Movies

He's pretty much an irreverence at any movie cliche, which is great.

Outlaw Josey Wales (Netflix Streaming):

Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.

It's a Clint Eastwood western. While good, I am guessing you've seen this movie before under a different title, with slight variances.

My wife must be of the same opinion. For the men Selma is an unbridled cyclone of unpredictability. Adds to the randomness.

<a href=" https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/11/entertainment/dorothys-dress-wizard-of-oz-catholic-university-trnd/index.htm l" class="bbcode_url"> https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/11/entertainment/dorothys-dress-wizard-of-oz-catholic-university-trnd/index.html

Wizard of Oz dress found!! In case you wonder why it's black and white with a YELLOW blouse, that's because this was almost certainly the dress Judy Garland wore during the B&W scenes. The dress changed to the traditional blue and white, with white blouse for the scenes in color, but B&W film required different shades. Yellow films as white in B&W film and the B&W gingham would have "looked" like blue. I know it's weird but many costumes in old B&W films are not the color you think they are.

I actually knew this, somewhat. the colorization of some movies just look weird, otherwise (especially with the colorization of BW movies).

The Terminal (Netflix streaming):

Based on a true story: An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Rom-com, but doesn't get sappy or over the top in the rom nor the com. Just a fish out of water, learning the ways of a different world, and adapting. Tom Hanks was wonderful as the main character (gee, no sh*). The supporting cast did excellent as just that. It's a very enjoyable 2 hours and change. Toss it in, and start smiling.

Anyone else notice how Netflix movies seem low budget compared to Prime video?

I might be skewed because of what I watch. On Prime I watched Tomorrow war, Without Remorse, The Boys, Yellowstone, all are cinematic great shows/movies, effects, story, acting, big names. Netflix maybe appeals to the cerebral crowd but the effects aren’t as good, and doesn’t measure up. It could be Netflix has to churn out more content but if you compare Netflix Jupiter’s Legacy to The Boys, I’m definitely choosing The Boys on Prime. Stowaway (Anna Kendrick) and Away (Hilary Swank) on Netflix compared to Prime video Tomorrow War (Chris Pratt). Hands down for me is Tomorrow War. BTW Tomorrow War is a movie I would watch again. I’m a huge fan of time travel sci-fi, like Edge of Tomorrow.

Netflix has movies like American Son. Entire movie is in a police station waiting room. I’m seeing better content on Prime lately. Anyone else notice this or am I missing great content?

I can't speak to Prime but I'd have no problem recommending any of the following from Netflix depending upon one's tastes. Some hit or miss maybe, and in some cases you have to be ok with subtitles. Some of the following is quite good and I'd put up against any content form any provider:

-Before I Fall (movie)

-How To Become A Tyrant (docuseries)

-Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon A Crime (docuseries)

-Ozark (drama, crime series)

-My kids swear by Elite but I have not watched

-Fear Street 1-3. Campy and reminiscent of Screma/I Know What You Did Last... - but fun

-Sophie: A Murder in West Cork (docuseries)

-The Haunting of Bly Manor and Hill House. Very cerebral, slow building, not for eveyrone

-Captive (docuseries)

-Penguin Town (docuseries)

-Criminal: So far versions from Germany, UK and Spain. Yet to watch France. (Crime series)

-Line of Duty - (UK crime series)

-Lupin - (adventure/mystery series)

-Curon (drama, supernatural series)

-Narcos -(crime, drama)

-Mosul (movie)

-Narcoworld (docuseries)

-Hitler's Circle of Evil (history series)

-Chef's Table - all seasons (cooking show)

-50M2 - (drama, crime series)

-The Queen's Gambit - (drama)

-Plenty of stand up comedy specials including Chapelle, Marc Maron, Tom Segura, John Mulaney, Bill Burr, etc.

-Out Planet (docuseries)

-Seaspriacy (documentary)

-The Dig (movie)

-Pieces of a Woman (movie)

-I Care A Lot (movie)

-Moxie (movie)

-Concrete Cowboy (movie)

-The Alienist (sleuth, crime series)

-Unabomber (nuff said)

-Sentinelle (movie)

-Red Dot (movie)

-Pele (documentary)

-The Fall (crime series)

-Norm Macdonald has a show & Dave Letterman comedians, cars, coffee..

-Mindhunter (crime series)

-Human: The World Within (docuseries)

-The Sinner (crime series)

-Undercover (mystery, thriller series)

-Fauda (action, thriller series)

-Giri/Haji (drama, organized crime series)

-The Devil All The Time (movie)

-Mank (movie)

-Equinox (chilling, drama series)

I hate you, Slappy. Quoted and edited to the ones I've watched. Happen to be also ones I enjoy.

