Blasts from the Past: Movies

[Animeniax]

This thread is for movies you've seen recently that are older and don't deserve their own threads or necro-ing threads but someone might care to read a review about before wasting 2 hours watching it.

I just saw Underworld, the first one, and man what a terrible terrible movie. They've been showing it on HBO probably to hype up the new 3D movie in theatres, but I think anyone who sees the first one won't bother seeing any of the sequels.

I think it fits with the tired genre of action films starring non-athletic, non-action type females in the starring role of the badass killer. Kate Beckinsale fits this archetype perfectly, which is to say terribly. It would appear from the movie that her only vampire ability is to survive drops from tall heights, as the only other power she demonstrates is the ability to fire 500 rounds from an 18-round magazine.

I'd say it's 2 hours of mindless fun, but it wasn't funny or fun to watch poorly CGI'd werewolves fight vampires with no special powers, so they just shoot guns at each other the entire movie.

Rating: D-

[Animeniax]

Probably not that far into the past, but I just watched Hereafter with Matt Damon.

Moving story that really makes you wonder about life and death. Thought there was a serious plot hole though. Damon's character has the ability to talk to the recently deceased through their living relative, which has ostracized him into a lonely existence because who wants to date a guy who can talk to their dead relative to learn private information about them? But the hole is, this is only a problem if the person he's dating has a close relative who has died recently. So why doesn't he just date a person who hasn't had any deaths among close relatives lately? Movie solved. Instead they have another way for him to find love which supports the other major character in the movie.

Rating: B-/C+

[Animeniax]

Watched The Hunting Party about the search for a Serbian war criminal by a group of journalists starring Richard Gere and Terence Howard. Kind of disappointing, considering I checked it out because Diane Kruger is in it for all of 5 minutes. The premise is ok, execution not so much. Kind of silly that 3 reporters venturing through hostile backwoods towns in Serbia and they don't die from it. I won't spoil the ending.

Rating: C-

[Animeniax]

Watched Haywire, whose entire drawing power was based on the hotness of a former female pro fighter. Not sure how they got all these big name actors to sign on to the production, maybe because Steven Soderbergh directed.

The movie was terribly slow, unoriginal, and uninspired. The action sequences were poorly done, and the hero took forever to finish anyone off, mainly because she kept forgetting she's a 160lb female fighting 200lb guys. Pretty bad all around. I think the worst part was the background music, which just made the story plod along.

Rating: F-

[Abdula]

Hey. I see you supported a thread all by yourself. Reminds me of Munsu's efforts in the old days. I don't have anything to contribute since I don't really watch movies and I don't really care to give my opinion about most things, hard to believe I know. I would however like to get your opinion on the movie Basic. Its stars Travolta and Sam Jackson and is one of my absolute favorite movies.

[Y]

Haywire is a quite good 2011 action movie and I'm not sure how it belongs in the old movies thread or deserves that rating. Carano's physicality brought a crisp, natural feel to the action sequences, two of which were quite memorable (the scenes against Tatum and Fassbender) and Soderbergh wisely shored up any weaknesses in Carano as a leading woman by putting her aside a cornucopia of talent. Also I found the scene where she drives in reverse along the snowy trail really great because it doesn't look impressive at all on film, but when you think about it doing that is virtually impossible. I certainly enjoyed the film despite the banal plot.

[Animeniax]

@abdula: I haven't seen Basic in its entirety but I don't remember liking it all that much from the part I saw. I'll add it to the Netflix queue and watch it in full and post a review here.

@Y: I'm a fan of Carano's as a fighter, but not sure she has the chops for acting or as an action star. The fight scenes had some uniqueness and realism but were dissatisfying because it's a female fighting men. I wouldn't compare them to the fight sequences in Bourne movies which were a lot more refined and impressive.

I felt the attempt to surround Carano with big name talent back-fired as they mostly seemed to be fluff and had roles with zero character development and no depth. I imagine that was part of the point, shadowy government types whose background and allegiances you can't be sure of. But those roles could have gone to less pricey talent for the same impact and the money could have been spent on special effects or story writing.

The driving scene was thoroughly disappointing. The driving backwards part was impressive in a real world sense, but for a Hollywood chase scene it was very dissatisfying considering the shit you've seen in movies like Ronin and the Bond and Bourne movies. Add in that she got busted at the end of a very short chase by hitting a deer and it was laughable all around.

[Y]

@Y: I'm a fan of Carano's as a fighter, but not sure she has the chops for acting or as an action star. The fight scenes had some uniqueness and realism but were dissatisfying because it's a female fighting men.

You're a class act, Animeniax.

[Animeniax]

You're a class act, Animeniax.

Why thank you! Seriously though, I've seen her fight women for real and barely hold her own. She got crushed in her last pro fight but the she-dude she fought was manish and later got busted for cheating with testosterone. You could see in the movie that she struggled to do "action" sequences. She's not nimble or fast. She should go the same route as Steven Seagal and use moves meant for slower and clunkier people.

