Nine years ago the first movie came out, and it was not only accurate to the comics, but it was very stylish in its execution. Nevertheless, at the same time, it had a sense of realism about it as the actors looked like they were there in their environments. All four stories were nothing short of fantastic and all of the main players were given great development. A Dame to Kill For has some really great moments of style with it, but it does lack the substance. That does not make it a bad movie at all, but something is missing. For one thing, it looks like the characters are just standing in front of a green screen rather than the environment being there. Not only that, but the movie feels like it is just CGI instead of live action. Thankfully, there is still some great characterization to be found, even if it is lacking compared to the first one. Marv is great, Nancy is fantastic, Ava is awesome, Miho is bad ass, and Johnny rocks. The show is easily stolen by Roark though as Powers Boothe is just down right amazing. In fact, if it weren't for him, the movie would have fallen apart as the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable, especially, and sadly, Dwight. Josh Brolin is just no Dwight. The stories themselves are weaker than those in the first one, with "A Dame to Kill For" being the weakest of the main three, but "Just Another Saturday Night" is a poor intro compared to "The Customer is Always Right" from the first movie. Thankfully, both "Nancy's Last Dance" and "The Long Bad Night" are well done. Overall, Sin City 2 is a good ride, but fails to live up to the first one as most sequels do. Taking nine years did not help either. If you hated the first movie though, there is no reason to waste your time with this one as you will find nothing to praise and will probably complain about the subpar acting. I give this stylish adaptation of a comic a 6/10 stars. If they decide to adapt more stories, they need to do it in the next few years or just forget about it all together.

EDIT: So the more I think about this movie, the more I start to think about its flaws. The endings to the Nancy and Johnny stories just end so damn abruptly to the point that both stories feel incomplete. Not just that, but Nancy looks perfectly normal in "The Hard Goodbye" but she is completely different here, and obviously THG has to take place after this one. That completely jacks up continuity between the stories to the point that maybe "A Dame to Kill For" was the best story in the movie as it felt the most complete despite my issues with it.

Hopefully, the BD release will separate the stories like they did with the first one as the flow in this one just feels off as opposed to it feeling natural in the first one.

Day 6:

Note: My Disney Review series has officially started back up, but due to school, there will be one or two a day AT BEST. Also, due to a sudden disinterest in watching them in order, I am changing things up a bit. The movies will be reviewed in a random order.

Toy Story (1996):

http://animationfascination.files.wo.../toy_story.jpg

From what I've heard, Toy Story was the first full-length cgi animated movie. Basically, Toy Story kicked of a whole new way to make movies. Anyway, let's take a look at the film.

First off, if you HAVEN'T seen this movie, go to your nearest Wal-mart, pick up a copy, and watch it while contemplating the fact that you childhood wasn't complete until now. If you have seen the movie, you would know that the movie is a about a cowboy who becomes jealous of a new spaceman, and tries to have him killed. The two get kidnapped, and they have to work together to escape so they can get back to their owner, Andy.

I have to say, this movie is fantastic! The story is great. The characters are great. Even the cast is great!

I give this film a 8/ 10.

Predator - We got to see this at the Alamo Drafthouse tonight, so it was great to watch it on the big screen for the first time ever. Unfortunately, the version they were showing was Fox's new remaster that makes Dillon look like he is a wax figure, especially in the beginning of the movie. My god it is terrible looking. Aside from that though, the movie looks good. The story is simplistic, but the movie does something different with the 80s action cliches and makes it into its own thing. The effects are incredible, especially on the Predator, and the movie is just an action packed enjoyable roller coaster ride with great moments of development and one liners. Yeah, Arnold's character shields are turned on to full, but that does not take away from its overall enjoyment. I give this movie an 8/10 and it is easily one of Arnold's best movies, if not his best.

I'm loving the Ghostbusters re-release. Just finished watching it for the second time this weekend. Still as close to a perfect film as it ever was when I saw it first run. It's wonderful on the big screen.

Day 7:

Sky High (2005):

http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/10/10/11.../5/628x471.jpg

Basically, this film is Harry Potter if all the wizards were superheroes. The film is about a teen whose parents are famous superheroes. The teen goes to a school for superheroes. The problem? He doesn't have superpowers (yet).

It is an enjoyable film for what it is. A typical Disney family film.

I give this movie a 7.7 out of 10.

