Oh, F This Movie... I can't quit you just yet! Let me try one more time.
Laura Moss' BIRTH/REBIRTH (2023, THEATER... pic above) is basically humorless-but-more-dramatically-compelling female "Re-Animator" redux, complete with weird-as-heck mad scientist (Marin Ireland) trying to bring the dead back to life... first with pigs (because cats would have been too obvious) then moving on to human children (because they're easier to control). Like Dan Cain in Stuart Gordon's classic original, an innocent health practitioner sidekick (Judy Reyes' Celie) and many other innocents suffer tremendously for a crazy-but-brilliant individual's obsession. Shudder co-produced this with IFC, and it might be their most psychologically horrifying (with flashes of clinical gross stuff) and best movie yet. Highly recommended.
Went to the nationwide theatrical screening of SHARKNADO: 10TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED EDITION (2013/2023) and director Anthony Ferrante stands up in my NYC theater to thank us for coming to see his baby, now remastered in 4K and with three months of CG spit and polish applied (i.e. the CG sharks now have textures). With Ferrante staying in the theater to watch his film (a rarity) the crowd reaction was mixed. John Heard (to whom the movie's memory is dedicated in the new credits) seems funnier, the Robbie Rist bus rescue scene feels interminable (always felt like that, just more so now) and the highlights (Nova's fall from the helicopter and rescue, Amber's boyfriend, etc.) are as intense in their laughter as the low points (the pointless intro, endless use of bad-continuity stock footage) are in their deafening boredom. "Sharknado" hasn't changed, but we as a movie-so-bad-it's-funny appreciating society have moved on. Speaking of which...
RIFFTRAX LIVE! RAD! (1986/2023, THEATER) squeezed their Lori Loughlin-gives-college-entrance-advice gags for every ounce of comedic gold they could, and it was glorious. Poor Talia Shire ('I'm a Coppola, for God's sake!'), great Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) and a non-stop barrage of 80's goodness. The romantic BMX dance/performance between Loghlin and Bill Allen's Cru (who was watching the show live in Tennessee) set to 'Send Me An Angel' was the highlight, along with two Gumby "adventure" shorts that made better fun of themselves than anything Mike, Bill and Kevin could say. Between this and "Sharkando" above my nostalgia fix was more than satisfied.
TWO ORPHAN VAMPIRES (1998, 4K UHD) is one of my favorite Jean Rollin pics, but an unlikely start to Interceptor's 4K library (the cinematography is good but not 4K showcase good). Based on Rollin's own series of novels, the quasi-comedic and melodramatic tales of Louise (Alexandra Pic) and Henriette (Isabelle Teboul) living and dying through many incarnations (Inca Gods) may or may not be true, but it's entertaining to watch this blood-suckers-by-night cute girls believe them to be their actual past. Not as gory or explicit as we're used to in Rollin's filmography, "TOV" feels like the last stand-out film by a director that kept going until the late aughts. Not for everyone, but I love this new 4K of mine.
Tony Scott's ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998, HULU) feels like the most crazy-ass, paranoid and delusional 9/11 conspiracy movie ever made... four years before an actual 9/11 disaster turned its crazy plot into everyday reality. A murderer's row of acting talent (Voight, Robards, Pepper, Bonet, Caan and Busey Jr., Byrne, King, Kennedy, Lee, Black, etc.) at first appear to waste their talents at the service of a humorless Will Smith starring vehicle, Enter Gene Hackman late in the film, essentially playing the same character as in "The Conversation" and providing Smith with both a comedic foil and straight man. BAM! "EOTS's" third act is nothing but net, an entertaining romp culminating in a finale that comes out of nowhere but was carefully planned since act 1 if you paid attention. Come for the "True Romance"-on-steroids finale, try to stay awake through the first hour and change of set-up.
One of the worst movies ive seen in a long. long. loooong time. Boring. Annoying kid trope. Zero interesting characters or story. Painful wait for some final shark action that has NO style/tension/terror. Avoid this movie.
Sharksploitation (2023 doc Shudder)
OUTSTANDING documentary and very comprehensive look at how one little movie in the 70s launched a genre that continues to grow and get crazier by the minute. Love to see involvement by folks like Roger Corman and Joe Dante. Highly suggest watching this. (also i award huge bonus points to the doc for acknowledging THE quote from Shark Attack 3...LOL).
