Last Movie you Watched?

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  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Friday the 13th Part III
    Friday the 13th Part III had the most thrilling final girl showdown, and the final girl Chris is the most attractive and indeed the smartest yet. Unfortunately, you must slog through almost 70 minutes of the most underwhelming of fake jumpscares, thin plotlines, thin and badly acted characters (Shelley) and blatantly repetitive and grating score. It is disappointing, therefore, that Jason gets to don his iconic hockey mask for the first time in this garbage, this film were he really is just a hulking figure - his poignant purpose of avenging his mother is already lost to the audience. Sad filmmaking. I wish they did not crap on the original's classic ending with the cheap and senseless Pamela knockoff.

    Hey, but at least Vera's death (shot in the eye with a spear gun) looked pretty good!

    2/10

    Pt 3 is one of my favourite F13 films, but if I had one gripe with the film, then it is the 3D parts of the film. The Final Chapter is another one that is among my favourites, though I would put 3 above TFC in my list of the films.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,173
    bondjames wrote: »
    Inferno (2016)

    This was one of my most anticipated films of the year. I'm a huge fan of the first two, and of Hanks as Robert Langdon. I always enjoy how director Ron Howard is able to weave tension, beautiful locations and verbose expository dialogue nicely together in a neat package. However, I was concerned going in that this third entry wouldn't be up to the level of the first and particularly the second entry. The trailers and the snippets of dialogue I could discern underwhelmed.

    The verdict: I had reason to be concerned. In my view this is decidedly the least impressive of the three films. It definitely doesn't deserve the lowly 20% it currently has on RT, but it's not up to the level of the first two.

    The scenic locations are there, and are more beautiful than ever. The film almost has an early Bondian travelogue feel, right down to an interior shot of the Hagia Sophia that could have come right out of FRWL. Tom Hanks is as excellent as ever as Langdon. He knows the role inside out by now, and it shows. It's like a 2nd skin to him.

    So what's the problem? Well, the premise is somewhat underbaked. While the antagonist's master plan is interesting enough, the film doesn't delve into his motivations or dwell enough on it, and so the audience isn't given an opportunity to connect with him in a way that could have helped the film. Moreover, there are several characters that pop in and out without explanation, and which give the film a somewhat haphazard and confused flavour. We learn later who they are and how they are all linked, but by then the damage has been done. It's almost like Memento without Nolan's genius.

    Finally, and most detrimentally in my view, the cast is just not up to par. There is no one with the gravitas of Stellan Skarsgard, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Jean Reno, Jurgen Prochnow or Paul Bettany here. Irfan Khan, Ben Foster and Omar Sy just don't cut it I'm afraid -not by a long shot. Sidse Babett Knudsen does a decent enough job and she has the acting chops but it's not enough. Perhaps the worst offender is Felicity Jones. These Langdon entries are known for their charismatic female leads, and Audrey Tatou and Ayelet Zurer exceeded expectations in the first two films. Jones is so wooden and expressionless that it's like watching paint dry. It doesn't bode well for SW-Rogue One next month I'll tell you.

    Ultimately this isn't a total disaster. There is enough here to save the film. Still, one comes away thinking that Howard and Hanks were handicapped by budget constraints (the film was reportedly made for a $75m production budget, which is half the 2nd film's cost before inflation adjustments) which may have impacted the quality of the supporting cast they could employ. Even Hans Zimmer doesn't really give it his thundering best, suggesting that his orchestra budget may have been cut. The screenplay could also have been tightened up, and perhaps missed Akiva Goldsman's involvement.

    Recommended - but it really could have been so much more. I'm a huge fan and so am critical, as I am with Bond, when things aren't done at their best.

    @bondjames,
    I fully agree with what you wrote there. I went to see the film ten days ago and found myself neither super-enthused nor super-bored. If it hadn't been for the previous two, I might have found it more interesting than I do now. I wouldn't disparage the filmmakers' efforts, I merely wish they had been given the chance to do something more. Like you wrote, perhaps budget constraints are to blame here.

  • Posts: 12,466
    @FoxRox, I could never get used to seeing Shaggy in a red shirt. It just felt so...weird.

    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 That's too bad; I enjoy the heck out of the movie. Didn't really bother me at all, especially since it was a separate adventure without the full gang in the first place.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It s funny how cartoon characters have a very, very, specific taste in clothes.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    It s funny how cartoon characters have a very, very, specific taste in clothes.
    Some of them don't, at all.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    FoxRox wrote: »
    @FoxRox, I could never get used to seeing Shaggy in a red shirt. It just felt so...weird.

