The Recommended Movies Thread

[richard]

GOT IT

Unknown starring Leeson

[BaaBaa.]

It's Unknown starring Liam Neeson.

[BaaBaa.]

Just beat me!

Edit. But I got the star right.

[sandman67]

ooooooohhhhhh ths one looks lke a corker for fans of The Bard.....Ralph Fiennes has done a big budget producton of the Shakespeare play CORIOLANUS....updates it a la Ian McKellen's Richard III and stcks it in the Balkans, and both directs and stars...looks sweet - as my revenge



comes out in January so should be about in ripped format by Feb

[sandman67]

There are many ways you can bugger up a good film concept, but the surest way of guaranteeing the end product will be crapola of epic proportions is to have a Christian film company make your film. Lke so called Christian Rock any film made by fundys is guaranteed to suck, blow and generally expel excretia from every orifice. They just cant help themselves....they think everyone is as twee and brain dead gutless as they are.

Now.... SUING THE DEVIL started out with a really promising prospect (albeit hijacked from the earlier Billy Connelly brit-com classic The Man Who Sued God).

A down on his luck and faith christian lawyer decides to take a frivolous court action against Satan to cheer himself up, suing hm for all the worlds evils for $8trillion. Imagine his surprise therefore when he finds hmself landed deep in the doo doo when the big bad man himself turns up to answer the court summons along with his legal team of 10 cut-throat legal experts.

They then cast Malcolm McDowell as Satan himself....great move. They added Tom Sizemore as a cynical legal media reporter.....another smart move.

Then they found that the budget was all but blown, as lets face it nobody in their right mind gives a big budget to a bunch of fundy christians.

So the production values are high school assignment level, the actors they hired to fill out the cast, including the lead character, are bloody awful amateur dramatics dropouts, and the script...... oh jesus titty f*cking christ.....what a mess.

The end result is a bucket full of three vindaloo poodle poo wth tripe side salads all round. Utter cack, bad in every aspect, possibly the worst film I saw in 2011....and another few years as well.

Now....take that basic concept and chuck some proper funding at it and keep the evangelicals away from anything to do with it..... recast McDowell....or maybe Kevin Spacey......you could even get DeNiro to reprise his classic menacing "Louis Cypher" act from ANGEL HEART.....

and maybe you have a winner.

AVOID LIKE THE 10 PLAGUES.

[dtaai-maai]

One to avoid, by the sound of it!
But I have to say I really don't like Malcolm McDowell as an actor - he was lucky enough to be cast in one good film when he was a teenager, but he hasn't done anything of note since. Not that I've seen anyway. Couldn't act his way out of a wet sock.

[richard]

One to avoid, by the sound of it!
But I have to say I really don't like Malcolm McDowell as an actor - he was lucky enough to be cast in one good film when he was a teenager, but he hasn't done anything of note since. Not that I've seen anyway. Couldn't act his way out of a wet sock.

Good in 'If..' and 'Clockwork Orange'

[dtaai-maai]

Yes, I forgot Clockwork Orange - never seen it. Cast in two good films then. Over 40 years ago.
I'd put him on a par with William Shatner...

[hhfarang]

William Shatner has been really good and funny in a couple of TV sitcoms in recent years... I've enjoyed him much more in those that I did in Star Trek.

[migrant]

Argue what you will on William Shatner's acting chops, but as a singer, WOW!!

[sandman67]

and dont forget GANGSTER No1... he was corking in that.

Anyways, from crap flick to sublime flick in one evening. I gave up on Hollydud downloads and headed east to watch a neo jidai samurai flick come history drama - SAKURADAMONGAI NO HEN (The Sakurada Gate Incident).

This is less 7 Samurai and more dry history lesson, as it tells the real life tale of a famous samurai rebellion that kicked off the Meijii Restoration and end of the Shogunate Bakufu government's rule. After the Opium War in the mid 1800s devastated Manchu China the Japanese government grew scared that they would be next, and when the US Admiral Perry turned up in his gunships the Bakufu caved in to their demands in defiance of the Meijii Emperor's court. Several loyalist clans took umbrage, and decided to assassinate the Shogunate official who signed the treaty with the US, tacitly supported by the emperor himself. The attack, at the Sakurada Gate, succeeds but starts a manhunt for those involved that in turn began the fall of the Shogunate government and its takeover by the Emperors court.

As the flick opens with the attack and then focuses on ts aftermath its a bit slow in places, but when the swords begin to swing the blood does fly and the fights are all the more dramatic for their being so few. That is a classic style of jidai samurai cinema, and here works wonderfully to pick up the fact filled and intrigue laden plot. Its also beautifully shot - the main attack occurs in a blzzard and that just seems to add to the drama and of course blood looks all the better splattered across a snowy bridge.

