Movies you've just watched

[rapoon]

Blow and Traffic are much better.

Yep, definitely. Guess I should have said Benicio Del Toro was good.

Benicio Del Toro was great in Savages. Evil, Sadistic fucker.


mmm 80's Conan. definitely in my top 10. I was in awe when I saw it in the theater (7 yo).
stuck with me since. ive probably seen it 50 times and it never gets old.

[drauch]

Just watched the early 80's Conan again for the millionth time. Damn, what's the point of new movies?

Couldn't agree more.

What is best in life? This movie.

[Octopod]

Just watched the early 80's Conan again for the millionth time. Damn, what's the point of new movies?

Couldn't agree more.

What is best in life? This movie.

You guys know about this?

http://screenrant.com/arnold-schwarzene ... 13-images/


Most excited I've been for a movie in a long time. Hopefully he can still pull it off alright. This movie should help me forget that last stinker of a Conan flick that came out.

[Casey120]

Watched Army of Darkness yesterday for the first time and on Blu-Ray, it was awesome .
Bruce Campbell is insane

My bloody valentine .
Just bearable and fucking predictable , 3D added some tension to the scary parts .
Could have been so much better though .

[CMoon]

You guys know about this?

http://screenrant.com/arnold-schwarzene ... 13-images/


Most excited I've been for a movie in a long time. Hopefully he can still pull it off alright. This movie should help me forget that last stinker of a Conan flick that came out.

There are two things central to the 80's Conan that make it work far better than you'd expect, namely the non-stop soundtrack and the exceedingly sparse dialogue. It's as though the actors were paid by the word, and it's absolutely brilliant. It also draws some parallel to Excalibur--but Boorman was well aware of the importance of choosing his words carefully; I've no idea how Conan came to the same sort of conclusion.

I think Schwarzenegger is secondary to why the first film was so good. If they are going to make a Conan which is to follow the first film (and no, Arnie isn't too old...not if it is to follow much later), they need to not let anyone talk and get a fucking great orchestral score.

[drauch]

I'm certainly excited for it, but I'm also pretty apprehensive if it'll actually be any good. Seeing hero Arnie back on the big screen is extremely gratifying, and I'm sure he can pull it off, but I'm more so worried about the current state of cinema. If you've read the stories, he is a little bit older than the King Conan that Howard wrote, but to use the same actor from the '82 masterpiece is highly respectable. Can't wait.

[GaijinPunch]

I would rather see Rastan the Barbarian... with the original soundtrack in place.

[CMoon]

I would rather see Rastan the Barbarian... with the original soundtrack in place.

LOL, the entire movie involves the hero walking left to right. Some amazing long shots in that one.

[GaijinPunch]

I would rather see Rastan the Barbarian... with the original soundtrack in place.

LOL, the entire movie involves the hero walking left to right. Some amazing long shots in that one.

The plot twists are those few parts in the castles when you go right to left. I'd still go see it though!

[drauch]

Godzilla Vs Biollante - Bluray/DVD just came out R1 this past week and I got mine in the mail. Bluray looks okay, but that's for another time. Probably the most boring Godzilla movie I've seen. Biollante has about 5-8 minutes of screen time: One small fight about halfway through the movie, and another in the last 10 or 15 minutes. A pretty awful monster design, although the evolved form looks fairly intimidating. A real messy film, almost completely comprised of silly governmental pishposh, poor acting, unlikeable characters and a lack of kaiju. A pretty boring film with not much going for it. I really had high hopes for this one.

[ArmoredCore]

The Hobbit, simply epic imo, very good paced, no Fraudo Baggings slowing down the pace ^^. Thorin is epic as hell.

[njiska]

Just watched Hitchcock. It was an alright movie, but focused a little too much on Hitchcock's relationship with his wife to really be engaging. The psycho related bits were fun though and Anthony Hopkin's acting was spot on. Plus the little homages to Alfred Hitchcock Presents... were fantastic. A solid DVD watch.

