Last movie you saw.

[Bear 1817]

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - I love the first one and while I did not expect another "The Legend of Ron Burgundy", I did expect something good. The jokes and sillyness are way too forced throughout the film, the chemestry is lackign and it's 35-40 minutes too long. And the scenes that is actually fun, is just rehashed jokes from the first one. Meh, mediocre at best.

 

 

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Really good adventure-comedy that for most part looks stunning (the exception are a few scenes were poor CGI was used), and it's like being dragged into a fairytale. It looks so soothing. But underneath the visuals there's a lot of emotion, and it's very funny and charming. But at the same times it deals with more serious themes, and there's always a sense of sadness to the story. It was nice.

 

Very good film!

 

[Bear 1817]

The Assassin - I know this is a bold statement that most people with disagree with, but The Assassin is Hsiao-Hsien Hou's masterpiece. Much of that has to do with my love for wuxia in general, but the film looks incredible, the atmosphere was magnificent and it just feels right. However, while wuxia is more or less synonymous with chinese action-fantasy, ther eis very little action here. It's a calm film with only a few brief action scenes. The film is slow, has little dialogue, few action scenes and simply isn't a narrative-driven film. One of the things that will bother people here is the fact that the film is almost cut to death, and unless you're somewhat familiar with the story it'll be quite hard to follow. But as long as you've got patience and an eye for visual candy, there's a lot to love here. It's beautifully shot, stunningly staged and even the most random shots seem to serve a purpose.

 

A film that will bore 70% of the watchers to death, but fur the remaining 30% it'll be more than just a film. It's put peace to your mind and soul, and for 105 minutes you'll be in heaven. A masterpiece!

 

"Your skills are matchless, but your mind is hostage to human sentiments."

 

[RoseOfHizaki 131]

The Hateful Eight

[Bear 1817]

The film year of 2015 for me:

 

1. Bone Tomahawk (10/10)

2. Mad Max: Fury Road (9/10)

3. Kung Fury (9/10)

4. Furious Seven (8/10)

5. Beast of no Nation (8/10)

6. Manson Family Vacation (8/10)

7. Jurassic World (7/10)

8. The Avengers: Age of Ultron (7/10)

9. Minions (7/10)

10. Woman in Gold (6/10)

 

 

I made this back in december and thought I'd make a new one since I've watched a ton of films since then.

 

1. Bone Tomahawk (10/10)

2. Dope (9/10)

3. Mad Max: Fury Road (9/10)

4. The Assassin (9/10)

5. The Final Girls (9/10)

6. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (8/10)

7. Kung Fury (8/10)

8. Slow West (8/10)

9. Beast of no Nation (8/10)

10. Furious Seven (8/10)

 

Quite some year, that! Films like Ant-Man and Ex Machina could easily have made it onto the list on another day. Great year for films, and I've seen quite a few films from 2015 too, which is a big surprise. It tend to take years before I watch this many films from a recent year. Heh.

[Bear 1817]

The Mystery of Chess Boxing - Now, if you're a hipp hop fan you'll recognize this title straight away. Not only did Wu-Tang Clan name their song Da Mystery of Chessboxin after this film, but Ghostface Killer also got his name from this film's villain, Ghost Face Killer/Wan Chun-Shan. That's how cool this film is. The film is directed by Joseph Kuo (7 Grand Masters, Born Invincible), and it stars people like Jack Long, Li Yi-Min, Mark Long and super legend Yuen Siu-tien.

 

The Mystery of Chess Boxing is an old school kung fu film from 1979 and it gives you everything you'd possibly want fom a film from this era. It's tighly choreographed and greatly executed with a huge amount of flair, got some funny humor and is very interesting over all. I am especially impressed by our villain played by Mark Long. He's got a killer look and is really badass. Ghost Face Killer's name is infamous and his Five Element fighting style is deadly.

 

The film is a must-see for anyone into martial arts films. Total fucking badass!

 

I fucking love a film where the good guys team up against a lesser amount of opponents. 2-3-4 against 1 fo instance. I love that!

 

 

[TetsuAkira 289]

The Revenant.

 

Supper gritty and brutal movie. Amazing scenes and beautiful soundtrack.

 

Would watch again.

[Bear 1817]

Black Coal, Thin Ice - Dark and atmosheric neo-noir from China with a beyond brilliant Fan Liao and Lun Mei Gwei in the two leads. A very stylized crime-drama that is all about the cold, dark and gritty atmosphere. There's something so very hazardous,mysterious and beautiful about everything, and the red and green neon-lit, grey city is a pleasure to the eye. The story is here and I was impressed, but it's the atmosphere and its characters that truly impressed me.

