RESCUE DAWN
(First Viewing)

Christian Bale neither impresses or disappoints. I felt he was pretty bland in this film. As horrible as the experience was for Lt. Dieter Dengler I just didn't think it translated into a good film. It seemed the story kept going in circles and the runtime of 125 minutes could have been cut down some.

It needed explosions.

How about the beautiful fight scene(with a hammer if I remember correctly) in a narrow passage? How about the whole plot twist? How about the hallucinations? You didn't find any of it interesting? Who says it is a horror movie, why does it need to terrify you?

Svsg, don't stress the man out. He'll have to learn one at a time.

Besides, who said OLDBOY is a horror movie? Hell, I don't know what the fuck to classify it genre-wise as.

CROSSING DELANCEY (1988) ***

I caught this overnight on a basic cable channel; SpikeTV I think. Anyway, it's a chick flick, but a good one. A real New York movie. The writer and the pickle man, who'd have thought?

Good movie, worth watching more than just once.

CLUB DREAD 1/2
(Second Viewing)

Not Broken Lizard's best. I've seen this film twice and neither time did it do anything for me. The same goes for SUPER TROOPERS. Yes I said it, I wasn't a big fan of SUPER TROOPERS and I don't own the DVD. You want to know what Broken Lizard's best film is? Watch BEERFEST! Although I will give them props for this film as they tried to make a spoof of horror films but they just missed. It just turned into another terrible slasher flick. However, the casting of Bill Paxton was a nice touch.

Its worth re-watching just to see Amy Irving!! A thoroughly enjoyable flick.

I agree, SC. One thing I caught last night, that I never caught before, was a baby-faced David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane), as one of the bookstore employees.

As far as Amy Irving, the money Steven Spielberg had to pay her in the divorce was justified, she's sooooo out of his league!

I'd call it a psychological thriller. I never said it was a horror movie - I said it didn't terrorize me: it should've, because the main characters were being terrorized for the most part. I didn't feel any of what they were feeling, so I think in that regard it failed.

As for the "beautiful" fight scene of like 20 guys vs 1, I thought it was ludicrous. It's always been laughable to me how in martial arts movies (which I like), the "bad guys" always take turns going after the good guy - same thing here for the most part. But when they do get 8 guys on him at once, he turns into some super hero. Please. And some of those "punches" made Sonny Corleone look like Mohammad Ali. lol

The plot twist(s) were clever, and the movie was interesting -- I said that. The hallucination in the subway was a bit too much, though.

Here is the video for others to see and judge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj5ZlwfgjCo&feature=related

People who choose dubbing over subtitles don't deserve to watch films.

...and I'm going to watch Oldboy tonight so I can reply properly with it fresh in my mind.

I kind of agree, I didn't dig the figh scene too much either. The hammer just took too much out of it for me. Sure close up the guy with F you up with a hammer, but some of these guys had sticks and longer weapons. I just didn't buy it that much.

It works in some cases particularly old martial arts flicks.

The dubbed Shogun Assasin sampled in Wu-Tang's Genius debut album (also in Kill Bill Volume 2) sounds like the greatest movie ever made.

Sometimes the dubbing is silly and lends a cheesiness that is no different than cult fans' enjoyment of camp. I guess foreign distributors were unknowingly giving fans unintentional comedy that has now become intentional unintenional comedy (anyone who knows the original intentions please correct me if I'm wrong).

The Iron Chef (the original Japanese) is enjoyable because of the bad dub jobs (the laughter is so affected and fake). However, not cool if people enjoy it to mock Asians.

Sometimes good. Sometimes bad.

WELCOME TO DEATH ROW
(First Viewing)

A great, in-depth look at the rise and fall of Death Row records and its important players (Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, 2Pac, and Marion 'Suge' Knight). I've always found this topic interesting to me as I grew up listening to some of this music (mostly 2Pac). I was pleased to learn some new things I wasn't prevy to before and also to get some answers to questions I've had. If you're interested in any of these stars or rap in general, this may be a documentary for you.

Wide Awake (2006)

All insomniacs should catch this autobiographical documentary by hirsute filmmaker Alan Berliner. I thought I had it bad! An intimate and interesting look at his lifelong problem with medical advice on what may help -- but does that night owl really want help? At first I thought his editing was a bit annoying, but it grew on me and I ended up liking it quite a bit -- most of the time. Also an interesting look at the filmmaker side of him. I watched it on HBO On-Demand (it's an HBO film), but it's also available on DVD/Netflix...

