Movies

I watched Portrait Of A Lady On Fire this morning and I’ve now been thinking about it all day. I wish I had had the chance to see this in the theater, but still it looked amazing. So many beautiful shots, restrained acting, tenseness in the quiet. What a fantastic film. I think if I had seen it last year as opposed to this year it would have been in my top 5 of 2019. As it stands, I am just in love with how this movie is crafted and how well it works. Criterion really rushed to get this out and I know why. It deserves it. I wish it had slightly better packaging and even more extras, but it’s still a lovely thing.
 
I just finished watching '7500' on Amazon Prime. It was actually really good (although my expectations for it were low so maybe that helped). Tense scenes, lots of shouting at the tv moments.
 
Breaking out some of my old Asian cinema DVDs and Blu-Rays during this down period. I've always had a soft spot for a fun martial arts flick.

Last night I watched my Blu-Ray version of "A Touch of Zen". I had purchased the movie years back, but I don't think I had actually ever watched that copy of the film, mainly due to the 3 hour time investment that is required. I had an older DVD version, and I remember liking the movie quite a bit, but that version was tough to view because the print was so dark during the night time scenes. The Blu-Ray version has given me even more appreciation for this film, which was a big inspiration for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". It isn't your traditional martial arts film. I mean, it does have fight scenes sprinkled throughout, and the storyline is pretty simple, but the cinematography is fantastic, and the acting is better than average. It is more of an actual film...that features martial arts themes and action in places. It is a slower moving film for sure, but, with a title like "A Touch of Zen", I feel like that is kind of to be expected.

I also re-watched both "Lady Snowblood" films earlier in the week. The first one is a classic, but, for some reason, I enjoyed the second one more this time than I have before.

Might try and revisit the Samurai Trilogy this coming week. It has been a while since I watched those.
 
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kvetcha said:
It’s more of a historical drama, though it is not without swordplay. It’s from the early 2000s.
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I haven't seen that one. Is it good? There were some good films that came out around that time. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Emperor and the Assassin" were both great, and more than just regular old martial arts fun. I liked "The Grandmaster" from a few years back, and the first few "Ip Man" films were entertaining, but I just haven't seen many of the more recent martial arts movies.
 
Have you guys seen Hara-kiri?

I loved that, but outside of Kurosawa, I don't really know any other good classic Samurai/martial arts movies. Any recommendations? I'll check out those ones you mentioned @Aron.
 
dhodo said:
Have you guys seen Hara-kiri?

I loved that, but outside of Kurosawa, I don't really know any other good classic Samurai/martial arts movies. Any recommendations?
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Are you more interested in quality films, or fun/schlocky/over-the-top action movies?

On the quality side, I mentioned the Samurai Trilogy a few posts back. Those were directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, and they have a similar feel to Kurosawa's samurai films. And they have Toshiro Mifune as the lead, and he's always great. They're beautifully shot, and tell the story of the samurai Musashi Miyamoto. I also mentioned "The Emperor and the Assassin". That one is maybe a little lesser known, but I've always thought it was excellent. It plays like one of Kurosawa's later period films to me.
 
Aron said:
I haven't seen that one. Is it good? There were some good films that came out around that time. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Emperor and the Assassin" were both great, and more than just regular old martial arts fun. I liked "The Grandmaster" from a few years back, and the first few "Ip Man" films were entertaining, but I just haven't seen many of the more recent martial arts movies.
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I think it’s a masterpiece, but you can’t go into it expecting a martial arts film.
dhodo said:
Have you guys seen Hara-kiri?

I loved that, but outside of Kurosawa, I don't really know any other good classic Samurai/martial arts movies. Any recommendations? I'll check out those ones you mentioned @Aron.
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See above!
 
Aron said:
Are you more interested in quality films, or fun/schlocky/over-the-top action movies?

On the quality side, I mentioned the Samurai Trilogy a few posts back. Those were directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, and they have a similar feel to Kurosawa's samurai films. And they have Toshiro Mifune as the lead, and he's always great. They're beautifully shot, and tell the story of the samurai Musashi Miyamoto. I also mentioned "The Emperor and the Assassin". That one is maybe a little lesser known, but I've always thought it was excellent. It plays like one of Kurosawa's later period films to me.
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Quality, generally, but I haven't watched many of the other. I'll try to check those out. Looks like HBO Max has several of those. I'm sure I'll cave and end up with that soon. Thanks!
 
There are some really fun Shaw Brothers movies, but those tend to be more formulaic and over the top action oriented. I grew up watching a lot of Black Belt Theater, or whatever they called it on my local station in Houston, and those Shaw Brothers movies were the type they showed late on Saturday night. Probably more of an acquired taste if you didn't enjoy them as a kid.
 
Just saw system crasher on Netflix.it was the german contribution to the foreign language academy award and is one of the most intense
, emotionally straining movies i saw in a while. The Performance doof the 10yo Mainboard actress is brillant . It Deals with a traumatized , aggressive girl that fails to be elped in the Foster care system. Overall i recommend it, but it is definitly no light fare and no feel good mobile.
www.imdb.com

System Crasher (2019) ⭐ 7.8 | Drama

2h 5m
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
Bennnnn said:
I watched Portrait Of A Lady On Fire this morning and I’ve now been thinking about it all day. I wish I had had the chance to see this in the theater, but still it looked amazing. So many beautiful shots, restrained acting, tenseness in the quiet. What a fantastic film. I think if I had seen it last year as opposed to this year it would have been in my top 5 of 2019. As it stands, I am just in love with how this movie is crafted and how well it works. Criterion really rushed to get this out and I know why. It deserves it. I wish it had slightly better packaging and even more extras, but it’s still a lovely thing.
Click to expand...
Best theater experience I’ve had since Phantom Thread. That movie is lit.
 
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