Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

[O.Supreme]

Yeah that one is next on my list. I've seen them all before, its just been a while, going through Sony's "icons" collection gearing up for Rifftrax Mothra in August.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

House (1977)

The fantastic behind the scenes retrospective really sheds some light on this horror/comedy/camp/experimental art film classic. I mean, you don't need to know anything beyond the strangeness occurring on screen to enjoy the film, but I find it very enriching to be aware of the background of the film being largely composed of the director's 10-year-old daughter's fears and the director's experience of his childhood friends being killed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

[Psycho Soldier]

Big Trouble in Little China - This movie is perfect. Okay, not perfect perfect, but I haven't had this much fun watching a film in a long time. It ticks a lot of boxes in terms of my interests: martial arts action, rubber monsters, magic, the '80s action aesthetic, the overall sense of humour. I can also see how it influenced games like Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct, which was another bonus for me. I'm only sorry I waited so long to watch it.

[Dr Kain]

[O.Supreme]

Terminator Genieisysissuesusus..... ok if Amazon Prime is going to throw this on their site, I guess I have to check it out right? ---Well let me just say that if I were to take this movie at face value, and if I had never seen another Terminator film...it really isn't that bad. The effects are good. The acting (aside from Arnold) is decent, and it moves along at a decent pace. The script however, and the fact that I had seen all the previous movies is just where it falls apart for me.

Time Travel with so many reboots, sequels, prequels, and in-between-quels, and alternate time lines just gets messy. I mean Terminator isn't even like one of the horror franchises of the 80's you can just "reboot", its just too far gone unfortunately. And as one of the few that actually liked Salvation (bettern than T3), it makes me want to go back and watch Salvation, because I cant even remember the ending. Was Genisys even necessary? (well technically none of the sequels were necessary, and none of them would have happened had the basic idea, though still fictional, of time travel been followed). But we all like T2 so much, we can forgive that right? . Anyway... mid-credit sequence...no we don't need you. Terminator needs to just be laid to rest, unless they 1. do the story set in a completely different time, 2. a different end of world scenario (not skynet), and 3. NOT John Connor.

Two simple things that would have improved this film: 1. Have Robert Patrick be the T-1000. They could have age-corrected him like they did Arnold. Though he was not in the film for long, it would have given more credibility than Storm Shadow from GI Joe. 2. More JK Simmons. I liked his character, wish we could have seen more of him.

Now finding Salvation to rent for a decent price is going to be a pain.....Oh Blockbuster...how I miss you.

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

Yeah, it seems to be one of Bogart's lesser known movies, which is really weird, but it could be because he financed it himself, so it is more of an indie film as it were.

Gilda - Oh my god, this is the movie that is shown in The Shawshanke Redemption, HOLY ****!!!! That is pretty awesome, except now I know what scene everyone in the theater of that movie is getting all hyped up about, and I don't get it. What is so spectacular about a woman lifting her head up? Anyway, this movie was excellent. There were so many hidden undertones in it that really sets it apart from its brethren, such as the fact that a relationship is built between two guys before the woman is even introduced, and her introduction seems to ruin that relationship. Okay, maybe I'm looking a little too deep into it because Gilda and Johnny were lovers in the past, but he seemed quite happy until she showed up. And I mean way too unhappy like a couple doing quite fine until someone's ex just appears and the magic that couple had was ruined. Well whatever, the rest of the movie was well told with a lot of really excellent one liners and quips at one another that felt natural while being hilarious at the same time. The cinematography is absoutely fantastic, especially when there is one scene where Ballin is so blacked out that you would think it was just his shadow in the foreground of the camera. Very well done. Overall, I give this movie a 9/10.

[lhb412]

^ There's a whole helluva lot of stuff going on in Gilda. The supposedly happy ending made me feel ill (but in a good way!).

[Dr Kain]

[Hybrid Gojira]

I plowed through all of the Showa Gamera films (plus Gamera the Brave) in the last two weeks. I found myself enjoying all of them except for Zigra, Jiger, and Super Monster. Super Monster actually has some interesting characters, but the fact that it's 90% stock footage (including random anime scenes) kills it. Zigra is still the worst of the bunch. Jiger is an eyesore. The rest have some fun moments, enough to revisit later on. I enjoy the original, despite being a weaker entry, just for the city destruction. Unfortunately it falls off the rails about halfway through.

