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

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

Post by Guro Taku »

Possum (UK, 2018) [amazon] - 4/5
Excellent slow-burn type film about an obviously disturbed man who returns to his childhood home and then spends most of the film trying to get rid of a fucked up spider puppet with a human head, while there's news about a teenaged boy having disappeared. Gorgeous decaying autumny landscapes, decaying houses, (spiritually) decayed people, all captured on 35mm Kodak stock by first time director Matthew Holness. Can't wait to see whatever he does next.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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BlackKKlansman 3/5
Decent Spike Lee effort based on a 70's true story of a young black policeman (played by Denzel's son) who via telephone conversations fools the local Ku Klux sect into thinking he's a rabid white supremist. He gets his jewish white partner Adam Driver to pretend to be him in face to face meetings. A bit overlong and i find it hard to believe the klan would be fooled so easily but worth a watch.

Firestarter 3/5
80's Stephen King adaption is very similar to De Palma's The Fury, Drew Barrymore is the little girl with special powers who the shady government spooks want badly. Great cast, (George C.Scott, Art Carney, Louise Fletcher, Martin Sheen,David Keith) add lustre and presence to an entertaining movie.

Incredibles 2 3/5
Not as good but still worthwhile sequel picks up right where the original left off. it also suffers from the same problem as the first one-it's too long.

Cannonball Run 2.5/5
80's all star effort led by Burt Reynolds is not as good nor as funny as it's cast suggests-but it has a certain charm it gets by on.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Parkland (2013) ***
Interesting drama looks at at some of the lesser known characters involved in the Kennedy Assassination.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Above the Law (1988) **½
Not my favourite Seagal film, but still pretty good, with a more complex plot than usual.
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Guro Taku
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Suspiria (Italy-USA, 2018) [amazon] - 3.5/5
Luca Guadagnino's film joins the ranks of the very few remakes who justify their existence by not solely retreading an original but taking a story concept and doing their own thing with it. Excellently directed and edited with absolute laser precision. The film had it tough in winning me over to be honest but by the finale, which is totally different from the ending of Argento's film, I was fully on board. I'd frankly rate it higher if it wasn't for all the German dialogue in the film (I'd say about a third or maybe as much as half of the film is in German) being an unfortunate distraction. Not the German per se, of course, but me being pulled out of the film to analyze how well or terrible this and that actress handles the foreign language.

Dakota Johnson's German 3/5: Mostly fine with the occasional odd inflection here or there.

Tilda Swinton's German 3.5/5: She's quite good at it and thank fuck for that because she has a lot of German lines in her two roles!

Jessica Harper's German 4/5: Not only was I surprised by her being in the film, her German is excellent.

Chloë Grace Moretz' German 1/5: An utter embarrassment and doubly bad since the film starts with her and the unintelligible shit that comes out of her mouth. I almost turned the film off because of her. It's weird that she's so bad at it when clearly everyone else must have put in a lot of work with a language/dialect coach. Maybe Moretz', having German ancestors, felt she didn't need to put in any of that work? The worst attempt at the German language I have heard since Yuko Miyamura vomitted something that I assume was supposed to be "Guten Morgen" in Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995).
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Guro Taku wrote: 18 Jan 2019, 04:10 Suspiria (Italy-USA, 2018) [amazon] - 3.5/5
Been dying to see this. Opens in Japan next week.

I had no idea it's half in German. I hope the Japanese theatrical version comes with English subs for those parts (they sometimes do, sometimes don't) as reading Japanese subtitles isn't my favorite pastime.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 18 Jan 2019, 08:08I had no idea it's half in German. I hope the Japanese theatrical version comes with English subs for those parts (they sometimes do, sometimes don't) as reading Japanese subtitles isn't my favorite pastime.
There's a handful of lines in French as well, actually. That's interesting about foreign language parts being subtitled in English in Japan. I guess they take it for granted that everyone in Japan going to the movies can read enough English to follow along? Or maybe they just want to save money and don't give a shit. :lol:
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Guro Taku wrote: 18 Jan 2019, 10:30
HungFist wrote: 18 Jan 2019, 08:08I had no idea it's half in German. I hope the Japanese theatrical version comes with English subs for those parts (they sometimes do, sometimes don't) as reading Japanese subtitles isn't my favorite pastime.
There's a handful of lines in French as well, actually. That's interesting about foreign language parts being subtitled in English in Japan. I guess they take it for granted that everyone in Japan going to the movies can read enough English to follow along? Or maybe they just want to save money and don't give a shit. :lol:
The foreign language parts do always have Japanese subtitles. But half of the time they have English as well. I don't know why they do it, but I am happy about it.

