Starman

Catching Up With A Director Segment

This month's director is John Carpenter.
My goal was to see five films I've never seen before
by Carpenter.
This month I saw:
Assault on Precinct 13
The Fog
Elvis
The Thing
and the fifth one is:

Starman
This was okay. I believe this is Carpenter's fourth alien film
(if you count Christine).
A little entertaining.
It was interesting seeing "The Dude" playing an alien.
I couldn't tell if this was Carpenter or not.

And now the list for my most favorite Carpenter film
to least favorite (from what I've seen).
1. The Thing
2. Big Trouble in Little China
3. Halloween
4. Escape from New York
5. Assault on Precinct 13
6. They Live
7. Christine
8. The Fog
9. Prince of Darkness
10. Elvis
11. Starman
12. Village of the Damn
13. Escape From L.A.

Mystery Team

Mystery Team
All the best parts are on the trailer to this movie.
It was a little disappointing because I was expecting
more funnier moments.
But, I liked some of the comedy.
One part made me burst out laughing.
Being a low budget movie,
I think this team has a lot of potential
for greater stuff.
The story is cheesy and filled with toilet humor.
It fits well if you're expecting that.

Best line:
Did you just fuck this bread?

If you're into sketch comedy and love toilet humor,
then this might be a peek. Broken Lizard's better, though.

The Thing

Catching Up With A Director Segment

And now time for John Carpenter movie #4
for this month:

The Thing
This is another one of those Carpenter's flicks that I've seen
pieces of here and there earlier in life.
Tonight was the first night seeing it as a whole.
What are my thoughts on it?
This is now one of my favorite Carpenter flicks of all time.
Good freaking story.
Good setup.
Good suspense.
Favorite parts: little alien spider like thing crawling
trying to sneak out of the room and the part
where MacReady is putting a hot needle on everybody's blood
to find out who's an alien.

Shame on me for not having seeing this as a whole
before.

Five Deadly Venoms / Circle of Iron

Friday at the Grindhouse Presents:

(Two kung fu flicks from 1978)


Five Deadly Venoms
Another Shaw Brothers classic.
At first, the story was not interesting, but
it picks little by little.
About halfway through, I felt that this was
one bad ass kung fu movie.
Good solid story with some decent acting.
For the sake of grindhouse night, I saw the english dubbed
version. But, recently, Dragon Dynasty released it
on DVD with the original language.
Can't wait to see that again.
That's a must buy for kung fu fans.

Circle of Iron
At first, I didn't think this was a kung fu picture.

By the time I finished it, I was convinced.
This was written by Bruce Lee.

I enjoyed this a lot.
There was some cheesy scenes,

but there was a lot of memorable scenes.

This is so underrated.
Maybe, people were disappointed because

there wasn't that many action scenes.
The movie wasn't about the physical part of kung fu,

it was about the spiritual side.

Everyone kicked ass on here.

David Carradine plays the flute (Kill Bill referenced this).

Another must buy for fans of classic martial arts.

For more on Grindhouse flicks check out:
The Grindhouse Database

Elvis

Catching Up With A Director Segment

John Carpenter Film #3 this month is:


Elvis
This is one of my favorite Kurt Russell's performances.
He totally disappeared with the character.
This has to be one of my least favorite Carpenter films,
mainly because, it's not his typical work.
Still, enjoyable.
Didn't like the slow moments in the middle.
But, did enjoy the final performance in the end.
It wasn't Kurt Russell, it was the king himself.

All it was missing was, "you ain't nothing but a hound-dog."

The Fog

Catching Up With A Director Segment

This month's director is John Carpenter.
Saw Assault on Precinct 13 just a few nights ago,
now, it's time for Carpenter movie number 2:


The Fog
This one, I've seen pieces of it long time ago,
but I've never seen it as a whole until tonight.
I thought this was okay.
Good simple ghost story.
Enjoyed the first act, probably my favorite.
I like some of the low budget effects.

Can't go wrong with Carpenter-composed music.
I like the ghost pirate originality in the story.

The Road

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

The Road
I haven't read the book by Cormac McCarthy
but I thought this was a well made apocalyptic drama.
There's several intense scenes where I didn't know what was
going to happen.
Beware of cannibals.
The sounds were fantastic.
The story: a little depressing.
Not as powerful as I thought.
I like that they kept certain things in mystery.
Overall, a decent picture.

This would be a good Father's Day movie with
a can of coke and some cans of fruit.

Assault On Precinct 13

Catching Up With A Director Segment

This month's director is John Carpenter.
I've seen Halloween, Christine, Escape from New York,
Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, Prince of Darkness,
Village of the Damned, and Escape from L.A.

This month, I will see five Carpenter films I've never seen before.
Some of these films, I've seen pieces of it, but never as a whole.

The first movie to see is:


Assault On Precinct 13
This early Carpenter picture has to be one of his finest.
I enjoyed it a lot.
The music controls all of it.
I haven't seen the hollywood remake,
but, I'm sure it doesn't have the spirit of this flick.
Non-stop action Carpenter style.
Favorite scene: The Ice Cream truck scene.
Favorite line: Got a smoke?

