I would say the major problem with superhero movies is that they delve so shallowly in the genre, basically just doing origin stories and stories that feature extremely basic threats and poorly motivated villains. It's tragic that the genre is just about used up for film when they've never really made a great superhero story into a movie. Even the best of the movies feel more like hollow echoes of the source material, but that's generally how it goes with movies, I guess.

That may be it. At some point I read some Judge Dredd albums (he is considered as a superhero, is he? Even if he has no real superpowers.), and the stories and the way there were told were quite interesting overall, with dark humor and all.

Then came the Stallone movie and I was "What is this shit? Missing the whole point and feeling of the cartoons.". Stallone thought the point of Dredd is just to shout "I am the law!" over and over again like a parrot. wearing a shiny plastic toy armor.

The 2012 Dredd movie did much better and felt much more like those cartoons I read, even if the atmosphere in the movie was less (dark) humorous and more "sinister" than the cartoons, but it was still quite good.

Ah yeah, that's one that did work. It might be my favorite movie from the last decade or so. It's not dead on with every detail and as you say it goes more for grittiness than comedy, but it gets the characters right, which is the main thing. And it doesn't fall into the traps of trying to go for an epic story or forcing the character to undergo a standard Hollywood character arc. It simply lets Dredd be himself and follows him and Anderson on a routine case. Very tightly written, just characters moving forward through the plot efficiently.

Movies:

Indiana Jones and The Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
The Forever Purge

TV-Series:

Chicago Fire
House
Star Trek: The Next Generation


Tommorow (saturday evening) a friend is coming over and we are gonna enjoy the epic;ly badness of Sharknado 1, 2 and 3

I just watched Sisu a few weeks back. It's so awesome. 10% talking and 90% killing and blowing shit up. Highly recommend it.

Meg 2: I liked the first one a lot, it was the kind of pants-on-head silly popcorn action joyfully idiotic film to watch with friends and have a whale (or should I say shark?) of a time. The sequel is... ok? It doesn't live up to the over the top fun of the first film untill the last act. Untill then it's just kind of a mediocre action flick and barely feels like it has anything to do with the original. That last third of the film however does provide lots of fun, and thankfully unlike so many films these days it's below 2 hours, so it's never a bore. Nowhere near as good as Dead Reckoning or even Dial of Destiny, but way better than Transformers and Flash, as far as this summer action films go.

Over the last month: 178 episodes of Star Trek TNG + audio commentaries + extras + the 4 follow up movies.

Had an itch for watching Stargate because of all the Remnant II zeitgeitst and it had been eons since I first watched it (I'M NOT OLD SHUT UP)

Yeeeeah it's a 1994 movie alright, conceptually cool but very corny.

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The Love Punch (2013)

Honestly, this wasn't a movie I intentionally was looking for (at first), or even imagine I would like. It just turned up in one random youtube video where I saw a glimpse of Pierce Brosnan and his co-actress, Emma Thomson was talking about this movie in the background. The YT video was something about if PB could or should return as Bond again, btw...

Anyway, light yet really nice comedic British movie with a lot of good chemistry here. We even have the infamous and charming "rat man" from Harry Potter here. Really liked the pace of the story and editing and the use of wide-view shot of the locations.

Even though it's a bit silly in the first part of the plan to steal this jewelry it didn't stop the humour or anything else in the movie. Excellent writing and I sat left with a good smile on my face when the movie was over.

I've missed that.

Solid 6 / 6.

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The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023)

Again, silly but a really fun movie. Everyone knows Mario and Mushroom kingdom and should get all the references. Kinda ironic that Mario plays the Nintendo when depressed. The voice actors does a good job at conveying emotions i think, and the older I get the more I appreciate Jack Black; the fact that the song he wrote as a love letter to Princess Peaches matches the cords to "Never gonna give you up" is just cool meme in itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcN8ORIwExM

My only gripe is that there is little to nothing for the adult here as the movie is as simple as it can get, and it also gets a minus for blatenly overuse of so-called 80s songs without any thought of purpose or if it even fits the scene. F.ex, in a car race scene they put in A-ha - Take On Me. It worked well in 'Ready Player One' but not here.

4 / 6 (for a children's movie)

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Black Adam (2022)

It's almost the same as the rest, but better in my opinion. The last synopsis reads as "... ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world." gives you an idea where this is going.

3+ / 6. Ok, fun movie, nothing special other than its probably miles better than most of the mind-numbing crap Marvel has pushed out lately, and if it hadn't been for the R rating Johnson pushed for this movie would've been pretty much DOA.

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I just watched hear of stones on Netflix and I realize that that kind of technology will come in upcoming years and everyone in the eye of government.

Its been a while but saw Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1

Honestly very mixed for an MI entry although as a film, overall still decent. Some good action but does feel purposefully prolonged (I think there were some scenes that could have been edited out) and main character Ethan was made more incompetent to welcome newcomer Grace who was an eyesore in the story imo.

Tom Cruise was great as usual with the usual stunts and running but Grace just made me frustrated. I get the trope (talented but selfish young person grows through the story to become a capable member who will eventually become a key player) but Grace as a character doesnt make sense. Why is she so special when she is just a good thief. She betrays Ethan and the team multiple times, is responsible for a big event I dont forgive her for, and takes actions that seem suicidal in the name of being "selfish."

There were also some internal inconsistencies in the story like which characters can actually be trusted or why characters make certain decisions despite major events happening before them that should have them change their minds.

It is a part 1 of 2 story so cant really say for certain how good the story is without part 2. For now, its not bad but not one of my favorites in the series.

Pretentious nonsense
Haven't seen that one - not really a Wolverine fan
Overrated/same old stuff

The Batman (2022)

Have to give that to Robert Pattinson: not only can he play glittery vampires - he also can play gloomy bats.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

It wasn't as bad as I had feared, but with great actors as Chris Pine and Hugh Grant (neither of whom phoned it in), it was... acceptable? The movie references a lot of popular D&D by taking place in the Forgotten Realms, Faerûn on the Sword Coast to be specific.

So there are references to Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep, the Underdark, and most prominetly Thay. The dialog feel like a group of friends sitting around a table taking the game to various degrees of seriousness and centers around a bard who is trying to atone for his perceived sins of the past.

The heroes follow the trope of being various levels of bungling and inept while facing an enemy who is serious, powerful, and skilled. There's a sorcerer who is unable to cast powerful or even the right spell half the time, a bard who can hardly sing, a tiefling druid who really doesn't want to be there. and a barbarian who has a thing for potatoes and a gnome. They are up against the rogue and wizard who double-crossed them in a mission for the bard to get a magical item he needs for his personal quest. The plot slowly reveals that there's a lot more at stake here.


I'd give the movie a 6/10. It wasn't terrible, and had gelatinous cubes and displacer beasts in a magical arena of death. It felt like fan service, but in a good way. It was always going to be a fan service. But they hit all the right marks by mentioning names and places, some of which only the most devoted followers would recognize, and hit high notes by delving into pieces from books I read ages ago. I won't spoil anything more, there are minor spoilers in my write up above. The movie is worth a watch if you're not looking for Game of Thrones or the Witcher style grim, dark fantasy fare. There is a lot of humor and light-hearted moments from the outset. The film feels like it was made by people who played D&D before, unlike previous ones that felt like they were made by people who knew D&D was a book at the book store.