Amph What was the last movie you saw? (Ver. 2)

yeah I noticed there was a sequel , they tagged a trailer for it on the end , so I'll be watching that later.

 

The Deadly Breaking Sword (1979) - Been awhile. Still love this movie, especially Chan Wai-Man’s brainwashed assassin: Lian San, The Throat Piercing Halberd.

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His performance starts out so subtle, and he does a great job of acting like he’s under Ku Feng’s control as the film moves along. Everyone else plays their parts in very over-the-top fashion which works well in comparison.

So Shih Szu’s vengeful courtesan seeks the aid of the title character Tuan Chang-Qing to kill Doctor Gao (Ku Feng) after he ruined her brother’s life. As Tuan, Ti Lung’s arrogant, peacock swordsman refuses to help (He’s insulted she tries to manipulate him first rather than ask outright), so in comes Fu Sheng’s bumbling Xiao the Little Dagger. Lian San is the only duelist who survived Ti’s title sword style, and is saved by Doctor Gao, who heals the martial artist in return for protecting him. Lian San agrees, as he too wants revenge, unaware and uncaring of what this will cost him. In and around this, Lily Li hoodwinks the gambling addict Xiao into service at her gambling den.

The characterization and how everyone comes together is lots of fun. Lian San gets a proper and crazy great super villain transformation (Chan Wai-Man had the best SB wuxia villain make ups, they were always so much fun, and thankfully influenced two of his indie fu baddies as well). This character finally challenged Lo Pan as my favorite movie baddie because of how wonderfully Chan makes this warrior vulnerable and builds him up again. I could have watched a lot more with his character over Fu Sheng’s unnecessary Xiao. I feel Ti Lung was already quite funny as the snooty jerk Tuan and could have learned to be more selfless simply through the storyline with Shih Szu. This always pops up when I watch this movie because of how much I dig Lian San’s predicament.

Tong Gai creates some fun fight styles, including the title characters’ haughty, tippy toe lunges which make Tuan equal parts ridiculous and lethal.

Sun Chung does a great job bringing this all together and shoots the duels feel like these fights are from the best spaghetti westerns. You can tell this was a fun shoot, except when when wires broke resulting in a broken neck (and huge missed opportunity) for Fu Sheng.

Anyway, I love this movie so much. There are better Shaw Brothers movies, but this is my favorite because of Lian San and I always have a good time watching it.

 

One of my guilty pleasures World Invasion: Battle LA In my opinion it is one of the best alien invasion films, despite the bad acting, cliche dialogue and so on.

 

Atomic Blonde (2017)
I liked the fight choreography, those sequences were very good. However...

The use of 80's chart hits was overdone and killed a certain amount of tension, as did the debriefing framing sequence which continued to intrude on the story just enough to keep me from getting immersed in the story;

Charlize Theron's posh English accent made her voice rather stilted and lifeless, making for a surprisingly dull heroine, whilst James McAvoy's character was fun but deliberately hostile and unlikeable, and those were the only real characters of note, meaning I just didn't care about anyone in this film at all;

… and finally, the ending of the film tries to throw us several twists, one on top of the other, culminating in what the film seemed to think was a jaw-dropping, air punching ending, but left me slightly confused and annoyed.

Altogether this felt like a b-movie that got a bunch of quality components that it didn't deserve. Not bad but a bit disappointing considering the talent involved.

 

IAWYC

 

The Mountain Road (1960)
Jimmy Stewart and Harry Morgan in a WW2 drama about US Army combat engineers retreating from a Japanese offensive in China. Solid writing, not afraid to look at some of the ugliness of life among refugees in a war zone. Stewart was a natural in his role, since he was an experienced combat officer in WW2.

 

Yeah, though it was good that they did not delve too much into the intro part. I liked how believable it was. The aliens acted like a real army (though of course they had to execute civilians and so on, they were the bad guys after all). I also liked that they were not that over the top (unlike in Independence Day and War of the Worlds).

 

Dave

Cute little comedy from Ivan Reitman in which Kevin Kline is hired to stand in for POTUS, but the gig soon becomes permanent.

It's a pleasant comedy featuring a nice cast including Sigourney Weaver, Ving Rhames and Ben Kingsley. There are also numerous cameos from real life politicians and television personalities from the 1990s; the funniest of which is Oliver Stone being interviewed by Larry King about a possible conspiracy involving POTUS, which is, of course, true.

It is a breezy and enjoyable film to watch and left a feeling that times were simpler back in 1993 compared to now.

The sets they built recreating interior rooms of the White House are quite impressive.

 

I always liked that movie. Kevin Kline is a gem and an underrated actor.

 

Not the last time he would play both a President and someone impersonating a President.

 

I saw Toy Story 4 yesterday. It was good and entertaining, but part of me still wishes they'd left it at 3.

 

Is it on a par at least with Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull?

 

Currently watching Star Trek Into Darkness on the telly. This is the first time I've seen it since the cinema and my opinion is pretty much the same, the action scenes are fun and Benedict Cumberbatch is a good villain but the story is a very weak rehash of Wrath of Khan.

