The Silver Screen

All general, non-comics discussion goes here!

Moderators: Don Alexander, midgetshrimp

Post Reply
User avatar
Bear
BANNED
Posts: 7649
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:20 pm
Location: England

The Silver Screen

Post by Bear »

We now bring to you a Bear Inc. Production, sponsored by The Elder Cave.

Movies! We all love a good movie, be it a horror film, adventure, comedy, or even an independant arthouse film if your that way inclined. So here we now have the thread to tell everyone about your movie tastes!

Do you have a favourite film? Is there one you absolutely loathe? Are you heading to the Cinema anytime soon? Or is there a movie your really looking forward to? Did you spot an easter egg in a movie that your just bursting to point out for massive geek points gain?

Feel free to discuss, compare, rant, praise or generally make comment on any kind of movie you want to? (not including youtube or online). Please, No spoilers on new movies incase someone hasn't seen them yet!


And to get the ball rolling. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's loved the recent rash of Marvel Comic Book movies, or who is looking forward to the ones they've announced over the next few years... Iron Man 2, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Ant Man, Thor and of course, The Avengers Movie.

Iron Man is one of my current favourite films, and I just hav eto say how annoyed I am at them replacing the actor who plays Jim Rhodes in it. Why the hell? The guy you've got was far better suited and fit the roll much better then that jumped up pretty-boy you've got to replace him! He better be the best War Machine ever or I'm gonna suit up the Iron Bear and come kick some ass! Iccidently.. did anyone spot Captain America's sheild in the first movie?

Also... Futurama... I know they're Direct to DvD but I'm sure we've all enjoyed the revival that its seen. But does anyone else think that the overall quality of them has declined since the first one, Benders Big Score? While I've loved Beast with a Billion Backs and Benders Game, I just don't think they were as good as the first one.

User avatar
Don Alexander
Dr. Ebil SithMod
Posts: 28238
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Under the arms of the ancient oak, where daylight hangs by a lunar noose...

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Don Alexander »

Ah, Bear, Lord Thread-Starter...

I could probably write five pages on movies. I'll try to keep it short for beginners.

My absolute favorite movie of all time is Terminator 2. I recently, finally, watched the director's cut (though even this version missed a few scenes), and I realized once again why this is my fave movie. The third part was actually better than I had feared, and I am really looking forward to Terminator Salvation (because it HAS Christian Bale in it :lol: )!!

My two favorite movies in the fantasy genre are actually not really real fantasy movies. They take place on historic Earth, but have fantastic elements in them: The 13th Warrior & Le Pactes des Loupes (aka Brotherhood of the Wolf). Of course, I also love the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in all its extended glory.

LoTR has ended a long, long dearth of good fantasy movies, now everyone is making them, which means quite a lot are pretty crappy too... This has been to the detriment of SF movies which have taken a backset these last years.

In the SF version of vi vs. emacs I profess to prefer Star Wars to Star Trek. I even saw Return of the Jedi when it came out in 1983, I was six years old. We were running late, it was sold out but they still sold us tickets, and we sat on the steps of the aisle and I missed the first five minutes of the movie - took me many years before I managed to see them. As I grew up essentially without a television and totally without a video recorder, I have not seen very many of the classic TV series, especially Star Trek. Though I have seen all the movies and like most of them. The one TV series I absolutely love (though I only got to know it from DVD) is Firefly, plus the "anti-pilot" Serenity. KayLee is my Geek Goddess <3 <3 <3

But Star Wars is far from being my favorite SF movie, especially because, as a physicist, I often cringe at treknobabble and space opera supersoft science... If one counts even slightly futurist movies as SF, then my favorite SF movie is definitely Strange Days. I also love the Alien and Predator series even though the last really good one in both series was (depending on which one is newer) Alien³ (in the long restored version, sooo much better than the cienma release) or Predator II.

In terms of comedies, I'm a total fan of the two Bill & Ted movies!!! I am expressly NOT a Monty Python fan.

My favorite comic book adaptation is Hellboy/Hellboy II. Guillermo del Toro is a genius, and Pan's Labyrinth is also stunning. I liked Iron Man a lot, perhaps even a bit better than The Dark Knight.

