So far on the film festival:
The Forest Ranger
Chinese (in Mandarin) film about an injured war hero who is given the position of forest ranger in a mountain village. Moving out there with his family, he is given a royal reception and treated like a hero, but it soon becomes apparent why... as the whole village is part of a conspiracy to sell lumber from the forest he has been sent to oversee. When he won't go along with it, psychological warfare ensues, culminating in a more physical showdown (I haven't spoiled this, the movie opens with the ending). A very interesting movie, with a nice plot. Unfortuantely, it suffers from some rather extreme Chinese nationalistic propaganda along the way, but that doesn't ruin the essential bits.
Them (Ils)
French horror about a couple in a remote Rumanian mansion being hounded by a peculiar killer, or killers. Works really well up until the point where we get the explanation of what's going on. From there it requires complete suspension of disbelief to accept, something I could not summon. I spent the last 20 minutes just shaking my head at the lameness of it all.
300
300 guys slaughtering tens of thousands of mutant guys. Forgive me, fans, but this is one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. I was pretty much blown away at the grim opening and the wonderful choice of stark colors, but by the time the battles started... By the second slow motion battle my eyes were getting heavier. By the fourth one I was about ready to leave. Woe to me, I stayed for the predictable conclusion, some four or five slow motion battles later. I think there was a small subplot or two somewhere in between the images of pumped up, half naked men flying through the air in slow motion, but it wasn't hardly enough to justify the grueling grind of repetition on the battlefield. Maybe I don't possess enough testosterone, but this couldn't rouse me at all.
A Ticket to Outer Space (Un Ticket Pour L'Espace)
French sci fi comedy. In order to finance the space program, the French government puts out a national lottery, where two civilian people will win a trip to the orbital space station. One is a charming loser, the other a superman with a hidden agenda. For most of the movie the humour is subtle, with only a few roaring laughs, but a generally silly mood, and it manages to put in quite a story with some wonderful twists along the way. I was a little surprised at the lack of the sexual humour which abounds in contemporary comedies, but it was more of a pleasant surprise. A wonderful alien completes the picture, and lest I forget, the best in-movie reference to a movie we're all dying to see: "Charlemagne vs. the Ninjas."
Cinema
Moderator: Crew
! I won´t say a single word against the other advertisements, but this one really sucks...The film festival continues. Yours truly had tickets for these two movies Monday and Tuesday:
Dead in Three Days (In Drei Tagen Bist Du Tot)
Austrian teenage slasher flick. My guess is that the script writer saw "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Slasher flicks are always entertaining though, regardless of plot holes and unoriginality. I was amused.
A Battle of Wits (Mo Gong)
A European premiere in little Denmark! Yay! Hong Kong cinema (thus, Cantonese) starring the ever popular Andy Lau in a movie with more than 20,000 extras! A town of 4,000 citizens is in the way of the Zhao army of 20,000. They intend to pillage and torch the town on their way to the "real" battle. However, a single pacifist monk, Ge Li, shows up and turns what was to be an indignified surrender into a massive battle, and before the end, his very beliefs and core being will be questioned. Andy Lau seemed in really good form for this one, and I have no doubt that this will be the crown of the festival. To me, this movie is everything that 300 should have been. 'nuff said. Oh, and the director was there to answer questions after the movie too (with a horrible translator - it was a laugh!).
Dead in Three Days (In Drei Tagen Bist Du Tot)
Austrian teenage slasher flick. My guess is that the script writer saw "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Slasher flicks are always entertaining though, regardless of plot holes and unoriginality. I was amused.
A Battle of Wits (Mo Gong)
A European premiere in little Denmark! Yay! Hong Kong cinema (thus, Cantonese) starring the ever popular Andy Lau in a movie with more than 20,000 extras! A town of 4,000 citizens is in the way of the Zhao army of 20,000. They intend to pillage and torch the town on their way to the "real" battle. However, a single pacifist monk, Ge Li, shows up and turns what was to be an indignified surrender into a massive battle, and before the end, his very beliefs and core being will be questioned. Andy Lau seemed in really good form for this one, and I have no doubt that this will be the crown of the festival. To me, this movie is everything that 300 should have been. 'nuff said. Oh, and the director was there to answer questions after the movie too (with a horrible translator - it was a laugh!).
