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

[ShaOW!linDude]

Gary Numan Touring Principle '79 DVD.

I'm a big Gary Numan fan.

Did you watch it "......in cars". (Great, now I have that song stuck in my head.)

[AlbertV]

SPETTERS - Paul Verhoeven's visual and I do mean visual coming of age story of three friends who have a passion for motorcycle racing. This was an early Rutger Hauer film (he played the national motocross champ everyone in town worshipped) but the focus was on the 3 friends and the young woman who changes their lives forever...not all in good ways either. If you have seen AMERICAN HISTORY X and its infamous rape scene, that was tame compared to a very graphic rape scene in this film. The story was pretty good, but it could have done without most of the graphic sexual stuff.

[Takuma]

SPETTERS - Paul Verhoeven's visual and I do mean visual coming of age story of three friends who have a passion for motorcycle racing. This was an early Rutger Hauer film (he played the national motocross champ everyone in town worshipped) but the focus was on the 3 friends and the young woman who changes their lives forever...not all in good ways either. If you have seen AMERICAN HISTORY X and its infamous rape scene, that was tame compared to a very graphic rape scene in this film. The story was pretty good, but it could have done without most of the graphic sexual stuff.

I remember Verhoeven telling there was a time when Dutch movies would always have nude scenes... then as it happened once, his regular cinematographer Jan de Bont fell in love with a leading actress and refused to shoot her nude anymore (I supposed this would have been Cathy Tippel). Verhoeven was furious and had to look for a new collaborator. He found Jost Vacano.

Then after a few years Verhoeven and Jan de Bont solved their disagreements and became friends again. This is why Verhoven started taking turns (usually 2 films at a time) using them...

De worstelaar (1970): Jan de Bont

Diary of a Hooker (1971): Jan de Bont

Turkish Delight (1973): Jan de Bont

Cathy Tippel (1975): Jan de Bont

Soldier of Orange (1977): Jost Vacano

Spetters (1980): Jost Vacano

The 4th Man (1983): Jan de Bont

Flesh+Blood (1985): Jan de Bont

RoboCop (1987): Jost Vacano

Total Recall (1990): Jost Vacano

Basic Instinct (1992): Jan de Bont

Showgirls (1995): Jost Vacano

Starship Troopers (1997): Jost Vacano

[One Armed Boxer]

& of course De Bont when on to direct such timeless classics as 'Speed', 'Speed 2: Cruise Control', & 'Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life'!

[AlbertV]

& of course De Bont when on to direct such timeless classics as 'Speed', 'Speed 2: Cruise Control', & 'Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life'!

As for Verhoeven, he said he had so much negative flack after SPETTERS that he decided to make films outside of his native Holland. When SHOWGIRLS was pretty much flanked by everyone, Verhoeven wasn't fazed by it at all b/c he said he had the same flack for SPETTERS.

[Daigoro]

Believe it or not ive been watching ''Superman''. I got the Ultimate collector's edition tin box sometime last year for a

good price, but i never put them in until now. I guess i thought it would be different from when i saw them as a kid, but the

films took me back to my childhood music and all. This edition has around 14 discs, so, interesting special features. BTW

had no idea Mario Puzo (Godfather) wrote the script. Got to see the films the way they were originally intended to be seen

by Richard Donner; the versions that were never released in the theater's. Richard Donners cut's were interesting because

they are different edits. The timing of is noticeably improved, but there are also extra scenes, replacing scenes seen in

the theater. For example in Superman I when Lois Lane becomes suspicious of Clark Kent and sets out to prove he is

Superman, and throws herself into the water-rapids saying (to Clark) "I know you would never let anything happen to

me, Superman" that never even happened in the original cut. In Richard Donner's cut she jumps out the window at the

Daily Planet. I was surprised to see in Donner's cut, when she becomes suspicious of Clark Kent again in Superman II,

it was not because his hand went into the fire at the suite. It was because she was so sure she shot him with a gun!