Still not sure why they just didn't call it Super Hero High instead of the name of a Japanese movie.

The Mighty Ducks:

I'm not that big on sports movies but this one's an old childhood favorite. The story may be predictable & the acting isn't too great but all the heart is where it needs to be and it still makes me smile. 7/10.

Day 8:

The Lion King 1/2 (2004):

http://whatculture.com/wp-content/up...6103385907.jpg

Ok. This has got to be the BEST Disney sequel that I have seen. Basically, it is the events of The Lion King (1994) (Which I will review next week) from Timon and Pumba's perspective. The opening song, "Dig A Tunnel", is extremely catchy. Also, this movie contains one of the BEST scenes in the entire Lion King trilogy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN0x1zdX33I

I give this movie a 7.9 out of 10

Lucy: Woah this is a trippy movie.
Have you heard that humans only use ten percent of their brains? Well, of course that's fake, but nobody bothered to tell that to this movie.
After an accident involving a new drug a woman called Lucy begins to exponentially use more and more of her brain, something that develops into the realms of the superhuman, phylosophical and even supernatural.

First things first, don't enter this movie expecting any semblance of scientific accuracy, it has its own set of rules and won't bother playing by ours, so keep your logical mind away and enter your more fantastical state of mind.
Lucy plays more as an action thriller than a sci fi flick, there are tons of action scenes and an incredibly accelerated pace, it runs for barely 90 minutes and it wastes no time, it's high on adrenaline and the sequences pay off, it's a shame that most of them were shown on the trailers though.

All in all it's a pretty good action flick, and would be a treat with some popcorn, just don't think too hard about it's logic, if you need to overthink something direct that energy towards it's message instead.

Day 9:

The Lion King (1994):

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...characters.jpg

1.) If you haven't seen this movie, go to the store, buy a copy, and watch it. NOW!

2.) This movie is basically Hamlet with animals.

A new king is born, and the uncle gets jealous. So, the crazy uncle sings a badass song bout how he is going to kill the king and his son.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkU23m6yX04

The uncle succeeds in killing the king (NOO!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGtJn-L5xEs

The son runs away and lives with a guys. He is then found by his childhood friend, and seemingly has sex with her (while the two guys watch and sings a song about it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRCjylRkG_c

The son finally accepts that he has to face his past, goes to fight his crazy-ass uncle, and kills him while his friends do the hula and fight of the crazy uncle's minions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdPKsWyWj2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRiQY7_sUeQ

So... There you have it. That is The Lion King in a nutshell.

This movie is freaking amazing. I give it a 9/10.

Tune in next week for The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

Had a chance to finally see the new Godzilla.

I... really didn't like this film.

Way too little monster action for my tastes. I know the ideal structure is to pace things out in order to build suspense but when they do that in other creature flicks ("Aliens," "Jaws," the original '54 Gojira) the story is still interesting enough to keep me invested in things between monster appearances. I didn't care about any of the humans or their antics in this new film at all.

I was especially disappointed with the deceptive advertising- expected Bryan Cranston to be our main character but instead about 80% of the story follows that kid from "Kick-Ass." and he SUCKS. Its like even he can't be bothered to care about whats happening in the film.

4/10.

:rolleyes

I really don't understand why this is an issue. You did not expect him to just die, which is what made it even better. Would you rather they gave you the entire movie in the trailer like Transcendence and TASM2?

Anyway, I watched GMK and Megaguirus today. Both are whatever I said they were a few months ago (9 for GMK and I think 4 for Mega).

I personally have no problems with him dying, but it doesn't do the film or its advertising any favours when he gets replaced by one of the most wooden performances I've seen in a film in years.

The death would've only been "good" had he not been by far the most interesting character of the movie and his death resulted in a cast of mundane as heck characters taking over for the rest of the film.

THe man was a soldier. Do you really think he would not have a wooden personality?

I thought Serizawa was the most interesting character of the movie.

Anyway, this is straight up a classic Godzilla movie. Average human characters, only little bits of Godzilla sprinkled throughout the movie, short battle in the middle, and a big battle at the end.

I can only assume you don't actually personally know any soldiers then.

I do and they are some of the most overly serious, hard to make laugh, wooden individuals I have ever met. One of them would do nothing but talk about his experience as a Marine. Another would do nothing but complain he did not feel he was being treated like gold because he was in the military.

