Movies you've just watched

[system11]

Don't make me have to clean one of the better off topic threads again.

[amdiggywhut]

I saw The Master for the first time last night. Still thinking about it today. I'm going to have to watch it again because Joaquin Phoenix's character had a weird speech impediment that caused me to miss some lines. Powerful film though, I'd definitely recommend it.

[Skykid]

The Raid 2

Right, who was it who said this was better than the first one? I know someone said it. That's fighting talk man.

What happened. All the original's claustrophobia, constant pressure, relentless drive, virtuosity and dynamism evaporated in a completely generic and highly tedious gang warfare barney.

Okay, it has some good fights. Not as good as the first - the ending certainly came close - but there was some impressive bits n' pieces. I liked the car chase and especially the three boss characters with signature weapons: bat, hammers and scythes.

But god, was it....boring. Rama was like a secondary character under a that leaden gang guff, shit you've seen and heard so many, many times before. Complete walking cliché mobsters, grinning and talking slowly, mincing some silly rhetoric or another before shooting someone or another. I thought the intial prison scenario was it, and I was game: but after it ended up doing the whole undercover, overcooked, and overlong scenario, interest waned and only the promise of stellar combat kept me going. And even that didn't meet expectation, the editing not complimenting the choreography the way it did in the first film.

I'm surprised. I had more faith in the director who brought about something so fresh, tense and hip with the original than to write up a base level gang war story for a sequel. The original is close to my heart for rekindling a certain old-school magic with a sort of rogue, brash directorial debut, full of creativity and energy. He had a hero, he had moments where you sat out of your seat in absolute elation, boss battles, motion, and constant pace. This sequel isn't on the same level at all.

Why oh why he filtered all that down by trying his hand at some kind of plot is beyond me, but as it stands it's not an unsuccessful film, but certainly a failed experiment. You can watch it for the fights, but unfortunately everything else is cardboard.

I am disappoint.

[Volteccer_Jack]

Yeah yeah, "I, Robot" introduced you to Asimov. But did it introduce you to the MOST important thing in that movie?

No, I already knew about Stevie Wonder.

[system11]

The Raid 2

I am disappoint.

I hated the way he added shakycam bullshit to the action scenes too, presumably to make them look more exciting, but in reality it just meant I couldn't see half of the violence.

It's too long, it lacks focus.

[Moniker]

I'm of two minds of The Raid 2. I'm glad that it expanded its locales; another enclosed building scenario would've been disastrous. The plot elements, eh, I could take 'em or leave 'em. Rama was pretty useless outside of fight scenes, though. The actor has a very very small range. The cast of characters, despite being more diverse have less.. character. Mad Dog take 2 included.

As I'm writing, I'm realizing that I'm parroting word-for-word with what SK said, and have basically a single mind about it, but I apparently enjoyed 2 a lot more than he did. The first is definitely the more complete film, but I imagine I'll be watching both forever and anon. And that fact that Rama... cleans up at the end sorta makes the cast of characters worthwhile,

Spoiler

if only to see them die.

As SK said, some of the mid-bosses were kinda rad, although I guess I'd exchange any of them for that anonymous dude in 1 with the crazy eyes & machete. The hammers were pretty epic, however. And not enough gunplay.

Really think they missed an opportunity by

Spoiler

disposing of the brother in the VERY FIRST SCENE.

[BryanM]

Don't make me have to clean one of the better off topic threads again.

So much for reminiscing over the jiggyness of Wild Wild West >_>

[Moniker]

Don't make me have to clean one of the better off topic threads again.

So much for reminiscing over the jiggyness of Wild Wild West >_>

Wiggy, wiggy, scratch, yo, yo, bang, bang.
Me and Artemis Clyde frog go save Salma Hayek from the big metal spider

[rapoon]

mongaloids in hollywood have decided to remake 12 monkeys:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3148266/

original isn't the greatest flick but it sure as christ isn't dated and we don't need another shit remake!!!
absolute laziness....

[Lord Satori]

Oh! I've seen that movie. It was amazing, and I don't see how a remake could possibly do it any good.

[boagman]

...but then, I have a weakness for Will Smith...

Please tell me that you're not one of those people who's going to try to defend the atrocity that is/was "I Am Legend". I'm afraid I just won't be able to process what you say anymore, if you're one of them.

[Skykid]

The Raid 2

I am disappoint.

I hated the way he added shakycam bullshit to the action scenes too, presumably to make them look more exciting, but in reality it just meant I couldn't see half of the violence.

It's too long, it lacks focus.

You're damn right. In the original we were whooping at the way the fights built up to certain kill shots, it was so much fun and the long take corridor stuff was amazing. He goes and gets a budget and suddenly can't keep the camera still? All that ballet: lost. These guys are still atheletes and there's good stuff in there, but honestly I got more out of Ong Bak 2 in terms of eye opening choreography than Raid 2.

