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jonorandolph
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The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)
A not so "Mad" scientist.
For an independently produced movie, this was well done.
They mention she has a German last name but won't tell us... she's obsessed with death. But why don't they tell us the name? Oh....... and her notebook is called "modern Prometheus" I get it now.
I love the restraint the filmmakers used in saving the line "It's alive! It's Alive!" when they did and giving it Aishia instead of the main character.
My biggest complaint is that Vicaria wasn't allowed to be "Mad" in Mad Scientist and makeup of for the monster wasn't strong. Chad Colman as the father character was the strongest character and my eyes were glued to the screen when ever he appeared.
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
A science "fiction"
This the first movie directed by Boots Riley and he really came out swinging for the fences. The main character Cassius Green, a telemarketer who discovers that he can use a "white voice" (played by David Cross) to make his clients trust him. Cassius quickly propels him up the corporate ladder, He discovers that unpaid human labor, aka Slavery, is only the first rung of the depravity of this company.
This movie is so imaginative and original. When ever he makes a call he feels like he's dropped right into their life. He smokes with them, he eats with them, he even activates the bidet on their toilets, all while on the phone. He goes to a party hosted by the owner of Worry Free, the slave corporation and he is treated as a performing animal because of his urban class background.
I can't tell you how amazingly fcked up the world he lives in becomes without spoiling it, but ending the movie with the title of the movie was peek.
Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990)
underrated shloch
I've seen several Troma Films and this one has to be my favorite one so far. This hilarious, irreverent, culturally insensitive. The Clown bit, the Birthday mom (played by Loyd Koffman's wife), The monkey reading Curious George, the random jazzersize that happens in the background of the chief's office, all that was in less than 5 mins.
If you have ever seen a Troma film and even partly liked the humor, then I highly recommend this movie. If you don't like exposed breasts, ridiculous visual gags, clownish crime fighting, or chopping criminals up into sushi then I would avoid this one. I highly recommend.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
The trailer doesn't lie.
Every so often, there is a movie that you don't want to see, but every critic you follow says it's good and has it on their top 10, or 5 list for the year. So you choose to open your mind and try something you don't think you will like, because first impressions are often wrong.
My gut was right. Banshees of Inisherin was pointless, uninteresting and a waste of time, if you like it, I'm happy for you. If you see the trailer and think that looks good, it will be, the trailer is very tonally accurate. I kept telling myself "get on with it" and it just ends. No resolution, sort of a Greek tragedy but here, unlike most Greek Tragedies there is nothing worth walking away with. I gave it 4/10 because the acting, cinematography, production were all very strong.
There were some funny moments and I laughed 3-4 times, but everyone is just sad and frustrated at everyone else.
Nightcrawler (2014)
Character study
I love this movie, but I have to be in the right mindset to watch it. Jake Gyllenhaal is the slimiest most diabolical best sociopath I have ever seen on film. Everything he does is just so despicable but I can't help but root for him as he gets worse and worse.
From when he starts arranging the bodies and treating his employee like garbage while buying better and better stuff, like cars and equipment, while not evening paying minimum wage.
One thing that stands out is the music. Inspirational music like the sort you would hear in the Truman Show but instead you see him doing the most horrid of things.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Mitefall! (2011)
Best Batman series finalie
I put this show on to entertain my kid during dinners, but me and the wife enjoyed it more than he for all the cheekiness. This episode we had the biggest grins on our faces. This show feels like another show that my son likes which also does not care about being serious: Teen Titans Go.
We watched this episode about a week after HBO announced they were going to shelf batgirl, so when batgirl showed up we both screamed at the tv (in a good way).
Dracula 2000 (2000)
Did you know there is a Virgin Megastore in New Orleans?
This movie is dripping with late 90's nostalgia. Dracula for the MTV generation. I actually like the twist of Dracula's true identity and it feels like it actually makes sense in the context of the story.
But did I mention the Virgin Megastore? Virgin Atlantic must have paid to have their product in 50% of the movie and they set a large portion of the movie in and around the Virgin Megastore, This was the same level as placing Krispy Kreme in Power Rangers or IHOP in man of steel.
American Horror Stories: Bloody Mary (2022)
I was about to give up on this show.
Finally! Well acted, well written, well paced and directed, This is the sort of horror I would like to see moving forward in the show.
While not unpredictable, as this "Genie wish trope" has been done a few times, I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at cringey dialog and vapid characters like i have in the rest of this season.
This actually feels like it lives up to title of American Horror Story.
The Fog (2005)
Would have been an amazing 30 min short.
The monster effects were pretty good for the mid 00s. I liked the. Selma Blare's Stevie character and would have enjoyed the movie much more if it was only her and her family. Everytime Nick or Elizibeth or Spooner were on screen through I fought to keep my eyes open as they were written with as much love and attention as an AI would write the characters.
The death of Grandma was great, and the ghosts looked great, the death of the weatherman was good. This movie's soundtrack is Amazing as I downloaded Salome's Wish right after watching this.
