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Films that keep you on the edge of your seats. Be it action, crime, spy, political, psychological... all thrills are welcome.
Replies: >>1658
Can't even think of any at the moment. I has to be something I remember being thrilled with on the original viewing.
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>>1651 (OP) 
I watched 2013's "Stoker" the other day and thought it was decent, although not as good as the director's other movies that I've seen.
It's a somewhat slow movie, with a lacklustre plot – not needfully a bad thing, but with the characters being so dull, the main thing it's got going for it is the eerie atmosphere and nice visuals. On the plus side, it reminded me to check out the so-called Vengeance Trilogy at some point.
Replies: >>1660
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>>1658
>it reminded me to check out the so-called Vengeance Trilogy at some point
Still his high point in my opinion, Park got stolen in festivals hard but time is the ultimate judge and they still are sought after, at least the first two because i didn't like the third one that much.
The Handmaid is also pretty decent for what it is but the editing/pacing is a bit weird, the cinema release is cut half an hour and things seem a bit rushed, but the complete cut makes you deduce things quickly due to the extra details and the plot punch or climax doesn't reach its potential.
All his movies have tasteful visuals that's for sure, he knows how to work with the different cinematographers he has worked with but my favorite seems to be his least preferred, Mr. Vengeance.

I need to check his last work, The Little Drummer Girl, but i can deduce it is why he got out of the radar relatively quick a couple of years ago, it's an adaptation of a novel about Mossad recruiting some girl to infiltrate a palestinian cell but i suppose a twist happens somewhere there.
It's also considered a spy/political thriller so there we go, thread topic achieved :^)
Replies: >>1661
>>1660
The premise of Little Drummer Girl sounds interesting, but I'm hesitant to watch it because of the potential shitty Hollywood politics. Tbh, I've stopped watching modern american/english movies altogether due to this reason (that includes international films that cater to a large international crowd or aspire to make a lot of money through platforms like netflix).
Replies: >>1668
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>>1661
>but I'm hesitant to watch it because of the potential shitty Hollywood politics
Yes, that's why i had my reservations so i will reply back later to confirm if it is crap or not, but once again Park got ghosted from film media (which is nothing more than a hype machine with no substance) for having worked on it.
Also it seems it's a mini-series rather than a movie, and produced by the Brits rather than the americans, which is as pozzed as the other but who knows.
>I've stopped watching modern mainstream movies
I think most of us have here and your reason is as legitimate as the others, but politics creep even into old classic movies and sometimes as overt. I always laugh at Back to the Future because despite being for a juvenile audience it has Libyan terror cells sponsored by Gaddafi out of nowhere killing civilians basically for fun, of course the director and production are jewish whom an interesting theory implies they knew about the government bombing WTC and putting overt symbolism into it
People always understandably are skeptic of Hollywood movies putting such explicit clues for no reason but then again Israeli secret intelligence services (ISIS lol) have been known to put planning, orders and clues in porn movies and dub voice overs of famous programs distributed to their forces

And talking about thrillers and the korean director, wouldn't Oldboy count as one? it is a mainstream cliche pick but we might as well.
Replies: >>1671 >>1672
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>>1668
Haha I'm not into stuff like Back to the future, Star Wars and Star Trek either. Being a non-American helps exclude that type of movies from my exposure to cinema, I guess. I think they aren't different from modern Hollywood popcorn movies in nature (including the politics), just less retarded.
On topic, I've watched "A vizsga" (The Exam), a 2011 Hungarian film. A tight little spy thriller set in 1957 Hungary, aftermath of the revolution against the communist government when the authority imposed increased surveillance and cracked down on defectors. A paranoid atmosphere pervades the movie, with the constant feeling that the big brother is watching. Neat Christmas movie with tension, twist and turn.
>>1668
Old Boy definitely counts as a thriller yeah. The Koreans are big on the mystery thrillers, but I don't quite like them. Forbid me for my bias, most of their stuff seems like commercialized movies that try to be edgy to me. I've never been that impressed, but I haven't seen Park Chan-wook films (besides Stoker) so it's probably my fault. Parasite doesn't impress me either, it's surely the kind of films that will receive a lot of awards and accolades, but to me it feels kinda forced and lacks subtlety.
Replies: >>1676
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>>1672
>most of their stuff seems like commercialized movies that try to be edgy to me
You would be right, it is due to 2 big factors, for one they seem to be miserable and apathetic in terms of overall contemporary times' mood (in contrast with what an anon explained, back in history they were nicknamed "the happy people") and for second the mainstream always copycats the successful projects in the market and the koreans did have a big era in the early 2000's due to their cinema school students maturing enough to deliver consistent projects, most of them indeed violent and moody in rule with what Asia was doing in the 90's (Japanese economic crisis crime/depression movies, Hong Kong triad blood opera movies).
But after 2007 or 2008 it seems they started to dry out and a new wave hit them with more feminized men, much more edgy content and sometimes even sanitized/sterile aesthetics in contrast with the content who dealt with serial killers, horrible incidents or plain out killing themselves like they always do. The west market is trying to imply they are a big thing again nowadays but truth is that i haven't seen them recover the heights from 1998-2004, we can theorize who or what to blame because the actors and the directors didn't emigrate so it wasn't a brain drain.

