What was the last movie you saw?

[rjprice]

The Man With The Golden Gun

Oh that James Bond, he's such a harlot.

[Séamas]

the Atomic Brain 1964 (also known as Monstrosity).
A bitchy old rich lady hires a mad scientist (Dr Frank) to transfer her brain into the body of a younger woman.

He tests his skills by transferring animal brains into cadavers.

Old lady and her gigolo send out "want ads" overseas for "housekeepers". The lady checks out the young ladies to see which one is the hottest.
One rejectee becomes the final experiment-up until now the scientist has only worked with cadavers--he transfers a cat brain into the live girl's body.

The cat-brained girl later claws out the eyes of the girl the old lady really wanted (had Marylin Monroe's measurements). So old lady has to settle for bachelorette #2.

Not an excellent movie.

[Metacell]

It sounds effing fantastic!

[Séamas]

It sounds effing fantastic!

It's definitely worth watching--especially with people who can tolerate that kind of movie.

[justine]

It sounds effing fantastic!

This!

[Metacell]

Right up there with The Brain That Would Not Die.

[ukimalefu]

Right up there with The Brain That Would Not Die.

I saw that one and I liked it.

[Ribtor]

M. Night Shamannannaaah's The Village.

Not bad. Had it mostly figured out but Adrien Brody's character provided a nice twist.

[Séamas]

Right up there with The Brain That Would Not Die.

The Brain the Wouldn't Die was quite a bit better than Atomic Brain.


I love how the Doctor in The Brain the Wouldn't Die doesn't even hesitate before taking his fiance's head--then heads right to the red light district looking for a body.

[DEyncourt]

The second season of Sherlock (note: the third season link here is only a placeholder) has come and gone on PBS Mystery, although you can still catch all three online here at least for a while so don't take too long to indulge--season one's episode were available for about a month after airing. This season they are updating three classic Holmes tales: A Scandal in Bohemia (renamed and modified to A Scandal in Belgravia), The Hound of the Baskervilles (pluralized to The Hounds of the Baskervilles) and The Final Problem (renamed The Reichenbach Fall, so my guess is that no waterfall is involved).

I should note that the online version is periodically and very annoyingly interrupted by a sponsor's commercial--for me it was for the Oregon Tourist Board or something like that. While short, these were especially annoying in that these came in the middle of a scene--sometimes in the middle of a character's line--so I guess they were inserted based only on time and with no consideration for the program.

So far I've only seen the first of season 2, and while rather delicious in many ways (and thus not suitable for some children--perhaps PG/PG-13 for American audiences) I think that of the four episodes I've seen it is the weakest of all (which is not to say that it is bad, just a weaker story than the others). The resolution of the cliffhanger from the end of season 1 is confusing and disappointing even in context of the rest of the story, and there is a smaller mystery--[spoiler]boomerang[/spoiler]--within the overall one where the "how" is resolved but nothing about the "why". As with the other episodes this particular "Sherlock" shines best when explaining how Holmes "deduces" his solutions--I especially liked his "decoding" which also gives a plausible reason why it would elude even the top cryptographers under Irene Adler's influence.

All-in-all an enjoyable 1.5 hours and I look forward to the two remaining episodes.

[Ribtor]

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. 1954. Nicely done example of steam punk.

[Metacell]

Oh yeah, steampunk is 99% based on Jules Verne.

[rjprice]

Rollerball

A cheeseball flick in1975 but today it is like watching a documentary about how the world works.

[jr565]

Rollerball

A cheeseball flick in1975 but today it is like watching a documentary about how the world works.

Except for the part about how "wars will no longer exist". Wars will always exist.

[rjprice]

True, I took some liberties there. It is definitely the destination if we follow our current path though.

[Nini]

Yeah? Great, all those years of Rollerball training will finally pay off. Also, that sort of statement makes me think just how soberingly pessimistic and downbeat not to mention serious you guys are about everything.

And Geesie pulls me up for going to the negative too fast?

[Metacell]

Are you kidding me? The reality depicted in Rollerball is like "the good old days". We're entering Soylent Green territory now.

[Freakout Jackson]

Saw "Young Adult" last night. Besides being able to look at Charlize Theron for an hour and 1/2 (not something to be taken for granted)....meh

[jr565]

Rollerball

A cheeseball flick in1975 but today it is like watching a documentary about how the world works.

I remember when I was a kid seeing the poster for this movie (or maybe it had come out on video and I saw the box) and thinking it looked like the coolest movie ever. Never did see it though. I think I caught a bit on cable recently and fell asleep watching it.

However, I did see the remake of this movie and it definitely was not the coolest movie ever.

