Recently watched movies!

[jellydonut25]

[klen7]

Just watched Astro Boy, it has some pacing issues, but I'd take this over Big Hero Six any day of the week.

[O.Supreme]

I enjoyed both TMNT (2007) and Astro Boy. The fact that IMAGI went out of business to this day makes me sad. They had so much potential, and some awesome projects in development.

Tremors 5 - After a long personal absence from the series about Garboids, Shriekers, and Ass-Blasters, this was a fun return. Tremors in Africa, seems like the likely next step.I've never seen #4, or the TV series, and it has been at least 12 years since I've watched 1,2, or 3. I'm hoping Netflix will pick up some of the others, I'd like to go back and watch them again.

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

I liked Astro Boy, but there is no way I even found it to be half as good as Big Hero 6.

[Dr Kain]

It Follows - A nice little way to celebrate the day after Halloween. This movie was actually really well done. There was a lot of suspense build up, the jump scares were done right and were not over done, the acting was pretty good, the music was f'ing awesome and fit with the tone, and I love a lot of the camera work. I'm really impressed. The only negatives is that the ending was abrupt and the movie was kind of about 10 minutes longer than it should have. Nevertheless, a really solid movie overall and probably the best horror movie released this year. I'm giving it an 8/10.

[jellydonut25]

I loved It Follows. I didn't think the ending was too abrupt, but I do agree it's just a shade too long...that doesn't torpedo the movie, but a few minutes trimmed here and there would quicken the pace and up the relentlessness.

[O.Supreme]

King Kong Lives - ok, I know this film is bad. But I have not seen it in a long time, I'm talking probably close to 20 years. I purchased it on DVD probably 5 or 6 years ago, and never even watched it until yesterday. What I felt while watching it, aside from its hoakyness, wasn't so much that this was the worst Kong movie ever (which admittedly it was), so much as, it was kind of pointless. I'm also puzzled how FOX released this film on DVD, when it was originally released by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. I guess when DEG went bankrupt all their films were scattered to the winds, instead of coming under one other studios umbrella. I mean I can understand why Universal or Paramount wouldn't really want to touch it, but seeing how it is a sequel to the 1976 film, I would think packaging both together in 2005 would have at least generated some additional revenue... I don't know.

But again, everything that fans would have wanted in a Kong film - and island, and some Dinosaur fighting action, was totally lost. Instead we get Kong, who now has a heart transplant, romping through the southern U.S. eating gators and yokels alike, so he can get his groove on with a female Kong, just happened to be found in Borneo of all places... the 10 years that had passed since Paramount's film was probably a sufficient amount of time to bring Kong back, and of course they wanted to strike while the iron was hot with Godzilla 1985 having come out the previous year. I just don't see how they could have got this any more wrong. Were they trying to be purposely funny? If I can take anything positive away from this film, I guess it's that Linda Hamilton was pretty to look at, as she appeared to have stepped right in from Terminator 2 years earlier.

I'll keep the DVD, but I seriously don't know if it will ever be watched again.

[Dr Kain]

lol

If you think KKL was bad to just watch it, try watching it AND reviewing it. I hated my life during those few days.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Pixels- It's not good but it's not as bad as it's made out to be. I enjoyed parts of it but it defiently could have been better at least it's a step up from Jack and Jill which is probably Sandler's worst movie he's made.

[jellydonut25]

King Kong Lives is the best. I mean, it's the worst, but it's the BEST.

I liked Pixels. Once I got past the first 15 minutes, I thought it was a lot of fun, and very unique plotwise, and it even got funnier. But the first 15 minutes are BRUTAL.

[Dr Kain]

V for Vendetta - It's that time of year again, but since I'll be seeing Spectre on Thursday night, I watched this tonight. One of the best comic book movies ever. The end. 9/10.

[klen7]

I think i had Grabbers on my favorite films of 2013 list.. i really liked that movie.. so the director made another movie after that with a robotic invasion from space starring Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsly titled Robot Overlords.. Not good, none of the wit or humor of Grabbers is present and the story is very thin. The premise seemed promising but the execution was blargh.

I forgot to put this on my Halloween list because i actually turned it off, which is something i rarely do with films. White God is about a canine uprising. Supposedly its full of symbolism for classism, etc and its fairly well reviewed, but animal cruelty in films puts me in a bad mood, and it seemed to be a theme for this movie. If anyone has seen it all the way through i would be interested to hear your take, but its not the kind of movie i can watch

[jellydonut25]

Vacation - Apparently someone watched the original Vacation and said, "More swearing, poop, vomit, and penises. That's what would make this funnier." It's awful. 1/5

Trainwreck - Apt title. 0.5/5 (John Cena elicited a chuckle or two out of me, but I turned it off before finishing).

[XvGojira]

[O.Supreme]

[Dr Kain]

Spectre - Spectre starts off with a bang with one of the best Bond openings ever produced. The shots are just flat out gorgeous, the camera work is great, and the opening bit is quite intense. Thankfully, the movie continues its flow throughout the entire thing as it is a truly enjoyable Bond film. Sadly, it is far from perfect, but no where near to the degree the critics are saying, which is due to it not being better than Skyfall. The plot is predictable, the villains are cookie cutter, and Sam Smith should never have been allowed to sing the opening theme because he sucks ass. The visuals used in the theme really save this song from being the worst Bond theme song, but still, I have no idea what they were thinking when they picked him to be kicked in the balls before singing. Nevertheless, there are a ton of great homages to the movies and novels of old and the action scenes are well done. The Bond girls are a waste of time, but at least the main one is able to hold her own. Moneypenny is easily the best female character in the movie and Q steals every scene he is in with ease. M is well done and it is pretty awesome watching Voldemort take on Moriarty (some will get this reference). Christolph Walz's performance is bittersweet because he does his role with such finess, yet, he is pretty much just playing himself as that character. It works, but it may annoy some. Oh, and Bond does have his character shields on full here. Finally, everything released under Craig's name is connected very nicely and the ending does a good job of wrapping up Craig's Bond if this does indeed turn out to be his final performance. In the end, no, it is not better than Skyfall or Casino Royale, but it is still an outstanding Bond experience and way better than anything Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan ever put out. I give it a solid 8/10.

