Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

A busy week with MIL's friend coming to visit to celebrate MIL's birthday... but we still managed to watch a few movies after busy days in the busy evenings...

February 23 – Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013)
 
In preparation for Dune: Part 2, we’ve been going back and watching the 1984 version, Part 1, still having a hard time finding a copy of Children of Dune… but will probably watch that next month… and this amazing documentary about eccentric filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky… and how he almost made a Dune movie in the mid-70’s. They go into detail about the Ocean’s 11 team of bold filmmaking behind the scenes… and then the absolutely batsh*t insane casting choices for the characters… and I’m assuming all fueled by passion & LSD. It’s incredible… and an also great way to see how not only Dune but the conception of THIS Dune project changed Hollywood for decades to come.
 
Rating – 10/10 – Jodorowsky, Salvadore Dali, Orsen Welles & Mick Jagger would have NEVER completed an actual movie… but it’s fun to think
 
February 24 – My Fellow Americans (1996)
 
James Garner & Jack Lemmon play former Presidents who get caught up in a conspiracy with current President Dan Aykroyd, who tries to pin it on them… and hijinx ensue when Everett McGill is sent to kill them. It’s a comedy about basically Bill Clinton & George Bush being on the lam… and I’m not going to lie to you… even given the ridiculous state of current politics… I laughed a f**king lot and have for decades watching this movie. Throw in a cameo from friend of the podcast Dana Gould as a guy who gets frisked for bringing a sandwich & you’ve got an okay movie in my book.
 
Rating – 9/10 – For what it is, I really enjoyed it… but it’s easy when it’s James Garner & Jack Lemmon
 
February 26 – Double Impact (1991)
 
What’s better than one JCVD? TWO!!! Separated twins Chad & Alex are reunited when they find out that they are the heirs to a Hong Kong tunnel fortune (?!?) when the fellow investor killed their parents 25 years earlier… and hijinx ensue… ass kicking hijinx. I’ve loved this silly ass action movie since I was a kid… and every time that I watch it, I find new things that I love & hate about it… highest of recommendations.
 
Rating – 10+/10 – This isn’t your review… I was 10 when it came out & I’m going to be 43 in a few months… and I’ll still enjoy it
 
February 28 – Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
 
So a while back we watched the sequel “Support Your Local Gunfighter!” (1971) and it was a pretty fun & dumb Western starring prime James Garner… so now we watched the original… with essentially the same plot… gold boom town, violent individuals running the town, but in this original James Garner is just passing through & needing money to make his way to Australia (Rockford Down Under?!?) so he becomes the sheriff… and hijinx ensue. It’s essentially the same cast & plot points… but this one was the original. I particularly enjoyed the jail scenes with Jim & Bruce Dern & his father… didn’t care much for whatever was going on with the love interest but… hey, it’s a forced love interest in a western comedy so… what do you really expect?
 
Rating – 8/10 – Fun & dumb… and the MIL & her friend loved it (seeing all their crushes from teen days 55 years later)

That's it for this week... but you might know at least ONE movie that we'll be watching in the next week... until then, have a great day everybody!!!

​Steve

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Another busy week... slowly but surely trying to turn my MIL into an adult... but her birthday is coming up so maybe that'll help... and here are a few movies we watched in the meantime...

February 16 – Slipstream (1989)
 
You may recall a while back we did a dive in Mark Hamill live action movies in the early 90’s… and this was actually his first movie after Return of the Jedi (1983) where he plays a bounty hunter chasing after a man (Bill Paxton) who somehow stole a murderer (Bob Peck aka Muldoon from Jurassic Park) from his custody… and hijinx ensue in a post-apocalyptic world. This movie was… odd… and I kinda liked it. There were Academy Award winner cameos from Ben Kingsley & F Murray Abraham… and just a weirdness. How much did I enjoy it?
 
