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I remember watching it last year on tubi i've lost track how many times i watched blue thunder over the years but i do enjoy rewatching it.
Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
- Thread starter aria
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Operation Delta Force - action movie about a US delta force group trying to track down a bunch of South African terrorists who have stolen a virus with the intent of weaponizing it.
Even though this is a low budget affair, with the people involved you'd think it would be pretty good - it stars Ernie Hudson, backed up by 90s B-Movie stalwarts Jeff Fahey, Frank Zagarino, and Joe Lara (the bad guy); and there's even a small role for veteran actor Hal Holbrook. Then, it's directed by Sam Firstenberg, a man who is no stranger to B-movie action films, having helmed American Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Avenging Force, among others, for Cannon.
Yet, this is by-the-numbers, dull, dull, dull. The script is weak, Fahey just goes around sounding gruff for 90 minutes, and Hudson doesn't really have any noteworthy moments. Joe Lara does his best to chew the scenery, but it's not enough to save this forgettable flick.
Even though this is a low budget affair, with the people involved you'd think it would be pretty good - it stars Ernie Hudson, backed up by 90s B-Movie stalwarts Jeff Fahey, Frank Zagarino, and Joe Lara (the bad guy); and there's even a small role for veteran actor Hal Holbrook. Then, it's directed by Sam Firstenberg, a man who is no stranger to B-movie action films, having helmed American Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Avenging Force, among others, for Cannon.
Yet, this is by-the-numbers, dull, dull, dull. The script is weak, Fahey just goes around sounding gruff for 90 minutes, and Hudson doesn't really have any noteworthy moments. Joe Lara does his best to chew the scenery, but it's not enough to save this forgettable flick.
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I like looking up the movies you watch on rotten tomatoes, there's something kind of fascinating about all of these b-movies, how they get made, how anyone's making any money out of it, what else the people in them have done.
Take Operation Delta Force. Joe Lara seems to be the frequent flyer across the series of 5 films, starring in 4 of them. Who is Joe Lara? Started out as a model, did some not bad level TV work, a bunch of endless b-movies I've never heard of, married a cult leader, some insane looking witch who ripped off a bunch of people, funded the court defence of child murderers, then climbed into a plane with Joe and 4 other church groupies and crashed into a lake and died.
Crazy world out there and movies seem to attract the madness.
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It's definitely an interesting rabbit hole to go down. Some of the films, as you can imagine, are pretty awful and therefore obscure for a reason. Others are really entertaining if you just want to kick back and unwind and not think about what you're actually watching.
I'll keep trying to unearth some "gems"... but of late, I keep feeling I'm getting pretty close to the bottom of the barrel.
I'll keep trying to unearth some "gems"... but of late, I keep feeling I'm getting pretty close to the bottom of the barrel.
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- Jul 9, 2001
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Blue Thunder influenced some of the Japanes video game developers who in turn made games we played so it has a generational appeal for us. I was going to watch Blue Thunder the other day but watched this instead
Last Embrace
Roy Schneider stars in this Jonathan Demme movie that plays out like a Hitchcock movie. Not the best movie but certainly an interesting one worth a watch I’d say with Niagra Falls Hitchcock worthy conclusion. Christopher Walken, Mandy Patkin, and Mac Wright of Alf fame have minor roles
Masters of the Universe 2026
I also came out pleasantly surprised with this. To me there was a lot to enjoy with it and the Highlander references in the movie made me excited for that which appears to be in the works. I don’t hate Jared Leto (I liked the new Tron as well) and I thought he was a good Skeletor. I liked how they explained away the dumb names, and although not the most buff He Man I thought he was pretty good.
NexusX
Host for Orochi
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Last month I made ot out to the movies with my wif to watch the Mortal Kombat II movie. I went in not expecting much. I was at least surprised that it was a good mindless popcorn movie. It didn't need to be Shakespeare, it didn't need to be modern edgy. It looks like it tried to be what it was. A cheesy movie based off of a cheesy 90s video game.
