Recommend a movie

[Silver Nemesis]

It's been a while since I watched Captain Clegg/Night Creatures, but I remember it being a fun movie and a good swashbuckling role for Cushing.

It's adapted from Russell Thorndike's 1915 novel Doctor Syn, which I read for the first time about five years ago. In the book, Captain Clegg, aka Doctor Syn, adopts the guise of a masked criminal known as the Scarecrow.

I view Syn/Clegg/Scarecrow as a literary forebear of the Batman villain of the same name. The other literary character that clearly influenced the comic villain is Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Jonathan Crane share's Icahbod's name, appearance and occupation as a teacher, but his masked persona is indebted to that of Syn/Clegg.

Disney produced another screen version of Thorndike's book titled The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (1963), which starred Patrick McGoohan as Clegg. I haven't got around to watching this yet, but Tim Sale is thought by some to have modelled his drawings of Scarecrow on McGoohan's costume.

I can't recall if Cushing's version of the character actually uses the Scarecrow persona in the Hammer film, but he does wear a cool skeleton costume similar to Death Man's. I've always thought Cushing would have been the perfect actor to play Scarecrow in the Adam West Batman series.

I swear one of these days I'll get around to starting a Hammer Horror thread so we can have more in-depth discussions about these films.

[The Dark Knight]

Playing through Hogwarts Legacy has led me to dig out my old Harry Potter books I had as a kid. Upon opening the covers of the first three books there was my name written in my own handwriting looking back at me, which was quite affecting to me some 20 odd years later. I wasn't a huge Potterhead back in the day - it dropped off around Goblet of Fire (while generally knowing what followed after). But I've jumped back in there now.

The nostalgia angle apeals to me in the sense it's unfinished business and revisiting a frozen part of my childhood. I can see why kids fell in love with this world and reading in general. I burned through the first three books pretty quickly and I've just about finished book four. The last three bring in darkness and death, which is highly effective given the prior character development and more jovial tone. The loss of innocence and dealing with misery are relevant even more now, as the magic in the real world has also faded.

I'm all about the books as they're the full experience. The condensed nature of the film adaptions make them lesser experiences with less context but I'll still check them out again when I'm done reading. However in terms of sound and visuals, the movies can't really be faulted. John Williams captured the wonder and mystery of the world in a way that it's twinkling in my head while reading.

[thecolorsblend]

When I was a kid, I was a big Roald Dahl fan. I loved the occasionally surrealist style. And I thought the Dahl influence was fairly noticeable in the first book. Rowling obviously couldn't have stuck with Dahl forever in the Potter series. But I enjoyed what I at least thought was her tipping her hat to Dahl in the first novel.

As to the movies, I regard them as visualizations of the books. On that basis, some are better than others. On balance, Prisoner Of Azkaban is probably my favorite from the movie series. That's the equivalent is 7th grade here in the States and that was a very vivid time for me.

The best work Williams did for that series was in POA, frankly.

[Edd Grayson]

I still love the Harry Potter books. Maybe not as much as I did when I was a child/teenager, but I certainly do.

As for the movies, I regard the second movie as the best. Faithful to the book but also having its personal touch. The first movie was good, but lacked some unique personality. The third movie on the other hand tried to distance itself too much from the book, and I didn't enjoy it. The fourth movie was a large failure in my eves, as was the sixth. The sixth book is actually my favorite. The fifth movie was second best. And then the last two movies were pretty good due to the fact that they had enough space to adapt a single book.

So, I'd rank the movies:

1. Chamber of Secrets
2. Order of the Phoenix
3. Philosopher's Stone
4. Deathly Hallows, parts I and II
5. Prisoner of Azkaban
6. Half-Blood Prince
7. Goblet of Fire

And here's how I'd rank the books:

1. Half-Blood Prince
2. Chamber of Secrets
3. Goblet of Fire
4. Prisoner of Azkaban
5. Order of the Phoenix
6. Deathly Hallows
7. Philosopher's Stone

[Travesty]

I don't know anything about Harry Potter. I've never read a single book, nor have I seen any of the movies.

It never seemed like anything I would be into.

[Silver Nemesis]

I can't say I've ever been a diehard fan of Harry Potter. I've read all seven books, I saw all the films on the big screen, and I visited the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Warner Bros' Leavesden studio back in 2016 (this was around the time they were shooting Justice League there, and we could see the New York sets from the first Fantastic Beasts movie still standing near the car park). But HP never clicked with me on a deeper personal level the way certain other things have. A lot of people in my family, including my mother, are serious Potter fans. I'm more of a casual appreciator. But I can see why so many people love the world Rowling created.

My favourite books in the series were The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire. I think the novels are obviously superior to the films, though I do quite like the early movies. The first two in particular, directed by Chris Columbus, had a charm that was absent from the later entries.

As for Fantastic Beasts, I went to see the first one when it came out and I thought it was ok. I'm not particularly bothered about seeing the sequels.

I haven't played the new Hogwarts Legacy game. However I was delighted to hear it had sold over 12 million copies, simply because its success highlights the colossal failure of the boycott.

When I was a kid, I was a big Roald Dahl fan.

You must be thrilled about the recent news regarding sensitivity readers censoring his work. If there's one occupation humanity can do without, it's sensitivity readers. Apparently Ian Fleming's Bond novels are getting the same treatment next. Thankfully I already own all the uncensored and politically incorrect editions of 007's adventures.

Speaking of Dahl, one movie I'd recommend is Nicolas Roeg's 1990 film of The Witches starring Anjelica Huston.

