Intacto Decent thriller from Spain. Love the mystery feel in the beginning of the movie (dark colors and shady people). Got a little bit confused in the first act. Original story. What else can I say? Some people have luck and some people don't. Part of me wanted some more out of this story. But, good to check out. Here's an English trailer to the film:
Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 The French gangster masterpiece concludes in this part. Intense scenes. Didn't want this to end at the end. Vincent Cassel still kicking ass in his role. I personally enjoyed part one a lot more, but, this one still badass and it's the closure to everything. My favorite part: the police are outside his apartment door and they negotiate with Mesrine. When the door opens, Mesrine holds a bottle of champagne and greets them. He gets arrested, of course, for like the fourth time. Very memorable scene. I've said it in my comments from part one, and I'll say it again, a must for all fans of Gangster cinema.
The Quiet Family This is Jee-Woon Kim's (I Saw The Devil) first film. Very badass dark comedy. While watching it, the story sounded familiar. Then I figured it out. I saw a Japanese remake out of this that Takashi Miike did called, The Happiness of the Katakuris (also very good). I had no idea I was watching the original today. We got some familiar Korean faces here. Love these characters and this story. You could tell every shot was carefully thought out. The 60's rock music was cool too. It's a little different for this film, but, cool. My favorite part: The family discovers the dead couple and when they're about to bury them, the dead guy opens his eyes, so he's not dead. The family freaks out and they kill him for real this time. Next thing you know, the Coen Brothers will be remaking this. If they ever do, this is up their alley. Another Jee-Woon Kim hit for me. I'm definitely collecting all his films.
Since I've seen all of Jee-Woon Kim's feature length films, I would like to list my favorites in order. 1. I Saw The Devil 2. The Good, The Bad, The Weird 3. A Bittersweet Life 4. The Quiet Family 5. A Tale of Two Sisters 6. The Foul King He's also done a few shorts that I haven't seen.
Sucker Punch This is my first official Imax feature length movie experience. I'm glad I was able to experience that. Over these past few days, I heard mostly negative stuff about this movie. I heard this was a complete mess, failure, and disappointing. I was feeling a little sad hearing these things. But, I still had to see it for myself. I went in with low expectations. I came out entertained. Yeah, this was nothing special. Probably my least favorite Zack Snyder film. But, man, this was not bad at all. Totally made by a fan for fans. I like the concept, even though, halfway through, the end became predictable. No surprises. Some of these shots and cgi stuff was freaking killer in Imax. Felt like a game. This is like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. The difference are: - This story is not as good. - It's more of a modern game look rather than retro. - The music totally sucks here for me. They should of kept the original songs rather than the remix. - Instead of 7 evil exes, we have four items to get to escape this place. I wish this would of been rated R for bloody sequences and stuff. But, it is what it is. So, in my book, I give this an alright rating. Could of been a whole lot better, but, I put it almost the same level as I felt with Battle: Los Angeles. Not great as we expected, but alright. Go with low expectations. My top two Snyder films are: Watchmen and the Dawn of the Dead remake.
Dark Star Enjoyed John Carpenter's very first feature film. His talent shows here from the start. Great cheesy space adventure. The low budget version of 2001: Space Odyssey. This gets credit for two things: the music and the weirdest alien I've seen in cinema history. I mean, this alien was a like a big inflatable balloon. The story was somewhat funny and the actors were great for this kind of film. Favorite part: Pinback shoots the alien and it deflates. Funny! A must see and a must have for the Grindhouse section.
Contamination Kudos for the effects and gore. But, this didn't entertained me as much as the first movie. They say this is like a rip-off to the movie, Alien. It felt a little bit like Zombi 2 but with alien eggs instead of zombies. The main actor here comes out in Zombi 2. I like the sounds the aliens make here. They sound kinda like a sound of a horn coming from a boat. Straightforward dialogue. I do love these alien infected people exploding.
