Last Movie You Watched? Mark 9

I'm with Tubes. Aside from that awesome moment Python linked to, FIRST BLOOD PART II is pretty dull. Steven Berkoff is seriously underused, as is Charles Napier.

If had to rank the films, it would be:

FIRST BLOOD
RAMBO III
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II
RAMBO IV

Kurtwood Smith was barely in Rambo III. That's a shame.

A SIMPLE LIFE (2012, directed by Ann Hui). An account of the final weeks in the life of an elderly Hong Kong maid who must now be looked after by the film producer she raised from childhood. A simple film, and I mean that as a compliment. Charming and poignant fare, with a fine central performance by Deannie Ip.

Largo's Shark wrote:

I'm with Tubes. Aside from that awesome moment Python linked to, FIRST BLOOD PART II is pretty dull. Steven Berkoff is seriously underused, as is Charles Napier.

If had to rank the films, it would be:

FIRST BLOOD
RAMBO III
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II
RAMBO IV

For me:

FIRST BLOOD
RAMBO
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II
RAMBO III

My Rambo Ranking is:

FIRST BLOOD
RAMBO III
RAMBO
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II

I just think the second film is the weakest of the four. Rambo III had a great story of Trautman being taken hostage, and Rambo having to rescue him. Rambo had a decent second half, but everything from the beginning to when Rambo meets up with the mercenaries is kind of dull. There's nothing wrong with First Blood. It's just a damn good movie.

First Blood is the only interesting one of the lot. It practically belongs to another genre. The others were just tiresome and naff. I say that as someone who's not averse to 80's action flicks like Commando (then again, Arnie was funny while Sly was always irritating).

WORLD WAR ZED (2013)

A Forster zombie movie with laden with terrible CGI. Yeah. Guess it was OK for what it was.

Was waiting for the gratuitous Zionist propaganda all the bithces bithced about on the interwebs when this first came out. Didn't see it. Bithces gonna bitch.

Heh, watched the first half of that yesterday and that's the vibe I got, "okay", not terrible or great. Pretty average/mediocre. Kind of unintentionally funny too. The last part I saw was with the wall, and I was wondering why Brad Pitt was standing around like a dolt not telling those folks to stop making noise (as he had already learned by that point that noise attracts zombies).

I'm still waiting to see World War Z myself, though I was told from the first preview I saw that it wasn't going to be the book. Okay, that's not entirely true, I was told from the signing of Brad Pitt onward that it wasn't going to be the book.

The Devil at Four O'Clock

a precursor to all those disaster movies of the 70s. Except like some of the bad ones it takes about an hour for the disaster, a volcano, to happen. It's not too bad a movie, probably because Spencer Tracy is captivating with his performance and there's always something about Sinatra. Yet the dodgy back projection hinders, such as when our heroic Marcel drowns in quicksand...almost as if they stuck him in a bath and had blue screen behind. The lava sets are sometimes convincing but more often than not remind me of a Doug McClure film.
Finally, when the volcano properly erupts (here it looks like a set explosion, the flames etc) the thing goes off like an atom bomb. When the flash dies, the island and dear old Sinatra/Tracy are no more.

Aside, it's good to see Bernie Hamilton outside of Starsky & Hutch and the ever beautiful Barbara Luna.

Makeshift Python wrote:

Heh, watched the first half of that yesterday and that's the vibe I got, "okay", not terrible or great. Pretty average/mediocre. Kind of unintentionally funny too. The last part I saw was with the wall, and I was wondering why Brad Pitt was standing around like a dolt not telling those folks to stop making noise (as he had already learned by that point that noise attracts zombies).

I also find it hard to believe that it was all nice and quiet at the walls for an entire week and only when Brad Pitt arrives do the refugees make noise and attract the zombies.

CONTAGION (2011, directed by Steven Soderbergh). Solid stuff, although some members of the ensemble cast make more impact than others - Matt Damon is especially good as the emotional heart of the film. Jude Law's Australian (?) accent is horrible.

The Brass Teapot

Funky.

CJB wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

Heh, watched the first half of that yesterday and that's the vibe I got, "okay", not terrible or great. Pretty average/mediocre. Kind of unintentionally funny too. The last part I saw was with the wall, and I was wondering why Brad Pitt was standing around like a dolt not telling those folks to stop making noise (as he had already learned by that point that noise attracts zombies).

I also find it hard to believe that it was all nice and quiet at the walls for an entire week and only when Brad Pitt arrives do the refugees make noise and attract the zombies.

Brad Pitt often has that effect on neighbourhoods.

Pitt happens.

Blitz, a UK made Jason Statham film.

