I don't know if anything will top "Oldboy" for me in terms of uncomfortable.
[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo
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The Bates Motel tv show is easily in my top 5, but yeah I think Oldboy and Professional are right up there, too. Not that I disliked any of them, but dang they're hard to sit through without getting a little squeamish.
I have not seen this yet. I would like to. So many people tell me that it is very much worth seeing.
--Patrick
Luc Besson doesn't have a lot of good movies to his credit nowadays, but this one is exceptional.
It gets creepier when you realize Luc Besson married a 15 year old.
He's the John Byrne of movies.
Interesting Luc Besson trivia. The 15 year old he married (correction, she was 16 and pregnant when they married, she was 15 when they started dating) appeared in one of Besson's later films, as the alien diva in The Fifth Element. They were also divorced that same year, and in that same year Besson married Mila Jovovich, which he began having a relationship with during filming of The Fifth Element.
I believe the word you're looking for is "pedophile". He met her when she was 12 and supposedly was the inspiration for Matilda.
Taken was only 4 years ago. One flop doesn't make a director washed up.
I...didn't say he was washed up? I just said I don't find a lot of his movies to be very good. Taken, Professional and Fifth Element are entertaining, but anything else of his I've seen/seen previews for looked pretty bad. The Transporter movies, Lucy, Brick Mansions, Hitman, etc. In my opinion, he's definitely at least written and produced a pretty big stable of junk.
More ephebophile. I'm not justifying it, by the by, just, you know. Striving for the most accurate label for the strain of creepy we're dealing with.[DOUBLEPOST=1439420133,1439420049][/DOUBLEPOST]
La Femme Nikita is great, too.
Okay, so, more accurate branch, same "It's Not Okay" tree.
I'm just being a pedant. It's one of my few character flaws.
I don't see it as a flaw.
I say this the same way as the guy who says, "What problem?" in those old labelmaker commercials.
--Patrick
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974): This is another of my favorites; it's just such a fun movie. It's one of those where I can point out exactly what I love about these movies, that there's a lot of effort to make them as good as they can be, so even if they don't succeed in some places (like the wires showing or the movie freezing to show a transition special effect), it becomes endearing to see them try. The Jun Fukuda Godzilla movies tend not to be my thing--this and maybe Son of Godzilla, though it's out of print and I haven't seen it in nearly 20 years. But this one's just a blast--great kaiju moments, fun fights, Godzilla goes super saiyan, lots of weird shit, James Bond-inspired action, space ape aliens that none of the characters ever comment on as being kind of a strange revelation ... just so much fun.
Terror of Mechagodzilla: And then its immediate sequel does a complete tonal 180. The director of the original Gojira and some of its sequels takes over and makes use of Mechagodzilla in a serious, dark movie about obsession and revenge. The aliens from the prior movie are fleshed out a bit, Godzilla gets his ass kicked somewhat, and overall it's kind of grim. It's also very good--at least the Japanese cut. I'd only watched the American version before and liked the movie, but tonight I watched the original version and the stuff that was cut really elevates the movie. It's strange for the villains to be the main characters in this series, but it works.
At this rate, I have a feeling I'm just going to collect all the movies I can, even the ones I don't care for (Godzilla's Revenge) just to say I have them all, and then cross my fingers that Toho finds a new overseas distributor for Son of Godzilla, Return of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. Maybe when their new Godzilla movie comes out in 2016.
Terror of Mechagodzilla: And then its immediate sequel does a complete tonal 180. The director of the original Gojira and some of its sequels takes over and makes use of Mechagodzilla in a serious, dark movie about obsession and revenge. The aliens from the prior movie are fleshed out a bit, Godzilla gets his ass kicked somewhat, and overall it's kind of grim. It's also very good--at least the Japanese cut. I'd only watched the American version before and liked the movie, but tonight I watched the original version and the stuff that was cut really elevates the movie. It's strange for the villains to be the main characters in this series, but it works.
At this rate, I have a feeling I'm just going to collect all the movies I can, even the ones I don't care for (Godzilla's Revenge) just to say I have them all, and then cross my fingers that Toho finds a new overseas distributor for Son of Godzilla, Return of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. Maybe when their new Godzilla movie comes out in 2016.
30.
