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Just watched BTTF3 with my son. He was totally engaged with it all the way through. Top quality entertainment.

Of course he was engaged, kids love the Bring Them The Funyuns series of films, especially the third one.

Have to admit, I hadn’t watched BTTF3 until very recently.

See, I couldn’t stand Westerns as a kid, and that being a Western? I had no interest.

Wee me was wise about Westerns, but dead wrong on BTTF3’s merits.

Has anyone ever seen the movie that has made the least amount of money in US theaters?

This masterpiece is "Zyzzyx Road" (2006), a thriller film directed by John Penney and starring Katherine Heigl and Leo Grillo.

The film was released in a single theater in Dallas, Texas, and it grossed a total of $30 at the box office...

Yea... you read that right - $30!

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
Has anyone ever seen the movie that has made the least amount of money in US theaters?

This masterpiece is "Zyzzyx Road" (2006), a thriller film directed by John Penney and starring Katherine Heigl and Leo Grillo.

The film was released in a single theater in Dallas, Texas, and it grossed a total of $30 at the box office...

Yea... you read that right - $30!

I’m going to have to check this out. We’ve been out to Zyzzyx Road a couple times, and mostly just run into cosplayers and YouTubers who probably had bigger audiences than this film.

Dunno why, but the above posts made me think of Neil Marshall and his works.

So I guess I’m gonna be slotting in Dog Soldiers (the single greatest Werewolf movie ever made), The Descent (one of the greatest gory suspense horrors ever made) and Doomsday (a film which is so very, very gloriously absolutely all over the place, and a ton of fun, even if it should’ve been better).

I was skimming through some garbage films online when I came across this gem...

I had no idea the Comic Book Scare was still going on.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
I was skimming through some garbage films online when I came across this gem...

I had no idea the Comic Book Scare was still going on.

It's important to realise that for some it never stopped. Heck it wasn't that long ago that they were against Harry Potter books. Broadly speaking these groups will latch onto whatever is hot/big/major because it helps net them attention.

Oddity (2024)

Shudder horror flick. Shudder is always more miss than hits, but I thought this was a hit. Blind woman uses occult/cursed items to get revenge on her twin sisters killers. Took a few turns that kept me guessing, and the end shot was pretty wild.

I recommend for a spooky movie night. Kind of a slow burn, but I enjoyed it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Dunno why, but the above posts made me think of Neil Marshall and his works.

So I guess I’m gonna be slotting in Dog Soldiers (the single greatest Werewolf movie ever made), The Descent (one of the greatest gory suspense horrors ever made) and Doomsday (a film which is so very, very gloriously absolutely all over the place, and a ton of fun, even if it should’ve been better).

Don't forget Centurion, for the full Neil Marshall "Never go to Scotland" experience. ;-)

Not that familiar with Centurion, but I do recall finding it perfectly fine.

The Primevals

A 2023 classic stop motion adventure flick. Yeti! Lizardmen! Shamballa!

If you’re sick of lazy CGI, check this one out. It’d all done in the classic Harryhausen style, and not in a dull, creatively bankrupt hipster ironic way.

Lovely stuff.

I really want to see that. The trailer is really fun.

I decided to learn more about British cinema, so I watched Grabbers (a 2012 British-Irish monster horror comedy).

How do you keep space vampires from killing you? Drink copious amounts of alcohol.

Had to fire up the subtitles every now and then, but I really enjoyed it.

Next on the getting to know my British friends list will be Attack the Block.

I liked Attack the Block. Fun little monster film.

Y’know, in a sense, Die Hard and Home Alone are kinda the same story.

You Are Not Me 2024

I think for past decade plus I’ve been enjoying the odd Spanish horror movie and so I checked this one out:

Synopsis :

Aitana returns home for Christmas, the first time in three years, to find her parents have replaced her with an unknown woman. She uncovers a disturbing and bloody truth.

Its got some horror elements, but its more of a slowburn psychological thriller with a pretty wild horror movie ending. Not something entirely new, but it was different and effective enough that I didn’t mind watching it.

Castle of the Walking Dead

(AKA The Torture Chamber Of Doctor Sadism).
A man and woman travel deep into the Transylvanian countryside to find out about their past, what will they discover at the castle of Count Regula?
A late Sixties German horror movie that's light on story but big on atmosphere. Unfortunately it takes a while to get going and ultimately not much happens when it does.

Boy Kills World

Hyper violent action comedy, cast in a mould familiar from Hunger Games.

I’m genuinely split. The action is gorgeous and well shot. The protagonist is deaf-mute due to trauma, and communicates with the audience with his internal voice.

It reminds me of Deadpool as well, particularly in how the violence shakes it.

And it is fun. But, confusingly and for reasons I can’t quite identify?

It’s not as fun as it should be. And that I can’t quite put my finger on the why of that is going to irritate the piss out of me for days.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Boy Kills World

Hyper violent action comedy, cast in a mould familiar from Hunger Games.

