Saw the Walking Dead finale, kinda anticlimatic.

Can't believe I have to wait over a year for season 2.

Also, is it wrong that I still have the hots for the blonde X-Files woman?

Dvader said:

gamingeek said:

I dont think the Na'vi designs are good. The movie is though.

Saw this movie that deals with the early life of famous martial arts master Ip Man, the guy who taught Bruce Lee how to fight.

It's pretty good, definetly lower budget and not as glossy or well choreographed as other films like Fearless or Ip Man 1 or 2.

Fights scenes are decent but you will have to wait till the end for the big one which evokes Bruce Lee like -fist of fury- memories. They have a comical portrayel of foreigners, English and Japanese, Japanese always wear black and have elaborate hair dos.

Ultimately whilst it's a good film in it's own right, I can't help but compare it to Fearless and Ip Man which deals with similar issues in Japanese occupied China and does it much better. Still, more Ip Man is always welcome and being based on Ip Man's early life, it fills a niche that the other movies didn't cover. It's sometimes unsubtle in some parts, but this is not uncommon in Chinese or Hong Kong cinema. Overall, pleased I saw this.

Saw this, it was kinda meh. They homage moments came off as a lame almost remake. Some of the characters were laughable. It was okay for the most part but doesn't do the Predators any kind of justice. They really need to give the aliens a voice and have more of a complex motive than simple hunting.

Dvader said:

^ Agreed, ok movie, nothing great. Came off as a sort of bad retelling of Predator.

It's annoying because after the movies of Aliens and Predator they did this comic that I used to collect, I still have them in the cupboard. They have good writers doing good stories. A perfect sequel to Predator 1 was written in comic form by Mark Verheiden the guy who wrote Timecop and also wrote for the new Battlestar Galactica series.


Predator (a.k.a. Predator: Concrete Jungle)

1-4 by Mark Verheiden, Chris Warner and Ron Randall, June 1989-March 1990

June 1989-March 1990: The events of Predator #1-4 revolve around NYC Detective Schaefer, the brother of Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer. Detective Schaefer and his partner, Detective Rasche, discover a Predator in New York City during a drug deal gone bad. Schaefer believes the Predator and a mysterious army general have a connection to his brother, Dutch, which leads Schaefer on a hunt into Colombia. There in South America Schaefer has yet another run in with a Predator as well as a Colombian drug lord - an old NYC adversary. Successfully eluding both, Schaefer is transported back to the U.S. only to find a government plot to hand him over to the Predators. Predator #1-4 are collected together as the trade paperback: Predator: Concrete Jungle. The title should not be confused with the game of the same name.

It ends with Predator ships uncloaking around New York and drug gangs and military all shooting the shit out of each other and basically almost starting a war with the Predators and Schaefer uses a predator mask to see the predators when cloaked. It was really well done and some aspects where in the Predator 2 movie but were a bit shit in that film.

In fact there is an entire article here I just found.

21 Years ago When the Predator Landed in New York City

Schaefer, naturally, won't stand for this. In the jungle, he confronts the Predator that tagged him and kills the creature, setting off a chain of carnage that takes the action back to city. Rasch discovers cloaked Predators ships hovering all over Manhattan and Schaefer is taken into custody by Philips and used as a bargaining chip. "They seem to like you Schaefer boys," Philips reminds our hero. If Schaefer is turned over to the Predators, perhaps Philips can avoid seeing Manhattan being leveled by a nuclear blast similar to the destruction seen in Predator.


          Such a devastating blow to the Big Apple is avoided, however, and Schaefer puts up a fight. He rallies Rasch and the city's biggest gangs for an all-out war against the Predators in the streets of Manhattan! It's as epic as it sounds. Predator ships level cars and buildings. There is panic in the streets. The army rolls in, increasing the intensity of the firefight. Predators lay waste to armed macho drug runners. And Schaefer discovers a way to exploit the weakness of an enemy who loves to fight while invisible. Quite frankly, the final act is huge, taking the Predator series to levels its cinematic counterpart has not reached. Furthermore, "Concrete Jungle" feels like an action-packed Joel Silver picture which makes it a terrific companion piece to the films. Everyone is a hard-ass, there are some choice one-liners and the narration - which jumps between Rasch and Schafer - has a Lethal Weapon grit to it.

