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[Divius]

Sweet, new thread! The old one has brought me many new films to watch, interesting analyses and some lolz, even back when I was still lurking GAF.

It appears I already have an ICM account, but I haven't been keeping up with it. I'll start using it, if I don't forget.. ICM: http://www.icheckmovies.com/profile/divius/

----

Some stuff I watched since I posted last:

The Tree of Life - I went with 2 friends and it was their first Malick film, to my surprise they liked it a lot and were totally speechless after the film. I myself liked it even better than the first time, which is always the case with Malick's films. It's so powerful and beautiful. Also the boy growing up was very recognizable to my own youth in some ways. 9.5/10
Hot Fuzz - So much fun. PUNCH. THAT. SHIT 7.5/10
The Kingdom - So yeah, the first hour and a half it isn't bad or anything, but it isn't very good either. Then, at the end, all hell breaks loose and there are these amazing and wonderfully directed action scenes, which makes me wonder why director Peter Berg didn't include any more in the film. Now you just have this problematic and boring script with a lot of layers of political bullshit. 7.5/10
The Fallen Idol - Carol Reed's The Third Man is one of my all-time favorites, but to my surprise I hadn't seen anything else he directed. The Fallen Idol is very well written and it looks amazing. I couldn't stand the little kid at times, but other than that it was great and a true classic. 8/10
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & Kill Bill: Vol. 2 - Super enjoyable, awesome action, fun characters and it's just great to watch with some friends. 8/10
Speed Racer - So bad story wise, so awesome visually. That final race is just a 10 (?) minute eye-orgasm and the blu-ray looks amazing. GO SPEED GO! 7.5/10

 

[Salazar]

Annie Hall.

It was on tv.

Diane has been reinstated as my waifu.

 

[Brobzoid]

subscribin'

 

[WorriedCitizen]

Watched some Bresson this week:

Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
Artistically great but couldn't really enjoy it. Too awkward, too painfull and depressing.

Pickpocket (1959)
Wonderful. The film states in the beginning that it's not a thriller yet there is so much tension in it thanks to the great acting and well thought out scenes.

Both films, tho being French have a distinct noir feel to them. The main characters are trapped in a miserable situation and it never looks like it will end well for them.

 

[louie]

Gloria (1980) and Salt (2010) - Found both of them a real chore to get through.

 

[Amagon]

Doomsday (Uncut) (2008) - Really like the concept and the setting of the movie. The acting was ok, pacing a little slow in the beginning but I had a good time watching the flick. Its got the Mad Max vibe which the director was aiming for which got me to watch the movie the first place.

Transformers 2 (2009) -Lots of explosions, shittastic plot, I don't know which robot is which cept for a few of the Autobots. Everybody told me to skip this movie and just see the third. uggh!

 

[Mister Wilhelm]

Gloria (1980) and Salt (2010) - Found both of them a real chore to get through.

Salt is one of the worst major releases I have seen in years. I almost couldn't believe they got Jolie to do it.

 

[bengraven]

I could have really contributed to this thread 5 years ago. I was a Netflix addict: 2-3 movies a night after work. Foreign movies, old samurai flicks, obscure American indie films...

Then met a woman, got married, had a kid - Netflix sub is used for Spongebob and Yo Gabba Gabba. haha

 

[Ridley327]

Salt is one of the worst major releases I have seen in years. I almost couldn't believe they got Jolie to do it.

She kind of has a thing for appearing in terrible films, as evidenced by such endearing classics as Hackers, The Bone Collector, Girl, Interrupted, Gone in Sixty Seconds, both Tomb Raider films, Original Sin, Taking Lives, Alexander, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and so on.

My first meanginful contribution to this thread is that I managed to catch Zardoz (1974) on Fox Movie Channel the other night and the only thing that I can reasonably say about the film is what. One of the few cult classics of weird that I can comfortably say that it more than lived up to the hype. I wouldn't call it a good film (it's odd that for such an inexplicable film that it would focus so heavily on exposition the further you get into the film), but it is certainly unlike anything else you're bound to see in your lifetime.

