The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[Dogg Thang]

I watched some movies...

JCVD. I loved this. Jean Claude VanDamme (playing himself), pretty washed-up and going through a custody battle with his ex, goes to get some money out and things don't quite go according to plan and the police arrive and now it's a bank robbery in progress. It's a simple film made wonderful by VanDamme and how he portrays himself. I had heard he was good in it but I wasn't prepared for how good he came across. Not a big fan of the desaturated look of the movie but, otherwise, I loved this movie.

Drinking Buddies. A sort of romcom with Olivia Wilde and some guy and some other guy (he was in Idiocracy I think...). Improvised and that added a layer of interest to it. I quite enjoyed it because it wasn't typical. It felt a little fresh. An easy watch that's really about the characters.

The Outsiders. I had never seen this. It was made in the 80s but the vibe of the film is so much older and, to be honest, I struggled a little with that. It felt like a film that starred so many great actors of the 80s and yet at the same time felt like a film that was made way before I was born that might have been on ITV on a Sunday afternoon back when I was on a kid. It's an interesting watch but I found the vibe just a little odd. Maybe it worked great at the time.

[QualityChimp]

Pig (2021 via NowTV). I was a bit underwhelmed by this, to be honest. A hermit who makes a living by selling truffles found by his pig sets out on a path of vengeance when his pig is kidnapped (pignapped?). Nic Cage seems to be doing crazy stuff these days, whereas Bruce Willis is phoning it in. Cage's selections definitely warrant more attention, though.

Wall-E (2008 Via Disney+). Still an absolutely charming film, crammed full of beautiful detail. Little cleaning 'bot M-O is my fave.

The Protector (1985 via Blu-Ray). Watched the 88Films release of this Jackie Chan curio. There are two versions on the disc, the US cut, which is beautifully hi-def and the Hong Kong version, which is SD, but is edited differently. The main differences are the HK cut is all dubbed in Cantonese, there is no nudity and the end fight is slightly tighter edited. Not one of his better films, but definitely one to watch, just to see how differently the films are cut. The US version has this ridiculously long sequence of a plane landing, then taxiing, then shots of HK, whereas the leaner HK cut sees Jackie already at the hotel and unpacking his suitcase by that point!
Good final fight with Bill Wallace!
The Big Brawl wasn't the smash and big intro to the US market JC wanted, so tried again with this, but chose the director of The Exterminator?!
JC was so pissed off with how it ended up, he went and made his own police action drama, so I guess we have The Protector to thank for giving us Police Story.

[Neon Ignition]

Pig (2021 via NowTV). I was a bit underwhelmed by this, to be honest. A hermit who makes a living by selling truffles found by his pig sets out on a path of vengeance when his pig is kidnapped (pignapped?). Nic Cage seems to be doing crazy stuff these days, whereas Bruce Willis is phoning it in. Cage's selections definitely warrant more attention, though.

Cage is definitely very eclectic in his choices. Hopefully he wasn't hamming it up too much

[Brad]

Munich
Not bad. There's a not a lot to the story so there's a lot of forced drama to make it span 2 hours.

Cop Shop
A fun and violent bit of fluff. You could play a phone game while it's on if you wanted.

[QualityChimp]

Cage is definitely very eclectic in his choices. Hopefully he wasn't hamming it up too much

There's a real twist in the tale.

To be fair, Pig was worth a watch and I really enjoy Cage's eclectic output at the moment, taking part in experimental films that are well off the mainstream path, despite having his name attached. Color of Space, Mandy, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Jiu Jitsu, Willy's Wonderland and so on are all really unique and interesting.
I think sometimes we value a film on its entertainment value, when a film doesn't have to be "good" to have merit, IMHO.

I think Brad is doing a disservice to Copshop. I thought it had a funky soundtrack, peppy dialogue and some interesting shots in it, so you should put your phone down - something I'm guilty of, then moaning I wasn't engaged by the film.

[Brad]

I said you 'could'. I didn't; I watched it attentively!

[Atticus]

Cage is definitely very eclectic in his choices. Hopefully he wasn't hamming it up too much

I thought his performance was crackling

[wakka]

First thing I thought was that he's definitely got the chops for it.

[teddymeow]

Finally got round to watching Ready or Not last night.

My adoration of Samara Weaving continues unabated!

I don't generally do horror but I found this to be so darkly hilarious I didn't mind the gore so much.

I thought the cast was great and Adam Brody was especially great with some very good lines.

[Neon Ignition]

Copshop
As it seemed to be in vogue at the moment gave it a go. It's uneven but overall decent. Grillo was solid, Butler was Butler. Louder is the standout though, proper badass.

[Atticus]

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner. Finally got round to watching this three and a half hour epic last night. It's basically the Future Noir book in documentary form and it's absolutely brilliant. No stone unturned. Covers every aspect from start to finish. As with the book I skipped the visual effects chapter as I'd rather not know. An interesting titbit is Hampton Fancher talking about an unused beginning he wrote opening with a pot of soup bubbling on the stove, a large man in farming overalls arrives home and ignores Deckard sat waiting for him in the room ... which of course he used for 2049. This is an incredible watch ... easily on parr with Hearts of Darkness. And like the book it leaves you in little doubt that masterpieces aren't created by accident, they're labours of love and pursuits of perfection.

[wakka]

I watched that some years ago when it was included with a DVD version (must've been 2007, from googling it). An excellent making-of. And it reminds me that I really need to watch Hearts of Darkness. I can see that it's included on one of the discs of the UHD version of the film (which I already own), so must get round to that soon.

That's very interesting regarding the discarded opening of the film being the one used for 2049. Had completely forgotten he talks about that (being honest I've forgotten most of it apart from trivia regarding the production design).

EDIT: In fact the version of Blade Runner I saw Dangerous Days on must've been the HD-DVD! Ah, what a format

[QualityChimp]

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner. Finally got round to watching this three and a half hour epic last night. No stone unturned. Covers every aspect from start to finish.

Imagine a documentary 3 1/2 hours long and it's just puff piece interviews:
"Ohh, this was the best film to work on. We just had so much fun."

[monel]

Imagine a documentary 3 1/2 hours long and it's just puff piece interviews:
"Ohh, this was the best film to work on. We just had so much fun."

Off topic but I used to hate those talking heads clips in those retro shows and docus, 'I like the the 80s' or whatever. Reminded me of the Fast Show character, the kid saying 'Isn't grass great!'. Also they would have anyone slightly famous on as though their opinion matters, yeah they had one song out in 1996, let's ask them their opinion of Cobra.

'Inspector Gadget! He had a hat, yeah?'

'Transformers, why did they turn into tape decks?'

'I had a Walkman.'

'Oh I watched Knight Rider, but I was born in 2002.'

[wakka]

Yeah, just basically a programme featuring Johnny Vegas lying about remembering specific toys and stuff from the 80s.