Clark reluctantly confesses, but then he says ''You do realize you would have killed Clark Kent, if you were wrong Lois?",

and she says ''Kill him with blanks?" The chemistry between Margot Kidder and C. Reeve, in the Superman scenes,

were touching. Dynamic, dramatic and intense. I never realized this until seeing the films again, but now i know why each

was chosen. The best part, or at least the most enjoyable for me was to see Christopher Reeve go back and forth from

Clark Kent to the Man of Steel. Watching part 3 asap, this is when Superman fights himself and when Annette O'toole

aka Lana Lang is introduced. "I know you can hear me Superman, don't give up, i know you can hear me!"

[masterofoneinchpunch]

^ I got that tin set as well. I just rewatched Superman II: The Richard Donner cut as well within the past month (though saw the first Superman film awhile back as well as many of the extras in that set). Also don't forget all the added footage of Marlon Brando in that cut as well. I thought that was a worthy replacement from the similar scenes in the theatrical version.

some comments on:

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974: Joseph Sargent) ***½/****:

What an effective and fun thriller this movie is. I was not expecting that much though I knew it had a good reputation with a few critics (like New York Times who have had it twice in their top 1000 films). But I knew that Robert Shaw could be effective and he certainly is here as a former British mercenary named Mr. Blue whose personality is perfect as a cold and calculating criminal mastermind (or possibly in between jobs) setting up an ingenious scheme. He is so calm and collected that he is working on a crossword puzzle while waiting for word of whether he is going to get the ransom money or whether he will have to start shooting the hostages.

I noticed when they were exchanging names between his crew was that Tarantino took this idea and used it in Reservoir Dogs. The amount of future TV stars in this film is quite huge as well.

Walter Matthau played the foil to Mr. Blue as well as a sarcastic curmudgeon (the role he was born to play) as Lt. Zachary Garber who is trying to keep the hostages alive while at the same time trying to figure out this plot and how was he and his crew going to get away with the ransom money (1 million dollars) being encased underground. His comedic moment with the Japanese was quite funny (I doubt it is original at this point though it now has been done many, many times), but it was a believable New York style of sardonic humor.

I was not completely satisfied with the ending (well not the exact ending which was a classic freeze frame, but the whole wrap-up which was too predictable). There was a particular problem here that was in The Town (though more believable in The Town because they were not quite as intelligent) in which one member's special abilities make them quite easy to track down (there is a discussion on IMDB's board that talks about this being a potential plot mistake, I'm not so sure but I would have to go over it again).

I am not too familiar with the director Joseph Sargent, but he has a prolific record of mostly TV movies. I did buy recently another one of his directed films the Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) which was also recommend to me by a much older friend who is also a fan of the reviewed film. I have also not seen the remake, but after watching this I have some curiosity towards it. But I wonder how effective they could have made it especially compared to this well made movie.

[Guest Masked Avenger]

the recent movies I watched are :

Predator

Predator 2 (City hunter)

Alien versus predator

Alien versus predator :Requiem

Predators

just watch them on and on again and don't get tired at all!

I'm their crazy fan !

Damn! I love them sooooooo veeeery much!

even see them in my dreams

Also they got great action figures! Superb!

[IgaNinja]

I watched Sister Streetfighter Fifth Level Fist, not bad...no where near as good as SSF2 Hanging By a Thread which is my favorite one.

[AlbertV]

PORTLAND STREET BLUES - a spin-off of the Young and Dangerous films that starred Sandra Ng as Sister 13, the 1st female Triad sub-leader of Hung Hing. The story is pretty much how she broke through the gender barrier and her original love for men (Sister 13 is a lesbian), especially a rival Triad fighter named Coke, well played by Alex Fong Chung-San.

BLOOD DIAMOND - Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou drive this action drama that is set during the 1999 civil war in Sierra Leone. DiCaprio is a former merc turned diamond smuggler who teams up with Hounsou's fisherman to get a rare pink diamond in which the fisherman only knows the location while having to rescue the fisherman's son, who had become a child soldier.

