Pics 3
Author Archives: Doc
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
DailyView: Day 124, Movie 197
I have said multiple times that I was never a fan of slasher movies so I rarely watched them when I was younger. So while I was aware of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films, I have actually seen very few. I have seen the original film and I have seen the Dream Warriors (Part 3). Tonight I put on A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The Rotten Tomatoes scores were pretty poor (critic 41%, audience 33%) and, because of that, my expectations were fairly low.
Freddy Krueger(Robert Englund) returned to Elm Street and possessed new student Jesse (Mark Patton) by haunting his dreams. Freddy looked to use Jesse to be his anchor in the real world and to continue Freddy’s reign of terror.
Okay, starting off, there was actually something among the premise of this movie that really worked. The idea of Freddy Krueger tormenting the dreams of a young man in order to take control of his physical form is quite interesting. The dynamics of the relationships and the potential for some deep character work is off the charts. There are some themes hidden here that are intriguing, but not developed enough.
Unfortunately, everything else here was below average to terrible. The acting was atrocious. What could have been a subtle and intense story of possession and mental illness was just over the top insanity and none of the actors invovled here were able to carry the potential of the premise.
Another issue was the dialogue. It was bad. It sounded like a middle school kid wrote it. The weakness of the acting and the dialogue was too much to get past.
The special effects were okay for a mid-1980s movie. Unfortunately, there were not enough scares connected to the special effects. In fact, there was one of the worst effects I think I have ever seen with an exploding parakeet. The falling feathers was laughable.
Freddy’s Revenge had a chance to be more than what it was. It was a chance that failed miserably.
Pics 2
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
DailyView: Day 123, Movie 196
The Suicide Squad of the sixties? The concept of the Suicide Squad is very much that of the war film that will be the DailyView for today, The Dirty Dozen.
A group of murdering and criminal soldiers, awaiting or serving their punishment in prison, are brought together to become a special forces unit during World War II with the promise that any who may survive would see a reduction in their sentence. Under the command of Major Reisman (Lee Marvin), the group of ragtag soldiers were trained and sent on a dangerous mission.
The Dirty Dozen has a huge ensemble cast. Including Lee Marvin, the film features Donald Sutherland, Telly Salavas, Ernest Borgninie, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Jim Brown, George Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Robert Webber, Clint Walker, Al Mancini, Ben Carruthers, and Richard Jaeckel.
We get a look at the main members of the group during the training, going from a group looking out for number one to a group of “we.” Still, the crew is filled with so many reprobates that you are never sure when their true natures may surface.
Telly Salavas, in particular, is one of the most off-balanced characters of the movie. Named Archer Maggott, he was a religious zealot from the South who had troubles with Jim Brown’s Robert Jefferson. Though never quite a part of the group, Maggott did enough to make you think he might be willing to work with the Dozen. His uncertainty keeps the action suspenseful.
Speaking of suspenseful, the final act is just filled with it. The raid on the German meeting is intense and dramatics, with plenty of twists and turns.
The Dirty Dozen is considered a classic of cinema and you can tell why. A stressful story, strong performances and exciting action caps a very entertaining movie.
Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed
Checking in on Netflix tonight to see if they had anything new thins week turned out to be a happy, little accident. There was a documentary of EYG Hall of Famer, painter Bob Ross. I’ve always liked Bob Ross so I thought this was a neat documentary to watch tonight. Little did I know that there would be such a darkness found within the story of one of the most gentle and caring souls.
Bob Ross spent many years teaching, inspiring the world to paint. He painted on PBS’s classic show Joy of Painting and he became an icon with a giant afro.
Ross’s son Steven spends a good amount of time being interviewed about his father’s life, but the documentary takes a turn after Bob discovered he had cancer. The time after Bob Ross’s death made for a true sad tale.
Our documentary sets up some villains to the story, the Kowalskis, Annette and Walt. In a way, the doc made me think about The Tiger King in the way it showed Carol Baskins as such a potentially horrible person. Annette Kowalski was Bob Ross’s long time partner in his business, but after Bob’s death, there was a major legal battle over the Bob Ross name, I.P., and rights to his programs with the Kowalskis’ company, Bob Ross, Inc doing most of the suing.
It’s such a sad story considering what a wonderful and kind-hearted man Bob Ross was. The first half of the documentary focused on Bob’s background and his life story, especially his love of painting and how he wound up being world renowned with his happy little trees. The first sign of trouble in the doc was went it was suggested that Bob and Annette Kowalski had had an affair, something that Annette has refuted.
The documentary made it clear to the viewers that several people that had been lined up to be interviewed for the film had changed their minds in fear of being sued by the Kowalskis.