If you are inclined to not be that impressed with those movies then maybe the old works won't impress you either, after all they were the foundation plans of what's going on nowadays and perhaps you are already tired of the things those movies present which were relatively fresh back then... still, haven't seen Parasite despite liking the director but was surprised that the hardcore korean critics said the movie is far from his best, which seems even humorous taking into account all the western accolades given because Weinstein-sponsored productions got a coup and opposing distributors bought the rights for the movie and the critics themselves usually defending him for getting mugged by Oldboy's success back then (his so-called best work was Memories of Murder, released in the same time span and who sparked a debate about which movie to present at international festivals).

Talking about that movie, i guess it's a thriller too?
Replies: >>1689
>>1676
Some people might crucify me for saying this, but I was not that impressed with Memories of Murder either. All I can remember is the frustration of sitting through it; (I thought) the plot was so forceful and unnatural. I might be wrong, but I don't intend to rewatch it. Guess I don't really like Korea in general. And yeah, the contemporary Korean wave of pop culture full of gayness and cringe is fucking cancerous and represents the worst aspects of entertainment industry.
t. country is infested with cringy "Korean wave" products. Looks like they're progressing to infiltrate the western countries too, with their shitty ass pop music.
/end rant
I hope someone else will be able to discuss about some Korean films with you. I'm too allergic to that country to care lol
Replies: >>1693 >>2082
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>>1689
>the plot was so forceful and unnatural
Well, it is a thriller after all.
Yeah no problem, it is a taste to be repelled by them because they sure have tons of "negative" traits in their movies alright, if anything it will give you more space to explore other areas without thinking you are missing out.
For example i disdain most of Bollywood and horror movies so it's a big chunk out of a possible backlog, not to mention the usual allergy to mainstream american products like some of us here have so it's all good.

But you do have problems if you don't like The Day of the Jackal, one of the best hitman movies out there. Shame anglos didn't like it as much as the world did.
Replies: >>1694
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>>1693
I liked that movie, need to rewatch it though. I often mix up the name with "Three Days of the Condor", a film with totally different style but enjoyable nonetheless. Faye Dunaway was great in it.
Replies: >>1697
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>>1694
I remember an anon saying the book was more risque in terms of the author getting spooked, and it's 5 days rather than the movie's 3.
I watched it in my first days of film enthusiasm and looking back it is a very interesting plot due to giving details that might've seemed outlandish but nowadays are very strongly considered in certain communities if not downright confessed by the US government. I would recommend a watch to anybody by that alone: A bunch of jew york gayops in a civilian front working on finding hidden info in mainstream products get glowed by hitmen paid by the US for discovering one of their own secret recipes.
But def a more iconic fashion than genre movie, Dunaway still had that homely but still sophisticated appeal, also had Redford's final outfit but it's always hot in here and i get fat in winter so i suck at life.

