• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

Eyepainter

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
618
Reaction score
519
Trophy Points
103
Dances with Wolves: Extended Cut

It's been a long time since I last saw this film, so I can't compare both versions due to my memory being hazy. I will say, though, that this is a great movie. The cinematography and music pretty much guarantee that. It's a shame that this film gets a reputation of being overrated, because it isn't that bad. It's a lot better than, say, any of the Avatar films which also try to have similar themes, but fall short of giving us anything meaningful. By the time Dances with Wolves ends, you really do feel as if an entire culture has been lost that never should have been. A powerful film worth seeing when you have 4 hours of your time.
 

mnkykungfu

Well-known member
Donor
Messages
2,279
Reaction score
747
Trophy Points
123
Rocky IV (1985) - Director's Cut
Sly Stallone spent a lot of the pandemic going back to the masters for his directorial effort on this film and reworking the footage from the ground up for a digital release a few months back. It shifts the tone more dramatic, with more lines and scenes given to Drago, Apollo, and Adrian, though it's hard for me to imagine anyone who loved the original preferring this new version...

Burn After Reading (2008)
Like any Coens film, initial buzz on this was that is was great, then quickly soured to muddled, but recently I've heard it re-evaluated and the fans have come out of the woodwork. I now count myself among them... dramatic Coens will always be best Coens for me, but I think this is my favorite comedy of theirs.
 

Eyepainter

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
618
Reaction score
519
Trophy Points
103
Being There (1979)

Got my Criterion DVD copy of this gem in the mail, and I couldn't be happier with it. A true thinking man's comedy. Arguably Peter Sellers' finest (as well as final) performance. Also has one of the greatest WTF endings ever filmed. An underrated masterpiece, any way you look at it.
 

Wraith

Well-known member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
2,430
Reaction score
3,160
Trophy Points
133
Dr Stangelove....AGAIN....
This time, I just could not get over Sterling Hayden...those low angles and that performance.....Perfection
 
Last edited:

ParanoidAndroid

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
395
Reaction score
369
Trophy Points
73
Being There (1979)

Got my Criterion DVD copy of this gem in the mail, and I couldn't be happier with it. A true thinking man's comedy. Arguably Peter Sellers' finest (as well as final) performance. Also has one of the greatest WTF endings ever filmed. An underrated masterpiece, any way you look at it.
Dr Stangelove....AGAIN....
This time, I just could not get over Sterling Hayden...those low angle and that performance.....Perfection
Both brilliant pieces of work, hard to decide which has the best ending!
 

Moe_Syzlak

Well-known member
Messages
3,456
Reaction score
1,165
Trophy Points
118
Glass Onion. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first Knives Out. It’s a fun movie, but I couldn’t help but feel like it was an episode of an 80s or 90s mystery show with a ton a guest stars and cameos. Except the guest stars and cameos are more A list than B. I’m sure that was intentional, but I guess I had hoped for more. It works better for me as a comedy than a mystery. Stil it’s a pleasant evening.

My favorite thing about the whole movie was the Checkov’s gun Kato Kaelin character that never pays off. That’s funny.
 

Jrzag42

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
4,002
Reaction score
1,021
Trophy Points
138
I watched Morbius. I generally enjoyed it, but it felt too short and underdeveloped. His powers are never fully defined, the two cops never really do anything, etc. I do love vampires, and the idea of a vampire superhero is excellent, so I had fun. I really want a sequel now that they know what not to do, but it doesn't seem likely.
 

Jrzag42

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
4,002
Reaction score
1,021
Trophy Points
138
So this alien guy, who we first see on a desert planet, he has this god-obsession, which leads to him setting up a trap for our heroes in order to get a ride to the center of the universe. And along the way he talks to the heroes about their pain.
I'm not saying that Thor: Love and Thunder ripped off Star Trek V, but my mind can't help but associate them.
 

mnkykungfu

Well-known member
Donor
Messages
2,279
Reaction score
747
Trophy Points
123
^Man, you really have an obsession with watching big bad movies @Jrzag42 . lol

My own particular obsession continues, as I dive back in for the 3rd mini-marathon of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones (1996). These are where they basically take 2 episodes from "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" TV show (1992-'93) and then stitch them together chronologically, sometimes with added footage, to form movies. The first few featured a child Indy adventuring with family, then the next set had Sean Patrick Flannery as a teen Indy fighting in WWI. The next few films see him ostensibly working as a spy, though honestly they're a grabbag of jobs and locales...

