What Movie Are You Watching?

I got the Criterion Wong Kar Wai blu ray set and have watched Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love, and 2046 on successive nights. Loved revisiting these films. Though, WKW changed Fallen Angels' aspect ratio by cropping the top and bottom part of the image, which annoys me particularly because I loved the ending shot and now it messed up the framing of it.
 
Jeepers, i've got a lot to catch up on. I've decided to bundle certain films together if they are based on a theme or if they were extra shorts within the main film~

1) Kwaidan (Masaki Kobayashi, 1964): A 3 hour film consisting of 4 ghost stories. This was absolutely fascinating! None of the stories link, so it made it a lot easier to watch in fits and bursts. The use of silence throughout made the film much more tense. This is highly recommended!

2a) I Flunked But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1930) & 2b) The Lady And The Beard (Yasujiro Ozu, 1931): I do believe that Ozu is one of the masters of cinema, but I must admit that he is one of those masters you really have to be in the mood for. Because my BFI Player free trial was limited, I wanted to watch some of the more obscure Ozu films and sadly I really struggled with them. Some bits were pretty interesting and watching early Japanese cinema is pretty fascinating, but I guess you really have to be in the mood for it.

3a) Drive A Crooked Road (Richard Quine, 1954): Film #3 of my Columbia Noir boxset and definitely the best one. Mickey Rooney plays a shy mechanic who falls in love with a femme fatale in order to be involved in a bank robbery. The setting and acting is very strong for a B-movie! Also on the disc was the Three Stooges short 3b) Higher Than A Kite (Del Lord, 1943). This was absolutely amazing; it was *so* funny and for a 15 minute short, so much happened it could've easily been a feature length film and still be fascinating.

4) A Personal Journey With Martin Scorcese Through American Movies (Martin Scorcese & Michael Henry Wilson, 1995): After the documentary on Italian cinema, it was a no brainer to do the American cinema documentary. This was probably more *fun* to watch in comparison. I love Italian cinema, but like the films of Ozu, you really have to be in the mood for it, whereas old school American cinema is a little easier to get into. Again, Scorcese's passion shines through.

5a) U2 Go Home - Live From Slane Castle (Hamish Hamilton, 2002), 5b) U2 - Live At Red Rocks (Gavin Taylor, 1983) & 5c) U2 - PopMart live at Mexico City (David Mallet, 1997): U2 are one of my all time favourite bands and so the opportunity to watch some classic concerts were a no brainer. YouTube have been streaming 3 concerts (with the 2016 show next week) and it was fantastic to see 3 different sides of U2. The Red Rocks show was probably the best one as it's only recently i've truly gotten into the pre-Joshua Tree works. Still - any U2 is great U2 :)

6a) Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (Tom McLoughlin, 1986) [RW]: Sometimes I just want to watch something that's a no-brainer. This was a lot more fun than I remember! I think by this point, a bit of humour has creeped through and it kinda works in a way? It's not scary in the slightest, but it's good fun. Less can be said about 6b) Lost Tales From Blood Camp (Andrew J. Ceperley, 2009). Each Friday the 13th film has a contemporary short film which is basically a "modern" version of Friday the 13th. Sadly, they are shit. I think I have a problem with modern horror films shot digitally; it just feels cheap and nasty. I miss the sort of grotty 35mm sort of days haha.

7a) 5 Against The House (Phil Karlson, 1955): Film #4 of the Columbia Noir boxset and whilst this is still a pretty good film, it is a step down from 'Drive A Crooked Road'. It was pretty cool to see Kim Novak in an early role. The Three Stooges short on this disc 7b) Sweet And Hot (Jules White, 1958) is a major step down from the previous one. Maybe by the late 50's, the shorts might have worn its welcome? At any rate, this was a massive disappointment. In this case, 14 minutes felt like a lifetime.

8a) Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, 1982): This is a documentary based on the Herzog film 'Fitzcaraldo' and it was fascinating. I had no idea Mick Jagger was supposed to be in it! The shoot of this film is pretty legendary and it was a smart move to document it. Also on the disc is 8b) Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Les Blank, 1980). The name and premise alone is among the greatest of all time! Sadly, whilst it was an interesting film, I was super sad that there wasn't as much shoe eating as I was hoping :(

9) Requiem For A Vampire (Jean Rollin, 1971): This is my 3rd Rollin vampire film and like the last two, it feels like a variation of a theme! But it's still quite impressive that there is barely any dialogue for the first half of the movie! It's actually pretty shocking how much nudity is in it for its time too!

10) Room 666 (Wim Wenders, 1982): This is a short documentary where a dozen film directors have a roll of 8mm film and have up to 10 minutes to discuss the future of cinema. Werner Herzog and Steven Spielberg were pretty scarily accurate of what is commonplace 40 years later!

11) Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski, 2013): This is a very interesting mockumentary filmed on grainy VHS about people making computer chess programmes and pitting them against each other. It's a very strange film, but there is quite the hypnotic quality to it!

12) The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969): I'm going to say this right off the bat...I have *no* idea what the heck this film was about...it didn't matter; it was absolutely amazing. It felt like a hazy daydream or the father of David Lynch or Alejandro Jodorowsky (or the grandson of Luis Bunuel!)

