20th Anniversary of Kingdom of Heaven (Directors Cut)

 

          This my friends is a movie review in the making getting close to eight or ten months prior to the movies release. This was one of the first Ridley Scott films I actually watched in the movie theaters and through the course of the film’s release to DVD and Blu-Ray I was obsessed with the world and it's story for a long, long, long time and still consider this one of Ridley Scott's greatest accomplishments and Orlando Bloom's greatest performances on screen. Kingdom of Heaven is a hero's journey set in the years of the Crusades, moreover, it has magnificent storytelling about one man's struggle with faith, that which anyone can relate to and hopefully by end of this review everyone should watch this and enjoy it.

           Still in grief over his wife's sudden death, village blacksmith Balian (Orlando Bloom) joins his long-estranged father, Baron Godfrey (Liam Neeson), as a crusader on the road to Jerusalem. After a perilous journey to the holy city, the valiant young man enters to retinue of the leprous King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), which is rifle with dissent led by the treacherous Guy de Lusignan (Martin Csokas), who wishes to wage war against the Muslims for his own political and personal gain. 

           At the time of the film’s release on may sixth of 2005, there was a theatrical cut of the film which was the first time I watched the movie and really at the time I didn't think much of the fact that there wasn't a lot of detail that needed between scenes me, loving Gladiator as well as Black Hawk Down, I didn't think much of the less of details, I was loving a lot of the scenery and the battle sequences and more importantly the world that Sir Ridley Scott build around Kingdom of Heaven. And through the course of maybe two years since the film’s release Scott, released a Director’s Cut for which still stands as the true version of the movie itself, and there were a ton of scenes that made a lot more scenes as well as scenes I wished they included with the theatrical cut of the film moreover never understood at the time why they cut a big chunk of the film alone. And what made sense was that the producers of 20th Century Fox pressured Sir Ridley in making the film a decent two and a half hours and it's been a long time since I've seen the theatrical cut but I've seen it a bunch of times to remember a lot of scenes that they didn't included but needed to be included especially the duel between Balian and Guy by the end of the film, and even a storyline between Princess Sibylla and her son as well as her struggle with her horrible husband Guy. And most importantly we wouldn't have a surprisingly underappreciative performances in David Thewlis who plays a Hospitaller Knight who guides a tortured man in Balian through the course of his journey in what Christianity is all about as well as being a sort of guardian angel to Orlando Bloom's character, moreover I think these are one of the many things that makes the Directors Cut of Kingdom of Heaven the truer version Scott indented to be and will hopefully stand the test of time. I always said this and I will continue to say it again that this movie was and always will be Orlando Bloom's greatest performance, and after hearing him state that he wipes his performance of Troy out of his mind, I still consider him the greatest man to walk the earth. But what I love about his performance is that he's a tragic hero, a man whose tortured by the loss of his wife as well as doubting his faith in God, somehow through the course of his time in the Holy Lands rise up to be a great hero amongst the people, he protected, and like most tragic hero you also relate to his character because in all honesty, we all have a sense of loss in our faith we are at times doubting our religion as well as understanding God's will and I love the way Sir Ridley, molds his hero through the course of the movie. At the time of the movie’s release, I always had a huge crush on Natalie Portman through Star Wars films, and I remember watching Kingdom of Heaven how stunningly beautiful, Eva Green who plays the princess of Jerusalem. Moreover when you think about the chemistry from great legendary actors and actresses through the years, Bloom and Green's chemistry in the movie was one of my favorite on-screen couples, because when these two meet for the first time it's almost like a love at first sight, only it's through Eva Green's eyes and Bloom is all but being humble never expecting this woman would save this Lord of Ibelin, and when she tells him that Sibylla calls, the many times I see that scene I feel like the wish to be like Bloom, in the middle ages because even I would love to be with Sibylla during that time as well. The most shocking fact about the film as well as a underappreciative performance was Edward Norton's portrayal as King Baldwin IV, and even after the film’s release I was surprised in hearing that was Edward Norton and sure I would pegged it, to be him considering hearing his voice but at the time I didn't know it, and even Edward Norton himself didn't want to be credited through the theatrical cut of the movie, because he wanted his performance to be a mystery to the audience and now I can hear his voice and know it's Edward Norton, and what I love about his performance is that he's a gentle king that is a man of honor, moreover can be ruthless when he has too, but more importantly he gives great wisdom to Bloom's character and telling him that we never know our end, but when you stand before God you stand tall and say that your soul is in your keeping alone, and I think that's great advice that we all should use in life especially when we as mortals don't know what will happen to us, till the very end of our lives. When this film came out people criticized about the movie being inaccurate, as well as not being historically accurate, and for me I don't think that should be an actual thing to follow when it comes to telling a story especially with this one, it's not about being historically accurate it's always about telling a story as well as going on a journey with these characters to a whole new world we've never experienced as an audience, and that to me is what going to the movies is all about, and if we wanted a historically accurate movie we might as well take a history course about the crusades. Sir Ridley Scott claims that he's an atheist, and the funny thing even after this film being made was that he intended to make a movie about a hero that questions his religion and by the end of his movie found a purpose as well as gaining his faith or ah, hell I don't know there so, many questions in terms of why Scott wanted to make a movie about the crusades despite the man being a sort of atheist? Either way I'm assuming that the man wanted to make a movie that brings a realism to what the crusades were all about furthermore show how radical or fanaticism becomes a danger, especially when a massive army is coming to your doorstep, but more importantly being respectable to people of all faiths, even though you have different beliefs in terms of religion doesn't mean you should be respectful you your fellow man, and the way I see it, all men are equal in God's eyes. Which again this is one of those films like Exodus: Gods and Kings too, where even I don't know why Scott works on story's that include religion, but then again I would imagine he's always love telling stories about these epic medieval films as well as going back to the age of Gladiators furthermore when you have a great formula in story telling that Scott loves to do, you shouldn't judge a man on what he loves and what he's good at. Out of all of Sir Ridley Scott's greatest films, this is one of the many films I would recommend to anyone who’s a fan of epics to sit down and watch from beginning to the final frame. It's one of those great epics that has a great story as well as a classic hero's journey as well as epic battles that you can sit down and enjoy. I don' know if you can find the Director's Cut on any streaming service they may have it I'm not sure or haven't done a lot of research but if it does have the Directors cut on streaming then I would highly recommend watching the Director's Cut of the film and granted this film is on all streaming services but I doubt they don't have the Director's Cut. So, if you really want to watch this movie then I would highly recommend buying the movie on Blu-Ray or 4K, moreover I promise you the purchase of the film will be worthwhile as well as your purchase will be worth the wait as well. And sure, this film doesn't seem Christmas themed, but deep down if we're saying Happy Holiday's then I declare Kingdom of Heaven to be a Christmas movie to watch on this Holiday season. GOD WILLS IT!   

 

                

Movies I haven't seen in a while: Babes in Toyland

 

        You know when your brain processes forgotten memories of past Christmas movies you haven't seen in a long time and you’re absolutely shocked to find out that you've seen this movie at a very young age? Well, everyone this was one of these times where mind blown almost the same way the atomic bomb blew up in Oppenheimer. Babes in Toyland staring young Drew Barrymore and very young John Wick aka Keanu Reeves, long before he killed people with a pencil. No, matter how strange and cheaply made this movie was and don't worry well get into this movie in a little bit, there's nothing compared to the fact that Santa Clause or the Toymaster is played my Mr. Miyagi aka Pat Morita, I guess it shows that we all have a version of what Santa Clause looks like.  

