Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Force Four" (1975)
A priceless African artifact is stolen in broad daylight on the streets of New York, and four of NYC's most ghetto fabulous martial artists (including the man with the hall-of-fame name, "Warhawk Tanzania") are hired to recover it. When this not-so-fantastic Four hits the streets, a lot of butt gets kicked.
Everybody's kung-fu fighting in this mega-cheap blaxploitation/martial arts mix which features terrible acting and voice dubbing, klutzy fight choreography, and more padding than a MyPillow --there are numerous scenes where the characters just drive around for several minutes while funky music plays on the soundtrack, and the movie ends with a five minute re-run montage of all the (unimpressive) fight scenes we've just watched. AVOID this Chop-socky junk!

[lester1/2jr]

^I love that one

edit: I mean I love the Sinister Urge, but Force Four sounds intriguing!

[indianasmith]

Sickie Sunday Triple Feature (I was hurling up my guts all morning yesterday, so I laid in bed all afternoon and watched movies):

MEGALODON RISING (2021)  I felt bad for Tom Sizemore watching this movie; to think you had performed in Oscar-nominated films and are now reduced to starring in something like this horrible piece of cinematic dreck!  Basically, a Chinese vessel is conducting signal intelligence of the coast of California and gets attacked and sunk by a 300 foot Megalodon, and then a U.S. vessel with a feisty female captain is sent out to look for survivors.   They wind up in a standoff with the Chinese navy and being attacked by a trio of Megs all at the same time.  About as bad as it sounds. 2/5

LAST OF THE GRADS: (2021) A senior lock-in the night of graduation is a rich target for a psychopathic serial killer.  The kills are bloody enough, but WAY too much teen drama in between. 3/5

BLONDE (2022) A rather sad and dreary re-telling of the life of Marilyn Monroe, with some pretty steamy scenes from her love life, but mainly focusing on how the poor woman was exploited and used by every man she ever encountered.  Well done but depressing. 4/5

[Dr. Whom]

"Force Four" (1975)
A priceless African artifact is stolen in broad daylight on the streets of New York, and four of NYC's most ghetto fabulous martial artists (including the man with the hall-of-fame name, "Warhawk Tanzania") are hired to recover it. When this not-so-fantastic Four hits the streets, a lot of butt gets kicked.
Everybody's kung-fu fighting in this mega-cheap blaxploitation/martial arts mix which features terrible acting and voice dubbing, klutzy fight choreography, and more padding than a MyPillow --there are numerous scenes where the characters just drive around for several minutes while funky music plays on the soundtrack, and the movie ends with a five minute re-run montage of all the (unimpressive) fight scenes we've just watched. AVOID this Chop-socky junk!

I came across the trailer when googling Warhawk Tanzania (thank you again for bringing this up). It looked a bit like a Dolemite knock off.

[indianasmith]

FLOAT (2022) - One of the most incoherent horror movies I have ever watched!  A group of twentysomethings are going on their annual river float holiday, but for some inexplicable reason two of them decide to bring their five-year-old kid with them, while the Vlogger who is narrating the story is bringing the ashes of their friend who died on the river the year before.  Is there a monster in the river?  Is it the creepy old dude who tried to warn them not to go floating?  Is it a ghost story?   Is the river itself sentient and malicious?  This movie leaves so many questions unanswered, it's a good thing you don't care enough about any of the characters to try and figure it out!  2/5

[M.10rda]

"Force Four" (1975)
...the movie ends with a five minute re-run montage of all the (unimpressive) fight scenes we've just watched. AVOID this Chop-socky junk!

Yeah, FORCE FOUR is shockingly cheap and amateurish even by my exceedingly generous standards for such things, and the gratuitous final montage only emphasizes how thin the production was spread. (It was clearly only included to inch the finished cut closer to full-length feature film running time.) HOWEVER, I did appreciate that the performers looked like they were having a good time staging the fights. At least SOMEONE enjoyed FORCE FOUR!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Murder In The Front Row" (2019)
An affectionate look back at the famed Bay Area Thrash Metal scene of the early 80s, featuring interviews with and vintage clips/photos of Metallica, Exodus, Slayer, Forbidden, Death Angel, and... well, pretty much everybody else.
This is the 3rd time I've seen this extremely entertaining doc, and it's still great fun. Long time 'bangers probably won't learn anything new, but it's a nice trip down memory lane.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Down" aka "The Shaft" (2001)
(ala Beavis & Butt-head) "Heh. Heh. Shaft. Heh heh heh."
...a mechanic and a news reporter investigate a series of mysterious elevator-related deaths in a New York City office tower, and learn that the new high-tech computer that controls the lifts has become sentient - and gone homicidal. I swear, I am not making this plot up.
This is an Americanized remake of a Dutch horror film called "The Lift," written and directed by the same guy who did the original. The premise is totally absurd, of course, but the impressive cast (which includes a then-unknown Naomi Watts, the always dependable Michael Ironside and Edward Hermann, and even Ron "Hellboy" Perlman) plays it straight even as the movie gets more and more ridiculous as time goes on. Weirdly watchable, but I wouldn't call it "good" by any means.

