What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[re.form]

Originally Posted by Sargento

Nightmare City isn't the goriest or the greatest zombie flick .. but it is more than watchable. My favourite scene has to be the zombie falling from the helicopter and bouncing off of the rollercoaster!! Trippy!

I think it's alot of fun. Really good Lenzi film.

I re-watched The Mist last night. I enjoyed it the first time but loved it the second time. Great mainstream fodder.

[gag]

just been to see kick ass if u like youre superhero and commedy films then this just is the tonic ...highly amusing in parts and also plenty of action/violence

[antmumford]

Had a bit of a tearful one tonight guys, started with The Killing Fields then finished with Marley and Me. Weren't a dry eye in the house.

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by antmumford

Had a bit of a tearful one tonight guys, started with The Killing Fields

Features the best use of Lennon's Imagine. In the world. Ever.

[42ndStreetFreak]

"Brooklyn Rules"

One of the many "Sopranos" writers penned this rather enjoyable little Mob drama starring Alec Baldwin, Scott Caan and a surprisingly good Freddie Prinze jr.

Nothing remotely new here, full of cliche and sign posted events but it's well made, well acted has some engaging characters (blimey, Scott Caan in 'Mob mode' standing there in a white vest is the absolute spit of his dad), a good soundtrack and is overall a solid piece of work for those into Jersey/NY Mob dramas (and what ****ing douche isn't!?).



"When the Last Sword is Drawn"

Stunning, epic, superbly acted, majestically crafted, deeply moving Samurai drama that, through flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks, tells the moving and tragic tale of Kanichiro Yoshimura a low grade Samurai who, during the turmoil of the collapsing Shogunate and the opening up of Japan (as also seen in "The Last Samurai") gives up his standing, friends and reputation to make as much money as possible to feed his family.

The action and violence are sparse for the most part (the third quarter of the film piles on quite a lot though) but when used it is powerful and effective and the large cast and period detail make for grand spectacle.
An ambush in a town is a superbly edited, directed, choreographed and played set-piece that delivers some exciting action while also pushing all the right emotional buttons.

The drama is sometimes melodramatic but it always works in the context of the piece and is often also just as sublime and always beautifully handled by the cast, Kiichi Nakai as Yoshimura is simply amazing but literally everyone here gives their all.

The wonderful cinematography and set design compliments the tragic drama, the romance, the bloodshed and the sacrifice of the story and some scenes will pull at your heart with a genuine power...for example a night scene, on a snow covered little bridge, as Yoshimura and his 5 year old daughter say their tearful farewells is an avalanche of emotions that completely overwhelms the viewer.

The extended last quarter of the film does perhaps go on for too long and can get quite tiring as what seems like numerous places to end the film successfully continue to play out.
But in the end the patience of the viewer is rewarded with some highly emotional revelations and a deeply moving ending.

"When the Last Sword is Drawn" is a sometimes funny, sometimes violent and exciting, sometimes tragic and deeply moving and always superbly acted and crafted Samurai drama that is truly essential viewing.



"Beach of the War Gods"

The most epic and famous of the great Wang Yu's directorial efforts is basically a semi-remake of "The Seven Samurai" with the Samurai being exchanged for Chinese warriors and their number cut to five and the extended, character essaying, build-up to the big fight removed.

Wang Yu also stars as the driven warrior who chooses a town on the 'Beach of the War Gods' to defend China from the rampaging Japanese invaders by recruiting four mighty warriors to aid him and the townsfolk.

A few minor fights in the first half of the film lead up to the grand battle that literally makes up the entire second half of the film, and what a stunning, truly, truly stunning set-piece it is.......
Wang Yu and his team of choreographers and actors pull out all the stops here as one of the finest, biggest, longest fight sequences ever filmed gives the audience all the superb weapons fighting, OTT stunts, bloodshed, epic battles and stunningly executed one on one skirmishes they could ever hope for.

Often the sequences are filmed in one long take (best shown by two jaw-dropping separate scenes where first Wang Yu (a force of friggin nature in this film) and then the Japanese Commander literally cut, hack and slash their way down a dusty street taking on dozens of other fighters as the camera follows them along their bloody swathe in a continuous tracking shot.
The level of screen fighting skill on show here is simply beyond compare.

And despite the Japanese being the sketched in, out and out, bad guys here (which is fair enough as it's a Chinese film) Wang Yu still ensures that during the fights they (and their iconic swords) are given plenty of chances to shine alongside the Chinese fighters.

