Movies "The last movie you've seen" thread

Iron Man
Viewed: Cinema

This film was very typical of most of the recent Marvel comic based films. Great production value, but ruined by a crap end to the plot.

The film's beginning and initial concept of how he conceived the idea of his iron man suit was very well done, utilising the current topical terrorist group idea. However towards the end the plot moved into an over used default ending for all films in this style and it completely ruined what could have been so good.

**** plot spoilers ****

The initial idea of creating the suit whilst in terrorist captivity, and then using it to escape was great and very enjoyable to watch. For me the film was fine throughout this, right though his development of the improved suit designs. And the part where the terrorists discovered the original suit in the desert and started working on reassembling it could have given the film a great ending.

Instead their did the over used clique of his business partner turning evil and ending up with a battle against the good side (iron man) and a bigger more evil version of the suit piloted by the evil ex partner. All ending in a big one on one battle against the two involving the destruction of buildings and anything in the surrounding area. How many times have we seen the exact same ending to a film? It was identical in every way to the end of Robocop 2, most of the Batman films, Spiderman, The Hulk... I could go on.

For me this ending was pointless and ruined the end of the film.

They clearly missed what could have been a great ending. Through out most of the film it made suggestions that the terrorist group still had a big part to play, but this was completely ruined when after they had reassembled the suit, the evil parter of Iron Man just walked in, killed them all and stole the suit.

For me a much better plot would have been to completely scrap the whole idea of the evil partner. Instead exploring the terrorist idea much further. They found the original suit and managed to piece it back together. They could have easily written it so that they managed to get hold of the original chest power supply and repower the suit, and then start to use this against their enemies in their territory, but using its power to wipe out whole villages of women and children. With the final ending to the film involving Iron Man in his improved suit having to battle it out against the terrorists in the original suit, situated somewhere in the original afgan region.

7/10

I gave it a score this high just because the concept and first 2/3 of the film were very good. If the end hadn't been so obvious and super hero ending by numbers then it would have scored higher.
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- The Golden Compass (I found it very boring although well done, definitely not the kind of movie for me. Perhaps I'm getting slapped by Harrison, but that's exactly the reason why I don't even watch Harry Potter movies and other stuff for children (mainly, because my mom also likes that stuff. So should I say children and older women??))

Score: 4/10

- Rambo (Always the same plot, gets also tedious. "Colonel, I don't want to star in another movie like that, I retire". Yes Sylvester, reprieve us.)

Score: 5/10

- 10.000 BC (Thought this might be something different, but also seen hundreds of times, just in another setting. Boy loves girl, girl gets kidnapped, boy makes journey to get girl back

)

Score: 5/10

- Shoot'em up (Great movie, funny, ridiculous, violent and much more. [brain off]watch movie[brain on], aaah what a pleasure)

Score: 7/10
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I agree regarding The Golden Compass. It was very well done, but also very predictable and boring in places. For me I didn't like it because I've read the book and it doesn't follow the book at all. The second film should be much better though, but only if they do follow the sequence of events in the second book in order, instead of as with the first film, picking the story ideas and changing the whole sequence of events.

BTW, regarding Harry Potter. Compared to The Golden Compass there is no comparison. HP has a lot of originality and cool ideas that hadn't been seen up to the point of the first film's release. Even if you don't normally like children's films the first HP film is still worth watching just so you know what the whole thing is about and why it is so popular.
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Babylon 5 Lost Tales
It's 10 years after the formation of teh Inter Stellar Alliance and B5 is holding a celebration.
This consists of 2 stories one with Elizibeth Lochley and one with President Sheriden. If these stories were set in the series then they would be at best subplots to a real story. Unfortunatly they aren't.
The Lochley story should have been dropped altogether and the Sheriden story should jave been expanded.
The special effects are good. If they remastered the series with this standard of effect then my wallet would be screaming in pain. The new Valen class ship is very nice.
The best bits about this DVD is the tributes to two of the actors, Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs, who have "gone beyond the rim" and the effects (although the B5 model is not quite right in my mind).

