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Post by UncleJager on Mar 3, 2007 21:27:29 GMT -5
This week I saw two films Flyboys, and The Protector. The Protector made by the same guys that did Ong Bak, and featuring that film's star Tony Yaa, this is a Moy Thai (Thai boxing blockbuster). At first the story development is very similar in the two films, some badies come in and steal, an elephants (The Protector) and a Buddah head (Ong Bak) and Tony Yaa goes to the city to find it. However, THe Protectors is a much better passed and developed film with top notch fight sceens, and more "ahh damn!!' moments than can be counted. The two films also share the fact that many of the stunts are done without wires or trick photography. If you are craving some awsome kicking and bone crunching action The Protector is the film for you. I can't get tired of seeing a small Thai guy flying through the air and knocking the stuffing out of people with his knees. There are many deep themes about animals and culture in The Protector, even though they are well meaning, they are the weak points of the film, just because the dirrector was not able to develop or focus on them. Even though this is a martial arts fighting film there are some truely beautiful shots in the film. My faves are in the opening shots of the jungle, tall grass with the elephants and the boy. I recommend watching the unrated international version of the film. Flyboys I have heard only bad things about this movie, but I found it way better than War Of The Worlds. Mostly cause the dirrector knew what he wanted to do, make a romance-war film, unlike War where Speilberg seemed to have no idea where he wanted the film to go. Though Flyboys offered nothing new the flight and battle scenes were enjoyable. It was interesting seeing a WWI era fighter battle. I could even say it was done well. There was a fair amount of light heartedness to it, but as who guessed the plot was super predictable, the characters were as well done as some Wal Mart furniture. There could have been so much done with the plot, if it had been made to tell a good, honest story, and not to make some money.
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Post by UncleJager on Mar 21, 2007 10:32:48 GMT -5
It's time for another two reviews, joy joy happy happy joy joy!
Lord Of War Featuring Nicholas Cage being 'Nicholas Cage' in that he is always the same quite psycho wierd guy, just with a different name. Lord Of War is a 'based on true events' film about a gun running tycoon who may have been Ukranian. The film follows the tired and true formula of poor ass guy gets into illegal activities get's rich, marries and "shocker" things fall apart. What makes the movie work is how these event play out, and I have to admit the 'Nicholas Cageness' works well for this character. There is ofcourse an attempt at moral and deep rooted messages, but I think they get lost pretty quickly. While I found the film entertaining, I think it is definatly a rental, cause it offers very little re-watch value, unless u want to watch the disc full of extra's or just like hearing snappy lines about the gun running business. It might just be me but I found some of the tidbits about the movie interesting:
-According to Andrew Niccol, the filmmakers worked with actual gunrunners in the making of the film. The tanks lined up for sale were real and belonged to a Czech arms dealer who had to have them back to sell to another country. They used a real stockpile of over 3,000 AK-47s because it was cheaper than getting prop guns. The gunrunners were more cooperative and efficient than the studio or the crew. (an interesting parrallel to one of the issues in the film)
- The tanks seen in the movie were real and belonged to a Czech arms-dealer.
-Before shooting the scene where tanks were lined up for sale, the filmmaker had to warn NATO, lest they think a real war was being started when they see satellite images of the set.
Second up Dreamers a sexually charged film about a young american student who while in Paris gets involved with a local art cinema house where he falls in love with a mysterious girl. The time period of the film, 67-68 was also a time of student uprisings in Paris in which a they demonstrated against the current government and advicated for Socialism/Communism (god knows why) During a small demonstration to hold the theater open he finaly meets the mysterious french girl who turns out to be half english and the daughter of a famous french poet. Our young American friend ofcourse befriends the girl and her brother. This would be high time for me to mention that this film is not done in the traditional 'hollywood' style but tried the invoke the art cinema styles of the past, most importantly in it's skewed and somewhat unnerving sexuality. As the American, Matthew beggins to know the brother and sister better he is strangely attracted and repulsed by them. For one they often sleep in the nude with each other, because they claim to be siammes twins, thus two halves of the same person. As the film goes on you get the sense that they have been inseperable from each other for a long time. Matthew tries to seperate the two to a more 'normal' and 'healthy' state but in the end fails and we are left with a very art house open ending where the riot police rush the protesters. This is definatly not a film for everybody. However well worth seeing for it's references to many great films of the 20's, 30's, 50's, and early 60's. A look into the mind of youth lost in the world of films in the age of counterculture and exploration.
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Post by Sucosa on Mar 28, 2007 7:45:21 GMT -5
300. Despite the historical inaccuracies, it was a good movie- one I felt was worth the admission price to see it on the big screen. 300 had just the right amount of plot to go with all the violence and gore to make it fun. Not a easy movie to describe- one you really have to see for yourself, but I enjoyed it.
