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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Good Movies  |  Recent Viewings, Part 2 « previous next »
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Author Topic: Recent Viewings, Part 2  (Read 600961 times)
M.10rda
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« Reply #2715 on: March 29, 2023, 06:10:00 PM »

DEATH OF A HOOKER aka WHO KILLED MARY WHAT'SERNAME? (1971):
A pugnacious retiree (Red Buttons) w/ ailing health yet too much time on his hands reads a newspaper article about the unsolved murder of a streetwalker and commits his every waking hour to the case. Somehow a small team of citizen detectives forms around him to (maybe) help out, including his smart, cute daughter (Alice Playten); a chatty alcoholic (Conrad Bain, the dad from DIFF'RENT STROKES!); the obligatory hooker w/ a heart of gold (Sylvia Miles from MIDNIGHT COWBOY and THE FUNHOUSE); and Sam Waterston (who shows up w/ surprising frequency in this kind of early 70s flick) as a shifty gonzo documentarian. It's the early 70s, so the filmmakers clearly had Kitty Genovese and the Zapruder film on their minds. Cue lots of Antonioni-esque playing, rewinding, and replaying of Waterston's 16mm footage as Buttons & Co try to identify Mary's killer.

Even at a hair under 90 minutes, DEATH OF A HOOKER is so casually paced, preoccupied w/ its motley crew of characters, and sometimes maddeningly pokey that one wonders if it was intended as the pilot for an ongoing mystery-of-the-week TV series. (It wasn't.) Also, in spite of the subject matter, there's little profanity and no nudity or blood. Although it's mostly straightforward in its procedural and slice-of-life scenes, there are a handful of suspense and action scenes that go briefly hogwild stylistically, w/ spinning camerawork and ragged cuts, as if they brought in a young coked-up Roger Watkins to handle those bits. In the film's most odd scene, the capable Buttons stands up to/eventually fights with two tough-looking bikers in a diner... which is fine in and of itself, except the action is persistently interrupted w/ cutaways to a waitress overreacting hysterically, as if she's witnessing the 9/11 attacks or auditioning for the role of Sally in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. There's actually plenty of things about DOAH that make little sense in retrospect: plot points, character motivations, a left-field twist ending (again, it was the 70s), and even what happens in the final shots of the film.

Still, this was almost worth watching for its cast - including the uncredited extras wandering by in the NYC location shots who surely had no idea they were being immortalized in this weird movie. The scummy supporting cast includes David Doyle (TV's "Bosley" from "Charley's Angels"!), Earl Hindman (TV's "Wilson" from "Home Improvement", wtf) as the big biker who wants to kill Buttons, and crime movie fixture Dick Anthony Williams as a really bad landlord. Also, the real-life RAGING BULL Jake LaMotta appears briefly as a bartender. Among the leads, Playten is very compelling - I never recalled seeing her in anything else, but she did a ton of voicework in 80s animated films as well as in AMITYVILLE II and LEGEND. This was Academy Award winner Red Buttons' only leading role (to my knowledge), falling in between his best known films: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (which is a reeeeeeeeally weird and dark film). Although he was in a lot of lesser known movies and TV shows, I wish he had more major credits in better films. He's not the world's rangiest actor but he's a lot of fun to watch, and it would've been nice seeing him play more tough crusty dads (or even Irish gangsters or something).

2.5/5
« Last Edit: March 29, 2023, 06:12:13 PM by M.10rda » Logged
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« Reply #2716 on: March 30, 2023, 01:21:34 PM »

THE WORLD WE KNEW (2020): Six British gangsters hole up in an old house after a botched heist. The ensemble acting here is exceptional, but the script doesn't really seem to know what it wants to do with these able performances; there's little suspense, it flirts with the supernatural without really committing, and it ends inconclusively on an anecdote. 2.5/5.
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« Reply #2717 on: April 01, 2023, 04:28:17 PM »

RIFFTRAX: GUMBY, THE MOVIE: This was shown as the special Rifftrax event on the Gizmoplex. In the movie, Gumby forms a band, and a couple of robots try to steal a dog who cries pearls. It's a bizarre kiddie flick and the Rifftrax guys made me laugh several times (watching Gumby's band play at a picnic: "This is what Woodstock looked like if you did take the brown acid.") Afterwards they live-riffed a goofy Navy office safety short and then did a Q&A. All the good vibes make me wish MST3K, Rifftrax and the Mads would all join forces and form a single storefront. 3/5, more if you're a fan.
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« Reply #2718 on: April 01, 2023, 11:43:57 PM »

UNHUMAN (2022) - A group of high school kids on a field trip are involved in a bus accident, followed by a zombie apocalypse.
They desperately hide in an abandoned building as the undead come after them - only to find that what's really happening is far stranger than any zombie movie imaginable!
I'm gonna be honest - I liked this one.  Fun and twisty, there's a good bit of teen angst but it doesn't get in the way of the story.
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« Reply #2719 on: April 02, 2023, 05:35:30 AM »

After the Thin Man (1936)

I've known the Thin Man movies by reputation, but until now I have never actually seen one. This mashup of a screwball comedy with a film noir is very entertaining, with glamourous women and smooth and stylish men. William Powell and Myrna Loy are deservedly known as one of the best film couples ever. Is it me, or do I see hints of Nick and Nora Charles in John Astin's and Carolyn Jones's Gomez and Morticia?
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« Reply #2720 on: April 02, 2023, 07:09:04 AM »

