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I think I might’ve? I’ve definitely seen Double Dragon which was surprisingly Not That Crap! By no means good. But better than I was expecting!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I think I might’ve? I’ve definitely seen Double Dragon which was surprisingly Not That Crap! By no means good. But better than I was expecting!

Double Dragon is great, but The Last Dragon is different. It was a Motown Kung Fu comedy, often titled “Barry Gordy’s The Last Dragon”. It’s funny, it has a lot of great action, and a lot of cultural cachet. It’s worth watching just for Sho’nuff, the Shogun of Harlem.

And if you don’t mind your martial arts comedies being full of dirty jokes, Orgazmo is a great time with a surprising amount of action. The pay off for this scene later on is worth the watch all by itself. (That, and Sancho.)





Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and if you’re a fan of Double Dragon’s Mark Decascus, check out his action vehicle Drive, costarring Brittany Murphy. Not really a comedy, but good action.

That clip makes me wonder, because today we'd call a movie like that to be bad with bad acting.

Throw on 20 years though, and it becomes hilariously campy XD I wonder if some movies just need to age like wine before we can come back to them later and find them amusing.

Orgasmo is a firm favourite!

Here's a nugget that's probably all too telling about me: Ninja Turtles were the first thing in my life I consciously rejected because it was 'the new cool thing'. I was perfectly okay with Ghostbusters (that cartoon show was also much better than it had any right to be IIRC. Maybe I'd redact that idea if I dared to watch it again, but I'm scared of the Boogeyman).

But I watched the first live action film back somwhat early on, and enjoyed it. And I assume that the practical effects help it holding up. I mean Howard the Duck isn't regaded as a bad film becaue of the effects (or early 90s Leah Thompson). It's because it's a pretty bad film.

 Sigur wrote:
Here's a nugget that's probably all too telling about me: Ninja Turtles were the first thing in my life I consciously rejected because it was 'the new cool thing'. I was perfectly okay with Ghostbusters (that cartoon show was also much better than it had any right to be IIRC. Maybe I'd redact that idea if I dared to watch it again, but I'm scared of the Boogeyman).

But I watched the first live action film back somwhat early on, and enjoyed it. And I assume that the practical effects help it holding up. I mean Howard the Duck isn't regaded as a bad film becaue of the effects (or early 90s Leah Thompson). It's because it's a pretty bad film.

TMNT Movie, as said, has absolutely no business being as good as it is.

I can confirm The Real Ghostbusters definitely holds up. Unlike M.A.S.K., which is cheesier than a [REDACTED]man’s Chopper coated in Gorgonzola then thrust into the cheesiest Mac & Cheese cooked and served by Daniel O’Donnell, whilst he wears a large hunk of Gouda as a hat. And has all drippy blue cheese in his ears.

 Sigur wrote:
Here's a nugget that's probably all too telling about me: Ninja Turtles were the first thing in my life I consciously rejected because it was 'the new cool thing'.

I'm the same, IIRC it replaced Transformers and/or GI Joe on TV and in toy stores, which I could not forgive.

Of course since then I've read the original comics and OMG talk about something that has no right to be that good...

 Sigur wrote:
Here's a nugget that's probably all too telling about me: Ninja Turtles were the first thing in my life I consciously rejected because it was 'the new cool thing'.

Interesting. I remember not wanting to see it for cashing in on a cult property that I was sure that the movie-makers didn't 'get' properly.
Which is weird in its own right, since I wandered into TMNT by way of the Palladium RPG books (Mutants Down Under was inexplicably my favorite, and had pretty much nothing to do with TMNT beyond 'mutant animals), and 'true fans' would have been sniggering up their shells.

But I watched the first live action film back somwhat early on, and enjoyed it. And I assume that the practical effects help it holding up. I mean Howard the Duck isn't regaded as a bad film becaue of the effects (or early 90s Leah Thompson). It's because it's a pretty bad film.

And the xenophilia. At least at the time.
I feel completely desensitized to that sort of thing now. Not sure if I blame Tank Girl or anime (yes, as a whole).

I've got a soft spot for Tank Girl (the film). I'll defend some anime to the death (and everything from 1997 on can go to hell xD ). I guess we're all prisoners of our own time.

'97 sounds about right.
I got into anime in college partly because it was a different set of assumptions and tropes. It took a few years for the shine to wear off and I started to recognize their patterns and tropes. At that point, I started to get tired of it all.

