-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| Jan 2015
- Thread starter Charles Foster Kane
- Start date
- Status
i really want to see this now.
Death Metalist
Member
" I do favors for people and in return, they give me gifts. So, what can I do for you? "
Former NYPD cop Matthew Scudder, now an unlicensed detective is on the lookout for the killers that murdered a drug dealers wife to pieces (literally). Apart from the movie being very dark which suits the subject matter, I thought it was an OK movie. A pretty average by the numbers mystery thriller that does nothing exciting nor innovative within the genre itself with a supporting character played by a kid that is annoying as shit, it is so not Liam Neeson like to have a partner like kid character that is close to ruining the movie for me. It's slow paced as it should be for mystery movies but abit dull and kind of overstays it's welcome by the end. It would have been better if the kid character was out and if they made Liam Neeson abit crazier (kicking major ass) instead of being more calm and collective which there is a reason for him being like that in the movie. Anyways, it would have made the movie tighter and more engaging. All in all, an OK movie.
I am also probably not a Net_Wrecker alt, maybe.
Net_Wrecker touched upon some of the best shots in the film, but I'd also add
pretty much every shot of Hathaway and Lien leaving Hong Kong, from those vistas to that simple shot of Hataway comforting Lien in her time of need. I love the contrast Mann made with how lively the city looks and just how utterly alone those two were at that point.
Also, that
Will Graham moment
I've seen Boyhood and found it to be a whole lot of nothing. Had the wrong focus imo and was therefore way too long and dragged a bit. Would have wished to see more 'firsts' (kiss, sex, fights, problems, drugs etc) and less 'in between', because without the former, the later becomes kinda stale.
Also saw Caddyshack again, and it didn't age well imo..
Also saw Caddyshack again, and it didn't age well imo..
Frustrated_Grunt
Member
Selma was excellent. Can't really point out any bad acting in this movie. Some scenes were paced weird, but overall a great biopic.
not as on-board with The Guest as I was hoping to be, though I did enjoy it on the whole. Listed off what I liked and didn't like on lb, but a quick rundown: liked Stevens and Monroe, the entire third act, the twisted comedy of what happens when soldiers come home and warped masculinity, the references to
. Didn't like that I had to compare it to Carpenter as I watched because that's pretty much entirely unwarranted, the score overexerting itself, the unripe sibling relationship or the vacant jock/nerd archetypes.
Me and You and Everyone We Know is average. truly funny at parts, unfocused, limp in any attempts to talk about How We Live Now or where modern art is at, ends up competently endorsing a path between self-determination and passing the buck. I liked The Future better.
Ostlund's Involuntary is more ambitious than Force Majeure or Play in that it's sort of five movies like them piled together, but all that does is preclude the possibility of exploring one of the director's sociological experiments through a gender or race lens. His later films are one case study and he's able to really hone in on independent ideas. By following multiple stories Involuntary becomes about the sorta sophomoric (but still manipulatively "fun" to watch) idea that all behavior is reaction to expectations. The later films are better visually and thematically.
Halloween III, You're Next and V/H/S/2
Me and You and Everyone We Know is average. truly funny at parts, unfocused, limp in any attempts to talk about How We Live Now or where modern art is at, ends up competently endorsing a path between self-determination and passing the buck. I liked The Future better.
Ostlund's Involuntary is more ambitious than Force Majeure or Play in that it's sort of five movies like them piled together, but all that does is preclude the possibility of exploring one of the director's sociological experiments through a gender or race lens. His later films are one case study and he's able to really hone in on independent ideas. By following multiple stories Involuntary becomes about the sorta sophomoric (but still manipulatively "fun" to watch) idea that all behavior is reaction to expectations. The later films are better visually and thematically.
You described precisely why it's any good. without falsified melodramatic "firsts" the in-between doesn't become stale, it becomes clear that that's most of growing up: living in the in-between.
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Finally got around watching the sequel. The first one took me by surprise as someone who's not a big fan of Dreamworks animation films. But it had a certain charm that's hard to ignore. Same goes for this second movie. Toothless is still as adorable as a dragon possibly can be. The animation looked pretty great again. Never a dull moment when watching dragons soaring the skies. The story however fell into cliches mostly with your typical good guys vs bad guys face off. And the bad guy voiced by Djimon Honsou was a bit of a letdown to be honest. How often do we have to see a boring evil dude wanting to rule the world because he once was laughed at? Due to the compelling lead characters I still very much enjoyed this sequel though. Helped by a ton of small gags being thrown around of course. Those poor sheeps and cute baby dragons, they're hard to resist.
7/10
Finally got around watching the sequel. The first one took me by surprise as someone who's not a big fan of Dreamworks animation films. But it had a certain charm that's hard to ignore. Same goes for this second movie. Toothless is still as adorable as a dragon possibly can be. The animation looked pretty great again. Never a dull moment when watching dragons soaring the skies. The story however fell into cliches mostly with your typical good guys vs bad guys face off. And the bad guy voiced by Djimon Honsou was a bit of a letdown to be honest. How often do we have to see a boring evil dude wanting to rule the world because he once was laughed at? Due to the compelling lead characters I still very much enjoyed this sequel though. Helped by a ton of small gags being thrown around of course. Those poor sheeps and cute baby dragons, they're hard to resist.
