Recently Watched Movies

[Aeolus Aeneas]

Uchuu Keiji Gavan: The Movie

For a metal heroes movie, there was very little in the way of metal heroes. New Gavan wore the suit four times, and each was very short lived. It was cool that brought back old characters and made new suits, but in the end it felt like just a modern day Japanese hero production that just so happened to have Gavan in it. Sort of like the cross over episodes with Go-Busters.

[TheRealSpiders]

So watched Wolf of Wall Street last night.

Go watch it, it's amazing.

Just don't watch it with your mom.

[Aeolus Aeneas]

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters Returns vs. Dōbutsu Sentai Go-Busters, which is a V-Cinema so not technically a movie exactly... but close enough.

Oh boy, where to start. Well, I think this was their answer to the people who said Go-Busters was too serious, considering that most of the movie takes place in a universe that reeks of 80s Super Sentai in style and takes the Carranger route by being really silly on purpose. The outfits, with Hiromu (Red Buster) having a scarf, the commander wearing a military uniform, wearing some big ol' sunglasses and rocking a toothbrush mustache and the support staff wearing pure white uniforms that screamed Space Sheriff Gavan (with the female navigator clad in a classic short as Hell skirt), the transformations that screamed Gaoranger (being animal themed), the roll call that was a massive mix of everything was classic Sentai. Even the way they commanded their mecha, being standing in their cockpit was a shout out to multiple former series'.

Even the fact that their sixth member, who was green, died just like Burai did in Zyuranger, the commander who became a black Ranger like in Dekaranger (though a cat theme, rocking the classic scarf and being obsessed with fruit), a pink member and a group bazooka attack were all call backs. They even went into standard Japanese school cliches and even made a reference to Power Rangers (though Go-Busters itself was doing that from day one) with the girl falling in love with the green guy.

As for the actual plot... well, I'll just say that it's over the top. It involves a Great Demon who looks like he would be right at home in MegaTen killing everybody and... well, it's something you sort of have to see to really appreciate it. And you should watch it, because I really liked it, even if I'm in the small minority that likes my Super Sentai way more serious.

[Chicken Boo]

The Lego Movie

My older sister was suppose to watch RoboCop but her friend in FB said it was total crap so she decided to go with Lego Movie and she enjoyed it. And so did I.

[Leon8200]

I saw ikira on adult swim last month, wasn't bad I give it 8.2/10

[Aeolus Aeneas]

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

I love the first two Dungeon Siege games, so I was both curious and horrified when I saw that there was a film attached to it by Uwe Boll; I know a lot of people look at anything by him and instantly call it garbage. Before I watched this, I was convinced that it would be a train wreck; I mean, it's Uwe Boll. He's infamous for making horrible films that bomb to abuse a tax loop hole that by now is thankfully fixed. I had no hopes at all, and watched it like a passing motorist watches the scene of a car crash. Upong seeing the film, I came to realize that at best it was a mediocre generic fantasy action film and at worst had nothing at all to do with Dungeon Siege.

Yeah, it kind of takes place in Ehb, yeah the main character uses the default name of Farmer... I could go on with the in name references, but when you get right down to it, this film has nothing to do with the first game. Change Farmer to Generic McFantasyMan and the Krug to Orcs and you have just another generic fantasy film set in some far away land in an undefined time setting. What's more, the film takes so many liberties with characters and setting to the point where it doesn't even resemble the most basic overview one could give of the first game. It ignores the back story, it ignores what little characterization the game gives and ultimately, the entire point of using the Dungeon Siege license was to lure in the fans who, like me, had a morbid desire just how horribly the film could mess up.

I cannot call the movie bad. It is not a horrible Dungeon Siege game due to the fact that it uses so little elements that you can simply change any name and make it fit into any setting you want (this could be the worlds cheapest Lord of the Rings film if you changed enough references), and overall the film is not horrible. It's not an amazing fantasy film by any stretch, the acting isn't award winning and the movie drags on for far too long because of the extended battle scenes between the humans and the Or- Krugs, but in all it wasn't painful to sit through, nor was I screaming at my monitor in anger.

All in all, as I said, a mediocre fantasy action film that just so happened to have the Dungeon Siege license and did nothing with it.


In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds

The sequel that nobody asked for and a film that dropped Dungeon Siege completely... only to make it much worse. This film makes the first look like the Lord of the Rings in quality and scope. Let's not mince words here; whatever strained connections the first film made to Ehb would have been welcome in this cheap piece of garbage. I am literally convinced that they went to a RenFaire in the middle of winter to film the fort scenes, then took whoever was willing to LARP in the woods and made them into "actors" for the combat scenes.

