Based on a video game I've never played. A man with serious mental health issues takes a night job at a haunted, run-down, pizza party place to save his sister (Who also has serious mental health issues and is of indeterminate age, I could never figure out if she was a early teen playing a little girl or not) from their cartoonishly villainess aunt. Cursed animatronic shenanigans ensue.
Very much the definition of meh.
The main problem is, it's not even remotely scary (Always a bad sign with horror movies) and pretty stupid but not in a good way.
You should watch Willy's Wonderland, which is the same basic concept, only the star Nicholas Cage, NEVER SPEAKS throughout the whole film.
Willy’s Wonderland is, for me, the superior movie.
Note however I’ve never played FNAF. So I can only speak for the quality of the two films, and not the originality.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Big Trouble In Little China
Have you paid your dues?
Because this is absolute proof positive that Kurt Russell is a hidden treasure of an actor. Like The Thing, this movie took time to find its audience, being a surprising box office flop (reviews were positive).
This is bonkers and brilliant in equal measure. And in a way? Perhaps it’s box office failure is for the best, as it meant no sequel, leaving us with just this singular example of cinematic creativity.
This is the kind of movie you watch with your family when everyone’s overfull and tired, no one wants to make a decision, and a teenager has the remote control. It was quite fun.
The premise is that Santa’s forced 1000 years of jolly kindness just came to an end and he’s got a lot of slaying to make up for. The film is less a story than a collection of great kills, groaner lines, hilarious set pieces, and cheesy filler. The opening scene is worth the price of admission, but there are also stand out scenes in a strip club, a police station (briefly), an Rankin Bass-style cutaway, and a Troy McLure caliber high speed chase.
The cast is absolutely stacked. Name another film where you can see James Caan killed by Turkey leg, Fran Drescher immolated and Saul Rubinek impaled on a menorah.
It’s not as good as Violent Night, but it has a place in every horror fan’s killer Christmas rotation.
Heck yea, I really like that film. Caught it on TV once. At first I wasn't sure, but when they got into the batpoop insane mythology behind it all they got me. And a few bits of the film I found genuinely funny. The opening scene I'd seen years and years before on youtube. Still no idea how they got that made.
@Easy E: Aye, it's really interesting indeed. But I think she's a tough person. Imagine being stuck in negotiations and the opposing party has her as a leader. Yikes.
@aku-chan: Yeah, from what I heard it fell short of even the incredibly low expectations it came with.
@Mad Doc Grotsnik: It's just such good fun, isn't it.
Sigur wrote: @aku-chan: Yeah, from what I heard it fell short of even the incredibly low expectations it came with.
It's such a funny thing. As someone who never played the game I couldn't possibly say if the movie has any merit. "Things happen, roll credits" is as close as I come.
Say what you will about Borderlands, and boy am I inclined to say what I will, but at least the uninitiated get to see something coherent that doesn't require out of movie knowledge.
Big Trouble in Little China is an all time classic and one of my favorite movies. It’s also one that I can throw on anytime, in joyous mood or deepest depression, for a needed escape.
It’s up there with Clue, Gremlins 2 and The Princess Bride for me in terms of movies that bring back my childhood for 90 minutes.
Because this is absolute proof positive that Kurt Russell is a hidden treasure of an actor. Like The Thing, this movie took time to find its audience, being a surprising box office flop (reviews were positive).
This is bonkers and brilliant in equal measure. And in a way? Perhaps it’s box office failure is for the best, as it meant no sequel, leaving us with just this singular example of cinematic creativity.
It’s all in the reflexes!
Let's not forget the legendary character actor James Hong as Lo Pan. After all a film may have the perfect hero, but it needs its villain, and James Hong plays it to perfection as well.
Russell wanted to go on record; he's not going to come back as Jack Burton for just anyone:
"You never say never. I mean, if somebody were to write a great script, that was better than the first one, [and] it had something new to say. I don't know, we can slap John Carpenter around a little bit and say, 'Come on, John! Let's go do this.'"
The "slap John around a little bit" line is in reference to John Carpenter's famed semi-retired state. Carpenter hasn't directed a theatrical feature since 2010's "The Ward."
Sure, our villain has a strong look, and his silent nature is creepy. But come on. This is nothing we haven’t seen before. And worse? Our heroine only really puts the boot in at the worst possible times, which is insulting to the audience.
There are at least two occasions she had him, and could easily, very easily, have finished the job. And if she had done so? It would’ve been a mercifully shorter film.
All the more frustrating because with a less lazy plot, this could’ve been pretty good. I mean. The cast are fine. And the director knows how to compose a film. So why cop out with Unnecessary Stupidity?
Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin in a baby swap comedy, where two pairs of twins are mixed up at the same hospital, for the error to come to light many years later.
It’s 80’s, it’s Bette Midler, of course it’s good.
I watched a film! It's called Groundhog Day, and it's really good. Hadn't seen it in many years and never in the original language before. Really hard to report exciting things about that film everybody has seen and everybody agrees on that it's good.
Apart from that I watched the first 3 episodes of Booker. Good fun, if you're interested in enjoying that sorta stuff. Fun to see the guest stars. Evil Kimberly from Melrose Place, Gangsta Don Cheadle, bloody Deathstalker II as reformed (or not?) street thug boss! The last one was an interesting character. And I had to look him up before recognizing him, because I knew the guy, but wasn't sure where from.
Went and saw Wicked. Quite enjoyed it. The extended length breaking into a part 2 is annoying, but they extra time largely feels well used to fill out the world and give the supporting cast some depth.
I think what pleased me the most was just how much it still felt like a stage production. For the most part while there's obviously a lot more camera angles and scene shifts than is possible on stage, they didn't mess with the way characters interact or the flow of it much at all. Too many of these things feel like they've been made more movie like in translation and this one largely avoids it until the end, where they go with a big action set piece that mostly works, but definitely feels the most overblown and Hollywood bit of the whole thing.
Sigur wrote: I watched a film! It's called Groundhog Day, and it's really good. Hadn't seen it in many years and never in the original language before. Really hard to report exciting things about that film everybody has seen and everybody agrees on that it's good.
They do reference painting miniatures in Groundhog Day, but not in a good way.
Sigur wrote: I watched a film! It's called Groundhog Day, and it's really good. Hadn't seen it in many years and never in the original language before. Really hard to report exciting things about that film everybody has seen and everybody agrees on that it's good.
They do reference painting miniatures in Groundhog Day, but not in a good way.
Yup, they do. I didn't really find it put in a negative light (at least from a 2024 standpoint). IIRC Murray tells McDowell details about everybody in the diner,among them is that waiter/dish-away-carrier dude(?). "This is [xy], he likes to paint little figurines and he's gay.". Then XY says "yes,I am.". I went something like that. I found that pretty well done really.
In a cinematic landscape beset by the mundane and the banal, "Morbius" shines like a beacon of transcendent genius, a modern-day "Citizen Kane" that redefines the very fabric of the medium. Like a masterful symphony, Jared Leto's tour-de-force performance harmonizes with the film's bold, avant-garde narrative, crafting a rich tapestry of emotional depth and complexity that defies the pedestrian conventions of traditional storytelling. As the titular anti-hero's tortured soul wrestles with the existential implications of his vampiric curse, the viewer is transported to a realm of unbridled cinematic innovation, where the boundaries of reality are pushed to the very limits of human endurance. "Morbius" is not merely a film – it is an experience, a visceral odyssey that sears itself into the very marrow of one's being, leaving an indelible mark on the psyche that will be felt for generations to come.
Yeah, its pretty good! Bit short at only 8 minutes, but can't complain as it didn't cost anything to watch on Youtube. Helm Hammerhand is definitely The Cocknocker of Middle Earth!
"Morbius: The Musical" is a dark, gothic spectacle that brings the infamous Marvel anti-hero to the stage. Starring Hugh Jackman as the titular character, a scientist-turned-vampire with a penchant for chaos, the show follows Morbius as he navigates the streets of New York City in search of a cure for his condition.
Britney Spears shines as Martine Bancroft, Morbius's love interest and a skilled scientist in her own right, while Danny DeVito brings his signature wit and charm to the role of Emil Nikos, Morbius's eccentric mentor.
The show features a haunting score, complete with hits like "Bloodlust Boogie" and "The Vampire's Lament," and showcases the talents of a talented ensemble cast, including a chorus line of dancing vampires and a show-stopping appearance by Sir Ian McKellen as a wise and mysterious ancient vampire.
Will Morbius find a cure for his curse, or will he succumb to the darkness within?
Find out in "Morbius: The Musical," a wild and unforgettable ride that will leave you screaming for more.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I'm just kidding... or am I?
A man needs to revive his failing 70's talk show, will interviewing a demonically possessed girl be the ratings booster he thinks it will be?
Not sure this was a good horror movie (It's not particularly scary), but it is an interesting take on the "found footage" genre. Kinda fell apart on me in the last 20 minutes or so, I think a much more ambiguous ending would've worked better.
Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie is a cinematic masterpiece that redefined the boundaries of animation and storytelling. Released in 2010, this magnum opus is a sweeping epic that transported audiences to a grim, dark future where humanity teeters on the brink of collapse. This majestic film is a testament to the unparalleled genius of its creators, who dared to dream big and push the limits of what is possible in the world of animation.
With its stunning visuals, heart-pumping action sequences, and a narrative that is at once both deeply personal and universally relatable, "Ultramarines" is a film that will leave you breathless and yearning for more. The movie's intricate world-building is a marvel to behold, with its richly detailed landscapes, imposing architecture, and an array of characters that are at once both complex and deeply human.
The voice cast, featuring the talents of Terence Stamp, John Hurt, and Sean Pertwee, brings the characters to life with a depth and nuance that is simply astonishing. The Ultramarines themselves are a triumph of character design, with their imposing power armor and unwavering dedication to the Imperium of Man. The film's themes of duty, honor, and sacrifice are timeless and universal, and will resonate deeply with audiences of all ages.
But what truly sets "Ultramarines" apart is its bold, unapologetic vision. This is a film that refuses to compromise, that dares to be different, and that rewards its audience with a rich, immersive experience that will stay with them long after the credits roll. It is a film that will be studied by scholars and admired by artists for generations to come, a true masterpiece that will be remembered as one of the greatest animated films of all time.
In short, "Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie" is a game-changer, a cinematic experience that will leave you awestruck and inspired. It is a must-see for anyone who loves animation, science fiction, or just great storytelling in general. So if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and seek it out – but be warned, once you've experienced the glory of "Ultramarines," you may never be able to look at animation the same way again.
I can truly say that no film has moved me like Ultramarines: The Motion Picture (UMTMP to the true fans) since GI Joe Retaliation. That scene where the hero overcame obstacles to achieve his objective was a masterclass in storytelling.
I got the Deluxe DVD set of that lying around. I watched it once, I was not too impressed, but it's what you get when you ask for a small-budget animated film about Space Marines (after shooting down properly filmed fan projects). Add 200 times the budget, you get 200 times of what Ultramarines was, plus 'made broadly appealing'. I was always very critical of wishing for a big-budget 40k film (or even worse: tv show).
A cracking, seminal, genre defining work. Except this version.
This version is the 30th Anniversary version, where some utter, utter gits have added their own scenes. And it turned out worse than say, drawing specs and a moustache on the Mona Lisa.
The monstrous arrogance to do such a thing. If you wanna add to it? Do a remake. Others have, and it turned out pretty well!
But to just….add scenes is outright cultural vandalism. Especially when they’re this bloody crap.
Sigur wrote: I got the Deluxe DVD set of that lying around. I watched it once, I was not too impressed, but it's what you get when you ask for a small-budget animated film about Space Marines (after shooting down properly filmed fan projects). Add 200 times the budget, you get 200 times of what Ultramarines was, plus 'made broadly appealing'. I was always very critical of wishing for a big-budget 40k film (or even worse: tv show).
Sit down one day and try to think about all the plot holes and obvious 40k lore errors in the Ultramarines movie. Just don't make it a drinking game, because you wont survive.
It's a proper European co-production as far as I know. Friend of mine's step-dad worked on the dragon. As for the UM film - I don't care much about plot holes to be honest. It's 40k. It's not made for big screens or big budgets.
Right, OK. I know the author entirely disowned this, and fair enough as it was his creation.
But see if you’re not him? If you don’t enjoy this film, there’s something wrong with you.
I didn't enjoy this film, but I saw it during my 'adaptions should be faithful to the source material' era, and I was outraged that Atreyu wasn't green.
It's in the list of movies to check out with the kids, though.
Also finally got around to watching the first Hobbit movie all the way through, something I had somehow managed to not do yet. We're planning on working through the three Hobbit movies and then the LotR over the school holidays. I'm looking forward to rewatching the LotR again... And also looking forward to never having to watch the Hobbit again...
It's extra disappointing because the book was such a favourite when I was a kid. It was the first full novel I can remember reading, and constantly re-read through primary school. I don't mind the changes, that's part of making a movie... But it's a disjointed mess, and the oddly inconsistent looks on the Dwarves are constantly jarring. I get what they were going for, but it just didn't work.
Gollum remains outstanding, though, and the riddle scene was absolutely perfect.
I didn't enjoy this film, but I saw it during my 'adaptions should be faithful to the source material' era, and I was outraged that Atreyu wasn't green.
The older I've got the more I realise that many of the films I like I like are in part because at the time of seeing I often had no clue about the source material. Therefore I never knew what the films changed or kept or got wrong or altered or anything to have that as a critical point. It lets the films stand very much on their own as their own thing.
Adaptations where I know the source material always have the extra layer of "did they get it right". Personally I'm also in the camp of "they really should get it right in the film". I'm open to changes because of the medium and because of the nature of squishing what are often much longer stories into the short timeframe films have. Eg Lord of the Rings is one of my favoured books and the films I feel get almost everything right*. And I also agree The Hobbit adaptations got it wrong; which is doubly odd because The Hobbit is a much shorter, simpler and should be easier to adapt to film story. It felt very much like whilst LotR was allowed to "do its thing"; The Hobbit got hit with the "Hollywood 'how to make a film;" formula for Producers. So it got a love interest; and a named bad guy; and themepark attraction event and so forth.
*my biggest grump is not having the scouring of the Shire which I always felt made the world feel more real because it made Hobbiton part of the world; not just this ideal place just off to one side. It was harmed by the war. It was also great because it really showed that, for as peaceful as they were, Hobbits were no pushovers. Sure they needed help organising and rallying to free their lands, but they weren't just weaklings with no sense
Overread wrote: And I also agree The Hobbit adaptations got it wrong; which is doubly odd because The Hobbit is a much shorter, simpler and should be easier to adapt to film story. It felt very much like whilst LotR was allowed to "do its thing"; The Hobbit got hit with the "Hollywood 'how to make a film;" formula for Producers. So it got a love interest; and a named bad guy; and themepark attraction event and so forth.
Jackson didn't want to make it in the first place and only took it on when (IIRC) Guillermo Del Toro dropped out and nobody else would do it. And then, despite the success of LotR, the studio wouldn't leave him alone to do it his way, and insisted on it being another trilogy. Hence all the padding and jumping about. And the appalling CGI would suggest it was all on either a much lower budget or a much tighter schedule... I don't remember for sure, as I wasn't following it all that closely when it happened as it all sounded like a dog's breakfast.
Yeah and its a shame because if they'd left it alone a director like Guillermo could have done wonders with that material.
