Movies you've recently watched

I watched Oldboy (2003) yesterday, an awesome movie with an unpredictable ending and a really great soundtrack. I was truly surprised, I recommend it to anyone who might be interested (the original version).
 
foolpuck said:
I watched Oldboy (2003) yesterday, an awesome movie with an unpredictable ending and a really great soundtrack. I was truly surprised, I recommend it to anyone who might be interested (the original version).

Spike Lee's remake is totally avoidable. I'm trying to think of other revenge flicks off the top of my head - I Saw The Devil, Blue Ruin, The Virgin Spring, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, To Kill A Man, John Wick, Revanche, Get Carter, Leon, Once Upon A Time in the West, Mad Max.
 
foolpuck said:
I watched Oldboy (2003) yesterday, an awesome movie with an unpredictable ending and a really great soundtrack. I was truly surprised, I recommend it to anyone who might be interested (the original version).
Oldboy is incredible! It's been a few years since I watched it last, but I remember the cinematography really standing out to me.

IncantatioN said:
I'm trying to think of other revenge flicks off the top of my head - I Saw The Devil
I was also going to recommend I Saw The Devil. It's fantastic! One of my personal favorites. Choi Min-sik plays the villain in that one.

Have either of you guys checked out any of the other films in The Vengeance Trilogy?
 
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy are fantastic. I wasn't a big fan of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance though. I couldn't even finish the film. I might revisit it someday.

SpaceyLauss said:
Choi Min-sik plays the villain in that one.

He was amazing. I especially loved that
last scene before he dies when he's "begging" for his life.
Great stuff.
 
I guess I have to watch "I Saw The Devil" then, thanks for the recommendations guys!

SpaceyLauss said:
Have either of you guys checked out any of the other films in The Vengeance Trilogy?

Yeah I also watched Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance, and as Skeleton said it's a fantastic one too. But I haven't seen Sympathy for Lady Vengeance yet.
 
SpaceyLauss said:
I was also going to recommend I Saw The Devil. It's fantastic! One of my personal favorites. Choi Min-sik plays the villain in that one.

Choi's such a fine actor. Can't wait to see his recent films - Admiral and Tiger.

Skeleton said:
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy are fantastic. I wasn't a big fan of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance though. I couldn't even finish the film. I might revisit it someday.

He was amazing. I especially loved that
last scene before he dies when he's "begging" for his life.
Great stuff.

That's a good scene. It was hard for me to get through the torture scenes the first time I saw it *looking away or closing my eyes for a quick second* :farnese: ... I hope I have the courage to sit through The Witch without looking away.

Mr Vengeance! That's an awesome movie. Sorry I got my Vengeance movies mixed up :magni: ... Mr Vengeance > Oldboy > Lady Vengeance.
 
I Saw the Devil was amazing as hell and so freakin brutal.

Watched:

Ant-Man, which was pretty good. Kind of weird at times but a pretty solid movie altogether. I knew nothing about Ant-Man before seeing it too.

and The Dead Lands, which was kind of alright. Ridiculous at times but entertaining. My friend put this on at random on Netflix. Never even heard of it before. Wouldn't exactly recommend, but if people are into weird tribal revenge flicks, might be worth a watch.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
I Saw The Devil shouldn't be uttered in the same sentence as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance or Oldboy. It's the most overrated South Korean movie on par with The Chaser. Bonehead, paper thin script, one dimensional characters showing no common sense, and gratuitous violence to the point of fetishization that it becomes boring. It's glorified torture porn that gets a pass because it's foreign, but it's basically an Eli Roth movie with subtitles.
 
Watched Goodnight, Mommy, which was actually a really top notch and gorgeously filmed horror movie. The twist was reasonably clever with how they did it, although I'm sure many people would be able to work it out. But it also causes some issues with their idea of 'misdirection'.

It was like 85% well done with 15% why was that necessary to throw the audience? Despite that, great movie in the sort of Babadook vein.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
My wife and I have been watching a lot of the classics recently (Casablanca, All About Eve, North by Northwest, to name a few of the ones we've watched). Lately, we've been on a Charlie Chaplin kick. We've watched The Kid, The Gold Rush, Modern Times and The Great Dictator, all of which we enjoyed. Right now we're in the middle of A Woman of Paris.
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Alright, just got back from BvS. I enjoyed it, with very little to gripe about.

