Harvey Dent Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Saw Punisher War Zone last night. With the exception of the guy that plays Frank Castle and some mindless violence, its pretty fucking awful. But awful in that fun way ya know? I think I prefer the Thomas Jane one, which was also pretty bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) had abit of a cinema session yesterday... Â Punisher - War Zone - kicked off with this, not a bad way to start. I went for some mindless violence and this film delivered in that sense. It's basic as hell, just a dude on a revenge binge. I wasn't into the humor they tried to shoe in there, it was cheesy as hell. Amongst the bad guys it was ok, but Castle's police 'stalker' was fucking awful. Jigsaw was a pretty awesome villain too. Crappy film but fun. Â The Good The Bad The Weird - now this was a wild movie. Basically a standard western with a heavy dose of Asian humor chucked in (Hong Kong cinema always tends to put humor in serious situations). It could have failed but the humor really works, and the set pieces are absolutely fantastic. Enjoyed the fuck out of this and i recommend everyone go check it out. Â Valkyrie - was a little apprehensive about this because of the whole production hell it went through and whatver, but this film blew me away. I loved it from start to finish, just a good old fashioned war thriller. War movies based on true event always appeal to me and this documented a situation not often spoken about. Intense and a great story. Edited February 11, 2009 by Ebb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patiirc Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Watched Titan A.E last night after having it recommended. Lusicious animation.. Sometimes way too much going on for its own good, but thats DOn Bluth style for you. Excellent space adventure, in the style of Starchaser : The Legend of Orin and Lensman ( the whole hand thing was a bit of a giveaway as to where the plot came from) I enjoyed it and for 20p from a charity shop Im not going to complain anytime soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whinehouse Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Mutant Chronicles  My housemates decided to alleviate boredom with a rental DVD from Blockbuster. Apparently, they asked for a recommendation and got this. I don't know why this would be the first thing you'd recommend, but I'll go with it...  It's about a doomed race of humans who must fight a war against the 'machines' that push them to the bring of extinction. A marriage of archaic, 14th Century (I think) monks and the technology to go to Mars somehow exist. Anyway, a few selected humans can be evacuated to go to Mars, the rest have to die. Standard stuff. But a monk decides he wants to assemble a crack team of people to go down into the Earth and destroy the machine. An army is not capable of doing this, but the explanation as to why is not very well given. It basically goes off to feature the team being assembled, briefed and sent down on the mission, which inevitably has them killed off in a predictable fashion. Nothing particularly original about it, though I'm always amused by a film that has no problem with who it kills off (a plane full of people is exploded early in the film, a little boy in particular is shown in the crux of the blast).  First things first, it is shot cheaply. Very cheaply. I am told it was a straight-to-DVD release, which is surprising given the nature of the film, but would explain things. It has a bizarre cast. The guy from Hellboy plays the monk who assembles the team. Devon Aoki stars as the token female marine (though there is a female monk who is nearly, so nearly kickass). John Malkovich stars as the head cheese who speaks in an annoyingly slow and intermittent manner. He also does practically nothing before he dies. Pah.  Anyway, about the actual film. It is badly acted. It is pretty predictable. But when you're told it's straight-to-DVD, you pretty much expect these things. However, it's also fairly entertaining for a night in watch. It's short enough to hold your attention, and it doesn't hang around with the action when it gets started. The backstory is uninteresting and boring, of course, but the action is capable of holding your attention as it keeps going until the end. The deaths are pleasingly spaced out. even though you can see half of them coming. My housemate correctly predicted in which order the characters would die from the moment they were assembled. Even though she did it in a very politically incorrect manner, the film makers must have been thinking along the same lines. Kudos to her, I guess.  It seems when you have low expectations for a film and it turns out decent, you generally tend to rate it more highly than it's worth. To be honest, I think that of this film - I expected shitness, and what I got was passable entertainment. Not bad for a night in that otherwise would have resulted in boredom, but there are tons of better films in this genre. I wouldn't exactly recommend it to anyone, so feck knows why a Blockbuster worker would. Pfft.  Haha, I totally lost interest in that review half way through. This is hard work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Au Posted February 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted February 11, 2009 A marriage of archaic, 14th Century (I think) monks and the technology to go to Mars somehow exist. Steam punk, baby. Â I am told it was a straight-to-DVD release, which is surprising given the nature of the film, but would explain things. It wasn't, I saw it in the cinema... Â ... And thought it was pretty poor, to be honest. I can see how, if you get told it's straight to DVD, you'd be quite impressed. I didn't know anything about it going in other than it had John Malkovich in it, I just got a text one night inviting me along. I did like seeing steam punk stuff done to such a high degree, although I'm not really into that sort of stuff as much as some of my friends. Reading about it on Wikipedia the next day, it turned out it was loosley based on some RPG boardgame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted February 11, 2009 Moderators Share Posted February 11, 2009 Steampunk eh? hah.. Nice to know that the genre has a name and a history to it. Â Tha's my interesting factoid for the day.. thanks Elegia and wikipedia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted February 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted February 11, 2009 I've been familiar with the term since The Chaos Engine came out back in the day. That was a pretty cool game. Â Mutant Chronicles sounds less than essential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steveo2007 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Anyone seen JCVD yet? Â I honestly believe it to be one of Van Dammes best films in which he displays genuine acting talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whinehouse Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 A marriage of archaic, 14th Century (I think) monks and the technology to go to Mars somehow exist. Steam punk, baby. Â I am told it was a straight-to-DVD release, which is surprising given the nature of the film, but would explain things. It wasn't, I saw it in the cinema... Â ... And thought it was