Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Dr. Whom]

Miss Shampoo - A Taiwanese rom com with mild crime elements. 
  The story beats are poorly placed, as in it barely has them except at the start and end.  It's badly paced.  I can't recommend it.

That reminds me of K-drama pacing. These tend to start off strong, then go nowhere for a number of episodes, until somebody remembers they have to tie up all the plot lines before the series ends, and everything kicks into high gear.

[M.10rda]

MEET ME IN PARIS (2023):
Madame 10rda picked our first 2024 viewing, based on reading a lot of hype surrounding it on social media. Yep, it was the one w/ the guy who drinks jism-y bathwater, licks menstrual blood, and humps a fresh grave. None of those things are usually up her alley (though somehow she's still talking about that film a couple days later), so I picked our second film, AQUAMAN 2. Errr... advantage: grave-humper! So awright, I let her pick Film #3: a completely girly rom-com that will likely interest no one on this website. Nevertheless I'm posting about it (briefly) anyway because it represents what is, to me, an entirely (?) new genre of feature film - the Reality Show FEATURE...?  Not technically a documentary, as it is highly structured and even has some quasi-scripted sequences. Basically it's a 90 minute episode of a reality dating/travelogue TV show... many of which BTW I do watch w/ my lovely partner. Yet it's a movie produced by Zoe Saldana and Reese Witherspoon. So... that's something, I suppose.

FWIW, it wasn't bad! There are three ("real", whatever that means for reality TV) 20something ladies who fly to Paris and meet single men and have picturesque adventures. In order to move things along and inject some post-production comedic "punch-up" (as Patton Oswalt would say), reality TV staple Michelle Buteau narrates the proceedings, and she's genuinely a quiet riot, so that's fine for at least 90 minutes. One of the women (Jasmine) didn't do much for me. The second (Danielle) looks and kind of behaves like Kat Dennings, and that's also quite fine. The third (Mimi) is also cute and is a legit firecracker. The cinematography and locations are gorgeous. (The ladies spend their vacation in an estate that looks like Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike live there.) All in all, there are worst ways to spend 90 minutes w/ someone you love.

3.5/5
You could watch 75% of AQUAMAN 2 for instance.

[Jim H]

She's All That (1999) - Another version of Shaw's Pygmalion play.  I had somehow missed this one despite being the prime age for it on release really, but I was well aware of it from spoofs and cultural osmosis.  It was fun seeing a ton of recognizable actors, both good and bad.  Somehow Paul Walker is better in this than basically the rest of his career.  Maybe he's better at being a douche.  I think the central story writing is quite bad and a number of threads BARELY connect, like Zack's stuff with his father and the art college path of Lanie.  But it's breezy and reasonably entertaining, and there's some interesting side characters (Kieran Culkin is pretty good, so is Kevin Pollack, so is Matt Lillard, etc) and character beats for the leads.  Like Zack being very smart and academically gifted, and the difficulty he has related to this, was a really good and relatable choice.  Worth a watch if you want some 90s nostalgia.

Miss Shampoo - A Taiwanese rom com with mild crime elements.
  The story beats are poorly placed, as in it barely has them except at the start and end.  It's badly paced.  I can't recommend it.

That reminds me of K-drama pacing. These tend to start off strong, then go nowhere for a number of episodes, until somebody remembers they have to tie up all the plot lines before the series ends, and everything kicks into high gear.

Yeah, I've seen a few K-dramas, it does remind me of a couple of the weaker ones I've seen.  A number of Western streaming shows are like this too, but they're better at hiding it.  Feels like they're combining bad writing habits of episodic and serialized TV into one incohesive whole.

[lester1/2jr]

The Day My Kid Went Punk (1987) - As After School Specials go, this wasn't very special. The kid doesn't become a junkie or get arrested and they show his (allegedly) punk band for about a minute. Most of it is about how punks are just misunderstood concert violinists who don't get enough attention at home... or something.

