First this week is One-Percent Warrior which I was really digging until the end. Tak Sakaguchi stars as an action star that the movie industry has pretty much shunned. He preferred fast, real-life fighting instead of the overly choreographed stuff Asian cinema is known for. After a few years he wants to make a comeback and bring his style of filmmaking to the masses. Unfortunately while scouting a location he gets involved with real bad guys and has to fight his way out. It makes you wonder how Keanu Reeves would be if terrorists invaded a Hollywood party, could the John Wick star actually defend himself in the real world? I really enjoyed the action and the concept. It definitely gets major points for originality and has some great characters. I remember Sakaguchi from Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1 and he’s very good in this as well. My only real issue is the ending. It takes a Fight Club twist when it was completely unnecessary. The concept of an action star having to fight real bad guys worked, you didn’t need a psychological surprise ending. But if you are a fan of Sakaguchi then check this one out for sure.
Next we have Icons Unearthed: Star Wars from Mill Creek Entertainment. This six episode series dives deep into Star Wars with interviews from Marcia Lucas, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, founding employees of ILM and more. It reminded me of The Center Seat: 55 Years Of Star Trek which also broke down different time periods of the beloved franchises. The first 2 episodes of Icon Unearthed: Star Wars talks about George Lucas coming up with Stars Wars, making American Graffiti, getting funding from Alan Ladd Jr. and his life prior to the films. Episode 2 is about shooting A New Hope, the locations, the set backs, how ILM was formed because of it and how it became a success. Episode 3 is all that involving The Empire Strikes Back. 4 is The Return of the Jedi. 5 is George’s comeback in the 1990s with the re-releases and then The Phantom Menace. 6 is Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. It shows a lot of pictures and old footage of Lucas, but he’s not one of the people involved in it. It talks about his personal life, marrying Marcia Lucas, their relationship on and off screen (she was the editor for the original trilogy) and then ultimately their divorce. I will say Anthony Daniels (C3PO in the franchise) comes across very snooty. He’s not shy about who didn’t like working with or how he was treated in his own eyes. If you are a Star Wars fan this is a much watch and as a lifelong fan myself, I learned some things I didn’t know before!
Third we have The Shamrock Spitfire, a biopic about Brendan Finucane, an Irishman who flew for the Royal Air Force in World War II. He flew the Spitfire planes and was a great pilot who also taught others including Australians. I wasn’t familiar with his story and if you know that time period, Ireland wasn’t officially involved in the war so an Irishman flying for Great Britain wasn’t overly common. People even looked down upon him for it. Even though I didn’t know his story I could guess how it was going to end, but that’s fine. I will say that you can tell it’s a lower budgeted historical drama. You won’t be confusing it with Dunkirk in terms of production value and acting prowess, but that’s fine. I watch all kinds of movies so lower budgeted films as long as they have a solid story can be watchable if you can ignore the look of the film. I liked the story even guessing how it would end. If you are looking for a big cinematic event, this isn’t for you. But if you want to watch something to learn about someone you might not know then it works.
A Balance is a timely film, but it’s also hard to figure out what you want to take away from it. It’s about an investigative filmmaker doing a story on a girl who may have had a sexual interaction with a teacher. The student killed herself as did the teacher who claimed his innocence and killed himself to prove the school threw him under the bus. Meanwhile the filmmaker is also teaching on the side at a school run by her father. She takes a liking to a young girl there who seems to be an outcast among the students. It turns out she has a secret, she’s pregnant and the father might be someone the reporter is connected to. As the film unravels both stories, the dead student and the pregnant student also unravel. I’m ok with that, but then the ending is pretty disappointing. Let me correct that, where you think it ends is perfect with the father of the pregnant student doing something to someone that any one of us would do. Unfortunately it keeps going for a few more minutes and leaves us with an open ending which I didn’t like. It’s a shame too because the lead actress is really good and the parallels in the stories work.
Last we have Ancient Aliens: Aliens & Artifacts Edition Complete Seasons 11-18. This actually came out last week, but I got it after its release. This thing is a beast! A 21 disc complete collection of seasons 11-18 of the hit History Channel show. I’ll be honest, do I secretly love this show? Yes. Is it great television? No, but it’s meme worthy and does make you think. Were the pyramids built to supply energy for aliens back in the day? Maybe, makes as much sense as humans being able to build those things with ropes and pulleys 5000 years ago. Early seasons in this set tackle theories involving the pyramids of Antarctica, Roswell, structures on the moon, Da Vinci, the idea of living giants, our desire to get to Mars, and Area 51. Later seasons deal with Nan Madol, Skinwalker Ranch, Star Trek legend William Shatner has an episode, Mount Shasta, Peru and other ancient areas of South and North America, and artifacts including religious ones like the Ark of the Covenant. I’m sure you know if you’re a fan or not and if you are, you’ll want this in your collection.
The Nerds Templar 