Mitch Baker Movie Review Dump

[buffaaron420]

loved scream 4 so much u gave the review twice LMFAO...

[brain galacki]

I gotta admit Mitch Bker underground... I am a... TELEVISION ADDICT

[brain galacki]

Screen-Shot-2022-02-02-at-3.01.26-PM by Brian Galecki, on Flickr

LOL, here I go with another movie dump better catch up before I get behind again!!

Thor: The Dark World (2013): Oh boy oh boy here we go on down the line in phase 2 in the marvel world. I know everyone seems to love Thor "the third one" movie, but this one? Anytime I mention this movie to someone they say "I don't remember that one." Because it's true, it's just another Thor movie with not a lot to remember about it. The bad guys in this are a lot like bad guys in the first one, and you got Loki runnin' around doin' his thing, the same girl, and there are like warp hole portal things in the world. It's fine, but nothing special! 2/5 stars.

Here Comes Hell (2019): Picked a movie completely off of Shudder to watch and it's another one of these new ones. Bahaha oh boy is it bad. not a good kind of bad at all, I would not recommend to anyone. Seriously bad acting, bad camerawork, and all it is is like a group of aspiring actors and filmmaker just wanted to make their own version of Evil Dead? And I guess they did. If I had seen this movie before Evil Dead it would have ruined Evil Dead for me too. this one gets a 1/10 lowest score.

The People Under The Stairs (1991): I was surprised at how good and unique this was from Wes Craven! After seeing his awful werewolf movie from the early 2000's I was expecting something similar from this, but no no not at all. It was legit scary at times, and overall uncomfortable to watch, and as plenty of reviews from people that are smarter than me on letterboxd put it - it's commentary on white supremecy and class division is just as relevant to this day. plus after viewing am realizing its influence on plenty of other modern horror films. A solid 8/10 for me.

Bonnie & Clyde (1967): Wow-ee, I am surprised at how much I loved this movie from 1967! I found the soundtrack from it on vinyl (which isn't good, just a bunch of sound clips from the movie) and decided to watch it! Maybe I loved it so much because it's a story based on a real couple (we all know Bonnie & Clyde, but I must admit I did not know a lot of details about them), and it's in the 1930's around the midwest. It's got a sad ending of course (they died), and I dunno, just kind of stuck with me! I was thinkin' about this movie in the days after I watched it. I give it a 9/10.

Star Trek (1979): oh boy here we gooooooo, first time watching Star Trek!!! I went into this movie with a very open mind and wanting to like it. It has a beautiful opening. The scene with Spok with longer hair on his home planet had me sayin' "oh yes, this is actually GOOD and not what I expected!! all I am used to seeing about star trek is just people walking around and talking on a space ship! And then it was like 10 minutes of epic scenes of spaceships taking off and people going in pods to the big ship and the captain returning. And then the rest of the movie was like... 2 hours of mostly people talking on a ship.

(star trek continued) Now, this is all very interesting because we have 3 movies: Star Trek, Star Wars, and Disney's BLACK HOLE that came out all around the same time and is very similar movies. They all have the orchestral soundtracks and the budgets behind them, and big impressive spaceships inside and out. with STAR TREK, the movie fell flat for me because I felt like I was missing out by not being familiar with the 200 television show in the 60's that came before it. If I was, then I am sure this would have been a good movie. I feel like the whole film was a sort of celebration of the whole show, so it wasn't really for me. And I also feel no need to watch any other Star Trek films. Sorry. Yes, most of Star Trek also takes place on a ship and is guys talking. The aliens aren't as creative and wacky as Star Wars. Of course the same can be said about BLACK HOLE, but no one really likes BLACK HOLE. I only am mentioning it because I saw it within the last year and I really fit like all three of those movies are very similar. The other problem with STAR TREK is that no one dies. People even die in Disney's BLACK HOLE, and it is said to be Disney's darkest film (it was the first to get the PG rating). Because of this, I understand Star Trek's appeal to Christian households over STAR WARS and other movies. *(This is true for my very religious cousins family in Indiana growing up and maybe the only other time I had caught a glimpse of Star Trek). Because no one dies and it is boring, more Christian households like it (sorry). I can conclude that STAR WARS is the best out of these movies, mainly because all sorts of characters die, the aliens are wackier and better, you don't need to see 1,000 shows, the scenes are very diverse and there is a good mix of different planets and space scenes, and it's just better. After thinking long and hard about it STAR TREK (this movie gets a 4/10). Thank you for reading this

