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

[laagi]

On 15.12.2017 at 2:38 AM, Gaijin84 said:

Gomorrah the TV series... holy shite.

If you liked this, may I recommend the movie "Suburra (2015)" from the same director. IMDB link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4025514/

It's a great modern crime movie from Italy with a great soundtrack by M83.

On another note, being in the mood for some laughs I've watched Daddy's Home 2 the other night. Whilst the first one was mildly entertaining this one only gave me a few light chuckles. Also it includes many failed attempts at physical comedy. Clearly they've tried to cash in on the whole holiday movie stuff. Also the ending is crinch worthy. Only worth mentioning is the Liam Neeson reference

Edited February 11, 2018 by laagi

[AlbertV]

Jarhead 3: The Siege (Will Kaufman): From the director of Sinners and Saints (and its upcoming Scott Adkins starring sequel) and The Marine 4 comes this in-name third installment of the Marine action film series. When a thought to be dead terrorist and his insurgent group attacks the U.S. embassy, a band of Marines led by Charlie Weber (as hot-headed graduate Albright) and Scott Adkins (as Gunnery Sgt. Raines) must do what it takes to protect both the Ambassador and the reformed brother of the lead terrorist. Just what you would expect from a B-movie military action film. Don't expect Adkins to do his flashy martial arts and he lets his acting (pulling off a Midwestern/Southern American accent) and gun skills do the talking in his scenes. The only big fistacuffs involves Weber and another cohort against two of the insurgents. The film has a small connection to the original film (which was a biopic): Dennis Haysbert reprises his role as he attempts to head over to the attack zone before it's too late.
 

Woody Woodpecker (Alex Zamm): Yes, the classic Walter Lantz film has a live action version, voiced by Eric Bauza. The film meshes Furry Vengeance with Woody taking on a former lawyer who is given land from his late grandfather with the idea to make a house and flip it. There are also two hillbilly poachers who want to kill and stuff Woody. Just what you would expect from a kiddie film in terms of gags and lessons learned. The film is an American film but the character is extreme popular in Brazil so the film came out there first to appeal to their market and just was released on DVD last week here and is on Netflix. Furry Vengeance was horrible and Yogi Bear I do like...Woody Woodpecker is in the middle of that road for me.

Edited February 12, 2018 by AlbertV

[DiP]

Chasing the Dragon (2017) - 8/10

Rocky (1976) - 10/10

Rocky II (1979) - 8/10

Rocky III (1982) - 8/10

Rocky IV (1985) - 7.5/10

Rocky V (1990) - 5/10

Rocky Balboa (2006) - 9/10

Creed (2015) - 8.5/10

Edited February 24, 2018 by DiP

[Tosh]

The Human Condition (1959-1961) - This was the hardest movie I've ever watched in my life, and I'm not talking about the 6 hour running time, it's a movie you want to forget after watching but can't, it's a movie that should make you question everything you've ever believed in. One of the truest war movies ever made, Kobayashi's masterpiece and cements in my mind why Tatsuya Nakadai is one of the greatest actors that will ever be. Had no idea Kubrick lifted the training camp scenes for Full Metal Jacket, like to touch more on this movie in the Japanese section but it will warrant another watch when I can bring myself to do so.

 

The Brood (1979) - Picked up the criterion over the sale, always been a Cronenburg fan but this one, along with shivers, bypassed me for years. Great horror concept with some freaky moments, solid cast - Oliver Reed just oozes charisma. Ending kind of fizzled out but I guess due to budget restraints, still solid flick in the body horror canon.

 

The Devils (1971) - Oliver Reed made such an impression I wanted to seek out more of his movies, this is one I've heard about over the years and had to stream the uncut version, which frustratingly kept loading towards the end, had to stick it out as I was so enthralled. How in the fuck this movie got made on the year I was born is beyond me, based on an actual event in history in France in the 17th century during an outbreak of the plague it holds nothing back, excellent direction and cast, especially from Reed and Vanessa Redgrave.