As I expected most of the reviews are just nitpicking the shit out of Snyder.
 
I also just got back from Batman v Superman. I thought it was too long, quite messy and scattered. I think it tried to do too much and didn't do much of it well. On the bright side, I really liked Affleck as Batman (though not so much the movie's Batman) and, out of the bat-suits seen in movies, this is probably the one I liked the most (though in my opinion it still has some issues). I give it two and a half
Marthas
out of five.

On a side note, I didn't quite know where to post this so I'll just leave it here: Batman v Superman - Sad Affleck
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Deadpool: Pretty spot on with early Deadpool comics, even down to the fact that it's kind of a lower budget, B story compared to big time comics/comic movies, which helped remind me of old school Deadpool like The Circle Chase.

BvS: Yeah, it sucked, like everyone with unclouded eyes saw coming with Supervision light years away. I was surprised how competent it actually was to start though, where it basically didn't hit rock bottom until the third act when qualitatively it became no different than a Transformers movie (Snyder's destiny is to permanently take over all directing assignments for Michael Bay so he can produce and count money exclusively).

The first act was pretty ok, aside from the horrible retread of Bruce's parents dying (now in ridiculously ludicrous slo-mo!), though Batman's reveal was pretty cool and it seemed like a relatively normal movie. The second act is kind of a mess that's just full of scenes I feel like I've seen in every other Batman and Superman movie thrown together with no pace. Eisenberg wasn't even that annoying until the third act since they wisely limited his screen time to that point, but he's indeed the worst thing about the movie (other than the scene that's basically youtube preview clips of the DCCU, complete with Miles Dyson cameo). Affleck is a surprisingly halfway decent Batman, but I never got over him being Ben Affleck in a batsuit, and this Batman makes no sense; he's now going "too far" in his vigilantism by branding criminals, but nobody mentions he also indiscriminately kills people, such as Lexcorp private security, like it means nothing. Zack Snyder, everybody.

Anyway, the title fight's a big letdown even before it begins (because they completely muddle everyone's motives after drawing them completely differently throughout), the action is surprisingly dull, the resolution unsatisfyingly simplistic, and then everything that comes with/after it is just ludicrously over the top and silly (it became like "Kitchen Sink" the movie in the final act after cockteasing for two hours). Sadly, I think there's still a basically decent story in here if they'd just followed through on the premise of Batman fighting Superman because they have diametrically opposing worldviews and ended it there without muddling, literally, everything up (it didn't earn that 29% tomatometer rating until the last act when it basically resets into another damn movie). I do recognize the good intentions here, but Snyder tries to ape/honor everything at once and just ends up trampling on all of it for lack of time/touch. So, unfortunately, it's as bad and disappointing as advertised/rated.


BTW, my updated list of the best Batman and Superman movies if you want to scrutinize my super judgement (some of the parallels of the lists surprised me). The listings go down and/or to the left for close calls:

Batman
The Dark Knight - The Citizen Kane of Batman movies.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - The Casablanca of Batman movies.
Batman '89/Batman Begins - Both good but very different interpretations of Batman; if you combined them they'd be perfect.
[this space indicates a notable dropoff from the top 4]
The Dark Knight Rises/Batman Returns/Batman '66 - A real mixed bag, both together and individually. Fun but flawed, some good moments, but not great.
Batman v Superman/Batman Forever - More similar than you'd think given their contrasting styles. Not sure they shouldn't be reversed, but that's probably bias.
Batman & Robin - 'Nuff said.

Superman
Superman: The Movie - Or, How to Make a Credible Superhero Movie! They got it right the first time and almost never again.
Superman II/The Donner Cut - Or, How to Make a Credible Superhero Sequel! Upped the comic book ante with super fights and an even cooler human subplot.
Man of Steel/Superman Returns - Again, if you combined 'em they'd be perfect, and though both are fatally flawed MoS gets the nod for having any balls whatsoever.
Batman v Superman - Superman becomes a supporting character in his own lousy Batman movie.
Superman III - Or, How Not to Make a Superhero Sequel! The Evil Superman stuff and Office Space inspiring plot, "underrated movie, actually", almost brings it up to BvS, but it's otherwise not much better than...

