Movies you've recently watched
- Thread starter IncantatioN
- Start date
Transformers Age of Extinction: I'll admit I was kind of skeptical about this and wanted to avoid it after feeling a very negative attitude after the last two but quite honestly, I liked it. The level of enjoyment and excitement from this was on par with the first film, granted the film is far from perfect but as a big, dumb, loud summer blockbuster I enjoyed it for what it was.
How to Train Your Dragon 2: Like the first film I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it did a wonderful job of enhancing more of the mythology in this world of these movies and how the race of dragons was expanded more and explored more types of dragon. The tone was much darker as well which made so much of this movie run smoothly for what it was given, normally I don't care much for CG animated films much but this one was one I wanted to see since the trailers.
How to Train Your Dragon 2: Like the first film I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it did a wonderful job of enhancing more of the mythology in this world of these movies and how the race of dragons was expanded more and explored more types of dragon. The tone was much darker as well which made so much of this movie run smoothly for what it was given, normally I don't care much for CG animated films much but this one was one I wanted to see since the trailers.
I picked 4 movies to watch at this year's NYAFF, couldn't make it to Usumasa Limelight.
Girl Y loves boy but the boy likes another girl who's incidentally involved with the Yakuza. The Yakuza find out and ask him whether he'd like to lose his penis or his pinky, he chooses his pinky. They chop it off and kick it, goes out flying the window and a min of long distance high speed flying, it lands in front of girl Y. She uses it to make a clone of him. It's a decent cheesy low budget indie film that has a slight charm to it whether it's b-version of Rocky's training montage music or the silliness of the plot.
If you're a fan of Eastwood's Unforgiven, watch Yurusarezaru mono. It's the Japanese remake of the movie and holds its ground pretty well in comparison. It doesn't better the classic but it adds a bit of Japanese history of the Meiji government and the situation with the Ainu people. Some scenes and dialog were enacted scene-by-scene from the original and other new scenes were just as effective. Gonna pick this up when it's released in physical format. High marks.
Hitting up The Tale Of Iya on Sunday night, trailer for it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M62rTiEjaA
Friend was in town for 1 night and wanted to hit up Chef, I had no clue about the movie and I think the less you know the better it is, not in a bad way but in a pleasant way, that the movie was charming and had a good sense of humor about it. Jon's character is forced to cook the restaurant's standard menu for a popular food blogger. The blogger throws in a 2 star review for his lack of creativity and tweets about it. Jon's new to the workings of social media and fun ensues.
Girl Y loves boy but the boy likes another girl who's incidentally involved with the Yakuza. The Yakuza find out and ask him whether he'd like to lose his penis or his pinky, he chooses his pinky. They chop it off and kick it, goes out flying the window and a min of long distance high speed flying, it lands in front of girl Y. She uses it to make a clone of him. It's a decent cheesy low budget indie film that has a slight charm to it whether it's b-version of Rocky's training montage music or the silliness of the plot.
If you're a fan of Eastwood's Unforgiven, watch Yurusarezaru mono. It's the Japanese remake of the movie and holds its ground pretty well in comparison. It doesn't better the classic but it adds a bit of Japanese history of the Meiji government and the situation with the Ainu people. Some scenes and dialog were enacted scene-by-scene from the original and other new scenes were just as effective. Gonna pick this up when it's released in physical format. High marks.
Hitting up The Tale Of Iya on Sunday night, trailer for it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M62rTiEjaA
Friend was in town for 1 night and wanted to hit up Chef, I had no clue about the movie and I think the less you know the better it is, not in a bad way but in a pleasant way, that the movie was charming and had a good sense of humor about it. Jon's character is forced to cook the restaurant's standard menu for a popular food blogger. The blogger throws in a 2 star review for his lack of creativity and tweets about it. Jon's new to the workings of social media and fun ensues.
Johnstantine
Skibbidy Boo Bop
Saw Guardians of the Galaxy. Absolutely loved it.
