Recently watched movies!

[Dagarah72]

The Task - This is one of Lionsgate's After Dark entries. It's about a bunch of people who get kidnapped and taken to a desolate area, where their kidnapper then reveals to them that they've been chosen to be on a reality tv show that they auditioned for months ago. Their assignment is to go into an abandoned prison where the ghost of the former sadistic warden allegedly still haunts. When the filming crew and producer see the warden appear through the videos they assume that the company is playing the joke on them as well so they go along with it. The problem with this flick is that it's not sure if it wants to be a comedy or play it seriously, and suffers from attempting to be both funny and serious but never doing either well enough. This could have been a lot of fun but by lingering somewhere in the vague middle it just floundered. I also saw trailers for the other After Dark entries, and not a single one of them looked any good.

No Strings Attached - My female friend had us rent this and I was surprised that I actually found it enjoyable. I think what I liked about is that for a romantic chick flick it was nice to see Natalie Portman being the non-committal one, who basically used Ashton like her own personal sex toy.

The Skin I Live In - Pedro Almadóvar's latest film is a funny and sick little story about a scientist who is working on creating a tough skin after his wife had perished in a car crash fire some years back. This is one of those films that you can't really give away details or you'll reveal too much, but there are twisted surprises. I was impressed with Antonio Bandera's performance. I've never been a fan of his acting but he was very good in this. Some reviewers drew comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and Cronenberg, and I can say that I agree. Almadóvar's attempt at tackling mad scientist horror results in a very good, interesting and yet bizarre film.


Ricky

[king_ghidorah]

Hulk

Good god, I've come to finally see this movie for the genius that it is!! Wow, I can honeslty say that I think it's the best super-hero movie. Everything about it clicked for me this time around, from Danny Elfman's amazing score (this score is really one of his best works) to Eric Banna's great preformance as Dr. Banner (he's not very likable, seething with rage always just beneath the surface...looking for the first chance to go off, but you know what, that makes sense for the character)

I love that this version of Banner loves turning into the Hulk, I mean, most of us would right? Especially us kaiju fans, imagine being able to be so strong that no one could touch you? Imagine being that free? But this film also examines that power and freedom means that you're alone....you really see Banner lean more on Betty as the film goes on as he realizes that he's conflicted, he loves the power, but he also loves Betty....

A great, almost Cronnenberg-ian character study of a superhero...it's not for everyone, and it's not a perfect film, but it's great for those who can leave their expectations at the door.

I also love the Incredible Hulk film, a very different movie, that's more true to the source material and more light hearted, but it's my favorite (maybe tied with Thor) of the recent Marvel films...

I'm eager to see how the Hulk is portrayed in The Avengers. Appearance wise I didn't like how Hulk looked in "Hulk"...looked like the Jolly Green Giant. His appearance in The Incredible Hulk was pretty spot on, though I respect the more monster-esque approach they're going with in The Avengers.

It will be interesting to see how Mark Ruffalo brings Dr. Banner to life as well, Bana and Norton each had wildly different takes on Banner but I felt like they were both being true to the character in their own ways....

Anyways, Hulk smash!!!

edit* Attack the Block-loved it

[lhb412]

Not feature films, but theatrical shorts for me recently:

Was watching my Buster Keaton: The Short Films Collection Blu Ray set from the folks at Kino (they're like the Criterion for silent films). Only watched the first disc so far, but Buster hits the ground running with some widely inventive stuff, like One Week where him and his wife construct a pre-fab house who's instructions have been sabotaged, leading to the completion of a monster house where everything's at odd angles and each nook and cranny becomes an unintended booby-trap. I also really love The Scarecrow which starts out with Buster and his roommate living in a 1920s version of an automated house, where every single thing is made more convenient with a Rube Goldberg-style barrage of levers, ropes, pulleys, and trapdoors.

Then my new Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection DVD set arrived. This is what I've been waiting for for years, all their best material that's been out of circulation (aside from TCM airings) in the US for years. So far I've watched the first two discs, and some have really stood out for me: Unaccustomed As We Are, which was remade a few years later as their great feature film Block-Heads; The Perfect Day, where L&H and company go for a trip but, do to various reasons, only travel about 15 feet from the driveway over the course of the film; Blotto, which has the boys trying to get drunk during prohibition; and Hog Wild, where they try to put up a radio antenna but only end up succeeding in demolishing everything possible.

[MouthForWar]

[The Real McCoy]

Wednesday night I watched Yojimbo. I like the movie. It's hard for me to review a Kurosawa film, so I won't try. I'll say that the lead characters did great jobs for the most part.

Last night, I fittingly watched Sanjuro. I enjoyed this film more than it's predecessor; probably because there was less going on. Instead of following two evil Lord stories, you're only following one. The nine other Samurai besides Mifune were great and funny at times.

Yojimbo: 3.5
Sanjuro: 4

[MouthForWar]

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

[king_ghidorah]

[lhb412]

[MekaGojira3k]

Watched Salem's Lot (the original). Not a movie, I know, but still I felt like watching some vampire stuff. It was, interesting. I feel like Barlow is ruined by the sound effect that accompanies him. He looks great, but he sounds like somebody doing a frankenstein monster impression into a pillow. It's weird. Though, I used to hear my mother talk about how scary this was and I wasn't all that creeped out. The kids floating outside was cool, but it seems like when all hell broke loose the thing held back too much. It felt too small to be an entire town of vampires.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

Just when I'm watching my boxed set of Laurel and Hardy talkies TCM does a mini-marathon of a few of their silent shorts. Putting Pants of Phillip, You're Darn Tootin, and Two Tars were all pretty awesome - and they demonstrate the difference between silent film making and early sound film making. Limitations with tech for the early sound equipment meant largely stationary cameras and studio-bound action, but the ease and portability of a silent movie camera made everything easy. These silent Laurel and Hardy shorts just feel bigger then most of their '30s films. In these silents we follow them walking through a city, lots of location footage, huge crowd scenes, ect. ect.


These shorts all had special "TCM Presents" title cards, original Robert Israel scores, and a 2011 copyright. Could TCM have the rights to the L&H silents and be prepping a home video release (I certainly hope so!).

[MekaGojira3k]

[king_ghidorah]

[The Real McCoy]

I just finished Drunken Angel. While not one of my favorite of the few non-monster Toho titles I own, it has an interesting setting. Upon expanding my horizons with Toho, I've been more into period dramas, so a setting in what was then modern-day was a bit of a change from what I was used to. My preferences aside, I was entertained. Toshiro Mifune played a good bad guy. Not the kind of talent which I've seen from his character before, but I believe at the time this film was made, he was fairly new, and might have been coming in to his style a bit (correct me if I'm wrong). Takashi Shimura pulls off one of my more favorite roles I've seen him in. The plot of the story was enjoyable; I actually laughed out loud several times at Shimura's antics, and his and Mifune's multiple fights together. I would definitely recommend this film to any up-and-coming Japanese cinema fan.

[MekaGojira3k]

[king_ghidorah]

[MouthForWar]

[jellydonut25]

[MouthForWar]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Tyler E. Martin]

[lhb412]

Still watchin' Laurel and Hardy. This new DVD set is in chronological order, so at first it's just shorts, then shorts and features mixed, then they stopped doing shorts and the last few discs are just feature films. I'm on disc 4 and just hit their first feature: Pardon Us. It's a parody of prison pictures, and basically feels like a few shorts welded together (corresponding to the movie's three "acts"). It's apparently not held in very high regard, but despite it's roughness I found it to be a very enjoyable, relaxing kind of film. The leisurely pace really allows L&H's comic routines to develop naturally.

[jellydonut25]