Constantine (2005): This is part of the trend of old-ish movies where it was not well received when first released, but gained some kind of cult status, or rise in popularity in recent years. To be clear, I always liked the movie, back then I didn't know the comic, so I didn't care about his hair color and stuff. Now I'm a big fan of the character, own all of the original Hellblazer comic series, and a couple of other stories, I got all the Blu-rays of the movies and tv shows where the character appears, animated or live action (Matt Ryan, who plays or voices the character in everything is pretty good at it). So, I recently upgraded my Blu-ray to 4K, in anticipation to the eventual sequel that's been announced last year. The supporting cast is excellent, and possibly overqualified for what they have to do. The disc has a new bonus feature, a '20 years later retrospective' that's pretty interesting. The funny part is how everybody's praising the movie, the sets, the actors and everything in between. All I could think was 'calm down guys, it's a cool movie, but this is no Citizen Kane'. Anyway, I think I'll rewatch the tv show from 2014 now, I enjoyed it a lot, and it was cancelled way too soon.
Absolutely fabulous documentary on the incredible Robin Williams. Not sure why it took me this long to find/watch. The footage from his live shows was a wonderful reminder of his, truly, one of a kind rapid fire brilliant comic mind. It also offered glimpses into who he was beyond his comic persona..an area he didnt really share/show all that often publicly. An outstanding documentary and tribute.
Dead Alive (aka Braindead) (1992 dvd)
The amazing reception for Weapons this week made me think that Zach Cregger now joins Peter Jackson and James Gunn as directors who started in niche/genre/specific areas and somehow made the leap to big budget widespread adoration cinema. That made me wanna revisit this classic.
My goodness this movie is a masterpiece. I think ive always considered the holy trinity of horror/comedy/gore to be: Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator, and Dead Alive. Yet, for whatever reason, ive not revisited this movie as much as the others. Obviously its an epic splatterfest but this viewing made me appreciate so much more: the time/writing around the relationship, the incredible side characters, and a completely random kung fu scene featuring a priest that "kicks ass for the lord". Also i just reveled in so much of the creative practical effects and the brilliant work with the finale monster.
This would be my #1 suggestion for scary movie month for those who havent seen it (editors note: those who havent seen it AND dig suuuuper gory horror comedy).
* For Sale: Lawn Mower. Has Loose Wingnut * Man gets deep into addressing mother issues * Slow Zombies? Fast Zombies? Pffrt. F@#$ing Zombies! * One Does Not Simply make this, LOTR.
Agree with ya A-Casual! There's been rumors/speculation that Jackson was doing 4k of some of his earlier stuff but no news yet. Personally id just love a ton of behind the scenes stuff!
Since I have not gone much this summer, I knew this would be a drive-in theater weekend. When I saw that the Mahoning's Vampyrty event was sold out, I instead headed to Scranton last night to the Circle Drive-In for a double feature with WEAPONS and the remake of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.
Weapons was not at all what I thought it would be. The way the story unfolds by shifting from character to character creates a great buildup to the reveal. You could argue that what happens after that is not as interesting, but I am a fan of these kind of horror stories anyway. I felt rewarded by the experience.
Since I paid for ticket, I stuck around for the duration of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Sometimes I was watching the film, sometimes I was looking over at the other screen showing The Fantastic Four, and sometimes I was gazing at the lights of the Lackawanna Valley. Though I have not seen the original film, it did not take me long to figure out what IKWYDLS was going to do. The callbacks are handled very clumsily, and the actors did not engage my attention much. I will not be seeing this again.
An amazing mixture of extreme dread and hopeless despair with bursts of pure human, musical and cinematic joy. Peter Stormare sings in this! They filmed the musical sequences with 100 fixed cameras rolling simultaneously. I listened to von Trier's commentary and he repeatedly trashes Bjork for being hard to work with and "ruining" the musical sequences. Then I googled the behind the scenes and... yikes.
She accused him of sexual harassment which he denied but reinforced that they didn't get along. Some behind the scenes footage shows a period of several days during shooting where she walked off the set and not knowing what to do von Trier was going to replace her with someone wearing a mask of her face to finish the movie. Ultimately she returned.
Blow (2001): I don't remember much from when I watched it back in the day, but I remember the semi-big deal because director Ted Demme died a few months after the movie release and before the DVD release. It's not a bad movie, the cast is solid, but it's trying a bit too much to be Goodfellas. Even casting Ray Liotta in small part.
It was a week dedicated to DVR watches and Charles Bronson day for the Summer Under The Stars programming on Turner Classic Movies.
