Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World IMDb

Finally got to see the sequel to Thor. It was okay for me. I don't know why but I'm not really into the Thor mythology.  So this movie and the first one are my least favorites in the Marvel universe.  Thor is back and this time he's in a big war against the dark Elves.  He teams up with Loki to avenge the death of their mother, but Loki is always going to be Loki, so yet, another betrayal. Some okay epic battle scenes.

Thor always triumphs but this movie wasn't for me.

I'll have to see it again some day with a clearer mind because today my mind was all over the place.

Robot Friday: Karate-Robo Zaborgar

 Karate-Robo Zaborgar IMDb

Decent Japanese over the top robot movie.  Has a straight up revenge plot. Lots of cool cheesy robot fighting moments.  It is divided into two chapters.  It's about this guy whose father gets killed by cyborgs. He learns karate and finds out his dad left him this motorcycle machine that turns into a fighting robot. He uses this robot and his skills to avenge his father's death.  Nothing too exciting but still kind of cool to see. It's like a homage to old school Japanese monster movies and of course, Power Rangers. 

Good to see once. 

The Day The Earth Stood Still

The Day The Earth Stood Still IMDb

Saw this sci-fi classic at the last minute when my friend Casey came over with pizza.  It was pretty good for its time but not so great now.  I like the cheesy effects and sets.  The goody two shoes kid was also funny.  The alien robot was creepy.  I think I want that costume.  Speaking of robots, I was debating if this was a Robot movie, but after seeing it, I now know it's not.  It is a slow driven movie but basically it's about this alien human looking guy who arrives to earth with his U.F.O and his robot.  He demands to speak to all the world's leaders to give them all a warning.  A few people retaliate, that's when our robot does his thing: evaporates every single scumbag in sight.  The alien man hides and stays with a family with a very swell kid.  The kid discovers who this "man" really is.  Oh, and he's very good in math.  

 I'm glad I was able to watch it cause it's supposed to be a great sci-fi classic.  

Considering this was made in 1951, not bad.  I wouldn't want to watch it again, though.

Movie 43

Movie 43 IMDb

Awe, nothing better than to watch a raunchy toilet humor comedy after a break up.  It kind of hit the spot.  No worries about me, it was for the better and I'm learning to accept it and become a better person.  You best believe that won't stop me from my love for movies.  This movie has about a dozen shorts put together.  Most of them suck but they are a few on here that made me laugh a bit.  My favorite was the first short with Hugh Jackman and his unique neck.  I also liked the super hero speed dating short, the truth and dare date, and the home school short.  All these shorts are told by this weird filmmaker who goes up to a studio executive and pitches several of these stories.  They are so cheesy and ridiculous and he gets rejected.  Then after a few moments, he pulls out a gun and makes the executive hear the rest of the stories.  

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this at all.  It was just okay for me cause I was a bit depressed tonight.

But, I won't be for long, I promise.  I'm focusing on the negatives of this relationship and I'll get over this break up quicker than you can spell ketchup or something like that.

Mutant Girls Squad

Mutant Girls Squad IMDb

Another over the top Japanese splatter fest from the people who brought us Machine Girl and Robogeisha.  Usually these movies don't do it for me but every once in a while there's one that entertains me. This one is one of them. I enjoyed it.  Right off the bat it starts with crazy things. Rin is a young girl who discovers she's a mutant like her parents.  A mutant with lots of powers. Her parents get killed and she along other mutants get trained to kill humans but they turn against their evil master.  Lots of blood and guts everywhere.  Short and sweet too.  

Fans of crazy Japanese cinema: this is worth a try.

American Mary

American Mary IMDb

This movie was alright.  It has a decent b-movie premise but then it gets lazy and tiring in the last part of the story.  This was shown at Fantastic Fest in 2012 and it got some buzz.  Mary is studying to be a surgeon.  She's in debt so she decides to strip for money, but before doing so, the strip club manager offers her five thousand to perform a crazy surgery on a person.  She takes it and so begins her journey of doing illegal operations.  She gets drugged and raped by her professor and after that she drops out of school and gets revenge on him.  She deforms him and tortures him "Hostel" style.  She makes a lot of money doing crazy surgeries for people and then she starts getting questions by a detective.  It was okay to see.  The acting kind of sucks but at least there was some gore.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend it.

