The movies I watched in 2017

These are all the movies I have watched this year, 58 movies. This means that I watch a little more than 1 movie per week. A couple of these movies I have seen already:  2001, A Space Oddysee and Prometheus.


The five most interesting ones from this list are

The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?
I never knew that they were going to have Nicholas Cage be Superman... sorry I just can't see that. Interesting documentary however especially where people claim the never said certain things

Rise and Rise of Bitcoin
The hype started back then and it is still real today, interesting documentary. One of the guys that went to prison got out recently

Neon
Documentary about the Neon industry and the demise after LCDs made neon obsolete

A Cure For Welness
I really liked the cinematography on this one, kind of a creepy film, if you liked Shutter Island, you will like this one as well.


Space Between Us
Interesting story about the first person born on Mars who then travels to earth and has to deal with gravity among other things. I guess in the not so distant future this could become reality


Here is the full list

Title: Blue Velvet
Year: 1986
Minutes: 120
Director(s): David Lynch
IMDB Score: 7.8
Day watched: 1/1/2017



Title: We Love Paleo
Year: 2015
Minutes: 93
Director(s): Caroleen Moise
IMDB Score: 6.6
Day watched: 1/3/2017



Title: Rise and Rise of Bitcoin
Year: 2014
Minutes: 96
Director(s): Nicholas Mross
IMDB Score: 7.3
Day watched: 1/4/2017



Title: Now You see me 2
Year: 2016
Minutes: 129
Director(s): Jon M. Chu
IMDB Score: 6.5
Day watched: 1/15/2017



Title: Neon
Year: 2015
Minutes: 84
Director(s): Lawrence Johnston
IMDB Score: 7.6
Day watched: 1/16/2017



Title: Saw IV
Year: 2007
Minutes: 93
Director(s): Darren Lynn Bousman
IMDB Score: 5.9
Day watched: 1/20/2017



Title: Saw V
Year: 2008
Minutes: 92
Director(s): David Hackl
IMDB Score: 5.8
Day watched: 1/22/2017



Title: Burnt
Year: 2015
Minutes: 101
Director(s): John Wells
IMDB Score: 6.6
Day watched: 1/28/2017



Title: The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?
Year: 2015
Minutes: 104
Director(s): Jon Schnepp
IMDB Score: 7.1
Day watched: 2/4/2017



Title: Love The Coopers
Year: 2015
Minutes: 107
Director(s): Jessie Nelson
IMDB Score: 5.7
Day watched: 2/5/2017



Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Year: 1968
Minutes: 149
Director(s): Stanley Kubrick
IMDB Score: 8.3
Day watched: 2/9/2017



Title: Central Intelligence
Year: 2016
Minutes: 107
Director(s): Rawson Marshall Thurber
IMDB Score: 6.4
Day watched: 2/15/2017



Title: Prometheus
Year: 2012
Minutes: 124
Director(s): Ridley Scott
IMDB Score: 7.0
Day watched: 2/25/2017



Title: Captain America: Civil War
Year: 2016
Minutes: 147
Director(s): Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
IMDB Score: 7.9
Day watched: 2/26/2017



Title: The Shallows
Year: 2016
Minutes: 86
Director(s): Jaume Collet-Serra
IMDB Score: 6.4
Day watched: 2/27/2017



Title: Suicide Squad
Year: 2016
Minutes: 123
Director(s): David Ayer
IMDB Score: 6.3
Day watched: 3/1/2017



Title: Blood Father
Year: 2016
Minutes: 88
Director(s): Jean-François Richet
IMDB Score: 6.4
Day watched: 3/14/2017



Title: Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Year: 2008
Minutes: 105
Director(s): Chris Bell
IMDB Score: 7.6
Day watched: 3/15/2017



Title: Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Year: 2016
Minutes: 98
Director(s): Jake Szymanski
IMDB Score: 6.0
Day watched: 4/1/2017



Title: Doctor Strange
Year: 2016
Minutes: 115
Director(s): Scott Derrickson
IMDB Score: 7.7
Day watched: 4/5/2017



Title: The Purge: Election Year
Year: 2016
Minutes: 109
Director(s): James DeMonaco
IMDB Score: 6.0
Day watched: 4/9/2017