I found out that they were playing the new Dragon Ball Z animated feature film at a local theater near the UMASS collage over here. I couldn't believe it, as our area of the state is very small and they never usually have limited showings like that. I went to see it and was pleasantly surprised how packed it became. So many fans with anime T shirts and bags, the room was full of energy and it was a great time, and a fun movie. I was so happy to see others who liked that sort of thing, although I was much too shy to say hello to anyone before or after the screening. Either way, it was a real treat for me. :)
Went to see Ninja Turtles today. Being a fan girl of the series, I wasn't sure what to expect with this one as I'm not a huge fan of Bay or his works, as I didn't care for Transformers. I left the theater with a smile on my face; it was a entertaining and fun movie, not a masterpiece but good. I never agreed with fans that wanted to boycott the film for the new look of the turtles. While it's not my favorite appearance, every incarnation of the TMNT universe has a different tone and style to it, so I was fine with it. I was surprised how much of the humor was actually decent, and the action and fight scenes were very cool to see. The storyline was a little iffy for the reason of the villians taking over, but it was kind of hammy in the 90s live action ones as well.
**SPOILERS**
**SPOILERS**
The only thing I wish they would have added more of is Shredders back story. He had very little screen time out of the suit and I was hoping to see more of that. Apparently from what I've read online, they did cut out over 20 minutes of footage from the movie, to make it shorter so they would sell more tickets faster (Nickelodeon that is. :( ). I assume some of this would have more character devlopment that was left on the cutting room floor, judging by the missing scenes from the trailers we have.
Watched Dragonball Z Battle Of Gods last night and it didn't disappoint, well a bit but not colossal. Going by the title you know you're going to watch Goku fight a formidable opponent. It's a lot of fun at the beginning, sets it up perfect for a final big fight and that's where the disappointment kicked in. Wasn't as explosive as I thought it'd be.
Tama said:
Nice to read about your experience watching it, sounds like you had good fun! The show I was at was sold out, to my surprise. Unfortunately there were a bunch of teenagers next to me who wouldn't stop talking and one of them even yelled kamehameha when Goku does the move. Pretty annoying.
Tama said:
The twist was pretty good, yeah. Going into a film like this I was
worried they'd be a massive power up that would allow Goku to beat Beerus easily but I'm glad Goku couldn't beat him, 70% of his power used only?! Nice. I loved watching the camaraderie between other characters and the humor - Boo gulping all that pudding down before Beerus got any, the whole Trunks and girlfriend thing, seeing Shenron get scared, poor Vegeta
The audience wasn't as bad as when I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy, the kinda stuff people burst out laughing to or found funny was just ... and it killed some jokes for me.
Forgetting some movies I watched but from what I recall ...
The Expendables 3 ... that month early leak surely hurt sales even if the movie isn't all that amazing. But it is what it is and is pretty decent in the end for an all out action flick where you're not supposed to ask questions of who what why. I mean, those actors look like they had fun shooting together, look at the poster! Wesley's joke on his tax evasion was funny. I did enjoy 2 better but can't remember all of 2, a re-watch is in store I guess.
Ayaode's follow up to Submarine with The Double is a bold move and I like his style of film making. My expectations were high so I felt a little let down but I appreciated it a lot more watching it a second time and enjoy the technical aspects of his directing with those sounds. Jesse's character notices his doppelganger but things don't go well when nobody else sees it and he's competing with it in many ways. Everything he isn't the doppelganger is and the conflict is fleshed out well on film. Mia does a good job in her role, as usual.
Having skipped the movie in theaters, I borrowed a DVD and watched The Amazing Spider Man 2. The first movie in this reboot felt a lot better, action wise and with pacing. I didn't get a fun vibe and the only thing worth was seeing those fight scenes with the blue fellow. Final fight was short and under whelming.
