List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV...

[KeithTalent]

Il Divo - 6/10: A darkly comedic Italian film about a controversial Prime Minister who keeps getting elected, but comes under various accusations about how things are getting done under his rule. I liked parts of this, mainly the lead character who was awesome and it was shot very stlyishly, but the story just seemed a bit sparse to me and I honestly was a bit confused at times as to what was happening. I imagine someone who has pre-exisiting knowledge of this character would get a lot more out of it, but this did not do a tonne to make me want to investigate further. Interesting and looks very nice at times, but overall a little flat.

KT

 

[busydude]

Jigoku(The Sinners of Hell) - 8/10(DVD)

http://www.criterion.com/films/797-jigoku

SYNOPSIS: Shocking, outrageous, and poetic, Jigoku (Hell, a.k.a. The Sinners of Hell) is the most innovative creation from Nobuo Nakagawa, the father of the Japanese horror film. After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both his own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelgänger. But all possible escape routes lead straight to hell—literally. In the gloriously gory final third of the film, Nakagawa offers up his vision of the underworld in a tour de force of torture and degradation. A striking departure from traditional Japanese ghost stories, Jigoku, with its truly eye-popping (and -gouging) imagery, created aftershocks that are still reverberating in contemporary world horror cinema.


I have searched if anyone has reviewed this movie previously, but I think none have. So this is a first for me.

Also, this is the first movie that I have seen from The Criterion Collection.. props for my college's library to include this movie.

This movie is really hard to rate and this being my first experience of jhorror.. I am not sure how to out this in a review. At more than 50 years old, although the effects look dated, this movie has terrific atmosphere in every scene. The acting is nothing to write about, but fairly adequate. The guy who played doppelganger steals the show, and his portrayal was extremely well done. The music is surprising good.. and does a good job of accentuating the atmosphere. The only this I did not like is the editing; it could have been more polished, but once you watch the DVD extras.. you can get an idea why.

The way the director captured every scene is commendable.. the depiction of hell is.. well.. truly hellish. They tried to show how hell operates according to Buddhist religion.. and the final forty minutes(All of it takes place in this hell) is a true masterpiece. There is not much gore and the horror when compared to today's standard, but the character study and their transformations make this a true classic IMO.

If anyone is planning to watch this movie.. do so from the criterion collection.. as there is a 40 minute documentary of sorts; commemorating the director. This 40 minute extra.. which recalls how Japanese movie industry worked during late 50's is a really fascinating watch. It includes interviews of his contemporaries, and people who have worked with him and modern directors.. who have been influenced by Mr. Nakagawa's work.

Overall, a true masterpiece and a great movie watching experience.

 

[Jeeebus]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

My review:

SHIT BLOWS UP AND I FUCKING LOVED IT*

*this review generally does not apply to the nonsense that was the first hour of this movie.

 

[Anubis]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

My review:

SHIT BLOWS UP AND I FUCKING LOVED IT*

*this review generally does not apply to the nonsense that was the first hour of this movie.

this post sums up how i felt about the movie

 

[her209]

Sucker Punch - 1/10

Holy fuck this movie is BAD! Terrible acting, terrible storyline. WASTE OF TIME!

 

[ChaoZ]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon 5/10 - If you award winning acting and storyline this isn't the movie for you. If you want to watch shit blow up then this movie is awesome.

This is definitely better than the first two movies since it has less story and more shit blowing up.

 

[Svnla]

Super 8 - 7/10. Not bad but not great. Kinda like a mix between Encourter of the Third Kind and ET but without the charm.

Green Lantern - 6/10. Can't stand the bad guy. He seem a bit too old for the part and stop howling/screaming.

Transformer - 8/10. Similar stuffs as the first two but less shiny bots and the fight scences were much much better. You could see who were fighting who and what were going on. Did I see a red Ferrari as Autobot? The fight sciences were much violent than before, you could see parts chop off and stuffs.

Oh love the line "How come Deceptions always have all the cool stuffs". LOL. I am pretty sure there will be another sequel and major changes (see the movie and you will know what I am talking about).

 

[pyonir]

Question for those that have seen the new Transformers movie. Did they keep stupid characters in there to appeal to kids? Like in Revenge of the Fallen they had Wheelie and the twins...which to me felt like they were trying to make loveable characters to appeal to children (much like Jar Jar). I couldn't stand those characters. Kinda wanna know what to expect before I see it.

 

[Svnla]

Question for those that have seen the new Transformers movie. Did they keep stupid characters in there to appeal to kids? Like in Revenge of the Fallen they had Wheelie and the twins...which to me felt like they were trying to make loveable characters to appeal to children (much like Jar Jar). I couldn't stand those characters. Kinda wanna know what to expect before I see it.

There are two little tiny Autobots in the new movie, a bit annoying/trying to be cute if you ask me.

 

[slayer202]

Gotta love long weekends. Had some nice times at the beach for a few days and back at home with time for a few movies.