Random sitcom actors including the lame captain from Love Boat and the governor from Benson (I think) deal with the hand life has handed them: a nerdy kid starts dressing "punk". Problem: his mom is a psychiatrist who talks about "punk syndrome" and how parents can protect against it. Awkward!

The best scenes are the ones with the kid in full punk regalia working his job at a daycare center. At one point, they go to a horse farm and it's kind of like that time Boy George was on The A Team. 45 minutes on youtube.

3.75/ 5

really needed more exploitative elements to be compelling, but it was fun just for the ridiculous concept

[FatFreddysCat]

Snowy day - perfect excuse to stay inside and watch movies :D
TUBI has been a treasure trove of forgotten 80s/90s "buddy comedies" lately...

"Real Men" (1987)
A CIA agent (Jim Belushi) drafts a dorky insurance salesman (John Ritter) into helping him stop a global threat involving Russian spies, aliens, and clowns (yes, clowns) in this oddball action comedy. Jim & John make a good team that makes me wish they were in a better movie -  this one's story lurches along so randomly that after a while it starts to feel like a bunch of unrelated sketches strung together till it hits feature length. I got a few laughs from "Real Men," but I doubt I'll ever feel the need to revisit it.

"Deal of the Century" (1984)
Weapons dealers (Chevy Chase, Gregory Hines) lock horns with a lovely rival (Sigourney Weaver) as they try to sell the latest high-tech fighter plane to the leaders of a South American banana republic. Wiliam "The Exorcist" Friedkin directed this dry cold-war arms-race satire which has a few laughs but wears out its welcome way before the end. Forgettable (at best).

[indianasmith]

THE KILLING TREE (2022) - On the anniversary of her parents' murder by a married serial killer couple (whose apparent motive was that none of their victims celebrated the "true spirit of Christmas," a young woman named Faith throws a party for her friends to celebrate selling the old family home and starting a new life. Unbeknownst to her, the widow of the executed killer is performing an occult ritual to bring her husband back from the dead.  But the spell goes wrong, and he incarnates into . . . a Christmas tree!  First he kills his wife for trapping his body inside a giant holiday ornament, then he goes on a mad killing spree trying to find Faith, who had called the police who wound up shooting him to death the year before.  So the rest of the movie is Christmas partygoers being murdered by an evil, killer Christmas tree.  This movie reminded me a bit of the classic JACK FROST, the memorable tale of a killer snowman.  The tree goes back and forth between a fairly realistic tree costume with an actor inside and a CGI rendered tree with long, tentacle-like branches that it uses to rip victims in two.  Honestly, this thing is pure B-movie gold; it could have benefited from a bit more gore and girls, but overall, it was a fun, dreadful bit of B-movie cheese.  The runtime is an hour and twelve minutes, and the movie's finale is so ridiculous it's worth hanging around for.
1/5 on a regular movie scale, but a solid 4/5 on the bad movie scale!  Indy sez check it out!

[Jim H]

The Equalizer 3 - This series never really totally gets off the ground, but I've seen them all now.  The third is a major step up from two, which I thought was mostly really slow and boring and even annoying.  A lot more violence helps, generally entertaining and grisly, a bit mean.  I like that McCall actually gets a bit of development here, and moves towards something you rarely see with this kind of character - transcendence.  Denzel is half sleeping in some of this but is still good anyway, he's just that charismatic.  But, the depiction of small town Italian life, the side characters, the villains, the overall story - it's all underwritten and weak.  It's alright, I wasn't bored like part 2.

[Rev. Powell]

THE IRON CLAW: The true story of the tight-knit but ill-fated wrestling brothers of the Von Erich clan, who became stars in the 80s under the tutelage of their stern father but who came to (mostly) bad ends. Director Sean Durkin treats this unlikely material with the seriousness of a Greek tragedy. 3.5/5

[javakoala]

comedic "punch-up" (as Patton Oswalt would say),

Patton Oswalt should be punched. Repeatedly. With a hydraulic sledgehammer.