I’m not giving Amazon my money

The Chef’s Table BBQ episode on Lennox Hastie still makes me drool watching what he’s doing in Australia. I’d fly there just to go to Firedoor

I buy some things from there, kinda have to at times. And then take advantage of the FREE AMAZON PRIME offer they give me each time. But I won't ever pay for Amazon Prime.

Major Grom: Plague Doctor (Netflix streaming):

A renegade detective must take down a psychotic vigilante.

Based on a Russian comic book (which I didn't know until after the fact), it is like Punisher Vs Daredevil (with a badge!). Good action movie, meh plot, some nice twists and turns throughout. Even at about 2.5 hours, it holds your attention. I really liked it, and hope they make more of these.

Note: it is overdubbed (and the overdub is horrendous); thankfully I watch all movies with the subtitles on/original audio on, when possible. The reason I know the overdub is horrendous is that is the way it started playing for me, and I had to change some settings.

No Sudden Move (HBO Max):

A group of criminals is brought together under mysterious circumstances and have to work together to uncover what's really going on when their simple job goes completely sideways. Set in mid-50s Detroit.

Loaded cast (and hooboy, Brendan Fraser got BIG). Lots of moving parts in this caper movie. Kind of Ocean's Eleven on steroids. Lengthy at 2.5 hours, it's a tall order to keep everything straight (while trying to figure out what everyone's angle is). Very detailed, intelligent, and well done. Gear up for this one, you're going to need your thinking cap on. I loved it,.

10 minutes into No Sudden Move I wasn’t sure if it was even gonna be decent. By the end it’s one of the better films I’ve seen recently. Great job by Soderburgh and highly recommended.

Gunpowder Milkshake (Netflix streaming):

Three generations of women fight back against those who could take everything from them.

I'd like to rename this movie as "Quentin Tarantino presents: The Kingsman: Joan Wick Edition."

Utterly redonkulous, and worth every second of viewing. I really can't add any more to that.

Comet Channel is showing Maximum Overdrive...I forgot how spectacularly stupid this movie is

Oh good Lord that movie is horrible. Probably the best ("best") example of a Stephen King book translating poorly to a movie.

The combo of an all AC/DC soundtrack and known actors but a silly script is amazing

Maximum Overdrive > Roadhouse. Don't @ me.

Roadhouse is indeed terrible. I don't think anyone would question that.

Nobody:

A bystander who intervenes to help a woman being harassed by a group of men becomes the target of a vengeful drug lord.

First off, yes, most of the fun is seeing Bob Odenkirk as the bad-ass action hero. This plays out like any of the Wick franchise, or most of the Liam Neeson movies in the past decade or so. The difference being, Odenkirk's character WANTS back into the fold, while Wick/Neeson characters are reluctant to do so. Secondly, all the characters were well-written, and as one of the extra features put it: it's wish-fulfilling. "If that happened to me..."

Very entertaining, creative action scenes involving whatever is available to fight with, etc. Watching some of the other extra features, Odenkirk went through a TON of training, so he could do almost all the action scenes himself. He stated that he really wanted authenticity in this movie, regarding that. Given his age and previous acting background, that was impressive to me.

Definitely give this one a whirl.

I saw Black Widow today. That movie was a big 'meh' for me. It didn't entertain me much nor did I find myself caring about any of the characters. I definitely don't need to see it again.

Promising Young Woman (Netflix disc):

A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.

This is a rather dark movie. As it unfolds, it gets darker. The narrative is beyond-obvious Kill Bill style, in the way it's told (just, uh, take away the violence that KB had). It will pit some opinions vs other opinions in certain situations, that's for sure. That was definitely a big part of the theme of the movie. I do recommend it, the title is even a bit of a dig, concerning the message of the movie.

There is quite a bit more I'd like to say about this movie, but I cannot. It would taint the first-time viewer's opinion going into it, and possibly give away spoilers.

Blood Red Sky (Netflix streaming):

A woman with a mysterious illness is forced into action when a group of terrorists attempt to hijack a transatlantic overnight flight.

It's in the trailer, so not a spoiler; the simple summary is that this is Blade, the German version. On a plane. However, it is really well done, with the conscience, the drama, etc. Some nice action, not TOO over the top. A very nice left turn is thrown in there, and not one you would expect. Quite entertaining, very solid movie.

As the family watched this I said, "I have had it with these motherfu##ing vampires on this motherfu##ing plane!!!!

Greater (Netflix streaming):

The story of Brandon Burlsworth, possibly the greatest walk-on in the history of college football.

It's a tear-jerker, Disney-fied overall. HOWEVER, they added a very dark angle, using Brandon's brother's dealing with the funeral that tilted the movie, and that was very well done. Neal McDonough, who usually plays a tough guy/peckerwood/etc, is the brother. That is a side I have not seen from him, and he pulls it off. Kudos to him.

If you want a chill movie, with some onion peeling moments, this is a good one.

