Long time no spin, eh ?
Got to watch the 3 OVAs contained in the Memories boxset I got, not disappointed.

Magnetic Rose was great, The animation, the music, the story and characters, it's been a while since I saw animation this good, worth the buy just for this one. I absolutely have to give it a rewatch soon.

Stink Bomb was fun to watch, the animation was great, good music and some good humor, nothing to brag about but far from bad.

Cannon Fodder was kinda good, again great animation (and nice design too), but it felt way too short imo, I probably have to give it a rewatch to understand it more, clearly the most artistically interesting one, but not so entertaining.

Overall, not disappointed in my purchase, an excellent presentation with this beautiful box set, great sound quality, also got to hand it off to the picture quality on this one, it's quite superb, I really wasn't expecting this.
Either I forgot LD could look great, or this truly is in the top tier list of PQ on LD.

Garga

which leads me to a question is there a list of US VHS releases not on LD since a lot seems to be cancelled.

Sudden Impact from Clint Eastwood: The Dirty Harry Collection [13613]

This movie is ridiculous.

12 minkeys tv series

I agree with everything you said except that this is not a box set of OVAs, it’s a feature film.

Watched Beneath the Planet of the Apes earlier.

Its silliness kind of detracts from what is otherwise an extremely bleak story, which is probably for the better.

My least favourite of the original films but not terrible,

One thing I did like about it was the pretty obvious Vietnam commentary; the chimps holding a peace protest/rally, only to be casually cast aside in favor of the gorillas' war party.

I’ve been watching Assa (Acca) (1987) which is a Soviet era rock opera sort of like Tommy or It Couldn’t Happen Here.

The DVD I have specifically says on it that it’s for use in the US and Canada only and it does work in a standard US DVD player but it has no subtitles or any English on it anywhere for that matter. I understand nearly zero Russian so while the plot is pretty easy to follow the details are not. Despite this I’ve watched it twice now and I’m enjoying it very much.

A sequel was made decades later which I bought at the same time but haven’t see yet. Both are cheap to get brand new on eBay.

I’m the sort of person who will possibly forgive a movie, even a totally crap movie, if it has one extremely cool thing about it. The first thing I ever saw of Assa was about a year ago, this clip:

https://youtu.be/9msmCgJdr24

...and then I ordered the DVD and I wasn’t disappointed. Quality is honestly much better than expected. Its usually pretty amazing really with some aliasing once in a while. There are no bonus items at all. Mix is 5.1 or mono, like many musicals there was no on set sound so everything is ADR and sounds that way. Both soundtracks aren’t great, IMO, I think I like the mono better.

Criterion should really do this movie if at all possible. It’s exactly what they do.

EDIT: https://youtu.be/VOeDP6eUgD0 Hey, the whole thing is on YT with English subs!

I watched a little over 2/3 of The English Patient AC3 LD last night... while the soundtrack was impressive and the cinematography solid, the story just came across as indulgent and pretentious... kind of a mix of Laurance of Arabia and Million Dollar Baby

My Epson HC 4000 projector apparently agreed, because either the bulb or the projector itself abruptly and unexpectedly (only around 3 months and 500 hours on both) died with about 40 minutes left. I ended up watching the rest of the film on HBO Max in the living room. Epson is sending a replacement bulb and, if that doesn't take care of it, a replacement projector... downside to both is I had it ISF calibrated a month ago, and that will need to be redone as well.

First up when the projector is back in operation will either be True Lies AC3 or Mars Attacks! AC3.

“ a mix of Laurance of Arabia and Million Dollar Baby”

That sounds like...the worst. The WORST. Can I assume there is a quicksand moment that lasts absolutely forever?

EDIT: I read the plot summery on the Wiki, quicksand scene confirmed, it is apparently the entire movie.

Amazing how opinions can vary.

In my experience The English Patient was exemplar in execution and story telling.
Can you disagree that it was an All Star Cast LoL

I am going to re watch it just because I can !
Plus that Nurse is very easy on the eyes. She was awesome in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Juliette Binoche.. ....
A dream

Just viewed zombie : Dawn of the Dead perfect collection for a patron
That one NEVER gets old...

Cheers,

J

Agreed, it is a great film. Slightly unexpected and a film that draws you in, even if you head in to it with the lowest of expectations.

Also thanks firehorse_44 for reminding me the 4K DOTD box I pre ordered months ago is only a couple of weeks away! Co-incidentally, I watched a few minutes of the 2004 DOTD last night. I forgot how good that film is, and what a beating it took from 'fans' over the zombies being fast. Jaysus! Get a grip! It's a great take on the film and really well done I think. Nothing beats the original of course, and one day I hope to visit Monroeville and pay my respects.

