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

Grizzly 2 : Revenge



A giant grizzly bear goes on a bloody rampage after her cub is killed by poachers, just as an outdoor concert is set to take place in Yellowstone. This is a bad movie. Filmed in 1983 but not released until last year for whatever reason. Very young George Clooney, Laura Dern and Charlie Sheen get top billing, playing 3 hitchhikers who are all killed by the bear within 15 minutes of the movie! The concert footage of apparently real Hungarian bands (where the film was shot) really sucks and I really enjoyed when the filmmakers couldn't decide whether it was day or night between shots. I had a feeling this one would be a stinker and it didn't disappoint.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Quote :

Filmed in 1983 but not released until last year for whatever reason.

"Grizzly II" has become legend in bad-movie circles. Depending on who you talk to, the production ran out of money in the middle of filming (or, one or more of the producers took the money and ran off with it) so after principal photography was done, there were no funds to complete any of the special effects involving the giant mechanical bear.

The movie sat on the shelf in Hungary for 30+ years till a work print version (missing all of the scenes involving the bear) ended up on YouTube a couple of years ago. That pissed off one of the film's producers enough to drag the footage out of moth balls, cobble a film together as best she could from what they had available, and release it.

https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/grizzly-ii-revenge-review-1234881935/

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm dyin' to!

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Filmed in 1983 but not released until last year for whatever reason.

"Grizzly II" has become legend in bad-movie circles. Depending on who you talk to, the production ran out of money in the middle of filming (or, one or more of the producers took the money and ran off with it) so after principal photography was done, there were no funds to complete any of the special effects involving the giant mechanical bear.

The movie sat on the shelf in Hungary for 30+ years till a work print version (missing all of the scenes involving the bear) ended up on YouTube a couple of years ago. That pissed off one of the film's producers enough to drag the footage out of moth balls, cobble a film together as best she could from what they had available, and release it.

https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/grizzly-ii-revenge-review-1234881935/

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm dyin' to!

Our cable company (Comcast) was doing a Watchathon over the last week or so, in which quite a few pay channels are free. I was trolling around last night and found it on Showtime. So if you have access to it, you can catch it on there.

"Caddyshack" (1980)

Classic sports comedy about a teenage caddy at a snooty country club who gets caught up in a battle on the links between the stuffy "old guard" (led by Ted Knight) and a loudmouth, low-class millionaire (Rodney Dangerfield). You've all seen it, I don't need to say any more except that it still holds up all these years later.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Caddyshack" (1980)

Classic sports comedy about a teenage caddy at a snooty country club who gets caught up in a battle on the links between the stuffy "old guard" (led by Ted Knight) and a loudmouth, low-class millionaire (Rodney Dangerfield). You've all seen it, I don't need to say any more except that it still holds up all these years later.

One of my all time favorite movies.

007 wrote:

I was trolling around last night and found it on Showtime. So if you have access to it, you can catch it on there.

Cool. Yeah, I noticed it's also on "Hoopla" (a streaming service that our local library is part of) so I have been meaning to check it out but haven't gotten to it yet.

"Caddyshack II" (1988)

A loud mouthed, uncouth real estate magnate (Jackie Mason) tries to fit in with Robert Stack and the rest of the blue bloods at Bushwood Country Club for the sake of his social-climbing daughter. When that doesn't work, he buys the club outright and turns it into a trashy mini-golf course, which leads to another slobs-versus-snobs, winner-takes-all golf tournament.
...this years-too-late, who-asked-for-it sequel is kinda like the generic store brand version of Caddyshack. The only cast member who returns from the original is Chevy Chase, making little more than a glorified cameo - the rest of the characters are replaced by cheaper equivalents (Mason for Rodney, Stack for Ted Knight, Dan Aykroyd for Bill Murray). Even the gopher puppet seems to be going through the motions!
"Caddyshack II" is considered to be one of the worst sequels ever made -- Jackie Mason has famously said that he wishes he could buy up every copy in existence so he could burn them. Ouch!

Predators(2010)-a team of soldiers find themselves on a planet where they are being tracked down by a group of the alien hunters in another installment of the classic sci-fi/action series. Barring Predator 2(which I thought was a bit of a misfire), I've enjoyed the Predator films. Yes, including the AVP movies as well. This is a very enjoyable flick that has all the cool effects and kick ass action you'd expect. 3/5

Anything past the first Predator is passable, at best.

