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Recent Viewings, Part 2

Started by Rev. Powell, February 15, 2020, 10:36:26 PM

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FatFreddysCat

"Bathtubs Over Broadway" (2018)
In the early 1990s Steve Young, a writer for David Letterman's Late Show, was assigned to dig up some weird record albums for a bit on the program, which led him to discover the wild, weird world of Industrial Musicals of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Back in the day, major American corporations would regularly stage lavish Broadway-style musical shows about new products and innovations for their annual conventions and sales meetings to fire up their employees, and the "souvenir records" from such performances have become rare, obscure collectibles. As Steve digs deeper into this forgotten corner of the music world, he becomes one of the leading authorities on the subject, and eventually tracks down some of the songwriters and stars of these long forgotten productions to give them a long overdue moment in the sun. I love when a documentary teaches me about weird/obscure stuff I know nothing about, and this one definitely qualifies. Bizarre, hilarious, and unexpectedly heartwarming. A pleasant surprise.
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Jim H

Anastasia - I remember thinking this was middle when I saw it when it was new, but on a second watch it's actually pretty good.  Seeing it on blu ray helps, a lot of the animation is beautiful (though occasionally, some background plates seem a bit weak).  The storyline works, though it isn't especially strong, and most of the voice cast does good work.  It's also probably got the best original songs of a non-Disney 2D film in the 90s, even scoring an Oscar nom for one.  Worth watching, see it in HD for sure.

Ocean Waves - Ultra grounded lesser known Ghibli film.  Simple slice of life story, you have to pay attention to this one to see the subtle undercurrents going on in parts.  It's not deep, just not always obvious.  It works, good characters, well animated if obviously more budget limited than other Ghibli works.  It's also barely over an hour.  Check it out on HBO Max.

indianasmith

GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR (2019) - A former hotshot investment banker, fired from his job in disgrace for embezzling, is renovating an old house in a small town so he and his pregnant wife can move in and start over, with only his dog for company.  Then he meets a mysterious, beautiful young woman named Sarah, who quickly talks him into a fling.  But then weird stuff starts happening, and he finds out the house was a bordello 100 years ago - and that a young woman mysteriously died there.  Now Sarah keeps showing up, demanding more attention from him when he's trying to finish the house and already regretting the brief affair.   Things escalate very quickly, and before you know it he's wondering if Sarah is even human . . . nice creepy atmospheric horror flick.
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"

FatFreddysCat

"Jason X" (2002)
The tenth "Friday The 13th" installment is also the most insane one yet. In this slasher/sci-fi mashup, The Big J is cryogenically frozen in the early 2000s, and re-discovered 400 years later by a futuristic salvage crew. When the team makes the terrible decision to bring the Jason-sicle back to their space ship and thaw him out, it leads to havoc on an inter-galactic level.
As long as you can wrap your head around the utterly absurd concept, "Jason X" is a fast paced, funny as hell, ultra violent hoot. I've found that it works best if you treat it as a parody of the "F13" films rather than a legitimate series entry.
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Alex

We Have Always Lived In The Castle.

A surprisingly faithful adaptation of the Shirley Jackson novel (if there were any major deviations from the book, I didn't notice them) with a few recognisable names (Alexandra Daddario, Crispin Glover, and Sebastian Stan). If you are a fan, I'd recommend checking it out.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

indianasmith

DEEP MURDER - This rather odd movie starts off like a classic Cinemax bom-chick-a-wow-wow flick (minus the actual nudity) which devolves into a murder mystery with some amazingly shallow, stupid characters and some of the corniest dialogue I've ever heard.  It was one of those "so stupid it was funny" flicks that slowly devolved into "ok, it's just stupid."  But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained. 3/5
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"

FatFreddysCat

"Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness" (2022)
Marvel's sorcerous hero returns for his second solo adventure, battling against a souped-up, seriously p**sed off Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, who wants to capture a young girl with the ability to "hop" between various universes -- which could have disastrous consequences for all realities. As usual, there's tons of action and eye popping, and plenty of reality bending special effects. Sam Raimi (of "Evil Dead" and "Spider-Man" fame) was the perfect choice to direct, given his background in horror/supernatural flicks. Creepy-cool popcorn fun!
Hey, HEY, kids! Check out my way-cool Music and Movie Review blog on HubPages!
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Rev. Powell

BIG GOLD BRICK (2022): A suicidal writer accepts a commission to write the biography of the eccentric man who hit him with his car; the resulting adventures involve gambling, a taking Santa Claus doll, a bank robbery, and psychic powers. With Andy Garcia, Megan Fox, Lucy Hale and (a should be embarassed) Oscar Isaac in the cast, someone should have been motivated to whip the script into something passable, but instead the story just wanders from side to side---for more than two hours. Who is first time director Brian Pestos and what does he have on Isaac and Kristen Wiig to force them to produce this self-indulgent disaster? 1.5/5.
I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...

Alex

Jersey Shore Shark Attack.

I cheered for the sharks.
Hail to thyself
For I am my own master
I am my own god
I require no shepherd
For I am no sheep.

