Recent-ish movies
Only one of which I actually watched in the last month, I think.
The Fall: So, the next time I watch a movie with really bright colors, exceptionally creative costumes, random extreme crack and it's extremely enjoyable at first glance then increasingly iffy the more you think about it, I'm just going to assume it's a Tarsem Singh movie. (I mean, I'll be wrong most of the time if I do that, but I'm at 3-for-3 there with his movies, so...) I recall this being pretty big in my circles when it was new and kept meaning to watch it and then forgetting. Despite almost yelling "STOP TRAUMATIZING THE CHILD!" every few minutes (often in conjunction with "Who makes up this kind of story for a 5-year-old anyway?") and going "WTF?" at about 3/4 the developments in Roy's story (often followed by "uhm...no..." and maybe "Dude, why are you a stuntman? G write books.") I enjoyed this, though I'm not sure how much I'll like a rewatch. Also, the little girl who played Alexandria was possibly the most adorable and realistic kid to ever appear in a Hollywood movie.
Ip Man & Ip Man 2: These movies are basically about 3 1/2 hours of Donnie Yen walking around in a state of kung fu nirvana. Ip Man (or Yip Man) was Bruce Lee's mentor an largely responsible for the spread an popularity of Wing Chun. The movies are well cast an acted (Except: China, why o you keep casting Huang Xiao Ming as a hotheaded teen? The dude's in his mid-30s. Actually, maybe late-30s now. Not that he isn't good and all, but...), but the main raw is the martial arts displays, which are stunning. The first movie is excellent an stands well on its own. The secon is largely a worthy followup an also a good movie, but suffers from a case of trying to outdo it's predecessor, losing some of what made the first work in the process. (In particular, Ip Man's martial arts and personal life aren't as well balanced, and the fight senes rely a bit more of effects and flash, and not quite as much on skill.) The movies are highly redcommended for martial arts fans.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: Pretty obviously an attempt to keep the franchise going before people stop caring and move on, it's largely fun but the characters I was most interested in are gone? (Off being pirate kings and dead/undead.) I think I finished the third movie ready to watch Jack and Barbossa chase each other around the Caribbean for a few hours then had reconsidered that within a couple weeks. But it was fun and I liked Anjelica (Though wasn't big on how her plot ended-hopefully she torments Jack a lot in the next movie. Odd courtship rituals those 2 have. Also, wasn't she supposed to have a pretty noticable scar?) an kin of want to applaud whoever decided that the world needed and angsty forbidden romance between a priest and a mermaid. (Sam Claflin is trying to be in all the epics isn't he?)
Red Cliff: (The almost 5 hour version, not the heavily edited US release.) I had tried watching this a while back but was turned off by the fact that the only woman in the first half hour threw herself doen a well about 5 minutes after the opening credits ended. (I'd been told there were 2 major female characters who were excellent and believed what I was told, but lacked the patience to wait for them.) The movie is pretty good and I can actually see it being longer before I can see it being shorter. The battle scenes were some of the best I've seen in a movie yet were actually among the less interesting parts, and the scheming and strategizing and spying were actually more interesting, and the cast was generally excellent. (I don't think Lin Chi-Ling had quite the screen presence needed for Xiao Qiao, but more from inexperience than lack of ability. I actually can't help but think the role was written for Fan Bing Bing, or someone like her.) One of these days, I'll get aroun to reaing The Romance of Three Kingdoms or watching the recent series based on it, but the inevitable long stretches with no women in sight on't help with motivation.
The Runaways: Indie movie about Joan Jett and Cherie Currie when they were members of the rock band "The Runaways." Pretty good, though, though a bit heavy on the bad language and drug use for me. (Not a criticism, as it's pretty accurate to my understanding, and what I went in expecting.) I thought it did a particularly good job with it's portrayal of the music scene and rise and fall of musicians at the time, and especially thought Kristen Stewart did a good job with the androgynous screen presence.
Taken: Largely fun and fastpaced though sometimes iffy action movie that has Cuck levels of casting geekery. As in, Shannon from Lost is the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul and Jean Grey, her stepfather is Percy from Nikita, and her best friend is the original Ruby (and only one i saw) from Supernatural. I was somewhat in awe of the casting. Inescapable comparisons to Missing, which came along several years later, but I suspect helped enhnce my "Well, actually, modern human slavery isn't just something that happens to rich white American girls foolish enough to tell the first person that they meet that they're all alone in an unfamiliar city..."
