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

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 21 Jan 2008, 14:40

I've not seen SPL or Flash Point. I know a bit of a dumb comment.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 21 Jan 2008, 14:53

bradavon wrote:I've not seen SPL or Flash Point. I know a bit of a dumb comment.

A bit more than a bit, no offence.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 21 Jan 2008, 14:54

Yeah... that kinda leaves you open for a huge amount of flaming...

Ah well, I wont bother. You should just go check those movies out. Dont expect GREAT movies, but they're enjoyable while they last, and they're pretty good at what they do.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 21 Jan 2008, 16:51

Markgway wrote:I love the way Degen rates all his movies based on tits.

Well if they are one of the highlights of the film then I should rate accordingly!!! If they were all I was after, I'd just watch porn, but I'd like a decent film as well. And it also just a coincidence that a lot of the films I've seen of late have featured them heavily...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 21 Jan 2008, 22:45

I only meant based on general opinion, everyone like SPL but the other recent ones it's very open.

Markgway wrote:I love the way Degen rates all his movies based on tits.

He does?

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 21 Jan 2008, 23:14

bradavon wrote:
Markgway wrote:I love the way Degen rates all his movies based on tits.
He does?

Well, look

degeneration wrote:Hostel 4/5

I quite liked this film. Nice tits in it, and quite gory. Sickly scary but I did like it.

Lots of tits

degeneration wrote: Heroes Shed No Tears 3.5/5

Another film where the good guys have bullets swerve around them (except when they are due to die) and the bad guys can't shoot to save themselves. A plot so thin it makes wafers seem thick, but lots of bullets and quite a bit of blood too.

Some tits

degeneration wrote: Happy End 3/5

Not bad Korean drama about a love triangle involving a married woman and her husband. Slow moving and builds up to an unexpected latter part, in that I didn't think the husband would do waht he did. Decent fiml.

Probably no tits

degeneration wrote: My Boss, My Hero 2.5/5

Fight Back To School, Korean style. Except this time it is a gangster going to school not a cop. A few comical moments, but little else of noteworthyness. Not bad, but not that good.

Absolutely no tits*

* haven't seen the movie though, but judging by genre

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 23 Jan 2008, 17:21

Romeo + Juliet (USA, 1996) – 1,5/5
Leo and Claire are cute, 0,5 extra point for them. Otherwise this boring film is not worth the effort. Some of the problems originate from the original story but most is thanks to Baz the wild Luhrmann.

Patriot Games (USA, 1992) – 3,5/5
Didn’t remember this to be this good. Excellent and realistic action thriller with the good old basic performance from Ford.

Maximum Risk (USA, 1996) – 2,5/5
Moderately entertainin basic Van Damme flick. Includes a sauna fight (nobody’s towel slips, despite the roundhouse kicks). Female species Natasha Henstridge co-stars.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 23 Jan 2008, 17:50

Re: Romeo and Juliet:

Personally I thought it was very clever setting such an old English story in a quasi-contemporary setting. The opening gun battle was ace.

As to the original story it is what it is, it's so old now and part of history. That and it's considerably longer in it's original form. That's actually one of the complaints I did have with Luhrmann's interpretation, it's way too sped up.

I've not see Strictly Ballroom yet but Baz Luhrmann rocks. Moulin Rouge is excellent and so much fun.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 23 Jan 2008, 20:54

Gate of Flesh (Japan, 1964) – 4,5/5
A band of take-no-bullshit prostitutes fight for their turf in Seijun Suzuki’s mid 60s pulp masterpiece. The post WWII Tokyo is shown as a battlefield where humanity is a shortcut to death. Suzuki’s brutal and dazzling mix of colour, camp and sex is like an early but no less ballsy version of the concept later re-used by several pinky violence directors in the 70’s. Gate of Flesh however has an extra advantage with its excellent script. Jo Shishido gives a good performance in the film’s only remarkable male role. Just the fact that he doesn’t get ripped into pieces in this company is an achievement.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 23 Jan 2008, 23:22

30 Days Of Night - 4/5

The best vampire film in years. Actually, the best horror film in years. I'll definitely be picking up the BD of this.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 24 Jan 2008, 01:17

The Negotiator 4.5/5

Great movie. I had never seen it before. I always meant to see it though, but somehow it just never came of it. Nice story, great acting, some stuff that I feel didnt get explained enough, but still very good.

The ending was a little bit ... well... it was a bit weird. But I dont wanna spoil it for anyone who hasnt seen it, so I wont say anything out loud about it.

American classic.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 24 Jan 2008, 09:51

Alice in Wonderland (1951): 3.5/5

Not among Disney's best features, but certainly worth a watch, perhaps even underrated. By turns surreal (some of the animation/images) and twee (the songs), and not all of Lewis Carroll's words/poems are used.
Though some of the voice work is brilliant (Sterling Holloway and Ed Wynn for example).
Walt has made Alice a wide eyed doll, and when I was a kid I used to find Kathryn Beaumont annoying for being too whuny and crying too much. But I did go quiet during the "Very Good Advice" song *sniff*

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 24 Jan 2008, 19:48

Streets Of Fire hd-dvd 3/5

Cliched,dated but still very entertaining 80's "rock n. roll fable" from Walter Hill. A rock star (a young & hot Diane Lane) is kidnapped for no particular reason by a gang of bikers led by Willem Dafoe, enter ex-boyfriend and soldier of fortune Michael Pare to try and rescue her. booming rock soundtrack.interesting to see it's pg rating as the end fight is fairly violent.

