Just watched it the second time, this time with my wife. We were laughing throughout. so nice to see a fresh, funny film.
1973’s Paper Moon, special showing on the big screen.
I’d seen the movie on TV in probably 74, and I remembered exactly one scene. No idea anything else, or how it ended. And we saw it on out 19" B&W TV. I was looking forward to see it in color.
Oops! It’s still B&W. I’m not sure what I expected, but it was better than that. And boy Tatum was really good. She deserved her Oscar. Well, I think she should have won best actress, not supporting actress.
Viva Las Vegas (1964) with Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret.
A typical Elvis picture. Oh, there’s a plot that needs to be resolved (in this case, Elvis plays a race car driver who is in need of an engine for his car), but the rest of the film is a lot of singing and dancing.
Look for some familiar faces in other roles. Cesare Danova (the mayor of Faber in Animal House), plays a rival race car driver; and William Demarest (Uncle Charley on My Three Sons) plays Ann-Margret’s father.
Is this even possible? The only movie I remember him being “good” in was Fight Club and that’s only because he was the subject of a vicious beating.
I always thought Jared Leto took himself too seriously, but he definitely proved me wrong on this one. He hams it up the right amount for it to seem at the same time silly and threatening enough for the main bad guy.
His voice is heavily processed and the character is entirely motion-captured CGI, so you would never actually know it was Jared Leto if you didn’t read the credits.
Ah so it’s now a thing: “Stealth Leto” in a film.
I Know What You Did Last Summer 1997
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Muse Watson, and Freddie Prinze Jr.
Hard to believe its been almost 30 years. The movie holds up well. Music is a little dated. Still made me jump in a few scenes.
It’s interesting how effective a tall guy in a black raincoat slicker can be in a menacing scene.
8.5 out of 10
Which scene?
Disclosure Day
Somewhat recommended.
Good, not great. I think Spielberg thought the mysterious happenings in the beginning of the movie were a lot more interesting mysteries than they really are.
I won’t go into plot details, but I found myself pretty let down with the reveals at the end of the movie. I mean…ugh, OK.
Shame. Spielberg can still do great work, but this one is just a pretty OK movie and if it weren’t from Spielberg, it would have been mainly overlooked.
For a bit of fun, type “Disclosure Day” into Google.
We watched it. It captures the corny ‘80s vibe perfectly. There’s no surprises. It does what it does when you expect it to. Very satisfying.
The writing is like from a preteen. No explicit sexuality, and embarrassment when things start going that way.
And lots of credit to the actors and direction. Watch the reactions of the actors who aren’t talking. They are in on the joke.
It’s a worthy successor to the Flash Gordon movie. Lots of callbacks to it, even the final stinger. The soundtrack is pure awesomeness.
When people complain about movies aren’t being made like they used to be, this is a great counter example of a movie like they used to be. It’s refreshing in a nostalgic way.
(I am absolutely not a fan the original He-Man cartoons, and one doesn’t need knowledge of them to appreciate this movie.)
Excuse me? You think that’s all? There’s also a stunning (and boisterous) rendition of Oh My Darling Clementine.
Anyway, I believe I posted my comments on it already, but I liked it. I especially liked Mark Hamill as the tin pot dictator.
Last night we watched The Mad Adventures of “Rabbi” Jacob (Prime Video), a 1973 French comedy about a bigot who is forced to disguise himself as a Rabbi to escape from terrorists he accidentally got mixed up with. It’s a very broad comedy with an almost Airplane! level of gags (although not as much wordplay and parody).
In case you’re wondering, its treatment of Jews is sensitive and entirely inoffensive. (My wife and I are Jewish.) The lead character is Catholic, and the terrorists are implied to be Muslim, but no religion is made the butt of jokes.
It’s just 95 minutes of silly fun. Highly recommended.
I found it because it’s an early film with Miou-Miou, whom we also saw recently in a new French murder mystery miniseries, Summer '36 (Netflix), 53 years later.
Wow, she’s still working? Good to hear.
Just watched Masters Of The Universe on Prime. It was a lot better than I expected. It really doesn’t take itself too seriously, and is camp as all get-out. Skeletor is played like Frank-n-furter or Jareth the Goblin King, and everyone else is having a grand old time. Idris Elba is playing the role like he had anticipated his Thor character was going to be. And then the soundtrack is all Flash Gordon-esque, and even has a reference to the animated meme. Tonally it’s exactly the same level of self-aware comedy as the Dungeons and Dragons movie.
But here’s why I think it failed to light up the box office. The nostalgia crowd that were 9yrs old in 1983 have aged out of movie-going, and the new generations who they should be courting have no connection with this cheesy old property. The state of blockbuster cinema, which has been relying so heavily on nostalgia of cartoons and toys and comic books, has run its course. They have to find something new, and they are yet to stumble upon it. I’m pretty sure scouring the internet for things like Backrooms or Skibidi Toilet is not going to work for very long.
It’s also about 40 minutes too long. There were a couple times when I was like “Ok, second act complete, time to be moving on to the exciting climax.” The first time, it wasn’t even halfway through the movie. The second time… there were still 40+ minutes left.
Major pacing issues.
All that to say, had MOTU been better written or edited, I expect it would have been better received by those who did see it in theaters. Which might have in turn encouraged others (like myself—and I’m even just old enough to have seen the cartoons as a re-run) to go see it on its own merits, not just as nostalgia.
I was a little too old for He-Man when it was on, so I wasn’t the nostalgic market. I was mostly just curious about how the property would be handled (the same as Barbie). They were smart to realize that their primary audience was former children, not current children, and really leaned into the absurdities and silliness that audience looks back on the show in fondness. I’ll admit, I laughed at every Fisto joke.
That was my problem. He-Man was a thing when I was already into my early teens and I found it just too silly. I disliked cute side-kick characters. Skeletor grated without being amusing, it was all so campy and overdone and overall I just found it too cartoonish to appreciate. The continual re-invention of the franchise has been existing on the periphery of my pop culture sense for ages and I keep thinking of dipping my toe into better regarded stuff like the re-booted She-Ra. I like cartoons. But I’ve yet to do so, as the franchise was just not for me at a critical age.
Now a re-booted Thundarr the Barbarian? I would have to check it out, even though I’m fairly sure it would suck. I mean it’s not really like I had good taste back then. Just different bad taste 
.
I was born in 78 and I liked He-Man when I was very little, it was one of the cartoons we got in Peru. That said, those were a DISTANT third to Star Wars and GI Joe toys.