Carnelian posted:

As an aside, when they remade the Sweeney and set it in the present day rather than the era of Ford Cortinas, side burns, brown suits, flares and kipper ties I thought to myself, why bother calling it "The Sweeney" at all. The film was rubbish too.

 I was just about to mention the Sweeney remake and noticed you did. I am glad I was not the only one who thought it rubbish.

I think Ray W needs to be a bit more careful in the roles he undertakes.

Having said that, I caught him in a film called Hot Potato. It was a bit of a surprise as I found it rather entertaining. If memory serves it's set in the 60's and is essentially about a couple of guy's trying to sell some plutonium (I think) to thr highest bidder. Has a big dollop of humour and a soundtrack which feels like they had drafted in John Barry - they hadn't as I bought it. 

Carnelian posted:

Thing about John Carter is it's Edgar Rice Burroughs - also the creator of Tarzan. One of America's own literary favourites for boys own sci-fi 'romance' fiction.  The other thing about him is that I'd never heard of the John Carter books even though I reckon to be quite well up on literary sci-fi.  I wonder if it's more an American thing that hasn't really culturally travelled outside America, unlike his Tarzan books. 

Those John Carter books came out a long long time ago, the first one, 1912, and I wonder if the recognition is lost on modern audiences, a bit like trying to do a film version of Dan Dare now and trying to sell it to American audiences.

 

 

I'm pretty sure I read or watched something where Lucas was quoted as saying the books which John Carter came from were a big influence on Star Wars.

Was John Carter 'less' of a flop in the USA then?

Saint posted:

I feel I will have to watch Submarine and Hallam Foe, won't I?

However both seem bizarre/unusual movies I would never choose to watch.

They are certainly more character driven films. I think that some would probably characterise Submarine as a coming of age film. I'm hoping you enjoy them and get something out of them.

Have you looked into the films made by Warp films? There is one I saw not long back called Kill List. Its was a bit too grity and violent for me but I did enjoy spotting all the locations around my home town. I presume you have seen Four Lions.

Saint posted:

Was John Carter 'less' of a flop in the USA then?

It appears to have made $21M more than it cost to make. I guess that because the margin is relatively small people will consider it a flop. I think studios want much more return than that.

Ooh I think you should check that cos I've always read that the losses almost bankrupted Disney

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17442200

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...est_box_office_bombs

Saint posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...est_box_office_bombs

I'm not sure how they come to the loss as if you take the production costs off the gross takings you get my figure.

Saint posted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17442200

2012 report.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Saint posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...est_box_office_bombs

I'm not sure how they come to the loss as if you take the production costs off the gross takings you get my figure.

Marketing costs perhaps?

I've read constantly that John Carter cost Disney huge -  in losses

Saint posted:

Was John Carter 'less' of a flop in the USA then?

No, it was a big flop there.  There were around a dozen John Carter books written over many years and I guess Burroughs fleshed out his world in much the same way as the Star Wars or the Star Trek 'universe' have been fleshed out.   I wonder how popular those books are in present day America.  My guess is "not very".  I think it's probably telling that no one has bothered to make a John Carter film before the Disney one.

I think it was too ambitious and too disjointed. Also boring.  Although the books pre-date Star Wars, it just looks derivative of Star War and a load of other lesser fantasy sci-fi films.  It could have worked but it just didn't, mainly down to the usual things that make a film like it a turkey, acting, dialogue, uninspiring special effects/action sequences and plot. 

I'm not surprised Enthusiastic Contrafibularities mentions that Lucas has cited the John Carter books as his inspiration, as it's easy to see from the John Carter movie where Lucas stole wholesale from the books and just gave his film a more technological twist and chucked in a load of historical parallels (Nazi Germany/The Roman Empire). 

On the other point, it certainly did make a massive loss of Disney.  It's not just the cost of the film but the promotion, marketing, cinema's cut, advertising goes into it.  I wonder how many John Carter-based plastic figurines there are in landfills.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

 

Found it !!!

It's called Hallam Foe (2007).

One of those films I caught unexpectedly and found it a decent watch. I bought it cheap to give it a second watch.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466816/

 

You might like Young Adam (2002) in that case, same director and also set in Scotland. I haven't seen either film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289635/

I watched "Maggie", with Arnie Swazeneger and Abigail Breslin. Not what I was expecting at all from a zombie film with Arnie. It was a really downbeat post- apocalyptical film in the mould of "The Road" about a dotting father's time with his infected daughter as her 'zombie' disease advances.

The break from the normal Zombie film cliché is that the infected change to zombies over days or weeks rather just die and wake up a few hours, minutes or seconds later as fully formed zombies. So they retain their diminishing humanity well into their disease and are fully aware of the progression of the disease.