13) Visions of Esctasy (Nigel Wingrove, 1989): This short was interesting if only for the notoriety that this was the only film in the UK ever to be banned on the grounds of blasphemy. I have to say that it was kinda boring and tedious. I'm not exactly religious, so I didn't find it offensive, but I must admit to finding the whole thing kinda pointless.

14) Mifune: The Last Samurai (Steven Ozazaki, 2015): This documentary was narrated by Keanu Reeves and have Scorcese and Spielberg as talking heads! Quite an interesting documentary which has made me want to watch all my Akira Kurosawa films but at 80 minutes, felt a little too short for my tastes.

15) Plan 9 From Outer Space (Edward D. Wood, Jr, 1959): Shockingly, i've never seen this film before! I've always known of its notoriety and believe or it or not, I kinda enjoyed it! It's certainly inept and poorly made, but the passion of Wood is infectious. Frankly, i've seen hundreds of worse films!

16) The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (Macoto Tezuka, 1985): This is a musical which I found quite a joy to the point i've ordered a physical copy! The plot is basically a thin thread to link the songs together, but it's so wacky and over the top (maybe the son of Tokyo Tribe), that you can't help but be swept away from it!

17) Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen, 1997): Another great Allen film and very clever in that multiple characters are manifestations of the main character. It's for that reason it's a bit hard to explain, but when you watch it, it makes sense. Not Allen's best, but certainly a solid effort!

18) Women Make Film - A New Road Movie Through Cinema (Mark Cousins, 2018): Sadly, I couldn't finish this in time before the documentary was wiped off (I got through 10 of 14 hours). It was a fascinating journey of over a century of films directed by female film makers. It truly proves its point that there are great films all over the world that don't get its due. It's a shame I missed the last 4 hours, but hey-ho~

19) Breezy (Clint Eastwood, 1973) [RW]: It's been a decade since i've seen this and it's just as good as I remember. This was Eastwood's first film he directed he didn't star in (although he has a cameo somewhere). It's based on a carefree young hippy falling in love with an older man who is stuck in his way of lifeless parties and never feeling alive. It's possibly a little naive, but it's well acted and the time passes nicely!
 
Watched Happy Gilmore as part of Mori Calliopeā€™s watch along.

Itā€™s been forever since Iā€™ve seen anything with Adam Sandler in it at all tbh...think the last one might have been Click, which didnā€™t really ā€œclickā€ with me. :p

Maybe some if itā€™s nostalgia but this seemed like one of the better ones...but even then, not as good as I remembered. To be honest, it feels a lot of these types of movies are very samey which I guess is what made it hard to stay a fan. And itā€™s a shame because I think the first Sandler movie I saw was Little Nicky which in retrospect felt like one of his more unique roles.

Still, was a fun time, with chat making fun of how similar he is to Calli with the F bombs and stuff. That and personally the Bruins merch just making me sort of homesick for New England.

Not sure what Iā€™ll watch next, but I do want it to be more serious and actually new to me. Itā€™s getting a bit harder to narrow down stuff Iā€™ve heard of but havenā€™t already seen yet.
 
HG is far and away my favourite Sandler flick; it's INCREDIBLY-hokey and same-y indeed, but it's the best of those! lol.

The cast is GREAT, the, "villain," is super-memorable (so much so, that it is basically all that Christopher McDonald is remembered for lol) and the plot isn't so ridiculous to make it unrealistic (though, there are some instances in the film that are indeed, "only in the movies," moments); less so than any other of his Happy Madison films though.

I believe I gave it an 8/10 on IMDB when rating it, back in the day and that's the highest I've given any Happy Madison film.

Basically, if any of his films are super-quotable, they aren't bad; it is his most-quotable film by far.
 
I don't know if this is still a thing or not, but as someone who grew up with the original Star Wars Trilogy, I enjoyed the Prequel Trilogy. Episode I: The Phantom Menace was a fun kids adventure, Episode II: The Clone Wars while probably my least favorite, but had the awesome cartoon that followed, and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is probably my second favorite movie after Empire Strikes Back.
 
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I'm not a diehard SW fan, but I do enjoy them and I've seen all of the FILMS, multiple times (have never seen or played any of the supplementary stuff). I see how II for its faults, but I rather-enjoyed it because Christopher Lee is one of my favourite actors, so that was awesome :D
 
i did jump on the hype train for star wars ep7/8 but after watching ep9, i don't really care or have strong feelings for star wars anymore. ..i felt the new trilogy was a mess and unnessory + the fact there budget was 100's of millions of dollars per movie and that was the best they could do, tells me something went really wrong.

i thought rouge one was good but maybe that's because it was a star wars films with a darker tone / not aimed at kids?
 
I became a hardcore Star Wars kid when they were rereleased in the mid-90ā€™s. But for some reason, by the time Episode 1 came out, I was already on my way out. Honestly, Episode 1 is the only one from the prequel trilogy that I saw all the way through, and was the last Star Wars film I saw in a theater until the sequel trilogy (and I still havenā€™t even seen the last one). I really liked Rogue One, thought Force Awakens was okay, and HATED The Last Jedi. I LOVE The Mandalorian series though.
 
