TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies, TV) 2019

"Mystery Men" (1999)

A group of small-time wanna-be super heroes with less-than-impressive powers have to step up when their city's "real" hero is captured by a maniacal super villain.
This funny, imaginative spoof of comic book movies (based on characters from the obscure "Flaming Carrot" series) has a great cast including Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Jeanene Garofalo, and Geoffrey Rush, but it was probably a little too "hip for the room" when it was released in 1999. if it came out today in the midst of our current super hero movie craze, it would probably be better received..

last night watched most of Hacksaw Ridge. Will finish it up tonight, great movie.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Mystery Men" (1999)

A group of small-time wanna-be super heroes with less-than-impressive powers have to step up when their city's "real" hero is captured by a maniacal super villain.
This funny, imaginative spoof of comic book movies (based on characters from the obscure "Flaming Carrot" series) has a great cast including Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Jeanene Garofalo, and Geoffrey Rush, but it was probably a little too "hip for the room" when it was released in 1999. if it came out today in the midst of our current super hero movie craze, it would probably be better received..

That movie is a riot! Owned it on DVD back in the day, I need to grab another copy. The behind-the-scenes extras were hilarious and interesting. But my favorite portion of that movie is the training sequence. The Sphinx has some of the greatest lines.

You're right dude, that movie almost didn't really belong in that era. Now I need to revisit it; I bet it's super-relevant now.

And strangely enough it's the director's only movie.

corplhicks wrote:

That movie is a riot! Owned it on DVD back in the day, I need to grab another copy. The behind-the-scenes extras were hilarious and interesting. But my favorite portion of that movie is the training sequence. The Sphinx has some of the greatest lines.

You're right dude, that movie almost didn't really belong in that era. Now I need to revisit it; I bet it's super-relevant now.

And strangely enough it's the director's only movie.

Believe it or not, I'd never seen it. I vaguely remember seeing trailers for it on TV when it came out and thinking "hey, that looks cool," but then it crashed and burned at the box office and disappeared, so I just forgot about it, haha.

The "A.V. Club" web site did an article looking back on it a while ago, and that's what got me interested in checking it out. After about twenty minutes I was like "How the hell have I never seen this before? It's a friggin' hoot!"

As for why the director never did another film: his background was in TV commercials/music videos. Mystery Men was his first shot at a feature, and it was a difficult shoot --  apparently none of the principal cast members could agree on a consistent comic "tone' to use and there were some ego clashes. Ben Stiller tried unsuccessfully to get out of the movie after only a few weeks, and he still talks sh** about the film to this day (which is weird, cuz he's funny as hell in it, haha!).

In that AV Club article, Hank "Blue Rajah" Azaria sez he remembers the director saying to him halfway through filming, "I'm going back to commercials when this is over. I don't need this aggravation," haha

Fat Freddy wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

That movie is a riot! Owned it on DVD back in the day, I need to grab another copy. The behind-the-scenes extras were hilarious and interesting. But my favorite portion of that movie is the training sequence. The Sphinx has some of the greatest lines.

You're right dude, that movie almost didn't really belong in that era. Now I need to revisit it; I bet it's super-relevant now.

And strangely enough it's the director's only movie.

Believe it or not, I'd never seen it. I vaguely remember seeing trailers for it on TV when it came out and thinking "hey, that looks cool," but then it crashed and burned at the box office and disappeared, so I just forgot about it, haha.

The "A.V. Club" web site did an article looking back on it a while ago, and that's what got me interested in checking it out. After about twenty minutes I was like "How the hell have I never seen this before? It's a friggin' hoot!"

As for why the director never did another film: his background was in TV commercials/music videos. Mystery Men was his first shot at a feature, and it was a difficult shoot --  apparently none of the principal cast members could agree on a consistent comic "tone' to use and there were some ego clashes. Ben Stiller tried unsuccessfully to get out of the movie after only a few weeks, and he still talks sh** about the film to this day (which is weird, cuz he's funny as hell in it, haha!).

