Movies you've just watched

[Skykid]

Arnold is king!

Definitely. I don't know how those amazing one-liners ever went out of fashion... or perhaps they didn't and they just forgot how to write them.

"Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired"

[Daigohji]

Just watched Oblivion. It's unusual for a (fairly) big budget SF movie in that it has a tight focus on just a few characters, though the story does have more epic implications. The visuals are striking--Joseph Kosinski is fast becoming one of the strongest visual directors since Ridley Scott. It also has an excellent electronic score. The story is good, though the first major plot twist is spoiled by the trailers, so avoid them if you plan to watch the movie. On the whole it's a very good movie that falls just short of being truly great.

Two problems. First, it falls victim to Hollywood Producers Don't Trust The Viewer's Intelligence Syndrome, aka. a hand-holding expository narration over the first scene that establishes the backstory. The second problem I had wasn't the movie's fault, but the fact that my writer brain switched on at a few key moments and started analysing the plot structure (I usually try to keep it switched off when watching movies for the first time). So at a critical moment I suddenly found myself thinking, "Ooo, they've managed to have the reconciliation with the relationship character, the villain's defeat, and the resolution of the problem all within ten seconds. That's quite impressive." Hopefully I'll be able to just sit back and enjoy that scene the next time I watch it.

[boagman]

Just watched Oblivion. It's unusual for a (fairly) big budget SF movie in that it has a tight focus on just a few characters, though the story does have more epic implications. The visuals are striking--Joseph Kosinski is fast becoming one of the strongest visual directors since Ridley Scott. It also has an excellent electronic score. The story is good, though the first major plot twist is spoiled by the trailers, so avoid them if you plan to watch the movie. On the whole it's a very good movie that falls just short of being truly great.

Two problems. First, it falls victim to Hollywood Producers Don't Trust The Viewer's Intelligence Syndrome, aka. a hand-holding expository narration over the first scene that establishes the backstory. The second problem I had wasn't the movie's fault, but the fact that my writer brain switched on at a few key moments and started analysing the plot structure (I usually try to keep it switched off when watching movies for the first time). So at a critical moment I suddenly found myself thinking, "Ooo, they've managed to have the reconciliation with the relationship character, the villain's defeat, and the resolution of the problem all within ten seconds. That's quite impressive." Hopefully I'll be able to just sit back and enjoy that scene the next time I watch it.

Just about the only things I'll agree with here are the Kosinski visuals and *perhaps* the score...but it didn't jump out at me, either. The story itself *may have* been good had it not been for the trailers, but come stinking on: you're trying to tell me that this wasn't as paint-by-numbers of a plot as you can get? Everything was painfully telegraphed very early on.

"Two problems"? You're far more generous than I am...and I saw it at no charge, in IMAX.

[Daigohji]

Just watched Oblivion. It's unusual for a (fairly) big budget SF movie in that it has a tight focus on just a few characters, though the story does have more epic implications. The visuals are striking--Joseph Kosinski is fast becoming one of the strongest visual directors since Ridley Scott. It also has an excellent electronic score. The story is good, though the first major plot twist is spoiled by the trailers, so avoid them if you plan to watch the movie. On the whole it's a very good movie that falls just short of being truly great.

Two problems. First, it falls victim to Hollywood Producers Don't Trust The Viewer's Intelligence Syndrome, aka. a hand-holding expository narration over the first scene that establishes the backstory. The second problem I had wasn't the movie's fault, but the fact that my writer brain switched on at a few key moments and started analysing the plot structure (I usually try to keep it switched off when watching movies for the first time). So at a critical moment I suddenly found myself thinking, "Ooo, they've managed to have the reconciliation with the relationship character, the villain's defeat, and the resolution of the problem all within ten seconds. That's quite impressive." Hopefully I'll be able to just sit back and enjoy that scene the next time I watch it.

Just about the only things I'll agree with here are the Kosinski visuals and *perhaps* the score...but it didn't jump out at me, either. The story itself *may have* been good had it not been for the trailers, but come stinking on: you're trying to tell me that this wasn't as paint-by-numbers of a plot as you can get? Everything was painfully telegraphed very early on.

"Two problems"? You're far more generous than I am...and I saw it at no charge, in IMAX.

Was Oblivion's story perfect? Far from it; that's why I called it a good movie, not a great one. It shortchanged one if its major characters in the latter half, and had a central romance that never clicked. Still, I wouldn't call its adherance to the Hollywood plot formula more paint-by-numbers than any other studio movie.

