109 replies to this topic

[mrsbonds_ppk]

Transformers (hope they have that old theme song lol)

Live Free or Die Hard

Rush Hour 3

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

I just found out a Saw IV is coming out

[Johnboy007]

300 (I saw it in '07): Two and a half stars

Spiderman-3: One star

[Harmsway]

Liked so far...

• Pan's Labyrinth - A masterpiece.
• Breach - A serviceable thriller.
• Hot Fuzz - One of the funniest comedies I've seen in a long while.
• Waitress - A cute little comedy.

Disliked so far...

• Hannibal Rising
• 300
• Spider-Man 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Looking Forward To...

• Ocean's 13 - Looks like a good bit of fun from the Ocean team.
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Hopefully they'll maintain the quality of the last fantastic installment.
• 1408 - Word is that this is a psychological horror film that actually delivers.
• The Simpsons Movie - Gotta love the Simpsons.
• Stardust - A fantasy flick with DeNiro and Pfeifer from Layer Cake's Vaughn.
• The Bourne Ultimatum - I dig the first two, so I'm definitely checking this one out.
• American Gangster - Ridley Scott with Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Sondheim's finest musical (and undoubtedly the greatest musical of all time) is finally coming to the screen, under the direction of Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sascha Baron Cohen. It's my most-anticipated film of 2007.

[Qwerty]

Another update:

Liked So Far...

• Notes on a Scandal
• Hannibal Rising
• Zodiac :*::*:
• Breach
• Disturbia
• Fracture
• Spider-Man 3 :*::-:
• Ocean's 13
• Live Free or Die Hard
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Stardust
• The Invasion :*::-:

Disliked So Far...

• Night at the Museum
• Wild Hogs Don't know how I got talked into this one.
• Premonition

Looking Forward To...

• The Brave One
• Michael Clayton
• Rendition
• American Gangster
• The Golden Compass
• There Will Be Blood
• Cassandra's Dream
• Sweeney Todd

[DaveBond21]

Hot Fuzz is my favourite 2007 movie so far.

I also liked Borat and The Queen but they were from 2006. The best movies I've seen this year were old ones.

[tdalton]

Update:

Liked So Far:

• Freedom Writers
• 300
• Night at the Museum
• The Messengers
• Disturbia
• Vacancy

Disliked So Far:

• Hannibal Rising
• The Hitcher
• Primeval

Looking Forward To:

• Halloween
• The Kingdom
• Rendition
• Into the Wild
• Sleuth
• Lions for Lambs

[Cruiserweight]

Liked:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix
Spiderman 3
Hot Fuzz
300

[Harmsway]

Liked so far...

• Pan's Labyrinth - A masterpiece.
• Breach
• Hot Fuzz - One of the funniest comedies I've seen in a long while.
• Ocean's 13
• Waitress
• Sicko
• Hairspray
• The Simpsons Movie
• The Bourne Ultimatum

Disliked so far...

• Hannibal Rising
• 300
• Spider-Man 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
• Live Free or Die Hard
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Stardust
• Halloween - Absolute trash, and the worst of the series. Yes, even Halloween: Resurrection and Season of the Witch are better than this awful, awful piece of film.

Looking Forward To...

• 3:10 to Yuma - Crowe and Bale going head-to-head in a new Western? Count me in.
• American Gangster - Ridley Scott with Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Sondheim's finest musical (and undoubtedly the greatest musical of all time) is finally coming to the screen, under the direction of Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sascha Baron Cohen. It's my most-anticipated film of 2007, and will either be Burton's greatest triumph (Depp thinks it is), or his greatest failure.

[Loomis]

[*]Halloween - Absolute trash, and the worst of the series. Yes, even Halloween: Resurrection and Season of the Witch are better than this awful, awful piece of film.

Hmmm.... tell us more.