...

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace - It's like the last act of BvS with no budget or eye candy. Seriously, multiple plot elements from this awful, awful movie are recycled in BvS!
 
Marebito - This movie for the most part was pretty awesome. A very different take on the 'vampire' style. But the first chunk of the movie seemed that it was taking on such a massive and interesting scope and then just kind of ignored it for what became the 'main' plot point. It seemed to hold itself back for something much less interesting, which was quite disappointing. Disregarding that though, it was a pretty cool movie. I guess.

Terminator Genisys - I really enjoyed this movie, but it was a very different feeling Terminator movie. Didn't exactly leave me with my mind blown. It doesn't have that ruthless and gritty feel the first couple did. Fun though.
 
I watched Turbo kid this weekend. I loved it! the soundtrack was really good. The film had the right amount of camp and cheese. Michael Ironside was really good as the main Villon. Apple is too cute. It was just a fun film. I highly recommend it. Especially to the 80's dreamers of the world :)
 
Been busy at work and haven't had the chance to keep up with a lot. And, I barely recall what I've watched! So here's a bit ..

Fantstic-planet-poster.jpg


Watched this last minute last Saturday, midnight screening at NightHawk so I was more excited to have their cheese tots and milkshake cos it's one of the few theaters you can order food during the movie in these round tables next to you, shared by two seats. And I'd never watched Fantastic Planet before, all my friend told me about it was "Hey, it's a trip". What I didn't know was there was a live band who were going to play the entire soundtrack. There was no dialog because of this set up, just sub-titles every time there was some dialog while the band played tunes to those scenes. Different feel for sure and I think it spoils you in a way because there's something special about listening to music played live that I appreciate differently or more, if done well. The movie itself is pretty interesting - a woman with her child come across a young giant blue (alien like) creature and in a playful, childish callous manner, the mother gets killed by the alien. The orphan is found by a father-daughter who happen to be there, the daughter asks if she could keep the orphan and the father explains she can if she can take care of it. The aliens treat them as pets and refer to them as animals. Sort of like us humans having pets at home and that sort of bond that's made. You see the pet, a boy called Terr grow up and gain intelligence and the courage to escape. Finds a group of other people much like himself and gives them knowledge of the race of Draags (giant blue aliens), so now you see them escaping traps and getting smarter. The movie's old but there's a lot of visually brutal stuff going on like the scene where people have to survive an extermination very akin to a pesticide run in apartments/ homes. It's good, weird, political, psychological and the dated animation gives it great charm. Can't wait to see it again, perhaps in a few years when it hits the big screen again.

the-invitation-movie-review.jpg


The movie'd just released and walking by IFC with a bud, she looked it up online and thought we check it out cos it was well reviewed (mind you there were only a few reviews, all positive) and that's how I saw The Invitation ... unfortunately. The acting was appreciated but the plot left me wanting more from it, maybe I was more disappointed my friend didn't pick The Witch which I'd actually loved and wanted to watch again, which was also playing at the same screen. Opening scene, a couple is driving to a dinner and their car hits a coyote, the main lead puts it out of its misery using a tire iron and gets going to their dinner. He's reunited with old friends, his ex and her current boyfriend. As the night goes on, he gets suspicious about a few things like why's there a need to lock the main door of the home but things get interesting when the hosts show their guests a video from their trip to Mexico of their guru/ new cult and they watch something disturbing. The already suspicious protagonist wants out of the dinner at this point and things unfold. The good - the tension right up to the third act and the acting. The bad - a predictable third act. Needless to say, the friend I was with was left wanting more.

