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Cannibal Holocaust (1980) This was brutal, but wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. For the most part, this is effective and works pretty well. I didn't like the animal cruelty and felt it was unnecessary and excessive. As disturbing as the film is, there is definitely significant artistic merit here.
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A Christmas Story Christmas - This is an odd time to be reviewing this but I did watch this last December or so. I have a backlog of around 50 films stretching back to last year that I never wrote up. A Christmas Story has morphed into such a beloved classic that when news of a sequel went around it elicited more than a fair share of cringing. But, for all the ways it could have gone horribly wrong, it turned out to be a pleasant enough surprise. Nowhere near it's predecessor of course. The absence of Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon being it's biggest drawbacks. But it does acknowledge "The Old Man" in a respectful manner and Julie Hagerty does okay filling in as Ralphie's mom.
Nostalgia is such a tricky thing to employ. You can't go heavy on it and you have to pick and choose the right moments. It helps that they not only brought back Peter Billingsley as Ralphie but Ian Petrella as Ralphie's little brother Randy. There's also Scott Schwartz as Flick, RD Robb as Schwartz, Zack Ward as Scut Farkus and Yano Anaya as Grover Dill. Along with small Easter eggs like a glimpse of the Chinese restaurant in the background in one of the scenes. The plot is sort of basic with a married-with-kids and grownup Ralphie on the verge of having to walk away from his dream of being a writer. Having to revisit his childhood home when he learns his father has passed away Ralphie also shoulders the responsibility of providing his children with the sort of Christmas he remembers.
If you're fond of the original I think there's enough here for you to cut this some slack. Director Clay Kaytis avoids excessive schmaltz and there is an element of discernment running throughout.
70/100
A Christmas Story Christmas - This is an odd time to be reviewing this but I did watch this last December or so. I have a backlog of around 50 films stretching back to last year that I never wrote up. A Christmas Story has morphed into such a beloved classic that when news of a sequel went around it elicited more than a fair share of cringing. But, for all the ways it could have gone horribly wrong, it turned out to be a pleasant enough surprise. Nowhere near it's predecessor of course. The absence of Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon being it's biggest drawbacks. But it does acknowledge "The Old Man" in a respectful manner and Julie Hagerty does okay filling in as Ralphie's mom.
Nostalgia is such a tricky thing to employ. You can't go heavy on it and you have to pick and choose the right moments. It helps that they not only brought back Peter Billingsley as Ralphie but Ian Petrella as Ralphie's little brother Randy. There's also Scott Schwartz as Flick, RD Robb as Schwartz, Zack Ward as Scut Farkus and Yano Anaya as Grover Dill. Along with small Easter eggs like a glimpse of the Chinese restaurant in the background in one of the scenes. The plot is sort of basic with a married-with-kids and grownup Ralphie on the verge of having to walk away from his dream of being a writer. Having to revisit his childhood home when he learns his father has passed away Ralphie also shoulders the responsibility of providing his children with the sort of Christmas he remembers.
If you're fond of the original I think there's enough here for you to cut this some slack. Director Clay Kaytis avoids excessive schmaltz and there is an element of discernment running throughout.
70/100
Nostalgia is such a tricky thing to employ. You can't go heavy on it and you have to pick and choose the right moments. It helps that they not only brought back Peter Billingsley as Ralphie but Ian Petrella as Ralphie's little brother Randy. There's also Scott Schwartz as Flick, RD Robb as Schwartz, Zack Ward as Scut Farkus and Yano Anaya as Grover Dill. Along with small Easter eggs like a glimpse of the Chinese restaurant in the background in one of the scenes. The plot is sort of basic with a married-with-kids and grownup Ralphie on the verge of having to walk away from his dream of being a writer. Having to revisit his childhood home when he learns his father has passed away Ralphie also shoulders the responsibility of providing his children with the sort of Christmas he remembers.