I think I've seen only three films at the cinema this year: the mediocre FRACTURE (why do movies like this always drop the ball with their endings?), the deeply disappointing DIE HARD 4.0 (I was hardly expecting a masterpiece, but McClane's long-awaited comeback could and should have been much better), and the exhilarating THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, which totally delivered the goods as far as I'm concerned.*

The best film, though, was PAN'S LABYRINTH, which I saw the other day on DVD.

Not looking forward to any 2007 releases other than JOHN RAMBO, although I don't think it opens here in the UK until next year.

*ETA: Oh, yes, I also caught HANNIBAL RISING on the big screen. Didn't hate it as much as I'm led to believe I should, in fact I preferred it to RED DRAGON, but then the fact that I initially forgot about seeing it probably tells me something.

*ETA 2: I must be going senile. I also saw APOCALYPTO, BABEL, CASINO ROYALE, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND and ROCKY BALBOA at t'pictures this year, and enjoyed all of them tremendously.

[Harmsway]

[*]Halloween - Absolute trash, and the worst of the series. Yes, even Halloween: Resurrection and Season of the Witch are better than this awful, awful piece of film.

Hmmm.... tell us more.

It's a really awful horror film on its own, but the fact that it's the shoddy remake of an awesome film (the best film in the series, really) makes it something of an even worse crime. It adds nothing new that's worthwhile, and in fact, spends much of its screentime slavishly following the original film... just in a much less effective fashion.

Even Malcolm McDowell is really poor.

[Loomis]

[*]Halloween - Absolute trash, and the worst of the series. Yes, even Halloween: Resurrection and Season of the Witch are better than this awful, awful piece of film.

Hmmm.... tell us more.

It's a really awful horror film on its own, but the fact that it's the shoddy remake of an awesome film (the best film in the series, really) makes it something of an even worse crime. It adds nothing new that's worthwhile, and in fact, spends much of its screentime slavishly following the original film... just in a much less effective fashion.

Even Malcolm McDowell is really poor.

I've read a handful of reviews, half of them absolutely scathing and the other half saying it's surprisingly good (if you "take it on its own terms", "accept it for what it is", etc., as they say). The one person I know who's seen it (the workprint version, incidentally - it may be that, as with THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS, fans will all be saying "Oh, sure, it's a terrible movie, but the unreleased bootleg version is far superior") says it's incredibly bloody and also a fine piece of work.

So I don't know what to think. I have a hard time believing it's worse than RESURRECTION - heck, no film is worse than RESURRECTION. And while we're on the subject, it's hardly as though the other HALLOWEENS are really any good, either (except, of course, for the first and - while this seems to be something of an unfashionable view nowadays - H20). So Zombie's flick won't exactly be the first dire Michael Myers outing I've sat through. I reckon, though, that it'll be a rental for me.

[Harmsway]

I've read a handful of reviews, half of them absolutely scathing and the other half saying it's surprisingly good (if you "take it on its own terms", "accept it for what it is", etc., as they say).

That seems to be the division. My personal feeling is that, even taken on its own terms, it doesn't do anything interesting, and is still a pretty uncreative and boring recreation of the first film which does nothing to offer an intriguing take on it or whatsoever.

In fact, I think Zombie didn't take his reinvention of HALLOWEEN far enough (or well enough). If you're going to reinvent something, actually reinvent it. Instead, the original film is reproduced step-by-step, just in a speedier fashion. All that Zombie added is a highly inconsistent set-up for Michael which seems at odds with the direction of the final section of the film.

The one person I know who's seen it (the workprint version, incidentally - it may be that, as with THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS, fans will all be saying "Oh, sure, it's a terrible movie, but the unreleased bootleg version is far superior") says it's incredibly bloody and also a fine piece of work.

I understand the workprint is actually pretty different from the version released in theatres. Most notable is the absence of a rape scene that apparently puts a very different spin on Michael's escape (it was a scene almost unanimously disliked in previews, so it was removed). According to Moriarty's AICN review, the workprint is a superior cut of the film, which ultimately makes more sense than the finished product.

