Recent Viewings, Part 2

FatFreddysCat · December 07, 2020, 08:42:10 PM

"Nocturna" (1979)
Count Dracula's foxy granddaughter, bored by the lack of excitement in Transylvania, runs off to New York with a handsome musician and becomes the darling of NYC's disco scene in this hopelessly dorky supernatural comedy/musical.
...there's a lot to unpack here. Apparently this flick was a vanity project for Nai Bonet, a Vietnamese dancer and socialite who decided she wanted to be a movie star ... so she wrote and produced this movie, gave herself the starring role, and hired a couple of fading screen legends to fill out supporting parts (John Carradine as Dracula, Brother Theodore as his Renfield-ish servant, and Yvonne "Lily Munster" DeCarlo as the Count's old girlfriend). She even managed to corral disco superstars Gloria Gaynor and Vicki Sue Robinson to perform on the soundtrack!
...so I salute Ms. Bonet's hustle, but as for her movie, it's a good thing she was attractive and spent most of the film in various states of undress, cuz she sure couldn't act worth a good god damn. There are a few funny bits (mostly involving Carradine and/or DeCarlo) but overall "Nocturna" is eye rollingly silly, and of course the wall-to-wall disco soundtrack is hilariously dated. Still, I found it vaguely interesting in a cheesy, how-the-hell-did-this-get-made time-capsule sort of way.
It's on YouTube under its alternate title, "Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula," if you're curious.

Rev. Powell · December 08, 2020, 09:59:15 AM

CRIP CAMP: Follows a group of disabled teens who attended the experimental Camp Jened in the early 70s as they become disability activists later in life. If you like inspirational true stories, this may be your jam. I'm not that much into them. On Netflix. 3/5.

indianasmith · December 08, 2020, 05:58:24 PM

BOO! - a dysfunctional family receives a note on their door the day before Halloween, telling them they have been "BOO'd" and bad things will befall them if they don't pass the BOO! along. The father, a strict fundamentalist, refuses to indulge in such nonsense, and, well, bad things befall them. It's been done before, but this film didn't do it badly. 4/5

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS - I saw this when it came out in 2012, and watched it again last night. A fun horror romp that explains why so many horror films share the same tropes: the "teenagers experimenting with things best left alone" are a carefully coordinated sacrifice to keep the Great Old Ones sleeping, so that unspeakable horrors do not rise to destroy humanity. The worst thing that could happen would be for the sacrifices to become aware of the situation and refuse to die in the manner prescribed. And guess what happens? I liked this film 8 years ago, and I liked it again! 5/5

RCMerchant · December 09, 2020, 07:31:00 AM

DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977)
William (the MANITOU, GRIZZLY) Girdler directs this 'revenge of nature' flick which centers around a group of hikers in the mountains who are attacked by animals gone crazy because of a break in the ozone.
Starring the usual cast of regulars, including Christopher George, Susan Day George, Leslie Nielson (who plays a real scumbag!), and Micheal Ansara.
Not bad at all, for the man who gave us such "classics" as 3 ON A MEATHOOK and ASYLUM OF SATAN.

http://youtu.be/fipR4q3mg7s

Rev. Powell · December 09, 2020, 11:02:19 AM

DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD (2020): A daughter and her elderly father stage various death scenarios (some fairly bloody) as a way of psychologically preparing for the inevitable. An intimate, loving, and entertaining testament; recommended viewing for anyone who may die someday. 4/5.

lester1/2jr · December 09, 2020, 02:08:49 PM

Creation of the Humanoids (1962) - This improved on second viewing. The first time I saw it I simply couldn't believe how much people talked, the second time I think I followed the story a little better and appreciated the message. At the same time, it is a little ridiculous with the color scheme and people with painted faces walking around this very indoor looking set blankly delivering these robot musings. Most movies have a few minutes of examining the philosophical implications of the plot, this one it's the whole movie.

A lot of humans got wiped out in some sort of disaster so they made robots to do menial jobs. Why not just make the society smaller to fit the new population levels? who knows. Anyway, the robots, or "clickers" as humans derisively call them, are becoming more numerous and are gaining ambition to themselves be human a la a lot of science fiction movies. The humans bigotry towards them is clearly an analogy for the civil rights issues in the world at the time. When the main human guys sister starts cohabitating with a robot he loses it.

This was a favorite of the late Andy Warhol and I can see why. It's like a student production at a rest home of retired professors or something. and the colors give it a very distinct and memorable look.

