JeffTheAlpaca

HBO

This was boring and thought it would be a lot better.

L Everett Scott

Along Came a Spider (2001) watched on TubiTV


Morgan Freeman and not Sandra Bullock (aka Monica Potter) star in this adaptation of James Patterson's introductory story to police forensics expert Alex Cross. This is no Kiss the Girls but is an OK way to scratch the mystery thriller itch. Just hope you're not picky about crappy CGI because it's used in the opening and really stands out even if you're watching the SD version on a small screen. The rather dated computer tech used in the story (like sending secret messages in GIF files) is amusing, though.

Random note: at one point, a kidnapper demands a ransom in diamonds. Rather than the usual request for uncut stones, the bad guy actually specifies the Karat weight, colour, and clarity (but not the cut). Nothing comes of this: apparently, it's either Patterson or the screenwriter trying to impress the audience with technical details about precious stones.

When I quoted the figures to an amateur gemologist, she said whoever came up with the numbers apparently understands weight and colour but has no idea about clarity. She also mentioned that asking for $xx worth of cut diamonds is incredibly stupid because valuation is subjective so the bad guy could get really shafted when he tries to sell the stones. Note to screenwriters: if you're not going to consult an expert, don't write about shit you don't know about.

TheMovieman

Above Suspicion (2019) — Middle-of-the-road drama-thriller that features a great performance from Emilia Clarke as a messed up redneck in small-town Kentucky but other than Clarke, there's not much else to really admire. The other performances are 'fine' I guess but no real standouts and hard to emphasize with any of these characters.

Also doesn't help I already knew about this true story from some episode on Investigation Discovery and as with most of these there was plenty of liberty taken.

Might be okay as a rental but you're not missing out of you skip. **¾/*****

davidlynchfan

Year of the Dragon (1985). Just love the Western style showdown shootout finale. I rewind that part and watched it 3 times. Can’t do that at the theater now, can you?

JeffTheAlpaca

Cinemax


It was not great but not horrible. Maybe check it ouf if you want to see a crime drama.

mwbmis

Caught up on a few partially watched films that I've had sitting around for a while

Starter for 10 - Period piece from the mid '00s about a working class college student who tries out for the college quiz team. Lots of future stars in this, but it's only entertaining in spurts. (HBO Max)

Outbreak - Hadn't watched this in a long while. Certainly it was more exciting than our pandemic. (HBO Max)

Things to Do in Denver When Your Dead - One of those star studded pretentious crime movies that came out in the wake of Tarantino. It has it's moments, but overall it's not really worth the time. (VUDU)

TheMovieman

Cosmic Sin (2021) — Pretty lame science fiction actioner with a thin story, one-dimensional and poorly developed characters and bland villains with basic motivations (and they infect humans like parasites apparently). I had hoped this would be at least moderately entertaining but was just stupid with Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo sleepwalking through their roles.

If there's any plus, at least some of the effects were above some SyFy TV movie (for what little that's worth) but this is one to completely skip. *½/*****

Django (1966) — Entertaining enough spaghetti western that isn't quite to the level of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly but still liked it quite a bit, including Franco Nero in the lead. Kind of blew its load early on with the machine gun massacre (would've liked the reveal of what was in the coffin at the end), but had a nice conclusion. ***¾/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

Starz

I liked this. Richard Jenkins plays a guy who worked his entire life or most of it at a fast food chain and he trains a young guy to take his place,

Ed O' Neill also had a small role.

I like movies with ordinary or broken people.

