Movies you've seen recently

[Hurlshort]

I'm not really opposed to a remake of Big Trouble, but the casting of the Rock makes me nervous.  The guy is a good comedic actor, really, but he's also a larger than life action hero.  Russel was basically out of his element surrounded by a bunch of kung fu masters, but I don't see how The Rock will pull that off.

[Orogun01]

I'm not really opposed to a remake of Big Trouble, but the casting of the Rock makes me nervous.  The guy is a good comedic actor, really, but he's also a larger than life action hero.  Russel was basically out of his element surrounded by a bunch of kung fu masters, but I don't see how The Rock will pull that off.

If he does it will look impressive to see a man of his size being completely overpowered by three tinier Chinese men and an old one. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

[ManifestedISO]

I first noticed it while watching sports ... suddenly I could hear the smallest details ... McIlroy twirling his club, a velcro batting glove undone at first-base--it felt like I was standing within three feet. So then I started watching movies and TV with headphones ... twice as much audio seemed to be available. I was just wondering if you guys watch your media with headphones, or, if you're super successful and enjoy 14.2 wireless DTS after putting the kids to bed in their hyperbaric bunk-beds. 

[Rosbjerg]

Circle, a new one on Netflix. The old 'stuck in a room and figure out why you're being killed' routine we've seen a few times.. Does well for the subgenre, nothing fantastic, but a good option if you got nothing else to watch on a sunday.

[Gfted1]

Tremors 5: Bloodlines

 

Dare I say it was surprisingly entertaining? Equal to #2 imo.

[Amentep]

Forgot to post my weekend watching:

 

NIGHT OF TERROR (1933) - A mad killer is on the loose.  A scientist creates a stir planning to test a suspended animation formula by being buried alive.  The scientist's fiance is heir to a fortune.  The other heir's start dropping like flies.  Is it the work of the mad killer?  Or is someone using the mad killer to disguise their goal of getting the money?  Its a pretty good myster/thriller (the solution is rather clever).  The madman in this is particularly mad, killing practically on sight and wandering, crazed, through the proceedings (the opening, where he kills a couple kissing in their car can't help but make me think of the 1940s Texarkana Moonlight Murders that became the source for The Town that Dreaded Sundown)  Stars Wallace "The Mummy's Hand" Ford, Bela "Lederstrumpf" Lugosi and Sally "City Limits" Blane.

 

THE MUMMY LIVES (1993) - Late Cannon film, this entry into the Mummy horror film canon comes at a low ebb for mummy films.  It trots out a lot of the expected tropes (priest who defies the gods and is buried alive; reincarnated loves, etc).  Originally intended to star Anthony Perkins, when he passed away he was replaced by Tony Curtis.  Many feel Tony was miscast in the role (and its easy to make jokes about him coming from the Brooklyn part of Egypt as Curtis was never one to affect an accent), but the part under him plays up the doomed romance angle and he's quite capable when playing the charming revitalized mummy character; less well done are the actual horror aspects as they seem to not be as well thought through (or they just didn't have the budget/time to do it right).  And while the sets are pretty impressive considering its low budget, the film feels like a rushed job.  These were the days after Golan-Globus had split, Cannon had financial problems and the death of the planned star probably led to concessions in the filmmaking.  Its remarkable the film is coherent at all.  Probably not for anyone but Mummy film purists, but its a respectable mummy film even with its often cheezy moments and sometimes spurious logic.  Look for the death by domestic cat as a highlight.  Stars Tony "The Black Shield of Falworth" Curtis, Greg "Barbarian Queen II: The Empress  Strikes Back" Wrangler, and Leslie "Pensacola: Wings of Gold" Hardy.

