Movies you've just watched

[Air Master Burst]

Stupid Trek any day of the

Don't say anything bad about Star Trek. There's nothing wrong with the modern film trilogy with Chris Pine.

Oh sweetie, bless your heart, but no. Even my beloved Karl Urban couldn't save them.

Kirk laughing and finger-gunning while gleefully slaughtering defensless enemies in the Kobayashi Maru is the perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with modern Trek. Original Recipe Kirk cheated by reprogramming it to AVOID violence, because it's fucking STAR TREK.

Also I feel like the least they could do, after the monkey's paw curled up when I wished they'd make some real superhero movies for a change when I was a kid, is put Squirrel Girl or Booster Gold into something finally. .

I used to want Squirrel Girl too because she's my all-time favorite, but after seeing how dirty they did Mr. Immortal and Damage Control I'd really rather they didn't.

Was actually a little interested in watching the Captain Marvel capeshit. No, not that Captain Marvel, the real one. The kid who got his powers from a wizard.

It's great, mostly because Zachary Levi is still like the nicest most delightful guy in the world. I'll watch anything with him in it.

[BIL]

Hey, at least Beyond was actually pretty good. But if anything, at least the modern film trilogy is miles better than whatever Lucasfilm and Disney came up with for Star Wars' modern trilogy.

I never saw Beyond 3; I suppose I couldn't see... (mff! ) beyond my disappointment with ID! LOLOLOLOLOL

TBH, if KurtzTrek is [insert godawful STI], KennedyWarz is flat-out brain-death. I'm sorry, I know this is really insensitive language, but there's simply no better metaphor for the systematic breakdown that occurred when two obscenely overpaid hacks got into a multi-billion dollar slapfight over who had the COOLEST TRILOGY, while the higher-ups pushed MUH WIMMENZ or whatever the fuck else at any and all cost. I like women! I like men too, albeit for starkly differing reasons! You know what I dislike? Shitty movies, shitty shows, and shitty books shitting up my shitting life with their IDPOL-licking, checkbox-ticking, diarrhoea-shitting abyssal void of any and all quality control :O

Fuck!

Oh, hey - remember the dumpster monster from Star Wars? The one that dunks Luke? I bet you thought it was just some feral beast that found its way into delicious food waste. Nope! It's actually a queer Force Priestess who was merely baptising Luke in the tradition of her people, having recognised his great potential. What? No I'm not making this up - what kind of mean-spirited, sadistic churl do you think I am, young x93?! (tbh that's such an idiotic idea, I'm deeply impressed!)

Well actually there are better metaphors for this situation, but they are also horrific, and truly unbecoming to invoke here. What I'm saying is though, this is some systemically decayed shit. 3; See also Game of Thrones' last couple seasons.

History will portray us as a pop-cultural people mongled beyond all consolation.

Anyway though, silly pop guff ultimately. The old stuff's still good! Main thing is to keep your pecker up! Once that starts going downhill, then you got real problems x93-kun! Sensible diet and exercise, and not too much SPAWK SMASH, that's the ticket.

We live in a time with more cool shit than one man can possibly consume. These are always so rad, and I don't think I got around to this one. Deffo seen the first two - who can forget when homie demonstrates his superhuman killing prowess by not only keeping his rod while being threatened by multiple armed men, but getting his bird off with a right good tatami mat rogering, as his would-be assailants uneasliy stand around waiting for him to finish?

A man of many talents. This one does go a bit back to the origin of how he became the executioner.

TBH I always assumed it was because he kills and fucks so good, the shogun was like "God damn! Get this muhfucka a job before my fine bitches jump all over he dick and he kills/fucks me too!" Will be excellent to hear the full story!

[xxx1993]

Whatever. Anyway, back to Avatar. Remember that time at the Golden Globes, when everyone laughed at Arnold Schwarzenegger referring to the movie as “Abadah”?

[BIL]

Last time I laughed at AHNULD was when the daft lummox knocked up his maid while married to lovable MUHRIA

[Air Master Burst]

Last time I laughed at AHNULD was when the daft lummox knocked up his maid while married to lovable MUHRIA

I'm still convinced this was all a ploy to make him electable to republicans because it was the only way to sell him as a straight man after starring in Commando and Predator.

[Lander]

Jesus, I take a one night film break to recover from Die H4rd and - [KRAKOOM, stock footage of the Eiffel Tower exploding] walk back into a pop culture warzone. WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE, JOOOOHN!

