The Man From Nowhere ( 2010 )
This may have received high scores on Rotten Tomatoes, but it's not much of a martial arts film. It takes nearly an hour of it's 1hour 50min running time before you actually se a choreographed fight. Before that, the film cuts to a different location whenever the hero beats someone up, then cuts back to show the aftermath of unconscious bodies on the ground. When we finally do get some choreographed fight scenes, too much editing and too many close ups. Where the film does exceed is in story telling. Although I am damn sure I heard this story before. Multiple times before. So basically, there is a loner who operates a pawn shop, who it is suggested has some sort of past he is running away from. In the same building is an unwed mother and the daughter who prefers hanging out in the pawn shop, even though the loner tries his best not to bond with her, and only reluctantly allows her to stay. One day the mom, who is a drug addicted dancer in a strip club, steals a bag full of drugs from a courier. It doesn't take long for the gangsters who's drugs were stolen figure out the mother took it, and kidnap her and her daughter. They also try to grab the loner when the mother admits she hid the drugs in the lining of a bag she pawned, but he is able to quickly knock out the largest gang member. ( Frustratingly this happens when the movie cuts to the gang leader waiting in a car outside. ) Realizing the loner pawn broker has skills, they tell him to make up for the drugs the mother used, he will have to do a job for them, otherwise they will kill the mother and the daughter. The loner does the job, but things go wrong, the body of the mother is found in the trunk of the loner's car, and he ends up arrested. But it doesn't take long for him to break out of the police station and wage a one man war against the gang in order to rescue the daughter. There is also a lot of spoiler stuff, which I wouldn't exactly call spoiler since you can see the formula revelations a mile away. But although the story is a mishmash of familiar, it is really well done. You care about the good characters, and want to see the villains get their comeuppance.
Pacific Rim: Uprising ( 2018 )
I liked the first movie, and liked the sequel. Which is a surprise, because I was sure they both would be typical CGI crapola where you may get an impressive Kraken or whatever, but a dull poorly written movie to go with it. And with most of the original cast either not returning, or only showing up for small roles, and the director of the first film retreating to a producer credit, this had all the earmarks of a disaster of a sequel. But it was just as fun as the first. And the teaser thrown in has me hoping for the third installment where the Jaegers invade the enemy's home world.
Nightveil and the Sorcerer's Eye ( 2010 )
And back to the AC franchise. And I am guessing that the Nightveil and Garganta movies were supposed to have lead to Femforce movies. But as far as I can tell, that never happened. The first DVD had a trailer for a movie featuring the character Synn, and included at least one scene shot for that movie. But as far as I can tell, it was never released, either as a DVD or as a streaming video. So basically, this is the third film with the Blue Bulleteer/Nightveil solo series. In the first movie Blue Bulleteer becomes Nightveil. In the second film she is back to being Blue Bulleteer having apparently retired from being Nightveil. In this film she is Nightveil again with no explanation. Both Blue Bulleteer's arch enemy, the Cloak, and Nightveil's arch enemy, Alizarian Crimson, team up. Alizarian Crimson casts a spell against Nightveil which separates her Nightveil and Blue Bulleteer personas into two different people. Sounds like an interesting premise for a movie, but the ultra low budget keeps it from ever becoming interesting. It all takes place within the same theater house, where all the characters are trapped due to a spell originally cast by Nightveil. So basically, the movie leads to nowhere. Perhaps if Bill Black was given a decent budget, or any budget at all, these movies would be a lot better. as they are, they barely qualify as entertainment.
Topic: What was the last movie you watched? (Read 1761015 times)
