Moviewatcher122's 2017 Film Diary: May

May 1



I saw the sequel to this one years before I even got around to seeing the original. That one was the first foreign movie I've seen with Jackie Chan even though I watched the dub and it was unlike anything I had seen at the time. I was even surprised by how off the wall the stunts were and even since I saw that one I really wanted to check out the original.

I actually wasn't sure which one was better at first after watching this one, but after thinking about it, I have to say that this one is better. Even though the sequel has better effects and is more off the wall, I just love the simplicity of this one more. Jackie Chan does a decent acting job for this being one of his earlier roles and the story while simple was charming. The fight scenes were also really well-done and it also had a great sense of humor. This is a great martial arts film and as much as I like the sequel, you just can't beat the original in this case.

May 2



"Smith, college is just an intermission between high school and the rest of your life. It's four years of having sex, making stupid mistakes, and experiencing stuff. It's a pit stop, not the second coming of the Messiah."

Gregg Araki sure is an interesting director, huh? He's one of those kinds of directors where everything I've seen from him so far was something I had completely different opinions on. I couldn't stand Smiley Face, I mostly hated The Doom Generation, but had a couple aspects that I liked and Mysterious Skin was a disturbing, but very powerful film. This one though was something I loved the hell out of. This was just some random movie that was on my radar that I picked and I feel like I watched this one at a perfect time in my life.

One of the things I liked the most was the characters. I thought they were written exceptionally well and I found myself caring for each and every one. I thought Haley Bennett's character was great and really funny at times, but the one I liked the most was Thomas Dekker as the protagonist. He was just a great character that I could even say I found relatable, but what really interested me was the storyline. I thought it was delightfully bizarre and I was more and more invested into it the more it went on. It's also great on a visual level and really adds to the feel of this movie. Despite how much I loved this movie, I can understand the low ratings as it's not for everyone, but I loved every minute of it and for me it's Gregg Araki's best work.

May 4

So, this particular movie was originally just going to be my typical write-up of a particularly bad movie, but I didn't anticipate how much I really had to say about it and ended up being too long for this list. That's why I made it into a review instead.

www.listal.com/viewentry/13831168

May 6



"You've 10 days to solve this and then you will be whipped. And for every extra day, there's one extra stoke."

The only Shaw Brothers thing I had seen prior to this one was The 36th Chamber of Shaolin which was great and this one was pretty good as well. It's not as good, but it's a solid martial arts film that's good in it's own right. I did find the concept of this one to be interesting and I was honestly surprised by how brutal it got by the second half.

May 9



"You look like Mary Poppins."
"Is he cool?"
"Hell yeah, he's cool."
"I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"

If there was any sequel to a Marvel film that I was looking forward to the most, it would probably be this one. The first Guardians of the Galaxy was so good and a very pleasant surprise overall, so I was hoping the sequel would deliver as well. The trailer did a great job of hyping me up and after seeing it I...


Thought it was just as good as the original. It was great to see these characters again and they are just as good if not better the second time around. The humor is also just as witty with there being just as many great lines as the first one. Rocket Racoon may have stole the show last time, but here it's Baby Groot. Some of the funniest moments in the movie involved him and they played up the cuteness of the character just enough without going overboard. The characters were just as likeable as they were in the first and I loved following them through this journey. Another thing I really loved was the visuals. This movie was just gorgeous to look at from start to finish and it's one of those times where paying extra for 3D is actually worth it. I'm still not quite sure if this is better than the first one, but one thing that really gives this sequel it's edge is the ending. I was not expecting it to end the way it did and I think that if this is not better than the original, it at least comes close.

This sequel did not disappoint at all and I'm now interested to see what's going to happen next with this characters. Who would've thought that a superhero team I knew nothing about before these movies would have such an impact on me?

May 10



"My mother was Korean, and my father was Black American. She gave me this picture when she was real sick. I was only nine years old."

This is another one of those cheesy 80's action movies that is notorious for being so bad it's good, so I decided to check it out. Well, it's no Samurai Cop, but it's still delightfully bad. The dialogue is really cheesy, the acting is pretty bad and it's even bad on a technical standpoint. There were even a couple moments where the audio was really out of sync with what was happening. With that said, I did enjoy this movie for how bad it was even if it is slow in certain moments. I don't think it ever lived up to its opening scene though. That was pure gold and it's a little disappointing that it never recaptures the awesomeness of that scene.

May 11



"I believe in Holden Caulfield. And in the book, and what he was saying, what he was saying to a lost generation of phony people."

