Amph What was the last movie you saw?

Been watching AMC Fear Fest since Thursday. Some great movie marathons have been on. Saw Halloween 1-5, Friday the 13th 1-7 (fell asleep for the last two), and now I'm watching Nightmare on Elm Street 1-5.

 

Nightmare on Elm Street (Dream Warriors?) was the first horror movie I'd ever seen. I was in the 4th or 5th grade, I think. The following year was full of Freddie nightmares.

 

I guess I didn't remember Han from the first film. Am I that unobservant, or was his character that forgettable?

 

I'm pretty sure he's not in the first one at all. So says the wiki.

I've always thought Tokyo Drift was by far the worst movie in the series.

 

i saw the first one and preferred point break. should i bother with any of the others?

 

You shouldn't.

 

that's what i was hoping you were going to say.

 

Cinema Paradiso (theatrical cut). I really liked the first half with the main character as a child, especially the scenes of him and the projectionist. Unfortunately, I started to lose interest when he became a teenager as the actor wasn't as endearing as his younger counterpart. It did pick up in the last 20 minutes or so, and the ending was magnificent but overall I can't say that I love the film as much as everybody else does.

 

Into the Wild (2007)

The film was well made and acted, but I had trouble empathising with the protagonist. I didn't dislike him, I just didn't get where he was coming from.

 

Naval Commandoes (1977) While there's only one naval sequence that is really good, David Chiang steals the show as a duplicit triad who may or may not be working for the enemy Japanese. The Venoms appear as either the title characters or a triad bodyguard and they get a brief moment to show their stuff. This is more of a drama than an action film though and Chang Cheh and his co-directors really should have left the opening 8 minutes on the cutting room floor. It takes a while to get going, but David and Ti Lung are particularly convincing and good, as is the fellow playing the Japanese second in command. Ultimately, this is a movie for completists.

 

Beyond the Mask, 2015. A sort of Zorro romance movie set during the American Revolution, like if Jack of All Trades took itself seriously. It started out relatively realistic, but went over the top into silliness before it ended. Honestly, I never knew a mad scientist tried to blow up all of Philadelphia when the founding fathers were signing the Declaration of Independence. Pretty good swashbuckling score though; similar to PotC.

 

American Pie 2

 

LOVE this one.

 

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Haley Bennett combine to make an entertaining movie that is a good popcorn flick. Antoine Fuqua makes another movie that is worth checking out.

 

Big trouble in little China - I love this film, but I've never been sure what to make of it or put my finger on what inspired it it's a mishmash of Indiana Jones, Monkey and karate / Kung fu comedy. But it's a fun ride with some great performances.

The Force Awakens - still enjoying this film.

 

Monsters. A bland romance disguised as a monster movie.

Mascots. The latest mockumentary from Christopher Guest feels tired.

The Greasy Strangler. Even in 2016, weird impoverished movie characters are stuck in the '70s.

 

get the gringo

i read that it's okay to like mel gibson again so i gave this movie a shot. i'd be lying if i said i didn't like it...the line "put it back" was the climax of the film for me.

 

Marco Polo (1975) So this was waaaay off historically, and MP was pretty boring. Naturally, the movie is really about the Han rebellion in Yangzhou and the old martial arts masters hunkering down in Tiandao mansion waiting for young pupils to train to defeat their people against the Mongols. And there are some fun training sequences that show off the skill of a couple of the performers (Kuo Chue and Chi Kuan Chun in particular), but for me this movie is all about Khan's best warrior with the Great Palm punch, Cai-Dalu (Leung Kar Yan). My third viewing of this film pretty much confirms his character makes getting through most of this movie worth it. Though I did like some of the old masters (the Bell Cover and Qi Masters) too.

 

Zootopia Yeah, that was pretty cute. The diversity message was kind of heavy-handed, but it resolved itself with a little more realism than I expected from Disney. The DMV was easily the funniest scene.

 

Wow... I think I need my proofreader to read my posts too... I wish we had a 24 hour edit window.

 

Lol Damn right he does

 

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. I liked how they were trying to do something different, but the story was kind of nonsensical. It also didn't help that all of the kills have been heavily edited by the MPAA, considering that part of the appeal of these films was the creativity of the violence.

Fun fact: Billy Wilder almost came out of retirement to direct this film. That is such a bizarre choice.