RothSothy

Rocko, we can't live in the past. We can be grateful for it, but life isn't permanent, and if we don't embrace what's now, we miss out on a lot of the important stuff.

Man.. some wise words from Mr. Bighead :sob:
Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling is great! It's as if it never lost touch in the humor and quirkiness of the original show which I used to watch a lot of as a kid as it aired on Nickelodeon in the summer time and even played the video game (rented from Blockbuster)! I wore my Rocko themed shirt as I watched this and giggled along. It's fun to see the characters adapt to the 21s century and advances in technology and trends. A lot of the characters and gags struck my nostalgia bone hard as I'd go "Hey, I remember that!", even the music cues that would sound as a ringtone set off from a character's phone (or O-Phone as they call it in O-Town). The way they handled Ralph (The Bigheads' child) was very well done, and I applaud the team for that. I even caught a smear frame in one point of the film. You don't really see many of these in animation these days, but I guess it depends on the style of animation, and I love that! I hope they make more Rocko in the near future!

:fire: I'm glad that Hellboy is back on the big screen, but this one's a mixed bag. I'm fine with the cast; David played a good Hellboy, and Milla was a wonderful villain. There's definitely potential. However, this film suffered mostly from very rushed editing. There were many scenes where I feel they should've given a little more time with such as introducing characters, performing certain actions, or flashback scenes. There were some funnies that got me chuckling, I admit, and the lines fit the Hellboy character just fine. The visual effects are a half-and-half mix of actors in rubber suit costumes and CG, albeit some good but short green screens with the slow-motion fire and backgrounds. Even the gore effects were awesome. Most of the entertainment is found in the later half of the film. I just feel this would've benefited more if the story was spread out as a (Netflix) TV series because there's so much of Hellboy's story to tell. Director Neil Marshall had done a few notable TV shows already, and I enjoyed his Dog Soldiers and The Descent films very much. The post end credits scenes do set up for a sequel so we'll see if that happens. My friend and I left the theater just a tiny bit underwhelmed and now longing to rewatch the original first two Hellboy films by Guillermo del Toro that starred Ron Perlman, which from memory, provided us with not only the dark undertone but also a more lush quality to them. Wait for this to arrive on video if you're curious. Otherwise, I think other films like Shazam!, Us, Missing Link, or The Curse of La Llorrona would be the better choice.

They really set the tone for the 90s slasher film right from the get go; very Scream and Urban Legends style mixed with Goosebumps, and rightfully so because director Leigh Janiak did a couple of episodes of the Scream TV series. I find it to be a perfect fit for this three-part Fear Street film series based on the books by RL Stine. The pacing is great, keeps you interested throughout, but do expect the typical horror tropes of this era. I was able to spot a Stephen King novel and a few of the Fear Street books (as Robert Lawrence aka RL Stine :wink:) in that book store, a Nintendo Game Boy at school, Josh using AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), wearing an Iron Maiden shirt, playing Castlevania on Sega Genesis, and soundtrack included songs from Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Radiohead, Cypress Hill, The Prodigy, White Zombie. It was oozing with 90s nostalgia, even if they were inaccurate with them. I liked the use of colors reds and blues, and the lighting for the night time scenes. I won't say much about the story, but these three films do involve going through different periods of time which I find really intriguing. The end of 1994 got me really excited for the next two installments which will have us go to a 1978 camp setting :camping: and then 1666 when the cursed started :mage:. That's also what I noticed on the movie poster art is that each of the weapons represents the generation or year that each of films are set in. It's a fun one, so I recommend watching this (and the rest of the trilogy) with a friend who also enjoys spooky time if you can. :knife:

I remember seeing this one on TV a few times as a kid back in the early 90s. I think the last time I saw it was probably around then too, played back to back with Conan the Barbarian and Master of the Universe. So now about 20 or so years later, I rewatch it and I could still recall each notable scene: the part where Sonja meets the little prince, the "sword-practicing" scene between Kalidor and Sonja, the final battle scene with Gedren, and so on. I miss fantasy action films like these days. It's so rare to see one shot in this style today. Another thing I liked about this is it had a focus on love and romance. Sonja is a strong and beautiful woman and warrior. I never had any problems with it as a child; I mean I never minded female leads in films. I was only a child, and only viewed it and admired it for what it is. I always liked watch sword fights and martial arts, and the characters in this one kicked butt. I wonder why they never made a sequel or a series out of Sonja, perhaps even a crossover with She-Ra!

