Goonies85

Pasolini - Really liked this Abel Ferrara film. It's obviously very personal to him, and he does a great job directing Willem Dafoe in portraying the final day/night of Pasolini. While I wasn't really enthused with his "meta" move that occurs about 2/3rds through the movie, I understand why he took that route. Dafoe is great in the role. Can't believe it took so long to come out on Blu-Ray in North America.

Hancock - Eh, it was okay. Better than I expected. I watched the Unrated Cut. At least Will Smith actually looked like he was trying in this movie...as opposed to phoning it in, like usual...It was an okay way to spend a couple of hours but I wouldn't recommend buying it...Jason Bateman was really solid in this...

TheMovieman

Malevolence (2004) — I get what writer-director (and producer, editor, composer) Stevan Mena was trying to do (at least I think): an homage to 1980s slashers right down to the killer wearing a burlap-like sack over his head and a score straight out of Friday the 13th. For an independent horror movie, wasn't terrible and some of the acting was okay (more or less) but the ADR was laughably bad and there was nothing all that memorable. Passably entertainment but not much more than that. 2.75/5

Malevolence 2: Bereavement: Director's Cut (2011) — Long in development sequel gets a bigger budget (depending on the source, $2M-3.7M vs the $200k of the first) and a bit more talent on the cast side with Michael Biehn, though this likely was Alexandra Daddario's biggest role given it was filmed in late 2007. As with the first, I didn't think it was bad but it had a thin story and not very creative as a whole. Won't say I was ever bored, at least. I think I had seen this before when it was released just as Bereavement but this version runs about 7-minutes longer, guess it was better as I rated it at a 4/10 on IMDb, this second viewing was moderately better... 2.5/5

3nthebag

Flubber with Robin Williams. Another clean, great family movie night.
I highly recommend Disney+ to anyone that has been hedging on joining. They have everything!

JeffTheAlpaca

I fell asleep after the first twenty minutes. Maybe if you are on a sugar high you will enjoy this.

JeffTheAlpaca

Instead of new releases Netflix sends me Hayden Christianson movies from 2015.

I liked this and found it entertaining though it is directv to video material.

JeffTheAlpaca

I miss the days of the early 2000's when Colin Ferrall was a big star and getting a lot of leading roles.

3nthebag

The Family Fang with Jason Bateman, who also directed. I highly recommend this very original hidden gem. I stumbled on it on VUDU.

TheMovieman

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) — Pretty good supernatural horror flick that would make for a perfect viewing in the Halloween season. I could certainly see Guillermo del Toro (even though he was just the story writer and executive producer) influences with bringing the monsters from the book (from what I've seen online) to life. Also got an It-like sense about the story and characters. 3.75/5

Hard Night Falling (2019) — Outright terrible direct-to-video actioner starring Dolph Lundren. Filled with some awful fight cheorography (plenty of punches that whiffed), acting was pretty bad as well and the plot felt disjointed. Also funny that there were many lines in Italian but no subtitles, so that was fun. There were a few minor moments that were in the so bad it's good category (at one point, the main villain actually hissed at a hostage he took; not entirely sure why other than for him and Lundgren could meet at the end) but way too little to make this anywhere worthwhile. 0/5

JeffTheAlpaca

Did you have to sit through ads while watching it?

JeffTheAlpaca

The lead character was annoying and wondered why the day laborer did not ditch him.

Norm de Plume

Watched a couple more "thrillers" in recent days. The Upper Footage (2013) is yet another found-footage enterprise, this time about a bevy of affluent, obnoxious Upper East Side douchenozzles who drive around in a limo snorting coke and cracking wise. They pick up a random girl, take her back to the penthouse condo of one of the dude-bros, and she soon dies of an overdose while puking into the toilet. The sybaritic bunch are frantic about what to do with her body. This is actually one of the more verisimilitudinous movies in this subgenre, but spending 90 minutes with these shallow, oblivious trust-fund jerks was torturously boring. 3/10

Another one was Downrange (2017), directed by the guy who made Midnight Meat Train, which I didn't like. I'm a sucker for movies in which people break down on desolate roads and get into trouble, and this one has some creatively brutal effects, but otherwise has little to recommend it. Character development is simply nonexistent, the acting is mostly poor, and there are more plot holes than there are gaping wounds in the actors' heads. Just for starters, it simply doesn't pass the sniff test that a well-paved back-road in California wouldn't see the passage of a single car for several hours in mid-day. 3.5/10

asianxcore

Rabid (2019)

The Soska Sisters stay fairly close in structure to the 1977 film but their overall approach isn't very memorable.

Laura Vandervoort is fantastic and is the glue that holds the entire film together.

TheMovieman

Big Trouble in Little China (1986) — Enjoyable enough adventure flick with another charismatic performance from Kurt Russell. The plot certainly felt disjointed at times (and one sequence didn't really advance the plot all that much) but still had a lot of fun. Not one of Carpenter's best nor a standout amongst 1980s movies, however still liked it well enough. 3.5/5

JeffTheAlpaca

Maybe this escaped me but I had no idea this movie existed.

Anything with Hopkins, Burgess Meredith, and directed by Richard Attenborough count me in.

3nthebag

Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. What a movie! It really convicts you to think about how much better we can be.

OldBoy

Ford v Ferrari...Amazing movie. Top 5 of year for me. Probably second to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Still want to see Parasite. But, this was thrilling, exhilarating, heartbreaking. So well done and that chemistry between Bale and Damon was exquisite. Just great all the way around. I thought Rush took racing movies on a thrilling ride, but this was just stellar. Though I did like Rush. Not many racing movies out there. Days of Thunder, I’m sure some older ones I never saw, but not many. This will be up for BP and I think Bale over Damon in acting nod. I think Bale just conveyed so much personality and warmth and humanness to Ken and was a level above, as he mostly does all the time. Just great all around. Mangold is a solid Director in my book. He’s done older ones I didn’t even know he did. Girl, Interrupted, Cop Land, over course Logan, it’s predecessor. But I like him. This was just edge of your seat drama which is almost an oxymoron.

4.5 stars

asianxcore

Blood Rage (1987)

Ridiculously fun Slasher film.

High body count. Tons of laughs (both intentional & unintentional).

rogerrobert69

I'd read the book by William Goldman (a famous Hollywood screenwriter too) and then found out it was a film also. Or maybe it's the other way around? Quite creepy little film. Not scary but unsettling ambiance definitely.

asianxcore

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)

Solid film with a lot of genuine warmth. A nice companion piece to the 2018 Documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor.

Appreciated that it didn't take the expected route with a subject such as this one but because of that, the film does take a bit to adjust to.

JANK

Ford vs Ferrari. !!! Excellent movie. Bale & Damon are GREAT!

TheMovieman

Operation Crossbow (1965) — Engaging war-thriller doesn't always hit on all cylinders but the finale was suspense-filled and I do appreciate how the filmmakers handled the deaths, not at all sensationalized. No real standout performances but the cast did a fine job, though a bit surprising to see Sophia Loren got top-billing but only in it for maybe 15-minutes. 3.5/5

Why So Blu?

JeffTheAlpaca

It was a good watch

asianxcore

Shakma (1990)

Medical Students have their after-hours LARP session interrupted by a killer baboon.

Although it runs a bit long (even at 100+ minutes), this film is ripe for more attention at Cult Film Screenings.

asianxcore

Afflicted (2013)

Found Footage film about two friends traveling the world together until one contracts a mysterious disease.

While the film's core theme isn't original, the film's execution is leaps & bounds above other films in the same genre, as is its overall energy & level of excitement.