Movies, Flicks, Films, Videos, cinematography

[Theo]

Your welcome :)
The original version is Russian spoken with some English parts. Subtitles? http://www.opensubtitles.org/
And there is an English dubbed version :)

[simgin]

^ Sweet, thank you Theo.
Da & Njet and vodka, is about all I know in Russian.

So in my world: "Would you like some vodka?" .... "Da" :D

[GekkoP]

Task Force
Brilliant, with a splendid Charlie Yeung. This is life and its highs and lows on film.

Skyline Cruisers
Fun for a while, but it doesn't come close to Yip's real masterpieces.

A Better Tomorrow II
Just wanted to rivisit this. Still thinking that aside from the last epic shooting, all the drama is just weak. Woo did so much better in other films.

A Better Tomorrow III
My favourite of the trilogy. A melò-noir so powerful it always makes me cry at the end.

Escape From New York
This is my Blade Runner, if you know what I mean. I still believe Carpenter is a true master so underrated.

The Blade
Love. If you ask me which HK film matters the most to me, chances are I'll answer with this one.

Fatal Vacation
An unexpected CAT III. Not as nasty as some of the others I've watched lately, but still pretty tough. Look out for the great Deer Hunter quote.

[ivanovnegro]

Today we watched the latest Star Wars. OK, it was acceptable, especially in the theater but I never was into Star wars. It was because of my better half. But I forgot almost all parts of the first three films.

Next on the list will be The Hateful Eight.

[GekkoP]

^ I've been into Star Wars, but only the first classic ones, especially The Empire Strikes Back. I hated the new ones and I'm not sure I'm going to watch this one. Star Wars is like Tolkien: part of my child/teen years, something good back then but not so interesting to me today.

[ivanovnegro]

At least the newest is not based on the really shitty three prequels that I never saw.

[franksinistra]

I too was both trekkie and star wars fan as a kid, goes so far as to collect action figures and boyish stuff i don't really need. Like GP, i didn't find them so interesting now though i still watched that latest star wars movie only because the eldest kid like it... :)

saw Southpaw yesterday.. Alright i will check that long HK movie list tonight.

[rhowaldt]

reviews from films i've watched flying back and forth between Amsterdam - Hong Kong:

Pan: thought it was pretty cool, nice backstory, and only 100 minutes (or at least the in-flight version), which i enjoy, nice and manageable.
The Good Dinosaur: stopped watching it after about 30 minutes cause i found the characters uninteresting, and felt the story was "just another standard Pixar story". maybe should've watched till the end to make sure but fuck it.
Black Mass: loved it. really great performance from Johnny Depp, very enjoyable film imo.
Suffragette: loved it, great film, and didnt know shit about this period of history.
The Intern: sometimes you are just on a flight and want something "lighter". This was an enjoyable "light" film. there are probably a ton of things to criticize but still i enjoyed it :)
Me & Earl and the Dying Girl: pretty kinda standard "indie" coming-of-age movie. thought i'd enjoy it more than i actually did.

looking through the online listing of KLM in-flight entertainment, just realized I forgot to check out The Martian and Straight Outta Compton. oh well, there's only so many films you can watch.

one thing to remember (for myself as well): i find the way you watch a film on a flight very very different from watching it at home. i found myself to be way less focused and had real trouble staying interested.

Oh yeah, and before I left HK I watched The Walk. I found Joseph Gordon-Levitt's French accent hilarious and the film was certainly entertaining, but honestly I prefer to just watch the documentary about the event, Man On Wire.

[simgin]

Ahhh, The little dinosaur. I thought it was utterly shit. Not much Pixar in it, only a tiny handful of people, technical advisors. Actually think there were 6. Rest of the staff 100+ are Disney, hence the silly gullible merchandise aspect of things. Remember 'UP!' , didn't you notice how much emotion it had, and then towards the ending it turned into kiddy action. Just out of the blue. Well truth was, towards the ending Disney sacked the Pixar producers, due to being more focused on adults. Hired a new non-Pixar related team, and shareholders were happy. But the film is pretty much forgotten now. Sad. Let the artists be artists.
I sadly doubt that there will be another pure Pixar film.

