Recently watched movies!

[DannyBeane]

I did it. I pre-orderee Sampo!

[lhb412]

During that especially rough first pandemic year of 2020 I got a bunch of new box sets and those movies (along with plenty of Ultraman) were my buddies.

Started off with Criterion's set of movies by Czechoslovakian filmaker/animator/effects artist Karel Zeman. Was happy to finally see Journey to the Beginning of Time, one of the all-time great dinosaur movies and totally unlike any American take on the genre, and was totally gobsmacked by Invention For Destruction, perhaps the best film as vehicle for special effects in history. In this Jules Verne adaptation styled like old book illustrations it is often impossible to tell where flat animation, miniatures, and live action elements begin and end. Astounding.

The Shinya Tsukamoto set from Arrow came next and this was such a revelation. Had loved Tetsuo for a few years. Was amazing to fill out my understanding of his broader career. I like... pretty much every film I've seen. A Snake of June, Bullet Ballet, Vital, and Gemini have all become favorites. I admire not just the films, but the way he operates outside the major studios and creates personal projects that are so unique. Also, I very much enjoy his earlier film Hiruko The Goblin, which points to an alternate version of his career where he became a more mainstream horror director in the vein of Sam Rami and Joe Dante. He would've thrived on that path as well!

Then Criterion released their Bruce Lee set and I rewatched his cycle of films. Gotta say, Fists of Fury has become my favorite Bruce. Didn't used to rank it such. Spent like a month just watching Arrow's Gamera set, so much stuff there (must've watched the trilogy 3 times apiece!). Then I bought a set with all the Mission: Impossible movies, which I hadn't seen except for the most recent installment which I had loved in the theater. Really dug these, especially Rogue Nation and the aforementioned Fallout.

In early 2021 I decided to fill out my Hammer Films Blu-ray collection. A lot of rewatches here, but I had never seen Plague of the Zombies before. Post vaccination, my first trip back to the theater was seeing Godzilla vs. Kong and the re-release of Scott Pilgrim on the same day! From then on, I resumed watching a lot of new movies. I decided to watch all of the Fast and Furious films before the latest installment came out. Had never seen any of these before, and I hold Fast Five and Tokyo Drift up as the best.

Did anyone else love Matrix Resurrections? I thought it was hilarious and sweet, and quite scary (it certainly more pointedly dissects our relationship to the internet now -the new Matrix is like being stuck in Instagram!). It retroactively made me like the entire series more. 2 and 3 had interesting ideas, but didn't entirely work for me. First one is a perfect movie, of course - oh, and I saw the original Matrix on theaters around the same time!.

Top movies of 2021? Malignant ("It's time to cut out the cancer!") and Titane.

For the last half year I've just been really getting into Hong Kong kung fu movies. Several different boutique labels have been releasing mostly Shaw Brothers titles, but now they're even getting into other studio libraries. I've got so many pre-orders going I ain't sure what I've bought! Executioners from Shaolin, Legendary Weapons of China, Five Shaolin Masters, and Crippled Avengers have been my favorites and I can't wait to see as many more of these movies as I can!

Top movies of 2022, so far: Crimes of the Future (for a supposedly disgusting body horror showcase this sure was sweet and funny) and Petite Maman (which I think is technically a 2021 release, but didn't play in my area until this spring). It's just been a great year for movies; going to the theater in 2022 I've seen Licorice Pizza, The Worst Person in the World, RRR, Everything Everywhere All at Once, a few others and (not to mention) my two aforementioned favorites. Need to see Top Gun and Elvis, and Nope opens this weekend!

[lhb412]

... oh, forgot my fav movie of 2020: the incredible '50s set UFO movie The Vast of Night. Super-low budget, but high on creativity and skill. It cost less than a million but there's a sequence that made me think "surely this one shot cost over a million?" Talent, man. You have talent and a little time you can do miracles.

This incredible film was dumped on Amazon Prime with little press. I hope we'll get a physical release someday!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ I'd never heard of those Czechoslovakian SFX movies before but now I'm interested. Unfortunately they aren't among the Criterion titles that are currently available to stream on HBO Max.

The martial arts film genre is one that I've never delved into very much. Its vastness seems to rival the tokusatsu genre. My favorite martial arts film that I've seen is Drunken Master (1978) with Jackie Chan.

Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious are both film series for which I haven't seen past their respective second entries from around 20 years ago. I'd like to catch up on them eventually. I haven't seen The Matrix Resurrections, nor do I intend to. The original film is a sci-fi masterpiece, and while the second and third flicks are certainly inferior, they were an indelible part of my teenage years and I could never hate them. A fourth Matrix movie is not something I have ever wanted, and the new Matrix being like Instagram sounds like torture.

The last movie I saw in a theater was Birds of Prey back in February 2020. My lady and I are both vaccinated and boosted against covid but she is immunocompromised so I'm just not taking the chance, although there isn't even a theater operating in this town anymore.

Malignant is awesome! Spoiler alert for the following observation but I love how it's basically a horror movie rendition of what Dr. Venture goes through during the first season of The Venture Bros.

Guns Akimbo is a memorable movie that I watched in 2020 on Prime Video. It's the second feature from New Zealand director Jason Lei Howden, who previously helmed the 2015 death-metal horror comedy Deathgasm. That movie wasn't very good but Guns Akimbo lives up to its premise. It takes place in a near-future in which a criminal organization called Skizm sets up elaborate deathmatches between people and then livestreams the action over the web to depraved viewers. Daniel Radcliffe plays a programmer named Miles who spends his time on the internet "trolling the trolls" only to become a target of Skizm. The next thing he knows, he's got a pair of guns bolted into both of his hands and he's in the midst of a game against the current deathmatch champion, Nix (Samara Weaving, Ready or Not). Guns Akimbo is an over-the-top, chaotic, bullet-filled action movie and it's a little sloppy but it delivers.

Tenet is another mind-blowing film from Christopher Nolan. It's a really fresh take on the concept of time travel which makes for a very tense movie with riveting action sequences. The cast is stellar and it's one of those movies that benefits from knowing as little as possible going in, although I was pleased to find that the trailer didn't spoil things.

The Suicide Squad (2021) is terrific! James Gunn actually made a great sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) and it is absolutely a sequel. Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman returns as Rick Flag, and Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn. The story here is compelling and ambitious, with top-rate action and a strong ensemble cast. This movie was totally worth waiting a few extra years for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

I'm pretty behind on Marvel movies right now. I've seen Black Widow and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and I just watched Spider-Man: No Way Home earlier this month, but I haven't yet seen Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, or Thor: Love & Thunder. Of Marvel's limited series on Disney+, I've seen all of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…?, and Hawkeye but I haven't yet started Moon Knight or Ms. Marvel. I'm even further behind on DC Comics adaptations. I still haven't seen Aquaman, Shazam, Joker, Wonder Woman 1984, The Batman, either cut of Justice League, or the HBO Max series Peacemaker.

In general I'm just way behind on new movies. That's always been the case for me every year but even moreso since the pandemic hit. Maybe I've been hitting the Japanese sci-fi TV shows a little too hard.

[lhb412]

[quote="Benjamin Haines"]I haven't seen The Matrix Resurrections, nor do I intend to. The original film is a sci-fi masterpiece, and while the second and third flicks are certainly inferior, they were an indelible part of my teenage years and I could never hate them. A fourth Matrix movie is not something I have ever wanted, and the new Matrix being like Instagram sounds like torture.[/quote]

I forgot to mention: Resurrections is also a bit of a parody of The Matrix. It's in the Gremlins 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 school of sequels. I love it, but I can see how (as with those two) alot of folks just wouldn't be down with this direction - it's not even much of a martial arts movie! It's got more romance and satire elements than kung fu, so naturally many were a bit miffed by it.

[quote]The martial arts film genre is one that I've never delved into very much. Its vastness seems to rival the tokusatsu genre. [/quote]

It's even more so. It's so vast it's difficult to grasp the scope of the genre.

[lhb412]

Man, really let my pile of unwatched blu-rays stack up to ungodly proportions. I vow to get through the pile before Christmas (when I start a new pile)!

Had covid a few weeks ago. Watched the first two Once Upon a Time in China movies twice each during this time. I really dug 'em.

Anyway, Nope was good. Three Thousand Years of Longing was good. Great year for movies.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Glad you recovered from it.

Yesterday I watched Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) for the first time in about 25 years via the Shout Factory BRD. Unlike Saban's Power Rangers TV shows, this movie consists entirely of original footage and no stock footage from any of Toei's Sentai series, although they did still use their own versions of various suits and mechs from Zyuranger, Dairanger and Kakuranger. I never realized just how terrible the dialogue in this movie is, with endless corny one-liners straight out of a mid-'90s schoolyard. It also has a lot of extremely rudimentary CGI, probably the worst ever put to film. It really takes me back.

