Topic: The Movie Thread

Only one movie for me this weekend due to all the new gaming goodness in Future Redeemed & Jedi Survivor.

Coffy (Blu-Ray)

After her sister falls victim to drug pushers and finding out that the law isn't exactly on her side, Coffy decides to take justice into her own hands by hunting down the dealers & the powerful men who enable them.

This was pretty fun when all's said in done. I'd have liked a bit more action, but what's here is good (shoutouts to the dude who got shotgunned to the head & the big cheesy prostitute brawl. A "prostitussle", you could say?), and it can be quite effectively brutal at times. King George's bold yellow pimp jumpsuit has to be seen to believed, and you'll get an eyeful of boobs, which is always a plus (though not always in the most politically correct of scenarios, being a 70's flick, if that bothers you).

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (Blu-Ray)

A franchise film that doesn't feel like a franchise film, in a good way.

When the students & staff of Tomobiki High School slowly start realizing that they're repeating the same day over & over again they set out to figure out the cause of the phenomena, all while the stability of their world seems to unravel the closer they get.

Pretty much a more high concept Groundhog Day, about a decade before that even released, with some absolutely stunning animation & dreamlike imagery. It's much more of a slower burn than other things in this franchise that I've seen, but it managed to hold my attention better, and it's interesting to note that the core characters don't really seem to push the narrative forward a whole lot for the majority of it's runtime, with supporting cast like Sakura & Mendo doing most of the heavy lifting until the end.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (theatre)

A part of me is kinda over these movies that want to be both your epic blockbuster & your comedy (something about Maverick, Avatar re-release, & Avatar 2 last year made me realize how much I missed relatively straight faced immersive blockbusters), but on the other hand this was still tons of fun & managed to strike that balancing act between action & comedy much more effectively than last year's Thor movie did.

It managed to both make me laugh & tear up at different points, and the big action set piece in the hall towards the end was a particular delight. I only regret not being able to find the time for a 3D showing.

InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler (Blu-Ray)

On my way through the franchise on Blu-Ray, I've now arrived at the point where I can fit in the third movie.

A lot of fans consider this one the cream of the crop when it comes to the film adaptations, and while I don't quite rate it that high (it has nothing that comes close to "that" moment in movie 2), I definitely understand the praise.

Granted, there's nothing here that'll make you a fan if you aren't already into the franchise (the same can be said of all the movies), but it shines a light on some background lore that the series proper barely touches upon and has probably the most exciting climactic set piece battle in any of these films.

Suicide Club (Blu-Ray)

Japanese film that follows a police investigation into a rash of mass suicides seemingly driven by mysterious online culture.

It starts off really strong with an engaging narrative and a jarring amount of gore (a couple wonky CGI effects are counterbalanced by some genuinely sickening practical effect gore), but it goes absolutely bonkers in the last third and kinda lost me.

I'm sure there's some sort of poignant cultural critique at play in here somewhere (something maybe about internet/youth culture being disengaged from reality?), but it's probably more apparent if you're more familiar with Japanese society than I am (especially the Japan of the era it was made in). Glad I gave it a go though.

some movies im watching the rest of this month

She-wolf of London from the Wolfman Legacy Collection DVD

then on Tubi
-Heathers
-original Running Scared movie
-Robot Jox
-Doomed! the documentary about the canceled Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie
-City Hunter
-Space Raiders

Akira (4K UHD BD)

Recently rewatched this as I got in the 4K BD.

All these years later & it still looks absolutely stunning. It's really strong until the end where it kinda loses me. I mean, I think I understand it a bit more everytime I watch it... maybe.

Anyhow, there's just something about the gritty sci-fi anime of the 80's that I can't get enough of.

Ant-Man & the Wasp Quantumania (Disney+)

This was fine.

It's visually a bit of a mess (I know they wanted the Quantum Realm to come off as strange, but a lot of it is just CGI noise), some scenes looked really cool (like when Scott was being split up into "possibilities") while others looked 10-15 years out of date (the scene in the "desert" where Janet negotiated with those raider types).

Otherwise it was okay. A bit too lighthearted of a character to really sale the higher stakes adventure it was trying to be (given that it was building up the next major villain post Thanos).

