Recent Viewings, Part 2

[lester1/2jr]

Four Boxes (2009) - This is one of those misfit toys that was bound to end up on Tubi, yet is a better and more interesting than most of the stuff coming from Netflix or Hollywood for that matter. Also, there was as egregious a screw up as I think I've ever seen in a movie, where someone just blatantly walks on and off screen at one point.

Two weirdos who go to dead peoples houses and sell their belongings on ebay or something hole up in a new house. For entertainment, they watch Four Boxes, a early internet / dark web style "show" where someone has cameras in their house and doesn't know it. Amidst all this, there is a love triangle between the two guys and the one guy's girlfriend, who used to be the other guy's girlfriend. As annoying as the girl is, she makes the whole thing work.

The ending ... put me down as not a fan. Too clever. After I watched this, I went to bed and had a dream that was sort of like the movie!

4.45 /5 just lop off the last 5 minutes. very engaging otherwise

[indianasmith]

I think I rented that one at Hastings when it first came out.  Trippy flick!

[Trevor]

SOLARIS

Very haunting.

[lester1/2jr]

Indiana - Jack gave it a good review in the old thread, which I was reading. "Time Lapse" (2014) is a similar one.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Steve Ditko: Beyond The Myth" (2026)
Cheap but intriguing documentary about Steve Ditko, the legendary comics artist and co-creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, who walked away from mainstream comics in the late 60s to follow his own peculiar, personal artistic path. Cool stuff for comic book nerds.

[M.10rda]

I think I either have that on my hard drive or in a queue somewhere and have meant to watch it. Artistically I admire Ditko a great deal - even or especially his later work! Philosophically et al he had some issues, and they appear (based on my knowledge of him) to have made him a rather isolated and unhappy guy. I've never heard or read a story about him post-Marvel that doesn't in some way suggest he struggled to maintain his strict Objectivist beliefs while co-existing happily among others. But I should watch the doc!

[Dr. Whom]

Whoever steals this book (2025)

Another Ghibli wannabe. A library is cursed, so that anyone who takes a book, plunges the town into the story of the book in question. The young heiress to the library has to sort things out.

It has the familiar trope of a school girl dropped into a magical world (several actually) inhabited by the people she knows but in different roles. Pretty much par for the course. The plot is confusing at points, but it is adapted from a novel, so it may be a question of the adaptation.

[FatFreddysCat]

I think I either have that on my hard drive or in a queue somewhere and have meant to watch it. Artistically I admire Ditko a great deal - even or especially his later work! Philosophically et al he had some issues, and they appear (based on my knowledge of him) to have made him a rather isolated and unhappy guy. I've never heard or read a story about him post-Marvel that doesn't in some way suggest he struggled to maintain his strict Objectivist beliefs while co-existing happily among others. But I should watch the doc!

It's on YouTube if you wanna check it out:
https://youtu.be/GTxzeJFM6U4?is=GJqN-y2dyNfjxJLw

[lester1/2jr]

Blood on Méliès' Moon (2016) - Wacky side project sort of thing directed by Luigi Cozzi of Starcrash and Hercules fame. There are brief appearances by Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava if that impresses you. Méliès made the 1902 movie where the air craft flies in to the moon's eye. This loose, self indulgent, but different and colorful story is about how some rare science fiction book holds the key to some sort of mystery about the very early years of film.

Cozzi owns an Italian cinema memorabilia store, which it looks like he does in real life. An annoying guy comes in and asks him all these questions and he kicks him out of the store, but that same guy ends up having the secret knowledge to help him solve the big mystery, so he has to then try and find him again. At one point, Cozzi wakes up from a nightmare where he is being called the Italian Ed Wood. He then decides that that is actually good because Ed Wood was very famous and that means he is, too. There's bits of humor and even a little action and a lot of foolishness.

The whole thing with the mystery could have been much clearer, but it was actually pretty enjoyable and probably moreso if you are interested in the world of directors and "film", which I'm really not.

Charitable 4/5 some would really like it, others wouldn't last 5 minutes.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Lawnmower Man" (1992)
Using virtual reality technology, a scientist (Pierce Brosnan) is able to increase the intelligence of a simple minded gardener (Jeff Fahey). However, the experiments soon grow out of control and the subject becomes more powerful -- and more sinister -- than anyone imagined. Essentially, it's a sci-fi remix of "Flowers For Algernon," with a body count.
This strange, high tech sci-fi/horror hybrid was supposedly inspired by a Stephen King short story, but King eventually sued to have his name taken off of it, as the film bore almost no resemblance to its supposed source material. The computer generated "virtual reality" FX were pretty whizz-bang at the time, though they were looking passe' just a few years later and they look absolutely pre-historic now. "Lawnmower Man" is dated as hell, but it's still a fun watch in a retro sort of way.

[M.10rda]

Of all the thin excuses to slap King's name on something, LAWNMOWER MAN must be the thinnest. The original story would make a creepy (or ridiculous) movie but it has nothing to do w/ computers, VR, etc.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace" (1996)
The VR-enhanced "Jobe" (now played by Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer) is in the hands of an unscrupulous corporation that's using him to create an entire new world in Virtual Reality. However, once it goes online, Jobe plans to destroy the "real" world and set himself up as the new God in cyberspace, unless a scientist and some teen hackers can stop him.
This utterly bizarre, who-asked-for-it sequel is somehow even more dated looking than the first movie, with its oh-so-90s grunge/slacker/cyberpunk vibes. The acting is hammy, the effects suck, and the whole thing has a made-for-TV feel (even though it was a theatrical release). Even if you enjoyed the first "Lawnmower Man," you can safely skip this one.

[M.10rda]

QUICK MILLIONS (1931):
This mostly forgotten organized crime film does nothing particularly wrong except for doing everything that later, more popular films - SCARFACE, LITTLE CAESAR, ad infinitum - also did, either better or just more famously. It's one distinction is that Spencer Tracy plays the lead mobster, quite against type though according to his strengths as an actor. Tracy was one of the original minimalists or naturalists, in an era where the fashion had been (on stage and in the silents) to strike huge poses with one's body. He employs silences and glares instead of onscreen violence, and he's about as effective as the pedestrian/by-the-book screenplay will allow him to be, but at least he's an interesting counterpoint to Edward G. Robinson and Paul Muni.

There is some surprising action in QUICK MILLIONS - inanimate objects get machinegunned, buildings are damaged and even blown up. The bursts of protection-racket mayhem are a contrast to the slow, almost hypnotic pace of the film, dictated by Tracy's understated performance but also by elliptical direction which sometimes fades out from scenes several long seconds after the last line of dialogue. It's a weird crime film in that regard, but it does (for all its many cliches) probably do a more thorough job illustrating the totality of the racketeering economic model... for what that's worth? There's also two creatively-staged hits in the final act.   

3/5    And there's a character whose full name sounds pretty close to my real name, and they say his name over and over for a bit, which gave me a few chuckles. (No, my name isn't actually "Thenardier".)

[Rev. Powell]

NICK THE FEATURE FILM (2013): An indie filmmaker becomes obsessed with completely average Nick and decides to document a day in his life; he's less impressed with Nick's bizarre, egotistically friend Chris, who comes over in the morning for "Waffle Day" and refuses to leave. This no-budget project between college-age friends starts out charming, but drags on mercilessly as Chris' antics grow increasingly wearisome (a game of "Battle Monopoly" goes on endlessly with no punchline). Would have worked at a shorter length. Free on YouTube. 1.5/5.