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

[terry.330]

Deep Freeze- A really shitty early 00’s direct to video ripoff of The Thing. This was directed by John Carl Buechler who is mostly known for his SFX work and directing such classics as Ghoulies Go to College, Cellar Dweller and Troll.

I actually like JCB, some of his effects work is awesome and he directed Friday the 13th Part VII which is actually pretty fun despite being heavily cut down by MPAA. That said this sucked big time but in that random cable station at 3:00 AM stoned kind of way. If you like bad made for TV horror it’s kind of fun.


Species- A bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s one of those mid 90’s big budget B movies that almost works. The premise is great and Natasha Henstridge looks amazing but everything else is half baked. Almost everyone is miscast, the script is terrible and the CG is atrocious. They brought on HR Giger and then hardly used any of his ideas or designs. Same thing with the effects, the studio decided to go with CG even though there was no reason to and a bunch of practical effects stuff was already done. It’s a fucking mess.

Still I like the first 2/3 or so despite all the problems. It‘s that last act though that really shits the bed and the final fight scene is embarrassing. Whatever, it’s 90’s as hell and there’s titties.

 

[Tarma]

AWOL - aka Lionheart - aka Leon - why the fuck this film has so many alternate titles is beyond me - but anyways, JVCD kicks ass, literally, as a deserting Legionnaire turned street fighter.

Some really awesome fight choreography in this, and it also features a young Ashley Johnson - better known as the voice of Ellie in The Last of Us.

The plot is complete bunkum, and no one's going to win any acting awards, but the cast is solid and its well directed. Still one of my favorite JVCD flicks.

 

[terry.330]

The Sword and the Sorcerer- Beating Conan to theaters by a month probably didn’t do this any favors. It’s a hokey slapdash mess but it does have some charm. Directed by Albert Pyun he does what he does best which is make the most out of what little he’s given. There’s some awesome effects work, moody lighting, cool sets/locations, babes and a good amount of violence.

There’s also a ton of straight up goofy bullshit. The 3 bladed sword is fucking stupid and it looks ridiculous. The tone is all over the place. One minute they’re cracking lame jokes the next someone is getting tortured. It’s super awkward. The acting is also atrocious.

Still there’s a decent amount of fun to be had and I’d probably put it on the same level as Beastmaster. I think it would have been a lot better if they had left out all the lame comedy bits and just played it as a dark fantasy adventure.

 

[Taiso]

I always wondered how the dude reloaded his sword. Does he have a quiver of replacement blades somewhere?

 

[terry.330]

Halloween H20- Ugh… like sure it’s better than Curse and Resurrection but that’s like saying poop is better than shit. I’m surprised at how many people defend this entry just because Jamie Lee Curtis returned. The franchise is such a fucking mess it makes F13 and NOES look well thought out and logical by comparison. Kind of amazing that such a long running and beloved franchise only has 1 actual good movie out of 13 entries over 35 years. Even more depressing because even judged as B movies most of the rest are still terrible.

 

[Tarma]

Above The Law - Steven Seagal's first screen outing is a solid start to probably what was the best era of his "career". Directed by Andrew "The Fugitive" Davis, The plot involves Seagal trying to bring down a CIA drug ring being run by some ex-Nam colleagues.
Set in Chicago, Davis recycles most of the cast from his earlier flick "Code of Silence", right down to the main bad guy being Henry Silva. The ending could have been a bit better, but it's an above average action flick for the era, with a team that would later bring us Under Siege.

 

[terry.330]

Halloween Resurrection- Since I’m a glutton for punishment I went ahead and watched this as well. This is the one where Busta Rhymes kung fu fights Michael Meyers. Yup, it was definitely 2002.

Halloween- The OG. Simple, effective and memorable. There’s a reason this essentially spawned and entire genre.

 

[jro]

AWOL - aka Lionheart - aka Leon - why the fuck this film has so many alternate titles is beyond me - but anyways, JVCD kicks ass, literally, as a deserting Legionnaire turned street fighter.

Some really awesome fight choreography in this, and it also features a young Ashley Johnson - better known as the voice of Ellie in The Last of Us.

The plot is complete bunkum, and no one's going to win any acting awards, but the cast is solid and its well directed. Still one of my favorite JVCD flicks.

Oh man, I was about 11 when this came out, I desperately wanted to see it and then one of my best friends just happened to have the local Blockbuster clerk on his finger and we went and rented it and watched it at his divorced mom's apartment and it was awesome. I have not and will never be capable of giving it a proper critical review because it has the swimming pool fight.

Anyway.

Barbarian - rewatch. Liked it a lot more on second viewing, paying closer attraction to the first half makes the second (weaker) part a little better.

Spree - Keery is fun as a total psychotic. Genuinely kinda nasty screenplay right up to the end. Curious to see what he'll do now that Stranger Things is finally over.

Weapons - nice. Real nice. Very good cast, very good script, very good execution. Julia Garner is really good in roles like this one. Tied for my favorite movie of the year.

