Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

^I feel there's been an upswing in mainstream superhero books that don't conform to the 'grim-and-gritty' stereotype. There's certainly a lot more humorous or youth-friendly superheroes now, and it seems the big-two have increasingly given critically acclaimed books their space, not dragging those titles into other events and such. I think it's great that they're getting more variety, but just like you and I complaining about a reliance on 'grim-and-gritty' there's a subset of people who feel that's how all comics should be and hate on anything different!

Also: will there be a ban on superhero movies ending with the heroes stopping some sort of sky-beam/portal thing? I don't wanna see that again.

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, I'm tired of the sky portal stuff.

As for comics, the thing about comics is that there are characters in both Marvel and DC for everyone.

You want dark? You've got The Spectre, Etrigan, Swamp Thing, Constantine, Dr Fate, Dr Strange, Ghost Rider, and Magick.

You want gritty? Wolverine, Dare Devil, Punisher, Venom, Spider-Man Noir, Jonah Hex, Ragman, Batman, and The Question.

You want fun and colorful? Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Superman, Flash, and Aquaman.

You want monsters? Dracula, Morbius, Blade, Hannibal King, Werewolf by Night, and I, Vampire

You want teams? Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Justice League, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen Titans, and the Metal Men.

You want science fiction? Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Skrulls, Fourth Worlds, Kamandi, and Green Lantern.

You want stuff for kids? The Power Pack, Spider-Man, Teen Titans, Legion of Super Heroes, and Superboy.

You want stuff for women? Wonder Woman, Raven, Mera, Batgirl, Supergirl, Black Canary, Black Widow, Storm, Rogue, Spider-Gwen, Misty Knight, Diamond Back

You like villains? Darkseid, Joker, Brainiac, Sinestro, Royal Flush Gang, CSA, Thanos, Red Skull, Serpent Society, Loki, Ultron, and Apocalypse.

Mysteries? Batman, The Question, Detective Chimp, and The Spirit.

Westerns? Jonah Hex, El Diablo, Scalphunter, Pow Wow Smith, and Bat Lash,.

Okay, Marvel is lacking in cowboys since I can't think of anyone, but my point is they don't have to make every character the same tone. Comics don't have to be either for kids only or for adults only. They can balance them out. In fact, they did such a great job balancing them until about 6 years ago.

[O.Supreme]

Men in Black 3 (2012) - I know a lot of people panned this when it first came out but I liked it 4 years ago, and I like it now. It is a rare example of a Trilogy where basically all three entries are solid, entertaining, and meaningful. Despite the fact that this came 10 years after the second film, I thought it was the perfect ending to the series. Additionally Josh Brolin as young Agent K knocks it out of the park. Not sure what caused me to watch this last night, but I'm glad I did. Now I definitely don't think we need a 4th film, but as we know as long as a sequel is profitable, I guess they'll keep making them. If there ever is a new story in the MiB universe, hopefully it will be something new, not having to do with Agent J & K.

*edit* so yeah when I started to type this I forgot all about the proposed MiB/Jumpstreet crossover. Hopefully it dies in development and never happens.

[XvGojira]

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

^I've really come around to the first Cap movie (especially the first half) in it's constant reairings on television. I liked Civil War, left the theater happy, but I think I like the first two Cap movies better.

Love & Peace

Finally got to see this recent Japanese kaiju movie - a kaiju film like no other! A musical/romance/comedy/fantasy with a classic man-in-suit in miniature city finale... and it's a Christmas movie, so it felt real appropriate for me still on my New Years holiday.

[jellydonut25]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople- Taika Waititi burst onto the scene with What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople proves that he can successfully blend his exceptional comedic writing and sense of humor with a great depth of character and emotion. This movie is excellent.

[jellydonut25]

Don't Breathe- A tough movie on a lot of levels but also brilliant in a lot of ways. I think I could have done without a scene near the end that kinda stretches the proceedings a little too far but it's got some great performances, spectacular direction and palpable tension. 4.5/5

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

Going through my Christmas Blu-Rays...

Double Indemnity

One of the best film noirs; one of the best Billy Wilder movies; a fantastic trio of performances from Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson; and dialog so sharp you can cut tin cans with it.

