Movies you've seen recently

[Lexx]

 

Watched Death Race 2. A mediocre action flick. Watch it once, then forget about it.

 

Somehow I ended up watching all of the death race movies one weekend.  It was really only enjoyable because the actors seemed like they were having a ton of fun.

 

 

Yeah, I started Death Race 3 now. But I am not disappointed or something, because I never really expected the movies to be anything else but action fast food.

[sorophx]

but look at that cast, holy cows   Jennifer Connely is such a hottie

in other news, I'm waiting for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmb33VPQXLA

 

it's going to be ****, but I'll still watch it and probably will like it too. I'm so weak minded 

Edited November 22, 2013 by sorophx

[Orogun01]

 

Could argue it would within the medium - so LOTR films aren't regurgitating the books. 

 

The whole "regurgitating" argument is rooted in the idea that remaking a FL film is somehow unoriginal.  Which is also - arguably - true of any adaption from any other media including filmic ones.

 

IMO, it whether something is a remake, an adaption, a retread or a wholely new work, there are a lot more important things to consider when regarding the merit/lack of merit when viewing the film than whether it started out as another film (or book or tv show or...)

 

Since in these cases Hollywood is targeting foreign successes for their remakes and the fact that Americans live in a cultural bubble so they are unaware of them. I think regurgitating is fitting, even though I use the term plagiarism myself. Like putting Martin Scorsese's name on the headline of a foreign film that he had nothing to do with just because it can be better marketed to American audiences.

[HoonDing]

必死剣鳥刺し

 

One of the best modern movies set in Edo periodI've seen, excellent samurai duel at the end.

[Amentep]

 

 

Could argue it would within the medium - so LOTR films aren't regurgitating the books. 

 

The whole "regurgitating" argument is rooted in the idea that remaking a FL film is somehow unoriginal.  Which is also - arguably - true of any adaption from any other media including filmic ones.

 

IMO, it whether something is a remake, an adaption, a retread or a wholely new work, there are a lot more important things to consider when regarding the merit/lack of merit when viewing the film than whether it started out as another film (or book or tv show or...)

 

Since in these cases Hollywood is targeting foreign successes for their remakes and the fact that Americans live in a cultural bubble so they are unaware of them. I think regurgitating is fitting, even though I use the term plagiarism myself. Like putting Martin Scorsese's name on the headline of a foreign film that he had nothing to do with just because it can be better marketed to American audiences.

 

Its not plagiarism if they arranged for the adaption legally anymore so than "The Lord of the Rings: The Desolation of Smaug" is plagiarism; regurgitating IMO still doesn't fit. 

 

What I watched: The Croods.  It was funny but a bit heavy handed in the "message" dept.

[Labadal]

Could argue it would be within the medium - so LOTR films aren't regurgitating the books.  I didn't really pick up on the Korean version being exaggerated emotions - some of the stuff the characters come across make it sensible.  Mi-do does seem pretty kooky, granted.

 

Coworker suggested I watch I Saw the Devil, next, so I guess that is the target.

I Saw the Devil is a great movie, watch it.

 

Last movie I saw was The Good, the Bad, the Weird. It was surprisingly good. Then again, I didn't go in with huge expectations.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901487/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Edited November 25, 2013 by Labadal

[Azure79]

Saw Thor the Dark World. 

 

It was meh. 

[Rosbjerg]

Saw Flight the other day. Not terribly exciting but Denzel did his usual act (which is good). I mean say what you want about American cinema, but at the acting pretty much always good.

[Azure79]

I love some Japanese and Korean movies, but they are often way too emotionally exaggerated for me, to the point where their characters come off as childish. I watched about half of Old Boy, but got annoyed with it for that reason.. So in this case, I'd rather see the Spike Lee remake.

 

I totally agree with you.

[Serrano]

Hunger Games 2- Continues the excellence. It's a nearly 2 and a half hour movie yet I wanted it to continue. That's a great sign. The 'ending' was lame though. Not quite as unexpectedly good as HG1 though. Lawrence is perfect in the role. 8.5/10

 

I saw the first movie and really enjoyed it. I agree that Lawrence nailed the role and I think the rest of the cast did a terrific job as well, especially the guy playing Peter who made the character more likeable than he was in the books. I found with the books that the first one was by far the best story and the series gradually got more ridiculous as it went on, good character writing but I think it would have been better if they kept the scale small rather than what the author ended up doing with it. You'll see what I mean but hopefully it'll work better on the big screen than it does in print.  

Edited November 25, 2013 by Serrano

[Rosbjerg]

I totally agree with you.

 

Let's never see asian movies together then, heh.

