What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[grim_tales]

The film wasn't produced in Canada.

[romerojpg]

No seriously

[saltysam]

Texas Chain Saw Massacre 4/5

70's classic lives up to it's reputation even today.you really believe these people are truly crazy and Marilyn Burns gives a particularly great performance, shame she never went on to bigger things.the blu-ray represents the film better than it's ever looked on home video.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 4/5

An unfairly hated sequel,this is in fact a very worthy follow up notable for a way over the top Dennis Hopper performance and a crazy last half hour.Caroline Williams as the dj "Stretch" is also very good and carries the film well,she's on-screen virtually the entire movie.

Leatherface:Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 1.5/5

Poor 3rd entry in the series,i watched the unrated version but it seemed pretty tame,probably still heavily cut.Gets an extra half a star for Ken Foree,who is always worth a watch.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Next Generation 1/5

The TCM film with the biggest stars is undeniably the worst.a genuine "wtf" were they thinking movie,virtually goreless and just plain odd.i hear the canadian dvd runs 10 minutes longer but i doubt it'd make this any better.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) 3/5

Solid reboot is very well made and defintely one of the better horror remakes in recent years.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning 2.5/5

Pretty decent prequel to the reboot,gets an extra half star for a great R. Lee Ermey performance.

The Crazies 3/5

Early 70's George A. Romero film is very well done on an extremely low budget. A Virus breaks out in a small american town and the army move in and quarantine the area.A Group of five escape and go on the run,trying to escape the town.a little stiffly acted at times by it's no-name cast this is well worth seeing.the blu-ray looks as well as this film ever has.A remake has just hit cinemas here.

[romerojpg]

Texas Chain Saw Massacre 4/5

70's classic lives up to it's reputation even today.you really believe these people are truly crazy and Marilyn Burns gives a particularly great performance, shame she never went on to bigger things.the blu-ray represents the film better than it's ever looked on home video.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 4/5

An unfairly hated sequel,this is in fact a very worthy follow up notable for a way over the top Dennis Hopper performance and a crazy last half hour.Caroline Williams as the dj "Stretch" is also very good and carries the film well,she's on-screen virtually the entire movie.

I watched both them the other night back to back, my god part 2 sucked so bad what a odd turd, but strangley likeable in a shitty way. Hopper started of great and ended great, but for an hour in the middle he was just crap.
Stretch again started off really great, but slowly tunred into one of the worst things in the film, my god that last shot made me want to puke Her poor overacting was just from another film, I had no idea what the hell she was doing at times, she aint no scream queen and she has some dire scenes to do that made zero sense.

I must seek out the real version of the film if it is out there on download sites, instead of this hacked to death, disowned studio cut. I knew they had some seriously messed up studio interferance, and the end film shows that so clearly for me.

[saltysam]

TCM 2 is great imo.Caroline Williams is fine and Jim Siedow :notworthy:Films are all about opinions and i appreciate i'm in the minority in liking this one. Look at you Romero,i'm pretty sure you are in a minority of one that you consider Transformers 2 a classic

[romerojpg]

I am not saying you are wrong I am just saying what I thought of it.
I have had it on dvd for many years, only now got around to watching it. I guess when it has been on a shelf for so long, I expected a better film. It was great until the moment they entered the fairgound thingie, then it just became a remake of part 1 for me, a worse one.

I am looking forward to the 2 commentries on the disc, hopefully they shed light on the way the film was hacked to death and gutted beyond words. A Tom Savini commentary is always better than most films, and the fact most of his work seemed to be cut from the film was a bit of a joke I remember seeing footage years ago of hardcore violence in TC2, none of it was in the final film haha cut heavy wankers!

Transformers 2 is no classic by the way.

[saltysam]

I remember seeing footage years ago of hardcore violence in TC2, none of it was in the final film haha cut heavy wankers!

Some of it's on the deleted scenes section in horrible workprint quality.

Transformers 2 is no classic by the way.

but you said it was better than Star Wars is Star Wars not a classic then?

[romerojpg]

I remember seeing footage years ago of hardcore violence in TC2, none of it was in the final film haha cut heavy wankers!

Some of it's on the deleted scenes section in horrible workprint quality.

Ahh I did assume only a crappy workprint will be doing the rounds somewhere. Not looked at my disc yet so neevr even noticed the deleted scenes

but you said it was better than Star Wars is Star Wars not a classic then?

Neither are "Classics" for me Seven Samurai, Dawn of the Dead, The Killer, Aliens etc... They are my kind of Classics not overated Star Wars.

[grim_tales]

Dr. No: 4/5

A little slow paced compared to later Bonds, with less action too (perhaps more intrigue) but still a fine film with some iconic moments, its entertaining, I enjoyed revisiting it, it's cool to see where the series started. I couldn't stop thinking of Enter The Dragon at one point
The USA BD transfer is excellent, in fact it looks stunning for a film so old.

[Markgway]

PAYCHECK
Not bad PG-13 action-thriller, more watchable than I expected, reminded me of Minority Report (another P.K. Dick adaptation).