The faults with the film are either transfer cosmetic ones (a very distorted soundtrack makes the already rather grating Mandarin dialogue tiring on the ears) or in the fact that having to fit in such a huge battle sequence (split into various components)into the 95 minutes running time means you have very one-dimensional heroes and there is no real emotional connection to the characters for the audience (or indeed between the characters themselves) that you would get in the "Seven Samurai" or even "The Magnificent Seven".

But as a piece of breast beating, epic in scale, mesmerising, violent, stunningly crafted action cinema it's a total must see, a must own in fact, and is worthy of its reputation.

It's also one of the movies that shows that Wang Yu should be remembered with far more respect for the skilled fighter and serious director he was in the industry...instead of being rather discarded as an enjoyable trash movie star thanks to the unfortunate fact that (although it is damn enjoyable of course) the overly cartoonish, delightfully silly and rather trashy "Master of the Flying Guillotine" is the film that seems to define his career in the eyes of too many general movie fans.

[gag]

Bought macabre last wk never seen it before and just fin watching it.. bit slow 4 my liking

[oaxaca]

Originally Posted by 42ndStreetFreak

"Brooklyn Rules"

"When the Last Sword is Drawn"

Stunning, epic, superbly acted, majestically crafted, deeply moving Samurai drama that, through flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks, tells the moving and tragic tale of Kanichiro Yoshimura a low grade Samurai who, during the turmoil of the collapsing Shogunate and the opening up of Japan (as also seen in "The Last Samurai") gives up his standing, friends and reputation to make as much money as possible to feed his family.

The action and violence are sparse for the most part (the third quarter of the film piles on quite a lot though) but when used it is powerful and effective and the large cast and period detail make for grand spectacle.
An ambush in a town is a superbly edited, directed, choreographed and played set-piece that delivers some exciting action while also pushing all the right emotional buttons.

The drama is sometimes melodramatic but it always works in the context of the piece and is often also just as sublime and always beautifully handled by the cast, Kiichi Nakai as Yoshimura is simply amazing but literally everyone here gives their all.

The wonderful cinematography and set design compliments the tragic drama, the romance, the bloodshed and the sacrifice of the story and some scenes will pull at your heart with a genuine power...for example a night scene, on a snow covered little bridge, as Yoshimura and his 5 year old daughter say their tearful farewells is an avalanche of emotions that completely overwhelms the viewer.

The extended last quarter of the film does perhaps go on for too long and can get quite tiring as what seems like numerous places to end the film successfully continue to play out.
But in the end the patience of the viewer is rewarded with some highly emotional revelations and a deeply moving ending.

"When the Last Sword is Drawn" is a sometimes funny, sometimes violent and exciting, sometimes tragic and deeply moving and always superbly acted and crafted Samurai drama that is truly essential viewing.

Good review!! I agree its an excellent film. Its one of those which requires you to invest the time and effort into watching it and pays off with some heavy drama, especially towards the end. I would recommend another 2 Tartan DVD releases 'Twilight Samurai' and 'The Hidden Blade' (I think they're by the same director as WTLSID, but could be wrong). Both are very similar in theme anyway I think The Hidden Blade is my favourite of the three as that had drop dead stunning cinematography!

[DeadAlive]

Satan's Sadists
Late sixties Hells Angels exploitation directed by B-Movie stalwart Al Adamson with Russ Tamblyn (Best known as the song and dance man from films like Tom Thumb & West Side Story.) as the deranged leader of a motorbike gang who go on a raping and killing spree. Cheep and cheerful and it doesn't linger on the violence that much, attempting instead to give you a bit of character and atmosphere. The acting, needless to say is dire, but as films of this ilk go it manages to pass 90 minutes away surprisingly easy.

[42ndStreetFreak]

Originally Posted by oaxaca

Good review!! I agree its an excellent film. Its one of those which requires you to invest the time and effort into watching it and pays off with some heavy drama, especially towards the end. I would recommend another 2 Tartan DVD releases 'Twilight Samurai' and 'The Hidden Blade' (I think they're by the same director as WTLSID, but could be wrong). Both are very similar in theme anyway I think The Hidden Blade is my favourite of the three as that had drop dead stunning cinematography!

Cheers! I shall indeed take a look at the other 2 movies.

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by 42ndStreetFreak

Cheers! I shall indeed take a look at the other 2 movies.

Oooh! Me too! I loved When The Last Sword Is Drawn.

Nice one to you both!

May I recommend Yôjirô Takita's Ashura which he made a couple of years after WTLSID? It's wonderfully absurd!