The Recommended Movies Thread

[GLCQuantum]

TBH Richard I have an endless list of new movies which I should get round to watching but, whilst strolling down the list for the nights entertainment, one that I've already seen a dozen times always seems to catch my eye and I end up watching that instead.

Anywho, The Crow's on 97% ( a little slow tonight... normally runs at 1.3mb a second - evidently not many seeders) and that will do me just fine. 'Ghost Protocol' will have to wait another day.

[richard]

TBH Richard I have an endless list of new movies which I should get round to watching but, whilst strolling down the list for the nights entertainment, one that I've already seen a dozen times always seems to catch my eye and I end up watching that instead.

Anywho, The Crow's on 97% ( a little slow tonight... normally runs at 1.3mb a second - evidently not many seeders) and that will do me just fine. 'Ghost Protocol' will have to wait another day.

Same. So many downloaded but still hit my favourites.Also love my eastern stuff

The last Ronin, Seven Samurai, 13 Assassins etc

Oh shit. Now I'm going to watch The last Ronin again

Good night Forum

[sandman67]

Re The Crow

Richard picked that up maybe from the other thread I started - the Good Stuff On YouTube thread. There are a scad of users on YoutUbe who have used it to post good film and documentary stuff rather than the usual kute kats and poo chucking chimps clips, so I have started flagging these up on that thread. The range of stuff is down to my particular taste of the day so feel free to chip in.

1) Use a FireFox plugin like DowloadHelper and you can use that to capture and download the vid from YouTube

2) Look at the resolution options available. 480p is around standard DVD level....some go up as high as hi-rez 720p versions. The file size will depend on your choice. YouTube also downloads very fast.

3) You can then use a fle converter like the ones offered free by http://www.pazera-software.com/ - these are the ones I use, they are free, and work a treat....much better than payware.

4) When you go to a vid page look at the others listed in the sidebar....there will be more there, that then lead on to more, etc

5) Always check out the user page....clck on the posters name, then "Videos" when you go to the user page. Some are a real goldmine.

6) Keep a weather eye on the YouTube thread as I will post new stuff as and when I come across it.

7) If you find a good user page post it and chip in to the thread. With documentaries its best to keep it vague as the main docs channels are swines for checking for their stuff, as is HBO.

[Homer]

Anyone found a decent copy of Iron Sky yet......

DVDRips on Pirate Bay today, uploaded by posters with reputation with comments confirming quality. Can't comment on quality, my shared access means overnight downloads.

[sandman67]

Time to don the sou-westers and wellies as theres a bile tsunami coming:

GHOST RIDER : SPIRIT OF VENGANCE

How, you may ask, would it be possible to beggar up the sequel to one of the coolest comic anti-hero films, one with such a solid first film to base the franchise on?

Simple really:

You start by hiring a couple of nobodies to direct it, a couple of gimps who really make music videos and couldnt direct traffic let alone a film. Then you completely throw away all the cool design work that made the first flm so eye poppingly beautiful - the burning chopper from hell, the classic Ghost Rider look and costume, the anime style demons, and instead let a couple of arty Gervaises fresh out of college substitute some sort of two bit edgey arsefest version including a crappy old Yamaha V Max bike that has some smoky burning bits on it, and the Rider now looks like an Iraqui crispy critter from the road out of Kuwait. You hire a scriptwriting team who can only write scripts so linear and obvious that a 5 year old can predict what is going to happen in the next 20 minutes. Then finally you let a camera crew who at best are total amateurs do loads of coke and fill the film with some of the worst, cliched and most annoying camera work ever. To top it off make the soundtrack annoying, loud and messy.

The good bits? Well its short as hell, so at least your suffering is kept to a minimum. And this shatbag is so bloody awful that hopefully there will be no more made.

And maybe, just maybe, the people who made this utter disgrace will find themselves with future careers that involve asking people whether "they want fries with that."

So bad I deleted it in disgust.

Out and about all over the place in DVDRIPS, not that it matters. Honesty....just dont bother. Its utter cack.

[GLCQuantum]

^

Well done for getting through the whole movie Sandman... After half hour it was stopped and deleted for me. As you say, utter cack and thoroughly disappointing.

Watched 'The Grey' last night. Didn't hold much hope considering the 'hunted by a pack of wolves' storyline but, I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Well worth a watch IMO. Liam Neeson kicks arse as usual.

[sandman67]

GLC

glad you concur mate....I mean how? How? The first film was real bubblegum superhero nonsense, but it worked on so many levels...the main one being the eye candy CGI and beautiful, colourful look to the film...it looked like a cinematic comic book. The Bike and The Rder brought to life...and the bt with him riding next to the original horse Rider brought to life that famous biker painting that adorned many a bedroom wall.

