Ever wish you could find a movie like The Pick of Destiny, just more family-friendly? How about having your ear-holes serenaded by some sweet, sweet alien bluegrass? Well, I tell you what, I've never heard of the band Future Folk until this movie, but you know how I so often tell all of you that the soundtrack is just kind of there and background? Prepare for music to jump into the front of the scene. Whether you find yourself wearing a bucket on your head and trying to farm space worms or you wish someone would just set off a race-destroying toxin, set your lasers to stun and suit up for some fun.
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I'm not going to lie, the main reason I wanted to watch this movie was due to it's connection to Dragon Age. You see, I've been playing myself quite a bit of Dragon Age: Origins (about 80 game-hours worth), and enjoying the return to classic Dungeons and Dragons style fantasy - complete with monsters and wizards and full plate. This movie is more tied to DA 2 from what I'm told (which I haven't played or know much about), but thankfully for all of you suffering through this paragraph, you don't need to know much at all about the games to enjoy this movie - it tells you the specific tidbits you need right at the start. So grab your steel and prep that fireball, lets get this show on the road!
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Nevermind the fact that you can find Kaiser spelled with a S or Z depending on where you come from. Never mind that Netflix only had the subtitled version as opposed to the one with the English VA's I've read exists. Forget everything you know about Mazinkaiser, if you knew anything at all. This movie brings the metal back into the giant robot anime.
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Ray Harryhausen. It's a name that a lot of people should know, even though in reality these days it's more than likely that less know it than they should. If your old enough, you grew up on his movies, wondering how such creatures could possibly be brought to life - films such as Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans (the original one), and this one. He was a a special effects master when it came to claymation, and (to my knowledge), this is one of the first movies that he tried a new technique and also got to work with childhood friend Ray Bradbury. Giant monster from back in the days of black and white? Right up my alley, but what about you?
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I watch a lot of what some would call "the classics," not because I think they are superior to modern movies or anything like that - I just get a kick out of some of the old movies. There are some problems present with watching older movies though - namely, sometimes they show their age in unpleasant ways. Blob is a bit of a big thing for the little town it was filmed in, evoking a yearly Blob-fest that even involves a prized running from the very theater in the film to celebrate. Of course, I'm getting ahead of myself - simple fan status doesn't really always merit the movie being good necessarily, but please do continue.
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Ever hear the old adage that the pen is mightier than the sword? One way of perceiving that phrase is to say that the word is strong than action, and indeed this proves to be the case in this movie. It's hard to precisely label this in the genre of horror, as some would pass it off as a zombie film - although there are indeed similarities that would undersell the true nature of the film. Tighten your coat and secure the fireplace, this wintry tale of terror comes just in time to mimic the changing seasons.
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To most of us in this day and age, Dracula is a tale as old as time that we all have seen in at least one of its various forms. Probably most known of the various takes is the Bram Stoker's 1992 edition with Gary Oldman, but of all the actor's to have ever played the famous character it is probably none other than Bela Lugosi who a lot of folks see as the Dracula (especially the older crowd who were raised on the old Universal Horror flicks). Imagine my excitement over getting to see a classic such as this using my already existing Netflix streaming subscription - without even having to look for it manually, as it was kind enough to place it in my "Recommended for you" section. The real question, I suppose, that anyone who hasn't been raised on the classics is probably asking is how does it hold up, so I'll stop blathering on here and get to the point.
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Similar in spirit to films like Shaun of the Dead or Tucker and Dale, this guy has a quirky premise that I think a lot of folks feel fails to deliver on (judging by the Netflix reviews). I've never heard of it until it showed up on the new additions list, and considering the last movie I saw with Robrt Englund in it as a side part was Jack Brooks (which I thoroughly enjoyed), I figured let's roll with it and see how it is. Animal lovers beware - although shown violence against pets is rather limited, the implication that most all the furry cast becomes mole meals is pretty straight forward.
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If you happen to be a fan of anime in the more recent years, Funimation is a name you will probably recognize. Granted, this movie is not an anime, but a live action movie that for intents and purposes may as well have been rotoscoped to look like an anime, because it certainly feels like an anime. Of course, it also has vampires, but not your everyday blood suckers either - these seem to be a bit dispelled from to typical "steak in the heart" vampires us westerners are so used to these days. Well, let's just stop beating around the bush and get into it.
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Tai Chi Zero was something that I stumbled upon thanks to the Netflix recommendation systems a year or two ago, and I was immediately a fan of the Kung Fu Hustle-esque goofy nature mixed with some impressive martial arts. Hero is the sequel to Zero , and if you don't for whatever reason want to watch the first, but want to fill in some of the blanks the trailer for Hero should provide you with all the main details that you need to know.
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Subtitles aside, this movie is a complete blast. I understand that I probably lost some of you with the disclosure that it has subtitles, but for those of you who are still present you already probably now that each foreign place has a specific charm to its movies - China has Kung Fu, Japan has a lot of weirdness, and India has Bollywood for example. Well, in this case we are stepping more into Bollywood, which opens up a couple of avenues that aren't usually there for the walking when I go into the review step (such as a bit more playful and intentional use of musical numbers), so it's really like a double-stage level of enthusiasm for this one. The only real thing that makes me not want to do this review is the inevitable horrible butchering of the poor actor's names I'm about to put forth...
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Taking the spirit of Discovery 's Shark Week into heart, I'd like to spin you a cautionary tale of knowledge about a misunderstood creature: B-movies are a much enthused genre of movies for folks looking for all manner of fun - be it stupid and grotesque, or intellectual and unique - but made on a (normally) less-than stellar budget. Over the years, these films have developed their own set of cliches and styles, which is sometimes emulated by producers who have a bit more money to throw at it than others (such as SyFy channel's notorious strings of original movies), while still retaining the low brow humor and fun often associated with them. Many are even made mockingly of more well known of higher budget films. However, in the existence of all these films, one groups stands aside as hands down the worst movies I have ever seen (seriously, they'd be as bad as Uwe Boll if it wasn't for the fact that I think they try to be bad intentionally) - and thy name is Asylum.
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It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. On the same page, if a person were to look at that same picture with some form of music playing in the background, they might find that not only are those words changing more freely, but also that the picture is starting to generate feelings within the viewer that might not be found otherwise. It is in this vein that the band Daft Punk decides to experiment, generating what some might consider a waste of time, and yet others will appreciate for long to come as a new spin on story telling, where the imaginative visuals combine with the music to form a whole new beast
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