Member AlbertV Posted March 31, 2011 Member Share Posted March 31, 2011 INVICTUS - Clint Eastwood's powerful tale that stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. After he is elected President of South Africa, he becomes the inspiration for the country's rugby team, captained by Matt Damon's Pienaar. Very gripping film and the end of the film nearly brought me to tears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted March 31, 2011 Member Share Posted March 31, 2011 Early 80s cheese........... ndpV6qfQJVw Boris vs Bela (without makeup) _sTh-PLnBTc More Bela..... W3ONG8qFw_4 And since we're talking Bela.... Depp & Burton make such a great combo! CawVaHxWvnA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 3, 2011 Member Share Posted April 3, 2011 LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY - John Woo's 1st foray into the wuxia pian genre and it is great. Wei Pai and Damian Lau make a great team and Fung Hark-On crafted some excellent swordplay scenes. WHITE STORM - Danny Lee is a cop who goes to Nanking to assist a drug bust. There is a nice twist to the story involving an elder man trying to find his lost children. Roy Cheung made for a good bad guy and the action were a combination of firepower and kickboxing like sequences. Directed by former Sammo Hung Stunt Team member Billy Chan and produced by SHST member Chung Fat. THE SUSPECT - Ringo Lam's thriller about a released prisoner who finds himself the prime suspect of a political assassination. Louis Koo was great in the titular role and Simon Yam, Ray Lui, Julian Cheung, and Ada Choi provide great support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 4, 2011 Member Share Posted April 4, 2011 Had a double feature of ninja flicks: MASK OF THE NINJA (2008) - made for TV film with Casper Van Dien as hardboiled cop who teams with Anthony Wong (not the HK star, but THE MATRIX actor), an ex-ninja assassin turned bodyguard against Wong's old ninja gang. The fight scenes could have looked good had not for bad editing. PRAY FOR DEATH (1985) - the Sho Kosugi film...nuff said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member nectarsis Posted April 4, 2011 Member Share Posted April 4, 2011 Fight back to School Blues Brothers Hot Fuzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member nectarsis Posted April 5, 2011 Member Share Posted April 5, 2011 Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member kungpowmaster Posted April 5, 2011 Member Share Posted April 5, 2011 Last night I watched an obscure title: Alien 2: On Earth This is an Italian made film, in 1980, to market off the Alien film. It's kinda slow, and doesn't take place on Earth, but mostly in a cave. It's very low budget, but has some interesting effects. I liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TheDenizen Posted April 8, 2011 Member Share Posted April 8, 2011 Last two flicks I watched: Saving My Hubby (I am hopelessly infatuated with Bae DooNa) Evil Dead Trap (low budget Japanese homage to Argento, Raimi and Fulci) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted April 8, 2011 Member Share Posted April 8, 2011 TENDERNESS --- stars Russell Crowe and some other people. I dvr'ed it. RC plays a retired homicide detective. It's about a young man who is getting out of juvenile prison with an expunged record for the murder of his parents because his mom discovered evidence that he had killed a couple of teenage girls. Another girl who has been following his story in the papers makes a trek to meet him while he is off to hook up with a girl he met in juvie. This movie has an interesting story and the acting is really good but......: (SPOILERS) a) It teases and builds as though another murder will take place and never does. The ending is easily figured out and there's really nothing exciting happening. c) Crowe is really nothing more than a supporting cast member in this though he gets star billing and the movie is a 2009 release (if I remember correctly). My advice to you all? Don't bother with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 11, 2011 Member Share Posted April 11, 2011 Saw these this weekend: BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA - My wife and I absolutely love this movie. Loved it so much that since renting it out, must have watched it a total of 15 times. MAFIA.COM - Danny Lee plays "what else" a cop who is trying to protect his little brother, who has become a Triad rascal who gets his shot to rise to the top only to be set up. Roy Cheung is wonderful as the eventual villain and Jackie Lui is great as Lee's rascal brother. HE'S A WOMAN, SHE'S A MAN - great Peter Chan drama that delves in the world of music, homosexuality, and gender confusion. Leslie Cheung is great as a composer who wants to get a new male singer and meets Wing, played by Anita Yuen. Wing pretends to be a man but somehow falls for Sam. WHO'S THE WOMAN, WHO'S THE MAN - the sequel to the aforementioned