I really liked it - entertaining and educational as well, real eye and brain candy. For me its a top notch flick, but I am biased as Im a major fan of the genre....I still recc you check it out tho.

Its out and about with subs in DVDRIP format in various places and not too hard to find. Get at it says I.

Interesting factlet = this film was the basis for a famous 1965 Toshiro Mifune samurai drama called SAMURAI ASSASSIN that is also strongly recommeded.....and whle you are at it check out my two favorite neo samurai films - the deeply moving epic WHEN THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN and similarly beautiful AME ARAGU (After The Rains).

[Vital Spark]

Watched Harry Brown on Boxing Day. Just watched it because I'm a bit of a Michael Caine fan, but I had no idea what the film was about. Blimey! I wasn't quite prepared for the fully justified violence in the film, but it was riveting. If this is a reflection of today's society in the UK, I'm glad I'm well away from it.

Harry Brown Official Trailer [HD] - YouTube


An absolutely perfect role for Sir Michael Caine.

VS

[hhfarang]

"Columbiana"

The missus picked this DVD up in the mall today. If you are a fan of action/violent movies with a revenge/hit man (I should say hit person) sub plot you'll like it. Lots of familiar faces but no huge names; well made and good flick if you like this type of action movie. Lots of shoot 'em ups as well as at least one good hand to hand martial arts/fighting scene.

[sandman67]

One I missed of on my watch list till it was on True last week and am kicking myself for missing is the excellent THE KINGS SPEECH

It tells the true story around the speech impediment suffered by George VI, the poor bugger who had to become king when his yank tart shagging Nazi collaborator brother had to abdicate, leaving a very unprepared Bertie to take on the crown just as old Adolf started his world domination tour that ended with WW2. After seeing doctor after doctor The Dutchess of York comes across a failed Australian actor and full time speech therapist Lionel Logue, whose unconventional methods work, allowing Albert to assume the mantle of monarchy and lead his country through the war years.

Colin Firth is truly exceptional as Albert/George VI, the pain, frustration and humiliaton of his stammer writ large and deep on his face with ever sweaty faced closeup. Geoffrey Rush as Logue is also a wonder to watch, totally convincing and working in perfect lockstep with Firth. Together the two slowly gell, breaking down all the walls of formality, and the friendship and interdependance that develops is utterly convincing. Its so moving by the end it actually had me doing a stiff lipped man sniffle or two, and is beautiful to watch. Its filmed with a wonder of detail, and supported by greats like Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth and Derek Jacobi as the terminally worried Archbshop of Cantebury.

It will still be dong teh rounds on True for a month or so and is a definite hot recc. Probably one of the best films of 2011 IMHO and worth every award it gets. The only paper to gve it a swipe was Le Monde, whch as they are a pack of snotty bignosed Galoise smoking frog ponces is no surprise....everywhere else gave it top marks so sod em!

Its out and about on the net in crispy DVDRIP format and a must download flick.

A solid three cheers keeper from start to end....and remember to have that "itchy nose" excuse ready for the end.

[sandman67]

THE DEBT

While we all wait on tenterhooks for the top spy thriller that is TINKER we can settle down with this for an evenings spy thriller fun....its worth it.

The film tells the twsty tale of a three agent MOSSAD team sent into 1960s East Berlin to extract a Nazi war criminal now posing as a doctor. When the extraction plan goes awry the agents are forced to house the Nazi till a new plan is sent through. Unfortunately this allows him to play mind games with the agents, eventually engneering his escape. The agents cover his escape up, saying they killed him as he sought to run. Fast forward to the 1990s and the three, now national heroes, find that the devil doctor has re-appeared and intends gong public...and so they need to clear up the mess or else they and Israel will look stupid.

Its told as two parts, with two sets of three actors playng the parts, and thats where it falls apart, as the actors chosen dont look or act alike and that messes it up. Its also been remade from an Israeli orignal, and Hollydud had to add stupid love interests between the agents whch again detracts from the plotline. Ths means the real star of the show is the hideously cold evil of the Nazi doctor as he plays with the agents mnds....and making the Nazi the best character sort of sods up the point really.

Its still worth a watch as the original is a bugger to find in subbed format, whereas this one is out and about in lovely DVDRIP formats everwhere. Its flawed and a bt threadbare due to the actor mismatches but the evil doctor saves the day so its still a good flick to while away an hour or two.

Two cheers and a keeper.