Summer Wars - Animated - Japan - Availible in English dub
Story: A Japanese school kid and his fake girlfriends' family race against time to stop an aggressive artificial intelligence from taking over the world.
A clever, funny and inventive movie, that will have you laughing, tearful and grinning like an ass at the end. This is 'the' movie for the internet generation. It blends everything you love about gaming, the internet and family into a rip roaring success.
Rating: A+
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Japan Anime Series - English Dubbed
Story: After a tragic event two brothers embark on a journey to recover their original bodies. Set in a world of alchemy, alchemists use magic like a science in a country dominated by a military dictatorship.
Not to be confused with the original Fullmetal Alchemist series, Brotherhood is based on the original material. This is an almost perfect series - hell it is perfect. Not a word I would ever use with almost anything else, this series wraps everything up with the most perfect of bows. There's a deep backstory, compelling characters, conspiracy, intrigue, action, revelations and comedy in an intellectual property that by all rights should be as popular and well known as Star Wars or Harry Potter. And it's probably better than both of those too. Every aspect of this series, from the music, script, voice acting and animation are top notch. If you only watch one anime series, make sure it's this.
Rating: A+
Hard Boiled - Hong Kong - Heroic Bloodshed
Story: A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew
The world is divided into people who have and haven't seen Hard Boiled. Famously once described by critics as "like a dozen Die Hards", this movie may be the proverbial White Rabbit that leads you into the world of Hong Kong action pics. Imagine a Hollywood without rules, without safety regulation, a time before CGI and safety nets. This is Hard Boiled, where a stuntman will take his own life into his hands to deliver a kinetic and eye popping action sequence. And you may never get that music out of your head, either.
Rating: A
Journey To the West Conquering the Demons - China - Action Comedy
Story: A buddist monk is a fumbling, trainee monster hunter, trying to realise his potential as a conquerer of demons. He eventually meets the Monkey King of fabled Chinese legend. Set in the days when the Monkey King was a petulant and dangerous individual, he calls on the help of Buddha himself to prevail.
If you liked Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer then you're bound to like this. Stephen Chows' latest movie is the same mix of frenetic action, extraordinary CGI and well tempered comedy.
Rating: A
Redline - Japan - Animated Racing/Sports/Action - English dubbed
Story: In the far future, when groundcars are being largely replaced by hovercars, there is one last great race known as "Redline." Held once every five years, it features the greatest groundcar racers from around the galaxy.
Seven years in the making, Redline is a visually arresting, adrenaline pumped feast for the eyes. Practically F-Zero the movie, it revels in the things only animation can do and feels like a 90s throwback ramped up to 11. With a simple but sweet story at it's core, the setup is delicious, as the race happens on Warworld and the inhabitants aren't exactly friendly...
Rating: A
Wuxia aka Dragon (in America) - China Detective/Action
Story: A simple man wants to live a tranquil life, only to be interupted by murderous thieves. After besting them in battle in a tragedy of flukes, a determined detective begins to hound him and reconstruct the event.
Wuxia, pronounced Wushia is almost a crime film, despite its Wuxia (heroic martial arts journey) trappings. With elegant martial arts, a clever script and effectively economical directing, Wuxia is one of the better Chinese films of recent years.
Rating: A
I want to see Hard Boiled so bad, where can I see it?
I am going to do a quick version of the last few movies I saw:
42 - standard generic sports movie. Supposed to be one of the most extraordinary stroies of our time, the man who broke the color barrier in baseball and american sports. And it just comes across like any other underdog story. Ford plays a good grumpy old man. Rating: C-
The Raid 2 - Will kick your ass so hard it will fly out of your face. Incredible action, good story, almost too much violence. Still super serious though, only for the most hardcore of action lovers. Rating: A-
Captain America Winter Soldier - One of the best superhero movies ever. Has an incredible energy to it with great characters, twists and turns and mind blowing action. Rating: A
First post and you break the one post rule!
Dvader said:
42 - standard generic sports movie.
Supposed to be one of the most extraordinary stroies of our time, the man who broke the color barrier in baseball and american sports. And it just comes across like any other underdog story. Ford plays a good grumpy old man.
Rating: C-
The Raid 2 - Thailand - Action
Will kick your ass so hard it will fly out of your face. Incredible action, good story, almost too much violence. Still super serious though, only for the most hardcore of action lovers.
