Recently watched movies!

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

I just watched He Never Died myself recently. I thought there was definitely a sense of dark humor running through it. I loved it. Perfect casting of Rollins and a really cool idea.

Also:
Yakuza Apocalypse - so...ummm... Vampire yakuza fights kappa and then a guy in a frog suit is the most powerful fighter in the universe. It's an insane ride.

Turbo Kid - If you like Mad Max and the innumerable imitators that spran up over the years, then you'll love this semi-spoof comedy action romp with Michael Ironsides as the villain and a nice splattering of Sam Rami-esque gore throughout. I think this is on Netflix. Watch it. It's good.

[Dr Kain]

[klen7]

Huntsman had some neat creature design, Charlize Theron and an interesting take on the magic mirror.

I liked Turbokid. I think I did a response earlier in this thread where I said that this is the kind of movie I wish we had gotten out of the "grindhouse resurgence" we had a few years back.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

I think Kristen Stewart is pretty.

Besides, it's FAIREST, not PRETTIEST. Inner beauty and all that jazz.

[Destroysall]

Saw the new Jungle Book recently. I enjoyed it a lot. I was a little bummed at the music directing and that they cut out some of my more favorite songs and characters.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

Murder, My Sweet

Honestly, I think I've liked every every one of these old noir detective films I've seen. This could become a real favorite genre of mine if I made the effort to really dig deep into it, and I might!

Anyway, this movie has Dick Powell playing iconic private eye Phillip Marlowe, who, in classic Marlowe fashion, gets involved in a case that's far more than meets the eye. He tries to keep up while being knocked out, drugged, tortured, and lied to by various peoples until he puts it all together by the end. The movie plays fair and everything comes together in a way that makes sense at the end (not always the case), but I think the journey in these films really matters more than the destination, and Powell is wonderful at selling the dark humor and sarcasm of Marlowe as he falls into successive catastrophes.

I wonder if Marlowe writes all these zingers down in preparation for all possible occasions?

"I don't think you even know who's side your on!"
"I don't know which side anybody's on. I don't even know who's playing today"

"I find men very attractive"
"I imagine they meet you half way"

"It's a long story and not pretty"
"I've got lots of time and I'm not squeamish"

[Dr Kain]

I still need to see Murder My Sweet, Key Largo, Gilda, The Big Sleep, and In a Lonely Place.

I love Film Noirs and the only one I did not really all that much was Odd Man Out. Some of my favorites though are Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, Touch of Evil, Ride the Pink Horse, The Killing, Shadow of a Doubt, and Night of the Hunter.

[Destroysall]

[lhb412]

[lhb412]

Out of the Past

I love this movie. It starts out with Robert Mitchum in this idilic small town with this sweet girlfriend, but we soon learn that Mitchum's mysterious character is actually in hiding under a false name. A one time private detective, he disappeared himself after he got involved with an upper crust crook (Kirk Douglas) and through him the crook's runaway girlfriend (Jane Greer). I don't want to spoil what happened between them all and then what happens next, but let's just say that it comes back to haunt Mitchum from... out of the past!

This is a seriously excellent film. I'm still not entirely sure what is and what isn't a noir and I think it's probably subjective, but I'd say this is the best noir I've seen along with Laura.

[klen7]

[O.Supreme]

Harry & the Hendersons -another timeless 80's classic added to Netflix. It's been a long time since I've seen this. I love showing my kids 80's movies. But again, you can just tell the times they were written, you had to be more patient & really invest yourself in the story. My daughter is good at this, so she really likes these films too, but my son is so impatient. I have to tell him like 20 times "Sit down, be quiet and WATCH...." otherwise he misses so much wanting me to explain what just happened. The big payoff at the end though was when they were trying to save Harry from LaFleur. John Lithgow starts yelling at him, then clocks him right in the face. The shock/sadness on my kids face, THAT was a moment you cannot put a price on. But you could see their understanding, why he did it, and their relief at the happy ending. Probably one of the best ending credits scenes also. Man...they just don't make films like this anymore.

How the people who made the below film in 2009, didn't get sued is beyond me...

