|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 6, 2011 10:05:06 GMT -5
Kiltro-A man trying to win the heart of a young woman tries to protect her from the insane fighter who has targeted her father as among the many he seeks revenge against for a past misdeed. Chile attempts a martial arts entry, and for the most part it's not too bad. Not really much in the way of all-out displays here, this one more about his moping for their unrequited love and then learning the ways of martial arts to stop the guys' rampage, so it's not really all that packed with action, yet it somehow still retains its watchability through the prowess of it's fight scenes which are rather fun if not jaw-dropping the way the Asians are. Still, it's not too bad and has some pretty nifty ideas, has far more gore than should be expected and comes across with a rather fun sense of excitement in what goes on. Off to a pretty decent start so far.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 9, 2011 10:11:26 GMT -5
Extreme Ops-A group of extreme athletes preparing for a special video shoot in the Austrian Alps come across a team of terrorists hiding out in the area and must defend themselves from attack through their special skills. Well, first off I have very little if any interest in the lives and what goes on for the heroes so those scenes are just endless and terminally boring merely because of what they portray rather than anything to do with the quality of the film. I just don't really care all that much about that lifestyle so featuring it as a main selling point isn't all that appealing. Thankfully, once it leaves that alone and pursues the terrorists vs. kids angle, it's wholly entertaining and impressive. Tons of chases, lots of shoot-outs and even some rather impressive stunts, though not done by anyone in the cast as the doubles are obvious, makes for some good times, and although I'd rather bring the rating a little higher to allow for some bloodshed and more nudity, it's a quite entertaining watch once it gets to the action.
Ninja Assassin-A former member of a murderous clan of ninjas seeks revenge on them once he learns of their involvement in a tragic incident in his past and uses a female agent following his murders for help in bringing them down. Man, I'd wanted to get to this one for a long time now and it did not disappoint in the slightest. One of the more enjoyable action films of the last decade, filled with outstanding stunts, jaw-dropping fight scenes and is quite possibly more gory than most horror films out there, as an opening massacre littered with severed limbs, arterial sprays and slash wounds just starts it off with a bang and it never really stops from there. Plot is been there, done that territory but the gore, bloodshed and fighting are more than capable enhancements. A ton of fun and highly recommended.
Wushu Warrior-A gang of brothers fighting a wicked opium dealer in 19th Century China call upon an orphaned survivor of an earlier raid to help them battle the nefarious villain and rid their land of the vicious drugs. Yet another in a long, long line of American kung-fu movies that tends to follow the opposite of what should be done in such a movie: rather than have the people that know what they're doing engage in most of the fighting, they have the ones that can't partake in them which must be kept short so as to not expose them, yet do so by the mere inclusion of the filming style. It's pretty sad you see a final fight, one with a lot of story build-up and emotional investment between the two parties last all of a minute, complete with pre-fight verbal jarring and pose-making, yet because they either filmed the movie wrong or casted it wrong, we're stuck with stuff like that. Even still, it's not a terrible boring film since it's pretty short, and the few brief displays we're shown indicate that knowledgeable fighters were present during the shoot, just too bad none of them were there to finish the movie off the right way.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 10, 2011 10:09:49 GMT -5
The Terminators-A group of unstoppable androids are loosened upon mankind after a malfunction turns them from helpers into killers, forcing a group of survivors to fight back before they're all slaughtered. Surprisingly fun and cheesy B-movie action film, not really one that has a lot of bad things going for it beyond the rip-off nature of the plot and the fact that the same actor plays 50 different roles as each of the androids, oftentimes in the same scene which is unintentionally hilarious no matter how you slice it. The action scenes are low-budget and fun, merely intent on conveying the intention behind them rather than the realism of the execution, but it's never really dull as they go haywire within the first five minutes and don't let up until they're shut down to end the movie, tons of things get blown up and its got enough shoot-outs, chases and bloodshed to be interesting. Not exactly essential, but still enjoyable viewing.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 11, 2011 10:01:59 GMT -5
American Cyborg: Steel Warrior-A warrior tries to safe-guard the last fertile woman out of a desolate wasteland in the future who's being hunted by a deadly cyborg intent on delivering her to his cruel owners. Pretty much by-the-numbers affair, nothing you've seen before if you're anywhere at all familiar with the usual post-apocalyptic/cyborg-stalking film that this one models itself after, which is a plus since it fits in with the others rather easily without a whole lot to really get in it's way, while it also tends to suffer due to overfamiliarity and not really providing anything new to the formula. It also doesn't help that there's just very little else about the film that works, as the fact that the main fighter in here looks so totally overmatched in the encounters it borders on ridiculous everytime he gets away or why the robot never manages to finish him off, leaving him to get the upper-hand since he turns his attention rather than press on with the kill especially once that tactic has been repeated numerous times to the point where it should've occurred to him what would've happened. It does have a few somewhat decent action scenes to make it enjoyable, but overall it's easily on the lower end of the podium.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fenril on May 17, 2011 15:54:12 GMT -5
Seen in the last month or so:
- Swimming Pool. Reviewed it in the "German Horror" thread.
