What movies have you seen lately? Now with reviews!Movies 

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Pulled this out again this morning. Bought the directors cut on dvd a few years ago and love this movie. The directors cut has about 11 minutes of footage that isn't in the other version and also doesn't have the voice over at the beginning that gives away the entire plot of the movie. Elevent minutes might not sound like much but in movies it is, it gives more detail about characters and links certain scenes so they make a little more sense. The movie didn't do really well in theaters and the reason I believe why is it came out when Titanic did, it was released at the same time as it and came out just a little before The Matrix so it didn't have much of a chance. But, it is one of my favorite movies, I don't buy many movies so if I bought it then it is for sure a favorite of mine.
 
I haven't seen it in awhile, but I recently purchased a Blu-ray copy of it. It's because of this film, I started liking Roger Ebert. The trailer did not look good to me, when it came out in theaters. Ebert was huge on it. Finally decided to rent it or something(it was years ago), it ended up being one of my favorite films, which says alot, considering the numbers of films I've seen.

If you never seen it, I think you'll love the ending. I can't quite put a finger on what I love so much about this film, while I certainly loved plot twist. I guess I just enjoyed little bit of everything about this film. "A+"
 
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Good movie to see with a bunch of friends to see some innocent people getting killed by a beast for no reason. Crap movie if you only are into quality movies. I was hugely let down by the wolves themselves, basically just a guy with more hair and larger teeth, that's all. And hell, they punch your face and your head flies off! You would at least expect a huge thing but it's just....a guy.

Luckely Hugo Weaving was in it. When he was speaking with Lawrence in Talbot Hall I couldn't help but imagining him going "You are here Mr. Anderson, because..." :lol:
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LizMcQueen
Also say the setting, sets, costumes, special effects, soundtrack... are very good, at the same level of the big american blockbusters.
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That is one trend I'm liking in movies from everywhere else in the world: the are reaching the limits set by American movies, which was really the main reason why I (and a lot of other people) wouldn't give a rat's ass about them. Newer movies froma ll around the world are at a level where the only thing differing them from American movies are (sometimes) the quality and the language.
 
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Cowboy Bebop Remix 👍👍​

Ok maybe it's not a movie, but I watched it on DVD and that made it feel a little more like a movie. This is a 6-volume series of 30-minute TV episodes that I watched on netflix over the span of about a year. It's anime, but not painfully so. I discovered Cowboy Bebop via the music - which is quite powerful throughout the show. Songs like Space Lion (below) were what drew me in - making me think perhaps this show has some serious emotion to it. I was right (though that kind of reasoning usually doesn't work out).


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It's not a perfect series. There were entire characters that were irritating (Ed). And it drags a bit in the middle where the show begins to lose it's identity. The voice acting is painful at times - I'm sure it was better in the original language - but it wasn't something that bothered me often enough to make me stop watching.

Despite its flaws, the show had some prolonged moments of real brilliance. The characters walked the Han Solo line between dark, damaged, and uncaring but simultaneously well intentioned and moral. But in this case, all of the characters walked that line to varying degrees, and they all did it better than Han did (Return of the Jedi??). Besting Han Solo with greater consistency isn't necessarily a feat in-and-of itself, but making a whole show out of Han Solo-type characters and basically skimming most of the cream off of Star Wars and giving it to us in a pure, uncut, concentrated form is a feat for sure. Firefly made an excellent show out of the exact same recipe.

There were many times that I was astonished by the writing in this show. Most of the time in a good way. It oozed creativity in every episode - even the bad ones. The characters were consistent and made sense. You understood them and why it was that they had to keep pushing each other away. The show was dark and emotional, just like the space lion clip above.

I'd recommend this to just about anyone, but certainly fans of Firefly should see it.
 
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Danoff
I'd recommend this to just about anyone, but certainly fans of Firefly should see it.
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Suddenly I am also interested. Looks like I have to overcome my general aversion to anime.
 
Tom Servo
That is one trend I'm liking in movies from everywhere else in the world: the are reaching the limits set by American movies, which was really the main reason why I (and a lot of other people) wouldn't give a rat's ass about them. Newer movies froma ll around the world are at a level where the only thing differing them from American movies are (sometimes) the quality and the language.
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I have nothing against improved standards of production. (I still have very vivid memories of wishing Portuguese films had subtitles because the poor sound quality made them near impossible to understand.:crazy:) I cannot however agree that we’ll be better off if all countries end up making the same type of films - especially these days, when even Hollywood is producing much less varied movies.

