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

[Average Joe]

Godzilla: Final Wars

Pretty much the polar opposite of Minus One/Shin and hot damn do I love every second of this goofy-ass Royal Rumble.

We got superhumans, an absolutely stupid-ass plot, every kaiju imaginable, Don Frye for some fucking reason, a couple of cool new designs in the forms of Modified Gigan and Monster X, and Godzilla looking sexy as hell and being stupidly overpowered.

This is probably my favorite Godzilla and kaiju film overall in terms of pure fun. Once Godzilla starts taking on all the mind-controlled kaiju I just get so damn happy and love seeing it all go down no matter how many times I watch it.

I do mark it down a bit for having Hedorah put up such little fight since I'm a biased Hedorah fan and the big gloopy guy needs more time on screen.

 

[terry.330]

Six String Samurai- In the 50's a nuclear war with Russia turns the US into a wasteland where only Lost Vegas remains with Elvis as it's king. Decades later when Elvis dies an assortment of wandering rockers/swordsmen including the lead character Buddy head to Vegas to claim his throne. A mish-mash of Mad Max, chanbara cinema, rockabilly, hot rod culture, cold war paranoia and about a dozen other things combine to make something completely unique.

This is so close to being amazing, it looks great, the lead is solid, there's plenty of action, the soundtrack is amazing, the locations are perfect and it's just so bizarre and charming that it's hard not to like it. However it just never quite pulls it off the way you want it to. It's too cheap and goofy for it's own good plus there are just a ton of puzzling choices made from a traditional movie making sense like the editing, dubbing and tone that nothing ever feels quite right. There's also a complete lack of gore considering it's about a swordsman. I'm sure that was a budgetary issue but a little would have gone a long way.

Still it's so undeniably unique and quirky with enough going for it that it elevates it quite a bit. It's like Yojimbo meets Mad Max meets Cry Baby meets Looney Toons... if that sounds interesting then check it out.

 

[dspoonrt]

I've loved Six String Samurai and the Red Elvises since my first viewing on IFC around 2000. I had the DVD for a long time, but the new Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray is really well done, a must-have for fans.

Your critiques are valid, but I can look past them. The filmmakers actually borrow some of the tone, atmosphere, and set pieces from Cherry 2000, another decent but goofy post-apocalyptic adventure flick.

 

[terry.330]

I've loved Six String Samurai and the Red Elvises since my first viewing on IFC around 2000. I had the DVD for a long time, but the new Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray is really well done, a must-have for fans.

Your critiques are valid, but I can look past them. The filmmakers actually borrow some of the tone, atmosphere, and set pieces from Cherry 2000, another decent but goofy post-apocalyptic adventure flick.

Yeah I first saw it around that same time on cable but hadn't seen it in years until I picked up the VS 4k set on Black Friday and it's awesome. It's definitely a fun enough movie that it's easy to look past it's problems especially once you've seen it and get familiar with it's vibe, it makes it more enjoyable on subsequent views.

Cherry 2000 makes sense there was also some Highway to Hell and Buckaroo Banzai in there for sure.

It also kind of brought me back to the late 90s rockabilly, greaser and swing revival stuff that was going on when I was in HS. I wasn't really a part of that but I had friends that were.

 

[terry.330]

The Dungeonmaster (aka Ragewar)- Another Empire schlockfest. A computer programmer and his awful girlfriend are sucked into his super computer by Satan who holds the gf hostage and forces the guy to do a bunch of weird challenges... for reasons(?) It doesn't really matter, it's all terrible and none of it makes any fucking sense. Basically this is an anthology except they kind of try to blend all the parts into a coherent story and fail. Each part is written and directed by different people, mostly practical effects guys. It seems like this was basically just an excuse to reuse a bunch of leftover stuff from other Empire movies. It's got everything from puppets to stop motion to animation, even some Mad Max style car chases. None of it is well done.

There's also a bunch of 80s computer nonsense. Back when they wanted to put computers in everything but they didn't know what computers actually did so they can do literally anything. I watched the original Ragewar cut which has a prologue, the challenges in the correct order and more nudity. I can't recommend this to anyone but the most die hard 80s fantasy/sci-fi schlock enthusiasts.

 

[terry.330]

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars- Another Samo Hung joint with the whole gang in tow, plus Andy Lau and Michelle Yeoh. Basically a bunch of ridiculously horny guys that live together inadvertently find themselves in the middle of a plot to assassinate a witness when she is forced to stay with them as a sort of protection program. Of course the witness is hot young chick and various shenanigans ensue. Really heavy on comedy but the action that's there is great. Apparently Jackie seriously hurt himself during filming and there is a noticeable stunt double in some scenes. Which also leaves Samo to pull double duty with the end fights.

