Topic: April 2008 Numerical Marathon - Discussion Thread

[Kathy]

I've started to watch a TV series I saw when it was first aired: Kung Fu: Season One: Disc One. It was as good as I remembered it. Although I like it very much I think it might have been better if they had kept to the original idea of having Bruce Lee play the title character.
Although David Carridine does a fine job I still find myself thinking "what if..."

My 7 year old niece, Katrina, liked the series too.  (the thundergod is her review) Her favorite parts are the flash backs "Grasshopper" and "Snatch the pebble from my hand". I've been listening to "Kung Fu isms" all day today!

[richierich]

When you can take the pebble from my hand Kath, it will be time for you to leave   

[Achim]

But "House of the Dead" is not so bad if we take it for what it is : an horror action movie. It is not in the same class of any Romero zombie movies, so forget about the social commentary or the story in general. The only problem with this film is the use of the game screen (I can't see any good reason for using them), I don't like the running zombie but I've decide to deal with that. In fact "House of the dead" is better than ROTLD 4 & 5 and Resident Evil (I really don't like this movie, one of the worst zombie movie ever made. Even Zombi 4 is better than that).

I almost can buy that House of the Dead is just a zombie flick with sufficient amount of gore and all that.

I just felt it's stupid when Uwe Boll goes around in the commentary pointing out his "homages" to great films (I already forgot which ones, but I think he mentioned Spielberg and the likes...). The video game screens are there for the same reason; homage to the game itself.

[Kathy]

When you can take the pebble from my hand Kath, it will be time for you to leave   

 

I watched Disc 2 and 3 today. I really do enjoy this series as much as I did...gasp...no it couldn't be ...but it is...35 years ago. It has aged quite well; I don't think it feels dated at all. For all you young whippersnappers who didn't get to see this when it first aired, I would definitely recommend this series. 

[lyonsden5]

not a young whippersnapper but was wondering if this show would be as good as I remembered it. Glad to hear you think it is at least as good as you remembered it

I had no idea Bruce Lee was supposed to be the star. One of the things I enjoyed about the character was he was of mixed race. An outsider in both worlds. That would have been harder to pull off had Bruce Lee been the actor IMO.

Looking forward to watching it again (just have to buy it first  )

[Achim]

I just watched "Story of Ricky aka Riki-Oh" and decided not to rate it.

On the one hand it's this adaptation of a manga (I haven't read that; I haven't read a single manga, actually) with kung fu, over-the-top violence and gore and I believe some intentional comedy. To fans of such films there is a lot of fun to be had. Obviously a LOT of suspension of disbelief is required.

On the other hand it's badly acted, has ridiculous dialog and the ADR is hilariously out of sync at times.

How could I possiobly rate that?


I remember seeing this first on laserdisc something like 15 years ago and recently decided to seek out the DVD. I was not disappointed, I got everything I remembered it for

[Jimmy]

Just notice that you have watch this one



I don't know if my review made you buy it, but I'm glad that you have enjoy it. If you find the second part take a chance with since it is pretty good too, but it is a little bit more silly.

And ... Don't be naughty !!

[Achim]

I don't know if my review made you buy it, but I'm glad that you have enjoy it. If you find the second part take a chance with since it is pretty good too, but it is a little bit more silly.

And ... Don't be naughty !!

Yes, it was your review that made me buy it. It is not quite the usual slasher flick and had some original ideas, I thought; hence the rating in my Marathon post. I am not sure though I need to own the sequel as well...



Last night I concluded this month's marathon with "Shock Treatment".

It is a semi-sequel to "Rocky Horror Picture Show". If you never heard about, I now know why It fails (as it must) to replicate the fun and joy of RHPS; of course, RHPS has this added cult thing going... On it's own it is a decent quirky comedy though, with quite a few interesting musical numbers (nothing for you here, Pete ).

[mpengle]

You know, I really do love these marathons that have a theme, but that are still a bit loose. Why? Because they force me to watch stuff I bought, but that I may not have reached for naturally when deciding what to watch.

I am currently watching Bound, which I bought because it was made by the Wachowski Brothers (or is that sibblings now?) and heard good things about it. Yet, it's movie I've never felt like watching really.

Now, because of the numerical marathon, I had to find a movie for #5. Since I don't have one with 5 in the title, I had to go by character count. and it popped up as an unwatched movie (I'm trying to also limit to stuff I've not yet watched), so I thought, why not?

Back later with what I thought of it.


EDIT: Review posted here

Glad you liked it Seb, I love the movie mostly for Gina Gershon, she is complete  material

You might be jealous....errr, happy to know I got to meet her when I played in the audience for a movie she was in a few years ago. I think I enjoyed meeting Christopher McDonald (Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore) though as much as anything, he was hilarious. Had all of us cracking up in between takes when the day was getting loooooong...

[Jimmy]

I've bought it at the release day. It is not as good as Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it is not so bad. Jessica Harper is a big plus, I've really appreciated her in Suspiria and she had a really good voice. The music in it is good. One thing to observe is that this movie use the reality tv concept way before it really exist. Not the greatest movie in the history or musical movie in the history, but a fun way to pass some time in front of the tv and sing with it.

[Achim]

Jessica Harper is a big plus, I've really appreciated her in Suspiria and she had a really good voice.

I knew I had seen her before, just couldn't place where... Thanks for that.

[Jimmy]

She is in "Phantom of the Paradise" by Brian de Palma too. I've not watch it recently, but I think that her role is really small. By the way this movie is a musical too (another one not for Pete  ) and it's not a bad one.

[Tom]

Anyone up for a May marathon? Any ideas what kind?

Richie, everything OK with you? You haven't updated your list since Apr 9th. I feared that something may have happened to you (since you usually update your lists regularly), but I did check a couple of times this month, if you had logged in. You did, therefore I assumed you are just too busy to watch any DVDs.

[Achim]

Anyone up for a May marathon? Any ideas what kind?

Richie, everything OK with you? You haven't updated your list since Apr 9th. I feared that something may have happened to you (since you usually update your lists regularly), but I did check a couple of times this month, if you had logged in. You did, therefore I assumed you are just too busy to watch any DVDs.

Sebastien previously suggested this. As nothing else came up since then I started watching my Superman Ultimate Collection. I could still switch though... On the other hand, we may want to find a way to slightly open up the theme to allow for a slightly broader selection.

[Tom]

Sebastien previously suggested this. As nothing else came up since then I started watching my Superman Ultimate Collection. I could still switch though... On the other hand, we may want to find a way to slightly open up the theme to allow for a slightly broader selection.

I can live with it (though it was Mario who first suggested it). If there is no veto in the next hour I will open up a new marathon thread.