What movie did you watch today?

[Spartan]

We need a thread about shit we never noticed/overlooked in movies. Watching Inferno again last night and I felt like a complete retard for not noticing before that Mater Lachrymarum was the hot bitch in the music lecture scene.

[drizzle]

On a random note, I couldn't sleep last night so I put on some random Samurai Jack episodes and came across one that is a clear Hayao Miyazaki homage, with Jack being accompanied by a Totoro clone on a quest to locate the "crystal of Cagliostro". Was fucking brilliant, can't believe I hadn't seen it before.

what season? i don't remember this one either

SJ is roughly around the Duckman status of unnoticed/unappreciated levels of brilliance

[Tommy Bunz]

Its Episode XXXIII (s03,e07), Jack and the Creature. I thought I had seen most of them when they aired but I've been going through them on dvd and missed more than I thought apparently.
I don't know if I'd say it was unappreciated as it got a ton of critical acclaim and won a ton of Emmy awards but I agree it's an amazing show that took a bunch of creative chances that almost always paid off.
Duckman is way more underrated in the grand scheme of things.

[Dan]

Wow, haven’t posted in this thread since August. Here’s everything I’ve watched since then.

Bridesmaids (2011) - My second time seeing it. I had a girl over and she wanted to watch a movie so I let her pick one out from my collection. She had never seen it. I wanted to watch the unrated version, but I couldn’t find it. This disc is loaded with extra features and I had no idea where to look. Ended up finding it after the movie ended, but wasn’t about to watch 2+ more hours of this.

Thief (1981) - One of those films I’ve always heard great things about, but never got around to seeing. All the praise for this was justified. This was great.

Bound (1996) - A Wachowski brothers film, back when they were still all brothers. Had no idea how sexual this was going to be. Really liked this one.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1971) - This was basically watching a film being made while it was shooting. It was alright.

The Tree of Life (2010) - Beautiful to look at, but ultimately pretty boring.

Mulholland Drive (2001) - David Lynch films can get really weird, so I had no idea what to expect. Surprisingly, it was pretty much straight forward, easy to follow, and really good. Loved this.

Picnic (1955) - A drifter shows up in a town on Memorial Day, a day where where everyone in town gets together for a picnic. I thought it sounded promising, but it ended up being a love story.

Niagara (1953) - Felt like I was watching a Hitchcock film, which is quite the compliment to Henry Hathaway who directed this. Marilyn Monroe was great.

Equinox (1969) - Student film with some great effects. Only caught this because I had noticed that Criterion released it.

Kuroneko (1968) - I really liked Onibaba which Kaneto Shindo directed and this was his followup. Japanese ghost stories can be creepy. This was good. I liked Onibaba better, but this was still pretty strong.

The Master (2012) - First half of this was amazing, but then it kind of fizzled out for me.

Germany Year Zero (1948) - The third film in Roberto Rossolini’s War Trilogy. Great ending.

The Lord’s of Flatbush (1974) - Sylvester Stallone plays the leader of a gang in 1950s NY. They don’t fight with others, it’s basically him and 3 guys that pick up girls and do innocent pranks. Henry Winkler also plays a gang member and looks exactly like his “Fonzie” character from Happy Days. It was good.

Number, Please? (1920) Never Weaken (1921) - TCM played these back to back one night so I set my DVR for them. Started watching them and realized I had already seen them. Still, they’re each under 30 minutes, so it was fun to revisit them.

Looper (2012) - I’ll be honest, I never noticed JGL’s makeup to make him look more like Bruce Willis. I had heard people were distracted by it. Maybe I’ll notice it if I catch it on Blu-ray, which I intend to pick up. This was good, especially the kid.

The Bat (1959) - Vincent Price plays a man obsessed with bats, meanwhile there’s murders taking place at a mansion by a mysterious killer known as ‘The Bat.’ It’s your typical “you think you know who did it, but then it’s someone else” type of horror. It was still good, though.

American Graffiti (1973) - George Lucas directed this non-sci-fi film about high school kids spending their last night together before each heading off to college.

Argo (2012) - Ben Affleck is becoming a director whose films I am looking forward to seeing. This was great. Was amazed at how closely each actor looked like the person they were portraying. Well, except for Ben’s character, but he was still solid.

The Wrath of God (1972) - This was really good. Caught it on TCM. It was a terrible print, but still watchable.

