Another week, another batch of movie-watching goodness.
WE BURY THE DEAD (AUSTRALIA)/ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (JAPAN... 2026, THEATER) Two completely different early '26 movies, same core plot for both. In "WBTD" Daisy Ridley plays a woman with marital trouble that joins a military-backed civilian volunteer force tasked with cleaning the Tazmania islands after a U.S.A. weapon "accidentally" turns the entire population into either corpses or zombie-like, semi-sentient beings. She eventually escapes on her own to reach the resort her hubby was attending on business, running into all types of "Walking Dead"-type characters/situations along the way. 'It's fine,' but nothing you haven't seen before done better in countless zombie flicks.
Ditto for "AYNIK" (troubled young woman joins civilian clean-up crew studying giant outer space flower that landed on Earth a year prior) except the story goes full "Groundhog Day"/"Edge of Tomorrow." Since it's Japanese anime at least the visuals and designs of the killer flowers/mecha suits make the repetitive battles go down easier. Another 'it's fine,' but a neutered ending that walks back a heartbreaking finale makes the overall narrative feel like a pointless waste of great assets.
SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS (1948, INDICATOR 4K UHD) Ealing Studio brought Technicolor spectacle to the U.K. for the first time with this lavish adaptation of Helen Simpson's historical novel. Love be damned as 15th-century German monarchy marries Princess Sophie Dorothea (Joan Greenwood) to the womanizing English prince George Louis (Peter Bull) to lay the groundwork for a claim to the British crown. A chance at true love emerges when Swedish Count Philip Konigsmark (Stewart Granger) falls for Dorothea's charm, even though his loyalty to the Bavarian crown calls on him for military leadership. For a Technicolor spectacle (which shines in this impressive and exquisite 4K transfer) "Saraband's" use of darkness/shadows, particularly during the tense swashbuckling finale, steals the show. Fans of old-fashioned epics (or Stewart Granger) will love it.
GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION The sequel to the end-of-the-world disaster movie released during the 2020 COVID pandemic is only worth seeing to laugh at the plot armor that keeps Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin and their useless now-teenage son alive through one natural disaster or man-made military ambush after another. It's a perfect flick to leave streaming on the background while sorting laundry or painting walls, not something worth going to theaters for.
ABEL FERRARA/ZOË LUND DOUBLE FEATURE: MS. 45 (ARROW 4K UHD, 1980) & BAD LIEUTENANT (1992, KINO LORBER 4K UHD) Ferrara may be the director of "Ms. 45," but damn if Zoë Lund doesn't carry this r@*# revenge/vigilante urban fantasy on her shoulders. More tragedy than revenge (lots of innocents die, including the shy-but-likable person Thana was before her same-day dual attacks), Zoë's sad eyes and emotive face say so much they compensate for everyone else's dialogue being banal nonsense. The time capsule of New York in its late 70's grindhouse prime doesn't hurt, but l can't emphasize enough how Zoë Lund's performance in "Ms. 45" is feminist iconography 101.
Even though Lund co-wrote "Bad Lieutenant" and has a small role (which sadly mirrors the way Zoë offed herself in 1999), the stylistic directorial choices of a more seasoned Abel Ferrara are front and center this time around. Chief among these choices is letting an inobtrusive, non-judgemental camera capture Harvey Keitel go for broke in his portrayal of a drug-addicted, womanizing and gambling NYPD LT whose downward spiral accelerates when confronted with a r@%!d nun that forgives her attackers. It might be NC-17 and hard to watch at times, but "BL" one-ups even the all-mighty Martin Scorsese at portraying the angst of Catholic guilt co-existing in the life of a sinner faced with a shot at redemption with a high price he's terrified to contemplate accepting. NYC at its pre-Disney dawn is another feather in this flick's cap. 🫣😎
Felt pretty basic this week, the new year has been kicking my ass (I've been very sick), so I watched a few 'oldies'. I still have an ever-growing pile of discs to watch (and got some good stuff recently), but whatever...
