drizzle wrote:Flesh + Blood - Gotta be Verhoeven's most underrated American movie, and it gets better with every watch. Plays especially well now, in a post-G.O.T. world where a realpolitik approach to adventures set in Middle Ages is becoming the norm. By the same token I can see why audiences in the 80s had no idea what to make of this - no clear protagonist or antagonist, no sympathetic characters, a rape scene that doubles as a formative learning experience and the chick is kinda into it to boot... this shit is totally alien to a simple world of Stallonegger blowing up anonymous ethnic bad guys
Rutger Hauer/Verhoeven has to be the most underrated director/muse pairing ever. Sometimes I wish Hauer would have been Robocop.
CHASER (2008) - 9/10 movie was suspenseful has hell. Based on true story. Basically about a Serial Killer of prostitutes being tracked down by a PIMP/EX-Detective. Great build-up and some gringe worthy scenes. I guess the Korean director has another movie out with the same actors...gonna peep that next.
Machete Kills (2013) - I loved the first Machete. I saw it the day it came out and immediately after seeing called my brother and told him that we're going to the theater to see it the next day. He had not even heard of it. He ended up loving it as much as I did. Went to see the sequel today with my brother and we were both extremely bored. This was nowhere near as fun as the first. It was as bad as the worst James Bond movie.
Gravity (2013) - After Machete Kills ended my brother suggests we sneak into another movie. I grab my phone to see what's playing next and see that Gravity 3-D starts in 10 minutes. He says he has a pair of glasses in his car, but I told him that I didn't want to share 1 pair. He leaves to use the bathroom while I stay behind...beause when I see a movie I have to sit through the entire credits. He comes back less than a minute later with 2 pairs of glasses that he had just found. On to see Gravity.
This was my second time seeing this film, and first time that I have ever snuck into a movie. I wish I had seen this in IMAX, but after 1 week it was gone from IMAX screens in theaters near me. This is such an amazing movie, as far as as visuals go. Just stunning. By far, it was the best movie I watched today.
Pacific Rim - 3 - Really enjoyed Pacific Rim. I watched it on a laptop on an airplane, but can't wait to watch it again on my home theater.
The Conjuring - 2.5 - Pretty cool horror flick. I am a sucker for anything like this though. I thought it was well done. Ed and Lorraine Warren are interesting people.
VHS2 - 2 - Not as good as the first one, and the first one wasn't that good.
The Internship - 2 - Like any other Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson movie. Had a couple laughs.
Only God Forgives - 2 - Really, really, really wanted to like this movie, but it kind of fell short for me. There were some really bad ass parts, but in general it was kind of boring. Drive was way better IMO.
The Crow(1994)- Hadn't seen this over a decade. Dialogue barely holds up but a fun watch. Pretty sure Brandon Lee would've been a viable action star had he not been killed.
The Shining(1980)- again hadn't seen this in quite a while. Really wish some directors would emulate Kubrick more.
Finally got around to seeing this. I can def understand why there was a decent amount of buzz around it when it came out. It's more ambitious than most major studio action movies, certainly far more ambitious than a 5th sequel to a DTDVD franchise ever needs to be. And they actually kinda succeed with it, mostly.
It looks better than most straight to DVD movies, doesn't have that obvious 'shot on cheap digi camera' look, that's already a good start. The dedication to rebooting/refurbishing the franchise is almost Nolan-esque - there's brooding galore, honest quasi-successful attempts at emphasizing the sci-fi elements of the original concept which tie into honest quasi-successful attempts at character development and turning the whole thing into a psychological mindfuck with dramatic implications, stylistic elements of horror/giallo meant to play up the dramatic mindfuck aspects.... shit, these guys tried harder than like 98% of movies that made it to theaters this year, in any genre. The limitations of what they had to work with in terms of talent and budget show all over, but the effort is really really commendable.
Unfortunately, in doing all this they kinda forgot that they're making an action movie first and foremost. It's cool to see Adkins furrowing brows while trying to emote, and watching Van Damme trying to impersonate Brando as Col. Kurtz is a rare pleasure indeed... but they're still not hitting their basic quota of kicks per movie. There are maybe 4 proper action scenes for the 1.45 min running time. And while the fights that are there are very very awesome, and the rest is not boring, there is a noticeable general lack of asswhooping that drags things down some.
