Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Steel and Lace" (1991)
A robotics expert (Bruce Davison, "X-Men") turns his dead sister into a killer cyborg and sics her on the group of men who brutalized her. A dorky cop (David "American Werewolf" Naughton) and his courtroom sketch-artist girlfriend follow the trail of carnage. A watchably weird direct-to-video cheapie that's part "Terminator," part rape/revenge flick, with decent gore effects and a strangely tongue-in-cheek tone given the subject matter.

[Dr. Whom]

John Wick (2014)

The John Wick phenomenon had passed my by until now, but as the fourth installment has become a major event in film culture, I decided to see what the fuss was all about.

I was expecting Keanu Reeves shooting a lot of people in the head because of a puppy, and that was exactly what I got. Like many modern films, it does take its time to get going, but it is supremely stylish. Perhaps I went in with too high expectations, but while this is a very good computer game style movie, I don't quite get the hype.

[M.10rda]

John Wick (2014)

 I don't quite get the hype.

I didn't either.
All of the sequels are superior. 
And 3 & 4 are very very good.

[Jack]

Superdeep (2020) - back in Soviet Russia, they've drilled a bore hole 12 km into the earth, and something's gone terribly wrong.  A scientist lady and a small group of soldiers is called in to investigate.  Slow moving with bland characters, and despite very little happening it still managed to be somewhat confusing.  Not terribly suspenseful considering I was bored.  It featured the wonderful plot contrivance of needing a special key to operate the elevator, which made that last part of the movie into a video game fetch quest.  And the special effects at the end...hard not to chuckle.  I'll be generous and give it a 3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

John Wick (2014)

 I don't quite get the hype.

I didn't either.
All of the sequels are superior. 
And 3 & 4 are very very good.

I never saw the original, and don't remember it being a big deal. Saw the second one and wasn't really that impressed. I liked the fourth one despite myself, it's ridiculous but a guilty pleasure.

THE B-SIDE (2016): Documentarian Errol Morris gives us a portrait of recently retired photographer Elsa Dorfman, an unassuming Jewish girl who once captured images of Bob Dylan and personal friend Allen Ginsburg. Respectful but minor, portraying a craftsman who's neither glamorous nor flamboyant. 2.5/5.

[Jack]

Apollo 18 (2011) - an 18th mission is sent to the moon, except this time it's a top-secret defense department thing.  This was damned near unwatchable.  Remember the original moon landing footage, all grainy, oversaturated, with lots of dropouts?  Now lets add a handheld camera jumping around all over the place, intentionally sloppy editing (bright white screen when one piece of film runs out etc.), and a few thousand jump cuts.  Characters were undeveloped but I will say that as it takes place in 1974, they did have that "We're doing something historic and we really care about each other" vibe.  The plot...we've seen this exact same thing done far better in numerous other movies.  1/5.

[indianasmith]

Apollo 18 (2011) - an 18th mission is sent to the moon, except this time it's a top-secret defense department thing.  This was damned near unwatchable.  Remember the original moon landing footage, all grainy, oversaturated, with lots of dropouts?  Now lets add a handheld camera jumping around all over the place, intentionally sloppy editing (bright white screen when one piece of film runs out etc.), and a few thousand jump cuts.  Characters were undeveloped but I will say that as it takes place in 1974, they did have that "We're doing something historic and we really care about each other" vibe.  The plot...we've seen this exact same thing done far better in numerous other movies.  1/5.

I rather liked this one because it FELT real to me.

[M.10rda]

SWORD OF DOOM (1966):
One of two films that confused me quite deeply in the past couple of weeks. (The other was Jane Campion's POWER OF THE DOG, which has a simple plot but highly ambiguous messaging...) I'll be the first to admit that Japanese films can sometimes perplex w/ their dismissive attitudes about traditional narrative logic and character motivations, so I was willing to accept that this well-regarded samurai flick might just be over my head. It's admirably complex for a while, w/ intertwining plotlines and myriad supporting characters hovering around the central anti-hero, but two such major subplots and at least 4 such characters disappear inexplicably at the film's climax, which just kind of implodes into a maniacal slaughter of anonymous extras.

I still don't know what the deal w/ POTD was, but some light Googling provides an easy answer to the puzzle that is SWORD OF DOOM: it's the first part of a planned trilogy that was never continued. Although I can find no confirmation of this, I also wonder if some parts of this sole entry have been lost to time - the final shot of the film, for instance, looks like it's from an inferior dup several generations removed from the negative... and I watched SoD on a Criterion disk. Honestly the suddenly jittery, bleached out quality of that shot only accentuates the psychotic ending.

