Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

The Andromeda Strain (1969) - I could have sworn Andrew reviewed this on here but I guess not. At any rate, it works better as a thoughtful turkey than some serious scifi cinema. Its 2 hours long and the way the whole thing is structured is boring. The sets aren't particularly cool and the tension never gets above a slight murmur. it took forever to get through. I would definitely rec the BBC version of "The Lathe of Heaven" over this, even though it only available in 2nd gen copy.

It's a case where "solid" just isn't enough. wants very badly to be a 5 star masterpiece, but most will be remember how bored they were watching it

2.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Greetings From Tromaville!" (2018)
The history of Lloyd Kaufman's infamous Troma Films studio, best known for the "Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke Em High" franchises, is examined via extensive interviews, photos, and lots of gross out clips from the Troma back catalog.
This documentary was obviously a labor of love by a longtime Troma fanboy, but it runs way too long (a hair over two hours). Lloyd seems like a pretty cool dude though, and he obviously has mastered the art of making movies on the cheap and inspired a whole new generation of low budget film makers.

[Rev. Powell]

THE MASK (1961): A South American mask causes its wearers to have 3D hallucinations when they wear it, then to strangle women later. The three hallucination scenes are excellent, with voodoo priests and priestesses, Charon, floating masks shooting fireballs, and snakes crawling at the viewer from out of a skull's eye sockets; the story designed to support it (i.e. 90% of the movie) is extra-dumb. The 3D glasses that came with Kino's DVD worked perfectly. Glad I knocked this one off my bucket list. 3/5.

[RCMerchant]

 ^ I have that on vhs! It came with a pair of 3-D spex too!

[pennywise37]

that is on my list to watch i did start watching but i never finished it

[Dr. Whom]

The Creeping Terror (1964)

It is the creeping terror! Walk!! Walk for your lives!!

This is even more boring than I expected. Zontar, the Thing from Venus has more going for it. The internet informs me that there were dodgy financial dealings going on, which may explain a lot.
Still, it does have the most courageous character in B-movie history. I've never seen someone who thought that a guitar would be an effective weapon against an alien invader.

Also, a lot of snogging going on in this movie.

[FatFreddysCat]

Some appropriate July 4th viewing:

"Jaws" (1975)
The quiet seaside resort town of Amity is plagued by a series of fatal shark attacks, until the police chief (Roy Scheider), an old salt (Robert Shaw), and a young oceanographer (Richard Dreyfuss) head out to sea to hunt the critter down.
Steven Spielberg's mega-hit based on Peter Benchley's best seller broke every box office record in the book and ushered in the "summer blockbuster" era. It's been a few years since I last saw it, but "Jaws" still holds up extremely well.
"Jaws" was followed by several Spielberg-less sequels, which range in quality from "meh" ("Jaws 2") to "God-awful crap" ("Jaws 3" and "Jaws: The Revenge'). In my book, the O.G. is the only one you need to watch, but since all four are currently streaming for free on Peacock, I suddenly have an irrational desire to watch the rest... 

[FatFreddysCat]

Well, I did it... I spent my July 4th running the table on the "Jaws" series, and in the process, I witnessed the Law of Diminshing Returns first hand. 

"Jaws 2" (1978)
Summer has come to Amity Island again, and Chief Brody has another shark problem. This time the critter has its sights set on a group of teens out on a sailing trip. Cue more splashing, chomping, and screaming.
Obviously this flick pales against Spielberg's original but it's actually a pretty decent creature feature in its own right, with a lot of action and another decent performance by Roy Scheider (who apparently didn't want to do the movie, but he was contractually obligated to do so). Besides, when you compare "2" to the sequels that followed, it looks like solid gold.

"Jaws 3-D" (1983)
Chief Brody's now grown sons are working at the Sea World amusement park in Florida, which is preparing to open a new underwater attraction when a great white wanders in from the ocean and starts snacking on innocent employees. Most of the cast over-acts (especially Louis Gossett Jr. as the gruff park manager) and the 3-D effects, which I'm told weren't even that good in the theater, look ridiculous when flattened out for 2-D viewing. Overall, the whole movie looks like a cheap made-for-TV flick. The Sea World tie-in seems like a weird bit of product placement, too, now that I think about it. Why the hell would they want their park featured in a movie where the guests get eaten by the exhibits?

But even in 2-D, "Jaws 3-D" looks like Shakespeare compared to...

"Jaws: The Revenge" (1987)
The now-widowed Ellen Brody has lost her youngest son Sean, an Amity Police patrolman, to a shark attack. Convinced that sharks have something personal against her, she visits her last remaining son and his family in the Bahamas, where she romances a local pilot (Michael Caine) before yet another Great White shows up and ruins everything. Apparently we're supposed to believe that the same shark swam from Amity all the way to the Bahamas for the express purpose of finishing Ellen and her family off, or something. Anyway, the tropical scenery is nice to look at (especially after the dark, murky "3-D") but "Revenge's" ludicrous plot and hilariously cheap looking mechanical shark sink this one pretty quick. Worth a look only if you're a glutton for punishment (like me).
...I actually saw "Revenge" during its theatrical run when I was in high school. I feel like I'm one of only a few dozen people who can make that claim. 

[Alex]

Well, I did it... I spent my July 4th running the table on the "Jaws" series, and in the process, I witnessed the Law of Diminshing Returns first hand.  

