Movies you've just watched

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Finally checked out the sci-fi flick today (11-07-13) that is known as Ender's Game and was directed by Gavin Hood. James Cameron's special effects company, Digital Domain, handled most of the CG EFX shown in the film and some smaller contracted CG EFX companies handled the rest of the CG workload as usual. It looks like EG could've been filmed as a 3D movie but wasn't. Saw it on a comparable Imax-like movie screen (DFX screen setup with an impressive 18,000 watt Digital Dolby surround sound system). Throughly enjoyed it despite what some movie critics giving it a two star rating (out of four), I don't pay attention to the paid movie critic's opinions about the films they see, the movie theater lover has to see it for himself or herself to make the ultimate call/judgement as to whether said film is good or not.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[GaijinPunch]

Kazetachinu / The Wind Rises

Very good, but not amazing. The creative sequences are quite Miyazaki-esque, but it is still a period piece. The 1923 Kantou Disaster was interesting to "experience", as seen in the commercials. It definitely took me back to simpler times, and I'm glad I saw it at the theater. I'm sure it's about to end it's run here as it approaches 4 months. I saw it in a theater which only had about 15 people in it... it had another gaijin watching it by himself. I thought the dialogue might be a bit exhausting but that wasn't the case most of the time. I didn't suffer too bad from no subtitles. There are some people that speak other non-Japanese languages though (the title itself is taken from a French poem), so not sure how they will handle those aspects in the dub. I don't think they handled it all that great in Japanese considering we're in such an international age.

[Lord Satori]

Bad Grandpa

It's a pretty good movie, but there's a few scenes I could do without. I was surprised when there was a sort of a subtle serious plot to it.

I'd go to see Enders Game, but I'm almost positive that they changed a shit load of stuff from the book.

[heisenbergman]

Just did a Cornetto Trilogy marathon (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End). All excellent films, but I enjoyed Hot Fuzz the most.

[Vexorg]

Ender's Game: ***

Putting aside some of the controversy surrounding this, I thought it was a reasonably watchable movie, but it's pretty clear why this one sat in development hell for so long: The source material just doesn't lend itself to film very well. None of the characters are particularly memorable, and My GF thought some of the battle scenes felt like they were ripped off wholesale from Battlestar Galactica. I also thought Ender turned out to be a bit too much of a Mary Sue in the film adaptation.

[spadgy]

Just did a Cornetto Trilogy marathon (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End). All excellent films, but I enjoyed Hot Fuzz the most.

When I saw Shaun of the Dead back when it came out at the cinema, I fell in love. Perhaps too much, because Hot Fuzz and The World's End never lived up to my expectations, for me. They're good enough, but I know where my heart will always lie!

[replayme]

I hated Shaun of the Dead. With a passion. Absolutely detested the attempts at humour in it, and thought the characters were bland and one-dimensional. Glad the fat guy died at the end, as I found him to be off-putting and annoying.

Having said that though, I loved Scott Pilgrim. Absolutely adorable film, with touching homages to classic videogames (like Zelda).

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

Gravity:

Really enjoyed this. It's basically the filmic version of the Stanley Kubrick quote "The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent". It does a really good job of depicting the hollow vastness of space and the precariousness of life out there. The effects are truly stunning and the sound direction fits perfectly. My only criticism (and I'm being pretty critical here) is that the characters are pretty flat. But then this isn't really a character driven piece, space itself is the antagonist and Sandra Bullock represents the human will to survive in an indifferent universe. It's a film which is supposed to make you feel uneasy, claustrophobic and agoraphobic. And it succeeds at that.

[Ixmucane2]

Ender's Game

An interesting film overall, but there are a number of problems (mostly the typical ones of cramming a novel into a couple of hours of film):

• Most parts of the plot have been put on such an aggressive diet that they appear seriously emaciated; scene after scene, line after line, all action is brief and strictly to the purpose. Compared to the alternative of leaving plot holes and completely unexplained passages, this triumph of script anorexia should count as a success.
• Too many characters, and too little character development. After fulfilling some little specific function, all named kids among Ender's fellow cadets (except of course his enemy Bonzo Madrid) amount to a group of completely faithful and interchangeable disciples. Officers above the level of Harrison Ford and Viola Davis do basically nothing. Ender's family is almost irrelevant.
• Some miserably failed scenes, including the brief but inexplicably successful motivational speech from Ender's sister and the horrible finale that turns Ender from a poor boy to one of the worst Mary Sues of all time; I blame excessive simplification.
• Occasionally appalling design and special effects, particularly the zero-g combat training arena: most parts of the training starship spin to produce simulated gravity, access to the spherical arena is in the middle, through the axis of rotation, but cadets are depicted as free-floating in the arena and impossibly standing and running one meter behind in the corridor. Using Velcro or magnets to walk is apparently uncool.
• As demonstrated in the finale, the military could learn an awful lot about infantry reconnaissance from, say, the average 5 years old hide-and-seek player. One wonders how they can possibly build and fly starships.

Acting: Ender looks appropriately cold and spooky, everybody else doesn't matter.
Special effects: mostly technically good and well designed, although the video game sequences look like today's video games rather than futuristic.

[undamned]

They've set the bar for mediocre entertainment with such kitsch hits like Cars and The Incredibles.

I guess you didn't catch that the Incredibles was almost entirely a tongue in cheek adventure (queue Gaijinpunch theme song) based on superhero cliches. I loved it.
-ud

[drauch]

They've set the bar for mediocre entertainment with such kitsch hits like Cars and The Incredibles.

