Skip to main content

Last movie you saw

Bkeela, the only scrolling text is the "A long time ago etc" The rest of setup is done in a voiceover rather than the normal long scrolling text. And the music has been tweaked a bit.

The TV Series is still supposed to be coming, but I've heard whispers that Lucas is so enamored with how this movie was made that he's thinking of doing the TV series the same way.

Considering there's well over 100 books, and more coming out all the time there are so many things that would make wonderful films. A movie with Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn... ~sigh~ or Darth Bane, I'd die happy.

However, Lucas has sworn that there will be no more live action feature films. We may have to wait until he's dead.
 
Hopefully Lucas will change his mind like he did with releasing the original trilogy non-special edition on DVD.

Tonight I saw There Will Be Blood. A well researched, lovingly detailed film about an unusual man consumed with hatred, and bent on conquering others. A far from pleasant experience, but educational nonetheless. At the end I was surprised to see Paul Thomas Anderson credited as the director. I had given up on him after he followed Magnolia with a film starring Adam Sandler - an unforgivable sin. But I forgive him now.
 
I keep hearing Strangers is based on a true story. Or so the ads keep saying but I'm yet to see it and Tarn's excellent review has made me wonder if its worth it.
 
I've just seen a few DVDs....

Next
This is a bit of a gem as far as I'm concerned. I never heard about it till I trawled my favourite DVD store online and found it there. I had to go into town to pick up another DVD I had ordered so instead of getting Next online I picked it up with the other one I had collected. More of that one later.

Next is the story of a man played by Nicolas Cage (a very underrated actor IMHO) called Cris Johnson. He is a performer in Las Vegas with a minor stage act as a kind of mentalist. He can predict things in the future. The gag with this, however is that what he can do isn't a stage act. He has the ability to see 2 minutes into the future, or thereabouts. But he keeps the talent kind of low key so that he for the most part stays under the radar with people. But on the night the movie starts he is playing at a casino and winning at cards.

This action makes the security people upstairs who are watching him suspicious. They think he is cheating in some way and want to grab him for some questioning. But because he is now aware of them he rather deftly evades capture by stealing a car in an elaborate cat and mouse game of evasion.

The movie then switches to the office of one Callie Ferris played by the lovely Julianne Moore who is an FBI agent also tipped off about Nic Cage's character. She's been watching his show and is also
suspicious. But suspicious in that his abilities must be somehow real. She tries to recruit him to helping her find some terrorists of European origin who have brought a nuclear weapon into the city of LA and plan to blow that up. Cris for his part doesn't want any part of this because as a child he underwent examination after examination about his gift and thus wishes to keep his low profile life.

He has regular habits. He always visits this coffee shop at the same time every day because he has seen a vision of a girl that will come there. True enough that girl does come and is played by the lovely Jessica Biel. He wants to get out of the area so after some drama with her and a mad suitor of hers he gains her sympathy, after the suitor decks him..

Thus they embark on our adventure and we have both the FBI and now the terrorists after this guy. I won't say any more because the movie picks up from the point after they leave the coffee shop and things start moving at a good pace. The ending left me gasping because I thought I was watching one set of events, but it all tied together very well as far as I'm concerned.

I loved it.


Stargate Continuum
I don't really have a lot to say about this movie. It's a direct to DVD movie with a few bonus features on the disk. Good points of the movie. They actually went on location to Antarctica to film part of the movie, got help form the US Navy too. One scene has a submarine surfacing through the ice. That was pretty damn awesome to watch as it was a real Navy sub and filmed on location. The other good thing was the use of real planes in the movie. No for flying of course but they used 4 F-15 Eagles as set pieces for a scene or two.

I can't really tell much about the story here because unless you are familiar with Stargate SG1 the TV series none of it will make much sense. Suffice to say that the movie starts out with our heroes being at a ceremony to "execute" of the series long time bad guys called Ba'al... What they do is not actually kill the person but rather the parasite being that has taken over this poor sod and turned them into Ba'al..

During the ceremony one by one our heroes start to vanish on the spot, but not before several of them escape via a Stargate. Then follows a long time travel story where they try to unravel what has happened to them and return to their own time and place.

For fans of the show this is a good movie but not as good as their previous DVD "Ark Of Truth." Given the choice of the two I much preferred AOT over this.
 
Last edited:
ChocolateLovingEntity said:
I keep hearing Strangers is based on a true story. Or so the ads keep saying but I'm yet to see it and Tarn's excellent review has made me wonder if its worth it.
Click to expand...

