asianxcore

(YOU'LL MAKE IT IN) FLORIDA (2020)

Short Film Directed by Phil Chernyak.

This entire film is (quite literally) a 1970s Magazine Ad come to live.

I absolutely loved this film and it's creativity was through the roof. It's humor hits well.

This is clearly the Director's love letter to the state of Florida (who is from Sarasota).

JeffTheAlpaca

Not a lot of superman scenes and kind of boring and the animation was not that great

Cellar Door

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - I'm watching the final season of the Clone Wars animated series and the events in these last few episodes of the series are running concurrently with ROTS, so I decided to give it a watch for the first time in several years. Not a great movie, but the best of the prequel trilogy.

asianxcore

Girl (2020)

Revenge Thriller starring Bella Thorne & Mickey Rourke.

The film was decent enough but Bella Thorne's unnecessary accent was distracting at times. I also thought the sheer amount of exposition during the film's final scenes was also unneeded.

There are a few interesting moments in the film, usually involving physical violence but they are few and far between.

asianxcore

The Stylist (2020)

Director Jill Gervargizian's feature length Debut, based off of her 2016 Short Film of the same name.

Pacing issues aside, I enjoyed this film a whole lot.

Najarra Townsend is great and the entire film is absolutely gorgeous to look at, whether it be the framing, costume design or set design.

At times the film felt like Maniac (1980) with a clear feminine touch.

asianxcore

Action U.S.A. (1989)

Screened as a part of Fantastic Fest 2020 (Online) Secret Screening.

Directed by Hollywood stuntman John Stewart, I appreciate the bookends of this film, as they are filled with some insane car chases, explosions and stunt work.

Everything else in-between is a bit of a slog to get through and echoes so much of the structure of typical DTV Action films of the time.

JANK

Enola Holmes (2020)

A delight!

asianxcore

The Boy Behind The Door (2020). Having not read the synopsis to the film prior, I was seriously unprepared for how dark this Thriller/Horror film was.

Incredibly tense film that isn't afraid to put it's characters through all sorts of hell.

The film is carried by young actors Lonnie Chavis & Ezra Dewey, who play their parts very well, especially through heavy subject matter.

I didn't agree with all the narrative choices as I felt the film would have still be very strong with their omission.

Directors David Charbonier & Justin Powell definitely make their mark here. Wouldn't be surprised if this one is quickly picked up by distributors.

DWilson

The Fan Amazon Prime

Robert DeNiro, Wesley Snipes. Directed by Tony Scott.
A Baseball star (Snipes) on a downward spiral encounters an extreme fan (DeNiro) who's losing his grip on his sanity.
The drama does a nice job of building the main characters, -two men whose lives are slowing falling apart, headed toward a fateful confrontation. However, when it transitions into Thriller mode in the later third of the film, credibility gets sacrificed. For example, Tony Scott just loves to set scenes in the pouring rain (Crimson Tide, Last Boy Scout), so we end up with a crucial ball game being played in a torrential downpour.

DWilson

Videodrome Criterion Blu-ray
David Cronenberg's dark, twisted film features James Woods as a cable programmer who discovers a secret video signal that causes disturbing visions.

First let me say that this disc is the epitome of what Criterion represents; It's an exceptional looking transfer and the supplements are relevant and well-produced.

I remember seeing this in the theater with a girlfriend and after it was over she looked at me as if I had held her hostage. I get that. Of course, the first time I watched it I thought all the phantasmagorical carnage James Woods goes through and witnesses in the latter part of the film literally happened. Cronenberg explains in his commentary that we're only seeing Woods' mental delusions. We never see the literal version, which might be more akin to Scorsese's approach to "Taxi Driver".
It's a hard film to get into. Cronenberg explains that he had a deadline and he struggled to find an ending down to the last day of shooting. It sort of feels that way to me. The film does some visually startling things and takes some risks, but I wish the payoff was more satisfying.

TheMovieman

Reversal of Fortune (1990) — Great performance from Jeremy Irons, well deserving of his Best Actor Academy Award, kind of is a letdown as both a legal and character drama. Some nice moments and solid performances from everyone but not sure I'll remember this one down the road. ***½/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

It was unusual to see Mamoa cleanly shaved near the end of the movie.

Overall the movie was average.

TheMovieman

300 (2007) — Only the third time seeing this one, first time was in the theaters and then I think on DVD. Didn't care a whole lot in either viewing. So with the 4K being released, decided enough time had passed to give it another shot and... it was okay, a bit too stylized for my taste (and yes I know that's Snyder's thing) and lacks the emotional impact Snyder was going for, but there are some bad ass moments, including just Gerard Butler's overall performance, but didn't really do much for me otherwise.

