VGF's Most Watched Movies of July 2012-June 2013

[Bomby]

This is something we did at the other forum I frequent, and thought it might be fun to try out here for fun [strike]and to stimulate the economy[/strike].

If you couldn't tell from the title already, this will be where I keep track of what movies are being watched. To participate, simple post in this thread when you've watched a movie, preferably with a few sentences on your thoughts about the film. I'll update on the statistics every month or so.

UPDATE: Please bold the titles of the movies you watched. That makes it easier for me to count which movies you're watching if you're mentioning multiple films in the same post and differentiating from movies you've mentioned that you did not watch in this time period.

As far as newer releases with threads of their own, I'd still like folks to post that they saw it in this thread, but any long-running discussion can be relegated to those threads.

[Calamity Panfan]

is this just for 2012 releases or any movie?

Because I watched Iron Man 2 (good but definitely the weaker link in the Avengers canon), RV and The Pacifier (not so much) on my bus ride home.

[Bomby]

Any movie, yo.

[Auron]

Does this count movies we've seen already and decided to rewatch? Because I watched X-Men: First Class yesterday for the first time since it was in theaters. Good movie. Definitely a step back in the right direction for the series. And Michael Fassbender is quickly rising up my actor list (not that I'm actually keeping track or anything).

[Bomby]

^ Yes, movies you've already seen count. For example, I just watched New Dragon Gate Inn, a remake of the 1967 film Dragon Gate Inn produced by my personal filmmaking hero Tsui Hark and supposedly directed by Raymond Lam, though there's speculation that Tsui may have ghost-directed it himself. I somewhat doubt that. It's stylistically similar to Tsui's films, but much of that is probably due to the spectacular action choreography by Ching Siu-Tung. Overall, a solid entry in the landscape of early 1990's martial arts cinema, but not a masterpiece.

[CaptHayfever]

I just saw Angels in America for the first time. We read the script for my playwriting independent-study a few years ago, so I knew the story & dialogue were good, but I'd never seen any production until just this weekend, when I got the HBO version from the library. Mary-Louise Parker blew my mind. Also, Nite Owl & Dumbledore are in it!

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Calamity Panfan]

Ted. This was a solid raunchy comedy. It's nowhere near as pants-****tingly hilarious as 21 Jump Street was, but it wasn't as God-awful as I assume That's My Boy is. There was a lot of potential for this movie to be really good, but some of the jokes fell flat. I also thought the movie went on a little too long. It has a surprising amount of heart, but the ending got kinda schmaltzy. If I were to rate it, I'd give it something like a 6/10. Good enough for a time waster, but I'd suggest waiting until you can rent it.

Trailers have nothing to do with the movie, but I like mentioning the trailers I see before a movie
- The Silver Linings Playbook: My only reaction to this trailer was, "Huh. Chris Tucker's still alive!" Trailer looked okay, but I probably wouldn't give two ****s about the movie if it didn't have David O. Russell directing.
- The Odd Life of Timothy Green: Looks like a quirky family movie. Yup. Jennifer Gardner's uterus is really bad at having kids in movies, I guess.
- Anchorman: The Legend Continues: Not sure how this is gonna turn out, but Anchorman is one of my favorite comedies ever so I'm pretty much gonna end up seeing it no matter what
- The Watch: I like Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade, Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller are hit-or-miss. Not really interested, I'm kinda sick of alien movies right now.
- The Bourne Legacy: Looks good enough. I like the Damon Bourne movies quite a bit, so I'll probably end up seeing this.
- Premium Rush: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the man, but I'm not sure how exciting an action movie about bike delivery will be.
- Savages: Not really an Oliver Stone fan, highly doubt I'll see this one. Especially with Taylor "The Most Generic Action Movie Star On the Planet" Kitsch in a lead role.

Expect a few more tomorrow. Tonight's looking like a Netflix night, and The Amazing Spider-Man comes out tomorrow so I basically have to see it.

[Jere]

Well i watched convoy the other day, good film in my oppinion but then im weak for those old Road movies

[Calamity Panfan]

Brick: I've heard quite a bit of good about this movie. The overall idea of a film noir in a high school setting was really interesting, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt had a really good performance. I really liked it, but some parts just seemed a little too silly.

Independence Day: this movie is ridiculous but the speech is the best thing ever in a movie so idgaf

[Apollo the Just]

HTTYD because I watch that movie at least 5 times a semester and once per break gah dammaht

it is as excellent and adorable and heartwarming and amazing as it always is

Brave was gorgeously animated and very good. The message was a little heavy-handed but I still d'aww'd at all the right places. Plus dat HAIR. [spoiler]I was also very happy to have a Disney princess who didn't need to get married off at the end coughcough[/spoiler]

[Bomby]

^ psst... remember to bold the titles of the movies you watched. I know, I'm being kind of pestering here, but yeah.

