky.. but since downloading is FREE it doesn't make a difference.. and thats the real crux here.. its EASY, QUICK and FREE to download something for nothing.. thats why illegal download numbers have been increasing year on year.. and they will continue to do so as the majority of downloaders are the younger generation who have attitudes similar to drags.. which is "its OK to download illegally"..
but then Im not trying to preach the legality of it all.. Im just saying the attitude needs to change to stop download numbers rising.. like I said, Im a downloader myself.. but only because Im allowed to be.. I remember having my tape recorder poised for the chart countdowns on sundays - that was about the extent of my piracy back then - never harmed me not having the freedom to listen or watch whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted...
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Edit: Well you knew this would happen lol. ;D :P
a) Im a downloader.. sometimes I have missed films at the cinema and download them before they even come out on dvd.. hence killing the sale I would of made... im not going to buy a dvd at full price of a film that I can watch anytime, I think its laughable to think anyone even does that more often than my scenario (in which you have also attested too)... a small amount of sales at full price, beats a lot of sales at a low price - so how does that not have an effect... ?
As I said, downloaders and purchasers fall into categories. There are plenty, like myself, who still buy what they download and research has shown that to increase sales, particularly of music.
Seriously, if downloading is hurting the industry, explain why digital music sales are up by over 17%.
http://www.nme.com/news/miscellaneous/64713
DVD sales topped the 1 Billion in the UK in 10 years from their arrival in 1998 until around 2008. It took video sales 17 years to do that, despite the fact that downloads were not a problem in the VHS heydey.
DVD sales are down but as well as the advent of Blu-ray contributing to this, one of the things being blamed for the fall in DVD sales is actually the boom in internet TV and sites like Netflix and Lovefilm, not just downloading, but it is downloading that gets the main flack for it. The fact is that the downloaders like me who actually buy the stuff like a physical copy, while those who wouldn't buy are are happy just being able to watch it online, hurting sales of the physical items.
Blu-ray sales themselves continue to rise as do the sales of online delivery of media, a trend that is expected to continue.
So basically the evidence that downloading is hurting music sales is clearly an absolute and utter lie and, similarly, the claims that it is downloading hurting DVD/blu-ray sales is also plainly false when there are multiple causes for this and evidence against (it in the form of increased blu-ray sales and rising digital media sales compensating for losses in physical media sales).
If your searching for stuff and come across new things.. surely your just going to download them "for free" as well anyway.
You want an example. Jack Savoretti. Bought all three of his albums so far. Saw him live last month. Bought the CD of one of the supporting acts at the gig and will buy the CD of the other supporting act when it is releasead at the end of the year). That's 4 albums and 1 live gig, with another album and future purchases resulting from 1 downloaded album.
Another example. Life (cop show, not the David Attenborough series - though I have that on DVD as well). Downloaded it, bought the DVD box sets, even though it was shown on terrestrial TV in the UK at a later date.
I have hundreds more examples if you want them.
You completely miss the point about downloaders falling into categories, largely being those who download and would never buy and those who download and do buy (whether that's just a fraction of the stuff they think is good and worth buying can be divided into further sub-categories). If I download a film and it turns out to be crap, I'm not going to buy it. If I went to see it at the cinema and thought it was crap I'd have wasted my money. By downloading I may discover a film I might not have wanted to see at the cinema in case I was going to waste my money in that way, but it has subsequently lead to a sale of the DVD due to enjoying the film. If it was just a case of seeing it at the cinema or renting it (even online), I wouldn't have seen the film and there would have been no sale. Occasionally I do buy DVD's at knockdown prices in Asda on a whim. Bought some good films in that way and bought some bad ones. Can't get my money back if I think it's crap.
How do you discover new films, TV programmes and music as a result of downloading ?? Surely when films and TV programmes usually contain adverts or trailers that are appropriate to the thing your watching.. surely that has more of a beneficial effect than having a download which doesnt include them.
I'm talking about films that may have had limited release at the cinema or gone straight to DVD. I've discovered quite a few good films (and a lot of bad films) in this way. If they've been good I've bought them on DVD when they have been available cheaply.
As for TV programmes. A lot of shows either don't get aired in the UK for some time (if at all) after being shown in the US. Or they don't get aired on terrestrial TV because Sky nab them. In the case of the former, chances are I'd never have heard of them if not for seeing them on a torrent site and wondering what they were or if they're any good. I might look them up on IMDB if there isn't any info on the torrent site and then download it if I think I might like it. If they're any good I carry on downloading them and then buy the dvd box sets. In many cases I'll wait until the end of the show or it gets cancelled and a complete box set (example: Prison Break). If a show gets cancelled without a decent end I'm not going to purchase the DVDs (eg Flashforward) in the same way as I wouldn't buy a book with half the pages missing. I won't subscribe to sky under any circumstances. I'd rather give up watching TV altogether.
In answer to another point, if a show hasn't aired in the UK yet, I can't see the trailers or advertisements contained within it for other shows that may be appropriate to the one I'm watching.
In the case of music. I rarely listen to the radio and there wouldn't be enough time in the day for radio stations to play all new music, if most of them bothered to even play anything other than mainstream crap and Simon Cowell's manufactured rubbish anyway. I discover new music in two ways. 1. Seeing live bands, often as support artists to other bands or at festivals. 2. Downloading something because it catches my eye and I wonder what it sounds like. If I like it I buy it and more often than not see the act live if I get a chance.
Now a very good example of why I download is Hill Street Blues. They released the first two series on DVD. I purchased the box sets. They were supposed to be releasing the other five seasons on DVD as well, having given a date for season 3 to be released. They never did release them. I e-mailed the company and asked them why. They didn't reply. So I downloaded the other five seasons.
The idea of uploaders leaving the adverts in is a bit ridiculous to be honest.. would you download a film with adverts or no adverts in if you were given a choice?
The fact that I can skip adverts, just as I can if I record a show from TV, means it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. There are even TV boxes that allow you to skip ads. There's actually a dispute going on about this in America at the moment because of one such digital recording box allows people to skip ads on a particular cable channel.
Baloney.. again, this would assume that people who download stuff actually go out and buy the same material at full price.. you dont, I dont, they dont... negative effect on sales doesnt equate to negative effect on profit margins either...
You're wrong about my not buying stuff at full price. I have bought plenty of stuff I've downloaded at full price, usually because special editions of releases may have a limited run and I don't want to have to pay a collectos premium at a later date if it isn't available. Examples being the Special edition of Springsteen's Wrecking Ball album and Weller's latest album. I've also bought plenty of DVD box sets at full price because I don't want to wait. Recent examples being the season one box set of Game of Thrones (impulse purchase in Asda, though it was only about a quid more expensive than Play.com).
You're right, the effect on sales and profit margins is a different thing. Downloading having no negative impact on sales (in terms of numbers of items) can still have a negative impact on profit margins. However, their profit margins are artificial because they are ripping people off with what they have freely admitted (albeit freely admitted because they were caught in a lie) that they are selling their goods at overinflated prices and they tried to protect this by attempting to stop them being sold more cheaply.
However. As with downloaders falling into two categories, there's a similar thing with purchasers. Those who purchase things right away and those who wait until things come down in price. A relatively small effect on profit margins. It's not just downloaders who wait to purchase things at a cheaper price though! Plenty of people will do the same when they want to purchase something. It's called not wanting to be ripped off. That goes for just about every type of product, not just entertainment media.
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I hope you're prepared for what you've gotten yourself into, Jman. :P
;D :P
Damn you.
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Seriously, if downloading is hurting the industry, explain why digital music sales are up by over 17%.
Because digital distribution is slowly taking over from physical media in terms of popularity.. quite simple, physical sales will most definitely be down.. oh and they are!! However your statement is misleading outside the bigger picture.... Its a FACT that UK music had declined in sales for the seventh successive year at the start of this year... [Link] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/02/uk-music-sales-decline-2011) - your article says digital music sales are up.. but it actually states that overall album sales are still down.. so again.. its looking like an eight successive year for a decline in the music industry... and everyone knows illegal downloading is on the rise... prehaps you could explain the reason if illegal downloading is having a positive effect (instead of a negative one) - why are sales dropping every year ??
Blu-ray sales themselves continue to rise as do the sales of online delivery of media, a trend that is expected to continue.
Film piracy mostly effects profits prior to an after market even existing for a film, and with cinemas hiking their prices up to deal with the loss in attendances, this problem will only get worse.... Blu-Ray, DVD & CD will all go the same way anyway.. die out slowly as streaming platforms take over.... this can be seen with the growth of firms such as Netflix... combined sales of (physical) dvd and blu-ray in a year dont even equate to the sales of movies watched online.... but why do you think streaming is emerging as the winning platform for pretty much any kind of media.. because its QUICK and EASY... just like illegal downloading.. with the invention of products such as AppleTV, GoogleTV and consoles which allow you stream all kinds of media such as the 360 and PS3.. its easy to see where the future is going... and its not physical media.
So basically the evidence that downloading is hurting music sales is clearly an absolute and utter lie and, similarly, the claims that it is downloading hurting DVD/blu-ray sales is also plainly false when there are multiple causes for this and evidence against (it in the form of increased blu-ray sales and rising digital media sales compensating for losses in physical media sales).
Not really, you have failed to convince me with any of your argument!!
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I loved the first three American Pie films, and I once watched the fourth - but regretted it. I believe there were another 2 or 3 films after that, and I'm told I was right to avoid them - the series totally lost it's way when the original cast all left...
Fortunately the original cast are back for the American Pie Reunion, and this is probably the funniest of the series.
You know what you're getting with the American Pie films. Puerile juvenile hilarity. If you didn't enjoy the original don't bother with this one - it's more of the same.
Several laugh out loud moments - I particularly loved the bit when Jim's in the kitchen the morning after a few beers.
8/10.
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Theres one cast member that has been in every single american pie so far though.. kudos for anyone who knows who it is without cheating!!
I agree though.. American Pie 4 (re-union) was great (although the trailers really did spoil some of the funniest parts of the film for me)... on par with the 2nd one at least... the 1st one is still the best though... am waiting for the main set of films (no spinoffs) to be bundled into a boxset before buying them as our other american pie boxset is scratched to bits from watching them too many times..
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I'd have to guess Jim's dad (Eugene Levy).
I'd definitely buy the BD box set of 1, 2, Wedding, and Reunion.
I have a four film dvd set* of 1, 2, Wedding, and Band Camp, and would love to replace the "straight to video" crap one with Reunion when upgrading to bluray :D
*Bought it as a complete collection called "All 4 slices of Pie". A few months later there was a complete collection with "all 5 slices of pie". I've since seen "all 6..." and possibly "all 7..." ::)
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I'd have to guess Jim's dad (Eugene Levy).
I'd definitely buy the BD box set of 1, 2, Wedding, and Reunion.
I have a four film dvd set* of 1, 2, Wedding, and Band Camp, and would love to replace the "straight to video" crap one with Reunion when upgrading to bluray :D
*Bought it as a complete collection called "All 4 slices of Pie". A few months later there was a complete collection with "all 5 slices of pie". I've since seen "all 6..." and possibly "all 7..." ::)
Omg, don't say that - you'll set drags off again :P
And jman, you should always backup retail DVDs and keep the originals on your shelf. I do this with the Wii games I've actually bought, although my originals are safely in a box behind my armchair because my backups actually look better than the retail covers lol. Good job I did that too as Georgie knocked a whole shelf full of games on the floor a couple of years ago and scratched a few of the backups. :o
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Meh, I look after my dvds.. the scratched boxset in question is one of the very few I let my missus display in my mahoosive dvd cabinet.... besides I really cant be arsed ripping every dvd I get.. I must have over 600 retail now and theres no way I have time to do that.. I'd need to upgrade my harddrives aswell.. although I only have about 15 films and maybe 2 tv series on there at the moment.. I dont download half as much as you guys seem too... much prefer to buy legit and contribute to the film industries LOL.. (thats a joke btw.. dont bite).. I just prefer having physical copies rather than digital... with digital you have nothing to showcase and films are a big part of my life...
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Been a bit busy for the past few days but (unfortunately for you lot) I've now had a bit of spare time.
So:
Seriously, if downloading is hurting the industry, explain why digital music sales are up by over 17%.
Because digital distribution is slowly taking over from physical media in terms of popularity.. quite simple, physical sales will most definitely be down.. oh and they are!! However your statement is misleading outside the bigger picture.... Its a FACT that UK music had declined in sales for the seventh successive year at the start of this year... [Link] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/02/uk-music-sales-decline-2011) - your article says digital music sales are up.. but it actually states that
overall album sales are still down.. so again.. its looking like an eight successive year for a decline in the music industry... and everyone knows illegal downloading is on the rise... prehaps you could explain the reason if illegal downloading is having a positive effect (instead of a negative one) - why are sales dropping every year ??
Yes digital media has taken over, exactly as services such as Spotify and Youtube are having an effect. They gain revenue from advertisng but are both having an adverse effect on sales, as are other ways in which people access music legally, but it is downloading that takes 100% of the blame.
Music sales have not fallen solely because of downloading. Singles (and album) sales have fallen in the past, long before the advent of the internet. To get a gold record for a single used to require a million sales. It has dropped to something like 25000. That fall took place over a long period of time.
Then there is the effect the economic downturn has had on the sales of many so called luxury items. The economic situation has been worsening for the past few years. This has lead to people seeking different sources for their music, the use of sites such as spotify. The effect on sales will need to be re-assessed once the world economy has picked up but if they haven't stopped ripping people off with over-inflated prices they will never recover their audience. Just as people discover they can live without Sky TV, people
will discover they can live without owning a physical copy of many items and listen to music on Spotify.
The same newspaper, the Guardian, having reported in your link that music sales have declined for seven successive years, reported in 2010 that 2009 saw an upturn in sales but they still primarily target illegal downloads as the main reason. They are burying their heads in the sand over the problems caused by their own greed over time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/26/uk-recorded-music-sales-rise
Music sales in the UK also don't take into account music purchased online from overseas sites where users can purchase it cheaply. A large chunk of music bought is purchased on sites such as e-bay, second hand, or through the likes of WowHD and Play.com who are outside of British pricing and therefore V.A.T can be avoided.
The fall in music sales is not down to downloading but the government and the industry would have you believe it is. The reason for this is plain and simply that the supposed illegal downloading is what has enabled the consumer to gain a win with regard to a decrease in prices.If downloading is stopped and people no longer have the option, watch prices start to rise again. They are ripping us off, not the other way round.
Blu-ray sales themselves continue to rise as do the sales of online delivery of media, a trend that is expected to continue.
Film piracy mostly effects profits prior to an after market even existing for a film, and with cinemas hiking their prices up to deal with the loss in attendances, this problem will only get worse.... Blu-Ray, DVD & CD will all go the same way anyway.. die out slowly as streaming platforms take over.... this can be seen with the growth of firms such as Netflix... combined sales of (physical) dvd and blu-ray in a year dont even equate to the sales of movies watched online.... but why do you think streaming is emerging as the winning platform for pretty much any kind of media.. because its QUICK and EASY... just like illegal downloading.. with the invention of products such as AppleTV, GoogleTV and consoles which allow you stream all kinds of media such as the 360 and PS3.. its easy to see where the future is going... and its not physical media.
Taking a look at the issue of newly released films. Again, the industry is their own worst enemy here. It has been proven that when cinematic release is simultaneous in countries across the world instead of leaving some countries lagging behind, piracy of newly released films is reduced.
http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/piracy-has-negligible-influence-on-u-s-box-office-study/
One of their stupid ideas to cut piracy of newly released DVDs was to rlease films in countries with high rates of piracy first, particularly Russia. Thereby giving them a nice source of material to pirate and distribute around the globe for download (or in the physical markets through places such as China). A lot of the early releases of pirate films are all R5.
For example: R5 release of the Hunger Games: 30th June. R1 Release August 18th. R2 release: 3rd September.
So long before it gets released here, a ripped copy from an R5 release will be available for download. Real smart of the movie industry. ::)
As for streaming and such like replacing physical media, it will never happen completely. At least not in my music and dvd buying lifetime. There will remain people who still want physical copies of media, such as me.
For the same reason you can still buy vinyl copies of a lot of music releases. But even so, you have just supported what I have been saying about the decrease in sales of physical media not being illegal downloading, but the availability of cheaper legal alternatives.
So basically the evidence that downloading is hurting music sales is clearly an absolute and utter lie and, similarly, the claims that it is downloading hurting DVD/blu-ray sales is also plainly false when there are multiple causes for this and evidence against (it in the form of increased blu-ray sales and rising digital media sales compensating for losses in physical media sales).
Not really, you have failed to convince me with any of your argument!!
Well we're never going to agree on this but, as I've already stated, there have been many studies into the effects of downloading. Respected universities in America, as well as other institutions, have found downloading to have no significant statistical effect on sales.
http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2007/02/8813/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_music_piracy
To quote a Harvard University Study:
Downloads have an effect on sales which is statistically indistinguishable from zero, despite rather precise estimates. Moreover, these estimates are of moderate economic significance and are inconsistent with claims that file sharing is the primary reason for the recent decline in music sales.
http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf
One significant piece of information in the conclusion to the Harvard report is also mentioned in the Wiki page. While sales of music may have fallen, the amount of CDs released has also reduced dramatically.
As well as:
It is also important to note that a similar drop in record sales occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and that record sales in the 1990s may have been abnormally high as individuals replaced older formats with CDs (Liebowitz, 2003).
While there are studies that contradict this, they have primarily been carried out by organisations and institutions with a vested interest, paid for by the media companies themselves, and are not independent studies, therefore their provenance is questionable.
Other studies question the media industry's business model and claim they really need to alter their strategy. Legal strategies for counteracting downloading are welcomed by the industry because they have shown a tendency to increase stock values in the companies coinciding with the advent of each new law because investors believe their claims that downloading is what is hurting the industry, so they will continue to try to continue to blame illegal downloading because it pays huge dividends on stock for them when new laws are introduced to counter the "problem".
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Cowboys and aliens the other night. Not bad.
The kings speech last night. Poo
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Saw Amazing Spider-Man last Monday. It was prettry good. Not in the Avengers class but not bad. Garfield was definitely better in the role.
Some minor gripes about content altered from the comics, but that aside, very watchable. 3D was a complete waste of time though.
Trailer for the Hobbit looked pretty good and they seem to have used the 3D well in that to give some real depth to it. It's a shame the LotR trilogy wasn't made in 3D because I think the scenery and backgrounds in that would have been spectacular.
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What on earth were they thinking casting a cat as Spider-Man..? :o :-\ ;D
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That is as bad as one of mine Harv. ;D
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Watched 21 Jump Street over the weekend. Apparently it was a tv series (starring a young Johnny Depp) back in the late 80s, but I've never heard of that. Wasn't keen to watch the film, to be honest - the trailer looked weak - but a colleague recommended it.
There's a few nods to the original series, but you don't need to have seen that to enjoy this - and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill fill the roles nicely, and I laughed through most of the film.
A solid 8.5 / 10 for me.
Also watched The Double - with Richard Gere in a spy-hunter type of role. Interesting premise, badly executed, in my opinion. Okay fodder to watch if there's nothing else to watch, but tbh I spent the last half hour with my attention split between a hand-held game and the film.
I'll give it 4.5 / 10.
I also re-watched Anchorman, Zoolander, Dodgeball, and You Don't Mess With The Zohan. Was a good weekend, all in all :D
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You don't mess with the Zohan is a film I've been meaning to get around to watching for some time. Is it any good?
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It's on a par with the others I've grouped it, there - not dissimilar to Zoolander.
My only real gripe is the Jewish accent and stereotyping is pushed a bit too far. (I'm sick of the sight of Hummus). That aside, it's a typical Sandler film - toilet humour, gross outs and complete ridiculousness.
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Cheers, I think my favourite Sandler film is probably Anger Management, with Happy Gilmore a close second.
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Fave sandler film is the waterboy with funny people second.
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Looking forward to the new batman tomorrow.. probably wont go until saturday but expecting some epic stuff after the last film.. definitely a film I dont mind paying top dollah at the flicks to go and watch..
...will be the same with expendables 2.. although I will definitely see that on opening night (Aug 17) :D
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I'm toying with going to see Batman, too. Totally broke (£800 car repairs in the last few weeks - nightmare) but I've got about 1000 cokezone points and there's bollock all prizes worth getting, so I might cash some in for Cineworld vouchers (150 points each)...
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Anyone that spoils batman for me dies
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Anyone that spoils batman for me dies
Batman is Bruce Wayne....sorry.
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Seeing it tomorrow but won't spoil it for anyone. :P
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Anyone that spoils batman for me dies
Batman is Bruce Wayne....sorry.
Watch your back! >:(
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Some decent films in Amazon's current 2 blurays for £10 promotion (http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/2-blurays-for-10-amazon-105-films-choose-from-1268738).
Have gone for Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and MacGruber. (Have seen both before, downloaded. Who says piracy kills the industry? Neither of those films appealed from the ads, and I wouldn't have ever seen, let alone bought, either of them...)
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Looking forward to the new batman tomorrow.. probably wont go until saturday but expecting some epic stuff after the last film.. definitely a film I dont mind paying top dollah at the flicks to go and watch..
...will be the same with expendables 2.. although I will definitely see that on opening night (Aug 17) :D
Have to agree on Batman, though might have to wait until the week after next. I think it's a real shame if it's Bale's last Batman. Hoping they can persuade him to do another one. Everytime they change actors/directors they seem to do a reboot these days. Not sure they can improve too much on these last three Batmans. The one thing with Batman is that I was never a DC comics fan so continuity and plot changes in the Batman films don't bother me so much.
Almost certainly won't see Expendables for about a week after it opens either.
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Anyone that spoils batman for me dies
A bit like Batman then really. :P ;)
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Michael Keaton has been the best Batman. Just the right edge of lunacy, none of the others have captured it although that's probably partly down to the writing too. The first two Batman films were the best imo.
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I liked the old Batman films as much as the next guy (I even liked the Val Kilmer and George Clooney ones), but you seriously can't think any of those ones are better than Dark Knight? :o
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I think what harv means is that he liked Tim Burtons direction of batman films rather than thinking Keaton was the best batman.. anyone that thinks Keaton was the best batman is obviously in need of a good kick in....because Keaton is a complete nancy boy compared to Bale.. but actually maybe that is why harv likes Keaton so much.. ;D ;D
More worringly though late.. you "liked" the Clooney batman film... get out.. just get out...
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I was in my early twenties, and I liked a film where a fit 21yo Alicia Silverstone got dressed up in tight leather. So sue me :D
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Keaton was excellent, just the way Batman should be - a complete headcase driven by revenge.
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The only problem I have with Bale is his god awful Batman voice. When I watched Batman Begins and Dark Knight I thought the actors who played the villains were better then Bale as Batman. Heath Ledger's joker was amazing.
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Heath Ledger's joker was amazing.
Too true. Watched Dark Knight yet again a week or two back (awesome on blu-ray btw) and he's fantastic. If I'm to pick a gripe with his performance the licking of the lips can be a little bit annoying. It's an understandable affectation but can draw the attention to distraction.
That's a minor quibble, though. In every other regard it's a superb performance - Ledger's portrayal of The Joker is possibly my favourite film character ever.
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RIP those killed at the Dark Knight Rises screening in Denver, Colorado :'(
A nut-job dressed as Bane sprayed the crowd with machine-gun fire. Apparently people initially thought it a publicity stunt, expecting someone in a batman suit to swoop in. Early reports indicate 12 dead and over 50 injured.
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Just read about that, Late. Awful news.
The film itself is an excellent end to the trilogy. I'd recommend watching Batman Begins again for whoever's going to see it, as the story refers back to that quite often. Tom Hardy is great as Bane (although it's sometimes hard to know what he's saying due to his distorted voice!), but he isn't The Joker, and I think for that reason alone TDK will always be the best of the trilogy.
Definitely a great film though. Anne Hathaway is gorgeous as Catwoman! Gary Oldman is good and Christian Bale is simply awesome.
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I thought Ledger was good as the Joker, but not as good as most people seem to think. I just thought he was acting like an angry Mel Gibson on crack.
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His performance was definitely over-hyped as a result of his death. Still, I thought he was brilliant.
Bane is a good villain, he just seems a bit of a letdown when compared to The Joker, because he's all brawn. I think Nolan could have made it the best of the three by introducing The Riddler to add that battle of wits. Not sure how he'd have managed it though, the film is already nearly 3 hours long!
Maybe he's saving it for The Justice League when they reboot Batman AGAIN and bring in a load of other DC characters. Doesn't really make sense to me, as Superman is basically a god in tights. At least in The Avengers, they're all capable of being defeated (except maybe Hulk, but he still has a mortal form), and you could see they were visibly exhausted towards the end. I guess it just means kryptonite will making an appearance in the storyline...
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Glad I'm not the only one that thinks that. Jack was a better Joker imo, in fact if it wasn't for his performance in the first film Ledger's performance wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as it was. If he were still alive people wouldn't be fapping over him.
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Nicholson's Joker was great - but that was mainly down to great scripting. He had some fantastic lines. He didn't really have to act to pull that role off, as it's basically a variation of a character he's played umpteen times (and is possibly not a million miles off his true personality).
Ledger's Joker was in a different league. He had a wonderful script and direction, but it was his performance that made the character - playing a part vastly different to his usual roles. Completely nailed it in my opinion. His death was awful, but it didn't enhance his reputation to me at all. In fact it reduced it - I have no time for drug abusers.
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Watched real steel tonight. Very enjoyable story. Jackman not great in the lead but overall it was a good film the entire family enjoyed.
In the spirit of spoiling endings, jackmans robot gets a draw with the mean champion robot :-X
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In the spirit of spoiling endings, jackmans robot gets a draw with the mean champion robot :-X
Already seen it so :P.
But if that's the way you want to play it heh heh. ;)
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His performance was definitely over-hyped as a result of his death. Still, I thought he was brilliant.
Ledger's Joker was in a different league. He had a wonderful script and direction ...
Seriously, playued the part as a cross between Mel Gibson as Mad Max and Martin Riggs (when Riggs was doing his crazy routine), made even more like it by the Aussie accent.
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Loved the twist at the end of dark knight rises when bats dies but it all links back to the first film and it all makes sense.
Oops
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Lucky I saw it yesterday and actually know what happens! Great film, although the film had layers upon layers of complexity to the plot which I don't think really helped it in terms of how good the film was, it just extended the running time unnecessarily for me. Bane is a great villain, but yeah, bit hard to understand in some parts... Won't say too much more in case styles has his period again ;D but I did really enjoy it overall
Also saw the trailer for taken 2 - I really hope it doesn't suck, it did seem a bit cheesey, especially as it looked like they have reused "that" phonecall, the first is one of my favourite action films of the last decade, so I did have to watch it again last night too, great stuff.
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What did you think about Peter parker working for the gotham evening standard jman ?
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I think the revelation that Tony Stark developed all of Batman's waepons was more shocking.
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What you two on about....I already know what happens I said... a man wakes up and the whole batman saga was just a dream... now you've made me ruin it for everyone.. well done.
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Have just started watching Twelve Minkeys again, love this film. Two of my favourite actors, Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. Brilliant stuff.
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Must be a new one.
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I always call monkeys minkeys thanks to the Pink Panther lol ;D
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I watched Case 39 last night.. a psychological horror with Renee Zellweger, Im not one of her biggest fans I have to say, but the film was good overall.. it had some quite creepy moments in it, the child in it reminds me of that Alma bird in the FEAR games!! Some parts of the film didnt make sense to me though, especially towards the end of the film, it was a case of... "Well why didnt she just do that"... and "why is this happening again??" - the film lacked a bit of purpose... however there were some good elements to the film as well which kept me watching all the way through..
5.5/10
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I watched "[REC]3: Genesis" tonight.
Loved the first film. Thought the second film pretty good (though nowhere near as good as the first). The first two were written and directed by two guys. They decided to then do 3 and 4 separately, with 3 being written/directed by one of them and set in a new location, and 4 being written/directed by the other one and set in the original location just after the end of [REC]2...
Occurring simultaneous to the events in the first two films, the film starts out promisingly enough. It's a wedding, and there are several people recording events (2 guests using handycams, and one official videographer using a professional steadicam), so the format feels similar. But after about 20 or 30 minutes the director decides to ditch the whole camcorder angle completely and make it more of a regular zombie film - which goes against one of the main features of REC not to mention where the title comes from. He's also decided to throw some (very weak) comedy scenes in.
And there's a lot of plot holes (there's a wealth of weapons lying around, that people aren't utilising for some reason).
Seems to be a Marmite-style "love it or hate it" film. Seems to be an awful lot of people hating what's been done here, but also a lot saying it's a breath of fresh air and stopped it becoming stale...
