What films have you watched recently?

dafuzz

Star Wars Episode 1 - 2/10

Worst film I've ever watched six times.

On the Big Bang Theory they were talking about the machete mix (I think that's what they said) - basically you watch episodes 4 and 5, jump back to 2 and 3 as a flashback (cutting out episode 1 completely) and then finish with Return of the Jedi. If I ever do a Star Wars marathon I'm gonna try that.

fretmeister

dafuzz said:

Star Wars Episode 1 - 2/10

Worst film I've ever watched six times.

On the Big Bang Theory they were talking about the machete mix (I think that's what they said) - basically you watch episodes 4 and 5, jump back to 2 and 3 as a flashback (cutting out episode 1 completely) and then finish with Return of the Jedi. If I ever do a Star Wars marathon I'm gonna try that.

Done that.

It's also how I introduced my kids to it. Works much better.

I left in Phantom as the kids wanted to see it, but I'd agree it's not needed for the story at all. And you get to miss all that canon-busting midichlorian bullshit too.

guitargeek62

I'm currently watching the Machete mix for the first time - it works much better than chronological or release order! I left Ep.I in though but only because I'd not seen it in a while. I've got Ep.III & VI to watch tonight.

I feel that Ep.I would have been good with less attempts at comedy (i.e. Jar Jar, and the battle-droids' lines), and that Ep. II would have worked much, much  better with anyone other than Hayden playing Anakin.

The biggest flaw for the prequels is the reliance on CGI, it's dated really badly already and I can't help but cringe at how obvious it all is. It's crazy that the originals have held up better than the new ones, but I consider them a league apart from each other in terms of quality.

*edit* I picked up the Blu-Ray boxset last week - really nice transfer on them, and a shit-ton of extras too. Worth the money imo, even if it does include the prequels

fretmeister

The best bit about the Blu ray set is the audio quality. It's fab.

And in 4,5,6 you can really see the dirt on the sets. Proper gritty stuff.

The prequels should have gone back to models and not CGI.

holnrew

I watched a couple of films on iPlayer. Blackfish, which was incredibly sad and What Just Happened, which was bollocks.

stickyfiddle

Machete is the only way to do Star Wars if you're going to even think about the prequels and it saddens me that so many kids will grow up watching them in chronological order and thus completely miss the point of Empire. 

EDIT: Also... the lightsaber choreography in the prequels is TERRIBLE. If you look, not a single hit would actually connect even if they guy didn't dodge/dip/dive/duck/dodge. Takes the drama out of the only good bit of Ep1 once you see it.

Anyway, back to fillums:

The Lego Movie 

Some good gags, and I love Chris Pratt but it wasn't as good as everyone said it was. 6.5/10

Robocop "The Rebootquel" 

Not awful but nothing special. Heavy handed with the drone-comment stuff, but not enough about the "ethical implications of a robot/man" stuff that nudged towards imo. I don't like the original either, so not being particularly clouded by that. I liked that they kept the music. It's good music. 

Deadman

Woman in black.

Haha Harry Potter (was my initial thought)......

It was nice that it was actually, genuinely scary. Filmset location was magnificent.

frankus

Despicable Me 2 - 8/10 a great fillum.

Dogma - 6/10 a despicable fillum. Watched it many times - was embarrassed watching it again.

guitargeek62

Oh come on, Dogma's fun!

Elwood

American Hustle - 4/10

Good acting, well shot, comedy clothing of the period but poor character development and was just . . . boring. 

 

Dogma - 7.5/10

Funny to the point of stupidity but doesn't take it's self seriously. Excellent film but not for those of a sensitive or easily offended nature.

A-Team - 6.5/10

Enjoyable, good take on the characters and an enjoyable film all round. 

Prometheus 3/10

Badly cut together with poor story progression. Great production value but turned into a bad film by poor story progression and an odd selection of characters.  

Muppets: Most Wanted 7/10

Good muppet film with some good laughs. 

frankus

guitargeek62 said:

Oh come on, Dogma's fun!

Take Jason Mewes out of Dogma and I think it'd be dreadful.

not_the_dj

Bambi.

We thought we'd traumatise our kids.

Very nicely drawn, but I found the rabbit quite annoying...and I nodded off for a bit as well.

 

EricTheWeary

frankus said:

Dogma - 6/10 a despicable fillum. Watched it many times - was embarrassed watching it again.

Is that a bit like my need to watch Showgirls every time it is on just so I can complain about the terrible acting, plot and uneccesary amount of female nudity?
:ar!

guitargeek62

Watching Man of Steel for the nth time. 9/10

I'm not sure exactly what it is that gives this such great replay value for me, but I must have seen it 15-20 times already. I know that it divided a lot of people, but I really like the New-52 style update of the universe, and can't fault a great deal of the movie. It's a Superman for modern times, and I think it's evolved very nicely. 

I'd love to see a spin-off starring Crowe & Shannon too, their back-story has been done very well in certain comic storylines, and could be nicely updated to fit MoS.

holnrew

Saving Mr Banks, still got some left to go, but it's really lovely.

Finished it, totally didn't cry....

chrispy108

Last few:

Manhunter - I likes it

The Purge - Meh

Idiocracy - Not laugh out loud funny, but an interesting parody, although a bit dragged out

Murder by Numbers - bad

MIB3 - good

chrispy108

I watched After Earth too, was rubbish, as all that was at stake was Will Smith and his son, and they hadn't made me give a shit about either.

Monkeybone

I watched Bad Neighbours at the cinema last night. On initial viewing it was funny, but thinking back, in reality it was just an Adam Sandler away from being bad, lots of repetition. That being said, Zac Efron was kinda good (and I never thought I'd ever hear/see myself say that).

dafuzz

Star Wars: Harmy's Despecialized Edition - 10/10

Sooo.... after learning about the machete mix and having a bit of a google about it, I discovered this - a fan-made restoration of Star Wars (I'm not even calling it Episode IV anymore). All the digital crap has been removed as far as possible. You can read about it here and see some comparison screens. An insane amount of work has gone into it.

I got a bit emotional watching it actually! There was a real sense of nostalgia that I haven't felt since seeing the shitty editions in the cinema back in the 90s. It's a cliche to say "like watching it for the first time again" but that's genuinely how it felt for me. Needless to say the 'original' trilogy DVDs won't be coming out of their boxes any time soon.

guitargeek62

Glad you mentioned that; after doing the Machete run last week, I was wondering if an original(ish) cut existed!