Amph What was the last movie you saw?

It took me a month to watch.

 

Arnold seems to do his best work on mediocre movies: Stargate, Independence Day, Die Another Day . . . all great scores - but I wouldn't watch any of the movies a second time.

They did, which was really odd and jarring. The only other time I can recall a performer being completely dubbed post production was The Legend of the Lone Ranger. But I really liked Haywire; it's a very stripped down, Soderbergh-esque take on the action movie. It's sometimes very purposely not dynamic, like one early chase scene that is deliberately filmed so that we can see just how slowly and awkwardly the characters are actually running. But I did like the fight scenes and it's got a really great cast. The Fassbender fight scene is probably my favorite scene, but I think Banderas is really great in the film and it was the first time I thought Channing Tatum actually gave a good performance.

I'm also not a fan of the movie. I think the performances, which a lot of people consider really great, are pretty bland. I don't like Streep's work here or Kline's. I am somewhat biased because I absolutely adore the book, which is really, really long and way more complicated than the movie. I might have enjoyed the movie more if I'd seen it first, but I read the book first, so the movie was a big disappointment.

 

Don't forget the main theme of Wing Commander (the only piece he wrote for the film). It's a boldly heroic theme for a boldly moronic movie.

 

I remain convinced that Sophie's Choice exists primarily to be reductively mocked (e.g. "Chocolate or vanilla? This is harder than Sophie's Choice."), and I haven't seen much in the way of compelling evidence to the contrary.

 

This is opening in the US this week, US reviews are good, though I've only seen pull quotes. Not sure on distribution, you'll probably have to seek it out.

 

We Are Twisted ****ing Sister!

 

Just got back from The Shallows. It is almost perfect. The one portion that is not perfect does not ruin the movie. Good stuff.

 

Cowboys & Aliens
The concept is cheesy but I enjoyed it. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford were great as I expected them to be.

 

Spoiler

I really was hoping she would wring the gull's neck and bleed it out into the water to create a diversion so she could swim to the buoy

Otherwise a decent movie. I'd almost copy Grievousdude's post. The concept is cheesy, but I enjoyed it. Blake and the shark were great as I expected them to be.

 

The only part I thought was hokey

Spoiler

When she grabs the chain to get pulled under and the shark follows at high speed and she dodges at the last second and impales it. It's not horrible, just kinds dumb. I thought for sure she was using the bird as bait when she set it afloat.[/url]

 

Independence Day: Resurgence

Spoiler

So I said **** it and decided to go see it. It was okay. If I have to give an honest opinion is was...okay. Which is leagues better than I thought it was going to be. Still a bad movie, but as entertainment it was very surprising. Way to many characters, most of which were either not necessary to the plot, were shoe horned in, or as in the case of our new hero's pretty bland. None of the new young actors will stand out like the characters in the first movie. Goldblum is always fun to see, he seemed to pretty much just be there most of the time, mostly reactive. Seeing Judd Hirsch back was great. ****er didn't age at all. Why he was given that subplot, I don't know. He seemed thrown in there, but I was glad he was there. Another issue is that the movie jumps around constantly and you never get enough time with a certain plot or character to really connect to it like you did the first one. Pullman got a death scene which you know is coming. The big action scene it happens in is so bland, so dead. He gets his last moments and his cool last line, but everything happens so fast that you can't really feel anything. Battles scenes and action sequences were bland, and confusing. Alien fighter jets designs left much to be desired. Humor was flat, emotion scenes were flat..blah...blah....

As a movie it's ****.

That being said, there is one saving grace to this film. One saving grace that almost makes we say this film is actually recommended.

This MOVIE IS ****ING WEIRD. Crazy Weird.

We've got a 3000 mile long ship. We've got Alien orbs that are sentient and want to help human. We've got an African Warlord who joins the main plot to be a cool dude that kills aliens. We've got Data waking up from a coma after 20 years, and he's got a boyfriend. We've got some cool Alien fire fight scenes with some of our hero's on Queens Mother ship.

Speaking of the Queen she's a ****ing Kaiju Sized Monster.

This movie could have easily been just another sequel set 20 years later on OUR present day Earth, where we haven't prepared for ****. Instead they went full on crazy with it and because of that I'll actually give the film some respect.