 

The Darkest Minds
Even though this movie came at no extra charge beyond my cable subscription, it made me think hard about the opportunity cost of watching it. Maybe that's not the right way to look at it. When I'm unable to pay attention to a movie, my mind gets to wander freely, though it often returns to questions like "what else am I sacrificing to sit here for the duration of this?" If the actuarial tables give me a life expectancy of an additional 231,000 hours, can I complain much to myself that I've intentionally devoted nearly 2 of those hours to The Darkest Minds? My time isn't very valuable economically in an absolute sense, and clearly it's not that subjectively valuable to me either if I'm willing to shovel 104 minutes at The Darkest Minds. It's not so much that I'm worried about the economic cost of watching The Darkest Minds. It's more that I start to question the big chunk of an entire human lifespan that I've devoted toward acquiring a taste for bad genre films in general without necessarily feeling free to alter course for the next 230,998 hours. Everything I've done up to now has led me to the decision to sit down in front of The Darkest Minds. The decision was pre-made for the present me by a past me. Now I'm dragged along by past me inevitably toward more movies like The Darkest Minds. Let this be a warning to future me. Not that the warning will help. It's going to fall on deaf ears like always.

 

Hell Boats (1970)
Royal Navy torpedo boats are assigned to destroy an impregnable Nazi base. It's no Guns of Navarone. The cliched romantic triangle subplot drags the whole thing down. On the plus side, it was filmed on location in Malta, so there's some beautiful images on the screen.

 

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) – Chad Stahelski

Well, sometimes you gotta cut a ***********.

I’m not going to call the second film in the John Wick series a misstep, because I still enjoyed the heck out of it, but it was, in my opinion, a step down from the first film. With this film, the franchise is back on track and this one is right up there with the first film, maybe even better. I don’t know that I have a lot to say about it. I think Reeves is better; the second film tried to go for a grander, more operatic, almost gothic feel and it called on him to deliver some lines that he wasn’t really that able to sell. Here’s he’s really good, however. And the film has some fantastic set pieces, something else the second film was a hair less interested in than the first one. There’s an amazingly choreographed sequence involving two attack dogs that is downright stunning in terms of the way the dogs are used; this has got to be some of the best animal training ever in the movies. The finale takes place in a bizarre setting that’s almost entirely glass; it also features a huge screen constantly flooding the area with shiftings lights and colors and it’s absolutely stunning to look at. The best action sequence comes pretty early in the film. It operates on the maxim that it’s a bad idea to bring a knife to a gunfight, but what if you bring A HUNDRED knives to a gunfight? What then? Well, carnage, non-stop carnage actually for most of the running time of this film, though the film has plenty of artistry to go around and plenty of great performances. Angelica Huston is operatic as the head of a Russian ballet troupe and Ian McShane is as deliciously wicked as ever. And Laurence Fishburne is pitch perfect, stealing every scene he’s in as the Bowery King; I thought he was ill-served by John Wick 2 with almost no memorable moments, but in this one, he delivers some of the best lines of the film and provides some of its biggest laughs. Asia Kate Dillon is excellent as an icy Adjudicator sent to investigate the goings on and Said Taghmaoui, late of Wonder Woman, gets off a fantastic one scene role as the highest authority in the hitman universe. And the film does do a great job expanding that universe in ever more intriguing ways and the film ends by promising a fourth film to come with ever more carnage and a journey deeper and deeper into that labyrinthine world. It’s surprising to come upon a third entry in a franchise that’s maybe the best of the bunch. Continuing that climb with a great fourth entry seems nigh onto impossible. But then John Wick is always at his best when the odds are against him. Bring it on. 4 stars.

tl;dr – third film is maybe the best of the franchise with great performances, incredible atmosphere, striking visuals &, of course, some of the most graceful ultraviolence you’ve ever seen. 4 stars.

 

Revenger (2018)

If you want to see a movie with great martial arts choreography performed with lightning speed in a lush island setting with good cinematography, then have I got a movie for you...
Revenger ​

You want a film that prioritises blistering martial arts action over plot and character development?
REVENGER

A film where the tension and ultraviolence sit uncomfortably next to cringeworthy slapstick comedy routines that make you want to look away?
REVENGER

Maybe you're tired of pretty-boy action stars and secretly crave a leading man who's face looks like the last potato in the store?
R E V E N G E R

Yearn for a movie set on a prison island populated by the sickest, most violent serial killers known to man, but where you will end up feeling the inmate most deserving of death is a ten year old kid?
REEE-VENGE-AAAAARRRGH!!!!

 

Total Recall (2012)
The future, Earth has been poisoned by chemical warfare and the only inhabitable land exist in today's Great Brittan and Australia, making habitable space something precious. Factory workers living in Aussie-land, which is called "the Colonies", daily commute to their work in GB each day via “the Fall,” a super fast gravity elevator through the Earth's inner (it makes a turn around the Earth's core and it's heat). One of those workers are assembly line hand Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) who is being hunted by action filled dreams, and one day when his wife is asleep decide to try a "implant memory vacation" at the Total Recall facility. He decide to have a fantasy-trip as a secret agent but just as his trip is about to start something goes wrong and Quaid is told that he already has the memories of being a secret agent and then the door is kicked in by a SWAT-team. Quaid is able to fight them of and now he's on the run from the police, special forces and his wife for years: who revel herself to be a secret agent who was given him as a mission only six months ago....

