Last Movie Watched

[adgy-san]

2 Guns - Pretty entertaining. I enjoy both Denzel and Wahlberg and the writing was decent enough to make this another one of those fun, empty movies that's just a little smarter than the others.

The Phantom Carriage - A silent film from the 1920's about a drunkard ******* who treats everyone like crap, but is shown the error of his ways by a ghost. Essentially. It was an interesting little movie, using a lot of double exposures as special effects that worked really well. Pretty tame, of course, compared to what we see nowadays, but I liked it a lot for what it was. Worth watching, but I don't think I'll ever buy it.

Only The Lonely - My wife is a big Maureen O'Hara fan and was watching this the other day, so I sat down and watched it with her. It's pretty much what you'd expect from a Christopher Columbus movie, but I have to admit to being a bit surprised at how much I liked John Candy in the film. I have to admit to not being his biggest fan and not being too familiar with a lot of his movies, mostly because I was a little too young when they were coming out, but I thought he did a really good job with the dramatic aspects in this one. I liked it.

The Way, Way Back - Sam Rockwell should be a much bigger star than he is. Liked this movie a lot, even though it's one of those indie coming-of-age movies that everyone's seen 100 times. The performance by Rockwell really stands out. And Alison Janney has a small part, but she was awesome in it, too. Would definitely watch again.

Boy - One of the reasons I love Turner Classics so much: they show Nagisa Oshima movies that aren't readily available in the West. Presumably, Criterion will release this someday but I do not have to wait for that day. Boy is the story of a young boy whose family is very poor. His father is a drunkard and his "mom" does her best. He spends a lot of time wandering around by himself. It's a sad, intimate movie with a lot of political subtext in it that I caught mostly because I was looking for it. If someone were to call it boring, I wouldn't argue with them, but I liked it.

The Housemaid - You don't really hear all that much about "classic" Korean cinema. It's only recently that films made in Korea from before the 90's have started making their way out of the country (and go visit the Korean Film Archive if you want to watch a bunch of older films for free). If you have heard of old Korean movies, though, you've probably heard of this one. Supposedly, the greatest masterpiece Korean cinema had to offer until the recent wave. Or so I've read. It was re-made in Korea in 2011 and the remake was pretty alright. I felt pretty much the same about this one. it's occasionally hard to fathom why the characters make certain choices or react in certain ways, but that's not uncommon when watching some of these older films, so you just kind of roll with it. Another one that I liked, but am kind of glad I got to watch on TCM before I decided to pay for it.

Kotoko - Thank ****ing god for region hackable blu-ray players. As soon as it was announced that the UK was getting that Stray Cat Rock blu-ray set, I decided it was time for me to get something that could play it. And once I'd done that, I decided I needed something to watch on it until the box set came out. So I went to Amazon UK and went a little crazy. Third Window and Arrow Video are both UK distributors who put out stuff there that may never make it over here, so I went through their entire back-catalogues and made a list of all the movies I wanted but could not get out here. And then I narrowed it down to about $125 worth that I NEEDED. It was, like... 6 movies because **** is expensive over there. I think 4 of them were Sion Sono films. Anyway.

This is the latest Shinya Tsukamoto flick. It's about a single mother who has some mental issues. One of those issues involves her seeing double sometimes. But not double like, two trees directly in front of her. No. Double like two of the same person, only one of them is behind her and wants to kill her. Like that. So her kid gets taken away from her and she has to deal with ****. It's a ****ed up movie and I ****ing loved it. It's very Tsukamoto, so there is a lot of handheld camera work and abrupt cuts. And there are a lot of shots of Kotoko doing weird stuff that don't necessarily advance the plot, but they do add atmosphere and give a certain amount of weight to the feeling of ****ed up **** that is happening to this woman. That's going to mean it's not for everyone, but if you like Tsukamoto then you're going to like this. If you're unfamiliar with his work, this may not be the best starting point. Maybe try Vital.

Broken Oath - Of the 6 movies in this Angela Mao set, I chose Broken Oath because it's a remake of Lady Snowblood and because I've read that it's the best. And it was pretty ****in' good. I always enjoy watching Angela Mao beat the **** out of people.

