DWilson

A friend of mine has ordered the boxset from Severin ("The Game of Clones") that features the documentary and 15 films featuring Bruce Lee "clones". I wish I could afford it.

JANK

JeffTheAlpaca

Starz

2021

"Nick Newell, a one-armed MMA fighter, gets a rare chance to fight for the lightweight championship. He strives to win for himself and all the other people in the world with physical challenges."

Not a good sign when the poster says "From a producer of such and such"

It was not bad though cheesy and full of cliches and a running time of 90 minutes and I am not a MMA fan but the fight scenes were decent and based on a true story.

Elizabeth Rohm played his MILF mom.

DWilson

Jackie Chan's First Strike Warner Bros. Blu-Ray
Jackie Chan. Directed by Stanley Tong. 1996
When members of the Russian Mafia pose as KGB agents to steal a nuclear missile, the CIA calls on Hong Kong Inspector "Jackie" to stop them.

This is New Line's re-edited, re-scored and re-dubbed version of "Police Story 4". Jackie Chan provides his own voice for the English dub, and that really sells the film. As you would expect, there are several comic Action scenes, and "First Strike" is at its best when Jackie is working with offbeat props like ladders and brooms and the occasional snowmobile. It's a slick production and quite entertaining, but if it were any lighter, it would just float away.

JeffTheAlpaca

Amazon Prime

It got bad reviews but I liked it though I am a sucker for anything with Brian Cox and he was a producer and probably this movie represents what he feels and thinks about politics today.

Nice to see Cena do something different with a dramatic role and not a action or comedy movie.

JeffTheAlpaca

2014

I am not a scholar of the Bible but assume a lot of stuff was exaggerated or made up?

Strange this came from Darren Aronofsky and thought maybe it would be something Roland Emmerich would do.

I thought it was ok though not a masterpiece but I thought maybe it would have more scenes with the Ark sailing across the water since it was a long movie.

DWilson

The Devil's 8 Kino Lorber Blu-Ray
Christopher George. Directed by Burt Topper. 1969
Federal Agent infiltrates a prison chain gang and helps six hardened convicts escape in order to build a team to take down villainous crime boss running moonshine.

"The Devil's 8" is a low budget "B" Movie aimed squarely at the Southern Drive-In Market. Christopher George does a fine job as the "Discount Lee Marvin" of this not-quite-a-"Dirty Dozen". The rest of the cast is familiar supporting actors of the time doing yeomen wok. John Milius, along with Willard Huyck, did a quick re-write of the script. It's pretty much by-the-numbers, but it's an entertaining slice of Redneck Cinema.

DJariya

Just rent or buy the digital for the documentary. It's not expensive and worth it IMO.

kahuna

The Idea of You (2024) - Prime

kahuna

Unfrosted (2024) - Netflix

DWilson

Mean Girls Paramount Blu-Ray
Angourie Rice. Directed by Samantha Jayne, Arturo Perez, Jr. 2024
Cady Heron is a hit with the Plastics, an A-list girl clique at her new school, and she makes mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic, Regina George.

This is the adaptation of the "Mean Girls" Broadway Musical. Of course, the trailers didn't seem to want you to know that, and some movie-goers got quite a surprise. It definitely is a full-out singing-and-dancing Musical from the first minute, which was fine with me. Some of the songs are clever, and the performances are quite dynamic and well-choreographed. However, the non-musical scenes had the low-key vibe of Tina Fey's sitcom productions (which is fine, but not for this type of movie). Australian actress Angourie Rice continues to impress me, reminding me a bit of Rose McIver. I wasn't all that engaged with the rest of the cast, but I'm not the audience "Mean Girls" was aimed at. After about an hour, the film felt really long to me.

DWilson

Nobody Universal 4K
Bob Odenkirk. Directed by Ilya Naishuller. 2021
A docile family man slowly reveals his true character after his house gets burgled by two petty thieves, which, coincidentally, leads him into a bloody war with a Russian crime boss.

I went into this expecting more of a "Vigilante" movie, with an average guy pushed too far taking on street crime. I've always loved those films. Instead, "Nobody" is an outlandish story about a suburban schlub rediscovering his long buried violent side after a chance encounter with the Russian mob. Bob Odenkirk, -who physically trained for several years for this role, -is very convincing, and keeps the film compelling. The Final Act involves a major firefight that brings in Christopher Lloyd and RZA, and while it leans a little more into Dark Comedy, I couldn't help but smile.

Cellar Door

The Name of the Rose (1986) - Sean Connery stars as a medieval Franciscan monk visiting an Italian monastery and investigating a series of unusual deaths with his apprentice played by a very young Christian Slater. Kind of a weird movie. The monks of the abbey are mostly portrayed as a bunch of creepy oddballs, which, fair enough. There is a 'reveal' midway through that is kind of cool. Connery and Slater have a decent paternalistic chemistry, and Connery's character is an interesting Sherlock Holmes-ian derivative. The supporting cast has some recognizable names and faces, like Ron Perlman and F. Murray Abraham and that one Russian guy. A bit slow but Connery is worth the watch. And it makes me want to check out the source novel.