Worth a look if you liked the earlier films. I can't remember how I scored them but it was probably something like 8.5 and 7.0 respectively.
I'll give this one only 3.5/10.
Hopefully the mistakes made in 3 won't necessarily be carried into 4, since it's written/directed by the other guy and set in the original apartment block, but only time will tell.
I've no doubt the bride will appeal to some of you folks, btw.
Personally, I'm undecided. Never did like the corpse bride look, but she carries it off well.
(http://bloody-disgusting.com/photosizer/timthumb.php?src=/photosizer/upload/1rec3posterofficial022912.jpg&w=600&zc=0)
Edit:
Urgh. Just seen it described as a "zom-rom-com". Pretty fair (and clever), tbh.
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Meh not in a hurry to watch them, the 2nd one was disappointing in quite a few aspects compared to the 1st.. dont think the story had great legs for a 2nd.. certainly not for a 3rd or 4th..
I did however watch Apollo 18 last night.. it was crap, dont bother.. the whole point in filming in a camcorder style is to give realism and extra suspense to the film, but the film lacks any kind of suspense at all.. apparently the last 10 minutes are supposed to be great, I turned it off half way through, I was bored stiff.. its basically Paranormal Activity .. on the moon.. but with no suspense or scares. The film had a promising plot.. it was just badly executed.
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Watched the Grey on Monday. Okay film, well shot. Some parts I liked, others were a bit "seen it before". Nothing special really. Glad I didn't see it at the cinema. Won't give away the ending though, which I kind of liked but at the same time you kind of think "well is that it".
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I watched Lockout last night... it was pretty crap to be honest....
In essence, man gets sent to prison in space where the presidents daughter has been kidnapped...the director has basically gone.. OK, I want Die-Hard in space... but it just fails on all kinds of levels, and the end is just complete and utter bollocks.
Guy Pearce is the main protoganist, so he'd be John McClane - smokes like a chimney, is a good-guy who flouts rules, doesn't care about anyone else apart from himself, has some quite corny lines - so check on everything there..
Prison in space, full of whack-jobs who have taken over the place, have loads of hostages, one man solo team has to go in and rescue presidents daughter.. aided by a black guy on the ground who is the "nice cop"... he consults with the "bad cops" and relays information to him constantly... pretty much check on that too.
And before I go on, it lifts a load more ideas and set-pieces from Die-Hard.... to me, these were the best parts of the film.. I saw the potential of this film based purely on the bits it stole from die-hard...and it could of been a pretty decent action flick... and I really wanted to like it... it was just terrible though. Theres some seriously dodgy CG at the start of the film and there are a ton of subplots which all fall flat on their face, the story in general is incohesive and the ending is remarkably ridiculous, the "comedy" value to the film is just not funny and the one-liners are so so corny, some of the acting is terrible... the two crazy scottish whack-jobs were excellent though and definitely stand-out of the film for me.
2/10 im afraid :-\
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The rip off merchants are at it again.
The Hobbit is now going to be a trilogy instead. It was rumoured a few weeks back that this would happen and they were filming extra footage. Supposedly Jackson decided that extra was needed after looking at what he had at the end of the principal shoot.
Of course an extra cinema ticket, extra DVDs and then the special editions and box sets for those of us who actually buy things.
They wonder why people download. ::)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19055342
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Lol, I'm just waiting for someone to do a film version of the Wheel of Time novels, will end up being 15 films :o :P
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The rip off merchants are at it again.
The Hobbit is now going to be a trilogy instead. It was rumoured a few weeks back that this would happen and they were filming extra footage. Supposedly Jackson decided that extra was needed after looking at what he had at the end of the principal shoot.
Of course an extra cinema ticket, extra DVDs and then the special editions and box sets for those of us who actually buy things.
They wonder why people download. ::)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/19055342
You do know.. you DON'T have to watch the films... lol.. your almost making out like someones got a gun to your head, forcing you to pay to watch it... I'd personally be super-psyched to know theres 3 films of a franchise I love instead of just the 1... but then I dont have a boner about cinema prices as much as you do...
But hey, if people want to download the film instead of paying to watch it then thats their choice... blaming external factors like the cinema price or HAVING to buy every dvd release of the film might make them feel better about their choice to illegally download... but at the end of the day, they've downloaded because they want something for nothing... and thats the sole reason everyone downloads
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I watched "Man on a Ledge" last night.. straight forward action/drama film... quite watchable although I was hoping for some twists and turns to the story.. but the film kinda sets everything out on a plate for you early on.... 5/10.
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I watched "[REC]3: Genesis" tonight.
They've got the first two on a buy 2 for £12 blu-ray in Asda at the moment. How good are they?
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You do know.. you DON'T have to watch the films... lol.. your almost making out like someones got a gun to your head, forcing you to pay to watch it... I'd personally be super-psyched to know theres 3 films of a franchise I love instead of just the 1... but then I dont have a boner about cinema prices as much as you do...
Well firstly, I don't complain about cinema prices, I have argued against your claim that cinema prices are high because of downloading. You are the one complaining about downloaders raising the price of cinema tickets, which is completely false.
As for the "you do know you don't have to watch it". I'm not sure if you're being naive, antagonistic or stupid (or a combination of the three).
They do this knowing full well that people will want to watch it. Especially fans of the genre and the books (even if the fans of the books will gripe about the fact the LotR trilogy was as much Pratchett as Tolkien grrrr ). Now we all thought it was going to be two films. Two films are what were planned. They shot it as two films. Now we discover they have decided to shoot more footage to extend it to three films. Anyone who believes that this is anything other than a money making ploy and not an attempt to squeeze more money out of fans is burying their head in the sand.
The argument holds even less water when it comes to DVD releases (as weith CDs) because, yes people want to buy things, but after they've bought them suddenly they find special editions released. Then more special editions. Then box sets with extra features.
The argument can be made that you can wait for the version you want, but there are no release dates for these things. How long do you wait? 6 months, a year, 5 years, 10 years etc. The plain and simple truth is that these gimics target the real fans, not the casual buyer and it is immoral.
You can be an apologist for them all you want, it doesn't make what they do right.
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I'm still pissed off that you can't buy or even download (as far as I've seen anyway) the original release of Bladerunner anymore with the Philip Marlow-esque voiceover. As a fan of film-noir type detective films the original release of the film was miles better imo. >:(
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Well firstly, I don't complain about cinema prices, I have argued against your claim that cinema prices are high because of downloading. You are the one complaining about downloaders raising the price of cinema tickets, which is completely false.
No I have said downloaders have contributed to a rise in cinema prices.. if you can directly link downloaders to a loss in profit at the cinema, then its only fair to attribute some of the rise in price to downloaders too, im fully aware that rises in tax and rent have also affected cinema prices. I have a decent cinema just down the road from me, they do deals for a £5 on tuesday, orange wednesdays and matinees on a saturday.. plenty of choice for me to go and watch a film whenever I want.. no real complaints here.
As for the "you do know you don't have to watch it". I'm not sure if you're being naive, antagonistic or stupid (or a combination of the three).
Just the 2nd one, although I do find it funny that if your a fan of the series, your complaining about there being 3 films instead of 2.. jackson said, they want to tell more of the story and cant do that with 2 films... like I said, if I was a fan, then I'd be happy about the news.
The argument holds even less water when it comes to DVD releases (as weith CDs) because, yes people want to buy things, but after they've bought them suddenly they find special editions released. Then more special editions. Then box sets with extra features.
The argument can be made that you can wait for the version you want, but there are no release dates for these things. How long do you wait? 6 months, a year, 5 years, 10 years etc. The plain and simple truth is that these gimics target the real fans, not the casual buyer and it is immoral.
You can be an apologist for them all you want, it doesn't make what they do right.
Whose apologising... not me lol.. I just dont see the big deal your making.. yes dvd boxsets and such are a pain when they release more films in a franchise.. but the solution your suggesting is to release less films.. LOL...just imagine that, the bond producers have come out and said they are not making any more bond films.. because its messing everyones dvd boxsets up!! (antagonistic again) ;)
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Hey, antagonism is great, you know I love a good argument lol. :P
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DVD's are such a waste of time, imo, and theres definitely no way I'd buy a massive box set of anything...If I want to watch a series of TV or a trilogy of films I've already seen, then I'll just download them, burn them onto a disc or something and there you have it, I've got them at any time i want to the tune of zlich ;D
(God, I sound like Harv...)
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Hey, antagonism is great, you know I love a good argument lol. :P
No you don't! ;D
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So nobodys interested in owning the Harry Potter Wizards Box Set (http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/harry-potter-wizard-s-collection-box-set-blu-ray-dvd-and-ultraviolet-copy/10599889.html?utm_source=googleprod&utm_medium=gp&utm_campaign=gp_dvd&affil=thggps) then.. 31 discs.. and a snippet at £180!!
think its safe to say there wont be any more Harry Potter films made in the future to make the box set obsolete though ;)
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DVD's are such a waste of time, imo, and theres definitely no way I'd buy a massive box set of anything...If I want to watch a series of TV or a trilogy of films I've already seen, then I'll just download them, burn them onto a disc or something and there you have it, I've got them at any time i want to the tune of zlich ;D
(God, I sound like Harv...)
Why dont you do that with video games then.. play a demo.. then if you like it, download it illegally and play it for nothing ??? Just curious why you think its acceptable to do it for one entertainment media and not the other??
If its the difficulty of pirating video games.. or the lack of torrents for video games.. doesnt that quite clearly show that cutting out options to potential downloaders and making it harder to pirate stuff is beneficial to the industry ??
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So nobodys interested in owning the Harry Potter Wizards Box Set (http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/harry-potter-wizard-s-collection-box-set-blu-ray-dvd-and-ultraviolet-copy/10599889.html?utm_source=googleprod&utm_medium=gp&utm_campaign=gp_dvd&affil=thggps) then.. 31 discs.. and a snippet at £180!!
Holy crap!
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think its safe to say there wont be any more Harry Potter films made in the future to make the box set obsolete though ;)
JK Rowling has not ruled out writing more Harry Potter, just wait until her subsequent books fail to be as much of a success and if there is enough "demand".
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If its the difficulty of pirating video games.. or the lack of torrents for video games.. doesnt that quite clearly show that cutting out options to potential downloaders and making it harder to pirate stuff is beneficial to the industry ??
I don't really play video games so not something that interests me greatly, but there are plenty of torrents for computer games, you just need to know where to look. Less Playstation games as torrents in general though because the majority of people who use torrents are more into PCs.
The problem also tends not to be the copying of the games or cracking the copy protection, it's getting the gaming platforms to play the pirated copies and it's the hardware not the copied games themselves that creates the problem for pirates. Not so much of an issue with PC games as blocking such content is much harder and there are more ways around it.
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think its safe to say there wont be any more Harry Potter films made in the future to make the box set obsolete though ;)
JK Rowling has not ruled out writing more Harry Potter, just wait until her subsequent books fail to be as much of a success and if there is enough "demand".
I think she ruled out Harry Potter - but didn't dismiss the possibility of revisiting that world in the future. If that were the case I think keeping any future films separate to your Harry Potter ones would be fine - and I don't think we'd be seeing anything before blu-ray is superseded anyway :P
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The problem also tends not to be the copying of the games or cracking the copy protection, it's getting the gaming platforms to play the pirated copies and it's the hardware not the copied games themselves that creates the problem for pirates. Not so much of an issue with PC games as blocking such content is much harder and there are more ways around it.
PC gaming died a long time ago though because of that very reason.. piracy helped kill it off... some companies wont even make PC games or create PC ports anymore for the fear of losing money because pc games are so easy to pirate... and as soon as companies start putting DRM into their PC games in an attempt to protect profits, their game gets targeted even more by pirates.. its ridiculous... and your trying to convince me that piracy as a whole is good for an industry, really? ::)
In regards to console gaming.. if you have any interest in IT whatsoever, its pretty easy to find and follow guides all over the internet that take you in a step by step process in how to flash your firmware on your dvd drive to play backed up games...it might take a short while to do so and you'll probably have to spend some money on stuff in the process.. so in that regard, yes you have to do more than just download a file and find something to play it on... however once you have done it.. thats it.. you just download and burn the games you want to play... just ask harv how easy it is.... the DS didnt need any hardware changes for it to play backed up roms.. The PSP is probably the most hacked console/handheld of all time and that required flashing the firmware... so I dont really share your views on the hardware being the only thing that stops people hacking games...
What you will find that does differ from video game and movie pirates is that your typical video game pirate usually does hold a big interest in the video game industry and will contribute to it even if they download....take harv, the biggest knockoff nigel going.. still pays for some video games and has had to pay for his hardware.. I wonder what the last tv boxset he bought was though... ? ;)
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PC gaming died?!
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As a mainstream platform for gaming.. yes... pc gaming sales were terrible a decade or so ago and its only recently they have started rising again thanks in part to the invention of digital platforms such as steam.... steam is a form of DRM.. which is helping combat pc piracy.. so its to be expected... it taken a few years for people to get used to it.. but everything goes through these digital services nowadays
...console gaming is still streets ahead though ;)
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The last TV boxset I bought was Podge and Rodge...but only because it was a bargain. ;D
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The problem also tends not to be the copying of the games or cracking the copy protection, it's getting the gaming platforms to play the pirated copies and it's the hardware not the copied games themselves that creates the problem for pirates. Not so much of an issue with PC games as blocking such content is much harder and there are more ways around it.
PC gaming died a long time ago though because of that very reason.. piracy helped kill it off... some companies wont even make PC games or create PC ports anymore for the fear of losing money because pc games are so easy to pirate... and as soon as companies start putting DRM into their PC games in an attempt to protect profits, their game gets targeted even more by pirates.. its ridiculous... and your trying to convince me that piracy as a whole is good for an industry, really? ::)
In regards to console gaming.. if you have any interest in IT whatsoever, its pretty easy to find and follow guides all over the internet that take you in a step by step process in how to flash your firmware on your dvd drive to play backed up games...it might take a short while to do so and you'll probably have to spend some money on stuff in the process.. so in that regard, yes you have to do more than just download a file and find something to play it on... however once you have done it.. thats it.. you just download and burn the games you want to play... just ask harv how easy it is.... the DS didnt need any hardware changes for it to play backed up roms.. The PSP is probably the most hacked console/handheld of all time and that required flashing the firmware... so I dont really share your views on the hardware being the only thing that stops people hacking games...
What you will find that does differ from video game and movie pirates is that your typical video game pirate usually does hold a big interest in the video game industry and will contribute to it even if they download....take harv, the biggest knockoff nigel going.. still pays for some video games and has had to pay for his hardware.. I wonder what the last tv boxset he bought was though... ? ;)
I didn't say that hardware is the ONLY thing that stops people pirating games.
Some forms of PC gaming died but there are some very strong areas of pc gaming. For instance games such as world of warcraft, where the purchase of the game can actually be a loss leader as subscription fees for playing online are what bring the money.
As for online gaming, it has also had an effect on sales with internet gaming getting more and more sophisticated, which has lead to some resurgence in the use of PC's as a gaming platform, though online games have also contributed to a decline in sales.
Some companies didn't stop making games for PCs because of Piracy, it's because their biggest profits come from platforms such as the playstation now, so games are developed for those platforms first and then converted for PCs. A couple of friends (one of was the manager/owner) worked at a company that used to do the PC conversions but it got to the point where the split in sales between PCs and other platforms made it undesirable to bother with the conversions because it was the loss of sales to other platforms as well as to piracy that rendered it an unprofitable excercise.
Video gaming is the one industry where I do believe piracy has had a fairly major impact on sales though. But that's largely because most people will buy less games in a year than CDs/DVDs. Hardcore gamers might buy more. There is also a rental market for games that has hit sales too, plus a huge second hand market. For some reason, people who play games are less fussy about owning the physical product, which a lot of people who download films/music/TV are. A lot of games lose their appeal once they have been played once and don't seem to have the permanence that other forms of entertainment have. Which also fuels the secondhand market. There aren't any where as near as many people who would consider themselves a games collector as, say, those who collect music or have large collections of film and tv.
Most of the major games companies are still doing pretty well for themselves though.
In none of my previous posts where I have been discussing the effects of downloading have I mentioned games. I have focused purely on tv, film and music. Not just games either but software in general, because the prices are so high for many high end software packages.
In truth though, although they do make efforts to stop it, companies such as Microsoft aren't overly worried about home users or in heavy handed policing because they are happy with the fact that somebody using the software at home is more likely to be using it at work and corporate sales is where their income is.
It's why so many of the large companies are more than happy to give massive discounts, or even free software, to educational establishments. Capture their customers early on.
For small software companies it's a bigger problem where their profits are relatively small and they don't have a huge corporate market.
In regards to console gaming.. if you have any interest in IT whatsoever, its pretty easy to find and follow guides all over the internet that take you in a step by step process in how to flash your firmware on your dvd drive to play backed up games
Lots of gamers have limited interest in I.T, you don't need an interest in I.T to play games on a Playstation, XBOX or WII. Some gamers will inveitably be I.T savvy, but by no means all.
I have a friend who makes a very nice living fixing (or in many cases just trying to fix) devices people have tried to flash them unsuccessfuly (and then making more money by flashing them properly for them or chipping devices).
Online games have an effect here. I've known some pretty clued up people have various games hardware blocked by games sites for running copied games. It's mainly the effect on the multiplayer online games I was referring to when I mentioned hardware being responsible and what I meant by things being blocked.
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You sound like you're suggesting that porting games to PCs is a new thing. It's been going on for years, last gen the PS2 was generally the lead platform, this gen the 360 is generally the lead platform. Next gen we'll probably see the U being the lead platform. You don't even have developers changing the button prompts until the last minute which is really weird the first time you see it lol.
And PC gaming isn't dead by any means, you still get plenty of people buying PC versions of games and most, if not all, big name releases get a PC SKU. And the sales figures for PC games don't include digital distribution through mediums such as Steam and Origin.
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Next gen we'll probably see the U being the lead platform...
(http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/015/orly.jpg)
I'm not normally one for memes but sometimes it's unavoidable...
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You sound like you're suggesting that porting games to PCs is a new thing. It's been going on for years,
Where did I say it was a new thing? I wasn't suggesting anything of the sort. I was just pointing out reasons why games companies aren't porting so many games anymore and less are ported nowadays becasue it isn't as profitable to do so anymore. There are a lot more dedicated gaming platforms now.
The friends I was talking about were doing this back in the days of the Sega Saturn. Used to be great because they were given consoles by the companies and then games before they were released so they could work on the conversions.
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LOL... going slightly off tangent with video games talk.. I'll try and steer back onto films..
I watched In Bruges last night.. for the first time... had been putting it off forever, the thought of this film which had Colin Farrell and the synopsis sounded a tad rubbish just didnt sit right with me.. no matter what the review scores... anyway, I watched it and actually thought it was great.. funny, emotional with some great scenes in it.. great stuff.. recommend.. even to the hardened Colin Farrell haters... 8/10
... still not going to watch him ruin Total Recall though >:(
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It's actually more economically viable for publishers to port a game to as many platforms as possible. It spreads the cost, much cheaper to port a game than to develop for individual platforms from the ground up because due to porting core code of the same build across all platforms most bugs found are shared across all platforms, shortening development and testing time. It's costing Ubisoft less than a million Euros to port the likes of Assassins Creed 3 and Marvel Avengers to the Ufor example, you could probably triple that if they developed the U SKU separately.
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Ordered Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol yesterday. Have seen it a couple of times already (high def download). Happy to fork out £7 to add it to the collection. My scores:
Mission Impossible 1 - 7/10
Mission Impossible 2 - 5/10
Mission Impossible 3 - 4/10
Mission Impossible 4 - 8/10. Possibly 8.5.
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Funnily enough I didn't like Ghost Protocol. Simon Pegg irritated me (even more than Tom Cruise).
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The debt.
V good
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The mars landing inspired me to watch Contact last night.. great film.. although I did fall asleep towards the end... looking forward to watching the rest tonight.. :D
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Booked me tickets for Expendables 2 for Thursday... 'citing... arnies back!!! Must watch the first one again tonight!!
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Yep, looking forward to that one.
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Colombiana - 7/10
Not bad
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I personally don't mind Colin Farrell, never going to be a favourite, but even if I loathed him, the lure of Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel means I am going to see Total Recall lol.
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Sad..
Would pick Sharon Stone over them two anyday of the week.. "Consider dis a divorce"!!
Im going to download the remake when it comes out.. just so I can contribute to its downfall ;) ;D
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Loved the original Total Recall, but still looking forward to the remake.
Watched The Dictator last night. As is always the case with Sacha Baron Cohen films, there were a few bits that went too far or missed the mark completely for me - but you can't really cater for everyone, and I guess I laughed at a lot of scenes that other people would find offensive...
I'll give it 6.5/10.
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I wonder how true to the original it's going to be...they might even replicate the cock up with the camera moving back too far and the audience being able to see the hooks holding up the scenery right at the end lololol.
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Expendables 2... was a mixed bag to be honest...
I wont post any major spoilers... but obviously talking about the film.. I am going to mention some bits of the film you might not know about going into it... so click off if you dont want to know...
Well it was pretty akin to the 1st one... absolutely overloaded in testorone fuelled action...lame story .. but excellent action.... the first 10-15 minutes of the film are cracking, a great opening scene.. (even if we did miss the first couple of minutes getting into the packed cinema (there were 5 people there lol))... however, one thing I was pretty pissed off at.. Jet Li has an awesome first 15 minutes.. then disappears and doesnt return for the rest of the film... what the hell is up with that.. I dont know... but obviously as one of the major expendables in the first film, he was missed throughout the rest of the film, and the camaraderie he has with Dolph was definitely missed.. although Dolph is slowly turning into one of my favourite expendables!!
It was great to see Arnie back on the big screen properly (although he's still limited to about 10-15 minutes max screen time)...and JCVD makes an awesome villain.. the rest are as you were... some of the lines/scenes feel a bit wooden.. and misjointed.. the cameo of Chuck Norris for example was so out of kilter with the rest of the film... it made no sense as to why he turns up when he did.. but he does kill a shit load of people and delivers an awesome meme line so he's forgiven.. lol... some lines by arnie and bruce fail to hit the spot though.. they seemed a bit wooden together... Im looking forward to arnie's real return to the screen (Last Stand - release in January).... Sly is still great as the leader.. but why grow the tasche?? It looks terrible.
Overall, Im not ashamed to say I enjoyed the film... because it was bad-ass.. but its obvious, they all got together and said.. ahh fuck the story.. no-ones coming to watch the film for that anyway!
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The Cabin In The Woods. (Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller.)
What a cracking film. Unmistakably Joss Whedon - it has his style as well as a handful of actors familiar to fans of his shows. A horror film that on the surface looks terribly cliched but right from the outset makes it quite apparent that there's a lot more than meets the eye. Ninety minutes long, but took longer to watch as it made me hit the rewind button several times to fully appreciate a few scenes.
To say much more is to risk spoilers.
8.5/10 for me.
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Thanks for that Late, I have that to watch but have not got round to it yet.
Watched a film called "the Raven" on Saturday night. John Cusack stars as Edgar Allan Poe in a thriller where somebody is killing people in the manner of Poe's tales.
Cusack is good in the role (I think he'd make a good Dr Strange in a live action movie). Story is pretty good, with some nice gory killings, particularly nasty is the pit and pendulum murder! Ouch. It's better than average and very watchable. 7/10.
Bought Alien and Aliens on Blu-ray for £7 apiece in Asda on Saturday evening. They had the others as well but I couldn't remember if I had them on DVD (I forgot my phone, which has a spreadsheet with my collection details on to avoid situations like that lol) and the only two I'd bother getting again on blu-ray were the first two so I bought them anyway. Both contain the original releases and special/director's cut editions .
JMAN - no way would I choose Sharon Stone over Kate Beckinsale, but I might be persuaded to try a threesome with the pair of them so I could possibly make a direct comparison. ;D
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Watched The Bourne Legacy.... obviously there is no Matt Damon at all in this one, although Renner (who bears a striking resemblence to Jeremy Kyle lol!) does a fair job... its set during the third bourne film.. so whilst Jason Bourne is doing what he did, another operative has his own problems to deal with... and this film follows him, it has pretty much the same feel as the other 3 bourne films... however the action and cool scenes that are synonymous with Bourne are few and far between in this one.... it kinda made the film a little boring... and its not until the cool final scene where the action really starts... and by that time its too late to save the film.
5/10 - watchable.. but more Bore than Bourne
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Beckinsale is a hornbat, I've never thought Sharon Stone that attractive tbh...although saying that, I wouldn't kick her out lol :P
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Sharon Stone in Nico, Sliver, Basic Instinct, Total Recall and a few others ... phwooooaaaar, but Kate Beckinsale in anything tops her, but especially the Underworld films and Van Helsing.
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You two need to stop masterbating so much... you are obviously both as blind as a bat..
Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct pretty much tops anything :D :D
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Behave yourself, Jman!
Elisha Cuthbert in The Girl Next Door
Scarlett Johansson in The Island
Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazard
Charlize Theron in Aeonflux
Jessica Alba in Sin City
Jennifer Aniston in Horrible Bosses
Just 6 off the top of my head. Sharon who? :P Kate Beckinsale is FAF, though. (Underworld, wow!)
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Safe.
Decent enough premise, and good action scenes, but the scripting and acting left a lot to be desired. Typical Statham fare, then.
Watchable enough if you just want to switch your brain off and watch a Jackie Chan film without Jackie Chan.
5/10
Dark Knight Rises.
I should've waited... The camcorder version I watched was okay quality, but a good film deserves better.
Not as good as it's immediate predecessor (the protagonist is nowhere near as good as The Joker, and the story gets very slow in a few places) but still thoroughly enjoyable.
7.5/10. Might revise that opinion upward after I've seen the blu-ray.
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I watched The Dictator on Sunday...
Nowhere near as good as Ali G/Borat... laughed a few times.. but mostly I found it all a bit crappy.
3/10
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Have now found all of the Movies With A Twist Collection Part 3 and downloaded them all separately. There must have been more Blu-Ray rips in the original torrent though because it's around 20GB short of the original torrent but that's no biggie ;D
And I haven't seen the majority of them either which is cool 8)
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They are going to turn The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw into a film. It could be interesting. Not sure whether it will interest people other then Reading and Cardiff fans and people who hate Mark Lawronsen.
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The Cabin In The Woods. (Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller.)
What a cracking film. Unmistakably Joss Whedon - it has his style as well as a handful of actors familiar to fans of his shows. A horror film that on the surface looks terribly cliched but right from the outset makes it quite apparent that there's a lot more than meets the eye. Ninety minutes long, but took longer to watch as it made me hit the rewind button several times to fully appreciate a few scenes.
To say much more is to risk spoilers.
8.5/10 for me.
Think you've put this film in the wrong category, should be :
The Cabin In The Woods. (Light Horror/Light Comedy) - it has nothing to do with sci-fi really... I wouldnt even categorise it as a thriller either tbh.
Not knowing who Joss Whedon really was, I looked him up as the name sounded familiar and I was disappointed to discover (after I downloaded the film) that he is most notably known as being the screenwriter of Buffy/Angel series... argh! Suffice to say, Im not a fan of those tv programmes (they are american trash after all).
Anyhow, I watched the film.. and your right, its hard to actually talk about it without giving too much away (I had no knowledge of the film prior to watching which is the best way)... however most of the plot was quite predictable from the outset anyway...the twists dont come unexpectedly... the one word that I would use to describe this film.. creative... it certainly did things a bit differently... and as a result it did keep me hooked throughout.. did I enjoy it though? Yes and no, I got the subtle references to other horror films and I even got the OTT homages to certain horror cliches... but did they help the film.. I dont think so, whether you take these parts of the film at face value or take them as critisims/spoofs of other films.. I dont know, I dont really care either.. it feel like it detracted from the films value for me.. however the film did run at a good pace, was mostly interesting to watch and the last 20 minutes were really something!
7/10.. a nice creative horror film (although too much comedy and not enough horror for me).
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Think you've put this film in the wrong category, should be :
The Cabin In The Woods. (Light Horror/Light Comedy) - it has nothing to do with sci-fi really... I wouldnt even categorise it as a thriller either tbh.
Not knowing who Joss Whedon really was, I looked him up as the name sounded familiar and I was disappointed to discover (after I downloaded the film) that he is most notably known as being the screenwriter of Buffy/Angel series... argh! Suffice to say, Im not a fan of those tv programmes (they are american trash after all).
7/10.. a nice creative horror film (although too much comedy and not enough horror for me).
I'd have to agree with JMAN on this for the most part (apart from the assessment of Joss Whedon, have you not seen the Avengers movie, or Firefly, or Serenity etc?). I would also say there is a small element of sci-fi in it, but only a small element. Reasonably enjoyable romp, so the 7/10 is justified.
