Junesploitation is upon us. They Call Her One-Eye or Thriller: A Cruel Picture (the image this week) is not part of my 2025 Junesploitation list, but it may be in a different year. I have a Synapse DVD of the Thriller cut. I do not feel the need to upgrade to the VS release.
It was not a busy week with watches because of family activities. I finished a biblical film called THE STORY OF RUTH from 1960. The title character is a woman who converts to Judaism and has to deal with the prejudices of the culture she moves into. Ruth begins as a pagan priestess, though, and those scenes of rituals - including child sacrifice - bring the pageantry that I like about the sword and sandal films of this period. With the emphasis on religious discussions and two-hour running time, the fun factor does decrease in certain parts, but The Story of Ruth does have decent production values for its budget.
There was one more for the week I almost forgot about. (Too much going on the past few days.)
KELLY’S HEROES (1970) – Perenially part of Turner Classic Movies’ Memorial Day programming, Kelly’s Heroes is a film that I have had the intention to watch for years. I finally did, and it is a weird one. Clint Eastwood is the title character, an American army officer fighting in northeastern France who captures a German officer. Learning from him that there is a large amount of gold stored in a town behind German lines, Lt. Kelly organizes his own military operation to get to the gold before anybody else does. This combination of WWII combat and heist film becomes very absurd and nonsensical quickly, but it entertains at a high level. Much of that comes down to a cast that is full of prominent Hollywood male actors of the era. My favorite is Donald Sutherland playing a kooky tank commander appropriately nicknamed Oddball. If you like to watch things being blown up, this is definitely a film for you.
Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025 theatrical)
There is a very funny, oft referenced, moment in Family Guy where the family finds themselves in a flooding room and Peter states "i did not care for The Godfather". The family, understandably, cant believe this. Peter continues "It insists upon itself". Hilarious. And while i dont know if i fully understand the phrasing..i do know i thought of that quote a LOT during the first 1/2 of this movie.
MI:TFR is, as many folks have commented, a mixed bag. Its the second part of a two part finale that is hampered by a less personal mission/story. The evil computer and Gabriel are both fine but not much more. The tone is dour. The first hour plus feels like the characters are reading us the story from a novelization combined with a clips show of previous outings. The ret-conned connections to previous movies add no meat and are unnecessary.
All that being said, i LOVE these movies and always enjoy spending time with this group. And the race against time stuff, underwater scene, and prop plane chase was a lot of fun. In the end i think the movie found itself in its final moments and therefore i left happy. Im also glad i saw it on a big screen as there really is scope/scale to the aforementioned set pieces.
PS: one huge missed opportunity. at one point Nathan takes control of an aircraft carrier. naturally. they show a few jets taking off. they absolutely should have had him walk by one with the name MAVERICK written outside the pilot seat.
Beetlegeuse Beetlegeuse: the one thing that annoys me the most with this is not the movie itself, it's what Tim Burton said about the movie. He said something along the line of 'I don't want to just do callbacks to the first movie'. Well buddy, it's exactly what you did. The movie's not that good, but Michael Keaton is awesome as always.
On a side note, last year I upgraded Nightmare Before Christmas to 4k. It comes with a regular blu-ray, which is mostly the same as the old one, but they removed the short movie Vincent from the extras. I noticed it only last week and I... was... pissed... Luckily, my awesome used dvd store still had a copy of the old regular blu-ray, so all is good with the world.
THE DESCENT (2005) Still holds up! A total thrill ride. Everybody argues whether it was wise of them to go into the cave to begin with, but it'd be a pretty short movie otherwise, wouldn't it?
RONIN (1998) Killer movie. Even better than I remembered. Great twist-turny plot, and awesome car chase action.
PUMPKINHEAD (1988) I'll assume this is canonical with Return to Oz.
JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4 (2023) Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Getting your steps in."
STAR TREK BEYOND (2016) Really fun movie, but we really could've used another movie or two so this version of the characters could properly complete their journey.
VALLEY GIRL (1983) A total classic. A movie watch just for the vibes.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING (2025) What can I possibly say at this point? I can see why some fans are rolling their eyes at all the callbacks to previous films in the series. But I for one dug all the big thrills and Cruise's larger-than-life persona crossing over with Ethan Hunt's larger-than-life persona.
The Descent effectively exploits claustrophobia. I picked up a DVD (loaded with extras) of it at a Salvation Army store last year, and it is on my re-watch list. Maybe in October. The scenes lit by red light do not look great on it.
Good weekend to everyone.
ReplyDeleteJunesploitation is upon us. They Call Her One-Eye or Thriller: A Cruel Picture (the image this week) is not part of my 2025 Junesploitation list, but it may be in a different year. I have a Synapse DVD of the Thriller cut. I do not feel the need to upgrade to the VS release.
