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Comments
>:P
If the budget wasn't cut the final fight would have been fantastic. They were forced to cobble together non-stunt cover shots... what a pity.
I was 10 years old and looked like this the entire time:
2 on the other hand, has a bad reputation but I find to be quite enjoyable (I only wish it had a soundtrack more like the original) and Robo-Cain gave me mega nightmares as a kid! The ninja from part 3.... didn't. :D
I understand the script and production for 3 went through hell though... it's too bad. In the Frank Miller RoboCop 2 comic (based literally on his ideas and script, and not an adaption of the movie) the story actually has many elements from the 2nd and 3rd movie- who knows what on earth happened, lol
A good/great time was had by all. \m/
Incredible Hulk (as well as Iron Man) is a work of art IMHO.
One of the best first viewings i've had in my life. Also in my top 10 all time
It sure was great. That ending... Man. Good stuff.
One of Hitch's later ones that I've always liked but which is not all that well rated is Torn Curtain with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.
Notorious, Rebecca & Spellbound are also good, especially the first two, but they're black and white.
The Fencer (2015)
A Finnish/German/Estonian co-production, set in Estonia, in Estonian and with Estonian actors. An interesting story, and I didn't know until afterwards that this was based on a real life story of the main character, a fencer and a coach. Some stuff towards the end seemed a bit too fitting in its symbolism, but what the heck it might have even been true. On the whole enjoyable.
The Drop (2014)
Continuing to check out the Tom Hardy filmography. This one was written by Dennis Lehane, which for me is a recommendation in itself. I liked this a lot and the dog was perfect.
Joy (2015)
It was okay. Maybe it tried too much or something.
Three Kings (1999)
This was a much better David O. Russell movie than Joy and also better than I remembered. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze.
Do other people's movie-related fandoms lead to doing all kinds of research and watching tons of both related, but also actually unrelated movies via some obscure link, and whatnot? Or am I just weird?
(Chen Guangcheng will be getting more of my attention shortly, btw. I've been postponing reading his book for far too long, but this other thing has been pretty time consuming.)
Well, Adam McKay, whose work I was not even remotely familiar with (still haven't seen any of his movies, but I like the guy) decided to send The Big Short screenplay to Christian Bale, who said yes to him, and... well, a year ago I hadn't even heard of collateralized debt obligations, and now I even pretty much know what they are.
Read the book, of course - very educational as well as hilarious - and other stuff. Will definitely read other Michael Lewis books. I haven't managed to see Too Big To Fail or 99 Homes, yet, but they're on my list of stuff to see.
Watching the promotional work the guys have done for The Big Short, I've decided I like Gosling and Carell and need to see their work, so I've been continuing those projects this year.
And so...
Margin Call (2011)
A drama about the financial crash from inside one company, over two days and the night in between. One doesn't learn much from this (if one is interested to, as I am), but it's well made and good, well worth a watch.
Inside Job (2010)
Highly recommended watching for absolutely anybody (grown-ups, that is). This may be one of the scariest features I've ever seen. The world is a far more screwed up place that one mostly even realizes, which is a horrifying thought. This won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar 5 years ago, but I only saw this now for the first time. Decided to re-watch in a few days before I had even finished watching it the first time. Very good, fascinating and absolutely terrifying. After watching this I immediately went out for a walk in the fresh winter night, with headphones on, blasting NIN pretty loud, trying to recover.
Blue Valentine (2010)
Gosling and Michelle Williams were both excellent in this intimate story of a relationship. With this and The Place Beyond The Pines Derek Cianfrance is on my directors-to-watch list, and I'm looking forward to his new one, The Light Between Oceans.
The Ides Of March (2011)
A re-watch. Directed by George Clooney, the cast: Gosling, Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright - all good. A story about death of idealism and loss of soul.
Lars And The Real Girl (2007)
I didn't know anything at all about this, which was nice - a recommended way to watch by the way, in order to avoid preconceptions and prejudice. A few minutes into it I thought "this guy [Gosling] picks interesting projects" ... and then it got even more interesting. An unusual idea for a story and beautifully made. Cynics might not enjoy, but they'd probably need to see it even more. I thought it was very warm and adorable, but not sugary.
Half Nelson (2006)
A tiny budget little film, but very good. Earned Gosling an Oscar nomination.
Date Night (2010)
Steve Carell and Tina Fey. A funny comedy? That's pretty rare. I mean it actually made me laugh. Of course it's silly and not always funny when it tries to be, but a lot of it works.
I have been meaning to get to this one for a while. I wasn't all that keen on it because I'm not generally a fan of 'Westerns' but Tarantino is the man, and I enjoyed Django despite Jamie Foxx, so I finally did it.
Thoughts:
Interesting film. Starts off very slowly. So slowly in fact that I found myself thinking that Quentin had lost the plot. It's only about 45 minutes into it that things really begin to build, and then it climbs to a pure Tarantino fest until the end.
The dialogue is definitely good, but isn't quite as strong here in my view compared to his other films. Perhaps my expectations are higher now, but most of the best lines are delivered by Samuel Jackson. The rest of the actor's dialogue is somewhat average. Having said that, everyone does a very good job in the acting department (as they always do in a Quentin flick) and each actor's charisma is on full display throughout.
The tension certainly is there also, but again it's not quite at the same level as in some of his earlier films. There's nothing here like the infamous Landa opener in Inglorious Basterds, or the dinner scene in Django. It's perhaps more consistent throughout, like Jackie Brown, but doesn't hit the highs of the last two QT joints.
The score is very good, when it's played, which isn't all that often. Ennio Morricone is a master, and his brief touches here are evidence of that.