Blind Woman's Curse - Another one of the UK Blu-rays I picked up, even though it is available on english subbed DVD out here. It's a Meiko Kaji movie. On Blu-ray. So I bought it. This is a weird one. I've seen it a few times now and every time I watch it, I'm still surprised by how weird it is. It's been called Yakuza Horror Theater and I think that's pretty accurate. Sometimes, it's totally serious, like the super amazing sword fight in the rain that opens the movie, and then other times it's completely not serious, like the gang boss who wears a loincloth and apparently doesn't bathe his nether regions. And then there's a bunch of weird **** in the form of a carnival funhouse that includes severed heads, a dancing hunchback who can jump onto rooftops from the ground and a girl simulating sex with a dog. Yeah. So, it's interesting. Parts of it are great, parts are not, but I like it.

The Ladykillers - I've been meaning to watch more non Star Wars Alec Guinness stuff, and this was on. It's certainly a lot different than the Coen Bros remake, but one thing that is very similar is that the main character (Guinness in this, Tom Hanks in the remake) is a very over the top kind of caricature. Because of that, and because I wanted to watch Alec Guinness, I was a little disappointed. He was very good, but it was very cartoon-y and so wasn't really him, you know? Beyond that, the movie was fun, but not really anything super special.

Under The Skin WOW. What a weird, fantastic movie. I don't want to say too much about it, because I think it's better if you don't know, but I LOVED it. Felt very Kubrick without seeming like a wanna-be. The last 20 minutes or so were pretty fantastic. Can't wait to watch it again.

Batman: Under The Red Hood - One of the better DC Animated features I've seen so far. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Godzilla: Final Wars - From what I can tell, Godzilla fans either love or hate this movie. Very little in between. To celebrate Godzilla's 50 year anniversary, a story was concocted that involved almost all of the other kaiju and most of them are involved via fighting Godzilla. Awesome. What is less awesome is that about 65-75% of this movie does not have any Godzilla in it. It's all humans and aliens that look like humans trying to take over earth. Speaking for myself, the human stuff didn't bother me. It was silly, but entertaining (as you'd expect) and even had some actual funny moments. But I can't fault people who complain about the lack of Godzilla time, especially considering how ****ing great the Godzilla time is. Seriously, it's been a while since I watched any of these movies other than the new one and the original, but this one is easily my favorite after those two. Godzilla even (quickly) beats the **** out of the American Matthew Broderick monster! It's awesome. The individual fight scenes are a little more brief than I'd have liked (dumb humans), but honestly, this movie is so much fun that it's ok. Loved it.

Midway - After Pearl Harbor was bombed was the battle of Midway. Another war movie with a giant, awesome ensemble cast that includes: Charlton Heston, Toshiro Mifune, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Hal Holbrook, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, etc etc etc. Unlike the last few war movies with cast lists like this, it did not really feel like there were too many characters and it was not, in turn, hard to follow the story. Probably because most of the big names in the cast basically have cameos. It did not, however, have much in the way of stuff to care about. There was little/no emotional connection for me. A lot of the semi cool battle footage, both in the air and on the sea, was taken from other movies, like Tora Tora Tora. So... it was ok. Nothing special.

 

[jerseydevil]

Put off watching this...simply because I knew I would love it to pieces. And I did. Sweet as hell and just a love story to the finest era of gaming...and the voice work is terrific. Especially the horribly under-rated Alan Tudyk. Just catnip for this old kid's soul.



What a sad sad waste. Ahnold brings his best. But Stallone, with his shoe polish black hair is sleepwalking. Jim Caviezal/Vincent D'onofrio collecting checks too. Coulda/shoulda been a lot of fun. Wasn't.

 

[BigBrown]

Edge of Tomorrow
Kicking myself for not going to see this in the theatre. An action sci-fi that felt smart, was well executed and had an original story. A damn shame a quality movie like this bombs when garbage like transformers crushes the box office. Really felt like marketing let it down, I mean I wasn't even completely sold after watching the trailer even though the movie was right up my alley.
8/10

Locke
The entire movie is Tom Hardy sitting in a car talking on the phone. If that doesn't immediately put you off you should give it a go because it's surprisingly intriguing. I don't wanna go into detail about why he's driving or what he's trying to accomplish because that's basically the entire reason to watch the movie. I would have liked a more satisfying conclusion but it kept me interested enough along the way.
6/10

Neighbors
I could just cut and paste my review for basically any other comedy of this type. It's funny but not terribly engaging, a bit over the top at times. Generic R-rated comedy. Not bad.
6/10