AR-303089963.jpg&q=80&MaxW=550&MaxH=400&RCRadius=5


I was pretty pumped about Triple 9 when I read the cast and saw the first previews but the movie could've been a lot better and in a way, the bloated cast didn't help either in retrospect. Kate Winslet donned a different accent in a few scenes forgetting her Russian accent. The movie opens with a robbery and right at the offset you learn there are cops involved with the Russian mafia. In comes a new cop in the department. The robbers have one last gig before they're free of their debt to the mafia. Not much to add without spoiling a whole lot but it's not that good if you compare it with the more recent Sicario which falls in the same cop - Crime/ Drama/ Action film.

batman-v-superman-tracking-for-the-biggest-superhero-opening-ever-with-400-million-irre-902889.jpg


I didn't expect Batman vs Superman to be good. I went in well after opening week to skip crowds and it was hell at work late March, early April as is every year. So when I finally got to see it, I was surprised to see a strong attendance. What I was looking to see - the action fleshed out on the big screen and that had ups and downs. Guess I'll spoiler-tag stuff in case some members haven't watched it yet.
The ups - the fight between Bats and Supes had a few good moments like when Bats punches slowly had less of an affect on a recovering Supes. The downs -outside of a half minute cool real fight shown on screen with Doomsday, the rest felt flat with scenes cut to Louis and/ Supes saving her. The fast kinetic like Man Of Steel fight sequences were nowhere to be found and that was a massive bummer. For all the sonic booms Supes gave every time he flew, I was hopeful the action would redeem the bad plot or bad characterization or an overall boring lethargic movie. I didn't mind Wonder Woman because she didn't have serious plot, so whenever she came on screen, it was refreshing cos her presence would lift the down and beat boring plot in the background. Lex was comical and not at all threatening. Affleck as Batman was ... not that bad. His training-I'm-gonna-beef-up-and-I'm-angry montage was funny as was the first time he met Superman - all googly eyed - the slow motion didn't help in the scene either. He wasn't a very smart Batman to be easily manipulated by Lex but that's not Affleck's fault, I'd blame Snyder. For everything. He continues to make a Superman movie but I question whether he even likes Superman as a superhero to begin with. And that Aquaman reveal was comical as hell.
 
Captain America: Civil War. I liked it but I didn't love it.
Just as another recent super hero blockbuster, in my opinion this movie tried to do too much but, unlike said other blockbuster, this one managed to do much of it right. What I liked in no particular order: the action sequences (in particular the airport fight), Black Panther, Spider-Man, Giant-Man (I can't say I knew he existed before this movie, but I liked him nonetheless), the humor, and that there was a better reason for the heroes to fight each other than in BvS. What I didn't like: that there was no real reason, plot-wise, for Spider-Man and even Ant-Man to be in this movie (unlike Black Panther), Bucky killing the Starks as a plot device (I understand why they did it, but I didn't like it), that the ending was a to-be-continued kind of ending (perhaps this movie should have been titled Captain America: Dawn of Civil War :troll:), and that it felt a bit long (when thinking about this last one I realized that I've said the same about a few movies lately, so now I'm wondering if it could just be me getting old or having a shorter attention span).
 
I'm glad you got to see La Planete Sauvage Incantation, I thought it was a treat. The mood and setting are interesting and I love stop motion animation they use from the 70's. A few other animated films from that time period I enjoyed were Watership Down and Plague Dogs.

I think I'm in the minority on this but I never found the Marvel movies to be something I would run to see on opening week. I have watched a good amount of them, from Iron Man and Captain America, to the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, and always felt like most were just ads for the next big film. I never got the feeling that I was watching one that was made to be enjoyed by itself, and that they are always peppered with scenes that are building to the next, which I thought detracted from the central story that they were trying to convey in their own film. I haven't seen Civil War yet but if it follows the same outline as the rest I will probably skip it. I can totally understand why others enjoy them so much, and it is great to see all of these amazing super heroes on the big screen with big budgets, but I guess it's not for me.
 

DasBouf

I'm Noah. I love my waifu and my friends
I recently saw The Witch (or The VVitch, I guess) and it was freaking amazing. Not one jumpscare through the entire film, just constant building tension and atmosphere. It's the directors debut, and it's an impressive one at that.
I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes horror films, period pieces, or just great film making.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
DasBouf said:
I recently saw The Witch (or The VVitch, I guess) and it was freaking amazing. Not one jumpscare through the entire film, just constant building tension and atmosphere. It's the directors debut, and it's an impressive one at that.
I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes horror films, period pieces, or just great film making.