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Post by UncleJager on Mar 31, 2007 17:29:07 GMT -5
Azumi Japanese film by the director of Versus and the producers of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. As you would expect from this combination this film is very much a live action anime of sorts. Without giving away much of the story the plot revolves around a old samurai master who after a great battle is asked to train assassins to help end a long war by killing some extra stubborn war lords. He does this by gathering children he finds to be tallented, 10 in all and teaches them the arts of sword and martial arts as they mature to their late teens/early 20s. At which point he and the students go out to full fill their mission. One particularly cunning warlord requirs all sorts of 'unique' characters to find and kill the assassins and the old samuria. It becomes apparent early in the film that while the students are tallented fighters they know next to nothing of the real world which leaves them vulnerably naive as they enter into their mission.
While definatly not top budget in effects the film does well with what it has. The fighting sequences are convincing, though not as deep as many top budget films. My favorite effect is the digital skipping of frames during certain fight scenes. This convincingly gives the illusion that the character is moving so fast for a moment that you are not able to see them. Luckily the effect is not overused so it retains it's impact. There is even cosplay pottential to the movie, if I was a better actor, there is an all white character in a very clean but elegant kimono/outfit who is completely insane. There is a specific scene where he kills a person and we are watching the death in slow-mo over the shoulder of a third character then this guy comes sailing into the frame wide-eyed and grinning like the amusment-park assassin in Bebop.
There is also a PS2 game based on this story. No idea how it is. The insane guy is played by a famous japanese musician, Joe Odagiri
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Post by UncleJager on Apr 3, 2007 11:36:48 GMT -5
Holy Begesus!! I went to see 300 at the Imax in Tampa, and there is only one way to describe it AWSOME!!! At first I was not really sure about how I was going to like the Imax thing, the sheer enormaty of the screen during the previews was making me feel motionsick. But, luckily, by the time 300 came on I was used to it and in the end it didn't really fell different from the regular theatre. Though I have to say that the size of the screen did make you feel more like you were in the action than just watching it. Also the sound was really great and LOUD, much like I remember it beingwhen THX first came out, the walls shaking the seats were rumbling and your guts were doing a ghetto dance The only issue I really had with the film is that because of the color effects u could really see the film grain, during slower scenes I found myself distracted by it. Anyways back to the film....I'm happy to once again see a comic/graphic novel addoptation that is worthy of it's paper counterpart. I heard a lot of people complain that the film is too gorey, I don't see it, it's no more gorey than say..Saw or Band Of Brothers. In fact the digital blood made 300 feel more surreal. I can't wait for the dvd to come out with maybe a director's cut or extended scenes, I would also really like to see a creature features extra. I was the only one to stay for the credits and I was happy I did cause I really liked the closing title animation, a little bit like a projec I did for SCad (but way better). Also some of Frank Miller's black humor was snuck in the names of characters, did anyone see asian transexual concubbines in the film? Aperantly there are 3-4 . I wouldn't mid seeing it again cause there is just soo much to absorb.
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Post by T. Miller on Apr 4, 2007 17:55:39 GMT -5
did anyone see asian transexual concubbines in the film? Aperantly there are 3-4 . I wouldn't mid seeing it again cause there is just soo much to absorb. What, the concubines? ;D
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Post by Sucosa on Apr 26, 2007 9:37:00 GMT -5
Also some of Frank Miller's black humor was snuck in the names of characters, did anyone see asian transexual concubbines in the film? Aperantly there are 3-4 . I wouldn't mid seeing it again cause there is just soo much to absorb. Yeah- I noticed 1 or 2 of those in there. But then maybe Xerxes played both sides- a lot of people did in those days, Greeks especially. I mean Leonidas called the Athenians 'Boy lovers' in the movie too.
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Post by UncleJager on May 8, 2007 8:02:46 GMT -5
Yesterday I watched Fearless Jet Li's last film, while not my favorite martial arts film, it is probably one of the best jet li films I've seen. I was suprised how deep and involved the plot was, Jet did a good job acting, I have not known him to be a deep actor but his performance here went to levels I have not seen from him before. Basics of the film are based around the life a famous martial arts master of the period (early 1900). Beyond the regular costumes of tunics and the half shaved head of that time , the film also featured some garb from what I would assume was a more Northern part of China. The fights were not as flashy as many films now days, but the production stressed the lack of wire and CG work, so most of what you see is the fighters skill.
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Post by Sucosa on May 10, 2007 11:11:10 GMT -5
A couple of weeks back we watched The Producers. I never really considered one for musicals but this one was really funny. It stared Matthew Broadrick, Nathan Lane and Will Ferrell. Basicly the plot is about a washed up broadway producer and his accountant- they figure out producers stand to make more money on a flop than a hit- so they are out to make the worst play ever. They find a play called "Springtime for Hitler" and start production on it- but things are never as one plans. This Musical has a really catchy soundtrack too. If you like musicals- I highly reccomend the New version of Chicago with Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones too.
