The Movie Thread Reloaded

danskmacabre · September 24, 2019, 07:04:26 PM

I quite liked "Whisperer in the darkness". Not as much as "Call of Cthulhu" which to me was a work of art. But it was still good to watch. I noticed they added a lot at the end of Whisperer in the Darkness, but I think in general, Lovecraft's stories must be hard to translate to film.

Yeah I'm aware about Miniatures still being used somewhat, although it's seen as a cheaper option to use CGI more these days.

I noticed "The Colour out of space" has been made too, but as a bigger budget movie. I wonder how that will go.

Omega · September 25, 2019, 07:27:34 AM

Quote from: danskmacabre;1105835I quite liked "Whisperer in the darkness". Not as much as "Call of Cthulhu" which to me was a work of art. But it was still good to watch. I noticed they added a lot at the end of Whisperer in the Darkness, but I think in general, Lovecraft's stories must be hard to translate to film.

Yeah I'm aware about Miniatures still being used somewhat, although it's seen as a cheaper option to use CGI more these days.

I noticed "The Colour out of space" has been made too, but as a bigger budget movie. I wonder how that will go.

There is actually an older loose adaption of Colour out of Space, featuring Nick Adams and Boris Karloff. Die Monster Die! from 1965. Very loose adaption indeed. But I rather like the effects in the big finali. Sometime in the 2010s there was an I believe German adaption. I'd have to look it up. Apparently there is also an Italian adaption I have not been able to pin down a copy of yet. Then there is the movie The Curse which I have never seen but others have noted is a fairly good adaption of the story. Another on the to find list.

ArrozConLeche · September 25, 2019, 09:38:34 AM

I seem to remember a late 80s or early 90's straight-to-cable movie called Curse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbETC9rF2MA It seemed inspired by Colour out of Space. There's a follow up that is all about snakes. Both were kind of gross. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t-BaEElZRg

danskmacabre · September 25, 2019, 06:40:09 PM

Ooh that's interesting re the Colour out of space adaptions, inspirations etc.
I'll defo try to chase those up.

Omega · September 25, 2019, 08:56:22 PM

Necronomicon and Dagon I absolute despised.

I personally really like the original Dunwitch Horror movie. The remake is garbage. There is bemusingly a rather well done and faithful Japanese adaption done with puppets and stop motion. Part of a set all from the same person apparently for some Japanese horror anthology far as I can tell. The pieces were, The Picture in the House, The Dunwitch Horror, and The Festival.

There is also a rather well done fan adaption of The Shadow out of Time. And the stop motion animator of that has gone on to animate many more Mythos pieces.

HappyDaze · September 26, 2019, 04:48:05 PM

I saw Ad Astra earlier this week. It was painful. The Moon Pirates (I'm serious...) were absurd, the inconsistency in gravity and acceleration, and the final spacewalk that begins with riding a spinning sensor array until it flings him to a ship well out of sight based upon "eyeballing" it (bonus points for using a piece of the array as a shield against impacts with Neptune's rings like he's Starlord meets Captain America). Yeah, a total turd.

Spinachcat · September 28, 2019, 12:40:55 AM

From the trailers, I can't tell what Ad Astra's genre is supposed to be. Is it supposed to be a Buck Rogers space fantasy? Or does it try to be hard scifi?

Does it have any redeeming value?

HappyDaze · September 28, 2019, 08:07:49 AM

Quote from: Spinachcat;1106325From the trailers, I can't tell what Ad Astra's genre is supposed to be. Is it supposed to be a Buck Rogers space fantasy? Or does it try to be hard scifi?

Does it have any redeeming value?

My wife likes to look at Brad Pitt's face, but even she thought this movie was crap.

It tries to be a deep and reflective character story... with MOON PIRATES!!! It goes for a hard sci-fi backdrop, but then fails to be consistent in any of its science (the moon seems to have normal gravity until it becomes dramatic for it not to... sort of like activating a scene aspect in FATE) and it also fails for trying to constantly push Pitt's character into being an over-the-top action star rather than something more realistic. He's so unrealistic that the self-reflection just fails because there's no humanity in his character.

Omega · October 20, 2019, 05:39:40 PM

Just recently saw a 1963 Japanese fantasy movie called Yoso, AKA: The Bronze Magician and a couple of other titles. Stars Raizô Ichikawa who unfortunately died a few years after making this.

It is about a Buddist monk who is granted powers over life and death after a long dedication. He leaves his mountain retreat and soon becomes hopelessly entangled in courtly royal intrigue when he is called on to save the ailing queen. Things go downhill from there for the monk. What is interesting about this one is its glacial pace, lack of major action really, and overall focus on the emotional turmoil of the monk and the political plotings of the villains. What really helps this movie is Raizo's intense yet subdued performance as the humble, yet powerful monk. Alot of good acting throughout.

Raizo also played the main character of Nemuri Kyoshiro in the long running "Sleepy Eyes of Death" series of movies. He was in at least 10!

Omega · January 11, 2020, 01:59:38 PM

Another forgotten gem. The Great Bandit from 1963, AKA Samurai Pirate, AKA The Lost World of Sinbad. This one is a fun little fantasy adventure set in feudal Japan with none other than Toshiro Mifune as the hero Sukezaemon. Sadly the US version takes a few, ok lots, of liberties. But hey, who knew that back then?

Also on a Horror DVD collection came across an odd one War of the Zombies. Actually Rome Against Rome/Rome contro Rome, a 1964 Italian movie in the same style as many of the Hercules and Machiste movies of the era with John Barrymore jr as the hero. Not sure why they dropped it in the horror collection. I guess someone just read the title and thought it was an actual zombie movie???

Omega · January 22, 2020, 02:03:12 PM

Well against all odds the Thundercats Roar series is out now and its actually worse than the preview 2 years ago suggested. But that was the intent. Horay for yet another series handed off to someone who hates the source material.

HappyDaze · January 22, 2020, 03:18:30 PM

Quote from: Omega;1119736Well against all odds the Thundercats Roar series is out now and its actually worse than the preview 2 years ago suggested. But that was the intent. Horay for yet another series handed off to someone who hates the source material.

Foul: That's no movie.

Omega · January 23, 2020, 06:18:08 AM

Quote from: HappyDaze;1119747Foul: That's no movie.

Well to be fair. It not even a cartoon. :rolleyes:

danskmacabre · January 23, 2020, 06:16:51 PM

I watched on Netflix Cargo
An Australian Zombie Apocalypse movie.
It wasn't very action packed, but instead focused on the the Australian terrain, the harshness of it. Human stories of handling survival and so on.
It DID push the "Evil white men are evil" thing that seems to be popular these days.
But overall, I quite enjoyed the movie and Martin Freeman plays the main character, which was cool.

A decent enough watch with a few eye rolling moments.

HappyDaze · February 08, 2020, 04:16:41 PM

I saw Birds of Prey and something, something Harley Quinn. It had great reviews but OMG what a piece of shit. The reviews compared the humor and action favorably to Deadpool, and I have to wonder if they ever watched Deadpool. I'm trying not to be too critical, but IMO, there was nothing worthwhile in this movie.