[Bus]

strange wilderness

the slamin' salmon

[AlbertV]

LOTTERY TICKET - Bow Wow plays a young man in the Chicago ghettos who has won $370 million dollars in the lottery but can't collect it for 3 days. Yup...urban comedy, but fun nonetheless...kind of like a tame version of FRIDAY and speaking of that, Ice Cube had the best role as a former boxer turned recluse who becomes the voice of reason...reminded me of Kevin McCallister's neighbor in the first HOME ALONE.

MUAY THAI FIGHTER (aka MUAY THAI CHAIYA) - see my thoughts in the Muay Thai Chaiya post

[masterofoneinchpunch]

some comments on:

The Loyal 47 Ronin (1958: Kunio Watanabe: Japan) aka Chushingura ***½/****

A surprisingly good film I saw over the weekend was The Loyal 47 Ronin (1958: Kunio Watanabe). While other versions of the same story are more famous like the 1941 release directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and the 1962 release directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (I need to see both), this one really surprised me on how good the cinematography (Takashi Watanabe) and how great the costumes were (Shima Yoshimi who also did Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff).

Apparently it was a box office hit for Daiei Studios. I have heard the story called “The Gone With The Wind” of Japan. But to compare it to Hamlet or a Shakespearean play makes more sense. Chûshingura roots are in bunraku and then kabuki and has been adapted many times to different forms of media from television to movies (and like Hamlet it has been done many times for both).

The story itself is the most well known from Japan and based on a true story. The core of it is quite simple. It is the tale of a high ranking official Asano who assaults another ranking official Kira in the shogun’s palace because of Kira’s taunting and bad advice given to embarrass the younger daimyo. Asano is force to commit seppuku while Kira is not given any sentence. This outrages many of the former samurai (now ronin) who were retained under Asano especially the head Oishi Kuranosuke. But to take revenge right away could mean failure. As they take their time so Kira’s defenses come down they find a populace that is angry that they haven’t taken revenge or killed themselves.

The Animego release is excellent and I'm surprised by how little talk about the film is out there (no reviews at all on IMDB, three small ones on Amazon). There are so many subtitle options from choosing yellow versus white to having additional information display whenever they figure that certain words used like different types of titles might get lost in translation. Sometimes the story is a bit hard to follow because of the massive amount of characters (probably not as much on a second watching; but it is about 166 minutes long).

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Grand Slam Opera (1936: Buster Keaton/Charles Lamont) ***½/****:

Keaton’s career certainly did not end after his firing by MGM and his “comeback” in the 1950s was also erroneous (though his work was not always in front of the camera). Like LL Cool J he’s been there for years. Luckily a wealth of material has come out for Buster and two releases have made me quite happy. His Columbia shorts came out in the Buster Keaton - 65th Anniversary Collection by Sony and later Kino released his earlier shorts of the 1930s Lost Keaton: Sixteen Comedy Shorts 1934-1937 (though Kino has released a couple of the Educational shorts in The Art of Buster Keaton set). I noticed a particular pattern on reviews on these films: while these are not as good as his silent shorts they range from mediocre to good. I agree with that summation.

A common tactic with some reviewers/critics is to overstate the lows of a particular favorite actor or director to make their highs seem even bigger. I had read many reviews where people mentioned that his shorts with Columbia and Educational were maligned, without giving a source on who maligned them. It made me wonder if these comments were overstated. Well I found one: Edward McPherson’s book “Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat” states on the Educational films “…despite what the diehards tell you, are really just for diehards.” and on Columbia “…the dreary two-reelers…”*

Educational Pictures was a low budget studio by the time of the 1930s and would soon close after Keaton left them. Unfortunately many of their earlier prints were lost due to a nitrate fire at the Educational studios and I do wonder if the studio would have been thought better of if many of these still existed (I am a little weak of knowledge on this studio so if you have any information beyond the wiki entries on these please write here).

There are two Educational shorts I highly recommend for fans of Keaton: One Run Elmer (which I need to do a review for because I feel it is completely underrated) and this one which tends to get the highest recommendations from reviewers. There is a good reason for that. This films works on many different levels as it is a parody, a very active comedy, an ineffective wannabe relationship, a comment on silent comedy in the radio age and much more in a 20 minute time period.

