top ten films....

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Have to confess I've never seen it. Nor The Piano which I understand contains a fine performance.

[Keef]

I actually thought a young Kirsten Dunst was brilliant in Interview with a Vampire!

TillieTrotter Wrote:

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> He's certainly strapping and when you're having to

> command a company of 300 Spartans you'd have to do

> alot of shouting surely. Do give it a go, and

> make sure Mrs Keef watches it too, she might find

> it erm, worth the watch.;-)

Right, well we watched it, and I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. It did look stunning in a very sylised way, kind of Sin City meets The Matrix, meets Troy. There was little or no story though, so it was totally reliant on action scenes and computer generated effects.

Think Mrs Keef was impressed enough with the lads in it, although the 6 packs were even computer generated, and that is just plain cheating!!!

Was quite funny seeing Dominic West (AKA McNulty for the Wire fans) playing a role using his (real) posh English accent.

[Brendan]

I highly recomend the comic (reading it will probably also give you a better appreciation of the film). It's by Frank Miller who also wrote Sin City.

[mockney piers]

It was a really very silly film, but I did quite enjoy it for a no brainer. You did wonder if anyone actually talked rather than shouted in them olden days innit.

I watched Hellboy last night on Five which was excellent if once again, very silly. Will definitely keep an eye out for the sequel now.

[BJL]

My favourites (today):

La Belle et la B?te

A Man For All Seasons

Koyaanisqatsi

Dr No

The Harder They Come

Seven Year Itch

Touchez pas au grisbi

Goodfellas

Spinal Tap

Wattstax

[Brendan]

Hellboy is great. I also watched it again last night. As with all comic book adaptations the character development (especially the bad guys) and the context was a little lacking but it was brilliantly entertaining and visually very true to the comics.

[Keef]

Have never seen or heard of Hel boy, will look out for it.

Didn't realise 300 was based on a comic, that explains a lot!!! Whilst watching it, I commented to Mrs Keef that it was like the film had been made by a computer games company to market a game.

Brendan, do you have lots of these comics (Sin City / 300)? If so, may I borrow some please.

[mockney piers]

Hellboy is by Guillermo Del Toro of Cronos and Pan's Labyrinth fame (and next to do the LOTR adaptions with the 2 part Hobbit).

I'm a little concerned that Mr 300 (Zack Snyder), who obviously ha sa flair for visuals but doesn't get under the covers of a story the same way Del Toro can, is just finishing up the movie adaption of The Watchmen, which is so beautifully multi-layered a tale that I fear for how it has fared under his direction.

[Brendan]

I don?t actually Keef. Most of what is left of my comic collection is in SA. Dulwich library however has a very good comic section. I get a lot of comics out there. They have most of the Sin City?s, 300, a few Hellboys and a lot of other stuff.

You will be amazed at how many films which don?t fall into the (expected) superhero genre are based on comics. Other recent ones that I have enjoyed have been, From Hell, V For Vendetta and Road to Perdition.

All time favourites: The Crow and Howard the Duck. (and many others)

[Brendan]

Piers I think the difference between the films 300 and Hellboy is evident in the books they were adapted from. It may have been why they were picked up by different sorts of film makers.

300 (like frank miller?s other work) is written in style of almost film like landscape images with a narrative flowing over it. It?s all big scenes of soldiers trudging over severe landscapes and pitched battles for life and death. In-depth characterisation and excessive dialogue are brushed aside in a Spartan manner because they?re there to fight and die if needs be not pansy on about how they?re going to miss their wives and puppies. It was all part of the idea. Well that?s the way I saw it anyway.

Hellboy on the other hand is a more traditional comic book with a group of good guys who work for a secret government organisation one is a demon from hell, one spontaneously combusts if she gets upset and another is an aquatic human discovered in a Nazi laboratory during WW2. They do battle with the bad guys who are lead by Rasputin who continually dies and is reincarnated back from hell in order to open the gates back there for ancient evil gods to return to earth, kinda thing.

[Keef]

Sounds cool to me, I'll be adding it to My lovefilm list!

[mockney piers]

Don't get me wrong, 300 was a blast it's just Dawn of the Dead and 00 aren't necessarily the best showcases for handling something as complex, not to mention as revered as Watchmen. But fingers crossed, plus young Silk Spectre looks great ;-)

[Brendan]

I've never actually read Watchmen. I really should get around to it. As you mentioned Alan Moore is briliant.

[HonaloochieB]

Rochelle Rochelle

Prognosis Negative

Sack Lunch

Chunnel

Blimp

Checkmate

The Pain And The Yearning

Blame It On The Rain

Ponce De Leon

Cold Fusion

[Brendan]

By all Accounts

Only the Blessed Sea

Lord Chester?s Bayonet

Live on a Summers Eve

Outside the Chapel Window

Cradled by the Sisters

Kipper

Salacious Nonsense

[mockney piers]

Apocryphal Ocurrence

Liasing with Priests

Jemima's Wrath

Les Chat et Sur Le Fenetre

Pulp Friction

Mrs Migginiver

In the spirit of Cold Fusion being a real film, so's one of mine ;)

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Tsk, tsk Mockney - cats must be plural and windows feminine.

[mockney piers]

It's been a long, long time, Le chat et sur la fen?tre, meilleur?

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Tres bien, MP.

[Brendan]

What does that mean? I have never learnt French but I can basically make out, The cat somethinged the window.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I'm still reeling over Lord Chester's Bayonet. You show me yours ...

[HonaloochieB]

Brendan Wrote:

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> What does that mean? I have never learnt French

> but I can basically make out, The cat somethinged

> the window.

Isn't it a double bill?

The Cat supported by On The Window. The Cat is an hilarious farce in the style of Mr Hulot's Holiday starring the little-known French comedy stars Terri Ecossais and Jun Blanc-Champ. Their moggy goes missing somewhere in the house, his boss is coming to dinner and is allergic to cats, they've run out of spuds and the shops are all shut, unbeknowst to them their boss is bringing a German guest and their next door neighbour was a prisoner of war and is not the forgiving type.

Hilarity ensues.

On The Window is a George Formby film with French subtitles.

[Brendan]

Ah. I wondered where the "et" fitted in.

[HonaloochieB]

Facile-poisy.

[Brendan]

eww.