Movies you've just watched

[Obiwanshinobi]

SF vehicular design appears to undergo just as big crisis in the US as the comics industry over there. Last (!) good looking designs I saw coming from that country were in the Sony video game Jak II. After Star Wars and Blade Runner, hardware design in Hollywood flicks went bad. The TV just showed me Terminator 3 and really, I was less embarrassed aesthetically by Gunhed (yes, that film).

That being said, I feel sorry for Terminator 3. In a sense, the franchise IS Terminator - not allowed to die, not allowed to live, shackled like Prometheus.
It couldn't start any worse: the offscreen narration (why is there some dude reading his book out loud in so many films?), the protagonist's direct-to-VHS appearance (is this how hobos look nowadays?), the hardware designs (see above) and this wretched TV commercial vibe modern film trickery gave it (T2's CG have aged exceptionally well, whereas T3's CG look just like everything else).
Almost as if they did their worst a.s.a.p. to prepare us for Arnie the Saviour's coming.
Claire Danes was a fairly redeeming feature. Not sure why she caught my attention, but maybe she has that something Hollywood generally lacks. Like, her kind of people don't normally apply for the job there or something. (Japan also has the problem of people in films and TV shows looking like they work there.)

[njiska]

Citizen Kane

This may be the greatest film of all time according to 50 years of Sight & Sounds polls (barring 2012), but I'm still bored to tears by the second half. The opening is great and Kane's rise to power is solid, but then it goes into Kane's decline and just keeps repeating "Kane is a tyrannical asshole" for sixty minutes. Beautiful cinematography though and a great example of the power of black and white when used well.

Streets of Fire

I love The Warriors, but aside from that I haven't really seen much of Walter Hill's work. Unsurprisingly Streets of Fire feels stylistically similar, though with significantly more music and a less stirring plot. Action was good, dialog was crap, acting was mostly terrible. Then again how many movies can say they got Rick Moranis to play an asshole? Watchable, good to see if you like the Warriors. That's all i can really say.

Black Dynamite

Damn was this my kind of movie. Hilarious send up of Blaxploitation tropes, fantastic intention bad acting and quite possibly the best scene of six brothers sittin' around a table trying to figure out what's going on. Everything from the opening malt liqour ad to the closing battle is just hysterical. Even has upper class jive.

[EmperorIng]

I love Black Dynamite, but my heart will always be with the movies that inspired it. Like the man, the legend, DOLEMITE. Only DOLEMITE can tell three 10-minute jokes without punchlines in his own movie, because he's fucking DOLEMITE.

I still haven't seen the Warriors yet. I don't know why - it seems right up my alley in terms of late-70s - 80s action flicks.

[drauch]

Streets of Fire is fucking amazing. One of Walter Hill's best. Sooooo many videogames and anime from the 80s/90s take inspiration from it. Michael Pare's voice makes me melt.

[njiska]

Streets of Fire is fucking amazing. One of Walter Hill's best. Sooooo many videogames and anime from the 80s/90s take inspiration from it. Michael Pare's voice makes me melt.

They may take influence from it, but the film still has some problems. Namely bad acting by a lot of the cast, too many extended music scenes, nauseating blank frame editing during one music montage and a plot that just didn't hook me. It's by no means a bad film, but given the choice I'd rather watch The Warriors. I will yield the point of Michael Pare's voice, to some degree.

Can you recommend anything else by Walter Hill that might be worth checking out?

[emphatic]

Black Dynamite

SEE WHERE I'M COMIN' FROM, YOU JIVE MUTHAFUCKAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?

[drauch]

Streets of Fire is fucking amazing. One of Walter Hill's best. Sooooo many videogames and anime from the 80s/90s take inspiration from it. Michael Pare's voice makes me melt.

They may take influence from it, but the film still has some problems. Namely bad acting by a lot of the cast, too many extended music scenes, nauseating blank frame editing during one music montage and a plot that just didn't hook me. It's by no means a bad film, but given the choice I'd rather watch The Warriors. I will yield the point of Michael Pare's voice, to some degree.

Can you recommend anything else by Walter Hill that might be worth checking out?

Aye, aye, I disagree, but I won't argue. You've got:

Hard Times: with Charles Bronson as a boxer
Southern Comfort: with a group of national guardsmen on training get stalked by backwoods Cajuns
The Long Riders: Fantastic Western cast. Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, etc
Trespass: Kinda an urban remake of Treasure of Sierra Madre. Lots of rappers vs Bill Paxton and William Sadler
Also 48 Hrs/Another 48 and Extreme Prejudice, two films I still haven't seen that my buddy swears by.
He also remade Yojimbo as Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis, set in like a 1930s mob situation. He also did the first episode of Tales from the Crypt (and a few others.) Sadler does some awesome narration, but the ending is kinda flat.

