Kick'em In The Ghoulies

 Hello All,

It's always sad when someone passes, but when someone is taken away before their time the shock can be hard to bear, and even more so in the case of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who was the longest serving post war Prime Minister of Japan.

Coming to power in 2006 after winning a tight election Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democrat Party appealed to many with his views on how Japan should move forward. Though also controversial in many of his policies he had a vision that would bring Japan out of the delcine they where in. 

Unfortunately due to ill health he had to step down just a year after taking office in 2007. After getting better through the use of a drug that at the time was not available in Japan, he soon got back into politics and aiming for the top.

In 2012 he would re-enter the election race and become the Prime Minister of Japan. He advocated the return of the Japan Self Defense Force by revising Article 9 of the Pacifist Japanese Constitution, he set up a new economic Policy, which became known as Abenomics which went about dealing with Japan's Monetary problems, a fiscal policy to help growing business in Japan, helping out small business as well as larger firms.

Growth and structal reforms to shape a modern Japan. At the heart of it all  in 2013 he also set out to make a society where  all women can shine, and vowed that by 2020 thirty percent of all leadership roles should be filled by females. 

In Japan this was a big thing, as their culture is a very male dominated society when it comes to the workplace.

But it was these type of policies that made him a very popular Prime Minister not just in Japan but worldwide .

This is why Shinzo Abe was once again elected as Prime Minister in 2014, and 2017..

In 2020 Shinzo Abe had a re-occurance of his illness and felt the only way he could get better was to step down as Prime Minister. In August of 2020 he announced his retirement  and his successor Yoshihide Suga took office in September 2020.

Sadly on July 8th 2022 while campaigning at street junction for upcoming parliament elections in the city of Nara, Shinzo Abe was shot twice in the back by a assailant with a homemade gun.

Security tackled the perpertrator to the ground, whilst staff attended to Mr Abe. Shinzo Abe was airlifted to a hospital where doctors worked for  four hours to try and save his life, but due to the amount of blood he had lost and trauma Shinzo Abe passed away on the 8th July 2022, he was 67 years old.

Shinzo Abe's body was returned to Tokyo so arrangements could be made for his passing.

Mr Abe was a true inspiration to many in Japan and thousands of mourners are out paying their respects to a visionary Politician with which the world could do with many more like.

Shinzo Abe will be remembered as a icon of Politics, may he Rest in Peace. 

Former Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe who passed away on July 8th 2022 after being shot.

Hi all,

Jackie Chan's Police Story series is getting a special screening at the Prince Charles Cinema in London's Leicester Square.

When is this happening, well September 2022, and it's part of a Jackie Chan retrospective which totals five films in total.

For those who can take the heat of watching all three Police Story films in one sitting then the 8th September is the date for a marathon of Chan on the big screen and all in remastered 4K with HDR.

For those wanting to see just one or two of the films, you can, as all three films are showing on alternative dates, visit the Prince Charles Cinema website for all the times and dates. 

The films are spread out through September with each film having three seperate screenings as well as the Marathon on the 8th September.

But for those lucky enough to have a 4K Bluray player and a decent sound system, you to can enjoy these new 4K remasters at home from the end of September as EUREKA  are releasing a box set of all three films in 4K HDR so you can sit back at home and enjoy the films. 

Coming in at around £70 I do wonder how much better quality can they make these old films, for films that where released on VHS back in the day, then DVD which improved the picture and sound by a large margin, then the more recent Bluray editions in 1080p, are they really that much better?

Or is this this just a cash grab praying on those Jackie Chan completists that must have every version of every film Jackie Chan has done?

Considering most 4K players will do a upscale of a bluray as most standard Blurays do a upscale of a DVD.

I do get irratated when these companies just concentrate on releasing the same few films repeatadly in various formats, when there are other films from Jackie and other stars that have not had a standard release on DVD or Bluray yet. 

UPDATE: 21-06-2022 

Back with a update on this film, currently the HI-Yah streaming service is only available to customers in the USA and Canada. The DVD and Bluray which released on the 20th June 2022 are once again only available in the USA on Region 1 DVD or Bluray Region A NTSC.

