Last movie you saw.

[koutetsuhime 15]

Last movie I saw was the Tokyo Ghoul live adaptation. I thought it was a fun movie, seemed to follow the anime very well. Not really sure on the casting for the guy as Kaneki, but at least it wasn't completely awful.

 

Before that I finally got around to watching It and Jigsaw.

I quite enjoyed It, but I didn't think it was insanely amazing like some of my friends hyped up. It's a bit of a nitpick, but I felt like there was some bad CGI that took away from it a bit. I still dunno how I feel about the new Pennywise. No Tim Curry, but he seems alright. I'm looking forward to Part 2, though.

Jigsaw was... okay, I guess. It wasn't so bad I regretted watching it or anything, but I was mostly bored throughout the movie, and a lot of the dialog made me feel like I was watching a TV procedural. And that ending... I thought it was rather underwhelming and the phrase the killer said as leaving the room made me groan.

[Bear 1817]

Bomb City - A crime-drama about a bunch of Texas punk rockers who has this "feud" with some jocks, and how it ended for musician Brian Theodore Deneke. It takes a look at the lifestyle of these guys, and also take a close look at the harassment and bullying of these punks by the jocks and society around them. How they are treated like shit simply for looking different and having other interests. It's a good film and well-worth a look. It also takes a proper look on how fucking fucked up the american justice system is.

 

Dolemite - Classic Blaxploitation sporting lines such as "I'm gonna let 'em know that Dolemite is my name, and fuckin' up motherfuckers is my game!", " I got your boy hangin,' you no-business, born insecure, jock-jawed, mothafuckas!", and the line "Can you dig it?"" repeated a shitload of times. If that is not enough to make you wanna see this classic piece of black cinema, I don't know what is. Superb film!

 

Hardcore Henry - What is the fuzz about? The entire film is based upon one single gimmick and nothing else, and after 30 minutes that gimmick is already dated as fuck. The characters are uninteresting, the plot is boring and the action sequences are really, really, really repetitive and boring. Meh, next.

 

Sidekicks - Super silly martial arts films about a weakling kid who fantasizes about being Chuck Norris' sidekick. Silly and stupid, but decent entertainment.

 

The Ultimate Warrior - Old school post-apocalyptic action that offers plenty fun. The lead role was supposed to go to my hero Gordon Liu, but ended up at Yul Brynner who does a really good job, and in a big supporting role you find Max von Sydow. It's nothing groundbreaking or original, but it's a fun little film.

[Bear 1817]

In Hell - Fun enough Van Damme film from 2003, but it's not very good and it's super disappointing for being a Ringo Lam film. He does act decent in this film though. Does a good enough job as an actor, and not a martial artist.

 

Murder on the Orient Express - I had high expectations to this as the story is superb and the cast was impressive to say the least, but I ended up slightly disappointed. It looks beautiful and is superbly acted throughout, but I feel as if Kenneth Branagh fails to add anything of his own to it. It felt a bit bland to be honest. It lacked something unique of its own. So I'll simply take the original Murder on the Orient Express (1974) 7 days a week ahead of this.

Looking forward to Death on the Nile and I am very open for a new Poirot cinematic universe with a shitload of films, but I won't expect anything to be close to the original films. But I am open for it, and I hope they go for it.

 

Accident Man - This Scott Adkins film is based on a comic book I have not read, but as an action-comedy it works really, really well. THe entire film plays much like a old, classic Guy Ritchie film and Scott Adkins is a bit like a Jason Statham-light, just a million times cooler of course. In fact Scott Adkins does his best job as an actor in this. Does really well! The film itself was real fun. Lots of cool violence and fun humor, lots of comic book bloodshed/gore and such. Really, really liked this! Also, it looks a million bucks, despite being low-budget.

