What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Guro Taku wrote: 08 Feb 2019, 13:47 You left out the most important part: How were the subtiles for the German parts handled? English or Japanese only?
Japanese only. Had to rely on my reading skills (which usually got me halfway through the 2nd line/row, minus occasional difficult kanji).

My German is limited to "Guten tag" and "Heil Hitler" (which, according to a German friend, is all you need :lol: ).
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Survivalist (2015) **½
Sombre drama in which an Irish survivalist's existence is threaten by the presence of a mother and daughter.
Pretty grim, but not without interest.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) ***
UHD viewing.
Overlong and overstuffed, but great cinematic entertainment.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 06 Feb 2019, 06:58 Suspiria (Italy/USA, 2018) [DCP] - 4/5
One of the most unique remakes of all time, Luca Guadagnino's bleak, socio-political depiction of feminism in a school of witches in divided late 70s Berlin shadowed by the memory of Nazi war crimes. It’s also a deliberation of art and humanity. Almost impossible to digest on one viewing, it's hard to cast the final judgement yet on whether it’s deep or just trying, but it is interesting as hell. Decidedly different from Argento's original, it stands firmly on its own two feet except the gory ending where some of Argento's audio-visual bravura might have been welcome after all. Oh, and half of the film is spoken in German, including Jessica Harper's entire role (she doesn't have a single English line).
Suspiria (Italy/USA, 2018) [DCP] – 4.5/5

Second viewing and I’m starting to lean towards a 4.5 rating. Last time I saw a film twice in theatre it was Blade Runner 2049, which did not improve on the 2nd viewing (due to strong plot focus, I think, which made some segments boring) where as Suspiria did.

I’ve seen some people say the film is overlong and pretentious, even question if Dr. Klemperer’s character is necessary. I think that’s only true if you mistake Susie for the main character! The main character, well, the most important character at least, is of course Dr. Klemperer, and the movie is about 1977 Berlin which features a school of witches, not about a school of witches in 1977 Berlin.

I can see where the criticism is coming, this is a new version of an Argento fever dream after all (even I longed for an Argento style climax on my first viewing). But at the same time I think it’s absolutely insane to wish a remake to be a copy of the original. We don’t need such a film, and we don’t need such restrictions imposed on filmmakers. Thankfully Suspiria 2018 only shares two or three scenes with the Argento film. Isn’t that the best thing that could happen to any original?

Why call it Suspiria then? Because, why not?

It’s cool that the new film excels on the exact areas that Argento’s film ignored: dance and location. In Argento’s film dance really didn’t matter – it could’ve been a gymnastics or swimming school just as well – whereas in the new film dance becomes a form of self expression for oppressed women. Likewise, few people probably even remember that Argento’s film was set in Berlin because it made no difference at all, while in Guadagnino’s film the location is the most important thing in the whole film. Divided, Nazi-traumatized Berlin of course goes extremely well with the oppression and feminism theme.

Beautiful, fascinating film, and not a minute too long. My only gripe: few seconds of nasty CGI at the end.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Karate Kid (1984) ***
It's ironic that the karate fights are the weakest element in this enjoyable teen drama.
The cast is good, and timid youngsters will appreciate the anti-bullying message.
Kove's 'I want him out of commission' still makes no sense though...
wasn't the whole point of the tournament so he can face Johnny one on one?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) ***
Superior sequel adds depth of characterisation and new found maturity,
which makes the regressive Part 3 all the more painful.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Pelican Brief (1993) **½
Overlong, slightly muddled adaptation of John Grisham thriller has plenty studio polish, but neither the suspense (restricted to a few scenes) or meat to justify it's run time. Denzel is fine, Julia has been better.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 14 Feb 2019, 21:52 The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) ***
Superior sequel adds depth of characterisation and new found maturity,
which makes the regressive Part 3 all the more painful.
I watched a couple of the Cobra Kai epsiodes on youtube (the first two are free) and they were pretty enjoyable in beginning the story of how those two characters end up...
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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A Prayer Before Dawn (USA, 2018) Amazon - 4/5
Based upon the International Best Seller by Billy Moore, it tells his story as a British boxer in Thailand, who gets thrown in prison for Yaba (he's a deep addict, also heroin) and all he goes through.
I really like prison movies when they're well done, and this is... really well done. Most of the time they don't even subtitle the Thai language, adding to the same confusion as Billy is going through. Nothing is sugar coated here... it's ugly and real and shot that way.
But it's beautiful... you just sort of follow along without any voiceover or much-recognized dialogue... you don't need it. The fighting scenes are up close and in your face and Moore uses his abilities to try and gain some traction in his life.
Joe Cole's performance in this is astounding, and director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's look and feel is perfect for it.