[lhb412]

Production on that original PR movie was a nightmare. It would've been interesting if the original plan of having Steve Wang (Guyver 2, Drive, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight) make it had panned out.

[quote="Benjamin Haines"]^ Glad you recovered from it.[/quote]

Thanks!

Saw the new Dragon Ball movie. It's essentially a Piccolo solo vehicle, so naturally I liked it.

[lhb412]

Saw Barbarian. Great horror movie in an already great year for horror!

[Benjamin Haines]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - Freaking awesome! One of Marvel's freshest movies in style and content. Simu Liu and Awkwafina carry the film with a down-to-Earth, relatable vibe and the whole cast is fantastic. The action and music are top-notch.

[DannyBeane]

For Halloween this year I did 31 days of Classic Universal Horror. It was a fantastic experience watching films be early sound stories of classic Gothic horror evolve into campy monster on the lose films of the 40s and 50s. Watching them all back to back with some of Universal's lesser known films allow you to really watch a studio evolve over 20 years.

[lhb412]

Watched a pitiful amount of horror this season: just The Thing (Carpenter's), Mad Love, Cat People (original), Burn Witch Burn, and Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.

Did have a great Halloween, though. Hit several awesome home haunts around town.

[Benjamin Haines]

I've seen a trio of excellent horror movies in recent weeks.

Antlers (2021) - A slow-burn creature feature produced by Guillermo del Toro, led by strong performances from Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons and child actor Jeremy Thomas.

Prey (2022) - Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), this prequel to Predator takes place in 1719 and stars Amber Midthunder as a Comanche woman who finds herself going toe to toe with the ultimate hunter. I was born between the releases of the original Predator and its direct sequel, and this seventh entry is the most satisfying Predator movie that's come out in my lifetime. Prey is exactly what this franchise needed.

Last Night in Soho (2021) - Edgar Wright's latest film, which blends psychological horror with an old-fashioned ghost story very creatively. It's as captivating as Wright's prior movies and his directorial skill has only sharpened. Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy and the entire supporting cast are terrific.

[lhb412]

^ Need to see Prey, and need to rewatch Soho!

Been watching all the Once Upon a Time in China movies over the past few months, an entry here and there. Kind of a case of diminishing returns after the first two (which are excellent), but they're all worth watching because there's always some incredible setpiece and the characters (despite frequent recasting) are so likeable. Those first two, though? Unimpeachably awesome. Iconic martial arts/historical fiction/comedy of manners epics. The first fight with the umbrella? The ladder fight? The cult adding horror elements to Part II? Donnie Yen as Jet Li's opponent?! Must sees.

Also watched the iconic 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, a late period film for both the Shaw Brothers studio and for director Lau Kar Leung (who never worked as consistently when the studio stopped making movies). It's also the last movie for Fu Sheng (who died during production) which lends to the somber tone of already somber mytho-historic subject matter involving a family of patriotic warriors who are double crossed, all but wiped out, and must seek revenge. Leung invented the kung fu comedy, but there's none of that levity here. There are truly excellent displays of kung fu, including a jaw dropping (and jaw breaking) finale that the film is most famous for. The special features on this disc are fantastic because they elucidate the deep well of history and religious tradition that the film draws on, and would certainly go over my head otherwise!

Also: Ifukube's Majin music is used for a scene at a temple where a golden Buddha ironically looming overhead, Majin-like.

I somehow have not watched Guillermo's Pinocchio yet. Maybe I'll save it for my long Christmas weekend.

[lhb412]

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was great, but I couldn't help but feel cheated I couldn't see all those gorgeous practical effects on the big screen. A few times during the film I got up from my chair and real close to the TV just to soak up those details.

The new Avatar was an incredible big screen experience. The family dynamic really clicked with me, making for what I feel is a superior sequel. Those three and a half hours just fly by, too!

Samurai Reincarnation feels like if you took a prestige samurai movie and smashed it into all the weirdest bits from John Milius's Conan the Barbarian. Man, Sonny Chiba looks cool in this. As far as mytho-historic samurai go, I think I prefer Jubei Yagyu to Miyamoto Musashi. Jubei has one foot in the establishment and one as this kind of weird outsider, so he's a much more modern feeling character.

