Title - Extinction Series – Resident Evil #3 Director – Russell Mulcahy Release – 2007 Rating – R Time – 1hr 34min
My Thoughts:
This was my least favorite of the movies so far, and if memory serves, of the entire 6 movie franchise.
Firstly, Alice now has superpowers. Yeah, they are “psychic” powers, but it amounts to the same thing. She’s not just a kickbutt heroine any more and I really didn’t like that change. One example of this was when she meets up with the convoy and saves them all from undead crows. She uses her jedi mind powers to burn up the entire sky full of crows.
Then there is a scene near the end where some superzombies are transported to where Alice and the convoy are (Las Vegas) to kill everyone and capture Alice. It is one shipping container, but by the end of the fight scene, I counted over 50 superzombies. They kept coming out of the container like clowns out of a clown car. The numbers were simply impossible.
My final complaint is the big boss at the end. The Big Boss Fight for each of the RE movies doesn’t tend towards the long and drawn out and while I’ve been ok with that, this time I just wanted more. I don’t know why, but this Tyrant felt like he should have had more time as the Tyrant and less time building up to him becoming the Tyrant. It didn’t help that he had to share screen time with the Chairman of Umbrella Corporation.
Now, what I did like. I LOVED that almost the entire movie took place during daylight hours. I could actually see everything going on. I loved how the opening mimicked the first opening, so there was that slight sliver of “did I get the wrong movie?” feeling. It started us as viewers on the back foot and that was great. While I complained about various things above, they did provide for a lot of intense action scenes and that is what Resident Evil movies are all about.
The music was pretty good too. We got back to the hive music, which just represents Resident Evil to me.
I also watched the commentary track for the movie. It was wicked weird though. There were 3 guys talking about it, but it was obvious there were two different commentaries going on at once. Two guys were talking to each other while the other guy was simply monologuing the entire time. It was so obvious, and like I said, weird, that it really threw me out from listening to what they were actually saying. Kind of a waste of a commentary track if you ask me.
A decent addition to the franchise, but like I said at the beginning, my least favorite.
Synopsis from Wikipedia:
click to open
A cloned Alice wakes up in a mansion, wanders through its halls, and is forced to escape several security traps. However, she is eventually killed by a bounding mine hidden on the floor. Her body is dumped into a pit filled with dozens of other Alice clones, representing the failed results of the Umbrella Corporation's ongoing Project Alice.
Five years after Umbrella's attempts to cover up the contamination of Raccoon City,[a] the T-virus has spread around the world, causing ecological destruction to all life. The real Alice wanders the wasteland and, after fighting off marauders, discovers information in an abandoned notebook referring to a supposedly uninfected area in Alaska.
Simultaneously, a convoy of survivors led by Claire Redfield and Raccoon City survivors Carlos Oliveira and L.J. Wade travels across the country in search of supplies and safe harbor. While searching a motel, L.J. is bitten by a zombie. Fearing the harsh fate that awaits him, he chooses not to tell the other survivors about the injury. The next morning, the convoy is attacked by a murderous flock of infected crows. With the team nearly overwhelmed, Alice appears and destroys the remaining crows with her newfound telekinesis, though she falls unconscious. Awaking shortly thereafter, Alice is introduced to Claire and tells her about the notebook, convincing her to take the convoy to Alaska.
Isaacs' attempts to domesticate the infected lead to creating a new zombie breed. Albert Wesker's security officer, Captain Alexander Slater, reports on Isaacs' disregard for Umbrella regulations. Wesker tasks Slater with watching Isaacs, telling him to kill the scientist if he disobeys orders again. Tracing an energy pattern sent out by Alice's telekinesis, Umbrella triangulates her location. Desperate to reclaim Alice to achieve his goals, Dr. Isaacs sends his new zombies to ambush the convoy against Wesker's specific orders. During the attack, most of the convoy is killed, and L.J. succumbs to his infection, biting Carlos before he kills him. Umbrella tries to shut Alice down remotely, but she breaks free from Umbrella's programming and continues to fight. She finds Isaacs at the scene, and he is bitten as he flees via helicopter. Alice and a girl from Claire's convoy named K-mart use Isaacs' computer to track the helicopter's flight path, leading them to Umbrella's underground facility.
As the convoy arrives at the Umbrella Facility, Carlos, dying from his bite, sets out to sacrifice himself, giving some goodbyes to the convoy, including Alice. Carlos takes a tanker truck with dynamite to destroy the zombie horde blocking the entrance to the Umbrella Facility. The dynamite explodes, killing him. Alice and Claire get everyone else onto a helicopter to get them to safety, but Alice stays behind.
Entering the underground facility, Alice meets a holograph of the Red Queen's "sister" AI, the White Queen. She informs Alice that her blood can cure the T-virus, defends the Red Queen's prior actions, and reveals what happened to Dr. Isaacs. On her way to the lab's lower levels, Alice encounters one of her clones, which awakens but appears to die from shock soon after. Alice discovers Isaacs/Tyrant, defeating him after leading him to the replica of The Hive's laser corridor featured in the film's opening. Just as Alice is about to meet the same fate, the system is deactivated by the clone, who is still alive.
Later in Tokyo, Wesker informs his fellow Umbrella executives that the North American facility has been lost. Alice appears during the meeting, declaring that she and her "friends" (the other clones) are coming for him.
Series – Resident Evil #2 Director – Alexander Witt Release – 2004 Rating – R Time – 1hr 34min
My Thoughts:
Spectacle. Bloody, violent and furious spectacle.
