Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

I guess it depends. I just loved how much of a smooth talker Bogart's version was as he always had a snyde come back for everything anyone said. Powell's version had it a little bit, but not as much.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Destroy All Monsters - I had a lot more fun watching it this time around. Everything involving the monsters is spectacular. I still take issue with the fact that KG, despite a strong showing initially, gets trounced because he is just outmatched and the characters are just kinda...there. But the matte shots, the special effects, and the the score are great. I was probably too hard on this movie in recent reviews.

Prince of Darkness (1987) - So this was a weird experience. I watched this for an upcoming podcast at the request of a friend. The Thing is quite possibly my favorite movie, so seeing Carpenter in action here was interesting. It features a lot of the cast from Big Trouble in Little China, a supernatural bent, and a ton of pseudo-Christian references. The ending is brilliant, and honestly makes the movie a lot more than just a horror flick invoking another take on satan.

[Dr Kain]

Prince of Darkness is weird, but in a good way. I also love to make fun of its 15 minute opening credit sequence.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Ha, yeah...at least there are things happening during the credits.

[jellydonut25]

Prince of Darkness rules. As does In the Mouth of Madness. I like every Carpenter film up until Ghosts of Mars.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Dogora - I actually liked this quite a bit. The kaiju kinda sucked. The SPFX were hit and miss, but the cast were really enjoyable. Robert Dunham was great (ok, I can't speak Japanese, so maybe he wasn't, but it was awesome to see him in something besides Megalon and he just seemed like a ton of fun).

[lhb412]

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengence

In the rapidly modernizing and westernizing Japan of the early 20th century Lady Snowblood is arrested and then broke out by the secret police on the condition that she spy on a dissident, but she quickly shifts her allegiance against her government handlers. Not enough 'oomph' to this sequel, with too little action from Snowblood.

Shin Kishida plays the bad guy, fulfilling his obligation to be in every Japanese film in the '70s.

[Rody]

I just had my first taste of The Three Musketeers with the 1973 adaptation starring Michael York, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee and several other big names. Since I have little to no knowledge of the story, I must judge the film entirely on its own merits, and oh my was this movie funny. I expected plenty of action and adventure, but I wasn't expecting D'Artigan, Porthos, Aramis and Athos to be as rascally as they were. Forget noble swordsmen: these fellows fight however they want with whatever is handy, and it's delightful to watch. The film has no qualms presenting the world of old France in a snarky and sleazy manner, and the heroes are constantly stumbling into trouble and dancing their way out. I definitely need to see the sequel, The Four Musketeers, soon. And read the book.
Grade: B+.

I also saw The Blues Brothers for the first time recently; it was funny, but not as much as I expected. I love the chaos that Dan Akroyd and John Belushi leave in their wake (oh, those poor, poor cop cars), but it's mostly focused into a couple of big scenes, and I was a bit put off by how lousy the brothers are as characers - I mean, they're kind of jerks. Not very loveable jerks.
It's a good movie, but maybe not quite my type.
Grade: B-.

[lhb412]

Rebirth of Mothra III

... yeah, what's more of a drag than having to endure something you should enjoy?

It's the epic trilogy-ending showdown between Mothra and King Ghidorah and it is kinda dull. Some people wander around in a forest, sometimes in a dome, while stiff marionettes fire laser beams at each other causing minor sparks... and there are toy dinosaurs.

It's sad to think that Gamera 3 came out a few months after this. Heck, Ultraman Gaia was airing at this time and despite that show's ambition often outstripping its budget it's effects were always handled with more aplomb then anything in this movie. At the very least they get the got the idea of what was happening across! The effects here don't just fail as effects; they fail as storytelling. There's no drama or suspense or excitement of any kind in these special effects scenes. That's not a budget or money thing, it's a failure of creativity, because even the crudest effect can be interesting.

*sigh*

I liked Belvera's costume, though.

[Dr Kain]

I actualy do like the costumes for all three of the sisters this time, but yeah, this movie is awful. That scene with the CGI tentacles is just... well, I wish there was a barf emoticon on this site.

Anyway,

Char's Counterattack - So this was my first time watching this movie since seeing Zeta and ZZ. In fact, I watched this one back in 2010 before I even saw either of those series for the first time. I've always had mixed feelings about this movie, which came even moreso after seeing Zeta because why would Char go from Earth defender to genocidal douche who wants to kill everyone? Well, now that I have the series fresh in my mind I came to realize why during the movie, which deals with the way the Federation were treating the event of Dublin from ZZ. I think it is that moment that made Char become the man he is in this movie. Holy crap, now it all makes sense to me.

