New Release Tuesday: Not Fade Away

Not Fade Away IMDb
Pretty okay movie about a fictional 60's rock band that never made it.  I like this period of time in music history.  A lot of Beatles, Rolling Stones, and etc.  The soundtrack was my favorite part.  The story was going alright at first but in the second half it lost its touch.  I didn't like the ending.  Too artsy for me.  It was promising.  Rock and roll is rebellion and an art form.  Nothing new about that.  It was just interesting to check out a movie that was more real.  A lot of bands out there don't make it to the big time.  Most movies are about bands that make it or bands that were known for something.  So, the idea for this movie was good.  Some of the characters were good like the crazy sister.  Overall, as a whole, it didn't fully deliver.  Just good for a soundtrack movie.

Oscar Night Sunday: In the Heat of the Night

In The Heat Of The Night
Damn, this Oscar winning movie from 1967 was awesome.  It's not everyday you see a detective mystery movie that takes place in the South when racism was very high and you have your main detective as a black man.  I love that in almost every scene, there's a white guy discriminating our main character.  I picked this movie this Oscar Sunday because it's about racism and the South and tomorrow I'll be checking out Django Unchained for the first time since the theatre.  I enjoyed this movie a lot.  Lots of good dialogue like "They call me Mr. Tibbs" moment.  Also lots cool scenes like when Mr. Tibbs hits a white guy back.  That's never happened in that town before.  I was amazed in that scene almost as much as when Django whips the white guy in Django Unchained.  This movie also had somewhat of a Twin Peaks feeling.  Small town murder.  Worth buying. 

Joshua

Django Unchained Countdown
#1:
Joshua IMDb
We made it to the last movie of the countdown.  This revenge western was also shown as a double feature with Django Unchained at the New Beverly Cinema in L.A.  It has Fred Williamson in it.  Enough said.  This was pretty simple.  Simple story told in a simple way.  A guy going after the men that killed his mother.  One by one he kills them.  That's the whole story.  I don't know why but this character and the characters from Boss Nigger and the Nigger Charley movies all remind me of Jamie Foxx's performance in Django Unchained.  Maybe Foxx got inspired by Fred Williamson.  Don't know.  This movie was short.  It had some decent stuff like the explosive scene in the end.  Other than that, some of it was dull.   This countdown has been a great experience.  My favorite movies that resemble Django Unchained a lot were: Boss Nigger, Mandingo, and Skin Game.  The others were okay to cool like Angel Unchained (I wouldn't mind checking that one out again).  Now ready to see Django Unchained this Monday with an inspired dish and white cake.

Under Fire

Django Unchained Countdown
#2:
Under Fire IMDb
For those of you that have seen Django Unchained, you remember the part where Leonardo DiCaprio's character and his gang and our main characters are on the road to his plantation (Candyland)?  Well, when they arrive, the song that plays at that moment is taken from this movie right here.  We hear snippets of the song here but it is until the end of the movie when we hear the whole entire song.  This was an okay war movie with Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman.  Reminded me a lot of Oliver Stone's Salvador.  This one is less hardcore but still brutal when it comes to war.  We got a crazy young Ed Harris here as well.  The movie was a little over than 2 hours long but it had a decent flow.  Basic story about rebels versus the government and a photographer in love covering all of it.  If it sounds good to you, worth checking out.  If not, I wouldn't bother.  Just one more movie in this countdown!!

Skin Game

Django Unchained Countdown
#3:
Skin Game IMDb
Wow!  This was an awesome western.  This movie was one of a few movies that were picked by Tarantino to play as a double feature with Django Unchained at the New Beverly Cinema in L.A.  I could see why on this one. This was supposed to be my #2 in the countdown but due to a last minute schedule change at work, I decided to move it up since it was short and had enough time to see it.  Love the plot: a white guy and a free slave go town to town scamming people. The white guy sells the slave then leaves and the slave runs away and meets up with the white guy.  The plot thickens when the come across someone they had a conflict earlier.  There's a lot of white racist people on here and certain scenes that remind of Django Unchained.  Folks, this one is a must see and a must buy.  Made my morning yesterday. 

