Movies

[Ap2000]

Caché

A movie that raises a few questions, gives a few answers and then just disappears. Not really satisfying. I was expecting a mindfuck/mindgame movie, but instead I got 2001 - A Space Odyssey set in France and with an ending that somewhat is acceptable, but still disappointing. I had to read up on wikipedia what happened at the end during the credits because I wasn't able to make the two out in the crowd. The first half could be cut down by at least 7 minutes, probably even 10. After about 1/3 of the movie it FINALLY starts to pick up the pace and it gets interesting, unfortunately neither the "resolution", nor the scenes at the ending can keep up with the middle part.

Oh, and the main actor is completely unbelievable dumb. Apparently he has a tv show about books and he discusses them with other people, but he's too fucking dumb to talk to his wife about a possible threat to his whole family that everybody is already aware of ? Ridiculous.

[Sabaku Ika]

Ghosts of Mars - It was a pretty good action movie that did what pretty good action movies are supposed to do. Mars was portrayed as a big desert where it is always nighttime, which is probably close enough, but felt kind of bland. It was just a background though, so it worked. B-



Death to Smoochy - Apparently this got very bad reviews when it came out, which is wrong and bad. It shows the people behind children's television as corrupt and sometimes evil, which may offend some, but it is also extremely funny. A



The Mothman Prophesies - It was long and slow paced and not much actually happens, but the overall atmosphere was wonderfully strange and unsettling, which was enough to entertain me. It was based on a true story, which I thought was probably mostly a lie, but I looked it up, and it was at least sort of based on real events, although they happened about 40 years earlier than the movie shows them. A-

[freezingkiss]

I watched Monster and The Colour of Magic.



Monster = INCREDIBLE. Charlize Theron is amazing, and Christina Ricci is quite good too. The acting and casting was very, very good. Theron thoroughly deserved her Oscar.



The Colour of Magic = Haha, very light hearted. I've read the book, so it wasn't as good, but Tim Curry was awesome, as he usually is, and the dude who was playing Rincewind was great as well.

[Sabaku Ika]

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes - I was expecting something funnier than it was. I couldn't sit through the whole thing. ?



Predator 2 - Not enough governors to compete with the first one. C



Alien vs Predator - I liked the setting. I think Antarctica is an inherently good place for stories about scary aliens. Especially, Antarctica underground. Otherwise, it was kind of dumb. C+

[Ap2000]

I never use the "best XYZ ever" phrase, but The Hangover had the best credits ever in a movie. Don't read this if you haven't seen the movie ! =( SERIOUSLY ! In most movies and games, the story just ends and you often don't get informed about a lot of stuff that isn't actually important to the over-all story. But here they explain what happened, which was really satisfying.

The movie itself was also quite fun, now I want to go to vegas with a few of the guys I know that would party hard just like me.

[al kusanagi]

What ch'all jive-ass crackas doin' reading this? Don't you honkys know that the greatest entertainment experience of all time, Black Dynamite, is available on DVD and Blu-Ray today?

[Shoujo Q]

I finally broke down and saw Avatar. It was either that or the Toothfairy and I'd rather give my money to something that'll visually please me and not pain me. I think the Rock has softened his image a little TOO much. Enough's enough!



Anyway, movie was too long, my ass hurt from sitting so long, graphics were great, storyline sucked, if they make a squeal of this I'm going to do a Stewie and go slap James Cameron. I knew the whole movie before it even knew what was going on. It's like Ghibli mated with Disney and decided to let McG make a movie about their lovechild Avatar. When I know a movie is good, I leave the theater still thinking fondly about it. This left me wondering if the CG wasn't there, would this be a good movie? No... so if it wins anything but the Oscar for Kick Ass CG I'm going to think the awards are rigged.



Also, 3D glasses were not made for people with glasses. :< So sad!



Clash of the Titans looks like a big hot mess of CG. I'm there! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... iggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />



I want next week to come, I must see Alice in Wonderland. I'm always game for a Tim Burton film. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... iggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />

[Sabaku Ika]

Shutter Island - By telling you that I can't tell you anything more without spoiling it, I've probably already said too much. A



Get Shorty - Lots of funny dialogue and general goodness. A-



Let the Right One In - A very different kind of horror movie. I didn't love it, but it was probably still a good movie, for what it was. B?



