The Junesploitation hangover hit me this week. Though there are lots of films I want to watch, I had to turn to ones that were not very demanding on my mind to get any watches in. I started to watch a couple of other films but ran out of steam. I will try to finish them soon.
DIL TO PAGAL HAI (1997, dir. Yash Chopra) on Prime – The title translates as “The Heart is Crazy”. I watched the first half of the film in May and finally got to the second half this week. (It is three hours long.) Dil To Pagal Hai does not pretend to be anything than a Bollywood song and dance spectacle. The superstar Shah Rukh Khan is a director of modern -very 1990s- theatrical musical productions. When his usual star dancer goes down with an injury, he finds another (the lovely Madhuri Dixit) to fill her place. Will this sworn bachelor admit to his feelings, and will his new star confront her own complicated situation as her feelings for Khan grow. Full of comedy, romance, and some very 1990s fashions, there is nothing spectacular to really mention here. The whole film is ear and eye candy. Sometimes that is not a bad thing, though. What does stand out is the amount of work that went into making a film like this. The actors had to learn a lot of dance routines.
THE FIVE MAN ARMY (1970) – Unfortunately, recordings only stay a month on the new DVR system, so it was time to get to one the many films now on the box. This spaghetti western was recently recorded off of Turner Classic Movies. The Five Man Army is a satisfactory entry in the genre, and it is notable for being part of the Mexican revolution subgenre within it. By the time the film finished, I can say that I was entertained. The Wild Bunch is definitely an inspiration for the film, yet Five Man Army does go in a different direction than the Sam Peckinpah classic. This time around there is gold on a train that a motley outlaw gang, led by Peter Graves, intends to take. For whom is the gold intended, though? Part of the gang is a samurai, a very exploitation choice to add a little sword play to the action. It features one of Mikko’s favorite actors, Bud Spencer. There are two directors credited for The Five Man Army, one American and one Italian.
The big thing for me this week relating to movies is the discovery of a French Youtube channel called Konbini. There is a series called Vidéo Club on it which features notable actors and directors going around one of the few existing video stores in Paris talking about the movies they see around them. Some programs are completely in French (spoken language or translated subtitles), but there are plenty in English. It is a far more satisfying version of the Criterion Closet. Some of my favorites feature Francis Ford Coppola, David Cronenberg, and Nicholas Winding Refn. It is worth checking out.
Restless (2024): This was recommended by the guys at Red Letter Media. A woman is slowly going crazy by her very noisy new neighbor. That's the kind of thriller that I like, simple, but efficient, only 90 minutes. It's weird when the bad guy is just an a**hole though, it's too... normal. I still recommend it though. I just consider myself lucky that none of my neighbors are like that.
Marshmallow (2025): Another one recommended by the Red Letter Media guys. It looks and feels like a slasher at the summer camp movie, but it's not. You can't just go around and start slashing kids, or can you? I can't say much more, I'm not saying you won't see things coming, I just don't want to spoil anything. It's a good movie, very moody. The kids are doing a fine acting job, but in a lesser movie they would be very annoying, as kids actor usually are.
Dobermann (1997): After Matt Sollenberger mentioned it during Junesploitation, it made me want to rewatch it. Only problem, I had only a region 2 DVD, and that bothered me because I knew a region B Blu-Ray existed (I want to at least upgrade to BR, 4k only when I feel like it). Well, it finally came in. Jan Kounen was an angry filmmaker, part of that new French New Wave of the 90s, angry at the business (there's even a guy whipping is a** with pages ripped from a Cahier du Cinema magazine). Did I still have fun with it? Yes I did. Was it as good as when I was an angry young man rebelling against everything? No. This is the movie where I met for the first time some actors that would become, or already were, icons of cinema: Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Tchéky Karyo. And some others that I've seen around french movies.
Blueberry (2004): Also known as Renegade in the US (I don't know why they changed the already english-sounding title), this is Jan Kounen's follow up to Dobermann (he did a couple of smaller things in between), based on a cult french comic book. It's not very good, but I have to admit it played better this time than the last time I saw it, which is almost 20 years ago now. Kounen's filmmaking style doesn't quite work with the existentialism western genre, and changes were made to the original story that just screwed everything up (the original creator was pissed). Also, having a french actor doing an english speaking role (Vincent Cassel in the title role) is just a bad idea. There's a solid supporting cast though, almost impressive (RIP Michael Madsen).
I also received my order from Vinegar Syndrome, from their latest sale. Lots of blind buy, but who can say no to Beastmaster or Six-String Samurai 4k for 20$ each. I'm gonna have a good week. Anybody got anything?
My Vinegar Syndrome halfway sale order arrived during June. I only got a few things: An Eye For An Eye, Sugar Cookies, and Flesh and Fantasy. There already is a stack of VS titles that I have not gotten around to, so I have slowed my purchases to catch up on those. Another factor, since the prices have gone up, is that I am less willing to indulge in too many blind buys. I also picked up Through The Looking Glass from Melusine. It was one of my favorite watches for June.
