Member AlbertV Posted January 16, 2011 Member Share Posted January 16, 2011 Have a 3-day weekend because of the MLK holiday so I got a bunch of movies to watch. Here's what I saw so far: SHREK FOREVER AFTER - I laughed so hard with the final installment of the Shrek saga. It was a fitting ending with a plot that reminded me of part of BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (alternate world story), and a funny villain this time in... Rumpelstiltskin. LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA'HOOLE - I was surprised to learn that Zack Snyder helmed this CGI feature and it was a great story headed by a great cast including Jim Sturgess as lead character Soren. RED AND BLACK - One of the weirdest HK movies I've seen, It was a hybrid of Cultural Revolution drama and Ghost movie. Lam Ching-Ying now played exorcist in Revolution times having to stop the Blood Demon. Also has a sappy love story subplot between Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Joey Wang. Began to watch TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NUMBER ONE and I've enjoyed what I saw so far. It is a great Wai Ka-Fai film (produced by Johnnie To) about a small town gangster who looks into what could happen if he makes the right decisions or wrong decisions about a car heist in Mainland China. Interesting role reversal for Francis Ng as a rascal who is more dumbfounded than villainous. Still have a long way to go....LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Fat_Dragon Posted January 16, 2011 Member Share Posted January 16, 2011 0ther day Enter The Eagles Kickboxer 2 Иext day Kickboxer 3 Kickboxer 4 Kickboxer 5 Łastnight Royal Warriors(Aka In the line of duty) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted January 16, 2011 Administrator Share Posted January 16, 2011 CATFISH- this is one of the reasons I don't do Facebook. Great little documentary that's incorrectly being advertised as some kind of super intense Hitchcockian thriller. Go in with an open mind and I think you'll love it. 8 out of 10. THE SOCIAL NETWORK- Reason 2 why I don't do Facebook. LOL As usual David Fincher has directed another accomplished piece of cinema. Very, very good. 9 out of 10. I SAW THE DEVIL- A Korean film, sort of in the same vein as SE7EN in that it treads a fine line between being a thriller and a straight up horror movie. It's about a serial killer (played by our man "Oldboy) and the man hunting him for a unique kind of revenge. I recommend this very highly, but only to those with the strong stomach to endure some extremely brutal, violent images and situations. Definitely not for those viewers that are easily shocked or offended. 9 out of 10 PIRANHA 3D which I was disappointed to discover will only work in 3D on a 3D TV. My son and I enjoyed this crazy little exploitation film in theaters, but my wife just caught it here on home video for the first time. A surprisingly good cast, lots of suspense, ridiculous amounts of nudity, and no-holds-barred piranhas munching on beach-goers mayhem! The normally unshakeable missus, a horror movie fanatic, actually had to cover her eyes at one point! 8 out of 10. DESPICABLE ME- Not on a par with the fantastic TOY STORY 3, but a funny, enjoyable animated film about super villain's. 7.5 out of 10. AAICHI AND SSIPAK- One of the strangest, funniest, and most original films I've seen in quite a while, this animated film from South Korea is about mutants, rebellion, friends, a hotty with a special gift, a cyborg, and... poop. Great film! 9 out of 10. We watched Ben Affleck's THE TOWN and it was really good! It's about a small town called Charlestown that is the bank robbery capitol of the US and a few of it's residents' extracurricular activities. Affleck's first film (as director) GONE BABY GONE was a nice surprise, but this one is even better. Very suspenseful, terrific casting, careful not to fall into cliches and tell it's story in an authentic way. 9 out of 10 Then we watched THE LAST EXORCISM. Very dissapointing. It had a lot of potential in it's premise- a guy that pretends to do exorcisms has a film crew documenting his sham when he meets someone that may really be possed by demons- and a wonderful, naturalistic cast of actors, but it really was a messy letdown. A few suspensful scenes, but overall, just okay. 4.5 out of 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 17, 2011 Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 This morning: ONG-BAK 3 - I had mixed emotions on this film. It started off somewhat promising, but I didn't like how they turned Dan Chupong's Crow Ghost into this supernatural being and I thought some of the fight