Top Picks Among Recent Movies

Since the Enghlish verion of current film showing
information is so inadequate in Taiwan. Why don’t
we start a thread in “Film Reviews”. Poster can
write a personal review of the film that he would
like to recommend to other members.

Recent Dvd Picks:
Training Day-a bit far-fetched, but I loved seeing Denzel as a baddie.
Shallow Hal-those silly Farrelly brothers (Something about Mary)at it again…
Rope-brilliant and timeless classic Hitchcock which was shot using one long take.
Josie and the Pussycats-Yes, embarrassed to admit, but I liked it! Especially Parker Posey and Alan Cummings baddie roles. Remember the cartoon?
Ghost World-Excellent and overlooked black comedy. Steve Buscemi (as seymour), my hero.

Dvd Pans:
The Man who Cried-even a diehard Johnny Depp fan like me will cry over the waste of celluloid.
Bandits-An awful Bruce Willis/Billy Bob Thorton venture. Pure rubbish!
Anything with Freddie Prinze Jr., as cute as he is…

I liked Bandits, it made me laugh, but I thought Josie & the pussycats was a total pile of shite. Especially that stupid wanker Cummings. But then I was never subjected to the cartoon.

But WHERE do you get these other ones – Shallow Hal, Ghost World?

Sandman, Yes “Pussycats” is rubbish, you’re right! It just amused me. But, I like that guy Cummings from “Spy kids” and “Romy and Michelle”.
Comedians are obviously an acquired taste because I absolutely despise Jim Carrey and so many people rave on and on about him.

"Ghost World’ came from my local dvd shop which also happens to have “O Brother Where Art Thou”, my favourite film from last year. This shop has numerous other rare gems.
Shallow Hal I got from the Liao Her night market.
You know, they stack up these pirate films and put a bucket on the table so you can put the money in it and walk away with these bootlegs not knowing who the bootleggers are!
I also got “Iris” this way, but didn’t mention it as it’s a bit of a sad story and low budget film with mainly very good acting to its credit. The quality of these pirated vcds is so-so. Watchable enuf, I suppose.
The bootleg dvds from CHina are usually better.

Oh, I must add that “Amelie” was another one of my favourite films last year. I have an excellent copy of that from China.

Does your copy of Amelie have English subtitles? If so, I’d really like to borrow it. The DVD rental store near you – is it the one in the back alleys at the Shida night market fairly near Odeon?

No, it’s on Longchuan Street across from a Cafe, not Odeon, can’t remember the name…
And no, Amelie doesn’t have English, only French and Chinese. It’s still watchable, though. I watched it in French first, and then Chinese and between the two I had little trouble understanding it. Well, it helped having Xiaoshan translate the Chinese a bit! Jojo could do that too. Still want it? It’s sooo good.

quote:
Rope-brilliant and timeless classic Hitchcock which was shot using one long take.

6 actually

Go see Tadpole. Fantastic little movie. Apparently it did really well at the Sundance Film Festival. I don’t think it will be in Taiwan very long, though. Not Hollywood enough. :frowning:

Hi everyone:

I have tomorrow off and would like to catch a movie but I can’t decide which one to watch! :? Can anyone sugg. / have reviews for the recent movies?? I already check out the movie review site, but still, I would like to hear from some forumosa’s posters.

  • Bruce Almighty, Charlie’s Angels, Below, Sinbad, and Hulk

These are all my top choices and I only have time for 1-2 movies.

Thanks in advance!

  • MiakaW

Charlie’s Angels: pure mindless fun, if you can enjoy that kind of entertainment go for it. if you like references to americana, extreme sports, and sexy shots of the stars, but don’t care if the plot makes sense, or where it’s going, then see it for the fun factor. although near the end, it kinda dragged on.

Hulk: I really liked the beginning. Thought it was really promising. good movie overall, but the last third was just drawn out. i recommend it anyways. saw some familiar scenes from Berkeley too.

I saw Bruce Almighty and found it to be forgettable. Not offensive, just fluff. I think I laughed at least a few times, so it wasn’t an umpleasant experience.

I disliked the first Angels movie, so I won’t go see the second.

I thought the Hulk was ok for a comic hero-based movie, but then again, I hate comic-hero based movies. Except for Spiderman - I’ve always been a fan of the comicbook, so the movie was enjoyable to me.

Sinbad got some good reviews, but everyone has higher expectations now due to computer animation. This one wasn’t made like the computer-generated ones, so the visuals are somewhat lacklustre, apparently. I don’t normally go see cartoon movies, but I did see Shrek (liked it), and I will go see Finding Nemo, which is coming out pretty soon.

Not every movie one sees has to be art, IMO. I loved The Pianist, and also Tadpole, but then again I also don’t mind watching the latest Julia Roberts flick either. It’s only a movie. Two hours of dark air-conditioned comfort in this heat can’t always be a bad thing, even if one sleeps right through the movie. And one can always engage in a little back-row necking if things get too boring…

Necking???

What are you? Amish?

:wink:

You’re not that far off. :sunglasses:

bruce almighty is okay.

Yep, I heard Tadpole is pretty good too.
Thanks for everyone’s input. I’ve been checking out the movie review sites and I don’t trust them all that much.
But keep posting if you have more to say… :wink:

Aw shucks! Actually I didn’t say it was either good or bad. I only said it was a waste of my time. If you like watching Jim Carey pulling faces and can stand the unctuous vomit-inducing candy-coated pop moralising of Morgan Freeman at the end (what was he thinking when he signed that contract? Is he having problems with the IRS?) then I guess you’ll find the film OK. Be warned though, there is absolutely nothing else of note in the entire production.
Do yourself a favour and see the Ripley one instead.

I thought BA was pretty dull. Nothing original. JCarrey is getting a bit long in the tooth.

I laughed my ass off during the Charlie’s Angels film. I thought it was better than the first one, which I couldn’t get through. It is a comedy, not a serious action thiller. That is my recommendation to you, Miaka.

But then, I’m not an intellectual. I own the complete Clint Eastwood movie collection, and like to drink a beer most nights.

Hello all:

I saw Sinbad (english version) yesterday and it was a good movie, or should I say, cartoon. Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones did a really good job at the voices. I like the dialoges, it was pretty funny. Animation was pretty good as well. It is def. a movie to watch with your kids. :slight_smile:

Cheers - MiakaW

Below isn’t too bad. It’s not a horror movie in the typical sense - more things happen in your mind than on the screen. I don’t like horror/slasher movies but this one is pretty much according to my taste (like The Others or Rosemarie’s Baby) in that genre.
It has some action and suspense thrown in to keep you entertained from start to end. So if you like subtle horror and U-Boats you should see it.

Charlie’s Angels is indeed mindless fun. Not as good as the first one, way over the top at times but still entertaining and funny - as long as you don’t try to take it seriously and switched of your brain before going into the cinema.

how can you judge if a movie has no merit without seeing it?

i like charlie’s angels. actually prefered it to the first. mindless fun and some cool fight scenes. it’s a shame the only people who got most of the jokes in the movie were westerners, though. :slight_smile:

hulk i didn’t not enjoy as much. kinda boring and pointless. i would have prefered a more mindlessly fun movie.

bruce almighty was ok. couple of funny scenes, but i liked some of jim carey’s earlier movies better.

i’ve heard surprisingly good things about t3 and pirates of the carribean. think t3 opens here soon, but haven’t heard anything about pirates. was not planning to see either of these at all, but from word of mouth i might just go check them out.