The Bourne Trilogy: they're just cool. So many exciting action scenes, especially the car chase with Karl Urban in the second movie. I skipped 4 and 5. The 4th movie is fine, but I was never a fan of Jeremy Renner and he just can't replace Matt Damon. 5th movie, despite the presence of Damon, is just bad and boring.
Hudson Hawk is a cartoon, right? I mean, timing the heists with songs, weird henchmen (one talking exclusively with cards), one of the bad guys wears a military jumpsuit at the end for some reasons, that other dude somehow surviving a car exploding which tumbling off a cliff (airbags and sprinkler system in the car, sure, why not). The movie is awesome and somebody needs to do a proper overpriced-collector 4k release.
October Sky is a peaceful movie. It's not without drama, but it's life in a small mining town with a kid dreaming of space. I really like this movie, I just love hanging out with the characters. And somehow, there's always onion cutting nearby. You'd never think the guy who did The Rocketeer and Captain America did this. I have talked about this movie before, and I will every time I watch it.
Then I got lucky and found Priscilla Queen of the Desert on blu-ray at the used dvd store. I really wanted the 4k, but at 5$ I couldn't pass this chance. I'm sure the colorfulness of the movie would pop in 4h, but whatever. The movie's so fun, and all the guys are really committed.
I also go for cheaper/used Blu-ray copies of movies l want on 4K, but only if the price difference is so giant that it makes sense to pocket a sizable amount of cash for the trade-off to lowly 1080p. 😢😓 The "Indiana Jones" 4-movie 4K box sets usually go for $60+. Found a Blu-ray 4-pak of the same Indy movies for $20 used. SOLD! 🤑🤑🤑
There are some movies that i will pay the big bucks, but Priscilla is not one of them. But I did buy stupider movies for way more, so I have no idea what i'm doing
Thank you JM, i'm already better, just in time for the weekend. I have a big amazon order coming in today, just because I had the itch to spend (it's a better cure than Tylenol). Mostly John Woo stuff. It's gonna be a great week.
QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER (1990) Quigley’s rifle should’ve gotten a Best Supporting Actor nom.
RIDDICK (2013) The series goes back to basics, with our hero shipwrecked on a planet full of monsters. You know, the good stuff. Think Vin will ever make another one of these?
KOYAANISQATSI (1982) I believe the word for this movie is… trippy.
GREEN LANTERN (2011) Not a disaster, but kind of mediocre. For an adaptation, GL really needs a big-budget ongoing TV series to dig into all the sprawling lore and whatnot.
TRON: ARES (2025) It’s just as bad as everybody’s been saying. What have they done to my beloved TRON?
JOLT (2021) Is this a shared universe with those CRANK movies?
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003) Dang it, “You bow to no one” gets me every time.
The blu-ray Gods bestowed upon us the great Tank Girl, through Vinegar Syndrome. I love the movie (and the comic). It's my kind of weird, where they do anything and everything, and we'll see what happens. Lori Petty is awesome (I'm due for a rewatch of Point Break), Ice-T is a humanoid kangaroo, Naomi Watts does her best to keep up with Petty, and who doesn't love Malcolm McDowell. And let's not forget the awesome soundtrack. The collection is obviously awesome, but that's too bad that most of the extras from the Shout disc were added to this set, mainly the interview with the director.
Where The Wild Things Are should not be this good. It was supposed to be a stupid kid thing. Any other director would've made it stupid, but Spike Jonze made something solid out of it. I really miss him directing movies.
Ninja Scroll is possibly the first anime I ever saw. It was my early college years, one of my friends brought a VHS copy of the movie, no idea where he got it. I was hooked. It was my first real adult cartoon. I'd never seen such violence and s3x in an animated thing, which was a novel thing for us back then. I'm not saying it's the best anime ever made, far from it, but it's certainly entertaining.
Then I watched The Rip this morning because why not. It's excellent. I love Joe Carnahan, but he's been less than stellar with his last couple of movies. This is a great return to form for him.
A pretty quiet week for me, but I made up for it with an '80s comedy double feature Saturday night.