Adventures in the Secret Service
A decent pair of adventures that see Indy meeting Karl Hapsburg and Vladimir Lenin. The connective tissue to get him jumping all over the world is often kind of ridiculous (as here) and I'm never quite sold on spying being a good fit for the character.

Espionage Escapades
A pair of full-on comic misadventures, this is a real low point for the series. The second part here was never even aired, and I don't know who thought Indy fans needed a full film exploring the meaning of "Kafkaesque". I wasn't the hugest fan of the talking-down writing of the young Indy child episodes, but this is even worse.

Daredevils of the Desert

A real coherent whole film with strong guest stars and good action footage. This is the best of this lot, and feels closest to a made-for-TV version of the Indiana Jones we know and love.

Tales of Innocence
A second grouping of romantic Indy adventures, the first one is pretty silly (and unaired) whereas the 2nd one is actually pretty interesting, with Indy developing a bond with a much older Edith Wharton. Also, has palace intrigue in the desert!

Masks of Evil

An oddly mish-mashed thriller episode that tries to be The Conversation and mostly misses gets smashed up with a mystical vampire episode. Is vampirism any weirder or sillier than immortal Templars or ghost boxes or crystal skulls? Maybe not on paper, but it sure is here. The series was canceled before this even aired.

Overall, these episodes feel like part of why the series moved away from regular broadcast and into TV movies. The production values are really high for TV, but the writing is a really mixed bag. Flannery shone as an earnest young soldier, but in many of these episodes he doesn't communicate that he's even playing the same person from the theatrical films. His Indy can come off as whiny and childish, even wimpy at times. There's little of the grit and canniness of the later character that eventually becomes gruffness and machismo. A lot of these episodes just don't do him any favors, but I'm hoping that the post-War adventures pick things up.
 

Ender

Well-known member
Messages
388
Reaction score
190
Trophy Points
58
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is fun and y'all are just mean.

I will say the second half was lacking a bit of character, being little more than a series of action setpieces with interchangeable characters. The antagonists and protagonists also got a long a bit too well, only occasionally getting into fights but working together just as often. It's still nowhere near the travesty make it out to be, and I'd put the first half on par with The Last Crusade (my least favorite of the original three) while the second half is a fun rollercoaster/video game.

Daredevils of the Desert
A real coherent whole film with strong guest stars and good action footage.
Probably because it's the one instance where it was a single already long episode lengthened (shot as part of The Phantom Menace's Tatooine shoot, apparently) instead of two episodes stitched together. I'd imagine that would lend itself to better coherence.
 

mnkykungfu

Well-known member
Donor
Messages
2,279
Reaction score
747
Trophy Points
123
Probably because it's the one instance where it was a single already long episode lengthened (shot as part of The Phantom Menace's Tatooine shoot, apparently) instead of two episodes stitched together. I'd imagine that would lend itself to better coherence.

There are a couple instances of this actually. Sometimes the director they lined up for two episodes was the same, so they just stitched them together, even though the plan might originally have been to air them separately. What's likely most helpful for this one is that it was never broken into two separate episodes, even though there are two distinct parts to the story. The TV show got canceled before it could air (as I wrote up in the longer review link.)

Not sure where you heard it was filmed as part of The Phantom Menace. It was filmed back in '93, far too early for that. The "1999" date on IMDB is when the DVD box set was released, which included all the episodes, both aired and unaired. Everything in this series has that release date. It's easy to see the difference in Flannery's age as well, if you compare pictures of him in '93 to those in '98/'99.
 

Jrzag42

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
4,002
Reaction score
1,021
Trophy Points
138
I rewatched The King Of Staten Island after surprisingly finding it at the dollar store the other day. I still really like it, I really like Pete Davidson. This movie is far too relatable at times, as a 20 year old who still relies on their parents for a lot, didn't bother with college, doesn't have their shit together, is mentally ill, and I'm going to stop here to not drag this post on too long.
I think things work out too well in some regards, but that might just be a subconcious "if I can't have good things then no one should" mentality.
 

