What Movie Are You Watching?

Took in two films this weekend, both we'd only seen in theatres, prior.

Let's Be Cops (2014):

Justin (Damon Wayans Jr.) is a, "neglected," employee at a videogame dev studio and Ryan, his roommate (Jake Johnson) is a former high-profile college QB, that had a career-ending injury which was his fault and is leeching off of whatever he can get, ever since. They're both down on their luck and want to get back to Ohio, when a Purdue reunion takes place in LA (where they live) and it's a, "costume party." As Justin has police uniforms for the pitch to his new game, they decide to dress as cops... except it's a Masquerade Party and not a Costume Party. Throughout the party, the reality of their... "loserdom," sets in and they decide to go back to their apartment and head home to Ohio. On the way back however, they are constantly addressed and looked at, as real policemen. This gives Ryan an idea; to pretend to be cops and do that full-time.

Of course, hijinks and hilarity ensues, but they really don't get too into the repercussions of their actions, until the VERY end of the film and it's mostly handwaved and that furthers things as a light plot. It's an absolutely-enjoyable flick and aside from maybe 2 scenes apiece from Johnson and Wayans (one scene they share, which is massively cringe and not funny), they do a good job and have great chemistry with each other. Rob Riggle in support is excellent and Nina Dobrev is not bad in her role as a waitress/romantic interest. The villains are all decent (James D'Arcy is the Big Bad and he gets the most screentime, doing a decent job), but having Andy Garcia only have like 7 minutes of screen time (or less!) is truly a missed-opportunity.

Still, a fun film that teaches you (a bit lol) about self-worth and taking what you love and running with it, it's an enjoyable, laid-back film to watch.

7/10

The Foreigner (2017):

Quan (Jackie Chan) is driving his daughter to a dress shop in London and when wanting to park, a motorcyclist drops something and a dick in an awesome Impreza tries to back into Quan's spot and they crash. When Quan gets out, there's a gargantuan explosion and his daughter is killed as a result. A group known as the, "Authentic IRA," call into a newspaper and claim responsibility, which stirs Liam Hennessey (Pierce Brosnan), as he sleeps with his mistress, Maggie (Charlie... something. Not important lol). It turns out Liam used to be part of the IRA and has taken steps to keep the peace between Ireland and the UK, but it appears that one of the group of former IRA men in Irish parliament, have gone rogue and may be behind this bombing... Quan is still devastated and does whatever he can to find those who killed his daughter, which causes him to eventually cross paths with Hennessey...

A great film, it is definitely a more-subdued modern Thriller (as it didn't have the exorbitant budget of a Bond or Bourne film, for example), but Jackie is just fantastic like always, whether acting or his stunts/fights and the makeup job they did on him to look as old and weathered as he did? Utterly brilliant. Brosnan is superb and even though his Irish accent is a bit rough at times (it slips in and out, here and there), it is great to hear him speak it over the English accent he usually has. I must say, hearing all of the Irish accents we do throughout the film is refreshing, as it is quite-different than most films that take place in the British Isles.

The action is great, the plot is quite good and modern (though there are a few holes here and there: nothing egregious) and Martin Campbell is just tops. I've never seen the Green Lantern (which I know he gets dragged for), but this was the 5th film of his I've seen and after the two Bonds (which are the two best, IMO), this is my favourite of his films. He knows great, slick action and how to brilliantly portray the plot on screen. Great stuff.

8/10
 
Yoooo I LOVE The Foreigner. Sure, it could’ve used a bit more Chan in there, but this was such a departure for him and I loved it because of that aspect. I feel like he should’ve been doing this kind of action/movie 20 years ago, especially since he’s been saying he wants to be taken seriously as an actor.

Then he did Kung Fu Yoga right after this.
 
