what exacty do you mean by this kind of thing?

Judging from the cover it seems very old war martial arts type stuff

do you rememver their attempt at an Alien Nation tv show?

I just meant high tension action/adventure type movies. But, yep, it's sort of a war movie that takes place in the 1600s around the time of the Second Manchu invasion of Korea—something I knew absolutely nothing about until yesterday— so I found the setting very interesting.

I do. I could never get into it but I know it has its fans to this day.

Sold!....actually that sound really good....and you know I love a good history lesson :)

I remember kind of liking it at first.....but loosing interest quickly....of course I was only 13 so that may have womething to do with it

Not much of the history lesson is really in the movie since it's just assumed by the filmmakers that their audience is familiar with the setting. I had to look it up to understand the context a little better. But I definitely recommend the movie.

If you do watch it, hopefully you'll get as much of a kick as I did out of the guys in the opening fight scene who look like pimps. I knew they wore wide brimmed hats in Korea back in those days (like the one in the picture below), but I had no idea they wore red ones with big feathers in them.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV..._SX214_AL_.jpg
V/H/S 2

Wasn't a huge fan of the first one but I still liked it. I have to say, this one is far better. All of the stories were pretty inventive save for the last one (just your standard alien abduction), a couple corny moments but nothing blaring. I wonder how many films it'll take for them to milk this franchise dry. It took Saw three tries to make a ****e film (2 wasn't great but I wouldn't call it awful either, the first one is brilliant), let's hope they don't fall into the same trap.

They were showing Idiocracy the other day in comedy central so i watched again, i luv that movie..

What i really like about the movie though is the premise and the world they created around the premise, you got ppl relying on technology without knowing how it works, they know how to use it out of habit also everybody in the world speaks in slang with a mexican accent showing how eventually other cultures will merge with the american one until it becomes the norm..

The movie is full of little details that structure that crazy world from things we see happening today, that's one of the main reasons i luv that movie.

Water? You mean like out the toilet?

It doesn't even have electrolytes man don't waste your time. Plants need electrolytes.

Yea, Brawndo has what plants crave..

i would luv to see a sitcom based around the world of idiocracy, they could explore alot of things while making social critiques and being entertaining.

https://i0.wp.com/i.imgur.com/tKdghm1.jpg?1

The Hitcher

Shying away from the theater this week, I’m going to be doing some old fashioned movie watching from home, as I’ve just been in a bad state as it is anyways. It’s funny how one drifts towards the television in times of stress, as if to make realty seem less real by subtracting it with fiction. I won’t get into that, but rather get into a film I’ve been trying to sit down and watch ever since I realized I liked 1980s slasher films. That film is The Hitcher.

I think they made a really bad remake a couple years ago with Sean Bean, who was cast only because he is great at dying. Is that a spoiler? I’m sorry, this film has been out for almost three decades now so you’re going to have to deal with that. The film takes place in the ******* of America, the Midwest, in where a hitchhiker is picked up by Thomas C. Howell, who will now be referred to Ponyboy for the rest of this review. That hitchhiker is played by everybody’s favorite android, Rutger Hauer. Hauer immediately tries to thank Ponyboy for picking him up by trying to snuff him out but is unsuccessful as he accidentally falls out of the car. This sets up the theme of the film; “Is Rutger Hauer a ninja ghost?” The answer is a resounding yes. Somehow, Hauer manages to frame Ponyboy for all his previous and occurring crimes which leaves us watching Ponyboy try to get out of it. He meets Jennifer Jason Leigh along the way and we have a soup of 1980′s trivial pursuit questions to make up this movie.

I actually ended up liking the film. Most of this is because of Rutger Hauer. The man is just a screen menace that only Klaus Kinski can top. You want to scare the **** out of your audience without really doing much? Just stick Rutger Hauer’s face on the screen and let everything else fall into place. The mystery and creepiness he brings to his Hitcher character is worth seeing the movie alone. The camera work was surprisingly good for a 1980s slasher film as the slow pans really helped setting the mood. I never thought Ponyboy was a good actor evidenced by his over the top performance in everything he has ever done including this. His character seems to always choose a place to hide that is not open or is full of people who will die sooner than later, which brings me back to the theme…

Rutger Hauer is a ninja.

He manages to be in every single nook and cranny without anybody ever knowing he is there. He could have worked for MI6 but instead he has chosen to walk the roads in the middle of nowhere and stalk people who are just waiting to die anyway. He gets out of every single situation he is in, manages to wipe out a whole police unit and still manage to make it loo like Ponyboy did it, and also slips body parts into french fries with what I’m only going to assume is the magic of Cthulhu. He’s the real deal.