So, enough for the moment, expect to see me more often here, I'm something of a movie/DVD buff. (Though not an arthouse person at all, my taste in movies is rather mainstream.)
ImageImage
Sithlord of the Sithling and best customer of McLovecraft's Image, in the business of keeping the little Platypus in business
Moderations in GREEN and signed by the DAMNed. I am not anonymous! Also, MODSMACK!! Image
Winner of the... 2010 Kilopost FRANKIE; 2010 Mad March Nom Off; 2010 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2010 Fan-Thing Contest; 2010 Mimic Contest (tied); 2011 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2011 Contest-for-the-next-Contest (tied)

User avatar
Dirty n Evil
Deceptively Evil
Posts: 5914
Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 2:14 am
Location: Salem, Oregon, United States of America

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Dirty n Evil »

I've long since developed a system for explaining myself... through the watching of movies. Anytime I've had a serious girlfriend, I've gotten them to watch these movies with me, and tell them what to understand about my through the watching.

I'll put in Real Genius, and tell them "this is the movie that most shaped my sense of humor". I'll put in Better Off Dead, and tell them "this is the movie that most represented my luck". I'll put in Somewhere In Time, and tell them "this is the movie that most influenced my romantic ideals." (My mother owned a bootleg of it on Betamax growing up, and I was exposed to it as she watched it over, and over, and over.) I put in both Excalibur and Adventures of Robin Hood (the one with Errol Flynn) and explain "these are my heroic ideals." Then I put in Unforgiven, and I warn that this is the sort of darkness I understand all too well because I recognize it inside me.

But lastly? I have them watch Clerks. Because at the time the movie came out, I was a goatee wearing convenience store clerk who was the only reliable employee that store knew. I had some pretty confusing relationships with my girlfriends and my best friend worked in a movie rental store and had long blonde hair. And we played in a hockey league together. People called me "Dante" so much I ended up shaving the goatee. Eerie, isn't it? :shock:
Tied 1st Place of "What Would You Do To Win A Ma3 Contest" Contest (Aug '09) / Winner of Cutest Forumite Contest (Male Division) (Sept '09)
Winner of FRANKIES Awards Contest (Feb '10) Winner in Noms & Exemplary Divisions / Winner of 'The Contest For the Next Contest' Contest (Jul '10)
Winner of Wet T-Shirt Guys Division (Jul '10) / Winner of Lonely Hearts Contest (Feb '11)

User avatar
Scaramouche
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:24 pm

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Scaramouche »

Some of the worst ever:
  • Billy Jack: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066832/ Worst movie ever. Doesn't sound like much from the description there, but it really is terrible. You will always wonder how Tom Laughlin could do such a thing to innocent movie-viewers.
  • Torque: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329691/ Stupidest movie ever. Now that one may be the stupidest, but even so, it can't match the aforementioned for overall badness. You will never get those 84 minutes back.
  • Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/ Ewoks? Imperial super-soldiers taken out by teddy bears? Way to ruin a story, fncknuts. Speaking of which, making Greedo shoort first in A New Hope was fncking retarded.
  • The Vanguard: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0977669/ Don't bother. It looks like it was made by a failed Arts student with a handycam and half a dozen of his friends in the paddock behind his house. Four minutes of silly action, and 85 minutes of truly bad introspective nonsense.
Some of the best ever: Mentioned by others, and must add them: ------------

And yes, Terence Howard should be Rhodes. But Don Cheadle tends to be a good actor, so is probably a good replacement if they have to replace him.
Last edited by Scaramouche on Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:00 am, edited 16 times in total.
Moving on to new lurking grounds. Have fun, folks.

User avatar
Dirty n Evil
Deceptively Evil
Posts: 5914
Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 2:14 am
Location: Salem, Oregon, United States of America

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Dirty n Evil »

I've almost seen too many movies that were bad. Me and some pals used to have "Bad Movie Night" once a week, and someone would bring in a truly terrible movie that we all laughed at. But there was one with people involved with some truly good credentials that stuck out in my mind.

