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Feng shen chuan qi (2016)
Fun to this westerner's eyes!
As I have never read the original story, I will have to take others word for it being a poor, westernized adaptation.
All I know is that I found this an enjoyable fairy tale. I did not compare it to any other movie. The CGI was pretty good, and the story kept moving.
It was clearly meant to be funny in places, and the kid with the power evacuation and explosive farts was not my kind of humor, but then I do not enjoy most modern toilet humor in Western movies either.
The action scenes were well done and exciting, and I always enjoy watching people with powers flying around, fighting, and beating the bad guys. The story was not over by the end of the movie, and there has to be a sequel.
The big bad only arrives at the end of the movie, so we need to see the heroes regroup and take him out. They need to save their world. That was another surprise to me, when early on it became clear that this story did not take place on Earth. Three suns??!!! Flying air ships! Yes the movie looks crazy, but it was crazy fun.
I just hope Angelababy's character Blue Butterfly comes back somehow.
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXVIII (2017)
If this were a live-action film, it would be rated R
I have never written a review of any Simpsons episode, but this one really rattled me...I have been watching the Simpsons since they began as a segment on the Tracey Ullman Show. The annual Halloween Treehouse of Horror episodes have been some of my favorites. XXVIII is one that I don't think I will be watching again. The first part was silly, with Pazuzu taking over Maggie.
The middle part was very interesting, when Lisa finds a passageway to an alternate universe and an alternate family. I have to say the button eyes on the new family were very creepy, and I can imagine the feeling of Lisa having buttons sewn over her eyes so she can stay with them. There begins the true horror.
But the final episode was truly disgusting. And they had the nerve to warn the viewers that it would be awful. When Homer runs out of food while Marge and the family are on a trip, he discovers that due to his continual consumption of sweets, his own flesh is quite tasty. Maybe its because I just watched Silence of the Lambs last night, but I was reminded of Dr Lecter in one of the sequels feeding a man a piece of his own brain...Homer cannot be that hungry. He is a living flesh-eating zombie, no zombie virus necessary. Ugh. Yech. Barf. I gotta watch something else to cleanse my mind, like a movie about demons or something...
Collateral Beauty (2016)
An Amazing Film
The story is deep. The acting is amazing. There are so many great moments. And if I watch it again, I may cry. Will Smith shows what it is like to lose a child, and how his life has ground to a halt. He lives every day, but he cannot move forward. Until his friends decide to try to prove that he is too upset with life to be allowed to continue to run his ad agency into the ground. Their brilliant idea is to hire three actors to portray Love, Time and Death, because he has been writing letters to those cosmic concepts as if they are persons. Their intention is to capture video of him arguing with those entities to show that he is out of his mind. But he, along with his friends, gets help from those entities. Excellent writing, great scenes, I just finished watching it, and I have to go now. All I can say is Goodbye!
Mr. Right (2015)
Great romantic comedy (with blood)
I never heard of this movie before I saw it coming up on Cinemax. Now I am glad that I watched it. It is a really fun and funny movie.
The sense of humor is very dark, but the characters are so cool. I just finished it, and the leads have great chemistry, and the story really moves along. Sam Rockwell's Mr. Right (don't call him Francis!) has fun being a hired killer who kills those who hire him, dancing while he is shooting and killing people, while wearing a clown nose. And Anna Kendrick plays a really quirky girl who really gets into her man's lifestyle, once she realizes he is not joking about being a hit man. And he never lies to her, so she has been hearing the truth from the beginning.
Their relationship flows naturally, and the way he teaches her a new and deadly skill excites her as it would in real life. I mean, one way to make a woman feel close to you is to teach her a new skill, and it really does work like this. Anyway, I wish I was in a relationship like theirs, it would be so much fun killing bad guys...heh, heh, heh.
November 12, 2017--I just watched it again. And it is still Hi-Larious! Still very enjoyable. And cute little Anna Kendrick really becomes a compatible partner for her man. Why does nobody listen to her...or believe her when she says she is going to kill them? What a fun story! I really need to get the DVD so I can erase it from my DVR!
Stargate SG-1: 1969 (1999)
Better than expected
I normally hate time travel stories. When I saw this episode recorded on my DVR I expected the worst. But I decided to watch it anyway. I was pleasantly surprised.
