Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Fortress" (1992)
In the dystopian future of 2017 (hah!), a wrongfully-accused man (Christopher "Highlander" Lambert) plots his escape from a hellish, high-tech underground prison that's run by a tyrannical corporation.
Stuart "Re-Animator" Gordon directed this stylish low budget sci-fi/action flick with some cool set designs and futuristic gizmos, halfway decent CGI effects, and healthy doses of blood and guts. Lambert still can't act worth a damn, but the strong supporting cast includes Jeffery "Dr. Herbert West" Combs and Kurtwood "That 70s Show"  Smith who's evil as hell as the corrupt prison warden. Fun stuff!

[RCMerchant]

Jeffery "Dr. Herbert West" Combs and Kurtwood "That 70s Show"  Smith who's evil as hell as the corrupt prison warden. Fun stuff!

Both great actors! Kurtwood was evil as f**k in ROBOCOP too!

[RCMerchant]

ARTIC VOID (2022)
A travel show crew of 3 go one a cruise to an artic island, except everybody disappers.
So our heros end up stranded, going insane and trying to not die. And if you don't listen to whale music, you will mutate and die. Downbeat and creepy; I loved it.

[Alex]

Meg 2: The Trench.

If you are going to deviate this much from the plot of a book why even bother paying for the rights to the novel? Anyway, more of the same of the last movie, but the sharks get less attention this time around (actually they felt fairly incidental to the whole plot).

[RCMerchant]

STREET TRASH (1987)

This is a bad movie. Not in a good way. No name actors play scummy "street trash' in a film that has no redeeming value. Scenes of necrophilia, rape, and playing football with a severed penis are played for laughs. Not one likeable character in the whole film. On occasion a bum drinks some toxic booze called Viper which makes them melt in sub-par F/X. Only for fans of masochism. I have no idea who the target audiance for this drek is.

.......Me!
Saw this on VHS in the early 90s, have watched it several times since at home, and once on the big screen w/ the writer/producer Roy Frumkes in attendance.
IMHO there are 2-3 entirely sympathetic characters and another several who have at least some redeeming values. (Also several complete pieces of human crap.)
I think the "no-name" actors are extremely committed and mostly convincing, and there are three actors w/ good resumes in the film... Pat Ryan, Tony Darrow, and the great James Lorinz... the latter two of whom completely own it in their beautifully written and performed scenes together.
The "sub-par" FX always impress me. Whatever they cost, it wasn't much, and they might not be uhhh convincing (I don't know what a melting man actually looks like tbh) but they're gooey and cool.
There's also some practical stuff happening in this film that... just deserves some props. Burt's escape from the supermarket while shoplifting always earns my respect.
And there is a lot, a lot, of well-executed and even lovely cinematography in this film (much of it mobile).

When I first saw STREET TRASH, I thought, "Hey, I could do THIS..." And I didn't mean that in a way that was condescending to the filmmakers. They make it look possible to achieve something complex on a tiny budget.

When I was a real film snob in the 90s, I would tell other snobs that I preferred STREET TRASH to Bunuel's LOS OLIVADOS and Kurosawa's DODES KA-DEN. Both are great movies.

I still prefer STREET TRASH!

I think the main reason I didn't like it was how it portrayed homeless people as scum. Me, all my brothers, have been homeless at one time or another. It just hit me wrong. It seemed callous.
Plus, it was aimless and boring. There was no storyline whatsoever. Went nowhere.
A movie like COMBAT SHOCK (1984) was about living in poverty- but as horrific as it is, you felt for them. (Great movie, by the way!)

[lester1/2jr]

Parable (1964) - This is Christian short film supposedly meant to mirror the story of Christ but I didn't really get it. A clown does stuff like: there's a dunk tank and he replaces the guy being dunked and the guy and the guy throwing things at the dunk tank target both start following the clown around. It was only slightly interesting.

2.5 /5

Also watched one about the legend of Ursula and the 11,000 virgins that was made by a Catholic film co. It had a decent collection of artworks tracing the story but the audio was a little hard to hear and it was pretty perfunctory. same score

[FatFreddysCat]

"Batman Vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (2019)
This would've been my dream crossover in 1986 when I was a comic book addicted teenager!
The Dark Knight and the Heroes in a Half Shell team up to battle the combined forces of The Shredder and Ra's Al Ghul, who've cooked up a plan to turn everyone in Gotham City into murderous, mutated beasts -- starting at Arkham Asylum with all the major members of Batman's rogue's gallery. Mucho cartoon carnage ensues in this fast paced, funny, ultra violent animated feature.

[Gabriel Knight]

So, I've been on a short trip this weekend and had the chance to see a couple of modern films on the bus...

BIRD BOX: BARCELONA (2023)

After an entity of mysterious origin annihilates the world's population causing those who observe it to take their lives, Sebastián and his daughter begin their own great adventure of survival in Barcelona.

I have to admit, this movie grabbed my attention really quickly. In fact, I was curious about the entities. What are they? Why are they doing this? It was a great mystery!

Then the movie ended as if someone just hit the stop button. No answers to anything, nothing is resolved, the film just stops. It's as if the writers couldn't come up with a good explanation for the whole ordeal, and just started to barf ridiculous stuff about DNA when we already heard they were quantum creatures (?), or maybe angels.