I guess you didn't catch that the Incredibles was almost entirely a tongue in cheek adventure (queue Gaijinpunch theme song) based on superhero cliches. I loved it.
-ud

Oh, I caught it. I also caught them cashing in on the bandwagon of the plethora of super hero films Hollywood was crapping out, and continues to present day. I'd rather watch The Tick if I'm going to delve into the large world of humorous super hero cliches, which in my opinion is already some of the blandest fiction out there. Same format for every Pixar film: Someone gets lost (either figuratively or physically), then they go out and find it/themselves. Some clever humor in the first few films (not so much A Bug's Life), but they keep sinking lower into Dreamworks territory.

I enjoyed Toy Story 3, despite a number of flaws, but I lost my hope in Pixar years ago.

[system11]

Guys, Repo Man is my all-time favorite film. Bar none. Period.

I think I feel the same way. I can't think of a film I like more all-around.

I think I'm en route to feeling that way! I want to watch it again already! Why did I leave 'discovering' it so long?

People who haven't seen The Big Lebowski.

[Skykid]

Repo Man's pretty interesting, I enjoyed it. Don't love it as much as you lot though.

I watched Phantasm tonight for the first time. WTF did I just see.

[lilmanjs]

The Street Fighter
I actually haven't seen this movie before and I quite enjoyed it. Sonny Chiba kicking ass and not caring who gets in his way as long as he achieves his goal. Nice mid 70s action movie.

[drauch]

The Street Fighter
I actually haven't seen this movie before and I quite enjoyed it. Sonny Chiba kicking ass and not caring who gets in his way as long as he achieves his goal. Nice mid 70s action movie.

This is THE movie, man. My favorite Chiba, and one of the best movie posters of all time. Sequels are good to, and the third one stars Pinky starlet Reiko Ike lookin' good as usual. Chiba is so violent! Damn shame he didn't pump out 10 SF films. The Sister Street Fighter series is good stuff as well, and Sonny makes a few appearances. I love that goddamn noise Sonny makes. I need that as a ringtone!

Phantasm series is another favorite of mine--at least the first two. The third is a train wreck, and the fourth is pretty low quality. A few years ago Anchor Bay released an excellent R2 set encased in the Phantasm ball. One of my prized possessions, despite my old cat Demon (RIP) biting one of the corners when he got a chance. ^_~

[lilmanjs]

The Street Fighter
I actually haven't seen this movie before and I quite enjoyed it. Sonny Chiba kicking ass and not caring who gets in his way as long as he achieves his goal. Nice mid 70s action movie.

This is THE movie, man. My favorite Chiba, and one of the best movie posters of all time. Sequels are good to, and the third one stars Pinky starlet Reiko Ike lookin' good as usual. Chiba is so violent! Damn shame he didn't pump out 10 SF films. The Sister Street Fighter series is good stuff as well, and Sonny makes a few appearances. I love that goddamn noise Sonny makes. I need that as a ringtone!

Are there releases of the Street Fighter movies in the original language, or did they actually film in english(I would doubt that). I'd love to see these in their original form, as I just have the first 2 Street Fighter movies as an english dub I got as part of a bigger kung-fu movie collection, where strangely only these and the bruce lee movies are in widescreen.

[drauch]

Yeah man, that's the only bad thing for us here in the U.S. We've pretty much only been shat on throughout the years for a proper widescreen, original Japanese language track. The way to go is to track down the Optimum Region 2 three pack on eBay. I finally snagged mine for about $20. Optimum does a great job: fantastic transfers, widescreen, and original language tracks and good subs--uncut as well, of course.

[Skykid]

The Blob 1988

Fucking ruled.

[Drum]

I love when that kid gets it. And *how* he gets it. Yeesh.

[BIL]

I still can't quite believe it when that happens. That's some seriously dark shit, Blob-kun!

[drauch]

The Blob '88: An example of a fantastic remake!

[MX7]

The Fly, The Thing, The Blob... The 1980's was a great time for amazing remakes of 50's/60's sci-fi!

I need to rewatch The Fly at some point. Goldbloom in his definitive role, a charismatic and ultimately terrifying mad scientist. It's the Cronenberg my mum could enjoy, if it wasn't so fucking gross...

[drauch]

^Agree with all my heart!

I quote The Fly on an almost daily basis. Controversial, maybe, but Cronenberg's best?

[Moniker]

I'd say A History of Violence, with Dead Ringers as a close second. The Fly and Eastern Promises aren't far behind, though.

[blackoak]

I missed The Fly on a bar trivia question recently, was kicking myself all week. I like most Cronenberg, but my favorites are The Brood and Videodrome. Need to rewatch Scanners sometime though...

[Mischief Maker]

Of course, Mischief Maker is not the name I was born with. It's my internet name. Soon all of us will have special names. Names designed to cause the liquid crystal to resonate.

[heisenbergman]

Pain & Gain - really good as far as Michael Bay films go (which is not saying a lot, lol). Last third of the movie bogs it down. It sort of goes downhill after they fail to do that thing to that guy (sorry I might spoil it for someone).

[charlie chong]

this thread reminded me i never saw the 80's remake of the blob.i find it hard to think of good films to watch so thanks!
favourite cronenberg is probably videodrome followed by either the fly or scanners.
you can tell a director is really good when people cant unanimously decide which of his films they prefer

[MadSteelDarkness]

Videodrome has something you do not, Mischief Maker.

It has a philosophy

[lilmanjs]

Tactical Unit - Partners.
Another spinoff of the PTU movie and this one moved a little slowly for my tates, but had it been say 10 minutes longer I would have very much enjoyed it more. Not to say this is a bad movie, and the plot is good, just didn't think it was long enough to really go anywhere. Was interesting to see an HK movie with the main storyline being about half Indian/ half chinese folks and drugs. Just a little slow for an hour and a half movie though.