All I really remember of New Trek outside of lens flare, kaboom, and nanoswords, is the ever-lovable Simon Pegg as Scotty.
More forgettable modern re-chews, with nothing even beginning to approach the heights of British Shakespeare Actor (a.k.a. the actual title on his dressing room door during the first season of TNG ), or even the lesser-liked versions of the show.

As for New Wars, I'm happy having jumped off after the prequels and eventually gone back to catch up on the original three. That dianoga link can only be described as egregious.

[BIL]

I'm still convinced this was all a ploy to make him electable to republicans because it was the only way to sell him as a straight man after starring in Commando and Predator.

[Mischief Maker]

I'm still convinced this was all a ploy to make him electable to republicans because it was the only way to sell him as a straight man after starring in Commando and Predator.

The sad thing is, at the time he was a major proponent of putting off CA's proposed fuel efficiency standards (being a Republican, natch) because supposedly Hydrogen Fuel Cells were right around the corner.

To boost that talking point, he made it a key plot point in Terminator 3 that terminators are powered by hydrogen fuel cells:

As if this film wasn't cringe enough without the political angle.
Oh wow, he used the hydrogen fuel cell to save the day. yay.

[BryanM]

Another fundamental problem with Star Wars, is The Force. From a purely objective craftsmanship view, it was perfect for the old movies: It was subtle, only like four characters could use it, and only the old monsters like Yoda or Sidious could do any special effects with it. Magic was magical in the original trilogy.

Come the prequels where you're tripping over a jedi every three steps, and every single frame has twelve special effects in it.... it's a terrible design. Obviously wizards would creep into everything and overshadow all the mundane losers who don't matter, if you let them through the door in any number.

(See also: The Jedi class in Star Wars Galaxies, pre and post new game experience.)

In a superhero movie, you don't want all your characters to have the exact same powerset. You give them lateral power sets, so people can remember who the hell they are and so they're not just a ranking of apples to apples raw power level against each other. As risible as the gimmick laser swords are, how the hell else do they differentiate any of the characters besides their looks?

Obviously the correct thing to do from an artistic standpoint is to just make a new franchise inspired by Star Wars instead. You're not weighed down by the baggage that came before, you could make something that's actually appealing besides being based on legacy cardboard people in a special effects movie, you're not weighed down by everyone's expectations that are all different from one another's. But that would involve risk and a bit of creativity. A writer who understands fantasy space adventure and gives a shit.

Please gaze upon this Baby Yoda and clap. That's as good as you'll ever get, Wars fans.

<(o_O)>

[Air Master Burst]

Another fundamental problem with Star Wars, is The Force. From a purely objective craftsmanship view, it was perfect for the old movies: It was subtle, only like four characters could use it, and only the old monsters like Yoda or Sidious could do any special effects with it. Magic was magical in the original trilogy.

While I tend to agree with this line of thought, I do find it interesting that my all-time favorite piece of Star Wars media is the 2D Clone Wars by Genndy Tartakovsky; wherein the jedi are all essentially super saiyans and it's dope as fuck.

My issue with the force has always been the whole "balance" aspect, because at no point does there ever appear to be such a thing; the pendulum just swings wildly back and forth. Also everything about the prequels, but you know.

[GaijinPunch]

A man of many talents. This one does go a bit back to the origin of how he became the executioner.

TBH I always assumed it was because he kills and fucks so good, the shogun was like "God damn! Get this muhfucka a job before my fine bitches jump all over he dick and he kills/fucks me too!" Will be excellent to hear the full story!

That's actually a pretty good summary! There's a few details they throw in though.

[null1024]

Just saw Avatar 2, in IMAX 3D.

