Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

I watched 2 episodes of the original Electra Woman and Dyna Girl tv show (1976)

Live action cartoon might be the campiest format there is and every one I've ever seen was good. I even have the Ark 2 full series somewhere. If you can get in to

1. The Mighty Heroes
2. more snarky aspects of Thundarr the Barbarian
3. Wacky Races
4. The Facts of Life

I would highly recommend this. The first episode features an evil magician with a hot blonde assistant who was in "The Hills Have Eyes".



low attention span nirvana

5/5

[M.10rda]

ORCA (1977)
it's just too laboured and meandering to be that engaging, and the characters come off as a bit distant and uninvolved... nearly all the killer whale footage looks real however (to me)

I too was underwhelmed, but have you seen the original poster art? Gorgeously fully-painted, it looks more like it's advertising a MOBY DICK remake... as it illustrates a climactic battle that is never seen in the film. As a small child, I'd stare at that poster on the back of comic books and fantasize about the epic onscreen mayhem.    Come to mention it, I wouldn't mind buying a copy of that poster.......

We also watched two episodes of "Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl" recently. Very groovy. Watching them drive their stoopid car through Hollywood is hilarious.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cleaner" (2025)
A window cleaner at a London corporate skyscraper (Daisy Ridley, aka "Rey" from the recent Star Wars films) finds herself trapped outside, 50 stories up, when eco-terrorists invade the building and take hostages. Fortunately her military training gives her the ability to kick some bad-guy butt and save the day.
Of course, this British import is just another variation on the "Die Hard" formula, but Daisy's action-heroine chops are on point and director Martin Campbell of "GoldenEye" and "Casino Royale" knows how to keep things moving swiftly. Better than I expected.

[M.10rda]

HOMELAND OF ELECTRICITY (1967):
My first Larisa Shepitko film is one of her earlier "shorts" and it scarcely seems possible she could improve as a filmmaker. This has all of the good points of a Tarkovski film - patience, texture, gorgeous lighting and camera movements, profound philosophical reflection, soul-crushing ennui - yet compressed into under 60 minutes without any dilution of impact.

A young Soviet engineer gets sent to a remote arid wilderness to solve irrigation for a desperate farming community. What he finds there challenges his state programming: there is practically nothing to work with besides an old motorcycle and some scrap metal, and the starving peasants seem to have lost all their Communal pluck and dedication to national diligence (and atheism). But what's a lad to do but harness his innate ingenuity and marshal the troops to turn their fortunes around???

Indeed, HOMELAND OF ELECTRICITY plays out very similarly to the final third of ANDREI RUBLEV (aka the most powerful hour of cinema ever created), released only a year earlier, and packs quite a bit (though of course not all) of that film's climactic wallop. To Shepitko's credit, the end of HOE plays out quite differently from the affirmative fantasy of RUBLEV. She is essentially making a realistic drama, and sometimes IRL, bells don't ring for the most earnest and most deserving. Therefore HOMELAND stands on its own "in discussion" with RUBLEV. Although they reach distinct conclusions, neither film seems like it could've possibly pleased the Party. How they managed to remain as productive and as artistically outspoken as they were for so long under such a restrictive government is beyond me. Tarkovski and Shepitko - Miracles of Cinema.

5/5

[Rev. Powell]

AMMONITE (2020): A Victorian paleontologist, obsessed by work but excluded from the scientific community because of her sex, falls in love with the wife of a London scientist. Beautifullu acted by Kate Winslet, for sure, yet still it's the kind of movie where you pass the time by Googling things like "lesbians and cigars" and "how do you pronounce saoirse." 2/5.