Was going to, "love," your post, Leroy, but then that last line :LOL:

Films like this make me want to watch Police Story, which I've wanted to watch for a few years now (probably because of this film lol), but this was just such a refreshing take on the, "Insidious Terrorist Group," Thriller, that have been made to death the past 2 decades; AFAIK, this is the only such film that involves the IRA and serious Irish themes/settings (I may be completely wrong on that) and the fact they got a bunch of Irish people to do the film is great.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Was going to, "love," your post, Leroy, but then that last line :LOL:

Films like this make me want to watch Police Story, which I've wanted to watch for a few years now (probably because of this film lol), but this was just such a refreshing take on the, "Insidious Terrorist Group," Thriller, that have been made to death the past 2 decades; AFAIK, this is the only such film that involves the IRA and serious Irish themes/settings (I may be completely wrong on that) and the fact they got a bunch of Irish people to do the film is great.
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Pierce Brosnan actually has a cameo at in The Long Good Friday. I think it was his first on-screen role. From what I remember, the IRA plays a role in that movie too.
 
nightmare ally on disney+

great cast, beautifully made film. the story was quite grim.. kinda a morality tale.

if you have disney+, i highly recommend it.
 
Saw the new Sonic movie yesterday. The first one was great, but it did feel like it was still just testing the waters before actually really committing to the idea of a full on adaptation.

This new one in comparison feels like it went all out. The only negative I can really give to it is that it kind of overstayed it’s welcome. Probably could have cut some of the human stuff short, though I’m of the mind that they fill out a part of the world that would otherwise feel disconnected, and they help to have some pacing. And it seems they’re much less shoehorned in than those like the dumb kid back in Sonic X.

Ever since Adventure 2, I’ve felt Eggman has been portrayed a bit more on the goofy side. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it made his portrayal here come as a surprise, especially from someone like Jim Carrey. Still super silly for sure, but at the same time it does feel he’s put some thought into this whole arc where he’s come from being an anti-social loser who relies entirely on his intelligence, to having gone a bit insane over what I’m assuming is at least a year or two on this alien planet, that kind of has him quite a bit more unhinged in this one. And without spoiling too much, some of the stuff he does here is actually something new that seems like it would have been a no brainer to do in the games and that I’d hope to see sometime in the future.

Knuckles, well, I guess I wasn’t entirely happy with him. His new accent is cool and all, kind of gives him more of an intimidating presence without going overboard like the horrendous Boom designs. However, he’s a bit of an idiot, which I just don’t like. In the Adventure games at least, he had a temper and was a bit gullible, but still pretty competent and by no means stupid. Still funny and introspective here, just hope he grows in the next one, granted there will be one.
 
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BloodyHeartland said:
Saw the new Sonic movie yesterday. The first one was great, but it did feel like it was still just testing the waters before actually really committing to the idea of a full on adaptation.

This new one in comparison feels like it went all out. The only negative I can really give to it is that it kind of overstayed it’s welcome. Probably could have cut some of the human stuff short, though I’m of the mind that they fill out a part of the world that would otherwise feel disconnected, and they help to have some pacing. And it seems they’re much less shoehorned in than those like the dumb kid back in Sonic X.

Ever since Adventure 2, I’ve felt Eggman has been portrayed a bit more on the goofy side. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it made his portrayal here come as a surprise, especially from someone like Jim Carrey. Still super silly for sure, but at the same time it does feel he’s put some thought into this whole arc where he’s come from being an anti-social loser who relies entirely on his intelligence, to having gone a bit insane over what I’m assuming is at least a year or two on this alien planet, that kind of has him quite a bit more unhinged in this one. And without spoiling too much, some of the stuff he does here is actually something new that seems like it would have been a no brainer to do in the games and that I’d hope to see sometime in the future.