 

The film takes its time and will bore half its watchers to death, but it'll be very rewarding for the rest. Fantastic! Masterpece!

 

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Went to go watch the forest.

 

Please, do me a favor, and just give your money away if you plan to watch this. Staring into space feels more thrilling than watching this.

[Bear 1817]

Prisoners - Really nice and atmospheric crime-thriller with a brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman in the lead roles. The latter is left incredibly emotionally exposed in certain scenes. You can just feel his pain. While it is a bit predictable it's just dark, powerful and disturbing enough to make you look way past that., and the film looks great. Superb cinematography. I thought the film was lovely.

 

Jake Gyllenhaal has turned into such a fine actor in recent years and just topped it with his chilling performance in Nightcrawle. Now, I really liked the guy in Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead and Zodiac, but around 2011-2012 he just turned into a completely different actor. I can't think of many actors in recent years that's gone through the same changes. It's incredible how much he's grown as an actor. Impressed!

 

 

The Hateful Eight - Quentin Tarantino has done it again! I've never been disappointed by a Tarantino film, and I even worship Death Proof. It's a bit early to tell as I've only seen the film once, but right now I feel like The Hateful Eight might be his best film since 1994's Pulp Fiction. It's a slow-burning, atmospheric and dialogue-driven western-crime with a fantastic cast, great characters and, as always from this mad genius, brilliant dialogue. I thought it was beautifully shot, and the violence is nothing but a pleasure to the eye. I can see those scenes a thousand times and I would not get tired of them. Beautiful! And as with most Tarantino films, this is all about the dialogue. You need to be able to appreciate dialogue to appreciate this. It's intimate, yet huge. It's so calm and quiet, yet so god damn epic. He does things no-one should be able to do in 2015.

 

Glad to see him to something a bit different too. It's reeks of Tarantino, but still he offers something fresh here. It's not a new Django Unchained. It's something so very different, yet so familiar.

 

As far as the cast goes, incredible! Samuel L. Jackson gives us one of his performances of his life, Kurt Russell did here exactly what he did in 2015's western-horror Bone Tomahawk and gives us his best performance since 1993's Tombstone at least, Jennifer Jason Leigh is just too good and the rest of the bunch is fantastic too. Well, maybe with the exception of Zoe Bell who is no actor, but she has just enough charm and pressence to make up for her lack of talent. Was very impressed by Channing Tatum. Role of his life for sure!

 

And the score? Ennio Morricone for fuck sake! Brilliant! He is western and he knowns how to make a western soundtrack that'll increase the viewing experience. He know how to strenghten even the simplest of scenes with a bit of music. Genius!

 

I understand the hate/dislike for Tarantino, both as a person and filmmaker, but I am not of them. I worship the guy, and I worship all of his films. This man cannot do no wrong, not even if he did his best to fail. He'd still win!

 

Best of 2015 along with Bone Tomahawk, and both are probably my favourite westerns since the 80's, if not 70's.

 

[Bear 1817]

Up - Been meaning to watch this since forever now, and I finally saw it the other weekend. I had quite big expectations and this did not live up to them at all. It starts out great, despite the generic and boring animation, as well as the visuals which looks so familiar. But as soon as they reach the bird it starts to lose me. The whole bird was so damn annoying, and when the talking dogs hit the screen it completely lost me. The poetic wisdowm, likeable characters and beauty of the story is lost to me because of certain elements. A stupid, annoying fucking bird and some talking fucking dogs in air planes? No, I'll fucking pass. Shit ruined the whole film for me.

 

I'll go as far as saying that this is the most overrated animation film I've ever seen. Not because it's awful, but because it fucks itself up the ass with smoe stupid, small decisions that so easily could've been avoided. Annoying dogs in planes. Jesus.

 

 

Big Game - Finland's Jalmari Helander turly impressed me with his 2010's christmas-horror Rare Exports and I couldn't stop praising it. Big Game is his second full lenght, and it features some of the same cast as Rare Exports, as well as Samuel L. Jackson. Oskari is a young boy who is sent out into the woods to haunt and bring back an animal, a rite most boys in this part of Finland goes through. It's their change from boy to man. But he is weak and a poor hunter. While he is out in the woods, the American president played by Samuel L. Jackson os betrayed and shot down in the woods of Finland, and the betrayer is haunting him. Silly, but so cool!

 

The film has this very 80's action-comedy vibe to it, as well as some very comic book-esque scenes that's really nice. It's not brilliant by any means, but it's so much fun and absolutely worth a look or five. I was really entertained, despite it being a bit disappointing compared to the excellent Rare Exports.

 

[Gaz 1097]

@Bear pretty much agree with everything you said about The Hateful Eight. even though i was quite sceptical about this at first, but after watching it undoubtedly became my personal favorite 2015th movie and one of Tarantino's best works. 

