BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Wants him some Taco Flavored Kisses.
Posts: 16,956
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Post by BRV on Mar 22, 2024 10:21:56 GMT -5
Watched "Late Night with the Devil" last night. I'd say it was a solid 3/5.
It's entertaining and does a great job of dropping you into a universe and familiarizing the viewer with everything that's going on without needlessly long exposition. It also perfectly recreates the 1970s late night television aesthetic, and it relies more on practical effects than CGI, which will always get a thumbs-up from me.
That said, while it excels at building a sense of dread over the first 75 or so minutes but really drops the ball in the final 15. It's like watching a football team have a methodical 12-play drive that gets them inside the 5-yard-line, then they throw three straight incompletions and have to settle for a field goal. Like, yeah, it ultimately worked, but you just wanted more in the end.
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,250
Member is Online
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Post by agent817 on Mar 22, 2024 19:02:08 GMT -5
48. The Forever Purge - Watched this on Blu-ray. Here I am in the final movie of the franchise (at least until Universal decides to do another). I had heard some negative comments about it, so I went in with not the highest of expectations. However, I was a little surprised that I enjoyed that I enjoyed this for a lot of the carnage and action scenes. However, I did have some gripes with it.
The first thing I would like to say is that I liked the changes in scenery and also time settings. Rather than be in the middle of the city like "Anarchy," "Election Year," or "The First Purge," this was out in the countryside. I also was intrigued with the chaos taking place in the middle of daylight, too. So that was a nice change of pace. I also realized that one of the main characters was the nun from "Nacho Libre." She was a badass in this film.
However, while I have noticed that the series has heavy political themes and social commentary, they weren't being subtle in a lot of the themes with this one. I thought some of the racism in the previous film ("The First Purge") was a bit much, but here, I would say there was a bit more here with the immigration stuff. When I saw a pregnant woman as a character, I figured what would happen towards the end. It's nothing I haven't seen before.
But really, complaints aside, I still had fun. If I were to rank the films, I would go like this. The Purge: Anarchy The Purge: Election Year The First Purge The Forever Purge The Purge
Now I don't dislike the first film. It was okay, but I just feel like there could have been more than just the focus on Ethan Hawke's character's family and the home invasion.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,430
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 22, 2024 19:25:16 GMT -5
37-Texas Chain Saw Massacre-4k Disc
Best movie ever made. THE SAW IS FAMILY!!
10 Franklins rolling down the hill with a coffee can of pee pee out of 10
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Mar 22, 2024 23:00:09 GMT -5
#125 - Under Pressure: The U.S. Women's World Cup Team (Netflix)
*1st Viewing
A very well made docuseries on the great US Women's Soccer team that covers the players, the potential end of an era, scandals, and more. [****]
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Mar 23, 2024 9:08:43 GMT -5
Rented The Iron Claw this morning. My early review
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,430
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 23, 2024 11:31:47 GMT -5
38-My Best friend is a vampire-Vestron Video Blu Ray
Very forgettable teen horror/comedy. Guessing this has a cult following. Why else would Vestron bother putting this out.
5.8 nerdy band women out of 10
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Post by I'm Team Bayley and Indi on Mar 23, 2024 13:19:29 GMT -5
123. The Cannonball Run (1981) - fun all star comedy with cool stunts I've loved since I was a kid. Ending doesn't make sense considering they make note at the beginning of the race you need to punch in to record time. Jack Elam and Roger Moore steal the show for me. 124. Cannonball Run II (1984) - if you didn't like the first one you ain't liking this, it's more of the same but not a bad thing to me. 125. Private School (1983) - watched this because I love Phoebe Cates. Male characters for the most part of grating. 126. Falling Down (1993) - really tense, a career best for Michael Douglas.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Mar 23, 2024 13:24:51 GMT -5
47. Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996) 48. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)I decided to take a trip to the theater on this very rainy Saturday to see this. Why? Because I bought my ticket in advance and had no idea it was gonna rain so hard today. The theater was about half full, which is pretty good for a Saturday matinee showing. A lot of kids at it too. So I want to say this about Afterlife, it had its issues, it was really slow at times, the re-appearance of the original Ghostbusters at the end felt awkward, and while it felt like an 80's movie, it didn't so much like Ghostbusters as much as something like The Goonies. That said, while I was hard on it when I first saw it, I've grown to appreciate it. I don't think I'm gonna appreciate this as much. To continue The Goonies comparison, it would be like if they made a sequel to The Goonies set only a year or two after the original, but now Mikey and the gang are professional treasure hunters with government funding. All the wonder of a bunch of kids stumbling into an almost mystical adventure is gone, and now it's just a job. There's some fun stuff here and there. Mckenna Grace was great again, and I particularly liked her interaction with the ghost girl Melody (honestly the movie should've been about those two on a buddy adventure together), but it all gets bogged down in extraneous crap and unnecessary characters, including Bill Murray who was obviously just there to collect a paycheck. It's not horrible, but it's not as good as Afterlife (and definitely not as good as the 1984 movie), and I'm not seeing how it will grow on me like Afterlife did.
