Topic: The Movie Thread

I haven't seen too many Korean films, but I've liked the two I've seen (War of the Arrows & the Admiral).

I'm still a bigger fan of Japanese film, though. I particularly enjoy what Samurai films I've seen (13 Assassins, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, & Zatoichi: the Blind Swordsman), as well as some Yakuza flicks (Sonatine, Outrage, & Beyond Outrage), and a few other films (Battle Royale, Shall we Dance?, & Like Father, Like Son).

I've seen a ton of Hong Kong/Chinese cinema, and while there are a few films I really liked (like Red Cliff, Ip Man, & 1911), everything else I've seen really just blends together in my mind, because they all seem to use an over abundance of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style "floaty" special effects (where you can tell that everything is gratuitously being tossed around on wires).

@RR529: Japan has been good for drama. Anything by Sion Sono or Tetsuya Nakashima and you can always find some really good, either dark or emotional dramas (e.g. Confessions). Those are some pretty bad-ass films and of course they'd do samurai's justice. I love some thier cheesy Crow-style flicks too. Korean has a good mix of everything, and probably the best revenge thrillers around. Also do surprising comedies. I literally (as in metaphysically, rather than metaphorically) fell off my chair whilst watching Going by the Book. I've yet to test Chinese cinema much but Kar-Wai Wong is one of my favourite directors. Chungking Express is a must for a Hong Kong cinema enthusiast, followed by Fallen Angels and In the Mood for Love

Well, in terms of Japanese cinema, I've pretty much seen everything Netflix has, and they don't seem too interested in licensing anything new (which I thought would have changed once Netflix launched in Japan last autumn, but nope). In fact, they've only lost things (last summer they had almost 50 Japanese films in their catalogue, but by the end of the year they were down to a little over 20, and the situation hasn't budged since).

They have a plethora of Hong Kong/Chinese films (well over 100), and while they keep up with constant new releases, a few years ago I was at a point where I was watching 2 films multiple nights a week, and that experience has indefinitely burned me out on them.

As for Korean films, while not as prevalent as Chinese/HK films, they still have a lot of them (much more so than Japanese films), as well as a ton of Korean TV dramas. For some reason though, they just never really "speak" to me for whatever reason.

It didn't bother me when I was young but now the dubbing in HK/CHN bugs me - quite often they'll have actors that don't speak Cantonese or Chinese so they have someone else dub over their acting.:/ Or sometimes they'll have for example one guy speaking in English/Japanese and another in Cantonese but they both seem to understand each other clearly.

I have a few but my favorite Japanese movies are the Samurai X trilogy.

I actually quite like the lead actor from the Admiral: Roaring Seas but I don't really enjoy his films cause most of them are too dark for me. Both Old Boy and I saw the Devil were too disturbing .

Oh yeah, if you guys like buddy cop movies - you should try watching Curry & Pepper (HK) starring Stephen Chow (of Kung Fu Hustle) and Jackie Cheung.

I've actually seen quite a few films over the past couple weeks, though.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action (Netflix) - Realized it'd been years since I last saw any Looney Tunes related media, so I gave this a go. No masterpiece, but it was worth a few chuckles.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (DVD) - My father was getting ready to watch this a few days ago, so I sat down to watch too. First one of these I really watched, and it was actually pretty fun, in that popcorn flick kinda way.

Ted 2 (DVD) - Watched this with the family as well (don't worry, we're all old enough). Humor wise, it's pretty much just an extended episode of Family Guy in a live action skin, and while it may be the very definition of low brow, I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me laugh.

Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher (Netflix) - Animated Marvel flick, which I really quite enjoyed. The two titular heroes are roped into working together despite their differing methods, when they find themselves up against the same evil organisation (other prominent heroes make appearances too, of course). While the CGI used for certain humanoid characters was stiff, other than that the animation was very well done, and the level of detail in particular in both the character & environmental design was quite a few notches above anything I've seen from the animated DC flicks.

I saw mad max fury road.

Great action, but the story was the worst. Max was a plonker.