[Bear 1817]

I was spellbound from the very first shot and just couldn't keep my eyes away from the screen. It was so good! Check out Bone Tomahawk to when you're at it. Western-horror, and as with The Hateful Eight it also stars Kurt Russell.

 

Cartel Land - An interesting documentary that takes a look into two different "vigilante" groups of either side of the US-Mexican border. The look into the Autodefesans in Mexico was very interesting, very exciting and kept and kept giving. Now, the people in the Autodefensas came off as quite shabby from the first second and even the leader, a doctor who was tired of the troubles the mexican people have with the cartels, hit me as a guy willing to do lots of wrongs to make something right. But it's interesting to see what people are willing to do, and how they do it, when things gets too bad around them.

 

The look into the american group is fairly interesting as well, but lacks the punch of the other side and the people who join up with this bunch seems to have a bit different motives. Their motives seems more to be about having an exciting time and keep the "greasers" from coming in and take white men's jobs. But it was interesting enough, and I am not saying that all of these are racists. It seems like their motives changed quite a bit from the start of the documentary to the end, and that their reasons got more real and was based on something else than (just) racism.

 

Anyway, and interesting look into modern day vigilante groups for sure. Buckle up, guys, because the Mexican part will take on one hell of a ride. It's so dramatic and emotional, and because you know it's real it gets even more intense.

 

 

Hamburger Hill - Brutal, honest and to my knowledge fairly authentic film about the Vietnam war. Hamburger Hill decides to focus on one unit, but doesn't dig deep into these guys' life. You never get to know them, and for this film it works very well. Their lacks of personality makes it a little dirtier and grittier, which is a very cool idea. Bleak and dark film that just showcases the tragedy of war, and the fear of the people involved. It doesn't glorify anything about the war, and it doesn't make any heroes. It's tragic.

 

Now this film isn't as good as Platoon, Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket, but it's a very different film that's a lot more real and easier to believe in. This could easily have been a documentary about the war instead of an actual film.

 

It must've been 15+ years since I saw this now, and I probably liked it even more now than then. Great film!

 

[Bear 1817]

Jupiter Ascending - My girlfriend wanted to watch this, and so we did. Total fucking shit of course. I thought the universe and world was very cool and very interesting, but the characters, story and acting was subpar from begining to end. There's nothing to dig into and nothing to to enjoy. It's very Star Wars-inspired, but it feels a lot more crap to please fans of shit like the Twilight, Vampire Diaries and THe Hunger Games. Keep away.

 

 

Guardians of the Galaxy - Do NOT believe the hype. It's decent entertainment all right, but Guardians of the Galaxy is just two hours of special effects and one-liners, most of them rather poor. I was entertained for as long a the film lasted, but it's just another blockbuster. It doesn't try to give us a good storyline, interesting characters or anything like that. It's just trying to fool us with tons and tons of CGI. A bit like Avatar in other words. The only thing it has going for itself is special effects. It's just very shallow.

 

What it has going for it is the universe. It comes off as semi-original and fresh, but it doesn't dig deep into into it. You don't get to know the universe at all. It's not a bad film, but it's not all that good either. It lacks the visual beauty, storyline, characters and originality of both Star Wars and The Fifth Element, which is the films I think it's natural to compare this too. It's basically Marvel gone Star Wars/The Fifth Element.

 

Watch it, but do not believe the hype or you'll be disappointed. If you do believe the hype and don't get disappointed, you're fucking weird and unbelieveable.

 

[Shaolan974 6185]

Macbeth (Justin Kurzel) with Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, etc.

 

 

Really good film. I loved the photography, really dark and poetic. They are many iconic scenes. Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are really good too.

A modern version of Shakespeare's work but it keeps its essence (the dialogues have not been changed).

The upcoming Assassin's Creed movie will be directed by Justin Kurzel and I have high hopes now !! 

[Bear 1817]

Inside Out - I'll go straight to point: this is easily the best Pixar film since Finding Nemo, if not Toy Story 2 (bear in mind that I have not seen Toy Story 3 yet). Thought it was most excellent! I thought it was smart, very creative and super fresh, and very well-directed. Nice characters and a good, tight plot. Very mature too, which I don't mind at all.

 

Best part of the film? The way it "legalize" sadness. It's not bad to be sad. While it's not a positive emotion in itself, it is, jus tlike joy, anger, fear and whatnot, an emotion we all need. It's healthy to be sad now and then, it's healthy to be angry now and then and so on. It might be a bit too complex for the youngest kids, but every 10+ kid should watch it. Simple as that.

