Monster of the Day #1214

Updated on October 5, 2015 By Ken Begg 10 Comments

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Our 10th Anniversary T-Fest went quite well, I thought. People liked the films and we gave out some geegaws and I recieved a fantastic Jabootu sculpture which is now being shipped to me.

Sandy and I also learned a lesson that’s been ten years coming; there’s pretty much nothing everyone has seen. (Even Robot Monster had not been seen by four people.) I’ve been hesitating for showing this film for years now. I thought attendees would have thought it too mainstream, and too recent–although it was made 20 years ago now, yikes!–and surely everyone had seen it. In fact, about 25 to 33% of people hadn’t. It garnered the most unofficial votes for Best Movie, edging out Original Gangstas.

Thanks to everyone who attended.

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  • Gamera977

    Glad to hear everything went well. I hope you’ll post a photo of the Jabootu sculpture when he arrives, he could be MotD himself!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Glad to hear that T-Fest was fun, and I hope someone can identify the whatever-it-is you have posted as the MotD.

  • The Rev.

    This is Reptile from the original Mortal Kombat. The CGI used to bring him to life is probably the weakest part of the movie (except his Predator-esque camo effect), along with some of the backgrounds being very obviously digital; some of that can be put to the year it was made, I suspect. The effects for the various special attacks look a lot better, at least. Still, it was probably the best idea; while a large, lumbering beast like Goro worked fine as a full-scale mock-up puppet, the sinewy, agile Reptile really wouldn’t have looked right at all done in the same fashion.
    And really, if the worst you can say about a movie is “Some of the CGI is a bit hokey” and “The female lead is a stiff,” you’re doing pretty damn well.
    As fun as Original Gangsters was, I’d pick this as Best of the Fest as well. I love this movie even more than Ken, due to my being a gamer and a big fan of this series; and I’m already finding it hard not to turn that part of my write-up into a mini-review in its own right as to why.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks for the identification and information on the movie. Never saw this one, have to see if I can track it down.

  • Reed

    I am very sad that I missed T-fest. :( On the other hand, I am in a master’s degree program right now and Saturday was the day after I got back from 2 weeks at school, so I was not up to a day of fun, frolic, and movies. I do miss the frolicing, though. Hopefully next Tween fest!

  • Marsden

    Any review you write, I’m interested to read. This is one of my all time favorite movies. I spent a lot of time playing those games and the first movie was great, the second movie, the less said the better, although it would be a great contrast piece, hint hint Ken!

  • The Rev.

    Yeah, we missed you, man! At some point during the first two movies we started looking around and asking where you were. Hopefully we’ll see you next year.

  • The Rev.

    I definitely recommend it, and I know Ken would as well, not to mention the majority of the attendees of T-Fest 2015. I realize it may sound like damning with faint praise, but it’s still the best video game adaptation out there by a comfortably wide margin. It manages to make its nods to the fans work in a wider context instead of being blatant “Here you go, fanboys!” moments, unlike the abominable sequel. (My personal favorite is the punchline to the fantastic Johnny Cage/Scorpion fight, which works on about three different levels.) It also stays true to the spirit of the games, and even the slight departures work in the context of the film. As Ken pointed out in his Video Cheese entry for it, it’s also a rare B-movie that knows exactly what it is, doesn’t exceed its grasp, and just gives you a rollicking good time.

  • The Rev.

    While Ken did a VC piece on the original, Eva, Nun of Jabootu did a full review on the sequel years ago. (You can find both by searching “kombat” on the site search engine up in the right-hand corner.) Both are typically well-done pieces. I imagine Ken won’t be reviewing the sequel himself, and frankly I wouldn’t want him to have to watch it again. Both of us wasted money on it in the theaters, and I think that’s asking more than enough of any man.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Just read both those reviews, thanks!