Have you ever wondered, while watching Temple of Doom, how cool it would be if there was a kung fu movie set in the Temple of Doom and all the prisoners were Shaolin acolytes? Great news; this movie exists and it's called Burning Paradise. Wild movie.

[Benjamin Haines]

I haven't seen Avatar: The Way of Water yet but it's pretty incredible that James Cameron could take 13 years to release this sequel, during which time big-budget tentpole movies have become even more prevalent and CGI characters & environments have become far more typical to see. And yet, in less than a month, this 13-years-later sequel to Avatar has already topped all but three Marvel movies and all but one Star Wars movie in global theatrical business with $1.7 billion and counting, already putting it at #7 all-time worldwide. Cameron clearly knows what people want to see.

[lhb412]

Cameron's just... he's got the juice. He's got this laser focused instinct about how to make every human being on Earth like (or at least enjoy) the things he loves.

[Benjamin Haines]

Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (2022) - The first of the straight-to-video movies that Adult Swim is producing for three of their cancelled animated series is this new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Written and directed by series co-creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro with Willis, Carey Means and Dana Snyder reprising their voice roles, this movie doesn't miss a beat in recapturing the show's inane spirit. It's funny as hell and the animation quality is up a modest notch.

Bring on the Metalocalypse and Venture Bros. movies later this year!

[lhb412]

^ Glad these are happening! I haven't even seen the last season of Venture Bros., so I should get on that.

Since my last post I've seen Shin Ultraman (twice!), Skinamarink, and M3gan in theaters and watched dozens of classic HK martial arts flicks and Japanese Sonny Chiba flicks as I make my way through my massive backlog of films I've recently bought or got as Christmas gifts. I'm just now diving in to my Shawscope vol. 2 set, which is shaping up to be even stronger than the first volume.

... and today I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in its theatrical re-release! Fantastic to see a classic martial arts film on the big screen after only recently becoming savvy with the genre! I only vaguely remembered it from seeing it at age 12 all those year ago! Great movie.

[lhb412]

Watched two films by Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics. János Vitéz is based on this classic Hungarian epic poem and looks similar in style to Yellow Submarine but occasionally becomes far more experimental and stylized, with characters morphing into bold, simple shapes and no character outlines - just blocks of color (ala Samurai Jack decades later). Jankovics' followup, Son of the White Mare, goes entirely into this bold, stylistic manner to tell a folktale about a mythic hero who saves three princesses from three dragons. The visuals often morph in ways that depict the subtext or themes.

It's incredible. Everyone should catch this unforgettable film. The three dragons alone are... I don't want to even describe them so a potential viewer can be surprised!

[lhb412]

How to describe Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1? Ethan Hunt hates A.I., loves his friends, and he will hunt down and kill God with his bare hands.

Practical effects heads should check out Asteroid City. It's a showcase for miniatures and even has a bit of stop motion.

[Benjamin Haines]

The Blue Pearl (1951) - The first narrative film directed by Ishiro Honda. This is often described as being shot in a semi-documentary style, given that Honda previously directed documentaries, but this film is really no more of a documentary than the original Godzilla. It's shot in Honda style. He did film real ama divers for the underwater diving scenes but those divers are still playing characters in this film's fictional story. It isn't a documentary at all but it is a good movie.

A young man named Nishida (Ryo Ikebe) moves from Tokyo to a small town on the coast, where commodities are scarce and all of the women work as ama divers. Nishida is there to work as both the town schoolteacher and a lighthouse attendant. Noe is the town's top diver whose hauls are the biggest driver of the local economy. Noe falls in love with Nishida, turning her back on her arranged marriage to a local man, but her elders don't approve, the townspeople won't stop gossiping, and another woman named Riu who just returned to town after leaving it for Tokyo now threatens to come between Noe and Nishida.

This is a movie that depicts the social upheaval that postwar Japan went through, which are themes that are relatable worldwide. Honda explores how small, labor-driven towns and villages that depend on young adults to maintain their economies are affected when young people grow up and move away to big cities. Noe is the central character of the story and her dilemma is multifaceted. She knows how much the town depends on her work but she also knows that no one approves of her falling in love with an outsider. She's carrying the town on her shoulders just as much as she's trying to respect her elders, and she's very sensitive to the judgment of her peers, but she's also in love. This is a very human story. Takashi Shimura plays the lighthouse keeper, and Sachio Sakai also plays a lighthouse attendant.


