Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Gabriel Knight]

11:14

The events leading up to an 11:14 p.m. car crash, from five very different perspectives.

A rather short and quick movie, although the synopsis, and especially the tags, are a little misleading. There isn't much of a story to tell or a mystery to solve, but more like a gimmick to show you how much related a bunch of random events can be, and how much a simple action can change the course of other people's events.
It is well told and the ending makes you go "oooh, so that's what happened", basically connecting every dot with no room for loose ends. Revealing parts of the plot would give too much away, and I think it's best enjoyed with the constant discovery of each point of view.

Low budget, but well filmed, you never miss anything and the sound is great too, which is something I usually see it failing in movies like this. The actors are all pretty good, I especially loved Cheri as the mega-b***h who starts to see her sweet plan fall apart and has to think fast to put it back together.

Definitely a fun ride, check it out. 7/10

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: OPERATION DOUBLE 007: Sean Connery's brother Neil stars as a plastic surgeon/master hypnotist/reluctant spy fighting an old supervillain with a gang of hot girl henchwomen. On Deep 13, Frank is obsessed with Alpine culture, and the Mads receive a surprise visitor. One of the few remaining MST3Ks I missed in its original run; it's not one of the better ones, for sure. These Eurospy pictures almost never work in this format, because the plots get lost amid edits and jokes and it never ends up making sense. (For IP reasons, this is renamed "OPERATION KID BROTHER" on the DVD cover). 3/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Jungle Run" (2021)
Two siblings hire a team and head into the jungles of Brazil to search for their archaeologist father, who disappeared during an expedition. A variety of nasty critters including killer snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs, crocodiles, and piranhas make their mission more difficult.
...this is the Asylum's pre-emptive bite off of Disney's upcoming "Jungle Cruise" movie and it's about what you'd expect from them: a paper thin plot, lots of cheaply CGI'd creatures, and a cast of unknowns topped by one slumming former big name (Richard "21 Jump Street" Grieco).  It's not the worst Asylum film I've ever seen, but "Jungle Run" feels lazy even by their standards.

[Rev. Powell]

UZUMAKI [SPIRAL] (2000): A Japanese town is haunted by visions of spirals. An adaptation of a popular manga, this movie creates its own green-tinged world with its own corkscrew logic; the absurdist horror-comedy style reminds me of a less-manic HAUSU. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Gappa - The Triphibian Monsters" (aka "Monster From a Prehistoric Planet," 1967)
Explorers on a South Seas island find a prehistoric egg in a cave, which hatches to reveal a baby bird-like reptile creature. They make the mistake of bringing the critter back to Japan with them for study, which eventually attracts its giant size Mom and Dad, who (naturally) proceed to do the Monster Mash all across the landscape.
I've watched this entertainingly silly "Godzilla" knock off several times over the years but it's always been in washed-out, scratchy public domain copies. Someone must have sprung for a restoration of it at some point, though, because the version currently streaming on Tubi is nice and clean, brightly colored, and better looking than I've ever seen it.
The "Gappa" creatures are pretty goofy looking but the monster-destruction scenes are well done, and the flick has a few moments that will be unintentionally hilarious to modern audiences, like when the female lead is told she should quit her science job to "go home and learn to cook and wash diapers," and the Japanese kid who's slathered in unconvincing black face make up to play an island native.
All in all, "Gappa" is a fun way to kill 90 minutes if you're into vintage monster cheese.

[Rev. Powell]

GREEN SNAKE (1993): Retelling of a Chinese folk tale about two snakes who become human to learn our species' wisdom; the older falls in love with a scholar, while the younger incites lust in a monk. An epic and erotic story from the legendary Tsui Hark; the visuals are always imaginative and sometimes stunning, and even when the special effects budget isn't quite up to the task (i.e. some obvious puppets), the unreal look fits into the dreamlike story. No actual nudity, except for maybe some super-brief flashes, but scenes like the one below definitely keep your interest. 4/5.

[RCMerchant]

"Gappa - The Triphibian Monsters" (aka "Monster From a Prehistoric Planet," 1967)
Explorers on a South Seas island find a prehistoric egg in a cave, which hatches to reveal a baby bird-like reptile creature. They make the mistake of bringing the critter back to Japan with them for study, which eventually attracts its giant size Mom and Dad, who (naturally) proceed to do the Monster Mash all across the landscape.
I've watched this entertainingly silly "Godzilla" knock off several times over the years but it's always been in washed-out, scratchy public domain copies. Someone must have sprung for a restoration of it at some point, though, because the version currently streaming on Tubi is nice and clean, brightly colored, and better looking than I've ever seen it.
The "Gappa" creatures are pretty goofy looking but the monster-destruction scenes are well done, and the flick has a few moments that will be unintentionally hilarious to modern audiences, like when the female lead is told she should quit her science job to "go home and learn to cook and wash diapers," and the Japanese kid who's slathered in unconvincing black face make up to play an island native.
All in all, "Gappa" is a fun way to kill 90 minutes if you're into vintage monster cheese.

