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Night Prowler said:
Meh, Elysium was fun for me, I don't care about metaphors and allegory and shit.
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My problem with Elysium is that it is all I can see. It overshadows the story, and that's not how I want my films. It's so obvious that it's the message Blomkamp want to get across is the driving force behind everything. And on top of that, it's about the exact same thing he already said with District 9. The aliens in District 9 were one-to-one exchangeable for humans living in the real world shantytowns around Johannesburg - and making them aliens said something about how the rich people see them, and when the film goes from showing them as low-standing animals/ridiculous beings/despiseable scum to making the viewer sympathise with them and hate the humans instead, it told us something about human nature. Had they been actual humans, we wouldn't have let ourselves think the aliens were disgusting, we wouldn't have gone into that trap, because we would instantly had protested when our supposed protagonist kill unborn children in the beginning. That's were the greatness District 9 lay. And because of that success, Blomkamp tried to do the exact same thing once more - and failed miserably.

The big difference between the two films is that in District 9 we were drawn into the film by intriguing storytelling - and the portrait of the people and aliens weren't completely one sided. The prawns' love for cat-food was disgusting. But they were worthy of our sympathy anyway. Elysium completely, utterly, ridiculously and heavy-handedly gives away its message in the first minute or so. Rich people live in abundance while the poor suffers. There, done. Then it goes on for two hours, saying the same thing again and again.
 
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Alright, watched Serenity (2005) again for the 100th time and it's unexpectedly not only holding up, it's getting better for each subsequent view. (First time I saw it, I thought it was a good adventure with witty dialogue - now it's one of my favourite films.) Currently on a Firefly rewatch.

Also watched a lot of Star Trek over the weekend - Wrath of Khan, First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis to be more specific.
 
Non-Stop (2014)

Liam Neeson stars as an US Air Marshal, who on a trans-Atlantic flight receives text messages from someone onboard threatening to kill a passenger every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transfered to the specified account... [...] A mystery/thriller set on a plane that adds to a boatload of already existing films in the same category (of which Flightplan (2005) comes to mind). I don't need to mention that this is no excercise for your more thinking parts. With that said, the film is ridiculously suspenseful and Liam Neeson is a quality actor gone action-hero, meaning he kicks ass. If you have a hard-on for this type of film, it's by all means worth checking out.
 
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Finally saw Kingsman: The Secret Service. Fantastically fun movie that makes it very clear very early on that it doesn't give a shit, and it is going to be as ridiculous as it wants to be. A lovingly crafted over-the-top parody/homage of the spy movie genre.
 
I've been meaning to watch Kingsman. I saw the main guy (pardon me for not being good with actor names) in another movie a few months ago and enjoyed his acting.
 
Watched The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).

As for cheesy costume-adventure-dramas - they doesn't get better than this. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) is probably my favourite adaptation of Dumas, but this come awfully close. A personal favourite... At least a top 25 film.
 

I didn't expect much from it, but great trailer. Liked it more than the Star Wars one. Never really cared for Superman or DC in general, but this might actually turn out great. Still, judging by the trailer, they will stick to the "Clark Kent puts on glasses and no one sees he's Superman" thing, but I guess I'll have to accept it as a part of the Superman movies that'll always stay <_< One thing I'm asking from the movies is that Batman is a badass. I liked Nolan TDK movies, but Batman didn't live up to the "badass best detective in the world" title, with everyone around him managing to fool him in one way or another and him revealing his identity to everyone. Also I don't hate Affleck, so that's a plus I guess :D
 
I saw X-Men: First Class for the first time last night, and I'm sorry to say it's the first X-Men movie I really haven't enjoyed very much. I know the Wolverine ones have been panned, but at least they were entertaining. For me, First Class falls into the classic prequel trap of trying to explain too much and justify the traits of characters within the franchise, but somehow making it all soulless and short on genuinely good action. It's long. There was a little too much intrigue, some quite unconvincing detail, and a shortage of humour. Days of Future Past did a much better job of getting a period feel out of 70s setting, IMO. With a couple of exceptions, First Class feels more like present-day characters dropped into a faux-60s high society spy drama setting. Of course it doesn't help that the big X-Men stars like Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman etc are missing, making it a lot harder to relate to the characters. The best thing about it, by a mile, is the deadpan Michael Fassbender as the young Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto. That man could add gravity to any storyline. Oh, and a few mutants learning to use pretty cool powers.
 
This might be good. History Chanel has been on a roll producing documentaries about (shockingly) History! and less Aliens Founded America crap

HISTORY’S® 10-HOUR TELEVISION EVENT SERIES

“TEXAS RISING” TO PREMIERE OVER FIVE-NIGHTS BEGINNING MEMORIAL DAY 2015

ALL-STAR CAST INCLUDES BILL PAXTON, BRENDAN FRASER, RAY LIOTTA, JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN, THOMAS JANE, OLIVIER MARTINEZ, CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON AND MORE

SOUNDTRACK FEATURES NEW MUSIC FROM GEORGE STRAIT, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON AND JOSE FELICIANO

New York, NY – April 14, 2015 – HISTORY’s event series TEXAS RISING will premiere over five nights beginning Memorial Day 2015. The series, which was expanded to 10-hours, details the Texas Revolution and the rise of the legendary Texas Rangers. The series will premiere:

Monday, May 25 at 9PM ET/PT
Tuesday, May 26 at 9PM ET/PT
Monday, June 1 at 9PM ET/PT
Monday, June 8 at 9PM ET/PT
Monday, June 15 at 9PM ET/PT

The Alamo was not the end of the story, it was only the beginning, and TEXAS RISING details what followed in the fight for an independent Texas. In 1836, west of the Mississippi was considered the Wild West and the Texas frontier was viewed as hell on earth. With colliding cultures all fighting for stakes to this territory, no one was safe. But this was a time of bravery, a time to die for what you believed in and a time to stand tall against the fierce Mexican General Santa Anna and his forces. General Sam Houston, the rag tag Rangers and the legendary "Yellow Rose of Texas,” lead this story of the human will to fight for independence despite nearly insurmountable odds and to claim a piece of history for all eternity.

Two-time Oscar-nominated director Roland Joffé (THE KILLING FIELDS, THE MISSION) directs TEXAS RISING with an all-star cast including: Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olivier Martinez, Thomas Jane, Christopher McDonald, Jeremy Davies, Chad Michael Murray, Max Thieriot, Robert Knepper, Rhys Coiro, Crispin Glover, Jeff Fahey, Rob Morrow, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Trevor Donovan and Kris Kristofferson.

In addition to the star-studded cast, the TEXAS RISING soundtrack album will feature new music from legendary performers including the title song, “Take Me To Texas,” performed by George Strait and written by Brandy Clark, as well as Kris Kristofferson’s remake of the Tom Petty classic “Won’t Back Down” and new tracks from Jose Feliciano.

TEXAS RISING is produced by A+E Studios, ITV Studios America and Thinkfactory Media for HISTORY. Leslie Greif (HATFIELDS & MCCOYS) serves as executive producer for Thinkfactory Media. Dirk Hoogstra and Julian P. Hobbs serve as executives in charge of production for HISTORY.
 
Maturin said:
Watched The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).

As for cheesy costume-adventure-dramas - they doesn't get better than this. The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) is probably my favourite adaptation of Dumas, but this come awfully close. A personal favourite... At least a top 25 film.
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Up next (if you hadn't seen it yet), the 1939 film version; the one that inspired Harris to give the band the name we all know so well.
 
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