Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Wonder Woman 1984" (2020)
Sequel to DC's 2017 super heroine hit moves the action to the 1980s, pitting Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) against the villainous Cheetah (Kristen Wiig of "SNL" and "Bridesmaids") and Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a shady businessman whose wish-granting powers pose a threat to the entire world.
The first "W.W." movie was a home run, but this sequel is a double, at best. At two and a half hours, it's simply too damn long. For much of the first half, "WW84" seems to have trouble deciding whether it wants to be a butt kickin' action epic or a campy action comedy. The performances by the two villains are underwhelming (particularly Wiig, who's in way over her head).
Fortunately the action sequences are well done (I could watch Gal Gadot beat up bad guys all day) and a brief cameo by '70s W.W. Lynda Carter is a nice touch.
"WW84" got better as it went along, but compared to the first film it was a let down.

"Cosmic Sin" (2021)
Good grief, what's happened to Bruce Willis' career?
In this low budget sci-fi/action flick set 500 years in the future, Bruce sleepwalks through his role as a legendary space soldier who's called back to active duty to help stop an alien invasion. Lots of punching, blasting and zapping occurs as he leads a squadron of young bucks into battle, but the "story" is a hopelessly confused muddle, the sets and effects are cheap, and the supporting cast is bland.
In an interesting side note, one of the soldiers is played by Brandon Thomas Lee, son of Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. His acting skills are about on par with his Mom's, and I don't mean that in a good way.
Fortunately "Cosmic Sin" was short (just a hair under 90 minutes) so my suffering was minimal.
Do I even need to say it?  AVOID.

[Dr. Whom]

Olga's House of Shame (1964)

See Olga"s reign of terror as she runs her prostitution/smuggling/drugs ring/

An exploitation movie of the purest kind. There are some scenes with dialogue (and bad acting), but most of it are just ineptly filmed scenes of girls being bound and 'tortured' by the titular Olga, mostly in their underwear, sometimes topless, while a narrator tells the background 'story' (using the term loosely). All this is accompanied by very inappropriate classical music, even during the belly dance scenes.
Olga seems to have to spend so much time disciplining her girls, it is a mystery how she gets anything else done. If I was her, I'd seriously review my recruitment methods.

[Jim H]

My family watched Jolt last night.  Kate Beckinsale is a woman with a rage problem who electrocutes herself to control it.  They handwave this as making her stronger and a better fighter or something.
 They never really demonstrate this, and she never does anything extraordinary in the entire film.  Action sequences are mediocre at best.  It's also really stupid and telegraphs a lot if you know what to look for.  Parts of the plot barely make sense.  Not as fun as it wants to be.  Beckinsale is so-so.  But, passably entertaining for a crowd and not boring.  

I was lobbying to watch the Raid instead, which is a far better film across the board, but at least it wasn't boring.  It's also only like 80 minutes minus credits, which so many stupid movies these days neglect - if you're going to be stupid but passably entertaining, being short and fast paced is your greatest asset.  This film ticked that box at least.

4/10.

[zelmo73]

Blind Fury (1989) starring Rutger Hauer.

Premise: Vietnam vet Nick Parker who went missing in action after a disastrous special op in Vietnam leads to him being tortured and blinded by the enemy, then found by some villagers and trained in swordfighting by a village elder. Parker returns to the States to seek out his old war buddy and gets caught up in a criminal underworld scheme involving a crime boss who forces Nick's old war buddy Frank Devereaux to pay back his debts by mixing some blue crystal meth a la Breaking Bad and killing Devereaux' wife in the process during a home raid targeting Devereaux' family while Nick Parker just happens to be visiting Devereaux' home looking for him. Devereaux' wife's dying words to Parker was to protect their son at all costs, so Nick Parker is stuck escorting their bratty son and seeking out his dad...I don't know, the movie's plot was pretty lame, but it was fun watching Rutger Hauer's comedic side in this movie; he really could have excelled at comedy if he hadn't been typecast into action and villainy roles. He managed to play a blind guy to comedic effect without making it look like he was poking fun at blind handicapped people; though those handsome blue eyes of Rutger Hauer's didn't look very blind in this movie, he was able to pull off a convincing performance, particularly in a scene toward the end where the bad guys had Nick Parker cornered in a night club and he was stumbling around trying to get away and he kept blindly bumping into musical instruments that frustratingly gave away his position.

