Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Almost Famous" (2000)
A teen with dreams of becoming a rock n' roll journalist manages to B.S. his way into a writing gig for *Rolling Stone*, going on the road with an up-and-coming band called Stillwater.  Along the way, he learns not only about the music biz, but also about life, love, and groupies.
Cameron "Jerry Maguire" Crowe's period drama, set in the early 70s and based on his own experiences as a teen rock writer, is one of the best, most authentic rock n' roll movies ever made.

[lester1/2jr]

^ I have always wanted to see that. I see that it's on Plutotv, so I will finally check it out hopefully.

Prom Night 2 (1987) - Wow. This is one of the craziest movies I've ever seen. It's not very scary, but they make up for it with campy weirdness and a very cute blonde lead actress. It has a sky high 91% google rating and it's easy to see why. I actually almost turned it off half an hour in because the director didn't seem to come from a horror background and the supernatural aspect was so vast that it just seemed silly. It is, but you have to just go with it.

A "Carrie" style horrible incident happens at a prom in the 50's and the spirit of the woman who died causes havoc at the same school in the 80's. You know the girl is possessed because she always used the massively clever parting words "See you later, alligator". She will be walking stark naked through the girls locker room sexually harassing her best friend or mounting the school principal in his office, then she'll go "See you later, alligator". Who came up with this whole concept?

4.5 /5 I took half a point off for the scene where she makes out with her Dad. I know she is the spirit of some other person, but, I mean, we live in a society here.

[M.10rda]

UNDER EIGHTEEN (1932):
Perhaps the most self-consciously sleazy title I'll type all year adorns an absurdly tame pre-code romantic melodrama in which I'm reasonably sure all of the cast members are above the national legal age of consent. It's possible that one of the two sisters who get married at the beginning of the film are 17 at the time of their betrothal but then time passes and then they're adults who have been married for a while, thus - so much for that angle. I will confess my prurient interest in this film only to the extent that I'm always intrigued to find one of those legendary pre-code films that are shockingly naughty....... but I've yet to see one that truly earns such a reputation. (THE UNASHAMED and CHILD BRIDE are somewhat shocking in different ways, but both of those are from 1938, post Hays Code, and presumably not even submitted for approval/only screened to adults on tour for "educational purposes" or something).

Anyway, the opening wedding has some nice shots and some fun acting from cast members who may have actually gotten crocked on champagne. There's also a nice moment where the father of the bride sees his wife weeping at the altar during the ceremony and kind of sneers contemptuously at her emotional transparency....... then he looks at their daughter and he gradually starts choking up, too....... and then, to contrast this oddly affecting moment - the director shock-cuts to the father's grave.    Yup, a few years later he's dead and the rest of the movie is about the relationship travails of his two daughters, one of whom is married to an obnoxious wastrel and one of whom is partnered with a hard-working nice guy who delivers milk for a living. They seem in love but a milkman's salary just doesn't seem to satisfy her (even during the Depression) and so she tries to catch the eye of a rich guy. Catastrophe ensues!

There were some things about UNDER EIGHTEEN that were nicely handled. The characters talk about Black Monday 1929 as if it is still a huge influence upon their lives (which of course it would be), though the film isn't about the stock market or even about business or poverty, just people thinking about finances and making ends meet. (Often I feel like contemporary films are too afraid to reference epochal events of the 21st century unless the film is about those events.) The milkman also has an eloquent and somewhat insightful line to the (paraphrased) effect that "Rich people have all the same problems as poor people" and he only knows that because he gets to go around the back and visit their backdoors instead of only seeing their homes from the front. Of course he's right in some ways and also I'd totally disagree w/ him in other ways  but the screenplay is at least aware of artifice, appearances versus reality, class awareness, etc. All the romantic stuff did nothing for me, though.

3/5    The leads were competent, no one I'd heard of. Edward Van Sloan apparently has an uncredited bit part as one of the rich guy's attaches (I didn't spot him - he's one of like five dudes) - rather sad as he co-starred w/ Bela as Van Helsing only a year earlier!

[M.10rda]

THE FOUNDER (2016):
This is an odd little film that seems to have attracted controversy out of all proportion to its subject and mild/midbrow treatment. Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, the man who made McDonalds what it is today, for better or worse. A perpetually underachieving traveling salesman, Kroc stumbles upon a popular, efficiently run roadside diner, operated by two brothers played by Nick Offerman (looking bizarre w/ no moustache) and John Carroll Lynch (looking no more or less bizarre than usual). Kroc will initially convince the brothers to partner with him in a national franchise but inevitably the international phenomenon that bares their name will ironically be associated not with the brothers but with Kroc and some clown named Ronald.

