Just Watched Movies (2012)

[slayrrr666]

The Getaway-When a woman pulls her husband out of a jail in order to help with a large diamond heist, they learn they've been double-crossed and must get away to safety with their loot and track down those responsible for the situation. While this probably could've done with some rather large trimming (this is easily 20+ minutes too long and really no need to be) especially since this is pretty slow on general action that really could've been upgraded significantly with that factor being eliminated. Still, there's some pretty enjoyable chases and shootouts in here, especially one spectacular one in the motel which is helped along by the sex scene preceeding it. While it tends to harper way too much on the crime drama of the robbery for my tastes and the action comes in pretty late, it's still not as terrible as it easily could've been.

[Bartwald]

Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" - an enjoyable thriller that has one main problem: too many endings! Still, I can't say I liked it less than the first adap of Larsson's bestseller which is quite an accomplishment - so Fincher has done his job well, generally.

[slayrrr666]

Snow Beast-When a research team heads into the Canadian wilderness to follow up on a previous expedition, the stumble across a far more vicious predator than they previously imagined and must try to outwit the deadly creature in it's native habitat in order to get away alive. A rather predictable if still enjoyable Sci-Fi Channel Bigfoot film, which is actually all the more enjoyable due to the fact that this one manages to feature a man-in-suit technique for the realization of the creature, which is a far cry from what we usually get and is therefore far more enjoyable than expected. There's a lot of good stalking in the later half which makes for a good finish, but far too much of the beginning doesn't have any real jump to it, as well as the fact that there's not a whole lot of blood and guts strewn around, making the kills far less potent when we actually get to see them since there's not a lot on-screen either. Still, a mildly enjoyable romp when it wants to be.

Doomsday-After a virus has decimated the British islands, a rescue team is sent into the previously-contaminated zone to find the few suspected survivors in hope of a cure but run afoul of the lawless mutants of the original epidemic. A pretty tough one to get a handle on, as from an action movie standpoint there was some good stuff to like but not a whole lot. The shootouts were a bit too over-the-top and didn't really look all too realistic, mainly due to the fact that they look incredibly fake and off-putting. Some, though, aren't that bad and it gets enough enjoyability out of those few good chases and shootouts that there's some good parts to it. The main point of contention here is the fact that, by participating in this specific genre of film, it's not something that I personally care for and had a hard time getting into. Another factor to consider is the rather overlong nature which really isn't all that enjoyable when it just keeps going on and on about nothing far longer than it should, so overall this one is a mildly decent action film.

Equilibrium-When a future society places a ban on all things that cause an emotional reaction, an agent for the state gets caught up in the war when he starts to side with the opposing forces while still trying to stay under cover as long as he can. Another rather hard film to get a handle on, mainly due to the film taking just so long to get to the good stuff that it really wears itself out before too long. The fact that the new society is really hard to understand the logic behind, as the logic behind the change in how it governs itself is incredibly lame and not all that well explained either and instead of having the chance to really spell it out just keep giving it passing notes without really saying anything of any substance about it, which itself is the central premise behind the film so it really needs work and it doesn't really come off that way. The action scenes here, though, are the main focus and while they're really good and enjoyable, come far too late in the film to really matter, especially the final confrontation which is just barely getting started before it cuts away, a real missed opportunity, and overall this is just like that, full of decent material but just falls up short of what it could've been.

[slayrrr666]

Fear Island-After being found alive following a brutal island massacre, a young woman recounts how her and her friends suffered the wrath of a vicious killer looking to seek revenge against them for a past transgression. A very troubling film all around, mainly because it tends to follow a very irritating and annoying tactic and, despite being told in flashback, tends to interrupt the process after about five minutes or so of action to having the interviewers comment on the situation before going back into the main story for another five minutes or so which becomes irritating over time. The other commonly-used ploy of characters relating information they couldn't possibly have known about, from the different lifestyles that are lived beyond their experience and activities they weren't around for, which just makes it all the more troubling that not a lot actually happens in the slashing department. The killer is coded very obviously early on, the kills are stumbled-upon-after-the-fact and really, only the location photography and the splattered bodies account for anything to like here.

[slayrrr666]

Gunmen-Not really going to say much here, this actually upgraded me from a viewing of this from over a decade ago but not since. Fun to see it uncut as well, lot better than I remembered and quite enjoyable. Definitely a good one for the collection.

[slayrrr666]

The Quest-Yet again, another film from my childhood Action-watching phase that I've only just now seen uncut. Seems odd that it's taken this long to get to it, but it's never too late I guess, and while it's certainly not a Kickboxer or even a Bloodsport it's certainly not all that bad of an effort.

[slayrrr666]

Shadow Conspiracy-When a conspiracy enthusiast finds that a hit-team has been gathered to put a hit on the president, he tries to stop them from carrying out the mission while discovering it goes farther up in Washington than he imagined. Far more of a political thriller than an action which it advertised itself to be, and neither of those two genres are very interesting or appealing to me, which makes this one not all that exciting to go through that's not helped out in the slightest bit by an overlong length that really doesn't do the film any favors. Spending more time trying to piece everything together and get the clues as to what's going on that spending it on action, this one has long sections of time without doing anything then comes in with a brief, rather pointless action scene to fool us into thinking that's the main goal when it's very clear otherwise what's going on. A couple of the chases aren't too bad, but really it's not that much of an action film despite what it appears to be.

[Fenril]

- Lady vengeance. Confessed kidnapper and child murderer Geung-ja is released from jail after thirteen years of carefully orchestrating her revenge against a man who betrayed her in all possible ways. But reuniting with a few figures from her past might change her agenda in ways she would have never imagined.

