TODAY I WATCHED (Movies, TV Shows) 2020

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Kingdom Of The Spiders" (1977)

Before "Arachnophobia" or "Eight Legged Freaks," this was the Big Kahuna of killer-spider movies. William Shatner stars as the veterinarian in a small Arizona desert town under siege by hordes of pissed off tarantulas, who've added humans to their menu since their usual food supplies have been killed off by pesticides. This long time drive-in fave and late night TV staple has aged surprisingly well. Creepy, crawly fun!

Always loved that movie. The ending freaked me out as a kid.

Anything with spiders freaked me out as a kid. Still does.

"Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" (1993)

In this theatrical spin off from "Batman: The Animated Series," there's a new vigilante in Gotham, picking off the leaders of the city's underworld -- and Batman is the prime suspect. To clear his name, Batman will have to re-connect with a lost love from his past, and battle (who else?) The Joker for the millionth time. Cool, action packed stuff with the usual excellent voice work.

"Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics" (2010)

Documentary on the long and occasionally bumpy history of DC Comics, home of Batman, Superman, and many more. Interviews with comics pros old and new and vintage photos & films trace the company's rise from humble pre-WWII days to its current status as a publishing and multi-media powerhouse. Fanboy fun.

"Joker" (2019)

A shunned loser slowly descends into madness on the mean streets of Gotham City circa 1981, and becomes the face of rebellion against the urban elites along the way.
This controversial new take on the "origin" of Batman's nemesis is essentially "Taxi Driver" set in the DC Universe. Joaquin Phoenix gives a career defining performance as the future supervillain. This is a comic book movie for people who hate comic book movies. It's the feel-bad movie of the year!

I need to see that one!

Especially since I'm currently working my way through the entire "Gotham" series during my daily elliptical workouts.

I'll tell you one thing, the actor the "Gotham" series got to play The Joker is excellent so I'll be interested to see how the Joaquin Phoenix portrayal compares.  

And the guy "Gotham" got to portray "The Penguin" will ALWAYS be The Penguin for me; he's absolutely outstanding.

tohostudios wrote:

I need to see that one!

Especially since I'm currently working my way through the entire "Gotham" series during my daily elliptical workouts.

I'll tell you one thing, the actor the "Gotham" series got to play The Joker is excellent so I'll be interested to see how the Joaquin Phoenix portrayal compares.  

And the guy "Gotham" got to portray "The Penguin" will ALWAYS be The Penguin for me; he's absolutely outstanding.

I need to revisit "Gotham" one of these fine days.  I watched most of the first season but then lost track of it after that...

On topic:

"Best Worst Movie" (2009)

In 1989, child actor Michael Stephenson landed his first major movie role, in the notorious turkey Troll 2 ... which is now considered one of the Worst Films Ever Made, and which pretty much totaled his acting career.
Nearly twenty years later, he discovered that the film had developed a cult following... so he directed this charming documentary in which he tracked down many of his former co-stars, visited a number of "Troll 2" retrospective screenings, and hit the convention trail with George Hardy, who played his father in the movie (and is now a small town Alabama dentist), to try and figure out why their terrible movie still resonates with so many people.
This doc was lots of fun and actually made me want to give "Troll 2" another go-round. If memory serves, I bailed out on it about halfway through on HBO years ago so I've never seen the whole thing. It might be time to rectify that.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Joker" (2019)

A shunned loser slowly descends into madness on the mean streets of Gotham City circa 1981, and becomes the face of rebellion against the urban elites along the way.
This controversial new take on the "origin" of Batman's nemesis is essentially "Taxi Driver" set in the DC Universe. Joaquin Phoenix gives a career defining performance as the future supervillain. This is a comic book movie for people who hate comic book movies. It's the feel-bad movie of the year!

I quite enjoyed that. Definitely worth a watch!

The Losers (1970)



William Smith stars as the leader of a Hell's Angels type biker gang, recruited by his soldier brother to go on a rescue mission into Cambodia. They accomplish this by riding armor fortified bikes armed with machine guns. Crazy, nonsensical film but I enjoyed it, worth watching for the last half hour of the film when their raid on the enemy compound begins.

"Black Enforcers" (aka "The Black Gestapo" and "Ghetto Warriors," 1975)

A black "Neighborhood Watch" group in the Watts section of L.A. successfully drives out a protection racket run by local white mobsters. The group's leader then has to deal with his power-mad second in command, who breaks away from the organization, forms his own Nazi-esque army of thugs, and takes over the mob's operations.
...this jaw droppingly tasteless combo of the Blaxploitation and Nazi-sploitation genres certainly won't win any awards for political correctness, but it totally delivers on the ultra-violent sleaze front. Worth a look just to see Charles P. Robinson, who would later become known as the nice-guy court clerk "Mac" on "Night Court," as the would-be ghetto Hitler bad guy. A bizarro, yet strangely fascinating, '70s time capsule that would never get made today!

