The New Street Fighter Poster is Terrible

Wow, I really don't even feel like I have to try with this one. This is honestly one of the worst posters I've ever seen. It's unbelievably cluttered, off-balance and looks incredibly photoshopped. It just looks terrible. I really cannot even believe that it is real but... alas, it is.

I've seen this on a couple of different movie sites over the past few days so I figured I might as well do a post about it here. For those of you who did not know, there is actually going to be a new Street Fighter movie. Yes, you heard me: they are making a new Street Fighter movie. Who is they, you might ask? They are Fox, who has been behind nothing but pure crap for a few years now. This is probably not going to be much better. I mean, just look at the poster.

The new movie is called Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Of all the characters in Street Fighter, why would you ever make a movie about Chun-Li? How about Ryu and Ken? Or even Sagat? Also, they cast a white girl as Chun-Li, who is most definitely Chinese. I mean, her name is Chun-Li. 

I know a lot of people really hated the first Street Fighter movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme but at least it was so bad that it kind of good. Yeah, it was terrible but God was it hilarious. This new movie doesn't look like it will be the funny bad. It just looks like it's just going to be the awful kind of bad. Just look at its poster... Man, that thing is terrible. How did that even get made?

I could probably post the awful trailer for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li to cap this thing off but I'd rather post three videos that will all be better than this movie in their own ways.

First off is the Nostalgia Critic's recap of the first Street Fighter film. If you haven't seen this movie or you want to relive all of its glory one more time, please give this a watch. My favorite part? "Of course!"

The next video is from the Animated Movie version of Street Figher II. Not only is this animated version a thousand times better than the first Street Fighter movie, I'm sure it will be a whole lot better than Fox's upcoming sequel.

Finally, here is just footage from the video game Street Fighter II. Yes, even this will prove to be a lot better than Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

Source: /Film

A Review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I haven't been to the movies since I saw The Spirit a few weeks back. That movie was so bad that it kind of killed my desire to see anything else in the theater. Well, last night I finally put an end to my theater-going dry spout and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with my friend Ellis. 

Honestly, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of those movies that I would usually steer clear of if it were not for the involvement of director David Fincher. It just seemed like it would be cliche, heart-string pulling, manipulative, Oscar bait in the hands of any other director. Sure, the whole story concept of a man aging in reverse is very fascinating but it really seemed like it could be a movie I would have no interest in if anyone else directed it.

Luckily, Fincher was behind this movie and it definitely showed. While I'm pretty sure that this is my least favorite effort from Fincher (next to Panic Room and the vastly underrated Alien 3), it's still a pretty good movie. I guess my biggest problem with it is that it just didn't feel like a David Fincher movie. Go look at previous efforts such as Seven, The Game, Fight Club, and Zodiac. Gone are the thriller aspects (although those were definitely going out the door in Zodiac), the overall darkness (I remember people used to joke that Fincher would someday film a movie completely in the dark while it was raining) and just that general Fincher feel. However, it is still evident that he was behind this movie. Every frame is perfectly constructed, the visuals are awesome to look at and the way he tells the story with his camera is masterful. The bottom line is that, although he is getting further and further away from the things that seemed to be his trademarks, Fincher is still a master filmmaker that is light-years away from most directors in terms of talent, skill and vision.

As far as the story for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button goes, I was surprised at how fascinated I was with it. The concept of a man aging in reverse is a very interesting one and to see it unfold through Fincher's lense is a pretty beautiful thing. I loved seeing Pitt's character deal with being a child trapped in an old man's body. This whole section of the film and seeing him slowly grow into himself was very engaging. Pitt's portrayal of Benjamin Button was very strong and I really liked the character as a whole. 

However, as the story continued on for the remaining three hours, I have to admit that I became slightly less engaged. I just found the first portion of Button's life much more fascinating than his later half. I think this all comes down to the love story presented. Now, I have to admit it- I'm a sucker for a good, solid love story. For a while, it appeared that the one in this movie was going to be that. The chemistry and friendship struck up between Daisy and Benjamin as they were children (well, as he was a child in an old man's body) was really genuine and kind of beautiful. However, I just didn't like the changes made to Daisy's character. She becomes this new age obsessed, cigarette-smoking, ballet-dancing hussy. And she's kind of a b*tch. 