        Like, the Wizard of Oz, an 11-year-old girl (Drew Barrymore) is transported to Toyland, a mystical kingdom threatened by an old and creepy Harvey Weinstein. 

        I remember seeing this movie in like, maybe the second or third grade of Elementary School. And really at the time I didn't think much of this movie, it was like every typical Christmas movie that our teachers would have us watch before Christmas break commenced. Now having watched the movie I was shocked but also confused as well as feeling appalled because they're a creepy middle aged man flirting with a teenager, as well as wanting to marry one when we go to Toyland, and I don't know if our teachers were shocked that they're allowing their students including me in watching this movie or they didn't care moreover didn't think they get we kids would get the context. Apparently this film cost five million dollars to make, for which I refused to believe this film cost five million dollars, because if you look at this film, when we get to Toyland all of the characters look like their wearing nothing but bear, mouse, duck costumes as well as frog costumes and they all look like they got them at you dollar store used old costumes from Disneyland and Disney World, though granted they shot in Germany during the eighties when the Berlin Wall was still up and they had to purchase some land to build the town, but I refuse to believe they spend five million dollars on this movie because everything else besides the town and sets are just awful in terms of costumes. They're is so many questions on how this film was able to get made as well as how NBC allowed this film to be possible, I mean sure they're able to cast some recognizable actors like Eileen Brennan long before she was the love interest to Peter Faulk in movies like Murder, By Death and the Cheap Detective as well as Pat Morita who plays Santa or Toymaster either way I'm told that Santa is in the movie and it's set on Christmas Eve, either way it's very confusing to look at the Toymaster/Santa and my 38 year old brain is thinking "I didn't know Santa is of Asian descent or Asian/American". And look if your casting Mr. Miyagi to play Toymaster/Santa in your movie, couldn't you at least have a moment where he teaches Drew Barrymore how to fight as well as using the technique wax on, wax off and sure we're making the movie worse but this film was already turning worst when your costumes look like they came out of Disneyland and Disney World. While watching this movie I begin to ask why are they a ton of Mother Goose characters? And why does this movie remind me of the Wizard of Oz? Well having dug up some information, I got a full understanding on what Babes in Toyland is about, this was a stage opera that woven all the characters from a Mother Goose nursery rhymes and yes the whole premise is about saving Christmas and the play and opera? where all contrived after the success of the Stage production to the Wizard of Oz around the early 1900's, and look the bottom line is whoever created this opera or stage production stole the same premise of The Wizard of Oz and I'm surprised there was no lawsuit's filed about copying same story premises, I mean Akira Kurosawa was smart enough to sue Sergio Leone so during the sixties. Look the more I talk about this movie the more I begin to think about sending myself to an insane Asylum, this film is one of the most confusing Christmas movies I've ever seen and I would put this in the Black Dahlia of unsolvable movies in terms of how the hell this movie got made, from the costumes to the main antagonist wanting to molest the damsel in distress, this film is almost baffling than the Star Wars: Holiday Special. So, if you’re looking for a movie that is so, confusingly bad as well as wanting to relive bad Christmas movies, your elementary school teachers would let you watch before your Christmas break begins. Then, TV Babes in Toyland is the movie for you AND it's on Tubi so, have a great time watching things even, I wouldn't let my kids watch. 

    

Love Actually

 

           To all the ladies out there who may read this review or don't read my reviews either way I doubt all the ladies are reading my reviews in all fairness. Anyway, to all the ladies out there I want to apologize (quote, unquote) for considering your favorite Christmas, romantic comedy overrated. This is my first time sitting down and watching this popular romantic comedy Love Actually, and in all fairness, I did watch this movie with an open mind thinking "I've never seen this, maybe this might be good, what can't go wrong. Then through the course of the movie I begin to have conflicts about whether to continue watching the movie or just stop the movie out of sense of boredom, though I will just get into Love Actually right now. 

           Nine intertwined journeys examine the complexities of the one emotion that connects all individuals, love? Which I'm confident about the movie being about finding love. Look, bottom line it's about nine storylines trying to find love during a two-hour long movie. 

            Like I said before, I really did, I literally saw this streaming on Peacock and I've never seen this movie before so, I thought "well why not it's your typical Christmas movie, what can go wrong?" Though the problem is, is that this film has one too many characters to follow as well as wanting to care about these characters also. Like if this film had at least six characters and two out of the four characters found love or fell out of love and the rest found love, great I can by this being a great romantic comedy to watch at Christmas. But, this film has one too many characters as well as nine storylines to follow and a good portion of the characters are unlikeable, especially the Walking Dead sheriff aka Andrew Lincoln whose in love with Keira Knightly and you don't know that until she finds her wedding video and all it is, is Keira Knightly being pretty and you slowly realized that all he did was filmed her and nothing else. Now, first off that's creepy, secondly as a fellow wedding videographer, I also found that the most unprofessional way because if I did that and sure they're were a lot of pretty brides I helped film over the years but they weren't up my alley of ever getting a chance with them because they're getting married, but more importantly if I filmed just them, I would get fired as well as probably put on the list of creepy guys to avoid. And some of these storylines like Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson being a married couple though Rickman is flirting with the secretary and me I was like "well, Emma you should know better than to marry Hans Gruber". But then you have a guy who decides to go on a back backing trip to America to get laid (also this film is British) because his accent can get ladies, for which I guess then I should go to Europe to pick up some ladies because they find my American accent sexy, hell, I can't do that in the Middle East I'd probably get shot. And the storyline with Liam Neeson and his son played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, that could of been its own Christmas film, and the same with Hugh Grant's storyline as well as Colin Firth's storyline, for which I wouldn't mind watching those movies all together considering I did make some jokes about the actress playing Hugh Grants love interests by stating "listen honey, you're too good for Hugh Grant and you should probably run because he's going to cheat on you with a one out of ten hooker", and again Grant's storyline is was great to watch hell, I would watch a ninety minute movie about his story, but then again this film consist of one to many characters that are both unnecessary as well as unlikeable and that really was what took me out of this film in terms of liking it. Granted this film is not the worst I've ever seen hell it's still Christmas Vacation in my number one list of most hated Christmas movies of all time, though this film is for certain the most overrated Christmas movie I will say, and it's not the most hated movie I would say, because I never had steam coming out of my head while watching this movie, I was basically not sure whether to turn the movie off or continue on, but in the end I finished the movie so, at least that's an accomplishment. So, look ladies if this is your favorite Christmas movie of all time, I applaud you in loving the film, but this is not my cup of tea and I see a lot of Christmas/Romantic comedies that have only two couples to focus on and not one to many characters, even one couple that's shooting a fake porno that consist of not even doing each other if you know what I mean, I'll hopefully be here all week, through the month of December. 

             

Almost Christmas

 

          Getting more into the Christmas spirit, I decided to dig deeper through some movies I've watched during the good old days of cable TV. And some of these movies are right on Peacock, especially an underappreciative Christmas movie that holds a great understanding of being with family no matter how dysfunctional your families are now. Danny Glover takes the leading role along with Mo'Nique, along with Gabrelle Union (Nebraska native), Omar Epps and Jessie T. Usher aka A-Train from The Boys, for which shows you when it comes to acting alongside a legend like Danny Glover you'll gain great success.

           Walter Meyer (Danny Glover) is a retired mechanic who lost the love of his life one year earlier. Now that the holiday season is here, he invites daughters Cheryl (Kimberly Else), Rachel (Gabrielle Union) and sons Christian (Romany Malco) and Evan (Jessie T. Usher) to his house for a traditional celebration. Poor Walter soon realizes that if his bickering children and the rest of the family can spend five days together under the same roof, it would be a truly Christmas miracle. 

