I watched "Life After Beth" (2014) last weekend. It's not amazing or anything, but silly entertainment you don't have to think about too much. And there's Zombies, so that's a plus

Looks interesting.

My sister and I saw Wonder Woman today, and I was pretty impressed with it. Loved Gal Gadot too!

It's got my stamp of approval.

Definitely on my list to watch. Been hearing only good things.

I saw Ghost in the Shell.


This is the live action version based on the highly successful 1995 Anime feature of the same name (which in turn is based on the graphic novel) and has remained to be one of my favorite anime movies of all time. Set in the future a special team of crime fighters working for an organisation known as Section 9, Major Mira Killian, a cybernetically enhanced human fronts a new defense against a threat of a new terrorist by the name of Kuze who has the ability to hack into the minds of people.

It was a nice surprise to finally see GITS hit a live action dimension but i would be lying if i said that it was as good as the anime original of the 90's. Although the new movie focuses more on the lives and emotions of the characters including their past, too much of the nouveau of the original was removed. And way too much CGI (They should have researched Blade Runner).

It was however not bad and is worth a watch. I give it 3 & a half stars.

Not by any means 'great' .... but very good in places and the 'making of' the film fascinating and historic:

The Strange Saga of Billy Jack



This is Rambo '71 imo. Ex-Nam Special operative returns home with chip on shoulder, gets pushed over the edge, kicksthelivingcrapoutofeverbody, then the law closes in and cooler heads prevail in the nick of time & just before the whole region winds up in the boneyard.

I can only give it a couple of stars but some scenes are well above 4 star. The whole soundtrack is excellent and love the opening scene of rounding up the mustangs for the dog food industry with 'one tin soldier' cued up in the background.

After reading the above link, can only think that the script's physical (one against many) element also has (some)connotations with Laughlin's personal struggles with Hollywood et al - as well. Love how he simply employed his whole extended family in the casting ..... and it worked quite well, for the most part(s) - Re: that's TL's daughter who sings/plays the first guitar solo.

Attached Image

Very interesting. I see that this was a 4 part series beginning with The Born Losers in 1968.

Would love to give it a watch.

I'll probably wait until my sister watches Ghost in the Shell before I see it. She's the bigger fan. If she says it's okay, then I'll watch it. I'm actually more interested in the live action Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan.

Speaking of, I broke down and got Resident Evil: Vendetta today. It was released for one day yesterday in theaters, and is now available to purchase digitally. It was "okay". No better or worse than any of the other RE movies. My sister and I will most likely pick it apart in a week or two when we watch it together.

I'm such a glutton for punishment... XD

It's worth a watch, Jedi but if you hold the anime close to your heart, you might be disappointed. Felt a little like Robocop.

I have only seen the first RE CGI movie and still need to see Damnation & Vendetta. I'll get around to it. The Milla ones i obviously have seen all and own that lovely collection.

I believe there is a reboot in the works already with some bigger budget, stars involved.

I saw Baywatch last night. It was pretty good actually. Though I never really watched the original show. Just some episodes here or there. Considering the flops most movies of old tv-shows are, this one is pretty fun. And that's what it is meant to be in the first place. A fun movie, so don't even begin on reading reviews. The story was pretty good and meant for laughs. It's a action/comedy with good action sequences and not just a flat out comedy spoofing the source material. To be honest, it made me wanna become a lifeguard. How silly that may sound. But I'm always up for a run on the beach with CJ and Summer. If you would just look for two hours of brainless fun this movie is for you. A well deserved three stars.

My sister watched Vendetta with me on Friday... and well, she laughed her way through the whole movie. The main problem with it is that it's supposed to be taken seriously, but they relied so heavily on John Wick style "gun fu" to the point it was just ridiculous. And lots of overly dramatic explosions.

It's like entertainment junk food... I kinda enjoyed it regardless.

Case in point (enjoy!)

And with that, I actually saw John Wick 2.

The now retired hitman John Wick is brought back unwillingly into the business when his life is turned upside down due to a debt he has to pay. But this debt is soon a double crossing which brings back the unstoppable Wick to the gangster's doorstep.

JW2 is actually an improvement over the first movie and opens up a lot of the character's background we didnt know. Reminded me a little of Kingsman but it was a furiously fun tale.