Obviously, because of this, her and Benjamin's relationship becomes strained for many years before they eventually come together years later (or as they put it, "meet in the middle"). I know that this was an attempt to show how complicated love can be, how people can change and how time (and fate) can bring changes you would never even imagine. Still, I just couldn't completely buy the relationship because I just didn't care for Daisy all too much, especially due to the way she had treated Benjamin so far in the story. Even when they made up and she "changed," I still didn't like her that much. I felt that Benjamin's short-lived fling with Elizabeth (Tilda Swindon) had much more of a depth and genuine nature than his never-ending relationship with Daisy. I don't know, perhaps I'm just being too hard on her. Maybe it's just a personal preference on my part. Personally, I would have just kicked this chick to the curb. It's not worth all the B.S., Benjamin. It's not worth it, man.

Some of the other problems with the movie I had were with the present day sequences that are intercut with the rest of the film. They feature a very old Daisy dying in a hospital bed in New Orleans as her daughter reads Benjamin's diary to her. While all this is going on, Hurricane Katrina is raging on in the background. Why? Honestly, I really don't know. I feel like it was supposed to mean something but, for the life of me, I cannot tell you what. It's not like anything is done with Katrina- it is just there. It's a backdrop. It's not that I really mind it or that I'm offended by it (I heard murmurs around the crowd once it's name was announced via the TV in the hospital) but it bothers me that it didn't really serve any purpose. My other problem with this section of the movie is that the character of Daisy, even while dying, is annoying to me. I couldn't understand a thing she said and there was something she choose to reveal to her daughter via Benjamin's diary that I thought was kind of low. 

If you haven't figured out, I just didn't like this chick very much.

My very last problem with the film is with the ending. I didn't feel like it had the emotional impact that it obviously desired. I'm not sure if it was because the movie was beginning to wane from a long run time or something else but it just kind of lost me. A lot of the section dealing with Benjamin being an old man in a child's body kind of got to me but, by the time we got to the part where I was supposed to cry (I looked around and saw some of the women in the audience with tears running down their cheeks), I didn't feel anything. And the movie just kind of ends after a pointless vintage of Benjamin basically saying "In life, you meet a lot of different, interesting people." Really, Benjamin? I already knew that and I didn't really need you to say it to cap the film off. It just felt like he was stating the overly obvious.

After reading all of these complaints, you may think that I really didn't like this movie. That's not true. I really enjoyed watching it all unfold in front of me, no matter what problems I may have had with certain characters or the last half of the story. I can honestly say that I was never bored and I probably could have sat there for twenty more minutes if I had to. That's saying something considering I wasn't too keen on certain aspects of the story. The fact is that this is David Fincher's baby. The storytelling aspect of the film is old fashioned, feels very classical and I really just enjoyed watching it. It felt like I was having this epic story read to me as a child. I wouldn't really attribute this to the film's screenplay- I feel it was the way Fincher shot and cut the film together that really sent this feeling home. I really enjoyed the tone of the film and the occasional humor that was thrown my way. I thought the running joke with the vintage of the man being struck by lightning was pretty funny every time. I was afraid it was something that was going to be run into the ground but, for some reason or another, it kept working time and time again. I also thought the tiny section of the film in Paris dedicated to the concept of fate was really effective (I actually have a similar section written in the screenplay of my new movie... very strange).

Overall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a pretty good movie. I had problems with certain story elements and characters but they were problems more of a personal nature. You all might be into Daisy and her relationship with Benjamin. I just wasn't feeling it all the way. Still, the film is well-shot, well-acted and very expertly constructed. The character of Benjamin Button and his predicament is very fascinating and it is entertaining to watch him go through life. It is very obvious that David Fincher is growing as a filmmaker. I don't think that this is his masterpiece (like most of us hoped it would be) by any means but it is a valiant effort. I just hope he's got this Oscar bait stuff out of his system so he can go and start making the movies we all love him for making again.

