What movie are you watching right now?

[Kenny]

Do you really want to know?

[Riku Rose]

It looks like it's going to be what I was waiting to happen during the entire first movie.

[Sonikku]

Anyone else interested in seeing this?

[Sonikku]

^I'm in it, so yeah.

[SaM_4000]

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973)



This is my favourite adaptation of the fantastic Oscar Wilde novel. Shane Briant is a great fit as Dorian but it is Nigel Davenport as Sir Harry that makes this movie, such a fantastic performance as the charismatic and corrupting Sir Harry definitely my favourite interpretation of the character through the films that I have seen (that being the 1945 & 2009 adaptations).

[Thief]

^ just read the book a couple weeks ago due to a strong recommendation from a friend of mine. Honestly, didn't particularly enjoy it all that much. Is the movie better? I might have to give it a watch out of curiosity.

[SaM_4000]

^Most the film adaptations don't differ too much from the book, maybe in the films they imply certain things from the book which they do not show. Overall I would say If you disliked the book then you most probably would dislike the movie adaptations.
Although, I would suggest if you were to start, you may be best watching 1945 adaptation first since that is the most celebrated version of the bunch.

[Axm]

Godzilla! Loved it! The fights were awesome and the story was good.

[Crimson Ryan]

Expendables 3

Wow, that was dull. Really disappointing. It really should of been a spin-off film of its own and not part of the series.
Statham, Crews, Lundgren etc, all apart from Stallone, take a back seat to a cast of no names. The entire time I was thinking who are these people and why should I care?

The opening action scene was great. Without spoiling anything, the spotlight is on Wesley Snipes. He stole the show and really deserved it.

After a big scene and the introduction to Mel Gibson's character, the films pacing drops considerably to Sly and Kelsey Grammar fumbling around from place to place casting these no names I mentioned until another rushed big action finale.

Schwarzenegger and Jet Li barely appear, and truthfully I didn't think much of Mel as the villain.

Sly has ruined the franchise with this entry if you ask me. The novelty of ageing action stars in today's superhero world has run its course and it's his fault.

I don't recommend a cinema trip to see this. But it isn't even out yet. Funny that..

[Sonikku]

Trying to look into a movie called "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" but it seems like no one has ever heard of it. Surprising given it's studio ghibli background.

[OL]

Saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes last week. Great stuff. Every bit worthy of the praise its gotten so far.
One thing that struck me about it: the characters actually talk things out. It occurs to me that a huge amount of the conflicts that come up in movies and tv could easily be solved if people just explained the fucking situation to each other. It's shocking how little that actually happens. But in this particular movie, that's basically the first 40 minutes or so. There's tons of tension the whole time, but the characters actually bother to explain their side of things to their potential antagonists, and things initially work out because of it. It's only when certain characters take deliberate actions to start some shit that things go to hell.
That's really the way it ought to be.

Also watched Tokyo Drifter. Saw it years and years ago, but it seemed much more entertaining this time around, probably because I'm more familiar with the genre and the styles of the time period this time. I remember feeling like it was a bit slow last time, but it didn't seem that way at all this time. Funny how familiarity and an understanding of context can totally change your viewing experience.
The fact that the movie is so colorful also made me spot something really cool that I never paid any mind to before: the muzzle flash coming out of the guns in sixties Japanese flicks was freakin' bright pink. I never noticed it before, but now looking at other movies from the time, I notice that was just how they did it back then. And it really is striking as hell. If I were ever to make a movie, I'd want to use that kind of muzzle flare. It just adds a really cool kind of stylishness to things.

[Kenny]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).

It's actually not that bad. Granted, there were several things that WERE bad but they nailed the turtles so well that you come out forgiving some of the choices they made.

Basically any scene with the Turtles and the full on armor Shredder was great. I still wasn't sold at their weird new look at first but it grows on you, mostly because their personalities are still charming. Would've been great if they had the classic look, but eh whatever. Most of their jokes hit very well and the action was superb, especially when the Turtles are quipping during it. Honestly if they didn't nail the Turtles' personality at ALL, the whole thing would've been abysmal at very best. But they did so it was an utter delight.

Without spoiling it, Megan Fox as April 'O Niel was HORRIFIC. I mean just BAD. Will Arnett as Vern was almost as bad, almost every joke he tried to tell was a complete and utter miss. The story was okay, I guess. Very contrived and I don't agree with some of the things they put in there.

But at the end of the day, if all you care about is an entertaining Turtles film, this will certainly deliver. I just can't wait for the super fancut that eliminates EVERYTHING that isn't Shredder or Turtles based (Splinter was cool too, so him included).

[Axm]

^I was already too scared waste my money watching that movie in theaters, now I know ill just wait for a rental.


Just saw Battle for Los Angeles.
Kinda meh.. if you wanna get your military hoorah rocks off it's cool, otherwise its a pretty disappointing dull movie all around.

[Kenny]

Can't say I blame you, since I did see it for free. A rental would be fine because if the other stuff that DIDN'T feature the turtles was good, I'd totally recommend seeing it full price in theaters.

But the she-bitch that is Megan Fox basically ruins that chance altogether. They're just lucky the Turtles are still that awesome to deserve a watch at least.

[OL]

Just watched the original Zeiram for about the third time.
You know, people usually like to give out the description for old B-movies like this that they're "so bad, they're good."
In the case of Zeiram though, I wouldn't really say that's the case. I'd say the first part of the phrase is unnecessary; Zeiram simply is good.
Sure, it has a lower budget, and technically counts as tokusatsu, which lends it an inherent sense of cheesiness. But more importantly, the movie is genuinely entertaining. And the entertainment doesn't stem from the fact that it's laughably bad by any means; it's just well-directed and has a cool sense of visual design. I can't get enough of Keita Amemiya's work. Everything he touches seems to have at least some merit.
Planning to watch the second movie later. It's been a while, but I remember liking it even more than the first, mainly because Amemiya was a little freer to go a bit nuts with the visuals and all.

I'm not usually one to clamor for remakes, but I think it'd be really cool if Keita Amemiya eventually decided to revisit this franchise. He's been doing well with the Garo series for several years now, so he probably has enough sway to get something like that made. And if not a remake, even another sequel to Zeiram would be great. Yuko Moriyama is only in her mid-40s now, and last time I saw she still looked pretty damn good. It'd be beyond awesome to see an older version of Iria still bounty hunting and fighting bio-monsters. I'm sure something like that won't happen (it doesn't really seem like the Japanese are interested in mature action heroes these days), but the thought of it is cool either way.