Oscar Night Sunday: The French Connection

The French Connection
Can't believe this movie got the Oscar in 1971.  It's not at all a bad movie just not a type of movie that usually gets Oscars.  This reminded me a bit of those Italian gangster exploitation films.  This has some good moments.  All in all, it was just about two undercover narcotic cops trying to do a big drug bust.  It gets a little tense towards the end.  The subway scene where the bad guy knows he's being followed was pretty cool.  Couple of chase scenes in the climax made this an okay movie for me.  Gene Hackman is badass here. I always here about this movie but glad to finally see it for Oscar Night.  I wouldn't buy it, though. 

Going to be taking a movie break this week.  Going to Puerto Rico for a whole week.  There will be no New Release Tuesday this week.  I'll probably see a couple of movies on the road, including a movie from Puerto Rico.  Maybe I'll do a Samurai Monday. 

Stoker (2013)

Stoker IMDb
Very beautifully shot and awesome sound mixing.  Those two things are the highlights of this movie.  The story was so and so.  Still, it kept me interested at all times.  This is the first American film from Park Chan-Wook, the Korean director who brought us Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, J.S.A, and more. He did good crossing over here.  The movie still had an Asian quality to it.  It was artsy.  A little too much at times but other times was good enough.  Love the ending.  The only problem is that we know what's going to happen in the movie early on.  We know the long lost uncle is the bad guy and responsible for a lot of bad stuff.  The catch is that it's not just about the uncle but also about the niece (the main girl) and her weird mysterious ways.  Something evil runs in the family kind of a movie.  Love the performances here.  It's all drama with a few bloody scenes in the second half.  And that ending, I would love to see more of what happens after that.  Not bad for my second "2013" movie this year.

God's Gun

God's Gun IMDb
Nice treat I got by watching this spaghetti western. Good music.  Good shots. Good simple storyline.  Lots of shooting.  Good cold blooded villain played by Jack Palance.  I been enjoying this 10,000 Ways To Die Collection. I been watching these films in the morning and they have not let me down.  It's becoming an addiction.  When I had Spaghetti Western Nights before, the experience was okay but not as good as it is now.  I'm more into them than ever.  Maybe part of it has to do with Django Unchained.  Another part is because I made myself have some time in the morning every week to watch one of these.  Can't go wrong with Lee Van Cleef, although, he wasn't as much of a badass here than most of his other films.  Cheesy lines like usual but overall, this was fun. 

I may watch one more spaghetti western this month.  Starting April, I'm going to be busy with a Django Unchained DVD release countdown.  I'll be watching lots of movies that are either referenced or inspired or make good double features with Django Unchained.  Got a long list going so I won't be watching Django Unchained until 2 weeks after the release date. 

Sleepless Night

Sleepless Night IMDb
Nice Crime Cop Thriller from France. First heard about this one at Fantastic Fest one year.  Saw it at Vulcan the other day so I had to see it.  The first half was suspenseful.  A dirty cop tries to save his son.  The plot thickens right in the first half.  It gets a little dumb in the middle but then picks up really good towards the end.  I like that most of this takes place inside a club (owned by the main mob guy).  The dance floor sequence to Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" had me going.  Could of been the caffeine rush from the French Roast coffee I had with this (along with a French butter croissant).  There was an amazing shot that I need to give a shout out here.  It's the shot from the ceiling and it pans from the women's bathroom to the men's. We follow the camera down to our main guy.  Excellent.  Good dirty cop movie.  There were a few plot holes but for a genre movie, I forgive them.  I may have to own this if I see it on sale one day.

New Release Tuesday: Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty IMDb
This movie never caught my attention, but since I want to save The Hobbit for a special ocassion, and this was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, I went with it for New Release Tuesday.  It was too long.  A little better than what I thought.  Still, it was another big Hollywood dramatic movie.  It's all about Jessica Chastain here.  The whole movie is about her finding Osama Bin Laden. She was crying for an Oscar. Thank goodness it went to Jennifer Lawrence.  I just didn't buy some scenes here.  Why of all people do they put a woman to interrogate big Muslim guys who believe women have no rights?  I mean, I'm sure that happens but here it was a little too much for me. I like how everything led up to the discovery of Bin Laden.  The only complaint in that last scene was that it was a little too dark to see what was going on.  Overall, not a movie I would see again and again, but glad to have seen it to get it off my shoulders.

Fat Kid Rules The World

Fat Kid Rules The World
Saw this movie last Saturday night after coming home from work.  Picked up wings from Plucker's and enjoyed this movie.
This is Matthew Lillard's directorial debut. Of course there's got to be punk here (Matthew Lillard comes out in a great film called "SLC Punk").  I first heard about this at SXSW last year.  It was an okay movie.  Little funny moments.  The father here gave me a few pointers (especially when dealing with teenagers).  I still have about 10 years more to go before my little man becomes one of these teenagers.  Gotta be prepared.  The story had its dramatic moments especially in the second half.  Basically, it's a fat kid who doesn't have any friends.  He meets this one older guy who doesn't have any ambition except being a punk rocker.  They bond a little and get into trouble and friendship develops.  Like I said, it's okay for an independent drama.  Good for a one time deal.