I was always somewhat curious about this particular film, but at the same time wasn't so sure about it. A part of me was skeptical because I had a feeling that they might glorify this guy or what he did. Thankfully it doesn't do that. It doesn't make you sympathize with him and it doesn't show him in a positive light. Jared Leto does do a very good job portraying him and I do think he was the right choice for the role. This movie does have a few interesting scenes here and there, but the majority of it just felt empty. There's not much substance to it at all and most of the time it's telling us that he was this messed up guy which we already know. It doesn't really tell us much about him and while the makers of this film had a reason for it, I just can't help but think that the lack of character insight works against the movie.

I mean, there's a few things like that he was obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye and that he loves The Beatles, but there isn't really enough going on to make me care about what is happening. I swear, this movie gets so tedious at times that I asked to myself "OK, when is he going to shoot John Lennon?" and that's something that a movie should not make you question. I mean, the last 15 minutes of this movie is just hammering in the fact that he's going to kill John Lennon and it gets very monotonous. Then when the movie ends I was asking myself what the point of this movie was.

I thought this movie was just mediocre at first, but the more that I think about it, there's not really much I liked about it and after typing all of this I was thinking "Wow, I really didn't like this movie." Like I said, it had a few interesting moments, but that's not really enough when most of this movie is mostly just boring. Was this guy even worth making a movie about? If the best this movie has to offer is him wanting to meet John for the first 60 minutes and spending the next 15 plotting to kill him, then probably not. I get that it's a dramatization and all, but for god sake give us something to care about! Without that, all you have is A Day in the Life of a Psychopath. So yeah, if you haven't seen this then don't bother. It isn't really worth your time and I like it less the more I think about it.

May 12



Decided to wash the bad taste that Chapter 27 left me with a movie starring a Beatle. I was curious about this one because, well isn't it obvious? It's Ringo Starr as a caveman! I wasn't expecting much other than some goofy fun and this does deliver. It's clearly not meant to be high art or anything, but it's pretty amusing. Some of the biggest laughs I got from this movie was the cheesiness of the whole thing like the well-done, but also goofy special effects and Ringo Starr's acting, but there were also some really good moments here and there. It's no masterpiece, but I think it works as a simple comedy that you can just kick back and relax to.

May 15



"Why didn't you let the doctors take the five bullets out of you?"
"Souvenirs."

Wow, I can't say I was fully prepared for this one. I knew it would be crazy, but I didn't think it would be this off the wall. Still though, I loved the hell out of this movie. It was a delightfully crazy martial arts flick with some insane gore effects. This gives Braindead a run for it's money in terms of amounts of gore. There's so many creative kills and uses of gore in ways I've never seen before. There were even quite a few that shocked me which isn't easy for a movie to do. This is a pure over the top martial arts gorefest that I loved and it even reminded me of Ichi the Killer in certain spots which in this case is a good thing.

May 17



"Your 20s are all about like hope, and then your 30s are all about realizing how dumb it was to hope."

I didn't really know anything about this one besides the fact that Mike Birbiglia wrote and directed it and that Keegan Michael Key has a role in it. Needless to say, I loved this movie. It was a very interesting look on improv comedy and the characters surrounding it and a lot of it had me laughing hard. The way it was written to make scripted dialogue seem like it was improvised was pulled off extremely well and the cast does a great job of bringing it to life. Not to mention that the things these characters must go through felt really true to life. Mike Birbiglia has really improved as a filmmaker since Sleepwalk With Me and hopefully we'll be seeing more from him after this.

May 18



"Your friend is sick. I've seen a lot of this lately. She doesn't know it yet, but she's hunting us."

I really liked the whole concept of this film. It has a very original storyline and for the most part they executed it well. I found the whole thing to be very intriguing and it does have a very good script and acting to back it up. However, this movie kind of lost me near the end and wasn't sure what to make of it, but for the most part it's a really solid film and it's worth checking out.

May 19



"You can get some sleep on the plane!"
"You kiddin'? I could sooner fall asleep on a roller coaster. I don't like them jets. I don't trust no plane that ain't got no propellers."

Since the remake was playing somewhere near me, I thought I'd check out the original first. While this was a funny movie, this wasn't quite the kind of movie I was expecting it to be. It's actually really sad at times to the point of where this should be labeled as a dramedy. Besides that, this story went in directions that I wasn't expecting. Just when I thought I had it figured out, it manages to go somewhere I wasn't expecting it to go and it made me appreciate this movie even more. Also, our three leading cast members all do a great job and each of them have their share of funny lines. While it doesn't quite cross the line of greatness, it is still a comedic gem with a great amount of heart. If anything else, I hope the remake will at least bring attention to this one because it does not deserve to be overlooked.