So A+ for the idea and effort, B+ for execution. I feel like this director might have a good future ahead of him, if he ever gets the right break. Dude has the right kinds of coke dreams.
Killer Joe (2011) - I liked Matthew McConaughey as a detective/hitman hired to kill the mother of a troubled son with financial burdens for her life insurance policy.
Gina Gershon deepthroating a piece of fried chicken grossed me out more than turned me on.
Movie was good until the final shot before the credits rolled, then I was all .
Pootie Tang (2001) - Knowing Louis C.K.'s current body of work, you'd never guess that he was the man behind this movie. I didn't find it overly hilarious, but it did have its moments.
Good Morning (1959) - Ozu directed this movie about 2 young brothers who vow silence to everyone except each other until their parents buy a TV. Their silence ends up creating a rift between their neighbors, who felt they're rudely being ignored, not knowing the pact that was created. Weirdly enough, the kids can fart on command. This was strange.
The Fortune (1974) - Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson attempt to murder an heiress for her money. Great cast and chemistry, but the movie really wasn't good.
Premium Rush - Better than expected. Granted, I'm biased since I actually ride bike in NYC a fair amount, and know several bike messengers, and a few friends of friends were featured as extras. But even that aside, the movie is not terrible, or rather it's terrible in mostly right ways. The bike scenes are dumb fun, Michael Shannon chews scenery with the strength of seven white sharks, there is something like an honest attempt to create a legitimate thriller framework around the bike shit, and the movie is self aware enough to keep things light and funny without feeling excessively wacky in a forced Disney-ish way. If this came out in the 80s it would be a minor nostalgic cult classic by now. It's not a good movie, but it has a feel of a good movie to fall asleep to when you come home a little wasted.
And God Said To Cain - This has a rep as one of the better obscure spaghetti westerns, turns it the rep is mostly deserved. Kinski as a ghostly protagonist + a whole lot of gothic horror and greek/Sheaksperean tragedy elements folded into a typical western revenge scenario = winner.
Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012) - Awesome. It amuses me how much so many people misread what this about. Its not a morality tale and its not an exploitation film, its an outright fantasy film. Basically the glowstick version of the Wizard of Oz, with James Franco as the wigger Wizard and all 4 girls being variations of Dorothy who at any time can click their ruby-colored stripper heels together and find their way home relatively unscathed. Its amazing some people are claiming there's some kind of message buried in here, if anything Korine goes way out of his way to make sure there isn't one and it doesn't turn into some neon remake of Havoc. Like the time his wife gets drunk alone with frat boys and looks like she's about to black out and get gangraped GUCCI CONDOMS style but then nothing happens. Or how two untrained girls can shoot their way through an entire gang of hoods (at first I thought i thought it was the worst choreographed shootout ever made, before I realized it was designed to look that way) or one of them can get shot in the arm but they put a band-aid on it and its healed overnight.
Really fun movie. The orchestra version of Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites was a great touch.
sndrk in full is pretty exceptional. actually haven't rewatched SB since i d/led it but i still get down with the britney piano ballad sequence pretty frequently
silent house & OG halloween tonight. luh lizzie olsen on the first, but she couldn't save it. nor could the 'seemingly' one shot trick. a bit on the nose, i know, on the second but hadn't seen it since i was a young one. poorly timed, but think i'll, at least attempt to, plow through the rest of the series now no matter how shit it gets
Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012) – Enjoyed this a lot. Helps that the music is actually good. Kinda sucks that its all being documented way after the events occurred, and it kinda sucks that the filmmakers could barely get Rodriguez to talk about it. His fat daughter had more lines in here than he did, and that’s a big failure on their part. But still really good documentary.
The Last Stand (Kim Jee-Woon, 2013) – Wrote about this in the Arnie thread, but this movie was really awesome. Probably Arnie’s best film since Eraser. I love the way Kim Jee-Woon shoots his action movies, they’re so bright and sunny and beautiful. Shame this bombed. Car chase through the cornfield was fucking awesome.
