Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

^Hmmmm... I do love The Thin Man and, hey! The Fat Man is directed by William Castle!

[Hybrid Gojira]

Gamera 2 -

Kaneko and Higuchi make such a great team. The visuals are sometimes a little uneven - in a few instances the monsters are moving faster than they should - but overall this movie has incredible SPFX. The low camera angles and the way the monsters are filmed as the destroy the city or fight each other provide a sense of realism and scale that is sorely lacking from many of the late Godzilla films. The characters aren't quite as strong as in GOTU, but the story is excellet and Legion is enough to carry the movie. She's such an amazing creation. Gamera's redesign is also my favorite of the entire Gamera series.

So yeah....this movie is awesome.

[lhb412]

^I love the characters in G2. I think it's amazing how they basically give the characters no on-camera backstory, no dialog or character beats to themselves that's not part of them doing their jobs investigating and/or fighting the monsters - but the characters seems so real and lived in. It's like they came up with a huge amount of material on each character, relied on it deeply in the writing and performance but didn't actually say any of it in the movie.

[Dr Kain]

From Russia with Love - This is my favorite James Bond movie, and it is easily one of the best movies in the entire franchise, if not the best. The music and action are great. It has excellent pacing and acting. Robert Shaw is just incredible as Grant. Plus, a portion of the movie takes place on a train, which also makes it amazing. I give it a 9/10 stars.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[klen7]

Finally got around to Grand Budapest Hotel...

Overall I like Wes Anderson films (with a big exception being Darjeeling Limited) but this falls towards the bottom of the list as well. I found the cinematography frustrating.. there was a lot great locations and beautiful sets but setting 85% of the film in a 1.33:1 ratio, leaving the frame repeatedly cramped and completely undermining what could have been some of the best cinematography of the year.





I also found the creative decision to make up fake country names, political parties, diseases, etc more distracting than world building...

There is a good film in there, but overall i feel like i sat through a failed art student experiment.

[lhb412]

^I need to see that film. Doesn't Wes use a lot of stop motion in it?

[klen7]

There is some. and it is wonderful, but it's in the same weird aspect ratio

[canofhumdingers]

I'm curious, on home video when it switches ratios, does it completely window box the academy stuff so that the vertical ratio never changes, just the horizontal? (This is how I'm assuming it would have been in the theater, but it wouldn't be window boxed since they would matte the screen to a scope ratio if it wasn't naturally so). Or does it switch from letterbox to full frame (as in, full vertical resolution with sidebars)? This is how I would think they would do the home video so as to ensure the maximum use of a 16x9 screen real estate, but I would think it would also be more distracting having the size of the image changing both horizontally and vertically, instead of JUST horizontally like I suspect it did in theaters.

[Dr Kain]

One of the things I love about Hotel is its ever changing aspect ratio based on what part the story is taking place during. I've never seen an Anderson movie before this one, but if you think this is his weakest, the man must be a god because this was absolutely amazing. Easily the best movie of 2014.

[klen7]

[Dr Kain]

Hitchcock - After finally seeing a ton of Hitchcock movies I figured it was time to finally check this one out. It was quite good. Anthony Hopkins seemed dead on as Hitchcock and I was surprised to not see him do any of his normal Anthony Hopkins quirks (such as saying "Yeeesssssssss"). In fact, except for Johanssen, I felt everyone was wonderful in their roles while she felt miscast. I do not know who I would have had play Leigh instead, so there might not have been a better choice, but something still felt off with her. Overall, I give the movie a nice 8/10 stars.

[lhb412]

Kiki's Delivery Service

Funny how movies change depending on when you watch them. This time I really empathized with Kiki's loss of confidence and resulting inability to use her talent.

Never noticed it before: Kiki continues to use the old man's push-broom to fly some time after the events of the story, as proven by the end credits montage.

[XvGojira]

[lhb412]

The Host

Hey, you got got a family-focused dramedy in my monster movie!

... oh, you got a very cynical examination observation on government and class in there, too!

Oh, no wait. These tastes go good together. Sorry to trouble everybody.

[jellydonut25]

American Horror Story continues to blitz through things. I think I just don't like the pacing of this show.

[klen7]

Since January 2015 is the 25th anniversary of Tremors, i have been rewatching the movies... i have the 4 film pack (with flipper discs!) and just finished the second film. The practical effects look great... the cgi looks dated. i do think there are some obvious signs of things starting to go off the rails in this movie (typical sequel problems aside) but the life cycle of the graboids/shriekers makes no sense and the fact that the shriekers are deaf but still let out a large number of screeches etc also makes little sense. There is still some fun to be had despite not living up to the first film..

I am kind of dreading 3 and 4, since i dont remember liking 3 (the continued evolution gets even worse) and i have never seen the fourth film

[lhb412]

Godzilla 2000: Millennium

This is the first time I've seen the Japanese version... and it really makes me appreciate just how Sony (and Mike S.) punched up the film with some judicious editing, beefed up sound effects, improved score, and humor. This version of the film wasn't too different, but I didn't think it was as enjoyable.

[Dr Kain]

[Psycho Soldier]

I think the only things I prefer in the Japanese cut are a) parts of the score, and b) the scene where the computer monitors start flashing "Millennium", "Kingdom", etc. thanks to the Millennians. I mean, you can still figure out what the aliens intend in the US cut*, but the way it's spelled out in the original is quite effective. (Of course, by the time G2K was coming out in North America, the Y2K hysteria had largely come and gone. Keeping those shots in would have dated the film severely.)

* Come to think of it, that's what Godzilla movies need for a change: alien races who are genuinely nice.

[lhb412]

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

The Wolf Man portion of this film is pretty good, the Frankenstein part kinda blows.

[Dr Kain]

See, that is the area where I feel the movie just stalls. I agree the words coming up is cool, but that 15 minute chunk is just pointless and adds nothing to the movie.

That is also where I feel the Japanese one falters in its logic. For example, in the Japanese version Io and Shinoda run into the soldiers outside of the offices and are stopped and then they hear a noise and everyone looks up, so the duo run past the guards and that is it. Later on Miyasaka says he gave them permission to enter the building to Katagiri when he did not.

In the dub though, they did fix that so that the soldier says Miyasaka has given them permission to enter and the explosion sound is gone.

BTW, today I watched the original Godzilla to get ready for my review.

[XvGojira]

[klen7]

I've been keeping an eye on this new Tremors film with my fingers crossed. If i like number 4, i'll pick up the TV series.

I am also looking forward to "Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors " which is a book coming out later this year.

[Benjamin Haines]