7/10
I also found the kid very annoying in this..
John Carpenter's The Thing Confession... I've never seen this movie before. Well at least start to finish. I've seen maybe half a dozen of the famous scenes throughout the years. I thought it was great, loved the practical effects. Wish practicals were still around today.
John Wick Been waiting sooo long to see this movie, still isn't even out in the UK yet (April!!) Didn't disappoint I thought it was great. Nice seeing Keanu back up there I have alot of respect for him. I really liked the gun play in this movie. The way he held and fired the gun(s). Really cool. I also liked the fact Wick would put everyone down properly. In most movies you see the protagonist shoot the bad guys and thats it. In this movie Wick would make sure to put everyone down, normally finishing with a headshot.
freeofgreed
Member
Man this was much better than I was expecting. Better than the first one imo. And that ending was genius. Probably the best comedy of 2014. Which isn't actually saying much since 2014 was horrible for comedies. Still this was a really funny film.
Infernostew
Member
Inherent Vice - Had to see it twice before giving it a numbered score. Well, I really liked it! The whole cast is absolutely amazing, notably Brolin and Phoenix. It has a fun but confusing mystery that really reminded me of a clash between The Big Lebowsky and Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. On first viewing I was extremely attentive to the story but it tends to be a bit hard to follow due to not knowing characters that they reference throughout (as my brother and I dub that term "HBO syndrome" - stemming from many HBO tv series where it's extremely difficult to identify characters and their names on first viewing). Upon second viewing I could sit back and enjoy the humor since I was mostly just dotting i's and crossing t's when it came to filling in story questions. I'd love to see another adventure with Doc and Bigfoot in the future if Pynchon decides to write another. 8/10
Nymphomaniac: Vol 2 - I've been meaning to get to this one since it came on Netflix (since I didn't get around to watching it on VOD or in theaters in NYC) but I was trying to wait on my brother to get around to watching it. He was never in the mood so I finally watched it by myself. Joe's continuation of her tale is not as interesting as the first half. There's some cool stuff in here but ultimately the end of her journey was not as strong as I was hoping it to be. The ending also felt completely out of place and makes me question certain character motivations which seemed out of place. Still a good film but lacking compared to part one. Lots of D for CFK though. 7/10
Van Dammage Marathon - 4 film marathon @ Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, NY. They don't tell you what they're screening.
Sudden Death - Only film of the marathon I had previously seen. I like this film quite a bit. Being a big hockey fan when I was younger, this was always a ton of fun for me. Terrorist take over a sports box during game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with the vice president so they can get money from frozen accounts but if they don't get their money by the end of the game they'll blow up the stadium. Bloodshed, killer mascots, kitchen fight scenes, JCDV playing goalie... it really has everything. 6/10
Lionheart - Van Damme deserts his post in the french military stationed in North Afraid fleeing to New York after the death of his brother. He enters the world of underground street fighting to make his way back to LA to get busy with his brother's widow (
). Pretty fun film but nothing out of the ordinary and completely predictable. Fun fact: This was the first film Ashley Johnson acted in playing Van Damme's character's niece. 5/10
Knock Off - I've been to 2 other of these Tough Guy Marathons (Caged and Stallone Zone) and the third film has always been a bad or so bad, it's good showing. This film is baaaaad. Van Damme and Rob Schieder (yup) work for a company that makes knock off jeans... and then stuff happens. The film doesn't make any sense and it's harder to follow than Inherent Vice. It's shit but it was fun to laugh at with a theater full of people. 3/10
Hard Target - The final film of the marathon. A man is hired to help a woman track down her missing father when they find out a group of people are hunted war vets for cash. This is a pretty cool film but it takes forever for it to get good. The last scene is a ton of fun by over the top early 90s action flick standards. Wilfred Brimely as Uncle Douvee is easily the highlight of the film. 5/10
Nymphomaniac: Vol 2 - I've been meaning to get to this one since it came on Netflix (since I didn't get around to watching it on VOD or in theaters in NYC) but I was trying to wait on my brother to get around to watching it. He was never in the mood so I finally watched it by myself. Joe's continuation of her tale is not as interesting as the first half. There's some cool stuff in here but ultimately the end of her journey was not as strong as I was hoping it to be. The ending also felt completely out of place and makes me question certain character motivations which seemed out of place. Still a good film but lacking compared to part one. Lots of D for CFK though. 7/10
Van Dammage Marathon - 4 film marathon @ Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, NY. They don't tell you what they're screening.