This week saw the release of a new Babylon 5 movie. Being a huge fan of the series i had a special movie night with my friends the day it came out (we usually do movie nights on saturdays). It was great. Not the best of B5, but i was fun to be in that world again.
And because it was a short movie, we ended the night with Mad Max Fury Road, which one of the guys never saw. He loved it, obviously.
As a lover of Star Trek, I believe I'm obligated to insult you in some way for liking Babylon 5. So go screw yourself with your inferior space expedition TV show! But seriously, it's a show I'd like to delve into someday.
BTW, a few months ago you recommended one of the new Star Trek series, but I don't remember which. Was it Strange New Worlds or Prodigy? I think it was the former, and I'm been reading nothing but glowing stuff about it. I've been working my way through the original Star Trek series (first time watch) and will need some other space exploration show soon that isn't the very inferior Babylon 5. ;)
Hi FTM! My movie watching is so non-existent now except for Glass Onion, which I always have on in the background. That movie is surprisingly soothing. It doesnʻt seem like a movie that could have a lot of soothing, comfort elements, but somehow it does. Maybe itʻs Edward Nortonʻs voice.
I saw the first 10 minutes of Barbie this week. My sister was not into it and ran out. So now I have two readmission tickets and I guess I can see it twice myself this weekend. When Patrick said "LEGWORK" about it on the Patreon podcast I was like Oh no, I know just what that means. Itʻs how Greta Gerwigʻs movies do not feel "natural" to me sometimes - they feel like too much LEGWORK. Honestly, Iʻd rather have a movie just not make any sense and still be fun than feel contrived and hit-me-with-a-bat-over-the-head. That said, I loved the opening scenes. The narration element worked for me.
While opinions might be varied, I saw Barbie a couple days ago and thought it was super fun. It's a very unique movie and I thought it was very funny too. The themes are very on the nose, but honestly I think that's great. I don't have to see a million "YouTube video essay" from a million single guys about how Barbie is deceivingly a feminist movie. Instead it wears it proudly on it's sleeve. I thought it was very well done. America Ferrera gives perhaps the most honest monologue about what it's like to be a woman that I've ever heard. And Maggot Robbie is just fantastic. It's a marvel that one of the most beautiful actors happens to be one of the most talented as well.
We went to an afternoon showing and it was mostly 10 year old girls (where were their parents?) alongside my son and me. They were surprisingly quiet for the whole movie, except for one part where Robbie was crying and saying she wasn't beautiful, and one girl yelled out "You're not beautiful when you're crying like that". Which in hindsight is pretty sad.
I'm not ever watching those "Barbie is secretly a feminist movie" fucking YouTube essays. And they're still probably out there, but I'm glad there's probably less of them. They're probably titled more like "Why Barbie is problematic" or some shit like that.
Haha. Yes, all the socio-political convos now. Iʻm not too sure why people are negatively reacting to this movie in particular. I thought "anti-ʻwokeʻ" people hate all Hollywood movies in general. I dunno whatʻs going on.
Ohh, there are MONOLOGUES about what it means to be a woman, huh. Oof. Just like Little Women. I had a hard time with those. I think if you have to generalize and rely on on-the-nose statements, your moviemaking/storytelling might not be super strong. Oh well! Clearly it works for some people and Iʻm looking forward to enjoying the rest of BARBIE myself :) Ryan Gosling never disappoints. He is a DIAMOND. He is like medicinal. Iʻm surprised there arenʻt more Ryan Gosling-boyfriend-types in movies now actually. More more please.
Getting to a post late yet again, but it really was a slow week for me with movies.
PARADISE: LOVE (2012, dir. Ulrich Seidl) – Watching a film about exploiting Kenyans last week reminded me that this more recent film on the subject is on MUBI. Paradise: Love is more serious than Black Emanuelle yet can be just as exploitative. It is about Teresa, a middle-aged Austrian woman staying at a resort in Kenya. Her main interest while there is finding younger Kenyan men to “love” her. The weird thing is that she is actually seeking something like love, not a transactional relationship. It is an uncomfortable film, made more so by the racist attitudes of Teresa and her fellow tourists towards the Kenyans they meet. The tourism business in general is viewed by the director as a completely exploitative endeavor.
THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (1964, dir. Hideo Gosha) – One more off of my Netflix DVD queue. It is an entertaining samurai film about three ronin who get drawn into a dispute between peasants and the local magistrate governing the area. I have seen samurai films that are more memorable, but this is one that is definitely worth watching. There is plenty of action complemented by dynamic camerawork and editing. There are also elements of the western genre showing up.
