I Have Just Seen…
 

Instead of having lots of short-lived threads about individual films or telly shows, I thought I'd start a blanket coverage, all-rounder of a thread. So, if there's a DVD you've just seen, cinema, TV, illegal download, whatever - just post here. Does that sound alright?

To start off, I watched a film on the tellybox early this morning that I've been curious about for a while called Mysterious Skin. It ain't going to be to everybody's taste, due to the fairly graphic scenes of homosexuality, child abuse, rape. The usual stuff. But they're handled in such a truthful, engaging and sensitive way that by the time you get to the ending it's just beautiful. It stars that guy from 3rd Rock from the Sun... you younger member alien member. I think he was alien anyway, been years since that show was on. Anyway, it was pretty wonderful - though very difficult to watch at times.

Cool. I just watched The Butterfly Effect, and man, has that occupied my thoughts. It starts off telling the story of the main character's really troubled childhood, in which he keeps having blackouts during major (and traumatic) experiences. In colledge, he discovers that by reading his journals of the time, he can go back and inhabit is childhood body during the blackouts, and affect history. But each time he finds that something else has gone really bad, from best friends being in a mental institution, to becoming a murderer and going to jail, to discovering his arms were amputated and is paralysed from the waste down.

Thought provoking, and psychologically scary (being lost in other timelines and being unable to make things right).

I watched The Wrath of Khan and V for Vendetta (again). It was a real treat to see the true origin of the YTMND fad, and quite topical as I have recently seen the TOS episode introducing Khan. V just gets better, wittier, and more brilliant each time I watch it. It takes a damn good film to mock my politics and make me rate it as one of the best.




Although I don't understand how a society where the Qur'an is banned is a dystopia.

If you aren't joking, then I would argue that it's safe to say that the oppresion of a religion is rather dystopian.

In other news, I would be rather eager to see how child abuse and rape can be portrayed as anything other than vile. You've intrigued me, MF. Mmmmyeezzz.

I've recently been watching the Office (U.S.) and I'll be damned if it isn't excellent. I'm totally caught up in the Jam drama too; I feel like a teenage girl hooked on Degrassi or something.

I've recently watched the origional Dawn of the Dead, and Donnie Darko, so I'll talk about both.

The origional DotD:
Overall rating = sechse/5. It's realistic, it's origional, and it's all totally possible. IMO, it's *happy* outlook on the whole zombie scenario while they're in the mall is pretty refreshing. It's one of those good horror movies that doesn't have too much gore, which is hard to come by (again, IMO.)

Donnie Darko:
Overall = 4/5. To be honest, I like it. It's a type of movie that I call a "Chaos movie." See, with me atleast, it's got an ending that flips everything in your mind, and that makes you think in order to figure it all out. Don't ask where I came up with Chaos, it's just what I call it. It's pretty cool and deep. I don't want to spoil everything though, so it'll be kind of hard to explain most of the stuff. See, it goes a lot into a normal day for a *crazy* person. Maybe crazy isn't the best word, but for those of you who've seen it, You get my meaning. It also features Time-Travel Suicide, which I like.
One thing I don't like about it though, it's got a little too much *Adult* language. I'm alright for occasional cussing or when the situation calls for it, but DD had a couple too many that looked like they were just thrown in.
I do like the insults in the dinner scene, though. "You're such a f****-a**." "Why don't you go suck a f***?"

Though it was shite myself. It was really, really trying to appeal to the Donnie Darko market. Still, people called me 'desensitized' for laughing at the kid when he flipped out and frothed at the mouth.

The only good thing I've seen recently was Lady Terminator. How hilarious. The 24hour Film Festival is really my kind of thing.

Mhm, I quite liked that movie - Reminded me of Red Dwarf somewhat. It had a plotline that made you think about stuff: If you went back in time to your own childhood, what could you change? How different would your future/present be?

Anyway I recently watched The Day After Tomorrow. Kinda cheesy, the actors didn't really portray as much emotion as they should've considering the world was changing drastically and forever around them. . .

Somehow I don't think Global Warming's gonna go that way, but the movie wasn't too bad. . . Except the plot wasn't too gripping and it kind of dragged toward the end.

I recently re-watched my recording of the Nightmare Before Christmas. I have only seen it 4 times, but I still really like it. I think it's very original and better than many other movies that came out at that time.

Also I watched Shawn of the Dead a while ago, and that is pretty funny. I mean, I'm not one for blood, or gore or any mutilated body parts, but that movie wa pretty good in my opinion.

Vanilla Sky.

amazing.

I'm currently in love with Metalocalypse. I can't believe I didn't know of it earlier! I don't even know if it's playing on TV here yet.

Last thing I saw at the movies was Jackass 2, which was brilliant of course. I'm looking forward to Borat and The Prestige getting here.

That show is hilarious. The show's tagline is perfect, too.
"Brutal". The first episode, the black metal coffee one, is classic.
Rewatched Escape from New York recently. Good movie.

I've just re-read what I wrote and yes, it does look like I'm saying the film provides a rather glamorous view of child abuse and rape! Well, no, I didn't mean that... I just mean, it has some quietly beautiful stuff in it (not the nasty, bad stuff) in the way characters react to their situations.

On a related note, saw Casino Royale tonight and it was excellent! Not a massive Bond fan, but it was a movie of genuine quality... which is rare for this franchise. Loved Craig in the part, a wonderful simple plot. Recommended. Plus Le Chiffre, the main villain, is quite sexy... in a terrorist-aiding, dead eye kind of way.