Knuckles, well, I guess I wasn’t entirely happy with him. His new accent is cool and all, kind of gives him more of an intimidating presence without going overboard like the horrendous Boom designs. However, he’s a bit of an idiot, which I just don’t like. In the Adventure games at least, he had a temper and was a bit gullible, but still pretty competent and by no means stupid. Still funny and introspective here, just hope he grows in the next one, granted there will be one.
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I would say that in Sonic 3, Robotnik tricks Knuckles into thinking Sonic is the enemy, so in this respect it's pretty accurate. I really liked it and personally I found the wedding scenes pretty hilarious. I would say that the first film is a better film, but the 2nd film is a better *Sonic* film. Not sure I like the set up for the 3rd film though...i'll leave it at that.
 
Lan Di-sama said:
I saw Everything Everywhere All At Once last week and it is now playing everywhere, highly recommend it. I want to go see it again
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Saw it last night and absolutely loved it. I've been thinking about it pretty much all day.

BloodyHeartland said:
Knuckles, well, I guess I wasn’t entirely happy with him. His new accent is cool and all, kind of gives him more of an intimidating presence without going overboard like the horrendous Boom designs. However, he’s a bit of an idiot, which I just don’t like.
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I wouldn't say Knuckles is an idiot. He knows what's going on, he just plays everything straight and at most naive. He's essentially Drax in this iteration but more aware of the context.

Saw Sonic 2 this afternoon and this was a much better movie than the first, at least in terms of being faithful to the IP.
 
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JSA: Joint Security Area - Been fascinated with North Korea again. Probably because of the state of the world. That and I've always found the hermit kingdom to be a fascinating study in general being the last remains of the Soviet Union.

I've seen this before. Despite some of the bad English performances, I still think it's one of my favourite Park Chan Wook films. It doesn't quite have the style that his later films became abundant in but it does have a strong sense of prevailing humanity that always moves me. The simple poignancy of the film is the way in which it strips two conflicting sides to their core humanity and reveals that they are cut from the same cloth after all.

Throw all of the trivial political differences aside and what shines through most is the core humanity of those 4 guys. They bond over simple trivial commonalities only to be tragically torn apart by meaningless and trivial political differences. For this reason it is one of my favourite PCW films. It's a beautiful humanist story that unfortunately devolves into tragedy as it points out just how stupid we all really are underneath the surface.

Or maybe somewhere within in me lies an optimist that hasn't quite given up on humanity entirely.
 
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I highly recommend Everything Everywhere All At Once. It's one of those movies that will linger in your head after you leave the theaters. It's a love letter to cinema with homages to films like 2001, The Matrix, Ratatouille, In The Mood For Love and Jackie Chan movies, but it's so much more. If nothing else, people should check the film out for its achievement of having about only five people working on the special effects side when the entire movie is full of them from beginning to the end.

 
I saw both half of the Hangover as well as Sausage Party during my overextended stay at the urgent care/hospital with pneumonia.

The former was ok but feel like I’d have probably enjoyed it more if I caught it from the beginning.

The latter reminded me of Foodfight, only quite a bit more disturbing and actually less interesting. Some funny parts but it’s just too strange for me.

Not really choice movies tbh but at least I know now The Batman should be on YouTube for when I make it out of this hell.
 
BloodyHeartland said:
I saw both half of the Hangover as well as Sausage Party during my overextended stay at the urgent care/hospital with pneumonia.

The former was ok but feel like I’d have probably enjoyed it more if I caught it from the beginning.

The latter reminded me of Foodfight, only quite a bit more disturbing and actually less interesting. Some funny parts but it’s just too strange for me.

Not really choice movies tbh but at least I know now The Batman should be on YouTube for when I make it out of this hell.
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The Batman is out on streaming already. Wish you a speedy recovery.
 