Sudden Death - Only film of the marathon I had previously seen. I like this film quite a bit. Being a big hockey fan when I was younger, this was always a ton of fun for me. Terrorist take over a sports box during game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals with the vice president so they can get money from frozen accounts but if they don't get their money by the end of the game they'll blow up the stadium. Bloodshed, killer mascots, kitchen fight scenes, JCDV playing goalie... it really has everything. 6/10
Lionheart - Van Damme deserts his post in the french military stationed in North Afraid fleeing to New York after the death of his brother. He enters the world of underground street fighting to make his way back to LA to get busy with his brother's widow (
not really but kinda
Knock Off - I've been to 2 other of these Tough Guy Marathons (Caged and Stallone Zone) and the third film has always been a bad or so bad, it's good showing. This film is baaaaad. Van Damme and Rob Schieder (yup) work for a company that makes knock off jeans... and then stuff happens. The film doesn't make any sense and it's harder to follow than Inherent Vice. It's shit but it was fun to laugh at with a theater full of people. 3/10
Hard Target - The final film of the marathon. A man is hired to help a woman track down her missing father when they find out a group of people are hunted war vets for cash. This is a pretty cool film but it takes forever for it to get good. The last scene is a ton of fun by over the top early 90s action flick standards. Wilfred Brimely as Uncle Douvee is easily the highlight of the film. 5/10
Serpentine
Banned
Public Enemies - It's okay. Lot of Mann-isms that don't quite work beyond being Mann-isms (like the romance between Depp and Cotillard doesn't really take off where it should, for example). It also has literally every actor in it and 98% of them have nothing to do. Looks great, though!
A Walk Among Tombstones - it's extremely whatever. Pretty dull and the script/direction don't do anyone any favors. Random-ass kid sidekick, too. Aims to be ugly and dreary but it's not really in service of anything, so it's typical airport novel stuff. Neeson can't really carry something that isn't that good.
American Sniper - what a dumb fuckin movie. it's total jingoistic revisionist bullshit (which i don't even mind sometimes, but god damn was it frustrating here) and I hate that I paid money to see it. Cool that they made a character piece without character development (or... characters) and threw in random villains, just to have. Lol at
A Walk Among Tombstones - it's extremely whatever. Pretty dull and the script/direction don't do anyone any favors. Random-ass kid sidekick, too. Aims to be ugly and dreary but it's not really in service of anything, so it's typical airport novel stuff. Neeson can't really carry something that isn't that good.
American Sniper - what a dumb fuckin movie. it's total jingoistic revisionist bullshit (which i don't even mind sometimes, but god damn was it frustrating here) and I hate that I paid money to see it. Cool that they made a character piece without character development (or... characters) and threw in random villains, just to have. Lol at
the ending that's literally just text to the effect of "oh yeah, he died later that day" and then showing clips from his funeral.
Dracula Untold
I really enjoyed the movie. It was like a mix of Castlevania lore, with badass powers from the game. I liked everyone in it. Even tho the story is nothing new, i had fun watching it. I wonder if they are doing a next one.
I would recommend this movie. Specially if you are a fan of Castlevania.
I really enjoyed the movie. It was like a mix of Castlevania lore, with badass powers from the game. I liked everyone in it. Even tho the story is nothing new, i had fun watching it. I wonder if they are doing a next one.
I would recommend this movie. Specially if you are a fan of Castlevania.
Johnlenham
Member
Saw Intersellar at the Imax in London (first time at Imax)
Really enjoyed it, a couple overly cheesy bits and I did feel the wave stuff
Also nice to not have any scifi trope
def up there with 2001 for scifi films for me.
Really enjoyed it, a couple overly cheesy bits and I did feel the wave stuff
was cool but was it really needed to kill off the guy? man was stood at the door for god sake
Also nice to not have any scifi trope
evil robots/ai
def up there with 2001 for scifi films for me.
PassiveObserver
Member
Under the Skin - Was admittedly hyped after all the praise coming from cinephile circles. Left me cold on my viewing. Desperately needed subtitles for the heavy Scottish accents. I knew my patience would be tested going in but I was surprised at how few hooks there were to get the viewer into the story. That being said, there are two absolutely breathtaking scenes which sort of justifies the film.
Man being sucked through skin, and Scarlet having her obsidian core show through her skin
Just came back from a screening of Kingsman: The Secret Service. I had absolutely no expectations whatsoever, but I was really pleasantly surprised. The movie is extreme in all ways possible; utterly over the top and the premise is so silly it simply shouldn't work. But it did. Colin Firth as the badass Kingsman was excellent, and so were most of the main characters. Samuel L. Jackson in particular was a fun guy, though his lisp tended to become a bit overbearing at times. The chavvy main guy was also a charming dude, and they nailed the chavvy side of the UK really well, which was a plus. The film took a piss with most modern spy thrillers in a good way, and the humor didn't fall flat. All the cursing actually enhanced the comedy in a good way. And best of all, the action scenes were fantastic, especially the church scene, goddamn.
Overall, a very pleasant surprise.
Overall, a very pleasant surprise.