Cars

Animation Night Presents:


Cars
I'm blogging this a day late but
last night's Animation Night was a lot of fun.
This is the only Pixar film I haven't seen.
And now, I can proudly write, that I've seen it already.
Pixar never disappoints.
Love the "tractor tipping" scene.
I was cracking up there.
Enjoyed the little story.
I'm glad it wasn't all about car racing.
Instead, it focused on some things that
make life worthwhile.

Good Times!!

Morenita

Morenita
Good old entertaining film from Mexico.
Pigeons are used to traffic drugs into the U.S.
The plan goes wrong and we have ourselves a little thriller.
Good acting.
Not a dull moment on here.

Recommended for a one night stand south of the border.

The Messenger

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

The Messenger
Brilliant powerful film we got here.
The cover says: "best performances," and that is no lie.
I wasn't in the mood to watch any of the new releases that came
out today. This was a last minute pick.
I'm glad I made a good decision.
The story got my full attention from the very beginning.

Kudos for an original script.

Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
Just the bad ass fighting scenes makes this a must see.
The first one had a better story.
This one had a good climax, but not so good ending.
Love the sword fights, freaking awesome.

Kick ass time.

Eye for an Eye

Eye for an Eye
This South Korean movie had different genres roll into one.
There's the revenge theme, the detective genre,
and the heist theme.
Enjoyed it.
There was some parts a bit confusing towards
the end, but good old entertainment.

Worth a little peek.
I would say this is like an Asian Ocean's 11 with a little
bit of Sherlock Holmes.

Daybreakers

Daybreakers
Entertaining and decent.
Love the gore in the first half.
The second half didn't wow me but
it was a bit enjoyable.
Sam Neil did a great job as the main bad guy.

Favorite part: the vampire from the picture above
gets killed and decapitated.

Keoma

Spaghetti Western Night
Presents:

Keoma
Not for the spaghetti western beginner.
This is a poetic western.
Wonderful shots make this sucker a classic.
It's the kind of movie that I have to see more
than once to appreciate.
At first glance, I saw a complex story, with
several strong scenes.
I'm not too fond of the music.

Must see for hardcore fans of the genre.

Edge of Darkness (2010)

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

Edge Of Darkness
The movie "Taken" mixed with the movie "Shooter"
equals "Edge of Darkness."
Entertaining flick.
Slowly paced rollercoaster ride with
a climax that pays off.
Seriously, those kills in the climax made it all worth it.
Mel Gibson was alright.

This has the typical plot but there's certain moments
that stand out from the rest of the movies like it.

Rolling Kansas

Rolling Kansas
Not what I expected.
I expected a decent stoner flick.
This shouldn't be considered a stoner flick
because none of the characters were ever high.
They act like they're high, but they never
sparked it.
There was some few laughs but overall
I thought it was weak.

Leap Year (2010)

Linda's Chick Flick Night Presents:

Leap Year
My wife and I, agreed, alright concept but didn't like the movie.
It wasn't as funny as we thought it was going to be.
It was predictable and a little cheesy.
The only thing I liked was this Irish dude's mom's ring
is the same ring my mom had (hands holding a crowned heart).

Not recommended.

Aliens

I'm thinking about having a "Shame on Me" night
next year.
It would be seeing movies for the first time that are considered
classics and masterpieces that everybody loves.
In other words, "Shame on me for not having seeing these movies, yet."
Believe it or not, I just saw the following movie for the first time:


Aliens
Shame on me for missing out on this sci-fi classic
all these years.
I wasn't big on sci-fi, I was mostly into dramas and thrillers.
But, now that I saw this,
my interest in sci-fi became a little bigger.
I enjoyed this one just a tad better than the first Alien movie.
Love the characters in here.
Awesome climax.
Memorable dialogue in the first act.

Is it one of my favorite movies of all time, now?
No. But, when it comes to sci-flicks, this one is up there with
my favorites in that category.

44 Inch Chest

44 Inch Chest
At first it appeared to be a gangster movie
then it morphed into a psychological drama.
I liked the dialogue and the characters.
Didn't care too much of how the story turned out.

Worth a little peek for certain moments but
not enough to buy.

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
The fighting scenes are awesome on here.
Especially when Tony Jaa fights for the second time.
Story is simple and not really original, but
the stunt sequences pays it off.
This is the first feature film from the director who
later did The Protector and Chocolate.

Recommended for fans of martial arts.

Tetro

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

Tetro
Brilliant filmmaking by Francis Ford Coppola.
This was long but entertaining.
Vincent Gallo in another great role.
It has one of those climatic scenes with a big twist.
Love the photography.
Didn't like the mixing of the languages in certain scenes,
but no biggie, the original story made up for it.

How Bruce Lee Changed The World

Documentary Night Presents:

How Bruce Lee Changed The World
This made for television documentary had its moments.
Basically, Bruce Lee kicked a lot of ass.
Everybody knows that by now.
This just goes further by showing all the stuff
that was inspired by Bruce Lee.
Lee inspired future fighting movies, video games,
UFC, commercials, music groups, and etc.
This made me want to watch other Bruce Lee kung fu flicks.
He's only got four. I've seen Enter the Dragon
and Game of Death.
Got to see "Fist of Fury" a.k.a "The Chinese Connection"

Decent documentary.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

The Gods Must Be Crazy
I like the concept here.
Kinda like a National Geographic spoof.
Overall, I found it a little boring and not that funny to me,
especially the second half.
I do like the cheesiness.
The fake rhinoceros was awesome.