Watched any good movies recently?

[Crazedmongoose]

I personally loved Brick.

If you liked Brick btw, it's pretty likely you're a fan of neo-noir. So basically, the following films are must sees, I consider them the twin pillars of neo-noir:

Chinatown
The Long Goodbye

[Dong Zhou]

Chinatown looks intresting, not so sure about The Long Goodbye though that make an awesome title for a romantic tragedy.

[Dong Zhou]

Tried The Sting, nice music but was a really slow starter. The basic con was decent for awhile but whenever it moved off the con, it became boring. Eventually, elements of the con story just seemed to fall into place in an unrealistically convenient way. Also wondered why the other conmen didn't just shoot Hooker, simply on grounds of sheer annoyance.

[Dong Zhou]

Tried Heat and for awhile it was quite good. The police vs the gang thing had a nice tension but the personal scenes were erratic, the dialog could feel forced or trying to be hip/cool and grew more and more to dislike the lead detective. Film seemed to go on too long and eventually stopped paying attention

[Shen Ai]

I think Heat was good, until right after the awesome bank robbery scene. After that, the film kinda lost momentum, and the ending wasn't very impressive or surprising.

I watched Usual Suspects the other day. When i saw it the first time, I must have been fourteen or something, I didn't understand a word of it. This time around, I liked it, with a great twist ending, good characters and nice little interactions between Verbal and his police interrogator. I was surprised that Ebert hated it so much.

[Dong Zhou]

Race to Witch Mountain

A Disney thriller remake of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain, written by the director Andy Fickman (first time as writer) and Mark Bomback. Produced by Andrew Gunn, Mario Iscovich and Ann Marie Sanderlin, music by Trevor Rabin, cinematography by Greg Gardiner and editing by David Rennie. Premise: An alien spaceship cashes near Las Vegas and government agent Henry Burke (Ciarán Hinds) tries to find the aliens. Meanwhile, ex-con and struggling taxi-driver Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) ends up being hired by two somewhat odd children, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig)...

The best thing about the first half an hour or so was the spectacular Disney logo. The second was Dwayne Johnson's delivery of the odd humorous line. The start was very flat, the story wasn't particularly intresting, the special effects were too flashy to quite feel right, the action was boring, Seth was annoying and AnnaSophia Robb was flat. Oh and the opening credits was overly long and very boring. The film picked up, the characters became more likeable and acting improved, the film retained its sense of humour, it used the idea of how weird alien stuff could be to a human quite well, lots of enjoyable scenes as it concentrated on the characters. There were some nice touches like having Kim Richards (latest film) and Ike Eisenmann (ditto) from the original film and a nod to Meredith Salenger's most famous role. It wasn't perfect by any means: action was still boring, the romance wasn't built properly, the plot didn't always link together very well. Unfortunately, the last fifteen minutes saw the film running out of steam and become boring again, only without the humour. One special effect was too reminiscent of the Spice Girls movie and there was only one good scene, which was somewhat let down by Dwayne Johnson and Alexander Ludwig being flat.

The cast will all have done better stuff but generally decent performances. Dwayne Johnson's delivery of the more amusing lines were one of the best bits early on and, till the flat scene near the end, he performed well. AnnaSophia Robb was flat at first but gradually grew into the film and gave the one moment of enjoyment during the end phase, Alexander Ludwig was slightly flat at first and was flat right at the end but in-between put in a decent display. Ciarán Hinds is decent but doesn't really stand out as a villain, Carla Gugino was decent but failed to build a chemistry with Dwayne Johnson, enjoyed Garry Marshall in his small part. Others who did well: the comedian Cheech Marin, Chris Marquette and Tom Everett Scott, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann.

Overall: Flat start and went on too long, decent middle.
5.0/10

[Dong Zhou]

St Trinian's

A reboot of the Ealing comedy series, which were based on works by the satirical cartoonist Ronald Searle. Written by Piers Ashworth, Nick Moorcroft, Jamie Minoprio and Jonathan M. Stern, produced and directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson. Music by Charlie Mole, cinematography by Gavin Finney and editing by Alex Mackie (latest film). Premise: Annabelle Fritton (Talulah Riley) is taken by her father Carnaby (Rupert Everett) from Cheltenham Ladies' College to join her aunt Camilla's (Rupert Everett) infamous and near bankrupt St Trinian's school. As she struggles to settle into the anarchic school, the new hard-line Minister of Education Geoffrey Thwaites (Colin Firth) decides to make an example of the worst performing schools: like St Trinian's.