And yes, way, way too long. Lose 45 minutes and bring the action closer together and improvements could be made. Unfortunately I had to listen to all that dishwater rich gangster piffle instead. So not entertaining. Wasn't it BIL who said he thought Raid 2 was better written and paced? Wat drugz were you droppin' son? Its narrative be right up there with straight-2-video gangland movie of the week.

Anyway, no point in me ever watching it again when Raid: Redemption exists, and does everything several times better. Neither are movies you watch for plot, but the original's pure video game format knew that, so it came at you with a five minute premise and then 1.5hrs of levels, lives and bosses. It had tension with the machete hunter, insane fist fodder body counts, use of environment, little twists that gave spark to the characters and proceedings, a Ryu and Ken vs Bison last boss battle, and my favourite: getting downstairs by smashing someone through a window, falling three storeys and using him as a mattress. I put my hands together for that one.

Raid 2 isn't even half as much fun.

...but then, I have a weakness for Will Smith...

Please tell me that you're not one of those people who's going to try to defend the atrocity that is/was "I Am Legend". I'm afraid I just won't be able to process what you say anymore, if you're one of them.

My, my eyes! I, Robot and I am Legend being mentioned in the same page... Please stop, I don't want to go back to the hell again.

[BryanM]

As far as Hollywood goes, that's about as good as they do.

Have you seen what they're doing to us next? With the alien lizards who know taijutsu?

This feels suspiciously a lot like how it feels when I defend ET for the Atari..

[system11]

mongaloids in hollywood have decided to remake 12 monkeys:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3148266/

original isn't the greatest flick but it sure as christ isn't dated and we don't need another shit remake!!!
absolute laziness....

They'll probably remake Predator or Bladerunner next. There are still classics out there waiting to be shat on by the remake train.

I watched the Robocop remake, it was 'ok as a dumb film' but it was nowhere even close to the original.

[Skykid]

Remaking 12 Monkeys.

Holllywood = brain dead.

I should elaborate a little on Wolf Creek 2, my two word review wasn't very informative. It's quite good. Absurdly grotesquely wincingly violent, and it suffers from retreading most of the original's ideas: young people being hunted like outback animals by a guy who knows how to hunt and take advantage of his territory, Vietnam style.

Jarratt is still superb and gives a great performance, genuinely scary crazy guy, and the supporting cast are stronger than in the lower budget original - but it doesn't quite have that painful element of suspense it had first time around despite being very competently directed.

My main issue is that they tried to partly justify wolfman's insanity by giving him a xenophobic subtext. It's unnecessary. He's more interesting as a sick sadist who tortures and butchers for pleasure, I don't need to know about his tourism gripes.

Anyway, recommended for a night of high tension and buckets of blood. This is encroaching on Hostel levels of grimness.

Definitely more entertaining than The Raid 2, which I watched afterwards.

[BIL]

Wasn't it BIL who said he thought Raid 2 was better written and paced? Wat drugz were you droppin' son? Its narrative be right up there with straight-2-video gangland movie of the week.

Yep! If you're going to make a videogame movie you'd better not smack an unskippable bro-wank cutscene in the middle. When it comes to action flick plots I prefer generic to retarded.

It's cool though, some really good videogames have unskippable cutscenes.

My biggest issues with the sequel are the at times preposterous absence of shooting, and the overtly cartoony midbosses Batman and hammer girl. "The Assassin" was Mad Dog-good, at least.

[Skykid]

Wasn't it BIL who said he thought Raid 2 was better written and paced? Wat drugz were you droppin' son? Its narrative be right up there with straight-2-video gangland movie of the week.

Yep! If you're going to make a videogame movie you'd better not smack an unskippable bro-wank cutscene in the middle. When it comes to action flick plots I prefer generic to retarded.

No dice my friend. Redemption had its weaknesses, for me it took quite a long time to get warmed up - but the scene you're talking about - where his injured partner is on his last legs? - was inoffensive and set the tone for greater revenge. It was also infinitesimally shorter than the entire contingent of treacle slow waffle scenes in the sequel: that is to say it was merely a beat between the roaring rampage as opposed to trite majority filler.

Raid 2 deserves no plotting or scripting praise, and its characters were unappealing cliché cutouts who dulled every scene in an unintentional shade of grey. Slick rick playing Uco was useless, as was stubbly cripple boss, and Rama was like a spare wheel. That guy needs to fight, not try to act his way around copycat Hollywood used material.

I can't really think of anything the sequel did with any superiority to be honest. I'm surprised you called it so wrong, but weirder things have happened, especially in this thread.

[BIL]

Redemption had its weaknesses, for me it took quite a long time to get warmed up - but the scene you're talking about - where his injured partner is on his last legs?

Absolutely not - that was quality like the other 95% of the movie occupying either side of my complaint. I mean the family reunion with fond talk of pops back home and "plz go straight, gang lord bro, ur gonna be an uncle soon." I think you're misconstruing my opinion on the sequel's writing similarly - it's not that I consider it praiseworthy in its own right, just less offensive.

OTOH, the loss of the original's terrifying guns & machetes grounding for West Side Story melees and shonen manga midbosses does offend me considerably.

