What was the last movie you've seen?

[Forlorn Drifter]

About Oldboy's ending.

Oldboy has a level of mysticism that I think is somewhat cultural, much like how the Japanese view ghosts and spirits. The use of hypnotism is probably very heavily tied to that view of mysticism, something that is a bit of a culture shock for western cultures. It is hard to wrap our heads around. I just suspend my disbelief a bit and enjoy how those final scenes are composed, the symmetry of scenery, contrast in colors and harsh, jarring emotions meld into something irresistible and compelling.

Yeah, I think I misunderstood something, and that's why I was confused.

For some reason, I got the idea that the hypnotist took away the fact that the girl was his daughter, rather than the fact that he had sex with his daughter. I'm not sure why I had that idea right after watching it, but the second makes more sense, unless I'm more lost than I think.

[ExedExes]

Yeah dude, they pretty much play Shaw stuff like every day. Uncut too, pretty awesome.

And how! The company that now owns the Shaw library digitally remastered all of them frame by frame. I remember growing up watching them on the Drive In Movie on WNEW in the early 80s. However they were all edited for television.

They're gonna have an all-weekend marathon of 10 really good Shaw movies including The Five Deadly Venoms on June 20-21.

I was able to catch 2 of them last night.



Dragon Missile

A quest to find a rare Chinese medicine to bring an ailing emperor back to health has all sorts of happenings along the way, and a guy with 2 boomerang like dragon shaped weapons beheading anyone he can. This was made in response to the next movie that came on right after.



Flying Guillotine

Supposedly based on a true story, a weapon is developed that can behead (again!) anyone who is not loyal to the emperor and a team is trained in the use of it. But when the team continually receives orders to take out innocent people, one member goes rogue and tries to stop them.

This El Rey network is all right. It looks like they show them almost every night, as well as other cult/Italian/whatever movies. I'll be here a lot more often.

[Luke]

THE NEVERENDING STORY


We had an incredible thunderstorm last night and both my wife and I were tired, so why not watch this classic? It remains to be a great story, but the acting...oh boy. It is really, really bad. I'll put it this way; The best performance in the entire movie is provided by a horse who really wants out of the movie.

Again, the story is neat, but it's one of those movies where you ask yourself "Why did I like this so much?". Also "Why did I cry when Artax died?". The movie is so goofy that I can't answer those questions.

That said, I still want a luck dragon.

[Ack]

Death Powder

There is cyberpunk film, and then there is Japanese cyberpunk film. While cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction film, Japanese cyberpunk borrows many of the themes of cyberpunk but ventures into extremity and generally eschews or defies traditional narrative interpretation. Blade Runner is just as much an influence as the likes of Videodrome and Eraserhead here, and body horror is a typical component. There is a specific set of core films within this style, of which Tetsuo: The Iron Man is the most well known. All of these movies trace their history back to Burst City, a dystopian punk film from 1982 that proved to be hugely influential for underground Japanese filmmakers, but the film that really got things moving was Shigeru Izumiya's 1986 film Death Powder.

What is Death Powder like? Well...it's gory, but not to the level of later Japanese cyberpunk movies like 964 Pinocchio. There is a plot, in which three scientists are holding a female robot prisoner created by another scientist, and this robot can breathe the titular death powder. But a lot of other things are going on, and once the actual powder appears, it is no longer really possible to say what is actually happening, because the character who gets it in the face begins to imagine his own omnipotence and hallucinates the past, a possible future, hideous monstrosities, violent men, and even a montage of nighttime city shots set to smooth jazz. This is a film that isn't quite sure of what it is doing as a film, so it becomes extremely avant garde and less of a workable movie that one can sit and easily digest. If anything, I felt more like this was an initial run at the ideas that would champion the subgenre, but they are still half-baked and not fully formed.

It's tough to quantify Death Powder, partly because it is so incomprehensible, but also because it is unreliable. The audience has also taken the death powder, so what is fantasy versus the reality of the film is unknown. Is the explanation for the robot's creation by Dr. Loo real? It looks more like a music video. Do the workers at the end really end up eaten by a wall of flesh? And who are the scarred people and their wheelchair-bound boss?

Also, what is life without flesh? If there is a poignant question for the future, it's the back and forth argument that the hallucinating man has within his own mind as his face bubbles and melts away, arguing over whether life as a robot is really life or if the flesh is just a prison containing the true self.

Do not expect any easy answers from this genre; you won't get them. I love Tetsuo, but it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, as can Death Powder. If you take an interest in extreme film and look these up, Death Powder might be the best place to start, because it is a bizarre and twisted heap of a film but also a great introduction to the productions that follow, even if I believe the later ones make for a better ride.

[Luke]

Stay away from the blue dinosaurs. Even the naughty green dinosaurs are harmless, but blue dinosaurs...run like your feet are on fire.

