johnlink ranks X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011)

•May 20, 2012 • Leave a Comment

This turns out to be the fourth comic-book inspired ranking of the month. While I see my share of these movies, I don’t usually seek them out more than any other films. Perhaps, though, having any four out of nine randomly selected movies turn out to be comic book movies wouldn’t be so surprising in the modern Hollywood landscape. Like any genre, the quality of the films is varied. This month, for example, I’ve seen an extremely weak one (MEN IN BLACK II), an above-average entry (THOR), and a superb superhero flick (THE AVENGERS). Where would the newest entry in the X-MEN series rank?

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Posted in ~ X ~, ~~~ 2011 ~~~
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johnlink bundles his TOY STORY rankings

•May 19, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Quite simply, TOY STORY is the best and most consistently solid set of animation films ever made. Make the jump for my summation of each film in the series.

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Posted in ~ T ~, ~~Complete Series Reviews~~

johnlink ranks THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)

•May 18, 2012 • 4 Comments

I saw a few scenes from the remake of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT when we had it at the theater in 2009. It looked slightly different from the standard torture porn flick, especially since it was the heroes doing most of the torturing. I’d watch that if I came across it, and likewise reminded me that I should see the controversial original film if I got the chance. This 1972 feature is the writing and directing debut of legendary horror filmmaker Wes Craven.

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Posted in ~ L ~, ~~~ 1972 ~~~

johnlink ranks RESTRAINT (2008)

•May 17, 2012 • Leave a Comment

So we made the switch from Cox to Fios this week. One benefit was that I got FearNet back. I figured I was overdue to venture over and find something. Instead of some terrible cheese, I found this nifty little Australian suspense flick co-starring Stephen Moyer (Vampire Bill from TRUE BLOOD). I love finding decent movies I’d never even heard of!

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Posted in ~ R ~, ~~~ 2008 ~~~
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johnlink ranks STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (1984)

•May 10, 2012 • 1 Comment

Switching over to Verizon next week, so I’m losing my Cox DVR. I’ve been sitting on these STAR TREK movies for awhile, so we will see what I can get through in the short term here. I’ll  just go ahead and say that I’m not anticipating the filmic value of TREE OF LIFE or the sheer joy of THE AVENGERS. Had to break the great movie streak at some point…

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Posted in ~ S ~, ~~~ 1984 ~~~
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johnlink ranks THE AVENGERS (2012)

•May 10, 2012 • 1 Comment

I’ve absolutely been anticipating this movie. While THE AVENGERS was not a comic book series I was into during my brief early-teen comic book years, I thought the prequel movies were good introductions, and this team movie had a lot of potential. The actors on board are all guys and gals I like to watch on screen, and the premise (with inter-galactic war being the thrust) was certainly large scale. Liz and I headed out to the theater to see if it could live up to its considerable hype, which includes having the largest US box office opening in history (at least until the third Batman comes out).

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Posted in johnlink favorite flicks, ~ A ~, ~~~ 2012 ~~~
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johnlink ranks TREE OF LIFE (2011)

•May 8, 2012 • 4 Comments

As most people probably do, I followed up my viewing of MEN IN BLACK II with Terrence Malick’s opus TREE OF LIFE. I throw around words like ‘unique’ or ‘original’ or ‘different’ on these pages fairly regularly. If I’m going to use those words to demonstrate, for example, how FUNNY PEOPLE bucks the three-act script structure, or how CATFISH blurs the lines between documentary and fiction, then I better be prepared to use the word ‘revolutionary’ when describing TREE OF LIFE. Because while FUNNY PEOPLE or CATFISH may have unique qualities, they still are recognizable as modern narrative movies. TREE OF LIFE, however, is something else. Closer in structure to a film like KOYAANISQATSI than those other films, TREE OF LIFE is the most ambitious major theatrical release I can remember. Ahhh… but is it any good?

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Posted in johnlink favorite flicks, ~ T ~, ~~~ 2011 ~~~
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johnlink ranks MEN IN BLACK II (2002)

•May 6, 2012 • 2 Comments

I ranked the original MEN IN BLACK back in January, and am just getting to the second one now. Liz is excited for the third installment this summer. For some reason, I am too. The third has every reason to be a train wreck. Solid first movie, uninspired sequel, ten years between the second and third movies… it will probably be rough. However, any chance to see Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones playing off each other will get me in the theater. But the second one? Bland.

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johnlink ranks THOR (2011)

•May 4, 2012 • 1 Comment

With THE AVENGERS being released this weekend, THOR was the last of the four prequels I needed to see in anticipation of the team movie. I was big on the IRON MAN movies and so-so on CAPTAIN AMERICA. THOR, largely because it had Kenneth Branagh directing, was the most intriguing of the bunch. I was never particularly engaged by the Thor comics, so I knew only the bare bones of his character going into this.

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johnlink ranks THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 (2009)

•May 3, 2012 • Leave a Comment

I’ve always wanted to see the original PELHAM 123, which start Walter Matthau. I really didn’t have a ton of interest in seeing the remake, other than for the fact that I’ll give any suspense flick a shot. I didn’t realize before putting it in, however, that the remake was a Tony Scott film. I love Tony Scott. You know a Tony Scott film when you see it, with his unique color schemes and color filters, his removal of frames in action shots, and the way he pans across his establishing shots. I also didn’t realize, that in the five movies he’s directed since 2004, four of them have been Denzel Washington vehicles. In order they are MAN ON FIRE (2004), DEJA VU (2006), PELHAM 123 (2009), and UNSTOPPABLE (2010). In that time, only the 2005 film DOMINO was not a Denzel movie. Go figure.

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Posted in ~ T ~, ~~~ 2009 ~~~
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