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

[DiP]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Aside from some major changes in the story - like the hitchhiker and the cook replaced by a kid and a sheriff respectively as well as adding more family members in the cannibal family, dinner scene replaced by an escape and confrontation at a slaughterhouse, and a subplot of a baby taken away from a murdered family - this was surprisingly good and effective as a remake. Where the original' strength was the docu-style, the remake makes that up with fine cinematography, music, and decent acting. Leatherface also gets more screentime and his voice doesn't sound deliberately girlish as in the original (something that was annoying). Rating: 8/10

Halloween (1978)

Probably the first film with anticipated murder scenes that would later be the definition of future horror films and something that got overdone and clichéd. Thankfully, the film focuses mostly on the story and characters than on the violence and that helps alot to understand and mystify Michael Myers in a way to can be creepy. What also works is the restrained tone and the music that accompanies it. It sets up Myers' stalking and killing perfectly. Rating: 9/10

Halloween II (1981)

Continues right where the first film ended. This time with Strode spending time in a hospital while Myers follows suit leaving a trail of murders behind him. It also goes into further detail on the reason for Myers' killing motive, and connection between Myers' murder of his family and Strode. Good sequel to be honest and it concludes the questions and thoughts that were raised in the first film the way it should be. Rating: 7.5/10

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Who Saw Her Die (Chi L'ha Vista Morire) 1972. Directed by Aldo Lado. Starring George Lazenby, Anita Strindberg, Adolfo Celi etc.

Best Giallo I have seen in a long time!!! This one genuinly creeped me out. The foggy Venice locations, the creppy killer POV through the veil accompanied by Morricone's haunting kids choir music. Good performances, cinematography etc. Great movie.

Can't believe I had this sitting on the shelf for over a year.

[QueMuchita]

I'm a massive Giallo fan and I've never seen this one, I'm definitely going to have to check it out now.

EDIT: I just watched the trailer and it looks very good. Its also very creepy how the kids are singing chi l'ha vista morire?

[teako170]

Most of these are rewatches....

Street Scene (1931)

King Vidor directs an early masterpiece of urban living. Stars Sylvia Sidney and Beulah Bondi.

The Fighter (2010)

Based on true story. Christian Bale was over the top in this one but Mark Wahlberg was just mere window dressing.

Under Capricorn (1949)

Lesser effort by Hitchcock but it stars two of my faves (Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten).

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Decent sequel to the classic. Films that came after never recaptured the magic.

The General (1926)

Buster K doing his thing. Slow start but picks up speed. A classic.

101 Dalmatians (1961)

Speaking of classics... Watched this yesterday with my 17-month-old. She was digging it.

Starsky & Hutch (2004)

Went into this with zero expectations. Turned out to be fairly entertaining.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I'm a massive Giallo fan and I've never seen this one, I'm definitely going to have to check it out now.

EDIT: I just watched the trailer and it looks very good. Its also very creepy how the kids are singing chi l'ha vista morire?

Most def check it out....! I had kinda soured on the genre for a while, due to too many inferior schlocky potboilers, but this one brought me back, and reminded me why I got into those films in the first place. Love it when that happens.

[QueMuchita]

Yep, that's exactly what happens with Giallo films, you think you've seen all the good ones and that there is only second rate ones left, until you stumble upon a gem and it gets you excited about the genre again.

[Drunken Monk]

I finally watched "13 Assassins" and, sadly, didn't much care for it. Granted, the last 40 minutes were cool, but I'm not really a huge fan. Though it was worth a watch.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Yep, that's exactly what happens with Giallo films, you think you've seen all the good ones and that there is only second rate ones left, until you stumble upon a gem and it gets you excited about the genre again.

True of quite a few genres. Oh and the score by Morricone really blew me away. That sounds a bit redundant, I mean, it's Morrifuckingcone.... but still, this was something out of the ordinary I think. Instantly went to youtube and found the music and converted it to mp4.

In the last few days I watched The Professional with Jean Paul Belmondo... kicking ass all over Paris (also with Morricone music, the beautiful piece Chi Mai) Seen it before though. And an excellent Giallo, Puzzle aka L' uomo Senza Memoria 1974 by Duccio Tessari with Luc Merenda and Senta Berger. Not really scary as such, but a good mystery flick.

[QueMuchita]

I watched Who Saw Her Die today and it was great, I kind of had an idea who the killer was early in the movie but not the motive or anything (actually I'm still not 100% sure of the motive) but it was really good and had a very creepy tone to it. It definitely wasn't obvious or anything but the last Giallo movie I watched had a very similar theme to it and the killer had a similar motive (and profession) which kind of tipped me off.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Well the motive was....

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING

His mother was a whore, and had red hair. So He killed young red haired girls in their youth, to preserve their innocence.... Dressed as his mother.

I had my money on the fencing guy. Love it When im wrong though.

[QueMuchita]

That's what I though, just wasn't 100%. Next up for me is The Killer... is on the Telephone (1972)...