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Mortal Kombat -- Boy oh boy, where do we begin with this...for note, I'm gonna go full on spoiler mode for this. But for those who want to know without spoilers...I think I largely prefer the 1995 film to this one. Hell, I think that Animated Scorpion film that came out last year is better than this. But it was at least better than Annihilation. I'll give it that much.

Let's start with the few positives that this film has. It does Scorpion and Sub Zero right! Scorpion and Sub Zero are easily the two best things about this film as a whole. The opening scene with Hanzo (Scorpion) and his family getting murdered is brilliant and sets the tone for what could be an awesome Mortal Kombat movie. Both Hanzo and Bi-Han (Sub Zero) are done fantastically in this film and are the stand outs of the film. Especially their end fight. Their end fight is the BEST fight in the whole movie bar none.

But then we're introduced to our lead Plank of Wood named Cole. I say Plank of Wood because this guy has all the charisma of a literal Plank of Wood. A washed up MMA fighter who's best days are seemingly behind him? (I don't know, the film never really lets us get to know this guy). He's a marked one set to fight in the great tournament of Mortal Kombat as foretold to him by Jax.

Eventually he comes into contact with Sonya who has a great fascination with the legend of Mortal Kombat for reasons that go unexplained -- seriously, we never really find out why she is so fascinated by this tournament as there is no character development in this movie what-so-ever. With the help of that charming but filthy scoundrel Kano -- who has also been marked for Kombat -- we eventually find our way to Lord Raiden's temple where we meet Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Who might as well be the Ken and Ryu of the Street Fighter movie as they are just there with no real defining character or purpose. There we spend an hour or so training for the great tournament that this film NEVER DELIVERS.

So what is the plot to this movie? On Shang Tsung's orders, Sub Zero is eliminating Earthrealm's chosen warriors for the next great tournament pre-tournament so that way Outworld will gain a default win and be able to invade Earth....this raises literal plot questions. If Outworld can assassinate Earthrealm's chosen heroes and not be punished by the Elder Gods (who seemingly run this tournament as an unbiased way to let the realms compete and defend their realm) then WHY DON'T THEY JUST INVADE EARTHREALM AND GET IT OVER WITH?

I know in the original video games that MK3 was the invasion of earth realm but that came after two failed tournament attempts. There was a reason for that in the video game. Here, there are seemingly NO RULES whatsoever as everyone just does whatever they want.

And this leads into my first of MANY problems with this movie. The one thing you come for in an MK movie isn't even DELIVERED in this movie. There is NO Tournament in this movie. This whole movie is Franchise/Sequel bait! This feels like a trailer setting up for another movie.

Another big issue is the lack of individual character motivation in this movie. Even in the 1995 film, as basic as it was, they at least gave the heroes some form of motivation that led them into the tournament.

The 2021 film has almost no motivation for anyone. Why is Sonya Blade so obsessed with the tournament? Question never gets answered. That sort of thing. I felt like the characters in 2021 film were moved solely by the plot and not their own individual motivation. And it was kind of alienating to me.

I at least felt the original gave its protagonist a bare basic arc that was seen through. Liu Kang goes from being reluctant hero to accepting his role as the chosen one. As bare basic as it was, it was an arc.

In the 2021 film, there was no real arc for Cole or anyone else for that matter. And that is the biggest problem I had with it. I DIDN'T CARE! They didn't make me care. They didn't make me feel invested because the narrative is so rushed and feels like it's just being written on the fly with no real thought put behind it.

The one thing this film does right is play into its Hard R rating. The gore is fun. The fatalities are there. Kano swears a lot. Kano is entertaining in the film. Kano is the comedic relief that Johnny Cage once was. On the surface, it gets the aesthetic appeal of MK. But in plot? It's a mess of a film!

The appeal of the 95 film was it kept things simple. It kept the plot simple and it kept the characters and their motivations simple but made sure to give you just enough to keep you invested. There was a group dynamic to the main trio that was fun and involving in the original film. Yes, it was largely ripping off the Star Wars trio and its dynamic, but it was a fun dynamic and I actually gave a shit about the main trio in the 95 film.

The heroes in this film are just there and bland as shit. Even the Outworld side is just bland. The new Shang Tsung sucks in comparison to the 95 version. Cory Hiroyuki-Tagawa will forever be the definitive Shang Tsung to me. This new guy posed no threat what-so-ever and was just bland as shit. Tadanobu Asanou is a fine Raiden, BUT HE'S NO CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, that's for sure.

The CGi Goro sucked and looks like it will be dated within two months...hell, it looked dated as I was watching. It's no match for the Animatronic Goro of the 95 film. That puppet still stands out as something pretty amazing. I thought the set dressing was bland as shit in the 2021 film. Lots of pretty shots of the Australian Outback, but in comparison to the 95 film, it lacked any otherworldly qualities. The 95 set design was way more imaginative to me and evocative of the games.

Yes the fatalities and blood are cool...but honestly, outside of Scorpion and Sub Zero who were the best parts of this movie and so grossly underused...I thought this movie was BLAND AS SHIT. Kano was fun, the gore was fun and some of the fights were cool, but the story SUCKED and the characters are mostly just bland and generic and are given no real motivation to care about.
 
