What movie are you viewing at the moment?

[deepsepia]

"Tenchi Meisatsu"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1834303/

Well made Japanese historical film about a samurai astronomer and go player. Its pretty unique in subject matter, and while its sometime "cute" in an annoying Japanese way where I'd prefer serious, its a worthwhile movie.

One subtext to it-- it partly explains how the Japanese, despite being so far behind technologically, were able to catch up so quickly in the 19th century. Their underlying intellectual capital was actually very high, albeit in a steampunk sort of way (eg, lots of cleverly made analog devices).

Its one of the very few movies about the importance of celestial navigation and calendars, among other things. Its hard to film science. Extraordinary that the most memorable Isaac Newton on film was Harpo Marx . . .

[victor meldrew]

Escape From Alcatraz

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079116/

Still as enjoyable as when I first saw it in the cinema many years ago. I thought Patrick McGhoohan as the suspicious and vindictive governor was superb.

[Immy]

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Hard to put into words the experience of sitting in a theatre and finally seeing a classic that you've grown up watching annually on TV. The scope, pagentry and spectacle of DeMille's final film is the singular, incomparable achievement in biblical epics. So much so that I suspend typical critical observations such as character development or acting style and simply surrender to the grandeur on display. Few films command such attention and respect. 10/10

[victor meldrew]

Lions for Lambs

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0891527/

[chip]

Double-header of stink for me tonight. A few weeks ago I found out that my cable provider added the EPix series of channels for free. These fine folks run specials that don't get aired on the major pay networks (HBO etc) and they haul out some gems and some real cheese.

Tonight it was two classic steaming piles:

'Death Wish II'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082250/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

&

'The Toxic Avenger Part II'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098503/?ref_=nv_sr_3

They have played the entire Toxie Saga in the last couple weeks a few times, as well as other Troma classics like 'Class Of Nuke'em High' and 'Sgt. Kabukiman'.

Plus some classic cheep slashers have made it back on TV thanks to EPix, like 'Sorority House Massacre' And 'Slumber Party Massacre' and so forth. Those are fun to watch because they star so many of the lovelies that grace the forum pages here in "legitimate" acting roles.

--

[KingKeigh]

The Raid 2: After a bloody raid, an indonesian cop goes undercover in prison to befriend a high-ranking ganger's incarcerated son to infiltrate and take down the mob when they get out.

This is a sequel to one of Indonesia's most successful movies, The Raid: Redemption (2011), a foreign martial arts blockbuster that became an international hit like Thailand's Ong Bak (2003). Lots of martial arts action. Where the original movie was set in one confined area, Raid 2 involves multiple characters and multiple settings and relationships so the story should have been more complex. If they spent as much time refining the story as they did the amazing action scenes, this could be more than just a martial arts movie. And it was long as fuck for an action movie. 2 1/2 hours. 6.0





Ali: Biopic of professional boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world, Muhammad Ali.

I never got a chance to watch this till this past week. Better late than never. It's almost impossible to properly portray Ali because he was such a one of a kind personality. Any actor in that role just seems like a caricature. Will Smith does a good job. Jamie Foxx is great as assistant trainer and hype man Bundini Brown. Jon Voigt and Mario Van Pebbles as Howard Cosell and Malcolm X respectively, add to a great movie. Like all recent biopics, Ali only revolves around the the characters most successful period as a professional athlete. 7.5





Stake Land: After a vampire epidemic turns the country into a wasteland, a vampire hunter saves a young teen from slaughter and teaches him survival tactics as they search for human survivor camps.

I mistakenly thought this was a horror comedy like Zombieland so I stayed away until someone told me different. This is actually very good though there isn't much backstory of the epidemic or the characters' histories offered. Scary feral vamps instead of emo hipster vamps. More Walking Dead than Twilight. 7.5





The Super: When his recovering addict wife is seduced and taken by a drug lord, a short-order cook becomes a super hero to save her.

Funny and unexpectedly violent. Rain Wilson (The Office) is hilarious as Crimson Bolt. Ellen Page plays his sidekick, Boltie. Kevin Bacon (he's everywhere lately) is the drug dealer. 6.0

[victor meldrew]

The Lone Ranger

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210819/

Note quite Clayton Moore but found it enjoyable.

[Soapbox]

Last movie I saw was GI Joe Retaliation.

Was definitely better than the first movie, but they could have put more work into it.

[Wendigo]

Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078938/

Low budget superhero hokum with Reb Brown reprising his role of a modern super powered Captain America as Christopher Lee lurks menacingly. Connie Sellecca, Lana Wood and Katherine Justice help ease the pain of extreme cheesiness along the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3tEDwiFMF8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj8kuOVLLO0

[victor meldrew]

The Steel Helmet

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044072/

Recorded of one of the film channels, TCM, I believe and a very enjoyable war film.