Recently watched movies!

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

[lhb412]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dr Kain]

Godzilla - This was my first time getting to watch the Criterion BD on my new tv and it was gorgeous to view in 1080P. The blacks were so deep and detailed and it is still amazing to see how great Criterion was able to remaster it, as they even outdid Toei's job.

Godzilla vs Biollante - I love this movie, especially the final fight between Godzilla and Biollante. Biollante probably has the best effects ever in a Kaiju movie. Unfortunately, the friggin Blu-Ray had nothing coming out of the left rear speaker, so my immersion was interrupted with 10 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to figure out what the **** was going on (only to discover it is the movie missing the audio, NOT the speaker).

[lhb412]

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Just when I thought I'd got used to the low-level unpleasantness of the mo-cap CGI in this film a character would show up that was so repulsive it took me out of the film (say what you will about the Tintin film, it's the only mo-cap film that doesn't look horrible). Ironically, the characters that are grotesquely ugly (like Scrooge) circumvent the deficiencies of the technology and design and end up looking, in a sense, better.

This big budget, spectacle filled version of the Carol contains a few interesting flourishes, but just as many digressions that are out of place and/or plain wrongheaded.

[MekaGojira3k]

Watched Rise of the Guardians and I really didn't expect anything. It was actually pretty great. Easily my favorite animated film of the year. Way to go Dreamworks.

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dr Kain]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dr Kain]

[MekaGojira3k]

[lhb412]

Just watched Daimajin dubbed, so you could say I watched Majin, Monster of Terror. Fairly good dub, too. I had some quibbles, but after surviving many a horrible dub I'm appreciative of a fair one. The move is great, of course.

I dig the ambiguity over Majin and the local god. Are they two spirits in the same body? I like that idea, that the good god and the bad god inhabit the same form.

[lhb412]

Not a movie, not a TV special, but since I've been listing all of my Christmas viewing... my Blu Ray/DVD set of the Alistair Sim Christmas Carol had a neato extra: an old, live radio version of A Christmas Carol starring Lionel Barrymore and directed/narrated by Orson Welles. It was a pretty awesome blast from the past, and brought to us by Campbell's Soups (they remind us of this fact about four times during the hour long program!).

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

Watched the 1999 TV movie version of A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart. Despite some top-quality actors it's a largely dull and lifeless execution. Sure, the story (in Dickens' original and most adaptation) addresses serious social issues, but it's a mix of drama, melodrama, ghost story elements, and is very funny... but this version tries to strip it down into the straightest drama possible, and I think is weaker because of it. It's joyless, and therefore missing the point.

[Dr Kain]

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Dr Kain]

We watched the first part to something called HogFather. It is about Death having to take the role of the HogFather, who is this world's version of Santa Claus. It was actually kind of funny, but weird.

[lhb412]

^That's an adaptation of one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, which are wonderful. Have yet to see any of the TV movie/miniseries adaptations.

[Dr Kain]