Thoughts on recent movies

[ferrero]

Are you saying you have some Japanese and Eastern modern movie recommendations? Because if you do, stop holding out on us.

The Killer with Chow Yun-fat

 

[MarkA]

Watch Indy 5 last week crystallised what woke films are to me. Having seen it, Rise of Skywalker and the last Bond film what they all have in common is a weak leading man and an annoying female lead.

This is why I realised I had reservations about watching The Flash as it has a neurotic leading guy and also the thought of watching Dune, seeing a weak nerdy teenager I just can't imagine I would want to be.

Too many films these days have forgotten that action films are meant to be escapist fun with sparkling dialogue, great action + humour and where the hero is someone you would like to be and not someone who gets insulted all the time like Phoebe Waller Bridge does to Indy in the recent film.

She added nothing to the movie just like Rey in the recent Star Wars trilogy and so many female leads these days.

Weak man + annoying woman = rubbish woke film.

 

[POB]

@Wick,



The Raid and The Raid 2 are the best action movies probably in decades. Indonesian. Scottish director with film stars he plucked out of a small Indonesian martial arts dojo. The 2012 Dredd film was a Western attempt to imitate The Raid and the John Wick films are clearly heavily inspired by them (director has also mentioned them as inspiration). Both Raid flms are better than any of the films they've inspired. There's also an Indonesian half-martial arts half-superhero flick called Gundala that's not nearly as good as the Raid movies but still fairly fun.

There are tons of good Korean films. You've got Burning, with the friend zoned guy competing with the charming sociopath playboy for a chick, except the sociopath is REALLY a sociopath... Train to Busan and #Alive if you like zombie films, both of which are better than any Western zombie flick since 28 Days Later. Oldboy, which is just legendary. The Age of Shadows is supposed to be good but I haven't seen it yet (it's on my list). A lot of people liked Parasite but I loathed it... it's exactly one of the types of movies I most hate, about stupid people with a lack of foresight trapped in a preventable-yet-inexorable march toward doom.

Chinese cinema has produced things like Ip Man, which is totally bad ass. It's got films about polygyny, like Raise the Red Lantern, which gives you an interesting perspective into the harem system (and also makes super clear why so much of the ancient Chinese handbook for female morality Biographies of Exemplary Women is focused on teaching women how to be good, virtuous, cooperative co-wives... because that it not going to tend to be their natural condition). Ne Zha is awesome and way better than anything Pixar's come out with in a long time. Huluwa (Calabash Brothers) is a classic Chinese children's cartoon that you can instantly connect with any Chinese who grew up in mainland China in the 1980s over, because they all have seen it and loved it. Honorable mention for The Last Emperor, which was made by Italians, filmed in English, but takes place in China with Chinese actors and is just really good cinema.

Japanese cinema-wise, Rashomon is sort of necessary viewing, as the first movie in movie history to do the "different narrators with different perspectives on the story" thing. A friend recently recommended two other of the director's films to me, Ikiru and Seven Samurai, but I haven't seen them yet. The Ringu films are fun if you like horror. The best stuff coming out of Japan though in my opinion is the anime... I only started getting into anime a few years ago, but Berserk is just so awesome (the 1997 version... the first episode you will be like "Huh? I don't get it" but watch to episode 3 and you'll be completely hooked; it is so worth the ride... guaranteed you will go read the rest of the manga after you watch that). Attack on Titan is the best TV show I've ever seen. It starts off looking like a pretty straightforward story (good guys vs. monsters) but then as it goes it just gets more and more complicated... if you haven't seen it, don't spoil it for yourself first, just get into it and let your mind blow as the plot twists come.

Those are my Eastern cinema recommendations for now.

Chase

Berserk (1997), Ghost in the Shell (the animation, not the movie) and Akira are must whatchs, even if you don't know anything about anime.
Kite is also superb, if you have the stomach for it.
Ninja Scroll to me is the best ninja movie ever made (extremely beautiful and violent)!
Marco Polo is so cool and have nice fights. It's a shame it was canceled before it's final season.
Zatoichi (the blind samurai) is simply one of the best samurai series ever made. The 2004 movie is awesome!
And if you liked Ip Man, you can't miss Fist of Legend, with Jet Li at the peak of his form!

