Where's the rest of the CoC then?

Apologies to the Toronto TB'ers. None of that has anything to do with Toronto.

These films look very interesting, but they probably won't make it to the theaters here. I'll have to catch them on video, most likely.

Mavra - the Thursday Next books go Eyre Affair, Lost In A Good Book, Well Of Lost Plots, Something Rotten & First Among Sequels.

Thanks, Wolf. Got that list organized! I queue the library like some of you queue Netflix.

Btw, the second person I loaned "The Host" to said she cried at the ending. Wow! She seriously got into that one!

Most diffcult scene to watch (for me):Drillbra. OUCH!!!!

Loved the little bloopers where she's fighting and you see her left hand and also the "football" ninjas of vengeance. Gotta ask, though, if she thinks they have bullet-proof vests, why not aim for the head or legs (plus one guy wasn't even wearing a shirt), but that's just nit-picking. I give the movie an A all around!

"It is boring, uninspired and completely nonsensical, it really feels like they cut out at least 30 minutes of important plot/explanations. And the action is minimal and utterly underwhelming, so there really is nothing to enjoy at all. Dismal, avoid at all cost."

Also, I'd like to point out the stupidity of the product placement, namely the commercial airplane with the huge Coca Cola Zero logo pasted on it. Its like, did Vin Diesel refuse to be seen drinking said soda, so they did that instead? Lame.

Herb, I don't think most of the movies I sent you will be dubbed. I buy mostly the region 3 releases and they don't bother with dubbing. And sometimes their subtitles are laughably translated. I gotta warn you right now, I can't stand dubbed movies so the stuff you'll be getting from me will be 90% subtitled. And if you found Shinobi hard to follow, don't worry, these Asian movies can be like that. You get a feel for it after a while and eventually ignore the disjointed stuff.

But I enjoyed the hell out of Death Race. One of my top 10 of 2008.

also, by my figuring at the end of that movie australia becomes the powerhouse of the world. why? well, it shows, the plains of africa, the pyramids and the sydney opera house. thing is the opera house is in the middle of the sydney cbd, which means australia becomes the only country to retain a city of more than 3m, not to mention melbourne, brisbane and the gold coast. it may be a pipe dream but i'm sticking to it.

And for discussion purposes,for those just coming to these films:

From the first batch my top four were Daisy, The Warlords, Running Wild and Chocolate.

Unlike everyone here, I didn't care much for Machine Girl, though I do acknowledge the allure of it's gory silliness. To my credit, I told HOD after the first viewing that everyone else here would like or love it.

Currently, the new batch is terrific and an improvement over even the first batch. So far I've seen Red Cliff, Shinobi:Heart Under Blade, Guard Post and Invisible Target. All four in some form or another hit their mark, and do so well.

Guard Post really works as a creepy war-based horror film. Red Cliff is a majestic comic book of a chinese epic, and one that totally schools 300 on how to make a stylish battle film about small forces standing against an empire. Shinobi is a Saturday morning cartoon by comparison, but it's addictive and fun and finally poignant on it's own terms. It requires a bit of surrender to it's premise, but it's worth it. And Invisible Target is the return of good HK action films. I mean REALLY GOOD HK action films. Also, Jackie Chan's son is in it.

My current ranking for the second batch(there are several I've seen before, but I'll hold my opinion until I've watched them anew this time)is:

Red Cliff

Invisible Target

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade

Guard Post

I don't really think my enjoyment of the film really just stemmed from the superficial either. The movie had some pretty compelling and moving scenes that really got to me. Like when the woman is being raped while her husband's corpse is being dragged away as her son looks on. That really got to me.

Also if you are a fan of cult cinema, which I think we all are, the movie gets to be even more fun, with its various homages to other classic samurai and western movies such as Yojimbo, and of course, Django.

The best way to enjoy the movie is to just realize it's silly (and all the Japanese actors are speaking broken English) and sit back and enjoy it. Different movies are good for different reasons. While Running Wild was an excellent stark character study and exploration on morality and the themes of justice, Sukiyaki Western Django is a stylish explosion of energy meant for the entertainment of the cult film fan.

Okay I'll admit, it dragged the teensiest bit in parts at the end.

sorry

1)What the fuck is it about?

2)Seriously, what the fuck is it about?

3)Is Laura Dern's actress character the same as the white trash character or are they totally unrelated?

4)Seriously, I can't stress this enough- what the fuck is going on?

5)What was the LSD per person ratio on that set?

Anyhoo, the good Mrs. Jarv hated it so much she is refusing to watch another David Lynch film which is a crying shame as we have both Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man queued.

Since no one is here to argue with me about it, I'm going to 'jump' right in with my thoughts on "The Machine Girl". I can appreciate this film not only because I am basically an unsophisticated and uncultured heathen who enjoys an occasional schlockfest, but also because the opening scene brought a thought to my head that I personally consider a high compliment for a film: This would be a great drive-in movie!

One of my favorite childhood memories is spending a summer night at a low-dough-carload-show, especially when they would have a movie marathon lasting until sunrise. It sounds weird, but watching "Machine Girl" gave me that nostalgia rush. There's nothing deep about this film. It's made for pulling giggles (or guffaws, from you macho types), gasps,groans, and gaggings from the audience. Even with the premise of a serious theme, it cannot be taken seriously and doesn't try. My 12 year old nephew walked in while I was watching the invasion of the red ninjas and literally fell over laughing, then took it home with him when I was done. That boy has my taste in movies!

That being said, I know I sound like a killjoy, but it wasn't quite the great schlock it could have been. Best scene in MG, was when the main villain is defeated in a fiasco that involves school boys losing bladder control and a drill bra.

Shinobi is odd, because it sneaks up on you. It's firmly rooted in the over the top asian supherhero genre, but it really works quite well. If Machine Girl was drive-in, Shinobi is that flick you would catch on channel 54 on a saturday afternoon.

How was everyone's weekend?

"I'll give you an example (forgive my rambling, long post). There's a talkbacker at this site named Jonah Echo who I've noticed is particularly fond of Moriarty. He's in this talkback as well praising Mori for speaking out against Massa. I've noticed him for a while and he writes these posts to Mori which read like glowing love letters. He wrote one in response to the "Fear, Itself" episode Mori wrote (and several other articles as well) and I remember checking back on the talkback to see if Mori responded to him, and sure enough, he didn't.

Then, Moriarty had written this open letter to Harvey Weinstein about some movie called "Outlander", and not only did Jonah Echo praise Mori again, but he and a few others sat in that talkback everyday posting and talking in order to keep that article at the top of the most discussed talkbacks to increase the chance that it would be noticed. He even occasionally yelled out, "For Outlander!", LOL! It was one of the lamest things I've seen, like a group of mentally challenged kids re-enacting the scene from "The Outsiders" where they say, "Let's do it for Johnny, man! Do it for Johnny!" LOL! (I'm kidding, Jonah). They did this for days, so I know Moriarty saw this.

Well, I didn't read that talkback, it was huge, but I checked back out of curiosity and just scrolled to the bottom once everyone had stopped posting just to see if there was a black box there. You know, just a few words from Moriarty saying, "Hey, thanks for doing this guys", or "You guys rock!", or "You guys could be in the special olympics", you know, something. But there was nothing. Not a word. Sometimes you learn more about a person from what they don't say than what they do."