>I often mix up the name
Plenty of movies used that kind of name for spy thrillers in the 70's, i recall a local one called The Hour of the Jaguar, obviously not subtle at all and wasn't good either IIRC despite an interesting plot that i don't remember at this moment seeing somewhere else; a cop who likes a lot to execute criminals when he gets a minimal chance, but both his police work force and some angry criminals have had enough and are looking to kill him.
Replies: >>1698
>>1697
Yeah Three Days of the Condor is definitely /fa/, winter fashion is so comfy. This might be a very superficial thing to say but I find modern movies kinda lacking in terms of fashion (not counting ones that set in the past), is it because people dress much less sophisticatedly now? The outfits tend to be casual or unremarkable, seemingly not the focus of the aesthetics at all.

>The Hour of the Jaguar
The plot sounds interesting from your description, but are you sure it's the right name? I can't find any film with that title.
Replies: >>1700
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>>1698
>is it because people dress much less sophisticatedly now?
I like that old fashion because it kinda is softer in the eye and does match, for example in that movie the clothing designs are garish but the textures and color patterns (aside from the nordic hitman who uses plaid) are simple to soften them up. Redford's outfit is denim bell jeans and shirt, black cotton long-collar coat, black sunglasses with golden trim to match with his blonde hair. It's complex enough to appreciate the different textures but simple enough to identify its colors, obviously Robert being a tall hwite man helps a lot with making the outfit stand out and look slimmer, you can put a potato sack on him and he will make it look good.
Nowadays "urban" clothing has very plain textures, plasticky or downright opaque with no discernible details, yet the colors range in a lot of tones and usually with complex graphics that make them look like walking glitches, so the most difficult aspects of both worlds and rarely pulled out decently in my ignorant opinion. Bodies are a factor too, Redford's torso is big and makes the coat take form, the bell jeans also look good because he's tall enough to make them move fluidly enough. A soyboy is usually under the 1.75m range and the clothing is very loose so it looks like the attire someone would grab to be comfortable at the living room, not something to walk downtown. Obviously cultural sensibilities play at hand, perhaps we are plainly old dusty school to think going out means looking formal.
Post-modern fashion i think focuses too much on experimentation rather than refining previously established precepts or working on top of them on a whole different direction.

>I can't find any film with that title.
Maybe you sought it in english, the title is in spanish (La Hora del Jaguar)
I can't recommend it without feeling bad so take that as you will, it seems it was on Youtube but like the guys at /retro/ said, many unlisted videos were forced into private.
Perhaps the best well-known thing locally about that production is the ending that was parodied a lot due to its harsh nature (and even remade with the same actor years later) and because it features some butt naked scenes from a couple of good-looking actresses. Made by a german-born director (read: jew) who hired a ton of european-descended actors which is rare in the local industry but not really surprising.
I took time to post this because i stumbled upon some saucy pics of those actresses from that era and oh boy, you can keep Dunaway alright.
Replies: >>1701
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>>1700
>Nowadays "urban" clothing has very plain textures, plasticky or downright opaque with no discernible details, yet the colors range in a lot of tones and usually with complex graphics that make them look like walking glitches
Thanks for the well elaboration. This fashion trend seems to be related to hipsters and soyboys. They can't handle putting in the effort to look formal I guess, just self-indulgent at this point. Modern movies are also void of stars that are charismatic enough to "light up" the screen and pull audience to side with himself. This might have something to do with the emasculation of the male heroes? Male leads (if they exist) nowadays tend to look like soyboys and are written to behave like ones, too.
Mainstream cinema is getting more and more casual and somewhat lazy, it lacks the beauty and mysticism which make cinema so attractive in the first place. These days anyone with a camera (or just a smart phone, christ) can make a movie featuring some monkeys dancing on the pavement and spouting bullshit lines and call it art (then subsequently gets praised and awarded by the mutual masturbating hollywood and "mainstream indie" film circles). Just take a glance at indiewire and so for some examples.
My takes can be too much generalizing sometimes, you're free to discuss/counter though.
As for La Hora del Jaguar, it seems really obscure (not on any film tracker) so I don't think I will sought it further.

