Rate the Last Film You Watched

Roboman Hakaider (1995)

A spinoff from the Kikaider tokusatsu TV series, directed by Keita Amemiya (probably best known in the west for the Zeiram movies) the film sees its titular android anti-hero freed from his shrine-like prison by treasure hunters, only to awaken in a vaguely post-apocalyptic future, where he runs afoul of a high-tech city state and its wealthy rulers.

While Hakaider shares the same lovingly realised design work and practical effects as Zeiram, it's sorely lacking in character. Perhaps it's more engaging if you're familiar with the original series and already know him, but Hakaider barely speaks throughout the movie, giving little insight into his own feelings or motivation, while those around him typically have so little screentime as to be hardly developed beyond whatever costume they happen to be wearing when they're killed off. This might be more forgivable if what they were doing was interesting, but it just feels so painfully straightforward and obvious all the way through.

It's watchable enough, but even at a scant 80 minutes, I was actually bored before the end - it's like a saturday morning cartoon that outstays its welcome. It is impressive to look at and avid toku fans may get a kick out of it, but I think everyone else would do better to stick to Zeiram instead.
 
I watched The Northman and it's really good.

I don't really like vikings. In fact I kind of dislike watching them. I mainly watched the film because of the director (Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse, The Witch). It wasn't a disappointment. It's a wild film, brilliantly shot, and engaging. It's a classic story format they've gone with which helps as well.

Moments in the film I was like "what on earth am I seeing? Is this historically accurate?" and apparently it is so... This film does not shy away from some horrible things that happened in the past.

So if you like darker films and historical setting, you should definitely watch this one.
 
Eternal chibi said:
I don't really like vikings.
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The historical people or the fictional portrayal of them? Yes they did plenty of blood thirsty stuff, but there was a lot more to them than that. Fascinating peoples who played a large part in shaping the history of large parts of Europe, including England, and who reached America and had trade routes all the way down to Constantinople.

PS If you avoid anything Viking-y in fiction you're missing out on one of the best mangas out there and its very good anime adaptation. Vinland Saga.
 
D1tchd1gger said:
The historical people or the fictional portrayal of them? Yes they did plenty of blood thirsty stuff, but there was a lot more to them than that. Fascinating peoples who played a large part in shaping the history of large parts of Europe, including England, and who reached America and had trade routes all the way down to Constantinople.

PS If you avoid anything Viking-y in fiction you're missing out on one of the best mangas out there and its very good anime adaptation. Vinland Saga.
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I'm just not into them generally. I did really like Valhalla Rising though and would recommend that also.

I don't judge for the history. I find history fascinating, and pretty much all of it is dark. No society is innocent.

I have read some of Vinland. It's good action and nice art. Not to my taste though.
 
Okinawa Yakuza War (1976) aka Terror of Yakuza

Although a notably brutal film that sticks close to typical yakuza movie fare, it gains a distinctive flavour from its Okinawan setting and a barnstorming turn from Sonny Chiba as the live-wire catalyst for its unfolding violence.

Set in 1972, just after the US returned control of Okinawa to Japan, the film draws on real-life events as it examines the ensuing power vacuum, offering plenty of gun-rattling action as the local gangs jockey for position, both with each other and the mainland families. Not knowing much about the historical context though, I'd actually have liked it to go a bit more in depth on that - for me the most interesting thing about it is how much the characters seem to be going through a crisis of identity, arguably still trying to find themselves again following WW2. Hiroki Matsukata is on fine form as a level-headed captain looking to strike a deal with the mainland, but it's Chiba's show, playing a hard-drinking one-man typhoon, whose horrifyingly violent exterior hides a sad longing for things to stay the same.

Possibly not one to win over anyone without an interest in the subject matter, but definitely a superior example of the form.
 