For a film that supposedly cost 4.5 million USD to make, I cannot see the quality. As I said, everything reeked of being at a RenFaire, and not a good one at that. The sort of thing put on by community theater folks on their off days in the hopes of being better tavern wenches in whatever small gigs come their way. Actually no, the acting in this film is below even community theater; I really do think this was the first actual acting role that a lot of these people had. And if there is any justice, it will be their last.

Dolph Lundgren, who was about 54 at the time of release looked about 65 years in the role; I was honestly waiting for him to turn into a pile of dust at some point. From what I've read, his character is supposed to be an Iraq war vet, the most recent war. Which makes me wonder if this is some kind of underhanded stab at the US military for being so undermanned that they needed to use a man who looked like he would explode into a fine powered the moment somebody so much as touched him. Being the main character in a fantasy film is not something he's made for; any role in which he talks is an iffy affair, and any role that has him trying to emote is basically doomed to failure. Yet I got to watch him trying to cry and have survivors guilt over members of his team having died.

Now, let's talk about the setting of the film for a moment. I mentioned RenFaire. I mentioned Iraq. This is a mostly in name only sequel to a fantasy film. How does this all work? Time travel.

No, really. Time travel. Instead of being two different worlds, it is time travel. Via magic. You know, that supernatural force that we don't have in real life, yet in this film about a character from the real, modern world, he gets whisked away via magic time travel to the past where magic is very real. This also brings the tenuous connection to the first film into question, because that too featured magic and the Krug, who were basically Orc like beasts in a landmass that has never existed in reality at any point, in a kingdom that has never once existed.

It only gets worse when the dragon shows up. Yeah, dragon. Dolph Lundgren runs into a dragon, yet sadly doesn't fight it. And this is where I think most of the money went... well, other than the amount of drugs and hookers needed to make this film not see like the worst possible idea to even the most starving, desperate for any kind of work "actor" that was in this film. The dragon was CG and it didn't look that bad; it was actually one of the better CG dragons that I have seen. Really, in what little screen time it had, the CG dragon worked well with the backgrounds and the people it interacted with. When it attacked the cardboard fort, it looked more like a real dragon than the fort looked like a fort to the point where I would honestly believe that dragons are real in this world while forts are some kind of fiction.

The story itself is pretty horrible, and in one sense totally reuses a plot point from the first film. And in the end, when Dolph "fights" the bad guy, who was... named Raven. A fat guy named Raven who was LARPing a king... well anyway, when he kills the guy, because any man who comes up against Dolph, even if he looks 70, who isn't Rocky Balboa who makes the most cornball of speeches ever, has to die, I sit there and wonder just how he's going to explain the corpse to the cops.

I mean, he can't tell them the truth. And even in his 50s, I don't think they would have bought self defense against this pudgy looking LARPer who seemed to be fresh out of a basement. I like to imagine that after the credits he goes to jail, and upon telling the truth, he's committed to an insane asylum for the rest of his days... and that gives me more enjoyment than the entire film ever did.

[Iamerror]

I saw Lincoln-The best part of the movie is Tommy Lee Jones.His character is so funny and almost steals the movie. Every time he was onscreen,I knew something funny was going to happen.Definitely recommend it.
The Butler-I enjoyed this movie, from beginning to end it was an engrossing movie about a man struggling to cope with the changing times.Recommend it.

[Cyberxion]

I saw ikira on adult swim last month, wasn't bad I give it 8.2/10

Ikira, a cross between Japanese anime and Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture.

[deadlegion]

Thor: The Dark World.

Wasn't bad I guess. I seem to recall I didn't like the first movie all that much but this one was ok. I didn't fall asleep anyway

[Aeolus Aeneas]

Airplane!

Yet another movie that I had seen bits and pieces of over the course of my life, yet haven't actually sat down and watched it in full until now. And it's a movie that I cannot do justice to with words; it's something you have to see to fully appreciate just how amazing it is. The amount of wit, visual humor and the sheer number of things it mocks in a manner that nearly all so called spoof movies from the last 20 years should take notes from in order to be even a tenth as amazing as this film is a sight to behold.

I implore you to give this movie a chance if you haven't already.

[Zaladane]

Thor 2


Dunno what to say without giving things away to other Marvel fans so I'll try to generalize.