[KAI]

I'm a big fan of Jeremy Irons, watched Damage last night.
Any recommendation from his filmography?

[Skykid]

I'm a big fan of Jeremy Irons, watched Damage last night.
Any recommendation from his filmography?

Die Hard 3.

Jeremy Irons is a terrible actor.

[KAI]

And that's why I like him.

Die Hard 3 mhhh, something older if possible.

[Moniker]

I'm a big fan of Jeremy Irons, watched Damage last night.
Any recommendation from his filmography?

Deadringers by Cronenberg is a must see. Apparently it's what made Irons famous, Stateside. Also one of Cronenberg's best.

[emphatic]

I'm a big fan of Jeremy Irons, watched Damage last night.
Any recommendation from his filmography?

Deadringers by Cronenberg is a must see. Apparently it's what made Irons famous, Stateside. Also one of Cronenberg's best.

^^This.

I watched 21 Jump Street. 4/5, very funny.

[MX7]

Blind Beast is possibly my favourite film of all time. Often gets compared to Eyes Without a Face but I think this blows it out of the water. The acting is flawless, pitched exactly at the point of hysteria, and the exploration of sensory deprivation/overload is expertly realised. It's a joy to watch. Most of all, I think Blind Beast is the most effective blurring of the erotic/grotesque binary ever committed to screen. glorious and beautiful and horrible.

Masumura's other films are predictably amazing. Manji focuses on another destructive confluence of love. Red Angel is pretty much the best anti-war film apart from maybe Waltz With Bashir (no gung ho sentimentality here).

Streets Of Fire sounds awesome, definitely going to check that one out.

Black Dynamite is amazing too. While the dick jokes are funny and all, it's the perfect, deadpan delivery of one-liners from Michael White (sic?) that really sets this film apart from the glut of unfunny genre pastiches.

Oh yeah, Jeramy Irons may ham it up in trash like Dungeons And Dragons, but I thought he was perfect in Dead Ringers. Somewhat larger than life, but given the melodramatic gravitas of the narrative, he fit right in.

[drauch]

Damn, maybe I'll finally watch Blind Beast this week, then! I finally picked up a copy a few months back. I've wanted all of Masumura's stuff for a long time (Manji, Afraid to Die, Black Test Car, Red Angel, etc), but I just never bought them. Now that I'm 'back' into film, hopefully I can pick some of this stuff up before it goes out of print.

[MX7]

@drauch - Interested to know what you think of them! In my opinion Masumura is ridiculously underrated as a director, even though so much of his stuff is now readily available.

I've taken a self-imposed hiatus from film, and it's been pretty productive given that I've read about 20 books, composed loads of music and watched loads of TV/OVAs in the last six months, but I think I really need to jump back on the wagon. Cinema seems pretty exciting at the moment.

[KAI]

Dead Ringers was good. What about Kafka?

[Ed Oscuro]

Strange to see Streets of Fire and Black Dynamite mentioned - Amazon apparently know what you guys are thinking and that I would be interested in it. Well, sometime.

Probably 80% of the stuff I say "I'm gonna watch that" I never get around to, though.

Just finished - Vampire Hunter D, 1985. Interesting film, with some unintentionally funny stuff in the middle. D's little helper never got explained but much of the rest of the film started to fit together by the ending. Can't say there was very much iconic about the sequences, and felt like a somewhat shifty mash-up of the source material (which I haven't read). "Hi! We're bad guys! [skip a few minutes] BLAGH (dead)" There was a fair amount to like about the film, though. It filled in a few interesting pieces of the Castlevania puzzle for me ("endless drop" to skeleton-filled "catacombs" and of course the crumbling castle are CV series staples and jumped out fairly well, and when the big bad did his flare-up I was like "oh shit, it's Demitri from Darkstalkers!)).

Also, the woman voicing the little boy was really distracting.

[emphatic]

Dead Ringers was good. What about Kafka?

It's awesome too. I've only seen it once, but it's very memorable. One of Soderberghs better films. BTW, what the hell happened to that guy, his latest efforts kinda sucked.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kafka is a good film. Like a sequel to Brazil.

[system11]

Below - 7/10

Wartime submarine horror film, random find on Netflix. Pretty good and an original story for once.

[Moniker]

Dead Ringers was good. What about Kafka?

It's awesome too. I've only seen it once, but it's very memorable. One of Soderberghs better films. BTW, what the hell happened to that guy, his latest efforts kinda sucked.

I quite liked Bubble (2005), and The Informant! (2009). Bubble is one of those minimalist-noir films that I have a soft spot for. All of the actors were first-timers. The Informant speaks for itself. I was pleasantly surprised, myself. I'll no longer write off Matt Damon, anyway.

