Member DiP Posted September 8, 2012 Member Share Posted September 8, 2012 Face/Off (1997) Still Woo's best Hollywood film to date imo. No matter how absurd or far-fetched the story might be, there's no denial that what Woo and company attempted is at least something new and daring in terms of acting. Where the whole "different faces on different persons" makes you wonder how far authenticity will be taken to, it plays very well and tags along Woo's overall themes and trademarks brilliantly and takes you away from the realism to ingesting the film for its' depth and emotional punch. Rating: 9/10 Broken Arrow (1996) A whole lot different from what Woo usually did at the time but in the end I thought it was a fine experience. While the film focuses more on the straightforwardness of the story than style, there's still some recognizable touches and vibes from Woo that is appreciative enough. Slater and Travolta surprisingly made for effective onscreen rivalry and the setting they chose fits real good and brings a feel akin to western films which I thought was very clever. Rating: 7/10 Beverly Hills Cop (1984) It's one of those films where plot and originality don't matter as long as the main star brings out charisma or something energetic to a performance that overall would make up for the lack of crucial content. In this case, it's Eddie Murphy and his comic flair that is on display. What's there to say about him? One of the most inspirational stand-up comedians and what he did on stage is what he successfully transcends into his performance in the film. And who can forget the theme songs? Marvelous stuff altogether. Rating: 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted September 8, 2012 Member Share Posted September 8, 2012 I think im the only one who loves Broken Arrow and hates Face/Off.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 I think im the only one who loves Broken Arrow and hates Face/Off.... ...but HARD TARGET pwns them both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted September 8, 2012 Member Share Posted September 8, 2012 That's true..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted September 9, 2012 Member Share Posted September 9, 2012 War movies this afternoon: Flying Leathernecks Hitman The Cobra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Keung Posted September 9, 2012 Member Share Posted September 9, 2012 - Peking Opera Blues (1986) - ★★★★★ - Sister Cupid (1987) - ★★★ - The Magnificent Scoundrels (1991) - ★★★ - Aces Go Places (1982) - ★★ - Divergence (2005) - ★★ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted September 9, 2012 Member Share Posted September 9, 2012 Face/Off (1997) Still Woo's best Hollywood film to date imo. No matter how absurd or far-fetched the story might be, there's no denial that what Woo and company attempted is at least something new and daring in terms of acting. Where the whole "different faces on different persons" makes you wonder how far authenticity will be taken to, it plays very well and tags along Woo's overall themes and trademarks brilliantly and takes you away from the realism to ingesting the film for its' depth and emotional punch. Rating: 9/10 Broken Arrow (1996) A whole lot different from what Woo usually did at the time but in the end I thought it was a fine experience. While the film focuses more on the straightforwardness of the story than style, there's still some recognizable touches and vibes from Woo that is appreciative enough. Slater and Travolta surprisingly made for effective onscreen rivalry and the setting they chose fits real good and brings a feel akin to western films which I thought was very clever. Rating: 7/10 Beverly Hills Cop (1984) It's one of those films where plot and originality don't matter as long as the main star brings out charisma or something energetic to a performance that overall would make up for the lack of crucial content. In this case, it's Eddie Murphy and his comic flair that is on display. What's there to say about him? One of the most inspirational stand-up comedians and what he did on stage is what he successfully transcends into his performance in the film. And who can forget the theme songs? Marvelous stuff altogether. Rating: 8/10 I enjoy Eddie Murphy's cop movies more than his other comedies... Most if not all his cop movies are pretty damn good: Bevery Hills Cop 1-3 48 hrs Another 48 hrs Metro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 The Hunger Games Battle Royale-lite or Diet Battle Royale? Sanitised teen-friendly satire damaged further by lightweight script and some awful camerawork. This wasn't a bad movie... but I expected a lot more from the hype. A film that strains to be taken seriously but then dodges every possible hard question. This is somewhat forgivable in an action vehicle (say The Running Man) where you expect violence and little more. Katness (what kind of name is that?) manages to go through the entire movie without having to make a single tough moral choice or kill anyone in cold blood (the "bad" teens take care of all the messy business). Style choices are of the bizarre futuristic camp variety (think blue hair and silly beards) and are at odds with the self-conscious grit (though the worst - most potent? - violence is obscured by old enemies shakycam and rapidedit). How can a film that lasts 142 mins and spends so much time with its lead characters fail to make me truly care about them? I didn't dislike them... I just didn't really care. Artificiality and calculation are to blame. For a film so dedicated to reality everything struck me as unreal. How can I care when I don't believe in The Hunger Games world? Every plot point and "twist" can be seen coming a mile off reaffirming this perhaps as a pat blockbuster comfortably designed for the not-too-demanding PG-13 demographic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted September 9, 2012 Member Share Posted September 9, 2012 Monsters (2011) ....went into this with zero expectations and found it highly enjoyable. V_-gL3U1T5Y Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Cat Posted September 10, 2012 Member Share Posted September 10, 2012 It's been a busy week... I still managed to get a few films out of my to watch pile. Dead Man's Shoes I Saw the Devil Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (1974) Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) The Silent Partner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted September 10, 2012 Member Share Posted September 10, 2012 Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (1974) Classic ending! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Cat Posted September 10, 2012 Member Share Posted September 10, 2012 Classic ending! Yeah, it was very unexpected too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted September 10, 2012 Member Share Posted September 10, 2012 Went to the theater today. Saw Fengming, a Chinese Memoir. Very interesting "film". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted September 11, 2012 Member Share Posted September 11, 2012 some comments on: Brave (2012: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman) ***/**** First the first time ever I got the theater to myself. With school back in session, it is quite noticeable that the crowds are thinning and a "kids film" that has already been in the theater for a few months was bound to be empty. What a weird, but pleasant, feeling it is. It is like having your own private screening where you can sit anywhere, move around and flatulate with impunity. Starting off the film was a short named La Luna which was pleasant enough. Inventive like most of Pixar's shorts, though a bit slight because of the quick running time. The makes Brave feel like a different film then it is. The scenes shown deal with the first part of the film but make no mention of the main arc of the plot which transforms the film into more standard Disney fare. Much has been made that this is the first feminine lead in a Pixar film and Kelly MacDonald does well as Merida. Mother and daughter relationships are also a new and welcome territory but they could have done better than the Shaggy Dog inspired plot. Though I am glad they did not do a Freaky Friday switch. I liked the film though. The animation of the Scottish countryside is breathtakingly beautiful. Not that it is unexpected with Pixar whose CGI visuals are normally the most impressive of the American animated films. Billy Connoly's voice (who was born in Scotland) is always a joy to hear (he is the best thing about Open Season 2) and his performance as Fergus is a highlight. I also liked a lot of the secondary characters from the three devil-children to the three sons vying for her hand in marriage (characters though not fully formed functioning humans) to their three dads. But this is at the lower end of Pixar releases with Cars being my least favorite (I liked Cars 2 better than the first). It just was not innovative or in depth in plot nor in characters. Imagine the amount of Scottish folklore and legend that could have been used besides just the will-o’-the-wisp. Brave reminds me too much of the overly used computer acronym WYSIWYG. But what you see is pretty good even if it does not overly inspire me to write about it. Pixar even has fantastic looking end credits. Yes, there is an extra after the end credits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sheng Posted September 12, 2012 Member Share Posted September 12, 2012 THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, Lee Jeong Beom, 2010 Really fascinating to see Won Bin’s metamorphosis from wimpish nestling (GUNS & TALKS) and over-protected pretty boy (TAEGUKI) to man-on- the-rampage, ostensibly the result of a tough seven month dojo hiatus under the wings of action director Park Jung Ryul (same guy that also orchestrated the action in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL aka SPIRIT OF JEET KUN DOO). Alright, this is as dark & moody as they come and of course it ticks all the inevitable Jopok flick stereotypes: we’ll get the almost comic bookish (and organ harvesting!) evil bastards that are just incredibly evil, the K-police always arrives too late at any crime scene and is once again incredibly inept, but the tense narrative built-up, inspired rhythmic cross-editing and some brilliantly choreographed stuntwork and combat sequences makes it a damn’ captivating two hour ride. The film was criticized for its amped-up melodrama in the final reel but I found no problem to relate to that. What took me out of the final battle royale though was the moment when the Vietnamese hit man decided to opt for a knife slashing showdown with Won Bin. I mean, the man’s slayed cronies litter the floor around him, he’s the only one still standing and has a loaded gun, his opponent’s defenselessly down on the floor... and instead of pressing the trigger and ending it there & then he drops his firearm and grabs his curved knife to cross blades with him...? Say what??? (Alright, the man must have had a death wish by this time, apparently he was the one diggin’ out that psycho doctor’s eyeballs and setting the girl free, but still... ) Anyway, this rather forced and implausible show-off moment turned out to be a rather minor spoiler in the end. The film’s still a real treat! WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL, Park Kwang-Hyeon, 2005 I know that this rose-coloured wartime fairytale was a critics fave and an across-the-board success, but personally I didn’t find it all that engrossing. Yes, the film’s unity theme of brotherly North / South bonding did work for the most part thanks to a great cast with two outstanding leads (Shin Ha-Kyun and Jeong Jae-Yeong) and did yield a number of genuinely affecting moments, but to me the