I watched two movies within the past couple of days - Ronny Yu's The Bride with White Hair and Pantelis Voulgaris's Nyfes. The former is a movie that is largely considered a classic in the wuxia genre, but I've never quite seen why. The lead performances from Leslie Cheung and Brigitte Lin are terrific (as those two pretty much always are), but the movie itself is just kind of okay. Yu's over-abuse of dutch angles kind of gets annoying. Nyfes on the other hand was a nice little surprise. It seemed kind of bourgeois to me at first, but digging beyond the typical Oscar-baiting style, there is a substantial movie dealing with immigration and "mail order brides" that were common in the Greek-American community in the 1920's.

Independence Day: this movie is ridiculous but the speech is the best thing ever in a movie so idgaf

What I like about this movie is that it's ostensibly a patriotic American movie, but it was written, directed, and produced by a German filmmaker. I like to think that, due to the over-the-top ridiculousness of it all, that it's actually a stealth parody of American patriotism.

[Marilink]

Brave! I really liked it a lot. Though I agree it isn't Pixar's best work, I think the criticism it's been getting has been a little too harsh.

[Bomby]

(hey gaiz don't meen 2 b a pest but plz bold ur titles k thx bai)

Re-watched The 36th Chamber of Shaolin for the first time in a couple of years. A classic kung fu movie, truly one of the greatest, and holds up very well despite having seen it probably 6-7 times before.

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Then I watched Return to the 36th Chamber today. Without question, very different from the original (this one's a comedy, first one's a drama), but the creative fight scenes make it almost equal.

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Disciples of the 36th Chamber was a disappointment after both of them. The focus switched to a new main character, who was the most annoying Fong Sai-Yuk in the history of movies dealing with Fong Sai-Yuk. The fight scenes were solid, as expected, but everything in between left much to be desired.

[Calamity Panfan]

Lost in Translation: Fantastic movie. Bill Murray is great. Plus it gets supermegaultra bonus points for the ending scene playing "Just Like Honey"

[strike]plus any movie that starts with a Scarlett Johansson panty shot is an A+ in my book[/strike]

[Bomby]

[strike]^Agreed completely[/strike]

There are martial arts films, and then there's Duel to the Death. This is the absolutely ridiculous directorial debut of Ching Siu-Tung, one of Tsui Hark's most important collaborators and my personal favorite action choreographer. There's one thing that Ching (and by extention, Tsui Hark as well, though he wasn't involved in this film) does better than anyone else: frantic editing during action sequences. Holy ****, the action sequences in this movie rock. Frantic flying swordsmen, exploding ninjas, talking decapitated heads, a dude with wooden legs... if only the fights were longer!

Still, this movie rocks. If you have a list of your favorite martial arts films and Duel to the Death isn't on it, your list is wrong.

[Calamity Panfan]

The Amazing Spider-Man​. thoughts in that thread.

[Bomby]

Watched Chang Cheh's The Assassin. I'm still not quite connecting with Chang. I understand his importance, but he's never struck a chord with me like his contemporaries at Shaw Bros. (namely Lau Kar-Leung and King-Hu) have. I was curious to watch this movie for a long time, because it's based on one of my favorite stories from Chinese history, and while there were definitely some great parts, it wasn't what I was hoping for.

[LOOT]

oh loot you are such a rebel

Well I haven't watched much this year except for Way of the Dragon since I guess I haven't had much motivation to break out my movies. I'll probably rewatch the 1989 Batman one of these times.

[Bomby]

Well played, Loot. Well played. :p

[Deepfake]

Just watched Die Hard. Metrosexual german models are all up ins. I especially liked the villainous names like "Carl" and "Hans" - they sound like real toughguys, lemme tell ya.

Watched the Transporter last night. What the hell was up with that scuba scene, btw? And the soundtrack was insane. Not like, unbelievably good. It was just frickin weird.

[strike]^Agreed completely[/strike]

There are martial arts films, and then there's Duel to the Death. This is the absolutely ridiculous directorial debut of Ching Siu-Tung, one of Tsui Hark's most important collaborators and my personal favorite action choreographer. There's one thing that Ching (and by extention, Tsui Hark as well, though he wasn't involved in this film) does better than anyone else: frantic editing during action sequences. Holy ****, the action sequences in this movie rock. Frantic flying swordsmen, exploding ninjas, talking decapitated heads, a dude with wooden legs... if only the fights were longer!

Still, this movie rocks. If you have a list of your favorite martial arts films and Duel to the Death isn't on it, your list is wrong.

I'll definitely check that one out. \m/