What ELSE (other than KUNG FU) has everyone been watching?

[AlbertV]

SAINT - Dick Maas' latest horror film this time revolving around the legend of Saint Nicholas. On December 5 when there is a full moon, St. Nick and his men go on a horrific murdering spree and 2010 proves no different. It is up to a college student and a detective who had witnessed the last of Nicholas' murders (he murdered the detective's family when he was a kid). Excellent stunt sequence in the rooftop chase scene and some pretty gruesome death scenes. I always liked Maas' work and this is one of his good films.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Haunted Castle (1921: F.W. Murnau: Germany) **½/****

This is the first of hopefully twenty horror/suspense/lawyer related films to watch this month. This is a good chance to fill in some holes in the sundry lists of mine. I will start by watching the second extant Murnau film (The Dark Road being the first) and the title surely fits for this month’s theme. While Murnau’s latter Nosferatu is a classic in the horror film genre this movie is not a horror (apart from one dream sequence) and well the title is misnamed as well.

There is a castle, but it is not haunted. The German title Schloß Vogeloed literally means Castle Vogeloed which is the castle owned by Lord Vogelöd. Vogelöd is hosting several guests in his abode for hunting if the weather permits. An uninvited guest Count Johann Oetsch, who was previously accused and put on trial of murdering his brother, shows up and is mysteriously antagonistic towards everyone (why they do not just kick him out is probably due to aristocratic “rules of the game” possibly). His presence particularly annoys the former wife (Olga Chekhova) of his brother who is now married to the Baron Safferstätt. But what are his reasons for being there? And why did Father Faramund who is another guest suddenly disappear?

If you are used to seeing Murnau’s exquisite later films this movie is more of a shock. The camera, while characteristic of the era, almost never moves -- I only detected one shift of the camera to cover a scene. The sets, while decent, are not as expressionistic as his later works. It is impressive how Murnau would improve as a director in such a short period of time is and unfortunate that he died too young.

There are much better Murnau films out there and there are certainly better early period horror films as well (Nosferatu covers both categories). But if are looking to see an early Olga Chekhova film (who had a vast career in Germany; read about her exploits during WWII), an early Murnau that is a precursor to Tartuffe in part of its theme or an early whodunit mystery then this is an OK pick. Unfortunately this is not more than that.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Comedy of Terrors (1963: Jacques Tourneur) ***/****:

This is the second pick for this month. I am deciding to try to get to as many variants of unwatched horror films as possible (of course I can always change my mind and strictly watch classic horror). From a silent murder mystery in The Haunted Castle to a later comedic horror film there is one thing in common to both of these films – they are considered minor films by great directors. Tourneur helped helm some of my favorite horror films (also produced by Val Lewton) in Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man. He also directed one of the best noir films in Out of the Past.

I was wary going into the movie, mostly caused by a few comments here and there on this film (not even sure where now) and the inauspicious beginning did not help. It was a sped-up (undercranked) scene that was plebian and had me wondering if Tourneur was going to treat this as a lowball comedy. I further thought this with the first scene between Boris Karloff, Joyce Jameson and Vincent Price. Karloff is underused, but ultimately that was because of his advanced arthritis and bad back. Jameson is not as good at acting as the others, but when she is the target of Price’s quips they are just priceless. But then the movie gets better and the character interactions work well.

While the movie was on a tiny budget and was made quickly it has two solid strengths going for it. The direction, with some minor quibbles and a few scenes that could have been reshot, is still quite fluid and looks good. The biggest strength is the actors though. You have a brilliant performance from Price whose antagonist performance as Waldo Trumbull is so good I ended up rooting for him – so what if he is a murderer and an alcoholic. His partner in crime is played by Peter Lorre as Felix Gillie an inept burglar and an inept carpenter who has an eye for Price’s wife who is an inept singer. Lorre has the ability to sway sympathy towards him and is quite effective here. Trumbell married into a funeral business that was owned by Amos Hinchley (Boris Karloff), but business has dying because of the lack of deaths. In fact when times get tough he has to help create his own business.

Trumbell is in another jam. He owes a year’s worth of rent to the stalwart Shakespearean spouting (mostly MacBeth) John F. Black (Basil Rathbone in another good performance in the film; originally Boris was to have this role but it proved to be too physical for his aging body). But why not kill two birds with one pillow?

Add in Joe E. Brown in what is mostly a cameo role as a cemetery keeper, a very talented feline who is throughout the film and you have one of the best cast “B” horror/comedy films I have seen. I recommend this as it is quite a good time.

You can find this on a dual MGM R1 combo release with The Raven which has much of this cast though I still need to see it. Unfortunately it is OOP and prices are rising. There is a nice little interview with the writer Richard Matheson who wrote I Am Legend as well as the screenplays for several Roger Corman films like Pit and the Pendulum.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Mummy (1959: Terence Fisher) **½/****:

Any horror movie marathon should include at least one Hammer (must fight the urge to add Bros. after Hammer) horror film. While they were often inspired by the Universal horror films (and the many sequels) of the 1930s and 1940s they add an atmosphere that is unique to their studio with lush sets, vivacious color, more violence, and usually more sex appeal. So for my third horror pick of the month I decided to go for the most famous Hammer film I had not seen.

The plot and characters are derived from The Mummy’s Hand (1940) and The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) which had Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mummy (first of three for him). In 1895, Stephan Banning with his injured son (Peter Cushing) and relative Joseph Whemple desecrates the tomb of Princess Ananka against the warning of Mehemet Bey (George Pastell) a fez wearing follower of Karnak (do not tell him Karnak is a minor deity) and with the Scroll of Life accidently awakes Kharis (Christopher Lee) a man who had his tongue cut out and was forced to guard/keep company Ananka for the rest of eternity (this is later shown in flashback; this part was taken from The Mummy’s Hand). This puts Banning in a catatonic shock. Whemple orders the entrance to be closed, but not before Bey getting his hands on the scroll. Bey vows vengeance.

Three years later in England …

There is a unique problem with the Mummy itself. It is a slow and plodding creature that you could normally avoid with a brisk walk. The movie takes pains to put victims where they cannot escape his strangulated grip and slow flailing arms and gives the protagonist a limp which makes it harder for him to get away (though not as much is made of this as you might think). At one point his controller Mehemet Bey takes out victims with more effectiveness than the Mummy. It makes you think that he really did not need the creature at all. I think Lee did a good performance for what he was given – the very tightly wrapped dirty toilet paper body wrap mixed with his stucco head (though it makes you realize how good the make-up done by Jack Pierce in the 1932 version was). I also always enjoy Peter Cushing’s acting.

While this movie has its fans to me it is a minor Hammer horror film. Lee is given more to do in his Dracula performances and this does not have the uniqueness of a film like Night Creatures. The movie feels full of pastiche – though done well with the direction of Fisher and the early Hammer sets are done well. If you have not watched the Universal Mummy series than you will probably get more out of this. Though you may wonder why Kharis speaks English.

The English subtitles on the R1 Warner Bros 2001 release (which is probably the same release issued in the Hammer Horror Classics set that same year) are quite bad and often are truncated and in the wrong order of what is spoken (common for the early Warner Bros releases).

[skipsweet]

Last night: True Legend and Baseket Ball (still hilarious!). this morning: Goonies "Hey you guys!!" :squigglemouth:

[Lionclaw]

I just watched Hanna and I liked it but felt Hanna spent too much time not doing much then showing off her skills. It could have been a bit more fast paced but it was good for what it was.

[lifejuice]

Twin Peaks and Star Trek TNG are on Netflix instant, so I've been powering through those lately.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Magic Story (1987: Lau Bing-gei: Hong Kong) aka Corpse Master **/**** (if you haven’t seen a hopping vampire film take a half a star or more off):

For the fourth horror pick of the month I thought it was time for a Hong Kong hopping vampire (僵屍) film. I have two of these types of films on DVD that I have not seen (I do need to get the Mr. Vampire sequels) and it was between this and a badly filmed (and very poorly transferred) TV release (I really hope that movie is not a theater release) starring Gordon Liu named Shaolin Vs. Vampire.

This independent quickie cheapie lasted about a week in Hong Kong theaters and was one of many made to make money off of the Mr. Vampire series which was very popular at the time and would keep going a few years after this movie. This was Lau Bing-gei’s, the writer and director, only credit in any film anywhere that I could find. That is not a good sign and something I normally do not see for a Hong Kong film, even a cheap one. It makes you wonder if it is a pseudonym, though several in this film only seem to have this as their only credit. Lo Wei (The Big Boss) actually produced this. Quite a downturn since his days with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

If you are new to the genre and reading this review then I heartily recommend starting off with Mr. Vampire or Spooky Encounters. I have seen so many better hopping vampire films that I cannot recommend this to really anyone. There are no martial arts in this film, though a few stunts, which is a little strange since Mars and Benny Lai (both stuntmen/actors for Jackie Chan’s Sing Ga Ban for many years) both have big roles in this movie.

Beware of the magic Ding Dong.

Ding Dong is a child vampire (whom everyone thinks is a cute little hopping bloodsucker), one of several vampires on the loose. A scientist (Bill Tung: Supercop), his assistant (no idea who this is) who is in love with the scientist’s daughter, A Taoist priest (Mars) and several others are trying to capture vampires for money or other plot purposes. The assistant and his girlfriend befriend the little bloodsucker and try to keep him from harm. The movie’s plot is pretty much all over the place so you get the idea that it was make-it-up as you go and/or when we get hold of the actors working on other projects. There are a couple of nice scenes involving the child vampire (especially one where he interacts with other dead children – that does not sound good does it), but much of the direction, handling of humor and plot construction is somewhat inept.

The R1 BCI DVD (now OOP) has this film named Corpse Master (though that name is never used in the credits) along with Satan’s Slave in an Eastern Horror combo. I hate when they make up names for the film. It wastes my time trying to find information on the movie. The English/Chinese subtitles are burnt in and sometimes poor (well the English ones are). The transfer is widescreen, somewhat decent but I was not expecting much so I was fine with it.

[AlbertV]

ABANDONED - Brittany Murphy's final film is not bad for what it was. She played a woman who goes to the hospital where her boyfriend is receiving surgery and when he mysteriously "disappears", her sanity is questioned. Really tense at times with a very insane twist.

ARENA - Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson. Will write a full review on the main page, but it is quite brutally violent, Lutz does pretty good using boxing and low kicks and even is nifty with the sword. It yells "B-movie", but has one hell of an ending twist that hit me in the face.

[Dragons Fury]

watched the first episode of the italian drama Romanzo criminale which is about a small-time gang tryin to make it big in 1970s rome , so they decide that they will take over rome. - gotta giv the first episode 10/10 i just loved it

[blue_skies]

I've been recording a lot of Futurama off the telly so I've probably watched a good 6 – 10 episodes over the last week and more stored ready to watch:tongue:

Freeview Channel 11 – Pick TV – for anyone in the UK wanting to see the show.:bigsmile:

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Zodiac (2007: David Fincher) ***½/****:

“This world's divided into two kinds of people: the hunter and the hunted. Luckily I'm the hunter. Nothing can change that.”

For the fifth pick of the month I thought a serial killer movie would be appropriate. It was the only David Fincher film I had not seen and I had read good reviews about it. Technically it is more of a police procedural than a suspense or horror film, though it has elements of both.

The strength of a good procedural is that it gets you involved in trying to figure out the murderer as well with the facts given. Though I knew that ultimately the culprit(s) was not found and the movie is based on Robert Graysmith’s book Zodiac. The more research I have done on this case the more I realize it will not be solved. Too much time has elapsed, too many problems: unknown finger print at the cabbies murder scene, which technically could have been a cops, I do not remember if all the cops fingers were matched to correspond with the potential oops (so many crime scenes have been disturbed in various ways especially many associated with this case); possibility of copy cats (especially with several of the letters; possibility with additional murders as well); the fact the Zodiac took credit for crimes he did not do and there is many more issues as well.

Will the case ever be solved? I do not think so unless some excellent information/clues come out. Though an interesting point was made later in the film when it posed the scenario about two killers.

This is a fascinating film with some good to excellent performances. Fincher’s direction seemed understated for him which helps in this type of film. Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) is portrayed, rightfully so, as becoming more and more obsessed by the case to the detriment of everything around him, until the publication of his first book. It was more than just him that was consumed by the media frenzy as inspectors David Toschi, William Armstrong and reporter Paul Avery lives were upended.

It is usually cool to see Modesto mentioned in a movie, though often as in this case it is of an ignoble nature. I am glad Fincher got the facts right involving the area like the correct name for the newspapers (Modesto Bee, Sacramento Bee) and the highway (132; technically a very dangerous highway up until recent; many fatalities were from head-on collisions where people tried to pass) where the incident happened. I have seen too many films put the wrong information down when dealing with the area. There are even a couple jokes on the Sacramento Bee about them being less prestigious than the San Francisco Chronicle especially when Paul Avery “downgraded” his job.

[DarthKato]

I have not been watching too many movies in the past few days, due to college:nerd:. I have mainly been watching tv shows like Scrubs and twilight Zone in between work assignments.

[The Dragon]

Fast Five.

Whew!

[kungpowmaster]

I watched TOHO's WAR IN SPACE, the other day.
I'd not seen it before. I liked it, as I am partial to this type of stuff.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I blather a bit below so forgive. But if I can talk you into watching either short ...

Haunted Spooks (1920: Alfred J. Goulding, Hal Roach) ***½/****
The Haunted House (1921: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton) ****/****

For the sixth and seventh picks of this month I thought I could compare and contrast two famous silent shorts on the same basic theme: the fake haunted house. In Haunted Spooks we have an Uncle (Wallace Howe) trying to trick a couple, played by Harold Lloyd and his future wife Mildred Davis, out of their inheritance. They are supposed to live in the house for at least a year, but if they fail in this her Uncle gets the inheritance. To do this he decides to create a haunted house. In The Haunted House we have the more familiar variation of this theme of crooks establishing a haunted house to get away with their nefarious deeds (several Scooby Doo episodes, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken). Here we have local crooks led by Keaton-villain Joe Roberts who created an elaborate haunted house to cover up his counterfeiting scheme. Buster Keaton is the inept bank clerk who happens upon this scheme.

Harold Lloyd to me is the most underrated silent comedian now, though at the time he was with Charles Chaplin the most popular comedians of his era. Here he plays his typical The Boy character, but with a small twisted twist. After a snubbed love affair he decides to commit suicide (much like Keaton would do in Hard Luck a year later), which he is completely inept at. Luckily he runs into a lawyer (or the lawyer almost runs into him) who is looking for someone for The Girl to marry. He has no issue with this and gives up his current quest for The End.

There is some controversy as to how racist Haunted Spooks is. While the portrayal of the blacks is stereotypical in the aspect of them being scared by ghosts, the fact is everyone else besides the Uncle is as well. However, the use of intertitles in its characterized drawings of blacks is the most racist aspect about the film and the most difficult to defend.

However, the most known fact about the film is that this is the movie where Lloyd lost a thumb, a finger, was blinded for awhile by a prop bomb that exploded in his face. After this he wore a hand prosthesis for most of his work including this film.

Buster Keaton is one of my favorite comedians, so I am a bit biased. But his popularity had endured because his comedy is brilliant. He is appreciated more by critics now than he ever has during his lifetime and like Chaplin the resurgence started in the 1960s and has not stopped since.

While in The Haunted Spooks the house is more of the end of a punchline since its presence is at the end of the short, the house in The Haunted House is one of the best visual gag themed films of its time. It is an elaborate built, well thought out haunted house. Both films are disjointed in storyline, but neither is hurt by this. It seems like a natural progression within the plot both leading up to the haunted house. However, their approach with it is different and helps make the difference between a good film versus a great film. So much thought is given into the gags of The Haunted House.

Here is an interesting blog entry on the acting differences between “the big three.” http://artandcultureofmovies.blogspot.com/2010/05/dilemma-of-harold-lloyd.html while focusing on Harold Lloyd. The reason I was searching this was to try to describe the difference between the acting styles of the two. He correct in that Keaton would elongate scenes if the comedy was there where Lloyd is more plot oriented working off of what comes his way. He believes that this is because of Keaton’s vaudevillian background and Lloyd’s strictly movie background. While Keaton was the more physical of the two, Lloyd had no issue with doing stunts as well. Lloyd was the outwardly more emotional of the two (this is not saying much since Keaton was known as the stoneface – though he did act through the eyes) and often took a more optimistic approach that Keaton. However, even after seeing all of their major works it is still a question I ponder.

Criterion needs both Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. I suspect the first Keaton will be his small role in Limelight (1952) since they have the rights to this and they have been slowly rereleasing Chaplin’s films.

Roger Ebert on Safety Last: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20050703%2FREVIEWS08%2F507030302%2F 1023

[AlbertV]

BANGKOK KNOCKOUT
FREERUNNER

Reviewed these today on the main page along with ARENA.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Raven (1963: Roger Corman) ***/****

The month I had to watch at least one Roger Corman horror flick that I had not seen. For the eighth pick of the month I chose The Raven which like the previously mentioned The Comedy of Terrors has quite a bit of similarities: three outstanding actors in Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, a comedic take on the horror genre, the same writer Richard Matheson, an AIP release and both of these films are quite fun to watch. While I would say overall The Comedy of Terrors is a better film, I still recommend this to those who are reading this (you know who you are; ultimately that statement really doesn’t make any sense, but I digress).

The beginning is an adaptation of the titular poem, but after that nevermore for the rest of the film. This is to be expected though and like most of the Edgar Allen Poe adaptations they tend to stray or were never there in the first place. I certainly do not fault Corman and Matheson for this though and I like what Matheson does with the script. He has the ability to eschew too much predictability and Corman has the ability to make a miniscule budget go quite far. The reuse of the old sets and the addition of new sets over the years for the Corman films certainly helped create better looking films.

Price plays Erasmus Craven a wizard who pines for his lost love Lenore (who else) to the dismay of his daughter Estelle. The raven sitting “lonely on the placid bust” has the voice of Peter Lorre and is actually a wizard named Adolphus Bedlo who lost a duel between Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) the life-long enemy of Craven’s father. Craven, after turning Bedlo back to a human after a few tries, just wants to be left alone and wants nothing to do with the wizard world – until he hears that the spirit of Lenore might be in Scarabus’s command. Or is Bedlo lying to get Craven’s help to destroy a possibly innocent Scarabus?

This is the first film of two Price, Karloff and Lorre did together though all of them had done earlier pairings with Lorre and Karloff working in such films as You’ll Find Out (1940) and the underrated The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942); Price and Lorre working together in The Big Circus (1959); Karloff and Price working as far back together as the Tower of London (1939). Add in a very early appearance of Jack Nicholson as Lorre’s son (yes his son) and you have quite a strong cast. Though at this point I doubt anyone had the foresight to predict the type of career Jack would have.

While the optical effects are a bit goofy in the film, especially during the duel, as well as the exterior shots of the castle, the performances, sets and direction is quite good. I think fans of earlier horror comedy will enjoy this.

You can find this on a dual MGM R1 combo release with The Comedy of Terrors. Unfortunately it is OOP, but since I last wrote on The Comedy of Terrors there are more copies on Amazon (can I talk you into buying this?). There is a nice little interview again with the writer Richard Matheson (Richard Matheson: Storyteller) a Roger Corman interview (he really digs these films; though it is rare for him to trash one of his movies; I’m not sure I have ever heard him do that), a promotional record for the film and the original trailer which is worth watching because of unique footage in it (always fun to see trailers that have footage not in the film whether it is unique to the trailer or unused scenes, here it is promotional). From the extras you learn that The Raven was a bigger box office hit between the two films though you get the feeling that The Comedy of Terrors is the preferred film.