So we ended up getting to see Ghostbusters tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse and it was freaking awesome on the big screen. Sony's brand new 4K print looks down right gorgeous and fixes all of the issues I had with their BD from five years ago. The grain during the scene when the ghosts are freed has been significantly toned down to the point that it barely exists. The movie itself is fantastic, but I feel ashamed as I just got Ray's dream sequence. :lol Overall, I give this movie a great big 8/10 stars.

2000's "X-Men":

BOY this did not age well. The story & pacing are weak, the costumes are lame & the action is incredibly lackluster.

The cast is still very good (with one ugly wigged exception), its such a shame most of them didn't get any character development.

5/10.

Day 10 (Part 1):

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998):

http://jasmine-lol.webs.com/kovukiara.jpg

This movie, after close examination, is literally the same thing as the first movie. Child goes where she isn't supposed to, gets herself into trouble, evil villain wants to kill the king, and both good and evil end up fighting. The difference is that this movie is based off of Romeo and Juliet (forbidden love) than Hamlet (crazy uncle takes over as king).

BUT, even though this is literally the first Lion King movie, it is still freaking awesome. The music is catchy, and the villain is, well, nothing short of a psychopath.

I mean, just listen to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJGqxf86cZs

ALL HAIL ZIRA!!!
http://images5.fanpop.com/image/phot...4-1024-768.jpg

I give this movie 8 psychotic lionesses out of 10.

#ZiraIsLove #ZiraIsLife

Ghostbusters II - This is my first time ever seeing this movie in full (I've only seen the last 15 minutes) and honestly, it kind of sucks. It is only half as funny as the first one. The first half hour of the movie feels really awkward and off and it really doesn't start to get good until they are back in business and then the ending gets dumb again. The final battle with Vigo was just so bland and Vigo himself was not even an interesting villain. Overall, I'm going to give this a 6/10 because the scenes that the movie does well in, and really great. Nevertheless, I just do not understand how the writing was able to drop in quality so much in just one movie. This is like if you went from Batman (Burton's) right to Batman Forever. From Alien to Alien 3 without Aliens in the middle. I can see why they never made it to a trilogy.

Part 2 of Day 10 can be found here:
Power Rangers Ninja Storm: Thunder Strangers Parts 1-3

Accidentally double posted :/

See above.

Child's Play - This movie was not really what I expected. It had a good build up, there was not too much of Chucky shown, and when he was, they did a good job of it, and they kept the body count to a bare minimum. I'm actually really impressed as I expected it to just be a standard horror kill fest. The acting was pretty bad though, which is ultimately the movie's weakest point. Overall, I give it a 7/10 stars, but I fear it will go down hill from here.

The Fog - Great movie with a lot of build up and atmosphere. My only complaint remains that Jamie Lee Curtis was entirely pointless and had no reason to be in this thing. 8/10 stars.

The Box Trolls - This movie was not terrible, it has some funny moments, but it really isn't all that great. If you liked Coraline and Paranorman, it is worth checking out, but don't go into expecting too much out of it. The story is lackluster and there really aren't any truly likable characters for the first hour of the movie, which also drags it down quite a bit. The animation was great and there is a scene during the credits that is cool, but other than that, there really isn't all that much to write home about. Overall, I give it a 6/10 stars as it could have been worse, but it should have been MUCH better.

John Carpenter's The Thing - Still the best Science Fiction Horror Film ever, I loved the fact that the characters all had some personality, The titular Thing is very menacing and actually quite cunning, the suspense is amazing even now, the story is interesting and the effects are great.

10/10 watch this damn movie.

My Alamo Drafthouse is going to be showing this on Oct 15th, I can not wait to finally see it in a theater.

X-Men: Days of Future Past.


Not all that good. First off, it really bothers me that FOX is so desperate for fan approval that they're spending a nine-figure budget to call cinematic do-over on some previous films. And the methods they use to do so are laughable; there's some amazing plot holes and a ton of character derailment for several people.

The cast for the most part is good & it probably has the best action of any X-film to date. Although I still wonder what the hell Quicksilver was doing here.

6/10.

Reeally? I thought it was the second best X-Men movie to date. It had more of a plot than anything aside First Class. It did a great job of fixing continuity issues and the movie had some great character development. Not to mention it was not just another Wolverine movie.