Most of the times I watch a film I’m just looking for a distraction but I’m always glad when a film goes somewhere beyond being a mere distraction. I’m not a masochist and I don’t particularly fancy seating in a theatre watching a three-hour-long Bergman (or Tarkovsky, or Oliveira) film where no-one ever utters a word and nothing much goes on, but I’m glad those films exist and contribute to the diversity the seventh art!

Don’t get me wrong: I love American cinema, from classical directors like Ford or Capra or Hawks or Welles (or Griffith, Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton) to modern classics like Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, etc. I like big blockbuster American movies as well as small independent American movies. Most of my favorite film directors are American (Welles, Kubrick, Malick, etc.).

Yet, there was a time – not that long ago – when one could talk about Italian cinema, French cinema, Swedish cinema, Spanish cinema, etc. and know their specific characteristics. Most European countries had a recognizable way of making movies and that, weather you liked them or not, made cinema as a whole a much richer form of art. Now it’s becoming more and more just a money-making industry and that in my book is not a good thing.

Sorry for the long post :)
 
Cowboy Bebop is a wonderful series and one reason not to have an aversion to anime; then again, Bebop is consistently cited as one of the all-time best animated series. It has been quite a while since I have seen an episode or watched the series, but I do remember thoroughly enjoying the show.

Honestly, I initially wrote a longer and more in-depth review for Bebop, but ended up scraping it because it has been too long for me to accurately comment on a series I enjoyed so much and properly portray how good I thought it was at the time. I feel like I would not been doing the series justice for how much quality it oozes with the seamless blending of multiple genres, themes, music, writing, etc. Like I said, Bebop is constantly cited as a must see anime series and one of the all-time bests. It should be on everyone's watch list. I do not know if I could recommend an anime series more than Bebop. Finally, I would likely suggest to read some of the reviews on IMDB, as they will do a better job expressing the admiration for the series.
 
Delphic Reason
I just don't get it. I've never understood what people see in Firefly.
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There is a lot to it for me. The humorous, quirky, and diverse characters are something I just love, but they all have a background story that reveals their quirky personalities are hiding much more dark or serious people underneath. Then the aspect of combining western style with space sci-fi is an interesting touch that winds up showing off the degree of detail put into the universe around them that is missing from many shows. And then there is a certain attention to real-life details that is huge for geeks like myself, like the fact that space is silent (until Serenity). It is just a culmination of small things that all just make a show I love to watch, repeatedly.

I've watched a fair few episodes, and the bad acting really makes it hard for me to watch.
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I was tempted to make another joke about some of the "villains" but I will leave it, even if some of them screen B movie parody.

But I can say that there are a list of shows I started watching because of Firefly alum.

Castle - Nathan Fillion
Chuck - Adam Baldwin
V - Alan Tudyk
 
RUI
Sorry for the long post :)
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If anything, at least 'International' cinema (as in not American) tends to be able to push the envelope further, be it that there's less censorship or that the scope is even more creative than your average American movie. I think that is one trend Euro and Asian cinema will always have above the rest, and it's a very good trend. Whether it makes more money because it's more explosive, I'll agree that it shouldn't be the case.

But there's also the case of movies being good enough in their original language and then getting butt raped when the remake is done for American audiences: Like [REC] (remade as Quarantine), La Femme Nikita (remade as Point of No Return), A Bout De Souffle (remade as Breathless), Get Carter (remade by the same name) and Abre Los Ojos (remade as Vanilla Sky). As it also happens with remakes that just destroy the original, regardless where they came from.


In other news, I just saw this one:

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If.... (Lindsay Anderson, 1968) -- The story about a revolution lead by pupil Mick Travis takes place at an old established private school in England. Look at it as a Dead Poets Society that doesn't suck and in which the students (thankfuly) don't resort to poetry and wisdom to take over the viewer's heart, but through good, old fashioned violence. At the time of its release it was one of the most disturbing films ever, to the point that the then Lord Brabourne read an early draft and called it "the most evil and perverted script I've ever read. It must never see the light of day".

