Last Film(s) You Watched

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:31 pm

If I Were You (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448927/

Hilarious, just hilarious !!! Laughing

Highly recommended !!!

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:56 am

Clive Barker's Book of Blood

Story of a young man plagued by the visions of the dead, and the stories they carved onto his body. Starts off with an odd job man who is hired to track him down and skin him alive. He makes the choice to tell his tale to the cretin in order to die a quick death. It unfolds with a haunted house tale and unfolded into either an elaborate hoax or an intersection between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Quote:

The stories go on. They bleed and bleed. The dead have highways, only the living are lost. But there are sign posts and bridges where the dead will stop to tell you their stories, because the telling will relieve them of the tale, and it would be best to listen.

Pretty good scary film. 7/10

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:59 pm

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN Excellent. Action packed. revenge driven violence executed with intellect, ending with twist. I personally rate this film in the same ranks of Shawshank Redemption. If all the above ticks your boxes, it's a must see. WARNING not for childrens viewing.

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:56 pm

Finished watching "The Descendants" few hrs ago.

I was amazed by the sensitivity and texture of the screenplay that presents this story about a beleaguered father whose family life changes. George Clooney’s performance is superb. All the acting is excellent. I personally enjoyed the setting of Hawaii and the Hawaiian music playing throughout the film. The array of themes so intelligently interwoven and developed sets this movie far apart from Hollywood blockbuster films.

There is some bad language and bad behavior by young people, but these elements are set within a storyline that explains the offensive elements. This is a serious movie about domestic problems.

_________________
>SNIP<

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:24 pm

Not the last film I watched but the best recently.

Rise of the foot soldier. (2007)
Great movie a mate of mine got me onto. Starts with soccer hooligans in England, ends in drugs, violence murder etc. Its based on a true story about a bloke called Carlton Leach. If you don't mind watching senselessly violent films I recommend watching it.
It's R rated.
I give it 8 out of 10.

http://www.flixster.com/user/phubbs1 · Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:27 pm

The Grey

Rollicking adventure that feels like its for gruff hikers only as Neeson battles his way across the frozen wastes of the Alaskan wilderness with a motley bunch of blue collar Joe's fighting off savage wild wolves in a battle for survival where only the strongest will live another day and the weak get eaten...phew!

Bottom line, the film is good, very well made, great cast and performances plus it looks amazing filmed in Alaska...but at the end of the day its pretty much your common 'creatures take group down one by one till last man standing'. Not that this is a particular problem but like you have the saying 'its Die Hard on boat/train/oil rig' etc...here you have the saying 'its man v snakes/piranhas/alligators/sharks' etc...this time its wolves, basically a creature feature but a very realistic sensible one.

You do sense the Scott brothers influence throughout the film with its grand vistas, hard edge tension, detail and of course the small ragtag group of grunts that must battle against the odds. There isn't really much you can moan about with the film accept one thing, and that's the really quite incorrect negative perception the Grey Wolf gets in the film.

I'm no expert but I do know that wolves will not really act as savagely as they are portrayed in this film and for me this does knock the realism somewhat. The chances of a wolf pack actually doing what they do in this film is pretty low to be honest, they may try to kill or attack a wounded human or a human on his own but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't stalk a group down and take them out one by one. Unfortunately like other films that have the same man vs creature theme it does tend to give the creature in question bad publicity which isn't deserved.

Personally I think the Oscar talk is a bit over the top, its a great atmospheric film which certainly makes you feel the chill and does have you caring about the groups situation which, in turn, really emphasizes how fragile life is. But while its realistic on one level its not very realistic on another (the wolf behaviour and the cliff jumping scene) and that just lets it down in my eyes. I kept thinking I was watching a horror film about snow werewolves most of the time but it is a deep enjoyable wilderness thriller.

http://www.flixster.com/user/phubbs1 · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:09 am

Versus (JAP, 2000)

Rather bizarre film which I didn't really understand until the gone the midway point to be honest, the plot is odd and not entirely explained as you are spoon fed bits of it very slowly.

