What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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saltysam
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

Post by saltysam »

Hannibal:Season One 3/5 Hannibal Lecter makes the move to network television with much better than expected results. Excellent cast and good production values contribute to a solid first season that gets better after a slow start.looking forward to season two.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Plain Clothes (1988-USA) **
A 24-year old detective (a miscast Arliss Howard) returns to high school undercover to investigate a teacher's murder and prove his younger brother's innocence. Fair despite pedestrian direction.

Summer School (1987-USA) **½
An irresponsible gym teacher is forced into preparing the school's class rejects for an English resit exam. Fairly predictable, but there are some good laughs for horror buffs.

Popcorn (1990-USA) **½
A burnt lunatic crashes a movie horrorthon to restage a massacre.
Imaginative, tongue-in-cheek horror; the plot takes some swallowing, but good fun for horror buffs.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984-USA) **½
Freshman nerds battle jocks in a game of pranks. That's it.
Silly fun... as long as you don't think about it (you'd never get away with the quasi-rape in 2014).

Texas Killing Fields (2011-USA) **½
Detectives investigate a series of grisly murders.
Absorbing crime thriller requires greater story clarity and better direction (the director was producer Michael Mann's daughter - ahem).
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saltysam
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Pacific Rim 2/5 Loud,Dumb,Overlong but entertaining giant monster vs humans epic.Bland and wooden cast don't help but the effects which are stunning make up the shortfall.

Under The Skin 1.5/5 Critically acclaimed Scarlet Johannsen starrer did nothing for me. Relentlessly bleak and screaming "look at me this is art" with every frame it gets a extra half star for the excellent score.

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot 3/5 Solid Clint Eastwood early 70's crime caper, well served by a great cast notably Jeff Bridges as Clint's brash young partner and George Kennedy as a bad ass criminal initially out for revenge on Clint who reluctantly forms an alliance of sorts.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995-USA) *½
Our 'pet dick' invades poor Africa in search of a rare white bat.
Piss poor sequel with minimal chuckles; Carrey mugs for all he's worth, but his shtick seems forced this time.

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987-USA) *½
The 'nerds' (minus Anthony Edwards) are invited to a fraternity convention in sunny Florida
Pointless PG-13 retread with barely any real laughs.
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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Markgway wrote:Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995-USA) *½
Our 'pet dick' invades poor Africa in search of a rare white bat.
Piss poor sequel with minimal chuckles; Carrey mugs for all he's worth, but his shtick seems forced this time.

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987-USA) *½
The 'nerds' (minus Anthony Edwards) are invited to a fraternity convention in sunny Florida
Pointless PG-13 retread with barely any real laughs.
I saw both in the theaters. The opening day crowd for Revenge of the Nerds II was pretty hilarious (never seen more nerds for an opening including Star Trek films, than for that film.) Ah the halcyon days of nerd youth. Not a good or even a mediocre film though.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Johnny English Reborn (2011-UK-USA-France) **
Rowan Atkinson's dumb MI7 agent is back to prevent the assassination of the Chinese Premier.
Inoffensive spoof sequel; most of the good gags are confined to the first act, otherwise fairly weak tea.
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Markgway
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House of Games (1987-USA) **½
An overworked psychiatrist is lured into dangerous con games by a charismatic trickster.
Intriguing thriller from David Mamet, damaged by predictability and an unsatisfying conclusion.

The Night Stalker (1985-USA) *
A drunken cop (is there any other kind?) becomes personally involved in the hunt for a supernatural serial killer targeting prostitutes. C-grade exploitation, utter nonsense; only worth it for unintentional chuckles and the chance to Charles Napier in a lead role.

Like Father, Like Son (1987-USA) *½
Father (a doctor) and son (a dork) switch bodies to 'hilarious' effect.
Poorly directed comedy doesn't come close to its potential; Dudley Moore is left to mug chronically.
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Death Valley (1981-USA) **
OK slasher thriller in which a young boy becomes the target of a serial killer.
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Deadly Eyes (aka The Rats) 2/5 Early 80's canadian made (by Golden Harvest!)horror about a breed of killer rats on the loose.loosely based on James Herberts novel Sam Groom plays Harris,the teacher caught up in the varnage.He's as bland as bland can be.Directed by Robert Clouse and featuring epic scenes of daschounds dressed as rats (in one scene you can hear the bark :) ) watchable nonsense and strangely the shout! first time ever it's been issued on dvd or blu-ray anywhere.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Sabotage (2014-USA) *½
The most obnoxious undercover DEA agents imaginable are targeted by a pissed-off drug cartel after a botched multi-million dollar heist. Confusing and poorly-written; Arnie's trashiest movie to date. I almost felt embarrassed for him. Extremely bloody actioner somehow escaped an '18' certificate in the UK.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Markgway wrote:Sabotage (2014-USA) *½
The most obnoxious undercover DEA agents imaginable are targeted by a pissed-off drug cartel after a botched multi-million dollar heist. Confusing and poorly-written; Arnie's trashiest movie to date. I almost felt embarrassed for him. Extremely bloody actioner somehow escaped an '18' certificate in the UK.
I think I will still see it when it opens here in October, but...
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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HungFist wrote:I think I will still see it when it opens here in October, but...
What price are Japanese cinema tickets?