[jeffradon2000]

WOW your analysis of Star Trek and Star Wars is so amazingly wrong, where do I even begin

[brain galacki]

Long overdue in for another movie dump!!!

moremoviesScreen-Shot-2022-02-10-at-11.50.27-AM by Brian Galecki, on Flickr

STAR WARS (1977): A re-watch for me of course, but a long overdue re-watch! It's been at least since my college years since I watched the original trilogy!!! And in the middle of Bobba Fett, I was feeling inspired to watch these. It gets a 10/10 from me of course, but I must also admit that on this re-watch I do not think that it is the perfect movie. I didn't actually realize I've never seen the original Jabba The Hutt scene with just a large man instead of actual Jabba (and I didn't see it this time around either, this was whatever version on Disney+). And I also hate to say this but after recently watching BLACK HOLE and STAR TREK, it actually made me feel with this first STAR WARS that yeah, a lot of it feels the same, 70's spaceships and people talking on these spaceships. Star Wars is a few levels above with the Cantina band and wacky aliens, but we just don't get enough of it here in the first film. Star Wars is perfection as a whole.

SCREAM (2022): OK, here we go movie club first 2022 movie!!! First of all, this is Scream 5, who are they kidding. It's not a re-make. It's Scream 5. By dropping the 5 they probably think more people are gonna see it. Now I have seen all of the Scream movies - and even now in my era of watching almost a movie every single night, I don't like binge watching movie series like I kinda did with this series. I think because of that this one rubbed off on me as being kind of a dud. I loved SCREAM 4, it felt like a fun and appropriate reunion of the original SCREAM trilogy, and especially how the ending wouldn't end and the killer(s) almost got away at the end was pretty great. This SCREAM had a bit of an overall darker tone (yeah, they're all dark), but overall just felt like an unnecessary movie to me. Yeah, this was everyone's complaint about the new HALLOWEEN movie and I don't disagree with that, and I loved that one. I guess I expected too much out of this one, and I would have liked it better if I went in not seeing a SCREAM movie in ten years. It gets a 5/10 for me.

PAPER MOON (1973): What a fun and charming movie we watched together in the Mitch Baker movie club. A black & white film released in 1973 that takes place during the depression in the 1930's around the midwest, with many similarities to Bonnie & Clyde which I had seen just a couple of nights earlier. I'd say very similar movies, with two very different happy and sad endings setting them apart. Well, I loved them both. And as movie club member Milk stated, this movie felt too short and I could go on watching this duo travel the country and pull their wacky hijinks all day long! Recommended movie! 8/10!

SABOTEUR (1942): Tried picking a completely random movie on letterboxd and got this early Hitchcock flick. At one point The Galecki family was watching all of the Hitchcock movies, when I was young, so I might have already seen this one. It was good, your typical 1940's action movie, where a guy is running away from something or from being framed for something he didn't do. It ends with an epic scene on top of the statue of liberty (did they really shoot that there??) and wow, just now seeing that the bad guy in this 1942 film played by NORMAN LLOYD just died within this past year! He was the oldest living actor at 101 years old and was in films right up until his death! I give this one 6/10. 

THE STUFF (1985): oh boy some heavy hitters in this batch! 1985's THE STUFF is a very unique film! You think you are going to be watching another THE BLOB movie but no, no that is not the case. It's a movie about Reagan-era consumerism and crowds blindly following and literally eating up what they are being fed (in this case, THE STUFF, which I am convinced is actually white paint or marshmallow fluff). Not at all a critique of the movie, but my viewing experience kinda sucked because my internet was acting shotty that night or SOMETHIN because the quality was awful the whole way through (I forget which streaming service I watched this, either Shudder or Youtube). The main actor guy is also a weirdo on his own level. You'd think this one might be an all time Brian Galecki classic, but I'm just giving it a 7/10. It was still good!!

[brain galacki]

here with another movie dumb because I have all the time in the world!!



VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (2021): Does this count as a Marvel movie? IDK. I saw the first Venom and you know what I liked it enough, I'm sure this was was gonna be more of the same. Well, it was pretty wacky. I'd say the first half was generally fun and got some laughs out of me, but I was very disinterested in the fighting and ending in general. Looking back at the mixed reviews on this a lot of people loved it because how outwardly gay Venom character is and yeah I agree, gotta give Venom a shining star credit for being his true self! Gets a 5/10 from me.

DRESSED TO KILL (1980): Every once in a while I come across a movie that I thought was supposed to be a classic but it is not good, and this was one of those movies. It just wasn't good! I like seeing Michael Caine era that remind me of Muppet Christmas, but you know what, yeah I also did find this movie to be pretty 1980s transphobic in a bad way!!! And boring other than that!! 2/10

THE NIGHT HOUSE (2020): I don't care that much about these modern horror movies about houses and stuff. "The Lodge" "The Boy", whatever else. There are too many of them. Movies about houses, movies about people living inside of walls, movies about cults and stuff. This movie actually wasn't bad, but also it was going in too many different directions and couldn't decide where it wanted to end up. At one point I thought it was going to be about a wife discovering her diseased husband had been a serial killer the whole time without her knowing, and I was all on board with that, but then it shifted gears into wanting to be the same movie as "The Invisible Man" or something, or wanted to be about cults and stuff instead. I'm still giving this 6/10 I guess.

LETHAL WEAPON (1987): A good 80's action classic we watched for Mitch Baker movie night! Sure it was good and I liked it, I don't think I liked it enough to dive into Lethal Weapon 2 and 3. Unless the pinball is specifically for one of the sequels and I am continuing my mission of watching every movie that was made into a pinball. 7/10.

BAD MAN'S RIVER (1971): I had a real bad itch for a country western, let me tell you what. A lot of these movies are all the same, and this is what I wanted and I got it. It was hard for this one to really keep my attention, all I'll say is the best part was when the guy jumped in the barrel and the other guy rolled the barrel and he shot his gun at the bad guys while rolling around in the barrel. 3/10. 

[brain galacki]

Heck, I'm going for it. Movie DUmps 2 days in a row. ANd I'm almost on 2 movie a day during my quarantine!!!



TROG (1970): I buddy watched this one with AMERICA'S GROOVE RECORD STORE and also the man that wrote BIRD BOX (the novel that they based the netflix film I haven't seen on). His name is Josh and he lives in Michigan. We are friends now. We buddy watched this the night of the first big snow storm we had earlier this month, it was nice. TROG is about what you would expect from this 1970 planet of the Apes type horror, he lives in a cave preserved for thousands of years. I was impressed with that Trog costume, and also notable about this movie is it was the last ever performance by legendary actress Joan Crawford and apparently there is a movie about her that came out in the 80's called "Mommy Dearest" that I really need to watch. TROG gets 5/10 for me. 

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980): It's probably been a long while since I have seen, movie club! I remember this as being a very Disco-era Star Wars, filled with Disco music, Disco dance scenes, and big crowds of people dancing! My memory was mostly wrong on all of this. There were parts that were better than what I remembered them to be (like the ice cave monster), but a lot of parts that were worse. IDK, maybe this isn't the perfect movie! I had thought when they went to the gassy planet there were crowds of millions of people all over the place, but you don't see that. Also yoda is so funny! Obviously a huge highlight of this film among many other things, but it's so interesting yoda started out as this goofy lil muppet cracking jokes and his eyes going in all different directions and he changed over the years into being the most serious of all characters. This movie of course still gets a 10/10 for me.

MUPPETS FROM SPACE (1999): FINALLY, I broke the seal to this 1999 muppet classic and watched it the night of a snow day in my pajamas after playing some DEMONS CREST for SUPER NINTENDO. It was everything I could have wanted, and the most 90’s muppet movie I have ever seen. The soundtrack revolves around 70’s and 80’s funk classics like Commodores and Kool & The Gang which I was not expecting but was fun! Also this movie does not take place IN space like I was expecting, it is just “muppets” FROM space, which we only see at the end. The ending was pretty predictable and didn’t get as many laughs and smiles out of me than the beginning and middle of the film, but an all around great time! Favorite part? Seeing GONZO in his silly tin outfit going around town on his RIDING LAWNMOWER! 8/10!

CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 (2014): Ok honestly I kind of forget this movie already. I think this is one where the bad guys take over S.H.I.E.L.D. or whatever and there's a chase scene with Samuel Jackson and the Hitler's guy from the 1940's is still living inside of the computers? And then there's an ending scene where they're fighting on giant airplanes or big giant floating runways spacecraft things? And the winter solider is Captain America's old friend but he's been made into some type of robot? And he has to fight him and get him to realize they are friends? Is that about right? I gave it a 5/10.

LICORICE PIZZA (2021): I am counting this movie as 2022 btw, favorite movie this year probably. You know this movie was made for me. It was about what I expected, and so good, but when they got to the GARY'S PINBAL PALACE little subplot at the end I was like "oh man, this is a 10/10 for me. this is my movie." Mitch Baker movie club came into this movie in Decatur about five minutes late because we were on a mission to deliver a kitten, but that just made the movie and movie watching experience so much more wholesome to me. Loved the Barbra Streisand waterbed ordeal. The waterbed sales in general, I need a water bed. Oh, and this is the movie I made best friends with SKIP the owner of THE AVON THEATER, who apparently ran a record store in Charleston IL called ROCKY TOPP RECORD SHOPP in the 70's!!! Me and Skip are both living the dream!! Maybe my record store will go out of business like Skips some point soon and I can open up a theater in a small town and show movies like these!! 10/10, Jeff wouldn't like it as much as I did.

[brain galacki]

Here on my last night of quarantine... so sad... it's already over when I felt it was only beginning! I only spent like 1 hour cleaning my house. Looking through the record store day list took like a full day. I watched two movies some of these nights. Played a lot of Mario Kart, but not too much. All of these movies I still watched before I had covid:



SOYLENT GREEN (1973): The night I had seen Licorice Pizza, I went home and watched Soylent Green. Licorice Pizza is a 2022 movie (okay 2021 technically), set in the year 1973, and Soylent Green is a 1973 movie set in the year 2022. See what I did there? Since that is the case, I had to watch this. And believe it or not I went into it not knowing the big twist at the end, which is apparently famous. Don't worry though, I figured it out before it hit the punchline. It's a slow movie other than that. An interesting interpretation of the future from back then, and worth the watch because of that I suppose. A lot of actors with sweaty faces. I give it a 6/10.

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (1971): Picked a random movie on Shudder to watch and this was it. Was this an Italian Horror? I am not even sure, I am sorry it was not a bad movie but boy I pretty much fell asleep the whole time. I don't think I actually fell asleep, but my brain could not pay attention or care about this movie. I want to like old movies more than I actually do most of the time, I admit. 2/10.

JACKASS FOREVER (2022): By now you all have heard the touching tale through the Dumb Records twitter account or if you know me - a touching tale about how I tried to get my friends in the movie chat to see Jackass Forever in the Taylorville Theater with me, and they all bailed and no one would go even if I begged and begged, and then last minute I decided to invite my friends Devon and lo and behold the Chili Bull Mullet Man himself. I also invited the band Prevention, and of course all of them showed up except the not-fun member of the band named Drew! My friend old Evan showed up, and I told Zack he could close the store early to come see it and he did! So there were like 10 of us total spread out over 2 rows in the mid to front of the theater! My ride there with CBMM was not nearly as awkward as I thought it would be - he did bust out his playstation and start watching Ghostbusters on it like he does to his Aunt Barbra when at iHop, but it was fine, I was still talking to him! I got the chance to ask Chili what his favorite movies of last year were and he said Ghostbusters (the new one) and I forget the other one. Oh yeah, Spiderman. And of course Devon is great. Both of them have loud laughs and were sitting behind me in opposite directions, so I had surround sound friends laughing! Perfect for this movie! The movie is probably what you would expect in a Jackass movie by now, but there were a few over-the-top shot scenes such as the opening and closing medelies (which you have probably read about by now, but I won't give away still), I have a feeling that this might have made it the best one. Plus since they are all old now, (they did a great job of incorporating younger cast and younger celebs though)  there is really a deeper meaning behind this whole film other than just guys getting their nuts hit by professional hockey players. It's true hidden message of no matter how old you are, have fun! you are never too old to be a jackass. you can find other ways to be one when you are 50. and that message resonated in my heart, and I could feel it resonate in the heart of Chili bowl mullet man (who on the ride hope gave us a breakdown of every million dollar spent vs. made in the box office for every fantastic 4 movie based off memory). 10/10 p.s. truly the worst part of all of that movie was a full grown man jumping on a pogo stick onto that man's nuts (like... I don't think that was a good idea)

