TODAY I WATCHED ... (TV, Movies, Sports, etc.) 2024

Fat Freddy wrote:

"RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop" (2023)
An insanely in-depth four hour (!) documentary on the making of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic RoboCop (which happens to be my favorite movie ever). This thing is packed to the gills with cool behind the scenes photos and film clips and commentary from pretty much every surviving cast member as well as Verhoeven himself, the writers, the producers, etc., etc. I am pretty sure that I now know everything there is to know about the original Robo. If you love this movie as much as I do, you'll be in Nerd Heaven with this doc. (streaming on Tubi)

Might have to check this out, I dug the original flic to varying degrees. The follow-ups, not so much.

Bullet Train

Brad Pitt is on a Bullet Train in Japan, tasked with retrieving a briefcase. He's surrounded by a multitude of hitmen all looking for said case, and with no qualms about offing anyone standing in the way. Much hilarity ensues

I heard from several people that it was a good movie. I found myself laughing quite a lot at the circumstances, and the over-the-top violence. The cast all turn in solid performances, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays his character to the absolute hilt!

Last evening it was "Lords Of Dogtown" (2005)

I watch this once a year or so. I dig the soundtrack more than the movie. Guess I was expecting better with Stacy Peralta writing it. He had enough to work with from actual reality to not have to "dramatize" stupid shit that never happened. The fact that the singer in the punk band in the "club scene" wore a Black Flag shirt and they were covering a Black Flag tune, "Nervous Breakdown". Both of which did not exist in the time frame of the story. Little stuff like that just blows it as far as I'm concerned. So easy to fix, much less not even do.
The casting was good in most roles. (IMHDO) Ledger did the best performance. I get the "Lords" is basically Alva, Peralta, and Adams in the grand scheme of things, but there were 9 other skaters on the Zephyr Team. Where in the fuck was Jeff Ho???? The movie touched base on Alva & Peralta having their own companies. Jay Adams started Z-Flex with his momma's boyfriend and they did not say shit about that. Oh well.

This gets 2 out of 5 Unicorns & Puppy Dogs. For for the tunes and the surfing footage.

SideShowDisaSter wrote:

Bullet Train

Brad Pitt is on a Bullet Train in Japan, tasked with retrieving a briefcase. He's surrounded by a multitude of hitmen all looking for said case, and with no qualms about offing anyone standing in the way. Much hilarity ensues

I heard from several people that it was a good movie. I found myself laughing quite a lot at the circumstances, and the over-the-top violence. The cast all turn in solid performances, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays his character to the absolute hilt!

I've been meaning to check this one out. That Aaron Taylor-Johnson guy (with whom I am unfamiliar) is reportedly the front runner to become the new James Bond.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015)

30+ years after "Return of the Jedi," the Empire has been replaced by the even more malevolent First Order, led by the villainous Kylo Ren. A former Stormtrooper and a lady scavenger end up mixed up in a plot to help the Resistance destroy the First Order's newest super weapon with help from some old friends.
Disney's first attempt at re-igniting the Star Wars franchise is a mostly satisfying slab of fanboy service, introducing some new characters for the kids to follow and a healthy dose of references and call-backs to the classic entries to please the old fans.
The rest of the sequel trilogy remains mired in Internet fanboy hatred and controversy to this day, but I liked those two films as well. Maybe I'm just easy to please. (shrugs)

Fat Freddy wrote:

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015)

30+ years after "Return of the Jedi," the Empire has been replaced by the even more malevolent First Order

When I first seen this at the Theater, my first thought was "It took less than one generation for things to go sideways". Also noticed the plot similarities with the first Star Wars film. Young parentless human on a desert planet- CHECK. The good guys are at war with the bad guys- CHECK. Cute Droid sidekick- CHECK. The bad guys are about completed with a super planet destroying weapon- CHECK. Good guy turns bad- CHECK) Son fights Dad with light sabre- CHECK. New hero(ine) helps destroy the new bad guy weapon- CHECK. The orphaned human seeks out the Force while oblivious to their heritage- CHECK.

Fat Freddy wrote:

The rest of the sequel trilogy remains mired in Internet fanboy hatred and controversy to this day, but I liked those two films as well. Maybe I'm just easy to please. (shrugs)

I can watch them and be "entertained", much like the prequels. Sure there are some "corny" scenes... Leia Organa flying through space comes to mind. I dug "Snoke", but he got dusted and they missed out on developing that character's back story. Just as important as the chick's and the new young villian.

@FatFreddy

Bullet Train is definitely worth a watch :D  I had no idea Aaron-Taylor Johnson (he was in Kick-Ass, if you saw that one) was a pom (aussie slang for a Brit) until I looked it up while watching the movie (his cockney accent threw me for a loop at first).

