I just watched The Force Awakens. One interesting thing I noticed this time is that the lightsaber duels/force user battles were not as acrobatic and super-heroic as those of the Prequel Trilogy. For example there are places where young Obi-Wan would have simply leaped the 100 feet chasm without so much as a grunt of effort, where Rey and Ren just stare at one another across the gap. The sword fights themselves look clumsy and simple in comparison to Darth Maul's duel with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan as well. Its not really a slam on Force Awakens. The difference is just noticeable.

I suspect that one reason is that JJ Abrams probably wanted the actors to do all of their own stunts. Rather than using martial artist stunt people with the actors faces digitally transplanted over them. And he probably didn't want to hire a martial artist for a role instead of an actual actor, like Ray Park (who was awesome as Darth Maul, but lets face it, he never had more than half a dozen words to say in the entire Phantom Menace). OTOH, he was still a better actor than Hayden Christensen...

Another reason might be that they specifically wanted the Jedi/Sith (or whatever the Darksiders call themselves now) to be less accomplished. After all, the Jedi of the late Republic were at their zenith as far as training and abilities. Those of the Post-Empire are pretty much scavenging what they know of the Force from wherever they can find it, just as Rey was scavving for parts from the wreckage of the Imperial and Republic ships on Jakku.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 18 2016, 12:54 AM

I haven't watched a feature length film or meaty television series in ever so long. With movies/series I've always been hot and cold. There are periods when I watch a lot of 'em and add favorites to my DVD collection. There are equally long or longer periods when I watch no movies at all. This is a no-movie period. (With book reading I am far more consistent. With music listening I was extremely active until hearing loss took its toll.)

I do consistently watch YouTube, mostly Let's Plays at the moment. Been watching early episodes of a great many ARK LPs. I tend to prefer early adapter LPs, when the world was new and everyone was learning the ropes. I also tend to abandon an ARK LP once the player becomes too advanced/sophisticated.

Noticed that History Buffs YouTube channel, which I've reported on in the past, has a new review of Saving Private Ryan. Watched it. But that's not what I want to bring to your attention.

Just over a month ago History Buffs posted a 29min review of the film Agora, covering the life of an individual who had the misfortune of living in Alexandria during the turmultuous transition between tolerance of and support for 'classical' philosophies and teachings and Christianity's rise to dominance and intolerance towards differing viewpoints. She also had the misfortune to be on the losing side. Much as I enjoy history I had no knowledge of the lady prior to this review. Nor was I familiar with Alexandria during the transition. I found the video fascinating from start to finish. Makes me want to acquire either the movie or an accurate written bio of the lady and her times.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 20 2016, 12:20 AM

The real Hypatia was truly an amazing woman, who met a really bad end. I thought the movie was really depressing. Because, well, reality.

Yeah. The review mentions that her actual demise is worse than how it's portrayed onscreen. Being flayed alive is, I suspect, not the most comfortable way to go.

I am now watching Batman vs. Superman on 4k, which is also the ultimate edition with an extra half hour and Rated R. I just came across the first easter egg. Clark Kent is reading up on Batman, and one article reads: "If the GCPD endorses masked vigilantes as our city's watchmen, who watches the watchmen?"

For those who don't know, BvS was directed by Zack Snyder, who also directed Watchmen. 'Who watches the watchmen?' was a central issue in the Watchmen comics and films, to the point where in that universe the government actually banned superheros.

Edit: I finished watching it a little while ago. It was good, definitely better than the bad reviews it got. I think Angry Joe was spot on with it. It is not great, but it is good, definitely a 7 out of 10. Affleck was excellent at Batman/Bruce Wayne, Henry Cavill epitomizes Superman, and I thought Gal Gadot was great as Wonder Woman. She isn't in a lot of the movie, but when she is, she chews the screen. Wow, does she have an entrance in the final big battle! I definitely want to see a Wonder Woman movie now.