I find this very amusing.

I got popped by Toad and Jonah over the weekend.

So I'm down 1,024 to 7 to Toad and 1-0 to Jonah.

Sighhhh.

On a different note, I assume that none of you have seen Inland Empire, or if you have can't help me out.

Avoid Visitor Q.

Kungfu, I still haven't watched Western Django. Like an idiot, it was between that an Dynamite Warrior on Saturday and you know what I went with.

Jarv, Lynch is so hit and miss I can't blame your wife from banning him completely.

Jarv, I'll try and see if there are some plausible explanations for the film. I wasn't quite swept away by it enough to warrant the same level of interest I gave Mulholland Drive, a better film with similar themes and premise.

I think you are essentially watching the deterioration of Laura Dern's character's mental state and spiritual well being, but then again who knows.

Mrs. Jarv shouldn't give up so easily. Show her the Straight Story and The Elephant Man. Both are easily Lynch's most linear and coherent movies.

Second off, I never got the impression that you wanted to make love to Mori or give birth to his hellspawn.

Third, to say this group is this or that is pointless.

We are what we are.

People that talk about movies, joke around and have a good time.

And as Dutch told Dillon in Predator: "Instead of complaining why don't you help out"

In other words, jump in and have fun. We are not a group that is going to attack, even when provoked (well sometimes we do, but that is a case by case basis).

I would just ignore it, move on and maybe chuckle a bit.

But the bigger issue is that these things are non-issues. I encourage Mori in his script-writing because I'd rather do that, then slag him, even if he did suck. Personally, I didnt think skin and bones sucked. I liked it, and focused on the good instead of the flaws, because I would want that. I wouldnt want butt kissing, but I would want encouragement as well as criticism.

Such is my life, and the nature of it, that I dont look up to Mori, or envy him, or anything else. As far as I'm concerned the heroes of AICN are people like you, HOD, and these other guys here. Mori isnt any different than any of us, save for the good fortune to work in the industry. And if he keeps stooping to the level of trolls, he will at various times be no better than his critics.

But Massa had no business posting the beating up a retard thing. I responded to that because I was a Special Ed teacher for 3 years, and saw things like that happen, and I recognize real hate speech when I see it.

And I loved Lost Highway and Mullholland Drive, so I was much more tolerant of it than she was. It did still leave me cold.

Sadly, Elephant Man is up next, but she's dropped the Axe on it altogether. I'm kicking myself, actually, because I'd done the Groundwork with Twin Peaks, Dune and Wild at Heart- but Inland Empire just pissed her off.

But I just fail to get that caught up in it to publicy decry what someone else is doing.

To be more clear, if someone was writing personal love letters to Harry I would find it amusing, but I wouldn't care enough to write in and harp about ass kissing.

Tons of heart in that movie.

I don't think you or Mrs. Jarv missed anything, because there wasn't really anything to miss. Everything you could see Lynch gave you, but the point is, sometimes there isn't a sensible reason or explanation for what Lynch gave you. He burned the blueprints on Inland Empire and thus shafted his audience. Elephant Man is about human dignity and finding that humanity wherever it may lie, and soldiering on in the face of cruelty and misfortune. It's a terrific film, and it would be a crime not to see it because of the bloated, silly Inland Empire.

I'd been on a bit of a roll, frankly, until Inland Empire. I basically decided to fill in gaps in her Cinema knowledge (of shlock in some cases) as there is a huge amount that she hasn't seen. So I'd hit Amadeus, The Untouchables (I can't believe she hadn't seen that), The Game, The Third Man, Kind Hearts and Coronets (Which is the best British film, ever,) to name a few.

And then, feeling confident I waded into Lynch. Twat that I am.

And for the record, I don't understand Massa's reviews either. They are gibberish. Then again, so are Harry's. After Crystal Skull, I stopped reading reviews on this site altogether.

Hola Jarv - nice to have you back.

And here's your interesting trivia. In the original script, the shootout between Ness/Stone and Capone's men was to take place on a train. But the studio balked at the idea because they claimed it would be cost prohibitive to find and restore a train from that era. So DePalma altered it to be int he station and used the shootout from Potemkin as a reference.

I mean show somebody Eraserhead and then the Straight Story.

Then tell them the same director did both and watch them do a double take.

It's tough.

I maintain though, that Connery did not, on any sane planet, deserve his Oscar for that performance.

By which I mean The Untouchables, not Potemkin.

In reverse order-

4)Iron Man- didn't give a fuck about it. Amazed by RDJ. Maintain film would have been gash without him.

3)Doomsday. Messy, incomprehensible, hystericaly insane stuff. Future cult classic.

2)Hellboy 2. Didn't give a fuck about it- absolutely amazed

1)TDK. Yes, I know it isn't perfect, but I haven't seen anything this year to touch it.

Iron Man- 4.5/5

Speed Racer-4/5

Prince Caspian- 4/5

Montana Williams and the Empire of the Obsidian Cranium- 3.5/5

Son of Rambow- 4/5

The Fall-5/5

Mongol-3.5/5

Kung-Fu Panda-4/5

The Incredible Hulk-3.5/5

The Happening-1.5/5

Reprise-4/5

Priceless-3/5

Wall-E-5/5

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D- 3/5

Hellboy 2-4.5/5

The Dark Knight 5/5

X-Files: I Want to Believe 3.5/5

Transsiberian-4/5

Tell No One-4.5/5

Tropic Thunder 4/5

2. The Dark Knight-It really is a great film and a masterpiece of comic book adaptation. I'm sure this one will only rise in my opinion.

WALL-E- Another masterpiece. I think these top three films are just classics, that even with their flaws were about as perfect as most modern films get.

4. HB2: The Golden Army-most fun movie of the summer hands down for me. I was totally into this at every turn. Wonderful.

5. Tell No One-This one actually does feel like Hitchcock, and it's not just a word to describe the fact the film is a suspense picture with accused on the run, murders and secrets. It's a pretty special movie as far as thrillers go.

Kung-Fu Panda in Imax-again, expected very little and was surprised by how great and gorgeous the movie looks, and how warm-hearted it is. And ontop of all that, it's actually exciting, funny and it's kung-fu battles have intensity and wit.

Incredible Hulk-I really like the Ang Lee version of Hulk, but didn't save much hope for this. And yet, while not perfect, I had a great time with it, and felt they did a better job here of capturing the comic book's identity.

The Fall-yea, I hoped it would be good, but I HATED The Cell, and didnt suspect this could pull it's premise together. Congrats Tarsem. This is the most extreme turn around I've ever seen.

Son of Rambow-It's so sweet and funny and nostalgic that it catches you by surprise, because you expect formula and you get heart.

While I liked both of them, Indy 4 and X-Files were both disappointments because while delivering reasonably good movies, the creators of both seemed to have lost sight of their creation. The actors have not and they struggle to bring dignity to these people, and in all cases, they succeeded, but the creators and the creation in both instances seem to be somewhat estranged.

1.) The Dark Knight - yes, the hype was beyond control and there circumstances that made it have more interest from the masses (Ledger's death). But this really was a great movie to behold.

2.) WALL-E - Another Pixar gem that has tons of heart. When his friend holds his hand at the end and you think his personality is gone and it reappears...Gold!

3.) Iron Man - Like Jarv said above, RDJ really pushed this film to another level, but I still think it would have worked well enough if he had just mailed in his performance.