On another note, this:
and I was disappointed to discover (after I downloaded the film)
After all your anti-downloading posts :o. lmao.
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Have now downloaded all of the films in the Movies With A Twist Collection Part 3 and there's a load of them I haven't seen which is cool, and most that I have seen I want to see again. Had to download them all separately which was a bit of a pain and some of the Blu-Ray rips didn't have great seedage so I downloaded the DVD rips instead. No biggie though. 8)
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have you not seen the Avengers movie, or Firefly, or Serenity etc?).
only the avengers... to be fair, his movie stuff is fine.. but his tv stuff.. I just dont get the big deal about american tv.. I think its all trash.. they cant do tv like the brits do Im afraid.
After all your anti-downloading posts :o. lmao.
I'm not anti-downloading.. never proclaimed to be.. are you doing a ross there ? ;)
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.. are you doing a ross there ? ;)
Oi, how very dare you, I've been called many things in my time and just shrug them off but there are some insults that just go too far. :'(
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Buffy, Angel and Firefly are excellent, although Buffy went downhill when Whedon subscribed to tiresome 'super soldier' nonsense towards the end of the series. Same goes for X-Files too. Bringing super soldiers into those sorts of programmes means the writers have run out of ideas and should have ended the series in question a while ago. >:(
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The super soldier stuff was in season four (of seven) and was indeed weak. Seasons 2, 3, 5, and 6 were great though. He wasn't out of ideas.
Thoroughly enjoyed Buffy. Thought Dollhouse and Firefly were pretty good. Couldn't get into Angel.
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The super soldier stuff was in season four (of seven) and was indeed weak. Seasons 2, 3, 5, and 6 were great though. He wasn't out of ideas.
Thoroughly enjoyed Buffy. Thought Dollhouse and Firefly were pretty good. Couldn't get into Angel.
Forgot Dollhouse. Superb series.
Of course Buffy had the benefit of SMG, Eliza Dushku and Charisma Carpenter. Dushku also helped make Dollhouse watchable.
I didn't mind Angel too much.
Personally JMAN, I think there are a lot of very good tv series that come out of the US. Yes they make some duff ones, but when there are so many, there is always going to be good and bad. In general though most of the sci-fi, action, adventure, horror and fantasy type shows I watch are US produced.
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Am watching The Crying Game, included in Part 2 of Movies With A Twist. A brilliant film, well worth a download if you haven't seen it ;D
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Yeah I bet you liked the twist in that ya big poofter :o :-\
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Lol, wasn't an unexpected one though. You could tell from the photo the soldier had that she was more than a bit suspect. :o
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RIP Michael Clarke Duncan. Dead at 54 :o . Never recovered from a heart attack he suffered in July.
Edit:
I'm nipping out for a kebab.
http://www.peta.org/features/michael-clarke-duncan.aspx
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RIP Michael Clarke Duncan. Dead at 54 :o . Never recovered from a heart attack he suffered in July.
Edit:
I'm nipping out for a kebab.
http://www.peta.org/features/michael-clarke-duncan.aspx
Oops lol ;D
Have just watched another film from the Movies With A Twist Collection, The Game starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. Excellent film, the main character's brother forks out for him to play a game for his birthday. Not going to give any more details because I don't want to ruin it for those that want to download and watch it. A definite 8/10 8)
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Have The Game on dvd.. thought it was crap personally :o
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Well bollocks, I liked it lol :P
Have just watched The Mist, based on a novella by Stephen King, quite liked it but could see the twist coming a mile away. Still, worth a good 7 out of 10 I reckon. ;D
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The "twist" didn't happen in the novella. It was left without an ending, they gave it an ending for the film and it ruined it for me. Thouroughly enjoyed it when I read it when it first came out years ago.
I always hoped King would write a proper ending for the story or at least expand upon it.
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Also watched The Others earlier and it was excellent. Nicole Kidman, Eric Sykes and Chris Ecclestone. Really nice twist at the end too, definitely one to watch although I did guess what was going on before the end...that's the problem with watching films where you know there's a twist coming. Would be much better if you weren't expecting one. ;D
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Watched The Others last night. Hadn't seen it before.
As you say, if you know there's a twist coming you're looking for it, so I made a point of not telling our lass there was one - but about half an hour into it she correctly called it. Didn't much enjoy the film. The only thing going for it was the twist, and once you know where it's going it just drags on.
Tried "Contraband", but turned that off after about 15 mins. Might try it again at some point because I'm not sure whether it was boring or I was distracted. Either way, I wasn't getting into it at all.
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I watched Piranha at the weekend.. god it was crap... except 2 parts.. kelly brooks tits :D
2/10 (one for each)
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I watched Piranha at the weekend.. god it was crap... except 2 parts.. kelly brooks tits :D
2/10 (one for each)
Pirannah 3DD doesn't even have Kelly Brook in it (though it does have its moments lol).
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Rise of the apes - 7/10
Still don't see how the few apes that escaped could take over the planet but mheh. Pretty good.
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Been a whilw since I watched it but thought it was much better than a 7. I'd have given it a 9 myself.
As to the apes taking over, did you not take note of the virus killing humans, presumably reducing their numbers significantly, allowing apes to become dominant eventually.
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I reduced it from 8 to 7 due to that particular weakness in the story. I still think the humans would/could have used modern weapons to wipe out the apes in about 6 hours.
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It may be explained in the second film, but the apes could well have learned to use the waepons themselves. There are enough of them in America and the apes were dispersed in an urban area which would have given them plenty of places to hide and use guerilla (or should that be gorilla) tactics.
Have you ever seen the documentary on the japanese research into how fast chimps learning and reflexes are and hand to eye co-ordination. We would not be the dominant species if they had our level of intelligence.
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The original second film explained it better than the second remake. In the original sequel there were more apes in homes due to a virus killing domestic cats and dogs worldwide so mankind adopted them as pets. Don't know why they didn't do the same thing tbh.
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Watched Insomnia last night. Not Nolan's greatest but still worth a watch and Al Pacino is great in the lead role.
Being my favourite director, I'd have to rank his films:
Memento - 10/10
The Prestige - 9/10
Inception - 9/10
Batman trilogy - 8/10
Insomnia - 7.5/10
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Watched Total Recall last night.
I'm a fan of the original, so I was apprehensive about this. In theory, there's lots to like: I quite like Colin Farrell. I love Arnie, but he's not the best of actors of course. I like decent cgi etc. and effects have definitely improved since 1990, so I'm not opposed to them "improving" the film that way. I like the idea of changing the settings and minutia of the film whilst retaining the core story. And I like the idea of keeping a handful of lines and references to the original film. So this remake ticked all of those boxes pretty well.
All in all, though, I definitely prefer the original. The remake isn't horrendous - it's definitely watchable. But...
Too many lens flares. Not quite as many as Star Trek, but it's bloody close and definitely gets annoying.
Beckinsale looks fine, but puts in a very wooden performance.
Fairly similar looking brunettes as Lori and Melina? You can tell them apart, but in a few scenes you've got to look twice to be sure which one Quaid/Hauser is with.
No "consider this a divorce"! :(
And don't get me started on the physics of the film's main transport system...
I'll give it 6/10 (and the original 7.5/10). Watchable.
Watched Prometheus earlier this week.
Alien and Aliens are two of my favourite films, so I was excited about this... until the reviews started coming in.
I'd heard it was originally supposed to be a prequel to Alien, but then it was switched to a completely different story but in the same universe as Alien.
To my eyes, though, this was definitely a prequel to Alien. I don't know why anyone would say differently, tbh. Perhaps they wanted to distance it slightly from the old films so youngsters would be more inclined to see this? It's not just set in the same universe - it has lots of back story to the Xenomorphs, the Space-Jockeys (aka Engineers), the Weylan Yutani Corporation, and it even leaves elements at the end of the film which link in with what you later see at the start of the first Alien film.
Very good film. Not as good as the first two, but I thoroughly enjoyed it (and Fassbender plays the Android role beautifully), despite a few problems.
I'll score the Alien films thus (ordered by chronological setting):
Prometheus 7.5/10
Alien 9.5/10
Aliens 9.6/10
Alien³ 6/10
Alien Resurrection 4/10
I'll ignore the AvP films. The first was crap, I never bothered with the second, and I think they're regarded by most folk as separate and unrelated to the "real" Alien films.
Edit - Prometheus, Late, not Promethius you illiterate fool.
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Have the full collection of Pixar films now for the boy so we have been watching them repeatedly. My favourites are Wall-E and Up.
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AvP2 "Requiem" is an abomination. You can barely see anything in the film due to awful lighting throughout. Don't know what the director was thinking.
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He probably realised he'd ruined an amazing franchise so got the editing team to make it so dark you can't see it.
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Wall E is brilliant
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All of the Pixar films are brilliant, I love them. I've always liked anything animated, but I prefer stuff that's done the old fashioned way with models and stop-motion rather than stuff that's in cartoon or CGI form. The Harry Harryhausen films were always my favourite when I was a kid. Sinbad, Jason and The Argonauts and Clash of The Titans. Love that stuff 8)
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Savages..........Excellent
Lawless...........Excellent, Oscar material possibly, with a brilliant soundtrack to boot.
Prometheus.......Very good.
Total Recall.........Total gash.
Ted.........Hmmmm, a bit disappointing for Seth's normal high standard.
The Dictator.......Typical Sacha fare, a few good chuckles here and there.
Wild Bill......Very surprised this gem never got much exposure, what a great wee movie, some strong acting performances here, highly recommended.
Get The Gringo.......Liked this as well, thought it would be poor but pleasantly surprised, worth a watch.
Brave.........Mince.
Ecstacy.........Irving Welsh adaptation, if you are expecting a Trainspotting calibre movie forget it, this is dire. Everybody involved in this should be shot, or even worse made watch it till the end.
This XBMC app for the ipad is the baws, with a HMDI cable fired into the back of the telly makes for tremendous entertainment. Best app ever, lovin' it.
Sky can take a hike.
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Watched Prometheus earlier this week.
To my eyes, though, this was definitely a prequel to Alien.
Definitely a prequel. Enjoyed it but also thought it was quiote predictable.
Prometheus 2 is being made.
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Ted.........Hmmmm, a bit disappointing for Seth's normal high standard.
Thought it was good, excellent cgi on the bear.
Think there needs to be a zombie sequel: Day of the Living Ted. 8)
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What's xbmc momo?
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It's a media player/interface that lets you play your films etc. - a sort of home theatre player, because it's designed as something on your big tv that you can control from a sofa.
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T970YM3w1LY) best explains it.
I really need to get me some XBMC. I currently play most of my files through a small media player device, but the interface is as basic as they come. What I have works fine, but XBMC is so pretty and gives you loads of extra info etc!
Until recently, most people ran it on small form PCs under (or attached to the back of) the telly, but lately there are a lot more options. As Momo says, you can plug tablets into your tv. You can also buy small devices to plug into the telly which put xbmc on there and can be controlled using your tablet or mobile phone.
I might wait until the OUYA comes out next year. Primarily an android games console, but has been announced as having xbmc.
XBMC wiki (http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMC_FAQ#XBMC)
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Dont see the problem with Windows Media Center myself... one of the best and most used features on the 360 for me.
If they added Kinect support to the 360 WMC (like they have with windows) that would be pretty cool, streaming and playing films without the use of a control pad nor remote control.. with voice recognition to give extra fast searching of stuff you want to watch or listen to. Im quite excited by what Microsoft are deciding to do next with Kinect.. so much potential.
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I don't tend to use the 360 for anything other than games. Even with the latest model it's just too damned noisy.
I'm now toying (once again) with getting a Raspberry Pi, and sticking xbmc on.
About £30 for the Pi, and a few quid each for a case and usb wifi. Already have micro usb power cables, hdmi cables, SD cards, so it should be a pretty cheap exercise.
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http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2120850_tom_hardy_and_christian_bale_lined_up_to_play_robin_friday (http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2120850_tom_hardy_and_christian_bale_lined_up_to_play_robin_friday)
Looks like this film is really happening. I know I'm going to be the only person on here excited about this (Well Kenny may be too) but I can't wait for this. Will be good for the town an all.
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[Insert joke about Bale being relegated from playing Batman to playing Robin...]
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http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2120850_tom_hardy_and_christian_bale_lined_up_to_play_robin_friday (http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/readingfc/s/2120850_tom_hardy_and_christian_bale_lined_up_to_play_robin_friday)
Looks like this film is really happening. I know I'm going to be the only person on here excited about this (Well Kenny may be too) but I can't wait for this. Will be good for the town an all.
I live in Reading too...
although you were right in the first place... your the only person on here excited about this :P ;D
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Confession time. This past week i have been in Scotland on a training course for sky. Starting on Monday I'll be flogging sky door to door. Not sure how long I'll last as Im a lazy bugger but the pay is class, i get a motor and free sky tv and so far they seem to be a great place to work for.
Obviously one of my tasks will be converting people from virgin, bt etc so anyone who wants to tell me why sky is better than those companies then Im all ears.
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UK call centres?
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They're all a pile of old pants as far as telly is concerned. And Virgin Media has the fastest internet speed too so don't waste your time trying to convince a Virgin Media customer to switch their broadband.
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Sky's Broadband is slower, but also dirt cheap compared to Virgin's. Also, I think Sky have more HD channels.
I work out Virgin's ultimate package (VIP package, telly, phone & BB) as £93.25 + £13.90 line rental = £107.15
Sky's top package (also telly, phone & BB) is £73.25 + £14.50 line rental = £87.75
So Sky is probably cheaper than Virgin on the whole, too. Although Virgin's introductory offers might offset that extra cost.
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I'm only paying for my broadband and phone, only £32 something. And that's for 60Meg that's getting doubled next month. 8)
Would never pay for Sky or Virgin telly, there's no need if you have a decent broadband connection.
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Yeah after my recent dealings with sky ill let this one pass.
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I'm only paying for my broadband and phone, only £32 something. And that's for 60Meg that's getting doubled next month. 8)
Would never pay for Sky or Virgin telly, there's no need if you have a decent broadband connection.
I'm Skyed up, I don't know what it costs, I let the dragon deal with all the financial pish. Having said that I do like a bargain, and as I see it 'FREE' is the option I personally find the most attractive.
Fartiing about on the Internet gets you lots of good stuff, so climb in, ponder this (http://xbmc.org/download/) Harv.
If you like try this (http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/2012/04/24/fusion-easy-addon-installation-for-xbmc/).
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Get a Techi to sort it if confused, as I did.
Jailbreak essential for ipad bye the way.
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Omfg, have just watched a Japanese film called Audition and it was bloody fantastic. Great twist at the end although it was more than a little trippy in places. Highly recommended! ;D
A guy's wife dies and 7 years later after his son tells him he's getting old and needs to remarry. His best mate makes telly programmes and they stage an audition so that he can find a wife. And that's all I'm saying, don't want to give anything away. 8)
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Lets guess then.....................
His son hooks him up with a whore and it out turns messy.
or
His son hooks him up with a whore and it turns out that she's his sister.
or
His son hooks him up with a whore and he says 'hi mum'
or
His mum sets him up with a whore and he said 'I did'nt think you cared , thanks mum'
or
His dad set him up with a whore and he said ' Thanks, but could you please clean up before my dibs.
For me any of the above would be interesting, but if it's in Japanese I don't know if I would make the end of the movie.
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Confession time. This past week i have been in Scotland on a training course for sky. Starting on Monday I'll be flogging sky door to door. Not sure how long I'll last as Im a lazy bugger but the pay is class, i get a motor and free sky tv and so far they seem to be a great place to work for.
Obviously one of my tasks will be converting people from virgin, bt etc so anyone who wants to tell me why sky is better than those companies then Im all ears.
You'll never convince me Sky is better than Virgin, after the problems I had with Sky salespeople continually bugging me and then when I cancelled my Sky subscription they tried tho threaten me with court, set a debt collection agency on me and threatened me with bailiffs - even though I had a letter from Sky apologising for their behaviour and stating that I didn't owe them any money and that the matter was fully resolved.
Still had a dopey Scottish twat trying to tell me that I did owe them money and then his even dopier bitch of a manager in response to my pointing out that the letter said the matter was fully resolved said "well you can interpret that how you like but you still owe us money". Needless to say at that point I wasn't very polite. Eventually got sorted but I would rather give up watching TV altogether than have Sky and if any Sky salespeople dare to knock my door, they are leaving in an ambulance (they'll have ignored the very clear "no salespeople" sign in my porch window for a start.
Virgin broadband is superior to Sky and I don't have to have a BT line.
Not sure that's going to help your sales pitch much Styles lol.
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They are all BT lines I'm afraid to say.
Other than that everyone of them are a bunch of incompetent bastards, the customer service throughout the industry is scandalous.
Everything is a bed of roses when you are buying, but when it goes tits up, don't expect rapid response, when you're in you're their bitch.
As I said before bastards to a man.
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Not having to have a BT line was the sole reason why I went for Telewest (at that time). In a previous flat I had a problem with BT. I always waited until a red bill came through the door and always paid it immediately whenever I got it. Then BT decided, for some reason known only to themselves, to cut me off and then sent me a red bill afterwards. I then phoned them from a phone box, told them that was no way to conduct business and that they could sing for it.
I've boycotted them ever since. Arseholes. :o
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They're all a pile of old pants as far as telly is concerned. And Virgin Media has the fastest internet speed too so don't waste your time trying to convince a Virgin Media customer to switch their broadband.
Sky is rolling out fibre optic bb too. The cost is ridiculous tho. What do virgin charge?
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I get 60Meg plus a phone line for £32 something, and that speed is getting doubled next month. Pretty good deal and it's very rare to get any problems in my area. Much better going for a cable connection because the distance from your telephone exchange isn't a problem and you actually get the speed it says on the tin. ;D
Virgin currently have the fastest broadband in the UK at 200Meg, but 120Meg will do me just fine lol :P
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50 Meg bb (well that's what mine will be upgraded to soon, telephone (free calls 24/7) and TV £47. Plus £7 per month rolling 1 month contract for mobile (with extras such as extra minutes, free calls to virgin phones, extra texts etc for being an existing customer.
Don't have SKy movies or sports though, don't need them and have not missed them since I cancelled them.
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I went up to one of those guys on a sky stand in the shopping centre the other week.. asked him how much it would cost to get what I have now (60mb broadband + phoneline) + sky sports package...
he said, best I'd get is 30mb with sky fibre + phoneline and had to have the entertainment package to get sky sports... all of that was about £85... then it was £5 extra for having the HD bits bolted on.... I said I'd sign up today if he did it all at £65.. and he told me to get lost lol. This also included a £50 installation fee which is a joke really.
Safe to say, Im still with virgin.. who definitely dont use BT lines!!!
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I saw a film called Dead Man's Shoes last night and it was excellent. Set in the North of England it had the brother of a mentally disabled kid killing the town's drug dealers. ;D
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I went up to one of those guys on a sky stand in the shopping centre the other week.. asked him how much it would cost to get what I have now (60mb broadband + phoneline) + sky sports package...
he said, best I'd get is 30mb with sky fibre + phoneline and had to have the entertainment package to get sky sports... all of that was about £85... then it was £5 extra for having the HD bits bolted on.... I said I'd sign up today if he did it all at £65.. and he told me to get lost lol. This also included a £50 installation fee which is a joke really.
Safe to say, Im still with virgin.. who definitely dont use BT lines!!!
Sky has much the better tv package, bt and virgin pride themselves on showing sky channels lol. There was a recent virgin ad that got pulled cos they realised they mentioned sky 11 times in the 30s lol
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Yup, but if you have the best broadband you don't need the best telly package. ;)
I'm watching The Bill at the moment, series 6 from 1990. Difficult to believe it was 22 years ago!!! :o
But it got me thinking...what the bloomin heck happened to the third installment of the Kill Bill Trilogy..? They didn't make it, did they..? The first two films were great! :-\
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They are planning to make it now but Bill's dead? I know the story will be the little girl who saw Kiddo kill her mum trying to kill Kiddo but I dunno it's risky it might ruin it.
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Just did a google search and it's coming in 2014 (http://www.buzzsugar.com/Quentin-Tarantino-Reveals-Third-Kill-Bill-Planned-2014-5442926)!!! Nice! 8)
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Went to the cinema on saturday, instead of going for Taken 2.. opted for the highly reviewed Looper instead... and was quite glad I did.. its a pretty good film... original with a intriguing strong plot that hooks you in.. I didnt even realise Bruce Willis was in it until he showed up - and even then I had to look twice.. he looks OLD!
Strong cast, strong and original storyline, good action scenes and all in all a solid film.
8.5/10
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Watched that yesterday, and I too enjoyed it.
Kudos to Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the make up department. His make up, mannerisms, and acting combined to make a very good "young Bruce Willis".
(Interesting fact - Bruce Willis has met his younger self in three different and unrelated films, now... Seven Monkeys & The Kid being the other two.)
Decent proposition, though it was a bit predictable in parts - but that's forgivable as the scripting and acting are very good.
8/10
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Have to shamelessly admit, I watched Bride of Chucky for the 1st time last night and quite rather enjoyed it.. ;D The 2nd and 3rd films in the series really screwed the franchise up IMO, this one is great for 2 reasons - it doesnt try to take itself seriously as a horror film and it actually has some comedy that works in it.. gonna have to pick Seed of Chucky up now too :P
Had to double take on Jennifer Tilly.. didnt realise she was the bird in Liar Liar.. but definitely recogonised her.. she sounds and looks so much like Renee Zellweger.. and she's quite hot in a weird kind of way too ;)
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Tilly is also in family guy. She is Joe's wife.
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Never really got into family guy so wouldnt know..
South Park, Simpsons and Futurama - the only cartoon sitcoms worth watching imo.
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The Chucky films are excellent ;D
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Family guy is soooo much better than Simpsons
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A colleague of mine has a pic of her (chucky's bride) on his phone cos he fancies her.
Unfortunately we're not talking J Tilly - we're talking the doll...
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Well I wouldn't kick her out... :P :o :P
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Horrible bosses last night. Good concept but poorly written. Bateman as ever was quality as was spacey. Anniston was brilliant as the slutty dentist boss, would love to have her polish me ;)
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11 days till Bond.. already booked my tickets... looking forward to this film the most this year... even if I do think DC looks like a short, ugly, pig-nosed thug.... it's still bond...
Up to Octopussy on the bondathon.. so at 1 a day, should finish those just before the new one arrives :D ...getting a bit sick and tired of the Roger Moore ones though... Moonraker is probably my most hated bond film.. its just bloody awful.. made to cash in on the space/fantasy craze that was going round at the time.
A pointless trivia bond question for anyone that loves bond...
James Bond has killed at least 1 person in every bond film.. but there is only one film where he kills just 1 person throughout the entire movie... (the evil guy at the end)... but which film is it ?
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Man with the golden gun
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How long did that take to look up :P
1 Day left till Bond - unfortunately I have to wait until 8:30pm to see it.. gay!
After watching them all in the past month or 2.. this is how I stack them...
1. Goldfinger
2. Goldeneye
3. From Russia With Love
4. Thunderball
5. The Living Daylights
6. Live and Let Die
7. Octopussy
8. OHMSS
9. Dr. No
10. Casino Royale
11. Tomorrow Never Dies
12. The Spy Who Loved Me
13. You Only Live Twice
14. The Man With The Golden Gun
15. The World Is Not Enough
16. Diamonds Are Forever
17. License To Kill
18. For Your Eyes Only
19. A View To A Kill
20. Quantum of Solace
21. Die Another Day
22. Moonraker
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Just watched Choke. It's based on the Chuck Palahniuk book. I've read the book and the film gives a good account of the book. Obviously it leaves bits out as all films of books do but I enjoyed it.
It's a weird story though. Easy to get lost.
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Have to say, Im not Daniel Craigs biggest fan, but Skyfall is an awesome film... well worth going to watch... far better than Casino Royale and QoS for me...
...and without giving anything away... I did feel that Skyfall should of been DC's first bond film though... that might make more sense when you see it...
...there were some bits I was nitpicking over after the film.. and I also thought that overall the film wasn't "bond" enough.. felt more like Bourne at some points.. but it was still fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed it
8.5/10
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I personally think Craig is the best Bond so far by a country mile. But that's my personal opinion, obviously others will have their own.
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Everyone has their favourites... I always find it hard to put Roger Moore at the bottom of my "favourite bond" list because he did the most bonds - but he was truly awful and cringe-worthy in some films.. some of his lines were so bad they were good!
I think after watching Skyfall, I'd put it in at a solid number 7 on my list... best film since Goldeneye - definitely.. but not enough to break into my top 5 though.
I'd actually move QoS down to 2nd worst film though, on further reflection, I realised I hated it more than Die Another Day which is only down there because everything about it was stupid and OTT.
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WTF... Disney have bought out the star wars studio and planning to release a new trilogy for it... Episode 7 to come out in 2015 :o :o
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Very odd news. (Holy hell, but four billion dollars is a ridiculous amount of money, though...)
Awful to say, but I can't help wonder if he's had some bad news from his doctor.
Star Wars has always been his cash cow and he's always kept tight control over it but I hear he effectively retired about a year ago and now he's cashing in his future earnings from it...
Watched this week:
Sound Of My Voice. Watchable, though rather slow. Low budget, so not much glamour, but it's got a nice premise, and the script was okay. Quite enjoyed it. I'll give it 6.5/10.
Taken 2. Wasn't expecting much from this. A cash-in sequel to a surprise hit is usually a recipe for a poor film.
Whilst it's not as good as the first I actually thought it very good though. Loved the unusual use of grenades. 8/10
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. One of the battiest films I've ever seen. Not a comedy, but ridiculously silly - I laughed pretty much from start to finish. If you're after some light-hearted entertainment with lots of "bullet-time"-type action and effects (albeit an axe rather than bullets most of the time) then you could certainly do a lot worse than this. 7/10.
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Well they left it open for a (at the time) fourth film after Return Of The Jedi, when the ghosts of Ben, Yoda and Anakin said 'there is another', meaning Princess Leia. The whole thing was based on The Adventures of Luke Skywalker series of novels written by Lucas as far as I remember...can't remember how many books there were now though. :-\ The disasters that were the last (first) three films wouldn't be included due to Luke Skywalker not being in them.
I definitely had the book of the first film that was subtitled The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker when I was a kid. Was bloody great, had Biggs and Luke in an early part which makes the 'shooting wamp rats at home' line making sense, and I think Biggs also had something to do with Jabba The Hut too as far as I remember. Also had photos from the film in the middle too. 8)
Wonder if my Mum has still got that..? Might be in her loft somewhere, could be worth a few quid now.
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...when the ghosts of Ben, Yoda and Anakin said 'there is another'...
It's been a long time since I last watched any of the Star Wars films, but I seem to recall Yoda saying that quote (to Obi Wan - Anakin wasn't there at all) in The Empire Strikes Back, and he was referring to Leia taking over from Luke if he was unable to take down the Emperor and Vader (hence Anakin not joining the convo!). You only saw the ghosts of Ben, Yoda, and Anakin together right at the end of Return of the Jedi, and they never said anything.
As I say, I may be remembering it wrong though. *
Equally Lucas has fiddled with those films so often that maybe the scene you described did happen in one release and not in others.
It could go in any direction. There's been hundreds of books set after ROTJ (I read a fair few of them back in the day) written by any number of authors. I recall Luke setting up a Jedi Academy (and of course one or two students going over to the dark side); and Han & Leia's kids being strong in the force and having a few adventures; plus a few books with old Empire strongholds/admirals making a grab for power.
There's pretty much infinite scope and they could easily adopt any of the above arcs - but it's more likely they'll want to take things in their own direction completely.
* Loved the films when I was a kid, but the wife loved them more - to the degree she watched them so often I got sick of them.
Way to ruin Star Wars for me even more than Episodes 1-3 did... >:(
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Well they left it open for a (at the time) fourth film after Return Of The Jedi, when the ghosts of Ben, Yoda and Anakin said 'there is another', meaning Princess Leia. The whole thing was based on The Adventures of Luke Skywalker series of novels written by Lucas as far as I remember...can't remember how many books there were now though. :-\ The disasters that were the last (first) three films wouldn't be included due to Luke Skywalker not being in them.
Being a Star Wars fan from day one (being old enough to have seen it at the Cinema first time round), the Star Wars series was originally intended to be 9 films. That is what George Lucas originally stated.
The first trilogy were parts 4, 5 and 6. The second trilogy parts 1, 2 and 3 though they screwed up a bit because they couldn't fit the clone wars in, though that was then going to be a live action TV series scheduled for something like 98 or 120 parts if I recall. They were then going to make the final trilogy (parts 7,8 and 9).