Solid 4 stars but if you're sensitive to violence, perhaps watch the trailer first.

Friday Night saw me watching an oldie. Hard Target.

Perhaps your typical Van Damme movie but with a few interesting tidbits. First American movie directed by John Woo, starred Lance Hendriksen as the villain and even South African born Arnold Vosloo as a twisted henchman. Story is about a young woman who tries to track her father after he goes missing and find more trouble than she hoped. She hires Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme) after he saves her life near a bar in the hopes that he can find her father. Their search leads them to some nasty men who hunt people for sport.

Its a Van Damme movie any which way you look at it but its fun. If you're into these sort of movies, you might enjoy it. I give it 3 stars.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

It has been years since I've seen that one. I did see Dead Men Tell No Tales (Captain Salazar's Revenge) a few weeks ago which I liked so I figured it was time to watch the earlier films again.

Still havent seen the new POTC but i always enjoyed Black Pearl. It was the best IMO.

A nice surprise with this australian movie gem, with excellent perfoamances by Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce. It's a heartwarming story about love, self-respect and family with the Drag performances and Transgender as the background themes.

recommended

I think Dead Men's Chest was slightly better. But I seem to be having these blank moments during the movie that I'm thinking, am I not paying attention or am I noticing plotholes? Like how does Will (Orlando Bloom) know Barbossa in the first movie? He mentions him in the scene when Gibbs explains him a few things about piracy but nothing was ever mentioned to him before about Barbossa. Also in the second movie it seems like Elizabeth just randomly boards a ship to Tortuga and in someway figures out the Kraken is after Jack and not the others but it's not explained how she knows. She just sets him up at the end. Maybe the third movie explains, I don't know. It's a movie after all but in both movies, I noticed these moments like: wait..., how did this happen? Or maybe I'm just thinking too much, these are pirates after all in a Disney movie.

Interesting to know is that Davy Jones is played by Bill Nighy who played General Olbricht in Valkyrie.

Guess which movie I'm going to see know? Right. At World's End.

Mr Duct Tape, Priscilla is a classic!

Like Rocky Horror.

MacGyverGod, to be honest there were a lot of plot holes in the POTC movies. I just personally enjoyed COTBP more than DMC.

I actually saw a movie last night!!!


The last time i saw Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure was ages ago so decided to pop it in again

For those of you that have not seen it before, Bill (Alex Winter & Ted (Keanu Reeves) are high school friends trying to start a band while struggling with their grades in school, particularly in History. That is until they receive a visit from a man calling himself Rufus (George Carlin), a traveler from the future where they are deemed to be pioneers of a perfect society. Using a time machine which looks like a phone booth (Doctor Who anyone?) they travel across history nabbing iconic leaders to save their history presentation.

For a low budget movie Bill & Ted was a surprisingly well made film which was also lots of fun for its time. Grantd, this movie is a little outdated and shows its age but still gives lots of laughs. There was a sequel which followed called Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, a TV series and a cartoon series which reprised Reeves & Winters voice acting. And apparently a third movie is in the works (No joke).

I give it 3 & a half stars.

What? No DeLorean?

You are correct about POTC, it seems a lot of that happened due to cutting. Again in At World's End after the final battle Elizabeth says goodbye to the crew as she has to remain on land now that Will has taken Davy Jones' place on the Flying Dutchman. But also that seem to came out of nowhere. So actually she takes Tia Dalma's place to see her love every ten years and apparently inside Davy Jones' locker. At World's End was initially meant to be three hours long, yet they've cut the movie by 20 minutes, including a part of the explanation that concerned Will and Elizabeth's fate. Also Bootstrap turning a little more evil due to the curse seemed a little illogical at times and Tia Dalma being an evil goddess to be released in order to win or start the battle seemed a bit odd. Minor things that if you think about it makes sense but I don't think viewers think that far.

Anyway both the second and third movie were great despite these nitpicks.

Hmm.