scenes suffered from too much slo-mo like High Kick Girl! I did like how they showed Tony Jaa being enthralled by Chupong's vision and then him saying "I shall return to emptiness" and replay the whole thing. Reminded me of the second act of Too Many Ways to be Number One. TRIPLE TAP - I enjoyed Derek Yee's DOUBLE TAP (2000) and ten years later, we have a loose sequel that pits two shooting competitors outside the range. Daniel Wu is the cop who thinks Louis Koo has to do with a recent series of killings due to his expertise of the triple tap. The reason why this is considered a sequel? Alex Fong plays Wu's "mentor" who happens to be the very same character he played from Double Tap, the cop going after Leslie Cheung's "double tap" killer. Nicely updated but it could have done without the love triangle subplot between Koo, Li Bingbing, and Charlene Choi. Final Ranks: ONG-BAK 3: C TRIPLE TAP: B going to finish up TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 then see perhaps LONG ARM OF THE LAW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DeathFuMaster Posted January 17, 2011 Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 Watched Legend of the Fist tonight. I thought it was pretty good. Watching Donnie Yen run around in a Kato uniform was pretty cool and the final battle at the dojo was nice. This is a pretty heavy story film without much fighting though. I would say that its a nice continuation of Chen Zhen's story, but it definitely could have been better. So average film at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 17, 2011 Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 Finished TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NUMBER 1 (1997). I loved it. It was pretty much a crazy film told in the eyes of Kau (Lau Ching-Wan) as to what can happen if he makes certain choices all involving a car heist in China for a Triad gang. Francis Ng was great as Kau's bumbling idiot friend Matt, a far cry from his Ugly Kwan role in YOUNG AND DANGEROUS. Elvis Tsui, Joe Cheng, and Matt Chow gave good support as Kau and Matt's buddies. The first 1/2 hour is truly one of the craziest first acts I've seen. LONG ARM OF THE LAW (1984) - a riveting look at crime in Kowloon with the main characters being a gang hailing from Mainland China. Lam Wai (PROJECT A II) gave a superb performance as gang leader Tung. There is plenty of violence and even some nice stunt work coming from Billy Chan and the Sammo Hung Stunt Team. Sammo Hung produced the film with director Johnny Mak and the film was written by Philip Chan, best known in the West as villain Raymond Zang in Van Damme's DOUBLE IMPACT. CAGED ANIMAL (2010) - just finished this one this morning. The name was just to cash in on Ving Rhames' two prison fight films ANIMAL and ANIMAL 2. The real name of the film is WRATH OF CAIN. Rhames plays Cain, a former nightclub owner who is serving time for murder and drug possession. He meets up with old enemies and things come full speed when his son ends up in prison. Cain attempts to make the wrong things right between he and son, especially when he learns of a major setback that affects his life. This may look like a typical urban prison film and while it is, it ultimately gives a positive message about life in the end. Final Rankings: TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NUMBER 1: B+ LONG ARM OF THE LAW: A- CAGED ANIMAL: B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted January 17, 2011 Member Share Posted January 17, 2011 and speak of the devil... first draft: Long Arm of the Law (1984: Johnny Mak) ***½/**** When a film is as highly thought of as this film among Hong Kong critics (Hong Kong Film Awards' 103 Best Chinese Films, Asia Weekly's 100 Greatest Chinese Films of the 20th Century) and a plethora of hyperbolized reviews it is going to be a more difficult sale though not an impossible task if a film is indeed a great one. While this film will not be currently going into my top 100 (I do have a top 50 out on the web), it is a worthwhile film for anyone studying Hong Kong cinema. It is easy to see the influence on later crime films from the “Mexican standoff” later used by John Woo to the gritty oeuvre of Ringo Lam to even Johnnie To’s Expect The Unexpected. While the movie was moderately successful at the HK box-office (10M HK Dollars) it was critically successful nominated for several Hong Kong Film Awards (I believe Golden Horse as well, but I currently cannot find information on this; LoveHKFilm does not go that far back and the Golden Horse website itself says coming soon on past awards). Long Arm of the Law is a mixture of neo-realism and cinéma vérité