Philadelphia Experiment 1984 Michael Pare, Nancy Allen
Included with Amazon Prime
I was pleasantly surprised. This John Carpenter (Executive Producer) science fiction film is much better than I remembered.
It starts slowly as the two survivors slowly learn where they are and the date. I enjoyed the romance that develops between the survivor and the woman trying to help him.
The special effects are very good. The burning, post-apocalyptic wasteland is very convincing.
My rating 7 out of 10
Golden Globes gave a major award to Hamnet, which I think might actually be correct.
I would prefer the Oscars give the big best picture award to Weapons…but it is clear to me this is not happening. If they skip Weapons, Hamnet is a solid choice.
Or:
I saw this a year or so ago and made the same conclusion. Interesting to watch but as a movie it was… fine. The body horror also seemed restrained to me.
I just read a shot for shot comparison between Unrated and R rated cut.
Yeah, it’s not all that different. I’m not a weirdo wanting more gore, but From Beyond is just too tame to even be interesting…much.
Barbara Crampton is my favorite Scream Queen.
From Beyond, and Re-Animator are her best work. I tracked down most of her films decades ago. I haven’t seen her more recent work.
That’s complimentary of her. But they’re B movies at best. I’m surprised Full Moon did so much with limited budgets. They were way better quality than Troma.
Barbara appeared with Tim Robbins in Fraternity Vacation. A very lame 80’s sex comedy. I’m sure Tim tries to forget he ever made it. 
I don’t think Full Moon made From Beyond or Re-animator, though I think Charles Band was generally involved as a producer.
The two schlubs sitting on the steps-
That sequence is comedy gold. And realistic.
My wife and I (two 62-year-olds) strayed from our comfort zone and watched K-Pop Demon Hunters. Neither the music nor animation style are really my cup of tea but the story and jokes were good (it makes fun of boy bands, how bad can it be?). I’m glad I watched it so I won’t be baffled when it wins Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.
Heh. My wife and I (71 and 72) watched it with our just-turned-six granddaughter. It was okay. Glad I didn’t pay money to see it.
Movie night. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
Let me say I’ve never read the novel nor have I ever seen any of the movies. This is my first.
Loved it. This version was filled with cool Gothic vibes and deep existential questions. A recent college graduate watched the film with us after studying the novel in class. He said it’s not exactly like the book but that it does engage with the themes of the book in a way that is really satisfying.
I don’t know how else to put this but I think Frankenstein’s monster was essentially questioning God. The director leaned into that with a lot of religious imagery. How do we make sense of a painful and solitary existence? What does it mean to be condemned to eternal life as a wretched creature? Why even were we made?
I mean I’m not religious but I could dig the existential angst.
The dialogue was beautiful. It reminded me of Shakespeare. I’m not sure if it lifted from the novel.
Not a light watch. Strongly recommended.
Godzilla (1998)
Not very good. Fun cast and all but not much else to say about it. Devlin and Emmerich were rising high after Independence Day but their follow up here was a bit of a dud and they seemed more interested in taking shots at Siskel and Ebert. There was a pretty big deal about this Godzilla looking different than the classic Japanese kaiju, and I guess that’s fine I suppose, but the monster felt different too. It felt off. Then two-thirds of the way through and they switch gears to knock off Jurassic Park a bit. Godzilla makes a comeback at the end but is finally killed for good with a bunch of missiles from F-18 fighters. Meh.
Spaceballs
Still funny. My wife watched a bit of it and said “Wow, this is problematic” and left.
I finally watched Sinners (2025) last night. Idunno. I liked it better when it was From Dusk to Dawn, I guess.
Horror, is just not my go to. I like a few entries here and there - I liked Weapons well enough - but this wasn’t really on my must-see list. I knew it was horror and it wasn’t a big secret that it had vampires in it and I was just afraid it was going to be pretty much exactly what it ended up being. Not taking away anything from the performances, but I’m just sick of friggin’ vampires. That mid-credit scene in the Chicago bar was just so hacky and cringy.
The kid who played Sammie could have spit the marbles out of his mouth, while we’re at it.
I’m watching The Running Man (1987) right now. I forgot how bad it was. The 80’s aesthetic, the horrible over-acting, the Lost in Space quality sets. Holy crap. We just accepted anything as entertainment in the 80’s didn’t we?
I watched half of The Running Man (2025) last night. It’s all right. I don’t feel emotionally invested in the characters, but there’s lots of action and things getting blowed up real good. I’m impressed by how accurately and economically they’re telling the book story and really interested to see how it finishes up. (We couldn’t finish it last night because my husband wanted to go to bed).
Finally saw this. And they certainly set up another one with 1.5 bad guys surviving. Don’t know if we need spoilers anymore but the female marauder leader (1.0) and the colonel (0.5) who I wouldn’t be surprised if we see his girlfriend swooped in and saved him.
No, I at least hated The Running Man when it was still in the theaters. Hated Last Action Hero, too. Haven’t rewatched either one since the first time.
eta: Maybe, upon reflection your statement is true. I no longer waste movie dollars unless I’m sure it’s worth my time.
“I understood that reference.”
Left-Handed Girl (Netflix, 2025, dubbed) The Rotten Tomatoes (98%, 84%) blurb - A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market. Each in their way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her “devil hand,” generations of family secrets begin to unravel.
Highly recommended. It had heart, was a bit quirky, but also deep in parts. In all, a quality drama.
Nitpick: that’s a 90s film.
Also, it’s damn good fun!
One of Them Days, another Film Independent Spirit nominee, in four categories. It’s a low-budget comedy that’s kind of like After Hours except it’s two black ladies (Keke Palmer and SZA) in LA racing to find money after one of their boyfriends spends the rent money. Like that kind of comedy some of the best bits are in the episodic humor and side characters, but overall it was just okay. Both the leads are great, though, including SZA in her first feature acting role.
(The last Action hero, for context).
I think it’s a great film, I thought it was a great film at the time. I understand why it failed at the time, but I don’t understand why people are so firmly opposed to reconsider it nowadays.
It comes from a time when the appetite for actions movies seems to be relatively straight but ludicrous with perhaps a verbal quip (arnies) or just played straight (stallone). I, personally, didn’t like those movies but it appeared to be the market.
So they tried something different. Meta. Ahead of its time. Parody of the format too. And this did not sit well with the machos who loved themselves a Top Gun or Cobra or Lethal Weapon. And the critics hated it, but never really loved the standard action movies either. So it suffered at the box office. And for some reason people seem to think that is an indicator of a bad movie and viewed it as such. That seems to be how it happened.
What is the excuse nowadays though?