Movies you've just watched

[BIL]

Taken 3. Better than 2 but not as good as 1. Liam Neeson an endearing presence as always, but neither sequel has anywhere near the streamlined intensity of the original. Two out of five shattered clavicles. Here is a summary:

Spoiler

"We have no choice, we must waterboard you." Said Liam Neeson with Regret.

"NOOOO." Cried out Charlie Sheen with despairing shout.

"This will hurt you more than it hurts me." Said Liam Neeson with heavy heart.

"Is there no ways other?" Asked Forest Whitaker with concerned face.

"This is the only way to talk sense." Said Liam Neeson with convinced eyes.

With these sad words Liam Neeson began waterboarding Charlie Sheen with his waterboard for sake of patriotism and civilization.

"NOOOO THE PAIIIN." Cried out Charlie Sheen.

After 48 hours of waterboarding Charlie Sheen began to see the wrongness in his ways.

"Liam Neeson you are right, I was a wrong stupid idiot to leave Two and Half Men." Said Charlie Sheen with realization.

"So are you of right thinking now?" Asked Liam Neeson with wonder.

"Yes, Thank you for waterboarding me Liam Neeson." Said Charlie Sheen with gratitude.

"No problem, I do what is best for you." Said Liam Neeson with pride.

[CHI]

Bodyguards and Assassins 2009
The Lost Bladesman 2011
Dragon 2011... quite an interesting story
Special ID 2013

I still think Flashpoint has the best fight scene

[lilmanjs]

My order arrived yesterday, so I got to watching some classic Hong Kong stuff.
Royal Warriors
Sequel to Yes, Madam!, though haven't seen the first one. Pretty darn good action throughout and Michelle Yeoh is a force to be reckoned with. Nice plot about four war buddies who vow to either stay alive together or die together. Plane hijacking is thwarted and the movie goes on from there.

The Unwritten Law
A court drama with Andy Lau in an early staring role. Great story and acting all around. A prostitute is courted by a rich guy to go back to his place for the sex. Turns out he just wants sex and to kill afterwards. She manages to get away, killing him in the process. Goes on from there. Great movie, but oddly enough the soundtrack is comprised of tunes from other movies. A couple times I heard some stuff from Project A, and then out of nowhere, the main theme of that not so great Lynch movie, Dune. The rest of the movie makes up for the soundtrack's downfall.

[KindGrind]

These Final Hours (2013)

Interesting, although the plot is overly familiar. Interesting setting (Perth, Australia). Good acting from the little girl. Pretty well shot. A bit of a downer mood-wise, to be honest. Recommended for those looking for an adult, apocalyptic kind of deal.

[drauch]

My order arrived yesterday, so I got to watching some classic Hong Kong stuff.
Royal Warriors
Sequel to Yes, Madam!, though haven't seen the first one. Pretty darn good action throughout and Michelle Yeoh is a force to be reckoned with. Nice plot about four war buddies who vow to either stay alive together or die together. Plane hijacking is thwarted and the movie goes on from there.

Royal Warriors rules! Yes, Madam! is even better, so you're in for a treat. Seen Magnificent Warriors? Probably my favorite of hers.

[xxx1993]

I started 2015 with Taken 3. Good movie, but I think the final fight should have been with

Spoiler

Stuart

instead of Malankov. I also saw Kingsman: The Secret Service, I liked that movie too, it was good fun. Run All Night was decent, but I personally think

Spoiler

Liam Neeson should have lived and that he should have killed the professional assassin Andrew Price before dealing with Shawn Maguire.

Furious 7 was epic, probably my personal favorite of the series so far.

[CHI]

My order arrived yesterday, so I got to watching some classic Hong Kong stuff.
Royal Warriors
Sequel to Yes, Madam!, though haven't seen the first one. Pretty darn good action throughout and Michelle Yeoh is a force to be reckoned with. Nice plot about four war buddies who vow to either stay alive together or die together. Plane hijacking is thwarted and the movie goes on from there.

Royal Warriors rules!

+1
Love watching this since a kid

[lilmanjs]

My order arrived yesterday, so I got to watching some classic Hong Kong stuff.
Royal Warriors
Sequel to Yes, Madam!, though haven't seen the first one. Pretty darn good action throughout and Michelle Yeoh is a force to be reckoned with. Nice plot about four war buddies who vow to either stay alive together or die together. Plane hijacking is thwarted and the movie goes on from there.

