Movie mini reviews

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » January 27th, 2010, 10:12

Dog Pants wrote:Interesting stuff there MJ. I always feel there's gems out there in foreign languages that get overlooked because so many people will only watch films in English. Presumably you didn't need subtitles though.

Well, the counterfeiters and the lives of others are entirely in German, but John Rabe has all the actors speak their original language, so you get a mess of German, English, Chinese and Japanese. It's like living in Belgium!
Overall though, they mostly speak English as the Nanking committee has Americans in it (including Steve Buscemi) and quite frankly it works way better than the comedy German accents Hollywood always uses in their films, but the two films I liked up there are really worth watching if you can be arsed to read subtitles.

Bomberesque wrote:I don't watch many forin language films unless I get them off Amazon because they seem to peddle special versions of them over here with dubbed french and/or subtitles in Dutch but no ingrish subtitles so I'm stuck with Korean (or whatever the VO is), french or Dutch, none of which I know well enough (or can be bothered to learn)

Can't really blame for you not wanting to learn our languages, neither of them get you very far in life (although French is very handy when you live in Brussels)
Ironically I buy all my films from amazon.uk, as dvd's here are ludicrously expensive, I once bought an alien dvd set for 80 bleeding euros! One good point though is that films are never dubbed, which many of our neighbouring countries do.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » January 27th, 2010, 10:26

bomberesque wrote:boobies

I think The Lives of Others might have some boobies in it, or at least some kind of sex scene. Not in the Hollywood style mind.

bomberesque · Post by **bomberesque** » January 27th, 2010, 10:53

Mr. Johnson wrote:Can't really blame for you not wanting to learn our languages, neither of them get you very far in life (although French is very handy when you live in Brussels).

I can get by in French and my Vlaams is improving (mostly technical stuff though) but I'm nowhere good enough at either to follow written subtitles on a movie screen ... I can only just manage that in English......

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » January 27th, 2010, 11:52

When I watch English language films, I always turn on the subtitles, in English. It's not that I don't understand English, but I sometimes have a hard time following due to lack of attention span. It's a good way of learning new words I find.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » January 27th, 2010, 11:56

bomberesque wrote:
I can get by in French and my Vlaams is improving (mostly technical stuff though) but I'm nowhere good enough at either to follow written subtitles on a movie screen ... I can only just manage that in English......

You probably noticed that the language thing is a big problem here, I'm very tolerant about it and try to help people in their own language as best as I can. I don't speak French however, and when I go to Brussels and don't feel like making an ass of myself, I often pretend to be an English tourist, works every time.

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 27th, 2010, 12:28

amblin · Post by **amblin** » January 27th, 2010, 14:11

bomberesque · Post by **bomberesque** » January 27th, 2010, 14:25

and I know Walloons who claim they pretend to be french tourists when they're in Flanders and suddenly the locals speak french!

Belgium is like the UK north/south divide added to the gap across the latin - Germanic divide (represented for us by the channel and the smelly french on the other side of it) all rolled into one messy muddle with Brussels somewhere on the flemish side of the middle, but populated by french speakers. It's all just too familiar whilst at the same time being overwhelmingly confusing.

/edit; I forgot to say; the beer, chips and chocolate make up for all the amusing politics about a billion times over. Which is why we're looking for a house to buy atm (actually I think that's just Bubble's way of stopping me buying a new car / bike but anyway, we are looking...)

Post by **Roman Totale** » January 27th, 2010, 17:58

Mr. Johnson wrote:
Das Leben der Anderen (The lives of others)

This film, on the other hand, is a gem.
It's situated in East Germany in 1984, and is about a stasi captain that is ordered to monitor a writer that is suspected of anti-communist activities. The acting is all superbly done and the way they portrayed the bleak and mind-destroying East Germany is scarily well done and gives an interesting insight into the DDR.
It won fucktons of awards and as far as I'm concerned they were all deserved, watch this!

I really want to watch this - I've heard very good things about it.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » January 27th, 2010, 18:06

Roman Totale wrote:I really want to watch this - I've heard very good things about it.

Actually, turns out I have it. win.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » January 27th, 2010, 22:49

Very good film, good call mister J.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » February 9th, 2010, 18:32

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (As one of the songs it featured is stuck in my head I thought I'd review.)

Billed as the real Spinal Tap, that's pretty much what it is, but not quite as good. The story meanders along and isn't particularly gripping. The main "character" is about as bright as an actual anvil, but likeable enough. It's worth seeing it through to the end for the pay-off and it's reasonably entertaining generally.

7/10

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 12th, 2010, 10:53

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Not too bad, felt a little forced and like it was trying too hard in places, but mostly good clean fun.

Seemed to angle itself for a sequel though, which would be a bit of a shame.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » February 12th, 2010, 19:54

They Live (1988)

Somewhat 'under the radar' John Carpenter film about a man who finds a pair of sunglasses that show the world as it really is, controlled by aliens that hide in high society and urge us to reproduce and consume, so they can reap the benefits. Very entertaining blend of 'Invasion of the body snatchers' and 'the matrix', and also the origin of the famous Duke Nukem quote "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. ...and I'm all outta bubblegum" Classic Carpenter stuff.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 12th, 2010, 19:56

I've got They Live on DVD. Great film, in a quite bad but in a good way great, and essential viewing for fans (such as me) of grim dystopias.

Post by **FatherJack** » February 12th, 2010, 21:19

One of my all-time favourite films. Apart from the stupid fight scene.

OBEY<- link to the short story it's based on

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » February 12th, 2010, 21:31

FatherJack wrote:One of my all-time favourite films. Apart from the stupid fight scene.

OBEY

Yeah, the fight is pretty irrelevant to everything else, he could've just asked him to put the glasses on.

Post by **HereComesPete** » February 12th, 2010, 22:30

Mr. Johnson wrote:They Live (1988)

Am I being crazy or is this getting re-made?

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 12th, 2010, 22:44

Some internet denizen on IMDB wrote:"They are remaking They Live as we speak."

I can just imagine how defanged a remake will be. It will probably be a teen version, PG-13 and the aliens will be the rich kids in school or some stupid *beep* I can almost guarantee it will have none of the satire that makes the first one so good.

Which will be a shame, because right now it kind of feels like we are living in the movie.

And of course no Roddy or Keith David...

Alas, he's probably right.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » February 12th, 2010, 22:44

Repo man (1984)

I find it hard to describe this film, I've only just watched it and I don't know what to make of it, but I'm under the impression it's brilliant. I can't give a proper description or anything without giving things away, so enjoy this for yourself.

HereComesPete wrote:
Am I being crazy or is this getting re-made?

You're not, they're going through John Carpenter's entire back catalogue of films, see also The Fog, Halloween and Assault on precinct 13. I've only seen the latter remake and I thought it was a piece of wank compared to the excellent original.