The Aristocats. A childhood favorite

Finally got to see Creed!! Rocky movies always get me motivated to do something ,but then I end up on my couch reading manga again

Here is my "early reaction" for the oh so "rotten" X-men Apocalypse as Germany got the film early: 9,5/10 A bit better than cinema-cut BvS or Deadpool and obviously better than Cap3 (a perfectly fine 2 hour toy commercial if you ask me). Only X2 is better X-men film in that series. Why should any of you manga fans care? Singer is as much a "real fan" as my beloved Snyder (on the job since 2000!) and he now delivered the most ripped from the pages Marvel adaptations this side of the new Daredevil. Only S. Goyer has a longer career in regards to modern comic adaptations. These 3 people are the reason why US superheroes are so big today and "prestigious" Germany newspapers are calling it and BvS the reason why the genre will be dead in 10 years. Urgh. Not on my watch!
WB / Fox are giving us the adaptations Disney´s film department never will (poor Iron-man...) by taking risks and Apocalypse even has a (surprisingly good) female protagonist with Mystic!
Support them with your money and word of mouth (unless you actually disagree, based on viewing these films) or don´t be surprised if the genre will be creatively bankrupt in 10 years. Bambi 2 anyone?
Edit: Ah yes, comic corner: The near 1 to 1 Outcast by Cinemax is ok, i guess and i loved the ending stretch of Legends of Tomorrow. That one really rebounded



Last edited by residentgrigo at 1:05 pm, May 22 2016

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

hey man ! big fan of reviews i always follow your posts and i saw that you did not like civil war and i am really interested and the reason why ?

I expected great things from Cap3 and then nearly had meltdown when the airport fight commenced. No joke and i can only refer to my DC vs. Marvel thread for my love of all (good) publishers on the market. I will revive it very soon due to Rebirth and the endless 24/7 curb stomping of BvS and the non-Disney X-men really got to me a few days ago...

The problem with the film is that it compromised Ironman to get the story going.
He is treated as an idiot who can´t look though a very simple ruse and is just a hindrance to save the day. Tony then further turns into the man-child he was in IR2 and also got the SAME revenge motivated as Black Panther. T'Challa 100% works and so does Steve, as both went through a logical arc. Both are always recognizable as the comic icons i have been flowing for 2 decades. Poor Bucky on the other hand loses some of the progress he went through last time and Tony even got a new backstory! The film further throws Zemo under the bus and don´t get me started on Crossbones. How can you curb-stomp Cap´s answer to Bane, Venom, Cyborg-Superman and so on (evil versions of the protagonist) in the first 10 minutes? The greatly changed Mandarin at least had a purpose (even if he now lacks pay-off) but this film showed how much the lack of established villains is hurting the MCU. They even have 2 anti-Wakanda bombings in the film where 1 would have been enough! The airport trashing is even a blatant destruction porno . MoS / BvS though always used violence to drive the story forward, yet are always criticized for it, despite an anti-violence message. The trailers even gave away the whole plot, which is fine with me, but the one´s for BvS actually didn´t, yet how often were those criticized.
The original Millar comic isn´t an intellectual masterpiece either but it at least tried to explore the clashing ideologies and had a lot of god follow ups. This adaptations though even introduced a "more secret" Hydra clone! Why can´t Cap just fight Nazis and Russians? Global box-office. That´s why! China is also pro Russia.
In conclusion: Everything works (Antman and Spidy are shoo-horned commercial btw. and I prefer Tobey Maguire) BUT the scrip and the film needed a good one, due to the high ambition. It´s a fun / mindless shoot-em-up and with only Ironman 2 / Thor 2 (6/10) and Hulk (7/10) being inferior and that is coming from an equal Marvel fan, who would have nominated Cap2 for an Oscar. I am worried where this re-boot will take the general direction of the universe and would like to have Whedon back.
The AoU (9/10) criticism never set right with me, as it felt like a comic come to life!

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Billy Madison.........
It was interesting.

Also watched Bridget Jones's Diary.

300 (2006)

I actually enjoyed it a lot...I finally get those old memes about this film lol. I didn't watch it straight through because I took breaks while doing so. Moreover, I do like the cinematography. 8/10 from me.

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Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,
Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.

So, Ghostbusters. Who knows of the film would have even made an impact without the smear campaign and I may have even skipped it. The haters made the movie in a way and I like the film. It has problems, undeniably, but I am looking forward to the sequel as the franchise (Sony opened up a separate production company) can easily be improved.
Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth (how many franchises is he in?) are the highlights and this was the 1st film release of the year that made me laugh. Oh man, that ain´t good. Just play the 360 game if you want to see a 3rd film or read the IDW comics and noone can say to me that this is inferior to the 2nd film.

ACM´s Preacher adaptation is a thing, I guess. The production values are nice, I liked the pilot, but we are still stuck in the middle of issue 1 and the season is nearly over. The Vertigo comic is one of the most acclaimed runs of the 90s, so why can´t they just adapt it, or come up with material of equally quality. Their TWD is well produced filler fest too and I had to axe it. Don´t make me not watch my darlings AMC.

I also re-watched 300 and a 9/10 from me, that Zack Snyder i tell you. The sequel is a solid 7/10, due to the bland protagonist but the increased ore and action make up for that. The big sex scene is hilarious btw. and the source comic still hasn´t come out. God damn it Frank Miller.

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

just went to "Independence Day Resurgence" with my father the other day (some kind of daughter-father-thing ). I think it was nice but could have been better. The humor and style was the same as in the first one (besides better special effects of cause ) But the way they beat the alien was a bit fast in my opinion. Still a good film to watch even if I wouldnt go to the cinema for this.

