Big Man Japan (2007) Review
May 6th 2010 06:13
Well he's from japan, and he's pretty big. The movie delivers what it promises!
The Life of a Superhero can be pretty mundane sometimes,
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What is a Bucket Movie? Overlooked, weird and rare films, that for one reason or another fell through the cracks and failed to get a mainstream audience. Cult classics, unknown oddities and the extremely hard to find, finally get the press they deserve here!
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Battle Royale (2000) Review
April 12th 2010 18:47
Could you kill a friend? A best friend? The Girl you always had a crush on? In the year 2000 director Kinji Fukasaku asked us this
question, when promoting the action thriller Battle Royale. This film is another one of those “Reputation” movies that you always hear about a thousand times long before you actually get it see it.
The idea behind this movie is so shocking, one hardly can believe a movie like this could exist. Indeed, in Japan several members of parliament tried to have the novel this movie is based on banned several times, and when the movie was made, they tried to ban it's release. Here's the premise in a nutshell: In the near future, Japan's economy has crashed, and the adults in the country fear the youth. As part of a program to pacify the masses, and keep the population under control, every year a high school class is randomly selected to be dropped off on a deserted island and fight to the death. In case your skimming let me reiterate that last one; a group of high school kids are dropped off on a deserted island with randomly assigned weapons, and forced (via explosive collars that detonate if you don't play along) to kill each other until only one is left. Don't think for a minute that this film is a brainless action flick either, it depicts the fear, backstabbing, and madness that would run rampant in a situation like this one. Some kids try to hide, other become heartless and ruthless,
others strive to rebel against the system and fight back even if it kills them. The movie plays out with both shocking realism and extremely dark humor. I felt dirty after laughing at the grisly jokes, but oftentimes this movie's concept is so delightfully absurd it'll make you laugh.
While there are many stories among the 42 students involved in the “game” the story of Shuya is the primary one and the most touching. Shuya decides that no matter what happens he'll protect Noriko, a girl he's always had a crush on. Even if it costs him his life, he is determined to protect her. He joins up with a transfer student, that turns out to be a previous year's “Winner” who was sent back into the competition after he spoke out against it, their journy seems hopeless, thir goal unatainable, but they ignore the odds and press on, fighitn thier fellow students as well as the hearless system that put them in the situation in the first place. Japanese superstar Tekashi Kitano plays the “principal” and officiator of the games, who heartlessly chides at the children over a loudspeaker. At one point he reads a list of the day's fatalities starting with “Here is a list of your friends, in the order they died.” his chilling performance in this darkly humorous role is a highlight of this macabre film[ Click here to read more ]
The gritty, unforgiving world of Battle Royale is highlighted well in it's promo poster
The idea behind this movie is so shocking, one hardly can believe a movie like this could exist. Indeed, in Japan several members of parliament tried to have the novel this movie is based on banned several times, and when the movie was made, they tried to ban it's release. Here's the premise in a nutshell: In the near future, Japan's economy has crashed, and the adults in the country fear the youth. As part of a program to pacify the masses, and keep the population under control, every year a high school class is randomly selected to be dropped off on a deserted island and fight to the death. In case your skimming let me reiterate that last one; a group of high school kids are dropped off on a deserted island with randomly assigned weapons, and forced (via explosive collars that detonate if you don't play along) to kill each other until only one is left. Don't think for a minute that this film is a brainless action flick either, it depicts the fear, backstabbing, and madness that would run rampant in a situation like this one. Some kids try to hide, other become heartless and ruthless,
Most people have seen bloody shootouts, but how many involving reluctant highschool kids?
While there are many stories among the 42 students involved in the “game” the story of Shuya is the primary one and the most touching. Shuya decides that no matter what happens he'll protect Noriko, a girl he's always had a crush on. Even if it costs him his life, he is determined to protect her. He joins up with a transfer student, that turns out to be a previous year's “Winner” who was sent back into the competition after he spoke out against it, their journy seems hopeless, thir goal unatainable, but they ignore the odds and press on, fighitn thier fellow students as well as the hearless system that put them in the situation in the first place. Japanese superstar Tekashi Kitano plays the “principal” and officiator of the games, who heartlessly chides at the children over a loudspeaker. At one point he reads a list of the day's fatalities starting with “Here is a list of your friends, in the order they died.” his chilling performance in this darkly humorous role is a highlight of this macabre film
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Posted By: Joshua the Samurai - Category: B
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) Reveiw
March 24th 2010 17:13
Here we get a look at the new villian, albeit just his mask
If your an American, and were a kid at some point, then you've heard of and most likely admired Batman. He's the worlds greatest detective, an amazing fighter, and he's got an arsenal of super-cool gadgets, What's not for a kid to like? Batman has had an uncountable number appearance outside of comic books, TV, Movies, Video games, action figures, it goes on and on. Most of Batman's movies, even the 1960's Adam West Vehicle, did exceptionally well. Something iconic as Batman it seems he could produce nothing but box office gold, but even the caped crusader can't win every time.