Back on topic, A martfüi rém (Strangled) is also a good murder mystery, reminds me of Memories of Murder. I watched the TV version which is nearly 1 hour longer than the film.
>Based on real-life events, this psycho-thriller is set in the provincial Hungary of the 1960s, when a series of atrocious murders shock the small town of Martfü. A psychotic killer is on the prowl, who continues to slaughter young women while an innocent man is wrongly accused and sentenced for crimes he could never have committed. A determined detective arrives on the scene and soon becomes obsessed with the case while under pressure from the prosecutor to see a man hang. Stuck in the suffocating social, political and psychological world of socialist Hungary, we soon find ourselves entangled in a web of intricate conspiracy and disturbing drama.
A nice summary. These Hungarians really hate their communist past, eh?
Replies: >>1702 >>1703
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>>1701
>This might have something to do with the emasculation of the male heroes?
Even female leads suffer from this (plot-wise, males getting emasculated is a whole different park game), my shallow observation is that writing has most of the blame. For example many action-oriented movies back then depended on the main character's personality to know in which direction the plot was going to move, aka his actions decided his fate, but nowadays plots are written to make external events the deciding factor (which is fine) but very usually with a combination of "morally/logically sound consequences", by this i mean that if something happens the characters will act accordingly to what usually happens and with "logical" A-to-B paths.
This leads to plots being similar to each other if the context is similar and without the main character being that much of a factor with the series of events, you can put Bourne on a nu-Bond movie and nothing that different will happen at all, this is a strong contrast with back in the days were main characters were either written completely (motives, pastimes, attire, quirks, traits, moral code) or you hired some actor with an already defined on-screen persona to save some time (Bronson will investigate/plan his revenge, Norris will moralfag/spare the remorseful, Van Damme will get cocky/train hard to redeem himself, Stallone will pull something out of his ass to win, Schwarzenegger will work hard from the beginning, etc etc in case of western action stars). That leads to the counter part, depending on the area audiences could either hate the entire thing because the MC is after all the one who moves the plot and/or the plot was water thin because it was merely an excuse for an actor to flex his personality, AND because audiences are lazy sometimes and don't want to quickly discern what's the moral code and motives of the protagonist to make sense of his actions especially if he's a relatively unknown actor.

This is a reason why old movies usually have fan theories of "what if x happened/had decided otherwise" because they depend on the character's actions based on their flawed-or-not knowledge (What if Seagal wasn't an idiot, what if Lee Marvin was more laid-back), nowadays because protagonists are just victims of circumstance nobody flies their imagination with a "what if the towers didn't collapse", because the entire point is them falling off and the movie would've not moved if otherwise. And because of this you can risk upsetting your actors because replacing such a character is easy, writing him is easy enough, audiences can easily tolerate him because he's not that decisive/has time to flex his personality... thus why spend extra time defining some kind of attire for him and his friends?
I can pull out a good reason to do that, to make him more memorable and easily recognizable, it has worked well in other movies: Refn's Drive character is well-known for his scorpion jacket but nobody remembers anything from his personality other than being very sheltered for no reason to the point of mental illness, but that is the actor's demeanor after all, no script involvement other than not giving him lines. But you said it well enough
>Mainstream cinema is getting more and more casual and somewhat lazy
It's as simple as that really, predictable lines because of trying to write it logically from a normal bystander perspective when IRL things are not that predictable or logical, Princip candidly went to eat lunch after failing to perpetrate an assassination on a high-level royal member a couple blocks away (or so the story says), action movies need to either pack a mean punch in the action department if they want to be predictable (eastern approach) or give the sense of surprise via character's mentality and/or sense of "adventure" to keep us on the edge (western approach) if you erase both then you are left with an almost documentary-style series of events but without the informative narration, the cool trivia or the act of knowing what the hell is happening.

TL;DR Lazy writing due to everyone getting complacent or maybe to concentrate on the propaganda/indoctrination angle

Thrillers, needing a really tight script, are one of the genres that suffer from your national guild of writers being a bunch of party hogs who decide who's going to get which job depending on how much blow they snort with the pals, which is okay if it wasn't for the fact an outsider will get pelted the moment someone with power wants to buy him his work.
Replies: >>1709
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>>1701
>it seems really obscure
That's an understatement, i saw it twice but it was only shown at late night due to content and in a channel that only showed national cinema which, sooner or later, will dry up if you need to screen it 24/7 and that movie was overly rare to see in the schedule aka they needed to fill time slots.
No DVD release is mainly why that kind of stuff doesn't see the light of the internet, for example i have two fairly non-obscure movies (one famously won a Golden Globe for best TV feature-length) yet there's no trace of it that doesn't look like someone filming his tv. VHS of course, i still haven't bought the hardware to digitize it but some day i will, just waiting to find a home video with a low-flying UFO/inverted wing jet my aunt recorded in the 90's
>Hungarians really hate their communist past
As far as i've seen this is very true, Taxidermia still being the example i remember the most.

