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

Required Fields wrote:

The whole movie can be seen on YouTube for free.

I'm sure I'll get to it one of these years

Fat Freddy wrote:

Required Fields wrote:

Hey, Fat Freddy, did you ever see Undefeatable (the movie I posted above you) or even just see the fight that went viral from it?

Never the whole movie, but I have seen the "viral" fight scene. The director of that film (Godfrey Ho) has produced some of the worst crap ever, haha

I have seen three or four other Godfrey Ho movies, as well as select scenes from others. Godfrey Ho made about 50 movies with the word "Ninja" in the title, although I only saw Rage of Ninja out of all of those.

"Rebus" (aka "Appointment in Beirut," 1969)

A down-on-his-luck former roulette dealer (Laurence Harvey) is drafted by the police to help stop a criminal gang that specializes in casino heists. While keeping an eye out for the bad guys at a resort in Beirut, he also romances a sultry cabaret performer (Ann-Margret).
This drawn out, talky heist flick has some nice Mediterranean scenery and Ann-Margret is smoking hot as usual but otherwise it's a slow, boring slog. AVOID.

My Body Is Not Obscene.

A documentary on nude models. It tells how they're shamed by family and friends for what they do.

Just started a show called You. It's a Netflix show about some serial killer dude. Has a Dexter vibe to it in a way, but I'm only one episode deep. Might be pretty good.

Happy Hell Night(1992)-during a fraternity initiation, several students are murdered by a insane priest. Twenty five years later, the priest escapes from a mental hospital and starts to pick up where he left off by targeting new victims from the same fraternity. Decent 90's slasher that has what you would expect from a movie like this including obnoxious frat boys, slutty girls and some okay gore. The killer is fairly creepy and even try to give him some Freddy Krueger like one liners. Darren"Kolchak"Mcgavin gets star billing, even though he is only in the movie for a short time. Look for future Oscar winner Sam Rockwell in a cameo role as young Darren Mcgavin. 2/5

Paranormal Caught On Camera

YouTube has been a treasure trove of weird Sixties movies lately, like this gem:

"The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz" (1967)

A lovely member of East Germany's women's Olympic team (Elke Sommer) pole vaults over the Berlin Wall into the West, where she catches the eye of an American businessman (Bob "Hogan's Heroes" Crane). Several of Crane's "Hogan" co-stars (Werner "Col. Klink" Kemperer, Leon "General Burkhalter" Askin, and John "Sgt. Schultz" Banner) appear as bumbling East German agents trying to recapture Sommer.
...so yeah, essentially this silly farce feels like a two hour "Hogan's Heroes" episode set during the Cold War instead of World War II, cuz everybody's pretty much playing the same characters. The movie is WAY too long but as usual, Elke is smokin' hot and she doesn't wear much.
Your mileage may vary depending on your obsession for Ms. Sommer, or the cast of "Hogans' Heroes."

And then, for something completely different....

"The First Purge" (2018)

Despite the title, this is actually the fourth "Purge" movie and it serves as a prequel, establishing how the evil "New Founding Fathers" political party captured the Presidency of the U.S. and set up the first ever "Purge Night" as a social experiment limited to a single locale - Staten Island, New York. The main characters are an assortment of gang bangers, freaks, and plain old regular citizens all just trying to survive when chaos starts raining down on their streets. Of course, lots of people end up getting shot, stabbed and blown up while the government stooges track the action and count up the kills.
All of the Purge films have been entertaining in a sadistic kind of way but I rank this one near the bottom of the stack -- there's nothing here that hasn't been done to death in previous Purge installments. I did find the Staten Island setting particularly funny, though, since I went to college there.
I'm now all caught up on this franchise ...until they make another one, which is probably already in the works.

The Purge franchise needs to be purged.

Troublezone wrote:

The Purge franchise needs to be purged.

I like'em. They're just mindless violence pretending to be deep social commentary/satire.

YouTube kicks up another Sixties obscurity...

"The Silencers" (1966)

First of four films in the "Matt Helm" series of James Bond spoofs, with Dean Martin as a super-cool spy who teams up with a cute-but-klutzy agent (Stella Stevens) to stop a criminal organization called "Big O" from sabotaging a nuclear bomb test.
"The Silencers" has a couple of laughs here and there and a lot of gorgeous babes, but it's totally impossible to take Dean Martin seriously as a secret agent - he was in his late 40s when he made these flicks and he's more or less playing himself, wearing his trademark turtleneck sweaters and toting a martini glass everywhere he goes. Dino mugs his way through most of the movie until the big final battle in the bad guy's hidden underground headquarters, when his stunt double takes over and does all the heavy lifting.
I've seen worse Bond knock-offs, but I've also seen way better (i.e. James Coburn's "Flint" movies). I doubt I'll bother with the other three movies in this series.