The writing is... not good. Jake is relentlessly stupid the entire time and I'm pretty sure I've agreed with ZERO of his decisions, which is a TERRIBLE thing for a main character. Our main villain is easily the most interesting character by far and gets actual character development and like, even if the entire reason he exists is genuinely kind of stupid, he's 100% the best handled character. The movie is too short to tell all of the stories that it tries to tell [there are a lot of subplots, a bunch of which are clear sequel-bait because there's supposed to be like five of these movies], while too long anyway because it doesn't tell any of them that well.
I really ended up wishing the movie would have picked one of its major subplots and stuck to it, which would have made for a leaner, more entertaining, better paced movie. There are a fuckton of characters and the movie kind of forgets about most of them and it's dumb.
Also, there's a bunch of weird tonal whiplash, with exciting and violent action scenes interspersed with a few scenes that are super schlocky shit for the kids in the audience.
A bunch of the main plot involves the super hamfisted whaling bit where it's basically sperm whale hunting except they're fucking up sapient pacifist alien whales. Genuinely just fucking something else how they really wanted to hyper drive home that the humans aren't just the bad guys [which like, yeah, they should be definite bad guys in this story about violating this pristine jungle moon for resources after humans fucked up Earth to the point where they want to fucking move off world], they are the literal worst and will hyper-murder these majestic creatures for some magic brain goo.

the ending is also kind of really dumb

spoilers:

Spoiler

was genuinely hoping Jake fucking died after how much he fucked up; his daughter being the chosen of the planet and saving the day was some super lame shit
Spider fucking saving his cloned-Navi dad was super goofy and even though I liked the guy, he really should have stayed dead there, especially with the context that I'm pretty sure he's supposed to remain the villain throughout the rest of the franchise and I have no idea how they'd keep that going for 3 more movies

HOWEVER, I didn't go for the plot. I explicitly wanted a feast for the senses, and the movie largely delivers. Pretty much every scene with water in it is stunning, and my friend said something to the effect of, "most movies, I don't believe the budget was that high. Here, I fucking believe it," and like, he's right.
I kind of wish there were more industrial shots, because I really like the mechanical design in the movie, it's really cool. That was something I remember super vividly about the first movie, and it was a bit disappointing to see that toned down. But again, water. Man, I can't get over how pretty all the water shots were.
I also like how the 3D is well handled and nothing beyond atmospheric effects punch out through the screen, which look great.

One major dumb thing with the visuals was that the movie kept changing framerate. Most of it ran in high framerate [48fps?], but a bunch of shots would cut to 24fps for no reason at all and it was jarring every single time. Alas.
oh, and I wish they did some gamma correction for how dim the 3D glasses made everything -- all the water scenes were fine since they're all super bright, but nearly everything else seemed way too dim

tl;dr: mediocre movie, but very pretty; weird framerate issues

[BIL]

Another fundamental problem with Star Wars, is The Force. From a purely objective craftsmanship view, it was perfect for the old movies: It was subtle, only like four characters could use it, and only the old monsters like Yoda or Sidious could do any special effects with it. Magic was magical in the original trilogy.

Even random dumpster squids are magical now!

[xxx1993]

The new Avatar kinda felt like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever also.

[Herr Schatten]

Le petit Nicolas (2022)

I honestly have no idea how well-known the stories of Nicolas, a french primary school boy in the 1950s, are outside of Europe’s, or even just outside of France. The books used to be among my absolute favourites when I was a kid, so I was delighted when I finally had the chance to catch this movie in a theater.

Interestingly, it’s not primarily a movie about its titular hero, but rather a movie about his creation as well as his creators René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé, and the stories of their lives. These broader story arcs are interspersed with adaptations of some of the most iconic stories from the books then. It’s a hard movie to place, because even though the stories are aimed at kids, the lives of the artists definitely aren’t, and difficult topics like abuse at home and of course WW2 are more than just hinted at. However, somehow it still works, striking a good balance between naive fun and adult themes.

Artistically, this must be the most stunning movie I’ve seen in years, as the whole thing is rendered meticulously recreating Sempé’s unique style of drawing and watercolours. It’s mindblowingly charming. Highly recommended!

[Ixmucane2]

Avatar 2

Null1024 already wrote 80% of my review, I only have a few points:

• Floating mountains remain silly, but they are used sparingly.
• Action/combat scenes, and there are a lot, are magnificently well designed and well shot: far more understandable, realistic and serious than current high-budget spectacle standards.
• The plot has a very high density of bad clichés (for example, the "motivational" death of SPOILER at an arbitrary point and the racist attitude of the sea people towards the useless forest halfbloods, until they bond together for no good reason) that are even worse than the large scale structural defects.

[BurlyHeart]

A Nightmare Before Christmas

Not sure how this eluded me over the years, but it was a joy from start to finish. Got the shock of my life when I seen it was made in 1993

[BryanM]

It's to Burton's credit that he hasn't allowed the mouse to exploit Nightmare as badly as some other franchises. Talk of a sequel always never seems to lead anywhere. You have a videogame+book 'sequel', some appearances in Kingdom Hearts, the typical merchandising, and that's it.