with a mixture of non-professional and professional actors (many reviews are wrong when they state it is a largely amateur cast though) and heavy use of on-location shooting and hand-held camera. Tung (Lam Wai: Project A2) is in charge of leading a group of Big Circle (ex-PRC military) into Hong Kong whose allegiance is heavily towards each other, but are willing to go to extreme violence to get what they want. There task is to infiltrate into Hong Kong, rob a jewelry store, fence it and then go back with lots of money. It starts off quite bad by losing one member who was shot and ravaged by dogs trying to make it over. When they first scope out the jewelry store someone had just tried to rob it and cops were all around. They show their ignorance be circling the place over and over till the police notice them. This leads to them being chased and a glimpse of what they will go through to try to accomplish their goal. Experetly directed by Johnny Mak Tong-Hung (his only film) and quite nihilistic in tone (there are shades of humor throughout the film, sometimes successful, sometimes out-of-place). There are some outstanding stunts and action sequences done by Sammo Hung Stuntmen's Association and Billy Chan Wui-Ngai in which the ending is one long shootout sequence in Kowloon (historically important since it is a place that is neither under PRC or HK law) and plenty of memorable scenes like the food they give their first fallen. Not an enjoyable experience, but an interesting one. There are no redeemable characters. While the protagonists are the Big Circle gang and you feel for them when they dream of past loves, their intense loyalty of each other (in contrast to the HK police who are shown with very little sadness after one of theirs dies) and their mishaps in a society they are not used to (funny when the subtitles state “pumpkin” when they said “bumpkin”), they are overly brutal and ultimately quite evil. While I usually have no issue with misanthropic movies I do have more of a concern with misogynistic ones. There is one particular scene that is partially played for laughs that is a bit disturbing and detracting from the film (read Lisa Odham Stokes take on it in her co-authored book City on Fire, I believe it along with the cynical mood helped ruin the whole movie for her). I have the Joy Sales Fortune Star R0 release which is remastered and currently the best release out, but still lack a few important attributes for English viewers. The beginning typed-in titles which describe the protagonist (and are important to the story) are never translated and sometimes the English dialogue is improperly translated as well. This is most likely because the English subtitles are taken directly from the Chinese titles and a proper translation was never done (another reason why important signs are not translated as well). There is a Cantonese track as well as a Mandarin one. The only extras are the original trailer, a new trailer and stills (quite typical for the Fortune Star R0 releases). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Phoenix Posted January 18, 2011 Member Share Posted January 18, 2011 CATFISH- this is one of the reasons I don't do Facebook. Great little documentary that's incorrectly being advertised as some kind of super intense Hitchcockian thriller. Go in with an open mind and I think you'll love it. 8 out of 10. If you liked Catfish, you should definitely seek out Talhotblond/ Tallhotblonde (it has various spellings). It's a great film which shares some of the themes of Catfish (identity on internet) but is a lot better than Catfish, at least in my opinion. ps-don't read any reviews for it they may contain spoilers. It's also a documentary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 18, 2011 Member Share Posted January 18, 2011 This afternoon's viewing SHANGHAI GRAND (1996) - a virtual movie remake of the TV series THE BUND, which made Chow Yun-Fat a household name. Andy Lau did well in the Chow role, a rascal who rises to the top with his friend, a naive man played by Leslie Cheung. The friendship dissolves over their love for the same woman and on top of that, Cheung has a dark secret. I really enjoyed the film, nice stuntwork by Stephen Tung Wai and Bruce Law's explosions scenes were great. RETURN OF THE CHINESE BOXER (1977) - I really wanted to like this and I started to. Jimmy Wang Yu plays Rapid Fists, a Chinese hero who takes on the likes of the Japanese, Thai boxers, and (this is where I stopped liking the movie) zombies! My favorite fight scene was Wang taking on Blacky Ko and Ricky Cheng as the Thai boxers. Ko showed some nice kicking skills and Cheng showcases his