Normally here I'd provide the details of what I'm going to talk about in the review, such as its runtime or its cast, but I don't need to as I am talking about Star Wars, and by that I mean the original 1977 classic that I've seen in its many forms many times now. From the 1990 VHS release of the first three in the franchise in a box set that my parents got (and I watched those three tapes often) to seeing the 1997 theatrical re-release of this movie but with “enhanced effects” and “added material” (including the nonsense changes with Greedo shooting first and before they fixed it the horrible effect of early CGI Jabba the Hutt), to the DVD and then the Blu-Ray release of the alleged “new and improved” versions, I have seen the movie too many times to count and it's great.
But, the original movie as seen in 1977 is the best version, I say. It is the version that many have fallen in love with and I am sure that most would agree with me in preferring to see the theatrical versions of what is now known as Episodes IV through VI on Blu-Ray along with the alleged “better” versions but for some reason that didn't happen and even with Disney now owning everything who knows for certain if they'll do that, even if it makes the most sense to do so.
That's why it has taken random people online to try and create a pristine version of Episodes IV through VI as seen in their original theatre releases rather than all the other versions out there that officially got a better release. Of course there's a DVD release that had the original print of the films... but they just looked bad (apparently from the laserdisc release) and and they weren't even anamorphic widescreen; I haven't seen that but I imagine it looked like crap. I am not sure how they did it but someone created a “despecialized” version of the movies to try and make it HD quality as it should have been released. Not that I dropped a hint by mentioning it's “despecialized” or tell you it's from a Czech dude named Harmy or that there's a few versions and it's now to version 2.5...
Anyhow, I've only “acquired” the 1977 movie and not the other two yet. But I can tell you that it looks and sounds great. It is indeed HD quality. While I can borrow someone's Blu-Rays to see the episodes that way, it is indeed a treat to be able to see the OG versions not via fullscreen nor by the cool but antiquated laserdisc prints but instead in high quality. It is the first time I got to see it in widescreen like my parents did; oh they saw all of them on the big screen and I remember them telling me that they paid to see it loved it, and then were able to convince the manager for them to stick around in order to watch the movie again until after the cantina scene, as they thought that scene was awesome and they wanted to check out all the unique creatures again. True story.
I don't need to tell you what the story is about. So, let me say that even in 2014 it's still awesome entertainment. I know it's not the most complex story and you can make fun of various things (like the acting or the dialogue) and some of it you can tell it did not have the highest budget or the best sets. It doesn't matter when the story is so entrancing and you care about all the characters and you want the rebels to take down the evil empire. It's familiar tropes and storytelling but that's why it works: it's basic concepts that have existed and worked since the art of storytelling began thousands of years ago and it has such things as The Hero's Journey and plottwists along the way, a scoundrel showing his good side, etc. Those movies are still classics and it's a damn shame how Episodes I through III turned out. But, the Red Letter Media reviews of those motion pictures (aside from the needless off-putting bizarre material they unfortunately put in there) do a great job in explaining why they don't work and why Episodes IV through VI do work, and work so well.
I'll return Sunday night.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
An Update Re: My Best of 2013 List
No, I didn't see anything for tonight; I will tomorrow and it'll be something special unless something really goes awry. So, I'll be back tomorrow night.
It likely won't be until early March until I post my Best of 2013 list. For the past few years, AMC Theatres have devoted two days before the Academy Awards showing the Best Picture nominees, and I've never participated in it before... but I am thinking I will on March 1; I'd be seeing Gravity again but there's also Nebraska, Captain Phillips, Her, and American Hustle. There are many directors I think are overrated (I know, blasphemy) but it's very well possible there's at least one that would go on the list. Plus, I have more time to catch up on any other possible candidates for the list.
Like I said I'll be back tomorrow night.
It likely won't be until early March until I post my Best of 2013 list. For the past few years, AMC Theatres have devoted two days before the Academy Awards showing the Best Picture nominees, and I've never participated in it before... but I am thinking I will on March 1; I'd be seeing Gravity again but there's also Nebraska, Captain Phillips, Her, and American Hustle. There are many directors I think are overrated (I know, blasphemy) but it's very well possible there's at least one that would go on the list. Plus, I have more time to catch up on any other possible candidates for the list.
