Movies you've just watched

[GaijinPunch]

Fingers crossed!

[DEL]

Acid King wrote (RE: Killing Them Softly):

I was looking forward to this, but absent a few stylish kills, I wasn't impressed. Decent enough movie, but the socio-political commentary is so hamfisted and cliche it almost sunk the whole movie for me.

There wasn't much socio-political commentary in it really, other than the blatant message about America being in trouble and that Obama hasn't done anything to help. (I'm putting it mildly ).
The kills were done in a graphic harsh style, I have to admit that.

[Ixmucane2]

American Hustle

Many great actors, and surprisingly funny (mostly due to the ridiculous characters and the 70's costumes).

Someone might expect interesting hustles, or at least some serious deception and duplicity; instead there are easy wolf vs. lamb operations and the protagonist's great plan to get out of trouble at the end (1) is both straightforward and obvious since before the trouble begins.
Probably a deliberate choice (to emphasize personal relationships and underline the mediocrity and incompetence of certain characters).

Unexceptional photography (many interiors with artificial light) and music (mostly well known 70's music). Curious amounts of credits for CGI special effects, but I have no idea what they are.

(1) Not a spoiler. From the initial appearance of Bradley Cooper, in the second scene, it's clear that very little can go smooth as long as that character is involved.

[Moniker]

The Last Stand (Schwarzenegger [Netflix])

Ah.. there's a good mediocre action flick. Possibly good, even. Post-Gov. Arnie is horribly misplaced, but as usual, that doesn't really matter. Forest Whitaker is edited into melodrama, but that doesn't matter, either. 90s-ish action flick that delivers on all fronts you'd probably consider. My only wish is that Johnny Knoxville weren't in attendance. What a whore. Whatever. By contrast, makes the Expendables flicks look as insanely horrible as they should. Please stop, Sly.

Solid entertainment.

The Ninth Gate (Netflix)

Wow Roman Polanski has a wide quality range. If you saw Rosemary's Baby (and you should) you needn't see this. Execrable Proto-Dan Brown type fare. Johnny Depp and Frank Langella were either unwilling or unable to save it. Still, sorta entertaining, if you're desperate.

[boagman]

My only wish is that Johnny Knoxville weren't in attendance. What a whore. Whatever.

I'm not saying you're wrong, here. What I'm asking, though, is this: is there any movie Knoxville's made wherein he *isn't* a whore? Everything I've seen him in (the Jackass movies [such as they are], "Men in Black II", "Walking Tall") would lead me to believe that it's his entire role in life. Surely you didn't expect this to be any different, did you? And yes, I do understand what "I wish he weren't in attendance" means...I'm just not sure you can go into the movie expecting anything different is all.

[Some-Mist]

The Last Stand (Schwarzenegger [Netflix])

Ah.. there's a good mediocre action flick. Possibly good, even. Post-Gov. Arnie is horribly misplaced, but as usual, that doesn't really matter. Forest Whitaker is edited into melodrama, but that doesn't matter, either. 90s-ish action flick that delivers on all fronts you'd probably consider. My only wish is that Johnny Knoxville weren't in attendance. What a whore. Whatever. By contrast, makes the Expendables flicks look as insanely horrible as they should. Please stop, Sly.

Solid entertainment.

you ever see anything else by Kim Jee-Woon? His flicks are so f-in good.

I Saw The Devil
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
A Bittersweet Life

I had to snag 'em all on blu-ray a bit back.

[Moniker]

The Last Stand (Schwarzenegger [Netflix])

Ah.. there's a good mediocre action flick. Possibly good, even. Post-Gov. Arnie is horribly misplaced, but as usual, that doesn't really matter. Forest Whitaker is edited into melodrama, but that doesn't matter, either. 90s-ish action flick that delivers on all fronts you'd probably consider. My only wish is that Johnny Knoxville weren't in attendance. What a whore. Whatever. By contrast, makes the Expendables flicks look as insanely horrible as they should. Please stop, Sly.

Solid entertainment.

you ever see anything else by Kim Jee-Woon? His flicks are so f-in good.

I Saw The Devil
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
A Bittersweet Life

I had to snag 'em all on blu-ray a bit back.

Oh dang, I Saw the Devil is one of my all-time favs (yeah, Skykid, I know you don't approve). I did notice that it was a Korean joint, but forgot to mention it. Must be a good story behind the production.

[Moniker]

My only wish is that Johnny Knoxville weren't in attendance. What a whore. Whatever.

I'm not saying you're wrong, here. What I'm asking, though, is this: is there any movie Knoxville's made wherein he *isn't* a whore? Everything I've seen him in (the Jackass movies [such as they are], "Men in Black II", "Walking Tall") would lead me to believe that it's his entire role in life. Surely you didn't expect this to be any different, did you? And yes, I do understand what "I wish he weren't in attendance" means...I'm just not sure you can go into the movie expecting anything different is all.

