Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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If you guys are still buying physical media Shout! Factory's JC Collection vol. 2 is definitely worth getting and is on sale for around $50 frequently. It has Winners & Sinners, WOM, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars, Armor of God 1&2, Crime Story, City Hunter and the HK cut of The Protector.
Shakedown- Peter Weller and Sam Elliot team up to take down crooked cops and a drug lord in old school grimy 80s NYC. Weller is fun with his offbeat personality and teams well with Elliot who is gruffly enjoyable as always. Plenty of action with some wildly reckless stunts. The ending is kind of a dud due to poor optical effects but the movie has a lot of great old school action. Kind of sloppy, nasty, dangerous and very entertaining.
Shakedown- Peter Weller and Sam Elliot team up to take down crooked cops and a drug lord in old school grimy 80s NYC. Weller is fun with his offbeat personality and teams well with Elliot who is gruffly enjoyable as always. Plenty of action with some wildly reckless stunts. The ending is kind of a dud due to poor optical effects but the movie has a lot of great old school action. Kind of sloppy, nasty, dangerous and very entertaining.
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Time Cop, Bloodsport, then Sudden Death for me.
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I know it got a blu-ray release in Australia. Hopefully it'll come over here eventually from one of the specialty labels.
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You Time Cop lovers are insane. That movie was shit. Worst (or not at all) thought-through time travel logic in any movie, ever.
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There's no way Bloodsport isn't the best JCVD movie.
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No one I’ve talked to loves it for the air-tight script-lol…crummy time travel logic aside, we love it for the JCVD set pieces and those futuristic cars
.I can’t explain why I like pinapple on pizza, or bacon gravy on biscuits when others swear by sausage. Sometimes junky movie is junk-food level of good.
* I gave a heart felt and big ol’ post on the Blue/White/Red trilogy, and crickets.
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A Shot in the Dark- @SouthtownKid mentioned this a page or two back and I noticed that all of the Pink Panther movies are on streaming. Firstly I had no idea there were so many. Second I can't believe I'd never seen this before. It's definitely a classic, while it's obviously a little dated (1964) and the gags might seem quaint and predictable today it can't be overstated just how influential this is. Peter Sellers is fantastic and his physical comedy and timing are incredible, perhaps a little overshadowed by how goofy the character is. Elke Sommer is gorgeous and plays off him very well. The supporting cast is great, the script is tight, really there are very few faults to be found.
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The Mario Bros. Movie- About what I thought it would be. Didn't feel very "Nintendo", I mean sure there were a lot of references and they did a fairly good job realizing the world and all that but it felt like a standard american CGI movie more than it felt like a Nintendo movie. Safe and bland which Nintendo is but also surprisingly uncreative/generic, which Nintendo is not. The dialogue, character interactions, action beats and a lot of the jokes could have been in any number of recent CGI family movies. Chris Pratt didn't bother me as much as I thought he would but I still think it's completely unnecessary to cast well know actors to do voices in stuff like this. Seth Rogan bugged the shit out of me. Also using pop music was really disappointing, the end credits had better music (and more creative visuals) than the actual movie. Overall I didn't hate it but I certainly have no interest in watching it again.
Edit:
The Mario Bros. Movie- About what I thought it would be. Didn't feel very "Nintendo", I mean sure there were a lot of references and they did a fairly good job realizing the world and all that but it felt like a standard american CGI movie more than it felt like a Nintendo movie. Safe and bland which Nintendo is but also surprisingly uncreative/generic, which Nintendo is not. The dialogue, character interactions, action beats and a lot of the jokes could have been in any number of recent CGI family movies. Chris Pratt didn't bother me as much as I thought he would but I still think it's completely unnecessary to cast well know actors to do voices in stuff like this. Seth Rogan bugged the shit out of me. Also using pop music was really disappointing, the end credits had better music (and more creative visuals) than the actual movie. Overall I didn't hate it but I certainly have no interest in watching it again.
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The bad news is, you've now seen all of the good ones. The original Pink Panther is okay, A Shot in the Dark is fucking fantastic, and then everything after that is pretty awful.
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Agreed. There's actual character building in a godzilla movie. Godzilla plays a minor role.
And the destruction scenes were really well done.
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A Woman Under the Influence
A pretty good and alarming depiction of a woman with mental illness paired with a blue collar husband with little patience. It’s very long - longer than it should be - but still worth a watch for the performances.
A pretty good and alarming depiction of a woman with mental illness paired with a blue collar husband with little patience. It’s very long - longer than it should be - but still worth a watch for the performances.