The Third Man - 8/10:
This was Netflix streaming, so the quality wasn't very good. I haven't seen many older classic movies, it's definitely an acquired taste that comes with a bit of age, and I'm starting to appreciate it more. I think better picture quality would have made this one more enjoyable for me.

I liked the first half or three quarters more than the last, with the suspense building and building, and I felt it almost fizzled through the last portion of the movie, though the last couple scenes were very good. On a first viewing with poor picture quality, an 8 is a solid score.



The Conversation - 7.5/10:
1974, stars Gene Hackman as a private surveillance expert working on a job when he begins to feel like some of the people involved may be in harms way. It was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award(it was going up against Chinatown and another Coppola movie, Godfather II, which won).

This is also on Netflix streaming, but the quality was decent enough. This movie had some high points but it was inconsistent, and had potential that I don't think it lived up to. There are some cool surveillance scenes but also a few awkward scenes between characters. There are also some strange scenes which almost seem out of place with the tone of the rest of the movie. Interesting movie but not great



Drunken Angel - 8/10:
Kurosawa film, Criterion DVD from Netflix. Mifune's debut with Kurosawa, and he is nearly unrecognizable(young) from my previous vision of him in their later work.

This one stars Takashi Shimura, another Kurosawa regular, who is also awesome, as a doctor treating a Yakuza gangster, played by Mifune, who has TB.

It's a very good film, and it comes with some very interesting commentary, partly about censorship in US occupied Japan at the time. The rules certainly didn't stop Kurosawa from making the film he wanted, perhaps they restricted him just enough to delay his true breakout. You can sense his talent though, and great things to come.

 

[KeithTalent]

Caught up on a couple of Lars Von Trier movies:

The Boss of it All (Direktøren for det hele) - 7/10: A comedy about an IT company that hires an actor to play the president of the company in order to complete a deal. Of course this is an odd comedy since it's from LVT, with some very strange narration and dark, dry humour, but I liked it overall. The premise was pretty absurd, but the quirky characters in the IT company were fun and the neurosis of the actor as he tries to learn IT on the fly and also learn all about his staff was done very well, with some very funny interactions. The narration did distract in the few parts it came in, but overall I liked it. It would be nice to see LVT do another comedy.

Europa (Zentropa) - 8.5/10: A drama following an American who takes a job on a train in post-WW2 Germany and gets stuck between various political movements. I liked this quite a bit; it had some very dark narration from Max von Sydow and the film overall was quite dark, showing the bombed out areas of Germany in a very stylized black & white, with flashes of colour here and there. The main character's struggles were fascinating as he tried to just live his new life in Germany, but essentially became a pawn in the games of two political groups. LVT had some great dark humour in here and of course some very disturbing scenes to keep you on your toes, but at its heart it's really a character drama and you get a real feel for the soul of the main guy.

KT

 

[BurnItDwn]

I Saw the Devil is awesome; I reviewed it earlier in the thread. Big fan of that one.

KT

I Saw the Devil
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588170/
2010
9.5/10

Wow, you guys were right. Awesome story, great cinemetography/shots, great acting, just really great all around. It doesn't have quite the same psychological punch that Vengeance Trillogy had, but otherwise this is pretty much 90% as good. Incredible!

 

[KeithTalent]

Gotta love long weekends. Had some nice times at the beach for a few days and back at home with time for a few movies.


The Third Man - 8/10:
This was Netflix streaming, so the quality wasn't very good. I haven't seen many older classic movies, it's definitely an acquired taste that comes with a bit of age, and I'm starting to appreciate it more. I think better picture quality would have made this one more enjoyable for me.

I liked the first half or three quarters more than the last, with the suspense building and building, and I felt it almost fizzled through the last portion of the movie, though the last couple scenes were very good. On a first viewing with poor picture quality, an 8 is a solid score.

Drunken Angel - 8/10:
Kurosawa film, Criterion DVD from Netflix. Mifune's debut with Kurosawa, and he is nearly unrecognizable(young) from my previous vision of him in their later work.

This one stars Takashi Shimura, another Kurosawa regular, who is also awesome, as a doctor treating a Yakuza gangster, played by Mifune, who has TB.

It's a very good film, and it comes with some very interesting commentary, partly about censorship in US occupied Japan at the time. The rules certainly didn't stop Kurosawa from making the film he wanted, perhaps they restricted him just enough to delay his true breakout. You can sense his talent though, and great things to come.

I have not seen Drunken Angel yet; need to get to that one.

The Third Man Criterion Blu is quite nice and does up the picture quality quite a bit, too bad it's out of print. I like that movie quite a bit; some great shots in that one.

I Saw the Devil
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588170/
2010
9.5/10

Wow, you guys were right. Awesome story, great cinemetography/shots, great acting, just really great all around. It doesn't have quite the same psychological punch that Vengeance Trillogy had, but otherwise this is pretty much 90% as good. Incredible!

