Netflix This Movie! Vol. 33

While we're all enjoying ourselves at the F This Movie! BBQ, you should watch these movies!

Adam Riske: Only The Strong (1993, dir. Sheldon Lettich) Specificity. That is why I really like Only the Strong. Someone got the idea that Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian break-dance martial art, was worth centering an entire movie around. The movie is batshit crazy and super entertaining. It tells the story of a green beret who comes back to his old high school in Miami to make a difference, teaching the worst students on campus respect by kicking each other in the face and taking out the local druglord (who, coincidence should have it, is also an expert in Capoeira). Who will be the Capoeira Mestre (aka Drift King)? Watch Only the Strong to find out! Worth noting, this movie was a favorite of Karate Blood -- my sort of group/gang from 5th grade. No one messed with us.

Heath Holland: Lionheart (1990, dir. Sheldon Lettich) I've pretty much decided that I'm the only person in the world who really likes this movie. It takes itself too seriously to have much fun while watching it, yet it doesn't rise to the heights of movies like Bloodsport or Hard Target. Still, there's something about this movie that I really enjoy. Maybe it's the scene where a spandex-clad Van Damme fights the spandex-clad bad guy in a pool while girls in neon bikinis look on. Maybe it's the way that cars pull in tightly and create a circle that serves as the ring in the underground fight club. Maybe it's all the bloody, bare knuckle fighting. I don't know, but I do know that I really enjoy Lionheart. It's corny and disposable, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

JB:  Rosemary's Baby (1968, dir. Roman Polanski) "What have you done to his eyes?" "Why, he has his father's eyes, my dear."

Patrick: Goddamn Netflix Instant. They keep adding movies that would have worked great for Junesploitation after the fact. This week, Galaxy of Terror showed up, which could have been used for '80s Horror, Sci-fi, Sid Haig OR Roger Corman day. They also added Back to the Beach, which might have made a great double bill for anyone who watched Beach Party on Teensploitation day.

But Junesploitation is over (phew), and it's time to move on. Because we're lighter on recommendations than usual this week (what with the holiday and all), I'm going to suggest two movies. First is The Rainmaker (1997, dir. Francis Ford Coppola), the best of all the John Grisham movies and Coppola's last great film. Terrific dialogue (and even better narration), a cast of character actors that TO A PERSON just crushes it and a bunch of interesting cases. I could not have been less interested in seeing this movie in '97, and it ended up being one of my favorites of that legendary year. If you haven't seen it yet, you don't know what you're missing.

I'll also recommend Strange Days (1995, dir. Kathryn Bigelow), a sci-fi sort-of-classic. Every time I watch Strange Days, I want it to be the best movie ever made. It is not. It is a really good movie with Greatness in it; like a couple other newer sci-fi movies (I'm looking at you, Minority Report), it squanders an ingenious idea and first-rate worldbuilding on a disappointing mystery. Kathryn Bigelow directs the shit out of it, because that's what she does, and the good stuff makes it all worth it. It's not quite the masterpiece I want it to be (or some people call it), but it's well worth your time.