Rating - ???/10 – Find out during Marky March on Everything I Learned From Movies
 
February 18 – Live & Let Die (1973)
 
For Mardi Gras, we were looking up New Orleans movies… and this nugget came up. Yes, one of the Roger Moore era James Bond movies with one of the bottom five Bond theme songs (suck it, Wings… you know you did, you know you did, you know you did…) about MI-6 agents being killed at a rapid rate… and Bond has to find out in New York, New Orleans & San Monique how they’re all connected. Spoilers: It has a lot to do with Yophet Kotto… and Baron Samedi… and f**king voodoo magic?!? Throw in a fortune teller played by jailbait-looking Jane Seymour & you’ve got yourself a Bond movie! I enjoy this one… the action isn’t particularly great but the scenery ain’t bad… and “Truck Turner” era Kotto is a decent villain with his band of African-American stereotypes at his disposal.
 
Rating – 8/10 – One thing I really love: Seriously the best (or at least most hilarious) death in Bond history…
 
February 20 – The Beekeeper (2024)
 
That’s right! Our first movie of the new year for Valentine’s Day! I know what women want… and it’s Jason Statham in a heartwarming tale of a man who’s down on his luck, until Phylicia Rashad takes him into her home in exchange for keeping her bees happy & healthy. They build a plutonic relationship built on respect & decency. Then one day, she falls for a phishing scheme that takes EVERYTHING from her… and she takes her own life. Statham then meets her daughter who’s a cop… they find out about the scheme… and then it becomes a lengthy legal battle, where they form their own plutonic (and maybe more) relationship as they delve into the sticky world of fraud & legislation set to prote… oh wait, NOPE! STATHAM GOES ON A F**KING KILLING SPREE LITERALLY ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP BECAUSE HE’S PART OF A SECRET SOCIETY OF JOHN WICKS!!! This movie is f**king nuts & it may come up again during Best of 2024 in my opinion. Is the script incredible? Of course not! Who’s give a f**k about that? Statham is a John Wick… there are others like him but they last seconds before dying brutal deaths (from director David Ayer)… and instead of taking out Nazis or racists, he’s taking out prick phishing telemarketers & anybody else who stands in his way.
 
Rating – 10+/10 – It’s exactly what I wanted in a movie… and Izzy agrees
 
February 22 – Live Wire (1992)
 
There was a time when everybody wanted Pierce Brosnan to be James Bond… but TV had the power to keep that from happening. Before he was able to break those Bonds though (see what I did there?), we got this action movie where he plays an FBI bomb disposal expert… whose wife (Jenny from Beverly Hills Cops) is having an affair with a senator (Ron Silver)… and now terrorists have devised and are using a clear liquid explosive that activates when people ingest it… and hilariously explosive hijinx ensue! This is from the director of Scanners 2 & 3 as well as Screamers… so yeah, I’ve talked about how stupid fun these action movies are… but this is with Pierce Brosnan trying to do an American accent… and British actor Ben Cross as a Harvard educated Middle Eastern terrorist… and people exploding in crowded areas when they sip water… whether in a restaurant, courtroom, birthday party, whatever!
 
Rating – 10/10 – A tight 80 minutes of stupid fun… coming soon to the podcast, I’m sure

See you next week!!!

​Steve

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

It was a fun busy week with Superb Owl Usher Concert going exactly as everybody expected (almost to a scripted level) but plenty of great eats from Izzy & decent commercials from everyone from PlutoTV to Dunkin Donuts and beyond... and then Tuesday was Mardi Gras so we had some fried chicken with red beans & rice... and today is Valentine's Day so we're having a heart shaped pizza! We also had a fun incident where we may through my MIL out on her ass if she doesn't stop purposely sabotaging everything involving making her an independent entity & out of our f**king house... but we watched some movies...

February 8 – Money Train (1995)
 
Searching through Tubi and found a movie that I hadn’t really thought much about since it came out on VHS, “brothers” Woody Harrelson & Wesley Snipes are New York subway cops… and their new squad member is Jennifer Lopez… and their boss (?) is Robert Blake who has a heavily armored subway car that transports all the money from the subway… and hijinx ensue when Woody keeps getting in debt and blah blah blah… Money Train! I almost feel like this is the perfect example of a movie where they started with a title… and then tried to fill in from there. That being said… I still enjoyed it. There’s a LOT of humor and situations that don’t age well at all… but there’s some crazy action scenes.
 
Rating – 8/10 – One major drawback… a lot more drama than I care for… but that’s just because I don’t have… what’s it called? Empathy?
 