Its a blend of horror, comedy, sci-fi and fantasy really, almost has an 'Evil Dead' quality to it really, that kind of dark humour with over the top extreme characters. Mix that with a kind of 'Mortal Kombat' style plot about opening portals to other worlds which lie within the "Forest of Resurrection" but only with the blood of a certain woman etc...a bit cliched but fun.

The whole thing is highly stylised like all Japanese action films...its slicker than a frogs bathing suit, the main hero has dark longish hair and a full length black leather trench coat with black leather pants, dare I say looking a bit 'Crow' like. There's plenty of martial arts, sword play and clever editing along with unique camera angles, personally I think there has been an element of 'The Matrix' borrowed for this film hehe well that and quite a few other films.

Its well known as a cult but I wasn't overly stunned by it, its cool but nothing special really, a bit too cliched for me.

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:00 am

Dogma , Ben Afflick and Mat Damon Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:14 am

Goon...Ive gotta say im not much of a hockey fan..i know boo hiss a canadian that doesnt like hockey, dont judge me, but this movie was not really about hockey. The main character was awkwardly dim and his best friend spent way too much time randomly swearing and making childish sexual gestures. All in all it was alright though if your looking for mindless entertainment. Everything was highly predictable of course but the hits were gooood, some of them i even felt. i'd say a 3/5 *shrug*

http://www.flixster.com/user/phubbs1 · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:30 am

Tokyo Gore Police (JAP, 2008)

Well its certainly gory that's for damn sure haha I've never seen so much fake watery looking blood, it literately explodes from the screen into your face! fountains and streams of gushing blood at every turn.

The films instantly conjures thoughts of 'Robocop' and 'Starship Troopers' as we are introduced to little news flashes or adverts showing thick dark humour laced with heavy doses of satire, a privatised police force that 'protects' Tokyo against the threat of 'engineers' (self mutated insane berserker criminals).

There's such a colourful blend of genres here its hard to pin down really, think 'Kill Bill' with quirky fantasy and horror. The plot is bizarre and chock full of fetish and kink, rubber bound ladies and femme fatales, a real pleasure for all alternatives out there Wink

Add a crazy mix of down right blatant B-movie effects alongside some pretty good gore effects combined with ingenious camera angles and surreal visions.

I liked the futuristic Japanese police with their black samurai suits and many of the nightmarish mutant engineers are fun to see in action, lots of katana face splitting and body popping with a man who shoots eyeballs from little cannon extensions in his eye sockets to a girl who's lower half becomes a gaping alligator-ish maw.

Its totally comicbook or manga I guess with so much blood it becomes funny rather than scary but that's the idea really, not vicious more screwball really but with some nice slick visuals at times and many memorable moments, I think I can see where Tarantino looks to for inspiration or is it vice versa? Loved the limbless pet gimp Very Happy

http://www.flixster.com/user/phubbs1 · Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:16 pm

Ali G Indahouse (ENG, 2002)

A strong character from the British comedian, his original crowd pleaser and probably more popular in the UK than anywhere else but despite that this film doesn't really hit the mark.

Like all movie adaptations of comedy shows that are typically 30min long, a feature length version doesn't quite make it in terms of laughs and plot. Unlike his other characters Bruno and Borat which are basically funny clips or sequences stuck together in doc style, Ali G tries for a proper plot line but fails.
Much like 'Mr Bean' the plot is terribly weak and can't hold you for up to 1h 30min, of course you get what you expect in terms of racism, sexism and plenty of sex and toilet jokes but its just not as sharp in a film, it works better as a comedy show for some reason.

Ali G is of course a brilliant character no doubt, totally taking the piss out of the modern young generation of middle/lower class whites that like to think they are black gangsters, whats even more funny is they don't even realise this hehe.

Probably Cohen's best creation but his weakest film, it does what it says on the tin but its still not as good as you would hope for, on the plus side there are some amazing looking women in the film Smile

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:44 pm

probably the best line in that film was the "switch on the engine pass it on, B*^%h on a pension, suck my D*@g

http://www.flixster.com/user/phubbs1 · Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:38 pm

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Always thought the casting of Cage for this film was wrong, a complete misfire really, a younger unknown actor may have been better I think. He certainly fits the bill with the manic possessed tortured inner-demon issues that's for sure but the guy is too old lets face it.

