I’m ten minutes in and this Street Fighter anime is bringing it way harder than I expected.
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It seriously kicks ass
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Guilty of spamming Movie 43 when I got desperate on that game. The problem with that game is it became too much of a trap game. It was fun when it became an honest contest. But way too often it was oh you activated my trap card, here is a movie you have almost no next connection to. You use your power card to throw it back on me, well I also have my second trap to counter your counter.
Looking for the perfect Saturday night double feature? Tubi is now playing Dredd and The Raid 2, two perfect “fight your way out of this massive building” action movies. Dredd is considered by some to be the directorial debut of Alex Garland, though he was only listed as writer/producer.
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watching Inherent Vice for the third time in two days. it’s a 5-bagger
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Damn, The Raid/The Raid 2 are on my to-rewatch list. It’s like the Godfather/Godfather II of martial arts movies.
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They kick so much ass. On the edge of my seat as soon as the action starts.
The Last Emperor (1987)
Today I decided to cross another off of my unwatched Best Picture winners list, zeroing in on the most recent chronological release I hadn’t seen. As a starting point, I was all but certain I was going to agree with people who say that Broadcast News should have won this year, so I figured I should go in framing it so that this movie would have a more reasonable chance at success by asking, "Is it actually egregious that this won?” Because I figured the answer would, more likely than not, be no.
And, welp. After laying some initial groundwork that I found interesting (it’s a 2:40 historical epic, so a slow burn is to be fully expected), I only found this one more and more difficult to get through as it wore on, with the second half too often feeling like an absolute slog. As a fan of Lawrence of Arabia who had otherwise not seen Peter O’Toole’s live-action work, I did very much enjoy his turn in this movie, but he is also a supporting character who is only in part of the film; it’s just not enough to save this. 2.5/5.
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On the Oscar front, given that this occurred during an era when the Academy had fully crawled up its own ass and was leaning significantly harder than ever into a preference for self-serious shit to the exclusion of all else, it’s a surprising Best Picture field to see:
I have not seen Hope and Glory, though a very quick scan of what it was indicates that it was probably “self-serious shit.” But the other options? Moonstruck is a nice little movie, but not a particularly sophisticated one. Fatal Attraction is good, but fully feels like the sort of movie that the 1980s Academy would find off-putting. Even the recognition the Academy gave Broadcast News - which feels like a bit more of a comedy than a drama - in the form of not only this nom but all the acting noms feels a little surprising, but I guess after Terms of Endearment James L. Brooks was a made man and was probably going to have his stuff taken seriously by default.
Still, while I now am qualified to feel that the Academy awarded a much lesser movie with Best Picture this year, it was so true to their form that I can’t form the shock necessary to be as irritated by it as I am by some other misses.
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A director with a perfect record of all masterpieces. Arguably the most insightful writer director about human sexuality of all time. Nonstop buzz on the film circuit. Easily my most anticipated film of the year.
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I tapped out after 10 seconds on “Little Dick Grayson”…
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Home Sweet Hell is a black comedy produced by Darko Entertainment, a production company that was launched in late 2007 by writer/director Richard Kelly, who is best known for directing the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko.
This movie is as bad as everything else Kelly has directed since Darko. It stars Patrick Wilson once again as a philandering husband, except this time his domineering narcissist wife played by Katherine Heigl finds out and says the only way they can stay together is to kill the other woman.
It was interesting to see Jordana Brewster in a different role than The Fast and the Furious, this time playing the woman who seduces Patrick Wilson in order to blackmail him for money.
Rotten Tomatoes gave it just 5%, and the audience score isn’t much better.
Home Sweet Hell mistakes misogyny for subversive wit, aiming for black comedy but ending up with a grueling test of viewer endurance that wastes game efforts from its likable leads.
The laughs are empty and based on misogyny and cruelty for laughter’s sake. Watch it if you’re just into watching bad movies.
Oh yeah it’s free on Tubi.
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Watched Leap of Faith (1992) for the first time since I saw it and didn’t much like it in the theaters 32 years ago. Strangely, there is a mental link for me between this movie and The Cable Guy due to the common thread of having gone to both during my childhood with the expectation of seeing a goofy, broad comedy and then absolutely not getting that. However, the possibility of misleading marketing is the only way they share any similarity. And, whereas The Cable Guy legitimately one of the hilarious classic comedies of the 90s and I simply wasn’t prepared on first go for the dark style of humor it employed, this is really not a comedy at all. It’s very much a drama with…I don’t know, I guess a slight underpinning of cynical humor.
Anyway, I’ve always wondered if this was actually a good movie and 12-year-old me wasn’t ready for it, so when I stumbled upon it this morning in the “Leaving Soon” section of Max, I shrugged and fired it up. Upon further review: I’d say it kinda works. Underline on “kinda.” To be clear, no matter how a viewer of this movie lands on it, this is a weird-ass choice from Steve Martin. He’s only one year removed from leading the highly successful remake of Father of the Bride, a wholesome movie that is hilarious and touching in equal measures, and in this, he turns around and plays a despicable grifter who - despite being the movie’s POV character - really isn’t imparted with very much sympathy at all for most of the movie. That’s not just my personal reaction; it seems clear that’s the filmmaker intent for the character as well. I respect the gamble on some level, but I think this movie was a marker of his film career going directly south. That, despite the fact that this is a very good performance that carries this movie to a relatively decent level of watchability once you know what you’re getting into.
It’s a curiosity. It’s an interesting watch. I cannot come close to raving about it, but I was also never bored. Steve Martin is a treasure even when the material he’s working is a mixed bag. I’ll give it a 3/5. Far from a must-see, but I guess a soft recommendation to watch if it seems interesting at a glance.
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Seriously though, I cannot fully fathom that there was a time when I didn’t find The Cable Guy hilarious.
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Watched this for the first time two weeks ago. Nailed my thoughts pretty well. Martin is a scumbag and there is little redemption at the end.
I did enjoy the majority of the revival scenes as that world is and always has been a morbid curiosity of mine, but other than that, it was an odd choice for Steve at that time in his career. His character isnt redemable at all, and the direction says that its ok with that
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Like you said, it was a weird movie that took itself pretty seriously and as a dumb ass 13 year old, I just wanted more Ace Ventura and this movie was not that.
Its a really solid movie watching it now, and one of the few good Broderick roles post Ferris.
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Also Steve Martin randomly goes jogging in jeans and a crop top and it is not played for comedy. What a weird sentence I just typed.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Good sequel after all these years. Like any sequel that comes long after a beloved classic (or nearly any sequel for that matter), it’s not as good as the original, but it still delivers. And while it has a bunch of the same elements the first one had, it doesn’t just stuff things in there for fan service. It’s not “hey look at that! hey look at that!” It’s the Beetlejuice universe continued.
Uses lots of animatronics and stop-motion like the first, with CGI blended in nicely. There’s never a time where CGI was distracting - kept the same janky feel as the original.
And of course, Michael Keaton is great. I actually would’ve liked more of him. Felt like his character was toned down slightly, maybe just because Keaton is older now (not that Beetlejuice wasn’t chaotic, just a tick less-so).
B+
EDIT: If you haven’t seen the first, watch it before you see the sequel. It doesn’t work well as a standalone film.
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I haven’t seen the sequel yet, but it felt like a strong move in the original to use him as little as they did. Maximum impact per minute of screen time, leave the audience wanting more. Not surprised to hear they followed that impulse again.
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The more I think about it, the more I feel like Beetlejuice is one of the elite movie characters of all time and Keaton’s portrayal of him is underappreciated.
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