Last movie you watched

[dude]

The Flying Sowrds of the Dragon Gate Inn

These Wuxia epics genreally get it right. This one was ok, but below par. Better than Sorcerer and the White Snake though.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

This one gets a lot of flak. But I like it. Definitely the kind of film I'd like to make one day on a technical sense. A huge gothic epic, shot on sound stages, with matte paintings.

Dark Shadows

Not too shabby. I liked everything in the film that wasn't the tired fish out of water jokes. I really liked that Burton toned down his visual style to a thin veneer in the 70's sections. Not that I'm expecting it to happen, but if Depp and Burton where to call it quits, I know just the guy who could fill in;

[Hudson]

Bram Stoker's Dracula

This one gets a lot of flak. But I like it. Definitely the kind of film I'd like to make one day on a technical sense. A huge gothic epic, shot on sound stages, with matte paintings.

That's all well and good...but it's not THAT aspect of the movie that pisses people off. For me it's the absolute shit acting of Keanu Reeves and some of the sexual things that make things awkward. And also, I'm not completely finished with it, but the movie's not even all that close to the novel either. That's not something that bothers me most of the time, but to puts me off in this case. It wasn't the first adaptation so I don't get why they still had to put their own spin on things.

[beckmen]

Yeah, if you want to play with the story don't fucking title it "Bram Stoker's Dracula".

The Raid: Redemption: Bad. Ass. Mostly martial arts action, but some gun violence and other stuff. Stallone and Company ought have watched this while working on Expendables II. Imagine that cast, with this level of action. B⁺.

[Hubbs]

Point Break (1991)

If you ask me this was the first film to have the bad guys wearing cool/freaky looking masks whilst carrying out their heists. So many films since this have used that simple formula and most have worked don't get me wrong, its a great visual method to ramp up the tension, but I think Bigelow was the first (one of the first) to use it.

Its funny really, one of the best action flicks made and its directed by a lady, it just adds to the coolness is all I'm saying, a woman knows how to make guys look macho. 'Predator' was the perfect 80's testosterone filled muscle vehicle, 'Point Break' was the perfect 90's testosterone filled heist vehicle.

Its hard not to love this simple film, everything and virtually everyone looks tanned toned and rebellious. All the main male and female characters glisten in the Cali sun as the blue Pacific waves crash against the smooth beaches. Bigelow manages to combine the grittiness of a bank thriller with the far out dudeness of the surfer world, its near perfect in every sense while the casting is one of those one off moments in cinematic history.
The film kinda makes you feel unfit, you feel you should be raising a sweat just to make yourself feel better. You actually feel like an nerdy outsider who isn't worthy enough to step foot on their fine golden beach, maybe I should be throwing myself out of planes and having barbecues by the moonlight. You feel like you need to be much cooler and reckless after you finish watching this.

Can you picture anyone else as the wild wave Buddha 'Bodhi'? of course you can't, this role was made for him. The same can be said for Reeves (Reeves as a surfer, flawless choice there brah hehe) as the naive stuck up suit wearing 'Utah' who almost turns tables on his grouchy partner 'Pappas' played by the rubber faced Nixon lookalike Busey. John C. McGinley is hilarious as 'Utah's' desk jockey chief and he has one of the most memorable lines ever
LeGros shines as the slightly twitchy unlikeable 'Roach' and who can forget the solid and rather tough looking Vincent Klyn as 'Warchild', epic badass right there.

This film pretty much raised the bar for all other action films ever since, it set a benchmark and has been copied so many times, more or less ('Fast n Furious'...just 'Point Break' with cars basically, nowhere near as good I might add). Some of the best sequences in an action film right here folks, the bank robberies, the fights, do I even need to mention the on foot chase sequence? how good is that? still!. On top of that then you have some really beautiful surf sequences and damn good skydiving sequences, Swayze did all his own stunts too.

The tag for the film is 100% pure adrenaline and boy does it mean it, a raging flick that never lets up and has the added bonus of really good characters that you care about. Apart from the hideous surfer language that seems really really dated and corny the film is damn near perfect.

[dude]

That's all well and good...but it's not THAT aspect of the movie that pisses people off. For me it's the absolute shit acting of Keanu Reeves and some of the sexual things that make things awkward. And also, I'm not completely finished with it, but the movie's not even all that close to the novel either. That's not something that bothers me most of the time, but to puts me off in this case. It wasn't the first adaptation so I don't get why they still had to put their own spin on things.

Did I at any point say it was that aspect that gets criticised? I said the common criticisms don't bother me, then went on to say something that I could've written word for word about Blade Runner. As for the book, not sure if it's a different edition or whatever but to the best of my recolection it's accurate outside of the Mina/Dracula romance being non existant or extremely toned down in the novel. As for thw wierd sexuality, that's kind of the point of the core story really.

[Hudson]

Dracula is barely in the novel at all. I don't recall Oldman's part to be sparse in the film.