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I did jump on the hype train for star wars ep7/8 but after watching ep9, I don't really care or have strong feelings for star wars anymore. .. I felt the new trilogy was a mess and unnecessary + the fact their budget was 100's of millions of dollars per movie and that was the best they could do, tells me something went wrong.

I thought rouge one was good but maybe that's because it was a star wars film with a darker tone / not aimed at kids?
I am honestly apathetic towards the Sequel Trilogy. The Force Awakens felt like A New Hope 2.0, I didn't loathe The Last Jedi, but it just wasn't for me, I liked The Rise of Skywalker but mostly because it was pure fanservice. But if you are someone who is into the lore, then it's (in my opinion), not that great.

Like you, I did enjoy Rogue One due to it feeling like an actual war film. I also enjoyed the seventh season of The Clone Wars and both seasons of The Mandalorian.
 
View attachment 11214

Mortal Kombat -- Boy oh boy, where do we begin with this...for note, I'm gonna go full on spoiler mode for this. But for those who want to know without spoilers...I think I largely prefer the 1995 film to this one. Hell, I think that Animated Scorpion film that came out last year is better than this. But it was at least better than Annihilation. I'll give it that much.

Let's start with the few positives that this film has. It does Scorpion and Sub Zero right! Scorpion and Sub Zero are easily the two best things about this film as a whole. The opening scene with Hanzo (Scorpion) and his family getting murdered is brilliant and sets the tone for what could be an awesome Mortal Kombat movie. Both Hanzo and Bi-Han (Sub Zero) are done fantastically in this film and are the stand outs of the film. Especially their end fight. Their end fight is the BEST fight in the whole movie bar none.

But then we're introduced to our lead Plank of Wood named Cole. I say Plank of Wood because this guy has all the charisma of a literal Plank of Wood. A washed up MMA fighter who's best days are seemingly behind him? (I don't know, the film never really lets us get to know this guy). He's a marked one set to fight in the great tournament of Mortal Kombat as foretold to him by Jax.

Eventually he comes into contact with Sonya who has a great fascination with the legend of Mortal Kombat for reasons that go unexplained -- seriously, we never really find out why she is so fascinated by this tournament as there is no character development in this movie what-so-ever. With the help of that charming but filthy scoundrel Kano -- who has also been marked for Kombat -- we eventually find our way to Lord Raiden's temple where we meet Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Who might as well be the Ken and Ryu of the Street Fighter movie as they are just there with no real defining character or purpose. There we spend an hour or so training for the great tournament that this film NEVER DELIVERS.

So what is the plot to this movie? On Shang Tsung's orders, Sub Zero is eliminating Earthrealm's chosen warriors for the next great tournament pre-tournament so that way Outworld will gain a default win and be able to invade Earth....this raises literal plot questions. If Outworld can assassinate Earthrealm's chosen heroes and not be punished by the Elder Gods (who seemingly run this tournament as an unbiased way to let the realms compete and defend their realm) then WHY DON'T THEY JUST INVADE EARTHREALM AND GET IT OVER WITH?

I know in the original video games that MK3 was the invasion of earth realm but that came after two failed tournament attempts. There was a reason for that in the video game. Here, there are seemingly NO RULES whatsoever as everyone just does whatever they want.

And this leads into my first of MANY problems with this movie. The one thing you come for in an MK movie isn't even DELIVERED in this movie. There is NO Tournament in this movie. This whole movie is Franchise/Sequel bait! This feels like a trailer setting up for another movie.

Another big issue is the lack of individual character motivation in this movie. Even in the 1995 film, as basic as it was, they at least gave the heroes some form of motivation that led them into the tournament.

The 2021 film has almost no motivation for anyone. Why is Sonya Blade so obsessed with the tournament? Question never gets answered. That sort of thing. I felt like the characters in 2021 film were moved solely by the plot and not their own individual motivation. And it was kind of alienating to me.

I at least felt the original gave its protagonist a bare basic arc that was seen through. Liu Kang goes from being reluctant hero to accepting his role as the chosen one. As bare basic as it was, it was an arc.

In the 2021 film, there was no real arc for Cole or anyone else for that matter. And that is the biggest problem I had with it. I DIDN'T CARE! They didn't make me care. They didn't make me feel invested because the narrative is so rushed and feels like it's just being written on the fly with no real thought put behind it.

The one thing this film does right is play into its Hard R rating. The gore is fun. The fatalities are there. Kano swears a lot. Kano is entertaining in the film. Kano is the comedic relief that Johnny Cage once was. On the surface, it gets the aesthetic appeal of MK. But in plot? It's a mess of a film!

The appeal of the 95 film was it kept things simple. It kept the plot simple and it kept the characters and their motivations simple but made sure to give you just enough to keep you invested. There was a group dynamic to the main trio that was fun and involving in the original film. Yes, it was largely ripping off the Star Wars trio and its dynamic, but it was a fun dynamic and I actually gave a shit about the main trio in the 95 film.

The heroes in this film are just there and bland as shit. Even the Outworld side is just bland. The new Shang Tsung sucks in comparison to the 95 version. Cory Hiroyuki-Tagawa will forever be the definitive Shang Tsung to me. This new guy posed no threat what-so-ever and was just bland as shit. Tadanobu Asanou is a fine Raiden, BUT HE'S NO CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, that's for sure.

