Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

^Ace in the Hole is still so relevant in how tragedies are shamelessly commercialized.

Long Live the King, a documentary on King Kong, just showed up on Amazon Prime. It's mostly just talking heads (like Bob Burns, Joe Dante, Doug Jones, Dana Gould and others) talking about Kong, mostly the original film, but they hit all the subsequent Kongs (and Mighty Joe Young) as well. The Toho's Kongs are drubbed somewhat, but not very badly and folks speak up for both movies, so that's cool. Overall, it's a fun bit of fluff.

Continues watching the LW&C series with Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx and Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades. These movies are awesome, and once they figure out Daigoro is just as much the main character as Itto things really fall into place.

[jellydonut25]

I played a drinking game I had not played for many years yesterday...you watch the "300 Big Ones" episode of Futurama, and every time Fry drinks a cup of coffee and the counter shows up on screen, you take a shot. It's 7 shots in 22 minutes. Then I watched an episode of Twin Peaks and passed out.

[Dr Kain]

So I just watched the DVD for Battle in Outer Space for the first time from Sony's Toho Icons set. Good god is the quality garbage. There were A LOT of dialog tracks missing as subtitles were showing up, people's lips were moving, but there was no dialog coming up. WTF? Did Sony even quality check this disc or did they just figure it was okay since Mothra and H-Man were fine?

[lhb412]

^They're dubtitles. In the English dubbed version there's several moments where someone is speaking offscreen, providing more exposition or something, where there's no dialog in the Japanese version. No other movie in the set has that problem, thankfully.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

^No one thought. Someone just decided to go cheapskate and since the Japanese and American cuts of the film are otherwise identical (no edits and trims and whathaveyou as is almost always the case with the original US versions of these movies) they could easily overlay essentially captioned dialog from the dub over the film as the English subtitles, thus avoiding the 'trouble' of actually translating the thing.

It sucks. But the set is otherwise excellent. I enjoy the film, but if one of 'em on that set was gonna get screwed up I'm glad is wasn't Mothra or H-Man (two of my favorites).

[Dr Kain]

Agreed on Mothra. Not a fan of H-Man though. I thought it was meh. I think I was expecting it to be more like Matango and less like... well whatever it was. The only scene I felt was even remotely creepy was the flashback scene on the ship. Other than that, the movie was full of stupid people making stupid ass decisions.

Wasn't big on Battle in Outer Space either. Again, not horrible, better than that joke that was War in Space, but no where near the sophistication of The Mysterians.

[Dr Kain]

House - I have no idea what the hell I just watched. It was hilariously bad, but in a good way. I feel so bad for the cat though as it seemed like they were constantly having to throw him around to make it appear as if he was flying. Other than that, I'm not really sure how to describe it. From my understanding it was Japan's first true horror film, but I'd say it is more of a comedic horror along the lines of Evil Dead. Still, you do have to see it for yourself as it was highly entertaining. An 8/10.

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

Interesting as I read somewhere on Criterion's site that House was the first true horror film from Japan, which I did find weird considering Matango is horror.

Anyway, Lego - Just a fun and entertaining movie. It's plot is nothing original, but its execution is and the jokes are hilarious. 8/10.

[lhb412]

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable

Now a fugitive, Nami/Scorpion is befriended by a prostitute and runs afoul of some yakuza and is pursued by the cop who's arm she cut off in the neat opening credits sequence... and there's some Fanta product placement for some reason? Did the fruit flavored soda want to be associated with the depravity of this movie? Then again, I suppose Fanta has been associated with far worse.

Lacking a clarity of mission for Scorpion, this is definitely weaker than the first two films, and the shock value, which seemed thematically justified in the first two, more often just feels like shock value in this one. It's no wonder the director thought the well was running dry and made this his last Scorpion film (they made one after he left, though). Still, Meiko Kaji is great, and there are some wonderful visuals and a few great revenge scenes.

[Dr Kain]

Mothra vs Godzilla - Chuck Norris can't even take this beast down/10!

[jellydonut25]

The Elephant Man - A movie that is still resonant, perhaps even moreso in our current sociopolitical climate. One of those movies that's simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, and makes you feel a complete mixture of emotions. It makes me wish Mel Brooks had taken an interest in even more burgeoning directors and dramatic products. I know his company also helped produce Cronenberg's The Fly, but with two movies like that under its belt, it seems a shame that those are the only two notable exceptions to many comedies. Lynch brings his style and vision, but manages to keep it accessible enough for all viewers and we're all rewarded with something that is both wonderful and difficult to watch and will stick with you LONG after viewing. 5/5.

[Dr Kain]

Today is officially my last day of Summer break, so I decided to end it with a nice little Godzillathon.

Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster - Chuck Norris/10
Invasion of Astro-Monster - Chuck Norris/10
Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla - 9/10
Terror of MechaGodzilla - 9/10

[lhb412]

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril

The main plot: Itto and Daigoro are hired to kill Yuki, a swordswoman (and former street performer) who was raped by a mysterious warrior serving her same clan. She goes AWOL and kills members of the clan sent to bring her back, in hopes that eventually they'll send her nemesis out to fight her. She gets shocking full-body tattoos and disrobes when fighting in order to distract her opponents. Ogami Itto sympathies with her quest, but nevertheless takes the assassination job from one of the families of the folks Yuki has killed along the way. For a subplot, we run into the Yagyu swordsman who Itto beat out for the position of Shogun's executioner back in the day. They don't get along.

Unfortunately, Yagyu patriarch Retsudo is now played by a different actor. He does a decent job, but the original actor just gave such an otherworldly, demonic presence that it's impossible to top.

Another good one. Honestly, movies 2 through 5 of this series are pretty much golden.

[Dr Kain]

Ultraman The Next - An interesting take on the original Ultraman story. I love that he has two forms to represent the two different suits used on the show. Although, I couldn't help but feel like Ultraman merged with Lord Zedd given the red muscles beneath his silver armor. Unfortunately, the CGI is awful and the characters just aren't all that interesting to watch, especially the scientist girl who was more wooden than a forest. Still, it was entertaining and again, I liked the unique feel of it. I should watch this movie more often as I haven't watched it since I first got the DVD back in 2005. Tsuburaya's subtitles could use a little work though. They aren't bad, but they aren't great either. I'm quite vexed as to why this has never been released in the US at all before. You would think someone would have killed for the chance to bring it over when it first hit Japan. Anyway, I give it a 7/10.

[Dr Kain]

Downhill - Well, I guess even a master like Hitchcock has his **** ups. This movie was dreadful. I wasn't a big fan of his final movie The Family Plot, but my god, at least that movie had some good moments to it. This dump could cure insomnia. I can not believe this followed The Lodger as it is the exact opposite to that film. That movie featured suspense, terror, drama, comedy, and tension. This movie featured a subpar plot, events that were random nonsense because the movie needed to run for nearly two ****ing hours. I have never hated a Hitchcock film this badly before. Thank the gods his career did not go downhill due to this travesty. I give it a 2/10. No wonder if twas made as a bonus feature instead of its own release.

[lhb412]

Rosemary's Baby

Never watched this before, but it left such a mark in culture I feel like I've absorbed it beforehand, you know? That can be dangerous for a movie, but fortunetely the film's excellent performances keep it totally fresh: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, and Ruth Gordon are just terrific in this movie and they totally sell everything about it.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Just finished off Dogora. I like the movie even though it's not really a monster movie. I just wish they'd show monster(s) more in the movie.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

Love Dogora. Totally underrated movie, but one should have the expectation going in that it's another movie with a kaiju movie going on in the background.

Five Elements Ninjas

You know this Shaw Bros. movie is gonna be good when it opens with a short preface about how all the dozens of ninja weapons you're about to see (no matter how outlandish) are based on actual historical research.

In China, the Martial Arts Council is challenged to a series of matches by the underworld, and for the last match the bad guys spring a Japanese samurai on the kung fu practitioners. The samurai eventually loses, but before he commits seppuku he warns the heroes that he's totally friends with the king of ninjas and they totally be coming for revenge. The ninjas attack using the five elements formation: steel, wood, water, fire, and earth and lay waste to the Martial Arts Council. Our main hero guy remembers and old man who taught him a ninja technique years ago, and returns to his farm to learn more to defeat the ninjas!

Amazing, fantastical martial arts action - and lots of it, too. My only complaint is that so many heroes are killed that it's a bummer in places.

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

King Arthur - So people have said Guy Ritchie wants to do 6 movies for this story. Are you sure he didn't mean he filmed 6 movies and turned it into one? Because this movie felt just that. There was no rhyme or reason for anything to happen. LIke there is one scene where he is randomly bit by a snake and then is a prisoner to the king's soldiers and a giant snake appears. What?. Hell, I was lost in the first 15 minutes, especially by that horrendous montage they did in the beginning and then did again later on. None of this movie makes sense and the guy who played Arthus is so devoid of any personality. Addtionally, Arthur himself is nothing but a self centered "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" who was completely unlikable. Next up are the fight scenes which looked like they just took footage from a PS4 game and threw them into this movie. Oh, and they couldn't even get the friggin mythos correctly as Mordred is supposed to be Athur's nephew, NOT a being his father defeated when Arthur was a boy. That doesn't even make sense. The sad part is that it was still better than RE6 and Covenant, but I do not know how a movie full of talented actors could be so drivel. I'm giving it a 3/10 because the soundtrack was pretty awesome (the movie's only positive).

[canofhumdingers]

^^Arthur is Charlie Hunnam, the lead jaeger pilot (Raleigh) from Pacific Rim. I wouldn't say it was a good film, but I found it enjoyable. I particularly liked how magic and wizards and such were handled.

[Dr Kain]