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

[HungFist]

Might wanna check out Rec, a pretty decent spanish horror out in cinema's in the UK now! Nothing like El Laberinto Del Fauno or El Orphanto though!

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I think it was Sam who liked it a lot. Found it alright myself. Both commenst are in this thread (mine around 6.4.2008)

[grim_tales]

Oh dear, Tom likes Forbidden Kingdom, it must be rubbish
Saying that I quite liked Around the World in 80 Days

[EvaUnit02]

Phantom of the Opera (2004) - 3.25/5
A wonderfully lavish musical. Terrific technical merits, particularly cinematography, production design and wardrobe. The revelation that is Emmy Rossum carries the production as Christine, but the supporting cast is also pretty solid.

The film loses points because Gerard Butler is a rather poor singer, he certainly does have presence though.

One that I'll definitely try to pick up HD-DVD, for the lossless TrueHD track (absent from the BD).

The Sting - 3.75/5
Cleverly written film that never treats the audience like idiots. Pulled the wool over even my eyes and I can normally see twists coming from a mile away. Fantastic production design and cinematography. The leads Robert Redford and Paul Newman Salad Dressing certainly had great chemistry and delivered charming performances.

Knocked Up - 2.5/5
Fairly amusing comedy that provided a fair number of laughs. Utterly forgettable though.

Mad Max 2 - 5/5
A masterly made action film, that deserves its classic status. Hasn't lost any of its power today. Even in a post-Bourne and Ronin world, the finale's chase sequence is still one of the finest ever captured on celluloid.

Under Siege - 3/5
Well executed high budget action film, would watch again. The deliciously over-the-top performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey stole the show.

Out for Justice - 3/5
I was surprised by how decent this was, Seagal in such a credible vehicle. The action choreography was very impressive. Dependable character actor William Forsythe was very memorable as chief antagonist, the psychotic mobster Richie.

300 - 2.5/5
Well made comic book film, but still utterly vapid.

The "schizophrenia" of the Spartans "cinematic strength" was silly. Throughout the film they're virtually Seagal-esque invincible, but at the film's climax they're about as effective as Imperial Storm Troopers.

[Godzooki]

Tigercage wrote:
Based on what you have put in spoilers you either only watched the trailer, fell asleep throughout various sections of the film or had serious trouble following the subtitles...WTF!

None of the above, please explain what you watched? Use spoiler tags obviously.



The Orphange

8 out of 10

Firstly let me say Salty is wrong, wrong, wrong

I thought this was bloody fantastic, yet another fine Spanish film, from a long line of excellent films. I thought it was bloody scary in places. Belén Rueda was excellent (the lead), as was Roger Príncep (the kid). It did feel a lot like "The Others" at times, but that's okay, that's excellent too.

When that old woman was run over by a bus, that was shocking.

I think I've worked it out: The old woman badly treated the orphans and ended up throwing the deformed boy down the stairs. Laura was transported back a few decades (maybe a hundred years) and then died, but the closing shot also implied she had managed to get back to the present time.

Juan Antonio Bayona is a director to watch out for, hopefully he won't be tempted by Hollywood.

It's ironic at the same time yet another shite attempt at America Horror is released (The Eye), Spain have given us another excellent film in the genre. But no it's no Pan's Labyrinth or Open Your Eyes, those are super special though.

Brad, lets be clear there is nothing to work out or have to interpret in El Orphanto, its all fully explained and easily absorbed in the one viewing. You have scored and reviewed it CLEARLY WITHOUT KNOWING WTF was going on. Either you have (as i previously suspected) only watched the trailer or cant follow subtitles.

Its annoying when you cant read posts propertly but to watch a film, champion it and rate it without having been able to follow what went on is unforgivable, especially a film i love so much!

Here is the entire plot for you, please read and respond.

.

Laura, with her physician husband Carlos, returns to an orphanage where she had lived as a child with plans of reopening it as a home for sick and disabled children. They adopted a son named Simón who is HIV-positive, though he is unaware of either his adoption or his illness.