Thank you both very much.
But of course, movies are really a matter of taste - I suspect that it is going to be a huge DVD hit due to teenage sleepovers, and wanting to be terrified. (And for the young, some of the clichés will be quite new). That is where this movie hits the mark. It is scary. It is not a documentary.

But of course, there are a few statements of 'fact' made, about the date and the place and the people involved, and it seems those facts are completely fictional.
At least, I checked Google News archives for single, double and triple murders and home invasions that happened on the 11th of February 2005, and found that actually, in 2005, in the USA, people were much more likely to be murdered by people they knew, unless they were elderly or in the police force.

There are some resemblances to two very famous home invasion murders - the Keddie Murders, and the Manson family murders at 10050 Cielo Drive .

Quite a few of the characteristics of this incident are shared with other movies - and this person has more specific allegations about a European movie that I have not seen, based on a true story I know nothing about (although I agree with them on the other two murders)

There is no attempt at realism, anyway. It is a stock standard horror, meant to terrify, and terrifying.

edit: On the subject of fictionalising true stories, here is an interesting link detailing the differences between the card counting operation in the movie 21 and the real life gambling ring it was based on. (doesn't seem so great, when you realise they were effectively getting about $20 an hour for their efforts. Rory gets more than that counting bricks.)
 
Last edited:
The Valley of Elah ~ moves a bit slowly but in hindsight I felt that just enhanced the feeling the director was trying to induce regarding the hopelessness and pointlessness of the Iraq invasion and how it is really truly and deeply damaging young people.
Ultimately quite powerful in it's simplicity I thought.
 
Going to see Baby Mama this week, then hopefully The Strangers next week...eek!
 
TAKEN: A former spy (Liam Neeson) relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter (Maggie Grace), who has been forced into the slave trade

Ok so not much of a storyline his 17 year old daughter goes on a trip to Paris where she is snatched and forced into a prostitution ring and he has to fly there and find her within 96 hours or he will never see her again. Think Bourne Identity movies but more violent and great one liners and that's the movie! I really enjoyed it, I was laughing and loved the fighting and stunts in it!

Oh Holly Valance has a small part in it, not very spectacular.

[youtubevid]mnVIZZxdYpw[/youtubevid]
 
Last edited:
pawlini said:
TAKEN: A former spy (Liam Neeson) relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter (Maggie Grace), who has been forced into the slave trade

Ok so not much of a storyline his 17 year old daughter goes on a trip to Paris where she is snatched and forced into a prostitution ring and he has to fly there and find her within 96 hours or he will never see her again. Think Bourne Identity movies but more violent and great one liners and that's the movie! I really enjoyed it, I was laughing and loved the fighting and stunts in it!

Oh Holly Valance has a small part in it, not very spectacular.

[youtubevid]mnVIZZxdYpw[/youtubevid]
Click to expand...




But does our plucky hero save the day?

Bourne was a good movie but they made 2 sequels and they were never as good as the original.. Although I had more fun watching the 2nd movie I must admit.

Bourne vs Batman now that'd be a good fight
 
I'm envious, I really want to see Taken. So many movies to schedule in! Me and my friend generally see one a week. Think we're gonna make it Baby Mama, The Strangers then Taken for the next few weeks. I didn't know Holly had a small role in it, I love her.
 
re: STRANGERS

The basic story of a couple being terrorized by a group of people was based on the famous killing in the Czech Republic, which was also made into a French Film titled Ils, translated to mean "Them."

This is false. The Strangers original release was held TWICE, meaning Ils came out first (see IMDB).

Strangers really is a good film, because it actually manages to terrify you, something most (like, 90%) of scary movies fail to do. The worst part for me was the bit on the promotional poster, that is some scary shit right there. But, without giving anything away, most of the good of the movie is undone in the last two seconds.
 
Ravenau1 said:
Bkeela, the only scrolling text is the "A long time ago etc" The rest of setup is done in a voiceover rather than the normal long scrolling text. And the music has been tweaked a bit.

The TV Series is still supposed to be coming, but I've heard whispers that Lucas is so enamored with how this movie was made that he's thinking of doing the TV series the same way.

Considering there's well over 100 books, and more coming out all the time there are so many things that would make wonderful films. A movie with Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn... ~sigh~ or Darth Bane, I'd die happy.

However, Lucas has sworn that there will be no more live action feature films. We may have to wait until he's dead.
Click to expand...




As soon as George sees the $$$$$$$ he'll change his mind.

And there's lots and lots and lots of merchandising. new books, models, new legos even.
 
forgetting sarah marshall

this movie is soooooooooooooooooooooo cool love it :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top