Member Tex Killer Posted January 22, 2016 Member Share Posted January 22, 2016 (edited) Csi new york(I just started this recently, on 2nd season now) and gotham. Both appear addictive. Edited January 23, 2016 by Tex Killer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted January 22, 2016 Member Share Posted January 22, 2016 Jurassic World (USA, 2015) [Flight] -3/5 This was an unexpectedly good adventure/thriller (considering I expected it to suck). The silly sounding idea about an engineered killer dinosaur actually works, Chris Pratt makes in instantly likable protagonist, Bryce Dallas Howard's cleavage is fun to watch, and the film is surprisingly tense in places. It does get a bit tiresome towards the end with the dinosaur battles, though, and seeing this on small screen probably helped hide the limitations of the CGI. That being said, it's a decent time waster; much better than I expected. Black Mass (USA, 2015) [Flight] - 3/5 A technically well made gangster film that doesn't have anything on offer that hasn't been seen in The Sopranos, the films of Scorsese, and other seminal gangster pics. It's still good, and has some great performances, but it comes out a bit underwhelming. Straight Outta Compton (USA, 2015) [DCP] - 3/5 Politically interesting biopic ultimately feels like (and according to those who know their shit, is) a toned down version of real events and real people. Police brutality is well documented, but the gangsta rappers are almost made seem like innocent boy scouts (no doubt thanks to many of them being portrayed by the subjects' own sons, and the film being produced by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre themselves). Were they really such nice guys whose biggest sins were verbal assaults on the police, a few wild parties, and a broken friendship? The performances, both acting and especially musical, are terrific, though. The first hour works very well, but the film runs too long and trades attitude for drama clichés during the second half. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted January 22, 2016 Member Share Posted January 22, 2016 The Guns of Navarone (UK/USA, 1961) "An impregnable fortress... An invincible army... And the unstoppable commando team" tagline 1943. British troops are stuck on a small Greek island as the Germans control the area and prevent the approach of any Ally ship thanks to the titular guns. The British then resort to sending a squad made up of six men to sabotage them in spite of the odds playing against them. That's a movie I've been hesitating to buy for some time before ultimately getting it among 30+ other war DVDs this summer. And I certainly don't regret picking it up. While I tend to prefer Full Metal Jacket and The dirty Dozen over this one, it's clearly in my top 5 of the genre. You have great performances (hearing Gregory Peck speak German and Greek is kinda interesting, David Niven plays a very interesting character and Anthony Quinn is quite a badass in this), very good and abundant action (lots of run-ins with the Germans, leading to shootouts, chases, explosions and all the good stuff) and very solid tension. Actually, this is probably the most suspensful war film I've seen so far, as what The dirty Dozen had in its last forty or so minutes, this one has through over two hours. Tension when they bump into German soldiers, suspicion because you expect there'll be a traitor in the bunch, this movie kept me on the edge of my seat for a good two hours and I'd often be surprised at the way things turned out. My call ? Definitely worth checking (in spite of 2 hours and a half running time that may have felt a bit long at points), and I now wish I had purchased (and watched) it sooner, as I'd been hesitating for a while before going for it, while I blind-bought most of the other war films I bought simply based on the fact they were parts of a collection and on elements like the summary and/or the cast. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 23, 2016 Member Share Posted January 23, 2016 (edited) Nice review, Secret. Guns of Navarone and it's sequel -the delightfully cheesy- Force 10 from Navarone are firmly entrenched in what I deem fun war movies. Films I had can enjoy without having to deal with the real life awfulness of war. Guns... is particularly fun... These two are just entertaining as all get out. As an added bonus, in the sequel you get Jaws (the late Richard Kiel) as a supremely boo-hiss Chetnik and Franco Nero as... Laskovar. How can you not like that? Edited January 23, 2016 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 23, 2016 Member Share Posted January 23, 2016 Strange Magic (2015) George Lucas's bizarre, unsuccessful rock opera CGI fantasy about love conquering all. That theme is prevalent and if the characters were given more depth, this might have been more than the sum of its parts. So bad ogre / fairy played by Alan Cummings kidnaps the younger daughter of the good fairy king, while older daughter of fairy king broods her way into rescuing her sis and the magic love potion bad fairy wants to destroy. Easy, right? Sure. But then, characters burst out into song... and I start looking at the time. I wanted to like edgy older sis fairy but kept feeling that she and all the characters were kind of forced. Perhaps this is Lucas' intent? I don't know. There was a shell of a fun kids movie here, but Mr. Lucas made a wrong turn somewhere. That said, I will never dislike the man because he gave us Star Wars. I liked the character design of the good fairies and their world, but the sudden bursts into song left me scratching my head. And why, oh, why must hard rock / heavy metal constantly be used for the bad guys? For me, the Beatles probably made my favorite Love Conquers All kids movie with Yellow Submarine (why don't I still have a copy of that lying around? Must fix.