No argument here. Didn't realize he was in the film at all until he inauspiciously appeared. I'll admit to some guilty adolescent pleasure w/r/t Jackass, but yeah, I have no other good feelings for Mr. J.K.

[Some-Mist]

The Last Stand (Schwarzenegger [Netflix])

Ah.. there's a good mediocre action flick. Possibly good, even. Post-Gov. Arnie is horribly misplaced, but as usual, that doesn't really matter. Forest Whitaker is edited into melodrama, but that doesn't matter, either. 90s-ish action flick that delivers on all fronts you'd probably consider. My only wish is that Johnny Knoxville weren't in attendance. What a whore. Whatever. By contrast, makes the Expendables flicks look as insanely horrible as they should. Please stop, Sly.

Solid entertainment.

you ever see anything else by Kim Jee-Woon? His flicks are so f-in good.

I Saw The Devil
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
A Bittersweet Life

I had to snag 'em all on blu-ray a bit back.

Oh dang, I Saw the Devil is one of my all-time favs (yeah, Skykid, I know you don't approve). I did notice that it was a Korean joint, but forgot to mention it. Must be a good story behind the production.

admittedly, I Saw the Devil was the first film of his that I saw around the time of it's release, and it definitely hooked me in right off the bat. I noticed via imdb Byung-hun Lee also starred in A Bittersweet Life after so I opted to watch that and a couple others. If you haven't seen A Bittersweet Life, I'd definitely recommend it. The blu ray (physical) is pretty awesome too. http://i.yai.bz/assets/GalleryImage/73/ ... 114073.jpg



I still haven't seen The Last Stand tho, and partly it is because I have to ready myself to handle Johnny Knoxville. I like the guy, but I really don't want to see him in anything but Jackass related material.

[MommysBestGames]

Flight (streaming Netflix)
Wasn't sure what it was going to be exactly-- I mean I remembered the trailer with the plane flying upside down but that was about it. Liked it a lot. I shiver each time I think about actually getting on a plane again though... brutal flight scene early on that sets up everything.

[dipindods]

just saw anchorman 2 and i loved it. wasnt xpecting it to be as funny as it was

[Some-Mist]

watched Spike Jonze's "Her", and enjoyed it. I was expecting to be blown away as I'm a huge Spike Jonze fan and I'm typically blown away by his flicks. I would just say that it was pretty good. some of the ideas/tech were so crazy, that I'd consider having a "live" OS just to help me with e-mail, work, and making money lol.

a handful of scenes are awkward/uncomfortable, but overall it was enjoyable and Joaquin Phoenix did an excellent job. IMO, not Spike Jonze's strongest, but definitely worth the watch.

[Raytrace]

finaly saw Over The Top, well I fuckin loved it, but emm I can appreciate why people don't like it o_O.

The product placement was hilarious too: Brút, Adidas, Alka Seltzer (!), but the best placement in the whole film was from Valvoline Oil, which consisted of an arm wrestler drinking it before a match .

Also - arm exercising weight machine usage while driving a truck = badass.

[Xyga]

Metro Manila
Good movie, heavy, dark and definitely not good for the Philippines tourism industry.

[GaijinPunch]

Metro Manila
Good movie, heavy, dark and definitely not good for the Philippines tourism industry.

Just watched the trailer -- definitely gonna check that out. Cheers for the heads up!

[Skykid]

Oh dang, I Saw the Devil is one of my all-time favs (yeah, Skykid, I know you don't approve).

Oh god no, a complete load of tosh. Thanks for reminding me of its overblown farcical existence.

[Mero]

Ilsa, She Wolf of The SS. Didn't think the film was that harsh given its reputation, there's more scenes of shagging than brutality. Was ok.

[Ed Oscuro]

Moniker wrote;

Jack Reacher (Netflix)

Phew... pretty bad. Was expecting at least mediocre. Decent car chase.

Agreed, the film is nothing too special, but its worth noting that the story is based on real life tactics. They actually do hit multiple targets to disguise one high-profile Hit.

The last Sherlock Holmes did the same thing

Still early into The 39 Steps, Hitchcock's version.

[drauch]

Ilsa, She Wolf of The SS. Didn't think the film was that harsh given its reputation, there's more scenes of shagging than brutality. Was ok.

Yeah, She Wolf is fairly tame for nazisploitation fare. Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks is where it's at. Easily the best Ilsa movie. Boob vices! Ignore the 3rd film, it's dreadful. Damn shame, too, since Jess Franco somehow got the directing role, and his stuff is usually pretty aces. Somehow nothing happens, and everything is just implied. Not the Ilsa I know and love.