Title: Independence Day: Resurgence
Year: 2016
Minutes: 120
Director(s): Roland Emmerich
IMDB Score: 5.3
Day watched: 4/10/2017



Title: Event Horizon
Year: 1997
Minutes: 96
Director(s): Paul W.S. Anderson
IMDB Score: 6.7
Day watched: 4/12/2017



Title: The Gift
Year: 2015
Minutes: 108
Director(s): Joel Edgerton
IMDB Score: 7.1
Day watched: 4/13/2017



Title: Chef
Year: 2014
Minutes: 114
Director(s): Jon Favreau
IMDB Score: 7.3
Day watched: 4/17/2017



Title: Mechanic Resurrection
Year: 2016
Minutes: 98
Director(s): Denis Gansel
IMDB Score: 5.6
Day watched: 5/6/2017



Title: White House Down
Year: 2013
Minutes: 131
Director(s): Roland Emmerich
IMDB Score: 6.4
Day watched: 5/7/2017



Title: The Wizard Of Lies
Year: 2017
Minutes: 133
Director(s): Barry Levinson
IMDB Score: 7.2
Day watched: 5/23/2017



Title: Alien Covenant
Year: 2017
Minutes: 122
Director(s): Ridley Scott
IMDB Score: 6.9
Day watched: 5/24/2017



Title: Passengers
Year: 2016
Minutes: 116
Director(s): Morten Tyldum
IMDB Score: 7.0
Day watched: 6/2/2017



Title: Jason Bourne
Year: 2016
Minutes: 123
Director(s): Paul Greengrass
IMDB Score: 6.7
Day watched: 6/10/2017



Title: The Accountant
Year: 2016
Minutes: 128
Director(s): Gavin O'Connor
IMDB Score: 7.4
Day watched: 6/15/2017



Title: Inferno
Year: 2016
Minutes: 121
Director(s): Ron Howard
IMDB Score: 6.2
Day watched: 6/20/2017



Title: Space Between Us
Year: 2017
Minutes: 120
Director(s): Peter Chelsom
IMDB Score: 6.4
Day watched: 7/4/2017



Title: Army Of Darkness
Year: 1992
Minutes: 81
Director(s): Sam Raimi
IMDB Score: 7.6
Day watched: 7/8/2017



Title: Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs
Year: 2015
Minutes: 120
Director(s): Gedeon Naudet
IMDB Score: 7.5
Day watched: 7/15/2017



Title: Dunkirk
Year: 2017
Minutes: 105
Director(s): Christopher Nolan
IMDB Score: 9.0
Day watched: 7/21/2017



Title: Batman Begins
Year: 2005
Minutes: 140
Director(s): Christopher Nolan
IMDB Score: 8.3
Day watched: 7/23/2017



Title: Logan
Year: 2017
Minutes: 137
Director(s): James Mangold
IMDB Score: 8.2
Day watched: 8/16/2017



Title: Underworld: Blood Wars
Year: 2016
Minutes: 91
Director(s): Anna Foerster
IMDB Score: 5.8
Day watched: 9/15/2017



Title: The Age of Consequences
Year: 2016
Minutes: 80
Director(s): Jared P. Scott
IMDB Score: 7.6
Day watched: 9/22/2017



Title: Whitney: Can I Be Me
Year: 2017
Minutes: 105
Director(s): Nick Broomfield, Rudi Dolezal
IMDB Score: 6.6
Day watched: 9/30/2017



Title: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Year: 2016
Minutes: 107
Director(s): Paul W.S. Anderson
IMDB Score: 5.6
Day watched: 10/16/2017



Title: Spielberg
Year: 2017
Minutes: 147
Director(s): Susan Lacy
IMDB Score: 7.7
Day watched: 10/20/2017



Title: George Michael: Freedom
Year: 2017
Minutes: 95
Director(s): David Austin, George Michael
IMDB Score: 8.5
Day watched: 10/22/2017



Title: Life
Year: 2017
Minutes: 104
Director(s): Daniel Espinosa
IMDB Score: 6.6
Day watched: 10/23/2017



Title: John Wick 2
Year: 2017
Minutes: 122
Director(s): Chad Stahelski
IMDB Score: 7.6
Day watched: 10/26/2017