Upon moving into the cavernous and hauntingly beautiful home, Laura takes Simón to visit a cave near the beach, and he claims to see an imaginary friend. After returning home, he draws a picture of him. He is named Tomás, and he wears a sack mask. Because Simón has always had imaginary friends, both Laura and Carlos play along with his stories. Simón later says that he has become acquainted with six imaginary friends.

A mysterious social worker appears one day, talking obliquely of some new treatment for Simón. After inviting her in for tea, Laura becomes suspicious and sends her away. That night, after investigating some rattling noises she hears outside, Laura finds the mysterious social worker skulking around the grounds. Though Laura screams for Carlos' help, the woman escapes before anything else occurs. After reporting the incident, it is discovered that there is no social worker registered with the name Benigna, which the woman gave.

One day, Simón tells Laura about a game that Tomás has created for him, a type of scavenger hunt. The game leads them to the locked drawer where Simón's medical records are hidden. Simón reveals to Laura that he knows that she is not his real mother and that he is going to die. When she asks him how he knows that, he responds that his friends told him.

Soon after, Laura hosts a party for the disabled children to welcome them to their new home. Simón begs to show Laura Tomás' house, but after an argument, and a slap on the face in the spur of the moment, Laura leaves Simón alone upstairs. Back in the garden, she notices a boy with a sack mask, a lot like the picture that Simón drew after their visit to the cave. When Laura returns to check on him, she cannot find him. She checks in the bathroom at the end of the hall, only to be confronted by a boy in a sack mask who she saw earlier at the party. After she tries to remove the boy's mask, he violently locks her in the bathroom, injuring her, and disappears. No one else at the party remembered seeing the boy because all the children were wearing masks. Simón cannot be found; he has simply disappeared without a trace.

Months later, Laura and her husband go for a drive. It is evident that both are still haunted by the loss of their son. At a traffic light, they are surprised by Benigna crossing the street with a pram in front of them. However, in the tension of the moment, a speeding ambulance completely mauls Benigna. Laura, in a panic, checks under the ambulance that killed Benigna, thinking Simón was in the pram. Instead, she finds a doll that looks like Tomás, with his mask on. Laura then rushes to the scene of the accident. And barely see's Carlos attempting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Benigna. After a few moments, he says that the woman is dead. Laura reaches for the woman's whistle necklace, and in her dying breath the woman snatches Laura's hand away.

After searching the woman's home, the police discover that Benigna worked at the orphanage long ago. She had a deformed son named Tomás who drowned in the oceanfront cave near the orphanage. Though his face was hidden from the other orphans, they led him to a cave and took off his mask. They wanted to see if he would dare to come out without his mask; ashamed, he refused and drowned overnight once the tide rose.

The desperate Laura then agrees to have a medium explore the orphanage for supernatural clues to her son's disappearance. The medium sees five child ghosts, screaming in pain and dying of poison. The medium reveals that the reason she can see the dead is that she is close to death herself. Laura begs the medium to tell her how she can find her son - the medium replies that she must use her grief as strength to help her find him, but it all depends on how far she wants to go. Soon after, Laura, following clues she believes were left by Tomás, finds five sacks full of ashes and human bones in the very shed that she caught Benigna snooping in. Laura surmises that the woman had murdered the five children, after their trick had killed Tomás.

Carlos does not believe in the supernatural; he thinks his wife has gone crazy and begs her to leave the orphanage, but she refuses. She insists that she must stay and explore every nook and cranny of the creepy house until it disgorges its secrets. Laura insists that there are too many memories in the house and she needs two days alone to say good-bye.

Carlos goes, leaving Laura alone in the house. After recreating her time in the house as a young girl with the help from some footage of the orphanage that police had found at Begnina's house, she sees the ghosts of the dead friends from her childhood, and they lead her to a hidden door in a closet. Behind the door are stairs leading to a dark basement, and at the bottom she supposedly finds Simón alive and hugs him to her in a blanket. However, when she wills the ghosts to go away, she realises the blanket is empty and it slips to the floor. She then notices a body on the floor, which seemed like Tomás. After unmasking the boy, it turns out to be Simón, who is dead as well, having fallen down a broken banister on the stairwell the day he disappeared. In a sickening revelation it is apparent that his falling from the banister was a sound Laura heard earlier in the film, and that months ago in her frantic search for Simón, she'd unintentionally prevented his escape from the basement.

