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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Nov 25, 2020 23:14:48 GMT -5
Hell Hole aka Escape from Hell Hole A late 70s WIP movie. Standard fare for the genre. The version I watched was off a Video Asia "Grindhouse Horrors" set. Looks like they took an ancient ex-rental VHS,projected that on a wall.Filmed thi projection and transfered that to DVD. Girl from out in the countryside gets recruited by her "aunt". THinking she is gonna get a better life. Nope she is gonna be used as a group of mercenaries plaything. Full of exactly what you expect from a Women in Prison movie. Sadly this appears to be the only digital release of the film. Yeah those Video Asia releases can be brutal. I’ve read multiple reviews saying they were transferred from old VHS rentals and watching releases myself I don’t think that’s hyperbole. I think that’s just fact. The worst Video Asia release I’ve seen was subtitled and the subtitles disappear into the bottom of the frame for about an hour of the movie. Another movie I have after it ends there is about five minutes of VHS snow after the movie ends. I don’t know why the distributor couldn’t splurge and get one decent VHS to transfer for some decent copies or have literally any amount of quality control. Like with this release some of the stuff is so obscure there just aren’t any other DVD versions out there so they’d probably sell decently if they were just regular VHS transfers. Also, I have no idea how the copyright is handled there. It seems like some grey market shit, but Amazon and all the other big sellers carry their stuff.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 26, 2020 0:11:33 GMT -5
#333 - Now You See Me
*Blu-Ray
I was disappointed with this when I first saw it due to not liking the ending. I still don't really dig the twist but the ride to get there is a lot of fun. The magic is cool and it's pretty exciting throughout. [***½]
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Post by bibboid on Nov 26, 2020 1:27:52 GMT -5
68. Christmas Chronicles 2
A fun holiday movie. Not quite as good as the first one but still pretty good. They introduced the antagonist at the very start but they waited half an hour to explain who he was and what his deal was. I liked the airport musical portion even though the song wasn’t as good as the first movie’s. And why the hell do they keep putting Tyrese Gibson in movies when the guy is such a terrible actor?
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,168
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Post by agent817 on Nov 26, 2020 1:27:55 GMT -5
187. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw - Watched this on Blu Ray. So I am a week removed from completing my Fast & Furious marathon and decided to watch this tonight instead. No matter, after all, it is a standalone spin-off. Anyway, I remember enjoying this a lot when I saw it in theaters last year. I got this as a Christmas gift last year and it still holds up. The Rock (I know he's Dwayne Johnson, but dammit he'll always be The Rock to me!) and Jason Statham had great chemistry and had some funny sequences with the bickering. Vanessa Kirby was badass in her role, and of course easy on the eyes. Idris Elba was great as the main villain. A lot of the action may be over the top, but as a standalone sequel, I could see that they really tried to separate from the F&F series (Yes, I know it's still connected, but it also feels different in a lot of ways) and it worked. I marked out at some bits like referencing the People's Eyebrow, as well as Roman Reigns doing a Spear and Samoan Drop during the big fight sequence. It was definitely over-the-top, but aside from the chain bit during the climactic chase, it's about as over-the-top as the more recent Mission: Impossible movies were. Definitely a fun thrill ride.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Nov 26, 2020 4:42:09 GMT -5
321. Violent Shit III: Infantry of Doom/Zombie Doom *DVD* I watched this a few weeks ago but I bought the entire Violent Shit series boxes set so I had no problem watching it again. I wanted to see how the story unwove itself. And the versions on the boxed set have the original German audio and English subtitles rather than a dubbed English audio track. As far as I can tell though the dialogue is the same in both versions. This one does try to have a story and a plot. It was probably best that I watched this first a few weeks ago and then the first to because those two are better. Not to say this one isn’t violent as hell. It’s just a lot slower than the other two, thanks to the attempted plot. I prefer the artsy mindless killing and the mindless mindless killing of the first two. This has a comical tone to it as well. Some intended, some inadvertent. There’s some ridiculous kills; like the ninja who flys through a sword and gets cut in half from head to toe, or the other ninja who gets a knife through the head then his head is kicked off and it impales a third ninja. It’s got a higher kill count than the first two. Basically it became an ultra-graphic action movie for this one. If you like gore you’re still in for a treat with this one. But I’d watch this one before the first two because this is lesser thanks to the tone. If I wanted story I’d read a book. But when I want violent shit I watch Violent Shit.
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Post by Triangle Lancer on Nov 26, 2020 14:38:36 GMT -5
Knew I forgot a couple, but saw Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. And that Showtime John Belushi special. Saw that Tuesday. Reminded me I never saw Animal House.
