Bear

I've seen The Brotherhood of War twice and it's a good film, but it wasn't as good on the second viewing as on the first. It's a bit too sentimental to be honest. But it only went from 8/10 to 7/10, which is still a good score for a good film. You could also check out Assembly and Welcome to Dongmakgol which are two other South Korean war films. Not actually seen them myself, but they are on the endless watchlist that grows bigger by every day. But I've been recommended those to films several times, and people seem to enjoy these two a lot more than The Brotherhood of War. Fucking South Korean cinema, man. Quality!

It's not often I say these words I am gonna say now on this part of the forum, but I am really looking forward to this album. Judging by the bands' last three singles they seem to have stumbled into a weird pattern in "recent" years: Withering to Death. = great 8/10 The Marrow of a Bone = awful 1/10 Uroboros = amazing! 9/10 Dum Spiro Spero = bad 4/10 But I really, really like Rinkaku, The Unraveling and Sustain the Untruth (in that order, and I am only talking about the original songs, not the shitty remakes and live recordings and whatfuckingnot), and that makes me really excited for this album. I've got some serious expecations.

Flash Point - Standard actionfilm with Donnie Yen that comes off as a post mid-90's Steven Seagal film... until it's 30 minutes left and Donnie Yen suddenly steps into familiar territory and becomes badass as fuck, in that way we've got to know him over the years. Insane choreography where Donnie Yen takes in use his interest in MMA. This film is worth watching entirely because of it's last 30 minutes. If you don't care about hand-to-hand combat you there's better films to watch, but if you, like me, are a fan of hand-to-hand combat you'll love the last 30 minutes. Valhalla Rising - I didn't like this the first time I saw it, but I decided to give this film another try today. It's a Nicolas Winding Refn film afterall. And I am glad I did, because this time I really, really liked it. Slow, calm, dark and gloomy film with an atmosphere as thick as the fog in act III and a Mads Mikkelsen in form. It's a slow burner for sure, but it's a really good one. Act III was also my favourite in the film. That atmosphere, boys. Fabolous! Not Nicolas Winding Refn, but no one expects that anyway. Fantastic director.

This song took me by surprise: This should be an album to look forward to for fans of black/folk metal. The part that start around the 7 minute mark is just beautiful. Love it!

That's really disappointing. If I saw Deafheaven and they only played one song fro the debut in an hour I'd be so disappointed. By the way, anyone into funeral doom here? Be it the gothic kind, black kind, death kind of whatever. Any fans? I've had a huge funeral doom kick lately. Amazing and underrated genre.

Headshot - Let me start off by saying that I do not (NEVER!!!!) watch film trailers and I don't read plot summary's. I A) look at the poster, B ) take a look at what genre it is, C) take a look at who the director is, D) take a look at the actors and E) take a look at the title. That's how I find out what to watch or not, and that's why movie posters are so important to me. So I find it sad that 85% of all of todays posters are fucking awful. Pre-90's 85% of the posters were awesome. So when watching newer films I often find myself surprised because the film wasn't as I exected. I mean, I might've wanted a horror film but ended up with a lame drama because of the poster. Because ofte that is the only thing I do; I check out the posters. And now to why I told you all that; I took a look at this poster and it looks like some Jason Statham stuff. I expected a straight forward action film, but my god, did I get something beyond that. I got a fantastic neo-noir thriller with a great, exciting plot, great acting and with amazing camera work. This was a great and impressive noir film. Bloody great! Open City - Decent action crime about pickpocketing. It might sound boring, but it was actually pretty fun. Great action scenes, a decent plot, good actors and all that. A bit too predictable, but not much more than that. Not bad.

What's the problem here? I don't see a single reason not to call an intro an intro and an outro and outro. It's the album's introduction, so why not just call it that?