Rating: A-
Captain America Winter Soldier USA - Superhero
One of the best superhero movies ever. Has an incredible energy to it with great characters, twists and turns and mind blowing action.
Rating: A
How would you review the first Captain America D?
B- I enjoyed it.
That was a lazy quick post of movies I watched the last few weeks, future movies I will try to do it nice
Dvader said:B- I enjoyed it.
That was a lazy quick post of movies I watched the last few weeks, future movies I will try to do it nice
Cool. I would have given it a C I think. Why are most origin superhero movies worse than the sequels?
If you watch the 90s Xmen cartoon there is a cool episode set in the 40s where Logan and Captain America team up.
Throwdown aka Yau doh lung fu bong - Hong Kong - Life affirming drama.... with judo
Story: a washed up Judo champion farts his life away gambling and stealing from Triads, when a new challenger and a girl enter his life and rekindle his love, for throwing people down.
Throw Down and judo itself is a metaphor for the old adage: when you fall off your horse you pick yourself back up. Instead of stuffy sports halls and competitions, Judo as depicted in Hong Kong is like an underground fighting cult, where old rivals challenge each other on the mean streets. It even has a magnificent slow mo super stylish mass brawl. As ever, the Hong Kong To depicts is gleaming, dark and neon. If you've ever felt beaten down by life, this movie might just pick you up.
Rating: B+
Note: more drama than action
Here's a taster of Hard Boiled
Here's the full movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUAu1i59XP0
It's an early 90s movie BTW so has an 80s-ish vibe
This is one of the comments:
billygoate4t3r
Infernal Affairs - Crime Thriller - Hong Kong
Story: Rival intelligence agents, one criminal who has infiltrated the police and one cop who has infiltrated the triad. Who will be revealed?
The award winning film that 'inspired' The Departed, is less a long winded over wordy crime drama and more an exciting thriller. Tense, suspenseful and revelatory, Infernal Affairs was a justly deserved success at the cinema, pairing together two of HK Cinemas' most famous actors of the time. And don't tell anyone but the sequel is even better.
Rating: A
Infernal Affairs 2 - Epic Crime Drama/Thriller - Hong Kong
Story: This prequel to the original film shows how the young protagonists of the first film came to be where they are today. Young rival intelligence agents, one criminal who has infiltrated the police and one cop who has infiltrated the triad.
One of the best films the HK film industry has ever produced, for my money. Slick, emotional, surprising, stylish and engrossing - IA2 ticks all the boxes in the epic crime drama category. Even the same directors have never managed to match the quality of this film. And I hear Hollywood are re-purposing it for a Departed sequel.
Rating: A+
Confessions - Japan - Drama/Thriller
Story: A psychological thriller of a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger, with a twisting master plan to pay back those who were responsible for her daughter's death.
When was the last time a film utterly grabbed you from the very first minute? When you could feel it's bony hand reach out from the screen and grab you by the balls? If you love the dark revenge fuelled movies of the Korean Nu Wave like Oldboy you'll be right at home here. This movie is super dark, it even involves children and revenge against children throughout. As far as Japanese cinema goes, I don't think I've seen better.
Rating: A+
Zatoichi - Japan - Swordfighting Period film
Story: Zatoichi comes to the defense of townspeople caught up in a local Yakuza war.
How many films do you know that end with a full on tap, dance and drum number? It may be worth seeing just for the indulgent but hugely pleasing dance number. Aside from some very obvious CGI blood spatter (oh how I hate thee) Zatoichi is a solid, entertaining and quirky period piece. And yes, dudes do get sliced up by a blind man. They do.
Rating: B+
The Raid: Redemption aka The Raid - Thailand - Action
Story: A S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs. One man, has to survive.
The action is indeed great but the character development and story is woefully lacking. Like others have said, The Raid is super serious and thus has a similar level of tension throughout which can get monotonous. Great action movies aren't only great because of the action, but those need to be served by enough story to enhance and invest the viewer in those action sequences. That's what make the best action sequences memorable.
Rating: B-
Oh shit its on youtube!
Can I watch Infernal Affairs on youtube too?
Always wanted to see that since the Departed is one of my favorite movies.
The idea of this thread is to make an easy to read reference point for films worth seeing for your friends here.
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All threads that are organised need rules so please use this or something similar as a template:
ONE POST PER MOVIE
The idea is to create something fairly short to read, no more than one or two paragraphs. Something more structured than just a general shout out.