Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It (Part XXVI)

[Shareefruck]

What makes it worth the tedium?

Sorry, tedious is misleading-- The prospect of getting into it seems initially tedious, and it takes an effort to try and get into it, but once I warmed up to it, I was thoroughly involved and engaged and basking in every moment.

It's this masterfully constructed, frame-perfect experience where you see how these well-meaning attitudes combine with unfortunate circumstances to create this almost self-defeating outcome, and you feel that in the desperation/attachment in the characters. It's delivered in this slowly enveloping, slice of life/coming of age/sexuality style that removes alot of the artifice of more normal-paced movies, and for me, ended up feeling more like taking a peak into someone's life and gaining all these genuinely humanizing memories/emotions/epiphanies from it, delivered in an organically rhythmic/poetic way. I don't really know how to intellectualize it. I had a very similar reaction to Tokyo Story. Actually wrestling with the idea of labelling it my #1 favorite movie.

There's a two hour cut released somewhere, but I think it needed to be four hours to be as effective as it ended up being.

 

[nameless1]

Edward Yang movies are extremely hard to get a hold of. That is mainly because he was never a mainstream director, and all of his movies, while critically acclaimed, were not commercial successes. In fact, he himself pulled Yi Yi, his most recognisable work, from theatrical release, even after his win for best director at Cannes, because he did not like how tmovie releases in Taiwan were controlled by a very small minority, and he feared that his film would only receive a very limited release. More importantly, many different people hold the rights to his movies. As a result, the majority of his films that can be found are likely of bootlegged VHS quality, which do not do them justice, and likely turn viewers off of them.

To date, I have only found two Edward Yang films that are in good quality, Yi Yi and The Terrorizers, but I have always wanted to complete his filmography. That is why when I finally got my hands on the Criterion release of A Brighter Summer Day, I was actually giddy with excitement, like a kid on Christmas morning. I have always wanted to see it, due to its status as a seminal work in the history of Taiwanese New Wave, but like Shareefruck, I was put off by the poor quality of the copy I found, and I never made it past the 10 minutes mark.

From what I have heard, this release took over 10 years to procure, due to the reasons I have listed, so it is not a stretch to say that this is a labour of love. At the moment, I have been busy, but from what little I have seen, it looks beautiful, so I cannot wait to final finish it, after all these years.


I do hope that Criterion continues to try to complete yang's filmography. Personally, I would love to see That Day, on the Beach, Yang's first work that pretty much put him on the map, and it also features Christopher Doyle's first credit. The full version is almost 3 hours long, but I think Yang might be one of the very few directors who does not bore the audience, even with a long running time. I found Yi Yi to be very entertaining, even though it was close to three hours, and Shareefruck really liked A Brighter Summer Day, which was about 4 hours.

 

[OzzyFan]

Now You See Me 2
2.25 out of 4 stars

Good story and entertaining. As most sequels, loses a little of it's "charm". Some of the twists were predictable though. And the ending "as a whole" gave me mixed feelings. Can't "realistically" ask for much more from a sequel though.

 

[Shareefruck]

Edward Yang movies are extremely hard to get a hold of. That is mainly because he was never a mainstream director, and all of his movies, while critically acclaimed, were not commercial successes. In fact, he himself pulled Yi Yi, his most recognisable work, from theatrical release, even after his win for best director at Cannes, because he did not like how tmovie releases in Taiwan were controlled by a very small minority, and he feared that his film would only receive a very limited release. More importantly, many different people hold the rights to his movies. As a result, the majority of his films that can be found are likely of bootlegged VHS quality, which do not do them justice, and likely turn viewers off of them.

To date, I have only found two Edward Yang films that are in good quality, Yi Yi and The Terrorizers, but I have always wanted to complete his filmography. That is why when I finally got my hands on the Criterion release of A Brighter Summer Day, I was actually giddy with excitement, like a kid on Christmas morning. I have always wanted to see it, due to its status as a seminal work in the history of Taiwanese New Wave, but like Shareefruck, I was put off by the poor quality of the copy I found, and I never made it through the 10 minutes mark.

From what I have heard, this release took over 10 years to procure, due to the reasons I have listed, so it is not a stretch to say that this is a labour of love. At the moment, I have been busy, but from what little I have seen, it looks beautiful, so I cannot wait to final finish it, after all these years.


