Movies you've seen recently

[Rosbjerg]

Finally saw Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut (go go Youtube), is much better than the theater release. Heh, did notice that the English sergeant's actor is the same one who voices Soap in COD.

 

Hah me too on monday as well - a much much better film. 

It is however extremely anachronistic and I wish he didn't bring such modern mindsets into the setting (I think it would have been an even better film without them) - Like Baldwin upholding the peace, although in reality he was the one who broke it and Bailin being a lowborn bastard, when he was a hignborn skilled cutthroat politician irl - but its no biggie, its a great fairy tale in the Crusader setting as it is and if approached as such.

 

And yeah it was fun seeing Kevin McKidd, I remember him from Rome though - and Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister) as the counts son

[Raithe]

Re-watched Dog Soldiers the other day.

 

There's always time for a fun werewolf romp, especially when mixed in with plenty of slightly twisted British humour.

 

For those who don't know it :  The likes of a youngish Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertweee and assorted others playing a bunch of British squaddies on exercise in the wilds of Scotland, and end up encountering werewolves. All while complaining about missing the weekend football match.

 

 

 

Cooper: Werewolves spend most of their time in human form, right? And the only people for miles around live right here.

Spoon: So these things aren't about to give up the fight and go home...

Cooper: They ARE home.

Sgt. Harry Wells: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I mean, think about it. We bust into their house, we eat all their porridge, we sleep in their ****ing beds. No wonder they're pissed.

 

 

 

And then one of the squaddies is outrightly named "Bruce Campbell" which is worth a slight chuckle.

[Blarghagh]

Dog Soldiers sure went out of its way to set up jokes. "There is no Spoon!"

[Raithe]

To help with the hype.. Some of the recent Q&A on The Martian

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPlElPBaymw

[ManifestedISO]

I don't know, I could watch this movie every Thursday night and twice on Sunday and never get tired of Michael Shannon. And Hans Zimmer. Henry Cavill makes me believe. Supes' mom unbelievable, Russell Crowe piquant. I used to despise David Goyer for his ill-considered She-Hulk comments, now I just despise him mildly. 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6DJcgm3wNY

[Agiel]

Michael Mann and Christian Bale team up for Enzo Ferrari movie.

 

http://www.slashfilm.com/christian-bale-ferrari/

 

After a couple of relatively "meh" movies from Mann, and given my speed freak nature, I seriously hope this will turn out good.

[Meshugger]

Whiplash (2014)

 

I loved the theme it conveyed.

[Amentep]

Peeper (1976) dir Peter Hyams, written by W. D. Richter, staring Michael Caine and Natalie Wood

 

The 70s saw a lot of revival of period crime films (Chinatown on the serious side, Murder By Death on the comedy side); this one falls in the middle.  Clearly playing with the tropes of the hard-boiled detective, Caine plays a down-on-his-luck gumshoe that gets tumbled upon a case that leads to blackmail, murder, etc.  The movie takes the narration of the detective genre and treats it as a stand-up comedy monologue, winking at the audience.  But it also takes the detective story seriously (unlike MbD, which mocks it) and has a legit mystery story. 

 

Its uneven and certainly has parts that are better than its whole, but not unworth watching.

[GhoulishVisage]

I don't know, I could watch this movie every Thursday night and twice on Sunday and never get tired of Michael Shannon. And Hans Zimmer. Henry Cavill makes me believe. Supes' mom unbelievable, Russell Crowe piquant. I used to despise David Goyer for his ill-considered She-Hulk comments, now I just despise him mildly. 

You might be interested in this tidbit:

 

George Miller Reportedly Directing Man of Steel 2

 

I thought that Warner Bros would want to snap up Miller for the DCCU after Fury Road's critical success as an action film, and I may have been right.

Keep in mind that it's still not confirmed, but I don't think it's too unlikely.

[Blarghagh]

I thought Dawn of Justice WAS Man of Steel 2. Up until now it's always been described as a follow-up.

[GhoulishVisage]

It's more of a lead-in to Justice League/World's Finest movie.

