Child of God

 Child of God IMDb

 Woke up this morning to see another James Franco movie on Netflix.  This one is actually directed by him and he also comes out in a minor serious role towards the end.  I went in with low expectations because of what I heard.  This was shown as a secret screening at Fantastic Fest in 2013.  People were disappointed with it.  It is based on a Cormac McCarthy novel (author of No Country for Old Men).  This movie reminded me a lot of the Coen Brothers.  Could have fooled me.  Anyways, I didn't like it.  So, I agree with those that were disappointed.  It sucked.  It's a crazy drama about this one guy who lives in the woods by himself.  He does a lot of crazy shit including necrophilia.  That part reminded me of Lars and the Real Girl mixed with Deadgirl.  Anyways, it gets annoying and tiring in the third act.  I just felt like I wasted my morning on this.  I should have had pancakes.  Yeah, pancakes! Pancakes!  Cabin Fever rules.  Stay away from this one.

I haven't read the novel it's based from but I didn't really care about this redneck guy.  Downer in a bad way.

Homefront

 Homefront IMDb

So I decided to do a James Franco triple feature just for kicks.  Or maybe because I noticed on my Netflix list that I had three movies with James Franco in it.  Fuck it!  I'm not doing a back to back triple feature but three James Franco movies in three days.  Last night, I started with this action movie starring Jason Statham.  James Franco is in a villain role here as a drug dealer.  There were some cliches but this movie was okay for an action no brainer kind of movie.  Don't mess with Jason Statham.  People don't learn but then again, we wouldn't have this movie if it weren't for those idiots.  A movie called Homefront starring an English guy.  Hmmm?  It was short and simple.  Nothing memorable.

I caught it on Netflix.  Been doing a lot of that lately.  Trying to catch up and clear my list.

Anyways, this isn't nothing I would recommend but it doesn't hurt seeing it once.

American Sniper

American Sniper IMDb

Another Oscar nominated movie down, two more to go.  It is obvious why this one was nominated.  Hollywood love their war hero movies.  Saw it this afternoon at the Alamo Village.  It was pretty good.  I wish they would have extended the ending a little more but pretty good and emotional.  Directed by Mr. Clint Eastwood himself.  I haven't really loved any of his directed films since Mystic River.  Bradley Cooper plays famous U.S sniper, Chris Kyle.  A lot of crazy war scenes.  I was into it, especially the intense moments.  I wish they would have focused more on the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder scenes.  This movie is about praising a heroic sniper.  For that, it was pretty good.  I love the sniper versus sniper moments.  On a side note: this movie references, The Punisher, one of my favorite Marvel characters.  So it made me want to read some Punisher comics.

This would make an awesome double feature with "Lone Survivor." 
Both are very entertaining.  

As far as Bradley Cooper for Best Actor, I liked his performance in Silver Linings Playbook better.
My heart for Best Picture still goes out to Boyhood, Birdman, and maybe even Whiplash.

Out of the Furnace

Out of the Furnace IMDb

This was pretty fucking awesome.  Except for that last ending shot, which was okay.  But, fuck, revenge films hardly disappoint me.  Christian Bale plays a lost soul trying to do the right thing.  His younger brother, played by Casey Affleck, is a war veteran who turns to illegal street fighting to make money.  There's Willem Dafoe, which I had no idea he was in this.  I should read and see trailers more often before watching movies.  And we have Woody Harrelson playing a hardcore cold blooded motherfucker.  Well, the veteran brother gets mixed up with some shit with Harrelson's character and before you know it, he's dead.  It is up to our main character to set things right and go after the cold blooded motherfucker.  Saw it on Netflix late last night.  I didn't know what to expect so I came out satisfied.  Loved it!  There were a few flaws I didn't like, but overall, pretty awesome.

I would recommend this movie if you're in the mood for a crime drama.

Zatoichi Challenged

Zatoichi Challenged

My favorite number is 17 and this is the 17th Zatoichi movie to see from the Zatoichi Collection.  Once again, Zatoichi becomes a father figure.  This lady dies and Zatoichi picks up the responsibility of taking her son to his dad he's never met.  The father is an artist who secretly draws illegal art for yakuzas.  The boy is also an artist himself.  This movie gets a bit political.  The government interrupts and controls the village and certain yakuzas.  There's a samurai who represents the government and he is after the artist.  But, he has one obstacle: fucking Zatoichi.  Challenge accepted.  Beautiful battle at the end. 

The story was okay.  Maybe I was overwhelmed with too many Zatoichi films.  