So does that change my opinion of the movie? Well yes and no. I'm still mixed on it as the movie runs 30 minutes longer than it needed to be. Quess is by far one of the worst Gundam characters ever (probably second to Flay from SEED) and every scene that deals with her is a poorly contived mess. I have no idea what her purpose was to this or why Tomino felt the need to add this little ****, but if you remove every scene of her from the movie, you would have a really tight 90 minute adventure. Of course, there is another issue, the ending, or the lack thereof. God does it suck. It just stops as if Tomino forgot to write the last 2 pages of the script and Sunrise didn't bother saying anything to him.

There is another issue with the movie, but that isn't the movie's fault, it is Bandai's Their translation is utter dogpoop. I hope to the gods that Rightstuf uses an accurate script that also remembers proper grammar and doesn't decide to call "the Titans" by their proper name instead of "The Haman" like their subs say. Oh, and "I won't let closer to the thrusters," makes no sense whatsoever. So here's hoping Rightstuf has proper subs to go with their remastered video.

Anyway, I do think the music is great, the mech designs are great, and the scene when Char makes his big speech (despites its poor translation) is stellar. None of the new characters are all that memorable though and were really there just to die, which was annoying. Chan was such a T's. Nevertheless, I'm going to give the movie a 7/10 because when it is great, it is really great and it is a nice finale to the Amuro/Char story (kind of).

Well, I can now finally watch Unicorn, YES!!!!!!

[lhb412]

^Wow. I guess Right Stuf is really booking it through the entire Gundam library, huh?

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

The Conjuring 2 - What is this? A second good horror movie in the same year? That is unheard of in this day and age, and yet, it happened!! This movie is great because it knows what it was to be, but it also wants to give us a delightful cast of characters that are well written and likable. There is not a single character to be hated here as every one of them brings their own perception of the situtation with justified reasons for it. The girl that is being haunted, or at least claims to be, does a phenomenal job of carrying the movie, which is great seeing as the whole thing would have fallen apart if she hadn't. The Warrens continue to drive the story and are some of the best characters out of any horror franchise. There isn't one worthless jump scare to be had as the movie will build up the suspense first and make you think about the scare that is going to happen before actually doing it, which is how it should be. At the same time, the movie does a fine job of pulling on the other end of the spectrum as to whether or not the whole thing may be a hoax and everything we see is just from the imagination of the main kid. Overall, this movie sits right along the side of The Witch from earlier this year as they both are some of the best movies of the year and know what it means to be a horror movie. I give The Conjuring 2 an 8/10.

[hanshotfirst1138]

The Book of Eli- Though nominally a commentary on the power of religion and faith, this Joel Silver-produced action flick has much simpler interests. It simply want to be an enjoyable Mad Max knockoff with some post-apocalyptic action and opportunities for actors to chew the burnt-out scenery. And there's certainly nothing dishonorable about being an enjoyable Mad Max knockoff. Gary Oldman had fun hamming it up as the baddie, the production design is cool, and Denzel Washington is surprisingly soulful as the protagonist. Ace Fight choreographer Jeff Imada stages some cool brawls as well. Nothing life-changing, but hey, who says it has to be? It's fun.

[Dr Kain]

I quite enjoyed Book of Eli, but it isn't a movie I ever need to see again.

[lhb412]

The Haunting (1963)

"No one will come any nearer than that…in the night…in the dark"

I watched this film into the wee hours last night and I ended up having a nightmare - not about ghosts, but about being in a group and fearing my being there was a mistake and I was useless. Did I emphasize with Julie Harris more than I feared the ghosts? Maybe.

[Dr Kain]

Gods of Egyt - Holy ****, there is more white washing in this movie than the day after a Klan gettogether. I thought it was only Osiris, Set and Horus that were whitewashed, not pretty much the entire cast. No wonder everyone was upset as even the main human character was whiter than sourcream. Moving past that, this movie was terrible. The dialog was so stilted and unnatural sounding that it is hard to believe that the actors in this movie are mostly top notch ones. What the hell happened? Also, the green screen was on par to what I could do with one just using Sony Vegas, so what is their excuse? The story was a mess and it felt like they cut more than an hour out of the movie that would have actually had some plot development and character moments. There were a few moments I did enjoy like when the boy yells at Thoth in front of his clones and Thoth responds with something like, "Do you think I am that egotistical?" and all of his clones start looking at each other and the fire breathing cobras were kind of cool. Other than that though, this movie sucks. It isn't the worst movie of the year, but it is definitely going to be in my top 10. Overall, this movie felt like it was trying to copy Clash of the Titans without even putting in the stuff that made CotT entertaining. As such, I give it a 5/10.

