What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Cinematic Shocks]

Aliens (1986)

James Cameron has never made a film as good as this since. Terminator 2: Judgement Day is an excellent sequel, but it’s not as good as the dark grittiness of its sci-fi actioner masterpiece predecessor, or this. Now he's wasting his talent on FOUR ****ing Avatar sequels.

****1/2 out of *****

[Dave Boy]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I really want to get into 2000AD, and I tried a couple of years ago but the lore is so dense that I found it really hard to break into. I know that you, and Bleakshaun are fans, what do you think I should do?

I read 2000AD every week and JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE each month.
Sometimes these mags are full of stuff you read and some are nearly all Mega City One related and sometimes I find I am only reading DREDD because the other stories do not interest me. Last issue I read all the stories but one. And yes, if you are a newcomer some of the stories have been stop and starting going for ages and you are plunged in to a story which you have no idea what is going on. DREDD is easy to get into in either magazine. I get the magazines for DREDD and Mega City One related stories anyway so any other stories are a bonus.
I say take the plunge again and see what you think. There are great stories here.
For older Dredd stories the case files collections are great as are the Judge Anderson and Rogue Trooper collections.

[Dave Boy]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

Aliens (1986)

James Cameron has never made a film as good as this since. Terminator 2: Judgement Day is an excellent sequel, but it’s not as good as the dark grittiness of its sci-fi actioner masterpiece predecessor, or this. Now he's wasting his talent on FOUR ****ing Avatar sequels.

****1/2 out of *****

Yes, excellent film. Even better in the extended cut.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

Yes, excellent film. Even better in the extended cut.

I haven't seen the theatrical version in donkey's years.

[Dave Boy]

No me neither. Why they did not release the extended cut originally at the cinema I'll never no. Same for The Abyss.

[SilverSurfer]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

Why they did not release the extended cut originally at the cinema I'll never no. Same for The Abyss.

To get more showing times and therefore more bums on seats.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

American Graffiti (1973)

American Graffiti was one of those films i was aware of solely for it's Star Wars connections. It became of interest as one of the few films i hadn't seen that were featured in the excellent documentary Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003) about how independent film makers basically saved the Hollywood studio system.

It's a film i've now watched twice in the space of five days and have to say it's easily the best film (along with Midnight Cowboy - you might see a connection) i've seen this year.

George Lucas is a director who has been quite rightly hammered in recent times due to his unneeded tinkering with the Star Wars films, and i feel this has taken away a lot of the respect people had for him as a director. American Graffiti, his second film, proves how good he really is.

The story is a simple one, in fact it was practically remade by Richard Linklater for 1993's Dazed and Confused. It tells the story as a series of vignettes of a group of high school students on the night they finish college for good and go onto other things. Playing out as a study of the cruising in cars / rock n' roll California generation of the late 50's early 60's. (It's set in 1962).

Also similar to Dazed and Confused is the way in which music is interwoven in the story. (I promise that's the last time i'll mention Linklater's film as Dazed and Confused was twenty years after American Graffiti). The music in question is of course rock n' roll, and American Graffiti possibly has the greatest soundtrack ever - Bill Haley and the Comets, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys - the list is endless. Music is a constant in the film. Not a scene goes by without it playing, but it's the way it's done that makes Lucas and American Graffiti so brilliant. The music isn't the films soundtrack, it is the film. All the kids have the radio playing as they cruise around, all the diners have it on, and it's the same pirate radio DJ - Wolfman Jack. The songs waft in and out of car windows as kids walk by. It's very difficult to explain without watching the film, lets just say it's ****ing amazing how it's handled. Tarantino definitely attempted to copy it with K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies and the warehouse scenes in 92's Reservoir Dogs, but in all honestly despite that being brilliant in my opinion, it doesn't come close to what Lucas achieved.

The film also sports a cast to die for. Perhaps it didn't at the time but it certainly does now. - Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Kathleen Quinlan, Charles Martin Smith, Bo Hopkins... all just starting out and all quite simply brilliant. The standouts to me though are Paul Le Mat and Mackenzie Phillips as a mismatched pair duped into hanging out with each other on the one night they'd prefer to be elsewhere.The whole cast make their characters so believable you want to hang out with them and cruise the Californian streets. I truly can't say better than that.

Finally i have to mention Lucas and his crew on their guerrilla film making techniques. The way in which they get the cameras in and around the fantastic period cars as they weave the streets is breathtaking.

The whole film has been a frankly mesmerizing experience for me, the way the images, the characters and the music complement each other, and just goes to prove that hidden gems are still out there waiting for film fans to discover them.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

American Graffiti (1973)

Great review of George Lucas' finest film – that includes all the Star Wars movies – and one I really, really like.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Great review of George Lucas' finest film – that includes all the Star Wars movies – and one I really, really like.

Have you seen the feature length doc on the film, Nos?

That's well worth a look if you have the film on disc. All the big hitters turn out for it - Lucas, Coppola, Ford, Howard, Dreyfuss etc.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Have you seen the feature length doc on the film, Nos?

That's well worth a look if you have the film on disc. All the big hitters turn out for it - Lucas, Coppola, Ford, Howard, Dreyfuss etc.

No, not yet. I keep meaning to go through many of my discs and watch the supplementary material – I might watch that documentary tomorrow at some point.