That really is all I had time for, as nobody told me just how much time a newborn takes up. Whew...

Princess Aurora - good solid flick. I really enjoyed this one Hawaiian.

Mr. Socrates - haven't finished it, but kind of blah to it. Not really feeling it, nor the lead either. Will finish it at some point and see if it picks up any steam.

Before the Devil Knows your Dead - Marissa......oops, sorry...dazed off a bit there. Good movie. Liked how it turned out, but not crazy about the choice of hopping back and forth in the timeline. I don't think it worked so much for this movie. Still, good movie.

The Bank Job - another solid movie. I liked it.

You know the guy can deliver, so it is just a matter of time before he regroups, deflates his ego a bit and maybe directs a quality script from someone else.

I love that.

Princess Aurora was a surprisingly good movie, given the fact it's similar to Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and I saw it after that one.

Jarv, I thought the same thing bout Panda, and I only went because we were going on a double date with friends, and they wanted to see it. But it won me over, and not just by the end. I'd say I was perhaps 15 minutes into the film, and already a fan.

The day of the Bear is fast approaching....

Then again there is that panda bit in Tropic Thunder. Hilarious.

And although Panda's are a truly shit bear, they do not bother with nonsense such as "kung fu". Not when they can chomp you.

Polar bears, black bears, grizzly bears, panda bears...all must unite if they are to overcome this "cuddly label" that Hollywood has unjustifiably thrown at them.

Good stuff and NOTHING cuddly about this bear.

Sequel was in the works back in the day featuring George Clooney and Charlie Sheen, but it never happened.

And that Shardik suggestion is fucking brilliant.

Care Bears

Paddington Bear

I love the idea of Bear rehab with a group of Pandas at BA (Bamboo Anonymous) that have to take turns to stand up and blame "bear" pressure for their vegetation habit.

THat was one shit bear.

Also they hunt the hunters that hunt them in the wild.

Cool bears (no pun intended).

Bear battles = $$$

Also have humans caught in the crossfire.

2) TDK - Great flick, and I did not even try to hold it to the hype surrounding it, nothing could survive that. But it has some great things going for it(Ledger) and some things that still bug me (the whole Harvey Dent storyline and Batman taking blame). However, it was epic and very entertaining.

3) Speed Racer -Let the haters be damned. This was a rollicking good time. Once again, I am a very long time fan of the cartoon, and they nailed it here, to my absolute astonishment. Did not think it could be pulled off, and it is the most visually stunning movie I have seen in a very long time. This will be the Tron of it's generation. Meaning: It did not get much love at first, but the visual impact will last far into the future.

4)Tropic Thunder -It was a bit uneven, and not a lagh riot throughout, but I did enjoy it, and it had some insanely funny moments. My favorite is when Jack Black is tied to the tree, going through heroin withdrawal. Ok, that sounded wrong. It was the things he said while going through withdrawal that are breathtakingly funny. Cruise was great as well.

5) Wall-E. A cute story. Maybe too cute. It just did not have the impact that it could/should have had on me. And I still do not know why. Perhaps the lack of dialogue did it in. The visuals are great, but it just seemd lacking. The story is not as funny as the trailers led me to beleive, and while Eve and Wall-e are meant for one another, I still never felt there was any peril. 6) Hulk - great realization of the comic book Hulk. And really, that is what most fans wanted to see. Hulk Smash! (Don't start Node!)

7) Indy IV - Ford was great. He can do more Indy's and be very believable. They screwed up adding Shia. I know it was done to appeal to younger demographics and perhaps launch a new franchise, but it distracted from Ford. The story was terrible though with or without Shia. Lackluster direction and too much CGI!

8) Hellboy II - just could not get into it. I loved the first movie. It had a sense of warmth and family as well as kicks ass action. This felt bloated and self-important as well as self-indulgent. Lots of left over character design from Pans, as well as ripped -off MIB allusions and a terrible and boring, villain.

There is other stuff.

9) Hancock - started out great, but felt like they rushed the ending. 90 min is too short for this type of movie. Great idea, that got was never fully realized.

10) Wanted - Some great visuals, but really a boring, uninvolving story with charcaters you could care less about.

Can you imagine if they deviated from the novel and had him have a final showdown with the bear?

And were the fake trailers not great? When they started playing Enigma in the middle of the Satan's Alley trailer I lost it.

No. 6 is Hulk

The only summer movies I saw were Indy 4, Baby Mama and The Love Guru. By that measuring stick it would be the worst summer ever. Speed Racer and Iron man come out this month so I'm sure I can start to readjust my opinion.

JPT, yeah on Princess Aurora! Sorry about Mr. Socrates. I liked it. Thankfully so did Danny and Jonah but if it isn't for you, then go ahead and try something else and here's hoping.

Eventually you guys are going to ignore me completely. I'm the one guy who seems to like the movies reviled by everyone else. I think the only times I stopped laughing during Dewey Cox was when I was guzzling a beer.

This may be old news to The Four but new news to others.

The origin comes from the movie Midnight Run and the Mob boss Jimmy Serano - played by Dennis Farina. He threatens to stab people through the heart with a pencil!

Also, I gave you a positive shout-out above. Did you catch it?

Bart has shown he can establish a menacing nature in The Edge and a more light-hearted spin on the man-eating genre in The Great Outdoors.

Bart was the Cary Grant of bears.

Yes, I said the Cary Grant of bears.

Angyiou lives in Ivujivik, a village of 300 people on the shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec.

One Wednesday evening earlier this month, Angyiou was walking near the village community center with her two sons when a group of children playing street hockey nearby started shouting and pointing frantically.

Angyiou, 41, turned around and saw a polar bear sizing up her 7-year-old son.

She told the children to run and raced around to get between the bear and her son. Then she started kicking and punching the animal, according to police reports.

In a flash, the bear swatted her in the face and she fell on her back. With the bear on top of her, Angyiou began kicking her legs in a bicycle-pedaling motion. She was swatted once more and rolled over, but the bear moved toward her again.

Siqualuk Ainalik heard the commotion and came rushing over. Seeing Angyiou wrestling with the bear, he ran to his brother's home, grabbed a rifle and headed back to the street. He fired a few warning shots.

The sound diverted the bear's attention from Angyiou just long enough for him to aim and fire again. According to police, Ainalik fired four shots into the bear before it finally died.

With the help of some neighbors, Angyiou made it to the home of Nelson Conn, a constable with the Kativik Regional Police Force.

"She came in in a panic," Conn recalled. "She was obviously in shock. She was saying, 'Bear, bear.' I just took her over to our nursing station and I asked where and if the bear was dead. She said, 'Yes.'"

Remarkably, Angyiou suffered only a couple of scratches and a black eye. She and the local police have been fielding calls from across Canada ever since the incident was first reported last week in the Nunatsiaq News.

Meanwhile, villagers are still marveling at her courage, and there is talk of nominating her for a bravery medal.

"I've been here 24 years and I've never seen this before," said Larry Hubert, a regional captain with the police force who arrived on the scene just after the bear was shot. "For sure, she saved the kids' lives."

Hubert has known Angyiou for 15 years and he can't believe she took on a bear. He said the bear measured eight feet in length and weighed at least 700 pounds.

