September Movies - Week 1

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Still busy busy but doing what we can to make it one day at a time... including watching movies...

August 30 – Best of the Best (1989)
 
The United States is creating a Tae Kwon Do team for the big tournament against South Korea (which is like going against China in Table Tennis) so they bring in the ultimate coach (James Earl Jones) and compose a five-member team of an injured has-been (Eric Roberts), an a-hole Texan who’s not even a good fighter (Chris Penn), a dork, an Italian one & of course… a KOREAN-AMERICAN FIGHTER (Philip Rhee) WHO’S BROTHER WAS KILLED BY THE CHAMPION (champion played by his real brother Simon Rhee). Hijinx ensue when this team just can’t seem to get along… until they play Karate Kid music or something & we’ll see how it all ends… now, I’d only seen the 4th one in the series (no tournament, just badass action) but this one is… weird… but hey, it’s late 80’s Karate Kid / Rocky IV ripoff stuff…
 
Rating – 7/10 – Not the best, not the worst… just kinda meh…
 
September 1 – Paddington (2014)
 
So this popped up on Tubi… and I had to finally watch one of the highest rated movies of all time?!? Basically a young bear from darkest Peru survives an earthquake (his uncle did not) goes to London in search of an explorer that his aunt & uncle met back in the day… and he runs into a sweet family at the train station. Nicole Kidman pops up as a master hunter looking to bag & stuff this new specimen of a Peruvian Bear… and hijinx ensue. Honestly, I can’t lie… this was one of the sweetest & funniest kids movies that I’ve ever seen… like genuine laughter throughout… and everybody was great acting wise… and oh man, I hear that the 2nd one is even better? How can that be?!?
 
Rating – 10+/10 – If I’m ever going to give a kids movie a 10+ it would be for something like this… so I did…
 
September 3 – The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)
 
Randolph Scott is a former spy who goes to Arizona to join a gold robbery… but then he decides that he wants to be a better man & be a double agent or something… and hijinx ensue in this pretty standard Western. Now… I’ve seen a LOT of westerns recently living with a 70+ year old Alzheimer’s test case… but honestly this wasn’t really memorable except for seeing a super-young Ernest Borgnine AND Lee Marvin to the point that I was like “Is that… Ernest Borgnine? With color in his hair?!?” knowing him only from 70’s & 80’s (and Baseketball) movies. It’s kind of interesting with the playing both sides but… let’s be real, Randolph Scott would’ve just been popped after the first treachery. Period.
 
Rating – 7/10 – Still just a standard okay western though if you’re looking to distract a 70-something for 80-something minutes…
 
September 5 – Spy (2015)
 
This seems like a movie that I should’ve seen in theatres… a spy parody from the writer/director of “Bridesmaids” & a bunch of other things I liked to that point… with Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, even Jason f**king Statham!!! Well… I didn’t see it in theatres… or at home… and then 2016’s “Ghostbusters” happened and I REALLY fell off the Paul Feig train… but hey, I saw this pop up on Max & watched it… it’s about a desk jockey for American spy Bradley Fine (Law?) who’s capable but lacks confidence. Well, Fine gets popped in the dome during a nuke sale & the baddie knows about all the other secret agents (including Statham) so they send in a nobody (McCarthy) to ensue hijinx… and guys… holy goodness, hilarity ensues! This movie was SO MUCH FUN & there are a few times when the humor gets a little “okay that could’ve been trimmed a bit” in the typical Paul Feig manner… but not NEARLY as much as Ghostbusters. This totally explains why he got to do Ghostbusters after seeing this movie though…
 
Rating – 10/10 – Not perfect but pretty damn hilarious!!!
 
Have a great weekend & I'll see you next week!!!

​Steve