Buck and the Preacher

Django Unchained Countdown
#4:
Buck and the Preacher IMDb
This was a bit boring and a bit okay.  Does that make sense?  I guess I was expecting different.  I thought it was about Buck and the Preacher traveling the country and freeing slaves.  Instead, it's about Buck helping a group of slaves travel to the West.  He meets the Preacher and they eventually help get rid of the racist bad guys.  Which is still pretty good plot.  I like that our main bad guy gets killed halfway through.  It's more real and also more Tarantino like.  This movie is one of the movies that played as a double feature with Django Unchained at the New Beverly Cinema in L.A. Personally picked by Tarantino himself.  While it is a western with black people in it, I didn't feel that this movie could go good with Django Unchained.
Most of the other movies in this countdown does go good.  It's alright, though.  Three more movies to go. 

New Release Tuesday: Gangster Squad (2013)

Gangster Squad
This wasn't good.  I mean, visually, it was great, but, it lacked in substance.  I saw L.A. Confidential earlier today and part of The Untouchables just to warm me up for this one.  As a fan of the gangster genre, I wanted to like this a lot.  Just the whole thing didn't quite grab me. I like some bits and pieces like good guys versus bad guys stuff, innocent people getting killed, gangster torture scenes.  My favorite character has to be Officer Keeler played by Giovanni Ribisi.  This was all about the digital shoot out scenes and effects.  Not really for the story.     

The Last American Hero

Django Unchained Countdown
#5:

The Last American Hero IMDb
This movie here features the song "I've Got A Name" by Jim Croce, which also comes out in Django Unchained.  That's the only connection.  I had to see it just for kicks.  It's a carsploitation movie with bootleg whiskey and it stars "The Dude."  I never heard of this movie before.  I'm not big into car racing movies.  There's a few I do like for example: Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Duel, Death Race 2000, and the original Gone In 60 seconds.  I'm not fan of others like Vanishing Point or Fast Furious.  This one is okay.  Not a fan of it.  Good to see a young Jeff Bridges and even Gary Busey.  This movie is all about bootleg whiskey and car racing to save the family from the law and get bigger.  Not a movie I would see again.  I'll be back on Wednesday for #4.

This Is 40

This Is 40 IMDb
I'm a fan of "Knocked Up."  I knew I had to see this semi-sequel/spin off from some of the characters from "Knocked Up."  This was actually a little funnier than I expected.  The first 20 minutes or so were hilarious.  After that, it got dramatic.  It still had it's humor and silly moments, but the overall feeling, was a bit more serious. I like some of the small characters.  Kudos to Melissa McCarthy talking lots of crap and a sexy Megan Fox getting half naked.  I mean, I never really liked Fox, but here she kind of won me over (not Transformer).  It would of been cool to see a Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl cameo.  Paul Rudd is awesome as always.  Pretty good comedy/drama about getting old and dealing with your significant other after a long time together.  Okay movie from Judd Apatow. 

Cult Classic Friday: Eating Raoul

Eating Raoul IMDb
After a long day at work yesterday, decided to not cancel my Cult Classic Friday.  With coffee in my system, I pulled a midnighter.  Awesome experience watching this one very late.  Cheesy characters, cheesy moments, cheesy dialogue.  Don't believe me?  Watch the trailer underneath.  I never heard of this movie until recently when I did research on cult classics.  This one is featured in many lists.  The two main actors who play husband and wife here also come out in Rock and Roll High School.  They're both awesome.  The guy is also the director of this movie (Paul Bartel).  It's dark comedy all the way.  Something that fans of the Coen Brothers would love.  I love all the quirky costume moments.  I love that you can just kill somebody with just one hit from a frying pan.  It was short and simple movie.  I wouldn't mind buying this one and it's out on Criterion.  Fun times!!