picks up where the original leaves off. This time, Sam and Wing find themselves in a strange love triangle with Anita Mui, a retired singer who also has cross dressed as a man during her career. MASTER Q 2001 - Herman Yau directed this fun film that combines CGI and live action as comic book characters Master Q, Potato, and Mr. Chun find themselves helping an amnesiac couple (played by real-life couple Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung) gain their memories and relationship back amidst a loony gang led by Chan Man-Wai. Funny for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 14, 2011 Member Share Posted April 14, 2011 MONGOL - Tadanobu Asano stars as the future Genghis Khan, who goes into exile only to return and unite with his wife and then goes into a war with his old friend turned enemy. It is a great film by director Sergei Bodrov. Asano is truly a wonnderful actor, giving one of his best performances here as is Sun Honglei as Jamukha, Khan's old friend turned enemy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 18, 2011 Member Share Posted April 18, 2011 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 - bought the DVD over the weekend and it is surprisingly great. The cast is great here and the finale of course was a bit sad, but a nice juxtaposition that leads into the upcoming Part 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Michael L. Posted April 18, 2011 Member Share Posted April 18, 2011 The revival of Upstairs, Downstairs on PBS. Every now and then you have to indulge in a little Masterpiece Theater, you know? And because the kids tag-teamed staying home sick the last two weeks, a great deal of an Australian kids' show we found on Netflix called Mortified, about a 12 year old girl whose semi-hippy parents run the underwear store at the mall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 19, 2011 Member Share Posted April 19, 2011 CASINO TYCOON - Andy Lau was great in this film as Benny Ho Hsin, a refugee from Hong Kong during WWII who goes to Macau and eventually is exiled back due to betrayal from a jealous thug but returns after a decade and becomes a high ranking casino owner. Chingmy Yau was great as was Alex Man, who played Lau's best friend. Paul Chun was great as the main villain as was Wilson Lam, who played Lau's rival originally for Joey Wong. However, Lau marries Chingmy Yau yet had a brief affair with Wong while in prison. The ending sets up CASINO TYCOON II, released the same year and I will be seeing that film tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 20, 2011 Member Share Posted April 20, 2011 THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS - Wes Anderson's look at a dysfunctional family over the course of 22 years. It was pretty funny at times and pretty tragic at times. Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Gwyneth Paltrow were great as the kids and Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston gave great performances as the parents who have separated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Son Of A Gun Posted April 24, 2011 Member Share Posted April 24, 2011 Saw 'Little Red Flowers" last night. 2006 China Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted April 24, 2011 Member Share Posted April 24, 2011 WHIP IT --- stars Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, Daniel Stern; directed by Drew Barrymore. Set in Texas, Page plays a high school girl burdened with participating in beauty pageants by her mother, Harden. She becomes interested in and secretly joins a women's roller derby league. I enjoyed it. The roller derby teammates were witty and attractive in a beat-up kind of way. Wiig and Barrymore really has the best lines and I felt made the movie. Harden as always is a pleasure to watch. This is sort of like a guy's movie but starring chicks. I recommend you rent or dvr it (like I did). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 25, 2011 Member Share Posted April 25, 2011 THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU: Wes Anderson's satire on Jacques Cousteau is very funny at times thanks to Bill Murray and Owen Wilson (playing Murray's son...maybe). The film also takes an interesting twist when they have to take on Filipino pirates to save their financial backer. Jeff Goldblum is funny at times as Murray's main rival in the science world...he even delivers a great line: "I'm so angry I could spit." KUNG FU PANDA: SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE: Only Jack Black (Po), Dustin Hoffman (Shifu), and Randall Duk Kim (Oogway) return for this 25-minute film about the legends of the Furious Five. Po narrates to a group of students about how the Furious Five learned various aspects to become the kung fu masters they become. An interesting side note: The voice of Young Monkey was Jaycee Chan! Chan sounds a bit like his father in the film, but I remember hearing him in the Invisible