pretty poor, to be honest. I can see how, if you get told it's straight to DVD, you'd be quite impressed. I didn't know anything about it going in other than it had John Malkovich in it, I just got a text one night inviting me along. I did like seeing steam punk stuff done to such a high degree, although I'm not really into that sort of stuff as much as some of my friends. Reading about it on Wikipedia the next day, it turned out it was loosley based on some RPG boardgame. Â I will note that term. Many thanks! Â Ah, my housemate has not got his facts straight. It did seem a bit odd given the nature of the film, it just must have been a crap copy of it because it looked really grainy. Unless that was the intention. In which case it adds little... But I understand your point; If I'd have paid to go see this film, I would have been very disappointed! Â He kept hammering on that the storyline was very much like Resistance: Fall of Man, but I'm not familiar with it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steveo2007 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 A marriage of archaic, 14th Century (I think) monks and the technology to go to Mars somehow exist. Steam punk, baby. Â I am told it was a straight-to-DVD release, which is surprising given the nature of the film, but would explain things. It wasn't, I saw it in the cinema... Â ... And thought it was pretty poor, to be honest. I can see how, if you get told it's straight to DVD, you'd be quite impressed. I didn't know anything about it going in other than it had John Malkovich in it, I just got a text one night inviting me along. I did like seeing steam punk stuff done to such a high degree, although I'm not really into that sort of stuff as much as some of my friends. Reading about it on Wikipedia the next day, it turned out it was loosley based on some RPG boardgame. Â I will note that term. Many thanks! Â Ah, my housemate has not got his facts straight. It did seem a bit odd given the nature of the film, it just must have been a crap copy of it because it looked really grainy. Unless that was the intention. In which case it adds little... But I understand your point; If I'd have paid to go see this film, I would have been very disappointed! Â He kept hammering on that the storyline was very much like Resistance: Fall of Man, but I'm not familiar with it... I think a movie would be fucking wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted February 11, 2009 Paid Members Share Posted February 11, 2009 Anyone seen JCVD yet? I honestly believe it to be one of Van Dammes best films in which he displays genuine acting talent. I'd have thought that you guys would be talking a lot about this. Anybody have a butchers at it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OI OI SAVELOY Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 The foot fist way- A lot of underground hype about this film...which is perhaps why I wasn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steveo2007 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Anyone seen JCVD yet? I honestly believe it to be one of Van Dammes best films in which he displays genuine acting talent. I'd have thought that you guys would be talking a lot about this. Anybody have a butchers at it? Easily the best part of the entire film is the monologue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button  The most curious thing about this film is why anybody made it. The concept, which I presume we all know by now, focuses on a baby born with the characteristics of an old man and ages backwards. There's definitely a potential story in that idea, but that's all it really is. A good idea. A good idea should be fleshed out with interesting things occuring around it, and sadly The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is bizarrely void of any ideas or anything interesting to say. The oddest thing about this is the title character, who, for a guy who is living his life backwards, is incredibly one-note and has nothing to say about anything, let alone his own unique situation.  The film's attempt at a point is... well actually I have no idea. It seems to want to be about living life backwards, and meeting in the middle or some tripe, because the thread that holds (or tries to) the film together is Button's romance with Daisy, who he meets when she's a kid and he's his superannuated self. She later turns into Cate Blanchett and they spend time apart, she's a dancer, he works on a ship and meets grandiose characters (or at least, attempts at grandiose characters) but their lives intersect at various points and we're supposed to buy into their epic, great and ultimately doomed love, but this fails on every level. I have absolutely no idea why these two are in love with each other because there's no spark, no chemistry and it seems the only reason they're together is because the script calls them to. Blanchett's Daisy is rather unlikeable, a self-centred brat with no real zest or charisma, but she dances so we're supposed to think she's exotic and desirable.  Button loves her because... I don't know. Earlier in the film he falls in love with Tilda Swinton, who at least seemed to have slightly more of a personality, but what both her character and Daisy have in common (apart from being androgynous redheads) is they talk an awful lot about themselves and Button just listens. This is typical of his character, he has nothing to say and just takes thing in, but not even with the whimsy and carefree glee of a child in a man's body (which is how it should be) but as just a guy. A boring, one-dimensional man who doesn't have any strong feelings about anything, good or bad.  David Fincher's direction is standard, nothing more. Not once does it feel like a Fincher film, and I'm not saying I wanted a crash-zoom through a coffee pot or anything, but the choices he does make and the techniques he does use are very unimpressive. Flashbacks play out in a silent movie-esque crackling and grainy picture, which is nothing new and just serves to irritate. There's not one point in the film where I went "wow" or was paticularly impressed. Sure the visual effects are good but in this day and age you expect this.  As for Brad Pitt, I'm a fan. I think he's a really underrated actor and has been tremendous in many films, but he can't make a character as bland as Button work. It's not his fault, the script calls for him to do nothing and he does that perfectly fine. When I saw the trailer I expected to either find this film extremely affecting and moving or for it to be Forrest Gump 2. In the end, it's somewhere in between. I won't lie, it does get a little emotional towards the end, but nowhere near the level of emotion that could and should be drawn from a story such as this, and while Button plays a "different" guy experiencing the world and colourful characters through major events in history, whilst narrating with clich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almighty Rod Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I am very disappointed with how the trailer for Curious Case looks and the above review does partially confirm some of my fears. Still, it's Fincher, so I must give it a look at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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