Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Alex]

I know in Mega Python Vs Gateroid her and Debbie Gibson drop the odd song lyric during conversations.

[Rev. Powell]

CRUMB CATCHER (2023): Newlyweds are forced to endure a won't-take-no-for-an-answer sales pitch from a waiter obsessed with a worthless invention. John Speredakos, who's like a cross between Richard Kind and Vincent Schiavelli, sells this strangely-conceived thriller as the entrepreneur who's somewhere on the spectrum--the spectrum that runs from autism to psychopathy. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Scam (1993) - I follow this guy on twitter who posts "obscure youtube of the day"s this was the latest one. Christopher Walken and Lorraine Bracco smoke tons of cigarettes in Miami and are both scam artists, she on a more basic sort of give rich guys knockout pills level and he all involved in government and computer disks and so forth. I liked the decadent atmosphere, but it took 3 nights to watch. Not sure exactly what was missing but it was. I don't watch a lot of gangster stuff and wasn't that familiar with Bracco she's hot.

3.25 / 5

[M.10rda]

TRAP (2024):
Consensus opinions appear mixed-to-negative on the newest Shyamalan. I paid $20 to stream it (the same I would've paid if we'd made it to the nearest theater to watch it, but it was in and out in a single week, I think) and I'd say that was a fair price. A complaint I've seen a few times is that there's no traditional Shyamalan twist - or that the "twist" (which comes 15-ish minutes in) is obvious from the trailer. That's a fair cop, but I'm okay with Shyamalan making taut DePalma-style thrillers instead of putting all his chips into a single surprise reveal that will have limited rewatch value. If nothing else, the TRAP trailer promised a single location potboiler at a concert and, if you demand more than that, the last third or so of the film takes place elsewhere.

Here's the best thing I'll say about TRAP: it attempts and achieves something tricky and rare in that it puts the viewer in the position of identifying with and rooting for a protagonist whose attitudes or actions are indefensible, and rooting against the people who (under normal circumstances/IRL) we'd be pulling for. That's a tall order generally where many of the best examples in cinema (Peter Lorre in M, Hannibal Lecter, Tony Soprano, etc) are equivocal. For my money, TRAP kept my judgment of its main character suspended until nearly the end of the film and just had me nervously wondering how (and hoping that) he'd squeak out of one more tight corner, purely because Shyamalan has done a good job keeping us in that character's shoes.

On the minus side, one does need to suspend some disbelief at times and/or subscribe to the Mary Sue/"The Universe Loves James Bond" principle to accept that the main character is consistently just smarter and luckier than the army of cops, FBI, and security guards pursuing him. That wasn't a huge challenge for me, but Madame did identify a bigger implausibility about five minutes after the movie ended, regarding the manner in which said army knows the general location where they can track their quarry. Once you start to ponder that one....... 

That said, the potshot that I imagined would be the cheapest to take - suggesting that TRAP is little more than a feature length music video for Shyamalan's daughter, Saleka, who spends the first hour of the film performing her own original compositions in front of a crowd of thousands - is honestly a non-starter. The music and Saleka's voice are fine (as long as you don't mind Billie Eilish-style drone-y pop) but once Saleka gets offstage and starts acting, she redeems herself well. (Shyamalan himself plays one of his larger bit parts here, and I'm pretty sure his son (or at least it looks like a young Shyamalan) also plays a key role.)

In the final analysis, TRAP worked well for me primarily as a vehicle for Josh Hartnett, who I thought was a pretty strong Pitt/Gosling-esque actor for about two years in the late 90s before seemingly surrendering to playing bland leads in bad movies, then disappearing. His large supporting role in OPPENHEIMER obviously allowed him a little credibility bump and I hope TRAP's failure to perform at the box office doesn't keep Hartnett from more character roles - 'cause he's still got some chops.

3.5/5

And whether it's purely economic or not, I do appreciate Shyamalan's tendency to give work to senior actresses who never appear in anything else - Betty Buckley in a couple previous films, Hayley Mills here - as well as 40ish Alison Pill, who likewise I haven't seen in over a decade and wouldn't mind seeing more of.

[indianasmith]

THE DELIVERANCE (2024) I caught this possession flick on Netflix tonight.  I generally steer clear of "Exorcism" style movies, but I gotta admit this one was not bad, and really kept you on your toes in the last act.  4/5

[Leah]

I watched Friday the 13th part 5: A New Beginning two nights ago. I believe it's my first slasher movie I've sat through and I enjoyed it for what it was.

