Page 1 of What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 11th December)

I won`t get a chance to post this later on so here it is a little earlier than usual as I`m enjoying the NFL.

On DVD:

The West Wing Season 1 - Having never seen a single episode on TV, I bought this from Amazon.com for about £15 on reputation alone and it is a reputation richly deserved; the main cast acquit themselves brilliantly delivering the razor sharp script which is probably too close to the bone for many White House insiders. :D

Crash - For a film predominately about sex and erotica, Crash is neither sexy, nor erotic, bringing a whole new meaning to the term 'autoerotica'. James Spader plays his trademark 'weird' character whose relationship with wife Deborah Unger turns to the underground world of obsession with technology and, in particular, cars when his is injured in a fatal car crash with a doctor (Holly Hunter). Among Cronenberg's best work, this controversial and thought provoking film isn't easy watching but is thoroughly compelling. :)

eXistenZ - As Videodrome tackled the seductive qualities and potential power of television, eXistenZ deals with computer games and the possibility that virtual reality gaming will blur the line between where reality ends and gaming begins. None of the performances are particularly strong, but this is probably intentional as the actors are playing 'game characters'. :)
Cronenberg Commentary - Cronenberg is always worth listening to and this is no exception as he talks you through the development of the film, the making of it and some of its meanings. :)
Peter Suschitzky Commentary - Suschitzky is Cronenberg's DP and in this commentary (when he speaks, that is), he largely just repeats what Cronenberg said. >:(
Jim Isaacs Commentary - Better than Suschitzky's commentary but only just as, like Suschitzky, Isaacs merely comments on the scenes with important visual effects; he is a better speaker than Suschitzky, but only just. :(

The Fly - Probably my favourite of Cronenberg's films, this sci-fi horror features a terrific performance from Jeff Goldblum, some brilliant animatronics and a genuinely moving ending; it's one of the few occasions when the remake is superior to the original. :D
Commentary - As with Cronenberg's other commentaries and interviews, this is interesting, busy and informative and doesn't overlap too much with the 2 hour plus 'making of' documentary which, like the 'making of' featurettes in the Alien Quadrilogy, follows the film from pre-production to production and then to post-production. :D

Rabid - Although not one of Cronenberg's best, this features a commendable performance by porn actress Marilyn Chambers as a woman who undergoes a skin transplant following a motorcycle accident with disastrous side effects. :¦

The Terminal - As shown in films like Big, The Burbs and even The Bachelor Party, Tom Hanks is a far better comedic actor than he is a serious actor yet I approached this with some trepidation; Hanks is on great form as the eastern European left stranded in a terminal at JFK after his homeland is seized by militants and the US ceases to recognise it. Spielberg's direction is poor and the love story with Catherine Zeta Jones is messy and just gets in the way of what is a decent comedy. :¦

The Rage in Placid Lake - I watched this as a `blind` rental having heard nothing about it and was pleasantly surprised. It may not be as incisive or well produced as The Graduate or Garden State - films which it is thematically similar to - but The Rage in Placid Lake has a quirky quality and charm that is similar to Napoleon Dynamite. :)

King Kong Bonus Features - The bonus disc has two excellent features: a biography of Merian C. Cooper and a feature on King Kong, which contains a recreation of the lost 'spider pit' scene by Peter Jackson and his team at WETA. :D

Dead Man's Shoes - One of the best British films of recent years and a superb revenge film, this features a chilling performance by Paddy Considine. :D


At the cinema:

Doom - Whilst not as inept as House of the Dead or Street Fighter, Doom is a badly made, badly scripted and boring video game adaptation which is even less watchable than either of the Resident Evil films. Watching someone else play a video game can be interesting but Doom isn`t that sort of game especially when the game has already been played, the footage filmed and the only thing left for you to do is watch it and wish you were playing the game. >:(