It was not a busy week with watches because of family activities. I finished a biblical film called THE STORY OF RUTH from 1960. The title character is a woman who converts to Judaism and has to deal with the prejudices of the culture she moves into. Ruth begins as a pagan priestess, though, and those scenes of rituals - including child sacrifice - bring the pageantry that I like about the sword and sandal films of this period. With the emphasis on religious discussions and two-hour running time, the fun factor does decrease in certain parts, but The Story of Ruth does have decent production values for its budget.
There was one more for the week I almost forgot about. (Too much going on the past few days.)
DeleteKELLY’S HEROES (1970) – Perenially part of Turner Classic Movies’ Memorial Day programming, Kelly’s Heroes is a film that I have had the intention to watch for years. I finally did, and it is a weird one. Clint Eastwood is the title character, an American army officer fighting in northeastern France who captures a German officer. Learning from him that there is a large amount of gold stored in a town behind German lines, Lt. Kelly organizes his own military operation to get to the gold before anybody else does. This combination of WWII combat and heist film becomes very absurd and nonsensical quickly, but it entertains at a high level. Much of that comes down to a cast that is full of prominent Hollywood male actors of the era. My favorite is Donald Sutherland playing a kooky tank commander appropriately nicknamed Oddball. If you like to watch things being blown up, this is definitely a film for you.
one more day till Junesploitation. hazaaa.
ReplyDeleteMission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025 theatrical)
There is a very funny, oft referenced, moment in Family Guy where the family finds themselves in a flooding room and Peter states "i did not care for The Godfather". The family, understandably, cant believe this. Peter continues "It insists upon itself". Hilarious. And while i dont know if i fully understand the phrasing..i do know i thought of that quote a LOT during the first 1/2 of this movie.
MI:TFR is, as many folks have commented, a mixed bag. Its the second part of a two part finale that is hampered by a less personal mission/story. The evil computer and Gabriel are both fine but not much more. The tone is dour. The first hour plus feels like the characters are reading us the story from a novelization combined with a clips show of previous outings. The ret-conned connections to previous movies add no meat and are unnecessary.
All that being said, i LOVE these movies and always enjoy spending time with this group. And the race against time stuff, underwater scene, and prop plane chase was a lot of fun. In the end i think the movie found itself in its final moments and therefore i left happy. Im also glad i saw it on a big screen as there really is scope/scale to the aforementioned set pieces.
PS: one huge missed opportunity. at one point Nathan takes control of an aircraft carrier. naturally. they show a few jets taking off. they absolutely should have had him walk by one with the name MAVERICK written outside the pilot seat.
Beetlegeuse Beetlegeuse: the one thing that annoys me the most with this is not the movie itself, it's what Tim Burton said about the movie. He said something along the line of 'I don't want to just do callbacks to the first movie'. Well buddy, it's exactly what you did. The movie's not that good, but Michael Keaton is awesome as always.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, last year I upgraded Nightmare Before Christmas to 4k. It comes with a regular blu-ray, which is mostly the same as the old one, but they removed the short movie Vincent from the extras. I noticed it only last week and I... was... pissed... Luckily, my awesome used dvd store still had a copy of the old regular blu-ray, so all is good with the world.
THE DESCENT (2005)
ReplyDeleteStill holds up! A total thrill ride. Everybody argues whether it was wise of them to go into the cave to begin with, but it'd be a pretty short movie otherwise, wouldn't it?
RONIN (1998)
Killer movie. Even better than I remembered. Great twist-turny plot, and awesome car chase action.
PUMPKINHEAD (1988)
I'll assume this is canonical with Return to Oz.
JOHN WICK CHAPTER 4 (2023)
Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Getting your steps in."
STAR TREK BEYOND (2016)
Really fun movie, but we really could've used another movie or two so this version of the characters could properly complete their journey.
VALLEY GIRL (1983)
A total classic. A movie watch just for the vibes.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING (2025)
What can I possibly say at this point? I can see why some fans are rolling their eyes at all the callbacks to previous films in the series. But I for one dug all the big thrills and Cruise's larger-than-life persona crossing over with Ethan Hunt's larger-than-life persona.
TREMORS (1990)
Graboids gonna get'cha!
The Descent effectively exploits claustrophobia. I picked up a DVD (loaded with extras) of it at a Salvation Army store last year, and it is on my re-watch list. Maybe in October. The scenes lit by red light do not look great on it.
DeleteIt’s such a tragedy that we didn’t get more of those Star Trek movies. I also wanted more.
Delete