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The Phantom

Another period piece superhero movie. This one has more action and humor than the Shadow, but feels cartoonier and messier as a story.

The movie is full of great actors making great choices, from Billy Zane’s kind-of-a-dork Phantom to Treat Williams’ scene-stealing hammy villain. It has more location shots and elaborate stunt work than any 5 modern superhero movies. It’s a visual treat of a movie.


I’m not sure what else should follow after The Rocketeer. Sky Captain? Dick Tracy? That old Doc Savage film from the 70’s?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The Phantom

Another period piece superhero movie. This one has more action and humor than the Shadow, but feels cartoonier and messier as a story.

The movie is full of great actors making great choices, from Billy Zane’s kind-of-a-dork Phantom to Treat Williams’ scene-stealing hammy villain. It has more location shots and elaborate stunt work than any 5 modern superhero movies. It’s a visual treat of a movie.


I’m not sure what else should follow after The Rocketeer. Sky Captain? Dick Tracy? That old Doc Savage film from the 70’s?

In keeping the flow of early/mid 90s comic book movies going, definitely Dick Tracy.

Yeah, Dick Tracy is something to see.

It was a big, summer, tentpole blockbuster at the time too. Tons of merch and tie-in promos all over the place.

And Madonna.

Unfortunately.

I only have vague memories of Duck Tracy, and they aren’t positive. Maybe it will hold up better on a second viewing.


I won’t be able to stop myself from humming Ghetto Supastar every time I see Warren Beatty’s smug face. And I won’t want to be able to stop myself.

Way of the Gun (2000)

Benicio del Toro and Ryan Phillipe star as two desperate/impulsive criminals who bite off more than they can chew.

Some fun/witty dialogue (Veteran bagman played by James Caan: "Are you the brains of this operations" Del Toro: "Yeah, this is not really a 'brains' operation" is one that I quote all the time), good shootouts and Sarah Silverman getting punched in the face in the opening minutes(her character really deserved it, nothing against the actual person) make this one of my favorites.

I also think my affection for this movie comes from when I bought the dvd years ago and me and my army buds watched it together in the barracks. Don't think it moved the needle critically or financially when it came out.

Awesome Asian Bad Guys

This movie is free here on YouTube. I clicked for Al Leong, but I stayed for Randall Park.

It’s a little homage video put together by a couple YouTube comedians and starring some of the most recognizable bad guys of 80’s action cinema. It’s got YouTube movie level production, action and editing, but it’s still kind of fun. I was invested in Al Leong’s quest to find a suitably badass catchphrase.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I only have vague memories of Duck Tracy, and they aren’t positive. Maybe it will hold up better on a second viewing.
...

I think it will. I think we'd appreciate how all-out they went on the comicbook look and the colours. But I haven't seen it in aaaaages. Yup, marketing was huge on that one.


I just watched Master and Commander for the first time. Yeah, everybody loves it, and they are indeed correct. What a film! The enter fight had my eyes glued to the screen, mouth agape. And all these vignettes in betweetn are also great. LOved the scenes on the Galapagos islands and whatnot. Great film.

I'm honestly surprised no one has tried to "go back to the well" on Master and Commander. I mean, there is a huge series of novels it is based on, and IIRC this one was sort of in the middle of the series.

Probably because it cost $150m to make and “only” made $200m in return. It was a glorious production though.

 Easy E wrote:
I'm honestly surprised no one has tried to "go back to the well" on Master and Commander. I mean, there is a huge series of novels it is based on, and IIRC this one was sort of in the middle of the series.

Yeah, probably not broad enough for the budget. Let's have Netflix make another superfunny and awesome actiony thing starring [somebody funny relateable], [a Rock equivalent], [the tough lady] and [the quirky lady who is tough too], with a hilarious cameo by [Bill Murray or who ever is available at the moment] instead.

Master and Commander also did a few things differently than lesser hollywood films would have: Takes its time, did NOT have a big helicopter drone shot during the amazing enter scene with lots of "cgi pirates", had no annoying characters, but rather HAD characters. Overall, this looks remarkably untouched by marketing/studio goons. I really enjoyed that film.

 Sigur wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
I'm honestly surprised no one has tried to "go back to the well" on Master and Commander. I mean, there is a huge series of novels it is based on, and IIRC this one was sort of in the middle of the series.

Yeah, probably not broad enough for the budget. Let's have Netflix make another superfunny and awesome actiony thing starring [somebody funny relateable], [a Rock equivalent], [the tough lady] and [the quirky lady who is tough too], with a hilarious cameo by [Bill Murray or who ever is available at the moment] instead.

