Last movie you saw.

[JukaForever 758]

Deathnote .... the american one .... save yourself and don't watch it

[Gaz 1097]

i also watched it just for lolz and it actually met my expectations of mediocrity. though, it was a bit fun to watch Death Note being americanized to its core.

[Bear 1817]

Adam Wingard, man. Only a few years ago he proved himself as one of the most interesting and promising directors in the world, and now it's come to this. Sad really. You're Next, The Guest and his segments for V/H/S, V/H/S 2 and The ABCs of Death are all top notch.

 

Still very interested in his upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong, tho. I can imagine him doing something great with it for sure.

[platy 3018]

My views on Death Note (ctrl c +ctrl v'd)

 

if you go into this movie without knowing the source material you will get a rushed experience, with bland characters, unclear motives, 80s ballads, badly played mind games and a really lame climax. It just feels very incomplete so I wouldn't recommend it.

Fans of the source material will get an extremely shallow version of everything death note is. I won't blame it on the actors, but whoever thought bringing such a weak story devoid of any depth and development to the screens was a good idea. This would've worked better as a series and not a movie, perhaps then I would've given this a 7 if the characters were better presented and developed. But this is an insult to both fans and newcomers' intellects.

 

Loopholes everywhere, forced romance...yikes. Not the worst thing I've seen, but it's definitely not fun to watch.

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

gaijin death note goes out in ignoring the shallow Dostoyevskian spirit of the original with an emphasis in American television melodrama that has now just about ruined the sensibilities of an entire generation. I don't hold the original in much esteem, but I watched it with a person who does and talking about this film and the source material did make it an interesting watch in just how many small details were changed for very questionable ends that sometimes give a very contradictory reading of the psychology of the film when you get down to it.

 

Contrary to above I absolutely loathe Adam Wingard, who I think is both an imbecile and an arsehole who makes films of such pitch black fatalism that even I can't take them. I had to dig up the notes I did on his blair witch remake 

 

"In Blair Witch 2K16 A great evil lurks in the woods that adheres to no rules, logic or sense, other than all the 2010's horror tropes of course. Forest spiritz seemingly able to alter the principles of time and space itself; trees wend at will and time literally ceases to function as normal! And yet it's satisfied to merely bully our heroes for a good hour until it unemphatically finishes them off. Nod to the Blair Witch mythos or the writers taking artistic liberties? Who cares when it's anathema to tension and suspense in its sheer stupidity. It's morose in the same cynical way Wingard's VHS series is; after the gag reel is done the rollercoaster inevitably crashes, and there's no hope for anyone. 

Stylistically the naturalism of the original is discarded in favour of the caricature of 2010's horror filmmaking; tightly edited together found footage from multiple cameras averaging about five cuts per ten seconds. The haunted forest trekking crew must have known a professional team was going to edit their death footage into a slick 89 minute feature, because they all conjure their best American stage acting impressions for cameras ( and a drone, that ceases to work once the mad forest spirits tinker with the reception of the signal. What can't this great evil do!? ). 

If the long scene inside the tent set the tone to the original, here it's the characters walking into the woods with the editor blowing his wad over the keyboard in preparation for the next loud noise to come. Trash."

[Bear 1817]

Wait. You don't like either You're Next or The Guest? That's a big "what the fucking fuck?" for me tbh.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

On 8/17/2017 at 0:27 PM, koroshiyaichi said:

Baby Driver... My new best movie ever!!!

Saw it myself last week.

It was surprisingly entertaining for what I paid for.

Not too over the top, and the plot was one I have not come across yet.

Main actors were average, and I think that's what helped the film become a great watch, but fall short of being noticed by the masses.

Ending was meh.

[Bear 1817]

Been feeling like watching lots of 80's trash the past few days, and been watching and watched some new-to-me films from Cannon Films lately. I love trashy action films from Cannon Films and highly recommend the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. Despite the actual quality of the films, they knew how to entertain.

 

American Ninja - By far the best film in the series, and while it isn't a very good film per se, I just can't help but to love it. So entertaining! It's fun how Steve James always ended up as a side kick despite being the better actor (and most likely martial artists) in these films. Steve James as Cpl. Curtis Jackson are half the fun of these films. Michael Dudikoff was such a shitty actor. No emotion whatsoever, and there's a good reason why he doesn't get to say much. Still love him, tho! The entire film is cult as fuck!

