Track the Films You Watch (2005) - Page 13

SteveGon · 02-23-2005, 09:58 AM

Infernal Affairs (2002)

Viewed 2/22/2005 (first viewing)

Slick Chinese crime thriller about an undercover cop and his nemesis who just happens to be a mole on the police force. Refreshingly restrained compared to the stuff John Woo did, and yet it still remains gripping throughout.

out of

The Twilight Samurai (2002)

Viewed 2/22/2005 (first viewing)

A widowed and impoverished samurai, saddled with two children and a witless mother, gains a measure of hope when he discovers that an old love has recently been divorced from her brutal ex-husband. But in the waning days of the samurai, can any of his kind find happiness? A perfectly-realized drama both intimate and epic; has the feel of a classic.

out of

The Lost Patrol (1934)

Viewed 2/22/2005 (first viewing)

A British patrol lost in the desert holes up in an abandoned mosque at an oasis where they're slowly picked off by Arab marksmen. Good actioner, though it could have been longer and more fleshed out. The template for later films like the Bogart flick Sahara.

out of

The Golden Coach (1952)

Viewed 2/22/2005 (first viewing)

Technicolor comedy from Jean Renoir. A troupe of actors, newly-arrived in South America, find things tough going until their leading lady becomes involved with the local viceroy. Naturally she has other suitors - a bullfighter and an army officer - which complicates things. And then there's the titular coach, given to the actress by the viceroy, an act that perturbs the local nobility and engenders their wrath...

out of

Adam_S · 02-23-2005, 11:26 AM

Field of Dreams -

02/22/2005
35mm

Just a brilliant and perfect movie of great charm and human warmth. About faith and family mediated by an über-experience of baseball felt by most American men. Never grows old.

Bullet in the Head -

02/22/2005
Projected DVD

Just absolutely terrible on practically every level. It had good production values, but it was so bad it made Michael Bay look like an incredible story and character developer. This just about killed my desire to see Better Tomorrow and Killer, but I will probably still get around to them. But at least now I have the retort 'he was already terrible,' to people who complain Woo's work somehow mystically became terrible when he came to America.

The subtitles were also very bad.

Haggai · 02-23-2005, 11:34 AM

Haven't seen Bullet in the Head, but I liked The Killer, in spite of its utter absurdity in many instances. Now, Hard Boiled, that was one that blew me away, definitely give that one a chance if you can.

george kaplan · 02-23-2005, 02:20 PM

What is his tally up to so far?

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. If it's how many dvds are in his collection, it's 66. If it's how many films he's seen, I lost track long ago. I can't even remember how many films he's actually seen in theaters, though I do remember his first - Monster's Inc., when he was 18 months old - he sat through the whole thing, eating popcorn and having a great time.

RyanAn · 02-23-2005, 08:16 PM

Quote:

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. If it's how many dvds are in his collection, it's 66. If it's how many films he's seen, I lost track long ago.

Well, a little of both.

66 flicks, that is fantastic! So, he has probably seen over a hundred films already? He had me beat when I was his age... ha ha.

Ry.

george kaplan · 02-23-2005, 09:50 PM

He had me beat when I was his age

Yeah, you and me both. I certainly never owned any movies until I was an adult, and when I was his age, the only movies I'd ever seen were in a drive-in, and I'm not sure it was more than one (Mary Poppins).

Jim_K · 02-24-2005, 07:35 AM

First time viewings in Red
Out of

Casque d’or (1952) (8/10)
Set in turn of the Century France, a reformed crook strikes up a love-affair with the girlfriend of one of the members of the local gang. Another winner from Jacques Becker (Le Trou & Touchez pas au Grisbi).

Fulltime Killer (2001) (7/10)
Entertaining Hong Kong action-crime flick about rival hit-men which is almost a carbon copy of the John Woo & Ringo Lam “Love and Bullets” classics from 15 years ago. The charismatic Andy Lau & brisk pace makes this worth a look for fans of the genre, though it has that been there, done that feel.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) (6/10)
Very strange pre-code Capra film focuses on the taboo of interracial love as Barbara Stanwyck falls for a Chinese warlord.

Bob Turnbull · 02-24-2005, 05:30 PM

I had the same feeling towards Fulltime Killer as well Jim...On the whole, pretty entertaining. It's my favourite of the Johnnie To films I've seen so far:

1. Fulltime Killer
2. The Mission
3. PTU
4. Breaking News

I wouldn't really bother with the last two as they felt like they were done by rote. The Mission is probably worth a look though...

Jim_K · 02-25-2005, 07:36 AM

Thanks Bob, Until recently I’ve pretty much overlooked the HK action/crime films from the last few years so I’ll have to check out The Mission.

First time viewings in Red
Out of

Cloak and Dagger (1946) (7/10)
Entertaining WWII spy yarn directed by that “other” master of suspense, Fritz Lang. Gary Cooper stars as a physicist working on the Manhattan Project who is recruited by the OSS to go behind enemy lines in order to find out if the Nazi’s have developed the bomb. It’s a bit farfetched & Coop is a little out of place but it has some classic pulse-pounding Lang-ian moments, all-in-all fun stuff.

Rembrandt (1936) (6/10)
Good bio/melodrama that’s worth watching for Charles Laughton’s magnificent performance of the famous Dutch painter.

Killer’s Kiss (1955) (5/10)
This forgettable, low-budget noir about a down and out boxer is only noteworthy for being Stanley Kubrick’s second feature film. For Kubrick completists only.