Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Trevor]

GONZO (2008)
The life and times of Hunter Thompson.
Unlike a lot of fast washes from A+E, this is a very detailed documentary of the very f**ked up author. A mad genuis. Lots of rare documentary footage and interviews with his friends and family. So sad he blew his brains out. A madman with an artists mind.

I read a story about him that he would sleep the whole day away and then when the sun set, he would work and party and do all he wanted until sunrise.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Death Race 2000" (1975)
In a dystopian future America, the biggest sporting event of the year is the Death Race - a cross country road rally in which drivers score points by running over innocent pedestrians. The current champion, "Frankenstein" (David Carradine) must defend his title against an aggressive lineup of challengers (including Mary "Rock N Roll High School" Woronov and a pre-"Rocky" Sylvester Stallone) and also deal with a resistance movement that wants to sabotage the race.
Paul Bartel's tongue-in-cheek sci-fi cult classic is still loads of sadistic car crashin' bone crunchin' fun.

[indianasmith]

THE PHANTOM EMPIRE (1989) - Directed by Roger Corman, this golden slice of B-movie cheese somehow slid by me during its original release, but I found it on Prime last night and LOVED it!  It features a young and slick Jeffery Combs, fresh out of his title role in RE-ANIMATOR, a forgettable cast of B-movie regulars, eye candy in the form of Sybil Danning (in black latex!) and Michelle Bauer (in nothing much at all), cannibalistic cave dwelling humanoids, a crashed alien space ship, pirated stop-motion dinosaurs, Robby the Robot, huge diamonds lying everywhere, and a plot that makes VERY little sense - although producer Fred Olen Ray assures his audience in the introduction that this movie is 100% true, and in the credits it even mentions that it was "Filmed on Location at the Center of the Earth."  Folks, bad movies simply don't get any cheesier than this!  Watch it NOW!!!  5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Heavy Trip" (2019)
A dorky small-time metal band from a tiny Finnish village embarks on a chaos-filled road trip to play their first-ever gig at a festival in Norway. Wacky hi-jinks ensue.
A very funny Finnish comedy that pokes affectionate fun at metalhead stereotypes, but in a respectful way. Fun stuff as long as you don't mind sub-titles.

[Gabriel Knight]

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (2023)

Archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history.

Against my better judgement, I went to see the new installment of Indy. I hated the fourth one when it came out; over the years, I learned to like it a little bit more, but it's still pretty bad. The fifth one was, to my surprise, an excellent movie. I left the cinema with a huge smile, something that hasn't happened in years.

The director, thankfully NOT Steven Spielberg, who lost his charm a long time ago, knew what went wrong with THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, and made sure to fix it all. No stupid Shia LaBeouf, no aliens nonsense, not uncalled-for CGI, no random atomic blasts, no triple-crossing worthless agents, and Indy this time is not a superhero.

In fact, I loved how they acknowledge the reality of his age. They made nice references to his previous adventures, and he actually cares about the death of his friends. I felt as if this movie was the most serious of the bunch, if that makes any sense. The story is engaging and with a nice ending. The time travel stuff was handled properly, with a great paradox involved. And overall, the adventure is strong.

Absolutely recommended. I dare to say, in terms of quality and entertainment value, it's on par with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. 9/10  

[M.10rda]

PRIMAL SCREAM aka HELLFIRE (1988):
The lead would be a welcome presence in any big budget studio film, provided he had about 5 lines, but his limited abilities wear very thin over 90 minutes, and he's by far the film's strongest actor...    

I did a little light research after the fact and I owe this guy (whose name is Kenneth McGregor) a small tip of my hat. Apparently he WAS indeed a (presumably welcome) presence in a number of big budget studio films... namely THE HURRICANE (w/ Denzel Washington), Allen/Coppola/Scorsese's NEW YORK STORIES, the Tom Cruise snoozefest COCKTAIL, and THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN... in all of which I presume he had small roles (as I have no recollection of him). I can confirm he had no more than 5 lines in Bryan Singer's original X-MEN, in which he played young Magneto's father in the opening sequence and certainly did not detract from what is the primary highlight of that mostly dumb movie. Anyway, good for you, Ken! Can I call 'em or can I call 'em? 

[Rev. Powell]

BLIND WILLOW, SLEEPING WOMAN (2022): A salaryman struggles emotionally when his depressed wife leaves him; meanwhile, his co-worker is approached by a giant talking frog who insists the timid accountant assist him in forestalling an earthquake that would devastate Tokyo. This French animated adaptation of several Haruki Murakami short stories is ambiguous, and literary, and well-served by an equally calm and dreamlike animation style. 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

BELLE [AKA FANGA] (2023): A modern retelling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: farm girl pledges herself to a lycanthropic beast-man to save her father's life; the twist is the Beast never reforms in this one. There's not enough money here to faithfully adapt the fairy tale, and not enough imagination to create a meaningfully offbeat variation, resulting in a well-meaning but boring effort whose only positive is the Icelandic scenery. 1.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Baltic Tribes (2019) - continuing down the road of deep European history tubi, Baltic Tribes take you into the realm of the last pagans of Europe. Christian crusaders try via preaching and more coercive means to convert them, but the tribes have a few tricks up their sleeve, yet.

