Last movie you saw.

[Bear 1817]

Eh. No.

[Bear 1817]

Batman: Assault on Arkham - Assault on Arkham is one of the billion animated DC direct-to-video films made over the par 10-15 years, and is one of the best I've seen.  Assault on Arkham is set in the Batman: Arkham video game universe, about right after Arkham Origins. It's a Batman film in some ways, but he's only got a supporting role. This is more of a Suicide Squad film and it's a damn good one. It features Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Black Spider, King Shark, Killer Frost and KGBeast, as well as Riddler and the Joker.

 

Batman: Assault on Arkham works on so many levels. From the amazing characters and their dynamics and dialogue, its voice actors, visual style and animation and action to its dark, mature and, at times, pitch black humor and its overall mature and sexy style.

 

This is the type of film we'll never see live-actioned, unless someone who needs no major financial back-up suddenly turns up and wants to make a film. And it's a shame, because the world needs more superhero films like this.

 

 

Batman: Gotham Knight - A 6-part anthology film made by Japanese directors in an anime style, which in itself is pretty special and fresh. Like 98% of all anthology films the quality is a bit up and down, but it never falls flat on its head. It's always fun and it's always interesting. The film is set to Christopher Nolan's Batman universe more accurately between the events of the fantastic Batman Begins and boring-as-fuck(!) The Dark Knight. I like how all the stories connect, even though you can watch each without having seen the previous (ones). And because it's made by different directors with different style and vision which makes every short look very different

 

Have I Got a Story for You tells the story of four kids who meet up, with three being a bit late. They explain this by having experienced Batman fight a criminal in real life. The real fun part here is how the three late kids all tell a over the top story with a out-of-this-world interpretations of Batman and his abilities, but they all bear references to earlier Batman stories and the villain in all have small thing that make him resemble classic Batman villains. Two of the stories (Man-Bat and shadow-Bat) were cool as fuck! 8/10

 

Crossfire is a fairly standard mob affair. It's a cool one, but far from the best. 7/10

 

Field Test is another standard one, but it's all fun. 7/10

 

In Darkness Dwells isn't just my favourite of this film, but among the coolest Batman stories I've ever seen. The overall visual style and animation, the story, the look of the villains and so on. Dark, gritty, mean. This one was pure fucking perfection! 10/10

 

Working Through Pain is a very deep short that takes a very different look at who Bruce Wayne is. Very nice! 8/10

 

Deadshot was my second favourite. The pacing was insane and made it intense as fuck, it was animated beautifully, especially the last fight, and was just top notch all the way. 9/10

 

[Bear 1817]

The Batman vs. Dracula - Batman goes horror? Yeah, he actually does. The Batman vs. Dracula is a fine mix of action and horror with Dracula himself being the main antagonist. Along the way he gets some help from The Penguin and The Joker, which works really fine. This isn't a deep film with a lot of character depth and such. It's a straight-forward action-horror that's more similar to Blade and Underworld than classic horror like Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, Dracula (1931), Dracula (1958) or Nosferatu (1979). But it does carry a lovely gothic atmosphere throughout the film and the action and animation is superb, as well as a magnificent Peter Stormare as Dracula.

 

Btw, the way Dracula comes to life must be a homage to Dracula: Prince of Darkness? Was superb!

 

 

Batman: Under the Red Hood - This is hands down one of the better Batman films I've seen so far. Very mature film with superb dialogue, good moral questions and a nice look at the psyche of Batman and the fine line between good and evil. The writing is, as already said, really mature as well as super intelligent, deep and really complex. Albeit a bit short (most of these are rarely more than 75 minutes long), it does carry an edge to its characters I've never really seen in a Batman film and the characters are really good written, as well are the dialogue.

 

Dark, haunting and gritty, but at the same time it has a very human edge to it.

 

Btw, look out for minor details. I am pretty sure Batman's costume changes a bit in all the flashbacks, as he update his suit every now and then. That is some serious detail work. 

 

Amazing film!

