Egads...we are less than a month away from Scary Movie Month!?! #SQUEE
The Flash (2023 UHD)
To my utter surprise amidst so much superhero malaise....i had a TON of fun with this!! Based on the trailers i expected that this movie would be yet again another situation where DC is playing catchup with MCU by copying what worked...IE: Spiderman No Way Home's nostalgia fueled vibe. And it is indeed very much that. However i think the writing and storyline elevates it above a mediocre copy. (basic plot stuff ahead). Focusing the story more on time-travel as opposed to alot of multiverse gobbledygook was a great move...even moreso in that the premise is making one SMALL change to history to save a loved one. The dual role by the lead was handled incredibly well. Most of all i was surprised about how much i liked the return of Keatons Batman...i mean OBVIOUSLY i was gonna like it, he's amazing. But i do think they used him in a way that served the story nicely. The flick is far from perfect..the CGI stuff felt very low rent...and theres a clip-show-multiverse-montage that is just blatant fan service (its like a CGI en memoriam for dc's history)..but in the end its the most fun ive had with a superhero flick for a long long time and these days thats enough.
Yeah, I'm thoroughly fatigued with superhero stuff, but this is one I'm interested in watched. My son really liked The Flash TV show, so I think it might be fun movie to watch together, even if it's not the same actor.
Just got back from the early show of THE NUN II (2023). It’s more of the previous one, which was expected. A few too many jump scares and more 2020s inky-dark lighting. But if Taissa Farmiga is going to stick with the scream queen thing, I support her. Also, if the so-called “Conjuring Universe” is building up to something big, shouldn’t they, you know, get to it by now?
I was in an epic fantasy mood this week, so it was time for yet another rewatch of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (2001-2003). Extended editions, of course. Still holds up! Where can a guy get some Mithril around here?
Then more fantasy with a second watch of DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THEIVES (2023). I daresay I enjoyed it even more this time, and I suspect the movie is an all-timer for me. A swashbuckling good time.
INNERSPACE (1987) Joe Dante goodness!
BLADE (1998) Glad to see so many folks reappraising this first one. It might not be Del Toro, but it’s huge fun. One reason it works so well it that it’s not an origin story. The movie starts with Blade being Blade, and everything takes off from there.
THE EQUALIZER 3 (2023, IMAX) is more of the same 'old-man Denzel Washington going on a rampage' formula of the first two movies, but with (a) new blood (Dakota Fanning) replacing McCall's older friends and (b) a refreshing change of scenery/culture (Italy) giving us a new set of a-hole baddies (Italian drug traffickers straight out a "Mission: Impossible" central casting session). Other than creating bad guys so relentlessly unlikable their eventual demise doesn't live up to what you wish McCall would do to them (a consistent flaw throughout the series), "E3" 'is fine.'
BOTTOMS (2023, THEATER) is being promoted as a teen/queer/female return to "Porky's"-style 80's raunchy comedy shenanigans. WRONG! It's actually a sweet and very funny coming-of-age high school tale of misfits learning to belong by starting a "Fight Club"-type school club... with lots of naughty words and outrageous stereotypes (Marshawn Lynch's Mr. G, Nicholas Galitzin's QB jock, Ruby Cruz's Hazel, etc.) held together by leads PJ and Josie (Rachel Sennott and Edebiri) trying to get laid by telling tall tales about their summer off. Worth a theater trip to laugh along with enthusiastic crowds like the one at my screening.
GOLDA (2023, THEATER) feels like awards bait trying to earn Helen Mirren an Academy Award nomination for disappearing into the role of the Israeli Prime Minister and her handling of the Yom Kippur War during the early 70's. Other than Liev Schreiber's Henry Kissinger impersonation and Golda's non-stop smoking it's by-the-book, low-budget UK biopic template filmmaking at its most simplistic. You've seen this before.
LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND (2023, THEATER) is the most in-your-face-with-social-commentary-metaphor sci-fi movie since "Elysium" a decade ago. Benevolent aliens make nice with the world's private industry, and as a result Earth's population is divided between the haves (1% living in floating cities above ground) and have nots (99% of folks fighting for dwindling resources). A young street artist (Asante Blackk) and his family take on a homeless family with a daughter (Kylie Rogers), and the movie's uneasy tone of farcical humor mixed with pathos-heavy drama (including "prostitution" for the sake of aliens not legally suing both families for generations' worth of income) results in a compelling, weird experience. It's like an indie movie with a decent special effects budget making a statement about integrity of artists in the face of an unjust, cold world rejecting one's very existence as an individual. Worth seeing when it eventually hits streaming.
