TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies, TV) 2017

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Idiocracy" (2006)

An Army slacker (Luke Wilson) takes part in a cryogenics experiment that goes terribly wrong and puts him to sleep for 500 years. When he wakes up in the future, human intelligence has decreased to the point that he is now the smartest man in America.
This slapsticky sci-fi satire from Mike Judge of "King Of The Hill/Office Space" fame is silly on the outside, but it can also be seen as a cautionary tale of where humanity is headed unless we start using our brains a little more often!!

Talk about a blatant ripoff...50 years before that movie...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons

And yeah, that's where we're headed.  Thank you Apple, Facebook and Twitter.

Marching Morons? Isn't that what Jesse The Body Ventura called the Bushwhackers ?

20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)

An American spacecraft on a return mission from Venus crash lands off the coast of Sicily. Only the flight commander survives, as well as an unhatched inhabitant of Venus. The creature,dubbed Ymir, eventually hatches,escapes and grows rapidly, rampaging across the Italian countryside. This is a fun film, highlighted by al effects courtesy of Ray Harryhausen.

The Giant Claw (1957)

A "UFO" begins to terrorize the skies, causing planes to inexplicably disappear. As it turns out, the UFO is actually a giant bird from r antimatter galaxy, impervious to harm (shares of Rodan!). This is a goofy movie with what has to be one of the goofiest looking monsters in the history of filmdom (my wife swears they got the idea for Eon from Rudolph's Shiny New Year from this film).

HAHAHAHA!

The Giant Claw. 

It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955)

A giant octopus, driven from it's natural habitat by hydrogen bomb testing, starts foraging for food on the vast Pacific seaways, eventually hunting around San Francisco Bay. Some more great special effects by Ray Harryhausen, with the giant cephalopod destroying various San Francisco landmarks.

What the heck are you watching, "Cheesy 50s Movie Day"?  Those are the kinds of flicks I grew up watching every Saturday afternoon when I was a kid.  Drove my Mom crazy.  "Why don't you go outside and play?"  "But Mom, It Came From Beneath The Sea is coming on..."

So far I own all three of those.

"Aliens" (1986)


Awoken from cryo-sleep 57 years after "Alien," Ellen Ripley returns to now-populated planetoid LV-426 with a regimen of Space Marines in tow, to investigate a suspected xenomorph infestation. Naturally, mayhem ensues.
James Cameron's gung-ho sequel to Ridley Scott's masterwork is totally different in tone from its slow-burning predecessor, and kicks more ass than the rest of the franchise put together. I've lost count of how many times I've seen this flick, but I never get tired of it.

I received a 4 movie disc set called Sci Fi Creature Classics from my daughter for my last birthday. I finally got around to watching it. The last movie?

Mothra (1961)

I've seen every Godzilla movie countless times but had never seen this one until now. The story in this one involves an irradiated island that is discovered after atomic testing. A joint expedition between Japan and the al country Rolisica explores the island, discovering the Shobijin (twin faeries). A shady Rolisican kidnaps the twins for monetary gain. This doesn't sit well with the other island natives so they and the twins awaken their deity, Mothra, who proceeds to year up Japan and Rolisica in it's search for the 2 girls. Not a bad film. I don't know how I missed it all these years.

What a great birthday present!  It took me forever to find a copy of The Giant Claw.  Three of those are actually decent films and The Giant Claw is one of those "so bad it's good" films, a classic in "turkeydom" (which is appropriate since the titular monster looks like a plucked turkey).

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Aliens" (1986)


Awoken from cryo-sleep 57 years after "Alien," Ellen Ripley returns to now-populated planetoid LV-426 with a regimen of Space Marines in tow, to investigate a suspected xenomorph infestation. Naturally, mayhem ensues.
James Cameron's gung-ho sequel to Ridley Scott's masterwork is totally different in tone from its slow-burning predecessor, and kicks more ass than the rest of the franchise put together. I've lost count of how many times I've seen this flick, but I never get tired of it.

I saw that in the theatre when it was first released. Loved it then, love it now. This is one of those films I never tire of (the following Alien movies are rather bad, I think).

