TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV series) 2014

History Detectives

They're actually showing real movies on SyFy today with a Planet Of The Apes marathon.

Twilight Zone - Season 1 "A Stop At Willoughby"

This is one of the episodes where once you know the twist at the end, it's a little tedious to sit through.

Cardinals vs Brewers

We got smoked today; back to 2nd place.

Newsradio

Are you kidding me???? Rockford Files and Kojak back to back!!! Awesome!!!! Gotta love that MeTV.

"Killdozer" (1974) a construction crew uncovers a meteorite that turns their bulldozer into a sentient killing machine in this semi classic made for TV z-movie. Unintentional laughs galore!

^^I put that on in the background while doing some of my taxes (yeah, I'm really late). I can't believe I've never heard of it before. Hilarious!

EXAM - People with Netflix Instant: Go. Watch. This. Now. This is an obscure GEM of a find and left my wife and I unexpectedly breathless. It's minimalism in the form of the equally awesome Cube. Several candidates applying for a dream job at an unknown corporation are placed in a room to take an exam in 80 minutes, the final test before hiring. They are given four rules: don't leave the room, don't talk to the security guard, don't talk to the invigilator behind the two-way mirror, and do not soil the exam paper on their desk. What follows is a mind F*ck that has the candidates working together and against each other in a tone reminiscent of a brutality film yet can't be called a horror film. The script is hyper-intelligent yet easily comprehended, the acting is believable, the characters well-sketched, and the twist is the best I've seen since Oldboy. It's worth your 80 minutes, trust me.

BEVERLY HILLS COP II - I'm with Keith here; this is much more enjoyable than the first (IMO) underrated ground-breaker. This is most likely due to a script that hasn't gone through several thousand rewrites over the course of ten years, thus resulting in a more cohesive fluidity. However, several points:

1. Same problem I had with the first film: every time Eddie gives a spiel to misdirect someone, the assumption is always the same--that the other person be a complete and clueless idiot. Eddie is about a convincing as a Sprint CSR yet the victim falls prey to his antics all too easy.

2. Even though the plot summary is fairly simple, the way they go about solving it is a mess and completely incomprehensible. I had no idea what was going on or who's who etc. What made it more absurd is the semi-comical way Judge Reinhold's character summed the whole thing up at the end ("that guy did this and then went to that guy and they both gave these to that guy etc.).

3. Damn, what a weak villain. Dude barely gets screen time, is acted out by name with muscle, and the payoff, in which you THINK there's gonna be a standoff between he and Axel, just made me laugh. And I thought Dr. No was poorly conceived.

4. Judge Reinhold is funnier than Eddie Murphy.

Despite all this, the movie was entertaining and could be Tony Scott's best film (I'm more a fan of his brother). I still think I prefer III, but I'm gonna have to check that one out again since it's been so long since I've seen it.

All in all, I get how these were ground breaking for Eddie back in the day but...really, what was the big deal??

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Killdozer" (1974) a construction crew uncovers a meteorite that turns their bulldozer into a sentient killing machine in this semi classic made for TV z-movie. Unintentional laughs galore!

This is on Netflix ? Oh man I vaguely remember this from my childhood (and thought it was awesome,naturally). I'm sure it won't hold up but I gotta watch this again. Memories....

007 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Killdozer" (1974) a construction crew uncovers a meteorite that turns their bulldozer into a sentient killing machine in this semi classic made for TV z-movie. Unintentional laughs galore!

This is on Netflix ? Oh man I vaguely remember this from my childhood (and thought it was awesome,naturally). I'm sure it won't hold up but I gotta watch this again. Memories....

No, my 11 year old son found it on YouTube while he was looking at videos about trucks/heavy equipment... He sez "Dad, have you ever seen this movie?" I said "No, but I've heard of it... and it sounds awesome!" so we piped it to the living-room TV through his tablet and we watched it together.

...and as we expected, it was pure 70s cheez. Absolutely hilarious. We especially liked how this gigantic two ton diesel powered, black smoke spewing bulldozer somehow managed to keep sneaking up on people undetected..... even my son was like "Come ON, how can you not hear that thing coming from a mile away?"

Check it, yo:

Fat Freddy wrote:

007 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Killdozer" (1974) a construction crew uncovers a meteorite that turns their bulldozer into a sentient killing machine in this semi classic made for TV z-movie. Unintentional laughs galore!

This is on Netflix ? Oh man I vaguely remember this from my childhood (and thought it was awesome,naturally). I'm sure it won't hold up but I gotta watch this again. Memories....

No, my 11 year old son found it on YouTube while he was looking at videos about trucks/heavy equipment... He sez "Dad, have you ever seen this movie?" I said "No, but I've heard of it... and it sounds awesome!" so we piped it to the living-room TV through his tablet and we watched it together.

...and as we expected, it was pure 70s cheez. Absolutely hilarious. We especially liked how this gigantic two ton diesel powered, black smoke spewing bulldozer somehow managed to keep sneaking up on people undetected..... even my son was like "Come ON, how can you not hear that thing coming from a mile away?"

Check it, yo:

Ha! Better than nothing. Thanks

corplhicks wrote:

All in all, I get how these were ground breaking for Eddie back in the day but...really, what was the big deal??

I hate to say it, but if you were 10 years older you would understand. Prior to Eddie, Richard Pryor was the last African-American comic to cross over into the general white population and be a hit in a huge way. Of course, Richard had the help of Gene Wilder... Eddie did all on his own.... And as we know Eddie was highly influenced by Pryor. And during those early years, he was bigger than Pryor.

