Fantastic Four - 1994

I'm always in the mood for a good low-budget superhero film. And one that wasn't released? I'm in!

Reed is working on some space thing. He has his best friend, Victor, helping him, but when it all goes wrong, Reed stands there and watches Victor get crispy. Eventually, Ben gets him out of the lightning, but Victor is "dead." Ten years pass, and now Sue and Johnny Storm are old enough to travel to space. Hooray! Yeah, they were children in the beginning of the movie, and that made it a bit awkward when Reed showed back up later and took them to space. The huge, weird diamond has been swapped out by a circus-themed, mole-manish villain named The Jeweler, so things go wrong. Dr. Doom is after their new powers, and everyone wants to get with the blind girlfriend of Ben. 

This movie was a wild ride. The girlfriend was a major character for some reason. Ben runs into her once, but then the next time she gets the chance to talk to him, she tells him she loves him. WHAT?! Also, you'd think if you were going into space, you'd double check things and not just take your priceless diamond without at least checking it out, right? And what qualifications did those kids even have? The Thing keeps saying "It's clobbering time," but it is a stupid catchphrase. Reed had the personality of a piece of paper, and his powers were creepy. I did like how toward the end of the movie, everyone seemed to discover new powers, but they were unsurprised at them. The thwarting of the laser beam was questionable and confusing, which made it beautiful.

Dr. Doom was my favorite. I don't know why they thought his mask was functional, but I could only understand about 30% of what he was saying. And it was beautiful. My favorite quote from him is when he comes back to find his minions all defeated. He had his speech all ready to go. Instead, he just says, "Huh." Amazing. He also talks with his hands a lot. I think that was in an effort to make his own sign language so people could understand him better. Anyway, I'd love to have him in our cinematic universe. I have to let the kids have a say in that, though. I think he'll make it. If you get the chance to watch this, I'd recommend it. Definitely watch it with friends. Good Movie!

Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection) - 1972

I've never seen an entire Bruce Lee movie before, and I noticed there was one on Tubi that I could watch. I had a bit of time and was in the mood for some fighting, so I pressed play and settled in to see what all the hype was about.

Chen is devastated that his teacher is dead. A Japanese interpreter comes to his martial arts school and threatens the students with his two thugs and a sign disparaging Chinese people. From there on out, it's an all-out war between two schools, and the bodies are piling up. Some are dead, and a lot are injured. Until the end, when tons are dead.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised how much fun I had with this movie. I had the most fun at the beginning and the end, when Bruce Lee was beating the crap out of people, but there were a few scenes in the middle that were pretty cool as well. Parts of it are unintentionally hilarious, like when he was swinging around two students (dummies) and hitting people. Epic.

On the other side of this, I actually learned things! While this isn't based on a true story, Chen (Lee's character) is a student of Huo Yuanjia, a hero of Chinese martial arts. He died in 1910, and it's unsure whether the arsenic found on his bones was poisoning or just a sign of the times. Also, this movie is set in Shanghai in the early 1900s. At that time, tensions were rising between Japan and China for a number of reasons, and I think those feelings were depicted pretty realistically. It was something I wasn't expecting to see. 

My first martial arts movie was so fun. I want to see more Bruce Lee, but I really wish I could've watched this in the original Mandarin with English subtitles. Dubs are nice, but I could tell the actors were using TONS more emotion at certain times than the voice actors were giving me. I was also impressed with what Bruce Lee could do with those nunchaku. I've only ever see people fling them around. He was actually using them as weapons. I'd like to watch it again to see if I can spot one of my favorite fun martial artists, Jackie Chan. Apparently, he's an extra and a stunt double for the bad guy. Also, just a word of advice for Chen. If you want to grill your enemies for information, you might want to interrogate them BEFORE you kill them. Just sayin! Good Movie! 

Monkey Business - 1952

I wanted to watch this one because it had Cary Grant in it. Other than that, I didn't know anything about it. I have an aversion to monkeys (long story), so I wouldn't have picked this to watch any other way.

Grant plays a scientist who is working on a youth formula. He thinks he's cracked the code, but in reality, one of the chimps was mimicking his movements and then put the concoction in the water cooler. First, Grant acts like a 20-year-old for a day. He cuts his glorious hair (that was depressing) and hangs out with Marilyn Monroe. Unfortunately, Monroe was cast as the "beautiful, dumb blonde" as usual. As a side note, I'd like to see her in a serious role. I looked it up, and there's a couple of options for that.