The books co-incided with the films rather than the films being based on the books because it was always Lucas' intention to make films and the books have the script pretty much intact in them.
The first book published was Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker in 1976. It has had it's title revamped a bit since then (I think it has also had the "A New Hope" added to it). It was 190 pages and contained a few glossy photo pages in the middle which were stills from the film, with production notes. The notes for the first photo, a still of Luke in his speeder, states that it was "written and developed for the large screen".
It's copyright 1976 by the Star Wars Corporation and frist printed in the UK by Sphere Books in 1977 (I've just dug the book out and looked). It is credited to George Lucas but apparently was also ghost written by Alan Dean Foster as Lucas' input was the script element. Foster did the descriptive parts, it's why the book is so close to the film.
A lot of spin off books were written using the characters and universe, but were not intended to be part of the 9 part film saga. There were a few about Han Solo and his adventures before becoming involved with the rebel alliance. A few set between and around events in the original trilogy. My favourite of them was "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" (written by Alan Dean Foster who was involved with the originals so it's probably why it's one of the best).
I have not read any of the newer books (beyond the early 80's) and there have been a lot of them.
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Oh and the first thing Disney should do is have Jar Jar Binks crushed to death by stampeding Bantha and have the Death Star destroy the homeworld of the Ewoks.
Unfortunately, Disney will probably make an Ewoks series and give Jar Jar Binks his own film.
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I hear episode 7 is tentatively called "Return of the Jar Jar" already ;)
I should really watch them all again.. Im not a massive fan although I did enjoy films 3-6
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Oh and the first thing Disney should do is have Jar Jar Binks crushed to death by stampeding Bantha and have the Death Star destroy the homeworld of the Ewoks.
Unfortunately, Disney will probably make an Ewoks series and give Jar Jar Binks his own film.
Wahahahaha!
(Unfortunately that does sound about right.)
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Saw Skyfall today... loved it! Easily DC's best film so far. Casino Royale was decent but QoS bored me to death. Agree with your point, Jman, about it being DC's first, would have made more sense given the plot, and probably would have won more people over to him. Javier Bardem was great, big fan of his, thought he was brilliant in No Country for Old Men.
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Another reason is that they do introduce a lot of new characters in Skyfall too... I always thought it was just stupid that they tried to "re-boot" bond with Casino Royale and take it back to the beginning and then used several actors/actresses from the previous bond films and constantly referenced previous bond films aswell.. it might fool the average joe but I dont think you can truly reboot a franchise that has had 20 preceding films before it and get everyone to accept it... Casino Royale and QoS were very much... "this is bond now, deal with it" which in some franchises (batman for instance) works brilliantly... Skyfall on the other hand blends a perfect balance of old and new bond and with the plot too and for me it works much better.. it would of been the perfect transistion film from Brosnan to Craig... there are still a few bits of Skyfall that didnt sit right with me... but they are neither here nor there when it comes to the bigger picture.
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Just got round to watching the remake of Total Recall.
I may be in the minority but I thouroughly enjoyed it and thought it was superior to the original in many ways.
It's almost like a different film with a similar plot, rather than a remake (althought at times I was thinking that it could be a prequel or alternate to "I Robot").
The fight scenes and action in the remake are far superior in my opinion. As much as I like Arnie, his hand to hand combat skills leave a lot to be desired and even in choreographed fights quite hoestly he is so slow that it ruins them. Weapons yes, hand to hand no, sorry Arnie.
Again I may be in the minority but I don't mind Colin Farrell and thought he did a pretty good job in this movie.
The fight scenes and fight choreography was better in the remake. Loved the car chase.
Plus, as hot as Sharon Stone was, Kate Beckinsale would get my vote any day. Add Jessica Biel who knocks spots off of Rachel Ticotin, and the remake wins on totty too.
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Your not in a minority... your just wrong ;D
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That's your opinion and you're entitled to be completely mistaken. :P
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He's right about Kate Beckinsale, she's a veritable Hornbat.
And she loves me too, if she didn't love me so much she wouldn't have gone to all that trouble of going to the police and to the courts to get that Restraining Order. :-\ :-*
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I watched The Amazing Spiderman last night...
...the only thing amazing about it is how amazingly shit it is !!!
1/10 >:(
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Gonna have to watch that again. Can't remember it too well tbh but I recall I enjoyed it.
Watched the six Avengers films over the last week or two. Had already seen all before, at least once each, but I got the bluray box set recently. Thoroughly enjoyed most (I'm not a fan of Thor, but I like the rest - even Cap.n America which a lot of folk dislike). And I enjoyed the Avengers Assemble film a lot more this time round. First time I watched it I thought it good but not great, but I got a lot more out of it this time.
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Oh dear.. I turned it off after about 2/3s of the way through.. it really was dire I thought.. I didnt think much of Tobey Maguires Spiderman but it was better than this trash.. they basically took the old spiderman and turned it into a teenagers film.. it was like "High School Spiderman"... at one point spiderman whips his smartphone out and starts playing bubble bursting games on it.. seriously? I liked the guy who played the new spiderman, but the others were just terrible, the directing was awful and the CGI was pretty pants in parts too.
Anyway... I watched the trailer for The Last Stand - arnies new film.. and I have to say it looks great.. reminded me a lot of "Walking Tall" crossed with "Copland" His film "The Tomb" with Sly Stallone also sounds pretty great too and he's making a film called "Ten" with Sam Worthington too... So glad next year, arnie really will be back!
I also found out yesterday they are making a sequel to "Twins".. called "Triplets" and theres another brother involved... supposedly played by Eddie Murphy... it would be the most dumbest movie sequel ever if that was made considering Murphy is black and the other twins are white... although thinking about it, I reckon they will just pass it off as one of the men who made the "sperm milkshake" was black... stupid but conceivable (in a movie) I guess... secretly though, Arnie, Devito and Murphy on screen together sounds pretty awesome to me! ;D
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I also found out yesterday they are making a sequel to "Twins".. called "Triplets" and theres another brother involved... supposedly played by Eddie Murphy... it would be the most dumbest movie sequel ever if that was made considering Murphy is black and the other twins are white... although thinking about it, I reckon they will just pass it off as one of the men who made the "sperm milkshake" was black... stupid but conceivable (in a movie) I guess... secretly though, Arnie, Devito and Murphy on screen together sounds pretty awesome to me! ;D
lol! Hadn't heard about that one.
Yeah, one brother being black is no dafter than the premise of the first film (some elements being plausible, others being ridiculous), and adding Murphy to the Twins film sounds good to me (though it's odd their mum never mentioned him - it's a long time since I've seen Twins but I seem to remember they did meet her).
Are scriptwriters running out of ideas, though? They seem to be going back to the (circa) '80s an awful lot lately, with remakes and sequels.
Others to watch out for next year include remakes of Carrie and Robocop. Oh - and Superman. And Die Hard.
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They did meet their old ma, but she thought they were all dead, and they thought she was dead.. it wasnt until arnie convinced devito to try and find her that she realised that she had been lied too and her sons were alive... at the end, Devito and Arnie marry their girlfriends (who are sisters) and both of them have sets of twins too.. LOL.. this next movie could be so screwed up its untrue!!
I love 80's movies though so Im not bothered about sequels.. its the remakes like Total Recall and stuff like Robocop which I find unacceptable...judging by the looks of the new Robocops outfit.. I know they have already screwed that one up...
Im waiting and praying for a Mighty Ducks 4 - it would have to have Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson in if they do it though..
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Finally got round to watching Prometheus.. loved it.. excellent film - looking forward to watching the alternative start and endings too.
9/10
Edit: I noticed afterwards, plenty of people complaining about plot-holes and stuff in Prometheus.. :-\ The only bit that didnt make complete sense to me was why thingy-bob made thingy-bob drink that thingy-bob which started the whole thingy-ma-jig on the ship... (trying not to give spoilers away ;D) ... after looking it up, Im not entirely convinced with the answer.. the film (in some places) does make you work for the plot - but thats whats so great about it .. I actually might watch it again at the weekend.
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I enjoyed it and didn't really have questions at the end. Had a few after reading other peoples' interpretations of the film, though.
Also I thought the whole thing was set on the planet that crew of the Nostromo later visited, but apparently it's a completely different planet.
Watched Skyfall last night. Cracking film. Hadn't really heard much about it, despite a few friends and family seeing it, and it was nice to watch it without having any elements of the plot spoilt beforehand.
I think Daniel Craig's taken over from Sean Connery as my favourite Bond. I've loved all three so far, and am looking forward to the next (though I hear he's expressed a desire to get out of them, despite having signed a 3 film deal when they were planning Skyfall).
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Just watched " End of Watch". Fantastic film - thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as LAPD cops. Great chemistry between them, and it's so easy to empathise with them as they laugh and joke and as they get into some bloody scary situations on a regular basis.
9/10.
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I'll have to check that out. I like a good cop film.
I'd love them to do a new series of Hill Street Blues. Best cop show ever imo.
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Watched Nine Dead and thought it was alright - bit like Saw but without the suspense or gore.. some dodgy acting and the ending was just pants.. but the films watchable enough... 4.5/10
Also watched Fury (The Samaritan) with Samuel L Jackson - its quite a gritty action thriller.. it took a while to get going, then I started getting into it and a nice little twist in the story about half way through that I never saw coming kept me watching but unfortunately after that twist, the rest of the film started going down hill... it was just lousy.. which was a shame. 3/10
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"Safety Not Guaranteed".
Entertainment not guaranteed. In a way it reminded me of "Sound of my Voice", which I watched a couple of weeks back (in that you're mainly interested in it because you want to know which way the final scene will go - is the nutjob actually telling the truth or not?), but nowhere near as strong a story or characters as SomV. About 30 mins in I was torn between turning it off and wanting to see the ending - and made the wrong choice. I stuck with it. The only two redeeming things about the film - it's relatively short (about 80mins I think); and it stars Aubrey Plaza, who is quite attractive in an unconventional way (you might know her from Parks & Recreation).
2/10.
Have had that "Samaritan" film on standby for a while. Looked okay from the trailers, but then got very poor reviews. Thanks for the heads up, Kieron - I'll swerve it now.
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Watched a film called Outland from about 1982. Stars Sean Connery. It's an ok(ish) story. Dated effects. Watchable but not great.
I downloaded it to watch it to see if the story was anything like the one I made up for the film. The answer is, not really.
I originally went to the cinema to see this film when I was 16. Went with a girl I'd been seeing for a little while.,First date with a new girlfriend. Cinema was pretty empty and we didn't really see any of the film. In fact all I could really remember of it was that Connery was in it and it seemed to be on a space station somewhere.
Now afterwards I was going to get the bus home but her dad came to pick her up and gave me a lift home too. Then came the awkward moment when he asks what was the film like and what was it about.
I think the answer I gave made it sound like a cross between James Bond and Star Wars. Thankfully it would appear he'd not seen it and hadn't read a review.
Always made sure I at least read a bit about a film before seeing it after that lol.
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Watched Home Alone and Home Alone 2 at the weekend - classics - always have trouble deciding which one is my favourite though ;D
Saw the trailer for Hobbit the other day too, looks great.. you not going to watch it drags ? :P
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Saw the trailer for Hobbit the other day too, looks great.. you not going to watch it drags ? :P
Of course I'll watch it. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about being ripped off dammit. :(
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Might watch that myself I think. When's it out..?
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13th December. Gunna take the missus she loves Tolkein.
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13th December. Gunna take the missus she loves Tolkein.
But what does she think of Tolkien? :P ;D
... and I know you'll probably edit your original post now but I couldn't resist. :P :P :P
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13th December. Gunna take the missus she loves Tolkein.
But what does she think of Tolkien? :P ;D
... and I know you'll probably edit your original post now but I couldn't resist. :P :P :P
Alright...Smart Arse!
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Saw the trailer for Hobbit the other day too, looks great.. you not going to watch it drags ? :P
Of course I'll watch it. Doesn't mean I have to be happy about being ripped off dammit. :(
Did you feel ripped off watching LoTR??.. lets be fair.. he could of condensed that down to two films easily.. there were parts of each film that were quite boring and could of been cut.. but its still a fantastic trilogy and definitely felt like I got my moneys worth at the cinema and boxset I own ;)
Despite the Hobbit being a prequel, am hoping to re-watch the LoTR trilogy before the 13th ;D
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There was so much more that could have been in LotR though, the extended versions were excellent.
The Hobbit's being stretched out a bit... Will still go and watch it though. ;D
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I hope never to have to sit through the LOTR ever again. Didn't like the books, didn't like the films.
The Hobbit was an okay read, so I'm not sure if I want to see the film.
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I can understand some hardcore fans of the books not liking the films because they missed they left out the shire and Gimli was more Pratchett than Tolkien but ...
Didn't like the books
... not often I disagree with you but you're a bloody sacrilegious heathen lol.
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Did you feel ripped off watching LoTR??.. lets be fair.. he could of condensed that down to two films easily.. there were parts of each film that were quite boring and could of been cut.. but its still a fantastic trilogy and definitely felt like I got my moneys worth at the cinema and boxset I own ;)
Bought the individual films on DVD and then the Extended trilogy boxset. So yes, I am feeling ripped off lol. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the films though and for me I enjoyed the length of them and being immersed in them a bit. Just wish they'd been in 3D as well so I could have been ripped off a little bit more. :-\
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I can understand some hardcore fans of the books not liking the films because they missed they left out the shire and Gimli was more Pratchett than Tolkien but ...
Didn't like the books
... not often I disagree with you but you're a bloody sacrilegious heathen lol.
I struggled through two and a half books then gave up. It's very rare for me not to finish a book once I've gotten past the first dozen or so pages. Walking away from it that close to the end is testament to how much I disliked it.
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I can understand some hardcore fans of the books not liking the films because they missed they left out the shire and Gimli was more Pratchett than Tolkien but ...
Didn't like the books
... not often I disagree with you but you're a bloody sacrilegious heathen lol.
I struggled through two and a half books then gave up. It's very rare for me not to finish a book once I've gotten past the first dozen or so pages. Walking away from it that close to the end is testament to how much I disliked it.
lol ...
... but you'd made it through two and a half, that extra half might have made all the difference. ;)
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Just seen the trailer for Pacific Rim (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vKz7WnU83E) - giant monsters vs giant robots...looks ... great.. but a bit weird.. and yes, the computer voice in it is GLaDOS - awesome!
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Watched that trailer (and a few more) last night. That looks pretty good. After Earth has potential but didn't excite. Man of Steel and Star Trek are both looking good. Oblivion looks very good too.
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Have been watching a load of films on my Wii U using Netflix and LoveFilm, best of the lot is Hard Candy about a kiddie fiddler who picks up a 14 year old girl in a chatroom. Not going to give any spoilers, watch it. :o
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Saw that film pretty much when it came out. From what I remember I wasn't that keen on it.
Just booking tickets to be ripped off, I mean see the Hobbit on Friday night.
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I'm looking forward to watching the hobbit tomorrow and getting my moneys worth ;)
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Have just watched Zombieland, awesome ;D
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Love that film - have watched it at least four times, including twice in the last couple of months.
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I thought The Hobbit was fantastic by the way, Martin Freeman didnt feel right as Bilbo at the start I thought, but by the end I thought he was the perfect casting.. Gollum was excellent as usual - there are quite a few comedy moments in the film though.. something I wasnt really expecting I guess.. but it certainly adds to it.. :D
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Middle earth? Middle finger.
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Blasphemer!!!
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Blasphemer!!!
Indeed.
On the film itself. I still don;t think there needs to be 3 films. A lot of unnecessary padding. That said, the fikm itself is by and large spectacular. Some verry good performances, notably from Freeman who really is excellent in the film. The scenes with Gollum were almost worth the admission money alone.
The comedy element still seems to be more suited to a Pratchett adaptation and parts of the film lead to some "really?", "seriously?" and "are you kidding me?" moments. They manage to cling on to the side of the giants during their battle while being thrown all over the place but afterwards a couple of them manage to slip and need rescuing. >:(
hen there's the tumble to the bottom of the goblin caves when the platform collapses and not one of them dies or is even remotely injured. Susepnding belief is one thing, eradicating it from your psyche altogether is pushing it a bit.
Gripes aside, I enjoyed it though. I'd give it 8.5/10.
Trailers for Jack the Giant Slayer and Man of Steel piqued my curiosity.
On the subkect of the 48 fps, to be honest I'm not sure it made any amazing difference. Not that I noticed anyway. Didn't appear to cause motion sickness, though I did have a bit of a headache afterwards but that may be due to the 3D glasses as much as anything.
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If I were ever to go to the States I'd avoid using any form of motor vehicle. They ALWAYS blow up when they crash. :o :-\
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... and you can't drive...
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That's why I said 'using' and not 'driving' ;)
No buses and no taxis. 8)
You would have thought they'd have some sort of safety standards before they let these things on the road.
Have been watching loads of films over Christmas using the LoveFilm and Netflix apps on my Wii U. Netflix is miles better, plenty of films have subtitles and it suggests other films based on the ones you've been watching which is pretty cool. There's a load of films I've never heard of that I've watched and enjoyed thanks to that.
Shame it doesn't have the same features as TVii though, Miiverse interaction on the GamePad, IMDb info and browsing whilst watching a film on the telly would be great. Still, a really nice app despite that. I can see plenty of people carrying on their subscriptions after their 30 days free trial is over.
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How do you get to be forty and can't drive?
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Diabetes since I was 5. I don't trust myself behind the wheel - a hypo whilst driving could end up with me killing someone. :(
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How do you get to be forty and can't drive?
Far too many people get to all ages and can't drive. Sadly a lot of them still have licenses. :-\
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Watched an excellent film last night called Buried about a truck driver working in Iraq who wakes up buried in a coffin after his convoy is ambushed by insurgents. Definitely worth a download, great entertainment. :)
Am now watching a film called Wilderness Survival For Girls, 5 minutes in and two pairs of tits already lol. :P
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How do you get to be forty and can't drive?
Ford's motion controls aren't up to Nintendo's standards yet.
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Gave up on that film, it was beyond shite lol ;D
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Just watched a film called The Divide. Awesome!!!
About people trapped in an apartment basement in New York after the bombs have dropped. Great film. ;D
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I watched Jack Reacher at the cinema during the holidays...
Was a pretty good thriller/action film.. I'd recommend and I dont particularly like Tom Cruise... so thats saying something..
7/10
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I can see plenty of people carrying on their subscriptions after their 30 days free trial is over.
I take it you wont then???
Case in point - people who pirate won't pay to watch a film or use a subscription service if they dont have too.
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I can see plenty of people carrying on their subscriptions after their 30 days free trial is over.
I take it you wont then???
Case in point - people who pirate won't pay to watch a film or use a subscription service if they dont have too.
Nope, although I do think that the viewing suggestions it gives you based on what you've been watching is pretty cool, and if my telly wasn't in my bedroom I can see being able to watch the films on the GamePad being a cool feature. There just isn't the content available on the UK version to make it worthwhile, and I can't be arsed to go through spoofing a US DNS to get the US version lol ;D :P ;D
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I take it you wont then???
Case in point - people who pirate won't pay to watch a film or use a subscription service if they dont have too.
YOu are confusing downloading with Piracy and as I have pointed out many times, downloaders fall into two broad categories, those who still buy and buy more as a result of downloading and those who wouldn't buy even if they didn't download.
As I'm one of those who download, I'll be going to see Jack Reacher, as I went to see the Hobbit. I also just placed an order for over £200 with Play.com to add to my already massive collection. Would have bought some more in HMV at Fulham Broadway too in the 5 Blu-rays for £30 sale they had on but couldn't remember what I had and didn't have.
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Wot no list on your phone?
(Actually mine is out of date - must update it with the last month or so's purchases.)
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Wot no list on your phone?
(Actually mine is out of date - must update it with the last month or so's purchases.)
Yep, got a list on my phone but mine's woefully out of date too. So was next to useless.
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Have been on a thriller hype the past few days.
Disturbia - Decent film that focuses more on suspense and tension rather than gore. Within the first 10 minutes I thought it must be either a homage to or a rip-off of Hitchcock's classic 'Rear Window'. Shia LaBouef (the guy from Transformers) and Sarah Roemer (bird from The Event) put in good performances. Worth a watch - 7/10
Unthinkable - Surprised this didn't get more attention when it was released. Hadn't heard of it before I watched it. Great watch though, certainly thought-provoking. Samuel L. Jackson plays an interrogator who has to extract the location of three bombs placed around the US from a terrorist. 8/10
Changing Lanes - I'll usually watch anything with Samuel L. Jackson in, as he has the ability to make even the worst films watchable (and God knows he's starred in enough of them!) This film just bored me though. Started off well but the story was uninteresting and didn't seem to go anywhere. More an exploration of the two main characters that I never really cared about. 4/10
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I watched Unthinkable the other week, it was excellent ;D
Am watching Swim Fan at the mo, just 10 minutes in and I'm surprised this bloke's Bunny Boiler Alarm isn't blaring like mental lol :o
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Watched Taken 2 this morning. Not as good as the first one and just more of the same really. Just cashing in. It was okay and some reasonable action, if somewhat drawn out in a lot of places where Neeson could have finished an opponent three times over before actually doing so. Maybe 6.5 out of 10. I hope they don't make a third one.
Seems a lot of the blu-rays in the 5 for £30 in HMV are available from Play.com in their 2 for £12 sale.
I took a jar full of change to ASDA last night and gave their machine that converts it to cash vouchers a complete spaz, but when it got sorted and I had my voucher for £112.32 (all from 1, 2 and 5 pence pieces) I spent it on a few more films and box sets. Could have got some of them cheaper from play but had to spend the money on something.
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Christ on a fucking bike, how big was that jar..?!!?!? :o
Might have to watch Taken if it's on Netflix or LoveFilm, have been meaning to watch it for ages.
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Christ on a fucking bike, how big was that jar..?!!?!? :o
It was five plastic containers (the lids from 100 spindle packs of DVDs. Poured them into carrier bags, doubled the bags up hoping they wouldn't split. One of them still split, leading to me having to pick up a few hundred 1p coins from the Asda foyer. Glad it was late and not many people about.
The machine flashed up a message at one point that siad "my you have a lot of coins". I was only half way through at that point lol. The machine takes 11p in every pound, still easier than taking them to the bank though, especially as they get really shitty if you take too many coins in these days.
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Watched a German thriller earlier - Das Experiment. Amazing yet disturbing. 20 guys agree to sign away their liberty to take part in a prison experiment where half of them play guards and half play prisoners for 2 weeks. I found it disturbing mostly because it's based on a real experiment that took place back in the 70s and had to be ended after 6 days due to the guards exhibiting sadistic behaviour... 8/10
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An episode of the TV series "Life" (the cop show with Damian Lewis) used the same experiment as the basis for the story.
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Aye, a few shows have used that idea. I remember Life and Bones doing it, and I'm sure others have too. Have got the German film but haven't got found to watching it yet - but I know it's highly regarded.
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Watched a film called Excision this morning. In two words "very strange".
Watched "End of Watch". It is indeed a very good film.
Started watching Compliance but apart from Dreama Walker being quite hot and naked, it's just totally stupid and completely unbelievable.
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Blimey, I've just changed my DNS settings on my Wii U so that I could check out the US version of Netflix and it's a million miles better....so much more stuff on there!!! :o
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Definitely. I would never pay £6 a month for the UK content on Netflix, but change the DNS server to access the US content and it's incredible how much more there is. Last year I managed to watch every episode of Frasier and tons of Law & Order: SVU. Now I'm working through Cheers. Brilliant comedies (not L&O obviously!). ;D
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Yup, it's excellent. Had to restart my router because it was buffering like mental but it's all running smoothly now. I'm tempted to keep my subscription going because I like the fact that it suggests films to watch based on what you've been watching before, there's a load of films I've never heard of that have been excellent and I wouldn't have seen them otherwise. :D
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Yeah, only about 10 years behind there harv.. amazon have been doing "Your recommendations" for donkeys years based on what you've watched or rated... I guess if you had actually purchased instead of downloaded, you'd of known that ;) ;D
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Amazon did my head in when someone linked me to some scary clown pic on there (I'm scared of clowns), and for months afterward the site kept recommending loads of stuff clown-related.
(To be fair, you can probably remove stuff from your history or likes, but who can be arsed with that.)
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I'm watching Limitless at the mo. Saw it when it was at the cinema I think, either that or I downloaded it years ago. It's a great film about a guy who bumps into his ex-wife's brother who's a drug dealer and gives him a pill that boosts his brain power. We only use 20% of our brain and this pill lets you use the other 80%. ;D
Definitely worth watching 8)
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Django Unchained. (http://www.solarmovie.so/link/play/1138842/)
This is a screener, catch it while it's hot.
This is a good Tarantino effort, but a bit of an arse nipper at 2hr 45min.
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I'm watching Limitless at the mo. Saw it when it was at the cinema I think, either that or I downloaded it years ago. It's a great film about a guy who bumps into his ex-wife's brother who's a drug dealer and gives him a pill that boosts his brain power. We only use 20% of our brain and this pill lets you use the other 80%. ;D
Definitely worth watching 8)
Great show. You didn't see it years ago in the cinema as it is fairly recent
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Limitless was pretty good. Would go watch it if they made a sequel.
Watched a thriller called Das Leben der Anderen last night (The Lives of Others). About a guy working for the secret police in 1984 East Germany. Started off slowly but the second hour was gripping. Definitely worth a watch. 8/10
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Definitely. I would never pay £6 a month for the UK content on Netflix, but change the DNS server to access the US content and it's incredible how much more there is. Last year I managed to watch every episode of Frasier and tons of Law & Order: SVU. Now I'm working through Cheers. Brilliant comedies (not L&O obviously!). ;D
I was always a big Cheers fan and own the box sets and the Frasier ones too.
Watched the Sweeney this afternoon. Good film. Not great but enjoyed it. Also watched Donovan's Echo. Not a bad film. Again nothing awe inspiring and you won't like it if you don't like slow films in the mould of UNbreakable, but not a bad story. Danny Glover's role in it reminded me a bit of his role in Touch.
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I watched From Paris With Love the other night.
Mindless action film - not bad - but not amazingly great.. probably would of been a bit better if it had someone like Statham or Willis playing the lead role instead of John Travolta - who was a bit hard to like/believe with his village people haircut.
5/10
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Thoroughly enjoyed From Paris With Love, personally, but I know that puts me in a minority.
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Just watched a couple of films:
Die Welle (The Wave) - A teacher tries to teach his class what it's like living in an autocracy. Based on a real experiment that took place in the 60s but I didn't think it was great. The pacing of the story seemed unrealistic and the film seemed to promote fascism rather than denounce it, which I don't think was the aim. Could have been better as the concept sounded interesting. 6/10
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Never got around to watching the Swedish trilogy so decided to watch this. Daniel Craig is great and the bird that plays Lisbeth is just outstanding. Great storyline too. 8/10.
Going to try and watch the Best Picture nominees for the Oscars over the next month as I've always had a weird obsession with them. Was gutted to see Skyfall snubbed this year. Thought Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem had a shot at Best Actor/Best Supporting Actor.
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ITV 2 shine the ed Norton version of the hulk last night. I hadn't previously caught this, i think the ang lee hulk has put me off it. Happily though this was much better, would prefer Jennifer connolly to liv Tyler mind you.
Can't wait for avengers which is coming shortly to sky.
Also watched the grey. Shite. 3/10
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I would prefer Jennifer connolly to liv Tyler mind you.
Can't wait for avengers which is coming shortly to sky.
Also watched the grey. Shite. 3/10
Most definitely agree about Jennifer Connolly. Have thought she was hot since I saw the Hot Spot many years ago.
Avengers is a superb film. The guy who plays Banner in that is very good.
The Grey was ruined by the fact that they had so many inaccuracies about wolves and wolf behaviour.
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The Avengers was probably my favourite film of 2012. Up there with Skyfall and TDKR.
I did prefer Norton's Banner though and wish he'd have agreed to do The Avengers!
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I watched Dredd the other day... it was suprisingly good actually... the main lead (whoever it was) even managed to replicate a good Stallone snarl in places
6.5/10
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Bones from off of star trek
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and the female playing Judge Anderson is hot!
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Watched John Carter last night... pile of shit - didnt bother finishing it.
Off to watch The Last Stand tonight - arnies back.. woohoo!!
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Off to see Zero Dark Thirty tomorrow night. Can't wait! ;D
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Off to see Zero Dark Thirty tomorrow night. Can't wait! ;D
*Spoiler Alert* Osama Bin Laden dies.
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Off to see Zero Dark Thirty tomorrow night. Can't wait! ;D
*Spoiler Alert* Osama Bin Laden dies.
LMAO
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Watched John Carter last night... pile of shit - didnt bother finishing it.