Let it be known, this isn't a comment of “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” in terms of quality, this animated epic is possibly one of the best non-comic Batman stories ever told. In 1993 “Batman: the Animated Series” was one of the top kid's shows on television, and Writer/director Bruce Tim wanted to to a three episode series about his own take on Batman's origin. The producers at Warner Brothers did him one better, and told him to make it a full-length feature film. It seemed a great idea, Batman: Returns had just made a mint, and the Animated Series was going strong as ever on Fox's weekday afternoon slot. Unfortunately this movie was a victim of the animated movie curse, and despite the fact the hardcore fans and the critics adored it, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who remembers this movie other than the guy who stocks the Wal-Mart discount rack
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Posted By: Joshua the Samurai - Category: B
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimention (1984) Review
March 22nd 2010 19:32
Sometimes it's hard to tell why a decent movie becomes a bucket movie, other times it's pretty obvious. Just hearing the long, laborious and bizarre name of this movie makes it pretty obvious why people passed it by. Buckaroo Banzai (As it will be referred to from now on) was release in 1984 nationwide, but despite a good amount of promotion and a heaping helping of merchandising the movie was a commercial failure and fell off the radar for a long time before it was re-discovered as a sci-fi convention stable and midnight movie.
The Film is a homage to the old-time movie serials, specifically Doc Savage. It features a non-super powered polymath hero named Buckaroo Banzai, and his team of equally skilled assistants the Hong-Kong Cavaliers
as they battle Aliens from planet 10 called “Lectroids”. The Lectroids are trying to steal Buckaroo's oscillation over-thruster so they can sneak back into their own dimension and wreak havoc. Director W.D. Richter does a decent job, the film felt like an old time action adventure, with a distinctly 80's style flair. The story is a bit confusing, and intentionally feels like your seeing a small part of a bigger series. The starring role goes to the multi-talented Peter Weller, who's deadpan performance makes the comedy all the more hilarious. The evil Lord John Whorfin is played by John Lithgow, who does an excellent job in the role of the evil dictator who's equal parts deadly and bumbling. A very young Jeff Goldblum is a lovable as always, and Christopher Loyd has a memorable role as Lord Whorphin's long-suffering right hand man John Bigboote (For some reason every alien in the movie has the first name “John” a running gag of sorts).
Buckaroo Banzai gained some clout at midnight movie screenings as well as being passed around in griany VHS format at sci-fi conventions. For those in the know, it's science fiction fandom's biggest inside joke. People wear embroidered patched for “Team Banzai” on their jackets, bumper stickers bear the commonly quoted Buckaroo Banzai proverb “Wherever you go, there you are”. References to this cult classic have even made it into the set design of Star Trek: The Next Generation” with the oscillation over-thruster
prop appearing as a “Spectral analyzer” in the episode “Pen Pals” and Buckaroo's “There you are” catch phrase appearing on the plaque on one of the starship sets [ Click here to read more ]
The Film is a homage to the old-time movie serials, specifically Doc Savage. It features a non-super powered polymath hero named Buckaroo Banzai, and his team of equally skilled assistants the Hong-Kong Cavaliers
Buckaroo Banzai and his Hong-Kong Cavaleirs
Buckaroo Banzai gained some clout at midnight movie screenings as well as being passed around in griany VHS format at sci-fi conventions. For those in the know, it's science fiction fandom's biggest inside joke. People wear embroidered patched for “Team Banzai” on their jackets, bumper stickers bear the commonly quoted Buckaroo Banzai proverb “Wherever you go, there you are”. References to this cult classic have even made it into the set design of Star Trek: The Next Generation” with the oscillation over-thruster
The Team Banzai Embrodered patch, I own this patch and yes I wear it in public.
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[ Link ]
Posted By: Joshua the Samurai - Category: B
Benchwarmers - Final Thoughts
February 12th 2009 20:58
Bucket Movies Presents: The Benchwarmers
February 9th 2009 00:02
Being bullied by a bunch of mini baseball players? Never fear! Three actors who have been playing the same character throughout their acting career are here!
You know who I don’t like? Rob Schneider. Why you ask? He isn’t funny… at all. I’ve seen a few of his movies and he basically plays the same rambling idiot he always does in every movie. The act gets old and a lot of actors today seem to do it. Look at Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Will Ferrel. They all play the same type of person in all their movies and after the first three I think the act starts to get old
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The End of the Bucket?
December 16th 2008 07:34
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Bad Burger Max Payne = Buckety Goodness!
October 17th 2008 20:55
Hey hey Bucket Heads around the world! You all been missing me much?
I thought I'd stop by to say no I am not dead... yet. Sorry to disappoint all you terrible directors of terrible movies. I am alive and well and soon I shall be destroying your masterpieces of crap soon enough once more[ Click here to read more ]
I thought I'd stop by to say no I am not dead... yet. Sorry to disappoint all you terrible directors of terrible movies. I am alive and well and soon I shall be destroying your masterpieces of crap soon enough once more
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BloodRayne – Synopsis
July 21st 2008 00:38
Here she is... the poorest excuse for a vampire I've ever seen. Now we all get to suffer through this movie all over again.
