Last movie watched...

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Porco Rosso

Working my way through the Ghibli back catalog through the fantastical, the silly and the melodramatic it feels very strange tumbling on Porco Rosso which seems like an odd mixture of all three. The 1920s European setting plunges this into a very different world. It's stunningly beautiful - the sequence with the "ghost planes" is utterly breathtaking. The slapstick feels a little misplaced but the ending is wonderfully wistful. So far every Ghibli film I've watched has stuck in the memory for a different reason but this one really seems to have a nameless evocative feeling that will stay with me forever. PIGTASTIC.

[Hawkmumbler]

Porco Rosso

Working my way through the Ghibli back catalog through the fantastical, the silly and the melodramatic it feels very strange tumbling on Porco Rosso which seems like an odd mixture of all three. The 1920s European setting plunges this into a very different world. It's stunningly beautiful - the sequence with the "ghost planes" is utterly breathtaking. The slapstick feels a little misplaced but the ending is wonderfully wistful. So far every Ghibli film I've watched has stuck in the memory for a different reason but this one really seems to have a nameless evocative feeling that will stay with me forever. PIGTASTIC.

Oh heck, CFM, must have missed your quest to work through the Ghibli movies! Though I must admit, Porco Rosso and Pom Poko are the two movies of the studio I never got the chance to see, you have spurred me onto watch the former with haste.

What where your thoughts on Nausicaa (not a Ghibli movie but a fundemental part of the Miyazaki canon) and Lupita, two movies I frequently recomend to 2000AD readers (and, by extension, the phenomenal Nausicaa manga).

[Trent]

Just watched The Martian and loved it. Parking any nitpicks about the science etc it was refreshing to see a relentlessly optimistic film with a terrific central performance and surprisingly funny script. Highly recommended although I am spoilt with a 65" OLED telly so I watched it in 3D which also helped draw you in.
Great stuff and I smiled at the Alien nod at the very start.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

What where your thoughts on Nausicaa (not a Ghibli movie but a fundamental part of the Miyazaki canon) and Lupita, two movies I frequently recommend to 2000 AD readers (and, by extension, the phenomenal Nausicaa manga).

I love it - it was the first Ghibli DVD I bought (going with their collection numbering so POM POKO NEXT RACCOON BALLS) and I thought for its era it was stunning. It has the eerie empty beauty of Fantastic Planet and some heavy eco messages that still function well. As I said until I watch the you-won't-get-it At Home With the Yamadas or the dump-on-the-source-material Earthsea - Ghibli can do no wrong for me. Anyone who thinks the 90s is vacant of cultural masterpieces weren't looking east enough, wish I'd watched them all as a kid!

[M.I.K.]

...and Lupita, two movies I frequently recomend to 2000AD readers...

In that case, you should probably make sure you spell that one properly next time so they can track it down more easily. Laputa.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Nicholas Cage is well cast as an increasingly unhinged cop but Herzog's Bad Lieutenant falls short of the demented previews I'd been excited by on its release. The manic moments are riveting but few and far between, the psychedelic lizard sequences are all-too-brief and the slow wind to an oddly upbeat ending feels rather pointless. Curious, fascinating but not essential for me.

[Steven Denton]

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Nicholas Cage is well cast as an increasingly unhinged cop but Herzog's Bad Lieutenant falls short of the demented previews I'd been excited by on its release. The manic moments are riveting but few and far between, the psychedelic lizard sequences are all-too-brief and the slow wind to an oddly upbeat ending feels rather pointless. Curious, fascinating but not essential for me.

I really Liked it. I liked the fact it was a fairly grounded drama with surreal moments (like Alex Cox and Alan Rudolph films) I also though Val Kilmer was fantastic, and his character is far more unhinged than Cage's 

[CrazyFoxMachine]

I really Liked it. I liked the fact it was a fairly grounded drama with surreal moments (like Alex Cox and Alan Rudolph films) I also though Val Kilmer was fantastic, and his character is far more unhinged than Cage's

Expectation is everything when it comes to opinion really - and my expectation was a whole two hours of manic Cage and surreal iguanas. I didn't hate it at all although honestly it didn't seem entirely grounded to me as Cage seems to[spoiler] 'get away with it' in a single scene where literally everything is rounded up in such a short amount of time that Lady Geoffery thought it was a dream sequence[/spoiler]. The contrast with the consistently-dangerous Kilmer was a good one I agree - Showing how far Cage could go but doesn't and both Kilmer and Cage's antics as a whole in a working police system definitely acts as a critique of the spiral of insanity that must be the NOPD(which my favourite ever series Treme gets involved with as well) and American police in general. There's so much to analyse in there that honestly it felt unfocused - I love Herzog's documentaries where he takes stark existential views of extreme human behavior but in a constructed world it feels scattershot and alienating.