Olympus Has Fallen - This high-octane action thriller starring Gerard Butler starts off pretty slow before the pace goes up and stays that way for the next 110 minutes. Olympus Has Fallen is a film that changes between being unintentional funny and really fucking badass, much due to Gerard Butler being a badass. The film is nothing new; Die Hard in The White House, but without the humour and self-deprecation that really makes Die Hard the best action film ever. Don't get me wrong; Olympus Has Fallen is at times bloody hilarious, but it is all unintentional. It doesn't try to be funny. It's because it takes itself so fucking serious and it's so overly patheticly patrotic. USA is the greates nation on earth and themost important nation and so on. May the God bless the United States of America and all that bullshit. It's so pathetic and sad that it's hard not to laugh. When they show picture of a damaged white house, some badguys replacing a damaged american flag with theirs and throwing so it slowly falls down in front of the damaged white house, with some sad, "OH NOES THIS IS AWFUL" music with, it just gets hard to take it serious and it's impssible not to laugh. Laughed my pants off. (This is the scene!). Hilarious! But guys, this is entertaining, especially when they drop the pathetic patriotic shit and just goes at full power, with brutality that would make even your grandma' smile. Like this for example. That's awesome. That scene is alone worth your time. Straight to the point, no bullshit action. Not a great film at all. Beside Gerard Butler there's close to nothing of quality here, but it's entertaining. Worth a watch, if only to laugh at the american patroism. Poor CGI, though. Really poor. That's a huge minus. End of Watch - I expected some decent Hollywood police drama, but what I got was something completely different. Grim, gritty and brutal police action with plenty of great humour and drama. Jake Gyllenhall and Michael Peña are great, and their bromance works so well here. It doesn't feel awkward, it doesn't feel forced. It feels genuine, and that's rare. Unpolished, raw and grim. You just gotta love this. Little Big Soldier - Jackie Chan wrote, produced and started this fun little action/adventure comedy. I believe Jackie Chan took care of the coreography in this film and it shows, and desite not being as over the top as it often is with him it's still well-coreographed and the action scenes are fun. I got a bit of Shanghai Noon feeling from this, but it's not nearly as comic and mentioned film. But it was good. The Dunwich Horror - Good, atmospheric horror based on H.P. Lovecraft's short styr by the same name. It's not very true to the story, but it's still a good piece of atmospheric horror. It's basically a H.P. Lovecraft story driven through a late 60's horror filter. It works very well.

Yes! This is such an overlooked film. It might not be Argento's best (not even close), but it's still really good. It's a film that should be given way more attention from people. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec - Enjoyable adventure-fantasy from Luc Besson (Nikita, Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element) with a great performance by the beautiful Louise Bourgoin. It's based on some comics from the mid 70's. The whole film starts off as a female Indiana Jones film, but it soon enough changes into something completely different. It feels fresh and creative, because it really is. The concept is great to be honest, but the execution just isn't as good as it deserves to be, most becauseof the poor CGI in this film. Better special effects (CGI or non-CGI) could easily have earned this film a point or two by itself. This film was released in 2010, but it still deserves a remake/renovation. Really, it does. Shame. But as I said, it's enjoyable and it's worth seeing because of Louise Bourgoin's performance alone. Fantômas - This is a 5 part serial from 1913-1914 made by the genius that was Louis Feuillade, ranging from 54 to 90 minutes in playtime. Fantômas is a crime serial based off a novel by the same name. This isn't as good as Louis Feuillade's later serial, Les Vampires, but it's still bloody good and it's easy to see that this is the work of a genius. I'm impressed! Can't wait till I get to see Judex, another serial by Louis Feuillade. And yes, Fantômas the band got their name frmo this character. I'm really looking forward to seeing the other works based on Fantômas as well. I'm especially looking forward to André Hunebelle trilogy, which as far as I know is a lot moe light hearted and fun than this. A whole different mood. Apparently it's a bit more James Bondesque. Really looking forward to it. And for those interested, Fantômas is currently streaming on Netflix. It's worth it, guys!