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Already posted my thoughts on this in the Terry Gilliam thread but I'll reiterate them here. A fantasy adventure movie with great practical effects and just plain fun. Reminds me of The Princess Bride somewhat.
7/10

 

[jerseydevil]

I knew that I had to sit with this one for a bit after seeing it. It's an uneasy flick that batters you with what you expect, gives you some uncomfortable funny...then takes you straight into the land of WTF. Kevin Smith clearly had limited use of the Fleetwood Mac song, but the use of it was optimal. I will never hear that song and not think of...well, you gotta see it.
I had a hard time really forming an opinion after seeing it. I really did. It is tonally confusing like a lot of the reviews suggested. But it has been playing over and over in my head today and it prolly will for the next few and that is the mark of a good movie.
I will say this upfront. The practical Fx were terrific, in my opinion. But the thought of turning someone into a walrus is sketchy at best and, if you are not a child of the '80's, the makeup may not work for you. In this day of cgi I am sure they could have had better results...but that really isn't the point. Had this movie come out during the video(store) nasty heyday this would be a true classic. Kevin Smith is smart as hell wrapping the reveal with shots that lead you to look directly into Justin Long's tortured eyes and pumping the volume on some of the most unsettling moan/screaming I have heard in a while, so that, even if it doesn't work for you, it may not take you out of the movie.
Then the break. The 'first time appearance' of Guy LaPointe may seem indulgent to some. And it is. But Depp, err Lapointe seems to be having so much fun. And what appears to be almost a tossed in scene between he and Michael Parks just helps to lather on the 'what the hell am I seeing' feeling that permeates this.
Then, the end...like I said, Tusk by FM will never have the same connotations. Really just kinda Motel Hell wacky stuff here.
All in all...if you aren't the type to walk out if you don't 'get' a flick, this one is for you.

I did have a little issue with Smith playing his podcast over the title credits from which this movie was born. Seemed almost to belittle what I had just watched. And, what started as a joke...I think became something a little better, so to undermine it seemed odd.
Go see it, even if you hate it, you will be glad you did.

 

[BigBrown]

Nice review and it seems to echo some other reviews I've read. I gotta see it for myself, I doubt it'll get a cinematic release in Sweden so I'm hoping it'll be made available for digital download sooner rather than later.

 

[jerseydevil]

So PAINFULLY beautiful. So much detail, not only in the HANDCRAFTED ARTISTRY but in the choice of voices, the wonderful yet deceptively simple story, and even the music. **** it, the one good thing about families not dragging their kids to this(as they should be doing) is that I got to see it with an audience of adults who seemed to truly appreciate it.

I recommend 3d, simply because it is so stunning visually.

 

[adgy-san]

Black Mama, White Mama - An early Pam Grier exploitation flick involving her and some white chick chained together and escaping from a Philippine ladies prison. It's not the best one of these movies I've seen, but it's pretty enjoyable. Sid Haig has a supporting role, as a bounty hunter looking for the ladies and he is completely awesome in it.

Pain & Gain - You know, it's fashionable and fun to hate on Michael Bay movies, but I think when he focuses more on people than on special effects, his films can be a lot of fun. I enjoyed this film immensely. This is exactly the kind of role that I like seeing Mark Wahlberg and The Rock do: comedies where they're kind of dumb. I'm also happy to watch Anthony Mackie in just about any kind of role. I think this is now my favorite Michael Bay movie.

The Raid 2 - ****ing finally. This was everything it was cracked up to be, everything I wanted it to be and everything it should have been. It seems like it's so rare anymore that movies you anticipate the most live up to the expectations, but this one met them and beat them. Loved it like I would love my children if I had any.

Black Sunday - I think this might be the first Mario Bava film I've ever seen, but it won't be the last. Not really scary at all, by today's standards, but I loved the atmosphere of it and a lot of the cinematography was really cool. Liked it a lot.

Confessions - Hadn't seen this in a while and just recently read the book, so I wanted to watch the movie again. So ****ing good. High up on my list of favorite movies of the last few years, easy.

Thor: The Dark World - Seeing it for the first time after the theater. I liked it better than the first one, mostly because Natalie Portman wasn't around as much.

Nymphomaniac - I finally broke down and got a Netflix account, and what's the first thing I decide to watch? Von Trier's dirty movies. I actually enjoyed the first one more than I expected and the second one was good, but not as good. It was an interesting story, even for a movie made almost solely to troll people and be shocking. It's been a while since I finished a Von Trier movie and liked it right away. Did not care for the way the second film ended, but liked the rest of it.