Oz the Great and Powerful (Sam Raimi, 2013) – For a kids movie, I thought this was really great. Surprisingly faithful the original film, fits perfectly into the mythology. Some of the CGI looked overly fake even for a fantasy film (I’m guessing that might partially be because I didn’t catch it in 3D though) but overall it’s very good looking, very well paced and the whole cast is just very likeable. Do have to mention that I spent half of the movie wondering why Mila Kunis’s face was so fat.
Terrorvision (Ted Nicolaou, 1986) – Hilarously over the top horror comedy about an idiot swinger couple and their kids who accidentally open a portal to an alien world via their satellite dish. Through their TV comes the most retarded monster of all time, with the demeanor of a puppy dog and the appetite of Vanderslice at an all you can eat buffet. This is one of those pure 80’s movies, with extremely fake sets and outfits that look like they came from a bad music video. Loved the demented ending.
Way of the Dragon (Bruce Lee, 1972) – Possibly my favorite Bruce movie. Has one of the best nunchuck scenes ever, plus Chuck Norris dies. Which is great, cause fuck Chuck Norris. Also, shave your back hair bro.
Diner (Barry Levinson, 1982) – This has an amazing before-they-were-famous cast: Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Bacon, Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, faggotass Paul Reiser. Movie is mostly boring as shit, although I do have to say I enjoyed the hell out of the scene where Stern goes all Wicked/Jaz on his wifey.
3 Godfathers (John Ford, 1948) – First half of the movie is awesome, its really fun to see John Wayne play the villain, he’s pretty great at it. As soon as they find the baby and it gets sappy it goes downhill. Still really good, but I’d much rather have the whole movie be evil Wayne vs. the militia.
Godzilla (Roland Emmerich, 1998) – For some reason I felt the need to revisit this after Pacific Rim and before Gareth Edwards Godzilla comes out next year. Not nearly as bad as its reputation, there’s plenty of fun wanton destruction of NYC, plus the horribly tactless Siskel and Ebert disses, Simpsons cameos everywhere, a segment where the movie turns into Jurassic Park out of nowhere…mostly ridiculous, mostly fun. Also, this is like the wettest movie ever made.
American Movie (Chris Smith, 1999) – Great documentary about some Midwestern white trash trying to make a horror movie in the 90’s. The director’s delusions and lack of talent are as amusing as his dedication to his dreams but mostly I was just waiting for more scenes of his fat friend and his senile “producer” uncle, who stole every scene they were in.
Ice Cream Man (Paul Norman, 1995) – Clint Howard’s forehead escapes from the loony bin, picks up an ice cream truck route and starts killing kiddies & doggies and turning them into Fudge Ripple. Love the shit out this terrible movie. Have no idea how they got Olivia Hussey (the OG Juliet) to appear in this. Pretty hilarious that the director made this in between Intercourse with the Vampire and Young and Anal 2 (its his only real film credit).
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993) – Always feel the need to rewatch this around this time of year despite the fact that its really a xmas movie. And I always find something new to enjoy about it, the character and art design still doesn’t have any peers in the genre as far as I’m concerned. Plus Kidnap the Sandy Claws is the best movie song ever. Also watched the original 1984 live-action Frankenweenie short since I loved the new version so much and it was on the disc.
Apollo 18 (Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, 2011) – Decent found footage horror about the last trip to the moon. Movie does an excellent job of recreating the moon on a low budget and making the footage actually look like it was shot in the 70’s. Problem is the script is terrible, the characters are paper thin (I could barely tell any of the 3 astronauts apart, let alone tell you anything about them). Apparently the script was being constantly rewritten throughout shooting and it shows. The movie is too slow, by the time it gets interesting in the third act I could barely muster the strength to give a shit.
Spiral (Engrenages) (2006) - Season 1
We follow a French team of law-enforcers as they try to solve a murdercase which has personal implications for some of the staff. The French legalsystem is very different from the American which makes for a nice change from the way we usually see crimes being solved. The show is definitely good but it annoys me that everything is so, literally, dark. Everyone seems to sit in their offices without turning on the lamps, its not just unrealistic but also bothersome for the eyes as you have to squint to see the characters' faces and gestures. Two of the lead characters are also pretty flat but that's forgiveable. Good show but I wish they would turn on some fucking light instead of letting us sit in pretentious darkness.