Dracula, season 1 - Nah, this was pretty lame. First off, there is nothing here that feels as if it's from Dracula, other than the names. It's a season filled with nonsense. Stay the fuck away. Back to the Future - This film was brilliant 17-18 years ago, and it still is. Do I need to say more? Brilliant! The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - For the fourth or fifth time. Still a very good film with very disappointing visuals. The CGI, guys. How bad are they? Lord of the RIngs were made 13 years ago and the entire trilogy's budget in 2013 would be around $200, 000, 000 LESS than The Hobbit trilogy, yet the CGI looks just as good, if not better, than in The Hobbt? How the fuck do they do this? Fucking hell. That's annoying. But as I said, still entertaining, and the soundtrack is amazing. Misty Mountains, Song of the Lonely Mountain and so on are crème de la crème. The Kings of Summer - Good comming of age film with a great amount of humour, mostly because of Moises Arias who plays Biaggio, a really weird and charming character. He steals the show despite just being a supporting actor here. The Next Three Days - An uninspired and boring remake of the great French film Pour elle. Not even close to the original as far as quality goes. Death Ship - Cool old school b-horror about a nazi ship. I had hoped for more nazi occultism and that they had gone deeper on that subject, but it was still entertaining. Also, I would not be surprised if the creators of Ghost Ship have seen the poster of Death Ship. A bit similar, no? The Last House on the Left - This is Wes Craven's directorial debut, and a really important film in the evolution of horror films. Great film as well. The psychological terror aspect of the film just takes it to a new level to be honest. It's bloody good and one of his best films. David Hess is amazing as the piece of shit subhuman Krug Stillo. He's got this disgusting charisma about him. Love it! Rewind This! - A documentary about the rise and fall of VHS, about how much of an impact the VHS had on the movie business and about how much it changed people's relation to films. You've got interviews with directors, VHS collectors, actors, people involved in the business and people who were selling VHS' and renting them out. This documentary is bloody fucking GLORIOUS! FANTASTIC! I was, in all honesty,touched by this film. Do youself a favour; buy a sixpack of tasty beer, make a pizza and enjoy this! The Last House on Dead End Street - Dirty, gritty and unpolished exploitation-horror made on a very limited budget. Made in 1972, released in 1977. The director didn't even know it was out until two years late when someone recognised him on the steet. Hehe. It's not a good film, but if you are like me and love the fuck out of horror, you'll find this interesting. The House on the Edge of the Park - Exploitation-horror in the vein of The Last House on the Left, with David Hess playing a similar role to the one he did in The Last House on the Left. Not nearly as good as The Last House on the Left though. It lacks the terror and it lacks the horror. But it's a good film and the opening scene alone makes it a worthy watch. Great stuff! When the Wind Blows - Very nice and charming animation film that mixes stop-motion and hand drawn animation. Starts off very cheerful and fun because it gradely gets more and more sad. Zatoichi's Cane-sword - The 15th film in the film series about Zatoichi, and the 15th amazing film. It doesn't offer much new, but everything is so well done. There's nothing that doesn't work. It's amazing really! Best series of film ever made. The Strangers - Great and very underrated home invasion flick. Especially the first half of the film sends chills down my spine. Unoriginal? Yes. But it's so well done and so very effective. The second half's a bit worse, but still really good. Atmoshere and mood over blood and gore. The Great Gatsby At least 25-30 minutes too long and way too fancy for its own good. The characters are mostly despiseable and uninteresting. Visually it looks way over the top and very fake. It doesn't "flow" very well. Some things seems to have been added on after it was shot, and just doesn't feel at one with the rest of its surroundings. And the soundtrack? What the fuck? Christ almighty. Awful choices. Milano calibro 9 - What a great film, guys. This is poliziottesco at its very best. The story is great, Fernando Di Leo does very well with the directing, Mario Adorf is out of this world amazing and the soundtrack was made by Osanna. Jesus christ, that soundtrack, guys. Amazing! Looking forward to watching Di Leo's La mala ordina and Il Boss. I expect to be blown away, just like I was with Milano calibro 9. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is the Citizen Kane of exploitation and trash cinema. This is Russ Meyer's most known film, and also his best film. Über badass film with the right fucking attitude, great violence, awesome cars and lots and lots of sexappeal. This is a brilliant film if you take it for what it is. Dark and Stormy Night - A tribute and spoof of the 1930's mystery and haunted house cinema. It's well made and all that, but the humour just doesn't hit me at all, and that ruins the experience. It's a shame really, because I had such high hopes for this.

