Movies you've just watched

[CMoon]

*sighs* Apparently the voice over at the end of Secret World of Arrietty is not in the original Japanese...meaning the ending has a forced resolution. I hate saying this because I know there are people who refuse to see these films in the theatre because of the dub; on the other hand, I hate the idea of Ghibli films being altered.

That resolves the matter: I will not be bothering to see the movie

Arrggghhh!

Regarding Kwaidan, although I agree with the short-story problem, both this and Dreams have great moments (I think Kwaidan is arguably the better of the two films). What I wish though is that the best segments could have each been their own movie. Still, I seem to recall only one of the stories in Kwaidan being lame. Really fantastic stuff!

Oh, and yes, the HD transfer of Casablanca IS incredible.

[blackoak]

I've been watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos on Netflix. Highest recommendation... really a style of science documentary not seen today imo (suggestions welcome though). Its making me kick myself for going to law school and studying Japanese when I could have been exploring the shifting verities of astronomy...

[rapoon]

Watched Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn" last night. No Aguirre, but very good nonetheless. Based off the true events of Deiter Dengler (Christian Bale) who is shot down in Laos and escapes from a prison camp.

[Moniker]

Just watched Nausicaa. Completely awesome, as expected. Working my way through the rest of the Ghibli library (so far have watched Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke & Kiki's Delivery Service).

[CMoon]

I've been watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos on Netflix. Highest recommendation... really a style of science documentary not seen today imo (suggestions welcome though). Its making me kick myself for going to law school and studying Japanese when I could have been exploring the shifting verities of astronomy...

Although Cosmos is unique in its own wonderful style, it is very much influenced by the Attenborough/BBC series Life on Earth. Unfortunately there is no convenient way to see it in the US, and certainly not in its 12 hour glory, but it should be seen by anyone who wants to see documentary-as-art, etc.

[NTSC-J]

Theres a real theme going this week, but I also just saw Arietty (Japanese version for what its worth) and thought it was ok. It looked good, sounded pretty ok, but was just kind of boring. Felt too much like Totoro only that one did it better. Not bad by any stretch, but the bar is pretty high with Ghibli movies. I think its about on par with Ponyo.

[GaijinPunch]

I've been watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos on Netflix. Highest recommendation... really a style of science documentary not seen today imo (suggestions welcome though). Its making me kick myself for going to law school and studying Japanese when I could have been exploring the shifting verities of astronomy...

Although Cosmos is unique in its own wonderful style, it is very much influenced by the Attenborough/BBC series Life on Earth. Unfortunately there is no convenient way to see it in the US, and certainly not in its 12 hour glory, but it should be seen by anyone who wants to see documentary-as-art, etc.

Thanks -- sounds like something I would like, as I get hard over all the Attenborough BBC stuff.

The book Cosmos is a nice, easy read if you like Sagan's enthusiasm. I don't read much, and even I've read it. The follow up, Pale Blue Dot, is another gem.

BBC's Wonders of the Solar System is really good. History Channel's The Universe is entertaining, but a bit wacky (and campy) at times, so just note that some episodes flat out suck. Through the Wormhole (hosted by Morgan Freeman) is a more serious look at theoretical physics, and Steven Hawking's recent 3 part series The Theory of Everything I found very entertaining.

[GaijinPunch]

The only recent Ghibli movie I've seen was Sen to Chihiro, and I did that in the theaters here when it was released, which was pretty dope. I should catch up, I know.

I for some reason got a hankering to review my pre-internet spank bank, so watched Grease. If you don't want to go down under on Olivia Newton John in that last number, then you're totally fucking gay. Nothing wrong w/ that of course...

[CMoon]

Don't quite know what to say because I am just discovering the director (Jean Rollin), but just watched Rape of the Vampire, streaming on netflix. For the right people (imagine El Topo channeled through Carnival of Souls, with soundtrack by Sun Ra), this was pretty amazing, though aimless and random. Made me want to go back and watch a lot of other films, but I noted that a good chunk of Rollin's films are also streaming on Netflix so I may watch more. Oh, most of the female cast is mostly naked in this and most of Rolling's other movies, so that might encourage some of you to watch; assuming you like boobs.