You could import via Amazon, at present the film is £21.00 on DVD, AND £26.00 on Bluray, add shipping and taxes, and it may be more than your willing to pay. Here's hoping for a UK release soon.

Hi all, 

Yes we have another film coming to DVD and bluray that will have many wondering why, IP-MAN Awakening is the latest film about the life of Ip Man. This time Ip Man comes to the rescue of a kidnap victim and uncovers a human trafficking ring. The film stars MiuTse and Guangying Chen.

The film is currently to view on the streaming service Hi-Yah through Amazon Prime for a additonal fee in the States. 

Not sure if that streaming service is avaiable in the UK, but will have a look. 

But on June 20th the film gets a relaese on DVD and Bluray disc. As far as I know at present this is for the USA release of the film, and have yet to see a official UK release scheduale for the film. But buyers could import. As of today the film comes up on Amazon UK but it says not available.

We will try and cover this on site as soon as we can stream a copy or buy it at a reasonable price. 

It does make me wonder how many more films of Ip Man we need, I think I'm slowly growing tired of them as I think we have had the best that can be done on the martial arts legend. 

And also if we were to believe that Ip Man had so many provocations in life that resulted in his life being put in danger as the films would have us believe, it makes you wonder how he had time to teach any Martial arts. 

 I will update about the films availability as soon as I know.

Sertes Nake

 Hi All , Yes I'm back with another Mini-review for yet another blockbuster film. This time we take to the skies with Top Gun Maverick.

Starring Tom Cruise

Jennifer Connelly

Val Kilmer

Ed Harris

Miles Teller

Glen Powell

Director JOSEPH KOSINSKI

Top Gun Maverick

Yes the KITG crew once more ventured into the void of cinematography.

This time we were viewing what many consider to be lightning in a bottle that has struck twice.

Tom Cruise returns as Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell from the classic 1986 film directed by the late Tony Scott.

Cruise has wanted to do a sequel to the film for years and Tony Scott even had a script in the works before his untimely death in 2012.

Now I never saw the original Top Gun at the cinema and my viewing back in the day was at home on VHS on a 20inch CRT tv.

It was the time of the VHS boom and we rented films consistently.

So we never got the scope of the film from watching it on the big screen.

Unlike today where you at home you have large screen TV's and HD and 4K resolution.

But hearing how the film was made, and my home projector set up not up and running as of yet. We chose to see the film on the big screen at the cinema.

I was excited to see the aerial stunts of the planes, all the actors had to go through a rigorous training regime and learn to operate cameras and direct themselves within the plane's cockpits for the aerial scenes.

Yes no CGI here folks, these are real planes you are watching here.

This is what makes the film a must-see at the cinema.

The story is simple, Maverick ( Cruise) is still in the Navy air force but as a Test Pilot for new planes, he has gone through various problems in his career, always blowing his chance of promotion.

When he makes one truly big mess and has to bail out of an expensive test jet he faces dismissal.

But to his bewilderment, he is ordered back to Top Gun.

Upon arriving he learns they need him for a mission of utmost importance.

What he does not know is that his job is to train the latest high-flying Top Guns to carry out this mission.

The film runs about two hours and twenty minutes. And amazingly it goes quite fast, the emphasis here is on the action and everything moves at a faster pace than in the original which did have a bigger segment of romance within it I remember.

For this film, it was mostly new faces and a fresh start, Kelly McGillis and Meg Ryan were never approached to reprise their roles. Though they do appear in a memory from footage of the first film.

Maverick has a new love interest, an old flame played by Jennifer Connelly.

The star of the film is the fantastic aerial scenes and the tensions between Maverick and his potential students.

Val Kilmer reprises his role as ICE from the first film, who now is an Admiral.

Tom Cruise continues to make box office hits and chooses his films carefully, unlike so many others.

You know if it's a Tom Cruise film it will deliver.

