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

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chazgower01
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

Post by chazgower01 »

Markgway wrote: 27 Aug 2018, 16:45
chazgower01 wrote: 26 Aug 2018, 22:31 and the dynamic between Grandmother (Lisa Lu - who was also in the Joy Luck Club 25 years ago)
Never mind The Joy Luck Club, she was one of the stars of The 14 Amazons!
And that was 21 years before the Joy Luck Club...man, what a career!
And she wasn't exactly a spring chicken in 1972!
She's 91 years old now...

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

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The Keeping Room (2015-USA) ***
At the end of the Civil War, two southern sisters (and their slave-maid) are forced to defend themselves against a pair of rogue, rapist union soldiers.
Quite bleak, but persuasive, and well-acted by lead actress Brit Marling.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Free State of Jones (2016-USA-China) ***
Engrossing civil war drama in which an ideally cast Matthew McConaughey leads a southern rebellion against the Confederates.
The characters' resolve is inspiring, America's ultimate 'solution' dispiriting.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Predator 2 3.5/5
Solid follow up to the classic original sees the Predator action move to the big city- gung ho cop Danny Glover and his team (including Bill Paxton) are blocked at every turn by Agent Keys played by Gary Busey. Tough, violent & entertaining- the 4k UHD disc does a good job of resolving a lot of smoke filled scenes though shows up the dated effects at the climax.

Predators 2.5/5
Basically a jungle version of Ten Little Indians this reboot can't compare to the first two but is far superior to the two AVP movies that came before. Adrien Brody just about pulls off his role as an unlikely action hero and he's ably supported by Walter Goggins & Danny Trejo amongst others. Laurence Fishburne pops up midway through. This was shot digitally so while the 4K disc is nice it's not the huge upgrade the shot on film first two are.

The Changeling 4/5
Spooky,atmospheric ghost story starring George C Scott as a widower who moves into a massive old house where strange things start happening. The UK limited edition is an excellent package for a reasonable (£17.99) price.

Jaguar Lives 1.5/5
The movie that was meant to launch karate champion Joe Lewis as the next big action star is pretty awful. Basically a travelogue where a wooden Lewis pops around the globe fighting drug barons. Some well known guest stars take the money and run (John Huston,Donald Pleasance,Christopher Lee,Barbara Bach) despite being a bad movie i found it strangely watchable. I always felt sorry for the late Joe Lewis for not making it in movies like his friend Chuck did, until i watched his interview on the disc extras. He comes across as bitter and egotistical , brags he got paid more for his debut that Norris or Lee did, gets a below the belt dig in at Bob Wall and is basically a sour character.
working class blu-ray fan
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Pirates of Blood River (1961-UK) **½
Not bad Hammer swashbuckler with Christopher Lee as a villainous, eye-patched French pirate.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Left to Die aka Awaken (2014-USA) **
Girl searching for her missing sister in Mexico wakes up on a tropical island with a bunch of kidnapped strangers.
Why? And who are the hard-nut soldiers hunting them?
Pretty tolerable for a DTV actioner, with some old genre faces mixing it with the new.
Never rises above its station, but there are worse ways to kill 90 mins.

Late Phases (2014-USA) **½
Belligerent, blind war veteran moves into a gated care community plagues by werewolf attacks, and determines to fight back.
Owes A LOT to Silver Bullet, but Nick Dimici's acid-tongued central character is refreshingly different, and the filmmakers do their best on an obviously limited budget. At its best in the first half.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Eye in the Sky (2015-UK-Canada) ***
Gripping, tense drama about the decision to drone strike Islamic terrorists in Kenya.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Nighthawks (USA, 1981) [DVD] - 3/5
Cross dressing NY cop Stallone is trying to stop a hedonistic European killer and bomber Rutger Hauer in a watchable cop thriller. It's been claimed Sly had a lot of Hauer's scenes cut out because the newcomer was stealing the show...
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mystery Road (2013-Australia) **
An Aboriginal cop investigates murder and drug corruption in the Outback.
Well-photographed, but very ponderous (and faintly pretentious) thriller
never bothers to solve its initial mystery or any of the sub-mysteries that crop up.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Predator (USA, 2018) [DCP] - 3/5
This feels like something scripted by two Predator loving kids in the late 80s or early 90s throwing "You know what'd be cool?" and "What if?" ideas at each other - in a good way. Messy but fun sci-fi action has great monster design, a decent "predator squad" (including a dude telling constant shitty jokes!) and more humour than before. Very Shane Black, closer to The Nice Guys than Predator (1987) in some ways. On the negative side the poorly edited action is utterly mediocre and the locale (small town) is not well utilized like the jungle or the L.A. concrete jungle in the first two films.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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What Have They Done to Your Daughters (Italy, 1974) [BD] - 3.5/5
Cynical follow-up to What Have You Done to Solange sees schoolgirls in peril again. This one, however, trades away all the romanticism and is also more of a poliziotteschi that giallo. Effective and political, but also depressingly dark and void of Solange's magic. I suppose I'm getting old as some of the cruelty is getting hard to take.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Greatest Showman: 3/5