Title: Skyfall
Year: 2012
Minutes: 143
Director(s): Sam Mendes
IMDB Score: 7.8
Day watched: 10/27/2017



Title: Generation Iron 2
Year: 2017
Minutes: 106
Director(s): Vilad Yudin
IMDB Score: 6.1
Day watched: 10/30/2017



Title: A Cure For Welness
Year: 2016
Minutes: 146
Director(s): Gore Verbinski
IMDB Score: 6.4
Day watched: 11/5/2017



Title: Icarus
Year: 2017
Minutes: 121
Director(s): Bryan Fogel
IMDB Score: 8.0
Day watched: 11/19/2017



Title: Kong: Skull Island
Year: 2017
Minutes: 118
Director(s): Jordan Vogt-Roberts
IMDB Score: 6.7
Day watched: 11/26/2017



Title: Meth Storm
Year: 2017
Minutes: 96
Director(s): Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud
IMDB Score: 7.3
Day watched: 11/30/2017



Title: The Big Lebowski
Year: 1998
Minutes: 117
Director(s): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
IMDB Score: 8.2
Day watched: 12/6/2017



Title: The Belko Experiment
Year: 2016
Minutes: 89
Director(s): Greg McLean
IMDB Score: 6.1
Day watched: 12/8/2017



Title: Office Christmas Party
Year: 2016
Minutes: 105
Director(s): Josh Gordon, Will Speck
IMDB Score: 5.8
Day watched: 12/10/2017



Title: The Great Wall
Year: 2016
Minutes: 103
Director(s): Yimou Zhang
IMDB Score: 6.0
Day watched: 12/16/2017



Title: Deepwater Horizon
Year: 2016
Minutes: 107
Director(s): Peter Berg
IMDB Score: 7.2
Day watched: 12/17/2017



And yes, I used SQL to generate this after I pasted the data from Excel in SSMS

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There goes another chunk of money: Star Wars Saga Goes Blu-ray in 2011

George Lucas annnounced Star Wars on Blu-Ray at Celebration V yesterday.

The Star Wars saga will at long last be released in a high-definition home video format as all six movies come to Blu-Ray in a Box Set in Fall 2011, as announced by George Lucas this morning at Celebration V. At the fan convention's Main Event, thousands of Star Wars fans braved the muggy heat of an Orlando morning to queue for a one-time only stage session between George Lucas and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Stewart asked Lucas questions submitted from the fan community, and one of the most frequently asked questions submitted online prior to the Main Event was about the saga's release on Blu-Ray.
"I wish I could say it was coming out this year," said Lucas, "but it will come out next year."

The set will feature all six live-action Star Wars feature films, with the highest picture and audio quality, along with extensive special features.

I have not switched to Blu-ray yet and Star Wars together with The Ultimate Matrix Collection and The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy should make that pretty much a no-brainer. It is funny how the LOTR Blu-ray got horrible reviews because these are not the extended editions you are looking for but the regular editions, and of course they will come out with the extended editions sooner or later so people will have to buy both sets. SO yes, maybe once the LOTR EE comes out I will switch to Blu-ray, for now I am fine with my plain vanilla DVD collection. Also be aware that you won't see the original trilogy theatrical versions because necessary restoration would cost too much. These are the Special Edition remastered version of the original trilogy that were released on DVD.

Below is the long-lost deleted scene from Return of the Jedi.

Have you seen Pandorum?

Have you seen Pandorum? If so is it worth watching?

Here is the trailer

In PANDORUM, Dennis Quaid (Vantage Point, The Express) and Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Alpha Dog) join Cam Gigandet (Never Back Down, Twilight), Cung Le (Tekken, Fighting), newcomer Antje Traue, and director Christian Alvart (Antibodies) to tell the terrifying story of two crew members stranded on a spacecraft who quickly – and horrifically – realize they are not alone.

Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It’s pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the ship. They can’t remember anything: Who are they? What is their mission?

With Lt. Payton (Quaid) staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower (Foster) ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft’s shocking, deadly secrets are revealed…and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.