 

ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1988) - Elvira quits her talk show to go to Vegas but needs money.  An Aunt dies and she goes to the reading of the will and ends up stuck in the small, anti-fun, anti-non-conformist town of Fallwell.  Meanwhile, Elvira's evil uncle tries to get a hold of a spellbook that will give him ultimate power.  The enjoyment of this film is probably related to ones thoughts on Elvira's shtick; the floor is littered with asides, gags and double entendres (Elvira: "I was flat-busted" "I mean I was broke") and the finale song and dance routine is very much a vegas-y song and dance routine by someone who'd been there, done that.  Some jokes hit, some miss but like the Airplane! films, if you didn't like that one another will be along any second.  Its funny looking back on the film - positioned at the time as we were going through a period of anti-pop culture focused on rap and video games to then look and see that we're still fighting over video games (and maybe rap, not as hooked into music as I once was). Stars Elvira "Elvira's Haunted Hills", W. Morgan "Hawk the Slayer" Sheppard and Edie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" McClurg.

 

SUPERNATURAL (1933) - White Zombie is often credited as the grandfather of the zombie film (albeit anyone in the know understands that Night of the Living Dead owes more to Mattheson's I am Legend than any of the voodoo zombie films that came before).  The director/producer's of White Zombie - the Halperin brothers - on a career upswing were hired by a major studio, Paramount, to craft a horror film.  And while many a horror film critic has poo-pahed the film (as it has a fake psychic) they seem to miss the weird science and mystical mumbo-jumbo that placed the film firmly in the horror pantheon.  The film had its troubles in production; the Halperins wanted Madge Bellamy for the role (she'd played the wife-turned-zombie in White Zombie).  The studio wanted a bigger star and one already under contract - Carole Lombard. 

 

Lombard hadn't yet become the queen of the screwball comedy (that would come in the next year, in Howard Hawk's Twentieth Century).  And while Lombard had gained notice from critics (and William Powell), she'd yet to completely break out as a star.  So Paramount tried her in a variety of genres trying to find her niche.  For her part, Lombard wasn't keen on getting typecast in horror pictures and ultimately was coming to realize what she wanted to do was comedies.  This led to a strained relationship with the Halperins over how to handle the film and the role (Lombard, after an earthquake had shook the lot, is reported to have crossed the lot at Paramount to find the Halperins and quip that "She was just getting started" with respect to how she felt over their disagreements about the film). 

 

The film when it came out was a dud; Lombard recovered going on to greater stardom, but the Halperins' career fell as they went back to the minors and poverty row movie companies.

 

But enough with the background; the film itself turns out to be a real gem.  Good performances from the cast lead a plot that deals with themes similar to White Zombie; a young woman finds her will being usurped by that of another - in this case an executed murderess who has one last person to kill.  The film takes its time with the set-up (with at least one scene ultimately being dull) but it all leads to understanding why the characters all get drawn together.  Lombard's distaste for the film never shows; instead she gives a great performance.  In particular her ability to play the possession in such a great way where her facial expressions, body language and attitude change in big and small ways to illustrate she is, literally, a different character is very well done.

 

Overall the film is well worth looking out for if you're a fan of 1930s horror films or of the Halperins' other horror films.  Stars Carole "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" Lombard, Randolph "Ride the High Country" Scott and H. B. "The Devil and Daniel Webster" Warner.

 

GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) - Who you gonna call?  Its hard to really discuss a film as big as this one in retrospect.  One that you've seen dozens of times and even though I hadn't seen it in years the dialogue and scenes were still familiar.  Its fun and clever and while not perfect its still very much the same film it always has been.  You almost have to feel for William Atherton who was so identified as the evil EPA guy that people harassed him in public for years after.  Stars Bill "The Razor's Edge" Murray, Dan "Driving Miss Daisy" Ackroyd and Sigourney "Gorillas in the Mist" Weaver.

[Gfted1]

Disney just announced ALL of its movies for the next 4 years.

[Malcador]

Why should Star Wars be the only one to tease trailers

 

[Volourn]

"You almost have to feel for William Atherton who was so identified as the evil EPA guy that people harassed him in public for years after. "

 

ALMOST. But, also kudos for a terrific job in what could have been otherwise a simply annoying role. Instead, it was annoyingly entertaining. L0L

[Gfted1]

Ryan Reynolds Trolls Pint-Sized X-Men In "How Deadpool Spent Halloween".