I’m genuinely split. The action is gorgeous and well shot. The protagonist is deaf-mute due to trauma, and communicates with the audience with his internal voice.

It reminds me of Deadpool as well, particularly in how the violence shakes it.

And it is fun. But, confusingly and for reasons I can’t quite identify?

It’s not as fun as it should be. And that I can’t quite put my finger on the why of that is going to irritate the piss out of me for days.

It was kinda "meh" overall. Oohh, plot twists you see from space. It was a violence for violence sake type of actioner.

They want to do a sequel. If you want to watch an awesome action flick, go watch Tony Jaa in pretty much anything... You should go watch The Raid: Redemption.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
And it is fun. But, confusingly and for reasons I can’t quite identify?

It’s not as fun as it should be. And that I can’t quite put my finger on the why of that is going to irritate the piss out of me for days.

I watched it a while back and it was good fun. With regard to this point, I think the movie is simply unsteady. It gets the flow of a lot of sequences right and lines up the humor with the action well, but there are a few spots where that flow gets disrupted and you get taken out of it too much. You spend more time waiting for it to get good again than enjoying what you're watching at the time.

Blood Fest

Silly movie from 2018. It's probably not as funny as they were trying for but in some ways that actually makes it a better movie. Some of it is total flying rodent gak crazy but it's a good time. Like a less refined Cabin in the Woods but on par in it's own way. It's also only got a running time of like 1.5 hours so it's actually nice and quickly paced.

She 1985

It’s Sandahl Bergman! Yay!!!!

In a low budget, post apocalyptic Mad Max adjacent flick.

It’s camp, it’s not that good, but it’s overall alright for a bit of silliness. Also surprisingly for this sort of film from that specific era? No boobies.

There are some points of interest. For example, we see a number of enclaves, all different from each other. Standard Nazi raiders, She’s mostly female group, Bacchanelian Werewolves and Creepy Monks lead by someone with Telekinesis so far. Definite points for effort, even if the end result is very ropey.

However, it is 1h 40m, so the whole “we’re not safe here either” thing gets repetitive.

Points for trying though, and I’ve seen far, far worse and lazier Mad Max knock-offs.

One for friends and a few beers if you ask me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Robotjox

I dig giant robots, you dig giant robots, chicks dig giant robots, we dig giant robots.

Wonderful slice of low budget stop-motion and model brilliance.

Bloody love this film.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Robot Wars

I dig giant robots, you dig giant and well you get the gist.

Apparently billed as Robotjox 3, it is of course not Robotjox 3 but a film in the same vein, by some of the same people.

Somehow this entirely escaped my notice until reading up on Robotjox earlier, and I was stunned to find it on Amazon Prime for free!

One of the robots looks like that Scorpion Zoid, therefore I’m entirely sold.

Family Pack (2024)

French family comedy film about a family of French people being sucked into a game of The Werewolves of Millers Hollow (that game where you're dealt a character or just civilian or are one ofthe werewolves, the gamemaster sends the townfolk to bed, they close their eyes, werewolves awaken, agree on a victim, it's morning, they're dead, everybody else has to find out who the werewolves are before everybody's killed. You know that game.).

I was incredibly willing to hate this. It had all the indicators: Big red N, 2024, ad for a brand (boardgame), the big sister is concerned about her 'followers' and mentions the money she makes as an excuse to be part of all that crap, etc. They also called the different roles "super powers". Which is a very bad term and should be forbidden because it usually means that the last 20 minutes of the film (and 10 minutes halfway through) are insufferable CGI drek.

Then the whole thing won me over by being un-annoing and charming. Because I forgot that French films often are very good at making un-annoying characters in fantasy adventure films. I even laughed twice (at very silly things, I have to admit). Okay, the werewolf effects look a little dodgy here and there, but that's entirely forgivable. The other effects are alright even, given the kind of film that is. Jean Reno plays the granddad, while he's not really looking a day older than his son in the film. They could switch roles and it would have worked just as well. But okay.

Good family fantasy film, that. There's something in there for everybody and it's surprisingly un-annoying given how god-awful this could have been. Charming.

Watch It, if you have to watch something on Netflix, possibly with the family.

Went and saw Interstellar 5555 at the cinema. It was advertised as a remastered version, however, as many fans of 90s anime will be aware from updating collections to blu-ray, there are different ways to "remaster" old animation and some are utterly destructive to background detail. Unfortunately, this was the case here, with many background characters reduced to misshapen, faceless blobs, and even the foreground ending up soft and overly smooth in places.

But the seats were comfy and the sound was good.

Natty Knocks

A horror film.

But in the tender words of Jarvis Cocker?

Baaaaaaaaaby, don’t let this waste your time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Guyver, aka Mutronics

US live action adaptation by Screamin’ Mad George and Brian Yuzna.

