Married To The Mob as I’m slowly making my way through my back catalog of 4K pickups. I didn’t like it as much as I used to when I was a kid.
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Send Help - When Sam Raimi is having fun, it's almost guaranteed that I'll have fun. Such was the case with this film, which was a little gross, very funny at times, and so tense. It succeeds as a thriller, and is especially great when it's just Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien. Of the two, I easily go with McAdams as my favorite. She did have the most to do, so it's easy to say she gives the best performance. O'Brien was able to hang with her, and left a longlasting impact just by his irritating cackle! It's got some flaws. Some narrative choices were questionable. It wasn't as gory as I expected. Or rather, the gore wasn't as frequent as I expected. There were a handful of gory parts that I loved, but it made me anticipate gory scenes that wound up not happening. For example, the climax of the film set up for some major gore, something Sam Raimi would've capitalized on. That didn't happen, so I was a little bummed on that front. I had heard there was vomiting and gross stuff, but it wasn't as major as I expected. Drag Me to Hell, a PG-13 movie, had grosser stuff. Speaking of Drag Me to Hell, the CGI in that film is on par with what Send Help had. In other words, the CGI in this film was very rough! So the movie definitely could've been better, but for what it is, I was still very much entertained. It definitely has some of that zany, cartoonish, Sam Raimi touch. Part of me thinks this could've been made a few years after Drag Me to Hell and very little would be different. I wonder when the script was written. There was a distinct lack of smartphones, for example. Not a major complaint, but the score could've been more epic. Danny Elfman did the score here, and he more or less delivered at a minimum, which isn't to say it was bad. I liked the more older sounding, horror/thriller sounds. It fit the movie, more of that would've been cool. Anyway, for a January release, Send Help is kind of too good to qualify as that. Nonetheless, it's a movie I think I will view as one of the most fun of 2026. 8/10
I want to see that so bad. Might grab the 4K when it’s out.
Bigger Than Life - Surprisingly compelling movie from the 1950s. It feels like a 1950s movie in the melodrama, visuals, editing, acting, score, and overall presentation. But most of the subject matter has not aged much at all. Addiction and the erosion of the American dream, those are timeless topics by this point. In some ways, the movie breaks from the 1950s styling in its commentary on addiction and shining a bit of a light on big pharma. James Mason was great in the lead role as an increasingly vile man who I kind of have empathy for. His wife, played by Barbara Rush, was such a trooper. She's definitely a 50s stereotype, a submissive housewife. But the actress brought so much power to the role that it was frankly better than I expected. Walter Mathau was a little charming in the movie. The direction from Nicholas Ray was great. I loved how the plot developed. The ending was very abrupt and very 1950s, but the movie pretty much stuck the landing. Some scenes were so damn funny, unintentionally so. None of those moments were "so bad they're good." Over-the-top delivery can make me laugh. It is a silly movie at times, but it's never boring and always entertaining. 8/10
Charley Varrick - This time, Walter Mathau leads a movie. I was a little excited to watch this after learning that it was directed by Don Siegel. I really liked the Clint Eastwood movies he directed. The best is easily Dirty Harry. Perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that some actors who were in that movie were in Charley Varrick. Clint Eastwood was originally offered the titular role but turned it down. Maybe a little surprising because he and Don Siegel were so tight at that time. It was going to be R-rated with more sex and violence. I kind of want that version, but what was achieved here was so great. This is more of a surprise hit than what would've been another 70s Clint Eastwood thriller that likely would've been overlooked. With Mathau playing the role with such confidence and coolness, it stands out quite a bit. I'm a sucker for 70s crime thrillers, and this turned out to be up my alley. Some nice tension, great acting across the board, perfect pacing and storytelling from Siegel. Oh man, and the score by Lalo Schifrin! Amazing, that's almost my favorite element of the whole movie, he also scored Dirty Harry and the music there is fairly similar. Joe Don Baker did a great job here as the hitman Molly. He's basically if Woody Harrelson's character in No Country For Old Men was a lot more competent. I'd recommend this movie to fans of No Country For Old Men. Andrew Robinson and John Vernon were also very good in the movie. The climax was a lot of fun and even humorous. Like Bigger Than Life, there were quite a few unintentionally hilarious moments in this. I'm kind of torn on the rating. I definitely enjoyed it more than Bigger Than Life. This is likely to change, but for now, I'm feeling an 8.5/10
Charley Varrick - This time, Walter Mathau leads a movie. I was a little excited to watch this after learning that it was directed by Don Siegel. I really liked the Clint Eastwood movies he directed. The best is easily Dirty Harry. Perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that some actors who were in that movie were in Charley Varrick. Clint Eastwood was originally offered the titular role but turned it down. Maybe a little surprising because he and Don Siegel were so tight at that time. It was going to be R-rated with more sex and violence. I kind of want that version, but what was achieved here was so great. This is more of a surprise hit than what would've been another 70s Clint Eastwood thriller that likely would've been overlooked. With Mathau playing the role with such confidence and coolness, it stands out quite a bit. I'm a sucker for 70s crime thrillers, and this turned out to be up my alley. Some nice tension, great acting across the board, perfect pacing and storytelling from Siegel. Oh man, and the score by Lalo Schifrin! Amazing, that's almost my favorite element of the whole movie, he also scored Dirty Harry and the music there is fairly similar. Joe Don Baker did a great job here as the hitman Molly. He's basically if Woody Harrelson's character in No Country For Old Men was a lot more competent. I'd recommend this movie to fans of No Country For Old Men. Andrew Robinson and John Vernon were also very good in the movie. The climax was a lot of fun and even humorous. Like Bigger Than Life, there were quite a few unintentionally hilarious moments in this. I'm kind of torn on the rating. I definitely enjoyed it more than Bigger Than Life. This is likely to change, but for now, I'm feeling an 8.5/10
Armour of God - Last year, I watched Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars on Jackie Chan's birthday. I then wanted to make watching a Jackie Chan film on his birthday a yearly tradition. It would at least guarantee I watch one film of his a year. There are so many, but it's easy to go with something I've seen before. Such as the case with this film, which is 40 years old now! It's been well over a decade since I watched it. Maybe even 15 years. I remembered much of the first and third act, but forgot about the middle portion. Having said that, I know this was the first time I watched the theatrical cut or "Hong Kong" cut, which is roughly 10 minutes longer than the international version. This longer runtime didn't bother me at all, and it was a little surprising to see this film not rated as highly as other Chan classics from the 80s. Granted, I don't think this film is at the level of Project A or Police Story, it's still very much a fun ride. What makes it not as great as those films is that it's not as tight. The middle section does drag a bit, but I grew to enjoy it because it's taken up by Jackie Chan and Alan Tam's underrated chemistry. When the action gets going, it's fantastic. The car chase comes a little after the 30 minute mark in the theatrical cut, whereas its much sooner in the international version. The stuff up to that point was perfectly fine.
The opening segment is memorable for many reasons. The biggest of which is the near-fatal tree fall Jackie Chan sustained, which is in the end credits blooper reel. The man truly risked his life to make this film. The car chase in the film was amazing, and I have to believe that risked Jackie Chan's life to some extent. The skydiving stunt at the end was also insane and still takes my breath away. There aren't as many fight scenes as the more classic Jackie Chan films, but what's included is still so much fun. The biggest fight scene was Chan against the 4 "Amazonian" fighters. That was very funny, wildly impressive, and had me wincing quite a bit. Many other parts in the movie had me wincing and cringing. The movie ticks all the boxes of a quintessential Jackie Chan film, while also having a slightly unique edge over others. That edge comes in the form of the music provided by Alan Tam and Chan himself. I obtained a version of the movie with a bunch of audio tracks, and interestingly, some of them had Tam's "Lorelei" play in the end credits, while others had "Flight of the Dragon" by Chan. I always knew the Chan song from this film, but it was called "High Upon High." In a way, the Lorelei song makes more sense because the other sung tracks in this movie were by Alan Tam. The Lorelei song is definitely nice, but the Chan song is so awesome. It's definitely the more 80s sounding song of the two. I know many other Jackie Chan movies featured him singing, mostly in the end credits, but Armour of God probably has the best song he's done, at least in my opinion. I vividly remember watching this movie on TV as a kid, singing High Upon High and tearing up! That's how powerful the song was and still is.
Sadly, this movie could've had Jackie Chan and Cynthia Rothrock work together. She was supposedly going to play one of the Amazonian fighters, which would've been considering who the fighters were. Production halted because of the near-fatal tree fall, and Rothrock was signed on for Righting Wrongs during that time. I also heard Jackie Chan was going to be in Millionaires' Express, which Cynthia Rothrock was in, but he pulled out because of scheduling or whatever. Perhaps Rothrock being in this film would've made it better. Maybe Chan's near-death experience impacted how the film was ultimately edited and presented. Regardless, the final product is still a lot of fun. It's still a tremendous showcase of Jackie Chan as an actor and filmmaker. He co-wrote and directed the film, and some of his absolute best movies were those that he directed. I would classify this as 2nd-tier Jackie Chan, but that's better than a lot of action movies. 8.5/10
The opening segment is memorable for many reasons. The biggest of which is the near-fatal tree fall Jackie Chan sustained, which is in the end credits blooper reel. The man truly risked his life to make this film. The car chase in the film was amazing, and I have to believe that risked Jackie Chan's life to some extent. The skydiving stunt at the end was also insane and still takes my breath away. There aren't as many fight scenes as the more classic Jackie Chan films, but what's included is still so much fun. The biggest fight scene was Chan against the 4 "Amazonian" fighters. That was very funny, wildly impressive, and had me wincing quite a bit. Many other parts in the movie had me wincing and cringing. The movie ticks all the boxes of a quintessential Jackie Chan film, while also having a slightly unique edge over others. That edge comes in the form of the music provided by Alan Tam and Chan himself. I obtained a version of the movie with a bunch of audio tracks, and interestingly, some of them had Tam's "Lorelei" play in the end credits, while others had "Flight of the Dragon" by Chan. I always knew the Chan song from this film, but it was called "High Upon High." In a way, the Lorelei song makes more sense because the other sung tracks in this movie were by Alan Tam. The Lorelei song is definitely nice, but the Chan song is so awesome. It's definitely the more 80s sounding song of the two. I know many other Jackie Chan movies featured him singing, mostly in the end credits, but Armour of God probably has the best song he's done, at least in my opinion. I vividly remember watching this movie on TV as a kid, singing High Upon High and tearing up! That's how powerful the song was and still is.