JAWAN (2023, IMAX) is action epic Bollywood filmmaking (with a mostly Tamil behind-the-scenes crew) dialed up to 11 from frame one (a body washing down a river) to its final music number (partly in Spanish!) during credits. You wouldn't expect less from a Shah Rukh Khan star vehicle in which not only does he get to play dual roles (amnesiac father and Robin Hood-style terrorist son with female squad of operatives) but so many cameos by other notable Indian movie stars I lost track. The clumsy attempts at making social commentary (from fixing broken health systems and unfair treatment of farmers to a direct-to-camera appeal by Khan to use the power of the vote) are gift-wrapped with the usual over-the-top, CG-enhanced action staples of the culture. A highway set piece involving trucks, motorcycles and light posts is jaw-dropping, but "Jawan" ultimately lives or dies by your tolerance of its star's smug infatuation with himself. A fun time if this isn't your first Bollywood action epic.
BLADE (1998, 4K UHD) reminds you that Marvel movies used to have balls, which it only recaptured when "Deadpool" came out in 2016. Wesley Snipes is effortlessly cool as the lead, and Stephen Dorff's Deacon Frost (cool name) is one of the great villains in superhero movies... until the too-ambitious CG effects-loaded finale kind-of shits the bed. Blade mouthing 'WTF' after slicing Deacon in half = so cool! :-D
I am trying to watch more films than I am actually getting to these days. So much of the Netflix DVD queue will be unwatched, but there is nothing to do be done about that now. There are just a few weeks of that left. Thoughts of Scary Movie Month are also entering my mind. Serious Japanese films are as far away from what I will be watching in October as possible.
SAMURAI SPY (1965, dir. Masahiro Shinoda) – With a plot so convoluted that a second viewing was required to work out the details, Samurai Spy is not the most fun that can be had with Japanese swordplay films. The general story is about the tension between factions in the early Tokugawa period (17th century). A spy leader for the ruling Tokugawa regime is defecting to the opposing side, with some people seeming to help him and others trying to kill him. It is, however, an engrossing work of cinema. Shinoda’s framing of shots and camerawork is beautiful to look at and full of the shadows that only black-and-white cinematography can produce.
WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (1960, dir. Mikio Naruse) – Another one off of my Netflix queue. This is a drama about a bar hostess working in the Tokyo district of Ginza getting no satisfaction from her life. Life is a constant struggle, yet she goes on with everything. Though not a happy film, touching on the limitations on opportunities for Japanese women at the time, there is an admirable attention to detail that gives the film a lot of charm.
THE TOWERING INFERNO at the Mahoning Drive-In (1974, dir. John Guillerman) – A great film experience for a beautiful night at the drive-in. With nearly a three-hour running time, there is a lot of 1970s to enjoy before and between the terrific special effects. The building burns and explodes while a host of then-current and older movies stars try to save lives or just save themselves. Paul Newman and Steve McQueen are the heroes. While watching The Towering Inferno, I was impressed by the human effort required to make it.
I love those 70's disaster movies, but I still haven't gotten around to re-visiting The Towering Inferno. I've only seen it once in the 90's when I didn't know who Newman or McQueen were. I only knew OJ Simpson was in it!
Most movies from back then I don't remember when or where I saw them, but this one I do. I was renting a room in a house for a couple years while in University, and the couple I was renting from invited me up to watch it with them. We were very friendly, but casually while coming and going, and it was the only time we hung out socially in those 2 years.
Besides The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, I have not delved into the disaster films of that decade.
There are those movie experiences that stay with you because of the circumstances. For me, it generally involves watching something with a crowd. Seeing a PIECES (1982) for the first time during an exploitation festival in 2013 really stands out. The craziness of that film got me and the crowd going in a big way.
Hi FTM! I am trying to find out the name of those little music video/montage things that used to play before a movie on a VHS. Like Mrs. Doubtfire had a 20th Century Fox montage first with Kenny Loggin's song, Watching The River Run (sung by a woman), and a clip with Shirley Temple. Lots of VHS movies had them but I can't figure out how to find them online. Does anyone know what they're called?
I used the search term “Theater Chain Pre-show Jingles” and that brought me to a whole bunch of hood ones, including this golden oldie: https://youtu.be/mzCAJt7HsqQ?si=6bCsojD6umboLpxy
Thanks, JB! Theater jingles! That just reminded me to look up our one and only intro from Hawaii Consolidated theaters - the Consolidated Theaters Hula intro, which I haven't seen since our mall theater switched to a Regal theater like maybe a hundred years ago? (Booo). This hula intro was THE BOMB.
