Movies you've been watching...

[Bloody_Inferno]

Shaolin Temple

Just got the Jet Li bug and rewatched this again. It's a cool retrospective seeing Li back then, bright eyed fresh off Wushu school and no acting experience, but you don't watch Shaolin Temple movies for plot or acting. You watch these to see monks beat people up with many assorted weapons. This came out the same time as Drunken Master, and while that was a better movie overall, the action scenes in Shaolin Temple are a much more refined. It still looks great even by today's standards.

 

[Carrion Rocket]

Dogma (1999)
White Men Can't Jump (1992)
Sucker Punch (2011)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Django Unchained (2012)

 

[Shawn]

We just watched the Elvis movie....really enjoyed it actually.

 

[Xaios]

One movie that I tend to watch once every couple months is Master And Commander. I haven't read any of the novels that the story was based on, but the movie is just a joy to watch. It had great characters and solid acting all around. But equally as impressive were its achievements in cinematography and sound editing. Plus, the music, while sparse, is used judiciously and when it's playing, it is spot-on perfection. It's funny, moving, and even reasonably accurate from a historical perspective, and I enjoy it every time I watch it.

This post from more than 10 years ago just got liked, and my feelings on this movie haven't changed. Still a fantastic watch. Probably Russell Crowe's best performance.

 

[wankerness]

I picked up both Zombie Halloweens on blu ray and they both were the theater cuts. I think it was on Amazon. Yeah the rape scene is in the director's cut, but in the theater cut how he gets out is different. I actually prefer the theater cut over the director's cut.

Yeah, I had to buy an imported canadian disc for the theatrical cut on RZ's Halloween. I don't like that movie that much, but it's alright. In the theatrical form. I HATE the uncut version so much and will never watch it again.

In contrast, his Halloween 2 is better in the uncut form. Though I know some prefer the ending of the theatrical version. The theatrical version is definitely worse but I do buy the argument that it has a better ending.

In other controversial Halloween news, I rewatched Halloween Kills. I, uh, didn't hate it. It's a dumb and messy movie and some of the dialogue is super cringe, but it's fairly entertaining and has a lot of good kills and I like the score. So that puts it in the upper 50% of these crappy movies.

In other controversial horror news, I rewatched Friday the 13th, the original. That movie is utter garbage. It has a couple good makeup gags, but they're nothing in comparison to Savini's other work from around then (The Burning, The Prowler, Maniac, etc) and it's all just so repetitive and bland. I think almost everyone gets killed either with an arrow or getting their throat cut and half of them disappear offscreen. The "mystery killer" is one of the worst mysteries in slasher history cause she just pops up out of nowhere, it's not a whodunnit like a giallo or something, it just blows. I really hate it. I think it might be worse than almost all of the sequels (some of which are pretty good, like 4 and 6). Somehow I'd forgotten the infamous snake scene, too. I looked it up cause I thought it was real, and apparently Sean Cunningham hired a snake trainer, had him bring his pet snake on set, and then instructed the actors to kill it without having informed the snake trainer ahead of time. So, the guy rushed the actor to attack him after he killed his pet snake (understandably) and had to be restrained. Sean Cunningham is also an utter piece of garbage.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Once Upon A Time In China

More Jet Li revisiting, but if there's one movie that I'd say as a perfect gateway to his filmography, it's this one. The first movie specifically, though second and third are good too.

One of the few kung fu/wuxia movies that show that the genre can be smart too. Exploring themes of colonialism, conservatism vs cultural change and evolution, but doesn't take itself too seriously, and still hits hard and fast. Jet Li's first real acting prowess is here playing a mature Wong Fei Hong, stoic and proud but a stranger to the Western world. The fight scenes are still top notch, this is Yuen Woo Ping so of course it does. From the lion dance intro to the one on one fight between Li, Yen Shi Kwan and a ton of ladders, this movie still kicks ass and floors you.

I've seen this movie countless times but revisiting it now, it still holds up.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Mutant Python

So it seems like the massive success of American blockbusters in China are showing signs of payoff. The Chinse film industry has thrived so much to the point they've birthed their own Roger Corman/Canon Films low budget but sincerely made, so bad it's good, subgenre of movies or Chinese Schlock Buster if you will (most of them being monster movies; they have a giant snake series called Monty Python FFS). And they're free on Youtube.

Mutant Python is one of their more competent movies that crosses over enough to be charmingly good. The plot is lifted straight up from classic 50s monster movies, but with an underlying theme of humans are just as monstrous as the giant snake... yeah, just King Kong but with a mix of Tremours. This movie is good fun, the giant python looks amazing, and the human characters are endearing enough to keep me engaged.

Looks like, I'm going to be watching more of these schlockbusters in the near future.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Mutant Python

So it seems like the massive success of American blockbusters in China are showing signs of payoff. The Chinse film industry has thrived so much to the point they've birthed their own Roger Corman/Canon Films low budget but sincerely made, so bad it's good, subgenre of movies or Chinese Schlock Buster if you will (most of them being monster movies; they have a giant snake series called Monty Python FFS). And they're free on Youtube.