 

Caution: Swearing

[Amentep]

^lewl.

 

I forgot to mention that I also saw Freaks of Nature (2015) on Friday.

 

This film (formerly known as "Kitchen Sink") is based off of a screenplay that made it on the Blacklist of best unmade screenplays a few years ago.  The basic plot - in Dillford, a small town in the US best known for making "the riblet", vampires, humans and zombies all live in an uneasy co-existance.  At the local school our hero Dag is struggling to make the baseball team.  He's in love with Lorelei, his pot-smoking next door neighbor who hides her pot at his house and gives him mixed signals.  We're also introduced to Ned (the smartest kid at school) and Petra (who has caught the attention of one of the attractive, leader of the teen-age vampires, Milan).  Besides vampires and humans, the school also hosts zombies (wearing shock collars to keep them from eating brains - it seems these zombies get high off brains and crave them constantly but get stupider the more they eat). 

 

And so the uneasy alliance for the town goes until a giant alien spaceship shows up.  The vampires think the humans are collaborating with the aliens to destroy them.  The humans think the vampires are collaborating with the aliens to take control.  And the zombies find an unlikely leader who makes them realize that the vampires and humans care more about fighting each other than with supplying brains to them.  And the town erupts into violence.

 

Its an odd film; its easy to see why the script was so well liked.  And as a film, its easy to enjoy the feeling it has that echos a number of solid 80s teen comedies (to me it felt a bit like Better Off Dead (1985) and Three-O'Clock High (1987) and House of Frankenstein (1944) had a gory love child).  And yet it also feels like it could have been better - in particular the film gives short shrift to Lorelei and Milan as characters; they propel a lot of the plot (as they motivate Dag and Petra respectively) but their motivations are left a mystery as the characters are left as sketches.  Also I felt one "surprise" at the end was telegraphed a little too much.

 

The main teens - Dag (Nicholas Braun), Petra (Mackenzie Davis) and Ned (Josh Fadem) are all well done and they hit a lot of beats familiar to anyone who saw an 80s Teen Comedy and there is a parade of good small parts for Bob Odenkirk and Joan Cusack (as Dag's pot smoking parents), Keegan-Michael Key (as a frustrated vampire teacher who ruins kids lives because he can), Dennis Miller (as the rich jerk who owns the towns "riblet" processing plant) and Patton Oswalt (as a survivalist who built a bunker in his basement because he always knew the vampires would turn on the humans).

 

Squirted into theaters after having its release date dropped twice its unlikely it'll be in theaters long.  But I liked it enough to consider seeing it again when it gets a home release.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Amentep

[Bartimaeus]

Huh, never even heard of it until now. How were the production values, out of curiosity? I can't imagine they could've been that great, given the small-sounding scale and media coverage, but you're talking vampires, zombies, aliens, and spaceships, so I'm wondering how well they handled it.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Amentep]

Huh, never even heard of it until now. How were the production values, out of curiosity? I can't imagine they could've been that great, given the small-sounding scale and media coverage, but you're talking vampires, zombies, aliens, and spaceships, so I'm wondering how well they handled it.

 

Actually it works or the most part, IMO - but you have to consider its really a comedy film rather than a horror film and keep expectations there.  There is one very cheesy makeup effect and some of the alien stuff is very cgi (not bad, just sort of mid-level still CGI looking CGI).  The gore effects (vampires ripping throats and zombie eating humans) is pretty well done but not really dwelt on.  You can tell to save budget that the move is done so as to really keep the expenses down (the "fight" is kept short and for the most part major makeup work is limited to a couple of scenes).

[Bartimaeus]

I see! Doesn't really sound like my type of movie, unfortunately, but that's not saying much, as I don't watch hardly any films to begin with. Still, it's mildly interesting sounding, at the very least, which is better than I'd say for most movies I hear about.

 

Also, NOW Nonek should really complain...both of our avatars are now sepia-colored, too.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Amentep]

It is an interesting premise; part of what intrigued me was that premise.  Mind you the trailer looked "fun" too.  It was a toss-up between this or Scouts Guide to the Apocalypse which also is kind of a horror-80s comedy kind of movie.

