Mostly, the only new films I've been able to see lately are the family oriented ones. Being a dad with a 10-year-old daughter - well, her new films take priority over mine, I'm afraid....

Although, I AM a huge fan of animation (grew up on all the cartoons from the 70's, ya know) - so you'll notice that most (if not all) of my recent favorites are animated films.

My favorite so far this year has to be "The Incredibles"! At first I actually thought that I wasn't gonna like it - that I've seen it all before. You know, the old 'aging, has-been superhero' storyline. But it was superb! The animation was incredible (the improvements of Pixars' human characters are simply amazing from what they were back in the "Toy Story 1" days), the story line was terrific and the humor - top notch! Definately one of the best films of the year for me!

The other films I recently caught up with were - dare I say - "Spongebob Squarepants" (hey - I just went to see it because my daughter wanted to see it - ;) ) and "Shark Tale". These two were o.k, but no where near the level of "The Incredibles". Haven't seen "Polar Express" yet, and will probably end up waiting for that one on DVD anyway...

I am hoping to see "National Treasure" soon.

Again, it's hard for me as a dad to get out to the movies on my own with a wife and young one. Lately, I've just had to sit idly by and wait for the films I really want to see on DVD. "I, Robot" probably the next one to make my DVD viewing list. Missed that one earlier this year too in the theaters.....

Hey - if you want great recent movie reviews, don't ask me -- lately, I'm usually the last one to see them anymore. I still enjoy them though! Even if I have to wait for them to show up on DVD.

How about you all?

which films have you seen recently - and which ones are you looking forward to in the next few months?

New movie to add for a quick update on this topic...

I just got back from "Lemony Snickets: A Series of Unfortuante Events". A rather enjoyable film based off of the popular children's book series.

I can only take 'wacky' Jim Carey so much, and luckily - IMO, he behaved himself to a point in this movie. The moments when he comes onscreen, he is fun to watch, and the story picks up again at those moments.

My daughter was dying to see this film and enjoyed it very much. She had read one of the books, so she had a much better idea of what the story would be about than I.

Anyway - if you've got kids - they'll probably wanna see this too, and it is rather enjoyable for us grownups with a few nice surprising moments (my wife jumped a mile out of her seat at one point in the film (as did the entire audience) - you'll know it when you see it).

Lastly, before this movie began, they showed the BRAND NEW trailer for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with Johnny Depp. I must say this new film by Tim Burton looks VERY DIFFERENT than the original "Willy Wonka" - which is one of my all time favorite films! It looks very 70's Psychadelic - more so than the actual 70s film, if you can believe that!! I'm anxious to see Tim's spin on this story --- it could be enjoyable as well.......... don't know what to make of the new song the Oompa Loompa's were singing though. Only time will tell.................

Hey Logan5

Here's a link to the trailer for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808403419&cf=trailer

The remake looks like a bizarre cross between 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and 'Austin Powers' - design, set and costume-wise :unsure:

This one should be interesting! :D

I saw the movie version of Phantom of the Opera this weekend. WoW..was I impressed. The look of the movie is fantastic, and boy can Emmy Rossum ever sing. I've never been into musicals but I really enjoyed it. Incedently she's the actress from "The Day after Tommorrow", my first choice for Jessica in the Logans Run re-make... :)

Hi Running Man.

I saw the musical back in the early 90's and really enjoyed it. I haven't seen the movie version yet, but plan to shortly. I've heard a lot of good reviews on it from people who have seen it already, so I am anxious to check it out - just haven't had time to yet.

I hope I do enjoy it. Since I've seen the stage version, I'm a little nervous about seeing the film version. Once I do though, I'll post my thoughts.