- Evil dead II. You all know the plot by now, or should.
This was much goofier than I remember, truth be told. I think I liked the first one much better, but then Evil dead is a mostly serious splatter movie while this one is more like a gory comedy.
- Deathnote. Unconvicted criminals around the world start droping dead seemingly out of the blue. The media soon atributes these acts to a new kind of serial killer that they dub "Kira". And they aren't that far from the truth, which has to do with a gifted Japanese student and an otherwordly notebook...
A rare live-action adaptation of an Anime that actually surpasses both it and the original manga, at least in terms of plot and character development.
- Deathnote: the last name. The sequel sees the rise of a two more "Kira", each even more ruthless than the previous. Can detective L solve this case before he, too, becomes prey to any of these maniacal killers?
The sequel is maybe too convoluted for its own good (it tries to distillate what were about four different arcs in the manga into a two hour plot), but mantains some quality control.
- Los cronocímenes. (aka Timecrimes). A man spies a beautiful woman stipping in the woods. When he tries to move closer for a better look, he's stabbed by a stranger in an overcoat and a bandaged face, who chases him to an research center where people are conducting forbidden experiments about time travel...
A sci-fi thriller that disguises itself as a Ghiallo / slasher hybrid. Reminded me a lot of "Triangle"; very good, assuming you watch it with an open mind.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 23, 2011 10:10:55 GMT -5
I know it's been a while since I've been here, had a lot of downtime since the computer went down a while ago so I spent it watching a lot of movies, not going to say a lot so I'll just list viewing instead, want to know what I thought ask me:
Lady Dragon
Hidden Agenda
Mask of the Ninja
Cold Harvest
Street Knight
Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon
The Foreigner
Foreigner 2: Black Dawn
Shadow Man
Kung Fu Killer
Blue Demon vs. The Female Invaders
Delta Force 3: The Killing Game
|
|
|
|
Post by Fenril on May 24, 2011 17:13:36 GMT -5
Okay... what did you think of the Blue Demon movie? And what do you think of our Luchadores movies so far?
Seen:
- Phone. After her articles on hushed cases of pederasty put her in the sight of irate goverment officials, a reporter takes refuge on her sister's country house. There, she stumbles into an even more dangerous conspiracy: a phone line that's apparently caused its previous occupants' death and that is now causing her young nephew to act very strangely....
At first, this would seem yet another asian horror movie spun off Ringu's enormous sucess; it kind of is, at least as concerns its supernatural story. Also, there are a lot of unnecesary subplots (for instance, a goverment assassin who's just there to raise the movie's bodycount) and a few unintentionally hilarious moments (a possessed toddler telling her mother that "Snow white was such a slut!"). On the other hand, there's some sharp social commentary and the characters are very interesting, especially the women.
Uneven, but worth a look. One of the essential movies of modern South Korean horror.
- The player. A Hollywood producer has been receiving threatening postcard from a writer he once wronged. Problem is, he wrongs about a thousand writers per year. His chance meeting with one of them only exacerbates the problem...
A hollywood satire disguised as a thriller, with an enormous amount of cameos (Karen Black and Whoopi Goldberg among them); a bit smarmy at times and "Sunset blvd." certainly did it better. Still, very entertaining. A recurring joke about the trite story proposals our producer has to listen to is pretty inspired (and so, so true), too.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 25, 2011 10:26:09 GMT -5
I really enjoyed it. Cheesy goodness with the aliens and their costumes, the lame special effects, a few good wrestling matches (I thought Blue Demon's introductory tag-team match was one of the best of the ones I've seen in all of these films after Santo's from Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and The Wolf-Man, which has my favorite one so far) and even a few good brawls in the compound that were pretty fun. And the more I hear of Blue Demon's action theme song, the more it grows on me. It's getting kind of catchy.