The Soul of Nigger Charley

Django Unchained Countdown
#6:

The Soul of Nigger Charley IMDb
The sequel to yesterday's movie was more serious.  Nigger Charley is back with his partner and ready to kill more racists.  I kind of liked it more than the first one but not as much as I wanted to like it.  The DVD transfer I had was terrible so sometimes I couldn't make out faces in certain scenes.  I love the dance scene by that one Mexican looking girl.  There were a few battle scenes.  Overall, didn't feel much like a western but glad I got to see it. We are halfway through this Django Unchained countdown.  I'll be back next week to continue and finish this journey.

No trailer found for this movie.

The Legend of Nigger Charley

Django Unchained Countdown
#7:

The Legend of Nigger Charley IMDb
This blaxploitation western inspired Django Unchained.  I first heard by my friend Ramon when he mentioned this one, the sequel, and Boss Nigger.  It was only right to include this one in the countdown.  It was an okay movie.  The first part takes place in a plantation then off to the wild west.  There were some humor and a bit of action.  Most of it didn't really get me.  I love the hell out of "Boss Nigger."  That was everything I wanted out of that movie:
good story, funny dialogue, nice flow, grindhouse mixed with western feeling.  This one here was a bit off for me.  It's got Fred Williamson who starts out as a slave and then escapes with his best friend and takes over a town.  Music was okay.  I'll be checking out the sequel, "The Soul of Nigger Charley," tomorrow.

New Release Tuesday: Dragon (aka Wu Xia)

Dragon IMDb
I never heard of this movie until I saw the trailer to this a few weeks ago. It was shown at Cannes (I think) and it did good.  It has Donnie Yen (IP Man) which also did the choreography.  One thing to make clear is that when I went Vulcan to get this movie, the guy that went inside a minute before me, got the only copy of this movie.  Luckily, the guy that works there pointed out that the one that was released today is the U.S. cut but that they also have the Chinese cut at the store.  So I decided to watch the international cut which is 16 minutes longer.  I expected some good action.  Well, I was a bit disappointed.  The three or four fight scenes here are really awesome.  I wanted more, though.  Good concept.  It was character driven and our main character is a detective that was a bit annoying.  This is basically the Chinese martial arts version of "A History of Violence."  There's a lot of similarities.  I wonder what they cut out for the U.S release? 

Minnesota Clay

Django Unchained Countdown
#8:
Minnesota Clay IMDb
The title of this spaghetti western is also the name of the saloon in Django Unchained.  Quentin Tarantino picked this movie as well as a few others to play as double feature with Django Unchained at the Beverly Cinema in L.A.  Directed by Sergio Corbucci (director of Django, The Hellbenders, and The Great Silence).  This was okay.  At first I wasn't feeling this movie but after a while it started getting my interest.  A lot of double crossing and lots of shooting.  Our main character, Minnesota Clay, supposed to be the fastest gun shooter in the west.  This character goes blind in the last part of the movie, but still manages to get his man.  Music was okay.  This movie was no big deal for me.  7 more movies to go in this countdown. 

Two Mules For Sister Sara

Django Unchained Countdown
#9:

Two Mules For Sister Sara IMDb
Very good western.  Loved it.  It was interesting and funny.  Clint Eastwood plays the usual badass cowboy but here he's more human and real instead of the typical cowboy hero or legend he plays.  I mean, there's a whole 15 minutes or so with him wounded with an arrow stuck just right above his heart.  And he's drunk several times and he plays the drunk part pretty good.  I saw this one late last night kind of dosing off here and there cause it was late. I saw it again this morning from beginning to end with my full attention.  The details were pretty good.  This movie is supposed to have two songs that were used in Django Unchained.  The first one is "The Braying Mule."  That song is on here a lot of times but it's a bit different from the one in the D.U. soundtrack. I still loved it and made me think of the soundtrack more.  The other song, "Sara's Theme Song," was not on this movie.  I was trying hard listening for it but maybe it's another version.  Anyways, this one is a good western to own.  Maybe pair it with some whiskey, beans, and snake.  Yum!

