Amph What was the last movie you saw?

I think the beginning with the Rock climbing/camping and the end beginning with "Please sir, not in front of the Klingons." are worth seeing again. The rest of five is just crap though (Shatner directed crap, I might add).

 

Don't forget my all-time favorite ST moment "What does God need with a starship?".

ST: V is one of those movies that gets so much grief that after a while it tips the scales and it suddenly becomes underrated; at least to me. Sure it has low rent production values and cheapo F/X. And yes the initially intruiging premise does begin to fall apart like an '89 Hyundai Sonata long before the "That's it?" final act, but I still think the film is fun. It may not be as well made as IV and VI, but if I had to sit down and watch one of the three I'd pick ST: V nine times out of ten.

 

Watched "Sound City" last night. The first half with interviews with band members and employees of the studio etc was fabulous. The second half about Dave Grohl putting the Neve console in his own studio really dragged. Nice seeing McCartney jamming with the guys from Nirvana, but even that went on a bit long.

 

At least V didn't kill off a major character in an insipid and uninspired manner and replace them with the next 'model' *Glares at Nemesis hard*

 

In the days before this wretched "like" system, we not only used to QFT, but QMAOFT, and most coveted of all, NIAWYC. There are still those of use who respect the old ways. Who live by them.

 

If I went for a ST movie I would pick First Contact, but I'm largely a TNG person.

 

I wouldn't totally disagree with that. Spock and McCoy did get some nice character moments.

 

Hey ***holes,
Take it to the Star Trek thread or Indiana Jones thread.


Heavyweights(1995) - starring Ben Stiller and a bunch of fat kids. I've seen this a bunch of times. Something about fat kids and summer camp that always amuses me.

 

The Godfather (1972)

Probably the first big shock on the "halibut hasn't seen this film yet" list. But I am glad that has now been rectified. At last a decent film on the list.

It was almost like watching 2 movies. The first ends with the cafe shootout, and the second begins with Michael in his "new life". The effects were excellent (apart from the fake horse head - though the blood was spot on). The story was engaging with plenty of surprises throughout. Vico's assassination attempt took me by surprise, but on the flipside it was obvious that Michael's first wife wasn't going to last long!

It needs another viewing as there were quite a lot of names to learn and I id get a bit confuddled as to who was whom.

But a very solid film, and I look forward to the next part.

 

Addams Family Values

I saw the film (plus it's predecessor) as a kid and was never fussed by them much. Seeing it for the 1st time in years as an adult however I found it hilarious - love the Thanksgiving play.

 

Identity Thief lol.

it was ok. exactly what you think it would be.

 

The Life of Pi - What I was told: "It's a powerful tale about faith." What I thought: It's a boring tale about shallow "spirituality". What I was told: "The visuals are amazing!" What I thought: The visuals are fake and showy (Though the CG-rendered creatures are extremely impressive). I will say that newcomer Suraj Sharma is outstanding as the teenage Pi, and the always great Irrfan Khan is equally good as the middle aged Pi recounting the tale. I have a feeling this film is could be a bit polarizing, though ultimately I found just enough good things to give it a tepid recommendation. - 6.5/10

 

I love 'Ghost World'. It's one of those few movies that perfectly captures adolescence.

 

Forbidden Planet

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I must confess, I have seen part of this film when I was very young. All I remembered was a red monster killing people and me running to my room to hide. It scared the willies out of me. I've also been involved in a production of Return to the Forbidden Planet so I had an inkling of what it was about.

But it was pretty good. Terribly dated attitudes, but there's not getting around that. Very much like an episode of Star Trek. Roddenberry said that this film was a major influence, so I expect it's no coincidence that the first number mentioned in the film is 1701. It's also clear to see how groundbreaking this must have been at the time. The effects are really good. At first I thought the giant flying saucer must have been a matte painting, but the way the camera moved showed it was built for real. All the sets were good. Fun fact: The Doctor's garden is a redress of the Munchkin Village from Wizard of Oz.

Also very unusual is the "score". First score ever made entirely of electrical sounds. As such it was ineligible to be nominated for an Oscar.

The acting performances were solid throughout, and some nice comic relief from the Cook

A great way to spend 100 minutes

 

Departures (Okuribito in Japanese). Finally got around to watching this, on Netflix. We'd been meaning to and somehow kind of forgot about it. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 2009.

Basically, the main character loses his job as a cellist when the orchestra closes. He and his wife move back to his hometown, where he inadvertently takes a job performing ceremonies preparing the dead for funerals and cremations. He eventually finds it fulfilling, and is also able to come to terms with his father (who had abandoned him and his mother when he was a boy). Don't want to give away more than that, but it's excellent... definitely recommended.

 

A vast improvement over the original in every possible way. The actors really get into their characters including the great Raul Julia. Shame it didn't do as well as the original.

 

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Good movie

 

Seconded. Very impressive movie. The special effects have barely aged at all.

 

Won't Back Down

It was really good. It made me want to teach elementary school (actually, sometimes my HS students make me want to teach elem because their basic skills are lacking) except for the fact that I can't stand younger kids.

 

I did not like the soundtrack. Felt like I was tripping acid.

 

What's wrong with that?

 

Ip Man - In my experience, most biopics stink. Of course most biopics don't have kung-fu battles interspersed throughout the story. Sadly, when the titular Ip Man isn't beating people sensless, this is one of the dullest films I've ever seen. Our hero has zero charisma, no real arc and in dozens of fights he gets hit exactly once. Where's the drama in that? The fact that it's also bad history and bursting with Chinese nationalism is another matter. - 6/10

 

Raising Arizona. Simply amongst my favorite Coen Bros. movies. I got the yodeling theme stuck in my head now but I don't mind that much.

 

Robot & Frank - good movie about an old man with bad memory whose kids get a robot to watch after him. 9/10

 

I don't know exactly.