What was the last movie you watched?

[Fridwulfa]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

My boyfriend loves everything space. Me, not so much. It was alright though

[Captain Blackbeard]

I watched Inception. Great movie, lots of relevance to the real world.

[K-Nut]

Batman Begins.

[Fred Daniel Yam]

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, crazy martial arts movie. You have to watch this, the story is solid, no magic and its got Jet Li.

[iamded]

I just saw Amélie for the first time. Lovely movie. Fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[def]

Exit Through the Gift Shop. A must watch for anybody who thinks art is interesting. A puzzle of a flick. Compelling, beautiful imagery without a clear statement, much like the most classic of art (as contrasted with 'classic art'). And lots of graffiti too

[art_apples]

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, crazy martial arts movie. You have to watch this, the story is solid, no magic and its got Jet Li.

I happened to have watched that this week... It was interesting I thought with really nice sets and action but the plot line was a little bit obvious for me.

I've just seen your previous post to this (Red Cliff, Ip Man, 14 Blades etc.) you seem to be a fan of the high action historical / kung fu Chinese films. I'm a fan of Ip Man in particular, it is probably the finest of all the martial art films of recent times I think. Other's like Red Cliff, The Last Bladesman, Bodyguards and Assassins are all very nice to look at but ultimately lack in depth of script or well fleshed out characters. There seems more of a focus on the spectacular visuals and less on the emotional depth of the story.

However if you do like these type of films I firstly recomend Jet Li films, but certainly these are worth looking at too...

- very similar in vein to Bodyguards & Assasins,

- which is actually quite unintentially funny, and this one which I think you'll love

.

And we can't forget where all the recent spate of high budget historical action films began... the seminal Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

In recent times the Chinese government has bankrolled and supported this collection of historical high budget high drama high action films as a way to promote Chinese culture to the wider world. Sadly it has come at the cost of forcing directors to follow the party line and to kowtow to official sanctioned plotlines and ways of expressing that also.

The director Zhang Yimou is a case in point... he was always known and renown for his studies in character like in his stunning

which got much recognition in film awards around the world. But as the new policy of making state sanitized films came into affect he initially rebelled resulting in several years in the wilderness with the state refusing him a license to make movies. Eventually he relented and his style of film entirely changed from a portrayer of finite character studies to a maker of large scale historical action films. Out of all the directors his are probably the most noteworthy for he retains his eye for beauty in both visuals and underlying depth of expression as well.

In my opinion he is a step above the ones you listed for the sheer sumptous beauty of his films and grandness of visual style that he brings with him...

which is one of my personal favourites,

which I like, but as is the want of many Asian films it leans a bit too much into the melodrama at times particularly in the drawn out ending.

, again like a lot of these movies, very beautiful to look at but definetely leaning towards the cheesey side of dialogue and melodrama.

A Chinese film I highly recommend and unlike any that you have mentioned is the quite brilliant Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle... it is so unique and genuinely funny that you have to watch it if you haven't done so already.

... he also done the similar and also extremely funny

.

On a different feel and type of movie, my favourite Chinese director is Wong Kar-Wai. He explores more adult themes and ideas, and conveys moods beautifully, however if art house movies are not your thing than maybe you won't enjoy these films. The quite brilliant and stylish

and

.

But with all that high-wire kung fu action films it is startling to see it done without any effects whatsoever. One I think you will enjoy is this film from Thailand...

however away from the breath taking action I again found the story (or a cheesey one at best) a shame.

But one of my favourites of recent times and one I recommend is the Japanese film 13 Assassins... it's just so stunning...

Actually I think the best movies from Asia are coming out of Japan as well as Korea at the moment, there is just so much style and imagination coming out from there. I can give you a list of recommends if you ever fancy.

[Fred Daniel Yam]

Well art, when you say that the movies I listed lacked depth in plot, they make up fir in the visuals. I have seen Detective Dee and it is pretty good. I also saw a Korean movie which forgot the name of, it is very similar to Dee. On another note, I watched the Sorcerer and the White Snake starring Jet Li. Horrible movie which twists the original folktale it was based on to a sappy love story.

[Jargo]

Sand sharks.

Sooooooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.........

[simonjedi]

PAUL 9/10

Very good film. Bit too much effin' and jeffin' during the last half, which the film doesn't really need. The film is much smarter than that.

[Praiter Yed]

Sand sharks.

Sooooooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.........

Spotted this in Asda and was just chuckling at the concept, cover-art, strapline; 'Just when you thought you were safe out of the water' and description. Did you expect it to be anything other than bad?

As a big fan of John Carpenter's The Thing I was actually quite keen on watching the recent prequel, The Thing. I was given a copy by a mate yesterday and watched it last night, despite some of the poor reviews, I enjoyed The Thing so much that I ended up having a The Thing marathon and watched The Thing straight afterwards.

[Darth Nihilus]

Tron: Legacy. The graphics were great, but it was a kind of brain-melting-out-your-ears film. The plot was average, and the animation was beautiful, but everything seems too......perfect, for me, I guess. But I watched it with my girlfriend, Katie, so that was the best part.

[K-Nut]

But I watched it with my girlfriend, Katie, so that was the best part.

I was just reading your profile, so one thing came to mind...

When will you two watch RotS?

I just watched Star Trek, but I think that the

describes my feelings about the film most:

[Darth Nihilus]

I was just reading your profile, so one thing came to mind...

When will you two watch RotS?