Just my opinion. I'll show myself out now. Thanks.

[M.10rda]

To each their own!

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington" (1977)
In the second film of the "Happy Hooker" series, famed call girl/madam and Penthouse magazine columnist Xaviera Hollander is summoned to the nation's capitol to testify before Congress on the erosion of morals in America. Naturally, her flirty ways cause all kinds of mayhem in the halls of power.
Joey Heatherton is a nice piece of eye candy in the title role, and there are a few other pretty girls scattered throughout the film in various states of undress, but otherwise this is a badly dated sex comedy with few legit laughs. It might have been considered "racy" in 1977 but nowadays it's just lame. Skip it.

[lester1/2jr]

Tammy and the T Rex (1994) - Another "classic" b movie down the drain. I really liked, but didn't quite love this one. Released in 94, it seems to have it's heart more in the previous decade. One really good idea was casting super hot Denise Richards as Tammy (or "Tanny" as the title card said). The black/ gay sidekick didn't age very well but I guess.... points for inclusion???

The plot is admittedly awesome: A mad scientist is making a bionic T Rex robot and wants to find a human brain to put in it, as he feels this will be better than a computer one. Of course, right? A fair amount of comical gore ensues as surgery and dino carnage release gallons of blood into the atmosphere.

It's a fun and colorful movie. A few years later Richards would make "Wild Things" which is more fondly remembered and a better representation of the 90's era, but has far fewer decapitations and terrible jokes.

4.35 /5 extra percent of a point for it's off the cuff/ we know this sucks good nature. Could be a decent opener for "Killer Klowns" or something more substantial

[FatFreddysCat]

"Operation Kid Brother" (aka "OK Connery," 1967)
This Italian James Bond knock-off deserves a place in the Stunt Casting Hall of Fame for hiring Neil Connery - Sean's younger brother who'd never acted before - to star as "Dr. Connery," a plastic surgeon who's also the lookalike younger brother of a certain famous secret agent (who's never mentioned by name, of course). When a criminal organization begins a plot to destroy the world, "Dr. Connery's" brother is on assignment elsewhere, so Neil is hired to take his place as a reluctant spy.
This was a fairly lavish production - several cast members had ties to the "real" Bond series (Lois "Miss Moneypenny" Maxwell, Bernard "M" Lee, Daniela "From Russia With Love" Bianchi, etc.) but the story is a hopeless muddle and Neil Connery doesn't have an ounce of his brother's screen charisma or action chops. Even worse, all of his dialogue was overdubbed by another actor, so you never even get to hear his real voice!
I've seen this once or twice before and I'm still not sure if it was meant to be a spoof, or it just turned out that way unintentionally.
Either way, "Operation Kid Brother" is a mildly amusing curiosity item for 007 fans, but pretty useless to the average viewer.

[Dr. Whom]

Barbie (2023)

Still not sure whether it is a celebration or a satire of the Barbie concept, but it is fun.

[indianasmith]

Tammy and the T Rex (1994) - Another "classic" b movie down the drain. I really liked, but didn't quite love this one. Released in 94, it seems to have it's heart more in the previous decade. One really good idea was casting super hot Denise Richards as Tammy (or "Tanny" as the title card said). The black/ gay sidekick didn't age very well but I guess.... points for inclusion???

The plot is admittedly awesome: A mad scientist is making a bionic T Rex robot and wants to find a human brain to put in it, as he feels this will be better than a computer one. Of course, right? A fair amount of comical gore ensues as surgery and dino carnage release gallons of blood into the atmosphere.

It's a fun and colorful movie. A few years later Richards would make "Wild Things" which is more fondly remembered and a better representation of the 90's era, but has far fewer decapitations and terrible jokes.

4.35 /5 extra percent of a point for it's off the cuff/ we know this sucks good nature. Could be a decent opener for "Killer Klowns" or something more substantial

This one slipped by me somehow in the 1990's, but I finally watched it last year and loved it!!