Like I said I'll be back tomorrow night.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Happy MLK Day
I hope that everyone is having a nice Martin Luther King Jr. day today. Me... today I got my new glasses; I had an eye exam a week and a half ago. Besides getting used to the new prescription, I am SO tired and exhausted today; I do not know why but the past few nights I haven't gotten a lot of consistent sleep so now I am on fumes and I wouldn't do a good review even if I tried to do one now. So, I'll return on Wednesday and I hope I'll feel better by then.
Friday, January 17, 2014
The Secret Of The Dirk
The Secret of the Dirk (Da Luo Jian Xia) (1970)
Runtime: 78 minutes
Directed by: Teng Hung Hsu
Starring: Yi Chang, Pei-pei Shu, Li Ching, Hsiung Chao
From: Shaw Brothers
From the same random dude on YouTube who uploaded what I watched last night, here's another obscure Shaw Brothers movie (one that's even more obscure than the last one, judging by online votes and such). No, the secret in the title isn't what a “dirk” is. I'll be honest, the only dirk I know was Dirk Nowitski, the famous NBA basketball player. Thanks to Google, I discovered what it means; it is “a long thrusting dagger” used by mainly naval officers of old across the world. Yes, dirks do factor into the movie and one of them does have a secret. It's not like The Secret of the Ooze, either.
To steal the plot from Letterboxd: “The lovely Ching Li and handsome Chang I star as star-and-sword-crossed comrades who take on the vicious Black Tigers gang in a quest for hidden wealth. There's action galore, until the final, fiery fight in a temple of treasure.” To elaborate, several different entities are looking for a treasure that was the property of the rich people of a sieged town, thus it's important to some people. Such things appear as wacky wire-fu (there's a good amount of that present), an old mute man, and statues of bodhisattva.
While this wasn't as good as what I watched last night, I still enjoyed it. It's short, has a nice amount of action and along with the sword action (including several of them being used at the same time) there's also some martial arts. While the story doesn't always make sense, things move along briskly and it's always entertaining so I won't complain. You also get blood spurting out of wounds and a neat way of using an arrow. As for the dialogue (at least in the subtitles), some of it is wacky. While you actually get, “A friend in need is a friend indeed”, there's also “On this day next year is the first anniversary of your death!”, which is badass.
Sorry, not too much else to say about this entry. The plot at its most basic is rather simple and yet I don't want to say more and spoil how the story gets fleshed out. I shall return on Monday night.
Runtime: 78 minutes
Directed by: Teng Hung Hsu
Starring: Yi Chang, Pei-pei Shu, Li Ching, Hsiung Chao
From: Shaw Brothers
From the same random dude on YouTube who uploaded what I watched last night, here's another obscure Shaw Brothers movie (one that's even more obscure than the last one, judging by online votes and such). No, the secret in the title isn't what a “dirk” is. I'll be honest, the only dirk I know was Dirk Nowitski, the famous NBA basketball player. Thanks to Google, I discovered what it means; it is “a long thrusting dagger” used by mainly naval officers of old across the world. Yes, dirks do factor into the movie and one of them does have a secret. It's not like The Secret of the Ooze, either.
To steal the plot from Letterboxd: “The lovely Ching Li and handsome Chang I star as star-and-sword-crossed comrades who take on the vicious Black Tigers gang in a quest for hidden wealth. There's action galore, until the final, fiery fight in a temple of treasure.” To elaborate, several different entities are looking for a treasure that was the property of the rich people of a sieged town, thus it's important to some people. Such things appear as wacky wire-fu (there's a good amount of that present), an old mute man, and statues of bodhisattva.
While this wasn't as good as what I watched last night, I still enjoyed it. It's short, has a nice amount of action and along with the sword action (including several of them being used at the same time) there's also some martial arts. While the story doesn't always make sense, things move along briskly and it's always entertaining so I won't complain. You also get blood spurting out of wounds and a neat way of using an arrow. As for the dialogue (at least in the subtitles), some of it is wacky. While you actually get, “A friend in need is a friend indeed”, there's also “On this day next year is the first anniversary of your death!”, which is badass.
