Saturday, July 5, 2025

Weekend Open Thread

20 comments:

  1. After Wings Hauser day, where everybody was praising Vice Squad, I got in the mood for gritty cop movies. I watched Training Day, which I mentioned during Free Space day while waiting for my 4k order of Narc and the aforementioned Vice Squad.

    Vice Squad (1982): Yeah, it's everything you guys said it was. I have nothing to add other than the 4k, while far from perfect, looks fine. The real star here, after the movie itself, is the ton of extras, including a commentary track by the director of a documentary about Wings Hauser, which is one more thing I need to track down (it's not out yet).

    Narc (2002): I'm a fan of Joe Carnahan, I don't love all of his movies, but when he hits, he hits hard. This is as gritty as they come. The cold open is particularly dark. I've not followed Jason Patric a lot, but he's great in this, as is Ray Liotta (obviously). I totally forgot the twist at the end. It's also another slam dunk for Arrow with a good looking 4k, full of extras. I was sure the guys talked about it in a podcast, but I can't find it.

    I caught up a bit on Junesploitation and watched Strike Commando. Lots of shouting, explosion, bullets... everything you need for a good action movie. Rambo is a kindergartener next to this guy. I hope to watch SC2 soon.

    I also received the new blu-ray for Eephus (2024). I love baseball and I love movies with baseball in them. This was recommended by Adam and Rob a while ago, they did a Reserve Seating video on the movie. The blu-ray is cool, plenty of fun extras.

    Then I watched a bunch of recent crap (I'm on vacation, I have a ton of free time)...

    The Old Guard 2 (2025): As boring as the first movie, and there's not even an end, the movie just stops for an eventual sequel.

    Heads of State (2025): This one is actually good, but I was expecting crap. I'm a fan of Ilya Naishuller, I like Hardcore Henry and Nobody, and now he finally got his studio movie with big-ish names. The buddy-buddy type movie is fun, and he knows how to direct a good action sequence. There are some very funny scenes in there too. I actually recommend this one.

    Ice Road - Vengeance (2025): A new Liam Neeson actioner (sequel to The Ice Road), the man is starting to show his age, but his coolness always wins. The movie has all the hits: very motivated henchmen, guns have infinite bullets until they don't, flesh wounds don't hurt until they do, one character mourn the death of her dad for a solid 5 seconds then basically forget about it. It's as good or bad as you want it to be.

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    1. I didn't know there was a sequel to Liam's "Ice Road" flick. Thanks, will keep an eye out for it. 😁 Happy to have been part of the Junesploitation! wave that pushed you to buy "Vice Squad" in 4K. 🤑

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    2. I'm that easy. Say a film is good, be in 4k... Done!

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    3. Strike Commando! It blows up good!! :)

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  2. Untitled: The Bootleg Cut (2001 4k Directors Commentary)

    This viewing unequivocally moved this movie into my top 5 films of all time. I am endlessly fascinated by this period of Cameron Crowe's life. When i recently found out he's releasing an autobiography this year, i decided to do some deep diving into his interviews as rock biographer, interviews he's provided, and as much of the real stories that i could find out that provide the framework for this film. The commentary is excellent, as is the extended cut. I could write so much of why i love this movie but in the end i think its a few important points....1) pure love of music. 2) the ultimate music lover fantasy..to be part of the touring crew. 3) a bittersweet story about coming of age..transitioning from home to finding your path...the intensity of first loves, requited and unrequited....and figuring out whats important to ones self. This film means so very much to me......

    "..the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool...." -L Bangs

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  3. This week sees me once again pet sitting, which means I have access to MAX. Everything but Mary Poppins (a DVD Salvation Army store pickup) was accessed through that streaming service. After watching so many films from the 1970s and ‘80s in June, going with some things from the 2020s was a good change of pace.

    MARY POPPINS (1964) – I probably watched Mary Poppins as a child, but my connection with the film largely stems from seeing it on TV, probably during a weekend afternoon, as a teenager. It may be that I had not seen the film since the 1990s. Watching it in 2025 as a middle-aged man, there are aspects of Mary Poppins that can annoy, most notably Dick Van Dyke’s over-the-top Burt. The portrayal of Edwardian England has gotten a lot more antiquated since the mid-1960s, including an imperialist culture that is not of looked on favorably in modern times. However, there is so much that is charming in the film. The biggest charmer is Julie Andrews, whom I cannot envision not being in the titular role. She inhabits Mary and truly puts on a show in the musical numbers. Though the visual effects can sometimes look primitive now, what was achieved by blending live action with animation in the early 1960s is still impressive.

    MY MOTHER JAYNE (2025, dir. Mariska Hargitay) – Family life is frequently a bittersweet experience. Mariska Hargitay, the daughter of the 1950s and ’60s star Jayne Mansfield, confronts her family’s past in a very emotional documentary. Assembling her siblings and digging into what remains of Jayne Mansfield’s belongings, Hargitay tells the story of her mother and the legacy of her actions and early death. The doc gets into some painful emotional territory, particularly regarding Mansfield’s death in a car accident in 1967. Three of her children, including Mariska, were in the vehicle. Mariska also discusses the secret of her biological father not being Mickey Hargitay, Mansfield’s second husband. This is a documentary that is manipulative in nature, something I do not always like but have to accept watching it. No matter how old you get, the scars of childhood remain. Interestingly, I watched two films from Mansfield’s third husband, Matt Cimber, this Junesploitation.

