Cast of Movie a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Is Bruised streaming somewhere?
Moonfall
is Roland Emmerich in some sort of competition with Michael Bay to make the dumbest movie ever?
I had the movie on my Netflix que for awhile before I decided to watch it last weekend.
Such riches! One of my favorite songs, bellowed by Leon Greene ...
The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
I felt a very strong urge to walk away five minutes into the movie, the moment I saw the dumb tri-sword thing fire a sword blade like a rocket, but I was restless and needed something to pass the time. I didn't realize/remember I had definitely seen the movie before until the duel at the end, when I saw both characters' swords were, like, Swiss Army weapons that break down into many smaller weapons. A battle of gimmick weapons is really not a great idea. Pretty goofy way to end it.

I thought Xusia, some kind of undead sorcerer thing, was actually a pretty cool idea, he just wasn't used all that well, and received an underwhelming ending. Still, how many movies actually revive some ancient sorcerer? It's good pulpy stuff.

The movie is not good, but it had a few sequences of swashbuckling fun, and was the kind of bad I could laugh at.
Day for Night. Movies about movies are generally not as impressive as they think they are, and François Truffaut making a movie about how hard it is to make movies, with himself playing the director, could easily come off as self-pitying. But it doesn't. Most movie movies focus on backstage drama; Day for Night has it, but it doesn't give the sense that it's primarily interested in backstage drama, or the magic of moviemaking, or any other self-aggrandizing nonsense. It's interested in the whole process, the details of production. There isn't really a big story, just observation of the minutiae of the process, of multiple takes and choosing props and rewriting scenes, and the way the people involved live through it. It manages an interesting perspective — detached but warm — that, combined with its lack of a big message to sell the audience, helps it really land as a wonderful peek behind the scenes. A brilliant, fascinating film.
It was good, but not my first time seeing it.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness - I prefer the original Doctor Strange -actually all of Strange's appearances prior to this including What If…?-
I was delighted to see Sam Raimi put his touches on the multiverse and enjoyed Benedict C as usual. The Gargantos (Shuma Gurath) scene remains my favorite in the film, though I'd like a bit more time with Defender Strange at some point.

Not being a fan of Wanda certainly does not help.

Ah well.

That said, I want more Strange and more of Sam Raimi's work in the MCU.

Last edited: Jun 23, 2022
The Narrow Margin 1952 classic film noir about a gangsters widow who has a agreed to testify against his organisation and provide names of his associates. She has to be escorted by a cop by train and the mob are on her tail trying to get the list and silence her. The only advantage they have is that the assassins after them don't know what she looks like.
You can't beat a good mystery thriller in a confined setting like this. Good story and a film very much of it's time and genre. Well worth a watch. This was later remade with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer in a 1990, that one isn't bad either.

Last edited: Jun 23, 2022
The 1990 Narrow Margin is good. Peter Hyams is a director I like. He also did Outland.

Last edited: Jun 23, 2022
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Zombie Strange was a hoot. I'll give you that. I assume if the MCU needs Elizabeth Olsen back they can borrow her from another universe? That's true of everyone now. You can only die as many times as Disney Marvel wants you to die. The multiverse is the antidote to all imaginable continuity ailments. Did I miss an explanation for why America is the only known unique human in all the multiverses? I'm sure I missed a lot, but that seemed like a big one. Also why is her power significant at all? What's the point of it? I missed the point of it if one was provided.

It's such a poor man's Everything Everywhere All at Once, or maybe more accurately a rich man's Everything Everywhere All at Once. It's suped up, expensive. You see the money oozing out of it, but it doesn't have much heart really.
I don't follow the comics so I don't know if her comic book counterpart comes with an explanation. Right now all we know is she seems to be the only individual in the MCU who can single-handedly travel across the Multiverse. Obviously cross-multiverse travel is a dangerous and uncertain thing and so far, other than her, most people seem to have it happen to them accidentally. So having someone who can take you to another universe may come in handy in future projects.
Also, we don't know for sure that 616 Wanda is dead, the screenwriter said it's not established by what happens in this movie.
Had a bit of a Mario Bava double feature today, with Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) and Black Sunday (1960).
Rewatched The Hobbit (2012-14) trilogy (extended edition of course), mostly as a sort of miniseries which each ep being roughly 45 minutes. Though, by the end we slipped a bit and binged most of the third movie cause we we're getting into the swing of things.
I was watching it with my cousin, a superfan, and my sisters, who'd never watched them before and dipped in and out. By the end they were all more engaged though, we had a lot of fun cheering at moments in the big battle of the Five Armies. My sisters also really loved Tauriel, one of them basically was just in it for Evangeline Lily at first

As for the trilogy, I really like it. Strong production design and music throughout, central cast is good though the Dwarves get lost in the mix (understandable, it's arguably the same or moreso in the book), and though there are some changes from the source, I don't mind them (plus all the Gandalf stuff from the Appendices is really solid, my sisters especially loved the big White Council vs. Nazgul fight in the third film). The first movie has an odd structure, with lots of flashbacks, cutaways, and other vignettes, that do some nice worldbuilding, but get a bit lost from the core plot (though it weirdly suits the 'miniseries' vibe quite well). The second is the strongest, good focus, more varied new locations (the first largely treads old ground from LOTR), and the excellent Smaug confrontations. The third movie starts really strong, in the first hour with all the politicking and tension building, but the big battle, while fun to watch as it happens, is all over the place and not very high-stakes.

It's not quite as prestigious or beautiful as the LOTR trilogy, but The Hobbit movies are still ones I'm really fond of (partly because of how they lean into some of the cheesier moments), and I love spending time in this version of Middle-Earth. Planning to start Fellowship tomorrow in the same vein, it'll be nice group-watching it for once

Last edited: Jun 23, 2022
Give us the movie by movie reception

Last edited: Jun 23, 2022
Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness
Finally saw it. Good movie. Although I needed to keep taking breaks cuz it was a bit dizzying at times. Almost felt seasick lol.
Beavis and Butt-head Do The Universe (2022)
I was never a fan or watched the show, but I'm glad they're back. You can't have enough 90s nostalgia imho.
How does it compare with Do America?
Riverdance: The Animated Adventure (2022)

An original film on Netflix. Featuring some musical numbers and lots of dancing, the story follows an Irish legend about a lighthouse keeping away the darkness. It's a somewhat charming story with a little humor and some sadness. Pierce Brosnan leads the voice cast of otherwise unfamiliar names.
Saw Jurassic World again. I like it a lot, but there are some issues. The kids are pretty irritating, esp. the weird thing about the brother staring at girls for like 3 scenes. I loved the Pratt, Howard and Raptor stuff though, and the new dinosaur was pretty scary. My second favorite JP movie, after the original.
The Black Phone (2022)
On a purely technical level, Scott Derrickson's latest movie is a terrific achievement; for all I know, it may also be pretty faithful to the source material.
But the movie still doesn't work for me because the premise combines things that are very real and do happen in real life with some other, more supernatural elements. At a different point in time, that juxtaposition might not have seemed so jarring. Coming so soon after some real-life tragedies, it hits too close to home.