Movies I Have Seen Lately

[The Baron]

Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.

[The Baron]

The Baron said:

When I see this, my brain adds , "...Get your adverbs here!"

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

Bodies Bodies Bodies

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Ha, that didn't even occur to me!

The Baron said:

When I see this, my brain add, "...Get your adverbs here!"

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

Bodies Bodies Bodies

[JD DeLuzio]

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

Bodies Bodies Bodies: 20-something jerks play a social-deduction murder party game, and then people start dying for real. OK movie, with a killer punchline at the end

Agreed, but "20-something jerks"? You're being too kind

There were definitely other plural nouns that came to mind.

I just saw Marjoe, which won the '72 Oscar for best documentary feature. Someone, I had never heard of it, though I saw several of his performances in post-evangelical roles, unaware of his history. Former child preacher rejoins the circuit as a young adult, solely to make money. Before quitting he lets a documentary crew follow him around and he reveals various secrets and scams behind the scenes. It has to be seen to be believed.

This sounds incredible!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DEATH MACHINES (1976): "Three expert martial artists are injected with a mind-controlling drug that turns them into zombie-like unstoppable killers and are sent out to do the bidding of a mob boss. When the mob boss sends the killers to a martial arts academy, they end up wiping out the entire school, save for one man. The survivor of the massacre vows to avenge his classmates and trainers by tracking down the three killers and the man responsible for ordering the killings."

I have no idea what "injected with a mind-controlling drug that turns them into zombie-like unstoppable killers" is in reference to, but other than that, the synopsis is accurate. I'm also not sure what this basically-martial-arts movie is doing among the motorcycle movies, unless someone at Mill Creek Entertainment made the same mistake I did and mistook Death Machines for a motorcycle movie based on the title alone. There is a scene in which the trio of killers (one Black, one white, one Asian) beat up a motorcycle gang terrorizing a mom & pop diner.

Here's the trailer.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

BURNOUT (1979): "A troubled teenager, whose sole desire is to become a great drag racer, almost ruins his own dreams when he spurns his dad's racing advice. But support from his girlfriend enables his to prove his abilities to the racing world, his father and himself."

I'll get to that capsule summary in a minute. A spoiled, whiny brat of a kid runs over a lady's dog while street racing, and his rich, businessman dad gets him off the hook. His dad wants him to go to law school and work for him, but the kid's only interested in drag racing. His dad accompanies him to several races to find out what it's all about. This gives the kid the opportunity to explain the rules to his dad (and the audience.) I know... "rules"? Who knew? Anyway, his dad is very "Type A" and agrees to finance him as long as he wins.

The dad has a drag car built for $40K and hires a professional racer to be the kid's trainer. The kid qualifies easily enough, but is disqualified from his first two races for a "red light" (false start) and burns his engine out on the third. He then blames his dad and petulantly quits, joining another team's pit crew. At this point I thought I had the rest of the movie figured out: he would eventually have to race against his dad's car, but no: his dad's $40K car is never mentioned again.

This "movie" is basically a long string of racing footage, strung together by brief scenes woodenly acted. (I have no idea why this movie is rated R; it should have been rated "B "(for "boring"). Regarding "spurns his dad's racing advice," his dad didn't have any; he didn't know anything about racing. Spurned his trainer's advice, maybe. And "support from his girlfriend"? She was in three scenes, beginning, middle and end. He does end up racing against his former trainer... and losing. Then his girlfriend and his dad show up out of nowhere. He decides to quit racing, and someone (I'm not sure who) hands him a dog. He says that there's an old lady who would really appreciate it. Roll credits.

Here's the trailer.

[The Baron]

This sounds like one of those movies that might have been too awful even for MST3K.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

BURNOUT (1979): "A troubled teenager, whose sole desire is to become a great drag racer, almost ruins his own dreams when he spurns his dad's racing advice. But support from his girlfriend enables his to prove his abilities to the racing world, his father and himself."

I'll get to that capsule summary in a minute. A spoiled, whiny brat of a kid runs over a lady's dog while street racing, and his rich, businessman dad gets him off the hook. His dad wants him to go to law school and work for him, but the kid's only interested in drag racing. His dad accompanies him to several races to find out what it's all about. This gives the kid the opportunity to explain the rules to his dad (and the audience.) I know... "rules"? Who knew? Anyway, his dad is very "Type A" and agrees to finance him as long as he wins.

