Movies you've just watched

[drauch]

Naked Lunch is such a treat. I really need to re-watch it. The squirming spinal cord/butt combo will never leave my brain.

COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS.

[BIL]

So good. You know what it takes to sell real estate...?

Plus, Ed Harris = ultimate swear bear

[xris]

Glengarry Glen Ross is a great movie.
Best speech ever.

[Leandro]

Oh Kirsty actress girl.

Oh yeah, she was great eye candy

[Moniker]

COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS.

Even though I've watched it recently, forgot how much I love that movie. My introduction to Jack Lemmon. Now I need to watch it again to interject another priceless quote.

[drauch]

Oh, really? It was quite odd for me, as I was a big fan first of Jack's earlier, more amiable titles. It was almost shocking to see him dropping f-bombs after watching films like The Apartment and Some Like It Hot.

[Some-Mist]

watched Chungking Express for the first time last night, and my thoughts are, "I need to watch the rest of Wong Kar Wai's work".

awesome film - I wish I would have checked it out sooner. the fact that it's a "love story" or a "romance movie" turned me off, but it wasn't the typical garbage that I'm used to seeing associated with the genre. I guess punch drunk love set me up pretty well to want to watch other alternative romance flicks.

[drauch]

Wong Kar Wai is awesome stuff. I'd say my favorite of his that I've seen is Fallen Angels. Most of his films are crafted in the same way: quirky characters, people connected in odd ways, and romance.

[emphatic]

Chung-King is my fave, although I too haven't seen all of his films yet.

[Some-Mist]

Fallen Angels is actually next up on my list. I've read that it's the perfect follow up but much more stylish.

I was also surprised to see he recently did a movie about Ipman, which I believe is separate and a different take from the other Ipman films by Wilson Yip?
cool stuff.

[emphatic]

Yeah, The Grandmaster. Trailer looks awesome.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Hellraiser. Forgot how gut-wrenchingly nasty some of the practical effects on MONSTA FRANK are... marverous. One evil mood throughout this flick, entirely apart from the nutsack-shrinking tortures. Decidedly unpleasant every time.

Didn't know until after this last watch that the film was initially meant to be set in Lahndan like source story The Hellbound Heart, but those dickbrains at head office insisted it be overdubbed with lots of Murican accents for big box office buckaroonies. I recognised the bad teeth on that furniture lugger right off! Gives the movie a disorienting feeling for sure, not entirely unwelcome.

Oh Kirsty actress girl. I'd eat that ass like Jeffrey Dahmer. |3

Hyper obscurum: Found it funny how in the credits FRANK THE MONSTER is listed much like RICK THE MONSTER in Splatterhouse Part 3. I wonder if Namco were parroting that at all.

Glengarry Glen Ross. Like halapeeners on a fresh papercut every time. You cunt. You fucking child.

If you haven't checked out the better sequel of Hellraiser II: Hellbound, the special EFX is even better with a bigger budget spent on it. The Cenobites of Chatterbox and Butterball are quite something indeed. And yes, Kirsty is back in the HR sequel as well. There was one conceptual female based Cenobite sketch that Clive Barker did that was scarier than Pinhead but considered too dangerous if used in a typical Hellraiser flick. I recall that there was a time when you could go to your local hobby shop and buy your very own Lament Configuration Box to construct and admire (from a distance, of course). It was more of a static display rather (with no moving parts to push and pull though like those evil puzzler devices shown in the films).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ixmucane2]

Space Pirate Captain Harlock

A completely idiotic story: the titular character would have accomplished more by going away to discover new worlds or by obliterating the bad guys in a one week war (1) and conquering the world. Instead, Harlock sets up a complex, desperate, 100 years long plot and aborts it.

Good production quality, with excellent character and mechanical design not matched by adequate but slightly cheap CGI and motion capture animation.

(1) The Arcadia is shown shooting as much as fleets of hundreds of similarly large and armed mook ships, and shredding them while suffering negligible damage, with little tactics beyond sudden entrances and highly phallic ramming.