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Post by Alan Fuckin' Alda on May 10, 2007 14:09:44 GMT -5
I saw Rent and I hated it. But I hate all musicals, so that's not a fair review, innit?
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Post by Alan Fuckin' Alda on May 10, 2007 14:10:12 GMT -5
Of course since I hate musicals I shouldn't have watched it, so SELF-PWN!
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Post by T. Miller on May 12, 2007 20:03:15 GMT -5
A couple of weeks back we watched The Producers. I never really considered one for musicals but this one was really funny. It stared Matthew Broadrick, Nathan Lane and Will Ferrell. Basicly the plot is about a washed up broadway producer and his accountant- they figure out producers stand to make more money on a flop than a hit- so they are out to make the worst play ever. They find a play called "Springtime for Hitler" and start production on it- but things are never as one plans. This Musical has a really catchy soundtrack too. If you like musicals- I highly reccomend the New version of Chicago with Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones too. At Megacon some people karaoked a song from that, I guess the title song, Springtime for Hitler.
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Post by UncleJager on Jun 5, 2007 0:37:41 GMT -5
Apocalypto Despite Mel Gibson's recent crazyness I was still interested in seeing this film. I'm happy to report the film was more Braveheart than Passion of the Christ. I was fearing that the movie was going to be all preaching like, but luckily we were spared. Instead we got a shallow story about the supposed fall of the Maya civilization. I am not sure for the reason of having the movie in Mayan. Even though I felt the movie only scratched the surface of Mayan history and civilization, the film was still enjoyable, with beautifly shot sceens, grandious sets and costumes. For some reason Mel Gibson made an extra effort to make the occupant of the city extra grotesque, or obviously drug fiends. The plot is quite simple, so there is no way of talking about it without blabbing the entire plot. I think the plot was the biggest weakness of the film, it was to 'generic savage' so little of it was Mayan specific. For some reason someone decided it was worth the time to include a single deleted sceen, apparently the movie was so perfect only one sceen that was planed out and shot was not used. Anyways the deleted SCEEN was not even that great, it's simple shot of a ruffled up deer heading the opposite way to the human convoy. That's it, I actually went back and turned on the commentary to figure out what made this shot worthy of the deleted sceens reel. Apperantly it was supposed to symbolise the fact that 'even a dumb animal' knows better than to go that way.
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Post by UncleJager on Jun 9, 2007 21:02:30 GMT -5
Burmese Harp The film revolves around a Japanese army company in the Burmese theater at the end of the war. They are led by a man who used to be a music proffesor and he teaches his unit the basics of choir singing, one even takes up playing a burmese style harp. As they wonder the country side they are told that the war is over and they surrender to a british unit. While held in a village under the british the Japs are told that there is another unit hold up in the mountains still fighting the british. The harp player, Mizushima is sent to the mountains to persude the other Japanese soldiers to surrender. His captain entrust him with the mission of not letting another life fall in vain, now that the war is over. While Mizushima is on his mission his unit is transfered down to the coast to await orders. The mountain unit does not want to surrender and are blown away by the british, however, Mizushima survives and finds his way out of the caves sometime after the battle is over. Mizushima is highly upset by his inabbility to save his fellow Japanese and is nursed back to health by a Buddist monk. Mizushima steals his closes and sets off to the coast to rejoin his unit. On his treck he comes across several masses of fallen Japanese soldiers sending him even deper into his depression. By the time he finaly reaches the coast he decides not to rejoin his unit but go on being a monk, however he stays around the coast because he is unsure about what to tell his friends. His friends ofcourse want him back, but are unsure if he has survived, and when they see him as a monk they are convinced that the monk is him, but Mizushima pretends not to know them. In the end just as the Japanese soldiers are about to be sent home, he contacts his captain and gives him a letter explaining why he cannot come home, he has decided to roam the country and lay fallen soldiers to a proper rest. Music has a large part in the film, much of the emotions of the soldiers and Mizushima are conveyed through singing and playing of the harp. The soldiers sing to try the bring back Mizushima, and latter attract the monk they think is Mizushima. Mizushima is drawn to playing his harp when he hears his friends sing. When he finaly comes to see his friends off, Mizushima does not say a word but plays to works on his harp.
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Post by Sucosa on Jul 11, 2007 9:25:24 GMT -5
Transformers- 2.5 hours of no stop action. Actually there was way more action than character development, so if you missed a second you were a little lost. But other than obvious things like some of the cars not following the cartoon forms of themselves, which I can only suspect is because General Motors is the one who sponsored the film, This was a good movie. I can't say that I liked this movie as much as I enjoyed 300= but it was still worth the admission price for the ticket. My suggestion is if you have a IMAX - go there- it is proably even better on a bigger screen.
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