Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Beverly Hills Cop" (1984)
While investigating the murder of an old friend, wise-ass Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) follows a lead to Beverly Hills, where he p*sses off the uptight, suit-and-tie local P.D. and tangles with international drug smugglers. This action comedy hit turned Murphy into a bankable movie star and was followed by two sequels (with a new one coming this summer via Netflix). Still a fun flick, hard to believe it's 40 years old this year!

[Trevor]

"Beverly Hills Cop" (1984)
While investigating the murder of an old friend, wise-ass Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) follows a lead to Beverly Hills, where he p*sses off the uptight, suit-and-tie local P.D. and tangles with international drug smugglers. This action comedy hit turned Murphy into a bankable movie star and was followed by two sequels (with a new one coming this summer via Netflix). Still a fun flick, hard to believe it's 40 years old this year!

Meaning that I was in high school 40 years ago? Oy vey 😳😳

[Alex]

Five Nights At Freddies.

I am only vaguely familiar with the game having never played it, but the movie seemed decent. If you've seen the Banana Splits Movie or Willies Wonderland then this isn't presenting anything radically different. Enjoyable enough, but not essential must see stuff. Fans of gore won't find much to keep them watching.

[Alex]

Rebel Moon. Part 1.

I'd seen a lot of comments about how this was just a Star Wars rip-off and that is what I went into it expecting. I've got to say I found that description fairly unjustified and I'm putting that down to lazy writing. Yeah, there are similarities, but I could say the same about Dune for example. As sci fi films go, its average. Enjoyable enough fluff that I'll watch the second part when it comes out.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker" (2000)
Set in the dystopian future Gotham City of 2019 (haha!), the new, high tech, 21st century Batman must deal with the sudden re-appearance of the Joker... who was supposed to have died years ago. There's lots of cool, futuristic cartoon carnage in this darker-than-expected sci-fi/super-hero mash up with fine voice acting as usual by the late Kevin Conroy (as the elderly, but still ornery, Bruce Wayne) and Mark Hamill (as the Joker).

[FatFreddysCat]

"Robot Jox" (1990)
Stuart ("Re-Animator") Gordon directed this ambitious B-Movie set in a post-apocalyptic future, where international disputes are settled by battles between men piloting giant, heavily armed robots. The current champion "Achilles" is ready to retire from the arena, but he's forced back into the saddle for one final robo-fight against his arch rival.

The plot is comic book nonsense and its Cold War era parallels are quite dated now, but "Robot Jox" is still a fun watch thanks to its charming, cool stop-motion special effects (they don't make 'em like that anymore!) and surprisingly lavish sets and costumes for a low budget production.

The news that actor Gary Graham, who played the heroic "Achilles" in this flick, passed away yesterday inspired me to revisit this oldie but goodie. R.I.P. sir, and "Crash and Burn!"

[RCMerchant]

RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943)

Bela Lugosi stars as vampire Armand Tesla (who needs more shoeshine in his hair, for my taste) , with the aide of his talking werewolf sidekick, terrorizes the countryside in WW II torn England. Film noir beauty Frida Inescort and Nina Foch show up to for window dressing. One of the goofiest vampire movies ever made, with the 3 Stooges type werewolf good for some chuckles. Lotsa fun though. Some great face melting in the sun shots of Bela at the end, though!

[Dr. Whom]

Poor Things (2023)

A satiric take on the Frankenstein story set in a weird steampunk parallel universe.

This is brilliant! Yorgos Lanthinos has really outdone himself. I can see how the excessive mannerisms can get on your nerves, but I didn't mind them. Also, the dialogue has become more Wes Anderson-y. The whole movie has a certain Wes Anderson feel to it, if Wes Anderson had lots of sex and an exuberant art nouveau esthetic.

Best movie I've seen since Asteroid City.