The film has some pretty great action/thrilling scenes like the gas station getaway, police car shootout, and let’s not forget one of the most gruesome off screen deaths to a likable character ever. Seriously, I can’t believe they were allowed to do that. I was shocked. Overall, it’s a pretty great 80s slasher that is highlighted by the one and only Rutger Hauer. I don’t want french fries at a diner ever again.

3.5/5

I haven't seen that movie in ages but it definitely freaked me out at the time!

I have that version coming soon. I really doubt the remake was that bad compared to the original. People just like to equate remake and bad like the two words are synonymous. I own the remake and have watched it several times.

http://i.imgur.com/yvJOxIg.jpg?1

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

ALL HAIL CAESAR!!!

Gah! I just want to see it again!A couple years ago I was shocked by how much I liked the reboot of The Planet of the Apes. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking that they must have just ran out of idea because Tim Burton already ruined a great franchise, but to my surprise Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a fantastic attempt to reboot the whole series. Well, it is almost certain that this is going to last a while because “Dawn” is cleaning house at the box office and just so happens to be one of the best action movies I’ve seen since District 9. I mention that film because it was the last time, other than Inception, that I was blown away by an effects driven action film. I was on the edge of my seat. I was slacked jawed at the entire middle act. I walked away from the theater immediately thinking of when the next time I could go back to see it. I needed a little pick me up this week.

The film starts out with a stage setting sequence that actually doesn’t suck for once as it tells us about the fall of the human race due to our dance with science and the need to help old people with Alzheimer’s. There are few who were genetically immune to the epidemic and survived but are now forced to live in mad max style colony with gas generators and filth running in the streets. This isn’t a human world anymore, at least not near San Francisco. The outer forests of California, which look like the Amazon in this film, are now colonized by a much more advanced society of apes led by the one, the only, ****ing Caesar. Seriously, he may be one of my favorite movie characters after this film. The writing staff who worked on this film just nailed the character and all his moral glory. Caesar is still living with familiar faces such as Maurice the giant Orangutan and Koba the scar faced lab ape. Caesar also has a new family comprised of a son and wife, both of whom play a big role in the film. It’s funny but the film picked a great time to be released with all the tension in Israel and Pakistan, but also stuck to serious moral issues of family and friendship. I won’t go to far into the plot because it’s a ride you want to take on your own but the trailer gave most of that away anyway.

I was surprised by how much the story of the film payed homage to Shakespeare, Julius Caesar to be specific, which is a funny joke if you ask me. It seems like it would be at least. A subtle retelling of Julius Caesar about an ape…NAMED CAESAR? It sounds crazy, but it actually worked quite well as we see tension and fighting within the ape colony. This is their film by the way. Do not go into this film thinking that you’re going to get a whole lot of Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke. They are there only to progress the storyline as the natural enemy, meaning being human, of the apes. The real meat and potatoes is all ape baby and the actors behind these apes should be heaped with praise. HEAPED. Andy Serkis continues to be an absolute treasure in a motion capture suit. “Rise” was impressive enough, but this film takes motion capture to a whole new level. There were more close up shots of all the apes doing ape things that made me believe I was watching the real thing. The only ape that looked CGI was Caesar’s son Blue Eyes, who for some reason just could not shake the fact that he wasn’t real. Every other ape, mostly the villainous Koba, looked completely genuine and was helped greatly by their motion actors. Speaking of Koba, Toby Kebbell may have outshined Serkis with his performance. If I was present in front of Koba I would be ****ting my pants. His scarred body and menacing jaws would have had me running in the other direction as I was actually pretty frightened in the theater, which doesn’t happen much. The on screen humans, led by a great actor in Jason Clarke, all did a fantastic job hooking me emotionally into the story. There were some moments that just weren’t needed much, mostly having to do with the kid and girlfriend of Clarke, but it didn’t distract too much. Gary Oldman was fantastic as always and had two really great scenes in where he both gave a speech and made me teary eyed. The cast was a home run.

The action was just top notch. There was one scene involving a tank that seriously almost made me stand up and clap. It reminded me of shots that Alfonso Cauron would construct in Children of Men. It’s easily my favorite shot of the year and may be my favorite shot since Gravity came out. The gigantic ending set piece which climaxed the film was pretty awesome but seemed to mirror the final set piece in “The Amazing Spiderman” too much. I was into it, but it just seemed to similar. The whole est of the film was so unique that the ending that the ending battle just let me down a tiny bit. Oh, and finally, we arrive and end with Caesar. The opening and final shots of his face are just perfect. Perfect!