Sorry, not too much else to say about this entry. The plot at its most basic is rather simple and yet I don't want to say more and spoil how the story gets fleshed out. I shall return on Monday night.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Killer Darts
Killer Darts (Zhui Hun Biao) (1968)
Runtime: 84 minutes (at least that's the version I saw)
Directed by: Meng Hua Ho
Starring: Ping Chin, Hua Yueh, Siu Hung Cham, Pei-Shan Chang
From: Shaw Brothers
I'll be honest here, I picked this movie as a random YouTube user has up a bunch of obscure Shaw Brothers movie and noticed this was one of them, and to be frank the title made me laugh... a movie called Killer Darts! I then read the plot description and it sounded interesting to me. Via Letterboxd:
“They brutally killed his wife, wiped out dozens of his innocent people, and burnt his entire village down to a charbroiled crisp. Now, master Liou Wen-lung (Fang Mien) is out for revenge. Armed with a near-invincible sword style and a pack of killer darts, he heads out to settle a 10-year old grudge with the cold-blooded evildoers. Joining him is his son (Yueh Hua), an orphan named Yu Sien (Chin Ping) and his trusty servant.” That is part of it. There's also how Liou used to have a student but the student was banished after he tried raping a woman, and he did kill her and her husband; that's how the orphan Yu Sien became an orphan. It's no surprise that as the kids become adults the ex-student would reappear and he would meddle in things, especially considering that there's also a love triangle with Yu, the son and another young lady.
The movie moves pretty fast, for the most part. I mean, the opening scene is the village being burned down and all that carnage happening. They did not waste any time getting to it. I was always interested in the film. The story was pretty cool and I was never bored by it... and I enjoyed the action scenes too. Note that there's no martial arts to speak of. Rather, it's a traditional wuxia movie.
Besides the title darts (which don't appear all that often) there's the third lady in the love triangle being great at archery, and there's plenty of action with swords. It's filmed pretty well and there's nice long shots, both in distance and duration. The sword stuff is especially pretty cool. There's one bit where in one steady shot the hero kills like 25 guys in 15 seconds with his sword. That was pretty great. There are bitchin' moments throughout and at times you do see a good amount of blood. Hell, someone cuts off their hand up to their wrist to avoid the effects of the killer dart, and later on you see him with an Iron Fist; it wasn't the RZA who came up with that idea on his own.
Overall, for a movie I picked out just for its title, I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. Exploring the obscure Shaw Brothers catalogue may be a lot of fun for me. I'll be back tomorrow night.
Runtime: 84 minutes (at least that's the version I saw)
Directed by: Meng Hua Ho
Starring: Ping Chin, Hua Yueh, Siu Hung Cham, Pei-Shan Chang
From: Shaw Brothers
I'll be honest here, I picked this movie as a random YouTube user has up a bunch of obscure Shaw Brothers movie and noticed this was one of them, and to be frank the title made me laugh... a movie called Killer Darts! I then read the plot description and it sounded interesting to me. Via Letterboxd:
“They brutally killed his wife, wiped out dozens of his innocent people, and burnt his entire village down to a charbroiled crisp. Now, master Liou Wen-lung (Fang Mien) is out for revenge. Armed with a near-invincible sword style and a pack of killer darts, he heads out to settle a 10-year old grudge with the cold-blooded evildoers. Joining him is his son (Yueh Hua), an orphan named Yu Sien (Chin Ping) and his trusty servant.” That is part of it. There's also how Liou used to have a student but the student was banished after he tried raping a woman, and he did kill her and her husband; that's how the orphan Yu Sien became an orphan. It's no surprise that as the kids become adults the ex-student would reappear and he would meddle in things, especially considering that there's also a love triangle with Yu, the son and another young lady.
The movie moves pretty fast, for the most part. I mean, the opening scene is the village being burned down and all that carnage happening. They did not waste any time getting to it. I was always interested in the film. The story was pretty cool and I was never bored by it... and I enjoyed the action scenes too. Note that there's no martial arts to speak of. Rather, it's a traditional wuxia movie.