Off to watch The Last Stand tonight - arnies back.. woohoo!!
I personally really enjoyed John Carter, having read the books as a youngster. I'd recommend it.
Saw it at the cinema and it's one of the few 3D films where the 3D was consistent throughout the film and brought it to life.
So I guess it just shows how opinions differ. But then, apart from supporting Chelsea I seem to disagree with JMAN more than I do Harv and Styles (and Styles calls me a cunt lol).
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Lol
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I seem to disagree with JMAN more than I do Harv
I resent that!!
Dont blame me for your taste (or therefore lack of) in films and tv :P
Anyway, The Last Stand.. first off great to see the big man back on screen.. first lead role since T3 would you believe... however, the film isnt all wall-to-wall action.. in fact the first half of the film, arnie barely does much! The plot is terrible, its got more holes than uniteds defense lol... but the 2nd half of the film is where it gets going..its got funny bits, great action sequences and the characters really come alive (plus loads more plot holes!) - but its enjoyable fun - although £17.50 for 2 cinema tickets - ouch... forgot how expensive it was on normal days
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I seem to disagree with JMAN more than I do Harv
I resent that!!
Dont blame me for your taste (or therefore lack of) in films and tv :P
Lol.
My taste is fine, you just take time to realise things to be true ... like Torres being shit. :P
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Glad I didn't see your post, Chris, would have ruined the end entirely for me. :P
Can see ZDT being a marmite title, 2 lads walked out (out of boredom I presume) after about 30 mins. If people expect an action film, they'll be disappointed. It's not exaggerated at all and stays very true to the original events that took place. Having said that, I really enjoyed it. There's a nice blend of action and suspense. Despite knowing the eventual outcome, I wondered at times how on earth they were going to find him. Jessica Chastain was brilliant as Maya the CIA Agent. I'd say she could be in with an outside shot of an Oscar but Anne Hathaway's already got it in the bag. Best picture material? Probably not, but definitely worth a watch IMO - 8/10
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Saw Django Unchained tonight. Amazing film. Classic Tarrantino. Great performances all round.
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Torres is shit........ shit hot!!
Zing!!! ;D ;D
Go and watch some british television drags, all that american trash is clearly addling your brain..
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The statistics can be deceiving can't they. On paper 15 goals in a season when you're just in January might look quite good and some might use it to justify that Torres is still a top quality striker. I'd disagree wholeheartedly. Let's analyse his goals shall we.
Torres 15 goals:
With RDM at the helm:
Community shield vs Man City. (Glorified friendly).
Reading (home) (wasn't it offside too).
Newcastle (home)
Wolves (home) League Cup) Championship opposition
Arsenal (away)
Norwich (home)
Shakhtar (home)
Post RDM
Nordsjaelland (home) 2 goals.
Sunderland (away) 2 goals (1 penalty)
Monterrey (WCC)
Leeds (away) League cup. Championship side
Villa (home) 1 goal in 8 (we scored 5 after he went off)
Bretnford (away) F.A Cup - League 1 opposition.
We've scored something like 92 goals in all competitions so far.
Torres has hit 15 of those. Those 15 coming in just 13 games out of the 40 games we have played so far. He played in just about all of those games (bar Juve away) and a couple since Ba came in).
Of the 15 he has scored:
8 have come against Premier League sides, only 3 aginst what you could call top quality sides (Arsenal, Man City (and that was the CS) and Shakhtar.
6 (of the 7 league goals) have come against sides struggling near the foot of the table.
6 against championship/league 1 and low quality foreign opposition.
He just doesn't do it in tough games against good opponents and having a striker that just isn't good enough is one of the main reasons we have struggled.
He scored 7 before RDM left, supposedly FSW was brought in to rejuvenate him. He has scored 8 since of which 5 were against lower than Premier League opposition and 2 were against a Sunderland side who were struggling to get any kind of result at the time and the other one, 1 of the eight goals we scored against Villa in an absolute tonking and we scored 5 after Torres went off.
It's fair to say that even in the games he has scored he has often been dismal. He has also missed a lot more chances than he has scored. Some of them could have been crucial too.
Anyone who thinks he is good really is wearing rose tinted spectacles.
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Other than his goal he was shit at Brentford.
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So what Film has Torres been in then?
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Bend it like Beckham, he was the big girls blouse trying to be a footballer. ;)
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Bend it like Beckham, he was the big girls blouse trying to be a footballer. ;)
But I thought that at the end they did become a footballer.
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Bend it like Beckham, he was the big girls blouse trying to be a footballer. ;)
But I thought that at the end they did become a footballer.
Abramovich has seen the film and is still hoping.
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Lol your like a jack-in-the-box drags.. just have to wind you up slightly and *pop*
Torres has been scoring goals all season - dissect them all you want.. a goal is a goal... most of lampards goals in the last couple of years have been penalties - and if you listen to bitter rival fans - most of them are deflections too...doesnt stop him from being a top notch player and absolute legend ;)
Anyway, quite clearly off-topic..
Hoping to go watch Flight next week - looks good!!
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Did a Google search to find the name of the film I was talking about in the telly thread: Karla.
An excellent film but the Canadian police were beyond incompetent :o :o :o
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I'm not sure if any of you have a sky subscription but if you do and you only subscribe to tv plus sports and you want to add movies, if you don't have any other offers on your account just now then i can get you sky movies for one pound per month for 6 months.
Let me know if any of you fit that bill and want to go ahead.
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Went to see Flight Friday night... The flight crash was brilliantly done and seemed very realistic. Denzel Washington puts in a cracking dynamic performance and could bag himself another Oscar! Despite there not being nearly as much action as the trailers suggest, it's still well worth a watch... 8/10
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Yep I watched that last night... amazing film.. Denzel in particular is excellent. I was near-on shouting at the screen for him to just stop drinking lol... The flight crash was the perfect way to start the film.. on the edge of your seat stuff!! I'd give it an 8/10 too - definitely worth watching!!
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I'm not sure if any of you have a sky subscription but if you do and you only subscribe to tv plus sports and you want to add movies, if you don't have any other offers on your account just now then i can get you sky movies for one pound per month for 6 months.
Let me know if any of you fit that bill and want to go ahead.
Cheers for the offer but I will never have Sky in my home again. Bunch of cunts.
Anyway, watched a film called Alex Cross the other day. Not a bad little film. Bloke that played Jack in Lost plays a nutty killer who is hunted by an FBI agent. Won't give away any spoilers but it is quite violent in places and quite a departure from his character in Lost, almost didn't recognise him.
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Love the Alex Cross books. I believe that's the third to be made into a film - you may have seen Morgan Freeman play the character in "Along came a spider" and "Kiss the girls". Both were okay (not great, not awful) but I've not heard much good about the new one...
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Glad I didnt watch Taken 2 at the cinema.. I watched it last night on dvd and it was pretty bad... the whole point of Taken was that it was gritty and actually felt like the situation could happen. Taken 2 is far less believable (in some cases - just ridiculous) and has lost pretty much all of its grittiness in favour for a lower age rating for the cinema goers (Taken - 18, Taken2 - 12A)
Liam Neeson does a fairly good job but the story was terrible, the action sequeneces were unbelievable, the other characters (apart from Neesons) didnt stand out and were instantly forgettable - even the (usually) hot Famke Janssen was plain, dull and boring...the ending of the film was just rubbish too..
Sadly a 2/10
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Love the Alex Cross books. I believe that's the third to be made into a film - you may have seen Morgan Freeman play the character in "Along came a spider" and "Kiss the girls". Both were okay (not great, not awful) but I've not heard much good about the new one...
Ah, I knew about those films but for some reason had never gotten round to watching them, though I like Morgan Freeman, very good actor.
I quite enjoyed the new one as a bit of an action romp. Didn't associate it with anything else though, so had no expectations.
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Glad I didnt watch Taken 2 at the cinema.. I watched it last night on dvd and it was pretty bad... the whole point of Taken was that it was gritty and actually felt like the situation could happen. Taken 2 is far less believable (in some cases - just ridiculous) and has lost pretty much all of its grittiness in favour for a lower age rating for the cinema goers (Taken - 18, Taken2 - 12A)
Liam Neeson does a fairly good job but the story was terrible, the action sequeneces were unbelievable, the other characters (apart from Neesons) didnt stand out and were instantly forgettable - even the (usually) hot Famke Janssen was plain, dull and boring...the ending of the film was just rubbish too..
Sadly a 2/10
Well I gave it a bit more than 2/10, though perhaps I was being a tad generous. Don't think it was as bad as a 2 though. But on the whole (shock horror) I agreed with you.
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Got around to watching a couple of films on my "to watch" list...
End of Watch - Probably the most realistic cop movie I've ever seen. Great performances by the two main actors (Jake Gyllenhaal and no idea who the other is). What I liked most was how it was very funny at times, but also hard-hitting and serious, and then quite moving towards the end. 8.5/10
Prometheus - Have been intending to watch this for ages as I love the (first 3) Alien films. Resurrection was an abomination. I really enjoyed it, although it seems to have attracted quite a bit of hate on various forums. There's one comical scene (spoiler) when Vickers (Charlize Theron) is running away from a falling mile high ship which is probably about 15-20 yards wide (if that) and she doesn't even think to run to the side of it. ??? Anyway, I like how it kinda tied into the Alien series and the final scene had me like :o. Hope there's a sequel. 8/10
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Well I gave it a bit more than 2/10, though perhaps I was being a tad generous. Don't think it was as bad as a 2 though. But on the whole (shock horror) I agreed with you.
What redeeming features did the film have.. apart from Neeson - none.
Will I watch it again - probably never.
Are there any memorable parts - apart from how stupid the film is - none - example >>
Theres a scene in it where Kim is in a car chase driving a taxi around.. first of all, it is already noted that she has already failed two driving tests in america where they all drive automatics. So now she is in istanbul driving a manual transmission - and although she is smashing into police cars, alley ways and everything... she's managing to drive like a stunt-driver to get away - she doesnt even stall it once... and at the end of the chase, the car is in perfect condition still.. no bangs on the front nor the back.. the whole thing is just bollocks - this kind of thing runs throughout the entire film - I could pick at it for days.
Plus if we are working on the scale that the first Taken - I would of prehaps awarded an 8 score - Taken 2 really only deserves a 2.
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What redeeming features did the film have..
Calculating distance by setting off hand grenades and counting the seconds between the explosion being heard over the phone and it being heard in the distance - and triangulating position by doing that again a few streets away. Beautiful.
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Theres a scene in it where Kim is in a car chase driving a taxi around.. first of all, it is already noted that she has already failed two driving tests in america where they all drive automatics. So now she is in istanbul driving a manual transmission - and although she is smashing into police cars, alley ways and everything... she's managing to drive like a stunt-driver to get away - she doesnt even stall it once... and at the end of the chase, the car is in perfect condition still.. no bangs on the front nor the back.. the whole thing is just bollocks - this kind of thing runs throughout the entire film - I could pick at it for days.
Plenty of joyriders could drive like that and never pass their test.
So maybe her driving explains exactly why she has failed two tests already. She's bloody lethal behind the wheel. And she's also had a crash (no pun intended) course in super fast car bodywork repair, which she obviously did off screen with some kit her dad had the presence of mind to pack, knowing they would probably get into some kind of trouble where her driving "skills" would be utilised.
Bloody amazing redeeming feature to give it that much thought if you ask me. :P ;D
8)
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Watched Rock of Ages last night.. I have seen the musical... got to be honest, tom cruise does do a great job... the film is a bit gay and quite cheesy (so is the musical).. but I do love a trashy 80's rock song... and this is full of them.
I'd say if you dont like that kind of music - then dont even bother watching the film - you wont like it... otherwise its to be taken as good light hearted fun and nothing more - 5/10.
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The artist is on this weekend. Will watch it but not expecting much.
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The artist is on this weekend. Will watch it but not expecting much.
Doesn't appeal to me, think it might be like watching paint dry.
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Yeah haven't seen it yet, speaks volumes. Contraband is available too, anyone seen it?
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The artist is on this weekend. Will watch it but not expecting much.
Doesn't appeal to me, think it might be like watching paint dry.
Had a feeling that one was wasted, I'll get my coat lol.
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Lol, yes i missed it.
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I watched 2 films at the weekend.
End of Watch - I dont get the hype sorry... the ending makes you feel like the rest of the film was important and that you should have connected with the characters.. but it wasn't and I hadn't... sure there were some endearing bits, some funny bits, some actiony bits... but they were all short-lived before the film jumped months down the line again... it wasn't helped by the camcorder style viewing - in some parts of the film it worked, but largely it failed for me (it's only ever worked in horror films).... I just couldnt settle on the film and there was barely a story which made everything feel a bit unconnected. I liked the true gritiness of it all though - 4/10
Safe - a standard Statham movie... loads of fighting, shooting, car chasing... but the plot is just dire. Too many characters are introduced in the film (theres a high body count).. too many twists to the already fragile plot and above all, very little realism to the whole film - makes this film instantly forgettable - Im a big statham fan.. but really, dont bother. 2/10
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Realism and Statham do not belong in the same sentence lol ;D
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Realism and Statham do not belong in the same sentence lol ;D
Realism in 99% of films where they are using guns doesn't exist.
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Don't start me on guns and realism lol ;D ;D ;D
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I watched Stone at the weekend.. I thought it was interesting.. but the plot just didnt have substance.. I understood the message the film was trying to get across but found it slightly wanting in several places... Milla Jovavich was fantastic though... even more so than De Niro and Norton.
4.5/10
Might go watch Die Hard 5 on Tuesday.. although missus is wanting to watch Wreck It Ralph .. which actually looks alright for a kids film lol.
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Watched "The Machinist" last night - I thought it was great.. possibly a little slow in getting going - but if you took "Fight Club" and a pinch of "Memento" - it would end up with something like this. Christian Bale definitely gets under the characters skin and is fantastic, the weight loss he took on for the role is quite disturbing - but it definitely adds to the character development - the film on a whole is fascinating and kept my attention right until the very end, but I think I preferred Fight Club slightly more. Still, would definitely recommend if you haven't already seen it.
7/10
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Just got back from seeing Side Effects. I thought Rooney Mara was outstanding, with Jude Law giving a strong performance too. I went in expecting a story about evil pharmaceuticals but was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I'll admit I got a little bit lost about 3/4 of the way through but but it all came together in the end. Not exactly groundbreaking, but a solid watch nonetheless - 8/10
Also watched 2 decent films recently:
Zodiac - Surprised this didn't get more attention when it was released. Very suspenseful thriller about a real-life serial killer who was never caught. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. are all excellent. Quite long at 2 hours 40 mins but definitely worth a watch - 9/10
Copycat - Another thriller about a serial killer who likes to imitate serial killers of the past. Sigourney Weaver is great as an agoraphobic expert criminologist, but as an 'Alien' fan she seemed to be very 'Ripley' like... Not sure why I got that vibe. Also stars a very attractive young Holly Hunter who does well. Doesn't quite have the style or finesse of top thrillers like Silence of the Lambs or Se7en, the actor playing the serial killer wasn't too memorable, but it's not a bad film at all - 7/10
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Wasn't the serial killer in Copycat Harry Connick Jr, who's more of a singer than an actor.
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Watched "Welcome to the Punch" at the cinema this weekend - after seeing the adverts of tv, I was expecting quite a decent action film.. but its actually a gritty british crime drama. To be honest.. it felt like an tv series special - quite low key - although there were a few modest action scenes in places, but on the whole I found the whole film pretty middle of the road. James McAvoy does a good job as the central character and Mark Strong puts in a decent performance too as the central bad guy - but the rest of the cast are forgettable really.
I liked the fact it was set in London (Canary Wharf I think) - and I liked the fact that it was a british-made film with british actors in - but the story was quite average and the action was average, plus the ending sequence which was being built up throughout the film was quite disappointing and abrupt I thought. But its certainly watchable - I would say to wait until dvd release - it wasnt our first choice film - we wanted to see Parker but that wasnt being shown at any decent times.
4/10
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Watched Changeling last night for the first time - great film, incredible to believe that its a real story too :o
8/10
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Few more films I watched in the past week :
Meeting Evil - Luke Wilson & Samuel L Jackson - terrible, horrible movie.. probably the worst SLJ film I have ever seen.. the story is poor with many plot holes, the acting is poor, the characters are poor, the dialogue is poor.. everything about his film was just bad - yeah, dont bother watching.
1/10
Contraband - Mark Wahlberg & Kate Beckinsale - took a while for this one to get going for me, I found there actually was some substance to the film once it did, but everything was just executed very poorly - Beckinsale might well of just not been there - I managed to watch it all - but it was hardly thrilling - which is a shame..
3/10
Wreck It Ralph - I actually loved this film, very clever and inventive plot with a bit of humour thrown in for good measure - even better if your a bit of a retro gamer.. so many references to games its quite fun to spot them all - qbert was great too! Definitely recommend.
7/10
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Just a quick heads-up for those of you using Unblock Us to access the US version of Netflix, I've found a free DNS via someone on Miiverse: 190.14.36.90 and 109.123.111.24
I was having problems connecting with a decent speed with Unblock Us but now I'm using this free one it's been Medium/High HD all the way. 8)
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I'll make a note of that for if I ever use netflix.
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Finally got round to watching Skyfall the other night.
Really enjoyed it up to point of about 25mins to go and i made the fatal error of moving from the vertical position on the sofa to horizontal.....Needless to say that i woke up with the credits scrolling through ::)
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I watched "The Collection" last night.. slasher movie with a lot of gore.. its a bit like Saw I guess - but without any kind of plot. I realise its the 2nd of two films (prehaps a 3rd is in the works - the ending would seem like it).. so I missed a lot of the backstory from the first film (The Collector) - although its not really needed for the sequel... The films quite gory with a massive body count and massive plot holes... its a slasher film that hasn't been watered down which is refreshing in that sense. However the film offers little else other than gore... I think if it had a little more reality and substance to it, it could be quite a successful slasher franchise.
2.5/10
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Watched taken 2 and while there a few daft moments overall i loved it. 8/10
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Watched Edge of Darkness - Mel Gibbon film.. its alright actually, I did fall asleep for 20 minutes during the film - but I was very tired.. had the missus fill me in on what I had missed.. I think I was expecting more twists to the story.. but its quite a good action thriller anyway
6/10
Getting a new mattress delivered today - its very very comfy... gonna go home later, have an early night and watch The Hobbit on DVD in bed!!
Cant wait to buy the The Hobbit Extended Editions on DVD too ;)
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Watched Edge of Darkness - Mel Gibbon film.. its alright actually, I did fall asleep for 20 minutes during the film - but I was very tired.. had the missus fill me in on what I had missed.. I think I was expecting more twists to the story.. but its quite a good action thriller anyway
6/10
Getting a new mattress delivered today - its very very comfy... gonna go home later, have an early night and watch The Hobbit on DVD in bed!!
Cant wait to buy the The Hobbit Extended Editions on DVD too ;)
(http://s2.b3ta.com/host/creative/65077/1279203473/MelGibbon.jpg)
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;D
Watched a Danish film called The Hunt (Jagten). Very powerful and moving. Mads Mikkelsen (Bond fans will know him as Le Chiffre from Casino Royale ;D) is outstanding as the teacher whose life is turned upside down after being falsely accused of a crime - 9/10
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lol @ Gibbon.
Haven't posted in here for a while. Then again, I've not really watched many films in the last few months. (Or rather I've rewatched a lot of stuff I'd seen before, but I've not watched much new stuff...)
Recent stuff off the top of my head:
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - looked right up my street in the trailers, but I was disappointed. Good action scenes, with beasties dispatched in glorious fashion, but a really weak script.
In this spin on the fairy tale, Hansel & Gretel are now bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world. As the fabled Blood Moon approaches, the siblings encounter a new form of evil that might hold a secret to their past.
Argo - didn't fancy the look of this, but was swayed by the hype. Didn't enjoy the first half. Couldn't comment on the second half, but when I looked up from my tablet to see the end credits rolling and asked the missus she confirmed it didn't get any better.
A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.
Mama - the first hour and a quarter was really good. The last half hour was weak. When you were only catching glimpses of something scary moving fast in the background it was spooky, but in the final half hour you see more and more of the Mama character, and it just doesn't work.
Annabel and Lucas are faced with the challenge of raising his young nieces that were left alone in the forest for 5 years.... but how alone were they?
American Mary - good premise, and one or two very gory moments, but some of the worst editing I've ever seen in a film - big plot holes, no explanation for several key scenes, and (quite laughably) people speaking while their lips clearly aren't moving.
The story follows medical student, Mary Mason, as she becomes increasingly broke and disenchanted with the surgical world she once admired. The allure of easy money sends Mary into the world of underground surgeries ...
Django Unchained - really enjoyed this. Great script, locations, cast, and acting - and palpable clouds of bloody mist. Nobody who watches it will be any doubt it's a Tarrantino film!
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
Cloud Atlas - intriguing idea, and much fun can be bad just trying to identify everyone, but I found my attention wandering more and more as the film progressed, and gave up about an hour in. I was intrigued enough with the story, though, that I looked up a synopsis afterward - and thought it quite compelling. Clever story, but badly told.
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Jack Reacher - decent flick, this. I didn't have very high hopes, as I've not really enjoyed a Tom Cruise film in about a decade (aside from Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and Tropic Thunder, which was all rather "meh" apart from Cruise's character dancing in a fat suit.) Decent story and acting throughout. Has a definite feel of being a franchise - hopefully we'll see more. And hopefully Cruise is back on form, and it's not just an anomaly. His new one, Oblivion, looks good from the trailers...
A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims.
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Heh, it wasnt a typo... ;)
...Apparently Jack Reacher did well at the box office.. but not well enough and I dont think there are plans to make any more... I watched it at the cinema and enjoyed it more so than I thought I would, not a big fan of Cruise films either... could of gone and watched Oblivion last week but I just couldnt be arsed to be honest.. it looks ok/good but nothing special imo.
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Any of you folks seen a film from the 60s called "Wait Until Dark"? (Audrey Hepburn as a recently blinded woman terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.)
Had it recommended to me recently, when I was talking about films that make you jump (apparently it has a big jump at the end).
Not sure whether to watch it with the kids. I see from the imdb it was re-rated a few years back, from an 18 to a 12, so I'd imagine it should be perfectly fine, but I don't like to start watching a scary film with my youngest (she's 13) unless I've seen it first and have a decent idea of what's coming...
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Haven't seen the latest Edge of Darkness but I can't see anyone topping the original mini-series from the 80s. It was class.
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Saw Iron Man 3 Friday night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Better than 2. Some real laugh out loud moments too.
Some minor irritations but can't go into those without giving away spoilers.
Make sure you stay until the end of the credits.
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Managed to see Iron Man 3 too. I went into the cinema not expecting a lot because I didn't really enjoy Iron Man 2... but this was great fun. Darker, funnier, and more exciting than its prequels with some classic quotes. RDJ is just awesome, cracking off hilarious one-liners so effortlessly. Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce were all great, and it was clever to not hype up Pearce's character too much in the build up to the film.
Half of the audience left when the credits rolled... we couldn't believe it... Had they not seen a Marvel film before?! Oh.. *mini spoiler* and I loved that the Mandarin was a Liverpool fan. ;D ;D
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Half of the audience left when the credits rolled... we couldn't believe it... Had they not seen a Marvel film before?! Oh.. *mini spoiler* and I loved that the Mandarin was a Liverpool fan. ;D ;D
I really, really didn't like that part, but at least they didn't show Suarez scoring lol.
And Paltrow is really HOT in that movie. ;D
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And Paltrow is really HOT in that movie. ;D
Tremendous abs!
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And Paltrow is really HOT in that movie. ;D
Tremendous abs!
I normally home in on the bazooms, bypass the abs and head directly for the nether regions, but now that you've highlighted her belly I'll definitly have a good swatch when I catch the movie.
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You'll agree how HOT she is. ;D
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I normally home in on the bazooms, bypass the abs and head directly for the nether regions, but now that you've highlighted her belly I'll definitly have a good swatch when I catch the movie.
Oh there's one scene in particular... ;D
Watched 'The Game' last night with Michael Douglas. Usually I'm a big fan of these twisty-turny thrillers, but this was maybe a bit OTT. The term "suspension of belief" applies fully, but at some point films can get too farfetched for me. Still, it was fairly enjoyable. Michael Douglas was good and some parts were quite clever - the bare minimum you expect when you see David Fincher as director - 7/10
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Best Michael Douglas film ever is Downfall, particularly the bit where he goes into the fast food place lol ;D
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Best Michael Douglas film ever is Downfall, particularly the bit where he goes into the fast food place lol ;D
You mean "Falling Down" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/?ref_=sr_2 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/?ref_=sr_2)
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Watched "The Last Stand" today. Wasn't expecting much, but thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite ridiculous, of course, but so long as you're happy to completely suspend belief (in basic physics, police practice, and common sense) and just sit back and enjoy the ride it's a lot of fun.
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Best Michael Douglas film ever is Downfall, particularly the bit where he goes into the fast food place lol ;D
You mean "Falling Down" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/?ref_=sr_2 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/?ref_=sr_2)
Aw bum, that's the one! Downfall is the one that has Hitler ranting that gets amusing subtitles added lol. my bad! :-[ ;D
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Watched The Hobbit yesterday. Now I know how they stretched one book into three films....by adding loads of bits that don't happen in the film and exaggerating and elongating some of the bits that do.
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Watched The Hobbit yesterday. Now I know how they stretched one book into three films....by adding loads of bits that don't happen in the film and exaggerating and elongating some of the bits that do.
Yup.
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If anyone wants to watch one of the worst movies ever.. so bad.. its terrible... I present..
Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZlCWkH4P0)
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Lol - reminds me of it's predecessor, which had the greatest movie scene ever (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16_8l0yS-g).
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Bloody awful... why do people even bother ? ;D
Heard a little rumour this morning that an Inbetweeners sequel could be coming out next year.. with the boys in Oz. :D
Should really get round to watching Iron Man 3 soon.. but got too much on at the moment.. maybe Monday
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Saw Iron Man 3 today. It's very rare I watch a film in 3d but opted to do so on this occasion.
Very good film. Love the Marvel films, and this is one of the best. And as others have said, Paltrow is fine!
Don't bother with the 3d version if you go to see it, though. As seems to usually be the case with 3d films it adds nothing. A few scenes it worked really well, most of the film it was pretty much unnoticeable, and a few scenes it was a bit of a blurry mess seemingly designed to induce a migraine. May be just me though.
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Ahh brilliant, just heard they have started work on a Harry Hill Movie.. the plot sounds fucking nuts...
When Harry and his petrol drinking Nan (Julie Walters) discover their hamster is seriously ill they set off on a road trip to Blackpool pursued by a lunatic vet (Simon Bird). Along the way, Harry falls in love with an undersea shell person (Sheridan Smith), witnesses canine superstars The Dachsund Five, and meets indie rock band The Magic Numbers - who run a B’n’B. It all culminates in a fight on top of The Blackpool Tower. Who could be behind it all? Could it be Harry’s evil twin Otto (Matt Lucas), who was separated from Harry at birth and brought up by Alsatians?
Based on a true story, it’s all singing, all dancing family entertainment from the big collared loon himself.
;D
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Awesome!!! ;D
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Have just watched Taken which was pretty good and am now watching the second one. It was going pretty good until his daughter started driving with the skill of a veteran stunt driver lmfao ;D ;D ;D
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Guess I must be the only one to think Iron Man 3 was a bit meh...
...about as good as the 2nd one imo.. I was expecting more.. especially with nearly everyone I know whose seen it saying its great... in general I thought the action scenes were better than IM2.. but the story was pretty terrible, predictable and at times very slow... and it didnt really do anything new.. it was the same old.. dont know what the fuss was about really.. and was it worth staying after the credits to watch the last bit? - no.
4/10
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Am watching Rosemary's Baby at the moment, forgot how awesome a film it is. 8)
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Just watched Hansel and Gretel.
Okay film, a watchable romp, nothing special and nowhere as good as something like Van Helsing as a retelling of an old story or revamp of an old idea. A few good kills, average special effects overall. 6/10
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Watched les miserables last night. Fabulous.
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Why on earth would you want to watch a film about sad lesbians..? Bloomin weirdo. More chance of them getting it on if they're happy. :-\ ??? :-\
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Saw "Star Trek: Into Darkness" today. (Thanks cokezone.)
Very good film. I'm a bit of a trekkie (though not hardcore) so was aware of a lot of the 'homages' to the original series/films - particularly Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan - and enjoyed them. The 'alternate timeline' established by JJ Abrams' first film works beautifully in allowing new stories but using familiar characters and scenarios. My kids don't like the original and spin off series' of Star Trek but thoroughly enjoyed both of the new films.