Angyiou "is about 5-foot-nothing and 90 pounds on a wet day," Hubert said with a laugh. "She's pretty quiet. I'm surprised she went and did this.

"But I guess when your back is up against the wall, I guess we come up with super-human strength."

Ivujivik is Quebec's northernmost community, situated on a peninsula where the Hudson Bay meets the Hudson Strait.

While polar bears roam the giant ice packs that float just off shore, Hubert said it's rare for them to wander into the village. He said he believes the bear that tangled with Angyiou became disoriented and was not looking for food.

"She's lucky the bear wasn't hungry," he said. "If the bear was hungry, she would have been eaten pretty quickly."

Loved it when the cub thinks he has bitched the mountian lion, only to realize it was papa bear.

Damn good stuff.

The Restless may have been a stinker, I can't remember. I just love the lead (same guy from Daisy) and thought the effects were actually very good, especially that end sequence.

Damn that is impressive and I saw a television special on the trainers and they seem pretty laid back and cool.

Wouldn't want to trespass on their property, as they probably have a few bears we've never heard of trained to sick balls like Chopper.

Jesus, bears as guards would be tough to get around.

Part one of Red Cliff is still in theaters in Asia so I'm not sure how we managed to get a DVD quality version of it already. Part two opens in January so we could potentially have it as early as late February.

Given this bit of news, maybe I'll bump Romance of the Three Kingdoms to this week, and save Restless for next week.

It's just an entertaining little movie. I didn't send you anything I thought was crap. I had screened everything but the Guard Post and risked that because you personally requested it.

An Empress was generally panned and you might despise it, but for me, it's a sword and sandals epic and even though Danny can't stand them, I could watch one a week. You know those people complaining about too many massive CGI armies in movies by the time ROTK came out? Not me, brother. To me that's like complaining there's too many shootouts in movies. I mean, hasn't the shootout been done to death by now? It's the staple of 95% of Ahnuld's movies. But when do you ever hear someone saying, "Oh Christ, another shootout?"

I could watch CGI armies 1 out of every 10 movies I watch. Never gets old to me. So by that logic, Empress and Three Kingdoms entertained me even though I realize they were weak movies.

Musa the Warrior worked terrifically as a battle film. But, Warriors of Heaven and Earth was a relatively weak epic in the same vein.

Curse of the Golden Flower was a great film, and I loved Hero and House of Flying Daggers. By that same token, I disliked stuff like A Man Called Hero.

With me, the film needs to have it's battles exist as an extension of story, and the battles need to have personality and style, and incorporate characters in an interesting way. Right now, Woo gets major points for the turtle shell tactic in Red Cliff because of the way it gives the battle itself character, and also literally creates corridors that open up on individual characters and give them moments within the battle to shine.

Then the camera pulls back and they are about three feet from another.

Classic.

He also runs out of bullets and just grabs a handful and throws the bullets into the row of enemies and uses a chicken as an arrow.

Hot Shots also gave us the dreaded eye disease known as Wall-Eye vision.

The Fall was definitely my number 1 movie of the summer and I have been singing its praises to anyone who would listen. It's always a treat to see someone else acknowledging a film you loved but nobody else really even cares about. What a great movie it was. Can't wait for the DVD. It will probably be playing on a loop in these parts. Some of the most beautiful cinematography I have ever seen. It's crazy when you think about how alll of it was filmed at all these exotic locations.

1. The Fall- definitely the most original, stunning thing I have seen in a long time. I can't believe this is a summer movie.

2. Wall-E- In my opinion the best thing Pixar has done, which is saying something. Very sweet with an incredibly moving message of the future.

3. The Dark Knight- Not my favorite comic book movie, but definitely the best (if that makes sense). All the hype and praise made it a little hard to want to enjoy, since some of it seemed blinded by circumstances which had nothing to do with the film, but it really meets most of the absurd expectations. An escalation of the genre from formulaic and camp to something nearly everyone can respect an enjoy. Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart deserved nearly as much praise for their performances as Ledger.

4. Hellboy II- My expectations for this were low after its predecessor was just a parade of tentacle monsters, but this really is a better sequel, superior in every facet. I remember being incredibly inspired by the passion and creativity that went into this film. I have always wanted to pursue a career in film, but it was this film that convinced me it's something I HAVE to do. Not a great film by any means, but it has spirit and it had some really mindblowing stuff for something I never expected a sequel for. The Troll Market is legendary in my book. I thought those times where everything was tangible and costume and sets instead of CGi were over, but I'm glad to see someone like Del Toro wants to bring them back.

5. Speed Racer- This is on here mainly because it was the biggest surprise of the summer. Just like Jonah, it was the family dynamic that really made the film for me. A live-action children's movie that isn't actually completely stupid. Not gonna win any Oscars, but still lots of fun, especially on the big screen.

That film holds up very well today, as does Pumpkinhead.

Fun fact-the female vamp at end of fright night was original design for the library ghost in Ghostbusters.

I gotta go the library but I'll get back to you later.

I would also make my own movie about naked chicks running from them IN SLOW MOTION!

Things like his eyes bulging like a cartoon when he first sees Gert looked WORSE after they added the CGI.

If it aint broke don't fix it.

Doing that to ET was like putting one of those bi-plane-sized rear wings from the Fast and the Furious on an Aston Martin DB9.

Dumb.

Also rows and rows of serated teeth like a Great White shark.

I always wondered why Speilberg never gave us that version.

Instead we get a wobbly little coward that ran from its own shadow and came to earth just score some "plants".

Notice how he had the munchies all the time?

I'm not buying the whole "exploring" idea, as they had a whiff of some KB and wanted in on it.

Warriors of Heaven and Earth shall never be spoken of again. Horrid movie.

Best practical effects? Come on, ID4 anyone? The White House and Empire State building were real models. And that street scene of the fireball coming down, did you guys see how they did that? They lined a model street with Hot Wheels and put a propane tank (Chitty, were you a consultant on the crew?) at the far end and let 'er rip, yo! What a great practical effects shot.

My fave sequences of Shinobi were the horseback chase obviously, the ninja attack towards the end, and the final scene in front of the shogun lords.

The film, and the way it is arranged feels like the movie Mortal Kombat could have been. It's silly, over the top, and unconcerned with the laws of physics or even character consistency, but it's so eager to please, that it totally does.

What a lot of people don't realize is that is wasn't the Reese's Pieces that led ET up to Elliot's room that night.

Remember, Elliot was asleep outside using himself as bait!

I bet Chris Hansen is kicking himself for not being there to confront ET on what his intentions were as he snuck up on a young boy in a sleeping bag.

In fact, I feel a Chris Hansen and ET story coming very shortly.

Fucking

Movie.

Per haps my favorite Hawaiian recommendation. I'm overjoyed that he sent it to me in the second batch.

Best alley fight ever.

And E.T. is one of the great films of my childhood. Im pretty sure most people here feel the same.

Dateline is here with an actor to see what really goes on when the parents are asleep and the predators are awake.

Hansen: "We have placed our actor outside the home where we have seen evidence of a predaotr lurking. Hopefully we can expose this filth and ask just what they are thinking and why."

All of a sudden there is a rustling in the shed, as a rusty set of garden shears fall out of the half-open door.

Hansen: "Shhh, he's in the shed and should be lured out by Elliot any second. Nothing is stronger as bait than the very kid he wants to corrupt..."