I don't think you can overestimate how much damage the trailers and the opening narration do together. The trailers give away that this is an
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SPOILERS AHEAD
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'everything you thought you knew is a lie' story. With that foreknowledge, the viewer immediately begins to suspect every 'fact' they're given, and since the narration is just a string of these 'facts', the immediate assumption is that everything we're being told is a lie. Factor in that it's only been a few years since Moon did the same thing as Oblivion's second plot twist, and you have a movie that more a victim of bad timing and marketing rather than poor execution from start to finish.
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END OF SPOILERS
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I can pretty much guarantee that Kosinski didn't want that narration in there. Every point it mentions is repeated later on in dialogue, so the movie would have functioned just as well (and with a greater sense of mystery) without it. What we have is a movie in the same state as the theatrical cuts of Blade Runner or Dark City: both those movies were released with unneccessary opening narration that crippled their first act, both had director's cuts that removed it, and both were made far superior thanks to that change.

[boagman]

I can pretty much guarantee that Kosinski didn't want that narration in there. Every point it mentions is repeated later on in dialogue, so the movie would have functioned just as well (and with a greater sense of mystery) without it. What we have is a movie in the same state as the theatrical cuts of Blade Runner or Dark City: both those movies were released with unneccessary opening narration that crippled their first act, both had director's cuts that removed it, and both were made far superior thanks to that change.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

I still disagree with you on the whole of it, but let's simply address your point.

You can't unring this bell. I suggest that far too much was given away in the trailers (which used and relied heavily on that opening narration, to be sure), but whatever the reason for it, you walk into that movie knowing *far too much* about what's coming down the pipe. The writing of the movie, and the way the plot's laid out, do absolutely *nothing* to challenge the viewer, nor their preconceived notions about what's going on, or what's coming ahead. I'm not sure that it would have been any more or less obvious had they had a superimposed subtitle on the screen every time a drone or "drain station" or Sally was on the screen that said "BAD GUY" in bold yellow lettering. Actually, I fully admit that I might have found that pretty funny.

More than that, though, is the whole "He's a clone!" garbage. Yeah, like I didn't see *that* coming with the whole "Radiation Zone" B.S. from the first time I saw that in the movie. Every stinking thing in the story isn't just transparent, it's translucent. The script is *terrible*. Had the opening narration and trailers not been there, I'd still be saying the same thing, considering that the script is just *that stinking obvious*.

If you want to praise the movie for majoring in the minors with production values, score, and whatnot, well, I'm not going to stand in the way of you doing that. That being the case, if a person were to look at and take in "Tron: Legacy" from a few years back, they're going to see even better stuff from Kosinski's camp in those same areas. One step forward, two steps back?

"Oblivion" is, in my opinion, far worse than you're taking it to task for. It isn't just the trailers and opening narration. Those certainly didn't help, no...but the damage was done before those took effect.

[SuperPang]

Definitely. I don't know how those amazing one-liners ever went out of fashion... or perhaps they didn't and they just forgot how to write them.
"Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired"

My personal favourite..



You can stick your high brow oscar bait up your arse. When Arnie worked with the likes of Cameron, Verhoeven or McTiernan, movie magic happened.

[jonny5]

Helldriver - How had I not seen this before? Awesome!

Girls gone dead - Not terrible, well actually it probably was But the nudity and gore made up for it. I watched expecting lots of nudity and cheesy gore, and it delivered.

Sudden Death - Hadn't watched this since it was new. Been working our way through all the Van Damme stuff on Netflix. Not his best, but not bad.

Hard Target - Van Damme as a greasy mullet having cajun. Almost ruined by that annoying chick from that 90's TV show I can't recall; those eyebrows

Intruder - This was awesome! It had been so long since I had seen this, I didn't remember any of it. Some pretty nice kills. Love how they have Bruce Campbell's name on the cover, but he is only in the last 2 minutes of the movie as a cop.

Safe - Jason Statham films are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. They all play out pretty much the same, but for whatever reason, I like just about everything he does; the action is always great, and he plays that character perfectly. Well worth a watch.

[Ed Oscuro]

I tried to start Hard Target but got stuck on something. John Woo's first film outside Hong Kong...it seemed promising. *twang* "Hello, you're reading this sentence as it's being read by me, Lance Henriksen."

