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

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" (2016)

Set in the early 2000s, Tina Fey is a low-level journalist whose job is in a rut. She volunteers to go to Afghanistan and be "embedded" with the U.S. military, thinking it will be just the jump start her career needs. Once she arrives "in country" and overcomes the initial awkwardness of being so far from home, she becomes part of the so called "bubble" the reporters occupy, deals with the natives, and navigates various perils. An engrossing dramedy, based on a true story. Fey is excellent and so is the supporting cast, which includes Margot Robbie, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfred Molina.

I've thought about seeing that but I find something about Tina Fey very irritating.  I'm not sure what it is but just hearing her talk gets on my nerves.  But based on your summation that sounds somewhat interesting so maybe I'll reconsider.

Risky Business (not the Tom Cruise flick). A documentary on the risks of getting in the adult film industry.

"Jungle Run" (2021)


Two siblings head into the jungles of Brazil on a search for their archaeologist father, who disappeared during an expedition. A variety of nasty critters including killer snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs, crocodiles, and piranhas make their mission more difficult.
...this is the Asylum's pre-emptive bite off of Disney's upcoming "Jungle Cruise" movie and it's pretty much what you'd expect from them: a paper thin plot, lots of cheaply CGI'd creatures, and a cast of unknowns topped by one slumming former big name (Richard "21 Jump Street" Grieco).  It's not the worst Asylum film I've ever seen, but "Jungle Run" feels lazy even by their standards.

Started Odyssey 5 - staring Peter Weller

"Gappa - The Triphibian Monsters" (aka "Monster From a Prehistoric Planet," 1967)

Explorers on an uncharted South Seas island find a prehistoric egg in a cave, which hatches to reveal a baby bird-like reptile creature. They make the mistake of bringing the critter back to Japan with them for study, which eventually attracts its giant size Mom and Dad, who (naturally) proceed to do the Monster Mash all across the landscape.
I've watched this entertainingly silly "Godzilla" knock off several times over the years but it's always been in washed-out, scratchy public domain copies. Someone must have sprung for a restoration of it at some point, though, because the version currently streaming on Tubi is nice and clean, brightly colored, and better looking than I've ever seen it.
The "Gappa" creatures are pretty goofy looking but the monster-destruction scenes are well done, and the flick also has a few moments that will be unintentionally hilarious to modern audiences, like when the female lead is told she should quit her scientist job to "go home and learn to cook and wash diapers," and the Japanese kid who's covered in unconvincing black face make up to make him look like an island native.
All in all, "Gappa" is a fun way to kill 90 minutes if you're into vintage monster cheese.

tohostudios wrote:

I've thought about seeing that but I find something about Tina Fey very irritating.  I'm not sure what it is but just hearing her talk gets on my nerves.  But based on your summation that sounds somewhat interesting so maybe I'll reconsider.

I can offer a 2nd recommendation. Solid, enjoyable movie. I usually find Tina Fey quite annoying, myself. I enjoyed the movie, though

The Hunt (2021)



Dumb updated version of the Most Dangerous Game, with a group of people awakening in an open field, given weapons and subsequently hunted. However, a case of mistaken identity puts a Mary Sue in the group who soon turns the tables on the hunters. Updated to have the left vs. right spin in it but still doesn't work. Not a very good film.

exact33 wrote:

Started Odyssey 5 - staring Peter Weller

I hope you don't get too wrapped up in it because nothing gets resolved by the time it was cancelled.  In fact towards the end it gets even more interesting and then it just...stops.

I loved that series and I'm still pissed it never got a chance to even do a rushed finish.