I have a hard time believing it's worse than RESURRECTION - heck, no film is worse than RESURRECTION.

I'd sooner sit through RESURRECTION again, though I don't really have any desire to touch either of them with a ten foot pole.

And while we're on the subject, it's hardly as though the other HALLOWEENS are really any good, either (except, of course, for the first and - while this seems to be something of an unfashionable view nowadays - H20).

True, but I enjoyed the other HALLOWEENs as guilty pleasures of a sort. I found myself unable to enjoy Zombie's film.

[DaveBond21]

I like the original Halloween, but I've avoided any sequels or remakes. In fact, I avoid almost all remakes.

[Number 6]

[*]Halloween - Absolute trash, and the worst of the series. Yes, even Halloween: Resurrection and Season of the Witch are better than this awful, awful piece of film.

I had a feeling about this one; not that it was an overwhelming urge for me to rush out and see it but I just felt that this remake would stink up the place.

Should have left the original alone anyway...

[Qwerty]

• Halloween - Absolute trash, and the worst of the series. Yes, even Halloween: Resurrection and Season of the Witch are better than this awful, awful piece of film.

Hardly even knew this one was coming out/released except for a review in one of the magazines at my university.

[Genrewriter]

Liked:

Reno 911 Miami

Grindhouse

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters

Ocean's 13

Disliked:

Ghost Rider

Hot Fuzz

Pirates of the Caribbean-At World's End

Looking forward to:

Resident Evil: Extinction

[Qwerty]

Updated...

Liked So Far...

• Notes on a Scandal *****
• Hannibal Rising ****
• Zodiac ****1/2
• Breach ***
• Disturbia :***
• Fracture ****
• Hot Fuzz: ***
• Spider-Man 3 **1/2
• Ocean's 13 ****
• 1408 ***1/2
• Live Free or Die Hard ***
• The Bourne Ultimatum *****
• Stardust ****
• The Invasion **1/2
• Michael Clayton *****
• Gone Baby Gone ****
• American Gangster ****

Disliked So Far...

• Night at the Museum **
• Wild Hogs *
• Premonition **

Looking Forward To...

• The Mist
• The Golden Compass
• Sweeney Todd
• There Will Be Blood
• Cassandra's Dream

[tdalton]

Update:

Liked So Far:

• Freedom Writers
• 300
• Night at the Museum
• The Messengers
• Disturbia
• Vacancy
• Mr. Brooks

Disliked So Far:

• Hannibal Rising
• The Hitcher
• Primeval
• Ocean's 13
• We Are Marshall
• Ghost Rider

Looking Forward To:NONE

[Harmsway]

Liked so far...

• Pan's Labyrinth *****
• Letters from Iwo Jima ****
• Breach ***
• Zodiac ****
• Waitress ***
• Fracture ***
• Hot Fuzz ****
• Ocean's Thirteen ***
• 1408 ***
• Ratatouille ****
• Live Free or Die Hard ***
• Sicko ***1/2
• Hairspray ***
• The Simpsons Movie ***
• The Bourne Ultimatum ***1/2
• Stardust ***
• 3:10 to Yuma ***
• The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D ***1/2
• American Gangster ****
• No Country for Old Men *****
• Beowulf ***
• The Mist ***

Disliked so far...

• Hannibal Rising **1/2
• 300 **
• Shooter **1/2
• Spider-Man 3 *
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End **
• Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer *1/2
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix **
• Halloween
• Across the Universe **

Looking Forward To...

• The Golden Compass - I'm not really crazy about how this film is shaping up, but the book is great and Daniel Craig features. That's enough to get me in my seat.
• The Kite Runner - It's a Forster film, and I'm interested in the subject matter.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - The greatest musical ever composed is finally coming to the screen, and the buzz is immense (and rightfully so). I've read the script, seen a lot of footage, and this movie looks excellent.
• Persepolis - It's a brilliant graphic novel, and the animated film has been getting nothing but raves.
• There Will Be Blood - This P. T. Anderson film looks dead set to be one of the most interesting films of 2007, even though reviews have said it's too dark to really like.