Katie's standing right behind me (She does that a lot, yes), so I'll dictate this in dialogue form!

Eric: Embarassing backstory time!

Katie: Wha-?

Eric: Okay, back when we were 14 and RotS was just out in theaters, I took her as a first date. It must have been a really bad time, though, because she cried into my shoulder almost the whole movie.

Katie: The music in that movie was really sad! Besides, I was having issues! I had just broken up with my first boyfriend, for crying out loud!

Eric: Still, you did.

...

(Long silence)

Eric: Okay, this conversation might have gotten a little bit off-topic.

Katie: You think?

[Mr Man]

Eric:

You mean your names not Nihilus .

[Darth Nihilus]

You mean your names not Nihilus .

Of course it isn't! It's Darth Eric Nihilus, of course!

[K-Nut]

Of course it isn't! It's Darth Eric Nihilus, of course!

They only more threatening name is Keith.

EDIT: Keith, oh, watch out for Keith!

Edited January 25, 2012 by K-nut

[Zeya]

I saw Horrible Bosses. Very funny and enjoyable.

[Artanis I]

Blade Trilogy. Nice to see some movies with almost only evil vampires, the way it ought to be. I probably wouldn't watch again, but it wasn't terrible. (certainly better than some of the more recent vampire movies...)

[Zeya]

Blade Trilogy. Nice to see some movies with almost only evil vampires, the way it ought to be. I probably wouldn't watch again, but it wasn't terrible. (certainly better than some of the more recent vampire movies...)

Yeah they all seem to have sensitive feelings and hair gel these days.

[Praiter Yed]

Blade Trilogy. Nice to see some movies with almost only evil vampires, the way it ought to be. I probably wouldn't watch again, but it wasn't terrible. (certainly better than some of the more recent vampire movies...)

Yeah they all seem to have sensitive feelings and hair gel these days.

Ever since watching Salem's Lot and subsequently reading the book at quite a young age, I've found Vampires to be the scariest of supernatural beings. I really enjoyed Blade & Blade II but do think they are partially responsible for the spate of leather clad, gun toting Vampires which I'm really not that keen on. I also can't be bothered with all these 'sensitive', friendly Vamps we see these days. However, I would highly recommend both the Swedish 'Let The Right One In' and the equally good American re-make 'Let Me In', about a 'young' vampire 'girl' who strikes up a friendship with a bullied school boy. Although I wouldn't describe them as scary, I'd certainly say they are creepy and possibly even disturbing.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Praiter Yed

[Artanis I]

Yeah they all seem to have sensitive feelings and hair gel these days.

and glittery skin... yes I did see it with my ex. I was like "cool, a vampire movie!" No.

Ever since watching Salem's Lot and subsequently reading the book at quite a young age, I've found Vampires to be the scariest of supernatural beings. I really enjoyed Blade & Blade II but do think they are partially responsible for the spate of leather clad, gun toting Vampires which I'm really not that keen on. I also can't be bothered with all these 'sensitive', friendly Vamps we see these days. However, I would highly recommend both the Swedish 'Let The Right One In' and the equally good American re-make 'Let Me In', about a 'young' vampire 'girl' who strikes up a friendship with a bullied school boy. Although I wouldn't describe them as scary, I'd certainly say they are creepy and possibly even disturbing.

Checking it out soonish. Yeah, having seen Underworld already I realised it had a lot of similarities to the Blade world. The secret communities of vampires that were pretty much in control of the world etc. Pretty common thing these days. As much as I dislike Gary Oldman when he isn't on Batman, at least he wasn't one of thousands of young upper class Montague/Capulet type vampires.

I suppose there are 2 types of vampire movies: Stokerish Dracula movies where there's one vampire who is biting hot chicks and being hunted by a Van Helsing and ones where there are legions of vampires warring against something or other all in leather with automatic weapons, and some super-beast has to be killed at the end. By a hot chick. Oh, and there's a half vampire in there somewhere, maybe some werewolves.

[Zeya]

I suppose there are 2 types of vampire movies: Stokerish Dracula movies where there's one vampire who is biting hot chicks and being hunted by a Van Helsing and ones where there are legions of vampires warring against something or other all in leather with automatic weapons, and some super-beast has to be killed at the end. By a hot chick. Oh, and there's a half vampire in there somewhere, maybe some werewolves.

If you see "Let The Right One In", you will be experiencing a different type of vampire movie. I also enjoyed that one. It's Swedish and has subtitles (for some people this is a dealbreaker apparently). It also has a slow build up but it's worth it to see until the end, and I enjoyed the pacing and feel of the film so I didn't mind. I have not seen the American version "Let Me In", but a coworker said it's not quite as good; maybe that is if you've already seen the original.

I saw another foreign vampire movie by Park Chan Wook that was also a different type. It's called "Thirst" and I saw it on Netflix (I think it was streaming, even). That one was okay. I keep watching his movies hoping for another "Oldboy" experience. He never really disappoints at any rate.

But for most films, I think you've nailed the two types more or less. Oh yeah, the girlfriend and I watch True Blood on HBO, which is basically a trashy novel put to the screen, lol. (The most recent season was pretty bad though.)

[Sam Vimes]

I Know this is Off topic, But if you want Intersting and Scary Vampires, I would suggest Reading The Dresden Files By Jim Butcher...His thoughts on Vampires is quite interesting.

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

Watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring last night. Trying to refresh my memory so I can get psyched over the new LEGO LotR sets.