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

BTW, you're right.  Discussing this over a few beers sounds perfect; like stuff I used to do in college (back when you could discuss controversial things civilly between people with contrasting viewpoints - sadly I don't think we can do that anymore for the most part).

tohostudios wrote:

BTW, you're right.  Discussing this over a few beers sounds perfect; like stuff I used to do in college (back when you could discuss controversial things civilly between people with contrasting viewpoints - sadly I don't think we can do that anymore for the most part).

I agree, how is one to learn, if the only people you speak to parrot your viewpoint. I am afraid that this world has left me far behind, and I am glad it has.

Watched more of Disc 4 of "The Vietnam War" today while on the elliptical. 

The series is getting more and more intense as the US involvement escalates.  And from a dramatic point of view, for the last two discs the film has been cutting back to "present time" and interviewing the family of a young man who was determined to go to Vietnam and finally did.  By the way they're talking you already know he didn't come back but waiting for that shoe to drop instills a feeling of dread while watching the film; you know it's coming, just not when.  It's a great dramatic ploy by the filmmakers but it's kind of difficult to watch.



On a side note, I feel a sort of sense of guilt watching this while I workout; like it's just "entertainment".  It's definitely more than that to me but I almost feel like I should be giving the film more "reverence" than I am.  If that makes any sense...

I remember the story of that young man, and its gut wrenching

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.  You can just tell it's coming...

Mental Samurai

Cool Hand Luke. Ugh, 50 hard boiled eggs in an hour. Makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Still a great film though.

That is a great film.

You know what dawned on me the last time I watched it?  It's a movie set in a prison, featuring daily goings on between prisoners and between prisoners and guards, and the lead character is a renegade prisoner who ends up rallying the other prisoners behind him.  Know what's missing?  EVERYTHING that would be in a remake of the film.  No cursing, no sex, no real violence, no nudity (unless you count a brief view of Newman's ass as he's getting dressed for "the box")...it's amazing when you think about it, the thing would be rated a soft PG by today's standards. 

Still one of my favorite films of all time.

Gifted

Murder-Set-Pieces(2004)-In Las Vegas, a German photographer lives a double life as a serial killer who picks up prostitutes to torture and murder them. He seems to be getting away with it to, until his girlfriend's young daughter begins to figure out that something wrong with her mom's boyfriend. The version I saw was apparently the heavily cut version and that their is a couple of different cuts of the film including the NC-17 version which runs considerably longer. As is, it was an okay film more or less as I've seen way worse and way better. I give it 2 out of 5. Look for genre favorites Gunnar Hansen, Tony Todd and Ed Neal making brief cameos.

House Of Wax
The Dirt

Leatherface wrote:

Murder-Set-Pieces(2004)-In Las Vegas, a German photographer lives a double life as a serial killer who picks up prostitutes to torture and murder them.  He seems to be getting away with it to, until his girlfriend's young daughter begins to figure out that something wrong with her mom's boyfriend.  The version I saw was apparently the heavily cut version and that their is a couple of different cuts of the film including the NC-17 version which runs considerably longer.  As is, it was an okay film more or less as I've seen way worse and way better.  I give it 2 out of 5.  Look for genre favorites Gunnar Hansen, Tony Todd and Ed Neal making brief cameos.

I have a version of this and I'm not sure which one of the multiple cuts mine is either. I think it's "unrated" which may or may not be the same thing as the NC-17 version. Regardless, for all the hype I read about the film I was severely underwhelmed.

Get Out. B+

Wow! Really fresh and original stuff here (although fans of this movie better get off their ass and see Hereditary!) by comedian Jordan Peele about [redacted]. Honestly. the less you know about this movie going into it the better. It's not an airtight script--Peele is asking for the viewer to buy a TON of implausibilities and the humor is surprisingly stilted--but what remains is thought-provoking. Memorable.