John Boorman, the director of my own favorite Excalibur, as well as Deliverance and many other fine movies. Truly iconic actor Sean Connery, that has impressed us with role after role. How could these two make a bad movie together?

The answer is: When they made Zardos. OMG, it was so awful it was genius! I mean, in the first couple minutes of the movie alone, you have this giant stone head floating over the landscape. Just skimming over the earth, no explaination, for almost a minute or two. When it lands, four or five men in orange diapers ride up on horses shooting rifles in the air - wearing a helmet that looks just like the stone floating head. Then, out of the mouth of this giant stone head... rifles come spewing out, like it was vomitting them up. From within the recesses of the giant stone head, it speaks - saying how the gun is good, and the penis is bad. Yes, you heard me right.

Me and my friends got this far - which is only abut 5 or 6 minutes into the movie - and had to pause it we were laughing so hard. It was sooooooooo unintentionally bad.
Tied 1st Place of "What Would You Do To Win A Ma3 Contest" Contest (Aug '09) / Winner of Cutest Forumite Contest (Male Division) (Sept '09)
Winner of FRANKIES Awards Contest (Feb '10) Winner in Noms & Exemplary Divisions / Winner of 'The Contest For the Next Contest' Contest (Jul '10)
Winner of Wet T-Shirt Guys Division (Jul '10) / Winner of Lonely Hearts Contest (Feb '11)

User avatar
midgetshrimp
Modly Pirate Jesus
Posts: 5076
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:32 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by midgetshrimp »

Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Exuberant High Captain Mod-siah of the Elder Council, Grand Official Bard.
Who needs sex when you have Menage a 3?

Image

User avatar
Don Alexander
Dr. Ebil SithMod
Posts: 28238
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Under the arms of the ancient oak, where daylight hangs by a lunar noose...

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Don Alexander »

Scaramouche wrote:Some of the worst ever:
Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/ Ewoks? Imperial super-soldiers taken out by teddy bears? Way to ruin a story, fncknuts. Speaking of which, making Greedo shoort first in A New Hope was fncking retarded.
I disagree with part 1. There's at least a little bit of logic in it, in terms of what Sun Tzu calls "fatal terrain". The stormtroopers probably weren't trained in forest warfare. Of course, any evil Imperial strategist worth his salt should simply have carpet bombed the whole damned moon and gotten rid of the problem. But then, Star Wars, no matter how cool it is otherwise, is terribly bad from a pure SF point of view.

I agree with part 2. Fully. Han Solo was sexy because he was a rogue, a guy you couldn't really trust initially, an anti-hero. Making killing Greedo self-defense (though, wow, what a reaction time) was totally out of character.
Scaramouche wrote:Some of the best ever:
Equilibrium: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/ A combination of 1984 with a cool action movie.
The 13th Warrior: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120657/ I like to see swords swinging, blood flying around, and severed limbs flopping on the ground.
Equilibrium: YES!! One of my absolute favorites, even better than the Matrix trilogy (and yes, trilogy, not just The Matrix. So sue me. :P ). And... It has Christian Bale in it!!! And the Gun Kata dominates all.

The 13th Warrior: :mrgreen: 2 points for the movie!! But actually, this is the wrong film for blood and guts. It was quite heavily cut (so I have heard), and while it does have an R rating, I feel it's undeserved. It's not more brutal than LotR or The Dark Knight...

Finally, I'll add that three absolutely great low-budget independent movies are Primer, The Gamers and The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising. The latter two are a MUST SEE for any RPG fan.
ImageImage
Sithlord of the Sithling and best customer of McLovecraft's Image, in the business of keeping the little Platypus in business
Moderations in GREEN and signed by the DAMNed. I am not anonymous! Also, MODSMACK!! Image
Winner of the... 2010 Kilopost FRANKIE; 2010 Mad March Nom Off; 2010 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2010 Fan-Thing Contest; 2010 Mimic Contest (tied); 2011 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2011 Contest-for-the-next-Contest (tied)

User avatar
Bear
BANNED
Posts: 7649
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:20 pm
Location: England

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Bear »

I believe that the point of the Ewok's was to show how despite their diminutive size, superior tactics and well thought out improvisation could defeat a vastly superior foe. I alwys kinda liked that myself... and heck, without them, the guy who plays Wikit would ahve never had a carear and gone on to play Willow, and Marvin the Paranoid Android.