I do hope that Criterion continues to try to complete yang's filmography. Personally, I would love to see That Day, on the Beach, Yang's first work that pretty much put him on the map, and it also features Christopher Doyle's first credit. The full version is almost 3 hours long, but I think Yang might be one of the very few directors who does not bore the audience, even with a long running time. I found Yi Yi very entertaining, even though it was close to three hours, and Shareefruck really liked A Brighter Summer Day, which was about 4 hours.

I actually felt like I was misled about Edward Yang by Yi Yi, which, while great and very personal, humanizing, and sentimental, seemed to be built on this kind of sentimentality that, at least relative to really uncompromising masterpieces (not at all compared to normal actually contrived movies), felt like it was close to teetering on heart-string-tugging contrivance, sometimes. While it was great, it didn't feel THAT far removed from what other great directors of today try to do. I'm actually planning to watch it again now.

It was very minor and wasn't guilty enough of it that I would actually lob that criticism to it, but with A Brighter Summer Day, I have no such reservations/hesitation. It's something that I'm certain only Edward Yang could have pulled off, and my respect for him has really skyrocketed. He's moved into Ozu territory for me.

The only other four hour movie I've seen and loved is Love Exposure and this pulls it off in the complete opposite way. Love Exposure is a chaotic 4 hour blast of visceral entertainment, it doesn't feel like four hours. With this, you feel every minute of the four hours, but in a good way. It's like you're lost in this period of this person's life and don't want to leave.

 

[nameless1]

I actually felt like I was misled about Edward Yang by Yi Yi, which, while great and very personal, humanizing, and sentimental, seemed to be built on this kind of sentimentality that, at least relative to really uncompromising masterpieces (not at all compared to normal actually contrived movies), felt like it was close to teetering on heart-string-tugging contrivance, sometimes. While it was great, it didn't feel THAT far removed from what other great directors of today try to do. I'm actually planning to watch it again now.

It was very minor and wasn't guilty enough of it that I would actually lob that criticism to it, but with A Brighter Summer Day, I have no such reservations/hesitation. It's something that I'm certain only Edward Yang could have pulled off, and my respect for him has really skyrocketed. He's moved into Ozu territory for me.

The only other four hour movie I've seen and loved is Love Exposure and this pulls it off in the complete opposite way. Love Exposure is a chaotic 4 hour blast of visceral entertainment, it doesn't feel like four hours. With this, you feel every minute of the four hours, but in a good way. It's like you're lost in this period of this person's life and don't want to leave.

I actually could not finish Love Exposure. For some strange reason, it just felt a little off for me.


My nomination for a great 4 hours plus film is Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. In fact, I have it in my top 3 films of all times. The amazing thing about it is that, despite the long run time, I actually felt that it was not enough, and I could watch more.


I know what you mean about Edward Yang. While Yi Yi is his most readily available film, largely thanks to Criterion, and it is also my first introduction to the director, I now think that, for a career perspective, it is probably the worst place to start. Unlike Hou Hsiao-hsien, his closest compatriot who has an affinity and nostalgia for the simplicity and tranquility of his childhood and the countryside at the beginning of his career, Yang prefers to focus on the city, and the conflicts that naturally occurs as times change, and the country moves into modernity. As a result, his early films, like The Terorizers, can all be seen as an angry protest to his perceived problems and ills of society, and his desire to challenge the status quo. A Better Summer Day marks a departure from that palpable anger, as he began to try to seek to understand how everything came to be, and his latter films become a lot more reflective. Finally, when he got to Yi Yi, which turned out to be his last work, I think he begrudgingly reached an acceptance, and he somewhat settled his protests. That is why Yi Yi is Yang's only film to prominently feature a child, as he represents hope for the future.

 

[Shareefruck]

I couldn't sit through Once Upon a Time in America, personally. Found it a little cheesy and heavy-handed in its epicness

That's all very interesting about Yang, although most of it completely goes over my head.

 

[member 51464]

Bill Burr: Let it Go - 3/10 I find him very hit and miss as a comedian, and this one was a solid miss for me. Perhaps part of the issue is it is 6+ years old now, so some of the themes were not fresh.

