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The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

ravks

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Out of Darkness (2022)
This was my first entry into the AMC “Screen Unseen” series where you don’t know what movie you’re going to see until it actually starts. I’d like to think I made a good choice to hop on board! This was set 45,000 years ago and solely focused on a small tribe and some cavemen. There was some silly editing with sounds and effects but besides that it was pretty interesting considering how slow and simple it was.
 

mnkykungfu

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Ip Man - I think this is my first real non-American martial arts film. I really enjoyed it. I find myself curious about the real history behind it, it occured to me that the conflict depicted between Japan and China is something that I never learned about in school. I kinda want to check out more stuff with Donnie Yen, and I'll definitely seek out the sequels to this at some point.
This film is at least somewhat based in truth, whereas the sequels just become more preposterous and serve as blatant Chinese propaganda.
I'm not being political or exaggerating, it's very literal when you see that Yip Man joins with all his Chinese enemies to fight the cartoonishly evil foreigners. Meanwhile, the real Yip Man fled mainland China after WWII. He had been a police officer and had sided with the democratic KMT party in the Chinese Civil War. When the Communist party won and the KMT had to flee to Taiwan, Yip Man managed to get smuggled to Hong Kong (then under British control). He stayed there, apart from his wife and children, for the rest of his life. He was an enemy of the Chinese government and would have been kidnapped and tortured -if not killed- had he returned for them. It's honestly a great tragedy that he's being used (as Bruce Lee is in these films) to promote "traditional Chinese values" as a kind of Chinese super hero.

That said, Donnie Yen is of course amazing. I really dislike the use of wirework in Ip Man 2, but he makes up for it in the finale of Ip Man 3, when he fights Zhang Jin in each of the 3 key components of Wing Chun.

For me, the line of Martial Arts Movie Grandmaster goes Bruce Lee -> Jackie Chan -> Jet Li -> Donnie Yen. Whereas Li's great contribution was in the cleanness and grace of his style, Yen's contribution is in his addition of gritty, real-world elements like weapon usage, MMA, and brawling. It's a perfect marriage of classical precision and modernity.

With that in mind, I'd suggest you check out his best films as a lead: Kill Zone (better known as SPL), Flashpoint, Special I.D., and Kung Fu Jungle. He's also very good in some other films, and has some great supporting roles, but he has done a lot of small stuff and a lot of it is mediocre, or he's good but the film's mediocre. If you want the fisticuffs, I can wholeheartedly recommend the 4 above.

Sorry, bit of a Donnie Yen superfan. <squee>
 

Jrzag42

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This film is at least somewhat based in truth, whereas the sequels just become more preposterous and serve as blatant Chinese propaganda.
I'm not being political or exaggerating, it's very literal when you see that Yip Man joins with all his Chinese enemies to fight the cartoonishly evil foreigners. Meanwhile, the real Yip Man fled mainland China after WWII. He had been a police officer and had sided with the democratic KMT party in the Chinese Civil War. When the Communist party won and the KMT had to flee to Taiwan, Yip Man managed to get smuggled to Hong Kong (then under British control). He stayed there, apart from his wife and children, for the rest of his life. He was an enemy of the Chinese government and would have been kidnapped and tortured -if not killed- had he returned for them. It's honestly a great tragedy that he's being used (as Bruce Lee is in these films) to promote "traditional Chinese values" as a kind of Chinese super hero.

That said, Donnie Yen is of course amazing. I really dislike the use of wirework in Ip Man 2, but he makes up for it in the finale of Ip Man 3, when he fights Zhang Jin in each of the 3 key components of Wing Chun.

For me, the line of Martial Arts Movie Grandmaster goes Bruce Lee -> Jackie Chan -> Jet Li -> Donnie Yen. Whereas Li's great contribution was in the cleanness and grace of his style, Yen's contribution is in his addition of gritty, real-world elements like weapon usage, MMA, and brawling. It's a perfect marriage of classical precision and modernity.

With that in mind, I'd suggest you check out his best films as a lead: Kill Zone (better known as SPL), Flashpoint, Special I.D., and Kung Fu Jungle. He's also very good in some other films, and has some great supporting roles, but he has done a lot of small stuff and a lot of it is mediocre, or he's good but the film's mediocre. If you want the fisticuffs, I can wholeheartedly recommend the 4 above.