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Michael (Hee hee, not the Travolta one about an angel):
Enjoyable. Im not sure how accurate this movie was though, considering his sister Janet refused to take part in it, and denied them using her likeness in it, so it just features his mom/dad, his 4 bros and Latoya Jackson. (how bout that Nia long as his mom tho... hubba hubba). I guess Janet didn't like the way the story was going, so I guess that means they took some liberties.
It was a decent movie, nothing as amazing as something like Bohemian Rhapsody, but I can only imagine better than that one with the guy who decided his part should be played by a monkey. Better man, I think it was called? No idea.
The main actor is Jackson's... nephew? I think? There are times where it almost looks like they CGI'd Michaels face on the kid, he did a good job. Other times its clear hes just wearing makeup. I can't say Im the biggest Michael Jackson fan, but I liked his stuff when I was a kid, and still think Thriller (the record and the song/vid) are some of the best the 80s produced.
Also Mike Meyers has a bit part as a record executive and delivers probably the only comedic scene/exchange in the entire film. He was almost like his character in Bohemian Rhapsody, but I guess funnier.
Enjoyable. Im not sure how accurate this movie was though, considering his sister Janet refused to take part in it, and denied them using her likeness in it, so it just features his mom/dad, his 4 bros and Latoya Jackson. (how bout that Nia long as his mom tho... hubba hubba). I guess Janet didn't like the way the story was going, so I guess that means they took some liberties.
It was a decent movie, nothing as amazing as something like Bohemian Rhapsody, but I can only imagine better than that one with the guy who decided his part should be played by a monkey. Better man, I think it was called? No idea.
The main actor is Jackson's... nephew? I think? There are times where it almost looks like they CGI'd Michaels face on the kid, he did a good job. Other times its clear hes just wearing makeup. I can't say Im the biggest Michael Jackson fan, but I liked his stuff when I was a kid, and still think Thriller (the record and the song/vid) are some of the best the 80s produced.
Also Mike Meyers has a bit part as a record executive and delivers probably the only comedic scene/exchange in the entire film. He was almost like his character in Bohemian Rhapsody, but I guess funnier.
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The Crazies (2010)- As far as the early 2000’s horror remakes go this one’s pretty okay. Not great but inoffensive, especially compared to some others from the era. I know I’ve seen the original but honestly don’t remember anything about it aside from the guys in hazmat suits. Definitely due for a rewatch. As usual Timothy Olyphant does a solid job and the supporting cast is fine. Nothing really stands out though, that’s the biggest problem with the movie. Everything is just fine, a 6.5/10 if there ever was one.
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Crazy Six - very odd film from Albert Pyun, with a very eclectic cast.
Ever wanted to know what happens to 70s & 80s A-Listers after their star has fallen? Well, Crazy Six might have that answer - it stars Rob Lowe and Burt Reynolds, and also features Ice-T and Mario Van Pebbles.
There's hardly any dialogue during the first 30 minutes, the sound track mainly consists of one of the main characters singing in a seedy night club, action is sparse and infrequent, what is Burt Reynolds doing in this fucking thing?
It's strangely watchable, simply because you spend the run time wondering why Rob Lowe and Burt Reynolds are in this low budget mess. And that would be the only reason I could recommend this to anyone, because otherwise it's very disjointed, MVP sports an incoherent French accent while carrying around a chihuahua, and Ice-T has barely anything to do other than occasionally grimace at the screen.
If you've ever wanted to see Rob Lowe lick the residue from a crackpipe, then this is the film for you.
Ever wanted to know what happens to 70s & 80s A-Listers after their star has fallen? Well, Crazy Six might have that answer - it stars Rob Lowe and Burt Reynolds, and also features Ice-T and Mario Van Pebbles.