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Still have to go and see it, maybe this week some time.
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Watched Parker last night - Statham, JLo, its alright for an action film.. starts off great, the action scenes are great, but it slows down a lot in the middle of the film, JLo does get most of her kit off though which was a welcome relief to ease some of the boredom ;D
4/10
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Watched Alex Cross last night - it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but there was some really shonky acting and some of the dialogue was pretty poor. The story is quite predictable, no real twists to it.. the characters other than Alex Cross and his nemesis were all poorly written.. as a thriller.. it didnt thrill, there was no suspense... but it was watchable.
3/10
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Watched Die Hard 5 a few days ago.
Oh dear.
I love the Die Hard series - well I loved the first two, and thought 4 was okay, didn't much like #3 though - but they should've put this to bed after four films.
Contains minor spoilers:
The Die Hard films have never had the most involving of scripts, but this film takes the piss. The action scenes (and there's lots, of course) are more ridiculous than ever - requiring you to drop all pretence of reality and imagine you're in some alternate universe where physics and human endurance are completely alien. At one point your man McClane commandeers a truck and drives it up a ramp and over the roofs of about fifty or sixty cars sat in traffic. Like you do. He's got no solid reason for doing this, other than he senses something fishy is going on - so it's okay for him to cause a couple million pounds of damage to peoples' and public property and probably kill or seriously main around a hundred people by improvising that shortcut. If I'm on the way to my boring job, and there's a big traffic jam I'm having a bad enough day already. I don't need you driving a fucking tank over the roof of my car, breaking my spine while you're at it, just because you want to ask your son if he's okay. Fuck you, McClane. Fuck you and all of your family.
And then there's the script. I guess they had a script. I think it was scrawled on the back of a fag packet, though. You've got Bruce Willis just shouting "Jesus" over and over throughout the whole film, and the guy who plays his son doesn't much like his dad - as he makes clear every time he opens his mouth (apart from the end of the film, where they're the best of pals, natch...).
Acting wise, it's hard to comment. With a script and plot as bad as this it's impossible to make it much better or much worse with your acting. Somehow they contrive to do so, though - and I don't mean they made it better. I've seen more animated mannequins ffs.
Avoid. 3/10
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Cant be any worse than Taken 2 surely ?? ;D
Forgot to add.. I did find some amusement from Alex Cross for two reasons :
1. Never noticed this before but Jean Reno (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6qJGQMnv2Zs/TlyBkjaBGlI/AAAAAAABA84/2q2LsSMti7k/s400/kubrick_16.jpg) is a double for Rafa Benitez (http://www.topnews.in/sports/files/Rafael-Benitez_9.jpg) (difference is, one is a popular european whose won many awards.. the other is Rafa Benitez ;D )
2. Alex Cross (http://www.thereelbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/i-alex-cross001f.jpg) character reminded me a lot of Bo Selecta's Craiiigggg Davvviddd (http://www.e4.com/images/mb/E4/bo-selecta/big.jpg) lol
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Taken 2 beats it hands down. I quite liked it, tbh (especially the use of grenades for determining distance and triangulating position when heard over the phone then in the background - genius!). Was definitely a cash-in, but it was watchable.
DH5 was just utter shite, though.
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I thought Taken 2 was good fun, but the bit with his daughter driving like a stunt driver veteran was a fair bit more than tongue-in-cheek lol ;D
Watched Midnight Cowboy the other day, forgot how great the soundtrack was. Awesome. 8)
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Watched "The Last Stand" today. Wasn't expecting much, but thoroughly enjoyed it. It's quite ridiculous, of course, but so long as you're happy to completely suspend belief (in basic physics, police practice, and common sense) and just sit back and enjoy the ride it's a lot of fun.
Watched it last night. So ridiculous it's funny. But then I think that was the intention in places. Arnie was sending himself up a bit in places with some referenences to age. Plenty of cheesy one liners in true old fashioned Arnie style.
Some quite nice kills, my favourite being the one with the flare gun. Made me chuckle.
Also watched Mama. Pretty much agree with you on that one as well Late. Potential, some nice suspense at times but too much of it was predictable. So many horrors going for that Grudge type spooky thing moving about that you don't really get to see. Saves film makers having to come up with new monsters/demons/ghosts to show the viewer. Then, when you finally see the thing, it's like "is that it" or "seen that before".
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"That's my boy" - Adam Sandler. Very predictable but still some good laughs. Watchable
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Going to continue with my classic films and watch Zulu Dawn next, the prequel to Zulu. I don't know why but I've never got around to watching the prequel despite the original being one of my all-time favourite films of all-time.
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I watched Side Effects last night.. took a while to get going.. parts of it were quite mundane.. nearly turned it off.. but it got a bit better.. and the ending was alright. Not a brilliant film but if you get past the first 30 minutes - its watchable.
3.5/10
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Saw Man of Steel today... there is A LOT of action. I could barely keep up with what was going on at times. There was a plot, it just kinda got lost in all the action scenes. There were a couple of big things I didn't understand, but I don't know all that much about Superman anyway. For your standard summer blockbuster it's not bad. It's nowhere near the level of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy in terms of a reboot though. Not enough character development and very little humour. but Henry Cavill is good and the chick playing Lois Lane isn't bad. 6/10
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and the chick playing Lois Lane isn't bad. 6/10
MMmmmm Amy Adams
Actually preferred Erica Durrrance in Smallville - the episode where she was in a bikini - mmmmmm.
Will probably go and see Man of Steel in a couple of weeks.
As for Side Effects. Have that to watch but not gotten round to it yet. Thanks for the heads up Jman.
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Just watched a film called Interview With The Assassin about a guy claiming to be the second gunman that killed JFK. Brilliant. ;D
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Saw Man of Steel (2D) last night.
Some very minor potential spoilers follow.
Pretty good film. Wish I knew how long it was before I went, mind. I might've taken a cushion. Those seats were bloody uncomfortable, especially if you're gonna be sat in them for the better part of three hours (including trailers). Just as you think the film's finally over, there's another battle. To be honest I felt it dragged on a bit toward the end.
Michael Shannon did a fantastic job as General Zod. His acting and the script/direction meant he wasn't the out-and-out baddie he seems in other adaptations of the story. He has different (or no) morals, but you can understand his motives.
Russell Crowe did a very good job as Jor-El. Surprised me, as I don't really like Crowe.
And Henry Cavill (and the actors who played his younger self) did a decent enough job as Clark - though I'm sure Superman killed as many people as Zod! They must've racked up a thou each in some of the bigger battles with vast swathes of city being wiped out by the pair of them.
Wasn't keen on the bird who played Lois Lane. I never did comics when I was a kid, so my only points of reference for the character are the 70s/80s films, plus Terri Hatcher and Erica Durance - but I've never pictured Lois Lane with a double chin and an arse like the back end of a fire truck before. Okay, slight exaggeration. She wasn't exactly fat - but she was too chunky to be playing that part. And I didn't think her character came across well. She was all over the place - one minute cold toward him, the next flirty. One minute a great reporter, the next not interested. And way too trusting of strange aliens she's just met. :\
Might revisit my score for the film after I've had a chance to watch it again without the distractions of an uncomfortable seat and missing parts when I pop outside for a smoke - and where I can actually see all of the action more clearly (it was quite full, and we ended up sat in the second row - I hate being that close to the screen). For now, though, I'll give it a 7/10.
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Watched about 20 minutes of Vehicle 19 before turning it off last night, and then watched about 45 minutes of Dark Shadows before turning it off.. maybe I just wasn't in the mood.. but found them both extremely boring and shit.
Hopefully going to watch World War Z at some point this week.
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One thing that's always annoyed me about films is the amount of cars you see flipping over and the amount of cars you see blowing up after crashing. In my 41 years of life so far I've only once seen a crashed car on its roof and I have never seen a crashed car that's burst into flames and exploded. :-\
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I've seen a few on the roof or side. I've been a passenger in one that ended up on its roof, so it does happen. I was the only one that got out without a scratch. I was lucky I hit my head lol. It was the days before seat belts were compulsory. Put the rear windscreen out with my head. I don't think it was well fitted because it came out in one piece.
We were on a family holiday in Malta at the time and a farm wall literally collapsed in front of the car as we were going along a country road. The farm walls were pretty much rocks piled up on top of each other. Car hit one of the rocks and flipped.
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Saw Man of Steel (2D) last night.
Wish I knew how long it was before I went, mind. I might've taken a cushion.
Damn right...watched it last night and my arse was numb for ages afterwards.. weird because I easily watched The Hobbit quite comfortably and that goes on for longer. To be honest, I didn't really want to go and see it.. GF wanted to see Henry Cavill on big screen and I had managed to put her off for a month.. but I finally caved after getting annoyed with the constant begging/moaning.
For a reboot.. I thought it was pretty poor... Superman is one of those superheroes I always thought of as one of the shittiest... he wears pants outside his clothes and wears a bit of a gay cape, he puts on a pair of specs and instantly cant be recognised by anyone and his biggest weakness is a green stone which comes from his own home planet.... his character is just so bland as well - compared to Batman, Spiderman or Ironman.. Superman is by far the most boring man, maybe the 'S' should stand for shit... I was hoping that the reboot would really shake up the story... but it didn't.. at least Kryptonite wasn't mentioned once though!!
Regardless of what I think of Superman as a whole, Henry Cavill did do an ok job, far better than the guy who did the last reboot. Amy Adams (Lois Lane) on the other hand.. :-\ They would of done better to cut her character out altogether I thought.. a boring, bland actress who really gave nothing to the story. There were loads of other famous people in the film though but nobody even came close to standing out...the film stayed far to close to the formula of every superman story/film.. like I said.. at least kryptonite wasn't mentioned once.. but other than that.. everything was pretty much the same... most of the plot was lifted from Superman 2 for a start!!
The best parts of the film for me.. the sense that the humans were really helpless was present throughout the latter parts of the film.. I thought that was pretty good in giving some kind of measure to supermans powers. Some of the fight scenes were pretty impressive to watch too.. although they stretched the film way too far.. just when you think its over.. you've got another 30 minutes to go.
3.5/10
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I quite like Superman myself, started watching Superman in the 70s on the telly. It was a black and white series, might have been one of those Saturday morning episodic jobs they used to have on in the 30s...can't remember now though. And the Christopher Reeve films were amazing when I was a kid too thanks to what was then new blue-screen technology also used in Star Wars.
I do prefer Batman though, mainly because he's a nutjob lol, although the Batman portrayed by Michael Keaton of Beetlejuice fame in the first two films are the only performances that have really nailed it imo.
I also love The Incredible Hulk thanks to Bill Bixby/Lou Ferigno (sp?), again, another programme from the 70s that I grew up with. There was also a Spiderman cartoon and series with actors in the 70s but I preferred the Hulk.
I guess I like them all really, although some more than others lol.
Anyone know what happened to the second Kick-Ass film..? Was expecting to have seen it released before now. :-\ Have they canned it..? :o
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It's out soon - next month I think.
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Awesome!!! The first one was great!
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Yeah, I loved the first - but I'm not holding out much hope for the second tbh.
Best part about the first was seeing the pre-teen girl kicking everyones' arses with any number of weapons and unarmed moves - plus the inappropriate language from her. But Chloe is a lot older now, and I'm not sure it'll be the same.
And it's got Jim Carrey... :-X
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Watched a film called Super last night about a guy who becomes a super hero called Crimson Bolt after his wife runs off with a drug dealer. Really funny and an excellent film. ;D
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Love that film :D
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Yup, it was brilliant. One that I wouldn't mind watching again at some point. Plus Boltie is a right hornbat which helps lol :P ;D
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The Watch with Ben Stiller. Ben Stiller weirds me out, very odd little man but I enjoyed the watch thoroughly with a couple of laugh out loud moments
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Watched Alan Partridge : Alpha Papa last night..
Big AP fan.. and I found the film a bit underwhelming to be honest... but then I knew I would from the trailer/reviews.. so I wasn't too disappointed.. at the end of the day it was a funny film.. and I enjoyed it a lot.. it just felt a bit uncomfortable watching it at times because the character had quite clearly gone through a transformation to make the leap to the big screen which I felt was unnecessary.
6/10
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(https://s3.teefury.com/products_images/1374015286_t-MCO-VK.png)
Best. Star Wars. T-shirt. Ever. (http://www.teefury.com/)
If you want one you only have until 5am to order it before it's replaced by the next t-shirt. They work out at around a tenner including delivery but take a while to get over here from the States. I swore I wouldn't get another one for a while after I bought 2 Metroid ones last week but couldn't resist this one. Awesome.
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Recently watched:
Trance. James McAvoy is an art auctioneer who has misplaced a valuable artwork during a robbery where he took a bash to his noggin. To help him remember/discover what happened he enlists the help of a hypnotherapist. I can't say much beyond the fact that this thing has more twists and turns than a twisty turny thing. And I'm not actually sure what happened in the end. It's one of those films where you're supposed to interpret it your own way, and use your own imagination. I've said it before, I'll say it again: if I settle down to watch a film it's because I want to see your imagination - not my own. My own works quite well without your prompting, thanks. Hard to score this one. On the down side I'm not certain what happened, and at a few points I was tempted to turn it off (but I stuck with it to see where it'd go). On the up side it was fun trying to work out where it was all heading, and there's a full frontal nudity scene with Rosario Dawson. All in all, though, I'm going to have to score it down for leaving me confused. 4.0
Furious 6. Sixth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise, and there's no great surprises here. If you liked it's predecessors you'll like this one; if you didn't like the first ones then there's nothing in this one to change your opinion. Personally, I like the series (apart from the utterly annoying "F&F3: Tokyo Drift"). They focus heavily on lots of suped up cars driving fast and performing outrageous stunts, while lots of scantily clad young ladies shake their booties. What's not to like? This instalment focused more on the stunts and explosions and less on the girls, unfortunately, but it's watchable - so long as you don't mind how utterly silly it is. Some of the stunts were so mind-bogglingly ridiculous I rewound and watched them again. I'll go 6.0
You can't really see the context, but this is a strong contender for most ridiculously stupid stunt ever:
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/c3f1b0d04a12ea2fe8a60bf6e274c68e/tumblr_mnf4qcqcJ01r2nspeo1_400.gif)
Stoker. Some batty tart's dad dies, and her uncle moves in, or some such bollocks. Can't say much, tbh, as I turned it off after about 20 minutes. I won't score it as I didn't watch enough to do so, but it was looking a solid 2.0 from the bit I saw...
Oblivion. Tom Cruise monitoring Earth after a devastating war against alien invaders. I believe it got criticised for having Scientologist undertones, but I think that's just people hating for the sake of it. Was definitely more Wall-E than Battlefield Earth - and that's a good thing. Decent enough sci-fi flick, with some nice effects, decent action, and a decent plot. Some of the plot twists were a bit predictable, but that's okay. I'll give it 6.5
Evil Dead. Remake of the early 80's original - which I've never actually seen. (I saw the third film with Bruce Campbell - I think it was called "Medievil Dead". (Edit - just looked it up and it was actually "Army of Darkness". Perhaps "Medievil Dead" was a subtitle or something.) That was a comedy. This definitely wasn't.) Very much enjoyed this film. Five kids (about 19/20 yo) head off to a cabin in the woods for a few days and awaken a demonic presence that possesses them and kills them off in a variety of inventive and gory methods. 7.0
Side note (and possible minor spoiler) - kids doll was the strangest incarnation of evil I'd ever seen prior to last week (Chucky, in the Child's Play films) but a rapist tree now tops the leader board.
Olympus Has Fallen. One of two films released this summer centred on the White House being taken over by terrorists, resulting in a hero cop taking them all on single-handed (the other is White House Down, which I haven't watched yet). This time it's Gerard Butler, fighting his way through a couple dozen North Koreans to rescue the President who is being held hostage in his bunker. Reminded me a bit of the first Die Hard film - though not as good. If you can suspend your disbelief / turn your brain off it's a decent enough action flick (and definitely a lot better than the 3rd and 5th Die Hard films!) 5.0
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I watched Trance and Oblivion on a plane trip recently... I thought Trance was great.. confusing aye.. lost my way through some of it, but I enjoyed it.. and the full-frontal was awesome lol.. some parts of that film were just fucked up.... I had to turn Oblivion off after about 45 minutes... the headphones I were using were shite and I literally had no idea what was going on.. I'm not sure I'd want to go back to it though.. it looked like it was hard-going.
Meh.. being dragged to see Monsters University tomorrow.. the first one was alright for an animated film, but nothing to make me want to really go to the cinema and watch the sequel.
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Ughh.
Ben Affleck's playing Batman in the 2015 Superman film.
I'd heard they were originally offering Christian Bale around $60m to reprise the role. Not sure if that's true. I definitely would've preferred to see him play the part again rather than Affleck - who I really don't like. Don't think I've liked a single film he's been in or been involved in. And he's got a permanently smug look about him. (Mind, I would probably be perma-smug if I had his life...)
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Afleck has superhero previous, not sure I like the idea of Batman in a Superman film regardless, the whole DC world doesn't work as well as the Marvel Universe.
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I hope he has a better Batman voice then Bales gargling with rocks effort. Also why did he use the Batman voice whilst talking to Alfred?
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Keaton has been the best so far, nobody else comes close to portraying how much of a headcase the Batman character is.
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Watched Elysium on Monday.. it was good.. but not fantastic.. some bits felt very generic to a sci-fi action film and therefore parts were quite predictable.. it was decent enough but just didn't have the wow factor. The overacting by Sharlto Copley (the south African dude) was enjoyable though
6/10
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I hope he has a better Batman voice then Bales gargling with rocks effort. Also why did he use the Batman voice whilst talking to Alfred?
I took that to mean that in his head, Batman had become his true identity and that Bruce Wayne was the disguise. Or it could have been a mistake! ;D
Got around to watching Now You See Me the other night. Interesting concept. Enjoyed it throughout and the ending was very good. An impressive cast all play their parts well (but none outstandingly well) and Isla Fisher is a babe. 8/10
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I watched that (Now You See Me) last night. Was very good - but I was knackered and missed quarter of an hour about the quarters of the way through when I nodded off. That's no reflection on the film though!
Will watch it again in six months or so.
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Watched Despicable Me for the first time the other night.. thought it was great.. cant believe its taken me this long to see it.. we decided not to bother queuing for the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride at Universal Studios in the summer as it was a god awful long queue and we both hadn't seen either of the films.. gutted we didn't go on it now, but equally excited to see the second film when it comes out.
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Last week or so I've watched:
After Earth
OKayish film, certainly nothing great. Bit of a nothing and pointless story really as far as a film goes. Might have been okay if it was a set up for an ongoing TV series. More of a vehicle for Will Smith to show off his precocious brat of a son, who is just irritating. 5/10
The Lone Ranger
I actually really enjoyed it. Silly and a bit mad, but great fun. Johnny Depp very oddball as Tonto, but personally found him very funny in the role. Made for a few laugh real out loud moments. Maybe that's why the critics panned it, because they played it for laughs a bit too much. A solid 7.5/10 for me.
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Heh heh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlOxlSOr3_M&feature=youtu.be
(it is film related).
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Lmfao, awesome lololol ;D ;D ;D
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Watched two films over the weekend :
Olympus Has Fallen.. reminded me a lot of Die Hard, and other terrorist based hostage scenario films.. however.. to put it in the same league as Die Hard is just wrong. I'm not a big fan of Gayhard Buttfuck (Gerard Butler).. and afraid he did nothing to persuade me otherwise in this film, he just seems to have no personality whatsoever... you could replace him with any half-decent action movie star and the film would instantly be better. The plot was ridiculous, generic and totally far-fetched, but it runs smoothly, its fast paced and theres a lot of old school action in it. Whilst it gains a plus in my books for being a hardened old school action movie.. it loses marks for it's downright silly plot and mr. boring as the hero.
3.5/10
The Sweeney... never watched any of the 70s cop shows.. apart from a gritty cop film, expected nothing more.. I'd say the film delivered on my expectations.. just. Felt if anything, there was little substance to the film, Ray Winstone is a beast, he's great in it, felt like he needed someone like Statham to play his buddy role though, because Winstone was the star of the film, the other characters didn't really get a look in. The plot started to get a bit too convoluted towards the end of the film, needlessly so, when all it involved was just tracking down some armed raiders. It was watchable, but nothing to get too excited over.
4/10
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Why the fuck have you never watched The Sweeney..?!!?!!? :o
Classic British television :o
Rectify that immediately!!!
Have just watched Dredd, not a bad film but they've really fucked up on a couple of things - the Judge's uniform and the Judge's bike. I'm also disappointed that they haven't had Judge Death appear in either of these films, best baddie that the comic book has ever had.
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Why the fuck have you never watched The Sweeney..?!!?!!? :o
Because I'm not as old and decrepit as most of you ;)
70s stuff doesn't really interest me in the slightest.
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Get ITV4 stuck on, Jman. The Sweeney, Minder, The Professionals - classic telly. ;D
Have recently watched:
Prisoners - Decent dark thriller with a complex but enjoyable plot... too complex for just one viewing IMO. Will have to watch it again when it's released on DVD. Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal are excellent. 2 and a half hours long but the time just whizzes by which is usually a good sign for a film. 8/10
Source Code - I can see why some would find this film boring as it includes the same scene redux about 10 times, but it's actually intriguing and has a solid ending which is all-important for thrillers. 7/10
The Conjuring - Not usually a fan of horror as most of it today is cheap and crap, but this was actually OK. Not many "jump" scares, it's more about tension, which I prefer. The plot gets a bit silly in the middle of the film but all in all it's not a bad film. 6/10
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I loved Source Code, it was awesome ;D
If you watch The Sweeney then you would appreciate Life On Mars a great deal more too. 8)
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Few more films I watched this weekend :
Despicable Me 2 - high hopes after watching the first one recently, although I knew a sequel would struggle in terms of originality. The plot is coherent, but doesn't really flow as well as the first one I thought even though its pretty much the same formula... by far the funniest thing about it are the minions, which is good because the film contains more focus on the minions than the first one. Good.. but not as good as the first one.
6/10
The Call - Crime Thriller.. worth a watch I'd say, it was suspenseful in parts, but lacked any creativity.. I was glued to the screen throughout though. Just a shame that the ending kinda let it down.. won't spoil anything but I didn't like it one bit.
6/10
Hopefully going to see The Escape Plan on Wednesday (Arnie/Sly)
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I should update more often. Have left it so long I can't remember half the films I've seen recently, and some of those I have seen I can't actually remember all that well!
To be honest, I've not seen a really good film or a really bad one for a while. Everything's been pretty "meh", so you'll probably see a few 5s and 6s here!
Pacific Rim
Big budget blockbuster with giant mechs fighting giant monsters. Should've been great.
It was okay. Definitely nothing special, but watchable.
5.5
White House Down
I reviewed "Olympus Has Fallen" a while back, about terrorists taking over the White House. Compared it to Die Hard, but not as good.
In "White House Down" terrorists take over the White House. It's very reminiscent of Die Hard, actually...
This one beats OHF, though. in my opinion - partly because it doesn't have Gerrard Butler (who I don't like), and instead has Channing Tatum (I'm not a big fan, but he's okay. The kids are keen on him, though!), and partly because this one's got a sense of humour and a few laughs scattered here and there. It's not a comedy, but the humour helps it. Lots of big explosions etc, as you'd expect from a Roland Emmerich film.
7.0
After Earth
Will Smith wants the world to know he's got a son, and the family's got a lot of industry clout.
Mission accomplished. Watchable. Just about.
4.0
The Internship
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as a couple of middle-aged fellers in a comedy about getting a job at Google, surrounded by youngsters. You get exactly what you expect, to be honest. It's okay, is amusing and endearing throughout, and is utterly predictable.
6.5
R.I.P.D.
Very similar to Men In Black, but with demonic souls hiding on Earth instead of aliens.
Okay, but definitely not outstanding.
6.0
Kick Ass 2
I was expecting this to be pretty crap. It's predecessor was a fantastic film, but the shock factor of seeing a little girl swearing and killing with wild abandon has gone - partly because you now expect it, and partly because the actors are a few years older now. They've tried to balance that by being more OTT.
Not a patch on the first film, but still okay. And worth watching just to see "Night Bitch" - who has a bit of a "Harley Quinn" look.
6.5
This Is The End
I quite enjoyed it, but a mate didn't - and I think that's at least partly down to the fact he didn't really recognise many of the actors. Lots of "in" references to Hollywood and the actors who mainly play caricatures of themselves, here, trying to survive the apocalypse which kicks off whilst most of them are at a party at James Franco's house.
Found it quite enjoyable (once they got to the apocalypse stuff, anyway. The first 20 mins were a bit slow.)
6.5
The Worlds End
Fun film as a bunch of middle-aged guys try to relive their youth on a pub crawl. Nick Frost and Martin Freeman are both great. A few laugh out loud moments - and a few wtf moments.
7.0
The Europa Report
A manned mission to one of Jupiter's moons loses contact with Earth. A sort of "found footage" film documenting what happened to the crew. It was okay. Not great, not crap - but a bit bland and slow.
4.5
We're The Millers
To be honest, it's not that fresh in my mind, now - but I recall it being a reasonable enough comedy. The "son" was the star, but I was also happy to see Aniston pole-dancing in her underwear.
6.5
World War Z
Again, it's a while since I watched it, so not so fresh in my mind. Decent enough flick, with a few good ideas and lots of good action scenes.
7.0
I watched The Sweeney film at some point a couple of months back, but my attention wandered because it was boring, and I ended up playing on my tablet whilst keeping half an eye on the telly. Probably scores about 3.5 - 4.5 but I really can't remember enough about it to score it properly.
All in all I've seen quite a few new films there. Unfortunately there wasn't a single great one amongst them - so the best films I've watched in the last month or two would have to be the Dark Knight trilogy which I re-watched last week. :D
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Another vote for This Is The End.. as totally crap.. sorry late.. just didn't find it very funny, the comedy was very American, but ultimately the film lacked any kind of substance.. I struggled through it and would of turned it off 30 minutes in had the girlfriend not insisted to carry on.. fool.. never listen to her.. how many times!!!
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Watched Escape Plan at the cinema tonight - I really enjoyed it, more so than I had originally expected. Arnie is getting back to his best most definitely!
Original storyline - albeit the film being mildly predictable, but the Arnie/Sly chemistry really worked. The film runs at a decent pace and builds up other supporting actors really well, the villain of the film is great, and Vinnie Jones is the perfect nutter. Even fiddy cent played the IT geek character really well. Acting all round is pretty good, a decent old school action thriller - all in all, very impressed and looking forward to the DVD release!
7.5/10
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The Way Way Back
Heart-warming endearing feel-good type of film, this one. So not my cup of tea.
Was okay, though. Unhappy 14 year old lad goes away on holiday with mum, step-dad, and step-sister. When out on one of his daily sulks he makes friends with a fairly cool guy at the local water-slide park, and ends up gaining the confidence to try it on with the girl next door.
6.5
2 Guns
Ah, now this is more my scene! :D
Denzel Washington and Marky Mark Wahlberg are two (seemingly) bad guys doing drug deals and robbing banks, but things go wrong when they're double-crossed. Very stylish film, loads of action, and quite a few funny lines/scenes.
8.0
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Decided to have a blast from the past and watched Wargames yesterday, love that film but it does make me feel a bit old considering I remember using 5 and a quarter inch floppy discs lol :-[ ;D
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...Furious 6. Sixth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise, and there's no great surprises here. If you liked it's predecessors you'll like this one; if you didn't like the first ones then there's nothing in this one to change your opinion. Personally, I like the series (apart from the utterly annoying "F&F3: Tokyo Drift"). They focus heavily on lots of suped up cars driving fast and performing outrageous stunts, while lots of scantily clad young ladies shake their booties. What's not to like?...
RIP Paul Walker.
I'm a big fan of the Fast & Furious films (or rather I liked 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6 - the five films he starred in).
Recently watched:
Alpha Papa.
Don't believe the spin that it's for everyone. Reasonable fun if you like Alan Partridge, boring if you don't like him. (So good news for me, not so much for the missus!)
5.0
Elysium
Similar style and vibe to District 9 (unsurprising as it's directed by the same feller, and also co-stars the main actor from it) - which is good news in my opinion. Dystopian future of Earth with an authentic-feel, with the uber-rich living in a utopia in the planet's orbit, and Matt Damon forced into a position of having to redress that imbalance.
7.5
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Elysium
Similar style and vibe to District 9 (unsurprising as it's directed by the same feller, and also co-stars the main actor from it)
Most definitely has that district 9 vibe. I'd agree with your score. Watchable film.