amazing acrobatic skills. But the zombie angle really turned me off. THE A-TEAM (2010) - I was a huge fan of the 80's series as a kid and I have to admit, I liked this new version. There wasn't any more perfect casting, especially Sharlto Copley as "Mad Dog" Murdock. His opening scene cracked me up and the action was great too, even over the top at times. However, in the end, I really liked it. Final Rankings: SHANGHAI GRAND: A- RETURN OF THE CHINESE BOXER: C- THE A-TEAM: B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted January 18, 2011 Member Share Posted January 18, 2011 Yeah the zombies in Return of Chinese Boxer are pretty odd. Luckily the music helps the scene, otherwise it would have been dreadful. If that would have been the final fight scene I would have been pissed. My favorite scene is the fight between Sun Jung Chi and Kam Kong. The announcer has just said that the last fighter won a "fair" fight. So now Kam Kong and Sun Jung Chi fight... out of nowhere, Sun Jung Chi pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Kam Kong. Also, I've always wondered if Wong Wing Sang's character was the inspiration for the way Danny Trejo's character has knives all around his waist in Desperado. Of course, Wang Yu takes it to the extreme and has knives covering the character's whole body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 18, 2011 Member Share Posted January 18, 2011 GAME OF DEATH - not the Bruce Lee movie, but rather the Wesley Snipes movie. Was not too bad for 82 minutes. Those looking for a long fight between Snipes and Gary Daniels will be quite disappointed. Basically the plot is simple: Snipes and Daniels are bodyguards for a high powered businessman who suffers a heart attack en route to see his associate. Daniels and the rest of his group (including Zoe Bell) screw over Snipes and now Snipes must take out everyone. Chuck Jeffreys once again was fight choreographer with Simon Rhee as fight coordinator...editing wasn't too bad...nice use of black and whites for impact shots during one fight. Playing some of the villains include Simon Rhee, Ho Sung Pak, and Esteban Cueto (aka Sykov from Undisputed 3). Final Rank: GAME OF DEATH: B- (only cuz I wished Snipes vs. Daniels was a little longer than it was) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted January 20, 2011 Member Share Posted January 20, 2011 The Devil is A Woman (1935: Josef Von Sternberg) ***½/**** Don't you hate when you watch a film and notice that you have seen several plot points before, but cannot quite remember where the source is? After a bit of reading on the film the source I was looking for was Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire which takes several themes from the film (does not use two actresses for one part of course, Marlene Dietrich would not have liked that). Of course after reading that it is easy to see the connections and several scenes were redone in that later film. This is a beautiful looking film. I see composition used to a much more sagacious effect here than in previous Sternberg/Dietrich collaborations such as Morroco and Blonde Venus. Like with The Scarlet Empress I do wonder how certain attributes got past the Hays Code censors (nudity in The Scarlet Empress and the whole character of Concha Perez and especially the ending which I will not spoil). Concha Perez (Marlene Dietrich)s is a wholly unredeemable character. This does make it difficult to understand why the men fall instantly in love with her (maybe not as difficult as taking Marlene as Spanish or heck most of the cast members) as she is quite the tease. But she is focal point of Capt. Don Pasqual 'Pasqualito' Costelar (Lionel Atwil who I just saw a few weeks ago in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon) in as he tells an old friend Antonio Galvan (the very young looking Cesar Romero who is one of the few characters that looks and sounds Spanish) several episodes of how he fell in love and had his life ultimately destroyed by this temptress. I liked the use of chronology while the current time period shifts back to flashback as he tells the different stories and ultimately the film has a last sequence which takes place after all the stories are told. Quite unique for the films I have seen during the mid-1930s. There is quite much to like with this film. The sets are fantastic (not up to The Scarlet Empress), the direction is sublime, the acting -- well here is an area I preferred the silent films I have seen of Sternberg. I can forgive the different accents, but I am not as solid on Edward Everett Horton's part as the Governor. I am still not quite sure on what I think of Marlene. The