Jeremy_Urquhart

Anaconda is bad, but is it bad in a fun way at least? I guess sometimes, but not as much fun as it could be. It has the most paper-thin of premises, and that's okay in a world where it's possible to make a perfect creature feature (easy pick, but Jaws), but dopiness, even if deliberate, can only take something like this so far.

And I think the people behind this genuinely thought they were making something cool here. At a point, it feels like the screenplay just gave up, but other parts of the film do feel like they're trying too hard, maybe even straining.

At least Jon Voight is doing something here. He sounds a bit like Tony Montana and Tommy Wiseau merged into one, and continually intoxicated. I wish I could go to the alternate dimension where Dennis Hopper played his role.

There are other big-name actors here and they're generally wasted in the sense that all can do better, while Voight might've been wasted in another way. Ice Cube probably gives the worst performance here, but he's also the funniest (after Voight), just because of how impossibly lame his character is and how one-note he is as an actor. He just scowls the whole time, and I guess so does Eastwood, but he makes it work.

What a deeply stupid movie. And only sometimes stupid in a good way, unfortunately.

This might be the best of the one-off episodes featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's first season, which isn't saying a great deal, but at least it's still solid. I still feel there are only four episodes you absolutely have to watch from the first season, but if you want to make it five, then Nightmares is probably a good one to go with. It says a little about the characters, and it's also quite funny and creative at times. It doesn't hold a candle to some of the surreal and dream-heavy episodes you get from other groundbreaking shows like Twin Peaks or The Sopranos, but for season 1, this is good, and that's worth acknowledging.

A spin-off to my least favorite Ip Man movie, Master Z: Ip Man Legacy never seemed super appealing, but watching it now, it's better than that third movie it's spun off from. It has the same plot most martial arts movies seem to have (people trying to do the right thing and making a host of enemies with bad people in the process), but I never get tired of those stories when they're done well, and when the action works.

I've not seen many recent Yuen Woo-ping movies (and have heard the Crouching Tiger sequel is not very good), but Master Z is a sign that the guy still has it. The best action scenes here zip and hit in the ways you'd want his stuff to. It feels like Yuen Woo-ping action, and Yuen Woo-ping action is something I'll never say no to.

There's a scene early on that's like a warning about things getting heightened in the action department, but I didn't mind the more dramatic/over-the-top stuff. It's not in the realm of fantasy, but it's a little more expressionistic than full-on realistic/grounded. Also, Dave Bautista and Michelle Yeoh had fun supporting roles here, though Tony Jaa was a little bit wasted. There is also an American or English actor in this who gives one of the worst performances I've seen in a while. It stands out against Dave Bautista, who's surprisingly good/natural, considering you often get some awkward English-speaking actors in these sorts of martial arts movies.