It has that Alien kind of feel. Leave me a comment if you enjoyed this movie...I am relying on the wisdom of the crowds here :-)

Avatar official trailer available

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

Genre: Action and Adventure, Science Fiction
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver

You can watch the trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/hd/

The official Avatar site is here: http://www.avatarmovie.com/


The Youtube channels is here: http://www.youtube.com/officialavatar#

Sandokan and Westworld, Two Movies/Series I Want To See Again

For some strange reason I was thinking about Sandokan and Westworld today.

Westworld

Westworld is a movie I last saw when I was probably about 10 year old. The main actors in the movie are Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. Here is in short what the movie is about (from Wikipedia)

It is sometime in the near future, in a fictional high-tech adult amusement park called Delos. The park is divided into three zones: WesternWorld, MedievalWorld and RomanWorld. The entertainment in all three areas consists primarily of interaction by the guests with androids programmed to act in character (the Old West, medieval Europe, and pre-Christian Rome, respectively). The androids are indistinguishable from human beings, apart from minor flaws in their hands, and guests are encouraged to indulge in any fantasy, including killing the androids. The androids are programmed to respond positively to guest requests, specifically including requests for sex. Delos's guests pay $1,000 a day for the experience.

Here is a trailer for the movie

So as you can probably guess one of these androids goes a little crazy and starts to shoot back. This android is the Gunslinger and he is played by Yul Brunner.


I will never remember the scene when The Gunslinger gets splashed in the face with acid, and the skin starts to melt and you can see the inside of his robotic head, very much like terminator.


Spooky stuff for a 10 year old at that time.


Did you know that Westworld was the first major feature film to use 2D computer generated images (CGI)? Di you also know that Westworld was written and directed by Michael Crichton?


Update September 2016

So here we are 7 years later..and my wish came true. HBO is premiering the first episode of  Westworld this weekend. It looks really good. Here is the trailer for the HBO series Westworld

Sandokan

Sandokan is a fictional pirate of the late nineteenth century, Sandokan first appeared in a publication created in 1883 by Italian author Emilio Salgari.
He is appeared in 11 novels and is known as "The Tiger of Malaysia".

There are two scenes that I will never forget, the first one is when he jumps up ans slices the tiger to death, The second scene is when he takes the poison before they throw him into the ocean

I watched Sandokan when I was 7 or 8, this was a HUGE hit in Europe, you could catch it on any channel. It was played on Ned 1, ZDF, RAI, BBC etc etc. I remeber lots of people having a shirt with Sandokan on it, I did not have one but my cousins did. As a matter of fact i don't think I ever had a shirt with movie/music stars except for Superman
Here is the trailer for Sandokan

The actor that played Sandokan is Kabir Bedi and if you watched Dynasty in the 80s then you might recognize him since he was in a couple of episodes. I just hope that somehow we can get Sandokan on DVD soon, I would love to watch it again.

Into the wild a great movie

I was flipping channels on the tv (this is something every man should do to annoy his wife) and saw that into the wild just started on showtime. I read the brief description and decided to watch 10 minutes or so to see if it is any good. My wife and I loved this movie; we were not going to watch the whole thing because it was getting late but of course we couldn’t just go to bed without watching the end. Of course we paid the price the next morning when the kids got up before 6.

The movie has a 8.2 rating on IMDB so that is pretty good.This movie is based on the book Into the Wild written by the author of Into Thin Air John Krakauer

Here is what the movie is about, I made only the first sentence visible because I don’t want to spoil it for you, you can highlight the text to make it visible.

After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in the wilderness. Four months later, he turned up dead. His diary, letters and two notes found at a remote campsite tell of his desperate effort to survive, apparently stranded by an injury and slowly starving. They also reflect the posturing of a confused young man, raised in affluent Annandale, Va., who self-consciously adopted a Tolstoyan renunciation of wealth and return to nature. Krakauer, a contributing editor to Outside and Men's Journal, retraces McCandless's ill-fated antagonism toward his father, Walt, an eminent aerospace engineer. Krakauer also draws parallels to his own reckless youthful exploit in 1977 when he climbed Devils Thumb, a mountain on the Alaska-British Columbia border, partly as a symbolic act of rebellion against his autocratic father. In a moving narrative, Krakauer probes the mystery of McCandless's death, which he attributes to logistical blunders and to accidental poisoning from eating toxic seed pods

Now that I saw the movie I want to read the book……don’t tell my wife I know, but something tells me that I will get the book as part of my father’s day gift this Sunday.