French Cinema Night: Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue is the Warmest Color IMDb

This month's French Cinema Night I decided to go with this latest French Coming of Age Drama.  It is a 3 hour movie.  You been warned.  My opinion, this easily could of been 1 hour and a half.  This won the biggest prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival.  It's the typical romantic relationship story except our two lovers here are lesbians.  In a lot of countries, this is known as Adele Part 1 and 2.  Adele is our main character.  Right near the beginning of the film, she learns that she's into women.  She had first relation with a guy and it didn't quite work.  Maybe because she's been fantasizing about a certain girl.  She starts experimenting and before you know it, there's lots of long softcore lesbian scenes.  Some of that was actually good and it felt like they were doing it for real.  Adele and Emma (the girl she's been fantasizing about) form a relationship.  Like some relationships, there's up and downs.  Adele makes a big mistake: she starts hanging out with a male co-worker.  Well, Emma throws her out.  Adele must accept and learn from her mistake.  That's pretty much this 3 hour movie.  At least I knew it was going to be 3 hours long so I prepared for it.

Overall, not bad for a drama but nothing special. 

Yareiza made Cassoulet De Porc for this movie. 

Weird Wednesday: Chinese Super Ninjas

Chinese Super Ninjas IMDb

This movie was awesome!  The experience was awesome.  It was my first time watching a Shaw Brothers classic on the big screen.  Man, that's a big difference. Watching it with the typical Fantastic Fest/Alamo audience made it a lot better.  Good cheesy sound effects.  Good cheesy fighting scenes.  There was also some unexpected gory scenes.  This was a ninja movie with some kung fu.  It is the story of a clan who gets massacred by a group of ninjas who were hired by a rival clan.  There was one survivor from that massacre.  That one survivor went to train to become a ninja and to learn the secrets of the five elements (which were partly used to massacre the clan).  The survivor and few of his new ninja friends teamed up to get revenge.  I like the story and all the fighting.  This is also known as Five Element Ninja or Super Ninjas. 

This has been one of my favorite Weird Wednesdays.  I'm going to try to make it to a Weird Wednesday once a month. No promises, though.  Chinese Super Ninjas is highly recommended for those fans of Shaw Brothers films.  I'm adding this to my grindhouse section. 

Knuckle

Knuckle IMDb

Started this St. Patrick's Day by watching this Irish documentary about a bare-knuckle fights.  For years, few Irish families have been going at it. It's like a tradition they have. The director spent 12 years filming their fights. Sometimes there's money involved but most of it has to do with upholding their family name.  It's machismo. The crazy thing is that these families are related.  Yup, this is the real Fight Club here.   We mostly follow James Quinn McDonagh throughout his years. He always wants to quit but he somehow ends up fighting every year. Some of the fights are intense but others are just quick and easy. I didn't love the doc but I wanted to check it out because it's Irish and it came out at Fantastic Fest two years ago.  

It was interesting to see how these families take their crap seriously but this wasn't for me.  

Recommend this to any UFC or boxing fans.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel IMDb

Wes Anderson delivers his usual beautiful shots, wonderful sets, and colorful characters. Story was okay. Probably my least favorite from his catalog. As a Wes Anderson fan, I still enjoyed the movie a lot. Can't go wrong.  I was just wanting more with the story especially towards the end.   This main story is told from a story within a story about how Gustav inherited The Grand Budapest.  It is the story of adventures.   Gustav and his bellboy go through a lot before they take over the hotel.  Gustav becomes a prisoner, then a fugitive, then a survivor.  It has the same quirky comedy as other Anderson films. This reminded me a lot of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Darjeeling Limited, and Bottle Rocket.  Okay maybe some of Moonrise Kingdom as well. 

Now that I know what happens and how the story goes, I'm hoping to like this movie a lot more the next time I see it.  I would still recommend this to Anderson fans.  It still has its charms.  

Yakuza Papers Vol. 5: Final Episode

Yakuza Papers Vol. 5: Final Episode IMDb

At last, I got to finish this Yakuza epic.  This one leaves you still wanting more.  Maybe that's why they did 5 more movies on this and called it the new generation (which is rare to get a hold of).  The Final Episode has more killings and more chaos than the previous volume.  Our main character, Hirono, finally gets out of prison here but he's ready to retire.  Another big boss is ready to retire but before they do so, they must make sure everything in the yakuza world is in order.  This marks the end of the yakuza wars in Hiroshima.  A few of the younger generation get appointed as the new bosses and a new era begins.  This message is once again clear:  in the yakuza world, there is no winners.  Most will most likely die.  There's no stopping power and greed.  Just like the other movies, this is chaotic most times that I couldn't keep up with every character.  This whole saga was meant to be watched more than a dozen times.  Glad I own the rare box set to this.  Was able to find it at a low price at an indie video store in San Francisco. 

I recommend this Yakuza movie fans.  This and the other 4 movies are the bible of Yakuza movies.