MORE (1969): I came across an original UK pressing of this soundtrack by the band Pink Floyd for this European 1969 film, so figured I should watch it! Well.. not a bad film necessarily (about a couple in love spiraling downward from drug use), but I don't think the film is as good as the soundtrack of course. But also the music isn't even presented as a soundtrack - Pink Floyd is just playing on the radio or speakers when they show up to a party, or the music is presented in similar ways and it doesn't quite even fit. It gets a 3/10 for me.

SUICIDE SQUAD (2016): Going through all of the Marvel movies is going to take forever, and I realized that it would be really easy for me to watch all of the DC movies so why not!! And I heard good things about the most recent DC movies, so starting here with the bad Suicide Squad! And gross, it was bad! I guess bad in the ways I expected it to be - when I first saw the posters for this movie I said "ew, I want nothing to do with that movie or that version of the Joker" and I was so right. I hated this Jared Leto Joker so so much, and not in a good way. Ew. Please don't put that in any more movies. And I'm sorry for being dumb, okay every one loves the Harley Quin character and she is good at what she does but what are her powers exactly? I guess the Joker doesn't really have powers either does her, or is that not the case and I'm just an idiot. There was at least like one other guy that I was like okay... doesn't even do anything. The other biggest thing I hated about this movie was the 30 second clips of big classic rock or pop songs as if the people googled "biggest song hits of all time" and took the first 30 seconds of 100 of them and plopped them into this movie as if they thought they were getting a bad a*% intro to everything every time. No. you get like ONE of those clips at the beginning of your movie and ONE at the end, and if you try to use stuff like that anywhere else than it better be a deep cut song like something from Iggy & The Stooges or the Runnaways or something. I hated mostly everything else too. 2/10.

[jeffradon2000]

gonna have to dock zack's pay for closing the store early

[brain galacki]

Another movie dump:



NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2 (1994): Sometimes when you are looking for a good wacky 80's horror to watch, you must look around the early 90's. I didn't like the first NIGHT OF THE DEMONS that much, but I was in the mood for something like this and I am happy with what I got. Still good 80's real and slimy effects going on here and no CGI - the parts I remember the most was that some girl who was turned into a demon had her b*&bs turn into hands and they reached out and grabbed (and I think killed?) a guy. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The other thing I remember most was a lipstick container was possessed by a demon and the lipstick kept coming out until it was a lipstick snake monster. Sorry for spoiling the best parts of the movie. 6/10

SERPICO (1973): This was a Mitch Baker movie club watch. Starring Al Pacchino in between the Godfathers I and II, with longer hair and a beard that leave him looking exactly like Paul McCartney during the Get Back sessions that I am also watching. His wife even could be Linda McCartney. Al Paccino plays a cop, Frank Serpico fighting corruption in the system in New York City. I didn't realize it was based on a true story going in - and it's interesting because it's based on events that happened in real life just a year before this movie came out! The real Frank Serpico is alive believe it or not, in his 80's hiding in Iceland somewhere living out his life. Amazing! 7/10

MY BLOODY VALENTINE (2009): Any horror remake that came out in the 2000's is going to be bad of course, and this was. This 2009 remake (?) (honestly I can’t even tell if this was supposed to be a remake or a sequel of some sort even after watching) of the 1981 Valentine’s Day horror movie about a pick-axe killer. Bad acting and camera work leave it feeling like a bad 00’s TV show - did this actually come out in theaters? Why is this movie pushing the whole 3D thing so hard? It tries to be over the top in its kills (and it is), but is stuck lookin’ very 00’s in a bad way. And this was probably the worst "ah-ha" moments that revolves around "if you're not the killer than how did you know that ___ ___ ___" I have ever seen. It hit that point and I said, this movie isn't good. 3/10. 

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (2021): A good documentary, but not worth getting an Apple TV+ subscription over. I love The Velvet Underground, and surely did learn a lot about the band - but where is the live footage of them performing in the 60's? Does any exist? I didn't leave the film feeling particularly inspired, but I do now have a newfound appreciation for Nico (will watch the films she is in), and also one of the unsung heroes of this bands existence, drummer Moe Tucker. 7/10 for the doc.

