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Anyone seen any good movies lately?

ROMhack

Member
Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor

Been wanting to see this for a long long time, I have been listening recently to a series of podcasts covering the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China on Patreon.

I’m currently waiting on a third part of a three part series of history episodes to be released. Naturally my interest in this subject matter led me to autobiographical film The Last Emperor chronicling the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Unfortunately the film is out of print in the UK and the excellent Criterion Collection Blu Ray release is also out of print and a Region A locked disc. Thankfully I was able to track down an Italian print of the film on Blu Ray which has an English language and is reputedly struck from the master used by Criterion.

It was fascinating comparing the life of Puyi to the portrayal of him in the film, a lot of Puyi’s nastier traits are edited out of the film to make him a more palatable..

Bertolucci is a blind-spot for me but that's definitely one to throw on my to watch list. Music by David Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto :messenger_ok:

I see it was distributed by Colombia, who would have been headed by David Puttnam at the time. Me and a few others were supposed to interview him once but he pulled out at the last minute :messenger_loudly_crying:
 
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joombo

Banned
A Star is Born - 9/10
What a fantastic film. I really wasn't bothered about watching it as I really didn't think it would be my sort of film, however after making the missus watch First Man, it was her turn to choose. Great performances by all of the actors and I was actually gutted at the end. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be about at all and I'd glad I made the effort to watch it!
 
Just watched Get Out for the first time, I don't know why but I figured out the twist very quickly. It didn't ruin my enjoyment of the film though, it's a great film.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
went to visit my dad in the mountains, so i had a hardcore r&r weekend full of over the air tv & movies:

MV5BYzg3OGU3ZjgtNDExNS00MjMyLTkwNWQtN2I5ODY4MDZlNzFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjExMDIwNzA@._V1_.jpg


Eliminators (1986) an Orion 80s b-movie, with a lead role by Denise Crosby who was Tasha Yar in season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation (she infamously and unfairly gets permanently killed off by a monster-of-the-week). this movie had a strong Big Trouble in Little China feel. the main baguy has this compound and he wants to go back in time and become the new Julius Ceaser w all his technology. there is a final battle where he has this Roman shield that can throw bolts of energy, it's so cool, just like a video game. i only saw the last half of this, when i tuned in, they were all camped out in the woods, her, a cyborg/Robocop/Terminator ripoff, and a karate dude who was doing most of the heavily lifting. a tiny toy robot comes out and starts shooting them w lazers and the karate dude slices it in half with a sword. it's that kind of movie!

nest-poster.jpg


The Nest (1988) this was maybe from the same people, another lo budget b-movie, this time w gross out gore. part Jaws and part The Fly, it is about a company who has leverage over the mayor of this beach community, and they are using his town to engineer super mutant cockroaches. lots of incredible Cronenberg-style gore and body horror in this. very cool. there is a scene where the evil scientist lady that invented the roaches is experimenting on a cat, and the result is a killer mutant cat with no skin, just covered in blood. awesome vintage trash for a lazy Sunday on the couch.
 
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bitbydeath

Member
I watched Open House which is probably one of the worst Netflix originals I’ve ever seen.

Everyone dies and you get no answers as to who killed them or why they killed them.
 

Papa

Banned
Really enjoyed Cold Pursuit. Quirky and quite different to Liam Neeson's usual action movies but kept me hooked.
 

megamerican

Member
I watched Annihilation a few days ago. Wouldn't really recommend it.

Yeah, not a terrible movie but a pretty big letdown after Dredd and Ex Machina.

I watched The House That Jack Built. Basically I'd sum it up as if you like Lars Von Trier you will probably like this movie. Fantastic performance by Matt Dillon. It's fucked up and too long, but that's par for the course with Von Trier.
 
went to visit my dad in the mountains, so i had a hardcore r&r weekend full of over the air tv & movies:

MV5BYzg3OGU3ZjgtNDExNS00MjMyLTkwNWQtN2I5ODY4MDZlNzFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjExMDIwNzA@._V1_.jpg


Eliminators (1986) an Orion 80s b-movie, with a lead role by Denise Crosby who was Tasha Yar in season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation (she infamously and unfairly gets permanently killed off by a monster-of-the-week). this movie had a strong Big Trouble in Little China feel. the main baguy has this compound and he wants to go back in time and become the new Julius Ceaser w all his technology. there is a final battle where he has this Roman shield that can throw bolts of energy, it's so cool, just like a video game. i only saw the last half of this, when i tuned in, they were all camped out in the woods, her, a cyborg/Robocop/Terminator ripoff, and a karate dude who was doing most of the heavily lifting. a tiny toy robot comes out and starts shooting them w lazers and the karate dude slices it in half with a sword. it's that kind of movie!

nest-poster.jpg


The Nest (1988) this was maybe from the same people, another lo budget b-movie, this time w gross out gore. part Jaws and part The Fly, it is about a company who has leverage over the mayor of this beach community, and they are using his town to engineer super mutant cockroaches. lots of incredible Cronenberg-style gore and body horror in this. very cool. there is a scene where the evil scientist lady that invented the roaches is experimenting on a cat, and the result is a killer mutant cat with no skin, just covered in blood. awesome vintage trash for a lazy Sunday on the couch.
I love these sorts of films. Good picks, #Phonepunk# #Phonepunk#
 

Azurro

Banned
I really enjoyed Polar in Netflix. Mads Mikkelsen is pretty charismatic and the movie had a very stylish look. It was basically a store brand John Wick but still really fun.
 

