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

American Horror Story:1984

Godzilla Raids Again (Criterion edition)

It's obvious the rest of the films in this collection didn't receive the same painstaking manual treatment that Gojira and the US version of Gojira did; this looks basically the same as the DVD version I already had except the subtitles are newly translated and clearer.

Godzilla was destroyed at the end of the first film but unfortunately for Japan, the same H bomb tests that revived Gojira not only revived a second one but also a giant Ankylosaurus-like monster called Anguirus who loves to fight with Godzilla.  I always wondered about the "sped-up" fight scenes in this one and according to the notes in this collection it was due to a cameraman's error.  But rather then do an expensive rebuild of the set and a reshoot the director opted to keep the footage.  I'm pretty sure this isn't the only Godzilla movie that has that type of monster action so I'm curious to get to the other ones that have sped-up fights to see if that just became a "thing" in these Showa-era Godzilla flicks.

The last thing I watched was an episode of Family Guy.

The Walking Dead

Watching that mini-series Chernobyl from HBO. It's really good so far, highly recommend.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Wow. This holds up well as far as weird and disturbing goes.

I Spit on Your Grave (2010) - Decent little revenge flick. I've never seen the original. I always laugh when the evil guys then beg for their lives.

The original Texas Chainsaw is disturbing on multiple levels especially after repeated viewings.  For one thing it's actually got some dark humor in it (like the guy who keeps "washing" the windshield with a filthy rag, or the guy in the wheelchair behaving like such an infantile jerk).  It's also disturbing after you see it because you realize it really isn't very gory at all; barely even PG-rated gore but it's got so much implied violence and such great performances that it seems like it's so much gorier.  And of course there's the implication that not only does this "family" eat people but they also eat dead people. 

I STILL maintain it's an example of great horror filmmaking.  Especially the fact that on an emotional/psychological level it seems so much more explicitly gory and violent than it actually is if you objectively analyze it.

And I thought the remake of I Spit On Your Grave was essentially a scene-by-scene remake of the original with better performances and a longer rape scene but it's basically the same film.

I liked the I Spit sequel (remake) much better (See my post a page or two back).

Toho - yes! I noticed the window washing more this time. A very subversive film (that's the word that kept coming to mind, at least) and I was also impressed with the lack of gore...but how jarring the movie is anyhow. The hitchhiking brother is particularly bizarre. You're right, it's a great movie.

Good to know about ISOYG 2 - which I was going to skip because I figured it would be repetitive...now I might give it a shot.

ISOYG 2 is very explicit (in both the rape scenes AND the revenge scenes) and is very disturbing but it also has a "twist" and some decent acting.

nevermore wrote:

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.

Yeah, I enjoyed it, but then I'm a nerd for music documentaries anyway I honestly didn't know much about Randy other than his stints with Ozzy and Motley so I learned a lot, seems like he was a hell of a guy.

Punisher:War Zone(2008)-ultra violent third film adaptation about the vigilante Frank Castle/The Punisher as this time he takes on the deformed criminal Jigsaw. This one has more of a comic book style than the earlier Punisher movies and I think the actor playing The Punisher in this is the best one yet. I give it 3 out of 5.

King Diamond Songs For The Dead Live Blu-ray
Becker
Wings

Been watching Star Wars movies this week. Started with episode 2, which does have some cringe worthy writing, but gets much better about half way through. Now watching Rogue One, which is my favorite Disney era SW flick so far. Will be watching the originals this weekend to conclude my SW binge. Episodes 7-8 are not welcome here lol

Two Mules for Sister Sara

Over the last couple of days


Shriek Of The Mutilated (1974)



A college professor and four of his students go on an expedition to a remote island to try and capture the elusive yeti (in upstate New York, no less). Things go as expected from there in this laughably bad film. Even a twist to the tale (that you can see coming) can't save this one.

Frightmare (1974)



20 years ago (as shown in flashback), a couple are placed in an insane asylum after being shown to be cannibals. They are eventually released and their daughter begins to suspect that they're not cured as people begin to disappear.

A Virgin Among The Living Dead (1973)



A woman returns home for the reading of her father's will and receives a strange welcome from her relatives in this Jess Franco film. As usual with most of these Italian horror imports, not a whole lot makes sense in this film with just odd disjointed sense crammed together. The main girl is very easy on the eyes though.

Smackdown

Found a copy of this on eBay and finally got around to watching it. Been decades since I've seen it, but for a shirt time of my early teen years, this was my favorite horror movie. Still decent, but also corny lol

The Mandalorian
The Man In The High Castle

Fox's Animation Domination (minus Bless The Harts of course).  Why is it that Fox's Sunday night lineup always has one gaping hole in it?  They've tried that stupid Son Of Zorn show, Last Man On Earth, Ghosted, this new stupid show and who knows how many others yet there's always 30 minutes of crap in the middle of an otherwise solid Sunday night of viewing.

The Walking Dead

"Rapture-Palooza" (2013)

Left behind on Earth after the Rapture, a young couple (Anna Kendrick of "Pitch Perfect" and John Francis Daley) try to adjust to their bizarre new reality. Finding a "new normal" gets complicated when they meet The Beast (Craig Robinson) himself, who wants to take Anna as his bride.
A strange, frequently raunchy comedy that gets by mainly due to the deadpan performances of its excellent cast, esp. the cutie-pie Kendrick.

Finished Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. A+, the future of television. Saw the original movie after, raised my original grade of B+ to A.

The Mandalorian. B+. There sure is a lot of overhype and hyperbole floating around about this show. I mean, it's really good, but we're two episodes in, and they're roughly 30m each. Saying it's the best thing since New Hope is just fucking weird; I'm wondering if Disney is paying off critics and employing bots to say this shit and promote their streaming service.

Which is an awesome service by the way.

Avengers: Endgame. C+ Not nearly as good as Infinity War, and the time travel element is not used very well. I had a lot of fun with it though.

Tron. Looks to be slightly new transfer on Disney+, but it's too hard to be sure. Still has an A+ from me, and yeah I'm being too enthusiastic haha.

BTW guys, I hear all this talk in this thread about I Spit on Your Grave--turns out there's a sequel to the original 70's title with the same director and Camille what's-her-name attached. I also hear it's a shit sandwich, so enjoy at your own risk. As for the commercial remakes, I have to agree they're quite good.

Toho, congratulations on grabbing that Godzilla box set! I saw that when Criterion announced it and thought of you right away. That sucker looks just rad.

House of 1000 Corpses

Hard to believe this flick is 16 years old already; my copy was actually a purchase of a Blockbuster previously viewed disc that's how old it is. 

This is about the 5th or 6th time I've seen it and I appreciate it more with each viewing.  It's sort of disjointed and almost like several movies in one but I find the whole thing pretty entertaining.  And the late Sid Haig is great in it (especially in the disc's menu).

Quote :

Toho, congratulations on grabbing that Godzilla box set! I saw that when Criterion announced it and thought of you right away. That sucker looks just rad.

 Yeah it's a nice collection and the giant coffee table books is pretty cool but I'm never doing the pre-order thing again.  Damn thing has come down more than $50 since it was released. 

It is nice to have all these movies in one place and of the same quality; I already had all of them but some like Godzilla vs Ebirah were on VHS and some of the other ones were crappy, English-dubbed versions.

Supernatural
Finished The Man In The High Castle