Saw it in theatres and most of the experience was ruined because the audience was made up mostly of high schoolers who were expecting the next James Wan movie. I absolutely loved the film though, especially the last sequence. I just wish I didn't have to endure continuous snide comments and laughter from the people that didn't understand what it was they were watching.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
People who talk during movies in theaters should be shot.

That's my platform. Walter 2020.
 

DasBouf

I'm Noah. I love my waifu and my friends
Walter said:
People who talk during movies in theaters should be shot.

That's my platform. Walter 2020.
You got my vote.

Delta Phi said:
Saw it in theatres and most of the experience was ruined because the audience was made up mostly of high schoolers who were expecting the next James Wan movie. I absolutely loved the film though, especially the last sequence. I just wish I didn't have to endure continuous snide comments and laughter from the people that didn't understand what it was they were watching.
That sounds terrible. I don't go to theaters often because of this. My local theater doesn't even get most movie, only what will sell (It's a 1 screen theater in a small town)
 
Walter said:
People who talk during movies in theaters should be shot.

That's my platform. Walter 2020.

That's a position I can get behind. I haven't been to a movie theater since '09 because I can't justify paying $20+ for people to talk during the entire film.

DasBouf said:
My local theater doesn't even get most movie, only what will sell (It's a 1 screen theater in a small town)

Good lord! What part of the Midwest do you live in?
 

DasBouf

I'm Noah. I love my waifu and my friends
Skeleton said:
Good lord! What part of the Midwest do you live in?
I live in a small town in Oregon, I used to live in Portland it was awesome because art theaters were never too far away and I could see smaller indie films.
It's actually a pretty big bummer, because I either have to pirate movies (which is illegal and hurts the industry)
Wait till the blu ray comes out (What I usually do, but it takes a long time)
Or drive a few hours to see a movie that I'm interested in (I rarely get to do this)


The movie I'm currently itching to see is Green Room, it looks fantastic and I've heard nothing but good things. Due to the theater issue however it ill probably be a while before I can see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8XSARX3DQg
 

Lithrael

Remember, always hold your apple tight
I've been hitting the redbox rentals a little lately, seeing things I was curious about.

Jurassic World: Lots of parts that were fun to watch, but overall, just so deeply dumb. More or less what I expected.

Terminator Genisys: Enjoyed it a lot more than I expected based on the terrible reviews. I had the impression that there was barely going to be any Arnold in it, but there was plenty, and I'm fond of the ol T-800 so I was happy. The dad/boyfriend rivalry was cliched but cute. I didn't like the casting for John Connor at ALL though, he just rubbed me the wrong way the whole time, couldn't take him seriously as a good guy or as a bad guy etc. Just couldn't buy him. The plot itself was not great, but it didn't bother me either. The threat and resolution at the end were pretty hollow. They go to all the trouble of bringing in Skynet as a nascent character and then there's not any exploration, more just 'so here I am and you want to kill me but I'm going to kill you' and they waste time stopping over and over to listen to it deliver lines and then don't respond in any meaningful way. Felt like I was watching a video game playthrough. But the only part of the movie that was outright dumb as hell was the helicopter chase. So, overall, it wasn't actually at all good, but I enjoyed it, except for the forgettable bits. The nostalgic parts were fun, JK Simmons was fun, T-800, Kyle and Sarah were fun, and some of the time fuckery was fun too.

Crimson Peak: Pretty as heck. Just kind of a straight up love letter to gothic horror/mystery, though, nothing new or innovative, just is what it is and is very pretty and stylish. The lead becomes such a ridiculous mouse though after the first act introducing her like she's supposed to be strong headed, which is, I guess, because that's how you do in these stories so it's traditional, but still obnoxious.
And then after being all too weak to do anything about being gently murdered, she's badass enough to have a shovel fight after falling two stories onto a bannister and breaking the shit out of her leg.
 
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