@themcnoisy: Its definitely not a patch on the original trilogy of films is it!!

@BAMozzy: I only thought there were 2 original films. Man I've missed 1 of the Mel Gibson's films? That's actually a good thing. Woo hoo bonus.

Saw a few trailers/clips of the new ghostbusters movie it looks bad I think it will be a massive flop. It was a mistake to bring back such an iconic movie/franchise from the 80's

It's been quite a bit since my last post, so I've actually watched quite a bit.

Marvel's the Avengers: Age of Ultron (DVD) - I've enjoyed all the MCU flicks, and this one was no different. Lots of great action, and I especially liked the Iron Man/Hulk fight.

Premature (Netflix) - Essentially it's a raunchy Groundhog Day. Features a high school senior who must repeat the same day over again if he, umm... look at the title & infer for yourself, lol. It was alright I suppose.

Tokyo Fiancee (Netflix) - French film about a Belgian woman who moves to Japan to find herself (she was born there, but left when she was 5), and gets into a romantic relationship with her student (she sets up shop as a French instructor). It's one of those "arthouse" romantic films, so expect a lot of nudity, but I thought it was interesting seeing how she coped with the reality of Japan's social & cultural structure in comparison to her fairy tale like fantasies about the country.

the Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey (TNT) - Absolutely wonderful. It truly feels like a grand adventure through a vibrant, breathtaking fantasy world (with some truly awe-inspiring scenery), with a little of everything mixed in. Can't wait to see the others. This is one of those times, where even though it was bloated to 3 & a half hours with commercials, it still went by in the blink of an eye due to how engrossed I was.

@RR529: Same here, I also loved the part where everyone tries to lift Thor's Mjolnir. Ultron wasn't as menacing as I hoped he would be, though.

I saw Warcraft over the weekend and as a fan of the series I gotta say they did a great job. In fact this is probably the best move based off of a video game ever. The characters looked just like they do in game especially Gul'dan. The locations OMG just like the game.

Of course if you don't know much of the game the movie is still enjoyable IMO. So if you like fantasy movies like LotR then you would probably enjoy this. I highly recommend it.

@WanderingBullet, yeah, I can see what you mean about Ultron (and even Loki in the first Avengers, IMO). I hope the next villain is so powerful they have to gang up on it in order to stand a chance.

@Tasuki, yeah, I haven't played the game (not a fan of the subscription idea), but it's always looked interesting, and the movie looks like it'll be a good time. Too bad it didn't do well domestically, but I think China may have saved it (I think it's grossed over $200 Million there).

@RR529: I actually preferred Loki over Ultron. There are just not a lot of great villains in Marvel's shared universe but I think both Loki and Winter Soldier (Captain America: Winter Soldier) are the best so far.
Like you, I hope Thanos is the real deal otherwise it would've been disappointing after all that build up.:/

After complaining about Ben Affleck's Batman being out of character. The other day, I watched Batman Returns (Michael Keaton) on TV and noticed he did something out of character as well by killing one of the Penguin's henchmen with a dynamite. 0_0

I saw Independence Day: Resurgence yesterday, and I really don't get all the criticism over it. It's one of the few sci-fi films that doesn't take itself seriously, which is a good thing, and I liked all the nods to the older films, especially with some of the peripheral characters returning (but Jeff Goldblum was the highlight obviously) Sure, a couple of the scenes were laughably bad, and it did have the problem of having too many subplots entangled into one movie, but it was an enjoyable film nonetheless.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Loki has much more personality as a villain than Ultron. What I meant by them being the same was that neither of them, on their own, stood heads & shoulders above any individual hero in terms of head to head power (other than Hawkeye & Black Widow).

@RR529: Yeah, I get what you mean now.

@tasuki so you were one of the few that saw it in the US it only took $4 million in the US nearly all the money was made back in china. I was going to watch it but being as I never played WOW probably would not have made much sense.

Mad Max was nearly as dissapointing as watching England play Iceland

So how big a flop is the new Ghostbusters movie going to be? It looks truly awful and probably in anticipation of that they are giving the movie away free with the game.