[ChanBiaoHungLungFuSheng]

British TV series Luther. Which is OUTSTANDING!

But only four episodes in season 2? Really?

[Fightingfist]

City on fire and Bullet in the head, both amazing and explosive action films!!!

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Premature Burial (1962: Roger Corman) ***/****

Well I decided to watch another Roger Corman horror flick that I had not seen. I have been enjoying them and I have a whole bunch of them. So for the ninth pick of the month I picked a horror film from Corman that did not have Vincent Price in it.* This is actually the only Corman Poe adaptation that does not have Vincent Price.

I feel Milland (The Lost Weekend, Dial M for Murder) does a good performance as the suffering Guy Carrell. Many of the reviews of this film seem to take acceptance to the fact he is not Vincent Price instead of concentrating on his successes or faults of the character. He does not have the flamboyance as Price, but he, as Corman says in the extras, he has a romantic-lead quality that fits well for this role (though it would have been even more believable a decade earlier). After this Milland would star and direct AIP's Panic in the Year Zero! (which I own but need to watch).

Guy Carrell has a favorite Poe illness – catalepsy. Or at least he thinks he does. This fear consumes every waking hour of his life ever since he had viewed an unearthing of a coffin whose occupant was buried alive and the corpse’s countenance was of sheer terror and of broken fingers trying to claw his way out. He even has tried to push away his lover Emily Gault (Hazel Court, The Raven) who will not let his issues get in the way of their love.

Some of the burial of the character is reminiscent of Vampyr (1932). I would have to imagine it was an influence. The sets are extravagant and every year they seem to keep getting better and better for the Corman films. Carrell’s mausoleum which he built out of days of obsession is an excellent piece which is completely overboard, but fitting for the character.**

Since this, House of Usher (1960) and Pit and the Pendulum (1961) have similar themes I recommend that you do not watch these too close together (though it might be of interest to watch this after watching one Corman/Price collaboration). While I do not think as highly of this as those two, I still like this and fans of these “B” horror films will probably enjoy this. I have some issues with the plot during the last part of the film and one major part during the film (I think his main issue, which was solved with the creation of the tomb, could have also been solved if he had a lawyer/trusted love one put in a particular place for a period of time say a month before he could be buried).

This movie is on the expensive and OOP Midnite Movies Double Feature with The Masque of the Red Death (do not fret about this though; The Masque of the Red Death will be reissued November 22 of this year from Image (R1) (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005AMJ2ZM/) with the film The Madhouse). It is also available on the Roger Corman Collection that has 8 films which is still available and cheaper than the Double Feature.

* Long story short: Corman would have had Vincent Price in the film if he could of, but he had an exclusive contract with American International. Corman had some issues with AIP and was going to do this next Poe film with Pathe. What is interesting about this is that Pathe was soon sold to AIP, but Corman still kept Ray Milland in the role (I have no idea if Corman could have gotten Milland out of the contract, I also doubt that Corman would have). Corman talks about this in the extras on the DVD.

** Safety Coffin link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin). The fear of premature burial has been around for a long time. While that article briefly mentions that it is in movie The First Great Train Robbery, it is earlier in Michael Crichton’s novel (he directed the film as well) where he goes into much more detail on this and some of the history of who created variations on this such as the Bateson's Belfry. This was created by George Bateson who made quite a bit of money by it, but was so consumed by fear of being buried alive he set himself on fire (http://www.members.tripod.com/DespiteThis/death/prebur.htmv).

[AlbertV]

FAME (1980) - Great movie about a group of students at the School of Performing Arts in NYC. This spawned the popular 80's TV series and was remade by the director who will bring back MORTAL KOMBAT.

NORMA RAE (1979) - Pretty good movie starring Sally Field as a young mill worker who decides to start a union and overcomes all obstacles to make sure she and her fellow workers get what they need.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (2011) - I didn't think it was that bad. I loved the entire last hour, where it was just a war zone in Chicago.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011) - I loved it!!! Chris Evans fit the role IMO as Steve Rogers. The USO scenes killed me as he makes what I now officially call "The Evans Face" (the half-smirk). Hugo Weaving was the perfect Red Skull and the supporting cast was top-notch plus great action set in WWII.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Inner Senses (2002: Law Chi-leung: Hong Kong) ***/****

For the tenth pick of the month I thought a psychological ghost story would be a good pick. The Sixth Sense (1999) had been a hit worldwide and had certainly inspired a wave in Hong Kong of “I see dead people” related films from this to later the same year The Eye (and eventually several sequels) and the spoof My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai). While the similarities are there with The Sixth Sense, often some of these movies like this one and The Stir of Echoes (1999) have been unfairly stigmatized because they have come later.

Jim Law (Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing: Happy Together) is a workaholic psychiatrist who spends his free time either swimming or studying the piles of patient files and books in his home. He takes on a case as a favor for another doctor Wilson Chan (Waise Lee: The Big Heat). Chan’s relative Cheung Yan (Karena Lam: July Rhapsody) lives alone just recently moved into an apartment (somewhat reminiscent of Dark Water (2002)) and sees ghosts. Unfortunately the landlord lost his wife and child to a landslide and expects them back. So he constantly makes food for them and has their shoes ready as well. This is not good for an already fragile ego.

But Dr. Law is quite good at what he does. He is able to get to the psychological problems of Yan, though at first causing even more problems, and help her tame her demonic subconscious. She is cured and is able to get on with life. He has proved to her that there are no ghosts. However, just as she is able to get on with life he starts to see an apparition that begins haunting him.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit and really loved the ending. It is a psychological thriller film first and ghost story second. It is not overly scary, but effective for what it is trying to accomplish. Just as you think you are following a tired plot it brings a new look and feel to the ghost story and handles it with more intelligence than many of this genre. It is a film first about flawed individuals and how their lives parallel each other. I had a few issues with the score overdoing a string instrument at times of heightened excitement. I thought the main performances were good and that Law Chi-leung’s direction is solid (he would be nominated for Hong Kong Film Awards Best Director and would win Best New Director) if not superlative. I liked the fact that he did not overdo the CGI and what is used looks good.

There are disturbing real-life associations with the film that are unfortunate. This was the lead actor Leslie Cheung (Farewell my Concubine) last film before his suicide the following year. While there are strong parallels between the ending and his death, his passing would take place over a year after the filming of this movie. Cheung was becoming more depressed as time went on and was also choosing more difficult characters to portray, as opposed to his many earlier pretty-boy roles, like his psychiatrist here and his pushed-over-the-edge marksman in Double Tap (2000: Law Chi-leung). His gamble paid off with the critics as he was nominated as best actor for both the Golden Horse and Hong Kong Film Awards for his Dr. Law performance. It is doleful that the world lost an(other) excellent actor who had a brilliant career ahead and it would have been interesting to see how he handled aging with more mature roles.

I viewed this on the R0 Tai Seng release. It has Cantonese (the original language) and Mandarin dubs. It has a short 11 minute “Making Of” featurette, original trailer and some in depth filmographies. The picture looks good and the subtitles seem to be correctly translated.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Boris Karloff: The Gentle Monster (1995: Kevin Burns)

“My wife has good taste. She has seen very few of my movies.” – Boris Karloff (this is attributed to him, though I currently cannot find the source)

For some reason I had a hell of a time trying to find it in IMDB. So here is the link (only 12 votes yikes; I should be the 13th): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462165/combined For the 11th pick of the month I needed to watch at least one horror documentary. Being a huge Boris Karloff fan I knew which one I had to watch.

Arts and Entertainment’s (A&E) long running serious Biography (1987 - ) have done quite a few episodes so it is easy to find one on a favorite actor or director. With a running time of 45 minutes I knew it was not going to have enough information on Boris that I did not already know, but it was fun to watch and like all of these I learned a few tidbitss. As usual with this series it does a condensed version of his life starting from his difficult childhood as a William Henry Pratt, to his struggling days as a touring actor in Canada, his early days in the silent cinema and his successes and typecasting after Frankenstein (1931). He has done so many movies that if you are fan you are bound to notice many missing from this documentary. Good to see The Comedy of Terrors mentioned though.

One of the benefits of documentaries is to see new footage of stars saying nice things about the actor. Here we have Carol Burnett, Ron Chaney, Bela Lugosi Jr., Roddy McDowall, Robert Wise, Sara Karloff, Peter Bogdanovich (IMDB misses this one for the documentary; Peter directed Boris in Targets (1968) how many extras is this man in?) and several others. Everyone, of course, has nothing but nice things to say about him. I do wonder why he was married so many times (five or six; one they state they are not quite sure on).

One issue that is annoying because of the documentaries age is that the scenes of the films shown are from pretty bad copies (possibly public domain for the older movies). A later filmed documentary (literally in a few years) would have access to restored films and would look a lot more polished that what is shown here.

I do think fans of Boris would enjoy this as well as fans of the classic horror genre. I certainly liked it.

You can find this biography on two DVDs: Biography – Boris Karloff: The Gentle Monster from A&E or on the Heroes of Horror R1 Image release. Both are OOP, but if you can find either one pick it up. Though specifically if you can find the Heroes of Horror pick it up. It is an awesome biography set. Why are both OOP?

[AlbertV]

DUE DATE (2011) - I laughed my butt off with this movie from Todd Phillips. Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifinakis had great comic chemistry IMO.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Have fun with this one :D (if I can talk one person into watching this I'll be happy; though it would help if you like silent film):

The Phantom Carriage (1921: Victor Sjöström: Sweden) ****/****

For the 12th pick of the month I decided that I had to watch at least one Criterion release (I’m possibly going to try to fit in their House release as well that seems a fine fit for this month) and I have not seen a Swedish silent film this month (I have seen a German silent this month). This film has a great reputation and I have wanted to see this for several years. I am a big fan of 1920s cinema and I think it is one of the best decades of film. This film further helps than opinion.

The Phantom Carriage is like the Irish Cóiste Bodhar a coach which carries the dead spirits. Unlike the headless dullahan (the one in charge of the coach; he usually carried his head with him though) this Swedish tale discusses that the driver is chosen every year. The unlucky one is one who is the last to die before New Year’s Day. At least that was what was told to David Holm (Victor Sjöström). But he would soon believe it when a scuffle leaves him dead before the stroke of midnight. He is faced with an old friend who is the current Grim Reaper who is partially responsible for Holm’s downfall in society. He led him to alcohol, he became a leach on society, he went to jail, he led his brother into crime (though I did not agree that was responsible for his brother’s actions) and when he got out of jail his family had left him. This further led him to despair.

However, the unconditional love of one woman Edit (Astrid Holm), a Salvation Army worker, helps lead him to possible redemption. The scene with her sewing his clothes for him and then him tearing up all she did is quite heartbreaking. But she never gives the reaction he is looking for, she does not doubt. However, from the sewing of his soiled clothing he gave her tuberculosis.

While the special effects are quite good with an elaborate use of double-exposure, there are other elements that are just as impressive. The storyline which uses a vast amount of flashbacks is exquisite. The cinematography and sets are excellent. The acting is not overdone as with the stage influence of many films from this time.

This is a tale of redemption that has to have had a Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol influence. There are too many parallels between that book and this story based on the novel Körkarlen by Selma Lagerlöf. But the film is unique enough with so many strengths that I am so glad I finally got to see it. If you are a fan of silent cinema then I think this will be a salient viewing.

The Criterion release is quite good with a solid transfer (not perfect though I would not expect to see that though) and they have been improving in their silent movie collection though still far behind what I think they should have. I am a little puzzled though not surprised by the overboard Ingmar Bergman love here. I am glad the have the two extras: The Bergman Connection (an audio visual essay from Peter Cowie) and Interview with Ingmar Bergman which is extracted from a 1981 documentary on Victor Sjöström by Gösta Werner. Seriously, they just used the Bergman interview. It feels like the main reason this film was added to the Criterion collection was because it was one of Bergman’s favorite films. There should have been an audio visual essay specifically on this film and/or we could have had the whole 1981 documentary. The insert essay titled “Phantom Forms” by Paul Mayersberg is decent, but does not go over the film as much as Sjöström’s career. I am looking forward to the audio commentary from Casper Tybjerg though I hope I do not hear Bergman mentioned more than five times.

The two scores that come with this are vastly different. The preferred score is the one done by Swedish composer Matti Bye performed and recorded in March 1998. It is a beautiful chamber orchestra ensemble that fits the film quite well. Then there is the alternate score composed in 2007 by KTL an experimental duo whose sound here resembles the inner thoughts of static. While I somewhat liked it late at night with very little sleep the more I listened to more irritated I got (especially the louder it played; this is one of the few scores that made me physically twitchy; I now have more appreciation for the Alloy Orchestra).

Notes: I am also surprised that this is not on Roger Ebert’s Great Movie list, though I will not be surprised if he adds this within the next three months. There is Cabiria but not this. But with the recent release I believe this film will get more recognition over the next couple of years.

[ShaOW!linDude]

BATMAN: YEAR ONE --- For those of you interested in animation, DC/Warner does it again! This is based of the Frank Miller story (which I've never read but always heard good things about). I enjoyed the story which focuses equally on Bruce Wayne starting out as the Batman and Lt. Jim Gordon coming to Gotham to find a corrupt police force. The story is narrated from both standpoints and has a nice noir-ish feel to it. The voice talent is great. The animation action is sweet! The only 2 beefs I had with it is that there isn't a proper villain for Batman to deal with and that it only clocks in at 1 hr. long.

There's also a 15 minute short: CATWOMAN. This was fantastic! It has some of the coolest animated action sequences I've seen in a while!

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Fly (1958: Kurt Neumann) **½/****:

Every Halloween influenced month of viewings should include at least one man transformed into creature (or hybrid) flick. I have seen the Cronenberg remake a few times and I knew it was time to watch the original for the 13th pick of the month. Watching this also has the benefit of checking off another Vincent Price film. The Cronenberg's The Fly (let’s call him Brundlefly), like with John Carpenter’s The Thing is among the few sequels that I consider better than the original. The original film based on a short story by George Langelaan is not a bad film, it has some great moments, but I feel a bit letdown after watching this.

It does not help that I watched this after a great film like The Phantom Carriage though. That film had a much more complicated narrative than the overused basic flashback structure here. The normal type of we have an incident, let’s have a conversion that explains the incident and then the aftermath after we catch up to the present time. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with this, but since it is commonplace there have to be additional factors to make in interesting.

Being a Vincent Price fan I am probably a bit biased. Personally I felt Price was underused as François Delambre, though I am not sure how he would have done as the scientist here. The scientist (David Hedison) is an absent-minded professor type, very banal and that is fine until the incident. But for the most part I was not overall happy with the acting, though it is typical of many of these films from the 1950s or the direction from Kurt Neumann. The relationship between the couple was fine, though the love triangle was pretty much over before it began.

Where the film was most successful was certain moments like the unmasking of the fly which reminded me of The Phantom of the Opera (1925: Rupert Julian), the killing of the scientist (this is not a spoiler you know this at the beginning of the film) and the creepy ending which is quite effective. But there is no real suspense as you know everything is going to happen. So when efforts in the middle section are made to catch the fly you know what is going to happen. Almost everything is perfunctory after the first act.

I just felt ambivalent about this making it more difficult to come up with a review. I just do not feel that this is one of the greater horror films even though it has its following and is even in New York Times Best 1000 Movies Ever list.

Funny how things work though: after watching Chuck Norris in Good Guys Wear Black I have a better appreciation for The Fly and most movies.

[AlbertV]

SCRE4M - Not a bad installment of the Wes Craven series. Interesting how today's technology make a huge impact and lo and behold, the revelation of Ghostface was even a little shock for me.

HYENAS - Think werewolf movie except it is a pack of were-hyenas out to kill and eat. A hunter seeks revenge for the death of his family with the help of a local man people think is crazy. Not really scary as most of the deaths were off-screen, plus a fight between two hyenas was atrociously bad CGI.

THE HOWLING REBORN - Former teen stars from Degrassi and Ned's Declassified star as a new couple who learn that the guy will be turning into a werewolf. The duo must try to stop his bloodlust while evading a pack of werewolves led by someone close to future werewolf. Like HYENAS, not that scary, but a nice werewolf fight in the finale. (No CGI B.S., looks more old school animatronics and stuntmen in suits).

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Masque of the Red Death (1964: Roger Corman) ***½/****:

The more I watch the Roger Corman Poe cycle of films, the more I feel that they are underrated. Maybe I just read the wrong critics or not enough critics (though to be fair Leonard Maltin is a fan of this film) because I also think Corman is an underrated director as well (The Intruder is my favorite film of his). This is among those films I wonder why I took so long to watch (as opposed to a film like The Phantom Carriage where I was waiting for a Criterion release). One of the advantages of concentrating on horror in October is that I get to see films I might have eschewed otherwise. For the 14th pick of this month I thought another Corman and Vincent Price film would fit the bill. And it sure did.

Corman went to England for this one to take advantage of their government subsidies (he states this on the interview on the DVD). Corman has always had budget sense. He can make a good looking film out of a small budget and he almost always makes a profit off of his films (especially the ones where he is a producer).

The film is a combination of two Poe stories: the titular one and Hop Frog which is used as a subplot with the dwarf and his love (actually played by a little girl which is a little creepy in a few scenes; her voice is dubbed). Vincent Price is Prospero a Lord of Flies worshiping prince who believes he can ward off the Red Death that has stricken the area. He is a sadistic man with charm who has allowed the local aristocracy to take protection in his castle. He has also taken a girl Francesca (Jane Asher) whose strong believe in God fascinates him. Will she be his undoing?

The Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal references are apparent, but still quite effective. The sets and colors are exquisite. The cinematography is quite good and done by future director Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout, The Man Who Fell to Earth). I always find it fascinating the connections you find with the more films you watch.

What I love about Vincent Price is that he gives his all with his performances. Occasionally you can tell when an actor does a horror role and seems to phone in a performance. You do not worry about this with the reliable Price. This is one of the main reasons he was asked to do horror roles over and over again. I have read some complaints of him being the same type of actor with his roles. Just watching him in the Poe cycle you can see so many variants of his acting style that I just cannot agree with that. In this film you get a very evil man though with a sense of humor (maybe because he uses humor in so many different situations that some reviewers think this is the markings of similar characters).

This movie is on the expensive and OOP Midnite Movies Double Feature with The Premature Burial. Do not fret about this though; The Masque of the Red Death will be reissued November 22 of this year from Image (R1) with the film The Madhouse. The extra on this is a great 18 minute interview with Roger Corman where he discusses the Poe cycle, the budget of this film, the Bergman influences and much more.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Constantine (2005: Francis Lawrence) ***/****

For the 16th pick of the month (I’m skipping the review of the 15th for now) I picked a film I had already seen, but have wanted to rewatch over the past few years. Constantine has all the elements fit for this time: demonic possession, Beelzebub, Satan himself, world domination, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria. Some reviewers such as Roger Ebert were not kind to the film*, though this movie was a worldwide hit and has a decent IMDB average of 6.7. It did not make its money back stateside with a budget of near 100 million dollars and a gross off 76 million here so luckily it sold well elsewhere and if you add in DVD sales and rentals and the film did well, though not enough for a sequel. I liked the film the first time I saw it and I wondered if time would change that.