There's hardly any dialogue during the first 30 minutes, the sound track mainly consists of one of the main characters singing in a seedy night club, action is sparse and infrequent, what is Burt Reynolds doing in this fucking thing?
It's strangely watchable, simply because you spend the run time wondering why Rob Lowe and Burt Reynolds are in this low budget mess. And that would be the only reason I could recommend this to anyone, because otherwise it's very disjointed, MVP sports an incoherent French accent while carrying around a chihuahua, and Ice-T has barely anything to do other than occasionally grimace at the screen.
If you've ever wanted to see Rob Lowe lick the residue from a crackpipe, then this is the film for you.
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OG The Crazies suck, I can't believe George A. Romero directed that bullshit after the very tightly made Night of the Living Dead. I guess a remake was "needed" but it's such a generic concept, too, IDK.
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Romero was a progressive kinda guy and always exploring the loss of human cohesion through various social allegories. I'm not surprised he made this movie at all, given that it was a criticism of government cover ups of real issues affecting society. Specifically, he was addressing the breakdown of 'social order' and of how governments are more concerned with optics than results, and that the media is, in one fashion or another, an apparatus of governmental social engineering.
He'd also racked up a shit ton of debt and needed cash so he opted to adapt an existing script and give it more horror and dystopian elements, since that had worked so well for him in NotLD.
FAR from his best work though, I agree.
Also, he'd directed There's Always Vanilla and Season of the Witch between NotLD and The Crazies.
I think Knightriders is his most underrated film.
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- Dec 29, 2000
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The Dreadful
A period piece taking place in the mid 15th century at the end of the Wars of the Roses, the focus is on Anne (Sophie Turner) and Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden) as a mother and daughter-in-law awaiting the return of Seamus (Anne's husband, Laurence O'Fuarain) from the war. It is their hope that Seamus will return home and help deliver them out of poverty and starvation but hopes go south when it is Jago (pronounced 'Yago', Kit Harrington), Anne's childhood friend who went to the war with Seamus, that returns and delivers the bad news that he is the only one returning. From there, the story is really about how Seamus' death affects all three of them and sends them into a spiral of violence, suspicion and lies. But there is another presence, a knight in black armor with a spined helmet that doesn't speak and only shows himself at a distance and whose appearances foretell ominous tidings.
The movie is a slow burn and your mileage will largely depend on how much you like films that require you to interpret what you're seeing and the ability to understand the characters mostly through what is shown rather than what is told. This is NOT a movie for the 'second screen viewing' generation and those with short attention spans who are easily distracted will be lost and uninterested before too long. Who Anne, Morwen and Jago are and your interest in the suspense of their mysteries, along with the meaning behind the black knight on a white horse, require investment from the audience.
This film plays with the same general 'vibe' and pace of an A24 pic or Robert Eggers' The Witch but doesn't have the same kind of always present tension. This is more a story about straying from morality, becoming lost in the anarchy of the world and falling prey to one's own vices. There IS a supernatural element here but unfortunately, it doesn't feel very necessary to tell the story. The black knight is a metaphor for the excesses of immorality but I think it would have worked better as a pure character study absent this element. That's not to say that the black knight doesn't work as a narrative device, only that while not taking away anything, it didn't really add anything.
I felt that the strongest element of this film is how it kept me guessing as far as the characters go. Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Who can be trusted? The motivations are very well written and a good foundation for the plot to have some substance.
The performances are pretty good, with Marcia Gay Harden being the standout, Sophie Turner showing a little more depth than I expected and Kit Harrington doing well enough without being very remarkable (par for the course for him). I will give him credit when he and Sophie are on the screen together because they have decent chemistry.
3.5 out of 5. It's fine for fans of costume dramas and period pieces like me but it isn't going to win any awards. Free with Amazon Prime.
