Movie/TV recommendations

[Ben X]

Yeah, agreed, Hellboy II is far superior. Just so much more interesting and inventive.

 

Riddick, Pain & Gain and About Time are all not good.

[Frenetic Pony]

Yeah, agreed, Hellboy II is far superior. Just so much more interesting and inventive.

 

Riddick, Pain & Gain and About Time are all not good.

 

Pain and Gain is such a good movie Michael Bay doesn't even deserve to have his name on it. It's hilarious, and interesting, and you actually care about the characters even if you aren't really "rooting for them". It's the best movie I've seen this year.

[Max Ernst]

If you like or hate reality TV you should watch the amazing satire Burning Love. It has a lot of people from The State in it, and may be my favourite comedy in a long time. Here is a good skit for your viewing pleasure:

 

http://youtu.be/NlJTVZ1R97I

 

The show is free on Yahoo.

[tegan]

I've been watching Game Center CX, the oddly charming and hilarious Japanese TV show where comedian Shinya Arino plays old video games despite a total lack of skill. I have no idea why this game is as entrancing as it is.

 

EDIT: oh man, the Hokkaido Serial Killer episode where Yuji Horii randomly shows up and shows Arino the naked lady they hid in the game is fantastic.

[Twig]

I've almost finished up Stargate: Atlantis. I was reading customer reviews for the last season out of idle curiosity, and saw this choice quote: "The series ends with the last 2 eps."

 

Huh. Whoddathunk.

 

Also, I saw Riddick yesterday because my friends refuse to ever invite me to movies that aren't stupid action movies. Starbuck (that character everyone loves from Battlestar Galactica) plays a major role as a lesbian tomboy sex object for both the main bad guy and the main character. I mean, yep. You get to see her nipples, too! Or was it just one nipple. I don't remember.

 

Yep.

 

I actually really liked the movie as a stupid action movie but that character was um. Number one reason I liked it: it's not about some can-do-no-wrong-do-gooder-goodie-two-shoes Space Hero saving the universe. It's just about a fucked up dude getting fucked up on a weird planet. I would never defend it as a good movie, though. It's pretty indefensible. I can't really say there's anything good about it. Just that... I came away satisfied? Also I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Also the more I think about it the more I hate it. And yeah Doll (oh, I forgot to mention her name, before - it's "Doll") is kind of straight up offensive to anyone with taste.

 

I think her first line - or at least the first I remember, the first of note - was, "I don't fucks guys, but I fuck 'em up if I need to." Or something like that. don't remember the exact phrasing.

 

YEP.

 

YYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP.

 

Don't see Riddick.

 

I've never seen either of this movie's predecessors (or played the game(s?). I'm told that Pitch Black is supposed to be really good. I find that hard to believe, somehow, after having seen Riddick.

 

Seriously if they got rid of Doll, I bet I could actually find specific things about the movie that I liked, but every time I try, all I remember is Doll. I guess it worked.

[Patrick R]

Been watching a lot of nudie cuties in prep for an episode of my podcast, so I can say definitively: don't watch nudie cuties.

 

"But Patrick. I like the cute. I like the nude. This sounds right up my alley!"

 

Find cute nude folks elsewhere, my friend. Nudie cuties are maybe the dullest period of sexploitation films (up there with the ever popular "documentaries" about nudist camps), and are basically a tedious series of comic strips come to life where some nebbish man keeps encountering cleavage or side-boob in wacky situations and runs from it like it's a ghost or something. Films like Lucky Pierre, The Immoral Mr. Teas or Eve and the Handyman couldn't be more tedious, feature more annoying soundtracks, or simply make less sense. AND you have to wait forever to see any nude ladies.

 

Not as if nudie cuties would be on anyone's radar, being a short-lived period of exploitation film from the early 60's, but if you're like me and are intrigued by exploitation film history, you'll probably end up hearing about them and be tempted by their concept, scarcity, and promise of seeing sweet 1960's ladies in the buff. Just ignore it.

[BigJKO]

I would never defend it as a good movie, though. It's pretty indefensible. I can't really say there's anything good about it. Just that... I came away satisfied?

 

[clyde]

I'm watching Bol Bachchan on Netflix. Thirty minutes in, and I'm enchanted by the dance numbers that look like a Carvel Cake ad and the way they hit the genre story-beats quickly like a tabla (was that too much?)

I can really appreciate cheesy stories laid on thick when they are over-acted. And so much color!

One thing I really like about the Bollywood films I've seen is how religious plurality and tolerance is a constant theme that feels more fablistic than preachy. There moral is typically "Do the right thing and all the gods of our warring religions will look at you with favor."

Wow.

The fight-scene at 40 minutes is... I hope they make this into a video game.

[Roderick]

Ack, I was rooting for Riddick, since Chronicles was so much fun. Guess I'll still see it...

[Twig]

Wokka wokka!

[SecretAsianMan]

Does Riddick follow up the actual story of Chronicles, or do they simply abandon it within the first 10 minutes?  The trailers make the movie seem more like Pitch Black than Chronicles even though Chronicles was trying to set up some kind of epic story.