I have the Alien Quadrilogy box set but honestly the only thing I really remember about "Aliens" is Ripley manning some kind of robot thing while she's battling the alien. 

I've seen Aliens several times and it really hasn't impressed me in any of my viewings.  I love the original one though.  And I agree the subsequent sequels after Aliens were pretty bad, especially the third one.

Yeah, the series went straight down the poop chute after "Aliens," haha.

My 9 year old son watched it with me, his final assessment was "THAT. WAS. AWESOME!"

Now he wants me to go get "Alien vs. Predator" from the library for him. I sez "Okay, but I warn you, it's a pretty major step down from this one," haha

Day Of The Animals (1977)

Depletion of the ozone layer causes madness in animals over the elevation of 5000 feet. Christopher George stars as a guide for a group of hitchhikers stranded on the top of a mountain and trying to make it to safety. I saw this as a kid and loved it. It held up okay I guess. The story is rather cliched (typical 70s cautionary eco/animals attack story) but it has a pretty good cast , including Michael Ansara, Linda Day George and Leslie Nielson as an ad exec slowing succumbing to the madness as well.

The Good Dinosaur
Duel (1971)

"Agents Of P.O.W.E.R." (2015)


A group of busty, scantily clad super heroines (including thinly veiled, generic versions of Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Black Widow) investigate the mysterious death of one of their super comrades.  Along the way, they get beaten up repeatedly by an endless parade of henchmen.

...it soon becomes obvious that this ultra cheap, shot on video softcore nonsense isn't a "movie," it's a cosplay fetish video for weirdos who get off on watching semi-hot girls being punched in the stomach, felt up, and abused. Don't get me wrong, the eye candy is nice, but everything else about this flick completely sucks.

...and just to add insult to injury it actually has the balls to end on a f*ckin' cliffhanger, as if anyone in their right mind would want a sequel!

It's only March but I've already got a contender for "worst movie I've seen this year."

Werewolf Of London (1935)

Universal's first werewolf movie (predating the Wolf Man by 6 years), this one deals with a botanist (Henry Hull) in Tibet searching for a rare flower that blooms only under moonlight. While there, he's attacked and bitten by a mysterious creature. Naturally, this leads to his lycanthropy curse once he returns to London. This one is pretty good, with great make up and the werewolf acting unlike most werewolves in other movies. This makes sure to grab his scarf and hat before he goes out on the prowl.

Now that song is going to be stuck in my head all day...

Star Wars

The 1977 classic that never gets old for me.

"Tight" (2012)


Adult movie stars Bree Olson and Monica Mayhem come up with a brilliant "legit" business idea: they recruit several of their fellow X-film starlets to form an all-girl, all-porn-star rock band (with Monica on vocals and Bree as manager), then they hit the road for what proves to be a problem-plagued U.S. tour. Monica's last name is a very appropriate word to describe what follows, as egos, alcohol, and a pronounced lack of musical talent eventually takes its toll on the hastily created group.

This documentary was apparently boiled down from a 13-episode Playboy TV reality series, which explains why several scenes feel so obviously "staged" for the cameras. Still, aside from some choice T&A bits (which are naturally unavoidable, due to the ladies'....errr...  day jobs), "Tight" is not all that different from the shenanigans you'd see in any typical rock documentary (rehearsals, poorly attended gigs in crappy venues, disinterested record label scouts, band members getting drunk and arguing, etc.) except that in this case the participants are better looking than usual and barely dressed.

"Tight" was entertainingly silly but it's not exactly a shock when the end credits reveal that the "band" split up at the end of their tour.

007 wrote:

Werewolf Of London (1935)

Universal's first werewolf movie (predating the Wolf Man by 6 years), this one deals with a botanist (Henry Hull) in Tibet searching for a rare flower that blooms only under moonlight. While there, he's attacked and bitten by a mysterious creature. Naturally, this leads to his lycanthropy curse once he returns to London. This one is pretty good, with great make up and the werewolf acting unlike most werewolves in other movies. This makes sure to grab his scarf and hat before he goes out on the prowl.

What?! I gotta see that! I watched:

Two episodes of Bob's Burgers

Also, on TV, I watched the new episode of Family Guy tonight.

Bob's Burgers
The Simpsons
The Walking Dead