Bullets 'n' Babes

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire - 2.5/5

It wasn't boring at least. The action choreography was decent at least. 14 year old boys will likely find this film awesome. Props to them at least casting mostly extremely pretty people, which hasn't been a Hollywood norm for a while now.

Nothing is original. About halfway through I realised that it was 7 Samurai. Obviously you've got your odds and ends from Star Wars. The Snyder edgelord twist on the cantina scene was to make the ugly dude who picks a fight with Obi-wan and Luke be a gay rapist. The grunt soldiers are visually a direct rip off of Imperial Guardsmen from Warhammer 40K.

Don't give any thought to analysing the world building because it falls apart instantly, unsurprisingly. Throughout they portray the "Motherworld" empire as being sadistic fascists, going back decades at least. Then they try to paint the slain royal family as being benevolent saints. They didn't all of sudden become fascist once the Palpatine copypasta seized power.

I will say that it's a noticeable improvement over the utterly woeful Army of the Dead, but that's not saying much.

Beverley Hills Cop II (USA, 1989) - first time view: 4/5

Whereas the first one felt more like a comedy with some action, this sequel is the other way round (imo). Murphy has some good lines especially when he makes up stories and fake names going undercover

The Big Gundown (Italy/Spain, 1967): 4.25/5

Not sure what I expected but this was very good, no one was quite they seemed, the main theme is one of the most epic I ever heard (which I recognised from an old Hong Kong movie trailer), up there with TGTBATU. I watched the US expanded version BTW

Insomnia (Norway, 1997) - Criterion BD: 4.25/5

Atmospheric mystery with good locations

John Rambo (Rambo IV Extended version) - first time view: 4/5

Was good but to be honest, I couldn't tell it was that much longer especially since almost 10 minutes of the movie are credits at the end. Think there was a bit more depth and motivation for Rambo's character?

grim_tales wrote: 11 Jan 2024, 00:10 John Rambo (Rambo IV Extended version) - first time view: 4/5

Was good but to be honest, I couldn't tell it was that much longer especially since almost 10 minutes of the movie are credits at the end. Think there was a bit more depth and motivation for Rambo's character?

Toned down the violence from the original version

I didn't know that, thank you

Dune Part 2 (2024) - 5/5
A triumph in both filmmaking and writing. Finally some good food from Hollywood. 

The writing was utterly fantastic.
Chani remaining the moral compass to the bitter end, fighting against the cult of personality, false prophet puppetry. Jessica and other Bene Gesserits manipulating the shit of everybody. Execution of even minor characters like the one played by Lea Seydoux was so good, a stone cold femme fatale wrapping even that highly intelligent and cunning younger Harkonnen nephew around her little finger.

The rest of modern Hollywood should take notes on how to write properly from this film. 

I hope we get to see future adaptations of later stories where the Atreides bloodline get redeemed. (I know that the sandworm god emperor guy maintains his sanity, but begrudgingly tolerates the cult worship of himself to maintain order and peace in the galaxy.)

Fight Club (USA, 1999): 4.5/5

Even though I knew the twist, my mind was still somewhat blown as I hadn't seen it in years and noticed extra little details - for example, near the very beginning of the film images of 'Tyler' flash on screen for a couple of seconds :eek: And there are parts where Ed Norton is wearing some of 'Tyler"'s clothes.
Ed shoots himself to get rid of Tyler, why did he not die?

This seemed too strong for a 15 for me especially some of the more vicious and sadistic beatings.

Not sure if this one should be in Asian or General -

Monkey Man (USA/Canada/Singapore/Indonesia, 2024): 4.25/5

The Fall Guy (USA/Australia/Canada, 2024): 4.5/5

Really funny and action packed

Furiousa: A Mad Max Saga - 4/5

Awesome film! Not as good as Fury Road and MM2: The Road Warrior of course. My main complaint would be some of the CGI and greenscreen usage sticks out too much at times.

Redlettermedia described this as Kill Bill Vol 2 to Fury Road's Vol 1 and I'd definitely agree.

It's a shame that it flopped so we likely won't be getting the Tom Hardy prequel film to Fury Rd.

The Fall Guy (2024) - 3.5/5

Was a lot of fun and well executed. Recommended.

Challengers (2024) - 1/5
-Boring ass movie where Zendaya looks grumpy and big nosed white twinks have latent homosexual tension and angst. 
-If you played a drinking game for the amount of product placement, you'd probably get liver poisoning.
-I bet even fujoshi women who were into big nosed white twinks would be bored to tears by this.

Adagio (2023, Italy) 4/5
Stefano Sollima is back with another fine crime flick rich in atmosphere. Story is a bit weaker than Suburra, but the cinematography and soundtrack are top rate as expected.

Love Lies Bleeding (2024, USA) 3/5
A twisted lesbian romance. Energetic and fun up until the ridiculous ending. Nothing I haven't seen done better before, i.e The Handmaiden and Bound.

Angel (1983, USA) - 4/5
Well written, acted and executed all around. A very pleasant surprise!

Last Night of Amore (2023, Italy) 3.5/5
A clever police thriller with a different kind of structure. The first half was a bit lacklustre, but thankfully the pace severely picked up and it morphed into a tense journey on a cold night in Milano. The soundtrack is pure retro and reminiscent of the old Poliziotescchi films. Hopefully the movie will aid in resurrecting the genre.

Tokyo Vice - Almost done with season 1. A yank dude gets a job as a crime reporter in Tokyo and works to bring to light a yakuza conspiracy. The characters and story are definitely compelling.


You get to see the Kabukicho district and it looks just like it does in Yakuza/Like a Dragon games. Pretty cool!

I have NFI where you'd watch this legally in NZ. Maybe Neon?

Midway (2019) - 3.5/5
Was pleasantly surprised. When working under restraints, Roland Emmerich can deliver some good work, it seems. His disaster films are usually absolute clown shoes, so having to be grounded in reality (IRL war film), really helped.

The Atmos was an absolute banger, BTW.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024) - 3/5
Chapter 1 - 3/5
Was pretty decent but overall was really unsatisfying as a stand-alone experience. The Fellowship of the Ring this ain't. Probably best to wait for the at least pt.2 to be released for back-to-back viewing.