[Mischief Maker]

If you haven't checked out the better sequel of Hellraiser II: Hellbound, the special EFX is even better with a bigger budget spent on it. The Cenobites of Chatterbox and Butterball are quite something indeed. And yes, Kirsty is back in the HR sequel as well. There was one conceptual female based Cenobite sketch that Clive Barker did that was scarier than Pinhead but considered too dangerous if used in a typical Hellraiser flick. I recall that there was a time when you could go to your local hobby shop and buy your very own Lament Configuration Box to construct and admire (from a distance, of course). It was more of a static display rather (with no moving parts to push and pull though like those evil puzzler devices shown in the films).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Bleh. One of the things I loved about the original Hellraiser was that the Cenobites weren't necessarily evil, just alien, so their concept of pleasure was completely at odds with our own. I've read a million reviews snarking that the box could lead to all the pleasures of Heaven or Hell, so why does everybody always get Hell?!! They've missed the point entirely, it's your own sexual tastes that decide if you'll interpret them as Demons or Angels. When Pinhead tells the girl "We have such sights so show you!" that's supposed to be genuine joy in his voice.

I suppose a lot of the original movie's shock factor has been lost over the years now that every other hipster is walking around with those earlobe-stretching circles, even the Twilight crowd is getting into S&M, and you can get a Prince Albert at the mall while noshing a Cinnabon.

Hellraiser 2 threw that all out the window. Now they're hell's borg. The disturbing glimpses of Frank's time with the Cenobites from the first movie have been replaced by a bog standard Twilight Zone ironic hell. (Beautiful women write under the sheets, but you pull them away and there's nothing there!) In the original movie, as menacing as the Cenobites could be, the monsters were the human characters and it was the Cenobites who saved the day. In Hellraiser 2, they're agents of an evil Rubik's cube manipulating gullible humans. And ugh! Did they have to introduce a Cenobite with wisecracking one-liners ala. Freddy Kreuger?

I live to spoil a good time.

[Eno]

Sun Ra's Space is the Place. Somehow Ra's theatricals didn't work as good on the movies as they did in his concerts, or rather they did and the problem is not enough Ra doing his thing. Anyway, has a few good scenes but it's hard to watch it all without losing attention.

[BIL]

I live to spoil a good time.

Nah, I largely agree. Haven't seen the second in years so I can't comment on it in too much depth. But what I particularly appreciate about the first, and what keeps me revisiting it, is the raw human depravity. Stripped of all supernatural aspects it'd still be an appalling tale. The occult horror element is stylish and entertaining for sure, but it all comes down to Frank and Julia, the most repulsive things in the movie by far.

[Mischief Maker]

I live to spoil a good time.

Nah, I largely agree. Haven't seen the second in years so I can't comment on it in too much depth. But what I particularly appreciate about the first, and what keeps me revisiting it, is the raw human depravity. Stripped of all supernatural aspects it'd still be an appalling tale. The occult horror element is stylish and entertaining for sure, but it all comes down to Frank and Julia, the most repulsive things in the movie by far.

That's why, to me, the most disturbing scene in Hellraiser 2 was not supernatural. The doctor makes his human sacrifice by bringing home a delusional patient who constantly sees insects crawling under his skin, then handing the man a straight razor and letting his psychosis do the rest.

[boagman]

I just saw "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Liked it, but there were some things they could have done better. Nonetheless, a pretty enjoyable movie with a decent number of laughs. Not unhappy with it at all.

[spadgy]

Catching up post Chritmas, I've watched a load of diabolical rubbish and overly familiar classics, but those aside, my highlights/notable watches of late:

The BFG - Animated by the mighty old school UK animation powerhouse Cosgrove Hall (Dangermouse, Count Duckula, Jamie and the Magic Torch etc) this adaptation of a Roald Dahl was a childhood favourite I've not seen since about 1992. Great to see it again; a wonderful film. Snozcumbers FTW.
The Grass is Greener - 1960 Cary Grant film that highlights how terrible 99 per cent of modern romantic comedies are.
The Grapes of Wrath - 1940 depression era-themed John Ford movie. Best thing I saw over Christmas.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life - Sentimental French comedy that my wife loved crying through while nodding and smiling on a hangover, and a great witty bit of film making. Not my usual cup of tea, but nice light hearted fun well made.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Irritating and smug throughout, but I thought this was meant to be an awful Woody Allen film. It was far from fantastic, but still had enough pif the Allen vibe to keep me watching, and Cruz was bloody brilliant in it. Also, I have bought bananas in the fruit store they visit in the movie; first film that's offered me that.
World's End - Still not as good as Spaced, like every Pegg/Frost film, but after my utterdisappointment with Hot Fuzz, this was fairly fun.

