What have you watched lately?

[Rollo Tomassi]

Re-watched Flash Gordon and Stripes this past weekend. I think Flash Gordon may be funnier than Stripes.

I haven't seen Flash Gordon in forever.

[Ran]

Re-watched Flash Gordon and Stripes this past weekend. I think Flash Gordon may be funnier than Stripes.

I haven't seen Flash Gordon in forever.

Seek it out. It is funny in the same way as Adam West's Batman.

[mabudon]

yeah I remember thinking "stripes" was one of the funniest fucking things ever when I was a kid, but I saw it several years later (tho still a long time ago,now) and was surprised at how it almost seemed like the jokes were all taken out or something.

Flash Gordon is a great film- oddly it was the first thing I ever saw on a VCR. I liked it a lot as a kid, but it still holds up well for totally different reasons. I like the opening bit, where Ming is launching them attacks and one of them is "hot hail" or something like that, sorta sums up the mentality behind the whole film. Oh and that scene where Flash and the monkey men swing into action and that damn song plays over and over (it is like a 10 second loop) for what seems like hours

[Ran]

The scene where Flash grabs a football sized stone and fights Ming's guards with football moves was pretty funny.

Saw Cop Out this weekend. Wasn't that bad, but not a typical Kevin Smith movie.

[Diabolical]

Saw Cop Out this weekend. Wasn't that bad, but not a typical Kevin Smith movie.

Not by a long shot. I think the behind-the-scenes drama was better (Essentially, Bruce Willis is an asshole).

[Ran]

I heard Kevin Smith interviewed on XM a few weeks ago and said Willis was hard to work with. I can't wait to see the hockey movie he's working on.

[vynsane]

Saw Cop Out this weekend. Wasn't that bad, but not a typical Kevin Smith movie.

it wasn't typical of kevin smith because he only directed it, he didn't write or produce it. there was one of those 'an evening with...' videos on netflix OD where he talks about his experiences with bruce willis.

[Diabolical]

it wasn't typical of kevin smith because he only directed it, he didn't write or produce it. there was one of those 'an evening with...' videos on netflix OD where he talks about his experiences with bruce willis.

And that Evening With (Too Fat For 40, IIRC) was Smith being nice about working with Willis.

More recently he's come clean(er) saying that Willis was an ass who did only what he wanted to do, nothing more. And if weren't for Tracy Morgan he'd have quit pretty early on.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I watched Hunt For Red October yesterday, and it occurred to me that growing up during the tail end of the Cold War inherently informs much of the perceived tension of those kinds of films. I don't think kids born during the 90s and later would have the same perspective on a lot of those era's films. And its not just the Soviets=Bad, USA=Good ideology(which lets face it, we were all inundated with that kind of thinking growing up) which is on the surface. I'd be curious to hear a younger person's reaction to it and other "Cold War" films.

I also rewatched Heat. Man, that is a fucking awesome film.

[vynsane]

[...] it occurred to me that growing up during the tail end of the Cold War inherently informs much of the perceived tension of those kinds of films. I don't think kids born during the 90s and later would have the same perspective on a lot of those era's films. And its not just the Soviets=Bad, USA=Good ideology(which lets face it, we were all inundated with that kind of thinking growing up) which is on the surface. I'd be curious to hear a younger person's reaction to it and other "Cold War" films.

we just watched 'SALT' the other day, and i think i suffers from being a movie made a decade and a half too late, due to this. they try to make it like this soviet program is still running like a chicken with its head cut off and some vague reasoning of 'returning the glory to mother russia', but ultimately if falls flat because it's like, no one is doing this, there is no autonomous secret government program that is somehow still funded and running 20 years after they were disbanded.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I went to the matinee of Super8 this week. It was a thoroughly enjoyable flick with great performances by a bunch of kids. You could tell it was a Spielbergian flick because it not one, but TWO kids with daddy issues in it. The monster reminded me of an organic Bayformer. Almost as if they took the digital "wireframe" from the TF movies and tossed some leathery slimy skin on it. But you hardly see the monster until the very end, so it was only marginally bothersome (if at all). I hardly recognized Ron Eldard in his role as the drunk father. And watching the zombie movie the kids were shooting during the end credits was humorous. Probably not necessary to see on the bigscreen, but couldn't hurt either if you went to a matinee like I did. But definitely check it out on DVD. You'll get the Close Encounters/ET/Goonies homage vibe from it but thats not a bad thing.

[vynsane]

so is there any difference between this and cloverfield? idk, i never saw that one, and don't plan on seeing this one, either.

[Rollo Tomassi]

so is there any difference between this and cloverfield? idk, i never saw that one, and don't plan on seeing this one, either.

Other than them both having 'monsters' in them, I think that's about the extent of their similarities (that and the directors of both films produced Felicity). Cloverfield is a modernday Tojo Godzilla film. S8 is ET, except if ET was a 30 ft tall alien that eats people. S8 is 95% about the kids dealing with this strange incident in their town...and also their estrangement with their dads.
And you should check out Cloverfield sometime. Its a decent flick that had a gimmicky 'hook'. Too often people focus on the hook (oh it was shot all shaky on video!) and miss a good monster/horror flick. When those little critters are chasing them in the subway I damn near crapped myself. That's some scary shit y'all.

[Diabolical]

Cloverfield was great.
The only bad part for me was getting past the 15-20 minute character establishment at the beginning.
Like Rollo said, people focused too much on the shaky cam aspect, then bashed the film for it, but I was never bothered by it.

I still want to see Super 8.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I watched Treasure of the Sierra Madre for the very first time last week. I didn't know thats where the often imitated "Badges? We don't need no steenking badges." monologue came from.