Eddie got his break on SNL (and was the biggest star during his time on the show.) Every white kid I knew had a copy of his first two comedy albums and most of us had seen his HBO special. Heck, you go to any party or gathering and quote that special and everyone would start laughing.

His SNL work and his comedy albums/specials laid the groundwork for his early movies - they were funny and generally good flicks that were well liked.

Of course, he started to move down the "family movie" path pretty quickly (see Golden Child.) Of course, he release Raw (which was the highest grossing comedy concert film for a number of years. Anything after that was a different type of Eddie film.

^^ Yeah, Eddie Murphy could do no wrong from around 1982 (when he left "SNL" and did "48 HRS") till around '88. Even his lesser movies from that period (i.e. the aforementioned "Golden Child") made a sh*t ton of money.

Once the 90s hit his filmography becomes really hit or miss. ("Vampire in Brooklyn" anyone?) By the mid 90s he'd had a bunch of bombs in a row so "Beverly Hills Cop III" felt like a desperation move, i.e. "Dammit I need a hit!"

He did make a bit of a resurgence in the second half of the 90s with the "Nutty Professor" and "Doctor Doolittle" flicks (and of course his voice work as "Donkey" in the "Shrek" series) but his bombs have greatly outnumbered his hits since then.

For what it's worth, I thought he was funny as hell in "Tower Heist" and he was great as the James Brown analogue (James "Thunder" Early) in "Dreamgirls."

^^Thank you both for this, I've never really been given any perspective on Murphy's breakthrough roles. I do think his debut in 48 Hrs was far more profound than BHC so that's probably why I scratch my head at the latter, but I get what you're saying (yet another reason I feel I was born ten years too late :-) ). I do think the dude is charming and funny even though he was a bit of a non actor in the beginning. That Dreamgirls role blew me away though, best work he's ever done. And Raw is a riot.

Fat Freddy wrote:

^^ Yeah, Eddie Murphy could do no wrong for from around 1982 (when he left "SNL" and did "48 HRS") till around '88. Even his lesser movies from that period (i.e. the aforementioned "Golden Child") made a sh*t ton of money.

Once the 90s hit his filmography becomes really hit or miss. ("Vampire in Brooklyn" anyone?) By the mid 90s he'd had a bunch of bombs in a row so "Beverly Hills Cop III" felt like a desperation move, i.e. "Dammit I need a hit!"

He did make a bit of a resurgence in the second half of the 90s with the "Nutty Professor" and "Doctor Doolittle" flicks (and of course his voice work as "Donkey" in the "Shrek" series) but his bombs have greatly outnumbered his hits since then.

For what it's worth, I thought he was funny as hell in "Tower Heist" and he was great as the James Brown analogue (James "Thunder" Early) in "Dreamgirls."

Never saw Tower Heist - might have to add that to my Netflix queue. He was great in Dreamgirls!

corplhicks wrote:

^^Thank you both for this, I've never really been given any perspective on Murphy's breakthrough roles. I do think his debut in 48 Hrs was far more profound than BHC so that's probably why I scratch my head at the latter, but I get what you're saying (yet another reason I feel I was born ten years too late :-) ). I do think the dude is charming and funny even though he was a bit of a non actor in the beginning. That Dreamgirls role blew me away though, best work he's ever done. And Raw is a riot.  

Eddie owes a lot to Richard Pryor to breaking down barriers, but everyone that cam after him that broke through to white audiences (Chris Rock, Martin Laurence, Will Smith, Etc) owe far more to Eddie.

Twilight Zone - Season 1 "The Mighty Casey"

Also, last night I watched several other Season 1 episodes including "The After Hours" (the creepy mannequin "night out" one).

"The Animal" (2001) a washout police cadet (Rob Schneider) gains strange new abilities after he has a severe accident, and he gets patched up by a crazy doctor who uses animal parts.
...my kids told me that I "had" to watch this with them on Netflix because "it was soooo funny!" It's a moron comedy but I have to admit, I actually laughed a few times. It was less painful than I thought it would be.

Season finale of '24'

thejokeriv wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

^^Thank you both for this, I've never really been given any perspective on Murphy's breakthrough roles. I do think his debut in 48 Hrs was far more profound than BHC so that's probably why I scratch my head at the latter, but I get what you're saying (yet another reason I feel I was born ten years too late :-) ). I do think the dude is charming and funny even though he was a bit of a non actor in the beginning. That Dreamgirls role blew me away though, best work he's ever done. And Raw is a riot.  

Eddie owes a lot to Richard Pryor to breaking down barriers, but everyone that cam after him that broke through to white audiences (Chris Rock, Martin Laurence, Will Smith, Etc) owe far more to Eddie.

One thing I didn't expect to see in BHC II was Chris Rock's short cameo. I'm sure he was just an amateur then and was brought on by Eddie. I hear he was a right hand man to black comedians, which is cool.

Castle - Season 2

Monday Night Raw

Last night I watched the MLB All-Star game.

Me too.  Unfortunately my Cardinals were the reason the NL lost.  I despise the All Star game.  Who knows what an outing like Wainwright or Neshek had last night will have on their psyches; pitchers are so psychologically fragile.   That's also why I hate the homerun hitting contest.

Since MLB is off the next 2 nights, expect a big list of TZ episodes to follow.

Fringe

I missed this series when it originally aired, now I'm kicking myself because it's a really excellent science fiction show. I just started season two and it's continuing to improve.