Movies you've just watched

[boagman]

I want to argue with this, but I cannot.

I notice you say this a lot. Weird. Why would you want to argue with something just for the hell of it?

In this case, it's not just for the hell of it...I just wanted to believe that Tokyo Drift was worse than 2 without actually having to watch Tokyo Drift. I'll just take you at your word for it.

[Skykid]

I want to argue with this, but I cannot.

I notice you say this a lot. Weird. Why would you want to argue with something just for the hell of it?

In this case, it's not just for the hell of it...I just wanted to believe that Tokyo Drift was worse than 2 without actually having to watch Tokyo Drift. I'll just take you at your word for it.

Gotcha.

TD is perfectly watchable. Basically 1,3,4,5,6 are all passable, which is impressive for a series about morons driving cars. 2 and 7 are just bad though.

[GaijinPunch]

GP - you're old, how have you not seen this? Next it'll be "I haven't seen The Big Lebowski" and I don't even know how I could react to that.

It's one of those weird ones. Trust me, I take shit for it at work. And considering non-consecutive people often call me Th Dude / The Big Lebowski, it's safe to say I'm familiar with it.

[BIL]

Shivers early Cronenberg does rampant contagion horror via Porky's. A tad ropey in the establishing phase, but by the time things are in full swing (bahahaha!) it's managed a series of hideously unpleasant scenes and a depressing, foully primal orgiastic air. Worth a watch for sure.

[drauch]

OLD FLESH IS EROTIC FLESH

[neorichieb1971]

Watch "House 2" if you want some 80's cheese horror.

Its just great.. Made in 1987.

[Skykid]

Django Unchained

Third time watching this, and now I'm absolutely positive ("I'm positive he's dead") this is Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction, and possibly his best film of all.

By the by, fantastic performances, screenwriting and scripting aside, I'm not sure I've ever seen a gunfight in a western that's as impressive as the one central to this movie. Every time it goes off I want to stand up and rally a round of applause.

[EmperorIng]

and now I live in Chicago... I gotta get on it.

Welcome to the second city

The essential Chicago movies are Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Untouchables, and the Fugitive.

Special mention goes to Chuck Norris's Code of Silence. Don't be fooled by Norris; it's actually fun.

I can only gloat a little bit that the Paul Newman flick Color of Money was filmed right next to my house. Still in operation, and as dirty as it is in this movie!

[drauch]

Special mention goes to Chuck Norris's Code of Silence. Don't be fooled by Norris; it's actually fun.

HOLD UP. Been trying desperately to hold back in this thread anymore when I want to talk MAD TRASH, but I've got to call you out, brother! Nobody should ever hold Norris in such regard! Those goddamn jokes ruined him. Norris used to be one of the most brutal action heroes around! If you ever need to remind yourself, put Invasion USA on and stand back, sucka.

[Acid King]

Strip Nude for Your Killer and Cannibal Ferox - I watched these weeks apart but they would go nicely as a double feature of pale, imitative, thoroughly shitty horror movies. Cannibal Ferox is just awful. Dreadful score, story, acting, and unimpressive gore. Strip Nude's only redeeming qualities are the many attractive 70's ladies and the opening credit sequence. Other than that, it's a drab and ludicrous giallo imitator.

Battered Bastards of Baseball - Excellent documentary about the Portland Mavericks, the independent minor league baseball team founded by Kurt Russell's father Bing. It's a great David vs Goliath story, as one man's love of the sport collides with Major League Baseball's desire to control professional baseball in the US. It's a fun doc with lots of great old footage and worth checking out especially if you're a baseball fan.

Desperate and Cornered - These two are available as a double feature disc and are both decent film noirs. Desperate is the better of the two, with a tighter narrative and direction from Anthony Mann. Raymond Burr's villain isn't nearly as menacing or memorable as in his collaboration with Mann in Raw Deal the following year, but he's still Raymond Burr in classic hard-ass mode which is always welcome. Cornered follows a Canadian World War II vet as he searches for Vichy Frenchman responsible for his wife's death. Dick Powell is great as the shell shocked vet and the climax is surprisingly brutal. The plot is too convoluted for this to be one of the greats, but it's still quite good and has a bunch of excellent scenes. Interesting bit of history with this film too, as director Ed Dmytryk's commie buddies tried to convince him and the screenwriters during production to turn the film into a kind of propaganda piece. Apparently, this precipitated his split from the Communist Party and played in to his testimony to Congress about how he was pressured by certain people to include communist elements in his movies.

[GaijinPunch]

and now I live in Chicago... I gotta get on it.