I wonder if it could be to let Japanese viewers with zero language skills to know the characters are speaking in a different language...*

* A lot of Japanese people really can't tell the difference between English and other languages. Most Japanese people think arbaito (アルバイト) is English and are confused when English speakers don't understand what is arbaito. I've also had to translate some restaurant menus (not that I am qualified to do it, they just didn't have anyone else to turn to) and the restaurant staff is always surprised when I say I don't know what the katakana loan word in the menu means. That's because most of those are not from English, they are from French or Italian, but even the restaurant employees seem to think they are English.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Very interesting info! I suspect that most of the time the English subtitles for Spanish/French/Russian etc. parts of Hollywood films are "hardcoded" into the DCP or 35mm print and the Japanese distributors have no way of removing them, so they just add their own Japanese subtitles.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Spaceballs (1987) **½
Funny, if expectedly uneven Mel Brooks spoof; Rick Moranis is hilarious as 'Dark Helmet'.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Amelie (2001): 4/5

Cute Audrey Tatou shines in a quirky comic drama about love :)
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Guro Taku wrote: 18 Jan 2019, 11:47 Very interesting info! I suspect that most of the time the English subtitles for Spanish/French/Russian etc. parts of Hollywood films are "hardcoded" into the DCP or 35mm print and the Japanese distributors have no way of removing them, so they just add their own Japanese subtitles.
That's the first thing that came to my mind, too, but I don't know why Japan would be / is getting such hard-coded prints when other countries get clean ones (I don't recall English subs ever popping up in a Finnish print... that would be a subtitle overkill indeed since they have both Finnish (top row) and Swedish (bottom row) subs anyway).
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Rome Armed to the Teeth (Italy, 1976) [DVD] - 2/5
Over-rated Italo crime with an admittedly kick ass score. Merli is good as a hard fisted cop, but the script and Lenzi’s direction are strangely void of highlights.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Air Force One (1997) **½
Entertaining, if improbable action blockbuster seems to be in two minds about what it is.
Is it a smart political/terrorist thriller or a jingoistic cheese fest? Well, it's both.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Ice Station Zebra (1968) **
Long, surprisingly dull submarine-spy adventure based on Alistair McLean novel.
John Sturges' direction, especially once the ice station is reached, isn't good.
Performances are uneven, with Patrick McGoohan's clipped Brit agent faring best.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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You Were Never Really Here (2017) **
Peculiar thriller holds interest for a while... before becoming thuddingly pretentious (and utterly confusing).
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (Denmark, 2013) [Netflix] – 2/5
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II Denmark, 2013) [Netflix] – 1.5/5
Overlong and oftentimes boring, but Stellan Skarsgård is fabulous and really funny as well. Vol. 1 is the better of the two; Vol. 2 misses much of the humour though there are some good actors (Mia Goth, Willem Dafoe). Watching the Japanese versions turned out a great choice as the optical censorship saved me from the parts I didn't care to see in the first place.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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HungFist wrote: 29 Jan 2019, 16:19 Watching the Japanese versions turned out a great choice as the optical censorship saved me from the parts I didn't care to see in the first place.
Pixelated stunt cocks? :D
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Brink's Job (1978) **½
Comedy crime caper about America's biggest ever heist.
Takes a while to get going, pretty decent when it does, but the end feels choppy and rushed.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 29 Jan 2019, 19:25
HungFist wrote: 29 Jan 2019, 16:19 Watching the Japanese versions turned out a great choice as the optical censorship saved me from the parts I didn't care to see in the first place.
Pixelated stunt cocks? :D
Yep. I don't think I missed anything big :lol:
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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There's something fundamentally dishonest (and gutless) about a film including hardcore imagery but then faking it with CGI and porn stars.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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L.A. Confidential (USA, 1997) [Netflix] – 5/5
One of my favorite movies, of one of my favorite genres, in one of my favorite genre locations (late 40's/50's Hollywood), I usually watch this at least once a year and... it was time. Great cast (Crowe, Basinger, Pearce, and Spacey!), great adaptation of the James Ellroy's novel, great look and detail... this movie, for me, has no weakness in sight... just a tough hard-boiled cop drama with perfect performances, expert pacing, and beautiful presentation.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989) ***
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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

Post by Guro Taku »

You left out the most important part: How were the subtiles for the German parts handled? English or Japanese only?
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