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

[teako170]

Originally Posted by KUNG FU BOB

I'm wearing a NOSFERATU (1982) shirt as I read this!

Nice Bob. I have this flick in my H&K boxset but have yet to see.

Originally Posted by masterofoneinchpunch

While I still have tons of his films to watch my favorite non-Kinski of Herzog films is Lessons of Darkness with the beautiful helicopter shots of the destroyed Kuwaitian oil fields.

Have to track this one down. Thanks for the suggestion masterofoneinchpunch.

Originally Posted by TibetanWhiteCrane

Love Kinski... he's weird and creepy, and strangely mesmerizing!

Yeah, the more I see his stuff, the more I'm really digging his work.

[The Dragon]

The Expendables.
What in the hell are these old-timers doing?


And how do you invite Jet, but not Jackie?

[DiP]

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

Has lost its' appeal since it came out and looks quite dated in some places. But it's still a very fun and a film packed with memorable scenes. The narration provided gives the film a docu-style feel to it and that was a nice tough as well in midst of the plot and comedy. The sped-up pacing in many scenes (specifically dramatic ones) as well as the music adds more to the whole craziness and makes things more amusing to behold. N!xau was a great addition to the story as he was the film's main gimmick but credits also goes to Marius Weyers as the professional but clumsy biologist. Rating: 10/10

The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

Shot in 1985 but put in the shelf for four years. The result is a film that feels more emphasized in story/characters but retaining the same elements from the original. N!xau is as funny as ever but gets less screen-time this time while Lena Farugia and Hans Strydom fill out the story added with a couple subplots of two poachers and two soldiers fighting each other. This had alot of classic moments but altogether isn't as great as the original. Rating: 7.5/10

[The Dragon]

SPIDERMAN.

Willaem Dafoe is a great character actor.



"Can Spiderman come out to play?!"

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Ted (2012: Seth MacFarlane) **½/****

At least two members of the audience thought this was the funniest movie ever. Their loud laughs, guffaws, bellows, spit-sounds, flatulence and various assorted noises coming from every orifice that can expel air dominated many of the jokes. They acted as the theater's laugh track. Of course some jokes I found funny were met by dead silence from the audience. Do you ever see a homage and want to state out loud where it comes from? There is a pretty big homage to Airplane which would probably be funny for those who have not seen it. Nevertheless, do you ever secretly wish that an audience member would explode like Weird Al Yankovic's head in Spy Hard?

The film starts off to great promise with narration from Patrick Stewart to the explanation of Ted's (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) anatomically incorrect creation as a Christmas wish, to his stardom and eventually his fall from fame like a modern day Corey Feldman. Now in the modern day, we have a 35-year old John (Marc Walhberg) as a rental car worker in Boston who has a stunning corporate girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) who tolerates his adolescent and repressed lifestyle of weed, Flash Gordon obsessing, and DVD watching, but yearns for him to make more of himself. His "thunder buddy" Ted has been a catalyst in all of this.

Lori gives John an ultimatum to clean up his act. This forces Ted to live on his own. This leads to one of my favorite scenes in the film where Ted goes for a job interview in a supermarket. How long will this separation of Ted and John solve the relationship issues between John and Lori?

Surprisingly this film is really a romantic comedy. It has the whole basic template of boy girl in long relationship, boy goofs-off one two many times to break-up relationship, they later get back together because boy finally reforms. Yes there is even a comedic "meet cute" in the film. Throw in a few additional familiar elements like the loser protagonist (Failure to Launch, Management, The Bounty Hunter) goof-off friend (who just happens to be a live drug addicted fowl-mouthed teddy bear) who always gets the protagonist in trouble (You, Me and Dupree) and a boss who wants to go out with the girlfriend and threatens the fabric of their relationship with lies (they even show scenes in the film from Bridget Jone's Diary). Add in a teddy bear stalker in Giovanni Ribisi (my favorite role of his was in My Name is Earl) and you pretty much know the whole arc and flow of the film.

I do not particularly find pot heads funny. Some of the things they do can be peculiar or bizarre, but the act itself is not hilarious. However cokeheads are a different story -- the laughs in Scarface for instance and the party scene here with Mr. Flash Gordon himself Sam Jones.

I know many of you will like the film more than I did. The film has been a critical hit and box office hit domestically (over 200 million dollars) and even worldwide where people have wanted to see a surly and scurrilous stuffed teddy bear. For me though, it was a mixed result. Where this film is funniest is when it deals with a variety of topical, cinematic and cultural references and oddball jokes. At its worst is when the plot is typical boilerplate, dime-a-dozen, cookie-cutter rom-com. Maybe I have seen too much Family Guy, maybe I was just in a bad mood, maybe my hatred toward anthropomorphic creatures are too great, but too often I was just restless with the material, though I had a decent amount of laughs. Now if there had been more hooker poop ...

No extras after the credits.

[DarthKato]

Originally Posted by The Dragon

And how do you invite Jet, but not Jackie?

