Rate the last movie you've seen

[beat_truck]

When it comes to sci-fi flicks, you bet this plays an important part. Otherwise it is not "science" fiction, just fiction. Nothing like setting yourself up for a disappointment.

[JDP]

Nothing like setting yourself up for a disappointment. Of course, the majority of them will suck at "keeping it real". But that's what separates the more knowledgeable filmmakers who do manage to make better conceived sci-fi flicks.

[bassman]

The Equalizer Having seen the trailer for Equalizer 2 before Deadpool 2 recently, I decided to give the first a try. Probably not Antione Fuqua’s best, but an enjoyable film. Sort of in a similar vein to the recent “older guy is secret badass” flicks like Taken. I’m not familiar with the original TV series, so I can’t really compare, but judging it on it’s own terms it’s a good thriller.

[MinionZombie]

The Equalizer Having seen the trailer for Equalizer 2 before Deadpool 2 recently, I decided to give the first a try. Probably not Antione Fuqua’s best, but an enjoyable film. Sort of in a similar vein to the recent “older guy is secret badass” flicks like Taken. I’m not familiar with the original TV series, so I can’t really compare, but judging it on it’s own terms it’s a good thriller. Aye, I remember enjoying it enough at the time, but I can barely remember anything about it now. Distracting enough and fun enough for the duration, though.

[bassman]

Den Of Thieves (2018) Really good new cops and robbers flick starring Gerard Butler. I’m really surprised I haven’t seen more advertising or heard more people talking about it. One of the best of it's kind in recent memory. Highly recommended.

[bassman]

American Made (2017) A film based on true events, directed by Doug Liman(Swingers, Bourne Jdentity, Edge of Tomorrow), starring Tom Cruise as Barry Seal, a former TWA pilot that is recruited by the C.I.A. for air surveillance, then becomes a drug-running pilot in the 1980’s. Also starring Domhnall Gleeson(New Star Wars Trilogy, Ex-Machina, The Revenant) and Jesse Plemmons(Breaking Bad, Black Mass, Black Mirror). While it may not necessarily be a film to write home about, it’s still an entertaining ride for a film of it’s type. The closest recent film I feel it could be compared with is “Blow”. Liman has proven over the years that he’s a very competent director that can at the very least keep your attention for the duration of two hours and “American Made” is a great addition to his filmography. It’s also quite nice to again see Tom Cruise acting in a film outside of his usual franchise/sequel summer tentpole films. This would be my second time viewing this film since it’s release and while I doubt I’ll be giving it another watch again anytime soon, if at all, I do think everyone would enjoy it on a single viewing, so I do recommend it.

[MinionZombie]

American Made (2017) While it may not necessarily be a film to write home about, it’s still an entertaining ride for a film of it’s type. The closest recent film I feel it could be compared with is “Blow”. Liman has proven over the years that he’s a very competent director that can at the very least keep your attention for the duration of two hours and “American Made” is a great addition to his filmography. It’s also quite nice to again see Tom Cruise acting in a film outside of his usual franchise/sequel summer tentpole films. This would be my second time viewing this film since it’s release and while I doubt I’ll be giving it another watch again anytime soon, if at all, I do think everyone would enjoy it on a single viewing, so I do recommend it. I recently saw it for the first time and I'd agree with this. It follows many of the 'rise and fall' elements of these types of movies about drug-related rogues, but it does keep you interested and rarely flags in its pacing. Plus it's fun to see Tom Cruise in "naughty mode", which is kind of rare to see as he normally plays the hero. Liman's direction really injects some pizazz into familiar territory, so I'd likewise recommend giving it a watch.

[bassman]

John Carpenter’s The Fog With the recent discussion of his return to the Halloween franchise and having recently watched In The Mouth of Madness, I came across The Fog and felt like it was a good time to revisit the film, as it’s been quite a while and my memory of it was foggy, at best. Pun intended. With his theatrical follow up to Halloween, Carpenter was able to give this one a slight bit more of a “big budget feel” as opposed to the more independent feel from before, even though they were both produced in a similar fashion. I believe he’d done the made-for-TV Elvis feature with Kurt Russell between the two, and while it may be my mind playing tricks with me because of the knowledge of that TV feature, I seemed to catch several scene transitions with what I can only describe as “commercial break editing”. What I mean by that is that there were a couple scenes that did a sort of mid-speed fade out, with the next scene doing a similar fade in, which is what you would normally see done for commercial breaks on TV. Has anyone ever noticed this or am I just imagining things? The film has an amazing cast and a fantastic sense of eerie dread throughout. Speaking of the cast, Adrienne Barbeau is at her best and most gorgeous here, also sporting a very sultry disc jockey voice for her job as a radio host. While I imagine Jamie Lee Curtis was getting a lot of attention for her career and beauty at this point, I’d say that Barbeau takes the beauty queen crown for The Fog. If it wasn’t obvious yet, I got a bit of a thing for Barbeau in her day, but I imagine I’m not alone with that opinion. Other than that, there’s not really a whole lot that can be said about The Fog that hasn't already been said about the film over the years. While obviously not as popular as Halloween, this flick is an admirable follow-up that deserves the recognition it still receives after all these years. However, it did not deserve the remake, circa 2004? Yeesh, I remember very little of that one, but from what I do recall, it’s a dumpster fire of a disaster. It’s really no surprise to anyone that Carpenter’s film comes very enthusiastically recommended! And now this feels like the perfect excuse to dive into Escape From New York! Plissken, baby!