You can stick your high brow oscar bait up your arse.

I must look up this Read Heat.

"Let off some steam, Bennett!"

Just watched "Went The Day Well?" the famous Ealing Studios wartime comedy (drama? hah)
Like the Germans really would make a rookie mistake like bringing along a chocolate bar with German on it...I don't think he even got to eat that chocolate, but he did get to eat some dirt.
Most of my favorite bits involved the women, although almost all of the best characters got killed off. The film was really rough on the girls. Favorite scene was probably one of the Land Army girls messily working the action of a rifle.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Finally checked out the sci-fi flick that is Oblivion for a mere five bucks. The electronic score was done by none other than M83. The scene with Jack fighting with the drones is highly reminscient of the plane/tail gunner's cockpit fight scene in Tron Legacy. What's interesting about the hitting an armored drone's weak spot but still being to be able to be knocked out of comission from Jack's flyer craft's main guns (which are packing some serious firepower) from the side is a glaring observation. Most of the events that take place in the film is in 2067 A.D. -- the AI is quite advanced to the point of having it's own agenda against humanity -- but why do so if it's self-aware? The flyer craft is dual purpose (meaning it works well on Earth and in outer space enviroment without the pilot needing to suit up either is eyebrow-raising indeed).

After viewing the theatrical trailer of Oblivion, it doesn't mention some of the twists & spins in the plot of the film.

The eagle-eye Quentin Tarantino fans will instantly recogize the actress/stunt woman, Zoe Bell, whom has a small role in this film. She had a tiny role in Tarantino's 2012 Django Unchained remake as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Moniker]

The eagle-eye Quentin Tarantino fans will instantly recogize the actress/stunt woman, Zoe Bell, whom has a small role in this film. She had a tiny role in Tarantino's 2012 Django Unchained remake as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I quite like her. She was also great playing herself in Death Proof, and was Uma's stunt double in the Kill Bill movies.

[rapoon]

42 - pretty good. ed's review sums it up nicely. needs more baseball and less jackie robinson.

Blue Spring - rewatached. delinquent japanese high school kids. good movie.

Outrage: Beyond - much better than the first. flip-flips from excellent to shit often. typical kitano abrupt ending. his movies have gone downhill. violent cop, boiling point, sonatine, fireworks/hana-bi are all much better.

The Hunt - mads mikkelsen is excellent. skykid wrote a review, sums it up.

The Grandmasters - one of the better ip man flicks.

Confession of Murder - the same regurgitated korean shit they've pumped out for the last several years. first 10 minutes are great. rest is a huge waste of time.

The Thieves - same as confession of murder

Room 237 - this is great if you like The Shining, because it's a documentary about... The Shining. it's hard to take any of the theories seriously but it's entertaining.

Ondskan/Evil - Young guy who's abused by his step-father is sent to a boarding school where he encounters and has to deal with more sadistic psychos. excellent.

[GaijinPunch]

Some stuff I watched on a plane which luckily had no snakes.

- Lincoln: Usual caliber performance from Daniel Day Lewis... and about what you'd expect from a period piece from Spielberg. Definitely worth watching, definitely enjoyable, but nothing I'd watch a second time, and you pretty much know how it will end... and move along So, you have to enjoy the very many familiar faces (lots from TV, too) and how well they do. Tommy Lee Jones was good and he usually bugs the fuck out of me. Makes me want to read up a bit more on the Emancipation Proclamation and the events leading up to Lincoln's. death. Yes, I know, I didn't listen in school.

- Perks of Being a Wallflower: The book was recommended to me, but I knew I'd never get it or read it anytime soon, so I watched the movie. I imagine the book is better, but this is really enjoyable. It is catered to anyone who felt out of place in high school in the 80s, and also liked good music. Only complaint is they didn't capture the time frame that well. In fact, I wasn't sure if it was an alternate universe type of thing for a few minutes. They should have desaturated the film a bit, and capitalized on the haircuts. Nonetheless, very good, and I'd gladly watch it again if my ho wanted to (which she probably will). Bonus points for having Bland from Arrested Development in it and not induce vomiting.

- Gangster Squad: Finished with this one, and seemed to work out well that way as I was tired. Pretty violent all things considered. Not bad. Just kind of there. Nothing really particularly bad about the performances or directing, but nothing sticks out either. Some decent action. Costumes and cars are very well done, which i asume is where most of the budget went. Note that pretty much all the events surrounding the real names seem fabricated.

