Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Trevor]

Live and Let Die (1973)
Roger Moore's first mission as James Bond sends him to Harlem, New Orleans, and the Caribbean, where the prime minister of a small island nation is also in charge of a major heroin smuggling ring. The influence of the then-current "blaxploitation" film craze is all over this one, so it hasn't aged particularly well, but it's a fun adventure anyway.

The dumb ass apartheid censors cut out the sex scenes between Sir Roger Moore and Gloria Hendry 

[FatFreddysCat]

The dumb ass apartheid censors cut out the sex scenes between Sir Roger Moore and Gloria Hendry  

I've read that the Moore/Hendry love scene wasn't particularly well received in the Southern part of the U.S. at the time, either.

[FatFreddysCat]

"A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman" (2012)

Highlights of the late Graham Chapman's life and career are presented via recordings of his voice (taped during the '80s, from his book of the same name) and brought to life in a series of animated sketches. It's an interesting idea, but the animation styles vary from segment to segment and the clashes between them (going from ultra-realistic to artsy/surreal, cartoony, and sometimes downright ugly) eventually becomes a distraction. Most of the surviving Python members (except Eric Idle) have voice parts in the film, which is a nice touch, but I was bored long before it ended. Even Python diehards will probably find this to be a tough slog. Disappointing.

[FatFreddysCat]

"We Are The League" (2019)
A wildly entertaining documentary about The Anti-Nowhere League, the raunchy, obnoxious early '80s English punk legends best known for the tracks "Streets of London," "I Hate People," and of course, "So What" (later made famous by Metallica). Lead singer "Animal" (the only original member still in the band) comes off like a punk Lemmy, and he and his mates mix lots of foul-mouthed, gross and hilarious stories with a bunch of never-before-seen vintage performance footage. A cool portrait of a band that's still bad ass as ever, nearly 40 years on. Long live the League!

[lester1/2jr]

Hush - a deaf mute woman is under siege in her house by a guy with an ironically happy face mask. Hey, at least shes not pregnant, too. A little shorter than 90 minutes was a good idea. It was tense and entertaining enough for that amount of time.

one thing 's for sure: If I am ever straddling someones chest with the intent of finishing them off I will closely watch their hands to make sure they don't grab a wine cork or other object that happens to be within reach!

4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Welcome To Your Funeral: The Story of Rigor Mortis, Part One" (2015)
A charmingly cheap documentary (narrated by Phil Anselmo) about the semi-legendary Texas speed/thrash band, who rose from the underground and achieved instant cult stardom when they became the first Texas metal band to sign a major label deal, beating their cross town rivals Pantera to the punch by a couple of years.
I was never a particularly huge Rigor Mortis fan and hadn't heard them in years, but this was a fun trip back in time. The band members tell lots of hilarious stories of their days thrashing, drinking and brawling across the Texas club scene, supported by loads of vintage photos, concert flyers, live videos, and other cool stuff.
The film is sub-titled "Part One" but considering that two of the Rigor Mortis members have passed away (guitarist Mike Scaccia and vocalist Bruce Corbitt, who directed this doc), I wonder if there will ever be a "Part Two."

[Rev. Powell]

DEERSKIN (2019): A middle-aged man becomes obsessed with his new deerskin jacket and enters into an unhealthy symbiotic relationship with it. The concept pushes the limits of absurdity, but DEERSKIN is actually more restrained and focused than the Quentin Dupieux's usual black comedies, an approach perhaps taken to best utilize the talents of the movie's top asset---Oscar winner Jean Dujardin, whose aging, delusional narcissist is as believable as the scenario is ridiculous. 3/5. 

[pennywise37]

i bought a bunch of movies recently at drug mart for a buck and this isn't the thread to post all of those but i did watch one of them and that's (2017)'s

Wind River  10/10 a must see peeps and my folks rented it when it came out because at drug mart you still can rent movies but i dunno about now though during the virus  threat... anyways they both enjoyed it and the ones i bought were ones i haven't seen And Wind River was one of them.


we had showtime for free this past weekend and i dvr'd a crap load of movies, i watched "American History X' (1998)  the other night and i really loved it i had never seen it before and had always wanted to see it. 10/10. than i watched one i wish i did buy and i will this one you guys have to watch it's called

Trumbo (2015)  with Bryon Cranston  and it had a fantastic cast about Dalton Trumbo and him being blacklisted in hollywood during the 50's.  though i could have lived without seeing Bryon Cranston's ass though.  the film was simply Brilliant though 10/10

[chefzombie]

i've been meaning to watch trumbo( yes, i have a huge list of those, lol!) , good to see you enjoyed it, penny.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All" (1999)
Treat Williams is back for another round of readin', writin' and corporal punishment. This time a college-campus visit to an old war buddy's daughter leads him to uncover a mob-run, school-supported steroid manufacturing operation on campus. The usual mayhem and destruction follows. Cheap & cheesy but entertaining direct-to-video action junk.