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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 14 Feb 2019, 21:52 The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) ***
Superior sequel adds depth of characterisation and new found maturity,
which makes the regressive Part 3 all the more painful.
I missed Elizabeth Shue - seems her character did a complete about-face between films.
bradavon wrote:
but I guess you're more intelligence than me.
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Yeah, I guess she said 'no' to the producers and they were like 'fuck that bitch!' :D

The Lost Boys (1987) **½
Stylish teen comedy-horror isn't as much fun as it should be -- until the end.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Cold in July (2014) ***
Dark thriller starts out as one film then goes off in unexpected directions.
Not totally satisfying, but good enough.
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A Single Shot (2013) **½
Grim thriller stars Sam Rockwell as a deer hunter who accidentally shoots a young woman carrying a bundle of cash.
Trouble follows. Drags along, but always maintains interest.
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To Rome with Love (2012) **½
Whimsical, slightly silly farce about love and sex in Italy.
Lesser Woody Allen still has some good scenes.
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Hereditary (2018) **
Jumbled piffle in which a grief stricken mother (an intense Toni Collette) drags her family into demonic possession.
A few chills, but mostly a load of old balls, and by the end pretty damn risible.
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Royal Flash (1975) **
Comedy adventure romp with Malcolm McDowell as George McDonald Fraser's cowardly rogue Flashman.
Some laughs, typical of director Richard Lester's style, but wears out its welcome after a while...
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Single White Female (1992) **½
Bridget Fonda fears for her identity and her life when mousy new roommate Jennifer Jason Leigh turns stalker.
Decent adult thriller.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Profondo rosso (Italy, 1975) [BD] - 4.5/5
The better, shorter cut. Tremendously entertaining despite the far stretched plot.

Suspiria (Italy, 1977) [BD] - 4.5/5
Synapse's 4.0 sounds incredible, but I still think the Italian voice acting is vastly better.

Conan the Barbarian (USA, 1982) [BD] - 4.5/5
Majestic adventure. The score is capable of inspiring the only YouTube comments worth reading. "I'm a woman, and I just grew balls listening to this." "I'm black but when I hear this I all of a sudden have an Austrian accent." "Man need no Viagra, Man have Conan music."
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 02 Mar 2019, 16:45 Suspiria (Italy, 1977) [BD] - 4.5/5
Synapse's 4.0 sounds incredible, but I still think the Italian voice acting is vastly better.
Better than the actual performers? :P
Conan the Barbarian (USA, 1982) [BD] - 4.5/5
Majestic adventure. The score is capable of inspiring the only YouTube comments worth reading. "I'm a woman, and I just grew balls listening to this." "I'm black but when I hear this I all of a sudden have an Austrian accent." "Man need no Viagra, Man have Conan music."
What about the lamentation of the women?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Bait (2011) **½
Minor, but moderately suspenseful Aussie horror in which disparate types are trapped in a flooded underground supermarket with sharks!
Cheap look and naff CGI detract from corny B-movie fun.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Alita: Battle Angel (USA, 2019) [DCP] - 4/5
A real pleasant surprise, this one! A Hollywood manga/anime adptation one doesn't have to make a ton of excuses for because it mostly gets it right. I don't quite get why the main character had to be fully mo-capped and while really violent for a PG-13 it's still miles away from the splatterpunk nastiness of the source manga. That's about all the negatives I can come up with. The film is mostly an adpatation of the 2 anime OVAs from 1993 and only adds elements from the manga to flesh things out a bit. Changes the anime made from the manga, such as added characters, are directly ported over. A romance subplot is substantially expanded in a very clever attempt to appeal to a different segment of the audience. I thought it worked quite well and didn't bother me in the least. I'd be up for a sequel but that doesn't look likely right now.

Climax (France, 2018) [BD] - 2/5
Imagine being locked in a building with two dozen absolute assholes who dance to shitty music and are awful to each other for 90 minutes. Stylishly filmed by epic troll Gaspar Noe, who actually complained that not enough people walked out when the filmed premiered at Cannes.

Lords of Chaos (UK/Sweden, 2018) [DCP] - 4/5
At one point this was to have been Sion Sono's English language debut but I'd say we dodged a bullet there, as Jonas Åkerlund was clearly the perfect guy to direct this particular story. I've hated everything Åkerlund has directed before or since, so I'm as surprised as anyone that he knocked this one out of the park. Not exactly beholden to historical accuracy, this film takes what could be referred to as black metal mythology and extrapolates a compelling study of radicalisation and fanaticism from it. Rory Culkin is absolutely stellar in this. And the same goes for the gore effects, at least in the unrated cut of the film. Jesus Christ.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 03:08
HungFist wrote: 02 Mar 2019, 16:45 Suspiria (Italy, 1977) [BD] - 4.5/5
Synapse's 4.0 sounds incredible, but I still think the Italian voice acting is vastly better.
Better than the actual performers? :P
Yes!
Markgway wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 03:08 What about the lamentation of the women?
Huh?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Heist (2009) **½
Featherweight caper in which three ageing security guards steal their favourite pieces from an art museum.
Forgettable, but pleasant.
Markgway wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 03:08 Better than the actual performers? :P
HungFist wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 14:59 Yes!
:geek:
Markgway wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 03:08 What about the lamentation of the women?
HungFist wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 14:59 Huh?
It refers to an oft-quoted line from Conan.
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Quarantine 2: Terminal (2010) **
A band of virus-infected passengers munch on each other in a locked-down airport.
No surprises horror sequel goes thru the motions.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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A Walk Among the Tombstones (USA, 2014) [Netflix] – 3.5/5
Private eye Liam Neeson is hired by a drug dealer to find out who killed his wife. Nice moral twist to a storyline that feels tailor made for Neeson - despite being a novel adaptation Joe Carnahan and Harrison Ford were originally going to film.
Markgway wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 03:08 What about the lamentation of the women?
HungFist wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 14:59 Huh?
Markgway wrote: 03 Mar 2019, 03:08 It refers to an oft-quoted line from Conan.
Recognized the line from the film, but (surprisingly?) haven't come across any clever comments inspired by it. Not that I've been looking for.
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