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Post by bibboid on Mar 23, 2024 19:39:35 GMT -5
12. Robin Hood: Men in Tights
It is a great movie but I can’t get over the several 80’s pop culture jokes that were barely funny then and are just kind of stupid now.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Mar 23, 2024 22:12:55 GMT -5
47. Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996) 48. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) 49. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001)I try not to watch YouTube movies on the weekend. Largely because YouTube is pretty much the only streaming site I can get on my work computer so I'd rather save those movies for dead times at the office. But I started watching this at work last week then got really busy so couldn't finish it until now. Wikipedia says this is another Direct-to-Video film, but I remember it as a TV movie. Serving as a loose pilot for the 2003 Sci Fi Channel TV series, this brings the action back to Perfection Valley, Nevada, and is also the first movie to feature Burt Gummer as the main protagonist and face of the franchise. Nancy, Mindy, Miguel and Melvin all return from the original movie as well. It also introduces the next stage in the Graboid life cycle, the Ass-Blaster. I really enjoyed this one and thought it was a strong improvement over the second movie. The Graboids got much more focus here. They look much better this time around, although whole ones still look a little stiff and unnatural when popping out of the ground. The associated effects like the tentacles and moving dirt look great though. I'm not huge on the "Ass-Blaster" idea, but they looked good in this. Fun story too, with Michael Gross at his finest. One of the better films of the franchise.
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mystermystery
Dennis Stamp
Still in the White Hummer
Posts: 4,383
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Post by mystermystery on Mar 23, 2024 22:14:09 GMT -5
71. THE CROW: SALVATION (2OOO) Upon seeing the trailers for the seeming Undead John Wick take of The Crow series, I decided to revisit the sequels to the original film and managed to immediately mess up and watch the third one first. It was made better when I realized the man playing The Crow in this version would go on to be Oliver in the incredibly long running "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" series and movies for Hallmark. So, seeing him decked out all goth but taking the time from his bloody revenge to tell a young stripper with track marks that she only gets one life was a trip.
This is fine. Fred Ward puts in effort and Kirsten Dunst is good.
72. THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS (1996) The original sequel that is essentially the same story but with a bunch of musicians thrown in (Iggy Pop is having a time as a henchman) and a lot of incredible imagery. Really enjoyed this one.
73. THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER (2005) If the original Crow is a dark and gritty graphic novel then this is the special edition comic book where Godzilla fights Charles Barkley. The Crow, played by Edward Furlong looking like a Peewee Herman who let life beat him down, is battling against a gang of criminals who refer to themselves as the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (with Tito Ortiz as the bat wielding Famine, Tank from the Matrix as the shotgun blasting War, Chozen from the Karate Kid series as the peyote packing Pestilence, and Angel/Bones's own David Boreanaz as Death with Tara Reid as...the girl who is with them, who is essentially Boreanaz's Harley Quinn) who are on a mission to bring Satan to earth. Yes. This movie is about The Crow vs. The Devil and also features Danny Trejo as a Native American Christian Preacher, Dennis Hopper as a slang speaking brothel owner with Macy Gray as his main girl, and Daymond John from Shark Tank as a comedic relief "virgin sacrifice" character.
This. Thing. Is. NUTS.
