Drhoz Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Monsters vs Aliens As a lonstanding fan of cheesy science fiction movies (I been watching 'em since age 3, in1961), I loved this flick on so many levels I don't know where to begin. ...So I won't. managed to get an amazing amount of menace from the giant robot, didn't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSword Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? the last one i saw was superman/batman public enemiesbut one dc reference eludes me while discussing the meteor crisis amanda waller refers to"that boy in japan"who did she mean ? One of the versions of Toyman. He is a mechanical genius and acts as an ally to Batman and Superman a few times in the "World's Finest" comic book series. I had to look it up, but in that story line he was the one who destroyed the meteor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyman#Hiro_Okamura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Well, he (maybe) reached the end of the movie, but it I wouldn't say he "survived". Nobody got out of that movie alive Actually, one of the cool things about that movie was the way the plot twisted away from expectations - I had him pegged for an early and gruesome demise True, true. I guess I was being nice in my definition of "survived." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched Zu Warriors last night. Also known as Legend of Zu (or Shu shan zheng zhuan). It seems to be a re-imagined, high-budget remake of Tsui Hark's Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, which is a wuxia classic, and one of the first HK films to use big budget SFX. Zu Warriors goes crazy with the CGI, allowing for some really neat SFX and power displays... but that's really all it has. The story is... okay (and not to hard to follow if you watch the HK subbed version), but suffers from too many characters. The film starts by showing us King Sky, then introduces Red and White Eyebrows (played by Sammo Hung, who played the same character in the original). So far so good, as White Eyebrows direct King Sky and Red to defeat Insomnia (or Amnesia) from devouring all of the power of the Zu mountains. The problems start when Tsui Hark starts introducing secondary characters (such as Zhang Ziyi as a female soldier) whose talents are wasted due to lack of character development or screen time. Then there's a whole secondary plot dealing with Enigma and Thunder attempting to merge their powers to form an unstoppable energy force and.... Okay, I'm not going to go any further. Don't watch Zu Warriors for the plot (then again, who watches these sorts of films for the plot?). Don't watch for the martial arts scenes (there are precious few). Watch it to see what a full-blown Chinese fantasy film looks like. Characters fly about, hurling energy blasts, or wield energy swords hundreds of feet long, or wear wings made from swords that can be used to hurl clouds of blades. This is why you want to watch Zu Warriors. To see what supernatural martial arts should look like. Visually, Zu Warriors is beautiful. Great scenery, decent (if low-end) CGI, neat ideas for locations and powers, and so on. Roughly 105 minutes, it makes for a nice distraction, but doesn't have the staying power of other, equally recent, big-budget martial arts epics. Hero, for example, is a much better film. While it doesn't have the super SFX and incredible powers, it does have a better plot (and a more coherent one), as well as better fight sequences. To sum up, Zu Warriors is something to get if you're like me, a completest. But if you're more of an action junkie, go find Shadowless Sword. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Punisher: War Zone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Cashback; cute british movie. Billed as a comedy and I was in the mood for something light and kinda stupid. This was neither. It was a darn good romatic chick-flick, with some funny parts. But it wasn't a comedy. Luckily for it I was in a mellow enough mood to go with it. An art student breaks up with his girlfriend, only to find he can't sleep over the agony of it all. On top of that, he figures out how to stop time. Taking a night job to give his extra 8 hours he's not sleeping back, and get cashback for it (hence the title). He stops time to draw shoppers naked at 0400 in the morning. Then falls in love with the check-out girl, and draws endless pictures of her (not naked). Romantic Comedy style bits ensue, including them growing apart due to ex-girlfriend angst. blah blah blah. The movie was a nice expose on the idea of what we do matters, stopping time or not. There were a few missed opportunities (like comedy) and a dangling plot hook (like finding someone else who can ignore his stopped time) but the guy and girl get together in the end. Good movie, just not a comedy. Or much of one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Cashback; cute british movie. Billed as a comedy and I was in the mood for something light and kinda stupid. This was neither. It was a darn good romatic chick-flick, with some funny parts. But it wasn't a