All Entries in the "Movies" Category
Ruminations on The Dark Knight Rises Imax Preview….and Some Tom Cruise Movie That Showed Afterwords
My local IMAX theater is thankfully running the “Dark Knight Rises” 6-minute preview in front of “MI-4: Ghost Protocol” and I checked it out. Visually DKR looks amazing and the stunts and plot look top-notch, but I did have an issue with the villain, Mumbles. You may have heard that Bane is the film’s villain, [...]
The Continuity of Prometheus
It would be foolish for me to start this analysis by attempting to recap news everyone probably knows. To compress it into “blipvert” fashion, Ridley Scott returned recently to science fiction, the first time since Blade Runner, directing the space odyssey Prometheus, once known under a different title, Alien 5. Ridley had been all talk [...]
Leslie Nielsen–1926 to 2010
Leslie Nielsen passed away today at the age of 84 due to complications from pneumonia. Since everyone else is on the Internet talking about his “Naked Gun” movies, I thought I would take a moment to remember his work in Forbidden Planet. Arguably the best sci-fi film of the 1950s and certainly my personal favorite [...]
Your Highness Movie Trailer–Pineapple Express Meets Lord of the Rings
Cheech and Chong doing Tolkien. The mere thought of it is enough to melt my poor brain, but after watching the trailer for “Your Highness,” it apparently has come to pass. Take one standard fantasy trope (rescue the princess) and add lots of sex, drugs and low humor and you are at “Your Highness.” I [...]
Monsterpocalypse: The Movie
Monsterpocalypse has Tim Burton’s eye as a possible movie project. Privateer Press’ miniature game based on large monsters destroying cities a la Godzilla does not strike me as a great movie property. That said, Tim Burton just might be able to pull it off as long as no one takes the project too seriously. As [...]
There is a Live Action Yamato-Star Blazers Movie–I Think it is Going to Suck
Space Battleship Yamato (or Star Blazers to Americans) was among the earliest Japanese anime imports to the United States in the late 1970s. It was also the first Japanese anime I ever saw and it deeply affected me at the tender age of eight. If nothing else, it condemned the juvenile, flat and poorly written [...]
Worst Movie Monster Reveal Ever!
Every monster movie has one. After 90 minutes of lurking behind curtains and in shadows, the beast comes forth. The one moment of good lighting when the ferocious monster reveals its true form. It makes the audience believe that the heroes face a formidable foe, capable of eating them whole. I think it is the [...]
“Blood of Heroes” aka “Salute of the Jugger” Inspires a Real League
“Blood of Heroes” or “Salute of the Jugger” is one of my favorite film guilty pleasures. The plot involves a post-apocalyptic team playing a soccer-like sport with weapons and scoring consists of driving a dog skull on to a stake. It was great fun as an action movie and the ending was strangely affecting, at [...]
The Call of Cthulhu–A Brief Movie Review
Back in December I posted about a silent film version of Lovecraft’s “Call of Cthulhu.” After some delays, here are my thoughts on the film. I was impressed! Sure, the budget is tiny, but the “feel” of the film was dead on. It is hard to compare it to anything I have seen before because [...]