Bluey's Dad

Ok, I have a few problems...

I'm into a lot of things... My list is overflowing atm, I recently added another 3 TB drive to my media server. I'll never get to it all. I have a problem...

Oh man, all you're doing is adding to the already stupidly long list of stuff I wanna watch. So much cool stuff I had forgotten about or didn't know about. I've heard Brazil is brilliant but never seen it.

It was indeed far too long. The first time I saw it I went to get up after Bilbo sailed away on the ship, then I had to sit back down again. I guess Peter Jackson felt he had to tie up a lot of things.

Boxing Day I think. What was wrong with the ending? Except of course that it ended 34 times.

Exactly! Nothing wrong with the occasional spectacle. I really like Michael Fassbender. I'm looking forward to the new X-Men Days of Future Past movie. He was really great in First Class with James MacEvoy. You're right in that Dark City beat The Matrix to the punch on presenting some philosophical issues like reality and simulacrum. But I felt the end really let it down, and it didn't quite reach the creepy level of tension I thought it was shooting for. It might be because of its age, and had I watched it when it was first released maybe I would feel differently. I also think The Matix's religious connotations gave it an edge Dark City didn't have, however as you say, Dark City came first. Also I thought The Matrix sequels sucked. They played up the religious angel in the third one especially, with a lot of Fisher King references and I thought it was really disappointing given what was achieved in the first movie. I heard that Stargate is being rebooted into a new movie trilogy, any thoughts on that one?

The problem I find with the walking dead is I keep watching it waiting for it to cross the line from 'solid' to 'awesome' but it never quite does. The characters often make really really dumb decisions. The good definitely outweighs the bad after season 2 though, as low flying said Completely agree on Mad Men, Oz, Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy. I'll have to give the wire a go, although I heard it sort of lost it towards the end.

Dark City is vastly overrated imo. It's not bad, I just don't see why it seems to get such massive props. Unfortunately my recollection of Bladerunner is sullied with mutliple viewings of theatrical cut, director's cut, directors extended cut, zomfg extra special extended edition with 13 more seconds cut etc etc. I don't even remember which one is the real ending any more. I think the 'proper' director's cut ends in Deckard and Rachael going into the lift and just cuts to black. Although it's better than the original voice-over ending, I still felt a little robbed. I know Scott's trying to get us to decide for ourselves what's supposed to happen next, if Rachael will expire or if Deckard is a replicant etc, but I felt this was a little TOO open ended. It will be interesting to see how the he goes with the sequel, especially now that he's put the Alien movies in the same universe. I hope it turns out for the better, because I though Promethius was pretty bad, despite some great work by Michael Fassbender. I have no problem with the Fifth Element. It's not trying to be more than it is and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't put it on any top 10 list but it was a fun movie. I am a meat popcicle.

Sorry, saw it a long time ago. I think I'll have to give it a re-watch. I have fond memories of The Day The Earth Stood Still, but I have a feeling if I watch it again I'll just be thinking about the remake and it'll make me sad On a brighter note, both versions of The Fly were pretty good

I loved this movie when I was a kid but haven't seen it in years. Leslie Nelson and Ruby the Robot right? Or am I thinking of something else?

Star Trek DS9 does a pretty good job with the post-WWII allegory, even if it is a slathered on a little thick in the first season. The episode "Duet" is one of my favourite pieces of television in any genre. It's probably my favourite of all the Star Treks because the villains were so great. Dukat, Eddington, Damar, Winn, Weyoun and the Changeling. Dukat is probably the best villain in any sci-fi that I can think of. His arc is probably the most interesting of any character on the show. lol now I wanna go watch it all again.

Yeah seeing the series first definitely makes that movie better.

If you're after good sci-fi you can't go past Babylon 5. The effects are ancient (bad by even 1992 standards) and some of the acting is wooden at best. But the story arcs are fantastically interwoven and surprising. Also Firefly, but don't make the mistake of getting too attached as it only has around 13 episodes. Every single one of them is gold though.

Really? My wife and I couldn't get through it. The pacing was horrible I was falling asleep.

Oz - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118421/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1 Probably the best TV Show I have ever seen. Set in a fictional US maximum security prison based on Sing Sing. There are no external shots (except for a dream sequence in season 4 I think) so it has kind of a claustrophobic feel. The music is.. off-putting, which is probably intentional. They don't want you to be comfortable while you watch. There are no innocent inmates. The show manipulates you into caring about murderers, you see their humanity and their depravity - both extremes often encapsulated in the same character. The themes centre around humanity, faith, sex, crime, race, society and hope. Quite a few episodes serve as treatments for American societal issues, often without condemning or condoning one side of an issue over another. And there's some Shakespeare thrown in for good measure. Episodes range from brutal to beautiful (in a strange way, it's hard to describe). Not for the squeamish as it can be quite graphic, but it is artistically justified. At no point does it cross the line of 'graphic violence for it's own sake' - it's always there as part of the narrative or to facilitate a character arc. I'm re-watching the series for the third time currently. My wife refuses to watch it with me. She says she can't take the 'heaviness' of it. I guess that's as good a word as any to describe it. It's not really current, I think it started in the late 90's and went for 6 seasons, but it's well worth watching.