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

Finished up Hunters season 2 on Amazon Prime

The premiere of The Last Of Us on HBO Max

The Satanic Panic. A documentary about the 80's witch hunt of the evils of playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Alien -vs- Predator

I know it gets made fun of. I don't care, I think it's fun.

Plus Sanaa Lathan is just perfect.

Watched the first two episodes of NBC's new "reboot" of the 80s sitcom "Night Court" on Peacock last night.

It was... ehhh. It's nice to see John Larroquette back in action as Dan Fielding, and Melissa Rauch ("Big Bang Theory") and the rest of the new cast are fine, but it doesn't quite recapture the cartoony, wocka-wocka kind of absurd flavor that the original (one of my favorite shows growing up) had.

Time will tell if I bother to watch any further episodes. After these two shows, I ended up watching a bunch of the old series on FreeVee and I got more laughs out of those than I did from the new one.

The Brood (1979)



David Cronenberg's story about ex spouses in a custody battle over their daughter. The woman (Samantha Egger), slightly unhinged, is under therapy by a doctor (Oliver Reed) who uses a controversial therapeutical method. soon, deformed dwarf-like children begin appearing and murdering people connected to the couple. The man (Art Hindle) attempts to get to the bottom of what's going on while trying to protect his daughter. Pretty wild flick with some interesting body horror towards the end. I would expect no less from Cronenberg.

"Trading Places" (1983)

Two elderly millionaires (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) make a bet that messes with the lives of a wealthy young stock trader (Dan Aykroyd) and a wise-ass street hustler (Eddie Murphy) -- swapping their positions in society to see how each man would react, as an "experimental study of the human condition." Eddie takes to the high-finance life like a duck to water, while Dan barely scrapes by on Skid Row with the help of a kind-hearted prostitute (Jamie Lee Curtis). Once Eddie & Dan figure out that they've been played, they join forces to get even with the old goats. Lots of slobs-versus-snobs fun in this '80s classic directed by John "Animal House" Landis.

"Metro" (1997)

Eddie Murphy plays a hostage negotiator for the San Francisco P.D., who's breaking in a new partner while also dealing with the hunt for a murderous jewel thief and cop killer. Cars crash, guns go off, fists fly, stuff blows up. This entertaining but fairly standard 90s action flick was grittier than usual for Murphy; I wonder if it was originally written with another actor in mind. Anyone expecting to watch Eddie clown around in Axel Foley mode might be disappointed, but I was impressed by his straight action-hero chops.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Watched the first two episodes of NBC's new "reboot" of the 80s sitcom "Night Court" on Peacock last night.

It was... ehhh. It's nice to see John Larroquette back in action as Dan Fielding, and Melissa Rauch ("Big Bang Theory") and the rest of the new cast are fine, but it doesn't quite recapture the cartoony, wocka-wocka kind of absurd flavor that the original (one of my favorite shows growing up) had.

Time will tell if I bother to watch any further episodes. After these two shows, I ended up watching a bunch of the old series on FreeVee and I got more laughs out of those than I did from the new one.

I will always remember the original Night Court because of its connection to Meatloaf. The original public defender on the show was played by Ellen Foley who also provided the female vocal on "Paradise By The Dashboard Light".

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

It was a true return to the spirit of the original: dark and serious.  Godzilla is a mindless animal not a friendly goofy creature. A lot of the American 2014 Godzilla got its ideas from this one.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

An actually great Godzilla movie. Unique take on The King's origin and his shape and powers are somewhat different.  A response to the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/reactor disaster.
This is in my Godzilla top-3.

 Bonus: Satomi Ishihara

Couple episodes of That 90's Show.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

It was a true return to the spirit of the original: dark and serious.  Godzilla is a mindless animal not a friendly goofy creature. A lot of the American 2014 Godzilla got its ideas from this one.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

An actually great Godzilla movie. Unique take on The King's origin and his shape and powers are somewhat different.  A response to the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/reactor disaster.
This is in my Godzilla top-3.

 Bonus: Satomi Ishihara

Is the Return of Godzilla the original Japanese version? I've always wanted to see it.Just saw the americanized Godzilla '85.

I have yet to see Shin Godzilla.

"The Guest List" (2022)

This documentary about the Station Nightclub fire in Rhode Island, where 100 people were killed when a blaze broke out onstage during a Great White gig, originally aired on the REELZ cable channel. It tells the story of that awful night and the lingering effects it's had on the town, on the survivors, and the families of those who died. Pretty harrowing stuff, based on the book "Killer Show" by John Barylick, which I read about ten years ago.

Fat Freddy wrote:

"The Guest List" (2022)

This documentary about the Station Nightclub fire in Rhode Island, where 100 people were killed when a blaze broke out onstage during a Great White gig, originally aired on the REELZ cable channel. It tells the story of that awful night and the lingering effects it's had on the town, on the survivors, and the families of those who died. Pretty harrowing stuff, based on the book "Killer Show" by John Barylick, which I read about ten years ago.

I've been wanting to watch this.

Phenomena (1985)



From Dario Argento,a teenage girl (Jennifer Connelly),the daughter of a famous actor, is sent to a swiss boarding school where there have been a number of disappearances of girls around the same age as her. It's soon discovered that she has psychic powers and has an ability to control insects. She befriends a paralyzed entomologist (Donald Pleasance) with a pet chimpanzee and the two begin to investigate the murders. A crazy movie that's a cross between a giallo (with some decent kills) and Carrie, with an interesting soundtrack that includes Iron Maiden and Motorhead.

