Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

I loved it and gave it a 5/5

[indianasmith]

THE WICKED ONES (2020) - Ten years after surviving a killing rampage by a twisted, possessed psychopath, Alex and Adam return to the scene of the crime to watch their teenage son and his band perform a rock concert.  But the killer is not dead; he has been waiting and biding his time, and has recruited two lunatics who killed their parents when they were children to help him in a new murder spree.  This is a brutal slasher film, not as explicit as, say, TERRIFIER, but with a sadistic bent that makes the villains especially loathsome.  A bit hard to watch at times, it gave me a DEVIL'S REJECTS sort of vibe.  3.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

Alien Vs Ninja (2010) - This might be the most badmovies.org recent viewings type movie I've ever seen. I don't know much about the Starship Troopers/ Syfy / Asylum side of all the stuff here so I wanted to see something along those lines. No surprise, it didn't exactly like directly speak to me, but it was different and rose to the occasion in it's own way. I was impressed with the effort that went into it, mostly the special effects on what appears to have been a tiny budget and also the superb fight scenes. The comedy not as much.

Ninjas who usually fight each other in the forest, including a clumsy comic relief one of course, now have to fight some aliens, who can shoot squigly intestine type things and baby aliens out of themselves. There is one attractive lady ninja and a fair amount of blood and gore. The only thing that really threw me off was the pacing. It's got 60 minutes worth of stuff in a 90 minute running time.

charitable 4/5 it did drag, but when it clicked it was great. Japanese

[Rev. Powell]

THE MADS: A NIGHT OF SPRINGTIME SHORTS: Some of the shorts--"Century 21 Calling" (a MST3K re-riff), a long-but-reassuring (!) Cold War report on how to deal with nuclear fallout, and a couple of 50s juvenile self-help numbers--are springier than others, but the latest compilation fulfills the usual number of hearty chuckles. A great Q&A guest in Kevin McDonald of "The Kids in the Hall" puts it into the above-average category. 3.5/5.

[M.10rda]

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014):
The eponymous young woman occupies a post-industrial wasteland almost as foreboding as David Lynch's Philadelphia and yet walks (and sometimes skateboards) alone at night anyway, since she's a cape-wearing crimefighter of sorts and also probably a vampire. She meet-cutes a guy with a complicated family situation and lots of moody silent staring ensues. This created a lot of buzz for writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour when it was released, but then she made THE BAD BATCH, which was roundly rejected and seemed to stall the ascension of her career. Personally I kind of liked the meandering, wacky BAD BATCH in spite of it ultimately being a bit of a nothing burger. I tried watching A GIRL... some years back and couldn't make it through.

I finished it this week, and I admire its strengths (like the highly textured B+W photography) while thinking I could've skipped it in perpetuity and not missed much. Amirpour is clearly inspire by Lynch (many shots of large machinery in motion, landscapes exposed only by headlights, extreme close-ups of lighters igniting, etc) and Jim Jarmusch, particularly his sloooooow early B+W stuff, though it's unclear if the also similar ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (2013) was released in time to influence this film. The small amount of action is handled effectively, and FWIW this is the only film I've seen IIRC that is shot entirely in the United States where all the characters speak Persian.......

Also, there's a cool cat. So 3/5, I suppose.

[Dr. Whom]

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972)

A girl is kidnapped and sold into prostitution. She rises to be a prized courtesan, all the while planning terrible revenge.

This Shaw brothers kung fu-sploitation has it all: rape, torture (implied), BDSM, (some) nudity, lesbian seduction and gory kung fu fights. A hoot!

[FatFreddysCat]

"The  Girl From Rio" (1969)
In this supposed sequel to "The Million Eyes of Sumuru," a secret agent and a crime boss join forces to stop a man-hating Amazon princess (Shirley Eaton, aka "the golden girl" from "Goldfinger") who's planning to conquer the world with her own private all-girl army.
There are lots of pretty girls and a cool, jazzy score in this slow moving, El Cheapo spy spoof, but those are the only things it's got going for it -- everything else (plot, acting, sets, and pacing) is strictly Amateur Night.
The flick was directed by notorious exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco (aka "the Spanish Ed Wood"), which explains a lot. Skip this unless you have a high tolerance for Z-movie pain.

[Rev. Powell]

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014):

Great cinematography but not enough going on. It made a splash but I don't think it's aged well. Amirpour has a lot of talent, but she just doesn't seem to have used it to great effect in the three movies I've seen from her. If she gets another chance I still think she could have a great movie in her.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014):
 this is the only film I've seen IIRC that is shot entirely in the United States where all the characters speak Persian.......

Look for UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE soon... Canada rather than the US, but it's all in Persian and it's a much better movie!

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Curious Female" (1969)
In the sexually-repressed 22nd century, a secret group of film enthusiasts gathers to watch a 20th century exploitation film about the adventures of three college virgins..
This weird-as-hell artifact of the Summer of Love can't seem to decide if it's a dystopian sci-fi movie, a softcore sex comedy, or a statement on the then-current morals of the day. Whatever it is, viewers spend so much time watching the movie-within-the-movie that I got the feeling that the sci-fi wraparound framing device was just a sneaky way to pad the flick out to feature length. The girls are pretty (and frequently undressed) but aside from that there isn't much to recommend here.
AVOID.

[M.10rda]

I am looking forward to UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, Rev, and w/ apologies to FFC, I am curious about CURIOUS FEMALE now, too! 

[indianasmith]

BLOOD TIDE (1982) - I know I've watched this one before at least once, but it was a long time ago.  James Earl Jones (looking young and fit) has a strong supporting role as a treasure hunter in this tale of a brother and his wife coming to a small Greek island looking for his missing sister.  Then there's an ancient beast that Jones wakes from its slumber, virgin sacrifices, lots of women with natural tans lounging around in swimsuits, and a bit of gore and explosions to spice it up.  Classic B-movie creature feature. 4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

I am curious about CURIOUS FEMALE now, too! 

It's on TUBI if you wanna check it out.

[Rev. Powell]

ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL (2024): A middle-class Zambian woman finds her uncle's dead body lying in the road, and then finds herself reluctantly tasked with hosting his funeral arrangements. I like to see more genuine African movies out there, but this one is as entirely predictable as it is well-made; the main draw is the anthropological interest in seeing the funereal customs, which mix Christianity and older traditions. 2.5/5.

[M.10rda]

BLOOD TIDE (1982) - James Earl Jones (looking young and fit) has a strong supporting role

He steals the movie!
Actually, no one and nothing else including the monster tries to stop him from stealing the movie!

[Jim H]

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan
The Three Musketeers: Milady

Sumptuously made, beautifully shot and lit, with some good action scenes too, and well acted, but something about both of these leaves me a little cold.  Hard to put my finger on it.  I suspect they expand the storylines a bit and don't give any single character enough time to really cook.  Parts of it are kind of confusing too, like poor structure.  They're well-made movies so if you like the Three Musketeers, check them out. 

Also, for some reason I thought this was a duology, but no, it's at least a trilogy and Milady ends on a cliffhanger.