January Movies - Week 4

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Had my first trip to the home office in 18 months & it was great to see all the new team members for the first time (in real life) and the teammates I've met before too! Also, had a chance to watch some football with B&K... and watched a few movies when I wasn't working...

January 19 – In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
 
An insurance adjustor (Sam Neill) goes to check out the world’s most famous horror writer Sutter Cane (definitely not Stephen King, played by Jurgen Prochnow) and find out why the fans are so fanatic about him… and hijinx ensue when he stumbles into the 7th ring of hell? Yeah, this is a John Carpenter masterpiece… it’s completely nuts, especially the last half hour or so… I don’t want to spoil it more than that.
 
Rating – 9/10 – Seriously, if weird horror is your thing, then you’ve probably already seen this… but if not, check it out!
 
January 20 – Fortress (1994)
 
While watching the Highlander movies, this one was recommended. In the not-too-distant future, a man (Christopher Lambert) & his wife are imprisoned for having an illegal pregnancy… and sent to The Fortress, a private underground prison controlled by CCTV, AI, dream reading technology, pain modules & all sorts of crazy stuff… and led by the evil warden (Kurtwood Smith). Your fairly typical prison escape movie then follows… but with crazy futuristic twists that… don’t need to make sense! I really enjoyed it… the show is nuts… which you would kind of expect from the director of “Re-Animator” but… yeah, I liked it.
 
Rating – 9/10 – Lambert is still an emotionless log… but there’s some great stuff going on around him
 
January 21 – Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000)
 
Of course we followed it up with the sequel!!! Seven years after the original (spoilers, he escaped), Brennick (Lambert) is living in isolation with a few rebels… and seven years later they get caught… and are sent to the New Fortress… IN SPACE!!! SPACE JAIL!!! NOW how’s we going to get back?!? Hijinx ensue… and yeah, it’s probably even crazier than you would expect…
 
Rating – 8/10 – Pam Grier even shows up for plot convenience!!!
 
January 22 – The Flash (2023)
 
The death note of the DC cinematic universe before they do a hard reboot… but it’s The Flash getting his own feature film (with a little bit of origin story thrown in) where he’s crying about his mom being dead for over a decade & then finds out that he can run so fast that he can travel through time… and hijinx ensue as he goes through the multiverse. Michael Keaton (and others) pop up as Batman… plenty of cameos from the rest of the Justice League… it’s a bit of a fuddled mess, but there are a few funny moments… overall though, the movie kind of makes fun of itself with how “just go with it” the tone is… and plenty of self-aware jabs as to why everybody hates The Flash… but then continues to do it… not horrible but kinda long & nobody likes Ezra Miller.
 
Rating – 6/10 – HOW DARE YOU WASTE NIC CAGE CAMEO?!?
 
January 23 – Knives Out (2019)
 
I don’t recall if I mentioned watching this the first time back in the 2020 days… but it’s about detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) being called in mysteriously to the apparent suicide of a famous writer (Christopher Plummer) but there may be MURDER afoot. All-Star cast, lots of fun, twists & turns throughout… enjoyed it… well done, director Rian Johnson (“Last Jedi”)
 
Rating – 10/10 – If you like Murder Mysteries, this is a new twist of one for you
 
January 24 – Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)
 
Izzy’s Mom wanted to watch a western… and this came up on Tubi… and apparently it’s a sequel to “Support Your Local Sheriff” (1969) starring a lot of the same people… but it’s not a sequel, just kind of the same movie but instead of James Garner being mistaken for a sheriff, he’s mistaken for a gunfighter this time… brilliant! It’s a western comedy… though maybe a lot of the humor was HUGE in the 70’s because it’s about a con man James Garner with an oddly specific gambling addiction, a “free willed” chick who just shoots at everybody, some shiesty mining barons feuding over nonsense, but yeah… it was 90 minutes, Jimmy Garner is pure charisma, and you know what you’re getting into when you start up the movie.
 
Rating – 8/10 – Chuck Connors also pops up at the end! Hijinx ensue…
 
January 25 – Expend4bles (2023)
 
Yes, the 4th installment of the “gimme all the 80’s & 90’s action heroes” action franchise… and in this one, the new members (50 Cent, Jason Scipio, etc.) and the old crew that wanted to be in this one (Stallone, Statham, Couture, Lundgren, etc.) are trying to get Nuclear McGuffins from Ghadafi’s Old Chemical Factory (literally what it says in movie) before bad guy Iko Uwais gets them… hijinx ensue… STALLONE DIES… they sad… now Andy Garcia & Megan Fox are leading them on the next mission to get the McGuffins back from a boat. That’s the 1st act. This movie was… exactly as dumb as it sounds. Yes, I love action and I can forgive ridiculousness… but the last two acts of this movie are on a bluescreen boat soundstage and it’s REALLY obvious… but yeah, if you’re signing up for the 4th Expendables movie… you know what you’re getting into
 
Rating – 8/10 – It’s a shame we had a blizzard so I couldn’t see “The Beekeeper” opening weekend… but this did okay

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

​Steve