Movies 2: Electric Boogaloo

I absolutely adore King Kong. When I watched the original again last year, I found I wasn't quite as sympathetic to the titular ape as I remembered, but I think that's just because various remakes and sequels have made him much more explicitly heroic.

I recently watched Scorpions Revenge: Mortal Kombat Legends which just retreads the live action movie and the MK lore. Just it has a tad more focus on Scorpion, that's about it.

I'd still prefer to watch the live action movie because of the cheese, or the YouTube series if you want tad more serious.

Sticking to the cheese, I watched Fire Saga Eurovision on Netflix, which is worth a watch.

The local cinema opens again this weekend, as no new films, I wondered what was on and it's some recent stuff like Sonic but also showing Star Wars Empire Strikes Back. I'm keen to go see it as the last time I saw it on the big screen was 1997, that's 23 years ago.

The Nagano cinema did the same thing; I saw Shin Gojira and it was dope as hell on the big screen.

I'm also on holiday next week, just little iffy about going so soon but then again work somewhere with upto 500 people in which mainly do what they want, like one customer recently pushed me over pretty much and had a massive bruise on my knee.

The UK is real fucked up, huh?

Yeah it's basically normal, that what's going to a cinema

They're also showing Parasite

That's appropriate.

I saw Edge of Tomorrow recently. I quite enjoyed it! I thought it was going to be a po-faced concept sci-fi film at first, but it surprised me with how light-hearted the tone was. It's a neat premise - Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers. It had a bit of a B-Movie feel to it as well, like the aforementioned Starship Troopers which again surprised me considering this is a Tom Cruise movie. Worth a watch, I'd say.

I like Edge of Tomorrow, though that's the worst of the three names it's been released under (the others being Live Die Repeat and All You Need is Kill).
My only issue with the filmw as the super generic, undesigned aliens.

I watched Colossal a few nights ago.

It was a much better film than I was expecting, or at least a very different one. I thought it would just be a silly little comedy but it actually hit pretty hard as a film about alcoholism, abusive relationships and “monsters” of that kind. I would definitely recommend it to any kaiju fans or Anne Hathaway fans or just anyone who likes movies with something to say that do things a little differently.


That being said, don’t go into it expecting something quirky and happy-go-lucky.

I have that on my Netflix watch list along with a million other things

Did watch Promare which is very stylish even for Trigger who Trigger the ending

Yeh I watched Colossal a while back and agree that it's definitely worth a watch. On another note about Netflix I am at very slim pickings in terms of new films to watch as they don't seem to add new stuff that often.

Watched a few films whilst at my parents last week.



The Color Purple (1985)

This Spielberg gem is an adaptation of a Pulitzer-prize winning novel, and I watched it because my work were doing an online book club (and the book was The Color Purple). I said I'd join, watch the film and feedback. If you don't know the story, it's set in the deep south of the USA during the 1920s-1940s and is a very harrowing tale of a young lass that's raped, forced into marriage and subsequently lives out her days as a maid. The book is really smartly written though - it's all letters that Celie (the main character) writes to God. I have since gone on to read the book and it's fantastic, much better than the film. Spielberg does the book justice but some of the characters lack depth - you're never told why someone is being mean. However, it's well worth watching for the debut film roles of Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg. Given the use of music and colour throughout the story, the film also benefits from that, and the fact it's a Spielberg film so you get a warm feeling at the end too. Definitely worth a watch.
8.5/10

The Equalizer (2015)

I had heard decent things about Denzel Washington's foray into action movie territory. With Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson and Keanu Reeves all lending their names to hard-hitting action series, The Equalizer is largely a rip-off of Taken and John Wick. Retired special forces agent tries to have a quiet life, but sees a friend at his local diner (a prostitute) being beaten and abused, so he takes matters into his own hands. Turns out he has to face off against the Russian Mafia. The high production values and brilliant Kevin Spacey-lookalike baddie make this a great "stick the soundbar on and get the beers in" movie that has a brilliant final battle at a Home Depot (America's B&Q).
8/10