Mutant Python is one of their more competent movies that crosses over enough to be charmingly good. The plot is lifted straight up from classic 50s monster movies, but with an underlying theme of humans are just as monstrous as the giant snake... yeah, just King Kong but with a mix of Tremours. This movie is good fun, the giant python looks amazing, and the human characters are endearing enough to keep me engaged.

Looks like, I'm going to be watching more of these schlockbusters in the near future.

Hey, don't make fun. Cannon/Golan-Globus, New World/other Roger Corman ventures, and Empire/Full Moon comprise an awful large stake of films my girlfriend and I watch. Tons of fun and definitely enjoyable most of the time.

Roger is great; he'd deman that films be kept under 84 minutes I believe because then he could save 1/3rd on shipping costs. Basically a cannister can fit only so much film, and if he went past that time frame, he'd had to spend that much more shipping to theaters. It's cheap tricks like that which allow them to make more movies and get more for their money.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Hey, don't make fun.

Who said I was making fun?

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Who said I was making fun?

I was being sort of joking with that comment.

 

[Carrion Rocket]

John Wick (2014)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

Eh. They're movies. You can watch them.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

My friend/label mate/guy who does the media side of my label, threw a birthday bash in a cinema for a double movie bill of 2 of his favorite movies. Jaws is actually his favorite movie of all time, but for a birthday party sake, he went with these 2 classics:

Ghostbusters (1984)

One of the most perfect movies ever made, and the more I see it, the better it gets in age. A lightning in a bottle movie that's just well executed in every aspect. And seeing it again for the upteenth time makes it even more apparent that it's extreme cynicism completely undermines every single follow up after it. Most people will give Ghostbusters 2 a reluctant pass and it's quite quotable too, but it's nowhere near as good as the original. The movie also shows Ghostbusters itself get swallowed as a franchise falling victim to everything the first movie is making fun of. Ghostbusters 2016 on paper looks good and the logical step to try to keep the franchise going, except it completely loses everything that was clever and funny about the original. And Ghostbusters Afterlife goes full masturbatory hero worship fanservice, completely missing the point that the Ghostbusters themselves were sly grifters who are purely for the money (or in Peter Venkman's case, women). OG Ghostbusters really was a one of a kind.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Wedged right between the first 2 Back To The Future movies was this quaint Robert Zemeckis masterpiece that's also aged extremely well. The premise of combining a period piece crime noir drama and a bunch of cartoons from Disney and WB that will probably need all the lawyers in the universe to recreate today, shouldn't work... but it does and does beautifully. The animation still looks great, certainly better than CG dabbling Zemeckis, and you have to give it to Bob Hoskins and his full commitment, since this is the sort of absurd acting that made Sir Ian McKellen fall apart. Roger Rabbit, like Ghostbusters is another movie everyone's been trying to recreate but falls apart. Space Jam was awful and the recent squel was even worse (why put the characters form A Clockwork Orange in your kids show?). Looney Tunes Back In Action was Joe Dante's attempt to pay tribute, but studio interference and other missteps killed his enthusiasm and in turn crippled the movie. The recent Chip & Dale Rescure Rangers movie is tried it's hardest but still pales to Roger Rabbit. It commits two egregious crimes of modern comedy: one, often failing the understand the difference of 'parody' and 'reference', and two, telling a clever joke but immediately spends the next minute or five explain the joke in vivid detail.

So that was my weekend. Two peerless classics that will never be topped, all viewed on the big screen.

 

[nightflameauto]

God damn do I love Roger Rabbit. That whole thing was just massive piles of fun.

We watched Top Gun: Maverick finally. That hit both all the nostalgia buttons, and all the action wanna buttons. I miss watching good dog-fight type action. There's something about million dollar wedges flinging shit at each other in the sky as they spin, swirl, swipe and dive that just gets my shit revving. Probably because of how many days were wasted watching shit like that and building models of the planes in my youth.

I am curious how much of it is nostalgia though. I haven't heard many younger people singing its praises. Not sure if that's because they go, "EW! OLD!" and don't bother watching, or because they aren't impressed. I would be curious if it feels that awesome to folks that didn't grow up with the original.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

I am curious how much of it is nostalgia though. I haven't heard many younger people singing its praises. Not sure if that's because they go, "EW! OLD!" and don't bother watching, or because they aren't impressed. I would be curious if it feels that awesome to folks that didn't grow up with the original.

Considering that Top Gun Maverick is the biggest selling movie of this year... possibly 50/50? Sure, most of the target audience are the guys who saw the original in the cinemas; the same people who will part with cash to see Maverick on the big screen. But when I saw it in the theatres, there were a lot of young people there. And I know a few young guys who loved the movie going so far as it's their favorite movie of 2022.

Half of it is blatant nostalgia yes, but it certainly feels more sincere than all the others of its kind (Dominion, Afterlife, Rise of Skywalker). It's also one of the few movies where movie star name is still has massive marketing pull. Add that to the fact that people are willing to pay to see Tom Cruise challenge fate and put himself to near death for entertainment, definitely a bigger spectacle than the sea of CGI visual gangbangs of modern blockbusters.