Eastern Promises - 8.5/10

Viggo Mortensen's performance is spell-binding. I didn't even notice that tattoo he had on his left deltoid, which he got from his LoTR days, in the bathroom fighting scene. However, watching the movie seemed to have made me even sadder...

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Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,
Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.

Suicide Squad was great fun, as expected, and my lengthy Imdb review is already on the site. It´s my favorite US team comics and i read every issue + spin-off since 1986.
Fans of Deadpool and Ayder´s better films should like it. I will thus leave you with the review by the comic creator and industry legend John Ostrander instead, who "loved" the film. He shows valuable insight into the now downright broken film criticism scene due to his departed wife (she created Oracle), who was one, and the way he would treat a bad adaptation though eternal silence. Read it regardless of your opinion on the DCEU, he is one of the true greats, and is writing a new Squad special soon: http://comicmix.com/2016/08/07/john-ostrander-reviews-the-suic ide-squad/

Deep breath: The movie summer finished strong. The Conjuring 2 was another solid modern horror movie with "classic" sensibilities, Finding Dory improved on the (slightly) overrated original, Star Trek Beyond "fixed" the franchise after the left-turn of Into Dumbness and i already mentioned Ghostbusters last time. The last 2 could have made more money though, unlike a certain comic series that now crossed 2 bil.
Well done WB, you now fully redeemed the Hobbit 33 1/3 series due to these (+ a lot of the shows) and Mad Max 4. Never Stop Never Stopping, oh yeah...
A shame that the hilarious Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping flopped and the fascinating mess called Warcraft sadly couldn´t "save" game movies. I´ll watch a sequel though, a good foundation is certainly there. I am now off to watch Sausage Party.



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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Since the last time I posted in April, I've seen a few movies.

Batman: The Killing Joke, Suicide Squad, Finding Dory, Zootopia, Warcraft, and The Secret Life of Pets.

So far, my favorite movie this year is Batman: The Killing Joke. It's very dark, just the way I like my DC stories.

Just got back from seeing Shin Godzilla. Really enjoyed the movie, and I didn't mind Godzilla's new design as much as I thought I would. Was much better seeing it on film as opposed to still shots. The movie was as much political satire as anything, and the story was interesting enough to me to make up for the smaller amount of screen time for the big guy himself. Got to say though, the night attack on Tokyo was really awesome, and worth the price of admission alone. Godzilla fans should really try to check it out if you get the chance.

Star Trek: Beyond... I must say, this reboot franchise is absolutely amazing. Loved all three movies so far. And they are even better when you get all the references to the old Star Trek.

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~4400 manga completed
~1700 ongoing...

Victor Frankenstein I watched this mainly because of James McAvoy (and Daniel Radcliffe is cute too, I guess?), but it was actually a pleasant surprise. I thought it was going to be terrible because of all the negative reviews, but I actually really enjoyed it. The plot was so-so, and the ending was, uh, incredibly rushed and pointless. But I love period flicks, and I felt that McAvoy's acting was really strong here (though Radcliffe's character was, unfortunately, very uninteresting). So I'm probably even going to pick up a DVD release of this.

The Conspirator Another movie I watched because of James McAvoy! Another period flick! This one was... OK? I didn't feel like McAvoy here was at his best as an actor (probably because it felt like he had to constantly concentrate on affecting an American accent), but Robin Wright was excellent. But the two leads just didn't really, well, sell me on their relationship. And the film felt strangely slow-moving, even though some bits felt underdeveloped.

Approaching the Unknown I watched this for Mark Strong (he was fantastic), and if you want an entire movie about Mark Strong in space, this'll probably appeal to you. Literally an hour-and-a-half of Strong by himself, hanging out in a spaceship, occasionally rambling kind of philosophically?? Yeah. If you're not interested in Mark Strong, then this movie has no other appeal.

ex Machina Watched this on an airplane ride. My college classmate wrote her honors thesis on this, and I've been curious about it ever since. It was... interesting. I can see why she would have chosen it to analyze. The ending bits made me a bit squeamish, so I probably won't ever be rewatching it. Definitely a film that I'll remember for a long time, though.

Annie (2014) Another airplane movie. I heard a lot of reviews saying that the music was good but the story wasn't, but I had the exact opposite reaction. Boy, did I enjoy this remake! And, boy, did I feel that most of the musical numbers were fun but extraneous. It's been a long time since I've watched the old Annie movie (the 1982 one), but I definitely enjoyed this one more than the previous. Great casting all around, I think.

The Man Who Knew Infinity I've been on airplanes a lot this last month. Watched this for Dev Patel and wasn't disappointed. He's great here, as is everyone else they cast. The whole dramatization of Ramanujan and his wife's relationship was a bit overwrought, though. And the fact that they spoke entirely in English during the parts when they were, well, in India bothered me a bit. But, ah well, Hollywood.

Book of Love (aka 北京遇上西雅图 之不二情书, Finding Mr. Right 2) I don't usually watch romcoms, but the premise sounded too good to pass up. As a Chinese-American myself, I love watching films about other Chinese-Americans. And there were some really good moments of isolation/displacement here that really resonated with me. (The ironic thing, though, is that Wu Xiubo's English is really, uh, not great. While Tang Wei, who's playing the Chinese girl in Macau, had pretty excellent English.) Unfortunately, I found the romance the least interesting part of this movie. I did tear up during some of the moments between Wu's character and his elderly real estate clients, though. And Tang Wei's performance as a whole was excellent.