What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[V]

OOO!

The Hunted! Cheesily sweet ninja ACTION... with bonus 'horrible French actor'!

[Matt]

The bullet train sequence in 'The Hunted' is top notch.

[Ben Thomas]

Matt said how I feel about The Killer. Can't deny it is the quintessential Woo film though.

[Ben Thomas]

Just watched Brothers.

I really liked it. It goes a bit too far into morality play mode in the final 10, which is a shame because the rest is absolutely superb. Its not a question of originality but one of Jim Sheridan sculpting the characters and the feel of the piece to perfection. Maguire and Gyllenhaal are excellent and Sam Shepard lends the solid support you expect of him.

It reminded me of Coming Home in the way that every action that the filmmakers took the time to show had resonance and meaning and consequences for the story and the characters. I especially liked the fact that the two ambiguous truths for the concerned parties - whether Gyllenhaal slept with Portman; what happened to Maguire in Afghanistan - are treated in an opposing fashion ie. one is outed, falsely, the other kept secret and implied until the final moments. What I'm trying to say, in a garbled fashion, is that while it may not have been terribly subtle a film, it was at least a mature and sensitive drama for grown-ups that never stepped over the line into the graphic or titillating, even if it veered a little too closely to melodrama at the climax.

Special mention has to go to the two little girls playing the daughters. The elder daughter especially did wonders with her little moments. And the two dinner scenes that bookend the majority of the film are masterclasses in exposition and tension respectively.

[V]

Sam Shepard lends the solid support you expect of him.

Truth be told, I cannot for the life of me remember anything in the last 20-25 years that he has not been excellent in. Even his bit as the senior Hamlet in Ethan Hawke's version of Hamlet was top shelf. No accent other than his own.. but you felt his performance. Not as classically inspired as recent outings by the late great Paul Scofield or Brian Blessed... but still an excellent bit of acting.

[Martin]

I love 'The Killer' as well, but it turns into self-parody when it enters the third act. The acting is too serious and the violence is so over the top...I can't help but laugh hysterically whenever I watch it. 'Hard Boiled' is just as violent but never quite veers into THIS IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS territory like 'The Killer' does. As such, I enjoy it much more.

Personal opinion, of course.

I know how you felt about it. I'll really need a Woo night soon.

And Vin, The Hunted would be 100x better if that shitty actor wasn't in there. But still, I'll take it as the best US produced ninja movie.

[Ed Hocken]

A History of Violence

Really good movie, I don't know why William Hurt was nominated but Maria Bello looks fantastic. And because it's Cronenberg, the violence is particularly horrific.

[Martin]

It's her untrimmed bush. That's why she was denied an Oscar nomination.

[Ed Hocken]

Then what explains her nomination in The Cooler? The fact that William H. Macy ate her out?

[Martin]

It's a well-known scientific fact that untrimmed pussy deserves punishment.

[Martin]

Revenge of the Sith.

Holy shit. It's still the best prequel, but that's being the Special Olympic champion. All the performances suck. Maybe McGregor is only passable, but that's it. Hayden Christenssen sucks harder than that retarded girl that everyone took advantage of to get blowjobs on the playground.

[BillyG]

Revenge of the Sith.

Hayden Christenssen sucks harder than that retarded girl that everyone took advantage of to get blowjobs on the playground.

Ours wore leg braces and let you hit it in a stall.

[Jan]

The Lovely Bones.

Holy shit, that is so not a good movie. Not that I expected much, but what a disappointment nonetheless. If I wouldn´t know it better I wouldn´t believe that this movie was made by the same guy that made Heavenly Creatures.

[Ben Thomas]

Repo Men

Its nice and bloody and its an interesting concept, but it really suffers from a script that is too willing to recycle bits from several other, better films and needs at least one more rewrite just to shape the trite dialogue. Passable, but not much more.

Transformers 2

I didn't hate it. I can see why people hate bits of it (the parents, the 'twins', the hot chick Decepticon, Megan Fox), but for robot on robot action, it delivered. The climax is both too drawn out and rushed, paradoxically and I have no idea if the superpowers displayed at times existed in the cartoon (why does a robot that can teleport need a crutch?). But I don't really care. I enjoyed it on the basest level cos I like massive robots and seeing things explode.

[PHEDG]

Hangover 2

a valiant effort, did not exceed the first.