TODAY I WATCHED... (Movies, TV, etc.) 2023

"Tribute: A Rockumentary" (2001)

An low-budget doc on the unique phenomenon of tribute bands, the musicians who play in them, and the fans who love them. Among the participants are a KISS tribute band looking for a new "Gene," a Queen tribute struggling to find a new "Freddie" after theirs jumps ship to do stage musicals in Europe, a Judas Priest tribute singer who's jealous of then-current Priest singer Ripper Owens, and a Monkees tribute that disintegrates in mid-film due to in-fighting between members. Entertaining stuff that resembles a real-life "Spinal Tap" more than once.

"My Stupid Tribute Band" (2023)

More tribute-band fun, this time focusing on the Texas-based AC/DC tribute Back In Black, who've been playing the Thunder From Down Under all over the U.S. and Canada for more than 20 years. Their singer even got a chance to audition for the real thing when Brian Johnson had to leave the Rock Or Bust tour due to his hearing issues in 2016. The band members seem like a nice bunch of guys, though writer/director Mike Mroz, who also portrays "Angus" in the group, narrates the entire film in a weird, halting monotone that sounds like he's reading everything off of cue cards, which gets annoying after a while. It seems odd that a guy who's been onstage playing music in front of people for most of his life would come off so stiff and un-natural on camera. Your mileage may vary on this one depending on your level of interest in AC/DC.

https://youtu.be/sN75MPxgvX8


Tumbbad

A very well done, beautiful,  atmospheric Indian horror movie.

I won't try to review it because I don't want to spoil it.

Mail Order Murder: The Story of W.A.V.E. Productions

Another winner in the John Wick franchise!

The Girl With All The Gifts (2017)



In the near future, the world is overrun by a fungal infection that robs people of their free will and turns them into cannibalistic zombies, a young gifted girl who is a carrier of the infection, but not fully turned, may hold the cure that humanity needs (hmmm, sounds familiar). This pretty cool British flick hits all the right buttons (despite being derivative of The Last Of Us) and has a good cast to boot, including Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close and Paddy Considine.

"All Things Must Pass" (2015)

Tom Hanks' son Colin directed this absorbing documentary on the rise and fall of the iconic Tower Records music store chain, which started out selling used jukebox singles in a California drug store in the early 1960s and became a global phenomenon. Unfortunately, a mixture of expansion into unfamiliar markets and the dawn of the digital music era proved to be a fatal combination for the chain, which went out of business in 2006. I was lucky enough to have a Tower Records store in my home town (Paramus, NJ) and I practically lived there for many years, so this doc is a pleasant trip down memory lane for me.
DAMN, I miss Tower Records!

Godfathers Of Hardcore. A documentary on Agnostic Front.

Congo (1995)



An expedition of disparate individuals search a remote area of the Congo jungle for a missing earlier expedition that was searching for diamonds. Also, a portion of the expedition is set on returning a female gorilla that can communicate via sign language to her home. What they discover is something far deadlier than they ever expected. This sci fi action/adventure has a lot going on in it, and is a rather entertaining film to watch.

"CHIPS" (2017)

The '70s motorcycle cop show gets a "Bad Boys" style 21st century update in a surprisingly entertaining action comedy. Two mismatched CHP officers - one who's actually an undercover FBI agent, the other a dorky rookie - are assigned to root out a gang of crooked cops who've been robbing armored cars on the side. Michael Pena and Dax Sheperd (who also wrote and directed) make a good "Ponch" and "Jon," and there's plenty of impressive stunt driving and pyrotechnics. This "CHIPS" crashed and burned at the box office but I had fun with it.

"Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape" (2016)

This documentary looks back on the humble cassette tape as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, reflecting on its long life and the current retro interest in tapes. Interviewees include the Dutch audio engineers at Philips Electronics who created it in the early 60s (most of whom, strangely, don't seem to have much affection for the format; one guy says it was "just a job"), as well as longtime aficionados like Henry Rollins (of course, because he's in every documentary like this), Ian McKaye (Fugazi), various hip-hop figures, and lo-fi indie musicians who are still releasing their tunes on cassette to this day. This one was fun for a while but it could've very easily been a short (an hour or less) film because eventually it starts going in circles. Your mileage may vary depending on your fondness for the format.

