This is Movie Rob’s pick, head over to his site here for more reviews.

“Hide a stone among stones and a man among men.” – General Rokurota Makabe

Number of Times Seen – 1 (6 May 2021)

Brief Synopsis – Two peasants help a princess and her trusted general try and reclaim her throne.

My Take on it – This is a film that I’ve been meaning to see for most of my movie-watching life, but my lack of interest in Foreign language films was greater than my urge to see this.

This film is widely known for being quite influential in George Lucas’ Star Wars films and knowing that trivia tidbit has always still made me curious to try and check it out.

Darren’s choice this month for foreign films finally gave me the extra push that I needed to sit myself down a watch this film.

I was floored by the storytelling and really enjoyed the characters.

Yes, It’s quite easy to see the influence this film had on the Star Wars movies, but I wonder if I would have noticed it if I didn’t know this information beforehand.

The choice to have the story told from the point of view of two peasants works really well and has been used by many other storyteller besides Lucas and it helps give the story more weight because it’s seen from the perspective of someone who has less to gain from telling it.

The story itself is told in epic fashion by Director Akira Kurosawa and the battles are choreographed really well.

The fight on the steps is so enjoyable to watch unfold.

The story seems quite straightforward in the way that it’s being told, yet is still filled with some great surprises along the way that enhance the storytelling to even greater heights.

So glad that I finally got around to seeing this film!

Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In an interview for the Criterion collection DVD, George Lucas stated that while this film is a story about a princess and her protectors that this was not the primary element that he employed in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). He stated that he was more concerned with the way that Hidden Fortress is told through the eyes of two lesser characters. In Hidden Fortress it is the two thieves; in Star Wars it is C3PO and R2D2. In both films the comical interplay between the two characters is a major theme.(From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

Head over to Movie Rob’s site for more reviews here.

[while sighting in a Taliban fighter] You can die for your country, I’m gonna live for mine.” – Matt ‘Axe’ Axelson

Number of Times Seen – Twice (1 Jan 2014 and 11 Apr 2021)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – After a team of elite soldiers are sent on a routine mission in Afghanistan, the encounter more hostiles than expected and must deal with the ever changing dangerous situation.

My Take on it – Great film that is able to transport us into a place where we can experience first hand what these soldiers went through.

The battle scenes are depicted in a very realistic fashion which helps make things even more impactful to watch unfold.

Peter Berg does a wonderful job directing this film in a way that is quite memorable because of the realism of it all.

The cast is superbly chosen and Mark Wahlberg, Eric Bana, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch and Emil Hirsch all portray their character is poignant ways.

The film manages to develop each of these characters in a succint and fast way so that we can care even more about everything that transpires as the story progresses.

The heroism of these characters along with the patriotic feel of the story enhances things so much because it allows the viewer to experience the camaraderie between the characters which helps make things even more powerful to take in.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Was made relatively cheaply by Writer and Director Peter Berg, who labored to make it happen over five years. Involved only a forty-two day shoot and forty million dollar budget. Taylor Kitsch and Mark Wahlberg worked at a discount, as did Berg, for the mandatory Directors Guild minimum salary of seventeen thousand dollars a week. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10) (no change from original review)

Head Over to Movie Rob’s Site for more reviews Here.

“They say time is the fire in which we burn. I’m running out of it.” – Frans Balder

Number of Times Seen – 1 (7 Apr 2021)

Brief Synopsis – Vigilante Lisbeth Salander gets herself involved in a complicated international conspiracy and must find a way to end it all.

My Take on it – Interesting story that adds a bit to the story of the main character of Salander who has been dealing with corrupt officials in Sweden.

This is the first of those stories not based on the works of the original author Stieg Larsson.

The story plays out in a very predictable and typical way and doesn’t manage to reach a much more intriguing level that would help keep things interesting the whole way through.

Claire Foy is fine in the lead, but she isn’t able to give us something as powerful as either of her predecessors in this role.

The story is more toned down in it’s depiction of the depraved and corrupt world than in the previous entries of the series and that lessens part of the effectiveness of the character and her tale.

The one thing that they get right here are the way that they present the action scenes, because they are quite thrilling to watch.

The story itself gets a bit too convoluted along the way and there are far too many aspects of things that don’t seem unique or original enough along the way which hurts things a bit too much.

It’s too bad that this series seems to have burned itself out because it had so much more potential with its characters.

Apparently, the three original novels as written by Larsson were done in the best way possible, and no other author will ever be able to understand and write these characters in a more effective and engaging way that he was during his lifetime.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Stieg Larsson had planned to write ten books about Lizbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, and the notes are in the possession of his partner, Eva Gabrielson. However, since they were not married, his father and brother inherited the rights to his literary estate upon his death, and the two parties never came to terms about the direction of the series. The family then hired another writer to create new stories. This film is based on the novel of the same name, the fourth book in the series and the first one not to be written by Stieg Larsson as he had died before he could write anymore entries. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

ABC Film Challenge

Favourites

X

Resident Evil Extinction

Why I’ve Picked this choice – When it comes to the Resident Evil franchise, I have been and will always be a fan of the series, while Extinction might well be the one that does feel like the weakest, it does have a lot going for it to make itself different. The colour tone through the film is a lot brighter, with the desert location being used to show how empty the world has become, it is also one of the few films in the series that does introduce a large amount of characters, but does fall into the trap of not giving us enough time with the ones we get to meet. It does continue the world building that has been created through the series too, which is why the franchise is so appealing.