 

[violetchain 912]

Watched Jigsaw recently. I'm not really a fan of the gore aspect of Saw, to be honest, I'm just a sucker for movies where you guess who survives and for ridiculous plot twists. It was painfully underwhelming in both of those areas.

 

I mean, the twist was pretty obvious after the shot of the scars on his back. At least in the earlier movies the twist usually felt like they were trying to think outside the box a bit. Totally felt like they phoned it in with this one, so I have no idea why they thought this particular script was a good reason to bring the franchise back.

 

The traps seemed oddly flimsy as well - like they were totally missing the gritty industrial vibe they had in the previous films.

[Bear 1817]

Atomic Blonde -The thin-as-fuck plot is basically an excuse to show a totally over the top fucking badass Charlize Theron run around and being awesome, but who gives a fuck? She's grown into a magnificent, majestic queen of cinema and might as well be the next big action hero. Over the top violence, and a lot of it, and a Charlize Theron that's to die for? What more can one ask for? A plot? Meh. Don't give a fuck. Amazing film!

 

68 Kill - I really loved the poster which made me watch this, and man was I not disappointed. It's really over the top and ridiculous, but it was so much fun throughout. It's not original, but it's got lots of twist and turns and something always happens. I really liked it, despite all of its flaws.

 

Ingrid Goes West - Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen carries this drama-comedy which just so happens to be among the most uncomfortable films I've ever watched. Holy shit, it really gave me the creeps. But at the same time it offers so much social commentary, observations and truth.  Creepy as fuck, but at times very witty and fun. Liked it. Aubrey Plaza is amazing!

 

Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 - 11 years after the first one Alain Desrochers returns wiith a sequel to the Canadian buddy-comp comedy from 2006. It's a bit weaker, but it offers a lot of fun throughout. Throughout both I've found meself giggling and laughing out loud many, many times, and that is a positive sign for sure.

 

Serenity - It doesn't quite live up to the series it's based on (FIrefly), but it's a superb continuity of a classic TV-series nonetheless. It just offers a lot of fun. They don't really maker sci-fi like this anymore. It's magic!

 

 

[Bear 1817]

Dark Angel - This one is probably better known under the lame title I Come In Peace but to me this is Dark Angel all the way. I was invited over to a friend to watch this on a huge screen, and it was amazing. The film was fantastic of course. Absurd and comical as fuck, but we're both Dolph Lundgren fanboys and that makes a difference for sure.  But it's a cheesy-as-fuck action sci-fi, and it pleased me a lot. Will watch again!

 

Dragonslayer - This epic sword & sorcery film are among the best in the genre. It's as majestic as it gets, and almost 40 years later the dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative (what a badass name!), are still the best dragon made on screen ever. Miles ahead of the next ones. Holy shit, it looks so good, it's so powerful and dangerous. It's everything you'd want from a dragon. This film is a forgotten gem and a proper classic in my eyes. Magnificent! Almost perfect!

[Jigsaw9 6783]

2 hours ago, Bear said:

Ingrid Goes West - Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen carries this drama-comedy which just so happens to be among the most uncomfortable films I've ever watched. Holy shit, it really gave me the creeps. But at the same time it offers so much social commentary, observations and truth.  Creepy as fuck, but at times very witty and fun. Liked it. Aubrey Plaza is amazing!

 

Thanks for mentioning this. I love Aubrey Plaza and I wanted to watch some random movie, so this was perfect.  Good stuff.

[Bear 1817]

Batman & Bill - A documentary about the very roots of Batman and who created him, his foes and the whole universe of Gotham. Bob Kane always got the honor for this as his name was always attached to everything. But the truth is something quite different, and this film takes a lot at that. A very sad, touching and tragic story tbh. And the best thing about this is that it in no ways try to talk shit about Bob Kane or anything, rather it focuses on trying to give Bill Finger some credit for his work. Obviously, doing that automatically sheds some negative light on the face of Bob Kane, but not a single time during this documentary does the filmmaker intend to dirt up Bob Kane's name and legacy. Which is something I have to appreciate.