RED PEONY GAMBLER 2: GAMBLER’S OBLIGATION (1968, dir. Norifumi Suzuki) – Oryu, the gambling daughter of a murdered yakuza, continues her journey in the underworld of 19th-century Japan. While staying at a yakuza boss’ house, Oryu has to deal with the deadly treachery of one of his underlings. Her loyalty to the old boss and sense of honor put her on the path of conflict with the new boss. The bad guy’s deeds really get you eager to see him taken down. Full of visual flair and action, the second film in the series is more entertaining than the first entry. Suzuki became one of the best genre directors in Japan over the next decade.
HOT DOG: THE MOVIE (1984, dir. Peter Markle) – Broad ethnic stereotypes, gratuitous nudity, montages, adversarial groups… you are going to 1980s comedy land with this flick about a freestyle ski competition in California. The center of the film is a newcomer to the competition, a handsome young man with skills and a magnetism that draws the ladies. Though it does have cookie cutter aspects, Hot Dog manages to have its own personality. This is a fun watch and fits the season very well. (Snow has fallen here throughout the weekend.)
CAVEGIRL (1985) – Character actor Daniel Roebuck is the lead in this stupid attempt at a caveman film. Roebuck is the school nerd who, on a field trip, stumbles upon a crystal in a cave that brings him back in time. Of course, he meets a sexy cavegirl and has some misadventures with other cave people. The comedy really falls flat, with Roebuck doing his best to elicit a laugh from the audience. If you want to scrape the bottom of the barrel of 1980s comedy, you might find something redeeming in this nonsense. I did not. Mercifully short at 80 minutes.
Another week, another batch of movie-watching goodness.
ReplyDeleteWE BURY THE DEAD (AUSTRALIA)/ALL YOU NEED IS KILL (JAPAN... 2026, THEATER)
Two completely different early '26 movies, same core plot for both. In "WBTD" Daisy Ridley plays a woman with marital trouble that joins a military-backed civilian volunteer force tasked with cleaning the Tazmania islands after a U.S.A. weapon "accidentally" turns the entire population into either corpses or zombie-like, semi-sentient beings. She eventually escapes on her own to reach the resort her hubby was attending on business, running into all types of "Walking Dead"-type characters/situations along the way. 'It's fine,' but nothing you haven't seen before done better in countless zombie flicks.
Ditto for "AYNIK" (troubled young woman joins civilian clean-up crew studying giant outer space flower that landed on Earth a year prior) except the story goes full "Groundhog Day"/"Edge of Tomorrow." Since it's Japanese anime at least the visuals and designs of the killer flowers/mecha suits make the repetitive battles go down easier. Another 'it's fine,' but a neutered ending that walks back a heartbreaking finale makes the overall narrative feel like a pointless waste of great assets.
SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS (1948, INDICATOR 4K UHD)
Ealing Studio brought Technicolor spectacle to the U.K. for the first time with this lavish adaptation of Helen Simpson's historical novel. Love be damned as 15th-century German monarchy marries Princess Sophie Dorothea (Joan Greenwood) to the womanizing English prince George Louis (Peter Bull) to lay the groundwork for a claim to the British crown. A chance at true love emerges when Swedish Count Philip Konigsmark (Stewart Granger) falls for Dorothea's charm, even though his loyalty to the Bavarian crown calls on him for military leadership. For a Technicolor spectacle (which shines in this impressive and exquisite 4K transfer) "Saraband's" use of darkness/shadows, particularly during the tense swashbuckling finale, steals the show. Fans of old-fashioned epics (or Stewart Granger) will love it.
GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION
The sequel to the end-of-the-world disaster movie released during the 2020 COVID pandemic is only worth seeing to laugh at the plot armor that keeps Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin and their useless now-teenage son alive through one natural disaster or man-made military ambush after another. It's a perfect flick to leave streaming on the background while sorting laundry or painting walls, not something worth going to theaters for.