As a whole overall, I'd say that I've become pretty interested and impressed with them as far as what I've seen. Granted, it's only been Horror/Sci-Fi versions, but having now seen entries from Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras and Superzan, they're all pretty interesting and enjoyable in their own way. I need to add a few more solo Santo efforts as I've only seen two films of his and one was the team-up I mentioned earlier so that still leaves only one proper solo film of his, but so far, color me interested.
A Dangerous Man-A recently released ex-Special Forces agent tries to protect a woman from the Chinese gangsters holding her Grandfather hostage after getting involved in a turf war with the Russian gangsters running the small town he lives in. Official statement here, this is Seagal's best of his recent re-birth in the DTV market, or at least of the one's I've seen as there's still a few small holes in the catalog. Tons of action, lots of shoot-outs, the trademark bone-breaking and snapping of limbs done by a much-more energetic stuntman while his face is used for the close-ups, things blowing up, it's got it all. Some editing problems here (it's way too dark at times during some of the shoot-outs, and the haphazard/quick shot editing during several of the fights makes it impossible to tell what's going on, though it's obvious to hide the stunt double) but overall, Seagal's best work in a while.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 26, 2011 11:07:40 GMT -5
Out of Reach-A Special Forces agent investigates the disappearance of his orphaned pen pal in Poland and finds the home to be the center of an illegal human smuggling operation and sets out to take it down before his friend is sold off. A hugely disappointing effort here, as it's an action film without a whole lot of it happening here beyond one impressive gunfight and a short, quick and barely worthwhile sword fight that doesn't have any real impact. That it spends so long investigating makes this one so hard to get into since nothing happens to him while investigating, the smugglers are aware of his every move and don't do anything and he's never in danger during these scenes. Add to that the fact that Seagal is so baddly dubbed, he has three different distinct voices throughout the film, and it's terribly done to hide them each time out. All in all, a poor effort after such a good entry previously.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fenril on May 26, 2011 12:15:07 GMT -5
- Rebecca. A young girl marries a wealthy landowner and moves into his his mammoth state, Manderley. But the entire property seems imbued with the presence of her husband's late wife, the eponymous Rebecca. A woman whom the entire staff both feared and adored, who dominates everyone around her even after death...
Hitchcock's first American production was this adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's bestelling gothic romance. A lot of the story and dialogue seem pretty melodramatic these days (actually, they were pretty melodramatic back in the 30's, too) and the ending had to be toned down due to censorship issues. Still, there are some nice performances here and a suitably sinister atmosphere.
Du Maurier went on to write several notable gothic works --some of them also sucessfully adapted to the screen, such as "The birds" and "Don't look now".
- Sisters. A publicist and an actress hit it off in the taping of a rather sleazy game show and end spending the night together. Too bad she hadn't told him of her highly dangerous identical twin who shares her aparment...
Brian de Palma's first major hit, a pretty solid thriller with his trademark Hitchcock homages / ripoffs, seedy atmosphere, fine performances and nasty plot twists. Only marred by an unsatisfying conclusion.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 27, 2011 10:04:28 GMT -5
Hollow Point-A DEA Agent and a police officer unite to bring down the criminal leader trying to control the three biggest Mafia groups in the world under one umbrella to fuel their control over the world through their activities. An enormously entertaining Action effort, boosted off course by some fantastic action scenes but after winning me over more with its outstanding sense of humor rather than the action, as the two cops here are just in their best form cracking wise with each other, getting involved with one of the group's main culprits whose helping them so he can leave the profession entirely, and of course the criminal group all ragging on each other, which makes for a lot of good laughs that's all the more noticeable due to the action scenes, of which there's a lot here that stand out for their uniqueness and high energy. All in all, a highly enjoyable effort.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 30, 2011 10:57:08 GMT -5
Attack Force-A Special Forces team is gathered together to stop a dangerous terrorist group from unleashing a powerful drug into an Eastern European water supply system that will turn recipients into drug-addicted maniacs. Yet another Seagal rebirth effort, only it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack as it's got some good stuff to it and some pretty bad aspects as well. Love the gore and the bloody deaths, with set-ups sometimes right out of Horror films, a couple of suspenseful stalking scenes as they attempt to corral the infected within a vast, underground Gothic labyrinth complete with ambushes, shoot-outs and more, some fine action scenes throughout and a pretty decent final fight by Seagal's standards as his opponent manages to actually get some shots in on him and it's not a real one-sided affair that looks really bad like his usual efforts. On the negative side, again Seagal is so badly dubbed that the different voice is distracting and borders on ingrating, a real lack of typical action scenes beyond a few shoot-outs and a really haphazard plot that needs a lot of work. A decent middle-of-the-road entry, especially compared to his other recent efforts.
