Rate the Last Film You Watched

Aeon said:
Eega
Click to expand...

I shall definitely add this to watch list

I watched John Wick 4

I was sadly disappointed. I think number 3 was stronger all round

4 was of course a nice visual fest. Sadly it unravelled for me during the club scene. I was thinking, yes, a club scene! I love these! It was quite possibly the worst I've ever seen!!!!!! terrible dancing, music out of sync, music stops playing for long intervals and everyone continues dancing (???) it looked naff as anything whoever choreographed that deserves a kicking
 
Super Mario Bros

It was ok. If you are curious it is worth a watch just don't hold high expectations for it, Jack Black as Bowser is the best part and he even has a musical scene. I enjoyed it but it's not something I will be in a rush to rewatch.

Peaches/10.
 
Justice, My Foot! (1992)

Stephen Chow and Anita Mui star in this oddball comic period piece about a ratty lawyer and his kung fu-master wife, whose opulent, but seemingly cursed, life is thrown upside down after she takes pity on a young pregnant woman whose husband has been murdered. This is a great role for the much-missed Mui, whose charisma lights up the screen whenever she appears and also bounces well off Chow, with whom she has a great easy chemistry, but beyond that it gets a bit bumpier. This is clearly aimed at an audience much more familiar with Chinese historical drama than I am, but who also appreciate gags about flatulence and breast milk more than I do. Chow’s character also frequently seems arrogant and unlikeable in a film that seems to unironically cast him as the hero. Watchable, but classy, it ain’t.

The Okinawa War of Ten Years (1978)

Drawing from the same real-life post-occupation criminal power struggle as the earlier Okinawa Yakuza War, this is a relatively straightforward genre piece, that reteams Hiroki Matsutaka with Sonny Chiba as childhood friends turned heads of two rival factions, drawn into a bitter conflict over control of the island. This doesn’t really bring anything new to the then-waning genre, and also lacks the memorable brutality of its predecessor, but the two leads are both excellent throughout. Chiba in particular gives a standout performance as the unusually unglamorous boss of the smaller family, bringing a glowering intensity to his increasingly desperate character.
 
Shang Chi

It's a movie where some things happen. None of the things are very exciting or funny or emotional or unique. MCU people just mess around doing MCU stuff and then there's a load of CGI at the end and then it's all finished.

I'm sure it will get at least two sequels and none of them will be any better or worse than this one.

I'm already starting to forget what happened in it.
 
Polite Society
I went into this expecting a martial arts comedy. While that's ostensibly what it is, the fact that it's a British movie made on a budget of £10 and a bag of chips means you shouldn't expect much from the fight scenes. Go into this expecting a pretty good comedy/family drama and you're unlikely to be disappointed.

Ironically, considering the title, this movie was wrecked for me by a guy at the back of the cinema talking constantly and a guy in front of me periodically shouting at the one at the back to shut up (without success). Nothing ruins a good movie like other people.

The Suicide Squad
This was better than the 2016 movie, but it could hardly be worse, could it. James Gunn gives it his usual formula of Joss Whedon humour + violence. This might be the most violent thing I've seen the BBFC toss a 15 rating, though hilariously it still has the typically puritan Hollywood attitude to sex and nudity. The movie has an adolescent fascination with gore that got old pretty fast, but really that was the only thing setting it apart from feeling like a Marvel movie. Given that Gunn now has free rein to control the next slate of DC movies, we can kiss any distinctiveness they had goodbye.
 
Shin Godzilla

One of the most boring things I've watched in ages.

I think my player must be broken because it claimed the movie was two hours long, but it definitely went on for about seven.

Godzilla looked like he wanted someone to just put him out of his misery. I can relate.
 
The Legend & Butterfly (2023)

A sumptously shot and highly sympathetic take on the Oda Nobunaga myth, this time focusing on Nobunaga's relationship with wife Nohime (about whom far less is known), this film may upset anyone looking for historical accuracy, but it makes for a very appealing romantic drama. Following their marraige of political convenience, and digging into the real speculation that Nohime (Haruka Ayase) was originally an assassin sent to eliminate Nobunaga (Takuya Kimura), the film follows them over the next 30 years, as their initial hostility slowly erodes into mutual devotion that lasts the rest of their lives. I think it's at its most charming during the first hour, with Nobunaga struggling to prove to his tough new bride that he is more than just a small fish in a big pond, but the film remains consistently engaging throughout, despite its hefty running time.

Mad Max II (1981)

Having not seen this in a good number of years, I very much enjoyed revisiting it. The story is about as simple as it gets, seeing our titular man of few words dragged into protecting a band of would-be homesteaders looking for safety beyond bandit country, but for my money, this is still one of the great achievements of action cinema. Its stunts and visual storytelling are pitch perfect, even managing to evoke a degree of sympathy for its ruthless bad guys. On this viewing, I was also particularly aware of how good the score is - it really helps sell the mood of each scene.