[ER]

The Wiz. Michael Jackson as a scarecrow was interesting stuff. As I watched this movie I could swear it reminded me of something I'd seen before, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

[Trevor]

Callan (1974) with Edward Woodward. Good to see a film adaptation which doesn't go far from the book.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Religulous" (2008)
Comedian, talk show host, and avowed skeptic Bill Maher takes on religion (which he calls a "neurological disorder") in this entertaining documentary, in which he travels around the world, talks to people representing of the major world faiths, and eventually comes to the conclusion that they're all pretty much out of their frickin' minds.
This is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen this doc over the past couple of years and it's still an entertaining, funny, and sometimes bizarre watch. Obviously your mileage may vary depending on your level of religiosity.

[M.10rda]

THE TERROR OF DR. MABUSE aka THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1962):
Another debate here about in which board this review belongs... it took 20 minutes to grab my attention and held it inconsistently for another 70 but there were some good bits. Turns out this was the fourth (!) of what I'd thought was a trilogy of German Mabuse films made w/o the participation of Fritz Lang. I've seen one of the other three and this one's better than that one.

PROS: Although it takes entirely too long to get around to this part, the ultimate twist (SPOILERS?) is pretty cool: that the institutionalized Mabuse is actually hypnotically controlling the hypnotherapist who runs the mental asylum in which he is confined and puppeting that mofo to operate his criminal empire outside the asylum. The couple of scenes which reveal this premise give off authentic and commendable Hannibal Lecter/Keener in GET OUT vibes of intense menace. Also, Gert Frobe aka Goldfinger plays not Mabuse but the police inspector pursuing Mabuse's empire, and it's cool to see him play a compelling protagonist. Also also, Mabuse's primary henchman (who gets more screentime than Mabuse or his doctor) is an actor named Charles Regnier who appeared in dozens and dozens of Euro-films in his long career, and I don't think I've seen any of those. Nonetheless he makes an indelible impression as a tall, bald, porkpie hat-wearing goon you don't want to cross.

CONS: The hand-to-hand fight choreography is laughably atrocious. It's hard to swallow that Mabuse is an international supervillain when all his gang ever seems to do is fix fights, hijack trucks, and pull heists from bank vaults. A lot of screentime is devoted to a plot involving a boxer and his girlfriend, which seems ephemeral and has a ludicrously ineffective climax. Finally, some Googling informs me that this was intended as a remake of 1934's TESTAMENT OF DR. MEBUSE by Lang, which I watched possibly as many as 15 years ago and so didn't initially remember that it also had the same asylum plot and boxing subplot and probably the same underwhelming crime sprees. However, that film had so much audacious and absorbing visual filmmaking that it felt like a much better film and, thus, almost certainly was. Also I think the fights were better.

2.5/5
Also no Klaus Kinski, who tends to show up in most of the underwhelming German crime movies from the early 60s that I watch for no particularly good reason.

[Rev. Powell]

REFLECT (2023): Five women travel to Sedona to win a cash prize for completing a spiritual obstacle course (which turns out to be a front for an alien reality show). An odd little movie that starts as a girls trip comedy and turns into a trippy New-Age hallucination; despite the comic touches, it's sincere in its spiritual (but really psychological) aims, but not exactly surefooted filmmaking. 2/5.

[javakoala]

Javakoala, maybe you will accidentally watch a film that you like one of these days. (It happens to me quite often, even in spite of my choices.) 

"Trick Baby" was one that I liked. Not sure how it stacks up against Iceberg Slim's novel, but the film had a nice gritty quality to it with solid performances from the cast.

Admittedly, I tend to pick movies that I pretty much know I'm gonna dislike. If it turns out that I don't hate the movie, I feel like I've won something.

"Trick Baby" got watched because I've been doing research into Holloway House, a publishing house that released Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines along with a number of other pulp-level black action/crime novels. I've owned the movie for years but never watched it. Shame on me.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Blues Brothers" (1980)
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's "SNL" characters made the jump to the big screen in this action packed musical extravaganza. "Jake" and "Elwood" are on a "mission from God" to raise money to save the orphanage they grew up in, so they get their old band back together for a benefit show. Mayhem manages to follow them wherever they go, encountering the state police, angry rednecks, and the Illinois Nazi party, before the film climaxes with what may be the greatest sequence of automobile destruction ever filmed. Loaded with cameos from blues, soul, and R&B legends like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, and more. A stone cold cult classic with a soulful, rockin' soundtrack.