Alright to see but not worthy of buying even for the Alien section. Maybe if it's under five bucks.
The Sicilian Girl Them Italians know how to make a gangster film rough. What I mean is every Italian gangster film I've seen, they portray gangsters as cold blooded and non likeable characters. Movies like this one, Gomorrah, The Boss, Calibre 9, show these qualities. American gangster films make their characters likeable. What gangster wouldn't want to be Tony Montana or Don Corleone? This movie was paced good. Never a dull moment. Yeah, I thought some of the acting from the main girl and her mom seemed a little exaggerated. Overall, story works for me. It's good for the Gangster collection. Will make a good double feature with Gomorrah.
Best Worst Movie Awesome documentary. Had me laughing in the first half. This is about the movie Troll 2 and the people involved and how the movie is considered the worst movie ever and at the same time it has many devoted followers. I've never seen Troll 2, but after watching this, I want to watch it now. Kudos for having Alamo Drafthouse in this doc a few times. Speaking of the Alamo Drafthouse, they're going to have a few screenings of Troll 2 starting this Friday. Might be my chance. This doc is for those who love bad movies or the movies that are so bad that it's good. My favorite part is near the beginning where the cast of Troll 2 are talking about how excited they were to see the movie for the first time and their reactions afterwards. Must buy for the documentary section. Now, I want to start a new section in my dvd collection. It'll be entitled, "Best Worst Movies." I'll collect movies that are so bad but at the same time they're somewhat entertaining. I already have the movie, "Munchies." That was a movie I liked as a kid but when I saw it a few years back, I thought it was horrible. How did I ever like that as a kid? I'm going to see if I can find a VHS copy of Troll 2.
Let this be known. I didn't really want to see this movie. But, because I have OCD when it comes to movies, every Tuesday I have to watch a movie that came out that day. Unless of course, there's a special event or an emergency, or work related stuff. It was between this movie, Skyline, and Yogi Bear. Not interested in all of these movies that came out today. So I went with my gut.
The Tourist This was going good up until the last 10 minutes. I went in with very low expectations and I was enjoying it. The chases, the secret ops, the gangsters, and the Italian scenery were wonderful. But, something in my gut told me this story was going to have a big twist at the end. So big of a twist that you don't want to see this movie ever again. Why did they have to do that? Johnny Depp's performance was good for the most of the film. Angelina Jolie, eh, just okay. The chemistry between them at the end looked fake. Well, now I got this movie out of the way. Moving on. For those who still want to see this movie, I wouldn't advise it, and you all can stop right here because below this picture is the spoiler ending to those who are curious about it. SPOILER: Johnny Depp's character is Alexander Pearce, the guy everyone is looking for. For the most part, we are led to believe he was just a tourist. Jolie's character didn't recognize him until he revealed himself to her at the end. He paid millions of dollars for high end plastic surgery so nobody would recognize him. He revealed to her and the audience by opening a safe that only the real Alexander Pearce can open. Right before that part, I told myself, please don't let him be the real guy. And sure enough, he punched in a whole bunch of numbers and the safe opened. Very clever. Now turn it off.
$5 A Day I didn't like the main actor who plays the son of Christopher Walken's character. There was something about his performance that messed up the movie for me. There were some okay parts while they were on the road. I just pictured something different with this story. I think it tried so hard to be funny. My favorite part was when Nat (Walken) walked into a company party pretending to be an employee just to enjoy free food and drinks. He started talking to the employees there and little by little, the othe employees discover this guy is fake. Probably the best part of the movie. The rest was a little dull. Somebody would have to pay me five dollars to make me watch this again. Hate the main song. This movie wasn't for me.
Seven Days Decent Korean thriller with a big twist of whodunit at the end. Nice set up. There's a lot of Asian movies out there that deal with a male character trying to save a loved one (usually a son or daughter). It's nice to see that the lead here is female. Nothing new we haven't seen before. Good for a one night of entertainment. The pacing will keep you up.