Western Wednesday: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Decided to go Netflix for this Western Wednesday. Out of my 10 Westerns I want to see this year, this movie was the only one on my list that they had for streaming.   It was different and cool.  For being original, I give it props.  Butch and Sundance are a pair of crooks. They rob and kill if they have to.  They have some funny moments.  Good chemistry.   A group gets together to catch them. Everywhere they go, the group is there.  So it's little bit of a cat and mouse game.  They finally flee to Bolivia only to find no other escape.  Tragic ending but classic.

Overall, I thought it was pretty entertaining.   Slick and cool, especially the dialogue.  This is all about the characters.

Yakuza Papers Vol. 4: Police Tactics

Yakuza Papers Vol. 4

I'm a big fan of the first movie in this saga.  It is called Battles Without Honor and Humanity.  Some describe this saga as the Japanese Godfather.  This week, decided to watch all of 5 movies of the Yakuza Papers.  Saw the first 3 back in 2011.  Police Tactics follows the same mood as the others.  Fast paced, gritty, violent, bloody, yakuza action.  Like the other movies, it is hard to follow most times because they mention like 30 different characters in each movie.  This one focuses obviously on the police crackdown on these yakuzas.  They arrested Hirono (who is practically the main character in this saga).  He's in jail majority of the movie.  Meanwhile, crime organizations are still battling each other.  Never ending ruthless violence is the message behind this and the others.  

Overall, this was pretty good.  If you're into Yakuza or Japanese crime movies, you can't go wrong with any volume of The Yakuza Papers.

No trailer found but here's the opening of the first movie with the cool music 

they play throughout each movie.

Zatoichi Night: Zatoichi the Fugitive

Zatoichi The Fugitive IMDb

This Zatoichi movie was a bit slower than the others.  It's got an okay story.  This is the first time where someone finally cuts Zatoichi a little bit during a battle.  In the beginning of the movie, Zatoichi gets challenged by a young thug and Zatoichi kills him.  Because he's an honorable man, he goes to the man's hometown and tells his mother about his death.  He gets into a few fights with some yakuzas and he's on the run as a fugitive.  His long time love (Tane) is back in this movie.  She's married to another samurai.  The samurai wants to challenge Zatoichi and kills his wife.  Their fight at the end was an awesome battle (that's where Zatoichi gets cut).  Love that Zatoichi does a little quirky dance and walks away at the end.

Overall, this was okay.  I love the first three movies so far.

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Robot Friday: Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial Man IMDb

Delayed last month's Robot Friday to this first Friday of March due to work.  Here it is.  Robin Williams as a robot who learns to have feelings and become more human. Literally, more human.  I would of wanted him to stay robot all the way but this is supposed to be romantic. So basically, this rich family buys a robot to do house stuff. The robot they got was unique from the other robots. This robot seems to understand slight feelings. Instead of returning it back, the father decides to teach it more human things and gives them thousands of books to read.  This movie jumps a generation every 20 minutes. The robot becomes more advanced that it searches for the right scientist to help him become literally human. Oh, there's incest in this. Our robot has a crush on the main daughter.  She gets old and dies. The robot then falls in love with the granddaughter who looks exactly like grandma. They literally get married towards the end. So yeah, this was a weird movie. It has its charms and a few comedic moments but mostly a drama about a robot.

Overall, this was okay. Good for a one time deal. Next Robot Friday will be in three weeks (if work permits).

Good Ol' Freda

Good Ol' Freda IMDb

This decent documentary is about Freda Kelly, the long time secretary for The Beatles.  She talks about her career from the beginning to present.  She was there right when The Beatles were just barely starting.  Hell, Ringo wasn't even in the band yet.  She was in charge of their fan club.  She witness the band go from just any regular band to the most popular band in the world.  She talks about her crushes with each member.  The documentary plays some of the Beatles music and other original songs that the Beatles remade later.  It was fairly entertaining.   Anything to do with The Beatles, I know I'm going to like (at least a little bit).  Must of been a hell of a good life being part of Beatlemania.  This would of been a lot better if they were interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.  At least Ringo came out for a few seconds at the end acknowledging Freda. 

This documentary was made mostly for fans of The Beatles.  So, if you are one of the few that aren't fans, I won't recommend watching this.