Sadly, this movie could've had Jackie Chan and Cynthia Rothrock work together. She was supposedly going to play one of the Amazonian fighters, which would've been considering who the fighters were. Production halted because of the near-fatal tree fall, and Rothrock was signed on for Righting Wrongs during that time. I also heard Jackie Chan was going to be in Millionaires' Express, which Cynthia Rothrock was in, but he pulled out because of scheduling or whatever. Perhaps Rothrock being in this film would've made it better. Maybe Chan's near-death experience impacted how the film was ultimately edited and presented. Regardless, the final product is still a lot of fun. It's still a tremendous showcase of Jackie Chan as an actor and filmmaker. He co-wrote and directed the film, and some of his absolute best movies were those that he directed. I would classify this as 2nd-tier Jackie Chan, but that's better than a lot of action movies. 8.5/10
Face/Off
This movie is incredibly flawed. There are loads of plotholes. You can clearly see the stunt doubles, especially in the third act. The movie gets very creepy and some of the treatment of a few female characters is questionable, to say the least. The dialogue is so stupid at times. The acting is often over the top, and most of the cast outside of the two leads sometimes are so serious that it clashes with what the leads do. The movie's very long at 2 hours and 18 minutes. It's very "for it's time," you can just smell the 1997 from it. This is a movie that is well worth criticizing. It is absolutely stupid. But I fucking love it! All those flaws, all that stupidity, all the bad dialogue, they're peaches I can eat for hours! I have seen the film a few times before, the last viewing was 5 years ago. I think I love it more than I did previously. From start to finish, I had an absolute blast watching it. It's like Heat where you get 3 artists in top form. In that film, it was Michael Mann, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino. In Face/Off, it was John Woo, John Travolta, and Nic Fucking Cage! In the past, I wanted to calm down on how I felt about Face/Off after watching some of John Woo's Hong Kong masterpieces, A Better Tomorrow and Bullet in the Head. I wanted to focus my Woo fandom on those films, but after this viewing, I can't deny the majesty that Face/Off is. It is easily Woo's best American film. It doesn't have the emotional heft of his Hong Kong classics. What it lacks in that, it makes up for in fun! This is pure fun! Even with that, John Woo's trademarks being all over the film showed a lot of craft was put into it. This film is basically over-directed. It goes way too hard from scene to scene. Even parts that are quiet and driven by dialogue have so much style that it overshadows any attempt at substance. The slow motion, the stunts, the guns, the explosions, the wardrobe choices, the editing, the cinematography, the fucking doves! This film is totally the result of John Woo having all the money and resources to make an action film. No, an action opera! And he pulled that off. I really do mean that this is an opera, not just in the bombastic music, but just the overall presentation.
John Travolta tries his best here. It's so obvious that he's having a lot of fun and it's infectious. But Nic Cage man! He was on a whole other level. It felt like Travolta went first, and Cage kept trying to one-up him. And he succeeded almost every time. There were certain points in the middle of the movie where Travolta is ahead, but Nic Cage definitely stole the show more. The first act alone is just perfect. When Nic Cage was Castor Troy, it was absolute cinema, hands down. The mannerisms, the delivery, the physicality, the perversion, the drip, everything about him was entertaining. Thankfully the movie didn't fall off after that point. It certainly opened the door for John Travolta to really dominate, though Nic Cage still wins for me. Those two were absolutely the best actors for that film. It was possibly going to be a Stallone/Schwarzenegger or Seagal/Van Damme vehicale. Those would not have worked. It had to be two actors who were so willing to be hammy, even when they're seemingly taking their work seriously. While Travolta is definitely having a blast, I think Nic Cage took his role seriously. I've watched so many Nic Cage films that I could tell when it's all him and not the director. The scene of him inebriated and talking about taking Travolta's face off was definitely Nic Cage. The crashing out after the surgery, most of his line delivery, and I think pretty much all of his acting in the first act was Cage with no leash. And John Woo was so willing to let all that happen, a wise decision.
Some cast members were great. Joan Allen was a reliable hand as always. Funnily enough, she often played a wife. This film came out the same year as The Ice Storm, where she played a wife in that. Both characters are not happy in their marriages! Anyway, Joan Allen became an increasingly great character in this, peaking in the 3rd act. Gina Gershon was very nice in this film, especially when she took part in the action. Alessandro Nivola, who played Caster Troy's brother, Pollux, came off as a bit of a rat, but he was so effective in the role. Nick Cassavetes may have seen Nic Cage and Travolta perform and decided that he would try to go as hard as possible with his limited screen time. That's what it felt like to me, because his performance was way too strong for such a minor role. It worked for me! He had some wild-ass lines. John Carroll Lynch had a small role here, but was so effective in it. Like Joan Allen, Lynch is such a reliable hand in movies. CCH Pounder's another reliable hand. She was good in this, though her role was very small. The way she went out was so goofy.
Despite watching the film, I somehow didn't realize until this viewing that Joe Bob Briggs had a brief cameo. Blink and you'll miss it, though his voice is not so hard to miss. Another minor role to bring up is the one played by Danny Masterson. One of the best scenes of Face/Off was when Masterson got his ass kicked! John Travolta kicked his ass. Scientologist-on-scientologist crime, but beggers can't be choosers.
Anyway, I could go on and on about this movie. I don't want it to be another 5 years until I watch this again. This viewing made me appreciate the film even more. There's nothing really worth complaining about the filom or even nitpick. If the film fumbled at any point, then I would be more critical of it in general. It's a movie that revels in its insanity, and I'm all for it.
10/10
Oh yeah, since 2020, I've played Nic Cage bingo. The card was made by a podcast, I think. I should look for other bingo cards, but this one's pretty good. Unsurprisingly, Face/Off is a bingo-winning film, and filled most of the boxes.
This movie is incredibly flawed. There are loads of plotholes. You can clearly see the stunt doubles, especially in the third act. The movie gets very creepy and some of the treatment of a few female characters is questionable, to say the least. The dialogue is so stupid at times. The acting is often over the top, and most of the cast outside of the two leads sometimes are so serious that it clashes with what the leads do. The movie's very long at 2 hours and 18 minutes. It's very "for it's time," you can just smell the 1997 from it. This is a movie that is well worth criticizing. It is absolutely stupid. But I fucking love it! All those flaws, all that stupidity, all the bad dialogue, they're peaches I can eat for hours! I have seen the film a few times before, the last viewing was 5 years ago. I think I love it more than I did previously. From start to finish, I had an absolute blast watching it. It's like Heat where you get 3 artists in top form. In that film, it was Michael Mann, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino. In Face/Off, it was John Woo, John Travolta, and Nic Fucking Cage! In the past, I wanted to calm down on how I felt about Face/Off after watching some of John Woo's Hong Kong masterpieces, A Better Tomorrow and Bullet in the Head. I wanted to focus my Woo fandom on those films, but after this viewing, I can't deny the majesty that Face/Off is. It is easily Woo's best American film. It doesn't have the emotional heft of his Hong Kong classics. What it lacks in that, it makes up for in fun! This is pure fun! Even with that, John Woo's trademarks being all over the film showed a lot of craft was put into it. This film is basically over-directed. It goes way too hard from scene to scene. Even parts that are quiet and driven by dialogue have so much style that it overshadows any attempt at substance. The slow motion, the stunts, the guns, the explosions, the wardrobe choices, the editing, the cinematography, the fucking doves! This film is totally the result of John Woo having all the money and resources to make an action film. No, an action opera! And he pulled that off. I really do mean that this is an opera, not just in the bombastic music, but just the overall presentation.
John Travolta tries his best here. It's so obvious that he's having a lot of fun and it's infectious. But Nic Cage man! He was on a whole other level. It felt like Travolta went first, and Cage kept trying to one-up him. And he succeeded almost every time. There were certain points in the middle of the movie where Travolta is ahead, but Nic Cage definitely stole the show more. The first act alone is just perfect. When Nic Cage was Castor Troy, it was absolute cinema, hands down. The mannerisms, the delivery, the physicality, the perversion, the drip, everything about him was entertaining. Thankfully the movie didn't fall off after that point. It certainly opened the door for John Travolta to really dominate, though Nic Cage still wins for me. Those two were absolutely the best actors for that film. It was possibly going to be a Stallone/Schwarzenegger or Seagal/Van Damme vehicale. Those would not have worked. It had to be two actors who were so willing to be hammy, even when they're seemingly taking their work seriously. While Travolta is definitely having a blast, I think Nic Cage took his role seriously. I've watched so many Nic Cage films that I could tell when it's all him and not the director. The scene of him inebriated and talking about taking Travolta's face off was definitely Nic Cage. The crashing out after the surgery, most of his line delivery, and I think pretty much all of his acting in the first act was Cage with no leash. And John Woo was so willing to let all that happen, a wise decision.