And don't forget, she was fighting trained killers/martial artists, so it was even less realistic for her to beat them.

[Splash!]

I felt the attempt to surround Carano with big name talent back-fired as they mostly seemed to be fluff and had roles with zero character development and no depth. I imagine that was part of the point, shadowy government types whose background and allegiances you can't be sure of. But those roles could have gone to less pricey talent for the same impact and the money could have been spent on special effects or story writing.

This. For a very decent cast, the roles they were given didn't amount to anything.

Also as an action move, it was quite dull. Usually one would try to cover up a weak story line with flashy action sequences. In this case, the action was kinda plain. I am sure some would have appreciated the 'realism', but I did not find it as entertaining as the usual high octane stuff. From what I remember when I watched it in theaters, the soundtrack didn't help either.

[fahoumh]

I watched "The Deer Hunter" the other day...I didn't really care for it. It felt somewhat disjointed and I had trouble caring about the characters.

[Animeniax]

I watched "The Deer Hunter" the other day...I didn't really care for it. It felt somewhat disjointed and I had trouble caring about the characters.

I did that too, watched "the Deer Hunter" well after it's time (I think I saw it 5 years ago) and it was interesting but the characters were so unlikeable and self-destructive. Maybe because we don't know war and its stresses (though we've been at war in the Middle East for 10+ years as a country) we can't relate to the characters or events.

[fahoumh]

I did that too, watched "the Deer Hunter" well after it's time (I think I saw it 5 years ago) and it was interesting but the characters were so unlikeable and self-destructive. Maybe because we don't know war and its stresses (though we've been at war in the Middle East for 10+ years as a country) we can't relate to the characters or events.

Yeah, you're probably right.

[Animeniax]

Yeah, you're probably right.

I think it's like post-apocalyptic movies too. If you had watched them in the 70s-80s when there was a very real possibility that the world was going to end via nuclear annihilation, they would resonate more. Watching them these days doesn't have quite the same effect.

[enkoujin]

This might as well be a generic movie review thread that's not upcoming at this point in time.

I watched a 2009 Indian comedy film called "3 Idiots" the other day. The movie was directed by Rajkumar Hirani and is the highest grossing Bollywood movie in the country and overseas. It tore at my heart several times throughout the movie with its emotional scenes and was pretty funny that you don't have to be Indian or to understand Hindi to enjoy it, so I'd definitely recommend anyone here to watch it.

The film is about three adults, in their 30's, who reminisce about their days in college where they attended a well-known school with a rigorous curriculum with a genius named Rancho. The flashback explored many themes of these well-known schools like suicide from stress, parents forcing their children to carry out their parents' wishes instead of their own and points out the holes of the educational system - how most students are forced to memorize their textbooks instead of application and enjoying the learning, etc.

This flashback happens while these three adults look for Rancho, the genius and close friend, who encouraged them through their hardship and supported them whenever they needed help. While they look for Rancho, more flashbacks play out (the flashbacks is pretty much the main story), they learn uncover a huge mystery about him and crash a wedding.

The only things I didn't like about the movie were its random Bollywood music video scenes that I felt were forced in and the length of the movie (2 hours 45 minutes). The spontaneous Bollywood music video scenes must be something cultural because the Indian nation is obsessed with singing and dancing, so that's acceptable. However, there were definitely some scenes that could have been condensed or omitted from the movie.

Definitely worth a watch and may be a catalyst for one to start watching Bollywood movies. 4.5/5.

[Animeniax]

You're brown, enkoujin?? I wouldn't have guessed it. I find Indian/Pakistani movies are just remakes of western movies but with more singing and dancing. Of course, most Hollywood movies are remakes of material from yellow Asia or Europe.

[enkoujin]

No, I'm Chinese.

And yes, I agree with what you said as well with Indian movies initially. This movie might be an exception because, like I said, it is the most grossing Indian film there is. It's kind of like how a lot of people watched Avatar from different countries outside their niche entertainment and rated it very high because it's a high grossing film.

Give it a try - it's definitely worth your time. Make sure you get it with English subs!

[Animeniax]

Watched The Prestige with Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and Michael Caine. Excellent movie. So many twists and turns and you'll be guessing how it concludes right up to the end. Christopher Nolan directed. He and Christian Bale make magic together.

Rating: A

[fahoumh]

Never saw that movie...but I may have to check it out now.

I watched Jacob's Ladder a few days ago and I really liked it. It's also one of those movies that have you guessing what's going on up until the very end.

[Animeniax]

Cool, added Jacob's Ladder to my dvd rental queue. I've been looking for some "cerebral" psychological twist type movies. I recently watched Solaris (from 2002) and it was pretty good. I can't wait for Prometheus to be available outside theatres.

If you can recommend any others of the dark and thought-provoking genre, it'd be appreciated.

Solaris
Rating: B-/C+