There is something about the mythology of the film I find fascinating, but I also enjoyed the plot. Constantine (Keanu Reeves) is a chain-smoking, hard drinking morose loner whose God-given ability to see demons (as well as seraphs) had previously driven him to commit suicide in his youth. This act marked him as a condemned man, but he is trying to make it up by rounding up rogue half-breed hellions who are overstepping their place in this realm. A police officer (Rachel Weisz: The Mummy, My Blueberry Nights), whose identical twin (yes the same actress, saves money that way) recently committed suicide, comes looking for Constantine to find answers on why. The relationship between these two is somewhat atypical in that they tease but do not have a romantic relationship. The script does a lot of little things like this right. It could have done some aspects better like maybe not having the professional sidekick of the time Shia LaBeouf.

I liked Keanu Reeves’s performance though it really is not much different than many of his other performances. He is a little more sardonic here with a bigger twist of asshole, but still Keanu (I like Keanu). It is interesting that he would end up in Hell again though like Nicolas Cage they get their share of these types of roles. They should team up for a film involving Hell, the end of humanity and at least one motorcycle.

Satan had an interesting characterization by Peter Stormare (Minority Report; already in Criterion for Armageddon). This leads to an interesting topic on who best played the Lord of Flies (I’m very partial to Angel Heart; cannot list the actor since it is a spoiler: D). But Peter’s bizarre performance was certainly unique.

The director Francis Lawrence sharpened his teeth on music videos before getting his first film gig here. This would help him handle the special effects here though he is still a little weak on directing humans. He would later direct the successful I Am Legend (where he had a little trouble directing CGI creatures) and this year he directed Water for Elephants which I have not seen. Though one cannot help wondering what Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) would have done with the material.

Stay for the very end as this film has a little extra at the end of the credits. It is annoying when you leave a film during the credits only to find out later that you missed a little extra scene.

* Roger Ebert's Review (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050217/REVIEWS/50202001/1023) If you read his review he spends most of his time stating the plot instead of objections to the film which seemed to amount to their being a Catholic Priest and not sure what else though I did spot another mistake in one of his reviews: “The angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton) tells him, "You are going to die young because you've smoked 30 cigarettes a day since you were 13."” This was actually stated by the doctor. Ebert is correct that confession would have solved his problem of salvation a lot quicker unless I am missing a technicality.

Some reviewers were upset that the film did not follow the comic book Hellblazer exactly. I am not a comic book reader fanboy, so I came into the film cold and I also have the opinion that the movie has to operate in its own universe.

[jmungus]

Constantine (2005: Francis Lawrence) ***/****

I liked Keanu Reeves’s performance though it really is not much different than many of his other performances.

no surprise there :tongue:

constantine has been on my rewatch list for some time now. watched it in the theater and didnt like it much. watched it on dvd like 2 years later and thought it was kinda okay after all.
now another 4, 5 years have passed and its about time to get a final opinion.

Though one cannot help wondering what Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) would have done with the material.

yeah. one helluva dirty beast probably. i was wondering the same thing bout del toro regarding SPAWN. i want a spawn franchise by del toro word to the mutha.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

no surprise there :tongue:
...yeah. one helluva dirty beast probably. i was wondering the same thing bout del toro regarding SPAWN. i want a spawn franchise by del toro word to the mutha.

Del Toro makes everything better :). Him doing Spawn would be interesting, heck I would like to see what he could do with many non-horror remakes (possibly making them into a horror, yes Citizen Kane was a vampire -- kidding about this :D).

[Takuma]

Live Night Visions Film Festival coverage

Fest info: Night Visions (http://www.nightvisions.info/index.html)is a bi-annual film festival focusing on horror, fantasy and cult films. The Maximum Halloween event is four days, with three warm up days followed by the main night with 7 films (almost) non-stop. There's always two films screening at the same time, so you can choose which one to see.

Some of the films screened at the fest in the recent years include A Serbian Film (2010), Zombie 2 (1979), Which is Stronger: Karate or the Tiger (1976), Napoli Violenta (1976), Mutant Girls Squad (2010), Robotrix (1991), Pieces (1982), The Human Centipede (2008), Young Warriors (1983), Zombie Holocaust (1980), Cold Fish (2010) and Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980). In other words: more good films than you'll see anywhere else!

Day 1

Open the fest with Revenge - A Love Story - "the more refined choise" as stated by the fest president in comparison to The Thing (2011) that was playing on the other screen. Sora Aoi is pretty much adorable in the film - unbelievable achievement from an AV star. Strong film, too - extremely brutal and hard hitting, but has a clever structure. A bit like Dog Bite Dog but more brutal and with a real love story and without tramatic father relationship bullshit. The ending is poorish though - would benefit from deleting the last 10 min.

Inbred - UK goes hillbilly/redneck splatter, with German financing. This is essentially a comedy with plenty of good laughs, but much of the violence is so gross that it will disgust (in a good way) even gorehounds. A bit irritating characters and no masterpiece by any means, but ultimately on the positive side. Thick accent - I was lucky if I could understand half of the dialogue. The German producer, who was attending the screening, also stated he had to watch it with subtitles in France despite being fluent in English. I feel sorry for the people who will see it in the second screening on Sunday morning at 7 (preceded by 5 other films that night)... they ain't gonna understand a bloody thing in that state.

Yöjuttu: Merkitty. This is a cool, ultra rare Finnish made-for-TV horror film. Rather unintentionally funny but cool. This is the kind of stuff that you're proud to see on fests - it has never been screened in cinemas before, it has never been released on home video, and it has never been seen anywhere since its original (and only) 1984 TV screening. Director and two stars attending, discussing the film and another, less successful production that the director stated "if someone asks me tomorrow, I'll tell him I don't know what he's talking about" :lol:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/merkitty.jpg

Oh, and I saw Enzo G. Castellari in the corridor with two Nazi-girls. Bloody cool :cool:

[masterofoneinchpunch]

^ Quite cool Takuma, jealous of course.

possible small spoilers:

The Devil’s Advocate (1997: Taylor Hackford) **/****

For the 17th pick of the month I thought a lawyer/satanic film would be a great fit for the month. I thought I could also compare and contrast two different Keanu Reeves performances (I watched Constantine the night before). I did not have high expectations for this movie and even then I was disappointed. The plot is so basic and with its extended running time for its boilerplate story it goes on for far too long.

You have a small town undefeated attorney in Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves; is it my imagination or does his accent come and go) get lured and hired by a very large firm run by John Milton (Al Pacino; if you paid attention to the name of the film or the trailers then you know who he actually is) who’s hand is in so many different evil areas, well because there is money there and well he is the Devil. His mom thinks this is a bad idea and well his wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) is OK with it until… I think we know most of the arc of the story after this.

When a plot goes on cruise control you start thinking other things like what would happen if Reeves and Pacino switched roles (not saying this would have worked, but it would have been interesting) and Hackford sure is trying to get as much nude performances out of his actresses. Films I find mediocre are harder to write about because for the most part you feel the film is overall neither good nor overly bad. I notice some reviewers tend to digress when writing about films they find uninteresting. I wonder what I am going to watch next. I hope the NBA stops their stupid lockout.

I was going to comment on the problematic nature of having an undefeated lawyer (both as a DA and as a private criminal attorney which is impossible even if you cherry-pick your cases), but the film comments on this towards the end. It seems to be fairly intelligent in this area commenting on the importance of jury selection, how DAs get paid less than being private (though in truth most private attorneys tend to struggle especially when there is a glut of them in a town) though some of the histrionics in the court scenes are, as usual, a little much.

I seriously hated the ending with its hackneyed contrivance ending (hmmm hackneyed/Hackford). However the penultimate conclusion between John Milton and Kevin Lomax was the best scene in the film (with their first meeting being second with that wonderfully creepy waterfall terrace) with the wonderful statue background that appears to be alive while Pacino gets to ham it up and if the film had that gravitas earlier it would have been a much more satisfying experience. Pacino is at his best with scene-chewing dialogue because of his personality, but he has much more difficulty in not being bombastic at every single moment and overdoing his Cheshire Cat smile. There is no subtlety to his performance and there is no subtlety to this film.

There are just so many better films out there to be watched before this one. I know this film has its fans (don’t all films), but I really cannot imagine why. Satan has been portrayed better in many films, Keanu has been better, heck I liked Constantine better than this. I would rather watch Army of Darkness for the 38th time than watch this movie for the first time, but I guess that goes without saying.

[Takuma]

hah, thanks.

Day 2

Trick or Treat (1986). "His fans won't let him die. He won't let them live!" A totally cool heavy metal horror movie, with title and tagline that have almost nothing to do with the film! Rock star Sammi Curr (Tony Fields) dies in a fire, but returns from hell to help his high schooler fan take revenge against bullies - and everyone. Excellent semi-cheese coolness with great soundtrack and cameos from Ozzy Osbourne (moralist priest) and Gene Simmons (radio DJ). A real treat. The print was about to fall in pieces, though :thumbs:

Preceded by teaser trailer for King Kong Lives (1986). "He's back, and he's not happy!"

Prodondo rosso (1975). Now this is fuckin something - the shorter, far superior international version (titled The Hatchet Murders) on 35mm - reminds you why films are 10 times more impressive on huge cinema screen than at home! The shorter version deletes the dumb comedy and romance bits, improves pacing, and puts David Hemmings' real voice on the audio track. A very stylish and moody giallo with terrific Goblin soundtrack - thoroughly brilliant, even if it doesn't make full sense half of the time!

Preceded by video greeting by the Goblin for the Finnish audiences :thumbs:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/trick_or_treat.jpg
- Trick or Treat trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7IZp2jF3_Q

[Takuma]

Day 3

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011). Grindhouse trailer contest winner - the comeback of 1970's vigilante movies, except that the surface is far closer to the new wave Japanese splatter movement. Rutger Hauer is excellent as a shotgun Hobo - it's a character that sounds like a joke, but has unexpected care and sympathy put into it. The rest of the film (literally) contrasts: the over-charged visual appearance looks like an ass, and the extreme bloodletting is constantly one step away from pretentious. Yet its impossible not to feel great joy over the fact that such politically incorrect and free-from-studio-regulation trash films are being made (outside Japan as well). The uncompromising nature and the lack of CGI make it a heartwarming movie, even if not quite on par with it's Asian sisters or American ancestors.

1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982). Castellari goes post-apocalypse - The Warriors meets Escape from New York, with more motorcycles and bigger muscles! Mostly shot on location in Bronx, this is one cool-ass cheapo action film with some brilliant villain work by Vic Morrow, strong support from the ever-so-cool Fred Williamson, and an amusingly charisma-free leading performance by the bare-chested Mark Gregory. In technically sense it's nowhere near Castellari's greats (Keoma etc.) and most of the dialogue is downright ridiculous - but that's part of the fun. Old beaten up print with plenty of damage but good colors - serves the film just fine, and looks great on giant cinema screen!

And Enzo G. Castellari motherfucker! The festival guest of honor, a very nice guy who also recalls having made a sequel to The Bronx Warriors, but can no longer remember what the hell it was all about! Having Mr. Having Castellari sitting in the audience certainly boosted the (already through the roof) atmosphere in the theater.

Question: "Which one do you think is better, your or Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards?"
Castellari: "Mine, of course!"

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/bronx_warriors.jpg

8 (2011). A 36 min Finnish horror pic dealing with subconscious. Made with a 6000€ budget it actually looks perfectly solid (better than Hobo with a Shotgun or the new Japanese splatter films). Effective use of music aside, though, it's rather clumsy and predictable. It's obviously it's made by a film school student rather than self-educated cinema fan - there's certain artistic stiffness and formality that comes through and very commonly chains Finnish cinema, as opposed to fresh innovativeness.

Red State (2011). Kevin Smith Attacks! The made-to-be-controversial pic opens as a Smithian teen film, takes a turn to horror, and ultimately ends up a machine gun wielding satire on the post 9/11 America. Conservative Christian movements are the main target, but the US government also gets their fare share of the bite, and towards the end it wouldn't be completely off-the-wall to claim some of the bullets are aimed at Islam, too. An entertaining and semi-important movie regardless of one's political or religious stand (any such movement or politics ought to be critisized, as forbidding criticism would only destroy its credibility) - and frankly speaking far out enough not to be truly insulting to anyone. Smith's jokes do tends to run overtime, though - more than one scene drag, and the film loses some of its bite in the process.

Morituris (2011). American Psycho. Rape and revenge without revenge. Sergio Stivaletti. Zombie gladiators. WTFIGO? Italian horror film magazine editor-in-chief goes film director with a mini budget horror film. It's mean piece, but not as graphic as the recent torture and gorno films it has (slightly misleadingly) been compared to. The dialogue is awful, and there's technical screw ups, such as confusing editing in a few spots and too dark image - but there's something cool about the film. While clumsy and cheap, it's made by enthusiastic horror fans, features old school gore effects, and explains little enough to become even slightly atmospheric. It's a film for hard core horror fans who can appreciate what it is - others need not bother.

Screening attended by director Raffaele Picchio and producer Gianluigi Perrone - two young guys with so much enthusiasm that in the Q&A they were essentially interviewing each other and answering questions before anyone even asked them anything.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/morituris.jpg

[AlbertV]

DUM MAARO DUM (2011) - Action thriller from India starring Abhishek Bachchan (DHOOM 1 & 2) as a corrupt cop who is assigned to stop all the drug dealing in Goa. There is also a young collegian who is forced into dealing drugs by his childhood friend and then his friend, a local musician, who is somehow coerced into the madness when he vouches his friend's innocence and falls for a local woman who is a drug addict. Exciting action for a Bollywood film and Bachchan truly is in top form. LETHAL WEAPON star Danny Glover was one of the film's executive producers.

THE WARD (2011) - John Carpenter's latest film revolving around a young woman, played by Amber Heard, in a mental institution. She and her fellow inmates are terrorized and are picked off one by one by the ghost of a former patient. A shocking twist is revealed at the end and even I was surprised by it. Carpenter did a good job in translating the Rasmussen Brothers' script fairly well.

THE BUTCHER, THE CHEF, AND THE SWORDSMAN (2010) - Wuersheng's connected anthology revolving around a blade made of the five greatest swords in the martial arts world. It starts with a porky butcher's love for a local hooker, then delves into the story of a mute chef who must use the blade to cook a delicious meal for a eunuch (there is a hilarious unexpected scene here that I had to keep rewinding because I was laughing so hard), and then the story of the swordsman who forced the blacksmith who created the iron to make the blade. Very interesting as it melded various genres all in one. There are only two action scenes, one a swordfight that was badly edited between the swordsman and his brother and an action scene reminiscent of SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD. Executive producer was Doug Liman (MR. & MRS. SMITH).

[Takuma]

Day 4 (the main event aka midnight marathon): Part 1 (20:00 – 04:45)

High Crime (1973). This is a gem – Enzo G. Castellari’s first poliziotteschi, and often considered one of the best Italian crime films ever made. Franco Nero is rather excellent as commissioner Belli trying to crack down a crime ring in a bad city. Inspired by true events, it’s quite a realistic film that goes into great detail in portraying the politics of crime and law enforcement. Castellari’s focus is on characters, despite some compulsory high quality car chases and shootouts. The use of music, editing and violence is often brilliant – especially in the unforgettable ending sequence! It’s a true shame there are no good quality dvd releases available anywhere in the world – another reason why seeing this on 35mm was an experience to be grateful of.

And the audience was grateful indeed – the screening was sold out to the last seat, with the entire audience giving standing ovations to Mr. Castellari after the film! Castellari was clearly moved by this – he said it was just like in Rome in 1973 when the film first opened to a grand success!

And I had my Japanese book signed by Mr. Castellari! It is now officially the coolest Japanese book on the planet!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/highcbans.jpg

3D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy (2011). Here’s something that’s more of an event than a movie. The 3D upgrade of the 90’s Sex & Zen movies offers what it promises: silly comedy and plenty of beautiful (mainly Japanese) girls with three dimensional assets. Somewhat unexpectedly there’s also a load of sadism towards the end as the story takes a turn to a tragedy. This is one of the film’s flaws – such pseudo-roughness neither has the bite of true Category 3 roughies nor does is go well with the rest of the film. The first half an hour proves fun and even stylish-by-genre-standards erotica well suitable for both sexes. The film is, however, at last 30 minutes too long regardless of version (the various non-censored versions vary in length from under 2 hours to near 2½ hours!) Nevertheless, it a movie theater experience to remember – home video versions, especially in 2D, would hardly be worth anyone’s time.

Indeed, on a giant cinema screen (one of the biggest in Finland) in 3D this was somewhat a surreal experience. “May take a while until something like this hits the Finnish screens again” was the official word. Oh, and all viewers were given an empty plastic cup at the door when entering… (festival humor).

Rabies (2010). Israel’s first horror movie is a strange beast – not only does the whole storyline take place in broad daylight, it also features quite an unusual killer (best not spoiled forehand). It’s very much a writing/acting piece, despite some (thankfully non-CGI) gore. Director/screenwriter duo Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado do, however, stumble a bit with their own cleverness. The result is sometimes jarring, but mostly entertaining and even fresh entry to the slasher (?) genre.

The directors were to attend the festival, but had to cancel on the last moment due to pre-production of their next movie. They did send a video greeting, though.

Deadball (2011). A no holds barred upgrade of the 2003 film Battlefield Baseball, star Tak Sakaguchi and director Yudai Yamaguchi are back to play ball. With more blood, more Nazis, and one Klaus Nomi lookalike! The trashy comedy hits an initial homerun as it begins as an outrageous prison film set to John Carpenter esque score. Unfortunately the lengthy game portion is style free CGI splatter with few laughs – with practical effects it could’ve been insanely inventive, now it’s mainly anticlimactic. Lead star Tak Sakaguchi is the single best asset the messy film has– his performance as a silent, chain smoking, poncho wearing anti-hero shows the man in a whole new – would I even dare to say charismatic – light.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/deadball.jpg

[DarthKato]

I am watching a Alfred Hitchcock marathon right now,but I have mostly been checking out all the horror flicks they have been showing for the last few days.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983: Jack Clayton) ***/****:

“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.” – MacBeth (IV.i.44-45)

“… the Lightning-rod man still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fears of man.” The Lightning-Rod Man by Herman Melville (while the traveling salesman in this film reminds me of the character in the Melville short the allegorical undertones are completely different between the two)

When I was looking for a “kids” or Disney horror film to watch for this month I thought that this film which I had not seen since the 1980s would fit the bill. It was also recommended to me by an Internet friend. So for the 19th pick of the month I chose the movie based on the Ray Bradbury book, who also wrote the screenplay. This is a film that scarred (scared) many unsuspecting children who were expecting a Disney flavored “horror” film.

It had been so many years since I had seen this so this felt mostly like a new experience. Of course when you watch film years later you notice actors you did not know before and this film is cast quite well though I did not realize until doing research on this film that Pam Grier played the Dust Witch in quite a seductive role (she’s almost always seductive).

Late one night a carnival comes to town and sets itself up to the horror of Will Halloway and his friend. To me there is not that much creepier than a carnival at night, well except for the carnies during the daytime. It is led by Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce; playing evil incarnate with a beard). Mr. Dark offers temptation to the town, but analogous to W. W. Jacobs’s The Monkey’s Paw every wish comes with a price. But Will has seen that Mr. Dark is not natural and Mr. Dark needs to get rid of the two boys (does he think the town will believe those accusations from the boys?).