           This film is close to ten years old, and I remember seeing this for the first time on the internet and I begin to think to myself that "okay this is of course one of these movies that make me realize why I'm not a big fan of family Christmas films", Furthermore didn't see this film in the theater just because it reminds me of my family being dysfunctional as well as bickering with my brother and sister. Though through the years of cable TV when this movie at the time, the film arrived when I could watch it (granted parts of it), I slowly begin to see that there's something more to this movie than reliving the monstrosity that is films like Christmas Vacation. Many great examples both family members have their own personal grief that they're personally trying to deal with, furthermore they all have their own personal feuds that through the course of the movie they each make amends as well as important subplots that have closure by the end of the movie. Most importantly what makes this film great, is that Danny Glover playing the Dad in the movie which brings great warmth as well as getting tired of his kids fighting for which you can relate to that along the journey him and his family have but more importantly you understand things that mean a lot to him but also having to deal with the loss of his own wife. Mo'Nique even does a great job in the film as the comic relief as well and she does in the best way that gives you a laugh but more importantly has great chemistry with Danny Glover in terms of relating to each other as well as standing up for one another. The sister dynamic between Gabrielle Union and Kimberly Elise are excellent, as well as being able to relate to them in terms of reminiscing to the many times I've argued with my sister and with this I relate to Union the most because I'm the youngest out of my brother and sister, moreover it's a great sense of relating to your own siblings and the most important you also have a sense of closure as well as forgiveness that you never get when it comes to Yellowstone. I would highly recommend watching Almost Christmas, especially if you have a Peacock account, furthermore I relate to this family Christmas movie more than Christmas Vacation for many GOOD reasons, this film at least have some comedic value that's actually funny than Chevy Chase never learning a lesson as well as not understanding the aspect of never trusting you’re a**hole of a boss. More importantly and this shows why it's better than Christmas Vacation, it as the Christmas chaos that you can relate to and at least has that sense of believing this family members can make amends as well as the hope to love one another by end of the film. Hands down I would defiantly put this in my top ten best Christmas movies of all time. 

      

Jack Frost

 

          Getting into the Christmas spirit at times takes a while to get into and especially since we're already into the Christmas season. Though there are movies in a strange, strange way, gets you ready for the Christmas spirit and this is one of those films that is sort of funny but also feels really, pathetic and especially when your main antagonist is a sort of Styrofoam, snowman killer? Either way the surprising factor is that this is American Pie alum, Shannon Elizabeth's first acting role. 

          As notorious killer Jack Frost (yes, his name is Jack Frost) is being driven to his execution, the truck carrying the murderer encounters a bizarre accident that transforms him into a mutant, Styrofoam, SNOWMAN.

          Granted the only reason, this film peaked my interest was because Shannon Elizabeth is in the movie and she's of course nude while taking a shower and the killer appears, from water to snow and for strange way of picturing it is either graping Elizabeth or bashing her brains in and yet, this was Shannon Elizabeth's first acting role so, deep down I can't make jokes about her appearing in this movie because you have to get into the film business somehow, sometimes you have to make the worst before you can make a hit, though I'm guessing the writers and director or whoever was in charge with casting at Universal, though obviously a dude, saw this movie and was like "YOU'RE HIRED" and the rest became history. The thing that makes this movie funny but more importantly pathetic, is that this Snowman that is supposed to be marketed as a scary movie monster, is an actual Styrofoam snowman with absolute no life like to the thing, moreover has now movement or anything to feel like a scary monster and the only times you see liveness to the monster is from his hands, upon which is somebody using gloves or when look of white cooking gloves and more importantly the mouth of the snowman, doesn't move at all and you only see the snowman with somebody's voice as the background sound. For which all those things for sure look and sound sad and pathetic at the same time, but also the budget of the entire movie was 500 grand, for which I would imagine they would at least use that money to improve the visual effects right? But no, and this is one of those films where I was curious as to where the money went to because the actors they picked we're sure as hell not the best actors and you could of paid them minimum wage at least and spend a good portion of the movie on the snowman to make it believable, considering the film was only shot in 18 days. Either way this film is a great example of video stores back then needing to fill their shelves with many Christmas movies as possible so people in the nineties can come back and rent more Christmas films. All and all the movie for sure gave me tons of moments to laugh about furthermore is one of those films I would consider pathetic to watch and I bet Shannon Elizabeth has wiped her memory clean of this movie. I’m not an American Pie fan and if you’re a fan of cringy, overrated coming of age, sex comedies and use to have a massive crush on Shannon Elizabeth, then this is the movie for you. Though if you’re looking for some unintentional horror comedies then this is the movie for you, and the best part is that the film is on Tubi so, you don't have to feel guilty in wasting your life savings on a sh*ty movie in terms renting the movie on your phone for a price and again that's one of the many reasons why I prefer to use Tubi when it comes to bad B-movies. 

     

Yojimbo

 

        Continuing on with my addiction to Ghost of Yotei as well as the Ghost of Tsushima, I decided to explore another Samurai film from old school Japanese cinema, Yojimbo a classic Samurai film directed by legendary filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa who helped influence ton of filmmakers with his legendary Samurai film, such great directors like George Lucas who later created the greatest movie franchise of all time Star Wars. Now if you remember my May Recommendation: A Fistful of Dollars, Sergio Leone unofficially remade Yojimbo who Kurosawa later sued for copying the same movie. Though in the end, Kurosawa did compliment Leone and complimented him in A Fistful of Dollars as well as telling him he loved the movie.

        A nameless Ronin, or Samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name of Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the Ronin convinces both silk merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men. 

        Looking through my reviews through the years I slowly realized that I never written a review on Kurosawa's Yojimbo, for which is a big shock on my part, for good reasons is that this is for certain one of the greatest Samurai movies ever made and really paved the way for other filmmakers to use this film as inspiration. I haven't watched a whole lot of Kurosawa's films in which I need to make a point, in doing so, but for any newbie whose never seen any of Kurosawa's work, Yojimbo would for certain be one of those films I would highly recommend watching from its great cinematography to limited resources in terms of the action sequences as well as showing very little blood and limbs flying, this movie still stands the test of time as one of Kurosawa's greatest films. Moreover, the writing of Yojimbo came from numerous inspirations from classic film noir books from Dashiell Hammett and even the films too. Getting back to the whole debate on the unofficial remake between Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, whatever happened between these guys and granted the lawsuit was settled outside of court, I believe Kurosawa did the right thing in suing, though as great as A Fistful of Dollars was, if I was an up and coming filmmaker I would at least tweaked the idea a little bit to draw differences but then maybe would of been complicated, hell I don't know, though if you put these movies their both the same movie just one is a Samurai/Ronin and the other is a gunfighter. And even though these movies together, share the same plot Leone wasn't the only one, there were numerous filmmakers that used the same plot hell, apparently a Bruce Willis film in the mid-90's used the same premise only it was set in the prohibition era, for which again a little on the laziness, but at least they credited Yojimbo as being the basis for the story. For anyone who loved movies like, Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai or the latest TV series Shogun, Yojimbo is one of the greatest Samurai film I would highly recommend watching from start to finish, with the combination of great cinematography and great acting this film has everything, moreover if you’re not big in watching a movie with foreign language and English subtitles I completely understand though the interesting thing is if you work on a foreign movie like this one you can read the subtitles long before the actors are done speaking to which you can understand what their talking about, but then again if you don't want too that's completely fine on your end but old school Japanese films I've been able to get a good understanding in terms of being able to read the subtitles fast. Moreover, if you have an HBO Max subscription then you're all set in terms of watching the whole movie as well as being able to find other hidden gems like this, the same way Tubi has some great hidden gems as well. 