[Qwerty]

Did you see Michael Clayton, Harmsway?

[Harmsway]

Did you see Michael Clayton, Harmsway?

Nope. Want to, though.

[Qwerty]

I'll be interested to read your review of it. One of my favourites of the year so far.

[tdalton]

Updated

Liked So Far:

• Freedom Writers ****
• 300 ***
• Night at the Museum ***
• The Messengers ***
• Disturbia ***
• Vacancy ***
• Mr. Brooks *****
• Payback: Straight Up ***
• Troy: The Director's Cut ****
• Live Free Or Die Hard ***
• Halloween ***

Disliked So Far:

• Hannibal Rising
• The Hitcher **
• Primeval **
• Ocean's 13
• We Are Marshall *
• Ghost Rider
• The Bourne Ultimatum *
• Spider-Man 3 *1/2
• Premonition **
• Hostel: Part II **
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End *
• The Reaping **

Looking Forward To:

• Into the Wild
• The Kingdom
• Saw IV
• The Simpsons Movie
• Rendition

[minder125]

Here are the top five for 2007 for me

1. No Country For Old Men
2. Eastern Promises
3. Once
4. 3:10 To Yuma
5. The King Of Kong

[Harmsway]

Liked so far...

• Pan's Labyrinth *****
• Letters from Iwo Jima ****
• Breach ***
• Zodiac ****
• Waitress ***
• Fracture ***
• Hot Fuzz ****
• Ocean's Thirteen ***
• 1408 ***
• Ratatouille ****
• Live Free or Die Hard ***
• Sicko ***1/2
• Hairspray ***
• The Simpsons Movie ***
• The Bourne Ultimatum ***1/2
• Stardust ***
• 3:10 to Yuma ***
• The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D ***1/2
• American Gangster ****
• No Country for Old Men *****
• Beowulf ***
• The Mist ***
• Sweeney Todd ***** (I'd give it even more stars, if possible... a truly phenomenal accomplishment)

Disliked so far...

• Hannibal Rising **1/2
• 300 **
• Shooter **1/2
• Spider-Man 3 *
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End **
• Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer *1/2
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix **
• Halloween
• Across the Universe **

Looking Forward To...

• Persepolis - It's a brilliant graphic novel, and the animated film has been getting nothing but raves.
• There Will Be Blood - This P. T. Anderson film looks dead set to be one of the most interesting films of 2007.

[crashdrive]

Here are my favorite films of the past year.

1. The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
2. No Country For Old Men
3. Control
4. Zodiac
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6. There Will Be Blood
7. The Kite Runner
8. 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
9. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
10. Michael Clayton

It has been a terrific year. I could have very easily made a top 25 (which would include flicks like Deathproof & Hot Fuzz), . And there is still so much left to see (for example I still haven't been able to see The Bourne Ultimatum). Unfortunately there have also been a lot of terrible flicks this year. I could have done without Transformers, Spider-Man 3, The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End & Beowulf, but that's just me.

It's a thrilling thought that the director of one and the leading man of another of my favorite flicks (The Kite Runner and The Diving Bell & the Butterfly respectably) will collaborate on Bond 22. That plus the prospect of a new Batman, a new Indiana Jones and new flicks by Martin Scorsese, Brian Singer, Ridley Scott, Richard Kelly, Kevin MacDonald, Rian Johnson, Fernando Meirelles, Alan Ball, Spike Jonze, Alex Proyas, Michel Gondry, M Night Shymalan, Sam Mendes, Gus van Sant , the Coen brothers, Jim Sheridan, Vincenzo Natali, David O Russell, Guy Ritchie and Peter Jackson, you know 2008 is going to rock!

