Movie Review Thread

[Strike For The South]

There Will Be Blood.

Best Movie Ever. Dainel Day-Lewis deserves an oscar

[Fragony]

lol.

The Island.

This must have started as a good idea at some point.

This conversation took place;

Someone: 'But that makes no sense!'
His superior 'They don't want that, feed it'

Way to screw up a good idea.

[Shahed]

I watched "The Big Lebowski" again recently. That is one excellent movie. Just look at that guy's attitude. It's hilarious and at the same time it's so cool. Excellent film, watch it for good karma.

[Proletariat]

There Will Be Blood.

Such a classic..

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I.. drank.. your.. milkshake!

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Pirates of the Carribean 3.

*ducks several smacks to the head*
I'm just kidding! ;)

[econ21]

The Island.

This must have started as a good idea at some point.

The two nasty operating room scenes where the main protaganists learn the reality of their situation were rather impressively distressing. And the mercenary hunting the lead characters was quietly effective. But the rest of the movie was pretty dire, suffering from the usual action movie vice of assuming the audience has attention deficit disorder and must be constantly plied with shootouts, chases and crashes.

[Ramses II CP]

Is The Island the movie where the exceptionally dull and generic blond actress plays an exceptionally dull and generic blond clone/sex doll?

I think I remember that movie. Wasn't there like a button they had to push, and as soon as they pushed it the whole place blew up? And people say there are no quality engineers left in the future!

[Fragony]

Is The Island the movie where the exceptionally dull and generic blond actress plays an exceptionally dull and generic blond clone/sex doll?

The exceptionally hot, rrrrrrrrrrrrr. Could have been a good movie because the idea is interesting, and the first half is great entertainment. Once they escape it becomes a total mess.

[Geoffrey S]

Yeah, quite enjoyed the first half, probably up to the point where Buscemi dies.

What I loved about the movie, perversely enough, was the incessant focus on product placement. I think the high(low?)point was in the middle of the big motorized chase sequence, when the camera randomly zoomed in on the makes of the vehicles or tires. It made me laugh at least.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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***Mona Lisa Smile***

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[Puzz3D]

For Korean movie reviews check out this site: koreanfilm.

[Quirinus]

The exceptionally hot, rrrrrrrrrrrrr. Could have been a good movie because the idea is interesting, and the first half is great entertainment. Once they escape it becomes a total mess.

Agreed. I put The Island in the same category as Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Both are interesting premises undermined by generic action scenes. Though the latter wasn't so bad-- it was only after they blew up their house that everything went downhill.

Anyone watch Atonement?

[Puzz3D]

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) is a metaphor for marriage difficulties. I certainly enjoyed viewing it that way since I could relate to the marital conflicts depicted rather than viewing it as an action picture. I think the unrated version is better than the theatrical release. In contrast, I found War of the Roses (1989) to be far too mean spirited to be enjoyable.

Shoot 'em Up (2007) is the same kind of thing in that if you view it as an action picture it's too silly, but as a spoof of action pictures I found it to be very entertaining especially with the three leads playing their parts straight and Paul Giamatti being crosscast as a bad guy.

[Fragony]

Brad Pitt is always fun to watch and whatshername is hot, I liked that movie, it doesn't take itselve very serious and there is tons of chemistry between the characters and that is always a joy.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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A few pages ago I confessed watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith solely for getting caught up by an Angelina shot. Downloaded the film too, for exactly the same reason. I'm a dirty old ORGah. OK, I'm not old but I'm an ORGah and I'm dirty.

Another one I'd stashed for eye candy (not the babe thread way, mind you) was Ginger Snaps (being the first of a trilogy). I watched it for sake of Katharine Isabelle but more so Emily Perkins yet quite liked. I'm done with the usual werewolf stuff and this one is different. Recommended in free time.
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[Shahed]

RAMBO ! is back ! Anyone seen it yet ?

[Dutch_guy]

RAMBO ! is back ! Anyone seen it yet ?

I most definitely will. If it's like the other films (lot's of mindless violence and cliché one-liners) I just have to go see it

[Kralizec]

Das Leben der Anderen (Lives of the others)
Best movie I've seen in 2008 so far
It takes place in the later years of the DDR and focuses on a Stasi agent and a couple of subversive artists that he's shadowing. Very good.