Pieta - The new Kim Ki-Duk movie is about a guy who goes around breaking people's limbs when they can't pay their loans back to gangsters. A woman shows up at his door claiming to be his mother, and she follows him around, no matter what he does to try and dissuade her. It's a pretty ****ed up movie, and the direction it ends up taking was a surprise that I really liked. I wouldn't put the movie up with Ki-Duk's best, but I liked it a lot.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane - An enjoyable horror flick with a nice twist. Wouldn't buy it, but I liked it.

Only God Forgives - This almost seemed like an experiment. The plot is very thin and simple, but a LOT of attention is paid to the visuals. In that sense, I liked it, but I can see why so many people didn't.

Adam's Apples - Mads Mikkelsen plays a not-all-there-mentally priest in a small village who takes in convicts who have to work for him as part of their parole. It's a dark comedy whose story is predictable as can be, but it's pretty funny and has a lot of heart. Mads is fantastic, obviously, to the point where I think this is probably the movie I'd show people to recommend his work to them. Watched it on Netflix and I recommend it highly.

 

[lagwagon0]

Awesome superhero movie with tons of well placed snark.

Mediocre disaster flick

Even better than the original with some brutal martial arts.

Well done as expected but just not feeling the overall story arc like the Lord of the Rings.

Much improved over the original, even though the premise remains ridiculous.

Decent popcorn flick but nothing memorable other than the presence of The Rock.

Loved this horror/suspense flick. It's wonderfully grating and beautifully done.

 

[BigBrown]

Hey I watched some movies!

Enemy
A dark mystery movie with some symbolism and things. I really enjoyed trying to figure it out but it didn't quite stick the landing for me, the ending went a bit over my head. Some cool twist would have been better, but gotta give it credit for doing something different.
6/10

Godzilla
Pretty much what everybody says, couldn't care less about the main character but the Godzilla scenes were awesome. Looking forward to the sequels.
7/10

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I enjoyed it quite a bit, just good fun and action. Got a few complaints but they're kinda spoilerish so I'll keep them to myself. I just wish they'd have avoided certain cliches.
7/10

22 Jump Street
I expected it to be very mediocre but was surprised, one of the better comedies of this type that I've seen in a while actually. They are very aware of that they're making a sequel and more or less the same movie, they handled it in style. Even the credits were funny!
7/10

Out of the Furnace
Very strong group of actors, solid script and dialogue... But it's just too slow for me to push it over the hump.
6/10

Blue Ruin
A revenge flick with an incompetent protagonist but in a sad way, not comedic. Loved the attention to detail and the acting. Had a very real feel to it, they let some shots breathe by making them long and taking their time with things even though the movie is only 90 minutes. Story is basic but well told.
7/10

The Zero Theorem
Another movie with some heavy symbolism going on, like in Enemy. This one is quite easy to follow though, you can't miss the message. I liked it until the ending which angered me. When I saw the movie was looking to be wrapping up I thought to myself that this had better not end here, when it did I let out an audible "**** off". Good and interesting along the way but that's not a good note to end on.
5/10

Guardians of the Galaxy
I can understand why it was such a hit, it must have been a blast to see in theaters with a crowd. Lots of jokes and lots of action. I didn't think it was THAT great but that's what I get for watching it at home instead of with a crowd.
7/10

About Time
A guy finds out he can travel back in time within his own life to change things. It actually manages to avoid most of the time travel cliches, I mean I was sure he'd end up time traveling back to fix some minor flaw then spend the rest of the movie trying to patch things together as it all falls apart like in The Butterfly Effect but they avoid that almost completely. I found it very touching and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Rachel McAdams is just ridiculously attractive in it too.
7/10



Quite a good run for me, I've had some posts here in which I mostly scored fives so I'm happy to have seen some really solid movies lately.

 

[adgy-san]

Me, too!

Don Jon - I have to give this movie some credit for making two of the, arguably, best looking people on the face of the earth look unattractive and unlikable. I wasn't sure it was possible. A decent film. The three main actors all know what they're doing and are good enough at their job that they can make it work. Not bad for a first time director, either. There were a few moments in the film that were kind of uniquely done that i liked.