[ManifestedISO]

 

I don't know, I could watch this movie every Thursday night and twice on Sunday and never get tired of Michael Shannon. And Hans Zimmer. Henry Cavill makes me believe. Supes' mom unbelievable, Russell Crowe piquant. I used to despise David Goyer for his ill-considered She-Hulk comments, now I just despise him mildly. 

You might be interested in this tidbit:

 

George Miller Reportedly Directing Man of Steel 2

 

I thought that Warner Bros would want to snap up Miller for the DCCU after Fury Road's critical success as an action film, and I may have been right.

Keep in mind that it's still not confirmed, but I don't think it's too unlikely.

 

 

I did see that, and was heartened by it. It's hard to express the soft spot MoS managed to claim within me. 

[GhoulishVisage]

Hmmm.
Well, here's another rumor. Hopefully not true, cuz' I love me some Superman:

George Miller Might Direct A DC Movie; But MAN OF STEEL 2 Could Be "On Permanent Hold"

[Oerwinde]

Hmmm.

Well, here's another rumor. Hopefully not true, cuz' I love me some Superman:

 

George Miller Might Direct A DC Movie; But MAN OF STEEL 2 Could Be "On Permanent Hold"

Oh boy... More Batman.

[Volourn]

BOOOOOOOO! MOS was/is so underrated and underappreciated. WAAA.. He kill Zod one of the most evil fictional characters of all time.  What a horrible person SM is. LMAO

 

I also bet they don't want the white male to take any spotlight away from the white female Supergirl. L0LZ (even thoguh I'm looking forward to catching that too).

Edited August 25, 2015 by Volourn

[GhoulishVisage]

While I do think that MoS gets unfairly derided I do think that it deserves some criticism.

My biggest problem with the movie wasn't the necksnap itself, but the harshness and dourness leading up to that point. People just tend to remember the necksnap because of the accumulation of many smaller problems that eventually peaked there.

Still, I love Superman and I hope he gets some more solo movies. This time without Goyer.

If Snyder does do the Superman solo movies (probably won't have time between BvS and Justice League) I hope he gets back together with Larry Fong to do them.


I wonder which DC property Miller will want to do if he's not on MoS2.

[ManifestedISO]

I don't remember that bit of critique ... just the cries of "too much destruction" and an "overly dark suit." I won't defend them except to say I wasn't bothered or even noticed. The necksnap was poignant for me because Supes had a similar face of torment watching his Earth father die. What sort of person, super or not, can deal with losing their primary connection to their identity ... unable to prevent it firstly, forced to end it secondly.      

[Oerwinde]

My biggest issue with MoS was Jonathan Kent. No wonder Clark grew up so broody. And sacrificing himself for a dog, when Clark could have easily done it and survived without outing himself.

[ShadySands]

I didn't mind him killing Zod but I did think that the destruction leading up to that was way over the top. But I think I had already lost a lot of interest in the plot at that point anyway. Why would they not just be gods on Earth rather than trying to recreate Krypton... too thin even for me and I am not picky at all.

 

Disappointing

 

Mind you I grew up on Reeve's Superman and used to wear red boots and a cape to school. Yeah, I was super cool. Maybe it never could have lived up to my expectations but I thought it had a lot of potential that it never quite delivered on.

 

I'd probably give it a 7 with a bonus +1 because I've had a crush on Diane Lane for like 20 years

[Volourn]

"My biggest issue with MoS was Jonathan Kent. No wonder Clark grew up so broody. And sacrificing himself for a dog, when Clark could have easily done it and survived without outing himself."

 

I agree. That was such a horrible useless death. It made no logical sense.

 

 

 

"I didn't mind him killing Zod but I did think that the destruction leading up to that was way over the top."

 

That wasn't Superman's fault. That was all Zod.

 

 

"Why would they not just be gods on Earth rather than trying to recreate Krypton... too thin even for me and I am not picky at all."

 

Not thin at all. Zod wanted Krypton back in all its (failed) glory.

 

MOS  wasn't trying to be a copycat of Reeve's (which one's lol since there are technically TWO Reeve Supermans lol).

