Author Topic: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico  (Read 5650 times)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #30 on: June 26, 2020, 05:30:26 PM »
Going to have to say Mad Dog Morgan is not a good film. It is poorly done and acted, probably in part because Dennis Hopper had a great deal of trouble staying sober during the making of the film.

colonel_mexico

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #31 on: June 26, 2020, 05:34:34 PM »
It's been awhile since I've seen it, just a genre film reference, now I kinda want to see it again haha
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1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #32 on: June 28, 2020, 12:42:07 AM »
My Way (2011)
This reminded me of a 2004 film called Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War, about two brothers forced to fight in World War 2. Turns out this is from the same director, and I wonder what led to him making such a similar mix of bloodshed and sentiment? Seven years later, so maybe this was all he could get financing for. Maybe he thought he could improve on the earlier film's ideas. I don't think it's scale, Brotherhood was already pretty epic.

Not that I mind. I've been saying that South Korea is probably the richest deposit of undiscovered treasure, especially with their focus on taking rather standard genre fare and directing the hell out of it. My Way is an example of this. You could question the realism and accuracy, but the battle scenes are pretty spectacular with a number of creative shots, including an incredible sniper scene and the D Day invasion. (For example, a soldier gets blasted to the ground and the camera is a point-of-view shot. The soldier rolls onto his back, getting a view of the massive air support.)

The relationship between the two runners didn't quite work for me. It was fine for creating the roadmap for all the war scenes, but their relationship lacked specific points of growth beyond beginning as rivals and ending as expected.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #33 on: June 28, 2020, 04:01:02 AM »
All I gotta say, col_mx, is you are CINECAST!ing metal with this list. I saw Akira with my buddy tonight, really liked it. It came in like A Clockwork Orange and out like 2001. I've been wanting to read the manga - have you? It's massive, so I'm suspecting that this two-hour distillation of its finer points couldn't possibly capture everything about Akira or the three kids who were test subjects with him. Even with that, goodness, Neo Tokyo is hell, a fully-realized hell on a titanic scale. The animation itself did not blow my mind, sort of reminded me of Dragon Ball, but with a lot more blood and extremities flying around. I'm not a huge anime series fan, so forgive my limited references points, but its animation just reminded me of one in many action series I've gotten shots of. It's the world-building, the method of creating and exploring the Akira mythology - along with the crazy reveal under the stadium, and then the reveal of the reality behind Akira and the kids that gave us just enough while also leaving room for mad theorizing - that made it work for me. I suspect it's probably good adaptation considering the pacing, while also figuring out how to accommodate more minor plot points such as the religions and cults built around Akira. Bananas, CINECAST!ing metal much like Wake in Fright, and lots of fun.

I probably won't get to Friday Night Lights, but Wake In Fright, mid90s, and Akira do give a glimpse into the mad tastes of col_mx. Much enjoyed.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #34 on: June 28, 2020, 07:17:05 AM »
The manga is much better than the film and I think the film is great. One of my favorite comics of all time.

colonel_mexico

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #35 on: June 28, 2020, 01:57:18 PM »
@1S0- I'm glad you got a chance to see this!  I know that most people really love TAE GUK GI, and I tend to stray off the more popular path (not always, but sometimes) and look for the gems that are in the same vein. This reminded me a lot of Hawks AIR FORCE, a group of guys thrown into a terrible situation, not exactly heroes but forced into those roles as the tide of history is swallowing them up.  The story itself is what is so mind blowing to me, that a man could have worn so many different uniforms, essentially fighting his way across Asia and Europe (and surviving) one of the world's biggest conflicts. You are right about the relationship building, though I wonder if over time and sharing those brutal experiences of fighting, the gulag, and getting farther and farther from their homes sort of left them with no choice but to be close.  The childhood connection and the themes of racism and superiority the Japanese held over the Koreans is a really interesting one-I wonder how this director would do with material about the Korean comfort women a despicable moment in the Japanese world war 2 history.  Still there is a bit of cheesiness and I am not sure how accurate the story is to the real story, still pretty incredible. Thanks for watching!

@ET - Yeah Sam is totally right, the manga is great and they usually are.  You want some real metal, bizarre, weird-as-hell, but insanely epic you should check out BERSERK the manga is disturbing, but the film is fantastic and I did enjoy the more recent show animations aside (also see COWBOY BEBOP, the music alone is incredible). As for AKIRA there are so many themes, I feel like I could fill a notebook with rants on the symbols throughout power, corruption, greed, politics, religion--so much that I don't think I even understand everything.  While the animation itself is a bit older, its detail is incredible and much better than Dragon Ball Z (though I did enjoy the adventures of Goku).  There are rumors that Taika Waititi was involved in a live action version, but I am not sure how true that is, but would love it because he's a great director.  I am glad you enjoyed some of the films in my list, I always wonder what others think of my weird taste haha.  Thanks for watching!
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #36 on: June 28, 2020, 03:07:11 PM »
The live action adaptation of Akira is in limbo and I'm being won't happen at this point.

Teproc

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #37 on: July 01, 2020, 02:26:08 PM »
Just a bit late, sorry, kinda forgot about the club this month.

The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)

The more Wes Anderson films I watch, the more I get why some people hate him. I feel lucky that my first Anderson was The Grand Budapest Hotel and not this, because it might have ruined him forever for me. I end up feeling slightly positive on it, but it's such a mess tonally that it threatens to be borderline offensive at times, specifically the suicide scene which I don't think works even a little bit. His style is inherently comedic, and I certainly don't want him to stay in that mode only (nor does he, ever), but he never earns that kind of emotional heft here, as none of the characters really feel real to me at that point. It gets better after that though, with Schwartzman working much better post... haircut, and everything just suddenly seeming slightly more grounded. Suddenly, this story of familial half-redemption and acknowledgment of various problems, worked much better on all accounts. It's very tough to get tone right, and I think he mostly doesn't here.

That makes it all sound like I hate it, but I do enjoy his compositions and rythms very much, and this film does look pretty great throughout. I just wish it had grabbed me earlier.

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oldkid

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #38 on: July 01, 2020, 09:20:42 PM »
I haven't forgotten you, dear colonel.   I will post reviews here yet.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

colonel_mexico

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Re: Top 100 Club: colonel_mexico
« Reply #39 on: July 01, 2020, 10:03:04 PM »
No worries OK, take your time!  Everything these days is a bit off so no rush or worries!

@teproc - I totally understand where you're coming from with it being messy, but I felt like it worked so well because it took a group of so-called genius and talent and turned them into a family.  The darkness is what I found incredibly funny, that underneath all of the banal quips by Dudley, or the shots of the Baumer melting down, or the neurotic helicopter-father of Ben Stiller there was a dark story of family. It's like a comedy or Wes Anderson's take on a Noah Baumbach film. That scene you mention I could see as being offensive, but I related to that on a very real level being in a place like that because of my struggles with alcoholism that most people never even realized there was an issue. All of them self-involved and stuck in their own shit without really ever bothering to realize everyone around them cares about the other.  That I could totally seeing being completely offensive if were not so true of family (or at least part of mine, including myself years ago) of being so self-involved that its almost comical of how everyone feels so alone despite living with a bunch of people where everyone can relate. They are all uniquely the same the Tenenbaum family. Still, I'm glad you got some enjoyment out of it and the music is killer! Thanks for watching!
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