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981, dir. Bob Rafelson) – The release date shows the 1980s, but TPART has its feet firmly planted in the 1970s. From the director to the lead (Jack Nicholson), everything screams New Hollywood. This is the second Hollywood adaptation of a famous 1930s crime novel, the first one being from 1946. The story centers around an affair between a drifter and the wife of an immigrant gas station owner in California in the 1930s. A murder scheme is hatched against the husband and noirish things happen. The visual style is appropriately dingy, with the characters all looking as far from living a glamorous life as possible. Though the film is not without issues, there are strong performances and beautiful cinematography to admire.
FATAL ATTRACTION (1987, dir. Adrian Lyne) – “I will not be ignored.” Glenn Close is very captivating as Alex Forrest, a woman unwilling to let go of a weekend fling with Michael Douglas’ married lawyer. Outside of the thriller set-up, the focus of the film is on the characters. Until Alex’s behavior crosses the line of violence against her former lover, I was more sympathetic with her than the selfish lawyer out for his own pleasure. The scene when Alex watches the lawyer’s family through a window is heart-breaking: an ideal she desired but failed to achieve. For a display of 1980s fashions, pop culture (Nickelodeon’s You Can’t Do That On Television), and cars, Fatal Attraction is an interesting time-capsule.
GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN (1968, dir. Henri Verneuil) – A spaghetti western that I had not even heard of before. Charles Bronson has one of the bigger roles, but the star is Anthony Quinn. Quinn portrays a Mexican bandit who accompanies a priest to a desolate town where a hostile native tribe and a power-hungry local (Bronson) oppress the local population. The bandit becomes an unlikely hero to the town and leads the fight against its enemies. Overall, Guns For San Sebastian is an uneven but entertaining western. The great location shooting and the Ennio Morricone score elevate the film.
GUNS OF DIABLO (1964) – A film compiled from a western television show that lasted only a season, Guns of Diablo features Charles Bronson as a wagon train leader encountering an old flame while getting supplies in a small town. It completely feels like a TV show in style and is mildly entertaining. Besides Bronson, there is a young Kurt Russell in one of his earliest acting gigs.
Constantine (2005): This is part of the trend of old-ish movies where it was not well received when first released, but gained some kind of cult status, or rise in popularity in recent years. To be clear, I always liked the movie, back then I didn't know the comic, so I didn't care about his hair color and stuff. Now I'm a big fan of the character, own all of the original Hellblazer comic series, and a couple of other stories, I got all the Blu-rays of the movies and tv shows where the character appears, animated or live action (Matt Ryan, who plays or voices the character in everything is pretty good at it). So, I recently upgraded my Blu-ray to 4K, in anticipation to the eventual sequel that's been announced last year. The supporting cast is excellent, and possibly overqualified for what they have to do. The disc has a new bonus feature, a '20 years later retrospective' that's pretty interesting. The funny part is how everybody's praising the movie, the sets, the actors and everything in between. All I could think was 'calm down guys, it's a cool movie, but this is no Citizen Kane'. Anyway, I think I'll rewatch the tv show from 2014 now, I enjoyed it a lot, and it was cancelled way too soon.
ReplyDeleteRobin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fabulous documentary on the incredible Robin Williams. Not sure why it took me this long to find/watch. The footage from his live shows was a wonderful reminder of his, truly, one of a kind rapid fire brilliant comic mind. It also offered glimpses into who he was beyond his comic persona..an area he didnt really share/show all that often publicly. An outstanding documentary and tribute.
Dead Alive (aka Braindead) (1992 dvd)
The amazing reception for Weapons this week made me think that Zach Cregger now joins Peter Jackson and James Gunn as directors who started in niche/genre/specific areas and somehow made the leap to big budget widespread adoration cinema. That made me wanna revisit this classic.
My goodness this movie is a masterpiece. I think ive always considered the holy trinity of horror/comedy/gore to be: Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator, and Dead Alive. Yet, for whatever reason, ive not revisited this movie as much as the others. Obviously its an epic splatterfest but this viewing made me appreciate so much more: the time/writing around the relationship, the incredible side characters, and a completely random kung fu scene featuring a priest that "kicks ass for the lord". Also i just reveled in so much of the creative practical effects and the brilliant work with the finale monster.
This would be my #1 suggestion for scary movie month for those who havent seen it (editors note: those who havent seen it AND dig suuuuper gory horror comedy).
Dead Alive 7 Word Reviews:
Delete* For Sale: Lawn Mower. Has Loose Wingnut
* Man gets deep into addressing mother issues
* Slow Zombies? Fast Zombies? Pffrt. F@#$ing Zombies!
* One Does Not Simply make this, LOTR.