It's a weird one. The comedy can be pretty hard to get through at times, I cannot overstate just how horny these guys are and the lengths they go to. However Rosamund Kwan is great as the damsel in distress and plays off the guys and their lecherous advances well. Oh yeah and Samo fights an entire gang of ladyboys while in Thailand. If you haven't seen it and are a fan of the Jackie/Samo stuff from the era it's worth a watch, just remember it's a Lucky Stars movie first and foremost.

 

[pixeljunkie]

There's Something in the Barn - Norwegian, Christmas "horror" about a US family moving to Norway and dealing with a Barn Elf. Trailer looked promising, and if I had rented this as a straight-to-video flick back in '95, I would've thought it was pretty good. But by today's standards....no. I would've done just about everything in this movie differently. Felt like it was PG-13 except for some multiple F-bombs. Typical modern take on family dynamic with the pussy father that can't do anything right. Third act goes off the rails in a bad way. I want my $6 back.

 

[Syn]

Evil Dead Rise

I went into this with low expectations but was pleasantly surprised, liking it more than the ED remake. Nothing is going to beat the original trilogy and making it horror rather than horror-comedy is a move I like. It's nothing revolutionary, okay story, okay cast, executed decently. Overall I enjoyed it and will watch another ED movie if made.

An earthquake exposes an old bank safe in an about to be condemned apartment building. A wannabe dj teenager explores the newly opened up area, discovering the Necronomicon in a box with vinyl records and other documents. He grabs everything and takes it to his room to look at, unleasing hell.

Prime has it at 6.5/10 which is accurate.

 

[LoneSage]

@terry.330 Review request for The Devil's Advocate starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves

 

[terry.330]

@terry.330 Review request for The Devil's Advocate starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves

Denied.

The Lawnmower Man- Has this much maligned film somehow improved with age? Kind of, maybe. It's still a bad movie but there's a bizarre quality to it that's hard to pin down. The CGI and VR stuff was already goofy when it was made but it's kind of come back around to being so goofy that there's a naive nostalgia to it. Jeff Fahey and Pierce Brosnan are both capable actors and do their best despite the ridiculous material. The directors cut adds almost 40 additional minutes and it actually improves the movie a decent amount with a lot of character development, fills some gaps in the plot and evens out the pacing but also ends up making the movie overly long which kind negates the improved pacing.

I don't know it's a weird one. Call it a guilty pleasure, nostalgia bomb, cult classic whatever, I'm glad it exists even if it's a half baked schlock-fest with embarrassing special effects.

Brainscan- Figured I'd follow up TLM with another piece of 90's VR based horror. Another one where the VR and tech components don't really make any sense and are pretty much laughable today but of course that's part of the charm. I used to think the kid's room was to fucking awesome when I was 12 but it's totally ridiculous in a way that could only have come from the mid 90s. Edward Furlong can't act for shit and some of his scenes are downright embarrassing. The Trickster on the other hand is great and Frank Langella does his best but seems pretty aware that he probably shouldn't have signed on. Like TLM this is not a good movie but it's such a time capsule and there's a very specific vibe to it that they managed to capture.

 

[Average Joe]

Poor Things

My film of the year.

 

[neo_mao]

I finally got around to watching Mutant Mayhem and I loved it.

My kids (4, 8 and 12) saw it in the theaters and they all been ranting and raving about it but I didn’t pay much attention. It’s been decades since I watched anything TMNT related but I’d venture a guess this movie was better than anything we ever had as kids.

I rarely ever have the desire to watch any movie twice, just not a movie guy, but I want to watch this again soon.

 

[Average Joe]

I finally got around to watching Mutant Mayhem and I loved it.

My kids (4, 8 and 12) saw it in the theaters and they all been ranting and raving about it but I didn’t pay much attention. It’s been decades since I watched anything TMNT related but I’d venture a guess this movie was better than anything we ever had as kids.

I rarely ever have the desire to watch any movie twice, just not a movie guy, but I want to watch this again soon.

I've seen it like six times--it is so fun.

 

[famicommander]

The kid who plays Leo is speedrunning his cancellation:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1725689665330761951

 

[Average Joe]

That might be the biggest case of unjustified ego I've ever seen displayed.

 

[100proof]

I mean he's a 20-year-old kid with a bunch of money. If he wasn't a complete douchecanoe, I'd be more surprised.