Trespassers(2005)-a group of friends travel to Mexico to meet up with some other friends for some partying and surfing. Once they arrive, they find their friends missing while some of their belongings are still there. As night falls, the friends begin to disappear themselves until only a couple remain and find out the truth behind the strange events. Decent little indie film that made to most of the obvious small budget they had. They kept the reason for what was happening hidden until deep into the film which I liked as it helped as I hate it when movies sometimes explain things too early and kill the mystery of the story. 2.5/5

"Waco: American Apocalypse" (2023)

3 episode Netflix doc about the infamous standoff between the ATF and the members of the Branch Davidian religious cult, which ended tragically. I've seen several docs about Waco over the years and this is one of the better ones.

Roadgames (1981)



Stacy Reach stars as an Australian truck driver who picks up the hitchhiking Jamie Lee Curtis and gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse with a serial killer driving a green van. This is a stylish thriller that I've heard of but never seen until now. Not too bad.

Sorority House Massacre (1986)



A sorority house pledge and a few students plan a Memorial Day weekend party while they are being stalked by a psychopathic killer, who apparently has a telepathic link with the pledge. Standard slasher hi jinks ensue. A by the numbers movie that gets some bonus points for throwing in the psychic link that leads to a predictable twist.

"Raise The Titanic" (1980)

A Navy salvage team led by dashing adventurer Dirk Pitt must locate the wreckage of the Titanic and bring it to the surface to recover a valuable treasure locked away in the ship's cargo hold.
An improbable, but mostly enjoyable old-school adventure flick based on Clive Cussler's best seller, with an impressive cast (incl. Sir Alec Guinness, Jason Robards, Anne Archer, and M.Emmett Walsh) and a lush music score by James Bond composer John Barry. The producers apparently hoped this would be the first in a series of films based on Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, but it bombed at the box office.
Fun fact: the real Titanic wasn't found until five years after this movie was made.

"Revenge of the Nerds" (1984)

After near-constant abuses at the hands of the jocks and beautiful people at Adams College, a group of nerdy freshmen form their own fraternity and mount a campaign to get even. This classic '80s campus comedy has come under fire in recent years for certain "problematic" plot points, but its "nerds are people too" message still manages to shine through the raunchy gags. Never mind the "politically correct" complaints, this one is still loads of fun.

Assignment Terror (1970)



In what is essentially a remake of Plan 9 From Outer Space, aliens from a dying world (Michael Rennie and Bond girl Karin Dor) inhabit the bodies of dead earth scientists and plan to conquer the Earth with legendary monsters, a vampire, werewolf, mummy and the "Faranksalan" monster. However, the aliens didn't count on acquiring human emotions nor the werewolf (Paul Naschy in his third of 12 go aounds as the monster) finding love in their hot blonde slave and turning against them. B movie fare at it's finest

"Zombie Holocaust" (aka "Doctor Butcher M.D.," 1980)

Investigators discover evidence of cannibalism in New York City hospitals and end up on an island in the South Seas, where they find a whole tribe of flesh eaters plus a mad doctor who's creating a race of zombies. Our heroes then have to stay off the menu of either side.
This utterly bizarro mash up of the zombie and cannibal genres appears to have been made up as it went along. The story makes no sense and the acting and dubbing absolutely suck, but the gore effects are plentiful and gruesome. Mindlessly entertaining Italian horror junk.

"Greenwich Village: The Music That Defined a Generation" (2012)

A cool documentary about the singer/songwriting folk music scene of the late 50s and early 60s that swept out of New York's Greenwich Village and into the mainstream, carrying its messages of peace, equality and anti-war sentiments. Featuring fascinating vintage clips of Sixties New York and interviews with major players like Pete Seeger, the Lovin' Spoonful, Melanie, Buffy Ste. Marie, Phil Ochs, and many more. I may not be a "folkie" but I enjoyed this illuminating doc.

