Autumn watching begins

Autumn is upon us and I’ve continued watching. My movie viewing slowed somewhat but I was still able to watch the following films at home over the past month…

Highest 2 Lowest- Full review in Television/Streaming section

Million Dollar Baby- Actually one of my favorite Clint Eastwood directed films. I hadn’t revisited it in a little while and still enjoyed it.

Trek Nation- This 2011 documentary follows Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, son of the creator of Star Trek, as he discovers more about his father by learning about Star Trek and it’s impact on culture. I’d seen this when it first came out and revisited it this time on Star Trek Day.

The Three Musketeers- This was my first time seeing this 2011 version directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. There is some good stuff in there, but the Paul W.S. Anderson of it all really muddies up the story.

Overlord- Nazi experimentation during WWII that creates Zombie soldiers. It’s actually more entertaining than I expected it to be.

Coneheads- A revisit of this SNL sketch turned feature film. It’s not a great movie, but there is enough fun stuff in it to make it watchable every 15 years or so.

Teenagers from Outer Space- An actually interesting concept is wasted on this 1950’s SF quicky to take advantage of the Drive-In movie crowd.

Outlaws and Angels- This was writer/director JT Mollner’s film before Strange Darling. Another interesting concept that just doesn’t quite live up to it’s potential.

Robin Hood- This is the 2010 Ridley Scott directed version starring Russel Crowe. I’m not a big Russel Crowe fan, that’s why I hadn’t seen it until now. It’s better than I imagined, but lacks any of the fun of many previous Robin Hood movies.

Elio- This recent Pixar film is fine. It’s good and doesn’t seem to try very hard to be anything more.

The Sting- With the death of Robert Redford I revisited this Best Picture Oscar winner. It still works very well.

28 Years Later- Here’s a recent film I skipped in the theaters and now wish I hadn’t. It’s better than I expected and probably played even better on a big screen.

High and Low- The 1963 Akira Kurosawa film that inspired Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest.  Both films start the same, but Kurosawa's turns into a police procedural in it's last 2 acts.  I think I enjoyed this one more than the, still good, Spike Lee remake.

The Mouse on the Moon- 1960’s English comedy about a tiny, fictitious, country that sends a rocket to the moon. It’s just not as good as it thinks it is.

American Made- This is a decent Tom Cruise movie about a pilot who ends up running spying flights over Central American AND runs drugs for the cartels. Based on true events.

The Karate Kid: Legends- At it’s core, a remake of the first movie only this time a boy from China moves to New York and must enter a Karate Tournament to impress a girl and get a bully off his ass. This time he has Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han and Ralph Macchio’s Daniel La Russo as his coaches. It’s nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

The Great Waldo Pepper- I hadn't seen this Robert Redford movie since I was a kid.  He's great, though the movie itself is a little uneven and has a bit of an abrupt ending.  Still, plenty entertaining.

Gunslingers- This recent western stars Stephen Dorff, Heather Graham, and Nicolas Cage and it also has a very good concept. The problems here are bad digital gunfire and bullet strikes and a director that was probably so glad to have Nick Cage in his movie that he agreed to any crazy shit Cage wanted to do. So we get a loopy character who speaks like a 1950’s blues-man and at one point is just doing a James Brown impression. I couldn’t figure out if it was just super weird or borderline offensive.