We enjoyed our time with the film. The story is tight and the action comes thick and fast, it was nice to see a film with a feel-good factor that harked back to the 80s when films were about fun and action with real-life pyrotechnics, and explosions and all..

.

Too many films rely on the whole CGI thing now because actors and actresses don't want to get dirty.

But here Cruise delivers and proves you can still make a fun action film with a story where real actors do real stunts without a computer in sight.

And for this Top Gun Maverick must be commended.

Up to date, Top Gun Maverick has become the sixth highest-grossing film of 2022.

Whether it can surpass its predecessor which cost a mere $15 Million to make and made back a staggering $357.3 million we will have to wait and see.

But as Maverick cost a cool $170 million to make and can not see the same mega success. In effect, Maverick would have to take $3.9 Billion to match the original Ratio.

View Date: 31st May 2022

Location: Cineworld, Stevenage

Review By: Sertes Nake

 Hi All,

Some quick updates to whose appearing at this weekends MCM Comic Con, added to the guest list is star of Fantastic Beasts Dan Fogler.

Dan Fogler

For Game Fans we have Doug Cockle whose the voice of Geralt in the game. 

Doug Cockle

So along with the wrestling stars, Dante Basco,Janet Varney and others it should be a fun filled weekend for all that visit the show.. 

Check out the sites Calendar for details and links to the official website

Who knows maybe where see you there.

 Yes I'm back with another Mini-review, this time of one of this summers Blockbuster films. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands we here at KITG try to get our heads round all the stories.

So without further ado,enjoy the review.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness- 2022

Yes, another Mini-review for you all, once again the KITG crew ventured out to see the second in the Doctor Strange movies by Marvel, and the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now I for one have seen most of the Marvel films over the years, but there are a few that I have not yet, add to this the fact that Marvel also makes TV streaming series of some characters which all fall in line with the Universe of Marvel and it makes it quite hard to remember or know of each character.

If you have missed a film or two and not seen all the series it can make key elements of the story within these films pass you by as you may have not seen that particular previous film or TV series.

So I went into the film with the hope to be able to unravel all the stories and fill in the blanks about what I may have missed.

This time we have Doctor Strange suffering from dreams/nightmares, whatever you may call them.

When he attends the wedding of his close friend Christine he witnesses demon-like spirits wrecking the city and going after a young girl.

Being the superhero he is, he intervenes to save the girl after going through a series of death-defying confrontations with said demons.

After saving the girl who happens to be very wary of him, he discovers his dreams are not just dreams but real happenings in an alternate reality and universe.

This becomes more apparent when the young girl presents to him the dead body of himself from another universe...

His goal is to help the girl and find out what these demons want.

He turns to an old colleague by the name of Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch.

He tells Wanda his situation in a bid she may help.

Like any Marvel universe film, the film starts and ends with huge CGI effects and battles across universes against unfathomable foes.

To get to the truth Doctor Strange must travel to various universes to uncover the reason behind all the wanton destruction.

He encounters his own self in various forms and has to also confront allies that are foes in his own Universe and vice versa.

It does give many cast members different characterisations to unravel within the same character.

Unlike something like Shang Chi where you may marvel at the choreography of the Martial arts action, most Marvel Universe films are just big CGI showcases with actors going through the motions in front of Green screens while special effects are added after.

We enjoyed our time with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and I suppose in the end the real stars of the film are the computer geniuses behind all the effects.

Though the actors do give a believable performance considering for the most part they do all this in plain studios.

For myself, I don't usually rush to see any of the Marvel films on the big screen as there all pretty much the same, all delivering the same kind of movie with different characters.

But as I like Benedict Cumberbatch and have seen him perform some real amazing acting in other films I didn't mind going to see this one as I regard the first Doctor Strange Movie as one of the better films from the Marvel catalog.

At nearly two and half hours it goes quite quickly as the action comes thick and fast.

And as a switch of your brain action fodder, it's quite fun.

