The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[wakka]

Not been watching many films recently but the other night I put on:

The Art of Self Defence

This is an Indie film, with a capital I - in that it's both independently made but also very much in the genre of films known as Indie.

Jesse Eisenberg is a weedy put upon accountant who lives alone and is bullied by people at work. After being violently mugged, he joins a strip mall karate club to learn how to defend himself better. He is quickly made to feel at home by the sensei and the other students, but finds that the club has a dark secret after being invited to the mysterious 'night classes'.

I kind of liked this and I kind of didn't. It's well put together and I found myself drawn in by the characters. There's this running theme of the dangers of gurus, and how self actualisation can be radicalisation, that is really cool and just interesting to watch because it's something that can happen to anyone and it's a scary thing. It also has some very neat cinematography at moments, and it has good energy at all times. We watch Eisenberg change and we're aware of the quickly ramping stakes as he does so.

So it's a good watch. The thing I didn't like is the indie with a capital I stuff, where the film's setting feels slightly otherworldly. It's kind of in some indeterminate time period which I think is meant to be the 90s, although it isn't really made clear. The town they're in is very much Anytown USA, feeling almost excessively generic. I get that it was to make a point, but I would've been happier with something more grounded than this fable-like setting.

But still, interesting watch. Snappy script too with some funny, blackly comic lines.

I bought it on Apple TV as it was reduced. It's in UHD there.

[fuse]

The Stone Family. Hadn't even heard of this before, but it's a 2005 Christmas rom-com thing that's largely about the challenges of family get togethers, and partners trying to integrate into that dynamic. Was never going to be my thing, but thought it was at least passable until we started getting into the heart of it and there's this very casual acceptance of people falling in/out of love at the drop of a hat in some very weird circumstances that took its credibility down a few too many notches.

[Asura]

The Art of Self Defence

Actually want to watch this; as someone who did Karate in the 90s. Might be interesting. I loved some of the insights of Cobra-Kai; although it approached this material from a very different angle.

And related, kinda, I tried to watch No Retreat, No Surrender as it popped up on Prime Video.

Never seen it before, and I've recently been watching a load of old-but-post-70s martial arts movies (stuff like Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Roadhouse etc.) and I was interested in seeing such an early performance from Van Damme.

It's dreadful. I mean, comically, almost Mystery Science Theater bad, but kinda wonderful in that way.

It has these strange Karate Kid vibes; a Karate teacher menaced by organised crime moves himself and his son from LA to Seattle. His son struggles to fit in, and it has these weird teen drama tones. It just can't decide what it wants to be; like if it's a kids movie or an adult movie. The teen stuff is sub-Karate Kid content that feels almost like offcuts from Saved by the Bell, but there's a scene at the start of the movie where someone straight-up breaks someone's leg in a fight.

Weirdly it does foreshadow JCVD's career, because he plays the mute muscle for the villain, and there's a scene in the opening where he fights for like 30 seconds and in that short time, he absolutely lights up the screen. It's seriously like watching a minute of a much better movie.

But this film... I mean, there's a scene where the main character prays at the (presumably actual) grave of Bruce Lee...

->Open Spoiler<-

... and that night, the ghost of Bruce Lee comes to him to teach him Jeet Kune Do.

I'm serious.

Played by a body-double and everything, doing an impression.

Now, given, the impression is much better than I expected it would be, given the overall crapness of the rest of the movie but I was surprised they went there.

To say this hasn't aged well is putting it lightly.

Though in the canon of those 80s martial arts movies, if you're a fan, it's definitely worth watching.

[QualityChimp]

I watched The Matrix again in preparation for the new film and it's still magnificent.

[wakka]

[MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION] sounds interesting!

I love that window of time where JCVD was starring in top quality schlock on a regular basis. Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Universal Soldier, Hard Target, etc. Deliciously cornball actioners with actually brilliant bits of martial arts.

Kumite! Kumite! Kumite!

[Asura]

Bloodsport, Kickboxer

I love how these are top-tier generic martial arts movies, in that they're so similar that if you watch them in the same week, the two movies blend together in your memory. Like the classic "Golden Harvest" movies - like Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master - all made by the same dozen people, using the same camera, on the same dozen sets, with the same suitcase of costumes.

[wakka]

Honestly they are one film in my mind, yeah

Yeah I totally agree, I find that as a more casual fan, a lot of Jackie Chan films are like that because it's always the same team. Gives it kind of a cosy feel, though, too

[QualityChimp]

I remember watching No Retreat, No Surrender 2 with my sister when we were kids and were really excited by the finale fight.

I could, however, be thinking of No Retreat, No Surrender 1 or Bloodsport.
Or possibly Rocky IV.

[randombs]

We’ve been going through Xmas films this month. Gremlins was the first one and it’s still as great as ever.

Home Sweet Home Alone

Bad. My biggest issues with it were:

* Unlike Harry and Marv, the bungling ‘burglars’ weren’t burglars. They weren’t even bad people. They were only after their super R@RE puppet. They were getting slapped around over a misunderstanding.
* The injuries weren’t comedic like in the original two films. At times the punishments verged on torture porn. It was like if Saw was remade for kids.
* The boy was given an awful script full of Americanisms like “eight ball corner pocket”, bringing to mind Peter Serafinowicz’s America-loving character in Alan Partridge

Office Christmas Party

It’s nice when a modern comedy manages to do stuff that surprises me, even more so when it’s filled with actors who basically play themselves(Jason Bateman,TJ Hooker, etc).

As soon as it finished we went back to replay parts. It’s like Bad Neighbours.

Lovehard

Silicon Valley strikes again in the form of Jimmy O’ Yang!

A rom-com about a girl who meets a guy through an online dating app, falls for him, goes to surprise him only to discover he was using someone else’s photo. Hilarity and heartbreak ensue when she agrees to pose as his gf so his family don’t think he’s a loser.

It has a bizarre scene where the main girl goes bouldering for the first time but the actress clearly boulders

Special Mention: The Matrix IMAX

I already loved this but, like Supes and Die Hard, the cinema made it even better. Scenes I’ve seen umpteen times before - Neo’s mouth, when he’s released from the battery farm, etc - looked so much more horrific than on the TV. Also, it wasn’t overly-green like a bunch of the home/streaming versions are.

[wakka]

* The boy was given an awful script full of Americanisms like “eight ball corner pocket”, bringing to mind Peter Serafinowicz’s America-loving character in Alan Partridge

"I'm going to grab a Dr Pepper from the cooler, put it on the tab"

[Atticus]

bringing to mind Peter Serafinowicz’s America-loving character in Alan Partridge

Text?

[wakka]

“He drinks Dr Pepper, Michael. It tastes like fizzy Benalin”

[Atticus]

Tex: My man's gotta be Wayne
Alan: What, Wayne Sleep?

[wakka]

Tex: No, you know, 'Get off your horse and drink your milk.'
Alan: Yeah, Wayne Sleep.

[Atticus]