[zombie no.one]

I too was underwhelmed, but have you seen the original poster art? Gorgeously fully-painted, it looks more like it's advertising a MOBY DICK remake... as it illustrates a climactic battle that is never seen in the film. As a small child, I'd stare at that poster on the back of comic books and fantasize about the epic onscreen mayhem.    Come to mention it, I wouldn't mind buying a copy of that poster.......

is it this one?


kind of epic, but needs a '[not to scale]' disclaimer I think 

[Rev. Powell]

I too was underwhelmed, but have you seen the original poster art? Gorgeously fully-painted, it looks more like it's advertising a MOBY DICK remake... as it illustrates a climactic battle that is never seen in the film. As a small child, I'd stare at that poster on the back of comic books and fantasize about the epic onscreen mayhem.    Come to mention it, I wouldn't mind buying a copy of that poster.......

is it this one?


kind of epic, but needs a '[not to scale]' disclaimer I think 

I remember it, a great poster. For comparison:

[M.10rda]

Of course it needs a "not to scale" disclaimer - it's a poster for a DeLaurentiis film!      Man, I wish his KING KONG was exactly like its poster. Can you imagine?

[Dr. Whom]

Of course it needs a "not to scale" disclaimer - it's a poster for a DeLaurentiis film!      Man, I wish his KING KONG was exactly like its poster. Can you imagine?

I wish The Giant Spider Invasion was like its poster

[indianasmith]

My mid-week double feature:

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (2025) - Another fun entry into the JP/JW franchise - Scarlett Johansen leads a team of mercenaries to another remote island where the now-defunct InGen stored its genetic mistakes and surplus dinosaurs.  Not a lot in the way of plot, but absolutely gorgeous to watch. The Mosasaur sequence was my favorite, of course, since I have dug so many of those over the years.  The one in the movie is about twice as big as the largest known mosasaurs, but he is anatomically correct and lots of fun to watch!  A solid 4/5

BEFORE DAWN (2024)  This movie is the ANZAC version of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.  Four lads from Australia join up to fight for King and Country and only one comes back.  This movie really does show the Great War in all its homicidal stupidity - the most advanced nations on earth slaughtering a generation in pointless bayonet charges against barbed wire and machine guns in one of history's greatest "mine is bigger than yours" p*ssing contests.  Fascinating, beautifully filmed, and heartbreaking.  5/5

[Rev. Powell]

GUNDA (2020): Dialogue-free, black-and-white documentary following the everyday life of a pig and its litter of piglets on a farm. Closely observational and beautifully lensed; it can be challenging to stay involved, but the ending is surprisingly affecting. I now feel guilty for invading a pig's privacy. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

gratuitously re posting a Jack review from a long time ago

Raging Sharks (2005) - I only made it about two-thirds of the way through this.  Sharks attack an underwater research facility, chewing off the air line and power line going to the surface.  The people inside stand around and talk about what a terrible predicament they're in, and the two guys who are in charge of fixing the damage are too lazy and obnoxious to do their jobs, so there's lots of arguing.  Meanwhile, the guy who was in charge of the project is on a Navy submarine, heading to the base.  Some IDIOT thought it would be a good idea to include a prosecuting attorney type guy who constantly barrages the project leader with accusations of running an unsafe facility.  Finally the sub arrives at the base, they're all saved!  No wait, just then the sub's engine room spontaneously combusts - for no freakin' reason whatsoever - so they have to wait another 25 minutes (they can estimate this precisely) before being rescued.

Turned it off at that point.  1.5/5.

[M.10rda]

THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY (1972):
THE EXORCIST didn't invent possession movies in '73 and despite its rep I think it has significantly less to say about anything besides demonic possession than this veeery interesting and quite bizarre earlier film. If I assert that Shirley MacLaine has never been hotter, it's 'cause I grew up in the era where she was already playing old lady roles, and most of the earlier stuff I've seen her in has been in B+W. Full-color 40ish Shirley is a stunner as "Nora", and Madame 10rda adds that her (constantly changing) hairstyles and wardrobe are incredible. That's probably the best thing that can be said about Nora, a divorced NYC mother of two who spends her alimonied days innovating Karen-hood and hovering with concern around her younger brother Joel's personal life. We spent the first 10 minutes of the film under the impression that Joel (Perry King) was her lover, not her brother, which turns out to be entirely by the film's design...