Now that baseball season is over I need to finally watch "Godzilla vs Kong" but I've decided to rewatch the entire "Monsterverse" franchise in order first.  So tonight it was "Kong - Skull Island".  This is still a fun flick even after seeing it about half a dozen times, although I still think the "skull crawlers" look kind of ungainly with just 2 legs.  Seems like Kong should be able to bowl them over just by bellowing at them.  And I'll never forget how excited I got the first time I saw the "precursor" scene after the credits have rolled.

The Blood On Satan's Claw (1971)



After a deformed skull is unearthed by a man plowing a field, the local village teens fall under a demonic influence and intend to reconstitute the creature.The man who unearthed the skull and the village elders attempt to stop them. Not a bad film that has a Hammer feel to it but it's actually a Tigon film.

I think I saw that a long, long time ago as a kid and I remember it being VERY slow.

"The Wrecking Crew" (1968)

...I know, I said I probably wasn't going to bother with more of Dean Martin's "Matt Helm" movies, but the casting in this one piqued my morbid curiosity, as it was the final film to star the late Sharon Tate, who was murdered by the Manson family only a few months after this movie was released. (the cast also includes Elke Sommer, one of my favorite Sixties mega babes, Tina "Gilligan's Island" Louise, and even Chuck Norris, making his screen debut in a small part as a henchman!)
Anyway... this was the fourth and final "Helm" flick, and it was pretty much interchangeable with "The Silencers"... a master criminal (Nigel Greene) steals a train full of U.S. gold, which could crash the world economy unless Matt can recover it. As he trails the bad guys across Europe, Helm crashes a few cars, fights a bunch of bad guys, and of course romances a whole lotta babes. I liked this one better than "The Silencers," but that's not really saying much.

The Eternals (2021)



Latest entry to the MCU, introducing the near immortal race of beings living on Earth and protecting humanity from a predatory species called the Deviants. Thinking the Deviants, have been eradicated to the times of Babylon, the Eternal have lived peacefully amongst humans in the following centuries. However, another brood of Deviants appear forcing the Eternals back into action, leading them to discover their true origins and purpose, which could lead the destruction of the Earth. A very long film, with a lot to cover, but a very enjoyable film with 2 cool post credit scenes, introducing more characters into the MCU.

Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975)



Last gasp of the original Showa series, and a direct sequel to the previous Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. This one deals with the aliens further attempt to conquer Earth by rebuilding Mechagodzilla and teaming with a disgruntled Earth scientist who controls an amphibious dinosaur dubbed Titanosaurus. Naturally, a huge battle ensues with plenty of explosions and what not. A rather disappointing finish to the series that ended Godzilla films in Japan for about a decade.

^^ that was the first Godzilla movie I saw as a kid, on the "4:30 Movie" on ABC-7 in New York. Sentimental favorite.

Fat Freddy wrote:

^^ that was the first Godzilla movie I saw as a kid, on the "4:30 Movie" on ABC-7 in New York. Sentimental favorite.

Believe it or not, I never saw that movie until well after I was married (same goes for King Kong vs. Godzilla). I knew they existed but somehow neither one of them got much airplay around here, or at the very least, I somehow missed them whenever they did air.

I never liked the whole "mecha" thing anyway and the fact that that one has that stupid Titanosaurus in it really puts that G entry low on my list.  Titanosaurus looks like a reptilian giraffe.

"RoboCop" (1987)

...aka "My Favorite Movie Ever," for the bazillionth time. I never get tired of this one. My 14 year old watched it with me (his first viewing) and said it was "awesome."

Destroy All Monsters (1968)



Set in the far flung future of 1999, all of Earth's kaiju have been confined peaceably on a remote island. However, as happens far too much in these Godzilla movies, aliens called the Kilaaks take control of all the monsters in a bid to conquer the Earth. This movie contains practically every Toho monster that existed up to this point (although Varanasi just appears briefly and is only a model) and the climactic battle is pretty fun to watch, but the movie's over used plot kind of holds it back.

I loved that movie as a kid but it doesn't hold up very well now.  Especially after Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah - All Monsters Attack and the even more recent Godzilla, King Of The Monsters which essentially are both "re-imaginings" of Destroy All Monsters in that they also feature all the Toho monsters in them.

Godzilla (2014)

This is the first of the Legendary films to feature the Big G and was next up in my strategy to view all the Legendary Monsterverse films before finally watching Godzilla Vs Kong.  This is about the third or fourth time I've seen this film and I enjoy it less with each viewing.  For one thing, the pseudo-science explaining the origins of the "mutos" is really weak and confusing (as is the timeline).  And other than a very brief partial appearance in "secret Monarch footage" in the opening credits, Godzilla doesn't even appear until an hour into the film.  As usual with the Legendary franchise, the FX are top notch but the story in "Godzilla" is really weak IMO.