paul_haakonsen

Initially I have to say that I was a bit skeptical about watching the 2024 "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" movie, as it was an animated foray into Tolkien's universe. But even more so, it as an Anime-styled animated movie, which just didn't sit well with me, as I don't see Anime and "Lord of the Rings" as two things that should be mixed.

Writers Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou put together an okay storyline and script. I wasn't impressed, and I was only midly entertained throughout the course of the 134 minutes that the animated movie ran for.

The voice acting performances in "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" were good.

I have to say that my initial hesitation about watching "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" because of it being drawn in an Anime style actually came true. I was struggling so hard to look past it, but it just didn't work. Anime and "The Lord of the Rings" are two things that doesn't mix well.

Sure, the animation itself was nicely made, but it just didn't really sit well with a tale set in Tolkien's established fantasy world.

Watchable, but "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is hardly a noteworthy foray into Middle Earth. In fact, it is rather forgettable, and I doubt I will ever return to watch it a second time as it was a struggle in itself to sit through the first time.

My rating of director Kenji Kamiyama's 2024 animated movie "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I was initially lured in to watch the 2023 movie "Wolf Hollow" as it was a werewolf movie that I had already seen. And the movie's cover definitely did a fair job in making me stop up and pick up the movie. Without ever having heard about director Mark Cantu's 2023 movie, I didn't know what I was in for, aside from it being a werewolf movie, which essentially was all I needed to watch it.

Writers Mark Cantu and Brian Ceponis put together a script and storyline that wasn't particularly impressive. The movie starts out okay, but quickly settles into a slump from which the narrative never really recovers. And the movie advances at a sluggish pace, without much excitement or thrills.

The acting performances in the movie were fairly rigid for the most parts. There were some pretty awful performances, but also some fair enough among the actors and actresses. I've seen enough low budget horror movies to be familiar with Felissa Rose, whom happened to be the only familiar face on the screen.

The special effects in the movie were actually good, taking the rest of the movie into consideration. And truth be told, the special effects do actually carry the movie a long way. The werewolves, though, well they were inarticulate and looked nothing more than what they actually were; and that was Halloween latex masks. That just doesn't cut it, the werewolves should be able to close their mouths, which they couldn't do in this movie.

If you are a diehard fan of werewolf movies, then check out "Wolf Hollow". I do like werewolf movies, but the majority of them are subpar movies, and "Wolf Hollow" fell into that category for me.

My rating of director Mark Cantu's 2023 movie "Wolf Hollow" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

Well, I have indeed watched the 2000 movie "Python" once before, but must admit that I have fully forgotten about the movie, aside from it being a low budget creature feature with a big snake. And thus I opted to sit down and watch the movie again here in 2024, as I had the opportunity to do so.

I have to say that the movie was off to a great start, with a python snake making a weird inward screaming sound; yeah, I didn't know pythons had vocal cords, but hey... And the dramatic slow zoom in on the yes of Ed Lauter as a pilot, who did nothing but just sit there and steer the plane, yet still managing to crash it somehow.

Writers Phillip J. Roth, Chris Neal, Gary Hershberger and Paul Bogh put together a script that was adequate enough, I mean, with this being a low budget creature feature with a big python and all.

The movie actually have some good names on the cast list, with the likes of Robert Englund, Casper Van Dien (with a killer mustache), William Zabka, Wil Wheaton, Sean Whalen, Gary Grubbs, David Bowe and Dana Barron. The acting performances in the movie, taking the movie's concept into consideration, was actually okay, well aside from Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg whom looked like she was having an aneurysm when she had to act sexy.

"Python" has some pretty shoddy CGI effects, and you can't help but laugh most of the times when you see the poorly animated CGI snake and how fake it looks. I really was impressed with the fact that not only could the snake make a strange inward shrieking sound, but it also could do so while having an adult man stuffed into its mouth and gullet. Great understanding of reptile anatomy right there from the writers. And the fact that the python could lop someone's head off with a tail bash was also pretty amazing.

Generic? Check. Predictable? Check. Terrible CGI? Check. Laughably bad? Check.

My rating of director Richard Clabaugh's 2000 movie "Python" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.