The CGi Goro sucked and looks like it will be dated within two months...hell, it looked dated as I was watching. It's no match for the Animatronic Goro of the 95 film. That puppet still stands out as something pretty amazing. I thought the set dressing was bland as shit in the 2021 film. Lots of pretty shots of the Australian Outback, but in comparison to the 95 film, it lacked any otherworldly qualities. The 95 set design was way more imaginative to me and evocative of the games.

Yes the fatalities and blood are cool...but honestly, outside of Scorpion and Sub Zero who were the best parts of this movie and so grossly underused...I thought this movie was BLAND AS SHIT. Kano was fun, the gore was fun and some of the fights were cool, but the story SUCKED and the characters are mostly just bland and generic and are given no real motivation to care about.
I agree with all of this, and Iā€™m only like 30 minutes into the film. The opening between Sub-Zero and Scorpion was alright, aside from being edited a little wonky. But itā€™s almost as soon as the English-speaking characters are introduced, it turned into a SyFy Channel original movie.

I remember the original film fondly too. For an American martial arts film made in the mid-90ā€™s it was excellent, and for an early film based on a video game it was fantastic. Like with Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, Robin Shou will always be my Liu Kang.

This movie sucks.
 
View attachment 11214

Mortal Kombat -- Boy oh boy, where do we begin with this...for note, I'm gonna go full on spoiler mode for this. But for those who want to know without spoilers...I think I largely prefer the 1995 film to this one. Hell, I think that Animated Scorpion film that came out last year is better than this. But it was at least better than Annihilation. I'll give it that much.

Let's start with the few positives that this film has. It does Scorpion and Sub Zero right! Scorpion and Sub Zero are easily the two best things about this film as a whole. The opening scene with Hanzo (Scorpion) and his family getting murdered is brilliant and sets the tone for what could be an awesome Mortal Kombat movie. Both Hanzo and Bi-Han (Sub Zero) are done fantastically in this film and are the stand outs of the film. Especially their end fight. Their end fight is the BEST fight in the whole movie bar none.

But then we're introduced to our lead Plank of Wood named Cole. I say Plank of Wood because this guy has all the charisma of a literal Plank of Wood. A washed up MMA fighter who's best days are seemingly behind him? (I don't know, the film never really lets us get to know this guy). He's a marked one set to fight in the great tournament of Mortal Kombat as foretold to him by Jax.

Eventually he comes into contact with Sonya who has a great fascination with the legend of Mortal Kombat for reasons that go unexplained -- seriously, we never really find out why she is so fascinated by this tournament as there is no character development in this movie what-so-ever. With the help of that charming but filthy scoundrel Kano -- who has also been marked for Kombat -- we eventually find our way to Lord Raiden's temple where we meet Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Who might as well be the Ken and Ryu of the Street Fighter movie as they are just there with no real defining character or purpose. There we spend an hour or so training for the great tournament that this film NEVER DELIVERS.

So what is the plot to this movie? On Shang Tsung's orders, Sub Zero is eliminating Earthrealm's chosen warriors for the next great tournament pre-tournament so that way Outworld will gain a default win and be able to invade Earth....this raises literal plot questions. If Outworld can assassinate Earthrealm's chosen heroes and not be punished by the Elder Gods (who seemingly run this tournament as an unbiased way to let the realms compete and defend their realm) then WHY DON'T THEY JUST INVADE EARTHREALM AND GET IT OVER WITH?

I know in the original video games that MK3 was the invasion of earth realm but that came after two failed tournament attempts. There was a reason for that in the video game. Here, there are seemingly NO RULES whatsoever as everyone just does whatever they want.

And this leads into my first of MANY problems with this movie. The one thing you come for in an MK movie isn't even DELIVERED in this movie. There is NO Tournament in this movie. This whole movie is Franchise/Sequel bait! This feels like a trailer setting up for another movie.

Another big issue is the lack of individual character motivation in this movie. Even in the 1995 film, as basic as it was, they at least gave the heroes some form of motivation that led them into the tournament.

The 2021 film has almost no motivation for anyone. Why is Sonya Blade so obsessed with the tournament? Question never gets answered. That sort of thing. I felt like the characters in 2021 film were moved solely by the plot and not their own individual motivation. And it was kind of alienating to me.

I at least felt the original gave its protagonist a bare basic arc that was seen through. Liu Kang goes from being reluctant hero to accepting his role as the chosen one. As bare basic as it was, it was an arc.

In the 2021 film, there was no real arc for Cole or anyone else for that matter. And that is the biggest problem I had with it. I DIDN'T CARE! They didn't make me care. They didn't make me feel invested because the narrative is so rushed and feels like it's just being written on the fly with no real thought put behind it.

The one thing this film does right is play into its Hard R rating. The gore is fun. The fatalities are there. Kano swears a lot. Kano is entertaining in the film. Kano is the comedic relief that Johnny Cage once was. On the surface, it gets the aesthetic appeal of MK. But in plot? It's a mess of a film!

The appeal of the 95 film was it kept things simple. It kept the plot simple and it kept the characters and their motivations simple but made sure to give you just enough to keep you invested. There was a group dynamic to the main trio that was fun and involving in the original film. Yes, it was largely ripping off the Star Wars trio and its dynamic, but it was a fun dynamic and I actually gave a shit about the main trio in the 95 film.