Videodrome - A little too dated to be scary now, but still awesomely bizzarre. A



eXistenZ - Said to be the spiritual sequel to Videodrome (both by David Cronenberg). It was at least as weird, and about a subject I'm more interested in, so I think I liked it more. A+

[Tallgeese]

Had a long weekend so I caught up on some DVDs I bought and went to the movie theatre to see the only movie I had interest in watching:



Shutter Island - So many have tried the whole psychodrama thing and fell flat, like retardedly flat to the point where I don't remember anything before it cuz the ending was just so bad it erased any good memories I had of the movie. Thankfully, Scorsese doesn't fall into this manhole and produces a coherent work. Without giving away the ending, I felt it was downright CREEPY how in concluded.



Now on to the DVDs:



AKIRA - Honestly, I've only watched this once before, and it was when I was 15 and re-discovering anime, so you could say I was an anime newb at that point. I didn't understand a bit of the political overtones of the film and just felt it was disjointed. About 15 years later, I decided to buy it and see if it was just me, or is this thing overrated. Safe to say it was just the 15-year old me not knowing WTF was going on at the time, cuz I loved the film the 2nd time around. I didn't realize what a rollercoaster ride it was. Anarchy, terrorism, bio-psycho experiments, nuclear holocaust. There's just so much going on, and surprisingly, the film still holds together. It really deserves every accolade it gets.



Mother - by Korean director Bong Joon Ho, the creator of "The Host" and "Memories of Murder," this is a lot more like the latter - a slow burning "whodunit" murder mystery. A 30 year old mentally handicapped man is accused of murdering a high school girl. The only one who believes he's innocent is his aging mother. Unable to persuade the police of his innocence, she takes matters into her own hands and dishes out some vigalante justice to uncover the truth. The ending is quite shocking to say the least. Highly recommended.



LOVE EXPOSURE - If you are into Japanese movies and haven't heard of or watched this yet, why are you still alive?! Like MJ said, "This is it!" as in this is Sono Shion's (Suicide Circle, Exte) FOUR HOUR magnum opus! FOUR FUCKING HOURS... and I was entertained for every single one of them. In fact, it felt shorter than Avatar's 3 hours! The scope of the story is far too vast to explain here, but let's just say it's a classic "boy meets girl" story with tons of other shit piled on top of it. At the end of the day, besides its critique of religion, the family, the education system, etc. it's ultimately a love story that asks the question "what kind of crap would you go through for the person you love?" The guy (Takahiro from AAA) guys through hell for the girl (Hikari Mitsushima formerly of Folder5). The only thing I didn't like was the abrupt ending. This kind of movie deserved an over-the-top ending. Still, an awesome movie. See it if you can.

[Melon]

[quote name='Tallgeese' post='76576' date='Mar 2 2010, 03:55 PM']LOVE EXPOSURE - If you are into Japanese movies and haven't heard of or watched this yet, why are you still alive?! Like MJ said, "This is it!" as in this is Sono Shion's (Suicide Circle, Exte) FOUR HOUR magnum opus! FOUR FUCKING HOURS... and I was entertained for every single one of them. In fact, it felt shorter than Avatar's 3 hours! The scope of the story is far too vast to explain here, but let's just say it's a classic "boy meets girl" story with tons of other shit piled on top of it. At the end of the day, besides its critique of religion, the family, the education system, etc. it's ultimately a love story that asks the question "what kind of crap would you go through for the person you love?" The guy (Takahiro from AAA) guys through hell for the girl (Hikari Mitsushima formerly of Folder5). The only thing I didn't like was the abrupt ending. This kind of movie deserved an over-the-top ending. Still, an awesome movie. See it if you can.[/quote]



I've been wanting to see this film for a long time but I can't find it anywhere near me. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':sick:' />

[Tallgeese]