Because you can import the Blu Ray now!
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Markgway wrote:
HungFist wrote:I think I will still see it when it opens here in October, but...
What price are Japanese cinema tickets?
Terribly high, I could probably catch it for 1300 yen (7.5£) in the evening screening.

Normal price for students is 1500 yen, 1800 for normal people :banghead:

First day of each month is 1000... a good day to catch several movies if you have time.

Those are for the big multiplexes. Smaller theaters are a bit more affordable. And then, ironically, in Tokyo you can catch all kind of old school greatness from 35mm for as cheap as 800 yen (even double features). Better movies, better technical presentation, half the price :thumbs:
Markgway wrote: Because you can import the Blu Ray now!
I wouldn't want to watch it from BD if I can see it in cinema.

Or was that you trying to sell your copy? :lol:
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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HungFist wrote: I wouldn't want to watch it from BD if I can see it in cinema.

Or was that you trying to sell your copy? :lol:
:lol:

No, I wouldn't own that tripe. I just thought that given how expensive Japan is it might work out as cheap to import the BD months in advance. You're obviously very patient -- or just not that interested. I myself very rarely go to the cinema now. I went every week when I was a teenager, but have since lost the love. I'd rather watch a film in the comfort of my own home.
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HungFist
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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My movie going statistics for June and July (so far):

Cinema (35mm): 30 films
Cinema (16mm): 1 film
Cinema (DCP): 6 screenings / 8 films

37 times in the movies during the last 1½ months! :cool: 20 of those screenings were Sonny Chiba films :thumbs:

(now you can understand why I haven't been posting much recently :lol: )
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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I admire your passion and dedication for cinema.

Even at my peak I never came remotely close to your stats.
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saltysam
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Man Of Tai Chi 2/5 passable Keanu Reeves directed martial arts actioner,by the numbers storyline but some ok action sequences.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Sister, Sister (1987-USA) **
Southern gothic psycho drama; interest wears thin as the plot gets sillier.
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HungFist
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Markgway wrote:I admire your passion and dedication for cinema.

Even at my peak I never came remotely close to your stats.
It's also partly because I think these are the last opportunities to see great film on 35mm... and perhaps the last chances to see many of them at all. Old theaters are closing down, the new ones don't even have film projectors, just digital. In the future it's just gonna be digital screenings - TV on cinema screen as Tarantino put it - and the selection is going to be those films that have been digitalized. The thousands of genre films that never were given a digital treatment simply won't be available for viewing anymore in any format as it's too expensive to digitalize them with the market already saturated...

For example, I'd love to see Sonny Chiba's early 60's martial arts films. 35mm is probably going to be the only chance I'll ever have (as I doubt they'll be released in any digital format) and that chance is getting slimmer year by year...
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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saltysam wrote:Man Of Tai Chi 2/5 passable Keanu Reeves directed martial arts actioner,by the numbers storyline but some ok action sequences.
I saw the trailer for that and thought it looked OK tbh (though honestly I thought Keanu was living off Neo from The Matrix) :D, is it worth seeing?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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grim_tales wrote:
saltysam wrote:Man Of Tai Chi 2/5 passable Keanu Reeves directed martial arts actioner,by the numbers storyline but some ok action sequences.
I saw the trailer for that and thought it looked OK tbh (though honestly I thought Keanu was living off Neo from The Matrix) :D, is it worth seeing?
I put it around the **½ to *** (out of ****) area. I liked it more than saltysam, but it certainly has its faults. I like more of what Keanu was trying to accomplish than what he actually did. He is a novice filmmaker, but I applaud his effort. He tried to add more of a metaphorical content to a somewhat aged concept for the film.
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Action Jackson (1988-USA) **½
Fun action vehicle for Carl Weathers that didn't do well at the box office.
Looks low budget by Joel Silver standards, with inconsistent cinematography and cheesy music score, but there's enough violent action to enjoy... and two hot babes in Vanity and Sharon Stone.

The Naked Face (1984-USA) **½
Psychiatrist Roger Moore becomes a target for murder.
Fairly absorbing thriller based on a Sidney Sheldon novel.
Moore is fine, co-star Rod Steiger is mannered as usual.
Third act seems somewhat artificial.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Just wanted to say thanks to Mark for all the mini-reviews. Keep up the good work.

I don't have time to post any reviews recently, but I am reading everything you guys are posting.

I'm working on a huge Chiba fest coverage though so when I have more time...
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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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HungFist wrote:Just wanted to say thanks to Mark for all the mini-reviews. Keep up the good work.
:thumbs:

Turkey Shoot (1981-Australia) *½
In the near future (er, 1995) society's deviants (political prisoners) are herded into blood camps where a sadistic warden named Thatcher (ho-ho!) presides over grisly manhunts for his pals.
Hilariously bad Ozploitation substitutes splatter for satire and stunts. The budget was slashed, script pages thrown out, actors left wondering WTF they were doing in such chronic trash. On the plus side this is one of Tarantino's favourite films...
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Vampire Academy (2013-USA-UK-Romania) **½
We have three types of vampire in the world:
A. Guardians. B. Magicians. C. Beasts.
Thus A protects B from C.
In lieu of a Buffy movie we have this: cute teen girls, sassy dialogue, kung fu slayings, etc.
It's enjoyable enough... though hardly original and also very slapdash, with a script (from Heathers' Daniel Waters no less) that could've used another draft or two.
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