Unlike last year, I did not get anything during subscriber week. There were a few tempting items, but the credit card stayed in my wallet.
I might get some Kino releases from the current sale. There is still a week to make a decision about it.
So Sylvester Stallone is a "specialist", an explosives expert who rigs and strategically places bombs. Yet he works in a two-man team with James Woods who is the "trigger man". What is the purpose of this? Why can't Stallone pull the trigger? He's standing right next to him!
That's it, that's the only problem with this movie.
Miscellaneous things I enjoyed: - It looks like a real movie - Shot on spectacular Miami locations, not green screen or The Volume - Stallone's character is named Ray Quick - Sharon Stone and James Woods sharing scenes a year before they would both steal the show in Casino. - Rod Steiger doing a Ricky Ricardo accent. - John Barry's score is nice but lots of self-plagiarism at this point
Picked up the new Criterion 4k of Barry Lyndon. I'm pretty disappointed there are no new special features. In fact, everything is identical and I actually prefer the Blu-ray case. It looks fantastic but so does the regular Blu-ray. If it wasn't for the Barnes and Noble sale, I'd say there really isn't much reason to upgrade from the Blu-ray.
To be fair, most companies do that. Arrow, Kino, Shout, if they already released the thing on blu-ray, they rarely will add anything to the 4k release if they do one
Aye, I guess it's just a matter of preference but I'm not a fan of slipcases as they tend to bend and wear out quickly. The booklet also has no place to sit securely which I also find annoying. Sorry for sounding like such a snob but these little things matter to me!
JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961) This was the first time I'd seen that footage from the concentration camps. It was really powerfully upsetting. And the interrogations of Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland's characters were excruciating. I always think post-WW2 Germany is not studied enough. It's so interesting. Not the Cold War stuff but the rebuilding and transformation of Germany and German people.
SUPERMAN (2025) Still mulling this one over in my head. It’s kind of a mess in a story/plot sense. But you can see Gunn and co. really tried to make ol’ Red Boots genuine in his goodness, which was appreciated.
TWINS (1988) “The pavement was his enemy.”
A COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984) A whole movie of dark fairy tale/goth-y goodness. Except the wolves are supposed to be scary, but you can tell they are very good dogs.
PUNISHER WAR ZONE (2008) The “rocket launcher vs. parkour guy” gag makes the whole thing worth it.
JAWS 2 (1978) I tried to give this movie an honest chance, but it’s just a chore to sit through. Apologies to all the shark fans.
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985) It’s the original Quigley Down Under!
A Company of Wolves is one of those films I will do a re-watch of. There are probably many things I missed in it the first time around. That watch came in the context of an October horror film challenge, when I was actively searching for films I had not seen before. That is why I find these kind of challenges, like Junesploitation, helpful in discovering films.
I had a pretty great Junesploitation! Although I missed a bunch of days in the later half which I'll catch up with. The highlights were Sonny Boy (1989), Zu:Warriors from the Magic Kingdom (1983), Hitch Hike (1977), and most of all The Wild Bunch (1969) which might have become a 10/10 movie even on first watch.
In July I watched Can't Buy Me Love (1987) for a Free Space! and then watched again with the fun Fthismovie commentary. Also Commando for '80s Action!
Took the kids to see Sinners yesterday, and it was as good as everyone was saying. I'm still digesting, and glad the kids liked it a lot too.
Also watched Blood Simple which was amazing! Nice tight little mystery/thriller. Looking forward to watching a few of the early Coen's, which is a blind spot, while Blank Check is going through them.
Superman (2025): James Gunn is really James Gunn-ing. Case in point, there's a slo-mo scene where Mister Terrific fight a bunch of guys while a silly pop song is playing over it. Classic Gunn. He really went deep with the cameos: both actors and comics. I don't want to spoil too much, keep the surprises. I agree with everything Rob said in his review. And Crypto is awesome.
Good weekend to everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe Junesploitation hangover hit me this week. Though there are lots of films I want to watch, I had to turn to ones that were not very demanding on my mind to get any watches in. I started to watch a couple of other films but ran out of steam. I will try to finish them soon.
DIL TO PAGAL HAI (1997, dir. Yash Chopra) on Prime – The title translates as “The Heart is Crazy”. I watched the first half of the film in May and finally got to the second half this week. (It is three hours long.) Dil To Pagal Hai does not pretend to be anything than a Bollywood song and dance spectacle. The superstar Shah Rukh Khan is a director of modern -very 1990s- theatrical musical productions. When his usual star dancer goes down with an injury, he finds another (the lovely Madhuri Dixit) to fill her place. Will this sworn bachelor admit to his feelings, and will his new star confront her own complicated situation as her feelings for Khan grow. Full of comedy, romance, and some very 1990s fashions, there is nothing spectacular to really mention here. The whole film is ear and eye candy. Sometimes that is not a bad thing, though. What does stand out is the amount of work that went into making a film like this. The actors had to learn a lot of dance routines.