[quote name='Petit Melon' post='76600' date='Mar 2 2010, 11:39 PM'][quote name='Tallgeese' post='76576' date='Mar 2 2010, 03:55 PM']LOVE EXPOSURE - If you are into Japanese movies and haven't heard of or watched this yet, why are you still alive?! Like MJ said, "This is it!" as in this is Sono Shion's (Suicide Circle, Exte) FOUR HOUR magnum opus! FOUR FUCKING HOURS... and I was entertained for every single one of them. In fact, it felt shorter than Avatar's 3 hours! The scope of the story is far too vast to explain here, but let's just say it's a classic "boy meets girl" story with tons of other shit piled on top of it. At the end of the day, besides its critique of religion, the family, the education system, etc. it's ultimately a love story that asks the question "what kind of crap would you go through for the person you love?" The guy (Takahiro from AAA) guys through hell for the girl (Hikari Mitsushima formerly of Folder5). The only thing I didn't like was the abrupt ending. This kind of movie deserved an over-the-top ending. Still, an awesome movie. See it if you can.[/quote]



I've been wanting to see this film for a long time but I can't find it anywhere near me. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':sick:' />

[/quote]



It's available as a Region 2 European DVD release (just released a month ago), either through yesasia or amazon.co.uk. It has English subtitles and the "Making of" hour long special (also subbed). It worked perfectly on my cheapo Phillips DVD player from Best Buy (all you need is the remote control region unlock code which is readily available online).

[aine]

The Ghost Writer - Brilliant! The most mature and artful film to hit the screens for a while. In the best and completely void of irony meaning of "art". It's a political thriller, and I generally dislike political thrillers. But this has showed me that I only dislike them because my experience so far was only with mass-produced blockbuster-recipe pulp sold for adaptation even before it's written (hello John Grisham). Polanski is a genius at creating the tense and claustrophobic atmosphere, delicately laced with subtle hints of humour to balance it out, and all that while avoiding all the overplayed tropes. Also impressive is Polanski's surprisingly accurate and realistic grasp of the modern technologies - not something you would expect of your typical 70+ old geezer, and not something your typical blockbuster ever gets right. True work of art, which for some reason I felt was sometimes giving out slightly Bergman-ish vibes. Highly recommended.



Nostalgia weekend #1: Back to the Future part 1, 2, and 3 - still holds up great and almost didn't get old at all. Would watch again. Just one thing I noticed was that all 3 movies put together have about as much plot going for them as your typical contemporary 90 minute action/adventure flick. Make out of it what you will.



Nostalgia weekend #2: Ghostbusters 1 & 2 - part 1 is still plenty fun, although campy (well not like it wasn't at the release), overplayed, and too full of 80's disco music. Part 2 is plain bad and no amount of nostalgia goggles (and/or Sigourney) can save it.



One thing about both BTTF and Ghostbusters, they were all refreshingly CGI-free. When I grow up I'll make awesome CGI-free action SF movies too!



[quote name='PQ' post='76211' date='Feb 24 2010, 05:33 AM']I want next week to come, I must see Alice in Wonderland. I'm always game for a Tim Burton film. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... iggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':gay:' />[/quote]

I'm always game for Tim Burton as well, but in this case the trailer has put me off somehow. This is NOT how the Cheshire Cat looks like. Still, it's almost a compulsory viewing, but I don't know if I'll bother going to the theatre.



[quote name='Sabaku Ika' post='76253' date='Feb 25 2010, 05:02 AM']Shutter Island[/quote]

This was trailer #2 before the Ghost Writer and got me intrigued a lot. Added to the to-watch list.



[quote name='Tallgeese' post='76576' date='Mar 2 2010, 11:55 PM']LOVE EXPOSURE

Sono Shion's

FOUR FUCKING HOURS[/quote]

I'm always happy to bend over and expose myself to any amount of Shion Sono's experience. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /ph34r.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' /> Although I did kinda lose track after Strange Circus; seems like I have some catching up to do.

[Joel]

[quote name='aine' post='76629' date='Mar 3 2010, 04:21 PM']Nostalgia weekend #2: Ghostbusters 1 & 2 - part 1 is still plenty fun, although campy (well not like it wasn't at the release), overplayed, and too full of 80's disco music. Part 2 is plain bad and no amount of nostalgia goggles (and/or Sigourney) can save it.



One thing about both BTTF and Ghostbusters, they were all refreshingly CGI-free. When I grow up I'll make awesome CGI-free action SF movies too![/quote]



No way! Me and my roommate watched both on Sunday on Hulu!

