What's the last movie you watched, and what did you think of it?

[Tasermon's Teammate]

Originally Posted by ROGtheXtreme

Cameron was going to have a scene like this in Aliens, with Ripley meeting her elderly daughter. He ended up scaling it back to just seeing a photo. Even that scene was cut from the theatrical release; it's one of the better restored scenes on the hit-and-miss director's cut DVD.

Huh, I never knew that. And I'm a pretty big Aliens fan. Thanks for the info!

Also, I see someone was watchin' the This-channel marathon.

[mini wolfsbane]

Finally saw the original attack of the 50 ft. woman. Actually...I was stupid and bought it off iTunes.
Bad idea. I didn't hate it, but I was bored and thought it would've been better. The movie was soooo
slow and the good parts didn't happen until ten minutes near the end, unlike the remake. (Not
that I really remember the remake though.) I guess I forgot how bad 50's movie "special effects" were--though The Twilight Zone always did great, but I guess that's why the movie is called a "B" movie.

Next time I'll rent from iTunes.

[Yojimbo]

Saw Sherlock Holmes last night. Pretty cool. I'd see the sequel they seem to have hinted at with Moriarty. I loved how they built up mystery and cunning around him, and never revealing what he looks like for thematic and practical reasons (i.e. actor holds out for sequel). I could relate to that moment where Holmes is in the restaurant and the buzzing of other patrons gets to him and he shuts them off until Watson appears.

[Andrez]

Originally Posted by ROGtheXtreme

I
Watched For a Few Dollars More tonight, the middle part of the "Dollars Trilogy"

Ahhh, lovely; Spaghetti Westerns rock my world also.

[ROGtheXtreme]

The Italian Job. The '69 version with Michael Caine.

Finally!

This film takes place in a world of pure fantasy, in which criminals are not only honorable, but also admirable. Caine's Charlie has a charming child-like quality, but is competent enough in his leadership role to earn our respect, while Noel Coward's Bridger is cultured and cool. It certainly helps that the authority figures range from corrupt to ineffectual.

The plot is extremely streamlined. The opening establishes the threat of the Italian Mafia. Then, we spend a few brief scenes getting to know Charlie. From then on, it's all about the heist, from planning to execution. This isn't your typical heist movie plan though; it's absolutely perfect. Usually, some slight flaw (generally character conflict) unravels the whole caper. Here, it all goes off without a hitch. Of course, it's all just build-up to the greatest punchline of an ending in film history. Sure, this literal cliff-hanger may have been a hook for the sequel that never came, but on its own it stands as a wonderful twist, a slap in the face that doesn't sting at all.

Throw in an amazing chase sequence (those three cars have a lot of character), and you get one fun flick.

[Andrez]

Ha Ha Ha - I LOVE the original Italian Job; how cool is it?
First saw it in early high school, and maybe 10 times since - tongue-in-cheek, very '60s, very British, fantastic music and hilarious story. Tops.

[Breve]

I watched Sherlock Holmes with my entire family a few weekends ago, and we loved it! It was, of course, way different from other interpretations of Doyle's characters, but I appreciated the creativity. How they were both younger, Holmes' "organized" clutter and disheveled appearance, paired with the more put-together Dr. Watson. Their relationship was portrayed perfectly, I thought. I also really admired the parts with Holmes where he would plan every action sequence before they actually occurred- my chess player-for-a-brother was also quite drawn to that.

It was just an awesome, entertaining film. I'll be sure to get it when it comes out on DVD.

And, much like Yojimbo, I am preparing myself for the sequel.

[Andrez]

I definitely have to catch Sherlock Holmes shortly!

Last night I watched Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well (�?��?奴ほど�??く�?��??, Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru) from 1960, which was the director's first semi-independent production away from the studio system constraints of Toho and Shochiku.



While a scathing indictment of the Japanese bureaucracy - complete with its entwined corporate greed and self-serving political maneuverings - that shaped this country's business and social structure following on from the Allied occupation (and the country's economic miracle thereafter), the plot opening here also rings true to contemporary Japan 50 years on.

After police arrive at a wedding to arrest a corporate assistant officer on charges of bribery in a kickback scheme, newspaper clippings tell a background yarn of suspicious construction fees intermingled with free dinners and billions of yen worth of probable bids rigging; the tale then segues into a familiar Japanese casebook study of secretaries and underlings taking the fall for their major corporation bosses.

