Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Trevor]

"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.

Very funny movie: I love where Jurgen Prochnow talks about that "bad experience I once had in a Uboat" 

[Rev. Powell]

DRIVEWAYS (2019): A maladjusted boy makes friends with his next door neighbor, a retired Korean war vet. A pleasant unassuming little drama that would be quickly forgotten if not for the fact that it contains one of Brian Dennehy's final performances. 3/5.

[Dr. Whom]

Kalashnikov (2020)

Biopic of perhaps the most famous Russian ever. The story is pretty straightforward: Mikhail Kalashnikov gets wounded, and sets out to make a better gun for his comrades at the front. Makes a first gun, gets rejected, makes a second gun, gets rejected again, keeps at it, and comes up with a classic. That is basically it. If you like a period piece of WW II Russia or seeing men doing metalwork, this is a movie for you. As for the historical accuracy, I'm not familiar enough with the facts to judge, but this is clearly the Official Biography As Approved By The Kalashnikov Estate And The Russian Army, so I am taking it with a pinch of salt.

Interestingly, this is a subtly anti Soviet movie. It is the story of a lone inventor who has to battle the system every step of the way, succeeding only by sheer persistence. At one point he even has to knock some sense into an NKVD officer. The high point is a showdown with the great Degtyaryov himself, who then humbly acknowledges Kalashnikov's superiority. For all the overt patriotism of the movie, I don't think a story of an individual genius triumphing over short sighted officialdom would have sat well with the Soviet censors.

[RCMerchant]

INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1973)
Hot  honey butter biscuits!
This movie is insane!
A group of druid cultist farmers are harvesting blood to bring their Queen back to life.
And for some obscure reason, after the local scientist (with a lab in his basement, of course), gets a sample of a victim's blood, it starts to regenerate, and floods his lab!
A couple of stand out scenes are when one of the farmers beats a dog, drinks it's blood, and hangs it outside our hapless heroine's house.
Another weird one is a guy is taking a shower (one shot director Ed Adlum) in a hotel room (shades of PSYCHO), and is stabbed to death by same blood farmer guy! And the town drunk's name is Jim Carrey! "Old Jim Carrey dropped dead Sunday!"
Stupid as hell. Bad overacting! Bright red paint blood!
I loved it!
Did that blood farmer shoot his phone with a cap gun?  

http://youtu.be/SI1D4_HcKCs

[FatFreddysCat]

"Top Secret!"  (1984)
An American rock n roll singer (Val Kilmer, in his film debut) visiting East Germany on a goodwill tour, gets mixed up with the French resistance (?) and helps them free an imprisoned scientist.
This wacky spoof of 1940s spy flicks and Elvis movies was brought to us by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team of "Airplane!" fame. "Top Secret" doesn't quite reach the laugh-a-minute heights of that classic, but it's got enough goofy gags to make it watchable.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Silent Night, Bloody Night" (aka "Deathouse," 1972)
A small New England town is rocked by a series of Christmas Eve slayings when a big city lawyer comes to close the sale of a long-empty mansion with a famously sordid past.
Possibly the first-ever Christmas slasher movie, this long time late-night TV fave is a slow burner, but it has lots of creepy atmosphere, one gloriously gory axe murder scene, and an interesting cast that includes future Roger Corman fave Mary Woronov and the legendary John Carradine.
Due to its public domain status, this flick appears in lots of cheap "Horror Classics" DVD sets, usually in terrible washed out quality. However, the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome "remastered" it a few years ago and while that version is still occasionally scratchy and dark, it's still the only decent print of it I've ever seen.
"Silent Night Bloody Night" may not exactly be a great movie, but it's certainly a weird, interesting little seasonal oddity.

[pacman000]

The Borrowers

A boy moves in with his great aunt & discovers a miniature family living under the floorboards.

Cool concept, but too slow, & the 60's blue screen FX haven't held up well. They should've built more giant sets, used more split screens, etc.

[Rev. Powell]

76 DAYS (2020): Documentary following doctors, nurses and patients in a 50-patient wing at a Wuhan hospital at the height of the coronavirus crisis in Feb-Apr 2020, during the 76 day lockdown. With no editorial commentary, human drama emerges naturally: doctors and nurses struggle to keep their spirits up, a child is born to a COVID-positive mother, an old man with dementia wanders around the halls, not understanding why he can't go home. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Amphibian Man (1962) - USSR movie about a man in a tin foil bodysuit and goggles who lives underwater and falls in love with a land girl. Disney ish with occasional commie propaganda. enjoyable mostly for how different the actors and production look  3/5

[RCMerchant]

^ I started to watch that movie. It did it's job. I feel asleep within 5 minutes. Maybe less.

[Rev. Powell]

ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY (2020): Documentary about voter suppression efforts, historically targeting minorities. Contains solid information (especially in the historical context), which unfortunately is dimmed a bit due to the fact that it too often feels like a feature-length campaign ad for executive producer/lead talking head Stacey Abrams. 3/5

[FatFreddysCat]

Burnin' up my last vacay day of the year today, watchin' some movies and waitin' for the snow storm to roll in...

"Deadpool" (2016)
Marvel Comics' wise-ass, foul mouthed, indestructible mercenary (Ryan Reynolds) goes after the mad scientist who made him a freak in this balls-to-the-wall, ultra violent, fourth-wall-breaking riot. I've seen this once before but it definitely holds up to repeat viewing.

"Krampus" (2015)
A dystunctional family's Christmas celebration is crashed by the vengeful Yuletide demon of German folklore in this holiday horror/comedy from Michael "Trick r' Treat" Dougherty. It's hampered slightly by the PG-13 rating but it's still a load of dark, twisted holiday fun that's become a Christmas time regular for me.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Once Upon a Time at Christmas" (2017)
A small town in Upstate New York gets a Yuletide visit from a pair of thrill killing psychos dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, whose murder scenes mimic the lyrics to "The 12 Days of Christmas."
This indie horror flick has a nice wintry look, an absurdly high body count, and the couple who play the killers are a hoot (the Mrs. Claus chick is essentially playing Harley Quinn in a Slutty Santa outfit), but the movie drags on for too damn long and the characters are such idiots that they deserve everything that happens to them.
Sooo, not an essential holiday horror, but entertainingly stupid enough for a single viewing.

[Rev. Powell]

MUCHO MUCHO AMOR: THE LEGEND OF WALTER MERCADO (2020): The story of Walter Mercado, the androgynous Puerto Rican new age astrologer who delivered horoscopes while dressed like a Hindu Liberace in drag as a Golden Girl. Walter was a huge star in the Hispanic community through the 1970s-2000s, so if you were aware of him, this will be a nostalgia trip; if, like me, you've never heard of him before, it will blow your mind to think that such a flamboyantly odd character could exist and thrive in a macho culture. Given his weird charisma, we should all be thankful he used his powers for good rather than running for political office. On Netflix. 3.5/5/.

[Rev. Powell]

ATHLETE A (2020): Thorough documentary covering the sex abuse scandal in USA gymnastics through the eyes of victims and reporters. Larry Nassar gets his, sure, but the documentary also blows the lid off a culture of abuse and coverups. A blood boiler on Netflix. 3.5/5.