Everything from the first movie is ramped up, except for the military style. There are Umbrella Corporation private soldiers and some of them end up hooking up with Alice and some other survivors, but they are not real soldiers. They make for good monster fodder though.
We start out exactly where the first movie ends, with some additional info to give us a larger picture of what is going on. The t-virus has escaped into Raccoon City and apparently RC is a walled city controlled by Umbrella. When Umbrella realizes they can’t control the virus, so they shut the city down, release a monster of their own to test it and it runs into Alice, who it turns out is another Umbrella experiment. So a city full of zombies, a few zombie dogs, a few lickers and then Nemesis. All the while an insane scientist is monitoring it all and thinking he’s in control. Oh, right from the first movie, Umbrella is shown to be thinking that they are in control even when it is apparent to anyone with half a brain that they aren’t. That’s half the fun, even as the situation spirals out of control, knowing that Umbrella is going to burn.
Speaking of ramping things up to an 11, well, a tactical nuke is involved at the end of the movie. It helps provide a count down to force the plot forward, but man, knowing that you have to survive and get out or you get nuked really amps up the tension. I liked it. I also enjoyed the fight between Alice and the Nemesis monster. Knowing it was the nice guy from the first movie just made it that much worse, which is the point of RE. Hold out hope only to yank it away again. That’s the formula and it works for the video games and it works for these movies.
Synopsis from Wikipedia:
Synopsis - click to open
Former security operative Alice and environmental activist Matt Addison escape an underground genetic research facility called the Hive after a zombie outbreak.[a] The pair attempted to expose illegal experiments being performed there by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella Corporation before they were taken into custody by Umbrella.
A team from Umbrella investigating the Hive is overrun by zombies, which spreads the outbreak to the nearby Raccoon City. In response, Umbrella quarantines the city and evacuates crucial personnel. Angela Ashford, daughter of researcher Dr. Charles Ashford, goes missing after her security car is involved in a collision during the evacuation. Meanwhile, disgraced S.T.A.R.S operative Jill Valentine returns to her precinct to urge her fellow officers to evacuate. Alice awakens in a deserted hospital and wanders the city for supplies while Umbrella evacuates civilians via the only bridge. At the bridge, Jill encounters her former partner, Sgt. Payton Wells, but a civilian turns into a zombie, biting Wells. Upon the outbreak reaching the bridge, Major Timothy Cain, leader of Umbrella forces, seals the exit, forcing residents back into the city.
After being abandoned by their employer, Umbrella soldiers Carlos Olivera and Nicholai Ginovaef team up with surviving police units to repel various zombie attacks. Their position is overrun; Carlos is bitten and infected. Meanwhile, Jill, Wells, and reporter Terri Morales are saved by Alice just before being overrun. Umbrella deploys the mutated supersoldier, Nemesis, who kills the remaining STARS before searching for Alice. Dr. Ashford hacks into the CCTV system to contact Alice and the survivors, offering to arrange their evacuation in exchange for rescuing his daughter. He makes the same offer to Carlos and Ginovaef, explaining Umbrella plans to destroy Raccoon City with a nuclear warhead to eliminate the zombie infection.
While heading to Angela, Alice and the group are ambushed by Nemesis. Jill kills Wells after he turns into a zombie. Alice fights Nemesis but is injured, leading her to draw him away from the others. Jill and Morales rescue stranded civilian L.J. and later meet Carlos to find Angela, though Morales and Ginovaef are killed. Angela reveals that the zombie outbreak stems from the T-virus, created by her father to treat her genetic condition, and she requires an anti-virus serum to avoid becoming a zombie. Alice uses some of the serum to cure Carlos. Dr. Ashford informs Alice of an extraction point with a waiting helicopter. The group reaches the rendezvous but are ambushed by Umbrella forces. Cain kills Dr. Ashford and compels Alice, revealed to be enhanced by the T-virus, to fight Nemesis. Alice subdues Nemesis but stops when she discovers that Nemesis is Matt, who was mutated by Umbrella's experiments.
Nemesis turns on Cain and attacks the Umbrella troops but is killed while protecting Alice. The remaining survivors seize the helicopter and eject Cain from it, and he is killed by zombies. As the survivors escape, a nuclear warhead detonates over the city, and the resulting blast wave causes the helicopter to crash. Alice sacrifices herself to save Angela and is impaled on a metal pole. T.V. footage attributes the blast to a meltdown of the city's nuclear power plant, obscuring Umbrella's involvement.
Alice wakes up in an Umbrella research facility and escapes with help from Carlos, Jill, L.J., and Angela. She also displays psionic abilities after telekinetically killing a security guard. As they leave, Dr. Alexander Isaacs, a top-ranking Umbrella employee, reveals that Alice's escape is part of Umbrella's plan.
Series – Resident Evil #1 Director – Paul WS Anderson Release – 2002 Rating – R Time – 1hr 40min
My Thoughts:
This movie, and the whole franchise in fact, is the kind of movie that shouldn’t work for me. Live action tie-ins to video games usually leave me apathetic at best to downright cold at worst. Now, my only knowledge about the Resident Evil franchise is what I garnered reading the horrible game tie-in books in 2011 (Umbrella Conspiracy, Zero Hour, Caliban Cove). I’ve never played the games but I have watched the movies multiple times and enjoyed them immensely, to the point where I bought a “Complete Collection” on bluray last year.
Resident Evil the movie is almost 25 years old and in some ways it shows. The scenes where it is “computer graphics” copying the style of the game is rough and uneven and not what you’d see today. Other than that though, I thought it holds up remarkably well.
