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I watched a "film" last night that I'm sure MDG would approve of: 1988's Chopping Mall.

Which is the classic tale of 1980's youngish couples having sex at a shopping mall after hours and get laser blasted by three robots that look like Short Circuit's Johnny Five had some naughty time with a Dalek.

Thankfully the mall is filled with weapons, and the plot armor is thicker for characters with backstories.

It was dumb, but bizarre enough to keep me entertained.

It would've been better if the computer at the end had been a giant robot, but alas, it was not to be.

That’s a terrific nonsense B-Movie! I think I’ve got it on DVD, somewhere.

Managed to leverage a bank holiday Monday into a trip to the cinema with my beautiful darling wife.

We saw the new Naked Gun. My face is aching. My goodness it’s a fire hose of utterly bizarro gags. Not all of them hit, but enough do that I was almost crying. I haven’t laughed like that since the first time I watched Airplane.

 Flinty wrote:
....I haven’t laughed like that since the first time I watched Airplane.

Woah. That's big. I may have to watch that after all.

I’m just glad Dakka’s collective fears appear misproven. Police Squad! and the Naked Gun are not easy to get right.

Kinda need straight actors with just the right amount of Poe Faced Ham, not reacting to the nonsense they cause and that happens to them.

Haven’t seen it yet, but it’s on my list.

It will win no Oscar’s, but I was in very much the right mood for it I mean I’m pretty sure there is a cameo from the beaver from the first one

It was one of the better things that people on this forum have recommended.

(I still haven't finished that Star Wars show everyone told me to see.)

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That’s a terrific nonsense B-Movie! I think I’ve got it on DVD, somewhere.

Chopping Mall is indeed a delight. A slice of eighties horror cheese in the best possible way.


Batman (1989) got to see this in the theater tonight and boy what a mess. It is a self serious trifle of a film that doesn't seem to understand the assignment. In creating a remake of the campy Adam West series that was a translation of the silly three color comic they forgot the jokes and bright colors. Some unknown director picked an unknown stand up comedian to play the role of the Bat Man and he acts like a robot: he just turns his body never his head like he is some sort of automaton and stares a lot. He never even uses a red phone nor does he have an adolescent sidekick. The Joker doesn't steal anything and causes a lot of harm to others, even killing people! The city doesn't look like a real place and the music, my goodness the awful music. It is all sweeping and moody instead of fun and jaunty. Where is Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters when you need them? Overall I can't imagine this will go over well and it will be disliked by most audiences then forgotten within a few years.

Last night I finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team, which was rather neat. Last episode is clever.

Serious spoiler:


Then I watched Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989). 6-part OVA, but really a film (considering the length of newer blockbuster films it certainly is). Boy, that is on another level. Drawing style, amazing animation, some stylistic choices in general. This is the raddest 80s Spielberg/Stand By Me/that sorta stuff film. As usual, lots of knowledge on the big story of Gundam isn't required. It probably helps and enriches the whole thing, but in itself it's the sort of story Gundam excels at (as far as I know): People thrown into war.. First I was a bit surprised by the art style (I watched the rather clean/clear mid-90s 08th MS Team before), which actually is amazing at expressing feelings on a face. I was a bit put off by the school setting, which is also gone very, very soon, so don't worry. This is about credible characters, acting bravely at times, but in a credible way. The main character is competent, smart, but - again - credible and un-annoying. Not sure who exactly this is made for, because it's got this coming of age or kids adventure film aspect to it - and very strongly so - but also pretty graphic violence. Which is a requirement for the whole thing to work, because the whole idea is about the clash of the kids adventure, the cool giant robots and that unlikely and very touching bond vs. the realities of war, where the games end and people get hurt or die.

Watch It. It's proper good stuff. And it's got rad 80s music, characters aren't annoying, and it's got christmas. Yes, there are some anime tropes, but nothing serious. Can't be helped, it's the medium.

Ghosthouse aka La Casa 3

Lowish budget Italian horror flick, in the mould of Poltergeist and Evil Dead. It doesn’t come close to the quality of those, but it’s a fun enough bit of haunted house silliness.

Possibly interesting, Evil Dead and Evil Dead II were released in Italy as La Casa and La Casa 2. So in the time honoured “we’re Italian movie makers, and we’ll rip off any US movie, and pretend anything is a sequel to such as we damned well please” tradition? Whilst made as its own thing, this became a second sequel.