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted January 23, 2016 Member Share Posted January 23, 2016 8 hours ago, Lady Jin Szu-Yi said: Nice review, Secret. Guns of Navarone and it's sequel -the delightfully cheesy- Force 10 from Navarone are firmly entrenched in what I deem fun war movies. Films I had can enjoy without having to deal with the real life awfulness of war. Guns... is particularly fun... These two are just entertaining as all get out. As an added bonus, in the sequel you get Jaws (the late Richard Kiel) as a supremely boo-hiss Chetnik and Franco Nero as... Laskovar. How can you not like that? Guns of Navarone deals with a lot of elements of war awfulness - sacrificing men for the job, Nazi occupation (the whole part in Mandrakos and the fate of the village notably), prisoners being tortured (often brought up in dialogoues but never actually shown on screen)... Sure it's not like you see soldiers slaughtering innocents, graphic torture, or other hardcore stuff - a movie like Full Metal Jacket for instance is much harder to watch -, but there's still strong stuff at points. I haven't seen the sequel (think I heard of it though), but that cast (though for reasons different than the cast from the original and more like the cast from The dirty Dozen) can't be wrong in my book. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 23, 2016 Member Share Posted January 23, 2016 11 hours ago, Secret Executioner said: Guns of Navarone deals with a lot of elements of war awfulness - sacrificing men for the job, Nazi occupation (the whole part in Mandrakos and the fate of the village notably), prisoners being tortured (often brought up in dialogoues but never actually shown on screen)... Sure it's not like you see soldiers slaughtering innocents, graphic torture, or other hardcore stuff - a movie like Full Metal Jacket for instance is much harder to watch -, but there's still strong stuff at points. Ah! Thank you for correcting me, Secret. I'd forgotten all but the climax of Guns... You can't make a film about any war much less World War II without showing some strong material. I've also forgotten what Harrison Ford does in the sequel... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted January 23, 2016 Member Share Posted January 23, 2016 1 minute ago, Lady Jin Szu-Yi said: You can't make a film about any war much less World War II without showing some strong material. Stanley Kubrick said "challenge accepted" to that. One of the movies he had planned after Full Metal Jacket - the others being A.I. that Spielberg ended making and Kubrick's final movie Eyes wide shut - was a movie set in early 1940s Poland that actually wouldn't show anything of the war. I read something about it, but I don't remember what it was to be about (I think the main characters were a kid and his mother or something). Anyway, the project got cancelled because Spielberg was making Schindler's List at the time and since another big Vietnam war released around the same time (Oliver Stone's Platoon) impacted the carreer of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 23, 2016 Member Share Posted January 23, 2016 1 minute ago, Secret Executioner said: Stanley Kubrick said "challenge accepted" to that. One of the movies he had planned after Full Metal Jacket - the others being A.I. that Spielberg ended making and Kubrick's final movie Eyes wide shut - was a movie set in early 1940s Poland that actually wouldn't show anything of the war. I read something about it, but I don't remember what it was to be about (I think the main characters were a kid and his mother or something). Anyway, the project got cancelled because Spielberg was making Schindler's List at the time and since another big Vietnam war released around the same time (Oliver Stone's Platoon) impacted the carreer of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket... Shame, he never got the chance to make that film. I think this would have been a very interesting war movie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 Been on a documentary kick this week thanks to Netflix. History of the Eagles is a fantastic doc about the band, clocking in over 3 hours. You'll never even realize the time passes as you watch it. I've had it in my queue for a while, and finally decided I needed to buckle down and watch it with the passing of Glenn Frey. It's very enlightening, and delves into their influences and how they come up with some of the songs. They're not necessarily kind with some of the things they say about one another, but they aren't slinging mud. Everyone comes across as honest and own up to their mistakes. It has some great lines in it, too. Glenn Frey: "Perfection is not an accident." Don Henley: "It's a fine line between the American Dream and the American Nightmare." Soaked in Bleach is a documentary about the case of a private investigator that Courtney Love hired to find Kurt Cobain the week before he was discovered dead. This clocks in at about 90 minutes or so, and oh my word, will you get some food for thought! I'll be watching this again. The Seattle Police Dept. made some serious mistakes during their investigation into his death. The documentary raises some deep questions. It doesn't point any fingers. but leaves you to draw your own conclusions regarding the possibility that his death may have been mislabeled a suicide. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 Kelly's Heroes (1970) All this talk of war movies and look what I stumble into while channel surfing. Donald Sutherland's "hippie" soldier steals this film for me, in spite of Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. Sutherland is the wry and much needed comic relief. It almost plays like a spaghetti western as Eastwood's private Kelly gets a Nazi soldier drunk and finds out the German's plan for stealing a whole lotta gold on enemy territory. Naturally, how Kelly and his ragtag platoon of soldiers get that gold make for a very interesting and entertaining story in and around the heavier WWII stuff. Let's face it, who the heck would believe a nazi in a tank would not open fire on Eastwood, Sutherland and Savalas as they walk toward the tank with heavy weaponry... well the screenwriter(s) that's who. I have to say the juxtaposition of Kelly's unit discovering the cache of gold intercut with the French celebrating their freedom from Nazi occupation made me squirm a little bit. Regardless this was fun to see given the conversations here lately (I could swear someone was talking about this here recently too?) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 6 hours ago, Lady Jin Szu-Yi said: Kelly's Heroes (1970) All this talk of war movies and look what I stumble into while channel surfing. Donald Sutherland's "hippie" soldier steals this film for me, in spite of Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas. Sutherland is the wry and much needed comic relief. It almost plays like a spaghetti western as Eastwood's private Kelly gets a Nazi soldier drunk and finds out the German's plan for stealing a whole lotta gold on enemy territory. Naturally, how Kelly and his ragtag platoon of soldiers get that gold make for a very interesting and entertaining story in and around the heavier WWII stuff. Let's face it, who the heck would believe a nazi in a tank would not open fire on Eastwood, Sutherland and Savalas as they walk toward the tank with heavy weaponry... well the screenwriter(s) that's who. I have to say the juxtaposition of Kelly's unit discovering the cache of gold intercut with the French celebrating their freedom from Nazi occupation made me squirm a little bit. Regardless this was fun to see given the conversations here lately (I could swear someone was talking about this here recently too?) That's one I couldn't get in the collection of war movies I have, but I'm seriously considering getting it (and a few other titles) from a different collection. Eastwood and Savalas + a pretty interesting setting (people looking for gold during a war, does that ring any bell ?), it really has me sold. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 9 hours ago, Lady Jin Szu-Yi said: Kelly's Heroes (1970) Sutherland is the wry and much needed comic relief. I remember Sutherland being funny, but Don Rickles really cracked me up with his lugging the 50 Cal around and complaining. Been about 30 yrs since I seen this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) 3 hours ago, Secret Executioner said: I'm seriously considering getting it (and a few other titles) from a different collection. Eastwood and Savalas + a pretty interesting setting (people looking for gold during a war, does that ring any bell ?), Yup, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. I think this is a little less heavy than that film and certainly not as brutal. Even boasts an Ennio Morricone score to boot. This is the film I was thinking of when I mentioned "fun" war movies. I believe you'll enjoy it, Secret. It's different in tone, has a great cast and moves along at a good pace. @ShaOW!linDude - Rickles was funny, but Sutherland talking hippie / beat slang in a WWII movie cracks me up. It's so wrong, it's right. Edited January 24, 2016 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) 6 hours ago, Secret Executioner said: That's one I couldn't get in the collection of war movies I have, but I'm seriously considering getting it (and a few other titles) from a different collection. Eastwood and Savalas + a pretty interesting setting (people looking for gold during a war, does that ring any bell ?), it really has me sold. I think you'll enjoy this one SE, its a well made and fun war movie. I don't think Ive used the term fun to describe a war film before but I think it applies to Kelly's Heroes. Caught these over the weekend. Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1981) Still one of my all time favorite action films with one of the greatest chase scenes ever put on film. Hollywood's relying more & more on CGI and color saturation and that makes this practical FX based movie all the more refreshing Grudge Match (2013) Not Stallone or De Niros best film by far. I did find this more entertaining the first time round. It was nice film to watch on a Saterday evening with the other half. Spider-Man: Animated Series (1967) Dated but fun animated series that brought Spider-Man to the small screen for the first time. Currently working my way through the second season. Vikings (2015) Season 3- Finished watching the latest season of this violent & gritty historical series. This season see's King Ragnar starting to put his focus on the wealth and riches of Paris. Edited January 24, 2016 by DragonClaws 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted January 24, 2016 Member Share Posted January 24, 2016 2 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said: I remember Sutherland being funny, but Don Rickles really cracked me up with his lugging the 50 Cal around and complaining. Been about 30 yrs since I seen this. Yeah and he gets a good poo dousing when the outhouse gets blown up beside him lol 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted January 25, 2016 Member Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) On 1/21/2016 at 3:37 PM, Tosh said: I take it you never lived in the Midwest US before lol Well when I was working at an arcade I remember someone getting arrested for molesting a chicken in the parking lot. On 1/22/2016 at 3:52 PM, Secret Executioner said: The Guns of Navarone (UK/USA, 1961) ... That's a movie I've been hesitating to buy for some time before ultimately getting it among 30+ other war DVDs this summer. And I certainly don't regret picking it up. While I tend to prefer Full Metal Jacket and The dirty Dozen over this one, it's clearly in my top 5 of the genre. You have great performances (hearing Gregory Peck speak German and Greek is kinda interesting, David Niven plays a very interesting character and Anthony Quinn is quite a badass in this), very good and abundant action (lots of run-ins with the Germans, leading to shootouts, chases, explosions and all the good stuff) and very solid tension. Actually, this is probably the most suspensful war film I've seen so far, as what The dirty Dozen had in its last forty or so minutes, this one has through over two hours. Tension when they bump into German soldiers, suspicion because you expect there'll be a traitor in the bunch, this movie kept me on the edge of my seat for a good two hours and I'd often be surprised at the way things turned out. ... I like this film quite a lot, though I can understand liking The Dirty Dozen more (I have also seen that several times); I'm not as big of a fan of Full Metal Jacket (boot camp yes, Vietnam scenes no; nowhere near as well done as Platoon -- of course Dale Dye helped a lot with the authenticity). The suspense works well as you noted. Have you seen other Gregory Peck war films or Peck in general? What do you think of his as an actor? I have so many war films (and/or films that take place during the war), especially of WWII, but then there were so many made. Here are some of my favorites (not complete): Favorite Vietnam war film: Platoon (1986: Oliver Stone). Favorite Korea: MASH (1970: Robert Altman), The Steel Helmet (1951: Samuel Fuller) Favorite WWII films: Stalag 17 (1953: Billy Wilder), Grave of the Fireflies (1988: Isao Takahata: Japan), The Great Escape (1963:John Sturges), Fires on the Plain (1959: Kon Ichikawa: Japan), Patton (1970: Franklin J. Schnaffner), The Big Red One (1980: Samuel Fuller). Favorite WWI films: The Grand Illusion (1937: Jean Renoir: France), The Big Parade (1925: King Vidor), Wooden Crosses (1932: Raymond Bernard: France), Wings (1927: William Wellman), The Dawn Patrol (1938: Edmund Goulding) . Boer through WWII: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943: Powell & Pressburger). Edited January 25, 2016 by masterofoneinchpunch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted January 25, 2016 Member Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) 15 minutes ago, masterofoneinchpunch said: Have you seen other Gregory Peck war films or Peck in general? What do you think of his as an actor? I'm not too familiar with Gregory Peck's output, though I do have at least one other movie with him - the 1944 war film Days of Glory (a US film about the Nazi invasion of Russia, that sounds interesting). 15 minutes ago, masterofoneinchpunch said: Here are some of my favorites (not complete): Favorite Vietnam war film: Platoon (1986: Oliver Stone). Favorite Korea: MASH (1970: Robert Altman), The Steel Helmet (1951: Samuel Fuller) Favorite WWII films: Stalag 17 (1953: Billy Wilder), The Grand Illusion (1937: Jean Renoir: France), Grave of the Fireflies (1988: Isao Takahata: Japan), The Great Escape (1963:John Sturges), Fires on the Plain (1959: Kon Ichikawa: Japan), Patton (1970: Franklin J. Schnaffner), The Big Red One (1980: Samuel Fuller). Favorite WWI films: The Grand Illusion (1937: Jean Renoir: France), The Big Parade (1925: King Vidor), Wooden Crosses (1932: Raymond Bernard: France), Wings (1927: William Wellman), The Dawn Patrol (1938: Edmund Goulding) . Boer through