What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Anderson]

Holy shit this just got crazy racist. YESSUM BOSS I'LL GET DEM ROACHES SUH

Yeah, Creepshow is an homage to the EC Comics of the 1950s.

I would've loved to have seen Frank Miller keep The Spirit closer to the 1940s and 1950s comics.

[Master Shake]

Evil Dead 2

With Audio Commentary

"Workshed"

[FilmNerdJamie]

Best Commentary EVAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Abraham Smashington]

Creepshow succcckkkkssss

[Abraham Smashington]

We had our Halloween night last night. We've been watching horror flicks all month and last night we watched two flicks we (well I saw one) hadn't watched before.

The Collector. I didn't hate it as much as others seem to have. This was Home Alone as done by Eli Roth essentially. Logic makes the whole movie break down, but we had alot of fun with it. Some definite "fuck" moments in it. Wasn't expecting to dig it.

Rob Zombie's Halloween. I hadn't watched this since it first came out and then I completely hated it. I didn't hate it that much this time around. Does it touch the original? Not even close, but we were thoroughly entertained. Plus Danielle Harris's boobs.

[Captain Russ]

Creepshow succcckkkkssss

Go on

[FilmNerdJamie]

A lot to process from Cloud Atlas. But three days after seeing it, safe to say I loved it.

[Matt]

We continued our Bond marathon this weekend:

LIVE AND LET DIE
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

It had been a while on all of these, and watching them in close proximity to each other made me reevaluate them...something i did not expect.

LALD: Bond is passive in most of the film and almost comes off as a supporting character. It doesn't help that Roger is being shoehorned into a role that, as yet, does not suit his style. He's stiff and unengaging, and as such he's overshadowed by everyone around him. Another issue: Bond comes off as being incompetent, especially in the Harlem scenes. Bond should not make stupid, amateurish mistakes like that. Still, the stuntwork is great and the soundtrack is fantastic.

TMWTGG: I liked this a lot more than I recalled. Roger is more settled into the role, and the script allows him to actually dominate the film (unlike LALD). He also comes across as being competent, a vast improvement over the prior film. The overall pacing of the film also crisper with very little downtime. Scaramanga makes for a fantastic villain IN CONCEPT but as a lightweight IN EXECUTION: Lee should have had more screentime to establish himself as more of a threat; his funhouse bit at the beginning needs more oomph. Also, the Solex subplot gets in the way of what should have been a true mano a mano story. As such, it's a missed opportunity to make this a true 'dark side of Bond' film. I did enjoy it, though.

TSWLM: For a long time, this was my favorite. Coming back to it now, I notice several flaws. First off, the film has severe pacing issues, especially in the first half. It's kinda a slog. Secondly, Barbara Bach is a void of charisma. She's pretty but completely unconvincing as a top level spy. Thirdly, the main villain is weak. He has very little screentime and, when he's there, projects very little menace or gravitas. Luckily, Jaws makes up for this. He's menacing and surprisingly funny, with Kiel showing incredible comic timing. Moore is also fantastic. The role finally feels like it belongs to him. His quips don't feel forced and the action is tailored to his strengths. You're not comparing him to Connery anymore, which is awesome. The stunts are still great (especially the opening ski jump) and the sets are spectacular. It's still a solid romp but it's not quite the perfect film that i remember.

[FilmNerdJamie]

Evil Dead 2

With Audio Commentary

"Workshed"

"Now we got a local college student to be my double here and Sam kept threatening, 'IF YOU DON'T DO A BETTER JOB I'M GONNA GET THAT GUY!' At that point, I was like, 'GET HIM!'"

[Anderson]

We continued our Bond marathon this weekend:

LIVE AND LET DIE
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

It had been a while on all of these, and watching them in close proximity to each other made me reevaluate them...something i did not expect.

LALD: Bond is passive in most of the film and almost comes off as a supporting character. It doesn't help that Roger is being shoehorned into a role that, as yet, does not suit his style. He's stiff and unengaging, and as such he's overshadowed by everyone around him. Another issue: Bond comes off as being incompetent, especially in the Harlem scenes. Bond should not make stupid, amateurish mistakes like that. Still, the stuntwork is great and the soundtrack is fantastic.

TMWTGG: I liked this a lot more than I recalled. Roger is more settled into the role, and the script allows him to actually dominate the film (unlike LALD). He also comes across as being competent, a vast improvement over the prior film. The overall pacing of the film also crisper with very little downtime. Scaramanga makes for a fantastic villain IN CONCEPT but as a lightweight IN EXECUTION: Lee should have had more screentime to establish himself as more of a threat; his funhouse bit at the beginning needs more oomph. Also, the Solex subplot gets in the way of what should have been a true mano a mano story. As such, it's a missed opportunity to make this a true 'dark side of Bond' film. I did enjoy it, though.

TSWLM: For a long time, this was my favorite. Coming back to it now, I notice several flaws. First off, the film has severe pacing issues, especially in the first half. It's kinda a slog. Secondly, Barbara Bach is a void of charisma. She's pretty but completely unconvincing as a top level spy. Thirdly, the main villain is weak. He has very little screentime and, when he's there, projects very little menace or gravitas. Luckily, Jaws makes up for this. He's menacing and surprisingly funny, with Kiel showing incredible comic timing. Moore is also fantastic. The role finally feels like it belongs to him. His quips don't feel forced and the action is tailored to his strengths. You're not comparing him to Connery anymore, which is awesome. The stunts are still great (especially the opening ski jump) and the sets are spectacular. It's still a solid romp but it's not quite the perfect film that i remember.