I first saw this on TV when I was about 7, and it scared me so badly I had to change the channel. Revisiting it as an adult, I appreciate what a good adaptation it is of Dahl's book. It captures the darkness of the original story, which is important for kids to absorb on a cautionary level. The filmmakers did alter the ending to give it a more upbeat conclusion, and some fans have understandably taken issue with that. But aside from that one change, it's a faithful adaptation worth watching.

[thecolorsblend]

I spent a good bit of last month blasting through the Fast & Furious films. And I had a ton of fun doing it. They're brainless, high-octane action movies with lots of stunts, car chases, fights, stuff blowing up, sexy women, alpha men, cool cars and all that stuff.

Honestly, between stuff like Fast & Furious, John Wick, Mission Impossible and even The Expendables, I think Hollywood got too distracted by Marvel. Hollywood spent far too much time chasing after shared superhero universe ideas when they should've been focused on thrill-a-minute actionfests that lend themselves to numerous sequels. F&F and The Expendables are both mid-budget franchises with solid ROI. And the success of John Wick and Mission Impossible speaks for itself.

Anyway, enough of that. I'd never seen most of the F&F series before. But having watched them all now, I have to say that you get your money's worth out of them, the never outstay their welcome and there's a surprising amount of heart in these movies that you wouldn't expect from entertainment where you're supposed to check your brain at the door.

Highly recommended.

[thecolorsblend]

Quantumania came, it saw, it tanked. The powers that be behind Shazam! Fury Of The Gods apparently saw that and said "Hold my beer, we can do better. And by better, we mean worse".

Comic book cinema looks to be on undeniable decline. So, could this mean a return to having actual genres? Romantic comedy, horror, action, mystery, caper, etc?

One genre in desperate need of revitalization is the kung fu film. Which just about brings me too...

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was amazing back in 2000. But I'm struck by how it has aged like fine. Because when you think about it, the East Meets West blending of cinematic styles could've gone horrifyingly wrong. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon easily could've been the two great tastes that don't taste great together. But somehow, against all odds, the film is a masterpiece.

First off, the fight choreography and wire-fu is absolutely insane. Audiences thought they'd gotten a taste of wire-fu in The Matrix. But Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon takes it to the next level. This film's wire work has yet to be challenged.

But in the second place, the drama and character conflicts are all very real. Everyone has a point of view. And even the bad/villainous characters have a certain sensibility and logic behind their action.

Third, obviously this movie makes no pretense toward realism. But at the same time, the fairy tale setting, stylized action scenes and iconic/archetypal characters are all grounded by the reality of death constantly haunting everyone and the bad-yet-understandable decisions made by the characters. The laws of physics might get bent in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But the pains, losses and defeats of life are not sugarcoated.

If you've never seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, don't let the Mandarin language dissuade you. This film is not only well worth checking out, but it's one of the few films that actually deserves repeat viewings. Plus, the cinematic language allows you to skip whole sections of dialogue because the conflicts are conveyed just as much visually as they are textually.

Watch. This. Movie.

Again, if need be.

[thecolorsblend]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gisFzhNu63Y&pp=ygUJVE1OVCAyMDA3

I've been a fan of TMNT (2007) for a pretty long time now. Just finished a rewatch and I'm once again impressed by how well this overlooked gem in Turtle history holds up.

One thing I enjoy about TMNT (2007) is how it's wide open to interpretation. If you want TMNT (2007) to be a continuation of the previous three live action films from the early Nineties, it can be. You've even got some pretty solid evidence working in your favor. If you look close, you can spot Super Shredder from The Secret Of The Ooze, the cracked TGRI ooze canister from the same, Shredder's TSOTO helmet and the scepter from the third film.

But if you'd prefer for TMNT (2007) to be its own thing, that works too because TMNT (2007) is a complete stylistic (and even genre) break from those three films.

Speaking of which, nothing in the film requires expert knowledge of the Nineties movie franchise. Beyond, the film doesn't require much more than a passing familiarity with the basics of Ninja Turtle mythos. As long as you know that Leo is the titular leader, Raph is the hotheaded lone wolf, Mikey is the fun-loving, freewheeling slacker and Donny is the team inventor and intellectual, nothing in the narrative will challenge you too much.

But what's better is that IF you choose to regard this movie as the fourth installment in the previous live action franchise, then TMNT (2007) restores a lot of the dignity to the characters that the second and third movies systematically stripped away. Perhaps we can attribute that to Peter Laird (Turtles co-creator) being involved with the film in a production capacity?

Whatever the case may be, it's a crying shame that TMNT (2007) never got the sequel that it so richly deserved. Because sequel or not, reboot or not, TMNT (2007) proves that there's still plenty of mojo in the Turtle concept. But that's small potatoes. We got one good film. Which is one more than I ever thought we'd get.

Watch it!

EDIT- Bryan Singer touted Superman Returns as fitting into a "vague history" of Superman. I find it amusing that TMNT (2007) came out less than a year later and better executed the "vague history" concept far better than Singer managed to do with SR.

[The Laughing Fish]

I remember watching that TMNT animated movie thirteen years, I really liked it. I thought it was a good balance between maintaining the spirit of those original Eastman and Laird comics, while being a crowd-pleaser. It still looks WAY better than Mutant Mayhem.

I'll pass. It tries too hard to ape Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse for my liking.

While we're on the subject of Ninja Turtles, I recommend anyone who grew up with the Eighties cartoon to play the Shredder's Revenge game, which came out last year. It's a great little homage to those classic arcade and 16-bit games.