My tax return came in last week, at the same time Arrow decided to release a couple of Renny Harlin movies on 4k, and because I have no impulse control, I bought The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and Deep Blue See (1999) on 4k. I shouldn't have, but I did and here we are.
I didn't care for DBS way back when it came out. I was a dumb cinema-studying-college-douchebag who thought was better than everybody, but I've changed and now I like it.
It was my first watch of TLKG and I was not disappointed. Also, it's very much a Shane Black movie: Christmas, narration, P.I., you have it all. And with Brian Cox, David Morse; is this a perfect movie? I was always a fan of Die Hard 2 and Cutthroat Island, and now I can add Harlin other movies of that time to the list because I'm less of a douche now. Harlin owned the 90s with a stretch of 6 very cool movies, then he did Driven in 2001, everything went to heck and he never quite recovered.
Then I binged the 4 Hellraiser movies from Arrow's Quartet of Torment boxset (in 4k obviously, part of that impulse control bit, there was a price drop on amazon, I had to get it). It... was not the best idea, but an interesting experience. I've seen the first movie before, so I knew what I was getting into, but it's still a lot of disturbing horror all at once. There's never been anything quite like this before, or even after I think, that's what makes it so special. People way smarter than me have talked about the movies, including a couple of podcasts and an article on this very blog, get to them. I highly recommend this boxset, the design is cool, include a 200 pages hardcover book, and each movie come with tons of extras.
I also picked up that Hellraiser box when Amazon price dropped but haven't gone through it yet. Marathoning all of them for the podcast a couple years back might have ruined the sequels for me. The OG is always going to be a favorite.
I'm taking my son and his girlfriend to see Mulholland Drive at the theatre tonight! Looking forward to seeing it on the big screen. They have zero clue what it's about.
THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (1996) A Val Kilmer movie I hadn’t seen. A little too long, but it had some decent thrills along the way. Plus, with location filming and tons of extras, the movie makes its $5o million look like $200 million. RIP, Val.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (2024) Watched with Burton’s Blu-Ray commentary. Fascinating how much of the movie was rewritten and/or improvised during filming. See if you can count how many times he says something was decided “at the last minute.”
ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE (2001) Nearly forgot how good this movie is. A fun treasure-hunt adventure, with some stunning animation.
STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) A more ambitious and thought-out film than the TV episode-like Generations. The Borg’s collective consciousness makes them scary, but it also means they can’t really have character development. This film, though, finds a way to use the Borg similar to what was done before without fully repeating it.
THE GOONIES (1985) What can I say? I just felt like watching an old favorite.
DARK CITY (1998) Finally got around to checking out the director’s cut. It worked for me! The additional scenes add some nice breathing room and character bits, enhancing what was already one of my faves.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) I can feel the colors!
A while back, I watched Secret in Their Eyes, a 2015 American remake of the 2009 Best Foreign Language Oscar-winning Argentinian romantic crime drama El secreto de sus ojos. And, though this is hardly a popular position to take in cineaste circles, I liked our leaner, tenser version better. Full thoughts here.
I also finished the third season of Reacher, which was solid. A nifty story, but by the end, there were no surprises, just the expected action climax and denouement, though I'm always happy to see Anthony Michael Hall getting work. Anyhow, this inspired me to check out star Alan Ritchson's very first acting credit, a fifth season episode of Smallville in which he became the first person to play Aquaman in live action. It's a bad episode, but Ritchson had gobs of presence even then, and (unlike in his current show) he smiles a lot! Full thoughts here.
Somehow I found the desire to watch movies despite the long work days of the end of the American tax filing season. Maybe I also needed a little mental break from the political situation. Thoughts of Junesploitation certainly influenced my watches this week.
L’INNOCENTE (1976, dir. Luchino Visconti) – Though this does not reach the heights of his legendary career, Visconti still created a beautiful film for his final cinematic effort. Giancarlo Giannini is an aristocrat always chasing his own pleasure, relegating his wife to being a spectator to life and love. When she embarks upon her own affair, the dynamic of their relationship and his own life takes a different path that neither expected. The locations, costumes, and decorations are frequently dazzling. I loved the aesthetic of it. If you enjoy period dramas, you would probably find something to like in L’Innocente.
