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

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 Jun 2007, 10:06

grim_tales wrote:Maid Marian and Her Merry Men - Episodes 2 and 3: 4/5

You're doing it wrong. There can be only one.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 09 Jun 2007, 10:12

They should make a spin-off about the Sheriff of Nottingham.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 09 Jun 2007, 11:24

The Hills have Eyes 2 - 2/5
Watchable, some pretty good gore scene and a cool opening scene, but felt some that I was watch The Descent mixed with soldiers. Could have been better, but ok.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 09 Jun 2007, 12:25

White Rose Campus: Then Everybody Gets Raped – 3/5
Rather effective 80’s Nikkatsu exploitationer. Three maniacs hijack a buss full of high school students. Nowhere near easy to watch but why should it be? Very low budget and limited settings but technically well shot. The script comes with several unexpected turns and the ending is a classic in all its darkness.

Kiki’s Delivery Service – 4/5
Miyazaki’s new films have been a bit so-so, but his earlier work seem awesome. I loved Totoro and this is almost as good. A magical experience, and a film that will eventually end up to my dvd collection.

Deliverance – 4,5/5
Well acted, well shot and very tense. One of the best american films of the 70’s.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 09 Jun 2007, 13:15

HungFist wrote: Kiki’s Delivery Service – 4/5
Miyazaki’s new films have been a bit so-so, but his earlier work seem awesome. I loved Totoro and this is almost as good. A magical experience, and a film that will eventually end up to my dvd collection.

Agreed - I thought this was wonderful. Think I have seen all of his Ghibli feature length films... but have yet to own the collection on DVD.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 09 Jun 2007, 13:17

Letters from Iwo Jima 4/5

LD and Romero were right. This makes a nice companion piece to Flags... with more emphasis on the actual battle.

Also Shido Nakamura was bugging me for ages - I knew I recognised him somewhere but couldn't picture where. He was the J-dude in Fearless and the dad in Be With You.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 09 Jun 2007, 16:19

Maid Marian Series 1 (Overall) - 4/5

Great show!

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 09 Jun 2007, 16:55

Turistas (aka Paradise Lost) 1/5

A poor clone of Eli Roth's excellent Hostel. There is no tension, humour or wit. Just some dodgy misplaced gore, which doesn't really fit into the film. Everything was so predictable and I've never seen such a weak finale before. Zzz Zzzz.....

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 09 Jun 2007, 17:59

Banlieue 13 - 1/5
Worst piece of french crap I've seen in ages. The first action scene couldn've been enjoyable if wasn't for the typical french crap music and visual shit look. Now the only good thing about the movie was Dany Verissimo who was slightly cute.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 09 Jun 2007, 18:11

Woah... I've not seen the film but that's the first real negative review I've read.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 10 Jun 2007, 03:19

Hell, even I liked it!!

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 10 Jun 2007, 05:05

hey,

liked it better than the Thai actioners I've seen.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 10 Jun 2007, 12:46

hey,

Below The Lion Rock: Director Allen Fong Series - 4/5

Excellent short film compilation of the future 3 time winner of the Best Director Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards (movies being Father And Son, Ah Ying and Just Like Weather). Very much in tune with the series intent and his own cinematic sensbilities, being low-key, subtle and focusing on grass root characters.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 10 Jun 2007, 12:57

The Departed – 3,5/5
Not bad but terribly over-rated. Compared to Infernal Affairs Scorsese’s film is a more ambitious in-depth gangster film while IA was more of a slick cop thriller. Appart from the style, the story too is very different appart from some key moments. Unfortunately there’s also some changes to weaker, such as Wahlberg’s totally needless character who lessens the film’s impact quite a few times. There’s also some surprising and disappointing compromises. Storywise they should’ve changed even those few remaining similarities because now it’s 40 minutes of original and enjoyable crime cinema and then there’s a scene or a plot twist that you knew was coming and know excatly how it’s gonna play out, so that pretty much kills the excitement temporarily.

Infernal Affairs – 4/5
Very slick and stylish cop thriller with much less characterization than in The Departed. But that’s not a flaw, it’s just a different choise of style as the film doesn’t even aim at the same goals as The Departed. The flashback scenes are sometimes embarrasingly bad, and many scenes featuring female characters are poor. The technical execution however is top notch and the script is excellent. Funnily, just like The Departed, this too works really well most of time until a single poor scene comes kills the excitement for a few minutes. Infernal Affairs however has more originality and freshness (naturally) which makes it slightly better of the two films.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Jun 2007, 13:12

Markgway wrote:Hell, even I liked it!!

Even I lked it too

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Jun 2007, 13:27

I have to agree with your comparison for the most part, although I personally thought Wahlberg (and Nicholoson) was one of the best things about The Departed.

My biggest problem with The Departed is it's too damn long. Infernal Affiars nips along a time nice, this takes way too much time to say the same thing. That and the two leads of Infernal Affairs being much older adds a huge amount of extra gravitas, Andy Lau and Tony Leung are in another league of acting over Matt Damon and Leonardo Decaprio.

I do agree about your point on the female characters in Infernal Affairs, it's not surprising they're just there as the female part, as is the case in so many films. Especially copy/crime ones.

I also love the scene at the end on the roof top WAY more in Infernal Affairs. It's stunningly better in Infernal Affairs to The Departed.

I'd have to also agree with your scores too. The Departed is a good remake but not a patch on the original, frankly though even good remake is to be applauded.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Jun 2007, 14:25

Wahlberg's role was amusing, but totally surplus to requirements. It felt like the writer never knew what to do with him as the final act approached, so he basically just had him disappear until the end were he turns up in the most absurd twist ever.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 Jun 2007, 14:37

Shingster wrote:so he basically just had him disappear until the end were he turns up in the most absurd twist ever.

For what it's worth, that twist was totally unpredictable.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 10 Jun 2007, 14:43

But only because it was something so stupid no one could see it coming...

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Jun 2007, 14:46

Errr OK

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 10 Jun 2007, 21:20

Zatoichi (Kitano) 4.5/5

Toe-tappingly awesome.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 10 Jun 2007, 23:34

BiscLimpkit wrote:Zatoichi (Kitano) 4.5/5

Toe-tappingly awesome.

Damn... just remembered I STILL havent seen that movie. It's been on my shelf for years now. I'll watch it this week. I hope.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 11 Jun 2007, 03:29

BiscLimpkit wrote:Zatoichi (Kitano) 4.5/5

Toe-tappingly awesome.

There's something wrong with a samurai film when the best sequence is a line dance.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 11 Jun 2007, 11:02

[ultra-sad bastard pedantic mode]Tis probably because it's not a samurai movie.[/ultra-sad bastard pedantic mode]

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 11 Jun 2007, 12:10

Ya, Matt is right. Zatoichi is a masseur.