Man, what I wouldn't have given to have been a fly on the wall when the Fox suits screened this film for the first time.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Well, I can't say I plan to be on the boards much anymore - after 7 or more years, the message board/comment thread side of the internet holds much less interest to me than it used to, and I've been trying to make a clean break from it - but the new thread is lookin' great! Good job, Cosmic. My ICM is Snowman Prophet of Doom, if anybody's interested.

(I'll still pop into this thread once in a while, but it will be more sporadic from now on.)

 

[Count Dookkake]

Doomsday (Uncut) (2008) - Really like the concept and the setting of the movie. The acting was ok, pacing a little slow in the beginning but I had a good time watching the flick. Its got the Mad Max vibe which the director was aiming for which got me to watch the movie the first place.

There was more than just Mad Max stuff in it, though, so I don't think it's fair to make such a limited comparison to that one piece of work.

 

[UrbanRats]

Oh, what a wonderful OP, congrats Cosmic Bus!

From the old thread:

*hugs* mine too! (Though you'd never guess that.)

BBS is the funniest of the four movies - the middle two are really poor - but it really screws with the timeline (and the Nibbler character, coincidentally), making some episodes like Jurassic Bark retroactively less effective. So it's good in some ways and very disappointing in others. I don't have the heart to rewatch it.

I liked a few ideas of BBS, like the design of the nudists, but storywise they're all over the place.
Also i liked the concept of time travel, 'cause it never gets old, but again, it' not done very elegantly; the rest is a bit like a big Futurama fan fiction, 'cause it dwells a lot on "hey, we are Futurama!" and their own stereotypes, kinda..
They were back after a long time, so it's understandable, but still a more jokes-focused film would've been more compelling.
Last but not least, almost 2 hrs of Futurama do not work as good as 20 minutes of it.

Speed Racer - So bad story wise, so awesome visually. That final race is just a 10 (?) minute eye-orgasm and the blu-ray looks amazing. GO SPEED GO! 7.5/10

I don't think it's that bad storywise.
I mean, ofcourse it's a kids' movie and all, but the fact that it takes itself not seriously (and never does) it doesn't get pathetic and so on, it's a sign of actually "good writing", at least in what is trying to tell.
Had they cut down the silly fight scenes (they're coherent with the style, but too long imo) i would've said they made a little perfect film (again, for what they were trying to achieve).
Also the family characters and performances (especially from Goodman and Sarandon) were almost strangely too good for something like this and in their "absurdity" felt kinda real, as a family dynamic.

I think the writing in Speed Racer is more well thought out than you'd think, precisely beacause it doesn't try to go overboard, becoming heavy or forced, and remaining light and silly, while giving you likeable characters.

 

[GurgleBot20]

Only Angels Have Wings - Terrific, probably my favorite Howard Hawks film. 9/10

Double Indemnity - A true classic. 9/10

 

[AgentChris]

Arlington Road - Loved it. What a crazy ending though.

 

[AgentChris]

Salt is one of the worst major releases I have seen in years. I almost couldn't believe they got Jolie to do it.

Agreed. It reminded me of Metal Gear Solid for some reason.

 

[Dali]

Probably not, but sure. I'm not one for romance generally as a genre, as I often find the relationships portrayed unconvincing and conducive to self-pity a lot of the time. So there's that. I've heard good things about Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (another German-language romance) so I do want to try that out sometime.

Anyways, I'll be out and about so I'll stop spamming the thread now, but I watched Delicatessen and Tenebrae (dat soundtrack!) today too. In my defense, it was my day off and it was 102 degrees F outside...

I was late to the Delicatessen party, having only seen it for the first time in the last 5 years or so. I really loved the humor set against the thematically contrasting plot point of a hovel of starving people that have become cannibals. The dark/zany combination worked well. I hoped for more of the same when I watched mickmacks, but unfortunately the proportions of the dark and zany are off.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Yeah, Doomsday is a pastiche of a bunch of different 70s and 80s movies (Road Warrior, Escape from NY, The Warriors, Excalibur (!!), Aliens) that Neil Marshall likes, with the slight addition that the post-apocalyptic gang people are happy cannibals. (Or maybe they were in those other movies too, I dunno.) I like those movies too, so I find it a thoroughly ridiculous and enjoyable movie.

