Tell me this wasn't a great double-bill. Rewatched OPPENHEIMER (2023, NON-IMAX 70mm PRINT), then came home and watched AKIRA (1988, 4K UHD) with the former's lead character's fears about humanity losing itself in the pursuit of harnessing the ultimate power resonating in the actions of the latter's government types trying to control Tetsuo's growing madness/powers. And none of these amazing post-apocalyptic films used a lick of CG to enthrall me with their depictions (one theoretical, the other allegorical) of a 'big bang.' :-D
PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC'S REVENGE (1988, AFA 35mm), which I liked it so much the next day I bought the Arrow Blu-ray from B&N (50% off sale in August!) just to watch all the extras. Though it's titled and feels like a sequel to a non-existent prequel this is my type of 80's horror cheese: self-aware enough to be likable while also delivering good horror kills like clockwork and making me care about its characters... yes, even Pauly freaking Shore in an early role. The shopping center from "Commando" and "Chopping Mall" is the real star of the movie, but this one is a rewatch-ready keeper for me. :-)
Speaking of hammy acting, I'm an avowed theater hater (lived in NYC for decades, never seen a Broadway show) telling you that THEATER CAMP (2023, theater) is a hilarious mockumentary about young/old people trying to put on a summer show for their comatose founder (Amy Sedaris) before the bank forecloses on the almost-bankrupt business. Ben Platt would have stolen the show as a cares-too-much teacher if the flick wasn't stacked with so many promising young actors/singers (and one future lil' talent agent).
MEG 2: THE TRENCH (2023, Dolby Cinema) is breathtaking in its dumbness, stupidity and "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"-level awfulness. Why are bad guys firing guns at Jason Statham while he's fighting three magalodons who are eating people? IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, not to mention it isn't thrilling, scary or funny in the slightest (GTFOOH with your non-comic relief, Page Kennedy!). Not even Jing Wu ("Wondering Earth") fighting a giant octopus is consolation for Ben Wheatley wasting his crack at the mainstream with such a forgettable nothingness. A-fucking-void.
YouTube Channel Forever Cinematic Commentaries: SLEEPAWAY CAMP 1/2/3, all on the old Anchor Bay DVD Box Set whose transfers look really bad on modern TV's. I think I'm in the minority that slightly prefers "Teenage Wasteland" over "Unhappy Campers" (both are cheap, flawed and carried by Pamela Springstein's charisma) with Hiltzik's original flying high above both. Any future rewatches will have to be on HD streaming, because these old DVD transfers need to be beaten with a stick of wood. ;-)
Claude Chabrol's COP AU VIN (1984)/INSPECTOR LAVARDIN (1985, ARROW BLU-RAY BOX SET). Provincial/rural France's friendly small-town manners hide all kinds of ugly secrets. In "Cop Au Vin" a scheme to evict a crazy wheelchair-bound woman and her meek son from their home gives way to a killing spree hidden by apparent accidents. Enter Inspector Lavardin (Jean Poiret), a one-man good/bad copper whose late entry into "CAV" is so good a year later he starred in his own self-titled movie, ala Peter Sellers' "Pink Panther" saga. Since the suspects of the murder of a Christian writer who wasn't who he appeared to be include an old flame of Lavardin's (Bernadette Lafont's Hélène) our "hero" operates on a much grayer/darker shade of the law than you'd expect. I'm loving these new-to-me Chabrol movies, and the bonus features are sugar on top.
Billy Wilder's SUNSET BLVD. (1950, TCM). Has there ever been a more pathetic example of someone clinging to fame than Max (Erich von Stroheim), the loyal servant to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson)? I thought William Holden was a sellout, but the reveal of who Max is still ranks as top-tier film noir 'WTF?' nightmare fuel. So good! :-P
As the resolution of televisions and disc players improves, you are right about DVD transfers increasingly looking terrible, J.M. I am glad that I still have an older TV to make DVDs a more tolerable experience.
CLEOPATRA (1965) Checked this off my "classics-I've-never-seen-yet" list. The big-screen spectacle is there, but the real spectacle is Liz Burton and Richard Taylor sharing the screen. Considering this, Taming of the Shrew, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, I can't help but think this is what their real-life marriage was like.
THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (1978) What if the training montage was the entire movie? But it's great, with an awesome lead performance by Gordon Liu. You can definitely see a lot of Kill Bill's DNA in this.
FANTASY ISLAND (2020) What a bewildering head-scratcher of a movie this is. It's a total mess, but... will future generations call it a cult classic?
GOOD OMENS 2 (2023) Not sure if I enjoyed this as much as the first (not to mention the book). Most of the action this time takes place in and around the bookstore set, making the whole thing feel a lot smaller. There were a lot of fun bits and a big swing at the ending, so I'll come back if part 3 ever gets made.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985). I watched this today. I always try to put this movie on but I find the dialogue so odd that I usually donʻt make it through. I donʻt know anyone who talks like them. None of it is reflective of my high school experience. But one thing I know for sure: Molly Ringwaldʻs HAIR is to-die-for in this movie. Favorite hair ever. Like a perfect cloud. I always crushed on Anthony Michael Hall. That little guy had so much swag.