Jinkies, I haven't updated this for two months! As always, anything in bold is something I find fascinating :)

New Films
1) The Batman / Matt Reeves / 2022 / 4/5
2) The Damned Don't Cry / Vincent Sherman / 1950 / 4/5
3) The Replacement Killers / Antoine Fuqua / 1998 / 2/5
4) Convicted / Henry Levin / 1950 / 3/5
5) Pokémon The Movie: The Power of Us / Tetsuo Yajima / 2018 / 3/5
6) Django & Django / Luca Rea / 2021 / 3/5 (Documentary)
7) A Gamer's Journey: The Definitive History of Shenmue / Adam Sipione & Randall Lobb / 2022 / 4/5 (Documentary)
8) The Damned / Luchino Visconti / 1969 / 3/5
9) Sexy Beast / Jonathan Glazer / 2000 / 4/5
10) X / Ti West / 2022 / 4/5
11) Women Hell Song / Mamoru Watanabe / 1970 / 3/5
12) Mandabi / Ousmane Sembéne / 1968 / 4/5
13) Forbidden Techniques / Kan Mukai / 1966 / 3/5
14) Ambulance / Michael Bay / 2022 / 3/5
15) Water Lillies / Céline Sciamma / 2007 / 3/5
16) Paranoia / Umberto Lenzi / 1970 / 3/5
17) Yakuza Apocalypse / Takashi Miike / 2015 / 3/5
18) Blue is the Warmest Colour / Abdellatif Kechiche / 2013 / 4/5
19) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert / Stephan Elliott / 1994 / 4/5
20) Rodney King / Spike Lee / 2017 / 4/5
21) Brothers Til We Die / Umberto Lenzi / 1978 / 3/5
22) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 / Jeff Fowler / 2022 / 4/5
23) Stewart Lee - Content Provider / Tim Kirkby / 2018 (Live show)
24) Savages / Oliver Stone / 2012 / 3/5
25) Underwater Love / Shinji Imaoka / 2011 / 3/5
26) Grand Hotel / Edmund Goulding / 1932 / 3/5
27) A Black Veil For Lisa / Massimo Dallamano / 1968 / 3/5
28) One Shocking Moment / Ted V. Mikels / 1965 / 1/5
29) Noah / Darren Aranofsky / 2014 / 2/5
30) Kung-Fu Master! / Agnés Varda / 1988 / 4/5
31) Jam Session / Makoto Shinozaki / 1999 / 3/5 (Documentary)
32) Macabre / Lamberto Bava / 1980 / 3/5
33) Fassbinder / Annekatrin Hendel / 2015 / 2/5 (Documentary)
34) Tokyo Sonata / Kiyoshi Kurosawa / 2008 / 4/5
35) The Northman / Robert Eggers / 2022 / 4/5
36) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Victor Fleming / 1941 / 2/5
37) Between Midnight and Dawn / Gordon Douglas / 1950 / 2/5
38) Bigbug / Jean-Pierre Jeunet / 2022 / 2/5
39) Operation Mincemeat / John Madden / 2022 / 3/5
40) The Mission / Roland Joffé / 1986 / 4/5

Rewatched Films
1) Hana-bi / Takeshi Kitano / 1997 / 4/5
2) Laputa: Castle in the Sky / Hayao Miyazaki / 1986 / 4/5
3) Sonic the Hedgehog / Jeff Fowler / 2020 / 4/5
4) Tightrope / Richard Tuggle / 1984 / 3/5
5) Kikujiro / Takeshi Kitano / 1999 / 4/5
6) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty / 2014 / Ben Stiller / 4/5

Short Films
1) Ydessa, The Bears and Etc. / Agnés Varda / 2004 / 3/5 (Documentary)
2) So Long Mr. Chumps / Jules White / 1941 / 3/5
3) The Unauthorised Bash Brothers Experience / Mike Diva & Akiva Schaffer / 2019 / 3/5
4) Pigtails / Yoshimi Itazu / 2015 / 4/5
5) Nothing Ever Happens / Roy Mack / 1933 / 3/5
6) Kick-Heart / Masaaki Yuasa / 2013 / 3/5
7) Li'l Spider Girl / Toshihisa Kaiya / 2012 / 3/5
8) Drawer Hobs / Kazuchika Kise / 2011 / 3/5
9) Oval x Over / Hiroyuki Imaishi / 2005 / 2/5
10) Scenes From The Suburbs / Spike Jonze / 2011 / 4/5
11) The Suburbs / Spike Jonze / 4/5 (Music video)
12) Dizzy Detectives / Jules White / 1943 / 3/5

