I Just Watched... (Movies/TV/DVD)

[alkeiper]

I love the Bad News Bears, the 1976 movie. For my money it’s the greatest baseball movie ever made. But I’ve never seen it’s sequels. So when Antonio Inoki passed away and gifs popped up I had to watch what is universally panned as a terrible movie.

The Bad News Bears Go To Japan

So Inoki. I’m a wrestling fan. I love this shit. They reference the Inoki/Ali fight. They have Inoki trying to raise his profile by defeating an American karate champion. There are hijinks. It’s great. But like I said, I know the backstory. For the average viewer, what are they taking from this?

And that’s the highlight. The whole story is flimsy. Kelly Leak pursuing a Japanese girl is kind of creepy. Most of the kids aren’t doing anything, it’s Tony Curtis chewing scenery. Half the team is gone or recasted. Whenever the kids interact it kind of works. But then there’s ten minutes of a Japanese game show?

The portion of the movie with Inoki is worth watching for wrestling fans. You can skip the rest.

Bad News Bears In Breaking Training

This is on the same streaming service, I was home feeling under the weather this morning, why not? This was the second film. Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal are gone. The kids are on their way to the Astrodome for a game. I felt the film really struggled in the first half. Then Kelly Leak meets his estranged father in Houston and from there everything kind of works. In some ways it becomes a repeat of the first movie though without the constraint of a league it doesn’t feel like the stakes are very high. We get the happy ending at the end but it doesn’t resonate as well as the first.

More than the other two films this one feels very set in the ‘70s. I think the highlight is this film captures more than anything else the feeling of the Astrodome, particularly the scoreboard.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

@Mickey Massuco will be happy to know I finally watched Bloodsport. I've seen parts of it before but never watched it all in one go. The fight scenes are fantastic but everything else is garbage. Chun Lo is a god.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Man I’m not happy about that review at all. Should have just not watched it.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Maybe I should watch it again soon to get the bad taste of that post out of my mouth.

 

[muzzington]

Watched the first 2 seasons of Red Dwarf again. Maybe it’s heavy nostalgia from the first time I watched it as a kid but I still think it’s great. Hard to get into nowadays I’d imagine.

 

[harry78]

I am watching right now is friends season 1 and this is one of the greatest and best sitcoms of all time.
See: https://subdl.live/friends-season-1-subtitles/

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

@Mickey Massuco will be happy to know I finally watched Bloodsport. I've seen parts of it before but never watched it all in one go. The fight scenes are fantastic but everything else is garbage. Chun Lo is a god.

Okay, I know I'm one of the b-movie admirers here, but how in the everloving fuck did it take you this long to watch this?

 

[RedJed]

Saw a few over the weekend in the theater....

Don't Worry Darling: I think this is now on HBO Max as of yesterday, but had a free ticket at the second tier discount theater so I figured why not. There has been very mixed reviews on this one and I can see why. It's a very unorthodox narrative that certainly doesn't get better as it goes on. Instead it derails into a terrible third act that really hurt the enjoyment I had initially in the first hour of this one. There were themes that should have been played upon stronger, and some other stuff that should have been eased back on, direction wise. All in all, a really messy story that had some decent performances from all involved, but too many questions at the end without answers in the hows and whys of everything. On a positive note, the trailers did not give hardly anything away in what was a pretty complex story that led you intrugied where it was going. Sadly though, the end result and quasi-explanation was a twist that I did not care for one single bit.

Triangle of Sadness: This took a moment to get going (the first act was a bit tedious) but once it did, I can't recall a film that had me laughing so hard and then pivoting to pretty serious and adult themes on a semi-dramatic level. Similar to Darling, the trailer for this film gave almost nothing away. The rich, entitled, and affluent culture satire was so spot on and perfect in this though from start to finish. The stuff particularly on the cruise ship was HILARIOUS AS FUCK. This may end up one of my favorite films of the year by the end of it. My only real issues were that it would have been great to have more Woody Harrelson in this (he plays a drunken boat captain that needs to be seen to understand how great his performance was) and there was a bit of ambiguity (actually, alot of it) at the ending.

 

[RedJed]

Still kind of watching movies relating to werewolves and decided on a fuck it, why not whim to peep out the original Teen Wolf and then grinned and beared it for Teen Wolf Too.