I watched The Peanuts Movie yesterday with a mini headmelter who loved it as much as I did.

Token verbage from my Letterboxd diary below:




What a lovely little film!

There's a lot to like here, the beautiful realisation of the characters and scenery looks true and respectful to the source for starters. Yet it's the little things that mean so much. The teacher's waa waa voice, the nods to the great pumpkin, the Christmas time song, the school disco dancing. All the lovely little references are a beautiful touch to this charming little film.

If truly pressed I would only criticise the 'romantic' element of the story. It's hugely inoffensive, that's not my gripe (if you can call it a gripe). It's just that that particular element I feel is more suited to slightly older children. It would go over very young children's heads. It's a story of a first crush wrapped around the real values of being a kind, honest and decent person.

This is a wonderful film and a refreshing change to the usual superhero comic book yawnfiesta.

The Peanuts Movie is made with an obvious and real passion, and more importantly a genuine respect for it's source material. I loved it and I hope it's success paves the way for more.

It was a great cast for sure, and I didn't hate it by any means... it just felt self-indulgent in justifying s****y people doing s****y things because of love and war.

That said, I'm starting to think I just have terrible taste in films. Later that evening I watched another with an all-star cast (Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Hope Davis, etc) that was objectively a terrible movie but far more enjoyable... 2011's Real Steel (pretty much Rocky + Rock'em Sock'em Robots).

I have excellent taste in terrible films. I watched Timemaster: Special Edition (1995) [42687] the other day.

Watched Darkman on Netflix last night. Don't think I've seen it since it came out in 1990.

Not as dull as I remember. Also, Liam Neeson's hair is absolutely tremendous in it. A spin-off film should have been made starring just his hair. It should have had a career of it's own. I blame his agent.

Here's my quick token thoughts on Darkman if you wish to read them:


This is one of those films that seems to get overlooked all too often. That's a shame really as it isn't a bad little film in it's own right.

The story is a bit flimsy, and typical comic book fodder. Except it isn't. Darkman is not adapted for the screen.

The film is littered with lots of nice horror-esque sequences that reminded me a lot of Sam Raimi's earlier efforts on Evil Dead. Liam Neeson does a grand enough job as the main man and has a decent cast alongside him. Yet something doesn't quite click to make it a stand out effort. It all feels a bit 'meek' and awash with flotsam.

The effects, which were high calibre for 1990, just look incredibly feeble and dated. Darkman has not aged well, in fact a reboot could be a good option? I didn't care much for the 5.1 track, it felt a bit weak. I would have preferred to listen to the original audio track.

Darkman isn't a bad film. It's not exactly an award-winning masterpiece either, but it means well and is a cheerful enough attempt at creating a new hero by a director who hadn't previously had a shot at the genre before. Whether I will watch the much-derided sequels is another matter altogether...

Ah Darkman, I remember seeing this as a kid at the theaters when it first came out.
I think the reason that I remember was that your main actor was second as the badguy and was playing the challenged person in LA Law.
So you get an unknown at the time Neeson and the only know actor that I can remember was LA Law guy.

Then they were marketing it as a "comic book film" which it clearly wasn't, this was also the beginning of film not wanting to pay for rights
to super hero films and also no technology for the sfx at the time worth it to spend on a true well done super hero film.
Lets look at stuff like FF, oh wait it never came out

Superman really never counted as it was a different type of feel and they didn't get batman done for any cheap amount.

So you get DARK MAN....... which really is like a phantom of the opera in a construction site and a cigar cutter......

At the time I liked it. I saw it in the theater as well. It’s a bit...dark...for my tastes, but at least it has no CG, no mega stars, etc. I’m more likely to watch this again than any of the actual superhero moves being made today which all look exactly the same, are way too long, and way too numerous to ever matter as much as Superman ‘78 or Batman ‘89, both of which I also saw in the theater, own on LD, and actually like. Superman in particular, I love that movie.

I think Superman 79 is a great film also but its not the same as the new super hero stuff and that's why I say it doesn't count.
I actually don't own these anymore but do own the newer batman films, its really one of those long films like LOTR you just watch all 3 back to back
and waste a day.

This reminds me I guess I should do a covid forget and sit and watch all the directors cuts of LOTR films to forget a day or see a life in another
world where people can touch each other again.

Speaking of Lord of the Rings, I kind of want to pick up the JPLD of the Ralph Bakshi film.