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe (twice) - The allegory of Christianity is there for those who want to see it as it is handled with such subtlety that if you are unaware of the underlying theme then you won't notice it. Andrew 'Shrek' Adamson proves he can handle live action as well as animation with impressive direction, great pacing, superb special effects and animation and the child actors deliver performances that the Potter gang could only dream of. Narnia is a thoroughly magical and wonderful fairytale family film, one of the highlights of the year and I look forward to the next instalment. The film loses nothing in the repeat viewing but I did notice that some of the CG and 'greenscreen' effects were not perfect. :D


Downloads:

South Park - Matt and Trey rip on alcoholics anonymous and the influence of religion on the 'twelve step' programme; for once, Stan rather than Kyle is the voice of reason as Randy is told that his heavy drinking is due to a disease and not a lack of discipline (pronounced 'dissiprin'!). :)


Television
Danny Williams vs. Audley Harrison - A snooze fest for nine rounds, this only caught fire (and I use the term advisedly) when Williams decked Harrison with a huige right hook that grazed the top of Harrison's head. Williams was poor but Harrison was dire as deserved to lose. :(

Daniel Santos vs. Sergei Dzindziruk - A terrific scrap for Santos' WBO Light Middleweight title which proves that two southpaws can have a good fight. :)

Leicester Tigers vs. Ospreys - A thoroughly compelling clash which saw the Tigers go in 12-6 down at half time only to come out and score 26 unanswered points. :D

Pakistan vs. England: first ODI - For the first time on this tour, England's batting was consistently good and their bowlers just did enough to stop Pakistan from overhauling their huge total. :)



My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection
Be afraid, be very afraid.

Quote:
boring video game adaptation which is even less watchable than either of the Resident Evil films

Disagree there. The first Resident Evil film was ok, mediocre at best. The second was, for me, excrutiatingly awful, quite possibly one of the sorriest excuses for a film I`ve ever seen. Doom was fun, dumb fun. It`s a bad movie, everyone knows that, but it has fun with that notion.

Cinema -

Keeping Mum - Gah, apart from Patrick Swayze, who is mildly amusing, this is very boring. Absolutely no spark in the film at all, apart from the dirty dancer. Only saw it because I was tired and didn`t feel like sitting in a library for two hours... but I should have.

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe - Good film, not great. A lot of it feels rushed, and there isn`t any emotional attachment to the characters (at least not for me). But I did get transported to Narnia, so that aspect worked. Still, it`s not a patch on Lord of the Rings in any way.

March of the Penguins - The most enjoyable film I`ve seen at the cinema this week. Ok, so it`s not any different than what you`d see on the Discovery Channel or the BBC, but to see it projected on a BIG SCREEN (I saw it on the biggest screen in the cinema, not most seats, biggest screen, as in large screen format... a junior only to IMAX :D ). Beautiful. Funny. Heart Breaking. Inspirational. Thought Provoking. All words that describe it. Again, it`s not original, but it doesn`t take anything away from it.

DVD -

The Island - Underrated film that did not deserve to bomb in America (although it did nicely world wide so it didn`t flop). Yes, it`s cheesy, but it also raises some very interesting moral questions that are relevant today. Michael Bay does well here to restrain himself from going overboard on the style, although when the time comes to let off those explosions and let rip with the chase scenes, he delivers in spades. The jet bike sequence is one of the most exciting of the year, but it`s criminally short. But at the end of the day, it`s a fun popcorn movie. 8)

Arrested Development Season 1 - Finished this today. Hilarious, ordered Season 2 :D

Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - Extended Edition - Watching this in lead up to King Kong. Can`t wait to get The Frighteners DC as well. Love Fellowship, it has so many standout moments (they all do). The visuals, the performances, the music, everything is just perfect. Kong on Wednesday, can`t wait :D

40 Year Old Virgin - Still very very funny, this film is better than Porky`s and American Pie, even though the dialogue is crude it is still much sutbler than the two films just mentioned.

Passion of the Christ, very brutal, very graphic, it is a very well made film, but this film is anti-semetic.

floyd


SALE/TRADE HERE!!!

Tried to watch Fantastic Four, but they had about 6 copies when I went in and the last one was lying in the fat hand of the woman who seemed determined to rent everything her little brat pulled off the shelf.