74. BONE COLD (2023) Two military snipers are sent on a top secret mission to kill a Russian leader trying to go rogue and start even more nonsense in Ukraine but one dude keeps hearing noises like a growling monster and the military is real sketchy about the team that had the job before them. Feels like it's going to be a Predator rip-off but goes off in a more 'message' path near the end.
Makes its point loud and clear.
75. A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) I've seen this one a few times now. Slightly dense waiter Walter wants to be an artist like his beatnik friends but he's not that talented...but it's really easy to just put clay on top of dead things, ya dig?
Rewatched as Part of Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show on Shudder. A special tribute show to Roger Corman's "first" 70 years in movie making.
76. DEATHSTALKER (1983) Sword and Sorcerer, the Roger Corman way...which means a lot of breasts and well shot cheap costumes.
Second part of the Joe Bob special.
77. PRO LIFE (2006) John Carpenter's 2nd season Master of Horrors story about the daughter of a religious zealot who rushes to an abortion clinic and begs for one while her father and brothers prepare to raid the place under "God"s orders.
The second season of MoH showed the limited budgets a lot more than the first and this one is carried by Ron Perlman as the zealot. Cigarette Burns is still top tier, though.
78. BLAST (1997) Linden Ashby (Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat) stars as an ex-convict, recovering alcoholic, former Tae Kwon Dao competitor now turned janitor who has to be the John McClaine of a Die Hard situation when a Hans Gruber type played by Andrew "Wishmaster" Divoff takes an Olympic swim team hostage. Directed by Albert Pyun.
Honestly, it plays things a lot straighter than it should. Not nearly any punchlines until Rutger Hauer appears during the final ten minutes (He spends most of the movie in a room but gets a ride to the 'movie' for the ending) for the explosive finale.
This film is more enjoyable if you imagine it's actually a Johnny Cage movie where you know he thought he had a chance at "acting" awards for it.
79. BLOWBACK (2023) I made a mistake. I saw Randy Couture on the thumbnail and thought "I wonder how he'd do in his own movie" and then it wasn't his movie and then I watched the actual movie and I...was disappointed.
A "master thief" gets betrayed and has to manage not getting arrested by the cops, murdered by the mob, or rekilled by his team...oh, and his daughter is sick and that's why he needed to...I don't even care. This was a bummer.
80. DEAN KOONTZ'S BLACK RIVER (2001) Jay Mohr is looking for a new place to live and stumbles onto a small town that is controlled by a sentient technology calling itself Pericles, that can be benevolent or wrathful depending on how it judges your actions. Mohr is left trying to escape while the AI tries to mold him into a 'good citizen.'
I found this one by searching Bill Dow's Letterboxd page. He plays the head of the clinic in Pro-Life and then I saw he was in a Dean Koontz movie and so I tracked it down.
Essentially a proto-Black Mirror or perhaps a later series Outer Limits.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Mar 23, 2024 22:38:57 GMT -5
#126 - The Iron Claw (Vudu)
*1st Viewing
Every bit as crushing as you'd expect. The final line was devastating and the performances in this are fantastic. [****½]
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,250
Member is Online
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Post by agent817 on Mar 24, 2024 0:42:32 GMT -5
49. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - Saw this in theaters. I had read that this movie was panned by critics, but loved by fans. Personally, I don't always have to rely on movie critics to see if something is worth watching. I have liked all the Ghostbusters movies thus far (yes, even the 2016 film), so I decided to see this for myself.
I did not revisit "Afterlife" before seeing this film. I might watch it soon, but until then, I might just give my take on this one. I felt it was a little slow in some areas, but I liked how there was some focus on Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd, while also focusing on McKenna Grace's character arc. I liked how there was another ghost character and that there was a friendship between the two. I would have liked for there to be more to their friendship, but I had a feeling that it was going to lead to an important plot element. I liked how some of the other "Afterlife" characters were brought back and that there was an explanation for them being in this film. Then you have some nostalgia bits, which some were fine, but then some made me think, "Did they really need to do that?"
Of course, I still had fun with the film. I can't complain about the performances and the climactic battle wasn't so bad. However, there were still some issues with this film.