Goonies85

Funny Farm - I've always had a soft spot for this underrated Chevy Chase movie from the late '80s. It's a pretty generic story that you kind of know where it's going to go but it still manages to be pretty funny. Chase (as he's done in other movies, mainly the Vacation movies) is really great at acting with a certain degree of "muted rage"...And when he gets to finally express his outrage, it's pretty hilarious...Now I know he has a reputation for being a pretty big dick in real life, but I have to say he did make a pretty strong string of comedies, with my faves being Funny Farm, Fletch, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...followed closely by National Lampoon's Vacation and probably Caddyshack (even though I still feel that movie is forever overrated...But I do love the scenes with Bill Murray, especially when he's opposite Chase)...National Lampoon's European Vacation is okay, and I've always kind of liked Vegas Vacation, even though I see it's faults...and Fletch Lives has it's moments...But then I watched the second-parter of the two-pack Blu-Ray, which was Spies Like Us. Good God is that movie ever bad...Like I can't think of a single good thing to say about it...Even the multiple cameos by other filmmakers was just kind of like "meh"...And the review on this website is absolutely correct when it comes to the transfer...Just awful...Could've been VHS for all I knew...

Aliens - Watched with the audio commentary with the cast and crew, including Cameron, Paxton, Henriksen, Biehn, and Goldstein, amongst others. Really great listen...I especially loved the joking that went on between Henriksen and Paxton...Like, I never would've viewed Henriksen as having such a great sense of humour, but he was really funny. And the commentary was actually pretty insightful, despite having watched tons of other bonus features about the movie, the characters on the commentary still managed to provide a lot of additional/new information...

Alien - Commentary with cast and crew, including Scott and Weaver (who were recorded together) and then several other members of the film that, for the most part, seemed to have been filmed separately. While I always, in general, prefer it when people on group commentaries are recorded together, this one was still pretty great. And hell, I find even when there's a Ridley Scott movie I don't like (he's generally like 50/50 with me), I usually still enjoy his commentaries, and this one is no different. Weaver is also insightful and actually really funny at times. Oh, and Harry Dean proves once again that he is the F**KING MAN...Just so funny joking around with the rest of the cast...Like, every time I see or hear an interview with him, I'm like, okay, I get why that guy is so well-loved in Hollywood...He was one of a kind...

Alien 3 - With commentary. I knew going in there was no way Fincher would ever be involved, but it was still disappointing...And while I can appreciate the movie more now than the first couple times I watched it, it's still a giant misfire. Like Cameron kind of said on the commentary track for Aliens, it's okay to want to put your personal stamp on a movie, but not at the expense of tossing out most of everything people loved about the previous film. The commentary, however, was still pretty good, and the participants were pretty damn honest, I found. They admitted to the faults in the movie and what could've been done better...I'm just glad this movie didn't completely destroy Fincher's movie-making career, and he was obviously able to move on and make several masterpieces...

Alien: Resurrection - With commentary. This one was merely okay. The director kind of bugs me cause he really, really seems to feel like he made a masterpiece whereas I would just call it a "solid entry" in the series...but nothing too special. There's just certain aspects of the movie I dislike, a lot of which has to do with Ripley and her character arc...I just didn't like what they did with her character, although a lot of that is apparently on Weaver, who pushed for certain things that I have a feeling others weren't quite so enthusiastic about...Visually? The film works...It certainly has a particular style...I just wish the storyline was stronger and more compelling...

Goonies85

Thanks for the head's up...Had never heard of this movie but it sounds right up my alley...And I generally love Richard Jenkins...I hope to check this out soon...

kahuna

Korean Movie - "I Saw he Devil" - 2010 - Prime - (Also free with ads on Vudu).
I SAW THE DEVIL is a shockingly violent and stunningly accomplished tale of murder and revenge from Korean genre master Kim Jee-Woon.





n.

TheMovieman

Cartouche (aka Swords of Blood) (1962) — Decent enough French swashbuckler adventure movie and while I liked the performance from Jean-Paul Belmondo, his character came off as a jack-ass, especially at the end, as he pursues the king's wife despite having a gorgeous wife, named Venus no less. I don't know, his actions left a sour taste. On the plus side, Claudia Cardinale was wonderful (and looking at her IMDb still steadily working) and the fight sequences for the most part were entertaining. ***/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

Along with Starz I think it is on Hulu and Amazon too.