Last edited by Scythe on Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:25, edited 1 time in total.
I saw this one too some month ago. The plot wasn´t too original (I think there isn´t much new stuff you can come up with in the slasher genre) but it was well made (especially sound and editing) and very entertaining.Scythe wrote:Dead in Three Days (In Drei Tagen Bist Du Tot)
Austrian teenage slasher flick. My guess is that the script writer saw "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Slasher flicks are always entertaining though, regardless of plot holes and unoriginality. I was amused.
I liked the idea of using the setting of a small austrian village for the plot of a typical "american" slasher movie. And of course I liked the austrian accent that always ssems a bit strange and dumb to germans.
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
With only five movies left over the weekend, these are the latest of the crop:
Exiled
If I say "Johnnie To", what do you say? That's right, stylish Hong Kong triad gun action with super-cool actors in super-cool scenes. This one was no exception. It's a buddy movie with some harsh action that's enough over the top to also be funny. Not quite the standard set by the John Woo / Chow Yun Fat bullet ballets, but Johnnie To puts out at least one new movie every year, while Woo / Fat is a thing of the past. Anthony Wong was great in this one.
Dog Bite Dog (Gau Ngao Gau)
Where Exiled was funny, Dog is not. A Cambodian killer orphan, raised on daily pit fights, often to the death, is sent to Hong Kong to perform a hit. Afterwards, this apparently emotionless killing machine has to escape a city whose language he doesn't even speak, and now he's got an equally (?) brutal cop on his tail. Along the way, he gets to discover some emotions as he somehow gets entangled with a girl beaten and sexually abused by her father until she's withdrawn almost completely from the world around her. If it sounds stark and nihilistic, it's because it is. In fact, it's even grimmer than it sounds. It's also a fascinating movie, where violence seems to almost turn into art.
Funky Forest: the First Contact (Naisu no Mori: the First Contact)
Speaking of art. This is either Monty Python on LSD, a high brow art movie, or Japanese potty humour taken to an extreme. Attempts to describe this 2½ hour monster of non sequitur can only fail. Take this scene as an example: A school girl is asked to pull a giant, uhm, thingie sticking out from a guy's furry yellow suit. Another guy in clothes ten sizes too small for him pops out and explains that she has to expose her navel. She must then insert a tube into her navel, which will power up a TV set to save another planet. On the screen appears a giant asshole (no really, I'm serious) and clothes guy sticks his arm into it, and... heck, you've given up already, haven't you? It goes on, but trust me, there's no point to it. Equal parts musical, non-sensical humour and just plain nonsense, this is one look into Japanese culture I'm not soon going to forget, for reasons both good and bad. Oh, and Guitar Brother! (No, you're not supposed to understand.)
Exiled
If I say "Johnnie To", what do you say? That's right, stylish Hong Kong triad gun action with super-cool actors in super-cool scenes. This one was no exception. It's a buddy movie with some harsh action that's enough over the top to also be funny. Not quite the standard set by the John Woo / Chow Yun Fat bullet ballets, but Johnnie To puts out at least one new movie every year, while Woo / Fat is a thing of the past. Anthony Wong was great in this one.
Dog Bite Dog (Gau Ngao Gau)
Where Exiled was funny, Dog is not. A Cambodian killer orphan, raised on daily pit fights, often to the death, is sent to Hong Kong to perform a hit. Afterwards, this apparently emotionless killing machine has to escape a city whose language he doesn't even speak, and now he's got an equally (?) brutal cop on his tail. Along the way, he gets to discover some emotions as he somehow gets entangled with a girl beaten and sexually abused by her father until she's withdrawn almost completely from the world around her. If it sounds stark and nihilistic, it's because it is. In fact, it's even grimmer than it sounds. It's also a fascinating movie, where violence seems to almost turn into art.
