Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"A Christmas Horror Story" (2015)
A cool anthology of Yuletide horror tales: teen paranormal investigators revisit the site of a mysterious Christmas Eve murder, a bickering family has a Krampus encounter, and a Christmas tree hunting family brings home something sinister from the forest. Meanwhile at the North Pole, Santa deals with a zombie outbreak amongst his elves and William Shatner (!) ties it all together with a hilarious turn as a radio DJ in an ugly Christmas sweater. This one has become a holiday season perennial for me. Lots of twisted holiday fun.

"Black Christmas" (2006)
Sorority sisters learn the hard way that their house was once the home of a psycho killer, when he escapes from the asylum on December 24th and comes "home" for Christmas. Lots of holly-jolly carnage ensues.
Unpopular opinion: I actually like this remake better than Bob Clark's 1974 original. It's got tons of Christmasy atmosphere (which makes the ultra-violence hit even harder), it's faster moving, has a great cast full of eye candy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lacey Chabert, Dawn Trachtenberg, etc.) and it's got a mean streak a mile wide (Incest! Cannibalism! Eyeball gougings!). Skip the terrible 2019 "reboot" attempt from Blumhouse and watch this one instead.

[M.10rda]

I didn't love the 2006 remake but you ain't kiddin' about the cast.  You did neglect to mention supporting player Crystal Lowe, who I don't believe I've ever seen in anything else, but I still remember her (fondly) from her 20ish minutes in this one movie. 

I also liked COPYCAT much more than I'd expected when I caught it in the 90s. As a thriller it's a little above average but Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter could really class up a pedestrian party back in those days.

THE DEPARTED! There's a lot to admire about it, not least that Scorsese and Monaghan managed to compress almost seven hours of source material into about 160 taut minutes. I think the two leads are just fine and Vera Farmiga is outstanding. HOWEVER, I've always strongly felt that the film suffers from some serious casting confusion in the supporting roles that undercuts some of the strongest points of the original INFERNAL AFFAIRS. In brief, lemme suggest THE DEPARTED would be infinitely improved if

Ray Winstone played Nicholson's role (if you've seen the original, this is a no-brainer)
Mark Wahlberg played Winstone's role
Alec Baldwin played Wahlberg's role
Martin Sheen played Baldwin's role
And Nicholson played Sheen's role

Anthony Wong was basically the most respected serious character actor in Hong Kong when INFERNAL AFFAIRS was released, and third-billed in the credits. When he exits that film, it had a Red Wedding-type effect on the audience. Literally people passing out in shock. Martin Sheen is great, but he just wasn't that guy in 2006. Nicholson was still that guy. I wish Scorsese had the nuts to pull that off for U.S. audiences.......

[Trevor]

I just got back from watching Napoleon. 

Also, not once in the movie did they mention the time he went to San Dimas, California in the 1980s.

[RCMerchant]

LOST HIGHWAY (1997)

Ok- Lemme say- I love David Lynch's films. Even when they make 0 sense. And this movie makes NO sense whatsoever. But I don't care. There are so bizzare and fascinating to watch. And whatta cast! Bill Pullman, Robert Loggia, Patricia Arquette, even Richard Pryor and Henrey Rollins! And Robert Blake is the stuff of nightmares!



" At your house. Don't you remember? As a matter of fact, I'm there right now."

[indianasmith]

THE LAKE - I caught this one free on Prime Video last night.  It's a Taiwanese kaiju film about an amphibious monster that comes out of a lake to rescue its eggs and young that have been taken by locals. The creature itself was very cool looking, and some of the action shots were pretty awesome, but the plot was pretty lame - admittedly, I was watching the dubbed version, and the atrocious dubbing probably didn't help.  But I found myself unable to care about any of the characters and frankly wishing they would get back to the monster mayhem.  3/5 at best.

[M.10rda]

  to that, RC! Don't forget Gary Busey, doing about as much as Pryor and Rollins, but, hey - Gary Busey in a David Lynch movie!

