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

Destroy All Monsters (Criterion hi def Blu-ray version)

Nice to see a cleaned up version of this flick. But boy does this thing drag in the middle.

Seinfeld
Alice
Barney Miller

Bloody Birthday (1981)



Another killer kid movie, this one deals with 3 children born on the same day during a solar eclipse. Jump forward To around their 10th birthday and all 3 are sociopathic murderers. Despite some implausible moments, an otherwise enjoyable film.

Last night I watched the Invisible Man (1933)



Universal Pictures adaptation of the H G Wells novel with Claude Rains as the titular character who creates a formula that renders himself invisible but unfortunately the one ingredient causes him to slowly lose his mind. I've seen all the classic Universal monster films countless times but this is probably only the second time I've seen this one. A good film with some impressive (for the time) special effects. Also stars Gloria Stuart, who many years later went on to play the liar old lady in Titanic.

Last night I watched Silent Hill for about the 4th time. 

I've never even seen the video game on which this movie is based but reviews seem to agree that it remains pretty faithful to the game, right down to the music.  I love the atmosphere and the visuals but I have to admit that unless you read synopses online, it doesn't really make a lot of sense.  Once you read a few reviews then rewatch it the film does makes more sense but it really needs more obvious exposition.  I read that there's a Canadian uncut version that DOES make more sense and I'd like to see that but fat chance of that ever happening.

Anyway, I still enjoy this flick; it's gory, scary and has some great and original monsters.  I just wish the ending in particular was explained better.

The Walking Dead

"The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze" (2017)

Second viewing of this doc about the long, strange history of the masked porn-rockers led by the legendary "El Duce." Tasteless, hilarious, and totally rockin'.

"Bait" (aka "Bait 3D," 2012)

A freak tsunami crashes into an Australian beach town, trapping a group of shoppers inside a flooded supermarket... and just in case that didn't suck enough, they soon learn that  there's a hungry great white shark stuck in there with them.
An entertaining Aussie mash-up of the disaster-movie and creature feature genres.

"Dolemite" (1975)

"Dolemite is my name, and f***in' up motherf***ers is my game!"
Stand up comic Rudy Ray Moore achieved instant immortality thanks to his turn in this blaxploitation classic as the badass "Dolemite" - a kung-fu fightin' pimp who gets released from jail and goes on a mission to get the gangsters and crooked cops who framed him for murder. As you might.expect, a whoooooole lotta MF'ers get their asses kicked!
This 70s time capsule is cheap, the acting is amateur (at best) and the humor is mostly unintentional (it's especially funny seeing all the hot girls swooning over the paunchy, out-of-shape Moore) but it's got tons of style, lots of quotable lines and a funk-tastic soundtrack. Cheesy, over the top fun!

I wanted to check this one out before seeing Eddie Murphy's new Netflix movie about Rudy Ray Moore ("Dolemite Is My Name"), which looks like a good one.

"Jawbreaker" (1999)

A trio of uber-popular, uber-bitchy high school "mean girls" (led by Rose McGowan, captured at her absolute peak of hotness) accidentally kill one of their friends during a prank that goes wrong - and then go to ridiculous lengths to cover it up.
The first half of this dark high school comedy had a mean streak that rivaled "Heathers," but unfortunately the second half fell into typical '90s teen rom-com B.S. before the evil McGowan character finally got what she deserved at (where else?) the prom. Not terrible but not a must-see, either.

Gojira - Criterion Blu-ray edition

Holy crap did Criterion do a great job of cleaning this film up!  Reading the notes in the accompanying book, in addition to the digital transfer they actually also manually digitally removed thousands of scratches, dirt marks, flickers and all the similar defects anyone who has ever seen this film are more than familiar with.  Damn!  This flick looks great for something that's 65 years old!  You can actually SEE the Big G in all his rampages through Tokyo (which is actually both good and bad because you can also see how obvious the "suitmation" is). 

This is precisely why I bought this pricey collection; Criterion always does a bang-up job cleaning up the films it releases and this is no exception.

Murphy Brown
Becker

tohostudios wrote:

Gojira - Criterion Blu-ray edition

Holy crap did Criterion do a great job of cleaning this film up!  Reading the notes in the accompanying book, in addition to the digital transfer they actually also manually digitally removed thousands of scratches, dirt marks, flickers and all the similar defects anyone who has ever seen this film are more than familiar with.  Damn!  This flick looks great for something that's 65 years old!  You can actually SEE the Big G in all his rampages through Tokyo (which is actually both good and bad because you can also see how obvious the "suitmation" is). 

This is precisely why I bought this pricey collection; Criterion always does a bang-up job cleaning up the films it releases and this is no exception.

I have that version and you're correct. It's phenomenal.

Ring of Honor

The Goldbergs
Schooled
Modern Family

Watched AEW last night.

Cold. wet, rainy day off from work and I'm feeling sick to boot. Good day to just veg on the couch and watch flicks.