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Post by bibboid on Nov 26, 2020 20:17:08 GMT -5
69. Enola Holmes
Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister goes in search of their missing mother and uncovers a mystery surrounding a noble family. Well done and very entertaining. I’m sure there will be a sequel (which I will definitely watch)
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Nov 26, 2020 22:06:25 GMT -5
223. Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (1992) 224. Wakko's Wish (1999) 225. Yogi Bear (2010)So when this was first coming out I saw the trailer for it, and despite the fact that I didn't think the trailer was anything even remotely good, for some reason I was interested in the movie. Then the movie got released and I completely slept on it. Don't even remember it in theaters at all. And honestly for the longest time I thought I imagined the trailer in the first place. Then awhile back I saw it was on Netflix streaming and decided to save it to my list and watch it later. Then I completely forgot about it again. Today, while I was futzing around on Netflix streaming, I saw I still had it in my list and also saw it was leaving the service at the end of the month, so I figured it was now or never. So this was ok... ish. Yogi and Boo Boo were funny at times, the humans not so much, and the story came together about as well as it could by the end. This had no business being a theatrical release, but honestly it's not completely worthless as a "turn off your brain and kill an hour and twenty minutes" movie.
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,168
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Post by agent817 on Nov 26, 2020 23:14:58 GMT -5
188. xXx (2002) - Watched this on DVD. I remember at one point I had a love/hate relationship with this movie. In some ways, I still kind of do, but as long as I don't take it seriously, I still have fun with it. Keep this in mind, this was only a year after The Fast and the Furious, so this was at the time when Vin Diesel was on the rise, and Rob Cohen directed this one, too.
While the movie was clearly of its time, with the nu-metal soundtrack and its extreme sports theme, not to mention pandering to a teenage audience, the movie does deliver on the stunts and action. Some could look at it has paying homage to James Bond, or trying to be all extreme (making it show its age), it's still a fun film, even though it was cheesy with some cringeworthy dialogue and its attempts to seem hip. At the end of the day, I can still enjoy the film in a guilty pleasure sort of way.
189. xXx: State of the Union - Watched this on DVD. I am aware that this movie was panned back when it came out, whether talking about the visual effects, or even Ice Cube taking over the lead. I personally never minded this movie. Okay, so I am well aware of how dodgy the visual effects were, and also the ridiculousness of certain scenes (for example, Ice Cube jumping onto a helicopter's skids, or even the car chasing the bullet train). This movie epitomizes the term "guilty pleasure." I can totally see why people hate this movie, but I can't hate this movie myself. I also liked how Samuel L. Jackson played a bigger role in this one as opposed to the predecessor. So in the end, it's a guilty pleasure for me.
190. Home Alone - Watched it on Disney+. I grew up on this movie and after 30 years (I even saw it in theaters), I still love this movie. It's a timeless classic.
Repeated viewing: The Grinch (2018) - I already gave my take on it in this thread.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 26, 2020 23:34:58 GMT -5
#334 - Happiest Season
*Hulu
A pretty great time. It's refreshing to see a Christmas movie that focuses on a lesbian relationship and handles it with care. There are serious issues tackled and it has some funny moments to level it out. Things might wrap up a bit too neatly but I get it in this kind of film. Stewart and Davis are great together but the show stealers are Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy. [****]
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Nov 27, 2020 4:38:06 GMT -5
322. Violent Shit 4: Karl the Butcher vs. Axe *DVD* Karl is brought back from hell to kill a new threat “Axe” in the year 2029. But he meets a bunch of Mad Max-esc resistance along the way. They fight for maybe two minutes at the beginning before deciding to join forces, eventually learning (in one of the most emotionally charged scenes I’ve seen in my life) that they are indeed father and son. I was in tears. It was as impactful as Vader’s revelation to Luke. The comedy is amped up in this instalment and the gore was actually a little less. It was still very violent but all tongue-in-cheek this time. It was filmed in English and in 2010. Still directly on video but it looks much more modern. And the women shaved their armpits in this one. Speaking of the women; there’s one extremely hot girl named Eleanor James who looks a lot like “professional wrestler” Peyton Royce. And she takes her top off. All said and done it was the weakest of the original Violent Shit movies (the fifth one was just a homage) but still an enjoyable time.
