Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

DESTROY MEMPHIS (2016): A small group of activists fight to stop the city of Memphis from closing the Libertyland amusement park and bulldozing the historic Zippin Pippin roller coaster (Elvis Presley's favorite ride). This impassioned doc is mostly of local interest (as it should be), although the lessons of gentrification and activism can be applied anywhere. 2/5.

[indianasmith]

DON'T KILL ME (2022) Mirta is a nice Italian girl from a good family dating a boy named Robin who is a heroin addict.  He persuades her to get high with him, just one time - and they both wind up in the morgue, dead from overdosing.
But that's just the beginning of the story.  Mirta wakes up after being buried, frightened, lonely, and desperately HUNGRY.  The only thing that can slake her hunger is living human flesh.  Without it, her body begins to decompose; with it, she remains young and beautiful.  She is an Overdead - not a vampire nor a zombie, but something in between.  Another Overdead finds her and tries to help her discover her new powers, but there is also an ancient brotherhood that is dedicated to finding and destroying every Overdead on earth - including Mirta.  But there's another hitch - Robin's grave is empty, too.  But where has he gone?
This was a brilliant new take on the zombie mythos, and the starring actress is very cute, and plays the role perfectly.  Great twist at the end, too. 5/5

[lester1/2jr]

this is a spoiler imo

Great twist at the end, too.

[Rev. Powell]

TALK TO HER (2002): While sitting by the bedside of his bullfighter girlfriend, who is brain dead in a coma, Marco befriends Benigno, a male nurse who has devoted his life to caring for a ballerina who is also permanently comatose. Pedro Almodóvar's script spends its first half setting up the action with complicated (but not confusing) crosscutting between two stories and their respective flashbacks; the payoff comes in the second half (after a hilariously bizarre silent film-within-the-film). Prepare for it to get dark. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Ghetto Blaster" (1989)
After the death of his wife, a man (Richard "Battlestar Galactica" Hatch) moves back into his parents' home in an L.A. suburb. He soon learns that while he's been away, his old neighborhood has come under the control of a ruthless street gang.  When the gangbangers rob and murder his kindly store-keeper father, it's time for him to turn vigilante and takes back the streets.
An enjoyably cheesy direct-to-video "Death Wish" wanna-be that gets the job done in under 90 minutes. Hatch certainly isn't your usual muscle-bound action hero type, which is different. It's cool to see a regular Joe getting to kick ass for a change. :D

[lester1/2jr]

I watched some "Old Scandals" thing on Tubi. [edit "Scandals: Then and Now] There was a really interesting episode about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Aimee_Semple_McPherson

I had never heard this story. Circa the 1920's this lady was a huge huge star, basically the first megachurch celeb-preacher. At the height of her fame, she fell in love with a random guy from the church. She staged her own death which, when she got cold feet about the whole thing, turned into a faked kidnapping.

y early 1926, McPherson had become one of the most charismatic and influential women and ministers of her time. Her fame equaled, to name a few, Charles Lindbergh, Johnny Weissmuller, Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Knute Rockne, Bobby Jones, Louise Brooks, and Rudolph Valentino.[83]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimee_Semple_McPherson

[indianasmith]

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT (2022) - This is a hilarious film, one of the best Nick Cage has ever done.  Pedro Pasqual (of MANDALORIAN fame) plays an eccentric billionaire who hires the famous actor to come spend the day with him for his birthday, and Cage gets drafted by the FBI to get information on "Javi" (Pasqual) whom the believe to be an international arms dealer and terrorist.  Hijinks ensue!  5/5

[indianasmith]

SHARKMAN (2001) - Jeffrey Combs plays a mad scientist (gee, what a stretch!) in this rather torpid made-for-TV horror shlock.  One star for Combs chewing up landscape in his old familiar way, one star for a rather cool man-shark design, zero stars for plot, suspense, acting, nudity, or any of the other things we expect from fun B-movies!   2/5

[Alex]

Evil Dead Rise.

Harkening back to the original movie rather than the increasingly comedic sequels, this is a fairly brutal movie. It has a lot in common with the Fede Álvarez version. Better than say, the Hellraiser reboot and a worthy addition to the series I feel.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Dave Stevens: Drawn To Perfection" (2022)
A way-cool documentary on the late, great illustrator Dave Stevens, who took his love of superheroes, '30s and '40s aviation, and movie serials and poured it all into The Rocketeer, one of the most successful indie comics of the early 1980s which eventually became a film in the 1990s.
Respected by his peers for his tireless work ethic and his ultra-realistic drawing style (particularly his knack for drawing beautiful women), Dave was also responsible for re-igniting interest in pin-up model Bettie Page before his career was tragically cut short by his death in 2008 from leukemia. Dave, we hardly knew ye.

[M.10rda]

RIDERS OF JUSTICE (2021):
Yet another film I queued/DL'd/otherwise acquired after reading about it on Letterboxd (or here?) and then by the time I managed to begin watching it I had no recollection of why I possibly would've found it of interest. Fortunately my subconscious was looking out for me in this case. Although the plot initially appears like yet another rehash of DEATH WISH/The Punisher/JOHN WICK, this Danish thriller puts some unexpected spins on the material.

