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  • Posts: 5,767
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Blackhat (2015)
    To my fellow Michael Mann-iacs friends - @DarthDimi, @Creasy47, @boldfinger and others - there is only one word I can say: WOW. One hell of a ride for 2 hours, IMO one of the most stylish thrillers I've seen in years. I'm a huge fan of Asian culture, and seeing all these stunning asian locations in the breathtaking Mann cinematography, it was simply epic. This is now my 2nd favorite Mann film after 'Collateral'. Yes, 2nd place, because it is a fantastic film, and it needs support after all the criticism it received. Michael Mann, please continue making movies! =D>

    I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it, brother. I, too, was thoroughly surprised by how critically loathed it was: just another entertaining thrill ride by Michael Mann to me!
    I just bought it on br, and it´s great to see it again. The only criticism I could conjure up would be that there could have been a little more sharp dialogue. But that is only when I directly compare Blackhat with other Mann crime films, whereas in the context of its own narrative, Blackhat works fine just as it is.


    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Hi-tech computer wizardry looks cool but fails to get most of us involved. Unlike a good detective story, where you can pick up physical clues along with the investigator and try to connect the dots yourself, techno-thrillers usually demand that we just go with it and accept the almightiness of the hackers.
    I´d like to add that one basic point of interest in Mann´s crime-related films has always been to watch professionals do their work and not really knowing where the whole thing is going to. Be it James Caan´s Thief, or Manhunter´s borderline-psycho Graham, or McAuley´s crew in Heat, or their antagonists from the LAPD, or Cruise in Collateral, or Miami Vice, or Dillinger and the FBI, all those stories heavily involved the beauty of watching the cracks do their thing and witness the slow unfolding of a picture. A concept not at all unlike Dashiell Hammett detective stories. And those were good detective stories ;-).

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,530
    @DaltonCraig007, @boldfinger, @chrisisall, @Creasy47
    We are obviously the Michael Mann fans here. And I'm glad to read some love for Blackhat. I wonder if we're ever going to see a new film of his. He is over 72 by now...
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,690
    @DarthDimi, look at Scorsese who is doing his historical japanese film, 'Silence' coming out late this year. Isn't he about 76 years old now? So I'm hopeful Mann can do another film. What if Mann does another 'Collateral-esque film' (One killer, one night. In a non american city. Tokyo? Singapore? Hong Kong!) Only this time, instead of Cruise as the badass slick killer, it's... Timothy Dalton? If that were to happen, I think I would watch such film 5 times a day for 6 consecutive months.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    72 is nothing. Scorsese is a good example, as are Ridley Scott and Clint Eastwood.
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 5,767
    How old is George Miller? 70? Young gun... ;-)

    @DaltonCraig007, Mann seems to have a knack for variety and pursuing his own vision, which is not always congruent with box office success. But he´s got to take care of his pension like everyone else, so let´s hope that someone offers him big bucks for another big crime film :-).
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 7,964
    I'm definitely going to check out Blackhat! I generally don't pay attention to what the critics say but this movie was so universally trashed that I didn't give it a look.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,690
    The American (2010)
    Very good film, based on the trailer, you'd think the film is full of action, but it isn't, which may be why the film got panned by a lot of people. They may not be a lot going in during the 100 minutes, but it is never boring, the film is quite hypnotic. Breathtaking locations and cinematography, and fantastic acting from Clooney. Well worth a watch if you are looking into a hitman movie that's quite unique in the movie world today.

    The Love Punch (2013)
    A total blast this was! The plot is ridiculous, the film is ridiculous, but Brosnan, Timothy Spall and Emma Thompson are visibly enjoying themselves, it's hard not to enjoy the film and laugh with them for 90 minutes. To put it simply, Brosnan in this film seemed to have the same amount of fun as Moore had during MR.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,530
    @DaltonCraig007, I like your idea, sir! And like @boldfinger stated, another big crime film is what I'd like to get from him. After all, he's the Mann! ;-)
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,690
    Face/Off (1997)
    Been a while since I've last seen it. This is certainly one of my favorite films of all time. Cage and Travolta bring the A-Game in this, they are a joy to watch, John Woo's directing style is A-Class. The film is 2+ hours of pure, total, uncompromising entertainement. Man, the 1990's were a good decade! I could see this film a hundred more time, it's a solid 10/10 from me.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,894
    The_Ambassador-350814061-large.jpg

    Robert Mitchum tops the fine cast in this ok 80's political thriller.