THE MARINE (2006) - *1/2

I feel quite awful for Robert Patrick. He's really a surprisingly good actor, but unless James Mangold is casting him, Patrick is stuck working garbage that is below his talent. Then I see THE MARINE, and I want to drink. The poor guy is relegated to jobbing TERMINATOR jokes.

There is so much to hate about regarding THE MARINE, and none of it was pleasant to write about.

Let's start with the opening, where you have wrassler John Cena go all action hero on some Iraqis with explosions, bullets, you name it. He's then discharged by his Marine superiors because of some rather incredible contrived nonsense of how he disobeyed direct orders while saving some fellow soldiers. Wouldn't said person in reality be given a medal and used for propaganda?

Anyway, he is now a security guard and the scene at his new job is a prime reason why THE MARINE isn't just a bad movie, its a bad action movie. Its a set-up for what should be a good laugh, and a tease of aciton, when Cena has to "escort" an asshole executive out of the building. Instead, its neither humorous nor exciting as it ought to be.

Maybe the problem is in Cena. He just isn't an automatic credible action figure and lacks instant quiet charisma to for the part that's scripted for him like say Jason Statham.

Thing is, he seems to have a naturally sympathetic face, almost like if Dolph Lundgren had a soul. If the movie was built around his strengths, perhaps he would have triumphed in the midst of this crap. Unfortunately, much like his WWE work, the producers want him to be somebody that he isn't.

But THE MARINE isn't completely his fault. While most action movies have alot of ridiculous moments that defy reality, but when its the entire movie, I'm actually impressed in a morbid sort of way.

THE MARINE is shot by a director who's seen way too many idiotic Bruckheimer movies and the plot is incredibly bland. Patrick has nothing to work with as yet another bastard Hans Gruber clone, except without the smarts, wit, or entertainment. Too many bad jokes and worse, several of them are repeated this side of a failed drug test from Chris Masters.

Worse, there is this sub-plot pushed about how a black henchman was molested as a kid, and he then proceeds to lay so many idiotic complaints, I was tempted to call this movie racist.

Its obvious that THE MARINE was targeted for rednecks, who make up a good number of the WWE fanbase. As a redneck, I found the picture to be unfunny, tasteless, very lame, and pretty unsatisfying.

You know, just like WWE programming in the last few years.

MALIBU'S MOST WANTED 1/2
(First Viewing)

Sometimes Jamie Kennedy can be kind of funny and sometime he can be really bad. This was the former. I should have known this would be crap coming from director John Whitesell who also directed BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 2 and DECK THE HALLS. I'm wondering if I should still torture myself later with KICKIN IT OLD SKOOL.

24fps, are you Kino?

KICKIN' IT OLD SKOOL
(First Viewing)

A better and more enjoyable comedy than MALIBU'S MOST WANTED. I really liked the nostalgic 80s jokes with Alan Ruck as Dr. Fry and David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight. Also glad to see Maria Menounos get a bigger role in a movie and hopefully she can do better work in the future than on projects like this.

Nope. He's one of my best buds, though. (Remember when I said I had a friend that posts there and that's why I lurk over at FCM?) Knew him since high school. I'm trying to convince him that we can be a filmmaking team like Powell-Pressurger, Coens, or the Quays.

Why, are we that similar? I know that answer to that.

We often run our ideas against each other when talking about movies; point each other to criticism, books; et cetera; thus, we share many ideas and opinions in common. As a result, we say very similar things.

I see.

You do sound very similar, in opinions, in open-mindedness, in willingness to engage people in worthy debates. I hadn't really connected you two together, though, until you said "LOL" in a recent post. He does that, too.

You should post over at FCM. I think your presence would be very, very welcome indeed.

Is "LOL" not in widespread use in the UK? (There's an okay U.S. indie flick titled, LOL.) This website is unusual for a U.S. based forum compared to other ones that I frequent with its lack of internet acronyms and initialisms like LOL, ROFL, and LMAO and the heavy use of smilies. Then again I only browse three threads in this entire site and I'm probably wrong.

Appreciate the invite. Maybe if movie discussion jumps off big-time then I'll join.

Plus I saw you and SVSG making fun of me and my faves vs. best/greatest stance in, I think, a recent favorite actors thread which irked me. Just being honest.

You're right: neither this board nor FCM use acronyms much. I generally use "lmao" when I find something funny, and "lol" when I'm bored (as in, if someone says "lol" on MSN Messenger, it's either instead of a full stop or because someone told an unfunny joke). As for your use of LOL (and this is an observation, not a criticism), I usually take it to mean a shorthand way for "oh well".

Fair enough, though with an answer like that it bewilders me why you post in this thread (and mostly specifically to me).

