Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

[100proof]

Bride of Re-Animator- Needed to get the shittiness of Super 8 off of my palette. This was actually my first time watching this and I have to say I can't believe no-one ever talks about this. I had seen Beyond Re-Animator which is not so great but this one is fantastic. It doesn't have the same sense of fun or that not quite definable element that makes the first one so enjoyable but it does it's own thing very well. It works as both a sequel and as an homage to The Bride of Frankenstein.

Jeffery Combs is even more unhinged and dedicated to the insanity of the role, he is straight up deranged. There is a shit-ton of effects work supervised by Screaming Mad George (Society) and just due to the sheer amount some of them don't quite work but the ones that do are fantastic and at times legitimately disturbing. The Bride herself is incredibly well done and her performance is excellent. The ending is a true spectacle of disgusting freaky mayhem on par with the best in the genre. A hugely underrated sequel and I highly recommended it to fans of the original.

Agreed on all accounts, Bride isn't quite the lightning in a bottle that the first movie is but some of those effects are amazing and that one iconic shot during the end sequence makes the movie worth watching by itself.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Jesse Stone: Stone Cold- Tom Selleck plays a small town New England police chief trying to solve a string of seemingly random murders. Apparently based on a series of books, this appears to be a made for TV movie and the first in a long series (there are 9 of these!). This is prime Dad/Grandpa fodder. Kind of hardboiled/pulpy, packed to the gils with cliches, goofy stoic dialogue and every chick he crosses paths with wants his dick immediately. Selleck is good in the role and the supporting cast is solid but it just never gets past feeling like something your Dad would fall asleep halfway through on plane flight.

I've read the books. They're pretty good, but are very transparently Robert B Parker's attempt at working through his own issues with his (I'm presuming, but not without reason) unfaithful wife. Much like so many of his Spenser novels (adaped into '80s tv show Spenser For Hire) and two Philip Marlowe novels were, only this time even more thinly-veiled, which I wouldn't have thought possible. I don't know if I'd call it a breakthrough, but in the final Jesse Stone novel he wrote before he died, Parker finally had Jesse give up on his ex-wife for good. Hopefully, Parker found some peace in that last little bit of his life, but I'm getting off-topic.

I've always kind of wanted to watch the movies, but I heard they went off in their own direction and weren't really faithful to the books. They were on streaming here a while back, but got taken down before I got around to watching one. And yeah, they were tv movies. Maybe for Lifetime, which is another strike against them.

 

[terry.330]

I've read the books. They're pretty good, but are very transparently Robert B Parker's attempt at working through his own issues with his (I'm presuming, but not without reason) unfaithful wife.

I've always kind of wanted to watch the movies, but I heard they went off in their own direction and weren't really faithful to the books. They were on streaming here a while back, but got taken down before I got around to watching one. And yeah, they were tv movies. Maybe for Lifetime, which is another strike against them.

Oh there was definitely stuff in the movie about his ex-wife and how she uses him but he can't let her go. Which felt a little awkward. It didn't feel like a Lifetime movie, more like older USA/TBS/TNT, dad channel stuff. It was far too male centric sex fantasy heavy for Lifetime. If you get a chance give one a watch since you enjoyed the books and are a fan of Selleck, just don't expect much. It was a serviceable TV movie.

Edit: looked it up. They were produced by Sony and aired on CBS. I watched it on Amazon Prime, they have all of them but it looks like before that they were Hallmarks streaming service lol

 

[SouthtownKid]

Oh there was definitely stuff in the movie about his ex-wife and how she uses him but he can't let her go. Which felt a little awkward.

It only gets more awkward. It was an ongoing theme with both Spenser and Jesse. Reading into both series, you can kind of deduce that Parker was kind of smothering in his marriage, in addition to maybe being more in love with the idea of romantic love than actually being in love with the woman he's with. So yeah, super-awkward, but also kind of interesting to watch him wrestle with it over the course of a few decades. Until finally at the end kind of throwing up his hands and saying fuck it. Parker finally paired Jesse up with the female main character of a third novel series he was writing and told his ex to go fuck herself.

It's also kind of funny reading novel reviews or discussion online and seeing that fans overwhelmingly grew to hate Susan, Spenser's girlfriend, and almost universal hate for Jesse's ex right out of the gate.

 

[terry.330]

The Burbs- Great cast, bad movie. Still moderately enjoyable but it's just such a goofy half-assed mess. Feels like there was probably a lot of cocaine involved. Also early Tom Hanks really Tom Hanksing it up, before he started to relax he was almost manically annoying.

 

[LoneSage]

Weird, The Burbs popped in my head yesterday. I couldn't remember what the point of the movie was.

 

[terry.330]

Weird, The Burbs popped in my head yesterday. I couldn't remember what the point of the movie was.