I don't think the trilogy aspect was as big an issue, but certainly you can tell there wasn't the same magic/impact behind it like there was with the first 3. Which is really odd because you'd think the "suits" would have gone the other way and let the director and team go wild rather than restrain and time constrain them.
Making it a trilogy absolutely was the problem with the Hobbit. Two films would have been the best I think. Take out the random Chase scene bloat and the terrible romance sub plot and the rest is pretty close to the book.
And in three films of bloat they couldn't find the space to keep the fun little sequence where Bilbo carefully introduces the dwarves to Beorn via the recounting of their adventures. Argh.
I sat through most of the first Hobbit, and apart from the boredom, I think what bothered me the most was the look. It just looked fake and wrong somehow. Extremely digital, extremely colour-graded and such. Say what you will about the LotR films - it looks like people are where they are, the people (including dwarves, elves and orcs) look like people.
We did a nice family cinema trip for this one, and watched the first one in normal movie night last night.
It’s entirely entertaining, but it will not change anyone’s world.
The characters introduced in the first film are brought back, but don’t get any more development. A bunch of new characters get introduced, but with no real development.
The songs are nice, but not as catchy as the first film. It feels a bit more disjointed as well.
Necroagogo wrote: And in three films of bloat they couldn't find the space to keep the fun little sequence where Bilbo carefully introduces the dwarves to Beorn via the recounting of their adventures. Argh.
Does anybody actually want a "last time on The Hobbit" sequence in a movie? I suppose the second movie could have started like that, but still. That kind of thing already feels excessive to me on a six episode show/season.
Besides, what even happened in the first movie? They met some trolls. Then some elves. Then some goblins. I guess orcs and eagles, too. You're making it out like you can spin some two hour tale out of that.
Geifer wrote: You're making it out like you can spin some two hour tale out of that.
Not quite. it was more to do with the fact that all that additional unnecessary crap was added to the films but they decided to cut this interaction (which is a nice character piece for both Beorn and Bilbo) .... maybe 5 minutes of screen time? Just seems like a missed opportunity.
This is exactly what you would expect from a Christmas movie with the premise that a divorced, minor celebrity has to work as a "chalet girl" over the Holidays to spend time with her son. You get exactly what you would expect out of this.
I think my favorite part of the ridiculousness is that the Chalet Girl's room is a fething suite+. I have seen the accommodations that hotels and resorts put temp workers in..... they are nothing like what we see in this film. That maybe the understatement of understatements.
Finally had time to sit and watch. Decent enough horror flick. Some genuinely disturbing scenes. My only complaint, as in all movies where a monster can control time/perception is that it starts to get old fast. There’s a certain point where you can start calling it out before the reveal and it destroys all tension and lowers the stakes in a way.
Worth a rent. I liked the first one better, but this does exceed it in some ways.
Not casting aspersions, or doing an “aCkShUaLlY”, but as someone who suffers from depression, I found the Babadook a prettt interesting take on things.
After checking out The Babadook's IMDB page I'm convinced checking out The Babadook's IMDB page is as close as I'll come to experiencing the movie.
One of the special features of psychological horror is that you have to be receptive to it in a way that genres with a more visual approach or lighter themes avoid. If you're not, there's usually not much else to hold your interest and the whole experience becomes incredibly tedious and boring. Very much a special interest genre, that one.
Not that I can conclusively say that's true of this movie, but it sure sounds like it and I'm just as sure not going to spend any time verifying my suspicion.
Geifer wrote: You're making it out like you can spin some two hour tale out of that.
Not quite. it was more to do with the fact that all that additional unnecessary crap was added to the films but they decided to cut this interaction (which is a nice character piece for both Beorn and Bilbo) .... maybe 5 minutes of screen time? Just seems like a missed opportunity.
I have all the parental instincts of a paper bag, and so stuff around loss of a child or parenting and that can seem like no big shakes to me, because I just don’t have that frame of reference.
Which may be why people doing dumb things in horror movies just to advance the plot annoy me. Not when they’re actively terrified like, but when the baddie is down and the hero just runs away. At least tie them up or put them down permanently. Hence I didn’t get on with Terrifier at all.
My issues weren't so much with the psychological part of the tale, just the terrible pacing, rhe introduction of paper thin characters who did nothing for the story except add a few more pages to the script.
Spoiler:
and the meh ending.. Everything’s fine kiddo, we just have the scary monster in the basement that we feed worms to for some untold reason, and you'll have to deal with later.
The monster isn't real, it's not something you can kill or defeat because it's the grief and the trauma and the resultant mental illness in the mother and her child as a result of their shared loss.
It never truly goes away, you just learn to coexist with it, learn to manage it. You can't just ignore it, repress it down, because it will just grow and fester and break out. You have to "feed" it, that is let yourself feel the pain and hurt and process those feelings every now and then, accept that it is part of you and your life.
Reggie is back, badass as ever. Follow him as he shoots and quips his way through the deserts of San Bernardino county to the foothills of San Bernardino county to the cityscapes of San Bernardino county to the actor’s actual house in San Bernardino county to a green screened hellscape (in San Bernardino county). But also, follow Reggie through the doubt and confusion of advancing dementia as he struggles to answer the age-old question: it was all a delusion—or was it??
Along for the ride are his old friends from the first movie as well as the menacing Tall Man. Also, n a nice bit of inclusion for a series that hired a lot of little people to play the monsters, a little person who gets to show his face and shoot a gun and quip.
As a stand alone movie, it’s good fun. As a conclusion to the Phantasm series, it doesn’t work.
Oooh, nice pick. I should watch something interesting again as well.
Instead, I watched Anchorman and Anchorman 2. I'm not a big fan of Will Ferell's act, but Anchorman works for me. Because there's an ensemble of people. Anchorman 2 is alright as well, but basically a redo of the first one with too much time spent on Carrell (whom I'm perfectly OK with. Safest leading man this side of Tom Hanks, but the character isn't very funny or original) and Kristen Wiig, who does the same.
Major props to Christina Applegate (whom I last saw in the pretty intense 21 Jump Street episode "I'm ok, you need work"!) on both those films. Other actresses would have just gone under among these people being ridiculous. Anyway. It's both funny films, first one better than the second.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Big Trouble in Little China is an all time classic and one of my favorite movies. It’s also one that I can throw on anytime, in joyous mood or deepest depression, for a needed escape.
And yet, I show that to nieces and nephews today and they are bored and disinterested. Films like Back to the future have stood up, but films like big trouble don't seem to have crossed gnerations.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Has anyone ever seen the movie that has made the least amount of money in US theaters?
This masterpiece is "Zyzzyx Road" (2006), a thriller film directed by John Penney and starring Katherine Heigl and Leo Grillo.
The film was released in a single theater in Dallas, Texas, and it grossed a total of $30 at the box office...
Yea... you read that right - $30!
I’m going to have to check this out. We’ve been out to Zyzzyx Road a couple times, and mostly just run into cosplayers and YouTubers who probably had bigger audiences than this film.
Dunno why, but the above posts made me think of Neil Marshall and his works.
So I guess I’m gonna be slotting in Dog Soldiers (the single greatest Werewolf movie ever made), The Descent (one of the greatest gory suspense horrors ever made) and Doomsday (a film which is so very, very gloriously absolutely all over the place, and a ton of fun, even if it should’ve been better).
Lathe Biosas wrote: I was skimming through some garbage films online when I came across this gem...
I had no idea the Comic Book Scare was still going on.
It's important to realise that for some it never stopped. Heck it wasn't that long ago that they were against Harry Potter books. Broadly speaking these groups will latch onto whatever is hot/big/major because it helps net them attention.
Shudder horror flick. Shudder is always more miss than hits, but I thought this was a hit. Blind woman uses occult/cursed items to get revenge on her twin sisters killers. Took a few turns that kept me guessing, and the end shot was pretty wild.
I recommend for a spooky movie night. Kind of a slow burn, but I enjoyed it.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Dunno why, but the above posts made me think of Neil Marshall and his works.
So I guess I’m gonna be slotting in Dog Soldiers (the single greatest Werewolf movie ever made), The Descent (one of the greatest gory suspense horrors ever made) and Doomsday (a film which is so very, very gloriously absolutely all over the place, and a ton of fun, even if it should’ve been better).
Don't forget Centurion, for the full Neil Marshall "Never go to Scotland" experience. ;-)
A 2023 classic stop motion adventure flick. Yeti! Lizardmen! Shamballa!
If you’re sick of lazy CGI, check this one out. It’d all done in the classic Harryhausen style, and not in a dull, creatively bankrupt hipster ironic way.
I think for past decade plus I’ve been enjoying the odd Spanish horror movie and so I checked this one out:
Synopsis :
Aitana returns home for Christmas, the first time in three years, to find her parents have replaced her with an unknown woman. She uncovers a disturbing and bloody truth.
Its got some horror elements, but its more of a slowburn psychological thriller with a pretty wild horror movie ending. Not something entirely new, but it was different and effective enough that I didn’t mind watching it.
(AKA The Torture Chamber Of Doctor Sadism).
A man and woman travel deep into the Transylvanian countryside to find out about their past, what will they discover at the castle of Count Regula?
A late Sixties German horror movie that's light on story but big on atmosphere. Unfortunately it takes a while to get going and ultimately not much happens when it does.
Hyper violent action comedy, cast in a mould familiar from Hunger Games.
I’m genuinely split. The action is gorgeous and well shot. The protagonist is deaf-mute due to trauma, and communicates with the audience with his internal voice.
It reminds me of Deadpool as well, particularly in how the violence shakes it.
And it is fun. But, confusingly and for reasons I can’t quite identify?
It’s not as fun as it should be. And that I can’t quite put my finger on the why of that is going to irritate the piss out of me for days.
Hyper violent action comedy, cast in a mould familiar from Hunger Games.
I’m genuinely split. The action is gorgeous and well shot. The protagonist is deaf-mute due to trauma, and communicates with the audience with his internal voice.
It reminds me of Deadpool as well, particularly in how the violence shakes it.
And it is fun. But, confusingly and for reasons I can’t quite identify?
It’s not as fun as it should be. And that I can’t quite put my finger on the why of that is going to irritate the piss out of me for days.
It was kinda "meh" overall. Oohh, plot twists you see from space. It was a violence for violence sake type of actioner.
They want to do a sequel. If you want to watch an awesome action flick, go watch Tony Jaa in pretty much anything... You should go watch The Raid: Redemption.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: And it is fun. But, confusingly and for reasons I can’t quite identify?
It’s not as fun as it should be. And that I can’t quite put my finger on the why of that is going to irritate the piss out of me for days.
I watched it a while back and it was good fun. With regard to this point, I think the movie is simply unsteady. It gets the flow of a lot of sequences right and lines up the humor with the action well, but there are a few spots where that flow gets disrupted and you get taken out of it too much. You spend more time waiting for it to get good again than enjoying what you're watching at the time.
Silly movie from 2018. It's probably not as funny as they were trying for but in some ways that actually makes it a better movie. Some of it is total flying rodent gak crazy but it's a good time. Like a less refined Cabin in the Woods but on par in it's own way. It's also only got a running time of like 1.5 hours so it's actually nice and quickly paced.
In a low budget, post apocalyptic Mad Max adjacent flick.
It’s camp, it’s not that good, but it’s overall alright for a bit of silliness. Also surprisingly for this sort of film from that specific era? No boobies.
There are some points of interest. For example, we see a number of enclaves, all different from each other. Standard Nazi raiders, She’s mostly female group, Bacchanelian Werewolves and Creepy Monks lead by someone with Telekinesis so far. Definite points for effort, even if the end result is very ropey.
However, it is 1h 40m, so the whole “we’re not safe here either” thing gets repetitive.
Points for trying though, and I’ve seen far, far worse and lazier Mad Max knock-offs.
One for friends and a few beers if you ask me.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Robotjox
I dig giant robots, you dig giant robots, chicks dig giant robots, we dig giant robots.
Wonderful slice of low budget stop-motion and model brilliance.
Bloody love this film.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Robot Wars
I dig giant robots, you dig giant and well you get the gist.
Apparently billed as Robotjox 3, it is of course not Robotjox 3 but a film in the same vein, by some of the same people.
Somehow this entirely escaped my notice until reading up on Robotjox earlier, and I was stunned to find it on Amazon Prime for free!
One of the robots looks like that Scorpion Zoid, therefore I’m entirely sold.
French family comedy film about a family of French people being sucked into a game of The Werewolves of Millers Hollow (that game where you're dealt a character or just civilian or are one ofthe werewolves, the gamemaster sends the townfolk to bed, they close their eyes, werewolves awaken, agree on a victim, it's morning, they're dead, everybody else has to find out who the werewolves are before everybody's killed. You know that game.).
I was incredibly willing to hate this. It had all the indicators: Big red N, 2024, ad for a brand (boardgame), the big sister is concerned about her 'followers' and mentions the money she makes as an excuse to be part of all that crap, etc. They also called the different roles "super powers". Which is a very bad term and should be forbidden because it usually means that the last 20 minutes of the film (and 10 minutes halfway through) are insufferable CGI drek.
Then the whole thing won me over by being un-annoing and charming. Because I forgot that French films often are very good at making un-annoying characters in fantasy adventure films. I even laughed twice (at very silly things, I have to admit). Okay, the werewolf effects look a little dodgy here and there, but that's entirely forgivable. The other effects are alright even, given the kind of film that is. Jean Reno plays the granddad, while he's not really looking a day older than his son in the film. They could switch roles and it would have worked just as well. But okay.
Good family fantasy film, that. There's something in there for everybody and it's surprisingly un-annoying given how god-awful this could have been. Charming.
Watch It, if you have to watch something on Netflix, possibly with the family.
Went and saw Interstellar 5555 at the cinema. It was advertised as a remastered version, however, as many fans of 90s anime will be aware from updating collections to blu-ray, there are different ways to "remaster" old animation and some are utterly destructive to background detail. Unfortunately, this was the case here, with many background characters reduced to misshapen, faceless blobs, and even the foreground ending up soft and overly smooth in places.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Guyver, aka Mutronics
US live action adaptation by Screamin’ Mad George and Brian Yuzna.
I adore this film, but it is an odd fish. Released in 1991, it came a couple of years before Power Rangers. Why do I mention this? Because despite being a US production, this very much feels like a tokusatsu. Lots of martial arts, done in monster suits. The result is something I think all Dakkanauts would feel at home with, but was perhaps a wee bit ahead of its time.
The feel is also a bit unusual. Moments of outright “Bulk and Skull” type comedy, but then moments of quite brutal violence. As if it’s never quite sure how seriously to take itself.*
On the upside, despite a couple of goofy designs, the Zonaoid and Guyver costumes are genuinely top notch stuff.
When I first saw this, I’d been sort of aware of Guyver for a while, mostly through ads for the vinyl model kits. This was probably around 1994/1995 or so. Whilst I did enjoy it, there were inevitable comparisons drawn against Power Rangers.
Y’know I said this was perhaps a bit ahead of its time? Because it plays like a more grown up Power Rangers, I’m really not sure if that’s such a bad thing. The most important thing though is this is a really enjoyable bit of cinema nonsense.
*Looked it up. And seems they intended to do a faithful adaptation in tone, but soon realised they didn’t have the budget, and instead went for a PG-13 rating. That does somewhat explain it. Really quite gnarly visuals, but with sillier sound effects, and some stuff clearly included to lighten the overall mood.