A slow-moving figure eases out of the darkness of the shed and creeps closer to the boy, who is shaking from fear while pretending to be asleep.

The figure comes closer almost child-like and in size.

Hansen: "Here he comes now. It appears to be a little person, shorter than most we have encountered. He also appears to be drunk as he rocks back and forth on his feet."

The figure is about to inspect the boy further when Hansen gives the cue.

The cameras circle the figure and the lights blast a blinding white coating to the area.

Hansen: "Hello there! I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC! Can I talk to a moment?"

The figure is stunned, not knowing which way to turn and it's eyes are bulging at their sockets.

Hansen: "I notice you seemed very interested in our friend here. Can you tell me what you were doing here?

ET: "Phone Home."

Hansen: "Well now is not the time to try and make excuses, after all there are several payphones at the local mini mart. You mean that with all the phones down there, you want us to believe you picked this secluded house with a young boy sleeping in the backyard to try and *puts fingers beside his head* phone home?"

ET just stares at him, not sure what is going on.

Hansen: "Yes, I would think I would be a little speechless too if I was caught wandering up to this little boy late at night."

ET: "Phone Home."

Hansen: "Oh you are so cute, look the only phone call you are going to make is from the police station. Look I just want to know why, in fact I think America would like to know what makes a monster like you tick.

ET: "Phone Home."

Hansen: "OK get this guy out of here and get Elliot some fresh boxers, we have someone coming up the driveway."

I posted yet again over in that Palin mess. I think it was a nice succinct cherry on top of my ongoing argument. I'd like to see that Coughlins cretin respond with logic. That guy is just a simpleton.

Of course my all time practical effect might be the Predator costume.

My copy of E.T. has both the untouched version and the CGI version. And that CGI version doesn't exist to me.

Did you ever read bobo_vision's observations on our Outlander TB?

Danny, top films of the summer 2008?

ET was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He's lucky, as the Brim has been known to starting eating cows while they are still alive.

2. Dark Knight

3. Iron Man

4. Prince Caspian

5. X Files

2.Possible Thing in disguise

3. Abandoned by his 'people' because he was the Thing and therefor a danger to them, or because he was the The and was on a mission to infect/ingest suburbanites, or because he was a potential pedophile and they were banishing him to their version of a prison colony.

4. Is the Brim the aliens' version of Van Helsing?

5. Why Reese's Pieces? They aren't good enough to demand interstellar travel. Regular M&Ms, maybe, or peanut butter cups, but not the pieces.

The Morwen was displaced after The Brim decided to trim his whiskers with a chainsaw and a proton pack from Ghostbusters.

--Eats corn on the cob

--Smells Thanksgiving dinner

--Punches war protestors in the face

--Notices someone sitting in his court side seats at the Utah Jazz game

--Takes a dead hooker sized dump

It would be both shocking and an honor at the same time.

She would experience the orgasmic equivilent of both the Hoover Dam and Niagra Falls being redirected through her pleasure zone.

http://tinyurl.com/5qj2qg

http://tinyurl.com/6m4ts5

I will copy that this Halloween FO' SHO'!!

So sayeth the Brim. Amen.

Definitely want to see another big budget Godzilla film, maybe a collaboration between America and Japan, with some competent people working on it this time. We have never gotten the follow-up to the original we deserve. We hoped it was Godzilla 1985 but it wasn't. We hoped, in vain, for Emmerich's Zilla. I hoped for Godzilla Final Wars, but no such luck. The big guy needs a film that will make him scary and majestic and remove him from the cgi debacle of 98 and the big rubber suit of old. Yes, nix the really fake rubber suits. They have served their purposes. Lets see a realistic, but bulky, haunchy Godzilla.

I would like to see a well-made version of Robert R. McCammon's "Boy's Life". That is one of my favorite books. It's been tossed about as a movie idea for years, but no one has actually takne any initiative.

I'm in a mood for film, yes. Got a good one lined up?

O.k. I think I found one. What about this:

http://www.asian-horrormovies. com/tok.php

It's terrible. Heads flying everywhere, random spankings, oral sex with zombies (you know that can't end well), and Asian blacksploitation. Watch at your own risk.

Did any politician ever bring more pure joy to more people than Fred Thompson?

Red faced Fred

I'll fight 'em with my eyes closed!

Did you ever read Ray Bradbury's story "The Veldt"? It was also part of the movie "The Illustrated Man".

It has to be a showtime/HBO/FX show (shit even AMC) and even though I think that M. Knight Shamalyan is worth nothing, I'd say he is the perfect man to do it. Plus even though its set in Georgia, PA could easily replace it. And as long as he can stay off of his terrible high horse, and just use the written material and not make his own it would work. Also thanks for the Time After Time info, thats funny. Malcom is one interesting actor.

Malcom McDowell gives fun interviews. You could tell he would have done that sort of thing again in a heartbeat, so matter how many couch nights it cost him.

How are you today? I'm still up watching "Buppah Rahtree". Very good film. Have you seen it?

So hard.

Now this next part is for you HOD. So after that Mofrees went to bed and I decided to pop in Shinobi. I'll be honest. In spite of everybody's raving about the movie, I went into this one with extremely low expectations. I am not a fan of fantasy action. The closest I can get to it is Hero. It's fun every once in awhile but not usually something I particularly enjoy. All the wire work and CG usually just rubs me the wrong way. This movie changed all that. The action in Shinobi is dynamic, exciting, and just incredibly well staged. I was on the edge of my seat at every bout, sometimes almost cheering, especially when that one guy with the chain blades finally killed big sleeves man. I hated big sleeves man. Forget the fact that it was Tak Sakaguchi from Versus. That ourfit, that fighting style? Lame. So chain guy was definitely a fav. Another thing I really enjoyed about Shinobi was its cinematography. It's become a little formulaic for Asian action epics to have lots of sweeping shots of exotic, beautiful landscapes, but I still don't mind all the pretty pictures one little bit. My only problems with the movie were the weak leads, and the fact that the plot was a little thin (basically just there so there could be one fight after another). Now I'm not complaining too much. Like I said, the movie had some great action. But a plot with a little more meat would have been nice, and the two leads were less charismatic than I thought they would actually be. Again, not too much of a problem, since I can understand the director wanted to leave some room for all the other cool characters as well. So my final scores for the next batch so far are...

Sukiyaki Western Django 4.5/5 - A psychotic, explosive blast of cult cinema, and...

Shinobi 3.5/5 - A surprisingly entertaining action flick with lots of dynamic fantasy violence and an okay love story.

Thanks again HOD! Probably going to check out Invisible Target tomorrow. Very excited about that one fromm what I've heard.

So are you new to the martial arts film genre or just fantasy action Mavra?

I laughed so hard at that one, good thing I wasnt eating something at the time, I woulda choked to death...

You guys all fucking rule! Between the Brim talk and the bears, I havent laughed that much in a while, and with how preoccupied I've been lately with my school projects, I really needed that. Thanks a lot!

Fantasy action: Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, Hero, House of the Flying Daggers, Dragon Inn, Ashes In Time, Legend of Zu

Samurai movies: Azumi, Samurai 1, 2, and 3, Sword of the beast, Sword of Doom, Shogun's Samurai, Twilight Samurai, Samurai Fiction, Shogun Assassin (or any Lone Wolf and cub movies), any of the Zatoichi movies (Takeshi Kitano's remake is also worth checking out for a differnet spin), and pretty much anything by Akira Kurosawa or starring Toshiro Mifune is a safe bet. Especially Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran, Kagemusha, etc.

