What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Pigasus]

Planning to see Avatar, this week, but (shamefully) last film I saw at cinema was 2012!

[DeadAlive]

They showed that on the Biography channel a while back. It was around two hours long and I felt it was repeating itself quite a bit as it went on. My favourite documentary is still Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by DeadAlive

My favourite documentary is still Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.

Yes it's a superb documentary. It also features the properly reconstructed version of the excellent Game Of Death footage.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

But which version of the reconstructed GOD footage to you prefer Vince? The Warriors Journey version with John Little providing the voice of Bruce or the Hong Kong Legends versionm,which is edited differently,has different music and Bey Logan providing the voice of Bruce (that one might be my imagination )? I believe one of them also has someone else dubbing Dan Inosanto's lines.

[Pigasus]

Most recent DVD & blu-ray reviewing, for my next column in Black Static magazine...

Blood Feast 2
Street Trash
Wrong Turn 3
Dungeons & Dragons 2
House (aka: Hausu, 1977) - Japanese curio, highly recommended!
Train
Surrogates
Tony
Dante's Inferno (animation)
In The Electric Mist
Long Weekend (remake)
Pandorum
Cabin Fever + sequel
Wolfhound From The Family Of Grey Dogs (Russian fantasy)
Sorority Row
Growth
Room 36 (from director of Revenge of Billy the Kid; remember that?)
Whiteout
Stan Helsing
Open Graves

I still have Jennifer's Body (on ice ), Arrow's Two Evil Eyes (to re-watch; it's been years since I saw this on video), and expecting Paranormal Activity to rattle letterbox this week.

That's a sneak preview of Blood Spectrum line-up for BS#15. (You read it here first!)

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by stevoj

But which version of the reconstructed GOD footage to you prefer Vince?

I prefer the version in A Warrior's Journey.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Yeah I think the version in A Warriors Journey is edited a little better.I believe the HKL version is the same one that was featured in the Japanese movie Bruce Lee in G.O.D.

[pedromonkey]

Originally Posted by DeadAlive

They showed that on the Biography channel a while back. It was around two hours long and I felt it was repeating itself quite a bit as it went on. My favourite documentary is still Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.

it did repeat it's self, i couldn't count how many times the narrator said 'Enter the dragon'. will have to check out the other one. is it a HKlengends dvd?

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by pedromonkey

will have to check out the other one. is it a HKlengends dvd?

Released by Warner Bros. It's also on the excellent WB 30th Anniversary 2-disc of Enter The Dragon, together with the Curse Of The Dragon documentary.

[42ndStreetFreak]

"Watchmen" - The Ultimate Cut.

I'll come right out and say it. I love it.

Thought it a fine (as best as we can hope for, or would actually work as a live action movie) adaptation done with massive care, time, money and love.
As a sane fan of the graphic novel (and with a realistic head on my non-fanboy shoulders) I understood you would have to remove parts and layers of the overall novel experience...but in this (only way to see it) 'Ultimate Cut' the makers have done a stunning job as far as the film standing on it's own goes and a fine job as adaptors.

Rorschach was spot on perfect in every way and actually looked more effective in the film than he he did even in the graphic novel.
The world was superbly realised, the story epic in scope but still personal and easy to follow even for those with no knowledge of the novel, the FX were often stunning, the action brutal and effective and the mixture of macho cliche, parody, homage, observation, commentary, fun, thrills, laughter, heartache and tragedy was mixed almost as well in the film as in the graphic novel.

And until you've seen the proper version of "Watchmen" in it's 'Ultimate Cut' form AND THEN watched the excellent version of "under the Hood" on the 'Complete Story' DVD...you have not really seen the "Watchmen" film.

Taken as a whole the DVD experience of "Watchmen" is a mini marvel as far as adapting such a great and ,multi-layered book and it's one hell of a well made package done with massive love.

In these days of massive DVD/Blu-Ray sales worldwide, with increasingly big and powerful home theatre systems...the cinema version of a film is becoming less and less and important and is almost gone as far as a definitive viewing experience of a film goes.

The excellent (as best an adaptation as we could have hoped for...and if you are against ANY adaptation don't see the bloody thing then) 'Ultimate Cut' and the separate 'Under the Hood' feature (done as a TV documentary) make for a masterwork in my view.

Loved the graphic novel, loved the 'Ultimate Cut' and I can;t understand the hate for the movie (which actually improved the ending of the graphic novel by easily and effectively ditching the, never would work in a film anyway, rather goofy 'octopus' monster).
Essential viewing.



"A Dangerous Man".

Nice one Stevie!
Stevie the Seagull flaps his chubby wings extra hard and manages to halt his career plummet (yet again) after the unwatchable lows of "Kill Switch".
This is well paced, well directed, wonderfully brutal (wince like a wincy thing at the meaty, crunchy, 'rod in the back of the neck death) and entertaining stuff that effectively juggles many different groups of characters, from Seagal's delightfully cliche 'ex Special Forces' (of course!!) troubled hero to Russian mobsters (Seagal's current fetish), Chinese criminal gangs, corrupt Police and the Chinese military.

The dialogue is also a gem of multifaceted delights. Made better by Seagal's obvious unwillingness to see trash dialogue AS trash dialogue.
Highlights are (in a wonderfully unhinged moment for his character) Seagal's pronouncement to a would-be mugger that he's going to "**** you up ugly", his remark to the lead bad guy "Where I come from, we say death is emptiness. In that case, I've been dead for many years" and a stunningly delightful line from a Russian mobster to the corrupt Police Captain, "Where I come from we **** Cops in the mouth when we've run out of farm animals"!
Genius!

Seagal is thankfully not doubled except for a couple of 'throwing the bad guy across the room' stunts and his ultra-fast punches, blocks and thudding kicks still manage to impress despite his extra bulk (though again, he looks better than he has done).
the gunplay is not as blood drenched or in your face as that of "Renegade Justice" and tthe support characters do more of it...but again it's effective and violent enough.

Trashy, cheesy, nasty, fast paced, no-nonsense funstuffs!
Now try to keep the quality constant Stevie!