For a 60s samurai movie, SWORD OF DOOM is extremely creepy, weird, and chaotic. The central character (played by Tatsuya Nakadai) isn't a righteous avenger or even an ambivalent ne'er-do-well... he's a bug-eyed, sweaty sociopath who'll kill just about anyone who crosses his path at the slightest provocation. In terms of "warmth" and "relatability" he ranks below Nicholas Worth in DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE but maybe slightly above Lawrence Harvey in HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2, but Nakadai's commitment manages to hold your interest throughout. Although SWORD OF DOOM is sometimes classified as a horror film, for the most part it's only "horror" in the way that HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER is a "horror film". Right near the end, though, Nakadai starts to crack up ala Joe Spinnell at the end of MANIAC, and there are hints of some quasi-supernatural happenings that, alas, never come fully to fruition. I wish they would've made that sequel, though even what's available of SWORD OF DOOM is worth checking out!

3.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

Wilderness Survival For Girls (2004) - I didn't realize this was from almost 20 years ago when I was watching it. The dialogue and acting are much better than similar sort of movies today.

3 teenage girls go to a cabin in the woods to smoke pot and drink beer, but are interrupted by a transient guy who had been illegally living there. The issue is what to do: call the police?, send him on his way?, hang out with him?

On some level it's like an acting class, but it's a good class. It's not going to change the way you view the world but it's pretty competent for what it is.

4.25 /5

extra credit for not having the 3 girls do car karaoke on the way to the cabin so 4.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Amazing Spider-Man" (2010)
Andrew Garfield takes over the web-slinger role in this "reboot" of the Spidey saga, which re-tells his origin story and then pits him against The Lizard. I've never quite understood why they felt the need to re-start the franchise so soon after the 3rd Toby Maguire movie -- couldn't they have just dropped Garfield into place and picked up where that one left off? -- but otherwise this is a fun, flashy action flick with a great cast. Underrated.

[Rev. Powell]

SPHERE (1998): At the behest of the military, a small team of multidisciplinary scientists explore a subterranean artifact that appeared at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. A great cast (Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson) keeps it watchable, but Barry Levinson isn't the right director for a sci-fi thriller with reality-bending aspects; he approaches the script in a mundane, literal sense, and keeps reminding you of much better movies on similar topics. 3/5.

[M.10rda]

SPHERE (1998): \
A great cast (Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson)

And lest we forget... Liev Schreiber! Fifth-billed behind Queen Latifah (...) despite having more screen-time and dialogue and despite being... Liev Schreiber!

I agree SPHERE is not very good. I watched it back in the day primarily for Schreiber and specifically on account of Schreiber talking in contemporaneous interviews about his lifelong admiration for Hoffman and how it had long been his dream to act w/ Hoffman. Among the many things missing from SPHERE........ any dramatically significant or extensive Hoffman/Schreiber scenes!

Schreiber really got no respect in the 90s, even after scene-stealing work in SCREAM 2, MIXED NUTS, THE DAYTRIPPERS, PARTY GIRL, and others... not to mention PHANTOMS, where he delivers what is for my money one of the best performances in any legitimately bad movie. And it is a baaaaad movie... but Schreiber's "Eddie Deezen as demonic molester" performance?  

[lester1/2jr]

Woman on the Run (1950) - above average film noir starring Ann Sheridan, who looks vaguely European but not that great here. A guy witnesses a murder and goes on the run to avoid retribution from the gangster who did it. Joining in the hunt are the police, his wife, and a reporter and also his dog Rembrandt who occasionally provides tension and/or comic relief.

Speaking of tension, one really good use of it is when various of these people are chasing each other around the roller coaster at the final scene: an amusement park along the beach. As the killer is slowly revealed, the roller coaster will come whipping around a corner with people screaming. Not as good as the guy lighting off fireworks in Boogie Nights but close.

4.75 /5   it's not quite a classic but it was better than I expected

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043142/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv <  factoids about it

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Bourne Identity" (2002)
Fisherman find a near-dead man floating in the waters off of Marseilles, France. When he wakes up, he has no memory of who he is or how he got there... but he quickly learns that he has serious ass-kickin' skills... which is a good thing, because some very bad people come looking for him and he has to go on the run. This was the first of five movies based on Robert Ludlum's series of spy novels, starring Matt Damon as the mysterious "Jason Bourne." He's got impressive action-hero moves and the European scenery is lovely. This was the first time I'd seen any of this series, and I will definitely be checking out more.

"Bleeding Steel" (2018)
A Chinese cop (Jackie Chan) must protect his estranged daughter from a Darth Vader-ish radiation-scarred supervillain who wants to steal her high-tech artificial heart for the healing powers it provides. This Chinese/Australian sci-fi/action mash up seems like it's trying to cop the Marvel Cinematic Universe vibe, but the story seriously doesn't make a lick of sense (possibly lost in translation?). After a while I gave up trying to follow it and just watched stuff explode and people beat the crap out of each other. Jackie's looking a little long in the tooth nowadays so I have to wonder how much of the stunt work is actually done by him and how much is green screen/CGI trickery. Skip this mess unless you're a diehard Chan fan.

[indianasmith]

EVIL DEAD RISE (2023) Another installment in the EVIL DEAD franchise.  Like the remake a few years ago, this one ignores the dark humor that made the original movies appealing and settles for cruelty, gore, shock value, and thousands of gallons of fake blood.  A few hundred gallons, anyway.   If you go in with low expectations, you might enjoy it.