    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 That's too bad; I enjoy the heck out of the movie. Didn't really bother me at all, especially since it was a separate adventure without the full gang in the first place.

    I was just jesting, really.
    It s funny how cartoon characters have a very, very, specific taste in clothes.

    It makes the animation and output of the cartoons easier, I'd say. More changes in clothing mean more animation strain with more character models.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    Posts: 5,080
    That Watch Mojo video posted a few pages back made me want to watch Casablanca, so since I had a few hours to spare today, I decided to stick it on.
    A classic, in every sense of the word. I can't for the life of me see how anyone could label this film "boring". Utterly inane. The duel of the anthems scene is one of my favourite scenes of all time.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Nationalism in the face of fascism is a beautiful thing.
  • Posts: 12,466
    Alien (1979). Timeless sci-fi/horror classic. Very good.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited October 2016 Posts: 15,716
    Ronin (1998)

    One of my favorite action films. The car chases are off the charts, and the cast is insane - Robert De Niro, Jonathan Pryce, Sean Bean, Jean Reno, Michael Lonsdale, Stellan Skarskgard. 2 hours of pure entertainment.
  • MayDayDiVicenzoMayDayDiVicenzo Here and there
    edited October 2016 Posts: 5,080
    A Fish Called Wanda- this has overtaken Airplane! as my favourite comedy film of all time. Side-splitting stuff.

    Two things I noticed- in the scene where Wanda goes to Archie's house to seduce him, Lee Curtis looks uncannily like Caroline Bliss' Moneypenny with those glasses on.
    In the scene where Otto forces chips up Ken's nostrils, he's says "The English contribution to world cuisine: the chip", which reminds me of Drax's cucumber sandwich line from Moonraker.
  • Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter
    Best of the franchise yet! Embraces the fact that it's a B-movie and is consequently full of laughs. Ted and Jimmy's quests for sex hold the running time very well, and Jason is a little scarier than he was in Part III. Some of the deaths are creative, and the characters are much more endearing. Good stuff, but certainly not scary. And I'm afraid I didn't care for Tommy or the obvious attempts to set him up as the next Jason.

    8/10

    Ranking
    The Final Chapter
    Part II
    Friday the 13th
    Part III
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    @IncompetentHenchman - Will you be watching all of the films, or just the first few?
  • edited October 2016 Posts: 1,817
    @IncompetentHenchman - Will you be watching all of the films, or just the first few?

    @MajorDSmythe
    Haha I'm not sure at the moment but I hope to watch all of them eventually. But I hear the first few are the best anyway.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    @IncompetentHenchman - Will you be watching all of the films, or just the first few?

    @MajorDSmythe
    Haha I'm not sure at the moment but I hope to watch all of them eventually. But I hear the first few are the best anyway.

    Most of my favourites are the later films. Pt 3 & 4, then all of the films, with the exception of Freddy vs Jason, from Jason Lives through to the reboot.
  • edited October 2016 Posts: 4,615
    The American

    Always a "sleeper" and forget just how good it is. Shows that grown up, traditional movies can still be made but it flopped , most likley due to not having an explosion every 10 mins. I tend to use this as a litmuss test movie because, if I find someone who likes this movie, then they do appeciate the ellements of cinema that I really like.

    I wonder if those who dont like SF because its too slow have seen this and what they thought?

  • edited October 2016 Posts: 11,189
    I remember seeing this in the cinema and quite enjoying it. Maria Placido was beautiful.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited October 2016 Posts: 28,694
    @patb, inspired film! I adore The American, and really need to get around to watching it again.

    A really strong portrait of just what it would mean to live the life of a an agent who has seen everything and lost so much. Clooney plays a great weary spy, and though it's a quieter film from time to time, there's plenty of kinetic sequences in the film that really get the pulse going and simple moments of character interaction that are as tense as any action sequence could be. The film has fantastic acting, crippling atmosphere, breathtaking cinematography and a great attention paid to minute character detail and development. Every time I watch it, I pick up something new I hadn't spotted before, and though it's never listed amongst his best work, this film represents to me one of Clooney's strongest performances ever.

    Back when the film was being promoted all the trailers showed essentially all the action that happens in the entire film, giving the public the false impression that what they were going to see was an action film as opposed to a deep character study of a Flemingesque spy. When they went into the theater and didn't get that, they weren't so kind to it.