Sword Of Trust (Netflix streaming):

Cynthia and Mary show up to collect Cynthia's inheritance from her deceased grandfather, but the only item she receives is an antique sword that was believed by her grandfather to be proof that the South won the Civil War.

Stranger Than Fiction, [insert Christopher Guest movie], Letterkenny...all dry humor. And this movie is the driest of them all. Holy buckets was this hilarious, if you like that style of humor. You can tell there was a lot of ad-libbing and such, the dialogue meanders quite a bit, but man, I was in stitches. Marc Maron is Marc Maron, don't get me wrong. Same character, different movie/show, but it works, as usual. The rest of the cast adapt to the format quite well, and it ends up in uneasy, awkward hilarity.

Highly recommend if you a fan of dry. Avoid at all costs if you are not.

The Descendents/ALL (Amazon Prime)

The story of the punk band The Descendents

Got an email today for 30 day trial of free Prime. Well, sure, let's milk this for all it is worth.

Standard Behind The Music style, I knew most of it, but there are some tidbits of info that I did not know. Loved to see all the footage in this movie, that was the main draw for me. I'd say this is for punk fans only, I don't think any others would really enjoy it.

The Suicide Squad (HBOMax):

Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker and a collection of nutty cons at Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X as they are dropped off at the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.

THIS is what we waited for?! A solid "MEH" at best. The opening scene turned me off immediately. Some of the characters are "WTF were you actually thinking?" However, it then got pretty awesome, only to regress, then come back to awesomeness, then regress again. I will hide a spoiler as to the actual plot below. I get that it's a comic book movie, but I dare say that the first one is on par with this one, all things considered. Non-spoiler alert, the first one had a better plot, and that's saying something. As for characters, the ratio of awesome characters:sh***y characters was about the same, but this new one just has more in number.

I feel sorry for anyone who paid money to see this (this is free w/the HBOMax subscription)
[hide]
Starro is the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. THAT'S THE BEST YOU CAN COME UP WITH?! A 25-year old (or so) idea???[/hide]

The original was hot garbage and I have no desire to watch this one no offense.

They had the time to make it super awesome, and to me, it appears they wasted their time. It had some great moments, don't get me wrong. Harley Quinn was great of course, and the man-bragging between Peacemaker and Bloodsport was hilarious. Ratcatcher 2's role was the only MEANINGFUL plus to the overall plot, though. The negatives equaled the positives, and this being a movie that tried to correct the mistakes of the first one? I consider it a massive fail in that regard.

I'm still planning on watching it. Rube is one of the very few I've seen not like it. (Other than people that can't stand the comicbook things, obviously) I've really liked Gunn's other stuff. Not saying Rube is wrong, I'm just giving it a shot regardless.

There are moments and aspects that are awesome. However, there are things that I absolutely hated, which tallied equally to the things I loved, and given that it's been 5(ish?) years to make it great, and it did not do that, compounds the disappointment in it. They had time to fix everything, and nope, didn't accomplish that.

Honestly, if one took the best of both movies, and combined them, with a decent plot (neither movie had one, I can say that w/o spoiling), we would have a genuine kick-arse winner, no questions asked.

Chernobyl 1986 (Netflix stream). Perhaps it was due to this being made into a 2-hour format instead of a series, but this one was never nearly as compelling in the moments it should have been as the HBO series. Can't quite put my finger on it why but I found myself FF a few times to get it over with.

Having seen the HBO series, and read the book about it, that is very understandable.That is an event that needs all the details.

[hide]Starro The Conqueror debuted in DC Comics in 1960. Long before Star Trek had Borg. FWIW[/hide]

I just finished it and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Some of the characters are a bit WTF as Rube said, but it's also Suicide Squad and I expected a handful of that.

Idris Elba and John Cena were very fun, Margot Robbie is awesome as Harley Quinn as usual.

The man-bragging between Elba and Cena was quite good.

A Quiet Place Part II (Netflix disc):

Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path.

Deliberately slow, tense (but not INtense), movie. At some points during the movie, it's shown from the point of the deaf daughter, which adds to the suspense. The obstacles the characters face are not over-the-top in this world, they kept it realistic within the rules that have been set, and that is MUCH appreciated. I will say, since I don't think this is spoiler material, it could be open to a 3rd movie in the franchise, as it is an ongoing story, and the settings change with a possible life-long battle such as this.

If you liked the first one, you will definitely appreciate and enjoy the sequel. I wouldn't mind seeing a third chapter being made.

We watched The Suicide Squad and 10-15 minutes in I was thinking, "oh no" and then it turned fantastic through the end with a few hiccups here and there. One major plus for me [hide]was not having to watch Pete Davidson on screen following the prison flashback scene[/hide]Not bad at all and a complete reversal of fortune from.the firstbl for me.