It's a decent sniper movie, terrible biopic. Wouldn't have the hype it has right now if it wasn't based on the guy's life.
I need to watch Whiplash and Boyhood still. I've heard great things about Whiplash.
American Sniper: Eh, I don't know the real story, don't really care how this compares, this movie was just plain too me. It's not really an action movie, not really a movie about PTSD, I don't really know what it is. 2/5
Whiplash: Fun little flick! JK Simmons was great, I liked how he
Editing was awesome. Main character was a little lame though, he had like no other personality than his drive. I have to say though, too much hyperbole on GAF. It's a cool movie, but nothing groundbreaking.
4/5
Grand Budapest Hotel: Haven't watched much Wes Anderson, but this is the first time one of his movies clicked with me. It was like "of course" and then I loved it. 4/5
Gone Girl: Could we just go back and throw out American Sniper of the oscar race and put this one in instead? Not that it should win or anything, but it's good enough to be nominated at least. Liked the atmosphere and soundtrack, the interwoven storylines worked well too. Not Fincher's greatest, but good. 4/5
Whiplash: Fun little flick! JK Simmons was great, I liked how he
acts nice for a bit to get sensitive information out of the students that he later can use against them, haha, so mean.
4/5
Grand Budapest Hotel: Haven't watched much Wes Anderson, but this is the first time one of his movies clicked with me. It was like "of course" and then I loved it. 4/5
Gone Girl: Could we just go back and throw out American Sniper of the oscar race and put this one in instead? Not that it should win or anything, but it's good enough to be nominated at least. Liked the atmosphere and soundtrack, the interwoven storylines worked well too. Not Fincher's greatest, but good. 4/5
I watched Boyhood yesterday. It felt like a fairly quick-paced, straight forward, and tame coming of age film. With that said, a lot of it doesn't go into detail, but you get enough sense of what's going on, how it's effecting the characters as they change both externally and internally. I did enjoy watching the kids get older, although the aging transition was a bit faster than I thought it would be at times. It was amusing to spot some of the pop cultural references, such as the Britney Spears music and DBZ posters and other things like the Xbox and Wii, as cues to further point out to the viewer around what year it was as the kids grew up.
I didn't feel there were was much in the way of stand out moments or exceptional acting, and the ending is abrupt, but the movie left me entertained from start to finish, which says something when the film is nearly 3 hours in length. Naturally, it was pretty easy to relate to the characters and story because of how grounded in reality it's portrayed as. After all, we've all dealt with family dysfunction, maturity, peer pressure, gaining more responsibilities, developing and changes in our relationships, forbidden fruit topics, schooling and trying to figure out what next step to take without a guide map for life. All of that stuff contributes to molding us into who we are and what we'll make of ourselves as adults.
8/10.
I didn't feel there were was much in the way of stand out moments or exceptional acting, and the ending is abrupt, but the movie left me entertained from start to finish, which says something when the film is nearly 3 hours in length. Naturally, it was pretty easy to relate to the characters and story because of how grounded in reality it's portrayed as. After all, we've all dealt with family dysfunction, maturity, peer pressure, gaining more responsibilities, developing and changes in our relationships, forbidden fruit topics, schooling and trying to figure out what next step to take without a guide map for life. All of that stuff contributes to molding us into who we are and what we'll make of ourselves as adults.
8/10.
Blended
Adam Sandlers best movie since Chuck and Larry, seriously. That isn't saying much. I thought it was going to be complete crap. Sandler and Barrymore work really well together. It's got your classic Sandler movie silliness in parts but I thought it was mainly entertaining and not stupid.
Adam Sandlers best movie since Chuck and Larry, seriously. That isn't saying much. I thought it was going to be complete crap. Sandler and Barrymore work really well together. It's got your classic Sandler movie silliness in parts but I thought it was mainly entertaining and not stupid.
megamerican
Member
American Sniper I thought it was an excellent movie. I found it no more "jingoistic" or gung ho than your average episode of Band of Brothers, so I'm not really seeing why it's getting the backlash. I got the sense the movie wasn't trying to send a political message either way, it was just about presenting the story. Cooper deserves the Oscar for this, it's unlike anything he's ever done and it's flawless. I thought it could have used some trimming in the third act, but it never lost me. 9 out of 10
Seeing them back to back, I finally realize why I didn't take to The Raid as I did its sequel. The story should be well known by now: Gareth Evans wrote a screenplay and had already planned out a good chunk of the action sequences for the film that would eventually become The Raid 2, only to find that would-be financiers weren't willing to front the money he was asking for unless they saw something suggesting that he could take on such a big undertaking. Enter a quickly-written screenplay that got made for around $1 million that existed as little more than a showcase for his enormously talented martial arts choreographers, and you wound up with a bonafide cult classic that was punching above its weight. The rest was history.
