User 479360
Banned
Yep
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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| July 2015
- Thread starter Charles Foster Kane
- Start date
- Status
Yep
Savages would have been better served by more charismatic leads. No one had any chance of camping it up as much as Benicio del Toro, Salma Hayek and John Travolta do in the film, but you may as well be staring at wallpaper whenever the likes of Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, and especially Aaron Taylor-Johnson are on the screen. Also not helping: Blake Lively is the narrator, and she must've had the same VO director that Harrison Ford had for Blade Runner.
It's a shame, since its heart was in the right place for being a nasty yet entertaining potboiler.
It's a shame, since its heart was in the right place for being a nasty yet entertaining potboiler.
'71
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ex Machina
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Live from New York!
Mad Max: Fury Road
When Marnie Was There
In alphabetical order, so none of you can see how highly I ranked Avengers!
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
I haven't seen many of this year's movies. I've only seen blockbusters.
So far the best one I've seen is Fury Road. The other ones aren't worth mentioning. Ok, maybe Kingsman, but that's it.
So far the best one I've seen is Fury Road. The other ones aren't worth mentioning. Ok, maybe Kingsman, but that's it.
silentcapybara
Banned
The local cinema has been having an Altman retrospective recently, and I also had the pleasure of seeing 3 Women for the first time last week. It has been stuck in my mind ever since.
Song of the Turtle
Member
So, I used my free month of Amazon Prime and was finally able to catch up on some classics.
Pulp Fiction
Rope
The Usual Suspects
The Godfather
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Gladiator
Psycho
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Cloud Atlas
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Lego Movie
Dragonball Z: Battle of Gods
Some thoughts: Terminator 2 is fantastic. Great action and setpieces and the CGI holds up surprisingly well. Loved the way they showed Sarah Connor crawling on the floor when she sees Arnold stepping out of the elevator. Really sells how terrified she is.
The Lego Movie was way better than I expected. It sometimes got out of hand with the references though. Cloudcuckooland felt like reading an article on Tvtropes (which is not an entirely bad thing). I also didn't like the way how things just... happen.
Oh, and the CGI was kinda mindblowing.
The only ones I didn't enjoy that much were Cloud Atlas and Guardians of the Galaxy. The former had too many characters and as a result all of them felt underdeveloped - the only exception beeing Cavendish, I could have watched a whole movie about him
. It also felt really irritating how the tone took a 180° turn every few minutes.
Can't say anything about most of the other films that hasn't been said already. I'm a bit sad that I guessed the big twist of The Usual Suspects right after a few minutes :/
Looking forward to seeing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly this weekend, especially since I'm a huge fan of Once Upon a Time in the West.
Pulp Fiction
Rope
The Usual Suspects
The Godfather
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Gladiator
Psycho
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Cloud Atlas
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Lego Movie
Dragonball Z: Battle of Gods
Some thoughts: Terminator 2 is fantastic. Great action and setpieces and the CGI holds up surprisingly well. Loved the way they showed Sarah Connor crawling on the floor when she sees Arnold stepping out of the elevator. Really sells how terrified she is.
The Lego Movie was way better than I expected. It sometimes got out of hand with the references though. Cloudcuckooland felt like reading an article on Tvtropes (which is not an entirely bad thing). I also didn't like the way how things just... happen.
Although It makes sense in the context of the ending, wich I really liked.
The only ones I didn't enjoy that much were Cloud Atlas and Guardians of the Galaxy. The former had too many characters and as a result all of them felt underdeveloped - the only exception beeing Cavendish, I could have watched a whole movie about him
. It also felt really irritating how the tone took a 180° turn every few minutes. Can't say anything about most of the other films that hasn't been said already. I'm a bit sad that I guessed the big twist of The Usual Suspects right after a few minutes :/
Looking forward to seeing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly this weekend, especially since I'm a huge fan of Once Upon a Time in the West.
User 479360
Banned
I may watch them, since I have them.