[beat_truck]

I've seen "The Fog" several times, and I never tire of it. Everything is very good, the story, cast, soundtrack, atmosphere, etc. The remake was a giant steaming pile of shit. Especially the ending. Bassman, if you like Adrienne Barbeau, you should see "Swamp Thing" if you haven't already. Unless my memory is failing me, I think she actually has brief topless scene in it. The movie itself is cheesy, but pretty good, at least IMO.

[EvilNed]

I really like the Fog but I can understand why some feel it's a bit on the slow side. The film hasn't really got an A-plot but is instead a series of B-plots that all connect to the wider narrative of the ghostly fog. As a ghost story it's great. In fact, so great that I dare say it's the best ghost story ever put to film (granted, it's a genre I'm not really interested in). Having said all that I don't think it's one of Carpenter's strongest. In interviews he said that about one third of the film consists of reshoots after having watched an assembled cut of the film. All the stuff with hands pushing through windows are reshoots for instance, as well as the scene with the dead fishermen at the morgue. You can tell part of the film was simply extended for atmospheric purposes rather than to tell a tighter story. But as a mood piece it's excellent. Maybe it's the closest Carpenter will ever get to Fulci?

[MinionZombie]

I love The Fog, too! Great film - although when I first saw it I was, IIRC, fifteen, and it really didn't jive with me. My teenage brain couldn't cope with the slow pacing and the expertly crafted atmosphere. I needed something more in-your-face back then. However, when I revisited it several years later I saw the magic in it, and a third viewing a while after that revealed it to be an absolute classic in my eyes. The atmosphere is off the charts, and hell, even that opening ghost story that the old man tells around the campfire is masterfully done - not only in terms of writing, but the performance too. Genuinely haunting, a real skin-crawler of a tale. I particularly love all the stuff as the fog rolls in for the first time, all the weird little reactions the town has as it kind of affects inanimate objects and such. Great cast too, Barbeau chief among them all, cracking location work and so on. Classic Carpenter. I saw a few snippets of the remake and I was stunned by how god-awful it was, so changed the channel quickly. - - - Updated - - - Majorie Prime An elderly woman suffering from alzheimers enjoys the company of a holographic version of her husband in his prime (played by Jon Hamm). It's an intriguing sci-fi drama, very subtle on the sci-fi aspect, and more focused on the drama. I was half-expecting some big twist, but it didn't skew that way, but did skew in a different way as the film went on with the technology taking on another use. The film has some interesting things to say about memories and how we pass them on from one person to another, filtered through time and selection.

[bassman]

I think this may be the first I’ve heard of Majorie Prime. Sounds interesting, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. Escape From New York What is there to say, really? You all know it. Classic Carpenter and Russell. This viewing may be the first time I realized that the co-writer is actually the actor behind the Myers mask from the original Halloween. Now The Thing is on my list of what’s next, of course. But first....after Escape was over, Amazon popped up with The Running Man on “customers also watched”, so I just couldn’t say no. First time I’ve seen it in probably 20 years, so looking forward to finishing and giving my thoughts... - - - Updated - - - Wow....The Running Man has held up surprisingly well and is probably more important now than ever. It’s like an example of a friggin movie predicting the future accurately! Especially the stuff regarding crap “reality” television and the audience’s willingness to believe anything that can be shoved down their throats. The effects are also holding up well, while still of course being a very “80’s film”. Twas quite a treat to revisit the film after so many years.

[MinionZombie]

Wow....The Running Man has held up surprisingly well and is probably more important now than ever. It’s like an example of a friggin movie predicting the future accurately! Especially the stuff regarding crap “reality” television and the audience’s willingness to believe anything that can be shoved down their throats. The effects are also holding up well, while still of course being a very “80’s film”. Twas quite a treat to revisit the film after so many years. It's been a good while since I saw the movie (it's a classic), but I do remember that I was partly familiar with it before seeing the movie because of this track that was doing the rounds at the time (let's time travel back to the rave culture of the 1990s, shall we?): Bangin' choon!

[bassman]

Fulci’s Zombie(1979) Having written the film off after my initial viewing many years ago, I decided it was time to give it another try in adulthood. My opinion isn’t quite as negative as it was originally. I certainly enjoyed it more this time, but probably still rate it lower than most fans on the net. The effects are probably what garner the most praise. Certain classics like the “splinter in the eye” still hold up quite well! There are also a few scenes/shots that are quite beautiful! There’s a certain one in the street of the village that’s real low to the ground and looking down the road “filled” with zombies? It would make a gorgeous poster! In all, it’s a bit more enjoyable than I’d remembered, but still not the “zombie classic” that it’s usually labeled as, IMHO.

[shootemindehead]

No, it's certainly not a classic in the sense that '12 Angry Men' would be. But, I'd call it a "classic" of that Italian cannibal/zombie genre at least. If there are two films that define that crazy era, they'd 'Cannibal Holocaust' and 'Zombie Flesh Eaters'.