[DEL]

Moniker wrote;

The Ninth Gate (Netflix)

Wow Roman Polanski has a wide quality range. If you saw Rosemary's Baby (and you should) you needn't see this. Execrable Proto-Dan Brown type fare. Johnny Depp and Frank Langella were either unwilling or unable to save it. Still, sorta entertaining, if you're desperate.

For me, the Ninth Gate is a good film. Up there with my other Polanski favourite The Fearless Vampire Killers.
I wouldn't call it proto-Dan Brown fare, more like exactly the same, as Polanski, Langella and Depp are all Club members, hence the love of Lcf.

Ed wrote;

The last Sherlock Holmes did the same thing

The last two Holmes films with Stephen Fry in Hell and Robert Downey Jr spill a lot of beans. Much to learn from those films

I'm currently working my way through a Sci fi style Russian film called The Ugly Swans.
Weird so far....
EDIT:- Weird all the way through. Something to do with a bunch of genius kids evolving.

[Mischief Maker]

finaly saw Over The Top, well I fuckin loved it, but emm I can appreciate why people don't like it o_O.

The product placement was hilarious too: Brút, Adidas, Alka Seltzer (!), but the best placement in the whole film was from Valvoline Oil, which consisted of an arm wrestler drinking it before a match .

Also - arm exercising weight machine usage while driving a truck = badass.

I think the movie is a victim of circumstance. Stallone was already being made fun of for over-milking Rocky (this movie post-dates Rocky IV) and Over the Top was just Rocky all over again with a different "sport."

Man, when you want to talk about unnecessary sequels that betray the original, it's hard to find a worse betrayal than Rocky II.

[Aleksei]

Just watched the movie "Her", it was pretty good, had to ignore the recent looniness of "walkeen feenix" to be able to enjoy it.

[Acid King]

Nightmare Alley - A very enjoyable film noir that follows a conniving carnival barker as he manipulates his way to stardom and sees it all fall apart. It's a bit glossy as far as noir goes, the budget was relatively big for the time and Tyrone Power is a bit too handsome for his own good, but its depiction of carnie life is appropriately seedy and it moves pretty well considering it runs nearly two hours. Not one of the greats but worth checking out.

[lilmanjs]

Outrage Beyond
I tried going to sleep, but it didn't work with it being 80F in the house(not under my control), so I ended up firing up this movie since I had it for ages and hadn't watched it. A nice slower paced Yakuza movie where a single cop tries to get 2 major families to fight each other to the death and well in the end he has to go and change his plans. I enjoyed it, but haven't seen anything else from the director. There wasn't really a soundtrack at all to this movie. a couple of what you can call tunes, and for the rest of the sparseness you got mainly some synth lines and that was it. Still I thought there was nice acting.

[emphatic]

Outrage Beyond
I tried going to sleep, but it didn't work with it being 80F in the house(not under my control), so I ended up firing up this movie since I had it for ages and hadn't watched it. A nice slower paced Yakuza movie where a single cop tries to get 2 major families to fight each other to the death and well in the end he has to go and change his plans. I enjoyed it, but haven't seen anything else from the director. There wasn't really a soundtrack at all to this movie. a couple of what you can call tunes, and for the rest of the sparseness you got mainly some synth lines and that was it. Still I thought there was nice acting.

The plot sounds a lot like Yojimbo.

[Ixmucane2]

Carrie(2013)

Not a horror movie by any means, even if a handful of violent and bloody scenes (ah, those scissors...) are a little unsettling, not even a traditional thriller (there is no suspense to speak of), but rather a tragedy relying on the anticipation that it's all going to end very badly.
The anticipation is well managed (for example, starting as soon as possible to display Carrie's telekinetic powers, and in rather impressive ways,might seem unsubtle but is a way to establish her a a threat), but the ending very badly payload turns out weak: Carrie seems more distraught than furious, nobody is dismembered, a lot of people escape, and so on.

[Raytrace]

In The Loop not quite as brilliant as The Thick Of It, but still very, very good.

[DEL]

Filth. James McAvoy playing a Scottish cop lowlife Lodge member. Bad Lieutenant style movie but done as a dark comedy. Pretty good.
Trivia: Produced by Sting's wife Trudie Styler.

[Auddy]

Pontypool. A really great horror movie about a group of people trapped in a radio station during what appears to be some kind of zombie outbreak.

[spadgy]

1990: The Bronx Warriors - Wicked B-movie Warriors-type movie. Pretty low budget Italian film shot in English, fairly terrible acting, seems to mix normal dialogue and dubbed, but has its own coolness, some sections are nicely shot, and the 17-year old unknown guy that plays the lead has a brilliant creepiness about him. It also stars the guy that died in the Twilight Zone helicopter accident.