Showtime

Surprised there is no separate thread for this or hard to find in the search engine.

Definitely worth a watch

I don't think it got a Blu-ray or dvd release and you can't rent it at Netflix.

Viggo was great and Hendrickson gave the performance of his career though maybe other actors could have taken that character to another level.

Too bad Buscemi did not come back for more scenes

My Name is Pecos (1966) — Entertaining enough spaghetti western features a fine performance by Robert Woods. It has your typical revenge plot so nothing terribly new from the rest, however I did enjoyed it as some of the gunfighrts were decent and the villains were really foul. ***¼/*****

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)

The film looks good but is filled with obnoxious shaky cam cinematography (during fight scenes) and a very flat & uncharismatic performance from Henry Golding (Snake Eyes).

Throughout the film's entire run-time, I found myself more interested in Andrew Koji (Tommy/Storm Shadow) than I was on the character that the film's title is named after.

Iko Uwais, Samara Weaving & Ursula Corbero are wasted here as there's not enough of any of them throughout the film to care much.

Oxygène (2021)

While I absolutely loved Director Alexandre Aja's earliest efforts in Haute Tension/High Tension (2003) & The Hills Have Eyes (2006), I've been very lukewarm about his efforts in the 15-years following.

This claustrophobic effort is no different as it borrows heavily from Buried (2010) but lacks the punch that film has, running 30-40 minutes too long, constantly feeling like a short film unnecessarily extended.

If there are any positives in the film, the film is shot well, has some interesting ideas early on and has a fantastic performance from Mélanie Laurent, who quite literally anchors the entire film.

The reviews were right and this sucks

That tagline

Dawn of the Dead (1978) (Theatrical Cut)

Love this film. Never feels like its 2-hour run-time.

I never got to see the film in theaters but re-visiting it via the 4K UHD from Second Sight (UK) was an absolute treat.

Bandidos (1967) — Really good western with solid performances, but it's the direction from Massimo Dallamano (DP on A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More) was top notch and some great angles and perspectives. So far in the "Vengeance Trails" set, this is my favorite. ****/*****

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

The Italian Mob depicted in this film always came off to me as incredibly silly but I appreciated both the reflective tone of the film but also the fantastic soundtrack by RZA (of Wu-Tang Clan).

Obviously, the film is highly influenced Le Samouraï (1967)but Director Jim Jarmusch has enough here to keep the film interesting & cool.

Showtime

I guess they were trying to send a message about the Opioid crisis

Oldman raises his voice a lot in this movie

Lily Rose Depp has been getting a lot of roles lately and maybe more than her dad.

And God Said to Cain (1970) — Last one in the "Vengeance Trails" Arrow box set and probably the darkest one of the four. Really entertaining spaghetti western with more revenge, this one with Klaus Kinski as Gary Hamilton, coming back to town after being framed for a crime he didn't commit. Plot wise, not much different from what I've seen before, but the kills were pretty brutal (and can imagine especially so back in 1970) and never let up to the very end. ****/*****

Cinemax


I saw this twice before but somehow it felt like watching a new movie again.

Two of the greats Ruffalo and Linney and I think this was the breakout role for Mark in 2000 and then he became a star.

Don't Breathe 2 (2021)

Thought the film was very average, with Director (and Co-Writer of the first film) Rodo Sayagues doing the best with the material he's given, even if it's very uneven.

It isn't nearly as inventive as its predecessor but the Cat & Mouse sequences in the first half of the film are still exciting (and gory). The second half of the film doesn't fare too well, as it has issues with sharp tonal changes and essentially running out of ideas during its 98-minute run-time.

Stephen Lang is still the star of the show here and he is fantastic reprising his role as Norman Nordstrom.

In regards to attempted redemption angle, it's clumsy & incredibly muddy. It didn't make sense when I first heard about it and it certainly doesn't make sense now that I've seen the film. Rodo Sayagues & Fede Alvarez tried too hard here when they should have just let the monster stay a monster.

Netflix

I thought it was hilarious and not a sad movie at all but still touching.

Craig Roberts should be in more stuff and Paul Rudd was great as usual.

Strike Commando (1987) — Rip-off (or if being kind, homage) of Rambo has some hilariously bad moments and while parts were a slog to get through, but I had some fun watching especially the over-the-top acting and action (get a chuckle every time a grenade is thrown, baddies would fly back several feet even though the explosion was nowhere near them). The lead, Reb Brown, doesn't have a whole lot of charisma but fine for this kind of material. **½/*****

Strike Commando 2 (1988) — Sequel takes a more purposeful comedic tone and rip offs Raiders of the Lost Ark, Apocalypse Now and Romancing the Stone. The comedy score that oddly pops in and out was annoying and the action elements weren't quite as fun as the first, but appreciate some of the bad elements. Brent Huff takes over the lead role and seems to have less charisma than Reb Brown and seeing Richard Harris in this was amusing (not that he was beyond appearing in bad movies. **¼/*****

If you are in the mood for a Cold War Spy thriller

Despite being a longtime Looney Tunes fan my whole life, I never saw the original Space Jam.

Since we’re discussing the new one for a podcast I’m on, I wanted to see the original first and it was an absolute chore. The animated bits were pretty fun and mostly in character but any live action bits were like dental surgery without anesthesia.

