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Hmm, I've watched a lot of stuff since the site was down. Should I? Ah what the hell...FLOOD POST!! BE WARNED!!! RSJ users have probably read all this before, so skip it, or if you love my writing, read it again. I don't care. So there.
Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro - Seemed halfway between western and japanese and did the high adventure romp with aplomb. I mean, you had thieves, detectives, police, crooked nobility, samurai, steel-clawed assassins, damsels in distress, spies (even though some of them were bit parts) all thrown together to spin a totally lively yarn. Lupin himself was supposed to be the inspiration for the character of Spike Spiegel, and I can see where that comes from - the casual, almost bumbling approach to everything but the evident surgical precision behind all their actions (except Spike's more the lone wolf kind of guy while Lupin leans toward the ladykiller mold). Only thing that put me off was the female protagonist was a bit bland. Everything else top-notch.
Pom Poko - Like a Disney tale gone really weird. Raccoons are evicted from their serene habitats by humans' rapid urban development, and they have to figure out a way to survive. Sounds familiar? Yeah, except...apparently, raccoons have the innate ability to morph into practically anything - inanimate objects, other animals, even humans and spectral projections (you know...ghosts). Plus, besides their morphing power, their biggest (forgive the pun) tools are...their balls. Yeah, you read that right. Recommended, and not just to furries.
Blade Runner - Saw this movie in HD on my friend's huge tv. This is one movie that REALLY benefits from the crystal clarity that HD offers. Those long panoramic cityscapes look spectacular, and suddenly you don't mind how often they come into the picture and how slowly they seem to move. Even the indoor sets really come alive when you can see every little inch - easily overcomes some of the clumsier points of the script. And no, I haven't read the PKD book, so I don't feel tainted by liking the movie.
Secretary - S&M love story and it was mostly interesting, thanks to a thoughtful treatment of what's usually a standby gag in nearly any comedy nowadays. Plus, GREAT performances by James Spader (up there with Kurt Russell and James Woods as playing assholes) and Maggie Gyllenhal. The film has its share of problems - some of the subplots got a little boring, and the ending felt a little too clean.
Oni-baba - Took a while to pick up - the first half is almost intolerably slow. Towards the end, things get pretty crazy pretty fast. Never outright scary, but plenty creepy through most of it.
Waiting for Guffman - A piss-take on the whole play society thing, written by Christopher Guest (of Spinal Tap fame) and Eugene Levy. Not as special as Spinal Tap, since the subject matter isn't that close to heart, but it was funny most of the time nonetheless.
Joint Security Area - A Korean military drama about a border incident that leaves two North Korean border guards dead, and prompts an investigation by the NNSC (Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission) with representatives from Switzerland and Sweden attending. It's a little taxing at first, because the English delivery from the investigative team is pretty wooden. Once it gets to the interaction between the border troops, it picks up though. Great performance by Kang-ho Song, who also did a damn good job as the barber in The President's Barber. A nice sentimental watch, on the whole.
Futurama (full-length) - Despite a bunch of good jokes and a cool plot twist at the end, it ended up pretty disappointing on the whole. The Simpsons movie has sort of set the standard for TV shows-turned-full length movies, and this fell way short. Bugger.
The Blind Swordsman: Zatôichi - The one with Takeshi Kitano directing and playing the titular character. High points for me were definitely the lightning-fast brutal combat scenes and those percussive dance sequences. One slight miss is that Kitano uses this pretty jarring flashback technique, where in the middle of a scene he takes a character and jumps into their past without any indication. It's alright the first few times, but later in the movie, it's a little irritating when you're itching for the main plot to progress, and you're sitting through some flashback which you've already got the general gist of. Some of the tongue-in-cheek humour is awesome though. My favourite is when a hanger-on of Zatoichi tries to demonstrate his 'mastery' of combat to three villagers and tells them to attack from all sides. In unison, all three thump him on the head with their wooden swords, and he reels back, shouting, “Not at the same time!†Priceless.
Run Fatboy Run - Starring Simon Pegg and Hank Azaria, and directed (shockingly) by David Schwimmer. Yes, that guy. The plot is as formulaic as it gets, but there were still quite a few laughs here and there, thanks to Pegg, most of the time. He needs to get back to Hot Fuzz levels of funny, though.
Dark Water - Pretty good watch. The scariest thing about that movie is definitely the realisation that I've lived in much worse places than that apartment block. That aside, it was handled pretty well throughout, and the end was...fitting. Figures, it's a remake of a Jap horror movie.
Audition - Started out decently enough and was getting pretty creepy till at some point, he (and subsequently I) quite lost the plot. I guess it might make much more sense if I went and tried to figure out every aspect of the movie, but so far I don't feel compelled to. Not a great fan of torture scenes, so those 10-15 minutes were wasted on me as well. I'll have to watch a few more of his films to get a better idea about where I stand on the guy.
Sanjuro - Pretty breezy watch. My only complaint was that the Superintendent and his lackeys came off a little gullible. That final duel made up for it thought. Full-on high noon.