 

[nameless1]

I couldn't sit through Once Upon a Time in America, personally. Found it a little cheesy and heavy-handed in its epicness

That's all very interesting about Yang, although most of it completely goes over my head.

It is all good. I just wanted to give people an overview of Yang and his works. I also highly recommend other Yang works, if people can get their hands on it. Personally, I thought The Terrorizers was really interesting, and I really liked what Yang tried to do in the film.

 

[kihei]

Of the four Yang movies that I have seen, the only one that I didn't like was Yiyi which verged on sentimental melodrama way too often for my taste. Though I think that A Brighter Summer Day is his best movie, Tapei Story and The Terrorizers are fine works as well, interesting in different ways.

 

[Shareefruck]

[About Yi Yi] Yeah, totally.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

The Neighbors 2. Never let me put myself through such crap ever again.

 

[Philly85*]

new Independence Day - 2.5/10

Force Majeure - 8.4/10 (scene with them all crying on the floor together was wow!)

San Francisco 2.0 - 7.3/10

All The Way - 8.2/10 (Cranston was amazing)

Spotlight - 9.2/10

 

[nameless1]

Of the four Yang movies that I have seen, the only one that I didn't like was Yiyi which verged on sentimental melodrama way too often for my taste. Though I think that A Brighter Summer Day is his best movie, Taipei Story and The Terrorizers are fine works as well, interesting in different ways.

Yang just mellowed out by Yi Yi.


Thematically, I think that film turned out to be a fitting end to this one-of-a-kind director's career. Like my previous post indicated, Yang began as an angry rebel, who asked a lot of pointed questions, in an effort to challenge the status quo. Then, with A Better Summer Day, he seemed to found a personal answer through an examination of the past, and in his latter films, he was able to find a slither of hope, in a world of darkness. That message is probably the most prominent in Yi Yi, his only film to feature a child as an important character.

Ever since Yi Yi, I always find Yang to be really fascinating, so I have read up a lot on him. What I have written thus far is just everything I have gleamed from analysis, critiques, and reviews.

 

[ottawa]

Finally saw Fight Club, Shawshank Redemption, Se7en and Forrest Gump last month, a few people mentioned those in the other threads and again in this one, gave all three around 9/10

Forrest Gump kind of reminded me of Pulp Fiction because of how random it was at times...Shawshank was slow as **** but still captivating enough to keep me focused, loved that movie. Se7en and Fight Club were great, I actually knew the story for both (it was spoiled a long time ago so that's why I never watched them) but they still ended up surprising me, Brad Pitt was great in both as was Morgan Freeman (in Se7en and Shawshank)

 

[ottawa]

The Neighbors 2. Never let me put myself through such crap ever again.

First one was good, 2nd one was a waste of money.

 

[ottawa]

Central Intelligence: 5.0A
I like Kevin Hart, I like the Rock...Kevin Hart is a great comedian and the Rock was great in WWF back in the days, love watching their interviews on youtube too. Them as actors though? nope. First movie I've seen of the rock since The Mummy Returns and I wasn't a fan of his acting there but I told myself it's been a long time since he acted in that and tbh everyone has bad movies. I liked Kevin Hart in Ride Along 1 but I find his acting is always so forced as it was in Central Intelligence. The movie had some genuinely hilarious moments but for the most part I feel like they were trying too hard to be funny, it was almost cringe worthy. I find some parts were pretty unrealistic too (though they were intended to be) like when the rock was sleeping in a messy living room and within the few seconds it took Kevin Hart to walk from the front door to the living room it was completely spotless and the rock was out of the house...I know it was meant to be fake, but I'm not a fan of those things. Trailer was better than the movie imo.

Warcraft: 4.0A
Not even going to give a review on this movie, not worth it...though I didn't play the game or have any idea on what it was about so I probably deserved to suffer through the movie.

 

[BigMac1212]

Saw "Finding Dory." Pretty good movie, even better short that preceded the feature film. You have to see the short "Piper" that precedes "Finding Dory." The animation and story is really top notch. My spoiler-filled review on deviantART can be found here.

"Finding Dory:" 9.0
"Piper:" 9.6

 

[ottawa]

Kingpin: 7.5B

I now know where the username Roy Munson originates from. I liked this movie, it was actually funny and I rarely enjoy comedies, and it had a nice touch of adult humour without actually being R-rated. I think the acting was good for the most part especially from the Amish guy...some parts dragged on a lot and some plots were redundant like the one with Claudia and the rich guy. Not bad overall.