[CMoon]

Godzilla Vs Biollante - [snip] A pretty boring film with not much going for it. I really had high hopes for this one.

I actually rather like this one, but I agree it isn't great. I haven't rushed to pick it up. It is the beginning of the true 90's series and starts a lot of the really goofy things that I enjoy about that period, but the film itself isn't that great. The best films from this period are without a doubt King Ghidora, Mothra and MechGodzilla.

[system11]

Maximum Overdrive - 8/10

Guilty pleasure from the 80s, machines start turning on people as the Earth moves through the tail of a comet. Music by AC/DC, story by Stephen King, if you liked things like Christine you can't go wrong with this one.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Checked out the Len Wiseman directed 2012 remake of Total Recall. Some cool scenes with the impressive & stylized gunfights, parkour rooftop action & close quarter hand-to-hand combat fight scenes with actresses Kate Beckinsale & Jessica Biel (fight choregrapher, Jeff Imada, sure knows how to deliver some awesome fight scenes indeed). There are a few scenes that are insider nods/tributes towards the original TC flick released back in the summer of 1990 + visual nods towards the 1982 Blade Runner sci-fi noir classic as well. The anti-grav hover car high-speed chase scene is another highlight worth viewing on a HDTV setup (abeit in 1080p & no less than that). It's great to see the old Underworld film crew (director Len Wiseman, actor Bill Nighy & actress Kate Beckinsale) back together again for another big-budgeted sci-fi flick in the TC remake).

Film Factoid: Fight choregrapher Jeff Imada also created the impressive fight scenes in the sci-fi flick of "The Book of Eli" with actor Denzel Washington.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CMoon]

Watched The Seven Ups (1973). This is one of those films where if you like this genre (IE ugly cop movies from the early 70's), this will be a treat for you. The plot and acting though are minimal--something that works great in this kind of film but could be a turn off to many, and the film moves rather slow. Highlights include an amazing car chase, great atmosphere and the required chases through mud, ghetto and filth.

Yeah, I love this kind of film and can't believe I haven't seen this before or Bullitt. Far too many films try to say too much or make you feel a certain way or are just aimed at kids. I miss this period of film which had no problem being seedy and just letting the audience take everything in.

[system11]

The Day (2011) - 8/10

Certainly didn't expect this to be as good as it was - post apocalypse survival tale with a decent amount of character development in there. It's unrelentingly bleak with a very washed our near-greyscale use of colour. This is how The Road would have looked if it was a survival action film.

[CMoon]

Followed The Seven Ups with the dreadful Detroit 9000. Not funny or outrageous enough to be a great blaxploitation film, not good enough to really be taken seriously. The scene where they chase down each member of the gang is just tedious and only the ambiguity left at the end of the film had any real charm.

OK, yeah there were some nice tits.

[Skykid]

Checked out the Len Wiseman directed 2012 remake of Total Recall. Some cool scenes with the impressive & stylized gunfights, parkour rooftop action & close quarter hand-to-hand combat fight scenes with actresses Kate Beckinsale & Jessica Biel (fight choregrapher, Jeff Imada, sure knows how to deliver some awesome fight scenes indeed). There are a few scenes that are insider nods/tributes towards the original TC flick released back in the summer of 1990 + visual nods towards the 1982 Blade Runner sci-fi noir classic as well. The anti-grav hover car high-speed chase scene is another highlight worth viewing on a HDTV setup (abeit in 1080p & no less than that). It's great to see the old Underworld film crew (director Len Wiseman, actor Bill Nighy & actress Kate Beckinsale) back together again for another big-budgeted sci-fi flick in the TC remake).

Film Factoid: Fight choregrapher Jeff Imada also created the impressive fight scenes in the sci-fi flick of "The Book of Eli" with actor Denzel Washington.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I watched this on the plane to Korea. It was classic Wiseman trash, I was falling asleep by the end. Not even a blip on the original's martian radar.

