Let's talk about movies

We haven't had a movies discussion in a while. What films have you seen recently? What ones are you looking forward to?

Some of the best I've watched over the past couple of months have been Drive, Super and Le Quattro Volte. Three very different movies but if you haven't seen them I'd recommend them all if you like a stylish crime thriller with an awesome soundtrack, a realistic (or at least pseudo-realistic) black comedy super hero movie with great chemistry between the main characters, and a transcendent piece of art with no spoken dialogue respectively.

Also, I finally got round to watching Twilight the other day. I'm sure I don't need to link this one unless you've been living under a rock since 2008. It's... as bad as what people say it is. I guess if you're a 14 year old girl or a middle-aged woman who likes to fantasise about a dangerous and exciting relationship it might be cool. But for me it boils down to being an unconvincing love story where some guy stares at some girl in a really creepy way, and then they fall in love because that's what her voiceover tells us is what's happening. And then some other stuff happens which I didn't care about. I can't comment on the sequels as I've not seen them and I don't have any intention to.

Next up on my "to watch" list is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The David Fincher version. I don't want this to be another of these popular movies which I don't watch until two years after it's been released. I haven't seen the original Swedish version, nor have I read the book, but it looks interesting.

I just saw this the other day. It's kinda old but is definitely a classic:

Banlieue 13

Other than that, I heard the new Planet of the Apes is not a bad flick so planning to see it soon.

OFC I am most excited about The Hobbit :-)

Mr. T said:

Other than that, I heard the new Planet of the Apes is not a bad flick so planning to see it soon.

You mean Rise of the POTE? I wasn't overly impressed by it. But it was better than Tim Burton's 2001 remake of the original at least.

Movies now days suck as they're either re-makes or shitty action movies with tons of explosions to negate thoughts of the mediocre story ; a few cool movies back from the day: The Last House on the Left (1972), Phenomena (1985), Possession (1981), Evil Dead Trilogy (1981 - 1992), Eaten Alive (1977), Braindead (1992), Demons (1985)

I haven't been excited about an upcoming movie since 1993. I hate the way modern movies are executed. They have to jam-pack every second with something crazy or eye-popping, owing to people's short attention spans as of late. I always liked movies from the 70's and 80's, where things could flow differently and create tension and a cool build-up. I also like movies where you actually need to be paying attention to the dialogue or you might miss something important.

Vordakk said:

I also like movies where you actually need to be paying attention to the dialogue or you might miss something important.

You wouldn't make a good Republican voter, you.

I don't watch feature films, I prefer TV series. They contain far more plot than the two-hour over-long single-episode drama. Speaking of, where the hell do I find episodes on the Internet distributed legally (i.e. for purchase)? Something that doesn't involve having to buy a physical DVD. I'm looking especially for anime.

Vordakk said:

I haven't been excited about an upcoming movie since 1993. I hate the way modern movies are executed. They have to jam-pack every second with something crazy or eye-popping, owing to people's short attention spans as of late. I always liked movies from the 70's and 80's, where things could flow differently and create tension and a cool build-up. I also like movies where you actually need to be paying attention to the dialogue or you might miss something important.

good news!

dew said:

good news!

Looks cool. I read a bit about the film and it seems to have garnered a few impressive awards. Maybe I'll get a chance to view it soon.

Violator said:

Movies now days suck as they're either re-makes or shitty action movies with tons of explosions to negate thoughts of the mediocre story ; a few cool movies back from the day: The Last House on the Left (1972), Phenomena (1985), Possession (1981), Evil Dead Trilogy (1981 - 1992), Eaten Alive (1977), Braindead (1992), Demons (1985)

It could be argued that all the movies you listed are exploatation flicks. So, I don't see how explosions could hurt :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokKUqLcvD8

I've recently seen Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (or whatever the latest one is) and saw Man on a Ledge in theaters (release day, free passes). Both were good. Surprising since Man on a Ledge is a modern film...

Violator said:

Movies now days suck as they're either re-makes or shitty action movies with tons of explosions to negate thoughts of the mediocre story

Vordakk said:

I haven't been excited about an upcoming movie since 1993. I hate the way modern movies are executed. They have to jam-pack every second with something crazy or eye-popping, owing to people's short attention spans as of late. I always liked movies from the 70's and 80's, where things could flow differently and create tension and a cool build-up. I also like movies where you actually need to be paying attention to the dialogue or you might miss something important.

You guys.

I don't disagree with you as such, but you're watching one genre or a limited range of movies and declaring that all modern movies suck because they're not as good as those same kind of movies used to be. If action and horror is all you care about then fine, but I might suggest you try and watch something different or just stick to watching old films before you pass everything off as sucking.

Event Horizon (1997). Simply because Hell is a part of the plot.

Sam Neill: "A dimension of pure chaos, of pure evil."

DoomUK said:

You guys.

I don't disagree with you as such, but you're watching one genre or a limited range of movies and declaring that all modern movies suck because they're not as good as those same kind of movies used to be. If action and horror is all you care about then fine, but I might suggest you try and watch something different or just stick to watching old films before you pass everything off as sucking.