[Hubbs]

Bram Stoker's Dracula may not be a great film acting wise and it may not be accurate to the novel but it looks gorgeous!

[Sebastian]

Prometheus

Don't know/10
Still so many questions. I wonder if there are answers to all of them because I feel none the wiser.

[Company Man]

Prometheus

Don't know/10
Still so many questions. I wonder if there are answers to all of them because I feel none the wiser.

" HEY SWEDEN!?!"

[Hubbs]

Iron Sky (2012, FIN, GER, AUS)

'Heil Kortzfleisch!'

So I think we all know right from the start this film is not to be taken seriously in any means or fashion in the slightest. A completely farcical UFO B-movie that is a mix of classic old 40's/50's sci-fi and complete schlock, any sci-fi or horror that involves the Nazi's tends to be trashy nonsense right.

Only this film isn't entirely a cheap tasteless excuse for smut in smart uniforms oh no, its actually a pretty neat little film that actually looks pretty good. Its almost in black and white for allot of the Nazi sections, a virtual grey scale of dull rusty metal bolted together with lots of sturdy fat rivets, thick 50's looking sci-fi cables and lots of impressive steel gantries for the kraut officers to leer from triumphantly.

I have to admit I wasn't expecting the earth here (no pun intended) but the cgi effects on most of the space battles, spaceships and Moon shenanigans all look quite crisp and clean with clearly much effort involved. The spacecraft are all your classic UFO shapes (with nice WWII influence) but one has to admit they do look kinda cool with the German kit on them. There is also a really nice steampunk, cogs n gears, 'Wolfenstein' vibe going on throughout the German Moon based sequences which really works well, kinda reminded me a little of Del Toro's work in 'Hellboy 2'.

Plot aside (seeing as there are plot holes you could fly a Zeppelin through) the film is good fun and does what you would expect with plenty of other invasion films copied in certain sequences. The acting is poor but Götz Otto makes an impressive display as the Fuhrer wannabe 'Klaus Adler', he snarls his way through his dialog in wonderful form really enjoying the villainy, and of course who can forget Udo Kier as the new Fuhrer. I believe Kier is in the dictionary under the word 'cult'.

For some reason I did expect more blood n guts in this, not extreme but it just begged for more claret to flow and maybe some Nazi experimentation, say Nazi space mutants or Nazi killer space robots made with human parts etc...I dunno maybe that's just me and my warped mind. I guess ze crazy German scientist 'Doktor Richter' gave the impression that might happen, nice character, complete stereotype but nice.

A combination of political satire and spoof mixed with B-movie UFO's and space Nazi's really, the best part being its not trashy and the space battles do look cool in a 'Starship Troopers' kind of way. I also liked the US president being a woman who looked suspiciously like Sarah Palin hehe.

[LargeLeader]

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Hell, I dig it.

[Hudson]

I actually really want to see Iron Sky.

[SiL]

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Hell, I dig it.

Have you seen the original? What did you think in comparison?

It's the only movie I've ever seen where I've been able to use "It made sense" as a complaint.

[LargeLeader]

I actually prefer Body Hammer, funnily enough. The original's definitely not bad at all, it's insanely creative, but I find it a bit tiresome to watch. That constant sensory overload style gives me headaches, which is a shame. It's good, but it's not my cup of tea. The soundtrack is badass though.

I like Body Hammer's slower pace and brooding atmosphere. Not sure if I'd say it makes much more sense than The Iron Man, but I guess anything would seem coherent when compared to that film.

[Hubbs]

Azumi 2: Death or Love (2005, JAP)

Following on from the first film we see our female assassin hunted down by hired ninjas for her handy work. She is on her way to complete the mission set out in the first film and assassinate 'Sanada' (her finale target), along the way she meets up with a group of bandits who assist her but this also allows spies into the equation. This is the basis for the plot very simply laid out.

I must say I got the feeling this film may have been one big long film that was cut into two on purpose, the whole thing filmed in one go. The continuity is very good with both plot and certain actors returning and you do get a fairly epic feeling in the scope of things. Aya Ueto in the lead is still cute as hell while Tak Sakaguchi seems to be in every modern Japanese flick with any hint of action.

To be honest the film isn't entirely different from the first in the terms of what happens, its more sword slashing, blood spurting and many similar yet nicely created characters, it also visually appears identical to the first hence why I think it was all made at the same time. Not exactly worthy of an epic award but certainly well made with some grand action sequences to please the eye.

Like all Japanese Samurai/ninja films it has a lovely period feel to the proceedings with small segments of fantasy or myth, these do add to the charm of the film but also take away. The story is based on a manga comic but there are so many of these adaptations from Japan you do get the feeling of deja vu.

The main plus points in this film (like many other films from the land of the rising sun) are the characters. Big, bold, colourful, exciting, athletic and overflowing with emotions whilst the flash of their Katana's glint in the sun at you. The plot is pretty much the same old search for revenge, truth or justice motif with nothing really new to offer in terms of action but it does the job.