Funky Forest: the First Contact (Naisu no Mori: the First Contact)
Speaking of art. This is either Monty Python on LSD, a high brow art movie, or Japanese potty humour taken to an extreme. Attempts to describe this 2½ hour monster of non sequitur can only fail. Take this scene as an example: A school girl is asked to pull a giant, uhm, thingie sticking out from a guy's furry yellow suit. Another guy in clothes ten sizes too small for him pops out and explains that she has to expose her navel. She must then insert a tube into her navel, which will power up a TV set to save another planet. On the screen appears a giant asshole (no really, I'm serious) and clothes guy sticks his arm into it, and... heck, you've given up already, haven't you? It goes on, but trust me, there's no point to it. Equal parts musical, non-sensical humour and just plain nonsense, this is one look into Japanese culture I'm not soon going to forget, for reasons both good and bad. Oh, and Guitar Brother! (No, you're not supposed to understand.)
Last day on the film festival, so mini reviews of my last movies seen.
Paprika
I've never been much of an animé fan, and this movie didn't change that fact. My friend is, though, so I go to see them every now and then. Plot was something about invading other people's dreams with some hot tech stuff. IMO, too much had been done in character design, to the point that the characters' distinguishing features became their focal point. Personality would have been preferable. The plot was a little messy at times. Small gripes. But the whole thing was just too kawaii (cute in that horrible Japanese fashion), which had my toes curling something awful. An almost tentacle rape scene and an almost bondage rape scene almost became highlights. Otherwise, highly forgettable.
To Sir, with Love (Seu-Seung-Ui Eun-Hye)
Korean slasher flick. A school class reunion at their old teacher's place turns into a slasher revenge fest. Lots of nice suspense, somewhat invalidated by the turnabout ending, which I really shouldn't spoil. Let's just say it made the movie somewhat pointless.
Rain Dogs (Tai Yang Yue)
Hong Kong-financed Malaysian movie about the unbearable unbearableness of being. Or something. Many of the movies I see have a high amount of violence and/or action. This was the exact opposite. Some would say it was a sublimely understated film. Others, like myself, would just say boring. The movie ended, very fitting, with a two minute shot of a tree and a rainbow and barely one plot line resolved. Very strange.
Crazy Stone (Feng Kuang de Shi Tou)
A Hong Kong comedy revolving around the theft of a priceless jade amulet, but reaching into so many other odd corners. Most of it was slapstick humour, but incredibly well done. I'd dub some episodes "cause-effect comedy." The way one character's actions first lead to one effect, which then has a more and more profound effect further down the line... brilliantly scripted! Add a wonderful cast of people I've never seen before and the entire cinema was roaring with laughter much of the way. Great movie!
Planet of the Vampires (Terrore Nello Spazio)
Italian Sci Fi from the sixties, beautifully restored. I can't say for sure what sources of inspiration this movie drew from, but I can say for sure that Alien was heavily inspired by this movie. Star Trek also certainly must have drawn a lot from this (one could almost put "Star Trek" on the title screen and get away with it). Regardless, the cast wouldn't know acting if it bit their asses and the props were laughable, but the richness of the ideas simply fantastic. A classic I didn't even know was a classic.
All in all, the end of another wonderful film festival, with a good number of hits, and a few misses. Some misses in unexpected places (300, I'm looking at you!). It'll be another year before I'll be doing marathon sittings at the cinema again, but the rest of the year hopefully will bring some nice surprises along the way. Back to everyday life and work for now. At least for another two weeks, then it's time to use the last of my vacation days before the vacation year ends come May.
Paprika
I've never been much of an animé fan, and this movie didn't change that fact. My friend is, though, so I go to see them every now and then. Plot was something about invading other people's dreams with some hot tech stuff. IMO, too much had been done in character design, to the point that the characters' distinguishing features became their focal point. Personality would have been preferable. The plot was a little messy at times. Small gripes. But the whole thing was just too kawaii (cute in that horrible Japanese fashion), which had my toes curling something awful. An almost tentacle rape scene and an almost bondage rape scene almost became highlights. Otherwise, highly forgettable.
To Sir, with Love (Seu-Seung-Ui Eun-Hye)
Korean slasher flick. A school class reunion at their old teacher's place turns into a slasher revenge fest. Lots of nice suspense, somewhat invalidated by the turnabout ending, which I really shouldn't spoil. Let's just say it made the movie somewhat pointless.