[jellydonut25]

The Phantom Menace - Yikes. I hadn't watched this since maybe Revenge of the Sith came out, and I felt like, "It can't be as bad as I remember, right?" It's worse. The story is nonsensical, the characters are horrible, and even the action is ultimately dull due us being so out-of-touch with the characters. Darth Maul looks pretty cool, but the menace is never really built, because he has no character. The acting is stilted, the script is horrible, and the direction is flat. 1.5/5.

Attack of the Clones - Only the second time I've EVER watched this from beginning to end in one sitting. I didn't remember MOST of this movie and I still had a hard time paying attention. I bet if I'd seen this pile in theaters, I would have stood up at the point where C3PO is revealed as already previously having belonged to Uncle Owen, shouted "Oh F*** you movie!" and walked out of the theater. It's everything bad about Phantom Menace cranked up to eleven, with a bigger, heaping scoop of boring, and even more intangible, non-existent sets sticking out like sore blue-screened thumbs. Quite probably the nadir of the entire franchise. Quite possibly the nadir of 00s films. 0.5/5.

[lhb412]

Watched The Comedy of Terrors, an AIP horror/comedy starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, and Boris Karloff. Utterly delightful, with an extremely witty and verbose script by Richard Matheson (of I Am Legend and Twilight Zone fame) and directed by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, Night of the Demon). I mean, with a pedigree like that it's bound to be a good movie, even with AIP's notoriously tight budget and schedule! Apparently this one wasn't as big a success as others by AIP, perhaps because the aforementioned verbosity went over the heads of AIP's targeted demographic of teens?

[O.Supreme]

[jellydonut25]

Yeah, I haven't watched these movies since Revenge of the Sith came out, and I'm not kidding when I say I'd only ever seen Episode II one other time before, so I kinda felt I needed/wanted to re-visit with Episode VII approaching.

They're really terrible though, and I'm now actually SUPER happy I didn't do the whole "Machete Order" thing. Sandwiching this crap in between re-watching the original trilogy would suck my soul dry. At least this way, the last things Star Wars I'll experience before watching Episode VII will be the good things that will make me excited to see Episode VII and remind me why I (and really anybody else) even enjoy Star Wars in the first place, instead of just view the whole franchise with disgust.

[klen7]

I've seen Phantom Menace more than once, but 2 and 3 i haven't seen since opening day at the theater

[XvGojira]

I do want to watch all 6 before 7 comes out, it's been awhile. I've made my peace with the prequels. They have some major flaws, but I enjoy them enough. Although I have some wild friends, one is a super fan. Episode One is his second favorite film of all time. It's from him where I heard, and now try to adhere, to the phrase "Don't hate, celebrate" when it comes to fandom.

But I haven't watched the Prequels in full in some time. I recall catching a bit of them here and there on TV every now and again.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

Pretty colors and fight choreography without a story or characters is like looking at "art" made by a kid in first grade. It's maybe fun for a second, but two HOURS of it makes you just bored. There's a reason why the fight between old Obi Wan and Darth Vader in New Hope is still great, even though the choreography is basically nothing. There's FAR more emotional, story, and character development in those two guys just standing and looking at each other holding lightsabers than there is in Darth Maul (no personality) flipping around a blue screen swinging lightsabers at Qui-Gon Jinn (no personality) and Obi Wan Kenobi (only personality inferred from seeing the original films, not anything set up within Phantom Menace itself).

Seriously, without describing his appearance or his "profession," tell me ONE thing about Darth Maul. I couldn't. Hell, I could BARELY tell you anything about Qui-Gon with that same, MINOR limitation. There's nothing to these "characters" at all. I'm supposed to care about that just because it looks pretty? No. Visuals can help enhance a really cool story and further endear amazing characters, but they are not a substitution for those things.

Attack of the Clones is unbelievably boring. The only thing that kept me from giving it a zero is the lightsaber duel between Obi Wan, Anakin, and Dooku, which (by virtue of Christopher Lee being 90 and neither Obi Wan nor Anakin being a little green blob of CGI that Lucas can force to flip around like Q-bert on acid) actually shows a modicum of restraint and attempts to infuse a little emotion into the scene. Unfortunately, those good graces it earns are wiped away when Yoda starts flipping around like a spastic Luigi.

This has nothing to do with "ruining" the "Star Wars aura." I've long gotten over that. To me, Star Wars is no longer something that even has an aura. It's just a franchise as big and as dumb as any other...like Fast and Furious or Terminator. It was once great, but not anymore. These "movies" fail as movies. I mean, technically they are MOVIES, as the word movie comes from moving picture and these are in fact a series of brightly colored pictures whizzing by our faces with motion...but that's almost literally ALL they are. What little story there is is so paper thin and terrible that it's attempted to be hidden by being overly convoluted and difficult to follow just to hide how non-existent it is.

These are BAD movies. Given their budget, and the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera, I'd consider them some of the very worst movies.