Will’s dad Charles (Jason Robards) has been a disappointment. His heart troubles and a past incident with his son trouble him. He seems a prime candidate for Mr. Dark. But there is something strong underneath his milquetoast exterior. His relationship with his son is a complex one and it helps the story of this movie. He is a good not great father, who cares for his son, but whose frailties help helm a humanistic character.

This is a well made, well directed film (Clayton’s last directed film was The Great Gatsby nine years before) that evokes a particular gothic dread in its atmosphere and set design (I would have to imagine that some of it would have been controversial if noticed). It is ultimately a tale of lost nostalgia, one that was lost before the arriving of the Carnival and more surprisingly a more mature film than one initially expects. It is also a tale of redemption. I find psychological horrors more effective than physical horror after years of watching violence upon the screen. While I would not say this is overly scary, I do not think I would allow children too young to watch this, though they are probably already jaded with the massive amount of video games played and movies watched.

The Tell-Tale Heart (1928: Charles Klein):

“True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am…”

For the 18th pick I thought I would watch something obscure and short. This film is a expressionistic, hugely influenced by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and very much like the titular short-story by Edgar Allan Poe. It is so much like the story that it is a bit hard to do a review on this. I still prefer the short story and this neat but ultimately stagy rendition does not still the beating of my heart. In fact if you have not read the really short-story (three and a half pages in my book of Poe stories) then take the time to do that instead of tracking this down. Heck if you have not watched the original The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari then take the time to watch that as well.

This film can be found on the awesome set (and a bit expensive) Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film (1894-1941) and on the Avant-Garde 3: Experimental Cinema 1922-1954 - Deluxe Two-Disc Edition. I have Unseen and if you are into obscure avant-garde then that set is a must. However, for most it probably is not a priority.

[AlbertV]

STALIN (1992) - HBO film starring Robert Duvall as the Russian leader whose rise to power left a lot of casualties. He is seen as someone who doesn't take anything from nobody, not even the previous leader Lenin. He treats his family and friends as if they are totally inferior to him. What is more astounding aside from Duvall's performance is that the filmmakers actually did their research on Stalin with the help of the Russian government. The film runs at nearly 3 hours, but one you get into it, it is worth seeing IMO.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

STALIN (1992) - HBO film starring Robert Duvall as the Russian leader whose rise to power left a lot of casualties. ...

Stalin is arguably responsible for more deaths than any other human (some historians argue between Mao and him). This is man who changed his name to "Steel".

[Takuma]

Day 4 (the main event aka midnight marathon): Part 2 (04:45 - 10:30)

The Woman (2011). Mixed bag “Sundance shocker” by Lucky McKee. Middle class American family finds an animal-like “wild-woman” in the forest, capture her, and try to train her into a civilized human being. McKee plays with both feminism and misogyny, mixes horror and satire, and throws in small doses of as-graphic-as-MPAA-allows violence. It’s interesting and entertaining, but ultimately too flashy. Trying to turn an obvious exploitation premise into something intelligent, it the film comes out as a compromise. Too afraid of being labeled as trash it takes cover in self-indulgent cleverness that soon becomes more irritating than poignant.

Ator – The Fighting Eagle (1981). Hard core exploitation director Joe D’Amato took a lighter approach (and a new pseudonym) for a pg-rated Conan – The Barbarian cash-in. It’s an awfully scripted barbarian adventure with amusing dialogue, giant spider, and plenty of campy acting. Difficult to recommend to anyone except small children or fans of bad cinema, the pic does nevertheless have certain (mostly accidental) entertainment merits. For an early morning slot in a midnight film festival it makes passable offering – especially when seen from 35 mm film.

Lady Terminator (1988). Indonesian rip-off action exploitation madness! “First she mates, then she terminates”. The nonsensical storyline kicks off with a sneaky man beating a witch seductress at her own game in the 19th century, then jumps to modern day (1980’s), with a student girl somehow falling under a spell and turning into a lady terminator who is (apparently) after some jewelries worn by two women. The local police, who have unlimited ammunition (so does she) try to protect the innocent girls. What results is boobs, car chases, an unbelievable amount of fired bullets, and a storyline that is best summarized as wtfigo. Quality entertainment and a great closing movie for the night!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/lady_terminator.jpg

Strangely, the program finished on time, as opposed to being two hours late as usual (official statement: ”We’re sorry, we’re on schedule... we've messed up something”).

Enzo G. Castellari at The Bronx Warriors screening (click for larger pic)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/enzobro.jpg (http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/NVs3.jpg)

The audience waiting for 3D Sex & Zen to start
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Shurayuki/Shura3/seze.jpg

Official announcement: "Now that we've all come here to watch porn it's very important we see everything uncensored... so, if your glasses would happen to run out of batteries, please come get news ones from the desk"

[DiP]

The Crow (1994)

Liked the mood of this one. It felt more close to something like the first Batman film but darker and creepier. Acting was class and the characters were memorable, especially Brandon Lee (RIP) and the villains. Action surprised me as well and was delivered for an mid 90s Hollywood film. It has that HK/US style to it though but it was handled really well here. Rating: 8/10

Psycho (1960)

Saw it with a completely new eyes and mind and it's still amazing. Story is simple yes but with A-class production, execution (camerawork, editing, music, composition) as well as acting things could last great forever. Ageless classic! Rating: 10/10

[DiP]

Overheard 2 (2011)

Lau Ching-Wan, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu return in the sequel but playing new characters in an unrelated and better story. And their performances are reversed here. Lau Ching-Wan was the driving force in the first film whereas Daniel Wu (pretty impressive!) runs the show this time (followed by Louis Koo's subdued but intensely sharp cop character) as an eavesdropping extortionist that seeks justice for his deceased father through bribe and violence. Great film and the most intense and enthralling film from duo Alan Mak/Felix Chong to date who keeps showing that they can do good without Andrew Lau. The film's other strength is the action (car stunts, explosions) which are a bit more in numbers compared to Part 1 and staged creatively (by Dion Lam, who also appears as the main villain's sidekick). Look out for the vehicle chase scene near the 2nd half of the film. Dope stuff! Rating: 9/10

Crazy Safari (1991)

Mr. Vampire meets The Gods Must Be Crazy! Its' sequel (Crazy Hong Kong) was lovely but this was a bit more lovely. Basically about a guy who - with the help of a taoist priest (Lam Ching-Ying) - wants to buy back a "corpse" (Peter Chan Lung) at an auction somewhere in Europe that he claims is his ancestor. But complications starts on their way back to Hong Kong and them both are forced to emergency-land in Africa separated from the corpse, that is on the loose, which they have to find. At the same time, they come across N!xau and his tribe of bushmen and more complications arise concerning the corpse. Had a great time watching it! The comedy is on some other stuff. Rating: 8.5/10

[Fist Of Boss]

It`s semi-kungfu but King of beggars was very nice, almost on-par with kungfu hustle:wink:

[DiP]

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Still amazed by its' sophistication and execution. Everything here is too good. Acting, direction, cinematography/lighting, cast, composition, music, intensity/suspense; everything. Rating: 10/10

Infernal Affairs 2 (2003)

Very different but equally as well done as Part 1. Only beef I have with the film is Shawn Yue and Edison Chen. Chen's role required him to do more with his acting so he was convincing but both lacked energy to elevate their performances. To see real acting, watch Francis Ng. Rating: 9.5/10

[DarthKato]

Just got through watching "Inception"(2010 Starring Leonardo DiCaprio)

[DiP]

The Replacement Killers (1998)

Chow Yun-Fat's Hollywood debut directed by the guy who did Training Day. Can't say it's a great film altogether but it isn't as bad as people say it is. Chow (whenever he wasn't looking cool) and Sorvino made things work because part of the emotional aspect was based on their unusual relationship, and of course on Chow's character as we find out when his back story is revealed (not the greatest but it makes sense and sells the acting). That being said, the presentation itself was very problematic. Many things feel/look so oversaturated and overstylized that you wonder what the makers wanted to do with the content. At times, the film has a grimy, gritty look but in the next moment it becomes a cheap John Woo film. And then things start to go extreme that it begins to resemble a B-film. Too bad because the film could've gone other way. Rating: 5.5/10

[DarthKato]

Serenity(2005) Starring Nathan Fillion

[DiP]

Johnnie Got His Gun! (2010)

A French-produced documentary about Johnnie To and his work. Only thing baffling about this is that it doesn't come off as a documentary but more like an hour long interview with footage from his films and behind the scenes of some of his works while To discusses his style and his knowledge in filmmaking. That leads to huge confusion upon seeing it. Nevertheless, it contains a good deal about how he makes his films, where he gets inspiration from, and what drives him to making films. Rating: 6/10

[DiP]

Immortals (2011)

There's no doubt that the CGI spent on the film was grand so it sure comes off impressive. But there's wasn't much in the content that left me amazed otherwise. Films like these (well known people/figures in ancient times) may be different in what they want to show but I feel it's been pulled of the same many times already. The saving grace was the action though. Some scenes features long-ass takes and great use of slomo, and the choreography comes off a bit Hong Kong-ish which got my attention right away, nice touch. Rating: 5/10

The Corruptor (1999)

Not really new stuff going on here, it's basically the successor to 1985's Year Of The Dragon (Chinatown, Asian criminals) starring Mickey Rourke. But Chow Yun-Fat's contribution makes it a fine film on its' own (one of the best foreign films starring a Hong Kong actor imo) and stands out among other films in the sub-genre (like Serpico and Training Day). Mark Wahlberg wasn't too bad and supporting roles played by Ric Young, Paul Ben-Victor, Andrew Pang, Brian Cox, and Byron Mann elevated the film's portrayal of cops and criminals to great effect. Chow Yun-Fat carries the whole film though. Unlike his almost embarrassing turn in The Replacement Killers, Chow surprisingly excels in his role and show what he's made of. Usually it's hard to imagine someone with limited English doing this but he pulled through. If Chow plans to do more Hollywood films, it should be like of same quality as this film. Rating: 9/10

[DarthKato]

Commando(1985 DVD) Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

[jmungus]

stieg larssons MILLENIUM trilogy
the first, "the girl with the dragon tattoo"may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but its a damn good thriller that can hold its own in the world of contemporary a-thrillers.
i was a bit disappointed with "the girl who played with fire", as it felt less engaging and inspired in every single aspect compared to "tattoo".
finally, "the girl who kicked the hornets nest", was a solid finale with a handful of great moments, but nothing even remotely special.
i did read the novels and all in all, they did manage to keep the series authentic with all the many subplots gone as a necessity to transfer a rather epic mystery-conspiracy-crime-thriller theme from the books to the big screen.
tattoo: 7.8/10 ; fire: 5.5 ; nest: 6.3

hangover 2
felt a little tired to me. a simple rehash of the first installment imo. it still managed to keep my interest (although on a considerably lower score on the excitOmeter) and it did have a handful of hilarious scenes. 5.7/10

mural
if u didnt like sorcerer/white snake or thought that the chinese ghost story remake was just redundant after all, then stay far away from mural, a muddled mess of gutless mediocrity and cliche.
i give it 3.8/10 for it was kinda watchable and maybe im just not part of their target audience, although i do wonder who is.

tekken blood vengeance
the worst of all those motion capture cg japanimovies i watched (i believe i didnt miss one, but cant be sure).
2 or 3 sequences stand out due to a nice cinematographic design and editing, the rest is just bleh and blahzay blah. some of the MA and action choreo was alright tho.
for real suckers of this style of movies, i`d say its a 3.5/10 tops. others need not really bother (equals 2/10) . "vexille" for instance is tons better and we all know that flick was kind of a letdown.

ironclad
now heres a sleeper hit if there ever was one. at least from my pov.
im so spoiled with the better of the chinese and korean medieval warrior fares, im having a hard time appreciating the western made movies depicting the middle ages in europe and the middle east.
ironclad was well acted, brutally in your face when it came to the swashbuckling and its plot, as "classic" (u can also call it stereotype) as it is, was nicely crafted and cut together.
7/10; a fun watch.

deadheads
very well made, mildly entertaining c-horror-spoof that has all the tools of the trade- quirky, cheesy, zany, cartoonish, over the top characters and situations. despite it being a busy gig for the fx guys, all the blood and dismemberments didnt really provide for a gory splatter vibe.
text book zombie spoof. easily digestable. very watchable but not on par with the better ones among the lot. 5.5/10

cowboys and aliens
when it comes to hollywood blockbusters, very often i catch myself thinking 'a potentially good premise was destroyed by the studios` pretentious approach and cut and dried execution.
this time around, the premise, the entire script and most of the execution is the epitome of uber-retarded cut and dried, but it was partially saved by the qualities and star power hollywood can provide.
not living up to i guess everyone`s expectations, like deadheads it was "mildly entertaining".
for popcorn-western entertainment on the silver screen, better watch s/t like the mask of zorro or whatever. 5.7/10

the lincoln lawyer
didnt expect for this to be as decent as i thought it`d turned out.
it came with a sorta unique vibe to it and was reminiscent of the (more light hearted) crime thrillers from 20, 25 years ago.
if u`re into court thrillers, this one`s a safe bet. 7.2/10

austin powers trilogy
theres not much left to say about this series, even in retrospect.
austin powers is a good time period.
2nd one is my fave among the 3. basically a improved version of the first. goldmember was larger in scale, but lacked the heart of 1 and 2 and pretty much only spoofed its predecessors.
i give the whole experience a 7.5/10

my kingdom
u are drawing a complete blank as to what movie u feel like watching ?
u are in the mood for s/t outta hk/china with the period look of a hundred years ago ?
u wanna know if the scarce action sequences of my kingdom u read about are anything rewarding ?
then give it a go. sadly, its a fatally flawed example of what could have been a (at least minor) classic in the making (ie "this decades peking opera blues").
3.8/10. watchable. underwhelming.

[bruceleewannabe]

Super 8: It was an interesting film but the ending seemed kind of odd to me. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it.

Captain America: This one surprised me a bit. I don't think much of the super hero movies cause there are so many being made and only a handful of them are good. This one was interesting and really tied a lot of things together about his origins and where he ended up, also Tommy Lee Jones provides the humor throughout with his sort of sarcastic and dry wit and it works.

[DiP]

Year of the Dragon (1985)

Good premise but things got worse toward the middle thanks to sloppy writing. The set-up of Rooke's character started promising: a cop determine to put an end to organized crime in Chinatown. Then he comes off being a complete jerk for almost the rest of the film as we learn more about his private life and his past which seemed to rub him off and make him misbehave in the process. Way to go. John Lone (opera mate of Lam Ching-Ying, Chung Fa, and Mars) was the highlight and depicted his ruthless and slimy gang boss character to surprising perfection. Another surprise was seeing Fan Mei-Sheng (Fan Siu-Wong's father) appear as a Thai drug lord. Rating: 5/10

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Great late 30s thriller from Hitchcock about a young lady who acquaints with an old lady at a train station and notices that the latter disappears after a while as they board a train on their way through Europe. The influence of mental distraction can clearly be seen in later films such as Suspicion, Spellbound and Vertigo. Another sign where Hitchcock was getting an idea of what and how to make his films. Another classic. Rating: 9/10

[massa_yoda]

Captain America: This one surprised me a bit. I don't think much of the super hero movies cause there are so many being made and only a handful of them are good. This one was interesting and really tied a lot of things together about his origins and where he ended up, also Tommy Lee Jones provides the humor throughout with his sort of sarcastic and dry wit and it works.

Yeah Tommy Lee Jones was awesome wasn't he? This and Thor were my favorite of the superhero movies this last summer.

[AlbertV]

A MADEA CHRISTMAS (2011) - Very funny Tyler Perry play revolving around a pompous family where the level headed daughter invites her maid's family for Christmas when she is forced to work the holidays and guess who the maid's aunt is??? Yep, Madea!!! They delved more with the comedy and messages.

[DarthKato]

"Underworld"(2003 DVD) Starring Kate Beckinsale
:nerd:Check out my review of it. The link is in my signature.

[DarthKato]

"Underworld:Evolution"(2006DVD) Starring Kate Beckinsale
:nerd:Check out my review of it. The link is in my signature.

[DarthKato]

"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans"(2009 DVD) Starring Michael Sheen
:nerd:Check out my review of it. The link is in my signature.

[ShaOW!linDude]

RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE --- 2010 documentary on the Canadian power trio/rock band. Fantastic! Very in depth and personable interviews from the band members. And there's a cast of musicians and celebrities who speak of the influence that Rush has had on them. While I'm not a diehard fan, I do enjoy some of their music. You can't deny what phenomenal musicians they are. May have to go digging through my cd's now.

[DarthKato]

:nerd:"Dawn of the Dead" (1978) Starring Ken Foree

[bruceleewannabe]

RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE --- 2010 documentary on the Canadian power trio/rock band. Fantastic! Very in depth and personable interviews from the band members. And there's a cast of musicians and celebrities who speak of the influence that Rush has had on them. While I'm not a diehard fan, I do enjoy some of their music. You can't deny what phenomenal musicians they are. May have to go digging through my cd's now.

Got this on blu-ray. It's awesome! I've seen them in concert and they are a band worth seeing!

[DarthKato]

A "PUPPET MASTER" marathon, movies 1-4. As soon as I am finished with them, I will probably watch the movie "DOOM" for the second time.

[DiP]

The Killing (1956)

This was a heavy film and an outstanding depiction of its' topic (pulling off heists), especially being a mid 50s film. It began pretty slow in the beginning - though I thought it had plentiful time to give a clear idea of the characters' motives and the whole scenario which is the selling point later on - but it picked up real quick. And from there on, the story shifts to nailing down the whole thing with details and building up suspense through narrating and intercutting in a way I'm very amazed at. Great ending as well. Rating: 8.5/10

The Wild Bunch (1969)

I came fascinated to see what the hype was all about. Pretty good with a nice little message (all epochs has an ending) and good dose of history between Americans and Mexicans injected but that's it. Felt like it didn't come across as something that would show anything else other than train robberies and conflicts with law enforcers and outlaws. This is pretty much a film where the style is more showcased (heavy use of slomo and intricate editing in the action scenes), and it's indeed used to great effect. But compared to Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West (best western to me so far) this one didn't move me nearly as much. Rating: 7.5/10

[DiP]

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

An unofficial remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. Really liked it and its' hype is well deserved although I didn't find it much overwhelming as I expected. The story's simple and the film has some typical traits that is known in westerns plus there ain't much remarkable acting going on either, apart from Eastwood and the main villain having incredible charisma just standing and walking around looking cool. Leone's direction makes up for everything though and fans of minimalistic and stylish storytelling will get a hell lot out of the film. Rating: 8/10

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

Second entry to the Dollars trilogy and the superior part so far. Once again, Leone offers a minimalistic story involving bounty hunters hunting down targets, gunslingers carrying out bank heists and male bounding between protagonists and antagonists. But this time, Leone set up the story much better and the entertainment value is upped. Eastwood and the actor who played the main villain in the first film were good as usual but this was Lee Van Cleef's show (loved the way he was build). The action was lovely too, a bit more stylish here too which added more to my enjoyment. Seeing the film also clarifies part of all comparisons being made between European and Hong Kong directors. John Woo and Johnnie To (who borrowed some scenes for Exiled) must be proud fanboys. Rating: 10/10

[Takuma]

Red Nights (France / Hong Kong, 2010) – 2.5/5
An interesting Hong Kong Giallo – a directorial debut by French screenwriter duo Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud, best known for their work on Johnnie To’s Running Out of Time. Not an entirely satisfactory film, but as a mixture of European and Asian styles it certainly has several interesting things going on. Naked Killer cult starlet Carrie Ng stars as an art collector with hidden sadistic desires. The film’s ultra-violence, while quite limited, packs notable psychological punch – in the fest screening the audience could stomach the most brutal scene, but the follow-up, with Carrie inspecting her knife and saw collection, made half a dozen people walk out – although this bit features no violence whatsoever, only a promise of things to come.

