Friday, June 6, 2014

Netflix This Movie! Vol. 80

More picks for Junesploitation!
Adam Riske:
June 7 - Bikers!: Easy Rider (1969, dir. Dennis Hopper) This is one of those classics where you watch it and go, "I could see why this is a classic." It has some awesome Jack Nicholson bits and an ending that will never NOT freak me out.

June 8 - New Horror!: Maniac (2013, dir. Franck Khalfoun) or Insidious Chapter 2 (2013, dir. James Wan) I liked both. Patrick and I did a podcast on Insidious Chapter 2, so maybe give that one the edge because you can watch the movie and then listen to our show. Not convinced? I also talk about Paparazzi on that podcast and profess my love for the doe-eyed beauty Jocelin Donahue. You might know her from The House of the Devil or Digiorno's pizza commercials.

June 12 - Sci-Fi!: Death Race 2000 (1975, dir. Paul Bartel) A short, simple but great Roger Corman joint with Mary Woronov (who scares me), some quality butt shots, fast cars and Sylvester Stallone. David Carridine (RIP) is THE MAN.
Heath Holland:
June 7 - Bikers!: Chrome and Hot Leather (1971, dir. Lee Frost) A Green Beret goes undercover in a motorcycle gang to avenge the death of his girlfriend. DO I NEED TO TELL YOU MORE? Plus there's chrome. And hot leather! This movie isn't great, even by exploitation standards, but it's better than a lot of other biker movies I've watched. I even bought a lobby card featuring the awesome art.
 
June 8 - New Horror!: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010, dir. Eli Craig) I'm still running across people who haven't watched this movie. It's a LOT of fun and fits in perfectly with the spirit of Junesploitation. So what if it does't quite stick the landing? It's got a lot of ideas and charm to make it worth your time.
 
June 9 - Free Space!: Get the Gringo (2012, Adrian Grunberg) Look, I KNOW. It's Mel Gibson and we all shrink a little bit at the thought of the guy these days. But Get the Gringo is old-fashioned Mel Gibson in the same vein as Payback and if you can get over the person that he seems to be in real life then you might have a pretty fun time with this movie about an American career criminal who ends up in a Mexican prison.
 
June 11 - Blaxploitation!: Jackie Brown (1997, dir. Quentin Tarantino) Netflix is just lousy with old Pam Grier movies, but the one I think you should watch is also my favorite Tarantino film. He did for Pam Grier here what he did for John Travolta and David Carradine in some of his other films. Pam Grier is the baddest mutha-shut-yo-mouth I've ever seen and this was the first film I ever watched her in. Throw in Samuel L. Jackson and you have a masterpiece. I know this is mainstream, but I feel like Jackie Brown is the Tarantino film a lot of people (unjustifiably) skipped.
 
June 12 - Sci-fi!: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, dir. Robert Wise) The fella that brought us The Sound of Music, The Hauting, West Side Story AND Star Trek: The Motion Picture is also the fella that made one of the most iconic sci-fi movies of all time. You'll feel really superior dropping "klaatu barada nikto" references into everyday conversation and feeling awesome when your friends have no idea what you're talking about.
JB:
June 6th - Canuxsploitation!: Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage (2010, dir. Dunne & McFadyen) What is MORE Canadian than THIS band? Nothing.

June 7th - Bikers!: Beach Party (1963, dir. William Asher) Remember Eric Von Zipper and the Rat's Revenge? Remember Harvey Lembeck giving himself "the finger?" This movie was a formative piece of my childhood, watching it on TV after school, and it's got a MOTORCYCLE GANG in it!

June 8th - New Horror: The Cabin In The Woods (2011, dir. Drew Goddard) I know... I know... some people hate it. I have no patience for those people. This is one of the best horror films of the last ten years... and certainly the most fun.

June 9th - Free Space: Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010, dir. Mark Hartley) Here's a way to stay on the exploitation track on free space day: this documentary about low-budget filmmaking in the Phillipines.

June 10th - Cannon: Death Wish 3 (1985, dir. Michael Winner) Patrick has waxed rhapsodic about this CANNON FILMS MASTERPIECE. I will never be able to rid my brain of the board with human teeth stuck in it! More fun and "silly" than the first two, which were mean-spirited and ugly. Also, I may be in the minority here, but I think Bronson's LOOKING for trouble.

June 11th - Blaxploitation: Nacho Libre (2006, dir. Jared Hess) Wait, am I doing this right?

June 12th - Sci-Fi!: MST3K: Gamera! What's better than watching Godzilla fighting a giant flying turtle? Listening to the MST3K guys make wisecracks while Godzilla fights a giant flying turtle.

OR, if you are one of those who do not like the Satellite of Love:

Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964, dir. Ishiro Honda) I just cannot get those twins and their "Mothra Song" out of my mind. Last weekend at Wonderfest, I began singing it to Heath, the wrong way. The dealer at the table selling Godzilla tchotchkes demonstrated how to sing it right! It's catchy!
Patrick:
June 6 - Canxuploitation!: My Bloody Valentine (1981, dir. George Mihalka) This Canadian slasher is finally getting appreciated for being better than its reputation originally suggested. It has really good characters, a decent mystery, a strong sense of place and, if you're watching in its uncut form, brutal, bloody gore.

June 7 - Bikers!: The Mini-Skirt Mob (1968, dir. Maury Dexter) Lady bikers! They play around with murder like they play around with men!

June 8 - New Horror!: Contracted (2013, dir. Eric England) Maybe you haven't watched this yet. Maybe WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Watch it and then listen to this great interview with the writer/director. He is nice and cool and great and his movie deserves your attention. Or you could watch Lucky McKee's The Woman, still one of my favorite horror movies of the decade. I've been beating this drum for years. Sorry if you're sick of it.

June 9 - Free Space!: Night of the Creeps (1986, dir. Fred Dekker) Hey, you've got a free day? You should spend it watching one of the MOST FUN HORROR MOVIES EVER. It's got teensploitation, zombies, cops, '80s horror, sci-fi -- everything. IT WILL KICK YOUR DICK.

June 10 - Cannon!: Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987, dir. J. Lee Thompson) I try to be a nice guy. I let everyone else have first dibs at what they want to recommend every week, which leaves me with the leftovers because I don't see the sense in more than one person recommending the same movie -- you guys should always have more choices, not fewer. That means that JB gets to cockblock me and recommend Death Wish 3 (RIP The Giggler), though at least I will have more to say about that next week (HINT HINT #HA). Instead, I'll recommend the sequel, which isn't as good but does star Dana Barron as a drug addict and features what might be the best dispatching of a bad guy EVER. The whole movie is worth it for those last 30 seconds. I promise.

June 11 - Blaxploitation!: Black Klansman (1966, dir. Ted V. Mikels) Holy shit that title. I'll be honest -- I haven't even seen this movie, but with a great exploitation movie title like that it has to be worth a look. My guess is that it doesn't live up to the title. That's often the case. I might be watching this on Blaxploitation day, too.

June 12 - Sci-fi!: Galaxy of Terror (1981, dir. Bruce D. Clark) This movie is not great. It is ugly and mean-spirited and derivative of Alien, but it's so much in the spirit of what this month is about that I can't NOT recommend it. You want cheap, violent exploitation? Here it is in a big, bad way.

2 comments:

  1. Some great recommendations here. Just added Night of the Creeps to my queue.

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    1. Thanks! You will not be disappointed. #thrillme

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