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

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 15 Aug 2007, 23:08

I just wanted to slap the characters in Happy Together.

I really didn't care about them or their hissy-fits.

But I think Wong Kar Wai + homosexuality means that people are afraid to criticize it.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 15 Aug 2007, 23:28

I couldnt care less if it's a movie about homo-sexuality or not (it isnt, btw). And I couldnt care less if it's a WKW movie or not. It's a good movie. Period. But I can understand why not everyone likes it.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 16 Aug 2007, 06:55

Transformers 4-4.5/5

Now this was fecking awesome!! Good old fashioned, fairly brainless, raw entertainment. Had a big grin on my face for almost all the film. Would have been a solid 4.5 if it wasn't for too many comic relief style characters. The computer hacker guy just wasn't funny, and the Sector 7 guy wasn't either. If they had made those roles serious rather than so stupid, the film would definitely been better. But other than that - COOL!!!

One question though. All the transformers got their life from the cube thing, but why did every machine on earth that got brought alive from it always turn out to be evil? Why no good ones?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 Aug 2007, 07:19

degeneration wrote:One question though. All the transformers got their life from the cube thing, but why did every machine on earth that got brought alive from it always turn out to be evil? Why no good ones?

I'm sorry, but you'll have to make your own answer. Your guess is as good as anyone else's. It is impossible to fill a plothole in a Michael Bay movie.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Aug 2007, 13:39

Good question, no idea.

I wouldn't give Transformers 4.5 out of 5 though, that's way too high.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 16 Aug 2007, 15:35

Not way too high, maybe just a touch too high, which is why I had it in the 4 to 4.5 rating. I thought it was absolutely brilliant in the sheer entertainment sort of way. I was grinning like a little kid for a lot of the film, which is a good sign. I honestly think it was one of the best films i've seen this year. As the only other films from this year that I can remember seeing so far (missed quite a few recently) are the pile of poo The Fountain and PotC3, it sits easily at the top.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 17 Aug 2007, 17:20

Rush Hour 3 - 3.5/5
What's up with all the critics and you guys? The film was so funny! The whole audience was laughing out the whole film through!
There were so many references to old Jackie Chan movies, I stopped counting them at one point.

Movies that Ratner gave tribute to in this film:
Police Story 2
Project A
Armour of God 2
Hard Boiled

Have I missed any?

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 18 Aug 2007, 09:43

Dororo (Japan - 2007 - Fantasy / Comedy / Swordplay): 3,5 / 5

Flawed, but quite pleasing.

Brief synopsis:
With his kingdom on the verge of collapse, a powerful warlord makes a pact with 48 demons. They will receive the 48 body parts of his unborn son, and he will receive enough power to rule the world.
To his astonishment, his son still lives. Adopted by a warlock who has given him a new body, he will turn into a fierce demon hunter...

Let's get the bad out of the way:
-Dororo is too long. 138 minutes is acceptable for an epic, but not for a light-hearted japanese action flick.
And that's what Dororo is, don't be fooled by the trailers.
-The monsters look too cheap to fit in a Power Rangers episode.
-Ching Siu-Tung is criminally underused. You have to wait 60 minutes to get to a "proper" fight.
-The music is both ridiculous and out of place most of the time.

And yet... it's not that bad, actually.

Kou Shibasaki (Battle Royale / Japan Sinks) is absolutely adorable as Dororo, the tomboy-ish pickpocket.
The interaction between her and the main character is what holds the film together.
Watch them fight a giant dragon demon made out of plastic and try not to laugh. It's impossible.

And if you can survive the first 60 minutes of the film, you'll be rewarded with a few proper wire-assisted somersaults Hong-Kong-style.

If you like stuff like Shinobi, Azumi 2 and DevilMan, you should try this one.

Watched it. Kinda liked it.
Will buy the first english-subtitled DVD I can find.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 18 Aug 2007, 10:15

'Oldboy'

Not sure yet as I gave up after an hour... too abstract and mannered for my tastes... mind you I'm still a little curious as to why the guy was imprisoned? Next time it's on I'll watch the second half... switched over instead to watch a John Landis comedy...