Much like the original The Killing this got really popular after airing on BBC, which seems to act like a gateway for European TV.
7/10
Braquo (2009) - Season 1
Cop-turned-director Olivier Marchal has made some excellent movies and his show is top shelf too. The show is about a team of rogue policemen who want to avenge their former captain who killed himself after being cornered by Internal Affairs because he stabbed a rapist with a pen. They constantly keep digging their own holes as they have to cover multiple lies with murders and deal with consequences from hardened criminals, while IA is one step behind them. All of the characters are memorable and well-acted and -written, especially the woman of the bunch, Roxanne, who constantly looks like she wants to jump off a tall building. This show has the same feeling as the movie Narc and it's a must for anyone who likes tough, chainsmoking policemen in expensive leatherjackets.
There's another season but its not directed by Marchal, this story actually ends at the end of the season and its all the better for it.
10/10
Whether to Jason of Philaflava or John Podesta, I will speak my fucking perspective openly
- MB
The Purge (2013)
Inspired by J-Zone's No Consequences. The idea is great, but poorly utilised reducing it to a mediocre home invasion movie. Wasted potential. What the hell happened to Ethan Hawke's voice in this film?
World War Z (2013)
Better than I expected, but obvious necessary changes for the film adaptation were also major weaknesses which ruined much of the immersion - at no point did it feel like being a bonafide action horror. The two big outbreaks are real show stoppers and major highlights to what's otherwise another Brat Pitt vehicle. Things do get real interesting with the introduction of a genius idea in combating the zombies - and then it fucking ends.
A Field in England (2013)
Possibly the biggest disappointment of the year for me. If you've ever wondered what it would be like if Ken Loach was to direct a stoner comedy and set it in 17th century England, then this might be the result. None of these elements mesh well together for me. At times, the film felt a little pretentious and somewhat rushed. Shame.
The Defilers (1965)
Pretty lame sexploitation movie about two guys searching for "kicks" to relieve their boredom of fucking bitches and getting high (fags!). They decide to kidnap some blonde broad that no-one would miss and turn her into their sex slave. Predictable film and quite dull for most of it's running time.
Scum of the Earth (1963)
Before becoming the godfather of gore, H.G Lewis was a sexploitation film maker and this is one of his best efforts. It's about a porn ring and how one broad is lured into posing for harmless photo shoots to pay for college and blackmailed into doing more risqué material. Dude who played Fuad Ramses in Blood Feast is in this as a douchebag minor peddling the photos to his buddies, and he looks about thirty here. Delightfully ostentatious with an ending that seems like it was plucked from a Russ Meyer movie. A gem of an exploitation movie.
Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971)
Loosely sourced from the same true crime case that Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures was based on, only with a shit ton of blasphemy and some animal cruelty. The latter was a deal breaker for me as I was otherwise hooked throughout.
White House Down: I think Tommy saw this in theaters.. not bad at all. I will say I really like Olympus has Fallen a lot better. Foxx was useless and Gerard Butler does action movies better than Tatum.
Evil Dead 2: yeah fucking awesome.
The Thing(OG 1982): Hadn't seen in years, and revisited thanks to the Horror movie poll. Fucking love this movie. I'd almost like to see a remake with better sfx but nooooo thank you.