The Fighter Well done, sir, well done. When we first see Bale onscreen as Dicky, right away, I said to myself, "this guy did deserve his Oscar." Crazy crackhead performance. This story got me hooked. My favorite moment: When Dicky walks to his seat in prison ready to watch the documentary. That whole sequence of everyone watching that doc was touching. Good dialogue. Like most boxing films, the last guy to fight always have to be the asshole. That's the only minor detail I didn't like. But, everything else is top notch dramatic entertainment. Would make a great triple feature with "Raging Bull" and "Resurrecting the Champ."
Every third Thursday of every month of this year, I'll be watching a yakuza flick. Love the yakuza genre but haven't really seen a whole lot. There's a lot of classics out there. This will help me explore these Japanese movies. I'll be watching a few from directors, Kinji Fukasaku, and Takashi Miike, as well other yakuza flicks from the 60's and to the present.
Last Yakuza Night I saw The Yakuza Papers Vol. 1. Tonight is Vol.2.
The Yakuza Papers Vol. 2: Deadly Battle in Hiroshima Picks up right after the first one. We are introduced to some more characters, including one played by none other than Sonny Chiba. Few Yakuza fights. It's badass how a character is developed here. It has the same music as Vol. 1. My favorite scene is when Yamanaka is first given a gun and a target. He kills for the first time. He's in shock for shooting somebody but after a few seconds, he smiles. Loving this series. Pretty much the same as Vol. 1. Next month, we'll be looking at other yakuza flicks by other directors. But, I'm coming back to finish this series sometime this year.
Couldn't find a trailer for Vol. 2. Here's the trailer for Vol. 1 to refresh your memory:
Attack the Block Awesome flick. Felt like an 80's tribute. Good horror mixed with humor. The Warriors mixed with Critters. This is my third alien film to see this month that's considered part of 2011. I like the scene where Nick Frost and that other white dude are just staying still for a moment and then they release their smoke from the marijuana. This honestly felt like a John Carpenter picture (like Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from N.Y and stuff). This is produced by Edgar Wright (who hasn't let me down yet). I like some of the hip-hop music on here.
SXSW Screening #4: Sudor Frio (Cold Sweat) Modern grindhouse from Argentina. There's a lot of plot holes here including why the main character didn't panic and went to look for help when he first saw these people through the glass. And why are all these other women downstairs behaving like zombies? It felt like it was made to be exploitational. We have one of the girls covered in this explosive liquid stuff, and the guy makes her undress. I like some of the quirky moments. The old man walking with his walker trying to attack our main girl. I like that one kid always wearing that mask for no reason. Little gorey. People explode. But, weak script. Overall, could of been a lot better. I wanted to watch this because you never know if this was something special or not. Would of been a great discovery. Kudos for that grindhouse feeling.
Jackass 3 I'm not the biggest fan of Jackass. Gotta be in the mood, I guess Well, thanks to my six pack of Austin Ambers, I enjoyed this one. Was laughing hard a few times. Love the scenes that include pranks on other people other than the Jackass crew. For example, one of my favorites, it's the big guy asking a stranger to take care of his dog and he enters store. Moments later a small person walks out wearing the same clothes and gets the dog from the stranger. Love those scenes. Another one, the grandpa and her "granddaughter." Those are funny. The stunts that the Jackass crew pull by themselves without strangers involved aren't really funny. They're stupid, but, that's their point. I like the music. Good drinking movie. One night kind of movie. I wouldn't buy it.
SXSW Screening #3: Paul Wow. This was so freaking hilarious. Everything about it was awesome. Lots of references to alien movies: E.T. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Aliens, even Mac and Me. Must see for everyone. Was cool to have Simon Pegg and Nick Frost attending the U.S Premiere at SXSW. This is a lot funnier than Adventureland (same director). This reminded me a lot of the movie, Fanboys. Lots of cuss words, lots of bad mouthing, lots of good times. Love all the cameos. The whole audience was hooked. Now this is my favorite movie so far. Must see movie of the Spring. Must buy for the Alien Section.