Aftershock

Aftershock IMDb

This was okay to see for a few gory scenes but that's about it.  It's supposed to be a man vs. nature story but it turned out to be half party and half survival (mostly running away from escape convicts).  Nothing wrong with both but I was wanting more about the earthquake and the tsunami approaching.  This was about an American guy who is vacationing in Chile.  By the way, Chile looks very beautiful, at least in the first half.  Must visit there one of these days.  Anyways, this American is partying with some Chileans and they meet up with these other girls.  They convinced the girls to stay another day in order to visit more of the countryside.  During a big club scene, an earthquake erupts.  Lots of insanity.  Chaos.  Lots of gore.  The streets are filled with madness and our survival story begins.  There's a prison nearby that gets damaged and prisoners escape and cause more damage.  It's survival all the way until the end.  Almost everyone gets killed here.  There are a few stupid scenes but they need to be stupid in order for the horror element to work.  For example, Eli Roth's character is trapped under a piece of concrete.  He is badly hurt.  The escape prisoners torture him in order to find out where the girls are at.  No matter what, you're going to get killed.  So, why tell them a few minutes later?  I know, he was trying to save himself because he has a daughter.   And why did the prisoners did not believe him at first?  I would believe a near dying man, but then again, I'm not a cold blooded gangster. 

Overall, nothing to make a great big fuzz about.  I wouldn't recommend this movie.

So, at your own risk if you're interested. 

Big Ass Spider

Big Ass Spider IMDb

Just like the title says, this is a movie about a big ass spider.  B-movie all the way.  Usually most of these types of movies end up being thrash, but not this one. Yeah, it's not great or anything like that.  It is entertaining, though.  Plus, the main character (the exterminator guy) and his sidekick (the Mexican security guy) make a great likeable team.  I laughed a few times with these two.  It's corny and stupid at times.  The ending felt rushed but this could of been a lot worse.  Basically, it's about this exterminator guy who gets bit by a brown recluse spider.  He goes to the hospital.  At that same hospital, a 10 pound looking spider comes out of a mysterious body in the morgue.  The exterminator makes a deal with the hospital to catch this spider.  He gets help by the security guy.  Things get crazy when the military take over and this spider starts killing people as it gets bigger and bigger.  The exterminator and his new partner help the military save the world from this mysterious creature. Lots of unnecessary moments stop this movie from being super awesome.

I would recommend this movie if you're looking for just a plain old stupid fun time.

Oldboy

Oldboy IMDb

The U.S remake of one of my favorite Korean movies was disappointing but not that bad.
I knew this version wasn't going to be something special but I still had to see it.  I tried hard to not compare this to the Korean version but I couldn't resist.  A lot of things are pretty much the same except for the ending and some details. I have not read the original manga this is all based on but I didn't like the twist here and I also didn't like Joe's decision at the end.  Of course, the Korean version was more poetic.  Oldboy is about this drunk no good person named Joe.  After a typical night of being a jerk, he passes out and wakes up in a hotel room with locked up doors and no windows.  He has been abducted and locked up.  He goes crazy staying in that room.  Days turn to years.  20 years later, he gets released.  The first thing on Joe's mind is who's responsible for this?  He goes on to find the truth.  It's a sick twisted revenge tale.  The guy responsible for all of this, played wonderfully by Sharlto Copley, is a disturbed guy who lost his family a long time ago all because of certain actions taken by Joe.  In the Korean version, the guy responsible did all of this because he lost his sister (whom he was in love with) to suicide.  So, major difference.  Pretty decent performance by Josh Brolin who plays Joe in this U.S. version. Didn't like the fake daughter trick they did here and that there was no hypnotism.  Kudos for the long hammer fighting scene.  Although not as cool as the Korean version, it was still pretty impressive.

Overall, it was a little okay for a remake but doesn't do justice.

 If you haven't seen the Korean version, do yourself a favor, and go get it now.

Saving General Yang

Saving General Yang IMDb

It's been a busy week.  We moved to another place.  I was busy covering a murder trial on Friday that I had to push Robot Friday to this Friday.  I had my sister and my brother in law in town for the weekend.  Zatoichi Night will be moved to next Monday.  I installed Netflix for the first time this weekend so now I'll be able to have easier access to some movies.  I am still going to be devoted in going to my local video stores but in the case I can't go, it's good to have a back up.  My brother in law picked this movie to see for my first time Netflix experience.  None of us never heard of it until today.  It's an Asian epic movie about 7 brothers who are on a mission to rescue and bring back their father (General Yang).  It's a war out there.  This movie was non stop action and less drama.  While I did enjoy some battles and certain scenes, I didn't feel it overall.  One of the main issues I had was the subtitles.  I don't know if it's Netflix but the subtitles were delayed in a lot of scenes.  Other times, the subtitles were on for less than a second.  So I didn't understand a lot of the details in the movie just the specifics.  It was cool to see a little arrow battle towards the end. 

This was an okay Chinese action movie.  Nothing I would recommend or see again.