Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

Bodom (2014) - This is the first ever Hungarian found footage horror film so congratulations to those guys, or condolences depending on your viewpoint. There's a death metal band called Children of Bodom, so I figured it was some kind of Satanic ritual thing but Bodom is actually a lake in Finland where some horrible event happened. A guy and a girl go there to interview people and get footage and so forth and are visited upon by unforeseen circumstances.

The main woman is kind of chunky but attractive. It has a spooky vibe, but not any kind of amazing moment/ resolution like Horror in the High Desert or villain creativity like Digging Up the Marrow. In other words, it's another okay found footage horror movie of which there can never be too many.

3.75 /5

[pacman000]

Aladdin (1992)

Fun songs & great animation. Disney was just hitting their mid-90's stride.

[Rev. Powell]

SWEET DREAMS (2023): A 19th century industrialist wills his entire estate, including the sugar factory, to his illegitimate, half-Indonesian son, distressing his Dutch family. No one gets a happy ending in this bitter elegy for a particular corner of colonialism. 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

My October horror-thon got off to a poor start with...

"Cutting Class" (1989)
A dull high school slasher flick starring a young Brad Pitt in an early role as one of two teen boys who may be responsible for a series of murders on campus. Cutie-pie scream queen Jill Schoelen is the girl caught in the middle of the mayhem.
There are worse slashers out there, but this slow moving slog is easily skippable unless you're a Jill Schoelen fanboy or a Brad Pitt completist.

[zombie no.one]

My October horror-thon got off to a poor start with...

"Cutting Class" (1989)
A dull high school slasher flick starring a young Brad Pitt in an early role as one of two teen boys who may be responsible for a series of murders on campus. Cutie-pie scream queen Jill Schoelen is the girl caught in the middle of the mayhem.
There are worse slashers out there, but this slow moving slog is easily skippable unless you're a Jill Schoelen fanboy or a Brad Pitt completist.

quite a long time since I watched it, but my recollection is that it plays it too much for 'laughs' (not of the amusing variety tho)

[Rev. Powell]

THE PEOPLE'S JOKER (2022): In an alternate comic book reality, a trans kid (its not really a metaphor because director/star Vera explicitly states she's trans throughout) moves to Gotham City to try to make it as a comedian and ends up becoming anti-comedian Harlequin the Joker. I hate to be rough on a movie this personal, but it's a bit confusing in execution, the acting isn't always up to the job, most of the attempted comedy falls flat, and the multiple stylistic shifts from animation to green screen can be unpleasantly garish. Still a noble effort. The film is notorious for being pulled from film festival lineups by litigious corporate entities who later thought better of it.2.5/5.

[M.10rda]

"Cutting Class" (1989)
There are worse slashers out there, but this slow moving slog is easily skippable unless you're a Jill Schoelen fanboy or a Brad Pitt completist.

Or a Donovan Leitch apostle! His character is the best thing about this movie... until the final ten minutes.  I always thought he did a great job in the first 20 minutes of THE BLOB remake, too. Poor Donovan Jr. just never got the respect he was due. No wonder he disappeared from the big screen...

[FatFreddysCat]

"Meth Gator" (2024)
On a small island in the Florida Evergladse, a DEA agent leads the local cops and some assorted rednecks on a hunt to destroy a massive gator that ate a stash of crystal meth and is now an unstoppable killing machine.
In case it wasn't immediately obvious, this is The Asylum's belated knock-off of "Cocaine Bear." It's not a great movie by any means, but it's a better than average Asylum entry, with the usual dumb characters doing stupid things that lead to lots of gory alligator chompings. Don't expect Shakespeare. just turn off your brain and enjoy the creature carnage.

[Rev. Powell]

KATERNICA (2023): A grad student finds an ancient, possibly cursed one-act play called "Katernica," and five theater-types go through auditions and live births which may or not actually be related plays. A talky and highly experimental work set in the theater world, it has smart moments but will lose most audiences early on; it does end on a pretty psychedelic trip, though. 2.5/5.

[Dr. Whom]

NiNoKuni (2019)

The Netflix algorithm threw this in my direction saying that it would soon leave, and as it was anime I gave it a go.

This is apparently an adaptation of a computer game, of which I know nothing. Two school friends are transported into a magical dimension and discover that the happenings there influence our world and vice versa. In order to save the life of the girl they're both in love with, they have to save the princess in the magical universe.

Of all the wannabe Miyazakis I've seen, this is the most Miyazaki. This is not surprising since the director used to work for Studio Ghibli, and boy, does it show. The problem is that the story is largely by the numbers. It reminded me of Goro Miyazaki's movies: well made, visually stunning in places but lacking the spark to make it interesting.
That being said, if you want to watch something pretty and not too taxing, this will do fine.

[M.10rda]

THE PEOPLE'S JOKER (2022):  The film is notorious for being pulled from film festival lineups by litigious corporate entities who later thought better of it.2.5/5.

How'd you see this/does your closing line signal that the injunction has been lifted and this is being legitimately distributed somewhere?

The Important Cinema Club podcast touted this one in a major way, though perhaps just to brag that they'd seen it and their listeners couldn't....... 

[Rev. Powell]

THE PEOPLE'S JOKER (2022):  The film is notorious for being pulled from film festival lineups by litigious corporate entities who later thought better of it.2.5/5.

How'd you see this/does your closing line signal that the injunction has been lifted and this is being legitimately distributed somewhere?

The Important Cinema Club podcast touted this one in a major way, though perhaps just to brag that they'd seen it and their listeners couldn't....... 

Yes, it's all over the place. I saw it on Amazon Prime. I, too, loudly told people that this would never be released, only to be proven wrong (just like ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW).

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-peoples-joker