That said, I have a huge DVD collection upstairs I never get to, though I'm always searching for movies to PVR or looking at the library. It's stupid
That said, I have a huge DVD collection upstairs I never get to, though I'm always searching for movies to PVR or looking at the library. It's stupid
Infernostew
Member
Top 5 seen in June:
1. Network
2. Rashomon
3. A Field In England
4. The Skin I Live In
5. Dog Day Afternoon
1. Network
2. Rashomon
3. A Field In England
4. The Skin I Live In
5. Dog Day Afternoon
SuperInuit
Member
Wall of shame, twice in a row!
Top 5 for June:
1) Jane Eyre
2) Batman Returns
3) Scanners
4) The Brood
5) Batman & Robin
Was just watching Metropolis, only made it 50 minutes before I began to fall asleep. Not because the film is boring, god no it's wonderful, I just haven't slept in a couple of days. Looking forward to diving back in tomorrow.
Top 5 for June:
1) Jane Eyre
2) Batman Returns
3) Scanners
4) The Brood
5) Batman & Robin
Was just watching Metropolis, only made it 50 minutes before I began to fall asleep. Not because the film is boring, god no it's wonderful, I just haven't slept in a couple of days. Looking forward to diving back in tomorrow.
MidnightCowboy
Member
Best two movies I saw last month were Nashville and Twins.
Serpentine
Banned
My tops from June
1. Bad Education
2. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
3. Inherent Vice
4. Rififi
I also saw Chappie recently, and it's actually okay, not terrible. It's deeply flawed - Die Antwoord aren't great actors (fine for the most part, but not good in some big scenes), Sharlto Copley as Chappie honestly kind of fucks up a lot of it (because he's terrible and it just makes it harder to like the character), and some of that ending stuff is just kinda... ridiculous. But it's also pretty genuine, and tries a lot with ideas - some work, some don't, but it goes for them
. The dynamic between Die Antwoord and Chappie is actually great though, with Yolandi being a caring mother type but being overpowered by Ninja, who wants to just use him to pull off a heist. Also, I don't think the trailers show that Hugh Jackman
.
Also, The Duff is just a forgettable teen comedy that wants to be the new Mean Girls but Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell are both pretty great. It's not as cleverly modern as it thinks it is, although the two scenes where characters list off as many social media sites as they can
are great at highlighting how ridiculous it sounds to do that out loud
1. Bad Education
2. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
3. Inherent Vice
4. Rififi
I also saw Chappie recently, and it's actually okay, not terrible. It's deeply flawed - Die Antwoord aren't great actors (fine for the most part, but not good in some big scenes), Sharlto Copley as Chappie honestly kind of fucks up a lot of it (because he's terrible and it just makes it harder to like the character), and some of that ending stuff is just kinda... ridiculous. But it's also pretty genuine, and tries a lot with ideas - some work, some don't, but it goes for them
even if i rolled my eyes at the dying human's consciousness being transferred into a robot
is straight up the villain in this movie, and it's pretty fun
Also, The Duff is just a forgettable teen comedy that wants to be the new Mean Girls but Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell are both pretty great. It's not as cleverly modern as it thinks it is, although the two scenes where characters list off as many social media sites as they can
the breakup with the friends and the principal banning the phones
Net_Wrecker
Member
Still lots to see but heeeeeeeere we go
1. Mad Max Fury Road aka. Movies 4.0 (Silent --> Talkie --> Color --> Mad Max Fury Road)
2. Blackhat
3. It Follows
4. Inside Out
5. Kingsman: The Secret Service
6. Ex Machina
7. '71
8. A Most Violent Year
9. The Duke of Burgundy
In numerical order, so I can make people angry
I've been maintaining one as the year's gone on. right now up top I have:
1.The Duke of Burgundy
2.World of Tomorrow
3.A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
4.Ned Rifle
5.Mad Max: Fury Road
6.Heaven Knows What
7.Dinner with Family with Brett Gelman and Brett Gelmans Family
8.Wild Canaries
9.Maps to the Stars
10.It Follows
11.Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii
Net_Wrecker
Member
Now watch The Purge: Anarchy to see how it turns into The Punisher by way of John Carpenter (just not as good obviously)
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Wasn't that The Guest?