300 (4K UHD BD)

This is simply just a fun sword & sandal action movie. Lots of exciting & bloody battle scenes, a stylish aesthetic, and even a bit of T&A, it's pretty much everything you'd look for in the genre (if you can get over the fact that it's obviously not trying to be particularly historically accurate).

I wasn't very fond of some of the more fantastically grotesque character designs (the hunchback & those robed sages for example, oh, and there was some sort of executioner with blades for arms, lol), but I understand that the context in film is it's a story being recounted by a survivor to gin up a group of new soldiers, so things are going to be embellished for effect.

Expelled From Paradise (Blu-Ray)

Set in a distant future where most of humanity "lives" a digitized existence inside a computer/satellite called DEVA that orbits the Earth, a security agent (Angela Balzac) is sent to Earth (via a clone body grown with their genetic code) in order to hunt down a hacker from the surface who has been infiltrating into DEVA's systems.

Pretty cool sci-fi film overall. Definitely enjoyed Angela's design & the few mech battles it featured were intense though I'd have liked to see more. Story was pretty standard "what does it really mean to be alive" you see in a lot of sci-fi (especially the juxtaposition between Angela, a human who has lived most of her life as a digital avatar, and a sentient AI who is introduced at some point in the story), and while it's not really groundbreaking in it's approach, it offers some food for thought.

Biggest missed opportunity is the lore as to what happened to Earth/humanity (it has a post apocalyptic vibe), or rather the lack of it. We know some catastrophe struck the planet (and now there are mutated giant worm/centipede things), but what exactly that is was never explained as far as I remember.

@RR529 I thiought ant man was exactly how you explained it. I have liked the two previous movies but their charm was the humor and easy going lightheartedness. I think introducing the new badies should have been saved for something more serious. It was better than the last thor movie which mostly pissed me off.

@RR529 I actually took my wife of 16 years to 300 hundred on a date what a douche but it is a good movie. I am lucky she likes the same things I do. Although I do watch all her sappy movies also, some are pretty good.

Ninja Scroll (Blu-Ray)

Wandering swordsman Jubei winds up getting roped into fighting for the Tokugawa shogunate against the forces of the Hideyoshi clan, particularly a band of 8 evil super ninja with supernatural powers. Joining him are Kagero (a kunoichi, and the last surviving member of a ninja clan slaughtered by the 8), and and old Tokugawa aligned ninja who ensures Jubei's assistance by promising him an antidote to a poison he inflicted our hero with. Along the way he'll have to come to grips with the fact that the leader of the 8 might just be an old foe he thought dead years ago.

This is 90's anime sword & sandal action that goes hard with gore & nudity to oftentimes taboo levels (at one point a man rips off the arms of an opponent and drinks the blood pouring out, and then shortly after is involved in a very voyeuristic rape scene featuring Kagero). It's not much more than that, but it's very good at what it does, and is worth a look depending on your sensitivity/offense tolerances.

Story is pretty simple "boss rush" style progression, but it's enough to keep things going and the 8 reminded me of a ninja-fied version of the rogues gallery from MGS3 for some reason (it was probably the bee guy).

Tonight watching these movies

DVD
Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. watching them with the commentary tracks on

Tubi
The Wizard

been binge watching Real World Season 4 on Paramount Plus. About finished with that season with 4 episodes left.

then watching these on Tubi sometime this week

Major League 2
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold

then on Paramount Plus going to rewatch Star Trek Next Generation this summer and the new Dungeons and Dragons movie

Urusei Yatsura: Remember my Love (Blu-Ray)

After the gang gets caught up in bizarre shenanigans while visiting a newly opened amusement park, Ataru & Lum's relationship is tested when she vanishes shortly after he's transformed into a hippo. Has she really given up on him or is there something else at play?

Feels like they were trying to replicate the magic of Beautiful Dreamer, just to lesser results.

It's still a fine watch in and of itself though, and I'd say I still liked it more than Only You.

National Lampoon's Vacation (Blu-Ray)

Probably overrating this due to nostalgia, but it is such a comfort food summertime movie for me.

Rewatch it every summer if I get the chance, and just so much of it reminds me of the summer road trips my family would take when I was a kid (although they never went off the rails to this degree, lol), and it just feels oh so very much classic Americana (& I know I've been to at least two of the roadside attractions pictured in the postcard montage at the beginning of the film).