In fact, Paramount hated the film when they saw it and tried to dump it from cinemas. However, one of their tentpole films, Barbarella (1968), turned out to be a spectacular flop so they needed to replace it in cinemas with something else. Reluctantly, they wheeled out If... and were astonished to see it turn into a big critical and commercial success.

The movie is very good and funny at times, but it's never one to leave you indifferent. A definite must for the whole 60s pop culture. 8.5/10
 
We watched Dear John last Wednesday night. WOw that was the wrong movie to watch under the current circumstances with my dad. The movie itself was good but the emotions I went through during some of the scenes made it very hard to watch. If you have ever had anything happen to your dad, stay away from this one. It tore me up big time. :guilty:
 
FoolKiller
There is a lot to it for me. The humorous, quirky, and diverse characters are something I just love, but they all have a background story that reveals their quirky personalities are hiding much more dark or serious people underneath. Then the aspect of combining western style with space sci-fi is an interesting touch that winds up showing off the degree of detail put into the universe around them that is missing from many shows. And then there is a certain attention to real-life details that is huge for geeks like myself, like the fact that space is silent (until Serenity). It is just a culmination of small things that all just make a show I love to watch, repeatedly.
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I guess none of it really comes together as a whole, for me. To each his own.

Castle - Nathan Fillion
Chuck - Adam Baldwin
V - Alan Tudyk
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I guess our taste isn't as similar as I had imagined. :lol:

I can't stand any of those shows...



;)
 
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Rambo (a.k.a. Rambo 4) (Sylvester Stallone, 2008) -- Actually, not as bad as I thought it would be. Though they use CGI like it's tapwater, the action/gore/violence is still there as in any Rambo sequel and here it's a bit more because of the 'planning' that goes on with the CGI'ing, making it that the camera can focus on any part of it. Overall it's a good effort and it thankfuly never gets too philosophical. Take it as an action flick, nothing else, and you'll probably score it as I did. Think of it as anything else, and it's a definite crapfest. 7/10
 
Delphic Reason
I guess our taste isn't as similar as I had imagined. :lol:

I can't stand any of those shows...



;)
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Few people have the same TV tastes as me, seeing as how I only watch three other shows regularly. And I am about to drop Heroes. I think I only keep watching it because it is between Chuck and Castle.
 
TB
I know LOST is certainly one of them and I could guess at the other two, but would likely be wrong...

For the love of Peter, stop now! I made it 3 episodes into this season and canceled my Season Pass.
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Trust Me is canceled and Dollhouse got desperate to not be canceled, and it got to where I didn't enjoy it anymore. No amount of Firefly cameos could save it. Seriously, Alan Tudyk is supposed to be the arch villain? And it was canceled as of December.

The other three are Lost (good, and obvious, guess), Heroes (obvious by now), and The Office.

Heroes is a train wreck that I just can't look away from. Every time I am ready to walk away they do something so over the top that I have to see how they play that out.

But these aren't movies.

I will bring us back on topic:




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Sex Drive - 4/10
Not much to say really. Look at the poster. It was laughably bad. It is a sad thing to see a comedy fail so much that you are laughing at how bad it is, as opposed to the jokes. I am supposed to believe that the geeky Jonah Hill wannabe is so smooth and suave that everyone woman wants him?

Anyway, it is just Road Trip meets American Pie. A guy goes on a trip to another city to hook up with this chick he met on the Internet so that he can lose his virginity. His two best friends tag along, and one of them is a hot girl that he has been friends with for years and has a crush on (gee, I wonder where this is going).

All four points go to Seth Green as the sarcastic, muscle car expert Amish who longs for his days on Rumspringa in Vegas.
 
Glad to see some folks might give Bebop a try. I should make one change to my previous post

Danoff
This is a 6-volume series of 30-minute TV episodes that I watched on via netflix over the span of about a year.
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It wasn't on watch-now last time I checked so I got the discs shipped to me.
 