"Dead Space" (1990)

A studly space cop responds to a distress signal from a science outpost on a remote planet, where their prize experiment has broken loose and is chowing on the research staff. Hilarity ensues.
Marc "Beastmaster" Singer and a young Bryan "Breaking Bad" Cranston (!) star in this ultra-cheap "Alien" wanna be from Roger Corman's Concorde Productions that's more or less a remake of 1982's "Forbidden World" aka "Mutant" (which was also from Corman). My advice, skip this crappy rehash and watch "Forbidden World" (which was actually pretty good) instead.
AVOID.

"Records Collecting Dust" (2014)

A variety of rockers and music-biz types reflect on their favorite records of days gone by, remembering the first one they ever bought, which ones meant the most to them, etc. Some of the participants include Jello Biafra (always a hoot), Matt Pike (Sleep/High On Fire), Keith Morris (Circle Jerks), Joey Castillo (Queens of the Stone Age), and more. There's nothin' fancy here, it's just a bunch of music nerds talkin' about vinyl, which is entertaining enough for me.

"The Life, Blood and Rhythm of Randy Castillo" (2014)

Lita Ford narrates this documentary about the life and career of Ozzy/Motley Crue drummer Randy Castillo, who passed away in 2002. Vintage clips mix with interviews and commentary from friends and associates like Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Phil Soussan, Eric Singer, and more.

Supernatural

Watched an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise that had two interesting facets. 

1) It tried to give an explanation why the Klingons on Star Trek TOS look so much different compared to the Klingons on Star Trek TNG.

2) It also had a bit part with an unnamed crewman who I recognized right away as Family Guy creator and creator/star of The Orville Seth MacFarlane.  At this early point in his career (2005) he didn't even merit a credit in the opening credits; he only got the dreaded "Engineering crewman" acknowledgment during the closing credits.

I had no idea MacFarlane was an actor before he started producing comedy shows.

"Hell's Highway: the True Story of Highway Safety Films"

This documentary examines the "highway safety films" of the '50s and '60s -- those gross-out movies of real-life car accidents and bloodied bodies that horrified high school drivers' ed classes for decades. An interesting look back at a particularly bizarre slice of Americana.

Still tryin' to kick this friggin' cold so it's been another "Stay inside and watch bad movies" kind of day...

"Boo" (2005)

A gang of college kids decide to spend their Halloween night exploring the ruins of an abandoned hospital, which legend says is haunted. You can probably guess how well things turn out for them.
Anthony "Sharknado" Ferrante directed this cheese-ball horror flick that trots out pretty much every scary-movie cliche you can think of, but it's all done in fun with plenty of atmosphere. It's junk, but at least it's fun junk.

"Dead End" (2003)

A bickering family (headed by Ray Wise as the Dad and the ever-dependable Lin Shaye as "Mom") take a detour during their Christmas eve road trip to Grandma's, and end up on a seemingly never-ending back road, pursued by a creepy woman in white.
I didn't have high hopes for this one at first since the characters were SO unlikable that I wanted them all to die within the first five minutes, but it sucked me in once it started to get good. A pleasant surprise.

"Lake Alice" (2017)

A dreadfully dull Yuletide slasher about a family celebrating their holiday at a remote, snowy cabin, where they're targeted by masked maniacs. This flick obviously wants to be a tight home-invasion thriller ala "The Strangers" mixed with the "Scream" whodunit-slasher style, but it's so sluggish (I swear it was almost an HOUR before the first body dropped) that by the time the good stuff starts you won't even care who the killer is.
AVOID.

I'm late!


October 31st: Halloween III - Season of the Witch


GREAT and underrated horror movie. Great idea, great death scenes, great Irish actor.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

I'm late!


October 31st: Halloween III - Season of the Witch


GREAT and underrated horror movie. Great idea, great death scenes, great Irish actor.

I love that movie.  So much stuff going on in it; Stonehenge, androids, death by head exploding with snakes, spiders, etc...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if this flick had been titled with some snappy, Halloween-related title instead of "Halloween III" (which led people to believe it was an extension of the Michael Myers saga), it could have started a new franchise.  There are so many diverse elements in this movie that there was plenty of room for sequels.  But alas they dropped the ball and there it sits, a movie most people hate. 

This has to be one of the biggest marketing gaffes in movie history.

"Cobra" (1986)

A super-tough L.A. cop protects a fashion model from a cult of axe wielding maniacs. Yes, that's the entire plot.
This cult classic was essentially a Sylvester Stallone vanity project - he wrote the screenplay, directed a large portion of it, and cast his then-girlfriend, Brigitte Nielsen, as the female lead. It's dumb as a box of rocks, but it's also a ton of shoot'em up, blow'em up fun!

Fat Freddy wrote:

"The Life, Blood and Rhythm of Randy Castillo" (2014)

Lita Ford narrates this documentary about the life and career of Ozzy/Motley Crue drummer Randy Castillo, who passed away in 2002. Vintage clips mix with interviews and commentary from friends and associates like Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Phil Soussan, Eric Singer, and more.

Was this good? I've ben meaning to check it out.