 

[lithy]

Asteroid City showed up on Prime. This one is overstuffed on cast, underfilled on plot. There are simply too many characters with far too little going on. Add on that the main 'play' never feels like it is taking place on a stage, such that when it pulls out to the 'within a play' part it feels very odd.

I will have to look through the thread to see what I have said about Anderson before. I generally think that I like his movies, but this one is absolutely skippable. Sad, because I found the setting to be unique from his more common 'vague European country' setting.

 

[terry.330]

Sicario- Very good but still overrated. Denis Villanue's style just has a kind of detached methodical blandness to it that sometimes turns me off but I do think it actually works well here and it accentuates the bleak US/Mexico border setting. There's still a very distinct weird sterile feeling to everything though. Performances are all solid, especially from Del Toro. Overall excellent but it never really knocked my socks off.

It's Quieter in the Twilight- Feature length documentary about the Voyager space program and the people behind it. It's coming up on 50 years since the probes were launched and they are something like 17 billion miles out. Most of the people that worked on the probes initially are either dead or retired and the handful of people still maintaining them and analyzing the data being sent back are getting up there in years. Before too long the probes will run out of energy or break and just keep drifting. This focuses on the team as much as the actual mission and does a good job of balancing the two. Worth a watch if you're interested in that stuff.

 

[Ralfakick]

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars- Another Samo Hung joint with the whole gang in tow, plus Andy Lau and Michelle Yeoh. Basically a bunch of ridiculously horny guys that live together inadvertently find themselves in the middle of a plot to assassinate a witness when she is forced to stay with them as a sort of protection program. Of course the witness is hot young chick and various shenanigans ensue. Really heavy on comedy but the action that's there is great. Apparently Jackie seriously hurt himself during filming and there is a noticeable stunt double in some scenes. Which also leaves Samo to pull double duty with the end fights.

It's a weird one. The comedy can be pretty hard to get through at times, I cannot overstate just how horny these guys are and the lengths they go to. However Rosamund Kwan is great as the damsel in distress and plays off the guys and their lecherous advances well. Oh yeah and Samo fights an entire gang of ladyboys while in Thailand. If you haven't seen it and are a fan of the Jackie/Samo stuff from the era it's worth a watch, just remember it's a Lucky Stars movie first and foremost.

Yeah this one didn’t gel w me at all.

 

[Ralfakick]

Asteroid City showed up on Prime. This one is overstuffed on cast, underfilled on plot. There are simply too many characters with far too little going on. Add on that the main 'play' never feels like it is taking place on a stage, such that when it pulls out to the 'within a play' part it feels very odd.

I will have to look through the thread to see what I have said about Anderson before. I generally think that I like his movies, but this one is absolutely skippable. Sad, because I found the setting to be unique from his more common 'vague European country' setting.

Yeah I think this was his worst movie and I agree on the setting it had potential.

Stories within a story can be tough because they lose your central focus, I think that whole theater part didn’t need to be in the movie.

 

[LoneSage]

Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco - I liked this as a kid. I wanted to watch the first one instead but it didn't load. So I settled for this. What else is there to say? All those animals are dead by now is all I could think the whole damn time watching it. The guy from Airplane! is the father in this. Woof

 

[SouthtownKid]

Yeah I think this was his worst movie and I agree on the setting it had potential.

I agree it's his weakest, maybe excepting Bottle Rocket. But his weakest still isn't horrible.

 

[terry.330]

The Devil's Wedding Night- Sleazy, cheapo gothic horror from the early 70s. A guy goes looking for a magical ring in Transylvania and ends up at castle Dracula where he is seduced by the creepy but hot Countess. His equally dopey brother goes looking for him, there's something about a magical amulet, the Countess isn't just a Dracula she's also Lady Bathory and summons all of the local virgin girls so she can bathe in their blood. There's some soft core lesbian action and some black mass stuff.

To quote Rich Evans "It's Italian, it don't make no sense."

Plenty of boobs, some occasional good shots and lighting and the woman who plays the Countess is actually pretty good.

 

[Ralfakick]

Corner Office - Free on the Roku Channel. If you’re a fan of Charles Kaufman movies this may be for you. It is the surreal story about an office drone (Jon Hamm) who thinks he has a corner office where he is the boss and can rule over his fellow workers, but then goes back to working at his normal desk. I honestly think it could have gone more into the surreal direction particularly the ending than it even did, but don’t think this is a typical story.

 

[Average Joe]

I tried watching the new Flash movie and made it a whole 15 minutes before I decided that was all I needed to know about it.