Alright, I'll be honest back: that wasn't said with you in mind (the post is here), but was originally posted in response to JGeoff and that argument in general. You're nowhere to be seen in that thread.

Anyway, back on topic: today I hijacked a first-year screening of neo-realism. It was a chance to re-watch Borom Sarret and watch, for the first time, Bicycles Thieves. It warmed on me as it progressed, and I found its general spiral into absurdity (the bicycle itself takes on quite an abstract meaning, really) and despair quite attractive. I have to make an effort to engage with such films, but when I do they're very rewarding.

Probably a misunderstanding? I don't remember making fun of you (though I do make fun of a lot of people here). No hard feelings in any case

COLLATERAL DAMAGE 1/2
(First Viewing)

It's probably a good thing that Ah-nold became governor of Cal-i-for-nia shortly after this film was released. He looked old physically and visibly he lost a step too (he was 55 when this film was released). Not to mention THE 6TH DAY came out before this and he had roles in DR. DOLITTLE 2, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, and THE KING & I. I think the writing was on the wall and Arnold needed to do something else as his movie career was coming to a screeching halt.

Rivières pourpres II: Les anges de l'apocalypse [The Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse] (2004) *** 1/2

Directed by: The diminutive and untalented Olivier Dahan
Starring: Jean Reno & Benoît Magimel

Know what? I gotta stop right there. I REALLY liked the movie a lot. But after spending over an hour watching the bonus features, I think this movie could've been ever better with a REAL director -- one who knows what he's doing rather than apparently relying on his crew's input for every freaking thing to make it better. Dahan is a munshkin twat who apparently has NO CLUE WTF he's doing -- and he and his crew almost said that loud and clear.

BUT - the finished product (no doubt w/o any help from Dahan) was just great! Not quite the original, of course... but I did like the subject matter so that adds a few points.

STRAY DOG (1949) - ****1/2

The movie opens on an exausted dog on the street, suffering under the hot sun and endlessly panting. Yet as much as we like dirty mutts, its got the look of desperation in its eyes, and not of the good kind. Michael Vick probably owned him at one point.

This is the allegory for what is to come in Akira Kurosawa's STRAY DOG, a very underrated film-noir that had the misfortune of being obscured by the greater later works of a master filmmaker this side of Stanley Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY.

Since this is film-noir, you have a tale about very desperate people trapped in a narrowing scheme set against the backdrop of an urban hell. STRAY DOG was produced in the great cinema era of the film-noir, except its a very fascinating and gripping Japanese take on the genre.

Like many film-noir tales go, the premise is rather simple. Toshiro Mifune is a rookie cop who gets his Colt pistol stolen by a pickpocket, and the hero spends the whole movie scouring the streets of Tokyo to retrieve his piece. But beyond the really good police procedural in STRAY DOG is Kurosawa's dramatic exploration of post-war Japan.

Endless streets are cluttered with rubble and bombed-out homes, with civilians trying to grind out a survival a few years after the conclusion of World War 2. Even a senior police officer is lucky to simply have the remains of what was his house be cleaned up of debris. The back alleys of this very crowded city are full of a several seedy characters willing to capitalize on the despair of so many people.

Yet the thematic punch that makes STRAY DOG a great movie is its humanity. The greenhorn constable hero searches day and night to retrieve the gun back, and he gets heavily depressed when his piece becomes involved in several horrendous crimes.

STRAY DOG is a guilt drama that one would expect from a Martin Scorsese or an Abel Ferrera, not out of the stereotypically solemn Japanese. Without any obvious religion, its a surprisingly Catholic picture.

A brilliant touch though by Kurosawa is when the hero is on the trail of the culprit, who actually remains faceless until a key moment in the climax. Until then, the only information we get of said criminal is intel squeezed out of interrogation and clues.

Witnesses and associates talk about this "stray dog," we imagine these scenes very lividly. A hack director would have actually shot them, but Kurosawa knew that he didn't need to. The audience will create the scenes for him.

Yet when the finale arrives, and Mifune confronts the crook, we realize that these men are of the same generation that went off to war, came back to a humiliating occupation, and either controlled their bitter anger or indulged within it. Mifune is practically facing off against a mirror image, an alternative reality of himself, minus the stupid evil goatee.

Yet as they lay exausted in the grass, a new generation of kids play off in the distance, an aeon that won't know of the demons that made these men suffer or prevail in spite of them.

RRA, great review, it really makes me want to see this soon!!
BTW, is it just the DVD cover or is the film actually in color (For 1949 I presume not??).

I can't answer your question because I haven't seen it, but keep in mind the Wizard of Oz came out 10 years previously and used color...