Only two more days till Star Wars Ep III!!! :D :D :D

Yes..I know, I have my tickets already...Opennig night Thursday 9 pm in Toronto. We were all gonna do the Wednesday midnight, the first showing but many ( myself included ) have to be up at 6:30 am for work. by the time it ends and i got to sleep it would be like like 4 pm, so Thursday will have to do. Really looking forward to it... :D

...I saw the new Star Wars on Thursday night, It was good , but not great...There were some excellent parts, but there were areas of the movie that seemed to drag on a bit. I was'nt happy with what they did with Natalie Portmans character, they turned her into a drivelling love sick puppy, a far cry from the strong willed and confrontational chatacter of the last two. Over all it prpbably the best of the new three...I think the problem is that we all expected to see George make a movie that matches Star Wars...I think that kind of unrealistic to expect...after all this was arguably one of the greatest movies of all time, it is unfair to expect he ..or any other director could do it twice...but it is worth watching ...in fact I think I'm going again tonight...

Run Runner !!!!!! ;)

I just got back from seeing SW Ep III and I must say that I thought it was terrific!!! It comes very close to matching the greatness of Episodes IV and V. IMO, it is the best of the new trilogy and I think Lucas did a marvelous job in tying up the entire movie series.

All of the lightsaber scenes were superb, the special effects added to the story and didn't detract from it (as what doomed Episode I for me) and when we first hear Vader's breath from behind his mask, the magic of Star Wars FINALLY returns after some 20 odd years!!

Although some scenes seemed to be drawn out a little TOO much (especially those between Padme and Anakin), I thought their relationship was handled much better than the last film. To me, they bonded a little better this time around. In Ep II, I didn't really 'buy' their love story. I thought they were acting through it. But, this time - I thought they both handled it better.

I really enjoyed Ep III, and thought it tied everything together very nicely!! It was great to see the Tantive IV ship once again, as well as the original Death Star under construction! Lucas brought the magic home again - FINALLY - just when he needed it the most!!

oota goota logan5!

i watched episode 3 wednesday night at midnight... and while overly sceptic... greatly enjoyed the film in its entirety except...

i hope the dvd will include some of the deleted scenes from the original script....
in particular want to see the scene where yoda speaks to the ghostly visage of qui-gon jin (how DO you spell that????).... if you'll notice mr. neeson's name was in the credits... but he was not in the final theatrical cut....

but, thank the gods of fantasy and science fiction!
maybe george took a cue from the lord of the rings trilogy's script, because he definitely matured anakin and obi-wan's relationship well, as well as his and padme's

i liked it so much i saw thursday night too... and again the following week... and i'm thinking about going tomorrow....


oh! and i liked the house of flying daggers....

yeah - I noticed that too. To me, that was the final unresolved bit about the Star Wars series.

Yoda telling Obi Wan that they know all about the 'afterlife' of the Jedi thanks to Qui Gon - and that Obi Wan should start that training back on Tatooine seemed very rushed to me and didn't work!! Maybe the missing scene would better explain it.

OMG!!!!


I'm on Last Day!!!!

:o

I saw a movie last week, but it was'nt a good one, it was called " Nine Lives ", and it was probably THE worst Low buget movie I have ever seen. The only reason I rented it was because Paris Hilton was in it ( Im a big fan of Paris, don't ask me why.) Anyway, Im not gonna tell you to go out and Rent this one because that would be just plain mean, nobody should have to endure that kind of abuse and torture. But I though you might find this interesting...Its a reveiw done by a writer at Arrow in the Head .com, and it is possibly one of the most halarious reveiws I have ever read. .. :D ...Warning this writer uses some colourful lauguage...here it is...

http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=470

The last movie I saw was Stealth, and it was not so hot. If anybody was planning on going to see it, don't waste your money or your time. Columbia Pictures really missed the mark on this aerial science fiction action-adventure.

