just saw the holy mountain

sweet jumping jesus, what an experience

probably the best thing to see after having hardly seen any films since spring break

At 4/14/15 09:47 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: I wasn't really interested in seeing the Purge movies, but they turned out more entertaining than expected. For some reason, I suddenly got all the HBO and Cinemax channels for free... again. I imagine they'll be gone any moment... again...

i thought the first was one of the biggest missed opportunities at first but i actually think doug walker made some good points about how it really just comes off as a sociopolitical commentary with nothing to commentate on, like a teenage conspiracy theorist trying to stir up fear over something that everyone already knows will never happen but he hasn't realized yet

Watched first two films in over a month.

Man of the West was a very solid western. Gather it has a reputation as somewhat of a hidden gem, but it didn't strike me as anything particularly remarkable. Just a really enjoyable film.

Stations of the Cross blew me away. Breathtakingly beautiful on every level. Stunning to look at, and a surprisingly human and sympathetic look at fundamentalist religion. Doesn't shy away from showing how destructive these beliefs can be, but doesn't turn its authority figures into evil caricatures either. Everyone, from the priest who pushes the protagonist into her downward spiral to the overbearing mother who quashes every chance she has to stray from it comes across as human and, at their core, well meaning. It makes for a much more compelling narrative, and makes the film that much more heartbreaking.

Geoffrey Lewis died. Seen him in lots of movies. High Plains Drifter, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, the Devil's Rejects, Way of the Gun, Army of One etc. But the first role I ever saw him in was as Uncle Frank in Double Impact with Van Damme acting opposite himself (lol not very well) and a creepy mute Bolo Yueng. Loved that movie as a kid. Looks like he never stopped working. Also, Juliette Lewis is his daughter.

And Richard Dysart died. He was Dr. Copper in the Thing and Cogliostro in the animated Spawn series on HBO. He was also in Pale Rider, which is pretty badass. And apparently, he was in the dub of Castle in the Sky.

Watched Food, Inc..

It's a documentary about the American food industry. The message is pretty simple and can be summed up in one sentence:
The American food industry is controlled by a few very powerful corporations who don't care about farmers, their workers, and the health of the consumers.

It was a pretty interesting watch and I do think it conveys an important message. I can't say it was all that shocking or surprising though.

Went out to see Omoide no Mânî (a.k.a. When Marnie Was There), the latest Studio Ghibli film. It's directed by Yonebayashi who, from what I heard, is supposed to be the successor of Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli.

He's doing a pretty good job thus far in my opinion. I think When Marnie Was There is a very beautiful film. I'm normally quite stoic, but I was actually moved by the emotional plot. It's definitely an early Oscar contender for Best Animated Feature.

saw elephant this morning

first film i have seen in over a year that has made me feel physically ill after watching it

Really want to see Southpaw...Southpaw Trailer!

At 5/13/15 01:03 AM, SithCorduroy wrote:

At 5/11/15 03:11 PM, SithCorduroy wrote: I just watched The Coneheads.

Best science fiction film I've ever seen. Better than 2001.

***** out of 5 stars.

Oh my God...

Shit, that is awesome.

Maybe my expectations for Snowpiercer were too high cuz of everyone raving about it. Not bad, though. I've already found myself quoting it ("be a shoe!"). Kang-ho Song was good as usual. My favorite role of his is still in the Good, the Bad the Weird. lol Must be odd for the children to have to walk through a nightclub to get to school. One of my friends pointed that out. Another pointed out a kind of Bioshock vibe which I was thinking. And spoiler here. I guess the girl and the kid are the last humans in existence. I dunno why not one other person could survive the crash if they could. Unless other survivors just decided not to look outside. The polar bears shall inherit the earth!

babies taste best

Watched Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann (a.k.a. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared).

It's probably best described with "Swedish Forrest Gump". It's about a simpleton who met various famous historical characters and unintentionally changed the course of history at various key moments. At his 100th birthday he decides to escape his retirement home, steal a suitcase and go on a journey to wherever.