 

[Bismarck]

OK I can report that Chase's recs here are golden. Raise the Red Lantern is a work of art, a stunning piece of cinema of arresting beauty. I managed to snag the extended and remastered version of The Last Emperor, a gem of a historical photoplay that spans 1907 to 1967 and weaves a heart-wrenchingly sad tale. Last but not least, Ip Man is inspiring in its portrayal of a man's capacity to be great yet humble and give his life for his town.

POB's recs are cool too: Fist of Legend is fun.

All that said, if you guys want epic Japanese flicks, you should watch these:

The Samurai Trilogy (1954-6)

Harakiri

Rashomon

The Seven Samurai

The Hidden Fortress

Kagemusha

Throne of Blood

Yojimbo

Sanjuro

Ran

13 Assassins

Tales of Ugetsu

Tampopo

 

[King Indra]

Blue Valentine with Ryan Gosling.

This movie is a great example of what happens when a guy with same game gets into a relationship but who has nothing else going for him.

it’s scary how realistic it is. I’ve known several guys who became extremely good at picking up women in bars and clubs but they were complete losers in every other aspect of their life. They would then get depressed when they meet some high quality women and not be able to ever keep them around. It fucks with their heads and frame because it fucks with their “alpha male ladies man” image they have of themselves. Allow this movie to be your cautionary tale.

the Netflix show “sex/life” is kinda interesting.

Heartiste, before he (...they? Was it more than one author?) blew himself out of a domain by dogwhistling racism and antisemitism and other crap, did a splendid review of this a few years ago.

 

[Ken]

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was pretty good, but if I saw it again, there would be a lot more flaws that would be apparent the second time around.

I skipped Thor: Love and Thunder. Here's why:

Enjoyed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I liked that it took the source material seriously and didn't include jokes about the wings on Namor's feet.

Skipped Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Jeremy Jahns, the guy who did that Love and Thunder review that I posted, explains why:

 

[Bismarck]

Been doing noirs of late. A couple of gems:

Detour (1945)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Croupier (1998)

After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

Kiss of Death (1947)

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Brick (2005)

White Heat (1949)

 

[Ken]

@Bismarck

There are two film noirs that I recommend. Double Indemnity and Out of the Past. These set the standard for film noir. And they are great films as well.

 

[Bismarck]

Hey Ken,

Thanks for your contributions. Yeah, I remember Double Indemnity (1944), one of the first noirs I watched about 20 years ago. Great photoplay.

I gave your other rec a whirl and realized I had already watched Out of the Past (1947) a couple of years ago (around 2017-2020) - only I didn't remember the movie's title.

I'd often remember how much of an alpha male the protagonist was when he was sent to look for that 10 and I wanted to watch it again. If you like Robert Mitchum, a sort of earlier and un-Western version of John Wayne, he's also a boss in Angel Face (1952).

 

[POB]

Fall (2022)
Good psychological thriller with amazing landscape photography!
Also one of the leads is that fine babe from Shazam 2.
Not gonna change lives, but it's a good flick for a Sunday afternoon.

Redline (2009)
One of the best animated movies I've ever seen!!!
If you:
- like racing cars fuelled with nitro
- love to get your adrenaline turned to eleven,
- enjoyed Star Wars pod racing and
- is up for a cool underdog love story with classic sci-fi background,
Then this is the movie for you!
Also there's that no apology attitude towards the bonker characters, which is a nice bonus.

 

[Ken]

I am done watching Marvel movies in theaters. This is why:

 

[Bismarck]

Throughout the cold, dark, winter, I've been watching plenty of flicks.

A couple of recently discovered and watched gems:

Bullhead (2011) - great Flemish thriller, amazing acting especially from the actor who plays the central character Jacky van Marsenille

Loft (2008) - great Flemish thriller

Zillion (2022) - inspiring Flemish flick based on true story

This Gun for Hire (1942) - great early noir with Veronica Lake

Universal Soldier (1992) - one of the best Jean-Claude van Damme movies

The Iron Claw (2023) - about a family of wrestlers which of course is a study in "toxic masculinity" but still worth a gander for the positives of their antics (if you exclude the negatives)

The Holdovers (2023) - great film where the protagonist is a flawed Classics teacher at a private school in the States played perfectly by Paul Giamatti

The Blue Dahlia (1946) - gonna watch tonight

The Abyss (1989) - no masculine rolemodels, the main female character is a domineering pain in the ass and the masculine guys (the SEALs) are "toxic"

Scarlet Street (1945) - great Fritz Lang picture

Red Rock West (1993) - one of the best film noirs I've ever seen. An early Nicolas Cage flick

Ready Player One (2018) - great about the future and gaming

Raw Deal (1948) - exquisite film noir.