Black Dynamite-A street-tough fighter sets out on a personal war with his friends to take down the White House-supported drug ring masked as the launch of a brand-new soft-drink for African-Americans. Totally bizarre and yet unbelievably enjoyable Blaxploitation homage that is so much fun it's hardly fair. With a look, feel and style right out of those kinds of movies, yet warped with a modern-day sense of humor and just-plain bizarre story-telling that goes off on so many tangents it's impossible to list where this one goes, it's part of the fun of this one and makes it all the more entertaining. Sure, the fights could've been longer, but this is still top-notch quality and one of the more enjoyable efforts recently.
Cyborg Cop III-Two police officers find a terrorist group operating under the protection of a group of cyborgs created for separate purposes and must take them down once they run amok in the city. Low-grade actioner of the highest order here, not a whole lot else to add which is what makes it so fun. From lots of explosions and things blowing up to a couple of fantastic shoot-outs, a suspenseful and action-packed stalking in a used car-lot and even a car chase thrown into the mix, added all together into a fun time that makes for the kind of film I used to grow up on that works really well still due to it's concentration on the action rather than the bare-bones and rather silly plot.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on May 31, 2011 9:52:59 GMT -5
Wake of Death-A former enforcer sets out on a path of vengeance against the Chinese gangsters who murdered his wife thinking she was getting involved in their smuggling operations. Have seen way too many of Seagal's recent rebirth, only right to spend a little time with Van Damme's as well and produces probably one of his top efforts overall, it ranks up there with his best. Top-notch action scenes, punctuated by several thrilling car chases including one on motorcycles through a crowded shopping mall with each performer carrying out tons of extreme stunts and jumps, but we also get several fun shootouts, a fantastic assault for the finale and a couple finely-executed executions thrown in as well. It even has one of the most gruesome and squirm-inducing torture scenes ever where he and his friends use a power-drill on a villain for several agonizing minutes with tons of blood-flow and gore, which was really surprising. The fights were good enough, although it really could've used more spread throughout the film instead of just a couple quickly-edited pieces that were really hard to see, and it gets a little too hokey with it's emotional build-up after the wife's death, but this was a fun time overall.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 1, 2011 10:16:01 GMT -5
How to Train Your Dragon-A Viking teen finds that his culture's fears about dragons are unfounded when he befriends an injured creature and it helps to save his bloodthirsty, war-mongering father from killing himself in battle against a far-more vicious dragon than he expected. A lot more fun than I expected, though from the previews I thought it was going to be pretty good anyway. Some really funny lines, some good comedy, a couple of great action scenes and even with a by-the-numbers story it's still not a bore at all as it hits all the cliches you expect it to do. The animation is even really good, looking a lot better than the stuff I grew up with from Disney and creating a very interesting universe through that. Overall, pretty enjoyable.
|
|
|
|
Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 3, 2011 10:15:23 GMT -5
Monster Mania goodness on TCM last night, and it'll go all month long:
Godzilla, King of the Monsters-If you're going to be in my life, you'd better think this is a good movie. End of story, as I usually don't care if you like my films at all but you'd better like this one. My girl does, so she stays. Just for once can't we get the Japanese version to air on TV? It's not like it's hard to find anymore.
Rodan-The singular film responsible for getting me involving in movies to begin with, the very, very first film I ever saw as a child and now permanently added into the collection after having gone unacquired for over 15 years. So much better than I remember, and it was good enough for me to be into movies to start with, just simply classic all around.
Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster-Man, they should've played Godzilla vs. Mothra instead, that's a far better film and would've been a better example of getting people into these films, which is not to say this is a bad film, just they could've gone with better ones. Some good fun to be had, but too cheesy and silly to be a good introductory film is all.
Godzilla vs. Monster Zero-Not nearly as bad as I remember, a lot more pure science fiction than the others which is a nice change, but you can see the lowered amount of monster action compared to earlier in the night and the spectacle scenes coming through less impressively than before.
|
|