I can't recommend this movie, it's a visually well-crafted and slick film but it's lacking in something and would have needed some more manuscript work. Maybe because it's so slick so do the bad parts stand out more?
Some of my personal problems and thoughts with movie are:
- if the story is introduced by telling us that habitable space is something precious so do it shot itself in the foot by showing a simple assembly line worker living in a rather big apartment instead of something much smaller
- the female lead and villain are visually too similar, it's not be hard to make them a bit more different. (Actually, since the villain (working for GB) was living in Australia and the romantic interest (working for Aussie freedom fighters) was living in GB so could it be a fun visual if the movie had had them both looking as belonging to the other side throughout the movie).
- while I'm on character visuals do I also have to ad that I did like the mismatch future fashion seen in the Colonies but I'm disappointed that non of the more important characters from there was dressed in it: they all dressed more or less in modern minimalistic style. Sadly so was the GB look more or less how you imagine British bankers and bureaucrat of today to dress
- the female villain is very callus about people's lives and property in her attempts to kill Quaid (who she had been given strict order's not to kill) showing no problems gunning down civilians to get him, and not just street people in the Colonies but important looking citizens in UK. Nobody really comment on this.
- this is very personal but I'm disappointed that non of the characters from the Colonies used any Aussie- or Cityspeak-slang or similar.

With all the criticism said so will I say that I'm going to buy the art of the movie book if I ever see it and I'm going to browse for concept art.

If you like fast SF actions with overall nice visuals and have no problems with turning of your brain so is this possibly a movie for you. If not so is it probably not worth your time.

 

Definitely better than that. I don't hate Crystal Skull like some people do, but Toy Story 4 is definitely better. Just kind of unnecessary.


EDIT: @Rogue1-and-a-half I agree that I think John Wick 3 might be the best of all of them so far. Loved it. I love the extra world-building. And the creative and varying set pieces in that one are awesome.

 

Clan Feuds (1981)

Romero and Juliet a la ancient China.

See Lo Meng being his usual blustery, muscle bound, hot-heated fool which makes the title between his Big Flag Clan and the other clan even worse.

See Ti Lung in one of his most chauvinist roles delivering excellent Kung Fu in the process as he tries to recover the whereabouts of his missing father, the clan’s Blade Manual twice (apparently there are two copies- one of which isn’t complete), and their gem, The Light of the Sun.

The opposing clan wants the gem and the manual. The two lovers just want to live in peace with their newly conceived child.

Mild tangent: The ‘80s were brutal to women in HK movies (unless you were Michelle Yeoh or Yueng Ching-Ching both of which could blow off the sexist insults by kicking the offenders’ head in), and this movie is not where near as bad as what would come, but still it’s a bit strange to see this in an SB wuxia that seems to cater to female theater-goers. Seeing Ti Lung and Sun Chien act this way in a wuxia is pretty surprising (Applauding clothing removal, verbal taunts and generally casting every young woman about except for Yeung Ching-Ching’s mute assassin). I am not sure why this did not occur to me in earlier viewings.

Um, I enjoy this a bit less now except for three assassins, particularly an amazing minor villain who should have had his own movie to terrorize: old Five Poison Palm (he has a proper name, but FPP more than aptly describes his deadly Kung Fu). One swipe with his decaying, long nailed left hand and you’re dead folks.

FPP is awesome (All he wants to do is drink in peace with no interruptions). He even made a sword that drains the blood from its victim (some great stop motion tricks and make up for that moment). Joining FPP in the best character stakes are Ko Fei and Yueng Ching-Ching’s blind and mute assassins.

Why these three weren’t the top billed threat in another film beats me.

I want more of them, the rest of the clan feuding business not-so-much. ThoughI would pick up an HD copy for them if one ever materializes.

 

I agree. That was a really good alien invasion movie. Black Hawk Down with aliens. Great concept.

 

And I hit send before saying that Five Poison Palm was hired by opposing clan, but when we first meet him he just wants to drink alone. He has a great ambidextrous fight style between that palm and his blood sucking sword.

He’s in my top four Shaw Baddies with Lian San, Bloody Devil & The Scorpion.

Slowly making my way through a 1988 period fu film from Mainland China: Yellow River Fighter. Not a Wuxia, but the lead is a very spaghetti western type, seeking revenge for the murder of his little girl. Turns out the lead (Yu Cheng Hui) was a master of a few sword styles including drunken sword, and he shows off his skills here something fierce. Ridiculously impressive as Yu was pushing 50 when this was made. I’ve held off watching for years now, because the English dub is atrocious, but wow, this is excellent so far. I wish I could find a Mandarin print with English subs.

So, yeah, I’ll probably be gushing over this one a lot more.

 

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) or Klautuu and Gort’s Spring Vacation. Still love this movie. It’s a great Cold War allegory.