The first 30+ minutes are impersonal and expository, as if THE FOUNDER isn't a feature film but a corporate promotional video about the company's history. Its director is John Lee Hancock, who directed one of this century's most mediocre/least deserving Best Picture nominees, THE BLIND SIDE. The screenplay though is written by the guy who wrote THE WRESTLER and BIG FAN, and eventually it reveals some smart and darker notes, though unfortunately never as dark as either of those films. Ray Kroc is ultimately treated like a tragic Shakespearean figure, trading morality and ethics for filthy lucre. Hence, I guess, a surprising amount of online debate about a film that was otherwise generally ignored by the public: some viewers think THE FOUNDER humanizes Kroc too much, whereas others apparently really love McDonalds burgers and are angry at the film for tarnishing Kroc's legacy.  I have no dog in this fight, but also have no problem whatsoever believing that a businessman might blithely degrade the integrity of a product or betray its creators. (Also, it's just burgers and fries we're talking about.)

To the film's credit, Keaton brings his entire toolbox of garrulous sports coach in/sincerity to the role... the (post-Miramax) Weinsteins put a lot of Oscar-ad money behind promoting THE FOUNDER. Offerman and Lynch similarly give disproportionately serious performances, perhaps hoping to ride Keaton's attention to a possible BSA nomination. Laura Dern is good as usual (though entirely too tall for Keaton) as Kroc's long-suffering first wife, and Linda Cardellini is Wife #2, Joan B.

3/5       ........And whatever else can be said for or against Ray, Joan Kroc has put his money to good use for many years in service and defense of national public media.

Best/most damning line of dialogue: "It's better to have one great restaurant than fifty mediocre ones". Ouch!

[lester1/2jr]

Fire Power (1993) - This wasn't really my kind of thing, but it did the trick for putting together a new skateboard background entertainment. In such circumstances, it was more about what's not there. I didn't like it as much as The Dolph Lundgren alien flying disk movie, but it wasn't bad for what it is and there was some decent action and tension and so forth. I was intrigued by the idea of the Hell Zone, a lawless area a la Kowloon Walled City where "even police don't go", but they didn't do too much with that concept, other than use it to establish how the "illegal MMA fights that sometimes result in death" can take place. 

Gary Daniels and some other guy are on the case to find some gangsters who are manufacturing an "illegal AIDS cure". I didn't quite understand that aspect. If they are curing AIDS why would you stop them from doing so? If the cure didn't work, why would anyone buy it? Anyway, they enter the Hell Zone and also the Octagon thing, to face a bunch of fighters who look like the guys you kick and kill in Street Fighter but also, ultimately, The Swordsman, played by steroid freak The Ultimate Warrior.

3.99/ 5 It had it's moments.

[indianasmith]

THRASH (2026)  Caught this one on Netflix last night with my daughter.  One of the better "killer shark" movies I have seen in a while; a Category 5 hurricane inundates the small town of Annieville, South Carolina, leaving the residents who refused to evacuate to deal with rising waters and a pack of murderous bull sharks.   Predictable mayhem ensues, but at least these sharks look fairly realistic, and the protagonists are somewhat sympathetic.  Way better than most SYFY originals, with the glaring exception of SHARKTOPUS, one of the best films ever made.  But this wasn't bad!  3.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

ENDLESS COOKIE (2025): A Canadian cartoonist interviews his half-Creek brother and his large family to make an animated documentary about their shared family history. The animation style is bizarre---cute/grotesque, with the main characters looking like clownish Mr. Potato Heads---and the narrative is extremely digressive, with coffee cups supplying commentary and flashbacks inside of flashbacks, but in the end it's a wholesome, inventive, and conversational portrait of the contemporary lives of indigenous Canadians, as well as a testament to a unique family. 3.5/5.

[M.10rda]

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002):
Second viewing - saw it in the theater in '02. It's held up well and falls into that pleasant category of Spielberg that's compelling but not mawkish or exploitative. (Come to think of it, most of my least favorite Spielbergs were released in the late 90s/early 00s around this one.) Hanks does a broad Boston accent and says the F-word, and DiCaprio is typically artificial/superficial/insincere in a way that works nicely, as of course he's playing a con artist. (I don't dislike DiCaprio but I think he's kind of a middling leading man - his best performances were the early supporting ones.)