 

Possession (1981) - Watched this on video as a teenager with a bunch of friends in the 80's, didn't remember much about it except the freak out scene and the monster and was probably wanting something more like Evil Dead, but now, after several failed relationships, I fully understand the impact and realize it's not really horror. It's a whirlwind of a movie, the arguing scenes where they're talking over each other and other various noise is what it's like when communication ends and there's no saving the relationship, this film deserves more praise.

 

Surf 2 (1984) - Another movie I caught sometime in the 80's, after watching the 4 movies above my mind needed something less taxing, this fit the bill, just a goofy comedy it was a who's who of hollywood with many cameos and bit parts filled by veteran actors/actresses, with a young fresh Eric Stoltz, Eddie Deezen plays the villain, not for everyones tastes but harkens back to the 80's T&A movies that didn't take anything seriously and were just a lot of fun, you can watch this one on Youtube.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Defiance, with Daniel Craig. Kicking ass on Russian Traitors and Nazi's never gets old. Good flick. Tried to watch Peaky Blinders, but up to late and lost interest, start back tonight.

[Takuma]

The Church (Italy, 1989) [VoD] - 3/5
Stylish, moody horror film suffers from a messy script that fails to establish who is the main character, and features too many supporting characters doing nonsensical things. Even then, there are many good scenes and a fascinating theme. The church setting is well utilized. Director Michele Soavi gets the job done, even if it feels like he's mimicking someone technically and artistically more talented.

The Sect (Italy, 1991) [VoD] - 1.5/5
Another film by Michele Soavi. This one starts out well but soon turn into a snore fest about a woman haunted by visions and strange people. No plot, a story that doesn't go anywhere, irritating characters, and it doesn't even have any good shocks. And it runs almost two hours.

Alien Resurrection (USA, 1997) [BD] - 2.5/5
Not bad first half once you get over just how Jeunet / French it feels. Works fine as horror, the monster design in cool and there are some nice gore bits. But the unimaginative story and one-dimensional characters eventually take their toll during the second half. Some scenes are just silly (swimming alien? Alien sex?). It has a bit of nostalgia value though since this was the 1st Alien film I saw in theatre (at the age of 11).

Kill Bill Vol. 2 (USA, 2003) [DVD] - 5/5
This is, perhaps, even more magnificent than Vol. 1, with some of Tarantino's best character direction. Three actors especially stand out: Michael Madsen, who gives a heartfelt, career-best performance as Budd, Gordon Liu who absolutely nails it as Pai Mei, and David Carradine as Bill, whose demise stands as one of the finest scenes in film history, period! Michael Parks deserves a mention as well for a brief but wonderful appearance.

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, Takuma said:

The Church (Italy, 1989) [VoD] - 3/5
Stylish, moody horror film suffers from a messy script that fails to establish who is the main character, and features too many supporting characters doing nonsensical things. Even then, there are many good scenes and a fascinating theme. The church setting is well utilized. Director Michele Soavi gets the job done, even if it feels like he's mimicking someone technically and artistically more talented.

Rented this back during my University days, always found it creepy that Argento would shoot his own daughter in love scenes. To me thats more freaky than most of his movies content.

[Drunken Monk]

I recently watched Netflix's latest sci-fi offering, Altered Carbon. Put simply, the show starts off as a cyberpunk detective noir with enough intrigue to get anyone hooked. After five episodes, however, the show devolves into a swirling mess of plot lines and characters. It bites off WAAAAAY more than it can chew and ends up being a silly, contrived mass of nonsense.
What began as a really nice "Blade Runner" homage, becomes an attempt at "bigger picture" sci-fi. It's ugly and...well...shitty. The central plot, essentially a "whodunnit" murder mystery, gets utterly lost. The only perk was the copious nudity but that certainly wasn't enough to redeem this drivel.

[Takuma]

14 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

Rented this back during my University days, always found it creepy that Argento would shoot his own daughter in love scenes. To me thats more freaky than most of his movies content.

I'm not sure if you were referring to The Church or not, but Asia doesn't have any love scenes in it (she was only 16 at the time). But yeah, I know what you're saying. I don't know which is worse, Dario directing her daughter in love scenes, or Japanese director Seiji Izumi directing her step mom Rumi Tama in a pink film where she's featured as a rape victim...