More at the link

I just watched "Let The Right One In" (the Swedish original, not the US remake).

It's really incredible.  Can't recommend it highly enough.

I woke up thinking about "Let the right one in" today and have done so for much of the morning.  It's been a long while since a movie has had that effect on me.  It's a really good story.  I don't want to say anything about it as I think you should all watch it for yourselves, though the cover i posted is a little tell-tale.  The american remake (titled: Let Me In) got good reviews but most of them say it's not as good as the Swedish original so you should go with the original.

Tonight I will watch "The Eclipse", an Irish ghost story.  Quite looking forward to it.

I saw two movies at the theater yesterday, The Fighter and Tron Legacy.

The Fighter is excellent, one of the best boxing movies I have ever seen and a great drama. The acting is superb, Bale WILL be nominated for best supporting actor and may win, he stole the movie.

Tron Legacy was a very fun, cool movie. Its nothing special and I dont see this movie starting any kind of cult following like the first. I will say that the action is quite spectacular and the score by Daft Punk is fantastic. The plot is a bit messy and it drags a bit in the middle but it is still something you should see if you love summer movies.

I saw Blade Runner for the first time last night, I saw the final cut version which most claim is the best way to see the film. I enjoyed the movie, I LOVE the cyberpunk style , its part of the reason why I am so excited for the new Deus Ex. Also I can watch Harrison Ford take a crap and enjoy it. Rutger Hauer was spectacular in his role, he has such a presence that he demands your attention.

But I don't think the movie is that great, i dont think its a masterpiece like so many claim it is. I don't care much for the artsy film, I much rather be entertained than have something to think about. When you do both that is when you blow me away. This movie is very slow and subtle, I have read that to many those allow the viewer to interpret it as they feel, or some BS like that. Or its just a really slow movie without much of a plot. Ford's character is lifeless, yes I get it that is the point, but you don't know why he is lifeless. You get tiny hints but Deckard doesn't seem to care about anything so why should we care about his story. There is the whole "is he a replicant" question, again, Deckard doesn't seem to care at all if he is a replicant, say he finds out he is, so, does that change anything, no. His character arc is simply, I am a depressed lonely guy, hey I like this girl, oops she is a robot, oh she saved me I love her now. Thats it.

The replicants are pretty cool, they are trying to survive, they just want to live a full life. Nice story, sadly most of them are weirdo or you dont get to know them at all. One dude has pictures of his fake past, that means something to him, awww. Thats all we know about him, everything else he does in the movie is beat up people. The snake lady, shows up in one scene and dies. The other chick, what a freak, why should I care if she lives or dies, she seems dangerous I was all for her dying. Then we get to Batty who is a psycho murder but a very well spoken one. He is the one man in the movie with some sort of character, something everyone else in the film seems to be missing. But again am I supposed to be sad that he dies at the end, was there any growth of his character, did anything happen to these characters that changed them.

Its not a good action movie at all as there is very little and its very boring action. Its not that suspensful at all. There is supposed to be a sort of love story but that was executed horribly. If there is a mystery surrounding Deckard it's so subtle that it doesn't even matter. Its a very cool movie to look at with one  interesting character.

I read some reviews to see why everyone loves it so much, here is one quote:

As he "airs out" the rebel replicants, who are seeking a way to extend their lives, the film raises social, moral and ethical issues about his assignment and questions the qualities that define humanity.

No it does not. The viewer might think about those things but the movie cares less about them. No one in the movie is worried if they should be killing replicants. No is trying to define humanity, the robots who are made to be like humans want to live, thats it, they were not trying to prove they were just as human, they just wanted to survive.  I think the movie is a shell and the viewer puts whatever they want into it, masterpiece!

I don't get it, there are a lot of drama films that win awards that I just don't get either. I just want to explain why I feel this way. If you do love this movie show me why it should be a sci-fi classic ranked higher than say the new Star Trek movie which I feel is infinitely better but its a summer movie so it gets looked at differently.

Dvader said:

I don't get it, there are a lot of drama films that win awards that I just don't get either. I just want to explain why I feel this way. If you do love this movie show me why it should be a sci-fi classic ranked higher than say the new Star Trek movie which I feel is infinitely better but its a summer movie so it gets looked at differently.

Yeah I got nothing.