WarGames (1983)

Much as I find the idea of a kids' (?) film about the world coming within a hair's breadth of nuclear armageddon inherently weird, this is a surprisingly solid little thriller, with far more to offer than just the oft memed "SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?" voice synthesiser. The none-more-80s computer technology looks quaint by today's standards (the film is a clear touchstone for Stranger Things), but there's still something quietly horrifying in the simplicity of nuclear warheads racing across the world reduced to the form of little lines on a screen witnessed by generals in a bunker.
 
Last edited:
Professor Irony said:
WarGames (1983)

Much as I find the idea of a kids' (?) film about the world coming within a hair's breadth of nuclear armageddon inherently weird, this is a surprisingly solid little thriller, with far more to offer than just the oft memed "SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?" voice synthesiser. The none-more-80s computer technology looks quaint by today's standards (the film is a clear touchstone for Stranger Things), but there's still something quietly horrifying in the simplicity of nuclear warheads racing across the world reduced to the form of little lines on a screen witnessed by generals in a bunker.
Click to expand...
While it's been a long time since I felt like watching it, Wargames is probably one of the most important movies of the cold war era. It can't have been easy to find that balance of teaching kids about the horrors of mutually assured destruction without going full-on Threads and scarring them for life.
 
Angel’s Mission (1989)

Another directorial offering from that Titan of (terrible) Hong Kong genre cinema, Godfrey Ho, seeing Japanese cop Yukari Oshima coming to Hong Kong to search for missing Japanese girls who may be mixed up with a brothel run by her mother, while ex-gangster Dick Wei looks to his successful former partner for help in finding his missing daughter. This one is a little more coherent than some of Ho’s other films, but still feels ridiculously convoluted and often comically inept in its efforts to try and maintain a semblance of story around the (actually rather good) stunt work. There is a definite charm in its incompetence, somewhat jollied along by the terrible subtitles we had that rendered many words as ‘???’ (“You look upstairs, I’ll go in here and ???!”), but it does begin to grate after a while and, towards the end, I mostly felt sorry for both the main actors and the stunt performers. In the hands of a better director, the action would have looked genuinely impressive.
 
Last edited:
Close Escape (1989)

An above-average HK genre piece, this one sees a dying diamond-thief (Kiu-Wai Miu) taking on a job from shifty businessman Dick Wei in order to fund his younger brother's (Siu Chung Mok) education. Both Mok and Aaron Kwok as a sympathetic copper are perfectly fine in their respective roles, but the film really comes alive in its final reel, with Yukari Oshima making a guest appearance to help in the final showdown against Wei. It suffers slightly in that Wei and Oshima are the best part of the film, yet have the least screentime (likely down to either a modest budget or tight scheduling), but worth watching if you're in the mood.

The Rapacious Jailbreaker (1974)

What starts out looking like an average Japanese crime drama, following petty crook Ueda (Hiroki Matsukata) who ends up sentenced to 20 years in the tough Hiroshima prison, quickly starts punching above its weight as it becomes a brutal, sad and often very funny portrait of a man obsessed with escaping custody, but repeatedly undone by his comically inept attempts to evade the law once he makes it outside. The film does not shy away from graphic violence, but I was not prepared for its absurd brand of humour, with many scenes that would not feel out of place in Porridge, as the hapless Ueda finds himself stuck in a sewer pipe that is just slightly too small or climbing into a suit of armour to hide from the police. Highly recommended, if the subject matter appeals to you.

Hong Kong Godfather (1985)

A decent, if rather dated feeling HK crime drama that sees three men of varying criminal stripes (a young hitman, a reformed florist and a corrupt cop) rallying together after their beloved patriarch (Kien Shih) is threatened by a young upstart and a traitor on the inside, this is watchable fare, punctuated by moments of seemingly quite grounded action, up until the last 10 minutes, at which point it goes absolutely hell for leather. Most of my experience with HK action movies has been with either martial arts or gun battles, so to see this film descend into a lengthy, graphic and surprisingly gory knife-fight at the very end is memorably shocking.

Naked Lunch (1991)

Straight-laced looking pest exterminator William Lee (Peter Weller) lives a shabbily bohemian life of drugs, alcohol and sexual freedom with his wife and hipster friends in early '50s New York, until they become hooked on the poison he uses for work, and he finds that grotesque, giant talking insects are telling him his wife is an agent of the shifty Inter Zone, a fictionalised version of Tangier frequented by writers and addicts. Mixing passages from the book with parts of author William Burroughs’s own life, David Cronenberg's adaptation of the infamous beat-generation novel is a surprisingly restrained affair, mixing bizarre visual metaphor with the old-fashioned exoticism of its locale, as classic unreliable narrator Lee struggles to differentiate between reality and his own hallucinations. The film has a surreal charm and Weller, with his gaunt, angular features is an absolute gift in the central role, but it seems to gloss over a lot of the uglier aspects of Burroughs’s life (the infamous accidental death of his wife is interrogated only in metaphor, if at all) and I feel it goes on just a little longer than its episodic nature can really support.
 