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Post by bibboid on Mar 24, 2024 7:42:33 GMT -5
13. Kingsman: The Secret Service
A fun little action flick. British tailor/spies save the world from a lisping American billionaire. The plot is rather silly. The fight scenes are very well done. The exploding head scene (set to “Pomp and Circumstance”) is genius. I will definitely go see the sequel.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,430
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 24, 2024 10:38:19 GMT -5
73. THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER (2005) If the original Crow is a dark and gritty graphic novel then this is the special edition comic book where Godzilla fights Charles Barkley. The Crow, played by Edward Furlong looking like a Peewee Herman who let life beat him down, is battling against a gang of criminals who refer to themselves as the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (with Tito Ortiz as the bat wielding Famine, Tank from the Matrix as the shotgun blasting War, Chozen from the Karate Kid series as the peyote packing Pestilence, and Angel/Bones's own David Boreanaz as Death with Tara Reid as...the girl who is with them, who is essentially Boreanaz's Harley Quinn) who are on a mission to bring Satan to earth. Yes. This movie is about The Crow vs. The Devil and also features Danny Trejo as a Native American Christian Preacher, Dennis Hopper as a slang speaking brothel owner with Macy Gray as his main girl, and Daymond John from Shark Tank as a comedic relief "virgin sacrifice" character. This. Thing. Is. NUTS. Last year over a long weekend we did a comic book movie marathon. Started the Birds of Prey movie,really good,then did The Spirit,pile of crap,then ended with Crow Wicked Prayer. Now I had just gotten each for a buck at the Pawn Shop,with Birds of Prey and Spirit still being sealed,and for a buck I felt like Crow Wicked Prayer was damn good. Ya it was dumb, and Edward Furlong looked like Jan Michael Vincent in Xtro III. Felt like Tara Reid was wasted the entire movie,not in as not used as in drunk or high. 38-Dawn of the Dead Extended Mall Hours cut-Bootleg Blu Ray This is hte longest version of the original DOTD out there. Someone took all the footage in every cut and merged it all into one cut. No clue where I got this bootleg from. Thinking it was sent to me.Pretty sure this cut is still on Yt. If you are a DOTD this is the cut to see. 8.9 Screwdrivers to the ear out of 10.
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Post by stevescorpio on Mar 24, 2024 17:45:40 GMT -5
50. The Black Phone (2021) 51. Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) 52. The Menu (2022) 53. Nope (2022) 54. Smile (2022) 55. X (2022)
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Mar 24, 2024 21:48:32 GMT -5
#127 - Dream Scenario (Max)
*1st Viewing
A weird, creative, thought-provoking movie from start to finish anchored by Nicolas Cage at his very best. [****]
#128 - Obsessed (YouTube)
*1st Viewing
If Letterboxd is gonna count this music video as a movie, then so will I. Olivia Rodrigo is unbelievably talented. [****½]
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Mar 25, 2024 14:12:02 GMT -5
48. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) 49. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) 50. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)And the Tremors story continues on with this prequel. For those not familiar, in the Old West Burt's prim and gun shy Great-Grandfather, Hiram Gummer, arrives at the future site of Perfection Valley, then known as Rejection, Nevada, to reluctantly assist the locals in dealing with a Graboid attack. It also includes a memorable appearance by Billy Drago as a hired gunfighter. Slow at times, and it takes a bit to get going, it's over-all a fun little movie.
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Post by I'm Team Bayley and Indi on Mar 26, 2024 2:36:09 GMT -5
127. Multiplicity (1996) - Michael Keaton gets cloned, enough funny moments. 128. 28 Days (2000) - feels like it doesn't reach it's full potential, but there is enough memorable characters here and I enjoyed the Loudon Wainwright III sounds (reference to 28 Days Later goes here and pretend I'm the first to do it)
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,430
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 26, 2024 14:40:17 GMT -5
39-Malum-Terror Vision Blu ray
Never heard of this movie. It is a horror movie that got a limited release last year. Young cop agrees to spend the night in an abandoned police station to watch it. She is doing this it investigate a cult attack on the station that happened years ago.
Never would bought this,but found it odd a Terror Vision Blu ray was getting released to big box stores. So took a chance. And glad I did.
Very tense and keeps you guessing till tthe end.
7.8 bloody pigs out of 10
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