You can equivocate, but it's still 30
. Godzilla 1998 is still a Godzilla movie, warts and all, like Godzilla's Revenge. We can't escape it. We can only omit it from viewing. With Zilla appearing in Final Wars, that only makes it all the more relevant to the series ... just like Minilla/Minya appearing in Final Wars. Can't escape that size-changing motherfucker.Next year it'll be 31 with Toho's new movie. If they start making them annually again, then we could be seeing both an American and Japanese Godzilla in the same year, bringing it to 34 movies in the series by the end of 2018.
figmentPez
Staff member
Barely Lethal which I'd never heard of before seeing it listed under new movies to Amazon Prime. It came out this year, and was released on DirectTV's on-demand service, with only limited theatrical release. It got mixed reviews, and I can see why, but I had fun with it.
It's basically a mix of teen comedy and spy movie. Orphan girl being raised by a super-secret spy organization (led by Samuel L. Jackson) to become an assassin; only she dreams of having a normal life like she sees in the movies. Hilarity, and tons of cliches, ensue. It's not entirely good, in fact some parts are downright stupid, but it's fun. And there are some genuinely smart moments in the film as well.
It's basically a mix of teen comedy and spy movie. Orphan girl being raised by a super-secret spy organization (led by Samuel L. Jackson) to become an assassin; only she dreams of having a normal life like she sees in the movies. Hilarity, and tons of cliches, ensue. It's not entirely good, in fact some parts are downright stupid, but it's fun. And there are some genuinely smart moments in the film as well.
I saw Strait Outta Compton today. It was better than I expected. I was worried it was going to be a bit more ego driven but it really felt like an honest story. For example there's a scene early on where Ice Cube is on a bus, which gets stopped by some gang members. I was expecting Cube to stand up and basically save the day but that wasn't the case at all. It showed the good with the bad and really felt pretty genuine. The acting was really good, in my opinion. Jason Mitchel as Eazy E was excellent.
Godzilla vs Biollante: This movie was also pitched to me as Godzilla fighting a genetically modified super-plant possessed by the soul of its creator's daughter. Which is probably why the movie seemed "eh" to me back when I watched a VHS in 2004 and last year when I saw the DVD. Biollante is barely in the movie.
But ignoring the title, it's actually a really good Godzilla movie. A lot of the movie deals with military stuff, international espionage, and it's really interesting because all of it focuses on Godzilla. This is world-building, something these movies typically do very little of, and the ideas brought up in this movie lay groundwork for the rest of the 80s/90s Godzilla series. Once Godzilla shows up, he's present the rest of the film. It's well-paced and intriguing, and I can't believe I disliked it solely because I was waiting for the giant plant to show up. Really, Biollante is less present or relevant than Godzilla himself in the 2014 movie, and this movie improves by just not worrying about her.
King Kong vs Godzilla (American cut): I have such a hard time trying to watch the Japanese version. This was my first Godzilla movie, and when I was little it was my favorite movie ... now it's not even in my top 10 Godzilla movies, because it really is a mess. But it's a fun mess and I can't escape the grip of nostalgia in every line and music cue. The last 25 minutes is still a blast, albeit funnier to me now than when I was a kid. People keep saying they want a remake of this, but they'd have to give Kong an even bigger size upgrade than here as Godzilla has grown considerably over the years.
Also, Kong changes from Normal-type Pokemon to Electric-type Pokemon, which takes advantage of Godzilla's Electric-type weakness. He must be that rare Fire/Water-type. ... that scene and logic is so goddamn stupid as lightning shoots out of Kong's fingers into Godzilla's flesh, and yet I can't help but recall little me getting excited because it's the turn in the fight and Kong stops being a moron and actually gets up in Godzilla's grill.
It really is a fucking stupid movie. That would be less of an issue if not for the American scenes inserted that are trying to convey this as a serious, intelligent sci-fi movie.
But ignoring the title, it's actually a really good Godzilla movie. A lot of the movie deals with military stuff, international espionage, and it's really interesting because all of it focuses on Godzilla. This is world-building, something these movies typically do very little of, and the ideas brought up in this movie lay groundwork for the rest of the 80s/90s Godzilla series. Once Godzilla shows up, he's present the rest of the film. It's well-paced and intriguing, and I can't believe I disliked it solely because I was waiting for the giant plant to show up. Really, Biollante is less present or relevant than Godzilla himself in the 2014 movie, and this movie improves by just not worrying about her.
King Kong vs Godzilla (American cut): I have such a hard time trying to watch the Japanese version. This was my first Godzilla movie, and when I was little it was my favorite movie ... now it's not even in my top 10 Godzilla movies, because it really is a mess. But it's a fun mess and I can't escape the grip of nostalgia in every line and music cue. The last 25 minutes is still a blast, albeit funnier to me now than when I was a kid. People keep saying they want a remake of this, but they'd have to give Kong an even bigger size upgrade than here as Godzilla has grown considerably over the years.
