Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Alex]

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die.

I found this to be enjoyable, slightly more intelligent than normal sci-fi. It is aimed squarely at the dangers of AI, but I didn't find it overly preachy. You have time travel and reality jumping so its one that you need to pay some degree of attention to or you are not going to follow the plot. An easier, more accessible version of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once maybe?

[indianasmith]

Weekend Double Feature:
BOGIEVILLE - A down-on-his luck, recently fired auto mechanic and his also recently fired bartender girlfriend take off in his truck and get in a wreck near a threadbare, decrepit trailer park.  The caretaker offers them a job - which turns out to be guarding a nest of vampires that sleep in the trailers by day and wreak all kinds of havoc by night!  This one had plot holes a mile wide, but the vampire makeup was pretty cool and the kills were nice and gory. 2.5/5

THE GRAVE DANCERS:  This was an excellent horror film with some really spooky moments; all about three college friends who go to the cemetery at night to mourn an old friend.  They wind up getting drunk and dancing in the moonlight over some graves, which triggers a very angry haunting phenomenon.  Decent story, some good jump scares, and a surprisingly engaging plot.  4/5

[indianasmith]

NORTON CREEK MASSACRE (2026) - Half AI, half actual film, this rancid pile of cinematic garbage is, in my daughter's words, a "fever dream of stupid."   A lonely loser whose vocal cords were stolen from him as a kid becomes a woefully incompetent serial killer, but his sole friend, a hulking AI monster that looks half demon, half minotaur, picks up his slack and kills the ones that he lets get away.  Then the homicidal duo run into a nest of vampires who have come to a country house to turn a new victim into one of their coven, and bloody mayhem ensues.
   Honestly, this synopsis makes the film sound much more coherent than it actually is.  The screenwriting makes about as much sense as one of Dalmatian Bobby Samaritan's posts.  The only reason I might give it more than one star is that it was so unpredictable and random I found myself unable to turn it off until it was done - but then I realized that was the hook to get me to watch the entire, awful mess that was this movie.  So. . .  one star it is!

1/5

Please watch this, so I don't have to suffer alone!   It's on Prime.

[M.10rda]

"Have you heard about the lone-some lo-ser?"
Thanks to you, Indiana, now I have! I will probably take you up on your challenge. We often have opposite reactions to movies so maybe somehow I will love this one?

[Rev. Powell]

HER PRIVATE HELL (2026): More setting than story, the plot somehow involves an actress and her relationships with her distant father and a stepmother who's her own age, a mythical serial killer called the Leatherman, and flashbacks of a GI hunting the Leatherman, all occurring in a dreamlike hotel and city. The beautiful people lit in beautiful neon are beautiful, but with wispy incidents even more diffuse and opaque than the mist that infects the city, it's a struggle to care. 2.5/5.

[Dalmatian Bobby Samaritan]

Honestly, this synopsis makes the film sound much more coherent than it actually is.  The screenwriting makes about as much sense as one of Dalmatian Bobby Samaritan's posts.  The only reason I might give it more than one star is that it was so unpredictable and random I found myself unable to turn it off until it was done - but then I realized that was the hook to get me to watch the entire, awful mess that was this movie.  So. . .  one star it is!

1/5

Please watch this, so I don't have to suffer alone!  It's on Prime.

My troubles have been lifted. A frisking of glee because now I have cuid oidhche. And great golly grapes I have reached an accord.

Scary thought! I really would prefer only one me. Man.

I am really tempted to see this though. I can't turn down an opportunity to see great minds think alike. Thanks Indiana. You will never suffer alone Indiana. As long as you are friends with the Beast!

[M.10rda]

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925):
Second adult viewing though I also saw it at least once as a kid. The OCD is compelling me to revisit silent films I've watched in the past to make sure I watched 'em right the first time. This didn't turn out well with/for THE GENERAL and likewise, uh, POTO here is also looking long in the tooth.

Lon Chaney was a great actor, and he's under that makeup, surely. However we don't see the makeup until nearly halfway through the movie, and then the mask goes right back on again, and it only comes off again in the last 10 minutes or so. The image of Christine unmasking Phantom at the organ is monumental, as is the image of Phantom appearing at the masquerade as Red Death and (shortly thereafter) hanging from a statue in the same outfit to spy on Christine and Raoul. Otherwise, Chaney is offscreen for most of the film or hidden behind heavy masks and wardrobe. The mini-flood near the end that almost takes out Raoul  is fun. Other than that...

This is a professional and expensive production, but it's... slow and a bit boring. Mary Philbin doesn't bring much to the table as Christine. Raoul sucks (as he almost always does). Carlotta and the producers (unnamed here) don't do much and there's no Madame Giry. The ending is - amusing on its own, but far inferior to Lloyd-Webber's. Actually, watching this again makes me appreciate how much LLoyd-Webber got right/ideal.

I will say, there is zero romantic frisson between Phantom and Christine, and very little potential to feel sympathy for Phantom. He's a just plain creepy and homicidal Incel. In spite of legions of swoony fans to the contrary, the character is also a creepy, homicidal, toxic, largely objectionable Incel in the ALW musical....... but, by virtue that he gets to sing a lot and talk (unlike here), the audience is compelled to empathize w/ Erik the Phantom's miserable lonely sad life in the musical. In this flick, he's just another monster... a cool-looking monster, but just another monster.

3/5 because I've -oclasted enough icons for one week, but, ehh, I liked this a lot less than I did 20 years ago. Maybe the secret to enjoying movies is being blitzed?

Also, I shall never pass up an opportunity to mention that I played Phantom in high school, w/o makeup. Yup.  Audiences were still horrified during the organ scene!

[Dr. Whom]

Also, I shall never pass up an opportunity to mention that I played Phantom in high school, w/o makeup. Yup.  Audiences were still horrified during the organ scene!

So they took one look at you and decided you'd be right for the part?

[M.10rda]

Actually most everyone agreed that a much better-looking guy named Zach who could sing nicely and whom all the girls were in love with should play the role. But I was an actual actor, unlike Zach.  Plus he would've cost money to make look ugly.