Harper (1966) - Earlier this year I watched The Drowning Pool, not knowing that it was a sequel to this. I still enjoyed it and wasn’t lost or anything. It was nice to see the first, though. I’d recommend them both.

The Bad Seed (1956) - A mother fears her young daughter is a murderer. This was so good and the little girl was great.

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) - Watched this not even knowing that Martin Scorsese directed it. Was shocked when I saw Vic Tayback playing his “Mel” character which he later portrayed in the TV show Alice. Had no idea that show was inspired from this film. Great film.

Bye Bye Braverman (1967) - Four friends get lost in New York while looking for the funeral of their recently deceased friend. Had some funny moments. Sorrell Booke “Boss Hogg” from The Dukes of Hazzard played a NY’er and I didn’t even recognize him. The mom from Arrested Development was also in it and she was extremely hot.

The Devil’s Disciple (1959) - Burt Lancaster plays a preacher and Kirk Douglas a non-believer/outcast from his own family. Takes place during Colonial times, Douglas’ father is hanged by the British. Douglas steals the body to bury it in Lancaster’s cemetery. The British discover the grave, not knowing who stole it, and arrest the preacher, but it’s actually Douglas they arrest, so when Lancaster discovers what happened he then tries to save Douglas.

The Four Feathers (1939) - Really good film about a pussy English soldier who leaves the war. At home he receives an envelope containing 4 feathers. Apparently, receiving a feather means you’re less than a man and he knows he received 4 because he had 4 friends he had enlisted with. Deciding to man up, he attempts go to where the fighting takes place in disguise so that he can help out his friends and his country.

Pandora’s Box (1929) - German silent film about a promiscuous woman whose affairs with men lead her to trouble. Watched it just so I could say that I’ve watched it.

The Great Gatsby (1974) - A remake is coming out in 2013, so I at least wanted to see the original. Well, turns out this version was the 3rd attempt at adapting the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel to the screen. It was really cool to a younger “Hershel” from The Walking Dead have such a big role in this. The upcoming 2013 film with Leonardo DiCaprio will be in 3-D. I’m going to have to say that this will be the most pointless 3-D film ever.

Skyfall (2012) - I made sure to be all caught up on every Bond film before seeing this one, my first in a theater. I thought this was great.

Exterminating Angel (1962) - Weird film about a group of wealthy people having a party at a mansion. Suddenly the group are confined to one room in the house and cannot leave. Days go by and they are still unable to exit. Food and water is diminishing and the people are getting very ill. It was crazy and worth watching.

Lincoln (2012) - Daniel Day-Lewis will win the Oscar for this. So very believable watching him portray the 16th President.

Ip Man (2008) - Had no idea this was based on a true story. Every time I saw the DVD case I thought it was some future movie called IP (pronouncing each letter) Man. Surprised at how much I liked this.

[Tommy Bunz]

Some of my all time favorites in there.
Thief is my #1 most wanted bluray, existing dvd is non-anamorphic, rumored to be coming from criterion but never surfaces.
Niagara's my favorite Marilyn movie, definitely a beautiful slice of Hitchcockian noir. Hathaway is no slouch though, he's one of the more underrated American directors in existence, his noir and western catalogs are downright unfuckwithable. Still pissed they left Niagara out of the new Marilyn blu-ray collection.
Just bought Rosselini's War Trilogy and watched Rome Open City last weekend, really enjoyed it, can't wait to watch the rest.
If you liked Ip Man you gotta watch the sequel asap....shit is Rocky IV with asians. So good.

But fuck Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. I hated that movie and that dumb cunt and her dumb kid.

[Dan]

Some of my all time favorites in there.
Thief is my #1 most wanted bluray, existing dvd is non-anamorphic, rumored to be coming from criterion but never surfaces.
Niagara's my favorite Marilyn movie, definitely a beautiful slice of Hitchcockian noir. Hathaway is no slouch though, he's one of the more underrated American directors in existence, his noir and western catalogs are downright unfuckwithable. Still pissed they left Niagara out of the new Marilyn blu-ray collection.
Just bought Rosselini's War Trilogy and watched Rome Open City last weekend, really enjoyed it, can't wait to watch the rest.
If you liked Ip Man you gotta watch the sequel asap....shit is Rocky IV with asians. So good.

But fuck Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. I hated that movie and that dumb cunt and her dumb kid.

Your long ass post inspired me to get my ass in gear and start posting in this thread again.