I adore this film, but it is an odd fish. Released in 1991, it came a couple of years before Power Rangers. Why do I mention this? Because despite being a US production, this very much feels like a tokusatsu. Lots of martial arts, done in monster suits. The result is something I think all Dakkanauts would feel at home with, but was perhaps a wee bit ahead of its time.

The feel is also a bit unusual. Moments of outright “Bulk and Skull” type comedy, but then moments of quite brutal violence. As if it’s never quite sure how seriously to take itself.*

On the upside, despite a couple of goofy designs, the Zonaoid and Guyver costumes are genuinely top notch stuff.

When I first saw this, I’d been sort of aware of Guyver for a while, mostly through ads for the vinyl model kits. This was probably around 1994/1995 or so. Whilst I did enjoy it, there were inevitable comparisons drawn against Power Rangers.

Y’know I said this was perhaps a bit ahead of its time? Because it plays like a more grown up Power Rangers, I’m really not sure if that’s such a bad thing. The most important thing though is this is a really enjoyable bit of cinema nonsense.

*Looked it up. And seems they intended to do a faithful adaptation in tone, but soon realised they didn’t have the budget, and instead went for a PG-13 rating. That does somewhat explain it. Really quite gnarly visuals, but with sillier sound effects, and some stuff clearly included to lighten the overall mood.

Today, Dear Dakkanaut, I was meant to be Pup Sitting. But, I’ve been stood down. Downside is limited time annoying Idiot Nephloof (I did get some fusses though, as I was dropping off Christmas pressies). Upside I now have an unexpected day to myself.

And so I’m gonna build my models, and watch as many Rocky movies as I can.

Rocky

It’s fantastic, isn’t it. A film with heart, and a tale of pushing yourself, and seizing the one opportunity life has given you. This shown in Rocky’s unconventional training. He ain’t got much, but works with what he does have, focussing on stamina.

Our protagonist isn’t a super man, but someone going as far as he can. I particularly like how his paramour, Adrian starts off quite mousey and shy, but as both she and Rocky find their confidence, she glams up just a little. She doesn’t become flashy or tarty. Just a wee bit of subtle makeup and more fashionable clothes, someone now a bit more comfortable in their own skin, finding their own worth.

And even though Rocky doesn’t win the bout? He’s taken his shot, and done way better than anyone expected, going the distance and only losing on points. Just fantastic stuff. It’s also helped that whilst a blowhard? Creed isn’t really a villain as such.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Rocky 2

It feels like a natural continuation, where Rocky discovers despite his big shot and monetary success? It’s not all plain sailing from here.

It maintains the overall realism of Rocky. For example, his squandering the life changing winnings through a certain naivety. The same naivety which many people used to poverty have when it comes to suddenly having a decent amount of money.

At the core of it is Rocky and Adrian’s relationship. Down on his general luck, Rocky wants to return to the One Thing He’s Good At, to provide for his now wife and soon to be child. But Adrian, fearful of him being hurt doesn’t want him to do it.

And it’s not until Adrian gives her blessing that Rocky really goes for it. And in a recreation of the training montage and Rocky’s Run, we see his public support. A legend and idol in the making.

An absolutely glorious sequel. I don’t think it really has a place in the pantheon of “sequels better than the first” though. Because it feels more like a second episode type affair.

My plan is to show my son Rocky and then Rocky 4 with no warning or explanation in between.

Rocky 3

Again it feels like an organic continuation of Rocky’s saga. And we get an actual “villain” in the glorious form of Mr T.

It’s kind of inverting things. Rocky is the undisputed champ. He’s literally clawed and fought his way out of poverty, and has a pretty nice life.

Then comes Clubber Lang. A loudmouthed upstart, but one with heart, skill, strength and stamina. And he calls Rocky out to his face, in front of a crowd, and insults Adrian.

And it just gets so much better from there.

The main thing is that up to this movie? It all feels very real. It’s not just a hero’s journey, it’s real life, ups, downs, side to sides.

The next two are decent films, but just not in the same league.

My wife and I took a break from Christmas flicks to watch one of her other favorite genres of films..... Jason Statham movies......

Wrath of Man
I did not realize that this was directed by Guy Ritchie, but explains why visually this is one step above most films of this ilk.

This has a mix of genres of gangster flick, messed with the wrong man, and a heist flick. It manages to straddle all of them in a "good enough" way. However, make no mistake this is a "B" movie version of HEAT despite the actors and director. During the gangster sequences there are some really great looking shots though... what a shock!

This movie also has Josh Hartnett, the guy from Burn Notice (No, not Bruce Campbell, the other one!), and a few other people you will recognize on sight even if you don't know their name. Oh, and it is satisfying to see Post-Malone get shot in the face.

If you know what you are getting into, and have the right level of expectations this is a fine flick. If you are expecting something better.... well..... it is not that good.