Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

Spirit Halloween:  The Movie

A group of friends that are growing apart and argue over whether they're too old to trick or treat decide instead to sneak into a Spirit Halloween store, hide until it closes, and then spend the night inside.  Little do they know this store is haunted by an evil Christopher Llyod that likes to posses those big Spirit Halloween animations.  

Nothing in this movie really makes much sense, feeling like they just roughed a first draft of the script and stuck with it, nor is is nearly as scary as it could have been.  It feels a lot like an old made for TV Halloween special.  

One thing that did stand out for me though is the store they use is clearly an old Toys R Us.  So that was kind of nostalgic.  

I was working for Spirit Halloween when this movie came out in 2022; I still haven't seen it, but a couple of the twenty-somethings I worked with at the time did, and they said it "sucked."

The odd thing was that the stores did barely any promotion for the movie. You would've thought they would've been pimping the hell out of what was, essentially, a full-length commercial for their stores, but aside from ONE poster for the movie by the store entrance, there was nothin'. No tee-shirts, no video monitors playing the movie trailer, no tie-in merchandise, nothin'.

I guess the company must've seen the movie prior to release and realized it was a turd, so they washed their hands of it.

[FatFreddysCat]

Back on topic, I've been watching this for the past two days:

"RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop" (2023)
An insanely in-depth four hour (!) documentary (streaming on Tubi) on the making of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic RoboCop (which happens to be my favorite movie ever).
This thing is packed to the gills with cool behind the scenes photos and film clips, and comments from pretty much every surviving cast member as well as Verhoeven himself, the writers, the producers, etc., etc. I am pretty sure that I now know everything there is to know about the original Robo. If you love this movie as much as I do, you'll be in Nerd Heaven with this doc.

[lester1/2jr]

Billy The Kid (2007) - This isn't about the cowboy Billy the Kid, it's a regular kid named Billy. He is, I guess, mildly autistic and not one of the cool kids, but not wildly deranged or anything. It's better than the usual Tubi doc, but really just a slice of life kind of thing, not exciting enough to be picked up by like Netflix. I enjoyed it, though!

In suburban Maine, Billy walks the halls of his school and the streets like a real life Napoleon Dynamite: clearly an outcast but also with a lovable kind of self confidence. Besides of figuring out life, his main goal is to ask out Heather, a waitress at the local dinner who has some medical sort of issues ( her eyeballs go all over the place) too, so there's a little "Like Normal People" in with the Napoleon Dynamite. His Mom is raising him by herself and they're a bit lower on the economic ladder than the kids at the school. His story is an awful lot like mine ( I had better musical taste). Others may not relate as much.

It took me two nights/ sessions to watch but it was compelling. The conversations are often super awkward, but authentic because of it. Ultimately, it does lack a "hook" the kid isn't Amish or something but it's really good. I've never seen "Gummo" but I bet those people would like it.

4.75/ 5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015)
30+ years after "Return of the Jedi," the Empire has been replaced by the even more malevolent First Order, led by the villainous Kylo Ren. A former Stormtrooper and a lady scavenger end up mixed up in a plot to help the Resistance destroy the First Order's newest super weapon with help from some old friends.
Disney's first shot at re-igniting the Star Wars franchise is a mostly satisfying slab of fanboy service, introducing some new characters for the kids to follow and a healthy dose of call-backs to the classic entries to please the old fans.
The rest of the sequel trilogy remains mired in Internet fanboy hatred and controversy to this day, but I liked those two films as well. Maybe I'm just easy to please. (shrugs)

[FatFreddysCat]

"America Lost" (2019)
An engrossing, but terribly depressing PBS doc that zooms in on three formerly-robust industrial cities  - Youngstown, Ohio; Memphis, TN; and Stockton, CA - and examines the devastating effects that the loss of manufacturing jobs has had on the populace. Lots of shots of abandoned factories and houses and comments from citizens on the death of the American Dream.

[Dr. Whom]

The Lair of the White Worm (1988)

The slaying of the d'Ampton Worm has always been regarded as a legend, but when an archaeologist unearths a strange skull dating back to Roman times, this may be proof that there may be more to it. Then there are the mysterious disappearances. And what is the role of the slinky Lady Sylvia.

This is Ken Russell in peak form. He really leans into the silliness of it all, with snake charming bagpipes, psychedelic visions and tons of phallic/snake imagery. Amanda Donohoe is having a blast as the snake vampire femme fatale, and you have a young Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi fighting off a giant snake. To be taken seriously at your own risk. Highly enjoyable.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017)
Rey seeks out Luke Skywalker's help to grow in the Force, while Leia and the rest of the resistance make a desperate last stand against the First Order in the second part of Disney's sequel trilogy. Bigger and splashier than "Force Awakens," and with less reliance on referencing the old films, so you don't feel as much like you're sitting through a re-run. Probably the most ambitious entry of the sequels.

[RCMerchant]

the HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (2018) Dir.- Lars Van Trier.

Ok-this movie is f**ked up. I haven't seen a movie this down right creepy in a looong time.
Matt Dillon plays Jack-a serial killer who views murder as art. I'm not going to go into the plot except say, if you wanna see a movie that just is f**king SCARY and never lets up-this is it.   The Good Rev must see this.
SEE IT NOW. If you dare! Moohoohahaha!