So they have another crack at this and basically its slightly better than the first, not much, but it does have an edge. For a start the cgi and effects overall are better than the first, the GR looks darker and more burnt with ash and grim rather than the terrible cartoon look he had before. The action is BIG as you would expect, cgi in your face boy! as flames leap around and henchmen get turned into crispy toast, nothing you haven't seen before really so I don't have to explain anymore.

A few plot queries arise for me...why does the devil require a young boy to gain human form when he already has a human form? and why not use any boy instead of going crazy trying to nab one particular boy?. Why didn't the devil just make lots of guys like Blackout ? and why not just do that from the start?

My original thought with Blaze (not being up on the mythos) is why does he turn into the Ghost Rider in the presence of evil? surely the devil likes evil? is it because the devil wants evil souls and the GR gathers them for him? can't the devil just do this himself?

Anyway its totally popcorn overdrive and completely daft as you would expect, I think the franchise is now officially dead seeing as this has flopped even more so than the first. Solution? make it like it should be...an adult venture with an 18/R rating, simple.

So end of the day if you wanna see lots of idiotic henchmen that never learn the simple premise of 'bullets don't harm the man/creature your firing at no matter how long you hold the trigger for, so just stop damn firing and run away you utter utter morons'...see this.

http://www.flixster.com/user/phubbs1 · Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:30 pm

Rampart (2011)

Possibly one of Woody Harrelson's best performances for some time, maybe ever, as a dirty excessive cop whose actions are caught on tape and must face the consequences. The main theme behind the plot is its setting just after or during the 'Rampart scandal' of the late 1990's.

Don't know much about the Rampart scandal accept it involved lots of dirty crooked cops in LA who were also connected with gangsters, drugs, robbery etc...all the good stuff. I was slightly wrong in my assumption about the film at first, I expected lots of hood beatings and evidence planting amidst crack downs and underground gang warfare etc...not much of that, nothing in fact.

This isn't a huge issue though as the film is actually a very strong emotional rollercoaster for Harrelson's character as his job comes under threat for his wayward actions, his family lose faith in him and start to see him as a brutal cop whilst all the time things get worse as he continues with his shady actions to try and get money to pay for lawyers to save his job.

The film does become quite depressing as his downbeat situation gets worse, you do feel for the guy especially if you work in the same kind of role as Harrelson's character for real, its very close to reality as 'the company' take the citizens side and try to load everything on the single cop. You know he has bad judgement or over reaction but you also feel he doesn't do it maliciously.

I think the term 'hidden gem' covers this film for sure, find it and watch.

Above the Rim (1994)

Very cliched and dated gangster/basketball flick set in NY as a young black teen tries to get a basketball scholarship whilst battling against a local thug and his former basketball star brother who is now a security guard at their high school.

Everyone in this film is a cliche haha Shakur is yet another gangster (he couldn't do anything else, useless), Wayans is annoying and camp as usual, Duane Martin is the annoying loud mouth cocky star player and Leon is the quiet dark horse and probably the best thing in the film.

Basically you have all the usual gangster nonsense with all the hilariously bad street clothes worn by Shakur and co, lots of foul language, deals, guns and adults trying to get these dumb asses to grow up and get a life.

The only decent thing in the whole film is the small segments of basketball and the competition at the finale which does show some good genuine skills and reminded me a little of 'White Men Can't Jump' minus the comedy.

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:26 am

I really couldn't get into RAmpart at all, and I usually enjoy Woody's acting. Maybe just one of those direction changes i didn't like. Can't suit everyone after all.

Recoil
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839591/
Danny Trejo is another favorite of mine, but the film is let down by Steve Austin (of WWE/F fame) Austin's acting is still very wooden, probably due to the pounding he took in earlier life. Watch carefully during the fight scenes and you can see the 'dive' before the hit, where fist doesn't make contact.
An enjoyable time waster of a film, but not brilliant.
(Thanks to Pr3dator RG (Rob) for that one)