[GaijinPunch]

For some weird reason, Raiders of the Lost Ark is being shown each morning at Roppongi Hills. The print is clearly a very lovely remaster. Has the film grain, but little dust. Anyway, had a date where we went and saw it this weekend. Certain things haven't aged quite as well as I'd hoped, but it's still a classic, and I thoroughly enjoyed going through it again. I was my sons age when I saw it, and there's no way I'd show him now.

SPOILER (if you haven't seen the movie yet though you have a lot of issues): thought it was cool how a photo of the un-edited head explosion scene surfaced. You'd think it wouldn't take 30 years.

[DEL]

Killing Them Softly Brad Pitt mafia movie - Not bad. Shows America as it is. (No spoiler, but it contains an intriguing line about Matt Dillon & Kevin Dillon towards the end).

[rapoon]

RUSH!

what an awesome movie! acting was great, setting/clothing was spot-on for the era (mid-70's), cinematography was excellent.
prob the best racing movie I've seen.

[Moniker]

Jack Reacher (Netflix)

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

[GaijinPunch]

Has anyone seen Inside Llewyn Davis? 8.0 on IMDB. Trailer looks pretty wicked. I'm not familiar with the subject, but Coen Bros. + period piece usually equals win. Being what it is, it will come to Japan sometime around rapture.

[rapoon]

Has anyone seen Inside Llewyn Davis? 8.0 on IMDB. Trailer looks pretty wicked. I'm not familiar with the subject, but Coen Bros. + period piece usually equals win. Being what it is, it will come to Japan sometime around rapture.

not yet. heard an interview with the main actor on NPR and he was asked "what's one important thing you can tell us about this film?"

his response was "NOT Bob Dylan!!!..."

[DEL]

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.

[Some-Mist]

Has anyone seen Inside Llewyn Davis? 8.0 on IMDB. Trailer looks pretty wicked. I'm not familiar with the subject, but Coen Bros. + period piece usually equals win. Being what it is, it will come to Japan sometime around rapture.

I saw it and mentioned it two pages back. Probably my favorite Coen Bros film next to Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing. And probably the best movie I've seen in theaters since the Q&A w/ Shane Carruth/double feature of Upstream Color and Primer. I'm sure that'll soon be overshadowed by Her, L'ecume des jours (Mood Indigo), The Zero Theorem, or Inherent Vice, but definitely worth the ticket price to see it in theaters.

My only "somewhat-complaint" about Inside Llewyn Davis would be that Llewyn performed one too many live songs in the film (to be expected tho seeing what the subject is). The songs sorta dragged, but the rest of the movie was very Coen Brothers-esque laced with dry humor through out.

I was gonna sneak into Spike Jonze's "Her" after, but I was with two people who weren't too interested.

[Acid King]

Killing Them Softly Brad Pitt mafia movie - Not bad. Shows America as it is. (No spoiler, but it contains an intriguing line about Matt Dillon & Kevin Dillon towards the end).

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.

[GaijinPunch]

I saw it and mentioned it two pages back. Probably my favorite Coen Bros film next to Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing.

I somewhat remember that now. Anyway, cheers for the testimonial. Really want to see it. I will be in the states at some point soon, but by then I'm sure it will only be in the shitty theaters. It will take ages to come out here. Japan really has their heads up their fucking asses with movies sometimes. Coen Brothers stuff usually does well here, even though the humor goes *WAY* over the general populace's head.

[Some-Mist]

believe it or not, it's really only in select theaters with a pretty limited release in Illinois. there really hasn't been a whole lot of advertisement for it even though it's a Coen Bros flick. maybe it'll actually get a wider release by the time you get to the US