Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched all 3 of the Divergent films yesterday. They were pretty good. I wouldn't go out of my way to see them in the theater. But the story was interesting, the action was decent and the special effects were good.

Most importantly, the characters weren't too annoying. That can ruin a YA movie. A couple times they made obvious stupid decisions which was a little frustrating. But they weren't whiny brats. Overall, they were generally likable.

I'll probably marathon the Hunger Games movies later this week. I haven't seen those yet. I'm interested to see how they compare.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

If it's that price or lower I'll jump on it. :) BUT, if last year was any indication, I don't expect any "good" savings and will likely not make any purchases.

What I saw earlier is mostly a bust for my interests. That Price III set, the Vincent Price II set, and possibly Pride + Prejudice + Zombies if the prices are low enough, and the BR of E.T. (for my grandkids - I don't like the film) if it's ~$5. I already own copies of anything else I find "interesting."

Project Almanac sounded like a possibility (although dangerously similar sounding to other YA fare) until I discovered it's a "Found Footage" type film. I've decided the vast majority of those aren't for me. The *only* film of that type I've liked enough to re-watch is Troll Hunter. It's quite good. It's doubtful I'll ever re-watch the others of that type I own.

I *do* recommend that Watchman set they're offering (@ 9:33am) *if* the price is right. I got one for $27 and highly recommend it at that price or lower (comes with a hardcover copy of the graphic novel which sells for that by itself).

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I am the mood for a particular kind of movie... but it is sci-fi month...

Why did they never send Ernest to space?!

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

www.zavvi.com has good prices for region free imports when they're running sales. That's where I picked up my Star Trek TNG and Enterprise sets. I also got season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter for under $22 total.

They're doing Prime deals the next 3 days but Prime as in Optimus Prime and not Amazon Prime http://www.zavvi.com/offers/prime-de...dget_id=280921

Just double check each item to make sure it's region free or not.

Last night I watched MST3K Riding with Death. That was just horrible. Nothing good can really come from merging a pilot episode with the second to last episode of a series in an attempt to make a movie.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Good question! I know *I'd* have purchased such a movie. :D

Give The Reluctant Astronaut (1967) a try... It's quite similar to a Earnest movie.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I own that, done!

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

anybody watched Repo! a space opera? it was surprisingly good. apparently it was a bomb at the box office. It did prove one thing - paris hilton has no acting or singing talent

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Not much volume from me so far, but here's what I've been watching:

Black Mirror: Really good and disturbing British sci-fi-ish series.

Star Wars TFA: First time rewatching it since I saw it in theaters, even though I always meant to go again and bought the BD on day 1. I enjoy it and like the cast, but the recycled plot still annoys me.

Logan's Run: I had to watch this due to all the chatter :), and I still like it, but it confirms my thoughts that it's dated and not fresh. There's a vintage featurette on the BD, and while it looks terrible on the format, I'm glad it's included rather than not.

Hunger Games and Divergent have an especially similar feel because of the female protagonists. I think I liked the first Divergent better, but I'm in for the third one when I get around to it.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just finished The Divergent Series: Insurgent, on HBO 2. Overall it wasn't too bad, and I think I would rewatch the movie.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just watched Land of the Lost and I'm mourning the lost hour and a half of my life. Ok, that is dramatic, but man, this was awful. I'm not a Will Ferrell fan to start with, but this was just borderline offensive throughout the whole movie and a couple scenes definitely cross the line. Just gross. It could have been good. There were glints, but honestly, it is not worth the watch for those glints.

I first read the Hunger Games series before seeing the movie. I thought the first movie was pretty well done and followed the book well. I've definitely watched worse adaptations. The following movies aren't too bad either, imo. I was initially reluctant to read/watch them for many reasons already stated-recycled plot lines (Battle Royale, The Long Walk)-but I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed the first book. The rest of the series kind of faded as she went on but the movies are enjoyable to watch..

I have not read Divergent but have seen the movie. I didn't think it was genius but I was entertained. I do plan on watching the 2nd one sometime this month as I do have it on my DVR, but I don't plan adding them to my collection. Again, worth the watch.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I might watch Mockingjay sometime this month, as both parts are on Epix On Demand. Saw the first one a couple years ago and enjoyed it, but never did see Catching Fire.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I've been watching MASK this morning. Just finished Disc 2 of Volume 1. I loved this show when I was a kid.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I took a movie break between my discs of Twilight Zone last night and popped in Toxic Avenger. I didn't finish it but this reminded me how much better the movies Troma used to be back then. I think I like this movie more now than I did when it came out.

But of course Troma being Troma, they screwed up the set by including the rated version of part 3 in the blu-ray set. I was planning on swapping out the bluray with my unrated disc from the tox box until I decide to purchase the unrated version of 3 on bluray.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I purchased a copy of that one some time back, in spite of a massive dislike for Will Ferrell and almost anything he's in, to find much the same thing. It was so bad I've not even considered adding "II" in spite of Ferrell not being in it and that I'm a almost OCD completist.

lrend loaned me her copy of Penny Dreadful S1 yesterday. Another series I'd not heard of that she raved about, insisting I need to watch (she got me hooked on Game of Thrones so I *do* take her recommendations somewhat seriously in spite of her liking Rob Zombie films although I find them dreadfully bad). So, it counts and I watch a couple of episodes last night. So far I'm not involved, it looks to be going nowhere fast, and I don't see myself continuing after the season is finished. It has *very* good ratings at IMDB and good reviews so what am I missing?