[jr565]

Saw "Young Adult" last night. Besides being able to look at Charlize Theron for an hour and 1/2 (not something to be taken for granted)....meh

If you like to look at Charlize you should probably see Snow White & The Huntsman> I figured it would be a complete bomb, but so far it's actually grossed pretty good money and has gotten some decent reviews. Plus you get to look at Charlize, and Kristen Stewart! And Thor!
Yummm!

[Nini]

Wait, weren't you chastising people for "only thinking of vagina" in another thread?

[Shnicky-Poo]

Star Trek VI. Actually pretty good still. They had fun with it to a surprising degree, joking about Kirk boning alien chicks, and about Spock having been dead before. A good way for them to say goodbye to the original crew.

I watched it because I was looking for cultural references to the end of the Cold War (I'm reading a nonfiction book about the demise of the USSR).

[jr565]

Wait, weren't you chastising people for "only thinking of vagina" in another thread?

Yeah but this is about Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart... and Thor....

[rjprice]

Star Trek VI. Actually pretty good still. They had fun with it to a surprising degree, joking about Kirk boning alien chicks, and about Spock having been dead before. A good way for them to say goodbye to the original crew.

I watched it because I was looking for cultural references to the end of the Cold War (I'm reading a nonfiction book about the demise of the USSR).

You might want to check William Odom's Collapse Of The Soviet Military

[Nini]

I watched it because I was looking for cultural references to the end of the Cold War (I'm reading a nonfiction book about the demise of the USSR).

What an aching bore that sounds like.

[Ribtor]

Star Trek VI. Actually pretty good still. They had fun with it to a surprising degree, joking about Kirk boning alien chicks, and about Spock having been dead before. A good way for them to say goodbye to the original crew.

I watched it because I was looking for cultural references to the end of the Cold War (I'm reading a nonfiction book about the demise of the USSR).

Right. And I read Playboy for the articles.

[Shnicky-Poo]

Star Trek VI. Actually pretty good still. They had fun with it to a surprising degree, joking about Kirk boning alien chicks, and about Spock having been dead before. A good way for them to say goodbye to the original crew.

I watched it because I was looking for cultural references to the end of the Cold War (I'm reading a nonfiction book about the demise of the USSR).

Right. And I read Playboy for the articles.

[Shnicky-Poo]

I watched it because I was looking for cultural references to the end of the Cold War (I'm reading a nonfiction book about the demise of the USSR).

What an aching bore that sounds like.

Quite the contrary!

[Nini]

I'm sure it was but it had nothing to do with cultural references to the Cold War, boringbutt.

[Séamas]

Hugo
We liked this a lot. I thought the story was interesting and it was well told. The sets and the whole look of every scene was gorgeous. Now I want to get my hands on a collection of Georges Méliès work. I've been familiar with scenes of his movies, but would love to see the entire works.

We didn't see it in 3-D--we saw it outdoors. Part of a local PTA fundraiser. It was at a German Catholic societies' countryclub. $5 each we got to swim in the pool and watch the movie along the banks of the Hudson River. The sun set behind the screen as we watched a couple Bugs Bunny shorts before the feature.
$12 pitchers of Spaten.
Great night.

[DEyncourt]

The second season of Sherlock (note: the third season link here is only a placeholder) has come and gone on PBS Mystery, although you can still catch all three online here at least for a while so don't take too long to indulge--season one's episode were available for about a month after airing. This season they are updating three classic Holmes tales: A Scandal in Bohemia (renamed and modified to A Scandal in Belgravia), The Hound of the Baskervilles (pluralized to The Hounds of the Baskervilles) and The Final Problem (renamed The Reichenbach Fall, so my guess is that no waterfall is involved).

I should note that the online version is periodically and very annoyingly interrupted by a sponsor's commercial--for me it was for the Oregon Tourist Board or something like that. While short, these were especially annoying in that these came in the middle of a scene--sometimes in the middle of a character's line--so I guess they were inserted based only on time and with no consideration for the program.

So far I've only seen the first of season 2, and while rather delicious in many ways (and thus not suitable for some children--perhaps PG/PG-13 for American audiences) I think that of the four episodes I've seen it is the weakest of all (which is not to say that it is bad, just a weaker story than the others). The resolution of the cliffhanger from the end of season 1 is confusing and disappointing even in context of the rest of the story, and there is a smaller mystery--[spoiler]boomerang[/spoiler]--within the overall one where the "how" is resolved but nothing about the "why". As with the other episodes this particular "Sherlock" shines best when explaining how Holmes "deduces" his solutions--I especially liked his "decoding" which also gives a plausible reason why it would elude even the top cryptographers under Irene Adler's influence.

All-in-all an enjoyable 1.5 hours and I look forward to the two remaining episodes.

A follow-up. I did watch Hounds online where there were NO annoying interruptions so perhaps PBS got enough flack for the breaks in Scandal that they cancelled them. I watched Fall from a recording on my DVR.