Today, Dear Dakkanaut, I was meant to be Pup Sitting. But, I’ve been stood down. Downside is limited time annoying Idiot Nephloof (I did get some fusses though, as I was dropping off Christmas pressies). Upside I now have an unexpected day to myself.
And so I’m gonna build my models, and watch as many Rocky movies as I can.
Rocky
It’s fantastic, isn’t it. A film with heart, and a tale of pushing yourself, and seizing the one opportunity life has given you. This shown in Rocky’s unconventional training. He ain’t got much, but works with what he does have, focussing on stamina.
Our protagonist isn’t a super man, but someone going as far as he can. I particularly like how his paramour, Adrian starts off quite mousey and shy, but as both she and Rocky find their confidence, she glams up just a little. She doesn’t become flashy or tarty. Just a wee bit of subtle makeup and more fashionable clothes, someone now a bit more comfortable in their own skin, finding their own worth.
And even though Rocky doesn’t win the bout? He’s taken his shot, and done way better than anyone expected, going the distance and only losing on points. Just fantastic stuff. It’s also helped that whilst a blowhard? Creed isn’t really a villain as such.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Rocky 2
It feels like a natural continuation, where Rocky discovers despite his big shot and monetary success? It’s not all plain sailing from here.
It maintains the overall realism of Rocky. For example, his squandering the life changing winnings through a certain naivety. The same naivety which many people used to poverty have when it comes to suddenly having a decent amount of money.
At the core of it is Rocky and Adrian’s relationship. Down on his general luck, Rocky wants to return to the One Thing He’s Good At, to provide for his now wife and soon to be child. But Adrian, fearful of him being hurt doesn’t want him to do it.
And it’s not until Adrian gives her blessing that Rocky really goes for it. And in a recreation of the training montage and Rocky’s Run, we see his public support. A legend and idol in the making.
An absolutely glorious sequel. I don’t think it really has a place in the pantheon of “sequels better than the first” though. Because it feels more like a second episode type affair.
Again it feels like an organic continuation of Rocky’s saga. And we get an actual “villain” in the glorious form of Mr T.
It’s kind of inverting things. Rocky is the undisputed champ. He’s literally clawed and fought his way out of poverty, and has a pretty nice life.
Then comes Clubber Lang. A loudmouthed upstart, but one with heart, skill, strength and stamina. And he calls Rocky out to his face, in front of a crowd, and insults Adrian.
And it just gets so much better from there.
The main thing is that up to this movie? It all feels very real. It’s not just a hero’s journey, it’s real life, ups, downs, side to sides.
The next two are decent films, but just not in the same league.
My wife and I took a break from Christmas flicks to watch one of her other favorite genres of films..... Jason Statham movies......
Wrath of Man I did not realize that this was directed by Guy Ritchie, but explains why visually this is one step above most films of this ilk.
This has a mix of genres of gangster flick, messed with the wrong man, and a heist flick. It manages to straddle all of them in a "good enough" way. However, make no mistake this is a "B" movie version of HEAT despite the actors and director. During the gangster sequences there are some really great looking shots though... what a shock!
This movie also has Josh Hartnett, the guy from Burn Notice (No, not Bruce Campbell, the other one!), and a few other people you will recognize on sight even if you don't know their name. Oh, and it is satisfying to see Post-Malone get shot in the face.
If you know what you are getting into, and have the right level of expectations this is a fine flick. If you are expecting something better.... well..... it is not that good.
Crypt of the Living Dead aka Hannah, Queen of Vampires, Young Hanna, Queen of Vampires and Vampire Woman
Look, you know you’re in for a certain experience when it’s a 1970’s Euro Horror known by various titles.
Starring….absolutley no-one of particular note.
Plot? There’s an island, and a Vampire was sealed in a tomb, but now she’s not, and everyone is gonna get ate off her, until presumably someone tops her.
That being said? I’ve seen markedly worse. And whilst no great shakes, there’s genuinely nothing objectively awful about it.
Finally watched Die Hard for the first time in decades and, TBH, had forgotten how good it was. Anything between clenching toes and the finale was a blur until then. What with Rickman chewing the scenery, some great, cheesy 80s fight scenes (I mean think McClaine was kicked in the head seven times before springing up and turning the tables) and a lot of deaths, it’s the true meaning of Christmas.
Flinty wrote: Just watched Puss in Boots Last Wish with my daughter. Total winner.
Great story, brilliant animation style, especially in the way it changes when the action scenes kick in. Great characters.
I mean it’s a kids film, but it’s really nicely done.
Hugely enjoyable time.
Yeah, it's a gorgeously animated film. The action scenes I think they did a technique similar to what the Spiderverse films use, where you have the camera recording and moving on 1's (that is every frame) and the keyframes of the character motion on 2's (that is they are only animated every other frame, holding each motion for 2 frames) which gives you that kind of jerky and snappy look. It works perfectly for action to really give it a kind of "comic book" look.
And spot on with the characters. It is an incredible movie, hugely enjoyable for kids and grown ups.
I’ve, entirely rightfully, praised this film before. But on my second watch through? I’m finding new things to appreciate.
Like the sounds design. The sounds of the shipboard industrial equipment is lifted from the previous installations, helping to cement this as part of the same universe.
And yes, on a second watch? I’m pretty sure Junkie No-Knob, the character who’s entire personality seems to be “I am do the drugs, therefore am are the cool” is intended to be a Richard and utterly unlikable.
So kudos to the actor for getting that across. Because like all decent portrayals of absolute Richards, we really should be wondering if they bothered acting at all.
Finally got around to watching the D&D movie. I thought it was pretty good, a fantasy "marvel" movie but done well enough.
Also watched the M4 fan edit of the Hobbit trilogy. I've had the "Tolkien edit" for ages, but this one is to my mind much closer to Tolkien. The editor and I seem to have similar taste because they cut everything I really hated out of the films and left only the stuff I liked. The result is my favourite Tolkien adaptation on film, by a decent margin (Fellowship of the Ring is in second place, and everything else comes way down the list after that!).
It does get a bit patchier toward the end, and there's silly stuff you just can't edit around (Bilbo being visible for the Smaug conversation for example) but overall it's an amazing job.
Yeah, Die Hard has such as legendary status that each time I see it I'm taken with how good it actually is. Maybe actually listening to the Beatles would be a similar experience. I wouldn't know.
@Da Boss: Exactly the impression I got from the D&D film. Michelle Rodriguez is good again. Good role.
15 minutes into this and I'm 12 years old again and in Jackson Heights with my best bud...
Feel the beat of the rhythm of the night!
Sho’nuff!
I still find it funny that Arcadian’s Cindy Lauper-wannabe girlfriend and the Saki-to-Me guys both got better songs than Prince’s protege. A professional singer’s performance shouldn’t have the audience saying, “Oh thank God it’s El Debarge.”
It's a strange film because you can see so many parts are daft just to fit the "Battleship boardgame" idea they went for. Yet at the same time there's a few bits of the story - like the alien that randomly lets them get away with what they are doing - which just begs more questions and gives a sense of depth behind the story that you honestly don't expect from what's basically a fun action-flick.
I’m also genuinely impressed at how perfectly fine Rihanna is as an actor.
I mean, it’s not as if this is her attempting Shakespeare or a bit of Alan Bennet. But she’s far from wooden, displays genuine emotion. As a bit of arugable stunt casting, it worked out better than I was expecting.
And of course, the Old Boy’s getting one final jolly is just absolutely superb cinema. Shcmaltzy? Sure. But they genuinely took the Missouri out for a sail. And to see guns if that calibre roar their fury is just *chefs kiss*. Almost certainly life from War of the Worlds, but who cares.
Never seen more than 2 minutes of Battleship, only the Asylum film American Warship.
Friend of mine invited me to watch The 'Burbs (1989) last night. First time I watched the English dub version (I think). Especially interesting since just a few days ago I heard this film being listed by people as one of the few things they actually prefer the German dub version over the original audio. English version is perfectly fine. It's been ages since I watched the film, surely 10 years. I do love that film though. It's just fun and I like the dynamic of that neighborhood, and it's got several great scenes and quotes ("electricity is our friend", "Sardine?", "Hey, Pinocchio! Where you going?"). The most astonishing thing is that you got the big lead actor in Tom Hanks (okay it was post-Splash and Big, same year as Turner&Hooch, 4 years before Philadelphia), but in no way he's overpowering in that role. He fits in very well as being the almost-straight man to all the insanity around him. The Corey Feldman role is a genius inclusion. He's the viewer's avatar and tells us about the mindset we should watch this film in.
I watched Battleship recently just because and forgot how genuinely enjoyable it was. It's silly, campy, and all of that but damn does it know it and it almost revels in it. Also killing off the "big name" of the time right away was amazing and still is
Shame that is lost Universal $150 million. Could of been the Iron Man of its genre and set us up with the Board Game Cinematic Universe.
The world just wasn't ready.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sigur wrote: Never seen more than 2 minutes of Battleship, only the Asylum film American Warship.
Friend of mine invited me to watch The 'Burbs (1989) last night. First time I watched the English dub version (I think). Especially interesting since just a few days ago I heard this film being listed by people as one of the few things they actually prefer the German dub version over the original audio. English version is perfectly fine. It's been ages since I watched the film, surely 10 years. I do love that film though. It's just fun and I like the dynamic of that neighborhood, and it's got several great scenes and quotes ("electricity is our friend", "Sardine?", "Hey, Pinocchio! Where you going?"). The most astonishing thing is that you got the big lead actor in Tom Hanks (okay it was post-Splash and Big, same year as Turner&Hooch, 4 years before Philadelphia), but in no way he's overpowering in that role. He fits in very well as being the almost-straight man to all the insanity around him. The Corey Feldman role is a genius inclusion. He's the viewer's avatar and tells us about the mindset we should watch this film in.
Amazing cast, great fun, silly things happen.
To this day, anytime I see a redheaded dude with a beard, I think of Hans Klopek from The Burbs.
This is a DC animated film starring John Constantine, the Hell Blazer. Who I honestly know very little about as a character other than what I got from limited DCU animated appearances and that live-action Keanu movie.
In this one, John helps an old friend who's daughter is in a coma. These leads to a run-in with an old enemy, some back story, and some supernatural noir hi-jinx.
Overall, it was okay.
Justice League: After Dark
I think that was the name. Another DCU animated flick with Batman, Zatanna, Etragon/Jason Blood, Deadman, and John Constantine going up against some supernatural baddies.
I do like the Supernatural side of comic book flicks. The main baddie is boring as all get-out. However, there is some strong magic battles in this one. However, I really wanted to see some Dr. Fate.
If you want some Magic battles, this is good for that and not much else. It was nice to see Batman in the sidekick role though.
Hulksmash wrote: I watched Battleship recently just because and forgot how genuinely enjoyable it was. It's silly, campy, and all of that but damn does it know it and it almost revels in it. Also killing off the "big name" of the time right away was amazing and still is
Honestly thought I was the only one with an appreciation for it. Nice to know there’s other Dakkanauts open to its silliness.
Also, there’s something oddly 40K about the “we’ve got one ship” bit. Bringing a relic out of Mothball, and having it kick the enemy’s arse back to where it came from.
Automatically Appended Next Post: On Alien Romulus? Watched it again today. And I honestly don’t know if I’m just more used to the effects, or if they’ve gone back and fixed them up a bit, but Rook’s facial mapping seemed much stronger. The mouth still isn’t quite right (it looks ‘floaty’, like it’s not fixed in place on the face), but it’s not as wrong looking as in the cinema.
It's a little over 2 hours. I found it very engaging the entire time. You see the Jackal setting everything up for his assassination attempt and the French Governments attempt stop him.
Probably the first film I saw in the theatre at my own request. And it’s a corker.
Solid creature effects, amazing CGI for its time (nearly 40 years ago).
Just a terrific movie, spesh if you’ve got kids.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Seems I’m on a 1986 kick today. Because now, it’s
Short Circuit
Still an interesting and entertaining film. Shame about the Brownface though.
I particularly like the inversion of a robot becoming self aware, and being really quite a pleasant chap, when it’s typically a horror trope. Makes me wonder what other horror tropes might be made into wholesome movies.
It was really stylistic, loved the whole look to the film... but the plot line and characters and technology is stone stupid.
This whole movie could've been good... but it wasn't.
Spoiler Rant:
Spoiler:
Hypothetical Question:
If an aircraft fires a missile at a target, and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed. Does the missile disarm and not do anything? Sure does in the Creator.
Also, if you put a small demolition charge on a missile that's not armed, will it explode and take out your flying supership? Sure will!
By the way, it's sad that the hero killed all those people who were just lunar travelers. Sucks to be them!
Too bad our super flying military fortress was only manned by 6 guys.
Also, Why does the US Army need giant tanks, that fire a couple of missiles and small cannons?
Whicj doesnt explain why the US Army's new look is camouflaged soldiers and Star Wars White tanks.
Always a good look for southeast Asia.
There were so many dumb things that just took me out of this film... I really wanted to enjoy it.
It’s got much worse ratings, but for me it’s the funnier, snappier film of the two.
Once again, shame about the Brownface.
On the other hand, when Ben does his calculation for providing the number of toys needed, I at once feel young and very, very old. Because I remember the date given being far in the future. And now it’s miserably far in the past.
One of my dearest friends sent me a copy of two movies I quote wayyy too often Taken
Spoiler:
I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want.
If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money.
But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career.
Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you.
But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
and Street Fighter
Spoiler:
Troopers!
I have just received new orders.
Our superiors say the war is cancelled, and we can all go home.
Bison is getting paid off for his crimes, and our friends will have died here... will have died for nothing.
But... we can all go home.
Meanwhile, ideals like these - freedom, and justice - they get packed up.
But... we can all go home.
Well... I'm not going home. I'm gonna get on my boat, and I'm going up-river, and I'm going to kick that son-of-a-b*tch Bison's ass so HARD... that the next Bison wanna-be is gonna feel it.
Now who wants to go home... and who wants to go with ME!
I realize these films are not cinematic masterpieces... but I don't care, much like the Return of the Jedi, it makes me smile or just enjoy the ride.
Which if your movie is dumb, tell me up front... don't pretend to be a deep look at the underpinnings of what it means to be human, when all you want to do is blow up stuff and have over-the-top car chases.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Taken is definitely a landmark movie, sadly marred not just by Liam Neeson getting stuck in that casting rut, but some woeful sequels.
Taken 2 wasn't horrific... Taken 3... I'm sorry--"Tak3n" was pretty horrific.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Taken is definitely a landmark movie, sadly marred not just by Liam Neeson getting stuck in that casting rut, but some woeful sequels.
My thoughts exactly.
I don't see an ounce of redeeming quality in Street Fighter.
I watched a film! A Night at the Roxbury (1998), but I don't have much positive to say. I laughed once though, pretty hard.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Taken is definitely a landmark movie, sadly marred not just by Liam Neeson getting stuck in that casting rut, but some woeful sequels.
My thoughts exactly.
I don't see an ounce of redeeming quality in Street Fighter.
I watched a film! A Night at the Roxbury (1998), but I don't have much positive to say. I laughed once though, pretty hard.
Raul Julia is the redeeming quality in Street Fighter. The man was literally dying and did the movie for his kids and chewed scenery and did so gloriously.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Taken is definitely a landmark movie, sadly marred not just by Liam Neeson getting stuck in that casting rut, but some woeful sequels.
