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

tohostudios wrote:

Finished The Klingon Collective (the last episode was from Star Trek Voyager and pretty much sucked but the rest of the collection was highly enjoyable).

Now I've started the "Enterprise" collection.  It's the entire Star Trek Enterprise series from 2005 starring Scott Bakula.  It's a "prequel" to the original series.  I was so impressed by the episode of this series that was in the Collective that I bought the entire series.


So far the most interesting thing about the "Enterprise" series is the dynamic between the humans and the Vulcans.  Apparently once mankind finally became capable of interstellar flight, the Vulcans took it upon themselves to become our "benevolent mentors" which means they withhold information they think humans are not yet ready for.  This leads to some distrust and resentment of Vulcans among Star Fleet personnel.  This really helps explain the classic antagonistic relationship Dr. McCoy and Spock had in the original series.  As Spock would say, "Fascinating".

I love Star Trek and I watched that Klingon collection recently and now unto the 'Q' collection

"Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" (2016)

The superheroines from the '70s Saturday morning cult classic "Krofft Supershow" get a lukewarm 21st century makeover in this cheap looking flick that started out as a series of Web shorts.
In this version, small town crime fighters EW & DG (played by YouTube comediennes Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart -- don't worry, I never heard of 'em either) decide to try their luck in L.A., the apparent super hero-ing capitol of the world... which goes great for a while, till they have to face their first ever legit super villain.
"EW & DG" tries to be a hip, snarky, self aware super hero parody like "The Tick," but it never quite finds its groove. The two leading ladies make a good team and there are a few funny bits, but overall this one falls flat. Skip it.

My son and I went on Saturday to:



I really enjoyed it. Yah, the plot was a bit meh. Charles Dance was pretty wasted here. The characters were also a bit thin. BUT... who goes to a Godzilla movie expecting a deep plot, amazing acting, and fleshed out characters? We're there to see a big lizard kick the shit out of another big creature. In that regard, this was FUN. Ghidorah was powerful and menacing, Rodan actually looked cool and had some good tussles, and Mothra looked AMAZING!

I could be wrong, but it sounded the pitch of Ghidorah's roars was different among each head.

Yeah Ben I could hear the same thing with the pitch being different on each head. Like you said it was a pretty fun movie.

Also watched this weekend;

John Wick 3- Very good, just like the first two. Sets things up for part 4.

The Dead don’t Die- Terrible! I kept waiting for things to take off but that never happened. Not even funny. Bill Murray couldn’t even save this movie.

Ring of Honor

watched 'Pollock' and 'Kong: Skull Island'

I watched this documentary about bodybuilding icon Ronnie Coleman on Netflix before going to bed last night.

It shows some of his rise in the world of bodybuilding (and shows some of his hilarious workout clips), but mainly focuses on his life since his retirement.

Graduation Day (1981)

A high school track star drops dead on the track after winning a race. Soon after, the remaining members of the track team are systematically eliminated by an unknown killer. Stars Christopher George as the tough track coach and features Linnea Quigley and future Wheel Of Fortune star Vanna White in supporting roles. Otherwise, a pretty standard early slasher.

Went to the theater and saw Godzilla: King Of The Monsters last night.

"Secret Agent Super Dragon" (1966)

A suave secret agent is sent to Amsterdam to find the source of a mysterious new drug that's turning clean cut American kids into violent criminals. Unfortunately it's not nearly as fun as that sounds -- this is just another ultra-cheap, talky European spy flick made to cash in on the Sixties' 007 craze. Skip it.

"Destroy All Monsters!" (1968)

It's 1999, and Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and the rest of the kaiju crew are safely contained on an island off the coast of Japan.. until space aliens take control of the critters' minds, set them free, and turn them loose on major cities. It's up to Earth's defense force to find the aliens' secret base and regain control of the critters before their Monster Mashin' lays waste to the entire planet!  
... before "The Avengers," this was the ultimate cinematic team up movie! It's typically silly rubber-monster fun,with lots of the usual blasting, zapping, buildings falling over, and stuff blowin' up. My inner 8 year old was entertained.

^^^^ great fun flick !

007 wrote:

^^^^   great fun flick !

I still love that movie because it's got some obscure monsters in it like Manda and Gorasaurus.

"Black Eagle" (1988)

A CIA agent and martial-arts master (Sho "Revenge of the Ninja" Kosugi) is sent to the Mediterranean to recover some top secret tech from a crashed Air Force jet, before Russian spies can get their hands on it.
A technically well made but ultimately pretty dull espionage flick -- the island scenery is lovely, but Kosugi spends more time talking than kicking ass, which is unfortunate cuz he can't speak English worth a damn.
All the trailers/posters for this flick played up Jean Claude Van Damme's role as if he were the star, but as it turns out, he only has a minor part as a Russian henchman.
Do yourself a favor, fast forward to the climactic fight between Sho and J-C, and skip the rest of this snooze fest.

tohostudios wrote:

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Hereditary (2018) - Whoa! I will not spoil things here, only to say that this was scarier by far than I expected.