[xbl0x180]

Don't quite know what to say because I am just discovering the director (Jean Rollin), but just watched Rape of the Vampire, streaming on netflix. For the right people (imagine El Topo channeled through Carnival of Souls, with soundtrack by Sun Ra), this was pretty amazing, though aimless and random. Made me want to go back and watch a lot of other films, but I noted that a good chunk of Rollin's films are also streaming on Netflix so I may watch more. Oh, most of the female cast is mostly naked in this and most of Rolling's other movies, so that might encourage some of you to watch; assuming you like boobs.

Yep. Jean Rollin either directed movies about nude girls who are vampires or nude girls who are zombies... in isolated city landscapes, or isolated chateaus, or isolated seasides. His movies are sort of the cinematic version of what De Chirico painted. My personal favourites are "The Living Dead Girl," "Fascination," and "Grapes Of Death;" I also liked "The Iron Rose," but that was a cheapie (I just dig most of his films and have about 10 of them on DVD from Redemption/Image)

I do suggest not watching his latter works, as the budget limitations really show because he was shooting on video rather than real film - and actresses who will do full-on nudes for the entirety of a movie aren't easy to come by anymore

[CMoon]

What do you consider his 'latter' period. I was interested in a few of his films in the 80's. Is that too late?

I'm considering just going through what's streaming on netflix in chronological order.

[xbl0x180]

What do you consider his 'latter' period. I was interested in a few of his films in the 80's. Is that too late?

I'm considering just going through what's streaming on netflix in chronological order.

Once you're getting into the 80s and into the 90s, you'll be seeing a drop in quality in all aspects: actresses, music, switch from film to video, and such. There was one called "Orphan Vampires" - I think - from the 90s and it wasn't as good as his other stuff. I do remember the actress Alexandra Pic; she was cute as hell, but very camera shy. In her interview, she spoke of how uncomfortable she felt doing a nude scene. I'm thinking, "Didn't you see any of Rollin's other films?! That's what he's known for!" I suppose you could see the newer stuff so that you can see for yourself. Some of the new Rollin videos have interviews with Rollin himself

This is the same thing that happened to Lucio Fulci and Jess Franco: as they got older and older the quality of their films dropped, although Jess Franco never really made a good movie - the early ones have one or two things that made them memorable (i.e., the music, the choice of actress, the story theme, etc).

[Raytrace]

watched Phantom Menace 3D with my daughter - I shall be lazy and copy and paste what I said on G+ bout it:

'watched Phantom Menace 3D - did not like (and trust me I've tried to stick up for 1,2 and 3 ever since they came out so it's not just out of disliking the 'new ones'). The 3D just didn't work for me - I thought them having a fair bit of polygonal positional data from there being a good bit of CG in it would have been enough, but it wasn't imo.
Major problems for me:

DoF - out of focus objects in the distance look fine and depending on taste, cool in 2D, but the problem for me was that in '3D', it felt too blurred, like as if my eyes had already calculated something was further away and then another blur was added or something.

Matte backgrounds - I adore matte artwork, however, ironically in The Phantom Menace, these actually looked less 'real' than in '2D'. It was as if because there was a distance calculation made by my eyes, they really did look at the matte as literally say a painting standing a few metres in front of me with models flying around in front of it, and did'nt perceive the depth within the matte painting at all .

Colour darkening - everything seemed a little darker for some reason too

Bloom - white bloom gradient/transparent type areas also caused obvious problems as they just didn't make 'sense' to me - the scene in the Jedi Academy was full of this.'

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kornblumenblau. Expected it to be nuts, but it's just fucking bonkers (and the settings seem factually accurate to bits). No idea where they got so much of that bananas Fuji tape from, but it worked a treat. ORWO wouldn't have cut it.



Watch it even without subs (the dialogues are a foreign body here anyways).

[GaijinPunch]

Title; Beginners
Rating: Superb

[xbl0x180]

Just watched both Boondock Saints movies and, wow... they blow

[drauch]

Just watched both Boondock Saints movies and, wow... they blow

Yeah man, they are awful. I haven't seen the second one; I refuse to.

