Movies! Anyone seen a good one lately??

[Gold Usher]

The movie trailers look very interesting for Tim Burton's "Alice" and the box office the past few weeks has been hot with "Avatar" toppling "Titanic" for money earned.

But what is it that makes you go to see the movie? The storyline or the special effects? Can one survive without the other? I watched the Paramount auction of all the Star Trek warehoused props and one commentator made an interesting observation..."Star Trek was the last tv/movie made with actual hands-on scaled models. The trend now is computer generated everything." Now of course we've had the Star Trek prelude movie last summer - not a model in sight!

How true to the book do you like your Sherlock Holmes? I heard this last one featured a very athletic Holmes doing things Gillette, Rathbone and ever Tom Baker wouldn't consider in the real spirit of Doyle's creature.

[jaybee]

I haven't seen Avatar yet, but it's on my list. If I don't hurry up, it'll be too late to see it in a theatre. I'm not particularly interested in Alice. Actually, I'm not interested at all!

The only movies that I go to see in a theatre are the big action-type movies that are best seen on a big screen with surround sound and a crowd of people around you. Special effects are in most of them and the big format with the big audience tends to make them (the effects) even better.

As for any other type of film, I can wait until they come on TV for free. I have to admit, though, that I've gone right off the fluffy romance stuff and never could stand to watch the dumb comedy that seems to appeal to an awful lot of people (Dumb and Dumber comes to mind, but there are worse ones).

Also, I don't insist on "true to the book". I usually try to read the book after I've seen the film (unless I've already read the book), but I understand that you can't put into a film everything that was in the book and that sacrifices have to be made. If I've already read the book before I've seen the film, I always hope that the sacrifices are the right ones. But then, that's the sort of thing that is somewhat objective, depending on who is watching and what their favourite parts of the book were.

[biddenden_sue]

I very rarely tend to go to the cinema, mainly because of the expense. Why pay £30 or so to take my two boys to see a movie, when if I wait about 4 months, I can buy the DVD for £10? Admittedly we don't have a HD TV, but we have widescreen and surround sound, and I always make popcorn, so it is like a mini cinema when we watch a movie for the first time!

I like Sci-Fi best, but also horror (not fantasy), and good drama. I also do not care for Romance, Comedy or any combination thereof (the phrase "Romcom" sees me running for cover!) I thoroughly enjoyed Moon, Star Trek and District 9 last year, and having seen the BAFTA awards ceremony, I have literally just purchased both The Hurt Locker and Up on DVD and intend to watch them both in the next few days (one with the children and one without, obviously)

My DVD collection spans the decades with choice selections from the 1910's onwards, including 20 or so silent movies! My favourite movie actors include Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston and Kevin Spacey, and my favourite director of all time is Ridley Scott.

I am looking forward to taking a look at Avatar on DVD, but as it is fantasy, it does not actually appeal to me that much (that and its length are rather off-putting, in fact)

[Gold Usher]

"Moon" was one of the features shown here at the Sarasota Film Festival. It's one of those big gala events with the directors and various stars coming to showcase their films for a week. Big black tie parties, fancy (monied) people attend and the critics here have a blast with it all.

"Moon" was the one I wanted to see the most but obviously missed it. So it's out on dvd?? Have to get that one!

[tracy]

the alice movie looks good will proberly go and see that .the last film i saw was the new fame movie at the pictures that was ok. id like to see saw 6 i think it is ive seen some of the other saw films plenty of blood and guts thats my kind of film

[biddenden_sue]

"Moon" was one of the features shown here at the Sarasota Film Festival. It's one of those big gala events with the directors and various stars coming to showcase their films for a week. Big black tie parties, fancy (monied) people attend and the critics here have a blast with it all.

"Moon" was the one I wanted to see the most but obviously missed it. So it's out on dvd?? Have to get that one!

Oh you should definitely buy it. A very intelligent movie - almost a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running. Sam Rockwell was extremely convincing as the one human character in the movie, but the highlight for me was Kevin Spacey voicing the dead pan computer that kept him company. (Very Hal-esque)

[Jedi Princess]

Sherlock holmes was very well done...the only thing true to the books was Doctor Watson, but I enjoyed it just the same I'm a very big fan of Sherlock, and I hope the movie encourages people to read the books

I recently watched Mamma Mia! Being an ABBA fan, I quite enjoyed the movie, even though it was rather weird

[donnarose]

I, too, rarely get out to the movie theatre, so most of our movies tend to be rented through Netflix.

One movie I especially enjoyed about a year or so ago was "The Alamo"--the newer version (2004) with Dennis Quaid.

That was *very* well done--more realistic than the 1960's version with John Wayne (may God rest his soul).

I like the older, classic movies--comedies, dramas, and musicals. Our t.v. stations in the US used to run a lot of them when I was much younger, then they got phased out over the years.

But I'd also recommend The Scarlet Pimpernel with Leslie Howard. Don't bother watching any other Scarlet Pimpernel version. Leslie Howard *is* the Scarlet Pimpernel.

[bonnie]

I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D a short while ago. It was quite good.

[mikotyk]

Like a lot of other people on in this forum, my wife and I are hesitant to spend the $20 or more it costs to go to the movies nowadays and, mostly, we wait until a movie we want to see comes out on DVD.

The weekend before last, my wife, son and I went to see the final "Shrek" at a drive-in (there are still some of these left!!). I know that some critics have panned the film but we thought it was funny and it had a nice moral lesson about appreciating what you have in life. It was a lot like "Its a Wonderful Life" but in animation and without the Christmas trappings.

The last good film my wife and I saw in the cinema were the horror films "Orphan and the Russian film "Let the Right One In" which we saw on DVD. "Orphan" is about a mysterious young girl who is adopted by a family. The girl displays very bizarre behavior resulting in "accidents" at school and at home. It was a disturbing film with a very shocking ending. "Let the Right One In" is a vampire themed film set in post-Communist Russia. It is one of the best vampire films I've seen in ages. It's basically a love story between a young boy and girl who just happens to be a vampire with horror elements tossed in for good measure. I understand that it is being remade here in the U.S.