 

[nightflameauto]

Considering that Top Gun Maverick is the biggest selling movie of this year... possibly 50/50? Sure, most of the target audience are the guys who saw the original in the cinemas; the same people who will part with cash to see Maverick on the big screen. But when I saw it in the theatres, there were a lot of young people there. And I know a few young guys who loved the movie going so far as it's their favorite movie of 2022.

Half of it is blatant nostalgia yes, but it certainly feels more sincere than all the others of its kind (Dominion, Afterlife, Rise of Skywalker). It's also one of the few movies where movie star name is still has massive marketing pull. Add that to the fact that people are willing to pay to see Tom Cruise challenge fate and put himself to near death for entertainment, definitely a bigger spectacle than the sea of CGI visual gangbangs of modern blockbusters.

Yeah, there is something to Tom being Tom. He probably has at least 75% to do with why the movie is as good as it is. Not just as an actor, but as an executive producer that has enough pull to tell the Hollywood numbnuts that want to make everything feel like watching the same movie over and over again to shove it when he'd rather do something fun for him personally.

There is also something to his acting side though. Not many guys his age will do that kind of crazy shit in front of a camera just for the fun of it. It adds a real sense of stake seeing him do his own stunts that you just don't get in the usual Hollywood, "try not to spot the switch to CGI every time things get a little itense" film.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Not many guys his age will do that kind of crazy shit in front of a camera just for the fun of it. It adds a real sense of stake seeing him do his own stunts that you just don't get in the usual Hollywood, "try not to spot the switch to CGI every time things get a little itense" film.

To be fair, nobody wants to get hurt, let alone die, on the job just for the sake of our entertainment.

As someone who grew up watching lots of Asian cinema and actors like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li doing their own stunts, and largely out of budget necessities, actors doing their stunts is nothing new to me. And while I appreciate and respect it when they do (Willem Defoe did his own in No Way Home at 67), I will completely understand if they have their stunt doubles do the action or resort to CGI to get the filming done. Hell, the actors I mentioned certainly would understand too. Another part of Tom Cruise's appeal is that not only will he risk his life for you to buy a movie ticket, but he can certainly afford to train himself to fly an F18 Hornet.

Speaking of Michelle Yeoh, she's completely dominating Hollywood right now. And as someone who's been doing this since the 80s, out staged Jackie Chan in his own movie by driving a motorcycle onto a moving train, and still doing her own fight scenes in one of this year's award-winning movies, it's long overdue and well deserved.

 

[StevenC]

Flying home from Tokyo today, so have all 4 of the Eva reboots downloaded for the flight.

 

[StevenC]

When are they going to learn to keep Shinji in the loop?

 

[jaxadam]

Ghostbusters (1984)

One of the most perfect movies ever made, and the more I see it, the better it gets in age. A lightning in a bottle movie that's just well executed in every aspect. And seeing it again for the upteenth time makes it even more apparent that it's extreme cynicism completely undermines every single follow up after it. Most people will give Ghostbusters 2 a reluctant pass and it's quite quotable too, but it's nowhere near as good as the original. The movie also shows Ghostbusters itself get swallowed as a franchise falling victim to everything the first movie is making fun of. Ghostbusters 2016 on paper looks good and the logical step to try to keep the franchise going, except it completely loses everything that was clever and funny about the original. And Ghostbusters Afterlife goes full masturbatory hero worship fanservice, completely missing the point that the Ghostbusters themselves were sly grifters who are purely for the money (or in Peter Venkman's case, women). OG Ghostbusters really was a one of a kind.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Wedged right between the first 2 Back To The Future movies was this quaint Robert Zemeckis masterpiece that's also aged extremely well. The premise of combining a period piece crime noir drama and a bunch of cartoons from Disney and WB that will probably need all the lawyers in the universe to recreate today, shouldn't work... but it does and does beautifully. The animation still looks great, certainly better than CG dabbling Zemeckis, and you have to give it to Bob Hoskins and his full commitment, since this is the sort of absurd acting that made Sir Ian McKellen fall apart. Roger Rabbit, like Ghostbusters is another movie everyone's been trying to recreate but falls apart. Space Jam was awful and the recent squel was even worse (why put the characters form A Clockwork Orange in your kids show?). Looney Tunes Back In Action was Joe Dante's attempt to pay tribute, but studio interference and other missteps killed his enthusiasm and in turn crippled the movie. The recent Chip & Dale Rescure Rangers movie is tried it's hardest but still pales to Roger Rabbit. It commits two egregious crimes of modern comedy: one, often failing the understand the difference of 'parody' and 'reference', and two, telling a clever joke but immediately spends the next minute or five explain the joke in vivid detail.

So that was my weekend. Two peerless classics that will never be topped, all viewed on the big screen.

I watched the original Ghostbusters a while back with my kids, and I was really surprised how well it held up. It even held their attention!

 

[StevenC]

Flying home from Tokyo today, so have all 4 of the Eva reboots downloaded for the flight.

Finally a good Evangelion ending.