camera (especially Sternberg's work) loves her. She does overdue facial moves and you cannot get through a film without her singing, but there is certain panache that she does posses. The history of the film itself is quite interesting. Paramount destroyed the negative (though the film was not lost there were positives still afloat) and luckily Marlene Dietrich kept a copy herself which was used for the later prints. It was her favorite role. There was a controversy with Spain about the content of the police and that might be why the film was destroyed, but I cannot find anything conclusive on that. Much of this information comes from the documentary Marlene (1984) which I have not seen, but definitely want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lionclaw Posted January 20, 2011 Member Share Posted January 20, 2011 I've been trying watching a lot of movies with meaningful/smart plots along with my dose of action lately. This is basically what I've been seeing this month: Deja Vu - Very engaging thriller. It makes you think a lot about if the past can be changed or not. Denzel Washington and Paula Patton did an amazing job in their roles. (Plus Patton was great eye candy.) Next - Intresting Nicholas Cage movie about foreseeing the future. Some of the effects could have been better but there were many intresting scenes with Cage using his "gift." The Animatrix - Many insightful and smartly told stories giving useful backround to the Matrix. Makes you question your reactions more successfully than Inception. (Although Inception was still amazing.) Memento - I actually didn't like it. It litteraly made my brain hurt. Its not that I didn't understang the movie. It just wasn't as engaging as Nolan's other movies in my opinion. (Maybe because it lacked the action of Batman and Inception?" All The Die Hards - I'm a late fan but these films won me over. (Weirdly Live Free Die Hard was the one that convinced me to sit down and watch the others.) The Fifth Element - Entertaining enough but I don't see myself watching it again. Ghost In The Shell - Didn't like it. The movie didn't have enough engaging action scenes for me and it seemed like a big excuse to show naked anime girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DeathFuMaster Posted January 21, 2011 Member Share Posted January 21, 2011 I've watched: Karate Bear Fighter- very good Chiba film, possibly better than the first. I will be watching Karate For Life soon. The remastered dvds I have of this trilogy are amazing in picture quality and the sound is great, but could have been better. Protege- Decent storyline, but I was really expecting more action. Not even many gun play moments to speak of. Definitely a straight up drama. The Dragon Dynasty release is fine, nothing to really compare it to. Dragon Inn- This remake was good. I really like the characters and I thought they did a really good job of keeping the movie interesting considering it was primarily set in one location through most of the movie. The Tai Seng release I have has decent picture quality and sound, its got scratches and stuff, but I really didn't notice them to much. It was weird seeing Donnie Yen as a bad guy, especially with all the make up and stuff on. Gen X Cops- I didn't really care for this movie too much. I actually almost turned it off a couple of times. Not really a good story or much good action. I also found it weird that they spoke english as much as they did. The sony dvd has good picture quality and sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted January 23, 2011 Member Share Posted January 23, 2011 OUTLANDER --- starring: Jim Caviezel, John Hurt, Ron Perlman Not a bad movie. JC is an alien being chasing an alien monstrosity and crashes to earth in the era of Vikings. Both the action and f/x were pretty good. Definitely worth a watch. PORTAL --- starring: a bunch of people I've never heard of Travelers stop off at a hotel due to thick fog. The hotel is run by witches who use these innocents to try to breed the child of the Devil. A lot of this was nonsensical. It's an interesting premise (I guess) but is poorly acted, written, and directed in execution. Find a better way to spend an hour and a half. NEMESIS --- starring: Olivier Gruner, Tim Thomerson, Brion James Not a bad B sci-fi movie for its day ('93). Cyborgs are covertly taking over upper level positions in society and seek to eradicate a cell of terrorists that are bent on destroying them in order to preserve mankind from the threat of them in the year 2027. I probably haven't watched this since seeing it way back then. Having seen "Angel Town" I was looking forward to seeing OG use