[DragonClaws]

3 hours ago, Takuma said:

I'm not sure if you were referring to The Church or not, but Asia doesn't have any love scenes in it (she was only 16 at the time). But yeah, I know what you're saying. I don't know which is worse, Dario directing her daughter in love scenes, or Japanese director Seiji Izumi directing her step mom Rumi Tama in a pink film where she's featured as a rape victim...

I was reffering to the Church, must be mixing it up with another Argento movie. Seem to recall the movie having a bizarr love scene, but it's some years since I went through my Dario Argento phase.

[Takuma]

2 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

I was reffering to the Church, must be mixing it up with another Argento movie. Seem to recall the movie having a bizarr love scene, but it's some years since I went through my Dario Argento phase.

There is some bizarre "devil sex" indeed, but with a different actress.

My understanding is that Dario did direct Asia in nude scenes later, though. I'm not sure if I've seen any of those films... I've seen his classics but nothing after Stendhal Syndrome. Was Asia naked in Stendhal? I can't remember...

[DragonClaws]

2 hours ago, Takuma said:

I've seen his classics but nothing after Stendhal Syndrome. Was Asia naked in Stendhal? I can't remember...

This one I've never watched before.

 

2 hours ago, Takuma said:

There is some bizarre "devil sex" indeed, but with a different actress.

I got it mixed up, for some reason I thought that scene was done by his daughter.

[AlbertV]

Survivor's Guide to Prison: A documentary from filmmaker/activist Matthew Cooke that revolves around two men who were falsely accused of murder only to persevere and finally have their names cleared after spending years in prison. This is a pretty good film with loads of celebrities led by Danny Trejo talking about what to do when arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned..also the effects both negative and positive of post-prison life.

https://worldfilmgeek.com/2018/02/23/survivors-guide-to-prison-2018/

I interviewed Matthew Cooke about what inspired him to do the film, which took over five years to make:

https://worldfilmgeek.com/2018/02/26/the-truth-about-prison-an-interview-with-filmmaker-activist-matthew-cooke/

[laagi]

Grizzly Man (2005) - Documentary by Werner Herzog about the life and untimely death of Timothy Treadwell who spent 13 summers with a grizzly population on the Alaska Peninsula. Consisting of a lot personal footage from Treadwell, as well as interviews with family and friends. Herzog never tries to judge or steer you in a certain direction. It's quite a difficult film to watch to be honest. You can see the conflicts within Timothy himself who detached himself more and more from civilization looking for that Eden of his... Something we may all look for? And in the process undoubtedly descent into a sense of madness. Still not quite sure what to make of him myself. A good documentary nonetheless.

[DragonClaws]

QuickSand(2003) - New York Banker Martin Raikes(Michael Keaton), goes to Monaco to investigate suspiciouse transactions within a movie company. Before he can figure anything out, he's set up for the assassination of an important French political figure. Decent and at times flawed thriller, with a strong supporting role from screen icon Michael Caine. Character actor Rade Serbedzija puts on a good performance, as the head of large criminal network. Actress Judith Godreche plays the unsuspecting employee/secretary Lela Forin, who unwillingly works for the crime net-works. Not essential viewing, but still well worth a look if you are fan of the cast.

 

 

Thor Ragnarork(2017) - More Marvel adventures, that I'm sure are getting more and more colourful?, or at least it seems that way?. Enjoyable with some of the amazing SFX you would expect from a Disney movie of this budget. Thor gets a haircut and teams up with his old skinny buddy The Hulk, and a variety of other characters, including Valkyrie played with fiesty flare by Tessa Thompson(Creed). Facing off against the evil Hela, who looks like she's dressed herself in the local fetish store. Idris Elba and Karl Urban are also pretty good, if a little underused. Jeff Goldblum stands out, as some really creepy fight promoter. Entertaining movie, that felt like it wanted to push the adult content humour/violence a little further at times. Wouldn’t be surprised if the MPAA asked Disney to tone a few scenes down.

Edited March 24, 2018 by DragonClaws

[laagi]

Raising Arizona (1987) - Great comedy with a lot of heart and awesome cast. I mean Nick Cage sporting his 'stache and John Goodman his sideburns what could go wrong!