 

 

War for the Planet of the Apes - I thought Rise... was a good film, but it kinda lacked the feeling of being a Planet of the Apes film. And it felt more like a different film of its own. With Dawn... they took a huge step away from this, and backwards I'd say as they include a lot of familiar elements from the Planet of the Apes franchise and it felt like a very good Planet of the Apes film. With War... they've decided to include even more of the original films to the reboot, and it should be no surprise that this is by far the best in the reboot and the best Planet of the Apes film since the original 1968 film. This was amazing! 

 

I must also applaud the inclusion of Bad Ape. He works as a comic relief, but not in the usual try-hard sense. He feels like a natural character to the whole universe and one that just had to come sooner or later. Really liked him.

[Bear 1817]

Batman: The Killing Joke - A weird, disjointed film. The film starts with a prologue taking a look at the relationship of Batman and Batgirl. And unlike others, I think this part is decent. Fans talk about the character of Batgirl being sexualized, but I don't really think so. Or at least not in the vein others seem to think. It shows the human side of the characters Batman and Batgirl, and it shows some of their flawed sides and faults, especially the father figure that it Batman.

 

My problem with the film lies in the fact that the first and second half of the film don't connect in any way whatsoever, and the first half doesn't stand well on its own legs. I don't know why they included that in this film and I don't understand why they didn't just make a full film out of the second half. But the second half, the Killing Joke story, is really nicely adapted, if not perfect. But it makes this film worth a look and it makes it a lot better than the reviews would suggest.

 

 

 

Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection - The first Delta Force film with Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin is a classic, and this, while like most Cannon film sequels are a huge step down, is still very entertaining. Simple, straight-forward Chuck Norris action film. No more, no less.

 

68 Kill  - 90 minutes of fast, over the top violence and gore, immature humour and witty dialogue. This isn't by no means a great films, but it's got almost everything I love mashed into one film and it worked really well. These 90 minutes flew by like it was fucking 40 minutes. Absolute hilarious.

 

I checked this out because of its poster btw.

 

 

 

Sweet-looking posters, Especially the top one. Gorgeous!

[platy 3018]

Justice League – Just another superhero movie that suffers from the tragically  shit formulaic villain. What kept the movie afloat were the characters. I surprisingly enjoyed the cast, Although the humour felt forced at times. Also, this definitely should have been released AFTER every other character in the league had been established with their own movie, I know a little about each hero due to the JL cartoon and stuff I watched, but for people who don't have this knowledge the characters were just sort of thrown into the movie with little introduction. 

The group has good chemistry, however the villain, who looked like something out of the latest World of Warcraft trailer, was DUMB. Some bad CG effect that won't stop going on about "I wanna take over the world BUAHAHA" and mumbling something about his mother who was just three rocks wtf. Trash, just like every other villain from recent sci-fi fantasy flicks.  (apart from Pennywise) 

If they had focused on anything else but that subplot with the villain it would've made for a better movie. 

Entertaining, but sadly lacks an interesting plot.  I think it ended up being kind of geared more towards children. 

 

if this movie had been JL versus Superman I would give it a straight up 10/10 because that scene was awesome.

 

[efuru 255]

Last movie I saw was Raw. It was on netflix and I saw something saying it was so gross that people couldn't make it through the whole thing. Don't agree with that but I did really really like it. It had some gross moments but it was a pretty shocking movie in general. Not the gore cause there wasn't that much it was just used to great effect. Didn't feel like a horror movie. More like a coming of age movie meets a psychological thriller but only in sections. If that makes sense.

[Bear 1817]

7 hours ago, platy said:

Justice League – Also, this definitely should have been released AFTER every other character in the league had been established with their own movie, I know a little about each hero due to the JL cartoon and stuff I watched, but for people who don't have this knowledge the characters were just sort of thrown into the movie with little introduction. 

