Monday, August 21, 2017

Here We Go Again.

Another year, another break. Not quite for a month this time around. In fact, this year couldn't be described as anything but usual as the previous. So only two weeks this time, I'll be back in time to review IT with a criminal lack of Tim Curry, so hopefully it will excel beyond the first which is....something. So it won't be long. Plenty of time to plan ahead for October, catch up on some shows, it will do me much good both in terms of reviews and personal life. Ah, October how do I miss thee? The month that has been solely devoted to monsters, aliens, and horror most foul will be taking a different turn this year. But it will still hold the love and excitement of the fall season from me. Until next time, just remember....40 more days until October!

Friday, August 18, 2017

Logan Lucky

Now that there's what I call a good movie.


I've never seen a movie quite like Logan Lucky. Take the southern characteristics of Steel Magnolias and add crime elements to a movie, and by God they made something good! So the story follows a construction worker played by a pretty nonchalant Channing Tatum (no pants ripping here ladies!) who after getting laid off decides to steal all the cash from Charlotte Motor Speedway's vault with the help of his brother played by Adam Driver who I swear nails that southern drawl thing on the head to perfection, and a convict played to absurdly hilarious degree by Daniel Craig. And yes, I have no issues saying the only real reason I saw this was to Hear Daniel Craig talk like he was from fricking West Virginia. My God. It is glorious. And Channing Tatum has a daughter in this.....dear sweet baby Jesus I need to adopt a flippin' today alright? Perfection exists and it's name is Farrah Mackenzie! I just loved how the movie played out, you understand why this guy is robbing money, and by noooo means is he a selfish guy. There are movies about the good guys, the bad guys, and even good guys doing bad things, and this movie hits the sweet spot with the last example. I daresay to go see the movie for the characters and that whole sort of, southern, small town, ordinary folk, simple talking people who get right to the point by rattling on and on. It does scream home to me for a boy who grew up and lived in East Texas. It's a real good movie to say the least, and well worth the price of admission. Give it a shot and see if you liked it just as much as I did! Which by the way was an awful lot.

I'm debating on reviewing The Hitman's Bodyguard Sunday, and I think I might since after Sunday I'm taking about two weeks off. So stay tuned until then.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Snatch

Yet another movie I've never seen and really liked.

Guy Ritchie man. Say what you will about the guy but the way his movies flow and are told are on point like hell! Seriously with a concept of various groups and interests all hunting down a diamond, it certainly can keep your attention and keep you guessing. The editing is flippin' genius, that's the only way I can describe it. Like I have to know who edits Guy Ritchie's films! Hang on a sec. Jon Harris. Like man, you got this down to a science, well done! So yeah, this movie really is a ride to say the least, I was thoroughly enjoying myself all the way through. Very funny, with good characters, a dash of action, and a one great big chase scene for a diamond that encompasses the movie from start to finish. You write down the plot on a piece of paper and it sounds so rubbish and no fun, bit then you watch the movie with the borderline comic characters, the great black comedy, and all the strange situations that keep popping up and by God you got yourself a great movie! I'd definitely buy it, and do very highly recommend you view it at least once in your life. The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture and whatnot.

Brand new movie tomorrow! Yes, we will be looking at the new heist/comedy movie Logan Lucky tomorrow so stay tuned for that.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Trainspotting

Well it only took me 22 years to finally watch it.


So what did I think of Trainspotting? I liked it! It was nice to see Ewan McGregor in a role I never saw him in before, this coming from a guy who the first and only movies I saw of him were the Star Wars prequels. Hell, this movie came out 3 years before Episode 1 so he was that close to becoming super famous, and he does an incredible job in this movie where he plays Renton, a young man who is addicted to heroin and tries several times to get his life back on track told in one of the most recognizable opening monologues in film. It's basically if you took Requiem For A Dream's drug abuse and addiction and mixed it with A Clockwork Orange's delinquet young men. It's a fascinating movie and it does end on a high note for Renton, but it does not shy away from the more dark and depressing consequences of drug use. Christ, I'd almost say the movie is one big PSA to lay off the smack but that would be a severe diservice to the movie. It has unique camera movements and placements, you get a good sense of Renton and his deadbeat friends and maybe why they even do what they do, all the acting is really good, it's surprisingly funny for a serious look at drug addiction, and I can see why it has a sort of cult following. It's a really good movie, and though it may not be for everyone I do have to recommend it. It's graphic to say the least, but you can still enjoy it as a film and appreciate the story it was trying to tell. Would I buy it? Yeah, I think I actually would! And tomorrow we look at another movie I've never seen, Snatch. I swear to God it's not a porno.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

What many consider to be the best western ever made, how does it stack up in my eyes?