I had suspected in my review of The Raid 2 that Evans was still set on trying to make that kind of film in the original, and watching it again solidified that for me, as I found myself thinking that a lean concept felt a bit stretched, not only in terms of the story it was trying to tell (particularly the momentum-halting exposition dumps in the second half of the film), but also with the action sequences themselves going on a beat or two longer than they needed, particularly in the early scene when the surviving policemen are pinned down by gunfire and are needing to literally fall through floors to get to relative safety, as well as the drug den, which felt more like a demo than an engaging fight scene. Most egregious of all, the edit in the middle of the climatic two-on-one fight that pans back to who-gives-a-shit stabs the movie deep when it needed to be its most fleet-footed. It's a 101-minute film that could have stood to lose about 15 minutes and some better editing. Evans had the chops to shoot a fight scene to give even the most hardened fan of the genre pause for reconsideration, but he didn't quite have the confidence to bring it all together in a satisfying manner.
That being said, Evans should still be commended for doing a hell of a lot with the tiny budget he got. The Raid wasn't called a shot in the arm for nothing, because the fights on a technical level are among the very best that had been shot up to that point, and it scarcely had anyone coming for the crown until the sequel. And even beyond the fight scenes themselves, Evans managed to create a whole lot of tension in the non-fight scenes, including the rather terrific encounter in an apartment with Rama and an injured officer not in the best position to stop an especially sharp probing. The film wears its low-budget trappings on its sleeve, but it's still incredibly impressive that Evans pulled off so much with so little. If this was the quickie show reel for investors, who knew what he'd be able to pull off with the movie he really wanted to do!
This was also the first time I had seen the film with its original soundtrack, which takes on more of a Nine Inch Nails-esque vibe that feels a lot more fitting for the grimier digs and more oppressive atmosphere for a 15-story piece of hell in the middle of Indonesia than the fine electronic score that Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese shared duties on. It seemed rather odd that Sony tried to sell the film so hard on the fact that a member of Linkin Park worked on the soundtrack, as if the film was lacking in other merits, but I guess anything helps when it comes to selling foreign films to subtitle-averting audiences these days.
As it turns out, I don't think there was a single word I said in my review of The Raid 2 I would change, as it's still one of the flat-out greatest action films ever made, and that wouldn't happen if Evans didn't have something to work on with the first film. There isn't a single aspect that wasn't improved upon, and it goes beyond simply having the money to do more crazy stunts. Evans reveals he has a far keener visual eye that extends beyond the fight scenes, with many shots carrying on a gorgeous landscape sheen that benefits from the relative unfamiliarity of Indonesia's landscape and architecture, suggesting a secondary talent as a director who is willing to take you on the world's most violent travelogue. The editing is tighter and cleaner, the characters more memorable even when they don't have proper names, and the narrative is more rounded without having to stop to catch people up to speed, while playing on a significantly grander stage than a ratty apartment building could have ever allowed for.
I wouldn't begrudge a person for preferring the first, as it is its own entity and it's certainly got a kind of charm and pluckiness that a more self-assured film like its sequel isn't going to possess, as it's not trying to fight as hard for recognition (or money) that the original had to. In that sense, the comparison of the first film being The Terminator to the sequel's Judgment Day isn't too far off. But where James Cameron was already a damn solid filmmaker with the first film and had the benefit of two large scale productions in between to further refine his craft for the sequel, Evans is still very much an outsider that requires (mostly) independent financing and no major studio backing to get films made, giving him a nice scrappy quality with The Raid: tons of unrefined potential, but a willingness to learn, to improve, to perfect. Evans never forgot where he came from, but I'll be damned if I want to see him not continue to progress if these are the strides we can expect now. He went from a good film to a stone-cold classic in three years time: who knows what's next.
I had suspected in my review of The Raid 2 that Evans was still set on trying to make that kind of film in the original, and watching it again solidified that for me, as I found myself thinking that a lean concept felt a bit stretched, not only in terms of the story it was trying to tell (particularly the momentum-halting exposition dumps in the second half of the film), but also with the action sequences themselves going on a beat or two longer than they needed, particularly in the early scene when the surviving policemen are pinned down by gunfire and are needing to literally fall through floors to get to relative safety, as well as the drug den, which felt more like a demo than an engaging fight scene. Most egregious of all, the edit in the middle of the climatic two-on-one fight that pans back to who-gives-a-shit stabs the movie deep when it needed to be its most fleet-footed. It's a 101-minute film that could have stood to lose about 15 minutes and some better editing. Evans had the chops to shoot a fight scene to give even the most hardened fan of the genre pause for reconsideration, but he didn't quite have the confidence to bring it all together in a satisfying manner.
That being said, Evans should still be commended for doing a hell of a lot with the tiny budget he got. The Raid wasn't called a shot in the arm for nothing, because the fights on a technical level are among the very best that had been shot up to that point, and it scarcely had anyone coming for the crown until the sequel. And even beyond the fight scenes themselves, Evans managed to create a whole lot of tension in the non-fight scenes, including the rather terrific encounter in an apartment with Rama and an injured officer not in the best position to stop an especially sharp probing. The film wears its low-budget trappings on its sleeve, but it's still incredibly impressive that Evans pulled off so much with so little. If this was the quickie show reel for investors, who knew what he'd be able to pull off with the movie he really wanted to do!
