- 12,486
- CCS
- GTP_Diego
I got myself the worst cold ever, and still I've been going out everyday. Yesterday (Sunday) I was still feeling horrible and decided that if I was going to get better, I ought to stay home resting. That I did, and watched 6 movies in the process:
Go Go Daai Bei (a.k.a. Full Alert) (Ringo Lam, 1997) -- Police Inspector Pao is trying to catch Mak Kwan, a gang member who is first arrested, but then escapes from the prison. By chance, Pao realizes that the target of Kwan's gang is a Jockey Club where he lost a lot of money in the past. The result is a movie that resembles a lot what Heat later was, mostly in the respect/competition between cop and bad guy, where both of them, although from completely different sides of life, they are affected by the same type of ghosts when the lights go off and both fear the same things. A great example of parallelism in characters that at first seem so superficial in their competition, but who are later shown as men who have to live with the consequences of their decisions.
I was very surprised because the movie looks like a shoot-em-up style, especially of the kind that John Woo made (in)famous in the 90s, but the way it addresses such deep issues and does so successfully really speaks volumes of the versatility of the director. In the end the movie is a bit predictable, but still very entertaining. 8/10
Dialogue avec mon Jardinier (a.k.a. Conversations with my Gardner) (Jean Becker, 2007) -- A successful artist, weary of Parisian life and on the verge of divorce, returns to the country to live in his childhood home, where he realizes his gardner is a former schoolfriend, and a warm, fruitful conversation starts between the two men who become friends once again. The artist is better educated, knows the world and has learned a lot, while the gardner has remained in the town for all his life, but manages to outsmart his friend often with thoughts about simple life and not worrying too much.
As the title suggests, the movie is mainly about their conversations, dealing with life, death, family, gardening, painting, sickness and other realities, that make this such a believable story, that it's hard not to identify with one or both of the characters. In the end the movie is a dramedy, but it works great as being either/or. 8/10
I Kina Spiser de Hunde (a.k.a. In China they eat Dogs) (Lasse Spang Olsen, 1999) -- Arvid is a regular bank clerk, whose life changes radically when he knocks out a bank robber with his squash racket. A few days later the robber's wife visits him lamenting that she needed the swag for an IVF. To obtain the money Arvid and his criminal brother plan a robbery, which ends bloodily and drags them into real trouble. The result is a surprisingly good movie that at first looks like a typical action/comedy movie. From what I've read, this is the usual style of Lasse Spang Olsen, and that many of his movies follow the same blueprint, but this is my first one and I have to admit I was entertained all the way.
The movie was quite creative and I was surprised even to the end. Dialogues may not be the movie's best point, but those awkward silences sometimes work better than the snapping back and forth between characters. The many different characters in the movie really make it funny, and the overall absurd violence in it makes it funny and horrible at the same time. Very fun Danish moviemaking. 9/10
Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000) -- Brutal gangster Don Logan recruits "retired" safecracker Gal for one last job, but it goes badly for both of them. Honestly, there's not that much in this movie in terms of action, suspense or plot, mainly because the genre has been very overdone, but also because Guy Ritche has overshadowed everyone else and any movie that looks or acts like this, will get compared to Lock, Stock and/or Snatch and every so often, come out losing. What really stands out in this movie and it's the main reason why I personally enjoyed it, was Ben Kingsley's performance.
And this works even better when you realize almost every role Kingsley has performed is of a soft, docile character who doesn't believe in arguing and almost never gets mad. Here he's a completely angered guy who you'd want to kill in every scene and watch him die a slow death. Definitely a movie to watch if you're a Kingsley fan, but not much more if you aren't. 5.5/10
Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984) -- This is about a self-styled New York hipster who is paid a surprise and quite unwelcome visit by his pretty sixteen-year-old Hungarian cousin. From initial hostility and indifference a strange affection grows between the two exiles. Due to complete boredom they decide to visit their aunt in Cleveland and then proceed to Florida where they lose all their money and unwittingly gain a fortune. With a final ironic twist, they are at the end, back where they began.
The thing with Jarmusch and some of his movies is that for some they can be comedies, but for others, they're intensely bleak movies. Also, because it's a very artistic movie, it's not itself so much about acting, but of the emotions the lack of acting transmits and the scenarios. The awkward images and static scenarios add to the grittiness of the movie and make every scene seem more desolate, and I think that's what made me think this movie was more about how desolate the character's lives are, but also a portrait of how desperate the 80s seemed to be, especially in the black and white cinematography. 7/10
White Dog (Samuel Fuller, 1982) -- A trainer attempts to retrain a vicious dog that's been raised to kill Black people. Quite a daring movie, and as politically incorrect as you could guess. I guess the movie could've been so much better if it was made in another time, or at least with another mindset, but the problem with early movies of a decade (1982 in this case) is that they so often tend to carry the same cinematographical trends from the earlier decade, so there's many intense zooms for no apparent reason, a very acoustic soundtrack and some blaxploitation too. The ending is stupid and something I could've done without, especially when I spent 86 minutes of the movie with everything showing me it should go one way instead of the way it went. 4.5/10
Go Go Daai Bei (a.k.a. Full Alert) (Ringo Lam, 1997) -- Police Inspector Pao is trying to catch Mak Kwan, a gang member who is first arrested, but then escapes from the prison. By chance, Pao realizes that the target of Kwan's gang is a Jockey Club where he lost a lot of money in the past. The result is a movie that resembles a lot what Heat later was, mostly in the respect/competition between cop and bad guy, where both of them, although from completely different sides of life, they are affected by the same type of ghosts when the lights go off and both fear the same things. A great example of parallelism in characters that at first seem so superficial in their competition, but who are later shown as men who have to live with the consequences of their decisions.