Buster plays Elmer Butts an individual who is sent off on a railroad in song by a mob who does not want to see him back. This is parodying the Broadway musical Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway (got this bit of information from IMDB review by theowinthrop). He goes to New York(?) to live and hopefully make it. He auditions for a radio show called Colonel Crow’s (parodying Major Edward Bowes "Amateur Hour" and it reminds you a bit of The Gong Show) doing a vaudeville balancing act that, of course, makes no sense on the radio. He is quickly dismissed just like his advances on the girl (Diana Lewis) he likes and happens to run into everywhere. What will he do?

There are a couple of awesome physical gags. He does a parody dance of Fred Astaire (Fred Aslare(sp?) is the name used here) where he sprinkles sand and dances above his beloveds head like Astaire in Top Hat. Also like Astaire he uses the whole room dancing on top of practically everything until a crashing end. Later he does a medley dance of practically every ethnic style from Irish to Russian. It is a sequence done so quickly and so well you recognize that he is still in excellent shape even after several years of alcohol abuse.

* I noticed a huge gaffe already in this book: “Le Roi des Champs-Elysees took twelve days to shoot; Buster played two roles – the film ends with him breaking into a smile, a closing gimmick Keaton had been avoiding his whole life.” The gaffe is that he has tons of smiles in the Arbuckle shorts where Keaton experimented with personality. This is the type of statement that makes you wonder how much effort the writer went into Keaton’s career besides the obvious silent period. Unfortunate since it does not make me want to buy the book (I was reading through Google books).

[iron flag]

The two genres I watch the most are KF and Spaghetti Western. Lately I've been watching quite a bit of Film Noir. One thats excellent and not so well known: Blast of Silence

[ShaOW!linDude]

EASY "A" --- Stars: Emma Stone.

She's a high school girl who lies about having sex. Soon all the boys are paying her to lie about having sex with them. The dialogue is witty at times. Her parents are portrayed as California free-thinking "daughter knows best" types with "you'll figure it out" advice which was a little off-putting. It's a comedy but there was really only a couple of laugh-out-loud spots. Still, she's a good actress and she makes the movie watchable.

AMERICAN PSYCHO ---- Stars: Christian Bale.

I.....love.....this.....movie! This is my 2nd viewing and I only watched this for the 1st time a couple of years ago. In my younger days I would've been reciting dialogue out of this film. Bale is superbly psychotic. His narration is great and the little confessional asides he casts into conversation with people are great as they go right over their heads because they hear him without actually listening to him. His spree builds to a nice schizophrenic crescendo as he ultimately cannot prevent himself from murdering folks. (Favorite scene: Bludgeoning Jared Leto with an axe while listening to Huey Lewis and the News' "Hip To Be Square".)

[AlbertV]

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER - Not a bad third entry in the film series. Involves Lucy and Edmund going back to Narnia this time with their annoying cousin Eustace as they must help Prince Caspian find seven lords who have swords that apparently could hold the key into saving Narnia when a mist begins to kidnap people.

THE FIGHTER - I love this movie. Watched it four times over the weekend. Mark Wahlberg spent 4 years preparing for the role of "Irish" Micky Ward and it paid off as did Christian Bale, who actually won the Oscar for his performance as boxer turned drug addict trainer Dicky Eklund.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK - I actually found this to be funny. Russell Brand reprised his character from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", rock star Aldous Snow and takes record exec Jonah Hill on a wild ride to L.A. to perform an anniversary show. Sean Combs showcased his comedic side to good effect pretty much playing up his usual manner but upping it a notch.

THE OTHER GUYS - I cracked up in the first 10 minutes and it is clear to see why Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg made such a good on-screen team as polar opposites. Nice cameo from Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson and even Michael Keaton gets props as the police captain who also works at Bed Bath and Beyond. Nice action scenes as well...trivia: Larnell Stovall appears in the opening of the film as a Rasta gangster.

