Saturday, September 19, 2020

Weekend Open Thread


6 comments:

  1. Good weekend to everyone.

    It was mainly a week of re-watches. Rather than delve into new material, I was more in the mood to see some familiar things. Before sending it back to Netflix, I watched EMANUELLE IN BANGKOK for a second time. I enjoyed it just as much as the first viewing and was again struck by the poignant conclusion. Jess Franco’s 1970 film EUGENIE was also a second watch. While it is ultimately erotic fluff, Franco had a style at this time that I really appreciate. I do not know if Eugenie would convince a Franco sceptic that he was a good director, but it is one of the highlights of his vast filmography. The last re-watch was ALUCARDA. This was probably the third viewing since I bought the film in the summertime. (I had seen years before.) Every watch I notice something different, and the run-time of around 80 minutes makes it an easy film to finish after a long day. The little touches of Tina Romero’s portrayal of Alucarda caught my attention this time.

    The Tom Waits concert film BIG TIME (1988) was the only new watch for the week. Though not the biggest fan of his 1980s style, Waits is always an interesting performer. The little skits between the concert footage are pretty amusing and sometimes edgy. It probably would not interest those who are not already Waits fans.

    I found a dvd of CONVOY, Sam Peckinpah’s penultimate film, at a store. The main draw for me was a documentary about the making of Convoy, and that is what I watched. It was sad to see what state Peckinpah was in by 1977. The doc, to be honest, is probably more interesting than the film.

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  2. Good weekend to all!

    I watched the new Netflix movie The Devil All the Time and while I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea, it really worked for me. This movie is dark, bleak and cynical in just about every way. I won't so much more to avoid spoilers and potentially offending anyone but it does things very similar to The Witch, in that it shows that man with "God on his side" is very much capable of evil and vile deeds.

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  3. Proposed: A Knight's Tale is, in fact, a Fast & Furious film. William Thatcher is an ancestor of Brian O'Conner.

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  4. Hey all! Hope everyone's having a good weekend.

    Disney+ finally arrived in Finland this week, so I immediately took the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about and watched Hamilton. And it's magnificent! I'd deliberately stayed away from seeing clips or listening to the album, and the wait was worth it. An amazing show from an amazing writer, it's gonna be in heavy rotation. Also watched A Goofy Movie (still great) and both National Treasures (still dumb and fun).

    Other than that, Headshot is a great burst of energy, Used Cars and Romancing the Stone are both really fun, and The Way of the Gun isn't.

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  5. Butt Boy on Tubi what an ending, chef's kiss. Also, watched Netflix's latest The Devil All the Time. It's a dark, boring and depressing film. Tom Holland is great and the only bright spot in the film IMO. The voice over narration took me out of the film every time and I don't care if it's the author of the book doing it. Rating 4/10.

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  6. I watched Double Team (1997) starring JCVD, Dennis Rodman and a chiseled Mickey Rourke, and directed by renowned Hong Kong film director Hark Tsui. I kind of stumbled on it by accident after finding it streaming on CTV. This was either one of the best things I've seen lately, or one of the worst. The action is really well staged, and there's heaps of hand to hand combat, gun fights, and explosions for days. Really enjoyable. But the plot is a bit confusing, with what seems like major plots points disappearing from the movie as it snakes it's way from one set piece to another. There's a whole bit with a "prison island" for washed up secret agents, that doesn't seem to serve any purpose. I'm still not certain what the bad guy (Rourke) wanted to do? Steal JCVD's newborn baby...and then what? Rodman is a distraction, and the 2nd half where he plays a bigger part suffers from it. There's a tiger which shows up at one point. BUT, overall it was pretty fun, and the exciting action bits make it worth watching.

    Other than that, I watched Murder Mystery (2019) which was amusing. Sandler is trying more than usual. Aniston is funny (as always) and is what made the movie work for me.

    Good Kill (2014) starring Ethan Hawke. About a drone pilot which is struggling with the mortality of what he's doing. Hawke is good as the brooding soldier who's life is coming apart from the stress of being a drone pilot. It's engaging enough, but there were unrealistic things here and there which detracted from the movie for me, especially the ending which was a bit contrived.

    Dead Presidents (1995) which I had never seen back in the day, but I had the fantastic soundtrack! This was about black soldiers going to Vietnam and trying to reintegrate into society after returning from the war. I see what the filmmakers were trying to do with it, but it seemed like they included too much. It's like there's too many pieces and genres and era's for it too all come together very cohesively. It's part ghetto movie, then a war movie, then a movie about the Vets, then it's a heist movie. Chris Tucker was excellent in this. The makeup they wear during the heist is really iconic!

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