[Daigohji]

Iron Man Three is a pleasing return to form for the series. Far superior to 2, I'd rank it around the same quality as 1. Since it has two major villains, I worried it would suffer a bad case of supervillain tag-team syndrome, but they found a clever way around that (not on the level of The Dark Knight, but then few superhero movies have a script that good). Like most Marvel movies the climax had a lot of fireworks, but felt a little flat, somehow. For those wondering, it does have a scene after the credits; not an Avengers 2 tie-in, but funny nonetheless.

MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW

The movie handled the extremis plotline pretty well, but I was disappointed that they glossed over one of the most shocking moments in the graphic novel, namely Tony injecting himself with nano-machines in order to stand on an equal footing against the extremis-enhanced enemies. In the movie that moment happens at the beginning, its implications are toned down, and the matter passes without comment.

Also, while Pepper is sadly in damsel in distress mode for most of this movie, she does get to be a badass at one critical moment. No sign of her suiting up as Rescue yet, though, despite one scene that hinted it might be upcoming.

[Moniker]

Making my way through Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition

Definitely the preferred way of viewing these films. A lot of abrupt dialogue and weird plot conceits are worked out. Don't watch them as full-length movies, however. Best viewed as a marathon of a season of your favorite TV show - 45 mins at a time.

Just started Return of the King. I may end up as a gay hobbit, or an elf gay for dwarves (twink->bear), vice versa, or just generally gay for Aragorn. And I'm alright with that. If queer theorists ever make their way around to LotR, they'll have a field day.

[RGC]

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[drauch]

Making my way through Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition

Definitely the preferred way of viewing these films. A lot of abrupt dialogue and weird plot conceits are worked out. Don't watch them as full-length movies, however. Best viewed as a marathon of a season of your favorite TV show - 45 mins at a time.

Just started Return of the King. I may end up as a gay hobbit, or an elf gay for dwarves (twink->bear), vice versa, or just generally gay for Aragorn. And I'm alright with that. If queer theorists ever make their way around to LotR, they'll have a field day.

I was talking to myself yesterday about this. The LotR films aren't great films in my opinion, but they almost need to be watched extended. The theatrical cut of Return of the King feels so rushed and lackluster in the last battle sequence.

[Ed Oscuro]

and you pretty much know how [Lincoln] will end... and move along

I gotta say, though, that Lincoln-related pictures (for example, the recent adaptation of "Killing Lincoln" for the small screen) tends to focus on Lincoln's end in the Ford Theater (or nearby), while this film almost escapes that routine entirely. It seems reasonable to say that Spielberg has broken the mold here - despite the picture feeling kind of heavy-handed at times, it's also not. There's a soft touch in a lot of scenes that could have been handled more aggressively (and badly). It's hard not to notice the feeling that the film has shoved your nose out your ear, too, and even though many of the backdrop scenes are very nice to look at, they're also unrelentingly sharply photographed (without, I have to add, the results "looking digital). It seems appropriate for an era whose mundane streets are so unfamiliar to us today.

[system11]

White Tiger - ***

What an odd film. A white German tank keeps appearing in battle, destroying the Russian army and then quietly slipping away. A young tank commander survives one of the attacks, and ends up trying to hunt it down. You'll have a to make a couple of leaps of faith watching this one, and of course read subtitles since the film is in Russian. It has a very unusual atmosphere - particularly the scenes at the end depicting the end of the war, it almost feels like a Lynch film at times.

Definitely something very different, my attention was absolutely held all the way through and I think it's worth people giving it a try.

[GaijinPunch]

Definitely the preferred way of viewing these films. A lot of abrupt dialogue and weird plot conceits are worked out. Don't watch them as full-length movies, however. Best viewed as a marathon of a season of your favorite TV show - 45 mins at a time.

I marathoned these in the theater. O_O


Some more on the latest plane ride:

Wreck-it-Ralph: Needs to intro or review. Fun for the family, but aimed at us. Quite funny, too. A pleasure to the senses.

Zero Dark Thirty: Better than the Hurt Locker. Not best picture material... hard to watch at times. I'm curious as to how many creative liberties were taken. From what I remember of the report when it first came out, only one other person at the compound was killed besides OBL, and it was a man who drew a weapon. So, that to me was confusing.