This is a decent documentary and any fan of Bob Ross should seek it out on Netflix. Reportedly, there had been several challenges to releasing the documentary. It is worth watching.
3.9 stars
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
DailyView: Day 122, Movie 195
This movie proves that, no matter how many times it happens, seeing someone getting struck in the groin is funny. Every time.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was not a movie I expected to enjoy. I usually tie Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller into the group of comedians that I do not like (such as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell etc.). However, I have like a few of Vaughn films during the DailyView, and Stiller has some that I like too (especially Mystery Men) so maybe I should not have categorized this film the way I did.
Dodgeball is a stupid movie. No way around it. But it was stupid funny. It is silly, fun, entertaining and downright ridiculous.
Yes, it is predictable. The story is pretty basic. There are a couple of things that happen that are stretching credibility remarkably thin. But the biggest rule in comedy movies is, it doesn’t matter how stupid a movie is, as long as it is funny. And this film is very funny.
It takes some time to develop this group of losers playing dodgeball to try and save their small, failing gym, Average Joe’s, from being taken over by the mega gym Globo Gym, run by White Goodman (Ben Stiller). The $50,000 prize money for the national dodgeball tournament would help save the day. It is just, the team fielded by Average Joe’s is les than inspiring.
There are some epic cameos in this movie, from William Shatner to Chuck Norris.
The cast is filled with some solid character actors including Justin Long, Alan Tudyk, Rip Torn, Stephen Root, Chris Williams, Gary Cole, Hank Azaria, Christine Taylor and Missi Pyle. The standout of them all was the Dodgeball tournament color commentator, Pepper Brooks, played with an amazing insanity by Jason Bateman.
The film is quickly paced at just over 90 minutes, but every minute is worthwhile. There is a post credit scene with Ben Stiller that can must be seen to be believed.
Likable characters and funny writing, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a real surprise for me.
Candyman (2021)
The second new horror movie I saw today was the bigger of the two films. It is the continuing story (or sequel, if you must) of Candyman, from director Nia DaCosta and screenwriter Jordan Peele among others.
In 1992, the first Candyman movie was released and it was a solid horror film featuring a story that really plays into this new film. In this movie, Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his partner Brianna (Teyonah Parris) moved into recently gentrified Cabrini, on the site where the old Cabrini Towers (from the first movie) once stood. Anthony was an artist looking for a new inspiration when he comes across long time resident William Burke (Colman Domingo), who revealed the story of the first movie and of Candyman.
With his creative juices now flowing from the tales of the past, Anthony created an art exhibit of his work called “Say My Name” which triggered a return of the hook-handed Candyman (including several appearances by Tony Todd).
The film starts as a slow burn, building tension and character. They used this technique of shadow puppets to do some of the exposition which I thought was absolutely brilliant. It created a very ominous mood and kept the audience off-balance with the animation. I really liked that technique.
As the film reaches the second and third act, it becomes very brutal and more graphically bloody and gory than I expected. The Candyman kills are decent. It is especially well shot as the victims can not see Candyman outside of the mirror in which they have just summoned them. Again, it is a very cinematically shot film.
Let me address the controversy that seems to be blowing up over social media and on the internet. There has been some shouts from those people who do such things that the new Candyman movie is “woke” or too much “SJW” and embrace the ideals of BLM. I really hate the term “woke” because it is such a ridiculous term. What does it even mean? Doesn’t it mean we give opportunities to people of all races and backgrounds? That we do not turn our attention away from the prejudice and racism in our society? I don’t understand why that would be a considered bad thing. There are screams of this film having an agenda and pushing their political beliefs. To that I say that all movies have an agenda and plenty of them have political concepts, including the original Candyman. Yes, there are themes of racial conflict in Candyman and, perhaps it could have been more subtle in its execution, but these are important ideas and there is nothing wrong with them. I never once felt preached to during Candyman and some people are just looking for something to argue about.
This film does set up for future installments. I do believe I liked the original more, but the “spiritual sequel” is solid piece of entertainment with a strong message.
3.8 stars
The Night House
A couple of horror movies highlighted the new releases today. The first one I saw was an original featuring Rebecca Hall, called The Night House, which takes another look at the horror trope of the haunted house and puts a brand new spin on it.
Beth (Rebecca Hall) was a teacher who had just suffered a terrible loss in her life. Her beloved husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit) killed himself in a rowboat just near their lakeside home. The unexpected suicide knocked Beth for a loop and sent her into an obsession to discover why he did what he did. What she found was both disturbing and frightening as she learned that Owen had a few secrets of his own.