 

The Foreigner - Political action-thriller with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan cast in atypical roles, and both gives their best performance ever acting-wise. I am of course a huge fan of Jackie Chan, but I did not know he had this kind of depth to his acting. The film itself is a bit like Rambo meets Taken meets Patriot Games. Really enjoyable and cool film. Seeing Jackie Chan deliver such a strong performance almost made me tear up. He plays a heartbroken man who looses his daughter in a bombing. This is not your typical happy-go-lucky Jackie. Daaayum!

 

The Protector - As I wait for Triple Threat I am (re-)watching films with stars such as Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White and Yanin Vismitananda. The Protector is one of Tony Jaa's greater films. The story is a bit shabby, but it offers and incredible amount of brilliant action scene with innovative fighting and great performances all around. There's also some brilliant CGI-work that most people will struggle to see is CGI, even though there's one scene most people will notice. But as a martial arts film this is excellent!

 

The Protector 2 - Slightly disappointing sequel, but mostly because of it's use of CGI, which is very easy to see in scenes made for 3D. You can see every single scene made for 3D really well, and they all stand out like a sore thumb. They're not the type of 3D made to give the movie any extra depth or anything, just shit that comes flying at you. But the film tones down this in the second half and the entire film turns a lot better as they tone it down. The fighting is good and all, but the film lack that one superb scene that stands out. Like the long take from the first film.

 

Hounds of Love - Nice, bleak and grim crime-drama from Australia. It's slow as fuck, but the grim atmosphere and its bleak content is just top stuff really. It's not very violent or anything, but its brutality is yet immense as fuck. Really enjoyed this! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw, you know there's a Black Dynamite 2 coming, right? Holy shit I am excited!

[Bear 1817]

A Ghost Story - A slow, romantic ghost story about love, loss and existence. This is a ghost story but it's far from being horror. It's a drama with elements of romance and fantasy. It is very slow, but also very soothing and nice. It's not for everyone, but if you enjoy artsy film this might be for you.

 

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - As a new film was announced if I realized I had not seen this yet. Rogue Nation is more of the same as Mission Impossible goes, as like with every single film in the series with the exception of the second one, it's better than its predecessor. Mission Impossible is something as a accessible, mainstream blockbuster series that just gets better and better with each film. Can't wait for the next one!

 

American Satan - Watched this with some friends as we got drunk before a concert, and what an embarrassing film. The reason we watched it was because it was said to be a very "metal film" produced by a big metal label who wanted to produce films for metal people. But there's nothing metal about this. The artists in the lead roles are from shitty bands like Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandria. And this film was just as bad as those bands are. John Bradley and Malcolm McDowell are good enough in their roles, but neither able to save this from getting the worst possible score from me, namely a 2/10. Complete and utter garbage made for human trash only. Fuck off!

 

Thor: Ragnarok - I've said it before and I can say it again: Marvel just keeps getting better and better. From a bumpy start with lots of mediocre films that were all more or less the same, they've started taking chances and taking the different characters into different paths. Ever since  the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier they've just been taking chances, and films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange and now this just offers something different in the world of superheroes. You could also add Agent Carter, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and The Punisher to that list. Thor: Ragnarok is one hell of a hilarious film, but aside from being hilarious it also adds a lot more depth than previous films. Both to the story, the world and the characters itself. Good film and on par with with mentioned films and series.

 

Wolf Warrior - The cover features a quote from a review saying "breathtaking martial arts" and it has Scott Adkins in it, so I thought to myself that this just had be something amazing. Well, it wasn't. It features some decent action scenes, especially sniper scenes early on, but for most part it's a really bad film. Super patriotic Chinese film which is all about CHINA RULEZ, EVERYONE ELSE SUCK!!!. There's barely any martial arts in it, and the little that is ain't more than mediocre at best. It also features some of the worst CGI ever seen. Them wolfs, man. Holy cow! Heard that the sequel is supposed to be a billion times better, so looking forward to that one anyway.