Nora quietly tolerates Joel's romantic life but would really prefer if he'd move uptown from that nasty apartment in the West Village, where he's surrounded with all those poor people and... Puerto Ricans! When Joel starts acting erratically, even violently, w/ no subsequent recollection of his actions, Nora is certain it must be the influence of Joel's no-good (and unseen) best friend Tonio Perez. What else could account for Joel's abrupt outbursts of Spanish profanity?! Maybe it seems automatically clear where POSSESSION OJD is going, but - I'd demur! There is one hell of a shock (subtly handled, moreover) halfway through and another one about fifteen minutes from the end. Those last fifteen minutes also escalate from tasteful psycho-melodrama into outright Sleaze. POSSESSION OJD really goes some places...!

Director Waris Hussein mostly made TV movies after this and appears to have never made anything nearly as interesting ever again. Maybe producers got wise to what he was doing. Although POJD is certainly "problematic" at times, it's clearly commentary on race and class, not kneejerk regurgitation. Hussein was UK Indian, and the first stretch of POJD sprinkles the faces of brown servants and menial workers in the margins of its frame, all looking pensive or p1$$3d off as they tolerate the excesses and microaggressions of Nora and her upper-class white community. In the second stretch, Nora courageously ventures into the Village to solve Joel's problems and suddenly she is the lone alabaster face in a sea of Latinos - and predictably she just can't take it! By the end, Nora and the audience are presented with two explanations for Joel's psychosis, both entirely plausible within the narrative. One attributes Joel's condition to demonic possession, and the other requires Nora to accept that Joel is the product of familial neglect and congenital mental illness, a theory which also implicates Nora. Hussein is admirably non-partisan about the issue, but nevertheless, what position do ya' think Nora clings to?

4/5
Today I suppose this would be labeled "elevated horror", but many such contemporary films lack POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY's rigorous criticality. It isn't that They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To - I don't think they ever made 'em like this!

[HappyGilmore]

Just watched Jurassic Park.

In the middle of watching The Lost World: Jurassic Park . They're all streaming on Peacock.

I've only seen the first one before. All but the new one in theaters is on here.

[chainsaw midget]

As a tribute to the recently deceased Michael Madsen, I decided to watch a movie he was in that I'd been putting off since it came out about a year ago. 

Monster Mash. 


The plot is... Dr. Frankenstein (played by Michael Madsen, who obviously didn't care to put any effort into the role) is dying.  So he sends out his monster Boris to get body parts from famous monsters so he can build a new body for himself.  Boris, the Frankenstein's Monster's first stop is Dracula's castle.  And Dracula isn't home, so he kidnaps Dracula's daughter who isn't fully a vampire somehow. 

The Boris is sent after the other others.  The rips the Mummy's heart out.  He, at least partially, skins the Invisible man alive.  He cuts off the Wolfman's arms and legs with an axe.  Meanwhile, Dracula is trying to play catch up, healing and restoring the monsters after their injuries in the attempt to track down whoever this "Frankenstein" character is. 

Oh and between his outtings, Drac's Daughter is befriending the Monster.  Eventually, Dracula, together with the Invisible Man, the Wolfman, and the Mummy all arrive at Dracula's castle which is fully  of booby traps. 

But they're not able to stop the doc from activating his new body once he gets his final ingredient, Dracula's blood.  Dr. Frankenstein turns into a large CG monster and Dracula has to turn into a huge Bat which honestly, doesn't look CG.  I'm not sure if it was puppets or stop motion, but it looks odd in a completely different way that the Monster Frankenstein. 

As a whole, despite everything I've mentioned, the movie for the most part feels dull and boring.  I know it's Asylum, but you;'d figure even Asylum wouldn't come up with something interesting when almost ever single character that appears on screen is a monster of some kind.