The heroes in this film are just there and bland as shit. Even the Outworld side is just bland. The new Shang Tsung sucks in comparison to the 95 version. Cory Hiroyuki-Tagawa will forever be the definitive Shang Tsung to me. This new guy posed no threat what-so-ever and was just bland as shit. Tadanobu Asanou is a fine Raiden, BUT HE'S NO CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, that's for sure.

The CGi Goro sucked and looks like it will be dated within two months...hell, it looked dated as I was watching. It's no match for the Animatronic Goro of the 95 film. That puppet still stands out as something pretty amazing. I thought the set dressing was bland as shit in the 2021 film. Lots of pretty shots of the Australian Outback, but in comparison to the 95 film, it lacked any otherworldly qualities. The 95 set design was way more imaginative to me and evocative of the games.

Yes the fatalities and blood are cool...but honestly, outside of Scorpion and Sub Zero who were the best parts of this movie and so grossly underused...I thought this movie was BLAND AS SHIT. Kano was fun, the gore was fun and some of the fights were cool, but the story SUCKED and the characters are mostly just bland and generic and are given no real motivation to care about.
YES! This movie was not good. I went in expecting trash with the Cole Young thing and that it would be a 6 out of 10, possibly 7 out of 10 and came out of the cinema with a 5...maybe even 4 out of 10 experience, and some how many of the MK characters were worse than the boring new-comer Cole Young...wtf?! How did they manage to screw that up? I will be sharing my review of it as well soon. Thank You for yours!!
 
I agree with all of this, and Iā€™m only like 30 minutes into the film. The opening between Sub-Zero and Scorpion was alright, aside from being edited a little wonky. But itā€™s almost as soon as the English-speaking characters are introduced, it turned into a SyFy Channel original movie.

I remember the original film fondly too. For an American martial arts film made in the mid-90ā€™s it was excellent, and for an early film based on a video game it was fantastic. Like with Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, Robin Shou will always be my Liu Kang.

This movie sucks.

MK Annihilation 1997: "The acting was bad and the whole plot of Raiden and Shao Kahn being the children of Shinnok was really bad!"

MK 2021: "You think THAT was bad?? You ain't seen nothing yet! Hold my beer"

Ludi Lin as Liu Kang was enough to destroy this already bad movie. When arrogant toddler Kung Lao or sterile boring new-comer Cole Young are much more convincing, have more fire and feel more badass than 'The Chosen One' Liu Kang, you know you've F'ed up! Mileena was really bad on every level. Raiden and Shang Tsung too. MK 95 had heart but was limited by the PG-13 rating and the CGI/costumes/acting of the 90s. MK 97 had the same issues and was cheesy bad but still fun to watch compared to this hot mess in 2021. If MK 2021 was filmed with 1995 costumes, CGI and acting it would have nothing to offer, literally. The only good parts were the violence and *some* of the CGI, since some of it was bad too. Like when 2021 Liu Kang did the fire dragon with Kabal, it looked kinda cool, but the emotion around the fight was lame and no one cares about the chosen one fighting against a jobber like Kabal, especially not spineless depiction of Liu Kang that Ludi Lin brings in his aesthetics, bad acting, costume design and character development(or lack thereof), whereas in the bad 1997 Annihilation the Liu Kang dragon in the Shao Kahn fight at the end looks god awful CGI even by 97 standards, but at least there was some sliver of investment into Robin Shou's portrayal of Liu Kang and the outcome of hoping he will defeat Shao Kahn. MK 2021 looks like it's going to be the first in a string of 'MK Universe' movies. This isn't a good thing, it feels sterile and watered down compared to what it could have been, looks more like the trash Marvel movies of the last 20 years than it does like any of the Mortal Kombat games.
 
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Mortal Kombat -- Boy oh boy, where do we begin with this...for note, I'm gonna go full on spoiler mode for this. But for those who want to know without spoilers...I think I largely prefer the 1995 film to this one. Hell, I think that Animated Scorpion film that came out last year is better than this. But it was at least better than Annihilation. I'll give it that much.

Let's start with the few positives that this film has. It does Scorpion and Sub Zero right! Scorpion and Sub Zero are easily the two best things about this film as a whole. The opening scene with Hanzo (Scorpion) and his family getting murdered is brilliant and sets the tone for what could be an awesome Mortal Kombat movie. Both Hanzo and Bi-Han (Sub Zero) are done fantastically in this film and are the stand outs of the film. Especially their end fight. Their end fight is the BEST fight in the whole movie bar none.

But then we're introduced to our lead Plank of Wood named Cole. I say Plank of Wood because this guy has all the charisma of a literal Plank of Wood. A washed up MMA fighter who's best days are seemingly behind him? (I don't know, the film never really lets us get to know this guy). He's a marked one set to fight in the great tournament of Mortal Kombat as foretold to him by Jax.

Eventually he comes into contact with Sonya who has a great fascination with the legend of Mortal Kombat for reasons that go unexplained -- seriously, we never really find out why she is so fascinated by this tournament as there is no character development in this movie what-so-ever. With the help of that charming but filthy scoundrel Kano -- who has also been marked for Kombat -- we eventually find our way to Lord Raiden's temple where we meet Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Who might as well be the Ken and Ryu of the Street Fighter movie as they are just there with no real defining character or purpose. There we spend an hour or so training for the great tournament that this film NEVER DELIVERS.