Royal Warriors rules! Yes, Madam! is even better, so you're in for a treat. Seen Magnificent Warriors? Probably my favorite of hers.

I've not seen Magnificent Warriors. I probably should find that. I wasn't sure what to expect from Royal Warriors. Either great action, or good plot. Did not expect to find both to be good. Glad I happened to not block the ad for the site I have started buying from this year. Just been in a mood for 80s HK stuff lately.

[drauch]

Where you getting your HK stuff from? DDDhouse?

[iconoclast]

Just watched The World of Kanako, Tetsuya Nakashima's latest film. I didn't like it as much as Memories of Matsuko, Confessions, or Kamikaze Girls, but it's good. The story is absolutely crazy (perhaps to a fault, since it's completely over the top) and none of the characters are particularly likable, but it was compelling from start to finish. And as usual, Nakashima's stylish direction is fantastic.

[lilmanjs]

Where you getting your HK stuff from? DDDhouse?

That's about the only place I know of, unless there's a better place to grab stuff.

[drauch]

That's primarily what I do, yeah. Yesasia is okay as well, but you've just gotta watch out because half the shit they refuse to ship to the states.

[soprano1]

The Toxic Avenger. Pretty vile movie. The evil characters were more disgusting than the gore scenes.

[MX7]

Toxic Avenger is good fun, and is still pretty much the best Troma film. If you genuinely liked it I'd recommend Toxic Avenger IV (actually a direct sequel to I that skips over the less popular II and III). Of course Troma stuff is a great gateway to some REAL trash cinema. Sledgehammer, Aerobicide, Mutiliations, Ogroff, Robot Holocaust, Droid, Mutant Hunt, Devil Story, Dungeon Master, Forbidden World, Iced, The Last Slumber Party, Conquest... all completely crazy and far more entertaining than 99% of films that cost 99x more.

[soprano1]

MX7: I decided to watch it after watching James Rolfe's review of it, and his AVGN episode with Loyd Kaufman. The latter was great, the guy knows how to entertain, despite knowing shit about videogames.

[drauch]

Yeah, you kind of have to be wary of Troma stuff--at least the Kauffman directed films. I found them appealing when I was younger, but they try wayyyy too hard to offend and gross out, which they don't accomplish either. They've produced/released some good films in the 80s and 90s, but they really cater to a teenage audience anymore. I dunno, I can't do goddamn fart jokes anymore.

[JBC]

Getting pretty excited for Avengers 2 (two weeks) & Mad Max 4 (one month).

I'll go see Terminator ... 'Genisys' as well (2.5 months) since I'm a huge fan of the franchise.

On one hand, it looks better than 3 & Salvation. On the other, it looks very far removed from the feel of T1 & 2, which we all know is what every Terminator movie should at least attempt to emulate while still moving forward.

I'm not really liking the guy that plays John Conner or his awkwardly fake looking scars. I'm also not a fan of Jai Courtney, aka the new Sam Worthington who's supposed to be Michael Beihn.

BUT - the purple lasers are back! Sarah Conner looks right, old Arnie looks cool, & Asian T-1000 is pretty creepy. I'll go in with very cautious optimism.

[lilmanjs]

The Thundering Sword
A powerful sword, the most powerful as talked about in the movie. Yet that's the plot we get. The movie starts out as if you've been watching for 10 minutes already, so you're kinda lost. Oddly placed musical numbers don't help as well, but they serve to help move the story along I guess. Action is typical of a lot of 60s shaw brothers. Everyone with a sword seems to be able to jump over high walls. The action isn't bad when there is action, but this is a movie to avoid at all costs. Plot is barely there, and action is also barely there, and the fact this lady nearly kills somebody to get a single sword and then tries to save him later on just makes about zero sense.

[soprano1]

Toxic Avenger is good fun, and is still pretty much the best Troma film. If you genuinely liked it I'd recommend Toxic Avenger IV (actually a direct sequel to I that skips over the less popular II and III). Of course Troma stuff is a great gateway to some REAL trash cinema. Sledgehammer, Aerobicide, Mutiliations, Ogroff, Robot Holocaust, Droid, Mutant Hunt, Devil Story, Dungeon Master, Forbidden World, Iced, The Last Slumber Party, Conquest... all completely crazy and far more entertaining than 99% of films that cost 99x more.