KonradLaw

Member
Saw Revenger on Netflix and loved it. Very thin plot (could have been a lot better, since the setup is actually awesome), but I didn't care because it provided excuse for action and the action was superb. Will be contender for best action of 2019 for sure. The lead actor is such a beast and it's cool that he's actually pretty damn big muscle-wise, which is very rare in korean action flicks.
%EB%A6%AC%EB%B2%A4%EC%A0%B8_4.gif
 
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Nymphae

Banned
Watched the first MK movie last week. It's as I remembered it, cheesy as fuck but pretty good fan service for '95. It's pretty watchable cheese.

Also watched the Flinstones movie a little while ago, and that movie gets unfairly trashed imo. The cast was great (aside from Rosie O'Donnel as Betty, possibly the worst casting choice ever) and the sets were perfect, I really don't know what people expect from movie adaptations of children's entertainment, this movie nailed it I think.
 

Seraphym

Member
Halo is Back Halo is Back some great choices there. Downfall and Oldboy are films that sit with you afterwards.

Watched Polar on Netflix, which was great fun.
Blackklansman which was a good movie, cast were really good. Last 5 minutes was very sobering
 

Airola

Member
Found a new "one of my all time favorite movies" from Netflix:
The Incident (El incidente)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3528756/

Mexican film, made in 2014.

The idea in short:
People trapped in endless staircase and endless road.

The movie holds up all the way to the end amazingly well and goes to unexpected directions with some pretty deep layers. The director has a special eye for philosophy and psychology, or at least this film makes it seem like that. I have to see his other movies to be sure about that.
 
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BlueAlpaca

Member
71fa+jM5neL._RI_SX300_.jpg


Burning

I loved it, however:
the ending, though at first seemed to me good and shocking, felt cheap and forced. If Ben killed the girl he would not have agreed to the meeting at the end and certainly would not have asked where she is, and if he was not a serial killer then a lot of the movie doesn't make much sense. There were just too many hints. The director wanted to make a multi-layered thriller that was vague in a good way, to engender discussion, and I think he failed at that despite the fact that it's still a good movie. It feels like the script just needed another draft to make a perfect film.
 
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71fa+jM5neL._RI_SX300_.jpg


Burning

I loved it, however:
the ending, though at first seemed to me good and shocking, felt cheap and forced. If Ben killed the girl he would not have agreed to the meeting at the end and certainly would not have asked where she is, and if he was not a serial killer then a lot of the movie doesn't make much sense. There were just too many hints. The director wanted to make a multi-layered thriller that was vague in a good way, to engender discussion, and I think he failed at that despite the fact that it's still a good movie. It feels like the script just needed another draft to make a perfect film.
That’s a cool poster
 
Hereditary. I'm disturbed someone could think up such a film. I was expecting some nihilist gene is god love-in and what I got was very different.
 

Drake

Member
I'm super late to the party, but I finally saw IT. I REALLY enjoyed it. I don't watch a ton of movies, but it's one of the better ones I've seen lately. Looking forward to the next one.
 

joombo

Banned
A Quiet Place

Really liked it, not sure why I avoided it for so long. A few bits, I was like “why don’t you just do this” but was intense in some bits.
 
I watched this Jackie Chan movie called Bleeding Steel recently through my Amazon Prime and it was actually really great. Very fun action movie.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned


Mildred Pierce (1945)

classic, CLASSIC film-noir with Joan Crawford in the leading role as a very ahead-of-her-time independent woman who strikes out on her own to start a restaurant that becomes a huge success, then her inevitable downfall as her partners and investors both literally and figuratively screw her out of her hard won achievements. pretty shocking twist here, though we figured it out early, it was still crazy to see it confirmed. lol every man in this movie chain smokes and says "You think about work too much, doll, just have a little fun" every 2-3 minutes before going to hang around at strip clubs.

edit: be careful that trailer spoils the end of the movie
 
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Fbh

Member
Saw Creed II.

Wasn't bad but it was disappointing. I was hoping that with the sequel they tried to make it more of its own thing but nope, there's so much "hey remember THIS from the old movies?" you'd think it was a JJ Abrams project.

Was still a decent watch though
 
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#Phonepunk#

Banned
watched Jim & Andy last night, the documentary on Jim Carey making the Andy Kauffman movie. tbh i was holding off on it. there is nothing i hate more than self-important artists. the idea that he would have terrorized staff like Jared Leto to get way too far into a character was a big turn off.

but it was good! and it actually made me impressed with Carey's acting prowess. i kind of got the impression he wasn't just doing all this for attention, he really really wanted to go method.

also it made me want to rewatch The Mask.
 