Most recent film I saw at the cinema was War of the Worlds, the Paramount version. I wasn't sure what to expect, but thought I'd go along and watch it anyway. I totally enjoyed it, a fantastic film. :)

I went out and bought Star Wars III last night because it just got realeased on DVD yesterday, I had to go to four different stores to find the Wide screen version everyone was sold out..I finally found it a Shoppers Drug Mart of all places...Incedently it was $4.00 cheaper at Shoppers that it was at Block Buster Video...No Really !!! ....no wonder Block Buster's going bankrupt....Anyway thats not what this post is about...while I was out picking up SW III, I also decided to grab SW I, The Phantom Menace...I had'nt owned it previously so I figured what the hell....some of the nasty comment's posted by critics of this movie are as follows...

1. "The Force is gone from this one and George Lucas has no Idea were he left it."
2. "This is'nt so much a movie as a two hour CGI demonstration."
3. "After waiting 16 years for the overture to this epic saga, this is what we get? An in-progress trade war?"
4. "The biggest letdown since the Clinton presidency!"
5. "It is an understatement to say that the movie is a disappointment; it is the disappointment of the millennium."
6. "It's a scam."
7. "A murky, talky prequel that emphasises all the series' weakest elements rather than its strongest ones."

Granted not all the critics hated this movie but generally it was not well received... I'd like to say that I did'nt mind it... It certainly had its faults, thats for sure...there was way to much CGI ..it was very talky at times..some of the dialog was practicly unbearable, but it has some excellent parts as well. I though the light saber fight between the Darth Maul , Obie Wan and Qui Gon Gin was perhaps the best light Saber Battle of all Six movies... :lightsaber: , I though the concept for the story was quite good ( The Trade War ) and the double battle that raged on the gound and in Space above Naboo near the end of the movie was excellent, and who could forget the Pod race WOW!!! ...I'd have to say that there were enough good parts to this movie to out weight its short comings...I think it deservers at least one thumb up...perhaps a 7 out of 10... :popcorn:

....George if your out there... " STOP WRITING YOUR OWN DIALOG !!! IT HURTS MY EARS !!!." :surrender:

... anyone have any thoughts...???

there is only one star wars,and it was released in the summer of 1977.the same goes for the highlander movie!

I just purchased the widescreen editions for all six of the Star Wars films. They are a Christmas gift for my stepdaughter, who is a huge Queen Amidala and Princess Leia fan. I'll admit that Episodes I and II could have better, but III was really explosive and entertaining. The critics were not kidding when they said that George Lucas saved the best for last. I'm still surprised that it was rated PG-13. :guns:

Episode III was the best of the prequels, IMHO. In fact, it was the only SW prequel I went back to see at the theaters more than once. It was nice that Lucas was able to bring it all together in the end.

Here is how I would stack all the Star Wars movies up, from favorite to least:

1. Star Wars IV: A New Hope
2. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
4. Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
5. Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
6. Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace

You would think that the final Star Wars film (Ep VI) would rate higher on any list, but there are so many things wrong with Return of the Jedi for me, that I rate it almost the worst of the six films.

Last week - we went to see "Zathura".

I actually enjoyed it a bit. It brought back some wonderful childhood memories of my brother and I trying to play through some kind of board game, and we'd always end up getting into a big fight over it!

I was surprised it didn't do that well at the Box Office. That god-awful "Chicken Little" movie stayed on top the weekend "Zathura" opened. That movie was too much like "Jimmy Newtron" for me to get into. Back to "Zathura" -- I guess too many people thought it was too much like "Jumanji" - and even though it was - I thought it was better than "Jumanji". "Zathura" pretty much kept moving along, whereas "Jumanji" has some fairly long in-between parts that aren't as exciting - at least for me anyway.

Tomorrow we're off to see the wizard.................

Harry Potter, that is..... hehe

I'm one of a handful of people who actually kind of LIKED Jar-Jar Binks. At least I had a sense of who he was, in a movie (PHANTOM MENACE) with, otherwise, virtually NO character development; by the time of the 3-man light-sabre battle, I was yawning, 'cause I didn't feel like I knew who any of these guys was, so why should I care who wins? CALLING a young actor "young Obi Wan" doesn't MAKE him Obi Wan; that's where a half-decent SCRIPT comes in! And Darth Maul? Nice make-up, but where the hell's the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT? (Oh, I know where: in Episode IV, with Vader!)

