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

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Oct 2007, 17:24

I could be mistaken but I'm sure FOL isn't undercranked, it's partly why people love it so much. You're probably thinking of Iron Monkey (which is awesome and one of my fave martial arts films).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 01 Oct 2007, 17:26

True, Iron Monkey is a great movie

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 01 Oct 2007, 17:30

The Donnie Yen TV FOF series was heavily undercranked, like much of Donnie Yen's work.

Fist of Legend is just excellent.

I like Fist of Fury. I feel it's Bruce's best work. But if I have to choose between taking FOF or FOL to a deserted island, I will always pick Fist of Legend. I just love it way way more than FOF.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 01 Oct 2007, 18:04

War 4.5/5

Just got back from seeing this, WOW, great film, Jet Li is one evil bastard, but so good at it. What a twist too. the MA is a bit thin on the ground but the action was still, very good. gotta go to see this one again.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 01 Oct 2007, 18:11

Glad someone liked War

very average I thought, far from great and nothing at all stood out in any way. Still well worth a watch, just nothing compared to other films by Li or Statham.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 01 Oct 2007, 18:14

El Cobrador - In God We Trust – 3,5/5
Taking place mostly around South America El Cobrador feels more of a collection of events and characters, all having something to do with murder, than a senseful storyline. The film moves fast and much is left unexplained. If you try to watch it as a ’plot movie’ you won’t get much out of it. But the challenging structure and the combination of political content and highly enjoyable half documentaristic visual style is fascinating. The images are supported by a strong soundtrack.

Tabunfire (Dynamite Warrior) – 4,5/5
Cannibalism, black magic, vertically limited warriors (midgets), huge moustache, muay thai (with some wire work this time)... Tabunfire is a high kicking camp dream come true. Combining off-the-wall story elements and quality action and mixing the soup with virgin blood this a strong candidate for the best action movie of the year.

Tekkonkinkreet – 1,5/5
A boring, noisy mess of an anime film directed by American born Michael Arias, and drawn in a style that didn’t please me at all (with an exception of one character). Minor bonus from Yu Aoi’s voice acting role.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 01 Oct 2007, 18:16

Damn, I was looking forward to Tekkonkinkreet.

But then I might still like it.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 01 Oct 2007, 18:20

romerojpg wrote:Glad someone liked War very average I thought, far from great and nothing at all stood out in any way. Still well worth a watch, just nothing compared to other films by Li or Statham.

Li of course has far far superior films, but the engineering was pretty good the way the twist was laid out, it kept you guessing of course. i havent seen any Statham films, so, i have nothing to compare too. but for hollywood, it was not bad at all.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Oct 2007, 18:52

I've found all of Statham's action films only fair good, none are classics. I've not seen War yet. His best work is with Guy Ritchie.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 01 Oct 2007, 19:06

Yup watched Snatch the other day again, flipping superb still!

Shame he keeps teaming up with Jet Li, as The One and War are pretty much the same film, disapointing and lacking in anything to make them stand out. At least The One had some superb fights (even if the stunt doubles and digital face replacement was awful) and some amazing effects fighting (slo mo punching at the beging was amazing, and the double fight at the ends great when you dont see the digital faces).

But The One is still better than War, War sadly felt like a direct to video film. Still worth 3 stars, but I am in no mood to see it again quickly thats for sure and I can see why its getting horrific reviews. You can do far worse than War thats for sure

so in that respect its worth a watch.

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 01 Oct 2007, 19:08

i didnt like the One so much, i mean good concept, but the crap effects ruined it, but i agree the fights were very good.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 01 Oct 2007, 19:12

Statham in The One was not good, at least in War he acctually felt pretty good and did a good job with what he had. Plus he did not stick on his crap American accent

he needs a shave mind you

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 01 Oct 2007, 19:16

i didnt notice him in the one, lemme see lol, nope dont remember him. i guess that doesnt bode well for his performance in that film

ahh...he was the agent or something right? yeah i dont remember him well lol

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 01 Oct 2007, 19:49

Yes the agent.