POTC: On Stranger Tides. The fourth one. Functions as a standalone film and is a little thinner than the previous three. Only three major characters return: Jack, Barbossa and Gibbs. So not so many characters to follow and less storylines. It was alright. Interesting to know is that Depp's confidence in the movie took a dent after a Disney chairman left yet they paid him 55,5 million dollars for this movie. 55,5 million dollars! That is like the biggest paycheck I have ever known an actor received for a movie. 55,5 million dollars! That is just sick.

I wouldn't call it a great movie, but entertaining. My youngest and I just saw Cars 3. Fun 😀 movie!

It was the least interesting one, yes. The others were better despite some plotholes and way too stuffed storylines. Also Dead Men Tell No Tales was better.

Hacksaw Ridge and Troy.

Just like Mac has his thing for westerns, I have this thing for (romantic) war movies. Mel Gibson's return to the director chair and hopefully his career. When I saw this one at the movies, it was a bit like Pearl Harbor. Two people falling in love and the boy has to go to war and you have to wonder if they will ever see each other again. In my opinion he was even better this time. 3 stars.

Troy. What can I tell you about Troy? I saw it during the release and remember not exactly liking it at the time. Now that I've seen it for the first time in more than ten years and it was the director's cut extended edition, I can't even remember why I didn't like it. It's half an hour longer, clocking down at 3 hours and 15 minutes and I consider this now as one of the last epic movies made in the old school way. Sure there must be some CGI in there somewhere. But not that it's an overhyped movie with overused CGI. Anyway, as I said, I can't remember why I didn't like the movie. Maybe it was because I knew somewhat of the story thanks to Xena Warrior Princess as she has her own episode based on the Trojan War and of course the several references to Greek gods and their mythology. Yet, maybe that should've made the movie all the more accessible for me. Back then, I didn't like it but now, I'm sold. Now I've been looking into it. This seems to be like the oldest war according to Wikipedia and apparently the Trojans fled to Italy, settled there and their descendants established what we now know as Rome. The movie is now 30 minutes longer and mostly the battles have been extended and are bloodier and more violent than in the theatrical release. Also the downfall of Troy was more extended and shows quite savage and barbaric moments from the Greeks to the Trojan population. Despite the mixed reception the movie got during the release I think this was a very good movie. Better than Braveheart grander than Gladiator. Familiar faces: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Peter O' Toole, Brian Cox, Diane Kruger, Saffron Burrows... Amazing actually how Bloom seemed to be rolling from one epic into the other at the time: Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Carribean, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven... Troy deserves better than what it got and there for I give this movie 4 stars.

Both of those were certainly good!

I got to see Wonder Woman! Yay!!

Based on the famous comic book series and starring the rather talented (And beautiful) Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman tells the story of Diana, princess of the Amazons. A tribe of women connected to the great gods and who live a sheltered life away from the real world till an intervention of the first world war opens their world to ours and Diana decides to take it upon herself to help save humanity with the aid of fighter pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). Convinced that the cause of the darkness over the world is because of Aries, God of war.

I have to admit that so far DC have done little to tickle my interest. Man of Steel & Batman Vs Superman were overblown yet flawed on many levels IMO. Suicide Squad veered a little better. However Wonder Woman really took all that aside and went with its own thing and you really feel for the characters.

Its fun and its nice to see a female taking on such a strong lead and doing such a marvelous job at it. It's not perfect. There are a few things that are not explained but its a good movie and well worth the time. Easy 4 stars.

Tears Of The Sun. A movie about a fictional war in which Bruce Willis has to evacuate an American doctor played by Monica Bellucci out of Nigeria and bring her to the border in Cameroon. This movie sort of got inspiration of movies like Black Hawk Down. Willis has to bring Bellucci back but she refuses to leave her patients at the missionary. Against his orders Willis agrees to take the patients that can walk to the rendez-vous point but leaves the rest behind. Also at the rendez-vous point he attempts to leave her people behind but has a change of heart after he sees what the rebels did to the missonary and sends her people back in their stead. They revisit the missionary and decide to go the border on foot with the rebels on their tail.

This could be seen as the movie version of The Road Not Taken, only more dramatic. The movie was not so much action-orientated as I thought, it's more about the dramatic impact on the atrocities of the war, so don't expect major battle scenes. Also this seems to be about a fictional war and I think this were the movie loses some impact. If it was based on actual events the movie would've done better. 2,5 stars.