Finally, I had another watch from the Black Emanuelle set. Being a Netflix rental long ago, Emanuelle Around The World (1977) is one of the entries I am most familiar with. This time Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is on the trail of an international prostitution ring, encountering many dangers and pleasures. The film is exploitation with a big "E", the sleaze coming in heavy doses. The film crosses lines of good taste that even exploitation fans could find hard to take. With scenes shot in the United States, Italy, Hong Kong, Iran, and India, it also is the most ambitious of the series. The soundtrack has several memorable tracks that I have listened to many times over the years. The CD that comes with the set contains some of them.
Good question, J.M. According to the booklet in the set, there are twelve with a character named Emanuelle (one "m") who is a reporter. None of the films are really connected, with all but one starring Laura Gemser. Several directors were involved,but Joe D'Amato made the bulk of them. Because of her connection with the character, many of Gemser's other films had "Emanuelle" added in with the title. The set includes a good portion of those, as well.
It is a pricey set, certainly not a great blind buy. Unless you have a taste for bottom-of-the-barrel Italian exploitation, it is best to stay clear of it. I suspect there will be many people who will not think it was a good purchase. ($200 can get a lot of other movies.) It is my past connections with the films that led me to get it, actually. I will get enough watches to justify the purchase. Some of the titles have separate releases from Severin, and I would expect the bigger titles in the set to get individual releases at some point.
Oh, F This Movie... I can't quit you just yet! Let me try one more time.
ReplyDeleteLaura Moss' BIRTH/REBIRTH (2023, THEATER... pic above) is basically humorless-but-more-dramatically-compelling female "Re-Animator" redux, complete with weird-as-heck mad scientist (Marin Ireland) trying to bring the dead back to life... first with pigs (because cats would have been too obvious) then moving on to human children (because they're easier to control). Like Dan Cain in Stuart Gordon's classic original, an innocent health practitioner sidekick (Judy Reyes' Celie) and many other innocents suffer tremendously for a crazy-but-brilliant individual's obsession. Shudder co-produced this with IFC, and it might be their most psychologically horrifying (with flashes of clinical gross stuff) and best movie yet. Highly recommended.
Went to the nationwide theatrical screening of SHARKNADO: 10TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED EDITION (2013/2023) and director Anthony Ferrante stands up in my NYC theater to thank us for coming to see his baby, now remastered in 4K and with three months of CG spit and polish applied (i.e. the CG sharks now have textures). With Ferrante staying in the theater to watch his film (a rarity) the crowd reaction was mixed. John Heard (to whom the movie's memory is dedicated in the new credits) seems funnier, the Robbie Rist bus rescue scene feels interminable (always felt like that, just more so now) and the highlights (Nova's fall from the helicopter and rescue, Amber's boyfriend, etc.) are as intense in their laughter as the low points (the pointless intro, endless use of bad-continuity stock footage) are in their deafening boredom. "Sharknado" hasn't changed, but we as a movie-so-bad-it's-funny appreciating society have moved on. Speaking of which...
RIFFTRAX LIVE! RAD! (1986/2023, THEATER) squeezed their Lori Loughlin-gives-college-entrance-advice gags for every ounce of comedic gold they could, and it was glorious. Poor Talia Shire ('I'm a Coppola, for God's sake!'), great Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) and a non-stop barrage of 80's goodness. The romantic BMX dance/performance between Loghlin and Bill Allen's Cru (who was watching the show live in Tennessee) set to 'Send Me An Angel' was the highlight, along with two Gumby "adventure" shorts that made better fun of themselves than anything Mike, Bill and Kevin could say. Between this and "Sharkando" above my nostalgia fix was more than satisfied.
TWO ORPHAN VAMPIRES (1998, 4K UHD) is one of my favorite Jean Rollin pics, but an unlikely start to Interceptor's 4K library (the cinematography is good but not 4K showcase good). Based on Rollin's own series of novels, the quasi-comedic and melodramatic tales of Louise (Alexandra Pic) and Henriette (Isabelle Teboul) living and dying through many incarnations (Inca Gods) may or may not be true, but it's entertaining to watch this blood-suckers-by-night cute girls believe them to be their actual past. Not as gory or explicit as we're used to in Rollin's filmography, "TOV" feels like the last stand-out film by a director that kept going until the late aughts. Not for everyone, but I love this new 4K of mine.
