Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

Indiana - I think I thought it was a children's movie

[indianasmith]

EVIE (2023) - A young English girl finds a strange necklace on the beach, and her life is blighted by it.
Now, as an adult, she reunites with her long-lost brother and returns to her childhood home to find out what went wrong.
This was a slow-burn, suspenseful movie that could have used a good bit more action, or gore, or something.
The premise wasn't bad, it just lacked the necessary punch at the end.  3/5

[Rev. Powell]

THE MADS ARE BACK: A NIGHT OF SHORTS XIV: The shorts are a complicated animation following a drop of gas through a combustion engine, how to plan a buffet, how to make a (complicated) sandwich, how to become a 50s secretary, how to be less self-conscious, and a (not nearly as ) re-riff of "A Case of Spring Fever." I chuckled a few times, but surprisingly the podcast part, which is usually kind of lame, was the better part: Steve Soliar, a very funny guy who was a personal assistant for Groucho Marx in his final years, tells stories about the comedy titan. (The cigar quip? It probably really happened). 3/5.

[M.10rda]

OPPENHEIMER (2023):
I liked it... a lot more than the other big 2023 movie it opened with....... 

Nolan is best when he's working in the non-realist, non-linear, nightmare-adjacent genre. Yeah, that's a genre, population under a dozen filmmakers, probably, but it's my favorite getaway locale. For an epic biopic, the Nolan non-linear approach is actually kind of a no-brainer. Everything takes place in the early-to-mid-20th century on Earth but also sort of all of it in Oppy's mind and....... I approve.

3h4m is a touch on the long side to keep so many plates spinning, and in some alternate dimension there's an hour forty cut of this w/ no RDJ or any related plot material. That would be a cleaner and fleeter film but a less interesting one. I don't mind spending three hours where I occasionally have to sort out who's who or when's when. I mean, I've watched MEMENTO at least 20 times and OPPENHEIMER (like most of Nolan's work) ain't workin' on a MEMENTO-level of complexity. But it's still complex beyond most studio films, and if anything has to be nominated for a dozen Oscars, it might as well be this.

4/5
Will Gary Oldman play Stalin next?

[indianasmith]

NIGHT SWIM (2023) - A professional baseball player fighting Multiple Sclerosis moves into a nice suburban home with a swimming pool in the back yard.  But something's not right with the pool; even as his health improves and his symptoms disappear, the bizarre and potentially deadly episodes keep piling up . . . something bad is in the water, and it needs sacrifice!  This was a pretty good PG-13 horror that could have been better; but it worked well on the big screen and rarely got boring.  4/5

[Dr. Whom]

They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

A dealer, a pimp and a hooker uncover a nefarious government plot involving mind control and clones.

This is an attempt to update the blaxploitation genre, and as such it exists in a strange time warp between the 70s, 90s and the present. It is pretty entertaining, and the main trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) put in good performances. The main weakness is the plot, which doesn't make a lot of sense, but is clearly written to include a number of tropes make story beats happen. Quite a lot hinges on the secret underground lab having the sloppiest security this side of the Death Star.
It is also a very dark movie in a literal sense. I had to turn off all the lights in the room to be able to see some scenes.

[FatFreddysCat]

I've been reading a book about the creation and inner workings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has prompted me to start re-visiting some of its early chapters that I haven't seen in a while:

"Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011)
As World War II rages on, wimpy Army recruit Steve Rogers is chosen to receive an experimental Super-Soldier serum which bulks him up and turns him into the patriotic super-hero, leading the charge against the dreaded Red Skull and HYDRA. Joe "The Rocketeer" Johnston directed this action packed period piece that has held up extremely well.

I wish I could say the same for...

"The Incredible Hulk" (2008)
Tortured scientist Bruce Banner attempts to find a cure for his Gamma-powered anger management problem, pursued all the while by the Army and eventually getting into an epic throwdown on the streets of New York City against the monstrous Abomination.
This was better than Ang Lee's 2003 "Hulk" flick but not by much. According to the book I'm reading, Ed Norton (who plays Banner) was constantly banging heads with the director and screen writers, made constant script changes and basically acted like a diva b**ch for the entire production, which is why he was replaced in the Hulk role by Mark Ruffalo after this movie. This "Hulk" was watchable, but it's vastly inferior to the first "Iron Man," which was released the same year.
P.S. sharp eyed nerds, keep an eye out for the brief cameo by Lou Ferrigno, who played the Big Mean Green on TV in the '70s.

[M.10rda]

BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO (1984):
Somehow my first complete viewing of this seminal Cannon classic, and though it probably couldn't live up to the hype, I wasn't disappointed either. BREAKIN' 2 is a textbook good Bad Movie... thoroughly low-minded, lazy, ignorant, and even a little racist, yet still containing plentiful enough flashes of inspiration and humor (both intentional and unintentional) to get a lot of legitimate entertainment from it. If you cut together every single funny moment and cool or ridiculous shot from BREAKIN' 2 into one highlight reel, you'd have at least a decent 12-15 minutes of solid entertainment. Although that sounds like a backhanded plaudit, 12-15 minutes of solid entertainment is more than I could mine from the previous four movies I watched before this one.