The original was one of those nostalgic trips for me just because I grew up watching that film over and over again. Probably an offshoot of my fandom of Back to the Future or something. Whatever the case, definitely a mixed bag now in retrospect. Well, parts of it hold up. There are other parts that are downright terrible, especially the basketball scenes. Got to say though it still is a really super easy watch and a pretty fun one at that.

Then Teen Wolf Too. This has to be in the bottom 10 of all time follow-up sequels to any sort of film. To call it a retread of the original is not even giving it justice. Same structure, same copied themes, almost paint by numbers style with the dual romances storyline and the wolf gimmick turning each character into an egomaniac but much worse dialogue and writing, by far the second time. There is a musical number in this one too that is cringe to the max. Jason Bateman is ok in his first feature film, but goddamn this was a trash fire disaster, no wonder why we never got another Teen Wolf film after this.

 

[strummer]

I like how in Teen Wolf Too they couldn't get the actor that played Stiles to return so they just recast him. That took me out of the movie right away when I was 9.

 

[RedJed]

I like how in Teen Wolf Too they couldn't get the actor that played Stiles to return so they just recast him. That took me out of the movie right away when I was 9.

Yep and hardly anyone else returned either. Just the father/uncle character and what's his face from Pee Wees Big Adventure.

Not sure whose bright idea it was to showcase boxing in this....not that I expected basketball again but fucking collegiate boxing?!?!

Poor John Astin was painfully bad in this one too

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

Okay, I know I'm one of the b-movie admirers here, but how in the everloving fuck did it take you this long to watch this?

i dunno, ive seen parts of it many times before then. maybe i had seen itway before and just been too drunk or high to remember. I've got ANIME to watch for the third time brother.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

The Outfit starring Mark Rylance about a cutter who finds himself involved in a Mob situation one night. Very good movie with some twists and turns (some expected, others unexpected) all taking place at a singular location. Had a very play/theater style, which helped keep it pretty tightly paced despite its Hour, 45 minute run time.

7/10

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Season 2 of Leverage: Redemption has hit Freevee on Amazon Prime and it's still very enjoyable stuff if you're a fan of the original Leverage show or its cast.

 

[Youth N Asia]

Currently watching the MacGruber series on Peacock. Will Forte is a delight in this roll. Never cared for the sketch, but the movie was fantastic, and the series has been fun so far (halfway through)… but never cared for Kristen Wiig in this (or any) roll.

 

[Gary]

Watched "The Last Detail" last week, and I'm glad I did. Pretty much everything Jack Nicholson says is quotable, and it's interesting to see a very young looking Randy Quaid in a role, and now I know this is the movie where "maggot this, maggot that" and "I AM THE MOTHERFUCKING SHORE PATROL" comes from.

 

[Youth N Asia]

Wakanda Forever.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t at all memorable. Felt every bit of that 2:40 runtime. There’s just not much to say about the movie. They could have cut a fair amount from this.

The opening dozen or so minutes of the movie were certainly impactful.

 

[RedJed]

Glass Onion: This is a kinda sequel to Knives Out, but more or less another story involving the Daniel Craig character only. I dont think any of the other characters from Knives Out returned her in any capacity or in any reference really. But they made it clear this was after the events of the first film.

Anyhow I enjoyed this much more than the first, the narrative had alot of those flashback flows similar to Knives Out, the structure very similar in that aspect. Really excellent performances here all around.

This is one of those films that I feel needs to be seen in the theater. Netflix only did a week run on this theatrically, and then it moves to Netflix I think in about three weeks.

 

[RedJed]

Aftersun: Saw this last night and damn, it is sticking with me today as I type this. I wouldn't call it at all a haunting type of vibe in this film, but throughout the film there is this ambiguous vibe of uneasiness and uncertainty as it goes on. It features a mostly flashbacked narrative of a young girl at the verge of growing up (I think she's maybe 12 or 13) and her father, who has alot of baggage going on, some very obvious and some very subtle. There was suggestions that the father had some deep issues he was trying to deal with (not only addiction but his own sexuality, etc), while trying to be the best dad he could be for her, yet his decisions as a father were questionable. It was from the girls perspective, observing the odd patterns of her father as at the same time, she is handling pivotal growing up moments during this vacation she takes with him in a turkish resort.