Caught this doc on Tubi last night...



I loved it, of course!

Watched several more episodes of "Married With Children" last night.

I bought the entire series on DVD a couple months ago and now I've started watching them when nothing on "regular" TV interests me.

It's amazing to me how well this show holds up. Even though they often reference current events from the 80s it's surprising how many of the conundrums still occur now 35+ years later.

Finally catching up on this past season of "What We Do in the Shadows". Got about 3 left. Hilarious stuff. Cool Mark Hamill guest star appearance too.

My copy of "Joker" is coming tomorrow.

I also order "It" and "It - Part Two" while I was at it.

tohostudios wrote:

My copy of "Joker" is coming tomorrow.

I also order "It" and "It - Part Two" while I was at it.

IT was really good. Part Two was decent, but not nearly as good as the first film.

Interested in seeing your thoughts on "Joker," toho.

Haven't seen "IT Chapter 2" yet, but honestly I wasn't all that crazy about Chapter 1, so I'm in no hurry.

Becker
News Radio

"Alien Predator" (2018)

An elite black-ops team is sent to investigate the crash of an apparent extra-terrestrial craft in the wilds of Honduras. After a long slog through the jungle they finally meet the ship's occupants, who naturally are not in a very good mood. Much blasting and zapping ensues.
This was The Asylum's attempt to ride the coat tails of 2018's "The Predator," and plot-wise it actually resembles the original "Predator" flick from '87 - without the budget, the cool special effects, or a cast with acting ability.
By the time the "aliens" were revealed (nearly an hour into the movie) I was so bored that I just wanted them to kill everybody so the movie would end. Even by Asylum standards, this one is poor.
AVOID.

"Death Is Nimble, Death Is Quick" (aka "Kommissar X: 3 Golden Cats," 1966)

Two American agents are sent to the island paradise of Ceylon to protect a lovely U.S. diplomat from a mad scientist and his criminal organization of karate killers. Chop-socky, butt kickin' fun.
This stylish German/Italian James Bond knock off was the second of seven (!) "Kommissar X" films, based on a popular series of European pulp crime novels. This movie obviously had a higher budget than your average "Eurospy" cheapie. The story's a bit of a muddle (which is not unusual for these 007 wanna-bee's) but there's lots of exotic locations, elaborate stunts, and (of course) plenty of pretty girls. This was my first time seeing any of the "Kommissar" flicks, but I'm definitely interested in checking out more.

"We Summon The Darkness" (2019)

It's 1988, and three girls travel to a heavy metal concert, where they meet a couple of nice guys in the parking lot, invite them home for an after-show party... and then things take an unexpectedly sinister turn.
I can't say much more without spoiling the movie's "twist" but honestly, most viewers will probably see it coming from a mile away, anyway. Despite that, I enjoyed this B-grade horror/thriller, which captures the '80s metal/Satanic Panic vibe nicely (and the girls are cute too!).

P.S. thanks to Wrecked Neck for alerting me that this was on Netflix!

"So Darling, So Deadly"
(aka "Kommissar X: In The Clutches of the Golden Dragon," 1966)

In the third installment of the "Kommissar X" Eurospy series, the "International Bureau" sends swingin' agents Walker and Rowland to Singapore to protect a scientist and his lovely daughter from a criminal gang called the Golden Dragon, who want to steal the professor's high tech laser weapon.
There's not much plot in this one, but there sure are lots of car chases, fistfights, and pretty girls. An entertaining time killer for a lazy summer afternoon.

Gutterballs(2008)-As two rival bowling teams compete to see who is the best, a serial killer (who uses a bowling bag as a mask!)lurks in the shadows of the bowling alley, knocking off the team members with  various bowling related items in this lurid, gory, low budget horror/black comedy.  Written and directed by the late Ryan Nicholson(Ryan died from brain cancer in 2019), the movie sets out to be, as Ryan puts it, "an adult comic book" as the movie in every aspect is over the top with the violence, crude dialogue(you thought Rob Zombie movies where vulgar) and outrageous characters and story.  To be honest, while this wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, what they were able to pull off with a small budget is at least respectable.   I guess it's okay for what it is.  Followed by a sequel in 2015 which I've yet to see.  I give it 2 out of 5 strikes.  On a side note, I was friends with Ryan Nicholson on social media and he seemed like a really cool guy, and for him to die at 47 is just tragic.  Rest in power Ryan.

Finished up the second season of The Alienist.

A documentary on The Mothers of Invention in the 60's

(Gonna watch later)

Three's Company
Coach
Becker
Bewitched