Recently watched movies!

[DannyBeane]

Just got back from watching The Jungle Book and man was it a great film. Probably one of the best films I've seen this year. This film has what I believe will be long-lasting Jurassic Park style of special fx. The animals, backgrounds and everything were spot on. If this doesn't own all the spfx awards this year it will have been robbed. All the voice acting was spot on. My highlights were Bill Murray and Christopher Walken. The funny thing is towards the end when Mowgli was fighting SHere Khan with the power of engineering, I was getting a major Predator vibe. The cinematography, music, etc just reminded me of the final fight between Dutch and the Predator. Anyway, see this movie in theaters you won't regret it!

[EricDent]

Due to the popularity of The Jungle Book, there's already plans for a sequel.
Along with several other live-action versions to come.

Including a story about a young Cruella Da Ville, a Jungle Cruise movie (based on the ride) featuring The Rock, and despite PL Travers forbidding it apparently a Mary Poppins sequel with Emily Blunt (who played PL in the Saving Mr Brooks movie).

Anyhow...

Gods of Egypt at the cheap theater was kinda fun, though still say they should have done the "This is Egypt" (ala 300) since they did set it up with "this is madness/insanity").

Thunderbird 6 was fun, though I have seen it before.
Still kinda wonder just how they did the rockets on the various Thunderbird vehicles.

The LEGO movie (Blu-Ray) still very fun & touching.
Would be pretty cool to have a LEGO set-up like that.

Mothra 1-3 Blu-Ray all are decent, and the Alias ladies are nice looking.
Still rather funny with Gorgo peeing on people to heal them...

Sky Captain & The World of Tommorow it looks good, the story is kinda silly (especially the whole "film" subplot), but overall it's decent.
Be on the lookout for a Godzilla cameo!

Harry Potter & The Sorcerers Stone still quite good, and full of wonder.
If you get the chance, go check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie it's goofy as heck, the CGI monsters/zords are pretty bad, but man is it fun to watch!
The ladies (especially that one "master warrior") were very nice looking.
For all you anime dub fans, you can see Johny Yong Bosch in action a bit before he became HUGE in the dubbing world.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen maybe it's just that I like this sort of setting?
But I thought it was pretty good (better than I remember it being at the theater when it came out).
I especially liked what they did with the Captain Nemo character & his high tech stuff.

[lhb412]

Five Deadly Venoms

Kung fu movies are something of a blindspot for me and I've been meaning to rectify that. This is my first Shaw Brothers film! I may not be too well versed on this stuff, but I know enough to know that's a big deal!

The plot is that a dying kung fu master tells his current student to seek out his five previous students (Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad - who mastered fighting styles based on their totemic animals) to see if any of them have decided to use their skills for evil. He also tells said student that since he never mastered a single disciple (he's more like a general practitioner, slightly versed in all styles) he'll have to team up with one of the five in order to defeat any of the other four. Also, did I mention they're all after hidden treasure?

I liked this film a great deal, aside from an extended period in the middle where the bad guys wrongly imprison and then torture a likable character while all the good characters are M.I.A. It kinda harshed my buzz, but only for a while.

[Dr Kain]

I'm honestly not that huge on Kung Fu movies. I don't know why, I find them entertaining, but not really worthy of a second viewing. Five Deadly Venoms is one I absolutely love and is probably the best Kung Fu movie I have ever seen, but I just have never had a desire to go back and rewatch it and I even own it. Again, not sure why, but whenever I am trying to think of something to watch, FDV never comes up in my choices and sometimes I forget I even own it until I am going through my DVDs.

[Hybrid Gojira]

I know it's not a Kung Fu movie...but I'm a sucker for 80's/early 90's martial arts films (Bloodsport, Lionheart, etc.). Bloodsport is a "so bad, it's good" kinda movie and I never tire of seeing it. I also unabashedly love the soundtrack.

[lhb412]

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

This movie is awesome! Gordon Liu (who was the leader of the Crazy 88 and Pai Mei in Kill Bill) plays a young student rebelling against the Manchu government. Officials then crack down on dissidents, killing his friends and family, so he makes his way (horribly injured) to the Shaolin temple to learn kung fu. Most of the movie is taken up by San Te's elaborate training via mastering each of the temple's 35 chambers. Along the way he learns kung fu, but also grows from rebellious youth to centered adult.

I've heard this described as the ultimate kung fu movie, and even with my limited exposure it's hard to disagree. This movie is a great synthesis of action, martial arts philosophy, story and character, and comedy!

[lhb412]

Sullivan's Travels

This is a classic comedy that... just didn't do it for me, at least in this initial viewing. I mean, it's got incredibly clever dialog and a great cast headlined by Joel McRae and Veronica Lake, but for me it just does't come together. So, yeah, SPOILERS for those who haven't seen the film: the titular Sullivan (McCrae) is a hugely successful writer/director of comedies who desperately wants to make serious, important movies, and decides to make poverty the subject of his new film. Once it becomes clear to him that he knows nothing about the subject because of his pampered life he decides to disguise himself as a hobo and live the life. At first he just gets into a lot of slapstick shenanigans, but eventually things get real and when at his most desperate Sullivan ends up in a prison work camp in the South he has a revelation when he and the other inmates watch a Mickey Mouse cartoon and for a moment laugh and enjoy themselves, forgetting about their troubles. When Sullivan manages to extricate himself and get back to civilization he decides to put away his pretentious dreams and go back to making people laugh, his lesson learned.