Some extremely funny moments like "I better put on some pants"

Overall the dialog was better than the first. Loki had a cool fight scene.

Could have done wothout some of the "starwars" aspects and you'll know what I mean if/when others see it but that was a small part.

Also one doesn't necessarily need to see the first or Avengers to jump into it so they were smart there. I mean it could help a tad but that's it.

Extra scenes: Fucking amazing. Was that Benicio del Toro?? Playing the Collector??

Also now we have two infinity gems

Overall much better than the first. I was drinking a bit though but give this a whopping 4/5


I'll talk more about this more in retro with a certain blue muppet I'm sure

[Aeolus Aeneas]

2009 Star Trek

Instead of screaming about everything, I'll just mention a few things...

Spoiler warning:

1) What was Nero doing for those 20+ years? I know that in a deleted scene they actually explain this, but in the theatrical it's never touched upon. Why is that?
2) Not a single member of Nero's crew realized just how insane everybody else has become and didn't object to galactic genocide? Even that piece of garbage Nemesis proved that there were Romulans who were horrified at such a concept, and that was only Earth as the target.
3) The entire concept of red matter.
4) One star exploding was a threat to the entire galaxy?
5) What the Hell ever happened to Kirk's mother? She's mentioned once after the whole opening and then she just vanishes.

Spoiler warning:

6) Old Spock completely ignores the Temporal Prime Directive and doesn't even bother to try and correct the timeline, he just lets it go.

7) For a race that's supposed to be about logic and conquering their emotions because they view them as causing nothing but problems, those Vulcans sure are bigots towards human hybrids. You know, the species that helped them FOUND THE FEDERATION and they've been working with for well over a century now.
8) Engineering... oh god, what did they do to you. You used to be my favorite part of any starship...

Star Trek: Into Darkness

1) Spock complains about Kirk breaking the Prime Directive... while he's busying doing THE EXACT SAME THING by freezing a volcano to save an entire pre-warp civilization.
2) Why did they sink the Enterprise to the bottom of an ocean? No really, why? They NEVER explained that, and doing so only increased the risk of revealing their ship. They could have just stayed in orbit and nobody there would have been the wiser.

Spoiler warning:

3) Nobody saw any of this coming when they hot shotted Kirk to captain in the last movie? Is everybody higher up incompetent?
4) Why was the super ship following the same basic design as the Enterprise? What, do all Federation ships now have the same design?
5) Why would you even bother linking the Eugenics Wars to new Trek? That's one of those things that even old Trek wanted to do away with, especially considering that we're now almost two decades ahead of when it was supposed to happen.
6) Spock sacrificing himself to save everybody was a powerful thing in Star Trek II. The tried to do the same with Kirk, but it didn't have any of the impact. Worst, it pissed me off when they tried to it and act like this was some emotional thing. Maybe because I just don't like new Kirk and Spock.
7) Khan's blood can cure death? Seriously? The Genesis Planet causing Spock's rebirth was stupid, but this is even worse!

Airplane II: The Sequel

Yes, the movie had a different director and different writers. Yes, they reused jokes. Yes, they basically reused the plot. Yes, the film wasn't as good as the original. But even still, I enjoyed the movie. It might not be up there with the first on a recommendation list, but it's still there, and I ask that you give it a shot.


Predator

I just watched this for the first time just recently, and it's every bit as amazing as people say it is. Back when Arnold was in his prime, back when R rated movies were amazing and weren't cut down to get a PG rating, back when films weren't afraid to be bloody and violent and gory, back when you could just have a bunch of US military style guys murdering the Hell out of people in a jungle and cheer for them. Back when films weren't about lens flares and science fiction wasn't all about terrible CGI.

I know I sound like THAT GUY now, but it's an amazing film, something you could never make these days and have it be as good. If you were like me and have yet to see this film, DO SO NOW. Because you will not regret it.


Predator 2

If there's one thing I can really complain about in this film, it's that it felt like it had less Predator in it than the first. It dragged on with gang war nonsense that I didn't care about, and the Predator's role in everything up until the last forty minutes made me wonder if they were trying to make it seem more heroic... or if they wanted to just one up the other film on body count. I suppose it's the nature of the hunter to take down dangerous prey for trophies, but given how the Predator seemed so focused on the main character even very early on, it made it seem like the gang killings were just violence for the sake of it. Or maybe it was some writers venting about gang violence happening during the production of the film.

