Recent Viewings, Part 2

M.10rda · December 22, 2024, 02:02:24 PM

I've been open about my feelings about the final seasons of MST3K....... and I think the director was wise in his decision to obscure the prevalence of MJP in his project!

However this sounds like fun and I will try to check out this episode... or the game if I can find it!

Rev. Powell · December 22, 2024, 02:26:16 PM

Quote from: M.10rda on December 22, 2024, 02:02:24 PMI've been open about my feelings about the final seasons of MST3K....... and I think the director was wise in his decision to obscure the prevalence of MJP in his project! However this sounds like fun and I will try to check out this episode... or the game if I can find it!

It won't be easy to track it down. I ordered the Blu-ray from the directors Kickstarter. They didn't release it on the VOD channel (maybe someday?)

Rev. Powell · December 23, 2024, 10:19:48 AM

PETROL (2022): A film student finds a (semi-magical) friend, and, as she prepares her thesis film, she wonders if she has anything unique to say. Spoiler: she doesn't (but says it anyway). 1.5/5.

indianasmith · December 23, 2024, 11:13:50 PM

CHOMPY AND THE GIRLS (2021) - OK, no spoilers, just - you guys need to watch this. It straddles the line between being a really good movie and an abysmally awful one with a quirky grace that defies description. Bizarre, slightly scary, endearing, and ultimately heartwarming, this movie sucked me in and left me pondering what on earth I had just watched.
If you've seen it, I'd love your reaction. If you haven't, then, as we say in Texas - WATCH THIS THANG!!!

5/5

Rev. Powell · December 24, 2024, 09:18:55 AM

^^^That one has been recommended to 366 Weird Movies by more than one reader, but we haven't gotten around to it.

SLINGSHOT (2024): Three astronauts on a lengthy mission to Titan get paranoid, possibly due to side effects of the drug used to induce hibernation, and begin to suspect each other of sabotaging the mission. A bit slow-paced, though it picks up in the second half, but a decent enough dive into space madness with good acting from Lawrence Fishburne and Casey Affleck. 2.5/5.

chainsaw midget · December 25, 2024, 12:40:53 PM

I watched Abigail. It's a movie about a group of people that are hired to kidnap a 122 year old ballerina and take her to a really creepy old mansion to wait for the ransom, only to find out that she's actualy the daughter of a really powerful underworld crimelord and worse, she's a vampire.

They actually started work on the film under the name Daughter of Dracula, and while her father does appear in the movie, no mention of Dracula is ever made (although he does say that he's had many names over the centuries.) I think it was going to be part of that new wave of Universal Monster movies at one point. It's a pretty good effective horror movie and does feel like it would make a good double billing with Renfield.

lester1/2jr · December 25, 2024, 05:21:18 PM

Stigmata (1999) - I forgot I watched this and forgot to write a review for it after I remembered that I did watch it. I guess you could say that it didn't leave much of an impression. If star Patricia Arquette's show Medium had done an episode with this plot I think they would have played it for laughs more? I'm a huge fan of Arquette (and thick blondes in general) and am interested in Bible stuff, but this was a little on the silly side, though entertaining in it's own elaborate misfire sort of way.

Arquette is a hairdresser who becomes a conduit for Jesus (or something) via receiving a rosary necklace that belonged to a South American priest. Another "hate it when that happens" scenario. Features the "working class person with gigantic bohemian big city apartment" cliche. Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins does the nondescript music.

3/ 5 it's Tubitational!

indianasmith · December 26, 2024, 01:28:16 PM

NOSFERATU (2024) - My daughters and I had all been looking forward to this one, and it did NOT disappoint!
First off, mega-props to Bill Skarsgard for one of the most incredible acting jobs I have ever seen. Count Orlok is hideous, terrifying, sinister, and strangely pitiful all at the same time. Lily-Rose Depp plays the role of Ellen, a young psychic whom Orlok is fixated upon. She is compelling in her portrayal of a woman caught in the toils of madness, desire, and deep concern for her loved ones, threatened by Orlok's insatiable appetite. The "sexy vampire" trope doesn't exist here; Orlok is utterly revolting, and unquestionably DEAD. His voice - deep, guttural, punctuated by gurgly, rasping breath that sounds like a death rattle - is one of the most haunting parts of the film. Nicholas Holt plays the role of Thomas, Ellen's husband, with a desperation and fright that is completely convincing (and understandable!). All in all, this is the best vampire film I have seen in many years, and I think it will be hailed as one of the best of all time. HIGHLY recommended!