And on topic too, here is Miike's Hong-Kong-inspired Rainy Dog, not really fast moving or with a sense of urgency like a thriller should, main character is usually depressed in a room if anything, but things always feel on a timer with the protag's action always making him get cornered slowly but surely to the point it really ramps up in the end.
Perhaps using a comedian as your main action star is not the best of ideas with Aikawa, but considering the conditions of filming and the actor's work ethic i think it's hard to fault the director for bringing him in, dude seems to work in any environment without complaining if his filmography is to judge.
Also features one of my favorite's character introductions, will upload it later on the webm thread.
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>>1702
Very well said. Older movies are character-driven and we're supposed to get behind them, hence their bold, unique personality and screen presence. Modern movies are plot-driven and characters are neutralized, replaceable and get lost in the scheme of things.
>predictable lines because of trying to write it logically from a normal bystander perspective
Yes, that's why many thrillers these days are predictable and generic. Characters are supposed to have this moral and we are expected them to act this way. It's almost always too comfortable.

>>1703
I know about this trilogy, will have to watch it when I feel the urge to watch Asian movies again. The poster for the Arrow blu-ray is pretty fucking dope.

A modern Japanese crime movie that I really enjoy is The Blood of Wolves, set in 1988. It has the look and feel of old yakuza movies, no cutesy or annoying shit (I think this issue is related to the popularity of anime in the mainstream). The Japanese doesn't make much "serious", mature movies about organized crime like this anymore. The soundtrack is also fantastic, you can listen to it on spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/47Xy3dbhi5dhKqRqlDIFZq
Someone was very generous to pay a fuckload of money for proper English subs so be sure to grab them on opensubtitles if you decide to give it a watch.
How fortunate that the sequel of this movie will be released soon (in August they said). I'm really looking forward to it!
Replies: >>1727
>>1709
>The poster for the Arrow blu-ray is pretty fucking dope.
From that poster i only recognize the protag, the landscape & rain of Rainy Dog lol, can't see anything from the first movie. 
The so-called Underworld Trilogy (Black Society in the west to avoid confusion with the vampire vs. werewolf series) i have only seen the first two but yeah, they are only related in theme and to be fair Miike did tons of crime movies anyway so i think they are odd enough. The main theme is foreigners in another country: First one had both chinese cops and criminals dealing in Tokyo's Shinjuku which was/is considered a "fun" area, second one is a japanese yakuza made man exiled in a Taipei ghetto, third one i am not sure so i suppose it's the koreans in Japan?

Beware of the first movie tho, i like it but there's full blown homosexuality inbound with that one, Miike's style bends it down :^) to exaggerated comedy but still some people are turned off because many odd that can happen to a dude do happen in the first 25 minutes other than the obscurantist practice of feltching, don't search it. Also beware because there's two different subtitle files out there, one was extracted from the american release, i suppose under an asian horror brand, and the other i want to think from a good source like your pic related. The latter is the good one while the former, in the pretense to shock the viewers, does change some details but most importantly completely and utterly changes the small ending notes that do end up breaking the plot to the point of having to rewatch it to understand. 
I learned the hard way but wasn't that angry about it, just surprised by the bad faith of the distributors. Still, like all Miike movies, the right mentality is to expect a movie from someone who never takes any plot given to him seriously and will distort some aspects to fit his irreverent naughtiness.

>The Blood of Wolves, set in 1988
Added to the list then, have to honor someone spending hard cash for us to look at it.
Replies: >>1767
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>>1727
Miike always inserts unexpected weird stuff into his movies. I don't like his sense of humor sometimes, it's vulgar and bizarre. 

