Monthly Movie Review - April 2014

April had to share its movie time with a couple of Japanese imports. I'm still working my way through Attack on Titan and am only a few episodes in so far. The other import that has taken up considerably more time is the Spiderman TV show, no, not the American one, the Japanese one. I'll probably blog more about that once I finish the series.

If you feel the need to own any of the movies below, just click on their title and you'll be whisked over to Amazon where you can order them.

Time Guardian (1987)
I found the trailer for this and immediately had to see it and not only because it was another sci-fi movie with Carrie Fisher in it. The movie starts awesomely (as in the start of the trailer) like the opening of T2 but replacing the Terminators with the Slayers from Krull. But then they go back in time to present day Earth and it becomes a snooze fest.

Cool: The opening and closing futuristic battle scenes
Lame: The parts between those battles; Carrie Fisher and Dean Stockwell are in this and barely have anything to do
Rating: 4/10

Knights of Badassdom (2013)
Somehow I didn't know about the horror part of this horror comedy before seeing it, which made it that much more fun when it goes in that direction. I highly recommend this for anyone that has ever been exposed to RPG/LARP culture. It pokes fun at the people that play but does it in a good way by over-exaggerating the people to the point where they just about become caricatures.

Cool: It's got LARPing, accidental demonic summoning, Summer Glau and Peter Dinklage, what else do you need?
Lame: There isn't anything I'd change about this. Even the low budget creatures work for me.
Rating: 7.5/10

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
Since this one doesn't have a sequel number, I didn't figure out until after viewing it that I missed part 4. I don't think I lost anything by going from 3 to this but I would recommend seeing the first three before watching this. If you like the previous installments you'll probably like this one too. They change the story up a little by shifting focus to a group of Latino teens but basically it's more of the same.

Cool: As with all these movies, there are a couple of genuinely creepy moments
Lame: I'm still not sure if I like the ending or not
Rating: 5.5/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
I've heard a lot of people say this might be the best Marvel movie yet. I'm not quite there because I love the dynamic of all the Avengers together but this is a darn close second! I don't think I've seen a movie where I've gone "oof" or winced so much during fight scenes. I really liked the story being somewhat of a commentary on our current world and giving it some pulp over the top-ness.

Cool: Plenty of action; Watching the heroes (even Fury!) do their thing, especially when Cap is using his shield, just brings a smile to my face; Lots of references comic fans will appreciate
Lame: Considering Winter Soldier is in the title, he probably could have been in it more
Rating: 9/10, it's not often I see a movie and wouldn't mind seeing it immediately again

Beast of Bering Sea (2013)
On rare occasions, I love SyFy Original Movies, sometimes I count myself lucky to have survived watching one. This is one of the latter. While just about everything in this movie is bad, I kinda like the premise. If they could have done this with better effects and more of a sense of humor, it might not have been bad.

Cool: Giant manta ray-like vampire creatures
Lame: It's a SyFy original, need I say more?
Rating: 2/10, if this is the worst movie I see all year, I'd be ok with that

Escape from New York (1981)
April's Unseen Franchise of the Month. I may catch some flak for this but I'm going to pull a Randy Jackson and say "it was just aight for me." Don't get me wrong, I like it but I was expecting more. Snake is a cool anti-hero, no doubt, but I kept expecting him to run across the Warriors.

Cool: Snake is awesome; Great cast; Cool backstory/setting
Lame: Maybe it's just been so built up to me over the years that I was a little let down by it
Rating: 7/10

*Escape from L.A. (1996)
Like Mad Max, I saw this final installment when it hit theaters without seeing any previous films in the series. I didn't remember anything about this except the surfing scene. I actually like this one a tiny bit more than NY. I think it's because the city is almost a character as the action goes from landmark to landmark. The action is also over the top crazy, which worked for me.

Cool: For mid-90s, it has a great 80s action vibe to it
Lame: The hang-gliders are not done well
Rating: 7/10

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Thanks to Shawn at the Cult Film Club for turning me on to this classic. I do love me some detective stories. Movies, books, old time radio shows, there's just something that really appeals to me about the gumshoe genre as a whole. Where else can you get away with the line "He's a bedroom dick."? This one is based on a Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer book of the same name with a few changes that turn it into your not so run of the mill detective mystery.

Cool: Hammer reminds me a lot of Craig's Bond: women are throwing themselves at him and when he gets in a scrap, he can get brutal, for 1955 anyway.
Lame: I totally did not recognize Cloris Leachman, I've never seen her so young before
Rating: 8/10

Month Total

 New: 7  Rewatch: 1

Year To-Date Final Total 

New: 32  Rewatch: 5