Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

RIFFTRAX: REPLICA: In the near future a man receives a kidney transplant, asks his kind of slutty doctor out, then she dies in a fender-bender, then he sees her exact double walking down the street with a tramp stamp of her own name. Well that was... something. I'd never seen a James Ngyuen movie before. Imagine if Ed Wood was still alive but less competent and decided to remake VERTIGO with a sci-fi spin. Just terrible in terms of acting, sound, editing.... Would have been entertaining without the commentary (you can also buy it unriffed from Rifftrax). Made before BIRDEMIC, this wasn't available until the Rifftrax crew bought the rights specifically so they could feature it. It's a short film, so I also streamed their re-riff of "Mr. B-Natural." A lot of the jokes are essentially rephrased repeats (what are you going to joke about besides Mr. B's creepy androgyny?), but it does include the extra footage that was edited out of the MST3K short for time. For fans of this stuff, this is a solid 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Always Amazing" (2018)
The recent passing of stand up comedian/magician Jonathan Szeles, aka "The Amazing Jonathan," prompted me to seek out this documentary about his life and career, which takes the viewer through his humble beginnings as a street performer in San Francisco to international comedy-club sensation and Vegas headliner, until the 2014 diagnosis of congestive heart failure that forced his retirement from performing.
I saw Johnathan at a comedy club in New Jersey in the early '90s and got to chat with him for a minute after the gig when I bought a tee shirt from him, he seemed like a cool dude. R.I.P., sir.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" (2020)
After breaking up with the Joker, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) teams up with three other female bad-asses (Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Jurnee Smollett) to bring down one of Gotham City's biggest crime bosses (Ewan McGregor). Basically it's a girl-powered "Deadpool," with lots of slapstick gags, fourth wall breaks, and over the top ultra violence. Not a classic for the ages, but an entertaining time waster.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2022)
The ninth (!) installment in the seemingly never-ending "TCM" franchise takes the direct-to-Netflix route. An investment group of twenty something hipsters have purchased an entire Texas "ghost town," intending to gentrify it and turn it into a tourist attraction, but they soon learn that there's still one resident hanging around who doesn't take kindly to trespassers. You can probably figure out the rest.
"TCM" has always been my least favorite of the "big" horror franchises so I kept my expectations low for this one, which actually worked in its favor. It's not original in the slightest - the obvious inspiration is the 2018 "Halloween" reboot (i.e. erasing everything after the original from continuity, and bringing back a major character from the O.G.) but there's plenty of brutal, splashy gore and the slim running time (just shy of 90 minutes) kept it from wearing out its welcome. Better than I expected, given the absolutely savage reviews I've been reading online.

[jimpickens]

The Final Option a classic cold war anti terrorism movie that wouldn't get made today you know the left being portrayed as scumbags and all
the Black Gestapo classic blaxploitation ever made.

[Dr. Whom]

The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021)

A quirky dysfunctional family is humanity's only hope after the robot uprising.

You'd be hard pressed to find a single original idea in it, and the basic story of 'family getting together' isn't all that world shattering either, but the whole thing is done with such an enthusiasm and sense of fun, that it simply sweeps you along. Also, by making the main character a B-movie fan, it wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. A hoot.

Special mention to Olivia Colman for voicing the evil AI. It makes sense that if you make your virtual assistant sound like Mary Poppins, it will try to take over the world.

[Rev. Powell]

BORGMAN (2013): A vagrant insinuates his way into a rich family, then enacts a bizarre plan to destroy them. Another fine entry in the Surrealist subgenre of "a mysterious visitor destabilizes the bourgeois order." 3.5/5.

[RCMerchant]

The Thin Man (1934) - Quite entertaining mystery comedy.  Lots of good dialogue and two very good lead performances.  I did find this occasionally a bit hard to follow - the mics of the mid 30s make vocals hard to hear sometimes, and there's a bit too much dialogue requiring you to remember who like 6 different named characters are and what they're doing and have done based almost entirely on this dialogue.  But the movie zooms right over this and never stops being fun in spite of it.  Well worth a watch, I'll probably check out the sequels eventually as well.

I don't know if you ever watched the old 1970's TV show HART TO HART, but it was a rip off of the old THIN MAN movie series from the 30's.