"Raise The Titanic" (1980)
A Navy salvage team led by dashing adventurer Dirk Pitt must locate the wreckage of the Titanic and bring it to the surface to recover a valuable treasure locked away in the ship's cargo hold.
An improbable, but mostly enjoyable old-school adventure flick based on Clive Cussler's best seller, with an impressive cast (incl. Sir Alec Guinness, Jason Robards, Anne Archer, and M.Emmett Walsh) and a lush music score by James Bond composer John Barry. The producers apparently hoped this would be the first in a series of films based on Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, but it bombed at the box office.
Fun fact: the real Titanic wasn't found until five years after this movie was made.
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M.10rda
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« Reply #2721 on: April 02, 2023, 09:48:11 AM »

"Raise The Titanic" (1980)
 The producers apparently hoped this would be the first in a series of films based on Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, but it bombed at the box office.

Matthew McConnaughey played Dirk about 25 years later in SAHARA, which was billed as "A Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt Adventure". A preview poster announced "Adventure has a new name... Dirk Pitt."

No one seemed to care! I was managing a movie theater back then and saw everything for free. This one I walked out on midway. Penelope Cruz sure looks fine on that poster, though:
https://film-authority.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/sahara_2005_1924_poster.jpg
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« Reply #2722 on: April 02, 2023, 06:15:47 PM »

"Raise The Titanic" (1980)
 The producers apparently hoped this would be the first in a series of films based on Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, but it bombed at the box office.

Matthew McConnaughey played Dirk about 25 years later in SAHARA, which was billed as "A Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt Adventure". A preview poster announced "Adventure has a new name... Dirk Pitt."

Yeah, Clive Cussler apparently hated "Raise the Titanic" so much that he wouldn't let Hollywood near the Dirk Pitt character again for 25 years... and then legend has it that he hated "Sahara" as well. Tough man to please, that Clive. TeddyR
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« Reply #2723 on: April 02, 2023, 10:18:54 PM »

"Revenge of the Nerds" (1984)
After near-constant abuses at the hands of the jocks and beautiful people at Adams College, a group of nerdy freshmen form their own fraternity and mount a campaign to get even. This classic '80s campus comedy has come under fire in recent years for certain "problematic" plot points, but its "nerds are people too" message still manages to shine through the raunchy gags. Never mind the "politically correct" complaints, this one is still loads of fun.
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« Reply #2724 on: April 03, 2023, 04:57:46 PM »

SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING (2022): A squad of tobacco-themed superheroes go on a country retreat to recharge their batteries. Quentin Dupieux's movies (which are a genre all their own) have little focus and thrive on absurdist unpredictability; this one is no exception, with the best bits being the shaggy dog horror stories told around the campfire. 3/5.
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« Reply #2725 on: April 04, 2023, 08:42:09 PM »

"Zombie Holocaust" (aka "Doctor Butcher M.D.," 1980)
Investigators discover acts of cannibalism in New York City hospitals, and end up on an island in the South Seas, where they find a whole tribe of flesh eaters ... plus a mad doctor who's creating a race of zombies. Our heroes then have to stay off the menu of either side.
This utterly bizarro mash up of the zombie and cannibal genres appears to have been made up as it went along. The story makes no sense and the acting and dubbing absolutely suck, but the gore effects are plentiful and gruesome. Mindlessly entertaining Italian horror junk.

"Greenwich Village: The Music That Defined a Generation" (2012)
A cool documentary about the singer/songwriter folk music scene of the late 50s and early 60s that swept out of New York's Greenwich Village and into the mainstream, carrying its messages of peace, equality and anti-war sentiment. Featuring fascinating vintage clips of Sixties New York and interviews with major players like Pete Seeger, the Lovin' Spoonful, Melanie, Buffy Ste. Marie, Phil Ochs, and many more. I may not be much of a "folkie" but I enjoyed this illuminating doc.
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« Reply #2726 on: April 04, 2023, 10:22:40 PM »

fatfreddy - where did you watch revenge of the Nerds?
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jimpickens
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« Reply #2727 on: April 05, 2023, 04:23:23 AM »

The Garbageman a very good but creepy look into the mind of a serial killer.
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« Reply #2728 on: April 05, 2023, 09:31:00 AM »

DAMSELVIS, DAUGHTER OF HELVIS (1994): A young woman in Mississippi discovers she is actually the daughter of the dead god Helvis and travels to the pyramid in Memphis to resurrect him, while her pastor (who dresses like Black Jesus) races to stop her. Lots of nudity, corny monster costumes, and a bizarre spin on American mythology in this zero budget but undeniably unique debut from rockabilly-obsessed Memphis director John Michael McCarthy, who went on to make three more accomplished surreal-but-exploitative movies in the same style. 2/5.
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FatFreddysCat
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« Reply #2729 on: April 05, 2023, 03:36:14 PM »

fatfreddy - where did you watch revenge of the Nerds?

It's on Hulu (so is "R.O.T.N. II: Nerds in Paradise").

I was surprised to see it there, cuz over the past few years it seemed like it had been "me too'd" out of existence.
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