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WilhelmStroker

I've read about Come and See before. Sounds indeed very brutal. As you can tell from my list, I haven't been in the mood for brutal movies lately :D

 

Wheels on Meals - Cheesy Jackie Chan flick. Some great fighting scenes.
 
Spy Hard - Not the best Leslie Nielsen movie out there but some funny gags in places.
 
Space Truckers - Charles Dance’s chain-powered vibrating robot schlong. Some questionable dialogue and attitude to sex but other than that a pretty entertaining late nineties sci fi romp.
 
Kill Chain - Has Nic Cage in it. About the only memorable bit. Can't remember much of it.
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adamstewiegreen

The coronavirus is doing wonders for my movie watching.  I don't know how ya'll are responding to this but my wife has an autoimmune disease so we're in total lock-down at home for the long haul till this thing passes (like the kids are temporarily being home schooled just in case) because she could be in all sorts of trouble if she catches this thing.  Not missing anything as all bars, restaurants, theatres, sporting events etc are closed down over here (Australia).  On to the movies!

 

Jumanji: The Next Level - Nowhere near as good as the first.  It does get a lot better near the end, but it's a tough slog watching The Rock (trying to) do his best Danny Devito impression.  If you haven't seen the first, see it.  But this?  There are a few (like one) stand out performance, but other than that it's tough to recommend.

 

The Invisible Man:  I saw this before all the theatres in Australia shut down.  meh.  wait for video.

 

St. Vincent: I think this was a Netflix original, I was gunning for Uncut Gems but democracy took over and we were left with this piece of sentimental mediocrity.  It was ok, but I wouldn't recommend it. 

 

Marriage Story: Another Netflix original.  Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are two of my favorite actors (I'd highly recommend both Paterson and Ghost World) and Noah Baumbach is capable of writing annoying characters, believable dialogue and - not boring - movies about everyday, (post) post modern life, that actually have something to say. Highly recommended, but certainly not for everyone.

 

The Hunt:  This is some irreverent and violent fun.  A bunch of liberal elites capture a group of "deplorables" in order to hunt and kill them.  Apparently it caused something of a controversy when the first trailer dropped but I thought it evenhandedly dished out the insults to both the left and the right.  I'm not American but I still got all the jokes on both sides, although it will go over the heads of those not familiar with American culture (my wife wouldn't get it at all).

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WilhelmStroker

Yup it's the same in the UK so i'm planning on watching quite a few movies over the next coming weeks. 

 

One of my projects is to start this list and work my way back to number 1, as i've `only' seen 29 of them so far.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160819-the-21st-centurys-100-greatest-films

 

Not on that list:

Sheena. Been reading a book about the Razzie awards and because I am a masochist who likes to watch bad movies I gave this one a go. It's awful. Tanya Roberts, who also played a Bond girl in a View to a kill can't act at all, the story is awful, the music is a ripoff of Chariots of fire etc. One for a drunk bad movie night.
 
Hot Rod. Also dumb and silly but a lot funnier. If you can stomach Andy Samberg's overacting it's pretty funny. Plus i'm a fan of Bill Hader. 
 
Ready or not. Good horror that plays around with the tropes, with some very funny bits.
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adamstewiegreen

That's a pretty good list of movies. I've seen 47 of them. Although some wouldn't have made it on MY list. Like: A History of Violence. Was it a great movie? Sure. Was it top 100 between 2000 - 2016? Definitely not. Calvary, Nightcrawler, Upstream Color/Primer, Before Sunset .. all easily better than A History of Violence.

 

It did have a ton of movies that have been on my 'to watch' list for too long, so I'm going to come back to it and see if I can get that number into the 60s.

 

Meanwhile - from that list - I'd suggest: Oldboy, The Lives of Others, and 4 months 3 weeks and 2 days. (all 3 are very different, and all 3 are very good)

 

And Hot Rod is absolutely golden. When he's falling down the hill I couldn't breath I was laughing so hard. It's absurdly funny.

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WilhelmStroker

Yeah it's a good list and I agree not all of those would have been on my list either. I really didn't enjoy Mad Max for example.

I have seen Oldboy before, it's a fantastic movie.

 

Starting at 102, I watched Tony Erdmann. Very long, but very funny with lots of cringeworthy scenes. Really enjoyed it.

 

Not on the list:

 

Tokyo Tribe. I am a fan of Sion Sono but not sure about this one. Basically a 2 hour Japanese hip hop video. It's taken me a few starts to get through it.

 

Top Gun. Cheesy eighties classic that really hasn't aged very well.

