TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies. TV) 2022

"Porndemic" (2018)

Intriguing documentary that takes us back to the mid '90s, when the "adult entertainment" industry was raking in bushels of cash and very nearly approaching mainstream acceptance... until an outbreak of HIV infections within the "performing" community caused everybody to slam on the brakes. The "source" of the outbreak was eventually narrowed down to one guy - actor Marc Wallice, who naturally was immediately blacklisted and his life destroyed, but apparently there are still some people in the industry today who believe Marc was thrown under the bus because he was a convenient scapegoat. No matter how you slice it, porn is still a dirty business. and this doc proves it.

Considering John Holmes was "performing" up until he was quite noticeably sick, I'd say odds are good Marc Wallice was the easier / easiest target to pin everything on.

Episodes of American Horror Stories

SideShowDisaSter wrote:

Considering John Holmes was "performing" up until he was quite noticeably sick, I'd say odds are good Marc Wallice was the easier / easiest target to pin everything on.

John Holmes had been dead for almost ten years by the time the events in this doc took place. The movie does mention him, but it seems like his passing didn't have much of an impact on the industry at the time. Everyone kinda went "(shrug) What a shame. Oh well, moving on."

"Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon" (2022)

The short but influential life and career of guitar legend Randy Rhoads is examined in this documentary filled with vintage clips, photos, and interviews with former band mates, family, and friends. I was particularly interested by the many live videos of Quiet Riot in their L.A. club days, most of which I'd never seen before. Longtime Randy fans probably won't learn anything new, but otherwise this is cool stuff for classic metal trivia nerds.

"Prey" (2021)

Not to be confused with the new "Predator" sequel by the same name currently streaming on Hulu, this German production (dubbed into English) is a Netflix original. Five guys on a hiking expedition in a remote forest suddenly find themselves under fire by an unknown sniper, and have to put aside their personal differences in order to get out alive. Pretty standard survival-thriller stuff, with a few moments of suspense. Not great, but not terrible. Six months from now I will probably have forgotten that I even saw this.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Porndemic" (2018)

Intriguing documentary that takes us back to the mid '90s, when the "adult entertainment" industry was raking in bushels of cash and very nearly approaching mainstream acceptance... until an outbreak of HIV infections within the "performing" community caused everybody to slam on the brakes. The "source" of the outbreak was eventually narrowed down to one guy - actor Marc Wallice, who naturally was immediately blacklisted and his life destroyed, but apparently there are still some people in the industry today who believe Marc was thrown under the bus because he was a convenient scapegoat. No matter how you slice it, porn is still a dirty business. and this doc proves it.

Watched this one awhile back. But if you want to see how much more disgusting the industry is headed in watch Ten Million Throwaways.

Finished the second season of Only Murders In The Building.

Curse of Chucky(2013)-a woman and her paraplegic daughter receive a package that contains a certain redheaded doll.  Later that night, the woman was found dead and is ruled a suicide.  The daughter's sister and her family show up and try to convince her the sell the house and make a new start.  The bodies soon start dropping as a little pint-sized killer is now running around her home and apparently has some kind of connection to her.  This entry into the Child's Play series has Chucky going back to his roots somewhat as he is not as comedic as he was in some of the later sequels(although still a little funny at times).  Overall, this is a solid film in the series and has some surprise cameos from other characters in the series.  Review based on unrated version.  2.5/5

The premiere episode of the Game Of Thrones prequel, House Of The Dragon

Leatherface wrote:

Curse of Chucky(2013)-a woman and her paraplegic daughter receive a package that contains a certain redheaded doll. Later that night, the woman was found dead and is ruled a suicide. The daughter's sister and her family show up and try to convince her the sell the house and make a new start. The bodies soon start dropping as a little pint-sized killer is now running around her home and apparently has some kind of connection to her. This entry into the Child's Play series has Chucky going back to his roots somewhat as he is not as comedic as he was in some of the later sequels(although still a little funny at times). Overall, this is a solid film in the series and has some surprise cameos from other charters in the series. Review based on unrated version. 2.5/5

When I bought the Child's Play 7 disc Blu-ray collection a few years ago I wasn't sure what to expect because I'd only seen the first 3 or so but overall I think all the Child's Play movies have at least something to offer. Curse was one of the ones I hadn't seen a second of and like all the others in the series I enjoyed it. I can't think of another franchise where there isn't at least one real clunker in the series (most are more like the Hellraiser series where after the first 3 you get nothing BUT clunkers). But I don't think any of the Child's Play movies are total stinkers.

tohostudios wrote:

Leatherface wrote:

Curse of Chucky(2013)-a woman and her paraplegic daughter receive a package that contains a certain redheaded doll.  Later that night, the woman was found dead and is ruled a suicide.  The daughter's sister and her family show up and try to convince her the sell the house and make a new start.  The bodies soon start dropping as a little pint-sized killer is now running around her home and apparently has some kind of connection to her.  This entry into the Child's Play series has Chucky going back to his roots somewhat as he is not as comedic as he was in some of the later sequels(although still a little funny at times).  Overall, this is a solid film in the series and has some surprise cameos from other charters in the series.  Review based on unrated version.  2.5/5

When I bought the Child's Play 7 disc Blu-ray collection a few years ago I wasn't sure what to expect because I'd only seen the first 3 or so but overall I think all the Child's Play movies have at least something to offer.  Curse was one of the ones I hadn't seen a second of and like all the others in the series I enjoyed it.  I can't think of another franchise where there isn't at least one real clunker in the series (most are more like the Hellraiser series where after the first 3 you get nothing BUT clunkers).  But I don't think any of the Child's Play movies are total stinkers.