That's awful. Did they just have 45 min - an hour long set or something?

Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge - Written and Produced by Tuomas Holopainen http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-tuomas-holopainen-life-and-times-of-scrooge-solo-album-track-listing-revealed/ I like the picture. Looks like a little boy who finally gets to meet his boyhood hero. Lovely. I don't expect too much from this. I expect it to be a bit too sugar coated, sweet and boring for my taste, but I am interested as fuck. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is pure gold, and something inspired by that is certainly very interesting. Can't wait, despite not having too high expectations to the whole thing. Brilliant covers, obviously illustrated by Don Rosa, though they're a bit to smooth looking.

They do. Kyo looks the least worst, especially if you cut off his head. The rest; jesus christ. This can't be serious?

Cool. Did Deafheaven play much from their debut album?

Yes, I do. Not of many bands, but of the very few I care the most for. The bands I collect doesn't usually release 5 different versions of every album, even though a lot of them have had plenty represses over the years. I know Sigh's "Scorn Defeat" exist in at least 15 different versions. and my goal is to get all of those, as well as every other release of their other albums. A few of these releases have gotte a new, fabolous vinyl release the last few years and they are all out in two different versions. One where the vinyl's regular black, and one where the vinyl's coloured. I will also haunt down the versions I do not own of these. If I own "Scorn Defeat" in black I'll buy the coloured version too. My ultimate goal is 100% complete discography. But this is a curse, because it's bloody expensive. I want the other version of the Scorn Defeat 3LP that I already have, and the chepeast out there right now is 101USD. That's more than twice as much as I paid for it a couple of years back. And the regular price for the two demos I want from the same band are 140 and 120USD. That's a lot of money for 7 and 13 minutes of music, on cassette tape, released 20 years so, which means it won't sound thaaaat good now. So as I said, it's a curse. And this just goes on, considering there's so many releases I want from the band. It'll take years and massive amounts of money to get it all. Nah, not really. I mean, I pick up picks and drum sticks and what not if they're thrown to me/close to me, but I don't collect or make a big deal out of it. I don't fight to get it or anything like that. I don't know what ameoblo is, and I don't have a twitter. But I do read Sigh's twitter to check for news and all that. But that's it. No. The fuck? No. Jesus. In what way? Clothing? No. Do I become influenced by the message in certain bands lyrics, such as satanism, racism, anti-christianity, politics and so on? No. No. Or, I would love to visist Japan, holefully for several months straight, or half a year for that matter, but then again, that goes for a huge amount of countries in the world and is not related to music whatsoever. I'm not any more interested in Japan than in South-Korea, France or Germany. Yes. Sometimes. But it's often on a more serious scale than just rumours and gossip. Like Blake Judd being an asshole junkie. Why does this matter to me you say? Because he's a rip off, and because of this I know never to do any business with him. That's the kind of shit I read about. No. Yes, because I am interested in music.