Went and saw Gravity. 6/10 for me. Nice effects in 3D, typical disaster movie though, lurching from one bad situation to another. Half expected there to be sharks or pissed off piranah in the water when she came down. Might add on another 0.5 because Sandra Bullock has nice legs.
Finally got round to seeing the Wolverine (bought the blu-ray after downloading it). Enjoyed it. I like Jackman in the role and there's plenty of action as well as a decent story. Little snippet of X-Men Days of Future Past at the end of the credits. Have not watched the alternate ending on blu-ray yet. 7.5/10
I like the look of 47 Ronin. Will definitely be seeing that over Christmas, as well as the Desolation of Smaug.
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You are not waiting until Desolation of Smaug comes out on special edition dvd then drags ? :P
I'm well looking forward to seeing it.. ;D
Started watching xmas films as per every December - we try and watch one a day up until xmas.. started with Home Alone & Jingle all the Way - Elf tonight, Home Alone 2 tomorrow and Die Hard the next ;D
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You are not waiting until Desolation of Smaug comes out on special edition dvd then drags ? :P
Grrrrrrr
I'm well looking forward to seeing it.. ;D
Started watching xmas films as per every December - we try and watch one a day up until xmas.. started with Home Alone & Jingle all the Way - Elf tonight, Home Alone 2 tomorrow and Die Hard the next ;D
I hate Christmas and all the commercial crap surrounding it now, but some Christmas films do make things feel more like the old traditional Christmases from back when Christmas actually felt like Christmas and you could sense the atmosphere and anticipation.
Gotta Add Die Hard 2 in there as well.
I might even dig out the Great Escape. Not a Christmas film but they used to put that on Every Christmas without fail (when I were a lad lol).
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Yep Die Hard 2 is most certainly on the list - as is Scrooged... I like to think of Rocky 4 & Lethal Weapon as Christmas films (like the first 2 die hard films) as they are set at Christmas.. the missus doesn't agree though :(
I also hate Christmas, I had to struggle to stop the tree going up a few weeks back.. :o it went up on sunday eventually.. :-X
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I like to think of Rocky 4 & Lethal Weapon as Christmas films (like the first 2 die hard films) as they are set at Christmas.. the missus doesn't agree though :(
Your missus isdefinitely wrong about Lethal Weapon. I totally agree with you, from the opening scenes (in the uncut version) where Mel Gibson is in the Christmas tree place and the last fight scene with Gary Busey.
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Just watched Olympus Has Fallen and loved it. Complete nonsense of course but it was good fun, the way action films should be. Has to be the first film I've seen where people with military training are decent shots too lol ;D
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I've seen a film called Sharknado appearing on Netflix a few times, sounds like a 'so bad it's good' type film so will watch it later on lol ;D ;D ;D
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Havent watched many films lately, should be going to watch The Hobbit 2 on Saturday and Anchorman 2 the week after though.
Watched Sinister the other night.. for a horror its pretty tame.. not much gore and not many scares - although it builds tension quite well with sound and darkness... the storyline is pretty good though, not entirely original... but it introduces a super 8 snuff film concept which kind of blends in "found footage" into the main film and I think it works really well - it kept me interested anyway.
I did feel the story lost a lot of pace towards the end though, without trying to ruin it, I would of liked it to of gone a completely different way to what it did..
5/10
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Lmfao, looks like I was right about Sharknado lololol ;D ;D ;D
Acting is terrible, script is terrible, special effects are surprisingly good in comparison to the rest of it (although that's not saying much lol).
This is definitely a 'so bad that it's good' film lololol, some real laugh out loud parts which I don't think are done on purpose ;D
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Sharknado was hilarious in places, so bad it's funny. Along with Sand Sharks and Swamp Sharks, has to be one of the funniest shark films ever.
Watched a Sci-fy channel film called Big Ass Spider the other day. Oh dear is all I can say. So bad it was still bad. It had Parkman from Heroes in it, and he was actually quite funny. Watched another Sci-fy film with him in it too, End of the World. Just as bad. You'd think I;d learn my lessons about bad Scy-fy channel movies. Camel Spiders was one of thw worst though.
Watched Kick Ass II. Enjoyed it, not as good as the first because the shock factor had gone, but still very good.
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The hobbit 2 is great, wish I didn't have to wait another year to see the final installment
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I'll be going to see that at some point over Christmas.
I watched "Man of Tai Chi". As martial arts films go, it wasn't too bad in terms of the action, which was even more amazing considering Keanu Reeves was making his directorial debut. Unfortunately he also acted in it, and his performance had to be his worst since Dracula, seriously cringeworthy in places. I do also have to take issue with some of the supposed Tai Chi in the film, which was very un Tai Chi like, though it did appear to be based around Chen style Tai Chi (the name of which has nothing to do with the lead actor/character). They did try to explain it away at one point with the line "He's doing sofdt style but in a hard way". Some serious factual flaws in that film.
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Have just downloaded Tyson: Undisputed Truth and it's pretty good. It's basically him talking about his life and career in front of a live audience. Really funny in places, written by his third and current wife but he must have worked very hard on his delivery. I'm quite surprised at how good he was doing this, his comedy timing is excellent for the most part.
Has a real good go at his first wife and Don King in particular lol.
A real tragedy that Cus D'Amato and Tyson didn't cross paths earlier in D'Amato's life because I don't think he'd have got in anywhere near the sort of mess he was in after he died with drugs, sex, that ridiculous rape conviction and his financial strife. Can't remember who trained him after D'Amato died but they completely changed his natural, unorthodox style that 1) Made him bloody difficult to hit and 2) Lessened his punching power.
He used to come out square to his opponents with his gloves covering his nose and mouth with a weird cobra thing going on with his upper body. Completely fucked up fighters who are used to facing a fighter leading with his left or right hand. I've never seen anyone else fight that way, I'm surprised no other trainer has picked up on it and used it tbh. Also allowed him to drive his punches more from his legs which gave him more punching power.
You should check it out, a very interesting and entertaining film.
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Finally got around to watching the first Expendables film, awesome lol ;D
Think I'll watch the second one tomorrow 8)
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Watched "2 Guns" the other night. Very manic, preposterous and (in my opinion) enjoyable action film with a twisty turny plot that is completely barmy with plenty of humour. Some good banter between the two main characters (Washington and Wahlberg). 7/10.
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Have decided to have a run of sci-fi films from the 50s. Watched War Of The Worlds on Christmas Day and have now started to watch Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, one of my all-time favourites of all-time. Next up after this is The Day The Earth Stood Still. Some great sci-fi from those days. 8)
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Have decided to interrupt my blasts from the past with Man Of Steel, about half an hour in and it's not bad so far. Still can't help comparing it to the Christopher Reeves films though, which were a big part of my childhood, so I've got a bit of a soft spot for them.
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Finished it and wasn't too impressed overall tbh. They would have been better off not having a mashed potato of the first two films. Start off the way the other films did. Introduce Superman and Luthor in the first film and have Zod and Co in the second one. They also destroyed half of Metropolis which must have killed close to a hundred thousand people and Superman didn't seem that bothered.
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Finally booked to see the Hobbit tomorrow night. Seems like a good start to the New Year. Then probably 47 Ronin on Saturday night.
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A few I've watched recently:
Her
In the near future, a guy falls in love with his computer operating system.
Aside from the strange story, the acting was fine, the portrayal of near-future tech/society was decent (believable, though too clean) and the progression of the story was okay. The basic idea of the film is just a bit too weird for my taste, though. And don't get me started on the freak he has phone-sex with near the start of the film. "Choke me with that dead cat. Do it!" Um...
5.0/10
Gravity
Sandra Bullock's stranded in orbit when her space shuttle is wiped out by debris.
Wasn't expecting much, but enjoyed this one. Granted there's not much in the way of story twists, or character development, etc. - but the little bit of story we have is decent, the physics are believable (and that's a big thing in this film) and the cinematography is fantastic.
7.0/10
Last Vegas
A sort of crossover between Stand Up Guys and The Hangover.
A group of old-timers head off to Vegas for a stag party. Morgan Freeman stands out - the other three seemed a bit subdued. Rather forgettable film all in all, though.
4.5/10
The Wolf of Wall Street
DiCaprio as a crooked '80s stockbroker - based on a true story.
Interesting, funny, and with plenty of (female) full frontal nudity. What's not to like? Except maybe the length. The film runs to about 3 hours...
8.0/10
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3 hours :o
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I thought gravity was a bit shit to be honest, its basically Sandra bullock screaming whilst the camera spins around for half the film.
Couple of films I watched whilst laid up..
Riddick
Not too bad, I'm not a massive fan of Pitch Black or Chronicles of Riddick, and this one hasn't really won me over, but its a bad-ass sci-fi film with some nice action sequences and one-liners, so there was some enjoyment!
4.5/10
The Wolverine
Wolverine is not my favourite character from the X-men films which we love, and this film was more plot-centric than action-heavy so I found some parts of the film weak, but overall it was a good flick and better than the all-action Origins film which was great action, but shit story.
6/10
The Escape Plan
This is the 2nd time I watched this and it was still a great action movie, definitely recommend.
7.5/10
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I liked the Wolverine, he's actually one of my favourite characters, real badass, they just have not used him effectively in the films. Need to be an 18 certificate and let him cut loose.
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I must get that Wolverine watched at some point. I've had it ages, and I've enjoyed all of the x-men films to date - but this one didn't appeal from the trailers.
This week as well as rewatching Prometheus and the first two Alien films I watched:
The Escape Plan
I agree with Kieron: good old-school action film. Lots of fighting, guns, and explosions - and good chemistry between Sly and Arnie (who are both playing very intelligent people. lolz).
7.0/10
Prisoners
Very good film, with Hugh Jackman as the desperate father whose daughter has gone missing (desperate enough to try "extreme questioning" of the main suspect) and Jake Gyllenhaal as the detective in charge. Good plot, good acting. My only gripe is it was a bit slow in places. I suspect they could've whittled some of it's 2hr33m down a bit...
8.0/10
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Watched a few films recently :
Exam
Supposed to be a thriller about participants competing for a job in the world's biggest and most prestigious company (not Nintendo harv ;) ) So they have to sit an exam with 1 question and after being given 80 minutes, they all turn their papers over and discover they are blank so they have to find out what the question is and the answer in the given time.
Billed as a non-violent 'Saw', I thought I'd give it a go, to be honest, I thought it would be better than it was.. parts of it are just dull, dull, dull and so for a thriller, I found a lot of it just boring; coupled with the fact that the plot gets quite ridiculous with it's "twists" and the acting is quite cheesy in places. You can tell its low-budget because the whole movie is shot in one room and I hadn't heard of any of the actors before (apart from Colin Salmon). Nice attempt, but fails as a thriller for me.
3/10
Thor : The Dark World
Have to say again, Thor is not one of my favourite superheroes.. but I do like the fact that's its based on Norse mythology, and my girlfriend is currently teaching Vikings at school, so that was interesting to her. Natalie Portman is just a dunce in this film, she actually added something to the 1st film, I felt like she did nothing in this one, despite the majority of the plot revolving entirely around her. I felt overall that the film was about as good as the first one and I like how it tied into the absolutely absurd plot of the Avengers. The action scenes were good but I just sat there most of the time thinking how much the dark elves reminded me of the cybermen from doctor who, which is funny because one of the doctors plays the main bad guy too ;D
Meh, not too fussed about watching it again, it was alright, that is all.
5/10
Pain and Gain
Might not suit everyone's taste, but I enjoyed parts of it. Based on a true story - well a lot of it was different to the actual story and some of it was entirely fabricated.
4.5/10
Frozen
Thank god I didn't give in to my girlfriends demands and actually go to the cinema to watch this. OK its not a bad animated Disney film.. if you have a kid.. some parts with Olaf were funny, but this is mainly for kids and Disney fanatics.
4/10
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I got in trouble (of sorts) at school regarding Norse mythology. I wrote an essay that basically said it makes more sense for a person to worship more than one godhead than Christianity. Needless to say at a Roman Catholic school this didn't go down well lol ;D
The teacher wanted a word with me the next day asking me if I meant what I said in the essay. I then proceeded to tell him that I did and then went into more detail because the word/page limit meant I had to leave a few important points out lol ;D ;D ;D
And then they made me have a talk to the priest at the school the next day during which time he tried giving me the Catholic hard sell. I then told him how ridiculous the entire Catholic religion was, including the guilt factor that the religion is so famous for lol. It really didn't go down well. ;D
I really liked Exam although I worked out the answer right at the beginning. 8)
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Some of you may have been experiencing issues with free US DNS codes for Netflix. That's because the company supplying these DNS codes have been charging for their service and have just realised that the world and his wife are using them for free lololol. So now they're doing IP checks every now and then which is why the service is spotty.
Good news is that I've found an alternative: 088.080.186.067 and 162.243.065.031 ;D
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Watched :
Runner, Runner
Absolute pointless garbage.. Justin Timberlake tries to gamble online for his university fee's for his masters.. he is successful at first but then gets wiped out by a player who seems to have the perfect hand each time.. suddenly he decides he was cheated and goes off to Costa Rica to accuse the online casino creator of cheating him (because that's what most sensible people do).. the plot moved way too fast, no build up of character and it was just pure tosh...
Turned it off after 30 minutes and watched
The Lincoln Lawyer
Now if you're looking for a great thriller, look no further.. as the name suggests its a courtroom thriller.. although most of the action happens outside the courtroom... lots of subtle twists, a good pace and a decent cast who can actually act.
7/10
Homefront
If you've seen one Jason Statham film, you've seen them all.. this one doesn't deviate away from the formula.. he is type-cast as the tough, quiet good guy hero in an old-school action flick.. nothing wrong with that - when everyone is packing their films out with multi-million pounds worth of CGI and special effects, sometimes its just good to go back to basics and this film does not disappoint on that. Not the best plot in the world, nor original, nor is the acting world class, but it was enjoyable to watch, the action was good and Statham has that gruff, likeable factor which make him perfect for these roles
5/10
I was discussing with a mate the other day about top 3 JS films... for me it was pretty easy.
1. Transporter
2. Crank
3. Blitz
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I thought Homefront was okay.
I liked Statham in the Jet Li films. He's a decent action actor. Good use of martial arts and a good homage to the slapstick style of Jackie Chan in Transporter.
If your girlfriend has been teaching about Vikings, she might be interested in the Vikings TV series. Not bad. Shame it wasn't made by Starz though, there'd have been a lot more gore and boobs in it then lol.
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Watched Non-Stop at the cinema the other day.. Liam Neeson, Juilanne Moore.. Liam Neeson has to find a killer on a plane...
Meh it was alright.. not a bad thriller, it keeps the (absurd) plot moving and twisting along at a nice pace to keep you guessing who dunnit... by the unveiling, I thought it was quite obvious though.
5/10
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Am watching a film called Contracted at the moment and it's excellent! It's about a girl who shags a necrophiliac at a party just after he's shafted a corpse at work in the Morgue and she's contracted a disease lol ;D
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Not exactly a film, but this is proably as scary and well done as anything I've seen in a horror film in recent years:
http://vimeo.com/82920243
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Have now watched all 3 Hangover films, the last one was nowhere near as good as the first two and the second one was the best of the lot imo. Although the very end of the third one was hilarious lololol ;D ;D ;D
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Cant believe Hollywood are going to ruin one of my favourite films ever and bring back the Goonies (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/07/goonies-sequel-richard-donner-feldman-brolin-astin-cohen) >:(
Hey you guyssss... why does it even need a sequel?!?!? It's gonna suck
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Watched both Airplane films these last couple of days, the first one is still the best by miles. Might have to watch the Naked Gun films too now. ;D
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"Star Wars episode VII" cast
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/30/article-2616088-1D759B0A00000578-983_964x489.jpg)
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I'm guessing Daisy Ridler will be playing Princess Leia..? Should be a key character in the next film going by the end of Return Of The Jedi. She should have The Force coming out of her ears. 8)
About bloody time they started work on the last film, they should have done that before fucking about with I to III.
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Ooh! And my claim to fame, my Dad fixed Kenny Baker's (R2D2) car when he was a mechanic and he drove with wooden blocks on the pedals :o
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I'm expecting the new film to be set a couple of decades after Return of the Jedi.
Makes little sense having Mark, Harrison, and Carrie back in the film if they're setting it right after ep6. Seems much more likely they'll be playing older folk as the new generation go off on adventures.
Going with the canon from the books, I reckon the main focus will either be on Han & Leia's kids or on Luke's academy - or maybe both, and will probably involve a gifted Jedi student going to the dark side.
Whatever the plot, though, you can pretty much guarantee a cubic f*cktonne of screenflare, with Abrams in charge.
Still, he makes a decent flick, so I'm looking forward to this :D
About bloody time they started work on the last films, they should have done that before fucking about with I to III.
Corrected for you.
Lucas always said it was supposed to be a 9 part story, split into three trilogies (there's speculation he only came up with that after the first film came out, but he's certainly been saying it since the 70s.
I believe Disney are planning on doing significantly more than three more films, though.
(In the books Han & Leia had three kids - the eldest two being twins (a boy and a girl), the youngest being a boy very strong in the force.
Also in the books, Luke set up a Jedi training academy on a remote planet.)
EDIT - Ah. I've just seen that Disney have said the film will be set 30 years after RotJ.
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It's puntastic/cheesy/clichéd, but you would've thought they'd have waited until Sunday (May the fourth) to make their Star Wars announcement.
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I'm guessing Daisy Ridler will be playing Princess Leia..?
Unlikely as it's episode 7 and the original cast are all going to be appearing in it. So I think Carrie Fisher will still be Leia. I think there may be Leia's and Han's offspring.
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Perhaps I should have read Late's post first lol.
But yep, originally three trilogies were planned. I'm not sure the rumours that this was something Lucas came up with after the first was released is true, as it was always known as episode 4. I'm old enough to have seen the original at the cinema and still have the programme (you used to get programmes for some films back then). Also read the comic book adaptations of the film and read the books, which were originally called the adventures of Luke Skywalker when Lucas first came up with the idea I recall (though no book was ever released as such as far as I recall).
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EDIT - Ah. I've just seen that Disney have said the film will be set 30 years after RotJ.
With the original cast in it, it's the only way to explain how rough Han, Leia and Luke look now ;D
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I seem to recall a documentary (I think in the vhs box set) saying he only decided to call it episode iv after he'd finished making the first film.
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Recently watched the RoboCop remake.
I'm a big fan of the RoboCop films (or the first two at any rate - you might struggle to find a fan of the later ones) and recently rewatched them on BluRay. Even a few decades after they were first released, they still stand up well today. The only thing letting them down is the effects on ED209 (looks like the crappy old Jason & The Argonauts stop-motion type films).
It's a tricky one, this. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed the original. The problem with these remakes is they can never seem to make up their mind whether to tell the same story in the same way, or take it in a whole new direction.
With RoboCop they went the rather familiar way of putting their own spin on it but largely being the same film - and with a few of the classic lines thrown in, for fans of the original to spot/enjoy. I quite like that - but on the down side it makes you think more about the original, and then you can't help but compare them; and you find yourself expecting certain lines in certain situations, and then you're disappointed when the new cast don't say them.
But the effects for ED209 (and the effects throughout the full film) were good!
All in all, I enjoyed it, and if you don't compare it to the original (or haven't seen the original) then it's a good film. And in a couple of years' time, when it's on BluRay I'll keep an eye out for it - but only if I see it cheap. It's good, but not good enough that I'm paying full whack for it.
I'd buy it for a dollar, though.
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I seem to recall a documentary (I think in the vhs box set) saying he only decided to call it episode iv after he'd finished making the first film.
Well this is from Wookiepedia: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/History_of_Star_Wars
n 1971, United Artists agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, though they would reject Star Wars in its early concept stages. Graffiti was made first and when it was completed in 1973, Lucas set to work on making his space adventure movie. In early 1973, Lucas wrote a short summary called "The Journal of the Whills", which told the tale of the training of apprentice C.J. Thorpe as a "Jedi-Bendu" space commando by the legendary Mace Windy.
Frustrated that his story was too hard to understand, Lucas then wrote a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars, which was a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, which added elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and once more had the protagonist as a young boy, named Anakin Starkiller. For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and also introduced the young hero on a farm, with his name now Luke rather than Anakin. Luke/Anakin's father is still an active character in the story at this point, a wise Jedi knight, and "the Force" now became a supernatural power. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled "Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars." During production, Lucas changed Luke's name to Skywalker and altered the title to just "The Star Wars" and finally "Star Wars".
At this point, Lucas was thinking of the film as the only entry that would be made — the fourth draft underwent subtle changes that made it more satisfying as a self-contained film that ended with the destruction of the Empire itself, as the Death Star was said to achieve; possibly this was a result of the frustrating difficulties Lucas had encountered in pre-production during that period. However, in previous times Lucas had conceived of the film as the first in a series of adventures. The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about "The Princess of Ondos", and by the time of the third draft some months later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels — as novels. The intention was that if Star Wars was successful — and if Lucas felt like it — the novels could be adapted into screenplays. He had also by this point developed a fairly elaborate backstory — though this was not designed or intended for filming; it was merely backstory. "The backstory wasn't meant to be a movie," Lucas has said.
When Star Wars was successful, and not just successful but the biggest hit ever made at that time, Lucas decided to use the film as a springboard for an elaborate serial, although he considered walking away from the series altogether. However, Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking center — what would become Skywalker Ranch — and saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent for him. Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the sequel as a novel, but Lucas decided to disregard that for filming and create more elaborate film sequels; the book was released as Splinter of the Mind's Eye the next year. At first Lucas envisioned an unlimited number of sequels, much like the James Bond series, and in an interview with Rolling Stone in August of 1977 said that he wanted his friends to take a try directing them and giving unique interpretations on the series. He also said that the backstory where Darth Vader turns to the dark side, kills Luke's father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Republic falls would make an excellent sequel. Later that year, Lucas hired sci-fi author Leigh Brackett to write "Star Wars II" with him. They held story conferences together and in late November of 1977 Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called "The Empire Strikes Back." The story is very similar to the final film except Darth Vader does not reveal he is Luke's father. In the first draft that Leigh Brackett would write from this, Luke's father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.
"Splinter of the Minds Eye" is an excellent book for those who have never read it.
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Pompeii. Seriously, don't bother to pay to see it.
Fight scenes okay(ish), nothing spectacular (and not much blood and gore). Effects okay(ish), not overly impressed and some a bit lame. Ridiculous love story based on the amount of time they knew each other. Kiefer Sutherland's voice as the Roman senator - just weird (stick to Jack Bauer, it;s what you're good at). 3.5/10
Grudge Match:
Stallone and De Niro. Now this I enjoyed. Pretty much a comedy with some quite funny moments (I won't spoil it, but the bit during and after the credits with Holyfield and Tyson made me chuckle quite a bit). 7.5/10
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I watched both Pompeii and Robocop over the weekend.
Pompeii
I was actually going to go to the cinema to watch Pompeii but my local only had the 2D showing on at 11:30am every day which I complained about because they had 5 showings of the 3D version on each day... they emailed me back saying they had no control of what and when they show.. ::) Whatever.... just so happened across a YIFY download.. so screw you.
Good bloody job I didn't waste that money...I fell asleep way before the end... the settings were beautiful, the SFX were good.. but the acting was truly awful and my missus didn't like the fact they "hollywood'ised" the history (although I'm not sure what she actually expected from the film).. we didn't particularly enjoy it.
2/10
Robocop
Think you summed it up nicely late, I'm not a fan of remakes when the original is so good.. but I felt the new film did enough to differentiate it from the original and there were some good parts (like when he demands the doc to remove his suit so he can see what he looks like).. but in general I thought the film was too watered down because of its stupid PG-13 rating. Robocop was great for me due in part to its violence, guns, gore, profanity, nudity and an underline tone of comedy.. this watered down version had the guns but bugger all else.
ED209 looked bad-ass though, that was one big improvement for sure.
5/10.
Also watched
Touching The Void
Had to watch this as my missus wanted to show her class parts of this film as their topic this term is mountains and needed to veto the parts to watch. Its a fairly old docu-film - 2003 - based on an 80's book - based on a real life story.. about two chaps in their twenties attempting to climb a mountain in Peru (climbing a face no-one had successfully done before). They get to the top and then one of the chaps breaks his leg coming down - and he's basically buggered, but they work together to get down.. but they end up in a scenario where the guy with the broken leg ends up dangling off the side of the mountain tethered to the other guy still - who eventually has to cut the rope to save his own life.. the guy with the broken leg doesn't die.. and from there it gets really interesting.. I'd recommend it.. I didn't think I'd like it, but it was very watchable - and there was one scene with a LOT of profanity in it which is actually quite funny.. good job we watched it lol.
6.5/10
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Not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me, Drags, regarding Star Wars: A New Hope originally being Episode 4.
I'm still pretty sure it wasn't called that until after he'd finished making the first film. He definitely intended to make more films in the Star Wars universe but I don't think he was looking to make it three trilogies (with the 70's/80s films being the middle trilogy) when he started out.
That piece you've quoted mentions an intention to make more films if the first were a success (naturally enough) possibly in the form of a trilogy, but nothing about the first film being episode four.
I've had a very quick google and haven't found anything conclusive, but most of the sites I looked at indicated the first film was called Star Wars in 1977 and the "episode iv - a new hope" bit was added in 1978.
Concept art for the landspeeders in Episode VII:
(http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121120172230/pixar/images/f/fa/Landspeeder.jpg)
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My point is that he always intended it to be a series (or serial at least) in his mind), before it was ever released and he'd signed an agreement for two sequels (though I'm sure a ot depended on the success of the first). I read a lot about it back then (as a huge fan of the film) but a lot of what was written did come out after the film (media was a lot different back then with no internet and little information before it was released) but there is plenty of evidence to show his visions were of more than just a single film, but reality meant that it might have been limited to the one.
When it came out originally (bearing in mind I went to the cinema to see it the day it was released) A New Hope was never part of the titles. It wasn't just a case of it being added after the film came out, it wasn't added to the titles until the film was re-released (in 1981 after the Empire Strikes Back was released if I recall). It was at that point it became known as Star Wars: A New Hope. I think the numbering was added with episode V (but I could be wrong).
1977 credits: No episode 4: a new hope anywhere to be seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKRIUiyF0N4
It kind of supports what both of us are saying. So the truth may lie somewhere inbetween. There's a lot who suggest that Lucas had only written plot outlines for the first three movies and a lot of the actual writing was done by other people. It may not have been fully fleshed out by him as the three films we came to know but there was certainly an idea that it should be a series of films (or even a tv series) from the beginning but it evolved into the universe we now know during production, from the point of release of Star Wars and beyond.
Some say the original drafts had references to a trade federation which was the forerunner of the Empire (scarily it's a bit like the common market and the EU! - now where did I put my light sabre). So that points to the fact that Star Wars had history before it, but it may have just been the rough drafts that people suggest exist.
Not sure anyone will ever get to the bottom of it as I doubt Lucas will destroy the myth that built up around him (or admit that he alone may not have been responsible for it all).
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And whatever idiot at 20th Century Fox that said, 'No George. If you want to fuck about with merchandising and plastic figures and all that sort of bollocks you can do it on your own. We're not interested.' must have lost the use of his legs due to kicking himself, HARD, so often. :o ;D ;D ;D
Unless that's an urban myth..? I hope that's true because I've always found it fucking hilarious lol ;D
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Have just noticed that JFK The Smoking Gun is available on US Netflix. An excellent film/documentary, it's 86m long so not sure what you'd classify it as tbh. A retired copper in the US puts forward a VERY convincing theory on what REALLY happened that day. I think he's really hit the nail on the head.
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Affleck as Batman in the new Man of Steel film:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9b2gHhLzHkA/U3JGtxmo30I/AAAAAAAA3Ls/Smx97B-N5QU/s1600/BATMAN-REVEAL.jpg)
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After watching both Airplane films the other week I decided to re-watch the Naked Gun films too. Just started watching the first one, really funny lololol ;D ;D ;D
Difficult to believe that the film was released in 1988, the year I left school :o
I downloaded Police Squad too ages ago, the series that the films were based on but haven't gotten around to watch it yet. Am surprised they only did one series tbh.
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Looking forward to X-Men this week - looks wicked.. we re-watched First Class over the weekend too. Been meaning to get around to watching Sabotage at some point, but because they released it in the states months before here... I imagine it will be on download soon.
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Aw ffs, is that yet another remake..? Of the Hitchcock film..? We seem to be getting A LOT of remakes these last couple of years. >:(
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Sabotage.. nah its arnie's new flick.. looks like a generic Training Day film to be honest, but its got Arnie in it - so I have to see it.
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Looking forward to X-Men this week - looks wicked.. we re-watched First Class over the weekend too. Been meaning to get around to watching Sabotage at some point, but because they released it in the states months before here... I imagine it will be on download soon.
