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Posted: Jul 04 2012 11:47 pm

Vert1 wrote:

Not sure if it came onto Netflix this month or last but Battle Royale is up. Must watch.

Yeah, I watched that a couple of days ago on there.

What a piece of shit that movie is. There must have been something lost in translation because a lot of it made no sense. Not in a way like I couldn't understand what was going on...I could. I mean much of the premise and the actions of characters are just silly. Plus, the dubbing is awful; I would have preferred subtitles.

And this was the movie everyone was upset that Hunger Games ripped off? I have to imagine Hunger Games improves on this concept ten times over.

Posted: Jul 05 2012 12:55 am

To me, it seemed like The Hunger Games more directly "ripped off" The Running Man. And not the movie where they put Schwarzenegger in a lethal version of American Gladiators. The book, where a scrawny guy gets paid to be hunted all over the country.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Jul 05 2012 01:28 pm

Klimbatize wrote:

Vert1 wrote:

Not sure if it came onto Netflix this month or last but Battle Royale is up. Must watch.

Yeah, I watched that a couple of days ago on there.

What a piece of shit that movie is. There must have been something lost in translation because a lot of it made no sense. Not in a way like I couldn't understand what was going on...I could. I mean much of the premise and the actions of characters are just silly. Plus, the dubbing is awful; I would have preferred subtitles.

And this was the movie everyone was upset that Hunger Games ripped off? I have to imagine Hunger Games improves on this concept ten times over.

This needs some clarification:

The movie was based on the novel; here's the book in question:

As you probably noticed, it's a freaking bible. There was also a manga (which I read) that expanded on things the book didn't, like backstories for most of the characters:

Battle Royale is one of those cases that has WAY too much content that is needed in order to understand what's going on. Case in point, BR should had worked better as a Mini Series rather than a movie; instead, we got the jumbled mess of a plot that the movie was, since it had to remove a LOT, otherwise it'd had been a 4 to 5 hour long film.

By all means I don't expect you to change your opinion on the movie; I was fairly disappointed about the movie myself.

On the other hand, there's that thing of comparing it to Hunger Games that it's just not fair to begin with. Yes, both stories involve teenagers killing each other on live TV, but that's just it. One just happens to be in a post-apocalyptic future where said kids are trained like soldiers, while the other involves a totalitarian rule in the not-so distant future in which kids can be kidnapped any time and forced unwillingly to participate in said killings as a way to control youth as a whole.

It's like comparing a live webcast of the Columbine Shootings to Celebrity Survivor.

Posted: Jul 05 2012 01:56 pm

I love Battle Royale. I love both as a campy movie to laugh at and as a more serious exploration of young people experiencing trauma.

My best friend and I came up with a drinking game for this when we were in college. It's one of my favorites. It became a tradition to watch it as a pregame. I bet that half the people who saw that movie at my school did it drunk, with us.

1. Break all the players into two teams. One team drinks each time a boy cries, dies or falls. The other team does the same thing for the girls.
2. Everyone drinks when something painfully Japanese happens. (ex. "You look....really cool")
3. Everyone starts drinking when the teacher does his announcements and doesn't stop until he finishes.
4. Everyone finishes their containers every time the teacher eats a cookie.

Good times...

Posted: Jul 05 2012 03:19 pm

AtmanRyu, I liked your post. I'm right with you about the Hunger Games comparisons. In that movie's thread I've made a similar point. I only mentioned it because very often people would be like "Oh man, why would I need to see Hunger Games? I've already seen it and it's called Battle Royale." I figured that meant that Battle Royale was so good that it didn't need to be replicated or copied. Now I realize they just wanted to show off that they've heard of some Japanese movie that wasn't popular here yet, because it sure isn't some sacred piece of art that shouldn't be messed with.

And it's not some "I hate foreign films" thing. I've enjoyed nearly every Japanese movie that has been recommended to me. I recognized a few of the actors in this movie, in fact. Some of the best movies I've seen on Netflix come from China, Japan, or South Korea. They're almost always entertaining and well-made. One of the ways this movie could be improved, actually, is to dump the shit dub job and just use sub-titles.

Anyway, I knew Battle Royale was a manga, and I figured that I was getting a very bare bones representation of what the books were about.

But yeah, that's not why I didn't like the movie. The concept was fine. The script and acting (both the Japanese kids and the English-dubbing) were awful. The film doesn't explain very important things. So many people did so many stupid things in it that it detracted from the film big time.

