- I wasn’t a big fan of “Wolfman” though, what did you think leRolls
Didn’t really much care for it myself either. The atmosphere was cool but the characters and performances all felt pretty hollow to me. There was also very little chemistry. So much wasted potential.
Great sets, costumes, and atmosphere especially when considering the budget/time constraints. Loved the matte paintings and the sense of scale. Creature and weapon effects were pretty weak along with the atrocious dialogue but it’s a Corman flick so that was to be expected. The maggot rape scene is so laughably bad and over-the-top that it’s not too hard to see why people talk about it.
Possible podcast in the near future if I can get my brother on board.
Yukio Mishima’s Patriotism - A great silent short that is made even more meaningful after seeing the fifty minutes interview session with production members. The graphic depiction of seppuku was a tad startling and the film/interviews with Mishima kind of showed me another look at suicide as opposed to the act only shows defeat.
Take Aim at the Police Van - If you’re a fan of Seijun Suzuki’s Youth of the Beast or Branded to Kill you may be disappointed in the lack of bizarre flourishes in this film. Although an arrow through a woman’s breast should tide people over. There were a few stylish scenes one of which involves the crosshair on a rifle reading the danger signs on the road forwards and backwards.
Despicable Me - I knew this wasn’t going to be Toy Story 3 good but I liked it more than I thought I would. One part was very sweet and the evil owner of the orphanage was hilarious in how horrible she treated the children. Plus iCarly is a guilty pleasure so I had to see it. I had heard that two members of SNSD Girl’s Generation did the voices for two of the girls. It’s a long shot but here’s to hoping there is a Korean audio track on the DVD release.
Also any recommendations for my next Shohei Imamura to watch? I have already seen The Pornographers and have Vengeance is Mine, Black Rain, Pigs and Battleships, Intentions of Murder, and The Insect Woman.
Expendables: Tons of action and for the most part I loved the cast. A pretty good time at the theater.
Hot Tub Time Machine: Heard a lot of negative comments about this one but my brother and I laughed our asses off. Of course we grew up watching 80’s movies so we were definitely the intended audience. Some of the raunchy humor did go a little too far though.
Forbidden World (aka Mutant): Not as entertaining or interesting as Galaxy of Terror. Aside from some gratuitous nudity and a retarded looking monster it was damn boring.
Mr. Vampire: Been a while since I had seen this one. Showed a buddy and he enjoyed the humor quite a bit. The dub was laughably bad as well. An oldie but a goodie. Might show him A Chinese Ghost Story next time.
Machete: good, unclean fun!
Danny Trejo proves he can actually carry a movie as a lead, Jessica Alba ruffles the edges of her non-nudity clause (not that she needs to: she’s very watchable in the rest of the film too) and Michelle Rodriguez is s-m-o-k-i-n-g. Hilarious support roles for Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey, Robert de Niro and Steven Seagal help as well.
i watched Machete now that was an awesome movie. i just had a lot of fun watching it like grindhouse.
Also watched Dogtooth and that movie is really messed up and i liked but i just don’t know what i watched.
Machete: good, unclean fun!
Danny Trejo proves he can actually carry a movie as a lead, Jessica Alba ruffles the edges of her non-nudity clause (not that she needs to: she’s very watchable in the rest of the film too) and Michelle Rodriguez is s-m-o-k-i-n-g. Hilarious support roles for Don Johnson, Jeff Fahey, Robert de Niro and Steven Seagal help as well.
Alba and Lohan both were very close to letting something slip. I was genuinely surprised when I saw that lingering shower shot from Jessica Alba, though not unpleasantly.
The previous weekend I visited the Camera Japan Festival in Rotterdam and saw “Sawako Decides” and “Evangelion 2.0” on the big screen.
“Sawako Decides” was slow and dreary, but that made the few hilarious moments pretty brilliant. Hikari Mitsushima was very good as the lead but to be honest she was wayyyyyyy too pretty for the role!
“Evangelion 2.0” was… well, disconcerting. The first movie followed the established plotline of the series pretty diligently, using the first six episodes and not condensing it all too much. But the second film roughly takes episode 7 - 21 (or so) and changes them mightily. I don’t mind the changes (if want the exact same thing I’ll go rewatch the series) but… gone is most of the mystery and character development, now replaced by bafflement and shock-and-awe tactics. I was hoping Hideaki Anno would build a somewhat more coherent version of Evangelion with these movies but now I’ve abandoned all faith in this regard.
Having said that, the animation looks as good as in part 1.0 (or 1.01, or 1.11…) and seeing it in a cinema really puts you in the thick of the action. Non-Evangelionists will be more baffled than ever, veteran-Evangelionists will probably say “Oooh, pretty” and list the differences, avidly awaiting film 3.0 and 4.0.
Me, I enjoyed it, but it both exceeded my expectations and disappointed me at the same time.
While I was in Vietnam the other week, I caught an outstanding comedy romance on DVD, “Fool for Love”, which must be the first movie from that country I’ve truly enjoyed. The film was only made for a couple million dollars, but technical credits were aces. I went ahead and ordered “The Rebel”, but I’m keeping my expectations low. The same goes for the opening film at this year’s Jeonju Film Festival, “Simin and Nader: A Separation”, the first Iranian movie that really spoke to me, and which will assuredly be one of the best films of 2011. The production values were also much higher than I’d come to expect.
I went to see Paul. The new film with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg.
Paul is the story about two british nerds who goes to America to check out Comic Con, Area 51 and other nerdy places. On their little road trip they com across an alien who need help getting back home. On the trip they get chased by Agents and other doo-doo. They also meet a woman who is constantly controlled by her christian father. She will change their lives in some ways.
Well, it was okay. There was moments where I laughed really loud. But there was too much dick jokes, gay jokes and weed jokes. And to me it seemed very commercial. Know, I have not seen Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, so I don’t have much to compare to. But It seems to me that a lot of the budget was spended on the Alien walking around. The Alien is okay I guess, it looks a little to artificial, but I am not a fan og CGI. Seth Rogen is a little give or take in this movie, sometimes he is hillarious with Paul’s rude attitude, but a lot of the time he is annoying as hell, maybe it’s the voice he got.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the two nerds was brilliant though. I can easily relate to them and the way they act, scared of people and pretty akward in social situations. And i also like that Paul bring the two nerds even closer that they thought they where.
There are also small characters that are good in the film, like the two Agents played by Bill Hader (Damn! I love that funny guy) and Joe Lo Truglio, they are just as nerdy as the main characters. They are being bossed around by another Agent played by Jason Bateman, which I tried very hard to like throughout the movie, since I like the dude, but the character is a little bit forced, I don’t know.
Th woman that they meet when they sleep at a trailer park motel played by Kristen Wiig is funny when she is brainwashed, but when she wakes up from her fathers spell she feels a little bit constructed with suddenly using profanity and getting wasted and stuff like that. Her father played by Joseph Carrol Lynch is also a bit constructed, but somehow he fit the part perfect, it’s a pretty funny portrait of a redneck extremist.
So to conclude this review I gotta say that Paul might not be as great as we been hyped to believe. But there are some glimpse of good comedy and moments where you really feel symapthy with the characters. A shame that they had to dumb it down with cheap jokes and a predictable story. The story itself is at times heartfelt, but I have the sense that hollywood pissed a little bit on this movie.