Watched Toxic Avenger IV. Didn't really like it much, it felt too silly without being funny...

[Ed Oscuro]

So YouTube is suddenly dumping tons of "Wu Tang Collection" flicks, seem to be '70s HK Shaolin action type, in my recommended links. Anybody have an opinion on these?

Also need to look up an older British film - Psychomania. Has some other name and skull-adorned poster in the US, made me think it was a later film.

[drauch]

Youtube is now a goldmine for full films. Lots of wacky stuff from all over the world, just typically really shitty prints and often I notice the uploads are from edited VHS/VCDs. I typically turn to Youtube for 80s and 90s action films that were VHS only, but other than that you've kinda got to be wary--unless you just don't care, because as a buddy put it, "it's free." Stuff will sometimes be missing 15 minutes for no apparent reason. Regarding the "Wu Tang" stuff, most of these dumps are from public domain/unauthorized sketchy Asian domain, often found on those budget 10 backs, hence the crap quality, dubbing, editing, etc. If you're curious beforehand, you can always try and check runtimes/versions on sites like HKMDB and HKCinemagic.

Maybe thinking of The Death Wheelers alt. title? Psychomania actually has a nice DVD release here in the states from Severin for really cheap.

[Ed Oscuro]

Maybe thinking of The Death Wheelers alt. title? Psychomania

Yeah, I saw the poster on eBay while browsing around unrelated stuff. It just reminded me of some later film (well, even that's not certain) with skeleton bikers cruising the gut. From what I can tell, the film's not like that.

Good comment on the runtimes, I'll try comparing notes. There probably isn't any other realistic option for me to pursue now, though; the original negatives might not survive in good quality and there doesn't appear to be much of an effort going into preserving them yet.

[jonny5]

Toxic Avenger is good fun, and is still pretty much the best Troma film. If you genuinely liked it I'd recommend Toxic Avenger IV (actually a direct sequel to I that skips over the less popular II and III). Of course Troma stuff is a great gateway to some REAL trash cinema. Sledgehammer, Aerobicide, Mutiliations, Ogroff, Robot Holocaust, Droid, Mutant Hunt, Devil Story, Dungeon Master, Forbidden World, Iced, The Last Slumber Party, Conquest... all completely crazy and far more entertaining than 99% of films that cost 99x more.

Watched Toxic Avenger IV. Didn't really like it much, it felt too silly without being funny...

The only Troma film worth a damn in my opinion is Surf Nazi's Must Die, and they didn't even make it, they just bought the rights and released it after it was already made. They added the 'Must Die' to the title as well.

Awesome film, and amazing soundtrack!! Recently picked it up on vinyl

[drauch]

Good comment on the runtimes, I'll try comparing notes. There probably isn't any other realistic option for me to pursue now, though; the original negatives might not survive in good quality and there doesn't appear to be much of an effort going into preserving them yet.

HK film preservation is about as shitty as it gets for relatively known stuff. Most of the time companies trying to license the films can hardly even find the people that own the rights. Outside of the big stuff like Shaw and Golden Harvest you basically have to find hardsubbed Greek VHS rips or some Thai VCD upload for random things. Many DVDs and LDs were typically very poor transfers in the first place as well outside some of the big companies that released them. What exactly were you looking for in particular?

[Ed Oscuro]

Nothing in particular, I'm just looking to watch some good films "Shaw Brothers" and "Golden Harvest" ring bells for me, but that's about it...any other name is a mystery to me right now. YouTube is a good enough bet for a starter like me. Maybe if there's something that really catches my interest I'd look for a better copy, but given that I guess a lot of these films were at best 16mm productions to begin with, VHS rips probably aren't all that bad.

[drauch]

Aye, gotcha. Well, let me know if you're looking for something in particular and I can probably steer you in the right direction for download or possible physical release. Starting with Youtube is good, because it gets you adjusted to the quality that makes up most HK films.

[soprano1]

Watching a bunch of Godzilla movies...again. The 70's ones look so silly today. 90's Godzilla suit looks the best for me, but favourite scene is when he appears on the nuclear plant in the 1985 movie.
Also props at Toho for making fun of the 1998 Emmerich movie in Final Wars: "Useless tuna-eating monster" indeed.

[JBC]

Man Of Steel, again. I don't care what the internet says, one of the best comic movies ever made.