[Sabaku Ika]

Ghostbusters is possibly my all-time favorite movie. I haven't seen 2 in a long time, but I remember liking that too. Must be the nostalgia goggles.



Time for me to review stuff.

____________________________



The Wolfman - I expected much more. Good acting, I guess, but mediocrity everywhere else. C



3:10 to Yuma - I didn't think I like westerns, but this was pretty great, so maybe I should watch more. A-



Ninja Scroll - It didn't blow me away, but still, I can see why it was so popular. I liked it. B



Brotherhood of the Wolf - Did a good job of wiping the averageness of Wolfman out of my mouth. I had seen it before, but didn't remember much besides how awesome it was. It remains such. A



Southland Tales - <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nfused.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> I just watched this and I'm not sure what the point was besides teaching us that pimps don't commit suicide. I don't ever want to watch it again, but I liked it enough to recommend it to you. A+‽



edit: Upon further reflection, I think Southland Tales is the best bad movie ever, so I changed my score for it.

[Ap2000]

Shutter Island - Well done (it's Scorsese afterall), but very foreseeable. If I had to grade it (like some here did in the last few posts), I'd give it a 3/5. It's a 3.5 probably if you don't see the (OBVIOUS) TWEEEEEST coming up. The cinematography is very good, as in most Scorsese movies, however, this is clearly the worst of his movies I've seen so far.



I'm going to watch 500 Days of summer today.

[Geof]

Haven't seen any movies in a few weeks, but OHOHOHO Hugo Weaving facing off against Cap!

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Ap2000' post='76989' date='Mar 12 2010, 06:56 PM']I'm going to watch 500 Days of summer today.[/quote]



Saw it and it was very underwhelming. The characters aren't very likeable, which can break an otherwise ok romantic comedy. It tried too hard to be different and quirky, but in the end I just didn't really care about Summer. The end was a good idea.

[Tsuki]

[quote name='Ap2000' post='77012' date='Mar 13 2010, 08:03 AM'][quote name='Ap2000' post='76989' date='Mar 12 2010, 06:56 PM']I'm going to watch 500 Days of summer today.[/quote]



Saw it and it was very underwhelming. The characters aren't very likeable, which can break an otherwise ok romantic comedy. It tried too hard to be different and quirky, but in the end I just didn't really care about Summer. The end was a good idea.

[/quote]

Aw, that's too bad, I thought it was a cute movie, and I liked the two characters, they were both quirky in that sort of white, elite yuppie kind of way. Not really very believable perse, but they were both really attractive, so I enjoyed it. The end felt a little too perfect for me.



So basically we disagree about everything.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Tsuki' post='77041' date='Mar 14 2010, 03:28 AM']So basically we disagree about everything.[/quote]



And yet it seems like you didn't like it too much either.

[Tsuki]

[quote name='Ap2000' post='77049' date='Mar 14 2010, 02:06 AM'][quote name='Tsuki' post='77041' date='Mar 14 2010, 03:28 AM']So basically we disagree about everything.[/quote]



And yet it seems like you didn't like it too much either.

[/quote]

I can find faults with a movie and still like it! Is it the serious Austrian thing or what?

[Sabaku Ika]

Terminator Salvation - It was pretty entertaining, but otherwise had no good reason to exist. It tells the story of what happens between interesting things that happen in the future hinted at by the other movies. Why not show the interesting things instead? B-



Cube Zero - I liked it a lot better than 2, but not quite as much as 1, just because it was kind of fun to get absolutely no explanation for anything. The explanation given here is still vague enough to not bother me though. A-



Phantasm - It's apparently a 'cult classic' among horror fans. Maybe you had to be there at the time. Some aspects were original, which I liked. C+



Crips and Bloods: Made in America - Informative documentary about a subject I've often heard mentioned, but not explained. A (I dislike gang warfare, but I like being informed, which this did)



Alien - I just bought the Alien Quadrilogy box-set. It has lots of nifty documentaries and stuff as well as all the movies. Today, I watched the first one (seen before, but years ago). It remains awesome. A+

[al kusanagi]

Finally saw Astro Boy and it wasn't bad at all. However, not including the main theme song anywhere in the movie at all, not even in the credits, was absolutely unforgivable. I'll have to wait a few weeks for my Japanese version to come in (with Aya Ueto goodness) and hopefully the music will be different.