Did they ever finally, finally get around to making the no-brainer sequel where the daughter is abducted by aliens, Taken in Space?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Taken is definitely a landmark movie, sadly marred not just by Liam Neeson getting stuck in that casting rut, but some woeful sequels.
Did they ever finally, finally get around to making the no-brainer sequel where the daughter is abducted by aliens, Taken in Space?
No, but they did do one focusing on sanitation Taken Out the Trash
The story of Odysseus, washing ashore on Ithaca, years after the Trojan War and the treacherous journey home. He hides his identity as he is wracked with the guilt of what he did during the war, as well as having survivors remorse, being the only Ithacan to return from Troy. He finds his home in a poor state with nefarious suitors for his wifes hand running rampant across the lands.
Pretty wild acting showcase with Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope. They had previously teamed up in the 1992 classic “The English Patient” which was a critical and commercial success way back in 1992. I was 11 back then so it never interested me, but I may give it a shot after this.
Spoiler:
I generally hate when mythology is taken out of myths, but this was a pretty good character study of a man devastated by PTSD and not feeling worthy to show his face to his loved ones, as well a wife holding out hope that her husband will return and learning to accept what he’s become. Its a slow burn, but gets pretty intense once Odysseus gets a weapon.
I’m gonna name my next dog Argos, because the scene with Odysseus and Argos hit me right in the feels, with my dog laying at my feet while I watched this movie.
Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but a solid movie in my book.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Taken is definitely a landmark movie, sadly marred not just by Liam Neeson getting stuck in that casting rut, but some woeful sequels.
My thoughts exactly.
I don't see an ounce of redeeming quality in Street Fighter.
I watched a film! A Night at the Roxbury (1998), but I don't have much positive to say. I laughed once though, pretty hard.
Raul Julia is the redeeming quality in Street Fighter. The man was literally dying and did the movie for his kids and chewed scenery and did so gloriously.
William
He was in other films and tv productions too. If I want to see him in somehting bad I'll watch Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. Mid-90s films was the ONE time Mortal Kombat did anything better than Street Fighter. Weird time, that.
I want to see The Return very badly, but the closest theatre that had it was pretty much a days drive away.
Watched The Mechanic: Resurrection. A sequel to the other Mechanic film which was a re-boot of the old Charles Bronson flick. This one was just a low-rent Bond wannabe with jet-setting, daft shoot-outs/action scenes, and too many highly paid stars to be this mid and forgettable. It had Jessica Alba, Jason Statham, and Tommy Lee Jones, all collecting pay checks.
There was a rather interesting pool related hit, but overall pretty forgettable flick. The other two Mechanic films are much better.
Easy E wrote: I want to see The Return very badly, but the closest theatre that had it was pretty much a days drive away.
It was an I-tunes rental, if that helps. Bit on the pricier side because it was such a new release, but I really wanted to see it so I pulled the trigger.
Having never played any of the games, I thought I could just enjoy this as a big, dumb action movie... Turns out I could not.
Some of the action scenes aren't bad, just a little over CGI-ed, but overall it's a terrible movie and not even in a "so bad it's good" way.
Just watched my second favorite DiCaprio film Inception
The special effects still hold up, and the hallway fight scene is still spectacular.
My favorite bit is still the Hans Zimmer score. It's amazing how some soundtracks feel absolutely perfect for the film, and you couldn't imagine the film with a different score.
Because I’ve seen all of Phase IV, but haven’t really rewatched all of Phase IV, I’m doing just that, bit by bit.
I’ve done Multiverse of Madness, and now on Shang Chi.
Both of those have reminded me what some of the their phase mates seemed to have forgotten. The key to making a decent MCU Movie? Is to focus on making a good genre movie, that just happens to involve superheroes and super villains.
Shang Chi is predominantly a solidly entertaining Martial Arts Movie, for instance. Whereas Wakanda Forever* is just a superhero movie.
*I do recognise that must’ve been a sodding hard movie to make. Not just due to pandemic and its restrictions, but losing your massively charismatic, scene stealing Lead.
My brother and I quote this one to each other all the time. One of our favorites is "Quick, change the channel!"
Street Fighter did well by not taking itself too seriously. Personally I think it was a more fun movie than Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat was too busy trying to be serious and edgy, just like the games. I don't hate it, but Street Fighter is the superior movie, at least to me. I know I'm in the minority with this opinion.
And yes, Raul Julia was by far the best thing about Street Fighter. The guy just absolutely crushed it, and his whole "For me, it was Tuesday" speech is probably one of the best short speeches in all of cinema, at least to me. A fitting swan song for a great actor.
I had to go look that up. I don't think I've ever seen that one. I still have nightmares from that old MacGyver episode that dealt with ants in South America, so I might have to skip this one.
I had to go look that up. I don't think I've ever seen that one. I still have nightmares from that old MacGyver episode that dealt with ants in South America, so I might have to skip this one.
Actually I believe MDG was referring to Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially as he then goes on to talk about several films that are from Phase IV. The marvel films are broken up into "Phases" that make up story arcs. For example Phase 1 was six films starting with Iron Man (2008) and ending with Avengers (2012).
I had to go look that up. I don't think I've ever seen that one. I still have nightmares from that old MacGyver episode that dealt with ants in South America, so I might have to skip this one.
It's been a good while since I saw it, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say you don't miss much by skipping it. I don't think the movie had much of a point.
For a safer ecological "horror" movie from the 70s I'll recommend Night of the Lepus. Anyone would be hard pressed to get nightmares from that.
With inspiration from this thread, and a timely Prime recommendation, I’m watching Street Fighter.
As covered it’s an unpretentious slice of self aware nonsense, and nobody is taking it particularly seriously.
But you know, it also feels like a decent GI Joe movie.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also, in pursuit of movies which are bad yet I unironically enjoy?
Van Helsing
Falls short of being the sum of its parts, but there is a lot still to be enjoyed. Not least the redhead vampire.
The villains are all chewing the scenery with gusto, and despite being what, 20+ years old? The CGI and effects remain pretty convincing.
A pleasure, and not a guilty one for me.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And now time for genuine crap.
Snakes on a Plane.
Probably the first “meme” movie. Apparently internet hype lead to five days of reshoots, which didn’t pay off at the box office.
Numerous issues with this, including it typically being really quite nippy in the hold of a plane, so the Sneks shouldn’t have been active. And I’m not at all persuaded Crack (yes, Crack) would make Sneks aggressive.
It also ruined by idiocy like “people suddenly forgetting how to walk up some stairs”, and a generally unlikable case of characters.
And hey, if your inside man or men or whatevs can get a bunch of unsecured, highly venomous Sneks aboard a plane? Just get him to plan a bomb instead, put us all out of our misery.
There isn’t a bargain bin deep enough to bury this absolute turd of a movie.
Oh, I see your mistake. You questioned the premise of Snakes on a Plane. Don't do that. It's not going to end well. You're there to enjoy watching melon-fething snakes on a melon-fething plane do their melon-fething thing.
In other news I watched Repo - The Genetic Opera the other night. Fun movie. Fun musical. A bit much on the gothy side for my taste, though I suspect that's part of what makes it good.
If there were more metal musicals, I'd watch more musicals.
This is the one that convinces me that I'll never know what actually makes a good film.
As movies go it's incredibly bare bones, but it not only works it works really well.
And despite being quite old and much copied at this point, it still holds up today.
Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl
One of those movies I loved when it first came out, but due to media overexposure, some very ropey sequels and every scrawny little no-mark desperately trying to convince everyone they’re just like Jack, a movie I’d gone right off.
But it’s been a few years, and my ire has more than cooled enough for me to enjoy it once again.
One of those movies I loved when it first came out, but due to media overexposure, some very ropey sequels and every scrawny little no-mark desperately trying to convince everyone they’re just like Jack, a movie I’d gone right off.
But it’s been a few years, and my ire has more than cooled enough for me to enjoy it once again.
The first three really form a rock solid trilogy. After that it all falls apart- but that's an impressive feat for something inspired by a Disney ride.
I feel like the first 3 work but I do dislike how in 2 and 3 Jack Sparrow becomes basically less and less viable as a drunken charismatic leader and becomes more just a drunk fooling around on set.
Also I maintain that they should have done a spin-off for Barbossa purely with him as a pirate doing pirate stuff without Sparrow
I watched all five movies last week. The first three are great. The fourth one has a few rare, good moments but is already a marked step down. The fifth one is basically an insult.
I really like Barbossa (more than Cap'n Jack, even), but I'm not sure he'd benefit from a solo movie. He's good as the serious counterpart to Jack, with his own little quirks to spice things up. But I'm not sure that we'd get much good out of him without that direct contrast. I'm going to say the last two Pirates movies already showcase enough what decoupling working combinations from the early movies leads to. I don't think we need more of that.
Godzilla vs. Megalon is a delightful entry in the Godzilla franchise that showcases the charm and creativity of 1970s kaiju cinema. Directed by Jun Fukuda, the film presents a unique blend of action, humor, and imaginative storytelling that has captivated audiences for decades.
The special effects crew, led by the legendary Eiji Tsuburaya, brought to life the iconic battles between Godzilla and his foes with a mix of practical effects and miniatures that are both entertaining and endearing. The film's monster designs, particularly the menacing Megalon and the heroic Jet Jaguar, are memorable and add to the film's whimsical appeal.
One of the standout aspects of "Godzilla vs. Megalon" is the remarkable performance of Haruo Nakajima, who donned the Godzilla suit. His physicality and ability to convey emotion through the suit brought depth to the character, making Godzilla not just a monster, but a beloved icon. Nakajima's dedication to his craft is evident in every scene, as he expertly navigates the challenges of portraying such a legendary creature.
While "Godzilla vs. Megalon" may not be the most critically acclaimed film in the franchise, its campy charm, imaginative battles, and the unforgettable performances make it a must-watch for fans of kaiju films. It remains a beloved classic that continues to entertain audiences with its unique blend of action and fun.
Overread wrote: It's a strange film because you can see so many parts are daft just to fit the "Battleship boardgame" idea they went for. Yet at the same time there's a few bits of the story - like the alien that randomly lets them get away with what they are doing - which just begs more questions and gives a sense of depth behind the story that you honestly don't expect from what's basically a fun action-flick.
Bit old, but I can't miss a chance to talk about this one.
One of the utterly wild things about this film is that the aliens are incredibly conscientious of human life. Their initial attack specifically only hits military targets and even then does so with effectively no casualties by striking deployment vectors over manned ships. They also only fire after being fired upon. It's not even accidental. There's scenes of them identifying civilians and standing down and generally go way out of their way to be non-hostile. It's honestly kind of wild.
I do always wonder if this was in some way intended to tie into Battleship: Galaxies, but sadly we'll never know.
For some silly reason I have Amazon Prime for a week. I have to say, that they have a really strong line-up when it comes to films. It was a bank holiday, I'd just gotten back from the hospital (we had a broken arm in the family), I put on The Apartment (1960). One of my all-time favourite films. Lovely.
New Nosferatu was quite good. One of the best vampire movies I have seen, and easily the best Dracula movie (although technically it doesn't feature Dracula). That's not very high bar to clear though, most Dracula movies are bad.
It’s. A film, I guess. Overly telegraphed and a bit obvious. The effects are good, but it’s a waste of both of the lead actor talents.
Yeah, it was a disappointment.
For those that don't know, 65, starring Adam Driver, presents a premise that initially piques interest: a pilot crash-landing on a mysterious prehistoric Earth. However, the film quickly reveals itself to be a derivative and formulaic monster chase narrative that fails to capitalize on its intriguing concept. The plot unfolds in a painfully predictable manner, relying heavily on clichés and tropes that have been seen countless times in the genre. Instead of exploring the potential of its setting and characters, the film opts for a paint-by-numbers approach that leaves little room for originality or depth.
Adam Driver, known for his impressive range and ability to convey complex emotions, is unfortunately underutilized in this film. His character is reduced to a one-dimensional figure, merely reacting to the relentless onslaught of prehistoric creatures rather than engaging in meaningful development or exploration. The film's lack of substance and creativity ultimately results in a disappointing experience, squandering the talents of its cast and leaving viewers yearning for a more innovative and engaging story. In the end, "65" serves as a reminder that even the most promising premises can falter when not executed with care and originality.
Just watched the Missouri scene from Battleship. Again.
And I’m still blown away by it.
First? The veteran sailors are For Real veteran sailors.
Second? They actually took her out. Whilst a museum ship, she is taken out of dock every now and again. And they did it For Real, not using lazy CGI.
Third? I love when he checks in on his crew, asking if they’re ready. His crew member says nothing, until the Veteran confirms.
I have a frankly inexplicable soft spot for Battleships of all sizes, eras and capabilities. To know they didn’t really cheat here please my oddly nautical heart. Spesh when you get the “we’re not going down without a fight, so GERTCHA” broadside, which is frankly superb.
American Warships, a mockbuster inspired by the (not quite a ) blockbuster Battleship, delivers an unexpectedly entertaining experience despite its modest $1 million budget. The film follows a similar premise of naval warfare against an alien threat, but with a more straightforward and accessible approach that may resonate with fans of the classic board game. While it lacks the high-octane visuals and star power of its big-screen counterpart, "American Warships" embraces its low-budget charm, offering a fun, if not entirely polished, take on the genre that captures the essence of strategic naval combat in a way that feels refreshingly close to the original game.
A horror film on that Shudder. Three influencers go to one of their Dad’s luxury cabin things for a weekend get away, when there’s a meteor shower on.
Something organic lands in the pool, and they lose internet connection. From there it gets a bit weird and trippy, with the alien in the pool seemingly knocking up and taking over the mind of two of the girls.
It’s all practical effects which is to its credit, and overall a fairly interesting alien invasion type tale. It’s not entirely original, drawing on tropes, but I’d say it is worth a watch.
I know I write very sarcastic reviews occasionally , but honestly, this one was one the best I've seen in a long time...
Godzilla Minus One is a surprisingly profound entry in the Godzilla franchise that far exceeds expectations.
Tackling heavy themes such as PTSD, survivor's guilt, and government propaganda, the film delves into the human experience in the wake of devastation, offering a poignant exploration of trauma and resilience. The emotional depth and character development are striking, with moments that genuinely tug at the heartstrings, making it a compelling watch even for those who might typically seek out monster mayhem.
This film is a testament to the power of storytelling, proving that a Godzilla movie can be both thrilling and deeply moving.
Honestly, this film is a lot better than any film with the name Godzilla in it has the right to be.
Lathe Biosas wrote: I know I write very sarcastic reviews occasionally , but honestly, this one was one the best I've seen in a long time...
Godzilla Minus One is a surprisingly profound entry in the Godzilla franchise that far exceeds expectations.
Tackling heavy themes such as PTSD, survivor's guilt, and government propaganda, the film delves into the human experience in the wake of devastation, offering a poignant exploration of trauma and resilience. The emotional depth and character development are striking, with moments that genuinely tug at the heartstrings, making it a compelling watch even for those who might typically seek out monster mayhem.
This film is a testament to the power of storytelling, proving that a Godzilla movie can be both thrilling and deeply moving.
Honestly, this film is a lot better than any film with the name Godzilla in it has the right to be.
Agree completely. Godzilla Minus One was amazing, and possibly the best Godzilla movie we've had yet. I haven't seen the black and white version, but I kind of want to, for the novelty if nothing else.