Ip Man 2 is the next movie I plan on watching, assuming it's still available from Netflix. I still haven't seen the second film in Rossellini's trilogy. Why the hate for Alice? I loved the relationship between the mother and son. I found them to be very authentic. It's far from being a top Scorsese film, but still decent.

[Tommy Bunz]

I actually need to make about ten more of those long ass posts to catch up, that was my first real one since April/May i think. Slacking.

As far as Alice goes, I couldn't stand Burstyn's character, she was annoying and stupid and manic and everything I hate about unstable women. On top of that I just didn't get her romance with Kris Kristofferson at all either...Doesn't he even smack the shit out of her kid at some point? How is that the fairytale romance.
Granted I am not the target audience for this shit at all and I cannot think of a single movie about an older woman finding love that I enjoyed. I hate on David Lean's Summertime just as hard and I love David Lean. Without Scorceses's name on it I would have never watched it.

[perlman]

Saw Killing Them Softly today. I thought it was great. Really funny in parts, and really brutal in others. Very well acted. Some very interesting shot choices.

[LilLeftBrain]

Margaret -- a bit bloated (and i watched the 2 1/2 hr theatrical cut), but still srsly dug this.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Kim Ki-Duk double-feauture



Pieta (2012) - Pieta is the name of the famous Michaelangelo sculpture of Mary holding Jesus in her arms and motherhood is also a theme in this dark revenge-drama about a petty loanshark who cripples people with debt to his boss. One day a woman enters his life who claims to be his mother and he slowly becomes another person. It really is a carefully mapped plot with a beautiful ending and lots of symbolic visuals happening. The thug seems to be a metaphor for extreme capitalism and what it does to people, but it depends on the viewer I suppose. The Seoul-suburb looks a depressing hellhole but I wish the movie had a bt more visual flair to go with the matephorical beauty. This is still one of this year's best film and for my money the best Korean offering. Every year we get a hard, punishing and brilliant film from SK. Last year it was The Yellow Sea, before that we had I Saw The Devil, Bedeviled and The Housemaid. This can enter that long line of brilliant Korean filmmaking.



The Isle (2002) - A rather sad and mute film about a lake wth houseboats and some sexual politics. Apparently the movie is littered with animal cruelty which I only found out about after reading about this movie online, it was thankfully cut from the version I saw. There are some rather nasty scenes of selfmutilation by fishhooks however. A strong film but it's a bit boring for my liking.

[Spartan]

The Tortured (2009)


Lacklustre revenge/horror aiming to bring some purpose into torture porn. A young couple grieving after the abduction and murder of their child are unsatisfied with the judicial system and decide to take justice in their own hands. This film was terribly handled from start to finish; the whole development cycle of the film's leads is both rushed and sloppy and felt nothing more than a shoe-in for the film's torture scenes. The film's big twist was pretty fucking obvious and lame from very early on but that's to be expected from a director who made one of the Saw films. Shitty movie.

Trilogy of Terror (1975)


Three macabre short stories starring actress, Karen Black in the lead roles in this made for TV movie. This actually scared me when I was a kid but it's laughable now. All three short films in this portmanteau lack any punch compared to the shit Amicus put out during the same era. Amelia, is perhaps the most memorable of the bunch as it deals with a Zumi Fetish Doll (that gets compared to Lil Wayne a lot on the internet for some reason) that comes to life and hilariously terrorises Karen Black in her apartment. Possible predecessor to Chucky and all the other puppet/doll themed horror flicks out there. As a whole, it's a rather insipid horror anthology but it does have a degree of appealing charm.

Kotoko (2011)


Off the beaten path with some serious heavy sentimental drama. Kotoko is a mother living in a nightmare world of her mental illness who is both a danger to herself and her baby. Tough film to watch in places, particularly early on when you're pretty unprepared for all the violent paranoia in Kotoko's fractured mind. The film was superb with some top-notch acting by the film's lead, Cocco, a Japenese singer turned actress. I was impressed with the flow of this movie, despite the pessimism and bleakness, there were moments of colorful optimism and the handling of the subject matter at hand was treated in utmost respect and sincerity. Excellent film.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

despite the pessimism and bleakness, there were moments of colorful optimism and the handling of the subject matter at hand was treated in utmost respect and sincerity. Excellent film.

Exactly

From what I've seen Kotoko is only second to Sono's Himizu as the J-film of the year.

[Spartan]

Himizu doesn't seem like my kind of movie, but I'll probably check it out eventually because Sono has impressed me a lot.