Also, Kong changes from Normal-type Pokemon to Electric-type Pokemon, which takes advantage of Godzilla's Electric-type weakness. He must be that rare Fire/Water-type. ... that scene and logic is so goddamn stupid as lightning shoots out of Kong's fingers into Godzilla's flesh, and yet I can't help but recall little me getting excited because it's the turn in the fight and Kong stops being a moron and actually gets up in Godzilla's grill.
It really is a fucking stupid movie. That would be less of an issue if not for the American scenes inserted that are trying to convey this as a serious, intelligent sci-fi movie.
I find it interesting that King Kong was supposed to be Frankenstein, and that's why he had lightning powers.
Oh right, I forgot about that. And then I guess they didn't give him lightning powers in Frankenstein Conquers the World because they'd already used that idea ... and maybe because the monster fight is the least interesting part of that movie.
Yeah Frankenstein, King Kong, and the G-man have a complicated history. Shame that stop-motion King Kong vs. Frankenstein concept never came to be to.
Even with Willis O'Brien behind it, I'm not sure how great that would've turned out. Frankenstein is a pretty malleable character; you can really stick him in all sorts of things and it'll work. Kong is a little more difficult, and I think that can be seen when looking at everything Kong has been in. Most of the stuff that isn't his original story isn't very good, and even then the quality varies a lot depending on the version.
Good point, and as fun as King Kong vs. Godzilla was, a more accurate title should be "Electro Ape who looks like King Kong vs. Godzilla".
Godzilla vs Megaguirus: I forgot how interesting the early parts of the movie are ... but I remembered how uninteresting the rest of the movie is. Pointless monster, really gimmicky and stupid stuff during the fights i.e. slow-mo, weird shots, and then an animated gif battle. At least the fight focuses on the fight, but once the other monster fight is done, the plot continues as if that never happened. I really like the rundown of this what-if scenario at the movie's beginning, how it's handled, but it's so stupid.
We have a street performer magician who is also a robotics expert, a physics genius who can create controlled black holes, an inventor who works with radio wave engineering, and he's a hacker too, because it's a year 2000 movie riding 90s techno-thrillers, so of course.
Godzilla: Final Wars: When I started the subtitled version and realized that Don Frye's dialogue is still in English, the English dub became pointless. His character Commander Gordon is my favorite character in the movie, and the other characters aren't such dickbags in the Japanese. Don't know why the English dub made them sound so snarly and juvenile ... don't care anymore either. I have issues with the movie's pacing or how it keeps cutting away from Godzilla fights, but I don't think any of those criticisms matter either. It's a fun, dumb remake of Destroy All Monsters, only better because these are Matrix Aliens, and it heaps on love and adoration for the Showa series--not just Godzilla movies, but stuff like Atragon and Gorath--which had seen very little of that in nearly 30 years at the time this came out. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if I found a Mysterians reference in there somewhere.
We have a street performer magician who is also a robotics expert, a physics genius who can create controlled black holes, an inventor who works with radio wave engineering, and he's a hacker too, because it's a year 2000 movie riding 90s techno-thrillers, so of course.
Godzilla: Final Wars: When I started the subtitled version and realized that Don Frye's dialogue is still in English, the English dub became pointless. His character Commander Gordon is my favorite character in the movie, and the other characters aren't such dickbags in the Japanese. Don't know why the English dub made them sound so snarly and juvenile ... don't care anymore either. I have issues with the movie's pacing or how it keeps cutting away from Godzilla fights, but I don't think any of those criticisms matter either. It's a fun, dumb remake of Destroy All Monsters, only better because these are Matrix Aliens, and it heaps on love and adoration for the Showa series--not just Godzilla movies, but stuff like Atragon and Gorath--which had seen very little of that in nearly 30 years at the time this came out. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if I found a Mysterians reference in there somewhere.
Donald Frye's "character" redeems any faults I have with Final Wars. He's just wonderful, and encompasses everything the movie is going for in tone. All his lines being in English is one of cinema's finest moment.
And unlike in the English speakers in vs Biollante, you can understand what he's saying. I agree on him redeeming the movie's problems; he steals every scene he's in and he's lovable right from his intro against Manda.
My new boss is the real life Wooderson.