Invasion Of The Body Snatches (1956)



Sci Fi classic about the subtle invasion of Earth by alien plant like lifeforms. Kevin McCarthy stars as a small town doctor returning to his home to discover that some strange things are happening. People claiming that family members are not their family members,then reneging on their claims, and soon, A friend discovers a body in his home that vaguely resembles him. Everyone now knows what's going when watching this film, but its still fun watching the tale unfold. I thought the effects were pretty cool for a 1950s movie, it has a good cast and a somewhat upbeat ending, as opposed to how it was supposed to end, which the 1978 remake chose to use.

I know I've seen bits and pieces of the original but I don't think I ever saw the entire thing. I know I've seen the remake with Donald Sutherland but the only thing I really remember about it is something about a dog with a human head.

Starsky And Hutch

"Ape vs. Monster" (2021)

An experimental space capsule crash lands back on earth, and its chimpanzee "pilot" grows to immense size due to exposure to an alien goop. The same stuff has a similar effect on a gila monster near the crash site, which eventually leads to a clash between the two overgrown critters, with a bunch of puny humans caught in the middle.
In case it wasn't immediately obvious, this is The Asylum's knock-off of "Godzilla vs. Kong," with all of their usual trademarks -- cheap sets, awkward dialogue, terrible acting, crappy CGI, and an appearance by a slumming, D-list star (Eric "Julia's Brother" Roberts). It spends way too much time on talky, scientific mumbo-jumbo dialogue between the human characters and not enough on the creatures, so those expecting serious monster mayhem will be disappointed.
It's not the worst Asylum movie I've ever seen, but it isn't really worth your time, either.

Walker

Paranormal Caught On Camera

Twilight Zone - Season 1 "A Passage For Trumpet"

This was the first clunker I've watched in Season 1. And it's not really bad but it's pretty corny. An alcoholic trumpet player (Jack Klugman) gets hit by a car and meets the ultimate "supernatural" trumpet player named "Gabe".

Colin Hay:Waiting For My Real Life To Begin

Very good documentary on the meteoric rise of Men At Work to the crashing back to Earth and Colin's life after the band.

"The Wicker Man" (2006)

A police officer (Nicolas Cage) is summoned to an isolated island village to help search for a missing girl, but as he digs into the mystery he discovers that the seemingly tranquil community has a long history of Pagan sacrifice and murder.
This remake of a '70s British horror flick (which I've never seen) was a pretty notorious box office bomb, but it's turned into a minor cult item since then thanks to Cage's performance, which becomes increasingly manic (and therefore unintentionally funny) as the film goes on. When his character first arrives on the island, he's all business, proper and polite, but by the three quarter mark he's wearing a bear suit, yelling at everyone at the top of his lungs, and punching women in the face.
I actually enjoyed this, but your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for Cage's overacting.

Mother's Day (1980)



Three college girl friends reunite for a 10 year anniversary camping trip but run into trouble when they are discovered by an insane matriarch and her two sons. Produced by Troma Films, this one comes across as a sort of Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Deliverance hybrid. Not a great film by any stretch but not a time wasted either.

Did you see the edited version or the unedited version?  Unfortunately I have the Media Home Entertainment version which is heavily edited. I rented the unedited version a long time ago from the local Ma and Pa video store so when I watched the version I bought I was not happy.

No idea. It flashed up as rated NR so maybe it was unedited, although it wasn't too graphic. Do you know what the changes would have been? I'll have to see what I can find out.


Edit:  Doing a search I came across the Shudder website (which is where I watched this through Amazon Prime) and they list it as ad-free and unedited. So am I that desensitized to violence?

https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/mothers-day/d6037e0130ab9cb2

I don't think it was the violence as much as the sexual elements.

Doctor Who - Earthshock

"Star Wars" (1977)

Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi save a princess from Darth Vader and destroy the dreaded Death Star in George Lucas' classic space epic that needs no further explanation, cuz we've all (except Toho... ) seen it  a million times. I will never, ever, EVER get tired of this movie. Ever.
As an added bonus, my 13 year old son watched it with me tonight for the first time ever, and he loved it - he sez he wants to see the rest of 'em now. The Force is with him! I'm so proud.

Today I watched another classic Twilight Zone episode from Season 1 called "The After Hours" or as I always think of it "The Mannequin Episode". Even when you know what's going to happen and already understand what's going on, the writing and acting are both so compelling that this episode is still very haunting. This episode definitely deserves the iconic status it has among TZ fans. Just a great entry in the franchise.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker

The Chopper episode, one of the better episodes although the effects aren't all that great.