JeffTheAlpaca

It was ok but they went through a lot for not a very satisfactory ending or at least for one of the characters from my point of view though that character might feel differently.

Goonies85

John Carpenter's The Fog - Rewatched this old-time favorite, this time with the commentary by Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, and I wanna say Debra Hill. While I of course prefer the Carpenter commentary, this one is pretty solid. Tom Atkins is especially funny, and I've always enjoyed him in the movie roles he's taken. Just seems like a genuine, down-to-earth nice guy. Remains one of my favorite movies of all-time...

Memoirs of an Invisible Man - Unlike a lot of people, I never had too many issues with this movie. I thought it was okay; not terrible or anything. Chevy Chase was okay, and I thought Sam Neill was excellent. I even think the special effects hold up surprisingly well. Now I know there was disconnect between Carpenter and Chase, with (if I remember correctly), Carpenter coming in wanting to make a somewhat comedic sci-fi action movie, and Chase saying something like he wanted to "explore the pain of loneliness"...The movie probably could've been better, but you could do much worse. I'd consider this kind of "mid-tier Carpenter"...

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (remake) - This movie sucked in pretty much every possible way a movie can suck. I managed to power through it, but man, that was rough. Just the direction, the editing, the writing, the acting...they're all bottom of the barrel. Like, you have to actually try to make a movie as bad as this...and mission accomplished...It's too bad, cause I really, really loved the remake of the first one that Aja did...That's a great movie, and well-worth revisiting from time to time...

Goonies85

Awesome, I'll try and check that out when I'm able to...Gotta see if I can maybe borrow my bro's password for Amazon or something...I still had to cut off pretty much every streaming service a while back while I look for work...Which is why most of what I've been watching has been stuff I've owned for quite some time but just either haven't watched in years or never got around to watching in the first place...Plan on checking out some Les Blank documentaries later on tonight, hopefully...

TheMovieman

Speed (1994) — Entertaining action-thriller (which I've seen multiple times) that made both Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock stars. All of the scenes on the bus were great and while the finale was fine, the third act in of itself was contrived. No reason for Annie to be at the scene of the ransom drop; heck, one can argue Jack shouldn't have been there either since they know what the bomber looks like. Still, plenty of fun and seemed like Hopper was having a great time as a cackling, maniacal villain. ***¾/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

Another typical movie Cage makes these days though he had a sick Camaro.

JeffTheAlpaca

It was ok and not as bad or boring as other reviewers said.

Dan

Blade Runner 2049
A 30-year sequel that shouldn't exist, but it does, and it is phenomenal in every* way.

*Yeah, even Mr. 30 Seconds to Mars. I know folks hate him, and I get that, but I think his performance is spot-on.

TheMovieman

Drop Zone (1994) — Adequate enough crime-thriller with some nice aerial photography mixed in with bad 90s-era green screen. Not at all a strong star vehicle for Snipes and pales to Passenger 57 (at least in terms of the fun factor) released two years prior. But still entertaining especially with Gary Busey playing a villain as he tended to do in the 80s and 90s. ***/*****

DWilson

Eyes of a Stranger Shout BD 1981
An anchorwoman (Lauren Tewes of "Love Boat") targets a killer terrorizing Miami.

This is a much more brutal, "Grindhouse" type of Thriller than you'd expect to see today, with elements some viewers might find a little queasy. Still, I found it effective and generally well-made. The cinematography is surprisingly good and it gives the presentation a little polish.
There's a nice selection of background features.

TheMovieman

Twelve Monkeys (1995) — Really good sci-fi thriller with wonderful performances by Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt. Really well done by director Terry Gilliam that has great pacing through the two hour running time. ****/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

I remember watching that around 1995 when it was the Sat premiere on HBO.

I liked it the first time but the 3rd time I was bored.

JeffTheAlpaca

Just added to Hulu

Not the most pleasant material and if you know somebody that is suffering from dementia it might be a hard watch though Firth and Tucci gave excellent performances.