TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV Shows) 2020

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Law and Order; Criminal Intent season 3

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken (1966)



Don Knotts as a cowardly would be reporter who spends the night in a haunted mansion in the 20th anniversary of a murder suicide. I've seen this movie more times than I could count and it never gets old. Attaboy, Luther!

"Big Bad Mama" (1974)

Depression-era widow Wilma McClatchy (Angie Dickinson) and her two lovely daughters turn to crime to make ends meet. They start with a little bootlegging, then move up to bank robbery, and eventually to kidnapping, with a very determined G-Man (the ever-dependable Dick Miller) in hot pursuit the entire time.
...this Roger Corman drive-in classic is a fun, trashy action comedy with plenty of shootouts, car chases and fabulous eye candy. Angie D. was in her mid 40s and quite MILF-y at this time; apparently she caused quite a sensation (and got the movie a ton of press) by doing all of her own nude scenes. You go, girl!

Jonah Hex(2010)-Based off the cult DC Comics series, a disfigured bounty hunter, Jonah Hex, searches for the man who killed his family and left him for dead. He also finds out the man has invented a weapon that could possibly destroy the entire country if he is not stopped. To make matters even worse, he has also kidnapped Hex's girlfriend. It's up to Hex to save the day. I think I vaguely remember the comic when I was a kid, but not much else as it was never as big as the other superhero comics that were out at the time. I found it a pretty solid movie for what it was and very violent for a PG-13 rating(the movie was begging for an R) and a fairly short running time of only 82 minutes and that includes the end credits too! I'll give it 2.5 out of 5.

I'm 2/3 of the way through Phantasm IV - Oblivion and so far this thing sucks BIG TIME.  At least a third of the footage is stuff Coscarelli shot for the original Phantasm but didn't use.  As a result there are lots of "flashbacks" and "dream sequences" which make the whole muddled mess pretty incoherent unless you've seen the previous movies.  And even then, it's a struggle to make sense out of this mess since the first three had lots of logic holes to begin with. 

One more Phantasm movie to go then mercifully I'll be done with this box set and it's on to rewatching the "Gotham" series including the final season which I haven't seen a single episode of. 

Given how lame this 4th entry in Phantasm is I'm not holding out much hope for episode 5 because we all know that 99% of the entries in a movie franchise get weaker as the series goes along and if episode 4 is this bad I can't imagine 5 will be an improvement.

"Escape From the Bronx" (1983)

In this sequel to "1990: The Bronx Warriors," an evil corporation wants to demolish the burned-out ruins of the Bronx and build the city of the future. To clean out the few remaining residents, they send in squads of flame thrower-toting goons. Fortunately "Trash," the heroic street gang leader from the previous movie, is on hand to head up the resistance and drive out the bad guys. So yeah, there's not much plot in this Spaghetti remix of "Escape From New York" and "The Warriors," but there's lots of violence, gunfire and explosions. Cheap, schlocky fun.

Mortuary (1983)



Mary McDonough (of the Waltons tv show) stars as a girl caught up in some strange things with a disguised killer and possible occult happenings. Also stars Christopher George, Lynda Day George, and a young Bill Paxton.

Funeral Home (1980)



A girl arrives at her grandmother's place, a former funeral home, to help her open it up as a bed and breakfast. People soon start disappearing and ending up dead. It's up to the girl to figure out what's going on in this Psycho rip off.

Finished Phantasm IV today. 

It ended up being not as bad as the first hour was with all the "flashbacks" using unused footage from Phantasm and there are actually some decent (though unfleshed-out ideas) in this flick.  The "resonating pylons" can apparently not only transport you to another planet but also to another time or another dimension.  Mike actually "transports" back to when The Tall Man was actually just a mortal (and caring) undertaker,

Unfortunately this entry in the franchise only raises more questions on top of the ton of unanswered questions already present in the series. 

Coscarelli has a lot of interesting ideas in these films but apparently no idea how to tie any of them together which makes watching them in sequence like this a trying exercise. One more film to go and then I'll have had my fill of Phantasm for a long time.

tohostudios wrote:

...the first hour was with all the "flashbacks" using unused footage from Phantasm...

THAT IS THE WORST TRICK IN THE BOOK (I'm looking at you, Silent Night Deadly Night 2, you hoser!). It rarely happens but when a filmmaker chooses to recycle previously shot footage into a movie it's an instant turn-off for me. May be different here because it's deleted footage, but I don't care; I officially won't be coming near this sequel anytime soon.

Really disappointed to hear that because I was hoping there would be some decent expansion to Phantasm's lore, slim as it is.

Son Of Kong (1933)



In trouble with the law from King Kong's rampage through New York City, Carl Denham skips out with Captain Englehorn (also facing lawsuits due to Kong) in search of work in the South Seas. Upon learning of purported treasure on Skull Island, the 2 decide to sail there in hopes of acquiring the treasure and settling their lawsuits. The crew Murphy's and abandons them on Skull Island, where they discovers more agreeable, smaller white gorilla. This movie was rushed into production after the success of King Kong and it shows. Nowhere near as good as the original.

"Men at Work" (1990)

A pair of slacker Southern California garbage men (real life brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez) get mixed up with a gang of illegal toxic-waste dumpers when they find the body of a local politician thrown out with the trash.
Estevez also directed this snarky action/caper comedy that's kind of like "Repo Man" in a garbage truck. Fun stuff with a lot of laughs; Charlie and Emilio make a great team, and the always-welcome Keith David is hilarious as their shell-shocked, Vietnam-vet supervisor along for the ride.