    As with so many movies I've seen the truly glory of, it was panned and now nobody gives it any notice because of the mob mentality phenomenon we always see enveloping today, which films like QoS are always a victim of for daring to be different. Tragic, as it's such a strong film. If I had to extend a Bond comparison to The American, it feels close to the Young films. It's got the atmosphere, duplicity and danger around every corner evoked by FRWL and the lone man fighting against the enemy in one location as we see in DN. Clooney plays it like Sean in DN and FRWL, quiet and forceful, and always 12 steps ahead and very clever.

    I would highly recommend the movie to anyone who appreciates films like FRWL that really focus on character, character interaction and with a depiction of spy work closer to how it occurs in reality, with meetings out in the field with people you are constantly gauging the loyalty and character of.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,173
    DAY 22-28
    ROB ZOMBIE HORROR

    robzombie.png

    Heavy metal artist Robert Bartleh Cummings, better known as Rob Zombie, loves horror flicks. And not just horror flicks but horror flicks of the 50s, 60s and 70s especially. Since 2003, he's made about 7 horror films - "horror" in air quotes - many of which find at best a limited audience. They provide gore, sleaze, a lot of brutal violence and satanic symbols. Every film casts Zombie's wife Sheri Moon, but Sid Haig, Ken Foree and Malcolm McDowell are usually present too. Even the likes of Meg Foster and Judy Geeson, well into their sixties now, aren't afraid to take off their clothes in a Zombie film. On top of that, Zombie's movies are typically filmed to resemble the bleak, dirty and cheap looking style of many 70s horror films. Even the music cannot conceal Zombie's love for the decade in which we were introduced to Leatherface, Damien, Michael Myers and Pazuzu. No wonder his films gravitate almost exclusively towards a cult audience.

    Since his first film, HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, I've been a Rob Zombie devotee. Behind those layers of graphic violence, aggressive language, disturbing images and overall ugliness resides a genuine love for the horror genre. Rob Zombie is a nice guy who will not succumb to Hollywood dictated trends but who, like the true artist, shall stick to his love for the 70s horror genre and do what he can with what little money he can find to please those who, like me, wish they could take a time capsule back to when the original THE HILLS HAVE EYES was first released.

    DAY 22
    HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES


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    As if THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was waiting for a Lovecraftian update, this film introduces us to the dysfunctional Firefly family, the infamous Dr. Satan and the charismatic Captain Spaulding to go completely Leatherface on a bunch of stranded youngsters. Epic soundtrack, wonderfully eerie mood, sick and twisted - still my favourite Zombie film.

    DAY 23
    THE DEVIL'S REJECTS


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    Sequel to Corpses, this film goes completely "road horror" and delivers a deliciously juicy William Forsythe as a cop who's lost control and wants nothing better but to get even with the Fireflies. Lacks the fantastical element from the first film but is probably the most 70s of all the Zombie films.

    DAY 24
    HALLOWEEN


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    Platinum Dunes remade a couple of slashers, the best of which is undoubtedly THE TEXAX CHAINSAW MASSACRE. However, neither that one nor the FRIDAY 13TH, nor the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake - all produced by Platinum Dunes - have done what Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN has done. Redoing Carpenter's original with an added back-story for Michael whilst also amping up the tension to fit our modern sensibilities is exactly what Zombie managed to do. The iconic scenes are still in place. The added brutality is a bonus. I love the original Halloween to death, but I'm a pretty big sucker for the remake as well. Second best film of Zombie in my opinion.

    DAY 25
    HALLOWEEN II


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    This is where Zombie may have gotten a little full of himself. This film is barely a sequel to HALLOWEEN but instead a complete re-imagining of the twisted world of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Pulling supernatural layers over Michael's arc whilst giving us a "retcon" of other characters' back-story, wasn't quite the thing fans of the original were waiting for. But the bleak and dour storytelling still does it for me. On a purely aesthetic level, this is a film I can still very much appreciate, even if it's sickeningly far removed from the almost mythical power of the "night he came home"...

    DAY 26
    The Haunted World of El Superbeasto


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    Barely horror, unless you count the zombie Nazis and Frankenstein creatures as horror, this sleazy animated sex comedy conjures up a slew of Hollywood fame for the voices in the film. The comedy is good, the animation is lovely, the tributes to the horror genre in good taste and the accompanying comic book a blast!

