Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

Over the past week or so I've half-watched, half-listened to traditional Christmas favorite A Christmas Story (as well as MST3K episodes Santa Claus Conquer the Martians and Santa Claus) while decorating and wrapping presents and tree-trimming and the like.

As time goes by I'm more and more impressed by all the little period details in A Christmas Story. You can tell it was a real passion project for people who wanted to capture the look and feel of their childhoods.

[jellydonut25]

[O.Supreme]

Dinosaur 13 on Netflix. Of course I know every story has two sides, and most times these documentaries spin on the more liberal side. However... "If" taken at face value, this was a very compelling story about the Discovery of the most complete T. Rex Skeleton to date (Sue) and the legal farce that surrounded the discovery. I myself long ago was aspiring to be a paleontologist, however (not to get too deep), I could not reconcile the arrogance and shortsightedness of many scientists in the field against my own personal beliefs, which is why I chose not to pursue such a career.

I did feel sorry for all involved though. It makes sense, but for some reason in my naiveté, I thought only individuals with certificates higher education would be out fossil hunting, but of course, since pretty much the beginning of the science, there have been commercial fossil hunters as well. In fact, several of the greatest discoveries have come from commercial finds rather than those in the educational field. However the battle between law and common sense in this film is interesting, and the one thing both sides seem to agree on was that the whole situation was mishandled from beginning to end.

Although it is only mentioned briefly, the big takeaway I got from this (which was not necessarily the films intention), was that so few fossils have actually been found, and much of what we see in museums are reconstructions based on educated guesses, but guesses nonetheless. Although I still have a fascination with ancient life to this day, in reinforces my beliefs at how little we really know about these amazing ancient creatures.

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie - Oh god this movie sucks. I haven't watched it since the day I bought it on VHS and now I remember why. The only thing I can really say positive about the movie is getting to see the Carranger RV Robo costume in action. I give this craphole a 4/10.

Muppets Christmas Carol - Always an enjoyable watch even if they do turn Scrooge's nephew into a pointless character. I also don't feel Michael Caine is able to really portray the selfish side of Scrooge. Nevertheless, give it a wonderful 8/10.

[EricDent]

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows: Still a really fun & action packed movie.
Hopefully they make a third soon.

[klen7]

Burying the Ex: Oh Joe, where did you go? There is a lot of competent movie making going on.. but the dialogue.. the characters... blargh! 5.5/10

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

[Reaper G]

Trainwreck

Very funny. I first heard of Amy Schumer from her appearances on the Opie & Anthony/Jimmy show, and it's nice to see a lot of their comedian friends appear in the movie. And now I see why the WWE never mentioned John Cena was in this.

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

Christmas Carol 2009 - 9/10.

[Psycho Soldier]

The King of Fighters - I had to know how bad it was. God, this movie's a disaster. Outside of a funny homage to the source material ("Are you OK??") and maybe a couple other things, it's a bad film, and a terrible adaptation of the games.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone -

I should preface this by saying that I watched two-third's of the original series before failing to finish it. I know this series has a lot of convoluted history and blah blah blah...but I guess I'll start by saying the animation is really solid. What I cannot stand about the film is how whiny Shinji is. He's perhaps the most annoying anime character in recent memory, and unfortunately we're stuck with him. I also can't stand the constant overuse of crosses every time something explodes or dies...or the rainbows that appear after a battle ends. I get the biblical imagery, but it feels way overdone. The battles are at least cool and what keeps me interested aside from that is the backstory about NERV, the Angels, and all the secrecy involving Shinji's Father and his overall plan. The score is alright, but nothing memorable.

So yeah. 6/10.

[Dr Kain]

I hate Evangelion. None of the characters are even likable because they are all scumbags in some form or another. The plot makes no sense whatsoever and they can't seem to figure out what they wanted to do with the show, which is why we are now on its third incarnation of story telling. Shinji is hands down the whiniest protagonist ever created. He makes Anakin Skywalker look badass.

[O.Supreme]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[XvGojira]

Star Wars - The Force Awakens - No spoilers. I have some minor issues with the movie but they aren't big enough to detract from the overall enjoyment out of the movie. I don't know exactly where it fails in the scale with the other six, but it is definitely the best Star Wars movie since the 80's. And I can't wait to see where they take the characters next.