And it wasn’t the last. I managed to entirely accidentally collect nearly all the series. Which goes….

La Casa / Evil Dead
La Casa 2 / Evil Dead II
La Casa 3 / Ghosthouse
La Casa 4 / Witchery/Witch House (David Hasselhoff and Linda Blair star!)
La Casa 5 / Beyond Darkness
La Casa 6 / House II
La Casa 7 / House III / The Horror Show (Lance Henrikson is in that one).

Didn’t know of this link, and overtime I’d procured all but Beyond Darkness. Yes, I’ve just bought a copy.

So I watched Toy Soldiers now. Fun Fact: German release title was "Boy Soldiers" apparently, but I'm rather sure I always watched it under the Toy Soldiers title. It's good fun. Soundtrack is a bit hard to take, and I'm not sure if that much US special forces XY drill was required, but it's a fun film.

Now the question is - to read the novel this is apparently based on, or to look up Soldier Boyz, the Michael Dudikoff film in which he recruits kids for some military operation out of jail....

 Sigur wrote:
So I watched Toy Soldiers now. Fun Fact: German release title was "Boy Soldiers" apparently, but I'm rather sure I always watched it under the Toy Soldiers title. It's good fun. Soundtrack is a bit hard to take, and I'm not sure if that much US special forces XY drill was required, but it's a fun film.

Now the question is - to read the novel this is apparently based on, or to look up Soldier Boyz, the Michael Dudikoff film in which he recruits kids for some military operation out of jail....

Seriously? There is no option. Michael Dudikoff was the American Ninja for feths sake! The American Ninja!

 Sigur wrote:
So I watched Toy Soldiers now. Fun Fact: German release title was "Boy Soldiers" apparently, but I'm rather sure I always watched it under the Toy Soldiers title.

This can be a little bit like how the US marketing for Zootopia is plastered everywhere and yet the UK regional version is called Zootropolis. Yet no one in the UK calls it the latter name at all. Basically one branch of the marketing just dominates to an insane degree and it becomes the "name" for the thing even if the actual localisation ends up with an altered title.

 Overread wrote:

 Sigur wrote:
So I watched Toy Soldiers now. Fun Fact: German release title was "Boy Soldiers" apparently, but I'm rather sure I always watched it under the Toy Soldiers title.

This can be a little bit like how the US marketing for Zootopia is plastered everywhere and yet the UK regional version is called Zootropolis. Yet no one in the UK calls it the latter name at all. Basically one branch of the marketing just dominates to an insane degree and it becomes the "name" for the thing even if the actual localisation ends up with an altered title.

I mean, it helps that Zootopia is just the better name, too.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Overread wrote:

 Sigur wrote:
So I watched Toy Soldiers now. Fun Fact: German release title was "Boy Soldiers" apparently, but I'm rather sure I always watched it under the Toy Soldiers title.

This can be a little bit like how the US marketing for Zootopia is plastered everywhere and yet the UK regional version is called Zootropolis. Yet no one in the UK calls it the latter name at all. Basically one branch of the marketing just dominates to an insane degree and it becomes the "name" for the thing even if the actual localisation ends up with an altered title.

I mean, it helps that Zootopia is just the better name, too.

I remember spending 30 bucks on a Highlander movie called Highlander: The Sorcerer, only to discover upon getting it in the mail it was just the foreign name of Highlander III.

This weekend, I ‘ave mostly been, watching Nightmare on Elm Street.

A series pretty much everyone is familiar with, but one I’ve only seen sporadically.

Chaining them has been a fun experience. Pretty much all have some level of inventive nastiness, and whilst the series’ internal consistency isn’t perfect? I wouldn’t say any are outright stinkers.

Maximum Overdrive

The one with the Green Goblin truck.


Based on Stephen King’s short story, Trucks, Maximum Overdrive is the killer machines movie at the nexus between the Final Destination universe and Pixar’s Cars series. It’s also dumb, cheesy schlock that delivers exactly what you expect. I enjoyed it for all its B movie charms, but felt a little let down with how under-insane it is for a movie directed by Stephen King blitzed out of his mind on coke. Could have used a little Tommyknockers magic.