The Other Side of Sleep (UK, 2010) – 2/5
An interesting dream-like yet gritty murder mystery that should find its audience, although those looking for a strong character film will be disappointed. The impressively minimal style serves general arthousiness, and, perhaps atmosphere also, but does not translate as serve subtle character exposition as might be expected from a film of such minimal nature. It’s not a flaw necessarily, but will leave many viewers cold.

Turn me on, Goddammit (Norway, 2011) – 3/5
Norway’s late answer to Fucking Åmol (in the lack of better comparison). The 15 year old Alma is horny – unfortunately she lives in a godforsaken small town with no good guys to fuck... except one, who turns out to be a real dick. A relatively standard Scandinavian youth-drama-comedy that benefits from the director’s documentarian background – there’s a nice layer of grain and fresh air to make the film more lively that it might be in the hands of a more boring director. A fun film with excellent leading performance (Helene Bergsholm), despite falling a little short overall thanks to worn out storyline. Potentially slightly touchy in the US, UK, and other sexually under-developed countries, but has notable success potential in the Nordic countries. Ideal film for semi-mainstream audiences. trailer: http://www.filmweb.no/trailere/?articleId=410670

Our Day Will Come (France, 2010) - 3.5/5
Vincent Cassel stars as a psychopathic shrink in a ballsy road movie. The pitch black drama/comedy follows a bullied, angry and unstable young man who is joined by a manipulative and plain insane psychiatrist on his road trip through France. Sex, violence and social commentary with a brave ending that will probably anger a few moralist viewers.

A Stoker (Russia, 2010) – 3.5/5
Aleksey Balabanov is Russia’s Takeshi Kitano! His 1990’s set crime films are violent, minimalist, and set to sarcastic pop-soundtracks. A Stoker is another addition to this line up. The title character is “the hero of the Soviet Union” – an Afghanistan veteran who went a bit senile after being wounded in the war, and now works as a stoker. His war time buddies, now local gangster, keep bringing him dead guys to burn – “they were all bad people, the word will be better without them”, they always tell him. It’s early 90’s Saint Petersburg, people keep going up in ashes, and the pop music never stops. Based on an 18 page screenplay – this is truly director’s cinema! Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV5q2oxNzQk

Kill List (UK, 2011) – 4/5
An interesting genre mash-up taking its time with gritty family drama and then, much later, making a sudden turn to extremely violent hitman thriller – and more. It’s thanks to the strong build up and characters that the film packs so much punch – only the last 10 minutes fall of rails and stretch it one step too far. Nevertheless, easily one of the genre events of recent years, and an upcoming cult classic.

[wongfeihung62]

Gamera - guardian of the universe
gamera - the advent of legion
gamera - revenge of iris
rise of the planet of the apes

[DarthKato]

Gamera - guardian of the universe
gamera - the advent of legion
gamera - revenge of iris
rise of the planet of the apes

Is it any good?

[wongfeihung62]

Is it any good?

I thought it was very good. So much better than the Burton movie.

[ShaOW!linDude]

THE MECHANIC --- Stars: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland.
JS is a "mechanic", the trade name for "hitman". DS was his mentor and BF is DS's son who JS takes and tutors in the trade. Me and the Mrs. really enjoyed the movie. There's some great action in this and I thought the story was really good. BF's 1st assignment has an absolutely brutal beatdown, one of the best I've seen in a while. And I love JS's house in the film, an architectural piece of art built in a Louisiana bayou with wooden decked catwalks. Definitely worth a rental or dvr it.

[jmungus]

rise of the planet of the apes - very good!! as a matter of fact. 8.3/10
the mechanic- not so much. i thought it was the epitome of dull. (barely) solid. 4.7/10

watched "HEAD", new korean crime-thriller slash comedy with the usual dose (standard korean cinema genre-mishmash) of violence/action and drama- how do they say- "thrown in for good measure".
surprise hit of the more recent time in my book. entertaining and well crafted. 7.5
another korean one, "SEVEN DAYS", more or less your standard kidnapping/blackmail thriller coming with a time sensitive angle and a good final twist.
had 1 or 2 lenghts, other than that, major korean cinema at its best. top solid stuff. 6.8/10
finally, "CAT RUN", which i`d felt got some pre-release hype and was sold as a sexy action vehicle for hottie paz vega.
the hype fell apart quickly and as an additional bummer, paz`only played 2nd fiddle and was thoroughly one dimensional, tame, kinda boring.
the movie is a wannabe hip wannabe comedic wannabe actioner with little potential, aimed at 12-22 yrs old males. 3.3 means not total crap but u`re better off skippin it.

[AlbertV]

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Oshima, 1982)
Here's a link to my review:
http://albertvfilm.blogspot.com/2011/12/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence-1982.html

[Tosh]

Watched a couple movies this holiday -

Hobo with a Shotgun, loved it! Pure 80's violence, Rutger Hauer is still the man!

Tron 2, visually stunning, should of seen this in the theaters, the story on the other hand was as dumb as a box of rocks, the title character is in it for 5 minutes, trying to kill them for no apparent reason then changes his mind for no reason at the last second, they also dropped The Dude on the grid - Man!

Jackass 3, I know this is getting old, it was getting late and I just put it on, but did these guys take some punishment, still had some laugh out moments of stupidity.

Game of Thrones(first 5 episodes), I don't have hbo so I haven't seen this, did a 5 episode marathon xmas day. Pretty good and intriguing, like a renaissance festival with beautiful looking people, looking forward to finishing out the season and whats next.

Rubber, fell asleep in the middle of this dammit! but what I saw was great, need to watch again soon.

[AlbertV]

Posted two new reviews on the main page

VIGILANTES (Trevor L. Smith, 2005) - independent martial arts action film I found at the Dollar Tree. Good story, shitty action and a waste of kickboxing champion Dave Marinoble as the main villain.

HARAKIRI (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962) - classic samurai film that reminded me of crossing Zhang Yimou's HERO with use of flashbacks and classic Chang Cheh cinema with its graphic bloodletting.

[DarthKato]

"EXCALIBUR" (1981 DVD) Starring Nigel Terry

I rember watching this movie when I was younger and I really liked it. I had been trying to find a copy of of it and I finally lucked up and found it at BigLots for $3. I think this is probably one of the better tellings of the King Authur legend that has been made.

[ShaOW!linDude]

ELEPHANT WHITE --- stars Djimon Hounsou, Kevin Bacon and directed by Prachya Pinkaew. DH is an assassin currently working in Thailand and hired to hit a Thai gang operating in the slave sex trade of young girls. KB is an arms dealer who keeps him supplied with weapons and information.

This movie is just........so bad on a number of levels. First, it just jumps into the story with no set-up whatsoever. Weird. DH as a hitman? Sorry. Ain't buying it 'cause he just didn't sell me on it. There's a little (and I mean a little) bit of MA in this but it's nothing special and it's parsed out here and there. Some of the shootouts were awful. The only thing I really enjoyed (and I know many folks had issues with this) was.....Kevin Bacon's British accent. Not the best but certainly not the worst and it helped to pass the time until the movie was over.

LET ME IN --- stars Chloe Grace Moretz, Kodi-Smit McPhee, Elias Koteas, Richard Jenkins.
This is a remake of the 2009 Swedish film "Let The Right One In". A 12 year old boy (KSM) meets a 12 year old girl (CGM) at his apartment complex. She turns out to be a vampire with a human handler (RJ) who provides fresh blood for her. A cop (EK) is investigating the sudden murders that are occurring.

Me and the Mrs. watched the Swedish film a couple of months ago and watched this one last night. I liked aspects of each. There were certain scenes or character depictions I preferred in one film over the other. For the most part, the American version follows its predecessor faithfully with a few added tweaks here and there. For one, the girl comes across as a little more vampiric but I think the boy in the Swedish version comes across better as an outcast. He's quite odd looking. The adults in the Swedish version also seem to be a little more actively involved with the kids than in the US one. Weird.

Both of these films had their praises sang and, truthfully, I really don't see the need for a US remake of this. The Swedish one is fine. (My wife thought it was the better one and she's probably right.Psssst! Don't tell her I said that.) They're both atmospheric but not particularly gory. I just never felt......scared.....or on edge. Good story, though. Based on the book "Let The Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Maybe I should read it. The book's usually better, right?

[DarthKato]

Just got through watching "Excalibur"(1981). Its better than I remember it being. Definitely one of the best film adaptations of the KIng Arthur legend I have seen.

[DiP]

Young and Innocent (1937)

Pretty entertaining film by Hitchcock about mistaken identity (a trademark in some of his best works) although it lacked intensity and suspense to be of top quality material. But it does have some strengths throughout the film in terms of film-making (direction, editing, cinematography, suspense). Overall, it's not quite a classic but it shows grown maturity by Hitchcock as a filmmaker. Rating: 7/10

Foreign Correspondent (1944)

A Hitchcock film about journalism and conspiracies in the UK during WW2. I liked it a little more than Y&I because the material allowed Hitchcock to take great advantage of suspense for a story about covering mysteries surrounding a kidnapping group attempting to provoke revolution in UK with the help of an important politician. Good performances and the resolutions (in the story) were nicely pulled off, including the ending (realistically reflects the then current real-life situation in which the film depicts). Rating: 7.5/10

The Wrong Man (1956)

I'm surprised there hasn't been much talk about this film. For once was this a getaway from realizing novels into film material, and once did Hitchcock get to treat a story as realistic (yet maintaining his style) as ever. This is another film that uses the theme of mistaken identity and psychological trauma (a basis for Psycho) but this was based on a true story of an innocent man who was mistaken for a robber who held up people several times. Great performance by Henry Fonda and everyone else and thanks to Hitchcock's direction, the story keeps the artistry minimal and conveys the message in a way everyone can relate to. A masterpiece, up there with Hitchcock's most defined works. Rating: 10/10

[jmungus]

HINDSIGHT

after a string of fun experiences with 2011 movies outta korea, HINDSIGHT was a big step back.
this movie tries to accomplish many things. too many perhaps. anyhow, it fails all the way.
technically, its a romantic crime comedy.
as for the "romance", its a platonic love thing between an aging (sorta ex) mobster and a minor assassin chick. stupid idea as it turns out. their choice for a theme to keep the flick together turns out to be another snoozer. its cooking and unfortunately not the chow sing chi god of cookery kind. just basic lameness all the way!
as for the "crime" aspects, they`d dig into some rather random and not-so-eventful mob shenanigans in the aftermath of their former top dogs passing away.
and finally, as for the comedy- there seem to be a handful of wanna be amusing elements that never take off, they just drown in the sea of hope for s/t engaging to finally happen & the general vibe of boredom.
either the director (famous for "il mare") had been given corny material to work with or theres your reason why he wouldnt do more than like 4 movies in 15 years or something.
also, hes certainly in love with his choice of (usually quite pretty) frames, as he seems to celebrate em anytime the plot allows him to.
being a fan of elegant and crafty cinematography and photography myself, i can appreciate that. its not enough though.
on another note, the acting (all in all) was just "passable" imo.
3.8/10 in the case of HINDSIGHT means: its 20-30mins too long and if u have the gift of knowing when to fast forward, it becomes a "watchable, but still unrecommended affair".



RANGO extended version

had watched this in the theater. back then, it had left me a bit dissatisfied (translates to s/t like a 7/10 score) but i couldnt put my finger on the why.
now after revisiting RANGO on dvd, i believe i know why- the titular character aint that cool. i fail to associate with him, i dont feel a rush rooting for him, i like reptiles and i love JD, but heres me thinking of rango as one of my least appreciated animated critters. bummer. still the flick has spectacular cgi and proves to be a thoroughly fun ride. 8.2/10



'DISNEYS TRANSFORMERS' aka REAL STEEL

here we go again. provided with a screenplay and execution made of the finest parameters the hollywood-movie maker super computer could deliver.
the cheese, the predictability and a kid actor who couldnt rise to the occassion aside, its an entertaining show, pushing all the right buttons etc blahzay blah.
i just wonder when the hollywood movie maker will be available as an iphone app.
no mysteries about REAL STEEL tho, 7/10. hollywood blockbuster cinema, not at its very best, but damn competitive.



YAKUZA WEAPON aka bullet ballet from planet dumpster aka man im glad i dont smoke as much as tak sakaguchi

sushi typhoon madness. toned down a bit in favour of a more coherent screenplay.
thats how i like it and thus i`ve enjoyed YW a lot more than my last few encounters with flicks associated with the j-splatter-action-trash subgenre (ie "...frankenstein girl", "helldriver", "mutant girls squad").
mr. tak 'i dont give a rats ass' sakaguchi delivers yet another fun, no holds barred performance worthy of a razzie award (which in his case, is a compliment).
the movie is actually about something- the yakuza order and code of honour, a dysfunctional father and son relationship (not exactly in a way seen between hardy and nolte in "warrior"... the excellent wicked awesome "warrior" i might add), internal yakuza feuds, 2 lovers who need to find proper grounds for a healthy relationship & challenging one`s inner demons and expectations.
given that YW consists of 70-80% of pure mayhem, the above themes were not exactly fleshed out as one can imagine ;-)
probably loved "shozo vs the killer nurses" best, was a little disappointed in the final "(bionic) shozo vs tetsu" matchup.
fun stuff, "good movie", i rate it 6.2/10, although it doesnt really seem to matter. anything between 2 and 9 is probably acceptable. now im lookin forward to "deadball" tonite. "battlefield baseball" wasnt exactly satisfactory back in the days, lets see what sakaguchi has in store for me revamping the baseball theme in a crazy over the top context.



WARRIOR

i feel like i need to mention again that "warrior" is one badass flick, but i guess ya`ll know that by now. a must see. 9/10

[DarthKato]

WARRIOR

i feel like i need to mention again that "warrior" is one badass flick, but i guess ya`ll know that by now. a must see. 9/10

Was the minus one on the score for it being too badass?:tongue:

[The Silver Fox]

I'm burned out on kung fu films. I've started getting a lot more(mostly) Asian horror movies. Flying Witch Head movies from Indonesia/Thailand, Insane gore and Long Haired Ghouls from Japan, Revenge and angst filled teen ghosts from Korea/weird religious themed stuff from the Philippines...this stuff is so addictive.

[AlbertV]

Le Doulos (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962) - great French gangster film that revolves around the mystery of whether Jean-Paul Belmondo's Silien is revealed to be a police informer or not when his boss, played by Serge Reggiani, is nearly busted for a heist right after he gets out of prison. Excellent plot twists and turns and a shocking ending IMO.

[jmungus]

Was the minus one on the score for it being too badass?

nah. maybe 1 or 2 minor issues and a bunch of micro issues.
besides, YOU rate movies way too generously dude :wink:
but i like the idea..... although the movie thats too badass to stomach its awesomeness resulting in a bomb rating doesnt exist. yet.
extra kudos to warrior tho. neither am i a big fan of drama, nor do i like nick nolte & the same goes for MMA fighting.

ps: now im off to the show they call SWORD OF THE STRANGER. its a very nice one waiting for its first revisitation.
pps: my sincere condolences, silver fox. tho we do not call u 'ravenhead girl' now, do we ?!! :tongue:
anyhoo, u`ll be back with the gung-funatics before u know it (*devilishly frantic silver fox type laughter here*)
i`ve celebrated the 30th anniversary of discovering the kf genre and 25 years of fandom last year (starting my collection with dubbing off rental tapes and tv broadcasts in´86) and i`ve had my share of mild kf flick burn out syndrome too twice or thrice.
in 2011 i`d take it easy; must have watched approx. 3/month. there were longish periods back in the day when i`d watch 5-10/week

[masterofoneinchpunch]

...RANGO extended version

had watched this in the theater. back then, it had left me a bit dissatisfied (translates to s/t like a 7/10 score) but i couldnt put my finger on the why.
now after revisiting RANGO on dvd, i believe i know why- the titular character aint that cool. ...

Because it is Don Knotts. It's a film I liked quite a bit (I saw it in the theater as well). So many movie allusions it is crazy.

--------------------------------------------

The Captains (2011: William Shatner):

I thought this was quite good. Shatner does quite a suprisingly effective job in interviewing "The Captains" (Patrick Stewart, Scott Bakula, Christopher Pine, Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, himself) especially when he tends to wax existentialism throughout the reviews (mortality seems to be more and more on his mind over the years :D). As expected he sometimes makes it about himself, but he is free with praise and often leads the participants into topics that are rarely discussed by interviewers. Shatner is quite funny in this and does well to put his participants at ease. How he surprises Kate Mulgrew is a highlight of the film.

Avery Brooks is strange, though I wonder how much was pretend and how much was serious. It is hilarious when he is tinkering with the piano while trying to spout a poetic statement out that is partially relevant to the question Shatner asked (sometimes his response is only through the piano keys and a bizarre gaze towards Bill).

Patrick Stewart is just as stoic as his role as Picard when he discusses his failed marriages, the fame from Star Trek (he was not expecting the series to last), how his original seriousness for the role was slowly broken by a fun cast and crew. The interviews with him I feel are the highlights of the documentary.

There is even a Christopher Plummer interview here as well. I suppose you can fit him in the documentary because he was a Klingon Captain (Hab SoSlI' Quch!)

-------------------------

Le Doulos: I'm a big Melville fan so this was an easy purchase for me (on Criterion). I will also highly recommend it to anyone interested in French cinema.

[ShaOW!linDude]

MYSTERY MEN (1999) --- stars Ben Stiller (Mr. Furious whose power is just getting mad), William H. Macy (The Shoveler who wields a shovel), Hank Azaria (The Blue Rajah who flings forks and assorted cutlery), Janeane Garofalo (The Bowler who uses a bowling ball with her father's head encased in it), Geoffrey Rush (Casanova Frankenstein, evil genius), Paul Reubens (The Spleen who farts noxious fumes with accuracy), Kel Mitchell (Invisible Boy who may or may not be invisible), Wes Studi (The Sphinx who speaks in lame riddles), Greg Kinnear (Captain Amazing), Tom Waits (Doc Heller, eccentric non-lethal weapons maker), Claire Forlani. Based on the Dark Horse comic book series by Bob Burden.

A trio of B-class wannabe superheroes (Mr. Furious, the Shoveler, and the Blue Rajah) seek recognition and the opportunity to prove themselves. The movie is good; not great. It could've been a lot funnier but it has it moments. The secondary characters are what really make the film enjoyable. GK is obnoxiously egotistical as Capt. Amazing and you gotta love GR's villainous name "Casanova Frankenstein". The action isn't too bad and it's a pretty good send-up of the superhero genre. I like it. Just wish it was funnier. If you've never seen it, it's worth a rental or dvr it. It'll make you chuckle, for sure.

