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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| April 2015
- Thread starter Charles Foster Kane
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8BitsAtATime
Member
If they had pushed the George Melies story in the trailer I think it would have got a different crowd. I had no idea the movie was had anything to do with him.
Sorry if these little reviews are a mess...im trying find my footing.
Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back
Its aged well and is still fun as hell. Nothing else really needs to be said. Thanks to Every Frame A Painting I have been noticing how movies are edited and flow. "and back at the ranch" is what makes this movie go by so fast
Parvaneh - This was a well shot short. A girl tries to send money back home to her family in Afghanistan but gets turned away. She ends up meeting another young lady that helps her out. The only problem I had was it was kind of obvious what was going to happen
La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak (Butter Lamp)
This was really depressing. A photographer takes pictures of a group of people and the only thing that changes is the back drops.
I also got a letterboxd
http://letterboxd.com/teaoverrice/
The Dissolve did a great write-up on him that focused on his collaborations with Peter Jackson, with a surprising emphasis on the great work he did for King Kong. As much of a mess that film is, it certainly looked pretty swell most of the time.
Lighting blurbs!
The Way of the Dragon: May as well just post my small review of it:
Drunken Master: Now THIS is more like it. It's a frequently inventive action film, and it's crazy to see how well formed both Jackie Chan was as a performer and Yuen Woo-ping as a choreographer in a film that came fairly early on in the start of what became rather legendary careers. It's really tough to pick one fight in this that is better than the other, since they're all so great. Jackie already had an amazing knack for physical comedy, which is used to its fullest extent, particularly in the scenes he shares with Yuen Siu-tien as his master, who was no slouch himself in that department.
The Legend of Drunken Master: It had been a while since I've seen this, but my memories of this held up really well, as it's an even more inventive and hilarious film than its predecessor, despite the lack of Yuen Woo-ping behind the camera. As much as the final fight in this gets the spotlight, I forgot how fucking terrific the opening fight between Fei-hung and Master Fu was, not only in terms of the fight itself, but the complexity of having to shoot in such limited space in both stages of the fight. Very frequently funny (and not just because of Jackie, as Anita Miu threatens to steal the spotlight even when he's fighting), and it's never dull for even a second.
Ex Machina: That I'm still thinking this hard about the moral ambiguity behind the story, themes and the questions it asks speaks well to the replay value of this film in the future. Domnhall Gleeson and Oscar Issac prove once more why they're some of the best younger actors of their generation as they engage in a silent war of intellect and wit spurred on by their test subject (Alicia Vikander, who I can only hope goes onto more acclaim for the terrific job she does as Ava) without having to resort to Big! Moments! to help people in the cheap seats make heads and tails of what's going on. It's a film not afraid to leave you behind if you can't keep up and avoids a good deal of cliches (I really liked how they played one scene in particular against you if you were expecting it to go the way you thought it would), and I'm really thankful that Alex Garland is a strong enough director as he is a writer to make the kind of gutsy decisions he did. It's as if someone held up a dark mirror to Her and threw in some Frankenstein to make things even more interesting than they already were.
Wing Chun: As good as The Legend of Drunken Master is without the need for Yuen Woo-ping, that director was already crafting his own deliciously entertaining action-comedy with this one. One part wire-fu extravaganza, one part ridiculously horny romantic comedy (but in the PG-13 kind of way, not the kinda icky CAT III kind of way), Woo-ping brings both elements successfully together thanks to having such a great talent in Michelle Yeoh to find the balance between the two. As a martial artist, her graceful precision is marvelous to behold, but her dramatic chops really help find some kind of grounding in the more haughty moments, and her underplaying helps give those scenes a heft they wouldn't have if they left everyone else to their own hormonal overload (including, surprisingly, a charmingly lovelorn Donnie Yen in a hell of a 180 from what he's normally known for). If any film should make you feel bad about how badly Hollywood misused her, it's definitely this one.