WWII: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943: Powell & Pressburger). I actually saw The grand Illusion (a WWI movie, you might want to remove it from the WWII list) when it was re-released in theaters following a restauration job a few years ago (2012 maybe ?). A really great movie, but no surprise seeing the talents involved - how can you go wrong when your leads are Jean Gabin (whose attempt at speaking German in the second half cracked me up), Pierre Fresnay and Erich von Stroheim (whose performance was very dignified) ? Out of the ones you mention, I have Platoon, The great Escape, Patton, and that's about it. Except for a handful, these titles don't ring a bell but I think I found a DVD of Life and Death of Colonel Blimp in stores once, though I could be wrong. I'll make sure to buy it if I find it again. Edited January 25, 2016 by Secret Executioner 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 25, 2016 Member Share Posted January 25, 2016 2 hours ago, Secret Executioner said: I'm not too familiar with Gregory Peck's output, He's wonderful (what a voice!) If you're ever in the mood to watch something with him in it: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Big Country, Cape Fear (original), How The West Was Won, MacArthur or The Omen are all worth seeing. I still haven't seen The Boys from Brazil and won't, but you might. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted January 25, 2016 Member Share Posted January 25, 2016 3 minutes ago, Lady Jin Szu-Yi said: He's wonderful (what a voice!) If you're ever in the mood to watch something with him in it: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Big Country, Cape Fear (original), How The West Was Won, MacArthur or The Omen are all worth seeing. I still haven't seen The Boys from Brazil and won't, but you might. If you have not seen I would also recommend Roman Holiday to you. Such a good romantic film. I am also an Audrey Hepburn fan. I hope you are :D. And to The Secret Executioner I would recommend Twelve O'Clock High since it is a very well done war film which he might already have. Reminds me I still need to see Pork Chop Hill and The Omen (yeah a little embarrassed by this one; I do have a copy though; still not the most important horror film I have not seen though :D.) Peck has a great voice. Him and actors like Charlton Heston (damn dirty apes; you mentioned a great film with both Heston and Peck) are fun just listening to them. I'm thinking on where he can be weak. Going through his filmography there are a lot of great films not mentioned yet (Moby Dick, The Gunfighter, Spellbound). Like Clark Gable, movement is not always his strong suit (Gable was at his most hilarious with a strange gait that was made fun of by at least one Warner Bros cartoon; Overall I like Gable though.) Sometimes his delivery might be a little stiff like in Gentleman's Agreement or Duel in the Sun (though some fault does go to the directors). But he did well in a variety of genres from westerns, sea films, suspense, drama, romance, war, trial etc... not many can say that. I'm thinking though what comedy has he done. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted January 25, 2016 Member Share Posted January 25, 2016 Hey, I do have MacArthur and The Omen on DVD. And thanks for the other suggestions you guys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 25, 2016 Member Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, masterofoneinchpunch said: you have not seen I would also recommend Roman Holiday to you. Such a good romantic film. Agreed. Funny, lots of romance for me today. Edited January 25, 2016 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Bus Posted January 26, 2016 Member Share Posted January 26, 2016 Haven't had much time for movies but I've recently watched attack the block... I enjoyed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lady Jin Szu-Yi Posted January 26, 2016 Member Share Posted January 26, 2016 21 hours ago, masterofoneinchpunch said: actors like Charlton Heston My mom adored Charlton Heston for many years, so her enjoyment filtered down to me. I grew up with Charlton in Planet of the Apes, Omega Man and Soylent Green and more recently Ten Commandments and the other epics. @BusAttack The Block was fun. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted January 26, 2016 Member Share Posted January 26, 2016 Just now, Lady Jin Szu-Yi said: My mom adored Charlton Heston for many years, so her enjoyment filtered down to me. I grew up with Charlton in Planet of the Apes, Omega Man and Soylent Green and more recently Ten Commandments and the other epics. @BusAttack The Block was fun. So many good films from him. I grew up with that trifecta of Charlton sci-fi films (I always recommend those three). On a side-note: I have a signed first edition (Easton Press) copy of Beijing Diary from Heston (I still need to read it; expensive books make me nervous to read; though this is less expensive than some of the HK books :D.) I'm a big Ben-Hur fan. The next unwatched Heston film for me will either be Will Penny or Three Violent People. I will have to put Attack The Block higher on my personal DVD queue. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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