Best line is delivered by the Shoveler on the way to Casanova Frankenstein's castle to put an end to his attempt to destroy the city: "We have a blind date with Destiny........and it looks like she ordered the lobster."

[DarthKato]

nah. maybe 1 or 2 minor issues and a bunch of micro issues.
besides, YOU rate movies way too generously dude :wink:
but i like the idea..... although the movie thats too badass to stomach its awesomeness resulting in a bomb rating doesnt exist. yet. extra kudos to warrior tho. neither am i a big fan of drama, nor do i like nick nolte & the same goes for MMA fighting.


A movie like that needs to be made for the world to witness. Though the sheer awesomeness of it may lead to the viewers experiencing blindness and/or madness.Still would be worth it though.:tongue:

[Son Of A Gun]

Saw the most beautiful film! Getting Home (2007) by Zhang Yau (mandarin)

http://chinesemov.com/images/2007/getting-home-2007-2.jpg


I really recommend this film.

Story of a loyal man who promises his dead workmate that he'd take his body back to his village to be buried. So he carries the corpse for miles and miles on a adventure filled road trip. All the time having to tell people that he's just passed out from drinking too much. Black comedy with a tender touch.

[nectarsis]

Last night was Night of the Living Dead (1968), tonight is Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition (1978).

[ShaOW!linDude]

BROTHER'S JUSTICE --- stars Dax Shepherd, Nate Tuck, Tom Arnold, and a cast of cameos.

Actor/comedian DS and his friend, NT, try to get a film idea off the ground. DS wants to leave his comedy roots behind and become the next MA film star despite the fact he has absolutely no training whatsoever. This is a mockumentary and has some really cool cameos of other big name celebrities he tries to entice. There's quite a few laugh-out-loud bits, I thought. Definitely worth a rental or dvr!

[AlbertV]

Was sick all weekend so instead of watching movies, I did a lot of reading...but two days ago, finally watched

Sanshiro Sugata, Part 2 (Akira Kurosawa, 1945) - my review can be found on the main page :)

[DarthKato]

:nerd:"Firefly: The complete Series" (2002 DVD) Starring Nathan Fillion:nerd:

[DiP]

Misery (1990)

Still get the chills and thrills watching this classic. Kathy Bates's performance as the obsessed fan is tops and is the female version of Norman Bates (ironic considering that it's clearly inspired by Hitchcock's film) played by Anthony Perkins in Psycho, except a bit more unpredictable. James Caan also performs brilliantly as the victimized author forced to play along and improvise ways to survive. Rating: 10/10

Alien (1979)

A tad bit outdated in terms of the alien design but nevertheless a film that has stood out very well for more than 30 years now. The story, acting, suspense/thrills are as great as it can get but the best thing is the art direction and visual effects. It was simply a milestone in film-making at the time (along with Star Wars) and a huge inspiration for other sci-fi films that came after it. Many say it remains the best in the franchise, no arguing there. Rating: 10/10

Aliens (1986)

A major improvement in the art direction, visual effects (the xenamorphs look so much better this time) and production designs. And the more expanding the story is, the better too. However that's where some bad things come in: the dialogue and inclusion of few actors. Can't help but cringe at some of the clichés which only undermines the suspenseful moments. While acting was great too, some actors make the film questionable in terms of toning the story's time, At times, it feels like the setting reflects the futuristic time, but some scenes it goes 1980s thanks to the acting. Good thing as well was the action. Some complain it overshadows the thrills (yeah, a bit) but to me, it seems the film was taken to a different level. And in a great way. Overall, aside the small nitpicking, great sequel. Rating: 9/10

Alien 3 (1992)

Decent sequel but quite problematic concerning the story and the alien design. I heard the story was originally going to have Newt and Hicks returning only at the neglection of Weaver who wanted the film to mainly focus on her. Couldn't imagine how the film would be if that went through though. Anyway, the story here with the whole prison system and the prison inmates was neat but the subplot with her and the prison inmate (or guard) didn't work. Plus the thing with the new queen inside Ripley was forced and an excuse to kill off Ripley, probably intended to end the franchise with Part 3. All in all, the makers tried their best and brought up some potentials, but in the end efforts put for the film aren't that much satisfying. Rating: 6.5/10

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Curry & Pepper (1990: Blacky Ko: Hong Kong)

It would not be until All For the Winner a few months after this that Stephen Chow would become a true superstar in Hong Kong though it still was a big year for Chow who acted in a total of 11 films. But here he is second billed to Jacky Cheung (Days of Being Wild, High Risk) who plays more of a straight laced role (relatively speaking). Chow is blossoming as a performer and gets to do a bit of his shtick but is tamer compared to his later films.

For the most part this is a typical buddy cop film with all the typical contrivances. Both cops are good at what they do, but take a more pragmatic approach to crime instead of by-the-book. There is even a woman reporter (Ann Bridgewater: Full Contact) that comes in between them that leads to the inevitable break-up (and later redemption) of the friendship.

The director Blacky Ko Sau-leung is also the terminator like bad-guy in the film. He had been a stuntman and supporting actor for years, known for his motorcycle jumps, so his approach to this film is certainly an action-oriented one. There are some impressive stunts, falls and fight scenes. There is a couple of very impressive pier dives early in the film. There is also a surprising gweilo fight scene where the two attempt to arrest two foreigners who are passing counterfeit bills who just happen to know kung fu (weird that in this film I have seen the most Caucasians I think ever in a Hong Kong movie; also a lot of English, which I have heard before, but some of the mangling of expletives is quite hilarious).

There is some great footage of Hong Kong and Andrew Lau’s (Infernal Affairs Trilogy) cinematography is the best aspect of the movie. There is so much on-location footage. While filming many unsuspecting audience members (sometimes though they are gathering around just to see the filming and get caught in the process) get unwittingly get caught up in the act like when Eric Tsang is trying to shake down customers to buy counterfeit watches (is that a Romex) or when Stephen Chow is trying to show to the reporter how people are hardened against crime and will not help.

Overall this is a fun film and a decent choice for those who are already immersed in Hong Kong movies. I watched the ancient (1999; has a hologram image for the DVD) Universal R0/NTSC release which has some of the typical problems of subtitle translation (getting he/she wrong; getting the spoken English phrases wrong, my favorite “Shit you, Shit you!”.) Though be warned upgrading your R0 doesn’t mean the translations are better.

[AlbertV]

I agree with masterofoneinchpunch, I enjoyed CURRY AND PEPPER myself :)

Dry Wood, Fierce Fire (Wilson Yip, 2002) - Before becoming Donnie Yen's collaborator on some of Yen's recent films, Wilson Yip co-wrote and directed this romantic comedy that stars Louis Koo and Miriam Yeung. Yeung plays Alice Tsui, a Chinese herbalist who has learned two lessons from her parents: never judge by looks and if anyone insults you, beat them up. Alice is not only an expert in Chinese medicine, but she is also a martial artist, learning Mantis Fist from her father, played by Turbo Lo Meng.

Koo plays Ryan, a magazine writer who is prone to fainting at the worst of times. When Alice meets Ryan, there is that tension there, not romantic, but he finds her annoying. However, when Ryan falls for new magazine boss Michelle (Fiona Chan), he needs Alice's help to woo her because Alice is a huge fan of Michelle's work. However, we all know where this goes...

Yeung gets to engage in fistacuffs against a homeless person, played by Cheung Tat-Ming. Choreographed by Adam Chan, it was meant to be played for comic effect, so there is wirework and stop motion used. Lo Meng and Kingdom Yuen King-Tan play Alice's parents and they do quite well at combining comic relief with their acting skills.

The title of the film refers to basically "a couple" who are opposites. In one scene, Alice, after confronting a fraudulent herbalist in the middle of a forest, calls Ryan to get her and he appears, they wind up seeing a couple get their groove on in the forest. Ryan says "Dry Wood and Fierce Fire are doing it in the forest".

Not a bad romantic comedy, but don't expect any big fight stuff, it is all meant as part of the comic elements. A decent Wilson Yip effort.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Assault on Precinct 13 (original 1976 version)
- I can't believe I saw that piece of crap remake before ever seeing John Carpenter's classic....

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Assault on Precinct 13 (original 1976 version)
- I can't believe I saw that piece of crap remake before ever seeing John Carpenter's classic....

Now have you seen Rio Bravo to contrast where Carpenter got some of his influence from on this film (more than just the siege aspect)? Personally I really like the 1976 version. It has an offbeat, fun sometimes horror feeling to it.

[Fightingfist]

Watched Dispicable Me yesterday, quite an enjoyable animation.

[wongfeihung62]

Godzilla 2000. This is the American re edited version of 1999's Godzilla 2000 Millenium. To be honest I prefer the US version over the original Japanese version. (shock horror). Exra sound effects such as more roars and inclusion of G's footsteps add to the movie.
Some of the dialogue has been tightened and some non essential scenes shortened.
overall 100 mins of rubber-suited fun for all you Kaiju fans out there.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g72/taj-hob/g2000.jpg

[TheFlyingPanda]

ELIMINATORS 1986 on VHS. Just watched it last night, hadn't watched it since I was 9 or 10. I was laughing so much at the cheese! Conan Lee is in this move (doing martial arts of course) I wonder if it's on DVD clean anywhere? Now Im in the mood for more 80's sci-fi throwbacks!

[massa_yoda]

Limitless with Bradley Cooper. VERY good and interesting movie.

[skipsweet]

watched BIG STAN the other day.... why had i never heard of this before? not only is it hilarious, but co-starring with Rob Schneider is David Carradine, and supporting roles from Randy Couture, Simon Rhee & Dan Inosanto!!

[ShaOW!linDude]

THE EAGLE --- (2011) stars: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland

Set in England, CT plays a Roman centurion whose father had previously been stationed there and lost a golden eagle emblem to a Northern tribe. With the help of his British slave (JB), he seeks to find and retrieve it.

I enjoyed the film. The acting, story, and cinematography were all very well done. The action is pretty cool, too. As always though, it is hampered by quick cuts and close ups so that much of the fighting is lost on the viewer. CT does seem pretty handy in his swordplay though. Wouldn't mind seeing him in another role like this. (Not bad for a homeboy!:tongue: He's from Cullman County, Alabama and I live in Jefferson County; only a few miles apart.)

[blue_skies]

I've been watching an animated series called death note that if anyone hasn't watched is pretty damn entertaining. It's not particularly visual but very mentally stimulating if you're into that sort of thing. I can't say the first episode or two grabbed me but after watching a few episodes it really got addictive making me want to watch more and more episodes. If you haven't seen this check it out!:xd: I've now seen the first 20 or so episodes now:smile:

[jmungus]

Quick korea, 2011

i`ll make it quick- QUICK sucks balls. huge ones (from approx mins 0 to 40; then i`ve had it and shut it off).
totally annoying . structure, pacing, plot, dialogues, characters (if this was a slasher flick, the kind of characters u wish bite it first; in quicks case, pretty much every single one of em).
its an action thriller and the action is lame, the thrills non existent (quick`s one beaten track). avoid.

[AlbertV]

I've been watching an animated series called death note that if anyone hasn't watched is pretty damn entertaining. It's not particularly visual but very mentally stimulating if you're into that sort of thing. I can't say the first episode or two grabbed me but after watching a few episodes it really got addictive making me want to watch more and more episodes. If you haven't seen this check it out!:xd: I've now seen the first 20 or so episodes now:smile:

The live action movies are just as good as the series I heard.

I saw these last night

Conan the Barbarian (Marcus Nispel, 2011) - I actually liked this reboot of the 1982 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. I had my doubts when I first saw Jason Momoa in the lead role, but he actually pulled it off quite nicely. Ron Perlman made the most of his screen time as Conan's fated dad and Stephen Lang was a pretty good villain.

The scene that really shocked me is when a young Conan kills 4 adversaries in a forest and brings their heads to his father. The young Conan was played by teen martial arts champion Leo Howard, who also played young Snake Eyes in the 1st G.I. JOE movie and is the star of Disney Channel's martial arts-themed sitcom KICKIN' IT.

In the Name of the King: Two Worlds (Uwe Boll, 2011) - Now, normally I can't really tolerate Uwe Boll's films. However, this was actually one of the few that I liked. Dolph Lundgren plays Granger, a retired Special Forces agent who is whisked away to a medieval world to a kingdom run by King Raven (Lochlyn Munro). There, he must perform a few quests to save the kingdom and return to his world. Interesting twists abound and overall, Uwe Boll has won some points with me IMO.

[jmungus]

The live action movies are just as good as the series I heard.



meaning the series blows ???
DN- The Movie part 1 is wack. part 2 is watchable. i ve read the comics, tho im neither an expert here nor a fan.
that matsuyama guy is one corny actor. the kind i feel i deserve a discount for having invested in a movie with him in the cast. anyhoo, hes in it (portrayin "L"), adds insult to injury.
no idea about the series. might give it a shot on a rainy day.

[DiP]

Predator (1987)

Some classics from the 80s don't age well but Predator is not one of them. Some lines in the film do show quite lot of significance of its' time but it's done in a way that doesn't disturb or take anything from the thrills and excitement that is provided. Special effects still hold up (much better than the CGI films we get today), and the masculinity of the cast gives the action the look that has always struck audiences ever since its' release. One of Arnold's best films. Rating: 10/10

Predator 2 (1990)

A sequel that had the potential to pull off equally well as the original but never did. Danny Glover and the rest of the cast aren't bad and Stephen Hopkins' direction fit the the film's violent style. But the biggest problem is the inconsistency of the script. The first half almost matches the thrills and mystical tone of the first film but from there it falls off from where the Jamaican kingpin is introduced to the train massacre. The film becomes less enthralling and those twists (making the Predator more exposed and less threatening rather than the opposite) are a little boring to follow through. Rating: 5.5/10

The Terminator (1984)

Arnold's big break and a classic that continues to impress and stand out as years passes. Its' success lies in the complex story as well as its' blend of action and sci-fi elements that were worked together into something gritty, violent, colored and grounded opposed (kinda like action and 1980s neo-noir) to just giving the film a futuristic look like some other films that came around at the time. Special effects really shows alot of age (the ending with the Terminator's "real" appearance in particular) but it's minimal and it's mostly the excellent make-up that gets to do the work. Phenomenal performances by Arnold and Michael Biehn. Rating: 10/10

The Abyss (1989)

James Cameron sure looks to spend alot of money on grand-scale pictures. This time it takes place in deep waters and involves divers and the military in search of lost nuclear missiles as well as friendly aliens wanting to form a communication link with Mankind. Again, no complaints on special/visual effects as Cameron knows what he's doing (T1, T2, Titanic, Avatar). While the alien subplot was a nice tough, it kind of interfered the main story as things didn't seem significant until the end. If Cameron somehow could've integrated the aliens more intact with the other subplots I think it would've made for a better film. Still, it's a pretty well done picture with great production values and overall fine performances (credit to Ed Harris, M.E. Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn as the villain). Rating: 8/10

Terminator 2 - Judgment Day (1991)

One of the best sequels ever made. It's broader, more explosive, superior production values as well as special/visual effects, and more depth. It's also lighter which means gone is the pessimism and the anxiety of the original and some cliched dialogue. But overall I think T2 is equally as great in its' own right. Arnold continues the performance of his lifetime and nothing gets better than to have him face an actor playing a superior and more threatening villain. Rating: 10/10

True Lies (1994)

Arnold and Cameron form a fine actor-director team and this is no exception. Lots of action, distinctive characters, excitement, secrecy. But it's all done with an almost comical twist and the film at times starts to play off as an action parody. But if you're in for a little bit of everything packed in one film, True Lies successfully delivers that premise. Rating: 7.5/10

[AlbertV]

A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2011) - Funny 3rd installment of the stoner comedy series starring John Cho and Kal Penn. This time, they must find a Christmas tree for Harold's father-in-law after the duo, who reunited a few years after escaping Guantanamo Bay, accidentally burned the original tree down. Add a funny homage to the Claymation X-Mas classics, a dance number with Neil Patrick Harris, and a Russian mobster in the mix, and its madness only Harold and Kumar could take.

[Drunken Monk]

I've been watching True Blood, a show I thought I'd despise but actually really enjoy.

I've also watched...

8mm - A really underrated film. As dark and gritty as "Seven" but with a pretty unique plot. This plays as a perfectly capable thriller and I enjoyed every minute of re-watching it.

Happy Feet - What...the...fuck? Ridiculous, plotless for the first 45 minutes I actually sat through and tedious.

Harold and Kumar Christmas - I managed an hour of this one before turning it off. There is nothing worse than BAD dick jokes.

[jmungus]

MAGIC TO WIN

harry potter lite reimagined by the hong kong disney club studios.
i bailed after the 50 mins mark. 2.7/10 up until then.


TOWER HEIST

snoozefest galore. i didnt expect much, but not even a single amusing character given the peeps involved, that i did not see coming. not that im particularly fond of any of the cast, but still...
it didnt even provide for some diverting noise and ruckus one could expect from ratner.
the "highlight" and money shot moments barely managed for me to not turn the movie off b4 the end credits. 2.7/10



IMMORTALS

curious flick by tarsem singh, whose "THE FALL" i highly recommend.'bastard child of the banquet and 300' (?) came to mind watching the "immortals".
the first half i thought was rather lukewarm, then things would heat up a little and a bit of tension came into play.
didnt like how the gods were incorporated into the screenplay, also i would have appreciated to learn more about them along the way.
it`d bother me how small and limited the world of immortals was conceived.
visually it sure was nice and artistically elaborate (and all cg). but a) too repetitive and b) too dark too often.
the story itself wasnt too hot either. in some ways i feel its a failure, then again im thinking it did have a touch of class and a bunch of redeeming sequences.
5.7/10


THREE MUSKETEERS

followin the olde hollywood formula to the fullest. zorro, fantastic four, tomb raider, narnia etc and now this one... they re all the same. some work more or less well, some dont, musketeers is one of the latter.
one big cliche raisin the good flick bad flick ratio of the past two months once more in favor of the bad ones. total crap but not as boring as ie tower heist- 3.2/10 (im being kind).

[AlbertV]

A Dolphin Tale (Charles Martin Smith, 2011) - A heartwarming story of a young boy who befriends a dolphin named Winter, who has lost its tail in an accident. With the help of Morgan Freeman, the dolphin attempts to move with the help of a prosthetic tale. I have to admit, I almost shed a tear at the end of this one.

Real Steel (Shawn Levy, 2011) - One critic described the film as "ROCKY with robots". While that is true in some sense, it also holds shades of THE CHAMP as it pertains to the relationship between Hugh Jackman's washed up boxer turned trainer and his son as they train a sparring robot named Atom as a real boxer. The robot boxing scenes are nicely done and the finale was quite a bit of a surprise.

1911 (Zhang Li/Jackie Chan, 2011) - Unless you are into Chinese history, chances are you may not like this film. Jackie Chan truly is transitioning himself away from the once everyday action hero to a more serious actor. He plays a soldier who is one of the most entrusted friends of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (a show stealing Winston Chao) who finds himself in the midst of war, both physically and emotionally during the 1911 Revolution, which formed the People's Republic of China. Wu Gang choreographed one nicely shot fight scene between Chan and two Qing Dynasty thugs on a ship. The war scenes are at times very brutal. Personally, I enjoyed the film as a whole.

