Topic: The Movie Thread

After playing Sleeping Dogs, I felt like a good Triad gangster movie, but being unable to find one, I settled for a Yakuza film in the form of Outrage. Really quite excellent, I think. It certainly wasn't pleasant; tense, angry, and often shockingly violent, it nonetheless told a compelling story despite including barely a single likeable character in the cast.

Anyone else seen a fan of Takeshi Kitano? Or have any further Yakuza film recommendations? It's a world I've always found quite fascinating, in a dark, morbid sort of way.

@Unashamed_116: Dunno if you've seen them or not, but The Raid 1 & 2 are both fantastic action movies. They're set in Indonesia, and revolve around general underground crimey business, so they're both pretty similar to Sleeping Dogs in their tone.

@Unashamed_116, I don't know where you watched Outrage, but Netflix also has it's sequel, Beyond Outrage, and an earlier work of Kitano's called Sonatine which I both really liked. All of them are Yakuza films.

As for other films he's in that aren't Yakuza flicks, they also have Zatoichi: the Blind Swordsman (a samurai flick) & Battle Royale (pretty much Japanese Hunger Games, though more brutal, and it came first). I liked both of these as well.

@RR529: Thank you for your suggestions! I don't have Netflix because my internet isn't really good enough to use it (plus, the selection isn't that great in Australia from what I hear) but I picked up Outrage and its sequel on Blu-Ray online. I might have to do the same with Zatoichi, because I looked into it from your suggestion and it sounds excellent. I actually picked up Battle Royale today, so I'll look forward to watching that next time I'm in the mood for something brutal and confronting!

@TheMightyPunram: I've heard good things about The Raid and its sequel from one of my friends, actually, so I'll have to check those out too! Thank you!

@Unashamed_116: Even though its not action oriented like The Raid the first Infernal Affairs (HK) movie is great if you liked Sleeping Dogs.

I also recommend The Chaser (KOR) movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser_(film)

@RR529: I am someone who grew up with the original Ninja Turtles cartoon here in North America back in the late 1980s as did several friends of mine, and those that did called it an affront to the original property and they heavily regretted watching this new movie. I thought the very notion of them being portrayed in horrible CG was insulting to those of us who enjoyed them in the original format. The original animation was classic at it's very best in the same vein as the original Batman: The Animated Series. Also one of the best series of it's day and several of the voice actors from that series still reprise their roles in the newer games and movies. I rarely watch movies based on older properties that I enjoyed when I was younger for this very reason, most directors completely ruin them. If you want to see the original Ninja Turtles, or Hero Turtles in the UK as the censors wanted to call them, then watch the 80s and 90s animated series'.

Watched Saints & Soldiers (Netflix).

A WWII film about a small group of allied soldiers who get stuck behind enemy lines in German occupied France, and must find their way back to allied controlled territory.

It's nothing revolutionary, but it has a great cast, and like all the other Saints & Soldiers films (which are all on Netflix), it's a very solid WWII film, and who doesn't like a good WWII film every once in awhile?

@SaiyanFury: I don't know I thought the same thing quite honestly but after watching The Nostalgia Critic and Angry Video Game Nerd do a review on the 2014 TMNT movie they made a good point. The TMNT have had their story retold and redone so many times just like any other superhero that you just can't compare it to the older cartoon. To be fair the cartoon had its moments same as the 90's movies same as this new one. It's not bad honestly once you look at it that way it's just different.

@RR529: Enemy at the gates is my favourite war film.

@Tasuki: The problem I have compared to the 80s and early 90s is the amount of remakes. Where's a new hero and new bad guy?

Never seen it, but I do have it on my queue. I'll watch it the next time I'm in the mood for a WWII film.

Tonight I watched Like Father, Like Son (Netflix/Japanese language film).

Two families (one who lives in the big city with a stern & distant salaryman father, and the other who have a fun loving father & who run a small family owned electronics repair shop) realize that their sons were switched at birth, and have to make the tough decision on whether to keep the child they've been raising, or to take their blood related children.

It's not something within my normal comfort zone, but I'm glad I branched out. It focuses more on the family with the salaryman father, but it makes you feel for both sides, and you're not sure how it'll end, or even how you personally want it to end.