 

This shouldn't be a problem, unless the film is poorly made and written to begin with. Take a look at The Avengers as an example. Neither Black Widow or Hawkeye had an film of their own before this, even though they had small appearances in other Marvel films before this. But they both worked really well in the film and had quite big supporting roles. But it's not like the general audience had any clue about who they are before this.

 

It's the same with Captain America: Civil War and the characters Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), Falcon, War Machine, Black Panther, Vision and Scarlet Witch. None of these have had any big roles in previous films, though some have had small supporting roles. But again, most casual viewers knew nowt of these characters. But again, they worked really well in the film.

 

And I could mention more Marvel films who's made this work. And that's only because of it's writing and portrayal of its characters on-screen.

 

 

I have not seen Justice League yet, but I would imagine it suffering from the same problem as every other film in the DC Extended Universe. And that is poor writing. Poor, poor, poor writing. Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman all suffers from this, even though Wonder Woman is on a whole other level compared to the other films. But it's still not a well-written film. Not even close, especially character-wise. And I have no problem imagine this as a huge problem for Justice League as well, as it seems to be a trend in the DCEU to have poorly written characters and stories.

 

DC should be about 50 times better and cooler on screen than Marvel as it's got a cooler arsenal of superheroes and characters, yet the DC films, with the exception of Wonder Woman (6/10), are unwatchable at best while Marvel are spewing out the one big, fat entertaining film after the other in an incredible tempo. So disappointing.

[platy 3018]

2 hours ago, Bear said:

 

I have not seen Justice League yet, but I would imagine it suffering from the same problem as every other film in the DC Extended Universe. And that is poor writing. Poor, poor, poor writing. Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman all suffers from this, even though Wonder Woman is on a whole other level compared to the other films. But it's still not a well-written film. Not even close, especially character-wise. And I have no problem imagine this as a huge problem for Justice League as well, as it seems to be a trend in the DCEU to have poorly written characters and stories.

 

DC should be about 50 times better and cooler on screen than Marvel as it's got a cooler arsenal of superheroes and characters, yet the DC films, with the exception of Wonder Woman (6/10), are unwatchable at best while Marvel are spewing out the one big, fat entertaining film after the other in an incredible tempo. So disappointing.

Disappointing indeed. I didn't go in with high expectations, after I suffered through suicide squad and slept through 90% of BvS. 

 

I'm no movie expert, but I think you're right. The writing is awful. JL is the draft of a movie and it should've gone through many revisions and improvements before they put it out there. But I believe the rush to compete with The Avengers meant they sacrificed the quality just for the sake of showing "look we have our group of heroes too!" and then embarrassing themselves in the process. 

Honestly it does make me sad that DC can't be bothered to put enough effort into their movies. I couldn't give a flying fuck about anyone in The Avengers and the movies bore me to death, I wanted a new superhero franchise to follow after the end of the new X-Men. 

The characters have potential and the casting was good,  but I don't feel like I have the strength to keep up with any more DC movies if everything is gonna be basic, rushed and bland every single time. 

[Bear 1817]

If you are a fan of DC I would recommend going through their animated films. Seen a lot of the Batman films and saw two more yesterday and tge quality of the majority are sky high. Really, really high quality stories where they put a lot of effort into almost everything. Said it not many days ago that it is a shame they, don't put 1/10th of the effort into the live action films. It really angers me.

[Bear 1817]

Son and Batman - A flawed but very fun beginning on a trilogy about Batman, his son, Nightwing and more. Lots of action and violence, and it shows another side of Batman. He not only becomes a father figure, but an actual father. It's fun. Got plenty nice dialogue, voice acting and animation too. My only problem is that the son, Damian, is way too strong and powerful. But that's the only big mistake here IMO.

 

Good film!

 

 

Batman vs. Robin - The second part of the trilogy is a huge step up. This is one of the better of the animated films. It digs hella lot deeper into the characters of Batman and Robin, their problems and their relationship. It's darker than Son of Batman, is much better written and is a lot more fun. Simply a fantastic film!

 

The Court of Owls! Holy shit, so cool!