We did these three films and Diamonds are Forever.
Brooke couldn't get over how ridiculous Lana Wood's rack was in it.

She loved the hell out of "Live and Let Die", only cared for Knick Knack in "TMWGG" and she thought "Spy Who Loved Me" was plagued by a terrible score. She absolutely hated Stromberg and the ending.

[Ben Thomas]

Skyfall.

Yes, it is very good and yes it is arguably the best of Craig's tenure, but temper your expectations. Journalists over here have been screaming BEST BOND FILM EVER for the last couple of weeks. And it isn't. While it has a lot of classic touches (some of which I simply can't go into), there are still some plot problems and the third act is a massive departure for Bond. It also become smaller as the film goes on, a choice I like in theory, but it does somewhat go against the Bond tradition of escalation. So it's a question of having reasonable expectations rather than there being anything wrong with the film.

Because there isn't. Craig is magnificent, Bardem enlivens the film whenever he is on screen and all the new blood - Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Ralph Fiennes - all have their moments and are all super solid. Deakins delivers the finest looking Bond ever - his use of shadows and silhouettes throughout is sumptuous - and the score is thankfully spot-on too. Modern Bond films have shied away from using Monty Norman's classic Bond sting, but not here. They know when to use it and they use it well.

An excellent film with one of the most exciting pre-credits sequences in memory (I think you'd have to go back to Goldeneye for a challenger) and a course correction for the films to come. Just don't expect it to be your favourite.

[Matt]

MOONRAKER

My wife had never seen it, so I prepped her for what she was in for: a caricature of a Bond film cranked up to 11.

You want to talk escalation? This film does it perfectly. It starts out fairly serious and quickly adds plot points...for every plot point that is added, another point of ridiculousness is added. By about the mid-point of the film, right when Jaws meets up with the love of his life, the movie turns a corner and never looks back. At this point, my wife started to laugh. By the time they hit the space station, we were both in a constant state of giggling. We simply had too much fun.

To the film's advantage, it's very well paced with very little padding. Apart from the completely pointless gondola scene, everything that's in there serves the plot.

Also, the casting of Michael Lonsdale as Drax is sheer brilliance. His completely bored demeanor provides a perfect counterpoint to the sheer lunacy going on around him. He makes the funny scenes funnier.

Unfortunately, Lois Chiles is one of the worst Bond girls ever, right up there with Tanya Roberts and Denise Richards. She's pretty but flat out can't act to save her life.

Whatever. This may now be my favorite Moore era Bond film.

[Anderson]

MOONRAKER

My wife had never seen it, so I prepped her for what she was in for: a caricature of a Bond film cranked up to 11.

You want to talk escalation? This film does it perfectly. It starts out fairly serious and quickly adds plot points...for every plot point that is added, another point of ridiculousness is added. By about the mid-point of the film, right when Jaws meets up with the love of his life, the movie turns a corner and never looks back. At this point, my wife started to laugh. By the time they hit the space station, we were both in a constant state of giggling. We simply had too much fun.

To the film's advantage, it's very well paced with very little padding. Apart from the completely pointless gondola scene, everything that's in there serves the plot.

Also, the casting of Michael Lonsdale as Drax is sheer brilliance. His completely bored demeanor provides a perfect counterpoint to the sheer lunacy going on around him. He makes the funny scenes funnier.

Unfortunately, Lois Chiles is one of the worst Bond girls ever, right up there with Tanya Roberts and Denise Richards. She's pretty but flat out can't act to save her life.

Whatever. This may now be my favorite Moore era Bond film.

What's screwed up is that Die Another Day is closer to a Moonraker adaptation than Moonraker.

[Matt]

Of the book? Absolutely.

[Anderson]

Skyfall.

Yes, it is very good and yes it is arguably the best of Craig's tenure, but temper your expectations. Journalists over here have been screaming BEST BOND FILM EVER for the last couple of weeks. And it isn't. While it has a lot of classic touches (some of which I simply can't go into), there are still some plot problems and the third act is a massive departure for Bond. It also become smaller as the film goes on, a choice I like in theory, but it does somewhat go against the Bond tradition of escalation. So it's a question of having reasonable expectations rather than there being anything wrong with the film.

Because there isn't. Craig is magnificent, Bardem enlivens the film whenever he is on screen and all the new blood - Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Ralph Fiennes - all have their moments and are all super solid. Deakins delivers the finest looking Bond ever - his use of shadows and silhouettes throughout is sumptuous - and the score is thankfully spot-on too. Modern Bond films have shied away from using Monty Norman's classic Bond sting, but not here. They know when to use it and they use it well.

An excellent film with one of the most exciting pre-credits sequences in memory (I think you'd have to go back to Goldeneye for a challenger) and a course correction for the films to come. Just don't expect it to be your favourite.

Here's the thing. It apes The World Is Not Enough, Goldeneye and parts of The Spy Who Loved Me pretty hard.

However, the influence of Martin Campbell and Nolan still hangs over this film. While there might have been missteps with Naomie Harris, the addition of Ben Whishaw balances it out. Hell, it makes Q a little closer to his limited role in the books.

However, this film belongs exclusively to Dench, Craig and Bardem. While Bardem plays broad at points, he gets the real world implications of what it means to be a Bond villain. Why build a weather machine, when you can use Western Political mechanics to your advantage?

It's Top 5 Bond easily, but I'm not sure if it is the best.

Oh yeah, we had a screening a few days ago. I just haven't felt the urge to say anything until I knew that a few of you had seen it. I'm held until the Wednesday before release in North America.