DigModiFicaTion

DᴉმWoqᴉԷᴉcɑꓕᴉou
Staff member
Faneditor
Messages
8,609
Reaction score
3,509
Trophy Points
168
The Musketeer (2001)
Crouching Swordsman, Hidden Musketeer. If you've seen this, you know what I'm talking about. This is the East meets West Reader's Digest version of the Three Musketeers. d'Artagnan can do no wrong in this film and exceeds everyone in wit and skill, though his dialogue as well as Francesca's is about as teen as it gets. The film is isolated in it's own self indulgence, but references the source material just enough as to keep you intrigued to see this iteration through. Tim Roth plays a good slime in Febre, although he's basically just a shadow of hate that shows up when conflict is needed and necessary. Also, if you're a fan of M'Lady, she doesn't even exist here. Not the best, not the worst. 5.5/10
 

Ender

Well-known member
Messages
388
Reaction score
190
Trophy Points
58
Not sure where you heard it was filmed as part of The Phantom Menace. It was filmed back in '93, far too early for that. The "1999" date on IMDB is when the DVD box set was released, which included all the episodes, both aired and unaired. Everything in this series has that release date. It's easy to see the difference in Flannery's age as well, if you compare pictures of him in '93 to those in '98/'99.
The omnibuses came much later, so a lot of new footage was shot around 1999 to link episodes together. The shoot during TPM was just Douglas Henshall without Flannery iirc. I'm guessing it couldn't have been too substantial if that's the case.
 

mnkykungfu

Well-known member
Donor
Messages
2,279
Reaction score
747
Trophy Points
123
^The linking footage is almost all just 1 or 2 minute scenes between the episodes, very easy to spot since the hair is different and everyone looks older. As stated, there was none of that in that episode since it wasn't comprised of 2 episodes that needed linking. There were a couple of completely new episodes shot for the box set release though, but that was in 1996 when they were preparing it.
You can find a breakdown of what's new and what's old on an actually pretty tight Wikipedia episode breakdown. For what originally aired, you can find release dates on this guide. For example, the episode in question was planned as "Palestine, October 1917".
I've written up reviews for every one of these on Letterboxd and also watched the accompanying documentaries, so I guess with just a couple left to go, you could say I'm kind of obsessed at this point. 😅
 

Ender

Well-known member
Messages
388
Reaction score
190
Trophy Points
58
In recent months, I've compiled a whole spreadsheet of the series to make sense of it in anticipation of seeing for the first time sometime soon. I put all the short episodes in chronological order in one column and the omnibuses they're part of in another. It was really essentially because trying to make heads or tails of this show otherwise was making my head hurt. There are three different orders based on airdate, chronology, or the altered chronology for the omnibuses. I even threw in the episodes unproduced third season darkened out. Oh how I wish we could've gotten Honduras, December 1920 and Brazil, December 1921. Belloq, crystal skull, Percy Fawcett, Confederados, all sorts of fun. Coulda made an omnibus of them too.

Anyway, concerning Palestine, October 1917 turning into Daredevils of the Desert, the finished omnibus is 82 minutes long, whereas the original episode (which aired in Sweden apparently?), while longer than the standard 40-48 minute episode, is still only 58 minutes, meaning a substantial amount of material was added.
 

Moe_Syzlak

Well-known member
Messages
3,456
Reaction score
1,165
Trophy Points
118
The Menu. Not really my kind of movie, but it’s a quality satire. I wish it were little more satire and a little less horror. The viewing was worth it just for the exchange about Brown alone. 🤣
 

mnkykungfu

Well-known member
Donor
Messages
2,279
Reaction score
747
Trophy Points
123
In recent months, I've compiled a whole spreadsheet of the series to make sense of it in anticipation of seeing for the first time sometime soon. I put all the short episodes in chronological order in one column and the omnibuses they're part of in another. It was really essentially because trying to make heads or tails of this show otherwise was making my head hurt. There are three different orders based on airdate, chronology, or the altered chronology for the omnibuses. I even threw in the episodes unproduced third season darkened out. Oh how I wish we could've gotten Honduras, December 1920 and Brazil, December 1921. Belloq, crystal skull, Percy Fawcett, Confederados, all sorts of fun. Coulda made an omnibus of them too.

Anyway, concerning Palestine, October 1917 turning into Daredevils of the Desert, the finished omnibus is 82 minutes long, whereas the original episode (which aired in Sweden apparently?), while longer than the standard 40-48 minute episode, is still only 58 minutes, meaning a substantial amount of material was added.
It's the action scenes from The Lighthorsemen. Anyway, nice to find a fellow fan.
 
Top Bottom