I've been consuming movies the last few weeks with my Dad. For some reason, we're both hooked on India cinema. They make movies like Hollywood USED to (minus the song and dance routines, which seem to be cultural thing for them. We just forward past them it.)  A couple we watched that I found immensely entertaining were:

Jawan

A "terrorist" group target corrupt government institutions and make them pay for their crimes, in some ways financial and in some ways with a good old pound of flesh. Over-the-top action and violence abound, with a few interesting twists and turns along the way.

Saaho

An intricate and immaculate heist triggers a police response to track down the perpetrator. However, things are not what they seem. Another instance of over-the-top action and violence done with Indian flair. :lol:  An entertaining ride overall.

Leo

A seemingly mild-mannered local cafe owner has a much more interesting story that initial looks would indicate. The criminal underworld is dead set on ending our cafe owner come hell or high water. His clouded past comes back to haunt him in a serious way.

Beast

A former intelligence agent is brought in to save the day when a hostage situation at a shopping mall kicks off. Joseph Vijay is our main man here (he was also the main in the movie above, Leo). He is quite an affable actor, and I'm assuming he's a massive star in India. Like most Indian action movies, everything is dialed up to 11 and almost comically exaggerated in every way. Skip the song & dance routines, turn your brain off, and just enjoy many asses getting kicked up one side and down the other.

Bholaa Shankar

One would think this is a sappy rom-com or some such by the first chunk of this movie. However, when it goes off, boy does it go OFF!  haha  Our titular hero becomes an ass kicking machine when things get serious. A criminal group that specialises in kidnapping and trafficking young girls gets the business from our main man. There is comedy and ultra-violence in equal parts here.

Monday Night Raw
NXT

"America Lost" (2019)

An engrossing, but terribly depressing PBS doc that zooms in on three formerly-robust industrial cities  - Youngstown, Ohio; Memphis, TN; and Stockton, CA - and examines the devastating effect that the loss of manufacturing jobs has had on the populace. Lots of shots of abandoned factories and houses and comments from citizens on the death of the American Dream.

Finished up Bates Motel, then watched


It's Alive (1974)



Ridiculous movie about a killer mutant baby terrorizing Los Angeles. Immediately upon birth, it slaughters the entire staff in the delivery room before escaping through a sky light and stalks the city. Lots of blood in this one but no kills are shown on screen and the baby itself is only shown in brief shots, although what I've seen of it in still shots and what not, looked rather cool.

Just finished "15 Horror Movies Volume 2".   "Volume 1" must have had the other 8 titles shown on the front?

Here are the movie titles, year of release, and other info.  Including brief commentary on my part.

"Cat O' Nine Tails" (1971)  Karl Malden
Kept waiting for some kind of horror aspect to pop up onscreen, never happened.

"Memorial Valley Massacre" (1988) John Kerry
The "villain" resembled a cross between "feral boy" in "The Road Warrior" and "Cha-Ka" in "Land Of The Lost".   One "victim" got lit on fire, the remaining campers watched him "jog" past them in horror, then went back to partying.

"Messiah Of Evil" (1973) Michael Greer
An interesting plot that gets lost in a cornucopia of failed low budget artistic expressions. I'd call it a "Zombie" flick, but... it did not seem to be presented that way?

"Snake People" (1971) Boris Karloff
I was expecting people that turned into snakes and grubbed on other humans or whatever.  Stereotypical dabble into Voodoo Folklore was the actual plot line. Dug the hand drums/dancing scene.
The polyrhythms kicking off were awesome.

"The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave" (1971) Anthony Steffen
Overall, probably the better of the lot of flicks on this disc. which is not saying much.   An interesting twist at the end was a surprise.

"The Terror" (1963) Boris Karloff & Jack Nicholson
I vaguely recall watchin this late night on KTTV Channel 11 in the 70's.  Only because of Jack, being he was in "Easy Rider", my favorite movie as a pup.  Seeing him do "The Joker Grin" dressed as a 1870's soldier was odd. Kept expecting to hear, "Wait till they get a load of me"

"They Came From Beyond Space" (1967) Robert Hutton
Here we have a British adaption of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" breeding with "Star Trek" and we end up with a poorly executed and drawn out "Benny Hill Show" skit.

Last night, my dad and I watched:

The Beekeeper

Jason Statham does what Jason Statham does. haha Does anything else really need to be said? Plot is fairly typical. He's a retired agent from a super duper ultra secretive government agency. His friend gets scammed and commits suicide. He goes on a rampage, and lots of people die. Pretty typical role for him. The cast is ok, the action is (again) pretty typical for Statham. If you like arses getting kicked, people dying in sometimes creative ways, and lots of things blowing up, you'll have fun. If you're looking for a plot-driven masterpiece, look elsewhere.