I have watched the five previous films and I found them to have a good theme, nicely amusing and a pleasurable thing to watch for an afternoon. Nothing more then that so perhaps not the audience this was intended for and had mixed feelings about watching the reboot. I had enjoyed Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson's adaptations of Oscar Wilde plays, very fond of An Ideal Husband, but both were flawed and amusing.

Music was good, the choice of song or music did seem to add to the mood though my sister found it increasingly annoying, a really enjoyable ending song. It felt like the creators captured the spirit of the original films and its sense of humour, updating it a bit. There were plenty of nods to the past, like Rupert Everett playing the headmistress and her brother in the way the late Alastair Sim did, but also nods to films the cast had been in, like Pride and Prejudice references. The fans may appreciate those nods but there is plenty for those who haven't watched the original films. The humour is not laugh out loud funny but found it consistently worked so was often amused. Not all of the story knitted well together, early on it particularly felt like it was jumping from theme to theme, and though it had a decent main story, several elements felt underdeveloped or seemed to vanish, only sometimes popping back. Film started well and was amusing, characters quickly linked up well, good atmosphere but as said earlier, did suffer from feeling like it jumped from theme to theme. It did settle down into a more coherent story but there was a long middle passage which became rather boring, it still retained the sense of humour but the plot failed to be of interest. Felt they overused the twins Tara & Tania (Cloe and Holly Mackie) during that part. Thankfully it found its feet again, the story becoming more intresting and the character moments returning. The cast did a good job throughout.

One problem I did have with the film was its use of the ladies... looks. The old films did have older students who used their charms for humours/story sake without being overtly/uncomfortably sexual. This film carried that on, particularly with the Posh Totty group, and carefully did some of "this could go badly wrong" moments so keeping it funny without making me uneasy. Which they then waste by inappropriate camera shots, "teasingly" looking up skirts and eyeing up thighs in stockings. Also didn't like Annabelle Fritton's outfit in second half of the film for this reason.

Overall: Bar unease over some of the leering camera-work, a pleasant and amusing film that gave a nod to the past without being hidebound by it.
6.0/10

[Zhuanyong]

A Better Tomorrow 2010

This is basically an almost completely verbatim remake of the John Woo original in 1986, starring Ti Lung & Chow Yun-Fat. Basically, just read the linked Wikipedia storyline for the 1986 film and you will have a vivid picture of this film.

A Better Tomorrow 1986

So as for differences, I felt like as a drama, the emotions were portrayed very slightly worse in this remake starring Jin Moo. Another difference is that the action sequences are done a bit better due to better graphic capability and technology. There is that nostalia that follows anyone who loved the 1986 Woo classic.

Lastly, the ending was different because:

In the 1986 version, Ti Lung's character ends up living and surrenders to the police handcuffed to his brother.

In the 2010 version, Jin Moo's Hyuk ends up being killed by Tae-min, the main antagonist, and then his brother, Chul, kills Tae-min before turning the gun on himself to join his brother in death. The rest of the ending sequence is the same with the Chow Yun-fat character in this version, Yeoung-chun, being killed by Tae-min.

I thought the movie was done rather well and I enjoyed it.

Action ++ (I enjoyed the action)
Story - (Was lacking)
Music +- (It could've been better)
Characters +- (Some characters were unforgetable while others were)

OVERALL: 7/10, the original is better and a classic. Song Seong-heon as Yeoung-chun appealed to me more than Jin Moo's Hyuk but, not as much as Chow Yun-fat's Mark. The action lifts the movie but, the missing elements of storytelling bring it down. The emotions and actions taken weren't believable some of the time. Since I own the DVD, I'll admit that I will watch it in the future. Basically, I would recommend it to those who like the genre.

[Dong Zhou]

Tried Muppets from Space but couldn't get into it.

Red Cliff

Not going to do premise since this is about something this forum specializes in. Watched the western version which tries to push the two films into one.

