Cinema Terrible: Double Down

Double Down IMDb

After watching The Dungeonmaster, we saw this movie.  Man, this is probably the most horrible movie I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot.  It was torture.  I wanted to walk out.  People were making fun of it all the way through but I still felt like I was getting cancer or something.  This is about a guy who has all the technology and all the connections of the world to overcome terrorists.  There's a terrorist plot in Las Vegas, so he uses all his resources to stop that.  At the same time, he hallucinates about his lover.  Honestly, I didn't get it.  Most of the movie was made up of stock footage. 

I never want to see or talk about this movie again. 

Cinema Terrible: The Dungeonmaster

The Dungeonmaster IMDb
Went to my first event for a movie club I joined called Cinema Terrible.  The event is a double feature of terribly made movies.  Never heard of The Dungeonmaster.  Pretty bad cheesy movie but still has its entertaining value.  So bad that it's good kind of a movie.  We have a computer nerd who enters some kind of cyber game with an evil lord who has captured his girlfriend.  Our nerd must overcome a few battles in order to beat the evil lord.  Lots of creatures, crazy band members, and bad acting makes this movie for an alright night of bad entertainment.

Watching this with the group made a little better because everyone made fun of almost every scene here.

Robot Friday: Robot Stories

Robot Stories IMDb

I went to I Luv Video and got this at the last minute without knowing nothing about it.  Big mistake. This movie sucked big time.  It had an okay premise.  It's a movie that has four stories in it and in each story, it revolves around a robot.  All of them were annoying honestly.  I was trying to get into it.  But, I lost my patience.  This Robot Friday is a disaster.  It looks like my days in writing blog are numbered.  I am putting much more energy and emphasis on a script I'm working on and I'm going through a life crisis.  So, we'll see what happens.

Stay away! Far away!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier IMDb

Captain America returns and this time he's a little better than before. This was entertaining like the usual Marvel movie.  Lots of nice action sequences.  A few little good surprises.  I enjoyed it.  I think I enjoyed this one just a tad better than the first movie.  Here we have Robert Redford playing a villain.  That's rare.  We got the ass kicking Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.  I didn't really feel the other main villain here (The Winter Soldier).  He was cool in the first half but after they reveal who he is, I lost interest.  Maybe that's why I didn't really care for the last credit tease.  Some of my favorite moments happen early on.  The scene where the S.H.I.E.L.D turn on Nick Fury inside his car and the elevator scene are two of my favorite sequences.

Good old Blockbuster movie.  Must for Marvel fans. 

Weird Wednesday: Street Law

Street Law IMDb

Franco Nero plays a vigilante in this crime thriller from the 70's.  It was a pleasant time at the Alamo Ritz.  The print for this movie was so old and grainy but it's all part of the experience.  It had a cheesy ending but the rest was not so bad.  In the beginning, we have a big bank robbery scene.  Franco Nero's character, Antonelli, gets taken hostage.  After a big police chase, the robbers leave Antonelli behind.  The police do nothing to capture these criminals so Antonelli does his own investigation work.  Little by little he finds these men.  Lots of car chases and stunts.  Music was pretty cool.

Other than that, nothing else special about this movie.

I liked the movie but I probably won't recommend it or buy it for the Grindhouse section.

Frozen

Frozen IMDb

Took my son Nathan to the discount theatre to see this movie.  It's already available on Blu-ray and DVD but nothing beats the old movie theatre experience.  I have to say, I didn't think I was going like this movie, but man, it was awesome.   It was romantic, sweet, and funny.  Lots of emotions in the air.  My son and I had a blast and he actually laughed in some of the funny moments.  It's a movie about love.  We don't get to that part until the second half.  The movie is about these sisters who are separated after an incident involving one of the sister's magic powers.  That sister is Princess Elsa.  She has the power to freeze things and most of the time gets out of control.  After the village finds out about her power, she runs away.  It is up to our main character, Princess Anna and a team of cool characters to find her sister and unfreeze everything again.  Anna then starts learning about true love along the way.  Great movie.  Love the cute snowman guy.  He was hilarious.

