I’ve had this on my radar for some time. I saw the Tom Cruise scenes in theater and was instantly sold. This is, without question, his funniest movie (and smartest career-wise). I was hoping this would be good for a number of laughs. Between the decline of Jack Black and the blandness of recent Ben Stiller movies in conjunction with a big contribution from Cruise, this was certainly a reclamation project for many.
When I look back on 2011, I am probably going to ask myself why I watched so much sci-fi. In fairness, I was in the mood for a film about Japan tonight (I’m on a learn Japanese kick), but didn’t have anything that fit the bill. So I went to a movie I’d seen probably half a dozen years ago, remember liking, and wanted to revisit.
It was late Firday night, and I seriously needed some mindless entertainment. Fortunately, HBO had just premiered the new PREDATORS flick, and it had the right mix of familiar faces and a decent premise. Adrien Brody’s gigantic nose versus some predators? Why not!
Since getting this on Blu Ray I’ve been meaning to get back to it. I first saw this about five or six years ago, and certain scenes stuck well, while others had faded into the ether. When I started loading my library onto Google Music the first album which started loading was Hans Zimmer’s LAST SAMURAI score. It must have dug in pretty well, because Liz and I took about six seconds to pick our movie once the decision to watch something was made. Glad I got back to this film. I knew I liked it the first time I saw it, but the second viewing gave me a much deeper, greater appreciation for it.
This is the first movie Liz and I have seen together in the theater since the FIRST Deathly Hallows film. That’s sort of sad. But I have been looking forward to seeing the final chapter of this saga for quite some time. I never read the books, and I somehow managed to avoid all the spoilers so that the twists and big moments were all surprises to me. For those who haven’t read the books, there will certainly be some SPOILERS below.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 (2011)’
This continues my Sci-Fi kick. I started with some medical tech of the future in REPO MEN, moved to clone wars with THE ISLAND, and am here now with classic alien invasion with Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS. I remember liking this when I saw it in theaters, but also hearing a bit of a backlash to it.
My love/hate relationship with Micahel Bay is well documented throughout the annals of this blog. I enjoy his sense of action and epic grandeur, but deride his treatment of women and his inability to hold a shot longer than four seconds. I watched THE ISLAND for the second time last night. In many ways this was what led to TRANSFORMERS, and all that went wrong or right with that series. THE ISLAND was the last film Bay has directed that is not a TRANSFORMERS film. Some SPOILERS below, though you’ll probably figure it all out in the first five minutes anyway.
I’ve been wanting to get at this one for awhile. Jude Law has good taste in sci-fi scripts, and Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber are two of my favorite character actors. I’m just going to say here that this is worth a shot. MANY TERRIBLE SPOILERS LAY BEYOND THE JUMP. Do not make the jump if you want to see the film. I talk about the ending below. Sorry, but it has to be done when discussing this film. (2010)
I’ve never been a Godzilla geek, and this is really the first time I’ve watched one of these old flicks straight through. I had no idea what I was in for, and was surprised to see Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) in the cast. I always thought these were Japanese Toho productions. Well, I was right. They were. The original GOJIRA is a 90 minute film released in Japan. What I watched here was GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! A 1956, 80 minute film recut and adding Raymond Burr into the mix. He is literally just edited into the original film to make it appear as though he were there. It makes for an interesting experience. (By the way, this is obviously a behind the scenes picture below. It was just too cool not to use.)
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! (1956)’
I like both of the guys in this, Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones. And William Friedkin is an iconic director with films like THE EXORCIST. I remember thinking this was pretty good when I saw it around its release. I was up for an action flick, so it went in.
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