What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[gasteropod]

Looper (2012) - 4/5

Very good time travel film, for fans of Twelve Monkeys and Primer.

[saltysam]

Looper (2012) - 4/5

Very good time travel film, for fans of Twelve Monkeys and Primer.

getting good reviews this,looks interesting.What a weird career Bruce Willis is following these days,alternating between big budget efforts like this,Expendables 2 and the next Die Hard with straight to dvd fodder like The Set Up & Catch 22

[saltysam]

Regan 3/5 The original telefilm that spawned the legendary cop series The Sweeney. John Thaw is superb in the title role and though Dennis Waterman as Carter plays a lesser role here he would come to the fore in the series proper.Very much of it's time (a round of drinks is 76p ) it's still very good.the uk BD looks quite good,original mono option as well.

The Dark Knight:Pt 1 3/5 very good DC animated adaption of the legendary Frank Miller graphic novel,this is no doubt the best dc animated offering to date. pretty faithful to it's source and very brutal at times (not a kids Batman that's for sure) it's easy to see where Nolan got some ideas from.Roll on Part 2 next year.

[Markgway]

Mischief (1985-USA) **½
Cute nostalgia teen (sex) comedy set to golden oldies soundtrack.

Stage Fright (1987-Italy) **½
An escaped psycho is on the loose in a locked theatre.
Quite good, sometimes gory slasher pic from Michele Soavi (his directorial debut).

[Markgway]

21 (2008-USA) **½
Longish, lo-octane, but moderately interesting Blackjack/card counting thriller.

Gamer (2009-USA) *½
Headache-inducing trash; loud, gory and heavy-handed. In better hands this could've been a smart action satire.

Valley Girl (1983-USA) **
Shallow, poorly written teen romcom with a young Nic Cage and some dubious moral messages.

[gasteropod]

Gamer (2009-USA) *½
Headache-inducing trash; loud, gory and heavy-handed. In better hands this could've been a smart action satire.

I watched that too, how annoying was the editing?! 1.5/5
It just made me wish I were watching the far superior 'Avalon', have you seen it?

[Markgway]

I watched that too, how annoying was the editing?!

The action scenes looked like they were filmed during an earthquake by a junkie with the shakes.

It just made me wish I were watching the far superior 'Avalon', have you seen it?

No. Not a title I'm familiar with.

[Markgway]

Sleepaway Camp (1983-USA) *½

Sequential slaughter at a teen camp. Suspenseful chiller eschews graphic violence in favour of shocks and characterisation... but then throws it all away with an utterly illogical and bizarre third act. The adult actors are mostly terrible.

[HungFist]

It just made me wish I were watching the far superior 'Avalon', have you seen it?

No. Not a title I'm familiar with.

A rather good live-action by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), shot in Poland in Polish...

- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0267287/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6M9cMdq8MA

Has some really atmospheric moments as would be expected from Oshii
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YLb_Iqw4qk

God, I need Ghost in the Shell JP BD! But even used copies are over 3000 yen... hasn't anyone else released the original version on BD?

[saltysam]

Halloween 3:Season Of The Witch 4/5 To my mind a genre classic though i appreciate not everyone would agree. Bravely moving away from Michael Myers, far fetched but entertaining tale has a mad irishman planning to chaos with his subliminal silver shamrock masks & tv jingles..genre veteran Tom Atkins in the lead role is always a welcome sight.

Expendables 2 2/5 To manage to make an underwhelming actioner featuring Stallone,Statham,Li,Lundgren,Arnie,Willis,Rourke etc is quite a feat but to make a sequel adding Norris,Van Damme,Scott Adkins to the cast while featuring Willis & Arnie much more prominently and still manage to make a disappointing movie is really unforgivable. Jet Li bails less than 15 minutes in,he must've read the script. to be fair it's still great seeing these legends together and the last 20 minutes or so are good gung-ho fun but this should've been so much better.

[Markgway]

A rather good live-action by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), shot in Poland in Polish...

I'll file that one away for future reference.

Bravely moving away from Michael Myers

The big mistake was to call it Halloween III. Had people been judging a film called Season of the Witch I think they would have been a little more receptive...

to be fair it's still great seeing these legends together and the last 20 minutes or so are good gung-ho fun but this should've been so much better.

Yes. Good will carries this a long way. I did enjoy it more than the original.