Corpse Bride could never really live up to its predecessor.

....... I still wanna see Beetlejuice 2. What will they do? How much of a pale tired imitation of the original will it be with everyone 90+ years old now? They going with that Beetlejuice on the beach idea? .... I'm seriously messed up, it's like wanting to see a car wreck...

[Lander]

Die Hard 5: A Good Day To Die Hard - Extended Cut
[This space intentionally left blank]

First Blood, a.k.a. Rambo: First Blood Part I
Having formed my entire view of the character around First Blood Part II and the subsequent pop-culture enshrinement of that film's iconography, going back and watching Part 1 was a surprise.
I was expecting a similar deployment in the field rather than the decidedly more introspective home front, with a melancholy opener foreshadowing quite a different kind of film.

Following the intro, the first half felt like an inverted horror movie - reminiscent of Predator, but with the roles reversed. There's an interesting duality at play there, with Rambo and the cops filling the roles of both protagonist and antagonist in parallel, leaving the viewer to puzzle out the balance between petty hubris and continually escalating retaliation.
I wasn't expecting Power Abuse Cop to bite it so early and cede main villain role to the sheriff, but it made a good bookend between the predator chapter and the ensuing manhunt. And of course, seeing smarmy Hank from Twin Peaks get owned is evergreen

The sheriff - while straightforward with it - filled his oppositional role well, taking the initial expectation of being the level-headed bossman, then throwing it to the wind along with his precious peace via ever-greater helpings of hubris.
Of particular note was the scene when he finds out Rambo is still at large - no fancy camera cut or perspiring close-up, just a slow-rise to standing in disbelief at the back of the shot. Excellent stuff.

And of course, that impassioned ending speech. Some of the best acting I've seen out of old Stallone, with some really vivid and gruesome imagery present. A great melancholic cap-off, with the credits theme leaving you to sit and think a while.

Honourable mention to the radical 60s flashback mustache, and long-standing tradition of bandanas and infinite ammo belts

[BIL]

Following the intro, the first half felt like an inverted horror movie - reminiscent of Predator, but with the roles reversed. There's an interesting duality at play there, with Rambo and the cops filling the roles of both protagonist and antagonist in parallel, leaving the viewer to puzzle out the balance between petty hubris and continually escalating retaliation.

Spot-on. Marvelous film... also a friend of ours.

Johnny's line about commanding million-dollar vehicles in Vietnam, and not being able to get a job parking cars back home And those poor prick cops & national guard, pit against a needlessly enraged war machine, for no greater reason than the top brass's arrogance. A bi-lateral kitchen sink plaintiveness not really present later in the character's run.

The subsequent Rambos might as well be a different series (indeed, with the novel's ending, it's not too far-fetched to call them repurposed revenants; Universal Soldiers, if you will!) - though I don't think they plumb the farcical depths of other hyper-extended properties. I enjoy 2+3's quintessential "FAWK YEAAAA" throwback triumphalism (dedicated to the gallant Mujahideen, you say? blimey! between this and Living Daylights, it's Jimmy & Johnny - AND THEIR NEW MATES! - vs IVAN TEH GROUCHY BEAR! ). And 4's embrace of blood-simple mercenary ultraviolence is great when I'm in the mood for something videogamey, ala REC or The Raid's respective Biohazard/Donkey Kong tributes.

Even Last Blood's cartel-flavoured horrorshow is at least committed to the bit, with some notable George C. Scott-esque OLDMANFORCE from Sly.

Also, setting Rambo 4's ending battle - the nearest to Live Action Metal Slug yet seen, or perhaps a Live Action Operation Wolf, Sly pushing his Get Point System into the red, fresh truckloads of grunts slaughtered along with the vehicles they ride in on before they can finish spawning - to various ROCKIN VG CHOONZ is an inexhaustible cat/keys pleasure.

Let's not lie to ourselves lads, y'all KNOW I'm givin you TEH CHUB

Power Abuse Cop

Best new supervillain of this decade, or tbh any decade!

[xxx1993]

Wasn't Operation Wolf inspired by Rambo?

