inri222

Out of the Furnace - 2.5/5

In a poor Western Pennsylvania town a man works in a mill as a welder. One day he causes an accident while driving drunk and is sent to prison. While there everything goes downhill : his girlfriend leaves him for another man, his father dies and his Iraqi war veteran brother becomes involved in an illegal fighting ring run by some unsavory characters to whom he owes money. A film with some good ideas (social commentary, mood, cinematography) that takes the easy way out by turning into a revenge flick. Except for Harrelson & Dafoe, what a waste of a great cast.

musick

The Lego Movie - turned it off after about the first half hour

asianxcore

Crystal Lake Memories (2013)

I'm glad the filmmakers learned from the horrendous 'His Name Was Jason' (2009) and tailored this film more like 'Never Sleep Again' (2010). It was a pleasure devoting 6.5 hours to this film!

inri222

The Counselor - 4.5/5

After being warned by his partners, a lawyer invests some money in a drug deal that could make him millions. When the deal starts to fall apart he winds up fearing for his life by not being prepared to deal with the consequences of his actions. A dark film that shows the underbelly of the drug trade and how people create their own living hell because of greed. This film shows what Ridley Scott can do when collaborating with someone who can write a script.

hanshotfirst1138

The War Wagon- Formulaic but fun Western starring the Duke and Kirk Douglas leading a team trying to heist an armored covered wagon. The kind of high-concept star-powered action-fest which would still be made today, but would be way more bombastic and full of CG. I probably shouldn't be giving them ideas, but it's the kind of premise they'd try to use if they were making a western today. Hopefully no one will try to remake it. As it is, it's lightweight fun which has the sense to be nice and lean. Burt Kennedy's direction is brisk and fun if unremarkable, the stars do their star stuff, and the title creation is a nifty piece of movie machinery. Entertaining, albeit mostly forgettable.

The Last Boy Scout- Buddy movie shoot'em up from the MTV-era dream-team of Shane Black, Bruce Willis, Joel Silver, and Tony Scott, set against the backdrop of pro football. Trashy, brainless, sarcastic misogynistic, glossy, loud, violent, profane, crass, funny, and action-packed but clumsily cut, it's a fun relic from a bygone era of the macho action flick's golden age. Wayans and Willis have fair chemistry, Black's uncountable one-liners are often funny, and Scott's flash-and-trash direction points forward toward the even more incomprehensible post-narrative hell of people like Michael Bay. From fans of the era who grew up then, such as I, it's a fun trip down memory lane, albeit dated as hell after only 15 years. Apparently Black was paid a then-unprecedented amount for the script and it restored Willis' star status after taking a bad hit in the maligned Hudson Hawk. Not the blockbuster they hoped it'd be, but it became a surprise hit on the then nascent home-video market on VHS. It's definitely the kind of thing that'd show up panned-and-scanned on cable back in the 1990s. Ah, those were the days.

OldBoy

Lone Survivor...pretty compelling and intense.
Wolf Creek 2...fell asleep. will try and finish later tonight.

Why So Blu?

Affliction - cool little found footage horror film in the same exact vein as Chronicle but turned on its head by making it a horror film. It was very cool!

OldBoy

was this a remake of the Nick Nolte film?

CharlieK

Fearless (Weir, 1993) I remember loving this movie when it came out, but haven't seen it much since. It's an interesting - and successful, I think -mash-up of meditative art-house and 90's mainstream adult drama. There are a lot of silences between characters and wordless sequences, but then there's Tom Hulce and Benicio Del Toro in these goofy supporting roles that seem like they belong in another movie.

Jeff Bridges survives a plane crash with but a scratch and starts asking these existential questions. Alive came out the same year, but I always found the plane crash sequence here to be a lot more frightening and intense as everyone knows for several minutes that they're about to crash.

Giles

so I'm not exactly sure why there needed to be a remake of 'Seducing Doctor Lewis' but this version had charm too and Kitsch proved he can actually act and not be so goddamn annoying in his other past roles.



John ('Once') Carney hits another one out of the ball park - great performances and solid storytelling ... good music to boot.

tommyp007

kd5

Good campy fun...

inri222

Time of the Wolf - 4.5/5

An upper-class family of four is met by a family of intruders at their country retreat. The husband is killed and the rest of the family is released. Soon they come to realize that some unexplained catastrophe has caused an erosion of social order. An excellent film about how people try to hold on to their humanity under inhumane circumstances.

Why So Blu?

Milius - wow, what a great documentary. I had no idea he had a stroke. This is required viewing for film students.

My Other Self

3 Days to Kill - 3/5 - mismarketed action yarn with a lot of comedy spliced in. Costner does a good job as an ex-CIA operative given only a few months to live. Amber Heard was barely in the film. It really plays out as a solo-Costner vehicle, but that's okay. This felt like his version of Taken in a sense (a lot of that probably has to do with Luce Besson's involvement). I'd gladly welcome a sequel, although this tanked so that probably won't happen. Still, Relativity did a poor job with the commercials on this one. I didn't expect the laughs I got out of this.

Joe - 4/5 - Nicolas Cage proves once again that he's more than capable of giving award-winning caliber performances if he so chooses. With the amount of garbage that he churns out on a yearly basis, he clearly works for the money which is a shame. I'd rank his acting in this towards the top of his career output. Gary Poulter was the other scene stealer, playing a drifter father whose selfishness and overall view on life makes him not only sympathetic but someone you end up rooting to be killed off by the end of the movie.

The bigger shame with that is Poulter was a homeless drifter in real life, and wound up dead in September of 2013 face down in a creek at a homeless encampment in Texas. It's a shame this didn't get much buzz last year at the festivals it was floating around to. I found this to be one of the best films I've seen in awhile.

Newcomer Tye Sheridan also was very captivating in his performance as Poulter's drifter son whom Joe befriends when he's looking for work. I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Giles

yes it is ... hoping someone will film his script for "Genghis Khan"

Giles

- it's highly derivative of 'Alien' and one truly bizarre ending - but there's some great blood and guts.

oh and Robert Englund is in it!

DJariya

Going to Pieces: The rise and fall of the slasher film (2006)

95 minute documentary on the history of horror films. Everyone you can think of who was influential in horror was interviewed. Lots of good clips too.

Airing on Encore Action right now.

Why So Blu?

It's in "active development," so we'll see.

hanshotfirst1138

Who'd direct? The epic has become big-budget B-movies. Shame David Lean isn't around anymore.

inri222

If he were he'd only be 106 years young and no one would fund his films because 12 year old boys would not be interested in watching them.

johnnysd

Snowpiercer. Recommended.

asianxcore

Beneath (2014)

Very enjoyable way to spent 89 minutes. Even though it's not as smooth as the films that it wears on it's sleeve (The Descent, Buried, Gravity), the film is solid for most of its run time. The atmosphere is great, its extremely creepy and the cast is generally good (if not better). It falters in the last third of the film.

My Other Self

Bad Words - 3.5/5 -- Jason Bateman's hilarious directorial debut. Some good one-liners and overall a very funny movie.

asianxcore

House of Wax (2005)