The Signal you'd have to endure for the first hour or so or till you got to the last 20 minutes for it to come to life. The end made it all worth it. Two college students and a friend are on the road and hack into something, get re-hacked and they decide to go to the source to play with the person only to find things are pretty off. Their life changes upon contact and next thing you know they're in a medical facility being questioned by Morpheus in a complete change from the first 20/30 minutes. Slow burn sci-fi movie with teens in it, can be rewarding if you're willing to make the distance and finish it.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a different kind of vampire film. There are no flashy scenes with vampires feeding, no lycans, no big samurai or gun fights, no trance in the soundtrack and no clear-colored contact lenses that were popular in movies in the early 2000's. It's about two lovers spending lives separately in different countries, Loki's a recluse musician who doesn't want to be discovered although his music being popular in the underground scene and Tilda living in solitude in a safe place. They both have a dream of Tilda's sister played by Mia and things get a little out of hand from there on. In a way, the film's got a certain charm in spite of an unsatisfying conclusion.
Oculus was decent and that's about it. It has some pretty neat scenes (not the shock horror kind of ones but situations of deception). Recommend it for a casual watch.
Maleficent surprised me at how much I enjoyed it and at how cheesy it was at times but still watchable. Jolie carries the movie financially with her stardom and she's good at playing the part of Maleficent. The action could be brutal for a kiddy audience.
Re-watched Full Metal Jacket two weeks ago with a friend who's an aspiring actor, he hadn't seen any of Kubrick's movies. Seeing private Pyle evolve is amazing, much like Jack Torrance's transformation.
+HDRip.jpg)
Coherence is a baby version of Primer, if you're a fan of Primer or that kind of movie, give it a shot. It's definitely not as complex but it does a decent job in getting you to think about the end which may or may not open ended. A group of friends meet for dinner and there's a comet passing that night. They talk of how decades ago things went outta hand with weird things happening when comets would pass close to the Earth. The lights go out and everyone's lights are out except for 1 house down the street. Phones don't work and some phone screens crack from what seems to be the comet phenomena. 2 from the group go to investigate that house and the mystery starts from there. Good effort by the director, give it a shot.
Killing American Style was the follow up to Samurai Cop, if you remember that amazing film? This one wasn't AS good. It felt like The Raid - The Raid 2 in the sense, The Raid was all out amazing fun, The Raid 2 was more story and acting chops fleshed out taking away from SOME of the novelty from the first film. Killing American Style is just like that. Zdar is the s(Z)tar! It's racist, dumb but not as unintentionally funny as Samurai Cop. A let down, to be honest. Any way, I hope Samurai Cop 2 gets that Kickstarter goal and they can make a worthy sequel.
The Expendables 3 ... that month early leak surely hurt sales even if the movie isn't all that amazing. But it is what it is and is pretty decent in the end for an all out action flick where you're not supposed to ask questions of who what why. I mean, those actors look like they had fun shooting together, look at the poster! Wesley's joke on his tax evasion was funny. I did enjoy 2 better but can't remember all of 2, a re-watch is in store I guess.
Ayaode's follow up to Submarine with The Double is a bold move and I like his style of film making. My expectations were high so I felt a little let down but I appreciated it a lot more watching it a second time and enjoy the technical aspects of his directing with those sounds. Jesse's character notices his doppelganger but things don't go well when nobody else sees it and he's competing with it in many ways. Everything he isn't the doppelganger is and the conflict is fleshed out well on film. Mia does a good job in her role, as usual.
Having skipped the movie in theaters, I borrowed a DVD and watched The Amazing Spider Man 2. The first movie in this reboot felt a lot better, action wise and with pacing. I didn't get a fun vibe and the only thing worth was seeing those fight scenes with the blue fellow. Final fight was short and under whelming.