 

American Ninja 2: The Confrontation - A huge step down, but it's still loads of fun throughout its runtime of 90 minutes. Steve James rules, Michael Dudikoff is fun.

 

American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt - Michael Dudikoff did not return for the third film in the series, but David Bradley lands the role and steps the fuck up. The film itself is on par with The Confrontation, but David Bradley is a better actor than Dudikoff. But Steve James is the shit, and I love Michele B. Chan, an actress best known for her role as Mei Jan in a couple of MacGyver episodes.

 

American Ninja 4: The Annihilation - Dudikoff is back, but David Bradley gets to continue nonetheless. But they don't get much screentime together, and that's the biggest problem here. They should've had a shitload of screentime together. And gone is Steve James, which massively drags the film down. Still entertaining tho.

 

American Ninja 5 - This film is a rare case of... something. This was never intended to be a part of the American Ninja franchise, but a different film known as American Dragons. But they changed the title to cash in on the original American Ninja films. It stars David Bradley, but in a different role, and the overall tone of the film is different. It's lighter and lean a lot towards comedy and adventure, elemts which played more or less no part in the previous films, even tho Steve James was a funny motherfucker. But in a different way. Anyway, I still like it, tho the weakest of the series.

 

I'd say that these American Ninja films are way better than their reputation, but they're more for 80's b-film action maniacs than anything.

 

Will watch the connected films Lethal Ninja and  American Samurai later this week. Looking forward to it as I've never watched them before. Hadn't seen American Ninja 4 or 5 either.

 

Missing in Action - This film was actually shot after its sequel Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (shot back to back) and was supossed to be the sequel, but the producers saw more money and quality in this and just changed the titles and made this the first one. And it was the right decision if you ask me. This film draws more or less all inspiration from the script of Rambo: First Blood Part II which was floating around in Hollywood at this time, but that doesn't matter. Rip-off or not, Missing in Action is one hell of an action film and is one of Chuck Norris best, coolest and most entertaining films. Badass!

 

Missing in Action 2: The Beginning - This is a slower film than the first and with a lot of emphasis on plot, unlike the first one which is mindless action from start to end. That isn't to say that this is a clever, well-written film of course. Because it's trash, it just so happens that it's a bit more focused on characters and storyline. Doesn't come close to the first, but it's still lots of fun. Soon-Tek Oh is awesome as the main villain!

 

Will watch Braddock: Missing in Action III later. Looking forward to it.

[Bear 1817]

The Fate of the Furious - How many franchises reached their peak at film number fucking seven? And how many franchises only got good from the fifth film and onwards? Not many, so in that sense The Fast and the Furious is kinda unique. Four poor to godfuckingawful films before they suddenly hit the target with the exceptional Fast Five, then a small step down with the very, very good Fast & Furious 6, before they peaked with Furious 7, and now a step down again with The Fate of the Furious, but still great, great fun. Mindless and messy, but so much fun from start to finish.

 

This franchise knows exactly what is it, and that is mindless, over the top action that doesn't try to be anything than that, mindless and fun.

 

And loving the cast. Some talented actors (Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, Kristofer Hivju) , some less talented ones with lots of screen pressence and charisma (Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham), some shite ones that's still fun (Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris) and one which is just annoying and has one of the most punchable faces in the whole world of cinema. I am of course talking about Michelle Rodriguez.

 

Btw, Charlize Theron has never been hotter, and is currently the best looking female in the entire god damned world. Holy shit! And that at the age of 42. Hands down!

 

 

And another sequel? Heeeeeelz yeah! I'm in!

[jiji94 78]

Only Yesterday - Actually, second time watching~. I finally found the DVD and quickly snagged it up because this is easily one of my fave Ghibli films. I love some of the slower films, like this one and Whisper of the Heart. Also.. Toshio's Japanese voice actor, I can't get over his VOICE.

 

I love the car/train animation, the subtle moments and movements. I think my favourite scene is when Toshio and Taeko are in the car and he's contemplating reaching out to touch her hand and decides against it. I love the way he listens to her and takes everything she says seriously.. because Taeko is kind of an odd character. lol Very relatable. I love how relevant this film can be to my own life and am glad I didn't actually watch it when I was younger because I feel like it wouldn't of been as special to me.