Master and Commander also did a few things differently than lesser hollywood films would have: Takes its time, did NOT have a big helicopter drone shot during the amazing enter scene with lots of "cgi pirates", had no annoying characters, but rather HAD characters. Overall, this looks remarkably untouched by marketing/studio goons. I really enjoyed that film.

I would suggest Black Sails for any fans of Master and Commander. It's a really outstanding pirate series, with quite a few close quarters boarding scenes and ship duels.

 Flinty wrote:
Probably because it cost $150m to make and “only” made $200m in return. It was a glorious production though.

I feel like it's a movie that made way more money on DVD? Not sure. It's one of those movies that came out and no one much went to see it but it's done really well in post-release.

But historical films also just aren't the fad now, especially not with movies like The Last Duel and The Northman underperforming. Maybe if Napoleon does well, but Scott's track record with historical epics includes everything from Gladiator to Kingdom of Heaven to 1492 so who knows.

EDIT: Though I did google the film and found this. I further googled but IDK. There's nothing since 2021 I can find. Still. If Crowe wants to do it maybe it could happen. We could always hope and dream.

There's also Greyhound if anyone has AppleTV. Think it's still only on AppleTV which is a shame cause it's not great but it's good enough for what it is. Similar high seas sort of film as Master and Commander, but the characters aren't as good.

[Pours gasoline, lights match]

Watched a 1983 in film retrospective and it mentioned Sudden Impact and I didn't think I had ever seen that Dirty Harry movie so I tracked it down and watched it. Oh boy, that lead to having to go back and watch the original Dirty Harry (1971) and Magnum Force (1973) because of all the issues and questions raised. I will be watching The Enforcer (1975) later this evening. There is a reason why Judge Dredd comics satirized them, as the lengths the films goes to to justify the protagonist constantly killing people, well no not people, cartoonist grotesques pretending to be criminals, is kind of disturbing. Saturday morning cartoons are more nuanced portrayals of crime and criminals. If it was portraying an unlikable character that we weren't supposed cheer on but be engaged by it would be less problematic but it seems to want to make him a a hero we cheer for. He often comes across as a man who wants to kill people and found a position that put him into situations that would allow. Not even starting in on the racial and sexual politics.

They are also interesting crime stories with a good core plot. Sudden Impact more than Dirty Harry has unnecessary divergences to show how much of a righteous killer Harry is. To often they set up situations where he can kill bad people and the crowd can cheer that has little to nothing to do with what is actually happening. Within the first twenty five minutes Harry has killed eleven people unrelated to the main story (4 mafia, 4 diner robbers, and 3 generic) and they all could have been cut out and you would still have the same story.

Magnum Force is interesting as it seems to be a direct response to criticism of the first film. Basically it is Batman, after torturing, beating, paralyzing, and wreaking havoc says he is actually the hero because he waits instead of being proactive. It helps that the criminals are written to be caricature than anything always going after our gallant hero for no really good reason other than to keep the body count rising. One of the criticisms of Dirty Harry was that it appeared to be attacking the youth movements, this was filmed late in the 60s, and the villain is a long haired (for the time) young guy with a peace symbol belt buckle. Well now Harry is hooking up with a hippy chick out of nowhere that lives downstairs for casual sex, woohoo!

The attitudes and glorification extra judicial killing and vigilantism are still hanging us today, and it is a bit disturbing. Dirty Harry is Darth Vader in that he wants order and will enforce it and the end of a lightsaber and begrudgingly tolerates the Emperor because it allows him to do so while feeling good about his actions.

All that being said I still recommend them as they are entertaining they just open up a lot of questions and if watching with younger viewers probably should be ready to answer a lot of questions. It is an entertaining way to get some really mixed messages. The endings are really old school with him killing the bad guy and it just abruptly coming to a stop and saying THE END. In the first he throws away his shield, in the second he blows up his lieutenant, and in SI he lets a vigilante off the hook.

Edit: I also realized that in two of the three films people Harry catches are released because he didn't get a search warrant then the criminal comes after him later. They didn't even try to think of another pattern or reason just the same thing twice.

Horror In The High Desert

Rarely does a movie go to such lengths to disguise itself. HITHD is a found footage horror, that tries so hard to not let on that it's even listed as a Documentary on Prime Video.

If you were to embark on viewing it as such then I'm not sure if it would enhance the experience, or just generate extra irritation when it becomes apparent that this is very much not a documentary.