Cuban Fury - Despite having an incredibly predictable and standard story, an awkward "unattractive" guys wants to do something special to impress a hot girl, I really enjoyed this movie. It starring Nick Frost and having him do something like dancing salsa was a nice change from how these stories usually go. Add in Chris O'Dowd as the better looking guy who is also competing for the lady and Ian McShane as the dance master (who somehow gets away with not having to dance at any point during the film) and you have absolutely no reason not to watch this movie. The dance fight between Frost and O'Dowd is worth the price of admission alone. And it's on Netflix. So you have no excuse.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Yep, still awesome.

Man On Wire - How is it possible that I was unaware that this had happened before seeing this movie? This dude actually tightrope walked between the World Trade Center towers. That's ****ing crazy. I was getting the heebiee-jeebies just watching footage shot from that height. A very enjoyable documentary.

The Ex - I had never even heard of this movie until I walked in on my wife putting it on. Watched it with her out of curiosity. It ended up being better than I expected, but nothing special. Donal Logue's small part as a rich surfer hippy was easily the highlight for me, although everyone in the film does their job well enough.

How Much Do You Love Me? - Normally, something like this would probably have sat in my Netflix queue for a couple of decades before I got around to it, but there was just something about one of the pictures Netflix shows of it that got me. Other than saying Monice Bellucci was in it, I don't know how to describe why or what it was about it that got me, but it did. So I watched it. A man has won the lottery and he asks a prostitute to live with him until the money runs out. Ok, cool. It was a pretty decent little drama, and I was enjoying it until about the last 10-15 minutes. At which point, the entire movie changes from a drama to a weird, theater-like musical. It was bizarre and confusing as ****. Normally, I'm down with that kind of thing, but after an hour plus of straight ahead drama/comedy stuff, it felt out of place. Still, anyone with an interest in Monica Bellucci (or, you know, with a pulse) should consider watching it. It's worth it for her.

Man Of Tai-Chi - The action scenes were pretty good, but just about everything else about this movie was cringe-worthy. The acting, the dialogue... oof. Not good. Most of the fighting is good, though, except for the big showdown between Keanu and Tiger Chen at the end which uses a whole bunch of wirework that had been absent in most of the rest of the fighting. Hard for me to recommend. This movie also leaves you with just about the biggest case of blue balls ever, when a special appearance is made towards the end by someone you would LOVE to see fight Tiger Chen and they don't get to fight. Not cool, Keanu.

Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai - Takashi Miike's remake of one of the best samurai films ever. Doesn't quite have the same power and weight as the original, but it's still a pretty fantastic movie.

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter - Got that new UK Blu-ray boxset in the mail finally and immediately spun up the third of the five films, Sex Hunter, which is by far the best of them. This movie ****ing drips with that cool 70's feeling. Meiko Kaji is all bad-ass, leading a girl gang, getting into knife fights, throwing molotov cocktails and ****... so cool. Until the end, anyway, in which she becomes something of a supporting character for some reason. Disappointing, but not so much that it ruins the rest of this great movie.

Oldboy - Surprising no one, this remake pales in comparison to the original. I appreciate that they tried to do this movie differently than the original, but in doing so they also removed a lot of what made the story work so well. Really, all this movie did was make me want to watch the original again.

Jack Reacher - Solid, good fun. Feels like an early 90's Bruce Willis movie. You know, back when he made good movies. Very macho. Some good one-liners. If I had any complaints, it would be that it needed more Werner Herzog, but I'll take what I can get. Would happily watch again.

Age Of Uprising: The Legend Of Michael Kolhaas - Was very excited to see this pop up on Netflix. An enjoyable movie, although not at all what I expected. This is much more of a character drama than an action film. In fact, there's only one real battle scene and it's not very long. So as long as you don't go in expecting anything exciting, you should be fine. If you just want to see Mads Mikkelsen be amazing, then this is for you.

Mary & Max - Stop motion animated film based on a true story of a young Australian girl who becomes pen pals with a weird New Yorker. Enjoyed it immensely.

Lake Mungo - Not quite as creepy as I'd read, but still full of great atmosphere. Well done. I liked it, but wouldn't buy it.

The Act Of Killing - Quite possibly the most disturbing movie I've ever watched. The last 20-30 minutes or so... fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

The Silence Of The Sea - JP Melville's first feature length film about the Nazi occupation of France during WWII and based on a true story. A man and his niece are forced to have a Nazi lieutenant live with them, and they decide to not speak a single word to him while he's there. So he does all the talking. It's a slow film, but I liked it a lot.