I still watch a few new movies but they will always lack the charm movies from the 60's - early 90's had no matter how many explosions and slow motion scenes they jam into the film, I think the last new film I didn't hate was Predators.

dannebubinga said:

It could be argued that all the movies you listed are exploatation flicks. So, I don't see how explosions could hurt :P

Yeah dig a lot of exploitation films from that era but also watch a lot of old school comedy

MRB_Doom said:

Event Horizon (1997). Simply because Hell is a part of the plot.

Sam Neill: "A dimension of pure chaos, of pure evil."

Another movie that reminded me of Doom was Pandorum. At the beginning at least, when the guy is walking through the dark hallways of the ship and hears monster sounds in the dark that sound like imps.

I would like to recommend two swedish films from 2011.

and

imp1979 said:

Another movie that reminded me of Doom was Pandorum. At the beginning at least, when the guy is walking through the dark hallways of the ship and hears monster sounds in the dark that sound like imps.

If you read the Wiki article about Event Horizon, is says that Paul Anderson's directors cut included even more graphic scenes during the orgies and mutilations, either on board the Event Horizon or simply in another dimension that is supposed to be Hell. The footage was in poor quality, VHS I guess, and has been lost forever according to the article.

Has anyone here seen the Director's Cut of this movie? I can only imagine the sky and the black mountains and seas of blood with countless people having orgies / mutilations at the same time. F*ckin A man.

DoomUK said:

I don't disagree with you as such, but you're watching one genre or a limited range of movies and declaring that all modern movies suck because they're not as good as those same kind of movies used to be. If action and horror is all you care about then fine, but I might suggest you try and watch something different or just stick to watching old films before you pass everything off as sucking.

Watching anything other than action, comedy, or horror movies is weak :)

In all seriousness, I just have nostalgia glasses, plain and simple. I don't like the world post-1980's, and since art often reflects life I certainly don't like modern movies because they are a mirror of the way our society has become. As for you advising me to "stick to watching old films", that's what the hell I'm already doing. I'm not preventing you from viewing the new Twilight flick, dude, you can have my seat.

How many of you guys like Japanese films? I like them for how greusome and fucked up the can be. I few examples are Suicide Club, Tokyo Gore Police, Robogeisha and others.

NitroactiveStudios said:

How many of you guys like Japanese films? I like them for how greusome and fucked up the can be. I few examples are Suicide Club, Tokyo Gore Police, Robogeisha and others.

I watched about 30 minutes of Tokyo Gore Police before turning it off. I could feel my brain cells dying. :p

Loved Audition though. And the original The Ring is a classic. And then of course there's Akira Kurosawa's work.

I mostly watch japanese films. Some of my favorites are: Hanging Garden, United Red Army, The Man Who Stole the Sun, Talking Head, Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets, Tampopo.

DoomUK said:

Next up on my "to watch" list is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The David Fincher version. I don't want this to be another of these popular movies which I don't watch until two years after it's been released. I haven't seen the original Swedish version, nor have I read the book, but it looks interesting.

Have you watched it yet? I found it really boring and couldn't finish it. I found Drive very boring too.
Of course old films are the best but there are some good new films that have came out. Look at the dark knight. Probably my favourite batman film.
Rise of the planet of the apes was my favourite film of last year.

Wreck-It Ralph is the only thing im really interested in. There's some screenshots floating around but that's about it.

Also, this

I've also been byuing alot of japanese movies lately. I bought this book and later, this book and after that I was sold on japanese films and especially the more gritty ones after reading alot about the japanese horror cinema. It's amazaing how you can dig through pink films and über-exploitation titles from Japan and still find some very high end work.

It's something I can be a bit ashamed of, because it's so damn trendy to like anything that's japanese and talk loud about it, thinking you're special.

Memfis: I will check out the movies you mentioned. Is anyone of them worth buying?

DoomUK said:

You mean Rise of the POTE? I wasn't overly impressed by it. But it was better than Tim Burton's 2001 remake of the original at least.

I thought Tim Burton's remake was OK, but suffered from a bad case of trying too hard. The twist ending was actually pretty cool, but felt tacked on. The original film was just a whole lot more... coherent?

Dew that film you posted looks great. When does it come out?

Movies I've seen recently are The Grey and Bade Runner Final Cut.

*shrugs*

I liked 'em.

I only watch movies on the several free over-the-air tv channels I get, but one of the channels plays a lot of good movies. Recent ones I've seen and liked: (alphabetically)

Coming Down the Mountain - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974544/
Let the Right One In - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/
Mysterious Skin - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370986/
Ocean's Eleven - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240772/
Sunshine Cleaning - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862846/
The Assassination of Richard Nixon - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364961/

Last movie I saw in theaters was War Horse. It was pretty good. A lot more death than you'd expect from a Disney movie, but a lot less violent than you'd expect a war movie to be.

Another movie I saw recently was Redline. Someone was streaming it on the tubes. It's probably the most artistically awesome anime I've seen. It was also surprisingly...European feeling. I didn't know it was Japanese until someone told me halfway through the movie. It's almost like a Heavy Metal movie.

It also has a pretty good soundtrack.

Of the 5 latest films I've watched:

Good:
Limitless
The Illusionist

Fairly Good:
Source Code

Bad:
Scorpion King 3

The Goddamn Shithouse:
Insidious (not even bothering to find a link)


Mostly looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers this year.