View Date: 23-05-2022

Location: ODEON Luxe

Review Date: 24-05-2022

Review By: Sertes Nake

Where have another couple of Mini-reviews soon as we have arranged to see another couple of films on the big screen in the coming month?

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Director: Sam Raimi

Starring

Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr.Stephen Strange

Rahcel McAdams as Christine Palmer

Elizabeth Olsen – as the Scarlet Witch

Benedict Wong -Wong

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo

Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier

Image Copyright (c) Marvel Studios 2022

The Northman - 2022 - Director :Robert Eggers

Hi, all here we have a mini-review of a film the KITG crew ventured out to see the other night.

Though the film has a fair bit of battling it is also quite in-depth in its depiction of the Viking age.

Based on a legend of a Viking by the name of Amieth. Set around 895AD.

Set in the lands of Rus, Iceland, and Norway the film follows the life of a young Viking Prince Amieth.

The young Prince witness the death of his father and vows revenge whilst escaping.

The film shifts a few years and Amieth is a warrior who was raised by Vikings that saved him and taught him the art of the Berserker, basically, a badass muscle-bound lunatic who slices through his foes with a ferocity unequaled.

With a runtime of just over two and a quarter hours, the film is no flash in the pan and its pacing at times can be a bit slow. The beginning starts off like an art-house movie with a thespian-type monologue. I must admit I was a bit wary o this at the start and thought, Can I handle this for over two hours.

Luckily the film takes a more modern style of verse in its depiction of characters after about twenty minutes.

That's not to say that it becomes like all other films based on the Viking age.

The director Robert Eggers is known to be quite concentrated on being historically accurate in the depiction of his films.

And the film does offer some interesting scenes of the brutality and near animal-like savagery of the Vikings and their traditions of bloodletting and scenes of full nudity in abundance.

The Northman will entertain, and the action pieces are excellently done for the most part, yes with all American-style films the fast cuts do happen.

But what makes the film watchable are the top cast of Alexandra Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, and Willem Dafoe in a small role.

We'd enjoy our time with the film and in the end, we're glad we went to see it.

So even though the film has been deemed a failure in the box office stats with it not even making back its cost of 70-90 million dollars and only taking 59 million dollars at the box office it should not stop all from seeing it who are fascinated with the Viking culture.

The Northman is not for the faint-hearted or those not into bloodletting. But for everybody else get on down to the cinema and see it before it's gone.

Where have another mini-review next week as we are down to see another film at the cinema next week?

View Date: 20-05-2022

Location: Odeon Luxe

Review Date: 21-05-2022

Review By: Sertes Nake

Poster of The Northman - (C) 2022 Universal Pictures / Focus Features

  Hi All,

Here's one of the posters for Jackie Chan's new film releasing Christmas 2022 in China. The film, Ride On sees Jackie as a aging stuntman who has to come to terms with his Daughter getting married and how they will all get along due to his persona.

All Jackie's character cares about is his Horse but when he gets in debt, he needs to ask for help from his daughter and his future son-in-law.

There's a trailer for the film out now, though it's quite short but is English subtitled, its up on Youtube now, and I will embed it on site as well. 

Here's the Poster for the film. This looks like this could be a fun film with Jackie doing roles more akin to his age. Looking forward to this one. 

 Hi All, 

Just had to post this, amazes me how Xbox come up with something that will sell by the bucket load and then announce that the only way to get hold of that item is in a competition to win one. 

What am I referring to? well the Limited Edition Lego Star Wars Xbox Series S consoles that their giving away to a few lucky winners across Twitter. 

They Come in various guises and there's only one of each.

Put these in production and they would sell loads, .. Sometimes I wonder who does their marketing. Gotta smile though. 

Good luck to those that win one though. 

    A new film release starring Michele Yeoh hit's cinema's on 13th May with previews on the 12th. Screening at most cinema's in some form or another.

Everything Everywhere All At Once stars Michele Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis and Harry Shum Jnr in a this Comedy Science fiction fantasy film about a multiverse. Where be catching this at the cinema and bringing you all our review shortly after.. It definitetly looks like a off the wall film.