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[Neon Genesis Evangelion]

Okay.  Neon Genesis Evangelion.  I thought the ending was fine.  Stuck to the core themes of the series and resolved them.  There is certainly plenty to appreciate with the series as a whole.  The animation is top tier stuff - it looks great.  It's interesting and ambitious.  Nevertheless, I found it hard work.  I was not entertained for the most part, I didn't connect with the characters and it hasn't left much of an impression on me.  Plus there were certain things that rubbed me up the wrong way.

I can see why it has critical acclaim, I can see why some people might not like the ending, I can see why someone would hate the show in it's entirety.  I'm pretty ambivalent towards it.  I don't regret watching it, but I don't think it's likely I'll give it a second viewing.

I've now started watching Dirty Pair.

I am nearing the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion.  I'll be watching the last two episodes today.

One thing I was aware of before going in is there was dissatisfaction about the ending of the series.  My curiosity is at it's peak with this now.  I have a feeling of what kind of mood and resolution the series should have to appropriately cap it off and I think it's probably the 'unpopular' ending.

If I'm satisfied with the original ending I don't think I'll watch the revision(s?).  I'll find out today.

[Bloodsport]

Watched Bloodsport.  Another film I watched a number of times as kid but never revisited since.  It's okay as an action film.  Lots of clunky deliveries, silly story - what's that?  It's based on true events?  Hahahaha, I don't remember that part, but no.  That's preposterous.  Soooo, I did a little post movie research and it being based on a fraud is my favourite thing about the film now.

I don't remember watching any other JCVD films as a kid, so it's possibly time to move on.

[Timecop]

I stay with Van Damme last night and watched Timecop because it's a movie called Timecop.  It was fine.  Not as good as Universal Soldier, considerably better than Universal Soldier: The Return.  Silly sci-fi action movie - not much else I can say.

I really enjoy 1408.  Never read a Stephen King book, so have no comments about the source material, but I find the film engaging and interesting with a bleakness that didn't seem mean spirited.

[Universal Soldier - Day of Reckoning]

Universal Soldier - Day of Reckoning

Certainly an improvement over the previous two films.  I like that it went at the concept from a different angle.  The film made good use of what was available.  Nevertheless, I think it was clear that both JCVD and Dolph Lundgren were only available for a day or two and that there was a limited budget.
Not a film for the literal minded as it eschews coherent exposition and narrative in favour for esoteric storytelling - which I'd say was the right call.  If you're going to have to cobble a movie together due to budget restraints then make it a feature rather than a failure.  I'd say I enjoyed it.

[Universal Soldier - Regeneration]

I was going to suggest that Universal Soldier - Regeneration would have benefited from being shorter - but I just checked the runtime and it's 90 minutes.  Oh dear.

There are good ideas in the film.  A lot of stuff is done competently.  Ugly quick-cut action scenes aside, it's shot well.  The soundtrack was atmospheric but not necessarily in keeping with the tone, so created a bit of dissonance (and maybe, with its creepy ambiance, foreshadowing for the film to come).  There were some decent/good performance, but it wasn't universal.
Overall, however, there was a lot of redundancy.  A 90 minute film shouldn't feel that long so there is clearly a shit ton of padding.  I think it was going for a particular tone - given the soundtrack, editing and framing - but it missed the mark entirely.

The Return was a lot worse, but I feel like it's going to stick in my head for a long while.  Regeneration feels like it will be easily forgettable.  Which is a shame, because it's the better film and it's doing some good stuff.

[Guyver]

I finished Guyver yesterday - the tv series not the ova series.  The manga is on my list to read.  It's silly fun that I still enjoy.

Started Neon Genesis Evangelion today.  I've seen the first two episodes before - but at the time I wasn't in the mood for anime, so I didn't get any further.

I'll bat for UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING any day of the week.

Genuinely excellent little movie.

Of my brief research into the sequels, that one seemed the most interesting and is pretty much the reason I decided to watch the sequels.  I'm still going to manage my expectations going into it.

[Universal Soldier: The Return]

Against all sensible advise I watched Universal Soldier: The Return.  I skipped the two direct tv-movie sequels.

It's a bad film in an interesting way.  It's a collage of derivative elements implemented with, what seems, a lack of a surface level understanding of each part.  A heavy metal soundtrack that screams late 90's and explosions that would make Michael Bay wet with excitement. I'd say the pyrotechnicians bought their A game to this film, with a climatic wall of fire to end the film.  And it pretty much does end with the explosion - it's very abrupt.

Generally speaking, the incompetents on display is impressive.  I probably won't watch it a second time.  The films ineptitude is what kept me engaged and I don't think that has enough value for repeat viewings.

The next sequel, apparently the third direct sequel to the first film, has Dolph return.

[Universal Soldier]

Continuing my journey in revisiting films I haven't seen in a long while I watched Universal Soldier.

I enjoyed it more than I was expecting.  Dolph Lundgren puts in a fun performance and the narrative is very basic - which works for it's benefit because it's a reasonably dumb film.  Ally Walker brings the much needed charm to counter-balance Jean-Claude Van Damme's robotic interpretation of his bland character (his best moment was a diner scene).  It was all just a lot of silly fun for 100 minutes.

There are sequels as well.

[GitS: Innocence]

The coach was one of the few highlights.  He didn't give a shit.  I also liked the background character, Tina.

Last night I watch GitS: Innocence wrapping up a GitS kick I've been on of late.  This film is just disappointing.  It could have easily rivalled the original '95 film, but the awkward CGI throughout is far too jarring.  Sometimes the use of CGI blends beautifully with the 2D animation, but mostly it distracts.  The soundtrack was a poor rearrangement of the '95 film, and again is just distracting.  If there weren't these missteps, it would be a classic.  This film showcases some of the finest demonstrations of talent I've seen in an animated film - then it cuts to a butt ugly 3D rendition of seagull.

It's still a pretty good film, but the potential that it clearly could have been amazing leaves a sour taste.

[Teen Wolf]

I rewatched Teen Wolf for the first time since I was a kid.

Meh.  It has multiple themes going and none really have time to develop and resolve satisfyingly.  One thing the very explicitly makes sure you understand is it's not an allegory for being gay.  It did so very quickly.  It was like a drive-by but homophobia instead.

I can see why I remembered the film existing but hadn't, until now, sought it out to watch again.

[Strange Days]

I rewatched Strange Days.  I didn't like it much when I saw it around twenty years ago.  I thought I'd give it another go and see if I could find some value in it.  I could not.  It's a mess of a film and I found every beat it attempted (and it tried many) just failed to land and it ended up being incredibly tone deaf as well.  It seems like one of those disasters of a films that's ripe for a good dissecting because it fails in multitudinous ways to be a coherent piece of art.

I may have given it a pass if it was at least an interesting and/or entertaining mess.

[Azumi]

I wasn't in the mood for Godzilla.  I ended up watching Azumi instead - haven't seen it in a while.

[Lady Snowblood]

I watched the two Lady Snowblood films.  Enjoyed them both.  The first is a decent revenge story.  I'm not sure what the second film hoped to accomplish - if it was meant to be another revenge story I didn't quite get it.

I also watched Godzilla for the first time last night.  The original.  I liked it.  I was surprised at how much of a thoughtful reflection of nuclear weapons it actually turned out to be.  I was expecting mostly stompy-stompy-smash-smash.  I might watch it's sequel tonight.