A cliched story redeemed by some memorable songs and lavish sets, with themes which seem very current (gender issues and accepting people who are different from you, especially the plight of trans people), the film is set during the 19th century though you'd never know it from the songs - like the rousing anthem 'This is Me' and 'Never Enough'
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mandy DCP 4/5
Beyond the Black Rainbow was one of my most anticipated films of the the year it came out and also one of the biggest disappointments when I actually watched it. Maybe it was the lowered expectations but I really dug Mandy. It's basically a 1980ies Heavy Metal comic come to life, a million times faster paced than BTBR and frequently gorgeous to look at. I'm already looking forward to watching it again.

Barb Wire 35mm 2.5/5
I fucking hated this flick when I previously watched it on VHS in the late 90ies. I went to this screening because there was to be an intro by Udo Kier and the festival brochure went out of its way to praise the film as a misunderstood and, in retrospect, prophetic masterwork. That's a bit hyperbolic but you got to appreciate the fact that the setting is the year 2017 and the USA are under fascist rule as well as gripped in a civil war. The film is still trash but in the wake of the recent samish glut of Marvel/DC comic book flicks, this actually seemed like a breath of fresh air. It's directed and edited well enough to never be boring and I was pleasantly surprised by a fair share of cyberpunkish elements. The print was in pretty good shape save for 3 or 4 scratches and it's worth mentioning that what I hated on VHS was an unrated cut which adds 3 minutes to the opening stripshow and some lesbians making out on the dacefloor. More sleaze is not always better. As for the Udo Kier into, it was fun but unfortunately cut short. Udo mentioned that he met Mrs. Anderson in her trailer, proceeded to grab her waist and say, like a vampire, "Zis iz incredible!" To which she just smiled. He then went on about how he was the only one of the cast and crew who respected her and she repaid him by staying around for all his scenes and actually acting with him even when she was off camera. For other actors she had her stand-in do those lines. Udo then went on a tangent about how he loves sex symbols and how not all blonde women are retards and then some asshole two rows behind me yelled that he'd rather watch the film now instead of listening to all this, which caused Udo to gasp, and then say saomething along the lines of "Zis iz an outrage! I come all ze way from Loz Angelez and then zis! You just want to see ze movie! Bye!" and storming off stage, followed by the host who looked close to crying. Kind of a shame as I'd have loved to hear more BTS stuff from Barb Wire but on the other hand also kind of funny and definitely memorable.

Piercing DCP 3/5
English language adaptation of the Ryu Murakami (Audition, Tokyo Decadence, Karaoke Terror) novel of the same name. I read the novel but couldn't really remember any of it. The film, directed by Nicolas Pesce, follows a guy (Christopher Abbott) who desperately wants to make his fantasy of killing a woman a reality. After hilyariously over-preparing hes hires a hooker (Mia Wasikowska), who may just be even more fucked in the head than he is. A very giallo-inspired interpretation of Murakami's text, which even uses music from Argento's Deep Red and Tenebre on the soundtrack. Wasikowska is easily the best thing about the film.