7/10

Speech of the Week #24

Hey guys, welcome to a column here on YDKS Movies entitled Speech of the Week! For now on, every Monday I will post a new scene from a movie that features a speech of some sort being given. After all, there are a lot of famous scenes in film where characters give an influential speech of some sort. Then again, there are also a lot of scenes where characters give a speech and it just comes off cheesy and lame. In this section, you will see both kinds. That's right, people, I'm giving you the good and bad of film speeches all wrapped up in one great big package. I hope you all enjoy.

I'm pretty sure that this is the first speech that I've included from a television show. I'm not sure if that's off-limits but, since this is my column, I'm gonna say that it can fly.

Last week, I finally finished watching all 29 hours of the entire series of Twin Peaks. It definitely got insane towards the end (well, it was always kind of insane... but even more than that) and I have to admit that the last image of the show was beyond frustrating (it was left off for a Third Season that was never made). Still, I really enjoyed engrossing myself into this milestone television show for a week's time. I've been sleepless, sick and very pre-occupied with various things for this entire Christmas break and it definitely proved to be a very helpful and sanity-saving distraction. Also, it proved to be one of the few things that actually managed to scare me. I haven't been scared by a movie, let alone a television show, in quite some time. However, I made the mistake of watching the first episode of Season 2 at 2 in the morning one night. That ending just about killed me. Only David Lynch can still get to me these days. Man, that was awful...

Anyways, I'm getting off track. This speech is taken from the two hour pilot episode of Twin Peaks. It is the introduction to Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). It is probably one of the best character introductions I've seen in a movie or television show in some time. Agent Cooper was definitely my favorite character in the show (and he's most people's from what I understand) and this scene and his speech into his tape recorder manages to really show why. Listening to his fascination with cherry pie and the trees in Twin Peaks will never get old.

A Review of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Now if you know me, you know I jump at any chance to get out of the house. I absolutely can’t stand being cooped up in one place for long amounts of time. So last week when my friends called me and asked if I wanted to go to the movies with them, I sure as heck accepted the invitation. I didn’t even bother asking first what movie we were going to see. Now let me tell you a bit about my friends. My friends are my age and older. They are definitely not elementary kids. So when they told me we were going to see Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, I was just as surprised as you guys. My friends have good choice in movies at times, at other times though…I have no idea what they’re smoking.

I have never seen Madagascar before, but with my keen instincts I’m guessing it was about a bunch of animals in Madagascar. Well, it definitely wasn’t anything life-changing for I didn’t feel like I missed anything going into its sequel without knowing anything about it. It felt like one of those “we made enough money so lets make a sequel” type of kids movies.

There's something about the title of this movie that makes my mind act up though. Since the tagline is “Escape 2 Africa” it immediately kicks up the scenario in my mind that the full title of the first movie must have been “Escape from Madagascar.” And I just quite enjoy imagining a very John Carpenter-esque kid movie about a group of eye patch wearing, hardcore animals trying to escape from a massive prison that was once Madagascar. There’s just something about that that I enjoy, so that’s how I’m going to imagine the first film as being from now on.

I miss you...

I started noticing something about this movie while watching it. Its by all means a kid movie; they planned for it to be one and they advertised it as one. Yet, while watching it, I noticed an odd phenomenon. In a move that certain kid shows like Sponge Bob Square Pants use, the movie threw in a bunch of hidden adult jokes. I’m not quite sure why they did this. It could either be that the writers just threw them in there for their own entertainment or they wanted to try and save the sanity for some of the parents subjected to bringing their kids to the movies. I know for sure that kids now-a-days (sadly) aren’t going to get jokes related to stuff like Twilight Zone’s classic gremlin-on-a-plane-wing episode or songs like “Private Dancer." It's odd that they did so many of these jokes but, truthfully, I’m not complaining. I enjoy such jokes and obscure references. Since they are perfectly placed to not take away from the flow of the movie, I think they are a fine thing to add to a movie.

