Recently watched

Crono said:
I wouldn't, Land of the Dead was a ridiculous movie. Maybe
he changed something amazing between the theatrical and DVD cut, but,
last time I checked, that movie sucked donkey balls. The entire plot of
zombies becoming smart: LAME!

There are so many flaws in it too.
Besides the zombie learning to get revenge ... God what a f**king
terrible movie, how in God's name could you think it's good? Seriously,
that is just beyond me.

I HATE THAT MOVIE. I hope George Romero
never makes another movie, period. Which has already been denied, since
he's making "Diamond Dead" and wrote "The Crazies", which are both
takes on zombies ... again ...

Personally -- I felt that the changes he made were good, they (pardon
the pun) breathed some life into a stale genre, just as the fast
zombies from 28 Days Later did. Which reminds me, 28 Days Later
is in my top 4 somewhere, maybe in front of Land of the Dead.

I just enjoyed having a different zombie experience. I don't know
if you're a zombie purist or what, but the acting, script,
cinematography were all above average (Dennis Hopper was awesome by the
way, and John Leguizamo was better than he usually is in movies, ie.
Precinct 13... blech) so I don't see where you can really criticize the
movie. If you don't like the changes he made to the zombie
formula and that ruined it for you, I can understand. But I liked
the changes, the scenario (human cities surviving with a system of
protection, and the idea of fiddler's green), the acting, the lines,
the special effects, the pacing, and the pure entertainment of it all.

I just really enjoyed watching it... and it didn't drag like Undead did.

The idea of the city was good. The gore was decent. The Zombie's learning was stupid ... just like it was stupid in Day of the Dead. I like Dennis Hopper too, he was the best part of the movie. The entire plot of the movie could have been better. And no, the acting wasn't good in the least. The only thing worse was the dialog.

Undead wasn't meant to be serious. If Land of the Dead was meant to be a joke, I wouldn't be so hard on it. Because ... it's pretty damn stupid, to be perfectly honest.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

shrug I liked the dialogue and the acting. It was better than the dialogue in 28 Days Later anyway.

I watched Citizen Kane
last night, for the first time. Not really out of interest, but
because I got chastized in one of my film classes for never having seen
it before.

I liked the shots in the beginning with the stark lighting and the
smoke. I liked how deep some shots were. I also liked the
long takes and the fluid mobile camerawork. But overall, I didn't
enjoy the story or find the movie very entertaining. I like Joe
Cotton as an actor (watch
Shadow of a Doubt and
you will too) but I didn't really like the other characters. The
women were just downright irritating.

Anyway -- I wouldn't watch it unless you're a wannabe film buff :smile:

I just watched I Heart
Huckabees and I have to say I enjoyed the middle bits the most...
the parts where Mark Wahlberg and Jason Schwartzman are hanging out
together.

Overall -- it was a pretty zany movie. I'm not sure how I feel
about it... but I don't regret watching it, but I wouldn't buy it.

Splashed out on the 8 disc box set of This Life, an ace TV series from the 90s. Should keep me occupied for a while :biggrin: Did anyone else ever watch it? Everyone I know seems to have heard of it but never seen it.

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Hello there.

I'm not a general anime fan but there are a few that are just so wonderfully weird. Saw "Mindgame" yesterday and it's a total mindf**k. I didn't get a thing but it's just so far away from anything you'd see in a western movie that I actually enjoyed it.

Today was a lazy day. Watched several movies.

"Walk the line" Much better than I imagined it would be considering the topic.
"Yours, Mine and Ours" Great remake.
"Monte Walsh" Great Western.
"What Lies Beneath" Never thought Harrison Ford could pull off this type of movie. Very out of character.
"Dark Water" Great Movie. 'Nuff said.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I just watched Band of
Outsiders for a paper I have to write. It's a French New
Wave film by Godard. A few bits I liked, but overall this movie
really dragged for me.

