GBGoodies 2015 Movie Logbook

Hot Stuff (1979)

This was a re-watch of a very underrated comedy about a group of police detectives who take over a pawn shop to catch the crooks and raise their conviction rate. This movie has the feel of one of Burt Reynolds crazy comedies, including many of the actors who appear in his movies, but without Burt Reynolds in the movie.

The movie has some very funny scenes, some action, and a terrific cast. It stars Dom DeLuise, Suzanne Pleshette, Jerry Reed, Luis Avalos and Ossie Davis. It even has a great theme song that was written and sung by Jerry Reed.

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I really enjoyed that film. I should watch it again to remember Grace Lee Whitney who passed a few days ago, May 1st. As far as I can remember it's the only film I've seen Grace in other than the Star Trek movies.

It's a shame that Grace Lee Whitney didn't do many movies after she left Star Trek. I haven't seen her in much non-Star Trek stuff either, other than a few old TV guest appearances.

Never heard of Hot Stuff before, may have to give it a watch - any film with Jerry Reed in has got to be good fun.

It's on YouTube:

Glad you enjoyed Body Heat, a long time favorite of mine. It was the movie I had in mind to nominate when I briefly considered joining the Noir Hall of Fame.

I'm very surprised that you had never seen Gone With the Wind before. Then again, I haven't seen it yet myself; the runtime is daunting.

Gunbuster (1988) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

I'm generally not a fan of either anime or foreign language films, so this movie had two strikes against it before I even started the movie, but I did my best to watch the movie with an open mind.

Having said that, I really enjoyed this movie. It's broken down into six half-hour episodes. so that made it a little bit easier to watch. This movie has a lot of science fiction elements, plus it's exciting, suspenseful, and emotional. It revolves around the relationship between a young girl who is training for a mission, and her coach who believes in her more than she believes in herself.

It has some minor problems, like the girls acting too childish and wearing skimpy uniforms, and the final episode is in black and white, so it looks like they ran out of money before finishing the movie, but overall, this was a very enjoyable movie.

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Brazil (1985) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

I watched the Director's Cut version of Brazil (142 minutes). This is a very confusing movie with some very bizarre scenes. It seemed to be a strange story that was interrupted by some surreal dream sequences. The dream sequences made it hard to figure out exactly what was supposed to be happening in the story. There was also a romance that seemed to be completely out of place in the movie.

I didn't hate the movie, but I didn't understand it enough to like it either.

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Blade Runner (1982) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

I saw Blade Runner in the movie theater back in 1982, and I saw the Director's Cut version on DVD several years ago, so this time I watched the Final Cut version of the movie, (117 minutes).

This is a gritty science fiction movie that feels like a combination of a futuristic science fiction movie and a film noir movie. It has a great story about a replicant hunter who has to track down some escaped replicants. The visuals are fantastic, and it features top-notch performances by Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young.

Just out of curiosity, I watched several different endings on YouTube, and I prefer the movie with the narration, but with or without it, this is a great movie.

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Children of Men (2006) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

This was an interesting movie, but it felt more like a heavy drama than a science fiction film. It seems like it was supposed to be a story of hope, but it just felt more depressing to me than hopeful. It held my attention, and reeled me in emotionally, but it just never got me to the point that I cared about any of the characters, and whether or not they made it to the end of the movie.

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Glad you liked Blade Runner! That's one of my favorites.

Snowpiercer (2013) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

This movie felt more like a horror/slasher movie than a sci-fi movie, and to be honest, if it wasn't part of the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame, I probably would have turned it off during the fish/axe-fighting scene.

I'm generally not a fan of this type of dystopian-themed movie, so I wasn't too surprised that it wasn't my type of movie. I liked the concept of the lower-class people struggling for equality on a train, but the movie as a whole is just too depressing for my tastes.