WILD TARGET - British-made hitman comedy starring Bill Nighy (Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean) as an aging hitman who is assigned to kill a unscrupulous young woman, played by Emily Blunt, when she sells a fake copy of an antique painting to Rupert Everett. When he constantly misfires, he reluctantly ends up helping her and takes a young witness (Rupert "Ron Weaseley" Grint) under his wing as a potential successor. Pretty funny for a British hitman comedy IMO.

[IgaNinja]

Shaolin

Bought it today,Excellent film,fights are amazing and the stunts and explosions are some of the best ive seen in this catagory. top notch.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The two genres I watch the most are KF and Spaghetti Western. Lately I've been watching quite a bit of Film Noir. One thats excellent and not so well known: Blast of Silence

That film has one of the better voice overs. I would not have known of this movie if Criterion did not put it out. Have you got the other Criterion noirs or neo-noirs like Night and the City or Pickup on South Street?

[iron flag]

Havent seen either of those but I'll check them out. I also watched Kansas City Confidential which was another very good one..

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Havent seen either of those but I'll check them out. I also watched Kansas City Confidential which was another very good one..

My coowned site has a nice little thread on Film Noir that you might want to check out (clydefro is quite knowledgable about Film Noir; I'm decent in this area but still have a way to go).

His essentials are a great starting point:

The Absolute, Gold-Plated Essentials:

Ace in the Hole (Wilder, 1951)

The Big Heat (Lang, 1953)

Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)

In a Lonely Place (Ray, 1950)

Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich, 1955)

The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941)

Night and the City (Dassin, 1950)

Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)

Out of the Past (Tourneur, 1947)

Pickup on South Street (Fuller, 1953)

Sunset Blvd. (Wilder, 1950)

Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick, 1957)

Touch of Evil (Welles, 1957)

I have seen all of these so I can vouch for them as well.

[AlbertV]

THE OCCUPANT - Early Ronny Yu ghost/comedy hybrid that starred a young Chow Yun-Fat, Raymond Wong (from all the ALL'S WELL ENDS WELL movies), and Sally Yeh. Pretty funny at times, involves Yeh playing a reporter from Canada who ends up staying at a house that is haunted by the ghost of a dead singer. She gets herself in a love triangle with playboy cop Chow and hopelessly desperate Wong. When she becomes possessed by the ghost, Chow and Wong enlist the services of Chow's fellow cop and ghost expert...no, not Lam Ching-Ying, but...Lo Lieh!!!!

[AlbertV]

HAIR (1979) - John Savage, Treat Williams, and Beverly D'Angelo in a film adaptation of the popular 70's musical about a prospective Army recruit in New York who befriends a band of hippies during the Vietnam War. Most well known songs include "Aquarius", "Good Morning Starshine" and the final number "Let the Sunshine In", in which 5,000 extras dressed in hippie fashion took over NYC's Central Park. Great film version IMO.

HONKY TONK FREEWAY (1981) - An all-star film that involves a small town in Florida that has no exit on the newly reconstructed freeway. The mayor decides he will go to desperate measures to make sure his town gets the tourists they need. Stars Beau Bridges, Beverly D'Angelo, Hume Cronyn, William Devane as the Mayor, and two future stars: Daniel Stern (as a junkie driver) and Peter Billingsley (as the son of vacationing tourists)

[ShaOW!linDude]

Last night I watched GET CARTER starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Mickey Rourke, Rachel Leigh Cooke.

It's one of my favorite films of Sly. He's just all presence. There's a couple of good brawls 'tween him and MR. I remembered them as being better but they're still good. I like the plot in this. I think most people underrate this film.

[Sheng]

Guang Hu's COW, a laconic, genuinely touching WW 2 drama with an incredibly expressive Huang Bo. Oh, and its co-lead is an equally expressive black & white Austrian milk-cow, an "actor" that you will develop real feelings for!

The Chinese Guangdong Opusmedia DVD has good subs and a more than satisfying PQ.