Tomorrow morning I have to go back and watch choice bits so I can take enough notes to support a paper. :S

I watched Schinder's List the other night 'cause I have it on VHS and never watched it. Kind of hard to follow, maybe 'cause I was watching at 3 in the am, but he seems all content during the whole movie and then just has a Jew-loving breakdown at the end and it's like where the hell did that come from? Good movie, though.

Watched Jarhead last night... didn't expect or need to see Jake Gyllenhaal's ass. Not sure what I think of it since there wasn't much of a plot so much as character development. Least violent war movie I've ever seen... I don't think they shot anybody in the whole film. Crazy.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

I haven't seen Jarhead yet but a film critic for the New York Times
said the problem with the movie was that the director never really took
a stand either way... ie. war is bad or good.

Would you agree?

Saw V for Vendetta last night.

So relieved. I was afraid it would be screwed up and made into an action movie, but it was incredibly faithful to the Moore/Lloyd book.

I really enjoyed it. And for first time, taking the head, director James McTeigue, did a really great job. However, I can see how working on the matrix films rubbed off on him (no not bullet time, you ass) the overall camera work is much like Wachowskis, actually, it's usually steady long shots, with lots of panning. In otherwords, everyting on screen is what they wanted you to see. So, a huge kudos, also, to cinematographer, Adrian Biddle for that.

The only thing I didn't like about the movie, is that the parts they cut out from the book were my favorite parts.
[SPOILER OF MOVIE AND BOOK]
The idea of "The Head" block in downtown London, except "The Finger" and fingermen, is gone.
The idea of the computer "Fate" telling "The Leader" everything that will happen, that's all gone
So, obviously, V doesn't have control of Fate.
About 5 characters aren't introduced, at all (which were pretty important)

Everything else they changed or added was pretty good. I especially enjoyed the character, Deitrich (Stephen Fry) and the whole Benny Hill-esq sketch.

Changing Evey's past was alright too ...

The important things (besides Fate) they got right and did very well. (The death scene of Dr. Surridge is almost word for word.)
[/SPOILER]

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Just finished North Country.

Damned fine movie, if you like that sort.

5 stars.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Morphine - Takes me 4 days to read stuff I guess. Anyhoo, no, I don't think he really took a stand, he basically shows how it can suck (getting shot/stabbed/killed/blown up, etc.), how it can be, eh, cool (get to see stuff that you'd never otherwise see, i.e. burning oil fields), and that it sticks with you the rest of your life.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

Watched Jarhead this morning. Frankly, it wasn't that great. The basic training was fairly representative of Marine basic though.

Honestly speaking Full Metal Jacket had a much better representation of basic training, albeit Army Basic.

Jarheads are notoriously stupid folk so, I assume the Marine basic scenes to be accurate judging from what I know, and what they portrayed.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Just finished Howl's Moving Castle.

Good storyline. Typical Japanimation.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Watched The Machinist tonight, seemed Fight Club-ish in a few parts, but this one's more confusing. The end explained most of it but I still don't get some of it soooooo, I don't know. Hah. The guy's soooooooooooooooo skinny in it, it's friggin' ridiculous. So, I guess watch it if you like creepily skinny guys and crazy movies.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

Watched Jarhead this morning. Frankly, it wasn't that great. The basic training was fairly representative of Marine basic though.
Honestly speaking Full Metal Jacket had a much better representation of basic training, albeit Army Basic.

Couldn't agree with you more Orph. I got to the end and thought, so
what, Full Metal Jacket did this better, and with a reasonably coherent
plot, rather than a few cinematic sequences strung together. Actually
in terms of Gulf War related movies, Three Kings beats this hands down.

Saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, bit shaky at the start, but over all a
pretty good film, Val Kilmer is actually good in this, as opposed to
his latest string of flops and B-grade rubbish. Though Mind Hunters
wasn't bad and he was in that.

