What Movies Have You Seen Recently?

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dauer

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I thought I remembered a thread about this once upon a time, but I couldn't find anything. What movies have you seen recently and what did you think of them?

I just rented Ushpizin and Iron Monkey. Ushpizin was produced by a hasidic community in Israel and has received international attention. It's about a couple of recently religious Breslover hasidim trying to conceive who receive some unexpected guests from the past over the holiday of Sukkot. Very entertaining. Moving. Great all around pick.

Iron Monkey is a wire-fu movie about Robin Hood... I mean the Iron Monkey... Amazing martial arts sequences. A lot of fun. A little cheese. Good times. Good times. So that was yesterday. Today, high on wire-fu, I got a good kung fu movie, Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee. My only complaint is that it's a bit too Hollywood at times. But it's still a great picture. I think I'm going to rate movies in Yay!s.

Ushpizin gets 4 1/2 Yay!s. You know it was funny. I had the English captions on, but I was listening to the Hebrew, and every now and again I'd hear the Hebrew and see the English and think to myself, "That does not capture the language at all." Kol HaKavod becomes "Very nice."??? Gevalt! And that's only the one I can remember. It got much worse than that. However, that didn't hurt the film at all. Also, the two guests, they didn't have so much depth to them, but I don't think they needed it so much in order for the film to work. Still, nitpick I must.

Iron Monkey I give 5 Yay!s shouted while flying around on wires.

Enter the Dragon I give 3 1/2 Yay!s. I would have only given it 3, but I have to admit that I was entertained throughout the whole film. So it gets an extra 1/2.

Dauer
 
Torpedonostsy A movie based on the writings of Yuri German, an actual member of a torpedo bomber squadron during WWII. Not for people who are depressed!

Idi i smotri - Another WWII movie about a Belorussian boy coming of age during the German occupation of Belorus. Another movie not for the depressed!

Kavkazskii plennik - A movie about the capture of two Russian soldiers by Chechen rebels and the man who is holding them (hoping to barter the soldiers for his son who was captured by Russian soldiers and is being held in a Russian prison.) Again, not for the depressed!

Brat - A movie about Russian organized crime (albeit fictionalized.) Not for the weak of stomach!

The Storyteller - Jim Henson & Co. retelling nine different folk tales from different parts of the world with the help of several live actors (have to watch something far lighter after the others, y'know!)

The Russian movies have English subtitles, making it easier to understand what's going on in the dialogue (at least, it does for me since my Russian is extremely weak.) I shall ask a couple of my friends here in Milwaukee if I could borrow a couple of anime films they have to get the memories of the Russian films out of my head.

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine
 
When I was in school I used to watch Enter the Dragon nearly every day. To this day, I can still speak along with the action. Hey, you put in the effort, the rewards are obvious.

Maybe you can help me, I'm trying to remember the name of a kung fu spoof movie I saw a while back. I think it was something like Kung pao, and then a subtitle, any ideas?

I watched Snatch again the other day. Great movie, some really sharp dialogue, fast paced, and excellently cast. One of them movies I could watch again and again. 4 yays.
 
I saw the new version of The Omen. It was very true to the original, and for this reason I could really appreciate it, since I really loved the original version.

Dauer
 
Kindest Regards, all!

Been on a John Wayne kick recently: The sons of Katie Elder, The man who shot Liberty Valence, McLintock, and Angel and the Badman. Also, Paint Your Wagon with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. (Didn't know ol' Clint could sing...he can't if this is the best he can muster!) Ah, a little bit of nostalgic fun, and the price was right.
 
HAROLD AND MAUDE with Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort, possibly the best dark comedy film ever made, and an effective and clever satire about the attitudes of death and depression that seemed to enter our culture with the idiocy of the Vietnam war era.

flow....:p
 
I saw the new Superman movie at the weekend. Like a lot of movies nowadays, there's a beginning, an end, but no middle.
You don't really get a sense of what Superman is saving the world from.

Saw bits and bobs of Superman II on TV (the one with those three superpeople who are dressed in black), so much better, it had a real story.

To compare it to other recent superhero movies, on a par with X-men 3, but not a patch on last year's Batman, or either of the Spiderman movies.
 
Superman is full of Christian images this time....did I miss them all last time?

Returns-implied resurection a number of times..

Saviour mentioned numerous times, he being the Messiah.

His being in the world but not of it.

A couple images flying he even hovered like on a cross...

Lex Luther gets his wealth as a gigolo...growing crystals...

all quite interesting.