[BIL]

I don't think I've seen any dev commentary on Wolf; looking at its various materials, I get a Delta Force vibe; the game being more of an SAS/SEAL civilian hostage rescue, than a one-man bulldozer into enemy territory lookin' for POWs, ala Rambo II.

It's certainly within that general 1980s fin-de-siecle of 1337 NATO dudes sorting out the flagging commies and their dastardly buttbuddies, though! And Rambo was already well and truly synonymous for "badass soldier dude" by '87, so I've no doubt the devs would've been well aware of Sly's exploits.

SNK's Ikari was definitely Rambo-influenced, specifically by Rambo II. They'd intended to license that film, but the deal fell through, leaving lots of conspicuous nods - bit like Sunsoft's would-be Terminator license, Raf World. Rambo II's Japanese subtitle is "Ikari no Dasshutsu / The Furious Escape," hence "Ikari / Fury," the jungle setting, and Ralf's bare-chested, machinegun-toting persona. I wonder if P2 woulda been the chick or maybe Trautman, haha.

Come to think of it, I wonder if Datsugoku/POW might've had a similar genesis via the Missing In Action films. "BWADDOCK!"

All this and more via the indispensable blackoak's SNK THE GOLDEN AGE translation.

Also, everyone should watch ELECTRIC BOOGALOO, the Cannon films doc - knowingly affectionate, chock full of glorious 80s action schlock, and quite informative too! Also Mathilda Boobs from Life Force! And a few genuinely impactful films those crazy Israeli fucks managed to finance, like the Jon Voight-starring prison escape thriller Runaway Train! And Breakin 2 obviously.

BOOBS! (◎w◎;) WATCH OUT X93-KUN (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

BATTLE TRAIN.MP3 (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

READY 2 FIGHT! READY 2 KILL! READY 2 DIE! ♫ (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

[Air Master Burst]

First Blood, a.k.a. Rambo: First Blood Part I
Having formed my entire view of the character around First Blood Part II and the subsequent pop-culture enshrinement of that film's iconography, going back and watching Part 1 was a surprise.
I was expecting a similar deployment in the field rather than the decidedly more introspective home front, with a melancholy opener foreshadowing quite a different kind of film.

Yeah, the second one was cashing in on the massive 80s action trend of taking a mulligan on the whole Vietnam war. WE COULD TOTALLY WIN THIS TIME YOU GUYS WE JUST NEED MORE ROIDED-OUT SHIRTLESS BEEFCAKE!

Rambo 4 is just fantastically terrible from start to finish. Rambo might have fewer lines of dialogue than any non-mute protagonist in cinema history, and all of them are grunted so gutturally you can't understand a thing he says. The story makes no sense, but it doesn't really have to, because the violence here is gloriously top-notch! Fortunately, it knows you only came for the jeep-mounted machine gun scene and delivers the head-poppings you crave en masse.

Bonus points for that insane moment where a geriatric John Rambo somehow OUTRUNS A 6-TON EARTHQUAKE BOMB BLAST ON FOOT, presumably because it was 4:57 and he really had to catch the early bird special at the local diner.

ETA: Shockingly, Missing In Action actually came out BEFORE Rambo 2. I guess it made enough money that Sly decided to unabashedly rip it off.

[Lander]

Rambo: First Blood Part II
We begin as we mean to continue... With an EXPLOSION!

As with Aliens, the sequel is by no means the same mode of art as its predecessor. But brother, what an action film!
It lives right in that golden niche of being early enough that all the prop, set and effects work has to be done the hard way, but high-budget enough that said work is all done right and looks great.

Another multi-arc story, this time comprising an infiltration-capture-escape structure that's become rather comfy after years of Metal Gear.
I like that John is still portrayed as awkward and detached during his time on civvie street, settling into a more comfortable gruffness in the field, and eventually rising to full power hero stride when the chips are down.
The initial dramatic spike followed by slow-burn intensity had me second-guessing my memory of the action, but the final third went and exceeded it in sheer one-man-army spectacle. Bravo.

It feels like they tried to go for a similar emotional twist with Rambo's closing speech and walk-away, which landed well, but didn't have the same gravitas as the original on account of being such a tonally different film.
All in all, thoroughly entertaining. Big grins all round by the time Sly's little brother started crooning his way through the cheesetastic outro song.