Mandingo

Django Unchained Countdown
#10:
Mandingo IMDb
Wow! This reminded me a lot of Django Unchained, especially the first 30 minutes.  The term "mandingo" means slaves from a certain region in the U.S. They take the male slaves and train them into bare knuckle fighters.  That is highly referenced in Django Unchained.  This movie had only three mandingo fights and they don't start until 45 minutes in.  Majority of the movie focuses on life during slavery.  Slaves being tortured, being sold, and of course being trained to fight for money.  The last part of the movie focuses on love between a married white owner and a female slave.  The wife of the cheating husband also creates a relationship with a black slave to get even with her husband.  The way these plantation owners talk and the way they treat slaves are hardcore.  That ending was crazy.  Good warm up for Django Unchained.  Would make an awesome double feature.

Vampire Thursday: Near Dark

Near Dark IMDb
Awesome vampire flick.  Bill Paxton was pretty cool here as a vampire with lots of trouble.  The kid vampire character is my favorite character here.  This is an original vampire flick.  I like that they never really show them with fangs and hideous faces.  They show them as dirty humans.  My favorite scene has to be the bar scene.  Lots of stupid patrons there that just stay still and wait for these vampires to kill them.  The bartender was also an idiot.  He saw his waitress get her throat slit and he stays still and takes out the gun a few minutes later.  Maybe this isn't the kind of movie I would see over and over, but glad finally see it.  This is a vampire classic among vampire fans.  It is directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty). 

Angel Unchained

Django Unchained Countdown
#11:
Angel Unchained IMDb
Pretty cool biker movie.  From the very beginning shot with the carnival music and bikers fighting, I knew I was going to like this movie.  So besides the obvious title, the other reference/connection to Django Unchained is that the main character here who plays "Angel" plays the sheriff in Django Unchained.  Larry Bishop is on here too, you know, that one guy from Kill Bill Vol 2 and Hell Ride.  He's a bad ass biker here too just like his role in "Savage Seven."  Simple biker movie here.  There's a few biker fighting scenes, lots of drunken scenes, and a big battle with redneck guys riding dune buggies. Gotta add this to my grindhouse section one day.  10 more movies to go in this countdown.  The anticipation is killing me.

New Release Tuesday: The Sorcerer and the White Snake

The Sorcerer and the White Snake IMDb
Well, it's New Release Tuesday.  Today, I wanted to watch a South Korean movie called, "Woochie."  Sounded really good but I couldn't find it anywhere.  Vulcan Video is going to try to order it.  Today I settled with this fantasy/kung fu Chinese flick with Jet Li.  Not as bad as I thought but still didn't like it as a whole.  I knew it was going to be all cgi/video game like, so I didn't mind that much.  The story was weak especially towards the end.  The end was just too cheesy.  I think the love story part kind of kills it.  It's good to have the love angle as long as it works with the film. Here, it went a little too much for me.  Some action scenes were pretty good.  The kung fu is too powerful here.  One touch can kill thousands of snakes.  This is a fantasy film so all beliefs have to be suspended in order to somewhat enjoy it.  Not a film I would like to see again, that's for sure.

His Name Was King

Django Unchained Countdown 
 #12

His Name Was King IMDb
This spaghetti western has two songs that were used in Django Unchained.  This version that I saw was a terrible English Dub.  It was way off.  I enjoyed pieces of this but the main story never got me.  Of course, I love the music.  The beginning scenes and ending scenes were pretty cool, but the rest was just filler and sometimes didn't feel like a western.  Some of the scenes didn't make sense even though the plot was simple.  The main character sometimes disappear for a while and comes back and Klaus Kinski (famous for spaghetti westerns) was hardly in it.  I did like the experience of watching this movie for the countdown.  I can't wait for the rest of the movies that follow.  

Evil Dead (2013)

Evil Dead
For what it was and what kind of movie it represents, this movie delivers.  It's the remake to a good horror classic.  For being a remake, not so bad.  The gore and blood was excellent.  As a stand alone horror, it didn't really do it for me.  I like the original Evil Dead but I'm not a big fan, so I didn't connect well with the remake.  There was only one scare for me and that was when our female lead scared us in the bedroom after being attacked in the woods.  I like that there was parts that made me laugh just like in the original.  The characters were a bit annoying.  Cliche.  Don't read out the words of a creepy book that warns you not to read.  Don't go in the basement, don't go alone to a house while crazy things are happening.  No, these characters don't learn.  Then again, this is a remake of the original, so I guess they can't change the stupidity of the characters or else we wouldn't have a "horror" film.  I guess, I hyped it up for myself.  Love the chainsaw scene.  Favorite parts: the intro and the ending. 