The dad has a drag car built for $40K and hires a professional racer to be the kid's trainer. The kid qualifies easily enough, but is disqualified from his first two races for a "red light" (false start) and burns his engine out on the third. He then blames his dad and petulantly quits, joining another team's pit crew. At this point I thought I had the rest of the movie figured out: he would eventually have to race against his dad's car, but no: his dad's $40K car is never mentioned again.

This "movie" is basically a long string of racing footage, strung together by brief scenes woodenly acted. (I have no idea why this movie is rated R; it should have been rated "B "(for "boring"). Regarding "spurns his dad's racing advice," his dad didn't have any; he didn't know anything about racing. Spurned his trainer's advice, maybe. And "support from his girlfriend"? She was in three scenes, beginning, middle and end. He does end up racing against his former trainer... and losing. Then his girlfriend and his dad show up out of nowhere. He decides to quit racing, and someone (I'm not sure who) hands him a dog. He says that there's an old lady who would really appreciate it. Roll credits.

Here's the trailer.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

WILD RIDERS (1971):

"Official" summary: "What starts out as an evening with a pair of bad boy bikers turns into several days of torment for a pair of unsuspecting women in this suspense-filled thriller."

My summary: "Two bikers terrorize two women at a secluded house in the hills."

The movie starts with a gang rape. Two particular bikers are too violent for the biker gang and are asked to leave. Tracy left the room about 20 minutes in and did not return. Alex Rocco convincingly plays the mentally deficient one. The movie has a satisfying ending, but there's a whole lot of ugliness to get to it. No question why this movie is rated R. Surprisingly high production values (for a movie of its type). 

Here is the trailer.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

We went to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves the other night. I honestly couldn't have asked for more. 

This movie gets what D&D is all about: Friends getting together to get into and out of trouble, following one macguffin to the the next, keeping the plot rolling and having a hell of a good time doing it. This doesn't just feel like a terrific fantasy movie -- although it's that, also -- but also an exceptionally fun D&D campaign. I went to see it with my D&D pals, and we laughed ourselves silly the whole way through. We couldn't have had a better time at the theater. 

As a dungeon master, I know the hardest part about any game is scheduling the next session. But it has to be done. I need more of these knuckleheads.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Rob said:

We went to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves the other night. I honestly couldn't have asked for more.

I've actually being hearing good reviews. That it is a movie that is able to walk the tightrope of being appealing to a mass audience as well as the fans. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DEATH RIDERS (1976): "This documentary video looks at the daring exploits of the 'Death Riders', the daredevils from this traveling thrill show and their dangerous stunts on motorcycles and in automobiles."

Yes, documentary. It's very much like Burnout (that drag racing movie a few posts back) except it doesn't even pretend to have a plot. This is a movie that would be too bad even for MST3K. Because it was rated PG, I was fairly certain there wouldn't be any rape scenes to offend Tracy (although the riders did pick up groupies after every show), but it ended up offending me in a way. It starts out by showing the names of all the daredevils who have last their lives performing these types of stunts over the years as if they were some kind of heroes to be admired. (Most of the new riders are 16 or 17 years old.) The opening credits give their names, the stage names and the stunts they perform. If you're wonder how this movie can stretch to fill an hour and a half, it's because they keep accepting "challenges" from locals, from motocross to bull riding in a rodeo. In one section they were hired to perform at a nudist colony. There was plenty of "full dorsal nudity" but no one you'd want to see naked. When I was younger, I would have supported their right to risk their own lives foolishly without getting angry about it. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

BEST FRIENDS (1975): "Two young couples taste the 'free and easy' life on a cross-country motor home tour until love backfires and tragedy follows."

Jesse (Richard Hatch) and Pat are two Viet Nam vets who end up travelling cross-country in a mobile home with their respective girlfriends. What I find most interesting about this movie is the pervading undertone of homosexuality. Pat is obviously in love with Jesse, and not one of the characters knows it, not even Pat, who does everything possible, and I mean everything, to break up Jesse and his girl. I admit I was actually curious about how this movie was going to end.

Man, that is a deceptive movie poster! They did get in a fight with some Native American Indians in a bar, but that was one scene. This trailer will give you a better idea of what the movie is like.

[Richard Willis]

Carrie (2013) "Coffee Shop Surprise"

As a promotion for this (very good) remake, they sprang an elaborate telekinesis outburst on real coffee shop customers.

Video