I was very surprised because the movie looks like a shoot-em-up style, especially of the kind that John Woo made (in)famous in the 90s, but the way it addresses such deep issues and does so successfully really speaks volumes of the versatility of the director. In the end the movie is a bit predictable, but still very entertaining. 8/10
Dialogue avec mon Jardinier (a.k.a. Conversations with my Gardner) (Jean Becker, 2007) -- A successful artist, weary of Parisian life and on the verge of divorce, returns to the country to live in his childhood home, where he realizes his gardner is a former schoolfriend, and a warm, fruitful conversation starts between the two men who become friends once again. The artist is better educated, knows the world and has learned a lot, while the gardner has remained in the town for all his life, but manages to outsmart his friend often with thoughts about simple life and not worrying too much.
As the title suggests, the movie is mainly about their conversations, dealing with life, death, family, gardening, painting, sickness and other realities, that make this such a believable story, that it's hard not to identify with one or both of the characters. In the end the movie is a dramedy, but it works great as being either/or. 8/10
I Kina Spiser de Hunde (a.k.a. In China they eat Dogs) (Lasse Spang Olsen, 1999) -- Arvid is a regular bank clerk, whose life changes radically when he knocks out a bank robber with his squash racket. A few days later the robber's wife visits him lamenting that she needed the swag for an IVF. To obtain the money Arvid and his criminal brother plan a robbery, which ends bloodily and drags them into real trouble. The result is a surprisingly good movie that at first looks like a typical action/comedy movie. From what I've read, this is the usual style of Lasse Spang Olsen, and that many of his movies follow the same blueprint, but this is my first one and I have to admit I was entertained all the way.
The movie was quite creative and I was surprised even to the end. Dialogues may not be the movie's best point, but those awkward silences sometimes work better than the snapping back and forth between characters. The many different characters in the movie really make it funny, and the overall absurd violence in it makes it funny and horrible at the same time. Very fun Danish moviemaking. 9/10
Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000) -- Brutal gangster Don Logan recruits "retired" safecracker Gal for one last job, but it goes badly for both of them. Honestly, there's not that much in this movie in terms of action, suspense or plot, mainly because the genre has been very overdone, but also because Guy Ritche has overshadowed everyone else and any movie that looks or acts like this, will get compared to Lock, Stock and/or Snatch and every so often, come out losing. What really stands out in this movie and it's the main reason why I personally enjoyed it, was Ben Kingsley's performance.
And this works even better when you realize almost every role Kingsley has performed is of a soft, docile character who doesn't believe in arguing and almost never gets mad. Here he's a completely angered guy who you'd want to kill in every scene and watch him die a slow death. Definitely a movie to watch if you're a Kingsley fan, but not much more if you aren't. 5.5/10
Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984) -- This is about a self-styled New York hipster who is paid a surprise and quite unwelcome visit by his pretty sixteen-year-old Hungarian cousin. From initial hostility and indifference a strange affection grows between the two exiles. Due to complete boredom they decide to visit their aunt in Cleveland and then proceed to Florida where they lose all their money and unwittingly gain a fortune. With a final ironic twist, they are at the end, back where they began.
The thing with Jarmusch and some of his movies is that for some they can be comedies, but for others, they're intensely bleak movies. Also, because it's a very artistic movie, it's not itself so much about acting, but of the emotions the lack of acting transmits and the scenarios. The awkward images and static scenarios add to the grittiness of the movie and make every scene seem more desolate, and I think that's what made me think this movie was more about how desolate the character's lives are, but also a portrait of how desperate the 80s seemed to be, especially in the black and white cinematography. 7/10
White Dog (Samuel Fuller, 1982) -- A trainer attempts to retrain a vicious dog that's been raised to kill Black people. Quite a daring movie, and as politically incorrect as you could guess. I guess the movie could've been so much better if it was made in another time, or at least with another mindset, but the problem with early movies of a decade (1982 in this case) is that they so often tend to carry the same cinematographical trends from the earlier decade, so there's many intense zooms for no apparent reason, a very acoustic soundtrack and some blaxploitation too. The ending is stupid and something I could've done without, especially when I spent 86 minutes of the movie with everything showing me it should go one way instead of the way it went. 4.5/10
Those cars will do 300...
I was sitting alone. Before the movie started, my imagination had me feeling paranoid, like zombies we're gonna grab me from behind. 
But when the movie started I was alright. 
I'm a fan of Resident Evil movies but the recent ones just keeps getting worse. It was all mindless zombie killing and some kung fu stuff just to make it more of an action movie. What they lack in storyline, they more than make up for in special effects. Or so they think. To me, the CG is amazing and all but it's just another RE movie, getting from point A to point B, killing zombies, a boss battle or two, with no final conclusion. Oh, and the whole underwater facility theme was obviously inspired by 
