movies

[Marky Dread]

I'm excited as hell for Antebellum.

"Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em
That I got no antebellum"

Ha I thought exactly the same thing.

[tepista]

The Shining (1980) I’d seen it pretty recently due to the release of Doctor Sleep, so the sole purpose of this rewatch was to compare it to the book, which I just finished reading for the first time. The iconic visuals of the twins, the bloodwave, and the hedge maze top their living hedge animals and snake-hose counterparts from the book, but the back stories on both the main characters and the hotel itself from the book we’re glossed over pretty quick in the movie. And the film version of the Halloran-Danny relationship didn’t seem to show the connection they had in the book. The book also had a whole chapter of the dog-costume guy that was only in one scene in the movie! Well, having seen the Shining twice in about 8 months, not likely to rewatch for years now. Still looking forward to my second viewing of Doctor Sleep.

The Evil Dead (2013) This humorless, bloodbath of a remake still holds up pretty well.

Son of Kong (1933) King Kong came out in March, the sequel was already in theaters in December! Denham is wanted in civil suits and by the law in NYC, so he, along with the Captain and the Chinese Cook (who is billed as "Chinese Cook") from the first film, run a cargo ship. They pick up a shady villain and pretty girl along the way, and it’s back to Skull Island to find the treasure. What they do find is a baby Kong, about half the size, and super-friendly. He protects them from giant bears and some brontosaurus-serpent type thing, and a flash flood/storm. I had a Super 8 highlight reel of this when I was a kid that we used to play on a projector! It was some dumb fun, I believe the comedy was intentional.

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004) Emily Perkins & Katherine Isabelle return as Brigitte and Ginger (or their ancestors)in this prequel and third entry in the outstanding Ginger Snaps series. The seek refuge at a 19th century trading post that is protecting themselves from outside werewolf attacks, and keeping some secrets of their own. I didn’t like this when I saw it years ago but I take it back, this was pretty good.

Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019) 20 years after the destruction of the earth, when humans took the moon back from the Nazis, the moon itself is becoming uninhabitable. A crew must travel back to earth to find a holy grail which is in the earth’s hollow core, also filled with dinosaurs and space aliens. At one point Reptile-Hitler rides a T-Rex and shouts “Seig Heil, Motherfuckers!” If the first Iron Sky was a 6, this was probably a 4.

Into the Dark: Pure (2019) A church sponsored Daddy-Daughter “Purity” retreat where the dads pick out their teenage daughters dresses, buy them rings and all kinds of things that should make anyone’s skin crawl. Jakhara Smith (the psychic from N0S482) plays a daughter who the demon spirit of Lilith takes an interest in. Very predictable, and exactly what you hope is going to happen does happen. Satisfactory entry.

Into the Dark: Uncanny Annie (2019) On Halloween and the anniversary of a friend’s death, a group of co-eds play a board game and find themselves in a supernatural fight to the death. Maybe I’m old, but the guys were Dungeons & Dragons types and they had girlfriends. Is that how it works these days? Below average entry.

[Dr. Medulla]

The Boss and I just revisited this one. We've probably watched it a dozen times. Kind of a Stand By Me road trip. Early 1960s, three brothers who don't get along drive from Michigan to Florida to deliver a car. It has a fantastic bit about the meaning of "Louie Louie."

[Dr. Medulla]

On a movie channel right now. The Boss and I are laughing at a lot of stuff that kids today wouldn't get—e.g., sniffing mimeographed handouts—but this film still rules with an iron fist.

edit: How good is Sean Penn as an actor? In this role, he makes you think he might be a fun guy and not a grouchy prick.

[Kory]

On a movie channel right now. The Boss and I are laughing at a lot of stuff that kids today wouldn't get—e.g., sniffing mimeographed handouts—but this film still rules with an iron fist.

edit: How good is Sean Penn as an actor? In this role, he makes you think he might be a fun guy and not a grouchy prick.

Did you ever see Sweet and Lowdown? He plays much more to type on that one, but it's a great movie.

[Silent Majority]

On a movie channel right now. The Boss and I are laughing at a lot of stuff that kids today wouldn't get—e.g., sniffing mimeographed handouts—but this film still rules with an iron fist.

edit: How good is Sean Penn as an actor? In this role, he makes you think he might be a fun guy and not a grouchy prick.

Did you ever see Sweet and Lowdown? He plays much more to type on that one, but it's a great movie.

The only Woody Allen film I love.

[Dr. Medulla]

On a movie channel right now. The Boss and I are laughing at a lot of stuff that kids today wouldn't get—e.g., sniffing mimeographed handouts—but this film still rules with an iron fist.

edit: How good is Sean Penn as an actor? In this role, he makes you think he might be a fun guy and not a grouchy prick.

Did you ever see Sweet and Lowdown? He plays much more to type on that one, but it's a great movie.

Haven't seen that one, and unfortunately I don't think I can watch any WA films that I haven't already seen.

[tepista]

Requiem for a Vampire (1971) Two teenage girls on the run from the law hide out in an old castle where they get bit by vampires. As initiation, they are each required to seduce a man, and bring them back for dinner. One does, while the other falls in love. Another fun, dreamy vampire pic from Jean Rollin with very pretty and cutely dressed girls (when they are dressed, that is), and barely any dialog. In fact, I don't believe there was any for the first 40 minutes.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah join the party in the latest mega-budget version of Godzilla. The fight scenes were great, but I really don’t think Kaju films should be 2 hours and 12 minutes. I had a good time, but I suspect this won’t be as good on a small screen. Coach Taylor, Mrs. Bates, Eleven, the Get Out Dad, and the Fish-Fucker from Shape of Water play the humans. Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus) directs. The Godzilla March, The Mothra Theme, and several other renewed pieces of music show up in the end credits, even a bad cover Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla". Yeah, this was the 2nd watch, at home, not as good as the first time.

