Nuke's Blog
Periodic ramblings by an old geek…

Here are another few weeks worth of movies.  No idea what happened to this concept that I would post at least once per week.

 

Taken (2008)

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Well, I just found the movie that my daughter will be watching before heading on a trip without mom and dad sometime in the future.  This movie is intense.  Liam Neeson plays one rough dude.  He plays this character in such a great way.  I love his dialogue with the bad guy after his daughter is kidnapped.  When my daughter finally watches it, I will remind her that her father does not have such special skills, so she better stay out of this situation.

 

Donnie Brasco (1997)

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This mobster movie is a bit dated, but can still be a fairly good character study.  Both Pacino and Depp play their parts very well, as do some of the supporting cast members.  The DVD includes an interview with the undercover cop Depp’s character is based on.  Interesting story.

 

Killshot (2009)

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This movie had some good potential due to Mickey Rourke’s decent acting.  Too bad it turned into just another hitman-falls-sort-of-in-love-with-girl-target movie.  I think this is the fourth I’ve seen in that mini-genre over the past year, so this just felt old.

 

Stephen Kings’ Desperation (2006)

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Somewhat decent considering it was made for TV, but I think it ended up more gory than it needed to be.  It certainly held closer to the message of the book than several other King-novel-based movies.  I’m thinking it might have been more interesting if they found a way to combine it with its sister book, The Regulators, penned by his pseudonym Richard Bachman.  Playing on the same/similar characters in same/similar stories in alternate universes might have made the movie interesting enough to work better.

 

Riding the Bullet (2004)

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Did I mention it was Stephen King week?  At least that’s how my Netflix queue ended up at some point.  This wasn’t one of his better stories, and the movie did not improve it one bit.  Why do so many King-based movies have to be so crappy, though?  When you end up with movies like The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and Stand By Me, you would think more of his books would net some better funded films.

 

Nightmares & Dreamscapes (2006)

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Did I mention I am a pretty big Stephen King fan?  I’ve read all his books, and am working on seeing all related movies even though most adaptations are fairly poor.  There are several star-studded casts over the eight episodes in this mini-series.  Considering it was made for TV, it is very well done.  One of my absolute favorite short stories of King is the first episode, Battleground.  If you ever have the chance, you must watch it on the first disc.  It’s about a hitman who kills a toy-maker, and later receives a shipment of toy army guys that come alive in his apartment.  I don’t want to say more.  Watch it if you can.

 

Fly Me to the Moon (2008)

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Interesting how we have a couple movies here timed for release near the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing.  This one even has a non-animated cameo at the end by Buzz Aldrin.  J seemed to like it well enough, but Lafe decided the real thing was much better (up next).

 

When We Left Earth (2008)

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I think I’ve seen too many NASA documentaries at this point.  Nothing feels that new anymore, but Lafe really, really loved this series (actually, he still has another disc to watch).  He told me he wants “to watch real stuff now, Dad… not kid cartoons.”  Oh yeh… Dad’s little nerd.  I must be doing something right. :)

 

Space Chimps (2008)

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Here’s the other space cartoon released near the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.  In this case, we have monkeys rather than bugs, and the monkeys actually end up on some distant planet instead of the moon.  The only two things I liked in the movie were the main alien and the way he acts after becoming “all-powerful” due to the NASA lander’s capabilities, and Patrick Warburton.  Not his character… him.  His deep, monotonous voice continues to crack me up.

 

Knight Rider: Season 1 (2008)

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I was a big fan of the original series, so was looking forward to finally watching this one even though I found out it was already cancelled.  Well, now I know why.  There are some decent effects, but this is not the same fun I remember with the original.  I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I saw David Hasselhoff’s cameo at the end of the pilot episode.  I can’t believe they did that, lol.  I didn’t bother watching more than the first disc, assuming it wouldn’t get any better.

 

The Color of Magic (2008)

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I really was hoping for a better movie, and for one that the kids would like.  J made me turn it off after about 15 minutes… the Grim Reaper character started freaking her out.  Lafe didn’t even try to watch it, gah.  I’m starting to wonder why I allocate Netflix queues to each of them.  I think Prachett’s books must be far better than the movie.

 

A River Runs Through It (1992)

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Good character study movie, and some really great fly fishing scenes.  The acting was well done also, but 17 years later it’s just not as good as I expected.  Wow, was Brad Pitt young back then.

 

Bedtime Stories (2008)

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Why did I think this was going to be a really good movie?  I swear I read several reviews highly recommending this.  The reviews must have been from die-hard Adam Sandler fans.  Kids movies and Adam Sandler just don’t seem to be a good combination, and I really should have known that.  I sent it back without bothering to let the kids watch it.

 

Reclaiming the Blade (2008)

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This documentary about sword-making, sword-fighting skills, and related portrayals in film started very strong, and sort of petered out by the end.  I’m a huge fan of sword fights in movies, which was quite obvious as I noticed only 2 out of the 10s of clips shown at the beginning of the documentary which I had not seen before.  The idea that people are out there devoting their lives to rediscovering the art of sword-making/fighting is pretty cool, but perhaps a bit sad.

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