Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Dr. Whom]

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's hilarious take on Interview With The Vampire (with a hint of Nosferatu). Highly recommended.

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: HUMAN DUPLICATORS: The unmemorable movie has alien Richard Kiel creating android duplictates of scientists as part of a plan to conquer Earth. In Deep 13, Frank and Dr. Forrester have a case of the giggles over their invention. Another one I missed in its original run; not a standout episode but like everything in season 4 it's pretty good. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

F/X (1986) - This is one of those movies I'd seen but forgotten everything about so it was like seeing it for the first time. The story is good, but the execution is pretty clunky by today's standards. I don't think a professional crook would warn someone they are about to shoot them in the backseat of the car right before they do it. Audience's suspension of disbelief was a bit higher in the 80's than now though.

A special effects guy ( the Australian guy who was also in Cocktail then faded into obscurity) gets a strange offer: the government wants him to orchestrate a fake assassination of a mob guy so they can put him into witness relocation. It wouldn't be much of a movie if everything went according to plan, so it becomes a battle between various elements of the state with a whiff of 70's conspiracy movies.

good movie that everyone has I'm sure already seen

4.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Happytime Murders" (2018)
Set in a world where Muppet style characters live alongside humans, a puppet P.I. and a loud mouth L.A.P.D. policewoman (Melissa McCarthy) team up to find out who's murdering the cast of a popular puppet TV show. Yes, it's just as weird as it sounds.
Jim Henson's son Brian directed this bizarre, raunchy, foul-mouthed action comedy that's sort of like a mash up of "Meet the Feebles" and "Lethal Weapon." I have a feeling that his Dad would not have approved of this movie, but I thought it was good for a few cheap, dumb laughs.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Forget About It" (2006)
Three old friends (Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning, and Robert Loggia) who live in an Arizona retirement village get mixed up with the Mafia and the FBI when they find a suitcase filled with stolen cash buried in the desert. So basically this is a mobbed-up "Grumpy Old Men." 
Burt and his pals are clearly doing the best they can with this thin material (and Raquel Welch, who plays the foxy neighbor that all three guys have a crush on, still looks fabulous in her 60s) but the movie's cheap, TV sitcom production values and dopey script sink this one pretty quick. Skip it.

[Alex]

The House of Screaming Death.

An attempt to recapture the feeling of the old portmanteau movies. Despite the presence of a familiar face (Ian McNiece), I felt it fell somewhat flat. Would not recommend alas.


Willys Wonderland.

Nic Cage gets a job cleaning up an abandoned amusement arcade in return for getting his car fixed up. He spends the whole film not speaking, isn't phased by the existence of killer animatronics, likes energy drinks and can kick arse. Nothing about his character is explained which felt somewhat frustrating (at some points I was expecting him to turn out to be some sort of animatronic himself, and gives him the feel of a computer game protagonist). Some teenagers get involved and make decisions that really don't make sense given what they know about the place. This comes off as a cross between the original Childs Play movies and the Banana Splits one.

[Rev. Powell]

ABOUT ENDLESSNESS (2019): Pale, deadpan vignettes, including a priest who has lost his faith and a couple who are inexplicably flying over a Swedish city. Roy Andersson squeezes out more Scandinavian miniatures, mostly despairing and anticlimactic; it doesn't have the vitality of his earlier work and won't win new converts into the cult, and yet it's oddly soothing and comforting for those who are already fans. I'd recommend trying SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR first, and if you like it tackling the movies in order. 3.5/5.

[Jim H]

Thunder Road - A troubled young father's mother dies and he goes through the aftermath as a lot of his life falls apart.  Best summary I can make.  The main performance by writer/director/star/producer/composer Jim Cummings and the character he creates are pretty great.  The unique, tumbling nature of the plot and character arc is pretty interesting.  I'm not sure it fully gels in the final act, but I've never seen a lead quite like this one and he remains compellingly flawed start to finish.  Totally worth a watch.  8/10.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Inside Motorhead (2006)
This is another one of those low budget, semi-official music documentaries that are all over Amazon Prime, with the usual gang of British rock journalists (Dave Reynolds, Malcolm Dome, Jerry Ewing, etc.) discussing the classic early Motorhead catalog (i.e. the debut thru 1986's Orgasmatron) album by album. Some vintage live clips and interview footage of Lemmy and the boys provide added flavor.
As usual with these docs, long time fans won't really learn anything new but it was a decent enough time waster with my morning coffee.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Caddyshack" (1980)
Classic sports comedy about a teenage caddy at a snooty country club who gets caught up in a battle on the links between the stuffy "old guard" (led by Ted Knight) and a loudmouth, low-class millionaire (Rodney Dangerfield). You've all seen it, I don't need to say any more except that it still holds up all these years later.

[Rev. Powell]

"Caddyshack" (1980)
Classic sports comedy about a teenage caddy at a snooty country club who gets caught up in a battle on the links between the stuffy "old guard" (led by Ted Knight) and a loudmouth, low-class millionaire (Rodney Dangerfield). You've all seen it, I don't need to say any more except that it still holds up all these years later.

Believe it or not, I've never seen CADDYSHACK.

[RCMerchant]

^ Me either!

[pennywise37]

Really Caddyshack is one of the greatest films of all time and so not for kids either.  it's one of the funniest films ever made period and i'd say the best film of (1980) or one of them anyways.

[RCMerchant]

^ I dunno. Watching a gopher puppet dance to Kenny Loggins is not my cup off tea. And I can't stand Bill Murray or Chevy Chase.
Like early versions of Adam Sandler.

I seen parts. Always turned it off.

[Gabriel Knight]

I've seen CADDYSHACK and hated it, not a single laugh form my part. I'm still confused about why it's regarded so highly, PORKY was a million times better and yet it's not as... uhm... "respected".