Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

The Golden Horde (2018) - I thought I was almost done with this but it turned out I was totally done, which doesn't speak well of the last episode. I guess it did a decent job tying up loose ends but it certainly lacked aplomb. I have so far seen 3 Eastern European TV series': Catherine the Great, Black Sun, and now this one. They were all good, with Black Sun probably being my favorite because it was a little more lively and modern.

One point made often in Golden Horde is intermarriage between Russians and Mongols occurred and that it was socially controversial. Generally, the Mongol girls are hotter than the Russian ones who are domineering and annoying or dressed in unflattering peasant rags. Some of the romances are more believable than others. There's a lot of it though. Romance, that is. It's as much soap opera as history/ swordfighting.

They made some insane amount of costumes for this and it definitely does make you feel like you're there. or at a Ren Faire. There's even a traveling circus with a dwarf at one point.



This is the reluctant wife of The Great khan ^




not as hot Russian lady ^

5/5 Hopefully Tubi will pick up the second season

[FatFreddysCat]

This seems to be my weekend for re-visiting famous failures

"Ghostbusters" (2016)
NYC is gripped by a massive outbreak of supernatural activity, and our only hope is three lady paranormal investigators and a loud mouthed former subway clerk. Wacky hi-jinks are supposed to ensue.
Paul "Bridesmaids" Feig's doomed attempt to re-vitalize the dormant GB's franchise with a new cast of funny females doesn't hold a candle to the 1984 original, of course, but it's not as terrible as some made it out to be, either. Melissa McCarthy and Kate McKinnon are  fun to watch (Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones, however, not so much), the special effects are decent, and there are a couple of legit laughs. The main problem is that fans were simply never going to give this one a chance cuz it didn't feature the O.G. cast.
Rather than make this movie, Sony Pictures should've just taken its $150 million budget and set it on fire in the middle of Times Square; it would've been faster and had the same effect. 

[Rev. Powell]

THE SCARY OF SIXTY FIRST (2021): Two roommates rent a New York flat that was previously owned by Jeffery Epstein. A bold decision to tackle a contemporary evil, but the resulting horror film is uninspired and strictly by the book. 1.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

Oculus (2013) - The director apparently resisted the urging of studio execs to make this a found footage style horror movie. Frankly, he was wrong. It would have worked much better that way and the larger budget added nothing other than bringing out it's flaws.

An old mirror is cursed or something so everyone who has it has horrible things happen to them. There's no backstory to it, it's just an evil thing. 2 kids witness their parents going crazy and year later reunite to attempt to destroy the mirror.

There's some okay stuff and it's generally watcheable but it would need a David Fincher or close imitation to make sense of it all. As it is, it looks like a combination acting and film class. It has high ratings in some sectors, not this one baby!

2.75 /5

[Jim H]

Beyond Dream's Door (1989) - Surreal low budget Ohio regional horror film.  There's a mouthful.  Plot is a bit hard to follow at times, but basically some guy in a college is having nightmares, and it seems like they might kill him and people around him.  This is caused by some...  Force.  The influence from Stephen King's It is really obvious, plus a sprinkling from A Nightmare on Elm Street.  But it doesn't feel like a ripoff.

There's some interesting visuals and real attempts to build mood and linking scenes together creatively.  It's quite short.  It's quite rough at times, some of the acting is very spotting, and the writing is pretty weak.  But worth a watch if my opening sentence piqued your interest.  Vinegar Syndrome has put it out, so it's got a good transfer now.

[Rev. Powell]

Agree with Jim H on Beyond Dream's Door. Worth a watch when you make allowances for budget.

CIAO FEDERICO! (1970): A short behind-the-scenes documentary on the shooting of FELLINI SATYRICON. It's basically a series of home movies, with scenes of Fellini directing (including a scene with a cow that would make the ASPCA go "tut-tut"), shots of extras in costume lounging around waiting for their turn on camera, and a brief interview in which the maestro doesn't say anything about the creative process he hasn't said many times before. A Criterion Collection extra on the SATYRICON Blu-ray, this will please fans of the film, but there are better docs out there for more general insight into this great director. 2.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Deadline (1980) - Damn, this is how you make an obscure horror movie! A horror writer faces a deadline for a new movie but can't come up with anything he likes. He's caught between commercial and artistic blah blah blah and doesn't know how to proceed. At the same time and in part as a result, his personal life is falling apart. His wife is on drugs and he just sits in his office all day trying to write and tells his kids to go away.

The first thing that gets your attention are the clips from his movies. They're supposed to be crass and commercial but they are AWESOME. Satanic nuns, evil kids, surgeries gone wrong etc

This is an example of the movie within a movie greatness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8U9E0lqgw if that doesn't make you want to see this I don't know what to tell you. I have some Care Bears vhs tapes in my basement you can borrow.

The print at TUBI isn't great. I didn't realize this would be so good or I may have sought out better copies. A blu ray exists

4.75 /5 very cool beans while slightly repressed and Canadian it is more thoughtful and interesting than 99% of current films.