[Quirinus]

I just watched Eastern Promises and then No Reservations. Both were pretty good in their own way. Viggo Mortenssen's laconic performance is the most magnetic performance I've seen since Hannibal Lector. I mean, he puts out a fricken' cigarette with his tongue! I'd take Nikolai over super-vanilla Aragorn anyday.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Eastern Promises

Anything with Naomi Watts is mine.
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[Shahed]

I watched Gothika a short while back.

Excellent movie. You get to see Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz in pyjamas for the most of the movie.
If any further incentive is needed, then let me say it's an excellent thriller, one of the best I've seen in a while.

[Fragony]

Gawd that movie sucked

[Puzz3D]

Pathfinder (2007) is an action film set in North America circa 900 AD. The Vikings (the bad guys) invade and want to kill all of the native Indians (the good guys). You see things from the Indian's perspective and the Vikings are just suddenly there. The protagonist is a Viking from a previous failed expedition who has lived with an Indian tribe. The film is visually dark which gives it a consistent atmosphere of taking place in a dark forested, northern latitude geographic area. The action scenes are well done in mostly closeup shots, but the ease with with the protagonist dispatches an almost endless stream of Vikings, who are all much larger physically and armored and often on horseback, is fantasy. The story itself is simplistic and predictable. You can figure out the whole narrative after the first 15 minutes.

[Vladimir]

ZOMG! I just saw the best movie EVAR!!! Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Could you think of a better script? I couldn't.

Could you film better action sequences? I didn't think so.

Why, oh why did he make more movies after that? He could have retired off the royalties alone!!! Thank you people of California for electing such a wise and strong man to lead you. YOU HAVE RESTORED MY FAITH IN THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE!

I'm so proud to be a republican right now.

[Puzz3D]

Based on Quirinus' recommendation I watched Eastern Promises (2007) which is a drama featuring very good acting by a strong cast directed by David Cronenberg. He's a director who likes to investigate a moral or ethical question and leave it unresolved so that the viewer makes his or her own judgement. You might think this film ends without resolution or climax, but that's his intent. He also leaves scenes out that are peripheral to the question he is exploring which means you have to do a little extra work to connect the scenes together. Inititally I thought there were some illogical scenes near the end, but after some thought they do fit together in a sensible way. In this film, Cronenberg explores the same territory he did in A History of Violence (2005) which is the morality and consequences of using violence. The drama, which is probably purposely low key, is punctuated with very graphic scenes of violence I would imagine to emphasize the contrast between the people who use violence and those who live without using it. I think David Cronenberg is an interesting filmmaker, and this one gets a lift from some very good acting.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Step Up 2, expected trash; got trash.

Think of Tokyo Drift, but remixed with dancing. (Mostly b-boying)

BTW, really psyched for the next Indiana Jones!

[Fragony]

ZOMG! I just saw the best movie EVAR!!! Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Liked it untill he throws a saw into someone head and he looks up, that just wasn't realistic.

Anyways, Fragile

Cool ghost-movie with the Ally macBale chick, who is as abolutily adorable imho, cute. I like the more recent horror movies, enough with the Halloween clones, more things like The Others svp merci.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Man on Fire

Some moments in which you say "good riddance" but a uselessly stupid ending.
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[Puzz3D]

AZUMI
by Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring Aya Ueto
Action drama
128 minutes
Japanese
1/10

(this movie is not based in any particular manga or anime)

The movie is based on the highly regarded AZUMI manga which won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival, and the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1998. The film apparently does not explore all of the themes that are in the manga. Kitamura is perhaps limited as a dramatic director, but he's good with action scenes.

Azumi (manga)

The manga Azumi, like the movie, focuses upon the life of the female assassin Azumi. The manga begins an indeterminate number of years after the Battle of Sekigahara.

Plot (quoted from Wikipedia):

Azumi is raised by an old man known as "Jii" (grandfather), who's name is later revealed to be Gensai Obata, as the only girl among eleven other small boys. They are secluded from the rest of society in a tiny valley called "Kiridani" (Fog Valley) to such an extent that they do not know the difference between men and women, what a baby is, or customs like marriage. Early in the manga, as part of their training, Azumi and her comrades are allowed to go to a small community of ninjas to learn the basics of ninjutsu.