Maybe I just need to watch one at a time as the mood arises.  But, dammit, I'm trying to finish the box set so I can finally put it with the rest of my collection.  The struggle is real!

Zatoichi the Outlaw

Zatoichi the Outlaw IMDb

Wow, this Zatoichi movie is one of the bloodiest and most violent one yet.  Heads come off right here.  The story was okay.  Those battle scenes, though.  I had me a big Japanese feast this Sunday and saw a Zatoichi double feature.  Here, Zatoichi arrives in a village where a gambling ring kidnapped a group of people because of debt.  A rival gambling ring pays them to set them free but shit hits the fan.  Before you know it, there's hands and heads flying in the air.  This is also the first time that I noticed that Zatoichi refers to himself as a traveling yakuza.  At least he mentions that in one of the earlier scenes.

No one never learns.  They always underestimate poor Zatoichi.

And here is my Japanese feast for this occasion.

Zatoichi's Cane Sword

Zatoichi's Cane Sword IMDb

Another great Zatoichi movie.  Saw this one this past Saturday night.  I offered my son Nathan to sleep in  the living room next to me while I watch this.  He agreed and saw some. Oh, the torture.  Here, Zatoichi gives up his sword because it is old and it is about to break.  But, knowing the tyranny of evil men, Zatoichi is going to eventually need it.  He leaves his sword with a retired famous sword maker.  This sword maker is forced to make a powerful sword for a yakuza.  Well, the twist is that the sword maker gives Zatoichi the newly made sword and the yakuza the old sword.  Beautiful scenes in here.  There's a barrel scene where Zatoichi is trapped inside.  Using his wonderful sword skills, he slices through the barrel and kills a few people around him.   

Enjoyed it! Straightforward awesome samurai movie.

Zatoichi's Pilgrimage

Zatoichi's Pilgrimage IMDb

This past weekend, I did something crazy.  I managed to see four Zatoichi movies from my Zatoichi box set.  It was a weekend to remember, alright.  My son was with me but he was playing with the tablet and his toys most of the time.  But, he got to learn who Zatoichi is.  I was surprised that he was interested in a few scenes.  I wish my dad would have introduced to such great cinema.  Lucky kid.  Anyways, this blog isn't about my son (that's what his blog is for).  I saw four Zatoichi movies in the course of three days. This one right here in particular, Zatoichi's Pilgrimage, was very fucking awesome.  It's probably my favorite of the whole series.  I don't know why.  Maybe I was in the mood for it.  But, every moment was incredible.  It starts off with a great intro.  It's a boat scene and a thieve starts trouble and fucking Zatoichi happens to be there and chops his hand off.  Boom!  Opening credits.  There's an underwater kill scene.  There are kills in the dark. Lots to value here.   

I saw this one, I believe Friday morning before work.  My son wasn't there in this one.  But, I love the shit out of it.  And that got me excited to see a few more this past weekend.  Highly recommend this movie.  You don't necessarily have to see the 13 movies before it to enjoy this one.  Just know that Zatoichi is one badass samurai who happens to be blind.  He's the fastest there is.  He roams from village to village and somehow sets things good everytime by killing dozens of bad men.  That's practically every movie.

  

Whiplash

Whiplash IMDb

It was a cold Tuesday night in Austin when I had the clever idea to finally watch this little movie that a lot people have been talking about.  Wow! Motherfucker! This movie was intense.  J.K. Simmons yelling and throwing up a storm throughout the whole thing is what separates this movie from the rest.  A movie that make you appreciate what Jazz bands have to deal with.  I enjoyed it and left the theatre with some anxiety.  It's been on my mind for three days but I didn't get a chance to blog it until today.  It's official now.  Tony has experienced Whiplash and he almost went to the hospital.  This is a hardcore story about a jazz drummer who dreams about becoming something big.  He gets pushed beyond his limit by an intimidating abusive teacher.  A few crazy surprises here.  J.K Simmons deserves all those awards he's been getting for his role as the crazy Jazz teacher.  Oscar is in the bag for him.

Highly recommend this fucking movie.  It's nominated for an Academy Award.

I don't usually connect or like some of the movies that get nominated but this one is in my cool book.

My heart goes out to Boyhood and Birdman, but this is my 3rd pick for that award.

Out of the 8 movies nominated, I've seen 5.  I'm going to try to catch the rest of them before the Oscars.  We'll see. 