his MA skills again. No luck there. Having watched it again.....still no luck. There's heavy action but it's all gunfire and explosions. There is one small display of kicking as he takes out some agents but that's it. Still, what I found interesting on this viewing is that this could actually have been a precursor story-wise to the "Matrix" series, at least in plot and theory. Kinda. Sorta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 25, 2011 Member Share Posted January 25, 2011 Saw these over the weekend: LEGACY OF RAGE - Brandon Lee's only Hong Kong film, where he did some fighting but the end was more reminiscent of John Woo with an insane shootout with Lee and Mang Hoi taking out Michael Wong's gang. UNDECLARED WAR - Ringo Lam's 1st attempt at an international espionage film, with Hong Kong actors Danny Lee, Rosamund Kwan, and Tommy Wong speaking decent English with an international cast including Peter Liapis, Olivia Hussey, and Vernon Wells. It starts off pretty decent, but kind of gets boring after a while. Didn't care too much for it. THE HARDER THEY COME - a riveting 1970's tale of fame and tragedy in Jamaica. Stars the great Jimmy Cliff as Ivan, a country bumpkin who comes to Kingston to become a singing star. He deals with becoming a drug dealer and selling his one song for only $20. Ticked off at everyone, he goes after corrupt cops, the more corrupt drug boss, and more while his song becomes number one!!! Loved it and would watch it again...a true classic! Final Rankings: LEGACY OF RAGE: B+ UNDECLARED WAR: C+ THE HARDER THEY COME: A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted January 30, 2011 Member Share Posted January 30, 2011 This weekend's pics: MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY: THE PLAY - Tyler Perry returns as Madea, who now must gather his niece's family when she tries to tell them she only has 4-6 weeks left to live. The play tackles serious issues, but done in a very funny way! Nice tribute to classic R&B in the finale. A- THE LEGENDARY LA ROSE NOIRE - Jeff Lau's homage to 1960's Cantonese cinema is very enjoyable. Tony Leung Ka-Fai is funny as cop Keith Lui, doing his best impersonation of the 60's idol Lui Kei. Maggie Shaw is quite funny at times but the highlight is Wong Wan-Si and Petrina Fung (former child actress and sister of Fung Hark-On) as the Black Roses. Tony Leung Siu-Hung crafted some nice fight scenes too. B+ ENTER THE DRAGON - Nuff said A SIX-STRING SAMURAI - fun indie film with former HK film baddie Jeffrey Falcon as Buddy, the titular character in an alternate 1997 America, where he plans to take the title of King of Lost Vegas. A PTU - One of my favorite Johnnie To action thrillers, revolving in the "missing gun" shtick. Simon Yam does it great as the head of the unit, who goes to unorthodox methods to get the gun back. A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AndyWayne84 Posted February 2, 2011 Member Share Posted February 2, 2011 I watched The Myth. New Police Story. Ong Bak 3 Mercury man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted February 3, 2011 Member Share Posted February 3, 2011 THE UNTOLD STORY - I'm working on a retrospective of HK filmmaker Herman Yau so I rented 6 of his films. I started out with this tour de force of not only Yau, but Anthony Wong, who delivers the well deserved Best Actor award at the 1993 HK Film Awards for his role as real-life serial murderer Wong Chi-Hang, who not only killed, but chopped up his victims and turned them into the meat for the pork buns. This was one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen...SAW and HOSTEL made me squirm a little, but this took the cake when it comes to hardcore gore...Even with the dark humor of the womanizing cops who are in charge of the case... if you have a weak stomach or heart, I urge you to stay away from this film. Rank: A (for Wong's performance) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sheng Posted February 4, 2011 Member Share Posted February 4, 2011 @ AlbertV Herman Yau Lai-To is definitely one of the most interesting directors in HK today, even though last year's REBELLION didn't leave the strongest impression on me. Picked up ON THE EDGE, THE FIRST 7th NIGHT and TRUE WOMAN FOR SALE recently, those I find more appealing that his earlier (and gory-er) works (EBOLA SYNDROME etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted February 7, 2011 Member Share Posted February 7, 2011 500 DAYS OF SUMMER --- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel. 2nd viewing. I love this movie, especially the soundtrack. Need to get that for myself. REPO MEN --- Jude Law, Forrest Whitaker. DVR-ed this to view. This is a really good sci-fi flick. There is some great MMA styled fighting and some sweet knife fighting as well. (Darren Shahlavi even appears in this is an all out fight in a corridor at the end. He doesn't get to showcase sadly but he's easily recognizeable and he dies a cool death.) I liked the plot. I'd watch this again. *THE REBEL ---- Johnny Tri Nguyen, Veronica Ngo, Dustin Tri Nguyen. Great MA movie. * Reviewed at "My Many MiniReviews". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted February 8, 2011 Member Share Posted February 8, 2011 I've been knee deep in Turkish Pop Cinema of the 60s, 70s and 80s. These are some of the most wildly insane "bad" movies ever made. I've seen maybe 50 of them so far and am hungry for all I can get my hands on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhCVJaIYiNY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAd_NvGN3AM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bxvkw_YPbc&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImrmJh8fGh8&feature=related I loves me this stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Shaolin Chamber 36 Posted February 8, 2011 Member Share Posted February 8, 2011 One of the last GOOD movies I watched, was the Norwegian film The Troll Hunter. Very good film. A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter. TLEo7H9tqSM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted February 8, 2011 Member Share Posted February 8, 2011 Troll Hunter looks like fun. Thanks for the heads up, 36! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted February 9, 2011 Member Share Posted February 9, 2011 Not One Less (1999: Zhang Yimou: China) ****/**** One trait that runs through much of Zhang Yimou's oeuvre is the stubbornness of his protagonists. While this trait does not always lead the characters to same path, there is a certain curious steadfastness that is admirable. Those who have seen The Story of Qiu Ju will recognize the similarity between that titular character and Wei Minzhi here (most of the characters names and real names are the same). I have a fascination with monomania. Wei Minzhi is a 13-year substitute for a plethora of younger students in a country town. She is too young for the job, but not one else is willing to do it for 50 yuan (and like Lee Marvin in Point Blank she is going to get her money). The town like many in the country is so incredibly poor that chalk is cherished and desks go unfixed just to have chalk. She is offered a few extra Yuan is she can keep the students that she has without them leaving "Not One Less" is told to her. She will do all she can to keep her students intact. While she loses one to a sports school (the mayor promises that this will not be used against her), she loses another one to the city (troublemaker Zhang Huike) because he has to support his sick mother who has too many debts. Wei goes to the city to find him only to find out that he got lost while going to the restroom. She then goes on her own crusade to find him. The most poignant is when she tries to see the head of a TV station so she places an ad to find him. What results in this is one of the most emotional scenes I have seen in quite a long time. During the city scenes I noticed than many of the situations seemed completely authentic plus the fact that often the camera seemed far away and zoomed in. I read that Zhang often put hidden microphones and indeed kept the cameras hidden while Wei and Zhang Huike went through their directed motions. The actors were amateurs (at the time) and bring an authentic feel to the film (though reportedly Zhang used lots and lots of footage). But some of my favorite scenes are the early country scenes where she is trying to "teach" the students. She is told just to write down the lesson and have them copy it while preventing any of them from leaving early. Later when she needs to get the money to go to the city she teaches them a variety of character and mathematic lessons without her really knowing it (though impressing the mayor). One of the cultural divides that permeates Mainland China is shown here. Not the class divide of rich and poor, but the divide of country and city (country folks are often called bumpkins and are often mocked for their dress and not understanding the cities ways). This was also shown in The Story of Qiu Ju, but here it is used less as an allegory against communism (some of that is still here), but more of a story of an indomitable spirit. I am still flabbergasted that Criterion does not have one Zhang Yimou directed film or even one movie from the Mainland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.