[M.10rda]

MST3K: IS THIS LOVE?/TEENAGE STRANGLER (1993):
In yet another demonstration of early onset senility, I put a dubbed-from-Netflix DVD w/ "Teenage Strangler" scrawled on it in the machine w/ not a whiff of recognition. "Huh, it's MST3K?" 30 seconds into the short, I realized I'd watched this w/ Madame a year and a half or so ago. How could I forget??? Well, what the heck, I watched it again, and I'm not sorry.

IS THIS LOVE? is the one from the early 50s about the 18 year old college girl who looks 25-30 contemplating marriage. Her college roommate looks 45 and her parents look 70. (The first half of the 20th century was rough on folks, eh?)

The opening sequence to TEENAGE STRANGLER looks like an early proof-of-concept for TWIN PEAKS made by Lynch during the production of his featurette THE GRANDMOTHER. All the night scenes are shot w/ huge scoop floodlights that give you the same feel as the "You killed Mike!" scene from FWWM. Lead actress Jo Canterbury as "Betty" is cute and occasionally capable of going amusingly over the top. And of course TEENAGE STRANGLER is the home of the one and only "Mikey", an impossible character played impossibly by John Humphreys, an actor who impossibly never gave another performance on film. Once seen, Mikey can never be forgotten. Okay, I forgot I'd watched TEENAGE STRANGLER after the first viewing - but #neveragain.

Often I watch the MST3K versions of films I'd never be able to endure w/o the riffs. Both IS THIS LOVE? and TEENAGER STRANGLER are completely watchable and hilarious even w/o the riffs, but this MST3K episode is early enough in the Mike Nelson era that Nelson is still lean and hungry to impress, and the irreplaceable Dr. Forrester and Frank are still with us. As a result this double-feature of technically "bad" movies is really great entertainment. I'd watch it a third time!

4/5

Random trivia: The TEENAGE (quote unquote) STRANGLER is revealed to be *SPOILER* a creepy middle-aged janitor played by 55 year old Ron Ormond....... yes... THAT Ron Ormond. The earworm "Yipes Stripes" by Stacey Smith apparently did get some love on FM airwaves in the mid-60s. IMDB claims that TS director Ben Parker also co-directed a film w/ legendary CITIZEN KANE cinematographer James Wong Howe, which cannot possibly be true.

Pick Only One: Torgo or Mikey? Me, I pick Mikey.

[zombie no.one]

I watched Friday the 13th part 5: A New Beginning two nights ago. I believe it's my first slasher movie I've sat through and I enjoyed it for what it was.

Unfairly derided... it's a pretty unconventional slasher and entertaining in a very madcap trashy way, but it doesn't overstep the 'stupid' mark in the way say a Troma movie might do...

TRAP (2024):
Consensus opinions appear mixed-to-negative on the newest Shyamalan. I paid $20 to stream it (the same I would've paid if we'd made it to the nearest theater to watch it, but it was in and out in a single week, I think) and I'd say that was a fair price. A complaint I've seen a few times is that there's no traditional Shyamalan twist - or that the "twist" (which comes 15-ish minutes in) is obvious from the trailer. That's a fair cop, but I'm okay with Shyamalan making taut DePalma-style thrillers instead of putting all his chips into a single surprise reveal that will have limited rewatch value. If nothing else, the TRAP trailer promised a single location potboiler at a concert and, if you demand more than that, the last third or so of the film takes place elsewhere.

Somehow I don't think I've seen any of his films? I thought I had, with DEVIL (2010) - which I actually quite enjoyed, but then found out he didn't direct it, just wrote it... I think I've seen some but not all of THE VILLAGE. Not seen 6TH SENSE

[FatFreddysCat]

"Knock Off" (1998)
This chaotic action comedy takes place in Hong Kong on the eve of its handover from British rule to the Chinese. Jean Claude van Damme and Rob "SNL" Schneider (talk about a dream team!) are a pair of dim bulb fashion importers who get tangled up in a plot by Russian terrorists who've planted tiny bombs in counterfeit goods destined to be shipped to the USA.
If that sounds random, it is. The movie hits the ground running without taking the time to explain who any of the characters are or why they're doing what they're doing. After a while I gave up trying to follow the utterly gibberish plot and just watched people punch each other while stuff crashed and exploded. Complete nonsense, a definite low point for JCVD.