THE FIVE MAN ARMY (1970) – Unfortunately, recordings only stay a month on the new DVR system, so it was time to get to one the many films now on the box. This spaghetti western was recently recorded off of Turner Classic Movies. The Five Man Army is a satisfactory entry in the genre, and it is notable for being part of the Mexican revolution subgenre within it. By the time the film finished, I can say that I was entertained. The Wild Bunch is definitely an inspiration for the film, yet Five Man Army does go in a different direction than the Sam Peckinpah classic. This time around there is gold on a train that a motley outlaw gang, led by Peter Graves, intends to take. For whom is the gold intended, though? Part of the gang is a samurai, a very exploitation choice to add a little sword play to the action. It features one of Mikko’s favorite actors, Bud Spencer. There are two directors credited for The Five Man Army, one American and one Italian.
The big thing for me this week relating to movies is the discovery of a French Youtube channel called Konbini. There is a series called Vidéo Club on it which features notable actors and directors going around one of the few existing video stores in Paris talking about the movies they see around them. Some programs are completely in French (spoken language or translated subtitles), but there are plenty in English. It is a far more satisfying version of the Criterion Closet. Some of my favorites feature Francis Ford Coppola, David Cronenberg, and Nicholas Winding Refn. It is worth checking out.
It was probably you who mentioned Konbini to me a while ago, i checked it out since then, it's good, i recommend it too
DeleteIt was definitely not me. I did not see any Video Club stuff until this week.
DeleteRestless (2024): This was recommended by the guys at Red Letter Media. A woman is slowly going crazy by her very noisy new neighbor. That's the kind of thriller that I like, simple, but efficient, only 90 minutes. It's weird when the bad guy is just an a**hole though, it's too... normal. I still recommend it though. I just consider myself lucky that none of my neighbors are like that.
ReplyDeleteMarshmallow (2025): Another one recommended by the Red Letter Media guys. It looks and feels like a slasher at the summer camp movie, but it's not. You can't just go around and start slashing kids, or can you? I can't say much more, I'm not saying you won't see things coming, I just don't want to spoil anything. It's a good movie, very moody. The kids are doing a fine acting job, but in a lesser movie they would be very annoying, as kids actor usually are.
Dobermann (1997): After Matt Sollenberger mentioned it during Junesploitation, it made me want to rewatch it. Only problem, I had only a region 2 DVD, and that bothered me because I knew a region B Blu-Ray existed (I want to at least upgrade to BR, 4k only when I feel like it). Well, it finally came in. Jan Kounen was an angry filmmaker, part of that new French New Wave of the 90s, angry at the business (there's even a guy whipping is a** with pages ripped from a Cahier du Cinema magazine). Did I still have fun with it? Yes I did. Was it as good as when I was an angry young man rebelling against everything? No. This is the movie where I met for the first time some actors that would become, or already were, icons of cinema: Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Tchéky Karyo. And some others that I've seen around french movies.
Blueberry (2004): Also known as Renegade in the US (I don't know why they changed the already english-sounding title), this is Jan Kounen's follow up to Dobermann (he did a couple of smaller things in between), based on a cult french comic book. It's not very good, but I have to admit it played better this time than the last time I saw it, which is almost 20 years ago now. Kounen's filmmaking style doesn't quite work with the existentialism western genre, and changes were made to the original story that just screwed everything up (the original creator was pissed). Also, having a french actor doing an english speaking role (Vincent Cassel in the title role) is just a bad idea. There's a solid supporting cast though, almost impressive (RIP Michael Madsen).
I also received my order from Vinegar Syndrome, from their latest sale. Lots of blind buy, but who can say no to Beastmaster or Six-String Samurai 4k for 20$ each. I'm gonna have a good week. Anybody got anything?
Glad my sourness didn't sour you on Dobermann. I'll have to watch it again someday (probably a while from now haha)
DeleteMy Vinegar Syndrome halfway sale order arrived during June. I only got a few things: An Eye For An Eye, Sugar Cookies, and Flesh and Fantasy. There already is a stack of VS titles that I have not gotten around to, so I have slowed my purchases to catch up on those. Another factor, since the prices have gone up, is that I am less willing to indulge in too many blind buys. I also picked up Through The Looking Glass from Melusine. It was one of my favorite watches for June.
DeleteUnlike last year, I did not get anything during subscriber week. There were a few tempting items, but the credit card stayed in my wallet.
I might get some Kino releases from the current sale. There is still a week to make a decision about it.