The Signal you'd have to endure for the first hour or so or till you got to the last 20 minutes for it to come to life. The end made it all worth it. Two college students and a friend are on the road and hack into something, get re-hacked and they decide to go to the source to play with the person only to find things are pretty off. Their life changes upon contact and next thing you know they're in a medical facility being questioned by Morpheus in a complete change from the first 20/30 minutes. Slow burn sci-fi movie with teens in it, can be rewarding if you're willing to make the distance and finish it.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a different kind of vampire film. There are no flashy scenes with vampires feeding, no lycans, no big samurai or gun fights, no trance in the soundtrack and no clear-colored contact lenses that were popular in movies in the early 2000's. It's about two lovers spending lives separately in different countries, Loki's a recluse musician who doesn't want to be discovered although his music being popular in the underground scene and Tilda living in solitude in a safe place. They both have a dream of Tilda's sister played by Mia and things get a little out of hand from there on. In a way, the film's got a certain charm in spite of an unsatisfying conclusion.
Oculus was decent and that's about it. It has some pretty neat scenes (not the shock horror kind of ones but situations of deception). Recommend it for a casual watch.
Maleficent surprised me at how much I enjoyed it and at how cheesy it was at times but still watchable. Jolie carries the movie financially with her stardom and she's good at playing the part of Maleficent. The action could be brutal for a kiddy audience.
Re-watched Full Metal Jacket two weeks ago with a friend who's an aspiring actor, he hadn't seen any of Kubrick's movies. Seeing private Pyle evolve is amazing, much like Jack Torrance's transformation.
Coherence is a baby version of Primer, if you're a fan of Primer or that kind of movie, give it a shot. It's definitely not as complex but it does a decent job in getting you to think about the end which may or may not open ended. A group of friends meet for dinner and there's a comet passing that night. They talk of how decades ago things went outta hand with weird things happening when comets would pass close to the Earth. The lights go out and everyone's lights are out except for 1 house down the street. Phones don't work and some phone screens crack from what seems to be the comet phenomena. 2 from the group go to investigate that house and the mystery starts from there. Good effort by the director, give it a shot.
Killing American Style was the follow up to Samurai Cop, if you remember that amazing film? This one wasn't AS good. It felt like The Raid - The Raid 2 in the sense, The Raid was all out amazing fun, The Raid 2 was more story and acting chops fleshed out taking away from SOME of the novelty from the first film. Killing American Style is just like that. Zdar is the s(Z)tar! It's racist, dumb but not as unintentionally funny as Samurai Cop. A let down, to be honest. Any way, I hope Samurai Cop 2 gets that Kickstarter goal and they can make a worthy sequel.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
"Where's that admin who said my posts were like those of a moronic reptile?"
Godzilla, which was some of the least interesting and conceptually incompetent big budget "event" film-making I've ever seen. This was frustratingly mediocre by it's own design, they seemingly cutoff or killed off every interesting scene or character, including GODZILLA! He hardly did anything but swim around from place to place, resetting the whole movie each time essentially, and when he did do something, the camera would immediately cut away and the action was off screen! By the third time my wife and I laughed in exasperation. Godzilla shows up to trash San Francisco and they literally shut the door on him! It had to be a joke, but it wasn't funny, or effective; I don't know what they were thinking, but this ain't no Jaws in the suspense department. Because of this, the movie was almost 100% exposition. They talk about Godzilla, he shows up and does nothing, moves on, they follow and talk about Godzilla, repeat. It's "Godzilla is coming" for an hour and half, and then the final payoff is still anti-climatic. The ending is literally the establishment of Godzilla (something that should have been cemented in the first hour if it was actually about him), though everybody important already knows about him like he's a rare giant squid or something, the "apex predator" to "balance nature," even though he doesn't actually eat anything.
"Holy shit this movie sucks!! Poor dad."
Anyway, Godzilla looked good, Cranston was good, and they were both almost completely wasted so we could watch a bunch of blank faced army dudes, including the main blank face, run in circles while Godzilla wrecked havoc off screen. Even when we did see Godzilla doing his thing, it was nothing special, he moved around like a guy in a big rubber suit and the action had no weight or consequences. Godzilla takes a million hits but we never see external damage (he naps though =), and the violence is all bloodless (at least Man of Steel conveyed the idea of a city being destroyed).