Egads...we are less than a month away from Scary Movie Month!?! #SQUEE
ReplyDeleteThe Flash (2023 UHD)
To my utter surprise amidst so much superhero malaise....i had a TON of fun with this!! Based on the trailers i expected that this movie would be yet again another situation where DC is playing catchup with MCU by copying what worked...IE: Spiderman No Way Home's nostalgia fueled vibe. And it is indeed very much that. However i think the writing and storyline elevates it above a mediocre copy. (basic plot stuff ahead). Focusing the story more on time-travel as opposed to alot of multiverse gobbledygook was a great move...even moreso in that the premise is making one SMALL change to history to save a loved one. The dual role by the lead was handled incredibly well. Most of all i was surprised about how much i liked the return of Keatons Batman...i mean OBVIOUSLY i was gonna like it, he's amazing. But i do think they used him in a way that served the story nicely. The flick is far from perfect..the CGI stuff felt very low rent...and theres a clip-show-multiverse-montage that is just blatant fan service (its like a CGI en memoriam for dc's history)..but in the end its the most fun ive had with a superhero flick for a long long time and these days thats enough.
Yeah, I'm thoroughly fatigued with superhero stuff, but this is one I'm interested in watched. My son really liked The Flash TV show, so I think it might be fun movie to watch together, even if it's not the same actor.
DeleteJust got back from the early show of THE NUN II (2023). It’s more of the previous one, which was expected. A few too many jump scares and more 2020s inky-dark lighting. But if Taissa Farmiga is going to stick with the scream queen thing, I support her. Also, if the so-called “Conjuring Universe” is building up to something big, shouldn’t they, you know, get to it by now?
ReplyDeleteI was in an epic fantasy mood this week, so it was time for yet another rewatch of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (2001-2003). Extended editions, of course. Still holds up! Where can a guy get some Mithril around here?
Then more fantasy with a second watch of DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THEIVES (2023). I daresay I enjoyed it even more this time, and I suspect the movie is an all-timer for me. A swashbuckling good time.
INNERSPACE (1987) Joe Dante goodness!
BLADE (1998) Glad to see so many folks reappraising this first one. It might not be Del Toro, but it’s huge fun. One reason it works so well it that it’s not an origin story. The movie starts with Blade being Blade, and everything takes off from there.
Hi. Better late than never...
ReplyDeleteTHE EQUALIZER 3 (2023, IMAX) is more of the same 'old-man Denzel Washington going on a rampage' formula of the first two movies, but with (a) new blood (Dakota Fanning) replacing McCall's older friends and (b) a refreshing change of scenery/culture (Italy) giving us a new set of a-hole baddies (Italian drug traffickers straight out a "Mission: Impossible" central casting session). Other than creating bad guys so relentlessly unlikable their eventual demise doesn't live up to what you wish McCall would do to them (a consistent flaw throughout the series), "E3" 'is fine.'
BOTTOMS (2023, THEATER) is being promoted as a teen/queer/female return to "Porky's"-style 80's raunchy comedy shenanigans. WRONG! It's actually a sweet and very funny coming-of-age high school tale of misfits learning to belong by starting a "Fight Club"-type school club... with lots of naughty words and outrageous stereotypes (Marshawn Lynch's Mr. G, Nicholas Galitzin's QB jock, Ruby Cruz's Hazel, etc.) held together by leads PJ and Josie (Rachel Sennott and Edebiri) trying to get laid by telling tall tales about their summer off. Worth a theater trip to laugh along with enthusiastic crowds like the one at my screening.
GOLDA (2023, THEATER) feels like awards bait trying to earn Helen Mirren an Academy Award nomination for disappearing into the role of the Israeli Prime Minister and her handling of the Yom Kippur War during the early 70's. Other than Liev Schreiber's Henry Kissinger impersonation and Golda's non-stop smoking it's by-the-book, low-budget UK biopic template filmmaking at its most simplistic. You've seen this before.
LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND (2023, THEATER) is the most in-your-face-with-social-commentary-metaphor sci-fi movie since "Elysium" a decade ago. Benevolent aliens make nice with the world's private industry, and as a result Earth's population is divided between the haves (1% living in floating cities above ground) and have nots (99% of folks fighting for dwindling resources). A young street artist (Asante Blackk) and his family take on a homeless family with a daughter (Kylie Rogers), and the movie's uneasy tone of farcical humor mixed with pathos-heavy drama (including "prostitution" for the sake of aliens not legally suing both families for generations' worth of income) results in a compelling, weird experience. It's like an indie movie with a decent special effects budget making a statement about integrity of artists in the face of an unjust, cold world rejecting one's very existence as an individual. Worth seeing when it eventually hits streaming.