My viewing this week was dictated by my pet sitting. There is a Roku channel of Mexican films that, despite not knowing much Spanish, I found some things on that intrigued me. EL Ataúd del Vampiro (The Vampire's Coffin) from 1958 is one that I have seen before, a sequel to a 1957 gothic film. Though lacking the atmosphere of the original, the sequel is more entertaining. An anthology film, Trampas de Amor (1969) tells three tales of love with a cynical edge. As a fan of the cinema of this era, just seeing the fashions and the accoutrements of life was interesting enough. The stories were also engaging, though I had to resort to Wikipedia for the finer details. The last watch was a stinker, La Mujer Murcielago (1968). It is better known in English as The Batwoman, an awkward mix of luchador cinema and parody of the 1960s Batman TV show.
I have access to Netflix streaming here to, so I watched the series MUSCLES AND MAYHEM: AN UNAUTHORIZED STORY OF AMERICAN GLADIATORS (2023). Back in the early 1990s, American Gladiators was a TV phenomenon that seemed to vanish almost as quickly as it appeared. I was a frequent viewer of it during its brief prime. Whether the names Gemini, Nitro, Ice, Blaze, or Zap have any meaning to you could determine whether this would be of any interest.
The final watch was the Elvis Presley film GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! (1962). The strange thing is that his character is more focused on buying a boat. He is a fisherman and part-time singer scrounging around to earn money to buy that boat while generally being a jerk to the women interested in him. Coming relatively early in his movie career, Elvis is still enthusiastic about what he is doing. The formula of his films had yet to wear him down.
Another channel I like to watch on Roku while pet sitting is the Dr. Who channel, showing the first 26 years of episodes (1963-1989). Tom Baker is still my favorite Doctor, but it is interesting to see how the other actors played the character. Despite the show never excelling in production values, the very early episodes are at an entirely different level of roughness. I cannot imagine how the Dr. Who theme sounded in the 1960s. There was nothing like it in popular culture at the time. Some of the opening credits from that period are extremely trippy, too.
So many movies, so little room!
ReplyDeleteTell me this wasn't a great double-bill. Rewatched OPPENHEIMER (2023, NON-IMAX 70mm PRINT), then came home and watched AKIRA (1988, 4K UHD) with the former's lead character's fears about humanity losing itself in the pursuit of harnessing the ultimate power resonating in the actions of the latter's government types trying to control Tetsuo's growing madness/powers. And none of these amazing post-apocalyptic films used a lick of CG to enthrall me with their depictions (one theoretical, the other allegorical) of a 'big bang.' :-D
PHANTOM OF THE MALL: ERIC'S REVENGE (1988, AFA 35mm), which I liked it so much the next day I bought the Arrow Blu-ray from B&N (50% off sale in August!) just to watch all the extras. Though it's titled and feels like a sequel to a non-existent prequel this is my type of 80's horror cheese: self-aware enough to be likable while also delivering good horror kills like clockwork and making me care about its characters... yes, even Pauly freaking Shore in an early role. The shopping center from "Commando" and "Chopping Mall" is the real star of the movie, but this one is a rewatch-ready keeper for me. :-)
Speaking of hammy acting, I'm an avowed theater hater (lived in NYC for decades, never seen a Broadway show) telling you that THEATER CAMP (2023, theater) is a hilarious mockumentary about young/old people trying to put on a summer show for their comatose founder (Amy Sedaris) before the bank forecloses on the almost-bankrupt business. Ben Platt would have stolen the show as a cares-too-much teacher if the flick wasn't stacked with so many promising young actors/singers (and one future lil' talent agent).
MEG 2: THE TRENCH (2023, Dolby Cinema) is breathtaking in its dumbness, stupidity and "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure"-level awfulness. Why are bad guys firing guns at Jason Statham while he's fighting three magalodons who are eating people? IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, not to mention it isn't thrilling, scary or funny in the slightest (GTFOOH with your non-comic relief, Page Kennedy!). Not even Jing Wu ("Wondering Earth") fighting a giant octopus is consolation for Ben Wheatley wasting his crack at the mainstream with such a forgettable nothingness. A-fucking-void.
