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

"Southern Comfort" (1981)

A squad of National Guardsmen enter the Lousiana swamps for a weekend training exercise. While stumbling around the forests and wetlands, they piss off some of the local Cajuns and spend the rest of the movie on the run from them, getting picked off one by one.
A tight survival/action thriller directed by Walter Hill of "The Warriors" and '48 HRS." fame, anchored by a strong cast (Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, Fred Ward, Brion James) and the gloomy locations. I wouldn't wanna be lost in those swamps, either.

"In Like Flint" (1967)

Second and last tongue-in-cheek spy spoof starring James Coburn as swingin', ultra cool  Derek Flint, agent of Z.O.W.I.E. This time he has to stop an evil group of female tycoons from taking over the world with an all girl army they've brainwashed via beauty-salon hair dryers. Yes, really.
Coburn is wise-cracking and cool, the ladies (including a pre-"Batgirl" Yvonne Craig as a Russian ballerina/spy) are all gorgeous, and everyone seems to be having a great time.
There's a quote from Mike "Austin Powers" Myers on the DVD cover that says "In Like Flint is my favorite movie!" -- which is not a surprise, since you only need to watch a few minutes of this to see Flint's obvious influence on the Austin films.

Episodes of Becker

I watched the new episodes of The Simpsons and Family Guy tonight.

CBGB

"Another 48 Hrs." (1990)

Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte are back as wise ass ex-con Reggie and hard living detective Jack, and this time they have to uncover the identity of a mysterious drug kingpin known only as "The Iceman" before Jack goes to prison for murder and Reggie ends up dead. This years-too-late sequel is full of impressive stunt work, shootouts, property destruction, and general mayhem but in the end it's not much more than a remix of all the best parts of the first movie. Watchable but not essential.

"Our Man Flint" (1966)


Whoops, I watched the sequel ("In Like Flint") the other day, which means I screened this series in the wrong order... oh well...

In James Coburn's first appearance as ultra-suave, super cool secret agent Derek Flint, the governments of the world call him out of semi-retirement to stop a group of evil scientists who've figured out a way to control and weaponize the Earth's weather. Entertainingly silly sixties "spy-fi" spoof with lots of retro/futuristic set designs and hot Sixties chicks. Shag-a-delic fun.

Maniac(2012)-a disturbed mannequin store owner is also a serial killer who murders young women, collecting their scalps and nailing them to mannequin so that can now be his "friends".  He is befriended by a pretty photographer who he becomes obsessed with, having no idea what dark secrets he is keeping from her.  A remake of the legendry cult slasher of the early 80's, this film kind of does its own thing while making occasional references to the original.  It's very dark, gory and unflinching like the original.  Very well made and a lot of respect for it, but this doesn't beat the original IMO and I don't think a remake was that needed.  Still, a solid effort. 2.5/5

Went down an old school Christmas special rabbit hole last night, thanks to DVD and YouTube...

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)

The Dean Martin Christmas Show (1968)

The Cher Show Christmas Special (1975)

"Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2" (1987)

"Ricky," the younger brother of "Billy," the Santa Claus killer from the first movie, tells his sad story to a prison psychiatrist before breaking out and going on his own Santa-suited killing spree. An absolute master class in bad acting by the guy playing Ricky (it's all in the eyebrows) plus there's so much recycled footage from the first movie that you don't even need to watch the original. Is it bad that this crap-tacular has become a holiday season perennial for me? PUNISH!!

"Black Christmas" (2006)

Sorority sisters learn the hard way that their house was once home to a notorious serial killer who's returned for Christmas in this re-make of Bob Clark's '70s slasher flick. Honestly, I kind of prefer this over the O.G., cuz it has a way bigger mean streak (Incest! Cannibalism! Eyeball gougings!) and a cast full of eye candy like Michelle "Buffy" Trachtenberg, Lacey "Party of Five" Chabert, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"). It may not be a great movie, but Lord knows it's better than Blumhouse's doomed 2019 attempt.

A couple of killer Santa movies:

Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)



A record store owner and her friends decide to party Christmas Eve away, unaware that a nearby toy store's robotic Santa, from a cancelled Dept. Of Defense program, goes haywire and reverts to it's former programming, going on a killing spree while stalking them. Not too much more to the plot, with a lot of gore and killings and it plays out as cross between any number of the killer Santa movies and the Terminator.

Silent Night (2012)



Remake of 1984's Silent Night, Deadly Night, with a sheriff's deputy, reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, dealing with a masked maniac in a Santa suit on a killing spree in her small town. Again, nothing new here, with plenty of gory deaths (electrocution, dismemberment and even a wood chipper killing) to keep you interested.

Episodes Of Becker and Married With Children.