Dead Man (1995) - Never even heard of this up until a few days ago when I stumbled upon the OST by Neil Young. A spiritual journey that not only thanks to the OST but also the performances kept me glued to the screen. Might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) - I was very much on the fence with this one but I'll admit was positively surprised. It's hugely entertaining!

[DragonClaws]

"I'm getting tired of this Mickey Mouse bullshit"

Leon Directors Cut - Classic Luc Besson actioner with great performances all round. Jean Reno plays the reclusive hitman with an adddiction to milk, Leon. While he kills for a living, but his heart isnt entirely cold. When he befriends and then later helps a young girl called Matilda, played superbly by a young Natalie Portman. Gary Oldman channels Harvey Keitel character from the original Bad Lieutennant, as a corrupt drug abusing classcal music loving cop. He almost steals the movie, despite him having little in the way of screen time. Enjoyed re-watching this extended cut, which shows you more of Matilda and Leon's un-conventional friendship. It's a smart clever actioner, that gives you a decent story and strong characters.

 

 

"I told General Miles, I wasn't going to watch them run Geronimo into the ground"

The Tracker  - Kris Kristofferson stars in this solid, late 1980's T.V western set in the 1880's. Veteran director John Guillermin's(The Towering Inferno) last movie. When Red Jack(Scott Wilson), and his gang go on a killing spree. Local sherrif Lane Crawford(John Huddleston), approaches expert veteran tracker Noble Adams(Kristofferson). With Adams and his sharps rifle on board, the pair set off to track down the outlaws, tagging along is Adams inexperienced son(Mark Moses). Decent little T.V Western, that clocks in at just under two hours. Scott Wilson puts in a stand out performance as the crazed criminal gang leader John Red Jack Stilwell. Worth watching for fans of the genre.

Edited March 25, 2018 by DragonClaws

[Takuma]

Death Warrant (USA, 1990) [VoD] - 3/5
Undercover policeman goes to prison to find out who is murdering inmates. Dumb Van Damme vehicle lacks in originality, but not in entertainment. Very passable b-action.

The Burning (USA, 1981) [VoD] - 3/5
Solid summer camp slasher with passable characters, plenty of nudity and some memorable gore bits (courtesy of Tom Savini). The killer is pretty decent, too. As someone who's not that much into 80s slashers, I enjoyed this one more than Friday the 13th or most other slashers from the era.

Anita (Sweden, 1973) [DVD] - 2/5
16 year old nymphomaniac (Christina Lindberg) develops a bad reputation after sleeping with every guy in town! Thinly written sexploitation could use tighter editing and more outrageous scenarios, but there are a few points of interest, such as showing nymphomania as a sickness that brings zero pleasure to the person herself, and rather decent performances by both Lindberg and young Stellan Skarsgård as a musician and psychology student who tries help her.

[Takuma]

Unusual for me, I watched three new films in cinema back to back.

The Post (USA, 2017) [DCP] - 3.5/5
Enjoyable political thriller/drama, extremely timely for its theme (freedom of press) despite being set in the 1970s. Also nice to see a film with a 68 year old actress (Streep) and a 61 year old actor (Hanks) as the leads.

Ready Player One (USA, 2018) [DCP] - 3/5
I went in fearing this might turn out Marvel superhero kind of action boredom, but Spielberg thankfully handles the material better, and it's also so plot driven (or perhaps race driven) that it never stops moving. As for the "retro content" this is very much 80s for the 2018 kids, that is, a film that embraces bits of past but never loses the modern perspective because "going full retard" would alienate the modern kids. And indeed, this is a film very much about its own time. The images may be science fiction, but the ideas are as 2018 as they can. And that's maybe not be a bad thing. Time will tell.

Red Sparrow (USA, 2018) [DCP] - 3.5/5
Unspectacular but enjoyable, story driven spy thriller. Quite hard hitting at times, although the pre-release fuzz about the film being "sleazy" was way exaggerated. This is only daring for a modern day mainstream Hollywood film, even paling in comparison to something like Basic Instinct. It is a film for adults, but the sex and rapes are very brief and nudity sparse. We do get a half naked (literally... the right half) Jennifer Lawrence though.