[Skykid]

Oh that scene. Yeah a bit cloddish all things considered, but again, brief enough to not detract from the main course violence to any degree. I liked that there was at least a subtle twist and the guy turned out to he his brother - that small nuance was more interesting than the entire sequel's attempt at plot, and therefore I can forgive the typical pointless out-of-place Asian melodrama (see Japan if you want to know who wrote the book).

Also we got to see Billy and Jimmy Lee in a Double Dragon finale fixture, built up to be the fight of the century - and it delivered.

I'm just agog that anyone could respect any facet of Raid 2's tracing paper plot, characters and writing. It was like paint drying between fight scenes that for all intents and purposes, didn't have the original's stakes, intensity or structure.

Put the two in a ring and Redemption leaves Berendal a bloody wheezing stump.

[Volteccer_Jack]

Robocop remake pissed me off because I could see the seeds of an awesome movie every now and then, when it wasn't busy trying really hard to be bad. At least it had Keaton.

12 Monkeys sucks regardless. It was insulting my intelligence before Shyamalan made insulting my intelligence cool. And that theme tune which I guess was supposed to sound weird or something but just sounded awful.

...but then, I have a weakness for Will Smith...

Please tell me that you're not one of those people who's going to try to defend the atrocity that is/was "I Am Legend". I'm afraid I just won't be able to process what you say anymore, if you're one of them.

Never saw it, never plan to. One of those movies with a trailer that makes the quality abundantly clear.

[BIL]

Put the two in a ring and Redemption leaves Berendal a bloody wheezing stump.

Ultimately the original is the better movie overall, absolutely. I'm harsher on its Asian soap than the sequel's gangland dross due to it momentarily gumming up what's otherwise a perfectly calibrated ultraviolence dispenser in the form of a nightmarish tower block.

[Skykid]

Put the two in a ring and Redemption leaves Berendal a bloody wheezing stump.

Ultimately the original is the better movie overall, absolutely. I'm harsher on its Asian soap than the sequel's gangland dross due to it momentarily gumming up what's otherwise a perfectly calibrated ultraviolence dispenser in the form of a nightmarish tower block.

Now that makes perfect sense.

[Acid King]

They'll probably remake Predator or Bladerunner next.

http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/entry/view/id/374262

[Mischief Maker]

FDR: American Badass

When I saw the trailer, I thought it was a joke. No, the movie exists, it's on Netflix Instant, you see two hot chick's boobs, and this is about the most honest trailer you could make for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs2m2DJybD4

[Some-Mist]

12 Monkeys sucks regardless. It was insulting my intelligence before Shyamalan made insulting my intelligence cool. And that theme tune which I guess was supposed to sound weird or something but just sounded awful.

even if it wasn't as great as La Jetee, 12 monkeys was still pretty enjoyable even if it were for Pitt's performance alone. sure it's a somewhat loose retelling of an amazing flick, but Terry does a fantastic job at creating a unique universe - you can almost always tell when you're watching a Gilliam film.

having said that, the remake of 12 monkeys is probably going to blow ass...

and even though it's my favorite of this year so far, I'd probably recommend that you stay away from the zero theorem too.

[jonny5]

Why all the hate on I am Legend? It was pretty good, and even better with the alternate ending. Certainly not as bad as some people are making out in this thread.

[Lord Satori]

They'll probably remake Predator or Bladerunner next.

http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/entry/view/id/374262

Wow, a Predator remake? I hope it turns out good. Though knowing how I am, I'd probably enjoy it even if it turns out to be terrible.

[Acid King]

I don't have much hope for it, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was quite good and I'm a big fan of Monster Squad so there's a slim chance it will be decent.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Don't people familiar with the original (Danish) Olsen Gang AND The Angels' Share find many similarities between the two? Rather primordial kind of "leftist" if you ask me (not a bad thing in this case).

Come to think of it, doesn't The General™ of Peculiarities of the National Hunt borrows the cigar thing from Egon Olsen? Suddenly, it seems as striking to me as Warren Oates borrowing Cybulski's sunglasses in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. So rudimentary, yet so powerful means of expression...

[Skykid]

Why all the hate on I am Legend? It was pretty good, and even better with the alternate ending. Certainly not as bad as some people are making out in this thread.

Dude it's fucking awful. He rugby tackles a zombie with a couple of hand grenades he happens to find in his stethoscope drawer.

It's a pile of shit on entirely its own merit (I think the "test her again!" scene which essentially invalidates the entire procudure by which they're determining who's infected or not is kind of the icing in the proverbial retard cake) but when you compare it to the original novel it's nothing short of a travesty.

Anyway, the less we talk about that movie the better. The most memorable part of seeing it is when my brother came up to me in the theatre after an hour, demanded his ticket back and said "I'm going to get a refund, give me my ticket." He was lucky he missed the shambolic finale. I was jealous of his escape.

I don't have much hope for it, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was quite good and I'm a big fan of Monster Squad so there's a slim chance it will be decent.

Monster Squad rules. Kiss Kiss was pretty good too - without looking at the link, what's the connection?