    Peter Hacker (Mitchum), is a US ambassador to Israel. His wife, Alex (Burstyn), is having an affair with a member of the PLO (Testi). A third party has evidence of the affair, and is trying to blackmail Hacker, to get him to back down from his attempt to bring peace to the people of the Middle East. Peter's head of security and right hand man, Frank (Rock Hudson, in his final screen role), does what he can to shield Peter from a potential sh*t storm blowing his way.

    First, and foremost, this is a political thriller. But being a Golan-Globus produced, J Lee Thompson directed film, there is some action involved.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    We were just watching Shaolin with Andy Lau & Jackie Chan... a great movie so far, but a little heavy for me at the moment with my Dad passing so recently and all. We'll watch the last half later when I can deal.
  • Posts: 5,767
    @MajorDSmythe, that´s a fine poster there for The Ambassador. On second sight the hand with the gun is quite funny.

    @chrisisall, it´s sad to hear of your loss! Be strong and let him live on through your good deeds!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The_Ambassador-350814061-large.jpg

    Robert Mitchum tops the fine cast in this ok 80's political thriller.

    Peter Hacker (Mitchum), is a US ambassador to Israel. His wife, Alex (Burstyn), is having an affair with a member of the PLO (Testi). A third party has evidence of the affair, and is trying to blackmail Hacker, to get him to back down from his attempt to bring peace to the people of the Middle East. Peter's head of security and right hand man, Frank (Rock Hudson, in his final screen role), does what he can to shield Peter from a potential sh*t storm blowing his way.

    First, and foremost, this is a political thriller. But being a Golan-Globus produced, J Lee Thompson directed film, there is some action involved.

    I saw that in the cinema, didn t know a thing about the film. Can t remember a thing about it, either.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    :)) I can remember seeing it on video, in the early days of video, but I too
    Can't remember a thing about it.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    We watched the other half of Shaolin just now, really good. Not what I thought it would be... a story of one character's inner journey who is not a Shaolin monk. Andy Lau was excellent, as was Nicholas Tse.
    Recommended.
  • Posts: 2,081
    The Great Gatsby - Visually kinda pretty and colourful - most of the time in a good way, at times not. Too much Tobey Maguire for me, but otherwise I liked the cast. I hated the use of some bloody awful modern music which really took me out of the movie (thank goodness all music in it wasn't irritating). Why not use some good music from the period instead? Oh well... On the whole an okay movie.

    J.Edgar - At times boring, at times interesting. A very good cast. I thought I hadn't seen this before, but noticed very quickly I had. Ooops. Guess it hadn't made a huge impression or anything - despite actually being pretty good in various sorts of ways.

    U-571 - A submarine film. WW2. Not necessarily bad, but... just not for me. In many ways predictable and cliched (and the music was a war film yawn).
  • Posts: 6,432
    Pain and Gain The film is a bit mad, this film is funny in a multitude of ways.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,894
    10a2824461d0d33563d9379b46a0c716.jpg

    Van Damme's latest 'crash, bang, wallop actioner' has a little more emotion than you might expect.
    JCVD is in china to donate one of his kidneys to his sickly niece. That is, until he gets sozzled one night, and wakes up in a bath filled with ice cold water, and a fresh wound on his back. Against the clock, Van Damme hits the streets, and anyone who gets in his way, to get back what was taken from him. Not the best Van Damme film, though not the worst either.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,151
    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - super sequel to the excellent Rise.......
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    And taking CGI to the next level.
  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    Posts: 4,151
    Yep, it really did.
  • Posts: 6,432
    The Rocketeer Watching as homage to James Horner, recently watched this though to me a film I can pick up at anytime. Horners score contributes greatly to the fun and tone of this film, you know its Horner as it has many of his cues though that's not a bad thing in anyway.
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 2,081
    The American
    Finally saw this. I've always liked Anton Corbijn as a photographer. I like him as a music video maker. And so on. An interesting film maker, too. The movie is slow-moving, has little dialogue and at times not music, either. The compositions are beautiful. Very much a Corbijn work. Clooney as the lead is very good.