Mike86

The Crow- I go back and forth on this movie. I feel like a lot the reason it has such a legacy is because of Brandon Lee’s death on set. That said the movie is alright. Brandon Lee is by far the best part. Also has some pretty good kills. Overall a decent revenge story but definitely over the top and pretty dated.

DWilson

A Disturbance in the Force Vice
Directed by Jeremy Coon. 2023
Investigating the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) with the behind-the-scenes story of how it got made.

Being a fanboy, I really wanted to watch "The Star Wars Holiday Special" when it debuted in 1978, but it was my mother's birthday, and we had a small party at my grandparent's house. There were no VCRs, of course, and if you missed it, you missed it. My grandfather had a small black-and-white TV on the back porch, and I remember sneaking back there to watch the show from time-to-time. All I really remember is the "Boba Fett" cartoon, which was quite good.

George Lucas intended the special as a "perennial" like "A Charlie Brown Christmas", but he was so embarrassed by it that he tried to erase it from history. It exists only as bootlegs, as far as I know. "Disturbance" is a fun little documentary about the making of the special, and how it went so terribly wrong. After you get past the initial "History you should already know" opening portion, it's quite entertaining. It has many corny clips from the show, and a lot of archive interviews of people being embarrassed that they were in it. There's also clips of other TV shows that promoted "Star Wars" at the time, including a cringe-worthy section from the "Donny and Marie" (Osmond) Variety show (which Donny Osmond is quite proud of, no matter what he says) and Mark Hamill doing a Comedy sketch and Song-and-Dance from a Bob Hope special.

Cellar Door

FOE - a small, slow, moody, beautifully shot science fiction drama starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal. I wanted to like it more, but the story is ultimately nothing special or original. Still, Ronan is great as always and I liked the look and tone of the film.

DWilson

Auto Focus Twilight Time Blu-Ray
Greg Kinnear, Willem DaFoe. Directed by Paul Schrader. 2002
Former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict and ends in his violent murder.

An exceptional, -and exceptionally lurid, -film from Paul Schrader, which, surprisingly, he didn't write. Greg Kinnear is a good match for Bob Crane, -to my mind they have a similar on-screen persona. Kinnear also does well with his Crane's descent into the Dinner Theater-and-Hookup Hell that led to his death. Willem DaFoe is terrific as "John Carpenter" (not that one), a creepy hanger-on who was the major suspect in Bob's murder. "Auto Focus" also gives you some history of Home Video technology, since recording his sexual exploits was a consuming motivation in Bob Crane's later life.

"Auto Focus" would make a great double feature with Bob Fosse's "Star 80", but, man, you'd probably feel unclean afterwards.

JeffTheAlpaca

I liked Foe and it was not great but it passed the time and anything with Ronan I am down for.

I own Auto Focus and plan to watch it again.

It ended bad but it looked like those guys had a lot of fun

Inhumans99

Alien: Covenant - UHD

Finally caught up on all the Alien films. Wanted to watch this for several years but always putting off, but with a new film coming out and some positive comments about the cast interaction from some DVD talkers I decided a rainy Saturday afternoon was the perfect time.

I know it bombed at the box office, but it was an entertaining film and I am glad I watched. There were some gnarly scenes that were quite gory, and my gawd, could the ending be any bleaker than it was? I have seen horror films that are not as bleak this movie, lol!

DWilson

Face/Off Kino Lorber 4K
John Travolta, Nicholas Cage. Directed by John Woo. 1997
To foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery to assume the identity of the terrorist, but the criminal wakes up and seeks revenge.

John Woo's best American film! The plot is just ridiculous, -pure Popcorn Sci-Fi, -but, damn, it's just a lot of fun! The performances by Travolta, Cage, Joan Allen and the rest of the cast are far better than you usually get in such an over-the-top film. There's so much of John Woo's distinctive style crammed into "Face/Off" that it's pretty the director paying homage to himself, but that's what makes it a great '90s Action film. Kino has delivered a great-looking disc.

Mike86

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace- watched it on Disney+ for May the 4th and for the film’s twenty-fifth anniversary.

Not really a ton to say that hasn’t been said by others countless times. I have a lot of nostalgia for the movie even though it’s far from perfect.

The Duel of the Fates has to be one of the best lightsaber battles of all time and makes the film worth watching.

asianxcore

Civil War (2024)

While I enjoyed quite a bit of this film, I couldn't get over how much Cailee Spaeny & Stephen McKinley Henderson's characters felt like one-dimensional plot devices.

Wonderful performance from Kirsten Dunst.

asianxcore

Arcadian (2024)

Competently made but nothing I'll return to, as films like A Quiet Place (2018) already exist.

It was also difficult to appreciate the odd creatures in the film due to how dark the cinematography was at times.

JeffTheAlpaca

It was not bad but not great either

Jake Gyllenhaal films are a must see for me so I might be biased.

JeffTheAlpaca

Amazon Prime

2018

"After nearly dying in a car accident, the last thing Oregon slacker John Callahan intends to do is give up alcohol. Encouraged by his girlfriend and a charismatic sponsor, Callahan reluctantly enters a treatment program and discovers that he has a knack for drawing. The budding artist soon finds himself with a new lease on life when his edgy and irreverent newspaper cartoons gain a national and devoted following."


Joaquin gave a good performance but then again he never gives a bad performance.