Arnie is grizzled and downbeat and actually shows that he can act, He has a good chemistry with his on-screen daughter. Well worth watching if you have time for a poignant drama i.e. "depressing" drama, as I do - not so if you're wanting a dumb zombie shoot-em-up with wise cracks from our hero.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Saint posted:

I feel I will have to watch Submarine and Hallam Foe, won't I?

However both seem bizarre/unusual movies I would never choose to watch.

They are certainly more character driven films. I think that some would probably characterise Submarine as a coming of age film. I'm hoping you enjoy them and get something out of them.

 

Have you looked into the films made by Warp films? There is one I saw not long back called Kill List. Its was a bit too grity and violent for me but I did enjoy spotting all the locations around my home town. I presume you have seen Four Lions.

 

Kill List was like a mash up of three genres in acts. 

first act, a domestic violence drama.  second act, a Tarrantino style violent revenge gangster thriller, third act, a rip off of the Wicker Man.

IMO, a really terrible film that looked like it had been cut and shut from three different films. 

Rawky-Roo posted:

Saint posted:

Kingsmen :  The Secret Service left me cold

My favourite film of the year. Absolutely entertaining to the max.

I was pleasantly surprised by this.  The film poster made me think of another juvenile "Marvel" style super hero film which I've got weary of recently, so I avoided it, then decided to hire it as I was so bored on that particular evening and the film was far better and entertaining than I'd hoped. 

Kill List - yes seen it - rather odd, unsatisfying.

Four Lions - seen it - although tragic and comedic I thought it went a little far in ridiculing the subject matter.

Maggie was good, I agree it show cased Arnie's acting capabilities. I liked the feel of it, made me think of interstellar with its bleak/sparse setting.

The Darkest Hour is a great movie

Yes it's made to a budget and some parts are below par by today's standards however ... watch the extras - it makes a difference,  a big difference

It makes you realise this idea should have been given the whole Hollywood treatment and could have ran as a trilogy . It has ambitious pretensions

Jen-Star posted:

Maggie was good, I agree it show cased Arnie's acting capabilities. I liked the feel of it, made me think of interstellar with its bleak/sparse setting.

It was a bleak and sad film but the characterisation was excellent and the characters well written and very empathetic.  I watched it twice and the sign of a good film to me is when I watch the credits - as I did twice. It was Abigail Breslin's film really as an ordinary teen in the wrong place at the wrong time, who excelled in her role, but Arnie turned in a really good performance for an actor known for his lightweight action work.

ANOTHER WORLD - rubbish - avoid

Saint posted:

The Darkest Hour is a great movie

Yes it's made to a budget and some parts are below par by today's standards however ... watch the extras - it makes a difference,  a big difference

It makes you realise this idea should have been given the whole Hollywood treatment and could have ran as a trilogy . It has ambitious pretensions

The Darkest Hour - pretty much summed up my feelings about the film. Lol, well not quite, I am just messing a bit. But I did not think it a great film. I thought like you there was the basis of a decent idea and if placed in the right directors hands/studio could have been quite a good film. For me it strayed into a few well trodden film clichés (the intersting bits aside).

I don't own the film so will have to take your word for it on the extras front.

On the 'Battleship'* scale it was a good 6.5 for me.

The Battleship scale was introduced by Carnelian as a way to judge the overall quality of a film, Battleship being a resounding "0".

El Loro posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

 

Found it !!!

It's called Hallam Foe (2007).

One of those films I caught unexpectedly and found it a decent watch. I bought it cheap to give it a second watch.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466816/

 

You might like Young Adam (2002) in that case, same director and also set in Scotland. I haven't seen either film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289635/

Thanks El. I will add that to my list.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Saint posted:

The Darkest Hour is a great movie

Yes it's made to a budget and some parts are below par by today's standards however ... watch the extras - it makes a difference,  a big difference

It makes you realise this idea should have been given the whole Hollywood treatment and could have ran as a trilogy . It has ambitious pretensions

The Darkest Hour - pretty much summed up my feelings about the film. Lol, well not quite, I am just messing a bit. But I did not think it a great film. I thought like you there was the basis of a decent idea and if placed in the right directors hands/studio could have been quite a good film. For me it strayed into a few well trodden film clichés (the intersting bits aside).

I don't own the film so will have to take your word for it on the extras front.

On the 'Battleship'* scale it was a good 6.5 for me.

 

The Battleship scale was introduced by Carnelian as a way to judge the overall quality of a film, Battleship being a resounding "0".

