I have to admit that I liked that one, too. but I like David Spade.

British is pretty close to American. I’d be interested to check those out.

I enjoyed it immensely. Kronk is hilarious.

there are probably british subtitled versions out there

I try to be entertained at the movies but you hit on an important point in your reply to TSED a bit lower down: “I would opine that in order NOT to become immersed in it and truly enjoy the story, your friends would have to be actively resisting the experience.” A good movie has this quality. There is a suspension of disbelief that lets you accept spaceships, or magic or whatever else to movie throws at you as part of it’s world.

Avatar had this going VERY well for me for the first half, but it broke the rules of it’s own universe when it came to the battle scene. The universe it is set in allowed for a alien races, and superior technology to ours, but otherwise it followed the laws of our universe. Having the natives win broke the suspension of disbelief for me because it is inconsistent within the universe setup by the first half of the movie. If the universe this movie was set in was the one Firefly/Serenity used then having bow and arrows beating guns might work because there is a wide range of technological advancement working side by side throughout that universe.

For the duration of a movie I can forget the laws of our universe and accept fantastical things… but I get jarred back to reality when the movie isn’t true to itself, and most movies these days keep their settings too close to reality for the typical hollywood ending to fit.

They found it the same in the “this is awful WHY HAS IT MADE SO MUCH MONEY” way. I can’t say anything because, you know, I haven’t seen it, but I will point out that my friends have much higher than average standards for artistic endeavours due to their backgrounds: my friends are all in the arts. Actors, theater techs, writers, musicians, deconstructionist visual artists, etc. etc. Special effects only really impress the theater techs, who have seen so many productions that they merely respect the tech for the tech and not for the movie.

The musicians are probably the easiest to impress, but I haven’t really talked to any of them about it.

Are they subtitled?

I first saw The Forbidden Zone years and years ago on a sick day when I found it stocking up at Blockbusters. I think I picked it out just because it had Danny Elfman actually IN it instead of just recording the soundtrack. You’re right though, I’ve always loved it. In so many ways it’s a perfectly awful, unwatchable movie, but in so many more it’s just perfect.

I saw zero connection between Transformers and Avatar. The whole point of Transformers was selling toys and making pre- and early teen boys go “Wow, that’s so cool”. Telling a story seemed to be a necessary evil to achieve that end. Avatar, by contrast, was a story that had to wait fifteen years for the tech to be there to tell it. Visually, the point was to draw you in completely and make you forget that you were watching effects… something the movie did a great job at. I would opine that in order NOT to become immersed in it and truly enjoy the story, your friends would have to be actively resisting the experience. In which my question would be… why did they bother?

I skipped that one. Was it really good?

Ghostbusters stands out as being a movie thats continues to hold up wonderfully in the years since it was made.

I have seen both Gamers movies, and enjoyed them very much. (Yay Netflix!)