Yeah. I'm looking forward to X-Men.
In the last month I've rewatched all six of the x-men films to date :D
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I own almost every X-men comic published (up to a few years agao) with some quite rare and valuable issues amongst that lot.
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And people call me a geek :o :P
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I am a geek. Not as geeky as some in my family, but definitely a geek. I.T geek, science geek, I like reading, tv, movies, sci-fi, fantasy, art, comic books, music.
Luckily I also look more like I should be in a book of mugshots so I don't tend to get called a geek too often.
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Lol ;D ;D ;D
I look like a geek cos of my specs but can't have contact lenses due to my diabetes. :(
Need to get my eyes tested soon and get some new ones. The hospital found more problems with my eyes too so may be looking at laser surgery if they don't repair themselves like they did last time. Am crapping myself because it sounds fucking horrible - they put a special contact lense in that stops your eye from closing and then cut into the eyeball before zapping it with the laser. :o :-\ :(
Where's a puking emoticon when you need one..? :( ;D
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(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/puke.gif)
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Allow me to get back to the subject of films...
Final Destination - laser eye surgery scene:
youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ZJQ3iDXLE)
;)
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(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-basic/puke.gif)
Thanks for that jman lol ;D
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Watched xmen today, there's some pigging great big plot-holes the film fails to address, but the film was good and I liked how they mashed up the old and new characters, would recommend, it makes me realise how bad xmen 3 was though
7/10
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Saw the X-men yesterday, the plot holes were caused by the reboot, though I think they did address quite a few of them (probably a bit less of an issue for those of us who've read the comic books). Preview at the end of the credits - looks like it's Apocalypse up next for the X-Men.
Thought it was an excellent film though. 9/10.
Really looking forward to Guaridans of the Galaxy. That is going to be a fun movie.
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The plot holes mostly came from Xmen 3 -
Prof X dying being one of them.. I saw the after-bits of Xmen 3 - but are we supposed to believe that the guy he transferred too.. looked just like him, and was also confined to a wheelchair?
Same with Magneto losing his powers - again I know what happens at the end of Xmen 3 - he must get his powers back pretty fast.
Also if Mystique was captured in the original timeline (in the 70s) - why is she in the original trilogy ? And if the humans had been experimenting with the sentinels back then, why would they even bother going to the trouble of looking for the anti-mutagen in Xmen3 ?
It also took me a while to realise that Kitty was the girl who could run through walls in Xmen3 - so this is the same girl who can now teleport people back into the past.. pretty big power to leave out of X3.
I also thought that dude who could run fast.. was a great asset.. yet they decided to not use him further in the film when it was quite clear he would be very handy later on.
Loads of annoying bits.. the film was great, don't get me wrong.. but they create too many impossible plot holes to get themselves out of with every film.
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Quicksilver for you (the guy who can run fast), yeah they could have used him. In the comiocs timeline, he originally became one of the "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" and was with Magneto, along with his sister "the Scarlet Witch". Both were originally thought to be Magneto's children and he claimed that was the case, but it was found later that they had been saved by him as young children. They've obviously changed quite a bit for the X-Men movies, bearing in mind he was an American kid called Peter in this film.
This was set in late 60's/early 70's, but Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are both in the next Avengers movie, though being the older Quicksilver he's going to be played by a different actor and listed as Pietro Maximoff, so there's potentially a major issue there.
A lot of those plot holes were because they're trying to align to two series of films, because Frist Class was supposed to be a reboot, but it left them with the problkem of integrating some of the characters from the original movies as most people are quite happy with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The problem I can see now is how thye are going to keep McAvoy and Fassbender in their roles because it showed Patrick Stewart as Xavier at the end, so presumably the next film will have him as Xavier. Though with it being Apocalypse, a virtually immortal mutant from ancient Egypt, the story could also span timelines and have both old and new Xavier and Magneto. I still think it's going to be a problem for them.
A lot of what you mention wasn't a plot hole at all. They did try and close a lot of the plot holes, time travel and altering history is always a good tool for that.
The Days of Future past bit altered the timeline somewhat after the first film, so effectively what came to pass in X-Men 2 and Probably the Last Stand (with Prof X and Cyclops popping their clogs, hasn't happened. Days of future past ended where the first X-Men film started. The reason they killed them both off in Last Stand is because Stewart and Marsden both said they didn't want to do the roles anymore. Obviously money talks.
I liked how they integrated the Wolverine memory loss and how he was passed on to the people who gave him his adamantium skeleton eventually.
The Kitty Pryde thing, Shadowcat, is a bit strange. A lot of mutant's powers have evolved over time in the comic books, but I can't remember if this happened or not, or might have happened after I'd stopped reading them. The actual Days of Future Past was quite a long story arc in the comics.
As to the Mystique/Sentinels business. Well the sentinel program has been a recurring theme throughout the X-Men timeline. They'd beaten the sentinels a number of times, with Sentinels becoming more advanced all the time, but sentinels killed mutants, it's only natural that a serum to strip them of their powers would be a preferred option for many.
As to Mystiques capture, that one I'll have a think about, but my biggest issue with that part of the story was the fact that they were integrating her DNA into synthetic lifeforms and, not only that, it enabled those advanced sentinels to mimic the X-Men's powers, something she couldn't do, only shapeshift and her powers have never evolved in that way as far as I'm aware.
Now if it had been Rogue (Anna Paquin) then she could take other mutants powers temporarily, but still integrating something biological like that into a sentinal, well it's hardly surprising they didn't try to explain how they did it.
Going back to Xavier's "death" and Magneto's powers (I've just stuck the DVD on and skipped to the end because I remembered something about this.
The bit at the end of the Last Stand (after the credits) alluded to the fact that Charles Xavier's conscousness at least was still alive. It was a scene in Moira McTaggart's lab. A body in a bed with its face covered says "Hello" Moira", to which she replies "Charles ... " Then the film ends. Which clearly left it open for Xavier to return and for it to be a different actor if necessary.
The very last scene before the end credits of Last Stand showed Magneto moving a chess piece slightly in a park (just after Angel flies over), so his powers were already coming back. Any other mutants who lost their powers probably got theirs back as well. The future scenes were a fair few years after the Last Stand, so he'd had plenty of time for his power to fully re-establish itself. It was never going to be permanent. It also might explain why the sentinel program got restarted.
Oh and just found this on IMDB about Xavier being alive.
In the mid-credits scene of The Wolverine (2013), Xavier is revealed to be alive and kicking in his old wheelchair bound body. With Wolverine wondering how this is possible, Xavier simply responds with "As I told you a long time ago Logan, you're not the only one with gifts".
Although a full explanation is absent from both The Wolverine and X-Men: Days Of Future Past, there are two different theories uttered by the producers of the franchise about how all this is possible. The first is in the dvd commentary for X-Men: The Last Stand, where it is theorized that the brain dead patient was in fact Charles Xavier's identical twin brother. This borther was born without any brain activity due to Charles' overpoweringly strong brain in the womb. The second was given by X-Men: Days Of Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg in an interview. He stated that dialogue was written for the 2023 scenes that explained how Xavier's old body was reconstituted by an unnamed mutant to its old and familiar state, allowing Xavier's consciousness to transfer back to its own body. However, the dialogue didn't make the cut as it would clutter the film's already complicated plot with even more explanations.
None of the two theories have been confirmed to be canon, which leaves the answer to this question open to the interpretation of the viewer.
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Days of future past ended where the first X-Men film started.
That's quite a head-fuck thinking of it like that.. and not entirely correct because the original trilogy was in "the past" of the timeline of Days of Future.. and because they altered history - the future is now unknown.. so to be a bit nitpicky... the film ends on a completely separate timeline but at the same point Xmen1 happened in the original timeline (from what I can gather).. so it's gone backwards.. and they can create a new future all over again - although this would definitely cause another problem with the next film as McAvoy and FassBender would have to be dropped - because we know what Xavier and Magneto looked like at that point in time.. and they weren't the young versions!
I liked how they integrated the Wolverine memory loss and how he was passed on to the people who gave him his adamantium skeleton eventually.
So did I, I thought his memory loss was due to the adamantium skeleton experiements myself though... plus I also realised that in The Wolverine, his adamantium claws get chopped off at the end of the film - so we wouldn't be seeing any more Wolverine in the future... but in DOFP, set after the events of The Wolverine.. his claws are back when he cuts Kitty ;D
As to Mystiques capture, that one I'll have a think about, but my biggest issue with that part of the story was the fact that they were integrating her DNA into synthetic lifeforms and, not only that, it enabled those advanced sentinels to mimic the X-Men's powers, something she couldn't do, only shapeshift and her powers have never evolved in that way as far as I'm aware.
All they had to do was mention Darwin (from First Class) as well as Mystique...shapeshifting and adapting to survive.. but.. they killed Darwin off fairly quickly - so no go there I guess.
In the mid-credits scene of The Wolverine (2013), Xavier is revealed to be alive and kicking in his old wheelchair bound body. With Wolverine wondering how this is possible, Xavier simply responds with "As I told you a long time ago Logan, you're not the only one with gifts".
Although a full explanation is absent from both The Wolverine and X-Men: Days Of Future Past, there are two different theories uttered by the producers of the franchise about how all this is possible. The first is in the dvd commentary for X-Men: The Last Stand, where it is theorized that the brain dead patient was in fact Charles Xavier's identical twin brother. This borther was born without any brain activity due to Charles' overpoweringly strong brain in the womb. The second was given by X-Men: Days Of Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg in an interview. He stated that dialogue was written for the 2023 scenes that explained how Xavier's old body was reconstituted by an unnamed mutant to its old and familiar state, allowing Xavier's consciousness to transfer back to its own body. However, the dialogue didn't make the cut as it would clutter the film's already complicated plot with even more explanations.
None of the two theories have been confirmed to be canon, which leaves the answer to this question open to the interpretation of the viewer.
lol.. that's utter garbage... a twin brother - that is never mentioned once...
At the end of the day.. 90% of these fuck-ups are from Xmen3 where they closed it off and the first reboot where they opened it all back up.. I don't mind a reboot.. but I'll never accept it as a reboot when you have the same actors/actresses playing the same characters.
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Days of future past ended where the first X-Men film started.
That's quite a head-fuck thinking of it like that.. and not entirely correct because the original trilogy was in "the past" of the timeline of Days of Future.. and because they altered history - the future is now unknown.. so to be a bit nitpicky... the film ends on a completely separate timeline but at the same point Xmen1 happened in the original timeline (from what I can gather)..
Not really. Time also acts in mysterious ways, changing something in the past, which is always a big no no anyway in films (until they need to do it for a story) can have minor or catastrophic effects.
That's the beauty (and the cop out) with films involving time travel, because you can write them how you want. Always makes me think of Hurley's conversation with Miles Straum in Lost. Time travel is a headfuck though lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_dH4xOFp9w
so it's gone backwards.. and they can create a new future all over again - although this would definitely cause another problem with the next film as McAvoy and FassBender would have to be dropped - because we know what Xavier and Magneto looked like at that point in time.. and they weren't the young versions!
Well I did say it's a problem for them, but according to the announced cast list for X-Men: Apocalypse, it's McAvoy and Fassbender. Go Figure. Has to take place after First Class and after DoFP because Wolverine is rumoured to be in it. Thoguh that screws with the comics timeline as Apocalypse didn't appear until relatively recently. (late 80's/early 90's if I recall, not the 60's or 70's.
Also, it's going to screw with the Avengers movies as Quicksilver is listed in the next one too, with the same actor who played him in DoFP, which sort of indicates it might be taking place earlier in the X-Men timeline.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3385516/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
So did I, I thought his memory loss was due to the adamantium skeleton experiements myself though... plus I also realised that in The Wolverine, his adamantium claws get chopped off at the end of the film - so we wouldn't be seeing any more Wolverine in the future... but in DOFP, set after the events of The Wolverine.. his claws are back when he cuts Kitty ;D
Yeah, the trauma of the procedure was originally the cause of his memory loss, but maybe it just exacerbated the effects of the drowning. I've never been happy with that as his healing factor should also heal his brain. He lost his metal in the comic books too, it was actually pulled out of his body by Magneto. He got it back, so they'd have found a way for that to happen in the next Wolverine film anyway or had an explanation for it.
At the end of the day.. 90% of these fuck-ups are from Xmen3 where they closed it off and the first reboot where they opened it all back up.. I don't mind a reboot.. but I'll never accept it as a reboot when you have the same actors/actresses playing the same characters.
You're right, X-Men 3 really messed it up a bit. I think their problem was that if they didn't keep Storm, Wolverine et al, they might have lost the rights to keep using those characters in the films, so they paited themselves into a bit of a corner with their supposed re-boot.
Some of the things weren't plot holes though, and they did a reasonable job of getting out of that corner, but they were left with a bit of paint on the soles of their shoes and a few nasty footprints here or there.
At least they didn't try to tell us X-Men 3 happened in Xavier's head in a dream, Dallas style.
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(https://images.teefury.com/products_large_images/battle/1402100343_TFX2_Hobbit_Left.png)
You can't really see it properly because the colour changing options mess up the image. It's yet another stunning shirt from TeeFury (http://www.teefury.com). I'm really going to have to stop buying these things, my flexible friend is feeling the strain :o :-\
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Brendan Gleeson in CALVARY, watch it .
Very very good.
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Saw X-Men: DOFP recently. Glad to see it's doing well. Was always my favourite Marvel series as a kid. The design of the sentinels was cool but they reminded me a bit of the Destroyer in Thor, mainly because of the beam they shot from where their faces should be.
I bet it felt good for Bryan Singer to basically erase the events of The Last Stand. Just a shame pretty much everything else except First Class got wiped too. Can we have a proper Phoenix Saga film now? ;D
Just a few bugbears, would have liked to have seen more of the future as there just wasn't enough Bishop. Secondly, I can't stand bone claws. Of course I know why Wolverine had them but I just hate them! What confused me was that he had them in the future, but how when they got cut off in The Wolverine? ??? Lastly, why leave Quicksilver behind? He was awesome! Loved the little easter egg when he was speaking to Magneto...
Then the post-credits scene... En Sabar Nuh. Probably my favourite villain in the X-Men universe even if he has suffered at the hands of PIS more times than I can remember.
All in all, an excellent watch. 9/10
Other notable films recently watched:
Enemy - I'll watch anything with Jake Gyllenhaal in but this was a bit of a mindfuck. Enjoyable but confusing. 7/10
Her - Bittersweet and thought-provoking. Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson are unbelievably good in this. If Oscars were given for voice acting only, I'm certain Miss J would have got one. 8/10
RoboCop - Didn't have the feel of the original at all and couldn't hold a candle to it. A decent action flick in its own right. 6/10
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Ah a fellow X-Men fan I see.
The whole Quicksilver thing is bizarre, given that they are using him in the Avengers movie too.
Hatw what they are doing with the reboot of the Fantastic Four. Political madness gone mad. The Human Torch is going to be black, as a result the Sue and Johnny Storm's father is now going to be black, to explain it away.
The Nick Fury thing I could understand as they took it from the Ultimates line of comics, but this Human Torch thing. Meh. Why not just introduce the Black Panther as part of the story line if they need a major black character, plus the options for the spin off are there too.
I'll be firmly boycotting that movie.
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Aw ffs, that's fucking ridiculous :o
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There's all kinds of people trying to justify it, saying how they've done it on other films.
The Nick Fury one I've addressed.
But then someone mentions Jessica Alba as Susan Storm because she's part hispanic, but she was made blonde in the film, so attempted to disguise that. Then there's the Kingpin in the Daredevil movie - which was just dire anyway.
Some things just shouldn't be messed with - and this, in my opinion, is one of them.
Oh and I should add that there are rumours they are going to make Dr Doom a female ffs.
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Saw Inbetweeners 2 at the cinema last night..
I love the TV show, the writers created it, based of own personal teenager experiences and cringe-worthy (real) stories they have heard from friends.. however the premise of the lads just deciding to go to Australia to hook up with a friend in a summer holiday because they haven't got anything better to do.. just seemed a flimsy - hence why I wasn't really expecting much from this film.
I thought the first 20 minutes of the film were really slow and poorly directed, the chaps who do the acting do what they do best.. the one thing I dislike about the Inbetweeners is how exaggerated and over the top the comedy can be sometimes.. there are plenty of moments like this at the start.. Simon's girlfriend from the first film - her character just wasn't that funny at all.. because it was just too exaggerated, there were other parts that just grated on me too.
Half way through the film, the film climaxes with one set-piece it had been building for a while and the audience were in absolute stitches - I have to admit, it was very funny... albeit far removed from any kind of realistic scenario...unfortunately after this the film goes back to what it was doing before.. bubbling away with the odd laugh here and there and then an annoying part... never reaching anywhere near the highs of the half way point.. and it tails off even more towards the end of the film
The film kinda hit my expectations as I wasn't expecting much.. but I still felt a little disappointed at the end of it.
4.5/10
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Finally got round to seeing Guardians of the Galaxy last week (only saw the 2D version as they didn't have 3D on at the cinema I went to).
Excellent film. A few characters missing from early GotG comic books, vastly different in fact. Nonetheless, thoroughly enjoyed it. Great action, plenty of humour and a great soundtrack. The only thing that irritated me was the end where Starlord decides to do a little jig to distract Ronin. Based on Ronin's personality and what we'd already seen from him up to that point, he wouldn't have asked "what are you doing", he'd have just blasted Starlord. Very out of character and a poor bit of writing. Definite link to the Avengers with Thanos being the villain in the background. 9/10.
Also watched Edge of Tomorrow.
All I can say is that I'm glad I didn't bother going to the cinema to see it. Groundhog Day meets the Matrix meets Starship Troopers. It really did seem a disjointed and cobbled together amalgam of films that have been done before. You can pick out each plagiarised idea as you go through it. 4/10 (and that's being generous).
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Am watching World War Z with Brad Pitt in it at the mo and it's awesome. A zombie apocalypse film with a big difference - these fuckers are FAST!!! :o
As a result the hoards are insane lol :o ;D
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Just got myself another t-shirt from TeeFury (http://www.teefury.com/):
(http://s7.postimg.org/428kswlaz/horror_skull.jpg)
Apologies for the big picture but I wanted a size big enough so that you can see everything. A really clever design. If you want to get one you'll have to get it before 5am tomorrow morning because they only have stuff up there for 24 hours.
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Just watched the Bond 24. announcement
Spectre.
I take it that means going back to Blofeld ?? Awesome!
Cast looks good and the new car Aston Martin DB10 looks boss!
Nov 6th.. cant wait!
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Have started watching Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, much prefer the original films though. Having a virus killing all cats and dogs so that everyone replaced them with apes as pets who eventually became slaves was a much better plot device imo, and having Simian Flu decimating the human race in the new films is pretty lame tbh. A slave revolt in the second film of the original series was much better imo, with Caesar's first word being 'NO!!!' was brilliant.
I'm still pretty disappointed that they didn't carry on with the story where the Astronaut returns home only to find himself in what appears to be an alternative timeline/another dimension. Was really looking forward to how that turned out. :(
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Have just downloaded The Hobbit Trilogy. Am going to watch them back to back. 8)
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Weird how the hobbit actor who plays Frodo Baggins looks almost exactly the same as Elijah Wood. :o
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Teaser #2
https://youtu.be/ngElkyQ6Rhs]
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I need this film in my veins!!!! :o ;D
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"Chewie, we're home"
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Watched Jurassic World today.. its full of plot holes, continuity errors and some of the story is just downright silly..
...but it was fucking good, felt very entertained coming out of the cinema!! ;D ;D
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A Jurassic Park film and the story is somewhat silly..? Never! :o ;D
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One of the main reasons why JP is such a success is because the story of the first one is so good.. with the roots (even if ultimately unrealistic) in the science of de-extinction.
The problem any sequel will have after that film is that they don't need to get muddled up in the science of how or why again and so the only way forward is to improve on the action. 20 years later, I thought the film could of gone back to its roots and expanded it a lot more since technology has massively improved... a missed chance perhaps. Whilst the action is very impressive, the story and realism are the things to be sacrificed (as usual).
Its still awesome though.. I'd go back and watch it again for sure.
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Think that's on my "have to go see" list. Maybe this Friday afternoon.
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They're gonna bring back the dinosaurs in real life soon, starting with those Woolly Mammoths 8)
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Not wanting to point out the obvious, but mammoths are mammals, not dinosaurs.
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Nope. You're wrong. Dino Saur is Latin for 'Terrible Hefalump'.
You crazy fool :P
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Need a degree to work out what the fuck is going on in Terminator: Genisys, the storyline is an absolute mess!
In some ways I hated the film.... a lot...
But it was enjoyable in parts, felt a bit frustrated by it all though. Actually think it's the worst terminator film of the lot :(
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The more I was thinking about Terminator : Genisys last night.. the more I was raging about it...
For me, there are 3 massive unanswered points in the plot that are crucial to the film that are never answered... I don't believe a film can survive if it never bothers answering pivotal plot points in the movie.. and the directors just say.. "oh we know the answers to these" and "they will be answered if we get to do a sequel".. its just bullshit. On reflection as well, I can think of a ton more plot-holes and paradoxes the utterly ridiculous plot falls into.
What was also bothering me is that it messes with T:1 and T:2.. which kinda sucks.. because now, everytime I watch them two films, I'm going to be reminded of what a travesty T:G was. I don't think I've felt this angry about a film for a long time! >:( >:(
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The annoying thing from where I'm sat is I know I should swerve the film but I'm still keen to see it.
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Absolutely, you've got to go watch the film for yourself.. although if you are a fan of the first and/or second film.. I cant help but feel that you will be thoroughly disappointed.
I wont say anymore.. mainly because its still making my blood boil, but trust me, I could write an essay on what a train-wreck I thought that film was lol.
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To be fair, the whole series has been besieged by paradox after paradox; but I've always been a fan. Loved the first two films, and liked the 3rd and 4th. (Couldn't get into the Sarah Connor tv show, though.)
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I liked the TV show. Shame they axed it, it was getting very interesting.
It also had Summer Glau in it, which helped.
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I love Summer Glau, even if she does always seem to play weirdos lol :-* :-* :-*
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Where you're concerned, surely that's "because", not "even though".
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I reckon she'd love me to bits once she gets used to the handcuffs and ball gag ;D
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Just watched Ant-Man, took a while to get on board with it but ended up thoroughly enjoying it, great ending too. Refreshing to see a new Marvel IP instead of yet another sequel
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Ant Man was excellent.
Back to Terminator, I still think Skynet becomes the Matrix (or it would have if I was writing it lol).
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They've started to add some more classic filems on Netflix including Twelve Angry Men and the remake of The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. Awesome Fucking Sauce ;D 8) ;D
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Saw Pixels just now and it was excellent, really funny. Games were much better in the 80s imo. 8)
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Star Wars albums - pure fucking genius (http://imgur.com/gallery/pYGoB) ;D ;D ;D
Wasn't too sure if I should have posted this in the Music forum lol :o 8)
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This post is spoiler-free...
Star Wars is FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!! Go see it. Now!
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Am seeing it tomorrow or Tuesday I think. Am also going to see it twice because a mate of mine can get me and him free tickets to see it at the IMAX during the first two weeks of the New Year. ;D
He is a red scouse git though so we're probably going to sneak in at the back via the Fire Exit lmfao :o :P ;D
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I'd definitely watch it again. I had to see it in 3D as I didn't book until the last minute - and 2D was completely sold out... I try to avoid 3D as much as possible.. but actually it wasn't that bad... there was one point I had to lift my glasses up for a second as there was too much going on at one point.... but the rolling story text at the start of the film looked pretty boss in 3D.
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Keen to see it, but I know I'm getting some cinema vouchers for xmas, and Star Wars is the only film I want to see - so I'll probably go between Christmas and New Year.
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Saw it on Boxing Day at the IMAX in Leicester Square. First time I;d seen a film at the IMAX, the 3D blew everything else away. Totally awesome.
I really enjoyed the film, definitely harked back to the original but there were a lot of parts I didn't like. Plot holes galore. Overall I'd give it 8 out of 10.
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Plot holes - perhaps in the context of the first film in a trilogy... I'm thinking all these plot holes can and will be explained in future films... somehow.
Anyway.. I'm going back to cinema to watch it again tonight ;D ;D
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You mean like Rey mastering the force and Jedi mind tricks in no time.
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Woah.. hold up with the spoilers there!!! ;D
In fact if you haven't seen Star Wars yet.. do not look any further.. I'll be mentioning a few other SPOILERS in this post...
So in reply to your response.. yes.. that will definitely be the main focal point of the second film I'm sure...so we know that the force awoke when she first touched Lukes lightsabre (ooh errr)... so I imagine Luke will have the answer to that.. but obviously we'll have to wait for his explanation...
There were a couple of things that got me slightly riled.. Kylo Ren related mostly... I thought he was a great character.. but he's had training from Snoke for a few years (lets say).. and he can't *easily* beat an untrained storm-trooper in a lightsabre fight.. granted Ren is injured at the point of the fight.. but that's just bollocks. I'd give Rey the benefit of the doubt as like I said, I'm sure things will be explained... but when Ren does slice down the back of Finn.. how does that put him in a coma.. he should be sliced in half and brown bread!
Also, I found Leia's character very underwhelming.. given that technically she should be a Jedi Knight in this film.. yet nobody gives a shit about finding or killing her.. its all about Luke.
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I saw Deadpool at the weekend.. valentine treat for the missus ;D Very good.. lots of laughs.. surprised they managed to get the film certificated as a 15.. there's lots of violence, profanity and a bit of nudity as well.. I guess film certifications have laxed over the past few decades though...
8.5/10
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I'll just repeat what I said in reply to Late's post in the TV thread.
Thought it was excellent. Ryan Reynolds is perfect for the role.
Story was fairly weak but it was setting up the character and what he's all about. It was never going to be high brow.
Funny from the opening credits sequence, the one liners, piss-taking references and the after credits scene.
Action was good, ott violence is never a bad thing and Morena Baccarin is easy on the eye. Only thing I didn't really like was Colossus, who they portrayed as a bit of a lummox, which he isn't in the comic books.
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Yeah snap with Colossus..
Possibly because they couldn't/didn't (?) get the x-men Colossus to take part.. they couldn't show a human side to him without breaking the continuity of the films?
Looking forward to Apocalypse the most this year though 8)
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Been a while since anybody posted about films here.
Have just started watching one with Anthony Hopkins called Fractured. Pretty good so far. Hopkins has just shot his wife in the head, confessed to the cop that was shagging his missus as well as making a written confession and he's decided to defend himself. He's quite a sneaky bugger so it's going to be interesting to see how this pans put. It's a bit obvious what he's done with the murder weapon though but I could be wrong.
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Brawl in Cell Block 99. Excellent film. Starts slow, stick with it.
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And yes, I was right about that shooter.
I would make a great detective/murderer [delete as applicable] :P
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Am just going to re-watch The Number 23 starring Jim Carrey. It's a fantastic film, definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it. Makes a change seeing Carrey in a serious role for once.
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Got a script you can't sell? Stick "Cloverfield" in the title, and adapt two pages to make it loosely tie in in some way. J J Abrams will undoubtedly buy it and stick his name in the credits to continue the erosion of his reputation...
The Cloverfield Paradox:
Watchable, but not great. Not even close.
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I didn't realise they did another one. I just watched the first one last week and really enjoyed it.
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That would be the third one then - 10 Cloverfield Lane was the 2nd one and pretty much sounds what Late was describing... a decent unrelated 90 minute thriller with 10 shitty minutes added on to the end to make it tie in with the previous movie
Didn't even realise they were releasing a third one.. but just seen it was straight to Netflix
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Yeah 2 and 3 were both standalone scripts that were adapted to tie in loosely with Cloverfield. I liked the second more than the original, but the third is annoying me more now than it was when I watched it.
Four is scheduled for release later this year.
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Brawl in Cell Block 99. Excellent film. Starts slow, stick with it.
Hmmmm, maybe if you're into grindhouse B movies. Plot is pretty flimsy and the fight scenes were pretty pants. Willis would have done a much better job than VV too, felt weird seeing him out of a comedy film.
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I binge watched the three Hostel films yesterday, I had already watched the first one when it released but hadn't seen the last two. The third one wasn't great and the second one was the best of the lot.
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I watched a film called Head Cases: Serial Killers In Delaware County earlier today and it was great. Shot in the style of a documentary it focuses on a bloke that not only kills people all over the shop but also trains other serial killers whilst they're his accomplices. And of course while he's doing all of this he's recording everything. Great film. ;D
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Am now working my way through Movies With A Twist Collections 3 and 4. I downloaded the former years ago and just didn't get around to watching them, and the torrent of the latter is dead so I've had to download them all individually.