JAWAN (2023, IMAX) is action epic Bollywood filmmaking (with a mostly Tamil behind-the-scenes crew) dialed up to 11 from frame one (a body washing down a river) to its final music number (partly in Spanish!) during credits. You wouldn't expect less from a Shah Rukh Khan star vehicle in which not only does he get to play dual roles (amnesiac father and Robin Hood-style terrorist son with female squad of operatives) but so many cameos by other notable Indian movie stars I lost track. The clumsy attempts at making social commentary (from fixing broken health systems and unfair treatment of farmers to a direct-to-camera appeal by Khan to use the power of the vote) are gift-wrapped with the usual over-the-top, CG-enhanced action staples of the culture. A highway set piece involving trucks, motorcycles and light posts is jaw-dropping, but "Jawan" ultimately lives or dies by your tolerance of its star's smug infatuation with himself. A fun time if this isn't your first Bollywood action epic.
BLADE (1998, 4K UHD) reminds you that Marvel movies used to have balls, which it only recaptured when "Deadpool" came out in 2016. Wesley Snipes is effortlessly cool as the lead, and Stephen Dorff's Deacon Frost (cool name) is one of the great villains in superhero movies... until the too-ambitious CG effects-loaded finale kind-of shits the bed. Blade mouthing 'WTF' after slicing Deacon in half = so cool! :-D
I am trying to watch more films than I am actually getting to these days. So much of the Netflix DVD queue will be unwatched, but there is nothing to do be done about that now. There are just a few weeks of that left. Thoughts of Scary Movie Month are also entering my mind. Serious Japanese films are as far away from what I will be watching in October as possible.
ReplyDeleteSAMURAI SPY (1965, dir. Masahiro Shinoda) – With a plot so convoluted that a second viewing was required to work out the details, Samurai Spy is not the most fun that can be had with Japanese swordplay films. The general story is about the tension between factions in the early Tokugawa period (17th century). A spy leader for the ruling Tokugawa regime is defecting to the opposing side, with some people seeming to help him and others trying to kill him. It is, however, an engrossing work of cinema. Shinoda’s framing of shots and camerawork is beautiful to look at and full of the shadows that only black-and-white cinematography can produce.
WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (1960, dir. Mikio Naruse) – Another one off of my Netflix queue. This is a drama about a bar hostess working in the Tokyo district of Ginza getting no satisfaction from her life. Life is a constant struggle, yet she goes on with everything. Though not a happy film, touching on the limitations on opportunities for Japanese women at the time, there is an admirable attention to detail that gives the film a lot of charm.
THE TOWERING INFERNO at the Mahoning Drive-In (1974, dir. John Guillerman) – A great film experience for a beautiful night at the drive-in. With nearly a three-hour running time, there is a lot of 1970s to enjoy before and between the terrific special effects. The building burns and explodes while a host of then-current and older movies stars try to save lives or just save themselves. Paul Newman and Steve McQueen are the heroes. While watching The Towering Inferno, I was impressed by the human effort required to make it.
I love those 70's disaster movies, but I still haven't gotten around to re-visiting The Towering Inferno. I've only seen it once in the 90's when I didn't know who Newman or McQueen were. I only knew OJ Simpson was in it!
DeleteMost movies from back then I don't remember when or where I saw them, but this one I do. I was renting a room in a house for a couple years while in University, and the couple I was renting from invited me up to watch it with them. We were very friendly, but casually while coming and going, and it was the only time we hung out socially in those 2 years.
Besides The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, I have not delved into the disaster films of that decade.
DeleteThere are those movie experiences that stay with you because of the circumstances. For me, it generally involves watching something with a crowd. Seeing a PIECES (1982) for the first time during an exploitation festival in 2013 really stands out. The craziness of that film got me and the crowd going in a big way.
Hi FTM! I am trying to find out the name of those little music video/montage things that used to play before a movie on a VHS. Like Mrs. Doubtfire had a 20th Century Fox montage first with Kenny Loggin's song, Watching The River Run (sung by a woman), and a clip with Shirley Temple. Lots of VHS movies had them but I can't figure out how to find them online. Does anyone know what they're called?
ReplyDeleteDon't know about a name for them (other than just commercials), but I found the Shirley Temple one with the keywords you gave: here ya go.
DeleteI used the search term “Theater Chain Pre-show Jingles” and that brought me to a whole bunch of hood ones, including this golden oldie: https://youtu.be/mzCAJt7HsqQ?si=6bCsojD6umboLpxy
ReplyDeleteOh! VHS? Never mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks, JB! Theater jingles! That just reminded me to look up our one and only intro from Hawaii Consolidated theaters - the Consolidated Theaters Hula intro, which I haven't seen since our mall theater switched to a Regal theater like maybe a hundred years ago? (Booo). This hula intro was THE BOMB.
Delete