It's A Disaster - A bunch of friends are forced to spend an extended amount of time together in a house when a bunch of dirty bombs go off outside. Waiting until they die, everyone gets to exorcise their demons with each other. Decently funny black comedy. Everyone in it is annoying as **** in the first 15 minutes, but they either kind of grow on you. I liked it.

For All Mankind - A documentary about the first trip to the moon, using actual footage from the event and narrated only by taking audio from interviews Armstrong, Aldrin and others did after the fact. Very cool.

Zero Theorem - Bizarre, but mostly likable. VERY Gilliam. I, too, was disappointed with the end, but overall I liked it. Christoph Waltz is pretty ****ing great.

 

[jerseydevil]

Mary and Max is a terrific little movie. Not for everyone and made even more melancholy by the fact that Phillip Seymour Hoffman voices Max.

 

[roenick]

Had the pleasure of introducing my youngest daughter to one of my all time favorite movies this past holiday weekend (thanks you to Encore/Starz for the free preview weekend!). She got to see it in its' best form as uncut with no commercials (oh and she loved the movie BTW):

We also went and saw this at the theater. Still not sure if I liked it or not but it is a departure from Nolan's normal fare - so I will give him high marks for going in a different direction.

 

[jerseydevil]

Man, when you look at Jeff Bridges career...dude is amazing. To be a leading man, while maintaining a character actor's arc/vibe...impressive. The large volume of work, and he is still revered. Johnny Depp might've learned something from this. Anyway...great movie. Robbins/Joan Cusack both are amazing. Rewatched for the first time in years, and while it has never been more valid as far as current events, it does come off a little dated. Still...a great ending that guaranteed most of America wasn't gonna like this. Brave.



Yeah, I had a Bridges two-fer. And wow...another terrorism flick on home soil. Once again...very sharp for it's time...and yet kinda dated. The highlight of this movie are the dodgy Boston/Irish accents. Dialect coach must've been my old drunken Mick(I say that w/utmost respect)friend Tommy. ALL over the place. If you are a Tommy Lee Jones fan...you gotta see. Just an amazing performance as an over-the-top cackling Irish madman. TLJ dancing an Irish Jig to U2...yeah, bucket list stuff. Not a GOOD movie, but a GOOD movie.

And THANKS ADGY, for letting me know this was on NetFlix



Hurm. I was sooooooo looking forward to this. Carnahan is amazing. If you want to see good direction...the pilot of The Blacklist is textbook stuff. Love NightOwl....errrrrrrrrr Patrick Wilson. Chris Pine's BEST EVER PART was in Smoking Aces...
So this. Not bad. A little...trifling though. Just a sketched out cocktail napkin of a movie. I never realized STRETCH referred to what he was doing with the material. Great concept...ticking clock...and this movie comes close to repeating the feeling of the best of those kind of movies...AFTER HOURS. But the movie is basically one really long scene bookended by a prologue and a post script. I liked what I saw, but it's just too sleight to recommend.
Chris Pine really goes for it again though...just like in Aces. 'He parachuted in...naked, with half of Rick Rubin's beard...'

 

[KingInTheWest]

Love Arlington Road so much. Such genius plotting.

 

[adgy-san]

Man, I haven't seen Blown Away in ages. I think that was the movie that made me a Tommy Lee Jones fan.

 

[job]

 

[jerseydevil]

What a **** show. Directed by David Ayers...soon to be directing the Suicide Squad movie. SHOULD have been terrific. A covert ops DEA team with EXTREMELY shady tendencies who start dying one by one...badly. So...mystery huh? NOPE. Pretty clear from the start. Character study..no no...a lot of people you have liked playing hideous napkin sketch characters. Arnold has done more damage in his movie return than he ever did as Governator. On Netflix Streaming, so feel free to watch and present your opinion.



Loved the Last Circus. Expected something similar. This is simply an ODD flick. Seems to want to make arguments about the war of the sexes one minute, and then borderline misogynistic the next. Comedy...allegory...drama...pick one, at a time. Goes really sideways the 3rd act...and that ain't necessarily a bad thing. Not for everyone, more than a LOT of movies...so I cannot recommend. But if you have weird tastes or simply love a good solid WTF train wreck, you could do worse. Also on Netflix.



