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

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 24 Feb 2007, 19:39

Thanks

Barbarian King · Post by **Barbarian King** » 24 Feb 2007, 19:48

The Day the Earth Stood Still - 5/5

A timeless classic, truly. Remarkable.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 25 Feb 2007, 00:00

God Of Gamblers 3.5/5

Good film with solid story and good twist. Just not scoring higher as I found quite a few scenes when Chow was suffering memory loss quite irritating. Granted he was meant ot be acting like a kid and kids can be (and usually are) bloody irritating, but it just made the film less enjoyable for me.

God Of Gambler's Return 4/5

The story wasn't quite as solid as the previous film, but the action was better, it started brilliantly and brutally and wasn't as annoying in places. On the whole I enjoyed this one more, although Tony Leung Ka Fai's character was a little annoying at times. Chingmy Yau was luuurrrvvvllllyyy though.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 25 Feb 2007, 00:58

grim_tales wrote:Thanks

Yup definitely watch Election 2 Grim... it's better than the first... and you may wish to hold onto both copies after watching them.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Feb 2007, 08:38

The ending of Election was sad when:

the little boy's aunty and uncle (?) are killed

The Big Boss HKL Platonum Edition - 3.5/5

The lack of Mandarin is a disappointment. Certainly not Bruce's film (that is Fist of Fury) but it's not that bad. The picture quality is amazing IMO.
There were some shots I don't remember in the CE like:
When the first guy is killed by the Boss there's his bloody body lying down and then we see it being put in the ice

There were Chinese letters on the credits as well.

Also now I know where I recognised that music in "Heroes Shed No Tears" from. In a romantic scene in HSNT, it plays the same piece of music during the scene when Bruce visits Maralin. Also one piece of music in the film is also used in Emmanuelle (check the end of the scene where the girls play squash).

Also the fights dont seem to be as good when Bruce is not fighting - mostly "swingy arm/swingy leg" choreography.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 25 Feb 2007, 10:27

hey,

the ending and frankly the entire movie Election speaks of that lost loyalty and the irony that following a tradition is a must (in the case of the coveted baton) yet decisionmaking of certain characters breaks that tradition.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 25 Feb 2007, 13:05

Certainly agree that part two of "Election" is better.

Grim, does the PE of "The Big Boss" come in a slipcase?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 25 Feb 2007, 13:26

Yeah, mine came with a nice slipcase (like the "Fist of Fury" PE)

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 25 Feb 2007, 18:03

They call me Trinity: 3 outta 5.

Nice western. Not as cool as the leone flicks. It's more a kiddie flick tbh, but costume and setting wise it was pretty good. Definately not great or anything.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 25 Feb 2007, 19:51

Infernal Affairs ....?!/5

lol wtf, isnt that like the end of the film?! i knew it was shifted around in terms of linear running, but thats just weird. i have to watch the other 2 yet but thats really quite weird. but Andy Lau and Tony Leung were good. however i dont think Eric Tsang is too convincing as a triad boss, he's just got too much of a comical face. that was the only thing i found to be bad, was that he just didnt fit.. he doesnt have that kind of personality imo.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 25 Feb 2007, 19:57

Eric Tsang is suposed to be a total shithead in real life, so its not much of a stretch

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 25 Feb 2007, 20:01

lol, i think jack nicholson was waaaay more convincing as the gang boss in the departed, just really couldnt believe that Eric Tsang was supposed to be this evil guy, its like yeah right... his facial expression made me laugh so much.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 25 Feb 2007, 20:06

I know quite a few people who watched "The Departed" first and then wanted to watch the original. But they all did it with "The Departed" in mind and constantly comparing the films while watching it, not treating IA like a film of its own. It's funny, because I have not heard the type of criticism about IA before.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 25 Feb 2007, 20:14

I thought Eric Tsang was great as the mob boss. Everyone has this idea that mob bosses should look big, mean and intimidating, but Eric did pull it off IMHO.
I think he's a great actor, who sadly has done a lot of mediocre movies and playing clowns, that some people will find it hard to take him seriously.

Truth be told, I much prefer seeing him as a mob boss, instead of Simon Yam or Andy Lau sleepwalking through such a role again.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 25 Feb 2007, 20:14

i started to watch the original before the departed was even made, but half way through the first, i turned it off becuase it wasnt convincing me enough...at first i thought Tsang was a cop...and then when i realized he was a gang leader it was like well thats pretty poor, he doesnt have the personality to play this kid of role, he isnt convincing at all, his facial expressions look like a constipated dog at best. it was supposed to be serious, but he just made me laugh.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 25 Feb 2007, 20:55

Shen wrote:his facial expressions look like a constipated dog at best.

Romero would be proud.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 25 Feb 2007, 21:01

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 26 Feb 2007, 13:23

Police Squad! - Episodes 1 and 2 - 5/5

Hilarious

"Cigarette?"
"Yes I know"

"There were reports of beautiful naked models lying unconscious in the laundrette. Unfortunately, I was assigned to investigate something on the other side of town"

Barbarian King · Post by **Barbarian King** » 28 Feb 2007, 15:38

Highlander - 3/5

Dated. Loved it as a kid, but it doesn't quite hold up. Some cool moments and Clancy Brown is great as always, but...yeah...not as good as I remember.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Feb 2007, 16:05

I watched the Back to the Future trilogy over the past weeks with my girlfriend, which was fun...