Unfortunately this movie just felt like another depressing story that was supposed to be about hope, but it just felt like it was hopeless. I kind of liked the scene towards the end with Chris Evans and Ed Harris, but by then, it was too little, too late.

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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - I watched this movie during a commentary here on the forum. I've probably seen this movie over 100 times, so the commentary was a lot of fun.

For anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet, what are you waiting for? This is one of the most fun and exciting adventure movies ever made. It's a throwback to the old movie serials with one cliffhanger after another. It has a wonderful blend of action, adventure, romance, comedy, thrills, and more.

Harrison Ford is perfect as Indiana Jones, and the supporting cast is terrific. I highly recommend this amazing movie.

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Starship Troopers (1997) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

It shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me that a movie with bug-type aliens wouldn't be my type of movie, but if I could get past the bugs, it's actually an interesting movie. The first half of the movie was okay, but the second half just got violent and disgusting.

This movie reminded me of the old 1950s science fiction movies that featured giant bugs, so anyone who likes those types of movies will probably enjoy this movie. It's kind of corny, and the acting is pretty bad, but it also has the whole alien invasion theme going for it, so that's a plus.

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The Face of Another (1966) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

This was another movie that didn't really have a science fiction feel to it, but it felt like a weird drama, even though it did have a science fiction theme. I thought the whole idea of the man having someone else's face, (and being able to remove his face), was kind of creepy, and the story is kind of bizarre, but the movie as a whole was very interesting.

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The Thing (1982) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

This is another movie that felt more like a horror movie than a science fiction movie. It has an interesting concept, of an unknown alien taking over the people at the isolated base in the arctic, but it was just too gory and disgusting for my tastes. The story was kind of confusing, and it left me with more questions than answers, and I didn't like the ending.

I think if this basic story had been made as a straight science fiction movie, rather than a science fiction/horror movie, I probably would have enjoyed it.

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The Philadelphia Story (1940) - I decided to take a break from the Sci-Fi HoF for a while, so I chose this movie because I wanted to re-watch it before watching the movie High Society (1956), which is a musical remake of this movie.

This movie is a wonderful romantic comedy about a woman whose wedding plans are complicated by the arrival of her ex-husband and a reporter. It's kind of predictable, but it's a lot of fun. It stars Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart, so you couldn't ask for a better cast.

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High Society (1956) - This movie was recommended in Gideon58's "Favorite Musicals" thread.

This movie is a remake of the classic rom-com The Philadelphia Story (1940), and this is the way to remake a movie. It's basically the same story, but it was made as a musical so it's very entertaining.

The movie has a great cast, but I thought that Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra should have switched characters. Each actor probably would have been better in the other role. Grace Kelly is a great actress, but she just doesn't have the feistiness that Katherine Hepburn had in the original version.

Having said all of that, I could listen to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra sing all day long, and the movie has the added bonus of Louis Armstrong too, so overall, this was a very enjoyable movie.

Thank you to Gideon58 for this great recommendation.
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Escape from New York (1981) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

This movie is a bit darker than my tastes in movies, but it's a pretty good movie. The story was interesting, and while the movie was kind of violent, it wasn't over the top violence just for the sake of violence.

Surprisingly, I thought the weak link in the movie was Kurt Russell. It may be because I've heard so much about how cool the character of Snake Plissken is supposed to be that I may have expected too much, but he just didn't seem very "cool" to me. I expected someone more like Patrick Swayze's character in the movie Road House, but Snake just didn't seem like that kind of cool.

But overall this was a pretty good movie, and I found it very enjoyable to watch.

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Planet of the Apes (1968) - I watched this movie for the Sci-Fi Hall of Fame.

I saw this movie a long time ago, so I already knew the twist at the end, but surprisingly, knowing the twist ending really doesn't take much away from the movie. The movie starts off kind of slow, but it picks up pretty quickly once the apes show up. The story is brilliant, and the acting is terrific. And for those who don't already know it, the ending is very powerful.

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