[lhb412]

[lhb412]

The Big Sleep

Phillip Marlowe, who's now played by Humphrey Bogart, gets involved with another seemingly simple case involving a weird old millionaire and the women in his life, which in this case are two daughters, one of whom is played Lauren Bacall. Naturally, what initially seems a simple case spirals into an ever more complex mystery that, famously, is so opaque that the screenwriters phoned the original author to ask for clarification on plot point only to find he didn't know what what was going on either! Also famously, they reshot scenes a year after production wrapped to take advantage of the chemistry between Bogie and Bacall, and they maybe lost some scenes that made the plot clearer in the process. I'm not sure it matters whether the movie is easy to follow, and the sexual tension between the two is the highlight of the movie, so I think it was probably a good decision.

Although Humphrey Bogart is, well, Humphrey Bogart, and therefore awesome I kinda prefer Dick Powell's characterization of Marlowe: a fundamentally decent guy in a corrupt world who's just smart enough to figure things out right when it's too late and just tough enough to survive the scrapes he gets into, albeit badly injured. Bogart just gives such a sense of confiedence and capability that makes him a wonderful leading man, but maybe makes his Marlowe a bit less interesting as a character.

[jellydonut25]

Hunger Games IV: The Final Chapter - meh. Splitting this last book into two movies really killed it. There are moments in this movie (just like in part 1) that absolutely SING and are indicative of the quality of film we could have had if we had gotten one film instead of two. And then, it gets to a certain point, and just STOPS moving. The last 35 minutes of this movie should have been about 10 minutes...and that would actually STILL have been a 90-minute movie.

Lawrence seems checked out here, too. I mean, her character is kinda pushed to the background more than in other films, in terms of what she's asked to do on an acting level, but that kinda just exposes the rest of the film's (series') biggest flaw: none of the secondary and/or tertiary characters get much development, especially (bafflingly) HERE, where the main character is sidelined a bit. Elizabeth Banks' wonderful characterization of Effie Trinket is seen for a matter of moments, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch only gets anything to do because Phillip Seymour Hoffman died (seriously, his only dialogue is to read a "letter" from Plutarch...which obviously would have been dialogue given in person had Hoffman not died), Liam Hemsworth's Gale is so utterly forgettable, we wonder why this is supposed to be some sort of love triangle.

It just only barely works at all. 2.5/5.

[lhb412]

It Was a Colossal Teenage Movie Machine: The A.I.P. Story

Now here's a surprise! This new MST3K box set has an all-new, feature length documentary about American International Pictures as a bonus feature! I simply was not expecting as lavish a documentary in this context, and it must have been a real labor of love for the folks who made it. I've seen a whole lot of these A.I.P. films with and without the MST3K treatment, so it was neat to be able to find out a bit more about the personalities behind the studio and the context in which these films were made.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Iron Man 2 - I don't hate this movie, but it feels like Marvel was just trying to one up the previous Iron Man film by adding more suits. It's a serviceable movie, but that's about all I can say.

The Dark Knight Rises - I haven't revisited this in awhile and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The flaws I found upon my first viewings have mostly faded. Nothing touches the Dark Knight, but this movie is pretty good and a fine way to wrap up the trilogy.

[DannyBeane]

I watched He Never Died on Netflix, I need to rewatch it because people kept distracting me trying to set up plans for later in the week so I feel like I missed a lot. What I did see I really enjoyed. Henry Rollins looked super creepy at times.

Edge of Tomorrow. This movie has been on my watch list for a while. Yesterday, I finally rented it on Amazon and had a blast. I'm actually kicking myself for not watching it in theaters. The marketing though made it look like another Tom Cruise generic action thriller but it was really creative. I'd describe it as if Groundhog Day and Starship Troopers had a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" offspring, it would be this glorious piece of cinema.

[jellydonut25]

I love both of those movies

[The Shadow]

If you liked Edge of Tomorrow I recommend checking out the novel, All You Need is Kill, the movie is based on. Viz re-released the novel under the Edge of Tomorrow title to coincide with the movie so it should be easy to track down.

[lhb412]

Key Largo

Like another Bogart vehicle, Casablanca, this is a film just full of great actors acting at each other. Not as great as Casablanca, but what is? In addition to Bogie it has Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, and Edward G. Robinson... honestly, it's really Robinson's movie. I mean, sure; it opens and it seems like a romantic drama with Bogie and Bacall, but the moment you see Edward G. Robinson smoking a cigar in a bathtub, well. he runs away with the movie and never gives it back.

[Dr Kain]

Robinson is an awesome actor. I've loved the roles I have seen him in quite a bit, especially in Double Indemnity. Another actor that I thought has been great in the Noirs is Robert Mitchum.