Final Run (1989)

Honest Hong Kong cop Kwok-Keung Cheung flees to Thailand after being framed for murder, following his refusal to accept a bribe from a powerful drugs gang who have infiltrated the HK police, in another above average HK crime/action piece. The plot gets awfully over-complicated for what it is, bringing in a lot of different characters and factions, largely just as an excuse to have them all battle each other at the end, but the upside of this is that the cast is very strong. There are no really big stars, but this feels like a showcase for all the familiar supporting players of the time, with many familiar faces present and correct, although Dick Wei and Yukari Oshima again take the laurels for their stunt work. Hardly unmissable, but a good time, with some nice use of the scenic Thai locations.

Inspector Chocolate (1986)

Bumbling, Smarties-chomping police detective Michael Hui gets saddled with a flashy new partner determined to compete in the national beauty pageant (Anita Mui), while also trying to deal with the kidnapping of a TV chef’s infant son, in this amiable HK comedy caper. Not all the gags land and there are a few times it seems to be setting up a joke which never pays off, but it’s a likeable film free of any then-typical weird lurches in tone, and Mui is as great as ever. Had it been made a few years later, she most likely would have been playing the main character herself.

The Lunatics (1986)

A curious low-key drama following social worker Stanley Sui-Fan Fung, as he goes about his job, befriending and looking out for Hong Kong’s disabled street people. It’s a little episodic and I found the casting of well known faces (including Tony Leung, Chow Yun Fat and John Sham) rather distracting, but this is a grounded and engaging film that largely avoids the sort of patronising easy answers that a Hollywood equivalent might try to sell. It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of the vignettes in the film were based on real, first-hand experiences of people doing this kind of social work.

Asteroid City (2023)

Wes Anderson continues to become a genre unto himself with his latest film, a comic-drama about a disparate group of people stranded in the titular small desert town following an alien-visitation in the mid 1950s. I doubt it would change anyone’s opinion of Anderson; anyone who doesn’t get on with his meticulously constructed approach to filmmaking will probably find this tries their patience, those who enjoy it will find much to appreciate here. I do feel it flows better than The French Dispatch, however and I thought it was reliably funny throughout, even if I couldn’t quite shake the uncomfortable notion that the whole thing was a response to the covid lockdown.
 
The Flash

You know what? Yeah I really liked this movie. It was a lot of fun, it sort of attempted the Flashpoint story but added it's own twists taken mainly from the Zack snyder movies and other unrelated DC movies.

There were a few moments that were a bit on the nose and didn't need to be there. But overall I was happy.
 
More Hong Kong genre stuffs.

Middle Man (1990)

Hong Kong CID ‘tec Cynthia Khan finds herself in deep after her soldier cousin is wrongly accused of selling US army secrets to nefarious types in Korea. Difficult to follow and the main baddie isn’t very menacing, but the unusual (for HK film) location shooting in a very wintry looking Seoul gives it a certain flavour and it does pick up a bit in the final act.

Burning Ambition (1989)

Frankie Chan directs and stars in a fast-moving HK update of an earlier Japanese samurai drama, here recreated as the story of a triad family tearing itself apart, following the death of its patriarch. Chan seems a little miscast as the leader of a biker gang brought in to help one side of the family after a brutal attack, but this is an engaging action-drama, much enlivened by an unexpectedly tongue in cheek middle section where chaos erupts in an amusement park.

The Occupant (1984)

Chinese-Canadian student Sally Yeh visits Hong Kong to study traditional superstitions, but gets more than she bargained for when the suspiciously cheap apartment she rents turns out to be haunted by the spirit of a former resident, in this light-hearted supernatural comedy. This is an amiable film with an appealing turn from Yeh, but frequently feels bogged down by co-star/director Raymond Wong as the painfully irritating letting agent who takes a shine to her and tries to do everything he can to win her over. He’s such an absolute goober that it’s difficult to really hate him, but it’s also hard not to see him as a sex pest by contemporary standards, and he often seems to exist only to make her other would-be suitor, Chow Yun Fat, look like a suave himbo by comparison.

The Eighth Happiness (1988)

Three brothers (Jacky Cheung’s sensitive cartoonist, Chow Yun Fat’s feckless actor and Raymond Wong’s lonely TV chef) go looking for love in all the wrong places, in another lightweight HK comedy. This is likeable enough and lands a few good gags, but your mileage will very much depend on how you feel about CYF’s performance as the middle brother, a self-proclaimed ‘sissy’ who uses his flamboyant, camp mannerisms to appear non-threatening when he’s trying to pick up women. For better or worse, he’s certainly hard to ignore, largely overshadowing both Cheung and Wong, but it is nice to see Chow paired up again with Carol Cheng as his long-suffering girlfriend, her sheer sensibility makes her a good foil for him.