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES (1978): What Zack said. This was not at all bad for what it was! Kind of took me by surprise, actually! A fun watch and a classic comedy! Am I wrong in thinking this is somewhat of a 70's version of Killer Clowns From Outer Space? Or times I felt like I was watching the movie "Airplane." Hm? And you know I loved the noises those tomatoes were making, that was the best part. 7/10. 

[brain galacki]

I can't believe I gave mitch baker covid :'-(

[loglad]

I watched this movie Gully the other night, at first I was expecting a live action Fern Gully set "in da hood" but it wasnt that at all. It was a really beautiful and sad film about three friends who like to f&%k shit up and they do. It's Thrilling and dark and funny and sad. Watch it on Hulu.

[brain galacki]

Look here's another movie dump. These are movies that I watched during my covid quarantine! Looking back on those times and smiling today :') ... I don't know if I'll ever get another 5 days where I have to stay at home and watch movies again like that... ever again?



GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014): This was right at the start of my quarantine. I was sick, but I felt good. It was snowy out, and I had a whole quarantine ahead of me to watch 2 movies every night! And I knew going into this Marvel movie it was going to be a little different than the rest and that I would like it. And you know what, I did! Of course it's a different Marvel because it takes place in space with a slew of lovable misfit alien characters, also people like this movie because of the soundtrack, and it's packed with a good number of laughs (I'll admit, I laughed a few times). It's funny that I criticized and hated "Suicide Squad" because of it's overload of hit pop and rock songs thrown in - and I gotta admit similar things going on with this movie, but I would say it was more appropriately incorporated in the movie - and ever helped "ground" the movie back down to Earth a little bit! So it was good. My main criticism of this one if any is that it still felt like same ol' Marvel formula and that I was watching the same movie I had watched with Captain America 2, Iron Mans, etc. Even though it was in space. But I was on board a little more and it was a little more fun I guess. Okay, 8/10, maybe my highest marvel score so far.

THE CANDY TANGERINE MAN (1975): Since i had all the time in the world, sure I watch this whatever random movie that's streaming on Cathode Cinnema! Right off the bat I gotta say the poster for this is way cooler than the actual movie is. This is not something I would ever usually watch: a "blaxploitation film" from the 1970's about pimps and prostitutes and stuff. So I guess I am glad I watched a movie that I normally wouldn't. But other than that, sorry, just not as good and action packed as the poster makes it out to be! 3/10

GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973): I could watch all of these movies still. In Godzilla vs. Megalon, Megalon is a giant bug-like beetle creature. Sometimes he flies really funny. The plot of the movie was kinda silly on this one, and at different points I was really confused on why the bad guys were fighting each other all of a sudden. Not the best one of these movies I have seen so far, but I do gotta say the parts where Godzilla and the big robot guy (wow I forget his name already sorry) were doing their victory dances, that was great. I laughed and smiled on my covid couch during those moments, and I was truly livin' my best movie life. Still a 3/10 for me.

GAME NIGHT (2018): I picked a movie completely at random off of letterbox'd during my quarantine and this is what I got. Watched this while the Bottom Bracket & Friends show was going on! It was good for what it was! If you're into comedies and mystery movies then this is for you I guess. I didn't laugh so much myself, but I was along for the ride the entire time. As far as the twists at the end, there are plenty of twists and it's fun, but overall it's just a fun little diddy for me, kind of just a not as good version of "Knives Out" tbh. But still not bad! 5/10.

THE GODFATHER PART II (1974): Boy I am glad I had a night of quarantine to watch this colossal classic because this movie was a lot to chew. I had to take breaks, get ice cream, and occasionally look up synopsis or plot summaries of the movie to make sure I was following along with what was going on. It was a dark movie, and not necessarily attention-grabbing for me the whole way through. I might go as far as to say I wanted to like this more than I actually did. I'm still giving it a 9/10 though. Of course what I loved (and this probably goes for most people that watch this movie) is the scenes showing Robert DeNiro as the young Vito getting his footing in New York City in the 1910's. They did a great job with those scenes and I kinda wish that that end of the movie got more screen time than the Al Paccino side of things. 