[DeadPark]

i finally got around to watching inception. and i think maybe it's just been too long to still have the same impact.

i remember everyone being all "i have no idea what's going on" but i was able to follow the whole movie easily. maybe because ___ception has become such a popular meme that it's not such a hard concept anymore.

it was still a good movie, i enjoyed it a lot. i just somehow feel like i missed the hype train a bit on it. and it's noticeable.

[Ack]

Ninja the Protector, AKA Project Ninja Daredevils

A team of ninja are running an illegal counterfeiting operation. The law is hot on their trail, with a mole inside their organization. But nothing can be done, as only a ninja can defeat a ninja. It's a good thing the head of the police team investigating the counterfeiters happens to be a ninja himself! Richard Harrison is NINJA THE PROTECTOR: A Godfrey Ho film.

...or something like that. Godfrey Ho is famous for having filmed only pieces of material and then editing them together with a variety of other films from other countries to create multiple movies on the budget of a single Z-lister and then paring them with titles based on other recently released films but with the word "Ninja" attached. Case in point: Ninja the Protector, after Jackie Chan's 1985 film The Protector. Ultimately the two have absolutely nothing in common, but that never stops the exploitation community from ripping off whatever they can. Using this technique, Ho created so many films, even he doesn't remember what all he has done.

I first became aware of Godfrey Ho's filmmaking around 2001, when several friends and I rented his movie Cobra vs. Ninja, in which the Thai mob bets on ninja fights, which a ninja named Cobra manipulates so he can challenge Ninja Master Gordon, played by Richard Harrison. Harrison actually played the role of Gordon in at least thirteen Ho productions, though for all we know he only filmed enough material for a handful of those movies. But Ninja Master Gordon is also usually the best part of these movies, as he literally flips out and kills people, often sporting outfits in a variety of colors. In Cobra vs. Ninja it was a deep red gi with a bright yellow headband that had "Ninja" written on it. In Ninja the Protector, Ninja Master Gordon appears dressed in a camouflage gi and wears eyeliner for some reason. Apparently the cosmetic choices of ninja are shrouded in mystery.

Anyway, there is a plot in Ninja the Protector, but it's not a good one: the mole infiltrates the counterfeiters by trying to become a male model. He then sleeps with two women and has trouble with his suicidal girlfriend, while his brother who has a dirt bike fetish goes and mucks things up. Meanwhile a couple of white dudes investigate the gang, and whenever they get the chance, Ninja Master Gordon shows up and fights. That is pretty much how everyone gets arrested in this movie, a ninja shows up to handcuff them. I think that's totally legal in Taiwan. At least, I'm kinda sure.

Anyway, bad editing, bizarre cinematography, ridiculous dubbing, and a nonsensical plot rule the day. Characters who were completely alive are suddenly declared to be dead, two of the police make an absurd logic jump into believing their boss is a ninja after joking around that all the guys they have been catching have been on their way to costume parties, and the pacing is ridiculous. During one non-ninja fight sequence, the choreography visibly skips back and forth and even replays the same sequence three times. But you aren't here for any of that.

You're here for ninja fights.

And you get it! Ninjas jousting on motorcycles! Ninjas fighting with swords, smoke bombs, and throwing stars! Ninjas waving their hands in the air and suddenly appearing in full costume! Hell, Ninja Master Gordon even shoots an enemy ninja in the back with a hunting crossbow. Hell yeah!

Let me explain the basic layout of a Godfrey Ho motion picture:

Ninjas do stuff - Shit - Ninja Fight - Shit - Ninja Fight - Shit - Ninja Fight - The End

It should be noted that Ninja the Protector, AKA Project Ninja Daredevils is IN NO WAY the movie Ninja Project Daredevils, which is also known as Ninja Masters of Death. Totally different movies. But with ninjas.

[Pulsar_t]

I'm seeing a lot of ads on YouTube for It Follows. Has anybody seen this or plan to see it? Critics seemed to like it a lot.

I am excited to see it. The trailer is great, and AVClub gave it a glowing review. (AVClub recommended both Honeymoon and Resolution, however, and I found the former distinctly mediocre and the latter dreadfully dull.) If nothing else, it inspired this great article on how to make a great horror film.

never heard of it... but now I want to see it.

I've seen it, and I guess it's down to personal taste. Frankly I was rooting for the invisible creature by the time it ended. It has a certain element of persistent dread, but the glowing reviews I simply don't get.

And to be able to enjoy it, you'd have to give the finger to everyday logic.

[ExedExes]

Aw snap, I knew I forgot to do something.



I went to see this because I'm a big fan of Jason Statham in the past 10 years or so. He nailed a pretty decent comedy role. The rest of the movie was a fun surprise too.

[Pulsar_t]

Society

As an allegory for the nastiness of the "elites" this film still works.