Plus it was kinda mind blowing to be sitting in the theatre 20 years later knowing you're actually watching a ID4 sequel. I saw that film 5 times in the theatre. Most I've ever watching a movie in a theatre. I'll just be watching this one once, but that's okay. It was a free ticket, and I think the movie had some admirable characteristics. I think if it had turned up the crazy weird **** even more I'd have thrown a recommendation in there.

 

Spoiler

It's a fun shark movie, but no Deep Blue Sea. That movie rocks.

 

I thought it a better movie than Deep Blue Sea.

 

Yeah, the concept was cheesy but the execution of the premise was so dour and straight faced. I went into that film expecting Men In Black and instead got The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance with aliens.

 

I'm excited. It's coming to my local arthouse theater, but not until July 29th. Not sure why the delay, but I'm just glad my theater is getting it at all. It's where I saw What We Do in the Shadows as well. It's the only theater in the state that's going to carry it, I believe. I'll tag you once I finally see it and review it. Unless I hate it, I guess; I won't tag you then. But I seriously doubt I'll hate it.

 

just rewatched Young Guns 1 and 2

 

Each to their own I suppose. I admit it was more serious than I expected it to be but it got more fun after the first alien attack imo.

 

Double post

 

Noah is on the TV now.
I have to love it because it is so damn eccentric.
It creates a quite original pre-flood Earth with rock monster angels.

I am sure it annoys the heck out of people who take this stuff seriously. Which is a good thing.

 

Which one did you prefer? I re-watched them on consecutive days about a year or so ago and was surprised by how much better I thought the sequel was. I mean neither is The Searchers or anything, but I felt the sequel clearly surpassed the original.

 

Eight Escorts (1980) neat indie kung fu film in which Chan Wai Man's role is not as large as I'd like, but boy is he fun. Ditto for Ling Yun whom I only just noticed here.

 

Daft Punk Unchained

Fascinating watch/listen. Now I'm off to blast their music for the rest of the afternoon.

 

Honestly I agree wholeheartedly. I prefer the second one. I think it told the better story, had a better soundtrack (not just the Bon Jovi stuff), Viggo Mortensen in a bit part and overall much better production value. And it's got one of my favorite movie lines of all time "Hey! I can make you famous"

 

In the Line of Fire. Brought to you by Wolfgang Petersen, the nineties' greatest purveyor of presidential-themed action-thrillers, it features Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent, haunted by his failure to save Kennedy, who has to match wits with a nutty assassin determined to kill the president. It's pretty by the numbers; Eastwood is enjoyable, but he's not exactly working with his best material here. John Malkovich is really good as the assassin. Nobody else really registers. The highlight of the movie is seeing Eastwood growl the nonsensical, unintentionally-homoerotic threat, "You've got a rendezvous with my ass, mother****er!"

Railroaded! An Anthony Mann-directed B-noir, it's pretty forgettable. A woman conspires with her boyfriend to knock over the bookie operation in the back of her beauty parlor, and they set up another guy as the fall guy. Once he's framed up, his sister tries to clear his name, with both the boyfriend and the investigating detective taking an interest in her, which complicates the case. It's pretty bland as far as these things go.

 

Agreed on all points. I also liked the wrap-around with old "Brushy Billy" telling his story to the attorney, and I thought the new additions to the cast (Slater, Peterson, Ruck, Getty and the swoon-worthy Jenny Wright) were strong.

If nothing else, re-watching the films got me to do some reading on the actual Billy, the Lincoln County Wars, Pat Garrett and the story of Brushy Billy Roberts and his claims. All interesting stuff.

TBH, I'm surprised we haven't gotten a Young Guns remake already. I know Westerns aren't exactly box office gold these days, but they weren't in 1988 either. I bet if that Magnificent Seven remake is a hit we'll see more Westerns in the coming years. Hollywood is nothing if not unoriginal.

 

Five Elements Ninjas (1982) and House of Traps (1982) in 35mm. As I've grown to love Five Elements since viewing it almost a year ago, this screening made me love it even more. What a treat to see old school subtitles (Chinese and English) on a rather decent print. I was utterly swooning with bad ninja lust over Chan Wai Man's badass Kembuchi. The crowd had a great time too, as did my friend who was completely sucked in.

House of Traps (1982) was fun too, but much more subdued. Happy to see it though.

RZA was very polite about discussing the people he worked with and he rocked a Shaw Brothers shield shirt.

Great evening. I like the theatre a lot. If I am going to pay $15 for a movie in NYC, let it be a film I enjoy. I hope they screen more Shaw Brothers films in the future.