If you're fond of the original I think there's enough here for you to cut this some slack. Director Clay Kaytis avoids excessive schmaltz and there is an element of discernment running throughout.
70/100
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The Lone Ranger (2013)
This movie looks so good and is filled with great visuals start to finish you want to give it a ten but then there some things here that really bother me that I cant ignore. Parts of it are wacky and daft and how they string some things up its very uncanny, down to impossible luck. Then I saw the Disney stamp at the end and said to myself, no wonder. Fantastic movie I'm adding it to my collection.
8/10
I can't blame any of the actors. Everyone wants a big payday. But I cringed when I considered what kids thought when Depp's character kept belittling The Lone Ranger, who had always been a great role model. Jack Sparrow did not make a good Tonto.
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Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, 2023
Margaret (Abby Fortson) goes through a lot of emotions when her parents (Benny Safdie and Rachel McAdams) pick up and move the family from the city to the suburbs. While Margaret makes friends with a group of girls, including her neighbor, Nancy (Elle Graham). The girls support each other through bras, boys, and periods, but Margaret finds herself questioning a lot of aspects of her life, including her friend group.
Full of fun performances and honest coming-of-age moments, this is a very sweet look at what it means to try and find yourself.
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret(2023)
This is a cute, witty, delightful and touching picture that will likely make a star out of the actress who played the title character Margaret, 15-year-old Abby Ryder Forston. Margaret is a young lass who, along with a few of her school friends, is facing the start of the transition to puberty, with all of its angst, excitement, and physical changes that occur with these 11 or 12 year-old girls.
Margaret is crushed when her family decides to move from Manhattan to a New Jersey suburb because she’ll lose all of her friends at that critical age. But at the new suburban high school she soon falls in with a trio of female classmates, all of whom are full of wonderment and anxiety about the physical transformation that they are about to undergo, along with their attraction to, but shyness around boys.
At one point Margaret criticizes Laura (Isol Young) --an unusually taller and physically more developed classmate-- for reportedly letting boys “feel her up”. This shames the girl, who later tells Margaret that Margaret couldn’t possibly understand how awkward and embarrassing it is for Laura to be shunned because she’s so different physically than most of the other girls. Margaret later realizes how wrong she was to criticize Laura, and that she can relate to Laura’s isolation. Margaret searches her out and pulls her into Margaret’s group.
The important subtext is Margaret’s tendency to pray to God for relief and guidance despite her confusion about what God is, all the while trying to decide to which if any religion she wants to adhere. Her father is Jewish and her mother is lightly Christian, but from strong and determined Christian parents. Margaret tries them all, even though she’s seriously pressed by her father’s (Benny Safdie) mother (Kathy Bates) to become Jewish.
Her mother (Rachel McAdams) does not encourage Margaret towards any religion at all, and she and her husband are still miffed that her mother’s folks more or less cut off relations with her because she married a Jewish man. That circumstance later comes to a head when they all squabble over which religion Margaret should follow. In the end, Margaret goes her own way.
The standout performance of course is Abby Ryder Forston’s portrayal of Margaret. Her friend Nancy (Elle Graham) is likewise enjoyable. Rachel McAdams as the mother is almost too strong a presence, both in beauty and allure. One not quite so beautiful would have been a little more fitting. Benny Safdie is almost a tack-on as the father. Possibly selected because they needed someone who looks stereotypically Jewish (Salfdie is Jewish). There isn’t a lot of chemistry between McAdams and Safdie, but their relationship is only an incidental part of the story. Kathy Bates turns in another perfect performance as Margaret’s attractive and fun grandmother.
It’s refreshing to see a successful and well done picture made like they used to be. Despite the subject matter, they avoid low humor along with sexual displays and foul language. The screenplay by director/writer Kelly Craig perfectly relates all the travails, excitement and wonderment typically experienced by 11 or 12 year-old girls as they start the journey into sexual maturity.