So what is the plot to this movie? On Shang Tsung's orders, Sub Zero is eliminating Earthrealm's chosen warriors for the next great tournament pre-tournament so that way Outworld will gain a default win and be able to invade Earth....this raises literal plot questions. If Outworld can assassinate Earthrealm's chosen heroes and not be punished by the Elder Gods (who seemingly run this tournament as an unbiased way to let the realms compete and defend their realm) then WHY DON'T THEY JUST INVADE EARTHREALM AND GET IT OVER WITH?

I know in the original video games that MK3 was the invasion of earth realm but that came after two failed tournament attempts. There was a reason for that in the video game. Here, there are seemingly NO RULES whatsoever as everyone just does whatever they want.

And this leads into my first of MANY problems with this movie. The one thing you come for in an MK movie isn't even DELIVERED in this movie. There is NO Tournament in this movie. This whole movie is Franchise/Sequel bait! This feels like a trailer setting up for another movie.

Another big issue is the lack of individual character motivation in this movie. Even in the 1995 film, as basic as it was, they at least gave the heroes some form of motivation that led them into the tournament.

The 2021 film has almost no motivation for anyone. Why is Sonya Blade so obsessed with the tournament? Question never gets answered. That sort of thing. I felt like the characters in 2021 film were moved solely by the plot and not their own individual motivation. And it was kind of alienating to me.

I at least felt the original gave its protagonist a bare basic arc that was seen through. Liu Kang goes from being reluctant hero to accepting his role as the chosen one. As bare basic as it was, it was an arc.

In the 2021 film, there was no real arc for Cole or anyone else for that matter. And that is the biggest problem I had with it. I DIDN'T CARE! They didn't make me care. They didn't make me feel invested because the narrative is so rushed and feels like it's just being written on the fly with no real thought put behind it.

The one thing this film does right is play into its Hard R rating. The gore is fun. The fatalities are there. Kano swears a lot. Kano is entertaining in the film. Kano is the comedic relief that Johnny Cage once was. On the surface, it gets the aesthetic appeal of MK. But in plot? It's a mess of a film!

The appeal of the 95 film was it kept things simple. It kept the plot simple and it kept the characters and their motivations simple but made sure to give you just enough to keep you invested. There was a group dynamic to the main trio that was fun and involving in the original film. Yes, it was largely ripping off the Star Wars trio and its dynamic, but it was a fun dynamic and I actually gave a shit about the main trio in the 95 film.

The heroes in this film are just there and bland as shit. Even the Outworld side is just bland. The new Shang Tsung sucks in comparison to the 95 version. Cory Hiroyuki-Tagawa will forever be the definitive Shang Tsung to me. This new guy posed no threat what-so-ever and was just bland as shit. Tadanobu Asanou is a fine Raiden, BUT HE'S NO CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, that's for sure.

The CGi Goro sucked and looks like it will be dated within two months...hell, it looked dated as I was watching. It's no match for the Animatronic Goro of the 95 film. That puppet still stands out as something pretty amazing. I thought the set dressing was bland as shit in the 2021 film. Lots of pretty shots of the Australian Outback, but in comparison to the 95 film, it lacked any otherworldly qualities. The 95 set design was way more imaginative to me and evocative of the games.

Yes the fatalities and blood are cool...but honestly, outside of Scorpion and Sub Zero who were the best parts of this movie and so grossly underused...I thought this movie was BLAND AS SHIT. Kano was fun, the gore was fun and some of the fights were cool, but the story SUCKED and the characters are mostly just bland and generic and are given no real motivation to care about.
So style over substance? Damnit :(

Annihilation is my 2nd favourite film ever, I just love it to absolute pieces and really don't care about its (mountain of) faults, but 2 is an actual GOOD film (not spectacular, not award-winning, but GOOD) and I'm disappointed that they couldn't recreate a bit of that :(

I will definitely watch it at some point, but I'd rather it be in the theatre. As someone who has memorized every line of dialogue in both of the previous 2 films, including sound cues, music, etc., I was really looking-forward to something good of this film. Just too bad it didn't hit home like it should have.
 
So style over substance? Damnit :(
The script is its biggest problem. In short; there's no character motivation. Everything is just reliant on the characters following plot for "reasons" other than having any individual motivation (outside of Scorpion and Sub Zero who are the only two who do have motivation hence why their fights are the only ones that matter in this whole movie.)

Even the characters in the 95 film had motivation. It was bare basic motivation but you didn't need much more for MK. Liu Kang was the reluctant hero drawn into the tournament by his need for vengeance. Sonya harbors deep hatred for Kano which leads her into the tournament as Shang Tsung uses that against her. Johnny Cage has a need to prove himself as not being fake. Hence his ego leads him into the tournament.

Bare basic motivation, yes...but still individual motivation.

The 2021 film? Sonya's obsessed with the tournament for reasons never answered. Cole is a bland plank of wood who seemingly has no motivation other than his family (there's maybe a tiny shred of something more interesting to be had BUT the film only hints at it and never explores it in any meaningful way). Jax is just there and following Sonya. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are just there. Like I said, they might as well be the Ryu and Ken from the 90's Street Fighter movie of this movie. Raiden is just there and serves to be almost useless.