[Dr. Whom]

"Down" aka "The Shaft" (2001)
(ala Beavis & Butt-head) "Heh. Heh. Shaft. Heh heh heh."
...a mechanic and a news reporter investigate a series of mysterious elevator-related deaths in a New York City office tower, and learn that the new high-tech computer that controls the lifts has become sentient - and gone homicidal. I swear, I am not making this plot up.
This is an Americanized remake of a Dutch horror film called "The Lift," written and directed by the same guy who did the original. The premise is totally absurd, of course, but the impressive cast (which includes a then-unknown Naomi Watts, the always dependable Michael Ironside and Edward Hermann, and even Ron "Hellboy" Perlman) plays it straight even as the movie gets more and more ridiculous as time goes on. Weirdly watchable, but I wouldn't call it "good" by any means.

Small confession, as a kid I was scared of elevators, so my younger self found the premise of 'De Lift' highly unsettling.

[lester1/2jr]

Curse of Aurore (2020) - Better than usual found footage thing taking place in Quebec. The backstory is the true story of a girl there who was killed (I don't know the whole story) but this is not a re telling of that.

Acting is always a big hurdle in these things and they pull it off with relative aplomb here. I liked the tension bating thing of the main girl having a leg brace and the fact that one of them was kind of quiet and one of them was sort of sleazy. The tarot card reading witchy woman was a little hack-y and the actual horror ie being scary element could have been stronger and what was happening better explained, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. more of this please

4.5 /5

[Dr. Whom]

The Violence Action (2022)

I started watching High Life, but after seeing Robert Pattinson being miserable for half an hour, I decided I wanted something more upbeat.

The Violence Action is about Kei, a schoolgirl assassin who makes Hit Girl look like Shirley Temple. She gets involved in a complicated set of double and triple-crosses among the yakuza. This is a manga adaptation and they are really going for it. Everything is turned up to 11, with improbable action, outlandish characters and tons of silliness. Highly entertaining.

[Alex]

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

All of Tarantino's weaknesses as a film-maker are on display in this film, although describing it more as a collection of vignettes would be more appropriate. There isn't really a plot to the film, it hangs together more by its theme than anything. You could easily cut an hour off the run time pretty much anywhere and the movie would make no more or less sense. It is pretty much Tarantino doing what he did to WW2 in Inglorious Bastards to the Manson family. This isn't to say it is a bad film. It meanders along, it was interesting enough that I didn't just put it off. If you like Tarantino's schtick, then I guess you'll like this. If you don't care for his movies, then I doubt this would change your mind. I felt there was something Cohen brothers-esque about it.

[FatFreddysCat]

"NIght Of The Lepus" (1972)
A science project intended to reduce the wild-rabbit population in the Southwest goes wrong and results in hordes of gigantic bunnies with a taste for human flesh. Hilarity ensues.
"Lepus" has become a cult classic thanks to its ridiculous premise (Giant or otherwise, rabbits are NOT scary.  Period!), the wooden acting and the hilarious scenes of regular-size bunnies stampeding through obvious model-railroad sized scenery.
I've always imagined Janet Leigh on the phone with her agent during filming of this movie: "What the F*** am I doing in a movie about KILLER BUNNY RABBITS? I worked with ALFRED HITCHCOCK for Christ's sake! When I get back to L.A. you are SO fired!"

[M.10rda]

"NIght Of The Lepus" (1972)
I've always imagined Janet Leigh on the phone with her agent during filming of this movie: "What the F*** am I doing in a movie about KILLER BUNNY RABBITS? I worked with ALFRED HITCHCOCK for Christ's sake! When I get back to L.A. you are SO fired!"

Hitchcock AND Orson Welles in a two-year span - then LEPUS a dozen years later. C'est la cinema!

[Rev. Powell]

LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE (2022): After a conk on the noggin, an aging screenwriter finds herself inside her unfinished action movie script. LEONOR explores the way stories inform life and vice versa by offering two films in one: a spot-on parody of a gritty macho Filipino action B-movie wrapped inside a dramedy about an eccentric grandma. Also with a ghost, a pregnant man, and random musical sequences. 4/5.