Rebecca Hall carried much of this movie with her excellent work. She had to show that she was desperately trying to make sense of her husband’s suicide, comparing the facts that she was discovering with what she knew about him. The film is extremely dark and does engage a series of themes involving the afterlife or lack thereof that is fascinating and Hall is awesome at portraying the uncertainty and the confusion that all of this builds.
The story is surprisingly complex and has some really creepy moments involved. Hall seems to be losing her mind as she learns more about her husband’s dark choices.
I really liked this movie with one major exception and it is going to require a SPOILER to discuss. In the third act of the movie, Beth discovered what she thinks is the ghost of her husband and she embraces him, rubbing her hands across his invisible body and this looks just silly as hell. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud at this image. Thankfully, it is not too long before she realizes that this is not Owen but the dark force that has been following her since she nearly died as a younger girl. After that, the movie picks back up, but that invisible hugging was a definite lowlight. END OF SPOILER.
There are some wonderful imagery and the director, David Bruckner, provide some cool shots of the film. He does a great job of keeping the mystery of what this creature is for the whole film and we see shadows used to imply what is here.
The Night House is a solid horror movie with some good theme and lovely looking shots that is only momentarily dragged down by one of the sillier scenes of the year.
3.75 stars
Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)
DailyView: Day 121, Movie 194
It is documentary day in the DailyView. This doc goes into specific about a group of childhood friends who wanted to and did film a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In 1981, two 11-year old kids, Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, started to work on the remake of Raiders, which took them seven years to complete. The only thing was they never were able to complete the airplane scene. Thirty years later, they reunite to finish the scene.
The documentary is more effective as a story between three people (including Jayson Lamb) and the struggles and interactions of their lives while they were attempting to make this childhood dream come true. While the parts involving the shooting of the airplane scene was interesting, the real strength of the doc is the connections.
There are so many obstacles faced by this group not only as young kids, but also as adults.
Some of the footage was so amazing. Seeing them set people on fire in their childhood home’s basement is just one of the shocking moments of the film. Chris took some bad steps leading him to a life of drugs and a betrayal of Eric and the splitting apart of the kids. It told an unbelievable story of obsession and dedication slamming into each other.
John Rhys-Davies appeared and spoke during the documentary. Rhys-Davies played Sallah in two of the Indiana Jones movies and his presence here really brought a gravitas to the doc.
I also loved the end of the doc as it brought a huge amount of tension to the film. An issue with an exploding plane made this filled with anxiety.
The only criticism I would have is that I would have liked to have seen more of the footage that they had shot from their original film interwoven in the doc. However, the comments made by family members and friends really brought a great energy to the doc. I enjoyed this documentary.
Pics
Sabotage (1936)
DailyView: Day 120, Movie 193
I love Alfred Hitchcock. However, when I selected the 1936 film Sabotage on HBO Max tonight for the next entry in the DailyView, I was unaware that it was directed by the master. I had read the summary on the HBO Max page and thought it sounded interesting. I saw Hitchcock’s name in the opening credits and I was immediately excited. I have not seen a lot of Hitchcock in the DailyView and this would be a treat.
Apparently, Sabotage was the final film of Hitchcock’s British movies before he came over to the States. I also discovered that the film was released in the US under the name The Woman Alone, but was not as well known among Hitchcock’s films.
Karl Verloc (Oskar Homolka) managed a little cinema in London along with his wife (Sylvia Sidney) and her teenage brother Steve (Desmond Tester). However, Mr. Verloc had a secret… he was a member of a gang of foreign saboteurs using bombs to spread their terror in London. Scotland Yard Detective Sgt. Ted Spencer (John Loder) was assigned to find out what he could about Mr. Verloc. He befriended Mrs. Verloc and Steve in an attempt to discover the connection between her husband and the espionage happening in the area.
This is another example of why Hitchcock is the master of suspense as this film is filled with it. There are some amazing sequences that build up the suspense of what the audience thinks is happening and it really works well.
The suspense is especially tense during a sequence in the film on a bus. It was a very controversial scene and, reportedly, even Hitchcock himself was unsure about it. That scene, which I will not reveal because of spoilers, is perhaps the best in the film.
Performances are solid and you do feel for Mrs. Verloc throughout the film. She is so supportive of her husband and he is just a monster. There are some satisfying moments in the third act.
It is a quick watch and, though the first part of the movie is a bit slow, Sabotage really builds up to a powerful second and third act. You can see the traits of Hitchcock’s directorial style in the movie and, if you are a fan of the director, you want to search out this film.
Nice and Friendly (1922)
DailyView: Day 119, Movie 192
I was really short on time tonight, so I knew that it was time for yet another trip back into the very early days of cinema to find Charlie Chaplin once again. However, we went really short this time.