CODA…Wow! Holy carp (inside movie joke) is CODA a movie that I had no idea what it was about going in (and that’s how should be). From trailers, maybe surmised coming of age, which it is, with deaf family. Everything was seamless. So beautiful in words and gestures. Emilia Jones who plays Ruby is remarkable and that voice! I get chills. As is rest of cast. Her family who are all deaf. Marlee Matlin always gives a great performance. Much lighter here, but great all the same. Just as she was, of course, in…Seinfeld. 😂 oh, I mean that movie with Children…😜

Go in with no knowledge, no inkling could even prepare you for as a colleague quotes when he really likes a movie a “nice” movie. He’ll refer it to classics like Braveheart, thinks it’s a “nice” movie. Be it he’s 24, so you could see where the limited vocabulary comes in. I was just impressed that a movie that came out just before born would be seen years later and liked.

Well, this was beyond nice, is was downright good! Seriously, the 4 awards it won at Sundance, the biggest, I believe, are well deserved. This will be up and win something come Oscars 2022 (strong best picture contender as of now).

Just a great, coming of age, overcoming, succumbing. Just runs the gamut and does it so magically. Incredible, felt like real life performances. Funny, heartbreaking, totally real.

If anyone stood out like a sore thumb though (because rest of cast are no names right now) it was Matlin bc a) she’s an Oscar winner and b) She’s still gorgeous at 56.

Don’t walk, click a few buttons, maybe activate using your cell phone or iPad and see this movie.

A perfectly beautiful, emotional, well acted gem of a film. Whatever format. I don’t think it matters anymore (streaming, broadcast, etc) anyway. A movie is a movie. At home or in the theaters. Many don’t even have luxury to go to theater due to many things, so even if it weren’t these times, having alt means is win for consumers at least.

This is that movie that comes along maybe once, if we’re lucky, every few years. This leaps to head of pack of all around great well made movies. This was a master class in everything enjoyable about said movies.

Simply divine.

Hulu

It was ok but not great

One character who I thought was maybe rich was driving a CLA Mercedes the cheap Mercedes?

I own this on Blu-ray

I know it got terrible reviews but i liked this movie.

Maybe it looks like a horror movie that fooled people off but is actually a murder crime thriller.

Stephen Dorff chewed up the scenery and he should be in theatrical movies and don't understand how he got stuck in B movies unless he was difficult to work with.

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 - kind of fun slasher flick in the style of 70s/80s classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. Nothing really special about it, but it has a couple of good death scenes. I'll probably watch part 2 tonight.

Goodfellas - This one is interesting. I know there's always kind of a "subset" that's like Goodfellas vs. The Godfather, and for me, personally, I'm always a Godfather freak. I know they're totally different movies, with The Godfather offering a more up-down approach, while Goodfellas is a more down-up approach, but they both have merits. And it's not like I dislike Goodfellas (I love the movie, even though, in truth I actually prefer Casino, which I know is not the most popular opinion).Maybe part of it is because I had to write a gigantic paper in University where I had to discuss the parallels between The Godfather Parts I and II and Machiavelli, but I have just always preferred Coppola's epic movies. I still love Scorsese, and man do I love Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, After Hours, etc. but I still always compare Goodfellas to The Godfather, for better or worse. Anyway, still love the movie, and I actually watched it three times today. Once regular, the second with the primary commentary (where a lot of the snippets are taken from the various documentaries on the disc, and the third time with the "Cops and Robbers" commentary with the actual Henry Hill and the FBI agent that arrested him). All great viewings. I really got to love the movie even more. Where would it range on my Scorsese list of best films? Well, I still like several of the before-mentioned movies more, but it's heads and tails above stuff like The Departed (which I've always kind of viewed as a "pop movie") and The Irishman (just way too f**king long, although the source material was great, and could've made a great movie; and seeing Pesci again was awesome)...Hell, I actually kind of prefer Mean Streets to this one, but they're both classics, in my mind...Sorry to sound long-winded...Just found out I'm once again "on call" tomorrow, so I'll probably end up waking up at 6:30 AM only to not even get called in tomorrow...Such is life...

Would You Rather? IFC+ Streaming
Jefferey Combs, Brittany Snow. Directed by David Guy Levy. 2012
Desperate to help her ailing brother, a young woman unknowingly agrees to compete in a deadly game of "Would You Rather," hosted by a sadistic aristocrat.

A tense, grueling film with a good performance from Combs as the villain; it might be considered a bit of type-casting, but he still manages to give it a little something "more". Some scenes will make you wince, others will have you wondering if there’s any escape for the characters. It's tough to watch and very effective.


A Walk Among The Tombstones HBO Max
Liam Neesen, Dan Stevens. Directed by Scott Frank.
Alcoholic private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.

An old friend and I shared an appreciation of the Crime novels of Lawrence Block. However, he liked Block’s light-hearted "Bernie Rodenbarr" books while I enjoyed the much-darker "Mathew Scudder" series. My friend’s heart was broken when they adapted the Rhodenbarr character into a Whoopi Goldberg Comedy. A Scudder novel was adapted into "Eight Million Ways To Die" and now "Tombstones". Liam Neesen does good work here, -he really creates a character, and -unlike some of his annual Action films, -his physical scenes are credible. Scott Frank does a nice job of building a gritty slow-burn Detective story. It's probably a bit too long, and there's too much focus given to a homeless kid to make Scudder more sympathetic. Still, I enjoyed the film nonetheless.


The Guest Tubi Streaming
Dan Stevens. Directed by Adam Wingard
A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

I had read that Second Sight was releasing a 4K UHD of the film in the UK and that provoked me to revisit the film. I really enjoyed the first half of the film, -in which Stevens infiltrates the family in a very Hitchcockian way. The second half is a bit more of a conventional Action film heavy on the carnage, but overall, it worked for me.

Adam Wingard is making "King Kong" movies these days.