 

Also the music and scenery. Ahh.

 

Needed this after Ocean Waves, which was mostly me and my sister yelling at the screen because we hated that film so much. 

 

lol I'm not touching American Death Note with a ten foot pole.

Edited August 30, 2017 by jiji94

[Bear 1817]

Seen some more.

 

American Samurai - Considered an off-shot of American Ninja, but this film is nothing like American Ninja. This is Sam Firstenberg's (American Ninja, Avenging Force, Revenge of the Ninja, Cyborg Cop) attempt at making a martial arts tournament film in the vein of Bloodsport, Kickboxing, Shootfighter and so on. While the film itself has nothing on Bloodsport, it's one of the better in this style. It's immensely entertaining throughout. It's really violent and bloody, and the cast does a good job, even though the acting isn't good. It's just fitting. David Bradley and Mark Dacascos are both awesome as fuck here.

 

Invasion U.S.A. - Cool and entertaining Chuck Norris feature. It's a typical mid-80's action film, but it's just really cool and fun. Nothing spectacular, but if you grew up with this type of films you should not be disappointed.

 

Avenging Force - Written as a sequel to Invasion U.S.A., but as Chuck Norris turned it down it's not really considered a sequel even though Dudikoff plays a character with the same name as Norris did in Invasion U.S.A. This film stars Michael Dudikoff and the legend that is Steve James and they are both fantastic. The chemistry is immense throughout the film. One of the things that takes this up a step above a film like Invasion U.S.A. is that there's a lot of unexpected things that happens. It's one surprise after the other, even though you kinda know how the film will end. Lovely stuff!

 

Braddock: Missing in Action III - By far the worst in the trilogy. It's entertaining enough, but doesn't offer as much entertainment as the two first films, and especially not the classic first film. This one takes itself a bit too serious, and that's never good for a cheesy action b-film.

 

The Delta Force - An absolute classic and one of Chuck Norris' best films. Starts of fairly realistic actually, before it evolves into a film that relies on one huge action cliche after another. And that is by no means a bad thins for a film like this. Total classic!

[violetchain 912]

Baby Driver was good. Saw it with my family, and we all liked it, but my sister said "Jon Hamm hammed it up a bit.", which was pretty on the mark. The randomness of the part where Kevin Spacey goes "I was in love once!" also kind of killed the ending. It was great up to that point though. 

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Saw Hollywood's version of Ghost in the Shell, and a few things that I noted were:

• The first half of the film was cringe-worthy
• Actors had no life in the acting for the majority of the film
• Parts depicted from the original Japanese Anime film (where stories are explained, and details to certain scenes went into more depth) were mashed up together for this live action film, for what? Save time?

I think that if you have never heard of Ghost in the Shell, or are an anime lover who has not seen the actual Anime film (or the # of series out there), then this will be a film that will confuse you, because it felt "very rushed". Not sure if this was intentional.

[Bear 1817]

Exterminator 2 - I think he first one is total fucking cult classic, but for some reason I never watched this. It's the only directorial feature of Mark Buntzman, but he does a good job. From what I know they had a lot of problems during the production of the film, with everything from the budget, to having to re-locate shooting, re-shoots and censorship issues. I think the latter is the biggest problem of the film, because the film is lacking in violence. But as with most Cannon Films sequels, this is dumbed down quite a lot. It lacks the madness and overall grindhouse-feeling of the original, it's far from as dark and gritty as the original and lacks the humor. I once saw someone call The Exterminator "First Blood done in a hateful, nihilistic fashion", and that is spot on. This is almost the opposite, like a parody of itself. It's like they tried to do what they did with Death Wish and turn it into an over the top gonzo action film, but it just isn't over the top enough. But hey, it just blow-torches itself throughout its entire runtime and I was very much entertained.

 

You want to clean out the streets? I am the streets!

 

Exterminators of the Year 3000 - One of the many cheap Mad Maxploitation films of the 80's. It's directed by none else than Giuliano Carnimeo (The Case of the Bloody Iris, lots of Sartana and a shitload of other Spaghetti Westerns), but is one of his last films. Cheap, cheesy, mindless and just an excuse to make an action film, but it's immensely entertaining and fun. And I just can't get enough of these cheap and cheesy Mad Maxploitation flicks. I love 'em!