Drug War: For as much of a clusterfuck as the movie ends as, it's not hard to forget how goddamned taut and gripping it was before then. Johnnie To makes a hell of a procedural about the most tense 48-hour break in a drug ring investigation, where expert editing and framing does a great job of making police observation and shaky criminal meetings feel dense and substantial without getting too bogged down in the details; everybody knows what they're doing, and you never need to question that. It eschews a lot of character development outside of our two leads in Louis Koo and Honglei Sun, but the story itself isn't needing that much in the first place, and both actors impress as opposite sides of the law cooperating with one another on less-than-favorable terms, opting to play the long game with one another that does eventually resolve satisfactorily for them amidst the chaos that ensues, with very fitting bookends for both. As much as the extended finale opts for a more conventional shoot 'em up over the previous 90 minutes, it's hard not to be impressed with To's filmmaking talent in staging such a complex scene together from a technical level, along with how big his balls had to have been to set it where he does, and the sheer ruthlessness on display with how things turn out for all the players. Even as it feels quite disconnected from what came before it, the finale is compelling on its own terms and it is definitely one for the ages.
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
Clown - Eli Roth's thing. I think. It was a bore. Very predictable and formulaic. There's hardly any surprises or scares. Though this is probably one of the rarest movies where there are high children casualties happening. But for a real creepy clown horror, IT is still king.
The Canal - Cute. Has very intense ambient moments, but the plot itself brings nothing particularly fresh. I enjoyed it. It used tropes effectively. I also like the ending sequence, the pacing was working well.
The Canal - Cute. Has very intense ambient moments, but the plot itself brings nothing particularly fresh. I enjoyed it. It used tropes effectively. I also like the ending sequence, the pacing was working well.
Aguero9320
Member
Woman in Gold Wife wanted to see it due to really liking Daniel Bruhl - I would usually not bother paying cinema prices for something that will be just as good at home, but it was really enjoyable.
Great performance by Helen Mirren - funny and moving. Subject matter sounds deathly dull (art restitution in Austria) but it is never even close to boring. Flashbacks to WWII are really well done, and the court/arbitration scenes are tense and very interesting.
Though the titular painting itself was... definitely not to my taste! $130m?! The actress playing the subject Adele was much more pleasing to the eye than the painting itself!
Great performance by Helen Mirren - funny and moving. Subject matter sounds deathly dull (art restitution in Austria) but it is never even close to boring. Flashbacks to WWII are really well done, and the court/arbitration scenes are tense and very interesting.
Though the titular painting itself was... definitely not to my taste! $130m?! The actress playing the subject Adele was much more pleasing to the eye than the painting itself!
Seymour: An Introduction is a charming documentary with an interesting subject. It drags a bit at points, and there's one part where
- that's a bit disappointing. Otherwise, it was good.
the subject matter talks to Hawke and it seems like it's gonna be a really good, deep discussion, but Hawke cuts away because it's too personal to him
Police Story can feel a bit schizophrenic, as it tries to have more broad humor that relies more on sight gags than physical comedy to go along with a fairly hard-edged story with considerably more brutal fight scenes than you're used to seeing in one of Jackie Chan's films, but the breezy pacing helps keep things in motion without ever feeling like it's treading water. The film opens with a tense shoot-out that turns into a car chase that destroys most of a shantytown in the process, and then becomes a wildly clever foot chase after a bus that has Jackie hanging on by damn near the skin of his teeth, and that's just the first 15 minutes. It's a tough act to follow, and despite a very nice scrap in a parking lot that has Jackie destroying cars with the goons he's manhandling, it appears it will go unanswered. And then the last 15 minutes of the film happen, and what's on display is nothing short of astonishing in terms of the skill involved in making so many showstopping stunts and brilliantly executed fight sequences come together in a nitro-laced cocktail of action movie bliss. Just when you think it can get any more exciting, Jackie pulls off a stunt that should have killed him ten times over, and the film shows it from three different angles, back-to-back. In my humble opinion, there needed to be more angles to capture the insane showmanship that only Jackie Chan is crazy enough to attempt and, risking serious injury in the process, deliver in spades. If artists are made to suffer for true greatness, Jackie Chan is all of the painters the Ninja Turtles are named after combined and multiplied exponentially.
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
Ah bummer to hear about clown. I had high hopes for that one. Watched the preview with some friends and it looked pretty interesting. I'll still check it out tho. Is it VOD or theater only?