Again though - didn't not like it. I've got all the time in the world for Herzog and watching Nic Cage dance between measure and madness is a great way to spend two hours.

[Steven Denton]

I really Liked it. I liked the fact it was a fairly grounded drama with surreal moments (like Alex Cox and Alan Rudolph films) I also though Val Kilmer was fantastic, and his character is far more unhinged than Cage's

Expectation is everything when it comes to opinion really - and my expectation was a whole two hours of manic Cage and surreal iguanas. I didn't hate it at all although honestly it didn't seem entirely grounded to me as Cage seems to[spoiler] 'get away with it' in a single scene where literally everything is rounded up in such a short amount of time that Lady Geoffery thought it was a dream sequence[/spoiler]. The contrast with the consistently-dangerous Kilmer was a good one I agree - Showing how far Cage could go but doesn't and both Kilmer and Cage's antics as a whole in a working police system definitely acts as a critique of the spiral of insanity that must be the NOPD(which my favourite ever series Treme gets involved with as well) and American police in general. There's so much to analyse in there that honestly it felt unfocused - I love Herzog's documentaries where he takes stark existential views of extreme human behavior but in a constructed world it feels scattershot and alienating.

Again though - didn't not like it. I've got all the time in the world for Herzog and watching Nic Cage dance between measure and madness is a great way to spend two hours.

I liked the end, it's been a while but I seem to remember that [spoiler]no one was punished and nobody learnt a thing. it's like it's a fake Hollywood happy ending where Hollywood normally has some kind of blood redemption[/spoiler]

[CrazyFoxMachine]

[spoiler]no one was punished and nobody learnt a thing.[/spoiler]

Should have been the tagline!

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Me again!

Finding Nemo

I haven't seen this for years but it's a lovely bit of classical Pixar. The gorgeous oceanographic scenes have barely dated and the story is charming, albeit a trifle linear. The real lasting personality lies in the appearance of enjoyable minor characters, an incredible sense of comic timing and a nicely human (fish) father-son dynamic at the centre. As I write the sequel has just been released but given how long it took me to finally get around to this I'll see it in years from now.

[Grugz]

finding dory nicely following cfm's post...enjoyable and funny with a scary squid chucked in

[NapalmKev]

I was flicking through the channels last night and came across the last 35 minutes of Jack and Jill.

I'm guessing that Sandler has gone broke and is literally taking any job that will pay the bills! Crap film with No jokes, unless I missed a slew of comedy at the beginning or in the middle!

Utter tripe!

Cheers

[Theblazeuk]

Caught The BFG over the weekend. My wife has never read any Roald Dahl as she's jenny foreigner, and so this was her first introduction to the BFG. And she loved it completely, as did all the smaller folk (who made up the bulk of the audience) - so job done in my book. There are a few small changes to the book to add a bit more schmaltz and drama, but only in the most minor way, and all for the better in the execution of a cinematic piece. It's beautiful to look at and the performances are spot on, with a suitably precocious (but not too precocious mind) child and a warm, bumbling turn from Mark Rylance as the Big Man himself.

The BFG was probably my favourite Dahl book as a kid (and then The Glass Elevator) and so it was a well known tale for me but still had enough energy, care and craft in it that I enjoyed it from start to finish. Jermaine Clement does a good turn as one of the bad Giants too (the only one with any real dialogue), and his last line almost puts a kind of pathos to their monstrosity - something missing from Dahl's cavalier attitude to the macabre. Though not to say that's any fault in Dahl, as that casual approach to death and dismemberment is a huge part of his appeal. Anyway [spoiler]"But I is always hungry"  made me think of Vampires and other such beasts who are doomed by their appetites, embracing their monstrous nature because they can't escape it... just something which surprised me in the BFG! [/spoiler].

[Steven Denton]

Full Mettle Jacket: I've seen it a few times. The first time I was about 15 and Platoon was one of my favourite films, I had seen Hamburger Hill and regularly watched Tour of Duty on TV. I really liked the basic training sequence but was disappointed by the combat section, I expected more Jungle and more action. It felt too small, It felt too me at the time like it was filmed in London (which it was) and spinning the camera in any direction would reveal some familiar land mark. As an adult I realise just how wrong I was. Full Mettle Jacket's second half is every bit as good as the first. It eschews heroics and the enemy is rarely seen alive. combat consists largely of throwing as much ammunition as you can in the general direction of where you think hostile forces are. The lack of bravado and the lack of epic, exciting, combat make Full Metal Jacket one of the few truly successful anti war movies. (also Full Mental Jacket is a good Dredd story)