[Dr. Whom]

They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

Peter Jackson's monumental documentary using a truly massive amount of restored and colourised archive footage to accompany the stories of veterans. If I have to make a minor quibble, it largely sticks to the accepted narrative of the British experience of  the Western Front, and doesn't explore other aspects. That being said, it is truly impressive and doesn't pull any punches, neither about the horrors of war, nor about the seedier aspects of front life. If you want to see the reality behind the movie 1917, this is a must see.

Also, about every ten minutes there is a mention of tea.

[Gabriel Knight]

MOON (2009)

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

Decided to watch the first directing work from Duncan Jones, I went with high expectations and came out even more surprised. This movie is simply amazing.
Talking too much about it would break the plot, but the whole situation really makes you feel like you're in the moon with Sam Bell. The scenery is amazing and you can feel the effect of his prolongued solitude and particular situation as if you were there with him.
For fans of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY this is a must. I actually think it's better, to be honest I never really enjoyed the snobish, boring and pretentious works of Kubrick.

I do have to say that this movie needs a lot more of GERTY. HAL sucks compared to him. 10/10

CONTACT (1997)

Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.

What can you say about this classic? I never had the chance to watch it fully but now that I did, whoa, what a movie. The constant struggle between science and religion is discussed in depth here, and it will make you think about it for hours, if not years to come. Jodie Foster is simply incredible.

Truly, a movie that can make you meditate about the very nature of our existence. 10/10

BLADE RUNNER 2049 (2017)

Young Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.

Not long ago I watched the original BLADE RUNNER for the first time and I liked it a lot. I mean, it was nothing original, but the scenery and effects were marvelous, as well the protagonist by Harrison Ford. The sequel is simply garbage in my opinion. What was the point of the virtual chick? What about that ridiculous threesome, and why they give it so much screen time? What? Why? What?
The main point of the plot makes no sense: why would you go through the effort of letting replicants reproduce, when it's much more time consuming and expensive? Just by answering that question you'll realize the whole "searching for the secret" it's ridiculous.
The ending doesn't solve anything, like, at all. Any question you had will remain unanswered. How do they reproduce? Did they got away? Did the rebellion worked? Good luck figuring that out.

The worst thing about this movie is the pacing. Literally, every scene seems to go in slow motion. Now, the first one had this slow pacing, but it worked because it actually server a purpose - here, it's just to pan the whole movie. I was bored out of my skull with this, and couldn't care less about anyone except Lieutenant Joshi, who sadly was nothing but a secondary character. Harrison Ford was just there for the paycheck, he looked even more bored than me. Jared Leto was the most cheesy and ridiculous villain I've seen in a while; his monologues were terrible and made no f**king sense.

Terrible movie and an insult to the original. It's silly to think that the first one looked way better and had only a fraction of its budget. 4/10 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" (2017)
In a high-tech update of the '90s hit, four kids boot up an old video game and suddenly find themselves trapped inside it. To return home, their "avatars" (Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan) must battle a variety of bad guys and survive numerous perils to finish the game. Fast, funny, action packed, family friendly popcorn fun. My video game crazed 12 year old loved this one.

[Dr. Whom]

Mayhem (2017)

Continuing my series of watching Samara Weaving kick ass, I saw Mayhem (2017). A big office building of a law firm is infected by a virus that turns people into raving maniacs. Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving are trapped inside and fight their way to the top to obtain justice.

It is a satire about corporate greed and the unscrupulous behaviour of law firms, and a very heavy handed one at that. This is the kind of movie where the director constantly worries whether he has made everything sufficiently obvious. It is also very lazy, things happen purely for plot convenience, the effects of the virus vary as and when required, there are repeated infodumps by voice off...
This is not a bad movie, it has its moments. However, it never strays from the formula.

[lester1/2jr]

14 Cameras - A guy films people in airbnb type houses he rents out and sells the footage on the darkweb. Why anyone would want to do that when theres free porn online is a mystery but awesome movie. The guy is so sick. plot is simple and it doesn't reach any amazing heights but timely and creepy 4.25/5