If you have showtime you can see when it will be on again here http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product.do?episodeid=133208&seriesid=0&seasonid=0

Watch The Hunt For Gollum

I wrote about this before and showed the trailers, you can watch the full movie now

The Hunt For Gollum: An unofficial and free 39 minute Lord of the Rings fan film, made for less than $5,000 by Independent Online Cinema. Based on parts of The Lord of the Rings

Enjoy

The Hunt For Gollum: A LOTR Film Created By Fans For Fans

The Hunt For Gollum; a 40 minute independent film inspired by The Lord of the Rings which is to be released to the internet for free on May 3 2009.

The script is adapted from elements of the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The story follows the Heir of Isildur; the "greatest huntsman and traveller in Middle Earth" as he sets out to find the creature Gollum. The creature must be found to discover the truth about the Ring, and to protect the future Ringbearer.

Trailer one

Hunt For Gollum - Trailer One
by HuntForGollum

Trailer two

Trailer 2 - The Hunt For Gollum
by HuntForGollum

More info: http://thehuntforgollum.com/updates.htm

Are You Going To See Avatar The New James Cameron Movie?

Avatar, it will be out this Christmas

Who is going to see this?

In a distant future, humanity discovers the planet 'Alpha Centauri B-4', and for those scientists and astronauts who've traversed the gulf between neighboring suns and arrived on its alien soil know it as 'Pandora'. A world filled with an incredible diversity of beautiful and deadly ammonia-breathing lifeforms. Its also a world that harbors treasures and resources almost beyond price. But just as the original Pandora's Box wrought devastation on those who would use it for their own gain, so too this world may destroy not just the Pandorans home, but ours as well.

Avatar is the story of a wounded ex-marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

Here is the teaser trailer.


I always liked Aliens (Alien 2), probably my favorite from the Alien series. Avatar looks promising so I will probably see it

Am I doomed? Unborn with Odette Yustman as eye candy

I saw the movie Unborn yesterday and while I am not saying it is something you should see immediately it is not that bad. Odette Yustman from Cloverfield is the eye candy in this movie. It is an exorcist type of movie where the main character gets haunted by her unborn twin brother. Here is the creepy part.......the movie starts with Casey jogging and finding a blue glove on the ground, she picks this glove up, turns around only to find a creepy little boy standing there. This boy morphs into a dog and disappears.

On my way to work today I found this blue glove in the snow, it is almost the same as the one in the movie, not only that but take a look at the picture, notice something interesting? Yes that is a Corna (sign of the horns)

Anyway below is the trailer of unborn and hopefully I won't get any visitors tonight.......

How many movies do you know that are as good as the book?

How many movies do you know that are as good as the book? I can rattle of a humongous list of movies that are really bad but the book was excellent. Here are a couple of examples
Stephen King: The Stand, IT, Salem’s Lot
Michael Crichton: Sphere, Timeline, Congo

I always wonder how they manage to screw up so badly when making a movie from a book. There are times when a movie should not be made from a book. When I read Cold Mountain and then later I found out they made a movie I thought to myself that it has to be one of the most boring movies ever. I didn’t see the movie but cannot image it being any good, there really is nothing in the book that should make it to the screen. I can only assume that they added some stuff to make it watchable.

The Joy Luck Club
One movie which is as good as the book is the Joy Luck Club; this book is about four Chinese American immigrant families. It is a very interesting book showing you that the parents haven’t really assimilated and that the children are losing their heritage.

The Godfather
This is an awesome book and the movie is probably even better (I like The Godfather II better than the original).

Lord Of The Rings
Yes purist will say that there are whole chapters missing in the movies but I don’t care the LOTR trilogy is probably my favorite of all the movies I own. Of course you need to have the Extended Editions of these movies because 3 hours per movie is not merely enough.


Here are a bunch of books that I really like and I hope that someone makes some kickass movies out of them.
The Cobra Event
The Hot Zone
Prey
Digital Fortress
Angels And Demons
Cryptonomicon
Neither Here Nor There, Travels In Europe
Walk In the Woods