Net_Wrecker
Member
Serpentine
Banned
That's like,
Terminator
Surely even 2014 Carpenter would've made something way better. The Purge movies have great concepts for trashy violent action shit but they're both safe and boring
silentcapybara
Banned
my list for 2015 so far:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
3. Faults
4. It Follows
5. Slow West
6. Ex Machina
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
3. Faults
4. It Follows
5. Slow West
6. Ex Machina
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
This PBS American Experience documentary about the American whaling industry and the writing of Moby-Dick is simply one of the very best I've ever seen. It's a powerful piece of work on every level, particularly the sections in which actual passages from Melville's work are read aloud. They've put it up on Youtube after what seems like several years of unavailability since it left Netflix, so please, give it a watch, friends.
Hmm, I'm drawing a blank, what Louisiana movie? A quick google search of "cannes lousiana movie" turns up The Other Side, which I have no idea what that is.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
I enjoyed it quite a bit, as a fun roller-coaster ride, but I thought the praise for it over-the-top.
Fancy Clown
Member
Rope. Easily top 3 Hitchcock for me. Damn. He mines so, so much tension from he enclosed space and (not quite) single take camera. Jimmy Stewart steals the show, but I thought everyone was well cast and the characters bounced off eachother in fantastic ways. The suspense builds and builds all up to that great ending. What a final frame to end it on too. Only downside is some clumsy transitions when they had to change canisters and reset, ie when they just dolly in on someones back for no reason.
DontBeThatGuy
Member
Kurt Cobain; Montage of Heck
It's another HBO documentary that I would absolutely recommend, and I think it just might have one of my favorite film moments of the year("Smells Like Teen Spirit" video shoot, set to a female choir version of the song. It just resonated with me)
It's another HBO documentary that I would absolutely recommend, and I think it just might have one of my favorite film moments of the year("Smells Like Teen Spirit" video shoot, set to a female choir version of the song. It just resonated with me)
yeah that's the one, I'm sorry if I called you out on that, maybe I misremembered, must have been UrbanRats
Not being as truly ready to say goodbye to Zatoichi, even after going through all of the films, I was pleased to discover that Hulu had The Blind Menace available for streaming. Something of a prototype for Shintaro Katsu's portrayal of a blind man, the similarities end just about there, as this film is rags-to-riches portrayal of a criminal mastermind. Indeed, Suginoichi is a fiend of the most heinous sort, who kills, rapes, blackmails, and schemes his way to the top, and it feels like he was born for this type of behavior. Katsu plays the role with a kind of child-like naivete, as if it's never crossed his mind that his behavior could possibly be interpreted as callous at a minimum. He even comments on himself being a villain of villains late in the film, but there's an edge to it that suggests that he never considers himself to be a criminal, and outright defies such a label. While there's the expectation of waiting for the other shoe to drop on Suginoichi for the ultimate satisfaction, he's a compelling character because of the unpredictability of how far-reaching his schemes are, and Katsu brings a lot of the charm and swagger he'd be known for later on, shaded so much more darker. Director Kazuo Mori, a Zatoichi vet himself with a few installments that would eventually be under his belt, shows considerable chops throughout the film, knowing enough to let your mind fill in the worst of Suginoichi's deeds by showing you enough of them in as non-explicit a way imaginable, as well as deploying handheld shots in a recurring motif of a loss of control. This is a film that could have benefited from a longer run time, as the 90-minute duration winds up causing a rather rushed third act, barreling through plot points and schemes without giving them any time to breathe, despite a lot of fertile ideas being in the mix. More importantly, I just wanted to spend more time with Suginoichi, who despite earning his title as a villain of villains (and then some), remains captivating from his not-so-humble beginnings to his defiant end.
User 479360
Banned
I haven't seen enough movies from 2015 to make a list. There are quite a few I'd like to see, though.
