It’s been over a month now since my last check-in. There are a couple reasons for that, one being the Winter Olympics taking a couple weeks of my attention, the other a personal loss in the family that took some time away from watching movies. I also watched some television shows like The Night Agent Season 2, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, School Spirits, Ghosts, Elsbeth, The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2, and I’m still working my way through Orphan Black. With all that I was able to watch some movies, at home, over the past few weeks…
Mackenna’s Gold- A middling, but not bad, western fom1969 starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, and Telly Savalas.
Independence Day: Resurgence- My first time seeing it since its release TEN YEARS AGO! Still not great but there is some fun stuff in there. I would kind of like to see the next part that is hinted at the end. Oh well.
Hold That Ghost- An early Abbott and Costello starrer, that is only partly a haunted house comedy. When it’s funny though, it’s very funny.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere- This is the film about Springsteen’s experience creating his Nebraska album. I thought it was all right.
Kid Galahad- Elvis is an accidental boxer in this quasi-remake of an old Edward G. Robinson film. It’s not one of The King’s worst and it features Charles Bronson. This was after The Magnificent 7 but before The Great Escape. How he ended up in this Elvis pic I do not know.
Blue Moon- Ethan Hawke was Oscar nominated for his performance as lyricist Lorenz Hart. He’s good and the movie is fine. It plays a lot like a stage play, taking place in, basically, one location.
The Substance- Finally got around to seeing this hit from a couple years ago. It’s not as body-horror crazy as a Cronenberg film but has a pretty funny third act. I think it’s overrated but not bad.
Open Range- This is the movie I went to after hearing of Robert Duvall’s passing. Certainly not one of his greatest films, though it is great, but his performance is beautiful. I love this flick and him in it.
The Toxic Avenger- The recent remake starring Peter Dinklage and Kevin Bacon. If there had never been a Toxic Avenger this would be great. That not being the case, I did have a pretty good time with it.
The Return of Godzilla- This is the Japanese version of what we in the U.S. saw as Godzilla 1985. It doesn’t really add much to the franchise, but it is better than the U. S. version.
Elvis- My third or fourth rewatch of the 2022 Baz Luhrmann film. I’m not really a Luhrmann fan, but I love this flick.
When We Went MAD!- This doc about MAD Magazine is a lot of fun AND perfect for people my age who grew up reading it and thinking we were seeing something cool that we weren’t supposed to be looking at.
Song Sung Blue- Wanted to catch this one before the Oscars. It’s good and Kate Hudson is the VIP of the film. This is not the movie you think it’s going to be.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You- If you like movies that are challenging, or even sometimes uncomfortable to watch you’ll love it. I felt kind of beat up after watching.
The Secret Agent- Another Oscar film, this one from Brazil. I liked it but it is a bit too long.
Hamnet- I thought this one was pretty good too and Jessie Buckley walks away with the picture. Worth watching for her performance alone.
The Bluff- This new pirate movie from Amazon/MGM is fine. There are some nice action pieces, but the script is rough and most of the performances could not overcome its problems.
The Perfect Neighbor- An Oscar nominated doc about the white Florida woman who shot her black neighbor through her closed front door. Another movie that is, at times, tough to watch. It’s all police footage with no narration.
Zootopia 2- Didn’t get to the multiplex to catch this one but finally saw it streaming. It’s fun, but, like most sequels, the first movie is better.
Paul McCartney: Man on the Run- This doc is about the “Wings” chapter in McCartney’s life and career. I liked it. Finally, a “Beatles” doc with info I was unaware of.
Sorcerer- For a couple years now I’ve been hearing that this, somewhat forgotten, William Friedkin film is a “must see’. It starts off slow and doesn’t quite stick the landing, but the rest of the movie is extremely tense, and you can’t take your eyes off it.
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