I figured there would be a problem with the gate that would throw them back in time, and that Gen. Hammond was writing a note to himself. This was well done. I did not guess every twist and turn, and it was fun seeing them portray a past I had lived through. Some characterize this as a filler episode...but I enjoyed this filler.
Daniel disguised as a German son of a scientist. And seeing grown up Cassandra. But thinking Daniel will lose his hair? I don't think so. Anyway, watch and have fun with this episode.
The Outer Limits: The Man Who Was Never Born (1963)
Time travel episode that I really liked!
I usually hate time travel stories, because of the paradoxes, and because we know the outcome in advance. But this story is not like that. I first saw this episode as a child, back in the 1960s, and it was as good as I remembered. An astronaut from 1963 flies through a time warp into the future. A desolate future of a dying Earth.
A mutant brings him up to date, and they decide to try and stop this future from ever happening. The performances were wonderful in this rendition of Beauty and the Beast, and the make-up was great. And the consequences of time travel are still awful for those involved. Trying to save the Earth's future from the world-ending outcome of a scientist's deadly experiment does not result in a happy ending for all concerned.
The ending almost makes me cry. By changing the past events, Martin Landau's character Andro has saved the future, but has also prevented himself from being born, and he disappears during the flight back to the future. The woman who was to have given birth to the man who would have destroyed the Earth is left crying alone, without the Beast she had fallen in love with, in a spaceship she doesn't know how to operate, heading for the future Earth.
When I first saw this episode, I imagined her orbiting and dying of hunger. But now I imagine that the inhabitants of future Earth rescue her from a lonely fate, and she goes on, learning to live with her broken heart.
Queen of Outer Space (1958)
What a queen!
The queen of outer space was certainly a man-hater. The captain of the crashed earth ship tries to give her the Captain Kirk/James Bond treatment, but fails when he takes off her mask. A victim of radiation burns, giving her the worst 'butter-face' ever! "Men did this to me...Men and their wars!" Unfortunately, the queen is revolting, and quite mad.
This was always a fun movie for me to watch. It was released the year I was born, and I saw it many times over the years. So silly, but fun anyway. I always enjoy the beginning with the ship caught in a tractor beam from Venus! The same beam that destroys earth's space station pulls the earth ship 26 million miles in a matter of minutes, at least minutes of screen time. As the actors point out, they were unconscious for the trip, and have no way of knowing how long it took, or how fast they went.
It is goofy, but I still give it 6 out of 10. Especially for the good- looking Venusian women. Definitely could only have been made in the fifties.
Criminal (2016)
Better than I thought it would be!
Why did I not know about this film? I was looking for something to watch, and stumbled across this movie. The summary sounded interesting, so I recorded it to watch later. I have to say, Kevin Costner did a fantastic job as Jerico, the animalistic monster who gets a memory transplant. He presented a mixed personality. I could always tell when he was just Jerico, and when he was Jerico/Bill. He never became completely Bill, unless you count the scenes where he used Bill's skills. On the other hand, Gary Oldman's character, Quaker, was always annoying to me. He reminded me of my view of adults when I was a child. He was always jumping to conclusions, and they were almost always wrong. I get that he wanted to get control of the Dutchman's wormhole as quickly as possible, but whenever he thought he was about to get it, he would order Jerico's demise. Lucky for him, Jerico was good at escaping. He finally figured out Jerico by the end of the film, and we got a happy ending. Of course, Jerico was not going to end up in a romantic relationship with Bill's wife, but looks like he will end up with Bill's job. Great ending. This whole movie was exciting, well done, and used locations in London which were quite unfamiliar. Anyway, well done to this cast and crew!
Mechanic: Resurrection (2016)
This was fun!
I enjoyed watching this movie. It was just a fun romp, nothing deep. Of course we know that the Mechanic, as portrayed by Jason Statham, is going to succeed in every mission/hit/assassination, but the fun is watching how he goes about it. And we get to see some beautiful locations, and beautiful actresses to go along for the ride. This is James Bond as a private assassin for hire, instead of the usual government employee, but with just as many gadgets. If you want to waste a couple hours watching mindless excitement, this one is for you!