Snowman Prophet of Doom
Member
Top 5 First Watches of June
1. Persona
2. Cemetery of Splendour
3. Cries and Whispers
4. Even Dwarfs Started Small
5. Taxi (Jafar Panahi)
Top 5 of 2015 so far
1. Cemetery of Splendour
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Taxi
4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
5. The Duke of Burgandy
1. Persona
2. Cemetery of Splendour
3. Cries and Whispers
4. Even Dwarfs Started Small
5. Taxi (Jafar Panahi)
Top 5 of 2015 so far
1. Cemetery of Splendour
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Taxi
4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
5. The Duke of Burgandy
Just watched Ex Machina on the recommendation of these threads. Some spoilers, of course. Bigger ones marked.
It kept me engaged the entire time, and was beautifully shot, but in the end I felt like there wasn't much there. Not much of a story, not much of a point. What looks like it will be a fairly typical (but interesting) look at AI and what it is that 'makes' a sentient being sentient, and worthwhile, and worthy of rights and empathy etc becomes more of a
And unfortunately I thought that the film's treatment of those issues was scattershot, aimless and ultimately pretty meaningless.
It also suffered from a huge believability deficit. Not in terms of the robot or the ridiculous lodge, or the silly science- when a film asks you to believe its world, you must do so, and I had no problem with that. But the two male characters never rang true to me. I love Oscar Isaac, but I felt like he gave a fantastic performance of a poor character, if that makes sense. I can accept a genius being a drunk. I struggle to accept him doing all of this alone in a lodge. I struggle to accept he could make the mistakes he made, considering what he had set up. And ultimately, what I can't accept is him being so damn uninteresting in conversation.
And I hate saying it as an Irishman, but I thought Gleeson was very, very weak. I didn't buy his character or character development at all, and for an intelligent guy his approach towards Ava and subsequent decisions were borderline brain-dead, which really harmed those scenes. Of course Vikander is the star, and frankly she holds the entire film together, she's exceptional. The vast majority of my enjoyment of the film was watching her performance allied with the spectacular effects on her 'body' and that child-like, ethereal face seemingly floating in the air, with the slightest, most deliberate hints of emotion skittering across it. Just an amazing performance, really.
Spoilers ahoy: I think a large reason the film didn't really hit home for me
I don't know, I expect this kind of film to make me want to talk about the issues at stake for hours afterwards, but Ex Machina brought almost nothing new or interesting to the table despite gorgeous shots and one superb performance. Still, an enjoyable watch, and I'm glad it was recommended to me. And of course, that fucking dance scene. If the whole movie had had that kind of adventurous spirit and sense of humour it might have been a classic.
It kept me engaged the entire time, and was beautifully shot, but in the end I felt like there wasn't much there. Not much of a story, not much of a point. What looks like it will be a fairly typical (but interesting) look at AI and what it is that 'makes' a sentient being sentient, and worthwhile, and worthy of rights and empathy etc becomes more of a
strange look at gender attitudes among the rich or in the tech industry.
It also suffered from a huge believability deficit. Not in terms of the robot or the ridiculous lodge, or the silly science- when a film asks you to believe its world, you must do so, and I had no problem with that. But the two male characters never rang true to me. I love Oscar Isaac, but I felt like he gave a fantastic performance of a poor character, if that makes sense. I can accept a genius being a drunk. I struggle to accept him doing all of this alone in a lodge. I struggle to accept he could make the mistakes he made, considering what he had set up. And ultimately, what I can't accept is him being so damn uninteresting in conversation.
And I hate saying it as an Irishman, but I thought Gleeson was very, very weak. I didn't buy his character or character development at all, and for an intelligent guy his approach towards Ava and subsequent decisions were borderline brain-dead, which really harmed those scenes. Of course Vikander is the star, and frankly she holds the entire film together, she's exceptional. The vast majority of my enjoyment of the film was watching her performance allied with the spectacular effects on her 'body' and that child-like, ethereal face seemingly floating in the air, with the slightest, most deliberate hints of emotion skittering across it. Just an amazing performance, really.