Anyway, once Grant takes a nap, the formula wears off, and his wife is the next one to become a test subject. Since she's Ginger Rogers, she ends up dancing a lot. Then, she wants to recreate her wedding night, complete with wedding night jitters and floor-length nightgown.

They still don't really know what's created the effect of the formula, so Grant and his wife make coffee using the tainted water, so they get an overdose. Now they're acting like literal children. At one point, Grant finds a group of kids acting like Indians, and he gets the idea to take out his rival by scalping him. I think that was my favorite part to be honest. Seeing Hank with a mohawk and tied to a pole was great!

The movie was strange, and the premise is ridiculous. Parts of it were amusing, and I liked seeing Charles Coburn. I've seen him in a few other movies. It's a screwball comedy, but I think if I want to watch a screwball comedy with scatterbrained scientist Cary Grant with animals and disapproving older matrons, I'll watch Bringing Up Baby. I prefer the chemistry between Grant and Katharine Hepburn, and I'll take leopards and dogs to chimps any day! It's still a Good Movie! because it has it's moments, but I probably won't watch it again.

The Third Man - 1949

I watched this movie a while ago and had it tagged to watch it again to review it. 

A man arrives in Vienna to see his friend, but he's too late. His friend, Harry, died a few days before Mr. Holly Martins got there. Martins digs a little deeper and discovers that not everything is as it seems.

Okay, so this movie wasn't as good as I remembered. The twists in it were fairly good, but the stresses on Holly's and Anna's conscience was maddening. Harry was a bad guy. There's no reason to stick up for him or help him.

And bless the zither man. I don't know how much Mr. Anton Karas was paid, but he became something of a star after this movie. On the flip side, his zither music was used so much. I was over it, and it didn't really match a few of the scenes.

Overall, the movie was irritating. Harry was a villain, and there wasn't anything redeeming about him. Martins wasn't that great either. He didn't care about catching Harry until he saw the children's hospital. Until then, "it was none of his business." Anna was just as dumb, and I don't understand why she was so devoted to Harry. These people were all terrible, and I hope Anna can't perform anymore and no one reads Holly's books. RIP Sergeant Paine. You deserved better...

91 Days - 2016

I can't quite remember how this anime came onto my radar, but I ended up binging it in one day. It has 12 episodes and one that is a summary of "what's happened thus far" about halfway through. I skimmed that one.

Angelo witnessed his family get murdered in a mafia dispute when he was a young man. Seven years after the tragedy, he receives a mysterious letter that names the men that were present that night. It's then that he goes back to the city and infiltrates the mafia, getting especially close to Nero. He's the son of Don Vanetti, one of the men present the night of the murders, but Nero's name is also on the list.

Unfortunately, Angelo is solely focused on revenge. His close friend, Corteo, gets caught up in the mafia, something he never wanted. His moonshine was supposed to make some money for him to go to school, but now he's on this crazy mission with Angelo, and he's not able to escape. 

Now to the spoilers: The thing about revenge is that since it's the only thing Angelo lives for, once it's over, he doesn't know what to do. He's lost everything, including the only person who really cared about him and would do anything for him. That bothered me, and it bothered him. But he was so determined to follow through with his plan that he was willing to sacrifice Corteo.

The end is somewhat ambiguous, but my take is that both Nero and Angelo die. And I'm going to tell you why. As much as I'm a happy ending person, and I'd like to pretend there's a happily ever after, these young men aren't going to find it. I believe Angelo is dead, because they made a choice to show that Nero missed when he had his eyes shut. This time, he's close range, his eyes are open, and he doesn't hesitate. Nero's fate is pretty easy to guess, since they made a point of showing the man in the car recognizing him while Nero drove past with his pineapples.

I'm not sure I need to say it, but I liked this show. It sucked me in, and I wanted to know what would happen next. Each episode is only 20ish minutes, so it doesn't take a ton of time (unless you binge it, but that's a personal problem). I will warn you, if you're interested in this one, don't become attached to anyone. You'll be sad. Except for the dog. I was glad they spared the dog, because I was truly worried about that. The only issue I had was the weird titles. The show covers 91 days (of course), but the episodes are labeled "Day 1" "Day 2" etc. But that makes no sense, because it doesn't line up. Anyway, personal annoyance, and it shouldn't prevent anyone from watching it. Good Show!