comedy. Luckily for it I was in a mellow enough mood to go with it. An art student breaks up with his girlfriend, only to find he can't sleep over the agony of it all. On top of that, he figures out how to stop time. Taking a night job to give his extra 8 hours he's not sleeping back, and get cashback for it (hence the title). He stops time to draw shoppers naked at 0400 in the morning. Then falls in love with the check-out girl, and draws endless pictures of her (not naked). Romantic Comedy style bits ensue, including them growing apart due to ex-girlfriend angst. blah blah blah. The movie was a nice expose on the idea of what we do matters, stopping time or not. There were a few missed opportunities (like comedy) and a dangling plot hook (like finding someone else who can ignore his stopped time) but the guy and girl get together in the end. Good movie, just not a comedy. Or much of one. Good review. I believe it started as a short film and they extended it to a full feature. And you forgot the most important part of the film -- nakid wimin. And (again) the lead actors name is Sean Biggerstaff*. *I guess James Howlett doesn't sound so bad now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched most of Stargate Universe. It was grim and depressing, and pretty much the opposite of the first two series in every way. I can't believe they canceled Atlantis for this show when Atlantis in my opinion had a similiar situation and was better written. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched Zu Warriors last night. Also known as Legend of Zu (or Shu shan zheng zhuan). It seems to be a re-imagined' date=' high-budget remake of Tsui Hark's [i']Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain[/i], which is a wuxia classic, and one of the first HK films to use big budget SFX. Zu Warriors goes crazy with the CGI, allowing for some really neat SFX and power displays... but that's really all it has. The story is... okay (and not to hard to follow if you watch the HK subbed version), but suffers from too many characters. The film starts by showing us King Sky, then introduces Red and White Eyebrows (played by Sammo Hung, who played the same character in the original). So far so good, as White Eyebrows direct King Sky and Red to defeat Insomnia (or Amnesia) from devouring all of the power of the Zu mountains. The problems start when Tsui Hark starts introducing secondary characters (such as Zhang Ziyi as a female soldier) whose talents are wasted due to lack of character development or screen time. Then there's a whole secondary plot dealing with Enigma and Thunder attempting to merge their powers to form an unstoppable energy force and.... Okay, I'm not going to go any further. Don't watch Zu Warriors for the plot (then again, who watches these sorts of films for the plot?). Don't watch for the martial arts scenes (there are precious few). Watch it to see what a full-blown Chinese fantasy film looks like. Characters fly about, hurling energy blasts, or wield energy swords hundreds of feet long, or wear wings made from swords that can be used to hurl clouds of blades. This is why you want to watch Zu Warriors. To see what supernatural martial arts should look like. Visually, Zu Warriors is beautiful. Great scenery, decent (if low-end) CGI, neat ideas for locations and powers, and so on. Roughly 105 minutes, it makes for a nice distraction, but doesn't have the staying power of other, equally recent, big-budget martial arts epics. Hero, for example, is a much better film. While it doesn't have the super SFX and incredible powers, it does have a better plot (and a more coherent one), as well as better fight sequences. To sum up, Zu Warriors is something to get if you're like me, a completest. But if you're more of an action junkie, go find Shadowless Sword. i taped zu warriors when i bought a PPV of it i got my moneys worth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Good review. I believe it started as a short film and they extended it to a full feature. And you forgot the most important part of the film -- nakid wimin. And (again) the lead actors name is Sean Biggerstaff*. *I guess James Howlett doesn't sound so bad now Ah yes, the abundance of women in various states of undress from "completely" to "oddly posed with their clothes half off when time is stopped"... you can tell the main love interest immediately by this, as she is never naked. Unlike pretty much every other woman in the movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? We Were Soldiers -- A look at the 1965 battle at LZ XRAY in the Ia Drang Valley. The first major engagement between US and North Vietnamese forces. Based on the novel, We Were Soldiers Once... And Young, the film does a fairly accurate job of showing the chaos and brutality of Vietnam-era combat. However, for a film that supposedly is going to "get right" everything "Hollywood gets wrong", it suffers from an utterly inaccurate bayonet charge at the very end that comes off rather false in the face of everything else we've seen. The movie also ignores the action at LZ Albany only a few miles away (in which US forces suffered 40% casualties). Not a bad film... but it could have been better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? i taped zu warriors when i bought a PPV of it i got my moneys worth It's not a bad film, but I've seen a lot better and I think it could have been a better film if the action had been tightened up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Ah yes' date=' the abundance of women in various states of undress from "completely" to "oddly posed with their clothes half off when time is stopped"... you can tell the main love interest immediately by this, as she is never naked. Unlike pretty much every other woman in the movie.