February 10 – The Little Rascals (1994)
 
I hadn’t seen this Tubi treasure in a while either… and wondered if it held up. Basically it’s about those street kids from the 30’s and their hilarious hijinx… but in a “modern day” setting of the early 90’s. Look… obviously a lot of the kids hadn’t done much since because… well, they were hired to be cute kids. However, kudos to director Penelope Spheeris (“Wayne’s World”) for making a movie like this. The jokes are a nice mix of over-the-top for the kids & subtle for the adults… and it’s just a bunch of fun to watch for me.
 
Rating – 9/10 – Would probably be a 10 if a certain bankrupt loser f**king punchline of an elected official didn’t have a cameo AS THE VILLAIN’S DAD!!! HOW AM I TO BELIEVE THAT ANYBODY WOULD VOTE FOR THIS GUY AS PRESIDENT?!? IF YOU DID, F**K YOU!!! YOU’RE A MORON!!! KILL YOURSELF!!!
 
February 12 – The Marvels (2023)
 
The MCU continues with all three of the Marvels coming together through… honestly some ridiculous dimensional riff nonsense connected to their powers… and hijinx ensue. Okay, I heard a bunch of bad reviews about this movie when it came out… but of course most were from people whose opinions I’m always weary of… but I can totally see how this might be your favorite or least favorite of the MCU… but at least it’s entertaining. There are some bold departures, even for a comic book movie, but the girl that plays Ms Marvel & her family are immensely entertaining. The movie is quirky & slightly nonsensical… and I always hate stupid drama about “why didn’t you pick up the phone?” type crap… but that’s probably because I have my own issues with that & my own family. Aside from that though, I’d watch it for “free” on Disney Plus.
 
Rating – 8/10 – Passable… but if you’ve made it this far, why not check it out?
 
February 14 – Hard Target (1993)
 
I may have already talked about this movie… but yeah, it’s mulleted JCVD in New Orleans helping a lady find her “diddy” while also being hunted by Lance Henriksen & Arnold Vosloo (and Sven Ole Thorsen for a cup of coffee) in a John Woo action extravaganza! Pure nonsense, maybe even more so than The Marvels… and I absolutely love it!!!
 
Rating – 10+/10 – WILFORD BRIMLEY RIDES A HORSE WITH AN EXPLODING BUILDING BEHIND HIM!!!

Anybody else have their tickets for Dune: Part Two already? Because I do!!! Have a great week everybody!!!

​Steve

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Izzy's feeling better after yet another illness... but she'll be ready just in time for the weekend of Chinese New Year / Super Bowl / Mardi Gras / Valentine's Day! Excellent! Here are a few movies that we've seen though...

February 1 – Only Murders in the Building (2021-23)
 
That’s right, we watched three seasons of this Hulu series… about an aging actor (Steve Martin), a struggling stage director (Martin Short) and some lady’s freeloading niece (Selena Gomez) who start a podcast about a murder that goes on in their NYC apartment building… and hijinx ensue… and then again… and then again. Yes, I know the description doesn’t sound good at all but… after watching 12 seasons of Murder She Wrote… I absolutely loved this series. There are definitely a few parts where you’re like “Oh okay, they had to pull it out to ten episodes… but thank god it’s not 26 episodes per season” and if you’re into murder mysteries with a LOT of humor, then I recommend it.
 
Rating – 9/10 – Basically all three seasons were pretty good… though they get REALLY self-referential in season 3 but not to a point that it hurt
 
February 2 – Hypnotic (2023)
 
So I went to the home office for the first time in 18 months… but it was just a quick flight… so I finally pulled the trigger on watching director Robert Rodriguez’s latest about a detective (Ben Affleck) trying to solve the mystery of his kidnapped daughter… and it takes him into a new world of people with powers & a secret government program. Throw in character actors like William Fichtner, Jeff Fahey, Jackie Earle Haley & the a toned-down but still quirky director… and I actually really enjoyed this movie. It’s also a tight 90 minutes and it’s not afraid to take a pretty big turn at the end of the 2nd act.
 