Watched the Director's cut of this beautiful, complex movie that is a mix of various genres [thriller, drama, dark comedy...] and influences. Helped by a clever script and powerful performances (especially lead Yeong-ae Lee), with an appropiately bittersweet conclusion.

Also re-watched Ángel negro and The player. I have nothing new to say about each, except that they hold well on repeated viewings.

[slayrrr666]

Added uncut versions of The Rats and The Bone Snatcher to the collection.

Freejack-After nearly dying in a car accident, a race-car driver finds he's been transported to the future for use as a body host for the people of that time and must get away before he undergoes the process to change him over. A pretty simple plot line pretty seems to be the only dull point with this one, since it's not all that bad of an effort and actually has some positive points to it. While that simple plot does have a lot of components to it that make for some rather confusing moments to get it all straightened out. Still, this one is rather more about the chasing and action so on that end, it's actually not all that bad as there's some good stuff here with some pretty decent chases and shootouts that, while not really doing anything spectacular or original, definitely have some good value to them. Could use some trimming in the second half to tighten up the pace and keep the running time down somewhat, but all in all still highly enjoyable.

[slayrrr666]

The Bleeding House-When a mysterious stranger arrives at a secluded house seeking shelter for the night, he finds the family holds a darker secret than he could possibly imagine and soon turns the night into a nightmarish bloodbath for those involved. Quite possibly one of the weaker and just plain irritating films of the last decade, as there was just so little to this one that there's hardly anything to this one that really makes an impact. From a cliched and utterly unoriginal story to a twist that everyone can see coming which is played off like a grand mystery and a great sense of deja-vu throughout the whole experience which doesn't in the slightest make it any more appealing. Throw in the fact that the killer in here is completely non-threatening and almost like a joke and it comes off even worse due to the lack of imposing nature in the main villain. Wrap it all up in a dull, slow-moving pace and this one comes off as terrible as it really is.

[Bartwald]

Roman Polanski's Carnage - a beautiful and very funny movie! All four actors are simply genius here and I'm very glad that somebody finally offered Waltz a role that truly shows his talent again!

[slayrrr666]

Steve Niles' Remains-After a radiation spill causes a massive apocalypse leaving most of mankind as ravenous zombies, several survivors try to survive barricaded inside a fortified casino until another group arrives looking for shelter against a newer breed that are far more dangerous and vicious coming for them. A rather disappointing zombie effort, made by the fact that this one tends to spend an incredibly long amount of time on the interaction with the humans surviving inside the compound and their various issues with each other while the zombies, while still shown to be around, are basically given nothing to do. The attacks are so few and far between, with so little action during them anyway, that it's almost a drama about living in a zombie apocalypse than a true-blooded zombie film, which can get taxing. Added together with some atrocious CGI in unnecessary places and it has a lot wrong with it. Frankly, though, there is some good parts scattered throughout, mostly in the final twenty minutes, with some gory action, a rather impressive addition of cannibalistic zombies that eat other zombies, and some decent make-up that looks good at times. Overall, though, this one is definitely lower on the zombie totem pole.

[slayrrr666]

Bunnyman-After cutting off a driver on a deserted road, a group of friends find themselves in the middle of a nightmare when the psychotic driver, wearing a full-bunny costume, begins stalking and killing them one-by-one as part of his obsession with torturing people. A rather odd film to get a handle on, since there's so much here to like but also a ton to absolutely loathe about it. Frankly, it starts off insanely nicely, with the cat-and-mouse chasing on the highway in the different-sized cars being absolutely brilliant, almost to the point of being too overly realistic and almost terrifying enough to make a real movie out of. Then they get car trouble and the rest of the film goes downhill with it. Filled with utterly terrible stalking scenes, gore scenes shot as splatter shooting onto the surrounding areas rather than seeing any kind of mangling of the body on-screen and what is perhaps the most ridiculous, ludicrous-looking costume ever in an attempt to be scary that just ends up being over-the-top. Top it all off with some of the most pain-inducing moments of stupidity and a plot that makes no sense and it really is hard to get a handle on this one.

[slayrrr666]

Added an uncut copy of Autopsy to the collection.

[slayrrr666]

Blood and Bone-After getting released from prison, a martial artist begins stalking a group of underground fighters in retaliation for an incident from prison he vowed to uphold. I've never been into the MMA style of fighting, it just never got to me, so that one fact here going in made this one a bit tougher than normal to get into, which thankfully decided to get dropped halfway in and become more of a traditional fighting movie. Granted, it's all been seen before in this type of film and doesn't really do anything new, but based on the layout of the storyline it's supposed to provide entertainment based on the quality of the fighting which is a true mixed bag. Some are rather fun and entertaining, while others are just so quick and over so fast that it's hard to get any enjoyment out of them, which is rather true of the main fight at the end since after a move connects, rather than press the advantage, everyone just lets the other get up and recuperate, ruining it's pacing and loosing some of the impact, but with all this it's still not a bad film overall.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra-When a top-secret weapon is stolen by an evil organization, a team of soldiers teams up with a special group of like-minded soldiers to track them down before they can use them on the free world. Actually not all that bad of an Action film, as there's some actually fun and enjoyable action scenes and chases, which although fun and enjoyable in concept are ruined by the film's rather large problem in way too much CGI usage for scenes that really don't require it. Even worse, it's done solely during the big stunt scenes, which really jars you out of the movie at the main critical point which isn't all that much fun. It also tends to wander along with far too much going on, as there's way too many plot-points and actions going on which make this one seem all over the place when it could've dealt with a lot of streamlining. Still, a lot of things got blown up or smashed to pieces which is what's really important.