Old school kung fu: Drunken Master, 36th Chamber of Shaolin, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, The Flying Guillotine, The Five Venoms, Iron Monkey, Fist of Legend, Fists of Fury (known in the states as the Chinese Connection), The Magnificent Butcher, Drunken Master 2(Legend of the Drunken Master), and one of my personal favorites, Heroes of the East

Modern Action: Hard Boiled, Sha Po Lang (Killzone), Police Story and Police Story 3 (skip part 2), A Bittersweet Life, Versus (for stupid crazy fun), Chocolate, and of course anything Tony Jaa

Some other good stuff I hihgly recommend that doesn't neccessarily fit into the action genre:

Oldboy, Tears of the Black Tiger (I was raving about this a few weeks ago but never really got a response), 3-Iron, Tokyo Drifter, Auditon (my very favorite horror movie), Devils in the Door Step (everybody NEEDS to see this) and Taste of Tea

There are of course hundreds more great films to choose from, as I'm sure many others will point out to you. These are just some of the ones I have enjoyed over the years. Every one of those last ones comes especially recommended for their unique flavors and executions.

Cheers Series, nobody without their pretension dial turned up to 11 could sit through IE three times in a row. Bollocks.

Kill Bill: Part 1 was fun. Part 2 was DIABOLICALLY AWFUL. The whole thing was a bloated fat lazy fucking movie, and they could have both been knocked together with most of the cuts coming from part 2. What did the return to the Wedding sequence add? anything? nope, didn't think so. Or the end- she's chasing Bill for fucking ages and when she catches him do we get the promised bloody battle? Do we fuck. Bill talks tarantino bollocks about Superman for what seems like an age and then Uma tickles him to death. It was shit. Better than grindhouse though. And I maintain that Uma Thurman was fucking terrible in it. Takling. Very. Slowly. Does. Not. Equal. Great. Acting. (Something Carradine should also have noted). Self-indulgent tripe.

I also like sympathy for mr. Vengeance the most out of the Vengeance trilogy, but they're all great.

I want to go back to Spain.

I'm just jealous, mind.

Really, The Outer Limits was a fantastic series, and if they'd pitched it like that I'd have watched more. Instead they buried it and advertised it as a sci-fi Masters of Horror. The whole marketing strategy was deeply flawed.

Mavra - "Thanks for flying Air Coc..." Ranks up there with Fred's 'Coc Cannon.' Seriously wish I hadn't been eating a bowl of Curiously Cinnamon slathered in vanilla milk at that moment. Going to be a twat emptying my keyboard of that little lot...

Oi, everybody: We rock!

I didn't care much for Django, but I may need to see it again, as it's clear Miike was going more for a Jodorowsky-style thing than a straight forward film. Y'know, that's not exactly right either. He's Miike. He is his own style.

For me a few of Miike's stylistic flourishes sabotaged the movie instead of causing elation at their wierdness. For me, Happiness of the Katakuris is the pinnacle of that giddy insanity at the center of Miike's career. It's probably my favorite movie of his, despite it's "lightweight" nature.

So, Ill plan to rewatch Django this weekend.

Mori,have you seen Invisible Target?

Mavra posted a link above with streaming versions of many of those films.

And I have to say that the major death scene bothered me for quite a while. "He can't be dead!" cries Pillow....

Thats the great thing about having a big group of movies you haven't heard of, you can be truly surprised. It's probably one of the real reasons I flock to asian and independent fare, it's usually the only quadrant where there are films I know nothing about until I see them.

And I've seen the trailer for Tell No One too. I have to agree, that looked pretty good.

Thanks to our group here, I've been on a foreign kick and seen some pretty damn good movies.

Earth had forced the infected into space, and they were essentially travelling around in a flying tomb, waiting for their resources to run out when Earth contacts them for help.

The set-up and the acting were better than the actual execution, but I would have liked them to get their footing.

So, Mori, is there going to be more Fear Itself, or has it been dropped?

Has Memories been banned? or have I managed to finally drive the termite out.

Kungfu, per your recommendation I bought Tears of the Black Tiger sight unseen so that's how much faith I put in your opinion, brother. When it comes to Asian movies, you and Jonah have the most extensive knowledge I've yet to come across.

I finally started watching John Adams, the HBO miniseries last night and that's quality stuff. Anyone else see it? Paul Giamatti and Phillip Seymour Hoffman need to be cast in the same movie. Call it Scenery Chewers. It will be the greatest acting tour de force in years.

So, is anyone up for continuing our reflection upon past years. By my count we are up to 2004.

How is everyone doing today, by the way? Having trouble adjusting to work after vacation, Jarv?

What a crappy run. I'm going to treat myself to Lep 5: Back 2 Da Hood when I get home to brace myself for it.

Today the topic is "Confidence in your database". What a fucking joke.

Sorry to hear about the job description being changed. Does your boss happen to look like Ian Holm? Odd how companies don't realize how much money is wasted through pointless meetings. Productivity takes a real slide during those periods.

1.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2.Incredibles

3.Twilight Samurai

4.A Very Long Engagement

5.House of Flying Daggers

6.Hotel Rwanda

7.Aviator

8.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

9.Touching the Void

10.Osama

11.Finding Neverland

12.Kill Bill 2

13.Primer

14.Shaun of the Dead

15.Spiderman 2

16.Bon Voyage

17.Maria Full of Grace

18.Hellboy

19.Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

20.Collateral

No worries here.

But, whatever. Your faves of 2004, Bobo?

Get ready

I feel like having a sobbing Walmart fit.

You are in a hurry and don't have time for that, so when you drop the bad news on them, they hit the floor and roll and scream in protest for not getting a toy.

That mad fit of retail rage is called a Walmart fit.

Jarv, you need to finagle yourself into middle management. Then you can put nonsense behind you.

Best of 2004? You're going to have to give me a few for this one.

It when you see a kid (or in my town, an adult) walking around the Walmart barefoot.

Then you get a glance at the bottom of there feet.

There is this dark grey powder on the bottoms of their feet.

You can't see this when you look at the floors, but walk around barefoot for a while and then it will be there.

This effect is amplified in the grocery section, where juices from fallen grapes expose this phenomona as is visible to the naked eye.

X-Files levels of paraniod dillusions bubble to the surface as I realize this is the perfect substance to inject alien spawn into us.

And honestly, how many films are cool enough to reference Sluizer's The Vanishing? Boo-ya!

My out on a limb pick there is Sky Captain, which many seem to hate. I don't understand it. It was like a candy binge, with that wonderful sugar coma spilling over you as the movie ends. I walked out of that one smiling ear to ear as Somewhere Over the Rainbow played over the credits. It helped I saw it in one of those great old movie houses.

Fred Thomspson could kick The Brims mustache from Tennessee to Montana!

Smack Talking Fred

Red faced Fred

As The Brim's ravenous maw clamped down Thompson's foot, he would be sprinkling seasoning on the rest of his body.

The Brim eats full grown men like Thompson and shits out smallers versions of them, which hit the floor and scurry away like coachroaches with a light turned on.

Also The Brim wouldn't go on a late night talk show and annouce his intention of running for president.