NightWatch was good as well, took a fairly generic type of plot and
made it something different and interesting. A bit hard to follow in
some parts though with not much description of some of the key
concepts. Overall a big hand to the Russians.

Also saw a rather strange sci-fi called Immortal, about egyptian
gods and such. Interesting and strange, but not necessarily bad.

Just finished watching the Family Guy movie, lots of laughs and some
great moments. Kinda like a giant episode, or watching 4 episodes back
to back.

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Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

I watched V for Vendetta last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend watching it.

I want to sooo badly... have to wait to rent though :sad:

Splashed out on the 8 disc box set of This Life, an ace TV series from the 90s. Should keep me occupied for a while :biggrin: Did anyone else ever watch it? Everyone I know seems to have heard of it but never seen it.

I've heard of it, can't say I'm a fan of Egg and Co though..

OT: Gwil, you like Autechre?

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http://maze5.net

Picked up Spirited Away at long last today, as it was down to just ?5 in HMV so it was hard to say no. I enjoyed two of his other films - Princess Mononoke and Laputa - and unsurprisingly enough I really enjoyed this one too. Absolutely charming from start to finish. Towards the end I was beginning to wonder how long the thing was gonna last, but not because it had outstayed its welcome or anything, simply because it seemed to take longer than I had expected, but that was my only potentially negative comment really.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

OT: Gwil, you like Autechre?

Yarr mazey, love 'em. I'm a bit of a fanboy for quite a lot of stuff
that's off Warp Records actually. Having said that, I still haven't
heard anything off "untilted" yet. A friend offered to sell it me cheap
the other day (he didn't like it) but I was fresh out of cash, so it
passed me by.

ReNo, if you enjoyed Spirited Away you NEED to watch My Neighbor Totoro, also by Miyazaki. The first time I watched this movie I was really young and still living in Tokyo, and I loved it. I forgot about it and then rediscovered it a few years ago, made my girlfriend at the time watch it with me, and loved it again (and she liked it too, so it's not just my nostalgia affecting my judgement). It's a children's movie, but it's amazing and definitely worth seeing if you even remotely enjoyed Miyazaki's other stuff. It's from 1988 but its still beautifully animated. And the dust balls are in this one too!

Wow I sound like a fanboy.

But seriously, check it out. :smile:

OT: Gwil, you like Autechre?

Having said that, I still haven't
heard anything off "untilted" yet. A friend offered to sell it me cheap
the other day (he didn't like it) but I was fresh out of cash, so it
passed me by.

Lets move this to Recently Listened:
http://www.snarkpit.net/forums.php?forum=1&topic=2010&start=705#post117761

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http://maze5.net

A couple of Mikee Takeshi films.

Ichi The Killer: I love the camera work in this film, very fluid camera work and shows exactly what's needed to be shown.

Audition: So hey, I didn't get the entire plot but I love a film that makes me think, still thinking about it now.

I FINALLY got to see Donnie Darko.

I liked it, but it was hard to follow even for someone of my HUGE mental capacity :biggrin:

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

I didn't like Donnie Darko as much as everyone else did, since it makes no sense.

Anyway -- I watched The Inside Man in theaters today.

It had a clever story, star power with some good acting, but overall it was fairly tepid. I mean, it had all the elements I can think of for a good movie, but in general it just didn't get me as excited or involved or enthused as a movie like LA Confidential or Chinatown.

Definitely not as good as other Spike Lee films, but not bad, just tepid.

Donnie Darko makes sense. What doesn't make sense, exactly?

Better than Girl Six, I imagine, :razz: I'll see it next week, and maybe Slither too, because that movie looks very funny ... and gory.