[DiP]

Life Without Principle (2011)

New from Johnnie To. Following Alan Mak/Felix Chong's stock-market thriller Overheard, this takes a much different approach. It's a mixture of reality and satire of money-obsessed people in a depressing society who will do anything to survive, including betraying their own morals and principles. Style and themes are as recognizable as ever but this leaps into something different in terms of substance yet is familiar ground (greed, the stock-market, survival, loyalty, morality) being explored in a refreshing way. There's no gimmicks and flairs to spice up the shots. But as a To film, it doesn't forsake other elements and the strength here and what drives the picture is the cast. Many recognizable faces play little to big key roles in the story without anything feeling too rushed or sudden. It's broad. The actors perform to the extent of fitting in their roles, are used economically accordingly, and each of the actors has a distinct flavor in their performance that shows the wide variety of characteristics throughout the film. Lau Ching-Wan has hit jackpot this time and won't disappoint. Next to Mad Detective and Sparrow, this shows great improvement and versatility in ways that very few HK actors can match nowadays.

LWP is very well-made with the usual touches and production values. But it's something of a new phase for To who seems to maintain his skills but is beginning to move into more substantial films. I personally think it's a great move. Rating: 9/10

L.A. Confidential (1997)

A detective story set in the 1950s and basically treating subjects concerning police investigations ranging from abuse and homicide to corruption. Story is kind of standard but the greatest about it is the diversity of the story and the way the cast is used. It's filled with distinct feats in the character development and the plot points that it elevates the narrative and gives the entire picture a nice spin to it. The cast is simply a huge complement to the overall film as everyone acted off the top like what. Crowe, Pearce (the most memorable actor in the film to me, his demeanor did all the work for him), Spacey, Cromwell, Basinger, DeVito all did so well playing their roles. It's been while seeing a film carrying many talents performing so differently yet equally as great all in one film without one or the other getting more or less exposure. Rating: 10/10

[KUNG FU BOB]

BLUE VALENTINE- A film about a relationship, showing different stages of it in a non-linear fashion. Astounding performances from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. 10/10

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3- This was more of the same ol' stuff from the first two films. Lots of slowly building dread for about 5 minutes of payoff/scares. 4/10.

TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL- That was really funny! Nice turning of the genre on it's head, plus great performances and funny shit. I love how the Tom Cruise-looking kid was actually a sick freak just waiting to happen! 7/10

SUCKER PUNCH-... was a virtual, almost scene by scene ripp-off of the Charles Bronson film HARD TIMES (1974)! I enjoyed it a lot though. It was so low budget it almost felt like a documentary. Some decent bare knuckle fighting in it. 6/10

THE BLEEDING- We attempted to watch this due to the cast- Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Armand Assante, DMX... with this cast it had to be at least interesting right? Wrong! Argh... it was SO bad it wasn't even funny! It started off as though it might be poorly acted, but promising. Vampire motorcycle gang... But... no. LOL 1/10

DRIVE- Rewatched (my son and I saw in the theater) this with my wife, who loved it, and I liked it even more this time around. Ryan Gosling stars as a mechanic/stunt driver who gets involved with both good and bad people. The scene in the elevator is perfect. 9/10

I watched the new TWILIGHT movie... for my gal. Got to compromise sometimes, eh? It was amusing and not too painful. Kind of romantic in it's own twisted way. LOL 6/10

GENTLEMAN BRONCO- The second film from NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE's director. Um... off-the-wall odd, bizarrely funny, original, and kind of unlike anything I've ever seen before. Sam Rockwell plays two vastly different roles with his usual quirky, dependable cool. 7/10

3:10 TO YUMA- My son has been trying to get me to watch this remake for a few years. It was excellent. 9/10

T:2- For the hundreth time, on BD this time with audio commentary. 9/10

[ShaOW!linDude]

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY --- (2010) Stars: Keir Gilchrist, Zack Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Lauren Graham, Jim Gaffigan, Viola Davis, Zoe Kravitz

A 16 yr. old boy (KG) feeling suicidal checks himself into the hospital and is placed in the adult psych ward. There he is befriended by an adult patient (ZG) and meets a teenage girl (ER) who he develops a budding romance with.

I found it to be a really neat movie with a few oddball characters and laugh-out-loud moments. There's a really cool dream sequence of the patients as a band performing the Queen and David Bowie collaboration Under Pressure. I have an affinity for movies about mental institutions/psych wards. I recommend it as being worth a rental or dvr it like I did.

[skipsweet]

http://youtu.be/0xdtH3Lw25c

:squigglemouth:

[Fightingfist]

Catching up with the new TVB series-On Call 36 hours. pretty good

[ShaOW!linDude]

YOUR HIGHNESS --- (2011) Stars: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Theroux

Set in medieval times, 2 princely brothers (DM & JF) set out to save one's fiance (ZD) from an evil wizard (JT) and meet up with a female warrior (NP) on a quest for revenge.

It had some funny bits in it and the f/x weren't too bad. The fighting was actually pretty good, too. Some of the dialogue really made me snicker as the delivery seemed so offhanded.

[mikabaker]

newbie here! just want to contribute to the thread.

I recently watched "Drive" with Ryan Gosling in it. It was of 80's feel and sludgy in the sense that it was with a slow paced camera treatment.

"Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance" was just a thorough disappointment. please avoid this flick.

cheers!

[wongfeihung62]

I am watching mainly Godzilla and Ultraman at the moment.

[KUNG FU BOB]

newbie here! just want to contribute to the thread.

I recently watched "Drive" with Ryan Gosling in it. It was of 80's feel and sludgy in the sense that it was with a slow paced camera treatment.

"Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance" was just a thorough disappointment. please avoid this flick.

cheers!

Welcome to the forum! :bigsmile:

[ShaOW!linDude]

LEMMY ---- (2010) Documentary about Lemmy Kilmister: lead singer and bassist of the heavy metal band Motorhead.

Not very (auto)biographical but very interesting. It's really more of an homage with a ton of musicians singing his praises for his influence on them and their music. It's very candid as the camera follows Lemmy about. It showcases both his personality and his persona. I would've really enjoyed if the filmmakers had asked him about the inspiration for some of his music and lyrics. One thing's for sure.....he's a character.

If you're interested, dvr it like I did.

[ShaOW!linDude]

CROWLEY --- (2010) stars: Simon Callow, Kal Weber, John Shrapnel, Lucy Cudden, Paul McDowell, Jud Charlton.

Weird movie, man. Followers of Aleister Crowley seek to reincarnate him through a virtual reality experiment so that he can then perform a ritual to secure himself in this time. Crowley is primarily portrayed by Callow who does a good job but it is the short performance by Shrapnel that really embodies him (pardon the pun). It's not a scary movie by any means. It's just weird. The movie's director, Julian Doyl, and Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for the band Iron Maiden, wrote the screenplay.

Crowley has always fascinated and repulsed me simultaneously. May have to dig out my 2 biographies of him and read them again now. Ugh.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Last night we (re re re-)watched THE TINGLER which stars Vincent Price. This movie scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid. Some parts were still creepy. I loved it. My wife groaned and rolled her eyes the whole time. LOL

Recently watched THE IDES OF MARCH with Ryan Gosling and George Clooney. Like Clooney's last directorial effort, this sounded boring but wound up being very good. Exceptional performances stand out in this film about a politician and his top campaign workers.

We watched the foirst half of the Italian gangster drama GOMORRAH. Fantastic so far.

[massa_yoda]

1911

A couple things that brought me out of this movie was Jackie's apparent dubbing (it sure didn't sound like him) and the terrible audio sync during the English dialogue. It only occasionally matches up with a person's mouth. I must say though, there was actually one GOOD white person here (character-wise, not acting). Color me impressed. Anyway, I was engaged enough with the story, even though there was SO much going on, each person could have had their own movie! This movie is about revolution and setting up free elections, not communism or flag-waving (okay, a little bit of the latter), though there was an unnecessary bit at the end where they tried to connect these events with the CCP. Uh huh. But hey, this film definitely motivates me to do more research. I might watch it again. Kudos to Jackie for another good performance, though he needed more screen time.

[AlbertV]

Watched these this week as I was on vacation:

ACCUSED AT 17 (2009) – Lifetime-esque film about a teenager who is accused of murdering the girl who slept with her boyfriend. The film was not too bad and has some interesting twists in the plot. Truly has some vile characters that you would just want to hate and those who you felt so sorry for.

THE REUNION (2011) – WWE star John Cena plays a cop who is forced to team up with his bail bondsman brother (Ethan Embry) and ex-con little brother (Boyd Holbrook) to start a family business when their father passes away. This leads them to a wild goose chase to save a kidnapped billionaire. Cena and Embry have some pretty decent comic chemistry and the action feels like a modern-day western. Not bad for a WWE film.

BOUNTY HUNTERS (2011) – Formerly known as “Bail Enforcers”, this film stars former pro wrestler Trish Stratus as a bail bondsman who ends up joining her boyfriend/supervisor and partner on a wild mission when they have a former mobster in their capture and the mobster's boss wants him back. The fight scenes combine martial arts and pro wrestling moves choreographed by indie wrestler Riff Havoc. Stratus does a lot of kicking and grappling moves and of course, she has her final fight in a schoolgirl outfit against a Asian female rival in a nurse's outfit.

DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (2010) – I actually liked this Tsui Hark film. It was as if Sherlock Holmes was a 7th-Century Chinese swordsman. Nice action sequences by Sammo Hung and excellent performances by Andy Lau, Li Bingbing, and Carina Lau as the Empress. There were some exciting plot twists to the film as well that made me kept watching.

PUSS IN BOOTS (2011) – Spin-off film to “Shrek” starts the story of Puss in Boots, reprised by Antonio Banderas, as he teams up with former friend Humpty Dumpty and master thief Kitty Softpaws in an attempt to get the Golden Goose from the Giant's castle in the beanstalk. Of course, redneck couple Jack and Jill want the Goose as well and chaos soon ensues. Very fun movie!!!

COLOMBIANA (2011) – From the writers of “The Transporter” and “Taken” come this action tale starring Zoe Saldana as a young assassin who is raised from childhood from her uncle after her parents are viciously murdered by a drug cartel. She seeks revenge against the cartel but sometimes, she doesn't think of her actions and the consequences that will come with being an assassin. Nice firepower and the fight scene involving Saldana and Jordi Molla could have been better edited. However, decent effort overall.

[massa_yoda]

Drive (2011)

This was good, but not normally my type of movie. Kudos to the director for making a story and characters that you care about. However, it is a little too violent for my personal tastes. I'm sure it doesn't bother most people, but I don't need to see heads getting ripped apart...or hear the bone crunching sound effects.

[DarthKato]

Hey guys, yeah I am still alive.:xd: Anyway, I have been watching a lot of crime films lately:

Scareface(1983) Al Pacino
Heat(1995) Al Pacino, Robert De Niro
The Departed(2006) Leonardo DiCaprio

I have also watched:
Hitman(2007) Timothy Olyphant
Shutter Island(2010) Leonado DiCaprio

[AlbertV]

I finally began watching TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS, the new Super Sentai Series after TV-Nihon's servers were down. The show just premiered 3 weeks ago and I have to admit, I'm starting to like it. It combines shades of Power Ranger references and get this...in some crazy way, it reminds me of THE MATRIX.

Basically, the show takes place in an alternate 2012, where the main energy source in the world is called Enertron. A computer virus unloads a computerized army known as the Vaglass, led by a French-speaking human named Enter.

13 years ago, three special youngsters were given Enertron as a source for what you can call "super powers". They are Hiromu, Ryuuji, and Youko. They become the Go-Busters team and what is very interesting is because of the Enertron in their bodies, they have weaknesses. Hiromu (RedBuster) freezes at anything that freaks him out for a total of 5 minutes. Ryuuji (BlueBuster) tends to overuse his energy and crashes if he "overheats". If she doesn't have enough calories in her body, Youko (YellowBuster) loses her energy quickly (this explains before each battle, Youko delves in her pocket for a snack).

Fun series so far after seeing the first 2 episodes...hope it gets much better!

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002: Dai Sijie) China/France ***/****

There are many films that deal with China’s Cultural Revolution and aftermath, but this is the calmest one I have seen. There is a terror lurking underneath, but vastly veiled or hidden if one is not familiar with what can happen to you if your behavior is complained to higher authority.

Ma (Lie Ye: Curse of the Golden Flower) and Lu (Chen Kun: Let the Bullets Fly) are two friends part of the “Down to the Countryside Movement” in which bourgeois youths (or whose parents were considered bourgeois) are sent to remote areas to learn farming and remove any potential capitalist ideas. They get to move liquid fertilizer (dung) for farming and excavate materials out of tiny caves.

They both fall for a beautiful seamstress (Zhou Xun: True Legend) who falls for Lu who is the more aggressive of the two. They steal a bunch of non-approved books including several from Balzar from a “reeducated youth” who just left. The two spend their spare time reading to the little seamstress and teaching her how to read herself. There is not any conflict between the three even those Ma pines for the seamstress.

It is a beautiful filmed movie with not much in antagonists or drama except for the strange coda that does not help the film. It goes abruptly over two decades into the future and one character returns to the area which will soon be filled for the Three Gorges Dam.

I like this film, but I would recommend first watching Farewell my Concubine, The Blue Kite and To Live if you are interested in various periods under Chairman Mao.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Chronicle (2012: Josh Trank)

My first 2012 film watched. I wanted to get to this before it got out of the theater. I had tried to stay away from reviews and trailers of this as much as possible, so I was fairly surprised how brooding and dark the film became.

I am not the biggest fan of teen dramas and the film starts off as a troubled teen Andrew who has decided to just start filming everything including that of his dying mom and alcoholic dad. His cousin Matt is his closest friend, but they really are not that close. Besides his family issues, Andrew’s life is one of a depressed teen who gets picked on, does not connect well with others and is generally doleful. All of this changes when at a party Andrew gets cajoled into taking his camera by Steve (Michael J. Jordan), Matt’s friend, into a deep dark pit off in the woods. Why they would risk going into a cave in the dark (kids are stupid) from the ground, I do not know but they connect with these crystal formations they find.

Soon they have an ability to move things. That’s telekinesis, Kyle. How they react with their new powers seems realistic with what a teenager would do. Soon they also realize how dangerous it is to others as well as the danger they put themselves in.

Since this is one of those “hand-held” films where every seen is taken from a camera in the existing world (a camera that exists in the film) whether from Andrew’s new camera which is the most prevalent to surveillance cameras in pertinent spots. While this technique is reminiscent to The Blair Witch Project it is more akin to Cloverfield (2008: Matt Reeves) in its use of hiding particular moments because of film issues, bigger budget for special effects, starting the film off innocently and its tone. A bit too much quesy-cam and I would have liked to see some of those shots with the camera not moving.

There are several scenes that are quite good. I don’t want to spoil them, but if anyone is interested in discussing I can put them in spoilers. Overall I liked the film. I liked the actors and the plot, though I am a little tired of the stereotypical hand-held direction.

[wongfeihung62]

Lots of Godzilla and Gamera movies.:bigsmile:

[skipsweet]

Bloody Cuts - Mother Died

4th in a series of professional short horror films. made it's online debut today. enjoy!!

http://youtu.be/FPGajeDRAM8

[AlbertV]

FINAL DESTINATION 5 - same ol' plot...group cheats death and death comes after them one by one...some pretty inventive death clips though.

[massa_yoda]

The Fighter and Warrior. Both very good movies with heart and soul. I liked the boxing action in The Fighter a little better, but both movies did a fairly good job shooting the action.

[The Dragon]

The Bodyguard. Very good movie, terrible waste of talent and life.

Unstoppable. High energy, adrenaline rush! Rosario Dawson, marry me?

[bruceleewannabe]

If The Wonder Years on netflix counts then I guess that. They replaced the theme song (Joe Cocker's cover of With A Little Help From My Friends) with a soundalike and a few songs throughout episodes were changed but surprisingly most of the music is original and considering it was a show set in the 60s going into the 70s and there was a lot of copyrighted stuff that's pretty good, even if a song is changed it still vaguely sounds like what it was before (Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix was replaced with a similar sounding tune) and it doesn't seem to take away much from the scene where it's played.

I only remembered the show in reruns growing up and only really remembered the opening credits and beyond that not too much else so it was fun to see it again. I may not have grown up around that time but I relate to a lot of the characters and situations in the episodes and it's a fun show to watch. Definintely check it out if you use the netflix these days.

[massa_yoda]

If The Wonder Years on netflix counts then I guess that. They replaced the theme song (Joe Cocker's cover of With A Little Help From My Friends) with a soundalike and a few songs throughout episodes were changed but surprisingly most of the music is original and considering it was a show set in the 60s going into the 70s and there was a lot of copyrighted stuff that's pretty good, even if a song is changed it still vaguely sounds like what it was before (Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix was replaced with a similar sounding tune) and it doesn't seem to take away much from the scene where it's played.

I only remembered the show in reruns growing up and only really remembered the opening credits and beyond that not too much else so it was fun to see it again. I may not have grown up around that time but I relate to a lot of the characters and situations in the episodes and it's a fun show to watch. Definintely check it out if you use the netflix these days.

Wow, I didn't even know they released this on DVD (because of those copyright issues). Like you, I grew up watching this show...I would love to revisit it again!

[DeathFuMaster]

Wow, I didn't even know they released this on DVD (because of those copyright issues). Like you, I grew up watching this show...I would love to revisit it again!

Just a quick note...it does come on TV still if you have "the Hub" channel. I started watching it again a while back when the Hub first started and I didn't notice any changes. It probably had them, but when I first watched the show back in the day I was just a kid.

[Run Run]

The Great Silence - Awesome Sergio Corbucci western.

[teako170]

The Great Silence - Awesome Sergio Corbucci western.

Yeah, very cool flick.

Me? Been watching Baby Einstein and dust grow on my collection.
I'm lucky if I get to watch one DVD a week :squigglemouth:

[bruceleewannabe]

Wow, I didn't even know they released this on DVD (because of those copyright issues). Like you, I grew up watching this show...I would love to revisit it again!

It's not currently on DVD for those reasons but it is on Amazon and Netflix instant streaming which is where I'm watching it. I guess I should've specified.

[massa_yoda]

It's not currently on DVD for those reasons but it is on Amazon and Netflix instant streaming which is where I'm watching it. I guess I should've specified.

Yeah no problem. I should've thought of that.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Me? Been watching Baby Einstein and dust grow on my collection.
I'm lucky if I get to watch one DVD a week :squigglemouth:

Heh! I feel you, bro. Been there.

Baby Galileo is the best btw. It's hard to find now but if you don't have it, you need to score it.:wink:

[teako170]

Yeah got that. One of the best ones.
Geez, can't believe I'm actually ranking these :nerd:

Heh! I feel you, bro. Been there.

Baby Galileo is the best btw. It's hard to find now but if you don't have it, you need to score it.:wink:

[AlbertV]

13 (Gela Babluani, 2010) - Remake of his own 13 TZAMETI
http://albertvfilm.blogspot.com/2012/03/13-2011.html

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Case de mi Padre (2012: Matt Piedmont) **/****:

I am still not sure what compelled me to watch this. There was this urge to go see it. Something about the trailer had me interested. The reviews on it were mostly mediocre, but I still had this morbid curiosity. Apparently I was the only one at that particular showing, well for about 15 minutes. I had the whole theater to myself and I liked it that way. This has never happened, but there was something cool about it, having the whole theater to yourself. I could walk around aimlessly while still staring at the screen. I could randomly change seats or talk to myself more than usual. Then a person came in about five minutes into the film. Dammit. Luckily he sat way at the bottom. My fear was he was going to sit directly in front of me or next to me, which would be weird, but has happened before.