           

Spartacus

 

          

           Trying to find more Stanley Kubrick movies I've never seen, unfortunately this is the rare few that Stanley Kubrick claims in his words disowns as his canon of movies just because he didn't have much in terms of creative control value. Though in all fairness this film proves that Kubrick was capable of being able to shoot a grand scale epic, as is proven in his earlier films in the early seventies. Spartacus was one of the many epic movies in the fifties and early sixties that always made huge money, at the box-office although this was Kirk Douglas’ own passion project to the extent of not being the right choice for classic 1959 Best Picture winner. 

           The Rebellious Thracian Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill in the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to Southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and to return to their homes. 

           Now what I said earlier, about Kirk Douglas being his passion project is true, the process of developing Spartacus was out of failure of not getting the title role of Ben-Hur. For which sure, if I was an actor thinking I'm buff and attractive I would understand Douglas, but in terms of being a director I would want a young actor to play the title role not a 42 year old who thinks he can do all of those stunts, moreover I would probably imagine all of the directors or Kirks agents, in the early nineties and 2000 being called by Douglas saying he still wants to star in movies, and all them being so miserable and annoyed of having to explain Kirk that he's over 1,000 years old and doesn't remember where he is as well as probably told him out of frustration that he needs to go to an old folks home. If I had to rate this movie for sure I thought this was a good movie from start to finish and from a Stanley Kubrick standalone movie granted not his most memorable but still pretty good considering I would still rank this movie over the Shinning in a heartbeat. Furthermore I think my main problem with the movie is the blend of the conversation with action and when it comes to epic movies like Spartacus you need at least a fifty/fifty split of action and conversation flowing and at times I felt even in like the first act, that there was more conversation and less action, upon which caused my brain to turn mush and maybe thinking of turning the movie off, though I had to take certain breaks for sure. And important tip to all cinema fans, who haven't dived into the epics from the fifties and sixties, you need to at least take a break or two when watching this movie because of the length of the movie is and movies like these with a three-hour mark does take a toll on you. Furthermore that was another problem for me was understanding that these movies back then were almost made that way, and sure I could criticize about the length of the movie but then that would just be too unfair to criticize a movie where theaters paid for these kinds of movies for their concessions as well as break times, granted I never understood the men watching Gone with the Wind when it came out because it obviously wasn't for them, though I'm guessing they used a lot of bathroom break times when they put up with Scarlet acting like a b*tch. From my research I'm guessing Amazon Prime has taking off of its prime subscription for now, that being said if you’re feeling for an old school epic movie as well as diving into Kubrick's filmography, then I would highly recommend watching this movie along with constant breaks but I still look at this film as a way for Kubrick to prove himself and to Hollywood that he can actually do epic movies despite, Kubrick himself considering this film not in his pantheon of his best work. And yet for me after experiencing this movie I would honestly imagine Kubrick had to make this movie because he was hired by a fellow actor in Douglas and proving Hollywood that he can do these types of movies. Now, so far in my search of the best Stanley Kubrick films so far, I'd say it's for certain Dr. Strangelove because of its great comedic performances and directing and then follows with Full Metal Jacket. And number three is of course the most disturbing Kubrick film aka A Clockwork Orange in the top three best Kubrick films. Then we follow Spartacus, 2001 and the Shining as Kubrick's best films and I'm obviously going to be pushing both 2001 and Shining down the countdown soon, so don't you worry about that, but the quest continues for sure.  

         

Noirvember Recommendation: The Great Jewel Robber

        For this month of celebrating Noirvember I didn't necessarily find a film noir worth recommending so, I did my usual research and that's find what the good people at Turner Classic Movies and with the assistance of Noir expert, Eddie Muller and on his list for this year was a surprisingly great film noir, The Great Jewel Robber, a film that got me interested in like the first fifteen minutes of the movie itself and for the moment I thought this was going to be a convenient movie but, though I was wrong. Hell, it's almost like I never learned my lesson from Edger Wright's Last Night at Soho. Starring David Brian, whom I don't know a whole lot about, other than he starred alongside John Wayne, and a director who directed my mother’s favorite Christmas films Christmas in Connecticut.

        A master thief (David Brian) steals $1 million in valuables from society homes between the years of 1947-48.

        The film is based on the real-life jewel thief of Gerard Dennis who stole a sum up to $600,000 in valuables from cities such as Montreal, Hollywood, and Westchester County, New York. The man even stole from movies stars back in the days like Errol Flynn and Bettie Davis moreover made a lot of Jewel heist that he himself forgotten to count; Dennis was later arrested in July of 1949. For which leads to us to Brian Foy back in the hay day of Hollywood, producers wanted to stay away from true crime tales for obvious reasons they don't want to glorify these types of criminals, but Foy was his own man and wanted to tell Dennis story, and so, while serving his time Dennis granted Foy permission to tell his story on the big Screen. At first when watching the movie, I figured the film would be a convenient or typical film noir, where this is a protagonist surviving in America or Canada with his wife by robbing from society houses. Oh, hell no, this guy in like when reuniting with the love of his life ditches her for another for which sparked my interest even more. David Brian, whom I don't know a whole lot about other than the man later in his carrier, starred alongside John Wayne in The High and the Mighty. That being said this guy literally stole the entire movie with his deceiving role as a thief that acts like a saint but doesn't care about the people around him and uses them for pawns to get what he wants and literally terrified me through the course of the movie, mainly because there was a nice puppy dog involved and I feared more for the dogs safety than everyone else but thankfully no dog was hurt through the making of the movie. Now after watching this surprisingly great film noir, I'm making preparations in watching Christmas in Connecticut for obvious reasons director Peter Godfrey directed this movie as well as his 1945 Christmas classic, and having browsed through majority of his work it looks like Godfrey is a solid director that knows how to create a crime drawn atmospheric movie, and transition to a soft and caring romantic comedy in the next, in which some of his movies I do need to check out and see more of his style of storytelling. I'm very grateful to find this sleeper hit of a film noir and gave me some great twists that I never saw coming and intrigued me from beginning to the very end. So, if you’re a fan of the Film Noir genre then I would highly recommend watching this movie on Hulu, though be sure to watch it while it lasts because you never know when they switch out their selection of films. 

                       

Looking for Mr. GoodBar

 

        

      Hearing the death of legendary actress Diane Keaton felt a deep sadness moreover sorrow because my first Diane Keaton movie growing up was indeed Father of the Bride, and so, thinking about a movie that would pay a sort of tribute to the actress I would try and find a movie of hers that I have never seen. And of all movies I would pick, this is a movie where I would praise a great performance out of Diane Keaton though the story is a bit on the lackluster side of it. Now before I go any further, I should let you all know that we never find a Mr. Goodbar, he was never a real person moreover Looking for Mr. Goodbar is like looking for Keyser Soze. 

       Raised in a strict Catholic family, Theresa (Diane Keaton) teaches deaf children during the day and cruises singles bars and discos at night. Theresa favors rough sex with random suitors, ignoring the advances of well-meaning but nerdy social worker James (William Atherton). Instead, Theresa pursues the likes of Tony (Richard Gere), whose threatening knife and swagger excites her. Theresa indulges in increasingly dangerous encounters, putting her life at risk. 