Rain Dogs (Tai Yang Yue)
Hong Kong-financed Malaysian movie about the unbearable unbearableness of being. Or something. Many of the movies I see have a high amount of violence and/or action. This was the exact opposite. Some would say it was a sublimely understated film. Others, like myself, would just say boring. The movie ended, very fitting, with a two minute shot of a tree and a rainbow and barely one plot line resolved. Very strange.
Crazy Stone (Feng Kuang de Shi Tou)
A Hong Kong comedy revolving around the theft of a priceless jade amulet, but reaching into so many other odd corners. Most of it was slapstick humour, but incredibly well done. I'd dub some episodes "cause-effect comedy." The way one character's actions first lead to one effect, which then has a more and more profound effect further down the line... brilliantly scripted! Add a wonderful cast of people I've never seen before and the entire cinema was roaring with laughter much of the way. Great movie!
Planet of the Vampires (Terrore Nello Spazio)
Italian Sci Fi from the sixties, beautifully restored. I can't say for sure what sources of inspiration this movie drew from, but I can say for sure that Alien was heavily inspired by this movie. Star Trek also certainly must have drawn a lot from this (one could almost put "Star Trek" on the title screen and get away with it). Regardless, the cast wouldn't know acting if it bit their asses and the props were laughable, but the richness of the ideas simply fantastic. A classic I didn't even know was a classic.
All in all, the end of another wonderful film festival, with a good number of hits, and a few misses. Some misses in unexpected places (300, I'm looking at you!). It'll be another year before I'll be doing marathon sittings at the cinema again, but the rest of the year hopefully will bring some nice surprises along the way. Back to everyday life and work for now. At least for another two weeks, then it's time to use the last of my vacation days before the vacation year ends come May.
Yesterday I saw a german documentary called "Full Metal Village" and I have to say it was one of the most entertaining documentaries I ever saw. It is about a small village in northern germany called Wacken which is only well known for their yearly Heavy Metal Open Air Festival.
The movie makers don´t concentrate on the festival itself (there were some scenes from the festival but those were the most boring of the movie) but set their focus on the "normal" inhabitants of the village (farmers, old people, young people without perspective) and talk with them about life, love and living in a very small town. And all the people give answers that are so honest that they were even painful sometimes.
Brilliant documentary in my eyes!
The movie makers don´t concentrate on the festival itself (there were some scenes from the festival but those were the most boring of the movie) but set their focus on the "normal" inhabitants of the village (farmers, old people, young people without perspective) and talk with them about life, love and living in a very small town. And all the people give answers that are so honest that they were even painful sometimes.
Brilliant documentary in my eyes!
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
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I saw Hot Fuzz last night. 
It was a freakin' riot! I laughed until I cried, then laughed some more.
It was kinda slow going at first, but the last hour was hilarious...I recommend it, especially if any of you had seen and loved Shaun of the Dead, also done by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright...
It was a freakin' riot! I laughed until I cried, then laughed some more.
It was kinda slow going at first, but the last hour was hilarious...I recommend it, especially if any of you had seen and loved Shaun of the Dead, also done by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright...
CWF - Safer than Crack, Twice as Addicting
Black Book
Bad, worse, Paul Verhoeven...
God, it must have been nearly twenty years now since this guy made a good movie (at least it feels so long). There are no words to describe this movie. But I will try with a single word: Ridiculous!!!
Bad, worse, Paul Verhoeven...
God, it must have been nearly twenty years now since this guy made a good movie (at least it feels so long). There are no words to describe this movie. But I will try with a single word: Ridiculous!!!
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
If you ask me, Paul Verhoeven beats Uwe Boll by 10,000,000 train lengths/brain cells/lollipops/whatever. I've not regretted watching his movies, but I've promised to sell my unborn babies before I watch another Uwe Boll movie.
I went to see Spider-Man 3 yesterday. Turns out it was more like Spider-Man 3, 4 and 5. Holy crap, they put a lot into that movie! More than you could process in one sitting. I don't think it was a bad movie at all, but it was really bursting at the seams, and you started to go numb after the first 1½ hour. It lasted for about one more...