Tony Scott's ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998, HULU) feels like the most crazy-ass, paranoid and delusional 9/11 conspiracy movie ever made... four years before an actual 9/11 disaster turned its crazy plot into everyday reality. A murderer's row of acting talent (Voight, Robards, Pepper, Bonet, Caan and Busey Jr., Byrne, King, Kennedy, Lee, Black, etc.) at first appear to waste their talents at the service of a humorless Will Smith starring vehicle, Enter Gene Hackman late in the film, essentially playing the same character as in "The Conversation" and providing Smith with both a comedic foil and straight man. BAM! "EOTS's" third act is nothing but net, an entertaining romp culminating in a finale that comes out of nowhere but was carefully planned since act 1 if you paid attention. Come for the "True Romance"-on-steroids finale, try to stay awake through the first hour and change of set-up.
Glad you're still here dude
DeleteGlad you are posting. I always enjoy reading your reviews, especially since you watch way more recently released stuff than I'm even aware of.
DeleteI've never seen any of the Sharknado movies. I always assumed they were making fun of the things we (Junesploitation participants) loved.
"SSHHHH SHHHHH SHHHH SHARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
ReplyDeleteMeg 2 (2023 theatrical)
One of the worst movies ive seen in a long. long. loooong time. Boring. Annoying kid trope. Zero interesting characters or story. Painful wait for some final shark action that has NO style/tension/terror. Avoid this movie.
Sharksploitation (2023 doc Shudder)
OUTSTANDING documentary and very comprehensive look at how one little movie in the 70s launched a genre that continues to grow and get crazier by the minute. Love to see involvement by folks like Roger Corman and Joe Dante. Highly suggest watching this. (also i award huge bonus points to the doc for acknowledging THE quote from Shark Attack 3...LOL).
This week saw the release of a new Babylon 5 movie. Being a huge fan of the series i had a special movie night with my friends the day it came out (we usually do movie nights on saturdays). It was great. Not the best of B5, but i was fun to be in that world again.
ReplyDeleteAnd because it was a short movie, we ended the night with Mad Max Fury Road, which one of the guys never saw. He loved it, obviously.
As a lover of Star Trek, I believe I'm obligated to insult you in some way for liking Babylon 5. So go screw yourself with your inferior space expedition TV show! But seriously, it's a show I'd like to delve into someday.
DeleteBTW, a few months ago you recommended one of the new Star Trek series, but I don't remember which. Was it Strange New Worlds or Prodigy? I think it was the former, and I'm been reading nothing but glowing stuff about it. I've been working my way through the original Star Trek series (first time watch) and will need some other space exploration show soon that isn't the very inferior Babylon 5. ;)
Star Trek Strange New Worlds is highly recommended. Also, Star Trek Lower Decks, also very cool and fun.
DeleteAs for B5, you do know that DS9 is a ripoff of it. Paramount stole the idea from Straczynski (the creator of B5) after he pitched it to them
I know you're joking, but it's possible to like both (though i don't care for DS9😁)
Thanks! I'll check out Strange New Worlds next. I think I'll have to subscribe to Paramont+ for a month. Then maybe Babylon 5.
DeleteHi FTM! My movie watching is so non-existent now except for Glass Onion, which I always have on in the background. That movie is surprisingly soothing. It doesnʻt seem like a movie that could have a lot of soothing, comfort elements, but somehow it does. Maybe itʻs Edward Nortonʻs voice.
ReplyDeleteI saw the first 10 minutes of Barbie this week. My sister was not into it and ran out. So now I have two readmission tickets and I guess I can see it twice myself this weekend. When Patrick said "LEGWORK" about it on the Patreon podcast I was like Oh no, I know just what that means. Itʻs how Greta Gerwigʻs movies do not feel "natural" to me sometimes - they feel like too much LEGWORK. Honestly, Iʻd rather have a movie just not make any sense and still be fun than feel contrived and hit-me-with-a-bat-over-the-head. That said, I loved the opening scenes. The narration element worked for me.
While opinions might be varied, I saw Barbie a couple days ago and thought it was super fun. It's a very unique movie and I thought it was very funny too. The themes are very on the nose, but honestly I think that's great. I don't have to see a million "YouTube video essay" from a million single guys about how Barbie is deceivingly a feminist movie. Instead it wears it proudly on it's sleeve. I thought it was very well done. America Ferrera gives perhaps the most honest monologue about what it's like to be a woman that I've ever heard. And Maggot Robbie is just fantastic. It's a marvel that one of the most beautiful actors happens to be one of the most talented as well.