If you like the kills in Final Destination but don’t need the clever set-ups, give this a shot. I hope you like AC/DC.

Slightly off topic... but...

Do you enjoy watching commentaries on movies?

I am about to watch the Ridley Scott commentary on Alien, and was wondering if anyone else likes listening to the director or actors ramble on while the movie plays?

It really depends on the actual commentary. Some are entertaining, some are just tedious. The best of them tend to be when it's more than one of the crew, and they're interacting and sharing anecdotes, rather than individual voiceovers.

The 'Director rambling on by themselves about why they made specific choices during production' style commentary only works when the director is an entertaining speaker. Otherwise it's just a lecture on the movie when you could be watching the movie.

Watch the commentary on This is Spinal Tap. They do it in character. It’s glorious.

Yeah, when it comes to in-character commentary, it's rather hard to beat Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Or maybe I am Alan Partridge. As others mentioned, it depends. Really enjoyed the commentary on Universal Soldier (my go-to example for good audio commentary) for instance.



Fatal Instinct (1993)

Now that is a film I hadn't seen in a while. I think we even used to have it on VHS, taped off of TV, we used to watch it when we were kids. Which is a bit odd, as it's a parody film of erotic thrillers of the time.

And a perfectly passable at that. I laughed a few times. It's very silly, throws together loads of things. It's one of those films with a very high gag count, so they are a bit all over the place when it comes to whether a gag lands or not. They also are very much all over the place in terms of wit, and even show a good example of the joke that starts being acceptable, but goes on and escalates in such a way that it becomes funny. That thing that Family Guy tried for a hundred seasons and never achieved.

Take it or leave it. But for a 90 minutes early 90s erotic thriller/film noir parody film it's perfectly good I thought. Several fun jokes in there, I think.




Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Billy Wilder's legal/courtroom drama / crime drama starring Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich, based on a play by Agatha Christie. And boy does it feel like it. It's made in the US, but I could have sworn that it was made in the UK. It's got a very European feel to it. I recently hear that's very much a Billy Wilder thing though. Anyway. Great performances, tricksy crime story. One of those films I can watch any time. Especially Charles Laughton is just fun to watch, and Marlene Dietrich is pretty darned good in that one.

Watch It. If only to watch a classic.

I watched Fatal Instict a lot when I was younger. Armand Asante was fun, and I liked Sherilyn Feb and Sean Young. But my favorite character was Frank Kelbow, played by Shooter McGavin’s Chris MacDonald.

I still laugh when I remember the Kamikaze Kama Sutra.

Thunderbolt*

Probably the best thing to come out of the Marvel studios in a while. However, it does not really take itself too seriously and I am pretty sure the characters in the movie are also feeling superhero fatigue. However, they are called to try to do the best they can anyway. Kinda feels like a meta-commentary on the Marvel experience right now.

The spoiler also hints at another coming Civil War style storyline where who are the real superheores type thing' Cap and his team or Widow and her team? Yawn. As Widow herself says we all just shoot and punch things.



Freakier Friday
Fine for what it is. Jamie Lee Curtis just leans in an hams it up and it was glorious for that. Everyone else does that they are supposed to do.

I saw this at the Drive-In, so that made it extra fun for me!

And Frankenstein Created Woman

Hammer Horror Frankenstein sequel, with Peter Cushing once again playing the Baron.

Bit of an odd fish. Less “staple enough bits together and give it a jolt” Frankenstein. Here, he’s instead found a way to trap the soul of the recently deceased in its body, and then transfer it to a different body.

And so Hans, executed by Guillotine for a murder he absolutely did not commit, ends up the body of his squeeze, after she drowned herself out of grief at his passing.

This seemingly creates a new personality, with no memory of either previous life. They are however, essentially haunted by Hans, and driven to avenge him on the Toffs that did the murder.

It’s a very interesting film for that. In the modern day I’m sure it could be seen as a trans allegory, but clearly that wasn’t in mind at the time.

Slightly marred by one of the feckless Toffs that actually did the murder Hans took the rap for looks like Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame. Always make me expect something very silly indeed to occur.