[SPOILER:ec964310bf]Kids were kidnapped to scare the youth population of the country into behaving. Then why hadn't any of these kids every heard of it? One thing a totalitarianism government is good at is advertising/propaganda, and this program had been going on for years. Hell, the movie begins with one Battle Royale ending and there's a ton of media and shit. But all the kids were surprised about what was happening?

A guy goes from being a teacher to running the operation in like two years? Huh?

They didn't explain what those hacker guys were doing well enough at all. Didn't he say something about being able to switch bomb-necklaces? That didn't go anywhere. Not only that, the dude seemed to finally hack into their system...and all that work just shuts it down for 15 minutes? What were they planning on getting done in that time? We'll never know because these three morons get blind-sided and killed EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE ON AN ISLAND WHERE EVERYONE IS TRYING TO KILL THEM. How did they even survive that long? In fact, if they're so smart, why were they dragging a fucking generator up a flight of stairs? Hey geniuses, how about bringing your computer shit /downstairs/?

And there very well may be perfectly sensible reasons for all of these, but again, the film never explains them. That's a script problem, and they definitely had enough time to slip in a few lines to explain some of this because there's so much of the movie that could have easily been left out.
[/SPOILER:ec964310bf]
I've forgotten about ten other things, and I'm not about to rewatch it to jog my memory. It was just a really disappointing and annoying movie for me.

Posted: Jul 05 2012 04:22 pm

Klimbatize wrote:

AtmanRyu, I liked your post. I'm right with you about the Hunger Games comparisons. In that movie's thread I've made a similar point. I only mentioned it because very often people would be like "Oh man, why would I need to see Hunger Games? I've already seen it and it's called Battle Royale." I figured that meant that Battle Royale was so good that it didn't need to be replicated or copied. Now I realize they just wanted to show off that they've heard of some Japanese movie that wasn't popular here yet, because it sure isn't some sacred piece of art that shouldn't be messed with.

And it's not some "I hate foreign films" thing. I've enjoyed nearly every Japanese movie that has been recommended to me. I recognized a few of the actors in this movie, in fact. Some of the best movies I've seen on Netflix come from China, Japan, or South Korea. They're almost always entertaining and well-made. One of the ways this movie could be improved, actually, is to dump the shit dub job and just use sub-titles.

Anyway, I knew Battle Royale was a manga, and I figured that I was getting a very bare bones representation of what the books were about.

But yeah, that's not why I didn't like the movie. The concept was fine. The script and acting (both the Japanese kids and the English-dubbing) were awful. The film doesn't explain very important things. So many people did so many stupid things in it that it detracted from the film big time.

[SPOILER:529214f396]Kids were kidnapped to scare the youth population of the country into behaving. Then why hadn't any of these kids every heard of it? One thing a totalitarianism government is good at is advertising/propaganda, and this program had been going on for years. Hell, the movie begins with one Battle Royale ending and there's a ton of media and shit. But all the kids were surprised about what was happening?

A guy goes from being a teacher to running the operation in like two years? Huh?

They didn't explain what those hacker guys were doing well enough at all. Didn't he say something about being able to switch bomb-necklaces? That didn't go anywhere. Not only that, the dude seemed to finally hack into their system...and all that work just shuts it down for 15 minutes? What were they planning on getting done in that time? We'll never know because these three morons get blind-sided and killed EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE ON AN ISLAND WHERE EVERYONE IS TRYING TO KILL THEM. How did they even survive that long? In fact, if they're so smart, why were they dragging a fucking generator up a flight of stairs? Hey geniuses, how about bringing your computer shit /downstairs/?

And there very well may be perfectly sensible reasons for all of these, but again, the film never explains them. That's a script problem, and they definitely had enough time to slip in a few lines to explain some of this because there's so much of the movie that could have easily been left out.
[/SPOILER:529214f396]
I've forgotten about ten other things, and I'm not about to rewatch it to jog my memory. It was just a really disappointing and annoying movie for me.

The thing that mainly bugs me about the whole idea is that, if you need to "control" the population (or specifically, the youth, if you prefer), there's a much better way to do that: drugs. Seriously, it would be cheaper, more effective, and a lot of people probably wouldn't notice. That's why the use of government-mandated depressive/tranquilizing drugs is so prevalent in Brave New World, Equilibrium, Haze, etc.