I never knew that four characters could be so absolutely dull...

The basic story includes what I guess is the usual suspects from the first one: Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, Melman the Giraffe, King Julien a lemur and a gang of penguins. And, as the story suggests, they go to Africa. When they get there, they meet Alex’s long lost parents. Oh happy days! All sorts of stupid conflicts start happening, yadda yadda yadda, then the movie tries to teach us lessons.

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but certain kids movies nowadays drive me absolutely crazy because they try so freaking hard to force feed the viewer lessons. Don’t get me wrong, movies over time have been using methods to try and teach the viewers or warn them about important issues or other various things. Such movies go about doing such in many different ways: they may be parodies of wars, have an underlining meaning that arises over time, or just the material in it and circumstances are aimed towards a cause. I’m completely fine with those. The good movies that do such things usually use subtle techniques and manage to warn or inform in a brilliant manner. That and the lessons they teach are usually of national or racial issues. And the movies usually leaves the viewers thinking out the subject far after the movie ends. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, as well as other recent kid movies, do none of such things. They very obviously just drill lesson after lesson into its viewers. And its never anything more than stupid “lets all be friends!” lessons. Now, if kids need to learn such lessons, then they just need to watch Nick Jr. They have shows packed with lessons like the importance of friendship, sharing, and what not. Early morning TV is where such lessons belong. Movies are a sacred ground; they need not be defiled with stupid childish lessons. However, most kid movies do nothing but do so. Remember the good ol’ days when kids movies weren’t just kid movies but were family movies? Back then they were made to entertain you, not lecture you? Back in ‘the day’ the most lessons we ever got was: “don’t eat sh*t that witches give you?” And that’s all we needed to learn because those movies were made to be good and to entertain.

Never eat sh*t witches give you...

After being lectured at for about an hour into the movie, I started to notice something. The movie’s main lesson was to “accept differences.” Mainly because Alex’s long last father (Zuba) is the king of his region in Africa and Alex is the “king” of the New York Zoo. The thing is though, Alex is actually a performing lion. He dances around and entertains the people who come to the zoo. That’s how he became known as the “king” there. He is by no means a “real” king like his father. Alex can’t even fight. So basically Alex is “different” than everyone else and he tries to prove himself worthy to his father over time. If you’ve ever seen Happy Feet, it is basically the exact same plot, just with a lion. So, by the end, Alex saves the day by dancing and everyone loves him and accepts him. The thing I noticed while all this was going on is that this movie is one big metaphorical “coming out of the closet.” I mean, just look at it. Alex is “different." He doesn’t fight, he’s a performer and dancer from New York and his dad doesn’t approve. I think this movie is trying to convince kids to come out of the closet. I think it's just kind of weird to have a CGI movie with animals secretly telling people it's okay to be gay (nothing against gay people). I’m going to be re-thinking every kids movie I see from now on in order to catch their hidden meanings.

The only thing I really liked about this movie was the penguins and King Julien. These characters were the only funny people in the whole movie. Everything else in the movie just…there…nothing special or funny about it…it just exists…and crams lessons into you. But every time a penguin or King Julien showed up, I knew something funny was about to happen. It's like everything in between their parts is just there to build up their next appearance. The penguins and King Julien were just an extremely odd crew, almost out of place compared to the rest and that’s why they were funny. It's like someone stole them from another movie and threw them in here in order to make the movie a comedy. The penguins are an almost mafia-like crew and the four of them perfectly play off one another. The point in the movie where one of the penguins pulls out a switchblade to “intimidate” someone was when I realized they were pure gold. King Julien is basically just pure obscure oddness and that’s why he comes off as so funny in the movie. If the movie had been nothing but these guys, it would have been amazing.

These guys helped me keep my sanity...