The kind of thing I would read about in Shock Cinema and try to find 20 years ago

[Rev. Powell]

The print at TUBI isn't great. I didn't realize this would be so good or I may have sought out better copies. A blu ray exists

4.75 /5 very cool beans while slightly repressed and Canadian it is more thoughtful and interesting than 99% of current films.

The kind of thing I would read about in Shock Cinema and try to find 20 years ago

I believe I have this in a stack of DVDs/Blu-rays I intend to sell someday. I liked it well enough, but obviously not as much as you. Maybe I'll sort through them someday and remember to save the disc for you.

[lester1/2jr]

thank you brother!

[Jim H]

Deadline (1980) - Damn, this is how you make an obscure horror movie! A horror writer faces a deadline for a new movie but can't come up with anything he likes. He's caught between commercial and artistic blah blah blah and doesn't know how to proceed. At the same time and in part as a result, his personal life is falling apart. His wife is on drugs and he just sits in his office all day trying to write and tells his kids to go away.

The first thing that gets your attention are the clips from his movies. They're supposed to be crass and commercial but they are AWESOME. Satanic nuns, evil kids, surgeries gone wrong etc

This is an example of the movie within a movie greatness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8U9E0lqgw if that doesn't make you want to see this I don't know what to tell you. I have some Care Bears vhs tapes in my basement you can borrow.

The print at TUBI isn't great. I didn't realize this would be so good or I may have sought out better copies. A blu ray exists

4.75 /5 very cool beans while slightly repressed and Canadian it is more thoughtful and interesting than 99% of current films.

The kind of thing I would read about in Shock Cinema and try to find 20 years ago

Damn, I'd never heard of that!  I'll be checking it out, thanks!

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Amityville Murders" (2018)
The supposed "true story" of the murders at 112 Ocean Avenue that pre-date the infamous "Amityville Horror." After years of verbal and physical abuse from his overbearing father, twenty something Ron "Butch" DeFeo Jr, killed his parents and four younger siblings one fateful night in 1974, apparently under orders from "voices" he heard inside the family home.
I'm a sucker for anything Amityville so I enjoyed this low budget period piece, which even had a couple of legit scares. The stunt casting of Diane Franklin (who played the oldest DeFeo daughter in "Amityville II: The Possession") as Mrs. DeFeo and Burt Young (of "Amityville 3-D") in a bit part as a local mobster was a nice touch. Your mileage may vary depending on your interest in the subject matter.

[Dr. Whom]

After Yang (2021)

Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith play a couple in the not so distant future who have adopted a Chinese girl. As a companion, and to give her a connection with her Chinese heritage, they have bought Yang, a specialised 'technosapiens' a kind of robot/synthetic human. When one night, Yang fails, it turns out they can't repair him as he was bought second hand. While trying to find a way to get him running, they retrieve Yang's memory and start to explore the inner life of an android.

This is a slow moving, ruminative kind of movie. The main characters are all well adjusted and very articulate, and Colin Farrell's performance reminded me of what he did in the The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Everything is understated, there is no great conflict or big reveal, just an exploration of what it is to be human. If you like your movies melancholy and thoughtful, this is one for you.
The movie is better at raising questions than at developing them. Themes include: people being so busy leading rewarding lives that they are blind to others living next to them, the strain of a married couple, prejudices, what it means to have an Asian heritage, and what it means to be alive.

Some of the worldbuilding is done for obvious plot convenience, but I quite liked it.

[Rev. Powell]

THE MADS ARE BACK: A NIGHT OF SHORTS 2: This is one I'd recommend for someone new to the Mads. Unlike some of their other shorts compilations, they riff a full 90 minutes of shorts in this one, including a dark one about bullied elementary school students, one about the dangers of blasting caps, and one titled "The Problem with Women." Mary Jo Pehl is the guest and they have 30 minutes of MST3K reminiscence afterwards. 3/5 in general, but MST3K fans will bump it up a star.

[jimpickens]

Boogie a 3D animated movie from Argentina that is suppose to be a political satire of America and how  violent we are but instead is a satiric look into crime noir and action movies. 

[Jim H]

Sons of Katie Elder: John Wayne and his three brothers come back together after their mother dies.  They relatively quickly deduce the earlier death of their father and the loss of family land may be due to a bad actor in town.  Revenge, justice, being good or bad and living and dying by the gun.  A solid western all around.  I really like how you feel Katie's presence in the film, despite her never having been seen.  Dean Martin is fun.  George Kennedy gets a decent supporting role, so does a very young Dennis Hopper.  I wish the villain was a better character though, a common complaint I have in John Wayne westerns.  Oh, very good Elmer Bernstein score too. 

Also, this film has some quite interesting trivia around it.

First of all, this had a theme song performed by Johnny Cash.  I had no idea, as it's not in the film, I just saw it randomly on YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKLCb2OF6E

Also, the film never acknowledges it, but it is based loosely on a true story.  There's no main villain in the real story, but a number of the crazier details were true.  Biggest one - a group of brothers chained together for a crime they didn't commit really were handed over by deputies to a mob intent on murdering them, but they fought their way out of it.

There's a really good write-up on the real story here:
https://www.historynet.com/murder-mobs-and-the-marlow-brothers/