I don't think the movie knows either.

 

[terry.330]

The Dentist- Corben Bernsen plays the titular dentist whose seemingly perfect life spirals out of control causing him to have a psychotic break. His wife is fucking the pool guy, the IRS is up his ass and his neighbor is an asshole. He snaps and goes on a rampage of escalating dental related acts of mutilation and murder. I was expecting more of a comedy but Bersen plays the role with so much dedication and the mouth related horror is so relatabley effective that it's actually pretty messed up at times and the effects are quite good. It does run out of steam by the end though but it gets pretty nuts quickly so it's not surprising they couldn't maintain that all the way through. It's certainly nothing special but it's solid mid 90s direct to video trashy craziness.

 

[terry.330]

Color Out of Space- An adaptation of the HP Lovecraft story directed by Richard Stanley starring Nicholas Cage. That's a hell of a combination lol. One of the best Lovecraft adaptations and a fully realized vision of cosmic horror.

A meteorite crashes in the yard of an eccentric family living in rural Arkham on a small isolated farm. The presence of the meteorite starts to effect the things and people around it in unexplainable ways. Weirdness quickly gives way to all out horror and the bending of time, space and ultimately reality itself. Fantastic movie all around. Great cast, performances, setting, visuals and effects. I watched this when it hit streaming a couple years ago when Nic Cage was starting his whole come-back indie thing and kind of forgot about it. I guess it got lost in the shuffle between the handful of other interesting projects he had coming out in such a short span. Glad I went back to it, highly recommended.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Color Out of Space- An adaptation of the HP Lovecraft story directed by Richard Stanley starring Nicholas Cage. That's a hell of a combination lol. One of the best Lovecraft adaptations and a fully realized vision of cosmic horror.

A meteorite crashes in the yard of an eccentric family living in rural Arkham on a small isolated farm. The presence of the meteorite starts to effect the things and people around it in unexplainable ways. Weirdness quickly gives way to all out horror and the bending of time, space and ultimately reality itself. Fantastic movie all around. Great cast, performances, setting, visuals and effects. I watched this when it hit streaming a couple years ago when Nic Cage was starting his whole come-back indie thing and kind of forgot about it. I guess it got lost in the shuffle between the handful of other interesting projects he had coming out in such a short span. Glad I went back to it, highly recommended.

Yeah, this was fun. I liked it. It was no 'Burbs, though.

 

[terry.330]

Black Sabbath- An Italian horror anthology from 1963 directed by Mario Bava. Three stories of macabre weirdness from the master. The first one a beautiful young woman alone in her apartment is terrorized with phone calls from her ex who has escaped from police custody, but is it actually him? The second a vampire story set in a rural Transylvanian type locale about a family slowly being turned. The third a nurse who helps prepare a recently deceased old woman for her funeral, steals her ring and is haunted by the old woman's spirit. Thick atmosphere, Bava's signature lighting and camera moves are in full effect. Some real knockouts in the female cast and Boris Karloff hamming it up big time. A thoroughly enjoyable classic even though it's more than a bit dated.

Edit: I watched the original european cut, apparently the US cut is heavily edited and the stories are not shown in the intended order.

 

[fake]

Black Sabbath and Black Sunday are among my favorite horror movies.

 

[100proof]

Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge - Somebody made a modern (late 80s) retelling of Phantom of the Opera set in a mall. It's every bit as dumb as the title and the premise would have you believe. Guy saves his girlfriend but "dies" in a fire. He's actually just really burnt and decides to live in the sewer system below a new mall. He murders bad people in the mall and then gets pissy when his girl rejects him for a new beau played by the dude from Silk Stalkings... doesn't get much more 80s than that. It even has Pauly Shore in his first movie role.

It's a turd but it does capture 80s mall culture in a way few movies do. Maybe do a double feature with this and Chopping Mall (even set in the same Sherman Oaks mall in CA). It also has a theme song from the Vandals that continually asks if it's the Phantom of the Mall or "just some retard in a hockey mask". CANCELLED.

 

[SouthtownKid]

(even set in the same Sherman Oaks mall in CA).

If I'm not mistaken, a lot of the mall interiors for Fast Times were also filmed at the Sherman Oaks mall (with some exteriors at Santa Monica).

 

[Xavier]

Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge - Somebody made a modern (late 80s) retelling of Phantom of the Opera set in a mall. It's every bit as dumb as the title and the premise would have you believe. Guy saves his girlfriend but "dies" in a fire. He's actually just really burnt and decides to live in the sewer system below a new mall. He murders bad people in the mall and then gets pissy when his girl rejects him for a new beau played by the dude from Silk Stalkings... doesn't get much more 80s than that. It even has Pauly Shore in his first movie role.