Probably my least favorite of Snyder's movies, though haven't watched Sucker Punch in a long time. ***/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

This was a bore

asianxcore

How To Deter A Robber (2020)

Well-made but definitely not for me. It's marketed as a Crime Comedy but leans a bit too heavy on the comedy. It's almost as if the film felt forced to have a funny line every 5-seconds.

Wished that it would have balanced the comedic and dramatic moments, which would have made it a stronger film.

Abbie Cobb's performance as one of the robbers is easily the best thing about the entire film.

asianxcore

Triple Fisher: The Lethal Lolitas of Long Island (2012)

Mash-up of three different Amy Fisher films making up one film.

This was absolutely hilarious, even though it loses a bit of steam in its final act.

It would have played extremely well to a Midnight crowd at Fantastic Fest 2020.

DWilson

The Island of Dr. Moreau 1977 Amazon Prime

Michael York is a sailor lost at sea who washes up on the island of the title. Burt Lancaster is Dr. Moreau,a pioneering geneticist who experiments with transforming Animals into Humans. Moreau has created a society of transformed creatures struggling with their dual natures and rules them with an iron hand.
This is not as weirdly creepy as the Charles Laughton version, nor as looney as the Marlon Brando version, but it is a solid take on the story. It only falters at the end, which feels a little too "tidy" for what has occurred.The film features make-up effects by John Chambers, renowned for his "Planet of the Apes" work, and the real-life make-up artist portrayed by John Goodman in "Argo".

JeffTheAlpaca

Nothing remarkable and looking back the acting was not that great either though it was nice to look at Elisabeth Shue in 2005.

Nick Danger

Saving The World movie week. The science is terrible in all of them.

Sunshine. We didn't like it. The sun is going cold, and a team of scientists have to blow it up to re-ignite it. It fell between two stools, cerebral/philosophical and explosion/action. I saw lots of call-outs to other, better movies, such as 2001, Solaris, Alien, and so on. A picked team of experts sent to save the world have fistfights and yell at each other because they didn't seem to have had any psych tests. There were thoughts about death and stuff, and the sun as the source of life, but they were never really developed. I liked Cilian Murphy's death scene. There was a meteor storm that damaged the ship.

Armageddon. We kind of liked it, but it wore out its welcome. A giant asteroid is going to destroy the Earth and a team of manly oil drillers have to blow it up to change its trajectory. Overblown and stupid, and tilting the balance way over toward explosions. A picked team of experts have fistfights and yell at each other because there was no time to choose well-balanced people. Bruce Willis seemed into it for the first half of the movie, but when it became mawkish he gave up. His death scene went on far too long. The editing was so bad that during one of the action scenes, the movie kept cutting to a graphic showing where the characters were in relation to each other. There was a meteor storm that damaged the ship. And another meteor storm on the surface, because Michael Bay.

The Core. We liked it. It was beyond ordinary stupid, but the movie was self-aware and kept a sense of humor about it. The molten core of the Earth has stopped turning, and a team of scientists have to go to the Center of the Earth to blow it up to get it going again. Roger Ebert said it was a 1957 science fiction movie, and we enjoy those. A picked team of experts have fistfights and yell at each other because they have been enemies for twenty years, but they invented the technology and we're stuck with them. The science is on a Dr Who level -- a quick nonsense explanation and then onto the next scene. Stanley Tucci has a great death scene. The movie was well acted, well directed, and well edited, which is not always true for a special effects movie. There was a meteor storm that damaged the ship.

JeffTheAlpaca

Sucks he is gone

JeffTheAlpaca

Probably all the gay jokes would not fly today but a good time and a mood lifter.

JeffTheAlpaca

It was ok but could have been better.

Who knew after watching this Chalamet would become a huge star.

TheMovieman

Requiem for a Dream (2000) — Only my second viewing of this, last time probably was when it came out on DVD, and not one I'll re-watch anytime soon, but still a great drama featuring incredible performances, most notably Ellen Burstyn who was worthy of her Oscar nomination. Has some darkly wild moments and a swing in tones, guess giving viewers insights into the highs and lows of heroine use. Not entertaining in so much as fascinating film worth it for some of the visuals and acting. ****½/*****

TheMovieman

Revenge for Daddy (2020) — Saw this on the schedule the other day so decided to check it out, mainly because I like Sarah Butler (just looked at her bio on IMDb, seems to be doing quite a few of these). It's your cookie-cutter Lifetime thriller, a lot of it doesn't work and predictable with spotty acting. **¼/*****

JeffTheAlpaca