Films You Have Watched

[Atticus]

I must admit, I didn't quite love it. It looks amazing, a wonderful cinema film in many ways with so many beautiful shots. But I found it really messy and, ultimately, a bit unsatisfying. Lots of creative decisions that I'd question, but I'm guessing most came down to condensing the dense book into movies. Still, I think the two pieces are a great overall experience (I rewatched the first part a few days ago) and I love that he got to make these.

That's what I was going to say

[QualityChimp]

That's what I was going to say

TL: DR

[Dogg Thang]

Did a double bill of Predator followed by Prey. It’s a testament to Prey that it can follow an all time classic and still feel strong. Predator is still superb after all these years. It’s exactly what it needed to be - a definitive ‘80s action movie with all those tropes and yet a fantastic deadly scifi alien thrown in there. The design and sound really sells this movie. Had those elements not been right, this movie could have turned into a stinker. But they nail it. And Schwarzenegger and Weathers are the perfect combination.

What Prey does right is that it distills its story to the barest minimum. Few movies are brave enough these days to do that. It’s so lean. The CG animals look a little too CG unfortunately but everything else holds up great and even those CG animals do what they need to. It’s tense, nasty and builds to a perfect climax.

And watching them back to back, what I love is seeing the same Predator concept with two different versions of the alien. Not just in how it looks but how it acts and what tools it has in its arsenal. Even down to the fact that, pretty much the first time the character gets real evidence of the actual creature in Prey, it’s because it already has been injured. It takes so many hits through the movie because it gets right in there for the close kills, whereas the one in Predator feels more cautious, biding its time.

Good movies. The best of the Predator films.

[prinnysquad]

I watched Predator 2 again recently.

What struck me was that it’s full of memorable
scenes, but not necessarily good ones. There’s some cheese and nastiness in it that feels more like a gimmick than anything else. Glover puts in a really good performance, and without him, it would be considerably weaker.

[Dogg Thang]

I watched Predator 2 again recently.

What struck me was that it’s full of memorable
scenes, but not necessarily good ones. There’s some cheese and nastiness in it that feels more like a gimmick than anything else. Glover puts in a really good performance, and without him, it would be considerably weaker.

Yeah, last time I watched Predator 2 I remember finding it a real mixed bag. It felt really close to being great but the cheesiness weakened it considerably. The moment that sticks in my memory is that screaming head transition.

[Neon Ignition]

Song of the South
Controversy discussion aside, the film is still impressive from a technological perspective. Though not the first to make use of mixing hand drawn animation with live action it's impressively seamless considering how old the film is.

Retribution
Liam Neeson gets in his car and is told it will explode if he tries to get out or doesn't follow instruction. Passable is the best word, it lacks energy and car action for the most part as well as not being helped by being able to work out the bad guy within the first three minutes of the film.

RoboCop 3
It's obvious as to where the film goes wrong but honestly? I remembered it being worse than it was.

[Neon Ignition]

Thor: The Dark World
The GOT directed influence remains a mistake giving the film a dour look and a sense of scale that is less bombastic than the characters world had been built up to be by this point and is instead a bit more loki (badum-tish!). It's not as weak as memory would have it but still not amazing.

[Finsbury Girl]

the new Roadhouse, I really wanted it to be good. Unfortunately it is not. Conor McGregor dear oh dear. What the F was Doug Liman thinking?

[Neon Ignition]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
As good as ever, really well made entry and out 3yr old was genuinely shocked at the Zola reveal

Road House
Kind of didn't mind it. It's not great but then neither is the original so it was an easier remake to roll with. McGregor is awful though

[Brad]

Poor Things

We gave it an hour. I really wanted to like it but it felt like a cronenberg wannabe and failed. No idea how Emma stone won an oscar for it, I thought she was awful (I usually like her). Maybe I wasn't in the right mood, I know everyone loves it.

[Dogg Thang]

I went to the cinema to see it. I had regrets.

[QualityChimp]

I'm a bit wary about watching it as it sounds like a couple of creepy dudes Frankenstein a young woman so that they can bone her.

Sounds like a less-funny but more predatory version of Weird Science...

Finally watched some stuff.
Chuck Steele: Night of the Trampires (Via Prime) is a preposterous claymation-style police drama where a maverick cop who doesn't play by the rules has a series of partners that never last long as he fights crime and his own personal demons.

The animation style is lovely and harks back to Dick Spanner and other classic stop-frame animations.
The story is silly and bawdy, but actually pretty funny and I enjoyed watching this as the humour and visual style are two things you don't see too often and very rarely together.

The Wild Bunch (via DVD).
On a bit of a Western kick at the moment, picking up a handful of classics.
I remember Gareth Evans really rating this and wanted to rewatch it, especially that final bloodbath.
I think the thing I like about it is that it's not glorifying the Wild West, it makes it look an awful time to live, plus the Bunch are pretty rotten individuals but with a code of honour.

[MartyG]

Bought a projector for my birthday just for movies. Watched Gremlins on it last night. Still a classic but I did notice a lot of errors in the film. Also, the 5.1 sound mix is seriously lacking in the first half. That opening music should really bring you in but it's mostly stuck to the center channel. Things do really pick up in the sound department once the Gremlins take over the house.

I was just searching for a projector thread and we don't seem to have one - what projector do you have for movie night, other than the one on that phone?

I've just set up my new screen ready for a movie this evening. Let it be Taxi Driver.

[Yakumo]

I was just searching for a projector thread and we don't seem to have one - what projector do you have for movie night, other than the one on that phone?
I've just set up my new screen ready for a movie this evening. Let it be Taxi Driver.

I bought this 1080p GROVIEW https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/...e=UTF8&psc =1
It gives off an amazing 1080p image and has no right being as good as it is for the price point.

Here's a shot of the actual projector


Now to be truthful, the throw on it isn't the best. At about 2.5 meters I can get a 90 inch display. Also, you need to mount it center to the screen to avoid any out of focus when using the keystone feature.

Below the projector is my 55inch 4K LG screen. This thing is super bright, so bright that it can hurt your eyes when watching some HDR12 or Dolby Vision stuff.
As you can see, the projector image is way larger and still plenty bright. The room isn't even dark thanks to the TV being on.





And an ultra wide image

[Dogg Thang]

I went to see Late Night with the Devil and really enjoyed it. It’s more fun than scary and I think I probably expected them to lean into the horror a little more but it’s different and I found it very entertaining. A small contained movie. The guy who played the host was superb and he carried the whole thing really well. The 70s feel worked great and they carried that into even how the movie was made which is in part how it was more fun than scary.

A nice different little movie.