Spoilers ahoy: I think a large reason the film didn't really hit home for me
was that I never expected Ava to be 'innocent' in the way the film presented her to be, as she was an AI, and I always have a healthy suspicion of such. The film so desperately wanted you to love her that I knew I shouldn't. I could see Caleb falling for her manipulation as it was happening and felt quite sure that whether it was all planned by Nathan or not, he was being used by her. This made the reveal that Ava is actually just another 'self-interested murderous being' (just like us!) fall flat for me. So when the film shows her murdering Nathan, trapping Caleb and escaping it does so with this uplifting direction of the scenes, when in my reading of reality the antagonist has prevailed over one completely innocent party, and another whose 'crimes' certainly didn't deserve his punishment. It was very, very dissonant to me, as someone who had mistrusted Ava from the start and did not want to see her succeed if it had to be at the expense of a decent, if limp-wristed human being. (And yes, serious believability issues with the ending.)
I also felt like there was very little 'tension'. If this was a thriller, the thrills were scarce. The stakes were kept seriously low throughout almost the whole film, so it comes as a serious shock when Nathan is killed. Perhaps I didn't feel the tension as I wasn't invested in the characters as much as I would have liked to have been. Not to mention the fact that in a scenario ripe for humour there was virtually none at all (bar one amazing scene), which I felt was disappointing.
I also felt like there was very little 'tension'. If this was a thriller, the thrills were scarce. The stakes were kept seriously low throughout almost the whole film, so it comes as a serious shock when Nathan is killed. Perhaps I didn't feel the tension as I wasn't invested in the characters as much as I would have liked to have been. Not to mention the fact that in a scenario ripe for humour there was virtually none at all (bar one amazing scene), which I felt was disappointing.
I don't know, I expect this kind of film to make me want to talk about the issues at stake for hours afterwards, but Ex Machina brought almost nothing new or interesting to the table despite gorgeous shots and one superb performance. Still, an enjoyable watch, and I'm glad it was recommended to me. And of course, that fucking dance scene. If the whole movie had had that kind of adventurous spirit and sense of humour it might have been a classic.
Discotheque
Banned
Rewatched the terminator recently and I think not only is that possibly as good as the best of carpenter's movies but also it feels the most like a long lost movie of his. (Even moreso than these modern homages like the guest and it follows)
I bet he kicked himself after hearing terminator theme wishing he composed that too
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto is about the most incident-filled film that I can think of. Over the course of just over 90 minutes, there are probably enough subplots to fill up a season or two of a TV show, and yet the film never feels much like it's doing too much in too little time, catching you up on the gist of things without having to rely too much on narration to fill in the finer details. That being said, it's pretty clear that there was a much larger plan involved in the making of this film, as a lot of the characters go through a big introductory arc that does conclude by the film's end, but hardly feels finished by design, leaving a bit of an unsatisfying feeling. The film does a lot to make up for it, thanks to its infectious swashbuckling spirit and bombast (anchored quite well by Toshiro Mifune as the lead), and some rather extraordinary photography that makes it hard to believe that the film is 60 years old. It says a lot about how impressed I was with this where I just about let Hulu start playing the second installment, as I already felt ready for round two. If this film is little more than setup for what's to come, then it's about the most effective setup you could ever ask for.
Fancy Clown
Member
You're right it does feel very carpenter, I dunno why I becer got that vibe before. But I'll take The Thing over Terminator any day
tearsintherain
Member
Focus, starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie (the two will be in Suicide Squad as Deadshot and Harley Quinn).
Awful, awful movie. Supposed to be a grifter type movie but its really a rom-com/drama with a terrible grifter wrapping, the two leads have no chemistry with each other and the story is wretched. Totally regret wasting 2 hours watching it.
Get Hard, starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Predictable and flat, a few funny moments but a movie I've forgotten 5 minutes after watching it. Its exactly what the trailer promises though, not even sure why I watched it.
Todays the 20th anniversary of Back to the Future, think I will cleanse my movie palate with a rewatch of that trilogy this weekend.
Awful, awful movie. Supposed to be a grifter type movie but its really a rom-com/drama with a terrible grifter wrapping, the two leads have no chemistry with each other and the story is wretched. Totally regret wasting 2 hours watching it.