Just watched the last episode of The Path to 9/11. Very fascinating mini series.

I intend to see Casino Royale soon at the cinemas. Movies I've watched recently are:
X3: Last Stand. I love the X-men universe, and the 3rd film is decent. It is mostly centered around violence and explosions, but has a decent enough plot running through. I did find some rather contradictory parts of the plot, but I won't say so I don't spoil it for thsoe who haven't seen it. the main premise of the plot is that a mutant 'cure' has been developed to remove mutant powers, and is offered to mutantkind as a voluntary procedure. Magneto is wanting to destroy it, the X-Men trying to stop him. There are a gfew good battle scenes and several big surprises or plot twists, but the film seems to be lacking in some areas. it has the battle scenes, but most of them seem to lack something compared to the 2 previous films. The ending however is good, if predictable, however *Semi-Spoilers*




right at the very end there are 2 massive shocks that totally change your viewpoint of the film. It is a good movie, and a good culmination of the film series, yet left open for possible sequels, although not without radical differences to the earlier parts of the franchise.

And just Tuesday night, I saw on a DVD borrowed from a parent's friend:
Secret Window. It is an interesting film to say the least, and again shows Johnny Depp's ability to play a variety of unusual roles ,despite there being moments during his portrayal of his character herethat are reminiscent of other roles, such as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of The Caribbean. I can't say anythingabotu the plot without spoiling it, but needless to say it is an involving story. There is a sense of mystery running through it, although after 3/4 of the way through the film the plotline starts to cease branching off and follow a route whose outcome can be worked out in advance. In other words, you can predict the ending. However the ending is still gripping, as well as a rather tense and ultimately bloody culmination. A good movie, but the fact that not only does the ending become somewhat predictable, as well as the fact that it can't really be watched twice considering the film's key element is the mystery aspect, means that it could be considered to have a short shelf-life. Fo those who don't mind watching mystery movies more than once, I'd rcommend it, but if you want to be surprised and gripped by it, just the 1 viewing is enough. The mystery element is decent, but not strong enough to be watched more than once. a good film, but I'd only recommend rental due to the 1-view-and-its-over nature of the genre.

My dad and I went to see Saw 3 a week ago, and it still disturbs me (I won't be eating meat for a long time). The traps are getting sicker, and sicker, I'm serious. They're making a fourth installment! :eek:

The Corpse Bride is a movie I've recently been rewatching. For some reason, I hated it when it was in theatres (I think I was expecting another TNBC), but the movie is fantastic. All the characters (even the minors and villains) are loveable, and Danny Elfman has done another wonderful job with the music, and even voices Bonejangles in the song "Remains of the Day" (one of my favorites). The music is highly emotional, and portrays each scene perfectly.

I just saw "A Clockwork Orange".

Its one crazy movie. Good, but crazy.

That's on my list of 'classic films I need to see'. I'll finally have some time to watch them after exams, hooray.

Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now were on T.V. last night. I was switching between those, mostly stayed on Taxi Driver. I've seen Apocalypse Now a few times already and if you're not "into" watching it intensely it becomes less of an experience and more of a chore.

I just watched cell and, frankly, it was one of the weirdest movies i've seen in my life. To sum it up, J.Lo goes into a serial killers mind, but gets trapped.

4/5

I took my girlfriend to see The Fountain for her birthday. Great movie. Aranofsky doesn't disappoint.

Just saw The Prestige, which was far better than I had expected. It was perfectly crafted from the perspective of hinting at the 'twist' all the way along but you won't guess until just before they reveal it.

saw "the untouchables" yesterday. great action flick.

I saw "Click" recently.
I have to say it was pretty funny and deep.
I almost (ALMOST) cried when Adam Sandler found out his dad had died.

I just recently watched The little Shop of Horrors. I thought that movie was pretty good for when it was made. I don't know why but I thought the funniest part was either when the old guy got killed, or when the plant socks Seymour in the crotch.

I just watched Dexter a few hours ago. That show is incredibly addictive. Anyone who's into crime-type shows would definitely love it. Especially, since it's much different from any other crime series :p

dexter sounds cool. i´ve heard that that´s michael c. halls new project.
what´s it about? briefly :)

It's about a man named Dexter, who is a blood-splatter analyst by day, and a sociopathic vigilante by night. One day, a murder occurs and there is no blood at the scene, which completely fascinates him. As the story progresses, the person responsible for the murder, known only as "The Ice Truck Killer" contacts him in various ways and leaves him clues that will bring him closer to finding out his identity. I believe there's an episode or two on myspace or youtube, if you're interested in watching it :)

A couple of things.

Flushed Away at the cinema, which I went to see cos it's an Aardman production and it was pretty terrific. Which is a good thing after the glut of complete dross, bandwagon-humping CG-animated films recently. Does that sentence make sense?

More significantly is El Espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) came through the post from America in a beautiful Criterion edition. An utterly, utterly gorgeous and unusual film that could potentially be one of my favourite films of all time. So simple, so haunting, just beautiful. Cinema as poetry.
http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=351
^ Have a peek. It's wonderful.

I saw Click on DVD just a couple of days ago. It was good, the ending was sad. Otherwise than the ending, the rest was hilarious.

@Mutual Friend:

Flushed Away looks terrible says me. I mean... A CG Aardman film. Aardman was stopmotion inspiration for a long time. Guess I shouldn't judge before I see it though. Most of the Criterion collection are grand also.