I recently got two DVDs - The Brave Little Toaster and How to Train Your Dragon. I'd already seen the first one several times, but last night was the first time i saw HTTYD, and i thought it was very good.

I'm always a bit nervous about Dreamworks' stuff - Shrek was hilarious but had a lot of jokes i didn't like in it, so much so that i haven't seen the sequels or even re-watched the first one - but i'd heard a lot of good things about it. I watched it with my sister, brother and dad last night, and we all enjoyed it. The soundtrack was very good, too.

The Brave Little Toaster was a favorite of ours growing up, and i still love it. I remembered a lot of it, but re-watching it reminded me of the parts that i had liked or really not liked as a kid.

I've been listening to one of its songs, Worthless, over and over again the past couple days. It's inspiring, in the sense that it inspires me to write; it's actually pretty depressing, especially for a kids' movie.

I just saw Requiem for a Dream about 17 hours ago, and have since not entered out of my constant state of slight depression. Wow, that was quite a movie, and the director really knew how to punch you in the face with conviction.

Has anyone else seen it? The soundtrack was phenomenal.

Excellent movie, Aronofsky's best in my opinion. Although it is a very depressing movie, it is one of the most powerful films I've ever seen, one that stuck with me for a long time. The soundtrack is great as well, I still get chill bumps when I hear that main theme.

Well, a few days ago I finally watched David Lean's 1965 Academy Award winning film Doctor Zhivago. My thoughts could easily be summoned-up in emoticons:

I was expecting a rather melodramatic film, thanks to the comments some of my friends had made about it, but I wasn't quite expecting it to be so..... goofy. The whole story is one huge soap opera set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution during/after WWI. The historical aspect of the film is well done and gets the right feeling of dread, if you know your history.

The acting is good, though I just couldn't bring myself to care for a jerk like Zhivago. I mean really, you have a beautiful and faithful wife plus a kid but you throw it all away for some messed up blue eyed blonde?? So yeah, our two "heros" (if you can call them that) did not get my sympathies.

Production value wise the film is beautiful, though lacks the grand, awe inspiring magnificents of Lawrence of Arabia. Also the score (which won an Oscar) is so irritatingly repetitive!!! I mean really, why use the same piece of music for the entire film? Laura's theme is the only piece in the blasted score.... well, besides a military motif and some Russian style singing.

Anyway, Zhivago is highly inferior to Lean's masterful Lawrence of Arabia from 1962. If you have to choose between the two, go with Lawrence, a true classic.

Score: 2/5

If you have to choose between the two, go with Lawrence, a true classic.

Hear hear! My brother and I saw Lawrence of Arabia last summer, and we were going around quoting it for days afterward. We even jokingly gave ourselves points when we used a quote in regular conversation. Anyway- the movie was enjoyable, and we quite liked the whole Egypt-British-World War I-history aspect.

Well, this post should make Shadow happy.....

Last night I purchased and watched Ridley Scott's 1979 classic Alien. I have already seen and quite enjoyed James Cameron's Aliens (1986) and have been wanting to see the first one for a long time. What are my thoughts on the film? Simply put: Wow.

There are lots of films that are given the title "artsy", but Alien is truly an art film. The entire production feels like a work of art. From the set design to the special effects everything feels real. You would be hard pressed to find any badly rendered visuals in this film.

The acting and characters are good and likable. Occasionally the acting was a tad stiff, but overall the cast did a great job. I loved some of the dry humor sprinkled throughout the film.

The iconic Alien itself is handled with skill, though there are a few instances where it is painfully obvious it's a "man in a monster suit". Thankfully, these scenes are few and only last a scant number of seconds.

The music works well in the film, though I would highly recommend giving the complete Jerry Goldsmith score a listen. The score as heard in the film works, but is a heavily butchered version of the originally intended score.

Finally, a shout-out has to go to Mr. Scott and Terry Rowlings for their excellent pacing of the film. Some complain about the first Alien film being slow and boring. I never felt it was either of those and actually, the slow pace just adds to the tension.

One more thing! The miniature work and matte paintings are simply stellar!! You really can't tell they are miniatures/mattes.
-----------------------------

In closing, I greatly enjoyed this movie. There are a few things that keep it from getting a perfect rating, but that doesn't mean it's not one of my favorites now. If you can handle some strong language and a few gory moments, I highly recommend checking this film out. A true classic.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5
Film rated R: Creature violence and language
Recommended for ages 17+

I'm glad you liked it, PC004! Folks that enjoy Aliens and then view Alien for the first time expecting more of the same are likely to be greatly disappointed. They're two totally different film styles. Alien is a pure horror film, and what makes it so very effective is that the viewer sees so precious little of the titular antagonist, which creates a pile of tension and paranoia. There comes a major plot twist about 2/3rds of the way through the film involving Ashe, the ship's science officer, which just piles tangible feelings of loneliness on top of everything else. These poor folks are out in the middle of nowhere and truly on their own against a creature that is malevolent and cunning in equal parts.

