What was the last movie you've seen?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Witness for the Prosecution

I love that movie so much. Charles Laughton is amazing.

[ExedExes]

I'm really interested to see what all gets covered in my Italian Cinema class this fall. I don't know if I'm going to get high-brow, best of the best stuff almost exclusively, or if I'm getting the schlock too. Its been stated that Giallo and Spaghetti Westerns are covered, so I at least know I'm getting some stuff I already like.

Hopefully you get the Steve Reeves Hercules movie. That's some quality stuff.

Sure is, given the right treatment. Hercules Unchained was a little better.

[Ack]

I'm really interested to see what all gets covered in my Italian Cinema class this fall. I don't know if I'm going to get high-brow, best of the best stuff almost exclusively, or if I'm getting the schlock too. Its been stated that Giallo and Spaghetti Westerns are covered, so I at least know I'm getting some stuff I already like.

Hopefully you get the Steve Reeves Hercules movie. That's some quality stuff.

Sure is, given the right treatment. Hercules Unchained was a little better.

Personally, I think Hercules in New York is the greatest Hercules movie ever made.

[MrPopo]

I'm really interested to see what all gets covered in my Italian Cinema class this fall. I don't know if I'm going to get high-brow, best of the best stuff almost exclusively, or if I'm getting the schlock too. Its been stated that Giallo and Spaghetti Westerns are covered, so I at least know I'm getting some stuff I already like.

Hopefully you get the Steve Reeves Hercules movie. That's some quality stuff.

Sure is, given the right treatment. Hercules Unchained was a little better.

Nahh, it's a solid flick even without funny commentary. I loved that movie as a kid.

[Ack]

Ten Zan: The Ultimate Mission

Ten Zan is a small mountain in Guadalcanal. Ten Zan: The Ultimate Mission is a joint Italian-North Korean action film from 1988, directed by Ferdinando Baldi entirely in English in North Korea. That's right, this is a prime piece of North Korean cinema. It's...something all right.

First, this was supposed to be a Pacific war movie. Baldi was originally approached by North Korean film representatives at Cannes after they saw his Vietnam action film Warbus. But when he arrived in Pyongyan, the North Korean censors took his script and rewrote it entirely, then assigned him his crew and the supporting cast. Baldi was lucky enough to get some of his own actors in the film, but...well, it's Mark Gregory again as the villain. You know, Thunder. With Sabriana Siani as his assistant, of whom director Jesús Franco once said was the 2nd worst actress he had ever worked with. As for our intrepid heroes, Frank Zagarino of classics like The Revenger and Cyborg Cop III, and Romano Kristoff, a Spanish B-movie star who appeared in many Filipino productions for K.Y. Lim's Silver Star Film Company in the '80s and '90s.

What was a WWII movie became a modern action film in which Zagarino and Kristoff of Final Solution Research are hired to take out an evil scientist and his army of mercenaries before the scientist can use animal extracts to produce the ubermensch. To make matters worse, the man who hires the Zagarino and Kristoff IS THE EVIL SCIENTIST! So the bad guy hired mercenaries to destroy his own operation, and then gets upset when other mercenaries he already hired tell him that his operation is going to be destroyed. And all of this is set in the modern landscape of North Korea.

Now, I want to take a moment to say that I don't blame Baldi for any of this. His script was taken from him, he was constantly refused the opportunity to shoot in various places, he never got the equipment he requested, his leading man, Zagarino, was arrested and held for two days for being an American spy, and he wasn't even aware that after he finished post-production in Italy, the film went through another round of post in North Korea and was edited again. Heck, he never saw it again, as the film was never released in Italy due to arguments over ownership and distribution rights with the North Korean government. The only real up side was that apparently his North Korean film crew was marvelous, polite, and very eager to learn, even though none of them spoke English. In later interviews, Baldi had nothing but kind words to say of them, despite the numerous challenges he faced.

So, how is the film? Well...not good. Considering the bizarre script, bad edit job, and bad acting, there really isn't anything much worth saying about it itself. It's the story behind it that is interesting, from Kim Jong-il just showing up on set to the strange life of Pyongyang citizens, to how the movie went from being about WWII to having only a four line exchange from which it gets the Ten Zan title. It's a curiosity piece, a bit out place no matter how you look at it, even in regards to the rest of the entirely propagandist North Korean cinema industry.

Also, I think I'm on some kind of list now.

[darsparx]

American Tail - still as good as I remembered...

My second girlfriend ever was named Vickie Bailey. I was in the third grade and she was my first lip on lip kiss. Why am I typing this? Because she wore an over sized pink sweatshirt with Fievel on it and I remember it like it just happened.

Okay, so...

Wow...funny that in the back of the movie(along with the second which makes more sense) they adverted for the third movie...kinda strange.

Finished Batman Forever, decent movie but I still prefer Keaton. So far I can say the same for the sequel B&R(which so far isn't a bad movie like all the critics say, I guess I'll see what my thoughts are after I finish it). Next Tuesday I'm going to start the original star wars trilogy(starting with the vhs's I have that should be the original versions since it's the fox collector's blue box)

[samsonlonghair]

Finished Batman Forever, decent movie but I still prefer Keaton. So far I can say the same for the sequel B&R(which so far isn't a bad movie like all the critics say, I guess I'll see what my thoughts are after I finish it). Next Tuesday I'm going to start the original star wars trilogy(starting with the vhs's I have that should be the original versions since it's the fox collector's blue box)

Yes, the Fox Blue Box VHS version is as close to the original version as you can reasonably get legally. The only changes are minor title changes in Star Wars. I don't think there's any changes to Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi.

I think it's a mistake to compare Batman Forever to the Keaton/Burton Films. Batman and Batman Returns portrayed Batman as the dark, brooding, modern anti-hero. Comparing Batman Forever to these two Burton films leaves Batman Forever looking a bit silly. Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever is better compared to the 1966 Batman series and movie starring Adam West. Like the 1966 Batman, Batman Forever is fun, campy, and indulgent. Batman Forever is a film that radiates silly fun rather than moody gloom. It's a film about a man dressed up in a bat costume, after all.

[darsparx]

Yeah but he's supposed to be dark brooding and forboding...though Clooney in B&R kinda strange...it's not a bad casting but still strange to me. But Arnold as Mr. Freeze, that was pure gold and perfect(I've always imagined Freeze as Arnold). Clooney though is decent as Wayne but still Keaton still seems better....I will say though that Jim Carey as Riddler was awesome but not enough "Riddle Me this" jokes and too many jokes he would've used in other movies left me a little odded out seeing those for some odd reason...

[samsonlonghair]

Yeah but he's supposed to be dark brooding and forboding...

That's the thing though. Over the years, Batman has been both. Sometimes it's silly, campy, and vaguely homosexual. Other times it's dark, brooding, and violent. Neither protrayal of Batman is right or wrong. That's simply the product of the myriad writers, artists, directors, and actors who have had their hands on the franchise over the past seventy-six years.

[Gamerforlife]

So I watched Kung Fury on TV on the El Rey Network, it's a fun, silly good time that made me laugh out loud a few times. It knows its target audience though. Anyone who didn't grow up in the 80s and remember it with a bit of nostalgia will likely think this movie is the stupidest thing they've ever seen. I think anyone who digs B movie fare could get into this too.

Seems a fitting time for this movie, what with 80s Mad Max making a come back.