Some people tend to rag on Part 3 and Seed of Chucky. I've only seen Part 3 once years ago and don't remember much about it, but I do remember not liking it as much as the first two. I've always liked Seed of Chucky because I think the vibe and energy of the film makes it kind of fun.

American Horror Stories

She-Hulk : Attorney At Law

"Avalanche" (1978)

The grand opening of a swanky new Colorado ski resort comes to a grinding halt when a mountain full of snow breaks loose and buries a group of character actors including Robert Forster, Rock Hudson, and Mia Farrow. Icy mayhem ensues.
Pretty typical late 70s disaster junk, the first half of the movie sets up the usual soap-opera bullsh*t between the various characters and then the second half knocks'em off in various wintry ways.
Enjoyably silly crap.

I think I may have seen that back in the day. I should hunt that down.

007 wrote:

I think I may have seen that back in the day. I should hunt that down.

It's on Tubi (which is free!)...

Continuing my double shot of wintry '70s cheez on a hot summer day:

"Snowbeast" (1977)

A Colorado ski resort's annual Winter Carnival is threatened by the sudden appearance of a Bigfoot-like creature who snatches ski bunnies off the slopes and leaves mangled corpses in its wake. Eventually the sheriff and a couple of ski patrol members mount up a posse to hunt the critter down.
Essentially a land-locked, wintry "Jaws" variant, this made-for-TV horror movie has lots of purty mountain scenery, but the mayhem is subdued thanks to network standards & practices, and when you finally see the creature, I swear he looks like "The Bumble" from "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer." Not altogether terrible, but strictly average.

'Max Reload and the Nether Blasters" (2020)

A teenage gamer mysteriously comes into possession of an extremely rare, long-lost '80s video game cartridge. Unfortunately, the game has a curse on it that releases an ancient evil out into the world when he plays it. Now he has to assemble a "team" of fellow players (and the estranged programmers of the original game) to try and stop it.
...this was a fun, low budget sci-fi/action/fantasy comedy, apparently funded by a Kickstarter campaign, that should appeal to fans of "Ready Player One," "Pixels," and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World." The young cast members are fine, and a few familiar faces like Greg Grunberg and Kevin "Clerks" Smith turn up in supporting roles. Not bad for a random Tubi pick.

Masters Of Horror episodes Jenifer and Chocolate

"Piranha" (aka "Piranha 3D," 2010)

An earthquake causes a fissure beneath an Arizona lake that allows prehistoric, very hungry piranhas to surface from an underground cave... just as hordes of Spring Breakers arrive for a week of fun, sun, and fornication. You can probably figure out how well that works out for everybody.
Alexandre ("High Tension") Aja's affectionate homage to Joe Dante's 1978 fish tale is fast-moving, extremely gory, and loaded with quality T&A. What more do you need to have a good time?

"Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" (2004)

Documentary makers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky ("Paradise Lost") spent nearly three years filming Metallica through the long, slow process of creating the still-controversial St. Anger album. The result is a fascinating, warts-n-all portrait that shows the troubled band members dealing with Jason Newsted's exit, James Hetfield's first trip to rehab, and the lengthy group therapy sessions with a "performance coach" hired by their management, who helps them hash out some long-simmering personal issues that have been held back for years.
This flick probably won't make you like St. Anger any better, but at the very least you'll understand why it turned out to be such a mess. At the time, the band members were so screwed up that they had no business trying to make a record.
Netflix has paired this doc with a mostly pointless, 26 minute follow up short called Metallica: The Monster Lives, in which the band sits down ten years later to discuss the effects that the documentary experience had on them.

"Requiem For A Scream" (2022)

A group of twenty-somethings (led by the always-welcome Cassie "Sharknado" Scerbo, who still can't act worth a damn, but her cleavage is glorious as ever) gathers at a secluded lake house to honor the passing of one of their friends. Unfortunately, their party is crashed by a masked killer who likes to record the screams of his victims and use them to compose a symphony of death sounds.
...this Tubi Original is nothin' fancy, just your typical low budget slasher junk. The cast is decent, there's a few good kills, and the "symphony" bit is an interesting hook, but  the characters are all such idiots that they deserve everything that happens to them.
If this is the best that Tubi can come up with for original content, the bigger streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, etc. won't have to worry much about the competition.

"Bathtubs Over Broadway" (2018)

In the early 1990s Steve Young, a writer for David Letterman's Late Show, was assigned to dig up some weird record albums for a bit on Dave's program, which led him to discover the wild, weird world of Industrial Musicals of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Back in the day, major American corporations would regularly stage lavish Broadway style musical shows about new products and innovations at their annual conventions and sales meetings to fire up their employees, and the "souvenir records" from such performances have become rare, obscure collectibles. As Steve digs deeper into this forgotten corner of the music world, he becomes one of the leading authorities on the subject, and eventually tracks down some of the songwriters and stars of these long forgotten productions to give them their long overdue moment in the sun. I love when a documentary teaches me about weird/obscure stuff I know nothing about, and this one definitely qualifies. Bizarre, hilarious, and unexpectedly heartwarming. A pleasant surprise.

Various game shows on Buzzr

"Jason X" (2002)

The tenth "Friday The 13th" installment is also the most insane one yet. In this slasher/sci-fi mashup, The Big J is cryogenically frozen in the early 2000s, and re-discovered 400 years later by a futuristic salvage crew. When they bring Jason back to their ship and thaw him out, he naturally causes havoc on an inter-galactic level. As long as you can wrap your head around the utterly absurd concept, "Jason X" is a fast paced, funny as hell, ultra violent hoot. I've found that it works best if you treat it as a parody of the "F13" films rather than a legitimate series entry.

Episodes of Taxi