[null1024]

Iron Man 3. An action packed visual spectacle, which means it probably won't age well. I don't remember much about the second installment, but that didn't seem to be a requirement. I guess on a par with the first, and I enjoyed it more than the two recent batman sequels. See it on the big screen if you can afford it.

Also, the trailer for Man of Steel was a bit tasty.

Ooooh. I'm bothered that I have to wait to see it here in the States... gotta wait till May 3rd!

[GaijinPunch]

Yeah, weird.
It's been out here for a few days as well.

[Ixmucane2]

The Lords of Salem
More imagery and atmosphere than plot, with many important aspects of the story implied, left in the background, or simply neglected; visions and nightmares steal screen time from factual events, until reality itself becomes unreal.
The problem is that visions and nightmares aren't actual threats; only the news voice-over at the end (telling what the Lords concretely did in Salem and implying the consequences), manages to be scary.
Characters are particularly deep and remarkable, mostly escaping the obvious villain - victim - hero axis (having the Devil as the only significantly badass figure helps).

[Ixmucane2]

Iron Man Three
A reasonable plot, but I didn't like neglecting the Iron Man suits (preferring mediocre subplots and characters, like Happy as the chief of security, Pepper's Christmas gift, and the obnoxious Tennessee kid to Tony Stark's defining obsession) and using them as a mass of unimportant disposable weapons or even comic relief (the Mark 42).
The very last part of the film deals with important subjects too hastily and easily and leaves the situation of most characters quite uncertain.

[Ed Oscuro]

Sudden Death, Van Damme, 13:46 mark

"Hey kids, I wanna show you something." *chef nonchalantly flips cleaver in the air, and it comes down a second later to destroy an onion*
BEST FORESHADOWING EVER. I like where this is going. Van Damme's son is the usual obnoxious '90s film male child stereotype though, oh well

[drauch]

Sudden Death is so great. The kitchen fight with the mascot is one of my favorite Van Damme moments. Can't forget the helicopter going completely vertical and landing in the arena as well!

[Skykid]

Iron Man 3

Yeah, s' alright.

[Moniker]

Dragon Tattoo Trilogy - Extended (Swedish) on Netflix

First one was pretty good murder mystery. Interesting main character. The others... I have trouble seeing what all the hype was about - really slow, labyrinthine plotting. But then, I haven't read the books. I think I prefer the Hollywood version of Dragon Tattoo, but I have no idea how they're gonna turn the sequels into anything really worth going to a theater for. They're more like a pretty run of episodes from Law & Order: CI than a proper film trilogy. *Shrug*

Also, I kinda doubt that having congenital analgesia leads to making you Jaws from the Moore era Bond films.

[Ed Oscuro]

Just wanted to leave a note about Sudden Death: The opening sequences, where everybody's getting shot, were brutal and seemed actually a bit out of place with the rest of the film. Didn't have the softening humor of any of the Arnie touches, but I guess that's life for ya. I turned out to be wrong about the cleaver dude; he (and his wife) just were offed unceremoniously, which also kind of sucked. Finally, I didn't care for how the bad guys were taken out, either. However much of the rest of the film was pretty ingenious, although the idea of the fire extinguisher gun was pretty ridiculous. Wouldn't that extinguisher make a more prominent bulge at least? - to say nothing of the goosebumps caused by the steel bar section. Of course, the good parts of the film - nice locating shots of the old Civic Arena in its original location, complete with nearby skyscrapers making you think "hey, shouldn't there be police snipers up there looking at everything going on, like the guy on the roof," nice fights, great scene where Van Damme saves the game, and all the stuff on the roof and in and around the jumbotron. I could swear the cheesy "staring out of the chopper cockpit as the bad guy falls to his death" scene has been seen before, like maybe in Cliffhanger...but what the hell. Ending was a bit short for my liking as well, could've done a bit more to wrap up a few character stories, but they got the main stories handled pretty well.

Working on Highlander right now. "You have the manners of a goat." Major criticism so far: Did they really have to kill off Connery that quickly? Some other odd notes in the film but it's going better than I thought it might have.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Peculiarities of the National Hunt



Referring to many things (a bit like Accumulator 1 and Kontroll), but kept reminding me of The Deer Hunter first and foremost.

[system11]

Basket Case 1+2+3 - ***

Fucked up. Properly fucked up.


Come Out And Play - **

Not an original idea, all the kids kill the adults. However, the atmosphere in this one is really dark, mostly assisted by a foreboding musical score. The final scene is pretty strong/brave stuff for a film these days.