 

 

Batman: Bad Blood - Last part of the trilogy is a step down from Batman vs. Robin, but is as good as Son of Batman. Doesn't feature much Batman tbh, but you get plenty Nightwing, Robin, Batwoman and Batwing. It's got a fairly deep and complex story lots of violent action and plenty fun and snappy dialogue. A very good film!

 

But I really wish they'd explore the villains a lot more. But it doesn't the job really well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw, next year we'll see the release of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, based on the Elseworlds story by the same name. Shieeeeeeeet, I am so looking forward to that. Batman set to the Victorian era. But I know they've made some changes from the comic book. Not sure what I think about that yet. Because if done right, this could so easily become the best Batman film ever made. But we'll see.

[Bear 1817]

John Wick: Chapter 2 - With the neo-noir actioner John Wick, Chad Stahelski basically took modern Hollywood action up to a new level of cool, offering stylish action and cool and beautiful environments full of atmosphere. It was a film Hollywood really longed for. An action film where the actors gets to unfold on-screen and actually fight. It was a breath of fresh air, especially with the fights not being cut to death Hollywood style.

 

John Wick: Chapter 2 isn't as much as a breath of fresh air as the first one, but I won't hesitate saying that it's the better film of the two. Like the first one the film bears tons and tons of John Woo influences on its sleeve, as well as Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa. Great fight choreography and action sets. The first one was an instant, modern classic, and so is this.

 

A third one is coming and my body is ready. If Chad Stahelski can prove himself for a third time with the third film, then I will glady take 20 more of these. Even if it's just the same all over again. Immensely fun!

 

Blade Runner 2049 - I watched this in the best cinema Norway has to offer a month ago or so, and it was a real pleasure. Now the experience itself was great, with the sound being out of this world. It was so loud that our chairs were shaking, but still not so loud it hurt our ears. And that was brilliant.

 

Anyway, a slow-burning, visual masterpiece that really connects well with the original and just builds further on what made the original so good. It feels real, it feels honest and it feels like a proper continuation of the original. And it shows a lot of respect towards the original. A fantastic sequel!

 

Baby Driver - Silly but incredibly cool action-crime film with loads and loads of cool music. This isn't some deep film that'll leave you thinking about life and shit, but it's a film that'll entertain you greatly for the entire 110 minutes it lasts. Fast-paced, witty and fun. Thought it was real good!

[Bear 1817]

The Punisher - This has always been a fairly poor adaption of the iconic anti-hero that is The Punisher, but I've always loved it and I still do despite all of its flaws. It's a real fun and brainless action film with one of my big heroes, Dolph Lundgren, in the lead as Frank "The Punisher" Castle. Total fucking cult!

[Zhane182 2]

Uhh... I'm like uhhh wait I remember now! I'm trying to aim two super heroes movies that is currently showing in the theater. That my friend would be Thor: Ragnarok. Now I'm trying to get to watch Justice League last week, but the plan got cancel, considering.  I all trying to get myself pumped up to the DC franchise, starting by playing Batman: The Enemy Within. Just my way of wanting to get excited for the new DC film, the Justice League! 

[t597 187]

 

[Luceillia 8]

last night i watched harry potter and the sorcerers stone for the billionth time xD

[Bear 1817]

Ak-Nyeo aka The Villainess - Byung-gil Jung impressed me moderately with his 2011 debut feature Confession of Murder. But it's been 6 years since he did anything and he's used his time well, because with The Villainess he doesn't only released the film of the year, but he takes action to a whole new level. The techniques he used for the action scenes have been used before, but they have never been utilized this well and effective. Byung-gil Jung delivers a film where the action scenes are superbly choreographed and extremely well-shot with cinematography by Jung-hun Park which is nothing less than perfect as far as action goes. It's ultraviolent and it's innovative.

 

The Villainess is so brutal, violent and bloody that it makes recent action flicks like John Wick I & II and Taken look like children's films.

 

But it also has a fairly complex story and well-carved out characters with plenty depth. Some won't find much enjoyment in this, but I like both the story and the characters a lot.