The One was okay but the story was really, really hokey.

romerojpg wrote:Plus he did not stick on his crap American accent

Hasn't he retired that? Now he's pretty big in his own right.

romerojpg wrote:Shame he keeps teaming up with Jet Li

I would say it's a shame Li keeps teaming up with Statham myself

I hear Crank is good, possibly his best action effort?

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 01 Oct 2007, 19:57

Crank was pretty good fun IMO.

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 01 Oct 2007, 20:57

Death Proof 2.5/5

I watched Death Proof last night. It was okay, but the talkie bits went on too long for me. There definitely should have been less talk, and more deaths.

The first crash scene is pretty intense, and more nasty than what I was expecting. Decent effects from Nicotero and Berger as usual.

Kurt Russell is great as usual, but Zoe Bell was appalling. You could clearly see that she isn't an actress, and it does spoil the film a bit. Mind you, I suppose a lot of the original grindhouse movies had people who couldn't act, so you could say it was actually quite appropriate to have a non actor (just for that effect). I haven't actually seen any proper grindmovies but the first thing that comes to mind is the awful acting from the fat bloke in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

I've liked all of Tarantino's (well, mostly all, apart from Four Rooms) movies so far, and I would rate Death Proof as my least favourite. As a standalone film, it was enjoyable. Not great, but far from awful.

Transformers 3/5

I thought it was a lot of fun, although not one I will be in a hurry to return too. The tone was actually a lot more light hearted than what I thought it would be. John Turturro and his cronies seem to have come in from a completely different movie though. They were like something from a farce comedy. The special effects were absolutely amazing, although I had the same problem as many others in terms of not being able to see what was happening at times. I thought Shia Lebouf was okay, not overly annoying. Megan Fox is exactly that, but not much else besides. The blonde Aussie is also nice.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 01 Oct 2007, 21:01

Carnival :Season 1 eps. 5-8 3.5/5

slow burning,weird but intriguing series. gorgeous cinematography and some fine performances keep me watching.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:01

bradavon wrote:I could be mistaken but I'm sure FOL isn't undercranked, it's partly why people love it so much. You're probably thinking of Iron Monkey (which is awesome and one of my fave martial arts films).

I definitely wasn't thinking of Iron Monkey. That's another Yuen Woo-ping choreographed film.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:04

Shen wrote:War 4.5/5

Just got back from seeing this, WOW, great film, Jet Li is one evil bastard, but so good at it. What a twist too. the MA is a bit thin on the ground but the action was still, very good. gotta go to see this one again.

I'm going to watch this IMO. It's so tempting to go up and ask "one ticket for War! Huh! Yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing."

Shen · Post by **Shen** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:07

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:10

bradavon wrote: I hear Crank is good, possibly his best action effort?

I love it, superb film, but do not expect wonderful looking amazing fight scenes and all that. Its a frentic mess, but all the better for it I say.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:23

I HATED The One. just a worthless crappy movie. Not planning on seeing War EVER. The only reason I have The One, is because I won it (plus a workshop with Ron Smoorenburg).

I'm not a fan of Statham. I think he's a mediocre actor and a very mediocre martial artist (as far as screenfighting goes). There is just nothing about him that really excites me, or makes me a fan. I cant believe the guy has fans.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:28

THE ONE was pants, and Statham was terrible in it.

I'm not even sure if I can be arsed renting WAR on DVD when it comes out, I'll see how I feel at the time.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:43

Yi-Long wrote:I HATED The One. just a worthless crappy movie.

I didn't even make it to the end...

Yi-Long wrote: The only reason I have The One, is because I won it (plus a workshop with Ron Smoorenburg).

Why not sell it? I wouldn't keep a bad movie in my collection without reason. Not even if I had to throw it out of the windom in order to get rid of it.

oh and btw, I'm very much looking forward to War. The trailer I saw some months ago looked kick ass.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 01 Oct 2007, 22:46

I agree, The One is dismal.