Stumblin' Through the Flix

If you were hoping for some more zany action figure comic strips this time around, sorry to disappoint you. I do have a life, you know... As much as I love doing stuff like that, it is somewhat time-consuming, and time is a valuable commodity for me, especially during this holiday season. I don't want my blog to become a barren wasteland (though it might already be so intellectually), so I've got to write something. Movie reviews are always a good filler...

My wife just recently set us up with Netflix to play through our Nintendo Wii, and while I don't want to endorse either of these companies too heavily since they're not paying me anything (yet), I have to say that I'm more than happy with it so far. I don't see a lot of newer stuff on there - certainly not as much as you'd see in the local video store - but while browsing, I've stumbled upon a whole boatload of great movies and TV shows that I probably wouldn't see otherwise, unless I was specifically looking for them, which I wouldn't if I had to pay minimum $3 a pop to see them on DVD.

Here are a few of the movies I've seen on Netflix lately. I've also watched a lot of television shows (mostly cartoons), but talking about those would fill another blog post entitrely...


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SEVEN SAMURAI

A lot of people have obviously reviewed this film before me - this is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. Not my #1 favorite film ever, but it definitely ranks up there among my Top Ten. I just saw it for the first time recently and I'm scolding myself for waiting so long to see it. In case you didn't know, Seven Samurai is also known for being the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven, which is considered to be one of the best Western films of all time. (Unfortunately however, Mag. Seven in turn was the inspiration for Battle Beyond the Stars, arguably one of the worst Science Fiction movies ever made....).

Released way back in 1954, it's a classic storyline, and a great period piece. Seven Samurai also happens to have been produced by Toho Studios, the company that also brought us Gojira (better known to North American audiences as Godzilla, King of the Monsters) that very same year. What I noticed right away was that several of the actors involved in S.S. also appear in the latter as well, and keep re-appearing in many more (awesome) Godzilla films.

I realize that the above picture actually only shows six Samurai, but trust me - there are seven, even though the first guy gets killed relatively early on. The film tells the story of the poor peasants of a small village in feudal Japan who go to the city to seek out the assistance of Samurai to protect them from constant harassment by marauding bandits. Along the way, we meet a whole slew of interesting characters; far too many to mention here. Let's just say its a great 'ensemble cast' all working towards a common goal, a technique later emulated in countless other films to this very day, such as The Dirty Dozen, Magnificent Seven, Armageddon, Oceans Eleven (and Twelve and Thirteen), A Bug's Life, Star Wars, etc, etc....

I can't say enough about this movie. I am by no means a professional movie reviewer, but I think any film critic would agree that Seven Samurai remains to this day one of the greatest and certainly most influential films ever made. Do yourself a favor; turn off that stupid vampire sequel and watch a real  movie.

A+

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MEGASHARK vs GIANT OCTOPUS

OK, so this one is definitely not one of the greatest film ever made. This would perhaps be somewhere near the other end of the spectrum. That being said, I am a giant monster (or Kaiju) movie lover as well as a fan of campy films, so this is right up my alley.

As an intentionally 'so bad its funny' movie, it totally succeeds. The actors appear to be taking it all so seriously, even when spewing out the ridiculous, pseudo-scientific dialogue. The effects are intentionally horrible (the shark eating the Golden Gate Bridge shot is about as realistic-looking as it gets), and the plot makes little to no sense. A lot of shots are recycled over and over in the movie and the sets look like they were all filmed in the same room, just re-arranged. Megashark vs Giant Octopus also stars Deborah "Debbie" Gibson in the lead role. I was never a fan of her music, but I think she did pretty well for this movie. It must be hard to prove yourself as an actor in a film where your acting is supposed to be terrible. Oh, and Lorenzo Lamas. Let's not forget him...

On the flip side, as a giant monster film....... it's waaaayyyy disappointing. There's far too few scenes of the two title creatures, and what there is is hard to make out and mostly looks like two ugly puppets flopping around in the dark, or the lowest of low-grade CGI work... Sure, old Kaiju movies like Godzilla and Gamera look fake too, but at least we get to see a lot more of the monsters. I was expecting just a tad more in this department from MSvsGO.

Megashark vs Giant Octopus was the first movie we watched when we got Netflix. I was just that excited to see it. Overall, I guess it's sort of funny, but not 'monstery' enough for my liking.

C+

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KUNG FU HUSTLE

Now this - this is funny. It's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Looney Tunes. There's a lot of truly amazing martial arts going on here, backed up by some really cool effects, extreme acting and crazy jokes. The action is completely over the top and super-fun. And did I mention that it's funny? ...It's like almost "s**t your pants" funny.

The storyline is pretty far-fetched but cool, all about Kung Fu masters and gangsters in 1940's China. Written and directed by Stephen Chow, this is sort of a follow-up to the hugely successful Shaolin Soccer, which is also "s**t your pants" funny. Personally, I preferred this one, mostly because of the Landlady (pictured above). She's got to be the best charater in this film by far. Since I highly recommend this movie and don't want to give anything away to those who haven't seen it, let's just say that she steals the show. Look at her picture again - you don't f**k with that lady...

The movie loses a bit of steam around the end, but that's only because you were so blown away with awesomeness earlier in the film that the awesome ending loses impact.

I love this movie! If only there were more like it!! It's no Seven Samurai, but it's the second-best movie I've seen on Netflix so far. BTW, Kung Fu Hustle is subtitled, so if you don't like to read while you watch movies or don't like foreign movies at all, then too bad - it's your loss.

Dirty pants aside, it deserves a solid A

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So that's all I got for ya today. Take care and Happy Holidays!!

...and as always,

May the Force be with you...