Perhaps he has only seen the Max flicks. Lucky for him, he has cool movies to catch up on.




Also, Tenebre is my favorite Argento. I think I said that 3 or 4 times in the last thread.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Also, Tenebre is my favorite Argento. I think I said that 3 or 4 times in the last thread.

I watched it for the first time a few months ago. The ending blew my mind.

 

[Flek]

Salt is one of the worst major releases I have seen in years. I almost couldn't believe they got Jolie to do it.

well then you haven´t seen HANNA … 

 

[Count Dookkake]

I watched it for the first time a few months ago. The ending blew my mind.

Yeah.

That shot that reveals the killer is so awesome. It has been stolen a few times, but it is still pretty amazing. Also, the tracking shot around and through the lesbian's house is legendary.

Plus, one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.

 

[UrbanRats]

Yeah the whole idea of a Futurama movie is flawed. For TV broadcast they broke them up into 20 minute chunks but that doesn't quite work either because, besides being too plot based, they simply aren't funny enough compared to the old episodes, and the jokes are spread out too much.

I agree, though having Futurama a more coherent and solid world/universe than other similar TV Shows (Family Guy and even the Simpsons) i think it could work with 30 or even 40 min episodes.
20 is good but sometime a bit tight, for some cool ideas that could've been expanded (alien worlds and such).

There was more than just Mad Max stuff in it, though, so I don't think it's fair to make such a limited comparison to that one piece of work.

I only watched Centurion of Marshall and, even though it wasn't amazing, i thought it was a very very fun experience, it had some cheesyness, but it was.. never boring.
Just the ending made me roll my eyes, because it was a too forced (

Spoiler

Feild betraying on Fassbender and the other dude getting arrowed down, all for no real reason

).
And the CGI blood didn't bother me as i thought it would.
I think i might get some Marshall stuff then, such as Dog Soldiers, The Descent and Doomsday, if he's good.

 

[Solo]

Very nice OP! Don't know how I made it into the top 20 post count - I don't feel like I post in these threads all that much. I guess I'm wrong, hah.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Yeah.

That shot that reveals the killer is so awesome. It has been stolen a few times, but it is still pretty amazing. Also, the tracking shot around and through the lesbian's house is legendary.

Plus, one of the greatest soundtracks of all time.

You just sold me on a re-watch.

 

[Amagon]

Well, I knew Doomsday had other influences as well like Escape From NY/ The Warriors that you guys mention which of course I'd seen. (I have a huge boner for The Warriors!) And at the last part of the movie reminded me of Army of Darkness which is awesome btw.

 

[Satyamdas]

I was listening to a podcast where they summarized (or attempted to, anyway) the, uh, plot of this movie, and it sounded alternately repulsive and fantastic. I keep avoiding it on Netflix, but someday...

Plus there's that one dude on GAF with the Zardoz-derived avatar of Sean Connery in some kind of bizarre red underwear and buckles getup tempting me. How can I say no...?

Stinkles hasn't used that avatar in quite a while, but I was always curious as to his opinion of the film. The Connery pic just reeks of awesomeness, there is no questioning that, but unfortunately it is the best thing to come out of that film production. If I'm not mistaken, both you and he are fans of Dune, so I would not be surprised if he genuinely likes Zardoz, and I'd definitely suggest you give it a look see. If you're going to watch it soon you might want to skip my little review. I'd hate to taint someone's first viewing by implanting all my critiques.

Like Dune, Zardoz is a movie with great ambition (it's tagline after all was "Beyond 1984, Beyond 2001, Beyond Love, Beyond Death") buried under a thin script full of heavy exposition. The scenes which are not meandering jibber jabber are badly shot and repetitive action sequences which fail to engage on any level. Unlike Dune however, which is just a convoluted mess from the beginning, Zardoz starts off with great promise.

We are introduced to the God head, the vortex and its different populations, and there is a great WTF factor as we get acquainted with the universe. As the movie progresses, the WTF factor just drops off the map and the MEH factor ramps up. Zardoz completely falls off the rails with about an hour to go, and while I'd never fault a 1974 film for having poor special effects, you'd better have something interesting to look at if the story is going to fall apart. Unfortunately Zardoz has neither interesting visuals (save Consuella) nor a compelling conclusion. It belongs with Logan's Run and Dune in the category of "Gotta-watch-once-to-see-what-the-fuss-is-about, but-once-is-more-than-enough".