Star Trek: Voyager: Unforgettable (1998)
Chakotay out of character
This is an odd episode. An alien woman, from a species whose biochemistry causes others to forget about them after a few hours, has fallen for Chakotay. After being away from Voyager for a time, she returns to seek asylum, and to resume her relationship with Chakotay. The strangest thing for me was the scene where a tracer comes to take her back to her people, and confronts the couple in Chakotay's quarters. After his initial reaction of suspicion to Kellin, he falls for her again and does all he can to help her remain aboard Voyager. But when a retrieval agent from her people, a tracer, sneaks aboard to take her back, the tracer levels a weapon at Kellin. Chakotay backs off, and seems to hide behind the woman, allowing her to take the shot without trying to do anything about it. Seeing that scene again, it just seemed so odd to see Chakotay back away, instead of jumping in between them to try to wrestle the gun away, or at least take the shot to protect his woman. He does not even try to protect her. Anyway, that really made the story fall apart for me. I still gave this a 7 out of 10, because of the lovely Virginia Madsen and her fine performance as the alien Kellin.
Legion: Chapter 7 (2017)
Feels what it must be like to be inside someone else's mind
This show, every episode, makes me feel as if I am truly experiencing a mutant's mind. This is what every show or movie about people with mind powers ought to look like. The visuals, the music, the fractured reality, and yet, the narrative moves forward. The creative minds who brought this to life should really receive every award possible. I want this series to go on. I wish the season finale were not so soon. Moar! Moar!! Moar!!! If they can keep this up, I hope this series never goes away. I am already waiting for the next season. It cannot arrive soon enough! This has been an incredible ride, and I am already missing it. I look forward to the finale, and I regret its arrival. Please FX, keep this show! Our minds need this show!
The Flash: Duet (2017)
Of course this fits in the DC universe!
I am sick of reading all of the reviews that say that Music Meister does not fit in the DC verse. How many comics did I read about Mxyzptlk? He is always annoying beyond belief! And so many other DC villains who are clowns, both literal and figurative!! Of course this fits in this universe, and on this show...why not? A fun break from the grim Savitar storyline, and something light after Barry breaks up with Iris (temporarily I hope!) is nice, and it is better than having a long spring break, like so many of my other favorite shows are taking. And since I never watched Glee, I was pleasantly surprised to hear their singing voices...speaking as a child of a professional singer, I remember when my father would bring people home who claimed to be able to sing, only to find out that we had to sit through stuff that made our ears bleed! All I can say is, if its not for you, so be it. I just don't understand the furor, the need to create accounts just to denigrate the people and intent behind this episode. Oh well, to each his own...If this episode stops anyone from finishing watching this season, that would be just too bad. This format will likely never be repeated.
The Blacklist: Redemption (2017)
A modern-day Mission Impossible
That is the best comparison I can make. This is kind of like the old TV- series, "Mission:Impossible," using characters from The Blacklist to form the incredibly competent team. The show is very fast-paced, and unlike Scorpion, they do not explain how everything works, or fill in their entire plan for us to follow along in fascination. Mainly because they just don't have the time. This pilot episode took place on two continents, and they were on the clock. The actors are all enjoyable, except for the geek: he seems to be part-genius, part-comic relief. Hopefully he will improve with time. And the underlying arc about Tom's parents is interesting, keeping us guessing about their motivations. We wonder if his mother is truly a cold-hearted snake pretending to care, or if his father is wrong about her. I look forward to finding out.
They Found Hell (2015)
Not too bad for a SyFy Halloween movie
Yes, this is a typical low-budget SyFy action horror movie. And yes,the actors are all unknowns. But...I had a good time watching it. Some college students perform an experiment in teleportation, but something goes very wrong. SPOILERS The movie starts with an explosion in Russia, leaving a distinctive crater. Then we move to some college students trying out their "transponder." Immediately they get pulled through a portal into what they believe is Hell. Interestingly, there is a gate with the sign from Dante's Inferno-"Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here". This ought to tell them that Wherever they are, it is not really Hell. It is a very messed up place, though. This is Hell portrayed as a Halloween Hell House or a Hell dimension from the Buffy/Angel-verse. The only problem is there are all manner of creatures trying to torture or kill them as they struggle to find a way to return to Earth. I have to agree with other reviewers that the cutaways back to the college, with a professor trying to get them back did not add much to it. The other thing that bothered me was that they kept saying things like "Oh My God!" and "Help me!", but not one of them thought to pray, or to call out to God for help. I got tired of them calling for help, but never calling to anyone specific. Who did they think was going to answer? Anyway, I still enjoyed the movie. It was not very good, but it kept moving, and I had to keep watching to see if anyone made it out. If you can see it for free, it might be worth a watch.