Together - very good. Dave Franco and Allison Brie are convincing as you might expect. Probably never would have had Dave as the far more acceptable Franco. Kinda weird sequences that didn't work great but still fun overall if you allow for some awkward off-kilter shit. Which kind of works given the vibe.

Toxic Avenger - met my expectations and then some. Macon Blair has learned from, and I think surpassed, Jeremy Saultnier in terms of just good movies. Dinklage was awesome. I really hope that the success of this and Terriffier 3 encourages more horror auteurs to just go for it. And yeah, that was tied for 1.

 

[100proof]

Halloween H20- Ugh… like sure it’s better than Curse and Resurrection but that’s like saying poop is better than shit. I’m surprised at how many people defend this entry just because Jamie Lee Curtis returned. The franchise is such a fucking mess it makes F13 and NOES look well thought out and logical by comparison. Kind of amazing that such a long running and beloved franchise only has 1 actual good movie out of 13 entries over 35 years. Even more depressing because even judged as B movies most of the rest are still terrible.

Yeah I watched this again a few years back and it aged so poorly. Scream was a great movie but it took a giant shit in the swimming pool of horror cinema that took 5-7 years to fish out.

 

[terry.330]

Halloween II- Completely unnecessary but adequate. The whole thing with Lori being Michael’s sister is extremely lame but as far as cash grab sequels go it’s not too bad. I like the hospital setting, Donald Pleasance gets more screen time and some pretty good lines and the classic score gets a slight improvement. Overall It’s fine.

 

[Tarma]

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - great entry into the Star Trek series, one that I still remember watching as a kid when it was on TV, and the only Trek movie I have on physical media.
Visual effects still hold up really well, although a couple of the matte paintings stick out on HD; and Khan is an awesome foil to Kirk. One sobering factoid from watching this - most of the cast are now dead, even the younger actors. I think Kirk, Checkov, and Sulu are the only ones still hanging in there.

 

[lithy]

Tron: Ares

Great music, almost everything else disappointing. Even the visuals are generally lacking because of the real world setting. Only really one action sequence in the grid? Terrible casting on the Encom CEO. Unearned character moments, unearned memberberries.

Big ol' meh for me.

 

[terry.330]

Sorceress- Peak Skinemax 90’s sleaze starring Julie Strain, Toni Naples, Kristi Ducati, Rocky DeMarco and Linda Blair. A witch is accidentally killed by her cheating boyfriend and possesses Linda Blair who then possesses a slew of buxom babes to exact revenge on him and the women he sleeps with. Or something along those lines.

Apparently this was initially supposed to be an HP Lovecraft adaptation of some sort but once Jim Wynorski and Fred Olan Ray got involved it turned into soft core porn. I’m pretty sure Linda Blair had no idea what type of movie she was in. She never interacts with any of the other actresses and it’s apparent that all of her scenes were filmed separately lol.

I will say that even though I’m not a big fake boob fan there is something nostalgic about the 90’s style of huge fake tits, big hair and fashion. There’s also a sort of fun innocence to it despite the sleaziness.

Also worth noting is the DVD menu which is just a loop of Julie Strain fully nude oiling herself up and sensually gyrating. It lets you know exactly what you’re in for.

 

[famicommander]

Tron: Ares

Great music, almost everything else disappointing. Even the visuals are generally lacking because of the real world setting. Only really one action sequence in the grid? Terrible casting on the Encom CEO. Unearned character moments, unearned memberberries.

Big ol' meh for me.

It bombed, too. Opening weeking gonna come in below Morbius, which also flopped, and Tron 3 has twice the budget.

Leto's career should have been over ten times by now.

 

[terry.330]

Don’t Panic- 80’s Mexican supernatural horror. Very 80’s and very weird. It starts out like an episode of Saved by the Bell but goes full Nightmare on Elm Street by the end. It’s about an American teenager that moves to Mexico and on the night of his 17th birthday him and some friends decide to play with an Ouija board. This causes one of his friends to become possessed and start murdering the others. The twist is when the murders are happening the main character has visions through the killer’s eyes but they cause him to lose his actual sight. He then has to try and use the visions to save his girlfriend.

The main character spends a majority of the movie running around in children’s dinosaur pajamas. For real. He’s 17, seems to be popular, parties and gets even laid yet no one in the entire movie ever even mentions the pajamas. He also rides a bmx bike everywhere and his girlfriend has a very prominent unibrow. It’s all very strange and often hilarious.

The premise is actually pretty cool but between the movie’s odd tone, cultural differences and bad acting it’s far more entertaining as a surreal comedy than horror. Though there are a couple legitimately good horror moments.

I’ve seen another movie by this director called Grave Robbers and that one was basically a Mexican version of Friday the 13th. It was much more traditional horror and done fairly well. Don’t Panic might be a little more entertaining just because it’s so weird but both are worth watching if you’ve an obscure horror fan.