An Asian thriller that I enjoy recently is Johnnie To's Drug War. It's his first film shot in mainland China and featuring a lot of Chinese actors from the mainland. One can also argue the politics of it in the movie: Hong Kong criminals used and surveilled by Chinese cops, Hong Kong characters are written to have more human-like hobbies and personalities compared to the robotic Chinese counterparts, the spacious, empty background of Chinese towns etc. You can also just enjoy it as a pure thriller with a lot of deceptions, twists and turns, and tension that really keep you on the edge of your seat (I particularly like the scenes with HaHa in the hotel). I heard the ending had to be changed to appease mainland censors so that the bad guy can't get away after all his doings, as oppose to what the director wanted. It's still a good ending regardless.
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>>1767
>it's vulgar and bizarre.
That's why i love the guy, he just goes for it but i do also dislike his approach when it is uncalled for as in no previous context or need to in terms of de-synthesizing the viewer or a character in particular.

I have heard tons of things from Johnnie To, he's the Election guy right? i usually watch asian stuff by director and i still haven't tackled him as Tsui Hark and Chang Cheh have proven to be long experiences for me. I think i have that movie in the backburner but haven't downloaded it, will make sure to have special attention for it. 
Aaand if you want vulgar, homosexual and sometimes bizarre visages look no further to Johnny To's hong kong gossip rumors, that's why i knew of him in the beginning, he's had very nasty and hilarious stories (that i guess are most fake) that fortunately are usually shadowed by his films. When i researched the asian action scene in the beginning there was always jokes about him, old IMDB forums had some of them.
To save you absolute time and the displeasure of wondering why some people say such things from him rather than discussing the movies, imagine the recent american controversy of Harvey Weinstein but instead girls and him being a producer, imagine dudes/action stars and him being a director. Plus in China doing homo stuff is much more controversial than in the west, hence the secrecy from some.

>dat spoiler
That's almost dead certain, chicoms hate the bad guys getting away with it cooly, which i can understand to be fair as i like justice too but it is kinda forced to be fair sometimes.
Most famous example of it happening although i liked it way more than the original ending would be Infernal Affairs, which is a thriller too now that i remember it, it's honestly quite cheesy as to appeal to campy asian mainstream sensibilities but still if one can pass the melodramatic nature of it at times (slow-motion death scenes with melancholic music-tier). It is a decent ride, the cinematography is particularly well done and an example of a director, Andrew Lau, who also shot as the main cinematographer so total control of it. His second (or actually main non-directing cinematographer) Fai Lai  is also pretty decent, both worked as KW Wong's camera men at some point together with Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee if that says something about fancy camera work.