The manga sets a chilling tone early on. The 12 "erabareta senshi" (chosen warriors), who are all young children are told by Jii that they have completed their training. For their first mission, they are to form a pair with whomever among the 12 that they feel the closest. Azumi pairs with Natchi, and all ten others pair with their closest friends. Having formed the pairs, Jii tells them their first mission is to kill their partner--whoever is too weak to kill their partner is too weak to fulfill their life's missions, and without any means of independent survival, there is no way to live other than to kill their partner. The twelve children each fight their respective duels, and Azumi slays Natchi, an event which appears to deeply traumatize Azumi, but she hides her feelings, as do the others.

Then, their second mission was to slay every person in the ninja commune, including women, children, babies, and their longtime teacher. Azumi hesitates, and is unable to kill a baby, a task which one of her comrades quickly accomplishes for her telling her "I'll keep this secret from Jii" but with a reprimanding glare.

The remaining six warriors proceed to go on assassination missions of the various important supporters of the Toyotomi Faction. Azumi gradually begins to feel doubts about the morality of killing, but is repeatedly told, quite truthfully, that if her targets remained alive, the coming war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa will be that much more horrible and result in even more innocent deaths.

Azumi (2003) the movie exists in a 142 min Japanese version and a 128 minute international version. Aya Ueto was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1985, and at the age of 12 won the Special Jury Prize at the 7th All-Japan Bishoujo Contest (beauty pageant) in 1992. After her passionate portrayal of a high school student with Gender Identity Disorder in the 6th series of the long-running classroom drama Kinpachi sensei, she was able to pursue a solo music career in August 2002. It was this performance that also convinced cult movie director Ryuhei Kitamura to cast her in the title role of Azumi (2003).

After the Battle of Sekigahara, a samurai is tasked by the Tokugawa shogunate to raise a band of assassins to finish off Toyotomi's allies and other ambitious warlords, to prevent another civil war.

Plot (quoted from Wikipedia):

Azumi (played by Aya Ueto) is discovered as a 7–8 year old girl kneeling without visible emotion next to the body of her dead mother by the samurai master Gessai and his entourage of young students. Azumi is raised in the martial skills of samurai and shinobi sword fighting, and the art of assassination. Azumi and her fellow classmates, now at young adult age, are constantly being told about a "mission" they must accomplish, though they have no idea what this mission is yet.

Prior to setting out on their mission, their master orders his students to "pair up" with each others' best friend and proceed to kill each other, thus out of 10 students only five will remain to proceed with the mission. Questions and internal conflicts begin to arise amongst Azumi and her comrades as it seems their mission even prevents them from saving a village of mostly women and children from being massacred at the hands of a group of bandits, as their primary mission is to kill the warlords Asano Nagamasa, Masayuki Sanada and Kiyomasa Kato.

I've seen the 142 minute Japanese version, and while it's not a great film I found it to be entertaining. Although long, the film builds to a satisfying and spectacular climax. I think that Ryuhei Kitamura's style in shooting action sequences is quite good. Some of the sentimentality might be somewhat overdone, but it's moving just the same unless you are a callous person. Some of the swordplay choreography is flawed, although, I only noticed two instances that were really obvious, but there is flawed action choreography in even great samurai films such as Samurai Rebellion (1967). There are some continuity errors with blood on walls and clothes. As a viewer, I make the concession that they don't have the time or money to reshoot a scene with many extras involved just because one person makes a mistake. Aya Ueto gave a good performance, and Jô Odagiri was excellent in his portrayal of the mercenary adversary. Ueto's movements during the sword fights were dancelike, and for me that conveyed how superior her skills were compared to most of her opponents. She handled herself much better than I expected in the action scenes, although, if I'm not mistaken she did get injured in one of these scenes. There is limited use of CGI in this film which I appreciated, and no character has superpowers or uses magic skills which I also appreciated. There is a wide difference of opinion on this film, so I wouldn't necessarily write it off out of hand.

