I thought it was awful. Yuck.
I liked this one, but I guess once you know the twist, it may not be equally as good the second time around.
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Paris Texas is a 5 star (cinco estrelas) to me, one I like to watch from time to time (great soundtrack too).
Also Das Boot, Ran (not the best Kurosawa to me but still a fiver to my taste), BIg Trouble in litle Chine is sort of Starship Troopers from the 80âs a solid 4 stars to me.
Yes, Once upon a time in America not the best Leone but with a 5 star ending
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I donât remember a thing of it, other than that Mickey Rourke and Bill Cosbyâs daughter (from the show) is in it. No idea what twist you are referring to, so maybe my second viewing would be similar to the first âŚ
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No. Iâve arranged the movies Iâm watching for my movie challenges in a loosely ascending order of personal preference. Itâs not definitive and, here and there, Iâve pulled some out of order altogether (watching The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi much earlier in the month than my preference would dictate simply so they coincide with May the 4th - Star Wars Day - for instance), but by and large my favourites and five-stars will likely turn up in the last week of the month.
Iâve always loved OuaTiA but, this viewing, it felt overwrought and, tbh, a little bit of a chore at times. And the last half-hour or so felt absolutely interminable. Felt like three hours on its own, that exchange between Woods and De Niro. Sometimes youâve just got to be in the right frame of mind for a movie; one of the drawbacks of committing to a specific movie on a specific day rather than sticking it on when youâre feeling it, you know?
Itâs a big fat pile of nonsense of course, but it has a lot of nostalgia credit with me. Commando was the first pirate video I ever managed to acquire, from a car boot sale I think. It was over saturated and a roughly tenth-generation copy of a copy so all detail was gone and the sound might as well have been coming from the bottom of the sea, it was so muffled. But it was Arnieâs new film, Commando, on video! Now, I find most of it laugh-out-loud funny. My son and I were both yelling âLet off some steam, Bennett!â at one another in our best Schwarzenegger voices hours later.
Itâs very close to one for me too. Probably would be on another day.
Just as Paris, Texas was close to those 5 stars and maybe shouldâve had them, so Angel Heart was close to four and maybe shouldâve had them. Knowing how it will play out doesnât especially diminish things really imho, it just helps with that feeling of things moving to an inexorable conclusion, like bad dream you know youâve had before but canât change. 
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Thatâs a fivestar movie for me always, even if I know the twist.
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The thing that I enjoyed the most about the movie was its infernal, exceedingly oppressive atmosphere. Even if this twist is supposed to be a surprise, I kind of anticipated it before it actually happened. I still enjoyed it purely by virtue of it having this hellish zest. I guess if this miasma of fatefulness is as pervasive the second time around, it will stay 4 star (or 8/10) film for me.
It just didnât work for me at all. Not much of an Arnie fan, but I kinda knew what I was going into, so I should have liked it, but never warmed up to it. Sure, it technically has all the necessary ingredients for the dumb actioner formula, but it just kind of never worked out. I did enjoy the hell out of The Running Man though, which is a very similar type of movie. I dunno. I guess Commando was a notch too asinine for me.
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Viceroyâs House (2017, Gurinder Chadha)
A sumptuous, intriguing, but also uneven historic fresco painting the transition of British India to independence, and the turmoil that was caused by the deep cultural and religious differences between Muslims and Hindus. Hugh Bonneville stars as Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, who was asked to oversee the transition.
Thanks to good performances and meticulous care to period detail, the historic fresco works pretty well, even though history buffs have criticized some of the scriptâs details, notably the claim that Mountbatten was a used as a puppet and that Pakistan was created by Churchill and the British government as a buffer state between the Soviet Union and the subcontinent. Newsreels about the historic events add to a sense of realism, but unfortunately a story of star-crossed lovers (a Muslim girl and a Hindu servant) is added to please audiences and add a conciliatory element to the altogether rather bleak movie that seems to tackle any possible hope that we will ever live on peaceful planet.
classic
neat!
on blu ray!
I didnât have much luck with movies lately, but letâs take a look anyway:
The Cloverfield Paradox
I like two previous movies of the franchise, especially Cloverfield Lane. This one starts promissingly, but as weird things begin to unfold itâs clear why Paramount sold this trash to Netflix, (similarly as Annihilation), which starts to be new âdirect to dvdâ platform. 2 out of 5.
They Live (1988)
Never seen this before. I think this must be one of the worst sci-fi movies Iâve ever encountered. Also starts interestingly, and when Rody Piper puts shades on it is pretty intense, but soon enough the movie turns itself into pretty much the most idiotic action packed conspiracy flick out there. I canât believe it was made by the same person who directed Escape From NY. I literally canât. How? What? I laughed through it to the very end, but now Iâm really sad. When you are doing a movie about humanity being asleep thanks to various sources of subliminal messages, and one of that sources is also popculture television trash, donât make a movie which looks like one of those trashy productions bad ETs would make. Oh god, and what the fuck was with that extremely prolonged wrestling fight. We all know that Rody Piper is (was) wrestling star, you donât have to shove it up our arses. Normally I like Carpenterâs music, this one just doesnât fit and itâs horrible.
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While I wouldnât say itâs one of the worst Sci-Fi out there, itâs easily the worst Carpenter flick Iâve ever seen. The problem with the movie is that it tries to be tongue-in-cheek and hilarious, but it just doesnât work. At all. Itâs one of those movies that has an excellent premise and completely squanders it. Such a shame.
Yeah, it was one of the moments I cringed at the most too. It is so long, so protracted that it becomes a tangible detriment to the narrative. I donât know how long it lasts, but it feels like ages in the context of the film. And itâs bad. Really fucking bad.
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LOL.
Well, at least itâs better than that movie.
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Has John Carpenter done anything good since âThe Thingâ? ⌠I havenât followed his career too closely, and the last one I took a chance on was âGhosts of Marsâ, which was so rubbish in places, I couldnât decide if it was a parody, or just a really bad film.
Jason Statham and Ice Cube !!! does anybody really want these two in their films - no talent or personality personified.
They live is a cool film, tries a bit to hard to criticize American/Western society of the 80âs, but hey thereâs a Wrestler as the main actor, canât figure out a greater paradox than that.
Prince of Darkness is perhaps is last great film
Nah, heâs done some good movies after The Thing: Starman, Christine and some others. Also, am I the only one that really likes In the Mouth of Madness? I really enjoyed that one. Havenât seen Prince of Darkness yet.
Itâs not that They Live is so bad. I was merely severely disappointed with that one. It was like meh, not really that great. Some of it is somewhat cringy as well, the abovementioned wresting scene was super awful and excessively slapsticky. The fact that we talk about slapstickery in a Carpenter movie speaks for itself as well.
Nope, i like the movie myself. Itâs creepy and Sam Neill was quite good.
Anytime youâre ready!..
The fistfight in They Live has always made me laugh just because of how absurdly long it is. All because Keith David wonât put a pair of glasses on.
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