Sorry for the rant. I just love animation, but shareholders are just not artists.
I want Wall-E back! :(

Cheerio
Simon

[rhowaldt]

hmm didnt know that, makes sense.

[GekkoP]

Bedazzled
Call me crazy, but I love this smart comedy. Not just because of the super hot Elizabeth Hurley, but also because it is fun in a way hard to find these days. And yes, there is a super hot Elizabeth Hurley in it.

The Club
Oh yeah, I finally found first Kirk Wong's effort. 82-minutes cut, though, but still it was a real pleasure.

Blast From the Past
I love Brendan Fraser. I love it more in Bedazzled (also: check Elibabeth Hurley in that one, I don't remember whether I said she's super hot in it or not). This is good, not great. A bit too long, could've been better with a shorter "prologue".

The Reason
Obayashi Nobuhiko is probably my favourite Japanese director alive. Hard to find his works, but I never give up on hard-to-find films. This is weird: 160 minutes of a crime drama. A bit hard to follow because English subtitles weren't that perfect, nonetheless only Obayashi (and Ruiz) can take me in for 160 minutes and make me feel happy when I turn off the TV. Superb cinematography.

[rhowaldt]

Blast from the Past is such a cool film.
Hey, did you mention that Elizabeth Hurley is hot?

[GekkoP]

^ I'm not sure, but I share your wise opinion.

[GekkoP]

The Killer
The first HK film I recorded on VHS. 17 years ago. Damn, I'm old. Anyways, this is still a masterpiece. And yes, I always cry at the end.

Intruder
What a little gem! Tough CAT III to digest, but such a beautiful sense of time and space. Not your usual psycho-killer flick, that's for sure.

Boat People
Wow. 1982 and still so powerful and moving. Last 5 minutes can make the heart of a stone bump madly. This is HK new wave, so you're either in or you're out, they didn't take any prisoner back then.

Lifeline
Interesting To's. It bleeds humanity from everywhere, and it is often overlooked. It's not one of his true masterpieces, but a damn good film indeed.

[simgin]

Hehehe, oh the memories I have with "The Killer".
It is a classic of it's genre, full stop. I am pretty sure Quentin Tarantino mentioned it publicly in the 90's, that it had inspired him to think differently as a director.
I like the poster for Lifeline. You are my go-to asian flick pusher Manu, thank you sir.

Cheerio
Simon

[GekkoP]

^ My pleasure. Also; Tarantino blatantly ripped off Ringo Lam's City On Fire in Reservoir Dogs.

[simgin]

^ Yes, I know..... Damn it, we need to meet up and watch flicks! :)

[GekkoP]

The Mission
Probably my favourite To's (along with Throw Down, I guess). One of those "I have to go back to it once a year" films. Funny story: I have the Italian dvd, found it hidden in a mess of crappy b-movies in a little shop when I was living in Bologna. Sometimes, it's good that Italy treats Asian films as b-movies.

The Illusionist
I liked it, but I was probably expecting way too much.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Hated it with all my guts. After 2 minutes I just wanted to grab that fucking teen out of the screen and smash her head. Seriously.

Mountains May Depart
The best film I've seen this year comes from one my favourite directors. Thus, I am more than happy.

[ivanovnegro]

Rewatched Doctor Zhivago and do not know what makes it a classic. The worst part apart from the thin story is the English spoken there. It sounds artificial and just does not go well with the Russian landscape.

[GekkoP]

The Magnificent Butcher
It takes 20 minutes to become interesting, but even after the slow start it left me with the feeling Yuen Wo-Ping was still studying while doing this one.

The Millionaire’s Express
How could Sammo Hung keep every single character glue together with the plot? Impressive work of balanced comedy and martial arts, one of the most overlooked Hung's.

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Sometimes you just should not get to know better an artist you love, simply because you could end up hating the artist as the human being he is when he is not doing art. I'm not saying I hate Merritt now, to me is still one of the best songwriters of the recent years. Let's just say I don't intend to meet him in person now that I heard him talking like a fucking art-college hipster.

A Fishy Story
Masterpiece. Maggie Cheung has probably never been so beautiful as in this film.

Organized Crime & Triad Bureau
What it looks like a classic cops-vs-triads flick, turns out to be an impressive study of the thin line between good and evil. Loved it.