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agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,168
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Post by agent817 on Nov 27, 2020 14:45:47 GMT -5
191. xXx: Return of Xander Cage - Watched it on Blu Ray. My third and final round of the xXx triple feature. I watched it not long after I got up, and I pointlessly debated on which format to watch it in (it was either Blu Ray or Vudu; I chose Blu Ray). Anyway, this is definitely a movie that one could like or dislike. Everything is subjective, but when it comes to this movie, sometimes you can look past a lot of the flaws. I had read that for many years, this movie was in development hell as I had seen an IMDB page for it until it had been made official that it will be made. Even though I was interested in seeing it when it came out (adding to it, I saw it twice in theaters; don't ask me why), I often wondered why. Even though the first xXx made money, enough to spawn a sequel (that flopped) and it was hoped that it would become a franchise. But at the same time, was the Xander Cage character that legendary that people awaited his return after nearly a decade in a half? Small note - yes, the first film was released in 2002 and the third was released in 2017, but it was really 14 years as the first one came out in August 2002 and the third one in January 2017.
But really, the movie does have some fun stunts and action. It also felt like Vin Diesel was having fun doing this, despite that some aspects of the Xander Cage character seemed a little different than the one in the first film (I know it had been more than a decade and he could have changed, so maybe there was a reason). Also, Donnie Yen provided some entertainment in some scenes where he displayed his martial arts prowess. It was also a good thing that this film didn't try to retcon the previous films, either. However, some of the other characters that were brought in felt pointless as they weren't given a lot to do and the plot was a bit messy as we didn't know who the real villain was in the movie until more than halfway through it. In some ways, it seemed like Vin Diesel tried to do the Fast & Furious formula with the whole "family" or crew aspect, ergo the additional characters.
In the end, though, I had fun with it. I found it to be pretty passable and I had read that there may be a fourth film, but even I am not so sure if that could work. We shall see if it'll even happen.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Nov 27, 2020 19:04:46 GMT -5
226. The Pirate Fairy (2014)So I return to Weird and Obscure Disney+ looking to investigate a franchise I've never had anything to do with before, the Tinker Bell DTV's. Once upon a time there was a fairy named Zarina. Zarina felt very constricted by the traditional norms and taboos of fairy culture. So she did the only thing a fairy could do in such a situation, she turned to dark, unholy science. After one of her experiments goes wrong and does a good amount of property damage, she flees fairy society as an outcast. A year later she returns, looking for vengeance. She has thrown in with a pirate crew and wants the pixie dust for more experiments, and only Tinker Bell and a few of her friends can stop her. You know, for a movie designed for eight year old girls, this was surprisingly fun. And I'm honestly really sorry that the pirates wound up turning on Zarina and she reconciled with the fairies at the end. An evil, mad scientist fairy is an amazing story idea that I would've loved to have seen explored further.
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Post by bibboid on Nov 27, 2020 20:05:47 GMT -5
70. RED
Old retired spies are being executed and fight back. Bruce Willis is a tough guy. John Malkovitch is John Malkovitch. Helen Mirren fires a variety of automatic weapons. I love this movie.
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 27, 2020 23:37:05 GMT -5
#335 - Almost Famous
*Prime
There's a lot to like here. The story was good, there was great acting from top to bottom, and there was more heart than you'd probably expect. I can't believe it took me so long to watch this. [****]
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Post by bibboid on Nov 28, 2020 0:47:58 GMT -5
71. Get Santa
When Santa crashes his sleigh and gets arrested, a young boy and his ex-con father have to break him out of prison and save Christmas. Jim Broadbent is a skinny but passable Santa. The only thing better than...um...how the reindeer communicate is Oswald the magic squirrel.
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adamclark52
El Dandy
I'm one with the Force; the Force is with me
Posts: 8,139
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Post by adamclark52 on Nov 28, 2020 5:50:44 GMT -5
323. Toxic Zombies *DVD* A bunch of hippies are illegally growing marijuana in a forest so the government decides to hire a redneck with a crop duster to dust their field with some experimental stuff or something. You know where this is going. It looks the part and it sounds the part. The acting is terrible. The sound effects are terrible. The script is surprisingly more believable than some other zombie movies. The zombies are kinda scary looking but that’s because they cast real ugly hippies and rednecks. It really lacks a lead character. “Tom” may be the lead? He seems more concerned with sex than anything. Or maybe the zombies themselves are the stars? Given what I usually watch that doesn’t bother me too much. What does suck is that the gore and overall violence level is really low. Thankfully it offsets that with some really dated jokes and characters that wouldn’t fly in today’s environment.
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Post by Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster on Nov 28, 2020 15:15:41 GMT -5
77 The Killing Of America (1981) 78 Dead End Drive-In (1986) 79 Fatman (2020) 80 The Comeback Trail (2020)
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Post by burdette25159 on Nov 28, 2020 21:48:29 GMT -5
88: Psycho (1960) *****
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Nov 28, 2020 23:36:25 GMT -5
#336 - Terminator: Dark Fate
*Prime
Easily the best of the series since the original two. It's not quite up to the level of those but it delivers a pretty strong action flick with some cool moments and a decent plot. [***]
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