How much do I love David Lynch? At least half of his filmography is about identity disorder but I never become impatient or resentful of him returning to the same central theme time and again. Human beings' relationship to their own consciousness and self-awareness seems like one of our major existential concerns and Lynch keeps discovering new angles on it or prisms through which to process that idea.

I saw FIGHT CLUB in a theater the week it was released w/ a colleague who is well-educated but narrow in his curiosities, if you will. He loved it until the end, then complained loudly about the twist. I shook my head and said, "Haven't you seen David Lynch's HOTEL ROOM?!" He hadn't. "...LOST HIGHWAY at least???" 

[Jim H]

The Retirement Plan - Nicholas Cage plays the estranged beach bum father of a woman in trouble with bad people.  He ends up looking out for her and the granddaughter he never met - turns out there's more to him than meets the eye.

This is a surprisingly pretty funny and entertaining film, despite numerous problems.  The direction in this is poor, like this looks like one of those crappy low budget Redbox films or something.  Every establishing shot is "drone shot, close up of random part of building, cut to close up".  Lighting is plain.  Editing is often bad.  Action scenes are badly shot and are jumbled.  The third act where it gets more action heavy thus can't carry the weight.  Most of the secondary characters are poorly acted.  But despite these quite serious problems...  

It's decently paced, has funny dialogue, some pretty cute small and sweet character moments, and so on.  Nicholas Cage, playing yet another fun character, is mostly great.  

Ron Perlman as a thug is so likable and charismatic he carries every scene.  In the second half of the film, Ernie Hudson shows up and is fun as always.  This was a rewrite or two (the extra layer of complications they add later on are too much, and one character exits the film too early) from being real special I think, but it was still a fun light watch.  Just be aware it's pretty violent.

[lester1/2jr]

^I thought the DEAPARTED was excellant!

I actually had to stop watching it because I realized I was confusing Leo Dicaprio and Matt Damon with each other the whole time

[zombie no.one]

I've said before on here that BLACK XMAS 2006 is my least favourite horror remake of all time... Something about the intensely bratty tone of it made me physically wince, I couldn't take any more than 30 mins, and I tried twice. oh well

[Rev. Powell]

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL: An AP reporter and his team stay in Maripoul for 20 days after the Russian invasion begins, documenting the experiences of civilians under siege (including the notorious bombing of the maternity hospital). A surgeon working on a wounded four-year-old demands the camera "keep filming!"; 20 days later, the city is 90% rubble, and the crew takes the last caravan out. 4.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Night Before" (2015)
Three friends (Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, and Anthony Mackie) head into New York City on their annual Christmas Eve bender and have a series of wacky misadventures trying to gain access to a super-exclusive holiday party. This slapstick comedy has its moments (Rogen is a hoot), but it drags on a bit too long and tries to force in some dramatic bits that the movie doesn't really need. A late-inning cameo by Miley Cyrus (performing her then current hit "Wrecking Ball," of course) makes the movie dated already.

"Fortress 2: Re-Entry" (2000)
Christopher Lambert is back and he's still on the run from the evil corporation from the first "Fortress." When they re-capture him he's placed in their latest, even more high-tech prison facility aboard an orbiting space station. Naturally, that doesn't stop him from planning another escape. The first "Fortress" was pretty good, this one is average at best. An OK time waster.

[Alex]

Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny.

Not as good as the first three, but not as bad as the space aliens one either. At least they killed off the worst character in the series.

[indianasmith]

Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny.

Not as good as the first three, but not as bad as the space aliens one either. At least they killed off the worst character in the series.

I put it dead center of the series, in overall quality.  I rank them:

LAST CRUSADE
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
DIAL OF DESTINY
CRYSTAL SKULL
TEMPLE OF DOOM (I just didn't like this one nearly as much as the others)

[Rev. Powell]

BEYOND UTOPIA (2023): Follows the story of a family of five, secretly filmed as they risk their lives to defect and make the arduous trek out of North Korea. Well-assembled and moving doc about people who were born in the wrong country, packed with infuriating details about Kim Jong Un's "utopia." 4/5.

[Trevor]

EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS

Never saw it until yesterday: great film and the ending made me smile.