TED on the other hand, was great fun. If you hate Family Guy/Seth McFarlane, you probably won't get much out of it, but I enjoyed it far more than I expected to.

[GaijinPunch]

I have little interest in the rehash of Total Recall unless they one-up the alien with 3 tits, with an alien with two dicks.

[EmperorIng]

Speaking of Paul Verhoeven, I'm sure you all can recommend me picking up Starship Troopers, right? I feel that that, and Basic Instinct are the other two "must-see" movies in Paul's oeuvre, along with RoboCop and Total Recall.

I've been looking to get a few Cronenberg films, so I suppose I should get The Fly (which I've seen) and Scanners, right?

[drauch]

^Get pretty much everything from both directors. Seriously. Can't vouch for the new stuff because I haven't watched it.

All this talk about The Hobbit made me break out my Ralph Bakshi LotR adaptation. Never had watched it, and probably should have kept it that way. Bakshi is real hit or miss for me, and this one kinda struck in the middle. Gorgeous backgrounds and some really solid animation--when things are actually being animated. Wasn't really a fan of the proto-rotoscoping business going on, but the biggest flaw is obviously it's length, or lack thereof. Two books shoved into two hours leaves almost no character development, critical scenes that last but a few minutes, lazy animation, and a whole lot of boredom. Being that they had to shove the two books into one movie, almost the entirety of the thing is spent walking, a brief and poorly executed fight, and then more traveling. Then it sorta just ends, with a whole "more adventure awaits!" promise, leaving you utterly confused. If you hadn't read the books, or at least seen the other movies, this film would be almost impossible to follow without not knowing what was going on. It's so condensed, it's almost kinda funny it got made because Bakshi didn't want to see all three books shoved into one movie, so he instead made this unfinished mess as a rebuttal. But man, whoever painted those backdrops: they look really nice.

Glad to hear Seven-Ups is good. I picked up it a few years ago in a crime set along with St. Valentine Day's Massacre, The French Connection, and something else. I'm sure it'll rot in my stash for a few more years, regardless.

[EmperorIng]

At least for the Nazgul, I think rotoscoping was a brilliantly artistic choice (probably due to budget) - as a kid, I was really freaked out by how unnatural the rotoscoped Nazgul were - they really stuck out like a sore thumb. As an adult, I find it a wonderful (perhaps unintentional?) way of getting the point across.

The movie is flawed, but still worth a viewing. That more or less describes Bakshi's entire output - the only must-see's in his filmography are, for me:

-Wizards
-Coonskin
-American Pop

Now, I like Fritz the Cat, and can tolerate Heavy Traffic, but I think these movies were where Bakshi was at his best. Wizards for artistic and cartoonistic purposes, Coonskin for satiric purposes, and American Pop being amazingly the only semi-coherent story with a semi-satisfying ending Bakshi ever managed. Even Wizards has a whole lot of dropped plot points, and the story towards the end is tragically rushed, but it's easily my favorite Bakshi film.

[drauch]

Still need to see American Pop. I always sorta ignored it because of the shit cover, but I've obviously been a fool. I've had a bootleg of Coonskin for about 5 or 6 years now, but I see that it finally has an actual release. Heavy Traffic just sorta passed me by. I'll probably watch all three this upcoming year, hopefully. Or at least try.

Wizards I've always kinda hated. I think my main complaint is that I wanted a gritty post-apocalyptic cartoon, and instead received a bunch of trippy visuals and comedy. I can deal with the trippy animation, but I'd rather just watch Fritz the Cat. Despite Crumb loathing it, I still enjoy it quite a bit, but I mainly just like nasty tales about beatniks and hippies because I hate them. Not Bakshi, but the sequel is a pretty depressing take on the whole urban scum life, and I kinda like that. Fun!

Retrospectively, Fire and Ice is really the only Bakshi film I love, I guess. I think my main complaint is actually my dissatisfaction with American animation as a whole, and the fact that it rarely takes itself seriously. That, and Bakshi kinda relies too much on hypno-bologna visuals that were the rave at the time, with most of his cel work feeling too distant from the background art, almost as if the characters just kinda float.