Of the two I would rate Hounds as the best of the second season with Fall perhaps midway between Hounds and Scandal. At first Hounds may seem to violate an Agatha Christie rule for mysteries--[spoiler]do not use an exotic chemical with weird effects that are not commonly known[/spoiler]--but I'm willing to forgive this since the consequences were more important.

Fall does have the ultimate problem: how to depict the counterchanged geniuses of Holmes and Moriarity and present them with problems that wouldn't be insultingly dull, but I think it does this pretty well. The story is complicated with a lots of twists and turns, but I have to say: [spoiler]Watson being hit by the bicyclist at the end? One might think that by now he would know that there are few coincidences in Holmes' world[/spoiler]. The Reichenbach Falls does makes an appearance but only via this painting by Turner.

Of all six episodes of Sherlock I still consider the first of season one the best of the bunch, but I think all of them are enjoyable for both Sherlockians and non-Sherlockians.

[Séamas]

Terror at Red Wolf Inn
aka Terror House
aka Club Dead
aka the Folks at Red Wolf Inn

1972.

College girl Regina wins all-expense paid stay at nice old inn by the sea. Two other young ladies are also guests.
They are served large, sumptuous meals by their hosts: a nice older couple and their handsome (but weird and childlike) grandson named Baby John.

After one of the girls leaves mysteriously, Regina notices that the hosts are not forthcoming with answers to her questions.
Through some snooping she finds the answer: hosts are fattening up the girls for slaughter, and those sumptuous gourmet meals are made of butchered coeds.

This wasn't terrible. There was some decent suspense.

[justine]

Hugo
We liked this a lot. I thought the story was interesting and it was well told. The sets and the whole look of every scene was gorgeous. Now I want to get my hands on a collection of Georges Méliès work. I've been familiar with scenes of his movies, but would love to see the entire works.

We didn't see it in 3-D--we saw it outdoors. Part of a local PTA fundraiser. It was at a German Catholic societies' countryclub. $5 each we got to swim in the pool and watch the movie along the banks of the Hudson River. The sun set behind the screen as we watched a couple Bugs Bunny shorts before the feature.
$12 pitchers of Spaten.
Great night.

Sounds like you had a real nice time. I might just have to put it in my queue.

[arkayn]

Hugo
We liked this a lot. I thought the story was interesting and it was well told. The sets and the whole look of every scene was gorgeous. Now I want to get my hands on a collection of Georges Méliès work. I've been familiar with scenes of his movies, but would love to see the entire works.

We didn't see it in 3-D--we saw it outdoors. Part of a local PTA fundraiser. It was at a German Catholic societies' countryclub. $5 each we got to swim in the pool and watch the movie along the banks of the Hudson River. The sun set behind the screen as we watched a couple Bugs Bunny shorts before the feature.
$12 pitchers of Spaten.
Great night.

Sounds like you had a real nice time. I might just have to put it in my queue.

It is an interesting movie.

[Metacell]

Just got back from Prometheus.

I will just say this:
[spoiler]Awwww Hell YEAH![/spoiler]

EDIT: I'll say one more thing. That movie had me gritting my teeth like nothing I've seen in 30 years.

[jr565]

Just saw Mothers Day with Rebecca DeMornay. Remake of an old Troma movie.
It wasn't terrible if you like that kind of movie.

It definitely pulled no punches as far as offing people, and DeMornay is pretty good at playing psychotic women. Probably better acted than warranted, and it's still just a genre piece, But for what it was, not terrible.

[Ribtor]

John Carter.

Seemed ok to me. The actor playing Carter has absolutely no charisma whatsoever but I thought the movie fell well within the bounds of acceptability for its genre. Don't know why all the fuss and failure.

[Nini]

Yeah, let's hear about a film being OK "for its genre" from a guy who is openly contemptuous of the genre. It could be that it simply wasn't made for the right audience, that's a good chunk of what's behind the fuss and failure. You cannot label it good if someone who dislikes the genre thinks its reasonably good "for its genre", like that statement isn't dripping with condescension.

[Ribtor]

I'm not sure I'm contemptuous of the genre. I like escapist nonsense and I like Edgar Rice Burroughs (well enough at any rate) and I like effects-laden stuff when the plot demands effects-laden stuff.

It's just sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and I thought John Carter of Mars worked well enough to be entertaining. If it's supposed to be anything other than entertaining escapist nonsense, then I'll accept the criticism and jibes that I just don't get it.

[Nini]

I liked it but I know full well why people didn't, John Carter simply didn't pay enough attention to the source material. It was entertaining escapist nonsense, just not the one they knew before the film.

Also something else... let them fill you in on the holes.