I have seen that movie more times than I should admit. I love it!

[pacman000]

When Worlds Colide

George Pal’s FX laden disaster movie moves at a nice pace. The FX are dated, but they’re still cool to watch, & they’re complex enough to make you ask “how’d they do that?” 7/10

[indianasmith]

THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER (2015) - Ever start to watch a movie, and it seems SO familiar, and then about halfway through you realize you watched it six years ago?  I think this was one of the last films I rented in 2016, right before our Hasting's store closed.  Two girls, left behind at boarding school as the Christmas holiday begins, are stalked by some supernatural terror.  VERY slow burn buildup, with a satisfactorily horrific conclusion.  Overall not too bad. 3.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

^ I had a much lower opinion of that one. the director really didn't have a feel for horror at all


Antrum: the Deadliest Film ever made (2018) - this begins with a fake documentary about "the film you are about to watch..." and goes into commentary about how people went nuts watching this movie and it was lost and so forth.

I actually really enjoyed the movie and could have done without the build up. It's a stark but compelling story about a boy who wants to go to Hell to save the soul of his recently deceased pooch. His older sister brings him to a place in the forest where there is a gate to Hell, but they have to dig to get to it. As they do crazy stuff starts to happen.

If you can make it past the smarmy beginning Antrum has some super cool vibes and creepy stuff. 4/5

[Jim H]

THE BLACKCOAT'S DAUGHTER (2015) - Ever start to watch a movie, and it seems SO familiar, and then about halfway through you realize you watched it six years ago?  I think this was one of the last films I rented in 2016, right before our Hasting's store closed.  Two girls, left behind at boarding school as the Christmas holiday begins, are stalked by some supernatural terror.  VERY slow burn buildup, with a satisfactorily horrific conclusion.  Overall not too bad. 3.5/5

Fun fact - directed by Anthony Perkins' son, Osgood.  I like it too, especially the ending.  Definitely not to all tastes though.

I watched Blood Red Sky tonight on Netflix.  It was alright.  Basically a woman and her son take a flight, it gets taken over by terrorists, but the woman has a dark secret that may upset their plans. 

It's reasonably entertaining with pretty good performances, but it feels a bit stretched and like it doesn't do quite enough with its premise.  Netflix runtime is a bit over 2 hours, but the credits are nearly 10 minutes, so that helps, but I still think it could have been a better film tightened down a further 15.  In particular, the structure of the film (a 5-10 minute opener, then 80 minutes of showing how it got there via flashback) seems pointless.

I'd give it a 6.5/10.

[RCMerchant]

Osgood was also the name of a silent film actor!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgood_Perkins

[lester1/2jr]

I found it!

The Blackcoat's daughter (2015) =  probably the worst horror movie I've ever seen, a least in terms of plot. The director made Legally Blonde in 2001 and should definitely go back to that sort of work.

Two girls are left over during a break at private school. At the same time, another girl who looks a lot like one of the other girls is going somewhere too. Its totally confusing. There are lots of scenes where people are doing nothing in particular but there's loud, dark incidental music playing.

The acting is decent and I like how there wasn't lots of dialogue, but actually it might have helped if they'd had more because there was nothing going on, action or tension wise. I had no motivation to care about anything that happened. Horror movies often shock you, make you examine your soul, and just do all kinds of things none of which are found here  1/5

[indianasmith]

I, TONYA - My wife is an Olympics junkie, and I remember the 1994 Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan drama all too clearly.  Margot Robie channels Tonya in this hilarious biopic about one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of Olympic competition, the infamous kneecapping of Nancy Kerrigan by some of Harding's dimwitted associates in the runup to the 1994 Olympic Games.  Robie narrates the story with a heavy dose of profanity and sarcasm, but it is entertaining from start to finish.  4.5/5

DRIVE THRU (2006) - Someone is killing the teenager customers of the local Hella Burger franchise while wearing the costume of Horny the Clown, the mascot of Hella Burgers.  All the victims are the children of a group of adults with a dark secret in their distant past, all tied in with said mascot.  A cheesy early 2000's slasher with some goofy effects, but still pretty fun overall. 3.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974): Two young women have strange magical adventures, including one where eating candies allows them to enter another, equally absurd, story. The idea of vaudeville Bunuel is appealing and Dominique Labourier (in particular) is enchanting, but the movie just drifts aimlessly for two hours before finally finding a destination in the last hour. It could have been edited into a much better 90-minute movie if Jacques Rivette had just concentrated on the candy subplot. Since this was unavailable for years and became sort of legendary, I was anxious to see it and so I was a bit disappointed by the actual experience. If it was a movie that debuted today I probably would have thought even less of it. 3/5.