HITHD exists primarily as a 60 minute vehicle to sell around 20 minutes of vaguely creepy footage. Footage with such poor FX that even falling back on to the old gimmick of infrared black and white vision doesn't fully mask the joins. Still, aspects of the last sequence are atmospheric enough, just not really worth the price of sitting through an hour of mockumentary to get to.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the film is that it's loosely based on the real life disappearance of Kenny Veach, who also vanished under mysterious circumstances in the mountains. Honestly, you'd be better spent spending time researching that, or some of the many other "vanished under really bizarre circumstances" missing persons cases that the vast wildernesses that still exist on the planet still throw up from time to time.

The Enforcer (1975)

Well I suppose we were bound to run into a bad one at some point and here it is. For all their issues the other three Dirty Harry films listed before were still good films. The Enforcer is, at best, a made for TV movie of its time. I barely feels like a Dirty Harry film. I would think perhaps it was rushed being only two years after Magnum Force but MF was just two years after the original. That might explain why there was an eight year gap between The Enforcer and Sudden Impact.

It was interesting to find out that originally Harry was supposed to be older, like mid 50s, and his years on the force that had made him indifferent, and even antagonistic, to the system as he was tired and worn out explains his extreme measures. John Wayne and Burt Lancaster were considered and at one point Sinatra was going to play the part. In the original Scorpio has zero motivation or backstory but there were multiple drafts with varying reasons (he killed his grandparents as a kid and was raised in psychiatric, he just wanted money, was a Vietnam vet with PTSD) and in the end they just left it out. Originally it was a Marine Sniper that got Scorpio at the end but they wanted to give Harry another moment.

Conan The Barbarian

Let’s face it. This is damned near perfect. Arnie has not only the perfect physique for the role, but his admittedly limited acting skills were exactly what the role needed. Not bad acting by any stretch, as he certainly gets the beats across. But limited all the same.

The supporting cast a great, our villains are menacing. The effects are pretty damned decent for the time. And the fight choreography just does it for me. All neatly capped off with a damned near, if not outright, perfect, soundtrack.

Absolutely fantastic bit of film making, sadly never really bettered within it own genre - though its direct sequel isn’t entirely devoid of its charms. And Red Sonja was very very almost, but crucially not quite, there.

A few GenCons ago they showed Conan on the big screen at the theater near the convention. It was nice to see it on the big screen again.

Like Star Wars, Conan also hit the right level of grimy to help with the suspension of disbelief. The cast is neither spotlessly clean or utterly filth encrusted (except where that is appropriate). The costuming tells distinct visual stories for the factions.

Its endearingly acted I would say. There is a general lack of super detailed expression, by which I mean limited close-ups catching every arch of the eyebrows and slight pull of the cheek in amusement. For me it comes across as an authentic characterisation of how people actually react and communicate.

And when people are killed, you know they are dead, with an appropriate, but not excessive, amount of gore.

Its just really well put together.

It has one of the best soundtracks ever written.

 LordofHats wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
Probably because it cost $150m to make and “only” made $200m in return. It was a glorious production though.

....
There's also Greyhound if anyone has AppleTV. Think it's still only on AppleTV which is a shame cause it's not great but it's good enough for what it is. Similar high seas sort of film as Master and Commander, but the characters aren't as good.

Yeah, I guess I'll stick to the Hornblower films on youtube for my high seas kicks.


@Mad Doc Grotsnik:

Conan The Barbarian

Let’s face it. This is damned near perfect. ...

Right you are.

@H.B.M.C.:

It has one of the best soundtracks ever written.

Right you are.

You’re So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah

It’s a tween coming-of-age drama/comedy about girls tearing apart their friendship over a boy. Some of the jokes are funny, but there’s a lot more embarrassment humor than I enjoy. I’m not sure how relatable the situations are for any normal person since the characters are all rich, throwing $20,000ish parties and attending a synagogue the size of a middle school. I’d only recommend this to someone looking for a bat mitzvah themed Mean Girls type of movie.

The Golden Child

An 80’s classic. Eddie Murphy, Charles Dance, no less than four actors from Big Trouble in Little China, and a really cool dagger star in this fantasy-adventure-comedy. If you like fantasy concepts and Eddie Murphy, watch it.


Seriously, it’s a really cool dagger.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The Golden Child

An 80’s classic. Eddie Murphy, Charles Dance, no less than four actors from Big Trouble in Little China, and a really cool dagger star in this fantasy-adventure-comedy. If you like fantasy concepts and Eddie Murphy, watch it.