4.25 /5

FatFreddysCat · December 09, 2020, 02:31:09 PM

Continuing my trip through the James Bond series in order:

"Moonraker" (1979)
Assigned to investigate the disappearance of an experimental space shuttle, 007 travels to California, Venice, Rio, and finally to outer space, where he battles the insane industrialist Hugo Drax, who plans to commit planetary genocide from his orbiting space station and then re-populate the Earth with his chosen people.
Obviously this is the most absurd Bond adventure yet, but it's also a sentimental favorite of mine because it was the first 007 movie I saw as a kid. The outer-space theme was obviously intended to ride the coat tails of "Star Wars," and it worked -- "Moonraker" was the highest grossing film in the 007 series for many years, till it was unseated in 1995 by Pierce Brosnan's "Goldeneye."

RCMerchant · December 09, 2020, 03:03:14 PM

Quote from: lester1/2jr on December 09, 2020, 02:08:49 PM
Creation of the Humanoids (1962) - This improved on second viewing. The first time I saw it I simply couldn't believe how much people talked, the second time I think I followed the story a little better and appreciated the message. At the same time, it is a little ridiculous with the color scheme and people with painted faces walking around this very indoor looking set blankly delivering these robot musings. Most movies have a few minutes of examining the philosophical implications of the plot, this one it's the whole movie.

A lot of humans got wwiped out in some sort of disaster so they made robots to do menial jobs. Why not just make the society smaller to fit the new population levels? who knows. Anyway, the robots, or "clickers" as humans derisively call them, are becoming more numerous and are gaining ambition to themselves be human a la a lot of science fiction movies. The humans bigotry towards them is clearly an analogy for the civil rights issues in the world at the time. When the main human guys sister starts cohabitating with a robot he loses it.

This was a favorite of the late Andy Warhol and I can see why. It's like a student production at a rest home of retired geniuses or something. and the colors give it a very distinct and memorable look.

4.25 /5

It also featured Dudley (PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE) Manlove as one of the robot leaders!

RCMerchant · December 09, 2020, 03:30:30 PM

Bill Murray played him in ED WOOD!

EDIT! No! He did not! This here is Bunny Breckinridge! I'm a moron!

RCMerchant · December 09, 2020, 03:50:19 PM

Now Dudley Manlove- I love me some Dudley!

http://youtu.be/InO2o5KHPiY

FatFreddysCat · December 09, 2020, 09:17:13 PM

"Fanboys" (2009)
In 1998, five lifelong friends and massive Star Wars nerds embark on a cross country road trip, intending to crash George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough cut of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace so they can see the movie before everyone else. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.
This very funny road trip comedy lovingly sends up sci-fi nerd culture with lots of nods to the Star Wars saga, and cameos by several famous faces. This is one of those underrated comedies that deserves a cult following. This was my 3rd or 4th viewing of this flick and I still laughed out loud a lot.

RCMerchant · December 10, 2020, 01:42:41 AM

Quote from: FatFreddysCat on December 09, 2020, 02:31:09 PM
Continuing my trip through the James Bond series in order:

"Moonraker" (1979)
Assigned to investigate the disappearance of an experimental space shuttle, 007 travels to California, Venice, Rio, and finally to outer space, where he battles the insane industrialist Hugo Drax, who plans to commit planetary genocide from his orbiting space station and then re-populate the Earth with his chosen people.
Obviously this is the most absurd Bond adventure yet, but it's also a sentimental favorite of mine because it was the first 007 movie I saw as a kid. The outer-space theme was obviously intended to ride the coat tails of "Star Wars," and it worked -- "Moonraker" was the highest grossing film in the 007 series for many years, till it was unseated in 1995 by Pierce Brosnan's "Goldeneye."

I seen that in a theater in Liberty , NY! With my brother Mike! We bought some knishes from a Jewish deli across the street and ate them while watching it! We also bought knishes when we watched ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ.
If you never had a NY Jewish deli knish-your missing out.

Trevor · December 10, 2020, 03:25:57 AM

Going Clear: the Scientology documentary.

Rev. Powell · December 10, 2020, 09:53:23 AM

HOST (2020): A group of friends hold a seance over video chat. Takes the lessons of BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and applies them to Zoom. The first lockdown horror film; I think it's exclusively on Shudder. Only an hour long, in "real time." 3/5.

FatFreddysCat · December 10, 2020, 09:00:51 PM

"Beerfest" (2006)
Two brothers, looking to restore honor to their family name, form a team of fellow power drinkers to represent the U.S.A. in a secret international beer drinking competition held in Munich during Oktoberfest. Can these rag tag losers take crown from the dreaded German team on their home turf?
This loud, funny, raunchy comedy from the Broken Lizard troupe of "Super Troopers" fame will leave you thirsty for more (or maybe just thirsty). It's a hoot.