I agree with Equilibrium. Awesome movie and thoughrally under-appreciated for a great storyline and kick-ass fight sequences.

Kinda suprised no-ones chipped in and mentioned Labyrinth yet... A Kids movie soo awesome, its cool to even love it at an Elder Geeks age. That and who didn't want to summon rocks lik Ludo?

User avatar
Scaramouche
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:24 pm

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Scaramouche »

Don Alexander wrote: I disagree with part 1. There's at least a little bit of logic in it, in terms of what Sun Tzu calls "fatal terrain". The stormtroopers probably weren't trained in forest warfare. Of course, any evil Imperial strategist worth his salt should simply have carpet bombed the whole damned moon and gotten rid of the problem. But then, Star Wars, no matter how cool it is otherwise, is terribly bad from a pure SF point of view.
Oh, come on. Imperial stormtroopers were created and trained from the DNA up to be soldiers, had military equipment specifically for forest settings, and in the later movies we saw the earlier stormtroopers fighting in many types of terrain. Look at the military forces of developed nations in our world. Armies tend to be trained for many environments.

But yes, carpet bombing FTW.
I agree with part 2. Fully. Han Solo was sexy because he was a rogue, a guy you couldn't really trust initially, an anti-hero. Making killing Greedo self-defense (though, wow, what a reaction time) was totally out of character.
Yup. Part of the point of Solo was that he started out a sleazy smuggler and was drawn toward the good guy side by Luke's annoying innocence. And by the chance of Leia-nooky.
Scaramouche wrote:Some of the best ever:
Equilibrium: YES!! One of my absolute favorites, even better than the Matrix trilogy (and yes, trilogy, not just The Matrix. So sue me. :P ). And... It has Christian Bale in it!!! And the Gun Kata dominates all.
Gun kata FTW. In addition to carpet bombing.
The 13th Warrior: :mrgreen: 2 points for the movie!! But actually, this is the wrong film for blood and guts. It was quite heavily cut (so I have heard), and while it does have an R rating, I feel it's undeserved. It's not more brutal than LotR or The Dark Knight...
Well, I like those movies also. Basically any half-decent movie with swords and severed limbs is good for me.
Moving on to new lurking grounds. Have fun, folks.

User avatar
Scaramouche
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:24 pm

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Scaramouche »

Bear wrote: Kinda suprised no-ones chipped in and mentioned Labyrinth yet... A Kids movie soo awesome, its cool to even love it at an Elder Geeks age. That and who didn't want to summon rocks lik Ludo?
Good call. Labyrinth was excellent.
Moving on to new lurking grounds. Have fun, folks.

User avatar
Don Alexander
Dr. Ebil SithMod
Posts: 28238
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Under the arms of the ancient oak, where daylight hangs by a lunar noose...

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Don Alexander »

Teacher2B wrote: I went to see "Brotherhood of the Wolf" to the cinema with some friends, and that was a huge mistake. I loved the film, but there's a little problem with it: the Beast. It was wolflike, and I've been afraid of wolves since I was 5 and saw "Silver Bullet" on TV (don't know how, as my parents didn't let me watch horror films when I was a child). Even now that I'm 23 I can't watch werewolves' films, with one or two exceptions, and if I saw them, I had to cover my eyes. Anayway, after seeing this film, I was a whole month afraid of the beast. I couldn't stand being alone outside my house at night. It was awful.
*hugs*

Well, guess the film was effective then. ;) I loved the Beast of Gevaudan.