With a comic book hero like The Rider you cant change the frickin way he looks and the bike he rides!!!!!! THATs what makes it Ghost Rider.

To be honest the annoying jumpy camera work had me switched off before the quarry scene (about half way through), which was such a mess it just made the whole shebang pointless.

They just completely ruined it. It will now find its place alongside the debacle that was Jonah Hex, and hopefully some angry fanboys at a ComicCon will beat the makers to death or just make sure they never have the balls to go near a directors chair ever again.

As a silver lining the BluRay BDRIP of the first film is dong the rounds (like at VeeHD) whch is an extended version with even more CGI lovliness in it....well worth the download.

[GLCQuantum]

and hopefully some angry fanboys at a ComicCon will beat the makers to death

If there was ever a good reason for a beating, this surely must be it (tongue in cheek before I'm jumped on).

I, like yourself, was a big fan of the first and you've already covered as to the reasons why. How the hell they managed to screw the second up just that much... well.

[GLCQuantum]

Watched what I thought was a cracking movie recently. Not everyone's cup of tea and I may be a little biased as I'm a big fan of Adrien Brody.

The following is copy and pasted....(I'm no Sandman in regards to writing about the content of a movie so I generally won't even bother - I either enjoy it or I don't! )

Detachment is a chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment. A perfect profession for one seeking to hide out in the open. One day Henry arrives at his next assignment. Upon his entry into this particular school, a secret world of emotion is awakened within him by three women. A girl named Meredith in his first period. A fellow teacher Ms. Madison, and a street hooker named Erica, whom Henry has personally granted brief shelter from the streets. Each one of these women, like Henry, are in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly vicious and loveless world.



Edit... Just realised the last 10 seconds of that trailer above has a link to the Ghost Rider trailer... Don't go there, I repeat, don't go there (trailer don't look half bad if I remember right)

[Homer]

Iron Sky: enjoy the trailer, skip the film.

How can you screw up Nazis on the Moon? It's a black comedy, a political satire and an invasion of earth. At its core a film in any one of these genres needs balls. Seems like Iron Sky was written by a committee who were careful to omit most expressions of testicular fortitude. And comedy. And satire. I agree completely with one critic who said it was weightless. Still, I watched it all - in three installments because I got bored.

Did like the way the boss-from-hell-fashionista turned the tables on her would be executor. Hoped the school teacher would use the same technique, but the damn writers wouldn't let a good girl do that.

[sandman67]

and now for the rejoinder:

IRON SKY

I for one dont agree with some of the critics who have had a pop at this, nor with Homer. Consider the fact that it was made on a peanuts budget, and was written by Finnish blokes with a very Finnish sense of satire and humor as a homage to the 1950s B flying saucer movies, just as their earlier Star Wrecked was a homage and satire ripping on sci-fi space opera TV series. Consider that, for the titchy budget and semi-amateur crew the CGI is eye poppingly lovely, the design work spot on - steampunky and pastche Nazi clownish bad guys. Compare it not with the mega bucks Hollywood dog and pony show, but with its peers - the sort of dross tipped out by The Asylum (see earlier post) and run to death on Sci-Fy Channel.

The plot is that in 1945 the Nazis, led by Black Sun general Hans Kammler, evacuate key personnel to the Moon. There they spend decades rebuilding their strength and developing flying saucers. Now its tme for the return of the 4th Reich, and when a Palin-a-like president of the US sends a mission to the moon to capture votes and corner supplies of Helium 3, the fuel of the future, that invasion program is initiated. Unfortunately the advance party, sent down to pave the way, gets corrupted and things start to go wrong.....

Yes some of the humor is off kilter, and the tone sometimes a bit too dry, but when it rips on the ridiculousness of a Palin like US president and the gung ho bomb happy its ours cos our flags on it mentality it damn well works. Little jokes like an iPhone being more powerful than the outdated Nazi tech, the way they edited Charlie Chaplns The Great Dictator down to the 10 minute dance routine, and the way the US mess about with the "UN" are funny. I laughed out loud more than once, and thought it was a cracking effort all told. They shouldnt have cut the start off (which explained how the Nazis ended up on the moon) but thats viral film releases for you.

Looks cool, amuses, and entertains. Solid three cheers keeper in my book.

Out and about in crisp DVDRIPs all over the place.

[sandman67]

another one before bedtime

HARA-KIRI : DEATH OF A SAMURAI

Takashi Miike is known for being one of Japans most prolific film-makers, and established his rep on ultra-violent crime and gangland shockers lke the mind blowing ICHI THE KILLER. However, of late, he has turned his eye on classic 1950s jidae samurai cinema, and last year released his eye poppngly beautiful neo-jidae masterwork remake of 13 ASSASSINS. His latest release is a smilar revisit to another classic of samurai cinema - HARA KIRI.

