April 30th - Zorro's Black Whip: Tomb of Terror

April 30th - Zorro's Black Whip: Tomb of Terror

 

For my final day, probably like a lot of other bloggers doing the April Challenge, I had trouble finding something that actually started with Z. This is the one letter that I can't find any of in my collection, so I had to go out onto amazon to find a movie I could watch for free. I thought about watching Zoolander, but that would have cost me more than I probably would have gotten out of it, so instead I tried to pick a Zorro movie that didn't cost me anything. In doing so, I found this old "movie" which was the only Zorro movie available for free that actually started with a Z. This film serial is from way back in 1944 and is only 24 minutes long. I wasn't able to get a hold of the rest of the series, but it's only the second one so it won't spoil anything to talk about it.

 

For an old black and white film, I'm strangely enamored by the characters. I don't like that Zorro (or the Black Whip) is a white, but that doesn't really matter when he's able to beat the bad guys. Like any good Western, the fighting is not quite realistic enough that someone only gets 6 shots before they reload, but the hand to hand combat has the feel of actual brawling (even if they're not actually hitting each other). Some of the scenes with horses are obviously sped up to make it look like they're going faster, and I really think it helps make the fight scenes exciting.

 

SO, for a short film, there's actually a lot of work and money put into this film. While there's nothing remotely like a "Tomb of Terror" in this, the story it does portray seems fairly realistic for the time. So I know I've probably broke my own rules for doing this short for Z, but I genuinely liked it. Like Yokai Monsters, this movie actually had a coherent story with no gravity guns making loop holes in the plot. All in all, I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

All pictures from Google Images

April 29th - Y is for Yokai Monsters - Spook Warfare

April 29th - Y is for Yokai Monsters - Spook Warfare

 

 

You wouldn’t expect a Japanese story to start out in the ruins of Babylonia now would you? Well, this movie does, and you’d better watch out because there are ancient demons afoot in the ruins! This is your typical Japanese monster movie except instead of being in a future with lasers and Mechas, we’re in a past filled with magical Yokai and samurai lords. I can’t judge this by the normal criteria I would wit ha modern film since this is a film from 1968 when things weren’t as advanced.

 

The one thing I think this movie has over newer movies though is probably in the story department. Because they didn’t have as much to spend on special effects, this movie had to have a solid story to keep the people hooked into the story. The story itself is a wonderful mix of suspense and comedy that even each other out so that it feels very even and I didn’t have trouble staying interested till the end. The story is definitely one of the most coherent ones that I’ve reviewed this month, and it definitely makes up for the sometimes atrocious costumes. The special effects are okay, but some of the Yokai just look like the plain rubber suits they are.

 

SO, overall, you get a story with characters that are definitely worth your time with the down side that some of them look bad. I guess that in the past movies focused on giving you a story with some sort of moral, and today we go to see a movie to see big pretty explosions and “epic” CGI locations. While I’m not sure if all of the Yokai Monsters movies (there’s at least 3 under that title) are like this one, but I would highly recommend this movie if you wanted a really good Japanese monster movie to watch that isn’t too scary and has some context. 5 out of 5 (ignoring the fact that it’s old).

All images off of Google Images

April 27th - X is for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

April 27th - X is for X-Men Origins: Wolverine

 

How opportune for all the X-Men movies to disappear as soon as I need to watch an X movie… I haven’t read the whole X-Men series, but I don’t think most people have these days. This was my second choice for today because I don’t feel like it’s as good as the main movie series. When I say that, I don’t mean that the action or acting is bad or anything, I just don’t feel like the story holds true to the original comics or the movies that came before it.

This movie wasn’t what the creators wanted to make at first. They actually wanted to make a movie about Wolverine’s time in Japan, like in the comic series, but they realized that not everyone knew the character’s back story. So, this is the story of how Wolverine became who he is in the other X-Men movies. That being said, you would think that Wolverine would somehow start out different from when he gets to in the end, but that doesn’t really come across. Sure there is some change in the movie, but he basically ends up at the same place he started out at. I guess I’ll just have to blame it on convenient plot twists.

SO, I’m going to stop myself here before I go into another rant about the characters in this movie (I don’t feel they didn’t do a very good job on Gambit), and say that the action is perfection, the acting is what you expect from award winning actors, and that this movie tries to give you the sense that it really connects to the other stories. I’m sure it’s not because the next Wolverine movie will have nothing to do with the other X-Men movies. All in all, 4 out of 5.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine cover from IMDB
Stars from Google Images

April 26th - W is for Wall-e

April 26th - W is for Wall-e

 

First off, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, go get it. Whether you come out liking it or not, this movie is a true example of how much symbolism a kids movie can have. On the surface, this is a heart warming love story, but beneath that this movie also shows how the world can easily turn south when robots do everything. By showing this sort of thing, this movie can be a truly middle ground, and it all depends on how much you want to see all the issues this movie brings up.