Sorry, bit of a Donnie Yen superfan. <squee>
While watching this, I was actually curious about your thoughts, so I appreciate your input!
So what I'm hearing is that these movies sort of wind up going against the real Ip Man's ideals? That's a real shame, but good to keep in mind. I was curious of how much of the Chinese nationalism themes were just put there by the filmmakers. I can see that other films have since been made about Yip Man (Is Ip/Yip interchangable, or are there certain contexts where one spelling is better?), do you know if any other movies do him justice better than this series? I mean I'm still going to finish off the series because they're enjoyable, but I'd love to learn more about the subject.
I'll definitely look into your other Donnie Yen suggestions, and on top of those I might finally give Rogue One another shot now that I've realized he's in that.
 

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Godzilla Minus One - One of the greatest movies ever made. Very effective as both a horror film and as a character-driven post-war period drama. Not that I've really read many reviews, but I'm sure there's probably not much I can say that hasn't been said before. I'm very much in love with this film. I watched it in b&w, it was absolutely beautiful to look at, frankly I can't imagine watching it in color though I probably will check it out when it comes to video.
All the boat stuff gave me Jaws vibes, I hope I'm not the only one to think that.
 

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A year of the quiet sun - 80s polish ww2 movie or after math of ww2. Super sad super good.
 

mnkykungfu

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So what I'm hearing is that these movies sort of wind up going against the real Ip Man's ideals?
Well, I don't want to make him into a hero. He was a complicated guy, with lots of faults, but yeah, no fan of the communist party in China, and no traditionalist.
(Is Ip/Yip interchangable, or are there certain contexts where one spelling is better?)
Romanization is tricky. I believe either is fine, and neither fully captures the actual Cantonese pronunciation.
do you know if any other movies do him justice better than this series?
Ugh...the success of this series has spawned an onslaught of movies and TV shows that basically just use the name "Ip Man" but portray him as a kind of Chinese superhero. One that might be worth a look is The Grandmaster (2013), which has gotten a lot of love from critics. Yip will pop up in a number of documentaries on Chinese martial artists, particularly ones about Bruce Lee (it's just the name recognition really, he didn't even directly teach Lee for very long). Those give you a much better picture of Yip, but I can't recall one in particular. My favorite Lee doc though is called Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Maybe check that out.
 

mnkykungfu

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Maximum Risk (1996)
After discovering the artisanal "weed beer" I got at the craft beer joint down the road apparently has active THC in it, I needed something to throw on and just zone out to. Decided to throw on this JCVD/Natasha Henstridge film made by legendary HK director Ringo Lam that has literally been on my "I should probably catch up with that someday" list since probably literally 1996. It has some strong car chases and a plot which would be utterly forgettable if it weren't so similar to Double Impact.

The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen (2008)

And now for something completely different! I believe I owe credit to @TM2YC for recommending this short, entertaining documentary about the filming of Terry Gilliam's Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It was a famous $#!+show which is born out by all these retrospective interviews, but I do wish they had more contemporary bts footage (available on Youtube).

Spellbound (2002)
Another doc, this one a pivotal film that thrust the US national spelling bee into the spotlight and introduced the TV spectacle of watching 12-year-olds find religion when on stage and presented with a word like "logorrhea". I'd call this a flawless film, one that surprised me by having everything I look for in a doc, except that it deflates all the suspense it builds right before the end.
 

Jrzag42

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Ugh...the success of this series has spawned an onslaught of movies and TV shows that basically just use the name "Ip Man" but portray him as a kind of Chinese superhero. One that might be worth a look is The Grandmaster (2013), which has gotten a lot of love from critics.
I had a suspicion that the other movies I've been seeing pop up were simply there to cash in on the success of these, I was really hoping I was wrong. The Grandmaster did catch my eye though, as far as I could tell it was in development before Ip Man was released. Maybe I'll check it out after and report back. Will definitely look into that Bruce Lee doc.

Also, all the Donnie Yen films you suggested in your previous post seem to be streaming for free, so I'm really excited about that.
 

TM2YC

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The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen (2008)
And now for something completely different! I believe I owe credit to @TM2YC for recommending this short, entertaining documentary about the filming of Terry Gilliam's Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It was a famous $#!+show which is born out by all these retrospective interviews, but I do wish they had more contemporary bts footage (available on Youtube).

Yes, from my Gilliam-athon :LOL: : https://forums.fanedit.org/threads/a-few-reviews.9937/post-401605

Which reminds me, I still haven't found time to unwrap the new Criterion 4K blu-ray transfer of Munchausen yet (which I was praying for in that review from 1.5 years ago).
 

ravks

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Cabin Fever (2003)
Never knew about this growing up, safe to say I didn’t miss much. Pretty bloody and gruesome but also flat out silly at times (almost like it was meant to be). The ending was sort of expected but it was nice hearing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to close it out.

