What Have You Just Seen... Marks Out of 5

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 21 Feb 2006, 17:56

Lost - Episodes 9-13 (overall)... 4.5/5

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 21 Feb 2006, 18:53

Lost Ep. 14 - 4/5

This series is addictive

I'm picking up speed now, thats 5 episodes I've seen today

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 21 Feb 2006, 19:33

Great stuff... now watch the rest of it tonight and report back.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 22 Feb 2006, 08:26

Lost: Episode 15.. 3.5/5-4.5

A good episode centering around Charlie, showing his actions aren't alway noble or whiter than white. Its' a good insight into his past.

I found the ending poor though, something about it was too "convenient", I mean, I can understand why Charlie did what he did....

He shot Ethan because he was angry and blames himself for Claire's disappeareance/capture the first time. It was also a way he could redeem himself and maybe prove he could protect or take care of someone, as he obviously likes Claire.
BUT it saves the writers from telling us any more about Ethan, who was he? Where did he come from? What was his motivation? Thanks to Charlie/the writers, we don't know anything other than that he's an evil nutjob. This is a shame I think.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 22 Feb 2006, 09:53

BUT it saves the writers from telling us any more about Ethan, who was he? Where did he come from? What was his motivation?
That the whole point of Lost, you never know...

... Even the island, no one is really sure what it is.

uberbloke · Post by **uberbloke** » 22 Feb 2006, 10:28

Heart of the Dragon 0.5/5

God, that's 1:30hrs of my life I'll never get back then. Picked up the HKL boxed set (with Crime Story, Dragon Lord and HK stunts disk) for £9 in a sale so thankfully didn't buy it full price...

The story drags, sammo in dungarees is just plain disturbing (although he does child like worringly well), jackie emotes by hitting everybody and everything, including himself 'cos he wants to be a sailor(..?!) and there's basically no action until the last 20mins, and that's fairly poor, and as for the opening ... you've got to a fairly crap swat team not to spot the people wearing BRIGHT yellow against a forest background (...I know that was kinda the point... but really!).

If you have this, just watch the first two deleted scenes which contain better fights than the whole of the film, but don't go any further.

(Did I say I didn't enjoy it much)

Edit : decided 1.5/5 was just too generous

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 22 Feb 2006, 11:14

Heart of the Dragon 0.5/5

there's basically no action until the last 20mins

You have to blame HKL for that. They made a cover that would make you believe that it's an action film.
In fact, HoD was never meant to be anything but a drama.

just watch the first two deleted scenes which contain better fights than the whole of the film

Which again proves that you've seen this film from the wrong angle.

Try to watch it again one day without looking at the cover. There's no doubt that HoD is Jackie and Sammo's best film ever.

uberbloke · Post by **uberbloke** » 22 Feb 2006, 11:29

Shouldn't a "drama" have an element of ... oh ... "drama" then?

Take SPL as an example/contrast. In outline terms it has basically the same structure as HoD, bugger all happens (in action terms) except for some hints of what is to come for an hour and it all kicks off the in the last 20mins, SPL (like HoD is) is pitched as an action film but is predominently a drama, but I know which one I'll be watching again...

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 22 Feb 2006, 14:02

But HoD is not an action film

When I first saw it I was a Jackie newbie so didnt really like it, but there's no doubt it contains one of Jackie and Sammo's best performances (Crime Story is the other). Funny how HoD is described as "Hong Kong Rain Man" when this was made 3 years before Rain Man

I mean is Rain Man ever called "USA Heart of The Dragon"?

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 22 Feb 2006, 14:58

I've always liked Heart of Dragon. It may be a little too overly sentimental in places (although that was typical of a lot of HK films in the mid 80s, e.g. A Better Tomorrow), but I think it works largely thanks to good performances from Jackie and Samo. Also, I always think it's a bonus when Jackie does "serious." On top of that, the film has one of the greatest one-on-one fights ever with JC taking on Dick Wei (which I rate above the Benny Urquidez bouts), and a great, OTT soppy cantopop theme song.

A solid 3/5 for me.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 22 Feb 2006, 17:37

Lost: Episode 16 - 4/5

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 23 Feb 2006, 12:53

Lord of War - 4.5/5
So different from your average Hollywood-flick. Maybe that's the reason why nobody from America was willing to invest in that film. It's financing came from Europe and it shows. Awesome film. Nicolas Cage is ace.