The Specialist (1994, dir. Louis Llosa)
ReplyDeleteSo Sylvester Stallone is a "specialist", an explosives expert who rigs and strategically places bombs. Yet he works in a two-man team with James Woods who is the "trigger man". What is the purpose of this? Why can't Stallone pull the trigger? He's standing right next to him!
That's it, that's the only problem with this movie.
Miscellaneous things I enjoyed:
- It looks like a real movie
- Shot on spectacular Miami locations, not green screen or The Volume
- Stallone's character is named Ray Quick
- Sharon Stone and James Woods sharing scenes a year before they would both steal the show in Casino.
- Rod Steiger doing a Ricky Ricardo accent.
- John Barry's score is nice but lots of self-plagiarism at this point
The Specialist is such a fun movie. I'll definitely get it whenever they do a 4k, hopefully soon
DeleteThis is the only review of THE SPECIALIST anyone ever needs
DeletePicked up the new Criterion 4k of Barry Lyndon. I'm pretty disappointed there are no new special features. In fact, everything is identical and I actually prefer the Blu-ray case. It looks fantastic but so does the regular Blu-ray. If it wasn't for the Barnes and Noble sale, I'd say there really isn't much reason to upgrade from the Blu-ray.
ReplyDeleteCriterion does that when they upgrade their stuff to 4k. Annoying, but i learned to live with it
DeleteTo be fair, most companies do that. Arrow, Kino, Shout, if they already released the thing on blu-ray, they rarely will add anything to the 4k release if they do one
DeleteCan I ask how the packaging is different? Upgraded some of my Kubrick's but might not on this one.
DeleteThe original packaging was the standard clear plastic case.
DeleteNow, they added a 3rd disc, and switched the packaging to cardboard with a slipcase
https://www.reddit.com/r/4kbluray/comments/1l94oh6/barry_lyndon_criterion_4k/
Aye, I guess it's just a matter of preference but I'm not a fan of slipcases as they tend to bend and wear out quickly. The booklet also has no place to sit securely which I also find annoying. Sorry for sounding like such a snob but these little things matter to me!
DeleteI'm with you on this one. I"m not a fam either
DeleteJUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)
ReplyDeleteThis was the first time I'd seen that footage from the concentration camps. It was really powerfully upsetting. And the interrogations of Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland's characters were excruciating. I always think post-WW2 Germany is not studied enough. It's so interesting. Not the Cold War stuff but the rebuilding and transformation of Germany and German people.
It was the first time anyone had seen Holocaust footage in a mainstream movie. Agreed, very disturbing.
DeleteSUPERMAN (2025)
ReplyDeleteStill mulling this one over in my head. It’s kind of a mess in a story/plot sense. But you can see Gunn and co. really tried to make ol’ Red Boots genuine in his goodness, which was appreciated.
TWINS (1988)
“The pavement was his enemy.”
A COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984)
A whole movie of dark fairy tale/goth-y goodness. Except the wolves are supposed to be scary, but you can tell they are very good dogs.
PUNISHER WAR ZONE (2008)
The “rocket launcher vs. parkour guy” gag makes the whole thing worth it.
JAWS 2 (1978)
I tried to give this movie an honest chance, but it’s just a chore to sit through. Apologies to all the shark fans.
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)
It’s the original Quigley Down Under!
A Company of Wolves is one of those films I will do a re-watch of. There are probably many things I missed in it the first time around. That watch came in the context of an October horror film challenge, when I was actively searching for films I had not seen before. That is why I find these kind of challenges, like Junesploitation, helpful in discovering films.
DeleteI had a pretty great Junesploitation! Although I missed a bunch of days in the later half which I'll catch up with. The highlights were Sonny Boy (1989), Zu:Warriors from the Magic Kingdom (1983), Hitch Hike (1977), and most of all The Wild Bunch (1969) which might have become a 10/10 movie even on first watch.
ReplyDeleteIn July I watched Can't Buy Me Love (1987) for a Free Space! and then watched again with the fun Fthismovie commentary. Also Commando for '80s Action!
Took the kids to see Sinners yesterday, and it was as good as everyone was saying. I'm still digesting, and glad the kids liked it a lot too.
DeleteAlso watched Blood Simple which was amazing! Nice tight little mystery/thriller. Looking forward to watching a few of the early Coen's, which is a blind spot, while Blank Check is going through them.
Blood Simple is an assured debut feature. They already had a style from the beginning.
DeleteSuperman (2025): James Gunn is really James Gunn-ing. Case in point, there's a slo-mo scene where Mister Terrific fight a bunch of guys while a silly pop song is playing over it. Classic Gunn. He really went deep with the cameos: both actors and comics. I don't want to spoil too much, keep the surprises. I agree with everything Rob said in his review. And Crypto is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'll just mention Pruitt Taylor Vince as Pa Kent. I'm just happy to see him, and he's perfect for the role
Delete