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

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Dec 2006, 21:54

Agreed and people will still give him the money (to do what he wants). I wonder when his next proper film will be released.

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 07 Dec 2006, 23:33

Markgway wrote:Miami Vice

**.5/4

Not bad TV-to-film transition.

Colin Farrell was alright, but Jamie Foxx made almost zero impression. Gong Li is beautiful, though her English was a bit worse than I expected.

Funny, I thought Foxx was one cool cat in it.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Dec 2006, 23:46

bradavon wrote:Which cut did you watch Mark?

There's more than one? It was 127m PAL if that helps?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Dec 2006, 23:50

brooce-leroy wrote:Funny, I thought Foxx was one cool cat in it.

He didn't register at all to me. No personality whatsoever. But then he was just as anonymous in Collateral. I figured that was because he was trying to be ordinary. But there's no excuse for being dull in Miami Vice.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 08 Dec 2006, 04:52

What about "Ray". Have you watched that one, Mark?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 08 Dec 2006, 10:40

One Foot In The Grave - Season 1 - 4.25/5

Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol 2 - Bugs Bunny Masterpieces - 4/5

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 08 Dec 2006, 16:33

thelostdragon wrote:What about "Ray". Have you watched that one, Mark?

No, not sure if it interests me enough.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 08 Dec 2006, 17:27

Pirates of the Carribean - 3.5/5

A bit long though still a decent swashbuckler and enjoyable film. Johnny Depp steals the show and is very funny in it.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Dec 2006, 21:58

It's fantastic in Ray Mark. If you think he has no personality in that then I'm lost.

Markgway wrote:There's more than one? It was 127m PAL if that helps?

Yes:

Theatrical Cut - All non-R1 DVDs + R1 TC DVD
R1 Exclusive Director's Cut DVD

This is a Mann film

. As it was PAL it will be the Theatrical Cut, cheers.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Dec 2006, 22:42

hey,

The Eye 2 - 2/5

Bland, unrelated sequel that comes alive way too late with some emotionally gripping twists.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Dec 2006, 22:44

Does Shu Qi get her baps out?

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 08 Dec 2006, 22:46

hey,

in that mood tonight, eh?

The days of Sex And Zen II are over my friend. I've seen her in better performances prior, such as in the gravely underrated Love Is Not A Game, But A Joke.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 08 Dec 2006, 23:13

Brad have you seen Viva Erotica?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Dec 2006, 23:36

Nope (should I?) and is there ever a bad time to see Shu Qi neked?

. I'm always in a "that" mood to see Shu Qi with her baps out

Seriously I meant it would be the only reason I'd want to see The Eye 2, I've heard nothing but bad reports.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 09 Dec 2006, 09:45

Brad, VE is an award winning film AND you see Shu Qi get her baps out

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 09 Dec 2006, 11:38

The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humanity - 3/5
Very much a saga of the times that today seems quite unextraordinary. To me it felt all too irrelevant and not merely because Fukasaku soon forgets his social outrage. I really wanted to watch these films and come out praising them. But all I can really say is that they're definitely of a higher quality than other films of the time and that quality is impressively consistent throughout the course of all five features. The problem is a real lack of any real storyline, it's nothing but dreadfully simplistic plotting and ridiculous fights every 10 minutes or so. I can hardly think of a single event or perforamcne in any of the films that was particually profound or impressive.
All I can say is that the films were interesting to follow and consistent. I usually love productions with all sorts of factions plotting and planning against each other for power but The Yakuza Papers was quite underwhelming. Better off watching the Shogun TV miniseries or a Kurosawa-Mifune chambara.
It is by no means bad, I just think it's quite far from what some people make it out to be. And I certainly would not recommend watching all the films so close together as I did. Take a break from it.

The release itself is well presented although each of the 6 discs is a DVD5 and I hate it when more discs than necessary are used. I imagine they got decent masters from the Japanese because they're not fucked up like you'd expect from HVE/Criterion. The image looks just as it should, good blacks and just the right amount of grain. Though I can't say I really inspected it too well and I was watching it on a tube. Audio is nice and clear 2.0 mono but in places there is an odd background hum, which I would liken to a reel being played.