[platy 3018]

Black Panther – deserves a 9/10 in my eyes. I was afraid it would end up being mediocre, but it gave me a decent amount of plot, amazing action scenes and the right measure of comedy. The chemistry between the characters was a delight to watch but the best part was the whole setting of Wakanda and how rich this world is. America is barely  in sight which was a breath of fresh air. I thought the antagonist might be the weakest part of the film, but I ended up loving him, although towards the end it feels like the movie has a lot going on and for too long.  I'd probably go watch it again at the cinema. 

[Triangle 345]

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (君の膵臓をたべたい) - If you're not familiar with the book you might look at the title and think "what kind of hannibal thing is this?" am I right? XDDD The story is actually pretty romantic and nothing about eating humans XD.

The main character, a high school student, happens to find a diary by his classmate that reveals she is suffering from a pancreatic disease. They spent time together but she dies. Then, 12 years later,he is a high school teacher at the same school where he graduated from. While talking with one of his students, he reminisces about the time they spent together. And pretty much the whole movie goes from past to present scenes. The movie is based on a very popular book published in 2015 in Japan. I didn't read the book so I can't tell if it's following the original plot, but the movie was cute and although it was super predictable, it was still fun to watch. Or maybe I'm just biased because Oguri Shun played in it XD. I think Oguri Shun can sell me any type of movie and I will watch it even if I end up not liking it. His acting is just so natural and the way he commits to his role makes me want to see him as different types of characters.

Edited February 15, 2018 by Triangle

[Bear 1817]

So both Arnold and David Hasselhoff are confirmed for the King Fury sequel. How fucking cool is that? Cannot wait for this to happen!

[Flame-X 441]

Black Panther

 

Before the mid credit scene, the movie was just plain good. After that mid credit scene, it scored a GREAT flick to me. It's a message desperately needed for everyone to hear. Also, we finally get a decent villain that's on par with (or even better to others) Spiderman Homecoming's. Acting is fantastic, world building and culture is depicted well. Ryan Coogler is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors of this time as he did a stellar job with CREED and Fruitvale Station.

[Bear 1817]

The Beastmaster - Old school sword and sorcery film from 1981. It's a total fucking cheese fest, but as I cannot get enough of films like Conan the Barbarian, Krull, Excalibur, Legend, Dragonslayer and stuff I just can't help but to love the shit out of this. It's just really fun throughout. Great stuff!

[Bear 1817]

Goon: Last of the Enforcers - Unoriginal story and all aside, this is a worthy sequel to one of the very best sports and comedy films of all time, Goon. Seann William Scott is once again amazing in the lead, and it's just got something about it that I really like.  What drags it a bit down is Jay Baruchel's immature directing and script. It's a bit too much of the usual Jay Baruchel/Seth Rogen/James Franco/Jonah Hill humour. Now while I do actually enjoy that type of humour quite a lot, it feels a bit misplaced in a film like this. But I truly enjoyed it anyway.

 

London Has Fallen - More of the same as Olympus Has Fallen, but I can actually enjoy these films quite a lot. You just have to completely turn off your brain and laugh of it, make fun of it and all and it'll make for some decent entertainment. Silly and over the top. And Stupid as fuck.

 

Black Panther - Up there with the best of the best in MCU so far. The last third gets a bit generic and boring with fights we've seen a few times too many already, but everything before that, from characters and dialogue to story, acting and visual style is very good. A really enjoyable film!

 

Top notch soundtrack too!