        Looking for Mr. Goodbar is based off the novel of the same title that's surprisingly based off a real-life murder of Roseann Quinn who was later murdered in 1973, almost two years before the book was published. Though there was indeed a movie released in 77, I soon found out about the story prior to its episode in the ID murder series (Murder Porn) A Crime to Remember about the real-life Roseann Quinn who had a nice girl persona but also had a naughty girl persona as well. Throughout my childhood and adult years my first impression of Diane Keaton was always a bit of mixed emotions, considering yes, I love her performance as the caring mom in Father of the Bride and thought she was excellent in The Godfather in a complex relationship like Kate Corleone alongside Al Pacino's Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Though through the course of her movie career, her movies besides those roles, I just mentioned were excellent, her other films were a bit on the "meh" too not so great. Almost like a female version of Christopher Walken where he plays the same role repeatedly as well as playing the same dry deadpan delivery. So, going into Looking for Mr. Goodbar this was a surprising role that I never expected Keaton to portray for good reasons majority of her scenes had a lot to do with tons of random sex with Gere and Walter Peck aka William Atherton, and what I like about her performance is obviously due to an expected performance but also a side of Keaton I never expected she would portray on screen and usually doing uncomfortable sex scenes would be a difficult process And a lot of that credit goes to director Richard Brooks, and that process would be Brooks closing the set for all crew members but using the professional's and more importantly playing music for Keaton to get her comfortable in the moment. Another thing I give Brooks credit for is using a lot of imagination shots of scenario's all being inside Keaton's mind for which some scenes I was a bit shocked but then realize certain scenes are all in Keaton's mind or sexual fantasy's especially scenes where she's flirting with her imaginary self. That being said I do find the movie a bit lackluster at times for many reasons, yes I do feel for Keaton's character because she's dealing with toxic parents especially a father, whose unlikable through the course of the movie, but then through the course of an hour and thirty minutes of the film, the feeling of being sorry for Keaton's character begins to diminish as she begins to make terrible choices for if you see the episode of A Crime to Remember, I'm not going to spoil any details. This movie alone gives me another reasons as to why I was never a big fan of Richard Gere, I mean the guy through the course of the movie is literally chewing the scenery as well as his fake glow in the dark, plastic knife while wearing a jock-strap and yet it's such a mystery how women find this guy sexy, though it's the same way guys tend to go to all of Michael Bay's movies. Judging this movie whole, I would certainly praise Diane Keaton's performance for obvious reasons, it's something I never expected from her moreover thought it was a daring role to portray but then by the end of the film I personally felt that the writers and filmmakers gave up with the films ending for which I just have mixed emotions about the movie, all together. If looking for a movie to pay tribute for Diane Keaton's passing I would highly recommend watching either the first-two Godfather films or the first-two Father of the Bride films, and although I give thanks for Keaton's unexpected and great performance in the film, the film alone is has way to much lackluster as continuing on to feel for the characters from the final frame of the movie. 

         

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance

 

       Still on the addicting quest of the Ghost of Yotei and I'm not going to like playing Ghost of Yotei is almost like crack, me just riding on my horse around 16th century Japan just going from town to town asking for "Crack, need some crack, I need to get high" hell now after playing Yotei, I'm already going back and replaying Ghost of Tsushima and that's a whole new level of crack that I can't get out of. But by playing an amazing game like Ghost of Yotei, I've continued onto the sequel of Lady Snowblood which gives massive inspiration towards The Bride or the Ghost of Yotei. And always traveling though Japanese Cinema, you begin to learn new things.

        Yuki is imprisoned and sentenced to be hanged. Before she meets her death, she is recruited into the secret police and becomes caught in a web of corruption, assassination and coercion.

         Like the first Lady Snowblood film, you still get the amazing use of fake blood splashing all over the screen and there were actually moments in some of these action sequences, there was a moment where a shotgun comes in the picture, and I was actually wishing to see a man get his head blown off with a shotgun because of the amount of times I see tons of limbs chopped off, I would imagine they would have money to have the effect of a man’s head being blown off by a shotgun, although I really did try and looked up the budget and yet I found nothing on how much the movie was made but I guess when it comes to the good people of Japan I would imagine it was in a small budget level, and I could be wrong granted, but deep down will never know. I had many conversations about the Lady Snowblood films, in the aspect of Quentin Tarantino using the first two films as inspiration though there some scenes where he does steal from these films, although I don't consider it the aspect of stealing ideas from past films and using them for the Kill Bill films for good reasons, is that nobody in the American Cinema was actually seeing Japanese films moreover there's no proof of these films being released to American Cinema in the United States, and even if they were released I strongly doubt censorship in the U.S. would allow some of the gore in these movies and especially one scene from the first movie where Yuki is training as a young girl and out of nowhere her master slashes her clothes off and she's completely naked, for which I was like WTF, when did we get to kiddy porn here? Point being I'm sure they can allow U.S. citizens watching Godzilla in the fifties, sixties or seventies on Television, but I strongly doubt they would allow people watching Lady Snowblood. Though to the filmmaker’s credit they were no doubt ahead of their time when it comes to shock and blood though there's not a whole lot of it in this movie but the crazy filmmakers in Japan should deserve a lot of credit for being the first to allow blood and gore into a movie. To be fair, this film is not as great or cinematic as the first film was but, this film does get some credit for keeping up with some of the action sequences as well as what happens to our lead character by the end of the first movie, as well as seeing what other crazy adventures she gets into, though granted they just stopped with two films so, doubt will able to see more adventures now. Again, not as great as the first movie but still entertaining from start to finish moreover you still get your money's worth in terms of subscription fees. After watching two of these crazy movies I would most certainly recommend watching these movies from beginning to the final frame, especially if you’re playing both Ghost of Tsushima or Ghost of Yotei both games I would say give a great tribute as well as giving me the hunger to watch some of these Japanese classic films especially, the Samurai movies in the sixties that were directed by Akria Kurosawa. So, for now I'm going more into Samurai gaming as well as watching Samurai films as well. 

         

Dr. Strangelove

 

       Moving onto another Stanley Kubrick movie, after being horrified by A Clockwork Orange is a political black comedy, Dr. Strangelove, a movie in Kubrick's filmography filmed in the early sixties on the threats of nuclear warfare between the United States and formally Soviet Union. Here's an interesting thing, you can pit both, Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange together and Dr. Strangelove is just a slap stick, goofy comedy about Governments wanting to not push the button but are so incompetent. While A Clockwork Orange is a great and disturbing movie, is a movie that you are just horrified and needs a lot of liquor and therapy to calm your heart, which is pounding like a sledgehammer.  

       A film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the button -- and it played the situation for laughs. U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) goes completely insane, and sends his bomber wing to destroy U.S.S.R. He thinks that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people. 