Dude, the scene where Timmy
betrays all of his uncles, with the bus, leaving them in the middle of a cross fire, is just pure genius, it's burned in my mind.
The only aspect i didn't quite get about that movie, is how he decided to portray
these allegedly powerful crime lords as goofy characters, top to bottom, but it sort of works.
Expendable.
Member
This was fun to put together, a lot of under-the-radar stuff hopefully MovieGAF now has on their radar:
50 Films to See This Summer
50 Films to See This Summer
That moment you mentioned was a really effective turn that started the "redemption" of the finale for me, so to speak. From that point, the narrative goes right back to Timmy and Zhang, and the way that it resolves for both of them is so satisfying.
Ending spoiler:
This film does an amazing job of making lethal injection look like an absolutely horrible way to die, even if it is a lot less messy. It's the most traumatizing death in the entire film, which I get the feeling is exactly what To was going for.
Infernostew
Member
Nice job! A bunch of these films are playing my local film festival starting this weekend.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
Avengers: Age of Ultron. The editing and pacing are off, the drama and tension artificial (there were moments where this one got almost to Transformers levels of tension), and I'm still not a fan of the banter present in these films.
It does however show these "universe" movies being connected is mostly bs. On surface they are, but the immersion is easily broken. 5/10
It does however show these "universe" movies being connected is mostly bs. On surface they are, but the immersion is easily broken. 5/10
Messofanego
Banned
There is some really cool stuff on here that I didn't know about before (Digging for Fire, Goodnight Mommy, The End of the Tour, The Princess of France, Tangerine, Tu dors Nicole, Gemma Bovery, Hungry Hearts, Far From Men, Heaven Knows What), thanks.
Also, The Tribe should be seen by more people. Going to see A Pigeon Sat On A Branch tomorrow.
Never heard of Listen to Me Marlon or Best of Enemies, but those are going right on my list now.
8BitsAtATime
Member
a bunch of movies I wont be able to watch because El Paso sucks.Return of the Jedi - Hmmmm I think its the weakest of the original trilogy. The only scenes that I really liked were the ones with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Darth Sidious
The Third Man - I loved it. I will probably rewatch it again tonight
great job man, there are definitely titles I didn't know about and now am interested in. will keep an eye on those
Before John Woo raised the bar for heroic bloodshed with his legendary entries in the genre, he was already experimenting with the same kind of thematic content in Last Hurrah for Chivalry. While it is a period swordplay film, Woo is already planting seeds for what would wind up being the hallmarks of that genre, with a particular emphasis on the surrogate brotherhood that our heroes have for one another as they walk through a gauntlet of blades. For Chang and Green, they bring out the best in one another as their pasts threaten to keep them where they were before meeting each other. Woo is keen to explore this aspect of their relationship at length, which gives the film a good amount of depth that similar swordplay films didn't even aspire to. It doesn't put the action in the backseat, however, and Woo was already showing an adept hand at staging good action sequences, and while the fights themselves lack the more fantastical flair of similar films, the film makes it up with its more brutal depiction of sword fights, where combatants will be bloodied and scarred long before they drop dead, and it's this more unglamorous feel to the combat that helps make those fights stick in your thoughts. It isn't to say that it's completely without its less realistic touches, as Woo stages some fun fights along the way, including a rather amusing two-on-one battle involving a narcoleptic, as well as a visually striking fight that takes place in a cathedral adorned with hundreds of candles. Where it shows some creakiness is the script's issues with structure, as it suffers from an overabundance of plot and an initially unclear sense of objective, as we don't even meet our protagonists until the film is well under way and has already established another main character, diverting our attention further until late revelations turn up and reconfigure everything we knew up to that point. A more gradual series of reveals would have helped the pacing, as would have earlier establishments for our leads. That being said, it's interesting to see this film after Woo had already become an iconic filmmaker, as you can watch it with the knowledge that all the promise on display in Last Hurrah for Chivalry would be more than fulfilled later on. As it is, it's a solid little action film that has some good things on its mind, but suffers by having too much in there, as well. There are certainly worse problems to have.
Expendable.
Member
Listen to Me Marlon is sooooo freaking good. My #2 movie of the year right now, but it's neck and neck with Eden.
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
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