After ~45 minutes of trying I *finally* was able to snag a $30 copy of the Vincent Price III BR set this morning! I'll be watching the qualifying films from that one as soon as it arrives. :)

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

IMDB ratings aren't really accurate. You'll get large groups that spam 1s or 10s which skew ratings. If you do icheckmovies.com and follow the imdb lists, you'll soon discover how bad it gets. One day you'll find some weird old turkish film is suddenly one of the top 50 movies of some genre, or other films won't be out yet but they'll show up on one of the lists.

If something is current, I get wary of things with a score under 8. It's not a perfect science but it's worked well enough for me when someone raves about something new I don't know much about.

Snowpiercer was something I heard a lot of good things about. Then I watched it and the cliches were just too much for me to take and the "hero" didn't really do much. It's like how Harry Potter only got to where he ended up because of all the people around him doing most of the work.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Totally agree with you about the lists...for awhile there was this awful short that was a fan film basically, on the short list. The person who made it made hundreds of accounts and liked it up so far that it made the icheckmovies list for quite a while.

I'm surprised about your reaction to Snowpiercer though. I really enjoyed it until the very end where they left quite a few plot holes. Definitely re-watchable for me, though I don't know that I'd add it to my collection unless I found it for a bargain price.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

That's why I also read reviews from "trusted" sites. If they concur with the ratings I'll usually give it a try. They all failed me on this one. I've now watched 3.5 episodes and my opinion hasn't really changed. I *do* plan to watch the entire season as it's only 8 hour length episodes.

You lost me there...

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

When something has a lot of promotion or has just come out, you'll get a lot of fanboys rating things 10. So if something can't even get an inflated rating above 8 at that point, it probably isn't that great. I mostly go of this inaccurate system for new releases I don't know much about, like with whatever new indie zombie film with nazis has just come out.

I was in a weird mood and really focused on analyzing it as I was watching. I thought the premise wasn't presented well at all. Text telling us I'd say it's well made but everyone was playing it straight while the everything going on was a bit absurd. I guess I could compare it to a movie Ed Wood would make if he had a budget and people that could act.

After that I watched Spring Broke, which I really liked but I think part of that was being able to have watched when MTV started it's spring break shows. I thought it was pretty interesting seeing cities fighting for the chance to be the place where everyone goes, because of the cash it brings in, but then everyone that lives there hates the mess it leaves and the citizens don't want it there anymore.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Gotcha! Makes sense.

I actually enjoyed one indie zombie Nazi film, Red Snow, I watched for the last Horror Challenge. There are more other than Red Snow 2!?!? (I have that one but haven't watched it yet... I don't think...) Of course I have problems with all the zombie films anyway as most are just not that good, reuse the same old tropes, and bring nothing "new" to the table. That's a lot of why I didn't care for the series Walking Dead. Well... and the way they'd just kill someone to further the plot whether that death made any logical sense or not. I've never read the comic simply because I don't care that much for horror comics.

I *did* watch a interesting Nazi SF film, Iron Sky, earlier this month. It's nothing truly special, just one of those "turn off your brain and have fun" type films. Very over the top/campy type thing.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I made it through 4.5 episodes of Penny Dreadful and am calling it quits. I just can't work up interest in any of the characters or goings on and was so dreadfully bored with that last half episode I just couldn't see myself forcing any more viewings.

I had designs to get to that BR set of the Indiana Jones films only to find Raiders and Temple of Doom do not have fantasy or SF tags so they're off the menu for now. Instead I decided to finally watch Miranda (1948), a mermaid tale...

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

The point is the disturbing aspects - and, arguably, they're disturbing because they seem so very, very plausible. Even a cursory understanding of politics suggests that the whole intrigue (and side-flipping + and final punchline) are scarily close to reality.

I suspect I enjoy the Gene Kelly film too much - none of the ACO music affects me as far as I can tell. Though the eerie opening pullback music suits the mood perfectly.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Teen-aimed books seem to (now?) be worse than films or TV for ripping off/riffing on whatever happens to have sold well. And now film adaptations of all of them are becoming as abundant. Or, at least, the numbers seem large because the similarities seem huge and it's symptomatic of the general lack of creativity in the world, etc.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

If anyone's looking for some good space opera, check out the SyFy show Dark Matter. A crew wakes up on a run down spaceship with no memories. There's lots of action and intrigue. Gunfights, robots, clones, big explosions, double crosses, etc.

Season One is on Netflix. Season Two just started, and the episodes are available on the SyFy Now app.

http://www.netflix.com/title/80023289
http://www.syfy.com/darkmatter

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

"Genetic" not "space," but Yes! It's really entertaining. And weird. But in a good way.

The same(ish) people also did a shorter ilm called... Devil's Carnival, which I did not like the first time through, but emphatically did the second.

Re: The 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Supernaturally-melted Nazis and mystical stones with a blood-drinking cult aren't good enough that you can ignore that oversight..?! It's clearly an oversight, they're surely fine. :)