Boss Nigger

It is April and this is the month that my favorite movie from last
year gets released on DVD.
Every time I see a new Tarantino movie, I get to learn about 20 or more
films I've never heard about before.
I plan on watching Django Unchained on April 29.
I am doing a countdown for this movie.
I'll be seeing 13 films that either inspired, referenced in, or was
shown as a double feature with Django Unchained.

We start tonight with
#13:
Boss Nigger IMDb
I first heard about this movie through my friend Ramon.
Then I saw the trailer to it at the Alamo right before Django Unchained came out.
I had to see it.
This clearly was an influence to Tarantino's latest.
There's also some similiarities.
There's bounty hunters.  Cheesy lines.
And man, Fred Williamson's character here reminded me a bit of Jamie Foxx's Django.
I love the hell out of this movie.
Must for the Western section.
It's a western with the blaxploitation feel to it.
Even the blaxploitation music fits somewhat good to this way out west feeling.
I had fun throughout the whole thing.
There were couple of scenes that didn't make sense editing wise,
but, who cares, this is a low budget cheesy western.
Fred Williamson as a sheriff and his deputy friend are a good duo.
Taking over the whole town and taking names.
I love the use of the "N" word on here. 
Cracked me up most times.
This for sure got me excited to see Django Unchained even more.
I wonder how the other movies on this countdown are going to compare.
Should of ended the countdown with this one.

New Release Tuesday: The Sweeney

The Sweeney IMDb
Last night, saw this action/crime movie from the U.K. with low expectations.  It was a fun ride.  Had a long day traveling back to Austin coming back from vacation and spending time with my son.  So, at first, I was getting a bit drowsy in the beginning but after a while this movie got my attention and didn't let me go until the end.  I'm a fan of Ray Winstone ever since I saw him in "Sexy Beast."  Here he plays one bad ass Dirty Harry somewhat dirty cop.  Him and his team are known as "The Sweeney."  They become almost criminals in order to catch the real criminals.  Good action scenes.  Good dialogue here and there.  It became so predictable towards the end but didn't mind.  It's an action movie for crying out loud.  I also didn't mind that in the last scene our two main heroes went without back up to catch our two main villains.  It pissed me off a little but I let go.  After all, we needed a big chase scene and some suspense there at the end, and it delivered. 

Samurai Monday: Shogun's Samurai

Shogun's Samurai IMDb
This past Monday morning, woke up early from a hangover to have Samurai Monday in Puerto Rico.  This movie is from the Sonny Chiba Samurai Collection.  Just like Samurai's Shadow (another movie from that collection), Chiba hardly appears in it.  Luckily this movie was pretty awesome from the beginning. Enjoyed it.  Lots of deceit, lots of ninjas, and gets bloody towards the end.  It's a war between two brothers.  Lots of innocent people get killed because of this war.  Somebody had to fix this mess at the end.  That somebody was Sonny Chiba.  Great movie.  Great morning.  

Broche De Oro

Broche De Oro
From here on out, if I visit a country, I'm making it a personal rule to see a new movie made in that country while I'm there.  Saw this movie while visiting Puerto Rico.  This was a date night Saturday night at the Fine Arts Cinema Cafe (a theatre that plays indies and foreign films).  This movie was okay for the experience.  The acting was horrible, but one can already expect that from most films coming out of Puerto Rico, South America, and Mexico.  Most of the characters were over the top which made the movie a bit enjoyable and funny.  The nun and the security were pretty good (acting sucks, but the characters were good).  A little adventure story about grandfather and grandson, and crazy elderly people who can still get it on.  I wouldn't exactly recommend it unless you're a fellow Puerto Rican and want to support Puerto Rican cinema.