[Skykid]

Just watched both Boondock Saints movies and, wow... they blow

Yeah man, they are awful. I haven't seen the second one; I refuse to.

Skykid agrees, Boondock Saints was god awfully bad.

CONFESSIONS
Dir: Tetsuya Nakashima

Ok, so this one was very disappointing, but only because after Kamikaze Girls and Memories of Matsuko I expected more from Nakashima.

My girlfriend summed it up nicely: "It was watchable... just."

The premise is interesting but the execution and plot development is loose and unrealistic. It suffers from a lot of OTT angst and heartache, which is divulged in a unique way, but lacks any real point. It also has themes that are so painfully trite in Japanese cinema: everyone is useless, this person's life is worthless, I'm worthless, he deserves to die, you don't know what it means to kill blah, blah, blah.

The Japanese have this endless psychological preoccupation with the worthlessness of life and overcoming feelings of being useless, usually by inflicting pain on other people. If you take it as an analysis of Japanese society, it's topical, but god is it boring. WE KNOW YOUR LIVES ARE MOROSE AND YOU HATE YOURSELVES, STOP REMINDING US.

I was also quite disappointed that Nakashima traded in any true cinematic integrity for a movie shot 90% slow motion. Things are constantly falling all the way through: cups of water, things falling off desks, out of windows, out of lockers. Slow mo, slow mo, slow mo.
I didn't see any really great cinematography here, it was more just music video style superficiality with lots of blue lens filters and color correction. There was a nice reverse special effects sequence toward the end.

But it does get the prize for one thing: worst use of music in a film ever. Terrible. The first twenty minutes are so irritating, as it's literally this endlessly repeating theme that doesn't work with the movie, and then later on just sequences filled with equally inappropriate choices of melancholy pop music. Thom Yorke couldn't even save it from its own awkwardness.

Ultimately, it's not a film I could wholeheartedly recommend, but it is watchable if slightly overlong. If you fancy something pointless and depressing and not particularly significant or fulfilling, you can fester in it, but it's pretty average stuff.

[xbl0x180]

Your description of the music and repeating cinematographical themes remind me of the Corean film, Donggam. The premise was good, but the execution fell through midway and it looked as if the director and editors didn't know how to properly end it. I still bought it for repeat viewings since the film is exemplary of K-Drama. There was also Il Mare for which The Lake House was remade for North America - a premise that piqued my curiosity followed by a strange and implausible denouement and ending. Nevertheless, I'll have to buy the video for repeat viewings

[mesh control]

The Evil Dead & Evil Dead 2

Both were great, but 2 is much more memorable.

Sorta related; Christina Hendricks noods leaked

[GaijinPunch]

Sorta related; Christina Hendricks noods leaked

links prease

NVM found - she has a great rack.

[JBC]

Diamonds Are Forever.

"Welcome to Hell, Blofeld."

[xbl0x180]

Who the hell is this christine hendricks whore and where I can get... MOAR? I can tell she's very talented

[Raytrace]

hahaha obv you speak of the hax0red phone pics

[GaijinPunch]

Who the hell is this christine hendricks whore and where I can get... MOAR? I can tell she's very talented

TV: Mad Men
Movie: Drive

[jonny5]

Who the hell is this christine hendricks whore and where I can get... MOAR? I can tell she's very talented

TV: Mad Men
Movie: Drive

She was also in a couple Firefly episodes.

[mesh control]

SO MUCH TITTY

^_^

[xbl0x180]

Who the hell is this christine hendricks whore and where I can get... MOAR? I can tell she's very talented

TV: Mad Men
Movie: Drive

She was also in a couple Firefly episodes.

In other words, a buncha crap I'd never be interested in seeing. She's definitely missed her real call to do more of these n00dz

[GaijinPunch]

In other words, a buncha crap I'd never be interested in seeing. She's definitely missed her real call to do more of these n00dz

Protip: Insulting Mad Men is like saying you live in your basement and wank to video games -- be mindful.

[xbl0x180]

Hm. What kind of... video games