14 Blades

14 Blades IMDb

Saw this Donnie Yen Action/Kung Fu Period film last night.  It was shown at Fantastic Fest years back.  I saw that Netflix had it so I said, "fuck it!"  It was pretty good.  Love all the fast action sequences.  Actually, I was surprised that there were a lot of action scenes on here.  Never a dull moment.  The story was okay.  But, sometimes I don't see these kinds of movies for the story.  Sometimes I see them to see some ass kicking and neck slicing scenes.  And that's what I got here.  Good old Chinese action flick.  My favorite character wasn't even the badass main character played by Donnie Yen.  It was this other character that we meet after halfway through.  This leader of this bandit squad that ends up helping our main character out towards the end.

This one is worth watching on Netflix.  Not to buy but to watch some fast blade action sequences.

Had me some Chinese Take-Out (Hot and Spicy Pork) and Hot Tea during this movie.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee IMDb

My new friend Cici came to visit over the weekend and she brought this movie to see with me.  She's Native American and she's attached to her roots and background.  I'm not too familiar with all the history.  I just know the basics.  White people killed lots of Native Americans and chased them out of their territories.  This is a story about a young man who was born in the reservation but was taken out to study English.  He grows up and comes back to the reservation to help his people as a doctor.  Lots of bloodshed.  Lots of violent people.  This is a made for TV movie.  I have to admit, this isn't my cup of tea.  But, I sure love sharing experiences and learning about other cultures with other friends.  There were moments here that were a little too dramatic but, oh well.  It was an okay story. 

Kudos for a mean performance by J.K Simmons (which I gotta check out his latest possible Oscar winning performance in the movie Whiplash).

 

Cici made authentic fry bread to go with this movie. 

Hitchcock Thursday: The Lady Vanishes

The Lady Vanishes IMDb 

My first Hitchcock Thursday is one of his earlier works.  Saw this one with my friend Casey.  The Lady Vanishes is a pretty nice simple woman gone missing mystery.  Majority of it takes place in a train. For its time, this was pretty good.  It had a nonsense kind of ending but some of the build up was good.  Lots of bizarre characters.  Some clever twists.  Not bad for the first Hitchcock Thursday.

Since I saw one of his very early films, I'm going to go with one that was released later next.  I'll probably do that from now on.  Meaning, the next Hitchcock film will be one that was made later than the previous one, and so on.  Eleven more to go.

Frank

 Frank IMDb

So I really wanted to like this one because of its weirdness and stuff.  I mean, I love stuff like this.  Unfortunately, I didn't like it as much.  The concept is still cool.  I still love some awesome scenes but overall, I wanted more.  Kind of a downer but that's part of the message.  I first heard about this one last summer and I had it in my radar this whole time.  I saw this after a long day traveling back home from L.A. yesterday.  I was tired but still wanted to see it so that might explain why I wasn't into it that much.  Kudos for the story though. 

Michael Fasbender plays a guy who wears a big fake head and has it on majority of the movie.  The real story is about this wannabe guy who joins this band to get fame but instead discovers that this band has mental struggles of their own.  I should have had coffee with this.  Maybe I'll give it another try someday.

The Purple Rose of Cairo

The Purple Rose of Cairo IMDb

During my vacation in Southern California, I had the pleasure in visiting my favorite director's newly owned theatre: New Beverly Cinema.  This past Saturday night, my sisters from another mister, took me there after eating burgers in Hollywood.  They were showing a double feature of Annie Hall and this one.  We didn't get to make it to Annie Hall.  I'm not a Woody Allen fan but I must admit, I'm beginning to respect his films a little more.  The Purple Rose of Cairo is a romantic/whimsical light hearted comedy.  Characters come out of the movie screen and into the real world.  That's the world Allen created with this one.  The absurdity gets a little funny.  In a way, it's almost a similar feeling to one of Allen's latest movies, Midnight in Paris.  Mia Farrow is great here.  I never heard of this movie until this week.  I think watching it in this small cute theatre made the experience a lot better.  From now on, whenever I visit Los Angeles, I'll stop by and catch some movies here.

Cute little fantasy movie I would recommend.  Gotta catch up on some more Woody Allen movies soon.

Here's the New Beverly Saturday Gang!

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice IMDb

I went to Los Angeles, California this past week and was busy with family and planning my son's birthday.  I did manage to see two movies out there.  Saw this one and it was perfect because of where the story takes place at.  I love P.T Anderson.  Sure, his last movie, The Master, wasn't all that to me, but fuck, he made it up with this crazy flick.  I'm not sure what to expect.  I do love a good paranoia/trippy/dark comedy.  This is a cross between The Big Lebowski and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  I love the style.  I love the quirkiness.  I love it.  Long unnecessary but entertaining scenes.  All part of this great mystery.  Would love to see it multiple times.  Insane but cool movie.  Now, I don't know if this is meant for everyone. It's a lot different than the other P.T Anderson films.  That's for sure.

