Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Our Man Flint" (1966)
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 cool retro/futuristic set designs and hot Sixties chicks in bikinis. Shag-a-delic fun.

[Rev. Powell]

BAD AXE: A blended Cambodian/Mexican family in one of the deepest Trump counties in Michigan tries to keep the family restaurant open during Covid, while blowback from their support of a BLM march  and angry customers who refuse to wear masks lead to increasing harassment and intimidation. Ultimately hopeful, as the values of the small community eventually overcome all the seething resentments. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Slavs (Slovakian tv series)



The whole thing looks like it was filmed in the woods near my house, but I enjoyed The Slavs. Veering off the path of pure history by adding a fantasy element was definitely the right move. There were some problems: The usurping of power by the guy who everyone is scared of because he's 4 inches taller than them was hard to accept. Why would anyone have trusted him in the first place is he was so awful? That whole character I didn't really care about. I can't even remember what happened to him and I just watched the last episode last night.

Things pick up when we meet Vlad, the stranger who can't remember where he came from. He probably plays the Detective Stabler type in Slovakian (or Ukrainian, its a joint production) cop shows. There are some pretty girls and a salacious/ disturbing "summer solstice" orgy scene. What makes it fun to watch is the mix of fantasy and medieval-style woods warrior antics. like a really elaborate Eastern European Ren Faire. Who wouldn't like that  5/5

The above guy is a zherets I can't remember how you spell it. That's a pagan mystical type person

[indianasmith]

HAUNTED HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (2021) - A group of sorority girls move into a haunted house.  Two frat boys come to help them get settled in, and then the ghosts of the house begin confronting them with their worst memories, experiences they have buried out of shame and guilt.  Ultra low budget, but the girls are pretty, the plot is engaging, and there's copious nudity.  I've spent money to see far less entertaining movies!  Free on Amazon Prime. 2/5 on a "real" movie scale, about a 5/5 on the bad movie scale.

[ER]

The Slavs (Slovakian tv series)



The whole thing looks like it was filmed in the woods near my house, but I enjoyed The Slavs. Veering off the path of pure history by adding a fantasy element was definitely the right move. There were some problems: The usurping of power by the guy who everyone is scared of because he's 4 inches taller than them was hard to accept. Why would anyone have trusted him in the first place is he was so awful? That whole character I didn't really care about. I can't even remember what happened to him and I just watched the last episode last night.

Things pick up when we meet Vlad, the stranger who can't remember where he came from. He probably plays the Detective Stabler type in Slovakian (or Ukrainian, its a joint production) cop shows. There are some pretty girls and a salacious/ disturbing "summer solstice" orgy scene. What makes it fun to watch is the mix of fantasy and medieval-style woods warrior antics. like a really elaborate Eastern European Ren Faire. Who wouldn't like that  5/5

The above guy is a zherets I can't remember how you spell it. That's a pagan mystical type person

Where might one encounter this meticulous retelling of Slovak history?

[lester1/2jr]

it's on tubi tv. so far I've seen 4 tv series from this region

1. Black Sun (Serbia)
2. Golden Horde (Russia)
3. Ekaterina (Russia)
4. The Slavs (Slovenia/ Ukraine co production)

[Rev. Powell]

WILDCAT (2022): A British Afghanistan war veteran with PSTD joins a wildlife conservancy in the Amazon, where he throws himself wholeheartedly into raising an orphaned ocelot to adulthood. The rare nature documentary where the human stories hold their own against the animals. On Amazon Prime December 30. 3.5/5.

[indianasmith]

ASTONISHING TALES OF TERROR: ROCKTAPU$$Y (2022)
This was a truly dreadful freebie on TubiTV - a hot news reporter whose blouses are way too tight when she bothers to wear them is doing a story on new mining technology when the prototype laser digger breaks into an ancient cavity and frees a hideous tentacled Elder God who tries to make her its new priestess.  Low budget B movie hijinks ensue!  Tolerable, but not great.  Still, it's free and it's got all three of Joe Bob Brigg's 3 B's.  So I'll give it a 3/5.

[Dr. Whom]

Broker (2022)

An owner of a small laundry shop and a church volunteer have a small sideline: they snatch babies from the baby box of the church and then sell them for illegal adoption. They are discovered when a young mother comes back to the church the next day. She is still determined to give up her baby, so the three of them try to find suitable foster parents. They are trailed by two cops who have to catch them in the act in order to make arrest. However, as the trio aren't exactly the most efficient of black market dealers, this proves more complicated than anticipated.

In their quest to find a buyer/foster home for the baby, the three form a kind of surrogate family, especially when a young orphan boy decides to tag alone. It becomes a melancholy and meandering road movie, with meditations about parenthood, growing up and family ties. I quite liked it, but it did lack some punch to be truly moving.

Song Kang-Ho of Parasite and Snowpiercer fame got Best Actor for this at Cannes, which I think is a bit overly generous. He does a good a job, but the character is written to his strengths. The female lead is played by IU (as Lee Ji-Eun) who makes here a clean break with her sweet and adorable early image, which earned her the nickname of 'The Nation's Little Sister'.

[Alex]

Barbarian.

When Justin Long turns up in a horror movie, you just know it isn't going to end well for him.

