Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Dr. Whom]

Come drink with me/Great drunken hero (1966)

The governor's son is captured by bandits, and legendary swordsman Golden Swallow goes out to rescue him. Golden Swallow is in fact the daughter of the governor. In her fight, she gets an unlikely ally in Drunken Cat a mysterious beggar.

This is very much the classic Shaw brothers movie. If you like this style, you'll love it, if not, then not. And now I know where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon got a lot of its ideas.

[Rev. Powell]

TIGER STRIPES (2023): A free-spirited Malay girl, the first of her friends to hit puberty, finds her body and personality changes in dangerous ways far beyond what the health texts prepare her for. "Elevated horror" from Malaysia, tilting more towards mean girls drama than the supernatural, with an obvious metaphor and good performances. 3/5

[RCMerchant]

COBRA VERDE (1987)- I usually like Werner Herzog's work, but I dunno what he was aiming for in this one.
Klaus Kinski plays a bandit named Cobra Verde, whom seems to scare the s**t out of anyone who he walks into. Kinda ridiculous, if you ask me. Anyway- he takes a job piloting slave boats. Which makes him into-what? Some kinda f**king anti-hero?  I dunno- this movie- no likable charecters at all. Not one. Maybe Herzog meant it to be that way.
It looks beautiful, of course.

Oh yeah! The dancing girls were easy on the eyes!

[M.10rda]

BYZANTIUM (2012):
Another surprise deep-cut selection from Mme.10RDA that makes up for 13 FANBOY and also a lot of mediocre films from the Neil Jordan filmography. I'd rank this a little below THE CRYING GAME and above THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. It's certainly much better than Jordan's other vampire movie w/ Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Two apparently young 21st century ladies make a fast break from one Ireland to another Ireland (I kind of missed the details there) to elude some dangerous pursuers. They claim to be sisters and can walk around freely in the daylight but they've got long funky thumbnails and a very long dark history that the older sister forbids the younger sister to talk about. Naturally, they need to drink blood on the regular. Saoirse Ronan as the younger one gets tremendous mileage out of remaining mostly very still and underplaying her scenes, while Gemma Arterton as the older one goes over the top aways, but also to good effect - she's a scary, sexy monster b***h that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark seaside carnival. Jean Rollin would love these two, and he'd also love the several eerie passages where Jordan channels his more magical, less literal cinematic artistry from the best parts of COMPANY OF WOLVES. There's also a few bits that recall BLADE RUNNER of all things.

BYZANTIUM breezed by delightfully like a solid 4.5 and it was only as it scrabbled to wrap things up at the very end (and in the hours that follow the closing credits) that some of its plot inconsistencies occurred to this viewer. Ronan and Arterton (unlike, say, the leads in LAST LOVERS LEFT ALIVE) don't seem to have evolved much in two centuries, and there's little explanation for how the film's central conflict (established in the early 19th century) was frozen in amber and failed to escalate for the 200 years prior to the opening sequence. If I take the film as allegory (not impossible at times) this doesn't bother me much, but the plot is also literal enough in many aspects to nag at any attentive viewer. Still we both enjoyed it a great deal, and as the end suggests the potential for a sequel that never surfaced, I couldn't help but prefer the promise of a BYZANTIUM II to the countless diminishing returns of the TWILIGHT and UNDERWORLD franchises, bleh.

3.5/5
Also with Sam Riley (born to play a vampire) who was a good Ian Curtis in CONTROL; Maria Doyle Kennedy from THE COMMITTMENTS and others; the creepy Caleb Landry Jones, who doesn't play a vampire but seems intent on aspiring to be the next Crispin Glover or Klaus Kinski; and a guy who both Madame and I were sure was Tom Hollander but isn't.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Maximum Risk" (1996)
A French police officer (Jean-Claude Van Damme) learns he has an identical twin brother he never knew about -- when the guy ends up dead at the hands of the Russian mafia. To unravel the mystery of his bro's final days, he travels to New York, meets up with his brother's foxy fiancee (Natasha "Species" Henstridge) and proceeds to kick ass on a whole lot of Russian dudes and a few rogue FBI agents for good measure.
A pretty decent globe trotting action flick that was one of JCVD's last theatrically-released films (at least in the U.S.) before he took up permanent residence in Direct To Video Hell.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Expendables" (2010)
Sylvester Stallone directed and stars in this old school testosterone fest as the leader of a team of mercenaries, hired to take down the regime of a tiny South American banana republic. He gets support from fellow badasses Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and more. Lots of stuff gets shot up, crashed, and blown up real good in the process. Followed by three sequels to date.