The movie also made no attempt to follow-up the previous film, Escape from Madagascar. I didn’t even see a single eye patch throughout the whole movie. And I was really expecting them to have some sort of virus or bomb implanted into the animals to force them to work for the government and go save some person, or acquire some device. But nope, not a single ounce of any of that in the movie. Also, no snakes named Plissken. I’m sure if they had followed the first movie’s course, this movie would be a masterpiece.

So to sum up the movie: The penguins and King Julien were amazing. Everything else was either boring or cramming lessons into your pie-hole. The few obscure references that only adults would get were funny and nice but not enough to salvage the rest of the movie.

As for the rating: 1/2 thumb-up for the amazing roles of the penguins and King Julien. A pile and a half for the unneeded and forced lessons, a pile for all the dry humor and boring scenes it contained, and half a pile for not living up to the expectations of Escape from Madagascar.

Or a 2.5 out of 10 for you normal people...

Always remember kids: never eat sh*t witches give you...

AWA '08

Now this isn't a movie post sadly. But as you guys have seen before, we at YDKS like to cover as many events and conventions as possible. So just for you guys I come bearing photos and coverage from a convention that went down in '08. Think of it as a late Christmas present.

Now as I've mentioned before, I'm by all means an anime nerd. I'm even a very involved member of the Mississippi State University Anime Club. The club will even sponsor and plan trips to anime conventions if they're near enough. So this past semester when the club announced that they were planning a trip to Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) '08, I was all over that. AWA took place over September 19-21, so our club planned a day trip on the 20th.

A majority of the people in the club going decided to cosplay (dress up) for the convention, so I decided to also. Leading up the the convention I made myself a Solid Snake costume (the character from the Metal Gear Solid series and he's also in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I ended up using the costume he wears in Brawl as reference for my costume.). And yes you can dress up as a video game character for anime conventions (trust me, I saw a lot weirder than video game characters there).

When the day of the convention came we left about 3-4 am, drove something like 7-8 hours, and finally got to Atlanta a bit before noon. When we got to the hotel that AWA was taking place in I was quickly glad that I dressed up. The hotel was freaking immense, and nearly 98% of people were in full costume. All the anime people filled up the hotel's lobby, all of its first and second floors, and a massive warehouse like room that the dealer's room was in. I think there was something like over 11,000 people who attended the convention.

The convention was comprised of the hotel's lobby which became a makeshift gathering area, an artist's alley, many video rooms, a few gaming rooms, and a massive dealer's room. The dealer's room alone took at least an hour and a half to look at every booth, excluding the time it would take navigating around all the people.

Also in the hotel next to AWA's dealer's room, the two other convention warehouse rooms were taken up by a log cabin convention and a pregnant mothers convention. I feel sorry for the people who came to go to those conventions.

Besides all that, it was pretty much just lots of crazy people and lots of crazy stuff. So enough with that, its picture time. (I apologize in advance for the poor photo quality in some of the pictures, for some reason the lighting in some of the rooms just threw off my camera's quality.)

This is some of the people from my anime club. They all went as characters from the anime Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann.

Me all geared up.

This is just a hallway between the dealer's room and the lobby, but look how many people are in it.

Damn right.

Dealer's room from the left...

from the front...

from the right...

Us snakes gotta stick together.

Terribly quality and a feminine Daredevil...

Metal Gear Solid photo shoot.

The good stuff...

Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer.

The highlight of my trip...

Big-a sword...nuff said...

...uh...just weird...

Amazingly epic.

This picture confuses me so much. Its a hot chick dressed up as Link...she's hot...but its Link...don't know what to think...my brain hurts...

Furies kinda weird me out, but you gotta admit, they're dedicated. She had that mask wired so that the mouth would move when she talked, and she could make the wing sway.

Oh sh*t, run! Don't ask if you don't know, just run!

For the guys...

Big ol' lobby...

This picture just seemed like the perfect ending for this. A lone Pokemon car with a lone man waving goodbye...

I hope you enjoyed my coverage of AWA '08. Just remember kids, anime people are people too...they're just weirder...