It's overtly educational in places, yet also has violence and nudity, actually a pretty satisfying combo. The story is sort of subservient to the history, but it's solid enough: A Christian guy goes undercover with Pagans and sees how they live while also engaging in trade at various...trade-doing places (edit: markets!). The pagans are decadent but also unpredictable in their beliefs and he develops respect for them. Were the Crusaders really trying to save their souls? Or was it just an excuse to take their livestock and wives for their own?

5/5 might have been a slog as a full series but at one feature length thingy it works quite well



number one reviewer disagrees

Featured review
1/10
Someone was building Rome, some were running naked in the woods
One of the worst movies I've seen in my whole life. 0 dialogues, only the narrator (watched it in lithuanian) who's voice is awful. Even the sound effects aren't timed right (e.g. footsteps). Non-existent, unnoticeable story which lead you to seperate scenes/pictures. Some infamous facts about pagans weren't mentioned and the narrator felt like he was trying his best to make you love these tribes. It's like you were pushed to it.

I am from the Baltic region myself and in my opinion there isn't a single thing in this "civilization" which fascinates me. The fact that we accepted Christianity so late shouldn't be a brag."

I agree about the narrator's voice it sounds computer generated

[FatFreddysCat]

"Final Score" (2018)
A former American soldier (Dave "Guardians of the Galaxy" Bautista) arrives in London to take his niece to a championship football (aka "soccer" to us Yanks) match. When a squadron of Russian terrorists led by the late Ray Stevenson ("Punisher: War Zone") locks the stadium down and takes the entire crowd hostage to demand the release of a political prisoner, naturally Dave is the only one who can put a stop to the bad guys' shenanigans.
...so yeah, essentially this is a British spin on the classic "Die Hard" formula, but even though we've already seen this movie dozens of times, the action sequences are well staged and it was also nice to see former 007 Pierce Brosnan in a small but pivotal role. Worth a look for action junkies.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Ice Pirates" (1984)
In a drought-stricken future, Robert Urich leads a band of space pirates on a quest to find a lost planet overflowing with the universe's most valuable resource - water. Along the way he romances a princess, has a bunch of fights and space battles, and faces the dreaded Space Herpe.
...before "Spaceballs," we had this cheap, cheesy sci-fi action spoof (which reportedly began as a legit, serious sci-fi movie, before it had its budget slashed and was re-written as a comedy) that never really gets into gear. The cast seems to be really trying, but the story is a muddle, the sets are cardboard, the special effects suck, and the laughs are few and far between. You can safely skip this turkey.

[lester1/2jr]

Ice Pirates was a seriously hardcore late night mainstay circa late 80's

[FatFreddysCat]

"Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation" (2000)
An entertaining, in-depth documentary from PBS' "American Masters" series on the life and career of legendary animator Chuck Jones, whose fifty-plus years of cartooning earned him four Oscars and a legion of fans that includes Steven Spielberg, John (Pixar) Lasseter, Robin Williams, Ken Burns, Joe "Gremlins" Dante, Roger Ebert, Whoopi Goldberg, Matt Groening, and more - all of whom pay tribute to the master in this doc, accompanied by tons of vintage photos and clips of his work with Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, the Grinch, and more. A fun trip down memory lane for classic cartoon nerds.

[M.10rda]

THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (1990):
Second viewing (first time since the mid-to-late 90s) of what remains (one of, or) my favorite Paul Schrader film(s), at least as director. He hasn't made anything since that comes even close. (IMHO, naturally.) Actually, it's not a lot like the (very good) movies he'd made previously either. Elliptical, mesmerizing, and finally horrifying, it would make a great double feature w/ DON'T LOOK NOW. Generally it should appeal to fans of Peter Greenaway, Luis Bunuel, or Polanski (three directors who I think have little in common w/ Schrader). And that's about all I will say about the film itself, as the uninitiated should go in blind and enjoy some nasty surprises.

The extraordinarily Pinteresque screenplay (written by, appropriately enough, Harold Pinter!) raises many questions and answers few. I had more questions as the credits rolled, beyond the ones Pinter intended:
1.) What happened to Rupert Everett's career? He really disappeared around the turn of the century.
2.) Why did Natasha Richardson have to die? She's luminous in this and if she kept doing movies like this and HANDMAID'S TALE, she would be a Helen Mirren-sized legend by now...
3.) Did Helen Mirren jump from 45 to 70 overnight somewhere in the late 90s? (Asking for a friend.) She has been elderly onscreen forever, and it's always unnerving and refreshing to see her somewhat middle-aged, as here!
4.) To what extent did Christopher Walken's performance in this film influence his recurring "Continental" sketch on SNL... or vice versa?

Walken, btw, is extraordinary in one of his only maybe dozen or so truly serious roles. Of course, he would go onto play myriad comical variations on this character for the duration of his career, but ahhh... accept no substitutes!

5/5

[Jim H]

Steel Magnolias - Had somehow never seen it.  It's decently entertaining with great performances, but the overall story/script is basically just fine.  Was worth a watch.