YouTube Channel Forever Cinematic Commentaries: SLEEPAWAY CAMP 1/2/3, all on the old Anchor Bay DVD Box Set whose transfers look really bad on modern TV's. I think I'm in the minority that slightly prefers "Teenage Wasteland" over "Unhappy Campers" (both are cheap, flawed and carried by Pamela Springstein's charisma) with Hiltzik's original flying high above both. Any future rewatches will have to be on HD streaming, because these old DVD transfers need to be beaten with a stick of wood. ;-)
Claude Chabrol's COP AU VIN (1984)/INSPECTOR LAVARDIN (1985, ARROW BLU-RAY BOX SET). Provincial/rural France's friendly small-town manners hide all kinds of ugly secrets. In "Cop Au Vin" a scheme to evict a crazy wheelchair-bound woman and her meek son from their home gives way to a killing spree hidden by apparent accidents. Enter Inspector Lavardin (Jean Poiret), a one-man good/bad copper whose late entry into "CAV" is so good a year later he starred in his own self-titled movie, ala Peter Sellers' "Pink Panther" saga. Since the suspects of the murder of a Christian writer who wasn't who he appeared to be include an old flame of Lavardin's (Bernadette Lafont's Hélène) our "hero" operates on a much grayer/darker shade of the law than you'd expect. I'm loving these new-to-me Chabrol movies, and the bonus features are sugar on top.
Billy Wilder's SUNSET BLVD. (1950, TCM). Has there ever been a more pathetic example of someone clinging to fame than Max (Erich von Stroheim), the loyal servant to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson)? I thought William Holden was a sellout, but the reveal of who Max is still ranks as top-tier film noir 'WTF?' nightmare fuel. So good! :-P
Ben Weathley did Meg 2? He's the last one i would imagine doing this type of movie.
DeleteAs the resolution of televisions and disc players improves, you are right about DVD transfers increasingly looking terrible, J.M. I am glad that I still have an older TV to make DVDs a more tolerable experience.
DeleteCLEOPATRA (1965) Checked this off my "classics-I've-never-seen-yet" list. The big-screen spectacle is there, but the real spectacle is Liz Burton and Richard Taylor sharing the screen. Considering this, Taming of the Shrew, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, I can't help but think this is what their real-life marriage was like.
ReplyDeleteTHE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (1978) What if the training montage was the entire movie? But it's great, with an awesome lead performance by Gordon Liu. You can definitely see a lot of Kill Bill's DNA in this.
FANTASY ISLAND (2020) What a bewildering head-scratcher of a movie this is. It's a total mess, but... will future generations call it a cult classic?
GOOD OMENS 2 (2023) Not sure if I enjoyed this as much as the first (not to mention the book). Most of the action this time takes place in and around the bookstore set, making the whole thing feel a lot smaller. There were a lot of fun bits and a big swing at the ending, so I'll come back if part 3 ever gets made.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985). I watched this today. I always try to put this movie on but I find the dialogue so odd that I usually donʻt make it through. I donʻt know anyone who talks like them. None of it is reflective of my high school experience. But one thing I know for sure: Molly Ringwaldʻs HAIR is to-die-for in this movie. Favorite hair ever. Like a perfect cloud. I always crushed on Anthony Michael Hall. That little guy had so much swag.
ReplyDeleteMy viewing this week was dictated by my pet sitting. There is a Roku channel of Mexican films that, despite not knowing much Spanish, I found some things on that intrigued me. EL Ataúd del Vampiro (The Vampire's Coffin) from 1958 is one that I have seen before, a sequel to a 1957 gothic film. Though lacking the atmosphere of the original, the sequel is more entertaining. An anthology film, Trampas de Amor (1969) tells three tales of love with a cynical edge. As a fan of the cinema of this era, just seeing the fashions and the accoutrements of life was interesting enough. The stories were also engaging, though I had to resort to Wikipedia for the finer details. The last watch was a stinker, La Mujer Murcielago (1968). It is better known in English as The Batwoman, an awkward mix of luchador cinema and parody of the 1960s Batman TV show.
ReplyDeleteI have access to Netflix streaming here to, so I watched the series MUSCLES AND MAYHEM: AN UNAUTHORIZED STORY OF AMERICAN GLADIATORS (2023). Back in the early 1990s, American Gladiators was a TV phenomenon that seemed to vanish almost as quickly as it appeared. I was a frequent viewer of it during its brief prime. Whether the names Gemini, Nitro, Ice, Blaze, or Zap have any meaning to you could determine whether this would be of any interest.
The final watch was the Elvis Presley film GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! (1962). The strange thing is that his character is more focused on buying a boat. He is a fisherman and part-time singer scrounging around to earn money to buy that boat while generally being a jerk to the women interested in him. Coming relatively early in his movie career, Elvis is still enthusiastic about what he is doing. The formula of his films had yet to wear him down.
Another channel I like to watch on Roku while pet sitting is the Dr. Who channel, showing the first 26 years of episodes (1963-1989). Tom Baker is still my favorite Doctor, but it is interesting to see how the other actors played the character. Despite the show never excelling in production values, the very early episodes are at an entirely different level of roughness. I cannot imagine how the Dr. Who theme sounded in the 1960s. There was nothing like it in popular culture at the time. Some of the opening credits from that period are extremely trippy, too.
DeleteI read that William Friedkin has passed. RIP to a vital figure of ‘70s cinema.
ReplyDeleteSadly, another one of the greats gone.
Delete