I'll Be Back Sunday Night

I have various things on my plate now so I haven't felt like watching any movies; I may go out to see something tomorrow night but either way I'll have a review then, barring anything catastrophic. 

Last Shift

Last Shift (2014)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: Anthony DeBlasi

Starring: Juliana Harkavy, Joshua Mikel, J. LaRose, Natalie Victoria, Matt Doman

From: Skyra Entertainment

Here is a movie I have known about for awhile, and it happened to be set and filmed in a Florida town I had been in many times before. Read all the details about it from my Letterboxd review posted below: 

I have known of this movie since it came out last year. My biggest memory will forever be how due to its stylized logo, some people on a messageboard were literally confused as to whether it was Last Shift or Lost Shift, and I do understand the confusion. I heard mixed opinions about so I had no idea what to expect going in. There were comparisons to the awesome Assault on Precinct 13 (something I'll watch again soon so I can review it here) but those are really only due to the abandoned police station setting.

One reason for me to see this was that it was set and filmed in Sanford, Florida, a town only about an hour away from me; I had been through there or in there many times before, and in fact will be there tomorrow night to pick someone up from the medium-sized airport located in the city. The town is best known in America for the whole Trayvon Martin thing (those readers not in the United States who are not familiar with the case, I won't even get started on trying to explain that whole racial mess)... but I'll move on from that controversy and say they likely only filmed there because the city had an abandoned police station that could be used.

Why the setting? Well, the plot is that a lady cop who gets the pleasure of guarding a police station about to be abandoned (but has some biohazard materials that need to be cleared out by HAZMAT) and this is her first night on the force, and she's alone, and she experiences weird supernatural things... the only other thing I'll bring up is that a Manson-like family figures into the plot.

The story is on the ridiculous side, admittedly, and you certainly could nitpick various things. However, I tried to ignore those things. At first I wasn't sure about the movie; but, as it got going, I realized that I was enjoying what I was seeing. The one setting in one night thing is usually pretty intriguing to me. Much of the film you only see the lead on the character and if she would not have been interesting or the performance would have been bad, that would big a big problem. Thankfully the character of Officer Loren was always interesting, even if you don't know too much besides the basics about her and how her dad was a cop. Juliana Harkavy did a pretty good job in the role, especially considering it was typically only her on screen and the character had to go through a hellish experience.

Being vague, I will say that the ending which ties everything together, it was effective to me as I realized what the movie was all about and it not only explained some things but made the movie that much more disturbing. There are nice practical effects, creepy sights, an ever-increasing sense of dread, and overall while I know it is a movie which has gotten a mixed reception, to me it worked and I am glad I finally checked it out on Netflix Instant.

Purple Rain

Purple Rain (1984)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: Albert Magnoli

Starring: The Purple One, Appolonia, Morris Day, and members of both The Revolution and The Time

From: Warner Bros.

I have watched this movie before, but the last viewing was long ago and unfortunately it was sad circumstances that prompted me seeing it last night. At least I got to see it on the big screen. Read all the details about it below in my Letterboxd review:

It did not take long after Prince passed away and entered the after world (a world of never-ending happiness, and you can always see the sun, day or night) for both AMC Theatres and Carmike Cinemas to play the movie in some of their locations for the upcoming week, two showings a day. I went to a location in Orlando to check it out; of course I had seen this before, but that was a long time ago and this was the perfect time to watch it again. The crowd there was larger than expected and I'll say more about them later; just know that it was among the best audience experience I have ever had.

I am sure everyone knows the plot of The Kid and his band The Revolution in Minneapolis and how he has to deal with a terrible life at home, a new girl, problems with his band, and a rivalry w/ Morris Day & The Time. I will say that it is easy to nitpick the plot or how it's told, but a big asset is that all of the songs on the soundtrack are great and all of the performances you see are incredible; Prince had boatloads of charisma whenever he appeared on screen, and when he performed he was pure sex. The crowd I saw this with, they loved the movie. They went wild for all of the performances and several times (especially during the risque Darling Nikki) I thought that some were about to throw their underwear at the screen! They laughed at the right moments and went “oooh!” during the harshest one-liners. It was a great experience, both the audience and seeing those artists on stage doing their thing. The opening 10 minutes of the movie where you see and hear both Let's Go Crazy and Jungle Love as the main characters get ready to hit the club and then they arrive there and interact with each other... it's an astounding 10 minutes. So is the final act concert.

As for the rest of the movie... I wish it wasn't so problematic. The Kid-to be honest-usually comes off as a real A-hole, and he's the protagonist. I understand it's made rather clear that his crappy family life at home (where dad usually yells and beats up his wife) is a big reason as to why he acts this way. It doesn't mean that it's enjoyable seeing this guy be a real ass and also act incredibly misogynistic towards both Appolonia and the two ladies in his band, Wendy & Lisa. If he really would have changed in the final act that would be something, but it can be argued that this does not fully happen and to me I question how much The Kid really does change. Then, there's the odd fact that even though Morris E. Day is ostensibly the heel, he actually comes across as a nicer guy... and he is something who not only had Jerome throw a woman into a dumpster but he said that horribly insensitive remark to Prince, although he immediately felt regretful about it. He doesn't act like a dick to his band like Prince does, he at least tries to help out Appolonia with her budding career, he does cool music also, is typically a funny A-hole, and even he and Jerome do their own wacky version of Abbott & Costello's Who's On First routine. It's odd, really.

