Bald Move Pulp - Aladdin (2019)

If you’re wishing for a three-way review of Disney’s latest live-action adaptation, Aladdin, then listener you’re in luck. Wish granted. Cecily, Jim, and I went to see it tonight with appropriately low expectations, but were very pleasantly surprised at how much fun and energy the movie provided. Better, the script smartly adapted the original, improving it’s pacing while also adding depth to Jafar’s intrigue and Jasmine’s character, making it smarter and more relatable to modern audiences. The Tomatometer is kinda brutal for Al and friends right now (59% as of this writing), so take our review with a grain of salt. And we’re still skeptical of the long term viability of these live-action adaptations, but we feel like this movie is proof that they aren’t necessarily doomed to be pointless wastes of time.

Super Serious Film Fest - Willow (1988)

The Super Serious Film Fest: Fantasy reaches it’s thrilling conclusion with a look at 1998’s Willow. The brain child of one George Lucas, directed by protege Ron Howard, and starring the delightful Warwick Davis, Willow still struggles to this day to find an audience. It suffers from simultaneously being curiously dark for a family film, but far too simple, uncomplicated, and broad to hold much interest for adults. While it boasted some cutting edge special effects for our day, the best one might be the baby Elora herself, played by a suite of infants. It shouldn’t be possible for a baby to be this winsome and charming, but there it is.

Bald Move Pulp - John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)

Jim and I take a belated look at the latest installment in the John Wick saga, Chapter 3: Parabellum. JW3:B, has some of the finest action sequences we’ve ever seen, but it’s also rapidly approaching diminishing returns in terms of quantity over quality. We’re all for combat innovations including insane knife work, horse and dog augmented combat, and up-armored adversaries, but there’s only so many times you can watch Keanu kill a guy with a gun before you start checking your watch. With John Wick 4 looking to keep upping it’s ante, is this momentum sustainable? We’ll look forward to finding out!

Bald Move Pulp - Detective Pikachu (2019)

Novice Pokemon Trainer A.Ron is joined by S Rank Trainer Cecily to break down the action in Detective Pokemon. We were both surprised at how straightforward a kids film this was. To be fair, we weren’t expecting Deadpool out of a Ryan Reynolds’ starring Pokemon film, but parents looking to be thrown an adult bone over the heads of their children are probably going to be disappointed. Still, it’s relentlessly, almost threateningly cute, and the more into Pokemon you are the more you’ll appreciate the universe and background details they’re packing into the scene. 

Super Serious Film Fest - Reign of Fire (2002)

The next installment of Super Serious Film Fest: Fantasy features Reign of Fire, a movie so-close-to-sort-of-kind-of-good that it lands squarely into the realm of “cheesy fun.” Aside from Game of Thrones, no film or series has done more to advance the art of CGI dragons as Reign, and no other film even comes close in the coveted shirtless McConaughey vs. Bale category. If you look carefully, you may see an extremely young King Joffrey hiding out among the other plucky young heroes. Please enjoy our podcast, and if you’re a Club Member, be sure to check out our LiveWatch!

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Reign of Fire (2002) – LIVEWATCH

A.Ron and Jim investigate the documentary Reign of Fire, which chronicles what happens when greedy early-21st century dragon tycoons delved too greedily and too deep for dragons in the very bowels of London. Nothing good, that’s what! Come sync up the film and watch with us or put on our commentary track for background laughs. They’re no wrong way to do a LiveWatch!