Glad to have seen this in L.A.  I personally would have put this on my top 10 if I would have seen it last year.  

Time Travel Tuesday: Fetching Cody

 Fetching Cody IMDb
So for my first Time Travel Tuesday this year I decided to stick to Netflix and check out this indie film from Canada.  It was okay.  Actually, besides the poor acting, this got me interested in the whole idea.  Time Travel here comes in a form of an unexplained magical chair.  You just sit on it and wish for a certain time period and boom, you're fucking there.  In this case, Jay Baruchel's character uses it to go back to his girlfriend's bad past and change things so she would not end up in a hospital over a drug overdose.  There are few comedic moments.  Lots of Christmas scenes.  If I would have known, I would have waited to see this in December.  Overall, not too bad for my first Time Travel Tuesday.

Next month, we'll get a little romantic and check out "Somewhere in Time."

The Equalizer

The Equalizer IMDb

Denzel Washington is back again in a similar role as some of his other movies.  I have to admit, I really enjoyed this one.  I didn't like the set up to this.  It was unoriginal and full of cliches.  I mean, I didn't feel like Washington's character really connected with the girl.  So, I had a feeling this was going to disappoint me.   But, it didn't.  As soon as the action started taking over, I was in for a good ride.  Some awesome death scenes and a few good surprises.  Denzel's character reminded me a lot of Liam Neeson's character from the Taken movies.  I love his precise timing and skills.  The russians never knew what hit them.  Overall, this did its job.  If they would somehow change the first 40 minutes, I think this would have been something special for an action movie.

Worth renting for some good action sequences.  Don't take the sappy first act too seriously.  

Blancanieves

Blancanieves IMDb

This is a pretty cool silent film twist on the Snow White story.  There are some differences but the main plot is similar.  Add in some circus bullfighting midgets and we got ourselves a show.  The stepmother here is played by one of my favorite Spanish actress, the beautiful Maribel Verdu.  She's a sweetheart in "Tetro" (which I saw as a double feature before this movie).  The ending to this story is a bit different but I loved it.  This ain't no fairy tale.  I had this modern silent movie in my Netflix for a while.  I was actually thinking of doing a Silent Film Night this year but decided to stick with two specials. 

This is a great modern silent film I would recommend if you're in the mood.

Anything with midgets (excuse me, dwarves aka small people) I'm always down to watch. 

Begin Again

Begin Again IMDb

I begin this new year with Begin Again.  How about that?  All part of a master plan (evil laugh).  This is directed from the same person who directed "Once."  I enjoyed Once and I enjoyed this a lot as well.  Both are good musically.  This isn't as romantic and sad as Once but it is fucking great.  Lots of charming moments.  Just like the title, it's about starting new and fresh again.  Music is a great power.  Love every element of it here.  Keira Knightley is great.  I usually don't like some of her roles but I thought she rocked here.   

It is not perfect or a priority to see but it's definitely worth watching especially how they record the music here.

Saw this with my friend Cici and we both had coffee (since the cover of the movie has the characters drinking coffee).  Good caffeinated times!

***2015 Movie Specials***

It's a new year and as much as I love movies, I decided this year to give myself more flexibility for other personal things and projects.   I'll still watch my fair share of films.  The changes are in the movie specials.  I usually have four movie specials every year that are scheduled.  This year, in order to have a more flexible schedule, I'm going to cut it in half.  But, to make up for that, I'm going to challenge myself and try to watch at least one hundred "2015" movies (I usually average about 70 each year).  So technically I'm not cutting much of my movie time but I'm cutting the scheduling pressure of certain movie nights in order to have freedom to do other things. I am a Freebird!

Here are the two movies specials for this year:

Time Travel Tuesday
The first Tuesday of each month this year, I will watch a time travel movie I've never seen before.  Why Time Travel?  Well, it's a sci-fi genre that interests me.  Don't we all at some point wished to have had a time machine to change certain things?  I've seen lots of great Time Travel movies but I know there are still some out there I need to explore.

Hitchcock Thursday
The third Thursday of each month this year, I will watch an Alfred Hitchcock film I've never seen before.  He was the master of suspense and I love suspense.  He made dozens and dozens of films.  I've seen most of the essentials but this will give me a chance to catch up with more from the director.

There you have it.

Let the year begin.

Happy New Years!
Tony