"Jaws 2" (1978)
Summer has come to Amity Island again, and Chief Brody has another shark problem. This time the critter has its sights set on a group of teens out on a sailing trip. Cue more splashing, chomping, and screaming.
Obviously this flick pales against Spielberg's original but it's actually a pretty decent creature feature in its own right, with a lot of action and another decent performance by Roy Scheider (who apparently didn't want to do the movie, but he was contractually obligated to do so). Besides, when you compare "2" to the sequels that followed, it looks like solid gold.

"Jaws 3-D" (1983)
Chief Brody's now grown sons are working at the Sea World amusement park in Florida, which is preparing to open a new underwater attraction when a great white wanders in from the ocean and starts snacking on innocent employees. Most of the cast over-acts (especially Louis Gossett Jr. as the gruff park manager) and the 3-D effects, which I'm told weren't even that good in the theater, look ridiculous when flattened out for 2-D viewing. Overall, the whole movie looks like a cheap made-for-TV flick. The Sea World tie-in seems like a weird bit of product placement, too, now that I think about it. Why the hell would they want their park featured in a movie where the guests get eaten by the exhibits?

But even in 2-D, "Jaws 3-D" looks like Shakespeare compared to...

"Jaws: The Revenge" (1987)
The now-widowed Ellen Brody has lost her youngest son Sean, an Amity Police patrolman, to a shark attack. Convinced that sharks have something personal against her, she visits her last remaining son and his family in the Bahamas, where she romances a local pilot (Michael Caine) before yet another Great White shows up and ruins everything. Apparently we're supposed to believe that the same shark swam from Amity all the way to the Bahamas for the express purpose of finishing Ellen and her family off, or something. Anyway, the tropical scenery is nice to look at (especially after the dark, murky "3-D") but "Revenge's" ludicrous plot and hilariously cheap looking mechanical shark sink this one pretty quick. Worth a look only if you're a glutton for punishment (like me).
...I actually saw "Revenge" during its theatrical run when I was in high school. I feel like I'm one of only a few dozen people who can make that claim.  

Saw Jaws 4 in the theatre too. I feel your pain. And I was in high school too lol.

[Dr. Whom]

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

Groundhog Day meets Gilmore Girls. The gimmick of a day on endless loop is used to tell a coming of age story. It is an unpretentious feel good movie. It won't blow you away, and your tolerance for the cutesy quirky vision of suburbia may vary, but the chemistry between the main characters is sweet, and it moves at a brisk pace, so if you want something pleasant to watch after a tiring day, this would fit the bill.

[Alex]

The Dark.

A young girl who seems to be some kind of undead creature haunts a local woods, killing intruders. She comes across a young boy who has been blinded and decides to become his protector. Both have been victims of abuse but can they find redemption together? I found this to be a curious, but interesting movie and one to be watched alone.

[lester1/2jr]

Dark Skies - second viewing and it must be because I've half watched so much crap lately that this came off as way better than before. Keri Russell plays it straight and perfectly as a suburban Mom struggling realtor whose family is besieged by some sort of unexplainable thing. Her husband has a weird infection, weird formations of household goods appear in the kitchen, and the kids are becoming pariahs because of all the stuff surrounding the family. It's ultimately a "the Birds" variation, not in the animals attack sense but in the "a baffling thing is happening how do we deal with it?" way.

5/5

[Jim H]

The Amusement Park - A lost and found Romero film.  Clearly a work for a hire, but nevertheless it has Romero's fingerprints.  Eerie and dream like, and its rough look and feel works in its favor, and almost nothing about it feels dated - the message is, if anything, more relevant today.  Worth a watch.  8/10.

The Prey - Chinese/Thai/Cambodian production, yet another prison version of The Most Dangerous Game.  Only now it's so poorly written its actually confusing, and also boring.  Looks OK and a couple OK performances, some of the action sequences are handled competently.  But man, it's dull, to the point I was spacing out and kind of lost part of the plot thread in the last third.  Just terrible - watch Turkey Shoot instead.  It's kind of bad too, but less boring.  2/10.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Frozen" (2010)
Three skiiers find themselves stranded fifty feet in the air when the chair lift shuts down for the night while they're still on it. As night falls and the weather gets worse, the trio has to battle the elements, each other - and eventually, a pack of hungry wolves -- to stay alive.
...obviously this is not to be confused with the Disney movie by the same name! :D
Adam "Hatchet" Green's effective, wintry survival thriller makes the most of its simple premise, and keeps the tension cranked up throughout. I don't ski, but I imagine that if I did, this movie would be my worst nightmare come to life. Good stuff.

[zelmo73]

Some appropriate July 4th viewing:

"Jaws" (1975)
The quiet seaside resort town of Amity is plagued by a series of fatal shark attacks, until the police chief (Roy Scheider), an old salt (Robert Shaw), and a young oceanographer (Richard Dreyfuss) head out to sea to hunt the critter down.
Steven Spielberg's mega-hit based on Peter Benchley's best seller broke every box office record in the book and ushered in the "summer blockbuster" era. It's been a few years since I last saw it, but "Jaws" still holds up extremely well.
"Jaws" was followed by several Spielberg-less sequels, which range in quality from "meh" ("Jaws 2") to "God-awful crap" ("Jaws 3" and "Jaws: The Revenge'). In my book, the O.G. is the only one you need to watch, but since all four are currently streaming for free on Peacock, I suddenly have an irrational desire to watch the rest... 

Get the 4K Blu Ray if you have a 4K TV with HDR and a decent surround sound system. The movie has always looked great since the good ol' VHS days, but 4K really brings out all of the fine details. I was skeptical of this format making the robot shark look fake, but much to my surprise it did the exact opposite! Still one of the best movie monsters ever created in film history.