[Tokage 5930]

Tsuburo no gara: Rather obscure piece of Japanese surreal/cyberpunk cinema. A man with a weird metal contraption attached to his back and a female nurse wake up trapped in a room together in what appears to be some kind of decrepit factory/hospital mashup. The man seems to be suffering from some sort of disease and/or inner turmoil, and the woman at first is preoccupied with finding a way out.. Honestly, the plot doesn't really feel like it ever actually goes anywhere all that much, and I'd say it's rather fucking vaguely outlined and flimsy indeed, but on the other hand... the visuals, man. The visuals, the soundscapes, both really help to lend the film a distinct dreamlike quality. I'd even go as far as to compare the film favorably to Shinya Tsukamoto's works in terms of  aesthetics, with the industrial elements giving it something of a Tetsuo vibe, while the pervasive bluish filter kinda gives off a vibe similar to A Snake of June. I'd say this is worth checking out if you're interested in that particular bleak type of Japanese cyberpunk, but only cuz it manages to look really fucking nice at times.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

6 hours ago, Tokage said:

Tsuburo no gara

This sounds like it would be up my alley, thx for mentioning it!

 

Forgotten - Watched this Korean mystery/thriller completely on a whim as Netflix brought it up after finishing another movie, and I was not disappointed. It's a pretty wild and suspenseful ride with some unexpected twists and turns... some of these are kinda over-the-top and "oh come onnn"-ish but I can't say I wasn't entertained all the way through. Even though I kinda knew where it was all going, it still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat at times. Nice one.

[Bear 1817]

Game Night - A new comedy that actually feels fresh. It don't really offers anything new to the genre, but it's un-sentimental and more or less free of romance and shit. Instead it focuses on jokes and the crime aspect of it, and when it jokes, it takes the jokes all the way out. It doesn't always deliver hilarious jokes, but nothing comes off as half-hearted or anything. Memorable characters, memorable jokes and memorable dialogue. It's a mainstream comedy, but it's done right. Really enjoyed this!

 

Mainstream comedy done right.

[Bear 1817]

Sharknado 5: Global Swarming - Why the hell do I put myself through shit like this? Holy cow! The fifth film in the Sharknado franchise keeps in line with the rest of the series and is a lot worse than the previous one. Damn, this is so fucking bad. Only good thing about the entire film is parts of the soundtrack, a short cameo by Dolph Lundgren and some of the girls who are hot as fuck. And that's it. And there's a new one on the way, It'll be shit, and stupid as I am I will watch it. Fuck my life.

 

Beware the Slenderman - It's supposed to be a documentary about the Slenderman stabbing, but it really isn't. It's not awful, but it's too long for its own good, and it feels so random. At times it seems like a documentary about Slender Man, at other times it feels like a documentary about modern-day folklore and at other times it feels like a documentary about the Slenderman stabbing. It's all over the place, it's unfocused and a bit weird. Also, there's close to being nothing dedicated to the victim here. Absolutely nothing. Which I think is odd, as it's supposed to be about the stabbing and shit.

 

A very disappointing affair.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Hurricane Bianca - Finally watched this, it was great fun. Really campy and dumb movie, but in a sort of good way (think of it as a more PG-version John Waters affair), with Bianca totally basking in the spotlight. Loved the random other drag queen cameos too. Overall, light-hearted and entertaining stuff.

[indigo 389]

I watched Three BIllboards outside Ebbing, Missouri at the theater about a week ago. I enjoyed it a lot, time went by so fast despite the movie being almost 2 hours. I also digged the previous two movies of the director. If you like In Bruges I'm sure you will like this too. Lots of cursing and funny as hell. The soundtrack was superb all around  and I was so surprised but glad to hear a Townes van Zandt song there.

Edited March 12, 2018 by indigo

[Bear 1817]

Stargate - Stargate is a film that reeks of director Roland Emmerich, and there's nothing wrong with that. Albeit incredibly flawed, Stargate is actually a really fun film. Far from perfect, but it's good entertainment. Biggest problem of the film for me is Jaye Davidson who is godawful as Ra, and the mid 90's CGI. Especially the transformation scenes are bad. But totally recommended if you want a decent sci-fi film for the evening.