Doc’s rating: 9/10
Doc’s rating: 9/10
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Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Theives, 2023
Bard Edgin (Chris Pine) turns to a life of theft after the murder of his wife, teaming up with barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith), conman Forge (Hugh Grant), and the mysterious Sofina (Daisy Head). When Edgin and Holga are captured and imprisoned, Forge pledges to take care of Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman). But when Edgin and Holga break out of prison, they discover that Forge and Sofina have been behind their misfortune and must fight to get Kira out of his grasp.
Existing in a strange space between “better than it should be” and “yeah, that was alright”, this is a fun enough romp that doesn’t quite rise above bland modern fantasy tropes.
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Nope, 2022
OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) run a floundering business renting horses to film and print projects. Financially stressed in the wake of their grandfather’s mysterious death, OJ is slowly selling off his horses to Jupe (Steven Yeun), a former child star who runs a Wild West theme park nearby. But soon it becomes clear that *something* is out there, and OJ and Emerald must figure out how to protect themselves and their livestock.
Somewhat oblique in its themes, this is nonetheless an effective and compelling horror film.
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I was really looking forward to this one, as I grew up on The Lone Ranger and Tonto. But I was stunned at not only that it a misfire, but that Walt would be spinning in his grave at how his Disney company has become determined to tear down the American culture.
I can't blame any of the actors. Everyone wants a big payday. But I cringed when I considered what kids thought when Depp's character kept belittling The Lone Ranger, who had always been a great role model. Jack Sparrow did not make a good Tonto.
I can't blame any of the actors. Everyone wants a big payday. But I cringed when I considered what kids thought when Depp's character kept belittling The Lone Ranger, who had always been a great role model. Jack Sparrow did not make a good Tonto.
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By http://www.impawards.com/2001/not_an...een_movie.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2504579
Not Another Teen Movie - (2001)
There are some things I have to grudgingly give to Not Another Teen Movie - some of the no-holds-barred jokes work, although just as many crash and burn. It throws so many against the wall that some simply have to stick. Depending on what moment you'd walk in on, you could either judge this as great or absolutely horrible - but at least it has some watchable value. It also loves the films that it's spoofing, and is so full of Easter eggs and references to teen films from the 80s and 90s that it would take a long time to note them all. Every genre spoof movie that came after this was so bad that it's unfairly lumped in with the likes of Scary Movie or Epic/Disaster Movie, but it's definitely better. Chris Evans would go on to achieve a rich kind of glory due to the Captain America/Marvel Universe films. When it's bad, it's bad, but when it's good it's funny.
5/10
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2767366
Tomcats - (2001)
Ever since reading Roger Ebert's review in "Your Movie Sucks" I've been curious about Tomcats. He describes watching the film as "reckless wrongheadedness" and describes the depressing fact that in it, "women are so consistently and venomously humiliated, as if they were some kind of hateful plague." His review starts by noting that "The men in Tomcats are surrounded by beautiful women, but they hate and fear them." It's that kind of teen sex romp, and my Letterboxd review simply said "This has to be the most depressed I've ever been made by a madcap comedy." It's rarely funny, bar a couple of moments, and the group of protagonists are the most unlikeable bunch I've ever seen in a film like this. They're the misogynistic jerks who would be the villains in any other teen movie. Ebert's review is a great read though.
2/10
By From hotmoviesale., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18007192
Barely Legal - (2003)
Barely Legal is less obnoxious than Tomcats, but I've never been as bored watching a movie for a long, long time. It's three leads have absolutely nothing going for them, and are charisma black holes. In it, three high school teens decide to make a porno so they can earn enough money to buy a car. They're just kids - so of course many disasters ensue. It's not remotely funny, and not remotely interesting. Seeing out it's 88 minutes was torture - it felt like a 3-hour epic, and thus ended my teen sex comedy marathon. I'd could never watch this again without crying tears of frustration and agony.
2/10
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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
There's a lot of good things to say about this movie. Ultra HD. Explosions galore. Monster trucks.