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Needful Things- One of the better and somewhat forgotten Stephen King adaptations of the 90s. The devil moves to a small town in Maine and opens up an antique shop that has particular items the townspeople want. Since it's literally Satan's antique store the price for these items isn't money. It's seemingly random bizarre tasks that end up turning everyone against each other and ignites the town into murderous chaos. More of a black comedy than traditional horror, watching everyone turn on each other is pretty amusing. Max Von Sydow is awesome as the devil and really makes the movie. The other standout is JT Walsh as an unhinged rich jerk and he just chews the scenery. Ed Harris as the sheriff surprisingly feels very out of place or unsure of what the tone of the movie is. It gets a little too crazy towards the end is overly long at two hours but overall it was pretty enjoyable. Apparently there's a 3+ hour TV movie version with more characters and more elaborate setups for the tasks/evil plans.
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Leave the World Behind- Netflix original movie from the guy behind Mr. Robot. Very M. Night feeling but there's no silly twist ending. It was alright, definitely a watch it and forget it type of movie though. Good cast, some racial and social commentary and a lot of criticism on mankind being so technologically dependent and how it makes us vulnerable.
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Strange Days - TBH I didn’t finish it reminded me of Existenz which I liked better. I don’t find Juliet Lewis particularly attractive but you do get to see her boobz
Radical Wolfe - Doc on Tom Wolfe I really enjoyed this he had a tendency to challenge and satire the “elite ”
Norwegian Wood - Speaking of authors I’ve been doing Haruki Murukami audiobooks in my car. I finished the pinball story and hear the wind sing a bit ago and now I’m listening to Killing Commandatore. He has a tendency to add the supernatural in the stories I’ve done so far but Norwegian Wood did not have this it was a man’s relationship with two different women. I actually watched Drive My Car afterwards which is another of his stories adapted to a movie I had watched before.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. I’ve been waiting to watch this with my Father.. I remember seeing Raiders in the theater with him and closing my eyes at the scary parts lol. Honestly I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It held my attention all the way through.
Father Christmas is Back one of those dumb Netflix movies with Kelsey Grammer and John Clesese. It had the one guy from love actually and a mostly British cast. It could have been better for sure.
Radical Wolfe - Doc on Tom Wolfe I really enjoyed this he had a tendency to challenge and satire the “elite ”
Norwegian Wood - Speaking of authors I’ve been doing Haruki Murukami audiobooks in my car. I finished the pinball story and hear the wind sing a bit ago and now I’m listening to Killing Commandatore. He has a tendency to add the supernatural in the stories I’ve done so far but Norwegian Wood did not have this it was a man’s relationship with two different women. I actually watched Drive My Car afterwards which is another of his stories adapted to a movie I had watched before.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. I’ve been waiting to watch this with my Father.. I remember seeing Raiders in the theater with him and closing my eyes at the scary parts lol. Honestly I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It held my attention all the way through.
Father Christmas is Back one of those dumb Netflix movies with Kelsey Grammer and John Clesese. It had the one guy from love actually and a mostly British cast. It could have been better for sure.
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I may go back to it. I saw it’s one of those rare on physical media movies but available streaming.
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Adam Chaplin
The low budget Italian version of Riki-Oh.
Follows the beloved trope of a lot of Italian Horror by having the story make almost zero sense. Looks super cheap most of the time and for some reason (by design?) is usually filmed in a space the size of a closet. Regardless of all that, the gore is the reason to watch this and it is fucking superb. The protagonist goes full Hokuto no Ken and just starts blowing dudes apart with kicks/punches and it is glorious. It does some cool CG effects when he's throwing a thousand fists a second and it looks honestly cool as hell.
The low budget Italian version of Riki-Oh.
Follows the beloved trope of a lot of Italian Horror by having the story make almost zero sense. Looks super cheap most of the time and for some reason (by design?) is usually filmed in a space the size of a closet. Regardless of all that, the gore is the reason to watch this and it is fucking superb. The protagonist goes full Hokuto no Ken and just starts blowing dudes apart with kicks/punches and it is glorious. It does some cool CG effects when he's throwing a thousand fists a second and it looks honestly cool as hell.
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Just checked their website and seems like Necrostorm is even working on part 2.
Adam Chaplin 2 - Buy Now - Necrostorm Company
After the demon failed to take his soul, Adam is once again on the warpath with a new ally, determined to exact his revenge.
www.necrostorm.com
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Kickboxer - Peak Van Damme. I always preferred Bloodsport but Kickboxer always felt more like a traditional martial arts movie. Paper-thin setup, training montages with dumb fortune cookie philosophy interspersed (and plenty of lame jokes), the wildly unnecessary implied rape scene for extra motivation and the end credits rolling seconds after the last punch is thrown. And, of course, there's that epic dance scene. And Tong Po. Like a lot of martial arts movies, I wouldn't say it's good so much as it is fun comfort food.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 - Alamo had an Xmas-themed mystery horror double-header which is always fun. Unfortunately, they were both turkeys I had already seen. I've probably mentioned ol' "Garbage Day" at some point here. I can almost understand the first 30 minutes of the movie being recycled footage from the first movie (it famously got run out of theaters by Christian mom groups and Mickey Rooney so most people probably never saw it). After that, it's just baaaaad. It has some amusing moments (the infamous "Garbage Day" rampage has a crazy flipping car stunt that looks like it was inches away from being a disaster, the movie theater scene could easily be an Alamo "no talking during the movie" PSA) but 90% of the movie is an interminable interview scene that sets up seemingly endless flashbacks. The only thing that kind of saves it is the main character being a Tommy Wiseau-level terrible actor (his eyebrows should get second billing in the movie) who delivers every line like a parody of a sarcastic teenager. I have no idea how people could've filmed those scenes and not known or cared how hilarious awful he was.