Captain Dallas crawling around in the air shafts with the chirping noise of the motion sensor in the background always gets my hair to stand up on end. Worth the price of admission alone.

PC, I'm not sure which edition of the DVD you got, but if you got the super duper Collector's Edition (or Director's Cut, etc.) it's worth your time to take a look at at least one deleted scene involving Ripley making a sobering discovery in one of the Nostromo's landing gear bays. Another one where Dallas, Kane, and Lambert all listen to the distress call that brings them to the planet is interesting as well. I'm very much looking forward to Scott's return to the story when he releases the prequel to this film sometime in the future.

It's great to see another Alien fan! I love both movies for different reasons - Alien for the horror, Aliens for the horror/action). They're surprisingly intense.

@ Shadow. Thanks! Fortunately I already knew the basic plots and moods of both films before I saw them, so I already knew to expect Alien to be slower and more eerie than Aliens. The way I see it Alien is a pure Sci-Fi/Horror film while Aliens is a Sci-Fi/action film with a bit of horror thrown in.

This may be a poor choice of words, but I still find the sequel to be more "fun" to watch. It's the kind of film I could watch over and over and still enjoy. I think I would need a break after a few consecutive viewings of Alien.

I bought the "Special Edition" which has a commentary by Scott, a photo gallery, deleted scenes and two isolated score tracks (a major selling point for me! ). I need to check out the deleted scenes.... I've heard about the "Cocoon scene", but never actually watched it. I'll let you know what I think of it when I do!

@ Warrior. That pretty well sums up my feelings for the first two as well. I prefer to believe that Alien3 and Alien Resurrection never existed.

Definitely like Alien and Aliens, great movies, probably my favorite movies involving Aliens. "That's it man, game over man, game over! - Hudson

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition is finally coming out on Blu-Ray, on June 28th 2011!
I Can't Wait!
Here is the Link in Case anyone is interested:
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/03 ... e-june-28/

PrinceCooroo4, you summed up my feelings exactly, though I'm still lad I saw them right way round

And 3 & 4- absolutely

Over the past few days, I watched for the first time, all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I really liked them. I think my favorite character is the pirate with the wooden eye. He's just so funny. I love when his eye pops out and it rolls all over the deck and he's chasing it, "Me eye! Me eye!!" He and his side-kick are so funny to watch. I also loved Elizabeth's character. She started out this pretty little helpless damsel and turned into this fighting awesome pirate.

I was a little disappointed in the ending of the third one.

Also, I have a question.

It's funny, my girlfriend and I are watching POTC too, re-watching actually. Saw first last Monday, second on Friday. Haven't gotten to the third yet.

I hope I get this right, it's been a while I see the third.

I was a little disappointed in the ending of the third one.

I actually read, I think someone said it here on NW that:

I am really looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, I love Captain Jack Sparrow!

I was a little disappointed in the ending of the third one.

I actually read, I think someone said it here on NW that:

I am really looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, I love Captain Jack Sparrow!

Yea, I did see that scene at the end but I didn't realize that's what it signified. I thought it was just there to show us that

And I'm looking forward to the next one too.

Does anyone know of some good sci-fi or fantasy movies? I still need to watch LotR (gotta read the books first) and all of the Star Trek movies except the last one.

But I was thinking for being a pretty big Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan, my movie knowledge is actually rather small... especially in terms of Fantasy movies. Some favorites of mine include Narnia, Jurassic Park, Serenity/Firefly (what I've seen of it ), Star Trek... Also I typically don't watch R-rated movies... so PG-13 or under please! I really liked the Spacewestern style of Firefly... and JP is is the only other series besides Narnia that I'm really obsessed with

Since I'm at it, any good westerns? I like the Clint-Eastwood one's that my dad watches, after some explanation as to what was going on, Once Upon a Time in the West was ok, and of course I fell in love with Hidalgo

Dances with Wolves -I still have to see this, suprisingly since my dad is a huge western fan and the fact that it involves a wolf, I've seen parts of it but not enough to know what's going on... It's also on my to see list.

Avatar -meh. It was ok, great graphics, but the fowl language was really distracting... Other than that it was a good story, not as good as the other movies I saw around the time I watched it however, like To Save A Life.