In that AV Club article, Hank "Blue Rajah" Azaria sez he remembers the director saying to him halfway through filming, "I'm going back to commercials when this is over. I don't need this aggravation," haha

Fascinating. Though I shouldn't rely too much on memory of it, the performances were of such a dynamic synergy that it surprises me to hear it was that troubled a shoot. I recall MM as being a bold and confident picture. Sure had a doozy of a cast though, so perhaps that's why all the ego clashes.

Hell, I might even conclude, as a non-Stiller fan, that MM is Stiller's finest hour.

Quote :

Fascinating.

Right after I watch a movie, I have a habit of going straight to its IMDB and/or Wiki page and soaking up all the useless trivia they have on it.

Match Game PM
Supermarket Sweep

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Fascinating.

Right after I watch a movie, I have a habit of going straight to its  IMDB and/or Wiki page and soaking up all the useless trivia they have on it.

I do the same thing! A lot of times it's because I recognize someone and I want to find out where I saw them before. Like now I'm watching the Star Trek: Enterprise series and I knew I recognized the actress playing the Vulcan T'pol. Thanks to ol' IMDB I found out she also played the amazon warrior leader and love interest of Teal'c in Stargate SG1.

tohostudios wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Fascinating.

Right after I watch a movie, I have a habit of going straight to its  IMDB and/or Wiki page and soaking up all the useless trivia they have on it.

I do the same thing!  A lot of times it's because I recognize someone and I want to find out where I saw them before.  Like now I'm watching the Star Trek: Enterprise series and I knew I recognized the actress playing the Vulcan T'pol.  Thanks to ol' IMDB I found out she also played the amazon warrior leader and love interest of Teal'c in Stargate SG1.

IMDB rules! I'm surprised none of my friends know of it. Whenever we talk movies and get stumped on, I dunno, an actor or director or budget, they talk into their phone i.e. Siri/Hey Google. Before they have the (correct!) info up, the wife or I will already have what we're looking for on the IMDB app. Wow, this is starting to sound like a commercial haha.

Isn't that like the most fun way to supplement a movie afterward? Except when the trivia section is four miles long. Sometimes I have to take breaks lol (I'm looking at you Star Wars movies).

And MM was written by the dude behind PLUTO NASH?? WTF.

Finished my Star Trek; Fan Collection: Q

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Fascinating.

Right after I watch a movie, I have a habit of going straight to its  IMDB and/or Wiki page and soaking up all the useless trivia they have on it.

I do the same thing!  A lot of times it's because I recognize someone and I want to find out where I saw them before.  Like now I'm watching the Star Trek: Enterprise series and I knew I recognized the actress playing the Vulcan T'pol.  Thanks to ol' IMDB I found out she also played the amazon warrior leader and love interest of Teal'c in Stargate SG1.

IMDB rules! I'm surprised none of my friends know of it. Whenever we talk movies and get stumped on, I dunno, an actor or director or budget, they talk into their phone i.e. Siri/Hey Google. Before they have the (correct!) info up, the wife or I will already have what we're looking for on the IMDB app. Wow, this is starting to sound like a commercial haha.

Isn't that like the most fun way to supplement a movie afterward? Except when the trivia section is four miles long. Sometimes I have to take breaks lol (I'm looking at you Star Wars movies).

And MM was written by the dude behind PLUTO NASH?? WTF.

IMDB and Wikipedia are my go-tos for trivial stuff I want to know.  For instance, I'm watching the Cardinals vs A's game and the announcer started talking about famed A's pitcher Catfish Hunter and he mentioned that he was deceased.  I had no idea.  So I googled his name and thanks to Wikipedia I found out he died from ALS in 1999 (RIP).  I know Wikipedia entries are written by average joes but it seems to be generally accurate.

Head of the Family(1996)-Low budget goodness from the folks at Full Moon Video. A family of mutants named the Stackpools are conducting experiments on people, turning them into mindless zombies. When a local restaurant owners discovers their gruesome secret, he tries to black male them by threating to expose them if they don't pay up, but the family won't be so easily threatened. Harmless time killer with a brisk running time, hot naked women and some campy entertainment. I give it 2 out of 5.

