Just a bunch of stuff i've seen lately

[Mairosu]

Hope your son is safe, Rayne. Thanks for being respectful to my opinion and likewise, I respect yours.

[Alien Redrum]

Just my two cents since were just throwing it out there if it weren't for the enlisted English would not be the first language in this country weve been Close to losing this country several times coming from six generations of soldiers and my son who is presently a ranger I would like to land on the opposite end of your coin and say thanks to all who have enlisted there all heroes.


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We've come close to losing this country several times? Please name them. Name all 'several' of these times. There has been no threat of losing this country since the 19th century.

Well... there was that one time that Mairosu visited Baltimore.

You're lucky that wasn't this weekend!

[shiki-jitsu]

Well... there was that one time that Mairosu visited Baltimore.

You're lucky that wasn't this weekend!

[fefo.gautier]

Watched recently It Follows and it was pretty good, besides some script holes and excessive slow in middle parts.

[DJBenz]

Watched recently It Follows and it was pretty good, besides some script holes and excessive slow in middle parts.

I've yet to see this, but it's getting a lot of horror love.

[Mairosu]

Hello Malta, hello binge watching...

EL DESCONOCIDO (THE RETRIBUTION) ... a gripping, edge-of-your seat thriller about a shady bank manager who is about to have a very, very rough day once he unexpectedly takes his kids to school. What starts off a Spanish copy of Larry Cohen's PHONE BOOTH quickly evolves into a more layered film, with more and more interesting directorial solutions as it progresses. First time director Dani de la Torre completely kills it, and it's worth watching for his craft only if nothing else...Luis Tosar, kind of a Spanish Sean Connery, is great in the starring role. De la Torre might as well start looking for some property off Beverly Hills - with this kind of debut, he won't be sticking in Europe for a long time. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

CHAPPIE ... you see, the problem with Blomkamp is that when people invoke his name, they think great cyberpunk entertainment. But alas, Blomkamp is the kind of guy who is more interested in fencing his humanist-socialist ideas, and that's where the box office takes note and stops reacting. In ELYSIUM he successfully pitched a healthcare criticism in a SF coat, and in CHAPPIE, he goes one step further - this story of a sentient robot trying to make things happen for him in a crime riddled post-Apartheid South Africa is just another example of what is boetie Neil all about - class division, capitalist exploitation, and, crucially, the issues of 21st century concept of humanity and trying to evolve it. The film is full of visual flair, but it flopped probably because there is not enough of shit blowing up (when it does, tho, it blows up with a serious bang) - likewise, a movie with two fairly controversial South African rappers (who are nothing more than a niche in USA) and a talking robot will need at least Tom Cruise to prop it up at the cinema counters, not Hugh Jackman...and that said, all the actors distinguish themselves, especially Ninja and Yo-Landi, but Jackman is a delight as a villainous engineer and Dev Patel is charmingly clunky as the IT nerd who breathes life into the titular character. If you liked it, you are on the same socio-political wavelength with Blomkamp. If not, well, there's just not enough gunfire here for a positive grade in that case. *** / ****

[Mairosu]

NO ESCAPE ... an American civil engineer (Owen Wilson) uproots his family from Austin, TX and heads off to an unidentified south east asian country for work. The bad part? The PM of the said country is killed in a coup just hours after he lands, and the whole thing erupts into a mayhem, complete with rebel executioner squads which roam the streets looking for Americans to kill. An easy premise, with a minuscule budget (reported 5 million dollars, which these days can't even get you a decent NFL player, let alone a fucking movie), is executed so masterfully (in very-hard-R fashion, mind) that you'll catch yourself gasping for breath throughout. The director John Dowdle has directed mainly horror fare before this, but this film is probably the most horrific of them all. Owen Wilson is tremendous (and looks much like young Robert Redford) as a guy pushed to his limits, and Pierce Brosnan is excellently cast as a sidekick - the film was derided by many critics as "xenophobic", but this just shows how little people care about the depth of the film itself...the only bad guys are, essentially, caucasian...parental advisory - if you're a parent, it will be double as queasy. ***1/2 / ****

[DJBenz]