juxtaposition of mayhem & murder with a picture-perfect village paradise smacked too contrived and stagy and felt quite grating at times. Partly this was due to the use of massive CGI enhancement to convey the director’s desired sense of magical realism - from the popcorn rain to the tacky animated butterflys to a slo-mo chase of a wild and rather rhino-sized boar that seemed strangely out of place and would have better fitted in a Stephen Chow joint. Especially the final set-up amidst CG skyscapes and exploding fake fighter planes was a real turn-off and the kind of pathos-laden self-sacrificial ending that was just screamingly predictable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted September 16, 2012 Member Share Posted September 16, 2012 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted September 16, 2012 Member Share Posted September 16, 2012 Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (the 1974 one) I enjoyed it much more than I did the last time I watched it, but I still prefer its sequel Terror Of Mechagodzilla. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Keung Posted September 16, 2012 Member Share Posted September 16, 2012 It's the weekly round-up... - The Stool Pigeon (2010) - ★★★★½ - Scared Stiff (1987) - What a bizarre film! It has just about every genre crammed into it. - ★★★★ - A Better Tomorrow III (1989) - ★★★½ - School on Fire (1988) - ★★★½ - Black Mask (1996) - ★★½ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted September 17, 2012 Member Share Posted September 17, 2012 Ebirah, Horror Of The Deep AKA Godzilla vs The Sea Monster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member odioustrident Posted September 17, 2012 Member Share Posted September 17, 2012 Final Exam (1981) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted September 17, 2012 Member Share Posted September 17, 2012 A bit of an ecclectic selection lately.... A little classic Sly in the form of Cobra, Over The Top and Lock Up..... He was the man in the 80's! Night Of The Creeps and Monster Squad... classic 80's horror comedies. Boulevard Nights... retro chicano gang flick. And right now om watching Frankenstein Created Woman... Hammer Horror goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member odioustrident Posted September 18, 2012 Member Share Posted September 18, 2012 Nights of the Creeps and Monster Squad are probably my two top horror films of the 80's. Fred Dekker was a serious talent in his own way. XW8F1boWgv0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted September 18, 2012 Member Share Posted September 18, 2012 No doubt.... also two of the best commentaries around, with Dekker himself, plus cast and crew. Today I watched Maximum Overdrive.... ok, so Stephen King is not the best director of his own material, but the 80's vibe, the funny death scenes and the kickass AC/DC soundtrack makes it all worthwhile.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted September 18, 2012 Member Share Posted September 18, 2012 Today I watched Maximum Overdrive.... ok, so Stephen King is not the best director of his own material, but the 80's vibe, the funny death scenes and the kickass AC/DC soundtrack makes it all worthwhile.... I remember this one. It's a quite poor movie with incoherences that are just blatant (the trucks will be very calm when a guy passes by but get urges to kill when all are in the house... And there are devices in the house, shouldn't they go bananas too ?). I got it because the soundtrack was by AC/DC (and I'm a HUGE AC/DC fan) and in the end I mainly like it because... it has AC/DC songs in it. Trivia (though it must be a rather well-known story): Stephen King had AC/DC do the soundtrack because he's a big fan of that band. As far as King stories into movies go, I still have to check out Christine and It, though I won't hold my breath. Shining was rather disappoiting, and I'm talking of the Stanley Kubrick film here. All the other SK films I've seen (2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut) I thought were either great or very bizarre (in a positive way), but Shining wasn't that great IMO. Carrie was okay, the ending being the best part. The sad part is that I'm saying that as a horror fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sheng Posted September 18, 2012 Member Share Posted September 18, 2012 CRAZY RACER, Ning Hao, 2008 The loopiest, zaniest over-the-top caper comedy I saw in, phew... a decade or so... Anyone saying they watched this once and fully grasped the plot deserves a medal, I needed two full takes plus additional re-runs of several chapters to make sense of it all (if this is possible!) There’s the screwed-over cyclist, the Taiwanese mobsters, the two bumbling contract killers, the slimy bogus salesman and his fat & feisty wife that he wants to off, the tattooed Thai coke dealer, some dumb-ass cops and a whole bunch of other knuckleheads that constantly run into each other. And there’s an incredibly fast moving and convoluted story with so many twists & turns that your head is spinning and you just wish Ning Hao would take the foot off the gas-pedal and flesh out his story a lil’ more to make the ride less jerky. The camera angles, framing, split screens and digital FX are all incredibly inventive, but at times his cross editing tactics become dizzying and the slapstick bombardment really wears you out in the last act. Media Asia supplied a very good 2.35.1 print of this film but, as with Ning Hao’s equally insane CRAZY STONE that IVL released, the mainly error-free subs flash by waaay too fast and without constant pause-button pressing you’ll get completely disconnected from the story around the half hour mark. A major spoiler for me, but unfortunately there seems to be no adequate alternative to this disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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