Dark Skies: it appears I'm the only person in the world who actually liked this movie Semi-Pro: some solid laughs, zero magnetism The Philadelphia Experiment: BEST ACTING EVAR
Europa Report -- found footage indie sci-fi joint that i would dare say was nearly exceptional 75% of the time, the rest was just borderline generic #fun, but #fun is #fun. coulda been in the 'moon' camp but fell short in the last quarter. twas very attractive
watched the world's end the other day and two thumbs up right there. it's your initial want to rank it with the others, in which case it would fall third, but give it some time and some rewatches and i could see it climbing above hot fuzz
e: in a slightly amusing anecdote, my internet has been shit for a few weeks so i gave in and had the time warner guy come by the day after watching this to see what he could do. he did good with hooking up a new modem and finagling with my co-axial cable but he was apparently inept when it comes to actually using a computer. he wanted to run a speed test so i just tossed him my laptop, which i had prepped with a brand new shiny chrome window. he doesn't know chrome i suppose so he exed it out, went back to firefox where my shit was and after hitting like two keys in the url bar trying to fire up that speed test he just hit enter on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsLWd4e4dEo which proceeded to blare at full volume. better than other things that could have came up for sure, but gave me a chuckle as he was nonplussed
just watched
all hail the hypno cain toad
one of the funniest documentaries i've seen, so many wierdo australians
i, for one, welcome our new cane toad overlords
just dl'ed the Conquest sequel, will watch this weekend and report back
Race To World's First (2011)
World of Warcraft doc about guild's aiming to get first ever boss kills. It obviously tries to cast a positive light on this time consuming geekfest but seeing how much the game has ruined life priorities of its players is what makes this bizarrely watchable. Some of the interviewees look like they are about to collapse right before the camera from exhaustion. One particular player recollects his mother's heart transplant and how it inspired him to become a better player - WTF?
Indie Game: The Movie (2012)
Now this was a great doc charting three separate journeys of game developers; one game released, one almost done, and the other nowhere near the finish line. This was an excellent doc and a better example of obsession over the above mentioned film. The level of stress these guys and their respective families are going through to get their games made makes this a very compelling watch. Highly recommended.
Nemesis (1993)
Albert Pyun's cyborg action fest is a trashy sci-fi masterpiece in my book. Deborah Shelton is butt nekkid in this, but her body doesn't look as great as in De Palma's classic Body Double.
Actually this post is to ask advice on what to see, couldn’t find a relevant thread and didn’t necessarily want to create one so I’m dropping it here. Dudes know about Aleksei Balabanov? The "Russian Tarantino" sounds too reductive to be taken seriously.
Starts today but don’t know if I want to invest the time to find out about him even tho he sounds ill as fuck. I saw Brother some yrs ago, liked it but only vaguely remember it. I know this people on this learned board must have seen at least a couple. Any recs? Must-sees? Thanks in advance.
I've seen a few of his. Based on them, the QT comparison wouldn't have occurred to me.
Brother is the shit, def deserves the acclaim. It's a crime movie but not very action-y, more like 70s character-driven existential crime noir. Works well as a travelogue through the fucked up world of post-soviet youth through the eyes of an avatar meant to represent them collectively.
Brother 2 is a good followup but doesn't connect quite as strongly as drama, the main character goes to America so it plays more like a straightforward action movie. Worth watching, aside from what the movie does right there are some hilarious instances of unintentional culture clash/shock that suggest that the director mostly knows America by its stereotypes.
Dead Man's Bluff is probably the one that earned him the QT comparison, I remember it being entertaning enough but not particularly mindblowing.
The Stoker is supposed to be really good. Cargo 200 and War also look dope. The whole series looks pretty interesting actually, so thanks for the heads up.
Aleph, mot sure if you wentbut I had a great time with this series over the weekend. Brother was an even more awesomely gritty existential travelogue through soviet St. Pete..burg than I remember, Brother 2 was also better than I remembered and just pure lolz. Stoker was more lowkey but also great, very dark but also very funny and surprisingly potent as an allegory on how Russians rape the smaller indigenous cultures in far reaches of the country.
Balabanov was def a very interesting director, I'm not sure how much of is work is available here but it's worth seeking out.
Sheeeeeit, didn't go and doesn't look like I'll make the remaining screenings. You're making me all the sorrier. Especially sorry I missed Stoker and Brother 2 but looks like Cargo, The War, Dead Man's Bluff as well as Brother are on dvd. If you're gonna catch The War I'd be interested to know if it's as nationalistic as described by BAM, since it looks like Balabanov takes an extremely pessimistic view of his country in the other films
Rutger Hauer/Verhoeven has to be the most underrated director/muse pairing ever. Sometimes I wish Hauer would have been Robocop.
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