My problems with I'm in a Coffin are the vocals, which are unintentionally funny. Not when he's using your regular grim vocals, but when he's starting to go a bit over the top and hysterical it becomes hilarious. I don't mind vocals that are over the top (Rainer fuckin' Landfermann anyone?), but it just doesn't work with this band. They sound weak as fuck. They sound very immature, if you get what I mean? It's hard to explain. The songwriting isn't very good in my ears either. Feels very immature and very hastened. As if they suddenly realised they would start making this type of music after listening to a couple of depressive black metal acts, but without putting much effort into it. The bass is way too loud as well. I don't mind bass in the front, but the bass needs to both sound better and be more interesting tan this to excuse that kind of stuff. And I think it lacks depression, it lacks the gloomy atmosphere and all that makes this genre so good. Awful band name and image too, but that's not something I care much about. most of these emo black metal bands have awful images. And it's not like a band name like Make a Change... Kill Yourself is any better. Awful band name, fantastic band! By the way, what do you think of the originals within DSBM? Thinking of bands like Strid, Forgotten Woods, Bethlehem and the rest of the creators of the genre. And since you seem to know a lot about black metal in general, top 5-10 depressive black metal albums/EPs/demos?

Gungrave's brilliant. Seen it many years ago.

Heaven in Flames and To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding are that places to start. Judas Iscariot's best albums by far. Akhenaten also got a drummer for these albums, so they're not as sloppy as the previous ones, though still pretty sloppy. But if one can deal with that one should be able to appreciate these two glorious black metal pieces. By the way, a nice place to go when it comes to black metal are the Finnish scene, or bands that sounds Finnish. They're often ridiculously catchy and easy to get into. They're often a great stepping stone. Sargest: Horna: Sarkrista (German band with a Finnish sound): Bands like these are often easy to get into. Some people will also recommend Satanic Warmaster and Goatmoon too, but avoid them at all costs. Awful bands.

The Changeling - Great, eerie and atmospheric haunted house horror from 1980. So tense, so atmospheric, so eerie and all of this is topped by a geat soundtrack that sure adds to the atmosphere of the film. Classic! Bedevilled - Jesus fucking christ! What a film. South-Korean horror and Chul-soo Jang's directorial debut. Chul-soo Jang have worked as an assistant directors on masterpieces such as Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring and Samaritan Girl, so I knew I had something geat to look forward to. You don't work on films like that without being talented, and he proves his talent here. Bedevilled is starts of as a slow burning drama film and stays like that for a long, long time. The build up is incrediblely slow and just keeps on taking its time, but it never gets boring. Suddenly Chul-soo Jang turns on the turbo and it gets wild, crazy, insane and intense as fuck. Absolute magnificent! Yeong-hie Seo, who's the lead in this film, is incredible as Bok-nam, one of nine living on an island, isolated with an occasional visit from the mainland. They have their own rules and does their thing. Then thing happens. Briliant piece, guys. Do watch! The Breakfast Club - Not as good as when I was 15, but still a great film and one of the best comming of age films there is. Vertigo - Often considered Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, but I disagree. It's just not on par with Psycho. Not even close. But this is still a great psychologial thriller on par with Read Window. Complex, psychological thriller with one hell of a nerve. House of 1000 Corpses - I never understood the hatred for this. The whole film is a huge experimental tribute to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Last House on the Left and the rest of the more violent horror exploitation genre. Great film! Now You See Me - Decent, but disappointing caper film. It's just too predictable for a caper film. And a lot of the ideas here just didn't work out. I'm sure they were great when one came up with it in his head, but on screen it just didn't work that well. And it doesn't help that Woody's character walks around with a fucking hat on his head. Retardation! New Dragon Gate Inn - Great remaken of an even greater film. New Dragon Gate Inn is the 1992 remake of the classic wuxia piece Dragon Gate Inn from 1967. The film stars Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin and Donnie Yen and all gives us great performances. New Dragon Gate Inn is 20 minutes shorter than the original, so the pace is higher throughout the film, it's way bloodier, more violent and even more impressive fight scenes. The fight scenes here are often really complex, chaotic and intense, but it fits the film's overall mood. It's just a great great film and woth checking out for every fan of wuxia or martial arts films. But do yourself a favor and watch the original first. The Lone Ranger - I don't get the hate towards this. It's not a brilliant piece, but it's a solid action-western-adventure with a big amount of humour thrown in. It's made by the team that was behind Pirates of the Caribbean, so one can obviously expect someone along those lines, even though it was a bit more different than expected, and not nearly as great. Johnny Depp plays the same role as in Pirrates of Caribbean and it's OK becaus he does that role very, very well. 15-20 minutes too long, but other than that it's a fun adventure. Sharknado - I'm having problems finding the words that would describe this film. I mean... it's just fucking awesome! How bloody fucking awesome is that? Jesus christ! It's magnificent, isn't it?