YouTube has been a treasure trove of kitschy vintage TV variety-show Christmas specials this year. Tonight I watched:

Perry Como's 1974 Christmas show with The Carpenters, Peggy Fleming, and Rich Little...


and the 1979 Donny & Marie Christmas special, with Erik Estrada, Adam Rich, and Cindy Williams!
(I had a MAD crush on Marie Osmond when I was a kid... )

Day of the Dead(2008)-loose remake of the Romero classic about a virus that has taken over a small town in Colorado and is turning its people into zombies.  A small group of soldiers try to fight off and survive the mayhem while trying to find out the origin of the virus.  George Romero's early zombie films rank as some of my favorite films ever and this film while it tries to do something different than the original storyline, just falls flat.  I guess I'm not really that big a fan of zombie films that have a lot of action in them as I prefer them to be more eerie and gloomy like the older zombie movies I loved as a kid.  I'm also not a fan of the running zombies that are some common now.  The zombies in this film can even climb walls and ceilings like Spiderman! Just a little too goofy for me, I guess. 1.5/5

The Decline Of Western Civilization Pt. 2

Christmas Vacation (1989)



Classic movie about the Griswold clan planning an old fashioned stay at home Christmas vacation, all the while Clark sweating out a lack of a bonus to cover an in ground pool deposit. A highly quotable, hilarious film that gets at least 2 viewings this time of year.

007 wrote:

Christmas Vacation (1989)



Classic movie about the Griswold clan planning an old fashioned stay at home Christmas vacation, all the while Clark sweating out a lack of a bonus to cover an in ground pool deposit. A highly quotable, hilarious film that gets at least 2 viewings this time of year.

This is such a great movie!

"American Gothic" (1988)

Three couples on a camping trip in the Pacific Northwest are forced to land on a small island when their plane has engine trouble. They eventually find a cottage occupied by a seemingly kindly old couple (Rod "In The Heat of the Night" Steiger and Yvonne "Lily Munster" DeCarlo) and their brood of strange children... all of whom, of course, turn out not to be very kindly after all.
A creepy-cool combo of slasher and survival thriller; Steiger and DeCarlo are hilarious as the demented "Ma" and "Pa," and there are several disturbing twists and turns to keep things interesting. A solid "B" movie.

"Wrong Turn" (2003)

Stranded motorists are pursued through the backwoods of West Virginia by a murderous clan of inbred cannibals. Hilarity ensues.
A 21st century update of the "hillbilly horror" flicks of the '70s, this tight little thriller is fast paced, has plenty of gooey ultra-violence, and it stars Eliza "Buffy" Dushku at her absolute peak of hotness. Therefore I was entertained.
Followed by at least five sequels and one reboot!

Episodes of Frazier

"Dio: Dreamers Never Die" (2022)

Excellent documentary on the life and career of the great Ronnie James Dio, -- from his humble 1950s beginnings as a trumpet player (!) all the way through his stints wtih Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and of course his own band. Packed with tons of amazing clips and photos from all phases of Ronnie's life and commentary by friends and contemporaries like Wendy Dio (of course), Rob Halford, Vinny Appice, Craig Goldy, Mick Wall, Eddie Trunk, and more. A must see rock-doc for all fans of RJD.

New Years Evil (1980)



A popular new wave/punk DJ (Roz "Pinky Tuscadaro" Kelly, looking rather fetching in her skin tight dress) is hosting a nationally televised concert counting down to the NewYear. After the show starts, a call is placed by a psycho planning on committing a murder at the stroke of midnight for each US time zone, culminating with the DJ's murder on the West Coast. A rather inventive slasher film, showing the murderer's schemes play out through the flick while jumping back to the various bands playing the party/show (with some rather unintentionally funny dance moves from the crowd). Beter than I expected it to be.

Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)



British slasher film about a madman running around the London backdrop murdering anyone dressed up as Santa Claus and the Scotland Yard detectives trying to solve the case and capture the lunatic. A decent, bloody and sometimes sleazy film, that kept me entertained. I am a bit surprised that this is a British film, considering how uptight the UK was with the slasher/horror films of the era (remember the Video Nasty list and censorship going around back then?)

"5-25-77" (2022)

In the late '70s, a movie-obsessed Illinois high school senior makes his own Super-8 movies in his backyard and dreams of becoming a filmmaker someday. On a whim he takes a trip to Hollywood to track down his idol, special effects guru Douglas Trumbull, and in the process he meets Steven Spielberg and ends up becoming one of the first outsiders to see a rough cut of a little film called "Star Wars." When he returns home, he realizes that his small town has nothing to offer him anymore.
This slightly overlong, but mostly charming coming-of-age comedy/period piece was a passion project for director Patrick Read Johnson, based on his own life experience. Most of it was shot between 2004 and 2006 but the film was not finally completed till 2017 (and then it sat on the shelf till 2022). Sci-fi fans and film buffs of all types will relate to the nerdy Johnson character (played by John Francis Daley of "Bones"). A pleasant surprise that fell somewhere between Spielberg's "Super 8" and "Fanboys."

Alone In The Dark (1982)



A quartet of criminally insane maniacs escape from their mental hospital during a blackout and go after their new therapist, who they believe murdered their former therapist. A standard early slasher film, worth watching for the cast alone (Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Donald Pleasance, and Dwight "Howling Mad Murdock" Schultz), but otherwise nothing you haven't seen before.

Dio : Dreamers Never Die

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