It is a lot of fun to watch Hollywood films like this that are (now) decades old, just to see who will pop up for seconds or literally one shot. In this case it's Elizabeth Banks and Jennifer Garner, both of whom seem like they were already famous in 2002 but were probably thrilled to be in a Spielberg picture.

But the best reason to revisit CMIYC - probably its sole enduring claim to relevance - is Christopher Walken giving one of his best performances. This was only the second time he was nominated for an Oscar... of course he won for DEER HUNTER. In Walken's strongest scene (having dinner with DiCaprio in a pricey NYC restaurant) he recalls meeting his ex-wife in Europe during WW2... gets choked up and goes speechless for a moment, then struggles to regain his words. He basically does the same trick that earned his Oscar in his best scene in DEER HUNTER - and you know what? That same trick still works! Walken, what an incredible actor.    4/5

[chainsaw midget]

I saw Hocus Pocus 2.  It's ... fine.  It's not bad.  It's not great.  If you need a decent kid friendly Halloween movie it'll fit the bill.  It just doesn't feel as strong or as well put together as he first one.  There's a lot of stuff that feels just like they're doing it because the first one did it and it's expected now. 

They do try to give the Sanderson Sisters a sympathetic background and send off and that part never really works. 

[Rev. Powell]

FLEE (2021): An Afghan immigrant tells the story of his childhood and the troubles his family endured fleeing the Kabul before it was overrun by the mujaheddin. This empathetic historical documentary is (competently) animated to preserve anonymity (although the subject, though heavily traumatized, has nothing to be ashamed of). 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hype!" (1996)
Absorbing documentary about the Seattle "grunge" craze, from its humble beginnings as a small, insulated local music scene, to its worldwide explosion thanks to the surprise success of Nirvana, and its inevitable death by overexposure and mainstream acceptance. Loaded with cool concert clips and interviews with members of Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, the guys from Sub Pop Records, and many more. A true time capsule.

[M.10rda]

ROOMMATES (2026):
A Madame pick starring Adam Sandler's adult daughter Sadie, who apparently has appeared in most of his films from the past 15 or so years. (I... wouldn't know!) Sadie looks like a perfectly attractive young lady in wide-shot/from a distance, though in close-up it's pretty hard to avoid her facial resemblance to her father... plus she's got his nasal accent and inflection, too. Okay, I'll say it - she's pretty much a younger, slightly sexier  "Jill" from Sandler Sr's infamous JACK & JILL. (I admit I've watched the trailer and a couple random/oft-discussed scenes, like Sandler Sr's romantic scenes w/ Al Pacino.) I don't know how this may impact Sadie's future career prospects... ROOMMATES is produced by Adam, but he's got enough loot to keep underwriting his daughter's career, I'm sure.

Sadie is a college freshman forced to shack up with a complete sociopath (Chloe East, the Mormon who wasn't Sophie Thatcher in HERETIC, though I didn't recognize her until after the film because she was a Mormon in HERETIC and in ROOMMATES she's in a tiny bikini, in flagrante delicto with jocks, etc). The film is narrated in flashback by their R.A. (Sarah "Squirm" Sherman from "SNL", which I don't watch too much but maybe I should 'cause Sarah is a real weirdo and I like her). This framing sequence - where Sherman relates the sketchy narrative to the memorably named Storm Reid and Ivy Wolk (who is also weird and hot) - makes me think ROOMMATES was subject to rewrites and reshoots, but then maybe all Sandlerfilm shooting scripts read like they've been heavily meddled with in post. 

Much of this is no better than the early Sandler vehicles I remember from the 90s and early 00s, but I do like that the film refuses to cop out at the end and reconcile Sadie w/ unrepentant psycho East. Instead, East is punished (somewhat) for her crimes, and for that matter Sadie is hald accountable for her own. ROOMMATES bizarrely swipes its resolution from the bleak-as-hell David Mamet play "Edmond" (also a film directed by Stuart Gordon), though ROOMMATES somehow puts a jolly spin on it.

3/5    With welcome appearances from Natasha Lyonne, Carol Kane, Janeane Garofalo, and a Sanderfilm obligatory Buscemi jump-scare near the climax.