 

[terry.330]

I Like Me- The John Candy documentary directed by Collin Hanks. Pretty good, lots of great interviews and footage. They really did a great job at capturing what made Candy such a likable guy and how that transferred over into his acting. I had no idea that he was an owner in a CFL team and how demanding that was. Not to mention his anxiety issues from basically taking on too much responsibility and emotional stuff stemming from his father’s death. If you’re in our age range I’m sure you grew up enjoying a good number of his movies, even some of the not so great ones. Definitely worth watching.

 

[fake]

Possession

I saw this again, this time at the Roxy in SF. It was a very different experience because the audience was laughing at a lot of the outlandish performances. It was still a wild ride and I definitely recommend it, especially if you like paranormal horror.

 

[pixeljunkie]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Watched this on impulse last night since it's leaving Netflix soon. I had VERY low expectations but holy shit...felt like a made for TV version of a Tim Burton flick. So....unbelievably awful...like, I've caught myself shaking my head multiple times this morning as it crept into my brain.

 

[Tarma]

The French Connection - Friedkin's classic thriller with Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider as two NYPD cops trying to crack a drug smuggling ring.

While the environment the film was shot in maybe showing its age, the story and the way its told are timeless.

 

[Lagduf]

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - great entry into the Star Trek series, one that I still remember watching as a kid when it was on TV, and the only Trek movie I have on physical media.
Visual effects still hold up really well, although a couple of the matte paintings stick out on HD; and Khan is an awesome foil to Kirk. One sobering factoid from watching this - most of the cast are now dead, even the younger actors. I think Kirk, Checkov, and Sulu are the only ones still hanging in there.

Probably the only Trek film that’s an actually good movie.

 

[Taiso]

EXCALIBUR

Still fucking holds up. Seeing it with new eyes again after all these years, I see it for a far more cohesive story than I ever gave it credit for. It always felt to me like a remix of 'Arthur's greatest hits' but this last time, I watched it and saw the clear through lines of the themes. Almost felt like watching it for the first time.

5000 out of 5 stars. An essential film for any cinephile.

KPop Demon Hunters

Yes, I know. Roomie wanted to watch it AND everybody in the club I advise for has been talking about it, singing the songs and I felt like I was out of the loop so I figured I'd get coached up.

For what the film is, it's actually pretty clever. I'm not a fan of the Sony animated films 'Spider-verse' look. It can be pretty janky at times, IMO. And I don't really care about Kpop as a 'genre' of music, even if I find some of the hooks catchy.

It's essentially a Disney family film in the old school, pre gay milieu, wearing a Kpop skin. It's fine. Girls will love it for sure. I don't ever see myself watching it again, but I'd probably watch a sequel if it was in the same vein.

For what it is: 4 out of 5
For me: 3 out of 5

 

[famicommander]

KPop Demon Hunters

Yes, I know. Roomie wanted to watch it AND everybody in the club I advise for has been talking about it, singing the songs and I felt like I was out of the loop so I figured I'd get coached up.

For what the film is, it's actually pretty clever. I'm not a fan of the Sony animated films 'Spider-verse' look. It can be pretty janky at times, IMO. And I don't really care about Kpop as a 'genre' of music, even if I find some of the hooks catchy.

It's essentially a Disney family film in the old school, pre gay milieu, wearing a Kpop skin. It's fine. Girls will love it for sure. I don't ever see myself watching it again, but I'd probably watch a sequel if it was in the same vein.

For what it is: 4 out of 5
For me: 3 out of 5

Taiso watching Kpop Demon Hunters:
"Good thing this isn't gay like Disney"

Holy fuckin' shit lol.

 

[100proof]

We all know Taiso's a closet case at this point.

 

[Taiso]

We all hope Taiso's a closet case at this point.

FTFY

 

[HornheaDD]

Probably the only Trek film that’s an actually good movie.

Woah woah, hold up. Hang on, pump-the-brakes my good man.

Is W.O.K good?
Absolutely. This is simple fact.

Is W.O.K. showing its age?
Maybe. But still looks good even now.

Is W.O.K the best ST movie?
Yes. absolutely. By a (very very) large margin.

Is Is W.O.K the only good trek movie?
Nah man nah. I think second best would be Undiscovered Country. Well written story, and honestly a couple of well earned chuckles, if nothing else the quick "Kirk, Enterprise!" Shatner says after saving Kurtwood Smith's President. And if you ask me VI was a decent sign off for the OG Enterprise crew.

While I actually do like The Motion Picture even with its faults (of which there are many), I can totally agree that it can be placed in the "bad Trek movies" category.

But we also got stuff like Voyage Home with Spock learning to curse, etc. Search for Spock was... well, it was made. Lets say that. It was made.

Not sure if you watch any Rifftrax movies, but check out the Rifftrax of Wrath of Khan. Its almost blasphemy to riff Wrath of Khan, but the guys do a good job on that. We do not speak of Insurrection or Nemesis or Final "What does god need with a starship?" Frontier.