Bones and All (2022)
Skipped this one when it initially came out. First time seeing Taylor Russell in anything, thought she did an excellent job! It was nice seeing Mark Rylance play a pivotal role as well. In terms of the filmmaking I loved the majority of the shots but the choice of adding music to certain scenes was unnecessary. So many movies do this nowadays for some reason.
 
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Three Colors: Blue (1993)

I haven't seen this trilogy in a decade, and I got to start my roommate on the trilogy for the first time. Needless to say, it's good to come back to it, and this first part has aged well. Perfect performance by Juliette Binoche. Excellent (and appropriately blue) cinematography. And a very well written portrayal of loss and imprisonment. Truly one to see before you die.

Three Colors: White (1994)

This is often described as the weakest link in the trilogy. It's still a good film, but some things do rub me the wrong way, such as how our lead deals with his ex. I wouldn't do what he does at all here. Then again, it probably would've been boring and less thematically sound if he did the right thing. I like it for what it is, but I can't say I relate to it, especially after seeing Blue.

Three Colors: Red (1994)

At the risk of committing sacrilege, I actually thought this was the worst film in the trilogy, even after this second viewing. For all the weaknesses of White, I related to this one even less. Irene Jacob's character is too kind for her own good. The subplot with the man and his cheating wife went nowhere. And I thought the connection between the three films was sloppy. It felt like someone just threw their hands in the air and went, "uh, we'll just have this random disaster happen and say it connected them all." I did like the retired judge, though, and he was interesting enough to make me like the film in spite of my issues above.
 

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Se7en (1995)

Not sure what else to say that hasn't already been said. It's a great (and also very messed up) film. The storyline is king here, and it's a hell of a story, to say the least.

Pink Floyd: The Wall (1983)

One of my big favorites. I have yet to see another film that tackles the theme of isolation and loneliness better than this one, and watching this after my autism diagnosis, I found this one to be so much more relatable (however gut-wrenching) than most films. I love all the songs that are not on the album. And Gerald Scarfe's animation is simply phenomenal. A brutal watch, but an honest and accurate one. Strongly recommended.
 

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Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - A weird sci-fi movie, with plot-lines that are so sparse, film feels overly cluttered and at the same time too cluttered.

Spirit Stallion Of The Cimmearon - Is a great animated feature film, maybe not story-telling wise but the score and visuals are spectacular, the songs are great and I actually wish there were more films in this animation style.
 

ravks

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Pink Floyd: The Wall (1983)

One of my big favorites. I have yet to see another film that tackles the theme of isolation and loneliness better than this one, and watching this after my autism diagnosis, I found this one to be so much more relatable (however gut-wrenching) than most films. I love all the songs that are not on the album. And Gerald Scarfe's animation is simply phenomenal. A brutal watch, but an honest and accurate one. Strongly recommended.
My friend group was crazy over this when we were younger. Artistically I think it’s one of the greatest films ever made. It’s definitely Roger’s magnum opus. I’m due for a proper rewatch since it’s probably been over a decade since I’ve last seen it.
 

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Pink Floyd: The Wall (1983)

One of my big favorites. I have yet to see another film that tackles the theme of isolation and loneliness better than this one, and watching this after my autism diagnosis, I found this one to be so much more relatable (however gut-wrenching) than most films. I love all the songs that are not on the album. And Gerald Scarfe's animation is simply phenomenal. A brutal watch, but an honest and accurate one. Strongly recommended.
Showed a fried of mine "Phantom of the Paradise" (the Dr. Sapirstein edit) thinking it would blow his mind, he then showed me this film in response. It takes a lot to beat that particular vintage of De Palma in the craziness stakes but The Wall succeeded!
 

ravks

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Watched two of my favorites in honor of Carl Weathers.

Predator (1987)
Arguably the original “Expendables” with the idea of having a badass crew of known actors. I like this one much more than the sequel and everything that followed.

Rocky (1976)
One of my all time favorites growing up. My brother had all 5 episodes on VHS, we used to watch them all the time (he used to be a boxer). The ending always gets to me when Adrian finds Rocky on the ring and confesses her love. The fight didn’t really mean anything in the end!
 

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I wanted to see something light so I saw grandmas boy - holy crap. 1/5 stars- unwatchable. Everyone in this was bad. Movie seemed like a long snl sketch. No plot and nobody was interesting. It has cursing , drugs , and nudity and itv still seemed like a Disney channel movie. Just sentimental predictable childish garbage!
 

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Nefarious - AWESOME
Batman & Robin DEEP FREEZE - Legendary fan edit
 
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