My own STAR WARS ranking (best to worst):

V
IV
VI
III
II
I

RECENT movies I've enjoyed: WALLACE & GROMMET (sp?), GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK, CAPOTE, and A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. Looking forward to the Johnny Cash bio-pic; also BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, as the short story it's based on is a PERFECT piece of short fiction (honest!), and the author (Annie Proulx) speaks highly of the adaptation.

And then, of course, there's the Big Guy. Isn't it appropriate that KING KONG, last made in 1976, is being re-remade now. . .and a remake of KONG 1976's Special-Effects-Oscar co-winner (now, WHAT was that movie called?) is itself in pre-production?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how good do you-all expect KONG '05 to be? I say "8," but then again -- who knows? :dunno:

I saw the fourth Harry Potter film with my wife and stepdaughter the other day. Like the other three, it was pretty good. Everything that is British related is awesome in my book. My wife wants to go see Rent, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Good Night and Good Luck, and upcoming adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Looks like I'll be at the local movie theater for the next month. LOL!

I saw the previews for the King Kong remake on Sunday. Sadly, I caught it while channel surfing that evening, and stumbling upon the remake of The Poseidon Adventure.

I'm telling you, this remake, re-imagining, re-inventing trend has gotten as old as dirt itself. This has got to stop. :banned:

They are even re-making Pride and Prejudice, with Keira Knightly and Donald Sutherland(who is one of my favorite actors). Where does it end? :dunno:

Artistic creativity sure has gone out of the window as of late. :guns:

I agree with Francis 8 - stop re-imagining. King Kong looks almost as stupid as the 70's version. I also have no desire to see the re-makes of "Superman" or "Fun With Dick and Jane".

I did see "Goblet of Fire" and enjoyed it greatly. Considering it was almost a 800 pg. book, Mike Newell did a fantastic job of bringing in the best elements.

I am now looking forward to seeing "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". It looks like it has great potential.


My Star Wars picks:

1. A New Hope - Will always be the greatedt in my mind.
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. The Return of the Jedi

Episode 1 was a waste of my time on so many levels.
Episode 2 (The Clone Wars has a small honorabl mention)
Episode 3 (Revenge of the Sith was good. It came closest to the feeling of the originals.)

I, too, enjoyed the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

Even though I felt short-changed on the Quiddich World Cup event and didn't care much for the way that Dumbledore treated Harry about his name being in the cup (IMO, totally out of character for Dumbledore) "Goblet of Fire" got back on track and was very enjoyable upon reaching the first task and beyond.

Favorite scenes were the Yule Ball and the Underwater sequence.

Least favorites - the Rita Skeeter stuff (she's an animagus, btw - the film never mentions this fact, but in the book, Hermione figures it out) and the maze task at the end (there were lots more maze hazards in the book - including Blast-Ended Skrewts and a puzzling riddle from the Sphinx!!)

"Goblet of Fire" is my favorite Potter book so far - and even though I miss alot of stuff that was in the book and not the movie, the film was still pretty good - just not my personal favorite of the series so far because of the amount of stuff left out. More so than any other Potter book-to-film translation.

Here is another example as to why re-makes have to be stopped and stopped hard. I just heard a rumor from a friend of mine that RoboCop has been green-lit for a possible re-make. From what he told me, it was approved by Sony Pictures. The last time that I looked, RoboCop was owned by MGM, who bought the rights from the now deceased Orion Pictures Company.

I hope that this is just a rumor and not the real deal. I happen to like the original RoboCop(i.e. Paul Verhoeven's NC-17 rated version), and to some extent the two sequels, television series, and the Sci-Fi Channel's mini-series.