And don't tell me the supply of drugs got exhausted somehow. The Romans had a contraceptive plant that they farmed to extinction, but there are other ways - both synthetic and natural - of achieving the same effect. In addition to all the synthetic and chemically-produced tranquilizers (barbiturates, and in some cases alcohol), there are also naturally-growing plants like cannabis that provide a profound depressive/relaxing state in the user in even small doses. Dump these, or variants on these, into the water supply of most of the country - boom, populace controlled.

(Please note, I'm not suggesting anyone try this, but I'm just saying it would be preferable in virtually every way to strapping bomb collars on teenagers and having them kill each other with frying pans.)

Title: Titlating Joined: Dec 17 2007 Posts: 5042

And really the idea of a dystopian society wherein the citizens are ruled by an unseen force and made to do things against their will. Before I read and saw hunger games I actually thought of the short stary "the lottery" before I thought of battle royale.

Joined: Aug 28 2011 Posts: 537

Ugh. Bringing up Hunger Games is like Godwin's Law for this movie. Hunger Games is PG-13 so right away it is easily determined to not be good. Jennifer Lawrence is an amazing actress though who I saw before she got super popular in HG in the flick The Poker House.

Battle Royale is amazing for this reason which is not widely talked about: it gives each item extreme significance (item worship). Your strength and advantages are combined uniquely to the item you have been assigned. Man and object become one.

Why are you watching this with dubbing? That alone shows zero respect for Japanese movies and how to appreciate them properly. When I watched it there were subtitles.

And after watching such an amazing movie that will never be replicated by America or anywhere else, there is Battle Royale 2. This movie is indeed hard to watch. However, this movie contains a moment that simply put is THE END OF COMEDY. I have been damned to see something so absurd, so hilarious early in my life. For now there is nowhere to go but downwards. The Japanese have always had strangeness, but [Westerners] are now without any hope in being able to respond with something against [the Japanese] with that that was put in BR2.

Posted: Jul 06 2012 02:16 pm

Vert1 wrote:

Hunger Games is PG-13 so right away it is easily determined to not be good.

You are a human being so you are easily determined to be retarded.

Joined: Aug 28 2011 Posts: 537

Why? Because I know that PG-13 movies are bullshit (with very few exceptions like Christopher Nolan's movies) these days? When the subject matter is about people killing each other I don't want to watch a pg-13 horror or action movie.

Posted: Jul 06 2012 02:41 pm

Haha PG-13 automatically makes a movie bad... That has to be one of the stupidest things I've heard this week.

I keep seeing this Battle Royale movie pop up in the Netflix recommendations but I still have yet to watch it. Honestly the description of it just didn't make it seem all that interesting and the picture they have of the cover didn't convey a sense of awesome so I just skipped over it. Maybe I'll watch it sometime this week because I've pretty much exhausted all the stand-up comedy on there at this point.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Jul 06 2012 03:07 pm

Vert1 wrote:

Ugh. Bringing up Hunger Games is like Godwin's Law for this movie. Hunger Games is PG-13 so right away it is easily determined to not be good. Jennifer Lawrence is an amazing actress though who I saw before she got super popular in HG in the flick The Poker House.

Battle Royale is amazing for this reason which is not widely talked about: it gives each item extreme significance (item worship). Your strength and advantages are combined uniquely to the item you have been assigned. Man and object become one.

Why are you watching this with dubbing? That alone shows zero respect for Japanese movies and how to appreciate them properly. When I watched it there were subtitles.

And after watching such an amazing movie that will never be replicated by America or anywhere else, there is Battle Royale 2. This movie is indeed hard to watch. However, this movie contains a moment that simply put is THE END OF COMEDY. I have been damned to see something so absurd, so hilarious early in my life. For now there is nowhere to go but downwards. The Japanese have always had strangeness, but [Westerners] are now without any hope in being able to respond with something against [the Japanese] with that that was put in BR2.

Posted: Jul 06 2012 05:10 pm

Vert1 wrote:

Why are you watching this with dubbing? That alone shows zero respect for Japanese movies and how to appreciate them properly. When I watched it there were subtitles.

Netflix didn't give me a choice. If you actually read you would have seen where I said I prefer subtitles. And I don't illegally download movies so a subtitled version wasn't available to me.

Go make a Talking Point thread where we discuss how only R-rated movies are good or something.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Jul 06 2012 06:21 pm

Klimbatize wrote:

Vert1 wrote:

Why are you watching this with dubbing? That alone shows zero respect for Japanese movies and how to appreciate them properly. When I watched it there were subtitles.