[Markgway]

Topaz (1969-USA) ***

Cold war spy thriller. Good, if not classic Hitchcock.

[degeneration]

Avalon was a pretty good film. Quite a strange style to it, but it definitely has its moments.

[gasteropod]

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - 2/5

Overrated, this is pretty lame really, and I can't stand that patriotic American score that I've heard in so many fucking films!!!

[HungFist]

Big Trouble in Little China (USA, 1986) – 3.5/5
Entertaining Carpenter/Russell movie has weak middle third, but the exhilarating final 30 minutes make up for it. Still, this would no doubt have been twice as impressive if seen at the age of 10. Gotta show this to my kids when I have some!

Street Trash (USA, 1987) – 3/5
Top cameraman Jim Muro’s (Titanic, L.A. Confidental) Troma-esque cult classic. A bunch of low-life street trash discover cheap booze, only to find out the mysterious liquid causes one to either melt or explode, or both. The bad taste film comes with some terrific special effects work unexpectedly visionary moments as the camera pans in the trash yards and filthy streets. Yet, the film is too long, running 30 minutes more than needed, and occasionally too goofball to fully please horror fans.

[Markgway]

Hell Night (1981-USA) **½

Above average slasher pic with more suspense than gore.

[grim_tales]

The List of Adrian Messenger (1963): 3.5/5

Adrian Messenger asks a friend to check into a list of names before leaving on a trip. When his plane is blown out of the sky, the matter becomes more serious. As his friend checks into the list, each seems to have died in mysterious circumstances. As he goes down the list, the deaths become more recent and a race to find the remaining survivors and what put each of them on this list ensues.

Good film, an enganging mystery

[Markgway]

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (2011-USA) **½
Something like PAYBACK in a Mexican prison.
Quite good with Mad Mel on fine form.

Circle of Eight (2009-USA) **
Intriguing psychological horror doesn't make a whole heap of sense.
Lead actress (Austin Highsmith) is very good (and attractive).

[gasteropod]

Circle of Eight (2009-USA) **
Intriguing psychological horror doesn't make a whole heap of sense.
Lead actress (Austin Highsmith) is very good (and attractive).

I watched that, some parts kind of interesting and creepy, but overall just not that great - 2/5.

[luckystars]

These two Blu-rays arrived today, and I've watched them both.

Swordfish: 3.5/5

Seen it many a time back in the day on DVD, still enjoy it now and think it is underrated. I managed to persuade my mate to watch it on Blu-ray with me, despite the fact he'd seen it before a long time ago and wasn't impressed with it, and by the end of it he agreed that it's a lot better than he remembered. Good action scenes. Great transfer - the DVD transfer was always one of my favourites so glad to see it in even better form now.

The Island: 4/5

I saw this on DVD a few months ago and enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it just as much just now watching it on Blu-ray. Incredible action scenes which blow me away, definitely one of the best sci-fi films I've seen. The Blu-ray transfer is really good, like a 4.5/5 for me, and despite the soundtrack only being DD 5.1, it's amazing cranked up loud, that's for sure.

The Island starts well but the story just meanders all over the place. And it makes fun of Sci-fi conventions which offended me!

[grim_tales]

Paranorman: 4/5

Much better than I thought it would be A fun little horror comedy/adventure, very funny in places But also even quite sad

[gasteropod]

Green Lantern (2011) - 3/5

A pleasant surprise, falls just short of being 'good' because its screenplay is lacking somewhat in places and doesn't make enough out of what should be epic action scenes, and there isn't a great deal of threat towards the Green Lantern, you don't see him struggling too much. Martin Campbell did a good job though and I enjoyed myself, all the negative reviews are far too harsh, it's easily better than the lame Captain America I watched last week. I noticed a couple of references to The Mask as well haha!

[gasteropod]

Sinister (2012) - 3/5

If you enjoyed Insidious at the cinema, you'll enjoy this. It takes stuff from Ringu and Lost Highway, it's pretty predictable but worth a watch for horror fans.

[Markgway]

The Funhouse (1981-USA) *

A quartet of obnoxious dopers are trapped overnight in a carnival.

Further proof that Texas Chainsaw was a fluke.

[grim_tales]

Taken: 4.5/5

Taut, efficient thriller with a dark story, adult themes and a bad mofo Liam Neeson kicking ass. Loved it