Seriously, it’s a really cool dagger.

Don't forget Brother Numsie!

I saw Oppenheimer. I put my thoughts in that thread.

 Ahtman wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The Golden Child

An 80’s classic. Eddie Murphy, Charles Dance, no less than four actors from Big Trouble in Little China, and a really cool dagger star in this fantasy-adventure-comedy. If you like fantasy concepts and Eddie Murphy, watch it.


Seriously, it’s a really cool dagger.

Don't forget Brother Numsie!

He is so forgiving.

Not a movie but based off a Movie.

Beetlejuice, the Musical

As the name suggests, based off the Tim Burton movie, with considerable reimagining for the stage.

Saw this on Broadway during my New York trip last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. The other audience members got an extra special scary treat when yours truly, a 6’2” gothic horror blubbed his way through Lydia’s solely number “Dead Mom”.

Clips along at a good pace with typically Broadway Songs. The staging and that are amazing, and I understand it’s won awards.

It’s currently on a U.S. tour, and I’m hoping it comes to London’s West End, as it’s one of those rare musicals I’m happy to see more than once.

Triangle

You know, as a kid I read a lot about the Bermuda Triangle.... because it was fun! We all know strange things happen to those who go into it! Except.... not really.

In this movie, a group of people on a sailboat get trapped in the Triangle, and they board an old liner called the Aeolus. Bermuda Triangle hijinks ensue.

The movie is better than my short synopsis makes it sound. It is hard to not give out spoilers to this one, but if you have read about some of the theories about the Bermuda Triangle and what happens there, you might have an inkling to what you are about to see.

A trio of quick reviews:

Old Boy (2003 Korean original)
Considering that the entire film hangs off a single nugget of information it is impressive that the rest of the movie does not feel like filler and the whole stands up to multiple revisits. If you like the sort of film where the reveal changes the whole outlook of the film (Memento, Sixth Sense, Knives Out, etc.) then this one is up there with the best of them.


Carry On Cleo
With only a small mention to where yesteryear's comedy is exposed (they don't so much do Blackface as they do Blackbody!), this is one of the ok carry on films. There's a good mix of slapstick, visual gags and word play. A couple of highlights are Sid honing his sword with chef's sharpening steel and Caesar rowing his own boat. And the writers must have lived the rest of their lives in glorious contentment after writing the magnificent line: "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!"


Funny Face
Musical with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.
The content creators I pay attention to who discuss music in movies often say something along the lines of when a character feels something they talk about it. When talking isn't enough they sing. When singing isn't enough they dance. And we, the audience, are supposed to get a sense of how powerful their emotions are by their singing and dancing. Sadly I didn't feel much at all from this. Mostly the songs didn't add much to procedures and the dancing wasn't particularly interesting. There are a couple of stand out moments: Hepburn's singing of "How long has this been going on" being one of the few occasions where the singing tells us something about the character, and it's very well performed too. Also when Hepburn performs some freeform dancing in a Parisian café it's excellent, highlighting her ballet skills and Astaire's use of environment in his choreography.

For me Astaire's use of environment for dancing is on par with Buster Keaton's comedy and Jackie Chan's action. These people can see a landscape and unlock opportunities to exploit.

Edit: I must also mention the delightful toying with phonetics for " 'S wonderful", even if the delivery is a bit so-so.

It (1990) part 1

My son wanted to watch this, and since he is a little older than I was when it came out, we watched it. The production values, directing, acting and effects are all limited by 1990’s TV budget and practices, yet it was still effective. He was very engaged. When we took a break between part 1 and part 2 he said he would rather wait to watch part 2 because part 1 was scary enough. So it holds up.




Dark City (Director’s Cut)

This highly atmospheric murder mystery is best seen with as little fore knowledge as possible. Watch the director’s cut if you can. Highly recommended.



Short Circuit 2

Something lighter to follow up Dark City. One of the rare sequels better than the original, Short Circuit 2 is a comedy with a lot of heart. The writing is surprisingly tight, with excellent use of set up and payoff, character progression meshing organically with the plot, creative laugh scenes, and a lot of emotional range. The soundtrack is effective, and not only because it boasts the best (or second best if you’re young) use of “Holding Out for a Hero” in movie history.

Warning, if watching with children: there is a disturbingly intense scene leading into the climax. (My son wanted to watch everything from after Johnny goes to Radio Shack twice because the first time he was too uncomfortable to watch for a while.)