Recent Viewings, Part 2

[RCMerchant]

^ Well, Ill skip that one!

the HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND (1959)

I dunno HOW many times I revisted this stupid movie!

Yeah, I do. Because of the snaggle tooth monster! The goofy spider! But mostly this-



Barbara Valentin. That women could marry me for money and kill me!
And she gets in catfights too!

[chainsaw midget]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

It's a fairly decent movie about an old tired and sad hero that's past his prime, and that's the biggest problem.  Does anybody really want to see an old sad worn out Indiana Jones as his life winds down?  There's definitely some good ideas here, but it feels like it lacks the POW Spielberg would have given it.

[M.10rda]

That's a fair question you pose about DIAL OF DESTINY and one's own answer I guess determines one's take on the movie. For me, I thought sad tired old Indy was treated w/ a lot more respect and dignity than sad tired old Han in THE FORCE AWAKENS. There's no reason to ever say goodbye to fictional childhood heroes, thus TFA was entirely unnecessary and DOD, in refusing to say goodbye while still delivering a final Harrison Ford Indy entry, did much better by my nostalgia and my inner child.

[Rev. Powell]

MADS ARE BACK: WIZARD OF MARS: Astronauts (maybe cosmonauts) crash on Mars and are stranded until they eventually find John Carradine's floating head, who provides a 15 minutes of exposition. I usually complain when they cut stuff out of the movie, but this one was so dull when the astrocosmonauts were wandering around the desert pretending it was Mars that I didn't mind. The cheesy special effects with double-exposures and psychedelic matte paintings were kind of charming, but the jokes rarely landed. I was unfamiliar with the after show guest, Julie Klausner, who made a sitcom on Hulu I never heard of and has a podcast, but she was entertaining enough. Not an episode I'd recommend to newcomers. 2.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Tenebrae (1982) - I've seen a couple giallos that I liked, but I'm always very cautious with Italian cinema. It's a beautiful country with a rich history, but no one phones it in like Italian directors. Once they've got enough for a trailer it's like they lose interest. And to say the good movies are overrated is an understatement.

Tenebrae, by one of those famous guys who I don't care about, had some really good grindhousey energy, beautiful women ( the number one selling point for any Italian movie always), and the same Scooby Doo plot 75% of the ones I've seen had. The camera work and the shots are good, I guess, but I'm more of a story guy. I can see the thrill of owning this on VHS or seeing it at 2 in the morning in Times Square, though.

4/5

[RCMerchant]

^ Not my favorite Dario Argento movie- that would be DEEP RED (1974).

[M.10rda]

I agree w/ you that lots of giallo and Italian horror fail to live up to their reps, and first watching TENEBRE on VHS in 1989 (?), the morning after I also first watched SUSPIRIA, I felt a little let down. Once you accept that almost no giallo will ever be satisfying from a narrative perspective, and once you realize it was ALL downhill for Argento after TENEBRE... TENEBRE can be appreciated on its own terms.

Me? I appreciate it most these days for that theme song. That's my single favorite Goblin track. For years I used it as the unofficial theme for the theatre summer camp I run for students ages 11-18.      You could dub that track over Argento's TRAUMA or PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and even those films would seem tolerable!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" (2019)
The stoner duo (Jason Mewes and writer/director Kevin Smith) go on yet another cross-country road trip to stop Hollywood from "rebooting" the Bluntman & Chronic superhero characters based on them. Along the way they meet the daughter Jay never knew he had, encounter the KKK, meet an angry ride-share driver, and finally face the fanboys at the annual "Chronic-Con."
Kevin made this movie after recovering from his near-fatal 2018 heart attack, and it's basically a victory lap through his back catalog, with cameos by many old friends (Ben Affleck & Matt Damon, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Craig Robinson, the cast of "Clerks," etc.) and constant call-backs to other "View Askew-niverse" movies. This "reboot" falls apart in the last quarter but till then it's mostly silly fun, especially if you're a diehard KS fanboy (guilty).

[RCMerchant]

I can't think of someone as talentless as Fred Durst. He can't perform music, and he sure can't direct a film.
the FANATIC (2019) is proof in point. John Travolta plays Moose- a half-wit film fan. I won't say mentally handicapped, because he's a half-wit, like a Fritz in Frankenstein half wit. He stalks and- I dunno- I couldn't sit threw the last quarter- it was BAD. And not in a good way.
All that Scientology s**t must be seeping into Travolta's brain, to believe this was a good idea.