 

Wayne's World. Excellent.

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adamstewiegreen

Tampopo - A mother tries to revitalize her husband's noodle restaurant after he passes away.  Despite the seemingly dark description, this is one of the funniest movie I've seen in a while.  It's obsessed with all aspects of food, how it looks and sounds and how people respond to it and use it - from the poor to the rich.  It's (sometimes) over the top satire at its best.

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adamstewiegreen

Stray Dog: Kurosawa and Mifune - the legendary combo at their ... ok-est?  Honestly, it's a good movie, I think it would make for a decent Hollywood remake (as much as I cringe at the thought).  But if you want a really great Kurosawa/Mifune cop/crime/drama, check out High and Low.

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WilhelmStroker
Tampopo is a great movie!

 

Realised I hadn't seen Battlefield Earth and Showgirls yet.... Yup both horribly bad, don't want to watch them ever again.

 

Greener Grass. Now this was weird...A great satire on American suburbia and soccer moms.

 

He never died. Yup, Henry Rollins can't act for toffee but it worked quite well in this movie where he plays an immortal cannibal style person....

 

The Gentlemen. 1998 called, they want their script back. Hugh Grant is very funny in this, but overall it felt really dated.

 

We summon the darkness. Set in the Eighties, and is about a killing spree by a satanic cult. Has Johnny Knoxville playing a preacher. Interesting take on eighties horror movie tropes. Good mindless fun.

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adamstewiegreen

Bad Boys for Life - I still remember the original because my dad took me to see it and it was the first R rated movie I saw in the theatre.  I recently tried watching it again.  It wasn't as awesome as my 14 year old self remembered.  And this one is no different - it's not very good.

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WilhelmStroker

Bad Boys for Life - I still remember the original because my dad took me to see it and it was the first R rated movie I saw in the theatre.  I recently tried watching it again.  It wasn't as awesome as my 14 year old self remembered.  And this one is no different - it's not very good.

my awesome movie as a 14 year old was Highlander. That's definitely not a great movie.....

 

Started again on the BBC movies list. Skipped Requiem for a dream as i've already seen it (great movie though) and watched Carlos. Based on the life of Carlos the Jackal, the notorious terrorist. A bit of a slog at nearly 3 hours but very well made and pretty interesting.

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WilhelmStroker
Troll 2. Yup as bad as it's made out to be, but good mindless fun

 

Robot Jox. Just as bad. 

 

The Crow. Loved this when it came out, especially the soundtrack. Still a good movie. 

 

Demonlover. Only really watched this because apparently Sonic Youth did the soundtrack. Hasn't aged very well and found it strangely flat given the subject.

 

Desert Age. Documentary about the desert rock scene from the late eighties/early nineties with bands like Kyuss and Fatso Jetson. Loved this as I'm a big fan of the style.
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adamstewiegreen

Midnight Special - I saw this on Netflix and remembered wanting to see it when it came out but had completely forgot about it.  Interesting at the beginning, kept my attention through the middle and then a crash and burn ending that completely ruined the movie.

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WilhelmStroker

Watched Bliss (2019) last night. Good thing it was only 80 minutes. Horrible movie with a horribly unpleasant protagonist. Reminded me a lot of Climax that I also disliked. 

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adamstewiegreen

True History of the Kelly Gang. A warning, this is the first movie I've seen where the use of a strobe effect has given me a headache.

 

Ned Kelly is the topic of a couple films. This one is the most unflinching and brutal of them all. It makes the others feel like watered down versions of the story.

 

There is a lot missing here, they skip over his crimes and try to deal with the man. It's an interesting take and somewhat successful, although the story falls flat in the end.

 

If you're unfamiliar with the Kelly gang it makes for remarkable reading and one has to wonder how Australian "bushranger" films didn't become a popular sub-genre of the western because the real life bush rangers were charatcters every bit as large and colorful as Wyatt Earp.

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WilhelmStroker

2 more off the BBC 100 best movies of the decade list.

The Gleaners and I. A French documentary about gleaners. Pretty fascinating documentary.

 

Ten. Set in a car, a woman meets 10 people. Very simple setup, but very powerful as you get a really good impression on what life as a woman in Iran is like. 

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adamstewiegreen

Capernaum: In Beirut, a boy sues his parents for having given birth to him when they clearly had no means to care for him. The film is almost entirely a set up to the event to that gets the boy (12 years old) sentenced to jail for 5 years.