I'm a bit surprised by the average-ish ratings it got. I got a few good laughs out of it, especially out of the characters. I read some reviews saying that the "humour doesn't translate well", but I don't know why the humour would be strange or unfunny to the Anglo-Saxon countries. The film is perhaps a bit too silly at times, I agree, but surely characters like Benny are universally hilarious.

King Arthur died. It just occurred to me that I haven't watched Excalibur in years and years. I used to watch it a bunch. First saw it when I was like 8 or 9. It was also one of the first 2 DVDs I ever owned when I got my PS2 when I was 12.

Watched American Pop. I wonder what happened to Pete's mom. Also, the music he played at the end didn't seem to fit him. Would have thought punk or something. Watching Night of the Living Dead remake now. lmfao Darwin Award for Tommy. And I guess there's a reference in ATHF I just got after all these years. BUNCH A YO-YOS.

edit: er, Tommy, not Johnny. That shit made me laugh.

At 5/19/15 09:55 PM, SithCorduroy wrote: Just got back from seeing Mad Max: Fury Road.

God damn. This movie blew my fucking balls off!

This is, hands down, the best pure action film I've seen in years. It actually put me in mind of things such as Terminator 2, which is indeed high praise from me.

Being an R rated action movie, I hope it does really well in the theater.

I was watching last night's Conan and noticed Lateef Crowder in the stunt bit (Eddy Gordo, capoeira guy in the Protector) Which reminds me, did anyone else see Jean-Claude Van Damme on last week? It was pretty sweet.

At 5/21/15 03:03 AM, SithCorduroy wrote:

At 5/21/15 01:01 AM, Sense-Offender wrote:

This is, hands down, the best pure action film I've seen in years. It actually put me in mind of things such as Terminator 2, which is indeed high praise from me.

Being an R rated action movie, I hope it does really well in the theater.

The visuals are just mind blowing.

Just look at this.

They're warring over fuel and this guy is wasting it on that. lol

I've only seen Road Warrior probably twice before and Thunderdome once and my memory of them is foggy, but I've still been wanting to see Fury Road. Still haven't seen the first one. It would be nice for R rated action movies to make a comeback at the theater. Hope Deadpool also does well.

Just got tix for back-to-back-to-back screenings of the newly restored Apu Trilogy this weekend. I've never done any film marathons like this before but this one seems like it'll be worth it.

At 5/19/15 09:55 PM, SithCorduroy wrote: God damn. This movie blew my fucking balls off!

Right??? My eyeballs and eardrums will never be the same. George Miller is the world's youngest 70-year-old.

Enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow more than I thought. Sounds like the book is a lot different. I know the end is entirely different than that happily ever after deal. Dom Hemingway was alright. Amusing at times and I surprisingly started to get a bit sympathetic for the character toward the end.

I basically don't even watch films any more.

Fuck real life, man.

At 5/22/15 05:37 PM, TheMaster wrote: I basically don't even watch films any more.

Fuck real life, man.

City of God is good.

At 5/22/15 05:41 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

At 5/22/15 05:37 PM, TheMaster wrote: I basically don't even watch films any more.

Fuck real life, man.

City of God is good.

I liked it well enough, didn't think it was anything particularly special. I'm not generally into crime films, though, so for something that isn't really my cup of tea it was good.

Fuck it, I'll go see Bypass and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night next week. Would be my luck that the fortnight I'm off work is the fortnight there's fuck all I want to see out, so they'll do.

At 5/22/15 05:37 PM, TheMaster wrote: I basically don't even watch films any more.

Fuck real life, man.

Been a long time since I last saw anything too. Agreed that I'd go to see Mad Max with some people and then totally forgot about it. Only have 3 blu-rays that I've not watched yet (Phantom of the Opera, Creature of the Black Lagoon and Night of the Living Dead) and I've not really been in the mood for any of them.

Ordered myself 13 new blu-rays off amazon. Those 2 for £10 deals always get me. Find a film I want, look for another one to make up the deal but end up finding another 2 so need to add another to keep things even and before I know it, I've got 12 sat in my basket. The 13th film wasn't in the deal but I saw it and wondered why I didn't already have it. Can't even remember what most of the films I ordered are.