Best bits: One of the most ludicrous gang dance fights in film history; scene after scene of ostensibly heterosexual dudes dressed like they're cruising for rough trade, including a young Ice T in two scenes, one of which where he's fully resplendent in leather straps and studs; the show-stopping ensemble dance sequence in a hospital ICU; and an extended number where Boogaloo Shrimp dances two complete 360s around the walls and ceiling of his apartment, with his girlfriend apparently upright on the floor during one bit when he's on the wall. The latter obviously required authentic effort, technical care, and of course a beefy gimble, so while BREAKIN' 2 doesn't have an original or deep thought in its head, it was clearly made w/ some love and enthusiasm. I watched three other musicals this week, one with Julie freakin' Andrews, and honestly BREAKIN' 2 is the clear winner.

3.5/5
They don't make 'em like this anymore. Possibly for good reason but still.

[Jim H]

Fant4stic - This is like a quarter of an interesting adaptation, and 3/4s underwritten half baked mess.  The best parts are early on and the stuff hinting at body horror, like when they first get transformed and when Dr Doom is first revealed and goes on a spree - genuinely pretty good stuff.  But then it barely has a story (seriously, there is no plot), barely has a climax, barely has any action, a lot of it is flat, the dialogue is often bad, and the pacing is just horrible.  But it felt way different than an MCU movie, so that was interesting on its own these days. 

[indianasmith]

VALLEY OF THE DEAD (2022)   This was a surprisingly good zombie movie, set in the 1930's during the Spanish Civil War.  A fascist officer and his driver are captured by Communist rebels, only to discover that they are in the middle of a zombie outbreak caused by German experiments.  Great characters, snappy dialogue (even dubbed), and nice effects - I was quite impressed with this little Netflix gem!  4/5

[chainsaw midget]

I watched Beyond the Dunwhich Horror. 

It's a no budget movie filled with people that can't act and some of the worst effects I've seen in a while.  This is the first time I've ever seen a needle through the eye scene that DIDN'T make me cringe.

  Despite being a modern movie there's something about the bland "i don't care that the plot's not going anywhere" feel to it that makes it feel like something out of the 70s.  In fact they don't even set up the narrative right.  A guy is in a mental institution, then later scenes he's not, then he is, and it's not until half way through the movie they bother telling you the non-mental institution stuff is supposed to be a flashback.

There's also a few instances where they use colored lights for mood (and blue lights to show night) that, if they had done more consistently, would have given it some actual style, maybe some more lights, and some grit on the frame would make it worth watching. 

A few things do stand out for me.  There's one seen where man has an entire octopus on his plate that he's moving around with his fork before eating it with his hands that's rather unnerving. 

Downpoints include a brief appearance by a Hispanic looking actor that gives the most sterotypical racist fake Mexican accent ever. 

[Rev. Powell]

MAESTRO (2023): The life of Leonard Bernstein, with a focus on his marriage and his extra-marital affairs with men. Very slow developing in the first half, but it builds drama in the closing movements, particularly when a vigorously sweaty Cooper conducts the climax Mahler's Second. On Netflix. A weak 3/5.

[indianasmith]

I watched Beyond the Dunwhich Horror. 

It's a no budget movie filled with people that can't act and some of the worst effects I've seen in a while.  This is the first time I've ever seen a needle through the eye scene that DIDN'T make me cringe.

  Despite being a modern movie there's something about the bland "i don't care that the plot's not going anywhere" feel to it that makes it feel like something out of the 70s.  In fact they don't even set up the narrative right.  A guy is in a mental institution, then later scenes he's not, then he is, and it's not until half way through the movie they bother telling you the non-mental institution stuff is supposed to be a flashback.

There's also a few instances where they use colored lights for mood (and blue lights to show night) that, if they had done more consistently, would have given it some actual style, maybe some more lights, and some grit on the frame would make it worth watching. 

A few things do stand out for me.  There's one seen where man has an entire octopus on his plate that he's moving around with his fork before eating it with his hands that's rather unnerving. 

Downpoints include a brief appearance by a Hispanic looking actor that gives the most sterotypical racist fake Mexican accent ever. 

That one was so dreadful I couldn't finish it, a rarity for me.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Inside Metal: Bay Area Godfathers, Part One" (2018)
Contrary to popular belief, the San Francisco Bay Area had a thriving metal scene long before Metallica moved up from L.A. and put the city on the metal map. This documentary proves it via interviews and clips of long forgotten S.F. bands like Stone Vengeance, Dammaj, Anvil Chorus, and Ruffians, alongside better known participants like Exodus, Death Angel, Forbidden, and many more. A fun trip down metal memory lane.

[chainsaw midget]

That one was so dreadful I couldn't finish it, a rarity for me.

I thought about it. 

Honestly, my "watching it" turned into more "letting it run in the background while I did other stuff and occassionally looked over at it.