"Motley Crue's Vince Neil: My Story" (2022)
The Motley Crue singer's often bumpy life story in and out of the Crue is detailed in this documentary that originally aired on the REELZ channel. Essentially it's a feature length "Behind the Music" episode, padded out with some cool vintage clips and stories from band mates, family members, and friends.

[M.10rda]

JUDEX (1963):
The first 15 minutes of this Georges Franju remake of a Fuillade silent superhero adventure serial are intriguing enough, and then there is a truly marvelous and eerie scene at a party where a tall man in an elaborate bird mask performs "real" magic - by which I mean not movie magic, not accomplished w/ visual FX, the guy underneath the mask is really performing a very convincing magic act on camera - and it's just as cool as any scene of "magic" in a David Lynch film, which is high praise from me indeed. However, that's the best that JUDEX gets.

In French cinema there is a thing known as an "amuse bouche" - also a culinary term - which means a light fluffy snack in lieu of a filling meal. It's a term that serious French filmmakers and actors use to justify doing frivolous comedies and romances instead of more serious and challenging projects. I imagine Franju intended JUDEX as an "amuse bouche". After that incredible magic show, it's nothing like what you would expect from a French New Wave-era update of a mind-bending silent-era fantasia from the director of EYES WITHOUT A FACE. It's not even much of an adventure thriller - Franju mostly plays the perilous scenarios for light, fluffy comedy. One (truly loathsome) villain is locked up in the eponymous hero's prison for most of the film while the other main villain is largely ineffectual at doing anything villainous (though she does look nice in a black skin-tight body suit).Judex himself (aka "Judge" in English) has a righteous Leftist mission statement that I can 100% get behind, but as an onscreen character he's as flat and compelling as a deflated souffle.

Granted, old school adventure serials are also frustrating to watch for entirely different reasons of logic and credibility, and they're often 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 times longer than this film! I'd just hoped that Franju would attempt to solve or redeem this preposterous kind of material instead of just surrendering to it and staging it w/ passive bemusement... particularly when he's capable of staging the kind of eye-popping sequence I mentioned in my intro paragraph... the sort of set piece that we appreciate in early Fritz Lang epics (as well as in Lynch). JUDEX is fine, though, inoffensive and mostly watchable. There's a likeable if sort of hapless P.I. character who is good with small children and who has a cute circus acrobat girlfriend played by Sylvia Koscina. That P.I. has about as much screentime as Judex and is more agreeable to spend time with, plus his girlfriend Koscina sees more action in the finale than Judex does!

3/5
JUDEX won the 1963 Coupe Jean-George Auriol prize (whatever that is) by unanimous decision from the jury. I guess there was nothing by Godard or Resnais or Melville or Rivette or Truffaut in competition?!

[M.10rda]

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (2024):
Ernie Hudson looks supernatural, the guy hasn't aged since the mid-to-late 90s. Dan Akroyd actually doesn't look much different than he did in the 90s either, which isn't nearly as much of a compliment but he appears spry and lively for an old man. Annie Potts looks pretty good too and gets to actually participate in the action. Bill Murray looks really worrisome, like I'm seriously afraid for him, but I guess that's what 50 years of bourbon and irony will do to a man, and it's good to see him anyway in anything ever. William Atherton looks... good? Madame thought he was Jeffrey Jones and mentioned that she thought he wasn't allowed to be in movies anymore, so make of that what you will.

Kumail Nanjianni (???sp???) has a snappy cameo 20 minutes into the film but then keeps coming back for the entire movie. Patton Oswalt also contributes a welcome 10 minutes in the middle of the movie but then unfortunately doesn't come back. Finn Wolfhard has vastly reduced screentime, which is excellent. There are two teen sidekick characters who I don't even remember from the previous movie and then they introduce an entire third young British guy sidekick who was probably wholly unnecessary. McKenna Grace continues to be the primary redeeming factor of these new films - she's extremely likeable and watchable even when her quirky and smart character does quirky things that aren't that smart. Gil Kenan and Reitman Jr stop JUST short of even giving her a lesbian love interest in a major subplot that doesn't have enough time to explore what the characters and the cinematographer seem to want to explore. There's a lot going on in this movie, likely too much, yet they still manage to cram it in under two hours, which is appreciated.