ANOTHER WORLD - 4/10

Can we also introduce a 'better than'/'worse than' category at the bottom of a review so we can compare it to other movies people may have viewed?

Hence . . . 'Worse than' - 28 days later

Saint posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...est_box_office_bombs

Surprised to see 47 Ronin up there right at the top. I quite liked that film.  To me, it didn't suffer from any of the obvious problems that fail a film of its type like bad: acting, plot, dialogue nor special effects.

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

Any more clues CS?

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

 

Any more clues CS?

 

I'm trying to recall if it was set to music or just noise.

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

 

Any more clues CS?

 

I'm trying to recall if it was set to music or just noise.

The first thing that jumped into my mind was koyaanisqatsi. Not so much a documentary as a visual experience set to the music of Philip Glass.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

 

Any more clues CS?

 

I'm trying to recall if it was set to music or just noise.

 

The first thing that jumped into my mind was koyaanisqatsi. Not so much a documentary as a visual experience set to the music of Philip Glass.

 

 

That title sounds familiar!

We watched John Wick last night - dreadful!

However tonight we watched what we are calling The Intimidation Game and found it to be quite excellent. Oscars? They wuz robbed.

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

 

Any more clues CS?

 

I'm trying to recall if it was set to music or just noise.

 

The first thing that jumped into my mind was koyaanisqatsi. Not so much a documentary as a visual experience set to the music of Philip Glass.

That title sounds familiar!

My immediate reaction on seeing you're original post was that there wasn't enough info to go on, but - now that EC's mentioned it - it does rather sound like "Koyaanisqatsi" (or failing that, one of the others in the trilogy).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It's definitely been shown on C4 (it came out in 1982 - the same year that C4 started), but was out of print during the 90s for copyright reasons.

Eugene's Lair posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

 

Any more clues CS?

 

I'm trying to recall if it was set to music or just noise.

 

The first thing that jumped into my mind was koyaanisqatsi. Not so much a documentary as a visual experience set to the music of Philip Glass.

That title sounds familiar!

My immediate reaction on seeing you're original post was that there wasn't enough info to go on, but - now that EC's mentioned it - it does rather sound like "Koyaanisqatsi" (or failing that, one of the others in the trilogy).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It's definitely been shown on C4 (it came out in 1982 - the same year that C4 started), but was out of print during the 90s for copyright reasons.

I believe that must be what i was thinking of.

Cold Sweat posted:

Eugene's Lair posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Cold Sweat posted:

Can someone help me identify a film, please?

American I think, possibly early to mid 1980s and loosely of the documentary genre.

All I can recall is the demolition of buildings and it being shown on C4 many years ago.

 

*This thread had slipped to page 11! The amount of celebrity obituary threads that i encountered while searching for it was quite an eye-opener!

 

 

Any more clues CS?

 

I'm trying to recall if it was set to music or just noise.

 

The first thing that jumped into my mind was koyaanisqatsi. Not so much a documentary as a visual experience set to the music of Philip Glass.

That title sounds familiar!

My immediate reaction on seeing you're original post was that there wasn't enough info to go on, but - now that EC's mentioned it - it does rather sound like "Koyaanisqatsi" (or failing that, one of the others in the trilogy).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It's definitely been shown on C4 (it came out in 1982 - the same year that C4 started), but was out of print during the 90s for copyright reasons.

I believe that must be what i was thinking of.

I recently bought it on blu-ray. It came out in a special edition but is now being released on single blu-rays.

I am out at the moment but will post further details when I get home on my computer.

If you were interested in purchasing the film, it comes it two varieties:

1. http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/sh...o&product_id=338 - This is a two pack with Powaqqatsi.
2. http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/sh...y&product_id=637 - This is just the film.

Will probably be cheaper on Amazon.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirH8PADDgQ

Anyone seen the Woody Allen film 'Magic in the Moonlight'?

I finally watched 'There will be blood' last night. What a brilliant movie!  Daniel Day Lewis and the lad who played his son were outstanding! 

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:

Anyone seen the Woody Allen film 'Magic in the Moonlight'?

Just realised that I missed this post...

Yes: I saw "Magic in the Moonlight" when it came out, and thought it was reasonably fun, but then I like the cast a lot. Not as good as "Midnight in Paris", but definitely one of the better recent Allen films.

Just noticed that BBC2's showing "I Am Number Four" on Saturday.

Wonder if anyone here will be watching...

STOP THE PRESS !!!!

http://www.slashfilm.com/talen...v-series-neil-cross/

Please God don't ruin it

Suggestions for Ripley and Dickie anyone??

For Marge may I suggest Olivia Hallinan