Highly recommended for the whole family.  I might have to add it to my son's collection one day.

French Cinema Night: The Beat That My Heart Skipped

The Beat That My Heart Skipped IMDb

This French thriller/drama was okay.  Lots of cool little moments.  Didn't know what to expect.  This movie is about this one guy who works for his dad beating people up who owes the family money.  But, he has a soft side.  He wants to compose and play music instead of all this violence.  This is a movie that shows that no matter what passions and goals you have, you still can't escape your roots and your demons.  Love the main character.  My favorite parts is when he is listening to music in the car and his jamming hard.  The movie is slow at times but at least it's not a long movie. 

It was alright seeing it after a long day at work but nothing special.

Wrong Cops

Wrong Cops IMDb

Quentin Dupieux is back with another absurd outrageous movie.  He's the one that made "Rubber" and "Wrong."  I love "Wrong."  Wrong Cops is a spin off from Wrong.  It is way low budget and the story kind of sucked.  So, I was disappointed with this movie.  I did crack up during the first few minutes of the film but after that I didn't care.  I can't believe Marilyn Manson himself is in this movie.  He plays this wannabe street poser and he doesn't look nothing like he does on stage.  Total nerd guy her.  So for that, I give Manson props for bringing a different side to him I've never seen before.  The cops here are pretty much your typical Reno 911 stupid cops.  So, the jokes weren't that great.  We follow these crooked cops as they go around the city selling drugs, killing people who owe money, and sleeping with transvestites.  Crazy world.  

I have an acquired taste for absurd movies and unfortunately this one didn't do it for me.

Not recommended!

The Raid 2 (2014)

The Raid 2

Wow! This was one violent, gruesome, action movie...and I loved it.  It tops the first one especially the fighting sequences. So many great action scenes. We have the bathroom in prison scene, the prison muddy yard scene, the hammer train scene, the final climatic action scene. Too many.  Love the characters.   The only minor problem, no big deal but, everytime there's a big fight sequence where they're trying to kill one person and they have to kill many to reach that person, I don't like that the one person has plenty of time to escape but stays there until the very end. Other than those moments,  I totally love this movie. Freaking badass! It was my first time at the theatre in a while due to my life situation.  

This movie I would highly recommend to any fans of Asian cinema, genre films, and fans of kick ass martial art movies.

Western Wednesday: Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles IMDb

Pretty awesome western comedy we got here.  I didn't know what to expect but I liked everything about this movie except the final 10 minutes.  Mel Brooks is pretty good.  I've seen most of his films and this one is kind of up there.  Okay, Spaceballs and Life Stinks are my favorites.  Here we have a parody of the west.  These big time government officials want to make a railroad but they need to get rid of a peaceful town in order to do so.  So they try to ruin the town.  The town rebels retaliate and they demand a sheriff to help them out.  The governor appoints them a black sheriff thinking the sheriff won't last.  The town is in shocked because of this black sheriff.  Little by little, the sheriff proves himself and he teams up with a drunken gunslinger (played by Gene Wilder) and together they help protect this town.  Big battle scene at the end.  Oh, and this has the famous line: "Badges?  We don't need no stinking badges!"  The last 10 minutes gets out there when all of a sudden the film takes out of the west and into a film studio in Hollywood.  Didn't like that part much. 

Good comedy western I wouldn't mind buying.  I would also like the governor's secretary to be my secretary.  Wink, wink!

A Field In England

A Field In England

This was a trippy film but overall I didn't feel connected.  It is a film that did good at Fantastic Fest last year.  Director Ben Wheatley does pretty crazy films.  He did The Kill List and Sightseers.  This latest one is in black and white.  A few men are at war.  They escape the battle and team up with this other guy who tells them to help him find some treasure hidden in the field somewhere.  The group take a psychedelic ride and start tripping out in the middle of these fields.  Crazy stuff happens to them and WE, the audience, go along for the ride.  It was artsy.  Sometimes too much but other times I didn't mind.  I was expecting a lot more out of this.  This is picked up Drafthouse Films.  They usually pick very awesome films.  