 

Still, Smallville (barring some silliness) and Lois & Clark are the two best versions of the character. Smallville gets trashed too much and L&C hit homerun with the chemistry between the leads. That ending though.

[Oerwinde]

Smallville dragged on too long, although had it not we wouldn't have gotten Erica Durance's Lois Lane, which was my favorite so far. Lois and Clark was 90s cheese at its finest, and while John Shea didn't look the part, his Lex Luthor was fantastic. Had John Shea looked like Michael Rosenbaum we would have had the perfect Lex Luthor.

[ManifestedISO]

I don't even ... but it's all there ... how could ... Zod was bred with purpose to protect Krypton. It was the high council that doomed the planet, willfully killing by doing nothing ... even Jor-El knew this. Yet he committed treason, sending his illegitimate son and the stolen DNA of a billion people across an ocean of stars. For Zod, given the chance to resurrect Krypton, what difference does it make where? Earth? A bright young star? Only the better for Krypton. Gods among lessers mean nothing to the gods.

 

 

However, it is entirely true, Diane Lane will always be top tier. Unfaithful from '02 ... I'm sure you've seen it. Probably three times. 

 

 

Pa Kent died because he was convinced the world wasn't ready for aliens. Working with that premise, I thought Kevin Costner knocked it out of the field, of dreams.

 

 

 

Then again, this was me exactly, so, what do I know.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAva_gO8Qk

 

Edited August 26, 2015 by ManifestedISO

[Gfted1]

'Star Trek: Renegades' Fan Film Warps Online on YouTube.

[Raithe]

Okay, this io9 article makes me want to watch this Dragon Blade even more then I expected from the so-bad-its-good feeling it was generating..
 
io9 - That ancient romans vs Chinese movie is a total so bad its good-gasm
 
 

I have to confess I have an ulterior motive in urging everybody in the world to watch Dragon Blade this weekend: I am dying to see the GIFs that people are going to make of this movie. So many GIFs. Endless, wonderful GIFs of WTFery. This movie will never stop giving me joy.
 
We posted the trailer for Dragon Blade a while back, and it occasioned a lot of head-scratching. It’s a movie set in ancient China (50 BCE, I think), and Jackie Chan is a captain who’s helping to keep the peace on the Silk Road. But an ancient Roman legion, commanded by that stout Roman general, John Cusack, has strayed pretty far from Rome and soon Cusack and Chan collide.
 
To make matters infinitely more ridiculous, Cusack is being chased by his former commander, who’s played by Adrien Brody. And where Chan and Cusack at least sort of think they’re in a real historical drama, Brody did not get that memo at all. In every scene he’s in, Brody just snarls and preens and purrs and shouts and yarrrrghs, and generally acts like a villain from the never-made third Joel Schumacher Batman film. All of the ancient Chinese scenery is crushed within the mighty jaws of Adrien Brody’s acting in this film. It’s the most incredible performance I’ve ever seen.
 
All of that was evident from the trailer, hence the head-scratching. Sadly, the trailer we posted back then has been taken down. But here’s one that contains at least some of the Brody magnificence:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUs8tWJ0EWM
 
Honestly, though, nothing I can tell you can convey the amazing wonder of this film. You really just have to see it for yourself.
So the trailer made it clear that this is a movie where the brilliant action-comedy star Jackie Chan is playing it straight, and meanwhile Cusack sort of stands around looking puzzled in his Roman soldier armor—while Brody is busy UNCAGING THE BEAST WITHIN, with the sort of performance that makes you wonder if the man prepared for this role by making Tarzan noises in the shower.
 
What the trailers do NOT adequately convey is quite how nutso this film is. This is the sort of film where there are like 10 armies—Peter Jackson, eat your heart out—and one of those armies has trained attack birds. You read that right—trained attack birds. At one point, they go in for the kill against the enemy cavalry, and suddenly this movie turns into Birdemic 3. And everytime there’s a dramatic moment, the movie flings you into a series of nested flashbacks, to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s happening now and what happened back then. Also this is the sort of movie where plot developments whip past at lightning speed, to the point where you have no clue who’s supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy—but there’s also time for a ten-minute sequence where Jackie Chan, John Cusack and a small blind child all sing to each other.