This was also the first time I had seen the film with its original soundtrack, which takes on more of a Nine Inch Nails-esque vibe that feels a lot more fitting for the grimier digs and more oppressive atmosphere for a 15-story piece of hell in the middle of Indonesia than the fine electronic score that Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese shared duties on. It seemed rather odd that Sony tried to sell the film so hard on the fact that a member of Linkin Park worked on the soundtrack, as if the film was lacking in other merits, but I guess anything helps when it comes to selling foreign films to subtitle-averting audiences these days.
As it turns out, I don't think there was a single word I said in my review of The Raid 2 I would change, as it's still one of the flat-out greatest action films ever made, and that wouldn't happen if Evans didn't have something to work on with the first film. There isn't a single aspect that wasn't improved upon, and it goes beyond simply having the money to do more crazy stunts. Evans reveals he has a far keener visual eye that extends beyond the fight scenes, with many shots carrying on a gorgeous landscape sheen that benefits from the relative unfamiliarity of Indonesia's landscape and architecture, suggesting a secondary talent as a director who is willing to take you on the world's most violent travelogue. The editing is tighter and cleaner, the characters more memorable even when they don't have proper names, and the narrative is more rounded without having to stop to catch people up to speed, while playing on a significantly grander stage than a ratty apartment building could have ever allowed for.
I wouldn't begrudge a person for preferring the first, as it is its own entity and it's certainly got a kind of charm and pluckiness that a more self-assured film like its sequel isn't going to possess, as it's not trying to fight as hard for recognition (or money) that the original had to. In that sense, the comparison of the first film being The Terminator to the sequel's Judgment Day isn't too far off. But where James Cameron was already a damn solid filmmaker with the first film and had the benefit of two large scale productions in between to further refine his craft for the sequel, Evans is still very much an outsider that requires (mostly) independent financing and no major studio backing to get films made, giving him a nice scrappy quality with The Raid: tons of unrefined potential, but a willingness to learn, to improve, to perfect. Evans never forgot where he came from, but I'll be damned if I want to see him not continue to progress if these are the strides we can expect now. He went from a good film to a stone-cold classic in three years time: who knows what's next.
Thug Waffle
Member
Just saw Frank and holy cow, that was a fun ride. The unsung hero of that film is the editor.
Breaking News - Very good action movie, not sure i bought too much the "media" angle of things, especially coming from a movie this stylized, but as an action movie it didn't disappoint.
Some gorgeous Hong Kong shots as usual, too.
The initial, popular shot was neat, although i would've preferred that sequence shot more traditionally, i don't think the continuous shot brought that much to the narrative (beyond the initial set up anyway), and in turn prevented some of the moments unfolding to be captured at their top potential.
Motorway - Not quite a Johnnie To movie, but his style is clearly in place (he did produce the thing).
It was a very solid The Driver/Drive/(more grounded)Fast and Furious sort of action flick, but by the police perspective, which kept it fresh (for me anyway, since i haven't watched too many of these).
I liked how they didn't consume the love story in the main arc of the movie, but just implied it as a future development, there was no time for it, and to be honest feels fresher this way.
As for the car chases themselves, they were pretty great in my opinion, and of course the setting is just so beautiful, that it seems easy to frame an exciting shot either way.
I'll say though, i'll never be able to buy Anthony Wong as the badass, sorry, he just has a comedic face to me, though here he was sort of both.
Some gorgeous Hong Kong shots as usual, too.
The initial, popular shot was neat, although i would've preferred that sequence shot more traditionally, i don't think the continuous shot brought that much to the narrative (beyond the initial set up anyway), and in turn prevented some of the moments unfolding to be captured at their top potential.
Motorway - Not quite a Johnnie To movie, but his style is clearly in place (he did produce the thing).
It was a very solid The Driver/Drive/(more grounded)Fast and Furious sort of action flick, but by the police perspective, which kept it fresh (for me anyway, since i haven't watched too many of these).
I liked how they didn't consume the love story in the main arc of the movie, but just implied it as a future development, there was no time for it, and to be honest feels fresher this way.
As for the car chases themselves, they were pretty great in my opinion, and of course the setting is just so beautiful, that it seems easy to frame an exciting shot either way.
I'll say though, i'll never be able to buy Anthony Wong as the badass, sorry, he just has a comedic face to me, though here he was sort of both.
Jables Swan
Member
RPGCrazied
Member
Space Battleship Yamato
I really wanted to like this, because the Anime remake of the old show was fantastic, still can't believe there isn't a dub of that. Anyways, the movie's budget wasn't that big, so the space battles looked cheap and not so great to look at. The big thing that did it was the Gamilas race. In the show they are blue skin humanoids, in the movie they are aliens, that look laughably bad. Never watched the old show, so don't know if the aliens were in it.
