Toshiro Mifune as the nameless samurai in Yojimbo

"A long life eating mush is best!"

Been on a bit of a home invasion tip this week. Infinitely more fun than Funny Games was The Strangers. Owes a big debt to John Carpenter in my opinion, but very effective.

Watched Limitless yesterday. Enjoyed it, and thought it was an interesting film until the rubbish last 15 minutes. Terrible ending, almost felt like they ran out of money/ideas to finish off the film properly.

I liked the ending!

Rewatched Ed Wood yesterday. It's still the best film Burton's ever made.

It inspired me to do a web search for some of Wood's novels that I haven't already read. Looks like Amazon have most of them in stock. I'm thinking of picking up a couple. I'm going to travel a lot in the next few weeks so I need something to kill some time with. No one will ever agree with me on this but Wood was a genius writer. The novels I've read in the past have all been great pulp. Lots of supressed sexual emotions and misguided violence.

Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks! ...

That's about it for worthwhile Burton films.

Batman and Big Fish were good movies.

The nightmare before christmas too if you count it.

See I don't agree any of those were good.

With the possible exception of Prince's contributions to Batman

I liked Corpse Bride too. And Sleepy Hollow.

Haven't seen corpse bride; have always intended to so, but never got around to it.

Think I may spend the whole of today in the cinema. Going to catch Sucker Punch and two more movies though haven't decided what yet, did want to see battle los angeles but it isn't on until nine. Anyone know anything about Source Code?

After the third one, they are going to 'reboot' batman again. Hope they don't ruin it.

Captain wrote:

Haven't seen corpse bride; have always intended to so, but never got around to it.

If you liked Nightmare I think you'll enjoy it. It's hard to come by good stop-motion nowadays.

Gotta say that I really enjoyed Tim Burton's Batman films. The second one especially.

Burnwinter wrote:

Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks! ...

That's about it for worthwhile Burton films.

leave off Ed Wood and Mars Attacks, and maybe add the first Batman and Big Fish (i surprisingly liked that) and even maybe Sleepy Hollow, and that would be my list..

never a fan of the "animated" movies of his, nor any of his really "weird" movies (Charlie, Sweeney Todd, Alice, etc)

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Nolan's efforts have made Burton's Batmen (heh) look decrepit. I know, I know, apples and oranges, but when I watch Batman now I can't help but cringe. I feel like I'm watching pantomime. Or a remake of the 1969 Batman.

wow, couldnt disagree more.. personally, i think Nolan has given Batman a very fresh, darker feel to them, which was how the original comic intended it. i REALLY liked Batman Begins, and while I didnt like The Dark Knight quite as much, still thought it was way better than the previous 3 Batman movies before Nolan came on board. and Ledger was a fantastic Joker

ThoseNolan-made Batman movies are two of my favorite flicks ever, and I'm not into superhero movies. They're just remarkably engaging and have the right combination of drama and action.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

I think you've misunderstood me there US, I wasn't having a go at Nolan's take on it...

i believe I did.. i just re-read your post.. yikes.. my bad :confused:

wow, another think Burnsy and I agree on.. holy shit, banner day.. (I wasnt a huge fan of Inception, and I thought Eckhart was the wrong choice)

Really didn't like The Dark Knight. So many glaring plot holes, apart from Two-Face and all the stupidity. It pissed me off. Inception was a step further down that road. I want the Nolan who did Memento back. I'd even settle for the one who did Batman Begins.

I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal was MUCH better than Katie "Dawson's Creek" Holmes.. i loathe Holmes, think she's pretty much a nothing actress (and she's married to nut-boy Tom Cruise).. at least Maggie can act.. i was so happy when they replaced Holmes for the second movie..

wonder how Joseph Gordon Levitt will do as Falcone Jr. in the new one (i like him as an actor)

Bale's 'batman voice' in the second one was shocking. Good film but definitely 20-30mins too long.

Dark Knight was a good film, never mind the plot holes Klaus, though I agree there were more than a few.

Even Eckhart was decent as Harvey Dent, but his transformation after the burn was poorly done, and the CG for the burn itself was rubbish.

The other big irritation in the franchise is probably Freeman as Lucius Fox.