Now back to the film: well it was there. There are a few funny moments, some interesting ideas, though in some instances it feels like a telenova influenced by Grindhouse techniques like bad footage, skipping frames, frames riding up. Now add in random mannequins used as people, too much nude footage of possibly Will Ferrell’s butt and too little comedy with a basic plot and that is pretty much the film.

Some are staying away from this because most of the film is in Spanish. I like subtitles (not all the words were translated which is a little annoying; English does not have subtitles like the non-English language Criterion titles) and Will’s Spanish is quite good (some reviews note the “American” accent). But the plot is so incredibly basic that you know most of the film from the beginning or all of it. There are too many missed opportunities that you start spotting areas where he could have added jokes or some surrealist gag or try a little harder with the action scenes. Maybe I was expecting too much.

You can stay past the credits to get an additional scene. It is nothing tremendously interesting or funny, but it is there and if you are a completist you will want to watch it. You notice a lot of crappy films do this.

[CatNap]

Anything with Cecilia Roth or Ricardo Darin.


Laura

[crazedjustice888]

Power Rangers Samurai weekly

Gundam AGE weekly

Garo weekly (sadly last week)

Digimon weekly (sadly last week)

Kamen Rider Fourze weekly

GoBusters weekly

Thats about it...hahaha oh and How I met your mother...weekly...hahaha

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Anything with ... Ricardo Darin.

Laura

Funny, I just saw The Secret in Their Eyes (2009: Juan José Campanella) this weekend and he was quite good in it.

[CatNap]

Funny, I just saw The Secret in Their Eyes (2009: Juan José Campanella) this weekend and he was quite good in it.

That's my favorite of his so far...and the actress was fantastic as well. Great chemistry, wonderful story.


Laura

[Fightingfist]

Been watching

Prison on FIre 1 +2

Rich and Famous 1+2

The Lunatics

and Kung Fu Panda 2

[AlbertV]

THE MUPPETS (2011) - I really liked it and Jason Segel proved he can write a family orientated film, especially being a Muppet fanboy. Funny parts involve Jack Black playing himself as Animal's anger management sponsor. LOL

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011) - This is a perfect example of how NOT to remake a classic 80's horror-comedy. They practically took all of the comedy out of the original, except for David Tennant, who was the movie's only good factor IMO. Everything else just seemed rushed and it was all blech!

FOOTLOOSE (2011) - This was a worthy remake of the classic Kevin Bacon 1984 starrer. Newcomer Kenny Wormald definitely made his version of Ren exactly for the 21st Century. Picturing originally casted Zac Efron and Chace Crawford, I couldn't see them as Ren. Wormald truly held his own for his film debut and in the classic "letting out steam" sequence, he looks like he busts out some hip hop moves and even a dab of get this...what looks like Capoeira.

[DiP]

Notorious (1946)

Finally got to see the hype of it all. Overall, this was a great refreshment in its' use of familiar themes of romance, intrigue, suspense, and thrills. And the story being set in South America added a nice touch to the story, going away from the traditional American scenery. Once again, Grant and Bergman did fabulous and went hand in hand as a screen duo (can see why this collaboration went on for quite a while in other films). I found the ending a bit anticlimactic though as the final resolution seemed to lead to something epic moments before. Still a classic for what it is though. Rating: 10/10

Chinatown (1974)

Aka L.A. Confidential's older brother. This had an interesting style and the noir-ish pacing was quite moving and carried out the story pretty nicely, with Nicholson and Dunaway fit very well and performing in alignment with the story's time line. Alas, I wasn't to engaged with the whole picture. It's probably because there was little violence/screen time of the antagonists and focused more on Nicholson's investigation, the relationship between him and Dunaway and the latter's subplot. I can understand the praise it gets, and it does deliver in that regard. But the overall content was not pleasing enough for me. Rating: 7.5/10

All's Well Ends Well 2012 (2012)

Another nonsense Chinese New Year comedy. The cast varies from great actors (Louis Koo, Lam Suet, Donnie) to newcomers acting silly and crazy. Plus there's lots of ladies in the the film but I got no complaints. Donnie has an interesting role of that as a washed-up guitarist who hooks up with a washed up singer (Sandra Ng) to make their comeback, and gets to do lots of comedy acts which was pretty fun to watch, at times reminiscing Donnie's comic flair in Mismatched Couples. Best of all is that he also dances and sings in some scenes and does surprisingly good (Donnie could very well sing the theme songs to his films from now on lol). Overall, another film you can pass UNLESS you're in for big surprises and lots of pretty women. Rating: 4/10

[KyFi]

Just watched The Robe on bluray. This was the first major widescreen movie(Cinemascope), in the early 50s. Blu ray looks fantastic and wow, they really went all out as far as scope and production values in some of those biblical epics of the 50s.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Just watched The Robe on bluray. This was the first major widescreen movie(Cinemascope), in the early 50s. Blu ray looks fantastic and wow, they really went all out as far as scope and production values in some of those biblical epics of the 50s.

As good as the film was and I like Richard Burton, I prefer the sequel Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) which has some pretty good action in it. Okay Victor Mature hams it up way too much, but still a fun film.

[KyFi]

As good as the film was and I like Richard Burton, I prefer the sequel Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) which has some pretty good action in it. Okay Victor Mature hams it up way too much, but still a fun film.

Oh, that's good to hear. I watched the trailer for Demetrius and was thinking about picking that up. I'm tempted to get the blu ray of Ben Hur, but my dvd looks good enough that I can't really justify the purchase.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Oh, that's good to hear. I watched the trailer for Demetrius and was thinking about picking that up. I'm tempted to get the blu ray of Ben Hur, but my dvd looks good enough that I can't really justify the purchase.

I will warn again that Mature's performance gets worse, but the action gets better.

I did not pick up the Ben Hur for the same reason (though I'm always on the lookout for a really cheap Used set which includes the earlier Ben Hur). I love that film. If you haven't yet, check out the silent release of Ben Hur (1925) which also has a very good chariot race (not as good as the remake) and a very good sea battle scene (not as good as the remake, but still fascinating). Always interesting to me to see pre-code movies (extra violence, nudity) as well as two-strip Technicolor productions.

[AlbertV]

I'm going through a nostalgia trip...I'm watching cartoons from when I was a kid and passing them on to my kids, who love them

Kidd Video
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Teen Wolf
Darkwing Duck
Bananaman
Danger Mouse

you get the idea LOL IMO they are much better than some of today's cartoons

[Drunken Monk]

"Mysterious Skin." As harrowing as it is great.

[DiP]

To Catch a Thief (1955)

A well done piece put altogether for it's purpose but way different compared to his usual calibers. The theft/mistaken identity theme that Hitchcock liked doing so much go hand in hand with the romance in the character development. I'm pretty sure this was deliberate (Hitchcock was a master of utilizing his visions onscreen) but I think it would've upped the ante if Hitchcock gave more room for Grant investigating the robberies and exposing the real thief under his name, and cut down the romance/relationship with the lead actress. Rating: 7.5/10

Peeping Tom (1960)

The originality of the film speaks for itself. I don't recall snuff films being this creative before and since. However, Powell's direction was underwhelming for the film to be taken for anything. Being a horror/thriller, the film was rather slow and done for artistic purposes than for cinematic immensity. As a result, it took out the momentum of some of the horrific moments for me. Applauds to the director though for such a great idea. Rating: 7/10

[massa_yoda]

Kick-Ass (2010)

Kicked ass.

[DarthKato]

Assassin Creed: Linage

[FoulMouff]

Tonight i'm bringing home:

Haywire - Not expecting too much from it, but it may be alright.

Watched Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol and Contraband the other night. They were both pretty good.

[bobo]

DVDs just arrived from the UK--- TWINS OF EVIL-- DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE and on blu ray---BAY OF BLOOD. Ohhhhhh Yaaaaaa.:bigsmile::xd::wink::tongue:

[DiP]

Carrie (1976)

Great mixture of drama, horror, and fantasy. The story progresses well and it sets off pretty much anything you can find in other high school films so its' pretty simplistic. But it's the emotional context of it all that will get you grabbed - that ending (fantastic camerawork and editing by De Palma)... just amazing! Outstanding performances by Spacey and the actress who played the mother. Rating: 9/10

Dress to Kill (1980)

De Palma goes Hitchcock in this early 80s serial killer film and one of the most celebrated films in his career. Pretty much a version of Psycho in terms of themes (schizofrenia and internal conflicts between the personas), the film nonetheless has its' own style and tone that makes the film very interesting, thanks to De Palma's visual flair. It's far from perfect - few things were hard to take seriously - but I'd say it's De Palma's best film in his career. Rating: 9.5/10

[Sheng]

ANNA MAGDALENA (1998)
One of the most timeless and engaging UFO productions I’ve seen. Wonderful cinematography (Peter Pau), wonderful chemistry between the extrovert and the introvert leads (Kwok and Kaneshiro) and Kelly Chen’s “Mok Man Yee” character remained etched into my mind for days!
The ancient Universe DVD was considered reference material at the time and its still a bearable watch.

NOMAD (1982)
Revisiting this after God knows how many moons, mainly because I’m on a Leslie Cheung flex lately. Still a somewhat charming mess of a movie, the Nouvelle Vague influences are all over the place, but I guess its difficult to find reasons (other than its “otherness”) to place it on the list of the best 100 HK films ever made (like the crits of the HK edition of Time Out recently did).
Watched the pretty lousy and cut Mei Ah DVD. Wish I had the supposedly uncut VCD to compare the snipped violence in the final minutes, but I’ve never been able to track it down.

[Markgway]

I think some not-too-explicit sexual scenes were also cut from Nomad.

[blue_skies]

Other than kung fu I have been watching Spartacus: blood and sand and its prequel Spartacus: gods of the arena. Pretty damn good drama, some episodes better than Others but I'm not keen on a lot of the over stylised gladiatorial battles and the cartoonlike use of CGI blood that never fails to take you out of the moment. Overall a good show and one I'm sure would be well received from fellow forum members.

[David Rees]

Sherlock Holmes A Game Of Shadows: Very disappointing sequel seemed rushed to me, as if they couldn't wait to get to the next set piece and forget about story development. Not sure what Guy Richie is going to do next as he seems to have run out of ideas.

Mission Impossible 4 : Ghost Protocol: Excellent 4th installment, great action and stunts, surprised to see Simon Pegg getting a much bigger role. Not as good as part 3 but definitely one of the best action films this year.

[CatNap]

I just recently started watching Epitifios 2 with Cecilia Roth again. Great series....also caught Lost in Austin on Netflicks and really enjoyed it.


Laura

[blue_skies]

[
Mission Impossible 4 : Ghost Protocol: Excellent 4th installment, great action and stunts, surprised to see Simon Pegg getting a much bigger role. Not as good as part 3 but definitely one of the best action films this year.

You had me intrigued until you said not as good as part three, which I found exceptionally poor.

[FoulMouff]

You had me intrigued until you said not as good as part three, which I found exceptionally poor.

I'd have to disagree with you. I thought 3 was the best in the series and Ghost Protocol was just as good. 1 was too slow and kind of boring, 2 wasnt that good, even though John Woo directed it. 3 and 4 are def great.

[massa_yoda]

I'd have to disagree with you. I thought 3 was the best in the series and Ghost Protocol was just as good. 1 was too slow and kind of boring, 2 wasnt that good, even though John Woo directed it. 3 and 4 are def great.

I liked Ghost Protocol a lot, but I also liked the 3rd and the 1st. Really when we are talking about capturing the spirit of the original show, the first 15-20 minutes of the first movie is the best, but MI4 as a whole movie is much closer to what the old show was about, because it isn't just about Cruise, it's about the whole team. Every member has a moment and they all help each other when things break down. Great film.

[Fightingfist]

Infernal Affairs 1+2

and Tiger on the beat

[odioustrident]

Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense - great writing that holds up today

Going to see Cabin in the Woods tonight very excited.

[DarthKato]

Just got through watching "Sherlock' on PBS. One of the best versions of Sherlock Holmes I have seen since Basil Rathbone played the part.

[AlbertV]

THE LAZARUS PAPERS - A strange film combining ghost story and revenge action film. Danny Trejo plays Aroon, who has the power to heal and cannot die. When a village he lives in is ransacked by human trafficker Riker (played by Gary Daniels), young girl Nana (Krystal Vee, SCORPION KING 3) is kidnapped and forced into prostitution. When she escapes with a suitcase full of cash, Riker goes after her but she gets help in a terminally ill fellow, Lonny (Johnny Lee). Where Aroon randomly comes up is quite a pain, but somehow, it all comes together in the final 15 minutes.

BREAKING WIND - This was the dumbest spoof movie I have ever seen. It spoofs Twilight Saga: Eclipse and the trailer to Breaking Dawn Part 1. It is all fart jokes (hence the title) and sex jokes galore. Danny Trejo pops in as Billy Black. He's the only good thing about the film (good thing I used a FREE redbox code on this one LOL)

[DiP]

Blow Out (1981)

I liked the idea of the story centering around a sound recorder who gets caught up in the middle of a political assassination for accidentally recording an attempted murder that looked like an accident. But the whole thing was a bit off for me. The subplots didn't connect with the main plot points too well midway through and the main focus was somewhat lost because of shifting between each of these plots points. The ending totally made that up though and doesn't forsake the premise that was set up in the start. Travolta and Allen gave good performances, and De Palma's sharp direction keeps everything interesting.

Rating: 7.5/10

[QueMuchita]

^^ Funny you posted a little mini review of that movie, I actually watched this about 2 weeks ago and thought it was a pretty good film.

[DiP]

Carlito's Way (1993)

Pacino and the cast were great but it's as great as it can get in these mid tier crime films. Nothing new happens here as a crime film its' own merits - basically about an ex-criminal avoiding the criminal world he was once part of after getting out from prison. It's pretty much like Scarface but with more depth and humanity. The film still stands out though as one of Pacino's most down-to-earth and likable performances. And the efficiency of the film lies in how the story is told. De Palma hasn't really been big on creating new or refreshing stories in his films but always made it up by giving them a fresh spin with his individual technicality in storytelling. Rating: 8.5/10

Fatal Attraction (1987)

The title says it all. Most memorable as the film where family-man and lawyer Michael Douglas has an affair with and later stalked by a lonely, suicidal, and unpredictable Glenn Close who goes her nasty ways to warn him not to ignore her and remind him how to be more responsible. The premise was great and one that wasn't forsaken throughout the rest of the film. Very rarely do you see films like these where females get the upper hand in a role that I honestly think is daring and quite controversial. Rating: 8/10

Black Rain (1989)

A buddy cop film but a different one as the film takes place in Japan most of the time and the lead actor (Michael Douglas) gets teamed up with an Asian cop (Ken Takakura) to solve the case. The film's unique side is the way it covers vibes concerning feelings Americans and Japanese had at the time which were really evident once the story shifted to Japan, and through dialogue scenes between Douglas, Takakura and the actor who played the Japanese chief inspector. But other than that, it's just a standard formula of cops chasing down criminals. Rating: 6/10

[blue_skies]

^^ Funny you posted a little mini review of that movie, I actually watched this about 2 weeks ago and thought it was a pretty good film.

Despite his criticism he did give it 7.5/10 clearly liked it quite a lot

[DiP]

Indeed. I just found the focus of the story a bit of a mess.

[DiP]

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

A new one in terms of warfare/military perspectives onscreen so far for me. Something that covered mental state similarly was The Deer Hunter but that was during the war, whereas Full Metal Jacket explores feelings and experiences both in boot camp training and during war. That said, I didn't really expect the dialogue to come off so snappy for being a film with opposing themes but it really worked. It allows for peculiar patterns in some of the more outspoken and conflicted characters throughout the story (who can ever forget Sgt. Hartman, "Comer Pyle", or "Animal Mother"?). One has to wonder though where Kubrick wanted to take the film because plot holes seems obvious in few places. But despite this fact, this is evolutionary as warfilms can go. Along with Cimino, Coppola, and Stones' warfilm, Kubrick's has gone done in history for successfully adding a new flavor and bringing out something fresh for the genre. Rating: 10/10

Wall Street (1987)

A welcoming piece into the New York stock market where greed makes millions, changes you out of your true character, and questions your integrities. I have been into these kinds of films (Overheard films, Life Without Principle) for a while now, and haven't been under its' radar until now it felt like rewatching later films with similar themes that must have been inspired by or at least have continued the traditions of this film refreshingly. However, I think the film is quite original even by today's standards due to strong acting performances as well as showing more details on how things go down in that kind of working field. Charlie Sheen and his father looked great working together (it shows) but Michael Douglas' presentation was just hard to surpass. Just an amazing performance. Rating: 9/10

[bruceleewannabe]

Doc Martin (British TV), This is a funny british dramedy about a famous surgeon Doctor Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) who leaves the big time to become a GP in a small village called Portwenn. He cannot perform large surgeries anymore as he has a fear of blood which causes him to feel sickly and woozy. He is the type of guy who says what he feels and doesn't understand why some people get upset by the things he says and the attitude he seems to have. He is very blunt and will tell you exactly what is wrong with you and what you can do to fix it but only if you do it without argument. The people don't want to listen to his medical advice most of the time but he tells them if they don't they could die so that usually turns them around.

There have been five seasons so far with a sixth one on they way next year. Seasons 1-4 are on DVD (I've checked them out from my local library), they are also on Netflix or Hulu. The series has a lot of funny moments and serious situations. The later seasons find the doc getting married and having a child to take care of. It's worth a watch if you like british comedies or dramas as it is a combination of the both.

[DiP]

Miller's Crossing (1990)

Pretty interesting but not that enthralling as it could've been. The film's standard gangland formula mixed with intricate plot points (going back and forth) and odd touch of dark humor in few moments was really admirable and a standout in that regard. Altogether these elements created a different kind of crime film compared to classics like The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface and what not which were more direct in emphasis. Good bunch of actors here as well but they were used in the wrong way. It seemed like performances were just there to happen, not there to happen and at the same time leave great impressions or engage through the acting.

Rating: 7/10

[DarthKato]

Just got through watching the first Mission:Impossiable movie and it was really bad. The acting was bad, the graphics were a joke, and the story was utter nonsence. This film is a disgrace to the original show.

I give it a 1/5:nerd:

[massa_yoda]

Just got through watching the first Mission:Impossiable movie and it was really bad. The acting was bad, the graphics were a joke, and the story was utter nonsence. This film is a disgrace to the original show.

I give it a 1/5:nerd:

Wow! Sorry you didn't like it. I still love the first movie and I am a fan of the original TV show as well.

[DiP]

Patriot Games (1992)

Personal vendetta mixed with patriotism was quite an interesting concept for this political revenge thriller, and the cast really carry the film as far as intensity goes. But it probably would have hit harder and more successfully had they toned down the patriotic subplot (with their secret operations in North Africa) and concentrated more on Sean Bean's quest to seek out and kill Harrison Ford and his family.

Rating: 7.5/10

[So High]

TIhe old lady and I watched Chronicle last night. Cool lil flick. Reminded me of Akira. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought that.