The Dark DCP 3/5
An undead teenage girl and a boy who's the mutilated victim of a sadistic arsonist (Karl Markovics of The Counterfeiters) form an uneasy alliance when they run into each other in the woods. Don't expect and scares or suspense here as the film is really just a character drama about two damaged kids who try to overcome their respective traumas. Missed the director Q&A because I had a train to catch but I didn't really have any burning questions anyway.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Guro Taku wrote: 28 Sep 2018, 18:11 some asshole two rows behind me yelled that he'd rather watch the film now instead of listening to all this
He should've been ejected and told to go watch it at home then.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Guro Taku wrote: 28 Sep 2018, 18:11 Mandy DCP 4/5
Really looking forward to this one. Opens here in November.
Guro Taku wrote: 28 Sep 2018, 18:11 Barb Wire 35mm 2.5/5
I fucking hated this flick when I previously watched it on VHS in the late 90ies. I went to this screening because there was to be an intro by Udo Kier and the festival brochure went out of its way to praise the film as a misunderstood and, in retrospect, prophetic masterwork. That's a bit hyperbolic but you got to appreciate the fact that the setting is the year 2017 and the USA are under fascist rule as well as gripped in a civil war. The film is still trash but in the wake of the recent samish glut of Marvel/DC comic book flicks, this actually seemed like a breath of fresh air. It's directed and edited well enough to never be boring and I was pleasantly surprised by a fair share of cyberpunkish elements. The print was in pretty good shape save for 3 or 4 scratches and it's worth mentioning that what I hated on VHS was an unrated cut which adds 3 minutes to the opening stripshow and some lesbians making out on the dacefloor. More sleaze is not always better. As for the Udo Kier into, it was fun but unfortunately cut short. Udo mentioned that he met Mrs. Anderson in her trailer, proceeded to grab her waist and say, like a vampire, "Zis iz incredible!" To which she just smiled. He then went on about how he was the only one of the cast and crew who respected her and she repaid him by staying around for all his scenes and actually acting with him even when she was off camera. For other actors she had her stand-in do those lines. Udo then went on a tangent about how he loves sex symbols and how not all blonde women are retards and then some asshole two rows behind me yelled that he'd rather watch the film now instead of listening to all this, which caused Udo to gasp, and then say saomething along the lines of "Zis iz an outrage! I come all ze way from Loz Angelez and then zis! You just want to see ze movie! Bye!" and storming off stage, followed by the host who looked close to crying. Kind of a shame as I'd have loved to hear more BTS stuff from Barb Wire but on the other hand also kind of funny and definitely memorable.
Thanks for sharing. Shame about the asshole.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mother (USA, 2017) [VoD] - 1.5/5
The most infuriating film I've seen in ages, and no, it's not because Aronofsky is doing "something new" (in his own words), it's because of Bardem's character who keeps doing the exact opposite of what we all know he should do throughout the film, making the audience yell at the screen "don't do that, you fucking idiot". But he does, again and again and again and again and again. Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer likewise excel at playing characters so irritating you wish they weren't in the movie at all. But yeah, the last 15 min is kind of spectacular if you can get there without cutting your wrists.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mission: Impossible II (2000-USA-Germany-Australia) **½
John Woo puts an authorial stamp on the M:I series with his trademark stylishness and flashy action sequences (which are too often held back by the PG-13 rating). Not a fan favourite, perhaps, but I still enjoy it.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Wasn't the uncut/R rated version released in cinemas? Such a shame it never made it to DVD, BD etc.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The cinema version was only a few seconds longer than the PG-13 version.

It's been suggested that even more cuts were made before that.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Commuter (2017-USA-UK) ***

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

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Searching (2018-USA) **½
Single father John Cho investigates the disappearance of his teenage daughter entirely on computer screens and security cameras.
A novelty that works fairly well, with some clever twists.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Mad Dog Time (1996) **
Self-consciously arch gangster comedy; good cast,
but quickly becomes repetitive and tiresome.

Dirty Work (1998) **
Revenge is business is this occasionally amusing,
but unambitious comedy.

Street Smart (1986) **½
Almost a really good drama, but just misses the mark.
Morgan Freeman made his breakthrough here as a nasty pimp.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Hard Times (1975) **½
Walter Hill's directorial debut effectively casts Charles Bronson as a taciturn street fighter in 1930s New Orleans.
Nice period atmosphere, but the characterisations are thin, and the fist fights pretty dated now.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 27 Oct 2018, 04:31 Hard Times (1975) **½
Walter Hill's directorial debut effectively casts Charles Bronson as a taciturn street fighter in 1930s New Orleans.
Nice period atmosphere, but the characterisations are thin, and the fist fights pretty dated now.
I re-watched that a few weeks ago. I`d go for the same rating (3/5), though partly for different reasons. Loved Bronson and thought the fist fights were very good, but Coburn`s character got really irritating towards the end. In good writing conflicts arise despite characters doing their best, not due to characters doing the exact opposite from what they should...

Also, I`m not the biggest fan of the kind of Americana that Hill injects into the film, but that`s not the fault of the film or Hill.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Bourne Legacy (2012, USA): 3.5/5

Not as good as the first 3 movies, but liked this better than the fifth film (Jason Bourne). It starts a bit slow (what action there is, is tense) but the second half is mostly a chase movie
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