As you can see, I loved the film. I want to see it again. Hopefully I’ll see it again because it was a blast to watch and a serious contender for my top films of the year. I’m so glad it’s making money because Matt Reeves is a talent behind the camera and really seems to have a grasp on this franchise. Hell, Nolan couldn’t even make two outstanding Batman films back to back. He made a Dark Knight sandwich with two stale pieces of bread. This is the making of a serious sandwich fit for a king. An ape king. F*CKING CAESAR!

4.5/5

not ****ing reading until friday afternoon :mad:

I watched the movie Her which I picked up at Redbox.

Awesome beautiful move but it made me pretty emotional.

It's the story of a guy who falls in love with a Operating System AI.

Check it out!

Did you fall in love with your computer?

Seed I'd personally say its an awesome movie because it made me so emotional

for me at least....for it to be....what I would call a perfect movie....it has to envoke some kind of physical response from my body.....whether it be as simple as a headache from thinking or dehydration from crying or face pains from laughing or that type of physical sensation you get from pure anger or it being so enthralling that when the credits start running I have to think about where I am and why I'm there

I saw Her three times in the tneater, and several since.....the only time I did not start crying when she says her name is Samantha is the first time.....well done Mr Jonez

I cried three times when I saw it in the cinema.

I almost cried out of boredom and stormed out during that movie.

Has anyone seen the movie 'Boyhood'? I'm hearing a lot about it and the premise fascinates me, I'm trying to figure out a way to go see it soon

Not yet but I'm really looking forward to it.

I wanna see that so bad. What it says about modern culture be damned. I just want to feel cheesy about the love story.

I didn't enjoy Her at all - I found it slow and predictable.

ETA: I saw Snowpiercer the other day and didn't like that either - despite some good scenes, the allegory was heavy-handed and the ending was idiotic.

http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/...ps034aa6ef.jpg
The Brain That Wouldn't Die (Completed in 1959, released in 1962)

Re-watched this low-budget sci-fi/horror flick recently. Mad doctor/scientist keeps his fiancée's head alive after both of them are involved in a fiery car accident that decapitates her. He decides to acquire a fresh female body to attach to her head, and starts to look for potential replacements in a burlesque bar and on the street. His fiancée, angry that he won't let her die, begins to plot her revenge by communicating with a mutant the doctor keeps locked in a room in his basement laboratory.

Classic low-budget weirdness!

I wrote a whole review on it a couple pages back.

Thought it was pretty good as well. I think some more nuances to Koba's character would have been great. He is such a one dimensional character by the end.

However I kinda cringed at all the human scenes. Seriously, why do so many sci fi films portray post apocalyptic citizens all being togethor in a giant horde? I realize they needed to isolate themselves, but there is no reason mankind always has to be shoulder to shoulder in a tight congested room every post apocalypse. Even if they are all immune to the ape-flu surely being that congested would pose some other ailments.

Also, did you notice how forcefully the director had to ham in some sexual tension between Malcolm and Ellie. I think i counted 3 different instances of them waking up in the same sleeping bag. I'm not saying it detracted from the story, but after the third time of cutting back to the humans, re-introducing them waking up in the sleeping bag just seemed stupid. I get it, you wanted this to be a family film and thus no sex scene, doesn't mean the audience needs to be hit over the head with the idea that these two are fucking, we the audience were able to deduce that already.

Gary Oldman was solid as always, but I found the other performances rather ho hum. The characters got acclimated to talking apes very fast. I would have liked a least one more scene where somebody was like "holy **** we are dealing with talking animals".

I realize these are more pet peeves than direct criticisms, but they were distracting enough to keep a good film from being great imo

I still think it's a great film. The human scenes were agreeably unnecessary. The whole tension between Ellie and the son was just silly as there wasn't enough information to make me care and non existent information after they "made up". Why even add that part? Still, the effects, the performances by Oldman, Serkis, and Kebbell, and the incredible camera work just left me wanting to see it again, and I will. It's a film that needs to be ingested in a theater again.

Surviving Life - Jan Svankmajer

It's not the latest film I've seen, but it's the latest I've seen that's worthy of note. After watching Institute Benjamenta and Lunacy I've fallen in love with Svankmajer and Brother's Quay's films (Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes is a must for fans of the avant-garde). While these are most certainly art-house films (which you'd expect if you've ever seen his adaption of Alice In Wonderland), Svankmajer doesn't seem to appreciate the label so much, striving to make his works as unpretentious as possible and outright explaining what it is he's set out to achieve at the beginning of his films.