She carries his body up to the dormitory and kills herself by overdosing on her medication.

Laura awakens, in what seems to be the afterlife, and the ghosts of the five murdered children plus Tomás and Simón, appear before her. Simón asks her to stay and take care of him and his friends forever, and she agrees.

Later, Carlos is seen in front of the house where a memorial to Laura, Simón, and the other children of the orphanage had been built. After going inside one last time to say farewell, he spies a good-luck necklace he had given Laura earlier, on the floorboards inside the children's bedroom. He hears a noise and looks up as the doors swing softly open, and he slowly smiles.

[saltysam]

The Orphange

8 out of 10

Firstly let me say Salty is wrong, wrong, wrong

why?i didn't think it was as great as made out, but i liked it enough to buy the blu-ray.?

It's ironic at the same time yet another shite attempt at America Horror is released (The Eye)

so you've now seen this remake then and passing judgement or are you again basing your opinions on what you've read,not seen

[grim_tales]

I agree with you about Phantom of the Opera Eva (I gave it 3.5/5 I think) and mostly about 300 (I think I gave it 3/5), you're right at the climax the Spartans get their asses whupped! Good fun though!

[bradavon]

I think it was Sam who liked it a lot. Found it alright myself. Both commenst are in this thread (mine around 6.4.2008)

Thanks Hung. I'll see if I can find them. I won't be able to use the Search function easily, as REC is just a common word.

You have scored and reviewed it CLEARLY WITHOUT KNOWING WTF was going on.

Huh? You've never reviewed a film when you didn't understand it 100%? Of course I understood the film. I was just a bit hazy about some of the details, ike that's never happened to you .

Either you have (as i previously suspected) only watched the trailer or cant follow subtitles.

There no need to be an elitist tosser about it. Of course I bloody saw the film. A trailer doesn't even show half what I mentioned in my review, so stop being a complete dick head.

Its annoying when you cant read posts propertly but to watch a film, champion it and rate it without having been able to follow what went on is unforgivable

Read posts properly? WTF is that supposed to mean. I gave my opinion on a film and so did you.

Here is the entire plot for you, please read and respond.

Gee thanks. I didn't need the entire fucking film laid out for me, in some patronising tone.

I don't recall it being said Laura was an orphan herself and lived in the house previously, but I'll take your word for it. I also don't recall seeing Laura kill herself. But thanks for clearing how Simon died and how Laura had inadvertently trapped him. I remember the scene when she shut the door, with all those poles falling out.

How did Simon get in there though? The door had wallpaper all over it. Why was the elderly woman on the street?

Thanks for also explaining what the noises Laura heard meant. I otherwise worked out the plot just fine and already knew the rest of your post. You're wrong about one thing though, it was one of the children not the elderly woman who had tricked Thomas into the cave.

Why?i didn't think it was as great as made out, but i liked it enough to buy the blu-ray.?

Calm down. I wasn't being all serious . I just liked it more than you did, that's all.

so you've now seen this remake then and passing judgement or are you again basing your opinions on what you've read,not seen

Normally I'd say you have a good point but I'm willing to bet The Eye Remake is shit. I've yet to see a good Hollywood remake of an Far East Asian Horror. There's no way I'm interested in paying £7 to see it (or even download it), we all have a finite amount of time to watch films and to see one which is very likely going to be utter rubbish doesn't exactly fill me with glee.

The Ring comes the closest but it's still far from good. The Ring 2 is decent but it's not a remake.

[saltysam]

i like to reserve judgement on movies until i've seen them- i thought you didn't generalise Brad,yet you are prepared to label a film you haven't seen "shit" because of other films you've seen in the hollywood eastern horror remake genre Indeed the Eye is not particularly good,it's quite average really but not "shit"

[Shingster]

I don't recall it being said Laura was an orphan herself and lived in the house previously, but I'll take your word for it.

