The Movie/Film Thread

[mizer_unmei]

I've seen several movies recently.

I saw Knight and Day. Which was crap with the worst onscreen chemistry ever in history.

Then I've watched 3 different Korean movies!

First one was 방자전 (Bangja's story) which was a silly retelling of the ever popular Chunghyang story. It was pretty good though, throwing in more social stratifications and such. There was a lot more sex and nudity than I've ever seen in a Korean movie. They're been watching too much Showtime.

Then there was 포화 속으로 (Into the gunfire) which is all about the Korean war. And it has TOP, who's my favorite member of any Korean boy band ever. His acting wasn't as good as the other lead though. It was fun and all war movie-y. And one character was all saying he wanted his mum's kimchi jjigae, and it made me want some that much more. I feel like that'll always happen whenever I watch it.

Now I just finished 내 깡패 같은 애인 (My gangster-y lover). I ordered this one on Pay-per-view because I already left theaters before I found out what it was. It was cute, albeit it confusing at times with not really knowing Korean. Plus I thought I was going to hate it because of how the ending was turning out. But then it was all better.

All of them I got maybe 25-40% of the dialogue and would gladly watch again with subtitles.

[SakeIt2Me]

I saw the Korean movie My Girlfriend Is An Agent recently, I thought it was a really hilarious spy show spoof. Made me laugh quite a bit...

Can anyone recommend a good Chinese movie (with subtitles!) that isn't a period war piece or centred around kung fu??? I'd like to see some modernist fare from Chinese cinema and see what it's like, but no clue what to look for...drama, comedy, whatever.

[Glathannus]

Originally Posted by SakeIt2Me

Can anyone recommend a good Chinese movie (with subtitles!) that isn't...

a period war piece - CHECK
centered around kung fu - CHECK
centered around organized crime - CHECK

Try "In The Mood For Love" (a lot of people will recommend that one) or Stolen Life.

[mizer_unmei]

Originally Posted by SakeIt2Me

Can anyone recommend a good Chinese movie (with subtitles!) that isn't a period war piece or centred around kung fu???

Hong Kong has lovely movie. The aforementioned In The Mood For Love is one of my favorites. But everything Wong Kar Wai touches is gorgeous. (... for the most part.)

So, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, 2046, they're all lovely.
Lust, Caution is good too. Though, with lots of nudity and has the Japanese occupation as a backdrop.
I've heard that Zhang Yimou's films with Gong Li in the early/mid 90s (To Live, Shanghai Triad) are pretty good. But I've only seen Raise the Red Lantern. Which I kinda liked until the end, which was crap and made me angry.

[kuro_neko]

Originally Posted by mizer_unmei

Hong Kong has lovely movie. The aforementioned In The Mood For Love is one of my favorites. But everything Wong Kar Wai touches is gorgeous. (... for the most part.)

So, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, 2046, they're all lovely.
Lust, Caution is good too. Though, with lots of nudity and has the Japanese occupation as a backdrop.
I've heard that Zhang Yimou's films with Gong Li in the early/mid 90s (To Live, Shanghai Triad) are pretty good. But I've only seen Raise the Red Lantern. Which I kinda liked until the end, which was crap and made me angry.

pish posh. Raise the Red Lantern is an amazing movie with a brutal ending. It is a wonder it ever got past the censors in China (it was banned for a while) and a movie of that courage almost never gets made in Hollywood, so I think it warrants a look.

and, on a completely different note, if you haven't seen the original The Eye by the Pang Brothers, definitely check that out as well.

edit: oh, and I support watching Lust, Caution too, although technically that movie was funded by Taiwan (it was also mostly censored in China). Everyone makes such a big deal of the sex scenes, which are probably about 16 minutes of the total run time, but they are integral to the film. they convey so much emotion and impact that informs the events and plot points in the movie I can't imagine how you could watch it without them. that being said, it is only NC-17 because you see full frontal nudity. Bad Education got an NC-17 in the states too, just because it had a shot of a male emerging out of a pool in wet underwear and gay sex. the MPAA is full of shit.

[SakeIt2Me]

Thanks guys(?) that oughta keep me occupied for awhile!

[mizer_unmei]

Originally Posted by kuro_neko

oh, and I support watching Lust, Caution too, although technically that movie was funded by Taiwan (it was also mostly censored in China). Everyone makes such a big deal of the sex scenes, which are probably about 16 minutes of the total run time, but they are integral to the film. they convey so much emotion and impact that informs the events and plot points in the movie I can't imagine how you could watch it without them.

I totally agree with this. With the relationship the built up with the sex scenes, it made it that much more of a emotional and fantastic movie.

Ooh, and while getting on other movies, I forgot to mention that Hong Kong also brought out Infernal Affairs. Which was remade into The Departed, and is loads better.

[Nimh]

Just finished watching the 4-hour long Love Exposure, from the director of Suicide Circle and Exte: Hair Extensions. Good Lord what a movie. It'll take some time to process even though it was fairly straightforward. Some sort of weird masterpiece that could only come from an obsessed, deranged artist.

[TeslaGuy]

Animation has been unfairly relegated to cinema's basement for far too long. A bit surprising to see it casually dismissed at a forum that savors Japanese creativity.

From Wikipedia---
Lynch currently has two films in production, both of which differ in content from his previous work. One of these is an animation entitled Snootworld

I imagine that could permanently end the debate, or be just awful. Unlikely.

[Inaudible-Whisper]

Inception was fantastic! I stayed away from the hype train so I went in without hyperbolic expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Loved the premise and the execution, and I loved the ending. It got an applause at the end which is pretty damn rare in Britain, I've only seen it happen once or twice. The audience reaction throughout the whole thing was really good. A lot of laughing at the insanity of certain situations (in a good way).