Bram Stoker's Dracula - And thus kicks off our Horror Fest as we are now watching nothing but horror movies through Halloween. As with every year, we start it on this movie and this is by far my favorite adaptation of the Dracula story. It just has such incredible cinematography, music, and the use of colors. Gary Oldman is just simply magnificent as Dracula has he manages to pull off both the demonic side of the character and the gentlemanly prince side of his character. The movie isn't perfect, as some of the casting could have been done better, but other than that little nit pick, there is nothing I have to complain here. I love this movie to death. I give it a 9/10 stars.

No se aceptan devoluciones (Instructions Not Included): The directorial debut of Eugenio Derbez is a film full of love, care, and attention, genuine comedy and very interesting drama.
But it is undeniably his first try, and this movie can also be slow, filled with pointless scenes and at time genuinely boring.

And that's pretty much it, it's not a terrible film by any stretch, and the more emotional you are the more you'll like it, but man making it through those 2 hours felt like a chore fairly often.

Day 11:
WARNING: This review is coming from someone who has NOT seen the original source material, which in this case is a 1980's cartoon show. The following two movies will be reviewed by themselves, with nothing from said cartoon being mentioned (except for the fact that these movies came from the cartoon).

Inspector Gadget (1999):

http://www.tnmc.org/news/pics/ig/gadgetp2.jpg

Right off the bat, just looking at the credits on iMDB, I have to say this: I had no idea that Haim Saban and Shuki Levy made the theme song for the original cartoon. Talk about plot twists....

78 minutes later: I think I lost brain cells from watching this.... This movie was so terrible, I literally became stupider from laying eyes on this piece of s***.

This movie is a "Disneyfied" adaption of the 1986 cartoon of the same name. And boy does is suck. I think Disney tried a little too hard to make this a kids movie.

Some guy gets blown up and is rebuilt into a robot. The guy who blew up the other guy loses his hand and makes an evil version of Gadget. That's basically it. That is the plot of the movie. Evil clones.... Done better in every Power Rangers episode about that.

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...rk_Rangers.jpg
I retract my previous statement. ALMOST every episode.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn977W9HjWM

I give this movie a 3 out of 10.


Inspector Gadget 2 (2003):

http://91.207.61.14/m/uploads/v_p_im...screenshot.png

10 minutes after watching the first movie: God help me......

20 minutes into the movie: Oh god..... I.... This just....

40 minutes into the movie: *throws an axe at the tv* Great... Now I need a new TV.

Ok... So, I will admit that there are some things that were fixed from the first movie.... only to be replaced with a shit ton of other problems. I see why Disney didn't even make a third movie.

Inspector Gadget has glitches, Doctor Claw becomes Doctor Generic Villain, and a new robot is made, G2 (who is played by that chick from the Parent Trap remake).

*slams my head into the computer* Whose idea was it to make these abominations!!

I give this movie a 1 out of 10.

Psycho - What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said in the past? This is easily one of Hitchcock's best movies of all time, if not THE best. Easily a 10/10.

Annabelle - We got to see an advanced screening of this movie tonight and it was pretty forgettable. There were a few good moments to be had, but overall, it was predictable, cliche, and boring. The main actress overacted quite a bit and the movie seemed to contradict a lot of what had been established in "The Conjuring," On the other hand, I do commend them for showing less of the monster (as it were), but even that could not help this movie's tediousness that was going through the motions just to tell a story nobody asked for. If you really need to see a killer doll movie, go watch "Child's Play" instead, as that at least has some creativity to it. Or go watch the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll." Overall, I give Annabelle a 6/10 stars. It could have been a lot better, and a lot more interesting had it actually broken from the cliches, but instead, it is just cashing in on the success of THe Conjuring.

Halloween - This movie is just so damn amazing. It is easily one of the best horror movies of all time. There are some inconsistencies that occur within, but those are nothing too major to take away from the movie's enjoyment at all. Although, I do want to know how Michael went from age 6 to age 23 in 15 years (according to the credits), but whatever. :-D I give this movie an nice big 9/10 stars. It is full of suspense. Has a great soundtrack. I love that Michael just doesn't go on a murdering rampage, and instead, stalks Laurie throughout the movie until he is ready to make his move. Not to mention it is hilarious just watching him drive around in a car, especially the scene when he just passes Loomis by. I could go on forever as to how much I love this movie, so I will just stop here (at least for now).