3/5
It ain't a great movie but I liked it more than the previous one, certainly a ton more than GHOSTBUSTERS 2, and Grace's clearly socio-atypical/possibly queer heroine is a nice compromise following the backlash to the Kate McKinnon reboot.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Eddie Murphy: RAW" (1987)
Eddie Murphy was at the peak of his stand up powers when he taped this sold out gig at the Felt Forum in New York. Topics include the fallout from his prior concert film ("Delirious"), a chat with Bill Cosby, and a lengthy rant about women and relationships.

[RCMerchant]

^ Murphy's stand up was about the only thing I like of his, movie wise. He was good on SNL. That's about it, for me.

[M.10rda]

THE WOLVERINE (2013):
In anticipation of the forthcoming DEADPOOL X WOLVERINE or whatever it's called, I figured I should go back and watch the two X-MEN movies I skipped... which, following the mortification of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, naturally happened to be the next two Wolverine solo films... yes, including LOGAN, the one most folks say is the best X-MEN film. That's a low bar for me - I think almost all of 'em suck, excepting the first DEADPOOL (which was fine) and actually THE NEW MUTANTS.  Well, THE WOLVERINE definitely vaults that bar!

For at least 90 minutes, THE WOLVERINE does nothing to p**s me off. Beyond that, it accomplishes something that I think none of the other related films manage to do - particularly not DEADPOOL 2. Like the other films in the series, THE W isn't particularly faithful to its source material, but unlike all the other films, it processes the characters and plots that it's based on in a way that actually makes them generally more logical, digestible, and compelling. Instead of crapping on the works it's based upon (as X-MEN 2 and DAYS OF FUTURE PAST certainly did), THE W streamlines them for non-comics readers and makes them look good (a trick that the GUARDIANS movies pull off but which few other Marvel flicks seem to have figured out).

Well, at least for 90-ish minutes. The last 45 or so grow occasionally over-expository as the screenwriters scramble to connect some sketchy dots. The climax deteriorates into a bit of narrative chaos, yet director James Mangold has a firm-enough grip on things to keep it amusing and satisfying if not intellectually nourishing. Also, it's worth risking redundancy by mentioning that Hugh Jackman remains a capital-G Great Wolverine. He looks iconic, feels iconic, yet in no way seems like he's coasting through each scene - this Australian song-and-dance man clearly loves playing this comic character. It's not for nothing Marvel hasn't been able to replace him for 25 years and unless Michael Madsen's son shakes off the DIVERGENT series and demonstrates he can really act, maybe they never will.

3.5/5

Also, Rika Fukushima is outstanding here as "Yukio" and made me wish the character had returned in some other films. Uhhh - apparently she's in DEADPOOL 2 but in an inferior iteration and played by a different actress....... yet another deficit of DEADPOOL 2. 
Also also, McKellan and Stewart show up at the end to tease DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, which then fails to pick up this film's continuity.  Mangold smartly avoided the X-MEN cinematic morass but returned for LOGAN, which I will watch in the next week.

[M.10rda]

^ Murphy's stand up was about the only thing I like of his, movie wise. He was good on SNL. That's about it, for me.

His "white like me" sketch remains timely and one of SNL's all-time best.

[Rev. Powell]

VULCANIZADORA (2024): Two middle-aged losers head to the woods to complete a suicide pact, but will they actually go through with it? Starts as a cringe comedy, ends as a guilt-wracked drama, all told with Joel Potrykus' trademark minimalism. 2.5/5.

[indianasmith]

ZOMBIE HAMLET (2012) - I first discovered this comedy gem at Hastings shortly after it was released on video in 2012.  I rented it then with zero expectations and found myself laughing throughout the entire film!  Tonight I had a friend and his family over for dinner and we streamed it on PRIME and I found myself even more amused than I was 12 years ago. This movie-within-a-movie is a hilarious sendup of the film industry, with celebrity cameos galore and some remarkable performances all around!  Just . . . if you need a good laugh, and love movies, you owe it to yourself to see this one! 5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Expendables 2" (2012)
Stallone and his band of mercenary butt kickers travel to Eastern Europe to stop a terrorist (Jean-Claude Van Damme) from stealing a stash of abandoned Russian plutonium. As usual, lots of stuff blows up real good. Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis turn up in minor roles, which turns the movie into a game of "Spot the Aging Action Hero!" Lots of ultra violent fun, better than the first movie.