Clerks III (2022) - The long-awaited capstone to the View Askewniverse film series. I've been a fan of Kevin Smith's movies since high school, when Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back aired uncensored late at night on Comedy Central. I sought out his earlier flicks (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma) after that, and then Clerks II was released in the summer before my senior year.

The original Clerks (1994) chronicled a day in the lives of two convenience store clerks in their early twenties. It was shot in black-and-white and produced completely independently on a $27k budget. Clerks II (2006) caught up with Dante and Randal in their mid thirties, when the convenience store burns down and they must switch to working at a Mooby's fast food restaurant. That sequel was the creative peak of Smith's films, a fittingly poignant rumination on aging and finding one's place in the world. For a long time it seemed like that was going to remain the end of the View Askewniverse. Smith started talking about really trying to make a Clerks III as far back as 2013 but it seemed like it would never happen. Smith went on to try to make Mallrats 2, first as a movie and then as a TV series, but he ultimately got to make Jay & Silent Bob Reboot (2019) as a different kind of legacy sequel. That came after Smith had a near-fatal heart attack in 2018.

Now, after all these years, here it finally is: Clerks III. After Randal has a near-fatal heart attack, he realizes that he needs to do something more with his life and he recruits Dante, Elias, Jay and Silent Bob to help him make a movie based on his own life working at the Quick Stop convenience store. This is not the Clerks III that would have existed if Smith had made it years ago. This movie is a comedy, no doubt, but it is dark and intense.

While I still think Clerks II is Smith's best film overall, Clerks III is really good. To be honest, I'm surprised that it's as good as it is. I certainly enjoyed Jay & Silent Bob Reboot as a longtime fan but it hewed closely to the structure of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, it leaned on callbacks for a lot of its jokes and it was downright meta about everything, none of which inspired hope that Clerks III would amount to more than that. Plus, in the time between when I missed this in theaters last fall and when I bought the blu-ray disc months ago, I accidentally learned of a plot detail that gave me great pause, and I've put off watching this until now because I was worried that I would be disappointed. Now that I've seen it, I was wrong to be worried. Smith knew exactly what he was doing here and he pulled it off wonderfully. There are plenty of callbacks and more than a few meta jokes, yes, but it's all in service of a very meaningful story. This movie reflects Smith's own very personal near-death experience and takes a hard look at what it means to have more time.

[lhb412]

^ Man, it sure would be great if one of the many boutique labels put out a non-genre Honda set one day. I suppose it would depend on Toho becoming easier to deal with in regards to their catalog... yeah, well, we can pray!

Anyway, Oppenheimer was fantastic. Haven't seen Barbie. Haven't seen the new TMNT.

I have been watching many classic Shaw Brothers martial arts films because boutique home video labels keep releasing them. The latest set from Shout Factory Is comprised of very early films from the martial arts movie cycle, specifically the mid to late 60s era when they were still wuxia, or classical style swordplay films and not yet open hand kung fu movies. The choreography is much more rudimentary, and the plots are nowhere near as bouncy and fun as they would become, but they are more sumptuously produced, with tons of location shooting and lots of costumes and extras. In the '70s it was the choreography, stuntwork, and demonstrations of skill that sold these films, but in the '60s it feels like the opulence of Shaw Brothers Productions (in comparison with their competitors) got butts in seats! They also have an obvious Japanese influence, with certain Japanese crewmen being brought to Hong Kong to lend the fledgling industry more of that high production sheen. They kinda feel like Daiei chanbara films, and whatdoyaknow; Shaw was the HK distributor of the Zatoichi movies!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Is Toho difficult to work with for all of their catalog? I've been under the impression that it's mostly the Godzilla franchise that they're so uptight about. Arrow Video did previously license the Dracula trilogy from Toho without any issues that I know of.

As cool as it would be if Criterion were to release the Heisei and Millennium Godzilla flicks, my dream of a follow-up to their Showa Godzilla set would be a pair of Ishiro Honda collections, one with all of his non-Godzilla fantasy films and the other with all of his non-fantasy films.

[lhb412]

^ Apparently Toho is a bit of a chore to license from in any situation, which is a bummer. Toei and Kadokawa seem to have really opened their floodgates to US labels recently.