The Movie Thread Reloaded

[hedgehobbit]

I finally watched The Flash on Amazon. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Sure, the CGI was awful throughout, the tone shifted randomly from serious to wacky comedy, and the whole idea of "inevitable intersections" is stupid. But it is watchable. Ezra Miller could have been a real star if he wasn't a complete nut job.

[Lurkndog]

I finally watched The Flash on Amazon. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Sure, the CGI was awful throughout, the tone shifted randomly from serious to wacky comedy, and the whole idea of "inevitable intersections" is stupid. But it is watchable. Ezra Miller could have been a real star if he wasn't a complete nut job.

I first saw Ezra Miller playing a recurring guest role on the TV show Royal Pains back in 2009. He was 17 at the time, and did a good job playing a troubled teenager. It seems he may have ben playing himself to some extent.

[Thornhammer]

House of Ninjas (Netflix) - anybody watched yet?

Live-action, family of retired ninjas (modern era) gets called back into action to save Japan from bad guys. Reminiscent of The Incredibles, except badass ninjas instead of superheroes.

It's next on my list after I finish the last episode of Night Country. I can feel my inner 80s kid jumping up and down screaming "NINJAS!!!" so I'm looking forward to this one.

[Bedrockbrendan]

Watched Kung Fu Wonderchild with Yukari Oshima the other night. It is very strange indeed, but has some gameable content. The action scenes were pretty impeccable. Lots of potty humor. Wrote up a review of it here: https://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/wuxia-inspiration-kung-fu-wonderchild.html

Also watched Iron Angels which was pretty good. Also had Yukari Oshima in it as a pretty viscous villain, and starred Moon Lee. David Chiang has a kind of Charlie role from Charlie's angels. Though it should be said this is a mixed sex team. There are just two women on it. What really makes the movie interesting though is the sadism and cruelty of the Yukari Oshima character IMO. Just a nice over-the-top hong kong action movie villain.

[yosemitemike]

I am watching a movie called Deep Evil.  It has Lorenzo Lamas in it.

"After an incident occurs at a top-secret bio-research lab in remote Alaska, a team of skilled military operatives are sent to investigate whether this was an accident, an act of terror or something else."

I have never seen this movie but it also feels like I have seen this movie at least half a dozen times.  Contact has been lost with the secret underground lab.  What has happened?  Unspecific operators are sent to investigate along with obligatory hot chick scientist.  How many of these things are there?  They must be really cheap to make.

[Lurkndog]

Watched Kung Fu Wonderchild with Yukari Oshima the other night. It is very strange indeed, but has some gameable content. The action scenes were pretty impeccable. Lots of potty humor. Wrote up a review of it here: https://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/wuxia-inspiration-kung-fu-wonderchild.html

Also watched Iron Angels which was pretty good. Also had Yukari Oshima in it as a pretty viscous villain, and starred Moon Lee. David Chiang has a kind of Charlie role from Charlie's angels. Though it should be said this is a mixed sex team. There are just two women on it. What really makes the movie interesting though is the sadism and cruelty of the Yukari Oshima character IMO. Just a nice over-the-top hong kong action movie villain.

That sounds like fun. I liked Iron Angels, and Yukari Oshima rocks. I'll have to check it out.  Thanks!

[Omega]

I have never seen this movie but it also feels like I have seen this movie at least half a dozen times.  Contact has been lost with the secret underground lab.  What has happened?  Unspecific operators are sent to investigate along with obligatory hot chick scientist.  How many of these things are there?  They must be really cheap to make.

Alien's and The Thing inspired movies. THERE ARE LOTS!!!!

They even pop up in TV episodes. X-Files did at least one where an Alaskan or far north base was having trouble.

[yosemitemike]

Alien's and The Thing inspired movies. THERE ARE LOTS!!!!

They even pop up in TV episodes. X-Files did at least one where an Alaskan or far north base was having trouble.

That was Ice.  Firewalker and Darkness Falls were pretty much that only at a volcano and in the forest respectively.

[Omega]

YouTube has Star Trek Beyond free at the moment and so bit the bullet to have a peek at it.

And was pleasantly surprised. Yes its still junk. But I feel like oddly the good out-weighed or at least equaled the bad.

The plot is nonsense and parts just make no sense at all or are not explained. Other plot points are so contrived that you cant even suspend disbelief.

But against all odds I overall liked it. Was it a Star Trek movie? Fuck no! But it had it's moments. Unlike Into Darkness which I just hated nearly start to finish.

[Omega]

Alien's and The Thing inspired movies. THERE ARE LOTS!!!!

They even pop up in TV episodes. X-Files did at least one where an Alaskan or far north base was having trouble.

That was Ice.  Firewalker and Darkness Falls were pretty much that only at a volcano and in the forest respectively.

There was even a version with dinosaurs on a ship. Same plot. Different monsters. Think that was Carnosaur 3? Also Virus is another take on it, except with scavengers on a derilect ship. And forget the mane but there was one with a mutating shark on a ship and so on. Theres gotta be at least a hundred of these by now.

[Thornhammer]

Watched the first episode of Shogun.

Damned fine, that was.

[Ratman_tf]

Watched the first episode of Shogun.

Damned fine, that was.

I have been dreading it. (As much as one can dread a television remake) I have fond memories of the original TV miniseries.
Any further commentary?

[Thornhammer]

I have been dreading it. (As much as one can dread a television remake) I have fond memories of the original TV miniseries.
Any further commentary?

The casting is good, the acting is good, the outfits are good. First episode has brief nudity but nothing over the top, some gore but again nothing over the top. That one poor bastard, though. Damn.

The language thing was interesting. The Japanese actors speak Japanese and it is subtitled. They sort of handwave the rest - you're supposed to infer that Portugese is being spoken instead of English under some circumstances, but I think it works for ease-of-consumption purposes.

It has a different focus than the 80s version, but I haven't seen anything so far that trips the eyeroll-o-meter.

[Ratman_tf]

I have been dreading it. (As much as one can dread a television remake) I have fond memories of the original TV miniseries.
Any further commentary?

The casting is good, the acting is good, the outfits are good. First episode has brief nudity but nothing over the top, some gore but again nothing over the top. That one poor bastard, though. Damn.

The language thing was interesting. The Japanese actors speak Japanese and it is subtitled. They sort of handwave the rest - you're supposed to infer that Portugese is being spoken instead of English under some circumstances, but I think it works for ease-of-consumption purposes.

It has a different focus than the 80s version, but I haven't seen anything so far that trips the eyeroll-o-meter.

Cool. I'll have to check it out. TY.

[Lurkndog]

I have never seen this movie but it also feels like I have seen this movie at least half a dozen times.  Contact has been lost with the secret underground lab.  What has happened?  Unspecific operators are sent to investigate along with obligatory hot chick scientist.  How many of these things are there?  They must be really cheap to make.

Alien's and The Thing inspired movies. THERE ARE LOTS!!!!

They even pop up in TV episodes. X-Files did at least one where an Alaskan or far north base was having trouble.

To say nothing of the classic Dr. Who serial The Seeds of Death.

I would wager that the Die Hard clones outnumber even the Thing-alikes. The Die Hard formula really lends itself to low budget movies, since there's only the one location, and unlike the Thing, you don't even need an expensive monster.

At one point Kevin Smith was even going to do a Mallrats sequel called Die Hard in a Mall.