[jellydonut25]

Force Awakens - I think it's the fourth best Star Wars movie. As much as the Ewoks have been a thorn in fans' side over the years, and they and the general cutesiness of Return of the Jedi drag that movie down, I don't think it has any of the story issues that Force Awakens has. Luckily for Force Awakens, it has way better characters than any of the prequels, thus its more emotional moments work.

[O.Supreme]

[EricDent]

Thank you for no spoilers on Star Wars!
I won't be seeing it until next Friday.
So having to avoid certain areas of other sites...

Anyhow last night was random movie night.
Where I take 5 movies off the shelf and carefully mix them up (the discs).
Then count to a certain number and either eliminate that movie or watch that movie.

So I went with the later option and ended up with these:

Godzilla vs Biollante (Blu-Ray) this was a recent upgrade so I hadn't seen it on Blu-Ray yet.
Looks great, sounded good (went with Japanese. Kinda confused why they didn't do something with the mono English track?
Some actors could speak English, and some couldn't but that is part of the charm.
The one thing that always strikes me as odd is that nobody even questions just how the heck Godzilla survived inside an active volcano for 4 years...
Especially considering they swore it would kill him in the previous movie (Godzilla Returns/1985).
The clips from that movie looked great and give me hopes that someday the US will get a legit release.

Up next was V For Vendetta. Great story, fun characters, and it makes you think.
Think why people are so concerned with who's in the White House when certain people have been in Senate/Congress for over 20 years...
Anyhow even though the creator of the comic seems to hate the adaptations that Hollywood does of his stuff, it's still a good way to get your work noticed.
I tried reading this comic (and other stuff by him) and it was rather difficult to understand what was going on.
The only one that I could was The Killing Joke which is being turned into a DC Animated movie soon.
That might be the first rated R animated movie in quite a while...cause I don't see how else they would handle it...

[Dr Kain]

Star Wars The Force Awakens - Wow, the franchise is definitely in good hands. It does retread some old material and areas, but the characters are actually characters with development instead of just being a plot device as they were with the prequels. The light saber duels are done with such finesse and grit that they really feel like the this is a battle to the death and now it has made me question whether the cool choreography of the prequels were actual fights at all. You could actually see the ferocity involved when dealing with a light saber. The effects are top notch and there seems to be a bunch of practical effects to go with the CGI. Kylo Ren is more Vader than he is Maul, which was great as he is also actually a character. Finally, I feel sorry for all of those people out there who were spending huge amounts of money on the Phasma figure because you are probably going to feel like an idiot for doing so. In the end, there is nothing more I can say without spoiling anything, so just go see the movie and open your minds to re-enter the Star Wars universe. JJ Abrahms work on Star Trek was just him practicing for this delectable film that kicks off a new era for Star Wars. I give it an 8/10.

[Dr Kain]

Miracle on 34th Street - That was a really interesting movie. I went into the theater expecting another, "Is Santa real?" type of childish stuff and it turned out to be something really different. It had a perfect blend of comedy and drama as it knew what it needed to be when. I was very impressed and seeing it in the theater for my first viewing was well worth it. I give it an 8/10.

[lhb412]

[EricDent]

Cheap theater viewing of Victor Frankenstein.
Was more about Igor than the monster or Frankenstein himself.
The creatures were different, but kinda cool in a way.
Igor's girlfriend was cute (especially in her trapeze outfit).
The story was OK at best, but not really sure why they bothered since more people are interested in the Universal Monsters "Shared Universe" thing they are trying to start.
Worth $2 though (that's how much the cheap theater charges).

Went through 2 more of the random movies I had selected earlier.

The Goonies (Blu-Ray) thus looked amazing for a 30 plus year old movie!
Still really really fun, with plenty of action & adventure.
Must say that Andy was rather cute in her rather short dress (a few "accidental" panty shots didn't hurt).
The other girl wasn't too shabby either.

Raiders of the Lost Ark was up next again a Blu-Ray.
Both movies were recent upgrades I got at work for pretty darn cheap.
All 4 Indy movies were $4.99 each, which was a freaking steal!
Like the previous movie, this one is full of action & adventure.
Still a great movie, and despite everybody else not liking parts 2 & 4, I do like those.
This is still the best one IMO.