Overall, I’ve genuinely enjoyed this. But, for someone seeking more traditional Frankenstein fare, it might slightly disappoint,


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Devil Rides Out

Yes I’m working through a Hammer Boxed Set. And this is one of the studio’s finest/

It’s notably less camp than Hammer is normally known for, being played pretty straight for a Satanism themed horror flick of its era.

Sir Christopher Lee is our hero, with an able supporting cast such as Charles Grey.

Definitely a classic of the horror genre, and worth a watch.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Devil Rides Out

Yes I’m working through a Hammer Boxed Set. And this is one of the studio’s finest/

It’s notably less camp than Hammer is normally known for, being played pretty straight for a Satanism themed horror flick of its era.

Sir Christopher Lee is our hero, with an able supporting cast such as Charles Grey.

Definitely a classic of the horror genre, and worth a watch.

 Easy E wrote:
Thunderbolt*

Probably the best thing to come out of the Marvel studios in a while. However, it does not really take itself too seriously and I am pretty sure the characters in the movie are also feeling superhero fatigue. However, they are called to try to do the best they can anyway. Kinda feels like a meta-commentary on the Marvel experience right now.

The spoiler also hints at another coming Civil War style storyline where who are the real superheores type thing' Cap and his team or Widow and her team? Yawn. As Widow herself says we all just shoot and punch things.

Spoiler:

Edit: Poor, poor Taskmaster. She really got short-changed in both of her movie appearances.

Definitely a solid film. I don't feel like it had the polish of the MCU greats, but Sentry was fantastically realized for a character I've never felt worked beyond his comic origins and these actors have a charisma that's been lacking in a lot of the other post Endgame films.

As for the two teams storyline; its apparently partially part of what was supposed to happen with Kang. There was at one point going to be the 3 Kangs from the end of Quantumania that individually face off against Widow's New Avengers, Sam's (Mighty?)0 Avengers, and a Kate Bishop's Young Avengers. Eventually the Kang from Quantumania would reappear and kill everyone.

Nation Lapoon's Class Reunion (1982).

Oh dear. Forced 80's zany comedy time...again.

So the Class of '72 played a humilating prank on a fellow student and they all return for the reunion years later, stalked by said same student who's gone a tad cuckoo. The idea is brilliant, the humour is great on paper but the execution is mostly unfunny. There are laughs to be had but it's usually Mews Small's antics as a blind and deaf woman who has a monsterous guide dog, but is sadly criminally underused in the later half of the film.

Blackie Dammett, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers fame, stars as the psycho-killer.

Fun fact: I made a thread a long while ago about a film where a cook is killed and the girls in a hall sing "Stop! In the name of love!", and yet I didn't have any idea what it was. Its this one! Life mystery solved.

 LunarSol wrote:

Definitely a solid film. I don't feel like it had the polish of the MCU greats, but Sentry was fantastically realized for a character I've never felt worked beyond his comic origins and these actors have a charisma that's been lacking in a lot of the other post Endgame films.

As for the two teams storyline; its apparently partially part of what was supposed to happen with Kang. There was at one point going to be the 3 Kangs from the end of Quantumania that individually face off against Widow's New Avengers, Sam's (Mighty?)0 Avengers, and a Kate Bishop's Young Avengers. Eventually the Kang from Quantumania would reappear and kill everyone.

Finally saw it. Sentry was a good character, but it still has the core Marvel problem in that fighting revolves around a punch to the face (I still love moonknight largely through skipping the fight scenes which I fast forward through anyway now). The team up also took a bit long, and the characters suffer from being built up an awful lot considering they are a bunch of guys who die when shot. But presumably Sentry and the therapist will be a TV show coming soon.

I just really enjoyed watching the Thundebolts characters interact. Show me a film where they don’t do superhero stuff but just have to solve a problem together or beat the other Avengers at baseball or something, and I’m in.

To The Devil…..A Daughter

It’s Hammer Time Again!

Sir Christopher Lee stars as an excommunicated Priest turned Satanist, who seeks to bring about the Anti-Christ.

Another later Hammer, this feels notably modern, with all sorts of weird stuff going on.

It’s very atmospheric and enjoyable.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I just really enjoyed watching the Thundebolts characters interact. Show me a film where they don’t do superhero stuff but just have to solve a problem together or beat the other Avengers at baseball or something, and I’m in.

I would be all for a lower stakes movie that centers around them just helping some folks, but I also love street level heroes.