Joseph Gordon Levitt will do an unremarkable job in the third one I reckon. He was dull as Arthur in Inception - given nothing much to work with he was solid. Likewise Cillian Murphy, a quality actor who has been poorly used by Nolan in both his Batman films and in Inception.

Nolan's next film needs more strong characters.

I think it's the writing too. He just doesn't have a feeling for character depth and pacing. Don't think it's a coincidence that his best movie (The Prestige) is based on a novel.

The Dark Knight was a movie that would've benefited from being 50 minutes shorter and having a villain less. But above all it would've benefited from having another writer. Some of the stuff was just mind-numbingly stupid. Like how the Joker's great master plan relied on the guy with the keys to the holding room standing guard inside the fucking room so the Joker could provoke him, take him hostage and get out. Or when they abduct that guy in Hong Kong on the 70th floor of a skyscraper, rather than just grab him outside his house. Or the miracle machine that could scan the entire population of Gotham and see through buildings. What about reconstructing a fingerprint from a shattered bullet? And don't get me started on Harvey fucking Dent. We're supposed to believe that he goes from a selfless idealist to a coldblooded child-murderer in a week just because someone blows up his girlfriend? Fuck off, Nolan.

The whole point of Batman Begins was that it made a somewhat believable, more realistic character out of Batman and washed away that 1950s comic book feeling that plagued Burton's and Schumacher's Batman movies. They did a great job at undoing all that in the sequel.

I'd agree with that post, Klaus. I don't remember the film as completely as you do, but I do recall objecting to the Gotham-scope.

With respect to the deficiencies in the "great master plan" of the Joker: I'd suggest that the point of that character is partly that his erratic actions achieve his aim through counterintuition, instinct and improvisation. It's implied that he would have had some other resourceful means at his disposal to escape, and would always have such until confronted with his symbolic arch-nemesis, Batman: the meticulous, carefully equipped, analytical bringer of order.

To be fair, they did show him having a fairly extreme personality prior to the traumatic break that turns him into Two-Face. Still didnae like that character much.

Captain wrote:

Just reading that Franco is set to play Kaneda in the live action Akira so it looks like a comlete re-imaginig. I think they will fumble it, but it's one of my most eagerly anticipated movies.

More casting rumours on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/news/ni8827685/ (22 March 2011)

Kaneda: Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy), Chris Pine
Tetsuo: Robert Pattinson, James McAvoy, Andrew Garfield (Never Let Me Go, The Social Network)

Setting it in NYC with white actors is a bit of a travesty.

Should've just let Miike handle it. He was born to direct that film.

I watched Be Kind Rewind yesterday. The MST3K fan in me loved it.

Burnwinter wrote:

Captain wrote:

Just reading that Franco is set to play Kaneda in the live action Akira so it looks like a comlete re-imaginig. I think they will fumble it, but it's one of my most eagerly anticipated movies.

More casting rumours on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/news/ni8827685/ (22 March 2011)

Kaneda: Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy), Chris Pine
Tetsuo: Robert Pattinson, James McAvoy, Andrew Garfield (Never Let Me Go, The Social Network)

Setting it in NYC with white actors is a bit of a travesty.

I'm sure it'll be funny, but I cant see it recreating the magic of the first one. The thing about The Hangover was that it kinda took you off guard because it was unexpectedly good.

Klaus wrote:

Should've just let Miike handle it. He was born to direct that film.

I watched Be Kind Rewind yesterday. The MST3K fan in me loved it.

I enjoyed Be Kind Rewind.
Thought the idea was original - then again I had to Google MST3K as I had no idea what it was.

My two cents re Nolan.

He's one of the world's elite film-makers in my opinion. The Dark Knight is superb. Easily the best superhero movie ever, for me. Inception is a modern masterpiece. I'm yet to see Black Swan and The King's Speech, but out of all the other Oscar-nominated films this year, I felt it was the best. Maybe his films aren't for everyone but I think he's an absolute genius. He may not be a master of character development but he's the best at what he does, which more than makes up for any weaknesses he may have.

Not sure if people realise it but he's a very, very young director. Not many, if any, directors have/had produced the quality of films he has at his age.

Edit: Klaus, I think The Prestige is excellent but I think Memento is comfortably his best film. In all honesty, I think every single one of his films has been fantastic (yet to see Following though).

The original Christopher Priest novel on which The Prestige is based is well worth a read. He's quite a clever sf writer.