Let me make one thing perfectly clear, I do not hate this movie. I do not dislike this movie. I do not think it is a bad movie. It is however, an overrated movie. Sure the scale is the biggest we've seen in this loosely connected trilogy, the story is pretty simple and can lead to one hell of a showdown at the end, but....it's very cluttered. So let me try to explain, Clint Eastwood returns as our favorite bounty hunter who just captured a bandit named Tuco played to absolute brilliance by Eli Wallach, who soon escapes and through various circumstances they both discover a raided confederate camp, where one dying soldier departs information of a large sum of gold buried in a cemetary. Clint Eastwood's character, now named Blondie (no relation to the singer) knows the name of the grave, and Tuco knows the name of the cemetary but neither of them is telling. Meanwhile, Lee Van Cleef returns as a ruthless, malicious, son of a mother bounty hunter known as Angel Eyes, who wants the gold too and is tracking our duo. So you may be wondering, well the story seems simple so why is it cluttered like you said? One reason, sidetracking! Mother of God the sidetracking! It is padding levels of boredom! This movie should barely be an hour and a half long and not almost 3 HOURS!! 3 fraking hours?! Lord Of The Rings was 3 hours, but that was because they had a lot of story to tell and pretty thick books to adapt! This movie is at least half sidetracking doing other BS meaningless things, instead of heading to their goal, the cemetary. No, let's not just address the fact this takes place during the Civil War but let's spend at least more than an hour reinforcing that fact with Angel Eyes interrogating our duo at a internment camp for northern soldiers, them getting wrapped up in this completely meaningless and prolonged sequence with a colonel wanting to destroy a bridge and fight off enemy troops, I mean sweet Jesus when do we get back on track here?? I don't hate this movie man, I swear! The action though offtrack at times is excellent. All our leads are outstanding especially Eli as the cunning, foul mouthed, yet awesome Tuco and Lee Van Cleef is a great villain, granted I loved him much more as Douglas Mortimer in For A Few Dollars More but that's besides the point, so acting is spot on! The music by Ennio Morricone is the stuff of legend in this movie, with one particular track Ecstasy Of Gold being soooo good Metallica plays it before every concert they perform, seriously! Cinematography is gorgeous and expansive, showing massive battlefields, great stunts, and the mexican standoff we all know and love. Needless to say that is the highlight and best scene of the movie, even if you haven't seen the movie you have seen this standoff. You love it, I love it, it's amazing! But honestly, that's the only part worth anything. Just go to YouTube and watch that scene and save yourself almost 3 hours of unnecesary padding, that just so happens to be shot very well and has good actors in it. I'm sorry guys, I just don't see why people say this is the best western. It's a good western with a massive scale and terrific action, but for the life of me it just couldn't stay on track to tell the story. It's a basic story that tried to prop itself up to be an epic, when in reality sometimes less is more.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

For A Few Dollars More

My favorite and the best of The Man With No Name trilogy.


This is the best in terms of story, action, and characters. So the story picks up with two bounty hunters on the hunt for one target, both cross paths and they butt heads for a bit but decide it would be easier to work together. So we have a great dynamic between Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef, as they first start off as opposing forces but grow into a good partnership and I think that's what really makes this movie soar above the first. So we get 2 major badass bounty hunters that would give Boba Fett a run for his money, and both have their own character dynamics, but what's a hero without their villain? And this film has one of the most insane, sadistic villains you would ever see in a western, played by the same actor who played the villain in A Fistful Of Dollars. I guess he just does good work as a murderous bandit, go figure. And compared to the first movie, the pace feels much more up beat and well paced, whereas the first movie kinda dragged in places but everything works much better in this movie. Every aspect in terms of story, action, characters, directing, sets, just everything is done to damn near perfection in this movie. I love Lee Van Cleef in this movie as a more heroic bounty hunter than Clint Eastwood's, he is what makes this movie the best to me because of his character, his motivation, and it culminates into a highly satisfying ending. It's my definite example of a spaghetti western, so I definitely say to watch this if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed.

Oh, but we're not done yet! Next, we have what many consider to be the best western ever made. Tomorrow we end with The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.

Monday, August 7, 2017

A Fistful Of Dollars

Yeah, The Dark Tower got me on a western binge.

So A Fistful Of Dollars was the first spaghetti western released outside of Italy and has gotten quite the reputation in 50 years, it introduced an entire sub genre of westerns to the world, was Clint Eastwood's first major starring role, and combined the efforts of Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone for the rest of their careers. The plot is more or less a more heavily western version of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo, centered around a stranger who wanders in a small town controlled by two rival families and decides he can make a bit of profit out of it. But of course, not all goes to plan and needless to say none of these people are leaving quietly. It's not all shootouts and double crosses though, there's surprisingly some decent drama and good character in our lead. You don't know much about him, I don't even think they mention his name in the movie, but you get glimpses of who he is. A stone cold killer, but deep down has a heart and Clint Eastwood does it incredibly well. He can play the gunslinger, the manipulator, the fool, and the hero damn near flawlessly, and in a multi-cultural and multi-language production where hardly anybody spoke every language of the people who worked on the movie that must be highly commended! You get a good story, good characters, really decent action, and a conclusion that has been done countless times. And you know what I noticed? This film could almost be done as a pure silent film, you can follow the story from beginning to end without any dialogue spoken. And I really love when movies do that, because it knows that films are a VISUAL medium, show don't tell! When movies are told cinematically, visually, with no exposition or excess dialogue it's a sight to behold. Who would have thought a spaghetti western could work as a silent film? Not me, that's for sure. And while we're at it, the score by Ennio Morricone though minimal is still highly memorable and suits the film just right. True, westerns aren't everybody's cup of tea so I don't expect everyone to see this movie, but for those that do want to see it or have seen it, then you can take my word for it when I say it's good.