This is a bunch of bull.

I mean, the ending would have worked fine had the move stuck to the lighter touch of the first two thirds, but the third act veers into such a different direction it makes the ending moral look at worst like an endorsement of the status quo and at best laughably quaint. The third act ends up showing just how bad people are allowed to treat the poor, how people are allowed to harass and ignore their civil rights because no one cares about them. If the movie ended with Sullivan saying he's gonna make comedies but also, say, set up a foundation with his millions to lobby congress to reform the criminal justice system then I could dig, but as is the movie seems at odd with and deflates itself.

[lhb412]

I was having kind of a bummer day yesterday, so I decided to stay up watching Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Some points:

- Despite the monsters running around, the darkest, most subversive things in the first film are just stuff Phoebe Cates says, like her casually saying Christmas makes some people want to slit their wrists in the middle of a Christmas card idyllic scene.
- I prefer the main Gremlin design from the first film, but Rick Baker's animatronic creatures in the second are superior by an order of magnitudes.
- Before Donald Trump, has their ever been a presidential candidate who inspired so many movie and TV villains? And speaking of Clamp: gotta love how he was written as a villain, but John Glover's performance is so childlike and enthusiastic that it flipped the script.

[The Shadow]

Did you catch that the title of the movie Sullivan (McRae) wants to make is O Brother Where Art Thou?

[Dr Kain]

I'm going to do a quickie video review tomorrow of Civil War, but right now, three things:

1. This is what Avengers 2 should have been.
2. BEST LIVE ACTION SPIDER-MAN EVER!!!
3. Doesn't top The Winter Soldier, but it is the second best Marvel movie ever and the third best comic book movie ever.

Oh, wait, but there's more:

[lhb412]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[klen7]

[Dr Kain]

Well Vision was no longer born yesterday.

Anyway, my almost spoiler free video review of Civil War. The only spoiler is after the credits, so you can stop there if you haven't seen the movie yet (not that it is that big of a spoiler):



Also trying something new with my Quickie Reviews by not showing any movie footage since Hollywood is getting ridiculous with their copyright claims, so let me know if it worked. This may be the best way for me to do Quickie reviews. Although, I feel like I'm ripping off Jeremy Jahns a little with this one...

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

X-Men First Class - Still the best X-Men movie to date with the best score from the franchise and it gives us the most badass Magneto on screen. I give it an 8/10.

[lhb412]

I watched the first two Indiana Jones films a couple of months ago, but I didn't get around to finishing my box set and I wanted to watch them all together-ish so I managed to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom again today. Raiders is just about as perfect as an adventure film can be, and I enjoyed Temple of Doom far more this time. Maybe I was just in a better state of mind, but I was able to appreciate the awesome opening sequence and the action packed finale without being dragged down by Capshaw's shrill character or the twenty minutes or so where it's just human sacrifice and child abuse and zombie Indy (I mean, I appreciate the macabre, but I feel there was a severe tonal miscalculation there that stopped the movie cold).

[EricDent]

Watched 3 more Harry Potter movies (Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Goblet of Fire): still pretty decent movies.

Tomb Raider 1 & 2: first one is better & has some cool sets & decent action. Angelina looks pretty nice as Lara Croft.
The second is OK, but not quite as good.

Blade: still a cool movie, but some of the digital effects look kinda goofy now.
Still think that they could easily do another one with Mr. Snipes involved (he looked pretty good in Expendables 3).

[Dr Kain]

Just got back from a second viewing of it and it was even better than the first time. Although, I'm pretty sure The Winter Soldier is the better movie. Nevertheless, still a 9/10.

[Dr Kain]

The Sandlot - I haven't watched this movie in years, if not longer, and it is such a damn good movie. It is funny as all hell and has some truly remarkable one liners in it. That, and James Earl Jones really steals the few minutes he is in. Such a fantastic movie that I give a 9/10 to.

[lhb412]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

It maybe hews a bit too close to aping Raiders, but the relationship between Indy and his Dad and the nifty opening with River Phoenix as young Indy give it a unique identity and allow it to stand on its own.

Count Yorga, Vampire

Despite a few effective moments, this low budget drive-in classic is a mostly boring affair.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[lhb412]

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Great western starring Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne about two men with competing philosophies: Stewart wants to bring the rule of law to the wild west while Wayne is content in the wildness, especially since he's the best gunman around and can take care of himself. There's a lot more ambiguity here than I thought there would be. By the end of the film you can interpret who's right and what the moral is in any number of ways.

Also: Wayne calls Stewart 'pilgrim' incessantly in this thing, and I guess that's responsible for many a bad John Wayne impression.

[lhb412]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Honestly, aside from a mushy second half with a lot of unfortunate CGI this movie isn't terrible. Certainly it exceeds its reputation. In fact, I think the first part of the movie from Area 51 to the chase scene at the college is rather excellent. It's unfortunate the rest of the movie couldn't maintain that.