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 23 Feb 2006, 14:30

Initial D 2.5/5

It wasn't terrible, as I thought it would be, but I've rarely seen a film with such a simplistic premise. Jay Chou makes Edison look like a screen acting titan.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 23 Feb 2006, 19:17

thelostdragon wrote:Lord of War - 4.5/5
So different from your average Hollywood-flick. Maybe that's the reason why nobody from America was willing to invest in that film. It's financing came from Europe and it shows. Awesome film. Nicolas Cage is ace.

Good to hear. You an Andrew Niccol fan? From the teasers and title - I dismissed this as another nu-ass MTV style action.

Little did I know that it's Andrew Niccol's latest project. I want to watch this ASAP.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 23 Feb 2006, 19:18

brooce-leroy wrote:Initial D 2.5/5

It wasn't terrible, as I thought it would be, but I've rarely seen a film with such a simplistic premise. Jay Chou makes Edison look like a screen acting titan.

The music in the film is sweet though. The OST is well worth getting.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 23 Feb 2006, 22:36

Domino - 1.5-/5
a 2 hour montage of flash editing,loud music, keira knightley

unfortunately it adds up to a bit of a mess imo.

Where the truth lies 3.5/ 5
decent murder mystery starring kevin bacon & colin firth well worth viewing.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 24 Feb 2006, 10:22

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - 5/5

I know you're probably going to be sick of me saying this - I'm not used to old "classic" movies, but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. Filmmakers Michael Powell and Emric Pressburger were told by the Ministry of Information to make a movie that would foster a British/US alliance after the War and establish the need for goodwill between the 2 nations, and they came up with this - a truly extraordinary fantasy/romance. A pilot, Peter Carter (David Niven) must justify his exsistance to a heavenly panel because he has made the mistake of falling for an American girl (Kim Hunter) when he really should have been dead after falling out of his plane without a parachute. Interestingly, the "heaven" sequences are black and white, while the "earth" sequences are in Technicolor.
The film is very touching and also very funny in the way it lampoons national stereotypes as the panel debates Niven's fate - the prosecution presents "The sound of England in 1945" as boring cricket on the radio, but "The sound of America in 1945" as hip swing-band jazz.

Jack Cardiff's cinematography mixes black and white and colour, and plays with "time freezes" more than 50 years before The Matrix.

I'm very pleased I saw this - superb fantasy film

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 24 Feb 2006, 14:06

You rented this eh? I kept meaning to ask you why you decided to rent such a seemingly random film.

Guess you've sold it to me with your mini review. Cheers man, will hunt this out.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 24 Feb 2006, 16:31

Dunno really Bisc, I have loads of random stuff in my queue, stuff like Spartacus and Ben Hur which I'm interested in checking out, Metropolis (as I've loved Fritz Lang's M) and also some old musicals - Singin' In The Rain etc

Not forgetting some recent cinema films too

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 24 Feb 2006, 23:57

Supernatural Eps 1 & 2 4.5/5

Fucking hell!! this is one awesome series...scifi/horror, 2 guys chasing demons/ghosts and other such creatures, has that great tension aspect to it, crapped myself so many times (not literally) not easily scared, but tension stuff really seems to get me, awesome...just annoying one-lines by one of the guys that kind spoils it, but so cool!

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 25 Feb 2006, 00:52

Shinobi (2005) : 5/5

That's one hell of a film !

Crazy hong-kong style action mixed with discrete CGI effects and uber-cool actors.
The story does tend to drag a little at the beginning, but it becomes quite a rollercoaster ride when it gets going.

It's like somebody tried to take the "cool factor" from Versus, choregraphies from Ching Siu-Tung and the epic scope of Ran, and put them all in the same picture.

I'd recommend it to anybody who likes Samurai films.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Feb 2006, 09:38

Sounds cool Tom

What DVDs are there?

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 25 Feb 2006, 11:20

So far only the Japanese which is why I'm waiting. They don't exactly call me Scrooge McDuck.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Feb 2006, 11:39

Yeah, I'm sure there'll be a HK DVD soon.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Feb 2006, 12:11

Hey,

Re: A Matter of Life and Death - does anyone know if Abraham Farlan (mentioned in the film as the first American to be killed by a British bullet) was a "real" historical person?