[M.10rda]

THE KILLING (1956):
First viewing of this for me since about 1988 or '89. The movie was about 32 years old at the time and seemed ancient to me and now even more years than that have passed and both me and this movie feel old. In retrospect I'm glad I saw THE KILLING before Tarantino made RESERVOIR DOGS. I still think THE KILLING is pretty good as 50s thrillers go but no two ways about it, it's a museum piece, and furthermore it doesn't feel much like what we think of as a Stanley Kubrick movie. Maybe Kubrick was playing it a little faster and looser than usual because he was working on someone else's tiny amount of money. but actually the even lower-budgeted and scrappier KILLER'S KISS (from a year or so earlier) feels more Kubrick-y than THE KILLING.

It is a cool little number w/ some good dialogue and am amusingly grim denouement. I'm unsure why the lightly non-chronological structure was necessary - Kubrick could've done more with it (and QT definitely did more w/ it in the 90s), and frankly the film might've been just as taut or moreso if he'd cut it sequentially. Sterling Hayden is good value as always, though, and honestly I think this is the definitive Elisha Cook Jr. role and performance - even more than MALTESE FALCON. He's pathetic and wonderful in this.

Finally... Timothy Carey! It's been too long since I've enjoyed a movie w/ Tim Carey in it (but then again he turned down more quality projects than he ever accepted). What a freakish onscreen presence, and until last night I never really noticed how much he resembles (and, well, behaves like) Nicolas Cage. I wonder if Cage has ever acknowledged this or is conscious of it?

3.5/5

[indianasmith]

ONYX THE FORTUITOUS AND THE TALISMAN OF SOULS (2023) - A fledglling cultist who still lives with his parents and works at a burger joint gets the chance to go see his hero, the occult mystic Bartok, and take part in a ceremony that will bring a powerful demon to earth and grant immortality to his followers.  This was done with a very light touch and lots of humor, and although it's a genre I'm not crazy about, I'll admit I enjoyed it. 4/5

[Trevor]

"Knock Off" (1998)
This chaotic action comedy takes place in Hong Kong on the eve of its handover from British rule to the Chinese. Jean Claude van Damme and Rob "SNL" Schneider (talk about a dream team!) are a pair of dim bulb fashion importers who get tangled up in a plot by Russian terrorists who've planted tiny bombs in counterfeit goods destined to be shipped to the USA.
If that sounds random, it is. The movie hits the ground running without taking the time to explain who any of the characters are or why they're doing what they're doing. After a while I gave up trying to follow the utterly gibberish plot and just watched people punch each other while stuff crashed and exploded. Complete nonsense, a definite low point for JCVD.

I actually paid to see this thing.

At one point, JCVD puts on a pair of knockoff shoes and while he is running with them, there is a dramatic close up of the fake parts INSIDE the shoe collapsing 😳😳🤣

[FatFreddysCat]

"Back In Time" (2015)
A cool documentary about the "Back to the Future" film trilogy, which has amassed a large, loyal fan base that continues to grow all these years later. Lots of cool behind the scenes footage and interviews with fans as well as cast members like Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, and director Robert Zemeckis. Watching this made me want to revisit the BTTF movies, it's been a while since I've seen them.

[lester1/2jr]

Deadbolt (tubi original 2024) - pretty forgettable attempt at a thriller here. The lead actress is cute and carries the whole movie, basically. Other characters, like her room mate and her mother are one dimensional and campy in an off putting way, seemingly borrowed from Shark vs Dinosaur type movies. I like those movies, but not in the middle of a regular movie. Another thing I didn't really understand was that they all lived in houses, but it's supposed to be this hip urban neighborhood. Don't people like that usually live in apartments?

Anyway, it's not terrible, just not scary or very suspenseful. Ending was at at least decent, if not utterly mind blowing.

3.25 /5

I almost turned it off with the introduction of the room mate. just not my style of writing/ acting

[Leah]

I watched Friday the 13th part 5: A New Beginning two nights ago. I believe it's my first slasher movie I've sat through and I enjoyed it for what it was.

Unfairly derided... it's a pretty unconventional slasher and entertaining in a very madcap trashy way, but it doesn't overstep the 'stupid' mark in the way say a Troma movie might do...

It was a fun movie to watch late at night in a converted garage., It really fit the mood.