films we just saw

[feggie]

Oopsie forgot about

Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief - I actually liked this as well(I'm enjoying everything that i've watched this month(other than SWAT, i shouted at the screen a lot during that pile of pish). Some good casting(loved Rosario Dawson as a slutty Persephone(Uma Thurman was a bit rotten but she always is)) and I wasn't overly bothered by the Americanisation of the myths.

Actually just listening to Kermode reviewing this and Jeebus he really didn't like this at all.

[mamawaldi]

Two "zombie" films of the last year:
Doghouse and Pontypool

Doghouse - meh ! No better or worse than LVK and suffers from all of the same problems. Random plotting, idea shortage and just neither funny enough or gory enough to satisfy mainstream or horror fans.

Pontypool - Neat, atmospheric low budget chiller that plays like a Twilight Zone episode with an interesting/bonkers/allegorical premise about a 'crazies' virus spread through language. Definitely worth a watch.

[Satans Puppy]

I love PONTYPOOL!!!

[krispyg]

You see I watched this last night and the whole virus spread through language thing? Eh? What the hell is that about?

It is a good film but I just don't "get" it. Maybe if I understand how it was carried and then gave it a second watch then things may just fall into place.

[streetrw]

What's with the dislike for Growth on the main site's GITS section? It's nothing special, granted, but once it gets going it's a decent enough oogy monster movie with some nicely yukky effects.

Ong-Bak: The Beginning has nothing to do with the first Ong-Bak movie (it's set around 600 years earlier, for a start), and is more like Apocalypto with some satisfyingly crunchy violence as stuntmen line up to injure themselves. Plus it has the best use of an elephant in a martial arts massed combat scene EVER.

Meanwhile Wasting Away sat unwatched for a week before I discovered it to be a very nicely devised zombie flick. Obviously it's not in the top flight of romzomcoms (which is Shaun....) but the differentiation in point of view is quite well handled. Much better than I thought it was going to be (from the artwork it looked decidedly stinky).

[Satans Puppy]

See after watching Pontypool I thought Ong Bak 2 was pure and utter tripe. The action sequences appeared to be too polished compared to something like Chocolate.

[mamawaldi]

I love CHOCOLATE!!!

Totally bonkers but bl**dy hell she can fight !

Saw Avatar last night. Oh my God, surely Cameron can't steal another Best Picture Oscar on the basis of very expensive FX? Looks amazing of course, but the story feels straight out of a Disney cartoon and the dialogue "to truly be at one with the [insert made up word] you have to be in touch with your inner [insert made up word]" gets so s*dding tedious. Just blow some stuff up for Chr!st's sake that's why we're all here !!

[Satans Puppy]

I love CHOCOLATE!!!

Did you watch the behind the scenes bit? OH THE INJURIES!!!

[giles edwards]

Meanwhile Wasting Away sat unwatched for a week before I discovered it to be a very nicely devised zombie flick. Obviously it's not in the top flight of romzomcoms (which is Shaun....) but the differentiation in point of view is quite well handled. Much better than I thought it was going to be (from the artwork it looked decidedly stinky).

Indeed, this could have been absolutely terrible, but it's actually a pretty nifty little picture, more in line with pure 80s genre pictures like Return Of The Living Dead than snarky post-Shaun Of The Dead Wright/Pegg wannabes.

[sherbetbizarre]

Solomon Kane - I'm not the biggest fan of Sword & Sorcery movies, but it helps if - like The Beastmaster - they have a bit of horror in there.

It's not perfect, but I liked it

[streetrw]

Having bored myself into a stupor on Friday afternoon with the babbling idiocy of Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend, I proceeded to bore myself into another stupor on Saturday night with the pulse-slowing dullness of Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn, a two-hour costumed stodge which is a bit like Rebecca but desperately needs at least half an hour hacked out of it. In the subsequent Highlander traditions of casting sans frontieres, the role of the Irish gentry goes to Ingrid Bergman, who adopts the Anthony Hopkins technique of only doing the accent on a Tuesday and reverting to Swedish for the rest of the shoot. The lack of editing (several inordinately long takes) mean it's not so much cinema as theatre, but the constant disregard of the maxim "show, don't tell" result in it being closer to radio than film. Honestly, you could overhear it from another room and follow all but a few moments of it. And here's how bad that double-whammy of get-on-with-it jabbering has been: even following it up with The Terminator I still feel stultified. I may indeed be clinically dead.

[lupogirl]

Solomon Kane - I'm not the biggest fan of Sword & Sorcery movies, but it helps if - like The Beastmaster - they have a bit of horror in there.

It's not perfect, but I liked it

I mistakenly thought this was a kid movie before I watched it. How happily I found it wasn't. Thought it was great. A anti hero with a west country accent. That to me in itself is unusual but a welcome change to a few films seen recently.

Liked the setting. Some great fight scenes. Not often you see someone repeatedly trying to hack someone's head off. Though at times you could imagine this being alot gorier. It still had good pace and was entertaining. Did think James Purefoy had the Hugh Jackman look from Van Helsing. Which was very pleasing on the eye!

[Malky]

Solomon Kane - I'm not the biggest fan of Sword & Sorcery movies, but it helps if - like The Beastmaster - they have a bit of horror in there.

It's not perfect, but I liked it

I mistakenly thought this was a kid movie before I watched it. How happily I found it wasn't. Thought it was great. A anti hero with a west country accent. That to me in itself is unusual but a welcome change to a few films seen recently.

Liked the setting. Some great fight scenes. Not often you see someone repeatedly trying to hack someone's head off. Though at times you could imagine this being alot gorier. It still had good pace and was entertaining. Did think James Purefoy had the Hugh Jackman look from Van Helsing. Which was very pleasing on the eye!

I thought it was really good, a solid action flick with loads of sword violence. It was like watching west country God of War. I also watched 2001 Maniac which I really enjoyed. It did not take itself at all seriously so it was fun.

[Grindhouse]

Long Weekend Remake,certainly does feel long but is it any good?
a short answer to that is NO,its not a spot on the original,and doesnt do a good job of recreating the unsettling tension or increasing paranoia of the unwelcome couple in natures territory.
instead of a double disc dvd presentation of extras,it would have been better packaged with both versions.
at least then we could watch it done right.

[krispyg]

I also watched 2001 Maniac which I really enjoyed. It did not take itself at all seriously so it was fun.

I had not previously seen this and thought I would check it out prior to the trip to Glasgow. Kinda still sat on the fence with it, some inventive death scenes but overall I can't form an opinion on it. I don't dislike it it but it didn't make me think wow.