ABEL FERRARA/ZOË LUND DOUBLE FEATURE: MS. 45 (ARROW 4K UHD, 1980) & BAD LIEUTENANT (1992, KINO LORBER 4K UHD)
Ferrara may be the director of "Ms. 45," but damn if Zoë Lund doesn't carry this r@*# revenge/vigilante urban fantasy on her shoulders. More tragedy than revenge (lots of innocents die, including the shy-but-likable person Thana was before her same-day dual attacks), Zoë's sad eyes and emotive face say so much they compensate for everyone else's dialogue being banal nonsense. The time capsule of New York in its late 70's grindhouse prime doesn't hurt, but l can't emphasize enough how Zoë Lund's performance in "Ms. 45" is feminist iconography 101.
Even though Lund co-wrote "Bad Lieutenant" and has a small role (which sadly mirrors the way Zoë offed herself in 1999), the stylistic directorial choices of a more seasoned Abel Ferrara are front and center this time around. Chief among these choices is letting an inobtrusive, non-judgemental camera capture Harvey Keitel go for broke in his portrayal of a drug-addicted, womanizing and gambling NYPD LT whose downward spiral accelerates when confronted with a r@%!d nun that forgives her attackers. It might be NC-17 and hard to watch at times, but "BL" one-ups even the all-mighty Martin Scorsese at portraying the angst of Catholic guilt co-existing in the life of a sinner faced with a shot at redemption with a high price he's terrified to contemplate accepting. NYC at its pre-Disney dawn is another feather in this flick's cap. 🫣😎
I always wanted to watch Ms 45, but somehow I never did. I need to deal with this
DeleteBarnes & Noble has a 50% off sale right now in the States, that's how l got the "Ms. 45" 4K for $30 (still pricey, but so worth it! 😁👍).
DeleteFelt pretty basic this week, the new year has been kicking my ass (I've been very sick), so I watched a few 'oldies'. I still have an ever-growing pile of discs to watch (and got some good stuff recently), but whatever...
ReplyDeleteThe Bourne Trilogy: they're just cool. So many exciting action scenes, especially the car chase with Karl Urban in the second movie. I skipped 4 and 5. The 4th movie is fine, but I was never a fan of Jeremy Renner and he just can't replace Matt Damon. 5th movie, despite the presence of Damon, is just bad and boring.
Hudson Hawk is a cartoon, right? I mean, timing the heists with songs, weird henchmen (one talking exclusively with cards), one of the bad guys wears a military jumpsuit at the end for some reasons, that other dude somehow surviving a car exploding which tumbling off a cliff (airbags and sprinkler system in the car, sure, why not). The movie is awesome and somebody needs to do a proper overpriced-collector 4k release.
October Sky is a peaceful movie. It's not without drama, but it's life in a small mining town with a kid dreaming of space. I really like this movie, I just love hanging out with the characters. And somehow, there's always onion cutting nearby. You'd never think the guy who did The Rocketeer and Captain America did this. I have talked about this movie before, and I will every time I watch it.
Then I got lucky and found Priscilla Queen of the Desert on blu-ray at the used dvd store. I really wanted the 4k, but at 5$ I couldn't pass this chance. I'm sure the colorfulness of the movie would pop in 4h, but whatever. The movie's so fun, and all the guys are really committed.
I also go for cheaper/used Blu-ray copies of movies l want on 4K, but only if the price difference is so giant that it makes sense to pocket a sizable amount of cash for the trade-off to lowly 1080p. 😢😓 The "Indiana Jones" 4-movie 4K box sets usually go for $60+. Found a Blu-ray 4-pak of the same Indy movies for $20 used. SOLD! 🤑🤑🤑
DeleteThere are some movies that i will pay the big bucks, but Priscilla is not one of them. But I did buy stupider movies for way more, so I have no idea what i'm doing
DeleteLet's hold hands and jump into the uncertain physical media landscape... together. 🤨😱
DeleteHope you feel better soon so you can watch movies w/o the cloud raining on top of your head. 🤒🗯
Thank you JM, i'm already better, just in time for the weekend. I have a big amazon order coming in today, just because I had the itch to spend (it's a better cure than Tylenol). Mostly John Woo stuff. It's gonna be a great week.