A Review of Sukiyaki Western: Django

Not many people have ever heard of Takashi Miike and that’s probably a good thing. Miike has directed a great number of movies throughout his career. These movies are some of the most messed up movies possibly of all time. Now, I have seen numerous movies over time, plenty that are considered screwed up by most. So I’m perfectly fine with messed up movies and I’m used to them by now. However, Miike’s movies don’t apply to this. They will always make me cringe and disturb me no matter how many times I watch them. But, luckily for you guys, my love for crazy Japanese movies has led me to watching one of his newer movies and I’m here today to review it for you all.

So Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western: Django just got released over here. Seeing how it was both a Miike film and a western, I just couldn’t resist getting it. I went into this movie expecting a truly messed up and crazy experience. I was truly surprised by what I saw.

Just to get you into the mindset of what a regular Miike movie is, let me recap the opening scene from his movie Ichi The Killer. The opening of this movie starts with the main character, whom is an odd super hero of sorts, standing outside an apartment window. Inside the apartment a man is beating his wife You expect the hero to bust in and help…up until you realize that he’s enjoying the show…a bit too much… After he finishes up and leaves, the camera cuts to a shot of a plant covered with a certain juice. The title of the movie then emerges from the man juice… I freaking kid you not, the title rose up out of a pool of spooge… Yeah, I was freaked out as well. And that was just the tip of the iceberg for the movie. That my friends, is a classic Miike movie.

So, with that in mind, I watched Sukiyaki Western: Django. The big surprise was that the movie…wasn’t really messed up at all. I was kind of thrown off by that. But it was a nice change not having to deal with absolutely terrible scenes at times. The only relatively bad thing that happened was a rape scene but it was very short and not terribly bad. But don’t get me wrong, it was still plenty of crazy elements at times.

The opening scene was the most “wtf?” thing I have ever seen. Did I mention that Quentin Tarantino was in it? Well, he is. The opening scene was nothing more than him on an purposely fake western set (why is it purposely fake? I have no freaking clue) and there were some Asian bandits that showed up (why? Just to get their asses kicked I suppose). The entire opening scene made no freaking sense. It was just Quentin and the bandits exchanging really weird dialogue for a few moments; that is until Quentin massacres them all. I think it was an attempt to introduce the main story plot but it just didn’t work. Quentin ended the scene with a massive howl, a perfectly weird ending for a perfectly weird scene.

Seriously, wtf?

Okay enough with Quentin; lets start talking about the “real” portion of the movie. The rest of the movie was very entertaining. It has a very basic plot that it slowly adds more and more onto. Basically, the story takes place in a small town. A gold rush caused multiple prospectors to rush to the town and fight over the grounds. Finally, the Heike (or the Reds as they are called) show up and chase off all the prospectors and most villagers through use of violence. Soon after, the Genji gang (the Whites) showed up as well to claim the grounds and gold for themselves. The story begins at this point where the town is split up by the two clans. At this point, the bad-a gunslinger enters to mix things up. The few remaining villagers snag him before he can be drafted by either faction. It seems that, of the remaining villagers, there are a split-personality sheriff, an old woman and the woman’s grandson. The gunslinger is told about the grandson’s story. The boy no longer talks after seeing his Red gang father being killed by his fellow members. The boy’s White gang mother retreated back to her gang to seek revenge for her husband’s death. From here, the gunslinger joins up with the mother of the boy. Now things start getting confusing and crazy.

From this point on is just crazy entertaining action. Not only that but the leader of the Red gang, Henry (which he renamed himself after reading about the War of the Roses), manages to get himself a gatlin gun. Now let me tell you a bit about Henry. Henry is somewhat of a comedic relief character in this show but he is just bloody amazing. Hands down, Henry snagged himself the position of my favorite character of the movie. So when Henry got that gatlin gun, you know I was excited.

Henry and a gatlin gun...perfection.

Nonetheless, things continue on and Quentin’s part is finally explained (thank god). It seems that the first scene was in the past because currently in the movie he is an old man who provides guns for the protagonists. Well, it seems he trained a girl who went on to become known as Bloody Benton and she was the best gunslinger around, unmatched by all. It just so happens that the old lady in town and Bloody Benton are one in the same.