I do have to say that you need to turn your brain off to truly enjoy these. This is a zombie action movie and you can pick it apart all day long. I suspect many of the roots of that come from the game itself but Hollywood does have a way of inserting its own stupidity into things, so I’m also blaming them. I’m not here to nit-pick though. But it is a fair warning. Turn your brain off and enjoy.
The music is spot on. You have a pulse pounding techno-something-metal whenever the action is about to ramp up or is happening. It is played a lot during times when the team is initially invading the Hive (the underground complex where everything is happening). It makes even simple scenes of the team running up/down stairs more engaging. But at the same time, it is not overused. I felt like whoever the musical director/choreographer was did a tremendous job of making the music add to the movie without overwhelming or distracting. I also really liked the theme music. Here is the opening theme and it is just plain creepy:
The progression of enemies is stepped just like in a video game. You start out with the Red Queen (the AI that is actually trying to keep the world safe from the T-Virus) and her defense mechanisms taking out like half the team. Four team members die in just one scene and I was a little disappointed it wasn’t spaced out more.
Then the zombies are introduced and the surviving members have to battle them, unsuccessfully at first as they don’t know that only a bullet to the head puts the zombies down permanently. Then Alice, the hero of the movie franchise, meets some doberman pinschers and whooowheee, they looked BAD! And one of the coolest looking scenes happens with that. She runs out of bullets and there is still one dog left and it leaps to attack her. She runs at a wall intersection and runs up one wall, pushes off it, bounces off the supporting wall and kicks the dog and breaks its neck. It is physically impossible but boy, it looked awesome!
Then the team meets the final Big Bad and it is some sort of humanoid mutating monster that is all exposed muscle and teeth and claws and a tongue like a whip. (I didn't use any of the actual scenes from the movie because they were all too dark, so you get this drawn version) It manages to kill off the remainder of the team and only Alice and some guy who was trying to save his sister survive. They make it out of the Hive just as the blast doors sealing it off come down.
Only for the two survivors to be medicalized by Umbrella scientists in bio-hazard suits. The guy has a t-virus infection that isn’t killing him and Alice is being kept under observation. The movie ends with her waking up and ripping out all her monitors and escaping the lab. She is in Racoon City and it is obvious the t-virus has escaped. She grabs a shot gun and that’s how the movie ends.
I am happy to own this movie and am so glad it has stood up to repeated viewings. This was a LOT more than I was expecting to write, which goes to show how much I liked it :-D I’ll also add that you shouldn’t expect this much wordage from me when I review the next 5 Resident Evil movies. So stock up on shotgun shells, sharpen your machetes and make sure your harley davidson motorcycle is fueled up, because we’ve got a lot of adventure left to get through!
Synopsis from Wikipedia:
Click to Open
Underneath Raccoon City, a genetic research facility called the Hive is owned by the Umbrella Corporation. A thief steals the genetically engineered T-virus and contaminates the Hive with it. In response, the facility's artificial intelligence, the Red Queen, seals the Hive and kills everyone inside to prevent the virus from leaking into the outside world.
Alice wakes up in the bathroom of a deserted mansion, suffering amnesia. An unknown person tackles her as a group of commandos led by James Shade breaks in. Alice's attacker claims to be Matt Addison, who just transferred as a cop in Raccoon P.D. Alice and Matt are ordered to go down to the Hive with the group, where they find another amnesiac, Spence, hidden in their train. The commandos explain that everyone in the group except Matt is an employee of the Umbrella Corporation, and Alice and her partner Spence were assigned to guard the Hive's secret entrance beneath the mansion under the pretense of being married.
A laser defense system kills Shade and three more commandos outside the Red Queen's chamber. Despite the Red Queen's pleas for the group to leave, Kaplan disables it, causing the power to fail and all of the doors in the Hive to open. This releases the zombified staff and containment units holding Lickers, creatures created through experimentation with the T-virus. The horde attacks the group, and J.D. dies while the rest are separated. During that moment, Rain loses her keys and Matt, taking advantage of the chaos, sweeps the keys to escape his handcuffs. Alice starts regaining her memories while Matt finds his sister Lisa, who is one of the zombies. Alice saves him, and Matt explains that he and Lisa were environmental activists. Lisa infiltrated Umbrella to smuggle out the evidence of illegal experiments and shut Umbrella down. Alice remembers that she was Lisa's contact in the Hive but does not tell Matt. The survivors reunite at the Red Queen's chamber, where the commandos explain they have one hour before the Hive traps them inside automatically. Alice and Kaplan activate the Red Queen to find an exit; they rig a remote shutdown to ensure her cooperation.
As they escape through maintenance tunnels, zombies ambush them, and a reanimated J.D. bites Rain before she shoots him dead. They reach safety except Kaplan, who is bitten and separated from the group. Alice remembers that an anti-virus is in the lab, but they find it missing. Spence's memory returns, revealing he was the thief who stole and purposefully released the T-virus in the beginning; he hid both the T-virus and anti-virus on the train. Spence turns against the others but is bitten by a zombie before trapping the survivors in the lab. Spence retrieves the anti-virus but is killed by a Licker. The Red Queen offers to spare Alice and Matt if they kill Rain, who has been infected. A power outage occurs. Kaplan appears, having shut down the Red Queen to open the lab doors. The group heads to the train, where Alice retrieves the anti-virus and kills a reanimated Spence.
On the train, they inject Rain and Kaplan with the anti-virus. The Licker attacks them, clawing Matt and killing Kaplan. Alice subdues the Licker before a zombified Rain attacks Matt, the anti-virus having failed to cure her. He shoots Rain dead.