Rating – 8/10 – I may have Izzy watch this one too…
 
February 3 – TMNT: Mutant Mayhem (2023)
 
This is the latest reimagining of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where teenagers voice the turtles, Jackie Chan is Master Splinter, and half of Hollywood has small voice parts… and it acts as the origin story for the turtles (if you don’t know their story with ooze then you’re a teenager) and them meeting… I’ll just say it… a WILDLY different version of high school reporter April O’Neil and trying to befriend her… but then stumble upon a group of mutants who have been committing crimes across NYC… but to what end?!? The animation style was pretty good and unique where it seems like a weird hybrid of almost stop-motion & smudged paint… and the story is whatever, teenagers make stupid choices cuz hormones, but luckily the movie was a LOT of fun… even if not what I’m used to with the franchise.
 
Rating – 9/10 – My brother HATES this movie… but then again, that usually means most people will love it
 
February 4 – The Time Machine (2002)
 
Jason from the History of Bad Ideas Podcast wanted to talk about this nugget on the podcast… based on the HG Wells story about a scientist from 1899 who creates a time machine to go back and save his wife from her untimely death… only to find it doesn’t work… so perhaps the answers are in the FUTURE!!! Smash cut to the moon falling and messing with the Earth and he’s 800,000 years into the future… and hijinx ensue. The cast is solid with Guy Pearce, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba & Jeremy Irons for probably a day of shooting… but at least it’s a tight 90 minutes or so because the movie is ALL over the place and… frankly the ending is pretty head-scratchingly rushed & bad… but I’m a fan of the janky Morlock costumes & stuntwork by Stan Winston’s company.
 
Rating – ???/10 – I remembered this movie differently from when I first watched it… but check the podcast for details
 
February 5 – New Adventures of Pippi Longstockings (1988)
 
I remember watching this movie a few times as a kid… and boy oh boy did they make them differently back then. This is the American adaptation of a classic Swedish (?) character & they made a few movies back in the 60’s & 70’s too… about a little redheaded pig-tailed girl who’s the daughter of a pirate… and she stays in their home in a conservative town (think Pete’s Dragon time era?) and the town is flipped upside down by her crazy antics & free thinking… but it’s more like… superhero level antics like spinning so fast with a broom that she becomes the propeller on a gyro copter, but yeah… it’s crazy… and the film stock made me think that this was made in the mid to late 70’s… but nope, 1988. The girl that plays Pippi was pretty great… but most of the other kids you can tell the ones that didn’t star in anything else & those that would go on to have pretty successful careers. It’s rough at times… and almost two hours long (WHAT?!?) but… meh, I’ve seen worse
 
Rating – 7/10 – It startled me how much I remembered from watching it 35 years ago… so maybe give it a watch?
 
February 6 – Truck Turner (1974)
 
Legendary soul singer & badass Isaac Hayes plays Truck Turner, a bounty hunter who’s after a pimp when he skips bail… but when the confrontation ends in a shootout & the pimp’s death, a hit is put out on him… and then all the other pimps in town try to take him out! This movie… is amazing! Is it the greatest from a storytelling or character arc angle? Of course not! This is Blaxploitation at its finest. There are about as many on-screen deaths & dummy kills as N-words casually tossed around… and it’s all involving either pimps (played by the likes of Yaphet Kotto & Nichelle Nichols) or bounty hunters who, from what I can tell, smell like cat urine throughout the entirety of the movie. Cinematic gold!
 
Rating – 10/10 – Seeing O’Hura go full pimp is a sight to behold!
 
February 7 – Blue Beetle (2023)
 
The forgotten DC movie because of the reboot universe & “The Flash” getting all the publicity… hell, I think the “Batwoman” movie got more promotion than this movie did… but it’s about a Hispanic family whose college graduate son (kid from Cobra Kai) can’t get a real job… until one day he basically stumbles upon this ancient alien amulet or something that turns him into the Blue Beetle. Yeah, the comic book part of this is pretty ridiculous… but I enjoyed the family aspect of it. Similarly to the Shazam movies, but with a lot more heart for the familia… and it was actually pretty funny too, especially with George Lopez & the nana.
 
Rating – 8/10 – Not bad… it’s a shame that it’ll just be completely forgotten in a matter of months…

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

​Steve