[/quote'] And the love interest was cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat: Annihilation It was one of those nights... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Hey Hey It's Saturday: The Reunion. (shown on Wednesday night) An Australian variety/entertainment show that ran for 28-years but being of the tv for the last 10. A Facebook page was influential in bringing the show back on air for two reunion shows. The second one is on Wednesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Yo Yo Girl Cop: The Movie. The OAV was better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Just saw Universal's Son of Frankenstein, and it's still my favorite of the 'classic' Universal Frankenstein films. But it's hard to dislike a movie that has Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Basil Rathbone in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? lucha libre[sunday rerun] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorDRod Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Another one who picked up Monsters Vs. Aliens and watched it this weekend. What really appealed to me was how they skillfully weaved all sorts of 50's movie and modern references through the movie without making you feel like they were thrown in your face. Plus, there's a great gamer reference in one of the deleted scenes that had me on the floor in stitches. Oh, and the CGI was top-notch, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watched the first five eps of House, M. D. this weekend, along with The Princess Bride and Wonderful Days. I guess you have to see TPB as a kid to really get the charm, but the dialogue was nice. Wonderful Days is a Korean animated movie, set in a post-apocalyptic world. As I understood the plot, the city that saved humanity from extinction needs pollution for energy, and since the level of pollution has dropped the government will set fire to the rest of mankind. Much shooting and TKD. House is brilliant, in the same way that a broken mirror is -- all facets and sparkles, but, ultimately, something broken. (That is a stolen quote. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Another one who picked up Monsters Vs. Aliens and watched it this weekend. What really appealed to me was how they skillfully weaved all sorts of 50's movie and modern references through the movie without making you feel like they were thrown in your face. Plus, there's a great gamer reference in one of the deleted scenes that had me on the floor in stitches. Oh, and the CGI was top-notch, IMO. I wanna borrow this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Wonderful Days is a Korean animated movie, set in a post-apocalyptic world. As I understood the plot, the city that saved humanity from extinction needs pollution for energy, and since the level of pollution has dropped the government will set fire to the rest of mankind. Much shooting and TKD. We saw it at the theatre about three years ago. The action scenes are good, but there's a lot of non-action scenes which are also skilfully done - sunlight over the beached ships, stuff like that. It's a blend of rendered CGI and soft-cell animation (I don't mind that, but some people hate it, so a warning). However, as my swedish colleague points out, the plot is reeeetarded. Seriously. Worth watching, because the plot is actually only an issue right at the end, but I'd say Netflix or bargain bin it. Bunneh-style I'd give it three ecologically-sound microlights out of 5. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Very true, my antipodian friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? We saw it at the theatre about three years ago. The action scenes are good, but there's a lot of non-action scenes which are also skilfully done - sunlight over the beached ships, stuff like that. It's a blend of rendered CGI and soft-cell animation (I don't mind that, but some people hate it, so a warning). However, as my swedish colleague points out, the plot is reeeetarded. Seriously. Worth watching, because the plot is actually only an issue right at the end, but I'd say Netflix or bargain bin it. Bunneh-style I'd give it three ecologically-sound microlights out of 5. cheers, Mark I've seen it as well. Visually, it's spectacular. Plot-wise.... not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Earth vs the Flying Saucers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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