Watched ABC's reboots of Press Your Luck, Card Sharks and Match Game last night.

"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (2018)

Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales gains spider powers, just in time to join the "real" Spider-Man and several of his alternate-universe counterparts to stop The Kingpin from causing inter-dimensional havoc.
I wasn't sure how I was going to like this one at first, since the main character isn't the Spider-Man I grew up on, but the flick is gorgeously animated, very funny, and action packed. Lots of fun -- just forget everything you know about Spidey and roll with it.

^^^^ I felt the same way about that movie. I didn't think it would be all that great but I really liked it. I hear there will be a sequel and if it comes, I'll watch it.

007 wrote:

^^^^ I felt the same way about that movie. I didn't think it would be all that great but I really liked it. I hear there will be a sequel and if it comes, I'll watch it.

It made a shit-ton of $$ so I'd say a sequel is inevitable

"Die Hard" (1988)

A New York cop visiting his estranged wife in L.A. for Christmas takes on a skyscraper full of terrorists. Bruce Willis became a bona fide movie star thanks to this action classic. You've all seen it, you all know it by heart, it still kicks ass 30-plus years later. Nuff said.

"Black Shampoo" (1976)

A strange blend of blaxploitation and sexploitation from director Greydon Clark, the '70s trash kingpin of "Satan's Cheerleaders," "Without Warning" and "Joysticks" fame.

Studly black hairdresser "Mr. Jonathan" has a booming business in which he styles rich womens' hair and also attends to their, errr... other needs. Everything goes great until he makes the mistake of falling in love with his salon's new receptionist, who happens to be the "property" of a local mobster.

Cheap as hell and filled with nudity, bad dialogue and wooden acting, this flick plays like a softcore porn until the last fifteen or twenty minutes, when it suddenly turns into an ultra-violent revenge saga full of gun play and chainsaw dismemberments (!). Even experienced bad movie masochists are bound to say "WTF?" at least once during its mercifully short run time. The best part of this flick is the funky-as-hell score. Otherwise, AVOID.

"Dollman vs. Demonic Toys" (1993)


Before Freddy met Jason, before Alien met Predator, Charles Band's Full Moon studio produced this gleefully cheap "cross-over" between two of their "franchises" - the evil playthings of "Demonic Toys" and the six-inch-tall alien cop "Dollman." As a bonus, they even threw in the shrunken blonde hot chick from "Bad Channels" for good measure.

It's Halloween night and disgraced police officer Judith Grey (Tracy Scoggins, slumming in between her stints on "Dynasty" and "Lois & Clark") has enlisted Dollman (the hilariously deadpan Tim Thomerson) and his girlfriend Ginger (Melissa Behr) to help her eliminate the Demonic Toys once and for all at their toy warehouse home base. Cheap sets, cheap gore, and lotsa low-rent monster mayhem ensues, set to the music of Quiet Riot (!).

Even with a bunch of recycled footage from the previous "Dollman," "Demonic Toys" and "Bad Channels" flicks added in for padding, the run time on this epic battle royale was only a hair over an hour!  So hey, at least my suffering was minimal.

"The Great Texas Dynamite Chase" (1975)

A foxy prison escapee and a girl hitchhiker join forces to commit a series of daring bank robberies across Texas, with the cops just a few steps behind them the entire way. The two leading ladies in this oh-so-'70s exploitation action comedy are hot (and frequently nude), plus lots of cars crash and stuff blows up. What more do you need to have a good time with a movie?

Fear The Walking Dead

Fat Freddy wrote:

"The Great Texas Dynamite Chase" (1975)

A foxy prison escapee and a girl hitchhiker join forces to commit a series of daring bank robberies across Texas, with the cops just a few steps behind them the entire way. The two leading ladies in this oh-so-'70s exploitation action comedy are hot (and frequently nude), plus lots of cars crash and stuff blows up. What more do you need to have a good time with a movie?

LOL I'm sold. This honestly sounds and looks like the perfect R-rated Saturday Afternoon Matinee.