Netflix didn't give me a choice. If you actually read you would have seen where I said I prefer subtitles. And I don't illegally download movies so a subtitled version wasn't available to me.

How in the world you got the dubbed version in Netflix anyway? I only get the subtitled version for the most part.

Posted: Jul 06 2012 06:24 pm

Yeah, usually foreign films are just subtitled on Netflix. I was surprised myself.

Posted: Jul 10 2012 12:00 am

Klimbatize wrote:

Yeah, usually foreign films are just subtitled on Netflix. I was surprised myself.

This, with the exception of Project A. The dubbing was good for that one, though; not only does it seem like Jackie did his own part, they got Danny Freaking Trejo to voice the Pirate Lord.

Posted: Jul 10 2012 12:05 am

I thought there was an option to turn subtitles on or off, as well as dubbing in some cases. I am pretty sure it's there, I just don't know if Battle Royale has that or not.

Posted: Jul 12 2012 12:27 am

I have always been kind of skeptical when it comes to Netflix movies for some odd reason. I typically like horror flicks and most of my favorites aren't available for instant stream and a majority or them are horrible. However, I did throughly enjoy House of the Devil. That was surprisingly good. Very atmospheric.

As far as comedies go.....I recently watched Goon. Sean William Scott's character was a tad ackward but it highlights everyone's favorite part of hockey......the bloody fights. I recommend it. Quite funny.

Posted: Jul 12 2012 03:42 am

Meh, I prefer hockey movies (or any movies, for that matter) starring Emilio Estevez.

James Rolfe wrote:

You may like him when he's in detention, or coaching the Mighty Ducks, but I like him best when he's blowin' the fuck outta trucks!

And speaking of, getting back on topic, Maximum Overdrive appears to be available on neither streaming nor DVD at the moment.

Something that is on DVD from Netflix, that I watched recently and really liked, was The Frighteners. Even though some of the CGI looks pretty dated, it's got a pretty imaginative storyline. Also, I think Jeffrey Combs' character was a precursor to Jim Carrey in The Number 23.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Jul 24 2012 08:13 pm

If you're OK with documentaries, you should check "With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story".

Overall, it's a really good comic book-themed Documentary (of the ones I've seen in the Netflix Stream that is). At first, I thought it was gonna be an ego stroke fest, but this documentary actually does a good job humanizing him and his contributions.

There's also "Comic Book Confidential". Slightly dated (1998) and kinda glazes about some subjects, but it does cover a decent chunk of comic book history.

And then there's "Comic Book: The Movie". Admittedly, I watched it twice and still not sure what to make of it.

First of all, it's a Mockumentary directed by Mark Hamill. Up to you whether it's a good or bad thing, specially considering the chunks of geek humor tossed here and there. Also, half of it feels like an infomercial for Comic Con. Seriously. On the other hand, there's a Bruce Campbell cameo.

Posted: Jul 25 2012 03:38 pm

AtmanRyu wrote:

On the other hand, there's a Bruce Campbell cameo.

This is why I've been watching Burn Notice on Netflix lately; the whole show is basically one long string of Bruce Campbell cameos.

Posted: Aug 05 2012 10:51 am

Strongly recommending Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. It really plays with stereotypes and a bunch of college brats die in stupid fashion.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

lordsathien wrote:

Strongly recommending Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. It really plays with stereotypes and a bunch of college brats die in stupid fashion.

Seconded. It was just flat out hilarious and a blast to watch. Any fan of horror cliches would dig it, and any fan of comedies in general.

Posted: Aug 06 2012 12:49 am

JoshWoodzy wrote:

lordsathien wrote:

Strongly recommending Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. It really plays with stereotypes and a bunch of college brats die in stupid fashion.

Seconded...

Actually, woodzy should have said "thirded" and sathien should have "seconded" because I recommended this movie on the previous page of this very thread, you unattentive mothereffers.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

-Battle Royale 2 is worth watching as a case of the first half-hour of a movie being awesome, and the rest being total dogshit.

-I'd always recommend Archer. It's probably my current favorite comedy series. The jokes are fast-paced and smart without being pretentious, and it actually understands how to pull off references, pop culture or otherwise. I really don't like how in-jokey it gets in the third season, but it's still great.

-Goon is awesome. I had always hated American Pie, and lumped in Sean William Scott with it, but after seeing some movies he's been in, he definitely has chops as an actor.