Another one I forgot I watched recently:

Everything, Everywhere, All At Once

Michelle Yeoh plays a middle-aged Chinese immigrant that rather suddenly finds out she is the key to saving the world from a... strange... evil. Much hilarity and hijinks ensue XD

This thing is all over the place, and I mean ALL OVER THE PLACE. I laughed my ass off during most of the movie. It uses a "multiverse" as its driver to deliver all kinds of over-the-top situations. This is almost like fever dream, wrapped in an action movie, deep fried in a comedy, covered in a family drama, and served with a side of insanity.

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017)

Rey seeks out Luke Skywalker's help to grow in the Force, while Leia and the rest of the resistance make a desperate last stand against the First Order in the second part of Disney's sequel trilogy. Bigger and splashier than "Force Awakens," and with less reliance on call backs to the old films, so it doesn't feel quite as much like you're sitting through a re-run. Probably the most ambitious entry of the sequels.

AEW Dynamite

YouTube footage from the Hell's Heroes Fest in Houston.

Legion (2010)



A disparate group of people are gathered at a remote diner during the apocalypse, surrounded by demonic forces who are after the newborn child of one of the people, and mis supposed to be the Messiah. They are helped by fallen archangel Michael, while his brother Gabriel ends up appearing, wanting the child as well.

The Joy of Painting

Another .50 DVD from Pawn-O-Rama in Great Falls, Mt.

4 movie pack which included, "Blade"; "Blade II"; "Blade Trinity"; and Blade: House Of Chthon"

Never seen any of these before and I will never see them again

"Icons Unearthed: The Simpsons" (2022)

This in-depth 6-episode behind-the-scenes documentary on the iconic animated show originally aired on VICE TV (it's now streaming on Tubi) and features tons of rare photos, film clips, and interviews with the writers, producers, voice artists, and pretty much everyone else involved with Springfield's favorite family. A treasure trove of nerdy trivia for Simpsons geeks (of which I am one).

Ghostwatch (1992)



BBC pseudo documentary that covers an investigation of a supposedly haunted house and aired on Halloween. Presented as live, but in actuality prerecorded a week earlier, this hoax program caused quite a stir mainly because people watching believed it to be real, much like the War of the Worlds broadcast decades earlier. I've known about this for quite some time and have wanted to see it for a long time. Probably my expectations were too high, but I wa bit disappointed. Its not a bad watch but I though.

Road House (2024)

Jake Gyllenhaal plays an ex-UFC fighter who takes a gig as a bouncer at a bar in the Keys. Things aren't quite what they seem, and it's not long before a local rich asshat is gunning for him.

I'd classify this as more a re-imagining than a remake. It doesn't really resemble the original Patrick Swayze flick very much. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. UFC fighter Connor McGregor makes what I assume is his acting debut here, basically playing himself XD
Plenty of action, plenty of violence, and plenty of laughs. Not bad, if you're looking for a 2hr time sink.

"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" (2019)

As the Sequel Trilogy comes to a close, Rey finally learns the truth about her origins while the Resistance battles a huge new Imperial fleet created by the reborn Emperor Palpatine. Much blasting, zapping, and light-sabering ensues.
If memory serves, this movie got a lot of online hate but I enjoyed it just as much as the other two in the series. Like I said before, maybe I'm just easily amused.

"Epicenter" (2000)

Traci Lords is an FBI agent tasked with escorting a prisoner to Los Angeles. As soon as the mismatched pair arrives in L.A., the city is hit by a massive earthquake, which obviously complicates her mission in a big way.
This tedious B-grade blend of disaster movie and action thriller feels like it was stitched together from two different films. Traci looks good as usual, but the acting is sub-par, the pacing is sluggish (the earthquake doesn't hit till nearly an hour into the movie!) the sets are cheap, and the effects suck. Sharp eyed viewers may even notice the footage borrowed from Speed and Eddie Murphy's Metro! You can safely ignore this flick unless you're a Traci fanboy.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)



A dystopian crime film about a youthful "ultra-violent" gang leader (Malcolm McDowell) betrayed by his cohorts and left behind at a crime scene. He's sentenced to prison for murder where he is chosen for a controversial new behavior modification program. Upon completing it, he becomes physically ill whenever he exhibits any violent or sexual activities. Released from prison, he finds trouble fitting into society and eventually becomes a political pawn. This is a rather weird movie, with strange slang spoken by the characters, weird set pieces, and a rather odd soundtrack of classical music. Yes, this is considered a classic, but it left me apathetic towards it.