The last movie you saw...

[maxpayne2409]

put off by the pointless soft porn scenes

pointless?? POINTLESS!!!!!!!!

just kidding, welcome

the navigator is a film ive got to get round to watching aswell, any good?

[dinky]

@dinky Fanboy story!! lol. I think you have it backwards mate. It is so good that it produces fans...

no. the man was a philologist. and like most professors, he was a fan of that which he studied. you could say he established the "rules" for fantasy in the same way that maybe dracula established the "rules" for vampires or (perhaps less flattering) the way Scream really did "establish" the "rules" (yes, now twiced removed so not a 1:1 corrolation) of slasher flicks.

that said, I admit it: "fanboy" was flippant. it was intended to highlight the fact</i> that tolkein was trying to establish a fictional mythology (oh! the word jumble!) for a psuedo-fictional culture based on the template of those that he made a living studying and actually existed. I'd say that qualifies as emulation.

Every single character in the story is unable to resist the rings evil. Even all the members of the fellowship. Sam in fact is the cause of evil surviving in middle earth as he is so corrupted by the ring that Morgoths taint survives. He should have gone on the boat with Frodo.

I think you're eliding the more pertinent abstraction that the potential to do evil is inherent in human civilization and it is the responsibility of each "age" of men to struggle with its influence and seduction. of course it never truly disappears. the idea that to kill grendal, slay the dragon, recapture helen, etc. would somehow set the world aright is patently absurd and is clearly proven to be so in their respective mythologies.

however, for all practical purposes, gimly and legolas manged not to be corrupted. aragorn as well. hell, even sam gave the ring back to frodo</i> after trying it on for size.

only plausible literary value is that they're following the formulaic conventions of the epic tradition

You have this backwards as well. In all the epic poems that have been recorded, they all have a simular vein. Witch is reflected by the state of technology in the world. ALL and I mean ALL myths of the epic quest have one thing in common. To find and bring home some kind of artefact. (Technology) Tolkiens work, one of its many traits that marks it as a update, a "marker" if you will is the fact that it is about people trying to REMOVE a artefact, it uninvented something. While it has been compared to the Pandora Box myth I feel that the comparison is flawed.

you can't be serious. are you honestly dismissing that quote because the "object" of the "quest" was to destroy an artifact rather than (re)claim one? so you can overlook the entire conventions of the genre because of one revision to the extant</i> genre. that's just silly. Euripides' tragedies are nothing at all the same as Aeschylus' in terms of their raison d'etre (in fact, you can see quite a bit of mockery by Euripides of Aeschylus and Sophocles), but no one on earth would cite Euripides' sophistic world view as a reason to deny his works as tragedies in the tragic tradition and with tragic conventions. not even the iliad and odyssey (arguably by the same author) are remotely the same in the, but their mode is very much the same. and they're both quite different from, say, beowulf. of course they're different! the idea of an 'epic tradition' really just means a collection of the conventions from the first recognized 'thing' (usually gilgamesh) to whatever end one wants to place on it...whatever that nordic/danish thing was.

(the shire on fire, btw, was kinda silly as were the last 100 pages of the text, and their only plausible literary value is that they're following the formulaic conventions of the epic tradition

The Shire is one of the most "modern" and relatable parts of the entire book to reality. Saruman looses all his power except the voice. The ability o sway people. An obvious parable to politicians and the idea that willingness of the populace to follow the power hungry is the true weakness. For with out the people to follow them and do there bidding they having nothing. Hence wormtounge’s betrayal.