Get Hard, starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Predictable and flat, a few funny moments but a movie I've forgotten 5 minutes after watching it. Its exactly what the trailer promises though, not even sure why I watched it.
Todays the 20th anniversary of Back to the Future, think I will cleanse my movie palate with a rewatch of that trilogy this weekend.
lazybones18
Banned
Brainstorm
It was definitely one of the more interesting sci-fi movies I've seen. What I loved the most was the changes in the aspect ratio. It was still in letterbox but how it was setup when I was watching it was that the real world scenes were shown in a more smaller rectangular size while everything that's shown when someone is wearing the device manages to make use of the full letterbox experience. Not quite shown here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYRH3xpt44 (ENDING SPOILERS), but it still left me in awe, especially during the ending and other scenes. Overall, I thought it was a great movie and worth watching.
Marlowe
Other than The Long Goodbye, are there any other essential Philip Marlowe movies that I should check out? This movie was very good
It was definitely one of the more interesting sci-fi movies I've seen. What I loved the most was the changes in the aspect ratio. It was still in letterbox but how it was setup when I was watching it was that the real world scenes were shown in a more smaller rectangular size while everything that's shown when someone is wearing the device manages to make use of the full letterbox experience. Not quite shown here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYRH3xpt44 (ENDING SPOILERS), but it still left me in awe, especially during the ending and other scenes. Overall, I thought it was a great movie and worth watching.
Marlowe
Other than The Long Goodbye, are there any other essential Philip Marlowe movies that I should check out? This movie was very good
Shock Corridor may be one of Fuller's best, and definitely one masterful movie in general. it's amazing how he turns the cliches around, visionary, intense to the max, excellently acted , written and paced. Shutter Island is an amateur effort in comparison. Fantastic stuff, 10/10
The Big Sleep, maybe Farewell My Lovely (never seen it myself but it has Robert Mitchum as Marlowe)
ViewtifulJC
Banned
harsh but fair judgment, Your Excellence
yup, these are the best ones. There's also (I think) with James Garner which was good enough, Marlowe
Death Metalist
Member
1) Spirited Away(Rewatch, the recent blu that came out looks fucking stunning.)
2) Dawn of the planet of the apes
3) Death Wish
4) Miami Blues
5) The Voices
2) Dawn of the planet of the apes
3) Death Wish
4) Miami Blues
5) The Voices
big sleep
murder, my sweet - this is remade as the mitchum, farewell my lovely, watch both.
lady in the lake
mitchum also remade big sleep - it's not nearly as good, but worth tracking down.
brasher doubloon (also time to kill), these are quicky noirs, but with merit.
garner's marlowe led right into the rockford files which is worth watching, and it bares more relation to that than the other marlowe films
Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple stumbles somewhat with the issue of not only having to handle the considerable amount of characters introduced in the first film, but also having to accommodate new ones. Much like the first film, many arcs are started with the promise of finishing at a later time, but where the first film felt very robust in spite of the lack of resolution, this entry doesn't quite have the meat on its bones to compensate for having to stretch itself thinner, along with piling on the melodrama for the actresses to do little more than be on bended knee in despondency that Musashi hasn't swept them off their feet and taken them away from all this swordfighting (he even gets another for his decidedly unwanted harem!). It's not to say it's a bad film at all, as it continues to astonish me that these films look as good as they do for their age, along with strong performances from Mifune and Koji Tsuruta, and a lot more action compared to the first film, and it's definitely not hurting for things to happen. As it is, it's very much the second installment of a trilogy that's based around telling a larger story, and an installment without a real beginning or an end makes it harder to impress. It certainly goes down smooth enough, but it's tougher to digest without seeing how everything will finally wrap up in part three.
Rewatched Mission: Impossible (1996) for the first time in a very long time. Very good, notably more realistic than the other ones with a cool style. I need to see more De Palma but I especially liked his use of angles during it. Good cast too; Vanessa Redgrave was excellent in her small role
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