Recent Viewings, Part 2

Jim H · March 12, 2021, 01:35:17 PM

Boss Level - Hulu's new breezy time-loop action-comedy. About a guy who keeps getting killed by a team of kooky assassins, only to wake up the next day. He must figure out why and how to survive it.

This has some pretty fun gags and is decently entertaining. Frank Grillo is a pretty good lead - except for his voiceover, which I thought was often pretty weak. Mel Gibson as a side character gets a few fun lines. Some of the action and comedy bits are solid. But the film is also quite half-baked in its writing. Feels like a rough draft, with bits that pay off but poorly, underdeveloped side characters, plotholes and poorly explained developments that feel like unforced writing mistakes. An example - the main character has to tell a child some piece of information, and it's not the piece of info he literally just said he'd have to tell them now. This did not seem intended or edited as if it was a reversal either, just seems like a pure mistake, a strange one.

Also think this film would have been much stronger with more visual storytelling and less reliance on narration, which really feels like a crutch in this one. It'll really make you appreciate how well-written and edited Groundhog Day is, if you didn't already. Like compare how they handle the lead's growing despair, or his moving towards different goals.

Still, it's short, generally funny and knows its place - an 84 minute film (minus really long credits) you'll mostly forget in a few days. Not a bad late night watch with a few friends and maybe two or three beers if that's your thing. 6/10.

Dr. Whom · March 12, 2021, 03:32:36 PM

Blue Film Woman (1969)

Continuing to explore the artsy exploitation movies on Mubi, this time Japan.

Wikipedia tells me this is one of the first pinku movies to be shot in colour. A stock broker makes a bad investment and ends up ruined by a loan shark. He commits suicide, and his daughter vows revenge on the loan shark, taking up prostitution as an easy way to make money, until she gets caught up by her nefarious schemes (and doesn't get revenge, as far as I can see)
This is essentially an artsy porn. There is a lot of sex, only some of it consensual, but you don't get to see much. People keep a lot of their clothes on and everything is shot in close up anyway. The movie's power to shock has long since evaporated, but it is interesting as a document of Mad Men era Japan. Very very artistically filmed, with all the tics that make up a 60s art movie.

lester1/2jr · March 13, 2021, 02:57:43 PM

Shield For Murder (1954) - A cop who's been on the job too long decides to pull a little heist of his own. He robs a crook of a bag of money then kills him and says the guy was trying to escape. He wants to get off the force and move into a bungalow with his small androgynous girlfriend. Well, I guess she is a regular girl but I thought that would be a nice sordid twist. Anyway, too bad for him because there was a witness. Can he manage to get the girl and the money and go to South America, the utopia of all black and white era crooks?

This is more on the crime story side of film noir rather than atmosphere/ psychology side and there are no epic memorable shots like Nightmare Alley but it's rock solid

4.25 /5

FatFreddysCat · March 13, 2021, 04:54:13 PM

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016)
The daughter of the Empire's chief weapons designer helps the Rebel Alliance steal the plans for the Death Star in this "Star Wars" spin-off/prequel which takes place immediately prior to the events in the original 1977 film. Essentially it's a good ole fashioned war movie (think "The Dirty Dozen") dressed up in "Star Wars" clothing but it's tons of action packed fun. This is definitely my favorite of the "new" Star Wars films, it's held up very well to repeated viewings.

FatFreddysCat · March 13, 2021, 09:51:07 PM

"White Riot" (2019)
A documentary about Britain's Rock Against Racism organization, which formed in the late 70s to combat the rise of the white-supremacist National Front political party. Getting their message out with a combination of activism and music from the punk and reggae scenes, the Rock Against Racism story culminates with a massive 1978 concert in London that featured the Clash, Steel Pulse, Sham 69, and X-Ray Spex in front of 80,000 people. An interesting doc about a part of the punk movement that I didn't know much about. Worth a look, especially if you're a fan of any of the artists mentioned.