I'm afraid I have to rant about the subtitles. Someone needs to give Linda Hoaglund a real slap. American slang that is less appropriate and more distracting than the actual translation and constant and inconsistent translation of simple phrases. Even names! In what I assume is a vain attempt to assist simpletons, many characters are almost always referred to by their family name in the subtitles. Even when the majority time it might be their first name that's being spoken. And this is also not consistent, sometimes it's done properly and sometimes it's the other way around. There's a DVD extra featuring her talking about the translation, it became quite clear that she's full of herself and isn't really translating.
Since the Seven Samurai thread I've paid attention to who subtitled films I watch. Those she has done are certainly among the worst. I don't need some old bint tryng to dictate what I should think or feel. The acting done all of that, give me an actual translation and it all blends together seamlesly. Give me a "chill out bro" and I'll be well aware of the subtitles and little else.

dragonhero005 · Post by **dragonhero005** » 09 Dec 2006, 17:08

An Autumn's Tale

Nice movie that really deserves being regarded as a classic.
Great performances by Chow Yun-fat and Cherrie Chung.

4.5/5

Casino Royale

Finally also I could see the new Bond movie.
I really liked it and thought that there even was some nice little humour.
Maybe the ending could have been better, but Casino Royale still is the best Bond movie for the last ten years, if not longer. And Craig truely is bond.

4.5/5

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 10 Dec 2006, 20:53

Night Watch 3/5

Interesting and entertaining enough film, but not as good as I was hoping or expecting. WIll definitely check out the next installments though.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 11 Dec 2006, 11:46

I watched Night Watch and gave it 3/5 too, I saw it with boring normal subs though, the UK DVD didnt have groovy subs

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 11 Dec 2006, 14:28

Monsoon Wedding 4.5/5

Indian contempoary cinema at its utmost finest. Love the guerilla style filmmaking mixed with such frictionless camera work. Everything is so colourful, hip and mischievous - superb.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 11 Dec 2006, 14:30

BiscLimpkit wrote:Monsoon Wedding 4.5/5

Salaam Bombay was better.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 11 Dec 2006, 15:40

I preferred Monsoon although both are excellent.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 11 Dec 2006, 16:21

Lets put this back to the correct thread (it was in one of the posts moved to Cat III thread). I'm sure you wanna read it again:

Hausu - 2/5
A visual trickery overdose. Every single frame is over-stylized and totally off the wall. The film looks jaw dropping for about 5 minutes, then it gets a little boring. It turns into campy horror later, like Evil Dead 2 without gore or Bruce Campbell. I liked most of the soundtrack (especially the beautiful piano tune playing throughout the film) and the cute teenage girl called Kung Fu who spends most of the screentime in her underwear... Unfortunately those things alone don't make a good movie.

And something else, too. I'm not sure if I reviewed Linda 3 before but here goes.

Linda Linda Linda 4/5
Great first half but turns into pure mainstream later on. It's still very, very enjoyable, except the ending which is such a crowd pleaser it made me sick. The casting is excellent. Aki Maeda is cuter than ever and Bae Doo-na's performance is simply wonderful. The Japanese dvd comes with some nice bonus materials including live performance by the girls. Can't wait to see more of the directors work.

this one I'm sure I haven't reviewed before

Beautiful Beast - 2,5/5
Zero budget modern straight to video exploitation from Japan. Somehow suprisingly decent and rarely boring. I remember enjoying the landscapes (all the small back alleys, small bars, cheap hotel rooms) for some reason. But I have to say I miss the days of j-sploitation films being high quality studio productions.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 11 Dec 2006, 17:09

grim_tales wrote:I watched Night Watch and gave it 3/5 too, I saw it with boring normal subs though, the UK DVD didnt have groovy subs

Groovy subs? Care to explain?

The version I watched had subs... but I'd say they were pretty normal... what do subs have to do to become groovy?!?!

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 11 Dec 2006, 17:37

hey,

Butterfly & Sword 3/5

A lot better on the second viewing, now that you're prepared for its hyper action and typically busy Wuxia storyline. Can now single out Michelle Yeoh's excellent performance and Ching Siu-Tung's absolute insane action ranks as some of the most memorable in the genre. The Flying Arrow-technique is an inclusion that has to be seen to be believed. Shame the HK print is so awkwardly cut at the end. Played in full in Taiwan.

Credited as executive producer, Taiwan thrashmeister Chu Yen-Ping reportedly recycled footage, sets and costumes when making his Slave of The Sword. Gu Long's novel Butterfly & Sword was also the basis of Cor Yuen's Killer Clans at Shaw's.