February Movies - Week 1

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