RCMerchant · March 13, 2021, 10:34:32 PM

^ I never seen this doc, but I do know about Rock Against Racism movement in Britain. I have been a fan of punk from day one. Here I am in Michigan- punk was born here. I was living here.
With Iggy and the Stooges. Or MC5.

http://youtu.be/74jS3dW0DtE

lester1/2jr · March 14, 2021, 01:31:54 PM

The Neighbor (2017) - ehhh....This was watcheable but a little off and kind of Tax Shelter ish. Mostly it reminded me of the show "Fear Thy Neighbor" on ID channel.

A 50's ish guy whose whole family seems to hate him gets into a dilemma with his new neighbors, a young attractive couple. The wife is hot and the husband is abusive, but the hot wife still loves the husband. Any man would look at this and run in the other direction but not our hero here. The actor has an odd restrained style. He reminded me of Super Dave Osborne a bit. The character badly needed some sort of overt appeal to make the situation believable. He would be great as a mental patient in a horror movie or something along those lines.

The type of thing you can put on and watch the whole way through without really being affected by it.

3.25 /5

FatFreddysCat · March 14, 2021, 04:57:05 PM

Quote from: RCMerchant on March 13, 2021, 10:34:32 PM
^ I never seen this doc, but I do know about Rock Against Racism movement in Britain. I have been a fan of punk from day one. Here I am in Michigan- punk was born here. I was living here.
With Iggy and the Stooges. Or MC5.

Oh yeah, I love me some vintage punk rock, but I was more into the American stuff like the Ramones, Dead Boys, Misfits, etc. Aside from the Sex Pistols and the Clash I never knew much about the British scene. I gotta say though, after watching this doc I started going down a YouTube rabbit hole checking out Sham 69, X-Ray Spex, etc. and it was pretty badass, might have to do some more investigatin'....

FatFreddysCat · March 14, 2021, 04:57:54 PM

"X-Men: Dark Phoenix" (2019)
During a rescue mission in space, the X-Men's Jean Grey comes into contact with a destructive cosmic force that turns her into the most powerful being on Earth. When a race of aliens who want that power arrive to take it from her, it will require the combined strength of the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood to stop them.
The X-Men franchise has been running on fumes for a while now, and though "Dark Phoenix" is slightly better than the last couple of entries, it's still not a must-see unless you've already sat through the rest of 'em and you want to run the table.

Trevor · March 14, 2021, 06:17:42 PM

I found the South African film Heroes Die Hard - aka Mr Kingstreet's War - online. Starring John Saxon and Tippi Hedren, it was released in 1971 and was directed by the same person who directed The Demon. Not a bad film at all. 😊

Rev. Powell · March 15, 2021, 09:02:37 AM

THE CURIOUS DR. HUMPP (1969): A mad scientist uses his monster army to drug and kidnap horny hippies, whom he arouses so he can drain a fluid from them. There's also a talking brain in a jar. This is basically a 1950s-style mad science flick, but with black and white softcore sex scenes; not aimed at normal audiences, but trash connoisseurs may find some value here. Argentinian, but American producers later inserted more sex scenes, which are more explicit but badly integrated. A very generous 2 on a normal movie scale, but you'll probably enjoy it well enough as a bad movie.

pennywise37 · March 15, 2021, 07:36:08 PM

i'm currently watching south park season 4

Alex · March 16, 2021, 02:44:41 AM

African King Fu Ninja's: Hitler and Tojo have discovered the secret of eternal youth and having escaped to Ghana at the end of World War 2, are rebuilding the Third Reich, with a martial arts tournament.

Not much else I can say about it really.

indianasmith · March 16, 2021, 06:25:09 AM

Quote from: Alex on March 16, 2021, 02:44:41 AM
African King Fu Ninja's: Hitler and Tojo have discovered the secret of eternal youth and having escaped to Ghana at the end of World War 2, are rebuilding the Third Reich, with a martial arts tournament.

Not much else I can say about it really.

That sounds delightfully bad.

Alex · March 16, 2021, 07:24:22 AM

Night Train To Terror: Three short stories based around a conversation between God and the Devil about who should win certain souls. The two are on board a train that is fated to crash at L.A.An interesting concept, but I felt the short stories themselves rather let the whole thing down. A bunch of musicians on board play the same song over and over again.