"The House Bunny" (2008)

A dim-witted Playboy bunny (Anna Faris of "Scary Movie") gets kicked out of her cushy digs at the Playboy Mansion and ends up as the unlikely "house mother" to a group of dorky sorority girls at a local college. Of course, Faris' Bunny know-how slowly turns her charges into the hottest group on campus, much to the dismay of the snobby rich-girl sorority across the street and their blue-blood house mother (Beverly "Vacation" D'Angelo). Hef even makes a few well timed cameo appearances!
There's plenty of eye candy in this cross between "Legally Blonde" and "Revenge of the Nerds," and quite a few genuine laughs. Fluffy but fun cinematic junk food.

I saw it last night. Fun movie, with lots of references and shout-outs to various Mario video games. The animation looks great.

"Looker" (1981)

A plastic surgeon (Albert Finney) is the prime suspect in the mysterious deaths of three of his former clients -- all of whom were actresses that took part in an experimental new TV advertising system. Michael "Jurassic Park" Crichton wrote and directed this high-tech mystery/thriller which features some of the first CGI graphics ever used in a movie.

"Boston Strangler" (2023)

In the mid 1960s, two female reporters for a Boston newspaper deal with inept police work and struggle against the old-boys' network in their office as they cover the story of a serial killer who targets single women. A well made true crime period piece starring Keira ("Pirates of the Caribbean") Knightley, streaming on Hulu.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"My Stupid Tribute Band" (2023)

More tribute-band fun, this time focusing on the Texas-based AC/DC tribute Back In Black, who've been playing the Thunder From Down Under all over the U.S. and Canada for more than 20 years. Their singer even got a chance to audition for the real thing when Brian Johnson had to leave the Rock Or Bust tour due to his hearing issues in 2016. The band members seem like a nice bunch of guys, though writer/director Mike Mroz, who also portrays "Angus" in the group, narrates the entire film in a weird, halting monotone that sounds like he's reading everything off of cue cards, which gets annoying after a while. It seems odd that a guy who's been onstage playing music in front of people for most of his life would come off so stiff and un-natural on camera. Your mileage may vary on this one depending on your level of interest in AC/DC.

Watched this last night.

nevermore wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

"My Stupid Tribute Band" (2023)

More tribute-band fun, this time focusing on the Texas-based AC/DC tribute Back In Black, who've been playing the Thunder From Down Under all over the U.S. and Canada for more than 20 years. Their singer even got a chance to audition for the real thing when Brian Johnson had to leave the Rock Or Bust tour due to his hearing issues in 2016. The band members seem like a nice bunch of guys, though writer/director Mike Mroz, who also portrays "Angus" in the group, narrates the entire film in a weird, halting monotone that sounds like he's reading everything off of cue cards, which gets annoying after a while. It seems odd that a guy who's been onstage playing music in front of people for most of his life would come off so stiff and un-natural on camera. Your mileage may vary on this one depending on your level of interest in AC/DC.

Watched this last night.

Did the guy's weird, robotic way of speaking get on your nerves after a while, like it did mine?

Fat Freddy wrote:

nevermore wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

"My Stupid Tribute Band" (2023)

More tribute-band fun, this time focusing on the Texas-based AC/DC tribute Back In Black, who've been playing the Thunder From Down Under all over the U.S. and Canada for more than 20 years. Their singer even got a chance to audition for the real thing when Brian Johnson had to leave the Rock Or Bust tour due to his hearing issues in 2016. The band members seem like a nice bunch of guys, though writer/director Mike Mroz, who also portrays "Angus" in the group, narrates the entire film in a weird, halting monotone that sounds like he's reading everything off of cue cards, which gets annoying after a while. It seems odd that a guy who's been onstage playing music in front of people for most of his life would come off so stiff and un-natural on camera. Your mileage may vary on this one depending on your level of interest in AC/DC.

Watched this last night.

Did the guy's weird, robotic way of speaking get on your nerves after a while, like it did mine?

Sure did! I'm not quite sure how he could act like Angus then speak like that.

Got caught up on the Mandalorian