TV Shows
1) She and Her Cat - Everything Flows - / Kazuya Sakamoto / 2016 / 4/5
2) Dragon Half / Shinya Sadamitsu / 1993 / 4/5
3) Eight Hours Don't Make A Day / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / 1972 / 4/5
4) Mobile Fighter G Gundam / Yasuhiro Imagawa / 1994 / 3/5
5) SD Gundam World Sangoku Soketsuden / Takahiro Ikezoe / 2019 / 1/5
6) Shenmue the Animation / Chikara Sakurai / 2022 / 5/5 (obviously...)

Sexy Beast is a hilarious British crime comedy with some of the best swearing i've ever heard. X is one of those cheap horror films I planned to dismiss (I'm not keen on modern horror), but this gave me grotty grindhouse vibes and therefore comes highly recommended. Mandabi is a world cinema film that over 50 years on still feels relevent today; the pain of bureauocracy and how a mistep can destroy everything. Blue is the Warmest Colour is one of those films that I find a little problematic (I have a difficult relationship with sex), but the acting here is astonishing. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is such a little gem; one of those films i've long heard about, but never got round to watching. It made me smile (and Hugo Weaving is always great to watch). I think it goes without saying that the Sonic films are great and such a redemption arc from the initial horror of the first trailer. Stewart Lee is my favourite comedian. I hated him for the longest time as his humour is incredibly subjective, but if you click with it (think Curb Your Enthusiasm drollness), then he's an all time great.

As for rewatched films; Kitano's filmography is always a treat. I hadn't seen Hana-bi in years, so it felt fresh to me. Kikujiro is one i've seen much more recently and it's such a beautiful film. Incredible score too. Laputa is a Ghibli film that like Hana-bi I haven't seen in years, so watching it again (on the big screen no less) was a treasure to behold. I last saw the remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty upon return from Canada (my first big trip). I think the sincerity really holds up to this day. I think it was misunderstood by a lot of people.

Pigtails is a beautiful ambiguous short piece made all the more devastating when you realise the concept behind it. She and Her Cat is only 4x 8 minute episodes, but I was made a blubbering wreck by the end (anything Makoto Shinkai does moves me to tears). Dragon Half is only 2 episodes and is mega immature, but it's *so* funny! Especially after a few beers! Eight Hours Don't Make A Day was a revelation, because Fassbinder's work is often misery porn (but brilliant misery porn). In this show however, there is comedy and warmth to go with the misery. Only 5 episodes, but all feature length...the man did 40 films before he died at the age of 37. What a career!

And Shenmue? Well, we all know about this don't we? ;)
 
I'll update this too, since I've seen a couple of films since I last posted...


The Gift (2015):

Simon (Jason Bateman) and his wife move back to California, where Simon was born and raised, from Chicago, where his wife was born and raised. His wife has demons from her past (nothing major, it is revealed, but it may have to do with Simon...), but they are looking for a fresh start and to start a family. When buying furniture for their house however, they run into Gordo (Joel Edgerton), an old schoolmate of Simon's. Gordo is a bit awkward and shy/aloof, but Simon seems to be friendly around him... until they get home and he begins to talk mad shit about Gordo. Nothing overly-damaging, but his demeanor and the words he uses signify that Simon maybe had bullied Gordo in the past. Gordo grows increasingly close to the couple, sending gifts and coming over for dinner, while Simon all along, continue to talk shit behind Gordo's back, even though Gordo appears to be over the past and wants to start a friendship anew. Then events happen and the film gets flipped on its head...