This hit home to me a bit as my father, when I was growing up, had very obvious addiction stuff going on, yet I didn't understand the gravity of it until I grew up in later years. My family also kinda of meticulously hid those issues he had from me for years, and only did I realize them when I would spend vacation time together alone with him.

The cinematography was beautiful, editing was really interesting and how it rolled into present day scenes of the girl, now fully grown up as a lesbian mother, looking back at these pivotal moments she had with her father. The impression you get at the end was that this film showcased perhaps the final moments this girl had with her father, and may never have seen her again. But there is sooooo much ambiguity in the narrative that you aren't fully sure.

This might end up one of the best films of the year in my eyes, but we will see what else hits this month.

 

[RedJed]

Dark Crystal: This was in theaters yesterday as part of a 40th anniversary of the film, through Fathom. I remember as a youngin' watching parts of this here and there, but I dont think I ever fully checked this out start to finish. Finally got into it yesterday after seeing Violent Night. Wow, what an impressive film from an effect standpoint....I would love to see a documentary on how they did this (does anyone know if there is one out there?). I was also shocked this felt marketed primarily towards kids/families as this was a dark and more adult-natured narrative here. The whole asthetic reminded me in many ways of the very dark and kinda scary (for kids) Return to Oz. In some ways, I think kids also wouldn't be able to make sense fully on what was all happening because of the darker and more complex elements of the film. But anyway you really slice it, this was a groundbreaking effects/puppetry movie that really stands the test of time.

I figure this is as good of time than any to get into the Netflix series, which I believe is a prequel series to the film. A sequel would be ideal at some point as well, I know that was rumored for a long time before they finally went ahead with the Netflix prequel series instead.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I've been on a big Asian tv watch/rewatch kick lately

Alice in Borderlands, Sweet Home, All of us are Dead, and right now I'm watching Beyond Evil.

Alice in Borderlands is Japanese and is sort of like Squid Games but more scifi, new season is coming out this month.

Sweet Home is a horror/scifi where people start turning into monsters at a apartment complex. This was pretty good.

AOUAD was a high school zombie show, it was ok. Very uneven, some good zombie stuff and then a lot of teen melodrama.

Beyond Evil is about two cops trying to catch a serial-killer but maybe one of them is the killer? Everyone is a suspect! It's really good.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Fun watch.
Biggest takeaway for me was that Charlie Brown actually kicks the football in one special after Snoopy turns him invisible.

I did not agree with his negative takes on the "What have we learned, Charlie Brown?" special about WW1 and 2.
I was also very much into the special where Snoopy ends up on a dog sled team. Pretty sure it legit bothered me as a kid.

 

[Gary]

Guillermo Del Toro's "Pinocchio" is as great as I hoped it would be, yet I will never get over

Spoiler

Cate Blanchett being the voice of a monkey

.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Finished up Alice in Borderland Season 2. Great stuff, although I felt like Episode 7 was probably the weakest just because I didn't care for the bad guy and some of the

Spoiler

ways the bad guy and heroes survived

kind of broke my suspension of disbelief but the final episode made up for it.

 

[RedJed]

Saw some movies in the theater over the long holiday break.

Spirited: So gf and I went into this fully blind, I hadn't even heard of this one, much less seen a trailer. Oh boy, big surprise in what it ended up being and given that neither of us are a fan of musicals AT ALL, walked out of the damn thing within 20 minutes.

Puss in Boots 2: Really enjoyed this, and the 3D was the most impressive in animated movies in a long time. Reminded me how much I adored the Shrek series, it had all of the same elements to no surprise. I think this was better also than the first Puss in Boots.

Empire of Light: This was one of the better films of the year to me, just really heart-felt and introspective stuff about mental health, love and life. The setting was an old majestic theater (which is a real place in England somewhere) that created a ton of great cinematography moments. This was kind of a love letter to the love of movies in general, another facet that really connected to me.

The Whale: I'm torn on this one. Frazer did a tremendous job in a very difficult role for sure, probably should be nominated for an Oscar, maybe even win it this year. On the other hand, this film was incredibly sad and hard to watch at times because the story was so self-destructive and resentment-filled, etc. But in that aspect it felt pretty real and raw. The problem was that the whole narrative was kind of flawed for sure, so can't say I fully thought this was a film worthy of nominations, only Frazer's performance particularly.

