What are you watching?

[Vincent Dawn Jr]

The To Do List-Paramount Plus

Set in 93 but made 20 years later. Comedy with Aubrey Plaza as the mousey virgin senior in high school. Who's older sister tries to get to open up more.

Good cast,fairly funny. And neat twist on the Caddyshacking the pool trope.

I think this is the movie where she and her two buddies get in a huge fight over a VHS tape of Beaches. I can't remember exactly what the scenario is, but I know it ends with one of them threatening Aubrey Plaza, "You better pray to God there's nothing wrong with that tape!" Ha, ha.

[Newt Cox]

The To Do List-Paramount Plus

Set in 93 but made 20 years later. Comedy with Aubrey Plaza as the mousey virgin senior in high school. Who's older sister tries to get to open up more.

Good cast,fairly funny. And neat twist on the Caddyshacking the pool trope.

[Jason C]

I've liked all three of his films so far, especially the music, but man he needs to trim these things down. BRAWL was probably my favorite of the three.

I want to say I loved "Dragged Across Concrete" but I was disappointed. I’m good with films that take things slow but every scene takes forever. Its painful at times. I did greatly enjoy Mel Gibson and there are some good moments. Tory Kittles was very good as well. There are many shocking moments of brutality that have some dark humor elements to them but too many scenes waste far too much time.

I loved “Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich”.

[Derrick King]

At the end of the day it is so much easier to stream something from the Criterion Channel or Tubi or old sitcoms on Pluto TV, but I'm going to try and watch some unwatched discs I have amassed over these past 10 years. As such, I watched Big Time Gambling Boss the other night and it was fine (the extras were pretty worthless.) I think people on the forums had hyped that one up a little too much and my expectations were too high.

[Scott]

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (USA, 2017)
I expected cheap trash that would bore me after an hour but ended up being completely mesmerized. It’s exhausting how bleak this film is. Its a unique experience and I’ll never look at Vince Vaughn the same again.

I've liked all three of his films so far, especially the music, but man he needs to trim these things down. BRAWL was probably my favorite of the three.

[Scott]

Silip: Daughters of Eve (Daughters of Eve) (Philippines, 1985)
For a 2-hour exploitation film Silip did a surprisingly skillful job of ratcheting up the shocking moments all the way to a jaw-dropping conclusion. Visually interesting and looks terrific. Consistently compelling and shocking. This is why I pay crazy prices to purchase genre films I’ve never heard of. Some are entertaining but many are not. But the bad expierences are worth enduring for the few masterpieces of WTF like Silip.

Agreed. I adore this movie and love the world it creates. I knew nothing of it going in and kept getting surprised by where it was going. Brave 'n bold performances all around by everyone. For an exploitation film I found it surprisingly deep.

[Cody Layne]

Matango (Attack of the Mushroom People). One of the strangest movies ever produced by Toho and directed by Ishiro Honda. Not one I absolutely loved, as it's rather slow-paced and focuses more on the characters trying to survive on the island rather than the horrific effects of the mushrooms, but definitely unique, if nothing else.

[Newt Cox]

Saw that cover and it was only a buck so took a chance. Expecting some bad CGI ripoff of TMNT and Kung Fu Panda. Nope instead I got a 18 minute long bad CGI cartoon based on a kid's story book.

[Randy G]

Rewatching Egoyan's Exotica.

[Cody Layne]

A couple of months ago, I was able to get the Toho Pack DVD set off of Ebay. Of the three movies in that set, I've watched The Mysterians and Varan. Neither of them are that great, with the former, especially, being empty spectacle, but they're still cool to have, especially given how rare that set now is.

[BW Haggar]

I totally agree, with the caveat that I think Zahler's other two films as writer/director are just as good.

He remains my favourite director of the modern era by a country mile, and I also hope he'll be able to get some new stuff on screen before long.

[Matt H.]

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (USA, 2017)
I expected cheap trash that would bore me after an hour but ended up being completely mesmerized. It’s exhausting how bleak this film is. Its a unique experience and I’ll never look at Vince Vaughn the same again.

I think this is currently my favourite film. I think about it all the time and I consider watching it often. It's the best pure genre movie in years. I hope Zahler has a new film coming soon.

[Jason C]

I finished 2023 with 300 films watched. This is one the best year’s I’ve had for “stellar first time viewings” since starting down this genre film hobbyist path in 2009. These films provided me with some of the best experiences this hobby can provide. I’m glad I’m so late to many of them because I’ve reached the point where I can fully appreciate them. They are standouts in a sea of garbage and mediocrity.

Irreversible (France, 2002) [Theatrical]
I was always nervous about seeing this film based on the reputation. I was blown away. Its an incredible experience.

Interstellar (USA-UK-Canada, 2014)
This film is a heart-wrenching as “The Notebook” but with dense science fiction as the base. I was skeptical about Mathew McConaughey playing an astronaut but he was amazing in the role. His childlike wonder and enthusiasm helped to make a 3-hour film never feel boring.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (USA, 2017)
I expected cheap trash that would bore me after an hour but ended up being completely mesmerized. It’s exhausting how bleak this film is. Its a unique experience and I’ll never look at Vince Vaughn the same again.

Stiff Competition (USA, 1984)
Easily the most enjoyable 80’s porno I’ve seen. The story is funny. It’s made even funnier by how serious many of the actors, especially John Leslie, are taking it. I found the bj training scenes with the ”trainor” repeatedly calling the Gina Carrera “champ” to be a riot. Looks stunning in 4k.