Took me forever to see the first one. Not as long for this one. A LOT of heaviness for a kiddie flick. Basically a full on love letter to animal rescue folks(when you watch...you will get it), which is near and dear to me(adopt/spay/neuter)...wrapped in beautiful animation, good storytelling and nice voice work. In some ways not as good as the first...in some ways...better. And this one you gotsta buy or rent. BUY...lovely replay value.



Ah. This one. A beauty. Lovely little indie flick about a couple of guys who don't even like each other...meandering away after the zombie apocolypse. Their only connection, they are the battery(pitcher/catcher) of some sub beer league team. The zombie stuff is laughable. If you looked hard enough I know there is at least one boom mike to be found...but...what this movie does with character and QUIET...impressive. And mesmerizing. I cannot recommend highly enough. BUY BUY BUY.
SPOILERS: The Battery ends on a terrific note. Empire Strikes Back-ish...and you WANT to see more, but if you don't ever...that's fine too.

 

[adgy-san]

I had no idea Witching & Bitching was an Alex De La Iglesia movie. Better add that to me queue.

 

[adgy-san]

The Conformist - Upon it's release through Netflix, I read a lot about this movie. A lot of bloggers/sites called it a masterpiece and said it had some of the best cinematography ever. I was pretty excited to see it. It's a very slow movie, and it seems like the kind of film that might take multiple viewings to really get. I didn't love it, but I did like it and the cinematography WAS pretty spectacular. I would recommend it on that alone if that kind of thing interests you. I would like to watch it again at some point.

Horrible Bosses 2 - Did you like the first one? Then you'll like this one. I did.

From Beijing With Love - Stephen Chow's James Bond parody. Hadn't seen this in a few years. It's pretty damn funny, though not quite at the level of Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle.

The Big Bird Cage - Amazon Prime and Netflix both have a lot of these old school women-in-prison flicks with Pam Grier in them. Very surprising. I intend to watch them all, but I'm spacing it out so I don't get bored because they're all pretty much the exact same movie. A women's prison in the Philippines, sadistic guards, escape plan, lots of boobs and Sid Haig somewhere. Thus far, I think this one is my favorite. It's directed by Jack Hill, it has more Sid Haig than others and it's pretty funny. Really, it makes me want to watch more old school Sid Haig movies. Anyone got any recommendations? Did he actually get to star in anything back then, or was he just a bit player most of the time?

Through A Glass Darkly - A very interesting look at mental illness from Swedish director Bergman. A woman is vacationing on an island with her husband, brother and father after recently leaving a mental hospital and kind of slowly deteriorates. Definitely not for everyone, as it's very slow by today's standards, but I liked it a lot. I feel like this would be a good movie to start people on who are looking to get into this kind of art-house stuff.

Raze - IT'S ABOUT ****ING TIME. Man, I feel like I've been waiting ages to see it. I pre-ordered the mother****er, got it the day it came out and my wife said she wanted to watch it with me. So, ok, I'll wait until she feels like watching it. 8 MONTHS LATER I say **** it, I'm putting it on while she sleeps. So, imagine Fight Club, but all women who are being forced to fight against their will and forced to kill each other. And without the humor or overt social commentary. So, not like Fight Club at all. The fights are all super violent and the ending, while predictable, is satisfying. Some of the fight scenes were edited a little too close-cropped, where you can't really see the actors doing the moves, but it wasn't too bad. Enjoyed the movie thoroughly.

Filth - My favorite Irvine Welsh novel adapted and starring James McAvoy who, in my opinion, is one of the better actors working today. He's come a long way. A dirty, drug-addled cop vying for a promotion is on the case of a murdered exchange student and he slowly slips into craziness. It's got a lot of the fast-talking dialogue in thick accents that made a couple of scenes difficult, but beyond that it was pretty fantastic. The one real flaw for me was that it just wasn't as good or as funny as the book and they had to cut a lot of the book out. Which is understandable. Even so, I really liked it and do recommend it.

The Long Goodbye - I've been reading a lot of Ed Brubaker stuff lately (comics and interviews) and one of his favorite noir references is this movie, so when it showed up on Turner Classics I was happy to finally get to see it. While it certainly hits on almost all of the noir film stereotypes, being based on a Raymond Chandler book will do that, it didn't feel much like a noir movie. I've since read that Robert Altman intentionally made it that way, which was fairly controversial for film noir fans. It's actually a pretty funny movie and probably my favorite Altman film to date. I really liked Elliot Gould's wise-cracking aloofness. I DVR'd the Bogart and Bacall version of The Big Sleep, which is based on a different novel in the same series, to see just how different it really is. Haven't gotten to it yet, though. I'm also thinking about picking up some of the books, as my literary noir experience is pretty limited thus far.