That came up on my Amazon Prime recommendations and since I never heard of it I didn't even bother investigating.  Guess I need to check it out.

Sorry I'm a little late on this one, but yes, Hereditary is an amazing movie and Ari Aster is the most creative genre director I've seen since Spielberg. It's a movie where expectations are constantly dashed. Also worth a second viewing; there are many small details that pop up in the frame that act as a map for where the story is headed. Neat use of physical effects, unapologetic with its treatment of trauma, filmed with no regard for formula or convention. I could go on.

I recommend pairing this with David Lowery's A Ghost Story (what a gut punch!) for a truly unorthodox movie experience. You'll wonder which plane of reality you're on.

Today I watched an episode of "Enterprise" call the "Andorian Incident".  As soon as the lead "baddie" Andorian appeared on screen with his moving antennae (as opposed to the "sticks" the Andorians wore for antenna in the original series) I knew immediately who it was behind the makeup.

My old "Reanimator" friend Jeffrey Combs.  Good grief this guy pops up all over the place in TV shows.  Babylon 5, Gotham, Masters Of Horror, Star Trek Deep Space Nine...and that's just TV.  He's also all over the place in movies.

District 9

"Angelfist" (1993)


A fine example of cheap, chop-socky cheese n' sleaze directed by exploitation legend Cirio H. Santiago (aka "the Filipino Roger Corman").

After her sister is killed in the Philippines, a lady cop from L.A. heads to Manila to solve her murder, and winds up embroiled in a fixed women's martial-arts championship AND a terrorist plan to kill the U.S. ambassador... but trust me, none of the plot matters; All you need to know about this movie is that it has TOPLESS KUNG FU CHICK FIGHTS in it. Nuff said.

The film's busty, butt kickin' leading lady, Catya Sassoon, was a model and sometimes actress who also happened to be the daughter of hair-care kingpin Vidal Sassoon. Sadly, she passed away from an apparent drug overdose in 2002.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

The Ray Harryhausen classic about a dinosaur revived by atomic testing.

"Firecracker" (1981)

A lady martial artist comes to the Philippines to search for her missing sister. After beating up on a bunch of local gangsters, drug smugglers, and assorted lowlifes, she ends up battling for her life in the (dun-dun-dun...) ARENA OF DEATH!
...if you're saying "Gee, that sounds an awful lot like that movie "Angelfist" you posted about yesterday," you are correct... which makes sense cuz this directed by the same guy (Cirio H. Santiago)! I guess like his American counterpart Roger Corman (who released this flick in the U.S.), ol' Cirio never met an idea he couldn't recycle.
In other words this is yet another cheap-o, chop-socky cheesecake karate flick with a cute (and frequently nude) leading lady. Therefore I was entertained.
P.S. if you watch this trailer, disregard the explosion and car crash scenes at 0:12 and 0:14 - the New World Pictures trailer dept. must have slipped those bits in from another movie, cuz they certainly weren't in this one

"Hollywood Boulevard" (1976)

A young girl from the Midwest arrives in Hollywood, intent on making her mark as an actress. However, the only work she can get is at a disreputable B-Movie studio, making cheapies like "Machete Maidens."
Roger Corman produced this very funny spoof of low budget film making, directed by Allan "Rock n Roll High School" Arkush and Joe "Gremlins" Dante and starring Corman regulars like Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, and Paul Bartel. To pad out their thin story, Arkush & Dante filled out their flick with tons of stock footage from previous Corman productions like "The Terror" and "Death Race 2000." The result is cool, goofy fun for fans of vintage schlock..

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Firecracker" (1981)

A lady martial artist comes to the Philippines to search for her missing sister. After beating up on a bunch of local gangsters, drug smugglers, and assorted lowlifes, she ends up battling for her life in the (dun-dun-dun...) ARENA OF DEATH!
...if you're saying "Gee, that sounds an awful lot like that movie "Angelfist" you posted about yesterday," you are correct... which makes sense cuz this directed by the same guy (Cirio H. Santiago)! I guess like his American counterpart Roger Corman (who released this flick in the U.S.), ol' Cirio never met an idea he couldn't recycle.
In other words this is yet another cheap-o, chop-socky cheesecake karate flick with a cute (and frequently nude) leading lady. Therefore I was entertained.
P.S. if you watch this trailer, disregard the explosion and car crash scenes at 0:12 and 0:14 - the New World Pictures trailer dept. must have slipped those bits in from another movie, cuz they certainly weren't in this one

Apparently this is also titled Naked Fist

007 wrote:

Apparently this is also titled Naked Fist

...which is very accurate. Haha!