[DiP]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

The most widely known western film and delivers pretty much everything it lives up to people's sayings. Great mixture of action (stuff that's real inspiring) and themes played out here like various forms of friendships, treasure and bounty-hunting, multi-rivalries etc. Eastwood as as ever cool that he ever was in these kinds of films and the same goes for Van Cleef - here playing the main villain. But the most props goes to Wallach as Eastwood's chameleon-like sidekick Tuco. Overall, the film's a definite piece in the western genre slightly surpassing A Fistful of Dollars and falling behind For A Few Dollars More and Once Upon A Time In The West in my book. Rating: 9.5/10

Dirty Harry (1971)

A film that sees moralistic aspects within the police force, cruelty to suspects, and cool attitude being mixed together. By today's standards it's already outdated but I still think it's a nice combination and the whole package was well translated for being an early 70s crime action film, thanks to the gritty direction and subdued style of the story. Eastwood is his usual cool character but with few small twists of character changes outside his work. Rating: 7/10

Desperado (1995)

This was pure entertainment. The story was decent and well shot in a refreshing setting (feels like watching an old western but still taking place in contemporary times) but it's the cast/crew and the dialogue that makes this memorable. Rodriguez + Banderas + Hayek (probably the hottest she's ever looked onscreen!) + everyone else = badass result. The action takes its' cues from Hong Kong action films but Rodriguez incorporates some fresh ideas of his own and the result is very pleasing, although quite straight off lame at times - like machine guns and rocket launchers hidden in guitars (I know Rodriguez was aiming for an exaggerated style of action but come on!) Rating: 8/10

[ShaOW!linDude]

THE BIG BANG (2010) --- stars Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, Delroy Lindo, Willaim Fichtner, Sam Elliot, Autumn Reeser, Sienna Guillory

AB is a LA private eye hired to find a missing stripper. As all his leads wind up dead, he is led to a small town in New Mexico where a billionaire has built his own particle collider with the intent of recreating the Big Bang.

I dvr'ed this movie and it's really good. It's done as a noir type film with AB narrating the story, which is full of interesting characters and plot aspects that seem to have nothing to do with one another until the end. There's some decent action action in this and I loved the ending.

THE AMERICAN (2010) --- stars George Clooney, Paolo Bonacelli, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten

GC is an American assassin operating in Europe. After he's discovered, his handler send him to a small town in Italy. He takes an assignment to prep a hit for a female assassin and during that time meets a woman and decides to give up the life.

I'd heard that this film was a disappointment due to its lack of action, but it has some good action sequences in it. They're aren't over the top but rather create an intensity to the story. The plot seems slow moving but it's really not. It's a good espionage type flick with spare but interesting dialogue, and both the female assassin (TR) and the love interest (VP) are gorgeous. In fact, VP seemed so familiar to me that it was only after the movie was over that I realized how much she physically reminded me of Sophia Loren.

[DiP]

The Mask of Zorro (1998)

Good film adaptation of the old Zorros from different decades in the past. Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale) offers alot that you could other get as average entertainment in most blockbusters. But to his credit, TMoZ moves beyond that and focuses more on the actual content and the final result is one of the better films of its' kind to have been made. Campbell's direction is excellent, the cast is class (props to Banderas, Hopkins, Zeta-Jones, Wilson and Letscher) the music perfectly fits the setting, and action scenes (fencing, horse riding, stunts, shoot-outs) are surprisingly shot well here. Rating: 8.5/10

The Legend of Zorro (2005)

Wonder what happened on the set of this one cause TLoZ wasn't even a real Zorro film (the same feel and pacing of TMoZ is missing) but more like a parody of its' predecessor. Needless but sad to say, this is to TMoZ what the Matrix sequels were to the original, except alot worse. The action scenes are pretty much the saving grace here but even these were emphasized so badly compared to TMoZ, thanks to the sloppy writing. Rating: 4/10

The French Connection (1971)

This is gritty film-making done great, probably one of the earliest films to employ the use of the docu-style for enhanced viewing experience into stories. It sets up pacing and feel of its' setting (the early 1970s) so perfectly it tells and shows more than what the story is about, like it's successor (To Live and Die in L.A.) 14 years later. Looking at the plot alone it's pretty standard and quite outdated but thanks to Friedkin's film language, the given touch to the story makes the film more appealing and very pleasant to enjoy. Hackman and Scheider make a great cop duo and everything else was also masterfully shot. Rating: 9/10

[massa_yoda]

Hanna (2011)

This was a nice little movie that didn't really get much buzz after the original teaser trailers (that I remember). According to imdb trivia, the actress who played Hanna trained with Dan Inosanto for a couple months, and it shows, but only very briefly. There are two pretty good fight scenes. The first is with Eric Bana verses some goons. The camera rotates around him as he fights off people coming at him from all directions. No cuts, but some of the weapons might have been CGI-ed in, such as a key knife throw. The second fight is with Hanna fighting off more goons next to some big cargo containers. You see her do some cool takedowns. The movie is more of a chase-type thriller than an action movie, but I appreciated what was there.

And the soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers was cool too.

