What was the last film you watched?

[citoyen]

I thought Hellboy 2 was much better than 1!

d.

[red marley]

It's probably not the same film, but with a similar plot, Con Air is the only film I have ever walked out of in the cinema because it was so utterly dire.

[her_welshness]

It's probably not the same film, but with a similar plot, Con Air is the only film I have ever walked out of in the cinema because it was so utterly dire.

Ahh no, Con Air is a fabulous film. Switch off brain, thats what you need to do 

Today I watched properly for the very first time 'Ferris Bueller's day off', it was very good indeed!

[Flying_Monkey]

It's probably not the same film, but with a similar plot, Con Air is the only film I have ever walked out of in the cinema because it was so utterly dire.

Con Air is a spoof, or at least it is very, very ironic. Do people not realize this? It's one of the most deliberately over-the-top films ever made, and absolutely filled with movie references and in-jokes. I guess if you watched it thinking it was going to be a serious action film then you might be disappointed...

[red marley]

Con Air is a spoof, or at least it is very, very ironic. Do people not realize this? It's one of the most deliberately over-the-top films ever made, and absolutely filled with movie references and in-jokes. I guess if you watched it thinking it was going to be a serious action film then you might be disappointed...

Thanks for that interpretation Mr Monkey. Yes I went into the cinema realising that it wasn't intended to be a "serious action film". That's precisely what got my goat. A film that cynically pretended to be knowing, but actually was just formulaic drivel hiding behind a facade of irony. I may have entirely misjudged the film as I never made it to the end, so perhaps something happened in the last half hour that would have turned my preconceptions upside down.

The computer that spits out all those 'scary movie' type spoofs creates product that is over the top and full of movie references, but it doesn't mean that it's at all clever, entertaining or making a point of any value.

[mattc]

I'm with Jo on this. Con Air was just loud and splodey, with some dull quiet bits in between. I could sit through it, but would resent actually paying to!

The Hot Shots! movies were proper action spoofs (there may be others that I can't think of right now, but they are rare). Pretty much all modern action movies are some mixture of action, sex and jokes, with the emphasis on the action. If the jokes aren't great, it better have some impressive/original action. Thrillers are a different beast (although you can have an action-thriller, but I don't think anyone's claiming this of Con-Air!).

If you want to BE a spoof, you have to be spoofing something. You can't have people pointlessly killing each-other and just claim it's ironic. It's like spoofing gratuitous nudity by fliming ... gratuitous nudity.

[LindaG]

Surrogates with Bruce Willis and some blonde that Crusty likes.  It was all right.  I wondered if it was inspired by 'Second Life'.

[Mike J]

Hot Tub Time Machine

[Bledlow]

It's like spoofing gratuitous nudity by fliming ... gratuitous nudity.

What's wrong with that?

[onb]

made in Dagenham good stuff.

[her_welshness]

Watched 'Ghost' last night with Pierce Brosnan and Ewan Macgregor. Good film, and a great ending too 

[Manotea]

Well I was going to watch Pitch Black last night whilst doing my Anfractuous accounts in the front room but it seems the DVD player has packed. I noticed this on my last trip to Tesco a 20" flat screen TV with integrated freeview and DVD for £169 which struck me then as a good replacement for our CRT TV*, FreeviewBox and DVD, even better now the DVD has packed.

*Yeah, I know, its like the dark ages round here...

[tiermat]

Well I was going to watch Pitch Black lat night whilst doing my Anfractuous accounts in the front froom but it seems the DVD player has packed. I noticed this on my last trip to Tesco a 20" flat screen TV with integrated freeview and DVD for £169 which struck me then as a good replacement for our CRT TV*, FreeviewBox and DVD, even better now the DVD has packed.

*Yeah, I know, its like the dark ages round here...

My lodger has bought one of these, seems ok, but the tuner is a bit sensitive, so ensure you have a good TV signal, or else you will get Jack....

[Flying_Monkey]

If you want to BE a spoof, you have to be spoofing something. You can't have people pointlessly killing each-other and just claim it's ironic. It's like spoofing gratuitous nudity by fliming ... gratuitous nudity.

That's because it's not doing what you are claiming. The 'something' it is being ironic about are the Die Hard-type films of which Hollywood had become so fond.  It's not Hot Shots! and parody does not have to so obvious. Sure, if you like your humour with a big signpost saying 'this is funny, laugh now' then fine, but the whole point of Con Air is that it is completely slick, done with an entirely straight face, and yet totally ridiculous. The very fact that a lot of people can't distinguish it from a conventional Hollywood action film goes a long way to demonstrating its point, but also that perhaps these films are so far gone as to be un-spoofable... I certainly didn't say that Con Air was successful in its irony, but I like the fact that it tries and I like the references. 

[andyoxon]

I have to say I didn't see ConAir as a spoof, but then it's often difficult to tell when the OTT Holywood action blockbusters tend to be derivative to vary degrees.  So perhaps case of unsubtle derivation blurring into 'spoof'?

[her_welshness]

I just thought that Con Air was camp and brilliant fun!

[Manotea]

If you find 'Con Air 'to cerebal there is always 'Snakes on a Plane'.

But if you like your tripe airborne then I offer you 'Airforce One'.

[citoyen]

perhaps these films are so far gone as to be un-spoofable...

Having watched the magnificently preposterous Under Siege on telly recently, I would say this is the obvious conclusion.

Con Air is weird. I wouldn't call it a spoof as such, more a film that's aware of the ridiculousness of its premise and plays up to it. Straight-faced? Really? John Malkovich for one is camping it up to the max from the off. The whole thing is very knowingly OTT. I get it, but I'm with Jo - it's all just a bit too self-indulgent for my liking.

d.

[Deano]

De Ja Vu on BBC3 tonight.  Pretty dull, though Denzel Washington gave good integrity, as he always does.

[Deano]

De Ja Vu on BBC3 tonight.  Pretty dull, though Denzel Washington gave good integrity, as he always does.  Preposterous plot.

[TimO]

So good you watched it twice?

Damned repeats.

[citoyen]

De Ja Vu on BBC3 tonight...

I have a strange feeling I've seen this post before.

d.

[mattc]

If you find 'Con Air 'to cerebal there is always 'Snakes on a Plane'.

Now that's a film that knew what it was doing!

[spesh]

So good you watched it twice?

Deano's in more than one time line. 

[Flying_Monkey]

perhaps these films are so far gone as to be un-spoofable...

Con Air is weird. I wouldn't call it a spoof as such, more a film that's aware of the ridiculousness of its premise and plays up to it. Straight-faced? Really? John Malkovich for one is camping it up to the max from the off. The whole thing is very knowingly OTT. I get it, but I'm with Jo - it's all just a bit too self-indulgent for my liking.

I'd agree entirely. Mind you lots of films are like this, I suspect because, until the more recent rise of indie film conventions in the mainstream it was just about the only way you could express any critique from within the system.  If you read William Gibson's piece on adapting his short story, Johnny Mnemonic, as a screenplay, he just gave up trying to do what he wanted and gave Hollywood what they wanted and more until it was utterly ridiculous. And they loved it. The audiences however, could see it was ridiculous. That's what I don't quite always get - that the audiences seem sometimes to be more intelligent than they are estimated to be by the producers, yet sometimes vastly less so...