I just cannot believe that the industry has run out of ideas that fast. :banned:

Some people would not know originality or artistic quality if it were to rear up and bite them on the rear end. It's just insane. :guns:

I have to say I agree.. this re-make frenzie is getting out out control. It appears hollywood is in a state of creative bankruptcy. I can't beleive with the 1000's upon 1000's of scripts that are submitted each and every year. That they can't come up with one or two decent new idea for a Science Fiction movies. ...Heres one I would'nt mind seeing done, although Its not really a new idea...Back in the 70"s the Only Canadian Science Fiction T.V. series ever produced hit the air waves on CBC :clap: . It was called The Star Lost. Its was low buget, the acting was mediocre, and the stories were at best so, so. The show was such a disaster it was cancelled after one season, never to be heard from again... Even though the show was absolute Dung, the concept was sound... rather than try to decribe it in my own words I will paste directly from the web sit...Yes! It has a Web site beleive it or not...

THE STARLOST: the incredible adventure of a giant spacecraft carrying the survivors of a dead planet Earth on the most critical mission ever launched by man: an endless journey across the Universe in search of a new world. Earth ship ARK: hundreds of miles long... a huge grapelike cluster of metal domes, each a tiny world isolated from all the others. In the countless generations that have lived and died since the launching of the ARK, everyone has forgotten that the Earth ever existed... forgotten that they are streaking through space on a collision course with disaster. Forgotten... until one man stumbles on the truth: that they are...

With a proper budget some half decent writer and a good cast I think this might work. Here's a picture of what the Space Ark looked like. As you can see, alot of time and effort went into producing this model by the artists involved, its a shame the CBC could'nt follow their example...Hmmm, don't those domes look familiar... :rolleyes:



If any of you are interested here's the Web address...

http://www.dvshop.ca/dvcafe/madscreen/starlost.htm

I myself as a Canadian feel kind of sad that the show was cancelled... :( .. Had it been produced properly, I think it would have been fun competing for prime time veiwership with the big american T.V. corporations...Sorry Guys I think I just went off topic... :doh:

I remember reading about The Starlost in Starlog magazine some twenty years past. Keir Dullea(best known as David Bowman from 2001 and 2010)was interviewed about that show. Even Walter Koenig was interviewed about his participation in two episodes. It looked interesting...

On the subject of 2001 and 2010, why hasn't anyone made a film adaptation of both 2061 and 3001? :guns: Surely, MGM can make excellent adaptations of those last two sequel novels. They, along with Arthur C. Clarke, and the estate of Stanley Kubrick, still own the rights to those books. It would inject some creativity into the film industry and help put a stop to these remakes. :guns:

Francis 8 -- I couldn't agree more!!

I wish they would continue the 2001 series using Arthur C Clarke's additional books as the basis for the series' continuation.

Why just stop at 2010 when there's much more story to tell!!?? :shake:

That, Logan 5, is very good question. One I keep asking myself everyday. Me and a friend of mine have often talked about writing screenplay adaptations for both 2061 and 3001, but due to scheduling conflicts, we haven't been able to do just that. Maybe one day...

I'm having second thougths of paying to go see The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, because I saw the original Bill Melendez cartoon back in the early eighties. With all of this remake rubbish going on, I'm wondering if the live-action version is just that. A remake. :dunno:

All that aside, I just heard a rumor that the old 1985 or 1986 horror film, The Hitcher is being considered for a remake. :wtf: What is really bad is that the role of the killer(played memorably by Rutger Hauer)is being written for a woman. I don't believe this @*#$%^?! :angryfire: That is just as bad as the rumor about a Forbidden Planet remake so many years past. :angry:

Sequels(of poor quality), re-makes, re-imaginings, re-toolings, re-inventions, franchises(including those that have been milked dry), spin-offs, recycling of old ideas, modernizations of classics, and way too many trips to the well in the film industry all spell two things. Poor ratings and bad box office!