[AlbertV]

LET ME IN - Matt Reeves' remake to the Swedish horror film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. I loved it!!! A great film about the friendship between a bullied boy and his new next door neighbor, who turns out to be a vampire. Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Grace Moretz were perfectly cast as was Elias Koteas as the detective investigating the series of murders plaguing the town. The ending was quite gripping and now, I plan to see the original version.

POLICE ACADEMY 3: BACK IN TRAINING - I have to say out of all the PA movies, this is my favorite of the bunch. The additions of Zed, Sweetchuck, and Nogata as policemen really drove both action and comedy nicely. Nice short and sweet fight between Brian Tochi and Jean Frenette, who played Jones' martial arts teacher. May not be exactly today's style of MA action, but nice for the 80's American crowd.

[So High]

The People Under the Stairs

Gave this a rewatch last night. The ole lady hadn't seen it. I know thats what I said. "What no way" A true "Hood" horror classic. Done by a pro of the genre Wes Craven. Though I hate watchin movies from my childhood because now I can spot the hollywood in them. The premise is two dudes take a kid with them to burglarize this "big" house. Only to find out they picked the wrong house.

Lethal Weapon

Thought I'd watch this genre defining flick again earlier this week. I think it did set the standard for the modern action movie. Ya ever wonder if this got made due to Police Story's success. I do. Also spotted dated Hollywood again. To me the dramtic fight scene may have been wow back then, but now all I can say is wow. Looks terrible by todays standards. Though I love all of Mel's cheesy dialogue during it. "Come On Come On show me whatcha got" That trianle choke still goes hard though.

[DarthKato]

@ So High

Yeah, I don't really like rewatching films from my childhood very often. When you are a kid, you tend to be able to over look their faults. Not so easy for an adult. There are a still a few films from that time long ago that I can still watch and still love:

The Evil Dead Triligy

Prediator 1( Didn't really like the 2nd)

Commando

Alien 1&2(the rest do not exist)

Topper Returns( My Dad said I wore out 3 tapes watching this film when I was little:xd:)

Rambo Triligy

Rocky Saga(I guess it would be a Saga:ooh:)

Star Wars Saga

Back to the Future Triligy

Any Bruce Lee film

Any Jackie Chan Film

There are many, many more.

[DiP]

Enemy of the State (1998)

Tony Scott can make good films. If the material is right. Coming off fresh doing Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, he did equally well with the material provided to him here. Thanks to his direction, the story has all appealing ingredients to give the story enough spice and stand out from being another average blockbuster. Music, visuals, editing, effects, pacing, acting etc got done right. If there's one nitpick, it would be casting. On one side we have actors that looked their roles and performed fittingly, and on the other there's actors (the tech staff working for the agents) just acting randomly and looking out-of-place. Rating: 8.5/10

Entrapment (1999)

Pretty well done heist film integrating quite refreshing heist elements - Zeta-Jones doing balley-like movements to avoid lasers is always a great sight to behold - and using a strong cast and complex heist settings to pull the entertainment off nicely. Connery matching up with Zeta-Jones was a bad call though. Maybe replace him with someone younger and more adapt in terms of delivering lines (Connery always being on his native accent in every film is amusing). Rating: 7/10

[Fightingfist]

Watched a film called Overheard- very good film

[massa_yoda]

Kung Fu Panda 2

Very impressed with this one. Good martial arts sequences and a great story. Hope there's third film.

[DiP]

Watched a film called Overheard- very good film

Be sure to check out the sequel. It's as good as its' predecessor.

[DiP]

8 Mile (2002)

Curtis Hanson transcends from L.A. Confidential's 1950s L.A. to mid 1990s grimy environment of Detroit with this film. In a good way. While nothing much happens in terms of linear storytelling, the screentime given to the characters gives you a vague idea of how their lives are like and what drives them doing what they do. That is basically a build-up of the film's themes and to its' most intense and emotional plot twist near the end, with great results. Rating: 8/10

Child's Play (1988)

Remember being scared by this back in the day as a kid. Looking back now, I'd say the scary factor surprisingly holds up pretty well as does the suspense and thrills after so many years. However it has aged badly to a small extent, mainly the film's doll-shaped antagonist. Props and effects put on making Chucky convincing is admirable. But my only pet peeve is that cartoonish voice whenever it speaks. No point covering a doll with over the top voice acting (just to make it fit with its' appearance) when you can just dub it the way the voice sounded in human form. Rating: 6.5/10

[Guest Markgway]

But my only pet peeve is that cartoonish voice whenever it speaks. No point covering a doll with over the top voice acting (just to make it fit with its' appearance) when you can just dub it the way the voice sounded in human form. Rating: 6.7/10

Doesn't Brad Dourif just use his own voice?

[DiP]

I'm aware of that. I'm just pointing out the way the voice over was done. I know that it's kind of a rule in films that voices come with certain appearances. But for Child's Play, I think it was unnecessary because the film wasn't trying to be light nor overly over the top anyway. I couldn't help but cringe or laugh hysterically at times whenever Chucky started talking. From those moments, the scary factor turned into pure hilarity.