CHAPPIE ... you see, the problem with Blomkamp is that when people invoke his name, they think great cyberpunk entertainment. But alas, Blomkamp is the kind of guy who is more interested in fencing his humanist-socialist ideas, and that's where the box office takes note and stops reacting. In ELYSIUM he successfully pitched a healthcare criticism in a SF coat, and in CHAPPIE, he goes one step further - this story of a sentient robot trying to make things happen for him in a crime riddled post-Apartheid South Africa is just another example of what is boetie Neil all about - class division, capitalist exploitation, and, crucially, the issues of 21st century concept of humanity and trying to evolve it. The film is full of visual flair, but it flopped probably because there is not enough of shit blowing up (when it does, tho, it blows up with a serious bang) - likewise, a movie with two fairly controversial South African rappers (who are nothing more than a niche in USA) and a talking robot will need at least Tom Cruise to prop it up at the cinema counters, not Hugh Jackman...and that said, all the actors distinguish themselves, especially Ninja and Yo-Landi, but Jackman is a delight as a villainous engineer and Dev Patel is charmingly clunky as the IT nerd who breathes life into the titular character. If you liked it, you are on the same socio-political wavelength with Blomkamp. If not, well, there's just not enough gunfire here for a positive grade in that case. *** / ****

I liked it because I let all the socio-political bollocks wash over me, so it was just about a gangsta robot, fuck mother. And that girl with the funny hair.

[Mairosu]

The scene in which Jackman presses Patel against the desk and cocks the gun to his head, was the directorial instruction "I need to you sound most australian you have ever sounded in your life"? I literally lol'd when he said that he makes him nervous as a "frog in a sock".

[Mairosu]

SELF/LESS ... this updated retread of John Frankenheimer's excellent SECONDS has received quite a beating at the box office and with the critics, but it's not that bad at all. Ben Kingsley is a wealthy industrialist who opts to extend his life via a highly experimental procedure called "shedding", where his mind is implanted into a new, fresh body (that being Ryan Reynolds). However, the new threads have some sideffects, most notably memories of "old" mind which was housed within - when Ryan fails to suppress those visions with his regular dose of medicine, he starts to unravel a shadier side of things. Unlike Blomkamp, who portrays transhumanism in his movies in a mostly positive light, Tarsem Singh shows the less "funny" side of such visions, and how the technology can be manipulated with ill intent. The film blends in some neat action set pieces as well, and overall it's not the worst time waster you could imagine. I could have given it maybe an even higher grade, but the production team supposedly received money from Apple for product placement - all computers in film are Apple, all phones are iPhones, all lab staff and doctors use iPads, at one point, the "mad scientist" character even muses about what would Steve Jobs have accomplished with another 50 years on this planet. As if this world is not scary enough, buddy. **1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

RUN ALL NIGHT ... Liam Neeson (who else?) plays an aging hitman for the Irish mob in New York, reduced to playing santa at christmas parties. When a drug deal involving kingpin's (Ed Harris) son goes awry and threatens to involve his otherwise clean-cut son, he intervenes and that sets up an eventful night for everyone involved. Great performances, including guest turns by Vince D'Onofrio, Nick Nolte (uncredited) and Common, as well as great photography and direction (Jaume Collet-Serra), breathe fresh air into a stale concept. If Liam Neeson started his John Wayne cycle with TAKEN, this is as good of a SHOOTIST as it gets. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

MAD MAX : FURY ROAD ... once you move away from all the gloss and sheen this film subjects you to, you eventually figure out that George Miller has just did what he wanted to do 35 years ago but had no proper funding for it. Is FURY ROAD a bad film? No, it's dynamic (in parts), it's well shot, it's well staged and directed, and passes time adequately. Is it memorable? I think I'll forget most of it by the end of next week. And I wouldn't mind if it wasn't for the fact they spent 150 million dollars making something this stale and banking on the nostalgia factor. Ohhh well. **1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E ... this attempt to concoct an origin story of a multi-national spy team which combats global whatever, and also revive interest in an old television show, fell flat on its ass at the box office more-less. And I will add it is a rather undeserving verdict, for this film is quite an entertaining old-times romp - the European locales, great leads which physically resemble former Hollywood stars, as well as fantastic direction by Ritchie make this film a rather pleasant watch. Sure, it comes off shallow on occasions, but you won't care. The car chase in the Italian mountains is one for the ages. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

KINGSMAN : SECRET SERVICE ... it is not such a great shame that James Bond went crap recently, because we have a lot of similar films which are better than the inspiration material. There was the aforementioned U.N.C.L.E, but Kingsman takes things one step further - it reestablishes the connection with the "gentleman spy" trope, it is equally brilliantly directed as U.N.C.L.E, it has a Bond-ish villain with a cruel henchman (or woman, rather), and, crucially, the action in Kingsman is hard R oriented, making it more palatable to my tastes. It is not often I finish watching a movie these days with a broad smile and a sense of fulfillness - Kingsman just did the trick. Essential viewing. ****/****