yeah. I don't deny the modern applicability or intentions of the author to do so. but the FACT remains that the hero's long journey home, well after the climax of the story, is a staple of the epic conventions in which tolkein was trying to copy/recreate. and it's certainly not anything out of the realm of sensible probability to state that such a drawn out denouement is completely incompatable with modern film and (for that matter) literary aesthetics. thus, it's there because it's part and parcel with the epic tradition, which tolkein made no attempt to hide (he need not have given his "sermon" or "parable" at that juncture or in that form). that doesn't make it devoid of meaning. but literature has made such commentaries in far more moving ways than pushing through an entire episode (the unforging of the ring) just to get to "the moral of the story," (an entirely new episode) which I'm pretty sure you would agree, the return home stuff was not (the moral of the story). nor, for that matter, was tom bambodil. of course he was cut. he was superflous to the primary conflict & resolution. who cares if there are things in middle-earth that are older than sauron? this ain't the frackin' silmarilion just like a modern film doesn't accomodate the detailed conventions of the epic tradition...or the victorian novel, for that matter. the person I went to see pride and prejudice</i> with has the 6 hour BBC version on dvd. now I wouldn't brag about owning that if my life depended on it, but when she told me it was six hours, you kinda had to wonder when watching the 2 hour 2005 version. no production company would have been dumb enough to include everything in the novel as the bbc version did and expect it to work as a film. mini-series? sure. different conventions! hell, they didn't even publish LotR as one epic work. it wasn't par for the course. on the flip side, it's clear that the success of LotR has allowed huge fantasy works and serialzed works to flourish as it's own little/big genre. so I suppose there's some sort of argument for popular/literary influence, but influencing the volume of a (largely) pulp genre isn't exactly what I had in mind with "plausible literary value" I suppose academic would have been more snooty but accurate.

[spudthedestroyer]

BTW, is Rome worth it in the end? I watched half of the pilot and was put off by the pointless soft porn scenes.

Well I'm enjoying it, but the best summary todate is "shag and slash"

It takes a liberty here and there, its going at a very fast pace, it looks good, but its in no way celebral.

[dinky]

as stated earlier, I'm loving the take on octavian.

and caesar's methods of seduction and his own seduction are far far far more appealing than the parody lucas made of them in the prequels.

likewise, the "fictional" characters of verinus and pulo are quite interesting, I think. hard to discuss why w/o spoiling the thing so I'll just leave it at that.

marc antony is a joy to watch as well. it's a very subjective/liberal take on him. but what can I say? it works. he's not the orator of shakespeare (thought I half believe they're going to give him that very speech) - they actually give a good account of him in the first half of the first ep. so you've prolly seen most of his character to judge that. wow. another worthless paragraph by me tonight. score!

[dinky]

latest ep of smallville

I bought the ATI hdtv wonder. and it actually works - sorta. the indoor antenna they supply is absolutely worthless. there's constant signal interruption (which looks & sounds exactly like skipped frames on live hd broadcasts on the cable line - except these are worse cuz they're more frequent). in fact, if it were a dvd you might think the drive was having difficulty reading from it or the computer couldn't keep up with the bitrate. but I doubt that's a problem with the only active program on a p4 2.8ghz system with 2gb ddr 400 ram.

could it?

fecking amplified outdoor antenna will cost upwards of $200 and then there's the install. I feel as if I've just been fucked in the ass using this ati antenna with no lube, and I'm the one doing the honors.

[maxpayne2409]

well indoor aeriels have and always will be completely utterly gay, if your planning on using it a lot then paying for outdoor (which most homes should already have)

watched Deuce Bigalow - European Gigolo last night, seen better seen worse, had its moments, but it just didnt seem to have much sparkle

[spudthedestroyer]

seen better seen worse

And was the awful first movie the former or the latter?

Not had much chance to watch a movie, watched all the usual tv episodes though (family guy/simpsons/american dad/south park)


South Park is a good one i thought, not the funniest ever, but its been so long in coming that it was just a good episode.

[maxpayne2409]

the funny thing is i wasnt really all that impressed with the first one actually, but i thought i would give the 2nd one a go, mainly due to the fact ti was there and i just wanted to fall asleep to something, incidently the 1st ones better then the second (not saying much though)

ive also been watching the usual tv eps, drawn together, surface, family guy, american dad, south park etc.... i agree about the latest south park it was long overdue and not that funny but they did get john travoltas voice spot on, and the whole way they basically tell scientology believers to sue them at the end towards the screen as if they are provoking a real law suit then change all the names in teh credits to say john and jane smith "attention tom cruise wont come out of the closet"

[maxpayne2409]

latest smallville, more new captain scarlet, Starsky & Hutch Season 1 boxset (finally)

[dinky]

season finale of rome</i>. man...imma miss that show. a whole 'nother year? ugh. too long! lessee, what's left for this year? sopranos...deadwood...crap. is that it?

second half of BSG. second half of smallvile</i>, but that's not exactly...any of the other stuff.

saw Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire</i>. getting more and more mature thematically, which is good. as far as movies go...well...hey, it's getting more mature at least.