'Into the Night'

Quirky black humour a bit like After Hours. Starred Jeff Goldblum (whom I like) and the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer. Takes time to warm up... but I enjoyed it.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 18 Aug 2007, 11:04

@Mark:
OldBoy gets awesome during the second hour.
That's where everything is revealed.

You need to watch it in one go.
Trust Mister Park.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 18 Aug 2007, 12:48

I'll go back to it. 8)

And what was with that gross Octopus eating?

Pretty sick and unecessary even for a Korean.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 18 Aug 2007, 13:10

He needed to eat something that was alive.
As Park himself said, eating the octopus made him feel that he was eating his enemy.
Makes sense to me.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 Aug 2007, 13:18

He was isolated for so many years and fed the exact same thing for every meal, you'd understand his predicament.

I dunno bout Oldboy, it is a visceral film for sure. But it goes into lengthy expository info dump mode at the end, that can strongly be argued as sloppy filmmaking.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 18 Aug 2007, 14:46

Sloppy seconds.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 18 Aug 2007, 15:53

TinTin et Moi: 3.75/5

Very interesting documentary about TinTin and Hergé, his creator, what inspired him to create TinTin, how some adventures TinTin had were like events in his own life etc.
In the TinTin in Tibet story, TinTin's friend T'chang (sp?) goes missing and he thinks he will never see him again. During the war, Hergé had a friend called T'chang but he didnt see him again until something like 40 years later.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 18 Aug 2007, 16:32

Thanks for the quick take, Grim.

*Downloading*

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 18 Aug 2007, 18:32

Sister Streetfighter 2.5/5

Takes a while to get moving and sonny chiba is hardly in it but this picks up pace towards the end and delivers the goods.

Dragon Princess 3/5

Again Chiba is only a supporting character in this but sue shiomi is excellent and at 80 minutes the movie moves along speedily.great stuff.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 18 Aug 2007, 20:40

hey,

A Mob Story 3/5

Herman Yau approaches well-worn territory, the gangster film, and certainly is overdoing his stylistic tricks for parts of the film. But when things slow down and turn less expected, although it's still the same old triad world, the film takes on new dimensions and ACTUAL dimension. Only a fair amount of it but it's unexpected that the crew actually cared to make this very gory and sometimes darkly funny direct to video excercise mean something.

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 18 Aug 2007, 22:02

Class Action: 3.5/5

Decent courtroom drama with an excellent performance from Gene Hackman.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 19 Aug 2007, 00:25

tom2681 wrote:He needed to eat something that was alive.
As Park himself said, eating the octopus made him feel that he was eating his enemy.
Makes sense to me.

Did we need to see it?

There's no excuse for making any creature suffer on camera and you can see it was still alive even as it was half digested.

Disgusting.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 19 Aug 2007, 02:02

Markgway wrote:Did we need to see it?

There's no excuse for making any creature suffer on camera and you can see it was still alive even as it was half digested.

Disgusting.

You talk like every animal experiences pain and suffering the same, it's a feckin Octopus we're talking about here!

Scientists think Octo's may possibly feel pain, but they really don't know if it would feel it whilst being quickly eaten like the case in Oldboy. Either way it's not like the Octopus will be under the same level of torture as a human being devoured.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 19 Aug 2007, 02:51

tom2681 wrote:@Mark:
OldBoy gets awesome during the second hour.
That's where everything is revealed.

You need to watch it in one go.
Trust Mister Park.

I think that's where it gets worse, a whole lot worse. We lose all of the style and action and instead find ourselves presented with a most pathetic backstory.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 19 Aug 2007, 03:14

Yeah the first hour of Oldboy was worthy of the hype, 2nd hour most certainly wasn't. Shame.

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 19 Aug 2007, 04:42

Superbad: 4.5/5

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 Aug 2007, 09:32

So why was Oh Desu imprisoned anyway? I've forgotten