 

Tour de Pharmacy / Pharmacy Road - A mocumentary about Tour de France with a star ensemble. Andy Samberg, Jeff Goldblum, Orlando Bloom, Danny Glover, John Cena, Dolph Lundgren, Kevin Bacon, J. J. Abrams, Lance Armstrong and Mike Tyson to name a few. Pharmacy Road is 40 minutes of absurd humour that'll make any sane human laugh out loud. Hilarious! I was really impressed with Orlando Bloom and John Cena. Did not recognize the former who gives his best performance ever, and John Cena actually did really well. Fun as fuck! Need to watch 7 Days in Hell asap!

 

Bright - Flawed as fuck, but not nearly as bad as the critics have made it out to be. It's a bit too much action, it tries to cover a few subject too many at the same time and stuff, but it's fun and the universe and setting itself is beyond fucking amazing. There's a shot of the city where a dragon flies over and it's brilliant. Sums it up. But it's flawed. But I do hope we get more Bright films, because I would love to see more of this universe. Also, Noomi Rapace is shit.

 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Again a flawed film, but really damn entertaining. A great cast and a fun story. Really liked it. I thought especially Jack Black did really damn good. However, I was really let down by the CGI. Why use so much CGI if you're not gonna do it properly? Doesn't make sense. But fun, and a worthy sequel for sure,e ven though it's very different.

[violetchain 912]

Office (2015), the Korean horror movie. It wasn't bad, but I swear I've seen the same sort of storyline in a ridiculous number of Asian horror movies, and I'm kind of sick of it.

 

I related a little too much to the main girl though. I feel like I would probably be the same sort of person if I worked in a corporate office - wandering around wide-eyed, looking scared and vaguely oblivious in my semi-sensible heels, and generally just trying a bit too hard. 

[Bear 1817]

Wolf Warrior 2 - A huge step up from the first one, but not a very good film at all. I praise the patriotic plot and some of the action scenes, but it's too long, too messy and got CGI that, while miles ahead of what they produced for the first film, is unimpressive as hell. Cheap and fake. Also, the villain, played by a good Frank Grillo, is called Big Daddy. Big fucking Daddy? What the hell is that? Anyway, if you don't got anything to see sure you could see this. But it should not be on top of your watchlist.

 

By the way, it only had a budget of $30m but actually grossed well over $870m, which made it the 54th highest-grossing film ever. That is probably the best part of the film. We need films like this, which isn't made on a huge budget in Hollywood, to do well.  We really do. 

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Annihilation - I kept my expectations low, lest they fuck this up, but it was quite an enjoyable movie in the end! Great visuals and atmosphere, very beautiful and eerie at the same time. Towards the end you could see where it was going, but overall I liked it. Watching this made me wanna check out the novel trilogy too, especially since I heard they changed quite a bit of the material from the first book (so at least I'll have lots of new ground to explore). If you like slow contemplative weird sci-fi go check this out, it's worth at least one watch.

[Bear 1817]

I thought Annihilation was a masterpiece, and as good as Ex Machina was, this movie was so good Ex Machina looks like crap in compassion.  And the reason I compare them is because Alex Garland directed and wrote(?) both. They're both sci-fi films, albeit very different. But both works just as well as pure entertainment, as it does as thought-provoking works of art. While both are really tought-provoking and has a lot of depth, I felt like Annihilation had a lot more of entertainment value to it. A work of art!

 

 

I've also watched a few other sci-fi/space opera flicks these week. And two out of three really surprised me.

 

Star Trek: Beyond - I love the two first films in the reboot, but I heard so much negative stuff about this that I decided to wait until my expectations lowered. And while it's hard to say, that might have been why I liked it as much as I did. Sure it's a step down from the previous two films, but this is great, silly entertainment nonetheless. But I am not gonna lie, it's not much of a Star Trek film. It lacks that sci-fi feel. But I liked it. It was fun.

 

The Cloverfield Paradox - This was never supposed to be a Cloverfield film to begin with, and it's quite obvious already from the start. The film has great potential, but it wastes it all. It just dumbs it all down a bit too much, and doesn't give neither the plot nor the characters time to grow. It's so flat. And it's boring. And Aksel Hennie is one of the worst actors I've ever seen. Kill it with fire!