SXSW Screening #2: 13 Assassins Brilliant samurai masterpiece. Has a slow build up for that last one hour battle scene. It gets even more bloody towards the end. Takashi Miike delivers!!! I'm not much into samurai flicks. I watch them here and there, but, this is up there for me in that category. Even though this was mostly a drama, I like some of the humor moments. Good to have for the Takashi Miike collection or samurai section.
Babies Not bad documentary. It's funny that us humans have so much in common but yet we are all so different. Linda's been wanting to watch this doc in a long time. N9w she finally saw it. Four different babies from four different cultures doing the same thing differently. Interesting but true. I like that there was no narration to this. Felt more like National Geographic than an average doc. Went by fast.
Alright to check out only once. If not interested, you're not missing anything special.
I received a Platinum Press Badge for work to cover some SXSW events. I received this at the last minute. I won't be able to fully take advantage of this badge, but, whenever I can, I'll be checking out some of the films from this year's SXSW.
SXSW Movie Screening #1:
Source Code It was an honor in watching this film at the Paramount
sitting near Vera Farmiga and Jake Gyllenhaal. This is the opening film for the whole SXSW
and I'm here to report that this movie blew me away. This is this year's Inception.
At least that's the way I feel about it. But, don't want to start a big hype.
I didn't know what the story was about
before going. So that might of been the reason
why I loved the film. It surprised me. This is the same director who did Moon
(Duncan Jones). He was present as well. Picture the movie, Groundhog Day, as a sci-fi,
and this is somewhat like that. Love the sounds. Love the shots. Love the ending. This touches on some things that are personal to me. So, there was some emotional things happening. I'm not going to discuss any details here.
This movie comes out nationwide next month. If you want my opinion, I'll tell you this is my favorite
Battle: Los Angeles Nothing special but this alien movie entertained me. Non-stop war here. I don't play video games, but, most of this felt like one of those games like Modern Warfare. I thought they were going to be stingy with the aliens. But, surprisingly, they showed quite a few (though, majority looked like robots to me). They overdid the soldier bravery theme. Once or twice is good, but they kept on doing it. Just save that to the end. Would of wanted to see more scenery of L.A. This is not among the best of alien invasion movies, but, for a one time deal, this is alright. For the Alien section, I wouldn't pay full price.
The Next Three Days It took a while for the suspense to kick in. What a good suspense it was. Russell Crowe does good here with his expressions. The detectives were getting on my nerves. Didn't like the music on here either. Overall, decent stuff. Wish they would cut 30 minutes off and make it flow better. It has one of those clever endings with a big twist. Good one night stand movie.
[The second Wednesday of every month I'll see a movie that I am ashamed to admit I've never seen before. A movie that most have seen and it's usually referenced in pop culture. As a fan of cinema, I shouldn't have missed these movies, but I did, so shame on me. This will give me the chance to catch up on those movies.]
Because this year is the year for alien movies and it starts this month, I decided to focus on sci-fi movies. The following five sci-fi films I've never seen before:
Original Metropolis Invasion of the Body Snatchers Original Planet of the Apes Original Tron Original The Earth That Stood Still
According to all my film experts, the original Planet of the Apes is the most Shame on Me.
Runner Up: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (I have to see this one day).
Planet of the Apes Great stuff! No wonder this is a classic. Love the ending. I saw Tim Burton's remake a few times already. So, shame on me for not giving the original a chance earlier in life. The story here is simple but great. In Tim Burton's version, it was more complex. For a film from 1968, bravo for all the ape costumes and make-up, really good and realistic.
Couple of laughs in the first half. Second half gets better with some dark comedic moments like accidentally blowing one of your friends up. I give it lots of props for originality. I like the climax. One down note: this didn't have English subtitles and sometimes it's hard for me to understand people with a British accent.