That first hour was continous action in ultra HD. I could only say that I wish that I went to see this in the theater. But unfortunately about halfway through the movie when it slowed down it seemed sort of lacking and I was thinking damn why didnt they cut this out? That seems harsh but then it got near the end 30 minutes and the the action picked up once again it didnt hold up to that first hour. So thats why I say 7/10 because its like half an awesome movie.
I was originally going to rewatch the Gibson max series first before watching this but I decided to see the new installment on a whim and was happy that I averted getting a terrible movie.
And another thing about that HD. That first hour exploited all the qualities of ultra HD but then it was like, in the second half, they completely abandoned exploring what they could do with it. So it was like, is the second half made by the same guy that made the first half?
7/10
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(The) Day the World Ended - Found this on Plex which is one of the myriad streaming services on Roku. I was in the mood for some 50's era sci-fi and got tired of scrolling through titles. Not the best way to pick a film but I've had lightning strike in the past. This was not that. What it was was Roger Corman's fourth film from American Releasing Corp. and was filmed in 10 days on a 96,000 dollar budget. It's not a bad looking film per se and does star Richard Denning of Creature From the Black Lagoon fame as it's requisite stalwart hero. Not much setup as a group of stragglers make their way to an isolated house in a canyon. Inside the home is crusty ex-sailor turned survivalist Jim Maddison (Paul Birch) and his daughter Louise (Lori Nelson).
The visitors include thuggish Tony Lamont (Mike Connors of Mannix fame but listed in the credits as Touch Connors), his girlfriend and burlesque dancer Ruby (Adele Jergens), a prospector named Pete (Raymond Hatton) and his mule Diablo, and geologist Rick (Denning) and Radek (Paul Dubov) a guy Rick picks up and totes to the house after stumbling across him on the trail. Since the premise is never explained but merely alluded to Radek is shown to be suffering from radiation burns along with a soupcon of mutation. This is mostly manifested by what looks to be aluminum foil and a starfish hot-glued to his face. It also causes him to keep asking for red meat. The Big Brother: Nuclear Holocaust contestants settle in for a waiting game. There are disagreements that include Tony lusting after Louise and Radek going on nocturnal walkabouts. Oh and there's a strange creature loitering in the vicinity but it isn't fully revealed till the final moments.
There aren't any surprises to be had here and anyone will be able to figure out where it's going but Corman does show a facility for staging and for allowing the actors to breathe. I can't in good conscience recommend this but I've seen much worse. It's an inoffensive little movie and when the "creature" is finally revealed you might get a kick out of it and it might elicit a genuine belly laugh.
60/100
Cannibal Holocaust (1980) This was brutal, but wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. For the most part, this is effective and works pretty well. I didn't like the animal cruelty and felt it was unnecessary and excessive. As disturbing as the film is, there is definitely significant artistic merit here.
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I really love this movie (and quite enjoyed the novel on which it is based).
For me it isn't repetitive because as the film goes on, the power dynamics between the two of them shift as their life circumstances change. It's a classic "they're perfect for each other, but can't make it work" trope, but I like both of the characters a lot and find their mistakes relatable.
I also thought that the movie looked really beautiful in its various shots of the fields and woods.
For me it isn't repetitive because as the film goes on, the power dynamics between the two of them shift as their life circumstances change. It's a classic "they're perfect for each other, but can't make it work" trope, but I like both of the characters a lot and find their mistakes relatable.
I also thought that the movie looked really beautiful in its various shots of the fields and woods.
SPARTACUS 1960 Stanley Kubrick (RE-WATCH)
Still one of the most epic widest wide screen spectacles ever. A must for your War countdown ballot. Absolutely forbidden to watch on a small screen.
Last edited by John-Connor; 08-23-23 at 04:15 AM.
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I love the original. Seen it many times. Zero interest in the re-make. Love the book too.
I've heard very good things about it and it's on my watchlist.
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