 

[Meatfist]

I recently installed netflix on my PS3, and I've really been enjoying it these last couple of nights. So far I've watched...

Blade Runner: Theatrical Cut-Wow, this was really a treat to look at. The look and feel of this movie seems years ahead of it's time, and the score was a masterpiece. The atmosphere of the movie kept me hooked, but I wish there was... More, instead of just Los Angeles. I was on and off about Ford's narration... It was cheesy, yeah, but it really filled the gaps and contributed to the noir style.

The performances were nothing special besides Ford, and the plot was alright, although confusing at times. Going to pick up the Final Cut for sure.
8/10

Reservoir Dogs-My second Tarantino movie after Pulp Fiction (my favorite movie of all time) so I went in kind of knowing what to expect. The dialogue immediately hooked me, and made me feel right at home after Pulp Fiction. There were great performances all around, but I kind of wish there was more backstory and exposition instead of banter between them. Mr. Orange was my favorite character, probably because of the level of exposition he had.

Scenes with Mr. Blonde stood out the most (him and the cop... Damn) and I really feel like they could have gotten into his motives more. What a badass. The ending left me smirking, and I feel like it was pretty good for Tarantino's first.
7/10

 

[Roquentin]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - I thought it was OK. Too bad it didn't have the same charm the game had, it just felt too Hollywoodish. 3/5

 

[FnordChan]

First off, kudos to Cosmic Bus for kicking off the new thread in excellent style. Bravo!

Tenebrae (dat soundtrack!)

God, I love that soundtrack so much. The flick is great overall, but it's the fantastic music that really makes it one of Argento's best. Here's hoping Blue Underground gets Tenebre out on Blu-ray soon.

Blade Runner: Theatrical Cut...The performances were nothing special besides Ford

Finally, in honor of the thread subtitle, I just got back from subjecting myself to Transformers 3. It was...well, to be honest it was kinda alright, in a dumb sort of way. Shit blows up. Alan Tudyk and Ken Jeong are entertainingly deranged and help salvage the attempts at comedy. More shit blows up. The Amos and Andy robots are replaced by Australian thug robots, which I suppose is an improvement, so long as you aren't Australian. I kept thinking of Not Quite Hollywood, so it worked for me. Still more shit blows up. Megan Fox is replaced by an underwear model in her first role on screen, which turns out to be a great improvement. Yet more destruction. Leonard Nimoy said something that made my entire group burst into hysterical laughter. And, finally, shit really, truly, and completely blows up for, like, an hour straight. I'm kinda okay with that. The only problem I really had was that my pals and I went to see the flick in 2D to avoid ending up with a 3D headache afterwards, and the flick was out of focus the entire time, despite two attempts to ask the teenage projectionists to fix it. Ah well.

Tonight: Gathering with friends for a double feature of Commando and The Running Man. Aw, yeah.

FnordChan

 

[AlternativeUlster]

Hey Bus if you have the time, you should do a highlights from the last thread. That would be pretty radical. Nice new thread.

 

[Ridley327]

I was listening to a podcast where they summarized (or attempted to, anyway) the, uh, plot of this movie, and it sounded alternately repulsive and fantastic. I keep avoiding it on Netflix, but someday...

Plus there's that one dude on GAF with the Zardoz-derived avatar of Sean Connery in some kind of bizarre red underwear and buckles getup tempting me. How can I say no...?

If you want more of a reason to watch this, there's a major plot point that centers around people observing Sean Connery's erection.

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS

 

[jakncoke]

hachiko a dogs story is pretty sad :/

 

[Brobzoid]

Blade Runner: The performances were nothing special besides Ford,

TEARS IN THE RAIN

 

[Kuroyume]

I saw the Devil - 5 out of 5

Amazing revenge film. Liked it much more than Oldboy which people hold in such a high regard. The opening scenes of the movie are incredibly disturbing and that's saying a lot as I've seen plenty of serial killer movies and documentaries. Something really disturbing about the way that first kill scene looked. Some really nice fight and torture scenes all throughout the movie and the serial killer (who also happens to be the Oldboy dude) does and incredible job of just being a vile human being. The film also happens to have one of the most disgusting scenes I've ever seen in a movie... Not that it had any influence on the score, but I just felt like mentioning that.