Marc Alaimo! Claudia Christian! Armin Shimerman! Each in turn appearing as what might as well be prototypes for their later roles!
A pretty fun, medium budget Space Rocky type movie. I’m mostly impressed at the effort put into to the creature effects and costumes. We don’t have Trek style “human but with this odd bit on their face” crowd fillers. These are full head prosthetics, and pretty good ones for the budget.
In terms of overall quality, it falls below proper cinema release, but somewhere above Straight to Video,
It is pretty good fun, in a distinctly inoffensive and average way. Certainly is an example of a modest budget well spent.
So I’ve long threatened to watch this. In a Sheriff Bart from Blazing Saddles threatening his own safety to win over the townspeople, without the racially charged words which make sense in the context of Blazing Saddles.
What do I make of it?
It feels like a Mockbuster churned out by that studio of lazy hacks known for Mockbusters. And had it been named Northern Scotland Scotsman, it might’ve gotten away with it.
But 16 minutes in? I…I don’t get how this is meant to be a sequel to Highlander. I mean, other than McLeod and somehow Ramirez, it’s got sod all to do with the themes and plot of Highlander.
On the upside? Or “the gold in this midden” as I like to put it? Whilst some of the effects are dated, the visuals of this movie are really, really evocative. The world is written as knackered and worn out, and it absolutely sells that with the sets and their dressing. Even the costumes suggest faded grandeur.
I’m happy to watch the rest of this, because the visuals are so strong. And whilst clearly a crap follow up on the first? I dare to have hope that if viewed as an entirely separate sci-fi action silliness movie, it might just stand on its own two feets.
You should watch Highlander 2: The Renegade Version. The Directors went back and rehired Connery to fix a couple scenes that were cut out by the studio.
The Directors did not know about the alien stuff until the saw it in the theater.
The Renegade Version puts it back to the way it was supposed to be.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: I would sooner boil my bollocks and have them as a post-hangover breakfast.
OK. How about Robots ? It is a 2023 American science fiction romantic comedy film (live action, not animated) written and directed by Ant Hines and Casper Christensen. It is based on the 1973 short story "The Robot Who Looked Like Me" by Robert Sheckley. The film stars Shailene Woodley (from the Divergent films).
Remember when studios made mid-budget action/comedy/romance movies to release to wide audiences in the theatre instead of sending them straight to streaming? This movie remembers!
Starring Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon this Rom-Com features a lot of killing and shooting as two secret agent buddies use their skills and technology to try and land the girl. Hijinks ensue.
Harmless enough really, and way better than most Netflix releases.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Oh, I found an animated movie starring Britain's funniest comic, Jack Whitehall... called The Queen's Corgi. It got 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sounds like a challenge for you, MDG.
Seen it. I think several times actually - my youngest was about the right age for it when it came out. Other than quite a nice pastiche of a certain orange president towards the end, yeah, it's dreadful.
Went to see this at the local flea pit Sunday afternoon with my friend and her girls.
Whilst just a compilation of, well, cat videos, off the internet? It was a pleasant way to while away a chilly January afternoon. And proceeds go toward our local Cat shelter, so in a good cause too.
God I love this sort of derpy horror. The plot is utter mince, but we still get a fun experience as the pint sized terrors this time take on equally dinky demon things, sent by Decapitron.
"The Hunt for Red October," directed by John McTiernan and based on Tom Clancy's novel, is a masterful blend of suspense and political intrigue that stands as one of the best submarine films of all time.
Sean Connery delivers a commanding performance as Captain Marko Ramius, a Soviet submarine commander who seeks to defect to the United States with his cutting-edge submarine, the Red October. Alec Baldwin shines as Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst tasked with understanding Ramius's intentions, creating a captivating dynamic that drives the film's tension.
I just looked it up and he also did Robocop, Starship Troopers and Conan the Barbarian
He also did the music for Cherry 2000, a pretty trippy post-apocalyptic movie about a man who has to brave the lawless wilds to find a part to repair his girlfriend-robot. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds.
On the subject of Red October, that movie is the only one to do Tom Clancy's material any kind of real justice. Most of the others were meh to terrible.
I just looked it up and he also did Robocop, Starship Troopers and Conan the Barbarian
He also did the music for Cherry 2000, a pretty trippy post-apocalyptic movie about a man who has to brave the lawless wilds to find a part to repair his girlfriend-robot. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds.
On the subject of Red October, that movie is the only one to do Tom Clancy's material any kind of real justice. Most of the others were meh to terrible.
You weren't a fan of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger?
I just looked it up and he also did Robocop, Starship Troopers and Conan the Barbarian
He also did the music for Cherry 2000, a pretty trippy post-apocalyptic movie about a man who has to brave the lawless wilds to find a part to repair his girlfriend-robot. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds.
On the subject of Red October, that movie is the only one to do Tom Clancy's material any kind of real justice. Most of the others were meh to terrible.
You weren't a fan of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger?
No, as a matter of fact, I wasn't. If nothing else, I don't feel like Harrison Ford made a good Jack Ryan. They should have stuck with Alec Baldwin. I know that's perhaps a controversial opinion, but it is my opinion.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: That was the one critics blasted for being too unrealistic. Wealthy white nationalist fascists moving the levers of power in the West? Ridiculous!
Sounds like someone missed their interval today...
Prozium - The great nepenthe. Opiate of our masses. Glue of our great society. Salve and salvation, it has delivered us from pathos, from sorrow, the deepest chasms of melancholy and hate. With it, we anesthetize grief, annihilate jealousy, obliterate rage. Those sister impulses towards joy, love, and elation are anesthetized in stride, we accept as fair sacrifice. For we embrace Prozium in its unifying fullness and all that it has done to make us great.
I like sum of all fears. It’s a bit more tweaked due to the change of Jack back to a younger character, but it was tense enough and hit the main stilly points.
Flinty wrote: I like sum of all fears. It’s a bit more tweaked due to the change of Jack back to a younger character, but it was tense enough and hit the main stilly points.
Did you like the Chris Pine - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit movie?
BobtheInquisitor wrote: That was the one critics blasted for being too unrealistic. Wealthy white nationalist fascists moving the levers of power in the West? Ridiculous!
Sounds like someone missed their interval today...
Prozium - The great nepenthe. Opiate of our masses. Glue of our great society. Salve and salvation, it has delivered us from pathos, from sorrow, the deepest chasms of melancholy and hate. With it, we anesthetize grief, annihilate jealousy, obliterate rage. Those sister impulses towards joy, love, and elation are anesthetized in stride, we accept as fair sacrifice. For we embrace Prozium in its unifying fullness and all that it has done to make us great.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: That was the one critics blasted for being too unrealistic. Wealthy white nationalist fascists moving the levers of power in the West? Ridiculous!
Sounds like someone missed their interval today...
Prozium - The great nepenthe. Opiate of our masses. Glue of our great society. Salve and salvation, it has delivered us from pathos, from sorrow, the deepest chasms of melancholy and hate. With it, we anesthetize grief, annihilate jealousy, obliterate rage. Those sister impulses towards joy, love, and elation are anesthetized in stride, we accept as fair sacrifice. For we embrace Prozium in its unifying fullness and all that it has done to make us great.
And to be honest? I think that alone sums this movie up. If like me you’re a fan of Mr Bautista’s work, and competent but not exactly remarkable action flicks? Stick this on/
It’s not doing anything new, but it’s doing what it does competently. And I’ll take that.
Wait….wait. It’s just been massively elevated. Drew McIntyre has a supporting role, and he and his buddy’s Scots dialect is translated into polite English. Which has given them free reign to use patter, and it’s wonderful.
Ok, I've killed to birds with one stone. I watched an animated movie I had zero interest in watching but was tired of being browbeaten by every single parent that I've talked to for the last decade... and now I've also seen a film with Jack Whitehall in it.
So yeah, I watched Frozen.
Yay.
Now all I have to do is watch 7 more Harry Potter films (I watched 2 of them... the one with Gary Oldman and the Ringwraiths from Lord of the Rings, and the one with the guy who swears he loves animals and comes to America to release a bird, only to release it in the wrong place so it will die.) and my checklist of movies watched due to peer pressure will be complete.
I think I need a drink and a Gerald Butler film as a palate cleanse.
Sounds like you watched one of the Harry Potter prequels on accident. That’s a painful mistake.
The only Harry Potter films I’d recommend to non-fans would be the second one, Chamber of Secrets, which is a tightly written, well executed fantasy story, and The Order of the Phoenix, with the only villain in the franchise who is actually menacing.
The only Disney movie since Leelo and Stitch I’d recommend is Tangled, but it’s not a must-watch.
You watch Frozen 2 for the art style. The story is meh, but the songs are awesome and by odin’s mighty horn, the colour palette and visuals are glorious.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Sounds like you watched one of the Harry Potter prequels on accident. That’s a painful mistake.
The only Harry Potter films I’d recommend to non-fans would be the second one, Chamber of Secrets, which is a tightly written, well executed fantasy story, and The Order of the Phoenix, with the only villain in the franchise who is actually menacing.
The only Disney movie since Leelo and Stitch I’d recommend is Tangled, but it’s not a must-watch.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Wreck-It Ralph was great, and Moana was pretty fun too (and it has my favorite Disney song, sung by none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson!). Frozen, I'll very much agree, was massively overrated, but it's not terrible really.
And to be honest? I think that alone sums this movie up. If like me you’re a fan of Mr Bautista’s work, and competent but not exactly remarkable action flicks? Stick this on/
It’s not doing anything new, but it’s doing what it does competently. And I’ll take that.
Wait….wait. It’s just been massively elevated. Drew McIntyre has a supporting role, and he and his buddy’s Scots dialect is translated into polite English. Which has given them free reign to use patter, and it’s wonderful.
I remember getting a good laugh out of that bit. Probably the best part of the movie for me.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Sounds like you watched one of the Harry Potter prequels on accident. That’s a painful mistake.
The only Harry Potter films I’d recommend to non-fans would be the second one, Chamber of Secrets, which is a tightly written, well executed fantasy story, and The Order of the Phoenix, with the only villain in the franchise who is actually menacing.
The only Disney movie since Leelo and Stitch I’d recommend is Tangled, but it’s not a must-watch.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Wreck-It Ralph was great, and Moana was pretty fun too (and it has my favorite Disney song, sung by none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson!). Frozen, I'll very much agree, was massively overrated, but it's not terrible really.
I forgot Wreck It Ralph was Disney. I’d add that one.
Moana was tolerable, but I’d only recommend it to the kind of people who post Disney memes daily.
And to be honest? I think that alone sums this movie up. If like me you’re a fan of Mr Bautista’s work, and competent but not exactly remarkable action flicks? Stick this on/
It’s not doing anything new, but it’s doing what it does competently. And I’ll take that.
Wait….wait. It’s just been massively elevated. Drew McIntyre has a supporting role, and he and his buddy’s Scots dialect is translated into polite English. Which has given them free reign to use patter, and it’s wonderful.
And then flipping Dylan Moran turns up. I got whiplash in the change of tone after about the 40 minute mark when it so desperately wanted to be bullet train. Only watch this if you are drunk or you are comfortable with the idea that frag grenades going off right next to you just lead to dramatic minor facial nicks and slightly mussed hair.
Oh it definitely lacks realism, but I still found it enjoyable. Though, was it not for the free use of Pattern, thoughtfully and I suppose accurately translated into plain English subtitles, this would only be comfortably middling.
A 19th century remote fishing village is facing calamity when an event occurs that sees the village haunted by a Draugar. It begins by the Draugar haunting the dreams of the crew, then the crew begin to go mad and start dying. I thought’d be or get scarier, but it was more of a psychological horror. There’s a few scenes that are spooky, but it never seems to get right into straight up horror.
You know, being a huge Anabasis nutter, it still took me a long time to watch the closest thing we have to it in cinema form.
I can really see why this is super popular. It is very stylized and dripping with "cool". The scenes with the Riff's leader are awesome sauce. The DJ as narrator is brilliant.
The action is quaint for modern viewers, and the characterizations are broad archetypes at best. However, that's what you need in a heroic fantasy like this. I think it is still pretty great.
The Silencers, The Ambushers, the Wrecking Crew, etc.
I have also been working through the old "Matt Helm" super-spy movies from the 60's. Dean Martin plays photographer and super-spy Matt Helm. He takes on a variety of villains and capers, all for an excuse to show scantily clad 60's women, colorful sets, exotic locales, drink booze, smoke cigarettes like a chimney, play his pals songs, and just be a bit goofy.
Honestly, I think Austin Powers took more from Matt Helm movies than Bond movies. Features Tina Louise and Anne Margret and many, many more.
The Warriors rocks. Streets of Fire is one of my top 3 favourite films. Maybe it's just because I've seen The Warriors at the cinema and Streets of Fire only on my TV....but maybe the Warriors is even cooler? That migth be sacrilege though. No, Streets of Fire is even better. Kinda. Well. Either is cool. So full of youth and vitality and on the other hand classic, basic characters.
@Flinty:
And then flipping Dylan Moran turns up.
This really had me laugh out. Never seen the film. Just imagining a film starring Dave Bautista (and with Drew McIntyre in a small role) was funny already. But your addage of Dylan Moran showing up makes for a very funny picture. Doesn't sound very good as a film though. Reminds me of that action film starring Wade Barrett I once happened across. He wasn't bad, but the film was. And it looked incredibly cheap. The digital sort in which they tint everything blue.
Spoiler:
btw, I kinda enjoyed Frozen the TWO times I watched it, but don't tell anybody
I love Dylan Moran. Comedy Genius. And the poor guy has to try and style out being a total non-sequitur. An Irish catholic priest turning up in what I think is supposed to be rural Hungary. It’s the very definition of Ryan George’s “so the film can happen”. He almost makes it too. I really hope he got a decent pay day. I’m feeling more angry now about it than when I watched it.
Flinty wrote: I love Dylan Moran. Comedy Genius. And the poor guy has to try and style out being a total non-sequitur. An Irish catholic priest turning up in what I think is supposed to be rural Hungary. It’s the very definition of Ryan George’s “so the film can happen”. He almost makes it too. I really hope he got a decent pay day. I’m feeling more angry now about it than when I watched it.
Oh, I love Dylan Moran as well. Went to see him live in Vienna in 2018, it was just such a funny addition to that film which I just didn't see coming. It also helped that I imagined him showing up as Bernard Black in between Drew McIntyre and Bautista.
A series of Samurai movies. The quality between II and III has a striking drop.
However, if you are into Samurai drama this movie is mostly that with not so much sword play. The main character has a lot of angst about his mother dying and his relationship with women.
I also find the Half Moon technique to be very underwhelming. It is basically using your sword to catch the moonlight and temporarily blinding your opponent with a whole lot of cheap camera tricks to make it look like it is something more.
I finally went and saw this with my brother this past weekend, and we both enjoyed it a lot. It's another solid entry in the franchise. They handled how Shadow is kind of a dark mirror of Sonic very well, and Jim Carrey continues to be hilarious as Dr. Robotnik. There were plenty of little winks and nods at the games, too. Just a great fun movie to pass part of an afternoon with. Is it Oscar-worthy? Of course not, it's about talking animals and it's based on a video game from the early '90s. But it's very fun. Here's hoping they keep making more Sonic movies, they've been great. So glad they changed up Sonic's look before the first one released, as it would have been a mediocre to bad movie if they'd stuck with their original abomination of a character design, and we certainly wouldn't have gotten sequels.