A little disappointing but I guess it was alright for a trippy film.  I wouldn't recommend this.

Zatoichi Night: Zatoichi On The Road

Zatoichi on the Road IMDb

This is my favorite Zatoichi film so far since the first movie.  It's got a pretty good story and excellent battle scenes.  Zatoichi has to take this girl (Mitsu) to a village but two gangs want her for some strange reason.  One of the gang gets her so Zatoichi teams up with the other gang.  Everything gets crazy and Zatoichi must destroy both gangs in order to set things right.  No one can mess with old Zatoichi here.  Some of them still try but they never learn.  Kudos for those awesome fighting scenes especially towards the end with one blind samurai against hundreds.

Short and simple, glad to have felt that samurai film spark with this one.

Cafe Seoul

Cafe Seoul IMDb
Decided to go with a Korean movie I knew about. Since the synopsis mentioned a Korean bakery, I had the clever idea to visit a Korean bakery today and pick out some sweets for this.  I had no idea this bakery existed and in Austin too. So I was excited.  This movie overall wasn't exciting. It was okay but it was too soft for my taste. It's a cheesy drama about this journalist who goes to explore the city and finds this hidden gem of a family owned Korean bakery. He connects with the chef and learns more about the history of the bakery.  There's some gangsters who mess with the business and then there's the final bake off challenge at the end with the two main brothers, both from different stores. It's got a sweet ending. It's all about traditional family baking and making dishes that reminds people of the original owners.  I like the concept but it just felt flat for me because of the acting and pace.

I wouldn't recommend this Korean drama.  It's a shame because Korean Cinema is my favorite.  I'll be checking out another Korean movie soon. This time is a detective thriller.  Oh yeah!

Went to Tous les Jours (a Korean Bakery Chain)

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane IMDb

That's right, all the boys do love this girl.  They would do anything for her.  They would jump off a roof to the pool and killing themselves for her and they would go on a killing spree for her.  I'm getting ahead of myself and spoiling a few things but this is not a movie I would recommend.  It is just a one time deal for me.  Hell, I love Mandy Lane too.  She's a "just fun" kind of a girl and not  relationship material.  So, I would just hang out with her to have fun but that's it.  Anyways, this is a campy/slasher flick. I saw it because it came out at Fantastic Fest last year so I always tend to watch any FF veterans.  There was a big twist at the end that, of course, I didn't like.  A few bloody scenes made it just a little better but not too much. 

This movie wasn't for me.  It looked like it had potential for a cabin horror/slasher flick but it wasn't all that.  Another Fantastic Fest movie off my list. 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire IMDb

The first movie was okay but I was hoping the second would be better. It was pretty much the same except the ending kind of sucks here because it ends abruptly so it can continue in the next movie.  The battle scenes were okay.  I think my favorite scene was with the monkeys. That was intense.  Maybe because I'm a fan of monkeys,  I don't know.  Our main girl, Katniss, is back.  She rebels against Snow (the main creator of the Hunger Games).  By doing that, Snow decides to call a special Hunger Games in which all the past winners must compete.  The same crap again.  So, I'm still not a fan of this series.  I do like some of the characters here but I'm not in a hurry to finish the series.  Hell, I might not want to at all.  Bring on the hate mail.  

There you go.  These are my short comments on this movie and I'm sticking to them.

All Is Lost

All Is Lost IMDb

All is lost,  my friends. Robert Redford does a good job carrying the film all by himself.  I mean, this is all him. There's no one around.  He is stuck somewhere in the Indian Ocean for over a week.  It was okay for a survival movie.  I like movies with hardly any dialogue.  This is all about the sounds and being alone.  It got a bit boring in the second half.  Robert Redford plays some kind of sea expert whose boat starts having problems due to storms and mechanical failure.  Within a few days, his boat sinks and he gets into an inflatable boat. Tension and desperation arises.  So he's doing all that he can to survive.  I can tell you one thing, I'm not getting into another sail boat again (at least not for a long time).

Okay to see for the experience but nothing too special or that I would recommend.  Would make a great marathon with Cast Away, Captain Phillips, and Jaws.