Some cast members were great. Joan Allen was a reliable hand as always. Funnily enough, she often played a wife. This film came out the same year as The Ice Storm, where she played a wife in that. Both characters are not happy in their marriages! Anyway, Joan Allen became an increasingly great character in this, peaking in the 3rd act. Gina Gershon was very nice in this film, especially when she took part in the action. Alessandro Nivola, who played Caster Troy's brother, Pollux, came off as a bit of a rat, but he was so effective in the role. Nick Cassavetes may have seen Nic Cage and Travolta perform and decided that he would try to go as hard as possible with his limited screen time. That's what it felt like to me, because his performance was way too strong for such a minor role. It worked for me! He had some wild-ass lines. John Carroll Lynch had a small role here, but was so effective in it. Like Joan Allen, Lynch is such a reliable hand in movies. CCH Pounder's another reliable hand. She was good in this, though her role was very small. The way she went out was so goofy.
Despite watching the film, I somehow didn't realize until this viewing that Joe Bob Briggs had a brief cameo. Blink and you'll miss it, though his voice is not so hard to miss. Another minor role to bring up is the one played by Danny Masterson. One of the best scenes of Face/Off was when Masterson got his ass kicked! John Travolta kicked his ass. Scientologist-on-scientologist crime, but beggers can't be choosers.
Anyway, I could go on and on about this movie. I don't want it to be another 5 years until I watch this again. This viewing made me appreciate the film even more. There's nothing really worth complaining about the filom or even nitpick. If the film fumbled at any point, then I would be more critical of it in general. It's a movie that revels in its insanity, and I'm all for it.
10/10
Oh yeah, since 2020, I've played Nic Cage bingo. The card was made by a podcast, I think. I should look for other bingo cards, but this one's pretty good. Unsurprisingly, Face/Off is a bingo-winning film, and filled most of the boxes.
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After logging off here, I for some reason I went on a binge and watched:
Tonight, I'm going for the rest.
Out dated I know, but hey, I'm the one who enjoyed them when I first saw them all awhile back.
Tonight, I'm going for the rest.
Out dated I know, but hey, I'm the one who enjoyed them when I first saw them all awhile back.
Outcome - I was a little excited at first to watch this film because of the cool timing. On Tuesday, I watched Armour of God, and on Wednesday, I watched Face/Off. Those movies starred two of my all-time favorite actors, Jackie Chan and Nic Cage, respectively. Outcome stars another one of my all-time favorite actors, Keanu Reeves. A week highlighted by films starring 3 of my favorite actors sounds great. Unfortunately, Outcome was far and away the weakest link. It's a movie with major tonal whiplash as it goes from an Apatow-esque comedy with dated riffing and overly long scenes to a pretty effective drama and character study. It should've stuck with the dramatic moments. Some of the actors were at their best in the dramatic moments. Keanu Reeves can definitely do comedy, I thought he was great in Good Fortune. But this film featured him silent and contemplating at points. Those were more effective than a lot of the dialogue he had. His casting is a little strange, but when it works, it really works. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of that to save the movie. Matt Bomer and Cameron Diaz were mostly a comedy act, but when they had their dramatic scenes, they almost steal the show. Martin Scorsese has 2 great scenes. Susan Lucci has a very nice scene. She turned out to be one of the best examples of the movie's blending of drama and comedy.
The movie also has a very saturated look that I don't think fully works. I think Jonah Hill loved Enter the Void and decided to have the cinematographer for that shoot his film. MAny scenes looked like they were shot agaomst Volume screens. One scene where you see the beach and ocean had a very distracting look. It felt like the ocean waves were on a loop and I could see bit of a shiny outline around Keanu. What sucks is that was one of the best scenes in the whole movie, but the backdrop almost ruins it.
The movie's heavyhanded in the writing, directing, and musical choices. This was the first film Jonah Hill directed that I have watched. I'm not really interested in his other films. He didn't prove to be a fully capable director here. One major flaw with his directing is that he didn't bother restraining himself as a actor. Jonah Hill, of course, acts in the movie. He gave the most obnoxious performance. I know he was supposed to be loud and a handful, but there was no payoff to it. He wasn't funny, he wasn't humbled, he just sucked. Deep down, there is a very good movie in this. Unfortunately, it's buried by bad comedy and questionable visual and sonic choices. It's a story that doesn't fully jyustify its existence. While I like that it was only 83 minutes long, it likely would've benefited with a longer runtime, consisting of more dramatic material. It felt rushed at many points. It was filmed in 2024, so there had to be quite a bit of editing done. Apple probably didn't have a lot of faith in it, hence it going straight to their streaming service. Whatever the case, this movie was ultimately a disappointment.
5/10
Duplex - Surprisingly, this was the 2nd movie I watched on Friday that had Drew Barrymore. She had a small role in Outcome, but she's one of the leads here along with Ben Stiller. I watched many Ben Stiller movies from the early 2000s. Somehow, I didn't watch this before. I didn't even hear of it until last week! It was directed by Danny DeVito too! It was apparently played a lot on cable. I watched a lot of Ben Stiller films on cable back in the day. What a crazy blind spot. This was definitely a Danny DeVito movie! The tone-shifting is very fierce. It's very devilish and zany. The cinematography goes hard with Dutch angles and shots that generally make people look unusual. Many shots are accentuate whatever mood DeVito wanted to set. The story is also ripe for a dark comedy. A young-ish couple move into a duplex and become increasingly burdened by an elder woman that has lived there for decades. She's a tenant they had to deal with. I laughed out loud quite a bit. It's very stupid as the couple make baffling decisions before turning to an obvious one. The obvious one wound up backfiring as hard as the previous decisions, which I liked. I think I would've loved this as a kid. It is a little triggering! As ridiculous as the movie is, it does highlight some relatable shit with annoying neighbors. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore did a fine job, but some members of the supporting cast stole the show. The old woman especially. She was played by Eileen Essell. I was very curious if this woman hiding something. She couldn't just be an annoying older woman. The movie took some interesting turns, thankfully. Officer Dan, played by Robert Wisdom, was also a comedic highlight. Danny DeVito sure can get a slightly stacked cast. Harvey Fierstein, Justin Theroux, Wallace Shawn, a fresh-faced Maya Rudolph, Swoosie Kurtz, and James Remar! Remar's part was hilarious. The movie is 89 minutes and wraps up really quickly. It also felt like there was some repition and not a lot of progression in the middle of the movie. I'm nitpicking, but only so that I justify my rating for this. I'm thinking back to Death to Smoochy, which was funnier, wilder, and with more flashy cinematography, editing, and production design. Duplex felt pulled back in comparison, and that's not really because the movie's PG-13. It's a little surprising Duplex is PG-13 because it mentions some racy subjects. Anyway, this is still a fun movie. Another gem from Danny DeVito.
7.5/10
Throw Momma From the Train - Friday night was a Danny DeVito double feature! I didn't expect this and Duplex to have so many similarities! Ben Stiller played a writer in Duplex. Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito were writers in this. Both movies had an annoying older woman! The one in this film was more blatantly evil, but it made for a fantastic performance! "Momma" was played by Anne Ramsey, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar thanks to this role. Well deserved, she was the showstealer. Both Duplex and this film focus on murder, though Duplex does it for about half the runtime. Here, as the title suggests, it takes up the entire runtime. Both films feature murder fantasies! On a craft level, the movies are very different. One similarity I'll mention briefly is inventive use of transitions. I think the transitions in Throw Momma From the Train were more impressive and even comedic. Throw Momma From the Train was DeVito's theatrical film debut as director. I think you can tell because his distinct cinematography choices weren't very present here. But the cinematography still went hard, mainly because it aimed to emulate Alfred Hitchcock camera shots. The movie states clearly that it's an homage to Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. DeVito's character watched the movie and wanted to copy the murder plot in it. Trains are referenced and featured quite a bit in this movie. I assume Billy Crystal's character was a lot more hesitant for this plot compared to whoever his counterpart was in the Hitchcock film.
Speaking of Crystal, he was pretty funny in this. You can tell he was allowed to improv, as there were many scenes where he talked with himself and threw out various lines. He was especially great in the physical comedy, with pratfalls, running around, and other stunts. Danny DeVito was even funnier and better. His character was not all there, not fully developed emotionally. A good chunk of the movie took place in Hawaii, and that made me compare DeVito to Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love. He doesn't have outbursts like Sandler's character, but there's a similarly endearing connection. This was one of the most lovable DeVito characters I've seen. He normally plays jackasses, so this felt refreshing. Some other members of the supporting cast were good, but they don't steal the show like in Duplex. Having said that, I must shout out Rob Reiner. He appears in one scene and it was sad to see him. He was pretty funny and lively. Oprah Winfrey also had one scene, but she was playing herself as the scene was of her talk show. The guest was Jane Mulgrew, who played Crystal's ex-wife. I didn't agree with Crystal calling her a slut. I thought she was just lovely.
The movie had more jarring tone-shifting than Duplex. It would be very light, such as DeVito's character talks about his father. Then it shifts into darker, more comedic territory. What acted as the transition from that tone to the other was Momma's screaming! This is what Jonah Hill's Outcome lacked, a reasonable and creative way to shift tones. This DeVito film justified the tonal whiplash. I have fewer nitpicks over this than Duplex. It was very fun and even thrilling at times. It takes a lot of turns. It's not until the third act when the title of the movie is about to be acted out. Even that wasn't the end of the film. This was definitely darker and meaner than Duplex. The ending was also stronger. Overall, Throw Momma From the Train was a great, hilarious dark comedy. The commitment from the actors, the writing, the impressive handling of its tone, and Danny DeVito's directing all came together nicely.