I watched this with my wife earlier tonight because I was telling her how great an actor that Rutger Hauer was; she kind of knew who he was but she's really not into movies all that much. I guess I could have picked a better movie to introduce her to Rutger Hauer's talents, but this just happened to be on my Amazon Prime Video watchlist, and this movie is fun to watch with another person in the room. Of all of Rutger Hauer's late '80s/early '90s B movies, Blind Fury (1989) rates up there as one of my all-time favorites. I'm actually happy now that I picked this movie to watch with my wife, because now she can really enjoy Rutger Hauer's best performance in Blade Runner (1982).  

[FatFreddysCat]

"After Porn Ends" (2012)
First of three documentaries that tracks down retired adult film stars from days gone by to see how they're adjusting to life after "the industry." Subjects include Crissy Moran (now a born again Christian and anti-porn activist), Asia Carrera (struggling single Mom) Mary Carey (mainstream reality TV buffoon), Tiffany Million (now a licensed P.I. and bounty hunter!) and more. Occasionally funny, sometimes depressing, always interesting.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Mortal Kombat" (2021)
A team of super powered fighters is assembled by an ancient order to represent Earth in an inter-dimensional martial arts battle royale. Bones crunch, swords clash, blood splatters, lather, rinse, repeat.

...I am definitely not the target audience for this movie-- I have never played a "Mortal Kombat" game or seen either of the two previous "MK" films, so I know absolute f*ck-all about this franchise. For whatever it's worth, I thought the stunt work was impressive, the special effects were pretty nifty, and with so much wall to wall ultra-violence it certainly wasn't boring.

However, my 14 year old son, who watched with me, is a massive "MK" fanboy and player, and this was his final analysis:
"It was pretty good... but Reptile looked like sh*t and I didn't like Scorpion's costume at all."
...I have no idea what any of that means, but I'll  take his word for it. :D

[Jim H]

My family again watched a bad movie together while I lobbied for us to watch The Raid instead.  This time it was the Doorman.

It's basically a low rent and crappy Die Hard knockoff.  A former decorated army lady takes a job as a doorman, turns out her brother in law lives there.  For various reasons, Jean Reno and some bad guys come in to steal something in the building.  Ruby Rose is the lead.  I'd only seen her in John Wick 2, where I thought she was fine as a mute killer.  Now with dialogue, she's just not very good.  Almost zero charisma.  She does OK in action scenes though.

The movie is just not very interesting, not well written, the action scenes are so so.  It's shot OK I guess.  It's so small scale too, a lot of it in like two or three rooms, in a way that kind of depressed me somehow for a movie that wants to be a big action movie.  I was thinking of Demolition High as a better version, with Corey Haim.  Crappy movie, low rent, but Haim was more entertaining and the scenario was much bigger scale with more action, more explosions, more interesting setting, etc. 

A final note, this is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, who has done good work in films like Versus, Godzilla Final Wars, and even Midnight Meat Train.  All far superior films.  There's occasional flashes of his visual flair especially in the action, but most of it is obscured in bad editing.  Very disappointing.

3/10.

[Dr. Whom]

Super Me (2019)

A scriptwriter who is down on his luck discovers that, if he wakes up at the right moment, he can bring treasure back from his dreams. He uses this ability to become fabulously rich, but there is retribution, both in this world and the dream world.

This is a fable about the present Chinese obsession with making money and living an opulent lifestyle. A strange movie and I am not entirely sure what happened or if everything makes sense (probably not). Still, I found it intriguing enough to keep my attention and it is beautifully shot. There is a definite gluttony in the way the protagonist's rise to riches and progressively more extravagant lifestyle is filmed.