Aside from that, what little of the actual Predator action there happened to be was on par with the first film. Actually better, when you consider the main character was nowhere near as built as the character of Dutch from the first one, which made the fight all the more amazing.

Spoiler warning:

Seeing the Predator of the film actually being killed by this smaller man, a fear not even somebody played by Arnold in his prime could do, made it all the more amazing and fulfilling.

Despite not being an amazing sequel, it's still worth a watch for the last forty minutes or so when, for me, the film really picks up. It's not worth skipping the first hour if you love violence and want more of the same you came to expect from the first film (skinning the prey, ripping out the spine and skull, impaling guys with arm blades, etc), but it gets bogged down with gang war stuff that, personally, I could have done without.


Predators

For a movie from 2010, I have to admit that it had a LOT more practical effects and actual locations than I would have expected. As an action film it's passable, as a Predator film... it's decent at best. It was a pretty by the numbers movie; I knew exactly who would survive the moment I saw them, the only real surprise was the order in which the others died. As a Predator film, it feels as though the skill and mystery have diminished over time, to the point where they seemed more dependent on technology to be hunters.

I know, that's an odd thing to say about a series that started with a Predator using infrared vision and energy weapons to hunt, but in Predators they had heart heat monitors and augmented hearing and used hunting dogs and used less stalking and picking people off one by one. At least hey finally sort of gave some proper use to the voice mimic that was introduced in the first film and was used for nearly no effect in it and the second.

I'm also half surprised by the R rating; I mean, short of one person getting blown to a bloody pulp, the violence wasn't near as bad as, say, the second film. But I supposed what got it was language, because they dropped the f bomb about, oh, 50 times through the film. Now, in no way am I prude when it comes to filthy, filthy words, but there comes a point when I wish they would have varied it up a little... when I hear the same expletive used so many times it loses all meaning and impact.

The biggest draw of the film is, not so oddly, the fact that there is full on Predator on Predator fight near the end of the film. Watching the two beat the crap out of one another was a joy to see, and made me wish there was more of that in the film, since they eluded to some blood feud for all of two lines and then dropped it completely. The real downsides, of course, are that it comes much too late in the film and it only lasts for less than a few minutes. After which, we're left with a "final confrontation" that both films previous did better.

As a stand alone film, I wouldn't really recommend it, but if you've seen Predator and Predator 2, it's worth a watch, if just to say you've seen every official Predator film that isn't the AvP movies.


District 9

If you ever wanted a strong case for the genocide of humanity, then this film is for you. And now I'm deeply depressed and want to curl up into a ball.

[maverickhuntergirlZ492]

My boyfriend and I went to go see Robocop last night. Not a bad movie.

[notkev]

The Lego Movie
Pretty funny, but I lost interest toward the end.

Upstream Color
If you've ever seen Primer, it's made by the same guy. It's about a woman who gets hypnotized and does some screwed up things. Great atmosphere.

Blade Runner
Watched it for like the fourth time now. I loved the whole feel of the movie and Harrison Ford is awesome. Watched it for inspiration on a 2D cyberpunk game I'm making.

[Aeolus Aeneas]

Alien

Oh boy, this is going to be something that I know is going to just make people mad. Everybody praises this movie and acts as if it's one of the greatest movies ever made... and me, overall, all I can say is that it's passable.

As a science fiction movie it's pretty good. Set in some unknown time in the future, where man is capable of decent speed, yet still requiring stasis to survive, The tug itself is somewhat clean, but the real action is what they're hauling. I've always had a soft spot for the industrial side of science fiction. It's also refreshing, for a movie of the time, to not be a shining beacon of the future, or set in a world where technology is so advanced that it's mundane and boring. The whole switch flipping, that feel of having to push buttons, having CRT like monitors... that's what I like. The sets and models were amazing, the designs by H. R. Giger are still great to this day and the Xenomorph is an excellent blend of the origin and the mechanical. The dripping of saliva, the way it moves and sounds; all top notch. The acting for the most part is pretty decent, though not the best I've seen. The pacing is slow, it follows the classic rules of never showing too much too soon, to drag you in...

... and for me, this is where the movie doesn't work. I never felt suspense, I never felt the tension of wanting to know more, to see more. And this may well be because I knew, roughly, what was going to happen, that I knew who was going to live and die, I knew the twists. Maybe it's because I was alone, without others around that lessened the experience. I also didn't find the Xenomorph that scary, I didn't find what the film expected me to be scared of scary. The darkness and atmosphere were all telling me I should be feeling something... but I wasn't. For a movie meant to be thrilling and scary, I was detached. I was watching it and felt little more than slight annoyance near the ending because of Ripley's obsession with that damn cat.

