Ancient Taoists travel through time and space in an effort to obtain a divine sword.

Korean Sci-Fi!

It's like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon met The Returner with aliens. Kinda.

There's comedy, lots of it. Epic fight scenes two. There are two worlds, and times, that collide. Though there is also some lens flare amidst the most epic battles, and shaky cam, and swords that keep swinging more so than legit fight choreography.

I hear this is a bit like a watered down version of the first. A re-run on the same theme. Same thing all over again. But if it is... I need to watch the first, cause this was great.

It's a bit messy initially though. You follow a great deal of characters through a great deal of twists and turns and chase and cheesiness before it all starts connecting and making sense. When it finally does though! Oh my. It was worth the build-up.

Can't say it's a perfect movie but I did thoroughly enjoy it. I like the clash between times too, between old and new, oldskool adventure and martial artistry; high tech wizardry on a cosmic scale.

Even if the alien race is but a sliver of what it once used to be.

I gotta watch the first though. Alienoid 1 up next. Despite initial confusion - considering which one of these the reviews rave most of, hopefully this is the right way...

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

After crash-landing in the snowswept Andes, a Uruguayan rugby team has no choice but to turn to desperate measures in order to survive.

Desperate measures as in cannibalism.

It's a classic movie this one. I've heard of it before but had yet to see it.

It tells the tale well, with a semi-realistic plane crash (it looks violent, at least, if not a hundred percent authentic) and the desperation that follows... they enact it well.

The crash site looks real, and you can see the characters gradually getting more and more tanned as the movie progresses, though not looking as malnourished as they most certainly did in real life.

I thought I recognized Ethan Hawke in here too! As a very younger, but still very much recognizable young E... I don't think I know any of the others, but they're all good. Ethan apparently refused to grow a beard during the movie, and I wonder why. If it was vanity it feels pretty disrespectful. I hope it was for other reasons, like staying true to the character he played. Maybe the real Nando couldn't grow a beard either...

It's a beautiful movie overall. One about overcoming hardship more so than about the dark side of humanity, and religion probably was a big thing for the main crew too. They came from a Christian country after all.

In desperate times I've no doubt even non-believers might turn to God, yet there's one particular scene where an agnostic suddenly starts praying as a storm starts raging, after weeks of telling the rest of the team that 'he won't pray, cause he's agnostic'.

I cringed a bit at that, and apparently it did not happen for real either!

It felt like one of those things they'd include in a movie just because it's a movie, or because they have an ulterior motive with the religious theme, and it was so.

It may be a slightly glorified and dramatized movie overall, but it's true, for the most part. The avalanche really happens too. I tear up occasionally, and unexpectedly. Sometimes it seems a bit dated, or angled for faith, yet the next moment it feels real and raw and like they're really managing to bring out the essence of humanity in the best possible way...

I'm glad I watched this after all. It's a classic for a reason. And there are a few other movies centered around this same event, which I just might need to see too... the Alive: 20 Years Later one in particular is intriguing. It came out the same year, but deals with the backstory and survivors more so than the tragedy; the filmatization of it all.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Read on...

This is the story of McDonalds. True story.

Michael Keaton plays the main man behind the Big Mac... though Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch play the two maybe more sympathetic characters in the initial arrangement. Who as with many in similarly big franchises get pushed out of the picture when the potential for profit first presents itself. And to think they were only trying to help!

It's a sad story really, the one behind McDonalds.

It started so well. With a hit of genius. With a stroke of good luck. With comradery and fortune and good intentions, and then that lawyer steps into the picture, and Kroc gets a bit too full of himself; flounders a bit too much on the grandiose lie he somehow stumbles into...

But it's a great movie. It presents the company in a fascinating way - as both an amazing, and ambitious, and revolutionary thing - with family values to boot. But also with a certain evil at it's very root. A good idea turned to something else by someone greedy.

I wonder when Ronald McDonald came into the picture - they don't delve much into the mascot.

But at least the modern logo was something Kroc really did contribute himself. And he did work hard, there's no denying that.

He's just a rat.

Damn good movie though. Authentic-seeming sceneries and mannerisms and everything of the times, too.

And I love those cars.

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome

AKA Hindustaini.

Watched the sequel recently. Had to go back and watch the original too...

You know what? This is a classic - flaws though it may have. The new one's ambitious, but it almost seems blasphemous compared to the first. Parodious.

