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

Borderland (2007)

Three male college-bound students head across the border with Mexico for some booze and loose women but run afoul of a gang that practices human sacrifice as a way of appeasing the "gods" and thus keeping their drug "mules" invisible to police.

While on the surface this seems like yet another entry into the "torture-porn" genre, it's apparently loosely based on a true story and the acting and filmmaking raise this above films like "Hostel" IMO.

Trick R Treat (2007)



I've heard many good things about this film but had never watched it. I was under the impression that this was another in a long line of horror anthology films but I was wrong. This one deals with a bunch of intertwining stories that all happen on one Halloween night. Well done film. I found it very enjoyable.

Last night I watched the first two episodes of:

The Mandolorian

Very enjoyable, and the surprise character is about as adorable as they come. I get vibes of old Westerns in the writing / directing. Thus far the casting / acting is quite solid (Taika Waititi was funny, as always). I'm keen to see where they go with the story, and if they cross any of these characters over into the movie side.

Thus far, it's a hit. I'll wait until we have the entire season before making hyperbolic statements like "best thing since XXX".

Finished House of 1K Corpses today.

This viewing I was really struck by how suddenly the film ends.  There are lots of ideas left completely unexplored; like the whole "Dr. Satan still "practicing" in the underground catacombs and all his "experiments" running around down there.  There are just a whole boatload of ideas in this film that just suddenly grind to a halt in the last 15 seconds of the movie.  And unfortunately, other than the lead characters, The Devils Rejects picks up NONE of them.

"The Rutles: All You Need is Cash" (1978)

Before Spinal Tap, there was... The Rutles!
Eric Idle of Monty Python fame co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in this mock "rockumentary" about The Rutles, a.k.a. "The Pre-Fab Four," Dirk, Stig, Nasty, and Barry -- the band who emerged from Rutland in the early Sixties and eventually took England - and then the world - by storm.
This laugh-a-minute, dead-on parody of the Beatles saga features tons of great gags, eerily Beatle-esque original songs by Neil Innes, and cameos by Michael Palin, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and even George Harrison himself.
Tons of fun for fans of Python, early SNL, and Beatlemaniacs.

Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper

The Goldbergs
Schooled
Modern Family

Supernatural

The Devil's Rejects

This movie is good for what it is but I wish it had more to do with House of 1K Corpses than just the main characters. I also forgot Danny Trejo and "Diamond" Dallas Page are in it.

Becker
Wings
Match Game

Fat Freddy wrote:

"The Rutles: All You Need is Cash" (1978)

Before Spinal Tap, there was... The Rutles!
Eric Idle of Monty Python fame co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in this mock "rockumentary" about The Rutles, a.k.a. "The Pre-Fab Four," Dirk, Stig, Nasty, and Barry -- the band who emerged from Rutland in the early Sixties and eventually took England - and then the world - by storm.
This laugh-a-minute, dead-on parody of the Beatles saga features tons of great gags, eerily Beatle-esque original songs by Neil Innes, and cameos by Michael Palin, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and even George Harrison himself.
Tons of fun for fans of Python, early SNL, and Beatlemaniacs.

A classic! Not only is the movie amazing, The lp is a perfect send up of the Beatles. Could not have been better.

King Kong vs Godzilla (US version)

Also started the original Japanese version after I finished the US version and only 15 minutes in, it's completely different in tone and narrative.

Earlier this week 'Never Say Never Again' and episodes of season 4 of 'Angel'

assault_attack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

"The Rutles: All You Need is Cash" (1978)

Before Spinal Tap, there was... The Rutles!
Eric Idle of Monty Python fame co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in this mock "rockumentary" about The Rutles, a.k.a. "The Pre-Fab Four," Dirk, Stig, Nasty, and Barry -- the band who emerged from Rutland in the early Sixties and eventually took England - and then the world - by storm.
This laugh-a-minute, dead-on parody of the Beatles saga features tons of great gags, eerily Beatle-esque original songs by Neil Innes, and cameos by Michael Palin, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and even George Harrison himself.
Tons of fun for fans of Python, early SNL, and Beatlemaniacs.

A classic! Not only is the movie amazing, The lp  is a perfect send up of the Beatles. Could not have been better.

It's so much fun. I hadn't seen this in years but I'm in the middle of Eric Idle's autobiography, and after reading the behind-the-scenes Rutles scoop I was inspired to seek it out.

The Mandalorian

"Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2" (1987)

In this ultra cheap sequel to the notoriously sleazy Yuletide slasher cult classic, the now-grown kid brother of the Santa Claus killer from the first "SNDN" gives a jailhouse interview that recaps the events of the first film (which gives them an excuse to repeat approx. 30 minutes of footage from the original). Once he's finished going down memory lane, he escapes so he can complete his own murderous Christmas Eve mission to get even with the evil Mother Superior.
... this flick is practically the textbook definition of "so bad, it's good."  The guy playing "Ricky" gives a master class in terrible acting, plus the rampant recycling of clips from the first film is almost like getting two movies for the price of one!
A total holiday horror hoot. All together now, say it with me: GARBAGE DAAAAYYY!

I haven't started my holiday horror fest yet but that one's on this year's list.  I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving.

Finished the original Japanese version of King Kong vs Godzilla and as usual the Japanese version is far superior to the Americanized version in almost every way; it has a more coherent and cohesive story line, the scenes that were reorganized for the American version make more sense in their original sequence, the "slapstick", Marx brothers-like comedy works well and the most interesting part?  Nobody calls "Gojira" "Godzilla" except in the subtitles - even the American, English-speaking actors in the film refer to him has "Gojira" in English.  It's the idiotic Japanese English-dub voiceover actors who mangled the creature's name and altered cinematic history in the process.

The Japanese version does still have the same moth-eaten, cement-faced Kong suit as the American version and the giant octopus attack actually looks a lot better in the US version (not sure what they did but the stop-motion animation is barely noticeable in the US version but stands out like Harryhausen's sore thumb in the Japanese edition).  Why the hell the mouth on the Kong suit can't open when he roars is beyond me; it opens when he's drinking the narcotic berry juice but not when he roars and pounds his chest and it looks dumb as hell.

tohostudios wrote:

I haven't started my holiday horror fest yet but that one's on this year's list.  I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving.

This one appears to be the only "SN,DN" entry that's available on any of the free streaming services at the moment, so I couldn't resist, it's been a few years since I'd seen it.

Fat Freddy wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

I haven't started my holiday horror fest yet but that one's on this year's list.  I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving.

This one appears to be the only "SN,DN" entry that's available on any of the free streaming services at the moment, so I couldn't resist, it's been a few years since I'd seen it.

I own all five SNDN flicks (even the "Pinocchio" one with Mickey Rooney).  Last year I watched all of them EXCEPT SNDN 2 because I had just watched the original and didn't feel like sitting through a movie that's 50% the same movie.

Watched the first five episodes of Cobra Kai today. Really pretty good, looking forward to the next disc when it gets here.

"Child's Play" (2019)

A single Mom buys her lonely son the latest new high tech "smart" toy - a walking, talking, learning doll that calls itself "Chucky." Unfortunately, the toy's programming goes awry, and its idea of preserving its "friendship" with the kid soon turns lethal for everyone around him.
I didn't have very high hopes for this 21st century update of the long running slasher series but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the "new look" for Chucky is crap but there's some pretty legit gore (the scene involving a table saw is friggin' brutal) and fine voice work by Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill as the evil Chucky. Better than I expected.

007 wrote:

I actually mentioned this episode to my son while we were watching.