BTTF1: timeless classic. Still brilliant and funny, good acting by most involved, great special effects (especially for that time) and it is just one of the best movies to ever come out of Hollywood, especially for 'the family'. 5/5

BTTF2: Picks up where pt. 1 ended, and does so wonderfully. When Marty has to fix things while avoiding running into himself or having others see both marty's at the same time, it's absolute class. I didnt care much for the scenes where they are in Future Marty's house, but still a great movie. 4.5/5

BTTF3: IMHO, a nice funny movie, but the focus shifts more on Doc's romance, and it isnt all that fast-paced and full of twists as the first 2 movies. Plus I cant stand Mary Steenbergen (Doc's love-interest). It has ofcourse very funny parts, and the Clint Eastwood joke keeps being funny, but the movie just wasnt as good as the first 2 movies. Still worth watching ofcourse. 3.5/5

When you consider all 3 parts as 1 big epic movie, which I do, I would definately rate it 5 outta 5 though. It keeps being surprising and keeps you thinking and puzzling etc. it's just a lot of fun and a prime example how good and original cinema could (and should) be.

Barbarian King · Post by **Barbarian King** » 28 Feb 2007, 16:28

I like BTTF Part III the best. 8)

Part II's a mess.

Barbarian King · Post by **Barbarian King** » 28 Feb 2007, 19:43

AVP: Unrated Cut - 4/5

Yes, I like AVP. Does it deliver on everything fanboy's want? No, not really. Is it a great film? No. But it sure is good fun if you ask me.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Feb 2007, 19:55

AVP = mass death to my brain, I hate it, but I like it

hopefully part 2 will be far better.

Anyway part 3 of my Van Damme marathon review sesh.

Kickboxer – 3.5 out of 5

One of them films that is hard to criticise, as hell it does the stuff it needs to do, and does it all pretty well it has to be said. So many silly, classic moments in this film that it’s easy to see why it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea and why it’s had the mickey taken out of it a few times in other films. It is a Van Damme film that most people seem to know of, even if they haven’t seen it, but everyone’s seen it by now surely as hell its part of cinema history now.

At no point is it subtle at all and it kind of takes itself a little seriously at times. But you have to take the film as is, and get sucked into the simple payback story and everything that comes with that. The training is what makes these sorts of film work best, we watch the man get turned from average Joe into an unstoppable killing machine of epic proportions. Even if it is done in an unrealistic amount of time, under three months in this film! We still get to see various methods of torture inflicted on our trainee by the master of pain and martial arts Xian Chow, played perfectly by Dennis Chan who relishes the chance to make the audience smile at his little quirky ways. He comments on what he does and sees before him, a simple man who knows it all. He doesn’t really ever show his abilities to us, we just have to sit back and assume this man is the bomb when it comes to scrapping and I guess by the time the end credits come up we do believe this man is a true master, but with a funny sense of humour.

Training wise we get the leg stretching, in extreme pain, between two trees sequence, always a plus it has to be said as any chance to show Van Damme in contorted screaming agony is always funny. Various musical montages pepper the film with the training getting into the swing of things, as we see Van Damme turned into a hardcore killing machine. We even get a great dog, piece of meat gag to make our would-be hero run faster. All in all you cannot beat a great set of training montages. This is all set to the catchy Kickboxer theme tune, which runs through the entire film from beginning to end, it’s a great little ditty and as far as cheap martial arts films go they picked a good melody to get the blood rushing and to keep the interest high, it works like it should do.

But it’s a simplistic tale of getting revenge and we get a few funky fights, funny fights and brutal fights all thrown in for good measure. Van Damme was in pretty good shape back then it has to be said and his body seems pretty bulky in the right places. While the fights are good, they are not exactly what you can call perfect, as the film sees to have a bit of a good time with itself at many points. The hilarious bar fight is one good example of this. It’s a lighter touch, watching Van Damme drunk, dancing his bum off to some funky disco music and kicking evil bad guy minion’s heads in is always a fun sight it has to be said, they never have much in the way of fighting talent it has to be said. See Van Damme do the splits, jump kick and generally slap lots of people about with some of the crazy jump cut, quick repeat filmmaking which became a little Van Damme staple back in the day, it’s sort of like a slow motion replay, but faster.

The finale while good to watch, is irritating as the hero takes far to much of a punishment before he gets to dish it out himself. Not very realistic and far from any reality we know of. In a film it probably works, and it is always watchable and more than a bit silly, but the basic premise works. As when he makes his stand you know the bad guy is gonna pay. The bad guy in question Tong Po is a pretty nasty, snarling and an ugly evil menace for our hero to take on, he sadly isn’t much once he meets a real fighter, but hell he does his bad guy duties pretty damn well. When the hands are wrapped up and dipped in broken glass in the over the top finale, you know it’s just jumped up a notch or two into the payback books and Tong Po really relishes the nasty deeds he dishes out to the various cast members he meets. At no point do you want Tong Po to do these things, but it all helps when he gets his comeuppance and gets quite literally gets his head kicked in. Still Van Damme is great at taking the hits, even if he takes so many he would have died of blood loss after a few minutes of flesh ripping glass brutality, at least he will have some scars for him to show off.

As far as early films in an actor’s career go, this does exactly what it sets out to do and does it all right. Cheap, simple and packed full of classic scenes and action, you just cannot go wrong with a film like this. It isn’t for everyone, but hell what do you expect from a film made on the very cheap side of Hollywood and starring a bunch of then unknowns. Van Damme may have progressed in his capabilities of acting, fighting and general on screen presence, but these cheap and cheerful action flicks always keep you entertained and never really over think for you. Keep it basic and your onto a winner and Kickboxer is certainly a winning formula.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 28 Feb 2007, 20:03

Anyone else impressed by Barbarian King's taste in movies? I'm gonna have to start taking notes.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 28 Feb 2007, 20:25

Well, that depends on how different the unrated cut of AVP is to the theatrical.