At the mansion, Matt's wound begins mutating. Before Alice can give him the anti-virus, a group of Umbrella scientists seizes them. They reveal Matt is to be put into the Nemesis Program, and the Hive is to be re-opened for an investigation into the incident.
Sometime later, Alice wakes up at the Raccoon City Hospital strapped to an examination table. She escapes outside, only to find Raccoon City in ruins. She retrieves a shotgun from an abandoned police car for defense.
In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans meet their contact on Earth, a priest of a secret order, at an ancient Egyptian temple. They take the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5000 years, promising to protect it and return it before the great evil's re-emergence. The weapon consists of the four classical elements, as four engraved stones, plus a sarcophagus containing a "fifth element".
In the 23rd century,[b] the great evil appears in deep space as a giant living fireball. It destroys an armed Earth spaceship as it heads to Earth. The Mondoshawans' current human contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius, informs the president of the Federated Territories of the great evil's history and the weapon that can stop it.
On their way to Earth, a Mondoshawan spacecraft carrying the weapon is ambushed and destroyed by a crew of Mangalores, alien mercenaries hired by Earth industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, who is working for the great evil. A severed hand in metal armor from the wreckage of the spacecraft is brought to New York City. From this, the government uses biotechnology to recreate the original occupant of the sarcophagus, a humanoid woman named Leeloo, who remembers her previous life. Alarmed by the unfamiliar surroundings and high security, she escapes and jumps off a ledge, crashing into the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in Earth's special forces.
Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David, who recognizes her as the fifth element. As Leeloo recuperates, she tells Cornelius that the stones were not on board the Mondoshawan ship. Simultaneously, the Mondoshawans inform Earth's government that the stones were entrusted to an alien opera singer, the diva Plavalaguna. Zorg reneges on his deal with the Mangalores for failing to obtain the stones, and kills some of them. Earth's military sends Dallas to meet Plavalaguna; a rigged radio contest provides a cover, awarding Dallas a luxury vacation aboard a flying hotel on planet Fhloston, accompanied by flamboyant talk-show host Ruby Rhod. It includes a concert by Plavalaguna, and learning that Leeloo shares his mission, Dallas lets her accompany him. Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple, then stows away on the luxury spaceship. The Mangalore crew, pursuing the stones for themselves, also illegally board the ship.
During the concert, the Mangalores attack, and Plavalaguna is killed. Dallas extracts the stones from her body and kills the Mangalore leader, causing the others to surrender. Zorg arrives, shoots Leeloo, and activates a time bomb. He flees with a carrying case he presumes contains the stones, but returns when he discovers it is empty. As Zorg's bomb causes the hotel's evacuation, Dallas finds Leeloo traumatized and escapes with her, Cornelius, Rhod, and the stones in Zorg's private spaceship. Zorg deactivates his bomb, but a dying Mangalore sets off his own, destroying the hotel and killing Zorg.
As the great evil approaches Earth, the four meet David at the temple. They deploy the stones, but Leeloo, having learned of humanity's history of cruelty, has given up on life. Dallas declares his love for her and kisses her. Leeloo combines the power of the stones, emitting divine light onto the great evil and defeating it. Dallas and Leeloo are hailed as heroes, and as dignitaries wait to greet them, the two passionately embrace in a recovery chamber.
This is one of the movies that I have watched over and over again. I hadn't seen it before a coworker recommended it in the mid-2000's to me and when I saw the cover to the dvd and it had a blond Bruce Willis on it. I was hooked.
I hesitate to call this a hokey movie, but it is really bordering on that. I don't mind, but others might not be able to get past that veneer and enjoy this. From the get-go with the aliens and the archeologist and the priest, there was something that was just a bit off about this. I've come to realize that it is this movie not taking itself seriously at all.
I recently bought this in blu ray, hence the cover above and was hoping for some commentary tracks. Sadly, the extras on the blu ray were pretty sparse and limited to showing some interviews with the various actors and giving a little bit of the history of how the movie was made. But no directors commentary or actors commentary. I guess it isn't a big enough hit to pay for that kind of thing. That's too bad, because I think it would have been fascinating to get some thoughts on what was going on.
Chris Tucker plays a side kick and man, the first time I saw this I hated his character. He was a pompadour sporting effeminate macho man who did a girly high scream a lot. It was a bunch of diametrically opposed ideas all coming together into one character. Tucker manages to pull it off too, which is incredible.
Willis is his usual special space forces tough guy. He did an admirable job of it too. Sadly, playing across from Jovovich, well, the chemistry wasn't there. She's supposed to be this super warrior yet lovely and vulnerable woman and while he says all the correct words, the chemistry just wasn't there. Jovovich does a great job too. She speaks a whole new language, kicks butt and falls in love with Willis and because of the power of love, saves the universe from The Bad Thing. She was fantastic as the warrior, and it was a precursor to show what she was capable of in just a few years when she dominated with the Resident Evil movies. But as a "perfect woman", well, I just wasn't feeling it. I wish they had chosen someone else. Considering that the director, Luc Besson, started an affair with Jovovich during the film, well....