Surviving Life follows a man, Eugene, who becomes troubled by recurring vivid dreams of a strange woman, he is then referred to a psychiatrist who specialises in dream analysis. As the psychiatrist tries to solve what it is that's troubling his sub-concious, Eugene instead only wishes for help invoking the dreams with no intention of solving any problems, cheating on his wife with the literal woman of his dreams. Undeterred the psychiatrist continues to pick away at Eugenes dreams finally solving who this woman is and what's been eating away at Eugene in a haunting climax that you probably won't forget in a hurry. Definitely worth a watch if you're looking for something a little different.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...z3Hy13jCLREjHx

Never got around to seeing this when it came out. Just finished watching it and have barely a clue as to what I saw. It was entertaining for sure, definitely had some really deep moments but I just didn't get it. I'm gonna watch it again soon and probably pick up the book, it's pretty interesting it just obviously takes more than one go to get what it's about.

^reincarnation

gonna have to add Surviving Life to my list...and move it quickly to the top....i loved his version of Faust and Alice

I caught that theme but was a little overwhelmed by all the quick shifts with one storyline to the next. Wasn't totally prepared for a heavy movie-watching experience and wound up mostly just paying attention to the one about the gay musician and his lover and the one with Tom Hanks on the island.

Completely unrelated- Halle Berry is almost in her 50s and still looks like she's 20something in every movie.

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Blue Ruin

Revenge stories. You thought that they couldn’t do anther one that is both unique and engaging but along comes “Blue Ruin” to prove that it isn’t true. It’s been a pretty great year for film so far and while I didn’t get a chance to see this is a theater, I’m still glad I was able to watch it on DVD. There are some films from three years ago that still haven’t managed a DVD release and thankfully this wasn’t one of them.

The film stars Macon Blair, who is almost a split image of Nathan Lane, as Dwight, a homeless man living out of his car on the shores of Delaware. It’s pretty much inferred off the bat that Dwight is troubled by something as he makes no attempt at panhandling or other form of making money. He doesn’t like people and he likes to keep it that way. A friendly police officer brings Dwight in to inform him that a certain person is getting out of jail and the story slowly begins to unfold from there. I say slowly mostly because I mean just that. Jeremy Saulnier took great care with his breakthrough film, telling the story in a slow burning and delicately paced fashion. We aren’t getting spoon fed details and I had to rewind the film twice to make sure I caught turns in the plot. The film has minimal dialogue as our protagonist Dwight is very soft spoken and a lot of the film takes place with only him.

Saulnier, who started his career as a cinematographer, composes some pretty beautiful shots in a barren Virginian landscape. They way he approached the violence reminded me of another filmmaker, Ben Wheatly, in which what we get isn’t stylized, but rather highly realistic. There were some real shockingly violent moments in this film that just hit harder due to the realism.

Saulnier is a promising filmmaker that should be due some serious budget for his next film. That is the way Hollywood is going now. You have Josh Trank, Gareth Edwards, James Gunn, and Rian Johnson all at the helm of big franchises. It’s only a matter of time before a talent such as Saulnier gets his due and if it is anything like Blue Ruin, I’m going to like it.

4/5

I just watched Snowpiercer. I'm going to write it up tomorrow.

SEE THIS MOVIE. It's on VOD right now for like seven bucks and well worth it. Hell, it's still in some theaters. You have no excuse bob. It's a riot and also incredibly badass. Watch it.

the abyss.

Probably the worst james cameron flick. It's clear cameron just wanted to build a fun submarine world he could play in and wrap a movie around. Some super lame aliens. Bland unmemorable characters. Film looked great. Felt at times like "aliens" in underwater, minus well the cool aliens.

I watched The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas for the second time. So sad. :(

They aren't aliens. Also, that movie is great, second only to the Terminator movies and Aliens in his catalog IMO.

I did see it in the theater a couple of weeks ago...just lazy :)

and yeah I loved it also

i like it as well but they aren't aliens?? i thought they were but then again i saw that film as a kid and i didn't understand everything in the film but from what i remember the "aliens" weren't evil and tried to kill us humans they were just chilling underwater until the humans discovered them.

I got the ending spoiled for me but I'm watching it tonight.

I take it you have not seen Piranha II....