June Movies - Week 1

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

It's officially getting to be summer with the temperatures in the 80s & 90s... can't wait until July/August with the triple digits... so I'm staying indoors when I can to watch movies...

May 30 – Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
 
I remember watching a free premiere screening of this movie a few days before it came out… and having ZERO expectations based on where Thunderdome (3rd installment) left off… but guys, this movie is f**king great!!! Pulse-pounding action, great atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic world, great performances by great actors, not knowing what to expect at every turn… just watch it, you know the story… they run away on the greatest vehicle in cinema (The War Rig), make a U-turn & head back… Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nathan Jones, Nicholas Hoult, etc.
 
Rating – 10+/10 – One of the greatest movies ever made… Furiosa hopes to be HALF as good… and was better than half
 
May 31 – The Bear (2022-2023) 1st 2 Seasons
 
Yup, we finally watched the series billed as a comedy about the food industry… and it’s really about 10% comedy 90% family drama… but it’s about a top chef de cuisine in the world inheriting his brother’s dive restaurant in Chicago (due to his brother’s suicide) & the complete mental breakdown involved with turning from a hole-in-the-wall dive to a fine dining experience in the heart of the ghetto when your surrounded by friend-employees who have no idea what you’re talking about & a family straight out of your nightmares… oh and you’re neurotic as f**k too because of your genetics AND training to be the top chef de cuisine in the world… but holy crap, this show was great.
 
Season 1 – 8/10 – Not gonna lie, season one was a little rough at spots because they were REALLY slow in explaining why everybody’s an idiot/a-hole
 
Season 2 – 10+/10 – Season two though they seem to get their stuff together… and there are two of the greatest TV episodes ever produced back-to-back (“Fishes” & “Forks”) and they’re great for completely different reasons… trigger warning for suicide & neuroses being agitated but… would recommend if you’re strong enough
 
June 1 – Lonesome Dove (1989)
 
This six-hour mini-series about two retired Texas Rangers (Robert Duvall & Tommy Lee Jones) follows them on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana… and hijinx ensue on the high plains with shady characters in their party (Robert Urich), a teenage whore (Diane Lane!), the son who doesn’t know he’s the son (Ricky Schroder) and others (Danny Glover). I had heard that this was one of the great westerns… and it’s pretty good… but basically because it ends up being kind of all the westerns in one. Each episode is almost its own separate situation where a western movie unfolds… and then after 90 minutes they go on to the next one.
 
Rating – 8/10 – Quite enjoyable for the genre & the acting was pretty good
 
June 2 – Never Back Down (2008)
 
A douchy teen moves to a new town & gets caught up in an underground teenage fight club… and meets a wise mentor (Djimon Hounsou) who helps him to get the best of a rival who inexplicably is infatuated with him. Have you seen Karate Kid? This is the dumbed down version of that dumbed down story… but hey, occasionally the music hits… and it’s 2000’s as hell… so yeah, enjoyable moments.
 
Rating - ???/10 – Listen to us talk with Chris from Home Video Hustle about it on the EILFM Podcast
 
June 3 – Runaway (1982)
 
In the future (according to 1982), robots are taking over the basic jobs… but they break down… and when those breakdowns turn deadly… you call the cops to handle them? Tom Selleck is the lead detective in this robotics division of the police… and he’s teamed up with a sexy new recruit who was a meter maid before this job… and hijinx ensue when the designer (Gene Simmons) of a lot of these robots decides that he wants to get paid & kill a bunch of people. Written & directed by Michael Crichton (“Jurassic Park”, “Congo”, “Timeline”, etc) but it’s… not a great movie… but that being said, it’s a lot of fun for me to see how Hollywood saw the future during different times throughout history & what has panned out… and what seems ridiculous by today’s standards (42 years of hindsight later).
 
Rating – 8/10 – Lots of fun… but don’t take a shot every time somebody saws “Ramsay”, the lead character’s last name… you’ll go blind
 
June 4 – Three Amigos! (1986)
 
I had never actually seen this movie all the way through… only a few scenes flipping through channels… but it’s a John Landis directed movie about three Hollywood stars on the way out of the Golden Era (Steve Martin, Martin Short & Chevy Chase) who are famous as three western heroes… but through bad telegraph communication they go to Mexico to do a show… but find themselves in a real life western situation where the evil El Guapo is harassing a village… and hijinx ensue… so yeah, it probably helped that I had seen a LOT of these kinds of westerns recently but… I liked it! No, it’s not the greatest comedy every made but not a bad little time…
 
Rating – 8/10 – Be careful or you might be singing “My Little Buttercup” for a few days after…
 
June 5 – Karate Kid Part III (1990)
 
For June we’re talking about martial arts movies on the podcast… and it was high time we revisited this one where Daniel-son & Mr. Miyagi return home from Part 2 to find out that Daniel’s mom is away, so I guess they’re living together… and then Daniel uses his college money to get Mr. Miyagi a location for a bonsai store that he never wanted… meanwhile Kreese & his best former student billionaire are conspiring on how they’re going to destroy this (27 year old) teenager while he’s also NOT having a relationship with a 16-year old teen witch… and yeah, hijinx ensue. This movie is a f**king mess… but I still enjoy Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffiths in his debut) as the villain… and Pat Morita is always great as Mr. Miyagi.
 
Rating - ???/10 – Listen to us chat about it on Everything I Learned From Movies!!!

Sweep the leg next week!

​Steve