I bought dvds and computer games last night in an uncharachteristic splurge:
HMV:
"Starship Troopers" b/c I'm behind the times and stuff, I've never seen this. It was on sale, so I bought it.
1/ the bit leading up to military training is almost hypnotically boring
2/the satire on action movie fascism was less impressive than I expected. Verhoeven shd direct Norman Spinrad's "The Iron Dream" haha.
3/ the bits with the spaceships being blown up were the best. They were really thrilling.
4/ the extra material is piss
5/ the actress whose character gets speared by the giant insects (IE the one w/the wavy hair) is very attractive
6/why do all hollyhood actresses seem to have the same shaped nose? (yes i know the actual answer, but why that shape in particular? It looks weird)
In retrospect, I didn't think "Starship Troopers" was that great, really. It was a bit of a dissappointment, prob I will watch it again in a couple of months & see if I like it any more.
Tarkovsky "Stalker" on DVD. this is prob. my favourite film, though I haven't seen it for a few years. It was expensive, but there were actually 2 DVDs in there as it turned out. I looked at the box when I got home, and couldn't quite bring myself to watch it straightaway, b/c it's quite long & needs much concentration to absorb the beautiful imagery & stuff. At the same time, I looked at the inner sleeve, and I was like Wow, "The Mirror", "Andrei Rubylev" etc etc I must get these as well. I'll probably watch it tonight, b/c Jill will probably beat me over the head w/a frying pan if I try to watch it when she is there (she is at the in-laws for a couple of days).
Is "Showgirls" worth a fiver? That was in the sale as well.
VIDEO GAME SHOP
I keep looking for "Dungeon Keeper 2", but no-body ever has it, gah, so I bought this fancy compilation of all 3 half life titles. It looks very nice and, uh, immersive on my new ms box blah blah. Poss poor old Tarkovsky will have to wait a little longer. The one where you control the dopey security guard looks to be the best one.
Next to the "Half Life" box was a title which I've forgotten, but it was a sort of virtual strip club!! I looked at the back of the box, and believe it or not, you can buy a prog where you can have "Quake3" standard visual female strippers undress for you. I was kind of freaked out by this.
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)
Showgirls is not worth a fiver unless you have a psychotic Jewish housemate, two BB guns, and a bottle of scotch.
― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)
OK, I watched "Stalker" last night. Fuck, it's still got it. That section starting from when the stalker, the writer and the scientist get to the border of the zone in the landrover, then they get on the trolleycart and go into the heart of the zone, and you can see then dereliction behind them to this backing of awesome freaky music (eduard artemiev) then they stop the trolleycart, and there's all the burnt out cars and tanks, overgrown telegraph poles leaning at crazy angles etc. That whole sequence is just about as good as it gets for me. It's so strange and 'other'. I'm really glad I bought it.
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)
i found Starship Troopers did improve a lot with repeated viewing over time. i didn't like it much at first. it depends who you watch it with if anyone too. second time i saw it was with a friend who just laughed all through it pointing out how funny it was and then it all sort of clicked for me.
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)