The Sinful Dwarf aka Dwarven (1973) A scarfaced ex-cabaret star and her dwarf son kidnap teenage girls, string them out on smack and force them to turn tricks in the attic of their fleabag boarding house. A young couple moves in and wonder about the strange noises. This depraved Danish oddity is absolutely loaded with sex and nudity (I hear there's even more in a XXX version out there somewhere) and is one of the sleaziest films I have ever seen in my life. The woman who played the young wife, despite a mild case of British teeth, was gorgeous. She was billed as "Ann Sparrow" and this is her only film credit.

The Hunt (2020) Just about as fun as I expected it to be, if not more. Betty Gilpin (GLOW) and a group of assorted right wingers are kidnapped, dumped in a field, and hunted by a group of rich left wingers. Never dull, funny, and ultimately satisfying if you want satire that doesn't make you to think too hard. Director Craig Zobel did Compliance, a movie that nearly made me pull my own hair out.

Horse Girl (2020) Alison Brie (GLOW) is a craft store employee who slowly descends into insanity. This got weirder as it went along. A bit depressing but I liked it a lot.

Doctor Sleep (2019) Director’s Cut. Ok, when I saw it in the theater I raved that this might be my top movie of the decade. Perhaps I was bit too excited, but I loved it anyway, and despite the long runtime, I was never bored, and will certainly watch it many times before all is said and done. I’ve got the book on the shelf ready to go!

Black Swan (2010) Natalie Portman plays an unlikable ballerina with an overbearing mother who descends into madness after winning the lead role in Swan Lake and fends off a challenge from the much cooler Mila Kunis. I would have turned this off, but I had heard so much about the infamous “make-out” scene between the two leads so I had to wait at least until that. It was underwhelming, however, the movie turned batshit after that and I ended up liking it! Whattaya know. I’m pretty sure I don’t like Natalie Portman. Leon the Professional was pretty great though.

Into the Dark: A Nasty Piece of Work (2020) Two up and comers are invited to the rich asshole boss’ (Julian Sands) mansion for an after-Christmas party to see who’s going to get a big promotion, when shit gets crazy and violent. A bit predictable, but it was a fun entry. Written by one of the Broken Lizard guys.

Masters of Horror: Don Coscarelli "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" (2005) From the director of the Phantasm series and Bubba Ho-Tep. A young woman crashes her car on a remote stretch of road in Oregon, and finds herself being attacked by a huge, not entirely human psycho killer. All the while, she recalls the survival training given to her by her boyfriend, which we see through flashback. This training helps her stay alive and do some damage to her would-be killer. Kind of hum drum, but there was a nice twist at the end that made it worthwhile. Coscarelli favorite Angus "Tall Man" Scrimm was also in it.

Masters of Horror: Stuart Gordon "Dreams in the Witch House" (2005) A grad-student stays in an old dump boarding house, where a rat with a human face and an evil baby killing witch haunt his dreams, as they haunted the dreams of previous tenants. He realizes he must save the baby of the pretty single mom who lives down the hall. Very good episode. Blood and nudity.

Masters of Horror: Tobe Hooper "Dance of the Dead” (2005) In a post-apocalyptic world, asshole teenagers run around on motorcycles and sell blood to Robert Englund, who runs a popular strip club, in which dancing zombies are the main attraction. Despite a large amount of nudity, this was a crap episode.

[JennyB]

On a movie channel right now. The Boss and I are laughing at a lot of stuff that kids today wouldn't get—e.g., sniffing mimeographed handouts—but this film still rules with an iron fist.

edit: How good is Sean Penn as an actor? In this role, he makes you think he might be a fun guy and not a grouchy prick.

This movie is so underappreciated for its brilliance. And my favorite part of this is that it has an abortion storyline with no judgement and no apologies. And a supportive big brother.

[revbob]

On a movie channel right now. The Boss and I are laughing at a lot of stuff that kids today wouldn't get—e.g., sniffing mimeographed handouts—but this film still rules with an iron fist.

edit: How good is Sean Penn as an actor? In this role, he makes you think he might be a fun guy and not a grouchy prick.

This movie is so underappreciated for its brilliance. And my favorite part of this is that it has an abortion storyline with no judgement and no apologies. And a supportive big brother.

I forgot about that.

[WestwayKid]

There was apparently a television spin off that lasted a mere handful of episodes:

[Dr. Medulla]

There was apparently a television spin off that lasted a mere handful of episodes:

A vaguely remember that.

[matedog]

There was apparently a television spin off that lasted a mere handful of episodes:

I imagine the tv show was probably what I thought that movie would actually be like - wild and crazy 80's kids having wild and crazy adventures. As opposed to the film which was about abortion and shit. Like Saturday Night Fever was for the 70's - a fun very of the time film which was actually about like rape and suicide.

[Dr. Medulla]

Minor Fast Times bit that always grates. Before Rat takes out Stacy for the first time, Damone advises him to play side one of Zep IV to get her in the mood. Then it shows R & S in the car and the soundtrack is "Kashmir." I try to convince myself that it's some kind of hyper clever joke that Rat doesn't know his Zep albums, but I'm fooling myself.

[JennyB]

Minor Fast Times bit that always grates. Before Rat takes out Stacy for the first time, Damone advises him to play side one of Zep IV to get her in the mood. Then it shows R & S in the car and the soundtrack is "Kashmir." I try to convince myself that it's some kind of hyper clever joke that Rat doesn't know his Zep albums, but I'm fooling myself.

No, I think that's exactly right. He's so daft and nervous that he doesn't know IV from Physical Graffiti.