Wanna see some ol' crap posts on Bloodrayne? Check them out here!
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Boa vs. Python - Final Thoughts
June 6th 2008 04:57
The Bucket Presents: Boa vs. Python
June 1st 2008 13:36
Bigger than Rocky vs. Apollo Creed. Better than Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior. This is one huge mega clash that you actually DO want to miss!
Ahh reptiles – whenever Hollywood needs a gigantic and destructive monster they pick a random animal from this species. Actually I guess it’s not just Hollywood that does it since crappy B-Grade movies and Japanese film companies so this all the time too. We’ve seen a lot of bad reptiles over the past few months haven’t we Bucket Heads? We’ve had our share of gigantic crocodiles, gigantic anacondas and gigantic komodo dragons. Things couldn’t get any bigger or worse, can they
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The Black Hole - Final Thoughts
May 15th 2008 22:41
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The Bucket Presents: The Black Hole
May 12th 2008 00:16
For those of you panicing - no this is not the review about the Disney movie with the same name. In fact, it's a different bad movie that shares the same name as that trash (from what I've heard its trash anyway).
Disaster movies – it is well known to my Bucket Heads that I am not a big fan of these types of movies. Why you may ask? That answer is that the majority of these movies are pretty much the same with the only difference being the disaster itself. In each movie we have a bunch of stereotypical characters, some random disaster and humanity bonds together to fight off Mother Nature. What if, however, it wasn’t Mother Nature? What if the disaster came from the far reaches of outer space
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Bloodrayne 2 - Final Thoughts
May 2nd 2008 03:55
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Bloodrayne 2 - Part 1
April 28th 2008 00:58
Yes Bucket Heads, I too shuddered when I discovered there was a sequel to this movie by the same director as well.
Once upon a time in a country far far away a child was born to the Boll Family. Mr. and Mrs. Boll were overjoyed with the birth of their son and decided to give him the name of Uwe. The name of this child would go on to haunt movie reviewers around the world for an eternity. The mere mention of his name sends chills running down the spines of millions of video gamers. When he has a gasp on a script for a video game, Uwe Boll begins his work like a mad scientist in a secret laboratory. Who knows when this insane director will conjure up his next movie
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Bloodrayne 2 - Part 2
April 28th 2008 00:57
You know what's funny about this picture? She normally looks like that throughout the whole movie.
Billy has a drink and all the children are crying. He picks one of the children and sings to her before biting her throat. Meanwhile the posse hangs the prisoner and head off to grab Rayne, who has just broken out of her cuffs. They take her to the gallows and the Sheriff forces the mayor to watch the executions so “he can get a hard on from watching him shit his pants.” They put the noose around Rayne’s neck and the Sheriff then forces the mayor to read why she is getting executed. Billy brings out one of the children Rayne knew from the killed family and Rayne frees herself from the noose. Bartender Bob throws the swords to her and she kills the vampire sheriff. She swims away from everyone as they fire into the lake. Pat, who has been hiding in the bushes, sets fire to one of the buildings to create a distraction. Billy walks up to Bob and kills him for helping Rayne, who is now being helped by Pat
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Batman & Robin – Top 5 Flops & Final Thoughts.
April 25th 2008 13:09
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Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever – Top 5 Flops & Final Thoughts.
March 7th 2008 03:20
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The Butterfly Effect 2: Five Things I Hate About It.
February 15th 2008 02:49
Top Five Things I Hated About The Butterfly Effect 2.
To Look At The Full Review Of The Butterfly Effect 2, Click On The Links Below:
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The Butterfly Effect 2 - Part 2
February 11th 2008 02:21
Nick might be rich now but he is still an asshole.
We all know that Nick is now the vice president but the idiot just figures it out now. Now he is being an asshole to everyone. He finds Bristol and starts treating him like crap. Nick meets his boss and acts all chummy with him. They are going to have a dinner conference with a potential client. Nick leaves his work and can’t find his car. Now picture him walking past this awesome golden BMW and it’s the only car in the parking lot. Who wants to bet that it is his car? Nick pulls out his keys and finds out it is his car. Seems like he parked the BMW with its roof down so anyone can steal it
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The Butterfly Effect 2 - Part 1
February 11th 2008 02:21
If I could go back and change events of the past, I would probably stop myself from hiring this piece of crap that they call a sequel.
I’m back my Bucket Heads and it’s been a very painful week for me. I went out this week and hired 10 garbage movies, watched each of them and downed many bottles of vodka after each one. Furthermore I discovered a bunch of terrible movies that have been floating around my house over the years so I have begun watching them with the company of my good friends Strawberry and Peach Schnaps
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Bugs - Final Thoughts
February 3rd 2008 10:53
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BloodRayne - Final Thoughts
December 29th 2007 01:59
To View Past BloodRayne Posts, Click The Following Links:
Part 1 – Video Game vs. Movie.
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