Oh well, maybe they will try again with a bigger budget next time.
I really wanted to like this, because the Anime remake of the old show was fantastic, still can't believe there isn't a dub of that. Anyways, the movie's budget wasn't that big, so the space battles looked cheap and not so great to look at. The big thing that did it was the Gamilas race. In the show they are blue skin humanoids, in the movie they are aliens, that look laughably bad. Never watched the old show, so don't know if the aliens were in it.
Oh well, maybe they will try again with a bigger budget next time.
John Wick
After recently having seen The Equalizer I can appreciate everything in this film even more. John Wick is how I want my no nonsense action movies to be. A simple revenge plot without even trying to add layers to it. A cool as fuck main guy to fuck shit up. And Keanu Reeves is the perfect guy to play such a role. He looks cool, he acts cool and he does his own stunts. This guy knows how to do action roles. And it shows that the movie is directed by two stuntmen, Derek Kolstad and David Leitch. The choreography and cinematography of the action scenes was just great. I loved how they kept showing the action within the shot instead of cutting away with each blow dealt. I think my favourite scene was a very short one with a certain Ms. Perkins. And the choice of music mostly fit the scenes troughout the film.
So yeah, if you wanna see a cool action movie, watch this one.
7/10
After recently having seen The Equalizer I can appreciate everything in this film even more. John Wick is how I want my no nonsense action movies to be. A simple revenge plot without even trying to add layers to it. A cool as fuck main guy to fuck shit up. And Keanu Reeves is the perfect guy to play such a role. He looks cool, he acts cool and he does his own stunts. This guy knows how to do action roles. And it shows that the movie is directed by two stuntmen, Derek Kolstad and David Leitch. The choreography and cinematography of the action scenes was just great. I loved how they kept showing the action within the shot instead of cutting away with each blow dealt. I think my favourite scene was a very short one with a certain Ms. Perkins. And the choice of music mostly fit the scenes troughout the film.
So yeah, if you wanna see a cool action movie, watch this one.
7/10
Thug Waffle
Member
lmao what is "butt rock"
American Sniper: Pretty mediocre. I've written my thoughts in a few other places. The first third was awful and borderline unnecessary. Editing was all over the place and the ending was cheesy
I wasn't feeling the major action scenes, and there were some things that were there before being quickly abandoned. Cooper was pretty decent and the PTSD aspect of it was covered okay.
Thief: This movie felt so unique. Everything aesthetically was clearly 80's, yet the plot was such a 70's gangster film. Lot of cool looking shots in here, Caan nailed the part (the diner scene!) and the music was perfect.
Edit: Oh damn, Big Ander just did this the other day. I was going to ask where to go now with Mann (I've seen Heat and Collateral).
the part where his wife stares at the obviously suspicious man as her husband leaves.
Thief: This movie felt so unique. Everything aesthetically was clearly 80's, yet the plot was such a 70's gangster film. Lot of cool looking shots in here, Caan nailed the part (the diner scene!) and the music was perfect.
Edit: Oh damn, Big Ander just did this the other day. I was going to ask where to go now with Mann (I've seen Heat and Collateral).
Yeah overcast do Manhunter next. It's a fun watch.
Alt-metal/hard rock/post-grunge that was mostly getting radio play in the late 90s or early 00s. Think Three Days Grace, Hoobastank...Chevelle
How to train your dragon 2 - I wasn't a fan of the first one, but this one i liked more.
All the various plot points were more interesting, and the set pieces more exciting, plus the mother character was cooler than anyone else in the whole of the two movies, even if she just has a weird character arc, becoming boring immediately after reconnecting with the husband.
The villain felt underdeveloped and the overall "message" felt very weird: "We are for peace, we aren't afraid of others 'cause we got the deadliest weapon!" and Hiccup's dedication to open peaceful dialogue with "outsiders" getting trumpled by his father's and mother's idiotic "protect your own" philosophy, was also a head scratcher.
Also, while the dragons are very cool in design (i guess you can see Chris Sanders' hand there) the character design is so fucking ugly, Jesus Lord.
Frozen - Finally saw this, even though i had grew tired of it without even seeing it, because of the restless fans not hesitating in posting that fucking LET IT GO gif under every mildly related circumstance.
Wasn't bad, but i didn't really like it (i loved Tangled, for comparison), the whole twist on the true love angle thing was a nice twist on Disney tropes i guess, but the pacing was off, especially the distribution of the song numbers (that were all pretty weak, outside of Let it Go) and the whole Trolls thing could've and should've been cut altogether.
Moreover, i thought the movie was visually much less impressive than Tangled, outside of the snow itself and a couple of ice sequences.
Some moments looked outright bad to me, and the character design of the two main girls looks weird, compared to Tangled's.
Comedy was alright, tho.
All the various plot points were more interesting, and the set pieces more exciting, plus the mother character was cooler than anyone else in the whole of the two movies, even if she just has a weird character arc, becoming boring immediately after reconnecting with the husband.