The Equalizer 2 (2018)

Expecting more of the same, this is actually a thriller more than an all-out blaster like the first one. It's about corruption in the secret service and after Denzel's friend is killed on a job, he comes into unearth the bad worm from the apple. There's a cracking final showdown that feels like Splinter Cell, but some of the characters aren't as strong as the first film's - as soon as you see him make a friend, you know that person is either being captured or killed. Has some good moments though!
7/10

Faster (2010)

I'm a big fan of The Rock and this surprisingly disappointed. Released at a turning point in his popularity (The Other Guys released the same year, and then Fast 5 in 2011) I felt Faster still suffered from feeling like an early Dwayne Johnson film. He doesn't speak for ages, and then when he does he struggles to balance the cold-hearted killer role with the loving family man. Basically, he is a driver for a bank robbery, which already makes no sense given he's twice the size of everyone else. I'm glad the Fast & Furious series gave him a big jeep, as he looks ridiculous in a regular car. After they are setup and unsavoury stuff happens to people he is close to, he ends up in prison. When he gets out he has a list of people he is going to kill. The problem is the writing, the horrendous secret agent character out to stop him, and the insane twist that defies science. Billy Bob Thornton is enjoyable enough though!
5/10

I actually caught the Equalizer in theatres. I remember it being pretty bloody cheesy but also good fun.

In other news, I caught The Invisible Man the other night. I have never felt so tense in a movie, it messed me up. Phenomenal stuff, start to finish.

You can stream Pokemon: The First Movie for free on Pokemon TV:

https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-episodes/pokemon-movies/pokemon-the-first-movie-1999 

I've never seen this. I was mad for Pokemon when this came out, but I thought I was too cool to go see this in the cinema or rent it on video. Did any of youse see it?

I watched it in the theatre, yep. A friend's birthday party, actually.
Then had it on VHS, watched it over and over.
Maybe had a DVD, watched that a couple of times.
Watched it when I was first in Japan, in Japanese on Netflix here.
Watched the CGI remake in the cinema last year.
Watched again a couple of months ago because I want to rewatch all the pokemon movies (including the 15 or so I'venever seen) and relisten to The Very Worst podcast episodes on them as I go.



It's alright.

I saw it. It made me cry. I think it would still make me cry today. By most accounts it remains the best of the bunch.

I saw it in the cinema with my sisters. I would have been about 8 and they would have been about 13 and 14? I didn't cry, but they did. I think they got a lot more invested in it than they had expected to!

I played the games and even caught some of the anime on Sky One in the morning before heading to school, but not had any interest in seeing the film. I'm guessing it follows on from the TV show?

People who have actually watched them all don't generally rate this one as the best one; 3, 4 and 6 I think are considered the sweet spot.

gjones wrote:

I played the games and even caught some of the anime on Sky One in the morning before heading to school, but not had any interest in seeing the film. I'm guessing it follows on from the TV show?

The show has been running consistently running since with a film punctuating evety year.

I'm actually amazed they got better, given the fond memories I had of the first!

I remember seeing it in the Cinema and getting my Movie Trading Cards.

Watched BlacKkKlansman the other night, pretty good film.

My best Pokemon anime memories are from SM:TV Live, natch.



It's not aged a bit.

masofdas wrote:

Watched BlacKkKlansman the other night, pretty good film.

Roger Ebert, eat your heart out. Can you elaborate? I plan to watch it in the next couple of weeks.

I watched Ronin at the weekend. The plot was kinda forgettable but BAH GAWD, THE CAR CHASES ARE AMAZING! You can stick your CGI Fast and Furious up Dwayne Johnson musclebound arse - this was like The French Connection where I was on the edge of my seat with every turn, wincing at the real collisions. Really well done.

Just watch it