Nice and Friendly was directed by Charlie Chaplin and has the bare bones of a story. According to IMDB, the film was made only as a wedding present for Lord and Lady Mountbatten. In the film, Lady Mountbatten had an expensive pearl necklace that a group of crooks were trying to steal. The Tramp was called in to stop them. He did so with a big hammer. The unconscious crooks were lined up on the lawn afterward, next to Boy (Jackie Coogan).
There really is no reason for this. As I was looking into the background on this, it sounds as if Chaplin most likely never thought this would be shown for the public. I’m sure he never dreamed that it would find a home on HBO Max streaming for the world to see. It is not very funny and Chaplin barely appears in the 11-minute short.
If you are a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin and you want to be completist, you can watch this. Otherwise, you should only watch it if you have a very limited amount of time available to fulfill a movie viewing challenge.
What If…? s1 ep3
SPOILERS FOR EPISODE THREE OF WHAT IF…?
“What If… The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes”
Above all else, this What If…? episode reminded me how much I miss Agent Phil Coulson. It was great hearing Clark Gregg reprise his role as the biggest fanboy SHIELD agent around during the events of this story.
Somebody is out to put an end to the Avenger Initiative before it ever gets a chance to start. Who is it? We get a mystery in episode three dealing with the murders of several of the OG Avengers.
This was my least favorite of the three episodes so far because it felt too constricted. In a story that could have been widespread and sprawling, this one felt too constricted, hurt by the half hour time frame. That’s not to say that this was a bad episode, far from it. It just was the weakest of the three so far, IMO.
This takes place during the week in the MCU where we got Iron Man 2, Thor and The Incredible Hulk, those three movies happening basically at the same moments. Except the films take a turn and each of the main heroes end up dead. Iron Man, apparently at the hands of Black Widow and Thor by Hawkeye’s arrow.
Thor’s death brought the warriors of Asgard to earth looking to seek vengeance for his death. Led by Loki, the Asgardian forces faced off with SHIELD. Meanwhile, Agent Fury was desperately trying to figure out who was inside SHIELD and killing off these “assets.” Fury strikes a deal with Loki to give them a little time to figure out the truth.
Black Widow was voiced in this episode by Lake Bell, who has been doing the voice of Poison Ivy in the Harley Quinn series. She does a solid job as our Russian assassin. Though it appeared that Widow had been the one to kill Tony Stark, she is given permission by Fury to keep investigating. One of the coolest part of What If…? is the way some scenes are echoes in the show from the MCU. In this case, we see Black Widow in the back of a SHIELD truck, surrounded by guards as she is being transported to a secure location. This imagery echoed the famous elevator scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, although this time with Natasha at the center.
You almost expect her to ask if anyone wants to get out.
Natasha figures the mystery out, but is killed before she can reveal the true answer. She is able to leave a voice mail message for Fury saying that it was “all about Hope” which, at first sounded like she said Hulk.
This was where the episode felt the most rushed. The conclusion featuring our villain, Hank Pym, angry over the death of his daughter Hope (who was working with SHIELD?) and we get a chance to see the way he is able to have killed these other heroes. The design on Hank Pym was cool, making him look very insane from grief.
After Pym’s capture, Loki decides that Midgard would be a nice planet to rule and he takes over the world. Does it pretty easy too. Every episode of What If…? so far feels as if it could be setting up for a continuation of the story. Here we get Fury discovering Captain America and welcoming Carol Danvers back to earth. Is this the formation of a new team of Avengers?
I guess only the Watcher knows for sure.
Good episode that felt too crunched. I just love Coulson.
EYG Top Ten Scariest Movie Horror Characters
It has been a long time since I have done one of these lists, but this week’s Top 10 Show with John Rocha and Matt Knost had a topic that interested me, and I had a spare moment to throw together a list. The topic was Top 10 Scariest Movie Horror Characters.
#10. Giant Ants (Empire of the Ants). Okay, so this one I left here despite it being a terrible movie that is not really scary. Thing is… I saw this as a very young boy. I demanded that my parents take me to this film and I spent most of the runtime hiding beneath my seat or crying to my mom. I have a distinct memory of that moment, even if I do not have much of a memory of the movie.
#9. The Thing (The Thing). One of the best horror films and it is very scary, mainly because of the practical effects. The fact that you could ever tell which of the people in that station was The Thing… adding to the claustrophobic aspects of the film… well, it is just a psychological horror.