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

The first remake of Zorro (after the silent version) is basically just a more modestly budgeted ripoff of The Adventures of Robin Hood (from two years before) to show off star Tyrone Power. Tyrone's Zorro is no match for Flynn's Robin Hood, but he's pretty good, and Basil Rathbone and Eugene Pallette are great at playing pretty much their same characters as in Robin Hood. This also has one of the best movie swordfights ever. Power and Rathbone were both great fencers, and it shows.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

^Such a great speech... doesn't he begin dividing the jump suicides by the height of the fall?

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

I hate The Devil's Rejects. If you want a movie that is about nothing doing nothing, that is the movie for you.

The only problem I really had

[klen7]

I made it to the theater for Underworld Blood Wars - They brought back all the politics and mythos, which was good, but they also inherited all of problems from the fourth film. Major spoilers were in the very first trailer as well. Overall I'm game for another entry, but i still don't care for the casting of "David". These are definitely pulpy films, and i enjoy them despite seeing why a critical view of them would be negative.

Hail Caesar - Here's another film i enjoyed, but i understand why most people wouldn't. I do think this movie is largely lost on anyway that isnt interested in the behind the scenes of late 1940s Hollywood. It was interesting seeing a comedic take on the studio "fixer", which is normally more a noir fixture. This is another movie i felt was done a disservice by a trailer that gave far too much away.

[Dr Kain]

Underworld needs to just go away. The first movie was the best in the series, the second movie ended the story completely, and the third was just another prequel. The fourth one was a god awful pile of ****. I don't even remember what happened in that movie due to how forgettable it was. Didn't Michael die in it? Or was that just a temporary death?

[jellydonut25]

Deepwater Horizon - Factually inaccurate and bogged down by not developing its characters enough. I knew I shouldn't watch this as someone with intimate knowledge of the event due to being in the industry when it happened, but I did anyway...

[jellydonut25]

La La Land - Absolutely wonderful. Spectacularly directed, charming, funny, heartfelt, and the chemistry between Gosling and Stone is excellent. Amazing.

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

The Nice Guys - Getting to see this again finally was... nice. Such a great movie all around. There is a reason it was my second favorite movie of 2016. If you have yet to see it you are doing a complete disservice to yourself and the people involved with this movie. A 9/10.

[lhb412]

Theater of Blood

Vincent Price essentially redoes Phibes but now his mad killer is an actor instead of a musician, the murders are themed around Shakespeare and not Biblical plagues, and the victims are theater critics and not doctors. Lots of neat stuff: Diana Rigg as Price's devoted daughter, all sorts of disguises and (purposely) hammy overacting from Price, and a bunch of great character actors play the haplessly murdered critics. Still, doesn't reach the highs that Phibes does.

[jellydonut25]

I'm doing a Resident Evil catch-up by watching the movies in reverse order, AND in ten-minute chunks from end to beginning of the movie...because I'm dumb, I guess...

Retribution - One of the better comedies I've seen recently. I laughed SO much, I caught a cough a few times.

Afterlife - The climax of this film is so bad, it borders on genius.

Extinction - Mostly serviceable, but a little dull. Probably the weakest entry.

Apocalypse - I put this above Extinction because the series was still trying at this point (I think) and that makes the ridiculous stuff that much more amusing. Also, it's cool to see a decent amount of practical effects work.

Resident Evil will be tomorrow, most likely, but I doubt I'll change from my initial opinion that it's a solid little action-horror movie and a good bit of fun.

Overall, I'm enjoying this series probably more than I (or anyone else) should and I'm honestly looking forward to the Final Chapter. If it continues down the path of stupid glory that Afterlife and Retribution have laid down, it's going to be a glorious mess of schlock.

[Dr Kain]

I loved the first movie, highly enjoyed the second, and then they fell apart from there. Extinction completely ruined everything. Afterlife was better than it, but only because of Chris and Claire, which was then screwed up when Alice could still do super moves despite not having her powers. The fifth movie was just as bad as Extinction and such bullcrap.

[Dr Kain]

The Hateful Eight - I haven't watched this since I saw it in the theaters and my god this movie was even more ****ing fantastic than it was the first time I saw it. It is right up there with Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds. The only thing I was saddened by was the lack of bonus features, which sucked major ass. They could have at least put the kick ass overture on there becuase it was a disservice to Morricone to not do so. Anyway, if you have never seen this before you need to, especially if you like westerns or Tarantino. It's smart, clever, and even the people I know who don't normally like Tarantino loved it. It's most definitely a 9/10 movie.