I finally saw this for the first time tonight, and wow! I'm quite impressed with the concept they got going with the alternate worlds: Cool World vs the Real World, and "doodles" vs "noids". It's definitely not one to watch when kids are around; this one is for the more mature audiences; just a bit more than Roger Rabbit, that's for sure. Interesting that I chose to watch this tonight because Mother's Day is just right around the corner, and the opening scene does start out with an accident with the lead character and his mother. The soundtrack fits the world as well; there's a lot of early Techno and electronic beats being played during the Cool World scenes, and even some Frank Sinatra later on to give each world its signicant contrast. Being an avid listener of Trance and electronic dance music myself, I recognized the Future Sound of London track, Papua New Guinea, as soon as I heard it. The plot isn't all that great, but I mostly enjoyed it for the hand-drawn animations in combination with the live-action real sets made to look 2D, connection between the characters, and just the atmosphere that Ralph Bakshi has created which has this very wild, toony, yet dark and weird look to it; very Tim Burton-like. There were some trippy-looking sequences towards the end too. Films like these come about once a decade. The latest one I think was Disney's Enchanted(?). It's rare to see films covering theme of the real world and animated "toon" world (that's hand-drawn, not CGI); especially ones with the rotoscoping technique which is used to make animated characters look life-like (as seen in early Disney films). As we roll to the credits music, I immediately recognized the voice of the late David Bowie and I was right. I would really love to own this film remastered on Blu-ray with many extras/bonus material if it were possible, knowing the current out-of-print DVD release fetches for a very high price online. In the meantime, I'm off to see more works from Ralph Bakshi on Blu-ray.

Just got back from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 'twas a FUNtastic family film, lots of neat Easter eggs for life-long fans of the old-school (like myself)! :spades: Having Jack Black cast as Bowser is probably one of the best things about this because character-wise they match so well (along the rock music which made me think of his band Tenacious D and School of Rock). Charles Martinet voiced a couple of side characters as well; sharp listeners will know whom :wink:. I always thought that if they could make an original animated film like Wreck-It Ralph, imagine if there would be a new Mario movie in similar fashion; well finally this would be it. This time, Illumination with Nintendo's involvement, it's done just right. I grew up with the games, the Super Show animated series (along with Captain N and Legend of Zelda), as well as the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, so having the Mario Rap at the beginning couldn't have been more perfect. This 2023 reboot is more in line with the 1986 Japanese animated film, Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach but done in modern 3D-CG style. The pacing is a bit on the quick side, but I think it works well to keep the audience, especially the younger ones, more attentive, as there's always something happening, with a couple of resting points here and there. The music cues were on point, and I think original games' composer Koji Kondo must be proud to hear each of the classic melodies orchestrated as each character and areas are introduced on screen. There are some licensed classic 80s pop/rock songs thrown in too for general fun (The Beastie Boys, A-HA, Bonnie Tyler). Story-wise, it's as simple as one would expect where the hero(es) fights the villain, resulting in a satisfying ending much like recent video game related films such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. NES era references can be spotted like Kid Icarus, Punch-Out!!, Wrecking Crew, Pauline (from Donkey Kong), Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers, as well as the Arwing from (Star Fox), Luigi's ringtone is the GameCube intro, DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario Bros. 3/World/64/Sunshine/Galaxy/Odyssey, and of course the Mario Kart series. There were even some older Nintendo references in there like the Nintendo Playing Cards Spade logo on one of the buildings, "Help Me, Jump Man", and a "Disk-kun" on one of the shops which is a reference to the Famicom Disk System. There's also a mid-credits and a little something at the end of the credits, so stick around for those. :egg::star:

