Movie | Rasuto Eguzairu (Last Exile) | Fail

I've stated before that I don't like anime. But, Sdub also loaned this to me so I gave it a shot. After slogging through three episodes, I couldn't take it anymore. It's just awful, though I'm sure somebody loves it. I thought it was a mess, badly created and though there was plenty going on, boring. I appreciate the loan, though. I tried, I really tried.

Movie | One Hundred Mornings | Pass

Movie | The Sea Of Perdition | PAss

Marvelous sci-fi short from Richard Stanley, who is a genius. This is not a complete work and it's presented that way.

Movie | Before the Music Dies | PASs

Fascinating documentation of the frightening state of music these days.

Movie | Tears for Fear: Going To California | PASS

Awesome. So very talented. It's as if they were just improvising, jazz-style. But they clearly aren't; it's pure genius.

TV | How To Get Away With Murder | PAss

The pilot was excellent.

Movie | Jodorowsky's Dune | PASS

Just my sort of magic.

Movie | The Last Stand | Pass

I liked this. It's a modern Western; good sheriff versus posse of seemingly unstoppable bad guys. If you're looking for something simple, predictable, the occasional laugh and full of high quality explosions, you're gonna enjoy this as much as I did. Well worth a rental.

TV | Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) | Pass-ish

So. This gets a better IMDB rating than Citizen Kane, huh? Wow, that's downright tragic and now I'm not only mad, but even more critical of this. It's going to be awfully condescending, but I think that score is a bunch of anime lovers bumping it up...most of whom clearly don't know much about film in general. That's too bad because while this anime centers around another really compelling premise (many of the genre do), the whole thing flops around like a fish out of water with too-common, stereotypical, ridiculously melodramatic cliches. If I had to sit through yet another closeup of a characters eyes squeezing out tears that went on way too long I was going to chuck the remote at the TV. And while there is arguably no acting in an anime other than what the animators draw combined with the voice actors, it was, at very best, terrible. Nobody would ever give live actors the time of day if they did a job like this. Unless it was meant as parody, which this was not.

It's interesting to note that while the makers kept the over-large eyes on some of the characters, they went to great lengths to "Westernize" the rest. It's strange, to say the least.

Obviously, I'm not particularly a genre fan. But, if you haven't seen very many truly interesting movies in your life and want something different or, like I wrote, you're a hardcore anime fan, then you'll like this. I'm afraid it was just not my cup of ocha. Thanks for the loan, Sdub!

TV | The League of Gentlemen (1999) | Pass

Lent my copy to Sdub, so I ended up watching it again. It's got great moments, some not to so great. I didn't remember how annoying the laugh track was, which it is. But it's still very creative.

TV | Gotham | Fail

No no no no. Despite the presence of the great Donal Logue, the pilot was boring and predictable. Surely it's all just to set up the characters, but I didn't see any reason to stick around to find out. If I hear it really gets good, then I'll go back and try this again. But for now, I'm not going back to Gotham. Pow! Bam!

PS I hate major character comic book movies. They're so done, it's not funny. Dear movie and television execs, please stop making them.

Movie | Vessel (2012) | PAss

Outstanding sci-fi horror short from promising new director Clark Baker. I was actually looking for another film by the same name and stumbled across this. Glad I did!

Movie | Edge of Tomorrow | PASS

Somewhere along the line, as Cruise's reputation seems to get worse and worse, I've become a huge fan of his movies. They are simply fantastic and a treat for any true fan of scifi and action films. He's pumping out the very best the genres have to offer I'm afraid. It's too bad most folks can't seem to get past his real life antics to see these great films.

Was this one good? Absolutely fantastic! Equal to, if not better in some ways to Oblivion. Yep, it's that good. A must see, zero doubt.

Movie | The Zero Theorem | PASS

Absolute genius; Brazil 2.0. I don't think most people will get it or like it though. Which just makes it even more brilliant, thank goodness. I also don't think it will do well in the theaters which is an absolute crime. It will get a cult following once it's released outside of that antiquated and outdated system.

TV | Please Like Me | Pass

I got this because it had Caitlin Stasey from  Tomorrow, When The War Began in it. I found this show to be irritating in several ways. I'd list them, but nobody cares. So I'll just leave it at this; the show is well done and has some charm.

TV | Man Stroke Woman | PAss

Ben Crompton, Nick Frost and a good crew do sketch comedy about relationships. Fun, but limited.

TV | The Mysteries of Laura | Pass-ish

Critics slammed this new television show, but there is most definitely worse. It's got a lot of problems, but maybe they'll give it enough chance to iron them out. But probably not.

Movie | The Golden Boys | Fail

Carradine, Dern and Torn...this should have worked, but didn't.