From an interview with Kitamura posted at Hoga Central:

Kitamura: Now the cast look all-star, but back when we started, all the young cast members were under the radar. Even the main actress Ueto was still less-known, and many people opposed to the choice, telling us to use a then-bigger name girl. But all three of us, Mr. Yamamoto, the original comic writer Yu Koyama and myself, believed in her.

Interviewer: The lack of experience was not only about Ueto or Kitamura. Samurai period films have long dead for the past 20-30 years, so the young actors in Japan don't normally train the swords play like the older generation used to do. Actresses are even further away from any action opportunity. In case of "Azumi", Kitamura did not have the luxury of keeping actors for a long time for training either. So what did he do?

Kitamura: I wish I had 1 year, but the budget and schedule only allowed me 2-3 months. On the first day of the training, I took all the young assassin team actors, except for Ueto, to the action coordinator. I told them to go out running a little bit, then they came back and did other things like swinging wooden swords or front rolls. These recent Japanese young men were too thin and weak, and I was so discouraged. I even went to Mr. Yamamoto and complained, 'I can't do it!' But the action coordinator told me they were all within the range and I don't have to worry.

These young people actually toughed it out. I told all of them, 'Your roles are the assassins who trained for ten-something years only to kill people, quite unordinary guys. So this training will be rigorous, but can you do it? I cannot make the casting decision right now. If you drop out of the training, you cannot get the role. Half of you will die early in the story, but everyone will go through the same training and you have to compete one another. If you don't like to play a small part after all, you can leave right now.' But nobody left, and nobody gave up during the training. So even the guys who die early on acted well, and I tried to film their short appearances carefully. The filming of that scene to kill each other was a dark day for me. Everyone stayed and trained together for 3 months, yet half of them had be gone that day.

Ueto had to be trained separately, as she was working on a TV drama at that time. I sent the action coordinator to the studio and she swung the sword when she had time. But she has to be the strongest assassin, so even when the filming had started, we had special trainings for her. I almost felt sorry for her. We would start filming at dawn, and after sunset, she went back to the hotel, took a shower, ate and then trained outside. We shot almost all the scenes sequencially, so she became more skilled towards the end of the film. We did not enough time and that was the only way. She took some weight trainings also, but that was still not enough. We asked her to do the image training, so she could act like she was cutting the bone, with devilish emotions.

Interviewer: It is difficult to make action movies in Japan in general, because the budget is usually limited and there aren't many action-trained actors. So what was your motivation to do this film?

Kitamura: That is exactly the purpose of this movie. When I made my first film "Versus", I did not know Mr. Yamamoto and nobody else in Japan agreed with me. They all said 'such a theme has to be animation, because we don't have a huge CG or explosives like Hollywood, or kung-fu stars like Hong Kong.' But if we keep avoiding this genre, we will not catch up with them forever. I felt that the important thing is how you fight. Azumi's budget is considered very low in Hollywood level, but that is not the point. I have a pride on my way of directing. I have my own style. So I made 'Versus", very edgy film, and brought it to international film festivals. International industry people and press told me it was a great Japanese action, the first one they saw since 'Lone Wolf'. I was happy, but at the same time, I was sad to realize nobody tried to make this type of film for 30 years. Because it is too risky. For actors, it is much more secure to do TV dramas, so the feature films have become TV-like, and lose the scale and entertainment factors. I wanted to do differently, and got the chance to direct 'Azumi', so I felt destined to do it. For example, people were surprised to see the 360-degree rotation scene. I saw it in U2 music video 15 years ago, but nobody in Hollywood would do it. They would not try. I have always thinking how to do it, and this time we developed the method to do it with our staff members.

I was not trying to revive the old style. I wanted to make the film which can be enjoyed 10, 20 years later. Now it is released in the U.S. 3 years later than Japan, but I don't think it got outdated. I wanted to make the mainstream entertainment film like Japan used to make, with a little edginess here and there.

Note: There was a Zatochi film made in 1989 which has spectacular sword fighting scenes, and there is also Samurai Fiction from 1998 which has some classic, samurai film, choreographed sword fighting.

[Fragony]

Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek, pretty fun. It's about a boy that screws up with a time-machine, he wants to redo the lost footballmatch against belgium but gets thrown in the medieval time instead and joins a kid-crusade. Good movie but it isn't very realistic, I mean us losing from Belgium?