This is a very bleak movie, but I really love it and re-watched it again last night. Absolute stacked cast in this movie. Just a well made movie from start to finish.
edit: I've probably posted about this movie before.
The movie where Seth MacFarland voices a horny teddy bear.
As far as raunchy, gross-out comedies go, this one was a good date movie*. There was just enough heart to make us care about Ted and Lori, and enough to make Mark Wahlberg tolerable. Mostly. He’s hard to root for in this film.
For memorable scenes, Ted gets most of them, including a Family Guy style fight scene and a success-fail set of job interviews. Giovanni Ribisi’s disturbing dance scene is right up there with Buffalo Bill’s Goodbye Horses. It’s worth finding the clip of that.
Over all, one of the better raunchy comedies.
*although I’m having trouble of thinking of many other raunchy date movies besides No Hard Feelings.
Brendan Gleeson stars in this depressive drama laden with pitch black humor, as a priest who is told in confessional by a victim of clergy abuse that he will be killed in a week. He’s told by the would be killer: “There’s no point in killing a bad priest. But killing a good one, that would be a shock.”. Gleeson’s priest dutifully goes about his parish duties, amongst an eclectic cast of very flawed characters in what seems to be a dying town. Wild, but bleak film that leaves a little sliver of hope at the end.
Sicario (2015) An FBI joins a special task force dealing with Mexican cartels and learns she is in way over her head. Beautifully shot film with very tense scenes of violence with solid performances all around. If you enjoy stories that tend be in a morally grey area and somewhat bleak endings then this may be worth a look.
Ahtman wrote: Sicario (2015) An FBI joins a special task force dealing with Mexican cartels and learns she is in way over her head. Beautifully shot film with very tense scenes of violence with solid performances all around. If you enjoy stories that tend be in a morally grey area and somewhat bleak endings then this may be worth a look.
Great movie, and iconic score.
Music in this movie does so much to build tension.
Do you like Michael Jai White? Do you think Black Dynamite is awesome? Then do I have a movie for you to check-out next.....
In all honesty, it is not as outright funny as Black Dynamite but follows the same general idea but in the Wild West. It is overly long and tried to cover too much territory and tropes in the running time. The script needed another good pass through the editing machine.
However, it does have one of the best sight gags I have seen in a long time involving a horse and a water bucket. Also, a bad guy specifically saying it will take 9 bullets, and than fanning his six-shooter and killing everyone without re-loading. Good times!
They say you couldn't make Blazing Saddles today, well Michael Jai White tried..... (Note: This is no Blazin' Saddles)
A horror film, starring Hugh Grant. And it’s pretty effective so far.
Two Mormon Sisters visit Hugh Grant’s house as part of their rounds (I’m not sure if it’s described as missionary work, but trying to be sensitive). And it soon becomes clear something isn’t quite right.
How not quite right remains to manifest as I’m only forty minutes into a two hour film.
What’s working here is Hugh Grant. He’s laying on his easy charm, but in a way which might be unsettling. As in such is his performance? It’s really difficult right now to say if he’s just mucking them around, or if he’s up to something much more sinister. And the Sisters are doing an excellent job of emoting genuine anxiety about their situation.
This completely passed me by on its release, but I’m really into it.
Yup. Really enjoyed that. However, it might not be for everyone, as it delves into religious themes, without dumping on any one faith. But keep in mind that may make it an insulting watch for persons of faith. Certainly I’d be interested in the opinion of a believer on this.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Too bad about its sequel. And the dumb luck (cranked so high, they broke the knob) that is required for the movie to work.
So the second doesn't need to be a priority, it sounds like. Honestly not sure how they would capture the feel of the first film considering that part of what makes it work is not really knowing what everyone is up to.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Too bad about its sequel. And the dumb luck (cranked so high, they broke the knob) that is required for the movie to work.
So the second doesn't need to be a priority, it sounds like. Honestly not sure how they would capture the feel of the first film considering that part of what makes it work is not really knowing what everyone is up to.
The second film feels more like a generic action film. If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil the bit that occurs that caused a great many people in the theater to groan loudly and say fun things like: "Oh Come on!" or "What the is that ?"
It's not a bad movie, it just felt like a shameless cash in of the first film.
I digged it. Really like Robert Eggers style. Nicholas Hoult always seems to deliver and Lily-Rose Depp showed that she had some acting chops. All the support cast was great
“I am an appetite. Nothing more” -Count Orlok. Great portrayal of a vampire. Just a brutal killer/monster.
Overread wrote: I feel like the first 3 work but I do dislike how in 2 and 3 Jack Sparrow becomes basically less and less viable as a drunken charismatic leader and becomes more just a drunk fooling around on set.
I had no ideas what I was about to see in the cinema with the first one. So skeletons etc. were surprising.
But I was really disappointed how the language went from being clever in the first film to people writing a script that was trying to sound clever.
I vaguely remember watching the first one twice at the cinema even. Not quite by choice, but I just went with two different groups of friends, so I watched it once in English, once in German. I found it alright then (and "blacksmith's hands" somehody still is mentioned sometimes between my brother and me), maybe watched the second one on tv some time, but wouldn't go out of my way to watch any of them now.
Not good. You can tell they had no ideas going into this one, it was just done to pump out some more Minions merchandise (Is there Minions merchandise? I don't think I've ever seen any.)
Should've stopped at three. It wasn't that good but at least it had a story (And I liked the 80's obsessed villain).
Robocop:- The Prime Directives
A quartet of low budget, made for TV films that, I think, the Sci-fi Channel put out in the late 90's/early 00's. They're not great, and get increasingly silly as they go along, however I do think they're a step above the other attempts to revive the franchise (They're also better than Robocop 3, but that's a very low bar).
The violence is of course heavily watered down, but the plots and action are all perfectly fine.
Admittedly, it's been quite a few years since I've watched anything apart from the original movies, wouldn't be surprised if it was better than I remembered.
I rewatched it recently and its honestly great fun. There is 100% a style and writing change part way through that you can feel (esp when binging in a block); but its really solid all told and a great adaptation considering how violent the original was and how they tone it for a younger audience whilst still keeping a lot of what made Robocop work
I never knew Robocop had so much going on! I eagerly await someone to create the pen and paper RPG.
Stigmata This is a very 90's movie. It is a PG-13 Religious Conspiracy, Erotic Thriller with Mira Sorvino and Gabrielle Byrne. This movie is a time capsule to life before Smartphones, and the 90's. It could only have been made in that very short window.
Remember when Mira Sorvino won an Academy Award for Mighty Aphrodite and it looked like she had a big future. Then, Harvey Weinstein got involved and tanked her career so she could only star in lower grade drek like this, the Replacement Killer (which I love), and Mimic (Which is also pretty solid work from Guillermo Del Torro) and never really featured in a headline, big time film role again?
Pepperidge Farm remembers!
I am honestly surprised her dad Paul Sorvino never had Weinstein killed for that. What? He was an actor and not an actual gangster? Sure..... sure..... whatever you say......
Easy E wrote: I never knew Robocop had so much going on! I eagerly await someone to create the pen and paper RPG.
Stigmata This is a very 90's movie. It is a PG-13 Religious Conspiracy, Erotic Thriller with Mira Sorvino and Gabrielle Byrne. This movie is a time capsule to life before Smartphones, and the 90's. It could only have been made in that very short window.
Remember when Mira Sorvino won an Academy Award for Mighty Aphrodite and it looked like she had a big future. Then, Harvey Weinstein got involved and tanked her career so she could only star in lower grade drek like this, the Replacement Killer (which I love), and Mimic (Which is also pretty solid work from Guillermo Del Torro) and never really featured in a headline, big time film role again?
Pepperidge Farm remembers!
I am honestly surprised her dad Paul Sorvino never had Weinstein killed for that. What? He was an actor and not an actual gangster? Sure..... sure..... whatever you say......
It’s a prequel movie for the series, but not one you would watch before the series. There are a lot of great character actors in it, giving some great quirky or disturbing performances. It’s weird and it’s dark. By the end it’s heavily depressing. Yet still worth the watch.
It sure beats the crap out of that X-Files movie.
Anyway, after a bit of calm down time petting the dog and watching Ryan George…
Frankie Freako
Shabadoo.
It’s a throwback to all those old gross puppets movies, like Howard the Duck, Garbage Pail Kids, Ghoulies, Demonic Toys, Little Monsters, etc.. It does a good job of nailing the vibe, so if you didn’t like those movies…yeah.
The biggest star in the movie is Rich Evans in a voiceover role as Freaklord Munch. The boss had my favorite line deliveries in the film. It wasn’t laugh out loud funny for me, with a few exceptions, but I was entertained the whole time.
“We were roommates in gun college.”
Captain Eo
“Hooter!”
Remember when people didn’t hate Star Wars or Michael Jackson? What a time capsule. It took a tremendous budget to make a short this laughably bad. The only person who didn’t embarrass herself was Angelica Houston.
I had somehow only seen bits and pieces of (I think) two of them up to now, so decided it was time to work my way through the series.
First three were fun. Predictable, formulaic action flicks, but the action was nicely done and they didn't take themselves too seriously... some fantastic and amusing little nods to the last 30 or 40 years of action movie history.
And then came number 4. I have low standards when it comes to action movies, but I gave up 35 minutes in. It's remarkable just how bad this one is. It's so bad that it's gone right past 'so bad it's good' and just back into 'bad'... Appalling CGI, bad green screens, often used when there is no apparent reason to even be using green screens, and a script seemingly written by the intern.
Easy E wrote: I never knew Robocop had so much going on! I eagerly await someone to create the pen and paper RPG.
Stigmata This is a very 90's movie. It is a PG-13 Religious Conspiracy, Erotic Thriller with Mira Sorvino and Gabrielle Byrne. This movie is a time capsule to life before Smartphones, and the 90's. It could only have been made in that very short window.
Remember when Mira Sorvino won an Academy Award for Mighty Aphrodite and it looked like she had a big future. Then, Harvey Weinstein got involved and tanked her career so she could only star in lower grade drek like this, the Replacement Killer (which I love), and Mimic (Which is also pretty solid work from Guillermo Del Torro) and never really featured in a headline, big time film role again?
Pepperidge Farm remembers!
I am honestly surprised her dad Paul Sorvino never had Weinstein killed for that. What? He was an actor and not an actual gangster? Sure..... sure..... whatever you say......
Stigmata was Patricia Arquette.
My god! You are right! So, Mira's career was even worse than I thought!
I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so got to binge a few flicks.
Jennifer's Body This a film with Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried (sp), and .... Chris Pratt?
It was written by Diablo Cody. There was a brief moment in time where she was the new IT girl in Hollywood, but she was a writer and not an actress. It is incredibly rare for that to happen to a writer in Hollywood.
Anyway, a PG-13 horror movie that is about a succubus. Pretty much sums it all up.
The Lair of the White Worm It features some early work from Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi(!?!).
I'm not really sure how to describe this film, other than it is very, very British? The Freak-out scenes are something to see, and the backstory of the villains is really remarkable. There is also a memorable dream sequence. I recommend checking it out.
Vivarium It really gives away the game in the first 30 seconds. Poor form.
Jesse Isenberg and Imogene Poots star. The opening has dozens of film companies that helped make this film. It feels very European to me.
Also, film-makers really do not like Suburbia at all.
Someone put a lot of work and energy into making this film. It honestly looks gorgeous and has an interesting Post-Apoc premise. However, some of the "mechanics" of the world they show do not really hold up to serious review, but neither does any Mad Max film. Hugo Weaving delivers the greatest hits of his famous style of line delivery as the main villain.
There is just one big issue with this movie. It is kind of derivative and could not stop reminding me of other movies, like Terminator, The Matrix, Star Wars, and LOTR. The last is particularly funny as old Pete Jackson was an exec Producer and helped fund this thing.
I think the biggest issue with this flick was probably that the source material comes from a YA Novel, and you can tell. Cool ideas and good visuals let down by base story-telling.
Someone put a lot of work and energy into making this film. It honestly looks gorgeous and has an interesting Post-Apoc premise. However, some of the "mechanics" of the world they show do not really hold up to serious review, but neither does any Mad Max film. Hugo Weaving delivers the greatest hits of his famous style of line delivery as the main villain.
There is just one big issue with this movie. It is kind of derivative and could not stop reminding me of other movies, like Terminator, The Matrix, Star Wars, and LOTR. The last is particularly funny as old Pete Jackson was an exec Producer and helped fund this thing.
I think the biggest issue with this flick was probably that the source material comes from a YA Novel, and you can tell. Cool ideas and good visuals let down by base story-telling.
Also, they really cut down on some of the grit from the novel. Like, the description of Hester in the book is missing much of her nose, an eye, and her mouth is in a permanent sneer due to the scar across her face. It's basically a visual metaphor for the character as well, someone torn between their innate goodness and the ugliness of what the world has inflicted on her. But no way was Hollywood going to have the leading lady in a Young Adult film look like that.
Someone put a lot of work and energy into making this film. It honestly looks gorgeous and has an interesting Post-Apoc premise. However, some of the "mechanics" of the world they show do not really hold up to serious review, but neither does any Mad Max film. Hugo Weaving delivers the greatest hits of his famous style of line delivery as the main villain.
There is just one big issue with this movie. It is kind of derivative and could not stop reminding me of other movies, like Terminator, The Matrix, Star Wars, and LOTR. The last is particularly funny as old Pete Jackson was an exec Producer and helped fund this thing.
I think the biggest issue with this flick was probably that the source material comes from a YA Novel, and you can tell. Cool ideas and good visuals let down by base story-telling.
As a fan of the books, I'm still hoping someone eventually looks past what a gigantic flop the movie was, and has another go but as a TV series this time.
And give Hester an actual scarred face dang it!
Another of those classic movies you’d really think I’d have seen by now. But this is my first time.
Some of the action (Police station fisticuffs) is a bit dated, but you can see why this is such a classic. And an interesting portrayal of PTSD and a possible psychotic break. It almost feels like an inverted Slasher Flick, where he keeps offing people because they just won’t leave him alone, rather than some twisted personal agenda.
I can also see its influence on other media, such as A-Team (Vietnam vets and injustice), and a definite colouring of the action in Predator.
Now I have seen the last two flicks in this series, and whilst there’s the common theme (Rambo vs anyone intent on getting their head kicked in), this is much more grounded. Quite possibly because of its era and what you could get away with portraying.
Think I’ll get their rest of the series to chart it’s increasing silliness.
Lathe Biosas wrote: Not sure if I need this to talk about First Blood, but...
Spoiler:
In the book, Rambo kills himself.
[spoiler]He originally did as well but they changed it. The scene was shot and everything and can be found in extra features or probably youtube. The book also had the feature of changing perspective from Rambo to the Sheriff each chapter and you get discover that they were both traumatized by war. Korean War for the Sheriff and Vietnam for Rambo.
Had to finish off First Blood today, as needed sleep.
It’s a cracking film from beginning to end. Neither pro nor anti-war, but strongly pro-Veteran.
My sole grumble is that it’s never really explained just why he received such a shoddy reception, or why folks in that town might not warm to the jacket and flag he’s wearing.
However, I temper that criticism by me being a Brit, and living in 2025. So I’m happy to assume there’s a culturally accepted undertone there which audiences at the time would’ve just Got.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Rambo, First Blood Pt2
OK, this one is sillier than the first. But, as 80’s meathead vs anyone that’s naughty and a bit bored of being alive flicks go? It’s barely silly. Because silliness is all relative.