 

[Bear 1817]

Robo Vampire - As far as I am concerned, Robo Vampire is Godfrey Ho's absolute masterpiece. First off, who is Godfrey Ho, you ask? Godfrey Ho is the Ed Wood of Hong Kong Cinema, just with 1/10th of Ed Woods talent. Which does say a lot about Godfrey Ho. He's a Z movie fan favourite because everything he touches turns into golden shit. So terribly bad it's good, for those who likes films like this. Also, an interesting fact: Godfrey Ho has been credited under more than 40 different names during the course of his career.

 

Robo Vampire offers and incredibly disjointed story, giving you at least three different stories for the price of one. None makes much sense, especially not together in the same film. Maybe even more than that. You have a cyborg that is a Robocop rip-off, with no less than a suit that looks like a poorly constructed cosplay done by 4th graders, fighting classic Chinese vampires (hopping vampires) that shots something out of their arm, you have a story about a kidnapped drug enforcer and good guys vs bad guys, and something I believe to be a love story with a traditional Chinese ghost like the beautiful one found in the masterpieces that is A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy. This film is ÜBER fucking SHIT, but it's good shit. Hilariously mindblowing.

 

But I have a saying and it goes like this: You can't spell Godfrey without GOD. That's how I see the man, and that is how I see this film. Godly!

 

 

Btw, some years ago someone created a webseries called Ninja the Mission Force which was a huge tribute to Godfrey Ho. Totally recommended!

[Bear 1817]

Shin Godzilla - Hell yeah! This is how you make a proper fucking Godzilla film. Thought this film was superb from start to finish, despite some truly dodgy and ugly CGI every now and then. Really liked the weirdness of Godzilla's looks, and how fucking awkward he looked combined with the immense and destructive powers that he showed. He actually looked pretty fucked up (in a good way), menacing, and felt like a proper threat and had that classic movie monster feeling and look to it. Superb soundtrack too.

Wasn't quite sold on some of the English dialogue, tho. Some of it felt really forced and corny, but I don't really mind. I can look past that.

 

All in all a really, really good Godzilla, kaiju and monster flick film.

 

As even though the directors approach this film with a different view and idea than the older, classic stuff, they still manage to capture and pay respect to the original Godzilla films in a lovely way.

 

Kong: Skull Island - I went into this with pretty low expectations, but I was positively surprised by the end of it. But yet at the same time I was slightly disappointed, because with a few major changes this could've been an instant classic.

 

Despite being CGI, King Kong looks and acts nice. He has that superb, human-esque 1933 look to him, unlike what Peter Jacksons semi-realistic and boring King Kong had. It feels more like a classic movie monster and that is always a good thing. I also liked the obvious nods towards classic anime. I did not expect that, but I really liked it.

And the soundtrack was superb! Creedence Clearwater Revival , Black Sabbath, The Stooges , Jefferson Airplane  and more. I'll never get enough of artists like these in films, especially not war films. That moment when Black Sabbath's Paranoid start playing was immense. The entire scene was just. HOLY FUCKING SHIT! That is awesome! 

I also really liked the adventure part of the film

 

But what I really disliked was the action. About half way into the film is breaks into a standard Hollywood actioner, and that's when it pretty much lost me. The fights were boring, the action itself was boring. Like King Kong vs Skullcrawlers? So bad it almost gave me some kind of eye cancer. That might be because I have a huge insight into both kaiju and classic giant monster films. Like, I've seen it all. Might have something to do with it. But it was soulless and forced.

 

But the adventure part of the film? So, so good! This is the kind of film I'd LOVE see remaked. For the simple reason that it has so much potential, but is not close to archiving the potential.

 

But I am also not in the target group for this film. I imagine regular movie watchers and cinema goers will be entertained as fuck. But for someone above average interest in kaiju and giant monster flicks, and who has seen it all, it's not all that.

 

But I was entertained. Not gonna deny that.

 

 

 

But take a look at Shin Godzilla, then Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island. Shin Godzilla is made for fans of Godzilla and monster flicks in general, Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island eare made for "everyone" and to make as much money as possible. Shin Godzilla is obviously made to first and foremost please the fanbase while Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island are made first and foremost to please your every day cinema goer and all "regulars" without any big, specific interest in films. Simple as that.