Jing wu men (a.k.a. Fist of Fury) (Wei Lo, 1972) -- Amazing kick aass in the making! Despite Bruce Lee giving into 'acting' or something like it and some quasi-drama scenes going on, he kicks ass in a major way, and that's the real subject of the movie. He even kicks innocent people's ass! Though, kung-fu movies have probably the same problems as pr0n: they lack a decent plot, even when the action is really what it's about. However, this movie is so much better than the remake, which starred Jet Li. If anything, you can see the fire burning in Bruce's eyes in every single shot. 7/10

Funny tidbit: Jackie Chan plays a double in this movie.
 
I remember when I had first heard of Bebop. I thought to myself, I will never watch some anime named Cowboy Bebop. :lol: For some reason, I thought it was based on a manga(comic book), but I was wrong. However, while wiki-ing this, I read that Hollywood is planning on live shot version starring Keanu Reeves. I love Keanu, but he is sort of getting up there. Also, he is hit & mis,s big time. According to most people, more miss than hits. :lol:

I've never heard of this "remix", but I've rented another collection DVD while back, and I liked it so much, I ended up buying the used set. I also have "The Movie" on DVD. I think they are from the late 90's, but they had the feel of 80's anime I grew up with, and that's what I love most about them. Firefly is another thing that I thought was horrible at first, but I was dead wrong about.
 
Tom Servo
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Rambo (a.k.a. Rambo 4) (Sylvester Stallone, 2008) -- Actually, not as bad as I thought it would be. Though they use CGI like it's tapwater, the action/gore/violence is still there as in any Rambo sequel and here it's a bit more because of the 'planning' that goes on with the CGI'ing, making it that the camera can focus on any part of it. Overall it's a good effort and it thankfuly never gets too philosophical. Take it as an action flick, nothing else, and you'll probably score it as I did. Think of it as anything else, and it's a definite crapfest. 7/10
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Good review of the movie and spot on on what the movie is. 👍

a6m5
I've never heard of this "remix", but I've rented another collection DVD while back, and I liked it so much, I ended up buying the used set. I also have "The Movie" on DVD. I think they are from the late 90's, but they had the feel of 80's anime I grew up with, and that's what I love most about them. Firefly is another thing that I thought was horrible at first, but I was dead wrong about.
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I actually own all of the Cowboy Bebop series and movie on DVD; I failed to mention that earlier. Also, from what I could gather, the "Remix" versions just have sound in 5.1.
 
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Danoff
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Cowboy Bebop Remix 👍👍​
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Great series... I only found that little kid annoying though... For the rest its a pretty good anime series... Especially the first few episodes are damn exciting..

Tom Servo
rambo_movie-review.jpg


Rambo (a.k.a. Rambo 4) (Sylvester Stallone, 2008) -- Actually, not as bad as I thought it would be. Though they use CGI like it's tapwater, the action/gore/violence is still there as in any Rambo sequel and here it's a bit more because of the 'planning' that goes on with the CGI'ing, making it that the camera can focus on any part of it. Overall it's a good effort and it thankfuly never gets too philosophical. Take it as an action flick, nothing else, and you'll probably score it as I did. Think of it as anything else, and it's a definite crapfest. 7/10
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I would grade it the same as you... I did find this to be the best version of Rambo though and also got the feeling that this is how Rambo was always intended to be... That last bit when he grabs the Machine gun mounted on the truck was EPIC... :lol:
 
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Blitz187
I would grade it the same as you... I did find this to be the best version of Rambo though and also got the feeling that this is how Rambo was always intended to be...
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You have seen the "First Blood", right? I hope the movie police catch you, and put you in the movie prison! :irked:
 
a6m5
You have seen the "First Blood", right? I hope the movie police catch you, and put you in the movie prison! :irked:
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OK OK, but First Blood is old... If that was made with todays technology, it wouldve been better :P Anyway, do they have TVs in movie prison so I can atleast stay up to date or will they be playing First Blood over and over and over again? :D
 
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In the loop - 2009, Brilliant political comedy directed by Armando Iannucci. A lot of profanity but used to devastating effect. Loved pretty much every minute of it.
 
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A Serious Man - 2009 (Ethan and Joel Coen) A black comedy centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother won't move out of the house.

Very nicely filmed (as usual with the Coen brothers) in my opinion. Hilarious story of this jewish family in which the way too kind father repeatedly gets into trubbel. Also, as a huge sucker for american classic cars, it's a big bonus that the film takes place in 1967. Amazes me how many cars in top condition from this era still exists. 7/10
 

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