Seeing all of the amazing cut-to-shit-exploding editing puts Weird Al's affectionate send-up of the film in even more entertaining context too (fuck me, that clip was uploaded 16 years ago. 16 years of LAUGHT : D)
Not to mention that one brief shot of the rooster - who bravely gave his life in the name of blowing shit up - going on to inspire the enduringly goofy archery scene from Hot Shots 2. That one hasn't aged quite so well as I remember, but is still good for a sensible chuckle.

Spot-on. Marvelous film... also a friend of ours.

I knew something was up! Didn't catch the slow-fall, but that YEARRGH AUGH GHAWD has drilled its way in through hours of second-hand Golden Axe exposure.

The subsequent Rambos might as well be a different series (indeed, with the novel's ending, it's not too far-fetched to call them repurposed revenants; Universal Soldiers, if you will!) - though I don't think they plumb the farcical depths of other hyper-extended properties. I enjoy 2+3's quintessential "FAWK YEAAAA" throwback triumphalism (dedicated to the gallant Mujahideen, you say? blimey! between this and Living Daylights, it's Jimmy & Johnny - AND THEIR NEW MATES! - vs IVAN TEH GROUCHY BEAR! ). And 4's embrace of blood-simple mercenary ultraviolence is great when I'm in the mood for something videogamey, ala REC or The Raid's respective Biohazard/Donkey Kong tributes.

What's this I see, a bit of cheeky Van Damme allusion? I had the Game Boy version of that as a lad - instilled in me an appreciation for Turrican that would go on to be most formative. Naff all to do with the film though, license aside.

It feels like Rambo's trajectory from artful roots into indulgent action has been quite smooth so far, so I look forward to more quality action to come.

And I'd never thought of The Raid (fuck yeah sick movie) as a Donkey Kong analog, but the glove fits well enough. I suppose it has a barrel too, in the form of LETHAL FRIDGE BOMB TECHNIQUE.

Also, setting Rambo 4's ending battle - the nearest to Live Action Metal Slug yet seen, or perhaps a Live Action Operation Wolf, Sly pushing his Get Point System into the red, fresh truckloads of grunts slaughtered along with the vehicles they ride in on before they can finish spawning - to various ROCKIN VG CHOONZ is an inexhaustible cat/keys pleasure.

Let's not lie to ourselves lads, y'all KNOW I'm givin you TEH CHUB

This was some A-grade mind poison to watch 2's explosive final third with internal SNK soundboard in full swing, with some cracking Ketsui work in there befitting a Slug Copter superplay. Translator's Note: Ketsui means Very Cool Helicopter

I'd warrant there's enough material in there for an enterprising shitposter to craft an incredible edit.

I want... What they want... And every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave everything he had, wants!

Spoiler

[chak] HEAVY MACHINE GUN! *BRAKAKAKAKAKA* EEAAAAAAAARRRGGGG!!

BOOBS! (◎w◎;) WATCH OUT X93-KUN (■｀w´■)

The most American movie clip I've seen all year. OH SAY CAN YOU SEEEE, BY THE DAWN'S EAR-LY LIIIIGHT.
Natty new avatar btw. I might have to break out blender and give the blue boi a glow-up for the new year.

Rambo 4 is just fantastically terrible from start to finish. Rambo might have fewer lines of dialogue than any non-mute protagonist in cinema history, and all of them are grunted so gutturally you can't understand a thing he says. The story makes no sense, but it doesn't really have to, because the violence here is gloriously top-notch! Fortunately, it knows you only came for the jeep-mounted machine gun scene and delivers the head-poppings you crave en masse.

I stopped that scene halfway since I plan to watch the film in full, but god damn that is some brutal violence. Dudes getting bisected by heavy machine gun fire is exactly what was missing from the action genre's toothless late-middle period.

[xxx1993]

I don't think I've seen any dev commentary on Wolf; looking at its various materials, I get a Delta Force vibe; the game being more of an SAS/SEAL civilian hostage rescue, than a one-man bulldozer into enemy territory lookin' for POWs, ala Rambo II.

The first Operation Wolf felt more like Rambo: First Blood Part II while Operation Thunderbolt felt like The Delta Force.