DeleteWe went to an afternoon showing and it was mostly 10 year old girls (where were their parents?) alongside my son and me. They were surprisingly quiet for the whole movie, except for one part where Robbie was crying and saying she wasn't beautiful, and one girl yelled out "You're not beautiful when you're crying like that". Which in hindsight is pretty sad.
I'm not ever watching those "Barbie is secretly a feminist movie" fucking YouTube essays. And they're still probably out there, but I'm glad there's probably less of them. They're probably titled more like "Why Barbie is problematic" or some shit like that.
DeleteHaha. Yes, all the socio-political convos now. Iʻm not too sure why people are negatively reacting to this movie in particular. I thought "anti-ʻwokeʻ" people hate all Hollywood movies in general. I dunno whatʻs going on.
DeleteOhh, there are MONOLOGUES about what it means to be a woman, huh. Oof. Just like Little Women. I had a hard time with those. I think if you have to generalize and rely on on-the-nose statements, your moviemaking/storytelling might not be super strong. Oh well! Clearly it works for some people and Iʻm looking forward to enjoying the rest of BARBIE myself :)
Ryan Gosling never disappoints. He is a DIAMOND. He is like medicinal. Iʻm surprised there arenʻt more Ryan Gosling-boyfriend-types in movies now actually. More more please.
Gosling is really good in it too. He can be very funny if needed, and he blends comedy and drama very effortlessly in this.
DeleteI haven't seen any of the other movies that Gerwig directed, so I can't compare this one to them. Hopefully you like it!
Getting to a post late yet again, but it really was a slow week for me with movies.
ReplyDeletePARADISE: LOVE (2012, dir. Ulrich Seidl) – Watching a film about exploiting Kenyans last week reminded me that this more recent film on the subject is on MUBI. Paradise: Love is more serious than Black Emanuelle yet can be just as exploitative. It is about Teresa, a middle-aged Austrian woman staying at a resort in Kenya. Her main interest while there is finding younger Kenyan men to “love” her. The weird thing is that she is actually seeking something like love, not a transactional relationship. It is an uncomfortable film, made more so by the racist attitudes of Teresa and her fellow tourists towards the Kenyans they meet. The tourism business in general is viewed by the director as a completely exploitative endeavor.
THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI (1964, dir. Hideo Gosha) – One more off of my Netflix DVD queue. It is an entertaining samurai film about three ronin who get drawn into a dispute between peasants and the local magistrate governing the area. I have seen samurai films that are more memorable, but this is one that is definitely worth watching. There is plenty of action complemented by dynamic camerawork and editing. There are also elements of the western genre showing up.
Finally, I had another watch from the Black Emanuelle set. Being a Netflix rental long ago, Emanuelle Around The World (1977) is one of the entries I am most familiar with. This time Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) is on the trail of an international prostitution ring, encountering many dangers and pleasures. The film is exploitation with a big "E", the sleaze coming in heavy doses. The film crosses lines of good taste that even exploitation fans could find hard to take. With scenes shot in the United States, Italy, Hong Kong, Iran, and India, it also is the most ambitious of the series. The soundtrack has several memorable tracks that I have listened to many times over the years. The CD that comes with the set contains some of them.
How many BIack EmanueIIe movies are there??!! :-O
DeleteGood question, J.M. According to the booklet in the set, there are twelve with a character named Emanuelle (one "m") who is a reporter. None of the films are really connected, with all but one starring Laura Gemser. Several directors were involved,but Joe D'Amato made the bulk of them. Because of her connection with the character, many of Gemser's other films had "Emanuelle" added in with the title. The set includes a good portion of those, as well.
DeleteThat set look interesting. But i can't justify shelling 200$ for those movies, even if there's a million of them in the set
DeleteIt is a pricey set, certainly not a great blind buy. Unless you have a taste for bottom-of-the-barrel Italian exploitation, it is best to stay clear of it. I suspect there will be many people who will not think it was a good purchase. ($200 can get a lot of other movies.) It is my past connections with the films that led me to get it, actually. I will get enough watches to justify the purchase. Some of the titles have separate releases from Severin, and I would expect the bigger titles in the set to get individual releases at some point.
Delete