Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Trevor]

Shamwari [Friend] 1980: a remake of The Defiant Ones, set in my birth country. Very uncomfortable viewing.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Survival of the Film Freaks" (2018)
Basic talking-head documentary on cult films, with various authors, webmasters, actors, and producers discussing their favorite 60s and 70s drive-in classics. Accompanied by plenty of cool gory clips from forgotten grindhouse horror and sleaze flicks. Mindless fun.

[Rev. Powell]

BROOKLYN 45 (2023): Four army veterans (and a tag-along spouse) gather on the first Christmas after the end of WWII for a seance to contact a departed loved one; things go badly. Set almost entirely in a single room with the focus on five characters and their slowly revealed secrets and shifting loyalties, invoking themes like xenophobia and whether its justified to meet evil with evil, this modestly realized but engaging horror-drama feels like a film adaptation of a stage play---and I mean that in a complimentary way. 3/5.

[M.10rda]

BLUE BEETLE (2023):
The latest DC superhero movie to underperform at the box office, this one isn't as good as THE FLASH let alone James Gunn's outstanding THE SUICIDE SQUAD, though it is better, more distinct, and less tiresome than every other DC flick from the past several years. It looks great (Warner clearly spent more money than they were ever likely to turn a profit on) and the lively direction and solid acting (from an almost entirely Latinx cast) keeps the film moving along in spite of a largely bland and cliche-ridden screenplay.  Obv the pre-Gunn-helmed DC studio required a beat-by-beat replay of IRON MAN and Tom Holland's SPIDER-MAN w/ a little SHAZAM! sprinkled in, and for 80 or so minutes, that's what BLUE BEETLE gives us, under a thin cosmetic veneer of Hispanic culture and Mexican family values.

Then, in the final act, BLUE BEETLE takes a surprising hard turn into Leftist/anti-imperialist agitprop... which feels entirely apropos to the material and provides a rousing wrap-up to a previously middling entertainment. I'm too cynical to hope this was a conscious corporate attempt at an apology for WW84's appalling climactic hagiography of American fascism, but I'll appreciate it for what it is.

3.5/5
This is also the only superhero movie or maybe action movie full-stop that I can think of where the hero needs to be rescued by his elderly granny, so there's that.

[Trevor]

BLUE BEETLE (2023):
This is also the only superhero movie or maybe action movie full-stop that I can think of where the hero needs to be rescued by his elderly granny, so there's that.

Oy 

[M.10rda]

BLUE BEETLE (2023):
This is also the only superhero movie or maybe action movie full-stop that I can think of where the hero needs to be rescued by his elderly granny, so there's that.

Oy 

Hey, it's different, anyway! Happy Thanksgiving btw. 

[lester1/2jr]

Die Die My Darling (1965) - My favorite Misfits song is now a feature film! It's a "person keeping another person prisoner" movie, with the warden as it were being a misguided religious nut a la the Mom in Carrie and many others.

Relatively hot Stefanie Powers make the mistake of visiting Tallulah Bankhead somewhere in the British countryside. She's a pretty easy mark as she's too polite to tell the lady to f**k off plus it's 1965, there's no internet yadda yadda. If this were made today she would have to look at her cellphone every half hour or so and say "damn still no reception".

At it's best it has some Hitchcock-ian style and maneuvering. I found myself pausing it quite bit to look at social media, as the plot has since become rather familiar in movies and tv.

might have been better in black and white?

3.75/5

[indianasmith]

NAPOLEON (2023) - Not a lot of historical accuracy here, but I was entertained from start to finish.  Joaquin Phoenix is a little old for the role - at least early on - and the film was very ambitious, covering 25 years of Napoleon's life in the span of 2.5 hours.  But overall it was a very enjoyable film, and the battle scenes were pretty doggone epic, accuracy be d***ed!  4/5

[Dr. Whom]

Joaquin Phoenix is a little old for the role - at least early on -

This is one of my pet peeves. Actors playing Napoleon tend to be far too old. Napoleon made his career as a young man. His greatest triumphs were in his 30s and he was only 46 at Waterloo, younger than Joaquin Phoenix is now. Yet for some reason the on screen Napoleon is usually middle-aged.

[Rev. Powell]

DO NOT DISTURB: A young couple with relationship issues holes up at an all-adults resort during the off-season, then unwisely spends the week devouring a heap of peyote that a burned-out beach bum left them. It's FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS meets EATING RAOUL meets RAW; well-done (well, more rare) budget shocker. 3/5.

[M.10rda]

Joaquin Phoenix is a little old for the role - at least early on -

This is one of my pet peeves. Actors playing Napoleon tend to be far too old. Napoleon made his career as a young man. His greatest triumphs were in his 30s and he was only 46 at Waterloo, younger than Joaquin Phoenix is now. Yet for some reason the on screen Napoleon is usually middle-aged.

Alas, Timothee Chalamet can't be in everything! 

[Rev. Powell]

ENYS MEN (2022): A woman lives (alone?) on a rocky island, studying a rare flower; she gradually succumbs to hallucinations, whether from cabin fever or due to the ghosts of former shipwreck victims. Great cinematography and sound design, but any story it might tell is completely impressionistic, to be constructed by the viewer's imagination. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Rainbow: In Their Own Words" (2006)
The history of guitar wizard Ritchie Blackmore's 70s/80s hard rock combo is examined via vintage video clips and interviews with past band members like Graham Bonnett, Joe Lynn Turner, Bobby Rondinelli, Doogie White, and Ronnie James Dio. Long time fans probably won't learn anything they don't already know, but this is a decent video crash course for newcomers.

[javakoala]

"Cobweb" (2023)

A pretty darned entertaining movie that may have slid under a lot of folk's radar. A bullied kid learns a shocking bit of family history, but realizes he really should do more research before acting.

Visually fun to watch as the interior of the house is almost like the interior of Who's TARDIS. Acting is mostly solid with Antony Starr (Homelander on "The Boys") giving a nicely wicked performance while being the seeming poster child for civility; he really has that down to an art.

Great build up to a violent third act that steals a bit of the tension set up by the first two acts, but still feels satisfying.

Beware! If you try to apply anything "real world" to this little horror fantasy, you will find plenty of issues. Instead, pretend you are the bullied little kid and enjoy it.

[M.10rda]

"Cobweb" (2023)
 Instead, pretend you are the bullied little kid and enjoy it.

My entire childhood prepared me to enjoy COBWEB!