His Killer Elite film is surprisingly interesting too....

Saboteur

good fun even if the propaganda elements ("I'm prepared to do my bit" stuff) are a bit awkward if much in places. Cumming is quite good in the lead though of course no Cary Grant/Jimmy Stewart and the conclusion is fairly something with the shot of Norman Lloyd (still going strong aged 98) falling from the Statue of Liberty crying: "KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!"
Finally, Otto Kruger as Tobin just seems plain creepy. Der Kreeper.
But in the end the dastardly Nazis are dashed and so forth.

SMASHED (2012, directed by James Ponsoldt). A schoolteacher struggles with alcoholism. Movie-of-the-week material this may be, but it's done to an exceptionally high standard and feels fresh and organic, with superb writing and direction as well as stunning performances (in particular that of Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the lead role - quite why she didn't get an Oscar nomination for her work here I have no idea). Compelling, harrowing and heartwrenching stuff.

Prisoners. Damn good movie. Hugh Jackman gives his best performance as the father of a little girl who's kidnapped along with her best friend. Jackman just goes off the hook after that, and does some really wrong, though understandable things. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the detective in charge of the case, and you can see just how badly the whole thing is tearing his character up. There are plenty of twists, plenty of suspense, and a surprise twist near the end that you probably won't see coming. A pretty solid 9/10, with the main problem being that I think the film is about five minutes too long.

Heard some really good things about that. Don't go to the cinema that often these days, but I might do it for PRISONERS.

You will not regret it. And if your theaters are anything like ours across the pond, you might see a preview for Escape Plan, which looks hilarious.

Star Trek Into Darkness...on an 80 inch HD telly.

Oh. yeah.  

Tubes wrote:

I actually prefer RAMBO III to RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II.  It's a greasy, delicious multi-tiered cheeseburger in cinema form and arguably the last example of the 80's action movie.  I don't exactly hold PART II to high regard when it comes to story and character, so RAMBO III being dumber, cheesier, yet more action packed doesn't bother me.

Largo's Shark wrote:

I'm with Tubes. Aside from that awesome moment Python linked to, FIRST BLOOD PART II is pretty dull. Steven Berkoff is seriously underused, as is Charles Napier.

If had to rank the films, it would be:

FIRST BLOOD
RAMBO III
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II
RAMBO IV

Having just watched the third, I can't help but feel it's interchangeable with the second film (doesn't help that Goldsmith recycled stuff more this time around, as much as I dig it), although it has cheesier one liners that I got a kick out of.

*Rambo escapes a fiery death*
Colonel: "How are you?"
Rambo: "Well done."

For ranking, I'd put the original film first, while actually having the two sequels pretty much tied. Now onto the fourth...

Agent007391 wrote:

Kurtwood Smith was barely in Rambo III. That's a shame.

I was actually quite shocked by how small his role was, especially after being billed third in the credits. I was expecting him to be a traitor that set up the Colonel to get captured so that Rambo would go after him, knowing well that a rescue mission is futile. Indeed a shame. Only a year after ROBOCOP and you'd think Stallone would have made better use of him.

The Place Beyond the Pines

As Keith would ask, "what's the message?". I would ask "what's the point?".

Makeshift Python wrote:

*Rambo escapes a fiery death*
Colonel: "How are you?"
Rambo: "Well done."

This is one reason I don't much like RAMBO III (although by no means the only reason I don't much like RAMBO III). To have the well-written, well-acted and (in the film's final moments) deeply moving relationship between Rambo and Trautman in FIRST BLOOD followed by this Roger Moore-style quipping.... *Hannibal Lecter voice* This ham-handed segue. It won't do.

Which brings me to perhaps the main reason I like FIRST BLOOD: it has three well-drawn and compelling characters (Rambo, Trautman and Teasle). Most films struggle to provide even one.

I agree. The first film is it's own thing and it would have been great to see another entry like that more focused on the characters, more of an action thriller than an action extravaganza, but I understand why that never happened. FIRST BLOOD II was the most successful of all the films, so everyone pretty much felt that was the direction to take. Kind of like how the DIE HARD films evolved over time, although I very much prefer RAMBO III over anything that came after DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE. I still can accept the sequels as their own entity, because they are at least entertaining in their own way. Still, it would have been nice to see a more grounded film between Rambo and Trautman where it isn't all quips and gags. Richard Crenna, surprisingly, seemed to fit in with the wackiness somehow.

Live Free or Die Hard was a pretty good film. Better than A Good Day to Die Hard (though I prefer that film's title, and it's hilarious tagline: Yippie Ki Yay, Mother Russia).