The Bad Thing is the destruction of the Universe but it really doesn't play much of a part. It plays just enough to kick our characters along, but never felt like a direct threat. THAT villainous part was played by Gary Oldman, as Zorg, some sort of ultra-rich guy who sold out to The Bad Thing. He's the face of villainy in this movie and my goodness, I loved every second of his over the top silliness. It's hard to take him seriously and then bam, he pushes a button and tons of people just die and I'm like "oh yeah, he's the bad guy". He gets his just desserts and it is glorious :-D
Now that I own this on disc I feel like I'll not watch it again for who knows how long. That seems to happen to me. Once I own something, I lose desire to view it. But if I DO feel like watching it, now I can without having to jump through hoops of finding it on a streaming service :-/
While I thoroughly enjoy this movie, I don't know if I actually recommend it. If you're a big Bruce Willis or Milla Jovovitch fan or a fan of the slightly hokey, then I would recommend it to you. Otherwise, I'm ambivalent.
I have never done a trailer post for a movie before. I think they are a waste of time, are about a subject (movies) that deserve zero attention and are for people who aren't disciplined enough to read a book, ie, the troglodytes amongst us.
But when a GREAT movie gets a sequel after 40 years, I think that is cause to do a post about. So without further ado, here is the trailer for Spaceballs 2, the greatest sequel nobody wanted!
ps,
I found this because Mrs B and I were wondering if Mel Brooks was even still alive and I went and googled it. And lo and behold, this was the top hit.
Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko and Botan (the Grim Reaper)
Title: The Dark Tournament Saga
Series: YuYu Hakusho (1992 Anime)
Episodes: 26-66
My Thoughts:
Forty episodes of pure shonen fighting. When I watched this story arc when it originally came out on dvd, I remember it dragging. It was long, the fights never ended, blah, blah, blah. This time around? Holy smokes, this was some tightly edited story telling! It felt like the tournament was over before it began. That's a good thing, really. It means the story telling never stumbled or stuttered and I was never bored.
There were also some genuinely sad moments too. It was always leavened with humor though. This is NOT a grim anime that makes you want to kill yourself. One example is when Kurabara (the tall guy on the left with the pompador style hair) pretends to die. He does it because he knows it is the only way to get Yusuke into the fight mentally and emotionally. So you have this really sad moment when everyone (including those watching) thinks he is dead and Yusuke gets all pumped up. Then Kurabara pops his head up, does his stupid grin and gives Yusuke a big thumbs up. It was hilarious and moving all at the same time.
The one thing that did annoy me though was the "accents" of the leaders of the teams that they fight. They are demons even though they look mostly humanoid. So to differentiate them, they get "accents", terrible, horrible, no-good accents at that. One guy gets some sort of Irish/Scottish pixy brogue thing. It embarrassed me just to listen to it! Another leader used a drunken master style of fighting. He was put with an australian accent. Ever hear some American try to sound like a drunk australian? It is not pretty. Then you had this kid. He was voiced by the same voice actor who did one of the girls and they didn't do much to disguise her voice. So you have this pipsqueak fighter who uses yo-yo's who sounds just like Botan (the blue haired girl in the picture above, who happens to be the Grim Reaper). There's a reason I eventually started watching my anime subtitled.
Other than that though, I had an absolute blast watching this. Everything was bigger than life and I liked that. This was also the longest arc in the series, so it's all kind of coasting after this. I am looking forward to the next story arc.
The Departure to Hanging Neck Island (Manga Chapters 51-53, Anime Episodes 26-27)
Yusuke goes on a date with Keiko (against his will), meanwhile in spirit world it is revealed that Toguro threw his fight with Yusuke to give SakyoTarukane's fortune. After the two discuss Yusuke's potential Toguro kills an insanity driven Tarukane and heads off. Toguro meets Yusuke and forces him to come with him. Toguro then reveals 60% of his power, scaring Yusuke and Kuwabara who was watching from a distance. Yusuke then agrees to the Dark Tournament as Hiei and Kurama were also watching. In preparation Yusuke goes to train some more with Genkai, while Hiei and Kurama train Kuwabara. The quartet reunites at the boat for the Dark Tournament, while a fifth unknown fighter joins. The five head onto the boat and Yusuke falls asleep due to his training. The host then reveals that only one team will be allowed to go to the Dark Tournament and the attendees have a battle royale where Team Urameshi ends up being the last ones standing.
Round One - Team Urameshi vs. Team Rokuyukai (Manga Chapters 54-60, Anime Episodes 28-32)
Team Urameshi and Team Rokuyakai are the first match, where Yusuke is still fast asleep. A boy named Rinku steps in and agrees to fight. He is pitted against Kuwabara. The two fight and Kuwabara managed to wound the boy, but sadly he is caught in his yo-yo's and ultimately loses the fight when he stays out of the ring for 10 seconds. With 0 - 1, Kurama steps in and is pitted against Roto, who reveals that he knows about his alias and fake mother. Roto then forces Kurama not to fight back as he beats him savagely and begins to torture him, but Kurama throws a pebble at him and after more torture Roto begins to feel pain and Kurama reveals that when he threw the pebble he also threw a seed in and when Roto asks Kurama to lick the scum off his boots he starts to feel pain and Kurama's death plant begins to grow, as Roto begs for mercy he learns Kurama doesn't show any and dies. The score is 1 - 1 as the third match involves Hiei being pitted against Zeru. The two fight and it seems Zeru has the upper hand, until Hiei unleashes the Dragon of the Darkness and disintegrates Zeru, but at the expense of his right arm. Hiei wins the match and the score is 2 - 1. After witnessing Kurama and Hiei's abilities Gaou and Imajin attempt to flee, but are killed by Chu for such a cowardly act. Chu then steps in to fight as his alcoholic smell finally wakes the long sleeping Yusuke who steps into fight. The two prove to be an even match, until they both emit all of their spirit energy and decide to have a knife-edge death match, where the two savagely beat each other, until Yusuke finally wins and the score is 3 - 1, making Team Urameshi the winners.