Welcome to the second city

The essential Chicago movies are Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Untouchables, and the Fugitive.

Special mention goes to Chuck Norris's Code of Silence. Don't be fooled by Norris; it's actually fun.

I can only gloat a little bit that the Paul Newman flick Color of Money was filmed right next to my house. Still in operation, and as dirty as it is in this movie!

I'm fluent in Ferris Bueller, and all of the Shermer, IL John Hughes movies. I can probably recite The Breakfast Club on the spot. I saw the Untouchables, and rememebered it when I rode a Divvy bike past Racine the other day. Odd, as I saw the movie some 20 years ago. I do walk through Union Station from time to time, where locals remind me the infamous baby carriage scene was filmed. It's been a while since The Fugitive. I do watch The Good Wife regularly.

[MJR]

Saw Mad Max: Fury Road yesterday.

I expected a lot, and it was better than I expected. Batshit insane, imaginative, ballsy, gorgeous and exciting movie with nothing wasted in it. Filled with details but clear to follow. And it truly felt like Mad Max - the universe was spot on and Tom Hardy made better impression of MAD Max than Mel did, though he is iconic all right.

This will be THE action movie to remember, for a long time to come. Go see it, on as big screen as possible.

[pegboy]

Watched Avengers 2. It was really bad. Spoilers:

Nothing made any sense at all. You have a fucking AI that comes alive with zero buildup at all, and they turn it into some cheese comic relief crap. That thing wasn't threatening at all, the trailer made it seem far more menacing. But instead we get this lame chuckledhead that gets its ass kicked left and right by everyone in the cast.

Even worse, the entire movie regresses all the characters to the point before the last series of movies (Thor 2, Captain America 2). All the events of Captain America 2 (an actual good movie, unlike this trash) seem to have been instantly forgotten. A bunch of peripheral characters show up for no reason whatsoever (Sam Jackson shows up with yet another supership, yet still has nothing to do in this movie). The old guy from Thor shows up...and does something I guess? He helps Thor look into a fucking pool and has a psychic vision or some shit because the script says so.

You also have one of the most pathetic "love stories" I've ever seen inexplicably shoe-horned into this movie for no reason whatsoever. Those scenes were laughably bad, and completely ruined what they developed for Black Widow from Winter Soldier. Even the action was less interesting and monotonous compared to Captain America 2 and the original Avengers movie. Nothing really seemed to be at stake, and this movie exists only to fill out a release schedule instead of providing any sort of interesting story or raising the stakes.

Finally, you have the introduction of 2 new characters, one of which is killed in the dumbest way possible. So let's get this straight, the fucking supehuman (or whatever the fuck they are called instead of mutants) with the superpower to move extremely fast is gunned down with conventional bullets? Are these writers fucking morons? His entire death seemed like some sort of last minute re-shoot without anyone having a fucking clue what they were doing.


Final rating: 5/10.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Finally checked out the Mad Max: Fury Road 3D variant theatrical movie that clocks in at a whopping solid two hours in duration. If you're a hard-core Mad Max fan like myself, you'll definitely get your money's worth. With an estimated USD $150 million dollars production budget (according to the Imdb.com site), it has plently of all-out vehicle carnage, close quarters hand-to-hand combat scenes and more to whet the unending appetite of action-genre film lovers. If you watch the entire end credits, you'll learn that three different countries were used for the initial filming of this awesome film including Cape Town, South Africa, Nambia and Sydney. You might recall "The Road Warrior" (aka "Mad Max 2" internationally) that made it's initial debut on the silver screen back in 1981 with an overall $2 million USD production budget -- still an impressive action genre film for it's time.

Yep, actor Tom Hardy gets top billing as Mad Max in this fourth Mad Max film which takes place some years later after the events shown in the third Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome film sequel back in 1985.

Back in the 1990s, actor Mel Gibson did express interest in doing a fourth Mad Max film but nothing came of it.

Plently of slick CG EFX in some scenes combined with the added 3D conversion upgraded treatment -- which ate up most of the $150 million dollar budget easily.

Director George Miller delivers another awesome Mad Max film for the ages.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Necronopticous]

Yeah Mad Max was fucking incredible.

[lilmanjs]

Rush Hour
Not the greatest Jackie Chan movie, but easily one of his better, if not best Hollywood movie he's made. I found it funnier than I remember it to be, probably Chris Tucker's doing. A nice look back at a slightly younger Jackie Chan kicking ass in a movie that wasn't too bad.

[Skykid]

Rush Hour
Not the greatest Jackie Chan movie, but easily one of his better, if not best Hollywood movie he's made. I found it funnier than I remember it to be, probably Chris Tucker's doing. A nice look back at a slightly younger Jackie Chan kicking ass in a movie that wasn't too bad.

Have you seen the second?

The first is great fun no doubt, but the sequel tops it in every respect. I think it's the best Hollywood JC movie of all.

[blackoak]

you guys are getting my hopes up for mad max. i hope the trailer was just the usual overblown hollywood nonsense, and there's a real movie somewhere in there. ill probably be satisfied if its 1/5 the hyperbolic praise im seeing, haha...

[GaijinPunch]

Glad to hear all the Mad Max Love. The question is, do I go see it before I go on holiday next week. Decisions, decisions.

[lilmanjs]

Rush Hour
Not the greatest Jackie Chan movie, but easily one of his better, if not best Hollywood movie he's made. I found it funnier than I remember it to be, probably Chris Tucker's doing. A nice look back at a slightly younger Jackie Chan kicking ass in a movie that wasn't too bad.

Have you seen the second?

The first is great fun no doubt, but the sequel tops it in every respect. I think it's the best Hollywood JC movie of all.

Heck, I haven't seen the trilogy in some time, but I was coming to post about the second. Damn good in all respects, and plays more to Jackie's strengths. I shudder to think why he did those westerns.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It's worth the hype to go see Mad Max: Fury Road...you won't be dissapointed despite the actual film not having that much dialogue but if taken at face value, it has plenty of high speed car chases (add in the usual superchargers combined with nitro boosting -- and it gets really insane for some all-out speed in the vast "Wastelands" that our beloved Mad Max characters live/die in).

Director George Miller had brought in feminist author Eve Ensler as a consultant to avoid the hypesexualized vacuous female stock characters (that) populate action movies with the female lead character known as Imperator Furiosa (played by actress Charlize Theron whom is 39).

In reality, initial filming was shot in 130 days, in Namibia, without a locked-in script (and using a 300 page comic-book inspired storyboard that sets the overall pacing/flow of the story).

I'll definitely pick up the 3D Blu-Ray version of MM:FR when it's available to purchase on day one of release.

In the USA Today article by Donna Freydkin in regards to filming a possible sequel or follow-up to MM:FR dated 5-15-2015, there is a quote from director Miller himself: "I'll see how this movie goes. It's like asking a woman who's given birth, 'Do you want to make another baby?' " Miller jokes.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CMoon]

I was very tempted to write something lengthy about Fury Road, but fuck it; go see the film, its great.

I was worried about the film having too big a budget, the introduction of a lot of modern hollywood movie conventions and its running time being too long, but none of that matters. Fury Road is an enormously effective film that will keep you on the edge of your seat for its entire 2hr running length. It is beautifully shot, and deserves your presence in the theatre. Really liked the new Max as well. The contrast between this film and the trailer for the new Terminator movie was really something!

[drauch]

Yeah, just saw Mad Max as well. Typically wouldn't crap out my reviews everywhere, but here's mine for those that want to read it. It's long.

http://letterboxd.com/drauch58/film/mad-max-fury-road/

[Mischief Maker]

Director George Miller had brought in feminist author Eve Ensler as a consultant to avoid the hypesexualized vacuous female stock characters (that) populate action movies with the female lead character known as Imperator Furiosa (played by actress Charlize Theron whom is 39).

Oh what a relief! I was worried that this orgy of violence, cannibalism, and barbarism might be sullied by the presence of female sexuality. After all, if a woman is seen outside the house without a veil it's a severe insult to her dignity. Since sex appeal is not what this movie's about, they cast 48 year old actress Lili Taylor as the female lead instead of some supermodel/actress with her hair cut short.

[Ixmucane2]

Tale of Tales

Yet another angle on fairytales. Basile's stories have more wonders than mystery and more psychological depth than symbolism, and Garrone turns them into drama with supernatural elements, not too far removed from his previous work.
There are three episodes, alternated with just enough contacts to establish that they take place simultaneously:

• A barren queen (Salma Hayek) eats the heart of a sea dragon in order to become pregnant. The maid who cooked it has a child too, and the two boys grow up identical and mysteriously linked. The richest in supernatural elements and motifs.
• A rather lecherous king (Vincent Cassel) falls in love with the voice of a singing woman, but she is old and ugly. A witch turns her into a young girl (Stacy Martin, the witch knows her job) and they marry, with further complications. A mostly comical episode, but with real suffering.
• An ogre wins a princess-marrying contest by guessing what animal a skin belongs to (a giant flea, raised by the king himself). The princess goes away with the ogre and makes herself a widow, with serious collateral damage. By far the most violent and grim story.