I have the whole series on DVD and it includes a couple episodes that were never broadcast and those just make you wish even more that they'd been given a chance to properly resolve the series.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Gappa - The Triphibian Monsters" (aka "Monster From a Prehistoric Planet," 1967)

Explorers on an uncharted South Seas island find a prehistoric egg in a cave, which hatches to reveal a baby bird-like reptile creature. They make the mistake of bringing the critter back to Japan with them for study, which eventually attracts its giant size Mom and Dad, who (naturally) proceed to do the Monster Mash all across the landscape.
I've watched this entertainingly silly "Godzilla" knock off several times over the years but it's always been in washed-out, scratchy public domain copies. Someone must have sprung for a restoration of it at some point, though, because the version currently streaming on Tubi is nice and clean, brightly colored, and better looking than I've ever seen it.
The "Gappa" creatures are pretty goofy looking but the monster-destruction scenes are well done, and the flick also has a few moments that will be unintentionally hilarious to modern audiences, like when the female lead is told she should quit her scientist job to "go home and learn to cook and wash diapers," and the Japanese kid who's covered in unconvincing black face make up to make him look like an island native.
All in all, "Gappa" is a fun way to kill 90 minutes if you're into vintage monster cheese.

I've always had a soft spot for this movie but I've never seen a colorized version of it.

tohostudios wrote:

I've always had a soft spot for this movie but I've never seen a colorized version of it.  

It was always in color (made in '67), but all the prints of it that I've ever seen (it shows up in a lot of those Public Domain "Horror Classics" collections) have always been so washed out that they might as well have been black & white.

Really? I'd have sworn that was a black and white flick. I guess I've only ever seen the really washed out versions. And I used to see it on TV a lot as a kid and we only had a black and white TV set until I was about 13.

Left For Dead(2007)-Horror/western tale of a badass, gun toting lady who is trying to track down a man wanted for rape. Teaming up with a small group of more women, they eventually find themselves in the ghost town of Amnesty. Which is literally a ghost town as it is haunted by the ghost of a former preacher who was murdered years earlier and kills anyone who steps foot in his town. This low budget flick almost kind of plays like a spaghetti western version of The Crow at times, with "The Crow" being a villain for a change. While I've seen worse, I've certainly seen a hell of a lot better. After the first hour of this film, I started to watch the clock to see how much more until it was over, which is never a good sign.

"Wonder Woman 1984" (2020)

Sequel to DC's 2017 super heroine hit moves the action to the 1980s, and pits Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) against Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a shady businessman whose wish-granting powers pose a threat to the entire world, and the villainous Cheetah (Kristen Wiig of "SNL" and "Bridesmaids").
The first "W.W." movie was a home run, but this sequel is a double, at best. At two and a half hours, it's simply too damn long. For much of the first half, "WW84" seems to have trouble deciding whether it wants to be a butt kickin' action epic or a campy action comedy, and the performances by the two villains are underwhelming (particularly Wiig, who's in way over her head).
Fortunately the action sequences are well done (I could watch Gal Gadot beat up bad guys all day) and a brief cameo by '70s W.W. Lynda Carter is a nice touch.
"WW84" got better as it went along, but compared to the first film it was a let down.

"Cosmic Sin" (2021)

Good Lord, what happened to Bruce Willis' career? It looks like he's entered the Nicolas Cage zone, appearing in an endless series of cheap direct-to-video B movies like this. Somebody get him a new "Die Hard" movie, quick!
...anyway, in this low budget sci-fi/action flick set 500 years in the future, Bruce sleepwalks through his role as a legendary space soldier who's called back to active duty to help stop an alien invasion. Lots of punching, blasting and zapping occurs as he leads a squadron of young bucks into battle, but the "story" is a hopelessly confused muddle, the sets and effects are cheesy and the supporting cast is bland.
In an interesting side note, one of the soldiers is played by Brandon Thomas Lee, son of Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. His acting skills are about on par with his Mom's, and I don't mean that in a good way.
Fortunately "Cosmic Sin" was short (just a hair under 90 minutes) so my suffering was minimal.
Do I even need to say it?  AVOID.

I watched an episode of Jeopardy! earlier this week. A contestant broke a record for the worst score in the history of the show during his appearance.

Millions. A documentary on folks who won the lottery and blown millions to be broke again.

Fart. A documentary on farts.