#8. Buffalo Bill (Silence of the Lambs). I almost put Hannibal Lecter in this spot, but when thinking about it, Buffalo Bill was way scarier because he was so crazy and so sick. It also felt real. There are serial killers who do terrible things like Buffalo Bill did and that reality overcomes the, let’s be honest, coolness factor of Dr. Lecter. It always blows my mind when I realize that Buffalo Bill is also Captain Leland Stottlemeyer from Monk, Ted Levine.
#7. Jack Torrance (Shining). One of Jack Nicholson’s most iconic roles. When he is chasing after his family with that ax and follows little Danny into the outside maze, it is one of the frighteningly intense scenes. The Shining is filled with horrible moments. The rolling blood. The woman from room 234. The murder of Scatman Crothers. All of it is based around Jack’s decent into madness.
#6. Annie Wilks (Misery). The Stephen King adaptation brought the superfan into focus in a horrific way. There may not be any scene on this list more frightening than the scene with the sledgehammer. Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her performance in this role, and it is because she portrayed the crazy in such a perfect way.
#5. Xenomorph (Alien, Aliens). What a great design of a character. These monstrous creature bring the terror to two of the best movies. The first Alien film was more f the horror film while Aliens 2 brought more action. Either way, every time we would see the Xenomorph, you could feel the fear deep inside your heart. One of the most iconic movie aliens around.
#4. Pennywise (It). I considered this for number one, but clowns do not really scare me. There are some terrifying moments in It, though fewer in It Chapter Two. The scene with the Losers Club in the garage watching the slides and having Pennywise come out of the screen… whoa… no way. Just a horribly scary shock. Bill Skarsgård does a fantastic job filling the shoes of the iconic EYG Hall of Famer Tim Curry.
#3. Regan MacNeil (The Exorcist). The Exorcist is one of the scariest of all horror movies and it is mainly because of the efforts of the possessed young girl Regan MacNeil. Played brilliantly by Linda Blair, Regan defined several of the classic horror genre tropes including the scary kid, the possession, the Devil as an adversary. The Exorcist is a frightful film thanks to this performance.
#2. Killer alligators (Crawl). This is the reason I am never going to Florida. I am not sure if I have ever been as scared by a film as I was in Crawl. I was uneasy and every time one of those killer alligators appeared, killing some innocent bystander, I was all the more scared. It was an intense film that seriously brought me chills. I almost made this number one, but the alligators did not have their own distinct personalities, so I bowed to another giant man-eating creature.
#1. Jaws (Jaws). The scene where the shark devours Quint really scared me as a younger person. I can remember watching with horror not believing what I was seeing. The way the shark is barely seen in the early part of the film is awesome and builds such tension for the later reveals. The famous story was that the mechanical shark Bruce was not working well and this was something they had to do out of necessity. What a lucky break. Jaws is one of my favorite movies of all time and the shark deserves its spot atop this list.
Honorable mentions: There are a few extras that were considered. I already mentioned Hannibal Lecter, who was as close to being on the list as you get. Michael Meyers was a character that I tried to squeeze in, but just fell short. Leatherface was scary. Freddy Krueger had some moments but slipped back when he became more of a comedy character. The Babadook is a sleeper pick that I considered for the list to.
Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988)
DailyView: Day 118, Movie 191
Going through Shudder to try and find a good movie for the DailyView tonight and I stumbled across the thumbnail with a picture of the awesome Roddy Piper on it. It was a movie called “Hell Comes to Frogtown,” a film I had never heard of before. It was released in 1988, which was the same year that Piper starred in John Carpenter’s They Live. Quite the year for Hot Rod.
After a worldwide nuclear war, 68% of the male population was wiped out and most of the surviving men had become sterile. A virile man was rare. Sam Hell (Roddy Piper) turned out to be extremely virile and was recruited by the government to become a breeder. Along with Spangle (Sandahl Bergman), a government agent out to make sure he followed the instructions, Sam went into Frogtown to attempt a rescue of a group of fertile women from the clutches of the humanized frogs.
What a silly movie this is. You could tell what it was going to be when we found out that the government had placed a booby trap on Sam Hell’s crotch, a device that would send a shock through him if he got too far away from Spangle. It was triggered by the earrings she wore. I, of course, would have chopped off her head and took it with me so I would not have to worry about it again, but that is just me.
Roddy Piper is easily the best part of this movie. He is extremely charming and has a pretty good screen presence. He is not the greatest actor around, but he does have qualities that make him entertaining to watch.
The story is ridiculous and the humanized frogs are funny, which, I am guessing, they are not supposed to be.
This is full of cheesy action and silly dialogue, but the charisma of Piper and Bergman help make this at least engaging. Probably a guilty pleasure.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 