Vivarium (2019)
Alright
Watching this i was going to give it 10 stars until we got to about the 30-40 mins in and it just became a slog to get through. It wasn't until Gemma finds what is under the sidewalk that the movie become fun again.
I'm glad i watched it, but it felt like too little butter spread over too much bread.
Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam (2010)
Another Shazam origin.
It's not a team up movie, it's an origin story. Lets rush through how he got his powers, and kill both his mentor and his primary antagonist, all in about 30 mins, oh we have to cut his orphanage out too, but we should shoe horn in Superman for some reason.
How do you expect me to want more Billy Batson if you blow all his best on this piece of fluff.
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
A mariage of camp and violence like i have never seen before
Unlike other films that try to replicate best of Grindhouse, the pacing, writing, music, acting, everything was amazing in this. I expected this to be garbage, but this was absolute brilliance. This movie knew exactly what it was.
The Northman (2022)
The most normal movie Eggers has ever done.
If could have given the VVitch and The Lighthouse more than 10 stars I would have, so my hopes were extremely high going into Eggers' 3rd film. This was the first one he's made with a large budget.
Going by his previous films i was expecting absolute insanity, something akin to the Satanic goat and flying witches or the Promethian and mythological imagery found in prior films. But in Northman, the only mythological badassery was the valkyyrie which we already saw in the trailer. The final scene with the two naked characters was the only wonderfully unexpected bit but the digital smoke over their bits were more distracting than having their parts flopping around.
Nicole Kidman did some of her best acting i have ever seen her do, and every second that William Dafoe was on screen i was transcended with joy. Bjork was a glorified cameo (what you see in the trailer is what you get in the film).
Overall I had a great experience and would highly recommend this to only people who like naturalistic depictions of myth and to people who like brutal historical epics.
Also go watch The VVitch.
Samurai Jack: Episode XIV - Jack Learns to Jump Good (2002)
Jump good.
This is one of my favorite Jack episodes. The caveman is adorable, the blue monkeys.
I also really like how they have fun with aspect ratios. With unusual ones to accentuate specific emotions.
YOU FLY NOW? No. Jump Good.
Hellboy (2019)
Fun. But a pale shadow of the 2005/8 film.
HellBoy finds himself in a pocket world, and through the mist you see a house moving, it has chicken legs. Baby skeletons lay on the ground. We all know what it is. But they have to have Hellboy say "Baba Yaga" who is he talking to? I can tell you. He was telling the audience.
"We have to kill her so dead she won't be back for the sequel." Best line in the movie.
Ian McShane really phoned this one in. I didn't even believe he died because he was so Leissez Faire when he got dragged out and then killed off so quickly.
Samurai Jack: Episode VII - Jack and the Three Blind Archers (2001)
Best episode of entire series
Jack learns to listen, by listening, in this mostly wordless episode. This was Genndy Tartakovsky stretching his muscles that he would eventually use to make some of the Clone Wars shorts and Primal
By far the best episode of the entire show.
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
This movie makes me feel heard.
The book was about a child who is sent to his room without supper for acting out, and then dreams or imagines a world where he is celebrated for being a wild beast only to return home the same night.
The movie is about a child who imagines a world he is important and those who inhabit it have the same childlike emotions and angst he goes through. As someone who grew up without peers and mostly alone I grew up weird and ostracized so I can empathize with a lot of the emotions he is dealing with. Carol and Max both don't have the tools to process sadness and depression. And the people around them don't know why Carol (and by extension Max) can' just be less wild. Mistakes have consequences.
This is the first time I have seen this movie since I had my kid years ago, and I see him in aspects of Max and some that I had at that age. This movie isn't a feel good movie. But it touches on uncomfortable feelings that isn't discussed enough in film and it make me feel... heard.
Kimi (2022)
What if Pulp Noir, but during covid.
A classic "this conspiracy goes all the way up" movie. Not going to blow any minds with the twists, but is a solid pulp noir genre film.
The director and the editor made such a tight, well paced movie, the run time flew by and I didn't feel it slogging at all like other pulp noir stories often do.
I would have never seen this in theaters, but having it go straight to streaming on HBO made for a great watch with the wife and I am happy I saw it.
Antlers (2021)
Windigo or Warewolf?
Sure they say it's about Windigos and the heart is the key to killing the beast, but this whole film uses werewolf rules. Windigos don't multiply by bites, they are people who go crazy being isolated in the winter and they become cannibalistic avatars of the Windigo, not you get bit and slowly turn into a Windigo, where you are more feral at night. The writers of this saw a werewolf movie and said, lets do the same thing, but with a different monster.
The acting was good for this, especially the kid., and the setting was great. I kept forgetting it was set in Oregon and kept thinking it was Alaska. I feel like the trailer and the film title spoiled to much of the movie, and wish I went in a bit more blind. The book title "The Quite Boy" is a much better title.
Perhaps I missed something, but it felt like there were 2 Windego's and she only killed the one in the cave, but the one in the cave was the dad and the one that was about to hatch from _____. But what happened to the original one, the one that bit the two guys at the beginning?