Avatar 2: Holy fuck, this was bloated and WAY TOO LONG. The moments of action were fascinating, and the 3d in a high frame rate IMAX theater is the way to go on this as visually, it was like nothing I've ever seen in a theater in how deep and flawless the 3d conversion one. It was a whole other level than anything in a 3d aspect. But the story was just not engaging to me. Too many characters to develop in too long of a time. Legit, this needed an intermission badly.

Babylon: What a mess this was. Lots of bodily fluid moments (puking on others, shitting on others, even pissing on others) which I guess highlights the hedonistic side of this era and situations (Hollywood gone wild) but it was off-putting. And really, so was the actual performances. The Margot Robbie character was insantely annoying and unlikable. Most everyone in this film was strongly unrelatable and hard to connect to at all, but maybe that was the point. But much like Avatar, dear god this film was so bloated and far too long at over 3 hours. This would have been so much better without the extreme moments mentioned, and there was too many side stories that should have been cut to get down to a decent runtime of 2 hours or so.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Watched The Pale Blue Eye on Netflix starring Christian Bale. It was fine? 5/10

It was a murder mystery in Bale trying to solve a serial killer in West Point with the assistance of a young Edgar Allan Poe. It had a lot of things I usually like: Bale, the time period, the inclusion of Poe as a character, and the murder mystery but it all just fell very flat for me and nothing really stood out in the end. The final half-hour is its strongest part probably but by then it's all too little, too late for me.

Recommended if you're a Bale completionist or want a rainy day murder mystery to watch that isn't on a regular channel.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Just got around to watching the winter premiere of Season 5 of grown-ish, which leads me to ask the following: How the fuck is Freeform still contractually obligated to air The 700 Club twice a day? What the hell kind of Spirit of St. Louis, "in perpetuity"-ass deal did they sign?

 

[RedJed]

Plane: I know there was some sentiment that perhaps this film would be a terrible, one of the worst of the year type shit. While it certainly wasn't a masterpiece, this was a fun ride of a film that really had little bad going for it. If Gerard Butler wasn't in it though, stuff like this probably would go right to VOD but it still was a worthwhile viewing overall. Some engaging characters for sure, and the story was pretty fluff but for this type of film, but the pace was on point. There is a place for these turn your brain off films as its own kinda genre in a sense.

Wandering Earth: This has been on Netflix for awhile, and I guess it ended up being the highest grossing Chinese film, I believe of all time. I can see why this had so much acclaim as it has disaster film meets space film all wrapped up into a heartfelt sci-fi action blockbuster. In fact this might be the best disaster blockbuster I ever saw. The effects were literally out of this world in more ways than one. Sentimental moments are intermixed within this intruiging narrative of science/technology meeting climate change in the future (it's set in 2070).

Wandering Earth 2: This just came out over the weekend in very limited release in theaters. It's actually a prequel to the first Wandering Earth, with some previous characters being showcased here as well. A nice detailed explanation to the prologue of the first film, and put alot of situations from the first film into context as well. This is one film that actually could be watched prior to the original and you wouldn't miss a beat, in fact it might be better this way. The flip side is that this one is extremely long winded at times within the storytelling. Almost a three hour film.

 

[RedJed]

Missing: This felt so similar to a film years ago called Searching and maybe it was done by the same folks. To their credit, they really put out an interesting narrative with the usage of social media, apps in general, and technology. It creates an engaging way to tell a story in that its not necessarily linear and especially in the context of a mystery type of film, it kind of creates a unique way to notice clues, and to put the pieces together in your mind. Another take I had from watching this was....godamn there are security holes like a mofo in alot of the major apps and websites featured on this film, if we go by the way the movie presents them. Really solid film that keeps ya guessing what's next.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Halfway through S2 of Kevin Can Fuck Himself and I wish they held off on the main S1 plot, because there's no way to come back from something like that and this concept (generic sitcom when the oafish husband is around, melancholy drama of the "hot wife" when he isn't around) deserves more exploring.

I'm fucking loving how Alex Bonifer is showing Neil's depth in S2. Total MVP of the second season, which is saying something after how great both Annie Murphy and Mary Hollis Inboden were throughout the first season. The entire cast deserves more work.