Dead Alive needs a new release. It must be some kind of rights issue holding that up.
DeleteThe only time I saw it was as an on-demand rental in 2009. I did not expect to laugh so much.
Agree with ya A-Casual! There's been rumors/speculation that Jackson was doing 4k of some of his earlier stuff but no news yet. Personally id just love a ton of behind the scenes stuff!
DeleteSince I have not gone much this summer, I knew this would be a drive-in theater weekend. When I saw that the Mahoning's Vampyrty event was sold out, I instead headed to Scranton last night to the Circle Drive-In for a double feature with WEAPONS and the remake of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.
ReplyDeleteWeapons was not at all what I thought it would be. The way the story unfolds by shifting from character to character creates a great buildup to the reveal. You could argue that what happens after that is not as interesting, but I am a fan of these kind of horror stories anyway. I felt rewarded by the experience.
Since I paid for ticket, I stuck around for the duration of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Sometimes I was watching the film, sometimes I was looking over at the other screen showing The Fantastic Four, and sometimes I was gazing at the lights of the Lackawanna Valley. Though I have not seen the original film, it did not take me long to figure out what IKWYDLS was going to do. The callbacks are handled very clumsily, and the actors did not engage my attention much. I will not be seeing this again.
Dancer in the Dark (2000, dir. Lars von Trier)
ReplyDeleteAn amazing mixture of extreme dread and hopeless despair with bursts of pure human, musical and cinematic joy. Peter Stormare sings in this! They filmed the musical sequences with 100 fixed cameras rolling simultaneously. I listened to von Trier's commentary and he repeatedly trashes Bjork for being hard to work with and "ruining" the musical sequences. Then I googled the behind the scenes and... yikes.
Explain the 'yikes', was she that difficult, or was it Von Trier?
DeleteShe accused him of sexual harassment which he denied but reinforced that they didn't get along. Some behind the scenes footage shows a period of several days during shooting where she walked off the set and not knowing what to do von Trier was going to replace her with someone wearing a mask of her face to finish the movie. Ultimately she returned.
DeleteBlow (2001): I don't remember much from when I watched it back in the day, but I remember the semi-big deal because director Ted Demme died a few months after the movie release and before the DVD release. It's not a bad movie, the cast is solid, but it's trying a bit too much to be Goodfellas. Even casting Ray Liotta in small part.
ReplyDeleteIt was a week dedicated to DVR watches and Charles Bronson day for the Summer Under The Stars programming on Turner Classic Movies.
ReplyDeleteTHE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981, dir. Bob Rafelson) – The release date shows the 1980s, but TPART has its feet firmly planted in the 1970s. From the director to the lead (Jack Nicholson), everything screams New Hollywood. This is the second Hollywood adaptation of a famous 1930s crime novel, the first one being from 1946. The story centers around an affair between a drifter and the wife of an immigrant gas station owner in California in the 1930s. A murder scheme is hatched against the husband and noirish things happen. The visual style is appropriately dingy, with the characters all looking as far from living a glamorous life as possible. Though the film is not without issues, there are strong performances and beautiful cinematography to admire.
FATAL ATTRACTION (1987, dir. Adrian Lyne) – “I will not be ignored.” Glenn Close is very captivating as Alex Forrest, a woman unwilling to let go of a weekend fling with Michael Douglas’ married lawyer. Outside of the thriller set-up, the focus of the film is on the characters. Until Alex’s behavior crosses the line of violence against her former lover, I was more sympathetic with her than the selfish lawyer out for his own pleasure. The scene when Alex watches the lawyer’s family through a window is heart-breaking: an ideal she desired but failed to achieve. For a display of 1980s fashions, pop culture (Nickelodeon’s You Can’t Do That On Television), and cars, Fatal Attraction is an interesting time-capsule.
GUNS FOR SAN SEBASTIAN (1968, dir. Henri Verneuil) – A spaghetti western that I had not even heard of before. Charles Bronson has one of the bigger roles, but the star is Anthony Quinn. Quinn portrays a Mexican bandit who accompanies a priest to a desolate town where a hostile native tribe and a power-hungry local (Bronson) oppress the local population. The bandit becomes an unlikely hero to the town and leads the fight against its enemies. Overall, Guns For San Sebastian is an uneven but entertaining western. The great location shooting and the Ennio Morricone score elevate the film.
GUNS OF DIABLO (1964) – A film compiled from a western television show that lasted only a season, Guns of Diablo features Charles Bronson as a wagon train leader encountering an old flame while getting supplies in a small town. It completely feels like a TV show in style and is mildly entertaining. Besides Bronson, there is a young Kurt Russell in one of his earliest acting gigs.