Mismatched Couples (1985)

A very young Donnie Yen plays a breakdancing-obsessed teenager, who tries to help a down and out street vendor (Yuen Woo Ping) after seeing him perform dance moves from the Peking Opera to impress a passing tourist, in what can only be described as Hong Kong’s answer to Breakin’. There’s not a lot to it in terms of plot, but the film is infectiously jolly, with plenty of dumb gags and dance-offs to keep things moving along. Unfortunately, it does not treat its female characters well, particularly a young bodybuilder whom the film sees fit to mock for wanting to be strong, instead of conforming to the typical feminine archetypes of the time. Not just mean and insulting, this also feels laughably out of touch, given that the popularity of female action stars exploded in the territory just shortly after this was released. Nevertheless, if you can get past that, a scenery-chewing Dick Wei adds value to the final act as a cackling pantomime villain, and the film’s opening scene is arguably worth the price of admission alone. No-one in human history has ever looked to be having such a good a time as Donnie does breakin’ and poppin’ his way across town, while horribly catchy synthpop bangs away in the background.
 
Shin Masked Rider
It was pretty good. Very stylish, with lots of flashy action scenes. I haven't seen any Kamen Rider before, so I don't know how closely it sticks to the source material, but it ends up feeling like a TV compilation movie. Rather like Shin Ultraman it has an episodic structure, but this movie's 'episodes' are much shorter, hopping from one supervillain to the next every ten minutes or so. It jumps into high gear right from the beginning too. Aside from one extremely dense exposition scene, the film barely has a first act.

Tonally it's a bit of a departure from the previous two Shin movies in a couple of ways. For starters, it's an absolute bloodbath. The degree of violence really caught me off guard; blood gushes everywhere almost any time someone throws a punch. Also it's a lot quirkier than Shin Godzilla/Ultraman, primarily due to the over-the-top villains. It ends up feeling closer to Anno's Cutie Honey movie, albeit much darker.
 
Deathtrap (1982)
Enjoyed this more and more as it went on. Michael Caine does an excellent job as a burnout, jaded playwright and as the plot unravels it starts to revel in its over-the-top and even metatextual leanings. The ending is a bit sudden but it's alright for the type of movie it ended ups turning into. Unfortunately there is one major performance I found very grating at the start but it improves and everyone else is great.
 
Superman: Man of Tomorrow

For the casual fan this is a very solid Superman movie that has a lot of great character moments and portray's clarks struggles between his human life and his kryptonian identity more than any movie before it. For me it also has one of my favorite ever DC characters Martian Manhunter acting as a mentor figure for young Clark while he finds his way in a very interesting twist on their relationship. And for fans of the greater DC comics universe it has Lobo in it, no need to elaborate.

Amazing movie that is right up there with Death of Superman as one of my favorite movies for this character and I have immediately bought the Blu-Ray. I give this the highest rating of Lobo/10.
 
Dune 2021. the story is mind numbingly slow and the film is longer then it needed to be and it could of been cut down to 2h for better pacing.
 
84 Charlie Mopic (1989)

Unusual for being a found footage war film from before that narrative device exploded in popularity post-Blair Witch, Charlie Mopic follows a US army cameraman in Vietnam, tasked with filming a unit on patrol so that footage of their exploits may be used for training new recruits. There’s little here we haven’t seen before in terms of story, but the film is so up close and personal throughout that it gives the whole thing a real sense of intimacy that helps so much to sell it - they’re familiar archetypes, but I ended up really believing in these characters. Anyone looking for action and adventure will be disappointed, most of the combat is only glimpsed on the periphery of the camera’s vision, but this is an engaging and tense insight into the reality of the conflict that makes good use of its central gimmick.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Rereleased in 4K for its 50th anniversary, Bruce Lee’s iconic martial arts adventure is a fantastic, near ageless piece of cinema. I’d not seen the film in quite a number of years, and I’d forgotten just how perfectly constructed it all it is. There are a few wooly bits of plotting here and there (it seems unlikely that a man in chief baddie Han’s position would not arm at least some of his guards with guns), but hardly a frame seems wasted and I was glued to the screen from beginning to end.

Knowing a bit more about Hong Kong cinema than I did last time I saw it, I also found it quite amusing to note how many future stars have uncredited bit-parts as thugs and stuntmen. Jackie‘s presence is well known, but I spotted Yuen Wah, Phillip Ko and Sammo Hung amongst the sea of faces this time too.
 
Back
Top