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

[Yi-Long]

Lord of the Rings: FOTR EE: 5/5

Just amazing, hard to believe it was made 11 years ago. The scope is epic, love the music, the performances and action are brilliant

I really should be watching these movies in my final days before I leave...

[grim_tales]

Leave where, HK? The World?

[Yi-Long]

Leave where, HK? The World?

Hong Kong, for a year.

I'm not due to leave this world until late next year at the earliest.

[gasteropod]

Leave where, HK? The World?

[grim_tales]

@ Gas:

@Yi: OK fair enough It just sounded a bit like "Before I leave this world..."

[Markgway]

I thought LOTR was on Yi's bucket list. Turns out he's only going to Asia. That can't be worse that death?

[Yi-Long]

I thought LOTR was on Yi's bucket list. Turns out he's only going to Asia. That can't be worse that death?

I actually watched The Bucket List last week. Nice movie. 4 out of 5!

I'm not sure I even have a bucket list. I'm not all that ambitious in that I don't seem to have certain experiences or goals that I want to achieve before I die.

I watched the theatrical LOTR-releases in the cinema, and I fell asleep at 2 out of 3 screenings. However, I have the Extended cuts both on DVD and BR, yet I still haven't bothered watching them, even though they're supposed to be the best versions around. Oh well, it's too late now. It will hae to wait until I'm back from HK late next year.

[Markgway]

The Art of War II (2008-Canada) **
Muddled plot, bad direction, but Wesley Snipes keeps it bearable.

Confeessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002-USA-Germany-Canada) **½
Oddball black comedy allegedly based on a true story.
Interesting, but I can't say I liked it much.

The Tortured (2009-USA-Canada) *½
Thought-provoking horror engages sympathy with its parental victims and asks tough moral questions... but loses grip midway, becomes repetitive, and tacks on a ridiculous, nasty conclusion. Pity.

Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1994-USA) **½
Anti-racism storyline sparks interest in good entry in B-movie martial arts series.

American Reunion (2012-USA) *½
All your favourite characters are back... in a crude, badly written waste of '90s nostalgia'.
Everything that made the original fresh and funny is long gone (not helped by umpteen interim sequels) and the acting hasn't improved one iota in 13 years. This pie is stale.

Piranha 3DD (2011-USA) *½
More of the same... only worse.
A couple of creative gore gags and self-deprecating cameos save this from BOMB status.

Downtime (1997-UK-France) *½
There's a reason why (Bond aside) Britain shouldn't do action-suspense films.

The Girl from the Naked Eye (2012-USA) **½
Martial arts-film noir fusion is an intriguing prospect and whilst hardly perfect this experiment (produced by ABCs) pays off nicely. Has cult potential if given proper exposure.

[Markgway]

American Ninja (1985-USA-The Phillippines) **½
The kind of dumb, but enjoyable B-movie martial arts pic they don't seem to make anymore.

American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987-USA) **½
Exceptionally silly sequel - but still fun.

American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989-USA) *½
Stupid sequel, a chore to sit thru.

[Markgway]

The Invention of Lying (2009-USA-UK) **½
Original, clever, though uneven comedy.

Stash House (2012-USA) **½
A cut above the usual DTV dross and the best thing Dolph has done for a while.

The Wolfman (2010-USA) **
Misguided attempt to update the old Universal horror classic with gloomy atmosphere and grisly CGI effects.

Django (1966-Italy-Spain) **
Brutal spaghetti western, awkwardly plotted and hurt by conspicuous English dubbing
(I'd say this is one genre film where the original language is Italian).

The Expendables (2010-USA) **
A bit better on second viewing now that my expectations have been adjusted... but myriad flaws (poorly shot action, CGI blood, and corny dialogue) remain the same.

[Markgway]

Seems like I'm the only one posting reviews these days...?

My Bloody Valentine (1981-Canada) **
Standard slasher pic, gory in its uncut version, but diminished by silly twist ending.

[HungFist]

sorry, I'll try to join when I can find a bit more time. Reading all your reviews, though.

[Markgway]

Reading all your reviews, though.

Bless you, my son.

[Markgway]

Punch-Drunk Love (2002-USA) **

Too oddball-quirky-kooky-weird for my taste.

[Shingster]

I like to skim through the posts as well and read most of the reviews, but rarely have anything to say! I can never really be arsed to review or comment on the films I watch unless someone asks or I'm actually writing a review for TDF.

[grim_tales]

I'm the same as you Shing TBH

[Markgway]

Feel free to argue with my comments then...

[Markgway]

Rabid Dogs (1974-Italy) **½
Tense, claustrophobic hostage thriller; unpleasant to watch through.
Unfortunately no English dub track exists (that I know of).

[saltysam]

i enjoy posting the reviews,unfortunately i've hardly had time to watch anything the last few months. intend to rectify that in the new year.

[Markgway]

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008-USA) **

Typically foul-mouthed and genital-obssessed Kevin Smith comedy.
Precious few real laughs.

[luckystars]

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008-USA) **

Typically foul-mouthed and genital-obssessed Kevin Smith comedy.
Precious few real laughs.

Quite a decent film I thought. Got way too much hate when it was released

[Markgway]

In the Mouth of Madness (1994-USA) **

Carpenter horror begins well, with a strong performance from Sam Neill, but flounders into a muddled mess by the final third, playing out like a bad parody of a Stephen King adaptation.

The Big Picture (2010-France) **½

Intriguing, but very slow film shifts direction from Hitchcockian thriller to character drama with partial success; a scruffy Romain Duris is miscast in the lead role as upmarket lawyer.

[HungFist]

Alien (USA, 1979) [35mm] – 4.5/5
Scott’s classic is terrific, but not without flaws. The Walter Hill scripted android character is needless sci-fi flirting, even if it might enhance some rather themes on humanity found in the film. The space jockey is another mistake that makes the films less mysterious scary. Thankfully some other references to alien intelligence were removed from the original scrip – they feel out of place in a film that excel as an ice cold and primitive encounter between two species. As a horror film set in space Alien is terrific – as intelligent science fiction much less so.

Galaxy of Terror (USA, 1981) [BD] – 3/5
Roger Corman’s grand space exploitation epic in the heels of Alien. The sets are hugely impressive for a b-movie, but the storyline is fast paced to the point of making no sense. Tension is not build up, and when the first hero is killed, none of the characters even notice someone has gone missing during the entire damn film! Yet, the film is packed with interesting scenes and moments of strong sci-fi horror, which unfortunately share the film with various amusing and silly bits that belong to a different movie. One such example is a crowd pleaser scene so sleazy Corman himself had to direct it to get into the film.

Django (1966-Italy-Spain) **
Brutal spaghetti western, awkwardly plotted and hurt by conspicuous English dubbing
(I'd say this is one genre film where the original language is Italian).

I do like Django, but never managed to love it. Mixes mythic fiction and brutal realism without finding a proper balance between the two. I suppose it's just me, though, since the film is extremely popular

[grim_tales]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: 4/5

Seemed a tad slow at the beginning and unecessarily drawn out (still not sure how they'll fill 3 films with this) but still an impressive film with some great set pieces. Martin Freeman as Bilbo is more of a bumbler than Frodo was I think. Liked the exposition/foreshadowing with LOTR

[Markgway]

Consenting Adults (1992-USA) **

Mediocre Hitchockian thriller; good cast, but plot holes galore.