Underworld: Awakening: A somewhat bad movie that is fabulous because it has lots of Kate Beckinsale in pleather, shooting things and badass little girls and fun tropes with a side of women bonding (often over corpses they just created). I mean, If you didn't watch the first 2 (the 3rd is a separate matter) for Kate Beckinsale in pleather, shooting things, I'm not sure what you got out of it. (Mind you, if you take out the first 6 minutes of flashbacks and infodumping and the last 10 minutes of credits, you have about 75 minutes of a plot that's pretty much Selene Doing Violent Stuff with stuff to justify it.) Also, Dyson from Lost Girl is there as a scary evil werewolf. I figure his agent heard they were looking for a scary werewolf prone to ripping off his clothes and sent some footage over. Inevitable sequel, please do not be set 10~ years later and pair Eve and David.
The Warring States: A 2011 movie set in China's "Warring States" era, focusing on Sun Bin and his role in the conflict between the Qi and Wei kingdoms. A bit hit and miss in places but overall enjoyable for most of the movie. I think I preferred the first half, which was largely taken up by Sun Bin's attempts to court a rather violent and temperamental enemy commander, (First scene: She leads an army into battle. Second scene: She executes captured enemy soldiers. Third scene: Her army has been infiltrated and she singlehandedly takes down a few dozen enemy soldiers on foot. Most of the courtship consists of her attacking him anytime the awkward courting results in the stirring of icky feelings.) but the second half had major highlights too, particularly everything involving and leading up to a jailbreak. The costumes, fight/battle scenes and acting were all good, but nothing incredibly original. Worth watching, but warning for a long period of torture towards the middle.
Yeh Vaada Rada: Wonderfully cheesy and cracky 80s Bollywood mmovie about an unsuitable young singer who is disfigured in a car accident, after which her (rich heir to a corporation) boyfriend is told she's dead and proceeds to grow and emo beard and spend months mooning over a 5 foot tall snapshot of her. And then she returns with a new face after plastic surgery but thinks he's moved on. The first part was kind of meh but entertaining, but from the plastic surgery onward it was a blast. I am especially fond of the cheesy sound effects, especialy the OMG SUSPENSEFUL horror movie music that played in her operations and whenever someone saw her after the accident.
The Fall: So, the next time I watch a movie with really bright colors, exceptionally creative costumes, random extreme crack and it's extremely enjoyable at first glance then increasingly iffy the more you think about it, I'm just going to assume it's a Tarsem Singh movie. (I mean, I'll be wrong most of the time if I do that, but I'm at 3-for-3 there with his movies, so...) I recall this being pretty big in my circles when it was new and kept meaning to watch it and then forgetting. Despite almost yelling "STOP TRAUMATIZING THE CHILD!" every few minutes (often in conjunction with "Who makes up this kind of story for a 5-year-old anyway?") and going "WTF?" at about 3/4 the developments in Roy's story (often followed by "uhm...no..." and maybe "Dude, why are you a stuntman? G write books.") I enjoyed this, though I'm not sure how much I'll like a rewatch. Also, the little girl who played Alexandria was possibly the most adorable and realistic kid to ever appear in a Hollywood movie.
Ip Man & Ip Man 2: These movies are basically about 3 1/2 hours of Donnie Yen walking around in a state of kung fu nirvana. Ip Man (or Yip Man) was Bruce Lee's mentor an largely responsible for the spread an popularity of Wing Chun. The movies are well cast an acted (Except: China, why o you keep casting Huang Xiao Ming as a hotheaded teen? The dude's in his mid-30s. Actually, maybe late-30s now. Not that he isn't good and all, but...), but the main raw is the martial arts displays, which are stunning. The first movie is excellent an stands well on its own. The secon is largely a worthy followup an also a good movie, but suffers from a case of trying to outdo it's predecessor, losing some of what made the first work in the process. (In particular, Ip Man's martial arts and personal life aren't as well balanced, and the fight senes rely a bit more of effects and flash, and not quite as much on skill.) The movies are highly redcommended for martial arts fans.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: Pretty obviously an attempt to keep the franchise going before people stop caring and move on, it's largely fun but the characters I was most interested in are gone? (Off being pirate kings and dead/undead.) I think I finished the third movie ready to watch Jack and Barbossa chase each other around the Caribbean for a few hours then had reconsidered that within a couple weeks. But it was fun and I liked Anjelica (Though wasn't big on how her plot ended-hopefully she torments Jack a lot in the next movie. Odd courtship rituals those 2 have. Also, wasn't she supposed to have a pretty noticable scar?) an kin of want to applaud whoever decided that the world needed and angsty forbidden romance between a priest and a mermaid. (Sam Claflin is trying to be in all the epics isn't he?)