 

I don't know what was going on with the subtitles but they were extremely wooden and literally translated into English. The funniest example was when someone is taking a picture of someone else and the man behind the camera says "mouse". That maybe be the right word for what he said but it's a terrible translation into English. The more appropriate word would have been - obviously - "cheese". This type of thing happen all the time with idioms, making the movie awkward to read and hard to follow.

 

Otherwise decent movie with great acting from the kid!

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WilhelmStroker

A few more off the BBC list:

 

White Material. About a struggling French coffee producer in an unnamed French-speaking African country, who decides to stay at her coffee plantation in spite of an erupting civil war. Beautifully shot and well acted but left me pretty cold.
 
Finding Nemo. Never seen this for some reason.....Loved it. Very funny, very sweet.
 
Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson movie, I'd not seen anything by him since The Royal Tennenbaums. Enjoyed this but according to friends not his best movie. There's 2 more of his movies on the list.
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Finding Nemo. Never seen this for some reason.....Loved it. Very funny, very sweet.

 

WHAT??? ;)  I guess you didn't have young kids at that time.  One of Pixar's best ever.  Finding Dory is not bad as well.

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WilhelmStroker

WHAT??? ;)  I guess you didn't have young kids at that time.  One of Pixar's best ever.  Finding Dory is not bad as well.

 

Nope I didn't and I was actually surprised I hadn't seen it. Thoroughly enjoyed it though!

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adamstewiegreen

I liked White Material, Claire Denis' (the director) newest movie - High Life - is a sci-fi trip that is ... mmmm .... interesting? Either way it will leave you equally cold. It's been a number of years since I've seen WM but I remember thinking that it was an indictment of the plantation owner and her colonial (read: white) privilege.

 

The Current War: Edison vs. Westinghouse - FIGHT!! The real loser in all this was Tesla. The movie was ok, felt like it could have been epic but it was mostly forgettable ...

 

There are 2 versions, I saw the director's cut and it's more than decent (esp. if you don't know a lot about the 'war'). The theatrical version is widely panned.

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WilhelmStroker

Yup you're right, that's definitely the case (colonial/white priviledge). I thought it was very well made but it never clicked with me so I never got emotionally invested in it.

 

Also watched: Under the silver lake. Might have to watch it again, it was a drag, it didnt really make much sense (not that I mind those movies) and I didn't like the main character much. It's supposed to be a  neo-noir black comedy conspiracy thriller film...The same director also did It Follows which I enjoyed a lot more. I'd rename this one to Incoherent Vice as it reminded me of that (and Inherent Vice I enjoyed..)

 

2 more from the BBC list:

The assassination of Jesse James. This I enjoyed. Well acted, well shot and characters to get invested in. Plus a great soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

 

The secret in their eyes. Apparently this was remade a few years ago. The original won the foreign language Oscar in 2010, and I can see why. Again, well acted, well shot, a great story and great characters. 

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adamstewiegreen

Extraction: Netflix is such a mixed bag. This one was ok, there's a really cool huge faux-single shot action scene that gets pretty intense, with some really cool camera work. But then the CGI in more than a handful of spots throughout the movie is really hard to ignore. It's my pet-peeve, if the CGI is more obvious than Jurassic Park, I get pretty annoyed. It's like part of this movie was made on a Hollywood budget and part of it was made on a direct to video budget and then they stitched it together.

 

The Gentlemen. The much worse successor to snatch and lock stock. I almost turned it off, but by the end it improved quite a bit. I should watch lock stock again and see if the style just hasn't aged well. It was cool and original in the late 90's, now it's just tired and a bit annoying.

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WilhelmStroker

Yup the Gentlemen didn't sit well with me at all. I loved Lock stock and Snatch at the time and as you rightly say may have to watch that again but it felt really dated and tired. He wasn't even trying to do anything different with the genre. Some things are better left in the past I think....

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WilhelmStroker

Resident Evil Apocalypse. Yup not very good, I enjoyed the first one when it came out but this is pretty bad. But it has Milla Jovovich....

 

I also signed up for BFI, the British Film Institute as they do a Japan special that has lots of goodies https://player.bfi.org.uk/japan-2020

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adamstewiegreen

I watched a video game movie too: Sonic the Hedgehog. It is what it is. I watched it because of the outrage mob about the original sonic design. And yeah, if they didn't change it, it probably would have completely ruined the movie.

 

But considering nearly every videogame movie is virtually unwatchable this is basically the Citizen Kane of videogame movies.

 

It seems Sega now has a movie division so I say bring on Golden Axe: The Movie, what could possibly go wrong?

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