       To all the fans out there, who've seen great political satire movies or shows like The Thick of It, In the Loop or Veep. You all should give thanks to the Late Stanley Kubrick, because he without a doubt set the standards for what political black comedies should be and still are to this day and especially give thanks to Armando Iannucci for making that satire better, though Kubrick is the golden Pioneer for bringing great political comedy a new name, and especially being hilarious when making this movie at the same time. Before I go any further, I should mention the filmmaking experience, as well as the madness and genius behind Stanley Kubrick. When it comes to making movies a lot of actors and actresses would say that working with Kubrick was a great sense of madness and more importantly miscommunication, sometimes when you’re making a movie you have to a good sense of numerous takes so, when you go to editing room you find the best take and use that for the film, and a good some of takes would usually take five to ten takes tops maybe fifteen takes and that's a big if. Though with Kubrick it would most certainly be forty takes and he wouldn't tell the actors on how they should improve the scene and numerous actors and actresses would talk about how difficult to was working with him hell, Shelley Duvall had a nervous breakdown when working on the Shinning because of how and maybe annoyed she was when making a film with Kubrick. So, when watching the film and you see George C. Scott's performance you can obviously tell that the man is literally losing his mind, from the number of times he had to perform numerous takes, and he later talked about the monstrosity it was working with Kubrick. Though by the end of the day when you watch a Kubrick film or any of his work he does deliver in a great sense, because all of his work is pure greatness, (besides 2001 and Shining) and sure you can talk about his techniques in directing and how somethings that I wouldn't do as a director, but deep down the man delivers in every way possible almost in a strange way of Bill Walsh yelling at his coach, and yet his coaches when they went on to do other gigs in the NFL used the same tactics so, deep down there's something although I doubt you can use Kubrick's tactic in today’s movies. The last time I actually watched a movie with Peter Sellers was a small comedy called Murder By, Death, upon which the British actor plays an Asian detective (LITERALLY AN ASIAN), and I was never into the Pink Panther films, I was more into the cartoon, but with this film he's literally playing three characters though I'm not going to tell you who he's playing but, for some reason they guy is playing three characters while being directed by Kubrick, and he should get a ton of praises because he's playing two characters that are interacting with one another and sure at the time you have to shoot these actors in one camera shot and use a double as well as using audio dub to make it look like they're talking to each other, and sure now you can use technology so that one actor who plays two characters or twins can act in one frame of the shot but at the time it really wasn't possible but with this movie Kubrick was able to make it work without anyone noticing which character Peter Sellers was playing. Unlike A Clockwork Orange where it's extremely dark but still the greatest film out of Kubrick’s work, despite not wanting to watch this film fifteen times and giving everyone a fair warning about what you're about to see. Dr. Strangelove is one of those films I would highly recommend watching because it's extremely funny and stellar moreover comedic performances from both Peter Sellers and George C. Scott and a lot of familiar actors like Slim Pickens before Blazing Saddles and late, great James Earl Jones furthermore other familiar actors that seem like I've seen them in movies but I don't quite remember. But more importantly movies like Dr. Strangelove are great examples of political comedy were it almost reminiscence too today’s politics as extremely dumb and incompetent, as well as a whole lot of brownnosers. And Dr. Strangelove is a great example of these comedies still standing the test of time and if you’re tired of today’s politics I would highly recommend watching this great movie so, you can feel better, because you can have a sigh of relief to know that your parents growing up in the Cold War era would know that they're struggles where not so bad, as of today's world and in my opinion we may have disagreements but then there's these movies that give us laughter and joy at the end of the day.

   

November Recommendation: The Fugitive

 

         There are a rare few times I ever get the chance to thank Harrison Ford for being an iconic actor throughout my childhood from loving every minute of the Star Wars Trilogy to worshiping his performance in all the Indiana Jones films (well, except the fifth film). Though sure the man after 2000's has lost his marbles when it comes to finding good parts and his movies do become lack luster after 1997. But of all movies I have to re-watch again and say he truly delivers an excellent performance, it would most certainly be his portrayal of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. This film became a discussion panel since August when I was talking with my sister and brother, moreover, it has been a long time since I watched this great film. So, what better way to give thanks by recommending The Fugitive as my November Recommendation. 

         Wrongfully accused of murdering his wife, Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) escapes from the law to find her killer and clear his name. Pursing him is a team of U.S. Marshalls led by Deputy Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), a determined detective who will not rest until Richard is captured. As Richard leads the team through a series of intricate chases, he discovers the secrets behind his wife's death and struggles to expose the killer before it's too late.

         There's something about the wrongly accused 90's movies where you root for the protagonist every step of the way and the cops are just the worst that you look at them in disgust, and movies like "The Fugitive" and "The Negotiator" you can root for the protagonist from beginning to the very end. Although for sure Tommy Lee Jones plays a cop, on the pursuit of Harrison Ford's character but deep down he's on the neutral zone, in terms of trying to catch Ford, but soon realize that there’s something more to this, moreover he's not as dumb as the two Chicago cops played by Joseph Kosala and Ron Dean, who strangely enough is another one of those actors that's in the category of "Your that Guy" (basically actor/actress whose been in a lot of stuff but nobody remembers), basically Dean has of course been in this movie and was the coach who supported Rudy in Rudy and was one of the crooked cops in The Dark Knight. Bottom line these films like "The Fugitive" and "The Negotiator" were excellent action/suspense films in the 90's where you can root for the protagonist from beginning to the very end and yet you have personal reasons to root for the hero's every step of the way, and that's what I love about The Fugitive. Though of course what I love most about The Fugitive is of course Harrison Ford and this was one of the many Ford films, where Ford was still in his prime (till the end of 1997) and more importantly this was one of the many movies in my childhood where we would check this film out at the local video store and continue watching this movie from beginning to the final frame. Moreover, this was the first film where Harrison Ford through the first thirty minutes of the movie you see Ford in a beard, for which I remembered watching him for the first time watching the film, I was a bit confused as to why he has a beard but through the course of the movie when he shaves then I was relieved, although now when he's in his old age you don't mind but this was my childhood hero at the time and he has a beard for which, me as a kid creeped me out for a minute there though kind of confused me is a better term. Another thing, in what makes Harrison Ford great in this film is that the beginning of the film he's just experienced the death of his wife and being wrongfully accused for killing his wife and the way he portrays that feeling is almost like living a nightmare but you can't wake up and Ford portrays that perfectly, but more importantly this is a different kind of Ford movie to the extent that he's not playing an action hero, he just an ordinary man trying to prove his innocence and some of the action sequences are great in that he's not throwing a perfect punch it's more of a skirmish, and either way I love Harrison Ford's performance as well as now after watching this great film I do have to thank him because this was one of the rare few Ford movies besides Indiana Jones and Star Wars, that I grew up watching and love every minute of it. Surprisingly this was both Ford and Tommy Lee Jones only film together, for which sure these guys have different personas on acting, but I would think that these guys would be friends and yet they're not, for which I guess in all fairness these useless questions are left unanswered. Both Ford and Jones were excellent in the movie and there's a reasons why both of these actors were nominated for awards, but if I had to pick an actor that deserves some attention, it would most certainly be actor Jeroen Krabbe who plays Dr. Nichols one of the few bad guys who set's up Fords character, furthermore it's an interesting way he portrays his character from being a helpful friend not giving any details to the U.S. Marshalls and yet by end of the movie you slowly realize that he was one of the main bad guys responsible for Kimble's, Wife's murder and I personally like the slow transit reveal moreover think it's a great twist of events that, you may or may not get away with today's films. The Fugitive to me, is one of those great suspense films from the 90's that stands the test of time moreover shows how good or not so good Chicago was back in those days although that's kind of an understatement, but more importantly is one of the many Harrison Ford movies that I have to give thanks to because he shows how great of an actor he was until the man lost his mind after 1997, until we get to the late nineties to now where some of his films are hit and misses, but to me this film I give a ton of thanks to Harrison Ford because it' was always a movie I was allowed to watch moreover watched it a bunch of times and as always with this film he delivers a great performance and hopefully if you have a copy of the Fugitive, or don't I would highly recommend watching this season for giving thanks, no matter how crazy your childhood heroes are now, you always cherish the films that made these actors great. 

     

Doom: The Dark Ages

 

           I finally finished a video game this year that I literally liked from start to finish, and there's no if, ands, or buts about it. Doom: The Dark Ages, is one of the few first person shooters of modern day video gaming that I can actually sit down and play to beginning to the very end and holy crap if you want to find a video game to shop for this Black Friday then this would most certainly be the video game to play from start to finish along with the Madden games as well. I'm also going to say this, and I hope everyone else is offended but the Doom series is still the greatest first-person shooter game of all time. 