Gamera the Brave is awesome.

Anyway, I'd probably rank these:

Gyaos
Barugon
Viras
Guiron
Daikaiju Gamera
Jiger
Super Monster
Zigra

I'll probably catch some flak for my high rating of Viras, but despite having stock footage I really just enjoyed the characters a ton.

[Dr Kain]

I never wanted to suffer through Super Monster ever again.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Dr Kain]

[Hybrid Gojira]

Maybe I'm just getting soft since becoming a Father, but seeing these films since having my son kind of opened my eyes to enjoying them more than I probably would have 2 or 3 years ago. The kids aren't overly obnoxious (I thought they would be) and I really liked some of the story telling. Viras was just fun, despite having something like 16 minutes of stock footage. Now Jiger? Yuck. Zigra? Horrendous. Super Monster is very bad (even though I like some of it). The original is probably the next weakest link. The others really aren't bad kaiju films and I found enough to revisit them. Are they on par with Godzilla? Well, I enjoyed some of these more than Megalon or Space Godzilla..and even Megaguirus.

[lhb412]

The In-Laws 1979

"No, no. They all look like me. I'm the classic agency type; muscular, low to the ground, compact. Are you interested in joining? I'll tell you, the benefits are fantastic. The trick is not to get killed; that's really the key to the benefit program."

No one sells nonsense like Peter Falk.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Cut- This was my first time seeing the movie it's not as bad as what it's made out to be but it does have a slow pace up until the final hour or so. Ben Affleck did an amazing job as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The worst part of the movie is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex he acts morel ike The Riddler more so than Lex Luthor. I think they did a poor job on Doomsday. That being said I did find the movie some what enjoyable.

[Dr Kain]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Everytime he was on the screen I cringed.

[O.Supreme]

The Last Starfighter- I may have posted about this the last time I watched it, but man this film is still fun. Also after watching the documentary on Netflix "Ghostheads" about Ghostbusters fandom, I never realized how many really good movies all came out in 1984/85. Of course they may not have been considered great at the time, but 30+ years later they sure are. Also *most* of the great toy/cartoon brands of the 80's came out in 84/85, many of which are enjoying success still to this day.

[jellydonut25]

Sleepaway Camp - I'd been putting this off for a long time because reviews always were essentially "It's not so good. Except for the ending" and while I will say, objectively, it's not so good, I think there's a lot to enjoy for fans of stuff like Friday the 13th, and that proto-slasher-giallo style of movie with elaborate stalk and kill sequences and good gory goofy makeup. And then THAT ENDING! GEEZE!!!

Demolition - I dunno. It's sort of "self-destruction porn" or whatever where the whole thing is about a "standard typical white-collar suit" guy lashing out and wrecking his house and all his relationships so he can "find his true self". Gyllenhaal is really good though.

Hardcore Henry - This got kinda dismissed when it was released and I don't honestly know why. I think if you're a fan of FPS games, there's a LOT to enjoy here, and I thought this was really fun.

The Lobster - It's good, I guess, but hard to really understand the POINT. I wanted someone, somewhere in this movie to realize that the two extremes of "Always with a companion" and "always alone" are both wrong. Nobody does, so it's just this thing that's good, but I didn't really care.

Lazer Team - I'm a fan of Rooster Teeth, but this was awful. Not funny, not particularly interesting. I want those 90 minutes of my life back.

Phantom of the Paradise - What did I just watch? So frenetic, energetic and insane, it's impossible not to be drawn in and just stolen away into the insanity.

Green Room - Amazing. Stewart is spectacular as the villain, and seeing Yelchin in something so good made me sad all over again.

[Dr Kain]

Hardcore Henry was a good one time watch movie. It is just like a First Person Shooter, even down to its shallow, lackluster plot, and non-existent character development. The movie is all style and no substance. That it fun, but that also made it a boring, predictable mess.

[jellydonut25]

[Hybrid Gojira]

Varan - This is an average monster on the loose tale, but they totally use Godzilla's roar far too often and it's a bit distracting for me. The characters are pretty bland, but the miniatures are good when you get to see them. The movie kinda drags in bits, but overall not a bad watch.