DeleteQUIGLEY DOWN UNDER (1990)
ReplyDeleteQuigley’s rifle should’ve gotten a Best Supporting Actor nom.
RIDDICK (2013)
The series goes back to basics, with our hero shipwrecked on a planet full of monsters. You know, the good stuff. Think Vin will ever make another one of these?
KOYAANISQATSI (1982)
I believe the word for this movie is… trippy.
GREEN LANTERN (2011)
Not a disaster, but kind of mediocre. For an adaptation, GL really needs a big-budget ongoing TV series to dig into all the sprawling lore and whatnot.
TRON: ARES (2025)
It’s just as bad as everybody’s been saying. What have they done to my beloved TRON?
JOLT (2021)
Is this a shared universe with those CRANK movies?
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003)
Dang it, “You bow to no one” gets me every time.
There is a new Riddick coming. Not sure if it's planned for 26 or 27, but i think shooting has begun
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe weekend was better than the week...
The blu-ray Gods bestowed upon us the great Tank Girl, through Vinegar Syndrome. I love the movie (and the comic). It's my kind of weird, where they do anything and everything, and we'll see what happens. Lori Petty is awesome (I'm due for a rewatch of Point Break), Ice-T is a humanoid kangaroo, Naomi Watts does her best to keep up with Petty, and who doesn't love Malcolm McDowell. And let's not forget the awesome soundtrack. The collection is obviously awesome, but that's too bad that most of the extras from the Shout disc were added to this set, mainly the interview with the director.
Where The Wild Things Are should not be this good. It was supposed to be a stupid kid thing. Any other director would've made it stupid, but Spike Jonze made something solid out of it. I really miss him directing movies.
Ninja Scroll is possibly the first anime I ever saw. It was my early college years, one of my friends brought a VHS copy of the movie, no idea where he got it. I was hooked. It was my first real adult cartoon. I'd never seen such violence and s3x in an animated thing, which was a novel thing for us back then. I'm not saying it's the best anime ever made, far from it, but it's certainly entertaining.
Then I watched The Rip this morning because why not. It's excellent. I love Joe Carnahan, but he's been less than stellar with his last couple of movies. This is a great return to form for him.
A pretty quiet week for me, but I made up for it with an '80s comedy double feature Saturday night.
ReplyDeleteRED PEONY GAMBLER 2: GAMBLER’S OBLIGATION (1968, dir. Norifumi Suzuki) – Oryu, the gambling daughter of a murdered yakuza, continues her journey in the underworld of 19th-century Japan. While staying at a yakuza boss’ house, Oryu has to deal with the deadly treachery of one of his underlings. Her loyalty to the old boss and sense of honor put her on the path of conflict with the new boss. The bad guy’s deeds really get you eager to see him taken down. Full of visual flair and action, the second film in the series is more entertaining than the first entry. Suzuki became one of the best genre directors in Japan over the next decade.
HOT DOG: THE MOVIE (1984, dir. Peter Markle) – Broad ethnic stereotypes, gratuitous nudity, montages, adversarial groups… you are going to 1980s comedy land with this flick about a freestyle ski competition in California. The center of the film is a newcomer to the competition, a handsome young man with skills and a magnetism that draws the ladies. Though it does have cookie cutter aspects, Hot Dog manages to have its own personality. This is a fun watch and fits the season very well. (Snow has fallen here throughout the weekend.)
CAVEGIRL (1985) – Character actor Daniel Roebuck is the lead in this stupid attempt at a caveman film. Roebuck is the school nerd who, on a field trip, stumbles upon a crystal in a cave that brings him back in time. Of course, he meets a sexy cavegirl and has some misadventures with other cave people. The comedy really falls flat, with Roebuck doing his best to elicit a laugh from the audience. If you want to scrape the bottom of the barrel of 1980s comedy, you might find something redeeming in this nonsense. I did not. Mercifully short at 80 minutes.