At 5/23/15 05:41 AM, Dean wrote: Only have 3 blu-rays that I've not watched yet (Phantom of the Opera, Creature of the Black Lagoon and Night of the Living Dead) and I've not really been in the mood for any of them.

I'm probably back over 100 at this point. I preorder shit months in advance so they just come in as a steady stream, but haven't been watching any of ages now.

Complete Enterprise box set just showed up today. Can't imagine I'll be able to justify a rewatch for a while, so who knows how long that'll be sat.

Only just saw the 2011 Conan cuz of all the bad reception. It's dumb, but it's Conan. Not that bad.

At 5/23/15 05:10 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Only just saw the 2011 Conan cuz of all the bad reception. It's dumb, but it's Conan. Not that bad.

I liked the beginning bit, when he was a kid. I found the rest of it too dull to watch.

At 5/23/15 06:23 PM, Jolly wrote:

At 5/23/15 05:10 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Only just saw the 2011 Conan cuz of all the bad reception. It's dumb, but it's Conan. Not that bad.

I liked the beginning bit, when he was a kid. I found the rest of it too dull to watch.

I dug the middle also. the bits of him freeing the slaves, finding the noseless guy, finding the girl in the charriot, chasing down the guy with the messed up teeth and catapaulting him etc. It just kinda started losing me toward the end. Not totally, but I wasn't quite as into it.

Hobo with a Shotgun

I'm not really a connoisseur of exploitation films, but I think there are probably better ones within the genre. I felt like the film contained too much blood and gore and not enough humour. The plot was weak as well, but I wasn't expecting much from that anyway. Rutger Hauer was great though.

Gandhi

Overall a very solid film about an interesting man who appears to be portrayed well by Ben Kingsley. I guess the pacing of the film must be very good. It covers a large part of Gandhi's life without rushing anything and, although the film has three hours of running time, it never felt long to me.

Watched Grand Budapest Hotel. hah. Liked it.

At 5/24/15 06:02 PM, Auz wrote: Hobo with a Shotgun

I remember enjoying that one.

Candyman was pretty bugged out. The score kept making me think of Koyaanisqatsi and it turns out it's because Phillip Glass did it.

Decided it was time for some new Blu-rays. Went a bit mental.

Barbarella
Blue Thunder
Carlito's Way
Chinatown
Cobra
Conan The Barbarian
Conan The Destroyer
Goodfellas
Gremlins
Highlander
Mallrats
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
The Neverending Story
Red Sonja
Silent Running
Starship Troopers
Total Recall
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Got a few box sets as well because Zavvi had a sale on them and I found an additional £10 off code:

Mad Max Collection (original 3 films)
Planet of the Apes (original 5 plus the first 2 from the new set of films)
Arrow Video box set of 6 Edgar Allan Poe film adaptions
The World At War (documentary series)

At 5/29/15 10:30 AM, Dean wrote: The World At War (documentary series)

Cropping the blu-ray to 16:9 rather than releasing it in the original 4:3 is, appropriately, worse than Hitler.

Went to see Timbuktu, Clouds of Sil Maria and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.

Timbuktu has quite a simple message: jihadists are dicks. Straightforward drama showing the impact on the normal people living in the places these guys control. Enjoyable, but unremarkable.

Clouds of Sil Maria has some nice ideas but when the most enjoyable part was a parody of superhero films shown as a film within the film it's clearly not all working quite right. Reminded me strongly of Maps to the Stars, which might have hurt it given how much I loved that film. Thought Chloe Moretz as the out of control starlet turned up to 11 was the highlight, and felt there wasn't any chemistry at all between the two leads in Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. Very middling fare.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is the best Iranian vampire skateboarding feminist spaghetti western I've ever seen. Adored it. I thought it'd be impossible to make a vampire film "cooler" than Only Lovers Left Alive. I thought wrong. This thing has cool dripping from its pores. From a protagonist who looks like he's been lifted from a performance of Grease to using the hijab to emulate the classic Hollywood vampire cape, every frame is basically The Fonz. There's even a bit where The Ecstasy of Gold plays. It's incredible.