That said it can still deliver some laughs as well. I perhaps find the conclusion of the Aunt Edna subplot more & more distasteful everytime I watch it, but otherwise it's largely good stuff.

Airplane! (Blu-Ray)

I've caught this in bits and pieces before, but have never actually sit down to watch the whole thing until now.

It's at that point where it's at the cusp of being just a bit too "before my time", which is why I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much of this I found genuinely hilarious. Not every gag landed, but there were definitely a few that had me in stitches.

InuYasha Movie 4: Fire on Mystic Island (Blu-Ray)

Well animated with some cool action scenes and something for everyone in the cast to do, it's worth a watch for fans of the series, but amongst all of the movies this is the one that most feels "here are a few random baddies who want to take over the world or something" without much else of a hook.

The first two films have moments that seemingly move forward InuYasha & Kagome's romance (even if the events aren't recognized in the series proper), the second movie is the only one that involves the main series villain, movies 1 & 3 connect the big bad to InuYasha's father (with the third movie in particular going massively in depth with that background lore in a way not explored anywhere else in the series), and this movie is just completely lacking in that kinda hook. Sure, they half heartedly jerry rig some connection between InuYasha/Kikyo/Sesshomaru and the mysterious island, but it feels forced comparatively.

movies im watching this weekend

DVD
Fast and the Furious 8 and 9

the new Indiana Jones movie at the movie theater downtown tomorrow. Theater opens at 9 in the morning and the movie starts at 12.

Goldeneye (Blu-Ray)

Just dug around my Blu-Ray collection for something to watch and settled on this.

I think the last time I watched it, it didn't really stick with me because I was watching a whole bunch of these Bond movies in close proximity, but rewatching it on it's own it really is quite a fun action romp.

It really helped that it built it's narrative around the then topical collapse of the Soviet Union, adding a level of believable political intrigue to the mix (even if the Russian government weren't really the bad guys), it had some really fun action sequences (like the whole opening sequence, as well as the tank scene), and just the right amount of camp (love the sequence at Q's lab) without sacrificing the tension of the serious moments.

Golgo 13 (Blu-Ray)

A live action adaptation of a manga of the same name, it follows an assassin known as Golgo 13 who is hired to take out Max Boa (the crime lord of an international criminal organization), who has been kidnapping women around the world & is currently in Iran.

The narrative isn't deep, but it sets the tone for what is a pretty decent action flick. It's a bit slower than I'd have liked, but it definitely has it's cool moments (such as a sequence where he escapes being tied up, and another in how he figures out who his real target is amongst a group of doubles). Despite being a Japanese production, it's filmed entirely on location in Iran, which is an interesting backdrop you don't often see in movies (though being a 70's flick, keep in mind this is the Iran of 50 years ago, before the revolution). Given what else of the franchise I've experienced, I'm actually kinda surprised (and maybe a tad disappointed) that there wasn't any nudity. In fact I'd wager that it may even be a bit tamer than the Bond movies of the era in that regard (though, this could be a side effect of filming in Iran).

Project A-Ko 4: Final (Blu-Ray)

The final entry in the Project A-Ko series, it's pretty much more of the same. I'll admit they got me with the twist surrounding the space princess even though I should have seen it coming a mile away given the events of the first film. Like the last one, this one didn't have as good of action as the first two.

I enjoyed seeing the Gunbuster related Easter eggs given I just finished watching that a bit over a week ago.

been watching Elm Street 2 to Freddy's Dead since Sunday.

Now Im watching New Nightmare with the commentary track on

Watched Sisu UHD via my Xbox Series X on Saturday.

Fantastic Fun. Loved it. 90ish min was perfect for this film.

Urusei Yatsura: Lum the Forever (Blu-Ray)

Seems like they were trying to emulate the vibe of Beautiful Dreamer, but it just doesn't work.

This is seriously the most confusing of these I've seen & maybe it'll make more sense on a rewatch, but I honestly couldn't really follow what was actually happening (like it was the city itself dreaming & trying to rewrite Lum from reality since she's not a part of it's history or something, IDK?).