Besides the title darts (which don't appear all that often) there's the third lady in the love triangle being great at archery, and there's plenty of action with swords. It's filmed pretty well and there's nice long shots, both in distance and duration. The sword stuff is especially pretty cool. There's one bit where in one steady shot the hero kills like 25 guys in 15 seconds with his sword. That was pretty great. There are bitchin' moments throughout and at times you do see a good amount of blood. Hell, someone cuts off their hand up to their wrist to avoid the effects of the killer dart, and later on you see him with an Iron Fist; it wasn't the RZA who came up with that idea on his own.
Overall, for a movie I picked out just for its title, I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. Exploring the obscure Shaw Brothers catalogue may be a lot of fun for me. I'll be back tomorrow night.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
39% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 67 reviews)
Runtime: 84 minutes
Directed by: Christopher Landon (believe it or not, his dad is Michael Landon)
Starring: Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, Gabrielle Walsh, Renee Victor, Noemi Gonzalez
From: Paramount
Yes, I eventually went and saw this motion picture, my first 2014 movie. I figured I should given that I've watched all the previous four on the big screen and while the 4th was pretty bad, it's still tradition. In fact, here are the reviews of the four movies done by me. Just click on the titles for the reviews
PA 1
PA 2
PA 3
PA 4
In 2014, I'd rate the movies 1, 3, 2, and way below that, 4. As for this one-the 5th in the series-I knew it would be “Latino-themed” but aside from having a real wacky moment in the climax spoiled, I was really in the dark on what it was about aside from it being notably different from the first four.
I went and saw this in a place I only rarely see movies at: about an hour southwest of where I live, a.k.a. Lakeland. I decided to go there as I wanted to visit a place or two down there that I am not able to experience closer to home... and just this past Friday a brand new fancy Cinemark Theatres opened connected to a mall. All of them have big screens and fancy sound systems & it sounded like a pretty neat place. More on that in a bit.
To steal part of the plot description from the IMDb: “Jessie begins experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplainable things after the death of his neighbor. As he investigates, it isn't long before Jessie finds he's been marked...”
The story overall is done differently from the first four, which offers a breath of fresh air and made it more interesting for me. I won't spoil much but this doesn't have people filming stuff on stationary cameras during the night; rather it's hand-held and you get to follow a pair of Hispanic males, 18 years old and they have a lower-class more normal background than the rich people that you have in the first 4 films. Those two were pretty funny and amusing in how they acted; they were typical teenage males, meaning they busted each other's balls often and they were girl-crazy.
Overall, I did enjoy the movie. Sure, it has some really wacky/odd moments (especially the ending, where they went in an incredible direction) but along with the amusing moments there were enough creepy/scare moments for me and the story was never boring. I am glad I did not hate this movie and I can now feel more confident in the franchise. The story is actually expanded on (and it makes the 4th even more superfluous and pointless) and while I think that some parts of the mythology don't make 100% sense at that point... at the time I was entertained so I won't complain.
Concerning the Cinemarks Theatres I saw it at, they now have new theatres across the country known as NextGen, which means all auditoriums have a giant screen and fancy sound system, with one XD screen that is huge and tries to be IMAX quality. The joint looks real nice and the concessions is mostly self-serve. I did think it was done very well and if I lived closer I would be there more often. The picture quality didn't really matter but I know the sound system was effective; that was appreciated with me as that is important in the series, various sounds and the signature sound of the mysterious entities.
I'll be back Thursday night.
39% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 67 reviews)
Runtime: 84 minutes
Directed by: Christopher Landon (believe it or not, his dad is Michael Landon)
Starring: Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, Gabrielle Walsh, Renee Victor, Noemi Gonzalez
From: Paramount
Yes, I eventually went and saw this motion picture, my first 2014 movie. I figured I should given that I've watched all the previous four on the big screen and while the 4th was pretty bad, it's still tradition. In fact, here are the reviews of the four movies done by me. Just click on the titles for the reviews
PA 1
PA 2
PA 3
PA 4
In 2014, I'd rate the movies 1, 3, 2, and way below that, 4. As for this one-the 5th in the series-I knew it would be “Latino-themed” but aside from having a real wacky moment in the climax spoiled, I was really in the dark on what it was about aside from it being notably different from the first four.