The special effects here - with anamorph-style transformations and some gnarly green screen moments - like our main character jumping over cars on the race track - may not have aged so well. The blood and all's sparse. The masks aren't as good. But the emotion. The situation. It's real here.

They really did have some gnarly stunts on that racetrack too, and a massive explosion with an actual plane.

And the dances! Those really did take it to the next level with the sequel, but they were massive here too. And pure, in a different way. And the one scene where you see something like ten odd road signs around a round-about is fascinating, prohibiting U-turns and all. I wonder if the traffic system's changed in India since. It seems overwhelming.

Kamal Hassan, that's The Indian. AKA Hindustani. And yes he is younger than he looks! He was so here, and is so again with the sequel, but they really did a solid job with the prosthetics overall.

The movie starts in a similar way compared to the second. I realize now the trash stash was a throwback in the second one, as many other things I probably don't catch.

Visually this one might not have it all in the bag, but script-wise it held it together better. Without dated effects it might've been more than a...

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

I get more sights of sweet India than I've ever seen in a manner of minutes when the movie starts, and ditto when it ends... but the movie?

It's about an Indian. An old man. A warrior of justice, who trains in an ancient martial art, that works on chakra points to unrealistic effects, and it's... parodical. Overly dialogical. Overly preachy. Starring a set of social media warriors who cast out members of their families on counts of corruption, following the words of this old man, yet are punished for it, and they then want nothing to do with this warrior...

The sights are great, the fights are great, and the dance scene on shallow water in Taipei (so they say - I wonder where they really filmed that) is easily one of the best dance scenes I've seen in a Bollywood movie, not to mention the one with the gigantic crowd at the stadium.

Mighty.

But the movie... they don't really make you sympathize with the old man when it's over do they? Nor with the kids. You gravitate or relate to neither. And when it's over they promise a sequel - right away!

Next year. 2025.

I'll watch it but... I'm not a fan of a movie that ends with the promise of another, and I wish the directing did the visuals justice too.

There's so much to see. This is a wonder of cinematography, with creative flare, like for example how they capture the sun in the mouth of the first victim. And the old man powering up in the warehouse fight was some Kame-Sennin type shit. And I love the message - though it does go over-board a bit. It practices more than it preaches. I guess that's part of the message too...

...but again, the movie? It leaves a little to be desired. The directing feels messy, the action over-the-top, and the characters not as loveable as it seems they should be.

Hopefully that all changes with the next one. But still, this shouldn't need a sequel to redeem it. I wish I was in awe - as the production in large really seems to merit, but overall this falls...

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

Adam Diver VS Shia LaBeouf, and Aubrey Plaza, and more. I'm not entirely convinced by the killer actor. Jon Voight I'm still skeptical of.

It's a visionary movie. A mirror of our own world, of the past and future, a layer of alternative potential in the almighty USA.

Megalon, is that the matter of dreams? Hope? Love? Is this a metaphor for the indestructible quality it takes to build a new world?

The setting feels both old and new. The structures are futuristic, but the world's clearly America. Voight even says it at one point.

It seems unfitting for a parallel world to be so obviously non-parallel.

I like the creative filming, and the symbolism, with mist and light and time control, but then some things don't seem creative enough... not different enough.

Aubrey's kinky aunt scene seems out of place for Rome, too, especially when I'm watching this at a movie theatre, in a room apparently mostly inhabited by older people. I couldn't help think about how they perceive it more so than actually appreciating the scene for myself - which I no doubt would have had I watched it at home, solo.

The thought that other people in the room of said upper age group might actually appreciate the scene too was maybe even more off-putting than the scene itself.

Regular sex scenes don't feel that awkward, but this one, man...

Though the depravity is a big part of the movie too. It reflects the state of the world, and I don't mind when it's scandalous if it's in a good way. When it's with a flare, or nudity natural. The party. The body at the bottom of the lake. The morgue. Those scenes feels alright...

Aubrey however somehow does not seem a part of this world.

Maybe I misread her character.

For the most part though this was so good.

I love the play with nature.

I love the message, too.

And I'm curious about what parallels they really draw to modern politics. Are these the leaders of our time, or more so reflections of historical ones? Are the people symbolic, or the symbols symbols of people instead?

The circus, the games, we still have those too... the parallels ring true. The decadence and depravity of our modern world seem to be key...

It's almost perfect. Adam Diver in particular is flawless, but I'm not as convinced by everyone else. Like Nathalie... there's just something about her. She's sweet, but not as convincing...

 rated 4.5/5: almost awesome