           Basically, your typical prequel to the first-two Doom games from the PS4 era as well as PS5 generation. Only this time is it set in the Dark Ages in what may be a Medieval time? Oh, hell it doesn't matter we got a shield, look like a Viking, moreover, kill every demon we come across, and we have a Dragon to fly around moreover kill more demons than the Targaryen's did in Game of Thrones. But more importantly we can drive a big transformer or Jaeger to fight bigger demons.

           When I look back at the many times I've played Call of Duty and Battlefield on the PlayStation 3 and 4, they were all great games and had great times playing them from beginning to the very end but then when we pushed to PlayStation 5 and all of the Call of Duty games are trying to invent themselves with more tactical strategy, as well as stealth mode at times, moreover just trying to me more of a special operative on the field and sure it's at times fun but when you do the same thing for the next games and focus more on the multiplayer, it just becomes less fun for the gamers who are older like me and despise the fact of a twelve year old kid beating you as well as not wanting to accept their better than you. But almost nineteen years ago when ID Software reinvented the franchise with Doom, this was like a breath of fresh air and scary at the same time because all those demons were coming after you moreover, Hell was invading Mars? Which again feels bewildering but deep down this was a mindless action movie where you can have a great time playing and replaying again because all they ever did was just go back to basics and just tell the gamers to just play the game and shoot demons that's all. Now with some of these recent Battlefield and Call of Duty games, they care way to much of the multiplayer experience and me at my old age I just can't continue on with that whole aspect especially with games like Fortnite, where it's only multiplayer and yet again, I don't want to play with against obnoxious twelve year old's that play the games all the time, and yet discussing my hatred of the recent Call of Duty and Battlefield games are good reasons why I don't play any of the recent games because how much I hate multiplayer moreover I tried it once and don't ever want to play multiplayer ever again. So, doom despite all its gore and scariness, it's still fresh to me and now that I downloaded all the past Doom games as well as having the last two Doom games I do want to go back and re-play them again and have a great time playing them. For good reasons, whenever I had to deal with pre-Madonna's and obnoxious family members, I always come home and pull out Doom: The Dark Ages and have a great time playing the game as well as relief a ton of stress and that's always the beauty to the Doom series as well as the classic Doom series, basically explains why Mortal Kombat and Doom are my favorite video game franchises of all time because they stay true to what they truly are as video games and why most fans play them even to now. So, parents or adults if you’re having Thanksgiving or Holiday stress disorders, then I would highly recommend spending your hard earn money on Doom: The Dark Ages and have your kids play Doom so, if you ever want to get them out of awfulness that is Call of Duty and Battlefield.

     

        

         

20th Anniversary of Sin City

 

          

        Ladies and gentlemen, this is movie that in all honesty is hard to explain but, back then twenty years ago was one of those movies that I was excited to see. Obviously, the film is directed by Robert Rodriguez, most infamous for children’s films Spy Kids, Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Though loved his earlier movies like Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and when I heard about Sin City, I was of course excited because it has a great list of actors in this one action movie set in a comic book world. And in all fairness, this film introduced me to the world of graphic novels and comics by great Frank Miller.

        The movie Sin City is based on the Graphic Novels by Frank Miller set in an almost Film Noir or Neo Noir world where in an entire city is one corrupt city and the police department is so corrupt it's like living in New York City. The film center's around in aging cop (Bruce Willis), and ex-convict (Mickey Rourke) and a P.I. (Clive Owen). 

        For many good reasons as to why I was excited to see this movie because, it was directed by Robert Rodriguez, a man at the time I was looking for inspirations back in high school because I was inspired by the fact that he made a movie for 7,000 dollars almost like Christopher Nolan making Following for six grand. Moreover out of all of the directors I look up to the most its most certainly Robert Rodriguez mainly because if you want to talk about making movies and finding ways to get your film put out moreover get noticed, he's most certainly the man you want to have a conversation with because when he always talks on the DVD or Blu-Ray commentary it's always fascinating as well as some of his bonus features that he does as well. Twenty years ago, I will admit watching this for the first time I didn't know what I was expecting, especially from the over-the-top action sequences as well as Mickey Rourke getting run over a couple of times, as well as the infamous Bruce Willis yanking a guy’s junk out, LITERALLY yanking a guy’s manhood. And at the time twenty years ago it all seemed funny and one of these things that you never ever expected hell, something even I never ever in a million years expected to see. And watching this in the theater for the first time all you can do is laugh so hard because at times they were literally funny to see for the first time. And then, when I first realized that all of Frank Miller's graphic novels and you read through the pages, you slowly realize "OOOOOOOOH, I see what they were going", and basically when your adapting a comic book series or superhero character, you basically want to stay truthful to the characters or transition a famous comic book like Watchmen, you want to see a full transition to the whole movie, basically creating a real life feel to the movie. And sure, at times comic book fans can always be a pain in the a** about not staying truthful but with this movie they literally transition each pages of Miller's book series and they're all in this movie granted some scenes they had to tone down but if you watch this movie and then read the book, you slowly understand what Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller were making. Granted after watching this film I slowly became obsessed with Frank Miller's work and mostly bought all of his work and now that I have all of his collection of Sin City I can go back and read all of them but now when watching the film again, at times it does feel comical and hilarious but then at times I do feel like I would rather read the books, for many reasons when you get older reliving movies that you use to love back in high school moreover thought they were the greatest things you've ever seen. But when you watch this at the age of 38 years of ages the logic becomes more involved than your teenage brain can, furthermore I think the cartoonish ideas become okay but at times not that great, and sure there are some great moments in the movie but again you slowly began to realize that the books are much better than the movie. I mean this movie does have a great list of actors and they help you feel for the characters especially Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis characters and since this was Frank Miller's whole love and tribute to the film noir or neo noir movies he loved growing up, and strangely enough this was my first introduction to that particular genre, because at my young age I never understood why these protagonists always fall in the end or take the blame and the bad guys always get away with it so, to the films credit this was no doubt my first introduction to the world of film noir and neo noir films. You can obviously tell this movie is a fantasy when you see hookers that look like a ten out of ten and are walking around half naked carrying guns, although this was coming from Frank Miller's world because long before he turned his series into a movie, basically after putting up with Marvel and DC comics, he decided that he wanted to make a comic book where he loved drawing the most and that was tough guys in trench coats, beautiful babes carrying guns as well as drawing cars from the 1940's and 50's, and with this film you can slowly have a sense of humor in seeing all the women are ten out of ten, when in real life most hookers look like 2.5 out of 10. So, in all fairness this film is a hundred percent fantasy. I will admit some of Frank Miller's early works from Daredevil to Sin City, those are his best works but his works after Sin City it does look off as well as so, bizarre because when at I heard that he was making a comic book adaption to The Spirit by Will Eisner it look so, bad moreover was a bad ripoff to Sin City where he did nothing but transition a character to a PG-13 world of Sin City, and yet you slowly realize through the years that he has this bizarre obsession with Nazism for which, I don't know why he has that throughout his book and I really don't want to know because the more I know the more I'm never going to forgive myself. I admit that this was a good watch from start to finish and had some good moments and great performances from Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and even Benicio del Toro as well as Powers Boothe and the late great Rutger Hauer. If you love stylized action movies this movie would most certainly be for you although I would highly recommend reading the books first before you watch this movie and more importantly you can forget the sequel because that movie was trying to be a faithful sequel but sadly it loses it's flair from the original film but look bottom line Sin City is a way better movie than its successor, moreover you never really needed a sequel to this film, because in all honesty this film doesn't even need a sequel so, you can just re-watch this movie and feel closure once the credits role for good reasons they all have endings that makes more sense than the sequel. Also, the sequel is just okay-ish but once you see it, you really need to through that movie into the closet of forgetfulness. But if you want to dive into Rodriguez’s filmography, I will highly recommend the El Mariachi trilogy from the first El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico as well as, Sin City and Alita: Battle Angel. That’s if you truly want to watch more of Robert Rodriguez’s films although those films are the only films I would recommend watching while the other films you can simply skip and forget they exist.  