One thing I liked was that like Watchmen, Zack Snyder chose to make a real issue out of human society's reaction to not only aliens being among us, but one so astoundingly more powerful than anything else in the world. Fear, adoration, trepidation, and even a few attempts at understanding. What I did not like is that there is no payoff to it. The whole False God subplot is just dropped and ignored when the final battle begins.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 22 2016, 02:00 AM

I have been watching the bonus features of Batman V Superman, and had some other thoughts to share.

One thing I liked about the film was that it took a lot of inspiration from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Down to one line practically word for word: "The world only makes sense when you force it to.". There is also a shot in the fight between Bats and Supes where Batman uses a grappling gun to swing up onto the side of a building, then lightning strikes in the background, and he springs off. It only lasts for a second. But it was an almost exact duplication of the cover of The Dark Knight Returns. It gave me an awesome fangirl moment. I literally backed the movie up, went frame by frame, and got out my copy of the graphic novel to compare. Here is what it looks like

Batman's Mech Suit follows the same art design as the power armor he wore in the graphic novel for his showdown with Supes there. Starting of course with the fact that he built a suit of powered armor just for that battle!

The new bat suit looks very cool. I have always liked the grey design. The new batmobile was really neat too. The one from the Nolan movies was big, chunky, powerful, and utilitarian. OTOH, the Snyder batmobile is smaller, very sleek, stylish, graceful, and deadly-looking. It is like comparing a bull to a panther, and I prefer the panther.

Like I said before, Affleck was good as Batman. I look forward to seeing him as Bats in future films. He's a very uneven actor. When he started in Good Will Hunting I thought he was fantastic. But then he became a movie star, and I think he just got lazy, and didn't bother trying to act. After his career tanked, I think he regrouped, and when he returned in The Town he put his heart back into what he was doing, and it showed there. He was good in Argo too, and he is good here. I think hitting the skids was good for him, in that it gave him a better work ethic.

I have never been a fan of Superman. The character always felt way too Marty Stu to me. He is just better than everyone else in the world at everything else in the world. But Snyder definitely makes the character more accessible here, because he reveals some real vulnerabilities in the Man of Steel. That is both physical thanks to kryptonite, and moral with the ethical quandary he is faced with over the issue of people both worshiping and hating him because of his using his powers to do the right thing.

Of course I have waxed over Wonder Woman already. I just cannot resist gushing over her. I am so excited to see a WW movie now. I just loved her look, which is a lot more muted than the bright colors of the comics, and has a look similar to bronze age armor, while retaining the overall comic book feel. I especially liked the Greek shield and infantryman's sword. The latter has a wonderful quote of Jospeh Campbell engraved on it: "Life is killing all the time and so the goddess kills herself in the sacrifice of her own animal." And damn, she was awesome with it!

As I have remarked before, I often watch movies and think "What would Persephone do in this situation?" Wonder Woman does exactly what Persephone would. She just does it with a sword and shield instead of a zweihander. She is pure awesomesauce.

It was also kind of neat to get a glimpse at the other characters in the new DC Universe, which they obviously want to cultivate into a pantheon of heroes like tha Marvel Cinematic Universe has done. Aquaman looked the most interesting to me. Jason Momoa plays him, which feels perfect to me, given that he is a Pacific Islander. In the bonus features someone pointed out something interesting. Aquaman lives at depths that would crush steel. So imagine how tough he must be. Plus of course, Jason Momoa, we don't need to imagine how tough he is!

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 5 2016, 02:12 AM

I continue to watch no feature-length movies. However, I've been thinking on a film I saw at a theater in Moreno Valley CA sometime between the late 1970s and the mid 1980s. It was one of the many retched zombie movies so prevalent at the time. So laughably bad it was, in its ridiculous way, good, if you take my meaning. Only, I don't recall its name. Nor has net research unearthed it.

Here's what little I recall. Bear in mind this was a long while ago. I'm sure to have misremembered some of it.