The opening flashback showed how Laura left the orphanage and then it was repeatedly stated throughout the film that Laura formerly lived at the Orphanage. Even at the end the ghost children said "look, Laura's returned!"

How did Simon get in there though? The door had wallpaper all over it. Why was the elderly woman on the street?

We were told by the medium that people close to death can see "ghosts". Simon had AIDS, so he could see the ghosts of the children & had befriended Tomas. Tomas told him where his hidden room was and gave him the handle to the door.

The old lady was on the street because presumably she lived somewhere nearby.

[Lourdes]

I like to fondle young boys.

[bradavon]

Thanks Shingster. I remember Simon saying how he got the door handle now.

[Godzooki]

You have scored and reviewed it CLEARLY WITHOUT KNOWING WTF was going on.

Huh? You've never reviewed a film when you didn't understand it 100%? Of course I understood the film. I was just a bit hazy about some of the details, ike that's never happened to you .

Either you have (as i previously suspected) only watched the trailer or cant follow subtitles.

There no need to be an elitist tosser about it. Of course I bloody saw the film. A trailer doesn't even show half what I mentioned in my review, so stop being a complete dick head.

Here is the entire plot for you, please read and respond.

Gee thanks. I didn't need the entire fucking film laid out for me, in some patronising tone.

Firstly i never laid the plot out for you in some patronising tone, i did not have the time and i copied it right from wikipedia, you wingnut! Fuck you missed more than half of what was going on in the movie. I struggle to comprehend what you have taken from other films you have supposedly watched.

Also im not being elitist, i only watched the film.......forgive me for having more then one brain cell to understand what was happening.

Have i never reviewed a film when i didn't understand it 100%? Well yes of course i have, many a film encourages the viewer to interpret goings on or work out what it was really about. This however was not one of those movies and everything was laid out on a plate for you.

YOU'RE A DIV!

[Godzooki]

You Bradley are now my no1 internet nemesis.

[bradavon]

I struggle to comprehend what you have taken from other films you have supposedly watched.

Well, that's your problem. Not mine.

Also im not being elitist, i only watched the film.......forgive me for having more then one brain cell to understand what was happening.

Anyone who belittles another for understanding less about a film than they, are being elitist.

[Godzooki]

I struggle to comprehend what you have taken from other films you have supposedly watched.

Well, that's your problem. Not mine.

Also im not being elitist, i only watched the film.......forgive me for having more then one brain cell to understand what was happening.

Anyone who belittles another for understanding less about a film than they, are being elitist.

I just wish you would choose to feed yourself rather than pay for internet!

[Godzooki]

[bradavon]

FUCK, WHY CANT I IGNORE YOU OR JUST POINT AND LAUGH LIKE EVERYONE ELSE??

It seems hard to believe, it was only the other day you were agreeing with me

[gasteropod]

THE BEST THING I CAN POSSIBLY WISH FOR YOU IS AN EARLY DEATH!! :twisted:

Oh come on, that's a bit out of order!

[tom2681]

@Tigercage:
For your information, there is only one person on this board who has the power to kill BnB members.
And he's talking to you right now.

Stop posting in caps.
Stop asking people to die.
There will be no further warning.

This thread is for reviewing films. Anything other than that will not be tolerated.

[Godzooki]

THE BEST THING I CAN POSSIBLY WISH FOR YOU IS AN EARLY DEATH!! :twisted:

Oh come on, that's a bit out of order!

Really?

Ok boys, all points noted & ill try to play nice.

[HungFist]

The Tuxedo (USA, 2002) – 3/5
Surprisingly good and funny US film from Jackie. Beats stuff like Shanghai Noon/Knights hands down.

[grim_tales]

I don't know what to say anymore
The Tuxedo is Jackie's worst US film IMO.

[saltysam]

I don't know what to say anymore
The Tuxedo is Jackie's worst US film IMO.

If the Medallion is classed as a US film i'd say that's his worst.that was dire.

[grim_tales]

I havent seen Medallion but Tuxedo was just awful.

[bradavon]

Knights was poor but I liked Noon. Except for the lovely JLH The Tuxedo stank.

Only Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 have much re-watch value good, as far as JC American films goes.