I liked the start: a decent explanation of the situation by the narrator, clear show of who is good and who is evil, spectacular views, entertaining and inventive battles, some decent scenes not involving battle with good dialog. Scenes did seem to jump a bit from one to the other though and it seemed very selective of using captions to introduce a character like "Cao Cao, Han Prime Minister." but not Emperor Xian. Which felt a little harsh. In the case of Lu Su, felt a bad move to have him involved for several minutes with no introduction at all. I had been interested in how they would handle certain issues, felt like Good allies vs evil Cao Cao was fine at first but grew more and more ridiculous, Cao Cao was clearly intelligent but the good vs evil thing became rather too one sided for my tastes. The Zhuge Liang/Zhou Yu thing was far better done, one music scene aside, and enjoyed watching their relationship develop, felt nobody got harmed by the film's portrayal.

Film retained the eye for the spectacular shot. I liked the early battles becuase they didn't follow the history/novel strictly so could throw up a surprise and I liked those changes, it mixes action scenes nicely with scenes from outside the battle and the fights got my blood going even with the hammer-horror blood. I did find it amusing when generals kept running into battle with no weapon in hand and relied on grabbing a sword or spear from a foe, was a bit too over-the top. Unfortunately, by the time of the climatic Chi Bi battle, I had got bored of the fight scenes and I never felt particularly interested as I watched the battle unfold. The social scenes started well but became hit and miss, very good in the rare moments with humor, good dialog but main romance didn't click together and the scenes with Cao Cao didn't tend to work for me.

Film became far less intresting for me once it moved towards final battle and was bored for the first part of the last half hour. Less bored during the last 15 minutes but that was due to the film becoming unintentionally ridiculous, left me laughing my head off. End song/poem was very nice so at least the credits left the film on a high.

Overall: Started well but grew bored of the battle scenes and ended very very badly.
5.5./10

[Dong Zhou]

Black Snake Moan

A drama written and directed by Craig Brewer, produced by Stephanie Allain and John Singleton, music by Scott Bomar, cinematography by Amy Vincent and edited by Billy Fox. Premise: Religious farmer Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) is rather upset when his younger wife Rose (Adriane Lenox) leaves him for his brother Deke (Leonard L. Thomas). One morning, Lazarus finds a battered Rae (Christina Ricci) unconscious on the side of the road, the unwell young lady having been promiscuous since her boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) left for his tour of duty.

Wasn't a fan of the music, which became a problem near the end, felt the voices could be too quite but was impressed by the make-up when Rae was battered, loved the camera work during one scene

said scene

when Rae is still unwell, her mind swimming and her vision is blurred, admired how they pulled off the blurred images

. Initially found that each scene was strong but when it changed to the next scene, I seemed to lose interest until that new scene built up. Not sure why and after awhile, I didn't have those gaps of disinterest. This is a film with very strong language, voilence and contains adult material but done it in such a way that I wasn't too uncomfortable, it didn't feel exploitive but an important part of the tale and the characters. Unlike the poster which does the film a great disservice. The unease I felt when watching the film was from two well crafted themes: from an action of Lazarus to Rae

major spoiler

chaining her to a radiator in the house

and from small hints that something dark lies behind Rae's promiscuity. The former made me worry where things were heading, despite Lazarus seeming fairly kind, as there were a number of ways that could go and the latter meant any Rae seduction or other action along those lines was clouded by the thought of what had driven her to this. Ricci can make a reasonable seductress but any feelings I had were always dampened by what little I knew/suspected.

Ricci and Jackson put in very good performances and combine well, they both fit into their roles and the contradictions within them. I initially found Lazarus and Rae to be somewhat unlikeable but didn't realize till the film was over that they had really grown on me. While well supported by side characters like paster R.L (John Cothran, Jr.), it is the relationship and struggles of the two main characters that drive the film along. It doesn't quite hit the emotional heights at times but it was very intresting and enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, once it takes away the two uneasy themes in the end phase, I found it got less and less intresting. More music for me not to enjoy and a sense the film was trying to wrap itself up, not giving certain moments enough chance to have an impact. There was one scene very near the end that made me smile but the general failure to quite have the emotional punch did hinder the last half an hour while one of the actors performance dipped

major spoiler, whom

Justin Timberlake

in an otherwise very good performance from the cast.

Overall: A film that used two unsettling themes well and built up an intresting relationship between it's two main characters. Ending a little disappointing.
7.0/10