[Loomis]

Not exactly a vintage year. I did see a lot of terrific films, but thanks largely to the wonders of online DVD rental, which is a revolutionary development for movie geeks. I've been able to watch many non-English language titles I've wanted to see for ages that are next to impossible to find in yer regular shops or rental outlets and always seem to cost a fortune if you buy them.

So, it's a great time to be a cineaste who likes obscure arthouse fare (although it's surprising and unfortunate that plenty of great works by even the most famous of "foreign" directors are unavailable on Region 2 DVD), but I haven't been too blown away by 2007's crop of new movies. Still, it may be that today's obscure films of 2007 I haven't even heard of because they never got released over here will be tomorrow's "world cinema" classics of 2007 I'll be entranced by on DVD. And I've yet to see CONTROL (amazing that the Joy Division story should be revisited so soon after 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, and so successfully), DEATH PROOF, THE KITE RUNNER and a couple of other flicks I understand are good.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM was my best cinemagoing experience this year (well, after ROCKY BALBOA, but that one really counts as a 2006 release), but, great fun though it was and is, it didn't really seem very fresh or original after SUPREMACY. Passed on PIRATES, SPIDEY, TRANSFORMERS and so on.

As for 2008, bring on the guilty pleasure that is RAMBO (which I trust won't be completely abysmal - I'm cautiously optimistic for a poor man's APOCALYPTO with a reasonable amount of flair in the action scenes and cinematography), and, of course, BOND 22, which is shaping up to be the most interesting Bond outing of, well, of all time. Other than which, I imagine that several fine films will be made, but I do suspect that many of them will come from places other than Hollywood.

[DamnCoffee]

Brilliant Year for Movies this year!

Notes on a Scandal

The Simpsons Movie

Hot Fuzz

Resident Evil: Extinction

Saw IV

Bourne: Ultiminatinum

Spiderman 3

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

Mr. Beans Holiday

[Harmsway]

And I've yet to see CONTROL (amazing that the Joy Division story should be revisited so soon after 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, and so successfully), DEATH PROOF, THE KITE RUNNER and a couple of other flicks I understand are good.

Loomis, you have to see SWEENEY TODD (I think it gets a January 25th release on your side of the pond). It's truly a work of brilliance that overshadows the rest of 2007's releases, and is undoubtedly one of the most unique movie experiences you'll have. I've seen it twice, and I'll probably head back to the cinema yet another time.

And you also might want to check out NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. The two of them mark the top of my "Must-Sees of 2007" list.

[ACE]

I was privileged to watch a preview of THE KITE RUNNER.

It is sensational!

An absolute classic movie - of the-enduring-Shawshank-Redemption-stays-with-you variety.

It presents an original world, not seen in film.
It presents an ancient and beautiful culture misunderstood.
It presents a story of friendship and fate, of honour and duty.
It presents why we are all interconnected in this small world of ours.
It presents the current battle between the East and the West but in a brave, balanced, insightful way.

Shot stunningly in China and movingly performed by a cast of largely unknown actors, this superb, epic-yet-initmately moving, stunningly well-rendered film will have a meteor-like impact on you. Daniel Benioff has filleted Khaled Hosseini's terrific source novel and distilled it to its cinematic essence.

Regardless of how well this film does at the box office and the awards (and I hope it aces across the board), the film will live on as a classic.

And Marc Forster as director? This work is a directorial Everest. This is a majorly important film and the hand behind it has wrought an exquisite sensitivity behind a complex, structurally daring piece of motion picture art. I have enjoyed Forster's previous work but nothing prepared me for this. And after you have soared with The Kite Runner you are left with this scintillating and fascinating and tantalising thought. They have chosen this man to direct the next James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig and 007 from a Paul Haggis script to be shot in the UK, Italy, Austria, Panama and Bolivia.

We're on the verge of all things new...

If you are an intelligent, adult movie goer with a heart and a soul and a brain and you see only ONE film this year...

...see THE KITE RUNNER.

(One thing though - it will make the wait for Bond 22 unbearable!)