Did you see an English dubbed version?? If so, you probably missed a big part of the movie, they cut out a complete plot line in the English. I have a German "DVD which also contains the Director's Cut, which adds another plot line which is not dubbed in German, bringing the movie to something like 150+ minutes. and there's like another 20 minutes of deleted scenes, including an expanded fight scene from the beginning, where Grégoire also gets his turn in beating up the highwaymen. The different versions are described here. The cut I have is the same as the one described in the second block, and I once downloaded what must be the UK theatrical version described in the third block.
Bear wrote:Kinda suprised no-ones chipped in and mentioned Labyrinth yet... A Kids movie soo awesome, its cool to even love it at an Elder Geeks age. That and who didn't want to summon rocks lik Ludo?
I guess I deserve some geek points for having seen this when it first came out!!! Very nice fantasy movie, yes (btw, I recently saw another fanrtasy classic from the 80s on DVD and thought it was quite terrible: Legend. Except for Tim Curry, of course.). But I deserve to lose acquired geek points again for not having seen it since. :(
ImageImage
Sithlord of the Sithling and best customer of McLovecraft's Image, in the business of keeping the little Platypus in business
Moderations in GREEN and signed by the DAMNed. I am not anonymous! Also, MODSMACK!! Image
Winner of the... 2010 Kilopost FRANKIE; 2010 Mad March Nom Off; 2010 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2010 Fan-Thing Contest; 2010 Mimic Contest (tied); 2011 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2011 Contest-for-the-next-Contest (tied)

User avatar
midgetshrimp
Modly Pirate Jesus
Posts: 5076
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:32 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by midgetshrimp »

Bear wrote:Kinda suprised no-ones chipped in and mentioned Labyrinth yet... A Kids movie soo awesome, its cool to even love it at an Elder Geeks age. That and who didn't want to summon rocks lik Ludo?
No. That movie is just wrong. No one should have to see that much of David Bowie in the 7th grade. No one.

And I like Most of Legend, though i ahven't seen it in so long I can hardly remember anything about it.
Exuberant High Captain Mod-siah of the Elder Council, Grand Official Bard.
Who needs sex when you have Menage a 3?

Image

User avatar
Don Alexander
Dr. Ebil SithMod
Posts: 28238
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Under the arms of the ancient oak, where daylight hangs by a lunar noose...

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Don Alexander »

Scaramouche wrote:Well, I like those movies also. Basically any half-decent movie with swords and severed limbs is good for me.
Do you know Night Watch and Day Watch, the hit movies from Russia?? While not really fantasy (more supernatural horror), they have some pretty cool medieval battle scenes with Gore Galore. And they are also great movies, especially Day Watch.

So, Carpet Gun Kata FTW.
ImageImage
Sithlord of the Sithling and best customer of McLovecraft's Image, in the business of keeping the little Platypus in business
Moderations in GREEN and signed by the DAMNed. I am not anonymous! Also, MODSMACK!! Image
Winner of the... 2010 Kilopost FRANKIE; 2010 Mad March Nom Off; 2010 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2010 Fan-Thing Contest; 2010 Mimic Contest (tied); 2011 Joker Cleavage Contest; 2011 Contest-for-the-next-Contest (tied)

User avatar
Scaramouche
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:24 pm

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Scaramouche »

Don Alexander wrote: Do you know Night Watch and Day Watch, the hit movies from Russia?? While not really fantasy (more supernatural horror), they have some pretty cool medieval battle scenes with Gore Galore. And they are also great movies, especially Day Watch.
Yep, got those on DVD. Fun movies.
So, Carpet Gun Kata FTW.
With swords. Sword-guns. Sword-gun-bombs.
Moving on to new lurking grounds. Have fun, folks.

User avatar
Bear
BANNED
Posts: 7649
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:20 pm
Location: England

Re: The Silver Screen

Post by Bear »

Wow... Don's OLD to have seen Labyrinth when it first came out. lol. Nothing wrong with still loving it though. Its one of those movies like The Goonies... Man the 80's generally ruled for geekery. I agree though... Legends sucked appart from Time Curry.

*Omniforks Midget* BLASPHMER!! How can someone not like Labyrinth? Even if it did have David Bowie in it.

And Night Watch and Day Watch were cool... I heard they were meant to be doing a third in the series though.

Post Reply