Movie | Control | Pass

This is a very well done retelling of Ian Curtis' gloomy existence, who was the lead singer for the iconic band Joy Division. He was one of those people you just want to slap the daylights out of and scream in his face, "Will...you...just...cheer...UP!" All to no avail, of course. This movie has all of the elements of a nicely created movie, but it's boring in the process. For Warsaw/Joy Division/New Order fans only, I'm afraid.

TV | Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories | Fail

Works too hard for too few laughs and the best ones are just rehashed Three Stooges. The premise is usually clever, but the details not so much.

Movie | Escape Plan | PAss

A really, really good action flick! Thanks for the recommendation AG!

TV | Z Nation | Fail

The Syfy channel tries to jump on the bandwagon and completely misses. There's only one good thing about this; they hired DJ Qualls and Harold Perrineau. SPOILER: they kill off Perrineau's character in the first episode. The rest of the cast is just too weak and the story to familiar. Too bad, could have been good.

Movie | Grudge Match | Pass

Mildly entertaining fluff.

Movie | Tomorrow When The War Began | PAss

Basically Red Dawn Down Under. I was in the mood for it and that's what I got. I liked the alternative ending better than the green screen looking thing they drummed up. I hope they make the planned sequel(s) and I may read the books as this is my sort of thing.

Movie | Lucky | PASs

A little surprise and a whole lotta' fun! There are some really classic lines that make great "in-jokes".

TV | Tail Fins and Chrome | PAss

What do you get when a retro-oriented, mostly American cars, gearhead magazine wants to make a television show but doesn't have a very big production budget? This is it; mainly interviews with owners and product placement. For hardcore gearheads only.

http://tailfinsandchrome.com/

TV | JBTV | PAss

Little, low budget show about newer indie-type bands out of Chicago. Shows live performances and a few interviews. Like the old Jules Whats-his-name music show, but much lower production values. I found it on a weird cable channel station.

http://www.jbtvonline.com

Movie | Document of the Dead | PASS

Unless you're really into Romero and/or the movie-making process (like me), then you won't enjoy this documentary as much as I did. Which I really did!

TV | A To Z | PAss

We got to see a preview of the pilot and liked the characters of this rom-com. Will the series continue to be good? I hope so.

Movie | Vibes | PAss

 

Slow but charming cult classic. Maybe it was the editing that made it feel like it crawled along. Also, they should have had Lauper (in her first movie!) do the soundtrack or something, because it's pretty boring (the music). Though, they did let her do the end credits track. But it was so much fun to see this cast when they were so young. And yes, that's Peter Falk in the poster. How could they forget to list him? That had to be one of the biggest marketing mistakes ever.

Movie | Just Visiting | Pass

Silly fun. I'm pretty sure I've seen this before. That's why I started this blog; to keep track and avoid repetition. Still, it was fun enough to see again. It's in English, by the way, in case you were wondering.

Movie | Stoker | Pass-ish

My least favorite Chan-wook Park movie of all time. At least he didn't write this, so he's excused. While it's expertly crafted, visually gorgeous and all of the elements are there to make this an excellent film, it's an absolute snore-fest. I was bored out of my mind and slow films don't usually bother me. But there has to be a reason to care about the plot and characters. I just didn't here. In fact, I wanted to slap the crap out of all them. It's too bad; I'd say skip this and see all of his other masterpieces instead.

TV | Houdini | PAss

Entertaining two-parter that has plenty of excitement.

Movie | Bruiser | PAss

The only movie by George A. Romero that he wrote and directed that isn't part of the Living Dead franchise. Though there's some iffy acting, the premise is good and it features an appearance and tracks by The Misfits. Cool! This is not a straight up slasher flick, it's more of psychological horror. Only released here in the States on video, it's too bad it's a little hard to come by. It deserves a better place in film history.

TV | Vera | Fail

What the...?!? This is so confusingly written that it ruins it. Maybe the books were good, but they made mincemeat of the tv series.

TV | Endgame | Pass

Neat concept and it's pretty slick, if rather contrived. Sometimes that's distracting, but mostly it's not.

Movie | At Middleton | Fail

A marvelous cast and nice, simple premise don't make up for the bizarre dialogue and script. That being said, I think some people would really like this little movie. Just not us and we're big Farmiga and Garcia fans.

TV | Accidentally on Purpose | Fail

Could have been good, but ruined by bad writing and a dreadfully intrusive laugh track.

Movie | Oz the Great and Powerful | Pass

I'm going to figure this was just miscast and dialogue that was difficult to deliver instead of poor acting, because it didn't come across so well. There's a problem when the most enjoyable characters are a tiny girl made of porcelain and a badly animated flying monkey in a bellhop uniform. The visuals, action scenes and the ending are the only things that really kept us going.