Target commentary and he didn't seem to have much of an accent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted May 2, 2011 Member Share Posted May 2, 2011 YOGI BEAR - Yup, I saw it and despite its 79-minute running time, the kids will love this one. Dan Aykroyd fit the voice of Yogi perfectly and surprisingly, Justin Timberlake made a good Boo Boo. Tom Cavanagh (ED) was funny at times as Ranger Smith. But the movie is truly all about Yogi and Boo Boo. KNOCKOUT - Steve Austin's latest has him play a janitor who was once an amateur boxing champion. He takes the new kid under his wing when he is constantly bullied by the high school's star boxing champ. Very inspirational at times, a welcome departure for Austin, who even looks a bit different as he shaved the upper part of his trademark goatee for the role. Reminded me of John Cena's LEGENDARY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted May 3, 2011 Member Share Posted May 3, 2011 some comments on: Legend of the Black Scorpion (2006: Feng Xiaogang) Hong Kong/China aka The Banquet ***/**** Using Shakespeare as an adaptation is both a boon and a bane for a movie. You have a template to one of the most famous writers that has his works retold many times, but that inevitable brings forth comparisons between not only the original work but also the many other works derived as well. The Banquet is a retelling of Hamlet but taking place during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period a perfect era bereft of stability for this adaptation. Emperor Li (Ge You) after disposing of his brother by poison takes the Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi) for his wife. Li means to get rid of his nephew as well the somewhat brooding Crown Prince Wu Luan (Daniel Wu) who has been studying opera and the arts in the meantime. Wan is one of the few characters that is little different than their associations in Hamlet. Wan represents Gertrude but instead of being the mother of the Crown Prince she was once his lover until his Dad decided to wed her (reminiscent somewhat of a plot point in Curse of the Golden Flower which came out the same year which I slightly prefer of these two movies). Those familiar with Hamlet are going to know who each character represents and where the plot is going to go with a few exceptions. The exceptions make it an interesting watch, but one can’t help to bemoan the lack of character depth that is found in the play that is normally not found here. The original title of The Banquet is a much better title than Dragon Dynasty’s strangely titled Legend of the Black Scorpion. The first choreographed fight scene (done by Yuen Wo-ping) with the emperors men set out to kill his nephew the crown prince was spectacular in its strangeness yet sublime use of wuxia aesthetics mixed with a human marionette form. I put a link at the bottom, but it does miss a good portion of what happens earlier (which is why you will see many bodies in masks lying around). In terms of action nothing later in the film is quite as brilliant as this. Some of the characterizations are a little muddled. Wan waffles between who she loves in quite unconvincing ways. I am not sure if this is the fault of the director or Zhang’s acting. Daniel Wu’s performance is limited though he is effective in his role. I might be blinded by wanting a more emotional or intellectual “Hamlet”. I always expect a certain intensity of character. Even with the negatives mentioned above I do think many here will enjoy the film. It has a beautiful directorial style to it and a rich costume drama atmosphere. It is one of many costume dramas that have been appearing from China (and this is a Hong Kong collaboration as well). If you liked Curse of the Golden Flower I think you will like this. At least watch this before you watch An Empress and the Warriors (2008). Spoilers below: On the ending: the death of the Empress was purposefully done without showing who did it. Now while some like Bey Logan have stated the maid to the empress did it because of additional deleted scenes, but since those were admitted they do not count. It is known that Prince Wu Luan’s sword was used as well as the fact that women do seem to fall for the semi-brooding man, but I do think the open-ending was more to refer to the fact that in this time period especially that with revenge and power motifs you are never safe from the next assassination. The Emperor’s suicide was way too contrived. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Uw40PGQw0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted May 5, 2011 Member Share Posted May 5, 2011 Grass: A Nation’s Battle For Life (1925) ***½/****: It is a condensed struggle of one half of the biannual Bakhtiari, a southwestern nomadic people, migratory movement from their winter residence (Khuzestan) to their summer residence (Chahar Mahaal). It is a movement necessary for their animals’ survival. It is a movement for grass. At several points in the film it states a journey of 50,000 people and for the most part you do not believe it until they show a few sparse shots showing in the background hundreds of people in a serpentine line slowly moving along (though we never get to see more than a thousand in one shot) the 15,000 foot Zardeh Kuh mountain. This will probably remind several of Nanook of the North, but in direction and excitement the film is as good as the more known film. It is more factual as well, but when watching it I suspected some artistic license as well like when they are crossing the Karun river it looks like some of the footage is used several times. It is effective though since it goes on a lot longer than you initially think and since it does seem perilous it increases the tension as well. Though I could have done without seeing some of the animals go under the water though. This is both Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s first work. I have heard of this movie and their next documentary Chang:A Drama of the Wilderness originally from extras on King Kong their most famous work. It is amazing what they accomplished with this film. I think anyone interested into documentaries and/or silent film in general will enjoy this. A common complaint that I read and I feel it is justified is the overuse of silly inter-titles. They read like they are out of a Harold Lloyd film with the same style of humor. They are most likely used to cover up the fact that the expedition most likely lost several on their quest for grass or at least make it more congenial to the audience, but with a few exceptions it feels out-of-place and contrived. The score on the Milestone edition by Gholam Hosain Janati-Ataie, Kavous Shirzadian and Amir Alie Vahabzadegan is impressive, fits the film quite well and is one of the better scores I have heard. There is a bonus feature with Rudy Behlmer doing an audio interview with Merian C. Cooper, but I have not gone over it yet. It is quite a long interview, over an hour and a half, but has that annoyance where I cannot stop in on my machine to take a pause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted May 8, 2011 Member Share Posted May 8, 2011 THE OTHER GUYS --- stars Will Ferrell, Mark Walberg I really enjoyed this. There were some pretty funny bits in this. I got more tickled at Walberg's character as he played the quintessential cop who was always flying into a rage over the most mundane stuff. "I am a peacock! You gotta let me fly!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted May 9, 2011 Member Share Posted May 9, 2011 Saw these over the weekend: FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE - Chen Kaige's Academy Award nominated film about two lifelong friends in the Peking Opera who soon find themselves breaking apart because of a woman (Gong Li) and the politics that surround China from the 20's to the 50's. Leslie Cheung and Zhang Fengyi churn out wonderful performances as the best friends turned potential rivals. IT'S A MAD MAD MAD WORLD I & II - I was in the mood for some classic 80's HK comedy and finally got the chance to see these two films. They star Bill Tung and Lydia Shum as a couple who are in the poor house with their 3 daughters only to learn they have won the Mark Six Lottery. Soon, just as everything gets on the up and up for them, they find themselves in the worst situations. David Chiang was good as Tung's brother in the first film with composer Lowell Lo giving a good performance as an old friend of the eldest daughter in Part 2, which was shot on location in both HK and Vancouver. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON - I finally got to see this after it was sitting on my shelf for who knows how long. I actually enjoyed it. Jay Baruchel was great as the reluctant hero of the film while Scotsmen Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson were great as the hero's Viking chief pops and his right hand man respectively. The dragon reminded me a bit of a dark version of Spyro mixed with Totoro's emotions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member David Rees Posted May 10, 2011 Member Share Posted May 10, 2011 HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN Truly awful film, with bad acting and over the top gore which is not even shocking. Rutgar Hauer is good but that was 90 minutes of my life i will never get back! BATTLE LOS ANGELES Wasnt expecting much but it is an enjoyable sci-fi invasion pic, shown from the soldiers perspective. Very well made and the aliens when you do see them are excellent. If you liked Cloverfield then you will probably enjoy this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member kungpowmaster Posted May 11, 2011 Member Share Posted May 11, 2011 Gary Numan Touring Principle '79 DVD. I'm a big Gary Numan fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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