    DAY 27
    THE LORDS OF SALEM


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    One of those films RT will crap on - but then I will crap on RT so no hard feelings - THE LORDS OF SALEM is an experimental witch movie full of interesting cast members and with a wonderful visual style which I guess the self-proclaimed geniuses behind RT simply don't understand. The atmospheric power of the film cannot be overstated.

    DAY 28
    31


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    Zombie's latest project, a crowdfunded one no less, is another great film right up my alley. Think SAW and HOSTEL but then set in '78 and full of killer clowns and an epically scary Richard Brake as "Doom-Head". It's not that any of this is original, it's about what Zombie does with this stuff that was very much in vogue ten years ago. The man lives in the past, but that's his trademark and I love him for it.

    OCTOBER 2016 HALLOWEEN MARATHON

    Excellent
    Ju-On: The Grudge
    The Abominable Dr. Phibes
    Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari
    Friday the 13th
    Freddy vs. Jason
    House Of 1000 Corpses
    Halloween (remake)

    Great
    Evil Dead
    The Babadook
    It Follow
    Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
    The Devil's Rejects
    The Lords Of Salem
    31

    Good
    When A Stranger Calls (2006)
    Friday the 13th Part 2
    Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
    Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
    Friday the 13th (2009)
    The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
    Halloween II (2009)

    Tolerable
    400 Days
    Friday the 13th Part III
    Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
    Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
    Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

    Awful
    Troll 2
    Jason X[/quote]

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @DarthDimi, how would you rank all the Halloween films, out of interest?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,173
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7

    Here goes:

    THE GREAT
    1) Halloween ('78)
    2) Halloween (remake)
    3) Halloween H20
    4) Halloween 2 ('81)

    THE ACCEPTABLE
    5) Halloween II ('09)
    6) Halloween III
    7) Halloween IV

    THE GOSH-WHAT-JUST-HAPPENED?
    7) Halloween VI
    8) Halloween V

    Infinite seas of sadness...

    THE BOWELS OF HELL, THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT
    9) Halloween Resurrection

    How does your ranking go, sir?

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @DarthDimi, beyond the two Carpenters and the two that include an older Laurie, I can barely keep them straight. I'm a bigger fan of the original than anything else; it's one of my favorite films period, and a real masterpiece of the cinematic art form.

    I don't mind the films with Jamie as much as some others, but the retcons are annoying. I respect the Halloween films more than the other horror film series out there because many of them really focus on character and play cleverly with camera work and light and shadow to keep the "monster" (Michael in this case) hidden from view most of the time until a reveal is necessary. When done properly, tension is sky high and there's a real mystery to Michael's character.

    As the films went on, however, this kind of cinematic craftsmanship was lost (along with good Michael masks that didn't look embarrassingly bad), and by the time we got to Halloween Resurrection Michael was basically the star of the films he was out in the open so much. And trust me, the last thing I want to see in a Halloween film is Busta Rhymes racially stereotyping a Chinese fighter and doing a karate kick to send Michael out of a window. Talk about a horrific sight...
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 3,996
    Rob Zombies Halloween remake makes the same mistake as The Texas Chainsaw remake. Giving Michael Myers a back story takes all the mystery out of the character.

    The same was done with Leatherface in the remake. Ooh he was bullied at school because of his facial disfigurement...boo hoo! Give me a break.

    I'm certain these modern director's don't understand how the films that influenced them work.
  • Posts: 11,189
    Thomas Harris did the same with Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,173
    I think Zombie had some cojones to do more than simply retell the story we already know. In fact, he didn't really want to go back to the Carpenter original all the much but Akkad forced him in that direction. True, back-stories, told much later or in reboots, are often to the detriment of a franchise, however in this case I'm prepared to make an exception. Michael's motivation in the original films became somewhat 'clear' because the script of H2 (1981) told us something important. But frankly, it didn't answer the question as to why he did it; it made the question even bigger! I'm not disparaging what Carpenter did and I can certainly go with the flow for slashers. Jason's motivation is paper thin too. One simply accepts that he's urged to kill without any specific reason whatsoever. The ones that do make sense are Freddy, Chucky and in some ways Pinhead and Leatherface. But Michael... with the new information given in H2, the why from the first movie became an even bigger WHY. At the very least Zombie's remake gives us a reason. Not a very original one, true, but good enough. Besides, it never hampers the rest of the film so it's not something to be annoyed about either.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited October 2016 Posts: 9,020
    After my heavy schedule of Bond and 50s/60s films, tonight I will do a triple feature of one of my guilty pleasure actors LEWIS COLLINS.