 

[TheKaeptain]

I saw the Devil - 5 out of 5

Amazing revenge film. Liked it much more than Oldboy which people hold in such a high regard. The opening scenes of the movie are incredibly disturbing and that's saying a lot as I've seen plenty of serial killer movies and documentaries. Something really disturbing about the way that first kill scene looked. Some really nice fight and torture scenes all throughout the movie and the serial killer (who also happens to be the Oldboy dude) does and incredible job of just being a vile human being. The film also happens to have one of the most disgusting scenes I've ever seen in a movie... Not that it had any influence on the score, but I just felt like mentioning that.

What did you find so disgusting?

 

[Randy Lanzarote]

Last night I watched Aliens, tonight I watched Alien. Bit backwards I know, but I got the Alien Anthology on Blu recently and figured that Friday night in would be action night.

It makes me sad that two films that 25 and 32 years old respectively piss over the majority of modern sci-fi. Perhaps my only gripe is how the computers in the future are pretty much still CRT screens and green text interface, but there is something rather charming about that 'industrial future' look that 80s sci-fi seemed to throw up. And the effects.... models/animatronics > CGI, and I'm sure that's why the films have aged so well when other more recent films look dated after a few years from their release.

9/10 for both I mostly reckon..... mostly.

Have an urge to watch Blade Runner now, but for some reason I don't seem to own that film (sure I had it at one point, perhaps on VHS). Time to keep an eye out for the Blu version.

 

[BaronLundi]

Finally saw Let the right one in thanks to the GAF hype and the old thread. For once I was not disappointed, especially since I knew next to nothing about the film and it's full of good surprises: kids acting well and their characters acting like kids, wonderful use of sound, a sweet and believable love story, a well thought slow pacing, scarce but efficient and beautiful bloody scenes. The only surprise I didn't get

Spoiler

during the movie was Eli being a boy. Flew right past me.

. My girlfriend couldn't understand why I was laughing so much during one of the scenes ; the cat.gif really took me by surprise.

 

[Kuroyume]

What did you find so disgusting?

Spoiler

The scene where he shits out the capsule and then starts to dig into his own diarreah to pull it out. Afterwards he shoves the thing into another dude's mouth. Like, did they have to show him digging into his own poop? That was so disgusting lol

Finally saw Let the right one in thanks to the GAF hype and the old thread. For once I was not disappointed, especially since I knew next to nothing about the film and it's full of good surprises: kids acting well and their characters acting like kids, wonderful use of sound, a sweet and believable love story, a well thought slow pacing, scarce but efficient and beautiful bloody scenes. The only surprise I didn't get

Spoiler

during the movie was Eli being a boy. Flew right past me.

. My girlfriend couldn't understand why I was laughing so much during one of the scenes ; the cat.gif really took me by surprise.

Really loved the way this movie looked. Great idea to have it shot in the winter.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Spoiler

The scene where he shits out the capsule and then starts to dig into his own diarreah to pull it out. Afterwards he shoves the thing into another dude's mouth. Like, did they have to show him digging into his own poop? That was so disgusting lol

I found nothing wrong with that.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Any recommendation for me for a movie that goes along the lines of Black Swan/Fight Club/Memento/Blade Runner/Gattaca/Black City?

I like mental stuff.

 

[Satyamdas]

Any recommendation for me for a movie that goes along the lines of Black Swan/Fight Club/Memento/Blade Runner/Gattaca/Black City?

I like mental stuff.

You meant Dark City I presume?

In the Mouth of Madness
Being John Malkovich
Adaptation
Synechdoche, NY (FU haters)
1408 (mental thriller is how I'd categorize this one, it isn't a horror movie at all but it is quite enjoyable)


I just saw In the Mouth of Madness for the first time in a long while and I'd forgotten just how great it is. Creepy, never cheesy, subdued. Really can't praise the atmosphere of this film highly enough. Awesome, awesome shit.