Round Two - Team Urameshi vs. Dr. Ichigaki Team (Manga Chapters 61-65, Anime Episodes 33-36)
After their first fight Yusuke is left unable to use his spirit gun, while Hiei's right arm is too injured to even grip a sword. Kurama meanwhile watches the other teams and how strong they are. A group of demons then attempt to kill Yusuke, who is left helpless as he is unable to use his spirit gun. He is saved by another demon who wishes to fight Yusuke properly. After Yusuke and Kuwabara arrive they find Toguro fighting alone against 5 other demons. Toguro then reveals 45% of his power to them and easily beats them before pinpointing Yusuke in the audience. The next day, Hiei and Kurama are ambushed and struggle due to Hiei's injury. Meanwhile, Yusuke, Kuwabara and the masked fighter face the Ichigaki team 3 on 3. Although the team refuses to fight due to learning that the fighters are under Dr. Ichigaki's control. The Urameshi team initially falls back, until the Masked Fighter frees them from the mind control and Yusuke finishes Dr. Ichigaki.
Quarter-Finals - Team Urameshi vs. Team Masho (Manga Chapters 66-76, Anime Episodes 37-43)
A nurse named Ruka asks Hiei and the Masked Fighter to come to the tent to be treated, but oddly doesn't ask Kuwabara (most likely not seeing him as any immediate threat). This turns out to be a trap as Hiei and the Masked Fighter are trapped behind a barrier, leaving only Yusuke and Kurama able to fight. Yusuke and Jin agree to 5 wins. The first match pits Kurama against Gama. Gama at first overwhelms Kurama, who seems to be done for, but Kurama then uses his rose whip to kill Gama. In his second match Kurama is still at a disadvantage, but manages to win, but had to use a death plant to save himself. Next a fighter named Bakken steps in and takes advantage of the unconscious Kurama, beating him savagely until Risho stops him as Yusuke was about to kill him. After that Yusuke steps in the ring and at first is lost in Bakken's sweat fog, but Yusuke uses his spirit gun blast to clear the arena and easily defeats Bakken for what he did to Kurama. Meanwhile, Ruka's barrier begins to not only wear off, but heal Hiei's arm as well. In the next match, Yusuke is then pitted against Jin. Jin at first gets the best of Yusuke, but he is able to win with his spirit wave technique. However the match is called a draw on behalf of Yusuke being out of the ring more than 10 seconds, the committee having been bribed by Butajiri. Just as all seems lost the injured Kuwabara steps in and defeats Risho, keeping the team safe from elimination. Before the semi-finals Yusuke's spirit egg hatches and reveals a spirit beast that is loving and gentle, much to the rest of Team Urameshi's amusement. Friction grows between Yusuke and the Masked Fighter, who step outside. The Masked Fighter is then revealed to be Genkai, who gives Yusuke one final test to kill her to gain her power.
Semi-Finals - Team Urameshi vs. Team Uraotogi (Manga Chapters 77-87, Anime Episodes 44-50)
Yusuke refuses to kill Genkai and thereby passes her test. Genkai then gives Yusuke his final lesson in the form of her spirit orb and he must either endure the pain or die. Koto is replaced due to her ineptitude as a referee and Team Urameshi is pitted against Team Uraotogi. Hiei then claims that he wants to fight every match. However Shishiwakamaru decides to roll dice and determine the fight. Hiei is first pitted against Makintaro, who he easily defeats. Then he fought Momotaro, who Hiei struggles more with, but ultimately defeats. Around this time Genkai decides Yusuke will die if her test continues and decides to remove her power, however Yusuke refuses to give up and endures yet more pain. Kurama is then initially overwhelmed by Ura Urashima, but after having his age reversed it is enough to release Yoko Kurama to kill Urashima. Genkai later shows up to fight Shishiwakamaru, who had defeated Kuwabara earlier. The final match against Suzuki fought with Kuwabara representing Team Urameshi once more, but the match ends in a carbon copy, while Genkai defeats him in the next match.
Toguro vs. Genkai (Manga Chapters 88-92, Anime Episodes 51-53)
Later on Genkai tells Kuwabara to make sure Yusuke stays asleep as she goes to confront the Younger Toguro. Meanwhile, Karasu, Bui and the Elder Toguro fight another team and defeat them. Kurama watches and is later confronted by the trio. Karasu then claims that one of Team Urameshi's team is going to die, worrying Kurama. Genkai beats Toguro down, but he ultimately wins with his demonic powers. Yusuke wakes up and heads after Genkai after learning of what she is doing. Genkai then says goodbye to Yusuke before dying and Yusuke angrily strikes Toguro, breaking his fingers. News of Genkai's death reaches Botan and Koenma and they begin to mourn. Meanwhile, Team Urameshi trains to rival Team Toguro, with Suzuki giving Kurama and Kuwabara gifts for their match because he doesn't like them, but he hates Toguro. Hiei strengthens himself to prepare to release the Dragon of the Darkness Flame without crippling his arm again. Yusuke tests his new Spirit Gun power and shoots a much more powerful spirit gun blast for Genkai's sake.