[Roderick]

I believe they just ditch it the beginning, casually throwing away an extremely promising development just to recoup some old school Riddick cred. It's exactly what the character didn't need, but then hey, Vin decides, the world abides.

[Zeusthecat]

I'm told that Pitch Black is supposed to be really good. I find that hard to believe, somehow, after having seen Riddick.

 

Really? People thought Pitch Black was really good? I could see how maybe some people might think it was okay but I thought it was pretty bad. Oh well, who am I to judge people's tastes. (But seriously? Really good?)

[Twig]

Uh, as I understand it, Riddick is more a follow-up of Pitch Black than Chronicles. But, as I said, never seen either, so don't really know.

[Zeusthecat]

I've only ever seen Pitch Black. After watching that movie I didn't have any desire to watch anything else having to do with that universe.

[gregbrown]

Dredd is a really good movie! I'm actually jonesing to watch it again, which is really weird for me.

It knows exactly what it wants to be, and does it all in 90 minutes—without franchise bullshit or stupid character arcs or four-quadrant side-characters or anything! So goddamn refreshing, plus it is unexpectedly good at the psychedelia that gives it a strange, morose mood that I didn't think was possible in a really violent action movie? It is weird that it exists yet I kinda love it.

[DaveC]

Have you seen The Raid? If for some reason you want to watch another movie about law enforcement officers trapped in a tall drug den, check it out. 

[clyde]

Who says to themselves "As the person whose job it is to translate this foreign musical, I don't think anyone will mind if I skip translating the songs."?

Who thinks that? This is not the first time I've seen it. What we have here is a plague of inconsideration.

[Twig]

So I'm watching Pitch Black now. I'm liking it for a lot of the reasons I liked Riddick, only it doesn't have Doll.

 

Also basically Riddick was a remake of Pitch Black, even though it was a sequel. It had some other interesting things to it, but also it had Doll.

 

Still no idea about Chronicles, though. I've heard it's nothing like Pitch Black.

 

EDIT: Pitch Black is a lot more along the horror side of things than story-about-a-fucked-up-dude-in-space side of things, though, which is a tad disappointing, because it's not a very good horror movie.

[elmuerte]

Chronicles is like this weird over the top evil super power plot instead of the scifi horror Pitch Black was.

 

I liked both movies, but they are really worlds apart.

[gregbrown]

Chronicles is like this weird over the top evil super power plot instead of the scifi horror Pitch Black was.

 

I liked both movies, but they are really worlds apart.

Yeah, Chronicles is best described as "When World-Building Goes Bad".

[Twig]

Chronicles is like this weird over the top evil super power plot instead of the scifi horror Pitch Black was.

 

I liked both movies, but they are really worlds apart.

Sounds about like what I've heard elsewhere.

 

I've also heard the game (the first game?) is the best thing in the franchise.

[miffy495]

I absolutely love Pitch Black and would count it as a favourite in the sci-fi monster genre. Chronicles I love for entirely different reasons, mainly as a person who appreciates a stupid action film and the Flash Gordoning that they were trying to do to the character (even if it didn't pan out). I saw Riddick on Saturday because of this. The Dahl (I assumed through the film that that HAD to be the spelling of her name, because no way would they actually call her "Doll") stuff was really distressing and disappointing to me, but if that character hadn't existed I'd probably be much more willing to say that was a good movie. There were so many callbacks to Pitch Black that it got grating (Johns' father in a nearly identical situation? Really?), but whatever. I enjoyed it for the most part. What really irritated me about Dahl was that I can envision another film where she COULD have been a great character, but instead they decided to spend every scene creeping on her and boiling her down to "she's a lesbian, but we all know she'll fuck Riddick sooner or later, right?". I may have rose-coloured glasses on, but I never remember Riddick being skeezy before. That scene where he's coming on to Dahl wasn't just stupid, it felt out of character.

 

Anyway, whatever. It was also my first DBOX movie, and that was a kind of stupid that I can get behind. Bottom line: I enjoyed Riddick overall, but I'll chalk that up to mostly being a fan of the franchise. Even then, the film still did some stuff that made me wildly uncomfortable (and not in the way a better movie may make you uncomfortable) that makes it difficult to recommend.

 

 

 

EDIT: I also saw The World's End. Good fun, that. Also, it was my girlfriend's first Edgar Wright movie and she loved it, so I think a Shaun/Fuzz marathon night is in order.

[Twig]

There's a scene in Pitch Black where he's hiding in the shadows and uses a carved bone to cut off some of the captain's hair and then sniff it.

 

He's a pretty creepy dude, that Riddick. I think the scene in the bathroom is meant to be a callback to that. But it feels worse because Doll (no matter the spelling, she was basically a talking sex doll for the purpose of the movie, so I'm gonna stick with the gross name).

[Twig]

Watching Chronicles now.

 

DANG. The movies could not be more different.

 

It's really bizarre and I like it. Some of the Necromonger "tech" is disturbing. DANG.