"Don't worry, I'm still much worse, but at least my movie is about me!"
The only reason anybody liked this movie was because they like Godzilla and it took Godzilla seriously and didn't embarrass him, but it was trying so hard to be inoffensively restrained and "realistic" that they ended up making a non-Godzilla movie altogether (and don't get me wrong though, it's still really fucking dumb). This was a disaster/army movie that happened to have Godzilla in it, and it's almost like they were going for a found footage style without the found footage, they just pulled back and observed from a distance for the most part, and the audience is left in no-man's land (you only get a real feel for Godzilla a couple times). Anyway, no sense of pace, focus or the big moment, this was safe mediocrity by design, and a Godzilla movie for people ashamed of Godzilla. If you want to give Godzilla the serious treatment next time actually do a fucking movie about the consequences of man's interference with nature. This was about nothing, or maybe MUTOS, it was kind of about MUTOS (maybe that's what it should have been called).
So, uh, Godzilla?... more like... GODAWFUL! Fin
Johnstantine
Skibbidy Boo Bop
Griffith said:
"Where's that admin who said my posts were like those of a moronic reptile?"
Godzilla, which was some of the least interesting and conceptually incompetent big budget "event" film-making I've ever seen. This was frustratingly mediocre by it's own design, they seemingly cutoff or killed off every interesting scene or character, including GODZILLA! He hardly did anything but swim around from place to place, resetting the whole movie each time essentially, and when he did do something, the camera would immediately cut away and the action was off screen! By the third time my wife and I laughed in exasperation (Godzilla shows up to trash San Francisco and they literally shut the door on him!), it had to be a joke, but it wasn't funny, or effective (I don't know what they were thinking, but this ain't no Jaws in the suspense department). Because of this, the movie was almost 100% exposition (they talk about Godzilla, he shows up and does nothing, moves on, they follow and talk about Godzilla, repeat). The ending is literally the establishment of Godzilla (though everybody important already knows about him like he's a rare giant squid or something, the "apex predator" to "balance nature," even though he doesn't actually eat anything).
"Holy shit this movie sucks!! Poor dad."
Anyway, Godzilla looked good, Cranston was good, and they were both almost completely wasted so we could watch a bunch of blank faced army dudes, including the main blank face, run in circles while Godzilla wrecked havoc off screen. Even when we did see Godzilla doing his thing, it was nothing special, he moved around like a guy in a big rubber suit and the action had no weight or consequences (Godzilla takes a million hits but we never see external damage, and the violence is all bloodless, at least Man of Steel conveyed the idea of a city being destroyed). The only reason anybody liked this movie was because they like Godzilla and it took Godzilla seriously and didn't embarrass him, but it was trying so hard to be inoffensively restrained and "realistic" that they ended up making a non-Godzilla movie altogether (don't get me wrong though, it's still really fucking dumb). This was a disaster/army movie that happened to have Godzilla in it, and it's almost like they were going for a found footage style without the found footage, they just pulled back and observed from a distance for the most part, and the audience is left in no-man's land. Anyway, no sense of pace or the big moment, this was safe mediocrity by design, and a Godzilla movie for people ashamed of Godzilla.
So, uh, Godzilla?... more like... GODAWFUL! Fin
Yeah but dat nuclear bref though.
Johnstantine
Skibbidy Boo Bop
Griffith said:I was like SAGOIIII!!!!!
Nothing like some snowballing to get things going, right?
Griffith said:
... reading that cleared my sinuses, thank you! I watched the movie recently at home and it didn't have the same effect as seeing it on the big screen, still fun though. I like it for what it is. Had too much of Ford but Godzilla's swimming made up for it. 
