Serenity:

Saw one episode of Firefly and didn't like it. Decided to give the movie a try and it bloody ruled. Definitely one of the better sf movies I have seen in a fair while and has inspired me to give the series another chance when I see it cheap on DVD.

Pride and Prejudice:

*sigh*, yeah I know, but I got dragged along with my girlfriend. Never actually seen any previous version of this so can't say how it compares, but there are some truly hideous edits and camera shot choices. I'm not a cinematography buff at all but even I cringed at the cheesiness of how some of the shots were filmed. Guess most of us wouldn't like it but your historical romance buffs (ie women) will lap it up. 

I dont know, Dolce Vita just didnt click with me.

I intend on watching the original Solaris this weekend actually. I've heard the american version's not bad (soderbergh and clonney work well together generally) but have only heard good things about the original. 

There needs to be made an over the top, garish, cocaine scene American version. No, I mean it. 

there is Russian version (somewhat different) of Dolce Vita, not a bad one 

"There needs to be made an over the top, garish, cocaine scene American version"

Scarface 

makes you want to drop everything, fill up the tank, and head down to Miami.

Just don't blow your own snow. 

The Uninvited - korean "horror" film whihc is really more a psychogical drama rather than a horror movie. As a former, it works reasonably well with good direction and acting. But, the script, is really what should be a ough draft and not a final cut. It's overlong by about 30 mins and a little scattered and incoherent. With some more judicious editing, this could have been a very good film rather than an above avergae one.


Solaris - Saw the russian version on the weekend like I planned to. Outstanding stuff.

It drags a little in some parts, but is quality all the way apart from that. The ending is fabulous and I'm now keen to check out the remake, just to see what's kept and what's not.


To speedy and anyone else that's seen it, do you know the reasoning behind the colour/b&w shooting. This is one movie where I couldnt work otu why it was done. 

I enjoyed it. I didn't even know it's based on a TV show, so it's very accesible. I didn't really like paying $8 for a ticket, though. 

I dont rememer what was in b&w 

Dr.Stanley Buba
Chairman Foreign Contract Award Committee(NNPC)
17/10/2005
Maputo Street Zone 3
Victoria Island- Lagos-Nigeria.

Dear Sir ,

I SPAM THEREFORE I AM 

Dr.Stanley Buba
Chairman Foreign Contract Award Committee(NNPC)
17/10/2005
Maputo Street Zone 3
Victoria Island- Lagos-Nigeria.

Dear Sir ,

Is MC Frontalot for real? 

the american version seems too "clean" although I haven't yet seen all of it...
the russian version had some strange parts like the really long pointless car-driving scene.
I liked the book the most - on second reading. 

that car scene reminded me a lot of 2001 and its imagery. 

@ Nigerian scam posting on func_, and the "kept secret forever" on a public message board is pretty solid as well.

I actually liked Cinema Paradiso. But yeah, I tend toward the overly-sentimental if I'm not careful.

I get all choked up at the drop of a hat and am easily manipulated by tear-jerk tactics. So it goes. 

seen a lot of tv stuff over the last month or so :

24 Season 3 - easily the weakest of the seasons, some preposterous plotting and unecessary subplots. Given the scripting it had though, it made a decent fist out of it.

6.5/10

24 Season 4 - A welcome return to form. It's almost as if the writers finally acknowledged that the novelty had worn off and the show had become a slave to its format. So to combat this, they upped the ante in terms of action, twists and stakes. As good as if not better than Season 1, though for completely different reasons.

8/10

Six Feet Under season 3 - The show changed trajectory this season and the results were hit and miss. For every thing that was done well, something else was done poorly. The last 4 episodes are a knockout bunch though. Still, it was weaker than the much stronger first two seasons.

6.5/10

Six Feet Under Season 4 - The decline continues. Personally, I thought the show just turned into high grade soap opera by this point. Some good episodes (david and the hitchiker) but overall the weakest season I've seen.

5.5/10

Spooks Season 1 - competently made BBC spy series, nothing really wrong with it overall. But it's much too cliche for all the reverence it receives.

6.5/10

Entourage Season 1 - Decent series about the life of an up and coming movie star with not much talent, a killer agent, and some leechy friends. Sets up nicely and could be a real winner if the writing becomes sharper.

7/10 

you know, the John Carpenter Antarctica base scifi/horror movie. It was on telly last night. I didn't see it from the beginning, and I've seen it partly before, but it was pretty good to watch again.

They don't do such movies anymore. This is from 1982.
I don't know what is different... I guess the special effects here were still mostly to support the story and not an act itself, although they were a bit cheesy at a few places. Then also, the people acted pretty rationally feeling and felt reserved, and the surrounding base was very no-frills. No cheesy high technology there.

And there were no women in the film to distract the plot.

It's based on a fifties scifi story. I guess the whole thing is just that it's more "adult" than modern scifi movies. The plot had some sidetracks that were good, necessary and consistent, so it felt "realistic". Plus the hero, "Mac" played by the Snake Plissken guy was a good good guy - such actors with some peculiar character are not made anymore, but the casting just selects some generic hunks. 

...and while it didn't suck balls as badly as I was led to believe it would, it certainly wasn't what I would call a good movie. :)

Kinda cheesy and kinda predictable, cookie-cutter characters, an elite military team that continually does really stupid things, slow to get started, and with a "first-person-cam" sequence that actually embarrassed me in a dark movie theater.

The BFG effect was cool, and some of the fight sequences were fun. Meh. 

yeah, it actually had suspense and a script, that's the main difference. The effects were a bit hit and miss but it's a pretty nifty movie. 

That is a good one. So is the original The Fog with its slow, malevolent atmosphere. Has anyone seen the remake yet? 

The Fog with its slow, malevolent atmosphere

That was intentional, right? 

without a 'mal' to pre/fix things. 

Finally made it to the theatres here and it's fantastic even if the ending is too abrupt. Adorable characters and lots of really cool and weird designs. 

I forgot I went to see that.

Not as good as you know what but still nice fun film with, as the bear says, lots of cute designs and cool stuff, and a pleasing sense of dislocation. Ending was a bit weak though even if it was tongue-in-cheek, could have been a bit darker.

Good to watch a straight up plain fun film really. 

I was quite depressed and detached from reality before I went to see this movie but it changed my mind.
First it annoyed the hell out of me when the audience was laughing at every crappy cliche joke, but then the movie started rolling and it was so nice to notice so many small details in the scenes and sets that were so funny.

I had read a few lines of a "critique" in some newspaper and it had already spoiled half of the plot, but the movie worked nevertheless. I always hate such articles.

I really wonder how they do all those sets to be so good-looking. Computer game makers could learn from that - some things were so cute and lively animated too that it was impossible to think of them as clay - even if you often saw the fingerprints on Gromit's forehead. 

Stay makes my head spin. Cool scene transitions, though.