Anyway, I saw Night Watch, finally, because it was finally released here (delayed for over a year)

The movie wasn't bad, by any means, it just felt like ... there were certain elements that were downplayed. It was something else than what I expected as well. I think, the movie doesn't stand well on its own, I need to see Day Watch and whatever the third one is (when they make it) and then make a judgement about the overall series.
There are some really cool ideas in the movie though. I do suggest it, but don't expect a masterpiece. However, it's still really well made, not as "low budget", so to speak, as a lot of people implied, literally everything in the movie is done well.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I haven't seen Donnie Darko in a long while but looped endings never make sense because the loop has to start somewhere

Let me know how Slither is, I have my eye on it.

Just watched: Dreamer.

Excellent!!!

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Just watched "A Sound Of Thunder"

Top notch sci-fi. If you're into time travel adventures, this one is a "Should See"

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Watched: Memoirs of a Geisha this morning.. 5 stars.

I really liked this one.

Watched: King Kong yesterday. Contrary to popular opinion, Jack Black did not ruin it. The cinematography was superb. A great remake of an old title.

Kong dies.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Watched A History Of Violence, it was oh so ironically violent. Really, really, violent. And Maria Bello's like 40 but she's still super-hot. Good lord. I couldn't sleep last night 'cause of it.

Watched The Man, haha. Good stuff, amusing. Cliched action crap and all but man Levy/L. Jackson = good comedy team. haha!

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

Kong dies.

Way to ruin it for me.

But yeah, I was worried about Jack, but he added comic relief when it was necessary.

I watched the trailer for Nacho Libre, I love Jack :biggrin:

French Toast said:
But yeah, I was worried about Jack, but he added comic relief when it was necessary.

Actually, I honestly feel that the directors cashed in on his natural tendency to be shallowish.. He played the part he was given very well.. I self absorbed self promoter..

He pulled it off.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I watched Jarhead just now.

I thought Jake G was pretty good -- much better than I expected
actually. Peter Saarsgard was good as usual. Jamie Foxx was
good enough, didn't really have to act a whole lot in the movie though.

Overall, it kept my attention, but I didn't leave feeling anything
particular. Which is bad, for a seriousish movie like this.
You should leave feeling something, anything. That's why people
(or maybe just me) go to movies, to feel.

Well, not really a movie in the traditional sense, but any Chili
Peppers fan should watch Live at Slane Castle. THere's some crazy
improv stuff there that just makes you respect those guys.

Just watched "The Triplets of Belleville" on DVD. I've seen this film in cinema and loved it. A beautiful piece of animation for grown ups. The story is a rather surreal tale about an old lady and her dog searching for her kidnapped grandson. But it's the art direction and the love for detail that makes this film so great. Very unique.

watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas last night.
An... interesting movie. Have to say the scenes where Johnny Depp was on acid were very cool :biggrin:

Overall it wasnt a great movie, very entertaining though

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Bullet Control: $5000 for a bullet.
"I would blow your f**king head off! ...if I could afford it. I'm gonna get another job, start saving some money... then you a dead man!"

read the book too while you're at it
same story exactly but you can understand what they're saying

but yeah and the beginning kicked ass

watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas last night.
An... interesting movie. Have to say the scenes where Johnny Depp was on acid were very cool :biggrin:
Overall it wasnt a great movie, very entertaining though

Yea, great movie although, basically, it's not about much more than two guys high on drugs. :biggrin:

that's because he's a gonzo journalist, the book author that is, he lives what he's writing about

he did a documentary on the Hell's Angels and actually lived with them for like 5 years to experience it

Just finished "Fun with Dick and Jane"

Was funny but... Sadly it was one of those movies that shows the 10 best parts in the previews. :sad:

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Just about to say the same thing. But I did find when Jim was in
full black and goofing around with that guy the funniest scene in the
movie.

lucky number slevin sucks

that is all..

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f**k Fun maps!

Saw King Kong yesterday and saw Scary Movie 4 today. Hilarious movie by the way. Go see it.

Just saw Johnny English on TV. Very good for what I expected!

Boondock Saints: I finally watched it on a TV instead of in a 300x400 divx theatre recording. It's so great. I wish i had a brother more my age... that isn't a dipstick.

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com