I have heard that it was because of the films that Jackie Chan has been in recently. Here is an article that talks a little about it:

The Expendables

[DiP]

Top Gun (1986)

The combination of male machosism, romance, psychological themes and jet fighters in action was a great combination. Being a Scott/Bruckheimer production - at least the start of these blockbusters before the trend got oversaturated a decade later - I think it helped alot placing everything and giving the story the big punch and the elements that makes it an overall classic. The cast delivers - although Val Kilmer is somewhat underused and underwhelming in spite of his great antagonizing presence - and the finale is rough and very entertaining. I can now see why it holds up good and being talked about to this day, true gem of commercial Hollywood film-making. Rating: 8.5/10

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

It was like watching the Lethal Weapon sequels but with Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans in an unengaging sport-oriented storyline with lots of dumbed-down elements. I don't why but I just can't seem to enjoy these kind of films anymore. The one-liners from Willis as well as the chemistry between him and Wayans were pretty classic though but I would say that's about it. Action scenes didn't help unfortunately either. Rating: 5/10

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011: David Gelb) ***½/****

This has been one of my favorite documentaries of the past few years. I was looking forward to it before I bought it and was quite happy after viewing it. I have a fascination with monomania in individuals. While often a theme in both literature (Moby Dick) and cinema (almost every revenge film) it is interesting to see it in a real life scenario and put to good use. I read some complaints about Jiro's work ethic and how it affects his family, but I think it is something to be admired. Here is someone whose parents left him at an early age and was forced to find work at the age of 9. He is still bitter about it and this can be seen when he is visiting his parents' grave and he mentions it a few times as well. But the fact that he rose from poverty, eventually became rich (this would happen after the sons were born; they have several stories that go over how poor they were) and taught his sons a craft which they both excel at is something to admire. In fact he states he was extra hard on his sons in teaching them the craft of sushi and this is coming from a man who makes his apprentices spend weeks learning to properly wring a towel (this reminds me of the story of John Wooden who would make all new recruits to UCLA relearn to tie their shoes).

Jiro Ono is an 85 year-old shokunin and the owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro a ten-seat sushi restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station, where you have to make a reservation a month in advance and was the first sushi restaurant to be given a three-star Michelin Guide rating (though it is not the only one, Mizutani who was an apprentice of Jiro and appears in this documentary also obtained one for his restaurant Sushi Mizutani; Mizutani's personality is quite interesting as well as he is completely frank about everything). His eldest son Yoshikazu is waiting to take establishment of the restaurant while his youngest son Takashi is in charge of a similar restaurant (I am not sure if he owns it or his father Jiro does, the father makes it sound like it is his sons; this restaurant has a two-star Michelin Guide rating). The film poses the question what will happen if Mizutani takes over, but also gives us the information that he was the chef every time Michelin came over to rate the establishment.

You learn so much about high-end sushi in this documentary with much information coming from food critic and unabashed Jiro fan Masuhiro Yamamoto. I am certainly curious on the restaurants portrayed here, though I do not know if I could spend so much for one meal -- especially Jiro's where you are about done in 15 to 20 minutes making it one of the most expensive meals in the world. I have had decent sushi in my life and the one aspect it changed for me was that I know have trouble eating the majority of mediocre sushi out there. But one very important aspect that is mentioned time and time again in this film is the quality of your vendors. You get to meet a motley crew of very unique individuals who have the same exact standards for their profession as Jiro does.

Warning, if you like sea creatures you might want to skip this. The suffocating of the octopus is the one I have read the most complaints on. Some of the extras are even more graphic in their slow demise, especially one procedure which make a fish brain dead, but keeps its body alive.

The commentary by Director David Gelb and Editor Brandon Driscoll-Luttringer is worth listening to though you get the feeling that Gelb is much more knowledgeable about sushi and pretty much everything else in the film in his full feature cinematic debut. If I remember correctly, I do not think Brandon had even tried sushi by the time of the commentary. Gelb stated that some of the cinematography was directed influenced by The Fog of War. The additional extras (deleted scenes and a Masters section which goes over in more detail each of the vendors shown in the film) certainly help understanding not only Jiro but pretty much everyone else in the documentary as well. Jiro's wife however is not shown, not that the director did not try as mentioned in the commentary, but he did not state the reason(s) why she does not appear. The extras also make Jiro appear more human than the stolid portrait that is shown in the film. Did you know he is considered an excellent bowler?

The DVD seems a bit high on Amazon. I bought the DVD at Best Buy for 15 dollars. There is also a separate BD release.

This is a fascinating documentary and if you are a fan of documentaries and/or sushi then I think you will like this. This film has a good chance of being in my top 10 for the year as well as being upgraded to ****.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by DiP

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Rating: 5/10

Oh no, you didn't!!

[sifu iron perm]

V/H/S (2012)

I was let down due to the trailer(was expecting so much more) and hype. It was cool for what it was, but nothing special or spectacular.

Horror fans should check it out!