He would stand on top of Mt. Rushmore and declare he is NOW the new president and nobody would say anything as his booming voice spilled out, causing a wave of destruction that makes ID4 main weapons look like a gentle breeze.

Damn good to see you Fred, as I have missed the late shift for the past week or so.

As for this summer - that is easy.

1) The Dark Knight

2) Wall-E

3) Speed Racer

4) Iron Man

5) Hulk

Last night Fred and Mavra Chang were discussing famous Freds.

1) The Incredibles

2) Spider-Man 2

3) Kung Fu Hustle

4) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

5) Man On Fire

6) Kill Bill 2

7) Taegukgi

8) Before Sunset

9) Shaun of the Dead

10) Downfall

2) The Incredibles

3) Spidey 2

4) Hellboy

5) Maria Full of Grace

6) Shaun of the Dead

The foreign movies were really out in force. Zhang Yimou showed up and fed that martial arts hunger that had been stimulated by Crouching Tiger here in the states in 2001.

8) Howls Moving Castle

9) Dodgeball

10)The Passion of the Christ

1)Touching The Void

2)Before Sunset

3)Eternal Sunshine

4)The Incredibles

Shaun of The Dead

6)Harry Potter

7)Downfall

8)Team America

9)Layer Cake

10)Vera Drake

Nice to see the love for Downfall. Superb film.

Hobo, that is quite the list. Hats off to you, brother!

Jacob Aaron Estes is supposed to have another movie called The Gifted coming out this year.

2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

3. Man on Fire

4. Motorcycle Diaries

5. Alexander

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

6. Collateral

7. The Aviator

8. Hellboy

9. The Chronicles of Riddick

10. Spider Man 2

Taking Lives-it felt like this movie would not end, and would not die. It just kept going and going. Awful.

Alien Vs. Predator-ugggh.

Exorcist 4-forget this. Watch Schrader's Dominion cut. It's better. This one is like being bludgeoned with a ham loaf.

Moving, flowing, haunting do not even begin to describe the effects it can have on you.

Sort of like The Brim's menacing glare.

King Arthur, Troy, Day After Tomorrow, The Village, Oceans 12, Meet The Fockers, AvP, Man on Fire and The Garden State. All of which are truly fucking awful. Honourable mentions in this category are too many to list but I want to make specific note of Briget Jones 2, ALfie, White Chicks and Taking Lives.

Disappointments- the aforementioned 2, Farenheit 9/11, Crash, Million Dollar Baby,

Near Misses for the top 10- MEan Girls, Dodgeball, Bad Education.

I'm sorry, but I'm totally failing to see where this love of Kill Bloated 2 is coming from. It's crap- and actually undoes a lot of the first film.

Where is the love for this coming from?

Great gifts from the music gods.

And kudos to them getting Moia Brennan for the soundtrack.

On a side note, it was incredibly WEIRD to watch the movies back-to-back.

Arthur being of Roman Descent actually makes sense- bar the fact that the Roman Empire had fallen long before whatshisname converted us.

It's got a lot worse since 2004, though. People are genuinly staggered that you could vote someone as stupid as Bush in twice.

Hospital corridor scene = pants, meet shit.

I've also seen someone suggest the British model as a possible cure for America's ills. If you really want to see democracy die- then that's the way to go. I literally don't vote any more in elections as where I live unless you vote Labour then you're wasting the effort it takes to get to the polling station.

By the way, can someone explain why Marlon Wayans keeps being in shit comedy when he can actually act and isn't funny?

Catwoman

AvP

Da y after Tomorrow

Garden State

Jersey Girl

Along came Polly

Meet the Fockers

Princess Diaries 2

Kill Bills (hate both of them)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Village

Blade Trinity

Bridget Jones

Spanglish

Fuck.

2004: The year of the drippy little whores.

Doc, nice flashback to early Pre-Raephalite Neil Cumpston. That was X2, no?

Danny, the reason being I live in, officially, Camden. The British Electoral system is divided into constituencies that made sense about 100 years ago, but not so much now. Where I live the Labour voters outnumber any other party by a factor of about 6 to 1. And not just working class- there's a strata os champagne socialists that vote Labour regardless. It is silly, because their is no real difference between Cameron and Blair, and everyone should vote Tory to oust Brown. However, the labour support turns out and blindly votes Labour without looking at the issues or performance or personality of their candidate. Voting Tory is anathema to them. I voted Labour in 1997 (yes I was taken in- which is how I see Obama=Blair. It's exactly the fucking same path to power), and voted Tory in the Local Elections and mayoral election(which at least makes a difference). But really my generation is completely disenfranchised.

Blind Allegience is like a three-year-old watching somebody talk to their mother the wrong way.

No matter how valid the other person's point is, Mommy is never wrong so you hate that person just because mommy does.

Like I said scary stuff.

I liked The Village. It reminded me of the classic short stories I read back in grade school. It did not have a monster payoff though- and that ticked off MNS fans who were expected more than just a twist with no real punch.

I'm not even a big fan of the sixth sense, to be honest.

1. Signs

2. The Village

3. Unbreakable

4. Lady In The Water

5. Sixth Sense

Haven't seen The Happening....

2. Signs

3. Sixth Sense

4. The Village

5. Wide Awake

I'm sorry, my mind refuses to go further.

Tee-Hee, see why I hate talking politics?

Now I will wake up in the middle of the night and have Ninja Fred standing over me with a sword and a goodbye note from the Echos.

Unless I hire Ninja Fred first hmmmm...

2. Signs

3. The Sixth Sense

4. The Village

5. Lady In The Water

Haven't seen Happening. Should I?

The Village, Million Dollar Baby, Shark Tale, Oceans 12, AvP, Van Helsing, Blade: Trinity, Spanglish and Riddick are my bottom ten. I'd put Crash in there but it won the Academy Award for 2005 so the MPAA considers it a 2005 film even though it premiered at 2004 film festivals.

2. The Sixth Sense

3. The Village

4. Signs

5. The Happening

6. Lady in the Water

Can you imagine Toad and I taking it to that extreme?

I wake up in the bed screaming as a bloody horse head stares back at me.

Then Toad jumps out from behind the door pointing his finger and yelling "Neigh means Neigh!" before jumping out the window into a idling car.

2)Sixth Sense- massiveley overrated and does not stand up to repeat viewings

3)Signs- shit. Complete shit.

4)The Village- Even worse.

Refuse to watch Lady and Happening.

2) Harry Potter

3)Spiderman 2

4)Sideways

5) Hellboy

6)Mllion Dollar baby

7 Shaun of the Dead

8 Godzilla

9 Bourne Supremacy

10)Suspect Zero

They must take the "word" as truth, spread by the warciples. Some may cower in fear over the mighty pencil, and not truly believe. Yet still they follow. While it has been argued that these followers should be purged from the CoC because their lack of faith is disturbing. They claim that our sorcery ways have not conjured up the stolen...er, sorry. Star Wars was on last night.

Signs was the most, trite, pathetic, risible, cliched, annoying load of crap. Fucking hated every moment of it.

On the flip side, I fail to understand how anyone can like The Ladykillers, especially in comparison to the Coen's other stuff and The original.

