TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies, TV) 2018

Monday Night Raw

Ravenous

This French Canadian zombie flick starts out quite good, but the last 30-40 minutes gets a bit too esoteric and artsy, leaving a lot of questions (like why the F*ck was there a tower made from stacked chairs?). It was good for a two hour jaunt, but I doubt I'd ever watch it again.

That must be a different "Ravenous" than the one I know.  The one I've seen is about the Donner party and cannibalism; it has nothing to do with zombies.  That "Ravenous" is actually quite good in a sick way IMO.

The Partridge Family
Alice
Barney Miller

tohostudios wrote:

That must be a different "Ravenous" than the one I know.  The one I've seen is about the Donner party and cannibalism; it has nothing to do with zombies.  That "Ravenous" is actually quite good in a sick way IMO.

You're talking about the one with Robert Carlyle and Guy Pierce, yah? I've never seen that one, even though it's been on the radar for AGES...

Yeah, that's the one.

Don't know why, but I've been on a zombie kick lately.... Last night, I watched:

The Rezort



Jurassic Park but with zombies instead of dinosaurs is about the only way to describe this one. Never really rises above being pretty mediocre.

That's an interesting concept.  Too bad they apparently didn't execute it very well.

tohostudios wrote:

That's an interesting concept.  Too bad they apparently didn't execute it very well.

It had some cool ideas, but really missed the mark with STUPID actions and plot contrivances. The fact that all the acting was very average, and some characters were nothing but stereotypes didn't help at all.

The movie also WAAAAAY overuses one of my pet peeves with zombie flicks. You've got a group of characters in an area (room in a house or building, middle of a field, forest clearing, etc), they've all survived and know that the undead can come from ANYWHERE, and somehow a single zombie comes from literally NOWHERE and bites someone... So not a single person in that group heard, smelled, saw ANYTHING?!

Took the kids to see 'Solo' the other night. I enjoyed it, the kids liked it. My only minor complaint was that because of the storyline time frame, it almost doesn't feel like a 'Star Wars' movie.

There are a few stormtroopers in the beginning and Han wants to be a pilot for the Empire, but for the most part, there aren't any big connections to the Star Wars franchise if that makes sense. No Jedis, no "force" and just some vague references to the whole Star Wars universe.

I get it. Han always said he steered clear of the Empire and the rebellion and all that, so it makes sense in that regard. It just seemed weird to me. I guess I should be thankful they didn't try to awkwardly shoe-horn in a cameo from C3-PO or R2 for that reason.

Chewie gets some good screen time though and it was cool to see why wookies should be feared.

Caught this doc on Netflix the other night...

Good stuff.

"L7: Pretend We're Dead" (2017)

Cool documentary about the rise and fall of the all-girl '90s punk band, who were never quite able to make a mainstream breakthrough despite being buddies with grunge royalty like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Smashing Pumpkins, etc. Packed with lotsa cool vintage live clips and gross-but-hilarious road stories, these gals were (and still are) badass.

"Betty Blowtorch and Her Amazing True Life Adventures" (2006)

Another cool doc about a badass all-girl rock band! This flick tells the chaotic story of L.A.'s Betty Blowtorch, a late '90s punk/metal combo who were just starting to turn heads with their sleazy tunes and in-your-face 'tudes. Unfortunately their career was cut short when lead singer and ring leader Bianca Halstead (aka "Bianca Butthole") was killed in an auto accident while on tour in late 2001,  I didn't get hipped to B.B. till they were already broken up but this doc's footage of the gals throwin' down on stage and off filled me in and let me know that I missed out on one hell of a kick-ass band!

I've heard OF this band but I don't think I've actually heard them before.

Scoping it out now...

tohostudios wrote:

I've heard OF this band but I don't think I've actually heard them before.

Scoping it out now...

Are you familiar with Nashville P*ssy? Betty Blowtorch were similar but less redneck. I've heard them described as "Like Motorhead with tits." That pretty much sums 'em up.

Damn!  As soon as I saw this album cover I thought "That looks familiar:


Yep!  It's in the Toho Vault!

I have so much music down there that I've forgotten about...

tohostudios wrote:

Damn!  As soon as I saw this album cover I thought "That looks familiar:


Yep!  It's in the Toho Vault!

Yep, that's the one I have too. It's freakin badass! Haven't spun it in a while but now that I've seen this doc I'm gonna have to bust it out this week.

I guess that shows you how important album covers actually are.  That's the only reason I thought I had anything by Betty Blowtorch; that artwork rang a bell.

That and the fact that after watching that trailer I thought "That sounds like my kinda band."

I'm listening to the album now on Youtube.  I don't know why I don't remember actually owning this disc because this is good stuff.  Reminds me a lot of early Joan Jett.

Not to mention it also has a cover of Butt Trumpet's "I'm Ugly And I Don't Know Why" - which is on an album I of course have and remember because it's a "classic" in the punt/sleaze genre.

EDIT:  Now I'm doing some research.  I thought somebody in Butt Trumpet wrote that song but the Betty Blowtorch version credits them with it.

Thanks for giving me homework Freddy!

Quote :

Not to mention it also has a cover of Butt Trumpet's "I'm Ugly And I Don't Know Why" - which is on an album I of course have and remember because it's a "classic" in the punt/sleaze genre.

Yeah, they explain the connection in the documentary.
Bianca "Butthole" Halstead and one of the other Blowtorch gals had been members of Butt Trumpet. Apparently the (male) lead singer of Butt Trumpet was getting P.O.'d that "I'm Ugly" (which is the only song Bianca sang in that band) was becoming their big "hit" and taking attention away from his songs. So when Bianca and her pal split to form Betty Blowtorch they took the song with them.

Ah, that explains it.  Because I just tracked down the two albums and the Butt Trumpet album was released in 1994 while the Betty Blowtorch album was released in 2008.  So I was like "How the hell did anyone in Betty Blowtorch write it?"

Oh, and most of that Butt Trumpet album sucks so that guy got what he deserved.

Despite his name and face being visible on the poster, it can't really qualify as a Bolo Yeung movie, as he is in it for about three minutes total, is dubbed, and if you were to delete his scenes from the movie, it wouldn't have had any impact on the movie at all.

I don't have very high expectations for the acting in the traditional sense when it comes to martial arts B-movies, but almost none have acting as bad as this one does. 1992's Lethal Ninja and 1995's Warrior of Justice are the only two that rank lower in that department at the top of my head. In particular, the "No! Lies" guy towards the very start of the film.

Also, according to this movie, it takes about nine months to make copies of a computer file to a disk. Nine full months.

Perhaps some mercy could be shown if the fight scenes were really good, but the best ones are ho-hum, if that, and the worst is a horrible fight scene towards the end in the back of a moving garbage truck. Also worth noting, this may be the only movie ever involving a death by toilet seat.

Does anyone remember an early 1990s Canadian metal band called Dogs With Jobs? There's a scene early on in the movie where you can hear one of their songs at a nightclub.

Barney Miller

Been getting caught up on Agents Of SHIELD.

Ring Of Honor