[ScarletJester]

We went to the cinema last night. Greenwich > Bluewater. Two of my friends took my *other* friend's daughter in with them to watch Harry Potter (they're 30+. the daughter is 8...the 'adults' were the ones in Harry Potter scarves with big grins on their faces waiting to go in), while I took the *other* friend in to watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (is everyone following the connection of friends here? I could do a relationship diagram or something...).
Ok, despite her eating nearly all the popcorn herself, KKBB was really funny & sexy, with some good action and thrilling scenes. Great date movie.

I shall never read/watch a Harry Potter book/film. Do you read...Sutter Cane?!?!

[maxpayne2409]

seriously whats the appeal of harry puberty boy? i cant figure it out, its mucho gayzo

[dinky]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang! been wanting to see that. still at the indi theaters though. not sure if it'll get a wider release. it's written and directed by shane black (last boy scout, lethal weapon), in case anyone's wonderin'.

[maxpayne2409]

cool, last boy scouts a cool film, as is lethal weapon, but the title kiss kiss bang bang sounds kinda gay, couldnt he think of anything better?

[dinky]

it's tongue-in-cheek. the only review I read said it was a funny, sexy thriller. whatever that means. maybe SJ will hook you up with some spoils.

[ScarletJester]

Well, Val Kilmer plays a character called 'Gay Perry', and this is the cause of quite a few jokes in the film. Not Will & Grace style gay-pride stuff though. Your alpha-male heterosexuality is not going to be in jeopardy or offended by this film!
It is a LOT more similar to films like "Get Shorty", than "Lethal Weapon" or "Last Boy Scout" though. Its much more of a comedy with a few thrilling and violent scenes that jump out at you, than an action/thriller with the odd funny one-liner.
I doubt I'll be buying it on DVD or downloading it for another viewing anytime soon, but it was a great date movie and we had a fun time. *Much* more fun than I had watching the Libertine...

[Jynks]

this movie is so funny, I pissed myself laughing. Plus it has a lot of sexy 1/2 naked chicks in it and some extream violence. A great throw back to classic 80 action. I think it is a very cool flick.

"When did we stop rooting for the guy with the machiene gun, or a acid spraying gun of some kind" - Hommer

[maxpayne2409]

a lot of sexy 1/2 naked chicks in it and some extreme violence. A great throw back to classic 80 action.

thats good enough for me, ill check it out

[dinky]

[potmunky]

I watched Serenity last night. SOOOOOO dissapointing.
I really wanted to like it, but I spose after the brilliant, (imo), Firefly, Whedon had a lot to live up to. (please bear in mind I aint seen the series for a while, so my memory is shat )
There were many reasons it failed the series;
Poss Spoilers ahead...
WTF did he have to kill-off two of the best characters!!!??? I loved the pilot, (his name escapes me at the mo), and the Shepherd. The Shepherd had a nice, mysterious quality about him that begged further investigation.
Why did he turn River into Buffy Mark 2!!!??? I realise she kinda was heading into this territory thru the series, but why use it for the film? I would have preffered to see a lot more of the Shepherd and his background, or perhaps Jayne.
Why rewrite so many character-traits!? I suspect a lot of the series' fanbase will be most-miffed at that. They just do/say/feel a lot of stuff that they never would have in Firefly!
Why reveal the Reavers/Rippers (God, my memory sux-like-an-electrolux )!?
Good SciFi/Horror Rule Number 1; "Never reveal the bad-guy til reet at the end, if at all, (especially if they dont look particularily nasty/scary!)"
Bloody-bollocking-Whedon;
You've gone and spoiled it now