Mona Lisa (1986) - trash

House of Gucci (2021) - interesting on the Gucci story (based on facts)

Highlander (1986) - trash

Ferrari (2023) - great based on true story of the family that created the emblematic Italian racecars

Creed (2015) - the black Rocky

Clue (1985) - funny thriller based on the boardgame Cluedo

Dazed and Confused (1993) - really good high school flick

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) - typical 21st century trash complete with a study of "toxic masculinity" and other politically correct / woke tropes

Anthropoid (2016) - true WWII Czech resistance story. Great stuff.

Broadcast News (1987) - interesting in that the "career chick" is shown to be making huge social sacrifices (in her romantic life as well) due to her choices, which is realistic and not often depicted in feminist movies nowadays. But the guys are basically chumps, with the exception of William Hurt, who was never a chump in any of his movies, the most epic of which was Body Heat.

American Graffiti (1973) - really good high school movie.

The Killers (1946) - one of the best movies I've ever seen. One of the best noirs ever made.

 

[gameboy]

I haven't read the whole thread so no idea if this has been mentioned before, but currently I'm watching:

3 Body Problem (show) in Chinese with English subtitles (it's on Youtube)

It's refreshing to watch a series from an unfamiliar culture (I'm used to American style cinema). No woke bs, women are still women even if some of them are scientists, doctors and so on.

A Netflix version (westernized) of the same show is coming out soon, it will be interesting to compare the two.

 

[FunGuy]

2023 was a great year for movies and hopefully 2024 is at least half as good. So far in 2024 I've only seen Dune Part 2 and its a masterpiece. Anyone who likes sci-fi has to watch it and imo its director Denis Villeneuve is the best sci-fi movie director we have today, shit hes arguably the best movie director active right now. All of his sci-fi movies are masterpieces and must watch movies: Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune 1+ 2. I generally don't like alien movies but Arrival is a completely different type of alien movie and I haven't seen any movie similar to it.

 

[Marcellus]

+1 There on Dune 2.

Incredible movie and one of the best cinematically shot films you'll ever see. Deserves to be watched in IMAX IMO

 

[Ken]

I haven't read the whole thread so no idea if this has been mentioned before, but currently I'm watching:

3 Body Problem (show) in Chinese with English subtitles (it's on Youtube)

It's refreshing to watch a series from an unfamiliar culture (I'm used to American style cinema). No woke bs, women are still women even if some of them are scientists, doctors and so on.

A Netflix version (westernized) of the same show is coming out soon, it will be interesting to compare the two.

The Netflix version premiered at some event recently. It left industry insiders divided, with some calling it "slow", "overcomplicated", and cold. A few episodes were shown, and some people left after seeing the first episode.

 

[FunGuy]

I just started watching that netflix 3 body problem. Will report back once I am finish with it

 

[Tony D]

Has anyone seen "Poor Things." I found it very educational.

 

[StrayDog]

Has anyone seen "Poor Things." I found it very educational.

I saw it. Educational? haha how do you mean, Tony?

 

[StrayDog]

re-watched Adaptation recently. Aside from being incredibly inventive/entertaining, with a bunch of wacky meta natives, it actually portrays different models of masculinity really well.

The main character is this total chump, all in his head all the time, missing escalation windows, putting women on a pedestal, self defeating.

His twin brother is this very charming sociable dude, who is naturally good with women. He has a disarming optimism, and is great at reading subtext/ deep diving.

Then there is the orchid thief, who lives life by the beat of his own drum. With a solid frame, and byronic character traits. He is enigmatic and alluring. He is the lover that women pine over. Wanting to be closer to something they will never grasp.

Great movie all around, and I think every living male can see at least a little bit of himself in these three characters. Hopefully very little of the main character if you're well on your path of being a great lover, and most likely a good deal of the second two.