007 wrote:

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken (1966)



Don Knotts as a cowardly would be reporter who spends the night in a haunted mansion in the 20th anniversary of a murder suicide. I've seen this movie more times than I could count and it never gets old. Attaboy, Luther!

Did you watch this on Svengoolie?

scottmitchell74 wrote:

007 wrote:

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken (1966)



Don Knotts as a cowardly would be reporter who spends the night in a haunted mansion in the 20th anniversary of a murder suicide. I've seen this movie more times than I could count and it never gets old. Attaboy, Luther!

Did you watch this on Svengoolie?

Yes I did.

From A Whisper To A Scream (1987)



Horror anthology film starring the late great Vincent Price as a small Tennessee town historian recounting different tales of strange phenomena and violence. Like a lot of anthology films, this was a bit uneven but not a bad watch.

corplhicks wrote:

I've seen the first three. I gotta say, it's some of the best mindless entertainment of its ilk. Though I find the first one to have this "classic" feel that makes it more memorable. Looking forward to hearing what you think of the further sequels. The fact that Dan Coscarelli never gave up on his creation and kept directing them has me more than curious. One of them is supposed to be apocalyptic.

I'm 2/3 of the way through Phantasm: Ravager and it's clearly the apocalyptic episode you heard about.  It has a lot of negative reviews but frankly I'm digging it.  It sort of reminds me of Phantasm crossed with Slaughterhouse Five in that Reggie is "unstuck in time".  It's a little hard to follow because also like Vonnegut's story, Phantasm: Ravager is definitely non-linear.  But I'm really liking the heavy science-fiction aspects of this one so far.

Barney Miller
The Facts Of Life

The Criterion Channel is the greatest streaming service on earth. Here's what I've seen/revisited these past few days:

Grand Illusion (TWICE, once with commentary)
Some Like it Hot
Belle de Jour
The Exterminating Angel (horror fans, GET ON THIS)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Bad and the Beautiful (Kirk Douglas movie, A++!)
The Blob '58
Persona

Also finally got to catch the Downton Abbey film. A solid B+, nothing exceptionally special, just very pleasant to take in as always as the dialogue rolls like bearings. Wish I would've seen this in the theater--those shots of the castle, inside and out, are breathtaking.

Finished the final Phantasm film and while the ambiguous ending sucks I really enjoyed the hell out of this one (apparently I'm in the minority).  This one has a much more sci-fi bent to it as giant spheres hover over cities demolishing buildings.  This is what Phantasm might look like if JJ Abrams directed it.  Lots of blood and guts, lots of stuff blowing up, lots of exposition about who/what The Tall Man really is and a lot of it honestly doesn't make a lot of sense (which is the case in all of the Phantasm films if we're being honest) but dammit, I didn't care because I thought the whole "unstuck in time" thing was cool as hell.  I really had fun with this one.

The Purge
The Purge - Anarchy
The Purge - Election Year

Last night:

Venom

I kept putting this one off. My oldest daughter kept hounding me to watch it. I found it quite enjoyable. Tom Hardy does a great job, and the parts where he and Venom talk to each other are quite funny. I'm definitely interested in seeing the upcoming sequel.

Tales From the Crypt Presents:Ritual(2002)-in this remake of the classic I Walked With a Zombie(which I've never seen btw)a doctor who has just had her license suspended, takes a job in Jamaica to help look after a sick member of a wealthy family. While trying to find out what is exactly wrong with him, people start ending up dead and soon discovers that voodoo and zombies(not the Romero/Fulci kind sadly) are tied in with it. To be honest, I've never been the biggest fan of the voodoo subgenre and this movie really didn't improve matters that much for me. Also for a movie that uses the TFTC logo, it's a little light on the red stuff(except for one fairly gory scene very early in the film). All in all a harmless, if forgettable time waster. I'll give it 2 out of 5.

The Goldbergs
Schooled
Modern Family

"Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents" (2015)

Documentary about the anonymous, eyeball-masked, surrealist art collective/band whose worldwide cult following includes members of Primus, Devo, Neurosis, and more. I knew next to nothing about the Residents before watching this, and I still don't "get" them at all, but it was an interesting ride through their 40-plus-year history.

"The Initiation" (1984)

Sorority pledges are assigned to sneak into a high-end department store after it closes and spend the night. Unfortunately there's also an escaped lunatic roaming the aisles, who may have a personal connection to one of the potential victims.
Daphne Zuniga, later known as "Princess Vespa" in Spaceballs, made her film debut in this needlessly complicated '80s slasher flick that gets some points for its unique setting, but otherwise it's pretty standard stuff. I've seen better but Lord knows I've also seen lots worse.

"Terminal Force" aka "Galaxis" (1995)

A bad-ass lady space warrior (Brigitte Nielsen) comes to Earth to find a sacred crystal that can save her planet, before a Darth Vader style bad guy (Richard "Night Court" Moll) can get his hands on it.
A cheese-tastic, cheap-o sci-fi action flick bolted together out of parts borrowed from "Star Wars," "Highlander," and especially "The Terminator." Brigitte, as usual, can't act her way out of a paper bag, but that's OK because Moll over-acts enough for the two of them. It's fun to watch Nielsen beat up on bad guys for a while, but eventually the movie turns into a slog.
AVOID.