Contagion, well, it felt a lot like Traffic and its ilk. Too many characters with too much drama to really make you give a shit. For the burden it took on, it was pretty damn impressive, but in absolute terms, kind of bleh.

[trap15]

Watched the last half or so of They Live (1988) last night. Missed the first half because I forgot about our movie night... Really good movie, I definitely need to watch the whole thing.

Greatest scene in a movie ever

[DEL]

trap15 wrote;

Watched the last half or so of They Live (1988) last night. Missed the first half because I forgot about our movie night... Really good movie, I definitely need to watch the whole thing.

I also rewatched They Live last week. The fight scene you link is supposedly the longest fist fight ever in a movie, but its also the least important scene in a very very important movie.
They Live was far ahead of its time in telling some important home truths about our completely controlled Media and the people who sell themselves out for a Shekel.

I also rewatched Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and Walter Hill's The Warriors Director's cut (1979).
Need to rewatch Hill's Trespass next and finally get round to watching Lucifer RISES/The Dark Knight RISES.

Saw Avengers Assemble. Not bad but not special. Loki: "I have come to rescue you from your Freedom."
Humans appear three times in the movie. Firstly on their knees, next Coulson gets killed before getting off a shot and lastly humans appear cowering in a bank. Not sure I like the "You're powerless!" message here

Seen the first series of Revolution, which is all about 'Divide and Conquer' - Three families are split/divided and weak because of it. A black family- the Neville's, a white family - the Mathesons and a Latin family - the Claytons.

[system11]

Red Tails - 7/10

Loosely based on true events, it tells the story of the first black fighter pilot squadron during the second world war. The dogfighting scenes are breathtaking, no complaints there. The liberties taken with the story for the sake of film making are fine too, it's a good old fashioned feel-good adventure. I'm docking it a few points though for some ridiculous stereotypes and lines which are there to emphasise the racial issue. HEY BUDDY, YOU SAVED OUR ASS ONE TIME AND NOW RACIAL PREJUDICE IS ALL OVER, WOW BLACK PEOPLE ARE AMAZING! I enjoyed this film, but with one exception those parts really did make me cringe and they could have been handled far better.

[trap15]

The fight scene you link is supposedly the longest fist fight ever in a movie, but its also the least important scene in a very very important movie.

I'd say it symbolizes people's stubbornness to see the truth, and how they'll even fight to not see it. It might not be as important as the rest, but it's still important.

They Live was far ahead of its time in telling some important home truths about our completely controlled Media and the people who sell themselves out for a Shekel.

100% agreed.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Una noche con Sabrina Love yesterday, with my mom. Without any subtitles, but I watched it on the TV years ago, so I could explain a tad.

[DEL]

trap15 wrote;

I'd say it symbolizes people's stubbornness to see the truth, and how they'll even fight to not see it. It might not be as important as the rest, but it's still important.

Yes indeed, silly me! You're completely right about "it symbolizes people's stubbornness to see the truth"

In that respect, its an important scene and it never ceases to amaze me how far into denial people will go in order to deny the truth of such matters.
I guess I should go and rewatch The Matrix Same subject as They Live of course.

[emphatic]

The fight between Nada (Roddy Piper) and Frank (Keith David) was only supposed to last 20 seconds, but Piper and David decided to fight it out for real, only faking the hits to the face and groin. They rehearsed the fight for three weeks. Carpenter was so impressed he kept the 5 minute and 20 second scene intact.

[MX7]

Watched The White Ribbon last night. Think it's been in cellophane for about a year. Anyway, predictably amazing Haneke. Very interesting to see him male a period film, especially when his work largely focuses on alienation and violence in modern society. The White Ribbon had the usual sudden violence, criticisms of bourgeois sensibilities and reflections on causality, but all wrapped in sumptuous monochrome. I guess this probably makes it one of Haneke's most accessible films. Still probably thing The Seventh Continant is my favourite, but Jesus Christ, this guy is so talented it actually makes me depressed...

Everyone familiar with his work should check out his official Twitter account @michael_haneke

[njiska]

The King's Speech

This is exactly my kind of movie. Great plot, solid characters and fantastic interplay between Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth. The historical significane of the plot makes it all the more engaging and it's really nice to see a story this serious and uplifting. Brilliant camera work as well. I loved little things like the position of characters during protracted dialog and the almost fish-eye effect present during some scenes.

What i find sad is that the movie has an R rating in the states. This is a prefect example of why the MPAA rating system is just misguided. A little profanity does not make this film inappropriate for younger audiences and the story is one they should most definitely see. Thank god it received a 12A certificate in the UK and a PG in Canada.