[Never_Scurred]

Went on a Cronenberg binge. Here are my thoughts:
Crash: Loved it. Remember it being VERY controversial back in the '90's, but never took the time to watch it 'til recently. Great film-not my favorite Cro flick, but memorable.

History of Violence: LOVED IT!

Eastern Promises: Loved this one, too. I love how all the twists and turns happen so smoothly that you don't even see them coming or realize their happening. That bathhouse scene, tho.

Cosmopolis: I didn't like it, but I don't hate it. Liked some of the sequences in the limo (the prostate exam, Edward talking to his MILF mistress, Edward mourning the death of a rapper) but the film's story never fully came together for me at the end.

A Dangerous Method: Good, but kinda dragged a bit in the third act. The performances were great, though Keira Knightley was trying too damned hard.

Map of the Stars: Decent flick, mostly for the performances. The story was okay, but not as robust as I was expecting.

Naked Lunch: Enjoyed it, mainly for the fx, cast, and overall weirdness. Was familiar with Burroughs before I saw this movie (weirdly enough, he's one of the most unrecognized St. Louisans).

[Ixmucane2]

Mad Max: Fury Road

Greatness in an action movie can be an apparently simple difference of perspective. Instead of meaningless spectacle, true beauty (for example, the vehicles!). Instead of pointless ornament, a one-tree desert. Instead of figuring out how to get some implausibly attractive woman in the story for the protagonist to have romance with, a leading "couple" of extremely solitary and repressed people. Instead of a sequence of fights, a story. Instead of mooks, an interesting society of slaves and warlords and survivors.
It's a matter of giving everything a meaningful purpose; Miller shows where action movie clichés come from.
For example, the fate of Nux is highly predictable after we see him escape multiple great opportunities to die, but it is a good character development (which, for example, offers insight into the mentality of Nux's warrior caste) rather than an excuse to have him around.

[xxx1993]

Mad Max: Fury Road was f***ing awesome, I f***ing loved it.

[Acid King]

Director George Miller had brought in feminist author Eve Ensler as a consultant to avoid the hypesexualized vacuous female stock characters (that) populate action movies with the female lead character known as Imperator Furiosa (played by actress Charlize Theron whom is 39).

Oh what a relief! I was worried that this orgy of violence, cannibalism, and barbarism might be sullied by the presence of female sexuality. After all, if a woman is seen outside the house without a veil it's a severe insult to her dignity. Since sex appeal is not what this movie's about, they cast 48 year old actress Lili Taylor as the female lead instead of some supermodel/actress with her hair cut short.

No need to go into a Return of Kings style anti-feminist rage because a feminist was involved as a consultant. Miller consulted Ensler because of her work with victims of sex trafficking in the Congo, which seems like a good idea considering some of the main female characters are victims of sex trafficking.

Edit: Here's an interview with Ensler where she talks about her involvement in the movie.
http://www.culturalweekly.com/eve-ensle ... fury-road/

[Mischief Maker]

Director George Miller had brought in feminist author Eve Ensler as a consultant to avoid the hypesexualized vacuous female stock characters (that) populate action movies with the female lead character known as Imperator Furiosa (played by actress Charlize Theron whom is 39).

Oh what a relief! I was worried that this orgy of violence, cannibalism, and barbarism might be sullied by the presence of female sexuality. After all, if a woman is seen outside the house without a veil it's a severe insult to her dignity. Since sex appeal is not what this movie's about, they cast 48 year old actress Lili Taylor as the female lead instead of some supermodel/actress with her hair cut short.

No need to go into a Return of Kings style anti-feminist rage because a feminist was involved as a consultant. Miller consulted Ensler because of her work with victims of sex trafficking in the Congo, which seems like a good idea considering some of the main female characters are victims of sex trafficking.

Edit: Here's an interview with Ensler where she talks about her involvement in the movie.
http://www.culturalweekly.com/eve-ensle ... fury-road/

If this were a serious film I could understand it, but this is freaking Mad Max! It's a goofball exploitation film in a long line of goofball exploitation films but suddenly amidst all the gratuitous carnage and clown masks and CGI sandstorms it suddenly becomes a serious issue film? "Hi kids! Master Blaster here. And I want to tell you about the evils of underground fighting..."

And yes, I take issue with the ridiculous double standard that hyperviolence is A-OK family entertainment but hypersexuality is a serious affront.