How silly?
In modern terms, where we have stylised but fairly realistic action? I’d give this 5 Sillies out of 10. His exploding arrows being of wildly varying payload, conveniently inattentive baddies who always forget how to shout or scream when the story needs Rambo to slip away.
But, for an 80’s action flick? With infinite ammo, bullet proof, improbably accurate, teleporting Goodies being the norm? I’d have to say this is more 2, perhaps 2.5 Sillies out 10. And pretty much all those Sillies come in the third act.
Of course, everyone has their own Silly-O-Meter, and your readings may differ from mine.
It’s a good bit more violent and Killy than the first, and doesn’t really have as strong as message.
But it is good fun. Bad Guys Go Boom, After Proving They Deserve To Go Boom. And Splat.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And in other “how can you watch such crap, and be so happy” news?
I’ve discovered 88 Films have a collection of remastered Slasher Flicks. And I’ve now a pile of them to get through.
OK. I was lead to believe this one was far sillier than its actual level of silliness of Really Not That Silly At All, Perhaps A Bit Less Silly Than Rambo 2.
The main silliness comes from the premise. Which due to what happened in its future ended up even more silly.
But the action itself is again quite restrained for its era. Possibly more so than Rambo 2, as at least he’s not knacking things with the The Bow And Arrow Of Conveniently Varying Payload.
Pretty enjoyable all the same, if not really anything new. It does suffer from Bloody Stupid Bad Guys though.
Modern scale? 4.5 Sillies out of 10.
80’s scale? I’d say 2 to 2.5 Sillies out of 10, but for different reason than Rambo 2.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And now?
Rambo
I bloody love this film. As I now the first three kinda bucked the trend of 80’s Action Movies? This kinda bucks the 00’s/10’s Action Movie. They’re not satires of the art, just unafraid to be their own thing.
Sure the series is very formulaic. But for each entry? It’s a genuinely superior example of the genre. And whilst not particularly constant? There is an ongoing thread of John Rambo. Everything he’s done stays done, and weighs on him.
Bone Tomahawk and Hostiles. Both of which are modern westerns. The first has Kurt Russel with glorious Hateful 8 facial hair, and the second has Christian Bale. Bale is also sporting a glorious mustache. I honestly think they could have dubbed his dialogue in and you wouldn't be able to tell thanks to that luscious 'stache!
Despite the facial hair, these are both pretty powerful movies dealing with some heavy stuff. Stuff about othering, Manifest Destiny and its scars, and psychological horror.
Pacing is critical for both of them. Westerns can be depressing as Feth.
As a side note, where I live looks almost exactly like the terrain you see in both movies, but especially in first half or Hostiles so that struck very close to home for me.
Hostiles is a serious movie that is attempting to be more than entertainment. Bone Tomahawk is more grindhouse of the two. I think I could spend a lot more time talking about Hostiles and what it is trying to say, but this is the mini-review section.
1970’s movie based on an H P Lovecraft H G Wells tale, in which mystery goo bubbling up to the surface makes animals, when mixed with their feed, grow to ludicrous size.
All animals. Rats and bugs as well.
The effects are pretty crap, but the film mostly works as cheap B-Movie creature features go. Certainly I’ve seen far worse.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: My sole grumble is that it’s never really explained just why he received such a shoddy reception, or why folks in that town might not warm to the jacket and flag he’s wearing.
However, I temper that criticism by me being a Brit, and living in 2025. So I’m happy to assume there’s a culturally accepted undertone there which audiences at the time would’ve just Got.
Yeah, it's very much a product of the time. In 1982, there was far less need to explain to audiences that Vietnam vets were badly treated.
OK. I was lead to believe this one was far sillier than its actual level of silliness of Really Not That Silly At All, Perhaps A Bit Less Silly Than Rambo 2.
I suspect that in the cultural zeitgeist, a large amount of the perceived silliness in Rambo 3 comes from Hot Shots 2.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Ahh, quite right! I’ll leave my error, lest your post make no sense.
You could also use the rarely seen strikethrough .
Ooh, nice one!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Though dodgy as Food of the Gods is? It’s another reason I love my horror movies.
Basically, not that long before my lifetime, the effects readily available and budget friendly were pretty basic. And whilst FOTG isn’t exactly going to convince anyone, I can appreciate the camera trickery and screen compositing behind it being genuinely the best they could do/afford.
And I’ll still take that over cheap, shoddy CGI, as at least with compositing you need to think about what you’re doing and what you want to achieve.
I’m so, so confused. This is not a good film. The plot is very silly. The CGI is pretty terrible. The tone can be so jarring, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a mash up of two or three different movies.
But, dammit, whenever Tom Hardy is on screen? It’s really, really enjoyable. Eddie and Venom’s bickering really works for me.
Also, what an odd concentration of British actor! Not to mention “hey, you’ve already been in a Marvel movie”.
I’m so, so confused. This is not a good film. The plot is very silly. The CGI is pretty terrible. The tone can be so jarring, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a mash up of two or three different movies.
But, dammit, whenever Tom Hardy is on screen? It’s really, really enjoyable. Eddie and Venom’s bickering really works for me.
Also, what an odd concentration of British actor! Not to mention “hey, you’ve already been in a Marvel movie”.
He was also in Star Trek: Nemesis and was Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. I have yet to see him act poorly in a film, even if the film around him is sad.
It does kind of find its feet in the back half, and importantly is a fun movie. Mediocre overall? Yes. But fun mediocre.
Certainly I’m not feeling short changed off my £7.99.
I do have an improvement suggestion.
Spoiler:
Making the Xenophage near indestructible was a mistake. I’d have gone with the self replicating swarm. That would’ve given the symbiotes an excuse to go ham against near insurmountable odds, and still allow a set piece “get them all in one place then asplode all at once”.
But as it is? The fight, whilst nice and easy to follow on screen, just didn’t work, as it felt like the symbiotes were just sacrificing for no gain with no plan.
He was also in Star Trek: Nemesis and was Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. I have yet to see him act poorly in a film, even if the film around him is sad.
I hated his take on Bane, but largely just because of the voice. Having seen interviews where he explained what he was going for, I get the intention of it, but it just sounded silly, and robbed Bane of any real menace.
It does kind of find its feet in the back half, and importantly is a fun movie. Mediocre overall? Yes. But fun mediocre.
Certainly I’m not feeling short changed off my £7.99.
I do have an improvement suggestion.
Spoiler:
Making the Xenophage near indestructible was a mistake. I’d have gone with the self replicating swarm. That would’ve given the symbiotes an excuse to go ham against near insurmountable odds, and still allow a set piece “get them all in one place then asplode all at once”.
But as it is? The fight, whilst nice and easy to follow on screen, just didn’t work, as it felt like the symbiotes were just sacrificing for no gain with no plan.
To reply to your Venom spoiler:
Spoiler:
I was disappointed that the other symbiotes essentially appeared late in the film and then quickly died.
I thought it was a waste of a Build-up.
I was certain the Christmas Tree scientist would have a bigger role to play.
I did like the family that wanted to see aliens.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
insaniak wrote: Yeah, the general premise of the movie was dumb as heck, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable watch.
He was also in Star Trek: Nemesis and was Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. I have yet to see him act poorly in a film, even if the film around him is sad.
I hated his take on Bane, but largely just because of the voice. Having seen interviews where he explained what he was going for, I get the intention of it, but it just sounded silly, and robbed Bane of any real menace.
It was better than the previous live-action Bane from Batman & Robin...
"Bomb.... Bomb...."
The take on Bane is a bit of an odd case as they kept changing the voice in post production. There was the original which they changed before the test screening (might have been the IMAX preview of the plane hijack scene) which got bad feedback so they changed it again before wide release and still was sticking point.
You know, I forgot that this was basically a B-movie made by Italians on the cheap starring no one of note.
This is just a vehicle for Harryhausen's craft.
As a Harryhausen vehicle, it’s pretty darn good. It doesn’t have the big climactic monster-on-monster battle like his first two Sinbad movies, but the skeletons make up for it.
One thing I love about classic stop motion effects is that they neatly sidestep the myriad complaints about “bad effects” that modern movies have to deal with. “Captain America had a couple blue screen/CGI scenes that weren’t photorealistic enough to confuse my brain? Trash! I can tell the dinosaurs aren’t really there? Worst movie ever!” “Two clay monsters herky-jerking around with compositing outlines? Now I’m not distracted from the story!”
Barely related note, but has anyone seen the horror movie Stop Motion? Is it worth a watch?
Four films in, its original kinda-ish-plausible nonsense mostly abandoned? The series remains, somehow, shy of Jumping The Shark. And I love it. Though I think I’ve on;y seen this entry once before.
I think that part of the appeal to me is the world of the High Table is close to the Masquerade of the Camarilla, of the titular Vampire [s]Shh We’re Not Real[/i] the Masquerade, and can serve as an accessible entry point - Spesh as with Mr Wick being crazy, but not quite super human in skill, is a handy point of reference for the more thin blooded Vampire.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Ahhh! I completely forgot about its homage to The Warriors!
Of all 3 films they did - Hot Fuzz remains the absolute best. Shawn of the Dead was decent, but I was never blown away by it. Solid fun but not outstanding like Hot Fuzz. The last one I can't even remember the name of but kind of fell flat for me - I think in part because it was all about a pub-crawl that felt like a one-line-joke that got spun out into a whole film.
And then in the last 5mins there's this post apoc mad scene and in those few moments THAT was the film I wish they'd started and made instead!
Overread wrote: Of all 3 films they did - Hot Fuzz remains the absolute best. Shawn of the Dead was decent, but I was never blown away by it. Solid fun but not outstanding like Hot Fuzz. The last one I can't even remember the name of but kind of fell flat for me - I think in part because it was all about a pub-crawl that felt like a one-line-joke that got spun out into a whole film.
And then in the last 5mins there's this post apoc mad scene and in those few moments THAT was the film I wish they'd started and made instead!
Didn't they do Paul? The one about the displaced Alien?
Four films in, its original kinda-ish-plausible nonsense mostly abandoned? The series remains, somehow, shy of Jumping The Shark. And I love it. Though I think I’ve on;y seen this entry once before.
I think it did jump the shark a little, as they went just a bit too far with how embedded the High Table is into everything, and an implausible number of people are involved in it.
Although I did make the mistake, due to coming to the franchise late in the piece, of watching all four back to back... The first couple were fun, but by number 3, it was all just getting a little samey. Number 4 was probably just as good as the previous offerings but didn't really offer anything new, so was all a bit tedious by then.
Overread wrote: Of all 3 films they did - Hot Fuzz remains the absolute best. Shawn of the Dead was decent, but I was never blown away by it. Solid fun but not outstanding like Hot Fuzz. The last one I can't even remember the name of but kind of fell flat for me - I think in part because it was all about a pub-crawl that felt like a one-line-joke that got spun out into a whole film.
And then in the last 5mins there's this post apoc mad scene and in those few moments THAT was the film I wish they'd started and made instead!
Didn't they do Paul? The one about the displaced Alien?
Paul was good fun though if I recall right it wasn't part of the Cornetto Trio
Four films in, its original kinda-ish-plausible nonsense mostly abandoned? The series remains, somehow, shy of Jumping The Shark. And I love it. Though I think I’ve on;y seen this entry once before.
I think it did jump the shark a little, as they went just a bit too far with how embedded the High Table is into everything, and an implausible number of people are involved in it.
Although I did make the mistake, due to coming to the franchise late in the piece, of watching all four back to back... The first couple were fun, but by number 3, it was all just getting a little samey. Number 4 was probably just as good as the previous offerings but didn't really offer anything new, so was all a bit tedious by then.
I think the whole High Table thing kind of spoilt it a bit and took a bit of the magic away from John Wick. He went from a very singular driven character who was an exceptional extreme into something that was part of a cult of exceptional extremes.
I think the other thing is that it suffers in the same way that novels published one by one can suffer from which is that the World of John Wick 1 is VERY different to the world of John Wick 4. There are loads of elements of 4 that just don't appear nor are even hinted at in 1. There's no foreshadowing; no buildup no sense that they are the same involved and interconnected worlds. They feel like they are entirely separate and even though you can follow the logic of evolution 1 through to 4, the fact that you don't see any hallmarks of major power players and elements presented as normal in 4; appearing in 1 kind of makes it feel like they are inventing and adding new world concepts as they go.
I just watched all the Fear Street movies, the first was good and set everything up, the second was the best and had a great story all the way through, the third one was the worst and just tried to make a crazy twist, I mean I didn't expect the twist, but
Spoiler:
Nah go watch them, you don't get to spoil it for yourself
Overread wrote: Of all 3 films they did - Hot Fuzz remains the absolute best. Shawn of the Dead was decent, but I was never blown away by it. Solid fun but not outstanding like Hot Fuzz. The last one I can't even remember the name of but kind of fell flat for me - I think in part because it was all about a pub-crawl that felt like a one-line-joke that got spun out into a whole film.
And then in the last 5mins there's this post apoc mad scene and in those few moments THAT was the film I wish they'd started and made instead!
Didn't they do Paul? The one about the displaced Alien?
Paul was good fun though if I recall right it wasn't part of the Cornetto Trio
Paul was entirely Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, rather than an Edgar Wright movie. So the same leads but different staff under the bonnet.
Tempted to go back to Spaced now
If only for the scene where Mike has his hearing with the TA explaining why he invaded Disneyland in a tank
Overread wrote: Of all 3 films they did - Hot Fuzz remains the absolute best. Shawn of the Dead was decent, but I was never blown away by it. Solid fun but not outstanding like Hot Fuzz. The last one I can't even remember the name of but kind of fell flat for me - I think in part because it was all about a pub-crawl that felt like a one-line-joke that got spun out into a whole film.
And then in the last 5mins there's this post apoc mad scene and in those few moments THAT was the film I wish they'd started and made instead!
Didn't they do Paul? The one about the displaced Alien?
Paul was good fun though if I recall right it wasn't part of the Cornetto Trio
Paul was entirely Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, rather than an Edgar Wright movie. So the same leads but different staff under the bonnet.
Tempted to go back to Spaced now
If only for the scene where Mike has his hearing with the TA explaining why he invaded Disneyland in a tank
I think I watched about 50% of Paul, but didn't enjoy it. Granted, I watched it on TV with German dub, and German dubbing went down-hill over the past 20 years and of course especially with Pegg/Frost films you need the actual voices.
Love the Cornetto trilogy to bits. Many people seem to love Hot Fuzz the most. I watched it a bunch of times, it's great, but it's not my favourite out of the three. Maybe knowing these surroundings and characters from real life and so on helps to appreciate it more. My favourite's still gotta be Shaun of the Dead; it's such a masterful genre persiflage that works on every single level. As a zombie film, as a comedy, as a great film about friendship. My second favourite is The World's End, because it's melancholic and grown-up. It was released 2013, but still has a ton to say about adulthood, the delaying or accepting thereof, of past youth and how we look at it, about missed opportunities, etc. I also like the fight scenes, the depiction of the small town and how alien it seems to most of the group. Did not appreciate Freeman's little catchphrase, even though they do the ONE clever thing with it pretty early on. And it's got that apocalyptic action thing in the end which goes on for too long and is just a bit by the numbers. The post-apoc stuff is good again.
