Movies you've just watched

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you want to see a flick with lots of driving, watch "Crazy Larry, Dirty Mary" -- seems like it was filmed in a bunch of California orchards with small two lane roads during the high speed scenes towards the eventual conclusion. The ending credits never mention where it was filmed though.

The original "Vanishing Point" is another cool driving flick to watch as well.

Gumball Rally is awesome for it's all-out racing scene down SoCal's famous canals during the dry season. SoCal's famous canals gets another appearance in the 1991 T2: Judgement Day also with the tow truck vs. motocycle high speed chase scene.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[DEL]

Skykid wrote;

The theme was hackneyed when it should have been something remarkable and daring because the main character was so awesome.

He was not awesome. What is awesome about a guy who says virtually nothing throughout a fairly slow movie?
Being a getaway driver for hardcore criminals isn't exactly beautiful and inspiring either.

PC Engine Fan X! - I have "Crazy Larry, Dirty Mary" and "Vanishing Point", the original The Driver, plus of course Two Lane Blacktop, which is the best of the lot.

In other news, I've seen The Whistleblower, which isn't too bad and is the second Bosnia true crimes film I've seen recently. I prefer Richard Gere's The Hunting Party, but both films are good examples of the film industry bringing true crimes to a wider audience.

[MovingTarget]

Trollhunter
TT3d - Closer to the Edge
The edge
Rambo First Blood
Predators
Shutter Island
From Dusk till Dawn


Seen most of them before, but a nice run of films recently All awesome

[Skykid]

Skykid wrote;

The theme was hackneyed when it should have been something remarkable and daring because the main character was so awesome.

He was not awesome. What is awesome about a guy who says virtually nothing throughout a fairly slow movie?
Being a getaway driver for hardcore criminals isn't exactly beautiful and inspiring either.

I think the first ten minutes defined everything the character was about, the rest of the film was spent unravelling him. A driver for hire who's as cold as ice and never misses a beat is a great concept - unfortunately the filmmakers took it in a totally different direction. I thought he was a character with potential. I liked the silent hero who pulled out the stops for some excessive ultraviolence.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

After viewing Driver, I'd have to say this loner driver/racer character could've been previously in law enforcement (since he already knows the lingo/code/procedures) and having expertise in advanced driving skills worthy of protecting VIPs and/or precious cargo ("The Transporter" flicks come to mind). Or it could be years of experience of racing on the dirt oval courses/short tracks to learn the finer points of getting out of a nasty possible wreck and save your race car to race another day. (Some of Nascar's Sprint Cup drivers have literally saved their own asses in what could've been a massive wreck in a big race due to their years & experience spent on the dirt oval tracks -- especially when they're going 180-200+ mph.)

I reckon a prequel or a proper sequel to Driver would be cool just to see what new high speed hijinks come up.

That high speed chase scene between the Mustang & a Chrysler 500 was epic. I figured something was up when the 500 showed up with it's windows all tinted up.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[GaijinPunch]

I liked it. Best soundtrack in a movie in... a fucking very long time.

[Moniker]

The only solitary thing wrong with Drive was the flashback/forward handling of the very end. Made it sorta anticlimactic. Otherwise, it achieved exactly what it set out to do and in brilliant fashion. Changing it into a pure action flick would've been stupid, as half of what it was about was subverting the cliches that go into the type of movie it is. The subtle, strange romance b/w him and the girl was fantastic.

[Skykid]

The only solitary thing wrong with Drive was the flashback/forward handling of the very end. Made it sorta anticlimactic. Otherwise, it achieved exactly what it set out to do and in brilliant fashion. Changing it into a pure action flick would've been stupid, as half of what it was about was subverting the cliches that go into the type of movie it is. The subtle, strange romance b/w him and the girl was fantastic.

Funny you mentioned its subversion of cliche being a usp, I felt the fact it fell so heavily into cliche was its biggest shortcoming.

[NTSC-J]

Flesh and Blood (1985)

Still not sure what I feel about this after watching it. The setting is cool (1500s Western Europe), its dark and uncomfortable, and I can see the influence on Berserk (apparently Miura listed this movie as an inspiration for his manga), but the story and pacing were balls and every character was cookie-cutter. Rudger Hauer played Rudger Hauer, meaning he was a creepy asshole.

The only scene I really liked was the kiss under the two rotting, hanged corpses.

I would score this film two-and-a-half rotting, hanged corpses out of five.

[chempop]

I liked it. Best soundtrack in a movie in... a fucking very long time.

Damn fucking straight! I'm watching the movie again right now and It makes me wish I had kept my old lifestyle of crime and danger. The chemistry between the Ryan and what's-her-butt was perfect. <sigh>

[CMoon]

Saw Mononoke subtitled last night (part of the Castles in the Sky Ghibli festival) in hollywood. This remains my favorite Ghibli film, and seeing it in the theatre is always something bordering on magical; however the heavy use of CG is bit more irksome* to me now than it was when I first saw it back in the late 90's (especially after watching Nausicaa on the big screen). While Spirited Away and Howl's also use CG in about the same way, it feels a little more intrusive here because I don't think they'd figured out how to integrate it quite so well. I have to assume this was a cost saving measure (if not life saving--I've heard Miyazaki himself was doing a number of the cels by hand!), but it would still be interesting to hear about the move to integrating CG and why with Ponyo, Miyazaki ultimately rejected using it.