[sorophx]

all his talk about Asian movies reminded me: you all should watch The Yellow Sea, it's fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTCwY79GQ1o

 

oh, and The Chaser, if you like thrillers

Edited November 25, 2013 by sorophx

[HoonDing]

劍雨

 

Best wuxia movie I've seen in years. Doctor Wu from Iron Man 3 was the main villain.

[Amentep]

 

I love some Japanese and Korean movies, but they are often way too emotionally exaggerated for me, to the point where their characters come off as childish. I watched about half of Old Boy, but got annoyed with it for that reason.. So in this case, I'd rather see the Spike Lee remake.

 

I totally agree with you.

 

 

I remember getting into an argument in the 80s with some fellow anime fans about US voice actors vs Japanese voice actors.  They claimed that Japanese voice actors were clearly superior.  I pointed out since neither of them knew Japanese they really couldn't comment on the quality of the acting so much as the quality of their vocal intonations, and what they were really responding to were voices that sounded cool because - without an understanding of what they're actually saying and contextually how that should be delivered they couldn't really understand the quality of the acting.

 

One instance was the Rin Taro directed Harmageddon which the main villain has an awesome sounding voice...but without understanding Japanese you really couldn't understand if the performance actually fit what was needed.

 

Needless to say they disagreed rather vociferously claiming that when they had subtitles they knew what the story was and what was supposed to be said (which doesn't explain how they praised performances in the unsubtitled films they got their hands on - this being the 80s when most anime didn't make it to the US) but also neatly sidesteps the fact that the subtitles are an approximation of how things are said and you still lose the context provided by nuance in the original language.

 

All of this to say, I usually look at stuff from other cultures differently from stuff in my own; I think in particular a lot of films from China, Japan, and Korea are very reflective of standards of acting rooted in vastly different forms of theater than either US or UK productions and so you either adjust to the expectations or get lost, I think.

[Rosbjerg]

Hmm, yeah I think you're right. Scandinavian theater and Danish or Norwegian in particular, has a tendency to be very emotionally detached - Niclolas Winding Refen's "Drive" is a perfect example of a Danish emotional approach mixed with the violence of American productions...

[Raithe]

It's also an interesting thing, that the "professional" actor (whether voice, screen or stage) has changed a lot over the years.  It used to be that you HAD to overact for the audience to "get" what was going on, the wide gestures to make sure that the people in the back row would pick up the details..   It's grown more subtle as time and media has moved on.

 

With animation, the voice has to carry more effect then when you can see a human face and get the body language and expressions to help gauge the subtleties. During the 80's, animation just wasn't up to snuff so voice actors tended to be a bit more.. bombastic shall we say? The better the animation gets, the more subtle the performance of the voice actors can become.

[Amentep]

They're actually filming a lot of the actors performances now in the booth - particularly for facial expressions - to then be viewed by animators to capture the essence of those actions/reactions.  So yeah a very different world now.

[Gorgon]

The Chaser is pretty awesome, I liked The Yellow Sea too. I get the point about emotionality and over acting though, it does seem like some roles, especially the minor ones, are really hamming it, Oldboy or I saw the Devil for instance. They probably don't have the casting capability of a Hollywood studio. 

 

I don't think it's a cultural thing per se.

[JFSOCC]

I worry about the US remake of Oldboy, it can never be as good as the original Korean film. I know Hollywood, I know they will fail to understand the movie and make it another heroes journey.

 

Last movie I saw was High Kick Girl, bad movie, good demonstration of Karate. I enjoyed it.

[Hurlshort]

We're the Millers - One of the better comedies I've seen in a long time.  It was hilarious, although I am a bit partial to RV hi-jinks.

[Orogun01]

I worry about the US remake of Oldboy, it can never be as good as the original Korean film. I know Hollywood, I know they will fail to understand the movie and make it another heroes journey.

 

Last movie I saw was High Kick Girl, bad movie, good demonstration of Karate. I enjoyed it.

But you're wrong, hipsters everywhere love it and say of how similar it is to Drive.

[JFSOCC]

 

I worry about the US remake of Oldboy, it can never be as good as the original Korean film. I know Hollywood, I know they will fail to understand the movie and make it another heroes journey.

 

Last movie I saw was High Kick Girl, bad movie, good demonstration of Karate. I enjoyed it.

But you're wrong, hipsters everywhere love it and say of how similar it is to Drive.

 

that's not exactly encouraging

[Amentep]

I worry about the US remake of Oldboy, it can never be as good as the original Korean film.

 

Maybe it'll be as good as the original Japanese Manga that the Korean film was based on...?

[BruceVC]

I've just watched Ironclad and its worth watching, a solid 70/100.

 

Its set in England in the 1200's after the signing of the Magna Carta and it is basically about a group of Templars who make a stand against King John in Rochester Castle.

 

I'm not sure how historically accurate it is but its very entertaining if you enjoy your Medieval movies

[Amentep]

I've got Ironclad but yet to watch it.