Hitman - Saw it with a couple of fellow forum hounds. If you can overlook the lacklustre story and the atrociously campy dialog, it's possible to have a decent time. Timothy Olyphant doesn't look nearly stoic enough to come off as a lethal machine that he's supposed to play, though he looks suitably embarrassed when a semblance of a love interest tries to form. It did lead to this comic exchange with a girl after he'd locked in the trunk of his car:
Girl: I've been there for hours!
47: I brought you breakfast.
(end of argument)
There are a few scenes where they use the default angle from the game while 47 strolls down a corridor, presumably to throw the gamers a bone. Sadly, it worked and I perked up. Pavlovian bullshit.
No Country For Old Men - A slick understated movie that's obviously the work of old hands behind the camera, even if you've never seen a Coen Brothers movie. Probably not their best, but their minimalistic technique is still a breath of fresh air in this age of nonstop talking heads onscreen. Bardem's quite a terrifying mofo - probably deserved that statue.
Ikiru - Well, it's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen. Sure, the theme that it presents and the cinematic techniques that it uses have been re-used many times over in several other movies, but I can't think of a single one that drives home so effectively the need to evaluate how you're living your life. This is the kind of movie you need to watch every few years. For the rest of your life.
The 40 Year Old Virgin - Was pretty funny overall. Steve Carell's awesome understated performance works better when set against the OTT antics of his cronies. Cop-out ending, but forgivable. And I want that gaming chair.
The Big Lebowski - Another treat in solid character comedy. The story took its own time getting anywhere, and there was plenty of filler around, but the interesting characters made up for that. And yeah, it's funny that he's called 'The Dude'. It is, really. When Philip Seymour Hoffman went "That had not occurred to us, Dude", I was laughing my ass off. Oh well.
Picnic at Hanging Rock - I wasn't as creeped out this time as I was watching it in my teens, and I guess the realisation that it wasn't based on a true story had a little to do with that. Still, the cinematography is really well done, and the steps taken to give Hanging Rock some sort of underlying malevolence don't come off feeling cheesy. The lack of resolution to the mystery and the suffocated feel of the Victorian hangover add to the overall eerie feeling.
Miller's Crossing - Totally brilliant. I don't think I've ever seen a movie where so much was said about every character with so little actual dialog. It's also shot amazingly well, but in a way that doesn't really draw attention to itself unless you look out for it. Never took Albert Finney to be such a bonafide iron jaw; the scene where Kaspar's goons come for him in the mansion is beautifully orchestrated violence (despite the fact that the bad guys, following the stereotype handbook to the letter, can't aim for shit). Another cool thing is that despite how you know Gabriel Byrne's character is a total badass in the first 5 minutes, he never raises his hand to anyone else throughout the movie (ok, except for that chair bit, which was awesome), even when he's getting the crap beaten out of him. This is how you do noir. Brilliant.
National Treasure 2 - Was dragged to see this against my will, and around 15 minutes into it, I realised that it was a choice between zoning out or strangling the 'friend' who had bought my ticket. Fortunately, I had my mp3 player and some huge wraparound headphones, so I spent the rest of the show listening to stuff from Kragens, Dublin Death Patrol, Blotted Science, DEP and Goatsnake. Fucking disastrous film, it shouldn't be possible to make a movie this bad, even if you had only a total of 5 minutes to pen the whole script.
American Gangster - Competent movie, but I got the feeling that I'd seen this whole shtick done before, only better. Well maybe not note for note, but the general feel of it all. And I get the feeling that, like Sam Jackson, Washington is starting to play himself in all his movies.
Evil Dead I/II - With commentary from Bruce Campbell for the first and group commentary from Campbell, Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel and Greg Nicotero for the second. A lot of digs were taken at cast, crew and script, a lot of cool factoids about the filming process were revealed and damn, these guys sound like an entertaining bunch.
Balls of Fury - Few laughs here and there, but it's not a must-watch at all.
Also went through the whole of Cowboy Bebop, which was absolutely spectacular by the time all 26 episodes were done. Shortly after, went through all 26 episodes of Samurai Champloo, also by Shinichiro Watanabe, and while it didn't reach Bebop's nosebleed-inducing heights, it was quite a blast in its own right.
Watching a bit of Futakoi Alternative - the first episode was absolute balls to the wall, fucking hilarious madcap action, but it looks like the next two are pretty slow. olo, what's the verdict on the whole season, if you've watched it?
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On the reading front, I went through Terry Pratchett's bromeliad trilogy. Not his best, but Pratchett is always good for some laughs, at least.
Read first half of David Gemmell's Rigante series - Sword in the Storm and Midnight Falcon. Again, Gemmell does what he does best - portraying larger-than-life, hard boiled bastards set against turbulent times.
Recently finished Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. Very cool debut novel - he really made the non-linear presentation work for him. The only thing that felt abrupt was the introduction of the Bondsmagi and how we were suddenly supposed to accept that they were the ultimate badasses. It's great that Locke is physically pretty much a weakling and has to rely on his wits instead of his strength nearly all the time.
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