8.5/10
Big Boobs Buster - I saw a fresh torrent of it posted on YTS and I was immediately interested. The short runtime was also enticing, it's only 45 minutes! It's a very stupid erotic comedy from Japan. A high school girl confessed her love to a a classmate, but he turned her down because she's flat-chested. She responded by jumping "big-breasted" students, scaring them away from the guy. That wound up only being about half the runtime. The 2nd half was a delightful pivot that had an endearing and wholesome message. It was essentially a body positivity movie. Each direction the movie took entertained me, and it was certainly a treat for someone who loves Japanese women. You don't get huge knockers, but the boobs shown are lovely. The movie is absurd. One fight scene in the movie lacked good choreography, but it was hilarious! The movie was amusing from start to finish, the runtime was just right. Most of the cast was entertaining, the music was great, and even some of the cinematography was decent. For a low-budget movie, it was executed nicely. I enjoyed core message of the movie, it's more endearing than what you see with Ozempic fucking up so many bodies. A pink film from 1990 with such a positive message, that's wild.
To clarify, I watched it subbed. After that, I looked up the English dub of the movie. The site that sells the recent Blu-ray version of the film includes the dub, and described it as "punched up." I looked at the credited voice cast and recognized Dan Green. He was the voice of Yugi/Yami in Yu-Gi-Oh. He was credited as the narrator. I was so curious about this dub. The torrent on YTS only has the Japanese audio, but I found another torrent with the English dub and watched that right after watching the Japanese version. So I watched this movie 2 straight times. The dub was from 2004. You can tell based on most of the actors sounded. Also, looking up the cast reveals that some of them worked on 4Kids stuff back in the early 2000s. Tom Wayland, who voiced the guy who didn't like flat-chested women, did many voices on the Pokemon anime. Anyway, the dub definitely is punched up. It features more raunchy dialogue, including words that punch down at the main character and small-breasted women in general. For example, the guy called the main girl, "Washboard." It's very funny, obviously the cast were fucking around. I had the English subtitles for the Japanese dub and it's crazy how the English dub matched a lot of lines, while also throwing in their own shit. More Americanized insults, more lines and sounds to fill in breaks in the dialogue, and even exaggerated eating during the dinner scene. The English dub is, I guess, funnier than the Japanese dub, but it muddies the core message a bit. It's definitely a nice companion piece to the original version, but I suggest starting with that, then watch the English dub. Subbed is almost always better, such as the case here.
Back to Dan Green, his voice wasn't in the movie! He was credited as the narrator. There was no narrator in the Japanese version. Shortly after watching the English dub, I learned that there was a 13-minute behind-the-scenes video on the movie. Dan Green narrated that. I wish I knew that earlier because the biggest reason I tried out the English dub was to hear him. I can't unhear the Yami-Yugi movie. To hear him say pervy things and euphemisms in that voice was crazy. That video is on YouTube, but it censors the boobs. There is yet another version of the movie on the Internet Archive, which includes the the little video. It's attached at the end of the movie. It's the Japanese audio with no subtitles. But that video also had a narrator, who was uncredited. The video revealed that quite a few of the women in Big Boobs Buster were AV idols, such as Marina Matsumoto. This whole deep dive into Big Boobs Buster took up a few hours late at night, and I loved it. I've sometimes thought about a spontangeous movie viewing. It had been a long time since that happened. Finally it came and I'm happy. In-between the 2 viewings of the movie, I learned that there's a sequel! I thought about watching that after all this was done. That movie is longer than the original, but still short at 71 minutes. From what I understand, the movie is a sequel in name only. Different cast and director, though it apparently came out the same year as Big Boobs Buster, 1990. I found the movie in rough VHS quality on the Internet Archive, but there are no subtitles. Maybe I'll watch it regardless, but that was a sign that this journey into Big Boobs Buster had to end after watching the English dub. It was fun watching the movie twice in a row. It was fun digging through the internet for information about the movie, the cast, any little tidbit. And it was fun sharing that experience in this post.
Oh yeah, the movie rating. 8/10
The movie also has a very saturated look that I don't think fully works. I think Jonah Hill loved Enter the Void and decided to have the cinematographer for that shoot his film. MAny scenes looked like they were shot agaomst Volume screens. One scene where you see the beach and ocean had a very distracting look. It felt like the ocean waves were on a loop and I could see bit of a shiny outline around Keanu. What sucks is that was one of the best scenes in the whole movie, but the backdrop almost ruins it.
The movie's heavyhanded in the writing, directing, and musical choices. This was the first film Jonah Hill directed that I have watched. I'm not really interested in his other films. He didn't prove to be a fully capable director here. One major flaw with his directing is that he didn't bother restraining himself as a actor. Jonah Hill, of course, acts in the movie. He gave the most obnoxious performance. I know he was supposed to be loud and a handful, but there was no payoff to it. He wasn't funny, he wasn't humbled, he just sucked. Deep down, there is a very good movie in this. Unfortunately, it's buried by bad comedy and questionable visual and sonic choices. It's a story that doesn't fully jyustify its existence. While I like that it was only 83 minutes long, it likely would've benefited with a longer runtime, consisting of more dramatic material. It felt rushed at many points. It was filmed in 2024, so there had to be quite a bit of editing done. Apple probably didn't have a lot of faith in it, hence it going straight to their streaming service. Whatever the case, this movie was ultimately a disappointment.
5/10
Duplex - Surprisingly, this was the 2nd movie I watched on Friday that had Drew Barrymore. She had a small role in Outcome, but she's one of the leads here along with Ben Stiller. I watched many Ben Stiller movies from the early 2000s. Somehow, I didn't watch this before. I didn't even hear of it until last week! It was directed by Danny DeVito too! It was apparently played a lot on cable. I watched a lot of Ben Stiller films on cable back in the day. What a crazy blind spot. This was definitely a Danny DeVito movie! The tone-shifting is very fierce. It's very devilish and zany. The cinematography goes hard with Dutch angles and shots that generally make people look unusual. Many shots are accentuate whatever mood DeVito wanted to set. The story is also ripe for a dark comedy. A young-ish couple move into a duplex and become increasingly burdened by an elder woman that has lived there for decades. She's a tenant they had to deal with. I laughed out loud quite a bit. It's very stupid as the couple make baffling decisions before turning to an obvious one. The obvious one wound up backfiring as hard as the previous decisions, which I liked. I think I would've loved this as a kid. It is a little triggering! As ridiculous as the movie is, it does highlight some relatable shit with annoying neighbors. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore did a fine job, but some members of the supporting cast stole the show. The old woman especially. She was played by Eileen Essell. I was very curious if this woman hiding something. She couldn't just be an annoying older woman. The movie took some interesting turns, thankfully. Officer Dan, played by Robert Wisdom, was also a comedic highlight. Danny DeVito sure can get a slightly stacked cast. Harvey Fierstein, Justin Theroux, Wallace Shawn, a fresh-faced Maya Rudolph, Swoosie Kurtz, and James Remar! Remar's part was hilarious. The movie is 89 minutes and wraps up really quickly. It also felt like there was some repition and not a lot of progression in the middle of the movie. I'm nitpicking, but only so that I justify my rating for this. I'm thinking back to Death to Smoochy, which was funnier, wilder, and with more flashy cinematography, editing, and production design. Duplex felt pulled back in comparison, and that's not really because the movie's PG-13. It's a little surprising Duplex is PG-13 because it mentions some racy subjects. Anyway, this is still a fun movie. Another gem from Danny DeVito.
7.5/10
Throw Momma From the Train - Friday night was a Danny DeVito double feature! I didn't expect this and Duplex to have so many similarities! Ben Stiller played a writer in Duplex. Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito were writers in this. Both movies had an annoying older woman! The one in this film was more blatantly evil, but it made for a fantastic performance! "Momma" was played by Anne Ramsey, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar thanks to this role. Well deserved, she was the showstealer. Both Duplex and this film focus on murder, though Duplex does it for about half the runtime. Here, as the title suggests, it takes up the entire runtime. Both films feature murder fantasies! On a craft level, the movies are very different. One similarity I'll mention briefly is inventive use of transitions. I think the transitions in Throw Momma From the Train were more impressive and even comedic. Throw Momma From the Train was DeVito's theatrical film debut as director. I think you can tell because his distinct cinematography choices weren't very present here. But the cinematography still went hard, mainly because it aimed to emulate Alfred Hitchcock camera shots. The movie states clearly that it's an homage to Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. DeVito's character watched the movie and wanted to copy the murder plot in it. Trains are referenced and featured quite a bit in this movie. I assume Billy Crystal's character was a lot more hesitant for this plot compared to whoever his counterpart was in the Hitchcock film.
Speaking of Crystal, he was pretty funny in this. You can tell he was allowed to improv, as there were many scenes where he talked with himself and threw out various lines. He was especially great in the physical comedy, with pratfalls, running around, and other stunts. Danny DeVito was even funnier and better. His character was not all there, not fully developed emotionally. A good chunk of the movie took place in Hawaii, and that made me compare DeVito to Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love. He doesn't have outbursts like Sandler's character, but there's a similarly endearing connection. This was one of the most lovable DeVito characters I've seen. He normally plays jackasses, so this felt refreshing. Some other members of the supporting cast were good, but they don't steal the show like in Duplex. Having said that, I must shout out Rob Reiner. He appears in one scene and it was sad to see him. He was pretty funny and lively. Oprah Winfrey also had one scene, but she was playing herself as the scene was of her talk show. The guest was Jane Mulgrew, who played Crystal's ex-wife. I didn't agree with Crystal calling her a slut. I thought she was just lovely.