So hell, why not? Let's do the other two films. Check back tomorrow for, in my opinion the best of the bunch, For A Few Dollars More.

Friday, August 4, 2017

The Dark Tower

You know I was kinda dreading this might be another bad Stephen King movie, but thankfully it was only average. Wait....


So The Dark Tower based off the series of books written by Stephen King just hit theaters today, and......it was okay. By no means a bad movie but also it certainly isn't hitting my top 10 films of 2017. So the movie centers around a boy named Jake who's having constant nightmares of a dark tower, a man in black, and a gunslinger. We spend a bit of time on Earth and I have to say, this kid did a good job in this movie! He's a smart kid, he doesn't feel like baggage or some prized item for someone to obtain, I mean yes he is along for the ride but he still sets out to seek help to defend his world! So through a bit of research he finds a totally not stargate, crosses through, and soon finds the gunslinger. They exchange history between one another and set off to take down the man in black. Yeah, not exactly Shakespeare but it's a decent movie with good action scenes, decent characters, and leaves it open to create more movies possibly in the future. The world of the gunslinger is a mesh of magic and technology, and yet the civilizations range from straight out of the old west that just so happens to have a stargate by it, to a very technological base of operations for the villains. Speaking of which, Matthew is a treat in this movie. And surprisingly he does command this presence and danger about him, even though he does have his Matthew McConaughey moments which I love, so that really surprised me but it just shows he's a good actor and can even play a villain. Side note, they straight up tell the audience magic is real, and the man in black is a sorcerer, but I am willing to hedge my bets in the book it's spelled magick. But anyway, Idris Elba is a good lead, and yes he does have lackluster roles (Star Trek Beyond) but in this he does well! You get the sense he's old, tired, but can still put up a good fight and I like that about his character. But The Dark Tower while not a bad movie didn't leave much of an impact on me. If you have a day where nothing is on TV, you're bored, you want to watch a movie, I'd check it out and hell, if you saw the trailer and want to see the movie I certainly won't stop you. You may have a much more better experience than I, but all in all The Dark Tower is a decent movie. Not great, not horrible, but good.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

In Retrospect: Shin-Gojira

Jesus, that's an unsettling ending isn't it?



So the newest Godzilla movie from Japan just hit video here in the States, so of course I'm gonna talk about it! It's been almost a whole year since I saw this in theaters, so it's high time we discuss this movie more. So this is a full fledged reboot, dealing with Godzilla's first appearance in modern day Japan, and just how they can stop an invincible, terrifying force such as Godzilla. And this movies in my opinion, is 110% accurate how all this would go down if this was a real event. I really have to commend the film on this, because it takes real Japanese government actions and regulations, as well as relations with other countries and uses them realistically due to a giant radioactive monster trampling through the city. It happens. But the real genius of the movie is how it's basically a satire and all around punch to the Japanese government. It IS way too official, it IS ridiculously drawn out just to do one simple thing whether it's evacuating a city or creating military strategies. Japan really does see the flaws in it's government, and it's not just in this movie where you see the satire, the entire Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games are a satire of the Japanese legal system like almost down to the letter, albeit with less colorful and ridiculous characters, but I digress. So this movie really does speak volumes much like the original 1954 version, dare I say even more so. So it's a very succesful film in my mind, and not just due to the fact that Toho made a new Godzilla film. But it does work both ways, you can enjoy the destruction and raw awesome power of the Big G, but you can also appreciate the film for it's realism and satire. Yes, the movie deals with the human characters vastly more than when you see Godzilla, but he does have his presence there. People are always talking about his abilities, his power, his physiology, and how he could possibly evolve in the future. Now I have to admit I hated the idea of Godzilla evolving through the film, but honestly after a year I've come to realize there is a lot more to the evolution than just seeing new monsters. There is a clear logic to it, from him being an aquatic sea creature, to an amphibious creature, to a fully adapted land creature. Even his powers are logically explained, like his atomic breath being brought on due to massive trauma and the ability to shoot photons out of his dorsal fins. I originally said you can see severe anime connections to the Godzilla scenes and I still stand by that, but it's not in your face as I might have suggested. It's a damn good movie, and certainly can't be labelled as just another monster movie, there was effort and thought put into it, not to say that other Godzilla movies didn't have time and effort put into them but something about this movie really works incredibly well. Is it because of how realistic it potrays such an outlandish event? Is it because of the satire of the overcomplicated government system of Japan? Or is it just because it has effective and well done destruction and action scenes? The world may never know....