The Bad Sleep Well - like Ran and Kumonosu-jō (Throne of Blood) - then draws on Shakespeare, in this case the Bard's Hamlet; there are also moments reminiscent of the recent movie Michael Clayton.

Toshiro Mifune yet again puts in a powerhouse effort as the restrained, focused Koichi Nishi, a young man who manipulates his own elevation to a prominent position within a corrupt company in order to expose the men responsible for his father's death.

Masayuki Mori (the gentle, naive title character in Kurosawa's earlier film The Idiot) here renounces any sympathetic kindling whatsoever as the despotic vice president of the company in focus.

Also on-screen is Kyoko Kagawa, previously with Mifune in Nippon Tanjo (The Birth of Japan, 1959) as well as one of the highlights of Kurosawa's 1957 film Donzoko (The Lower Depths); she also popped up in Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953) and would later appear in the Kurosawa movies Red Beard and High and Low along with the classic kaiju flick Mothra.

Joining them on board a cinematic ride that's as gripping as it is meaningful are Tatsuya Mihashi (whose last role before he passed away - 44 years later, in 2004 - was the kindly, meaningful GP in Casshern) and Kurosawa veteran Takashi Shimura.

Masaru Sato returns on sound track duties; he previously did the score for Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, as well as the later double-act Yojimbo and Sanjuro - and would aurally shine in 1974 on Jun Fukuda's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

His score here is superb.

[Magus]

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li - I did NOT choose to watch this. I did NOT watch all of it. My dad put the movie on while I was on the computer, and seeing how my tv and computer are in the same the area I pretty much had no choice. From what I saw this stuff was horrible. I'm already not a fan of what's her name... (the girl from Smallville) Her portrayal as Chun Li was poor. I only saw the last fight but that was also garbage. I will not attempt to watch this thing from the beginning.

Dragonball: Evolution - Oh dear God. It's a case of bad movies on tv lately. I need to stop watching tv with my dad because he puts on any and everything. I could not make it past 10 minutes of this movie. The moment I saw Goku in school I knew it was going to be bad. But the turn off was Goku fighting some guys at a party. Seriously... What the crap? People wonder why I do not support movies based on anime/games/comics. They keep coming up with crap like this. (The worst 10 minutes I've ever wasted on tv)

Terminator: Salvation - I gotta see it again, but at the same time I never was interested in it. From what I saw of it, though, it seemed pretty decent.

[Yojimbo]

Originally Posted by Magus

Dragonball: Evolution - Oh dear God. It's a case of bad movies on tv lately. I need to stop watching tv with my dad because he puts on any and everything. I could not make it past 10 minutes of this movie. The moment I saw Goku in school I knew it was going to be bad. But the turn off was Goku fighting some guys at a party. Seriously... What the crap? People wonder why I do not support movies based on anime/games/comics. They keep coming up with crap like this. (The worst 10 minutes I've ever wasted on tv)

So all they did was mash up his son's brief high school arc with one of the first DB arcs for this movie?

Reaction:

[Tasermon's Teammate]

The Man From Button Willow

Usually, I personally find Norman Rockwell-ian types of animation where they create a seemingly perfect world where man lives in harmony with nature and everythin' is bright and colorful to usually be a tad too...er, cheery, even for my personal tastes. They don't just gloss over or balance out the negative aspects of life, but seem to completely ignore 'em.

But in this case, I'll make an exception.

One, 'cause it does show a dark side (though the antagonists are all-too stereo-typical, and the general populace sides with the protagonist), and two, 'cause it's sooo bright and cheery that it even gets to me. And three, it represents an idealistic time in the media-culture of America. It's a representation of cultural heritage.

So yes, I liked this movie.

[Cipher]

Azusa WIll Help

Originally Posted by Summary from movie site

The Karugamo High School Baseball Team has not been doing well. After losing badly to the Eagles, many of the players leave, and the team now has only eight players, one too few to play a game. Going against his principles, the main character Harumaki Shunpei decides to buy a baseball robot. However, since he does not have enough money, he ends up buying the maid robot named Azusa. Even though Azusa has a warm heart and strong determination, it doesn't appear that she stands a chance against her adversaries who were top-of-the-line baseball robots. The team's only hope seems to lie in a secret buried within Azusa's clouded past.