The villain felt underdeveloped and the overall "message" felt very weird: "We are for peace, we aren't afraid of others 'cause we got the deadliest weapon!" and Hiccup's dedication to open peaceful dialogue with "outsiders" getting trumpled by his father's and mother's idiotic "protect your own" philosophy, was also a head scratcher.
Also, while the dragons are very cool in design (i guess you can see Chris Sanders' hand there) the character design is so fucking ugly, Jesus Lord.
Frozen - Finally saw this, even though i had grew tired of it without even seeing it, because of the restless fans not hesitating in posting that fucking LET IT GO gif under every mildly related circumstance.
Wasn't bad, but i didn't really like it (i loved Tangled, for comparison), the whole twist on the true love angle thing was a nice twist on Disney tropes i guess, but the pacing was off, especially the distribution of the song numbers (that were all pretty weak, outside of Let it Go) and the whole Trolls thing could've and should've been cut altogether.
Moreover, i thought the movie was visually much less impressive than Tangled, outside of the snow itself and a couple of ice sequences.
Some moments looked outright bad to me, and the character design of the two main girls looks weird, compared to Tangled's.
Comedy was alright, tho.
Serpentine
Banned
sorry guys, but i had trouble getting into Blackhat. It's fine and i'll probably revisit it when it comes out on Blu, but it's only slightly above Public Enemies for me. It does look great though and there are some nice shots. that said, i don't get OT's inability to get past the premise, because KICKASS COMPUTER HACKER who can also beat up dudes with ease is a great character idea. That fight scene
was good, and i think, for once, the shaky cam actually didn't kill the scene! Still not really sold on Hemsworth though
in the restaurant
True, but i did dig this one a lot during... the nightclub scene? Yeah i think it was that
Devil May Cry soundtrack.
American Sniper - 5/10. I was already hating on this movie in another thread, but I'll give some actual thoughts here. It's a character drama without character development. Cooper's PTSD is solved in 5 minutes off-screen and the showing of his PTSD is pretty much non existent. Him hearing war noises while on his chair and the slow reveal that the TV is off was hilariously bad. He goes from not wanting to be home to being the best husband and father in the world for no real reason. I feel like this movie could have really been an interesting character drama. They could have played it from the angle of a man having to live with killing so many people, or a study of a man who had no problem with killing so many people. They chose neither. They didn't even choose anything in between. His character just wasn't there. I won't bother talking about the other characters because they were pieces of cardboard. The ending is also shit and so are the credits which are just trying to be emotionally manipulative. They seemed to work in my theater though.
Also, what was with the unnecessary and bad CG?
Also, what was with the unnecessary and bad CG?
I liked Blackhat a lot. more than anything, just very aggressively underwritten. but I really liked how weightless and nihilistic the whole thing was, particularly the climax, I thought that was thematically the thrust of the film, as opposed to a failing as most critics seem to suggest.
megamerican
Member
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films Really fun, fast moving doc about Golan and Globus. I grew up renting a lot of Cannon movies and I was confused why I never saw their logo on new movies in the theaters. Cannon was the place where misfits and has-beens made weird ass movies. This is a great overview of their legacy and it was a blast seeing all those clips from the schlock I grew up with. 8 out of 10
DesertEater
Member
Watched the first have of Venus in Fur last night. I only stopped because it was getting late and I needed to get up early. I haven't heard much about the film other than it was made by Polanski and it was similar to Carnage in terms of being set in one location only.
I loved Carnage and thought it was one of the best comedies that not many people saw, or at least talked about. Yet, I felt the set up my turn into a gimmick in Venus in Fur and will give me a feeling of claustrophobia.
God was I wrong. The premise, though did not sound too interesting when I read it, is a lot more enjoyable when played by the actors. You never feel the closed setting as the dialogue between the charters stays sharp and interesting. There is very little shown about the characters and you keep finding out more things about them as film rolls which keeps the setting from growing stale. It's comedic, with a bit of foreshadowing, it seems. Really excited to finish this tonight.
What are you guys' thoughts on it or on Carnage?
I loved Carnage and thought it was one of the best comedies that not many people saw, or at least talked about. Yet, I felt the set up my turn into a gimmick in Venus in Fur and will give me a feeling of claustrophobia.
God was I wrong. The premise, though did not sound too interesting when I read it, is a lot more enjoyable when played by the actors. You never feel the closed setting as the dialogue between the charters stays sharp and interesting. There is very little shown about the characters and you keep finding out more things about them as film rolls which keeps the setting from growing stale. It's comedic, with a bit of foreshadowing, it seems. Really excited to finish this tonight.
What are you guys' thoughts on it or on Carnage?
Tangled had great editing and was pretty tight pace-wise as well. My only complaint is that the musical aspect of it could have been cut out and it would have still stood fine as a film but I understand it wouldn't be made otherwise. Having said that, still a wonderful film. Far better made than Frozen as well.
kurisu1974
Banned
Watch Flesh+Blood next.
- Status