Please explain what is overused in Signs. I don't see one cliche that is commonly used in that film. Whether you like it or not, it is still very original.

regarding cliche- I meant the characters. They are some of the most poorly drawn, one dimensional charicatures that have ever graced the screen:

"Philibrick I've got this Night Script and I don't get it. There's a Preacher lost his faith, we need a reason. GIVE ME A REASON GODDAMIT."

"Yessir, howabout his wife died?"

"GODDAMIT PHILIBRICK THAT'S GOLD. AND NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE"

I think I need to watch the Village again, as I might actually hate Signs more.

Maybe I should give Lady a try.

2. Hellboy

3. Spidey 2

4. Dawn Of The Dead

5. Passion Of The Christ

Let downs - Creep, The Forgotten, The Village

Apologies if I've got the year wrong. I mean, I thought King Arthur (which I like) was 2005!

And don't get me started on this advanced civilisation that can be defeated by a rube with a baseball bat and the fucking rain. The Aliens were shit.

Hmmm, maybe I do hate Signs more than the Village.

Sorry about the typos in above post. Damn multitasking.

Dying wife passes on what Mel thought at the time was gibberish - but wasn't, as it turns out. She tells Merrill(?) to "swing away..."

His bat's on the wall. It's on the wall because he broke some record with that bat so it's like a trophy.

Mel has moment of epiphany and tells Merrill to "swing away." He gets it and does.

What's the problem?

The bit at the end where the kid revives is superbly acted and very moving. The score as the entire finale plays out is excellent. In fact the whole score is.

1.Tsotsi

2.King Kong

3.Pride and Prejudice

4.Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

5.Howl’s Moving Castle

6.Constant Gardener

7.Oldboy

8.The New World

9.Syriana

10.Kontroll

11.A Bittersweet Life

12.Good Night, and Good Luck

13.Munich

14.Batman Begins

15.Cache

16.L’Enfant

17.Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

18.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

19.Oliver Twist

20.Mirror Mask

I know I'm alone in this one as my Changian brethren seem to love this. I don't mind.

Lots of people respond that way to Hitchhiker's but I totally love it.

Danny, you know you're golden to me. I'll stand beside in the trench as an army of slow moving zombies descends on us. But if you want to know why Signs was bad, let me begin.

Even if I was willing to say the human element was good, it needed a story around it that made sense. An advanced alien race invades earth and rather than arrive with guns blazing, they decide the slow and steady approach is the way to go? Why would the aliens be concerned with a family in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere? Their strategy is to harass us one by one? And they may have zero shame on their homeworld but they're going into battle here naked? Swing away? It was the Ewoks all over again. Defeating a highly advanced civilization with wood.

The aliens intentions were so badly realized in that movie, it's impossible to see past it and appreciate the good moments that might actually exist.

The ultimate irony is people who loved Signs but despised ID4. At least Emmerich allowed us to defeat the aliens with a computer virus and a buttload of F-18s. M Night gave us a bunch of E.T. rednecks who could be clobbered with a bottle of Evian and a piano leg.

Mel, through tears.."Yea, I think someone did."

2)History of violence

3)Sin City

4)Batman Begins

5)Syriana

6)THank You For Smoking

7)Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

8)Murderball

And that will do because the Janitor is throwing me out. See you later

Raiding farms because they were away from water?

I basically filled in the blanks; the aliens had been travelling a long time, found food and thought the 'water' risk was worth taking as they wouldn't be hanging around. I also thought the inflicted damage was due to chemicals in the water.

You'd be right to say an audience shouldn't have to fill in that many blanks.

ID4 aliens came to chew bubblegum and kick ass.

Yep, they were all out of bubblegum.

The real twist would have been if it was a panty raid. M Night would have had me from the opening logo.

Jarv has Sin City in his top ten? Whaaaa? That's a double take if I ever saw one.

2. King Kong

3. Batman Begins

4. History Of Violence

5. Dead Man's Shoes

"Damn, look at all the food! But that fucking WATER, man... Fuck it, we need to load up. It's a long way to the next stop."

Weird to say a primitive method of defeating them came in the middle east where there is less water readily avaliable than some parts of the world.

Brokeback Mountain

The Brothers Grimm

Chicken Little

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Four Brothers

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galax

The Island

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

King Kong

The Matador

Munich

The New World

The Pacifier

Rent

Serenity

A Sound of Thunder

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Transporter 2

War of the Worlds

White Noise

2) A History of Violence

3) Sin City

4) Cinderella Man

5) A Bittersweet Life

6) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

7) Capote

8) The Matador

9) Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut

10) The Island (I'm going to take a beating for this one)

I hate to admit it, but I"ve never seen Oldboy.

The Brothers Grimm - did nor see it

Chicken Little - did not see it

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Liked it

Four Brothers- did ot see it

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Like it a lot

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - It was ok, not nearly as good as TV show

The Island - Splosions! But nothing else

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - did ot see it

King Kong - Fred disappointed in it. But Loved,loved,loved Kong himself.

The Matador - It was good.

Munich - Fred really like it.

The New World - did not see it

The Pacifier - It had some funny moments.

Rent - Toe tapping songs, but not as good as stage show.

Serenity - Fred loved it!

A Sound of Thunder - did not see it.

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Fred really disappointed.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - did not see it

Transporter 2 - It was ok, not as good as first

War of the Worlds - it was ok.

White Noise - did not see it

And Chicken Little fucking rocks.

1. Millions

2. Rent

3. Four Brothers

I put Oldboy on my 2003 list.

I'm going to need to swap out Kingdom of Heaven for SPL. KoH gets pushed down to #11.

Two cents Fred

I'm going to say this as I make my way to the door. I've been really unimpressed with all the Potter movies. Only the last one caught my interest. I haven't read the books but it's clear they are cramming and cutting too much and the movies just feel like a disjointed mess to me. Maybe Phoenix was the shortest book of the series because the pace felt perfect for a change.

Eastman tells MetalTV that "Although the CGI film did well enough to warrent a sequel, there has been much talk between Imagi and Warner Bros. to do a better "re-invention" of the TMNT's, in a live action film - like what was done with Batman. Back to basics, back to the origin and the intro of the Shredder, etc."

How far has it gone? "There have been talks, trips to Northampton to talk to Mr Laird, and discussions with the original "first" TMNT film director Steve Barron to come back and do it right - but no official word yet."

The original 'Turtles' live-action movie cost a mere $13.5 million and made ten times that. Last year's lackluster CG-animated "TMNT" still managed to haul in a global $95 million tally from only a $34 million budget.

2. Children of Men

3. The Fountain

4. The Host

5. Letters from Iwo Jima

6. The Painted Veil

7. The Prestige

8. A Scanner Darkly

9. The Banquet

10. Joyeux Noel

11. The Descent

12. United 93

13. Monster House

14. Curse of the Golden Flower

15. The Protector

16. The Guatemalan Handshake

17. Fearless

18. Casino Royale

19. Stranger than Fiction

20. The Queen

Good one Fred!

It reminds me of when pack of lions kill water buffalo and start eating it from behind.

I always watch those nature just in case one of the lions raises up and sees a water buffalo shitting in a field and says "Oh man, are you guys seeing this? We gotta start at the other end and give the Hyenas this end! No wonder they laugh all the time at us..."

2. V For Vendetta

3. United 93

4. The Host

5. The Prestige

Honourable mentions to A Scanner Darkly, Brick, Renaissance & The Fountain. And a 'must try harder' to Silent Hill.