A period piece taking place in the mid 15th century at the end of the Wars of the Roses, the focus is on Anne (Sophie Turner) and Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden) as a mother and daughter-in-law awaiting the return of Seamus (Anne's husband, Laurence O'Fuarain) from the war. It is their hope that Seamus will return home and help deliver them out of poverty and starvation but hopes go south when it is Jago (pronounced 'Yago', Kit Harrington), Anne's childhood friend who went to the war with Seamus, that returns and delivers the bad news that he is the only one returning. From there, the story is really about how Seamus' death affects all three of them and sends them into a spiral of violence, suspicion and lies. But there is another presence, a knight in black armor with a spined helmet that doesn't speak and only shows himself at a distance and whose appearances foretell ominous tidings.
The movie is a slow burn and your mileage will largely depend on how much you like films that require you to interpret what you're seeing and the ability to understand the characters mostly through what is shown rather than what is told. This is NOT a movie for the 'second screen viewing' generation and those with short attention spans who are easily distracted will be lost and uninterested before too long. Who Anne, Morwen and Jago are and your interest in the suspense of their mysteries, along with the meaning behind the black knight on a white horse, require investment from the audience.
This film plays with the same general 'vibe' and pace of an A24 pic or Robert Eggers' The Witch but doesn't have the same kind of always present tension. This is more a story about straying from morality, becoming lost in the anarchy of the world and falling prey to one's own vices. There IS a supernatural element here but unfortunately, it doesn't feel very necessary to tell the story. The black knight is a metaphor for the excesses of immorality but I think it would have worked better as a pure character study absent this element. That's not to say that the black knight doesn't work as a narrative device, only that while not taking away anything, it didn't really add anything.
I felt that the strongest element of this film is how it kept me guessing as far as the characters go. Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Who can be trusted? The motivations are very well written and a good foundation for the plot to have some substance.
The performances are pretty good, with Marcia Gay Harden being the standout, Sophie Turner showing a little more depth than I expected and Kit Harrington doing well enough without being very remarkable (par for the course for him). I will give him credit when he and Sophie are on the screen together because they have decent chemistry.
3.5 out of 5. It's fine for fans of costume dramas and period pieces like me but it isn't going to win any awards. Free with Amazon Prime.
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- Nov 7, 2001
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Executive Target - action thriller with Michael Madsen as a former stunt-car driver blackmailed into helping a terrorist group kidnap the US President.
The plot is ludicrous, and the story is a little vague in places, but the film is packed with some really good car chases, and it does its best to try and trash more police cars than Blues Brothers.
Keith David is great as the bad guy pulling the strings, we have the gorgeous Angie Everhart as David's right-hand man, and Roy Schieder even has a small part as the US President.
Promo materials pushed this as having "the greatest car chase since Bullitt"... um. No. The car chases, and there are many, are pretty decent, but none of them match the chase from Bullitt. Indeed, chases in The French Connection, Seven-Ups, and To Live and Die in LA are all superior.
And without those chases this film has zero substance. Madsen has little to do other than sit behind the steering wheel of various vehicles, and the ending is also rather anti-climatic.
If you've ever wanted to see an NSX used as a getaway car in the kidnapping of a world leader, then this is the film for you.
The plot is ludicrous, and the story is a little vague in places, but the film is packed with some really good car chases, and it does its best to try and trash more police cars than Blues Brothers.
Keith David is great as the bad guy pulling the strings, we have the gorgeous Angie Everhart as David's right-hand man, and Roy Schieder even has a small part as the US President.
Promo materials pushed this as having "the greatest car chase since Bullitt"... um. No. The car chases, and there are many, are pretty decent, but none of them match the chase from Bullitt. Indeed, chases in The French Connection, Seven-Ups, and To Live and Die in LA are all superior.
And without those chases this film has zero substance. Madsen has little to do other than sit behind the steering wheel of various vehicles, and the ending is also rather anti-climatic.
If you've ever wanted to see an NSX used as a getaway car in the kidnapping of a world leader, then this is the film for you.