[Xyga]

Star Wars episode IV 'Despecialized Edition' by Harmy.

Not a SW fanboy but I'm impressed, this is basically the genuine theatrical release restored in HD everyone should see.
There's no commercial release like that: no CGI, no bullcrap additions nor modifications, colors are right, etc.
The closest thing would be the 1993 LaserDisc release later re-released as bonus DVD's, only here the quality is leaps beyond.
Some will complain it's only 720p but AFAIK there's no better way to review the untouched original.

Made me realize I hadn't seen SW like that in maybe 25 years, last time was broadcast-recorded VHS lol.

Harmy did ep V & VI too btw. Took him years of work and still updating.
Files are huge (16~17 GB) but if you look well maybe you'll find re-encoded MKV's with only your language audio track and about half the size or even less if you don't mind imperceptibly lowered picture quality.

[Skykid]

Man Of Steel, again. I don't care what the internet says, one of the best comic movies ever made.

If the Internet says it's a steaming pile of absolute garbage then the internet is most certainly correct.

I have a list of movies I've watched that's so long I can't remember most of them, but I'll give it a go:

Return of the living Dead - so awesome I watched it twice in two days.

Taken 3 - utter trash that's better than the 2nd one, and still deserved of the gutter.

John Wick - Total rubbish.

The Equalizer - Utterly ridiculous but ten times superior to John Wick at doing a very similar theme, thanks to Fuqua's relatively steady directorial experience with Training Day and Street Kings, and Washington's ability to act.

Kick Ass - Not bad, sort of distasteful, but weirdly admirable for it. Not perfect but interestingly alternative.

Kick Ass 2 - Useless shit with a total failure of tonal consistency.

Kingsman: The Secret Service - Genuinely entertaining, amusing and well written with virtuoso action sequences and perfectly pitched political incorrectness. Very much enjoyed.

Alien saga 1-4 Directors cuts - Really enjoy this series director cuts. Seen em before but I think all of them benefit from the restored versions, and Alien 3 is like a different movie and kind of wonderful. Only Resurrection still sucks a bit.

Predator - Still the best guerilla camp takedown known to film history.

Robocop - Impossible not to compare this to every modern commercial movie and relish in the creativity of Verhoeven's film-making shot for shot. Really some kind of masterpiece.

True Lies - Another revisit. Plenty of humour, especially from Tom Arnold and Paxton, and a fun ride for what it is. Special effects are still absolutely eye popping and I have no idea why Cameron's use of CG in 1994 appears genuinely advanced compared to today's incredibly obvious plastic movie making.

Jupiter Ascending - Slightly entertaining enormous budget sci-fi B Movie that's also total crap and 90% CG with 10% human beings. Would never watch again.

Predestination - highly recommended sci-fi movie based on a Robert A. Heinlein short story that's expertly made and acted. You have to completely accept that the time travel element is insane and impossible and let it go of the obvious implausibility, and then enjoy the total mindfuck of it.

Presumed Innocent - Decent 90s courtroom thriller starring Han Solo.

The Ghost Writer - Fantastic thriller from the superb Roman Polanski with Ewan McGregor doing a fine job in the lead. Highly recommended.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Another brilliant work from Woody Allen returning to his insightful and witty relationship analyses.

Lucy - more trash from Luc Besson that's only good for the first 20 minutes and has an eyebrow raisingly awful finale.

Assault on Wall Street - Had I known the was by Uwe Boll I would never have watched it, but having just missed the opening credits I was fairly duped - and weirdly enough it wasn't that bad until the inevitable shootings which ended up perfunctory and bland as a payoff due to their perfunctory and bland execution.

Pompeii - Hilariously bad Gladiator/Titanic rip off with a volcano disaster subtext. Terrible acting, odd casting, laughable script, reasonable special effects - yet still watchable in a bad movie kind of way. Absolute hack Paul Wank Stain Anderson's 3rd best movie behind Event Horizon and Mortal Kombat. That ain't saying much.

Hunger Games 3 Part One: Unbelievable insult to a paying audience and utterly dissapointing compared the high note that was Catching Fire. They basically just strung out 20 minutes of content into a 2 hour money rinse. Competent and shameful in equal levels.

There's more, but I can't remember what. I switched loads of things off after 20 minutes or so too, but I've erased them from memory.