"After Porn Ends" (2012)

First of three documentaries that tracks down adult film stars from days gone by to see how they're adjusting to life after leaving "the industry." Subjects include Crissy Moran (now a born again Christian and anti-porn activist), Asia Carrera (single Mom) Mary Carey (mainstream reality TV buffoon), Tiffany Million (now a licensed P.I. and bounty hunter!) and more. Occasionally funny, sometimes depressing, always interesting.

"Mortal Kombat" (2021)

A team of super powered fighters is assembled by an ancient order to represent Earth in an inter-dimensional martial arts battle royale. Bones crunch, swords clash, blades fly, blood splatters, lather, rinse, repeat.

...I am definitely not the target audience for this movie-- I have never played a "Mortal Kombat" game or seen either of the two previous "MK" films, therefore I know absolute fuck-all about this franchise. For whatever it's worth, I thought the stunt work was impressive, the special effects were pretty nifty, and thanks to the wall to wall ultra-violence, it certainly wasn't dull.

However, my 14 year old son watched it with me, and he's a bigtime "MK" fanboy and player, so here's his final analysis:

"It was pretty good, but Reptile looked like shit and I didn't like Scorpion's costume at all."

...I have no idea what any of that means, but I'll  take his word for it.

And Then There Were None (1945)



Adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, this one deals with a group of disparate people invited to a mansion on a remote island by a person claiming to be a friend of a friend. They are soon all accused of various murders, and eventually start getting bumped off one by one. Is the unknown killer hiding somewhere on the island or, in fact, one of the invited guests? I actually found this one to be rather enjoyable.

"Alligator" (1980)


A pet baby alligator is flushed down the toilet, where it winds up in the sewers beneath Chicago. A dozen years later, the critter has grown to immense size and starts snacking on unlucky citizens, so a cop (Robert Forster) and a reptile expert (Robin Riker) team up to figure out how to kill it.

This urban "Jaws" variant scared the hell outta me when I was a kid, and it's still a fun watch all these years later. A solid creature feature.

"Alligator II: The Mutation" (1991)

Belated sequel to the 1980 cult hit is essentially a re-run of the original, just moved to a new location - small town Florida. This time out, a gator grows to absurd size and develops a taste for humans thanks to toxic waste dumped in the sewers. A cop (Joseph Bologna), his scientist wife (Dee Wallace Stone) and a hillbilly gator hunter (Richard Lynch) have to find a way to destroy the monster before it threatens the grand opening of a new multi-zillion dollar lakefront condo community. Much chomping, screaming, and blasting ensues.

"Alligator II" is noticeably cheaper than the original and despite its cast full of dependable B-Movie regulars, it's not nearly as much fun. It has its moments, but overall I'd say stick with the O.G.

"Fear Street Part 3: 1666" (2021)

The final part of the Netflix horror trilogy starts off in Colonial times and details the witchcrafty origins of the town's centuries-long streak of bad luck, then returns us to the present day (well, the 1994 present day anyway) where the brother and sister team from the previous two films struggle to figure out how to stop the curse once and for all.
I think this was the best of the three "Fear Street" flicks - it was fast moving, atmospheric, sufficiently creepy/disturbing, and had some bitchin' gore to boot. Thumbs up.

Gonna watch the Bon Scott era disc of Family Jewels a bit later.Never watched the Brian Johnson disc in it's entirety. Boy have I tried!

"Monster Man" (2003)

Two dudes on a road trip to attend an old flames' wedding (and a hot hitchhiker they pick up along the way) are pursued through deserted back roads by a deformed psycho in a souped up Monster Truck that looks like it was constructed in Hell itself. Hilarity ensues.
A very entertaining low budget horror comedy that's kinda like a mash up of "Wrong Turn" and "Clerks" (thanks to the constant banter between the two male leads) with a pinch of "Texas Chainsaw" for flavor. This one has you laughing one minute, then going "ewwwww!" the next. Lots of fun.