Who knows, who cares? Stay away from this. 4/10

PAN SAMOCHODZIK I TEMPLARIUSZE (2023)

When an art historian finds an ancient Templar cross, he must join forces with an unlikely group of adventurers on a quest to unlock the relic's secrets.

This is basically a Polish version of Indiana Jones, based on a series of books. I gather that the movie it's not really faithful to the source material, but I have to admit, I had my share of fun.

It's family-friendly, so the tone is quite light. The characters are nice and well-developed by the end of the film. The adventure is great, and the story behind it is really well done. The only thing I believe it's weak is the ending, which felt too abstract for my taste. I would've preferred something more tangible, like with the Indy movies. Oh, and how hard is to get an Argentinian actor to play the part of an Argentinian bad guy? If you can't do that then don't say the guys is from that country, it's ridiculous.

Great fun, check it out. 7/10

ELEMENTAL (2023)

Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together.

Now, this is a problem for me, because I'm not into Pixar movies. Still, I'll try my best.

First of all, the movie looks pretty damn good. The effects of the characters are fun and engaging, although I wish movies were a little bit slower nowadays. It almost gave me a headache of how fast things were going. The story is nothing special, although I did like the teachings about the importance of family. Sadly, the main relationship is too forced; I mean, there are almost no other characters to talk to, who else they could fall in love with?

One of my main gripes is that I felt the movie was first thinking about pushing its social agenda, and then hoping that the movie is fun. There are almost no funny gags, and a lot of the plot takes itself quite seriously. But hey, interracial relations are possible and important, I bet kids really care about that stuff. Eh, kids. I don't think the movie was intended for them anyway. There are a lot of inappropriate innuendoes that have no place in a movie like this, and considering the lack of humor, I can't even imagine a young moviegoer enjoying this thing except for the pretty colors.

I did find some enjoyment out of it when I wrapped my head around the fact that the movie would be forgotten in a matter of weeks. Also, there are almost no musical numbers, so that's something I guess. 5/10

[lester1/2jr]

Black Box (2021) - It's not perfect, but decent and relatively unique french conspiracy type movie. We see altogether too much of the main guy, who strongly resembles NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and some of the details could have been presented a little more clearly, but I watched the whole 2 hours in one night.

A plane crashes and it's up to our hero to analyze the titular black box. What he hears doesn't seem to make sense to him. A terrorist is being blamed, but he thinks it could be something else. The rest of the movie is him trying to find the answer in his autistic, extremely good hearing sort of way.

4.5 / 5

It doesn't hold up to much post movie scrutiny (did any terrorist group claim credit for the attack? Why didn't he contact the police?) but it works while you're watching and that's all that matters

[ER]

Mean Streets. Like so much of Scorsese's work, I saw its quality but the tone and subject matter put me off. I guess this type of movie is not my genre no matter how well done it is. With a couple exceptions that is how I've felt about most of his work.

[indianasmith]

PET SEMATARY (2019)  I was intending to stream the new origin story, PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES, but instead I got the recent remake of the classic Stephen King story.  This was a good retelling of the novel, with one MAJOR plot change I won't give away, except to say that it changed the final arc of the story drastically.  John Lithgow was not bad as the friendly old neighbor, Judd Crandall, but I don't think anyone could match Fred Gwynn's performance in that role from the original 1992 adaptation.  Overall, a decently scary rendering of one of King's most terrifying stories.  4/5

[ER]

During tonight's thunderstorm I watched To Walk Invisible, a film about the Bronte family that proved a pleasure to watch, despite their lives, of course, not being happy, or long in duration. An A-.

[Rev. Powell]

TODD TARANTULA (2023): The titular Todd (who suffers from visions that are exacerbated and twisted by his prodigious intake of recreational drugs) searches through Los Angeles (and time) for his stolen motorcycle in this garishly rotoscoped feature. Trippy, often visually interesting low-budget adventure. Free on Tubi. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Clerks III" (2022)
They may be older, but they're not necessarily wiser: Dante and Randal are still working at the Quick Stop as they approach 50, when Randal suddenly suffers a near fatal heart attack. This naturally causes him to re-evaluate his life, and he decides to write and direct a movie about his experiences working in convenience stores.
The third (and presumably final) go-round for Kevin Smith's iconic characters isn't nearly as raunchy as the first two installments and has an unexpectedly dark, melancholy streak running through it. Obviously Kevin's own near-death experience had a major influence on the story.
"Clerks III" could've used a little more of Jay and Silent Bob and a lot less of the annoying "Elias" (the born-again Christian geek they picked up in "Clerks II"), but overall this was an enjoyable trip back into the View Askew-universe.

[FatFreddysCat]

"No One Will Save You" (2023)
A unique Hulu original horror/thriller about a withdrawn, troubled young woman whose solitary existence is shattered when she has to deal with some very persistent alien invaders. There's lots of creepy-cool atmosphere and suspense, heightened by the fact that the movie is almost totally dialogue-free (the main character only speaks once in the entire film). There's a side plot involving the woman's past that really didn't need to be there, since it muddies up the ending a bit, but otherwise this is a fun ride. Kudos to the young female lead (with whom I am unfamiliar) who does an excellent job in what is essentially a one-woman show for most of the movie.