Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

Kurotakage

'60s Japanese cult film: a crime thriller with moments of high camp, surreal visuals, it becomes a musical at one point... pretty fun stuff. TCM showed this late last night and once I started watching it I knew I wouldn't get to sleep anytime soon. Good thing Monday's one of my off days.

I read up on the film online, and apparently the lead actress is really and actor, a famous transvestite performer in Japan. He's probably best know to us for his Ghibli work: the voice of the wolf mother in Princess Mononoke and the Witch of the Waste in Howl's Moving Castle!

[canofhumdingers]

Spent almost 9 hours at the movie theater for the Destroy All Drafthouses. Sounds like Jellydonut is gonna post more about it so I won't spoil much for now. I'll just talk about the four films they showed.

King Kong (1933) - my second time seeing it on the big screen. It is just an incredible movie as we've all discussed and seeing it on the big screen with an enthusiastic audience is just a blast. It was a digital presentation and looked fantastic. I still prefer 35mm (and was lucky in that the first time I saw this in a theater a few years ago was a 35mm print). But if you're gonna do digital, this is how it should look! It was fantastic.

Inframan (1975) - This was an old beat up 35mm print of the original release dub, from what I gathered. It was in pretty rough shape and showed various levels of fading to pink throughout (some portions had pretty good color left, while others were completely pink with no other color information). But overall the print was still watchable. As for the movie.... Ugh. I never want to see this again. I don't generally like Shaw Bros. Hong Kong phooey movies. I don't like ultraman or power rangers or any of that kind of stuff. And this was like all that combined with a healthy dose of cocaine for good measure. It was almost unbearable. There were a few (unintentional) laugh out loud moments but they weren't enough to save this thing.

Pulgasari (1985) - Via a bootleg VHS!!!! I can't believe they had the balls to do this, but they freaking showed a bootleg VHS of Pulgasari in the theater! The reason being, of course, it was the only way they could get a copy. And as for copyright legalities? Is anyone afraid of North Korea finding out and then being allowed to come over here and sue for copyright infringement? I had never seen this movie, but I have to say it was actually pretty good. Very similar to Daimajiin in tone and execution. Some pretty good Sfx too. It wasn't perfect (but what kaiju movie is?) but I have to say I'd love to have a decent copy of it in my collection. And it's just hilarious that this was supposedly made as propaganda against rampant unchecked capitalism, but when viewed, works as a propaganda against a crazy out of touch dictator who won't even let his population have enough food....

Godzilla (1954 - Japanese version) - this was advertised as a new 35mm print, but when screened, I saw some things that make me think it was actually a digital screening (they didn't specify in the live introduction). I almost thought it might be the criterion bluray but the subtitles were different. By regardless of the source, it looked fantastic and was a real treat to finally see on the big screen. I don't know if I was delirious after being there for 7 hours by the time this started or just super excited, but the movie seemed to fly by. It was over almost before it began. But seeing those effects shots on such a large format was breath taking. They still hold up and you could see so much detail that you don't notice even on very big screen TV's. I kept wishing I had a remote so I could pause & rewind & whatnot so I could really soak it all in. Fantastic!

[O.Supreme]

[canofhumdingers]

[jellydonut25]

Premium Rush - Actually not bad. Being only 90 minutes long helps a lot. But it's a fun flick. Something a little different. Michael Shannon is solid as the main antagonist and Joseph Gordon Levitt is good. Fun little flick.


King Kong - had never seen this on the big screen before and the addition of the overture was a really cool feature that definitely set the mood...and I couldn't help but compare this to my recent viewing of PJ's remake and remark how this is better at almost every single beat and step along the way. ESPECIALLY in the first third before Kong appears...like by leaps and bounds. Awesome.

Inframan - a movie I'm really glad I saw in a theater full of people who were laughing and cheering at the insanity, because I don't think I could have handled this 90-minute acid-trip by myself. Unlike humdingers, I don't hate ultraman and power rangers and such, so I found this to be wild enough to be fun.

Pulgasari - You can tell a lot of money went into this bad boy, and it makes its ultimate failure that much more hilarious. But the effects are good, and the creature pretty well-realized, this would actually not be a terrible film to have a decent copy of. Too bad none exists.

Gojira - this print was gorgeous. absolutely beautiful. and i dunno what it was, but i was absolutely RIVETED. I thought for sure after 7 hrs in a theater, i'd be feeling exhausted and fidgety, but I was fixed to the screen the whole time.

[O.Supreme]

[MekaGojira3k]

I've never seen bootlegs at Wal-Mart or Target either.

[jellydonut25]

[MouthForWar]

[canofhumdingers]

[lhb412]

How is it I unintentionally watch two Kinji Fukasaku films within 24 hours?

Battle Royale

I finally see the film I read detailed reviews of online when I was 14 years old. It was quite excellent. I imagine there's nothing I can add to the conversation for a film that has inspired so much discussion amongst film buffs since its release.

[MekaGojira3k]

Evil Dead - it was alright

[XvGojira]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[XvGojira]

Over at a friend's househe has been catching me up on series that I should have seen but haven't yet.

First we were going through the James Bond movies, completely out of order, and watched Dr. No. It is very much of it's time and still good. Could have done with more Dr. No, because when you have a good villain you want to watch more of them. All that's left is to rewatch the Craig Bonds and Never Say Never.

After that we moved on to the Pink Panther series, we are at Revenge of the Pink Panther. The whole series is something that I'm baffled I haven't seen before because the humor is right now my alley.Although I think I liked Return of the Pink Panther a bit better than Revenge.

Last night I watched The Bay. I know some people hate found footage movies, and I get that, but I got a soft spot for them. Maybe I haven't seen enough of the truly awful ones (Area 407) to turn me away. But The Bay is great! It was creepy and tense. Part monster movie, part biological thriller (think Outbreak). It never rally felt boring and you were never stuck with a single person through the entire film. While there is a bit of focus on the amateur news girl you're constantly jumping to one person or another. For being a found footage film, it was great.

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

[XvGojira]

[Rodanex]

[sentaison]

[Destroysall]

Saw Oblivion, and I enjoyed this film. One of my favorite critics gave one phrase for it that I felt fit was "TOM: Legacy". It definitely reminded me of the "Tron: Legacy" film. The score done by M83 was very nicely done. I loved the drones and Sally as they were reminiscent to Portal for me.

Overall rating would be a 3 out of 5 for me.

[Dr Kain]