[GaijinPunch]

North by Northwest [1959]

Part road movie, part crime thriller - filmed in Technicolor. Cary Grant plays an advertising man who finds himself in over his head when he's mistaken as an agent by foreign spies. My knowledge of films circa the 1950's is sparse, but I dare say there are some pretty amazing feats in this. The infamous biplane scene which is featured on some of the movie art is excellent. Maybe I'm a huge dork, but the way the previously shot background screen when used in car/train shots is actually synced up with the foreground has aged decently - something 70s through 90's TV could have taken a lesson from. Running time is 2:16, but doesn't feel too stretched out. Even so, there are many scenes in which Hitchcock is most definitely not in a hurry to get through.

[BIL]

And I'd never thought of The Raid (fuck yeah sick movie) as a Donkey Kong analog, but the glove fits well enough. I suppose it has a barrel too, in the form of LETHAL FRIDGE BOMB TECHNIQUE.

And the sledgehammer, uh I mean it's an axe, but it could be a sledge, if you squint while they're demolishing that floor! And its "How High Can You Get?" premise, with the big ugly fucker at the top of Danger Building regularly dispatching hordes of lethal interceptors our intrepid jumping professional's way. (for this production, the Pie Factory will be portrayed by a crack laboratory )

I totally forgot the third pillar of my Authentic VG Action Trilogy: Taken, aka Super Mario Bros The Movie! "Thank you for stomping everyone to death Liam Neeson! But your daughter is in another whorehouse!"

This was some A-grade mind poison to watch 2's explosive final third with internal SNK soundboard in full swing, with some cracking Ketsui work in there befitting a Slug Copter superplay. Translator's Note: Ketsui means Very Cool Helicopter

I'd warrant there's enough material in there for an enterprising shitposter to craft an incredible edit.

I'm gonna have to sort out a definitive Director's Cut (to be followed by a Special Edition, and Final Cut!) with hardcoded Slug SFX+BGM, it really is a sublime translation of AC-calibre LAST SPRINGSTEEN. Some might mistake it for the drudgery of a modern Turret Sequence, but fuck that! Rambo and friends have all of 2HP to work with, he damn near dropped his credit there.

Slug really made those stock SFX its own, I'd wager it's impossible for anyone who's spent time with Nazca's game to not instantly recall it elsewhere. Augh! YAaAaAaAa!

Natty new avatar btw. I might have to break out blender and give the blue boi a glow-up for the new year.

Cheers! I have a hell of a time getting away from my old standby, usually I OCD my way back to it in seconds.

[GaijinPunch]

Paris is Burning [1990]

A gem of a documentary. Filmed mostly in 1987 with a small follow up in 1989, takes an inside look into the world of drag queens in New York City, focusing mainly on the competitions in the form of balls [as in events, duh]. I am generally impressed by more with less, and as members of two marginalized groups, the creativity here is quite astounding. Quite a few aspects of their lives is covered, including the fact that most of them were flat broke. In my formative years I had friends that were the modern day equivalent: club kids. I know they did most of their shopping in bargain bins at Salvation Army or of course, shop lifted. The closest thing to this I've seen in recent years was a drag show in Cuba, knowing that all outfits were created, like those in the film, without the internet or Amazon. Quite a few story arcs, but very few happy endings. This is set while AIDS was still quite a scare, although not as bad as 4 years prior, and public opinion a FAR cry from what it is today.

[Air Master Burst]

I totally forgot the third pillar of my Authentic VG Action Trilogy: Taken, aka Super Mario Bros The Movie! "Thank you for stomping everyone to death Liam Neeson! But your daughter is in another whorehouse!"

Hardcore Henry is worth a shot, too, as it's essentially Boomer Shooter: The Motion Picture. They basically just took the delightfully silly first-person sequence from Doom and made an entire movie like that. If they'd made any attempt at a coherent plot or entertaining dialogue this thing would be a modern classic.

[BIL]

Oh yeah, I quite enjoyed Henry. Loved how they deployed Sharlto Copley; in that respect and others, it was genuinely a lot more fun and knowing than I'd expected. Kinda Edge of Tomorrow awareness of how videogame "Super Soldiers" (or Superplayers) are made: death and rebirth, lots of it. Even reminded me of Namco's First Person Puncher Breakdown, at times, both in fisticuffs and general surreality.

This bit (early film spoilers) is 100% DECO miniboss madness, loved it.

Oh hey waddup Burny-kun (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

I'd also mention practical effects master Jan Svankmajer's adaptations of Alice in Wonderland (Neco z Alenky) and Faust as the best Silent Hill movies, bar-none. Wonderfully handmade dark psycho-surrealism.