Cool. Some really great bands there. No idea what I'm in a Coffin are doing there though. Heh. Awful band, and one of the worst depressive black metal bands around.

Care to mention some bands you like? I find it weird when people say they are into black metal but not death metal. Two different genres, but still.

Take THIS song for example. 53 second out and you get some chugging that's the exact same as a billion death- and metalcore bands. They've always had some chigging, but not to this extent, and not in a similar way to this. I just can't dig it, hating the living shit out of modern metalcore and so on. They also became very, very predictable after Eschaton, just like In Flames did become very predictable over the years. You hear a part and you just know there will be clean vocals on it. Goes for both bands. And Killswitch Engage and so on as well. Can't dig it. Indeed it is. I prefer the full lenght, but the Stigma Diabolicum compilation with their early stuff from both Stigma Diabolicum and Thors are great as well. Very unique stuff.

No problem, and there's plenty where those recommendations came from. As for Anaal Nathrakh, I'm a huge fan of of their mid-era. Domine Non Es Dignus and Eschaton are both great albums. The latter is a masterpiece. But after Eschaton they kinda fucked up IMO. Got generic and just watered down their previous albums with lots of metalcore and shit that I don't like at all. Virus Bomb is a great song, but that's also the only song I like from after Eschaton. Not a fan of their stuff from before Domine Non Es Dignus either. "Oh, look at us, we can play fast as fuck!!!" Yeah, fine, whatever. Meeeeh.

Yeah. While I consider the album more or less perfect, there's one standout track that's just a horse's head above the rest, Vortex. Pure magic! Well, the whole album is. Dødheimsgard's a bit of a mixed bag of candy. They've evolved a lot and changed their sound a lot for every single album, from straight forward, yet original black metal on "Kronet til Konge" to black/thrash on "Monumental Possession" to avant-garde inspired black metal on "Satanic Art" to the fucked up insane industrial avant-garde (black) metal album "666 International" (will not mention Supervillain Outcast in this because it's a very poor album compared to the rest). "Satanic Art" is probably the place to start to be honest. 1. Satanic Art 10/10 2. Kronet til Konge 10/10 3. Monumental Possession 9,5/10 4. 666 International 9/10

They are very good. Their first album owe a lot to Dødheimsgard's "Satanic Art" and "666 International" too, which are two amazing albums. I also mentioned Thorns in one earlier post here talking about the new song. Brilliant band, and one of the most important ones in the creation of the second wave black metal. The bands' first demo were just guitar and bass, yet it's perhaps the biggest and most important inspiration for Norwegian second wave bands as far as the riffing goes. He's just as important for the "Norwegian riffing" as Euronymous (of Mayhem, who was killed by Varg of Burzum, with Snorre as the driver. Heh) was, if not more. Snorre W. Ruch, who IS Thorns, also contibuted some riffs for Mayhem's legendary "De mysteriis Dom Sathanas" as well as finishing some of Dead's unfinished lyrics. Thorns' self titled album are one of the 10-15 best black metal albums ever. Aldrahn of Dødheimsgard contributes with vocals on 3 of the songs, Satyr of Satyricon on 4 songs, Snorre on one and with Hellhammer on drums. It's been talk of a new album for 8-9 years now but we're still waiting. Anyway, "Thorns" is a massive album. Massive!