[RacquetballGangsta]

The Fish Child - purty absorbing Argentine flick about lesbian love between a rich white teeny girl and her Parauguayan Guarani maid whose barely older than she is. It's on Netflix. I liked it.

[drizzle]

Safe - decently entertaining Statham jawnt. Starts off a little slow, somehow managing to give too much and not enough exposition at once, but after that it settles into a fast hour+ of nonstop action. Gleeful cgi bloodsprays, complete disregard for human life and surprisingly hard hitting hand to hand sequences make it worthwhile. Solid rental/dl

[Spartan]

The Thing (2011)

Fuck it! Decided to give it the second chance treatment. It was still shit.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

The Taste of Money (2012) - Im Sang-Soo made what was probably the best movie of 2010, The Housemaid. This is a sequel of sorts with many references to The Housemaid. Once again we follow an ultra-rich family and the drama in their household. This time there's much more sleaze and intrigue between the characters, but it doesn't make for a better movie. The strength of The Housemaid was the simple story and clear morale, everything here has less direction and lacks the incredibly powerful finish of his previous film. This is still recommendable, just watch The Housemaid first.

[Tommy Bunz]

The Thing (2011)

Fuck it! Decided to give it the second chance treatment. It was still shit.

I tried to put this in last week, about 30 seconds in I said fuck it and put in the blu-ray of John Carpenter's version instead.
Feel like I made the right decision.
I also then got out the dvd version and watched the 90 minute making-of documentary, which is really really great.

[Spartan]

A wise choice.

The recent movie is truly awful. Oh, you can mimic organisms, grow slimy tentacles and crab claws... but you can't reach around a fucking corner and grab Mary Winstead? Fuck you!

[LilLeftBrain]

Headhunters -- very enjoyable and not at all what i was expecting it to be. the art heist angle gets shed less than a third into the movie where it becomes a jamie lannister on the hunt type jawn and is all the better for it.

[drizzle]

^^^ Oh i forgot to write that one up when i saw it, liked it lots

The movie is not quite as clever and air-tight in logic as it thinks it is, but it moves fast enough to where you don't really notice the leaps in logic unless you start looking for them. It's never boring and all the leads do a great job, so an occasional stretch of a plot twist doesn't gets in the way of the fun.

[LilLeftBrain]

yepyep, spot on

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Amour (2012) - If I had known what this movie was about I probably wouldn't have watched it. I knew it was about an old couple who has their relationship tested. The theme of death is at the forefront here and it's incredibly uncomfortable to watch and also a bit boring at the same time. Haneke takes an ethical debate and puts it in a realistic frame, manipulating our opinions in very subtle way. You have to pay attention because there's no sappy violins blasting through the speakers to guide your emotions - that would have made the movie unbearable anyway. I can't point fingers here because the movie is 100% succesful according to it's own objectives, it's just a tad too adult for me personally and I can think of at least 5 of his movies I like better than this. Amour won best picture at Cannes and Haneke has pretty much solidified his spot as the Europe's #1 director in the loftier circles.

[Spartan]

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989)


I watched this solely because the film critic, Mark Kermode keeps going on about how good it is when he's dissing every hipster faux-grindhouse movie he's paid to watch. It looks like an ambitious porno without the porn, which was a shame, because there were some fine women in this, Shannon Tweed - schwing! It's a pretty funny movie with some good satire about feminism that still works today, Bill Maher was hilarious. Definitely not what I was expecting but entertaining nonetheless. It's a fun movie, but Kermode overrated that shit, though.

[LilLeftBrain]

surprisingly pretty great

[Y@k Bollocks]

Saw Killing Them Softly today. I thought it was great. Really funny in parts, and really brutal in others. Very well acted. Some very interesting shot choices.

Been a big flop apparently. Real shame, thought it was great.