Rev. Powell · December 27, 2024, 10:19:22 AM

MOUNTAINS (2023): A Haitian immigrant works as a construction worker demolishing buildings in Little Haiti to make way for gentrification, while feuding with his Americanized adult son who refuses to speak Creole and wants to be a stand-up comic. A sincere slice-of-life portrait of the immigrant experience that is too low-key for its own good; the finale is satisfyingly ironic, but the long trip to that payoff is not exactly filled with gripping drama. 2.5/5.

indianasmith · December 27, 2024, 09:07:34 PM

CAMP PLEASANT LAKE (2024) - One of the absolute WORST slasher films I have ever seen, it's so unwatchably bad I really need you guys to see it so that I am no longer alone in my misery. I found this on PRIME last night and somehow survived slogging through it. It violates every trope of the slasher genre: the victims aren't teens, they aren't particularly attractive, no one gets killed while sneaking out to make out or go skinny dipping, the "twist" is so predictable you see through it in the first ten minutes or so, and the dialogue is beyond lame. 1/5

Seriously, somebody watch this thing and tell me I'm wrong, if you can!

lester1/2jr · December 28, 2024, 05:38:54 PM

Who You think I Am (2019) - An older divorced woman wants to feel young and attractive again, so she makes a fake Facebook account where she's 24. She hits it off with one guy but he wants to meet, so now what is she gonna do?

note: It is definitely NOT as light and fluffy as that appears.

It's French and Juliette Binoche is the star, so you know they wanted it to be a big hit. I guess it didn't work because it's on Tubi, but I enjoyed it. Possible reasons it didn't take off (or maybe it did I wouldn't know) is that while the writing and acting are excellent it doesn't have much in the way of cinematography. It's also a little cerebral for something with such a Lifetime friendly plot. It's more of a "foreign film" than a chick flick.

I don't care about chick flicks so I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm all about trashy "Fatal Attraction" type stuff lately and this fit right in while not being so stupid I had to turn it off, unlike "My Doctor is Stalking Me" which was just ridiculous.

4.75 /5

edit: one guy couldn't warm up to Binoche in the role because he hated her glasses https://www.imdb.com/review/rw8645436/?ref_=tturv_perm_25

M.10rda · December 29, 2024, 04:15:04 AM

.......History's first theatre critic Aristotle did tell us that opsis aka "spectacle" is one of the most crucial elements of a satisfying viewing experience!

indianasmith · December 29, 2024, 07:54:48 AM

BELLE (2023) - I ran across this Icelandic re-telling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on Prime and thought it looked interesting. Slow paced, a bit bloody, and the actress who plays the title character is kinda cute. I think it was trying to be a more serious film than its premise deserved and failed to deliver. 2.5/5

Rev. Powell · December 29, 2024, 10:59:28 AM

Quote from: indianasmith on December 29, 2024, 07:54:48 AMBELLE (2023) - I ran across this Icelandic re-telling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on Prime and thought it looked interesting. Slow paced, a bit bloody, and the actress who plays the title character is kinda cute. I think it was trying to be a more serious film than its premise deserved and failed to deliver. 2.5/5

A very boring film. I think 2.5 is quite generous.

THE COLORS WITHIN (2024): A shy Japanese girl in Catholic school, who has a form of synesthesia and sometimes sees people as colors, forms a band with two other kids whose colors inspire her. A simple and sweet tale of friendship that may appeal to older kids. I have to say that the band's ultimate performance is insanely accomplished for three teenage amateurs who've practiced together for a couple months. 3.5/5.

FatFreddysCat · December 29, 2024, 06:31:00 PM

"Anvil! The Story of Anvil" (2008)
The long-suffering Canadian rockers in Anvil were on the cutting edge of metal for about five minutes in the early 1980s, but never had the massive breakthrough that their speed-metal contemporaries enjoyed.
Thirty years later, Robb and Lips are still at it, making records that nobody buys and playing crappy gigs to small crowds, still waiting for their shot at that brass ring.
This documentary follows the band on a disastrous European tour and captures the recording of their thirteenth album (This is Thirteen), and it turned into an unexpected happy ending for the band. The film's critical and film-festival acclaim brought their music to a whole new audience and kickstarted a successful "Round 2" for Anvil's career.