Cult Classic Friday: Pink Flamingos

 Pink Flamingos IMDb
It's only fair to watch this Cult movie this year for Cult Classic Friday.  Lots of people talk about it.  The character is painted on the side of I Luv Video here in Austin.  It is directed by John Waters (director of Cry Baby and the original Hairspray).  This movie is so freaking disgusting.  I heard some crap about it but what I heard did not give this movie justice as being one of the filthiest movie around.  Hell, that's the point of the story here.  Two sets of families are competing to see who is the filthiest group of them all.  This has it all.  Sex with a girl with chickens involved including killing the chicken during the encounter, eating a dog's turd, a big girl eating lots of eggs, and licking and spitting on every furniture possible are some of the things that happen in this flick.  It is very cheesy, bad acting, grindhouse feel of a movie.  And I liked it.  Not in love but it was interesting to see.  One thing for sure, I am glad I didn't eat anything while watching this or else, I might of had vomit all over the damn place.  At your own risk.  Might get this for the Grindhouse section.

Vampire Thursday: Innocent Blood

Innocent Blood IMDb 

How can I not like this cheesy vampire/gangster film?

It was pretty cool. Nice little music throughout (except for the last credit song, that one sucked).

I like the nice little vampiric moments.

Also pretty cool that the gangsters turn to vampires.

They still try to keep it gangster even if they're part of the undead.

Tom Savini plays a news photographer here. Cool little cameo.

I didn't know this was directed by John Landis (director of An American Warewolf in London and Blues Brothers).

My favorite stuff happens when our main gangster guy played by Robert Loggia delivers cheesy lines as a vampire.

I couldn't help but laugh during those moments.

Nice sexy romantic scene here too that involves handcuffs.

Gotta try that move. Overall, it was okay.

Not among my favorites of vampire movies but didn't suck either.

Where Do We Go Now?

Where Do We Go Now? IMDb

I enjoyed this film this morning.
I been seeing the trailer to this movie numerous times
when I rent new releases and each time gets my attention.
I'm a sucker for foreign films so there's no surprise
for watching this one this morning.
It had a little bit of everything.
It was a bit comedic, a bit tragic, a bit dramatic, and
even a bit musical.
It's Christians vs. Muslims and the women of the village are tired of the fighting.
They try a few things to bring the peace.
The trailer doesn't really show what actually brings
them together. That's up to you to find out, if you're interested.
That moment was clever and fun.  I wish I had me a baked bread
with a secret ingridient while watching that scene (hint, hint).
The ending was a bit cheesy.
I liked it.  Here's a little movie about Lebanese women in control.
You hardly see that in movies.
Might have to add this to my Foreign section.

New Release Tuesday: Life Of Pi

Life Of Pi IMDb

The main thing here is to convince a writer to believe in God.
So is he real?  Let Pi convince you.
This is a fantastic visual effect story.
Everything is CGI. At least that's what it looks like.
So Blu-ray lovers would enjoy that part of it.
I thought it was going to be sad and emotional from
what I heard, but, I didn't feel anything like that.
Yeah, it's a bit sad, but no big deal for me.
I didn't really cry when the Titanic went down.
Why should I now when a ship goes down with a few people
and lots of animals?
Can't believe the tiger can swim pretty good and manages to
get on the boat a few times. 
That laughing hyena was pretty funny.
Those meerkats were creepy and cute at the same time.
This is supposed to be a fantasy and a story that really happened but
most people won't believe it.
That's the main thing with God as well.
He's supposed to be a story that really happened but it is up
to each individual to believe in him or not.
I thought this movie was okay.
I didn't think it was nothing mindblowing.
I like the message and what they were trying to do.
Definitely not a movie I would like to see over and over.

Big Night

Big Night IMDb
This was fun! Spaghetti, Risotto, Pasta wrapped stuff, Mambo Italiano scene, and awesome dialogue made this movie for me.  Loved it.  Yeah, the last 25 minutes of the film was more dramatic and less funny.  But, still damn good.  I love the dialogue.  This is a great food movie.  I would like to own this one day and make a great Italian feast and have some people over. One day.  It flowed pretty good except for the end.  Two brothers always fighting in the kitchen, the crazy talking owner from the other restaurant, man, too many great moments.  My favorite part is when the crazy talking owner tasted the special dish and got up all mad and said, "I should kill you, this was delicious" (or something like that).  That was good.