The movie had more jarring tone-shifting than Duplex. It would be very light, such as DeVito's character talks about his father. Then it shifts into darker, more comedic territory. What acted as the transition from that tone to the other was Momma's screaming! This is what Jonah Hill's Outcome lacked, a reasonable and creative way to shift tones. This DeVito film justified the tonal whiplash. I have fewer nitpicks over this than Duplex. It was very fun and even thrilling at times. It takes a lot of turns. It's not until the third act when the title of the movie is about to be acted out. Even that wasn't the end of the film. This was definitely darker and meaner than Duplex. The ending was also stronger. Overall, Throw Momma From the Train was a great, hilarious dark comedy. The commitment from the actors, the writing, the impressive handling of its tone, and Danny DeVito's directing all came together nicely.
8.5/10
Big Boobs Buster - I saw a fresh torrent of it posted on YTS and I was immediately interested. The short runtime was also enticing, it's only 45 minutes! It's a very stupid erotic comedy from Japan. A high school girl confessed her love to a a classmate, but he turned her down because she's flat-chested. She responded by jumping "big-breasted" students, scaring them away from the guy. That wound up only being about half the runtime. The 2nd half was a delightful pivot that had an endearing and wholesome message. It was essentially a body positivity movie. Each direction the movie took entertained me, and it was certainly a treat for someone who loves Japanese women. You don't get huge knockers, but the boobs shown are lovely. The movie is absurd. One fight scene in the movie lacked good choreography, but it was hilarious! The movie was amusing from start to finish, the runtime was just right. Most of the cast was entertaining, the music was great, and even some of the cinematography was decent. For a low-budget movie, it was executed nicely. I enjoyed core message of the movie, it's more endearing than what you see with Ozempic fucking up so many bodies. A pink film from 1990 with such a positive message, that's wild.
To clarify, I watched it subbed. After that, I looked up the English dub of the movie. The site that sells the recent Blu-ray version of the film includes the dub, and described it as "punched up." I looked at the credited voice cast and recognized Dan Green. He was the voice of Yugi/Yami in Yu-Gi-Oh. He was credited as the narrator. I was so curious about this dub. The torrent on YTS only has the Japanese audio, but I found another torrent with the English dub and watched that right after watching the Japanese version. So I watched this movie 2 straight times. The dub was from 2004. You can tell based on most of the actors sounded. Also, looking up the cast reveals that some of them worked on 4Kids stuff back in the early 2000s. Tom Wayland, who voiced the guy who didn't like flat-chested women, did many voices on the Pokemon anime. Anyway, the dub definitely is punched up. It features more raunchy dialogue, including words that punch down at the main character and small-breasted women in general. For example, the guy called the main girl, "Washboard." It's very funny, obviously the cast were fucking around. I had the English subtitles for the Japanese dub and it's crazy how the English dub matched a lot of lines, while also throwing in their own shit. More Americanized insults, more lines and sounds to fill in breaks in the dialogue, and even exaggerated eating during the dinner scene. The English dub is, I guess, funnier than the Japanese dub, but it muddies the core message a bit. It's definitely a nice companion piece to the original version, but I suggest starting with that, then watch the English dub. Subbed is almost always better, such as the case here.
Back to Dan Green, his voice wasn't in the movie! He was credited as the narrator. There was no narrator in the Japanese version. Shortly after watching the English dub, I learned that there was a 13-minute behind-the-scenes video on the movie. Dan Green narrated that. I wish I knew that earlier because the biggest reason I tried out the English dub was to hear him. I can't unhear the Yami-Yugi movie. To hear him say pervy things and euphemisms in that voice was crazy. That video is on YouTube, but it censors the boobs. There is yet another version of the movie on the Internet Archive, which includes the the little video. It's attached at the end of the movie. It's the Japanese audio with no subtitles. But that video also had a narrator, who was uncredited. The video revealed that quite a few of the women in Big Boobs Buster were AV idols, such as Marina Matsumoto. This whole deep dive into Big Boobs Buster took up a few hours late at night, and I loved it. I've sometimes thought about a spontangeous movie viewing. It had been a long time since that happened. Finally it came and I'm happy. In-between the 2 viewings of the movie, I learned that there's a sequel! I thought about watching that after all this was done. That movie is longer than the original, but still short at 71 minutes. From what I understand, the movie is a sequel in name only. Different cast and director, though it apparently came out the same year as Big Boobs Buster, 1990. I found the movie in rough VHS quality on the Internet Archive, but there are no subtitles. Maybe I'll watch it regardless, but that was a sign that this journey into Big Boobs Buster had to end after watching the English dub. It was fun watching the movie twice in a row. It was fun digging through the internet for information about the movie, the cast, any little tidbit. And it was fun sharing that experience in this post.
Oh yeah, the movie rating. 8/10
I haven't posted in here in a while.
Thrash (2026)
What a strange journey. The final third of the movie is more comedic than I would have expected. Djimon Hounsou stole the show. The writer was keen to give the main character a flaw, but it's abandoned around the halfway point. There's also a birthing scene ripped right from Apocalypto, and, yes, I'm aware that I'm probably the only person to remember that. Gore's around low-to-moderate levels, if you care about that sort of thing. My favorite bit is that the Big Shark was an unexpected guardian, probably because the humans were too small to care about.
Survivor (2015)
I saw it on Netflix and figured, "why not?" Pierce Brosnan lured me in. I felt it was average. There are no character arcs, and the action sequences are brief and straightforward. It wasn't a bad watch, but it wasn't noteworthy either.
Thrash (2026)
What a strange journey. The final third of the movie is more comedic than I would have expected. Djimon Hounsou stole the show. The writer was keen to give the main character a flaw, but it's abandoned around the halfway point. There's also a birthing scene ripped right from Apocalypto, and, yes, I'm aware that I'm probably the only person to remember that. Gore's around low-to-moderate levels, if you care about that sort of thing. My favorite bit is that the Big Shark was an unexpected guardian, probably because the humans were too small to care about.
Survivor (2015)
I saw it on Netflix and figured, "why not?" Pierce Brosnan lured me in. I felt it was average. There are no character arcs, and the action sequences are brief and straightforward. It wasn't a bad watch, but it wasn't noteworthy either.
I watched 4 stoner comedies. 3 on 4/20, and 1 way past midnight because I didn't have time to start this quadruple feature earlier in the day.
Bad Day at Black Rock - Before watching the movie, I wasn't sure if this was a neo-western or a traditional one. It turned out to be a neo-western with a heavy dose of mystery. An elder man arrives by train in Black Rock, searching for a specific location to see a certain person. The town is very unfriendly to the stranger, who was played by Spencer Tracy. He was nominated for Best Lead Actor, and that's justified. Spencer Tracy carries the movie as the mystery surrounding him was intriguing. Physically, the guy stood out with his left hand seemingly being in his blazer pocket permanently. Spencer Tracy was pretty cool with witty lines and very patient responses to the citizens. The actors who played the local residents were great because they were all assholes! Holy shit, I hated almost everyone in this movie! Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin were so detestable. They delivered very condescending lies, instigating shit, and acting tough. Apparently these people are realistic as I hear desert town folk can be very unwelcoming. There was only one woman in the film, Anne Francis, and even she turned out to be unpleasant. Learning about the town's secret and Spencer Tracy's backstory were key factors in how the story was engaging. Once everything is revealed, I wasn't disappointed. The climax was explosive, but also unintentionally funny. It's a very short movie at 81 minutes, but is pretty slow paced. It all takes place in a day, which kind of fools the viewer into thinking the movie is fast, but it really isn't. Overall, it's a nice movie. John Sturges, the director, would make greater films in the 60s, namely The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. This film is much smaller in scale, but still has its charm. 7.5/10
Forbidden Planet - I wasn't sure why Bad Day at Black Rock was paired with this film until I realized that Anne Francis is in both films! Once again, she's the only woman in the cast. Unlike the pervious movie, she is pretty much an innocent woman, with the sex factor turned up big time here. This movie is apparently notable for introducing Robby the Robot, who was featured in a bunch of other movies. I didn't even recognize it in Gremlins, though its appearance there was brief. I now can see why the robot is iconic, though the poster and chatter over the movie made me think it was the biggest thing from the movie. It wasn't. It was an enjoyable novelty, but I think the more attractive aspects of the movie were the technical achievements, and some of the acting. For a movie that's 70 years old, some of the techniques used here held up nicely. You can tell they used matte paintings, a lot of sets, and the props can look very light and fake. But how much of that was used was so impressive. It felt like another world. Maybe it was a budgetary reason why the monster in the movie was basically invisible, but I thought that was a neat concept. The reveal of the monster through the blasters and electric fence was cool. Also, how the monster was described reminded me so much of the Kalisk in Predator: Badlands. The movie also has a fantastic score and a sound design that goes so hard. Some of the sounds in this movie sounded familiar. I think certain producers and rappers sampled stuff from Forbidden Planet. I saw a mention of old Flying Lotus and that sounds accurate. The acting is very appropriate for 50s sci-fi. It's very serious, but often comes off as funny! It was wild to see Leslie Nielsen in not only a serious role, but so young! He was around 30 when the movie came out! To hear him be referred to as a young man is insane. Walter Pidgeon had an aura that made me think of Christopher Lee and Vincent Price. He didn't talk like them, but he had such a command of language like them, and fittingly was a villain of sorts. The movie's plot is easy to follow, with them explaining things in the third act. Explaining what the "id" is would probably not happen if the movie was made today, as it was already apparent what the big problem was. It didn't bother me. I thought the movie was very imaginative, amusingly dated at times, and moves at a nice pace. The men ogling Anne Francis' character was very cringy, but I let it go. I can see why this is regarded as a classic, and I can also see how it influenced so many filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Robby itself must've inspired many robotic companions in subsequent media. 8/10
I watched 4 stoner comedies. 3 on 4/20, and 1 way past midnight because I didn't have time to start this quadruple feature earlier in the day.