THEY CALL ME MACHO WOMAN! (1989) – An awful script, awful direction, and awful acting render this Troma release barely watchable. The thread-bare plot concerns a woman looking for a piece of land in the countryside stumbling on a motley gang processing drugs at a farm. Regarding her as a threat, they do a terrible job trying to kill her. She keeps escaping from and tricking the gang for most of the film. The seemingly endless and amateurish chase scenes make the first two-thirds of the MACHO WOMAN a chore. When the woman transforms herself into an axe-throwing badass, though, the film does become funny at times. I cannot imagine the cleaned-up version put out by Vinegar Syndrome would make MACHO WOMAN any more tolerable.
VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN’S PRISON (1982, dir. Bruno Mattei) – A biting exposé of a corrupt and degrading prison system! Or just a shameless women-in-prison film flick? More the latter I have to admit. I felt like watching something from Severin’s Black Emanuelle box set this week. The previous viewing of this was years ago for Junesploitation, and I prefer it over the other WIP film made with the same cast and sets, Emanuelle In Prison. There is no denying that this is trash cinema, yet, after enduring the ineptitude of MACHO WOMAN, I appreciate that Mattei and company had some filmmaking skills.
In a short period, I will have more time and energy to devote to movie-watching again. The Mahoning Drive-In opens next weekend. Half of the shows for the season have already been announced. A reopened indoor theater only half the travel time to the drive-in, The Gap Theatre, is providing the kind of viewing opportunities throughout the week that I would normally only have at the Mahoning. 35mm screenings being available daily will challenge my entertainment budget this year. I have not purchased much physical media in 2025, and I might not be able to devote much money for it if I want to go to the theaters a lot. I will see how things go this year. There are, however, still so many discs in my collection I have not gotten around to watching yet.
There are certain shows that I would love to attend this year. So much of the time, though, personal factors determine whether I am free to go. For example, being an old Something Weird Video fan, I would love to be at the Mahoning that night. I just happen to be committed to pet sitting that week. I will post when I know I am going there, though.
Looney Tunes The Day The Earth Blew Up (2025 theatrical)
As a lifelong fan of all things Looney Tune, i was hoping to catch this theatrically. When the news dropped that the distributor, Ketchup Entertainment, purchased and rescued Coyote v Acme, i made it a point to ensure i saw it theatrically. Im GIDDY that we'll actually get to see CvA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for the movie, it suffers the same challenge that most looney tunes movies do, its hard.....realllllly hard....to do a feature length. The characters and bits and comedy all just fits nicely in 10m outings. However i absolutely love the aesthetics, the reverence for old school animation, the art, and passion they put in. I didnt totally connect with it early on but when it got to the zombie meets alien attack, i was on board. Its a fun flick. (editors note: i saw it in a small theater BUT it was almost sold out on a tues night at 445! Lets Go!!)
Walk Hard: the dewey cox story.
As one raised on the best of parody movies (early ZAZ. early Mel Brooks), i love them immensely when they are good. The problem is, its REALLY hard to get a good parody. There's countless shitty 'string-together-dumb-sketch-takes-on-movie-scenes'. As time goes on, we get less and less decent parodies. However this movie GETS IT. Its really an all time favorite comedy for me. It brilliantly lampoons not just the johnny cash biopic but really pretty much all music biopics. Its crazy irreverent, tons of funny songs, SO much music genre in jokes. I adore it.
(Note: while im on my parody soap box, i feel that i should also mention Black Dynamite as a movie that not only gets it right, but i consider flawless. A top 20 movie for me).
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My tax return came in last week, at the same time Arrow decided to release a couple of Renny Harlin movies on 4k, and because I have no impulse control, I bought The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and Deep Blue See (1999) on 4k. I shouldn't have, but I did and here we are.
ReplyDeleteI didn't care for DBS way back when it came out. I was a dumb cinema-studying-college-douchebag who thought was better than everybody, but I've changed and now I like it.
