Shogun Assassin (1980) - Excellent martial art flick, really cool to see some of the influence on Kill Bill. I actually started looking for this movie because of the intro to the album Liquid Swords by the GZA.
Think HUGE blood effects and a really well done English dub. If not well done, it at least jives stylistically with what I was hoping for.
Took some work tracking down, but very fun and not too long if you can find it.
Sensing a theme here? The source of the title for the Wu Tang Clan Album, "Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)"
A lot of these older Kung Fu movies are objectively not great from a cinephile standpoint, but are fun. That is the best way to describe 36 Chambers.
Odd jokes and sense of humor but entertaining, and again informative of some of my favorite hip hop.
Shogun Assassin is better for entertainment, for martial arts though, 36 chambers seems a bit more technical to the lay person (me).
Worth a couple bucks on youtube to watch for sure.
On August 03 2017 00:16 brian wrote: this is the first time i've ever seen someone reference uwe boll and it wasn't scathing criticism
That's because I'm a big fan of Uwe Boll. Considering the budget of his movies I think he does a really good job as a director. His choice of source material mostly sucks, but all things considered if you take into consideration his source and budget (think House of the Dead) I believe he actually does a great job as a director. I'd love it if someone actually gave him a chance and let him direct a multi-million dollar Hollywood feature. Stuff like Postal is epic.
I'm also a big fan of Nicolas Winding Refn and Rian Johnson. Not the most popular directors around...
Back on topic:
Sleight (I won't even bother to upload the poster)
Avoid this shit at all costs. Pretty much everything about this movie sucks.
Shot Caller
Pretty much the modern American History X. Coster-Waldau and Bernthal are top notch. Overall quite an enjoyable movie. I'm just surprised about the amount of this kind of ideology being explored in the movies nowadays (this and Imperium with Radcliffe being notable mentions).
easily predictable story, mediocre actors play stereotypical roles, nothing new at all and nothing of the stuff that made the old movies good is there anymore.
2/10
I hope they let the franchise die now, what a damn shame.
8/10 Damn good movie that could have been pushed to 10/10 with a bit more back story on one of the key characters in the film. Otherwise, everything was top notch. Netflix original so go watch it right now.
On August 03 2017 00:16 brian wrote: this is the first time i've ever seen someone reference uwe boll and it wasn't scathing criticism
That's because I'm a big fan of Uwe Boll. Considering the budget of his movies I think he does a really good job as a director. His choice of source material mostly sucks, but all things considered if you take into consideration his source and budget (think House of the Dead) I believe he actually does a great job as a director. I'd love it if someone actually gave him a chance and let him direct a multi-million dollar Hollywood feature. Stuff like Postal is epic.
House of the Dead had a $12 million budget.
BloodRayne had $25 million.
Dungeon Siege had $60 million...
The guy's a hack with an ego. Although, apparently he's done some critically well-received art-house movies, and some average-but-generally-okay direct to video movies, so maybe that closing of the German tax loophole was the kick to the ego he needed.
Watched Baby Driver yesterday night. Cant say it was bad. Id give it a 7 maybe 8/10 simply because it kept me "alive" throughout the whole movie. Really intense action film.
Nightcrawler - My second time watching this. Very good acting by Jake Gyllenhaal as a determined and obsessive freelance photographer/stringer. The supporting cast are excellent as well. Was a little sad to see Bill Paxton here alive with his usual bravado.
The Light Between Oceans - Excellent drama with excellent leads - Fassbender and Vikander. Life alone on an island manning a lighthouse has its own charm and dangers. Not a lot of upbeat moments though and lots of dilemmas that you dread the choices presented.
People always recommend this one when talking about "mindfuck" movies but i was kinda disappointed tbh. It's not bad but one could have done much more with the premise (which i won't spoil). Some friends meet to have a little dinner together and weird things start happening. The atmosphere was decent, the acting was ok but the twist wasn't super well executed imo.
6/10
The gift
Also one of those movies which get recommended here and there when you ask for a thriller with twist. Well i think technically it was done better than coherence (better actors, better directing, etc) but the story itself was rather meh as well. A couple is new in a city, buy a house, wanna start a new life there. There they meet some weird guy who apparently is an old classmate of the main character. Stuff happens.
6/10
Stoker
The english debut of director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy). Written by Wentworth Miller (prison break). The directing was superb, the acting was on point and the story was decent. I think another director would have produced an ok movie with the script, but Park is one of the best directors alive so he made it better than that. Our main character India Stoker loses her father due to a car accident. She is more the introvert and her mother isn't stable either. Luckily the brother of the dead father/husband arrives and helps them out. Though something seems weird about him. I really enjoyed the movie even though the script isn't the strongest. Everything else works amazingly though. It has quite the unique atmosphere and for some people it might be a bit too weird but i thought it really helps the story.