[Rev. Powell]

THE MADS ARE BACK: TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE: A new riff on the uncut version of the movie about a teen Christ figure saving the world from an invasion of giant alien lobster herds; lots of lobster jokes. Elvis J. Wienstein and Andy Kindler are funny post-show guests. 3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

ADULT SWIM YULE LOG (2022): It begins as an ambient shot of a Yule log, but then the cleaning lady walks into the frame, and soon enough we're dealing with serial killers, aliens, occultists, and the Little Man: is this log haunted, or are the edibles hitting early? A remarkable prank of a film that is utterly ridiculous, but played completely straight, generating legitimate suspense and fright. Adult Swim released it without forewarning after an episode of "Rick & Morty." 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"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.

[Gabriel Knight]

It's Christmas season, so that means... DIE HARD marathon!

DIE HARD (1988)

A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Wasting words describing this is quite a futile exercise, since everything has been said already.
This is definitely my favorite action movie, and in my opinion, the best ever made. It has everything: a badass, wisecracking hero, intriguing villain, menacing henchman, interesting plot, fun side characters, and awesome action scenes. Not to mention, a lot of times is more about cunning than brute force, which adds to the tension.

The perfect action movie. 10/10

DIE HARD 2 (1990)

John McClane attempts to avert disaster as rogue military operatives seize control of Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.

John is back in this by-the-numbers sequel. It's pretty much the same thing, but instead of a building, it's an airport. So what? It's still incredible fun, the villain is, once again, mysterious and menacing. It has amazing scenes, with much more tragedy than before. The humor is still there, with a lot of previous characters as well. The twists are not that surprising, but entertaining enough, especially the one where they shoot blanks and John tries and fail to kill a guy with the same gun.

It feels like a sequel, and it's damn fun. 9/10

DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE (1995)

John McClane and a Harlem store owner are targeted by German terrorist Simon in New York City, where he plans to rob the Federal Reserve Building.

The third installment in the series is one of my favorites. The addition of Samuel L. Jackson to the mix ramps the humor to the sky. At this point it feels like the horror movies of the 80s, where they tried to surpass the previous movie in gore. Here, it's in crazy action scenes, and it delivers. John survives a train crash and takes down a helicopter with a pistol. What's not to like here?

Jeremy Irons goes full cheese mode, and it's brilliant. From the quick dialog on the phone to make our heroes run all day, to the smirk he pulls off through the movie, he makes me want to punch him in the face real hard. And his female companion is a marvelous enemy, I only wish she had a hand-to-hand combat with McClane.

Fun, fun, fun. 9/10

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2007)

John McClane and a young hacker join forces to take down master cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel in Washington D.C.

Few movies are so self-aware than this one. References to McClane jokes, the endless stream of random henchmen, the fact that our hero never has to get to a hospital because his wounds "are sexy", and many more, you can tell from the go that this was a movie for the fans. Turn off your brain and enjoy the ride.

Even without Samuel L. Jackson, the jokes here are spot on. "You play with dolls?", "you know these things called gymnasiums?", "it's something they invented in the 60s, it's called jogging, you'll love it", and other legendary lines, makes this a fantastic movie. The computer geek being protected by McClane gets fleshed out by the end, and he becomes the hero; not to mention, John finally makes peace with his daughter. So there's even character development, which is always welcome.

The movie does suffer from a rather bland villain this time. Yes, Thomas Gabriel is really cool, and his abilities are actually menacing, except that... we never see him actually doing much, only his minions do the job. Not to mention, his plan falls apart way too easily, it's too dependant on chance, and lacks the delicate intrincation of previous villains.

While flawed, this is a worthy sequel to this saga. 8/10

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (2013)

John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working undercover, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.

Well, we reached the black sheep of the franchise, part 5. Everyone seems to hate this movie with the force of a burning sun, but personally, I didn't find it that bad. One thing I absolutely hate is the use of shaky camera, which I have no idea who invented it, but I hope he's receiving a proper punishment right now. I think the problem with this movie is that is a good action film, but it's a DIE HARD sequel, therefore it should be more than that. And it isn't.

This time we move to another country, so we expect John to suffer a little more consequences for his actions. Sadly, that never happens, and he wrecks havoc as soon the movie begins. While the actions sequences are now completely bonkers, even more than LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, at this point I think we all expect to see some crazy stuff going on. The problem is, sometimes it gets too crazy, and we no longer think John is in danger. During LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, when he makes Bowman promise he'll save his daughter, the first time watching it I actually thought he wasn't going to make it. In A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, John is pretty much a superhero.

Something that really bugged me about this one is some of line of dialogs. McClane says he's on vacation like 10 times, it gets old really fast. Having said that, some banters with his son are probably the most funny in the entire series. The whole "you're going home and put on your FBI slippers" made me laugh out loud.

Overall, the movie is all right. The stakes are high, nuclear weapons are no joke. But the villains change all the time, so you never have time to invest in any of them. Twists are nice when done well, here, they're not. The guy that captures them and eat carrots is a complete waste, it's just another henchmen but with a few more lines.

A decent action movie, but as a DIE HARD sequel, it delivers very little. Watchable. 7/10

[ER]

Trying to watch Bullet Train but it's not gripping my attention. I wonder if it's worth seeing?