The Movies Discussion Thread

[wiped]

Dumb ass...

PI would never use such a term .... you must try harder.

[The Gunner's Dream]

He wouldn't have a Keith Emerson avatar either.

[justabagofatoms]

I like Alice In Sunderland and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Bath

I haven't seen it but it is probably as closer to Lewis Carrol's/Professor Dodson's story than the piece of tripe Disney/Tim Burton is foisting off as Alice In Wonderland. It's perfectly pretty to look at, but why they corrupted and modernized the story in such a ridiculous way, cannot be comprehended. At least not by me. I spent most of my time trying to get popcorn-butter off of my 3-D glasses, so I could be mistaken. Alice was transformed into a twenty-something couture model, with about as much personality. I could care less what happened to her, even when she was fighting the Jabberwocky. And wtf was she fighting the Jabberwocky for? Ask Tim Burton. I don't have a clue. Her gowns were fabulous, I'll say that. Gone was the boring pinafore. That was an improvement.

Helena-"big head"-Carter Burton was fantastic as the Queen of Hearts. It was good that they found such a big-headed actress, or they would have spent a fortune on her CGI alone. She was severly underutilized of course, which was only typical.
Johnny Depp's contact lenses were ridiculous. I know Burton couldn't trot him back out as the Demon Barber, but to transform the Mad Hatter into some sort of psuedo-action hero with a heart-of-scones was a Disney trick that did complete diservice to the story. Young people who watch this and don't read the book should have their little arses beaten.
The Mad Hatter is supposed to be ironic and slightly sinister, in my humble opinion.

3-D is going to be the 'future of movies' according to James Cameron. That sucks. I don't need things virtually tossed in my face to feel engaged in a film, and after a time it is tiresome and irritating. They can keep it. The backgrounds become blurry (and I love watching sets and extras) and I ended up feeling quesy. I just wanted to leave.

The computer animation is gorgeous, and so they skimmed over the most intricate scenes, the ones I really wanted to stare at, as quickly as possible. The sound was ear-splitting, and I kept my iPod buds in just to muffle it. Children in the theater probably left with some hearing-empairment.

I'm staying home to watch movies. At least it doesn't require a second-mortgage, and I can hit the off-button.

[Stephen]

I just ordered this sci-fi box set so I'm looking forward to seeing these again.

[Massed Gadgets]

I just ordered this sci-fi box set so I'm looking forward to seeing these again.

Some excellent flicks there, Rob. The Thing From Another World and Creature From the Black Lagoon are two of my all-time favourites.

[Stephen]

I noticed that some of them have the bonus features too which is pretty good for all under a tenner. I saw that the Forbidden Planet was listed there too so I added that to my order.

[justabagofatoms]

I'm hoping that both of you have seen the original Clash of the Titans, with Lawrence Olivier as Zues. Compared to the new one, with Liam Neeson, the special effects are laughable, but the acting is so cheesily earnest. Maggie Smith, Harry Hamlin (lol). Pegasus has knees that bend the wrong direction...

[Stephen]

Yes I have, I love all those old sci-fi movies and find I can watch them again and again despite of...or maybe because of...the cheesy effects . In most cases I find the CGI ones impressive on first viewing but then a bit ho hum after that.

[Massed Gadgets]

I'm a big fan of 50's sci-fi and monster movies. And I love Ray Harryhausen's work, especially the Sinbad films. Clash of the Titans isn't one of his better ones, but does feature the taming of the pegasus sequence and the Medusa sequence, which as far as stop motion animation effects go, are some of the best. I am looking forward to seeing the new one though.

[J Ed]

I'm hoping that both of you have seen the original Clash of the Titans, with Lawrence Olivier as Zues. Compared to the new one, with Liam Neeson, the special effects are laughable, but the acting is so cheesily earnest. Maggie Smith, Harry Hamlin (lol). Pegasus has knees that bend the wrong direction...

I saw that in the theatre when it came out, and at the time I thought the effects were laughable, this being 5 years after Star Wars revolutionised special effects filmmaking
but theres a reason that film looked so oldfashioned, its Ray Harryhausen, the guy who did Jason and the Argonauts, the 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and One Million BC ... all those films that used to play on Sunday afternoon televisiosn when I was a kid
he was an early master of fantasy filmmaking and folks like Peter Jackson Lucas Spielberg Cameron and them PIXAR folk all cite him as an influence
for better or worse his experiments with stop motion animation have culminated in the all-CGI-all the time industry we have today
alot of his films have been rereleased on DVD Id guess because of their influence on stuff like Lord of the Rings, and that resurgence of interest would be why Clash of the Titans has been remade

[2066]

I love Ray Harryhausen's work, especially the Sinbad films.

The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad is my fave Harryhausen flick...and I've seen them all. Jason And The Argonauts, Twenty Million Miles To Earth and Valley Of Gwangi get specila mention.

[Massed Gadgets]

Oh yeah, all of those are great. I have the three Sinbad films on DVD in a boxed set. Oddly, my favourite is Eye of the Tiger. I say oddly, because of course this one is considered the least of the three, but there's just something about it that fires my imagination. But all three are excellent films.

And yes, you're quite right, J Ed, Harryhausen is considered the grandfather of special effects (he learned from Willis O'Brien who did the 1933 King Kong). He is responsible for numerous innovations is SFX, and did created and animated the effects for all those classic movies, largely working alone in his home, doing what takes an army of people to do today (granted, CGI effects are a lot more complex). By the time of Clash of the Titans, his style was dated though, and that's why he decided to retire and let a new generation of effects people build upon the foundations that he laid down. When I was a kid, I wanted to get into special effects, and it was Harryhausen that inspired me.

[David Smith]

Anyone else planning on seeing Kick Ass this weekend?

[PublicImage]

I don't know when it opens here but I want to see it. It's a difficult business being a Nic Cage fan, but he almost looks like he is back on track with this and Herzog's wacky Bad Lieutenant "remake". It looks fun.

[David Smith]

would have thought it would be fairly nationwide being that there's not a whole lot of big films coming out at the moment save for Shutter Island (which has already been showing for around a month) and that shit looking Sandra Bullock one