Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE [Das Lehrerzimmer] (2023): A new teacher decides to investigate a series of petty thefts at her new school, but has second thoughts when her actions indirectly lead to ostracism, bullying, censorship, and rebellion. Morally complex drama that never actually drifts into political allegory, but convincingly suggests any society can easily break down due to scapegoating, overzealous policing, and the unintended consequences of principled acts. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

tried to watch "Hell on the Shelf" by the Polonia brothers who did Splatter Farm 8 thousand years ago. You'd think with it's comical concept, a play on elf on the shelf, and their history in horror it would be interesting at least but it's not, just a retread of the found footage cliches of about 5 years ago. didn't even finish it

[FatFreddysCat]

"A Life in Dirty Movies" (aka "The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies," 2013)
A documentary about director Joe Sarno, who was best known for making "sexploitation" films in the 1960s that were unusually well written and higher quality than most of his competitors. Joe's career faltered in the 1970s when adult films went hardcore, but now in the present day his movies have been re-discovered by a new audience. Buoyed by this newfound popularity, the now elderly Joe and his wife Peggy begin trying to get his latest film project off the ground. An unexpectedly sweet love story, considering the subject matter.

"The Ghosts of Borley Rectory" (2021)
In 1930s England, a group of paranormal investigators convene at a haunted country estate to probe its secrets. Supposedly based on a "true" haunting, the movie has atmosphere to spare and the performances are fine, but it's very talky and not very scary. Disappointing.

[Rev. Powell]

BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT (2023): Bobi Wine, Uganda pop star, runs for parliament and decides to challenge dictator Museven to a "free and fair" election, which unsurprisingly leads to he and his entourage being arrested (and tortured). Infuriating and inspiring (although the outcome is all too sadly predictable). On Hulu. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Roar of Snowmobiles (1973) - It hasn't snowed here in Boston yet and I really felt like seeing some snow. I tried a couple foreign films but nothing quite scratched the itch. Then I simply searched the word "snow" and this came up. It rules.

Imagine a 1973 made for tv movie except it's a random documentary about snowmobiling. Some people ride them around as a group and have cookouts, some hot dog them in the hills and comically wipe out, and some even race them professionally, but everyone has fun. You can even ride one to the store to do errands if you live in the place where they filmed this ( Canada?). The machines themselves are much less sleek looking and frankly cooler than the ones you see today.

Lends it self extremely well to riffing and so forth

One of those things that on the surface is totally useless and boring but is actually fascinating and educational. high art!

5/5

[RCMerchant]

^ We have snowmobile trails that go right threw town!

[M.10rda]

^ We have snowmobile trails that go right threw town!

We don't really but that doesn't discourage some snowmobiling hot dogs from gunning it down the middle of residential streets and even larger avenues in the middle of and following large snowstorms. One actually hit my station wagon in the middle of a blizzard back in '96 or '97 as I was driving down one of the largest/busiest routes in Western New York. Bounced right off the driver's side and kept going. Snowmobilers are some gonzo sonsa******s!

[indianasmith]

THE FLASH (2023) - DC is trying to cash in on the popularity of the Metaverse concept introduced by Marvel in their recent Spiderman movies.  So the Flash discovers if he goes fast enough, he can travel backwards through time.  He decided to go back twenty years and save his mom from being murdered - a crime for which his Dad has been unjustly imprisoned - but of course he fractures the timeline and travels to an earth where there is no Superman, and where General Zod's invasion goes undefeated. So he finds Batman, except instead of the Batfleck who is his friend in the future, he finds the Michael Keaton version of Batman, along with his 18 year old self.  They have to find out where Superman is in this timeline and defeat General Zod, and of course mayhem and parallel universes happen all along the way.  This was a gloriously bad movie that dragged a bit in places, but it was worth it to sea Keaton as Batman again.  Great twist at the end, BTW, just saying!  4/5

[lester1/2jr]

We have snowmobile trails that go right threw town!

maybe it was in America???


edit: appears to be Wisconsin https://billrebane.com/the-roar-of-snowmobiles/

also: on tubi obviously

[Alex]

Leave The World Behind.

A long and slow-moving movie that ends with many questions and only possible answers. It came off as being the pilot episode for a TV series more than a stand-alone movie. Enjoyable if you like your films slow-building, although I fear those without a lot of patience are going to dismiss this one. Not a film I'd choose to watch a second time, but it was fine for a morning watch when I didn't want anything too demanding.

Easily the best Julia Roberts film I've seen since Erin Brockovich.

[RCMerchant]

AUDITION (1999) Tashiki Miike strikes again. Starts out slow..., but when the s**t hits the fan, you get a movie! A widower holds a fake movie audition trying to find a new wife. So he finds a very lovely woman who ends up being one sick puppy who enjoys needles and cutting people up. Great film!

[Rev. Powell]

AUDITION (1999) Tashiki Miike strikes again. Starts out slow..., but when the s**t hits the fan, you get a movie! A widower holds a fake movie audition trying to find a new wife. So he finds a very lovely woman who ends up being one sick puppy who enjoys needles and cutting people up. Great film!

His greatest achievement. The only torture porn film that's actually art.

[M.10rda]

THE FLASH (2023) - DC is trying to cash in on the popularity of the Metaverse concept introduced by Marvel in their recent Spiderman movies. 

You're correct in that the DC movies are trying to cash in on Avengersverse movies' successful use of the multiverse concept. Ironically and unfortunately, DC comics have been exploiting the concept of the multiverse almost as long as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four have existed (mid-to-late 1961, to be precise), and Marvel comics didn't really start leaning on adventures across the multiverse until about 10-15 years ago. In this case the late adopters get all the credit, alas...

[M.10rda]

AUDITION (1999)  Great film!

His greatest achievement. The only torture porn film that's actually art.

...So much so that I never think of it as torture porn! But I suppose if torture fetishists are extremely patient, they will eventually get some frisson by the end.

(Personally I think ICHII THE KILLER is both a greater achievement and much closer to torture porn! But AUDITION is a great movie and quite possibly Miike's most SUBTLE achievement!)

But okay, your comment causes me to reflect again on my disappointment at Eli Roth, specifically his recent THANKSGIVING but really most of his post-HOSTEL career. The first HOSTEL is a modest achievement... but when Miike himself exits the torture warehouse to warn the protagonist to exercise caution, because "you could spend all your money in there!"....... dammit, for that one moment, I hoped Roth was the real deal!

[lester1/2jr]

Satan Wants You (2023) - above average, if not perfect, documentary about the book "Michelle Remembers" which is credited with starting the whole Satanic Panic thing. The 1980 bestseller detailed a young girl being given to a Satanic cult by her mother, then witnessing lots of horrible and sordid things. Soon, lots of people across the country started making similar claims and daytime talk shows had a hot new topic.

The problem, as we would come to find out, was that the whole "buried memory" thing was mostly fake. In the case of "Michelle Remembers" it was the result of Michelle wanting to get attention from her therapist, who she eventually married.

I didn't really see what the church of Satan had to do with anything and the lady stating that this "shaped our world" was a bit of an exaggeration, but it does get to the bottom of the whole thing and had a lot of good details, like stuff from her sisters overtly disproving what she had said.

4.5 /5