A masterless ronin, exiled from a fallen samurai clan, appears at the door of a reputed clan and asks permission to use their courtyard to commit ritual seppuku suicide. The lord greets this request with curiosity, as only a month before a similar incident occured. He tells the ronin of this incident to establish whether the request is genune.Then it turned out that the young ronin only wanted money, but at the hands of the lords cruel underlings was humiliated and forced to commit suicide in a disgraceful manner. After hearng this the new ronin asks to proceed, yet at the time of his appointment with the sword he instead reveals a story within a story......and his own relationship to the first ronin.

This tragic tale unfolds like RASHOMON, the all time Kurosawa classic, and like that and the original black and white HARA KIRI is a real slow burner full of twists and turns. Its heart breakingly beautiful to watch, lush and detailed, full of colour and passion. As with all the great samurai films the slow burn build up and complex plot leads to a frenetic last act when all is finally revealed, and the true story finally blooms like a blood spattered blossom. I thnk Mike has found his true calling, and hopefully with such an extensive back catalogue of black n whites to revisit we wll see many many more of his reworks.

Like 13 ASSASSINS a masterpiece of neo-samurai film and abolutely a solid gold three cheers and swinging blade keeper.

Look around and you can find lovely quality BDRIPS, some subbed some not....the subs are easy enough to find as well.

[Homer]

Consider that, for the titchy budget and semi-amateur crew the CGI is eye poppingly lovely, the design work spot on - steampunky and pastche Nazi clownish bad guys.

Agree, big thumbs up on the look of the film.

but when it rips on the ridiculousness of a Palin like US president and the gung ho bomb happy its ours cos our flags on it mentality it damn well works.

My problem with the movie is I was hoping for so much more. The Palin and other satire elements were as dry and weightless as a beach ball sized dust cloud and so had all the impact of that dust cloud, IMHO. Their Palin rip was tame and unadventurous to the point of being polite. It had nothing I hadn't seen done both before and better. It's as if they were trying not to offend anyone. Maybe that's how Finnish satire is. I wouldn't know.


[SPOILER ALERT]


So much of the film was predictable. At the first glimpse of the current Nazi technology I knew there would be more of the same whenever the story focused on their tech: humor that was so dry and slightly amusing that it even when it was in the forefront of the scene it carried the same lack of weight as when it was incidental background. (OK, the rotary airplane engine got a laugh, that was totally unexpected.) When I saw the UN room I thought of Dr. Strangelove. At the first sign of serious discord I knew the movie was going to end just like Dr. Strangelove. The towed asteroids were right out of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but the story did nothing with them except show some big impact mushroom clouds from the impersonal distance of space. Again, it's as if they didn't want to offend anyone by showing the Nazis turning big patches of the earth into smoking holes.

Hey, I did watch all of it, so it wasn't a total loss. I expect those with an appreciation for Finnish satire and humor will like it a lot more than I did.

[pharvey]

Iron Sky: enjoy the trailer, skip the film.

I read this quote before seeing the film and quite honestly thought.... "Here we go again, only to be thoroughly looking forward to a movie and being fecked at the last moment.. "(possibly a few HH members ex/current girlfriends/wives have felt the same).

However, BOLLOCKS to the critics - this is superb!! Dry humour/Black Comedy/B-Movies at it's best!! Incredible effects on such a low budget -hats off to them for what they have done.

I can't honestly count how many lines/p*ss takes out of (B) movies I have seen previously..... How many did you count Homer? Perhaps this is why you didn't enjoy/appreciate/understand the humour.....

[sandman67]

PH

Be fair bro....beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Some people, and most every critic including fatty Ebert, thought that JUNO was an excellent film. I thought it was an utter and complete sack of panty wetter sh*te. A lot of critics and commentators slammed 300 because it wasnt historically accurate...they just didnt bother to understand that the pont is its the Greek bloke telling a story the way Greeks did....full of monsters and heros. Red Tails has got the same slamming, but thats the makers fault for putting that stupid "based on real events" at the start, which is stupid.

The neo-jidae samurai cinema I love would bore the ass off a lot of people as, like Seven Samurai and the Kurosawa classics like Kagemusha and Ran, not a lot happens till the last act and the plots are sometimes highly complex and difficult to follow. I love Chnese wu-jia wire fu historical mlitary epics, but I thought the recent film White Vengance sucked....way too wordy and pretentious.

Its just horses for courses mate.

But yes....Iron Sky doth rock, and Julia Dietze is so damn hot she just might replace Angelna Jolie in that deep dark hole I call my fantasy.... love her voice/accent....and that uniform.....phwooooar!

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