Well about this point in the movie it seems like it’s time for that final epic showdown, so here we go. Bloody Benton and the new gunslinger in town team up to fight the Reds and the Whites. Needless to say, lots of fighting goes down and nearly everyone dies (a Miike classic). Who remains? That small bit I won’t spoil (hah, now you got to watch it to find out).

This movie does have one major fault though. While the very basic plot makes sense, nothing else does. This is because of a mixture of two things. For one, there were twenty minutes of footage cut from the film in the U.S. released version that probably contained some details that were essential to the story. The other main factor is the fact that all the characters speak Broken English. Watching the movie, I felt as though I needed subtitles. If any of you guys ever go out and get this movie, then please be warned and stick with the subtitles; trust me, you will need them. All of Miike’s films have been in Japanese (at least as far as my knowledge goes) except this one. It was Miike’s attempt to appeal more to Americans. I don’t blame Miike for this, not a single bit. Instead I blame Americans; namely you Robert (How amazing would it be if there was a Robert out there reading this? I hope he lives in paranoia from this moment on. He had it coming to him. Especially since he went by “Bob” instead of “Rob” when shortening his name. Everyone knows that it should be Rob. The only people who can go by “Bob” are the Boberts and Bobinios of the world. Crap, was I reviewing a movie? I should probably get back to that now. I’ll get back to you later Robert…you muffin-dropper…better sleep with your eyes open from now on). The problem is that Americans are generally stubborn, stupid and refuse to read subtitles. I’m by no means making that up either; ask Wesley, his Movie Gallery experience will back me up. But because of that ignorant population of Americans, we are subjected to this Broken English story. However, over time, I was able to pick up on what was going on. The majority of the actors were just not made for speaking English or at least not acting it.

Always need an epic showdown.

This movie is made to be Miike’s take on a prequel to the spaghetti western named Django. The only connection between to the two is the young mute boy who ends up becoming Django when he grows up. I think it’s a nice touch to the story. I’ll have to go hunt down Django and see it now.

Now lets wrap this thing up. The movie has some great action and is immensely entertaining (especially if you are into crazy stuff). I also loved seeing Miike’s take on the spaghetti western genre. Plus there’s always Henry. The broken language and its confusion are the only real downside to this movie.

Now for the great rating system: I give the film 1 thumb up for action and entertainment, ½ a thumb for story, and ½ a thumb for the interesting characters (Henry). I gave it 1 pile for the Engrish and prevalent confusion.

Or a 4 out of 6 rating for you normal people.

Happy New Years from YDKS Movies

Hey everyone and Happy New Year. I hope that everyone had a fun (but not too fun) night last night ringing in the new year. I had some friends over to the house myself and it was a pretty relaxing night. We just ate a lot of food, watched Blu-ray, blew stuff up, played fighting video games and watched the Jonas Brothers suck on live TV (someone please explain their popularity to me; they can't even sing). All in all, it was a good night.

I was not really sure what direction to take this post in other than to hint at things to come for the site. I'm not really a person who does new years resolutions as I know I probably won't do them. However, I would really like a lot of new changes to happen on the site in what will be our second year on the Internet (only nine more days to our birthday). With Austin now writing for us, we have began to make a transition into what I hope will be stronger website dedicated to bringing you our opinion on the state of movies today. In the coming months, you can expect to see possibly new writers, new columns, a new site design, more video content and more coverage. I've got my fingers crossed right now on this but the biggest addition this year could be first hand coverage of the San Diego Comic-Con. It may not happen but I am remaining hopeful because... well, I really want to go.

So here's to the new year and YDKS Movies- a site that didn't even exist at this time last year. It is amazing how many things can change in a year's time and I am truly thankful that this site has come out of it all. I am also thankful to have known and met Jason. This site has helped strengthen our friendship and it truly has been a blessing. The whole thing has been a real learning experience. And, for the most part, it's been pretty fun.

I hope everyone has a great day and that the new year is better than the last.