This time, the industry has gone way to far!

LOL...Hey Francis 8, don't beat around the bush, tell us how you really feel... :banana:

I saw the Fantastic Four the other day, I thought it was pretty decent. I think the critics were overly harsh, and nasty towards it. I liked the way they introduced the characters, and I don't care that it took three quarters of the movie to do it...I was a nice simple story that I found very enjoyable...

Well Logan, i am in the same boat. My daughter is almost 13, so my movie viewing is her movie viewing. ;)

Anyway, I have seen Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I enjoyed it considering all they had to cut out. Also saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I read the book when I was younger and loved it. The movie was excellent. My daughter even enjoyed it.

'Narnia' was great! I had read the book ages ago - saw the British made cartoon years ago as well - yet had forgotten most of the story. It was a great movie - one of the best ones I've seen all year!

I still have yet to see 'Fantastic Four' and 'The Island'... soon...

I saw King Kong last night, WOW!!! was it ever good, I can certainly see why it cost 200 million to make. It was a really really really great movie, I think I'm gonna go see it again. I loved the scene were they were fighting the @!!$%#*(@ and when they were running from the @!!!#%&^*((@!...I think it perhaps the best movie I've seen this year. Looking forward to Peter Jackson's extended version of it when he releases it on DVD, you can pretty much be guarenteed he's got enough extra footage to make it a 5 hour movie if he wants...hehehe.. :D

King Kong was a great film, even though it stretched it a bit in the running time department.

Finally got to see Fantastic Four the other day. I guess it was good for what it was. Maybe I'm just suffering from Super Hero burn out. It was like - been there, done that. It was nice that they kept the running time around 90 minutes. Anyway - a good movie - that's about it. :bored:

Well, I did see the Chronicles Of Narnia over the Holidays(my wife convinced me to go see it). I have to admit, it was pretty cool. Especially when Aslan crushed the life out of the Witch and mauled her something fierce. Looks like the live-action version stayed true to the original source material.

Aside from that, along with Revenge of the Sith, it was one of the two best films of 2005 AD. B)

I just saw this movie on the weekend, its not Sci-Fi but it was still very interesting. I'm involved in the securities industry so I find this subject matter fascinating.


The MCI bankruptcy might of been larger but ENRON was much more damaging to the markets. This movie will leave you shaking your head in discust, wondering how the hell something like this could happen in America. I didn't know weather to laugh or to cry. Don't think of this movie as a documentary, think of it as a thriller or a Hiest movie, only its so outrageous that it could not possible be true...but it is...THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED !!! :unsure:

Surprised that there has not been much comment here on "The Island". Some similarities to Logan's Run. the very last scene in particular. What do you guys think of this movie? :dunno:

The Island has its own thread, you can access it here...
http://s8.invisionfree.com/Logans_Run_Circ...hp?showtopic=62

It was acutually started May 13th by Steve before the movie hit the theaters... :)

I saw Poseidon a few weeks ago, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I agree with some of the comments that the critics have said about this movie but I don't think it deserves the bad reveiws it has received. I think Wolfgang Petersen did get a bit lazy on this one, the character developement was non-existent, the dialog generic and overall action sequences a bit cookie cutter. But that said, I still liked the movie regardless, the set design is resonably well done, the cast did a greate job, considering the script, and Emmy Rossumn looked fantastc with her hair wet. There are lots of things that blow up and some of the death scenes are pretty cool...Overall I'd say its about three stars, but then again I'm easy to please...I live for movies like this... :clap:



It's time well spent...but Gone With The Wind it aint....

I saw the new "Pirates...." movie and loved it. It was the "Empire Strikes Back" of this trilogy. I also saw "CARS". That was also an excellent movie.

I was going to see the new M.Night Shymalan movie, but I was soooo dissapointed in "The Village" I think I'll wait for the DVD.