About two years ago I watched Spaced a LOT; a bunch of times back to back. It rocks. Plain and simple.
Right, Netflix decided to put interesting things on for a change.
The Crow (1994) - Lovely, lovely, lovely. And again, oh so efficient. It's a very simple film with basic characterization, theatrics and an amazing look. The Crow himself is a weird character. Some might say uneven (or "a bit random"), I'd say he's interesting. And it's got cool fight scenes. I'd also forgotten how much fun the bad guy is. Not a perfect film by a long shot, but it's memorable. And I'll take "intersting and memorable" over "it's okay" any day.
Top Secret! (1984) - I think I never watched that one in full, because there were so many bits I couldn't remember. Zucker/Abrahams/yaddayadda film starring young Val Kilmer as a US 50s/60s rock star being invited into East Germany as a cover-up for something dastardly. What they pulled with East Germany is genius. It's basically Nazi Germany, but with a few tiny things changed. It's so blatant that it's impossibly to misconstrue it. I think I might have been a bit annoyed by the historical inaccuracy when I first watched the beginning many, many years ago, but now I fully appreciate what they did there. It allows for making a really silly WW2 resistance comedy (it takes place in East Germany in a 60s/80s amalgam, there's a resistance movement called the Underground, all of whom are extremely French. This is the amazing stunt they pull with that film.) with rock&roll music and it instantly lets you know that this is just a basis for a ton of silly gags. They don't come as rapid-fire as in later films and are very much visual rather than based on the dialogue than their later films as well.
Some of these visual gags are just amazing. I must have been really ignorant so far not having run across the Swedish book store scene a ton of times by now, because it's just mind-bogging work. With some of the visual gags I just don't even know how they did it.Others are just extremely silly things, but most of then landed with me, always contrasted with the dialogue being played very straight or dramatic. That ballroom dance scene killed me. Val Kilmer and the lady get to know each other, she explains the situation, as they perfectly execute that dance which gets increasingly ridiculous. (btw, very good choreography and dancers in that film).
Overall the film seems a bit rougher than say the Naked Gun films, this one's less of a bombardment of jokes, but they hit you out of nowhere with it. Watching this as it's not intended (on my bloody phone) very much made me aware once more how films are made now vs. how they used to be made. Just the other day I heard of that thing that Netflix (with their own throw-away trash productions) order filmmakers to have characters state what they are doing constantly and explain the currecnt situation over and over, because these films/tv shows aren't made to have people watch them, but for people to have them on in the background as they do their housework. Just a sad state of affairs. Top Secret works exactly the other way around. Gags very often aren't pointed out (which is one of the huge problems with film and tv comedies now); if you pick up on them good, if you don't you miss it.
Anyway, Top Secret! is far from perfect of course. It's extremely silly, there are no characters, the story just kinda stops, the musical numbers might go on for a bit too long for some, a few of the gags don't work that well (but that's entirely subjective). Very glad I watched it though. Watch It.
Netflix also put Parasite back on, Punisher:Warzone (which I keep going on and on about. My favourite Marvel film.) and Shaolin Soccer. The latter I haven't watched in a good while, but it's also very silly, very funny, better than Kung Fu Hustle, if you ask me.
I just watched The Crow (2024 version). The kindest thing I can say about it is that of all the films of 2024, this was definitely one of them.
My first gripe is minor: Where is this movie set? All we know for sure is that it is a major city on the coast. With about a dozen different accents, steering wheels on BOTH sides of the car, and totally not telling us it could be anywhere on the east coast of North America, or west coast of Europe, and there's really no way to tell.
Second gripe: The protagonist and his girlfriend did just about EVERYTHING in their power to get themselves killed. They were runaways from some kind of confinement center, wanted by police, their friend has been murdered by the mob, the mob is actively looking for them. They have no close family, no careers, don't own homes, or have any major possessions. What do they decide to do? Just stay in the same old neighborhood, be very visible, hang out in the same old clubs, and get high. How on earth could the mob ever find them there? FFS, with that little tying you down move to a different city at least
Overall if gives a very "Independent Film" vibe that should have been a Netflix special or direct to DVD release.
I love Top Secret. I’d put it on equal footing with Airplane! comedically. It is a more sophisticated film, technically, with the bookstore scene, the underwater brawl, and so on, so even people who don’t find it funny can find something to respect about it.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
“The computer is the only thing talking.”
Not a bad Star Trek movie, but not a great one. It’s a pretty good Star Trek sandwiched between two great Star Treks. The central conflicts of the movie are less compelling and many of the big climactic moments fall a bit flat, but the things that work are memorable. Unfortunately the best scene in the movie happens about halfway through. Still, it’s got a great score.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
“Double dumbass on you!”
A smash hit crowd pleaser. Everything works. It doesn’t even need a “Khan” to create conflict. More like this, please.
And it’s got a great score.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
“What does God need with a starship?”
I love ambitious failures, and this movie is no exception. It gives us some of the best Kirk-Spock-McCoy scenes in the franchise, some of the best Kirk Kirking scenes, a handful of amazingly quotable lines, and Sybok the Vulcan David Koresh, who deserved to be in a better movie.
It’s also full of “choices” so questionable I had to use quotation marks. The crap hole planet of wasted David Warner, the marsh melons, the screaming space probe, three-breasted cat lady strippers, Uhura fan Dance, Scohura (Uhurotty?), Spock’s secret brother, the Scrappy Doo Klingons, the whole ending. Such a weird movie, bad but never boring. At least it has a great score.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I love Top Secret. I’d put it on equal footing with Airplane! comedically. It is a more sophisticated film, technically, with the bookstore scene, the underwater brawl, and so on, so even people who don’t find it funny can find something to respect about it.
Indeed, love me some Top Secret.
The scene where they are plotting their infiltration of a castle, using sticks and stones and it transitions inexplicably into a highly detailed diorama with functioning train set is amazing.
I have to re-watch it now.
I grew up with the Naked Gun and Hot Shots movies, but this and Airplane were the OGs.
Flinty wrote: While thoroughly enjoying the first two, I got bored in The 4th. Definitely a case of less is more.
I definitely had a moment in the film of being so overloaded with action I got bored with it. Still, I think the 4th is the best in the franchise since the original. The third was the low point for me personally.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I love Top Secret. I’d put it on equal footing with Airplane! comedically. It is a more sophisticated film, technically, with the bookstore scene, the underwater brawl, and so on, so even people who don’t find it funny can find something to respect about it.
Indeed, love me some Top Secret.
The scene where they are plotting their infiltration of a castle, using sticks and stones and it transitions inexplicably into a highly detailed diorama with functioning train set is amazing.
I have to re-watch it now.
I grew up with the Naked Gun and Hot Shots movies, but this and Airplane were the OGs.
It's been a while, is Top Secret the movie that opens with a Beach Boys parody song about trap shooting while surfing?
The Gorge Anna Taylor-Joy and Milles Teller star as snipers recruited to watch a fog ridden gorge for anything, and kill anything that tries to escape.
Remember the creepiness from Silent Hill or when the Colonial Marines first get to LV-246?
The movie has great backgrounds and sets. I just feel more was put into those backgrounds than what was put into the foreground.
It wasn't a bad film, just on the cusp of being good, and it isn't the leads' fault.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: I love Top Secret. I’d put it on equal footing with Airplane! comedically. It is a more sophisticated film, technically, with the bookstore scene, the underwater brawl, and so on, so even people who don’t find it funny can find something to respect about it.
....
Very good point, and I instantly forgot about the underwater fight scene, even though it also had me just flabergasted, thinking how they made that.
@nels1031: Oh yes, the models in that were also lovely. What Top Secret does different to the later Z/A/Z films especially I think is that they play out what would often be a throwaway gag and just keep adding and adding to it. Yup, exactly the same here. Naked Gun and Hot Shots were staples; it took a good while until I first saw Airplane and Top Secret!. Love both of them, and I also really like Airplane 2.
@cuda1179: Yus, pretty sure all of the songs were sung by Val Kilmer, weren't they?
1986 action thriller with a supernatural twist. Charlie Sheen! Sherilyn Fenn! Clint Howard! Randy Quaid!
Something of a low key 80’s cult classic, with a decent slice of originality. It’s not exactly unknown, but I’m genuinely surprised it’s not as well known or praised as say, Lost Boys.
The beats are all there, and whilst of course a bit silly is genuinely enjoyable. Kinda The Crow meets Fast and Furious.
If you’ve never seen it, or it’s been a while, do give this one a watch.
1986 action thriller with a supernatural twist. Charlie Sheen! Sherilyn Fenn! Clint Howard! Randy Quaid!
Something of a low key 80’s cult classic, with a decent slice of originality. It’s not exactly unknown, but I’m genuinely surprised it’s not as well known or praised as say, Lost Boys.
The beats are all there, and whilst of course a bit silly is genuinely enjoyable. Kinda The Crow meets Fast and Furious.
If you’ve never seen it, or it’s been a while, do give this one a watch.
Oooh, that's the one with the motorcycle helmet on the cover! For some reason the German title is "Interceptor", which isn't German either, but certainly easier to pronounce than a word that consists only of silent Ws and a th. I started watching that one on Plex last year, but never finished it.
Well. Here we go. It’s Friday night, and the weekend lies ahead. Other than treating my friends to dinner tomorrow night, I’ve nowt planned but hobby and Slasher Films. And boy do I have Slasher Films!
Graduation Day! Mother’s Day! Don’t Go Into The Woods Alone! Splatter University! Slaughterhouse! Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers! Dead of Winter! X-Ray! The Bogey Man! Nightmares in a Damaged Brain! Children of the Corn 1-3! Scarecrows! Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3*! Scalps! The First Power! Alice, Sweet Alice! Frightmare! Popcorn! Student Bodies! Schizoid! Moon in Scorpio! New Year’s Evil! Grandmother’s House! Darkroom! Blind Date**
So, basically? If Mary Whitehouse was buried, and near you? Might be worth wrapping her coffin in copper, placing a magnet either end, and booking her up to the National Grid, because the old dear is gonna be spinning all weekend long!
*First one isn’t the collection I’m, erm, collecting. But I have seen it.
**Presumably not involving Cilla Black. That’d be much too horrifying. Spesh is she sang.
High School set slasher. Opening scene is a track meet. Tragedy strikes when a young athlete, having won her race, collapses and dies on the track.
Sometime later, and it’s the buildup to Graduation Day. And someone is offing the students!
Props for mostly casting age appropriate for the students. Though there is one that’s either really fond of crack, or is in his 30’s. It also doesn’t muck around with an overly lengthy setup, with the first killing maybe 10 minutes in. Though the killer’s motivations aren’t set out right away, giving it a nicely mysterious feel.
Overall, I’d say this is pretty good, more of a murder mystery than your traditional Slasher though. It’s not exactly original, but it plays out well, and the kills don’t get particularly silly. Well, not for the most part. Punji trap on the pole vault I would define as fairly silly.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Mother’s Day
Pre-Troma Lloyd Kaufman revenge slasher.
It’s…alright? There’s one scene which is particularly unpleasant, which upsets the otherwise satirical tone, as it’s meant to be a send up of I Spit On Your Grave, and Last House On The Left. But that scene isn’t played for laughs and is pretty vile.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Don’t Go In The Woods Alone
The first of this run that’s a bona fide Video Nasty, having been previously banned in the UK.
It’s not a particularly good film. But I can see why it caused outrage back in the 80’s. But it’s overall rather pedestrian by today’s standards.
However, it was made by enthusiastic amateurs on a super tiny budget, so I can’t be overly critical. And it does work as a horror, even if it leans heavily on cheap jump scares and that.
About ten years ago we got a bit morbid at work and dared each other to sit through certain "interesting" films. Such gems included Cannibal Haulicaust, The Green Inferno, and A Serbian Film.
The last one is particularly unsettling. I recommend anyone considering watching them (all found free online with a Google search) to first pray for forgiveness, make sure the house is empty of other people, lock the doors, and draw the drapes.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Cannibal Holocaust is an interesting one, given the director was done in court, and had to wheel out the actors to prove they weren’t actually dead.
Green Inferno I didn’t enjoy at all.
A Serbian Film I’ve not seen, and don’t really want to!
Yeah, I don't blame anyone for not wanting to watch A Serbian Film voluntarily. We did it while recording ourselves back when "reaction videos" were all the rage. One of my employees that took up the challenge was still living in his parents home (he was about 24) and shared a bedroom with his 17 year-old brother. As he was watching it/recording himself his brother walked in during an "adult moment". "Yo, what you watching?" , then a long pause, "Man, you're messed up."
I just finished a 2010 horror movie called Rubber, in which a homicidal car tire, discovering it has destructive psionic power goes on a rampage in a small desert town.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim An anime story set in the world of Middle-Earth, it tells the story of the daughter of the legendary Helm Hammerhand. Basically, Helm kills a Dunlending warlord in a brawl, and the warlord's son Wulf (the main villain of the movie) swears to end Helm's family line. He mostly succeeds, but is ultimately thwarted by Hera, the aforementioned daughter, who was inspired by the story of the legendary Shield-Maidens of Rohan and has apparently been training in combat all her life because the life of a princess just doesn't appeal to her (kind of like Merida from Brave).
As stories go, this one was...alright. Not amazing, but not terrible either. The voice acting was decent enough, and the scenery/"set design" (such as it is in an animated movie) was okay, although anime as a style for a Lord of the Rings story was certainly...a choice. Personally I thought the weakest part of the movie was the villain, Wulf. He just came off like an angsty teenager. Kind of like Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and not in a good way. Also, the whole Hollywood obsession with having a "girlboss" hero is getting kind of old at this point. It used to be that strong female leads just happened naturally, like Ripley from Aliens or Sarah Connor from Terminator 1 and 2. Now it kind of feels forced, especially in the world of Middle-Earth. And it kind of undermines how special and unusual it was that Eowyn wanted to go out there and fight with the men in the main LotR stories. Now you have to wonder if she had somehow heard of Hera and took inspiration from her, although that can't be how Tolkien imagined it as Hera's story is a new concoction, based on some minor anecdote in one of the appendices that mentioned Helm Hammerhand having a daughter (it didn't say anything about her being a fighter).
I did like that the narrator was Miranda Otto (who played Eowyn in the LotR movies), and that they got the voice talents of Billy Boyd (Pippin Took) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) as the orc scavengers Shank and Wrot. There were a fair number of callbacks to the trilogy, some of which felt a bit stilted, but were still pretty neat. I'd give the movie a solid 7/10 overall. It certainly wasn't as laughably terrible as the Rings of Power show over on Amazon, but admittedly that's kind of a low bar. I'm not too sad that I didn't get to see it in the theaters, though. The choppy looking animation would not have looked very good on the big screen.
What a dreadfully dull "horror" film. I had a friend who talked it up like I was going to love it... gonna have a talk with him tomorrow.
It's been ages since I watched the film, surely 10 years. I do love that film though. It's just fun and I like the dynamic of that neighborhood, and it's got several great scenes and quotes ("electricity is our friend", "Sardine?", "Hey, Pinocchio! Where you going?"). The most astonishing thing is that you got the big lead actor in Tom Hanks (okay it was post-Splash and Big, same year as Turner&Hooch, 4 years before Philadelphia), but in no way he's overpowering in that role. He fits in very well as being the almost-straight man to all the insanity around him. The Corey Feldman role is a genius inclusion. He's the viewer's avatar and tells us about the mindset we should watch this film in. 
is that