As a science fiction movie in general I enjoyed it, as a lover of models and practical effects I enjoyed it, as a fan of push button and switch flipping in anything I enjoyed it, and as somebody who enjoys a good alien design I loved it. But as a suspense and horror film it just didn't do anything for me.


Aliens

I'll just say this right now; I hated Newt. The actress they got to play her couldn't decide what accent to keep, she wasn't that great of an actor to begin with, and the fact that she was mainly there to scream every other minute, along with shouting "Ripley!" whenever anything happened killed me.

Spoiler warning:

I get why Ripley was so over the top with the kid, and why she went back to save her. The director's cut tells us that she had a daughter and she died of old age while Ripley was in stasis. That's some good character stuff... but like the damn cat, I just didn't care. The film would have been fine had Newt died, especially given how Alien 3 starts out. But that's hindsight...

As for the rest of the film, a lot of what I said for Alien I can say again, except this time it was less science fiction and more military. It wasn't as good in the science fiction than the last, but then it was a much more action driven film, the same with the suspense. Much like say, Star Trek: The Motion Picture to Star Trek Nemesis; a dumbed down action movie, just nowhere near as bad as that case. As a sequel did some things better, in others they were much worse. The Xenomorphs, the Queen, the Hive, they were all amazing as usual, the sets were great, the vehicles, the loading mech thing, the ships, all of them were fantastic. The plot I could see coming a mile away, and I knew almost right away who was going to die. I knew what was going to happen, and I don't mean in the sense that I knew the whole thing before going in.

Unlike Alien, I didn't know that much about this film, so it was more of a surprise going in. But like any movie of this kind, there's a flow that you know it'll follow. It kinda takes the fun out of it... but I can't fault the movie for that. It was made nearly 30 years ago; a lot of films have done it to the point where now it's cliche. But at the time? Maybe not so much.

As I stated, I watched the Director's Cut... all two and a half hours of it. it felt boring in places, and the run time was a bit excessive, but the cut did add several things that made the film flow much better and added much needed context to several things. Plus it added in a lot of good footage that even I could see would be a waste if they were left out.

All in all, I enjoyed the film. Some parts much more than others, of course, but in the end I didn't regret watching it.


Alien 3

If what I said about the first film didn't make you mad, then this might, because I cannot in good conscious hate this movie. Maybe it's because I saw the special edition that added in a sizable amount of footage, maybe it's because it played to some of the things I loved. Maybe I'm just the wrong person for this series... I liked Alien 3 maybe more than the first film.

As I said, I hated Newt, so her death in the opening credits didn't do anything to me. The same with Hicks; I never cared about him as a character so his death in the opening credits didn't do anything. But what the film did moments after crashing on the planet got me all excited; it was a dark, damp, dank factory prison. Grunge, filth, industrial fans... so much joy to behold, far from the shining future that even at the time most science fiction wanted us to believe in.

The cast was dull, yes; bunch of filth criminals, the type you wouldn't wish upon anybody, their religion the biggest factor in their collective story. But people point this out to be a bad thing, yet they were on the same level of boring as everybody else from Alien and Aliens. A name and little else, kill fodder for the creature that would stalk the halls of their enclosed spaces, this time there was just a lot more of them and fewer Xenomorphs to do the job. And really, this time around they actually did make the Xeno feel like a scary force, especially after the second film where space marines could easily bisect one with a few light armor piercing rounds and wave after wave of Xenos just threw themselves into sentry gun fire. They may have even been more ill equipped than the first film; at least they had some flamethrowers, while in Alien 3 the most they had were some fire axes, scissors and torches.

There was very little science fiction in this film, something that I wish they would have corrected... but for the life of me I cannot see how they could have added more. Giving them space marine weapons would have just made it Aliens again, while having anything else would have taken away from the setting of a run down, filthy, barely functional make shift prison.

People have also made noise about many Xenomorph special effects not being practical; it was noticeable to me when they were skittering around full body, or running on the ceiling... but it was worth it to see them have a much wider range of movement. It showed what they were capable of and that they were truly capable stalkers and hunters. Yeah, it would have been great for it to be practical, but when push comes to shove I would have it in there as it is than not at all.

And the ending... while not the best still provided some closure. Finality, if you will, to the story of Ripley and the Xenos... that is, of course, until they decided to make a fourth film.