Anyway, long story short, Blockbusters have stopped doing the Blockbuster promise. They will `Reserve` you a copy on a day you want, but they wont give it you for free. Thats pretty much strike 3 for them and im going to take out a web based subscription.

Other than that, watched:

Predator: Still, arguably, Arnies best film. :D

Predator 2: Very underrated, although seems to have gained acclaim over the years. Danny Glover makes a good lead, Bill Paxton dies another horrible death and the extras show that the `stealth` effect involve a really queeny pink bodystocking. :D

Deathwatch: watched most of this last night, up until Golum got spiked by barbed wire. Not as bad as the critics made out, but, apparently, not enough to keep me awake. :¦

This item was edited on Monday, 12th December 2005, 09:27

Well I watche House of the flying daggers, picture quality was amazing, and Ong Bak, which I watched for the amazing fight scenes. Also watche Danny the dog, very good film bit slow in the middle. bob hoskins was brilliant though.

This item was edited on Thursday, 15th December 2005, 21:56

woops

This item was edited on Thursday, 15th December 2005, 22:39

This is a bit of a round up of things I watched recently...

I watched the whole series of Firefly on DVD and really enjoyed it. I`ve not seen Serenity yet, but the price of Firefly and some recommendations here, plus some recuperation time after an op, gave me the chance to watch it.

I thought it was great. My brother said it was "like cowboys in space" and he`s right, but its got a good script, unexpected events, a majority of interesting storylines - some are pretty predictable - and some great characters.

I`ve never watched Buffy, or anything else the bloke has done, but he did well with this one. I`ve ordered Serenity, and am hoping it`ll be here for the weekend.

The Twilight Zone 80s, series one (most of)

I really wanted to see this, and ordered it from one of the Canadian sites. It and Lost ended up costing me a lot more than I thought - but I`ve gone off topic. So, the Twilight Zone: I was looking forward to this, but was mostly disappointed. Some of the episodes are okay, most are just s*** - (apols for swearing, but sometimes, only some words will do). The best thing about it was spotting all the famous people, actors as well as directors. I`m trying to think of one that really stands out.. Hmm, Shatterday - the first one was probably the best. In short, I got bored before the end, and I wish I had bought the b&w ones.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: I can only say, fell asleep as soon as they went into the factory. A tad disappointing. Still it was better than the pirate copy I`d tried to watch before, it was so badly framed I thought I was watching a documentary about how bad British teeth are.

On TV I watched more than a couple of episodes of Minder - great characters and script, but they were from one of the later series when they became, IMO, vanity vehicles for Dennis Waterman. Still, the only Minders I won`t watch are those with the nephew in.

You are what you eat with Michelle McManus - it was a slow night.
When Sky said how much she had lost I expected to see her walking on a wooden leg, but fair play she`s done really well. Mercifully a friend rang just as they started talking about her crap, so I watched with the sound down after that - I might have flicked over to Dragon`s Den a couple of times as well.

Bargain Hunt. This program, and the other similar ones that follow it, are either daytime TV crack, or I need to change my cereal. I find them totally addictive. BH, which I`ve singled out, has Tim Wonnacot parading around in a variety of interesting hats, bow ties, and waistcoats, while two experts tell two groups of people to: "put down that hideous plate, and move away from the decorating table.."

Each team has £200 to spend at a car boot sale, what they buy is then sold at auction. Any profits are theirs to take home and spend on more ceramic pigs for their collections.
They always lose money.



At the cinema:

Harry Potter and the what was it again...?

Read the reviews, always planned to see this, so on a quiet day me and a buddy went along. It started okay, but soon settled down into familiar HP territory, "Harry Potter, you are shated,... Oh, we forgot, actually you are great...Hey, we always said he was great etc etc..."

I fell asleep at the end, which sums it up for me really.

"I`m sick wit dis, straight gangsta mack
but sometimes I get ridiculous"

This item was edited on Thursday, 15th December 2005, 22:44