It was remade, in my opinion badly, years later by Scorcese as The Departed because americans can't read subtitles but this one has superior acting, again in my opinion, to the point that i still hate the co-protagonist's actor Andy Lau for it, such a good dastardly soulless dog-eating chink performance that i cannot see away when watching his other movies, even when he plays fairy tale good guys, and why i liked the mainland china ending of the cops capturing and implicitly executing him for his misdeeds, despite being made non-canon in the two prequel/sequels
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>>1794
>Aaand if you want vulgar, homosexual and sometimes bizarre visages look no further to Johnny To's hong kong gossip rumors, that's why i knew of him in the beginning, he's had very nasty and hilarious stories (that i guess are most fake) that fortunately are usually shadowed by his films. When i researched the asian action scene in the beginning there was always jokes about him, old IMDB forums had some of them.
I haven't heard of any nasty stories involving Johnnie To lol. Maybe the Asians are more silent when it comes to that stuff.
>still haven't tackled him as Tsui Hark and Chang Cheh have proven to be long experiences for me.
I'm not interested martial arts movies tbh; also you not being an Asian (I assume) will have harder time getting into that genre from the Chinese. They tend to use a lot of classic literature references and the dialogue could become weird/lost in translation into English. On the other hand, Hong Kong action movies (from directors like John Woo, Johnnie To, Andrew Lau etc.) are more accessible to the western audience.
>it's honestly quite cheesy as to appeal to campy asian mainstream sensibilities but still if one can pass the melodramatic nature of it at times (slow-motion death scenes with melancholic music-tier).
Haha I totally understand this, the melodrama is indeed popular in mainstream Hong Kong/Chinese movies (not what I like tbh). I like Drug War because it's gritty and void of that thing, and so are the Election movies.
>i still hate the co-protagonist's actor Andy Lau for it, such a good dastardly soulless dog-eating chink performance that i cannot see away when watching his other movies, even when he plays fairy tale good guys
I totally agree lol, he's kinda wooden and has this wide-eyed expression all the time which becomes annoying after you've watched for long. This kind of one-note acting is more on display when he plays good characters and make me hard to root for him, which comes off as a boring idealistic determined good guy. Besides the plot and dialogue, the actor's approach to portray the character is also very important to make it ring with the audience I guess.
Replies: >>1801
>>1798
>will have harder time getting into that genre from the Chinese
It was a steep curve and i bet i haven't and will not get most of the classical references, but after seeing tons of movies i can suspect what they say, the writing in kung fu stuff is VERY formulaic and the references made explicit (Monkey King, The Water Margins, Confucius singing his teachings, Taoist esoterics). It's trash and you would be in the clean for ignoring it, but it's crack for me and it's either that or porn lol. My difficulty with them is that they are so many, but in terms of Cheh's i know the reason, he was fronting for his aides and associates.
English subtitles don't help either, they are worse than the dubbing sometimes which is no small feat, still it's mostly cheap entertainment for the stunts and the classical chinese pre-surgery beauties, no wonder almost no actress made more than 10 movies, all the dudes married them and threw them right into the kitchen, the levels of mainlander rural girl trafficking must've been insane back then.

>he's kinda wooden and has this wide-eyed expression
Glad it's not only me, pretty spot-on with the wide-eyed lol, they seem to worship the fucker and i recall seeing extras working better than him. I guess it's because he did soap operas for the mainland and they respect him for that, don't wanna sound like a girl but the guy bottles even the love scenes, he kisses like a fish and it's one of the very rare instances where i notice that because any dude can munch a pretty girl out. Bet he's a To Boy.
>make me hard to root for him
Absolutely, in the first KW Wong film (with Andrew Lau camera) i remember waiting for someone to glass him but he keeps going and even does his cousin at one point, i didn't know if i had to celebrate or wait for someone else to take the helm but it was all just his show.

>Asians are more silent when it comes to that stuff.
Massively more silent but that didn't stop asian sharpshooters from photographing To french kissing a dude at a premiere private party, it was a main actor too but i don't really remember it being Simon Yam, i still have that image somewhere, never deleted it (no homo) because i don't remember seeing it mentioned and i fear the chicoms are saving the face of some people (read: scraping the internet) like they did with Jackie Chan's drugged up son or Eric Tsang fondling tig ol bitties of promo girls.

I think i need to come up with non-asian thrillers, this has more rice than a take-out, but so far anyone seeing these will have a good time.
Replies: >>1802
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>>1801
>it's crack for me and it's either that or porn
That's a pretty weird thing to get high on/jack off to, lol.
>Bet he's a To Boy
Nope, he isn't. Louis Koo is a To boy (frequent collaborator), you can watch him in Drug War and the Election movies, I like his acting.
Andy Lau is famous because he acted a lot in television (those wuxia series) and is also a singer. Asian celebrities who are popular for television work and singing tend to be not great actors, lol. 
>never deleted it (no homo)
That's very homo bro

And yeah, I want more non-Asian stuff too. Kinda bored of rice at this time.

Gibraltar (2013) is a nice thriller about a man working as an informant for the French border patrol. Its neo-noir quality is shown in the shadowy cinematography and the dark world of moral compromise and treachery. A straight up story, no annoying reference of unrelated politics or stupid casting (like Hollywood often insert to their neo-noir - gotta make some woke social commentary huh)
Please excuse the watermark.
Aside from it being cold war propaganda, Panic in Year Zero is a very entertaining thriller.
>>1689
The first time I watched it I wasn't too impressed. But after a second viewing I enjoyed it a lot more. I think if I'd of known the first time that the plot was based off a real unsolved case I would of felt better about the pacing.
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