Halloween II - A really great sequel that does a decent job of following up on the original even though it is far from perfect. There are some inconsistencies (such as Loomis firing 7 shots in the beginning and Michael not falling through the balcony but over it), and some of the people who die do not make sense (why does he kill the girl at the beginning?), but for a sequel to a horror movie, it is better than all of the initial follow ups out there. There are some pretty cool deaths and I do like how it essentially concludes the story between Michael and Loomis. Overall, I give it a nice 7/10 stars.

Halloween III - Like its predecessor, this movie does a fantastic job acting as a sequel to the Halloween franchise by doing something completely different and new with it. Instead of being redundant and bringing Michael back, it gives us an original story with new characters and has nothing to do with the previous movie. The movie's plot is decent, although there is a serious flaw in Cochrane's plan called Time Zones. Nevertheless, the movie does a great job with its music and pacing as it really keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. I also love the scene when Challis is running away from the body guards and he is just jumping onto the ground for cover and trying to hide in the grasses and in plain sight on the street rather than trying to be a super hero every step of the way. Overall, like I said, the movie's plot is extremely flawed (hell, what about the countries that don't celebrate Halloween?), but the story telling and characters are nicely done and it tries something different that it comes out phenomenally. I give this movie a 7/10 stars and it may even be better than Halloween II.

Halloween 4 - After the greatness that was HIII it is a shame that those in charge decided to go right back into predictability by bringing the series back to Michael. There is nothing wrong with the movie overall, as it is quite enjoyable and does bring some new ideas to the table. Unfortunately, it seems like very little time was spent in planning out the movie as Michael just looks down right awful here. Not only that, but the mask turns pink with blonde hair for a scene later on, also showing the laziness of the filmmakers. Then you have the moments when Michael has suddenly become Solid Snake, being able to take out dudes that are an inch away from each other one at a time without another noticing it. The characters are well done though, and the acting is great, especially from Jaime's actress. Despite this movie's short comings and predictability, it is enjoyable and deserves a 6/10 stars.

Halfway through Transformers AOE. Damn, why does it have to be so long??? ^^;

Dreamworks' "Mr. Peabody & Sherman."

I surprisingly liked this! Easily among the best modern adaptations of a classic cartoon; good cast & high-quality animation. The story stumbles a bit but there's good jokes & a lot of genuine heart involved throughout.

7.5 out of 10.

Day 12:

Mulan (1998):

http://mbtipopculture.files.wordpres...2-1218-720.jpg

This movie is about a transvestite girl. 'Nough said.

Anyway, the movie is about a girl named Mulan who takes her father's place in a war against the Huns. She manages to go a while without being discovered. When she is discovered, she manages to defeat the huns and save all of china.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get down to business to defeat the huns. Evidently they sent me daughters when I asked for sons. They're the saddest bunch I've ever met, but you can bet before we're through that I'll make a *gets punched before I can finish the song*

I give this movie 8 Cross-Dressers out of 10.

Because Bay has no idea what editing is without a script.

Halloween 6 - Producer's Cut - After a year about hearing how much better this cut is, I went in kind of worried. It did not help matters that at about an hour into the movie, I still saw very little difference in the two outside of the time when Jaime dies. Nevertheless, once the credits started to role I sat there with a grin as what do you know, the Producer's Cut IS really the superior cut. Gone is the stupid laboratory scene in beneath the hospital and that ridiculous pipe battle between Michael and Tommy. The movie actually makes far more sense in the Producer's Cut and its ending is far more satisfying without leaving you with a "WTF?" bad taste in your mouth. The movie is still far from perfect, as in the long run, it is still a bad movie, but it is now at least watchable because it is only slightly boring instead of fully boring. Nevertheless, this cut is vastly superior to Halloween 5, which I did not think was going to be possible. I am so glad I got the set now as I no longer see any reason to ever watch the theatrical cut again (of course, I might still watch it tomorrow just so I can freshly compare the two). Overall, I give this version of a crappy movie a 5/10.

It's absolutely leaps and bounds better than the theatrical cut. That being said, as you mentioned it still isn't a great movie. It just made an awful movie into a watchable mediocre one. I kind of wish they would put out a blu with this version included so the quality doesn't keep dipping.