Moebius - Normally, it annoys me when movies show up on Netflix about a week after I buy the Blu-ray, but in this case, I'm not too bothered because this is a film worth having in my collection. It's insanely ****ed up, beyond the point of rational believability, but if you buy in to what's going on and just hang on for the ride, it is worth the experience. If you think you can handle rape, incest, castration (multiple instances of), gore and, actually, I don't think there is any necrophilia in this, but that's just about the only thing that is left out, then boy have I got a movie for you! There isn't a single line of dialogue in the whole movie. Just grunts, yells and various exclamations of pain and pleasure. A pretty impressive performance from lead actress Eun-woo Lee, who plays two roles. Lars Von Trier wishes he could be like this. Definitely going to be one of those movies I keep just to lend out to friends.

Locke - Just about every review on the internet about this movie basically says "you might not think a movie that is solely Tom Hardy driving around and talking on his phone would be worthwhile, but this one is" and I feel the same. It's definitely worth watching, so if you have Amazon Prime, go watch it.

Oculus - Read mixed reviews about this, but I mostly liked it. Not particularly scary, but it stayed interesting and was mostly well done, I thought. Always nice to see Katee Sackhoff getting paid.

The Outlaw Josey Wales - Probably my favorite western of all time, is all. Just felt like mentioning it.

The Protector 2 - It's not often that a movie genuinely makes me mad, but I ****ing HATED this movie. To the point where I only finished watching it so I could put it on my list of movies I've watched. Because I wasn't going to sit through the first half hour of this horse**** and not have anything to show for it. On paper, this movie looked great. Tony Jaa, one of the most exciting action stars in the world comes out of retirement/crazy-time to do a movie with Panna Rittikrai, the guy who directed all his awesome movies, and it co-stars Jeeja Yanin, another of the most exciting action stars in the world, and Mareese Crump who is an awesome martial artist that hasn't broken into movies yet.

Sounds awesome, right? Yes, it does. Was it awesome, though? **** no, it was not. It was like they completely forgot, or misunderstood, why everyone had a boner for Tony Jaa in the first place and decided to make the type of 3D action movie that a 6 year old might think up instead. So instead of amazing, realistic fight scenes that show off the incredible talent and planning these people are capable of, let's CG all the difficult moves with really ****ty CG. Oh, and since we have 3D technology, let's have people punch and kick at the screen and have rice fly at the screen when someone knocks a table over! **** all that depth of field ****, you know?

Ugh. I could rant about this movie all day, and I kind of want to, but I will save it. Maybe I'll start a whole new blog just to complain about this one movie. So ****ing bad. Makes me so ****ing angry just thinking about it.

The Vanishing - The first movie I saw that I really wanted to see while browsing Netflix UK through Hola Unblocker was this remake of a genuinely fantastic Dutch movie, directed by the same director. I had read many times that this one was inferior, but my love for the original is such that I had to see for myself. It's not a terrible movie, really, but it's not great, either. The changes made for this remake really don't do it any favors and it kind of ends up being, as my wife put it "Stupid white people doing stupid things". With the exception of Jeff Bridges, who was really great and creepy, there wasn't much about this movie to make it worth recommending, especially when the original is out there.

A Field In England - I don't know where Ben Wheatley gets his drugs, but they are obviously of very high quality. This is a weird, acid trip of a movie that I feel like you really have to have experienced LSD to enjoy. It's very simple, but told in a very weird way. Probably best watched while partaking in mind-altering substances. I don't do that anymore, but I do feel like my history with them did give me the ability to enjoy the film for the most part. The cinematography is very artsy-fartsy, dream-like and I liked it a lot for that reason. I have every intention of seeking out some interviews Wheatley hopefully did for this film, because I'm curious as hell about the reasons for it. It's on Amazon Prime right now, so if you partake then consider trying it. I'm curious what others might think of the film when they're not sober. There aren't many positive reviews of the film that I've seen so far, so I assume it's not for those who are (completely) sober.

 

[jerseydevil]

Spider Baby is Haig heavy and I am pretty sure Jack Hill directed it.