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.

[Richard Willis]

Do you mean Star Trek Beyond?

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Yes! Sorry!

[Richard Willis]

I'm probably going to see it this week.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Caught Blue Ruin the other night, a terrific revenge thriller from 2013 with a very different tone than most. It never flinches away from the circular consequences of violence. It's written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, who also directed this summer's Green Room, with Patrick Stewart and the late Anton Yelchin. It's a fantastic looking movie (Saulnier is fairly new to directing, but an experienced cinematographer), and compelling for all of its 90 minutes. I saw it streaming on Amazon.

(Plus: there's a cameo from Eve Plumb which you won't want to miss. This lady is *not* Jan Brady.)

[Richard Willis]

I saw Eve Plumb play a dark character on something recently. Both Blue Ruin and Green Room sound good. I've added them to my Netflix DVD list.

[Ronald Morgan]

Saw Gamera vs. Zigra on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and noticed they cut out the final battle. It goes from Gamera and Zigra roaring at each other to the tacked on moral at the end about polluting the ocean.

This was the last movie in the series, as its company, Daiei, went out of business.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Just watched The Dirty Dozen for the first time in anticipation of Suicide Squad (which John Ostrander called "The Dirty Dozen with supervillains in his original pitch to DC). Man, what a blast that was... and hardly anybody survives. More than anything, it really made me resent the convention of the "training montage" -- the film spends so much time showing the men training and bonding, and it really pays off in how much the audience cares about them. 

Y'know, I've never really been interested in the Death Wish movies, which were always my impression of Charles Bronson. But anything I've actually seen him in -- The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, even the Elvis movie Kid Galahad -- he's consistently great. I've gotta see more Bronson, for sure. I;ve heard The Mechanic is good -- that should definitely go on my list.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Don't forget The Great Escape.

[Richard Willis]

If you want to see Bronson in a cool movie, try to find From Noon Till Three (1976), in which he plays a slightly goofy wild west bad guy.

[Luke Blanchard]

I remember Cold Sweat (1970) as a decent thriller. It was directed by Terence Young, who directed three of the first four Bond films. I have it in a 50 movie pack. It can be found at Internet Archive, I hope legally.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I did forget The Great Escape -- another great performance! And thanks for the suggestions, Richard & Luke! Cold Sweat is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, and From Noon til Three is available for rent on Amazon...but also, strangely enough, being broadcast this Saturday morning, so I'll record it!

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Don't forget The Great Escape.

[Ronald Morgan]

50 movie pack? Mill Creek? They keep putting the same movies in different packs. I have several copies of Bucket of Blood and Night of the Living Dead now.