 

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi - A Huge step down from Rogue One and a smaller one from The Force Awakens, but I really fucking liked this film. While it's not as good as the old ones and misses the point of what made the old trilogy so good, it captures the Star Wars-feeling I grew up with. Which is a great, entertaining adventure.

 

My biggest issue with the film thou:

 

There's not enough Luke Skywalker in it. Luke should've been given a lot more screentime, and his story with Rey should've been cut a lot less. They should've kept it more intact with fewer cuts.

 

It doesn't quite answer the questions asked in The Force Awakens, not does it continue to build its characters. It kinda stopped?

 

But anyway, I love Star Wars (not I-III of course) and I found this massively entertaining. Flawed as fuck, but I can look past that.

[indigo 389]

I also watched Annihilation last night and must say I enjoyed Ex Machina much more than this one. I agree that the atmosphere was fantastic, quite similar to Arrival actually, at some scenes. The special effects were terrible (on purpose?) but it didn't bother me. In fact my favorite scene in the movie was the most special-effects heavy. On the contrary to you guys I would say that overally I didn't like it but there were some great scenes.

 

Lady Bird was another movie I saw recently. I'm a sucker for slice of life drama films where nothing ever really happens. This was an interesting and entertaining movie. The chemistry between Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf's characters is by far the best thing about the movie. But since it's from a girl's point of view l I didn't identify with it as well as, let's say The Perks of Being A Wallflower or some other similar movies. Nice watch, though. A feel good movie.

 

I was afraid the new Tomb Raider movie would suck because we all know how "well" movies based on video games usually turn out. This new Tomb Raider movie is a huge step up from the old ones and compared to other video game movies, it's better than 80-90% of them. But as a movie in general, I would put it in the "kinda okay" category. The story is based on the 2013's game. I'm very glad that they didn't go the supernatural route but instead kept things more realistic in the movie. I understand that some other changes had to be made to make it work as a movie, since it's a reboot and they had to introduce the main character of Lara Croft again and all that jazz. There's plenty of action, especially running and puzzle solving as well. A lot of nods to the game, like the "violence porn". Overally, entertaining but far from perfect. I think we will get a sequel.

Edited March 18, 2018 by indigo

[Bear 1817]

The Lost City of Z - Good, but slightly disappointing bio-adventure about Percival Fawcett starring Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson who both turn in excellent performances. It's fun and all, but it's way too short for the amount it tries to tell. With all it's trying to tell, this should've been made into a 180-240 minute long film. Not 140. And where the film truly excels is when it lets us take a part of the adventures, be it in the jungle as explorers or in the WWI. But it does not spend nearly enough time on these things, instead it rushes from A to B to C to D and so on without taking time to truly give us an adventure. So yeah, disappointing. Good enough for a watch, but I won't re-watch it anytime soon.

[Flame-X 441]

Tomb Raider (2018)

 

This movie is average at best. I was looking forward to this cuz the trailer made it look awesome but it was disappointing The actress that plays Lara Croft does a pretty good job portraying the character. There are some platforming scenes here that's reminiscent from the reboot games but not a whole lot. There wasn't enough action but a lot of wasted time on exposition and puzzle solving, which frankly was pretty awkward when the rest of the characters do nothing but watch Lara solve it. That kind of thing only works in the game. I also had issues with some of the basic logic making decisions the characters make, particularly in the first third of the movie. I think the writers played it too safe here cuz it was overall bland and generic.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Saw Coco and Black Panther recently.

Both films were amazing, and the fresh ideas in terms of how to approach the films direction was actually something I could applaud.

So far Black Panther is up there in top Superhero Films, but then again I've been told numerous times to watch Wonder Woman and then judge haha.

Coco actually interpreted the cultural aspect throughout the film well, and I was amazed at how much influence by the latino community there was.