I watched The Martian at my local cinema last night. Fully recommend it to anyone who has even the faintest interest in science, dry humour and 70s disco music.

Last night I watched American Pie (Netflix).

It's definitely ADULT ONLY, but even though raunchy comedies aren't my usual thing, I actually quite liked this one, and it definitely had it's moments. Again, it's definitely only for the adults though.

I also watched The Martian a few days ago. It was a pretty good movie. The story was good and believable, and the humor throughout was pretty good.

So today is Back to the Future day, that is today is the actually date that Marty and Doc went to 2015. So where are the hoverboards, self lacing shoes, and flying cars? One thing I found funny is that the Cubs are in the playoffs (currently down 3 games to the Mets) so maybe BttF got that part right? Although it seemed like they won the series on this day in BttF 2.

@Tasuki
The freeway I take to work was completely shut down this morning so I totally could've used a flying car today.

The Back to the Future trilogy is playing today but I'm still debating on going. I really want to go but part 3 isn't starting until almost 10pm and I have to work in the morning.

We're actually not too far off from most of the stuff seen in the movie.

As a rundown of advancements predicted:

• Abolishing Lawyers - Lol, no. But probably the biggest actual joke than anything else on the list.
• Computer Ordering (in restaurants) - Exists today.
• Cubs win the World Series - Could very well happen, though they have a hill to climb (I think the Mets have a 3 game lead). They did accurately predict that Miami would have a team (which it didn't at the time of the film's creation), though they aren't in the playoffs.
• Fingerprint Locks - Exist today (I think some Apple products even use fingerprint verification)
• Flat screen TVs - Widely used today. We even have HD & 4K, which weren't in the film (though of course, they'd have no way of showcasing this, even if they'd envisioned it).
• Flying cars - Prototypes do exist today, and lack of advancement has more to do with how they aren't viable economically, rather than technical issues (And self driving cars are going to be hitting the streets soon, something I don't think the film predicted).
• Food Hydrators - No, at least not as a commercial product.
• Glasses free 3D - While not in the holographic form the film depicts, this does exist today, even in a popular mainstream device (3DS). Will probably become more prevalent once it becomes more inexpensive to do it with larger screens.
• Hands Free Gaming - Exists today, though it's going through a period of disinterest.
• Hoverboards - Exist today in prototype form. Hendo Hoverboard seems to be the current leader in the tech.
• Drones (both the news, & dog walking ones) - Not in this capacity, but probably not too far off. Drones are increasingly becoming part of everyday life.
• Self Cleaning Paper - No, but print in general is becoming obsolete, which the film didn't predict.
• Self Drying Clothes - No.
• Self Lacing Shoes - Exist in prototype form, though I can't remember the company name.
• Smart Glasses - Exist today, though expensive.
• Video Calls - Widely used today (Skype, Facetime, etc.)

I'm sure there's stuff I missed, but overall, we're not doing too bad.

Tonight I watched Sadako (Netflix/Japanese language film).

Horror film where a teacher & a police detective are investigating a string of mysterious suicides in the area linked to a cursed viral video (mostly teens, given the teacher's involvement).

It's never terrifying, rather tense & moody with some jump scares sprinkled throughout, and some special effects that border on campy (I'm leaning towards intentional). It's not great, but a decent watch for this time of year.

I had the extra time tonight, so I watched Alexander (Netflix).

It's a 3 hour long epic about the life of Alexander the Great. The set pieces have a grand sense of scale, the battles are larger than life, and there's quite a bit of visual variety as they travel from around Greece all the way to India.

I liked it, but felt it was getting a little long in the tooth, and it never seemed to have that "X factor" that makes a timeless film.

A few nights ago I watched Tormented (Netflix/Japanese language film).

Japanese horror film where a boy & his mute elder sister are dragged into a nightmarish world at night, seemingly by the vengeful spirit of an injured rabbit he had killed (which is in the form of a man sized bunny suit). However, the true source of the situation seems to change regularly, as the film has more twists than an M. Night whatshisface movie. Overall, it was decent I guess, though again, horror isn't my forté.

Also, I'm running out of Japanese films to watch on Netflix. There's a couple left, but one of them is nearly 2 & a half hours long, and that's a bit too much for me on my tablet.