Finals - Team Urameshi vs. Team Toguro (Manga Chapters 93-110, Anime Episodes 54-64)
The Dark Tournament finals start off with the first match between Team Toguro's Karasu and Team Urameshi's Kurama. Although Kurama narrowly defeats Karasu before passing out, in a twist, the fight is deemed a win for Team Toguro (Kurama passed out for a 10 count before Karasu died). The next match is between Hiei and Team Toguro's Bui. After a long match, Hiei chooses to spare Bui's life, earning him the first victory for Team Urameshi. The third match is between Kuwabara and the Elder Toguro. It is revealed in the beginning of the fight that information pertaining to Genkai's death was withheld from Kuwabara. After obtaining his Spirit Flyswatter, Kuwabara takes the second victory for Team Urameshi. The final match between Yusuke and Toguro takes place shortly afterward. Genkai, possessing the body of Pu, tells Toguro that in order to bring about Yusuke's true fighting potential, he must kill the one closest to him. Kuwabara rushes towards Toguro, intending to be the sacrifice needed in order to help Yusuke attain the power needed. Toguro then proceeds to impale him in the chest, presumably killing him. Yusuke's power is finally brought to the surface, turning the tides in his favor. However, it is revealed that Toguro has considerably held back against him up until this point.
After a heated battle with Toguro using his true power, Yusuke uses his remaining spirit energy to fire one last Spirit Gun. In the end, Toguro manages to successfully catch the Spirit Gun, only to die afterward. With Toguro defeated, it is revealed that Kuwabara, in fact, faked his death in order to trick Yusuke into going all-out. It is implied that Toguro had purposely avoided Kuwabara's vitals, as he was only interested in fighting Yusuke in his prime.
Shortly after the defeat of Toguro, Koto and Juri officially declare Team Urameshi the winner of the Dark Tournament. However, Sakyo appears and informs them that he intends to destroy the tournament arena, along with himself and his work. With the press of a button, a bomb set by Sakyo is to detonate within 15 minutes, blowing up both his underground lab and the Dark Tournament itself.
With no time to spare, everyone makes a break to get out of the crumbling arena, save for a few. Keiko is traumatized and is unable to consciously react to the situation, prompting Yusuke to literally slap some sense back into her. In the anime, Kuwabara's sister Shizuru, follows Koenma to Sakyo's underground lab, in order to convince him to reconsider taking his life.
It is through his conversation with Sakyo that it is revealed that he intends on taking his ambition to create a portal between demon world and human world with him. Before he is crushed by the ceiling, Sakyo flicks his lighter to Shizuru as a momento to remember him by. Heartbroken, Shizuru is evacuated from the room, and the gang manages to escape with their lives as the arena explodes behind them.
Although relieved that it's over, Yusuke is still torn over the loss of Genkai. It is shown later that after Toguro's defeat, he specifically requested Koenma to assign him to Hell for the afterlife (or "limbo" in the Funimation English Dub) as he feels that he is unable to ever atone for his sin. As he is approaching his destination, he comes across Genkai at the crossroads. She is however, unsuccessful in changing his mind, and the two part ways once more.
As the gang gets ready to depart off of Hanging Neck Island the next day, they are surprised when a revived Genkai appears to get on the ferry with them. The ferry takes it's leave, as everyone looks out to the ocean, setting the story in motion for what's to follow.
When I watched Dune Part I, I knew the director Villeneuve was taking liberties with the story but didn’t mind that much. So going into Part II, I knew he would continue to make changes and I mentally and emotionally prepared myself. And it was good that I did, because there were some significant changes from the book.
Paul and Chani never had their first son, so he was never killed by Rabban.
Alia, Paul’s preborn sister, was not born in this movie. She was totally in-vitro the entire time. So she never killed the Baron. That fell to Paul.
Chani was a fremen warrior and nothing else. She was not the protege of Lady Jessica, a Wise Woman in training.
Paul’s transformation into Muad’dib was very understated. His visions were ones of billions starving, instead of a monstrous galaxy wide jihad where billions were killed. His prescient sight was almost non-existent.
I could live with those changes. I didn’t care for them and I thought the director was wrong, but I was ok. I was fine with this movie and those changes.
Until the last five minutes of the movie. Then I exploded at the last scene. I was angrier than I have ever been about changes from a book to a movie. I was angrier than when Lucas changed the dvd release of Return of the Jedi and cgi’d in Christian Hayden at the ghost scene with Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker. I was ready to take a dull spoon to Lucas then.
And that was nothing to how I felt at the ending of this movie. I had gotten this bluray for my b-day and after that ending, I will be throwing it into the garbage along with Part I. I am so done with Villeneuve that I will never watch another movie by this expletive expletive expletive guy if I can help it. If there is a Dune Part III (which it really seems necessary as this doesn’t complete the book’s story at all), I will ignore it harder than I did Star Wars episodes 7, 8 and 9. Villeneuve is not only dead to me, he is the devil incarnate and the source of all evil in the world.
In Part I, Villeneuve kept the relationship between Paul and Chani kind of at odds, which made sense. But in the second part of the book, Chani and Paul were not just lovers, but soul mates. They had a child together. Chani knew that she had to share Paul as Duke Paul Atreides, Muad’dib the Fremen Leader and The Kwisatz Haderach, the genetic superman that was the next step in humanity’s path. She knew all this, even knew what the cost was, and she not only accepted it, she gave her heart and soul to support Paul. She was the bedrock upon which Paul rested. He knew his time was limited with her and he knew that any outcome that would prevent her death would make the Jihad unimaginably worse, trillions dead instead of billions. They were the two sides of one coin. In the book, Paul had to marry the daughter of the Emperor, Princess Irulan. But it was a marriage of politics and Chani was always his love and the mother of his children. Irulan was simply a figure head. Lady Jessica had to go through the same thing with her Duke Leto, being his concubine and mother of his heir, but leaving marriage open to other Great Houses. Jessica counseled Chani on the reality of the situation and Paul reassured Chani of his love and devotion. Chani knew what she had to sacrifice and chose to still love Paul.