Trevor

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

indianasmith

INFLUENCE - A well-done Spanish horror film, vaguely reminiscent of HEREDITARY, in which a young girl fights against being possessed by the spirit of her wicked, dying grandmother, a powerful but now-comatose witch.  My viewing was interrupted several times during the first half hour, but once I settled into the heart of the story I was very impressed with it. 4/5
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"

Rev. Powell

MST3K: THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU: Secret agent George Nader and Playboy wonder sidekick Frankie Avalon battle an all-girl gang bent on world domination, whose only weakness is they're all secretly boy crazy. Klaus Kinski also appears. The movie (adapted from a Sax Rohmer story) was apparently intended as a campy comedy; my theory is they half-heartedly tried to change it into one mid-filming when they realized it wasn't working as an action movie. It's kind of fascinating, kind of boring, but I laughed a lot. Host segments are a mixed bag; a couple of spy based ones with Jonah and the bots worked, while the ones that seem to be setting up an ongoing plotline left me cold. Surely worth a 3/5 maybe even 3.5/5.
I'll take you places the hand of man has not yet set foot...

FatFreddysCat

"The Retaliator" (aka "Programmed To Kill," 1987)
A female terrorist (Sandahl Bergman) is seriously wounded during her capture by the CIA. Scientists turn what's left of her into a powerful cyborg that they can control, and send her out to destroy the rest of her comrades. Of course, she eventually shakes off the re-programming and starts going after the men who created her instead. Robert "The Exterminator" Ginty is a mercenary called out of retirement to stop her. Pretty typical '80s low budget action stuff with a heavy "Terminator" influence. Not terrible but not a must-see.
Hey, HEY, kids! Check out my way-cool Music and Movie Review blog on HubPages!
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Gabriel Knight

PARASITE (2019)

Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I wanted to watch this thing after all the raving reviews, and now I'm angry, because I hated this movie. I couldn't stand the main cast, the rich family was actually quite pleasant, I wanted to know more about them, they seemed like nice people.
Boring, long, and it wasn't nearly as funny as everybody says. While it did had some nice shots, mainly during the flooding scenes, the rest is the same locations over and over. I don't even remember if it had music.

A lot of stuff hapenning was way too far fetched. Apparently this family of people who can't fold a pizza box becomes a team of master scammers in a week, and then proceed to make the most absurd decisions ever nonstop, fueled by greed and resentment.
The reason behind Kim's final crime still eludes me. I know it has to do with the whole "crossing the line" and "odor" thing, but come on... that's his breaking point? It's not even like Park Hoon said it to his face, he actually kept it for himself when he could've just fired him at the spot.
I simply never felt like he was actually a bad guy, he looked like an honest, hard working, family man. I simply couldn't see the "discrimination" from him, when he actually hires everyone without even checking their backgrounds, and is willing to pay them handsomely. It's not even like he exploits them or anything.

Many lines seemed to be there for no reason. At the end, Kim expresses remorse for his crime, yet we never see him redeem himself, nor repent in any other form, like turning himself in. Then why leave the line there? Same thing happened when the mother of the kid tells the story of the ghost. At this point we know is the guy living in the basement, so what's the point of the story now? Wouldn't be better to tell it before that revelation, so it comes as a bigger surprise? What was the whole point of the Morse code from the husband, if the kid never tells anything? I get that it helps with the resolution, but Kim could've gotten to that idea by himself.

I think it's beyond overrated, it has way too many holes, it's boring, and the message is just not that deep. I'm so tired of the whole "rich people are evil because they have money and therefore do evil things" stuff. 2/10, take your Oscars and get away from my face.
Check my crappy and unpopular reviews and ratings:

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chainsaw midget

I watched two new movies with actual teenage casts.  One of them was apparently done by a highschool. 

Horror High (also known as Tardy Terror) was the one done by the highschool.  It's not the greatest movie ever, but they put some effort into it and it's got a fairly good monster in it.  It mostly takes place in a higschool where the bells to get to class seem to ring unexpectedly.  When they do everybody has to rush to class because the classroom doors slowly seal themselves closed.  If you're caught outside of class I pretty spiffy looking monster will get you.  The teachers and the rest of the twon seem to be undersome sort of not-really-explained that well hypnotism or mindcontrol so they don't seem to treat it like it's abnormal.  It doesn't make a lot of sense, but there's a certain dream-like logic to it.  if you don't look for plot hole's it's worth catching.  The ending does kinda of wuss out on you though and the pizza dud/esurfer/stoner character is really bad. 

The other movie I caught was Where the Scary Things Are.  After watching the movie, I still don't know where they are.  There really wasn't anything scary in the movie.  It revolves around a group of truly horrible teeangers, who tresspass, blackmail others, and upload bum fights to the internet.  One of them even sets a bums hat on fire while he sleeps so he can film it.  In short, really horrible people.  When I first watched it, I though "This movie is doing a pretty good job at setting up entertaining characters to hate."  As the movie went on, I realized that these where the characters I was supposed to be cheering for.  Anyway, the plot?   The students are given a classroom assignment to star their own Urban Legend.  Then they happen to capture the Tarman from Return of the Living Dead and keep him in a flimsy shed.  They upload videos of the monster.  ... that's about it.  Towards the very end they lead some people not at all deserving to die to the monster and then it gets loose and kills them.  The monster has a habbit of biting people really hard on the neck and then they die. 

One character is nicknamed "Snack" for no apparent reason.  He's the only one that doesn't get bit.  I'm not sure if that was supposed to be clever or not.