Christmas Evil/You Better Watch Out - Another "crazy guy in a Santa suit kills people" movie from the early 80s. This one tries to be a little more of a character study along the lines of Maniac or Taxi Driver but the people involved just aren't talented enough to pull it off. Main character is a creepy weirdo who REALLY likes Christmas (to the point of spying on children and writing down which ones are naughty and nice) but tries to live a semi-normal life working at a toy factory. A couple of bad-ish things happen to him and he spirals and ends up dressing in full Santa regalia and murdering people who have wronged him but also delivering toys to an orphanage and dancing at a Xmas party with randos who are excited to have Santa visit. Then the ending gets... odd. Like I said, it definitely fits in the same general category as Maniac (grimy character study of a broken person who spirals out of control) but I think Maniac works better. Random early movie of Jeffrey DeMunn (of Walking Dead/Frank Darabont movies fame) too playing the weirdo's haggard normal brother. Don't recommend unless you're looking for something to pair with Maniac. Or SNDN 2, I guess.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 - Alamo had an Xmas-themed mystery horror double-header which is always fun. Unfortunately, they were both turkeys I had already seen. I've probably mentioned ol' "Garbage Day" at some point here. I can almost understand the first 30 minutes of the movie being recycled footage from the first movie (it famously got run out of theaters by Christian mom groups and Mickey Rooney so most people probably never saw it). After that, it's just baaaaad. It has some amusing moments (the infamous "Garbage Day" rampage has a crazy flipping car stunt that looks like it was inches away from being a disaster, the movie theater scene could easily be an Alamo "no talking during the movie" PSA) but 90% of the movie is an interminable interview scene that sets up seemingly endless flashbacks. The only thing that kind of saves it is the main character being a Tommy Wiseau-level terrible actor (his eyebrows should get second billing in the movie) who delivers every line like a parody of a sarcastic teenager. I have no idea how people could've filmed those scenes and not known or cared how hilarious awful he was.
Christmas Evil/You Better Watch Out - Another "crazy guy in a Santa suit kills people" movie from the early 80s. This one tries to be a little more of a character study along the lines of Maniac or Taxi Driver but the people involved just aren't talented enough to pull it off. Main character is a creepy weirdo who REALLY likes Christmas (to the point of spying on children and writing down which ones are naughty and nice) but tries to live a semi-normal life working at a toy factory. A couple of bad-ish things happen to him and he spirals and ends up dressing in full Santa regalia and murdering people who have wronged him but also delivering toys to an orphanage and dancing at a Xmas party with randos who are excited to have Santa visit. Then the ending gets... odd. Like I said, it definitely fits in the same general category as Maniac (grimy character study of a broken person who spirals out of control) but I think Maniac works better. Random early movie of Jeffrey DeMunn (of Walking Dead/Frank Darabont movies fame) too playing the weirdo's haggard normal brother. Don't recommend unless you're looking for something to pair with Maniac. Or SNDN 2, I guess.
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Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America- Feature length documentary that covers his early life, career and the massive influence of his work. Pretty good interviews with Spielberg, Argento, De Niro and a bunch of others. Don't worry Quentin Tarantino is only in it a little bit lol. The whole middle section is on his collaborations with Morricone which is probably the most interesting part. The last chunk is on his decade plus long struggle to get One Upon a Time in America made only to then have it butchered by studio executives. If you're a fan of his work or cinema in general it's definitely worth watching.
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TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
This is the third time I've seen this movie and it's primed to become one of those movies I can just put on whenever and have a good time.
I love everything about it: the visuals are unique and a treat to look at; the soundtrack is my favorite type of Hip hop (Eye Know by De La Soul legit being my favorite song of all-time); the modernized twists to the classic TMNT formula works in all the right ways, and the casting is perfect.
I realized watching it this time that I really appreciate how teen-like the turtles are. This is obviously helped by the fact that they're voiced by kids themselves, but even just how they act and can be kind of annoying is very spot on.
This is the third time I've seen this movie and it's primed to become one of those movies I can just put on whenever and have a good time.
I love everything about it: the visuals are unique and a treat to look at; the soundtrack is my favorite type of Hip hop (Eye Know by De La Soul legit being my favorite song of all-time); the modernized twists to the classic TMNT formula works in all the right ways, and the casting is perfect.
I realized watching it this time that I really appreciate how teen-like the turtles are. This is obviously helped by the fact that they're voiced by kids themselves, but even just how they act and can be kind of annoying is very spot on.