Even in the 95 film, Raiden was the mentor and exposition machine that filled in the blanks for the audience and the characters. This Raiden doesn't even seem to give a SHIT and is just there in the background. Seems perfectly okay with letting Outworld do whatever they like without lifting a finger.

That's my problem with this film and why I think the 95 film works better than this film. Say what you will but there is at least a script in the 95 film that kind of works on a bare basic level. The 2021 film feels like they're just making it up on the fly. Like they had a couple of ideas but nothing that really came together on any level.

The more I think about this movie, the more I realize just how shit it is. At its worse, it's blatant sequel/franchise bait.
 
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The script is its biggest problem. In short; there's no character motivation. Everything is just reliant on the characters following plot for "reasons" other than having any individual motivation (outside of Scorpion and Sub Zero who are the only two who do have motivation hence why their fights are the only ones that matter in this whole movie.)

Even the characters in the 95 film had motivation. It was bare basic motivation but you didn't need much more for MK. Liu Kang was the reluctant hero drawn into the tournament by his need for vengeance. Sonya harbors deep hatred for Kano which leads her into the tournament as Shang Tsung uses that against her. Johnny Cage has a need to prove himself as not being fake. Hence his ego leads him into the tournament.

Bare basic motivation, yes...but still individual motivation.

The 2021 film? Sonya's obsessed with the tournament for reasons never answered. Cole is a bland plank of wood who seemingly has no motivation other than his family (there's maybe a tiny shred of something more interesting to be had BUT the film only hints at it and never explores it in any meaningful way). Jax is just there and following Sonya. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are just there. Like I said, they might as well be the Ryu and Ken from the 90's Street Fighter movie of this movie. Raiden is just there and serves to be almost useless.

Even in the 95 film, Raiden was the mentor and exposition machine that filled in the blanks for the audience and the characters. This Raiden doesn't even seem to give a SHIT and is just there in the background. Seems perfectly okay with letting Outworld do whatever they like without lifting a finger.

That's my problem with this film and why I think the 95 film works better than this film. Say what you will but there is at least a script in the 95 film that kind of works on a bare basic level. The 2021 film feels like they're just making it up on the fly. Like they had a couple of ideas but nothing that really came together on any level.

The more I think about this movie, the more I realize just how shit it is. At its worse, it's blatant sequel/franchise bait.
You're spot on with your assessment. I watched the 2021 movie again this morning by myself at home to see if I was too harsh in my initial reaction, I wasn't. In fact it's a terrible movie overall. The first time last night in theaters was something fresh for the first time since 1997 and I was hoping it would at least be entertaining, it isn't. I could barely sit through the second time at home without being completely bored. The opening scene in the 1600s, some of Kano's politically incorrect yet accurate dialogue and insults directed at Princess Liu Kang at the dinner table and the CGI for Coles flashbacks of Scorpion when he's in the red were the only really good parts of the movie. Even revisiting the Nitara fatality it didn't have any 'bang' for me the second time, perhaps cause it's ridiculous how they were scuffling and floating around before she went into a hat that was rotating in the ground...wtf. So, yeah first impression was it was mostly bad but enjoyable because of 20+ years of starvation for a new MK movie also the fact that it's 2021 and acting,CGI and development in cinema is better than its ever been or in the 90s so there was no excuse for it to go the way it did, just a cash grab for the production company. Felt like Marvel Universe hot garbage. My second impression it isn't worth seeing again, ever. I watched MK 95 again tonight and instantly remembered why it's far superior overall: the facial expressions and emotions between Robin Shu and Cary Tagawa at the end fight scene before Liu Kang kills Shang Tsung sums up all of the emotion in that one moment that was lacking from the entire 2021 film after the 1600s scene. In the 95 film Kitana(who is the lead female of the entire franchise that was missing from the 2021 movie entirely) telling Liu Kang the 3 stages he must face, cheesy yet compassionate and concerned Raiden telling everyone what their fears are they must overcome are 3 reasons alone 95 stomps the piss out of 2021. I will revisit 97s Annihilation again soon, which is also better than 2021. For all 97s flaws, is there ever a scene in 2021 outside of the opening scene where you actually hate the bad guy like you do Shao Kahn and Sindel in 97? No. Shang 2021 is boring and Sub Zero doesn't hold any interest cause Cole Young sucks and turning Bi-Hans attention away from Hanzo towards Coleslaw is boring and generic. Hiroyuki Sanada is a great actor in other films and Joe Taslim is decent too, if they gave them the main focus of the film 2021 would have been great, also get rid of Ludi Lin as Liu Kang immediately, Sisi Stringer as Mileena and whoever the hell played Raiden and Shang.
 
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About the MK 2021 movie, I will surmise it as below average as a movie with terrible writing and acting, and overly edited fight scenes with the exception from when Sub-Zero and Scorpion are on-screen. Still I think I'd still recommend the movie for MK fans, as the first 15 minutes or so are great and the direction of turning Sub-Zero into a horror movie villain is something I didn't know I wanted. Also, Kano carries this movie dialogue wise. He simply steals the show in every scene he is in. So there is that.
 
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