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watched Jim & Andy last night, the documentary on Jim Carey making the Andy Kauffman movie. tbh i was holding off on it. there is nothing i hate more than self-important artists. the idea that he would have terrorized staff like Jared Leto to get way too far into a character was a big turn off.

but it was good! and it actually made me impressed with Carey's acting prowess. i kind of got the impression he wasn't just doing all this for attention, he really really wanted to go method.

also it made me want to rewatch The Mask.

That was a really fascinating doc but I found myself embarrassed for Jim during the whole thing, especially the Jerry Lawler stuff. It shouldn't have escalated to violence but Jim truly was being an insufferable prick from start to finish and even people who knew Andy would say he wasn't really like this, which just made all the method stuff(Or whatever mental madness Jim had psyched himself into) even worse. Though I do believe Jim truly thought he was doing the right thing for this role. Also hearing Jim's "I figured out the world" philosophy peppered throughout was entertaining for a number of reasons... So yeah, great doc. I recommend it too. :messenger_smiling_horns:
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
I just watched My Friend Dahmer. Starts off rather slow, but it gets pretty interesting by the end. The main actor that plays Jeffrey Dahmer does a really good job playing disturbed and creepy. Not an amazing movie, but it held my interest until the end.
 

kunonabi

Member
Been watching a ton of stuff so I can do my top movies of 2018 list. Just watched Paddington 2 and Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot which were both great. I tried watching the Other Side of the Wind and found it insufferable. I also watched Ready Player One and hated it.

I've got Vox Lux, Cold War and a handful of East Asian films to finish things up.
 
Watched The Grand Budapest Hotel for the first time. DDL's character in Phantom Thread is very similar to Fiennes' character, and Fiennes did it so much better. Pretty good film overall, but the internet's love for it seems alittle excessive.

Watched Gangs of New York as well, I thought it was tonally a bit all over the place. Finishing with a U2 song summed the film up.
 

petran79

Banned
Watched the restored version of the Belstone Fox on BD. Perfect film to fit on the ultrawide monitor at 2.39 to 1 ratio. Magnificent film about the now banned trade of fox hunting. It was later remade by Disney to the Fox and the Hound. But the 1973 film is vastly better and has one of the best depictions of the British countryside, made even better with the restored version. The fox hunts were very action packed and tense. Surprisingly only one horse cut its leg during filming. The fox and the dog were actually raised together as pups too. Actors required to know horse riding and be acquainted with the hounds.
One scene where a hunter marks with fox blood the face of a trainee child was gruesome. This image of unsophisticared rural Britain does nit exist anymore. One of the most visually impressive movies. Animal training was also noteworthy and very difficult, having to manage horses, dogs and foxes
 

VulcanRaven

Member
I just saw Alita: Battle Angel. I really enjoyed it. I haven't read the manga so I didn't know much about it. I just knew that James Cameron is the producer and the trailers looked great. I hope it does well so they can make a sequel.
 
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I just saw Alita: Battle Angel. I really enjoyed it. I haven't read the manga so I didn't know much about it. I just knew that James Cameron is the producer and the trailers looked great. I hope it does well so they can make a sequel.

First volume of manga is, or was, free with Prime (it you have it).

I recommend it. It’s my first manga, I enjoyed it a lot
 

VulcanRaven

Member
First volume of manga is, or was, free with Prime (it you have it).

I recommend it. It’s my first manga, I enjoyed it a lot
I'm from Finland and I don't think we can read comics on Prime here. You can only watch movies and tv shows. I haven't read any manga but I'm definitely going to read it at so point.
 

iconmaster

Banned
SoloAStarWarsStory_1080.jpg


Really late to the party on Solo, but you know what? I loved it. My 16-year-old daughter loved it. We watched it twice so my 17-year-old son could see it. Ehreinreich is a fun Han. Emilia Clarke is great as a realistically strong woman dealing with some difficult realities and feeling some real conflict about them. Glover's a good Lando, and I don't know why he and the writers made such a deal out of Lando's relationship with his droid. L3-37 is obviously meant to be a little screwy, and characters in Star Wars have always been attached to their droids. See: Luke and R2. It wasn't necessary to pretend something sexual was implied. (It reminds me of Rowling deciding Dumbledore was retroactively gay after all the books were finished.)

The movie got thrashed because of the behind-the-scenes drama and the change in directors. Somehow, it turned out great. It's a fun film made by people who get Star Wars.

They should have put the Solo crew in charge of Last Jedi.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
Saw Shape of Water last weekend. It was a great film, one of Del Toros best, if not the best. Visually arresting, interesting premise with bittersweet love that is crossing boundaries like never before, terrific acting by everyone in the cast, even if Sally Hawkins steals the show in the end. It follows in the footsteps of Pans Labyrinth, in which Del Toro sets a fantasy fairy tale against a real world backdrop, this time during the Cold War in the 60s. Doug Jones knocks it out of the park as the creature, I guess he was born to do all of these crazy mythological beings that he plays. Recommend it highly to anyone who likes a good romance/ creature feature.
 
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#Phonepunk#

Banned
poster-780.jpg


King Solomon's Mines (1985)

this was on tv last night. amazing schlocky Indiana Jones rip-off. from none other than The Cannon Group!
 
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