Anyone have comments on this aspect?
 
wil said:
Returns-implied resurection a number of times..
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Don't really buy into this connection, it's just that there hasn't been a Superman movie for a while.

wil said:
Saviour mentioned numerous times, he being the Messiah.
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That doesn't necessarily follow, Superman saves people, therefore he is a saviour. I think that's all that was meant.

wil said:
His being in the world but not of it.
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He's an alien.

wil said:
A couple images flying he even hovered like on a cross...
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True, but I can't help feeling you're reading a bit too much into all of these things. Just because paralells can be drawn does not mean that they should be.
 
cavalier said:
...I can't help feeling you're reading a bit too much into all of these things. Just because paralells can be drawn does not mean that they should be.
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Musta just been a moment for me...I do want to see it again, as I felt that a lot of this was intentional. I was never a big superman fan...never read the comic books, did watch some of the old black and white (and they promo'd the trailer for a film on the death/suicide/murder of the original actor during the previews, that felt strange) So I don't know the whole superman story, but this one brought out the good/evil, lex luther/lucifer thought...the connections seemed so strong to me, I wondered if they were buried in previous stuff and I wasn't aware...

been wrong before...
 
(slight SPOILER alert for Superman Returns ... )

I think the connections between Superman and Messiah/Savior (in the Christian sense) were definitely meant to be ... or at least, when I heard the word `saviour,' I thought the same thing as you did, wil. Also, Lois Lane's article on how the world didn't need Superman, seemed to figure into it.

Another scene that helps drive this home is when Superman lifts Lois up into the sky above Metropolis, and asks her what she hears. "Nothing," she says. Then he says something about hearing the sounds (cries of the people?) of a city or a world that needs him. I thought this was poignant ...

Other movies I've seen recently are:
  • The Garfield movie
  • Click
  • Da Vinci Code
  • Syriana
  • The Patriot
  • Cars
  • Over the Hedge
All of these animated flicks were pretty good, being entertaining both for kids and adults, but also featuring an actual storyline worth following - and a decent moral in each case. :)

Click, with Adam Sandler and Christopher Walken, was just awesome! It was funny for the first half, then morphs into a drama film - with good acting from Sandler in both "aspects." It's almost like two films in one ... and worth seeing for either half, imo.

The Patriot just flat rocked. I had never gotten around to seeing it. Of course, it was a small moment of pride for me at the very end, when the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was presented as pretty much the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War, and the turning point for Cornwallis' forces. This is historical truth, though a bit overdone in the movie. I grew up about a mile from that battlefield (Guilford Courthouse), witnessing reenactments (every March 15th), and learning about my city's namesake - General Greene, for Greensboro. And I never knew that the movie reached its crescendo (dénouement, whatever) with this episode, though it makes sense ...

But of course, Da Vinci Code has got to be one of the biggest let-downs of any movie I've seen for ages! I give the book FIVE STARS, but the movie, ONE. :( Even Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, and Jean Reno couldn't save it. Poor Ron Howard ... I mean, maybe if they'd stuck to the book more closely, it could have had hope. Oh well, it least it got people interested in the subject ... and hopefully people will READ the book!

Syriana is something you just have to see, if you're the least bit interested in what's going on with American politics, the war (for oil) in Iraq, and the incredible socio-political tensions in the Middle East. The movie is very well done, with excellent performances by Matt Damon and George Clooney, who won all sorts of awards for it ...

cheers,

taijasi
 
cavalier said:
...I'm curious, did these things add anything to the movie for you?
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Gotta start with a caveat...as a movie goer I enjoy getting lost in the fantasy, being able to see Clint Eastwood or whoever in various roles and not seeing Clint Eastwood. Movie critics and their cinemetography stuff drives me crazy, was I sucked in, did it make me laugh, cry, think...etc. Those aer the movies I like.

That being said, I also enjoy the spiritual cinema stuff and having discussions afterward on the story and the story within that...

For this one, the references caused me to come out of the movie and into my mind, 'What was that, why is that reference so strong? I didn't know there was some underlying theme to Superman...has there always been?'

So the answer is no, it detracted from sitting and enjoying the movie for the movies sake... (Sorta like bugs or ants, whichever one got me thinking conspiracy theories with the grasshopper 'hueys')
 
For another good kung fu spoof, cavalier, try 'Shaolin Soccer'. A Chinese movie, imagine that. I had a hard time finding it, but I live in small town. It's worth the search.

As for a recent movie for me, I was very moved by 'Hotel Rwanda'. Anyone who hasn't seen it should. Kind of a historic thing that I think people should be aware about, particularly because of continuing violence in places like Darfur.
 
sara[h]ng said:
try 'Shaolin Soccer'.
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Yeah, it's pretty easy to get hold of over here, but I've still never seen it. Next time I go down to the rental store maybe.
sara[h]ng said:
A Chinese movie, imagine that.
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I'm curious as to what that means.
 
Just saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean. There are some good parts, including a couple of excellent sword-fight sequences, overall though, I was a bit bored. I don't think the story was as strong as last time, though I guess part of that is because they had to set up the third part. Some of the acting was a bit weak, not convinced of Keira Knightly's skills, and though Bloom may well be very pretty, he also seems a bit wooden. Even Depp at times appeared to be impersonating his original performance, rather than being the character.
2 out of 5, at best.
 
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