    Leap Year
    Utterly predictable silly movie. Not too bad, though, considering the genre - and having seen This Means War recently... well, compared to that this was excellent.

    Mama
    An okay horror film.

    28 Days Later
    Personally I don't like being given alternative endings. Decide what you wanna do with the ending and stick to it. I actually preferred the "what if" version that came after the credits, it fits the film and its story much better, and isn't such a cliché. Apparently the director and the writer consider that the true ending as well. Stupid test audiences. And it's even more stupid to decide how movies should end like that. (If audiences had decided, for instance, how Casablanca would end, well... it would have been different for sure, and worse as well. Etc. - Obviously I'm not comparing the two movies in any way... that was just an example of why audiences shouldn't be allowed to decide endings.)

    American Gangster
    An excellent cast, obviously, and I'm sure it was well made and all. Somehow I just didn't really care about the story or the characters that much, though.
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 5,767
    Amy
    An impressive, facetted documentary about the late Amy Winehouse, managing to add a lot of personality to the sad story we all know from the media. An incredibly sweet girl slowly slipping into wrong decisions, without the documentary justifying anything or taking sides. Pulls you down quite a bit in the second half, but seeing the home vid footage taken shortly before she became famous gives a strong balance.
    If you like music docs, watch this.



    @Tuulia, I can associate with your feelings concerning American Gangster. Lots of fantastic elements, yet it somehow didn´t manage to pull me in.
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 6,432
    The Incredible Hulk Never been a fan of this film, though I have always been a completionist when it comes to movie series (Excluding a Tim Burton film with apes in). Bought last week so now I have all the released MCU movies on Bluray. Always thought this film looked average on dvd, vast improvement on Bluray certainly more watchable with regards to the visual effects.

    The Alternative opening scene was interesting, kind of ties into dialogue from Avengers Assemble
    Bruce appears to be in Alaska in what appears to be a Shining homage, then climbs snowey mountains in a Rocky IV homage. Reaching the precipice Bruce pulls out a gun, which we assume he may shoot himself with. The Hulk reveals himself before he can pull the trigger then we have a huge avalanche.
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 11,189
    A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

    Possibly something of a companion piece to It's a Wonderful Life. While both come from opposite sides of the Atlantic, each combines spiritual fantasy with brutal reality (both films were released shortly after the end of WW2, which features heavily in the narrative of the two stories).

    Niven is excellent as the pilot who, after bailing out of his burning plane and surviving when he should have died, is caught between our world and the afterlife. A charming, well mannered gentleman one associates with that wartime generation (although he looks significantly older than 27 year old he is portraying).

    Cardiff's painting-like cinematography is captivating and his holds up surprisingly well.
  • Posts: 6,432
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

    Possibly something of a companion piece to It's a Wonderful Life. While both come from opposite sides of the Atlantic, each combines spiritual fantasy with brutal reality (both films were released shortly after the end of WW2, which features heavily in the narrative of the two stories).

    Niven is excellent as the pilot who, after bailing out of his burning plane and surviving when he should have died, is caught between our world and the afterlife. A charming, well mannered gentleman one associates with that wartime generation (although he looks significantly older than 27 year old he is portraying).

    Cardiff's painting-like cinematography is captivating and his holds up surprisingly well.
    Brilliant film seen it more times than a can remember, one of the all time great movies.
  • Posts: 6,432
    Hitchcock A total waste of time, this film offered very little and the performances were uneven especially from Hopkins.
  • quantumofsolacequantumofsolace England
    Posts: 279
    This afternoon I belatedly (by about 17 years to be precise!) caught up with Shekhar Kapur's magnificent 'Elizabeth' starring Cate Blanchett'. Didn't realise that our beloved Mr. Craig was in it until I saw his name on the opening credits. Tremendous film. Followed it with the considerably less tremendous 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'. Disappointing sequel (as 99% of 'em inevitably are, of course) that wasn't helped by a dire thudding Zimmeresque score by Craig Armstrong and Ar Rahman. Not a patch on David Hirschfelder's superb music for the former.
  • Posts: 2,081
    A Walk Among The Tombstones
    So... women being kidnapped, tortured and cut to pieces. Rrrrright. And a recovering alcoholic ex-cop investigating. How original. I like Liam Neeson, always have, and he's a good actor - which was obvious even in this - I just wish he did more... well, actually good movies.
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