Red Spirit Lake (USA, 1993)
Often has a fever dream quality which helps keep the momentum going. The story is just compelling enough and the sleaze is top tier. Consistently surprises and shocks throughout. Many attractive ladies showing it all in a near constant parade of flesh. The story and visuals are interesting and characters engaging. There are some moments with some jank but with expectations set to no-budget SOV, its all very impressive. The film more than makes up for its shortcomings with scenes that go well past what I expected to see on my screen.

Extraction (USA, 2020)
The action and fight choreography is some of the best ever. Set-pieces are thrilling to the point of exhaustion. Chris Hemsworth is perfect in his role.

Silip: Daughters of Eve (Daughters of Eve) (Philippines, 1985)
For a 2-hour exploitation film Silip did a surprisingly skillful job of ratcheting up the shocking moments all the way to a jaw-dropping conclusion. Visually interesting and looks terrific. Consistently compelling and shocking. This is why I pay crazy prices to purchase genre films I’ve never heard of. Some are entertaining but many are not. But the bad expierences are worth enduring for the few masterpieces of WTF like Silip.

The Night of the Hunted (France, 1980)
Absolutely haunting and beautiful. I love the understated sci-fi elements. It was very refreshing seeing Rollin work in a strange modern backdrop. Brigitte Lahaie is stunning and delivers an amazing performance. It is disturbing and sad. Surprisingly solid dystopian nightmare.

The Inferno (Hell) (Jigoku) (Japan, 1979)
An incredible fever dream filled with beautiful women that’s very entertaining from beginning to end despite a 130 minute runtime.

The Sinister Dr. Orloff (El siniestro doctor Orloff) (Spain, 1984)
One of Franco’s best. The camera work is consistently entertaining, and the music is very cool. There were many times when I thought, “what a beautiful composition”, and was tempted to pause and take it in fully. There is no shortage of intense exploitation. The story is delightfully strange. I’m so thankful we have Stephen Thrower on most of these Franco discs. It feels like I’m visiting with an old friend at this point. And it’s a treat having a reason to flip through one of his books each time I watch a Franco film.

[BW Haggar]

The Boy and The Heron
(Hayao Miyazaki, 2023)

Began 2024 the right way today, by going to see this at a lunch time screening.

And what can I say? It's bloody magnificent.

It's probably a redundant observation to make about a Miyazaki film by this point, but this is such an aesthetically beautiful film - the attention to detail in the background of nearly every frame speaks to a lifetime of dedicated craftsmanship and visual research, and the gentle, gliding pace of the cel animation is - of course - exquisite.

I confess I've found most post-'Spirited Away' Ghibli projects too frantic and whimsical for my tastes, but the more sombre, more ambiguous tone adopted here suited me perfectly.

The fantasy aspects are mysterious and intriguing, with a persistent undertow of existential menace and flat-out scariness, and, like all of Miyazaki's best films, the human drama takes a potentially sentimental subject, but steadfastly refuses to dumb it down for a 'family' audience or engage in manipulative heart-string tugging, meaning that (whilst not exactly original), the core tale of a boy processing trauma and grief through a retreat into imagination remains incredibly moving, in a way that almost defies verbal explanation.

Admittedly, the film does lose focus here and there - the opening "real world" section may prove too slow for a mainstream audience to latch onto (although I liked it just fine), and later on things get a bit lost for a while in an endless cavalcade of stuff exploding/collapsing, brightly coloured creatures flying/flapping around and weird fantasy-world logic etc; perhaps a tighter edit might have helped?

But, this is a minor criticism; there is so much here that is good, it almost makes me feel like, if the human race can knock out something like this once in a while and leave it for future civilizations to find, all the shit and pain that comprises life on earth will be worth it.

I'm unsure how things stand with Miyazaki at present (I thought he had retired, until this one popped up as a new release?), but if this turns out to be his final film, he'll be going out on a high - definitely one of his finest ahievements, for my money.

[BW Haggar]

Saltburn
(Emerald Fennell, 2023)

An odd choice for a New Years Eve movie, but hey - I didn't make it.

Anyway, the problem with getting old as a fan of movies/culture in general is, you've see it all before.

This is a perfectly well-made, compelling film, and if I had watched it when I was within the same age group as the central characters, I might have found it all pretty enthralling and original.

As it is though, by the halfway mark I already had it pegged as 50% 'The Talented Mr Ripley', 40% 'The Servant', and 10% some random ITV drama about the lives of the rich and priviledged - and thus spent the remaining run-time wiishing I could re-watch / re-read the first two of those again instead.

As in Fennell's earlier film ('Promising Young Woman'), innovation largely stems from the unconventional and kinda manipulative / unfair games played with the audience's sympathies, and the deliberate holding back of certain pieces of key narrative information.

Despite a few nods to classic gothic imagery, the whole affair also feels aggressively 'modern' - in the sense that there's lots of pervy, umcomfortable sex stuff going on (but nobody actually enjoys any of it, or gets naked for it), and the characters all swear and say nasty things to each other incessently.

None of which is necessarily meant as criticism - just an indication that I can feel the generation gap yawning wide when I watch stuff like this. (Although, mercifully, it's at least set in 2006, so they're not all banging on about their 'socials' and covertly videoing everything all the time.)

Barry Keoghan is a very striking central presence - an old man's face on young man's body, with a weirdly disconcerting muscular torso, he's like the genetically engineered mutant gandson of Dirk Bogarde's character from 'The Servant', or something.

Difficult to say whether this movie will totally make his career, or whether he'll be forever cursed by Anthony Perkins-esque type-casting, but either way - he certainly makes an impression.