    THE DAY THE WORLD BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNE’S MOVIE (2024, dir. Peter Browngardt) – Seeing this discussed on the website quite a bit last year aroused my curiosity. I have also been a life-long fan of the Warner Brothers cartoons. When I hit play, I was optimistic being entertained, and I was. Though The Day The World Blew Up is a very 2024 film, it still has the zany spirit of the golden era of WB cartoons. The nods to classic horror and science fiction films are amusing.

    NATALIE WOOD: WHAT REMAINS BEHIND (2020) – With her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner playing host in the documentary, this Natalie Wood doc is similar in style to My Mother Jayne. There are the interviews with family members (Robert Wagner included) and the actors she worked with. You see the places Natalie Wood lived and had a strong connection to. The main difference is that What Remains Behind is more guarded about the person who is the subject. There is far less digging up the dirt of Wood’s life, maybe because there was less of it than in the case of Jayne Mansfield. I also got the sense that certain aspects of Wood’s life were glossed over, like the difficult relationship with her mother. Though there is some raw emotion expressed by Wood’s children about dealing with her death, What Remains Behind is a far more traditional movie star documentary than My Mother Jayne.

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    1. A slight error in a title here. It's My Mom Jayne.

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  4. Watched Drop Zone (1994) it's a good 4th of July movie. I've seen it 3-4 times over the years and it's never as good as I want it to be, but still entertaining. What jumped out to me this time is Yancy Butler is freaking GREAT in this. I'm going to seek out more of her work now.

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  5. My top five favorites from this year’s #Junesploitation:

    5. RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985). That time a Cannon movie got Oscar nominations.
    4. YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968). It’s just as trippy as everyone says.
    3. CIRCLE OF IRON (1978). Cool fight choreography meets far-out philosophy. It's both musclebound and serene.
    2. NEW KILLERS IN TOWN (1990). Rough n’ tumble low-budget action in the best way.
    1. BILLY IDOL: STATE LINE (2023). Billy turns Hoover Dam into a concert venue, and it totally rocks!

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  6. Death of a Unicorn (2025, dir. Alex Scharfman)

    The CGI was so bad I'm surprised this was released. Did they run out of money? Or is this the current standard?

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  7. Ballerina is whatever. You can't go from having a guy's dog brutally murdered as motivation to go on a rampage to just having someone's father killed as the motivation for a spinoff character. Inspiration for this project appears to have begun and ended at the idea of it starring Ana de Armas.

    More importantly, after finishing up my Deep Space 9 rewatch, we watched the documentary What we Left Behind. It's a bit of fluff, but it was good to see the cast again, especially given that a few of them have passed since the documentary was made. The writer's room thing they do where they come up with a hypothetical first episode for a new season is fun in the context of it just being something they came up with in one day of tossing ideas around (obviously any actual continuation would have had a lot more planning). I also liked that the doc noted Damar going from a one-line background character through the arc he ends up having, since it really struck me this watch-through how entertaining his character got in the final season.

    DS9 quickly became the gf's favorite Trek of the stuff she's watched so far. We just started rewatching Voyager, which I'm not overly excited about but we also have season 3 of Strange New Worlds coming.

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  8. Final Destination - Bloodlines (2025): I'm a fan of the series, it's kinda stupid and just an excuse to do weird kills, but that's how I like it. This one's no different, it's not better of worst than the others, it's just another one. Recommended if you like the movies.

    Lucy (2014): It took me 10 years to finally watch it, but I finally did it. All it took was a cheap 4k at the used dvd store. I always resisted watching watching it because i thought the premise was stupid, the 10% brain thing had been debunked way before this movie came out. So i had to just skip over that part and just enjoy the show. Luc Besson is a man of many and bad flaws, but he knows how to make a good and entertaining movie. This is far from his best, bit it's entertaining enough, and I always enjoy a bit of Scarlet on my tv.

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  9. Last night I went to a midnight screening of a 1970 Filipino black magic/martial arts mashup, DEVIL WOMAN. Little of it makes any sense. A girl is born with snakes for hair and has the power to control snakes, which she subsequently uses to get revenge for an evil deed committed against her family. Then there is a plot about a Chinese doctor who also happens to be a martial arts expert clashing with with local Filipino tough guys. Oh, a random gang of outlaws also gets thrown into the mix. The finale is a real WTF experience.

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    1. This sounds incredible! I love going to screenings like this, hope the crowd was into it!

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    2. It was a small crowd, unfortunately. The theater (The Gap Theatre) reopened this spring and is still finding an audience. Those of us there had a good time.

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  10. My top 10 favorites of Junesploitation. All were new watches.

    10. THE ANDERSON TAPES (1971) - Sidney Lumet directs Sean Connery in a NYC heist film
    9. EYE OF THE TIGER (1986) - Gary Busey goes vigilante in ridiculous '80s action
    8. THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955) - Jimmy Stewart is out for revenge in the West
    7. DEATH SQUAD (1985) - A sleazy French police action film
    6. BAHIA BLANCA (1984) - Jess Franco makes a compelling crime drama
    5. THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972) - A Shaw Brothers gangster epic
    4. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (1976) - Adult meets surreal horror
    3. INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN (1972) - Shaw Brothers' risque tale of revenge
    2. Ong-Bak: THE THAI WARRIOR (2003) - Amazing fight choreography
    1. STREETS OF FIRE (1984) - Walter Hill's rock and roll genre mashup

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  11. Thanks for the recap! I moved and don't have internet yet, so waiting till next weekend to provide my Junesploitation synoploitatsis!

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