In the movie, Chani storms out of the Imperial Hall and calls a worm to go off by herself into the desert. She abandons Paul. She abandons Duke Paul Atreides. She abandons Muad’dib. She abandons the Kwisatz Haderach. She abandons who she was in the book.
If Villeneuve will make such a fundamental change to a character, he has completely lost my trust.
From a purely technical side of things, I didn’t like this movie either. First, the bass track also contained the audio track, so if I wanted to hear what anyone was saying, I had to put up with floor rumbling noise that I could literally feel from 20feet away, while sitting on my couch. There is no need for crap like that. The other thing that annoyed me greatly was how dark many of the scenes were. There were times I turned my tv on and off to make sure it wasn’t misbehaving. There is no need to make a movie so dark that the audience HAS to sit in complete darkness to make out the details.
So between the technical annoyances and then the utter betrayal of the relationship between Paul and Chani. I ended up hating this movie. I don’t know what the normal person who has never read the book will think of this. They might be just fine. But I AM NOT JUST A NORMAL PERSON WHO HAS NEVER READ THE BOOK. Dune is as close to a sacred text as I’ll ever have in the fiction department.
Having read Persuasion last week, I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to watch a new-to-me movie version. I have previously watched the 1995 version, but it really felt like that version just touched on the highlights of the story without getting into the nitty gritty details. It was enjoyable but not something I’d ever want to watch again. So I cruised on over to Amazon and perused their free offerings of Austen’s works. Thankfully, this 2008 BBC production was available, so I sat back and enjoyed.
First, this went off the story in a couple of places, mainly the ending. In this, Wentworth somehow buys the Elliott home estate and gives it to Anne as a wedding present. That never happened in the book. There were also a couple of smaller issues throughout the movie but they weren’t enough to really take notice of.
What really stood out to me was the emotional side of things. There was one scene where Anne is reading a letter from her brother-in-law stating that Wentworth is sure to be married. She’s just sobbing and you can feel her pain, the knowledge that she will never have the chance to be with Wentworth ripping her heart completely apart. You’d have to be a stone, or never experienced that level of heartbreak, to not be moved by it. That scene alone made this a great movie.
I really enjoyed watching this for free. I don’t think I’d go out and buy it, but if you can see it for free, go for it! Of course, read the book first. ALWAYS read the book first.
Excess. Nihilistic Excess. This was not actually a movie. This was a video game with a body count so high that I’m never going to view the original John Wick film in the same light. JW should have been the lowest bar that has ever been set in terms of sheer violence. Sadly, it ended up being the top level of an underground bunker.
I have enjoyed each successive John Wick movie less and less. To the point where I actually questioned whether I would watch this or not. I enjoyed the pure brutality of the first movie. This, this made me sick and question myself as I kept on watching instead of turning it off.
And here we go, the first bend in the railroad as the Christmas Carol Express begins to go off the rails! Choooo chooo!
First off, besides the Muppets, Michael Caine has the starring role as Ebenezer Scrooge. If a movie has Michael Caine in it, you know it’s going to be a good movie. While fringe nut job yobs might try to present evidence to the contrary, I simply ask my readers, who are you going to trust? Me, or some fringe nut job yob? Michael Caine = you know you are getting a good movie.
On to the slightly more serious.
The singing. Muppets movies always have singing, whether the audience wants it or not. I’ve resigned myself to this fact and tried to not let it unduly influence me. Of course, just because Michael Caine is a good actor doesn’t mean he’s a good singer. He does take part in one song and I have to admit, he’s not terrible but I think things might have had a bit more glitz if they’d dubbed him over with Michael Jackson, who was still arguably the Prince of Pop in ’92. The message conveyed by the songs are as trite and shallow as you’d expect from a Disney production but really, if you read Dickens’ book, he’s not really that much deeper. Oh yes, the Missing Song. In the theatres, there is an extra song that was subsequently cut out from all dvd/bluray releases. I personally didn’t miss it but if you’re a completionist, it is supposed to be included in the next “upgrade” to this movie. 4K I believe. Simply one more way for Disney to bend you over and make you think you like it. The picture below shows the type of propaganda Disney promulgates.
On to the good stuff.
If you are a fan of the Muppets and their zaniness, then this is a no-brainer to watch, even if Dickens isn’t your cup of tea. Between Fozziwig (a cute play on Fozzi’s name being used for that character) and his Rubber Chicken Factory to Gonzo playing Charles Dickens (and being distracted by every chicken that walks by) to Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy playing Bob & Mrs Cratchett, you get your fill. While a knowledge of the Muppets isn’t essential, knowing them as The Muppets gives an added dimension to the fun. An example would the single scene where Sam the Eagle is sending a young Scrooge off to his first place of business as an apprentice and rhapsodizes about the the beauty of business. Sam ends it with “…and that is the American Way!”. Gonzo whispers in his ear and Sam immediately says “…and that is the British Way!”. Which is really funny if you know that Sam is the proto-American Super Patriot as a Muppet.
The story proceeds at a rapid pace and almost feels like Scrooge changes for the sake of changing. However, this is in keeping with the original book and shouldn’t surprise anyone. Throw in that this movie was made for a juvenile audience and the pacing is perfectly in line with what out of touch Hollywood Directors think is appropriate for your child. Just don’t expect a deeply thoughtful, insightful and deeply philosophical movie and you should be just fine. You’re in this for the singing, dancing and laughs.