1) The film opened (????) within some sort government or industrial research (?) complex. Almost immediately the plot thickened, with the leaking of a harmful substance, contaminating the air. What stood out about this otherwise same-old same-old scene is that it focused on a gentleman holding a small 'radiation' counter or similar device. He hammily reacted to the 'meter's' abnormally high reading, then, in obvious view of the audience, slightly turned device dial, at which point the needle moved higher (duh!), triggering more hammy panic. This dial turning, needle rising, overacting repeated itself several times.

2) A team of intrepid adventurers (?) is sent by boat to investigate the zombie outbreak. They land on a coast and proceed inland. They eventually come upon an apparently recently abandoned house, its contents still in place. The team proceeds to separate. One fellow explores several rooms, assault weapon at the ready. He enters a room with closet. The closet contains, among other things, a top-hat, tux jacket, and cane. The investigator sets aside his weapon and maybe pieces of protective gear, dons hat and jacket, picks up the cane, and dances from room to room in imitation of Fred Astaire. (Not a good imitation, mind you.) He eventually dances into a room with one or more zombies, who do what zombies do best. This scene has always been a top contender for my "most deserved death by zombie" award.

3) At the film's end, the team arrives at the research center, if that's what it is. We are shown stock scenic footage of the center at distance, perched atop cliffs overlooking what appears to be a sea. Wait? If the center is on a cost, why did the team, who arrived by boat, spend the entire movie traveling overland to reach it?????? In fairness, I suppose the body of water might have been a large lake, but it didn't seem so to me.

4) I want to say it was not US-made, but might well be wrong.

Does anyone know what movie this is?

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 25 2016, 02:50 AM

Could it be Hell Of The Living Dead?

OMG, that picture on the front of the vid is hilarious! I was rolling just from their facial expressions! That has to be a comedy horror, right?

The film I saw, in many ways, matches what SubRosa's link describes. However, I have absolutely no recollection of hostages held at a US Embassy in Spain. That's not to say it wasn't in the film. I simply don't remember it. The mention of Spain does ring a bell in that while laying in bed after retiring for the night it came to me that the film itself might be a Spanish production, which the Wiki article says it partly is.

As to the film being an intentional comedy, who's to say? Parts of it are so silly that at the very least it was surely shot tongue-in-cheek. Then again, maybe not.

Now that I know its name, I've found a number of reviews on YouTube. I obviously misremembered certain things, such as giving extra prominence to the manipulated contamination meter near the film's beginning, and confusing a tux jacket for the correct tutu later on. But Hell of the Living Dead (among its several titles) is definitely the movie I've been thinking of. Here's a review in which the presenter points out many of its 'virtues'.

I still have no recollection of the US Embassy business, which is why I initially dismissed the film as a possibility.

Just finished watching all three episodes of a roughly three hour "documentary" on knights. It has its problems but is, in my opinion, well worth watching. One thing that held my interest is that while shown with English narration and English subtitles it seems to be Germanic (????) in origin, whereas most such "documentaries" I've seen focus primarily on English and/or French knighthood. Here's episode one:



The continuing episode(s) should be available from my linked page.

"The Island" - SciFi Awesome!

Always liked The Island, although that may just be nostalgia talking.

This was my first time seeing it, or even knowing of it. Really well done and great premise!

Holes! For the hundredth time.

Is that a Pr0N?

BWAAHAA!!!! No, in fact I think it is PG, I just like it.

Havingly recently watched Jurassic Park, I decided to watch another of my all-time favourite films: Small Soldiers.

It's been years since I last watched it, and I genuinely don't know why. It's an absolutely fantastic film. The Gorgonites are brilliant(and hilarious), the Commando Elite are great entertainment, Hel, it's all just great! And that scene with the dolls is still the closest I've ever been to being scared by a film!

Also, watching it when I was a kid gave me a huge crush on Kirsten Dunst.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Aug 13 2016, 09:38 PM