Tears of the Sun was a disappointing flick for me. Even Rambo was based on some facts via post Vietnam war.

I saw Tears of the Sun during the release back in 2003. Then, I was convinced it seemed real enough to me. But it's not based on anything. This is just a fictional war movie. Though I'm sure Nigeria had their wars. Apparently some of the Nigerian actors broke down for real in the scene where they find a dying mutilated woman because they have seen such horrors in real life that it affected the actors around them. It wasn't disappointing but now I found out the movie was completely fictional, I can see the mixed reception.

Yesterday, I also saw Wonder Woman. And I pretty much agree on what you say Denizen. And it was indeed better than some other adaptions. I liked it she came off as a somewhat gullible character at first resulting in a few very funny moments. And I really welcomed it. Though I had no expectations, usually DC is darker and more serious but in Batman v. Superman it was indeed overblown. Even The Dark Knight trilogy had it's lighter moments. I missed a few oneliners in Batman v. Superman. But in all it was great movie and a direction I hope they keep exploring. Also the setting was real interesting but if she was so affected by World War I, I wonder what she would do in World War II. The idea of setting superheroes in the wars is very appealing, yet I haven't seen anything worth while. Hellboy was born in World War II, Captain America was not my cup of tea and expecting Wolverine in World War II is likely not to happen anymore and just a quick glance doesn't count. I just think it must be hilarious how the same guy keeps enlisting in every war the world has seen and that he just doesn't die. What Wonder Woman is concerned, I'm up for more.

Glad you enjoyed it MacGyverGod!

Another of my favorites and quite underrated IMO is Rocketeer if you enjoy superhero movies set during the war.


Story is about Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell), a cocky stunt pilot who inadvertently stumbles across a rocket pack hidden in one of the hangars where he flies planes. But from the moment Cliff straps the pack onto his back he is after by the mob, FBI & even Nazis! Now he has to protect his girlfriend who's life is in danger as well as his friends from some unwanted guests.

I will never understand why the Rocketeer failed at the box office. It starts off a little slow but as soon as Cliff crashes his plane at the beginning, the action and adventure never stops! The music by James Horner is incredible (and you will know where he got a lot of themes for Titanic from).

I give Rocketeer 4 & a half stars. Its a perfect Saturday night matinee movie in the tradition of Indiana Jones.

While we're on the subject of war/ post war movies let me mention another two.

The Shadow.


Released back in 1994 and starring Alec Baldwin as Lamont Cranston, a "wealthy man about town". But not all was as it seems for Cranston. Living in the far east after the first world war made him become a brutal criminal until a Tulku warrior makes him pay for redemption by training him to cloud men's minds. Now equipped with skills and a new turn on life, he becomes the Shadow, a crime fighter in New York that most people don't even know exists. But it isn't long before a new threat arrives in the form of Shiwan Khan, the last descendant of Genghis Khan...

Set in the 1930's during the second world war, the movie was extremely well made for its budget and Jhn Lone as Shiwan Khan is unforgettable as the villain. Alec Baldwin, though not the perfect Lamont Cranston IMO still pulls off the role well. But this is another movie that bombed at the theater and for many reasons. Personally its a little campy at times and scenes play out that make no sense. Even Kenny G playing at the Cobalt Club? In the 1930's?

If you push all that aside, it really is a fun movie and Jerry Goldsmith made an amazing score too. A little Batman-esque but its all good. I give Shadow 3 stars.

Lastly in the category for superhero flicks set in the past / war is the Phantom (1996).


Also set in the 1930's during the war, master criminal Xander Drax is on a quest to find the mystical Skulls of Touganda which have the ability to make the owner indestructible. But a "Ghost who walks" will do anything to prevent that from happening. Billy Zane stars as Kit Walker, a mysterious man who vanishes only to live a secluded life in a jungle protecting its inhabitants and holding an age old secret of carrying a mantle of protection known as the Phantom.

This movie suffered the same fate as the others. Probably worse. Yet the irony was that it had so much charm. Scripted by Jeffrey Boam (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Stars included Catherine Zeta Jones & Kristy Swanson (Original Buffy). Unfortunately many could not quite swallow the legitimacy of having a grown man in a skin tight purple costume save the day.