Another Park Chan-wook movie and what a great one! It's about a young korean woman named Sook-hee who becomes the maid of the japanese heiress Hideko. She gets installed there by the conman "Count Fujiwara" who wants to marry the lady hideko to get the her inheritance. Obviously not everything gets smoothly. Don't wanna say more about the plot, but imo the plot isn't even the best part anyway (as with every Park Chan-wook movie). Everything simply works perfectly here, there isn't one weak spot. The movie has tensity, humor, good acting, good plot, phenomenal cinematography, etc. For some people it might be a bit too long because Park takes his time to let scenes breathe, but imo this is a plus as well.
This was one of the more hyped movies in recent times and i finally watched it. What can i say, i enjoyed it! Lots of things happening you already know from other zombie movies but in this one you actually care for the characters (for the most part). It's maybe a bit over the top dramatic wise here and there, but in most cases it worked pretty well. What is it about? A father and his daughter want to meet up with the girl's mother in busan and travel there by train. In korea a zombie apacolypse breaks out and not even the train is a safe place. There are some things script wise i didn't like but the pros outweigh the cons here. While the characters are more or less clichés, it still is effective.
People always recommend this one when talking about "mindfuck" movies but i was kinda disappointed tbh. It's not bad but one could have done much more with the premise (which i won't spoil). Some friends meet to have a little dinner together and weird things start happening. The atmosphere was decent, the acting was ok but the twist wasn't super well executed imo.
6/10
The thing about Coherence was that it was low key. Or at least I didn't come across any promotional stuff before seeing it. I didn't expect anything when I saw it so it made a strong impression on me. You've approached it from the opposite angle, and the fact that you still gave it a 6 .. well let's just say it deserves more if you consider the budget and how much fun the actors were probably having while shooting it. I mean it's such a fun premise to act out, and it shows, I think.
Twas also nice to see the guy from Buffy the vampire slayer again.
People always recommend this one when talking about "mindfuck" movies but i was kinda disappointed tbh. It's not bad but one could have done much more with the premise (which i won't spoil). Some friends meet to have a little dinner together and weird things start happening. The atmosphere was decent, the acting was ok but the twist wasn't super well executed imo.
6/10
The thing about Coherence was that it was low key. Or at least I didn't come across any promotional stuff before seeing it. I didn't expect anything when I saw it so it made a strong impression on me. You've approached it from the opposite angle, and the fact that you still gave it a 6 .. well let's just say it deserves more if you consider the budget and how much fun the actors were probably having while shooting it. I mean it's such a fun premise to act out, and it shows, I think.
Twas also nice to see the guy from Buffy the vampire slayer again.
Sure the budget constraints surely made it "worse" in my eyes. But i also think that the concept could have been better executed, especially the little pseudo science comments annoyed me a bit, that was weak. I still gave it a 6/10 because it has a nice atmosphere and it felt unique. 6/10 in my eyes basically means it's decent and worth a watch even though it's a bit below "good". Definitely more interesting than a lot of mainstream movies though, with a bit more budget it might have been a 7/10
Anthropoid - Very good movie about the mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich in WWII. I didn't really know this part of history and not knowing truly heightens the suspense. The consequences of going through with the mission is quite grim, not just for the participants but for the rest of occupied Czechoslovakia too.
Son of Saul - Grim movie about a Soderkommando in the Holocaust. I've seen The Grey Zone which is similar to this story so it didn't quite shock me as much anymore.
Gifted - Good movie about a guy with a very smart kid. The dilemma is whether to give the kid a "normal" education and experience or go to school with the smart people. Well acted by the leads.
Maybe you can see a pattern here with my movie choices Well what can i say about the wailing, it's well shot, the acting is good (even a great child actor) and overall it's pretty tense. I had some problems with the script though and some scenes didn't work as intended imo. Still, the atmosphere and technical skill combined with the actors make this a pretty good movie, it could have been even better with some small fixes here and there though. What is it about? We follow a korean police officer who has to deal with a weird disease outbreak followed by murders in his small mountain village. Rumors are a japanese man who appeared recently is somehow involved in this. I will just say this movie definitely allows for different interpretations at the end, i like that. Others could think this is a negative. I would still say that the story has closure though.
It's a typical revenge movie. Lots of violence and action. It's well shot (what a surprise at this point) and the acting is stellar as well. The script has noticeable problems which in the end doesn't hugely matter but in a few scenes it could make you question the situation enough to have a negative impact. Not the best south korean movie, still enjoyable to watch and it defintiely has scenes which you won't forget so fast.
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