Metal Reviews

Dude, watch Thin Red Line if you haven't. Where they are trying to take that hill is just insane. That and voicing their thoughts. Where that guy is looking at the Japanese ?Soilder and he is like " I don't care about you, I don't know you" fuck man...... It is so much better then Saving Private Ryan.

Saw Apocalypto today.

Hmmm......

Yeah, I mean, it was good. But. And that is a very big but. It was almost like someone standing on top of a platform and announcing, "Attention please. I have something very important to say. Gather round. Ok, you listening? Good, here goes. Oh look, shoes are on special at Target...I'll tell you some other time". When it got to the Mayan city, the potential there would have been enormous, but nooooo. Oh well. Still as good a movie on the subject as to be expected.

Here's some random details I picked up;

* A Mayan warrior was holding a macuahuitl, which is a distinctly Aztec weapon (duh).

* There was a scene in the city where some nobles were being carried through the crowd on litters. The plebians were giving them the most hateful of looks, and the nobles knew it. This is a reference to the political climate at the time of the Mayan collapse (and a common theme among all Mesoamerican non-military social collapses). The elite make promises of plenty at the cost of near slavery. When these promises were not met, the elite were usually torn a new arse by the commoners.

*Before cutting out a bloke's heart, the priest refers to him as being a "brave and willing warrior", when in fact he was an unwilling hunter. The general rule of these religious rites was that only warriors captured in battle were to be sacrificed. And if you chose to be a warrior, then you automatically consent to your fate. The sacrifice of "innocents" shows the level of desperation that the Mayans faced at this time.

*The Spanish were 600 years early. And they were conquistadores. The Europeans that did eventually make contact with the Maya consisted mainly of priests, who did a good job in burning all of the "heretical" Mayan books. Great job guys.

Still, great depiction of why this civ went to shit. Although it probably wouldn't have meant much to someone not already familiar with what to look for, the scenes of drought, disease, environmental destruction, elitism, fearmongering, and overpopulation were all there. Just not much of it.

I'm going to see it again tomorrow anyway.

The Black Dahlia - Confused me a little more than I anticipated. Definitely one of those movies you have to see twice, I think.

Apocalypto was cool. Now that we've seen "Predator in Mayan times" I wouldn't mind seeing a pseudo-sequel that actually explores life and politics in the overcrowded cities as the civilisation collapsed.

The Revolution will not be Televised

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5689805144

Fucking hell this film is amazing and it is all there on google video. It's by an Irish TV crew that were filming a documentary about President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. While they were there, there was a military coup against him, but the day after that thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets in protest, and he was returned to power. So all of this is captured on camera as it was happening, and it makes British politics seem like watching paint dry in comparison...

The Prestige

pretty good: 8/10

Freddy vs Jason - A masterpiece, one of the best films I have ever seen. Incredible.

Studs - Some low-budget Irish thing about a crappy football team who suddenly get a new manager, etc etc. Not too bad, though.

Just watched Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas". I know it's totally out of season but, well, I was postponing it since last year. Major reason I wanted to watch this was for Danny Elfman's music and performance and I was certainly not disappointed.

Pan's Labyrinth was amazing.

Oh I've seen that too! The only thing I regret was going to watch the movie with the wrong expectations. I thought I'd watch a simple mysterious fantasy movie but instead it was a serious drama with fantastical elements. I was not expecting getting so sad during the movie. Still it's a good movie with only a few minor drawbacks. (3.5/5)

The book will probably clear up any confusion you may have. The movie does jump around quite a bit.

Art thou serious?

Maybe he was just seeing if everyone stops reading at "Freddy vs Jason"... i know that's what I did.

If you've read any of my other entries in this thread, you'll know the answer to that. (No, I'm not)

RW: Children Of Men - Great film. Clive Owen's still very overrated, but the film doesn't tax him too much.

I really want to see this movie, and i heard that Del Toro next project is going to be "At the Mountains of Madness", based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name, now that should be great.

Saw Apocalypto again today. Snake Ink and Zero Wolf are two of the coolest villians ever.

Wrong Turn - Man, sod going to America. Go five minutes away from the motorway, and BLAM! the inbreds'll get you.

Eliza.

Also: Ken seems to have taken the "TV Looking forward to Movies" or whatever thread with him, so I'll post this here:

http://tv.peekvid.com/s3048/

Every episode of 24, including the first 4 of season 6!

Fap yeah!

Yuck. That movie made me want to kill myself just to escape the badness.