[O.Supreme]

Airplane! & Airplane II The Sequel -Saw these were on Amazon Prime. Despite these two being among of my favorite comedies of all time, I have somehow avoided adding them to my multimedia library, still these have some of the best one-liners ever, I cant believe how much of the film makes its way into my everyday vocabulary, I've heard a lot of people say the 2nd film is far inferior, but honestly I think it is a very worthy sequel that has stood the test of time...Its just to bad they never made Airplane III...but then again as Shatner said..."That's just what they'll be expecting us to do"

[jellydonut25]

I don't know if I've ever given Airplane II a truly fair chance, but it strikes me as being fairly inferior, especially when other GREAT comedies in that vein (and from the same time period) are out there like Top Secret and Naked Gun and various Mel Brooks movies...



I've been spending my time not watching anything really new to me, just movies I love. I've been spending SO much time watching new (to me) stuff, it's been burning me out, because I'm usually like "That was fine." "That was okay." "That was good, I guess." Nothing has been exciting me.

So, I've watched stuff like:
Moon (I think I may have mentioned it already in here recently, but hot-damn this movie is AMAZING)
The Grey - I have some beefs, but overall it's a helluva ride
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - I know a lot of people in here like this, but overall, I feel like this is a fairly underrated, overlooked movie. It's great sci-fi, and honestly, I just kinda wonder what happened to Jim Carrey. I mean, sure, comedy isn't typically the most prestigious thing, and there's certainly a LOT of room for personal taste to come into play, but his early comedies were generally GREAT, or at least fun and original. Then he even proved he could act for real in stuff like Truman Show, Man on the Moon, The Majestic and this...and then all of a sudden, he was doing stuff like Yes Man, which is just a rehash of Liar Liar, or Dumb and Dumber To, which is just a shameless cash-in, or The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which is just an affront to God. Seriously, is it all Jenny McCarthy's fault? They met around the time his career turned to complete garbage.

The Guest - I love this movie. There are definitely some things that don't hold up to scrutiny, but it's SUCH an inventive, fun, wild ride, and such a great blend of genres, that I can forgive its flaws and enjoy the ride.

Gattaca - okay...this one actually WAS new to me, but it's more good scifi. An interesting concept, with good actors and good acting all around, and some good messages/symbolism. Cool stuff.

[lhb412]

^I need to get the Blu-Ray for Moon. Loved it in the theater.

Rashomon

Appropriately, the movie seems a bit different every time I watch it. I like how the stories all contradict themselves, but all have odd bits that turn out to apparently be true - but if you tried to put together a single story from the apparently true bits you'd probably get a story that contradicts itself!

[lhb412]

The Jungle Book (2016)

Despite the most advanced technology being used to create this film it is resolutely a great old fashioned adventure/family film that could play to an audience back in the '50s when Disney first started making these kinds of films.

A very cleverly done fusion of Disney's original film and Kipling; my only complaint is they went with the villainous Kaa from the cartoon instead of the wise, albeit deadly and mysterious, mentor of Mowgli from the book. I think some said Walken's mafioso-esque King Louie was 'too much,' but I really got a kick out of him - and he was a giant monster!

[jellydonut25]

10 Cloverfield Lane - Jesus that ending really torpedoes it. And it's not even the WHOLE ending...the "twist" (that you're more or less expecting anyway because they named the movie "Cloverfield" and thus set a certain expectation about whether it winds up being a sci-fi movie or not) is actually fine; it's the need to turn it into an action sequence that feels like it comes out of a different, MUCH stupider movie. 3/5.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Jaws 2- Got the Blu-ray in yesterday and decided to watch it tonight. The film is alright easily the best of the sequels. The BD as a whole is really nice Jaws 2 looks REALLY good on BD. I wasn't expecting the film to look good but it does. All the extras from the DVD are ported over in SD and not HD which isn't a huge deal.

[lhb412]

Godzilla Final Wars


Kitamura was offered the job to make the 50th anniversary Godzilla movie, but he already had a script for a movie about guys fighting on motorcycles...