Glad you liked it! Not sure what it is about Korea and revenge movies, but they have the genre down to a tee.

KT

 

[slayer202]

I have not seen Drunken Angel yet; need to get to that one.

The Third Man Criterion Blu is quite nice and does up the picture quality quite a bit, too bad it's out of print. I like that movie quite a bit; some great shots in that one.



Glad you liked it! Not sure what it is about Korea and revenge movies, but they have the genre down to a tee.

KT

Chaser :whiste:


looks like I need to move I Saw the Devil up my queue.

 

[KeithTalent]

Chaser :whiste:


looks like I need to move I Saw the Devil up my queue.

Chaser's been in the top 10 of my queue for ages, but apparently it's hard to get; they probably only have one copy or soemthing ridiculous like that.

KT

 

[slayer202]

So unfortunate that Netflix can't provide the same amount of streaming titles outside the US. I'd watch so many less movies if I didn't have access, and it would be so much more expensive

 

[Geocentricity]

Flipping through Netflix last night, and friend and I settled for Let Me In.

The movie didn't overdo the vampire action and there was enough dialogue to create an emotional attachment to the two protagonists. Chloe Moretz (you may know her as Hit Girl in Kick Ass) is such a sweetheart and she will go places if she continues her acting career.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Chaser's been in the top 10 of my queue for ages, but apparently it's hard to get; they probably only have one copy or soemthing ridiculous like that.

KT

Wow, It was available streaming here in the states ..... At least when I saw it...
Hopefully netflix will straighten out their streaming service and just make it the same worldwide....

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Garden State 9/10

I really, really liked this movie. It had a familiar feel to it that made it very enjoyable for me.

Same feeling here, for some reason just really liked it. Very excellent and fitting soundtrack as well.

 

[pyonir]

Saint John of Las Vegas 6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276105/
2009
Interesting movie. Doesn't stand out as exceptional, but Story is entertaining, and cast was great.

Watched this last night, and it got a 7.5/10 out of me, mainly for the outstanding acting by just about everyone. The story was alright, like BurnItDwn said, it didn't stand out, but it kept me entertained. Steve Buscemi was awesome in it though, as was Romany Malco (Played Jay in 40yo Virgin). It was a very "indie" style movie with a few minor cameos.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Defendor - 7.7 / 10 - Netflix sleeve called it a comedy, and while I definitely laughed at a few parts, that wasn't the movie's intention. I thought it might be spoofy or something, but it really wasn't at all. I like the framing device,

Spoiler

showing him incarcerated and explaining how he got there, but more importantly how the story built after they 'caught up'. I'm not a huge fan of framing the whole movie, gives away too much of the ending! Also liked how it took a dark turn. Everyone is rooting for the guy, but he truly is in over his head and the outcome is the only one that makes sense. And is actually emotional too.

. Woody did a really good job, and it felt like a lot of thought and attention went into making the movie.

 

[KeithTalent]

Defendor - 7.7 / 10 - Netflix sleeve called it a comedy, and while I definitely laughed at a few parts, that wasn't the movie's intention. I thought it might be spoofy or something, but it really wasn't at all. I like the framing device,

Spoiler

showing him incarcerated and explaining how he got there, but more importantly how the story built after they 'caught up'. I'm not a huge fan of framing the whole movie, gives away too much of the ending! Also liked how it took a dark turn. Everyone is rooting for the guy, but he truly is in over his head and the outcome is the only one that makes sense. And is actually emotional too.

. Woody did a really good job, and it felt like a lot of thought and attention went into making the movie.

I liked it too. Woody was awesome and I thought Kat Dennings was decent (way better than in Thor where she was just annoying). I actually found the film to be quite touching and it did have some decent dark comedy.

KT

 

[zinfamous]

whoa, The Conversation is on Netflix streaming?

one of my all-time favorites. Copolla at his peak.

did you notice that Enemy of the State is a bit of a shitty rip-off of that movie? Well, Gene Hackman is sort of the Harry Caul character--a bit more batshit crazy paranoid rather than legitimately and understandably paranoid, but he does have the same rain jacket in Enema of the State.

 

[slayer202]

whoa, The Conversation is on Netflix streaming?

one of my all-time favorites. Copolla at his peak.

did you notice that Enemy of the State is a bit of a shitty rip-off of that movie? Well, Gene Hackman is sort of the Harry Caul character--a bit more batshit crazy paranoid rather than legitimately and understandably paranoid, but he does have the same rain jacket in Enema of the State.

I didn't realize that, interesting. They have similarities but the plots and characters are pretty different

 

[zinfamous]

I didn't realize that, interesting. They have similarities but the plots and characters are pretty different

yeah, it's not the same plot, but they do a lot to "suggest" the Harry Caul character in the shitty Will Smith movie. I had just watched The Conversation in one of my film classes at the time, and some friends and I went to see Enemy of the State late one night, simply b/c it was the first to have a trailer for The Phantom Menace.