After tragedy strikes his family, brooding psychopath Mads Mikkelsen commits himself to a campaign of vigilante vengeance (because of course). The most significant variation on this familiar theme is that he is aided and abetted by two awkward middle aged statisticians and their overweight techie friend. More screentime is devoted to these four swingin' dudes setting up house together and helping Mads rediscover his relationship w/ his estranged teenage daughter than is devoted to the revenge plot. It all feels like some 90s Hollywood bulls**t that's been touched by the idle hands of too many production execs... except because it's Danish, none of the rough edges have been sanded off the screenplay. In spite of a lot of questionable humor, the film remains pretty grim and serious... w/ plenty of melodrama, sprinklings of casual violence, a couple plot twists, a gay/S+M prostitute w/ a heart of gold, and - did I mention it's a Christmas movie?

Somehow it all just about holds together and works on the strength of the acting. Mads' three cohorts all deliver performances as strong as his own, w/ particular kudos to Lars Brygmann, a highly entertaining Kevin Kline/Alan Rickman/David Straitharin-type mad professor. There isn't a ton of action, but when it erupts, it's quite well done. I liked it!

3.5/5

[M.10rda]

CAPRICORN ONE (1978):
First viewing of a film I'd read about as a kid. After 40 years I managed to forget almost all particulars, which turns out to be the right way to watch this film. The premise (introduced about 10 minutes in) therefore came as a small surprise to me, and there's another great twist about midway through. Suffice to say writer/director Peter Hyams was striving to deliver another great 70s paranoid thriller and for the most part he succeeds. Quite a 70s cast too: Elliott Gould still has enough indie cred in '78 to be a thinking man's protagonist while James Brolin handles the more macho man action bits. Hal Holbrook and David Huddleston (aka "MR. Lebowski") are the bad guys (of course) and James Karen briefly appears as the Vice-POTUS (of course!). Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, and Karen Black round out the supporting cast, w/ David Doyle (TV's "Bosley") delivering one strong dramatic scene opposite Gould. (Doyle and Waterston were both also in the early 70s WHO KILLED MARY WHATSERNAME?, which I watched a few months back.) James B. Sikking is apparently in there somewhere (I missed him) and Telly Savalas (!) hams it up as the deus ex machina. I suppose I should also mention the appearance of acquitted but financially liable double-murderer Orenthal James Simpson.

Hyams also writes the screenplay and by 70s standards it's... like a B/B+. His clever dialogue gets a little repetitive and his aspirations are on-the-sleeve: one character actually compares Gould (unfavorably) to "Woodward and Bernstein" and the long, didactic monologues by Holbrook and Doyle make one think Hyams has been watching NETWORK on repeat. It's still snappier than most modern Hollywood screenplays, though, and more importantly, Hyams directs the heck out of the script. It's smartly (and occasionally beautifully) photographed and generally maintains a low-key atmosphere of dread... that explodes twice into legitimate Thrillz: once in a scene involving Gould in a car that had me literally on the edge of the couch w/ my eyeballs popping (and which must've been something else on the big screen) and then later in the action-packed climax, an air-chase through the desert that recalls (though outdoes) the famous plane scene from NORTH BY NORTHWEST. That latter scene is kind of preposterous, but damn, it hits the spot at the end of a long, subdued movie. It made me hope for some closing credits disclaimer that No Stunt Men Were Harmed During Aerial Photography (but no such disclaimer appears...).

CAPRICORN ONE isn't profound but it's so well-made I even felt sympathy in one scene for OJ! Hyams started his career strong w/ this, OUTLAND, and 2010 (which I like and won't apologize for!). He followed those w/ several decent thrillers in the 80s and then the very very good NARROW MARGIN w/ Gene Hackman (and James B. Sikking!) in the early 90s. After that it was a steady plummet from bad films to much worse films, including THE RELIC, one of the worst horror movies of the 90s, a decade rife w/ stinkers. If I was the Elliot Gould character in CAPRICORN ONE, I'd almost think Hyams' tragic decline was....... a conspiracy!

4/5

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN: I'm slowly catching up on the few MST3K episodes I have yet to see. This one is the goriest movie they ever did, but other than that it's a by-the-numbers blah monster movie notable only for it's "melting" effects by Rick Baker. As Mike and the Bots watch the film, Pearl and Dr. F. are cutting a deal to turn Crow's screenplay "Earth vs. Soup" into a feature. A middle-of-the-road episode for me. 3.5/5

[indianasmith]

DAYLIGHT'S END (2016) This is a better than average zombie apocalypse film - except the zombies are mixed with vampires; sunlight kills them and they can be taken down with bullets.  A wandering stranger named Rourke rescues two women threatened by raiders and takes them to a fortified compound in Dallas, where a former police chief (B-movie icon Lance Hendrickson) presides over a small group of survivors.  They are hoping to make it to the Mohave desert in California, where a large community of survivors had established a free zone, but they are besieged by thousands of undead.  Overall, a better than average zombie flick. 4/5

[Rev. Powell]

INGRID GOES WEST (2017): When we first meet Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza), she's macing a new bride at her "perfect" wedding---so yeah, she's a little unhinged. The movie is a showcase for Plaza as an Instagram stalker, with soft satire that seems like it wants to drift into a rom-com at times. Plaza was excellent, but I think the movie would have benefited if it had found a way to keep up the edge of that first scene throughout. 3/5.