Recent Viewings, Part 2

[indianasmith]

MEG 2: THE TRENCH (2023)

  Jason Statham is back, and so are the Megalodon sharks!  Plus a variety of other prehistoric sea monsters, attacking submersibles, gobbling swimmers, and generally causing mayhem after an illegal deep sea mining operation allows them to breach the thermocline and reach the surface. Glorious giant shark silliness, and Statham once more surviving impossible situations.  Totally worth the price of admission!  5/5

[Rev. Powell]

THE MADS ARE BACK: I ACCUSE MY PARENTS: You know the story: Jimmy wins an essay contest, his drunk parents give him $20, and he ends up working for a gangster before a fry cook converts him to Jesus. Unfortunately, Frank and Trace's second take on this only reminds you how good the original MST3K version was. Q&A guest is comedian Myka Fox (not familiar with her before this, she's fine). 2.5/5.

[Alex]

Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Not a fun, happy movie.

[M.10rda]

Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Not a fun, happy movie.

...That's a fair cop!

[lester1/2jr]

the Name of the Rose (1986) - I've half seen this a number of times. After finally sitting through the whole thing, I still don't exactly understand everything about it.

spoiler alert 

I get that the blind guy didn't want people to find the Aristotle comedy book, but not what all the murders were about. Were they about that? It wasn't clear

Anyway...


Christian Slater must have thought he was at acting bootcamp having to trudge up and down the castle in his balsa wood gown thing. That said, I did like the vibe and the themes, though they were sort of muted and I would guess compromised by box office concerns

4/5

[indianasmith]

THE ROOKIE (2002) Dennis Quaid stars as a high school chemistry teacher and baseball coach who tries out for the big leagues and makes it.  Heartwarming true story, well-acted, and a great supporting cast. 4/5

[Trevor]

the Name of the Rose (1986) - I've half seen this a number of times. After finally sitting through the whole thing, I still don't exactly understand everything about it.

spoiler alert 

I get that the blind guy didn't want people to find the Aristotle comedy book, but not what all the murders were about. Were they about that? It wasn't clear

Anyway...


Christian Slater must have thought he was at acting bootcamp having to trudge up and down the castle in his balsa wood gown thing. That said, I did like the vibe and the themes, though they were sort of muted and I would guess compromised by box office concerns

4/5

I saw this when I was a student: apparently some of the victims died as they licked their fingers before turning the pages of books and the pages were acidic 😳😳

[M.10rda]

the Name of the Rose (1986) - I've half seen this a number of times. After finally sitting through the whole thing, I still don't exactly understand everything about it.

spoiler alert 

I get that the blind guy didn't want people to find the Aristotle comedy book, but not what all the murders were about. Were they about that? It wasn't clear

Anyway...


Christian Slater must have thought he was at acting bootcamp having to trudge up and down the castle in his balsa wood gown thing. That said, I did like the vibe and the themes, though they were sort of muted and I would guess compromised by box office concerns

4/5

I saw this when I was a student: apparently some of the victims died as they licked their fingers before turning the pages of books and the pages were acidic 😳😳

Hate to be the guy from the old Time/Life commercials who says "Read the book!" But - Read The Book! Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum are two of my favorite novels. I've read both 10+ times and I always get more out of 'em... they're that chock full of content. Naturally a 2-ish hour movie couldn't do it justice... though it is well-made and well-acted.

BTW Foucault's Pendulum is the (pretty much universally acknowledged) basis for Dan Brown's series of dumb thrillers. It also forecasted the whole QAnon fiasco a good 25 years in advance...

[RCMerchant]

MIKE WALLACE IS HERE (2019)
This documentary tells the story of the confrontational TV journalist Mike Wallace, with clips from his 1950's TV shows, 60 Minutes, events he covered in history, and him interviewing everyone from Martin Luther King, Richard Nixon, the Ayatollah Khomani, and many more. Fascinating look at an amazing life.

[M.10rda]

WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942):
On the "Bad Movies: ...With Great Starts" forum thread we've been putting the boots to INGLORIOUS BASTERDS a bit. Here's an old British wartime thriller that starts good, gets a bit slow for a while, but then consistently improves until a dynamite last half hour. A quiet village in the English countryside is unexpectedly set upon by a purportedly top secret contingent of her majesty's infantry, who move right into everyone's homes and make themselves comfy. In a reflection of a subplot from BASTERDS, the soldiers aren't Englishmen at all - they're Nazis doing accents as fishy as any you'll hear in your local community theater production of SWEENEY TODD. Nevertheless the patriotic locals accept the con at face value for the first third of the film, only gradually growing wise. When they do, the Gerries start executing innocent townspeople in earnest...

Remarkably vicious for its time, WTDW? makes you despise these Nazis (and their one local co-conspirator) as much as you've ever despised any B+W Nazis. Sympathetic characters get offed at an alarming rate for awhile, sometimes onscreen, and even children aren't safe. When the surviving villagers begin to mobilize and fight back, it's Hitchcock-level suspenseful, as they creep through the sleepy town pre-sunset, outnumbered and outgunned, trying to pick off enemies one by one. When the tables finally turn, it's immensely satisfying... certainly moreso than the finale of BASTERDS! Lots of gunplay and even a burning body. I'm pretty sure this is the most arse-kicking early 40s film I've seen.

4/5 by universal standards
4.5 if you factor on 1940s curve for action/adventure/entertainment

[Trevor]

WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942):
On the "Bad Movies: ...With Great Starts" forum thread we've been putting the boots to INGLORIOUS BASTERDS a bit. Here's an old British wartime thriller that starts good, gets a bit slow for a while, but then consistently improves until a dynamite last half hour. A quiet village in the English countryside is unexpectedly set upon by a purportedly top secret contingent of her majesty's infantry, who move right into everyone's homes and make themselves comfy. In a reflection of a subplot from BASTERDS, the soldiers aren't Englishmen at all - they're Nazis doing accents as fishy as any you'll hear in your local community theater production of SWEENEY TODD. Nevertheless the patriotic locals accept the con at face value for the first third of the film, only gradually growing wise. When they do, the Gerries start executing innocent townspeople in earnest...

Remarkably vicious for its time, WTDW? makes you despise these Nazis (and their one local co-conspirator) as much as you've ever despised any B+W Nazis. Sympathetic characters get offed at an alarming rate for awhile, sometimes onscreen, and even children aren't safe. When the surviving villagers begin to mobilize and fight back, it's Hitchcock-level suspenseful, as they creep through the sleepy town pre-sunset, outnumbered and outgunned, trying to pick off enemies one by one. When the tables finally turn, it's immensely satisfying... certainly moreso than the finale of BASTERDS! Lots of gunplay and even a burning body. I'm pretty sure this is the most arse-kicking early 40s film I've seen.

4/5 by universal standards
4.5 if you factor on 1940s curve for action/adventure/entertainment

I believe this is the film that Jack Higgins based the events in  his book THE EAGLE HAS LANDED on.

[Alex]

THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES (2007) This is one of the more disturbing found footage films I have seen.  Filmed in documentary style, the focal point of the movie is a huge collection of videotapes left behind by a prolific serial killer.  Enough of the contents of the tapes are shown to horrify the viewer, and leave you wondering what happened on the ones not shared.  Murders, abductions, body dumps, false leads, a wrongful conviction after a skilled frame-up - the realism is chilling and the villain downright terrifying. Not for the faint of heart. 5/5

Watched this based on your review. It was a tough watch in places, but good.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom" (1984)
Harrison Ford's second go-round as the globe trotting archaeologist/adventurer takes him to India, where he battles a kid-stealing, monkey-brain-eating, human-sacrificing death cult. "Temple of Doom" has a WAY bigger mean streak than "Raiders." This flick's heart-ripping and child-abusing scenes were instrumental in the creation of the PG-13 rating. This seems to be the least popular of the first three "Indy" movies, but I've always enjoyed it -- it may be needlessly ultra-violent, over the top and in retrospect, casually racist at times, but one thing it certainly isn't, is boring. This thing hits the ground running and doesn't let up for the entire two hour run time. A worthy follow up to "Raiders."

[M.10rda]

"Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom" (1984)
This seems to be the least popular of the first three "Indy" movies, but I've always enjoyed it -- it may be needlessly ultra-violent, over the top and in retrospect, casually racist at times, but one thing it certainly isn't, is boring. 

It is my least favorite of the first three, but it wasn't when it came out and I saw it on the big screen opening weekend. I was 7 and back then I thought it was way better than the first one. Kids! We love ultra-violent, over the top casual racism, I guess.

Last time I caught it on TV I noticed that, among other things, some scenes looked too well-lit, cheap, and fake - chief amongst these the mine cart chase. In retrospect I wonder if I was seeing a 4k or ultra-high-def remaster or something... I kind of loathe that treatment on 80s action and sci-fi films... it's even detracted from ALIENS, where Cameron clearly didn't mean for us to make out every darn thing in every corner of every shot. Anyway, I guess I can't fault TEMPLE OF DOOM for a remaster decades after it was produced, but the first and third INDY films still look pretty good even in new reissues...

[lester1/2jr]

Back to the Beach (1987) - I saw this at the Chinese theater in Hollywood when it came out, though not at the actual premiere. It was the capstone of a perfectly timed family vacation as I was at that moment knee deep in punk rock and skateboarding. Come to think of it, I still am knee deep in those things so no surprise I loved it again.

One odd thing about this movie is that Frankie Avalon is, due to copyright issues, never referred to as Frankie only as "Big Kahuna". He and Annette and their brat son go to California and struggle with how much it's changed since the 60's, while attempting to bring some of their now ancient wisdom to the next generation. One big factor in the film's charm was the indifference to stars of that era, especially on shows like Married with Children. Bob Denver, Don Adams, and other former celebs make fun of themselves and their characters throughout.

I have some bias, but I'd put it up there with Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Elvira, Miracle Mile, Return of the Living Dead, and all the other well known and not so well known classics of the 80's. Safely PG 13 but the tone is perfect. Co star Lori Loughlin recently served 2 months in prison for bribing a college to accept her not so gifted kid.

5/5 watched on Pluto