    I'm watching the three films Lewis Collins did after his very successful role of Bodie in The Professionals.

    Code Name: Wild Geese (1984) – Captain Robin Wesley
    Commando Leopard (1985) – Enrique Carrasco
    The Commander (1988) – Major Jack Colby

    @chrisisall do you know them, I know you and I are suckers for cheesy 80's action flicks :D
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    No, I must have missed them somehow (?)!
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 3,996
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Thomas Harris did the same with Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising.

    Harris fell in love with his own creation.

    And to explain away Lecter's madness because soldiers eat his sister was just unforgivable.

    Red Dragon is my favourite novel and the Lecter in it is a frightening and mysterious figure, plotting behind bars in a lunatic asylum.

    Set him free and he loses all what made him interesting in the first place.

    Much as I like the Hannibal novel, Harris turned him into the serial killer equivalent of James Bond!

  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 3,996
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    I think Zombie had some cojones to do more than simply retell the story we already know. In fact, he didn't really want to go back to the Carpenter original all the much but Akkad forced him in that direction. True, back-stories, told much later or in reboots, are often to the detriment of a franchise, however in this case I'm prepared to make an exception. Michael's motivation in the original films became somewhat 'clear' because the script of H2 (1981) told us something important. But frankly, it didn't answer the question as to why he did it; it made the question even bigger! I'm not disparaging what Carpenter did and I can certainly go with the flow for slashers. Jason's motivation is paper thin too. One simply accepts that he's urged to kill without any specific reason whatsoever. The ones that do make sense are Freddy, Chucky and in some ways Pinhead and Leatherface. But Michael... with the new information given in H2, the why from the first movie became an even bigger WHY. At the very least Zombie's remake gives us a reason. Not a very original one, true, but good enough. Besides, it never hampers the rest of the film so it's not something to be annoyed about either.

    To be honest I don't know why Zombie bothered remaking such a revered classic. Much as I thought The Devil's Rejects was ok, he isn't a great director and I must admit I struggled to get through his Halloween remake and thought it was abysmal.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,173
    Lecter really was ruined by his own creator. Lecter's biggest success, the film adaptation of Silence Of The Lambs, became his own downfall. Few people had given so much as an ounce of attention to Lecter's appearance in Manhunter. Most critics and audience members viewed that film as a bona fide police procedural by Michael Mann in which William Peterson and Tom Noonan walked away with most if not all of the praise. Cox's Lecter had been a peripheral character at best. I would even argue against the word 'character' since Lecter doesn't even have anything of a meaningful arc in the film. But Silence propelled Lecter (and Hopkins' career) to unseen heights and demands for a sequel came fast and furious. This is the point where Harris and others should have said, "screw that, what had to be said about Lecter has been said".

    Instead we got Hannibal, the book and the movie, the latter being a sort of artistic masturbation act from which the character barely recovered. In an attempt to restore the balance, Red Dragon was given another adaptation, and not a bad one though hardly worth the effort in my opinion considering that Manhunter had already been made. Of course we had to complete the Hopkins canon, darling Lecter had a lot more to do and isn't that, ultimately, what everybody wanted?

    More Lecter? Yes, still more Lecter please. So now Harris was tasked with digging out yet another Lecter adventure. And this one went to all sorts of crazy places. The cannibal angle was forced upon us in such a heavy-handed manner, it practically ruins everything for the Hannibal character. His family history and native origin is a joke. How we got from a barely comprehensible dude with a thick Eastern European accent who spends most of his time in his Chinese aunt's lap, to the suave, culturally sophisticated British doctor is beyond me. In a matter of a few years, this savage brute had to undergo such a laughably unconvincing transformation, like Tarzan turning into Lord Greystoke overnight, the only thought I can have is that Hannibal is an X-Men with the same powers Mystique has.

    I don't care if Harris wanted or had to write an "origin story" for Hannibal. I don't care if we return to Hannibal at a very young age. Show us the student Hannibal. Show us the tween Hannibal. But surely a WWII refugee from behind the Wall who trains to become a samurai and coincidentally has a thing for scary masks early on, is impossibly far fetched. Hannibal Rising is the most ironic title ever given since it really was, for better or worse, Hannibal Falling.
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