[indianasmith]

HE'S OUT THERE (2018)

    My daughter chose this one randomly on Prime, and although our viewing was interrupted several times (phone calls, spouses, etc.) I found the movie creepy and riveting.  Laura and her husband have planned a weekend away with their two girls at a lake house they've rented, but the husband has a late meeting and plans to get there that night. When the three arrive, the groundskeeper/security guard helps them open the gate, which is stuck, and almost immediately we begin to notice odd things.  Then, as it gets dark, one of the girls gets sick from a cupcake she found and ate, and then suddenly the family is being stalked by a diabolically clever masked psychopath.  The tension keeps amping up, especially in the last 40 minutes.  This one has a lot of negative reviews on IMDB, mainly focusing on the two little girls, but I thought it was a great movie, creepy and suspenseful till the very end! 4/5

[lester1/2jr]

The Mire (2023) - There is a series on Netflix called The Mire this is not that.

Instead, it's a dialogue heavy but compelling drama about the final hours of a cult, right before they all get carried off into space or another dimension or whatever it's supposed to be. There are only 3 actors: the cult leader and his two top proteges. The problems start when they begin to sense that the leader is getting cold feet about the big moment. Is the whole thing a fraud? How could that be??

If you ever saw "Creation of the Humanoids" it's a similar vibe: an awful lot of talking but it's all going in the right direction. It was a mile deep in the "new to tubi" section. I may well be the first person to watch this and may be the last as it looks cheap as Hell right off the bat. The Mire refers to a codename the leader uses to siphon off funds from the groups bank account. OR DOES HE????

4/5

It has about as much action as "Over Drawn At The Memory Bank" but I enjoyed it. I would definitely watch another one from the director, whoever they are.

[Gabriel Knight]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

It's a fairly decent movie about an old tired and sad hero that's past his prime, and that's the biggest problem.  Does anybody really want to see an old sad worn out Indiana Jones as his life winds down?  There's definitely some good ideas here, but it feels like it lacks the POW Spielberg would have given it.

I actually thought that the absence of Spielberg helped the movie. The fourth installment was a disaster, mainly because his presence. The fifth (and I guess final) entry is a little bit more serious and the story actually makes sense this time. I enjoyed it immensely.

[Jim H]

^ Not my favorite Dario Argento movie- that would be DEEP RED (1974).

On that note, I just watched the Bird with the Crystal Plumage.  Pretty familiar giallo stuff, but a pretty well made one.  I didn't love it, but it was enjoyable enough.

I also watched Madame Web, as my wife wanted to see it.  It's kind of bad, starts off VERY bad, but then kinda meanders into watchable junk.  It's probably not as bad as you'd think, but it's still not a good movie.  I'll say I wasn't bored, and that's something. 

In contrast, I'd say Venom was a worse film but was more entertaining.  Pick your poison if you're watching Sony superhero films.

[lester1/2jr]

Private Hell 36 (1954) - Ida Lupino directs and stars in this later era noir. Only a few more years down the road, Psycho would come along and blast the genre to smithereens (at least according to the TCM noir guy). It's got some fairly sophisticated and risque dialogue and moves well, but I just couldn't buy Lupino, who looks like Nancy Reagan, as a femme fatale type character. Great as the director though, clearly knows her way around this kind of stuff.

3.75/ 5 because I'm big on casting, but it's good. interesting title too

[indianasmith]

DRACULA: THE ORIGINAL LIVING VAMPIRE (2022)  The Asylum's latest take on the Count is actually more entertaining and better executed than most of the shlock they turn out.  Amelia van Helsing is a police officer investigating a series of exsanguination murders of young women - all attractive redheads.  Her Captain, James Renfield, is convinced the killer is a copycat, imitating a string of similar murders that rocked the city a century before.  Amelia is concerned because her girlfriend, Mina Murrey, bears a striking resemblance to the victims the killer has slain. Of course, the mysterious European nobleman visiting the city looking to purchase property has nothing to do with the crimes - or does he?   Amelia's friend Jonathan Harker certainly thinks he does!
   This was a fun vampire romp if you don't go in with high expectations.  Dracula is well played by Jake Herbert, and the female victims/vampire recruits are all quite attractive.  Certainly not the best vampire film I've ever seen, but far from the worst! 4/5