Smiley Face - This was a first-time viewing. I may have heard of it in the past, but it was only in the last few weeks that it caught my attention. It felt right to watch this, not just because of 4/20, but because it stars Anna Faris. With Scary Movie 6 coming, I wanted to reacquaint myself with her. This also meant finally watching a Gregg Araki movie, he's got a new one coming out this year. This movie was so much fun. A surprisingly huge cast, even though the starpower at the time wasn't massive. I guess Anna Faris was the biggest star. Other contenders are barely in the movie, like Danny Trejo and John Cho. There's a young John Krazinski, Jane Lynch, Adam Brody, and ugh, Danny Masterson. Funny how the movie states that Danny Masterson is a creep! Anyway, Anna Faris carries the movie. Granted, it's all about her wacky day driven by a massive high. They established that her character Jane was a huge stoner, so this enhanced state was not as massive of a leap as the movie would imply. Still, the adventure was great. Watching this movie made me look back at other Anna Faris performances. I then concluded that she is one of the best comic actresses ever, at least in the last 30 years. Even when the movie isn't that great, like Scary Movie 3 or 4, she does incredible work. Smiley Face is a very fun movie, so it's not like she saved it. She still carried it. Her physical moments, big or small, were so well executed. Her timing was impeccable, and she was just so damn believable as a blonde stoner girl from Los Angeles. The movie is very low budget, but managed to throw in some pot-fueled visuals. The editing went along nicely with the drug-fueled haze Jane was in. The use of narration also helped. I assume Gregg Araki used his directorial touches on this, elevating it to be a slightly stylish adventure. The supporting cast is very strong, but none of them ever stole a scene from Anna Faris. And that's saying a lot considering who some of the cast members are. I might rate this movie higher in the future after watching it again. I will definitely watch it every 4/20. There were some narrative points that were just too questionable to ignore. For example, how everyone looking for Jane teamed up and crammed into Krazinski's small car to search for Jane. I think because the movie is only focused on Anna Faris, they don't bother taking a break to explain things. Her destination ultimately was a hemp festival in Venice. They never show the festival until she makes it there. With that said, there are more pros than cons with this laser focus on Jane. I'm not sure if Scary Movie 6 will be good, but I'm certain that Anna Faris will be one of the best parts of the movie, along with Regina Hall. 8/10
Friday - It was sweet to see the sons of Ice Cube and Chris Tucker recreate Friday a bit, and Terry Crews' appearance was great. But you can't beat the original. This is still an amazing slice-of-life movie. I still laugh hard from most of the cast. Chris Tucker and John Witherspoon were absolutely fantastic. Ice Cube's performance was nice, his screen presence was massive in this. He felt like a bit of a natural actor in this. It's wild to say that considering that one of his most recent movies was fucking War of the Worlds! In that movie, he was so out-of-place. Here, he felt right at home. He did co-write the movie, so of course this would be natural to him. Nothing in the movie is weak, it's a blast from start to finish. I do try and notice more of the little things. Chris Tucker's physicality, his facial expressions, all that now tickles me. His description of John Witherspoon's hair is right on the money! Tiny Lister is still very intimidating as Deebo. Nia Long is still so charming. The brief appearances of Bernie Mac and Tony Cox were hilarious. 31 years later and the power of this movie has not weakened. It was also neat to see this a few months after Set It Off. I now want to watch that movie again! F. Gary Gray was evolving as a filmmaker. I think his directing in Set It Off is better than Friday, simply on a technical level. That movie's flashier than Friday. But a lot of what makes him a great filmmaker can be seen in Friday. He still flexed a bit in the craft department, but one thing he seemed to already have mastered was pacing. This is such an amazingly paced movie, which is impressive for a slice-of-life movie with a very loose narrative. Friday is an all-time comedy for me. 10/10
How High - I absolutely love this movie. It's incredibly stupid and might be best seen while high. Hardly anything makes sense and it's merely a vehicle for Method Man and Redman. The chemistry between them is the biggest strength of the movie, in my opinion. I watched this movie a lot when I was a kid, which is probably why I refuse to rate it lower than it deserves. I also refuse to criticize the movie. It knows what it is, and you either rock with it or don't. With these rewatches, I have the movie playing along with a reaction channel's viewing of it. There are loads of reactions to Friday. There are hardly any for How High, and I watched most of them already. I wanted another different way to watch the movie. Thankfully, I found a version of the movie with the audio commentary. That was amazing. Method and Red did the commentary and it felt like chilling with some buddies while the movie was playing. They coughed, ate snacks, laughed, and repeated lines from the movie. There were insightful commentary bits, mostly from Method Man. He was definitely more of the leader in the commentary. Both of them gave props to almost every member of the cast. The only one who didn't get any love was Jeffrey Jones. All that was said of him was "No comment" by Method Man. That's very appropriate. Their praise of the other cast members helped put into perspective how strong the supporting cast was. Method and Red were the main attractions, but I've grown to love the other players. I loved some of them for years, like the guy who played Tuan, Hector Elizondo, Obba Babatundé, Al Shearer, Fred Willard and of course, Mike Epps. But now I love the guys who played Bart, Gerald, and Jeffrey. Hell, I've basically grown to love the white actors in this movie, while the others were practically instantaneous. Method and Red's commentary shined a light on what specifically made each actor a gem. For example, the guy who played Bart, Chris Elwood, was praised by Method for being like Jim Carrey. I never made the comparison, but now I can't unsee it! He has a bit of a rubbery face like Carrey and that does a lot with his comedic presence. His delivery is strong too. Bart's sidekick with his facial expressions was also funny. Another notable thing about the commentary was how they didn't have an ending! That would explain the montages and much of the third act. Method Man kept bringing up the chemistry between him and Redman, reinforcing my belief that they made such a fantastic comedic duo, on top of being a dope rap duo. They gave the most praise to Obba Babatundé, who they said helped them a lot in acting, and to Mike Epps. Mike Epps apparently wrote his whole introduction scene, which you can tell because his whole comedic vibe differed from what the movie had established by that point. It worked very well. I've been putting off rewatching the 2 Friday sequels. I've only seen Next Friday once. Interestingly, Method Man brought up an entire sequence at the cemetery that was cut. In the blooper reel during the credits, there's a guy with long black hair, dressed all in black. He looked a little like Marilyn Manson. Apparently that guy was the leader of a satnist cult who were part of that cut scene! That's crazy. I will look for deleted scenes. The movie is close to 90 minutes, and it's not surprising to learn about a lot of cut content. The movie itself feels like a glued-together series of cignettes that I guess represent an entire year at Harvard. Anyway, How High is still a classic for me, even though that's far from a consensus thing like Friday. 10/10
Pineapple Express - Because I watched this so late at night, the action/comedy feel of the movie was helpful in keeping me awake. I think if I ended the night with a straightforward comedy, I would struggle a bit. This is another movie that I refuse to criticize. It has higher production value, better writing, and is much more well structured than How High, so it's not like I'm ignoring glaring issues with the movie. There are none. Yeah, James Franco is one of the leads, but I can still watch him completely own his character of Sal and still marvel at the chemistry between him and Seth Rogen. I kind of wish James Franco was "un-canceled" because I miss the pairing of him and Seth Rogen. Some of the humor is dated and the fact that Rogen's character is dating a high school girl is odd. They established that she's 18 and he's 25, but oof. Damn, young Amber Heard. Okay, so that would qualify as a glaring issue, but it doesn't take away from how entertaining Pineapple Express is. It's the peak of Seth Rogen in the 2000s, it's frankly the best Danny McBride has been, and I'd argue that it's some of James Franco's best work. Sal is his most likeable character and it's so obvious that he had a blast doing the movie. The movie's action sequences are still amazing and feature tremendous comedic timing. The fight scene in Red's house is realistic and funny. The car chase is epic, the final act is delightfully action-packed! I watched the unrated version, which is 1 hour and 57 minutes. That's pretty long, and the extended bits do remind me more of the Apatow-style of comedy that was dominant in the 2000s. A style I'm glad has phased out. Apatow was a producer on this, and I would be more critical of Pineapple Express if he had directed it. The extended bits don't drag the movie. The unrated cut certainly benefited Gary Cole, who played Ted. It felt like he was barely a thing in the theatrical cut until the third act. I argue that Pineapple Express is the best movie that has Apatow's name on it. It's better than everything he has directed, and it's better than everything else he produced. And I love The 40 Year Old Virgin and Freaks and Geeks, but Pineapple Express is pure comfort food for me. I've been a fan of it since 2009, that's 17 years! Like the previous 2 stoner comedies, it's just hard not to be so enamored with this movie. It has been a part of my life for multiple decades! 10/10
Bad Day at Black Rock - Before watching the movie, I wasn't sure if this was a neo-western or a traditional one. It turned out to be a neo-western with a heavy dose of mystery. An elder man arrives by train in Black Rock, searching for a specific location to see a certain person. The town is very unfriendly to the stranger, who was played by Spencer Tracy. He was nominated for Best Lead Actor, and that's justified. Spencer Tracy carries the movie as the mystery surrounding him was intriguing. Physically, the guy stood out with his left hand seemingly being in his blazer pocket permanently. Spencer Tracy was pretty cool with witty lines and very patient responses to the citizens. The actors who played the local residents were great because they were all assholes! Holy shit, I hated almost everyone in this movie! Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin were so detestable. They delivered very condescending lies, instigating shit, and acting tough. Apparently these people are realistic as I hear desert town folk can be very unwelcoming. There was only one woman in the film, Anne Francis, and even she turned out to be unpleasant. Learning about the town's secret and Spencer Tracy's backstory were key factors in how the story was engaging. Once everything is revealed, I wasn't disappointed. The climax was explosive, but also unintentionally funny. It's a very short movie at 81 minutes, but is pretty slow paced. It all takes place in a day, which kind of fools the viewer into thinking the movie is fast, but it really isn't. Overall, it's a nice movie. John Sturges, the director, would make greater films in the 60s, namely The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. This film is much smaller in scale, but still has its charm. 7.5/10
Forbidden Planet - I wasn't sure why Bad Day at Black Rock was paired with this film until I realized that Anne Francis is in both films! Once again, she's the only woman in the cast. Unlike the pervious movie, she is pretty much an innocent woman, with the sex factor turned up big time here. This movie is apparently notable for introducing Robby the Robot, who was featured in a bunch of other movies. I didn't even recognize it in Gremlins, though its appearance there was brief. I now can see why the robot is iconic, though the poster and chatter over the movie made me think it was the biggest thing from the movie. It wasn't. It was an enjoyable novelty, but I think the more attractive aspects of the movie were the technical achievements, and some of the acting. For a movie that's 70 years old, some of the techniques used here held up nicely. You can tell they used matte paintings, a lot of sets, and the props can look very light and fake. But how much of that was used was so impressive. It felt like another world. Maybe it was a budgetary reason why the monster in the movie was basically invisible, but I thought that was a neat concept. The reveal of the monster through the blasters and electric fence was cool. Also, how the monster was described reminded me so much of the Kalisk in Predator: Badlands. The movie also has a fantastic score and a sound design that goes so hard. Some of the sounds in this movie sounded familiar. I think certain producers and rappers sampled stuff from Forbidden Planet. I saw a mention of old Flying Lotus and that sounds accurate. The acting is very appropriate for 50s sci-fi. It's very serious, but often comes off as funny! It was wild to see Leslie Nielsen in not only a serious role, but so young! He was around 30 when the movie came out! To hear him be referred to as a young man is insane. Walter Pidgeon had an aura that made me think of Christopher Lee and Vincent Price. He didn't talk like them, but he had such a command of language like them, and fittingly was a villain of sorts. The movie's plot is easy to follow, with them explaining things in the third act. Explaining what the "id" is would probably not happen if the movie was made today, as it was already apparent what the big problem was. It didn't bother me. I thought the movie was very imaginative, amusingly dated at times, and moves at a nice pace. The men ogling Anne Francis' character was very cringy, but I let it go. I can see why this is regarded as a classic, and I can also see how it influenced so many filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Robby itself must've inspired many robotic companions in subsequent media. 8/10
I watched 4 stoner comedies. 3 on 4/20, and 1 way past midnight because I didn't have time to start this quadruple feature earlier in the day.