If you like clear plots where every loose end is tied up at the end, this is definitely not for you.

Also, how did they get the Maserati out of the hotel room?

[zelmo73]

"After Porn Ends" (2012)
First of three documentaries that tracks down retired adult film stars from days gone by to see how they're adjusting to life after "the industry." Subjects include Crissy Moran (now a born again Christian and anti-porn activist), Asia Carrera (struggling single Mom) Mary Carey (mainstream reality TV buffoon), Tiffany Million (now a licensed P.I. and bounty hunter!) and more. Occasionally funny, sometimes depressing, always interesting.

Asia Carrera seemed to be the most down-to-earth and most comfortable with herself out of all of those has-beens. Her segment was the most fun to watch because being a part of that industry didn't seem to bother her too much. Crissy Moran and Mary Carey were probably the weirdest, but you know that drugs were undoubtedly involved with those two just by the way that they carried themselves.

[Rev. Powell]

STRAWBERRY MANSION (2021): In the future, dreams are taxed, and when a dream auditor goes to check in on an elderly woman who's off the grid he finds himself drawn to her dreams. If you've been craving a romantic Michel Gondry movie a la ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND or THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, this indie comedy fits the bill. Should be out on VOD later in the year.  3.5/5.

[Gabriel Knight]

"Mortal Kombat" (2021)
A team of super powered fighters is assembled by an ancient order to represent Earth in an inter-dimensional martial arts battle royale. Bones crunch, swords clash, blood splatters, lather, rinse, repeat.

...I am definitely not the target audience for this movie-- I have never played a "Mortal Kombat" game or seen either of the two previous "MK" films, so I know absolute f*ck-all about this franchise. For whatever it's worth, I thought the stunt work was impressive, the special effects were pretty nifty, and with so much wall to wall ultra-violence it certainly wasn't boring.

However, my 14 year old son, who watched with me, is a massive "MK" fanboy and player, and this was his final analysis:
"It was pretty good... but Reptile looked like sh*t and I didn't like Scorpion's costume at all."
...I have no idea what any of that means, but I'll  take his word for it. :D

Show him the original MORTAL KOMBAT from 1995 and let them judge the effects of Reptile from there. Try to film his reaction if you can. 

[Rev. Powell]

SATOSHI KON: THE ILLUSIONIST (2021):  A documentary survey of the career of influential animator Satoshi Kon. It would be impossible to make a bad documentary about Kon (unless you had no access to clips); this one does its job---and because his career was so short (four features and a TV series), ILLUSIONIST is able to take a deep dive into each title, which makes for a magical and illuminating trip down memory lane for fans. 3/5.

AGNES (2021): A demon possesses a sister at a conservative Carmelite nunnery, causing a crisis of faith for one of the nuns. Well-made on a low budget and totally unexpected; it begins as a black exorcist comedy and satire of the Catholic Church, then lurches into melodrama and ends on a surprisingly sincere note. The whiplash tone change will alienate many, but it is justified by faith. 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Alligator" (1980)
A pet baby alligator is flushed down the toilet, where it winds up in the Chicago sewers. A dozen years later, the critter has grown to immense size and is snacking on unlucky citizens, so a cop (Robert Forster) and a reptile expert (Robin Riker) team up to figure out how to kill it.

This urban "Jaws" variant scared the hell outta me when I was a kid, and it's still a fun watch all these years later. A solid creature feature.

[Rev. Powell]

RETURN TO OZ (1985): After being sent for experimental shock therapy (!), Dorothy Gale Returns to Oz, where she meets new magical friends and enemies as she tries to save the Scarecrow from the clutches of the Gnome King. It obviously cannot be compared to the original classic--for one thing, 11-year-old Fairuza Balk is no Judy Garland--but as an 80s-style children's fantasy, it's fairly involving (after a slow start). I'd be willing to go up to 3.5/5.

[pennywise37]

really i grew up on Return to oz (1985) it's always been among one of my favorite films