They've really got the visuals pegged. Hot damn, it looks amazing! While Spider-Man wasn't my comic of choice as a kid, I had read a lot of them, and it's a great feeling seeing them come alive like that.
Trailer for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer looked pretty cool too, but the first movie wasn't all that hot. In fact with trailers for Pirates of the Caribbean: Whatever They Call the Third One (with Chow Yun Fat in it - YES!! Johnny Depp and Chow Yun Fat? Score!!!!!), Die Hard 4.0 (now more ridiculously exaggerated than ever before) and FF: RotSS it looks like I'll be back on the Hollywood wagon for a while.
I went to see Spider-Man 3 yesterday. Turns out it was more like Spider-Man 3, 4 and 5. Holy crap, they put a lot into that movie! More than you could process in one sitting. I don't think it was a bad movie at all, but it was really bursting at the seams, and you started to go numb after the first 1½ hour. It lasted for about one more...
They've really got the visuals pegged. Hot damn, it looks amazing! While Spider-Man wasn't my comic of choice as a kid, I had read a lot of them, and it's a great feeling seeing them come alive like that.
Trailer for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer looked pretty cool too, but the first movie wasn't all that hot. In fact with trailers for Pirates of the Caribbean: Whatever They Call the Third One (with Chow Yun Fat in it - YES!! Johnny Depp and Chow Yun Fat? Score!!!!!), Die Hard 4.0 (now more ridiculously exaggerated than ever before) and FF: RotSS it looks like I'll be back on the Hollywood wagon for a while.
Interesting to see how tastes differ... The movie a rating of 8 out of 10 on IMDb.com.Pater Alf wrote:Black Book
Bad, worse, Paul Verhoeven...
God, it must have been nearly twenty years now since this guy made a good movie (at least it feels so long). There are no words to describe this movie. But I will try with a single word: Ridiculous!!!
German Moderator and Game Hunter Trainee.
Enjoy your stay.
Enjoy your stay.
I can´t believe it...Even if I consider this movie as trash (which it wasn´t meant to be) I wouldn´t give a higher vote than 3/10. Maybe it were all teenager boys who liked the nude and sex scenes that gave such a high rating...
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
Inland Empire
A typical David Lynch experience. To give you an idea what this movie is about (or at least what it´s like) just think of the surrealistic scenes of "Twin Peaks" imagine that they would last three hours and leave you completely without any clue what they are about. If you do so you´ll get somewhere near this never ending nightmare.
Very confusing, very hard to watch and very fascinating!
A typical David Lynch experience. To give you an idea what this movie is about (or at least what it´s like) just think of the surrealistic scenes of "Twin Peaks" imagine that they would last three hours and leave you completely without any clue what they are about. If you do so you´ll get somewhere near this never ending nightmare.
Very confusing, very hard to watch and very fascinating!
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
Goal II
I don´t think I saw a single good football movie in my whole life (except "Bend it like Beckham"). This one isn´t an exception but at least it has some good match scenes with real superstars (Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul, Roberto Carlos etc.) and a great soundtrack.
Of course there is no story that is worth mentioning and you better expect every cliché that you can imagine (and maybe one or two that you wouldn´t even think of).
Definetly no movie that you really have to watch but it´s quite ok if you don´t want to use your brain and relax for two hours...
P.S.: Only thing I don´t understand is why this movie was in the sneak preview of my local arthouse cinema. I don´t think movies can get any more commercial than this one.
I don´t think I saw a single good football movie in my whole life (except "Bend it like Beckham"). This one isn´t an exception but at least it has some good match scenes with real superstars (Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul, Roberto Carlos etc.) and a great soundtrack.
Of course there is no story that is worth mentioning and you better expect every cliché that you can imagine (and maybe one or two that you wouldn´t even think of).
Definetly no movie that you really have to watch but it´s quite ok if you don´t want to use your brain and relax for two hours...
P.S.: Only thing I don´t understand is why this movie was in the sneak preview of my local arthouse cinema. I don´t think movies can get any more commercial than this one.
[quote="eMTe"]I dont think trying to pass the screen in computer game once per 500 tries makes you a geek. Rather a dangerous psychopath.[/quote]
