TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies, TV) 2021

All Things Must Pass (2015)

The story of Tower Records

Started "Joker" today on the elliptical.

I'm only 30 minutes in but I can already see why Joaquin Phoenix won the Oscar for his performance.  At this point in the proceedings I actually feel sorry for him.

tohostudios wrote:

"Crawford, please don't eat those..."

"But they're delicious."

Bad Taste (1987) Directed by Peter Jackson

The population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.

Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972)

A George Romero inspired zombie flick.

From Beyond!

Really creepy with great special effects. A lot of the ghoul and zombie movies from the mid 80’s had really memorable and disturbing visuals (and dark humor). Re-Animator, From Beyond and Return of the Living Dead to name a few...

Night Train to Terror (1985)

God and Satan are on a train discussing the fate of three individuals. The stories of the people in question are told in a trio of very strange vignettes.

Cruisin’ High  (1976)

A street-gang member kills the gang's leader and blames it on a rival gang.

"Black Sheep" (2006)

Secret genetic experiments at a New Zealand farm turn a flock of ordinary, docile sheep into blood thirsty carnivores whose bites have transformative properties.
...soooo yeah, it's basically "Night of the Living Dead," but with sheep...and with splashy special effects by Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson's WETA Workshop!
Obviously the premise of this goofy, gory, very funny horror comedy is completely ludicrous, but the cast makes it work by playing it with completely straight faces. It takes a little while to get going, but this is still arguably the best movie about man-eating sheep I've ever seen.

Star Wars - ANH (original version)

"Tread" (2019)

A documentary about the strange saga of Marvin Heemeyer, a Colorado muffler-shop owner who had numerous business-related grievances against his local town council... so one fine day in 2004 he went on a rampage through town in a heavily armored bulldozer that he built in his garage.  
The TV news footage of Marv's homemade Killdozer knocking down buildings, crushing cars, etc., is a sight to behold, and interviews with witnesses and tape recordings of Marv's "manifesto" create a bizarre but fascinating portrait of a troubled guy who felt he'd been pushed too far and believed he was on a mission from God to destroy those who'd "wronged" him.
Moral of the story: don't piss off a skilled mechanic and welder.

Kolchak:The Night Stalker

Kolchak: The Night Stalker The Vampire episode

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Black Sheep" (2006)

Secret genetic experiments at a New Zealand farm turn a flock of ordinary, docile sheep into blood thirsty carnivores whose bites have transformative properties.
...soooo yeah, it's basically "Night of the Living Dead," but with sheep...and with splashy special effects by Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson's WETA Workshop!
Obviously the premise of this goofy, gory, very funny horror comedy is completely ludicrous, but the cast makes it work by playing it with completely straight faces. It takes a little while to get going, but this is still arguably the best movie about man-eating sheep I've ever seen.

I forgot all about that one!  I have it and the only thing I really remember about it was laughing my ass off.  I need to watch that one again soon.

"Fathom" (1967)

While prepping for a competition in Spain, foxy sky-diver "Fathom" Harvill (Raquel Welch) gets mixed up with a variety of spies, smugglers, and private eyes who are all searching for a priceless Chinese treasure.
This muddled spy spoof wasn't very good, but it's worth sitting through just to ogle Ms. Welch. She can't act worth a damn but she  was arguably the hottest woman in the world at this time and she spends the whole movie in a series of bikinis and other skimpy outfits.
Soooo...yeah, lame movie, but outstanding eye candy.
Useless fun fact: the opening title sequence (see video above) was designed by Maurice Binder, who also created the opening credit sequences for many of the James Bond films.

Open 24 Hours (2018)

A paranoid woman gets a job at an all-night gas station.

Dudes (1987)

Manhattan punkers on their way to Los Angeles become vigilantes when their friend is murdered by a gang of cutthroats.

Dick Tracy tv series from the 1950's

Sound City

The Dave Grohl documentary of the famous studio.

The Boogeyman (1980)



A young girl witnesses her brother murder their mother's boyfriend. 20 years later, both are still traumatized over the event, and in a means to get closure, return to their childhood home. While theer, she sees the boyfriend's reflection the mirror, and in a panic, smashes it with a chair, releasing his spirit, now hungry for revenge. Saw this one years ago, and although it's not that bad, it's also not that necessary to watch.

The Bat People (1974)



In this ludicrous film, a spelunking couple get lost in a cave and the man is bitten by a bat, which slowly causes him to transform into a vampiric man-bat for some reason. Odd film, with little making sense in it. Avoid this one.

I saw The Boogeyman in the theater back in the day and at the time I thought it was pretty good. Then I watched it on VHS years later and it was just "missing something".

Finished "Joker".

Meh.  The Academy Award performance by Joaquin Phoenix is unquestionably the highlight of the film.  He's outstanding.  But the rest?  Not so much.  The story in particular seems pretty weak; outside of a few quick outbursts of violence by the title character nothing much really happens.  I think the buildup of the story should have been much shorter and the film should have spent more time on how Joker became the "leader" of a movement of disenfranchised people but unfortunately that doesn't even happen until the last 5 minutes of the movie.  The "Gotham" series went that route with their Joker and it was much more interesting. 

And I guess I'm jaded because I remember hearing all kinds of ruckus about the violence in this movie when it came out.  Pfffffft...just about every movie in my collection is more violent than this.

"No Escape Room" (2018)

Visitors to a small-town "Escape Room" tourist attraction slowly begin to suspect that they're not really playing a "game," and that there's something supernatural going on behind the scenes.
This SyFy Original horror flick has a cool premise and some nice set designs, but the "secret" behind the Escape Room is never made very clear, so by the three quarter mark the movie is just spinning its wheels. I've seen worse, but you can safely skip this one.

Mirrors(2008)-an ex-cop takes a job as a security guard watching over a department store that was destroyed in a fire. Soon, he discovers that some sort of evil lurks in the mirrors that remain in the building and that it intends to kill him and his family. A remake of a Korean film, which made me a little leery as I usually don't care much for those types of films as I find them to be slow and kind of confusing. While I did understand the film, it was kind of a slow burn as I expected and wasn't really something new. Take it or leave it kind of movie. Review based on unrated version. 2/5

A couple episodes of The Weird Al Show.