*The Genre-Film & TV Corner*

[Shawn]

One of the best horror films of the past 20 years. I also enjoyed the sequel 28 Weeks Later (with Rose Byrne), though it's stylistically quite different.

[BillF]

And now a second look at:

[Shawn]

And now a second look at:

I need to revisit that one soon, been quite awhile since I saw it. I just watched "The Intruders" by the same director the other day, not completely successful but very stylish and creepy film starring Clive Owen.

[BillF]

The same director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, also made an intriguing Spanish film with a SF-ish theme, Intacto. Time I took a second look at that.

[kinuta]

The Avengers is one of those rare movies that can appeal to fanboys and the general public in equal measure...something that's very hard to achieve, thus I feel the movie deserves all the praise it's getting.

Well, I'll bow to your opinion then, as I do come from a comic background, and thought the movie was an awesome capturing of the early Avengers feel. I was afraid that those who weren't fanboys (or, in my case, former fanboys) wouldn't care for it. I thought the movie was a bit tedious in spots, but just in spots.

Strange thing is, I left the theater thankful that we don't have such people in real life more so than when I left after The Watchmen.

Watched it last night. Didn't like it much but my opinion doesn't really count as I'm not a fan of superhero films. That said I loved the Batman Trilogy and Watchmen. The Avengers was just too unfocused, messy and overblown. It seemed like they had thrown in everything but the kitchen sink in a more is better display of pyrotechnics.

[Shawn]

I really enjoyed it, I'm more of a Whedon fan though than a comic book fan. He likes to take elements from all areas of genre film and pop culture and blend them together in a very stylized way. I felt that over-amped vibe worked well for something as inherently escapist as a superhero movie. I can understand how some people might not dig that approach, but for whatever reason everything he does I connect with.

I haven't seen the most recent Batman film While I think the first 2 movies are exceptional...I also kind of think they take themselves a little too seriously.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Shawn

[Shawn]

Hilarious. Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace-Moretz) is my new hero - "Okay you cunts, let's see what you got!"

[kinuta]

Hilarious. Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace-Moretz) is my new hero - "Okay you cunts, let's see what you got!"

Yeah, that was more up my street than The Avengers

[jlhoots]

Hilarious. Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace-Moretz) is my new hero - "Okay you cunts, let's see what you got!"

Although I prefer the Swedish version (Let The Right One In), she's great in the U.S. remake (Let Me In).

[Shawn]

Although I prefer the Swedish version (Let The Right One In), she's great in the U.S. remake (Let Me In).

The original Swedish version made such an impact that I think seeing the remake so quickly afterward was a bad idea, because I didn't judge it on it's own merits. Since some time has passed now I think I'll watch Let Me In again to see how it strikes me.

Chloe was incredibly good in "500 Days Of Summer" as the much wiser than her years younger sister to Jospeph Gordon-Leavitt, , that was the first time I saw her and you could tell instantly that she was going to be a star.

[Dave James]

I'm not generally a fan of films like "Kick Ass", but this really worked for me. The whole thing was one gigantic hoot. I usually make it a point to avoid anything that involves Nicholas Cage, but even he was perfect in this role. I think what differentiated this from other films in this genre was that it never took itself too seriously. Two Z snaps.

[kinuta]

The Amazing Spider-Man - Marc Webb (2012)

The Missus and I both agreed that Andrew Garfield is more sympathetic in the role than Tobey Maguire.

A pity the director wasn't up to Sam Raimi. The earlier parts were very good but things went downhill after the ubiquitous genetic mutation monster appeared. Wish they'd had the conviction to leave out all that monster stuff and make it into a character study with real human non monster villains but I guess the teen market expects that kind of story.

Sally Field and Martin Sheen added a nice touch.

Edited September 20, 2012 by kinuta

[jazzbo]

I wasn't as impressed with Garfield, and the whole movie fell flat for me.

[jazzbo]

I'm re-watching Fringe Season 3 on Blu-ray in preparation for watching Season 4 on Blu-ray.

[Shawn]

I still haven't seen either the Spiderman or Batman films from this summer, I'll catch up with them on DVD at some point.

Today I watched a very silly and I thought quite funny film.

Paul (2011 Greg Mottola)

The re-teamed pairing of Simon Pegg & Nick Frost help out a stranded alien (voice of Seth Rogen). Excellent comedic cast including Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver and others add to the fun. Steven Spielberg even makes a cameo (over a speaker phone).

[BillF]

[kinuta]

Expendables 2 - Simon West (2012)

Like fast food, I got exactly what I expected. Nothing to say other than Jet Li was underused. Best one liner ' Rest in pieces'.

The Missus was amused.

[BruceH]

Shawn, have you caught "Looper" yet?

[Shawn]

Shawn, have you caught "Looper" yet?

Not yet, I work weekends.

[BruceH]

OK, then I'll shut up about it for now. Except to say, in general, entertaining and enjoyable movie.

[BillF]

Lotta fun!

[Shawn]

Tales From The Crypt (Freddie Francis - 1972)

A favorite of mine when I was a kid.

[kinuta]

Tales From The Crypt (Freddie Francis - 1972)

A favorite of mine when I was a kid.

Like the one with the guy in a corridor lined with razor blades.

[Shawn]

Tales From The Crypt (Freddie Francis - 1972)

A favorite of mine when I was a kid.

Like the one with the guy in a corridor lined with razor blades.

Yeah, a memorable sequence. What I like about these Amicus films is they do a great job of capturing the feel of old anthology horror stories, the simplest terrors are still often the best and the most entertaining. I might have to pull out From Beyond The Grave and Asylum sometime over the next week.

[Shawn]

The Amazing Spider-Man - Marc Webb (2012)

The Missus and I both agreed that Andrew Garfield is more sympathetic in the role than Tobey Maguire.

A pity the director wasn't up to Sam Raimi. The earlier parts were very good but things went downhill after the ubiquitous genetic mutation monster appeared. Wish they'd had the conviction to leave out all that monster stuff and make it into a character study with real human non monster villains but I guess the teen market expects that kind of story.

Sally Field and Martin Sheen added a nice touch.

I basically mirror most of what you said. The first half of the film is the best part, once the inevitable villain enters I lost interest.

Emma Stone was under-utilized, she's better than average but wasn't given nearly enough to do. The romantic aspect is actually the part that interested me the most, too bad it lost screen time to the overblown CGI.

The film felt rushed, too many aspects were quickly mentioned and then discarded to keep it rocketing along at a fast pace, but I think they lost a great deal of the detail necessary to make it work. Raimi's Spiderman works because it took the necessary time needed to tell the story effectively.