May 21



"These banks practically destroyed this country. They crushed a lot of people's dreams, and nothing ever happened to them. We three old guys, we hit a bank. We get away with it, we retire in dignity. Worst comes to the worst, we get caught, we get a bed, three meals a day, and better health care than we got now."

I went into this one with an open mind, but at the same time wasn't expecting it to be on the same level as the original. However, this actually turned out to be a pleasant surprise. First of all, the acting is just as great as you'd expect from these actors. Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin were the perfect guys to fill the shoes of the original cast and they play these roles flawlessly. I really liked how this version isn't a carbon copy of the original. The plot goes in a different direction than the original did and it actually feels like a different take on the story which was something I wasn't expecting going in. Plus I did like the stylistic look of this movie in certain scenes.

I also think this one has more laughs than the original. While it was still funny, I think this one made me laugh more and I think the chemistry between these actors is part of what made it work. Even the supporting cast with the likes of Matt Dillon and Christopher Lloyd (Both of which I didn't know was in this movie at all.) and even Kenan Thompson delivered a few good laughs. This movie is just one of many examples of how remakes should be done. It takes an existing plotline from an old movie, but makes it different from the original and doesn't even try to be the original.

May 24

Re-watch



"Do you have any AXE body spray?"
"No, Donny. I don't have any AXE body spray because I'm not a fucking douchebag."
"That's a douchebag thing? When did that become a douchebag thing?"

I first saw this in theatres and after watching it again I still think it's one of Adam Sandler's more underrated films. Sure, it's unevenly paced and it does feel overlong with it clocking in at almost 2 hours, but I still think this is a funny movie. Even the more messed up aspects of this film make me laugh just because it's so out of the ordinary from the usual Adam Sandler flick. Even the infamous voice he uses for this movie doesn't grate on me that much. Like I said it does have it's problems and the laughs can be inconsistent at times, but I still like it and it's nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.

May 25



"How about I take you out for a date night every Thursday?"
"Well, Thursday night is Grey's Anatomy, but any other night would be great."

I dreaded the day I'd have to watch this, but because I had the misfortune of watching Grown Ups 2, I figured I'd see how this one is. I mean, there was no way this was going to be worse than the sequel. I mean, let me put it this way. Grown Ups 2 is the second worst movie I've ever seen. It was so terrible that I didn't even want to add it to my film logs of 2013. It was so unfunny that it put me to sleep. No, I'm not joking. It actually did happen.

Maybe this was because my expectations for this were so low, but I thought this was surprisingly OK. Unlike the sequel, this one isn't a non-stop barge of painfully unfunny gags. There's some stupid moments here and there, but not many of them were groan-inducing or anything. Though there are a few gags here and there that they really ran into the ground. The one they abused the most was this running gag where this one 4 year old kid is breastfed and it made me chuckle the first couple of times, but I'm not kidding when I say that they use this running gag at least 5 or 6 times. However, I do think this movie does have its moments. There was actually quite a bit of genuinely funny moments here and there and I was actually chuckling throughout most of it. I wouldn't go far as to call it good, but I can't say I didn't enjoy watching it either because I kind of did. As far as modern Adam Sandler films go, this is alright. Just like I suspected it's clearly better than Grown Ups 2, but it's also watchable. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again, but I wouldn't be against watching it again either.

May 28



"Ken is a tormented man. It is Eiko, of course, but it is also Japan. Ken is a relic, a leftover of another age, of another country."

This was a pretty fun movie. Robert Mitchum played a really cool character, it was interesting from start to finish and it had a really nice atmosphere to it. This is a really solid movie and is one of the many great hidden gems to come from the 70's.

May 31



"I think we drink virgin blood because it sounds cool."
"I think of it like this. If you are going to eat a sandwich, you would just enjoy it more if you knew no one had fucked it."

I didn't quite get this movie at first, but it wasn't too long before I started to catch on to it. It takes the all too familiar concepts of found footage and vampires and does so in a way that's refreshing and hilarious. Quite a bit of the humor in this movie is pretty dry, but at the same time is really clever and funny. Not to mention that this movie has quite a few different types of comedy which I liked. There were so many creative ideas thrown around too and I liked how they poked fun at the cliches of vampire movies. Now that I think about it, this would've been more fitting to watch on October, but since I did really love this movie, I could see myself watching it again several times.