And the creepy stuff that wanders in (the love of teacher/student relationships and that they're perfectly fine, for example)

Yup, exactly the different set of assumptions and tropes were refreshing, very well put. There just is a lot of trash out there, but sticking to the classics will do. About two years ago I gave Trigun a shot at a whim, and really enjoyed it. Recently we started watching Cowboy Bebop, and it's a hoot. Same with the old Gundam films and all of that. I adore the look of sci-fi anime from the 80s.

I tried watching One Punch Man, couldn't get into it, tried Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, was rather disgusted and did not have a good time. Here and there I'll watch a few minutes of what ever my brother's watching when I drop by (Attack on Titan, or that martial arts one that's drawn very weirdly), but I just don't enjoy it. Most new anime also looks very, very cheaply made. Maybe it's just me and my weird tastes.

One Punch Man wears outs its premise pretty quick.

And yeah. There's a lot of 'anime' factories out there with low budgets and fast turn around. There's only a handful of really good shows every year.

Try 86 if you haven't seen it yet. It might be a style of sci-fi/mecha action that's up your alley. Decent animation. Minimum anime weirdness interrupting a pretty straightforward war drama.

If you like retro animation, you could also try Megalobox. It's a newer anime but it purposefully invokes late 80s/early 90s animation. The show is a love letter to Ashita no Joe.

I've been rewatching Kingdom, which does not have great animation, though it gets more bearable after the first season. It's the only manga I'm really following weekly right now and I've been pretty hooked with it for years. I just got done watching season 3 and the ending animation is one of the most brilliant I've ever seen. What's the best ending you can make for a show about the unification of China by Qin Shi Huangdi? Depict all the series' principal characters as terracotta soldiers;




Inspired move. I'm shocked they needed over a hundred episodes to come up with it XD

 Sigur wrote:
Yup, exactly the different set of assumptions and tropes were refreshing, very well put. There just is a lot of trash out there, but sticking to the classics will do. About two years ago I gave Trigun a shot at a whim, and really enjoyed it. Recently we started watching Cowboy Bebop, and it's a hoot. Same with the old Gundam films and all of that. I adore the look of sci-fi anime from the 80s.

I tried watching One Punch Man, couldn't get into it, tried Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, was rather disgusted and did not have a good time. Here and there I'll watch a few minutes of what ever my brother's watching when I drop by (Attack on Titan, or that martial arts one that's drawn very weirdly), but I just don't enjoy it. Most new anime also looks very, very cheaply made. Maybe it's just me and my weird tastes.

I find my biggest obstacle these days is my distaste for dubs and not having the time to sit and focus on subtitles. Most of my video entertainment is background, not my focus. So committing to solely watching for 13 or 26 episodes is hard to fit in.

If you have time and want a classic space opera, I'll always suggest Legend of Galactic Heroes. But its a commitment.

Punisher:Warzone is back on Netflix! So I watched it of course. Still great Dad action film fun. One might say "the Daddest", up there with Taken. For some devious reason though Netflix put up a cut version!

What the actual fudge. Streaming services are gak. We all get it by now at the very latest.

So there's a new season of Law and Order and as a guy whose watched reruns of the original show constantly for most of my life, I figured I'd watch the new season and see how it is.

And it's okay so far.

Episode 1: The Right Thing



On to episode 2: Impossible Dream



Episode 8: Severance

Hey, there are some films which technically aren't too bad, but you really dislike the idea of the fans of those films. Does that make sense?

To me that used to be Donnie Darko, but most of all to me the prime example is Unlimited. I'm aware that this film's got some sort of cult following, and I'm sure that most of them are harmless, but I'm also sure that there's people who take that seriously, and that will never let me enjoy the film (which in itself is alright, despite being slightly despicable. But Bradley Cooper is a good lead in films.).


Are you familiar with that sort of thing and do you have examples?

Firefly, about 8 years ago. The hardcore browncoats were insufferable.

Zeon fans in the Gundam franchise are often disturbingly incapable of noticing the blatant and purposeful Nazi allegory. This includes some of the fans who went on to write for the franchise (looking at the original novels for Gundam Unicorn).

 LordofHats wrote:
Zeon fans in the Gundam franchise are often disturbingly incapable of noticing the blatant and purposeful Nazi allegory. This includes some of the fans who went on to write for the franchise (looking at the original novels for Gundam Unicorn).

Man, that really seems to be a problem with model-selling franchises these days.