Generation Iron doesn't have that spark Pumping Iron did, you can blame Arnold's charisma for that. Shows the struggles and psychology of 6/7 body builders leading up to the Olympia event in 2012. There was a big rivalry between the defending champion and the under-dog leading up to the competition.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
IncantatioN said:
You're welcome, but you raise my other problem with the movie's construction. For all the time spent on him, I didn't even know who you meant by "Ford" at first. I had to look it up on IMDb to confirm it was Kickass. The human narrative and shifting perspectives were a mess, particularly the beginning when it's needlessly jumping all over time, space, and perspective. Bryan Cranston starts as the main character, to whom they actually take the time to establish an emotional connection, only to switch over to his emotionless non-entity kid who didn't care about anything (his family by default I guess, but he actually seemed more interested in fighting for the army than finding/helping them). If they were just going to have a cookie cutter army dude with default motivations, why waste my time and tease me something better with Cranston and Watanabe (both delivered all the dialogue they used in the advertising)? They didn't even put them in the same room together! It's hard for me to enjoy a movie, even when a credible Godzilla makes a couple of frustratingly brief cameos, when the other 90% of it was literally time ill spent. Also, Aaron Paul should have played Ford! I'm kidding, but the movie would have actually been way better, both for the obvious Breaking Bad connection and because he's 100 times more naturally charismatic than British bore Aaron Taylor-Kickass. I guess he was a good match for the part, but if you're going to make your main character a total bore, at least cast someone with energy.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
That's my beef with it, the Godzilla stuff was ok though frustratingly mishandled, it's just not a good movie otherwise. If Godzilla and Cranston weren't in it, it would have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Sadly, it's like they were going for the opposite, which only made the problem worse because they didn't exploit the Godzilla factor, "We're going to make a good movie that just happens to have Godzilla in it!" Nope, more like Battle: Los Angeles, and maybe I'm being unfair to Battle: Los Angeles.
Johnstantine
Skibbidy Boo Bop
Griffith said:
Come on, nothing screams action movie like Ken Watanabe saying "Ret zem fightu!"
Also, I think I'm the only one who enjoyed Battle: Los Angeles, however mediocre it was.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Johnstantine said:
Sadly, that's some of the more memorable dialogue from the movie, though definitely the nadir for that silly character. Basically Cranston and Watanabe are the only interesting actors in it that get to do anything, and not nearly enough (and like I said, they pretty much put all their shit in the trailers because it was all that was good). David Strathairn and Juliette Binoche are the other two actors in the movie that are completely wasted on stock roles anybody could have played. I was more sad to see the fate of Binoche the actress doing this bit part than I was her character's.
Johnstantine said:
Well, despite them both being mediocre it has a 35% fresh rating compared to 73% for Godzilla. The audience ratings are a bit closer (48% to 69%), though the presence of Godzilla sways the fans and critics alike it seems. I'd say it's fair to give Godzilla the bump on recognition alone. It's the bigger budget urban army monster movie with more star power (human and monster alike). Though Aaron Eckhart definitely wins the battle of the Aarons.
Caught a late night screening of Point Break last night and WHAT FUN. It'd been years since I watched it so I remembered most of it but not all the dialog. TriBeCa has a full bar and tickets came with a free beer. There was 1 big group of people who sat behind, next to and in front of us, and they were just cool fans who'd quote dialog every now and then or say stuff or gesture shooting in the air when Johnny would, etc. Usually I don't like that sort of thing but they were cool, no heckling. In fact during the penultimate scene when Johnny's walking away from those cops and he says "He's not coming back" ... one dude walked up to the corner of the screen and gestured as if he was throwing his batch and it mirrored when Johnny does it. So yeah, good time with good fans for sure. I can't go back to seeing it on the small screen anymore, so until next time when it's playing at a theater. Definitely. And, a young-slim Tom Sizemore looks like Bradley Cooper's lost brother. Definitely.