A Somewhat Gentle Man Excellent dark comedy from Norway. Seriously, clever stuff here. Love the dialogue and every quirky moment on here. This was shown at last year's Fantastic Fest but I went to see The Man from Nowhere instead. Both very different films. This movie just came out yesterday on DVD. Favorite moments: women offer our lead character a quickie and they treat him like crap afterwards. Damn good performances too. This is a must see for fans of Foreign and genre movies and this is a must buy for me.
The Green Hornet Delivers as a popcorn action movie. Few badass scenes. The ones that stood out were: The scene in the beginning where we meet our bad guy (played Christopher Waltz). Another scene where Kato first beats the crap out of these thugs. And last but not least where The Green Hornet's actual theme song comes out at the very end. The rest of the movie was so and so. I couldn't tell if it was Michel Gondry's work. Didn't have that Gondry feeling. I was wondering what it would of been like if Stephen Chow hadn't stepped down as the director and actor for the film. But, it is what it is. Lots of action but the story was a little too easy and simple in my opinion. Okay to check out.
[To expand my knowledge in this genre and for the sake of trying something different, every first Monday of every month this year, I'll be checking out a musical I've never seen before.]
Nine Alright musical. Late last year I saw 8 1/2 by Federico Fellini. This film is a musical version of that one. It was between this and Mama Mia for this month but I decided to just go with this one. Some okay moments like the dream sequence with Fergie. That scene was actually also in the original 8 1/2 with the same song and everything. I wanted a little more out of this musical. Would of wanted some trippy musical scenes. I like the way they ended it with Guido saying "Action." Can't go wrong with a nice scene by Penelope Cruz and great performance by Daniel Day Lewis. Alright to see if you're in the mood.
Dead Or Alive 2 This was a little fun especially in the first half. I'm a fan of the first Dead Or Alive movie. It was over the top insanity. I ended up buying the box set of this trilogy early in the year. Saw it for dirt cheap at a local store and I knew that this rare box set cost five times more than what I bought it for. I was saving these movies for my yakuza nights but decided to not include them as yakuza movies because they're not straight up yakuza movies. Part 2 wasn't over the top. It had some good moments. There's a nice POV shot of a guy getting shot at. It was missing some of the magic from the first one. If you seen the first one, obviously this is not a direct sequel. Why? Because the whole world blows up in the first one. I found this one somewhat entertaining. Couldn't find the actual trailer but here's a scene:
Dead Or Alive: Final Part three had a weird feeling. The whole thing had this yellow filter that just made this one little out there. It takes place deep into the future where there's androids and stuff. Not over the top violence but it has some over the top scenes where our main guy is able to stop bullets with his hand and etc. A little enjoyable but can be boring at times. Keep in mind, I was watching this one at 2am. So some scenes seemed to drag on a bit for me. But, man, another messed up Miike ending. That ending makes this one alright. This is probably my least favorite of the trilogy. But still had some good cinematic moments. Verdict: The first part of this trilogy is the best one. Crazy stuff starting from frame one. The two movies that follow have nothing comparing to the first one. So no reason to see them or buy them unless you're a Takashi Miike fan like me. Love this box set.
Ratas, Ratones, Rateros Badass genre film from Ecuador. It's little bit of gangster in there. There's certain moments that make this badass. I can't really explain it all but sometimes there's a shot that goes on forever and instead of cutting to the next scene, they focus on other details within that scene. In average movies, they cut to the chase, right here they make the moments longer and they seem more real (kinda of like Pulp Fiction). I came across this movie at I Luv Video. Didn't know anything about it. I just looked at the cover and read the back and said to myself that I'll check it out one day. Favorite scene: they hide a body underneath the bed, before doing so, one of the guys removes everything underneath the bed including a rim. That rim was mentioned earlier in the film when another guy said someone took his rim. Little details like that makes this film worth it. Stamp of approval. Going to buy this for the collection. It's going to be either in the Foreign section or the Gangster section.
A Call Girl This film from Slovenia was good. With a title like that and with that poster and trailer, one would expect a big raunchy movie. But, I'm here to report that this is not at all raunchy. There's hardly any nudity or sex scenes. Those happen off-camera. It's a film about the dangers and experiences a call girl goes through. My favorite scene is probably the only suspenseful scene, is when our call girl gets captured by these pimps and she ends up escaping and they start chasing her. That was a cool scene. Good characters and good performances. Fans of foreign films, check it out. Good drama.
Night of the Living Dorks A zombie movie from Germany=I'm sold. I don't care to see reviews or ratings or a trailer, if it's a genre film from another country, I'm there. Now, this movie here tonight, was alright. I mean, because I knew nothing about this movie, I didn't have any expectations. The only zombies here are these three high school kids. There were some good scenes and a lot of cheesy high school humor scenes. I like the stoner aspect of it as well as some of the dark comedy on here. But, overall, nothing special. Not a must for the zombie collection. This reminded me of a better zombie teen movie called, Dance of the Dead. Now that one is worth seeing.