As always, not spoiling, but this had the makings of being another, "One Hour Photo," (where a character who's awkward gets shit on and doesn't get anything positive to happen to him), but the last 20 minutes or so is said flipping on head and things are righted, even if the means of getting there are not all that great. A very good psychological film (without getting too in-depth), it's another film where bullying is the major theme of the film and the way Bateman acts towards Edgerton is almost identical (save for the, "big event," of the film) to how my wife's first cousin treated me in high school; we were quite close friends, had the same group of friends and interests, but I always treated as being beneath him and his smugness caused us to grow apart and despite being part of the same extended family for many years now, I see/talk/interact with him considerably-less than I ever did prior. Unlike Gordo, I'm not looking for any comeuppance, but Gordo is vindicated in the end and that puts a smile (albeit a cheeky one) on the viewers' faces. It was good for my wife too, as we saw this in theatres when it came out and she'd been wanting to watch it again ever since.

8/10

Spring Breakers (2012/3):

(spring break...)

Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens (the characters in the film have such weird names {even if a couple are symbolic of their characters}, I'll refer to their real-life names) are in a university lecture and talking about... dick (literally), while Selena Gomez is in a student prayer circle, led by JEFF JARRET!!!!! :D :LOL: and Selena wonders about going to Florida for Spring Break-

(spring break...)

-which she'll be doing with said two friends and Harmony Korine's (the director) wife... but they don't have enough money. So the group, sans Selena (who's name is Hope, btw), go and rob a small-time family restaurant with water guns and hammers. They obtain the sufficient cash, burn the vehicle they robbed the restaurant in (apparently owned by one of their professors) and bus it down to St. Petersburg, where they do nothing but get high/drunk, party and drive scooters. They are CLEARLY incredibly-immature and out of their depth and when they are caught in a motel/hotel room with two creepy-looking white guys with grillz and a couple of naked chicks with cocaine, police come and arrest them all (presuming for possession or underage drinking). In court (in their bikinis, a GREAT use of imagery to convey things), they get bailed out by another white guy with grillz (dreads this time, though), played by James Franco (whose name is Alien lol).

(spring break...)

Alien is a drug dealer and wannabe rapper, who just seems to be a shitty, creepy guy all-around and completely loathsome lol. But all the girls are enamoured with him and his entourage, save for Selena. After a super-cringe scene, Selena is put on a bus, while the other three stick around. They continue for days, getting high, drunk and having sexcapades, until they meet a local club owner (and drug dealer himself, much more big-time than Franco), played by Gucci Mane :LOL: (the most unintelligible person ever and it is HILARIOUS :LOL:). Won't spoil the rest.

(spring break...)

I will start by saying that Korine set out to portray the wastefulness/idiocy (my own words) of youth and he succeeded perfectly; these chicks have few redeeming qualities, other than good looks and a bit of loyalty, otherwise they are trampy, loathsome and just... the scum of youth: Korine knocked this aspect out of the park. As well, this film is brilliantly-shot, with a ton of cool angles, great use of motion speed and blur, colour, etc., the film is excellent and the cinematographer deserves their props. Otherwise, this is... NOT a great film, at all.

(spring break...)

The acting is not stellar, just passable, with Franco being the best of the bunch (no surprise there) and the plot is just awful, not to mention the plot holes, pacing, poor writing and script, etc. Korine tries to flash back and forwards in an almost V for Vendetta-like way, but it doesn't work for a film such as this and the soundtrack is pretty awful as well. Definitely not worth a watch, unless you like seeing some gratuitous nudity and Vanessa Hudgens faking having sex lol.

Again, Korine set out to portray a group a certain way and he succeeded with flying colours... but not a great film in the slightest. And the constant, "spring break..." is HILARIOUS and my wife and I now say it randomly, while getting a good chuckle :LOL:

(SPRING BREAK FOREVER!)

5/10
 
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