Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

I have planned to watch this movie for quite a while, but haven't been motivated to do so.  A couple of days ago, I caught part of the movie on TV, and it looked interesting and a bit fun, so I thought I would go back and watch the whole thing.

As a kid, I watched the original film, and it's sequel I believe, so I thought I should see what they did with it.  Honestly, the original films were not that great, but that is not what they were striving for.  Disney was pumping out a lot of G rated live action films, which were good enough and entertaining, but not spectacular.  I did enjoy the film as a kid, but there were some pretty hokey special effects and a few inconsitancies which kinda stuck out.

With this new film Race to Witch Mountain, I wasn't expecting that improving the special effects would have a major effect on the quality of the picture, and it didn't.  It turns out that the place where I started watching the film from was near the middle, and the first hour or so proceeding it was not all that enthralling.

The whole mystery of the kids origin which was a key issue in the original film, was completely absent from this film.  The film was a mishmash of action, sci fi and a few other elements stuck in.  Added to that there was some kind of bounty hunter who wasn't particularly relevant, except for occasionally motivating the protagonists to vacate from their present location, as well as some questionable actions by the star of the film "The Rock", made this a rather mediocre film.

Starship Troopers

I've never heard anything compelling about this film that inspired me to watch it, but I've liked a number of Paul Verhoeven's films (Total Recall and Robocop) so I thought I would give it a shot.

Funny thing is, I played a computer game based on this film, so I was familar with the insects they battled before watching the film.  But some how I had never caught pieces of the film shown  on cable before.

The film was okay, but a bit short of the comedy elements from Robocop, and it lacked a compelling story that drove both Robocop and Total Recall.  It gave no sense of accomplishment of the characters, more like they were just lucky enough to survive the battles they were thrust into.  At the end, I felt like, "That's all?"  and "What happens next?"  Honestly, I think the computer game was better.

I was a surprised to see Clancy Brown (the Kurgen from Highlander) in this, as he always makes an impression.  Still, compared to some of his other characters, this one was less intimidating.

Red Tails

Being that this was a Lucasfilm release, I had considered watching it in the theater, even more so as it featured WWII dog fighting, which George Lucas had based his space battles on.  The preveiews looked promising, but some how I never made it to the theater.  Still, somewhere deep in my heart I hoped that this film would be a runaway success like Star Wars and add another franchise to Lucasfilm.

While I had read that the film didn't do great at the box office, I thought it was fairly well done as far as story elements went.  Some of the claims by the airmen will rather incredulous, as well as how many kills the squadron got, compared to nearly non existent losses.  While the air combat was good, it wasn't enough to make it as thrilling an experience as some other films which included dog fighting.

As for the name, it is interesting as it is not clear why it was called that name at first, and the name tells little about the content of the film.  Also such as name is Red Tails seems like it could be confused with the name of an animated feature.

Historically, this is a group and situations that people need to be aware of, and for that alone, it's good that it was made.  It was a good film, but perhaps not a great one.

Kagemusha (1980)

Between the time when George Lucas had finished Return of the Jedi, but before he had created the prequels, he executive produced a number of films.  I, as a loyal Star Wars fan, thought it was my duty to see those films.  I have watched a number of them, Twice Upon A Time, Tucker: A Man and his Dream, Mishima: A Life in Four Acts, but some how I had over looked Kagemusha, which was directed by Akira Kurosawa, who had influenced George Lucas in his creation of Star Wars, with his film "The Hidden Fortress".

I have watched a number of Akira Kurosawa's films, and I have found them all to be good, though they have all been in historical settings in the age of samurai, so you would need to enjoy those types of films to find this film interesting.

I found this film to be pretty good, though strangely the color distracted me a bit (as most of his films I have seen were in black and white), as it took me out of the historical frame of mind a bit.  I had imagined the costumes to be a bit more muted than they were.  I do find some Japanese films lacking in highs and lows, as well as challenges for a protagonist to over come.  There is no great heroic moment in this film. 

Dungeonmaster

I was looking for a T-shirt with the quote made by Adam Savage (from Mythbusters) that he said "I reject your reality and substitute my own".  I had assumed this was an original quote by him, but as it turns out, it was actual taken from the 1985 film Dungeonmaster, which inspired me to watch this film.

It was quite an odd film, as it started out with a couple, of whom the female was jealous of the amount of time the man was spending with his computer.  It rapidly switched to the couple being thrust into various situations, as dictated by Richard Moll, of Night Court fame, most of which were tests of the man's ability to resolve those situations.  This was largely accomplished by the man using his trusty computer which was part of an armband he wore.  The computer seem to spontaneously gain abilities which allowed it to resolve the situations.  Blatant case of deus ex machina.

There were half a dozen of these situations the couple found themselves in, and apparently each one was directed by a different director (as at least 3 directors were listed in the opening credits).

Overall, the film was rather unsatisfying.  Each situation was resolved fairly easily, giving little excitement to the film.

BTW, the quote comes fairly early in the film, just in case you were interested.

Walk Proud

While watching this film, I couldn't recall why I had added it to my list, but afterward I found out the actress in the film was Sarah Holcomb, who was in Animal House (The girl Pinto was with), as well as in Caddyshack (though I didn't realize it was the same girl, as she had much shorter hair). Apparently she made 4 films in 2 years and then pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth. She made one other film that I haven't seen, called Happy Birthday Gemini, which I am now on a quest to track down. Since it hasn't been released on DVD, the only copies I have seen for sale are VHS copies on ebay. I don't even know if I have a working VCR anymore...

The film also featured Robby Benson, who I had never heard of before, but some regard him has having a note worthy career.

Anyhow, I thought the film was a pretty accurate portrayal of gang membership and the concept of macho and chicano pride that made Emilio (Robby Benson) feel that being in a gang was a positive thing. The film follows him as his way of thinking changes towards the gang, to the point where he eventually quits. While the film didn't blow me away, I thought it was fairly well done.

2046

Note: I've watched quite a few movies over the last few weeks, but haven't updated for a while.

This movie was bizarre. I was originally motivated to watch it because Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) was in it. I saw a lot of her films in the 90s, but have haven't seen many of them since. But in this film, she didn't didn't particularly stand out. Also, I like Chinese films and the title gave me the impression that it had some kind of science fiction aspect to it (it doesn't to any significant degree).

The film has some kind of indication of time travel, but most of is just about an affair a man has with some woman in Hong Kong in the 60s with a lot of social turbulence going on. There are occasional flashes to some kind of time train, which also inexplicably has Kimtaku (from the Japanese pop group SMAP) on the train and speaking in Japanese (with subtitles for the viewers). While his existence in the film makes no sense, also the fact that he speaks no Chinese but some has a conversation (more like two monologues) with a Chinese speaking man on the train is further exasperating.

If you forget the superfluous moments of the film, the affair is vaguely interesting, and the man's refusal to make any sort of commitment to the woman, is baffling. Those elements made an otherwise bizarre film somewhat interesting. I am unsure how this film was received, but I failed to find out what the draw to the film was supposed to be.

Apparently, this the third in a series of films, but I haven't been motivated to go back and watch the other two.