Still, there are crooked villains, pirates and a host of other surprises in the film. James Cameron was apparently so impressed with Billy Zanes performance in the movie that he signed him up for Titanic. (No joke!).

I give the Phantom 3 stars.

The Devil's Arithmetic. A long forgotten tv-movie starring Kirsten Dunst (before Spiderman), Brittany Murphy and Paul Freeman. Dunst plays Hannah Stern a modern day teenager of Jewish descent who reluctantly participates in her family's religious holiday. As she does so she is sort of transported back in time (flower pot anyone?) to 1941 and witnesses the horrors her family has been through during the war at first hand. It was a rather thin story, though I liked the idea. A modern day girl send to 1941 to learn a lesson about her family's history in the war. What does that remind you of? Good Knight MacGyver indeed. Could've been a great two-parter or just a single episode in a tv-show. The story was alright but could've been better if it wasn't a tv-movie. While a thin storyline, the actor who played the camp warden is just plain terrible and his accent is horrendous. Too overdone. Even the actors playing East-Germans in MacGyver did better jobs. Brittany Murphy pulled off a better job in doing a Polish accent and both her and Dunst sounded fragile. It was not bad but certainly not great either. The ending was strong though but I would still give it two stars only.

Wild Things. Actually another great story on how I got to know this film. My brother was a big fan of this movie when it got released and he bought the poster that hung in his room for years, the same one as I posted here. Though I probably would've never like the movie at the time the poster always intrigued me. The title in the middle: Wild Things, two good looking girls on top and two shady men below. Yet it lasted till now that I got to see the movie. This was a totally different movie than I expected. I'm not going to give away too much of the plot but this is one of those rare movies in a difficult genre: the erotic thriller that managed to be a success. Even though it gained its fans after the release. When a high school counselor is accused of abusing two of his students, the cop investigating the case thinks there is more to it than it seems and goes into deeper investigation.

Transformers: The Last Knight. The fifth installment in the Transformers franchise. I never really liked the Transformers movies in the first place. Can't stand Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox is far from attractive. If I say something like that about the leads, I probably won't like the movie. This is probably like the exception on the rule again. And I'm not just that much into cars even if they can transform. I never minded Bay but ever since he started Transformers, I consider him a worse director than Paul WS Anderson because he has been doing nothing else but Transformers in the past ten years. He only did two other movies: Pain & Gain and 13 Hours. Yes, I like mindless explosions, cars flying around and mass destruction along the way but in case of Transformers... it never persuaded me.

The first movie was done way over the top especially the scene where in LaBeouf can't help himself with the car and Fox has to lean over the hood because even if she is supposed to be this pretty girl, she knows something about cars and you can see all her accessories while she's doing it. A girl who is out of his league and knows something about cars, that's every teenage boy's wet dream, right? Right. Replace Fox with Michelle Rodriguez and I might believe you. Even though that's the only scene that stuck, it's because it's bad and there is the picture of the scene. They wanted to make a point but they got way too much what they bargained for and there for exceeded that point way too much. I'm glad they got rid of her by the third movie and got rid of him by the fourth. I never liked any of them but I rather look at Wahlberg's face than those other two.

Anyway. The Last Knight offered nothing new to the concept apparently. I only saw the fourth one during it's release and thought it was bad at the time, never saw it again. I like the idea that the Transformers visited Earth throughout the ages, just like with the comic book heroes. But other than that, the story is paper thin. The dinosaurs were replaced with the Arthur legend when the robots hid a relic on earth. Couple of familiar faces though: Mark Wahlberg, John Torturro, Stanley Tucci, the presidential bodyguard from 24 and Tony Hale aka Buster from Arrested Development. But also Anthony Hopkins. He was already seen in the trailer and that made me wonder... was that an attempt to lure a bigger audience to have an actor like Hopkins in a... Bay movie? Mehehe. It might seem as weird to have Sean Connery in The Rock playing the hero but still I think Connery and Hopkins both had a great time in doing the movie. At least that's what I figured that Hopkins was having, a little fun in the movie. Come to think of it, I think he was the only one.

Again movie was not that great but I went with low expectations so it was alright. 2,5 stars.