Celeste & Jesse Forever

Celeste and Jesse Forever IMDb
This was pretty good.  This movie hits pretty close to home.  It was a bit emotional for me.  For those of you that don't know, I was married for over 11 years.  I was married to a great person.  But I failed our marriage because I stepped out and fell in love with another person.  Despite of all the mess and stress that happened because of me, I still consider my ex wife a friend.  She's the mother of my only son, so there's even a better excuse to be friends for the benefit of our son.  She may not think so, but, I still very much care about her.  Enough about me.  Back to this movie: these two main characters have a strong bond that still affects them after their separation.  The movie has some laughs and some drama. The only thing I didn't like was, that after halfway through, they started focusing mainly on Celeste instead of both of them equally.  Other than that, pretty alright movie about relationships and moving on.

Beyond The Law

Beyond The Law IMDb

Lee Van Cleef is cool as always. 

I enjoyed this movie this morning. 

At first, I thought it was going to be just typical

and bland but after the first 30 minutes, it got my attention. 

The audio is not that bad in this one. 

There's a few scenes that has the original Italian audio

and the rest is the English dub. 

Easy to follow story. 

The only thing was that I wish this had more of the great slow stand-offs. 

It was mostly lots of shooting by lots of people to other people. 

Not that many one and one's until the end. 

There's some ruthless scenes here. 

It's not everyday you see a spaghetti western where the bad guys kill women. 

I've seen some but not very common.  Great movie.

New Release Tuesday: Eaters

Eaters IMDb
Sometimes I have no choice but to see crap on some New Release Tuesdays.  Tonight was one of them.  Since I've seen Wreck-It Ralph already and I don't care anything about Twilight or Red Dawn, decided to take a chance on this Italian zombie movie.  For a low budget flick, not bad.  The shots were awesome.  Some effects and make up were decent.  The story here sucked.  This takes place way after a zombie apocalypse.  We see only a few zombies out there in the world but the world itself is already messed up.  There's only a few survivors.  The problem I had with the story besides the acting was the main thing behind these zombies was a girl who couldn't have babies.  It was a bit boring.  I mean, some of the concept was pretty cool.  I like that zombies each other in here.  That's about it.  It was worth a shot to see if I discovered a great zombie movie but not in this one.  Avoid it.  Now I'm going to see Fulci's Zombie to make up for this movie.

This movie was served with a homemade pizza and a Birra Moretti.

 

Samurai Monday: Harakiri

Harakiri IMDb
I saw the Takashi Miike remake last year so it was only right to see the original for one of the Samurai Mondays this year.  What a great movie for a relaxing morning.  I think for the most part this and the remake are almost identical except for the long extended harakiri scene in the remake.  This one still really good.  Very artistic shots. Good dramatic moments.  The message is loud and clear: samurai honor is ultimately nothing but a facade.  Here we find out what samurai honor is and what is not.  A tragic tale. I already knew what to expect because of my experience with the remake.  One has to have patience and time to enjoy this nice and slow samurai movie.

This movie was served with a Cherry Danish and Hot Tea.

4 Dollars of Revenge

4 Dollars of Revenge IMDb

Got me the 10,000 Ways To Die Spaghetti Western Collection

for dirt cheap so decided to watch one of the films there this morning. 

This was not that bad.

It's got a lot of flaws and unanswered questions like

how did our main hero all of a sudden get out of jail. 

It must be because he was pardon. 

There were a lot of scenes where the bad guys

had the chance to kill our hero but like most movies, they don't. 

They leave him for dead and expect him to be dead. 

Besides the flaws and stuff, this was pretty entertaining. 

It's a bad English dub but pretty cool.

The music is not bad either. 

Good start for this collection. 

There's 12 movies total.

The only other movie I've seen from there besides this one is, The Grand Duel. 

Can't wait to do the rest including "His Name Was King." 

Have that movie scheduled for April

when I start a Django Unchained DVD release countdown.

The Butcher, The Chef, and The Swordsman

The Butcher, The Chef, and The Swordsman IMDb
This Chinese movie was trippy.  A lot more comedy than action. At first it reminded me a bit about the cartooney style of Kung Fu Hustle. Then it reminded me a lot about another great Stephen Chow film, The God of Cookery.  I like that they divided the movie into three different parts. Each part deals with one of the three main characters.  My favorite part was the story about "The Chef." I didn't mind "The Swordsman" story either.  The story about "The Butcher" was a little bit more over the top and weird for me.  I didn't think it fit well with the others.  All stories deal about this mysterious blade.  Loved it.  Some of the characters reminded me of some of the characters from Star Wars (like Jabba the Hutt and Yoda).  Overall, I thought this was pretty fun.  Expect silliness and exaggerated cooking and fighting, and you'll enjoy this movie too.