[plastic_rainbow 2162]

I watched the old It (1990) the other day so that I'd have it fresh in my head when watching the new movie this coming weekend. My cousins had the vhs tape so I saw it several times at their place when I was younger. I only remembered bits of pieces but watching it now as an adult made me realize how heartwarming it was?? I felt that I liked it more as a coming-of-age/friendship film than a horror film. It was similar to Stand By Me but just with a funny ass clown and the nature of fear added in. I think the new It will take away some of this aspect and focus largely on the scare element, which I'm okay with but not okay with at the same time. It will probably be still interesting nevertheless.

[JukaForever 758]

And I just watched the new "IT"

 

It was so well directed, there were so many good shots and scenes in the film. I kinda want to rewatch so I can pick apart the scenes with out worrying about the scares. I am looking forward to more from this director, Ma Ma was so good and so is this one.

[JukaForever 758]

12 hours ago, plastic_rainbow said:

I watched the old It (1990) the other day so that I'd have it fresh in my head when watching the new movie this coming weekend. My cousins had the vhs tape so I saw it several times at their place when I was younger. I only remembered bits of pieces but watching it now as an adult made me realize how heartwarming it was?? I felt that I liked it more as a coming-of-age/friendship film than a horror film. It was similar to Stand By Me but just with a funny ass clown and the nature of fear added in. I think the new It will take away some of this aspect and focus largely on the scare element, which I'm okay with but not okay with at the same time. It will probably be still interesting nevertheless.

I am gonna watch the original, I only saw some clips of it from when I was younger. Your description of "coming-of-age" thing is still there in the new one. This is the first horror film in a long while that really took its time to develope its characters.

[Bear 1817]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - I know I am the only one to think this, but I think this is a step up from the first one. Not as fucking jolly as the first one, and that pleased me quite a lot. Everything, with the exception of the visuals, was toned down a lot. The visuals I felt was toned up quite a bit. So colorful and nice. The story however is subpar and as standard and uninteresting as it gets, but the humor, even though toned down quite a bit, hits me hard and both Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer and Bradley Cooper as Rocket really entertains me, and I really hated Rocket in the first film. But the best thing about this film, aside from two points I'll get to later, is Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta. Not only is Miachael Rooker doing really well here, but the character of Yondu really grew into something great in this film.

 

But the best parts of the film?

 

Kurt Russell

Sylvester Stallone

And Howard the fucking Duck, man. Holy shit!

[Bear 1817]

W Is War - Filipino action from 83 with a really strond Max Max: The Road Warrior vibe. Or, not that you'd ever confuse this with The Road Warrior, but it's got that post-apocalyptic Mad Maxian vibe to it. The guys are dressed crazy as fuck, act like they're fucking crazy and just look crazy as fuck. This film doesn't contain much of quality at all, but it's insanely fun. And guess what, W isn't for war. W is WILD! Because that is what this gem of a film is. Loved it!

 

Battletruck / Warlords of the 21st Century - First off, that battletruck looks immense. It looks powerful and crazy as fuck, and is alone a reason to watch this film. Now, as far as I know this was actually filmed before Mad Max: The Road Warrior, but I believe it was released after, hence the reputation as a Mad Max rip off. But this is actually quite lot more than just a Mad Max rip off. Got a whole different vibe to it, and is visually very different. But at the same time they got a lot in common.

 

Not nearly as good as a film such as Exterminators of the Year 3000, but still a really fun, trashy film. And the battletruck looks IMMENSE!!!

 

[Visutox 188]

Watched IT (2017) today and it was so good. Definitely has a darker vibe than the first adaptation and also has a good humorous tone which I totally loved. It is also differently built up and there are some small details that differ from the old version. Pennywise is absolutely amazing and seems even crazier than the one from 1990. Bill Skarsgård is the man, he killed it. I have only good things to say about this movie. One of my favorites of the year. 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

1 hour ago, Visutox said:

Bill Skarsgård is the man, he killed it.

 

Totally, he was just awesome. I have no comparison cuz I haven't watched the first adaptation, but I have an itch to watch this one again in the cinema soon.

[Visutox 188]

Same here, need to go back there and do my deep analysis of the thing now that I'm recovering from it (no puns intended at all).

[Bear 1817]

It is getting so much positive feedback I am actually getting sceptical about the film and hesitant to even watch it.