[brain galacki]

time for another movie dump (still mostly movies that were during my quarantine)



BASKET CASE 2 (1990): What a wild and wacky film that is right up my alley even maybe moreso than the original Basket Case 2! It's probably not as good as a friend and I would say a different tone all together, but I would say still great! A true movie for the FREAKS! A movie about the freaks coming together! Honestly I wasn't even following it the whole time because I was busy taking pictures and videos of some of the parts on my phone because it was just so so good! (like that frog man eating pickles out of a jar at that picnic or something?) the part where the two blobby blobs were doin' it??? any one who has seen this movie could not have ever watched that with a straight face or with no reaction. they really went the whole way with that one. Yeah, the twists at the end were great. I don't even fully remember what they were anymore, but they were great. The main guy isn't that great of an actor. There were parts where I was wondering if Blial's face was bad early 90's CGI. I think it was but never really decided. If it was real that's impressive that it looked like bad CGI while still being real. Maybe it was too early in the 90's for that. I'm being really generous when I give this movie a 9/10 - really it's because it's right up my alley and it's so wacky. I recommend the first two basket case movies to anyone. Excited to watch the third some day. 

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (2014): Based on the reviews I expected this movie to be reallll bad going into it, and it’s also like 2.5 hours long so I was really dreading watching it. But I did anyway! I think since my expectations were so low I was actually pleasantly surprised that this was in fact a pretty average super hero movie! And I’d say I’m a fan of Jamie Fox, good to see him as a weirdo bad guy. Sure, there were parts that I hated, and in general this Andrew Garfield is definitely my least favorite Spiderman. I give it a 5/10 even though I gave it a 2/5 on letterboxd to look cool.

CREEPSHOW (1982): 1. I should have waited until Halloween time to watch this.
2. That guy could have gotten out of that sand, I let my sister burry me like this once at Lake Michigan, you just pull yourself up and out of it! I bet when the water was coming it it would have been easier!!! If his arms and legs were bound together then maybe that part would have been more believable.
3. The end of the last one was the scariest. Any time there's a lot of bugs in one spot or they are coming out of a person, that is the scariest thing.
7/10!

HORROR NOIRE (2019): A good documentary that is on Shudder probably good for any fans of horror, giving a good and detailed history and analysis on the role of black actors and actresses in horror films throughout the past century or so. I learned a lot, and it was good to watch. I give it a  7/10. Unfortunately my biggest gripe is that I wish I had left the documentary with a long list of horror movies to watch, which I didn't! A lot of times they were showing clips from some movies and might have briefly mentioned the title, but it would have helped if there was a caption on the bottom of the screen telling you what movie the clips were from. A lot of the movies they talked about were not ones you want to add to watch list because they are problematic in the way black actors are portrayed in these films. A lot of it was praising the movie "Get Out." After seeing this one I had a short list of films added to my watch list ("tales from the hood" being a big one especially since I had just watched Creepshow), also a movie called "Sugar Hill" which I tried to watch after this but could not find it, and instead this movie popped up on my suggested films on whatever streaming service I was on (see next film): 

FROGS (1972): Ha ha ha! Look at this! You know I had to watch this. Okay so I guess I realize now that if you dig deep enough you can find a horror movie for any animal or any thing where it is terrorizing people if you dig deep or far back enough. Bees, spiders, wolves, monkeys, tires, frogs. It's all been done! There is a whole world of horror out there and a lot of it isn't good I'm sure! This 1972 featuring young Sam Elliot (an actor whose name I know but I haven't even seen his later films) is featured. I think I found this one streaming low quality on youtube. It's early 70's, so I knew I wouldn't be getting any special effects, but literally any scenes where the frogs are terrorizing or attacking people it just shows close up videos of frogs in the wild and that's it. I think the frogs are supposed to be summoning other animals like snakes and alligators throughout most of it. They didn't seem to try to make it look like frogs were actually attacking anyone in this movie. But the fact that it exists and the poster is great I guess. 2/10. 
d up on my suggested films on some streaming service: 

[brain galacki]

here I am finally getting caught up. 