Overall, I'd rank this film just above KB2, which makes it 7 out of 8 for me in the QT stack. Keep in mind though that his back catalogue is very impressive so 7 out of 8 here is like 2 out of 8 somewhere else. It's a bit self indulgent, & takes a while to get going, but when it finally kicks into high gear, it's trademark Tarantino like only he can deliver. Certainly recommended and entertaining, but long.
PS: I kept thinking during the film that this would make a great Broadway play, since it's primarily centred in one indoor location.
MY QT Rank
Pulp Fiction
Inglorious Basterds
Kill Bill 1
Reservoir Dogs
Django Unchained
Jackie Brown
The Hateful Eight
Kill Bill 2
A rather unenergetic Tom Cruise stars in this middling si-fi yarn. The only reason I watched was because of Olga.
Labyrinth
Currently watching Labyrinth. Ah the nostalgia! This used to creep the bejesus out of me when I was a nipper. Watching this as my ongoing tribute to the legendary David Bowie. Interesting the editor on this was John Grover, he off the 80's Bond films.
Yes, 'Torn Curtain' doesn't get mentioned much. but its a pretty good film. Most people remember it for the fight in a kitchen where Newman and Andrews are taking on a KGB agent, and are trying to kill him, by dragging him along the floor, and putting his head into a gas oven.
I'm partial to it because of the Iron Curtain concept (sort of takes me back to Man From Uncle, early Bond etc.) and because I like the chase/escape at the end including the theatre and bus.
<center><font color = darkblue size = 4>part 10/30</font></center>
<center><font color = darkblue size = 6>Under Siege II: Dark Territory (1995)</font></center>
I'll come clean right of the bat- I love a Steven Steagal film like I love taking a dump: I'm too embarrassed to talk about it but it takes a lot of stress away. That said, I can think of only one legitimately good Seagal film: Under Siege. It so happens to be Seagal's most successful film too. So naturally between all the other bogus he did, there had to be a sequel. Dark Territory was it.
A killer satellite. 'nuff said? Ow, and falling in the hands of its designer, Travis Dane, who was presumed dead but is actually alive and kicking and planning to get even with his former employers: the army, the CIA, ... basically just all of them. They treated him unfairly so he turned from brilliant engineer into terrorist overnight. Dane's next move after staging his own death is to hijack a train and operate his satellite from there. Everett - Big Ed - McGill, former military, takes care of the violent part of his plan. Unbeknownst to both, however, one Casey Ryback (Seagal) has boarded the train with his recently orphaned niece, played by Bride Of Chucky's Katherine Heigl. Who else but uncle Casey can give a teenage girl the time of her life? Not only is he a great cook - the best! - but he's also a former SEAL who could have single-handedly stopped Hitler if he had only been around at the time. So when the mayhem begins, Casey, who had just taken over the kitchen on the train, immediately goes after the terrorists...
I wonder how Steven Seagal's contract read. Casey Ryback is the best in everything he does. He doesn't have ten talents, he has ten thousand and he's going to show them to us in every scene. When the suits have their crisis meeting and they suddenly discover he's on the train, they all go, "CASEY ******* RYBACK!", as if he were He-Man and Rambo at the same time. Good to know the world has a top hero messing with some dough in a kitchen somewhere. In case you can't figure out how awesome Casey is by yourself, Basil Poledouris' score will let you know time and again.
Because Steven Seagal can't act. So the music must do it for him. He wears the SEAL uniform and we still need the patriotic trumpets to tell us the score. He beats up thugs left and right but we need the hero themes loud and abundant to make sure we don't forget who's the real badass in this movie. But the music is actually great and Seagal's moves are impressive. And that's where the fun comes in. Despite a so-and-so script and all arrows pointing in Seagal's direction screaming how magnificent he is, Dark Territory guarantees many guilty pleasures. And though nothing in this film betters Ryback's fight with Tommy Lee Jones' character from the first movie, Big Ed gets his comeuppances with black belt class. Some of the stunt work on top of a moving train is pretty 'whoa' and Travis Dane actually makes for an enjoyable baddie. But nothing beats the pure joy of seeing Seagal in an over-the-top, self-indulgent role like Casey Ryback.
So the full package isn't a bad way to spend 100 minutes. The action is quite good and Seagal's moves never bore. So every once in a while, I clear my mind and watch Under Siege II: Dark Territory, having a lot of fun as I do so.
MY GUILTY PLEASURE RANKING
Great because it's actually not bad.
Last Action Hero
Dagon
Under Siege II: Dark Territory
Great because it's the best acid trip you ever had without acid.
The Avengers (1998)
Zardoz
Ghost Rider Spirit Of Vengeance
Great because it's fun to see people go totally off the rails.
Showgirls
Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Batman & Robin
Great because I just happen to like these things and I'm not too proud to admit it.
G.I. Joe: The Movie
@Shark_0f_Largo, sad but true. :(
I will say this. I wasn't blown away by the film. But, that doesn't mean it was bad, either. It was quite atmospheric, and I have to say I loved the effects given in the film. The lights, the shadows, the shades, that horrifying atmosphere at times... And even though, it's a Clint Eastwood film, the highlight of it wasn't him. It was Jessica Walter (Yes, some of you know her from the animated sitcom Archer, while the others might recognize her other character "Lucille") who played the part given to her brilliantly.
This shot (below), particularly, grabbed my applaud of the film. The camera angle, the effects, the way she's standing all in all was quite what I expected to see when some of my instincts gave it away. The look of the shot alone is very horrifying somehow, along with Jessica's expressions. And I loved it for this reason.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICTURE
Don't want any copyright infringements after all.
As for the soundtrack, it definitely a candy for any jazz lover who doesn't quite need to see the film to listen to the music there. This is coming from a Jazz enthusiast such as myself.