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 25 Jan 2008, 00:33

Black Chirstmas (1974) - 3.5/5

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 25 Jan 2008, 22:41

Welcome to Dongmakol (South Korea – 2005) – 2,5/5
Three North and two South Korean soldiers get stuck in a small village during the war. Welcome to Dongmakol has a real lousy first 50 minutes. Appart from the beautiful landscapes everything from screenplay to acting and special effects goes more or less wrong. Around halfway there’s laughable cgi boar scene, which I recall hating on the initial viewing, but now it turned out the most enjoyable scene in the film so far. The second half isn’t exactly great movie making but it’s so ridiculously hearwarming (despite the stone cold calculation on the screenwriter’s behalf) that I can’t help myself with the rating. 2,5/5 is probably more than this movie deserves, but the aftertaste is good enough grant such decent rating.

Sono otoko, kyobo ni tsuki (Japan, 2003) - 3/5
This is a weird film from Nobohiru Yamashita. In fact, I’m not sure if this 38 minute fake documentary should be called a film at all. Yamashita himself, although spending most of the time ”behind the camera”, plays an adult film director who’s trying to create a documentary portrait of the main star of his latest movie. Yamashita follows and interviews a detective turned AV actor while at the same making preparations to shoot the upcoming film. Sono otoko, kyobo ni tsuki feels a lot like an insider joke but for fans of Yamashita it’s an interesting and often hilarious little film.

Garden State (USA, 2004) – 1/5
This was a clever movie. Must’ve been a hit at Sundance. Oh well, at least the soundtrack works... occasionally. Those moments can’t save this incredibly pretentious and self aware trick movie, though. The biggest problem is the director / star / screenwriter Zach Braff who has made every character a walking cliché of modern, intelligent human relationship movie.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 26 Jan 2008, 00:04

I hear Garden State is good.

Serious question Hung: If a film is loved by critics would you like it less? It seems to be that way. It's just an observation.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 26 Jan 2008, 02:02

The first time I saw Garden State, I was very disappointed. I then bought it cheap when I felt like giving it another chance, and with each viewing it improved in my estimations. I like films like that. It's a grower.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 26 Jan 2008, 02:38

The thing is do you want to watch a mediocre movie 2 or 3 times until it gets good or watch something new that might be great?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 26 Jan 2008, 03:20

Mark I'm finding myself agreeing with you again

Some films I find a second viewing I much prefer and even like but as a rule if it didn't work the first time it's unlikely to work a second time.

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 26 Jan 2008, 06:58

Markgway wrote:The thing is do you want to watch a mediocre movie 2 or 3 times until it gets good or watch something new that might be great?

But some films I am compelled to watch again even if I didn't love them the first time. A lot of my favourite albums took a while to grow on me as well.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 26 Jan 2008, 09:44

bradavon wrote: Serious question Hung: If a film is loved by critics would you like it less? It seems to be that way. It's just an observation.

Most films the critics love do suck, but that's not my fault. But there's a lot of films that both the critics and I love.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 26 Jan 2008, 14:15

Old School - 1/5
Movies claiming to be in the comedy genre have to be funny, this one ain't.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 26 Jan 2008, 14:48

gasteropod wrote:A lot of my favourite albums took a while to grow on me as well.

I agree with you there. An album can be listened to in parts and while you're doing other things though. This isn't possible with a movie.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 26 Jan 2008, 17:30

hey,

Crazy Romance 2/5
Nat Chan and Sylvia Chang in a romantic comedy? Crazy indeed and since the flick is also riddled with usual 80s HK cinema shenanigans such as gay jokes, kung-fu fighting prison guards, Leslie Cheung as the womanizing brother of Sylvia's character and an insane traffic cop, somewhere in there it's all tolerable. Especially so since this is one of the flick Nat Chan isn't annoying in.

Takes Two To Mingle 2.5/5
Decent Danny Lee actioner that survives thanks to stronger reels towards the end. For the most part Lee enforces laws with his fists while also making sure his sister doesn't marry the wrong fella. That fella's father played by Wu Ma clashes with Danny and this creates quite an entertaining Jack Lemmon/Walther Matthau type of chemistry during a few scenes. Add some farily tough and edgy violence and solid is da verdict.

Killing In The Nude 1.5/5
A poor man's Intimate Confessions Of A Chinese Courtesan partly by Lee Tso-nam that only shares a handful of scenes of unashemedly exploitation filmmaking, including a sort of clean-up of women before they're allowed to be proper brothel-gals. When abandoning all this and focusing on making a family tragedy, it all turns boring.

Super Citizen 1/5
Rare Cinema City distributed Taiwan drama that walks on the wrong side of subtle, quiet direction. Uneventful is being kind.

The Haunted Madam 3.5/5
Wild stuff from Tony Liu (Holy Flame Of The Martial World) that does well by mixing farce, black comedy, straight horror and your classic insistence on animated special effects. Shares similarities with the Possessed flicks (especially part 2) but doesn't reach that high.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 26 Jan 2008, 17:37

Death Race 2000: 3/5

Crazy cult movie that I started to quite enjoy when I realised the satirical trappings and comic-book feel, despite the bad taste/initial shocks in the story (killing pedestrians for sport). In some ways, could be a precursor to Arnie's Running Man

(The film surely ends in a similar way...)