RAISING ARIZONA (1987): Making my way down the Cohen Brothers list to a movie that I didn’t expect to be that good because I still underestimate movies with Nicholas Cage in them I guess. Just like their debut Blood Simple, this one feels too good and ahead of it’s time to be a movie that came out in the 80’s! It’s a fun time, and also with the interior decorations of their cute little trailer home, cuts to scenes with that mega furniture discount store in Arizona, this movie really takes me back to my younger days (think K’s Merchandise, Osco Drug and Cub Foods, etc.) I could have easily been one of those blonde haired Barry, Harry, or Larry babies at the time! I was back and forth about giving this one a 9 or a 10/10... really at this point I feel like I could enjoy all of the Cohen Brothers movies enough to give a 10/10, and this one IS that good but maybe not special enough to be an all-timer. So I went back to 9/10.

RIDING WITH THE DEVIL (1999): Why are all the Civil War movies it seems like they try to make the good guys the ones that are fighting for the South? Maybe it just seems that way to me because a classic silent film comedy I watched growing up was Buster Keaton’s The General. That was the case in this movie too, right? Or they were trying to make it seem like they weren’t fighting for either side, they were just fighting for themselves and their friends. Maybe I completely missed the mark and didn’t know what was going on in this 2 hour 20 minute movie. I don’t really have a whole lot of bad things to say about it though, it felt like it was a good movie, even Jewel was good. Not my thing I guess! (What I get for picking a random VHS out of a box I picked up along with a record collection)! 3/10.

TILT (1979): Great!! Decided to dig around to try to find this movie after I discovered I was able to order its soundtrack on vinyl for as cheap as $2 at my record store. As a pinball fanatic, this 1979 film was able to finally scratch my pinball movie itch in ways that TOMMY could not. It’s more about the game of pinball (and a 14 year old girl who goes by “TILT” gambling on it), and you get some good shots of some actual games (Space Mission, Cleopatra, and a few others) and plenty of shots of the ball rolling across the playfield and hitting drop targets. I expected the movie itself to be bad, but it really wasn’t! Charles Durning playing the undefeated pinball villain hiding in the back of the bar known as “THE WHALE” (he even wears a shirt that has his nickname on it). Gonna make me some custom patches to go on the seat of my pants that saw “PINBALL CHAMP” just like TILT. 8/10

THE BEATLES GET BACK (2021): This hit me just right in all of the right ways. Not a definitive documentary for The Beatles as a whole, but a remarkable glimpse into days at the end of the band’s run. I grew up as a kid with this band playing nonstop in the background as my dad’s favorite band (and I’m sure everyone else’s dads too) - there was a moment in this I realized pretty early on “oh sh*t, here The Beatles are at the end of their run, bigger than ever and they are all about to embark on solo careers and they are all like… 5-6 years younger than I am right now”. Seeing them goof off constantly in the studio and their song writing process like normal people really took me back to playing in bands - I feel like I relate to being the George Harrison quietly sitting in the corner for the most part while the big boys take charge of most of the song writing - related to him the most but also probably my least favorite Beatle!! (How about the part where he left the band!! The heck, George!!). While in covid quarantine I came across Billy Preston’s “Nothing From Nothing” video from 1973 and it hit me so good. I knew he was known as the 5th Beatle, but didn’t really watch videos of him playing until now. So much joy, and how thrilled he was when we was told they wanted him to play electric keys on the record. Watching him play was my favorite part. And when they hit the take that was used on the record for “Get Back”, with the keyboard solo, I knew right away from deep inside my bones after listening to that song one thousand times as a kid. The rooftop concert was incredible of course as well, but I especially loved the timeline showing the police trying to intervene and get up to the roof while the people on the ground floor involved tried to stall them, as I have been in similar situations with punk band generator shows over the years running around as the “lookout”, trying to see how far the sound carries, and talking to cops when they show up to shut things down. Seeing that play out in real time in the 60’s with The Beatles was nothing more than surreal. 10/10

JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017): I think this one is probably the worst of the modern super hero movies right here. Maybe not by a long shot, I'd put that first Suicide Squad movie up there as a contender, but they were both bad. You could tell there were parts taken out of this movie and it was cut up. I don't care about any of these super heroes. It's kinda weird that they are putting "Aquaman" and "Flash" movies out after this "epic" one where they all come together, seems kind of backwards? I just don't even care either way. No interest in seeing the longer version. I'd quit watching superhero movies right now if I didn't know based on reviews of DC movies I haven't seen that it gets better and they started changing their formula and approaching these movies differently. And I'm glad I didn't ever pay to see this in theaters.  1/10