What I Watched In March

I only got out to the theater once in March and even that was a struggle to accomplish. I made the extra effort because I just had to see one of my favorite fictional heroes come to the big screen in all his glory. Yes! After 100 years ERB's first JOHN CARTER OF MARS tale was finally coming to the multiplex complete with a big cast, amazing special effects and a director in love with the material. Sadly, he may have been both too in love with the original stories and overly worried that newcomers needed an ass-ton of set-up to buy into the tale. The film stumbles out of the gate by setting up the Martian villain but showing him as easily defeated (and therefore of little real threat) before giving us two separate introductions to characters on Earth. A least the first 15 minutes of the film needed to be chopped off and discarded. All we needed was a brief intro of Carter that gives us his background and his mindset and then they just needed to have plopped his ass on Mars and let the fun begin. This should have been a great 'fish out of water with a sword and radium bullets' rip-roaring movie but unfortunately it limps along undercutting itself every time it starts to get some momentum. Its not as bad as some are saying but its far from as good as it should have been. I have intensely mixed emotions about JOHN CARTER and I hate to have to say that it was a disappointment - but it was. There are great things in there but its not a great film and I fear return visits will not improve my feelings.

The reason I had so little time for movie watching was that, like last year, I have spent the past two months working seven days a week. I do this during a certain time of year to knock out a few bills and put a little away in the Rainy Day Fund. I'm glad that I have the chance to better my financial state but it wears on my mind and I have very little time for friends, family and my hobbies. I have to prioritize and of my various hobbies I have pushed the podcast to the top of the 'to do' list so that we can always publish at least one each month. Getting that show out gives me a real sense of accomplishment and I hope that it continues to bring more folks to the Cult of Naschy as time passes. We have some amazing films to cover this year!

I rewatched a couple of controversial films from recent years that I loved but most people hated and found them to be just as good as I remembered. I'm willing to wait for enough time to pass for the eventual reevaluation of SUCKER PUNCH and SPEED RACER to happen so I can smile and simply say "I told you so".

I hope I have more time to watch movies in April!

MAROC 7 (1967) - 6 (pretty good spy thriller)
THE LIQUIDATOR (1965)- 8 (excellent British spy thriller adapted from a John Gardner novel - I liked the humorous edge)
SKY RIDERS (1976) - 6
QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL (2011)- 4
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987)- 2 (rewatch)
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (1935)- 7 (fascinating combination of Universal horror and Charles Dickens)
SUCKER PUNCH (2011)- 8 (rewatch)
JOHN CARTER (2012) - 6 (it should have been better)
RABID (1977)- 5 (rewatch) (oddly flat second feature for the Cronenberg)
PETE KELLY'S BLUES (1955) - 7
THE MAGNETIC MONSTER (1953) - 2 (dull, padded SF story)
SPEED RACER (2008)- 8 (rewatch)