Ah, I'd forgotten it was Stinkles with that avatar! Haha, although I'm sure you didn't mean it this way (?) somehow the Dune association feels like a veiled insult, I don't like all ambitious big budget failures (Heaven's Gate, Waterworld etc) But I do occasionally like really strange and bad things of course so I'll have to give it a try.

Ha, yo I was hoping my Dune comment wouldn't come across as a snide insult or elitism/film snobbery, because that was definitely not the intent. I don't really know how else to describe it other than Zardoz & Dune *feel* very similar. Spiritual cousins, if you will. And not because they are both ambitious failures (although I think Zardoz was filmed for $1Mil USD), rather because of the tone and sound and atmosphere. And so I'd think that someone who likes Dune ought to give Zardoz a chance, because there might be a higher chance that they really enjoy it. I consider it a must see, and I am quite curious as to your thoughts on it.

 

[Ether_Snake]

You meant Dark City I presume?

In the Mouth of Madness
Being John Malkovich
Adaptation
Synechdoche, NY (FU haters)
1408 (mental thriller is how I'd categorize this one, it isn't a horror movie at all but it is quite enjoyable)


I just saw In the Mouth of Madness for the first time in a long while and I'd forgotten just how great it is. Creepy, never cheesy, subdued. Really can't praise the atmosphere of this film highly enough. Awesome, awesome shit.

Yes I meant Dark City, don't know why I wrote Black.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll look them up.

 

[NaughtyCalibur]

It's like a live-action, alternative take on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Just watch it on Netflix and see for yourselves.

 

[swoon]

Any recommendation for me for a movie that goes along the lines of Black Swan/Fight Club/Memento/Blade Runner/Gattaca/Black City?

I like mental stuff.

Repulsion
Persona
Don't Look Now
Dead Ringers

are all fun takes on personhood

 

[Count Dookkake]

I just saw In the Mouth of Madness for the first time in a long while and I'd forgotten just how great it is. Creepy, never cheesy, subdued. Really can't praise the atmosphere of this film highly enough. Awesome, awesome shit.

One of the few movies that seem to get better with each viewing. A shame it was not so well-received upon release. I think it kinda killed Carpenter.

Any recommendation for me for a movie that goes along the lines of Black Swan/Fight Club/Memento/Blade Runner/Gattaca/Black City?

I like mental stuff.

Total Recall

eXistenZ

Identity

 

[K1LLER7]

Hangover 2: wasn't as good as the first imo, still pretty funny.

Bridesmaids: Must watch comedy, liked it better than hangover. twas funny unexpectedly.

transformers 2 & 3: great action-wise, labeouf is hilarious, story pretty poor watch the 3rd in 3d, so awsome.

Due date: amazing, the funny guy from hangover (forgot his name) was funny as usual, as was downy jr. all in all, some funny shit right there.

 

[JaskoX1]

Wait why the new thread?


Guess the movie we'll be watching tonight is "The Nines".

 

[UrbanRats]

God, I love that soundtrack so much. The flick is great overall, but it's the fantastic music that really makes it one of Argento's best. Here's hoping Blue Underground gets Tenebre out on Blu-ray soon.

The main theme from Profondo Rosso brings back a lot of memories.
I used to watch this as a kid.. i remember being fucked up for days, after the

Spoiler

mirror scene

at the end and the

Spoiler

"eye in the closet"

one too.
And this theme is still stuck in my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JpuislFVzU

Avati's "the house with the laughing windows", seen as a kid, scarred me for weeks too, i couldn't sleep, literally.
And talking about Pupi Avati, I recently liked "The Hideout", even though it has its flaws and it is generally hated.
Still i think it's worth a watch, i liked it.
The script is very disposable, but the directing is still good and some scenes got quite the tension.

Wait why the new thread?

Pages limit.

 

[TheKaeptain]

My friend imported Space Battleship Yamato. Tonight is going to be awesome. I hope it is good.

 

[Replicant]

It's like a live-action, alternative take on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Just watch it on Netflix and see for yourselves.

LOL. Really? This I got to see.

 

[Count Dookkake]

My friend imported Space Battleship Yamato. Tonight is going to be awesome. I hope it is good.

So jealous.