 

[Flame-X 441]

The Revenant

I honestly didn't really expect much but wow it sure blew me away. The cinematography was top notch. Plenty of long, single take scenes. It's incredible the film was shot in all natural daylight and it looked beautiful with all that scenery porn, of course that would explain the 9 month shooting. I think Leo's got this in the academy.

[Bear 1817]

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens - Been looking forward to this film since forever, but I've been sceptical all the way, not expecting anything but another crap film. I'm not gonna lie to y'all. This isn't genius filmmaking. It's solid, but not much more than that. It's more or less a remake, and it's very safe from begining to end. Unlike what they did with the prequel, J.J. Abrams' goal here was qiote obviously to capture the classic Star Wars-feeling from the old trilogy. First and foremost please the old fans, while adding modern touches to please the new, younger generation and gain new fans. As boring that sounds, I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I had the feeling of watching a Star Wars film here, something I did not get from the prequel trilogy. So yeah, I am happy with that.

 

The second thing is that I see this more as a film to get the franchise started again. It offers nothing new, but it's a safe, but extremely pleasing start to the new era of Star Wars. I can understand how that is displeasing to a lot of people. I can understand their disappointments. But I was not disappointed at all. I was surprised. The feeling of wathing a Star Wars film felt great, I had chills almost from begining to end and I had to fight to keep some tears of joy back at times. It was everything I had dared to hope it was gonna be, plus some more.

 

My only complaints is a few standard Hollywood moments (Finn and Rey taking in eachothers mouth in the Millenium Falcon), Kylo Ren taking off his mask when he's questioning Rey and Snoke looking like a character that looked too fucking stupid for The Hobbit films, which says a lot considering how dumb, stupid and fake some of the characters in The Hobbit was. The trolls was awful. And Snoke looks like a fucking troll from The Hobbit. But everything else was on point, so those elements didn't bother me much at all.

 

I can't wait for this year's spin-off, and I sure as fuck can't wait for the sequel. Oh dear! I am already on my way dying to watch 'em both.

 

[Bear 1817]

Mud - Extremely pleasing coming of age-thriller with Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and some others. It's a very solid thriller, but on the other hand it's a damn fine coming of age tale, but the highlight of the film to me was the southern atmosphere and toxic envirement provided by several of the female characters. It's rare to see that type of females in films like this IMO. Really liked it!

 

Top notch coming of age/thriller film. Very good!

 

 

Exit Through the Gift Shop - I don't give a fuck if this is a hoax or not, I was proper entertained by the film. I thought it was really good, and it's really damn interesting. The film takes a look at a french shop-keeper/amateur "filmmaker" whos interest for graffiti makes him a star. Hoax or not, it was really fun.

 

[peffy 3568]

 

Ip Man 3

 

I don't watch a lot of movies, and I haven't even seen the first 2 movies in this series. This is a Hong Kong series based loosely on the life of Ip Man, who was Bruce Lee's master. I figured it would be a light kung fu action movie, but nooo it spent considerable time on a very sad moment in Ip Man's life and my tears came out. Other than that, there were a lot of cool fights, and guest star Mike Tyson (yes, the boxer) was hilarious when he tried to speak Cantonese. (I suppose that's only hilarious to people who know what Cantonese is supposed to sound like)

[Bear 1817]

Why would you start on Ip Man 3 and not watch the two first films? Such a weird decision.

 

Watch the two first Lord of the Rings films? Nah, fuck that. I'll begin with the third!

Watch the two first seasons of Black Books? Nah, fuck that. I'll begin with season three!

 

 

Sorry, but I always find that to be so weird. You should just watch both films. Ip Man (9/10) is a modern martial arts classic and one of the finest martial arts films in recent time, and Ip Man 2 (8/10) isn't as good as the first, but still a damn fantastic film! Can't wait to see the third film. Big expectations, and I am so happy they dropped the CGI-Bruce Lee and went with an actual actor instead.

[TetsuAkira 289]

Legend! Was amazing, brutal and sad.

Showed just how gritty London was in the 60's.

[Seiji 156]

Watched Nokan. Didn't cry so much watchin a movie in a long time.

If you didn't see it yet I really recommend watching it.

[peffy 3568]

Why would you start on Ip Man 3 and not watch the two first films? Such a weird decision.

 

 

My friend got 2 free movie tickets that we had to use fast. There was literally no other movie we wanted to watch.

[Bear 1817]

But still, mate. You don't start on the third of a film. It's not allowed as you'll miss out on so much fun.

 

What was the other options?

[JukaForever 758]

Dope

Too much cheeky dialogue and very uninspiring with the way it pushes hip-hop as a theme. The film tries too hard to be edgy with its social commentary. Quite disappointed with this as this was the same director directed Brown Sugar which was a movie that had one of the best uses of hip-hop as an underlying theme.