It's especially bizarre when it involves Nazi saluts, the phrase 'seig zeon' and a a leader who is overtly compared to Hitler and a founder who is a literal expy for Nietzsche XD

IT 1990 version.

It’s the superior screen version. Fight me.

Tim Curry and his sheer screen presence wins.

The Mysterious Island - Part 1 (1995)

Random find on Prime. Looks to be a Doug McClure type romp. Definitely made for TV.

I would say I’m not expecting much, but with Kyle MacLachlan, Vinnie Jones and Sir Patrick Stewart, this cannot possibly suck.

This sounds like something I should know. Part 1 is on youtube. Is there even a part2?

2 Minutes in, so far it looks like an episode of Relic Hunter, so I'm up for it.

The Kid who would be King

Yes its clearly a kids/family film but there's some sneaky clever social commentary woven in, maybe Mr Cornish deserves a go at a few Who scripts, the young chap that played old Merlin was suitably bonkers and the nod to the greatest Arthur movie Excalibur whenever the Lady of the Lake was invoked was fun

8/10

Big Trouble in Little China

Its all in the reflexes, glorious then, glorious now

9/10

Saw the first half of Last Man Standing last night. I couldn't believe my luck to realize that it's actually the film rather than that abysmal sitcom.

It's fun. Walter Hill films always are, but this one certainly isn't his best. It has a peculiar atmosphere to it though, and it's silly and archaic and all women are damsels and whores and the Italians are very Italian and the Irish are very Irish and the Mexicans are all Mexican and Christopher Walken is Christopher Walken.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

After the seemingly relentless barrage of remakes, reboots and mediocre superhero films, it was with trepidation that I approached this film. Yet fear is not needed - this is a very good film, go and watch it. The child actors are great and (nearly!) everyone is a character! You read that right, the writers actually managed to make individual characters that I cared about. See Hollywood, it can be done. I also especially liked the use of the proton pack streamers. I don't know much about the Ghostbusters extended universe but the interaction of the streamers with the ghosts was given a focus that expanded upon the story without contradicting anything previous. Very well done.

To be nit-picky, there were three things that stopped this from being a great film for me. And for once nostalgia-bait wasn't one of them!

1) Nearly everyone is a character. The adults were fine but the kids were great. Phoebe, Trevor and Podcast were all distinct without being annoying or overblown. Sadly Lucky didn't get the same treatment. She started off okay, pranking Trevor, but it wasn't seen through and she doesn't have any defining personality. I can't tell if that comes from bad writing or bad acting, but something was off.
2) There were no stand out lines. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything quotable and certainly nothing that was delivered in a memorable way. There was no moment that could compare with the likes of "We got one!" from the original.
3) There's a theme of action having no consequences running through the film. It happened a few times but the worst was when the kids watch someone die and carry on with the plan as though nothing happened. Even given that Phoebe says that stress makes her calm, it doesn't make any sense that the kids don't have any reaction to it at all. They could not have planned any better for the set up of Phoebe's character reacting to the incident, but instead she doesn't even acknowledge it. To prove it you could cut that very short death sequence out of the film and it wouldn't make any difference as it had zero effect on the kids.

Those nitpicks aside, it is a good film that is worth spending your time on.

Afterlife is up there amongst my favourite Latter Day Sequels.

I pretty much agree with everything you said, and will endorse everyone giving it a watch.

If I had to sum it up? It shows due reverence to its illustrious predecessors, but is not afraid to be It’s Own Thing. It’s not trying to reinvent anything. And I don’t think it’s trying to reinterpret either. But it does offer a different view on things.

Now to tick one off of Movies Everyone Seems To Love But I’ve Not Seen For No Particular Reason (which includes The God Father series)…

The Big Lebowski

Only just put it on. I’ll get back to you.

Lebowski is pretty good, but it's no Withnail and I, but then again that's just like my opinion man

Go

Teen movies of the 90's largely suffered from not being teen movies of the 80's, this one is mostly okay but not sure how much bias of that is down to the Katie (and that bloke from Grange Hill)

So it’s pretty alright. I enjoyed it, but have no particular reverance for it. Perhaps it’s a “you had to be there” thing.

Can definitely see why it’s so well thought of though.

I maintain that The Big Lebowski is more fun to quote than to watch.


It’s also likely people just remember their favorite 8 or 9 minutes of the film fondly and kind of ignore the rest.