It does get bonus points for a Zone shout out and a stealth Samuel L. Jackson voice acting appearance.

[anpanman]

I watched the new version of Toki wo Kakeru Shojo starring with Naka Riisa.

It was a blasphemy against its original version.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='anpanman' post='77340' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:06 AM']I watched the new version of Toki wo Kakeru Shojo starring with Naka Riisa.

It was a blasphemy against its original version.[/quote]



Um... what original and what (rereleased ?) new version are you talking about ?

There's only one movie and nothing else afaik.

[anpanman]

[quote name='Ap2000' post='77346' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:17 AM'][quote name='anpanman' post='77340' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:06 AM']I watched the new version of Toki wo Kakeru Shojo starring with Naka Riisa.

It was a blasphemy against its original version.[/quote]



Um... what original and what (rereleased ?) new version are you talking about ?

There's only one movie and nothing else afaik.

[/quote]

The original version was released in 1983 and new version in 2010.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='anpanman' post='77351' date='Mar 20 2010, 08:13 AM'][quote name='Ap2000' post='77346' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:17 AM'][quote name='anpanman' post='77340' date='Mar 20 2010, 06:06 AM']I watched the new version of Toki wo Kakeru Shojo starring with Naka Riisa.

It was a blasphemy against its original version.[/quote]



Um... what original and what (rereleased ?) new version are you talking about ?

There's only one movie and nothing else afaik.

[/quote]

The original version was released in 1983 and new version in 2010.

[/quote]



Oh...

Well, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_o_Kakeru_Sh%C5%8Djo there's much more. lol

I only saw (and know of) the 2006 anime movie, so I was not sure what you were talking about.

Apparently there's also a 2002 and 1997 movie.

[november]

Recently I've watched a few flicks.



She's Out of Your League - cute chick-flick-esque movie. With the plot of typical, guy gets girl, guy loses girl, guy wins girl back. The main characters are good and the girl is phenomenally smokin' but the supporting cast makes the movie.



Defendor - This movie has Woody Harrelson - means you have to watch it - I only made it 25 minutes in before I decided if I didn't get to bed I would be more of a zombie at work today.



Shutter Island - This was a cool movie with an interesting story, and had a similar style ending to "the Others"(Nicole Kidman) - It was entertaining and DiCraprio played his part well, as usual. If you like thriller-y movies, then you might like this(has a few parts that make the hairs stand up).



The Hurt Locker - A very non-detail oriented movie but still, I just liked this a whole lot. I have a think for war movies and this one needs to be added to one of the greats. If you can just see it, it's a simple movie but will keep you watching.





The Informant - A slow but off-beat comedy of a guy who turns informant. The naivety of the character is awesome and the outcome is amusing, too. The fact that this is based on a true story means you must watch it <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />.



FireBall - A Thai movie about underground basketball - it's stupid but very entertaining and has some good fighting scenes. Overall if you enjoy martial arts you should enjoy this, and yes, some parts are corny.





I've seen a few more but don't recall off the top of my head.

[Ap2000]

The Room (2003)

Worst movie ever.

[Ap2000]

Another doubl-post (since I'm such an attention whore);

Black Dynamite is the best comedy since Tropic Thunder and I absolutely loved Tropic Thunder. So, if you're a blacksaxophon (sorry ainu, I just can't remember it) or cineast in general, you're going to love this movie, bitch ! That's just how DYNAMITE is doing it !

[surasshu]

Haha, Black Dynamite is so good!



And The Room is amazing. You just didn't GET it, man. It's, like, DEEP. Yeahhhh...



On the topic of hilariously terrible movies (sort of), I saw Ed Wood after it being recommended to me over and over by various people independent of each other. Wow, what a great movie. Tim Burton's early stuff was so fucking tight, especially compared to show-offy fluff like Alice. Also a FANTASTIC Landau as Bela Lugosi. Absolutely friggin' perfect, just incredible. This movie is a masterpiece, it's incredibly funny, and moving and it even teaches you about a man who was an artist in his own crazy way. May be my favorite Tim Burton movie!