[Volourn]

I watched Scouts' okay... it was watchable. Even though I am anti SJW, the 'strong woman character' was the best part of the movie. Though I bet many nazi SJW hate her.

[BruceVC]

 

Its looks....entertaining, a FPS movie 

[Raithe]

Spectre.

 

It has its ups and downs. It feels like they've gone through a check list of what makes a Bond film but it doesn't quite capture the soul of it. There's a lot of fun moments, but something doesn't click for the whole. It's the little things, like they didn't need to have multiple car chase scenes that all seem to run on longer than needed.

 

I liked Christopher Waltz for the way he played Blofeld, but, and yes there's a but here, I did not like how the story now insists on having this deeply personal connection with Bond. What's wrong with having one villain who is just a megalomanic genius engineer/economist/political scientist, building up a secret, criminal organisation and trying to achieve world domination levels of influence and power? But no, there has to be a tragic back story that propelled him on his way because of his childhood with Bond. Then every tragedy in all previous films gets tied in. That's just... Not Blofeld.

 

As a capping stone on the Craid Bond, it works. It's kind of a counterpoint to Casino Royale and works for that.

Eh, I would say your milage may vary depending on your preferences.

[Raithe]

And somewhat film related...

 

RollingStone - Willy Wonka Cast Reunite for the films 44th anniversary

 

 

 

Forty-four years after Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's theatrical premiere, six original cast members – five golden ticket winners, one Oompa Loompa – reunited for an interview with Today, reminiscing about their life-changing roles. "We think of ourselves as a family," says Paris Themmen, who played the hot-headed, cowboy-obsessed Mike Teavee. "Maybe a bit of a dysfunctional family. But a family, really."

 

Themmen, Julie Dawn Cole (bratty Veruca Salt), Michael Bollner (gluttonous Augustus Gloop), Denise Nickerson (gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde), Peter Ostrum (wide-eyed protagonist Charlie Bucket) and Rusty Goffe (the head Oompa Loompa) have stayed in touch over the years, often appearing together at fan conventions. Only Goffe remains a professional actor, while Ostrum left the industry to become a veterinarian. 

 

The cast also share some set stories: Nickerson reveals that she no longer chews gum after returning from the shoot with 13 cavities, and Goffe explains that he needed 76 takes to finish one highly choreographed Oompa Loompa scene involving cartwheels. Bollner also shatters numerous childhood dreams by confirming that the iconic chocolate river was, in reality, not so magical: "I'm sorry," he says. "It was water."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMlZJlw9Cck

 

 

[majestic]

I just finished watching Six String Samurai. I'm... not really sure what to say. Except maybe: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

[Amentep]

Super Mario Bros.

I skipped this when it came out to theaters. And the film lived up to its reputation as an incredible mess (and it goes without saying a poor representation of the Mario franchise).

It has some plot holes - large and small - and the story can't seem to decide what its about or what the characters want.

But the leads (Hoskins, Leguizamo, Hopper and Mathis) kind of redeem it; they make the sillyness fun, the runaround engaging and allowed me to ignore the gaping plot holes (Iggy and Spike for example - stupid henchmen of Koopa.  But near the end of the film after Koopa has made them smart, they reveal they've been secretly on the King's side all along and they know things that they couldn't have known without being secretly working for the King...but how did they get stupid?  Was it an act?  Did Koopa stupify them to make them work for him and if he did wouldn't he know they'd betray him when he made them smart?)

 

Its obvious the script was written on the fly and that different visions were being sought.  And yet, for a 90s action comedy (that feels like an 80s action comedy) it actually isn't that bad.

[Volourn]

100% agree. The whole thing is a mess and illogical yet (largely to the leads as you point out + the whole wackiness of it) it is entertaining.

[Oerwinde]

I thought I was the only one who likeed Mario Bros. Like how all I see is hate for Hook online. Peoole who hate Hook can suck on a dead dog's nose.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Oerwinde

[Gfted1]

First trailer for Zoolander 2