Ratings:-
For the tributes 9/10
As a B5 fan 7/10
As a Sci-Fi fan 5/10
Other 3/10

One for the collectors and die hards i'm afraid.
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Movie: Redline

To be fair, The Fast And The Furious this ain't. Plot seems relatively thin on the ground (Like V. Diesel's hair). Generally seems to be okay camera work, I can imagine the temptation to do some of the TFATF camera trickery must have been fairly major. A few peices of eye candy, but imho nothing that matches Suki from 2F2F. The real stars of the movie are the cars, and they're not your average joe's street car taken straight from Pimp My Ride. These motors are true marques, including Porsche Carrera GT and Ferrari Enzo. The most impressive scene was the driving the Veyron off the end of the pier (or maybe I just imagined that, having dropped off to sleep at some point).

Overall, one to fill the gap until The next installment of the Paul Walker/Vin Diesel/American Muscle car menage-et-trois comes along!

Score: 3.5/10
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Movie: REC

Nice little spanish horror flick filmed in the handycam style (although I am getting a little tired of this) where a young woman (hot) filming a late night junk TV show stumbles upon a disturbing episode unfolding in a block of flats that is sealed by the goverment needless to say quite a bit of gratuitous gore ensues with little in the way of survivors. A nice plot that was a little different from the usual horror yarn with quite a good ending (shades of Blair Witch though). Good acting and decent special effects along with a few scary "jump" moments (my girlfriend was so scared she nearly cried) make this a worthwhile picture.

7/10 (Done before but not necessarily better)

Movie: Diary of the Dead

Well what can you say, George Romero tries out the fashionable handycam style and turns out a reasonable if not a little boring and not very scary zombie flick. Being a Romero film the gore is 10/10, very nicely done as you would expect but unfortunately it cant offset the lack of decent storyline and at times very wooden acting. The basic plot is a bunch of students set off to go home together in the midst of a viral outbreak, one of them films the whole thing (including zombies picking off his friends, I mean why would you help?) but it isnt particularly well done. There is a social message in there about modern society but who cares when you are watching body parts come off and projectiles ripping through semi dead flesh.

5/10 (Worth watching if you are a genre fan and gore freak like myself)
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Movie: The Machine Girl
Japanese with English Subtitles

This movie has quite literally got the goriest opening sequence I have EVER seen for a movie. In fact, it contains more 'in your face' gore than most movies have in their entirity.

The basic premise for the movie is a girl loses an arm in an attack, and manages to obtain a little gun attachment for it. With this she seeks revenge on the people who have hurt her, and anybody else she knows.

The movie starts off with great momentum and manages to maintain it for a fair while, but it does start to lose pace. There is humour in the over-the-top violence, but that also seems to lose its edge toward the end. Whether this is because of the translation, or just the type of humour, is hard to say.

The one main problem that some people will have will be the reading of the subtitles whilst there is a lot of action on screen. Relax, as you get used to these movies that skill becomes second nature (and is usually learnt by watching a move many times).

All in all, if you like your blood by the bucket, then this is for you. If you like anime, then this is for you (but be prepared for lots of blood). If, however, you don't like blood, or you are looking for something intellectual, then this is not for you.

Score: 7.5/10 (It's good, but the flaws are noticeable)
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Be Kind Rewind

has some funny moments. Jack Black, playing Jerry gets electrocuted, trying to sabotage a powerplant, and is now "magnetised". When he goes to the video rent shop where his friend works, he erases all VHS tapes due to his magnetism. So they take the camera and shoot the films themselves with of course absolutely no budget at all.

First one they do is Ghostbusters, but that is just so hilarious, and a lot more to follow,Rush Hour 2, Robocop, Lion King 2!!.

Movie is no masterpiece, but I found it worth watching.

7/10
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