Phil Tippet’s animated love child has been a highly anticipated and much talked about project for years. Tippet is a man whose career is absolutely historic. He’s a two-time Oscar winner, and Ray Harryhausen disciple who’s been the special effects wizard behind films like Star Wars, Robocop, Jurassic Park, and Starship Troopers, respectively. And that’s just a fraction of his massive iconic career. So it is fascinating to see something so unique, bizarre, and yet absolutely engrossing as “Mad God” come from the man.
Tag Archives: Fantasy
Yakuza Princess (2020) [Fantasia Film Festival 2021]
Many times whenever a movie is adapted from a graphic novel, the movie should have a good jumping in point where you can easily follow along. The problem with “Yakuza Princess” is that it feels like you almost have to read the original graphic novel to understand almost anything going on here. “Yakuza Princess” isn’t a bad movie per se. It’s a beautifully filmed adaptation with excellent visuals by Vicente Amorim, it’s just that you will probably have a tough time following along with the mythology and motivations behind the characters if you never read the original material.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
Director Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” movie series has been very good so far. What’s kept the series from being great is the films’ lack of really interesting super villains that can make Diana’s heroic quest difficult. “Wonder Woman 1984” is a very good movie that has its sights set on paying tribute to the iconic heroine, and in those respects it’s a very good follow up to the original film—save for some glaring flaws that keep it from being a great follow up.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Director David Ayer’s take on DC Comics’ “Suicide Squad” is one of the classic examples of studio interference, and how it can destroy a potentially great project. Director/Writer James Gunn has a talent for highlighting the more appealing and exciting elements of more underdog comic book characters, and with “The Suicide Squad” he shows us how a lot of the time allowing a director to just create and show audiences their vision can be beneficial for everyone.
You Have to See This! The Wraith (1986)
Streaming On: Pluto TV, Tubi, Roku Channel, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple TV, YouTube TV
“A wraith, man! A ghost! A evil spirit – and it ain’t cool!”
“The Wraith” is one of those B movies from the eighties that is so inexplicable and so bizarre, but so damn satisfying. When I was a kid I spent a lot of my time watching antenna TV (Grade A TV Junkie right here!) and whatever movie was on that peaked my interest, even a little, I would be there front and center. “The Wraith” is one of the movies that caught my attention right away (showing prominently on WPIX Channel 11). It wasn’t only for the revenge tale involving an undead anti-hero, but also for the titular Wraith, who just looks so bad ass
Five Favorite “The Lord of the Rings” Characters
This week Amazon released their first image for the upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series. In what I assume they hope will fill the hole “Game of Thrones” left in its wake, the new series is promising to be epic in scale and (hopefully) continue the stories of J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth, as well as re-invigorate the property for fans (I saw all three films when they debuted in theaters) that were left disappointed by “The Hobbit” prequels.
In celebration, I listed my five favorite characters from the Peter Jackson “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
If you have your own choices, feel free to let me know in the comments!
Flight to Mars (1951): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
Well, say what you want about “Flight to Mars” (reaching its 70th anniversary this year) but damn it, they make good on their promise in the title. There is definitely a flight to mars. It’s just a long, drawn out, monotonous, tedious flight to mars involving four boring male characters and one woman whose duties involve getting aggressively hit on by the spaceship’s captain, taking notes, and making the men coffee.
In Sp-a-a-a-a-ce!