[Spartan]

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)


Messy and bloated but I still enjoyed this final instalment, thanks largely to Tom Hardy's Bane. I got the impression Nolan was tired with this franchise after finishing TDK, and was heavily reliant on creating a dazzling spectacle rather than focusing on any levels of coherency because this film is all over the place and suffers from some major plot holes. The same applies with Bale, I can understand original supporting cast members making way for the new bunch, but he was meant to be the fucking lead and he looked bored and bewildered in this and for much of the time, relegated to an almost supporting part. I wasn't sold on Hathaway's Catwoman either, as she seemed to serve as eye candy and delivering corny one liners. Much of the pseudo-realism that Nolan incorporated in the previous films has kind of been thrown out here and occasionally strayed into the campiness of the older Batman movies. It did keep me entertained as I can appreciate grandiose Hollywood bullshit more so than others, but convoluted sub-plots, unnecessary character arcs and the constant repetition in reminding me of Batman's iconic symbolism to Gotham City, really weighed the film down and was handled better in it's predecessor. Hardy was the film's strongest asset, as he genuinely appeared to relish acting like a bad-ass villain, who carried the film throughout until the scenes after the Gangs of New York style fight where he suddenly went all soppy. Certainly the weakest link in the trilogy and other than it's running time, in no way is it the epic that Bat nerds are making it out to be, but it's a palatable and fitting swan-song to Nolan's franchise.

[Spartan]

The House With Laughing Windows (1976)


Director, Pupi Avati's successful blend of italian giallo and psychological horror stood out for me, as it was intelligently driven and handled maturely. The film is about an art restorer hired to work on a sinister fresco painting discovered in a rural village's church. From there, our protagonist turns detective and learns about the artist's background and his motivational source. I would say this was one of the better conceived and competent movies in the giallo genre I have watched so far, it doesn't go for style over substance like the majority of it's brethren, which makes it immediately notable. In some way, it reminded me of Fulci's Don't Torture A Duckling, not just in terms of it's sleepy, sun-kissed setting, but also how events spiralled into a more insane and macabre path, leading nicely to an unforgettable ending. Superb film overall, definitely a movie that would attract film snobs and genre aficionados.

Ogroff: The Mad Mutilator (1983)


I've already written about this movie but I decided to revisit it again after copping the recently released French DVD, marking it's DVD debut. This might be one of the most incompetently made films of all time, matched equally by just how retarded it is. Calling it a film, would be an insult as it's basically a home-video, but I'm just mesmerised by everything about it.

I feel really compelled to post the ill-suited, tinny, synth, bork, reggae dub music during the terribly child-like end credits:

http://youtu.be/41GPAOqi72E?t=5m40s

[Spartan]

Massacre (1989)


I've only seen a few films by cult genre director, Andrea Bianchi, and I was interested in checking this out as he teamed up with Lucio Fulci (credited as producer). This film was diabolically bad and despite some good old fashioned ultra-violence and a healthy dollop of sleaze, it dragged on and on due to it's terrible pacing. Not sure what Bianchi was attempting to achieve but it appeared to me at least, as a witty attempt at satirising the horror movie industry, and he fucked that shit up totally, if anything I feel a lot dumber after sitting through this shit. The film revolves around a horror film crew residing at a hotel and shooting a film there, while an actual serial killer is causing bloody havoc around them. Big shoulder pads and massive plot holes aplenty throughout, but given this is made by the same guy who has made films featuring scenes such as, death by blow job, a crying impotent fat rapist and an incestuous zombie dwarf, I'm willing to suspend all disbelief here. The films few highlights were later re-used in Fulci's greatest hits remix showcase, Cat in the Brain, so watch that instead as it's miles better and a more successful horror satire anyway!

Raped By An Angel (1993)


Wow, my hat goes off to these HK Cat III movies, especially when they can turn a fairly familiar Hollywood courtroom drama concept into a full blown extravaganza in sexualised violence and jaw dropping political incorrectness. Two female flat mates who are also TV commercial celebrities (WTF?), are stalked by their creepy and suave new neighbor, who makes Max Cady look saintly compared to this guy. For a film with such detestable subject matter, there was an awful lot of comedy thrown in, largely from the film's good guy hero, played by Simon Yam, as a badly dressed triad leader courting one of the female flatmates (the hot one). Much like Ebola Syndrome was basically Outbreak with rape, Raped by an Angel was essentially every late eighties/early nineties erotic thriller but more rapey and about as subtle as getting a monkey wrench smashed in your face. Surprisingly entertaining considering it's shocking theme largely because it's so ignorantly handled and the fact that it's blessed with a pretty magnificent finale. I have no idea how this spawned four further sequels but it must have been pretty fucking popular back in the day.

[Random Sample]

Ted - What a piece of shit this movie was. Only laughed once. Marky Mark is a terrible comedic actor.
Bourne Legacy - It wasn't anything different from the other Bourne movies. Just new characters.
Killer Joe - Pretty dope. Decent cast and wild story line. Definitely worth watching.