If I was going purely for animation and design, Nausicaa by far is the better film, but as far as story, music and characters, Mononoke's always struck a deeper chord with me. There are few films where so many of the main characters start out with the knowledge their life is forfeit, but Miyazaki uses it to great effect, forcing truer and more poetic behaviors out of his characters than I think he's accomplished in his other works.

*Mononoke is a beautiful film, and since it is one of my favorite, I feel I can get away with a little criticism.

[chempop]

Nice CMoon. I'd love to see that in a theater. I prefer Nausicaa, but Mononoke is a close second place.
I should really buy the DVDs.

[mesh control]

Drive was great. Soundtrack was great. The Mustang chase scene was the worst part. Terrible editing during the scene imo.

[NZA]

Just watched Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind on blu ray recently. Wonderful movie. Basically a Japanese hippie mixed with Joan of Arc. Great art direction and animation quality with no one-dimensional characters.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Drive was great. Soundtrack was great. The Mustang chase scene was the worst part. Terrible editing during the scene imo.

Yeah, if you have an sharp eagle eye, in one portion of the Mustang vs. Chrysler 500 chase shown in Drive, there's a brief shot that has the front grille on the 500 just about to come off at an angle after ramming the front of the Mustang. In the fast spliced chase scene that follows afterwards, that crooked grille is shown at an angle for a few frames and in the next shot, it's re-mounted all nice and straight now. Chalk it up to another film continuity error.

I have to guess that Chrysler didn't want their 500's IP image tarnished, hence the "fixed" grille scene.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Raytrace]

The original "Vanishing Point" is another cool driving flick to watch as well.


PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

absolute classic -

[drauch]

Basically a Japanese hippie mixed with Joan of Arc. .

Ewwwww.

[CMoon]

Basically a Japanese hippie mixed with Joan of Arc. .

Ewwwww.

I think this argument needs to be taken to the drunk thread. Thinking about giving Ponyo a revisit this evening.

[NZA]

Basically a Japanese hippie mixed with Joan of Arc. .

Ewwwww.

Well, how about I revise it and say She is a reasonable conservationist mixed with some Amelia Earhart?

[drauch]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[MovingTarget]

Watched Drive tonight.

I'd give it 6.5/10

[mesh control]

Chalk it up to another film continuity error.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

The part that irked me the most was when they turned onto the two lane highway. They showed a few clips from the four lane highway, then switched right back to the two lane. Meh, I'm over-analyzing.

[Damocles]

Drive

Word on the street is that they had to re-paint their own Manual Mustang GT because Ford only sent Automatics.

I wanted to really like the movie, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a short story out of a magazine. That being said, the opening slow chase was brilliant. I suppose I'll have to check it out again and see if anything changes.


The Thing (2011)

I set the bar pretty low, and was almost dead on. On one hand, I enjoyed the tie-tins with the original. On the other, it was just more of the same with less tension. However, it did pleasantly disturb me with something suggested (unintentionally, I believe) during the "rec room freakout". When the blonde bloke is absorbed by the Thing, it appeared to me that his mind was still partly there even after the joining...which is a whole new type of unsettling. Re-watching the beginning, it also looked like the first woman consumed was still lucid even while it was devouring the blonde chap with the glasses. As I said...speculation, but pleasantly disturbing to imagine so.

A break point, but no mention was made of any Snow Cats at the entrance to the ship in The Thing 1982...much less one that had a burned corpse inside.

[chempop]

Despite a few technical discrepancies that I'd have never know about if you guys hadn't pointed them out, I still say Drive was almost as good as True Romance. What's another gritty crime movie that you'd compare them to?

[Moniker]

Despite a few technical discrepancies that I'd have never know about if you guys hadn't pointed them out, I still say Drive was almost as good as True Romance. What's another gritty crime movie that you'd compare them to?

Reminds me a lot of Michael Mann's stuff - Thief, in particular. IMO, it's sort of an ideal Mann film. Mann himself never quite got it right.

[ST Dragon]

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

For the record the poster is a lie. They don't ride horses and it's not in tradition of Snow White but rather the tradition of Star Wars plageurism.

It ruled.

Indeed this was an awesome film.
I saw this with my Mom back in 1989, along side Warriors of the Wind (old edited English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) and "In the Aftermath Angels Never Sleep", so all 3 are linked in my vivid childhood memories.

[Skykid]

Indeed this was an awesome film.
I saw this with my Mom back in 1989

That would have been a trip to see as a kid in the theatre. I don't remember it ever surfacing in the UK tbh.

Reminds me a lot of Michael Mann's stuff - Thief, in particular. IMO, it's sort of an ideal Mann film. Mann himself never quite got it right.

No, he didn't/doesn't. For what it's worth I don't think Drive is a great film, but it's still better than anything I've seen Michael Mann turn out.

[RGC]

Inland Empire.

Had no idea it was going to be quite that long, and got distracted about 2 hours into it. Completely lost any threads I was desperately clutching onto after that. I'll be avoiding online interpretations, and revisiting this at a later date. I sense there are rewards in there to be had, with much effort

[Shocky]

Despite a few technical discrepancies that I'd have never know about if you guys hadn't pointed them out, I still say Drive was almost as good as True Romance. What's another gritty crime movie that you'd compare them to?

William Friedkin's "To Live And Die In L.A." - A film that's impossible to remember how good it is - because every time you watch it, it gets even better.

[CMoon]

You know, I've only seen those three films by Friedkin: Exorcist, French Connection, and To Live & Die in LA, but what an impressive output. Those are definitely enough (at least for me) to put him in legendary director status.