Smiley Face - This was a first-time viewing. I may have heard of it in the past, but it was only in the last few weeks that it caught my attention. It felt right to watch this, not just because of 4/20, but because it stars Anna Faris. With Scary Movie 6 coming, I wanted to reacquaint myself with her. This also meant finally watching a Gregg Araki movie, he's got a new one coming out this year. This movie was so much fun. A surprisingly huge cast, even though the starpower at the time wasn't massive. I guess Anna Faris was the biggest star. Other contenders are barely in the movie, like Danny Trejo and John Cho. There's a young John Krazinski, Jane Lynch, Adam Brody, and ugh, Danny Masterson. Funny how the movie states that Danny Masterson is a creep! Anyway, Anna Faris carries the movie. Granted, it's all about her wacky day driven by a massive high. They established that her character Jane was a huge stoner, so this enhanced state was not as massive of a leap as the movie would imply. Still, the adventure was great. Watching this movie made me look back at other Anna Faris performances. I then concluded that she is one of the best comic actresses ever, at least in the last 30 years. Even when the movie isn't that great, like Scary Movie 3 or 4, she does incredible work. Smiley Face is a very fun movie, so it's not like she saved it. She still carried it. Her physical moments, big or small, were so well executed. Her timing was impeccable, and she was just so damn believable as a blonde stoner girl from Los Angeles. The movie is very low budget, but managed to throw in some pot-fueled visuals. The editing went along nicely with the drug-fueled haze Jane was in. The use of narration also helped. I assume Gregg Araki used his directorial touches on this, elevating it to be a slightly stylish adventure. The supporting cast is very strong, but none of them ever stole a scene from Anna Faris. And that's saying a lot considering who some of the cast members are. I might rate this movie higher in the future after watching it again. I will definitely watch it every 4/20. There were some narrative points that were just too questionable to ignore. For example, how everyone looking for Jane teamed up and crammed into Krazinski's small car to search for Jane. I think because the movie is only focused on Anna Faris, they don't bother taking a break to explain things. Her destination ultimately was a hemp festival in Venice. They never show the festival until she makes it there. With that said, there are more pros than cons with this laser focus on Jane. I'm not sure if Scary Movie 6 will be good, but I'm certain that Anna Faris will be one of the best parts of the movie, along with Regina Hall. 8/10
Friday - It was sweet to see the sons of Ice Cube and Chris Tucker recreate Friday a bit, and Terry Crews' appearance was great. But you can't beat the original. This is still an amazing slice-of-life movie. I still laugh hard from most of the cast. Chris Tucker and John Witherspoon were absolutely fantastic. Ice Cube's performance was nice, his screen presence was massive in this. He felt like a bit of a natural actor in this. It's wild to say that considering that one of his most recent movies was fucking War of the Worlds! In that movie, he was so out-of-place. Here, he felt right at home. He did co-write the movie, so of course this would be natural to him. Nothing in the movie is weak, it's a blast from start to finish. I do try and notice more of the little things. Chris Tucker's physicality, his facial expressions, all that now tickles me. His description of John Witherspoon's hair is right on the money! Tiny Lister is still very intimidating as Deebo. Nia Long is still so charming. The brief appearances of Bernie Mac and Tony Cox were hilarious. 31 years later and the power of this movie has not weakened. It was also neat to see this a few months after Set It Off. I now want to watch that movie again! F. Gary Gray was evolving as a filmmaker. I think his directing in Set It Off is better than Friday, simply on a technical level. That movie's flashier than Friday. But a lot of what makes him a great filmmaker can be seen in Friday. He still flexed a bit in the craft department, but one thing he seemed to already have mastered was pacing. This is such an amazingly paced movie, which is impressive for a slice-of-life movie with a very loose narrative. Friday is an all-time comedy for me. 10/10
How High - I absolutely love this movie. It's incredibly stupid and might be best seen while high. Hardly anything makes sense and it's merely a vehicle for Method Man and Redman. The chemistry between them is the biggest strength of the movie, in my opinion. I watched this movie a lot when I was a kid, which is probably why I refuse to rate it lower than it deserves. I also refuse to criticize the movie. It knows what it is, and you either rock with it or don't. With these rewatches, I have the movie playing along with a reaction channel's viewing of it. There are loads of reactions to Friday. There are hardly any for How High, and I watched most of them already. I wanted another different way to watch the movie. Thankfully, I found a version of the movie with the audio commentary. That was amazing. Method and Red did the commentary and it felt like chilling with some buddies while the movie was playing. They coughed, ate snacks, laughed, and repeated lines from the movie. There were insightful commentary bits, mostly from Method Man. He was definitely more of the leader in the commentary. Both of them gave props to almost every member of the cast. The only one who didn't get any love was Jeffrey Jones. All that was said of him was "No comment" by Method Man. That's very appropriate. Their praise of the other cast members helped put into perspective how strong the supporting cast was. Method and Red were the main attractions, but I've grown to love the other players. I loved some of them for years, like the guy who played Tuan, Hector Elizondo, Obba Babatundé, Al Shearer, Fred Willard and of course, Mike Epps. But now I love the guys who played Bart, Gerald, and Jeffrey. Hell, I've basically grown to love the white actors in this movie, while the others were practically instantaneous. Method and Red's commentary shined a light on what specifically made each actor a gem. For example, the guy who played Bart, Chris Elwood, was praised by Method for being like Jim Carrey. I never made the comparison, but now I can't unsee it! He has a bit of a rubbery face like Carrey and that does a lot with his comedic presence. His delivery is strong too. Bart's sidekick with his facial expressions was also funny. Another notable thing about the commentary was how they didn't have an ending! That would explain the montages and much of the third act. Method Man kept bringing up the chemistry between him and Redman, reinforcing my belief that they made such a fantastic comedic duo, on top of being a dope rap duo. They gave the most praise to Obba Babatundé, who they said helped them a lot in acting, and to Mike Epps. Mike Epps apparently wrote his whole introduction scene, which you can tell because his whole comedic vibe differed from what the movie had established by that point. It worked very well. I've been putting off rewatching the 2 Friday sequels. I've only seen Next Friday once. Interestingly, Method Man brought up an entire sequence at the cemetery that was cut. In the blooper reel during the credits, there's a guy with long black hair, dressed all in black. He looked a little like Marilyn Manson. Apparently that guy was the leader of a satnist cult who were part of that cut scene! That's crazy. I will look for deleted scenes. The movie is close to 90 minutes, and it's not surprising to learn about a lot of cut content. The movie itself feels like a glued-together series of cignettes that I guess represent an entire year at Harvard. Anyway, How High is still a classic for me, even though that's far from a consensus thing like Friday. 10/10
Pineapple Express - Because I watched this so late at night, the action/comedy feel of the movie was helpful in keeping me awake. I think if I ended the night with a straightforward comedy, I would struggle a bit. This is another movie that I refuse to criticize. It has higher production value, better writing, and is much more well structured than How High, so it's not like I'm ignoring glaring issues with the movie. There are none. Yeah, James Franco is one of the leads, but I can still watch him completely own his character of Sal and still marvel at the chemistry between him and Seth Rogen. I kind of wish James Franco was "un-canceled" because I miss the pairing of him and Seth Rogen. Some of the humor is dated and the fact that Rogen's character is dating a high school girl is odd. They established that she's 18 and he's 25, but oof. Damn, young Amber Heard. Okay, so that would qualify as a glaring issue, but it doesn't take away from how entertaining Pineapple Express is. It's the peak of Seth Rogen in the 2000s, it's frankly the best Danny McBride has been, and I'd argue that it's some of James Franco's best work. Sal is his most likeable character and it's so obvious that he had a blast doing the movie. The movie's action sequences are still amazing and feature tremendous comedic timing. The fight scene in Red's house is realistic and funny. The car chase is epic, the final act is delightfully action-packed! I watched the unrated version, which is 1 hour and 57 minutes. That's pretty long, and the extended bits do remind me more of the Apatow-style of comedy that was dominant in the 2000s. A style I'm glad has phased out. Apatow was a producer on this, and I would be more critical of Pineapple Express if he had directed it. The extended bits don't drag the movie. The unrated cut certainly benefited Gary Cole, who played Ted. It felt like he was barely a thing in the theatrical cut until the third act. I argue that Pineapple Express is the best movie that has Apatow's name on it. It's better than everything he has directed, and it's better than everything else he produced. And I love The 40 Year Old Virgin and Freaks and Geeks, but Pineapple Express is pure comfort food for me. I've been a fan of it since 2009, that's 17 years! Like the previous 2 stoner comedies, it's just hard not to be so enamored with this movie. It has been a part of my life for multiple decades! 10/10
