January Movies - Week 4

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Just a heads up... but I might be super busy the next few weeks... but hey, what else is new? I may not be able to watch a bunch of movies, that's what! In the meantime though, here's a healthy dose...

January 24 – Carry-On (2024)
 
It’s a Christmas action movie where a TSA x-ray machine operator (Taron Egerton) gets an earpiece from a mysterious terrorist (Jason Bateman? Really?) who basically says let a package go through or people start dying… I guess forgetting that if the package goes through a LOT of people die… but hey, it’s someone you care about as opposed to hundreds of others (which I get). What happens is kinda tense action movie hijinx… but at the same time you kind of know how it’s going to end up… and I enjoyed it! I went in with zero expectations… and it was fairly entertaining. Jason Bateman in particular was pretty good as the creepy voice (and eventually beige-ish dude)… but I watch a lot of action movies… so how did it fair?
 
Rating – 9/10 – Very good, check it out on Netflix
 
January 25 – Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
 
Followed that up with another Netflix exclusive, the long anticipa… long gestating… ugh, basically the 4th Beverly Hills Cop movie a scant 30+ years since the 3rd one. Eddie Murphy reprises his role as the Detroit cop who still hasn’t retired… but gets caught up in some Beverly Hills hijinx when he gets a call from an old friend (Judge Reinhold) while an attempt is also made on the life of his estranged daughter, whose a lawyer defending a death row case… and yeah, he’s gotta get to the bottom of this… hilarious vigilante style. Look, the original BHC is one of my favorite VHS tapes from when I was a kid & I saw it HUNDREDS of times… gladly. This one played like a Force Awakens with all the callbacks & cameos but… did it hit?
 
Rating – 8/10 – It hit for me… not great & the daughter’s character wasn’t the greatest… but hey, check it out if you like the original
 
January 26 – The Legend of Zorro (2005)
 
This is the 2nd Antonio Banderas Zorro movie… or as I like to call it, “The Mummy Returns” of the franchise where they have to add the annoying kid because otherwise it’s just Zorro having a d**k measuring contest with a local duke or whatever (Rufus Sewell) over his ex-wife… but she’s actually an undercover agent for the US government as there’s some Old West shenanigans involving statehood, superweapons & everything short of the giant robot spider from Wild Wild West. That being said… I liked it of course. Catherine Zeta-Jones is stunning. There’s a reason that Rufus Sewell spent nearly 20 years as Hollywood pompous bad guy with a highly punchable face. The action is decent. Really the only things that lack are the story a bit… and the kid. Again, Mummy Returns with the kid & when Evie becomes the reincarnation of Nephratiti…
 
Rating – 9/10 – Fun, dumb watch but not as good as the original
 
January 27 – Night of the Comet (1984)
 
Yes, the classic story from the 80’s starring friend of the podcast Catherine Mary Stewart about two hot sisters (along with Barbara Crampton) who are stuck in a mysterious apocalypse where everybody seemed to be raptured by a comet… and their only friend is Chikotay from Star Trek Voyager… and hijinx ensue when they find out that there’s also zombies & scientists after them. I don’t want to go too deep into this movie, but you should definitely watch it. It’s dumb 80’s fun and just kooky enough to get you through the current end times…
 
Rating – 9/10 – Also, feel free to check out our interview with Catherine Mary Stewart on Everything I Learned from Movies! She’s the best!!!
 
January 28 – Final Impact (1992)
 
When a former kickboxing champion (Lorenzo Lamas) starts training a young fighter (Michael Worth) to become the champion… against his former rival… everything should be pretty easy peasy… except for the alcoholism & emotional issues of the former champion. That’s… honestly like 80% of the movie is just Lorenzo Lamas being a douche & apologizing… and the fight scenes are pretty ridiculous and shot in dance clubs during the day… can’t lie… not a whole lot of fun which was weird coming from the director of RAGE, The Sweeper & director or producer on DOZENS of 80’s & 90’s schlock action movies… but yeah, this left a little to be desired.

Rating – 6/10 – Not as crazy as Snake Eater… and not as charismatic as Renegade in the Lamas Library
 
January 29 – Buchanan Rides Alone (1958)
 
Randolph Scott stars in this western about a man who has finally saved up enough money to go back to Texas and buy a ranch… but along the way he stops in the corrupt town of Agry, which is ran by the Agry family… and they basically steal his money & frame him for murder. Hijinx ensue as Randolph Scott has to get out of it… and yeah, it’s a western and I had a lot of fun… nothing too much to elaborate on other than you can see why Randolph Scott was such a thing in the 50’s because he has great charisma & not really sure if it’s him or the character that just seems to be doing circles around everybody…
 
Rating – 7/10 – It’s a step-by-step western… you’ll like it or you won’t
 
January 30 – Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster (1965)
 
Okay… here’s the IMDb synopsis on this one… “A Martian princess & doctor replace the women on Mars, destroyed by atomic war, by raiding Puerto Rico while a shot down android terrorizes all.” Okay, so to translate that a bit… basically Mars needs Moms (women specifically for breeding purposes) so they go to Puerto Rico to… let’s say traffic some back home… but along the way they shoot down a NASA shuttle that has an android inside named Frank Sanders who I guess is the Frankenstein of this movie… and hijinx ensue when Frank tries to stop the Martians. This movie is nuts… and very obviously brought to you by the Puerto Rican board of tourism as the doctors explaining things have long scenes of them driving around… but the doctor (James Karen) has had an amazing career since this (his debut) and was even the Berkeley dean in… wait for it… 1995’s CONGO!!!
 
Rating – 7/10 – Kind of a dumb silly watch but… LOTS of stock footage

Until next time, true believers!!!

​Steve