(Apparently one reason for the movie’s lightning-fast pace and lack of coherence is the fact that 25 minutes was cut from the U.S. version, including possibly all the stuff where the plot is explained.)
 
ALSO! This is the sort of movie where an elaborately New Wave-made-up woman that we’ve basically never seen before shows up towards the end, to sort everything out, and utters lines (in English) like, “Power is the conceit that reveals our limitations.” So, so true.
 
But at the same time—Roman soldiers versus Chinese warriors! There are some straight-up excellent martial-arts-on-Roman-shield action sequences, and part of the movie’s sense of total insanity comes from throwing those two very different styles of combat (or the movie versions thereof) together and watching them smash into each other.
 
Oh, speaking of which—all the Romans in this film speak English, but all the Chinese people speak Chinese. And when Jackie Chan meets the Romans, he starts speaking English to them within about five minutes.
 
I don’t want to get too much into listing all the completely rando things that happen in this film, because I want you to experience them for yourself, so you can have the same “holy ****, did they just —” moments that I had. Also, I couldn’t possibly do justice to the ridiculosity of Dragon Blade without an MFA in poetry from a school co-founded by Charles Bukowski and Russ Meyer, where in lieu of critique sessions they administered speedballs from a rusty bike-pump syringe and the naked concussions swarmed over rooftops of flaming magnesium in the barking moonlight. And too bad, I didn’t get that MFA.
 
Let’s put it this way—when it comes to shouty fighty dementedness, Dragon Blade makes 300 look like .003.
In fact, Dragon Blade is a strong contender for this year’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, or Season of the Witch. (It’s sad that we’re already in September, and I can’t really name any other leading contenders for that honor off the top of my head. WTF, movie-makers?)
 
After watching this movie, a thought that’s been in the back of my mind for a while started forming into an actual theory: One key ingredient of a truly excellent so-bad-it’s-good movie is that it should actually have a kernel of goodness in it. Some element that is admirable, or so sincere that you can’t help be moved by it. Some sense that either the people making the film were trying hard to do something good, or else they were wonderfully self-aware about the badness of the enterprise.
 
Certainly, a lot of my favorite so-bad-it’s-good movies have something weirdly sympathetic about them, that come from a low-budget auteur’s obsession with—for example—making a half-dozen exploitation movies about post-apocalyptic roller-skating nuns. Or some central idea, or some strong emotion, that comes through despite all of the clutter and questionable artistic choices.
 
Dragon Blade definitely has that. At its center, this is a film about the meeting of two cultures, with a message (that’s hammered home again and again) about the importance of understanding other cultural viewpoints. There’s a bit of jingoism here and there—in one scene, Jackie Chan tells John Cusack that the Romans are trained from childhood for war, while the Chinese are all trained for peace. But the movie’s sentimental bleeding heart is all about the idea that every culture has something to teach every other culture, and that mutual understanding is always preferable to war. It’s not subtle, but it is something the movie hangs some of its better emotional moments on (the ones where Chan and Cusack, in particular, seem to think they’re in a real historical drama.)
 
So maybe to achieve total so-bad-it’s-good supremacy, to be not just apathetically bad but gloriously bad, a movie needs to have something good, or sincere, or meaningful, at its heart. I’m not sure that theory will stand up in the case of every great bad movie ever. But it’s something that felt valid in the case of Dragon Blade—a film where you come for the attack birds, the completely nonsensical storytelling, and Adrien Brody’s mighty roar, and stay for the heartfelt-but-spoonfed messages of peace and understanding.
 
Dragon Blade is in select theaters and on Video On Demand (including iTunes) today. Please do not let me down, GIF-makers

[Volourn]

"Chinese are all trained for peace."

 

l0l

 

A culture known for their physical violence prowess and assassins are 'trained for peace'. LMAO

 

I also like how he dehumanizes the Romans.

\

I get it. Whitey is evil monster and non whitey are perfect little angels that never knew what violence even was until whitey showed up. BRILLIANT.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Volourn