[Alex]

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

The first review I read for this absolutely slated it, but it also mentioned that the reviewer liked Answer the Call and thought it was really funny.

Safe to ignore his views then.

Sure it leans into the nostalgia bucket a lot more than Afterlife, but both me and Kristi enjoyed this and had several laughs throughout its run time. It does take a while to get going and you'll know how the plot twist turns out long before it happens, but it is just a fun movie. I am confident there is at least one member of this forum who will absolutely hate it (but I also take them not liking a movie as a sign that I'll enjoy it).

One thing that does get me though. How often are the Ghostbusters going to be lauded as heroes for solving a problem that they caused?

[lester1/2jr]

^ I might just do that RC

Us (2019) - I cancelled my netflix account because after going fully streaming, I didn't realize I couldn't watch this exact movie unless Netflix felt like putting it up, which they hadn't for some reason. Now that I've seen it, I believe more than ever that I was in the right, particularly considering the generic horror offerings they did have: The Crabcoat's Daughter or whatever it was, etc

Us is scarier but not quite as solid as Get Out, which had the perfect combination of social commentary and classic-style horror. Get Out was also fun to watch while with Us, I felt like I was mentally discussing various director/ plot decisions the whole time rather than getting lost in it. That said, there is some VERY cool stuff here and the ambitious plot is attacked with vigor by the director. That's really the main difference between this and, say, The Strangers. He's creating a universe.

watched in one night and went to bed at 4 AM rather freaked out by the experience. Some of the dialogue was funnier than people generally are? but whatever. It's better than I could do.

4.65/ 5

edit: now reading the reviews and most people didn't like it very much. maybe I was being too charitable? or blinded by the stuff I did like to the stuff that was maybe a little dodgy

[RCMerchant]

^ I dunno about "other" people, but I enjoyed US (2019) quite a bit.

[M.10rda]

I think each of Peele's successive films are more ambitious and admirable than the one that preceded it and both are at least equally as good as GET OUT if less satisfying. I love that Peele made a lot of money and won an Oscar his first time out and now I'm convinced he doesn't care, he's just making movies he wants to make.

Also I wanted to say I watched LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM when I was maybe 11 or 12 and it was a little over my head (obv!) but it stuck in my brain, and then I revisited it a couple years ago... peak Russell. Understated hilarity, and also surprisingly creepy, particularly the scene w/ the boy scout and the final scene.

[lester1/2jr]

^ I saw Lair of the White Worm around the same time and similarly couldn't make sense of it but I thought I liked it.

[claws]

Road House (2024)

Mildly entertaining and strongly underwhelming. Unnecessary remake of a 1980s cult classic. How can you replace Patrick Swayze, Sam Elliott and The Jeff Healey Band? You simply can't.

Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC fighter is a tough sale. I feel like his haircut does not say former UFC at all. He takes on the task to clean up a rowdy bar, all jacked up and wonky-eyed. Then Conor McGregor shows up and things get cringy and take a nose dive. Why was McGregor in this? He only made the film worse. Didn't they notice while filming?

Either way, the only thing I wanted to see was Gyllenhaal kicking McGregor's ass because McGregor is an annoyance to watch. Instead, McGregor kicks Gyllenhaal's ass whenever they meet, as in always scoring much more hits. How frustrating is that? The final confrontation starts with a bang, but runs out of steam halfway through, gets stuck in a choke hold attempt that seem to go on forever and finally ends with murder, for a cheap final thrill, to make up for the boring second half. Overall a sissy fight in my opinion.

Bonus cringe: McGregor fights in short shorts only during the final showdown.

Despite all this, it isn't really a bad bad movie, but not good either. It's the kind of film you play in the background while on your PC, taking a look once in a while. There was not one scene interesting enough to make me stop and look for more than 3 minutes.

Intended for theatrical release, but Amazon decided to stream, much to the surprise of the director and producers.

2/5

[Dr. Whom]

The Black Hole (1979)

Continuing catching up with movies I missed first time round, I go to The Black Hole. The succes of Star Wars (as it was known then), set all productions looking through their backlog to see if they had something in development to cash in on the trend. I imagine the process was something like this

Disney: There seems to be money in the SF thing after all, so we are going to make your Gothic captain Nemo in space movie.
Writer: Great
Disney: But you'll have to add a friendly robot and lots of shootouts with lasers
Writer: Oh

First of all this looks magnificent. The set design, art direction, the sheer scale of it all are absolutely mindblowing. This is one of the movies that makes me want a bigger TV-screen. Also the special effects hold up remarkably well after all this time. The problem is the script, or lack of it. There is hardly any characterisation and the plot would barely suffice for a by the numbers episode of Star Trek TOS or the original Battlestar Galactica. The robot goons are useless, and might as well be in an Alfonso Brescia movie. Maximilian is of course superbly threatening and foreshadows the Terminator.

Had I seen it at the time, I am sure I would have been blown away by the visuals. As it is, it is more something of a missed opportunity.