Red Cliff: (The almost 5 hour version, not the heavily edited US release.) I had tried watching this a while back but was turned off by the fact that the only woman in the first half hour threw herself doen a well about 5 minutes after the opening credits ended. (I'd been told there were 2 major female characters who were excellent and believed what I was told, but lacked the patience to wait for them.) The movie is pretty good and I can actually see it being longer before I can see it being shorter. The battle scenes were some of the best I've seen in a movie yet were actually among the less interesting parts, and the scheming and strategizing and spying were actually more interesting, and the cast was generally excellent. (I don't think Lin Chi-Ling had quite the screen presence needed for Xiao Qiao, but more from inexperience than lack of ability. I actually can't help but think the role was written for Fan Bing Bing, or someone like her.) One of these days, I'll get aroun to reaing The Romance of Three Kingdoms or watching the recent series based on it, but the inevitable long stretches with no women in sight on't help with motivation.
The Runaways: Indie movie about Joan Jett and Cherie Currie when they were members of the rock band "The Runaways." Pretty good, though, though a bit heavy on the bad language and drug use for me. (Not a criticism, as it's pretty accurate to my understanding, and what I went in expecting.) I thought it did a particularly good job with it's portrayal of the music scene and rise and fall of musicians at the time, and especially thought Kristen Stewart did a good job with the androgynous screen presence.
Taken: Largely fun and fastpaced though sometimes iffy action movie that has Cuck levels of casting geekery. As in, Shannon from Lost is the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul and Jean Grey, her stepfather is Percy from Nikita, and her best friend is the original Ruby (and only one i saw) from Supernatural. I was somewhat in awe of the casting. Inescapable comparisons to Missing, which came along several years later, but I suspect helped enhnce my "Well, actually, modern human slavery isn't just something that happens to rich white American girls foolish enough to tell the first person that they meet that they're all alone in an unfamiliar city..."
Underworld: Awakening: A somewhat bad movie that is fabulous because it has lots of Kate Beckinsale in pleather, shooting things and badass little girls and fun tropes with a side of women bonding (often over corpses they just created). I mean, If you didn't watch the first 2 (the 3rd is a separate matter) for Kate Beckinsale in pleather, shooting things, I'm not sure what you got out of it. (Mind you, if you take out the first 6 minutes of flashbacks and infodumping and the last 10 minutes of credits, you have about 75 minutes of a plot that's pretty much Selene Doing Violent Stuff with stuff to justify it.) Also, Dyson from Lost Girl is there as a scary evil werewolf. I figure his agent heard they were looking for a scary werewolf prone to ripping off his clothes and sent some footage over. Inevitable sequel, please do not be set 10~ years later and pair Eve and David.
The Warring States: A 2011 movie set in China's "Warring States" era, focusing on Sun Bin and his role in the conflict between the Qi and Wei kingdoms. A bit hit and miss in places but overall enjoyable for most of the movie. I think I preferred the first half, which was largely taken up by Sun Bin's attempts to court a rather violent and temperamental enemy commander, (First scene: She leads an army into battle. Second scene: She executes captured enemy soldiers. Third scene: Her army has been infiltrated and she singlehandedly takes down a few dozen enemy soldiers on foot. Most of the courtship consists of her attacking him anytime the awkward courting results in the stirring of icky feelings.) but the second half had major highlights too, particularly everything involving and leading up to a jailbreak. The costumes, fight/battle scenes and acting were all good, but nothing incredibly original. Worth watching, but warning for a long period of torture towards the middle.
Yeh Vaada Rada: Wonderfully cheesy and cracky 80s Bollywood mmovie about an unsuitable young singer who is disfigured in a car accident, after which her (rich heir to a corporation) boyfriend is told she's dead and proceeds to grow and emo beard and spend months mooning over a 5 foot tall snapshot of her. And then she returns with a new face after plastic surgery but thinks he's moved on. The first part was kind of meh but entertaining, but from the plastic surgery onward it was a blast. I am especially fond of the cheesy sound effects, especialy the OMG SUSPENSEFUL horror movie music that played in her operations and whenever someone saw her after the accident.