[Takuma]

Savage Streets (USA, 1984) [DVD] - 5/5
Vigilante diamond full of great lines, terrific music, the best villains of the 80s, and girls straight out of a Japanese pinky violence film. Excellent pacing and ace technical execution as well, minus perhaps the odd final 15 minutes which nevertheless manages to be wonderfully entertaining partly for that reason. 5/5 may be slightly more than the film deserves, but then, 4.5 just wouldn't suffice.

Siege (Canada, 1983) [Hulu] - 3.5/5
A pretty cool Assault on Prescient 13 variation. The police are on a strike when a group of fascists execute everyone in a gay bar, except one man who escape and seek shelter in an apartment. The MacGyvers in the apartment take the poor man in and start turning the apartment into a fortress against the armed attackers using anything they have or can turn into a weapon. Earns an extra half star for the theme and closing music alone. Aka Self Defence aka Night Warriors.

Note 1: The Hulu version runs 93 min. There's a VHS rip on YouTube with a running time of 83 min, missing 10 min of character introductions from the beginning.
Note 2: Although the Hulu version looks like a VHS era master, it's notably better than the version in Youtube)...
Note 3: I believe this hasn't been released on DVD (?).

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Cobra Kai. Sort of Kung Fu, but not really.

[Takuma]

The American (USA, 2010) [Hulu] - 4.5/5
Quiet, lonely hitman (Clooney) retreats to a small Italian town by the mountains and starts working on a new assignment. Atmospheric, beautifully filmed and impressively low key film which reminded me of the most meditative of Italian action films and westerns, as well as Charles Bronson and Jean Pierre Melville, although I cannot pinpoint any specific reference movie. A stunningly good film.

The Thing (USA, 2011) [Hulu] - 2.5/5
Unnecessary, but entirely watchable prequel focusing on Norwegian camp. Great locations, nice to see actual Norwegian (well, Danish too) cast as Norwegians, and there's a wonderful tie up with the original film at the end. They also came up with a clever new "creature identification method". That being said, although professionally made, the chilling atmosphere of Carpenter's film is nowhere to be found, showing the creature in full CGI assisted detail at every single encounter doesn't make the film better, and all characters except for "Lars" (the bearded guy chasing the dog at the beginning of Carpenter's film) are forgettable, especially Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the compulsory added American lead. There are a few other Americans in the film as well, none of whom should be there (It's a film about Norwegians. It should star Americans, right? No?).

Olympus Has Fallen (USA, 2013) [Hulu] - 3/5
Dumb, occasionally incomprehensible but fun action thriller. The hero keeps putting himself in a disadvantage by feeding the enemy with information for no reason at all. Also, who the hell did the CGI for this film? Most 1990s video games had better graphics. We get CGI planes, CGI helicopters, even the bloody cars are CGI. All that being said, the gunplay action inside the White House easily delivers the thrills and Butler makes a good, 80s style hero.

[Asmo]

Who Am I?

[ShaOW!linDude]

Batman Ninja --- A bizarre but interestingly animated version of the Batman and his supporting cast of characters done with Japanese flair and set in feudal Japan. It's a fun watch and visually stunning. And I mean that literally. The complex color palette just kind of left me gobsmacked at times. The voice acting is fairly good, but I just couldn't get into the guy doing Batman. It was like he was trying too hard to sell it. There is a ton of action and fight scenes. However, it is often animated too close up and at times so fast I could't tell exactly what was going on. Gonna have to watch this again.

Edited May 28, 2018 by ShaOW!linDude

[Takuma]

Decided to familiarize myself with WiP films... lets see if anything good comes out of this...

The Big Doll House (USA / Philippines, 1971) - 2/5
A relatively standard WiP film, misses its potential by being shot in the Philippines yet taking place almost entirely within four walls. The action packed climax and supporting star Pam Grier provide some fun, though. Producer & director duo Roger Corman & Jack Hill did better with the follow up The Big Bird Cage (1972), which wisely set most of its action outdoors, and Pam Grier went on to star in an even better film Black Mama White Mama (1973) which was helmed by Philippine director Eddie Romero (producer here). Sometimes referred as "rough" for containing a handful of torture and violent scenes, this is mild stuff compared to Japanese films of the era, unfortunately so also technically and artistically. The genre may be to blame partially: there's just not that much mediocre filmmakers can do with a closed setting like prison.