Wall-e starts off with more than a half hour without any of the main characters saying more than two or three words. In this time, the story is conveyed through actions and mechanical motions of a clunky little robot from the past (I like to think of him as a model-T) and a sleek robot off of a spaceship (she’s more like a Tesla). Through these two characters we see the typical children’s love story until the underlying plot kicks in and, like in any other story, blows their relationship out of the way so that the rest of the story can move on. After this point, we start to see all of those issues that I mentioned in the first paragraph start to come into play. They’re blatant enough if you’ve been paying attention at all to the world from the last decade or so, but if you aren’t, or your kids aren’t, then it’s probably not going to be too distracting.

SO, I’ve found that it’s really hard to explain what I liked about this movie. I guess it’s one of the ones that can either be a really “feel good” kind of movie, or the sort that makes you want to go out and participate in something outside yourself. It all depends on what you want to get out of it. So, it has really good animations, a childish story that can also be mature if you read into it, and Mo gets points for just being adorable. 4 out of 5.

Wall-e cover from IMDB
Stars off of Google Images

April 25th - V is for Van Helsing

April 25th - V is for Van Helsing

 

This is one of the other reasons why I didn’t want to watch Underworld yesterday. I don’t like watching too many of these action movies in a row because I usually like my action spaced out so that it’s a treat to watch people throw each other around. So here we have just that, a movie with action and story, just what I need today.

On the front of the DVD case, Van Helsing totes that it has “non-stop action,” which is a quality that most action movies without plots use t justify their movie. The thing is, this movie has a story, and I think it’s one of the best fantasy action stories in a while (in movie form of course). They put some interesting twists on characters that most people already know such as Frankenstein’s monster and Mr. Hyde. This movie isn’t afraid to show just how monstrous some of these classic characters can be, and not just in the physical sense. This film does such a good job at making you care about the story that is threading all these classic characters together.

Though the story strives to combine the legends of several classic horror monsters/villains, it also tries t explain why Van Helsing is tangled up in all of this, and this is where I think the movie lacks a bit. There is some really vague backstory quickly thrust under a rug at the beginning of the film that mysteriously becomes unimportant the minute action related pops up. The thing is, if you’re going to give us no details about a character’s background, DON’T MAKE IT AN IMPORTANT PLOT POINT LATER! I still don’t understand what Dracula was talking about, but you’ll have to watch it to find out.

SO, that being said, this is still a really good movie. I can over look that whole backstory thing (much like the movie does) and still find that the rest of the movie holds together. The action has enough weight to it, the characters aren’t dumb and can think outside the box of way to kill vampires, and the acting felt real enough to make me, at least, care about the characters. This has to be one of my favorite action movies of all time. 5 out of 5.

Van Helsing cover from IMDB
Stars off of Google Images

April 24th - U is for Underdog

April 24th - U is for Underdog

 

I had originally planned to review Underworld for today, but I really wasn’t in the mood for that sort of horror action film today. So, instead I’m watching another kids film. This movie is supposed to be like the cartoon. You don’t have to have watched any of the original series.

The story is really lackluster, but I guess that’s what you get for trying to make a full length film about a character from the older serial cartoons. I have to give them credit for figuring out a good way to show how Underdog got his name and powers, but after that the story loses that spark. The villain is more silly than threatening, no matter what situation our hero is in. This story makes it too easy for Underdog to be better than everyone else. There isn’t anyone who seems up to par with what Underdog can do, and I think that kind of makes his name very juxtaposed from his actions. He’s the sort of “all-powerful” character you’re supposed to stay away from when making interesting characters. This is a children’s movie though, and they do have to try and aim for this sort of “always win character,” but I think they went too far past the mark.

SO, this has been another example of a movie that had a great idea, but didn’t manage to follow through all the way. I think this movie would be better if they cut out about half an hour of the unnecessary scene bits. This movie doesn’t really need to be grittier, but it could use a little more in the department of tension creation. If there had been an actual problem that really challenged Underdog, I think it would have fixed what most of what I didn’t like about this movie. Except for some of the actors’ lack of skill. 2 out of 5.

Underdog cover from IMDB
Stars off of Google Images

April 23rd - T is for Thunderbirds

April 23rd - T is for Thunderbirds

 

I know there was a television series that was called Thunderbirds, but this movie has almost nothing to do with it. This is more of a kids action movie more than anything else. That being said, the kid actors look great, but the adults just come across as some of the weirdest people on Earth. An example is how Lady Penelope, a secret agent, rides in a flamboyantly pink limousine that flies. Yeah, this movie is flamboyant in just about everything it does.

This story does have its rough spots, like the fact that everyone in the world expects the Thunderbirds to save them from every little disaster that ever happens. There’s also the problem that the villain is more ridiculous than everything else in this movie combined. There are a lot of wacky bits in the movie, but I think it gives it a lot of character rather than making it unwatchable. So while some of the characters are goofy, I like them overall. All these characters work well in their environments which are filled with very detailed props. Somebody spent a lot of time planning and building the sets for this movie, and it shows.

SO, this movie’s got action and hilarity set in a world the creators actually cared about. The characters never have any out of character moments, and I really like them. The bad guys are bad enough to make good opponents, though they were enchanted with goofy powder so that kids wouldn’t find them too scary. This movie flows very well, and if you need a cheep movie to watch with the kids, this is one of the first ones I’d recommend. For a kids movie 5out of 5.

All pictures from Google Images