It was my first watch of TLKG and I was not disappointed. Also, it's very much a Shane Black movie: Christmas, narration, P.I., you have it all. And with Brian Cox, David Morse; is this a perfect movie? I was always a fan of Die Hard 2 and Cutthroat Island, and now I can add Harlin other movies of that time to the list because I'm less of a douche now. Harlin owned the 90s with a stretch of 6 very cool movies, then he did Driven in 2001, everything went to heck and he never quite recovered.
Then I binged the 4 Hellraiser movies from Arrow's Quartet of Torment boxset (in 4k obviously, part of that impulse control bit, there was a price drop on amazon, I had to get it). It... was not the best idea, but an interesting experience. I've seen the first movie before, so I knew what I was getting into, but it's still a lot of disturbing horror all at once. There's never been anything quite like this before, or even after I think, that's what makes it so special. People way smarter than me have talked about the movies, including a couple of podcasts and an article on this very blog, get to them. I highly recommend this boxset, the design is cool, include a 200 pages hardcover book, and each movie come with tons of extras.
I also picked up that Hellraiser box when Amazon price dropped but haven't gone through it yet. Marathoning all of them for the podcast a couple years back might have ruined the sequels for me. The OG is always going to be a favorite.
DeleteThat OG is the best, but Hellbound is a very good sequel
DeleteI'm taking my son and his girlfriend to see Mulholland Drive at the theatre tonight! Looking forward to seeing it on the big screen. They have zero clue what it's about.
ReplyDeleteThere's also a Lynch retrospective at a cinema near me. I really should go see a couple of them
DeleteThis is at Cineplex. I wish they would play more older movies. When they do play them, it's often just a single showing at a single screen in Ottawa.
DeleteTHE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS (1996)
ReplyDeleteA Val Kilmer movie I hadn’t seen. A little too long, but it had some decent thrills along the way. Plus, with location filming and tons of extras, the movie makes its $5o million look like $200 million. RIP, Val.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (2024)
Watched with Burton’s Blu-Ray commentary. Fascinating how much of the movie was rewritten and/or improvised during filming. See if you can count how many times he says something was decided “at the last minute.”
ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE (2001)
Nearly forgot how good this movie is. A fun treasure-hunt adventure, with some stunning animation.
STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996)
A more ambitious and thought-out film than the TV episode-like Generations. The Borg’s collective consciousness makes them scary, but it also means they can’t really have character development. This film, though, finds a way to use the Borg similar to what was done before without fully repeating it.
THE GOONIES (1985)
What can I say? I just felt like watching an old favorite.
DARK CITY (1998)
Finally got around to checking out the director’s cut. It worked for me! The additional scenes add some nice breathing room and character bits, enhancing what was already one of my faves.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
I can feel the colors!
I also watched The Goonies this week. The 4k is relatively cheap so i decided it was time for a rewatch. Always a fun time
DeleteI can't wait for the Dark City 4k. It may be the fastest I did a pre-order in my life
A while back, I watched Secret in Their Eyes, a 2015 American remake of the 2009 Best Foreign Language Oscar-winning Argentinian romantic crime drama El secreto de sus ojos. And, though this is hardly a popular position to take in cineaste circles, I liked our leaner, tenser version better. Full thoughts here.
ReplyDeleteI also finished the third season of Reacher, which was solid. A nifty story, but by the end, there were no surprises, just the expected action climax and denouement, though I'm always happy to see Anthony Michael Hall getting work. Anyhow, this inspired me to check out star Alan Ritchson's very first acting credit, a fifth season episode of Smallville in which he became the first person to play Aquaman in live action. It's a bad episode, but Ritchson had gobs of presence even then, and (unlike in his current show) he smiles a lot! Full thoughts here.
Somehow I found the desire to watch movies despite the long work days of the end of the American tax filing season. Maybe I also needed a little mental break from the political situation. Thoughts of Junesploitation certainly influenced my watches this week.
ReplyDeleteL’INNOCENTE (1976, dir. Luchino Visconti) – Though this does not reach the heights of his legendary career, Visconti still created a beautiful film for his final cinematic effort. Giancarlo Giannini is an aristocrat always chasing his own pleasure, relegating his wife to being a spectator to life and love. When she embarks upon her own affair, the dynamic of their relationship and his own life takes a different path that neither expected. The locations, costumes, and decorations are frequently dazzling. I loved the aesthetic of it. If you enjoy period dramas, you would probably find something to like in L’Innocente.