     

Following

         In all my years of being a fan of Christopher Nolan's films, I haven’t seen is very first movie that started him on the path of being an amazing filmmaker and one of my personal favorites. Following is another one of these important movies that if you want to make a movie but don't have any money to hire actors, you have a camera and editing software. But more importantly writing a movie with a simplest plot as well as making the best movie with what you have as a limited budget. Following is one of those films I would highly recommend watching for inspiration, as it has been a great inspiration for me when I need something to follow in terms of not having enough money to make a movie.

        A young writer living in London follows people in the hope of using their lives in his novels, but the hobby becomes an obsession, and he soon finds himself going further than intended. 

         I’m one of those few people that want to go into the film business and want to be a filmmaker. Though life becomes a massive b*tch and paying bills as well as finding a job and paying rent slows you down on your dream and you're always not sure about making a movie or not. Especially when you want to make a movie, the last thing you want to do is make a terrible B-movie that would one day turn up on Red Letter Media’s YouTube channel. Luckily for me I've studied Videography as well as Photography but as most filmmakers’ big problem is, I don't know the right story to create though finding actors are my least concern because I have friends that I can look to as finding local theater actors. But watching Nolan's first film, Following shows me that all you really need is creating a simple story as well as learning how to work a camera and find ways to take the time to film your movie and edit your films as well. Furthermore, Chris Nolan never studied film making when going to college, his major was English Literature moreover used the certain places to shoot certain scenes at his college he attended. Another great aspect when looking at this movie is simply Nolan only had to shoot on Saturdays because his actors and crew all had full time jobs to work at moreover had to basically film only 15 minutes at times before the principal photography was completed. Another great fact is that majority of this film was shot only using handheld, camera technique and relied solely on a 15mm camera to capture the entire film. I'm not going to spoil anything about this great film because I want you all to watch this great film from the legendary career of Christopher Nolan, but this is defiantly one of those great films, where you have no budget and yet you can see what Nolan had to rely on from the camera and especially the actors he had to work with and even cast his legendary uncle John Nolan as the policeman in his first film as well as acting in the Dark Knight Trilogy too, more importantly is another one of those great neo-noir films and was the storytelling that Nolan used for his future projects moreover shows is talents on how to make a great mystery to bring to life on screen. There are times when making movies for sure, it's always a complicated factor because you want to make a great movie with little resources and movies like Kevin Smith's Clerks, Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi and importantly Christopher Nolan's Following are great examples of how to make a film with the best resources you can master. For anyone who wants to make a movie for the first time, Following is defiantly that one movie I would highly recommend watching and the great news I can give you all, is that this film isn't hard to find because this film is on the king of hidden treasures of streaming movies and shows Tubi, and so, you can subscribe to a free account and your set. I've said it before, Christopher Nolan I give a lot of thanks for creating a legendary Batman trilogy but more importantly thanking him for making a film that I can look to as inspiration for when I need, to create my first movie to start my dream in filmmaking. So, in this month of giving thanks Christopher Nolan is most certainly a man I give thanks for always giving me new and refreshing movies to be excited about as well as learning that you don't have to be in film school to be a filmmaker, you just have to learn how to use a camera and use life as an inspiration to tell a story and putting that story on screen for the world to see so, that one day they can use this film to use as a source of inspiration. 

       

 

The Running Man

 

             After watching countless slasher movies from different franchises, as well as coming into the month of November it's kind of hard at times to find a decent or good movie to start November off with. And luckily, I haven't watched many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies so, The Running Man became one of the many candidates before I crossed into Weapons and Lady Snowblood. A surprising factor is that Stephan King written The Running man for which I didn't know he written a book about a futuristic man running for dear life, in a reality TV show.

              In the year 2019, America is a totalitarian state where the favorite television program is "The Running Man" - a game show in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. Having been made a scapegoat by the government, an imprisoned Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) could make it back to the outside again by being a contestant on the deadly show, although the twisted host. Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) has no intention of letting him escape. 

              Surprisingly this is one of the many movies in the eighties where the producers in Hollywood thought that 30 years into the future, we would be in a dystopian future the other movies are like Blade Runner, the first Terminator movie along with Barb Wire and I'm also going to add Terminator Salvation also. Which sure it's the eighties or nineties, back then we had no idea what the future would bring but, the main problem is thirty years from now we're still going to be a normal-ish future despite now there's no video stores and we're relying on bitcoin? And as amusing as Arnold's version being set in 2019 and the movie was released in 87, I'm still going to be around and know what 2019 looked like, I mean Jason X solved the futuristic problem by setting the year in 2455 moreover it was terrible but at least I'm not going to be around in the year 2455 hell I hope my bones will be turned to ashes by now. As many of Stephan King books I'm familiar with I actually never pegged the man writing a science fiction novel, and yet the man is using an alias name to make it look like the man is still a horror fiction legend, I mean, I guess I can't fault the guy, because King was using so much cocaine back then while writing his books so, either way the man now can't writing anything now since he's been sober off of hard drugs, though on the bright side we at least know cocaine's a hell of a drug. There's really not a whole lot to say about Arnold in this movie considering when you look at the man's entire filmography of films that are the typical eighties cliched films where the hero always win in the end but with some overrated one liners, either way we all know what Arnold's best movies are if you had to rank his top five best, but with some of the movies like this film and or Predator you can obviously tell that the big buff, steroid man is going to be the victor in the end and granted this movie isn't all bad it's basically a fun futuristic movie with some eighties flair to go along with it, a side from it being funny, the fact that in thirty years we sort of dress all in eighties fashion which again this is typical eighties action films, but with the Running Man you still have that sense of breath of fresh air that you can turn your brain off and have a good time watching it so, deep down despite this film being flawed it's still fun to watch till the very end. I believe I said this before and I'll say it again if you ever want to thank a man whose be responsible for your all-time favorite eighties and nineties movies growing up, Steven E. de Souza is the man you should be thanking for your all-time favorite childhood movies growing up or your favorite R-rated movies you secretly watch behind your parents backs. I mean this guy wrote hit after hit of great action movies like, 48hrs, another Arnold classic Commando, and even the first-two Die Hard films as well as Street Fighter and The Flintstones which I find that surprising because I remember watching that movie and Hallie Berry made me realize that I like girls and women growing up. But still Souza was a writer in Hollywood that knew what the audience wanted and that man should at least be given an award for what he brought to the audience that were starved for some over the top action movies. I'm never in a million years planning on watching the remake to the Running Man mainly because I find Glen Powell overrated as an actor especially when he's trying to act like Peyton Manning in that Football movie in Hulu. Though with Running Man as well as Steven E. de Souza I should give a lot of thanks to for the season of giving thanks because this guy sure did write a lot of my favorite action movies growing up as well as one of my favorite Christmas movies Die Hard. So, if you’re in the mood to watch an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Running Man is a great movie to watch on Hulu for good reasons it was ahead of its time in terms of Government corruption and reality TV shows and more importantly fake news so, deep down the Running man has it all for a movie to watch this month of giving thanks.