Leatherface wrote:

Murder-Set-Pieces(2004)-In Las Vegas, a German photographer lives a double life as a serial killer who picks up prostitutes to torture and murder them.  He seems to be getting away with it to, until his girlfriend's young daughter begins to figure out that something wrong with her mom's boyfriend.  The version I saw was apparently the heavily cut version and that their is a couple of different cuts of the film including the NC-17 version which runs considerably longer.  As is, it was an okay film more or less as I've seen way worse and way better.  I give it 2 out of 5.  Look for genre favorites Gunnar Hansen, Tony Todd and Ed Neal making brief cameos.

tohostudios wrote:

I have a version of this and I'm not sure which one of the multiple cuts mine is either. I think it's "unrated" which may or may not be the same thing as the NC-17 version. Regardless, for all the hype I read about the film I was severely underwhelmed.

EVERY GORE HOUND I KNOW HATES THIS MOVIE.

I haven't seen it but have heard enough about it to avoid. I love grue and ultra-violence in my horror but small children getting graphically stabbed? Tearful toddlers cuddling with their mom's corpse? Fuck that shit. I don't care how bad it is or ineffective. Being a dad makes me intolerant of crap like that.

Watched Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

Watched the House Of Wax (1953)



The late great Vincent Price as a disfigured psychotic museum curator who opens a wax museum with lifelike figures. Maybe too lifelike. Good film with a good cast including Carolyn (Morticia Addams) Jones and Charles Bronson.

The Joy of Painting

"The Dirt" (2019)

Netflix adapts the saga of Motley Crue's rise, fall, and eventual redemption, based on the band's notorious warts-and-all 2000 biography. It's not the Royal Shakespeare Company, of course, and I'm sure it's full of inaccuracies and fabrications, but it is an entertainingly loud and trashy flick with all the over-the-top depictions of drugs, booze, and sleaze that fans will want to see. Turn off your brain and enjoy the ride.

The Simpsons
Bob's Burgers
The Walking Dead season finale

Very Scary People-The NorCal Rapist:Phantom Predtor

Love Death and Robots on Netflix. Cool stuff.

Us



Pretty good movie from a scare/creepiness point of view.

I don't care for allegory, however, and just want straight-forward horror.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Us



Pretty good movie from a scare/creepiness point of view.

I don't care for allegory, however, and just want straight-forward horror.

Peele seems to be aiming to be this generation's Rod Serling. After seeing Get Out--a movie I enjoyed quite a bit but felt needed maturity--and hearing about Us, and now his hosting the new Twilight Zone (as well as being involved creatively), I can tell his MO will always be message-heavy with strong allegorical undercurrents. This DOES work for some filmmakers--James Cameron, Roman Polanski, and even horror icons such as George Romero--but IMO he needs to find a bit more balance. I was actually surprised at the violence displayed at the climax of Get Out, as it felt rather reactionary and could have been more clever to tie into the thematic dynamics. That kind of thing. Still impressive for a fresh face in film--lots of potential that I hope doesn't get wasted from overt ambition.

BTW, was Us funny? I was shocked at how awkward the comic sequences were in Get Out. Like discarded low-rent Kay & Peele segments. I thought for sure I would be laughing at bit since I find that show riotous but it reminded me too much of the bumbling cop sequences in Last House on the Left.

American Hustle and Supergirl ( tv series)

Watched more of Disc 5 of Ken Burns "The Vietnam War".

I'm guessing Donald Trump never saw the interview with John McCain in this film.  It's an interview with a French journalist right after McCain had been taken prisoner with both arms and a leg broken from being shot down.  The North Vietnamese medics had just set all his bones with not so much as an aspirin for the pain.  

McCain sounds so hopeless in the interview as he ends it by saying he hopes he gets to see his wife again.  The narrator then says after the interview was over, McCain was beaten for not expressing enough gratitude to his captors.

How anyone can denigrate someone who has been through that is beyond me, I don't care what political differences you might have.

The Hunger(1983)-pretty good vampire flick with David Bowie and some cool old school special effects. I give it 3 out of 5.