It's a turd but it does capture 80s mall culture in a way few movies do. Maybe do a double feature with this and Chopping Mall (even set in the same Sherman Oaks mall in CA). It also has a theme song from the Vandals that continually asks if it's the Phantom of the Mall or "just some retard in a hockey mask". CANCELLED.

I rented this movie in 8th grade somewhere around 89, bet it hasn't aged well. I doubt I could watch it again...
I rode my bycycle to the video store, it was about 4-5 miles away, the path had a big hill in the middle. I would circle back a differnt route and it wasn't as bad. There had to have been a closer one. This was about the time mom and pop stores started popping up everywhere.
Pet Sematary reminded me of this movie because it has the Ramones at the end stating they don't want to be buried and live their life again

 

[Tarma]

Code of Silence - an utterly preposterous but very entertaining Chuck Norris action thriller from the the mid-80s. Directed by the guy who would later bring us Under Siege and The Fugitive, Code of Silence sets the template for the early films of Steven Segal (think Above The Law, Hard To Kill and Out For Justice) but without the graphic violence.
It features a great 80s synth funk soundtrack, and the movie debut of Dennis Farina... who sadly doesn't have quiet as much screen time as you'd like.
Shame Norris never made more flicks like this.

 

[100proof]

Pretty sure Dennis Farina was in Michael Mann's Thief. That was early 80s. Not trying to pick nits... just one of those movies that's burnt in to my brain.

 

[Tarma]

Pretty sure Dennis Farina was in Michael Mann's Thief. That was early 80s. Not trying to pick nits... just one of those movies that's burnt in to my brain.

Think you're right... don't know where I got that from... maybe one of his first main cast role. He defo wasn't a lead in Thief - awesome film btw.

 

[mjmjr25]

Grizzly Man - watched it when it was new, I think around 2006. Felt odd after watching it. Watched again this past weekend w/my teen kids (after watching Season 8 of Alone). Same feeling. Herzog is so good that it's never dull, the interviews he chooses to use and how he chops them is really excellent, but end of the day, you just end up feeling a bit odd / unfulfilled after watching. I guess i'd still recommend if you haven't seen it.

 

[jro]

I finally watched The Northman, and I was underwhelmed. Skarsgard was good and Taylor-Joy was fine, but it didn't grab me like Eggers' stuff usually does. Action wasn't as good as hyped up either.

 

[terry.330]

I finally watched The Northman, and I was underwhelmed. Skarsgard was good and Taylor-Joy was fine, but it didn't grab me like Eggers' stuff usually does. Action wasn't as good as hyped up either.

Not sure why they tried so hard to market it as an action heavy movie. I guess trying to appeal to the Vikings crowd.

 

[terry.330]

Moonfall- Oh yes, the Roland Emerich disaster porn shit-stain. I have always hated his movies, even Independence Day. I can at least understand why some people like that one but that kind of ham fisted stupidity just never worked for me. It's not funny or cute, it's just an awful movie. I saw a YT review that claimed Moonfall had all that dumb bullshit that ID4 had just cranked up to 11 and it reached critical bad-good status.

It did not.

It was literally too painful to actually watch after about 15 minutes so I just had it on in the background. That wasn't any better. The shitty dialogue, music cues and explosions/destruction noises were absolutely predictable down to the second just by sound alone. The dialogue was heartburn inducing. Honestly the movie is a monumental achievement in stupidity and cringe.

It's true it had all of the stuff that people love from ID4 cranked up to 11 and then about an entire other movies worth of bullshit thrown in, but that does not make it funny. It makes it mind-bendingly terrible.

I didn't think it was possible for him to make something worse than Godzilla, it took him 20+ years but he succeeded.

 

[wyo]

Marlowe - New film noir starring Liam Neeson. It got terrible reviews but I enjoyed it a lot. Good script, leisurely pacing and well shot with an interesting plot.

She Came from the Woods - This one got decent reviews but I thought it was fucking terrible. Slasher/horror set in the 80s but clearly made by millennials. Avoid at all costs.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Marlowe - New film noir starring Liam Neeson. It got terrible reviews but I enjoyed it a lot. Good script, leisurely pacing and well shot with an interesting plot.

It looked awful in the trailer. It looked like Neeson playing a spoof of Philip Marlowe on Saturday Night Live. And then it's not even an adaptation of an actual Marlowe story. Just some random schmo writing something new about a time and place he knows nothing about and then plugging in a Marlowe name slap for the cheap boost.

 

[Tarma]

Moonfall- Oh yes, the Roland Emerich disaster porn shit-stain. I have always hated his movies, even Independence Day.

No love for Universal Soldier or The Day After Tomorrow? Personally they're the only two movies of his I can still watch, and be entertained.