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Friedrichstrasse 19

Emma Harding

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

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Sometimes I get fanciful and think the buildings speak. That all their history is locked into the...

Historical fiction Literary fiction Germany Berlin

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Futurama: Bender's Game (2008) in Movies

Aug 14, 2019

Futurama: Bender's Game (2008)

2008 | Action, Animation, Comedy

7.3

(6 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The third of the straight to DVD Futurama movies, “Futurama: Bender’s Game” has arrived and continues the winning formula of the television series and two previous films.

This time the film starts out as a standard episode rather than continue the events of the past film. In true Futurama style, there are references to past characters and pop culture gags throughout. The early focus of the story is on the Dark Matter fuel shortage that is controlled by the greedy Mom and her corporation. Mom insists that prices are way up so she has to charge more for the precious starship fuel, but avoids any questions related to her record profits related to the ever rising fuel prices.

With the rising fuel costs the Planetary Express Office, is put on a very strict flight schedule that causes havoc amongst the crew. Fry (Billy West), still drifts aimlessly about life, Amy (Lauren Tom) is as shallow as ever and Leela (Katey Sagal), has an ager issue and is outfitted with a shock collar that jolts her whenever she loses her temper.

Bender (John Di Maggio), has a larger issue as he spots some of the staff children and their friends playing Dungeons and Dragons and wants to be a part of the action. It is learned that robots were not built for imagination so when Bender takes up the game and becomes the entity Titanius, he soon has a hard time distinguishing between reality and fantasy. Combine this with Leela’s entry of the Planet Express ship into a Demo Derby and you get a premise ripe with laughter.

The story shifts into high gear when Professor Farnsworth (Billy West), decides to use his anti-backwards crystal to end his old flame Moms hold on the fuel industry. The Crew make a startling discovery as they battle mom, and thanks to the power of the crystal and Bender, find themselves in a strange medieval world where each of them has new identities in this alternate universe.

In a race against time, the Planet Express staff must not only survive the alternate universe, but defeat Mom and her plans for universal domination.

With sharp picture and sound, this is a very enjoyable new adventure for fans.
There are loads of extras which include deleted scenes, commentaries, and a look at the next film “Into The Wild Green Yonder”.

All in all a welcome and satisfying film that should delight fans and help keep us happy until the new film arrives next year.

Kudos

BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) in Movies

Jan 10, 2019 (Updated Jan 10, 2019)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

2018 | Comedy, Drama, Western

7.1

(13 Ratings)

Movie Rating

A winning anthology

I am NOT a Coen Brothers apologist. For every good/great film that they have made (like FARGO, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN or underrated THE HUDSUCKER PROXY) there are duds/movies that didn't work for me (like O' BROTHER WHER ART THOU, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS and the movie I ranked as the worst film of 2016, HAIL, CAESAR). So when I heard that the latest Coen Brothers flick was going straight to Netflix AND (like HAIL, CAESAR), it was a film anthology of 6 short stories, I dragged my feet in checking this out.

But...I am glad I finally got around to it...for THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS is a strong film, taking on a heavy subject (death) in a variety of ways - light-hearted, poignant and deadly (pun intended) serious. The tone of this film - or, more accurately, these 6 short films - worked for me and I felt they wove together very well to tell an overarching story of man's relationship with death - as seen through the eyes of Wild, Wild West characters.

And what characters they are! From Tim Blake Nelson's titular character, Buster Scruggs, to James Franco's hapless (but lucky) Outlaw to Liam Neeson's traveling theatrical show to Tom Waite's grizzled prospector to Zoe Kazan's lonesome Prairie Widow to the group of passengers on the Stagecoach in the last vignette, all are interesting to watch, and listen to.

Credit, of course, needs to go to Joel and Ethan Cohen. These characters are interesting to watch, because these two put wonderful scenes and scenery up on the screen with dialogue (or lack of dialogue) that perfectly reflects what is going on and what the characters are feeling. In my opinion, the Coen Brothers are at their best when they focus on gritty subjects with poignancy (BARTON FINK) but fail when they try to get "wacky" or "over-serious" (BURN AFTER READING, A SERIOUS MAN), this film is full of the former and has very little of the latter.

I'm sure, like all Coen Brothers films, that this anthology of short films is not for everyone - and not every film will work for everyone - but they did for me. I thought each short film was the better than the one before it. I caught the vibe of what the Coen's were after and I fell under their spell.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars out of 10 and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)