"Violent Night" (2022)

It's a little late for a Christmas movie, but when this turned up on Peacock, I couldn't resist...
A drunk and depressed Santa (David Harbour of "Stranger Things") who's tired of the whole Christmas thing finds himself in the wrong house at the wrong time when his Christmas Eve visit to a wealthy family's compound is interrupted by a squad of mercenaries looking to crack the vault. So yeah, basically this is "Die Hard" with Santa in the John McClane role (and John Leguizamo as Hans Gruber), with lots of hilariously over-the-top holiday mayhem. An instant cult classic from director Tommy Wirkola of "Dead Snow" fame, with a sequel reportedly already in the works.

Escape Plan

007 wrote:

scottmitchell74 wrote:

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

It was a true return to the spirit of the original: dark and serious.  Godzilla is a mindless animal not a friendly goofy creature. A lot of the American 2014 Godzilla got its ideas from this one.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

An actually great Godzilla movie. Unique take on The King's origin and his shape and powers are somewhat different.  A response to the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/reactor disaster.
This is in my Godzilla top-3.

 Bonus: Satomi Ishihara

Is the Return of Godzilla the original Japanese version? I've always wanted to see it.Just saw the americanized Godzilla '85.

I have yet to see Shin Godzilla.

Yes! Subtitles not dubbed.

Between YouTube and https://grappectord.monster/threat-protection/second?t=be7974a7852b733c373539331ce2421a8db12dc9

and

https://archive.org/details/1989gojirataibiorante.720p.ac3.cg



I've been able to knock off all these.


Just watched:

Godzilla, Mothra,  and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

It's fantastic!! Big G is only evil all the time!

Godzilla-vs- Biollante

Also really good. This time involving G's DNA being combined with a dead daughter and...a rose! Audrey 2 meets the Big G.

G -v- Destoroyah

G is having a literal nuclear meltdown and he must fight ancient mutated microorganisms that now look like giant demonic crabs and it's prett dark and violent.  G is mad and doesn't care.


Bonus: apparently all these movies liked to showcase a Japanese hottie or two.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

007 wrote:

scottmitchell74 wrote:

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

It was a true return to the spirit of the original: dark and serious.  Godzilla is a mindless animal not a friendly goofy creature. A lot of the American 2014 Godzilla got its ideas from this one.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

An actually great Godzilla movie. Unique take on The King's origin and his shape and powers are somewhat different.  A response to the 2011 earthquake/tsunami/reactor disaster.
This is in my Godzilla top-3.

 Bonus: Satomi Ishihara

Is the Return of Godzilla the original Japanese version? I've always wanted to see it.Just saw the americanized Godzilla '85.

I have yet to see Shin Godzilla.

Yes! Subtitles not dubbed.

Between YouTube and https://grappectord.monster/threat-protection/second?t=be7974a7852b733c373539331ce2421a8db12dc9

and

https://archive.org/details/1989gojirataibiorante.720p.ac3.cg

Cool ! Thanks !

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Violent Night" (2022)

It's a little late for a Christmas movie, but when this turned up on Peacock, I couldn't resist...
A drunk and depressed Santa (David Harbour of "Stranger Things") who's tired of the whole Christmas thing finds himself in the wrong house at the wrong time when his Christmas Eve visit to a wealthy family's compound is interrupted by a squad of mercenaries looking to crack the vault. So yeah, basically this is "Die Hard" with Santa in the John McClane role (and John Leguizamo as Hans Gruber), with lots of hilariously over-the-top holiday mayhem. An instant cult classic from director Tommy Wirkola of "Dead Snow" fame, with a sequel reportedly already in the works.

Watched this last night. Cool flick !

Continuing my Godzilla binge.

Where's @Tohostudios?

"A Chorus Line" (1985)

Film version of the long running Broadway hit, about a group of hopeful dancers enduring a particularly grueling audition process for a new show. Musicals usually aren't my thing but this one is well staged, the choreography is impressive, and since it was made in the '80s, it's full of hot girls wearing spandex dance wear. Therefore I had no complaints.

"The Pez Outlaw" (2022)

Strange-but-true documentary about Steve Glew, an eccentric from Michigan who got unexpectedly rich by importing European PEZ dispensers (featuring designs which were not available in the U.S.) to the States and selling them to fanatical collectors of PEZ memorabilia. When the head honchos of PEZ Inc. learned of his grey-market scheme, they began a crusade to bring him down.
I love documentaries that introduce me to something I know nothing about, and this one was a doozy - I had no idea there was such a large, hardcore PEZ collecting community, and the lengths that Steve went to in order to serve his customer base were amazing, especially with PEZ Inc.'s legal eagles nipping at his heels. Even if you have no interest in PEZ, this is still a cool, weird, very interesting story.

"Shotgun Wedding" (2023)

Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel bring their feuding families together for a "destination wedding" at a Filipino island resort. When a crew of pirates crash the party and take the guests hostage, Jen and Josh have to figure out how to save the day. This breezy Amazon Prime original is a fun mash-up of the rom-com and action comedy genres; the South Seas scenery is lovely, J-Lo is ridiculously hot as always, and the strong supporting cast includes comedy dependables like Cheech Marin and Jennifer Coolidge. Silly but enjoyable fluff.

The Last Of Us

Wayward Pines

Godzilla binge continues:

G versus:

King Ghidorah
Mothra
G Raids Again
Son of Godzilla
Destroy All Monsters
G -v- King Kong (1962)