 

Opening scene are probably the best action sequence ever filmed. In many ways similar to certain scenes from Oldboy and Daredevil, however most likely not as impressive as I can't imagine it being a 7 minute long take, rather I imagine it being cut and stitched with some incredible CGI and film techniques. But I can't see it, and I spent the first hour after finishing this film watching this scene on repeat. Complete and utter madness!

 

There is also a motorcycle scene that is out of this world.

 

 

 

Trancers - The first few minutes of this sci-fi actioner looks and feels like a b-grade Blade Runner. Both the way the story starts and how it looks makes me wonder if I'm served a Blade Runner rip-off, but sadly things changes quickly. The futuristic begining, with a car modified by none other than Gene Winfield who worked on the visuals for Blade Runner, is the best part of the film. But as soon as our main man are sent back to 1985 everything is back to standard, no visual treat. But that doesn't really matter. Trancers offers a b-grade sci-fi actioner that's only 75 minutes long and is fast-paced throughout. It's not amazing, but I thought it was really, really entertaining.

 

 

 

I suddenly decided I had to dig even more into the catalogs of Charles Band's Empire International Pictures, Full Moon Features and it's sub companies. Lots of hidden gems made and released by these studios.

[Bear 1817]

Trancers: City of Lost Angels - This short was intended to be a part of Charles Band's anthology Pulse Pounders which would include this, a sequel to the original Trancers, a Dungeonmaster sequel and a brand new H.P. Lovecraft film based on The Evil Clergyman (with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, David Gale and David Warner. This was meant to be released in the late 80's, but due to the fall of Empire Pictures it was shelved. However, 20+ years later they found a copy of the film and released The Evil Clergyman in 2012 and Trancers: City of Lost Angels saw its release in 2013. Now we're only waiting for The Dungeonmaster sequel and a full release.

 

Anyway, Trancers: City of Lost Angels is a 20 minute short which kicks off not too long after the first film ended.  It's a fun one, but lacks the real sci-fi elements of the first one and feels a bit more standard than the first film. But it ain't a bad film. Good for what it is!

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Watched 5 Centimeters Per Second, and while I enjoyed the message hidden in the film, it left me wanting so much more.

It pretty much forces the viewer to go and read the manga for answers, and fuck man we don't have time for that lol.

 

What I really want to talk about is Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice). A film that I am so glad I decided to finally watch.
 

Spoiler

 

This film hit me fucking hard. Tearing up as I watched it was the least of my problems.

After watching Koe no Katachi, I had the hardest time trying to bring myself back to reality, as the film hit too close to home for me, and I was lost to the film the entire length of it. I'd rather not go into details, but the film's relation to my own past, which I had long forgotten, was made apparent.

 

After the film ended, I sat in my bed, trying to reflect on how beautiful/impactful this film was; my mind was all over the place.

I felt compelled to watch it once again, which I don't think I've ever felt the need to do with any other film.

I downloaded Aiko's Single, "Koi wo Shita no wa (恋をしたのは)", which featured the theme song to the film, and I listened to it for 2 straight hours.

I also bought the BluRay from CDJapan.

To make me do all that, from watching the film JUST ONCE, is simply astonishing.

I cannot recommend this film enough to anyone on this site, as it is a must watch, and possibly a must own.

Innocent and Pure Japanese Animation at it's core. Something I thought was no longer present this day and age.

 

 

 

 

[Bear 1817]

Trancers II - The original is a low-budget gem from the 80's. Original and unique in many ways. This sequel however feels cheaper, looks cheaper and generally plays cheaper. It's basically got nothing for itself, and even the one-lines are pretty awful. Not even the legendary Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton can help this film. A poor sequel to a great original. Disappointed!

[p0pp3r 27]

I watched Shin Godzilla yesterday for the 3rd time. It was somewhat boring with the political storyline but that's what made it realistic as well  That version of Godzilla was just so OP it felt overboard and amazing at the same time lol