Page 2 of 4

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:02 pm
by The Soapmaker
Well, I've got my copy of Quai des Orfevres and I've just bought some more Criterions today, so I'm doing my bit to stop Bay. No Renoir boxsets though.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:05 pm
by giles edwards
Quai... is awesome, no argument there. Renoir boxes are *expensive* though. But totally worth it.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:06 pm
by MaxRenn
The Soapmaker wrote:Well, I've got my copy of Quai des Orfevres and I've just bought some more Criterions today, so I'm doing my bit to stop Bay. No Renoir boxsets though.
I have Robocop, Chasing Amy and Videodrome (yeah I know, what a surprise) which pretty much says all you need to know about me and my taste in movies.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:10 pm
by giles edwards
The Soapmaker wrote:
giles edwards wrote:Oh, sure. Transformers was a headache in physical form. But the man does have incredible visual panache and his action and when he's firing on creative as opposed to monetary cylinders it's extremely rewarding. His cultural rep doesn't help when discussing him though.
A pocket guide to when he's "firing on creative as opposed to monetary cylinders" would be helpful. Which category does cretinous shit like Bad Boys II fall into? No offence, but for me it's absolutely nothing to do with his cultural rep, he just spends lots of money making very bad films (IMO).

I agree that The Rock and The Island are his best efforts (even if the latter is really just a ropey Logan's Run/Clonus Horror ripoff. Together with Michael Marshall Smith's excellent novel Spares). But Transformers has the most incoherent visuals I have ever seen - it's literally impossible to tell what's going on, ever. Was that not an artistic choice? Or was he just coked out of his head?
Come on, even Hitchcock had Topaz. Transformers is unwieldy and not good at all, absolutely. Bad Boys II is unwieldy, almost offensively indulgent but has a fine freeway chase, the amazing rip-off of Police Story and then they invade cuba at the end: it's a big budget hong Kong Cat III movie. That's the work of someone demented, sure, but also very smart. It's vulgar, but it's also very, very well made. Doesn't mean I like it all that much, but there's lots to admire.

Now compare it to the flaccid Soldier.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:11 pm
by giles edwards
MaxRenn wrote:
The Soapmaker wrote:Well, I've got my copy of Quai des Orfevres and I've just bought some more Criterions today, so I'm doing my bit to stop Bay. No Renoir boxsets though.
I have Robocop, Chasing Amy and Videodrome (yeah I know, what a surprise) which pretty much says all you need to know about me and my taste in movies.
Me too, but give Quai... a day in court. It's so great.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:18 pm
by The Soapmaker
I've got lots of Criterions - including all the Tati, Clouzot and Fellini stuff, a token bit of Bergman, Antonioni and Godard, quite a few Japanese films and of course one of my all-time favourites, The Spirit of the Beehive. Just bought Bicycle Thieves, Thief of Bagdad, La Jetee and Army of Shadows.

Oh, and I also have Straw Dogs and Videodrome.

And The Rock. :wink:

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:18 pm
by giles edwards
Rumbled!

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:29 pm
by The Soapmaker
giles edwards wrote:Rumbled!
:oops: :lol:
giles edwards wrote:Come on, even Hitchcock had Topaz.
Indeed, and a couple of other duds too. But Bay has Bad Boys, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys II and Transformers. That's most of his work (unless you include Playboy Video Centerfold: Kerri Kendall , which I'm sure is super, and Lionel Richie's Do It to Me video). I really don't care if they have the odd good bit, I'm not going to sit through the dross waiting for them. It's like watching an Adam Sandler box set because there may be a funny bit in there somewhere.

Giles, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Anyway, I don't want to cast myself in the role of PWSA's champion because for the most part I think his films are rubbish. Just less rubbish than Michael Bay's.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:37 pm
by giles edwards
Fair dos, fair dos.

They're all mostly better than Topaz though.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:28 pm
by streetrw
VideoGame adaptation #832, because this is essentially Carmageddon without the zombies. It's rubbish - the economy has collapsed and everyone's out of work, but they'll will slap down dollars to watch some tanks racing?

That said, for a hundred crowd-pleasing minutes of big metal things smashing into each other and blowing up, and big men smashing each other round the head with whatever blunt object is to hand, it does deliver. It's very much a boys' movie; the women are either disposable plot sacrifices, evil bitches or eye candy with bare midriffs. I've no particular loyalty to the original because I haven't seen in 20 years - this version works perfectly well on the crash bang wallop level. It's the only level it's got, though.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:29 pm
by Grindhouse
In a completely Avid Merrion way of describing how i feel about
Death race, "I fu**ing loved it" from the opening of it to the closing credits its one big ass guilty pleasure,the stathmeister didnt let us down.hot guys,sexy gals,and big guns really big guns,and it had lovejoy,how joan allen said that line,i will never know,you see even the best and well spoken women can talk dirty with the best of them :D.
Im all ready for another circuit of that crowdpleasing,car rumbling sex machine on wheels,oh and jason statham was hot too.
bring it on,Paul WS Andersons best film ever!

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:49 pm
by Fenriz
Wow, now this certainly ended things with a bang! Supremely kick ass film, just non-stop action, explosions, enjoyment and fun, fun, fun!!!

Thought the Stathster had made his best film with Crank, but Death Race totally blows that away.

Absolutely killer, Autopsy was my favourite film of the festival, but Death Race is a very close second.

10/10

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:02 pm
by EvilAsh
Loud and fun!

Death Race

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:13 pm
by Stephen with ph
Four years hence, the American penal system will apparently require all female inmates to: -
a) be fit
b) only leave their vehicles in slow motion
c) do so to their own raunchy soundtrack.
They're years ahead of us...

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:26 pm
by mamawaldi
Much better than I'd feared.
Thought the stunts were great, Jase was his usual fantastic self and it was also pretty funny throughout to boot....but unlike the film that preceded it this was intentional.