The Relic (1997)

It's a surprisingly good monster movie set in a museum. One reviewer somewhat accurately described it as 'Alien in a museum'

Just watched Jurassic World for the first time, pretty dumb writing overall, even in comparison to earlier movies in the franchise, but overall an entertaining movie, and some of the actors save it, as well. Not one I would rewatch, though.

The Quiet Earth. I've not seen this movie in about 25 years. I'm happy I found this movie, even though it felt quite bleak.

Fantastic Planet, an unique european animated film. Takes place on a planet with utterly alien lifeforms. Blue gargantuan aliens sees the tiny humans as pets and pests. I quite enjoyed this movie.

Our Friend (2019)

A drama about a man who leaves everything behind to help his friends in a time of need.

John Wick

Wasn't too impressed. I guess he's supposed to be cool or something, but I thought it was rather boring. Almost like watching someone play a shooter. The little plot it had was simplistic, predictable and not even credible. It was just a long suite of well choreographed action scenes without there being much at stake for the main character, no emotional attachment, no surprising turns. Similar to Besson's Lucy - a story is just no fun if the hero(ine) is near invincible and you don't even get the time to develop a sympathetic relationship with any of the characters. Basically everyone in this movie is a dick, even if some of the dicks have a code of honor. The only bit I liked was the little puppy who was on screen for a few minutes before it got killed, but it still wasn't enough for me to cheer John Wick on during his rampage. I guess I'm just not really a fan of action movies, but mostly because so many of them are lazy like that. I didn't get what was so special about this one and what people see in it. I *could* imagine it working as a game, although the actual game seems to have mixed reviews.

I haven't, but that already sounds hilariously silly. John Wick didn't really have any sense of humor. When I first read your title I was reminded of Hardcore Henry - at least that movie was consequent in being just like a FPS game. :D And I also thought of Crank, which IIRC had some unusual camera perspectives as well, or at least a more original concept than just "they pissed off the wrong guy, now he will have his revenge" plot.

Well, it's actually been some weeks since I've watched it...but I found "The Gentlemen" to be absolutely fantastic.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B0RpUGss2c&ab_channel=STXfilms

The Lion in Winter (1968)

I'm taking an interest in movies from before my time. This one is based on a theatre play and the structure is still there, driven entirely by dialogue and with characters entering and exiting the scene organically.

It can also be seen as Janeway living one of her fantasies in the holodeck. ;)

Big - Extended Edition (1988)

I've always loved this movie, but I've also felt it was kinda rushed and out of place in certain scenes. Now with several scenes added that where originally cut for the original version, it is a much more wholesome movie about growing up too fast too soon. (And I've always had a small crush on Elizabeth Perkins myself.)

6/6

Monster Hunter (2020)

Milla Jovovich & Tony Jaa (Ongbak) finally teams up to fight some monsters in an epic sci-fi/fantasy movie. The beginning ruined it a little due to a clichéd hysterical female solder (I think statistically more of the team would freak after seeing those monsters), and the fact that a non-anatomically correct monster is able to move that fast in the sand like a sandworm is a little ridicules. A bit thin on the plot/story part and it's sometimes cut choppily, but there's enough action to enjoy here. I got chills by those spider-like monsters (which I really liked btw), and the fight scenes isn't bad. Liked the epic music also. Got really surprised to see a cat pirate and had to laugh at how surreal the movie was at times. You can clearly see the movie draws inspiration from Asian anime/manga series with flying and big weapons/swords.

However, without knowing where it comes from exactly (it says Capcom but I don't play any their games), it just became one of my favourite due to these actors (and I never expect these movies to be Oscar worthy anyway), there is a surprise in the last moment where yet another famous actor enters, Ron Perlman. I agree with some IMDB users here: "Tremors meets Resident Evil" or "Stargate meets Pitch Black", and I really hope they will make Chapter 2 (or this Ch1 will have no meaning on its own). And yes, it is better than most game-movie adaptations, like MK Annihilation or the latest DOOM movie, and certainly lightyears better than the atrocious WW84 movie :P

5-/6

Maggie (2015)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1881002/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The idea of "what if your loved one became infected?" has been presented in pretty much any zombie movie of the modern times and Walking Dead too I guess, not to mention Shaun of the Dead, but probably not as deeply as in this movie. The whole question of "when does a person stop being a human" etc.

I guess it didn't bring anything really new to it, but is was still quite a sad drama to watch. I liked it overall, but not so good I need to see it again or anything. Arnold Schwarzenegger was good enough in his role of a protective dad going through the sorrow process of seeing his only daughter slowly going towards the inevitable.

EDIT: I think one review summed it up quite well that this was a special zombie movie in that it was not about survival, but about the sorrow and social aspects of part of the population getting infected.

I also liked how there was no real good or bad, right or wrong, in this movie. Different people just tried to cope in their own ways. That one police was maybe depicted in a bit negative way, how he wanted to round up the infected people ASAP to quarantine, but even his motivations made sense, maybe he just wanted to try to get rid of the disease as promptly as possible, just being as pragmatic as possible.

Score: I dunno, maybe 3½/5.

Krull (1983)

I had never heard about this film until I found it on an 80s fantasy movies list as the "forgotten one". It's a mix of science fiction and fantasy, a sword and sorcery Star Wars. I was pleasantly surprised: it has the right amount of naivete to scratch the nostalgia for that time when a new movie was a ticket to a new world where everything was possible.

Great movie!

I just watched Fire & Ice (1983)

While the story leaves a bit to be desired, the sword-and-sorcery Frazetta designs and Bakshi's rotoscoping and directorial talent are on full display.

I've always had a soft spot for Krull. I like the production design, and the way they portrayed the Beast, always showing only distorted fragments of his body, was a great move. Biggest problem with the movie is that they build up the Glaive so much and then the hero uses it in like one scene and then loses it! The arcade game was a lot of fun, too (and you use the Glaive a lot more in that one, too).

I've been watching the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series. Five 1970s yakuza movies, tracing the story of a guy who goes from a rootless WWII veteran in Hiroshima to becoming a gang boss with his own grudges. The movies are all relatively short but have really twisting, tightly packed plots with almost nonstop violence. In contrast to prior yakuza movies, these don't really lionize the criminals. The main guy is likable in a certain way, but all of these people are lowlife scumbags who leech off of society, getting into stupid gang wars, going in and out of prison, and probably dying without anyone to miss them except maybe a few guys in their gangs that weren't gunning for their spots.