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- Nov 10, 2001
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Saw the new Masters of the Universe film; was a bit too much like the first Thor film. The protagonist is given goofier personality traits than the source material for no other reason than to appeal to a larger, less familiar audience, with a few token nods to the past fandom. The soundtrack is excellent and the casting is mostly fine, but I agree that it went on a bit long for its amount of content. Some of the jokes were sophomoric ("Fisto", dur-hur) but the explanation behind their names is a decent development I didn't see coming. Skeletor retains his balance between goofball and a credible threat, and whoever played Teela was gorgeous and receives as many butt shots as Black Widow did during her stints across the MCU. DEI casting with Man-at-Arms, Tri-clops, and Ram-Man, but the latter isn't the dunce he was in the original cartoon. The 2002 cartoon is still the best this franchise received in film or series media, but this is better than I expected.
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- May 4, 2004
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They Will Kill You- Ready or Not meets The Raid and Re-Animator. Not a bad combination but it doesn’t pull it off quite as well as it thinks it does. Still a lot to like, it’s very visually creative with mostly solid action and performances. Was not expecting the Stuart Gordon level gore gags. Kind of loses itself a bit in the final act but remains fun.
Recommended.
Recommended.
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- Nov 7, 2001
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The Great Outdoors - Dan Ackroyd and John Candy as two mismatched brother-in-laws taking their families on vacation to a lake retreat.
Charming and entertaining, it's a shame Ackroyd and Candy didn't do more films together in this mold.
If you've ever wanted to see a bear shot with a lamp, then this is the film for you.
Charming and entertaining, it's a shame Ackroyd and Candy didn't do more films together in this mold.
If you've ever wanted to see a bear shot with a lamp, then this is the film for you.
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- Dec 26, 2010
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Obsession (2026)
It's a horror but felt like a comedy at times. The plot is about a simp who used a wish to get his crush and shit gets crazy. Simple story but a good movie. It's nice to see indie productions be successful.
It's a horror but felt like a comedy at times. The plot is about a simp who used a wish to get his crush and shit gets crazy. Simple story but a good movie. It's nice to see indie productions be successful.
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- Dec 25, 2002
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Disappointing to hear, but i figured as much. Oh well at least we got Project Hail Mary for some decent sci-fi this year.
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- Nov 7, 2001
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Automatic - sci-fi action thriller with Olivier Gruner as a cyborg who defies his corporate masters to protect a woman whose rape, by a company executive, he prevented.
This is probably a lot better than it has any right to be. It's well paced, the action is good, the sfx are pretty decent, there's a really good plot twist at the end, and John Glover is awesome as the slimey CEO out to destroy his own creation.
Well worth checking out if you can find it.
If you've ever wanted to see a woman get horny over a robot, then this is the film for you.
This is probably a lot better than it has any right to be. It's well paced, the action is good, the sfx are pretty decent, there's a really good plot twist at the end, and John Glover is awesome as the slimey CEO out to destroy his own creation.
Well worth checking out if you can find it.
If you've ever wanted to see a woman get horny over a robot, then this is the film for you.
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- Nov 7, 2001
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- 10,242
Out for Blood - Bet you've never heard this premise before - man turns vigilante and goes after gang who murdered his wife and kid and left him for dead.
About as original as green grass, but entertaining with some good fight scenes peppered throughout as Don "The Dragon" Wilson sets out on a trial of vengeance. Plot is dumb as fuck with an unintentionally hilarious twist at the end. Still, one of the better films The Dragon has given us.
If you've ever wanted to see The Dragon fire a machine pistol that never runs out of bullets, then this is the film for you.
About as original as green grass, but entertaining with some good fight scenes peppered throughout as Don "The Dragon" Wilson sets out on a trial of vengeance. Plot is dumb as fuck with an unintentionally hilarious twist at the end. Still, one of the better films The Dragon has given us.
If you've ever wanted to see The Dragon fire a machine pistol that never runs out of bullets, then this is the film for you.