[Trevor]

The Thin Man (1934) - Quite entertaining mystery comedy.  Lots of good dialogue and two very good lead performances.  I did find this occasionally a bit hard to follow - the mics of the mid 30s make vocals hard to hear sometimes, and there's a bit too much dialogue requiring you to remember who like 6 different named characters are and what they're doing and have done based almost entirely on this dialogue.  But the movie zooms right over this and never stops being fun in spite of it.  Well worth a watch, I'll probably check out the sequels eventually as well.

I don't know if you ever watched the old 1970's TV show HART TO HART, but it was a rip off of the old THIN MAN movie series from the 30's.

That's where I developed my Stefanie Powers crush.

[Trevor]

The Final Option a classic cold war anti terrorism movie that wouldn't get made today you know the left being portrayed as scumbags and all
the Black Gestapo classic blaxploitation ever made.

Also known here and in the UK as Who Dares Wins, starring the late great Lewis Collins, Judy Davis and Richard Widmark. I saw it in 1982 with my Dad and both of us enjoyed it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Dares_Wins_(film)

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974)
Five hippies on a van trip through rural Texas encounter the horrific Leatherface and his cannibal family in Tobe Hooper's classic shocker.. After watching the newest installment in the saga on Netflix last night, I felt compelled to revisit the O.G. today. It still packs a wallop after all these years.

"Slave to the Grind" (2018)
No, it's not a documentary about the Skid Row album - it's about grindcore, the bastard mix of hardcore punk, thrash, and death metal that slithered out of the British underground in the mid '80s and eventually become a global phenomenon. Loaded with interviews and cool clips of all the major playas like Napalm Death, Carcass, Terrorizer, Agathocles, A.C., Nasum, and many more. I'm not even a grind guy, but I enjoyed this fast moving, thorough investigation.

[Dr. Whom]

Phantom from 10,000 leagues (1955)

A rogue oceanographer creates an undersea death ray, which has the side effect of turning turtles into the Creature of the Black Lagoon. Government investigators and foreign spies are on his trail.

The plot here is actually better thought out than in most rubber monster movies of the time, with the espionage angle as an interesting addition. Also, keeping the rubber monster in the water avoids mosts of the awkwardness of other suited monsters.  However, due to the limitations of the production, it consists mostly of people talking. It is completely devoid of suspense (or anything else, really).
So it sits there in limbo. It falls flat as a spy/creature thriller and is nowhere as amusing as, say, Robot Monster.

[Rev. Powell]

KING KNIGHT (2021): The leader of a Wicca coven's life is thrown into disgrace when a secret from his past is revealed. Few jokes land in this modern pagan satire, but the unusual milieu and a well-done budget psychedelic journey sequence make it watchable. 2.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Grave Encounters (2011) - Most found footage movies are pretty minimalist in nature, sometimes ridiculously so. I'd seen this mentioned a couple of places so I checked it out. Here you have much more of a regular horror movie in terms of the effort and dialogue and so forth. If you like the rawness of found footage but don't want to watch 45 minute long shots of people in an abandoned house drinking and talking about random stuff, check it out.

As always, an old mental hospital is the setting. A crew from a "Ghost Hunters" type show arrive and we immediately see they are con artists, employing actors and bribing Spanish landscaping guys to make up stories about seeing ghosts.

It's longish and there are lots of ideas some better than others, but in general it won me over. If this was the director's demo tape to the big studios they should probably hire him for something.

and yet, I didn't quite love it. there's no huge impressive scare factor or much of a personal touch. There are sequels I will probably see. It's very good.

4.25 /5

[Alex]

Tourist Trap.

Chuck Conners attempts a career relaunch as a horror movie villain. A film with interesting ideas but none of them is its own. House of Wax and Carrie, in particular, seem to have a big influence with a dash of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is a Charles Band movie I had not seen before.

[Jim H]

The Thin Man (1934) - Quite entertaining mystery comedy.  Lots of good dialogue and two very good lead performances.  I did find this occasionally a bit hard to follow - the mics of the mid 30s make vocals hard to hear sometimes, and there's a bit too much dialogue requiring you to remember who like 6 different named characters are and what they're doing and have done based almost entirely on this dialogue.  But the movie zooms right over this and never stops being fun in spite of it.  Well worth a watch, I'll probably check out the sequels eventually as well.

I don't know if you ever watched the old 1970's TV show HART TO HART, but it was a rip off of the old THIN MAN movie series from the 30's.

I vaguely remember Hart to Hart being on in reruns plus I remember some of the TV movies coming out but don't think I ever saw any of it.  Just reading the wikipedia description, the Thin Man connection is pretty clear.  I'll have to check it out.