Hop

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Hmm. Well the animation is pretty good.

They basically made a christmas film but with easter bunnies. There's probably more christmas iconography they steal and convert than actual easter stuff.

I wonder what 5 year old kid is going to know why David Hasselhoff has a talking car. Conversely I wouldn't want to have to sit though any more jellybean poop jokes. Hank Azaria does a funny voice as the evil chick. G-rated Russell Brand is kind of wasted though. James Marsden looks happy enough when he gets to sing.

They never released this in 3D here which would have been one of the only reasons I would have seen it in a cinema. Probably best I didn't though, not really worth it.

Better Off Dead

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Whaaaaa? What a bizarre film. The strangest 80's teen movie I've seen in a long long time. I like that I can still find an 80's teen movie with John Cusack that I haven't seen before, but I must have seen all the good ones.

Well, I hesitate to call this bad, but it's certainly not your usual fare. I mean all the genre clichés are there but it's filled with very odd idiosyncrasies and isn't all that cohesive in the end.

On the plus side I finally know where that "two dollars" gag they point out on the Not Another Teen Movie commentary comes from. Good to know useless trivia like that.

Sucker Punch

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi

Previous viewings here and here and here.

I've watched this one quite a bit this year. I guess that tells you how much I enjoy it. Watched the extended cut again. Good times.

Twister

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Ichina

Finally an excuse to watch my Twister bluray again. How can someone not have seen this?!?! It's the best movie ever!

Ok, so maybe it's not the best movie ever but as I've explained before, this movie was extremely influential in my life. I was Twister obsessed for a good few years. My 9th birthday was Twister themed. I know it by heart, I know every sound every line, every shot. I was denied being allowed to see Jurassic Park at the cinemas so this was the family action adventure blockbuster that introduced me to the wonders of new computer effects in films and started me off on my current career path. This movie means so much to me it does kinda hurt when everyone calls it the "worst movie ever." I can admit now that, yes, it's not Shakespeare, but I can't separate the strong sense of nostalgia and importance on my life this film had.

The effects in this film, groundbreaking at the time and most of them still hold up really well. The advent of computer graphics finally allowed for things like weather to be shaped in some way. Still it would have been a nightmare to make. There's a lot of sky replacement and some horrifyingly complicated rotoscoping in order to do that, what with corn fields, trees and hair flying everywhere. Plus all the practical effects on stage, rigging everything to fly around, including a couple of trucks, and all the rain and hail and wind.

And even through all that the sound is incredible, this was the first film I because aware of sound design, of creating these noises, each twister has a different sound. And the subwolfer gets a great work out. Jan de Bont's next film, The Haunting remake also has great sound, despite being a pretty shit film. Hell, even Speed has great sound. But it really gets to show off in Twister. The use of surround is really neat too.

Watching this film again it's crazy to think of the awesome careers this whole cast have had. This was the first time I would have seen Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeremy Davies, Lois Smith, Zach Grenier and a whole bunch of others who I love and probably had seen before but now know primarily from their roles in this film. I also just discovered an uncredited Joss Whedon did some script doctoring on this? That could explain some of my favourite lines...

Finally I want to mention the score by Mark Mancina. It's rare you can get an action score now that's this melodic and beautiful. I think it's the perfect modern adventure score. I know every note of it and the way it fits with the film is great. You really need those big sweeping americana themes over all those awesome helicopter landscape shots of the cars driving. To me it just screams awesome.

Everything about this film just screams awesome. I'm blinded by my love for this film. Screw the haters, It's a great fun and entertaining film.

Rubber

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi

Original Review.

Excellent Chainsaw Massacre. Hah.

Cowboys & Aliens

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi, Alex, Kyla, Claire, Steve, Andrew

Aside from Olivia Wilde's character being a bit of a cheat I think this movie was alright. Looks great, sounds great, cool cast, good fx, story and action were alright.

There are some great Western moments throughout. The alien side of things were pretty standard though. At least I felt they were, although they did look pretty cool and the final stand off had some fun moments. It's missing something though, I can't quite figure out what, but it never gets to that next level of fun-ness, which you would expect with a title like Cowboys and Aliens.

It's ok though.

Friends with Benefits

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi, Alex

Well I was hoping for a little more from Will Gluck. It's no where near as funny as Fired Up! or as intelligent as Easy A but it's a damn site better than No Strings Attached, which is practically the same film but with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, so I guess that's something.

I do love a good "bad film within a film" and I Love You, I Love New York is very funny, especially the pathetic recreation of New York in L.A. The biggest problem with using this device to poke fun at the conventions of the Romantic Comedy is they are then in the forefront of the audiences mind. The logical step would be to then break with some of these conventions, not to follow them completely to the letter. You're only highlighting how conventional your own film is.

Still it's still better than most romantic comedies I've seen this year. I'll put that down to the good cast. Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake having sex is pretty alright too.

Conan the Barbarian

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi, Jordan

Worst post conversion 3D. If you can avoid seeing it in 3D do so. But apart from that... eh it was alright actually. A bit silly, that's to be expected, but it is gloriously violent which is delightful. My favourite part involved a dude with a chopped off nose and Conan's finger...

Jason Momoa is pretty damn awesome as Conan. I have to admit, I have no strong affinity for the original film or Arnold Schwarzenegger. I do enjoy it but I don't have any strong connection to the source material or nostalgia associated with it. I liked this one about as much as the original.