Werewolves - This came out in December 2024, around a month before Wolf Man. I haven't seen Wolf Man, but I haven't heard good things about it. Surely that's better than this ridiculous shit. This movie would've done well if it was an 80s direct-to-video movie. The fact this got a theatrical release and wasn't direct to streaming is appalling. I don't know exactly what the budget of this was, but you can clearly tell it's low. The werewolves look very cheap, and it pains me a bit to say it because one of the designers is Tom Woodruff Jr, who is a prolific FX guy. They did a lot of tricks to try and hide the low quality of the suits. Choppy editing that wound up making the movie look jerky at points. The lighting choices were fucking awful. Every scene had a damn lens flare! Most of the scenes had flickering lights, it was so annoying. There were some nice gore bits, but some potential fire in that departed was ruined by blueballing cuts. The acting is also very weak. The two major female actresses were not convincing. One was flat and another got very annoying. Frank Grillo as an ex-soldier makes sense. As a scientist on top of that? That's too much of a reach, but the movie went for that. He's the least bad in the movie, but he sure doesn't save it. Lou Diamond Phillips was wasted, I felt a little bad about his presence. An annoying guy named Cody was a little prominent early in the film. He then becomes a werewolf and is the final boss of the movie. As it turned out, the actor who played him was also a producer of the film. That has to explain why the character got a lot of attention. That's lame. The climax of the movie was lame as well. I did laugh a few times from the movie and I could see this become a trashy cult classic, but there are far better movies that are legit trashy cult classics that dance circles around this movie. 4/10
Apex - Pretty decent survival thriller. It's a 2-hander, 90% of the film is just Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton. Both actors did a great job. Maybe this would make a good double feature with Send Help. That movie is better though. Both had shabby CGI! The climbing sequences in Apex were great. I appreciated the amount of close-ups. It seemed like they wanted to sell the legitimacy of the climbing. Close-ups of Theron's feet and hands as she climbed, those really got me. Hell, Theron probably did more stunts than Egerton. She seemed game for doing stunts, and it paid off. Unfortunately, what breaks the immersion with the climbing scenes is when characters fall. That's where the shabby CGI entered the picture. Especially when characters die. The opening sequence got me hooked, but then someone died and I was a little bummed. It would've been better and hilarious if they used a dummy! Anyway, this is a movie where the narrative is very thin. I fully accepted it, the movie was more about thrills than dramatic heft. The characters are easy to analyze, though there was a surprising aspect of Egerton. This is the kind of direct-to-streaming content I'm all for. Just a solid genre film you can watch at home. 7/10
Captain EO - A 17-minute short film shot in 3D and for Disney, specifically playing in Disneyland for many years. It was co-written by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It also apparently cost $23 million dollars, which is insane for 1986. I assume Lucas passed on directing the movie and convinced his buddy Coppola to do it. Who directed it kind of didn't matter. This was a complete vehicle for Michael Jackson, pre-Moonwalker. The puppets looked ugly and goofy, the "story" overall was very silly. The dance sequences and songs were the main event, and while those are technically good, the project overall is just so stupid. I laughed a few times at least. I might watch Moonwalker, which is longer and could be more insane and funny. This wasn't it, and for a 17-minute short, it felt much longer. Still, it was an interesting curio. 5/10
The Legend of Billie Jean - This had nothing to do with Michael Jackson. This 1985 film was about a girl named Billie Jean who becomes an outlaw to some, and a hero to most people. The character was played by Helen Slater, who the year before was Supergirl! So back-to-back films with her as the hero. And they were her 2 first feature length films! I was kind of hoping for a Supergirl reference, but nope. Anyway, this was a very 80s movie with the music, tech, visuals, and omverall vibe. It was also very much a PG-13 movie. It was a lot more PG-13 than I expected. I was expecting people dying, such as Christian Slater's character. Damn, he was so young in this. The movie wound up being something for the Young Adult crowd. Despite that, I was able to get into it. The performances from the young main actors were nice, especially Helen Slater. One of the other girls was Yeardley Smith, aka Lisa Simpson! She was pretty funny in this. Nearly every adult character sucked, even though the actors were decent. Dean Stockwell was in this and it was a treat to see him, but his character still sucked. The movie had a pretty good feminist message without shoving it down your throat. It was unrealistic and goofy at times, but it was always charming and fun. I'm now glad that it wasn't as dark as I anticipated. It could've been based on the subject matter. Attempted murder, attempted sexual assault! Heavy stuff, but the movie handled that very well without minimizing those things. The ending was extremely satisfying. 8/10
Apex - Pretty decent survival thriller. It's a 2-hander, 90% of the film is just Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton. Both actors did a great job. Maybe this would make a good double feature with Send Help. That movie is better though. Both had shabby CGI! The climbing sequences in Apex were great. I appreciated the amount of close-ups. It seemed like they wanted to sell the legitimacy of the climbing. Close-ups of Theron's feet and hands as she climbed, those really got me. Hell, Theron probably did more stunts than Egerton. She seemed game for doing stunts, and it paid off. Unfortunately, what breaks the immersion with the climbing scenes is when characters fall. That's where the shabby CGI entered the picture. Especially when characters die. The opening sequence got me hooked, but then someone died and I was a little bummed. It would've been better and hilarious if they used a dummy! Anyway, this is a movie where the narrative is very thin. I fully accepted it, the movie was more about thrills than dramatic heft. The characters are easy to analyze, though there was a surprising aspect of Egerton. This is the kind of direct-to-streaming content I'm all for. Just a solid genre film you can watch at home. 7/10
Captain EO - A 17-minute short film shot in 3D and for Disney, specifically playing in Disneyland for many years. It was co-written by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It also apparently cost $23 million dollars, which is insane for 1986. I assume Lucas passed on directing the movie and convinced his buddy Coppola to do it. Who directed it kind of didn't matter. This was a complete vehicle for Michael Jackson, pre-Moonwalker. The puppets looked ugly and goofy, the "story" overall was very silly. The dance sequences and songs were the main event, and while those are technically good, the project overall is just so stupid. I laughed a few times at least. I might watch Moonwalker, which is longer and could be more insane and funny. This wasn't it, and for a 17-minute short, it felt much longer. Still, it was an interesting curio. 5/10
The Legend of Billie Jean - This had nothing to do with Michael Jackson. This 1985 film was about a girl named Billie Jean who becomes an outlaw to some, and a hero to most people. The character was played by Helen Slater, who the year before was Supergirl! So back-to-back films with her as the hero. And they were her 2 first feature length films! I was kind of hoping for a Supergirl reference, but nope. Anyway, this was a very 80s movie with the music, tech, visuals, and omverall vibe. It was also very much a PG-13 movie. It was a lot more PG-13 than I expected. I was expecting people dying, such as Christian Slater's character. Damn, he was so young in this. The movie wound up being something for the Young Adult crowd. Despite that, I was able to get into it. The performances from the young main actors were nice, especially Helen Slater. One of the other girls was Yeardley Smith, aka Lisa Simpson! She was pretty funny in this. Nearly every adult character sucked, even though the actors were decent. Dean Stockwell was in this and it was a treat to see him, but his character still sucked. The movie had a pretty good feminist message without shoving it down your throat. It was unrealistic and goofy at times, but it was always charming and fun. I'm now glad that it wasn't as dark as I anticipated. It could've been based on the subject matter. Attempted murder, attempted sexual assault! Heavy stuff, but the movie handled that very well without minimizing those things. The ending was extremely satisfying. 8/10
Watched it dubbed, got infinitely disappointed that:
"Frondosa Fagina" wasn't "Bucci Tucci" but instead "Alotta Fagina".
"Frondosa Fagina" wasn't "Bucci Tucci" but instead "Alotta Fagina".
On your recommendation, I decided to give it a try.
Apex (2026)
I feel like anything more than "Charlize Theron goes for a climb" would give everything away. Even just by reading the title and looking at the preview, you may feel like you've seen this movie before. It does follow a bit of a formula: Prideful moment followed by devastating loss. Cut to title. Time jump. The journey that follows is about survival, but it's also about grieving. What @RustInPeace said is right. It is a solid effort, but it probably won't linger in your mind after viewing. If I hadn't read that bit about the hokey CG, I probably wouldn't have paid it much mind.
TL;DR: Is it about the mountain we climbed, or is it about the grief we overcame? OoOoohh
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