Saw Ryan Nicholson’s Torched blu ray
Very good short film @ around 47 mins & saw the xxx version as Nicholson has alternative versions on Gutterballs & Hanger - his low budget film making is excellent & better than the Hollywood garbage released
 
Latest Minions movie in the cinema (treat for mum, also to use up some freebie tickets from Lloyds). Quite funny (has jokes aimed for kids and also for adults).

Featured Gru as a child in the 70s. Although certainly if I was paying the full cost of the tickets (£12 each!) I would have waited until it comes out on blu ray/rental sites.
 
GI Samurai (1979) aka Time Slip

What starts out looking like a pulp yarn about a JSDF platoon mysteriously sent back to the 16th century 'Warring States' period, builds into an unlikely crack at the Kurosawa-style epic, with their initial attempts to distance themselves from their ancestors' armies gradually breaking down as the cool headed commanding officer (Sonny Chiba) slowly strikes up a friendship with an ambitious young warlord (Isao Natsuyagi). It's far too long and would benefit from placing some of its scenes in a different order, but this is an appealing curio that largely sidesteps a lot of the jingoism and one-sidedness that dogged the similarly themed Gate.

One word of warning though; while there's no documented evidence of any mishandling, it does look rather as if the horses involved in the production may not have had the best treatment.
 
Dai said:
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lol! It's funny because I actually really like some viking films. It's probably the media depiction like ditchdigger said. It might also be because I fought bitterly against vikings in crusader kings iii and made me go all patriotic

I watched Blow Out by Brian De Palma last night.

The camera work is really something special and it is a must watch for this alone

The fact it was like a homage to blow up and the conversation as well, really great

The ending was absolutely insane and I'm still feeling some way about it 24 hours later

Simply put, if you like movies, you have to watch this one
 
Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977)

The second big screen outing for the perfect king of snipe sees Sonny Chiba donning the mantle, as Golgo is hired by an American syndicate to eliminate a drugs kingpin in Hong Kong, but finds himself competing with a local CID man determined to put the gangster behind bars before Golgo can put him in the ground. It’s a bit cheap looking and certainly not as good as the previous Ken Takakura film was at its best, but this is a livelier affair that’s never dull, with plenty of action and some nice stunt work for Chiba in particular. The best Golgo film is still undoubtedly Dezaki’s The Professional, but there’s more than enough here to keep anyone interested in the series amused.
 
Watched Mothra vs. Godzilla. Yeah that was quite good wasn't it? Lots of questions raised, war, gender, why are these special effects so good, and what the hell is happening? Very easy to watch and has aged quite well.
 
Eternal chibi said:
why are these special effects so good
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There's a funny story behind that. Eiji Tsuburaya, the head of the effects department on most of Toho's 50s/60s SF movies, ordered an Oxberry optical printer in the early 60s without getting approval from the studio. This was an insanely expensive piece of hardware, and only a handful existed at the time. It's the reason why the compositing in Godzilla movies took a massive leap forward between King Kong vs Godzilla in 62 and Mothra vs Godzilla in 64. MvG was also made before the decline in the Japanese film industry (and budgets) that started in the late 60s, so they were producing some highly detailed miniature sets.
 
In the Line of Duty (1986) aka Royal Warriors

CID officer Michelle Yeoh and Japanese copper Hiroyuki Sawada foil an attempt to rescue an imprisoned mobster being flown from Hong Kong to Tokyo, only for his surviving comrades to swear vengeance, in an engagingly tough thriller from David Chung. The tone is a bit hard to place by western standards; mostly serious to the point of being dour, but childlike security man Michael Wong feels like he's wandered in from another film entirely and the finale was just a bit too cartoonish for my liking. The action and stunt work is superb, however, with a lengthy battle in a very kitsch nightclub being a real standout. It's also a meatier role for Yeoh than her then-recent break-out hit Yes, Madam! giving her more chance to act, along with demonstrating her outstanding fighting skills.