Women in Cages (USA / Philippines, 1971) - 3/5
The second and best film in Roger Corman's WiP "trilogy". Pam Grier co-stars not as prisoner but sadistic lesbian head prison guard with a discipline dungeon designed for aesthetically pleasing torture, giving the film a Teruo Ishii kind of swing. The film was actually called "Female Torture Demon Pam" (no kidding) when it premiered on video in Japan. The actual heroine however is Jennifer Gan, a surprisingly cute red head Jane Fonda lookalike who is so fish out of the water (both the character and the actress) that it becomes more amusing than irritating. You forgive her for being more concerned keeping her boobs covered than protecting her life, though her naiveté is frustrating. The look and feel of the film are far more Asian than American, perhaps due to Philippine director Geraldo de Leon who has a better visual eye (and a welcome lack of sense of humour) than Jack Hill. The action is clumsy, but the film is such a charmingly cute exploitation product that a bit of clumsiness (almost) works to its benefit.

For reference, my old review from last year

The Big Bird Cage (USA / Philippines, 1972) [DVD] - 2.5/5

Philippines set WiP film with a tongue in the cheek tone; part 3 in Roger Corman's "trilogy". Entirely watchable and rather entertaining, but once the film is over you're not left with much. As exploitation it's quite tame, and obviously lacks the kind of energy and state of art visuals you'd find in the best Japanese exploitation films of the era. That being said, it's well enough made and features nice outdoor locations and a colourful cast. Pam Grier is great, unfortunately just about the only female in the film who keeps her clothes on (somewhat). The script features one clever twist: the male guards are all gay so the women can't seduce them!

Sweet Sugar (USA, 1972) - 2.5/5
Sloppy women on a (sugar-cane) labour camp film plays out like a Russ Meyer tit flick with constant cleavage (star Phyllis Davis) for the first third, nudie scenes (naked swimming, doctor's examination etc.) for the second and machine gun action for the third. Laughable dialogue and performances provide some fun and the film keeps rolling towards its action climax at a passable pace. Also included is a mad doctor (Angus Duncan) who conducts human experiments and throws "primitive cats" at prisoners - a genuine Dr. Evil character. I generally detest the misguided notion of "so bad it's good" (films like Women in Cages certainly don't fit the bill as they're just plain good) but this movie perhaps has a bit of that in it.

Black Mama, White Mama (USA / Philippines, 1973) - 3/5
Though not a Roger Corman production, this is essentially a superior version of The Big Bird Cage (1972) with similar cast and story (two female inmates chained to each other on the run, one of them affiliated with a revolutionary movement) but with more action and nudity and a slightly better flow except for the Sid Haig parts. As its predecessor, the film benefits from exotic filming locations (The Philippines), spicy Pam Grier (showing skin a bit more generously that last time) and the fact that it doesn't waste too much time in the prison. Eddie Romero helms. Light but fun.

Savage Sisters (USA / Philippines, 1974) - 1.5/5
Tame American International / Filipino actioner isn't really a WiP movie, but places it's protagonists behind the bars for the second quarter. Were there enough hard edged exploitation scenes it might set off the sloppiness, but instead we are treated truckloads of Sid Haig comedy, poor girl's Pam Grier Gloria Hendry and not even nudity (plenty of cleavage though). The plot is about a box of money rebels, bandits and the army are all after. Director Eddie Romero did much better with Black Mama, White Mama (1973).

Caged Heat (USA, 1974) - 1/5
This frustrating piece of satirical chicken shit cinema was the directorial debut by Jonathan Demme, who had already scripted a couple of shot-in-Philippines WiP films for Roger Corman. This film is much different not only for its unexotic US setting but also for Demme's attempt to place himself above the genre by filling the movie with quirky irony, silly theatre play scenes, slapped-on-top violin music and artistry, strange voices, even a fart joke during an action scene. Humour and self-irony are not forbidden, but you can't do a decent genre film if you don't have enough balls and respect for the genre to do the real thing.