I still praise the man, sure, but there is a reason American animation will always be seen as "kid's stuff."

[Octopod]

Fire and Ice is my favorite of his output but I think both Wizards and The Lord of the Rings are amazing. I know I am probably in the minority but I prefer that stuff over any anime. I also really like the Rankin and Bass animated Hobbit, The Last Unicorn, The Flight of Dragons and their animated and claymation Christmas features.

I had heard that Robert Rodriguez bought the rights to make new animated versions of both Fire and Ice and Heavy Metal. I don't know if anything will come of it but it would be awesome if it did. Especially with Fire and Ice he said he planned to stay true to the Frazetta 70's sword & sorcery styling.

[EmperorIng]

Rankin Bass gets a lot of shit for "LOL SINGING ORCS" but damn it if their character designs were not unique and entertaining in and of themselves.

The Last Unicorn is their best work, and the drunk-as-fuck Smaug in The Hobbit is endlessly hilarious and The Hobbit itself is a good film adaptation (if not trippy as all hell).

/offtopic
I prefer western animation because it generally takes more risks and has better character design (!), but I'm still a big softie for my sugary sacharrine feel-good anime like Tank Police or HARDCORE stuff like MD Geist and Angel Cop.
/offtopic

I haven't seen Fire and Ice yet. I really should. At the time the rotoscoping and near-nude women were a bit of a turn (ha!). But as I've gotten older I've gained somewhat an appreciation for Frank Frazetta's art and his obvious love of the female body.

[Octopod]

But as I've gotten older I've gained somewhat an appreciation for Frank Frazetta's art and his obvious love of the female body.

Mhmm. And no skinny minnies for him either. He does nice curvy women.



If I'm not mistaken I think Rankin and Bass animation was actually contracted out to Japanese animation houses. So I suppose the animated hobbit could be considered anime...

[EmperorIng]

Rankin Bass's animation was indeed contracted out to Japanese animators, many of whom would eventually come to work at studio Ghibli.

But their designs are far from the usual "anime" fare - no one watching the Hobbit would call it an "anime" - the aesthetics of the character designs in the Rankin Bass films are very western at heart.

[drauch]

I dig Rankin/Bass, but it's been forever since I've seen anything. Really dig the Christmas stuff, despite hating the holiday. I was thinking about the original animated Hobbit the other night, and while I've seen it and recall enjoying it, I can't say I really remember much of it. After watching some clips on Youtube, it seems the animation looks really nice. Looks like the old DVD is long OOP, and the current one is trash and not worth the time. Figures. Never did see Return of the King. You guys seen it?

I think The Last Unicorn completely passed me by, strangely enough. A store nearby has it for five bucks, so I'll be sure and pick it up next time I'm there. Never did see The Flight of Dragons either. I'll put that on my list, then.

Yeah, Frazetta's inclusion is what probably makes Fire and Ice such a standout film for me. I adore all things Sword & Sorcery, and of course Frazetta's art, but really, I'd probably prefer Boris Vallejo most days of the week. Frazetta's weaknesses are his pudgy faces, but his drawings still inhabit most of my dreams. Not complaining, though!

Goddammit...I'd rather just see Rodriguez make some new animated movies. Not really a fan of his work at all in the first place, but with the current state of animation, something new would be a breath of fresh air--which goes for film in general, at the moment. So many remakes...so many people with no creative output.

[Octopod]

I believe the animated Hobbit got a BR release. Same for The Last Unicorn. Peter S Beagle, the author of The Last Unicorn book, actually got screwed over on his royalties by the company that has the rights to the film so a lot of people recommend buying the BR from his site so that he sees some money, but of course that is up to you. I personally bought the DVD for $4 from Target. lol I'll get the BR evetually though.

And Boris over Frazetta! You have to be shitting me dude. Nah, some of Boris early work is nice but his stuff changed and I just don't really like it. Personal taste.