THEY CALL ME MACHO WOMAN! (1989) – An awful script, awful direction, and awful acting render this Troma release barely watchable. The thread-bare plot concerns a woman looking for a piece of land in the countryside stumbling on a motley gang processing drugs at a farm. Regarding her as a threat, they do a terrible job trying to kill her. She keeps escaping from and tricking the gang for most of the film. The seemingly endless and amateurish chase scenes make the first two-thirds of the MACHO WOMAN a chore. When the woman transforms herself into an axe-throwing badass, though, the film does become funny at times. I cannot imagine the cleaned-up version put out by Vinegar Syndrome would make MACHO WOMAN any more tolerable.
VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN’S PRISON (1982, dir. Bruno Mattei) – A biting exposé of a corrupt and degrading prison system! Or just a shameless women-in-prison film flick? More the latter I have to admit. I felt like watching something from Severin’s Black Emanuelle box set this week. The previous viewing of this was years ago for Junesploitation, and I prefer it over the other WIP film made with the same cast and sets, Emanuelle In Prison. There is no denying that this is trash cinema, yet, after enduring the ineptitude of MACHO WOMAN, I appreciate that Mattei and company had some filmmaking skills.
In a short period, I will have more time and energy to devote to movie-watching again. The Mahoning Drive-In opens next weekend. Half of the shows for the season have already been announced. A reopened indoor theater only half the travel time to the drive-in, The Gap Theatre, is providing the kind of viewing opportunities throughout the week that I would normally only have at the Mahoning. 35mm screenings being available daily will challenge my entertainment budget this year. I have not purchased much physical media in 2025, and I might not be able to devote much money for it if I want to go to the theaters a lot. I will see how things go this year. There are, however, still so many discs in my collection I have not gotten around to watching yet.
ReplyDeleteThe real good stuff is coming out later 🤣😜
DeleteMake sure to post which Mahoning screenings you’re planning to go to, Casual. My parents live nearby and I plan to be there a lot this summer!
DeleteThere are certain shows that I would love to attend this year. So much of the time, though, personal factors determine whether I am free to go. For example, being an old Something Weird Video fan, I would love to be at the Mahoning that night. I just happen to be committed to pet sitting that week. I will post when I know I am going there, though.
DeleteLooney Tunes The Day The Earth Blew Up (2025 theatrical)
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong fan of all things Looney Tune, i was hoping to catch this theatrically. When the news dropped that the distributor, Ketchup Entertainment, purchased and rescued Coyote v Acme, i made it a point to ensure i saw it theatrically. Im GIDDY that we'll actually get to see CvA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for the movie, it suffers the same challenge that most looney tunes movies do, its hard.....realllllly hard....to do a feature length. The characters and bits and comedy all just fits nicely in 10m outings. However i absolutely love the aesthetics, the reverence for old school animation, the art, and passion they put in. I didnt totally connect with it early on but when it got to the zombie meets alien attack, i was on board. Its a fun flick. (editors note: i saw it in a small theater BUT it was almost sold out on a tues night at 445! Lets Go!!)
Walk Hard: the dewey cox story.
As one raised on the best of parody movies (early ZAZ. early Mel Brooks), i love them immensely when they are good. The problem is, its REALLY hard to get a good parody. There's countless shitty 'string-together-dumb-sketch-takes-on-movie-scenes'. As time goes on, we get less and less decent parodies. However this movie GETS IT. Its really an all time favorite comedy for me. It brilliantly lampoons not just the johnny cash biopic but really pretty much all music biopics. Its crazy irreverent, tons of funny songs, SO much music genre in jokes. I adore it.
(Note: while im on my parody soap box, i feel that i should also mention Black Dynamite as a movie that not only gets it right, but i consider flawless. A top 20 movie for me).
PS: LOVE the Top Secret thumbnail. We lost an amazing actor this week. RIP Val.
Delete