I went and saw this in a place I only rarely see movies at: about an hour southwest of where I live, a.k.a. Lakeland. I decided to go there as I wanted to visit a place or two down there that I am not able to experience closer to home... and just this past Friday a brand new fancy Cinemark Theatres opened connected to a mall. All of them have big screens and fancy sound systems & it sounded like a pretty neat place. More on that in a bit.
To steal part of the plot description from the IMDb: “Jessie begins experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplainable things after the death of his neighbor. As he investigates, it isn't long before Jessie finds he's been marked...”
The story overall is done differently from the first four, which offers a breath of fresh air and made it more interesting for me. I won't spoil much but this doesn't have people filming stuff on stationary cameras during the night; rather it's hand-held and you get to follow a pair of Hispanic males, 18 years old and they have a lower-class more normal background than the rich people that you have in the first 4 films. Those two were pretty funny and amusing in how they acted; they were typical teenage males, meaning they busted each other's balls often and they were girl-crazy.
Overall, I did enjoy the movie. Sure, it has some really wacky/odd moments (especially the ending, where they went in an incredible direction) but along with the amusing moments there were enough creepy/scare moments for me and the story was never boring. I am glad I did not hate this movie and I can now feel more confident in the franchise. The story is actually expanded on (and it makes the 4th even more superfluous and pointless) and while I think that some parts of the mythology don't make 100% sense at that point... at the time I was entertained so I won't complain.
Concerning the Cinemarks Theatres I saw it at, they now have new theatres across the country known as NextGen, which means all auditoriums have a giant screen and fancy sound system, with one XD screen that is huge and tries to be IMAX quality. The joint looks real nice and the concessions is mostly self-serve. I did think it was done very well and if I lived closer I would be there more often. The picture quality didn't really matter but I know the sound system was effective; that was appreciated with me as that is important in the series, various sounds and the signature sound of the mysterious entities.
I'll be back Thursday night.
Concerning The Shooting In Wesley Chapel
I mentioned this last night, but yesterday there was a shooting at a movie theatre in Wesley Chapel, Florida; that is about a half hour northeast of Tampa and I've never seen a movie at that location but I've heard of the joint before.
The full story is here, but to be brief, a retired police officer shot some dude in his 40's after the dude in his 40's texted his young daughter during the previews for a movie. While I do think it's rude to do such a thing during the previews, killing someone over it... yikes. It is rare for me to have issues while at a movie theatre but there have been problems in the past and I have been the guy to go and complain to a manager about people being Troglodytes. I now have to have this incident in the back of my mind whenever I am at the cineplex.
It's pretty awful how a lot of people act in movie theatres now and it's ridiculous how chains have to give out warnings telling people not to act like A-holes; but, trying to combat this with shooting someone? Wow, no. I unfortunately don't think the problem is going to go away with how people just act rude in general... but going to those extreme lengths to "send a message" or what have you is not the way to do it. I just hope I never have to witness such a thing with my own eyes, as talk about something that would haunt me for the rest of my life and cast a pall on my movie watching.
I'll be back tonight with a movie review.
The full story is here, but to be brief, a retired police officer shot some dude in his 40's after the dude in his 40's texted his young daughter during the previews for a movie. While I do think it's rude to do such a thing during the previews, killing someone over it... yikes. It is rare for me to have issues while at a movie theatre but there have been problems in the past and I have been the guy to go and complain to a manager about people being Troglodytes. I now have to have this incident in the back of my mind whenever I am at the cineplex.
It's pretty awful how a lot of people act in movie theatres now and it's ridiculous how chains have to give out warnings telling people not to act like A-holes; but, trying to combat this with shooting someone? Wow, no. I unfortunately don't think the problem is going to go away with how people just act rude in general... but going to those extreme lengths to "send a message" or what have you is not the way to do it. I just hope I never have to witness such a thing with my own eyes, as talk about something that would haunt me for the rest of my life and cast a pall on my movie watching.
I'll be back tonight with a movie review.
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