I liked the opening in this one a little more though. Young Conan is neat. And bonus points for his crazy birth scene and his dad being Ron Perlman. What I didn't like so much are the villains. They aren't that villainous. Rose McGowan looks freaky enough and looks like she's having fun but overall I didn't find them that effective. The love interest wasn't that well done here either.

There's some nice CG matte paintings. Marcus Nispel films always look interesting. It's far more fast paced and action oriented than the original. Conan's a bit more of a savage killer in this one. I could get onboard with some sequels from this iteration, just as long as the story is a little more interesting.

Conan the Barbarian

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Though I'd give this another look before seeing the new one. It's pretty great hey. And looks good on Bluray too. I got it especially for today. I also got the sequel. I don't know why, may as well, but it's certainly no where nears as good as this one. I don't know why they made it PG, Conan should be violent.

It's very pulpy, there's some classic dialogue, sone nice fighting, sexy times, a giant rubber snake. What I think I like best about it is the Basil Poledouris score for the film. Awesome.

I also like that temple set they build and all the extras they filled it with. There's something cool about going to the effort of doing that for real, not that they had the option to fake it with CG, but still, it's pretty cool.

Arlington Road

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Amberly, Jordan, Naomi

Fun watching this with people who had no idea what it was and spent the first hour of the movie trying to figure out what genre i was going to be.

It's also interesting watching this in a Post 9/11 world, where most people would probably not have such a hard time believing Jeff Bridges. Although I doubt anyone in America would remake this film now too.

A friend via web chat also pointed out how frustrating the ending is because it's a Xanatos Roulette which promptly lead to me wasting the majority of the running time addicted too the TV Tropes site. How did I not know about this site before?

Anyway the film was nice to watch again. I remember liking it when it came out because of evil Joan Cusack and the unhappy ending but if you think about it too much it does stretch credibility in a few areas.

Oliver!

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

I have't actually watched this again since I was probably 7 or 8 and yet I remember pretty much every single line of it. This film is the last of it's kind, the classic 2 act film musical and it's also one of the very best.

I don't know how it compares to the stage version but I just know Consider Yourself and Who Will Buy and probably the 2 biggest musical numbers I've ever seen on screen. I was gobsmacked watching it again, there's so much filling the frame. If you're going to do a big musical on film you may as well go all out and stage something that is just impossible to replicate on stage. The film really takes advantage of the filmic language and some awesome sets. It's no wonder it won all those academy awards.

They don't make them like this no more.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi, Alex

Here's my first post. It's pretty great hey.

Logan's Run

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Tyler

I do have a soft spot for Logan's Run but watching again on bluray, man, even for the time, those effects look pretty damn cheap. I may have to take back what I said about the robot in Space Camp, Box is pretty damn stupid robot. Not needed in the plot much either.

Still a lot of classic stuff in this film. I'd be down for a remake though, as charming and nostalgic as the film is it's one that really does show its age.

A Scanner Darkly

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

I really like this film even though I find it so sad. There is humour and even a small glimmer of hope at the end but at its heart this is a very sad story.

I've never read any Philip K. Dick novels despite loving all the films that have apparently ripped him off or used his work as the basis of other stories. From what I hear this is the most literal adaptation of one of his stories. It has a great cast and I've always liked Richard Linklater's work.

Here he's teaming up again with the animation house that did Walking Life with him. I find rotoscoping a nightmare and could not imagine doing a single shot like this, let alone an entire feature but it does give the whole film a very surreal look. It's much easier to follow the action than Walking life and this time the style is uniform throughout, a much more detailed realistic style which helps a great deal.

The music adds so much toward the end of this film. Especially watching it again, knowing the outcome, I find the events quite emotionally gripping, whereas the first time through you never have any idea where the film is heading or if there is even a plot. It definitely rewards multiple viewings. That and it's just pretty to look at.

It's also a great low key sci-fi, my favourite kind. They are all such tragic characters, despite many being funny and very entertaining. I think they pulled off something quite remarkable with this film and it was great to watch again.

12 Angry Men

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Still going through some Sidney Lumet films. I believe this is his first feature film, certainly one of his more famous works and I've never seen it before, I don't usually rush to see court room dramas. But this feels much more like a play, never leaving that one room.

I knew the basic premise and it's well executed and acted. Although I find Henry Fonda always repeating that whole "maybe he is guilty but I don't know" line over and over throughout the film a little annoying after a while. Still it's great to see it finally and one that didn't disappoint.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

This one is just hilarious. They get the 50's B-movie acting, script and despite shooting on dv cams even the shooting style is pretty authentic. It's very well observed. And genuinely funny too.

Unfortunately is suffers for the same pacing issues many of those bad 50's films have, particularly towards the end. I guess it makes it more authentic but not as enjoyable. Most of the best parts are at the start. There are some absolute classic lines and line deliveries though. Love this little number. Check it out!

The Wicker Man

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Been very busy with work lately but managed to squeeze a film or two in while I was working. I love this film. So would call it a Horror but it's so bright and cheery for the most part. Some would call it a thriller or a mystery. And you could even call it a musical is you so desired. I call it awesome.

Christopher Lee is so cool in this, even in a kilt. Even dressed as a lady, he's imposing. Edward Woodward is a bit of a dick and he plays the part so well. I love the psudo-sex-scene through the wall with Britt Ekland. All done to that cool song I now remember was remixed into a club scene in Hostel Part 1.

This film really is one of a kind. (Seriously. The remake is nothing like this film besides a very basic premise.) The build up to the ending is still by far the best part. An old favourite of mine and good to catch up on with the extended version. Adds a few nice bits here and there and a bunch more singing...