My friends and I (safely) saw A Quiet Place II yesterday, and it was as good as the first one! It's been a while since we've been to the theater to see a movie. The last one we saw was Sonic the Hedgehog (February 2020), so it was nice to be back in my local theater again (even though there were only about ten other people in the room hah :sweat_smile:). We saw the first film in the theater the weekend it came out in April 2018, and it was definitely one that is best experienced in a theater full of people because of the fantastic use of sound for the film :shushing_face:. (I'll need to write a comment/review for that first Quiet if I ever plan to rewatch it). So we're greeted with a thank you message from John Krasinki thanking the audience for coming out to see the film in theaters which was nice. Oh, there was also a trailer for Old which is the new one from M Night Shyamalan, and it looks really interesting! This one has just about the right amount of tension and feels as the first Quiet. Though for the story, it is highly recommended to watch the first Quiet before seeing part II so you know what the characters have to deal with and how they approach the situation using certain techniques and strats. Emily Blunt still plays the strong mother who does her absolute best to protect her children. It still has those The Walking Dead vibes and even a little more Stranger Things vibes now because of the kids who are integral to this entry and the choices they make. I noticed the duality during the tense moments, and how the scenes from two of the characters were edited together; This occurred twice in the film which was significant for this second installment. Again, I really like the use of sound and the song that plays repeatedly on the radio now has a meaning. There's a bit more action going on in this one than what I remember from the first Quiet, well paced, definitely more body counts for sure. I like where the story and the characters are headed so far. If they ever do a third installment, I hope we see the characters reunite to close it up as a trilogy or maybe a fourth since there are still four family members. :wink: Oh, and we saw this in Showcase XPlus for the Dolby Atmos surround sound experience. :sound:

wakey wakey :sleeping:

My friends and I have been on a Stephen King tip all year long having seen It Chapter Two and Pet Sematary earlier this year, In The Tall Grass on Netflix, and the new season of Castle Rock on Hulu. We decided to see Doctor Sleep opening night and I find it to be quite an interesting concept which turned out to be both an adaptation of the sequel book of the same title as well as a tie-in sequel to the Kubrick classic, The Shining. This one has more of an emphasis on the shining ability and takes place when Danny Torrance is already an adult; and that's all you really need to know going in. I was steadily drawn in by the dark and eerie atmosphere throughout the film accompanied with the heartbeat sound in the score thumping hastily and slowly. It has a lot of callbacks to many of the iconic moments in The Shining (1980) film with scenes re-shot and some (re)done in such meaningful ways. One of those blink and you'll miss it things, but I was able to catch one little Easter Egg, a 217 on one of the doors which is a reference to the room number of the Stanley Hotel (that the Overlook was based on for the novel). I also want to point out that Abra is a RWBY fan seeing that she had posters on the wall and figure by the bed. Fans know that Stephen King loves his Maine a lot, and I've noticed in these adaptations lately that they've been referencing Massachusetts (or New England) a lot which is where I'm from!

Overall a decent sequel story that expands on the lore of the Stephen King multiverse/universe and pays homage to the original The Shining film. It was fun revisiting the Overlook again in a new way. 40 years is quite some time, and the popular film had been referenced and parodied in so many different media since. I still remember the fantastic segment in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V episode (aka The Shinning), and I remember how surprisingly tongue-in-cheek it was when it was done for Ready Player One (2018) film. Though don't expect Kubrick style directing here; the pacing felt as if it could have been a quality TV series for Hulu or Netflix, more along the lines of The Haunting of Hill House. In fact it's the same director, Mike Flanagan (who is also from Massachusetts), and even stars one of the actresses who played youngest daughter in The Haunting of Hill House. He had also done the other Stephen King adaptation, Gerald's Game, and other notable horror films in the past like Oculus and the Ouija prequel. There were other faces I later recognized including adult Danny, who is played by Ewan McGregor (of Star Wars and Moulin Rouge fame), Travis from Fear the Walking Dead, and The Giant from Twin Peaks!

If I were to sum this one with a quote from the film, it would be:

taste like whiskey :tumbler_glass: