Films

Thought straw dogs was quite a disturbing movie myself.

'You're Next' was a bit of mindless fun. Nothing original, but fun nonetheless.

Man of Tai Chi was... alright. Not bad for Keanu's directing debut, but could have been better. If you're a martial arts fan it's worth watching.

We still await Keanu's acting debut.

Lol

I saw two very different but very good films yesterday.

Billy Wilder's One, Two Three for the second time, which is still very entertaining but shows some great scenes of post-war Berlin. Filmed just before the Wall went up and the border crossings are quite integral to the plot so it's a real product of its time.

Then 12 Years a Slave, finally, at Peckhamplex which is great. The film was brilliantly shot and acted, I didn't even think Brad Pitt was as miscast as everyone else seemed to think. He does that sort of self-righteous liberal type very well.

Any (slightly) obscure sci-fi classics you can recommend?

Go see David Lynch's Dune . Absolutely stunning visuals, amazing set pieces and cameos. There are various versions ranging from 90 mins to 6 hours. 2:30 h should be enough. (It's a marmite film)

And check out Naked Lunch and Videodrome from Cronenberg
and 12 Monkeys and the amazing Brazil from Terry Gilliam
5th Element aint bad either

Solaris is a re-working of W W Jacob's The Monkey's Paw (be careful what you wish for) and is chilling.

I'm off to see the LEGO movie tonight. I am excite.

The Tarkovsky original or the re-make by preference?

Videodrome and Brazil are both must-sees.

Shit, too slow, Tarkovsky didn't direct the original LEGO!

the original. On Youtube somewhere is a press conference where some hack says "I thought the film was a bit boring".

mcElhone and Clooney both tore him apart, Natasha politely, Clooney rather harsher.

Are you sure about Solaris? I kinda thought it was based on the book by Stanislaw Lem (same title). Not meaning to sound sarcastic, just wondered if it was a recognised source of inspiration

I remember watching the original and noticing on the timeline that there were less than 10 min left and wondering how on earth it was going to wrap up in that time. Of course there was another disk!

You're right, it was the 2002 Soderburgh remake, soz.

Ah, I wondered if that was what you meant. Yeah makes sense. Reading up I found this gem of a quote from Lem

...to my best knowledge, the book was not dedicated to erotic problems of people in outer space... As Solaris' author I shall allow myself to repeat that I only wanted to create a vision of a human encounter with something that certainly exists, in a mighty manner perhaps, but cannot be reduced to human concepts, ideas or images. This is why the book was entitled "Solaris" and not "Love in Outer Space

Found it:

http://www.chud.com/community/t/9609/clooney-snaps-at-critic-who-called-solaris-boring

Think I've linked to this before, but all Tarkovksy's films are available to stream here:

http://www.openculture.com/2010/07/tarkovksy.html

^Thank you!

Nice, cheers.

Not seen the original Solaris and I've been meaning to watch Stalker for ages.

Stalker is fucking amazing. So long as you're prepared for the fact that not much happens...

Sci Fi - I quite enjoyed Danny Boyle's Sunshine.....maybe more so visually

^^ Ha yes, very tense!

That kid off Little Miss Sunshine is in it and is brilliant, Paul Dano:

I liked them better with pigtails.

Watched Dallas Buyers Club. Excellent film with great performances from McConaughey & Leto.

We still await Keanu's acting debut.

That's going to be a very long wait...