[hide]I can agree on Davidson, however, he did what he was supposed to do: be annoying. In that aspect, well done. [/hide]
100% agree on the first 10-15 minutes.

Coming 2 America (Amazon Prime):

The African monarch Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the United States and must return to America to meet this unexpected heir and build a relationship with his son.

Same story arc, in a way, so nothing surprising here. The references to the first are hilarious, I must say. The modernization of the cultures are also extremely well-done. Bonus: some of the musical performances/soundtrack choices are outstanding. I was going Def Jam on it, saying to myself, "Aw, HELL yeah!"

Very worthy sequel to watch, if you liked the first movie.

Double feature tonight, on purpose (Amazon Prime):

Clockwork Orange County:

A Documentary about the rise of west coast punk rock in the 1970s featuring concert clips from Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Circle Jerks and more.

Get Thrashed: The Story Of Thrash Metal:

The story of how bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus and others pioneered a new form of heavy metal in the early 1980's.

Outlier genres, for sure. I always thought that the riffs of early thrash metal and the punk riffs were more than similar, and it was brought up in "Get Thrashed." It was the attitude of "that's a good sound, let's REALLY take it to the next level. Bigger, harder, faster. Even more than that, let's up the attitude in the lyrics.

One nitpick, is that both displayed a heavy California-based "it was US who were the scene." Well, you might have altered the scene, and maybe some bands did create a portion of the scene, but you were not the birth of either. At least not to the degree you claim.

Great docs overall, I do recommend them.

Ah, the bucolic splendor of the Dead Kennedys singing "Holiday in Cambodia"

Or "Angel Of Death" by Slayer.

See?

The Sound Of Metal (Amazon Prime):

A heavy-metal drummer's life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing.

This is just a solid, damn good movie. The audio that the audience hears switches back and forth between what the viewer would normally hear, and what the main character hears. Incredible dynamic to that. While it is slow pacing, it definitely gets the viewer to get involved, wonder how the main character would deal with this (and just as importantly, how would THE VIEWER deal with something like this).

Absolutely loved it, highly recommend.

Both movies listed are Amazon Prime:

Jolt:

A bouncer with a slightly murderous anger-management problem that she controls with the help of an electrode-lined vest she uses to shock herself back to normalcy whenever she gets homicidal.

A one-woman wrecking show, with some dark humor involved, very entertaining popcorn movie. A couple of nice twists. A combination of Crank and John Wick, with a dab of Harley Quinn.

Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm:

Borat returns from Kazakhstan to America and this time he reveals more about the American culture, the COVID-19 pandemic and the political elections.

It's a Borat movie. Plain and simple. LOVED the first one, and this one was okay. Thankfully the character "evolved" and "grew" into more of an understanding of how it is now in the world. It relied on some old jokes, and made new ones with the evolution of the character. Not the greatest sequel, but not a waste of time, either.

Predestination (Netflix disc):

For his final assignment, a top temporal agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time. The chase turns into a unique, surprising and mind-bending exploration of love, fate, identity and time travel taboos.

First of all, this is a total mind- :censored: . It's Tenet Meets Back To The Future. You're probably thinking action, as it was advertised, in a way, but it's more dialogue and cerebral. The ending is completely off the wall nutso in a good way, and your mind will probably asplode (to borrow an internet meme). Highly recommend.

Under The Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story (Amazon Prime)

Shows how the classic board game has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon, and follows the colorful players who come together to compete for the coveted title of Monopoly World Champion.

The classic game that shows who a person REALLY is.

Good doc, shows the origins and how one of the first board games that most often had "house rules" made it a phenomenon. Didn't matter the language or localities of the properties; the colors of the properties made in globally understood. The different strategies in the game, and then the tournament rules (there's a "speed die" that is incorporated; personally not a fan of that).

90 minutes of nostalgia and education. I honestly felt it could have added a half hour for more in depth on the strategies, to explain to the average player, but that is nit-picking.

Thanks Rube, I’ll have to check this one out. I love docs about stuff like this, the community that forms around a narrow subject. It doesn’t matter what it is, they are passionate and the people are as fascinating as the item. About 10 years ago our antique Christmas collector group was approached by a film maker. They wanted to do a doc on us and focus on our annual convention. I sat on the Board at the time and voted yes, but others were afraid we’d come off looking weird. I’m like of course we would, we ARE! But embracing that fact can be liberating. Unfortunately it was voted down.

There are a TON of those types of docs out there, just have to look for them. I thank "King Of Kong" for really putting the genre in (almost) mainstream. I have found docs on air-hockey, the "snake" arcade game, pinball, one on a guy trying to buy ALL NES (regular) cartridges ever produced (time limit was 30 days, IIRC), etc.

What these people do for their hobbies...man. Frankly, I can't wait for the craft beer chaser documentary to come out, although I have a feeling one has already been made, I just haven't found it yet.