Well, it's... different... but, still funny and interesting enough to convince me to sit through the entire thing... I dunno, it was just weird... Overall, not bad, but not exceptional.

[Super Villany]

I just went and saw The Wolfman and I have to say it was pretty good and was about what I expected from a decent modern remake of the Universal Classic. I'm not much of one to criticize on acting unless it's particularly bad or really good, and I feel like saying that Anthony Hopkins does an excellent job playing the main character's "eccentric" father. I say "eccentric" to avoid saying that he plays an evil bastard and it was little suprise for me to find out that he was the original werewolf.. My one minor complaint about the movie is that the whole time I felt like the plot moved a little too fast and not enough time was spent on subtletys. Other than that I'd recommend going and seeing this movie at least once if you're a fan of the original and don't mind a fair amount of gore.

[ROGtheXtreme]

Shutter Island.

Yes, it has a twist ending. Yes, you'll likely guess it early on; I began to piece it together within minutes. But that doesn't matter. Scorsese is more concerned with the journey than the destination, more interested in the storytelling than the story. Shutter Island is a masterpiece of craft, a triumph of cinematic art that has life beyond the twist. Most vital is how the journey informs the character's reaction to the twist; that is what will make you reflect on what you've just watched. If you're anything like me, you'll want to see it again.

[ROGtheXtreme]

Kobayashi's Samurai Rebellion.

In an early scene, Toshiro Mifune's character listens to a group of children singing a festival song: "They are sending off the god who brought the harvest." He chuckles at their innocence, how they "sing it and believe it." Without realizing it, he is also talking about himself. At this point, he is also a child, not quite naive, but still blindly following orders. Despite his reservations, he accepts one of his Lord's discarded mistresses as his daughter-in-law. He conforms to the social code without much question; as the film progresses, he will grow into an individual, incapable of obeying his corrupt government. Tatsuya Nakadai acts as the perfect foil: he knows of his superiors' abuses from the beginning, craftily defies them without breaking the rules, but ultimately refuses to risk his rank on rebellion.

Mifune's rebellion is driven not by the ethical codes of the time, but by intense inner turmoil. His son's imposed marriage blossoms into a loving relationship, one which dramatically contrasts his own (he married into the wealthy family, so his wife constantly oppresses him). When the Lord's primary heir dies, he orders the return of his mistress, so she can raise the heir she fathered. The husband refuses, and Mifune intervenes on his behalf; he cannot allow such a beautiful relationship to be crushed by the politics which trapped him in a hollow life.

Kobayashi wisely does not show us much of the lovers' relationship: we judge it based not on what we're shown, but how Mifune reacts to it, how it awakens his rebellious spirit. "I've never felt so alive!" he exclaims, even as he confronts the possibility of defeat. Better, then, that we imagine the blissful marriage.

Kobayashi revels in shattering symmetry. A crowded room gradually dissolves until only the three main characters remain. Mifune strolls across raked sand, breaking the lines with his footprints. In one crucial scene, still images disrupt the continuity, emphasizing the character's anguish just before she defies authority.

Mifune and Nakadai are strong, as expected. The real treat is Shigeru Koyama as the steward. He embodies the strict social order: with dark circles around his eyes, somewhat sunken features, and disturbingly rigid poise, he looks more like a reanimated corpse than a living human being; he is only slightly less undead than Nosferatu. No wonder he doesn't understand "human emotion"; he's not human at all.

Much of the rebellion is fought with words rather than swords, but it can only end in violence. It wouldn't be a real samurai film without a battle against many opponents; here, though, that fight is merely an obstacle between Mifune and the retreating steward. The climactic duel between Mifune and Nakadai is also familiar: all build-up to a swift finish. It's hard not to compare the scene to the fight between Mifune and Nakadai in Sanjuro. That battle took place in a single static shot, sustained for what feels like a full minute before either man moved. In Rebellion, Kobayashi divides the sequence into several shots, paying special attention to the combatants' footwork as they circle each other like a pair of Leone's gunslingers. I won't say which director's technique I prefer; just that each scene is brilliant and moving in its own way.