YOUNG GUNS
Solid western, performances are good, plot needs a little work.

COCKTAIL
Not as lame as I expected, passed the time alright, coasts on charisma and 80s yuppie hippness.

[bradavon]

Cocktail holds up pretty well. Young Guns is good but "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" is a significantly superior Billy The Kid film.

I found Dr. No largely uninteresting. From Russia with Love is much better.

[grim_tales]

I'll check that out next

[saltysam]

Assault On Precinct 13 5/5

Yet another viewing of one of my all-time favourite films,i never tire of watching this one a superb example of what can be achieved on a tiny budget,this has great performances,great dialogue and a terrific music score.Darwin Joston as Napoleon Wilson is truly brilliant,the guy should've been a big star.

[Markgway]

Cocktail holds up pretty well. Young Guns is good but "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" is a significantly superior Billy The Kid film.

Young Guns is a lot more fun.

Pat Garrett is a bit up its own arse.

[Markgway]

Assault On Precinct 13 5/5

Yet another viewing of one of my all-time favourite films,i never tire of watching this one a superb example of what can be achieved on a tiny budget,this has great performances,great dialogue and a terrific music score.Darwin Joston as Napoleon Wilson is truly brilliant,the guy should've been a big star.

They had the BD at Amazon a couple of weeks ago for $11.99. I thought to myself I'll order this later... when I went back it was $22.99. Seriously. What kind of offer runs for a whole fucking day??

[bradavon]

Young Guns is a lot more fun.

Probably but it's likewise a lot less well made. It's not poorly made for sure, just more of an action yarn.

Pat Garrett is a bit up its own arse.

I disagree. I saw it recently and boy was I impressed. Peckinpah's best IMO. Better than The Wild Bunch, was is overrated.

Seriously. What kind of offer runs for a whole fucking day??

I hate those Amazon deals that, you blink and they offer's over. Some only last hours.

[Markgway]

It's not poorly made for sure, just more of an action yarn.

I like action yarns.

I saw it recently and boy was I impressed. Peckinpah's best IMO. Better than The Wild Bunch, was is overrated.

I'd say the opposite. I didn't hate PGABTK or anything. Just found it ponderous and pretentious. Yes, TWB is a bit overrated, but for me it's the better film. Peckinpah has made more mediocre films than classics.

[bradavon]

I was surprised TWB is so praised. The endings good and it has other good bits but as good as "they say", nope!

I loved PGABTK's poetic and allegorical aspects.

[Shingster]

I prefer The Ballad of Cable Hogue to both.

[Yi-Long]

Just watched Iron Man for the first time. Very entertaining movie, with once again a brilliant performance by Robert Downey Jr.

The movie is a bit lineair, and it takes a little while to get going. It's also a bit long for what it offers. But when it's all over, you wasted a very nice couple of hours and it's a good start for a series.

There was some strange editing going on in places though, with some scenes leaving the impression they were cut a little shorter than they originally were.

3.5/5

[grim_tales]

Irma Vep: 2/5

In some ways this film is a quite interesting film about film-making - Maggie Cheung gives a decent performance - essentially playing herself - but I also found it a chore and a bit boring to watch because it was near impossible to understand what was being said, especially Jean Pierre Leaud, the director of the film within the film.
You can't go wrong with Maggie running around in a catsuit though, which isn't bad

[Markgway]

Not even Maggie in a catsuit is enough reason for me to recommend this arthouse bore.

[luckystars]

Reading that there's an arthouse film with Maggie Cheung in a catsuit...sent me straight to youtube

Thanks guys

[Yi-Long]

I watched Defiance tonight. Pretty good. Bit slow at times, and not all the acting is all that great, nor is all the writing, but overall it's a nice little resistance-flick.

3.5/5

[grim_tales]

Alice in Wonderland: 3/5

I rather enjoyed it Dark and weird, but it's really a sequel in feel, so why call it Alice in Wonderland? Return to Wonderland would be more apt. The film had a very muted colour pallette even in the "real" world and Wonderland had a kind of post apocolyptic feel, I felt the 2 bookending parts of the film were boring (Alice getting married to a slimy suitor etc) and I didnt feel for those characters.
I thought Alice in the book and Disney film is a child (about 10 or something), in that sense by making her older (19) maybe Wonderland becomes a metaphor for childhood itself, and how maybe you never outgrow some things.
The girl playing Alice was good.
I did like Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen a lot - even though, talking with a high pitched lisp, she reminded me of Queenie in Blackadder II In fact, she ripped off that interpretation wholesale. But still very funny.

Stephen Fry was very good as the Cheshire Cat also, but criminally underused. Loved him
The part in which Alice must slay the Jabberwocky (certainly not in the Alice books) seemed shoehorned in to give the film some more structure and narrative and give the older, supposedly more resourceful Alice a mission, which The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) helps her with. The questioning of whether what she has seen is real or not or has actually happened, reminded me of something like Narnia or Pan's Labyrinth.

Why was Depp putting on a Scottish accent in places?

Was the Hatter supposed to be Alice's ideal guy? They seemed a bit "fond" of each other