 

[Philly85*]

Beyoncé - Lemonade - 8/10

If this is the music on the album then my oh my has she come a looooong way, I know she also had a visual album last time but I never saw it. She's all grown up now. Visually stunning.

 

[ottawa]

Gone baby gone: 8.5B

Great movie, acting was alright...Casey Affleck was a little too nonchalant for me throughout the movie, showed little emotions except for the scenes where he had a gun in his hands and in general I was not a fan of Michelle Monoghan either. Ben Affleck is a great director and also a good actor, I think he would have played this role better. As for the movie itself, the plot was fantastic from start to finish, I did not see the ending coming at all, and it was all so well executed. I also liked the ending because it really painted the picture of morality vs the law, is the legal thing always the right thing to do? I didn't see the grim ending coming, lives ending, being torn apart or facing the sad reality of the right thing not necessarily being the best thing.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A

This is my favorite Marvel film and it still is my favorite Marvel film in this post "Civil War" era. This movie had so much going for it, adding to the MCU, giving us some major plot twists, and really pushing the phase two portion of the universe forward. What makes this movie stand out from the rest though is it still feels like a stand alone movie. You have themes of loyalty, questioning where you belong and if what you're fighting for matches up to what you think you should be fighting for, and above all else, trust and friendship.

All of those themes is basically what Captain America as a whole are all about. I've loved the Captain America avenger ever since I first started watching these movies because he is the personification of freedom and values that are worth fighting for. We see in this movie Rogers starts to question the world around him and the scene he had with Peggy was really well done and brought home that aspect.

This movie also features some of the best action Marvel has ever done. The scenes with the three helicarriers are really just fun to watch and the fight sequences, especially with Black Widow are always a joy. I read some reviews saying it was too difficult to understand, yet I could understand what was happening.

Watching this movie again and now close to the other movies, I'm starting to pick up a lot of cool stuff that I missed before. For example, this movie referenced the first Captain America (I was thinking, this is how you do a sequel), Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, and basically Shield as a whole. While the MCU has been going out of this world with aliens and Thor at this point, this movie remained grounded on earth, and man, what a joy it was to watch. This is how you do a modern smart blockbuster.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Resident Evil: something or other is on yet again.

Okay, what the actual **** did the Umbrella Corporation do? How can your corporate philosophy be the destruction of humanity and you turn a profit? At least Donald Trump makes building or something. These guys? You've got deadly viruses, cloning, various arms deals, homicidal AI...at what point do your shareholders realize they've invested in a supervillain genocide plan decide to put their money into Apple or Google or something non-end of the world-y? I mean hey, I don't like people much generally myself. I'm pretty antisocial by any measurable standard. I don't have much of a problem with individual humans dying, but the entire human race? That's just overkill. You have to remember you're people too. Hating almost all the rest of them just isn't a sound business plan. Trust me, I've tried.

For mindless action, give me the Underworld saga over this one. Kate Beckinsdale >> Milla Jovovich.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Watched the Jack Black Gullivers travels.

Wow, it was actually good. I'm kind of shocked.

Great family friendly movie. Tons of really funny bits.

This and Daddys Home with Wahlberg and Ferrell really surprised me.

Two movies I was ready to hate and really liked.

 

[David71]

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi saw this last night online. WOW maybe one of the best war movies i've seen. 6 brave guys going into battle and just firing on all cylinders. action and storyline was good. the only thing that bugged me was David Costabile playing the chief. what an ass. had to tell his guys to wait standdown and wait for backup when clearly they weren't even coming until later in the movie.. and the fact that there were NO air support to help the 6 soldiers to at least kill 15-20 terrorists. which would made life easier for the remaining guys. i give this movie a 9/10.

 

[ProspectsSTC]

Finally got around to watching Nicolas Winding Refn's drive (I know, I know, so sue me).

9/10. Fantastic soundtrack, great acting, and this may just be me, but I love when a movie with regular people shows how savage the violence can get when they're desperate. This movie did it, the revenant did it. It's gory, sure, but it's portraying how I'd imagine any person as desperate as that would act in the situation.