Millionaire's Express (1986)

Sammo Hung directs and stars as an opportunistic thief, trying to do right for his hometown, in an amusing western (?) pastiche set in the Chinese countryside around the turn of the 20th century. My knowledge of Sammo's other films of this era is a bit limited, but this does seem to follow a similar construction to the Lucky Stars series and its offshoots, being primarily a loose assembly of gags containing a bewilderingly comprehensive who's who of Hong Kong comedy action stars of the time (Jackie is about the only notable absence). It's lovingly shot, radiating passion for both classic westerns and silent comedy era slapstick, as Hung's character hatches a plot to stop the titular luxury train right next to the ailing hotel he's just bought, but for all the incident and spectacle, I found the sheer lack of any solid narrative frustrating. It's never dull and it's largely free of the uncomfortably dated jokes that dog many other HK comedies of the time, but none of the plot threads go anywhere much and this feels like a missed opportunity, given the film's grand sense of scale. It's entertaining while you watch it, but I think it's a film you would have largely forgotten within a few days of seeing it.
 
Dai said:
There's a funny story behind that. Eiji Tsuburaya, the head of the effects department on most of Toho's 50s/60s SF movies, ordered an Oxberry optical printer in the early 60s without getting approval from the studio. This was an insanely expensive piece of hardware, and only a handful existed at the time. It's the reason why the compositing in Godzilla movies took a massive leap forward between King Kong vs Godzilla in 62 and Mothra vs Godzilla in 64. MvG was also made before the decline in the Japanese film industry (and budgets) that started in the late 60s, so they were producing some highly detailed miniature sets.
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Finishing my Showa era boxset a few months ago I did notice this, and the quality really dropped like a rock after destroy all monsters which I guess was the decline of the industry. I also noticed that I really did not like 80% of the Showa era movies though lol (The Ishiro Honda films were the best but even then I legit can't remeber how Terror of Mechagodzilla even ended and that was the most recent one I saw).

But I appreciated them all the same, and it definitely had me appreciate the later films a lot more too. For all the hate Legendary's Godzilla vs Kong got, it was a thousand times better than King King vs Godzilla.
 
Vincentdante said:
Finishing my Showa era boxset a few months ago I did notice this, and the quality really dropped like a rock after destroy all monsters which I guess was the decline of the industry. I also noticed that I really did not like 80% of the Showa era movies though lol (The Ishiro Honda films were the best but even then I legit can't remeber how Terror of Mechagodzilla even ended and that was the most recent one I saw).

But I appreciated them all the same, and it definitely had me appreciate the later films a lot more too. For all the hate Legendary's Godzilla vs Kong got, it was a thousand times better than King King vs Godzilla.
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I enjoy almost every Godzilla movie, but I wouldn't argue that all are technically 'good'. Some require industrial-grade rose-tinted welding goggles.

Destroy All Monsters was planned as the final Godzilla movie at the time, so Toho poured more resources into it, but the Japanese movie industry was already in trouble by that point, ironically due (in part) to Tsuburaya. He had mostly switched to working on TV shows by then, and it was the fact that people could watch Ultraman on TV every week that made kaiju movie tickets an increasingly hard sell.
 
Dai said:
I enjoy almost every Godzilla movie, but I wouldn't argue that all are technically 'good'. Some require industrial-grade rose-tinted welding goggles.

Destroy All Monsters was planned as the final Godzilla movie at the time, so Toho poured more resources into it, but the Japanese movie industry was already in trouble by that point, ironically due (in part) to Tsuburaya. He had mostly switched to working on TV shows by then, and it was the fact that people could watch Ultraman on TV every week that made kaiju movie tickets an increasingly hard sell.
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For what it's worth I do not regret buying the criterion set at all. I'll certainly revisit a number of those films (just some more than others). Destroy all Monster would have made for an awesome finale thinking on it really. Godzilla 1954 genuinely holds up and is my favorite behind Shin-Godzilla.

I want to try and find the Heisei era sometime. I think I would enjoy it a lot based on what I hear.
 
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