Even with those issues, I can still give this a decent rating; the people I saw it with definitely helped in my enjoyment due to how invested in the picture they were. Anyhow, Prince was an incredibly talented musician... he was also incredibly eccentric, but throughout life I have learned that the most talented people are typically pretty odd compared to what is seen as “normal”. I know that since last Thursday his album sales have skyrocketed and whether digitally or on disc this movie has been one of the most purchased films on Amazon. A lot of people are clearly fans of his music, or at least his most famous albums. It was nice to see and hear him perform at his peak and as you have to sign up to the fail known as Tidal to most easily hear his streaming albums, it was nice to hear some great songs in that way, and it was nice to see again what is an amazing artifact of the 80's.

Superman III

Superman III (1983)

Runtime: 124 minutes

Directed by: Richard Lester

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Annette O'Toole, Robert Vaughn, Annie Ross

From: Warner Bros.

I explain below why I skipped both versions of II for now; I'll see them sometime in May. I will be back Tuesday night with what I imagine will be a lengthy review of an appropriate movie I saw on the big screen a few hours ago. For now, the review of this movie that has gotten recent cult love... for reasons unclear to me:

Note: Next month I will spend two nights in a row watching the two versions of Superman II out there; I haven't had the time or feeling to do that as of late. From memory I know that they aren't as great as the original Superman but they certainly are better than this motion picture.

In the past few years I have seen several people online rate this movie rather highly and even say it's their favorite Reeve as Superman/Clark Kent movie and no offense to those people but I'll never understand that. Now, I can't compare it to the Bryan Singer film or the all-time polarizing works known as the entries that Zach Snyder did, but while this isn't quite as wretched as The Quest For Peace, this still isn't good and what a downturn for the franchise. It's a shame that Richard Donner had those problems with Alexander and Ilya Salkind, which resulted in there being those two versions of II and now Richard Lester did all the directing and we got a lot of goofy comedy, much of it not that humorous... even Richard Pryor did not hit a home run here as Gus Gorman, and I can't blame it on the “problems” he had before this, as even after he lit himself on fire he had good standup comedy bits. Despite his personal issues and how he apparently did not always act that nice on set, I usually think of Pryor highly as he was a very funny dude, just not always on the silver screen, as this is an example of.

I am sure everyone's familiar with the plot where Clark Kent hangs out with Lana Lang in Smallville and Richard Pryor is a bumbling computer genius (and I do laugh at what Hollywood of the early 1980's thought computers were or what they could do) who becomes a henchman of a rich businessman A-hole played by Robert Vaughn... Superman developed some new convenient powers and yes, for a segment of the movie he became a dick, which started what I presume is a still popular Superman Is A Dick meme. Now, parts of the movie do work and the general idea is fine; but, I say that there was too much comedy which did not seem appropriate for this series-even if the Reeve movies were always light in tone-and I say that was the biggest downfall of why this did not work overall. The villain's ultimate scheme being highly illogical did not help matters either.

I do have to say that while it's nonsensical, Superman As A Dick was certainly memorable and Superman vs. Clark Kent was quite the battle, if goofy at times... I just wonder what happened to Clark Kent during that dick phase; did he suddenly vanish from working at the Daily Planet? I guess so. While it could have lasted longer and been explored more in-depth, at least it was interesting. While she barely appeared in the movie because Margot Kidder supposed Richard Donner instead of Richard Lester, Lana Lang is at least a canon character and the nicest part of the movie was the relationship between her and Kent. Really, I don't fault anyone in the cast but I do have to give kudos to both Reeve and Annette O'Toole as Lana; I wished for more with them, her kid Ricky and even the drunkard Brad rather than Pryor in a wacky suit with a giant foam cowboy hat on.

Now, let me mention a few random things:

* Giorgio Moroder contributed a few songs; I think his music is pretty cool so I was fine with that. I do have to say, however, that his version of a country song with Roger Miller (yes, the guy who sang King of the Road two decades prior) was as daffy as you'd expect a Giorgio Moroder country song to be.

* The opening slapstick number over the credits, it was entertaining and all, but why was it in a Superman movie?

* The ultimate fate of Vera was also memorable, and also a little disturbing.

* Gus Gorman and his penny shaving scam, besides being immortalized in Office Space, I am amused that people have actually tried it in real life.

Like I said, this wasn't as low as the Superman character got on the silver screen, but the newfound appreciation this has in some circles does mystify me.

The Beast Within

The Beast Within (1982)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Philippe Mora

Starring: Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens, R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones

From: United Artists

Here's a random movie I watched last night. It's average, but at least it's not bad, and it has a hilarious movie description on Amazon. Hear all about that in my Letterboxd review below:

This is another movie I have heard about and known for many years now but never had seen in full until last night. An impetus for finally checking it out on Amazon Instant Video was the description they had listed for the movie. It reads: “A teenager is experiencing growing pains of a most shocking sort in this exciting, tense and all-too-real story of human-into-monster transformation.” ALL TOO REAL? So it is realistic that a woman would be raped and impregnated by a bipedal beast in the rural South? Someone mutating from human being to something else is something that is stone cold fact?

That rape is how the movie starts off, and as Bibi Besch was knocked out when it happened she did not know it was a hairy bipedal beast so when the son was born it was treated as normal, and the kid was normal until he turned 17 and the fit hit the shan, as some like to say. Cronenbergian-like body horror happens and he transform; that scene where it happens is probably too lengthy and the effects have the early 80's limitations (usually the creatures we see are filmed in the dark, and I know that wasn't done by accident) but it certainly was memorable and creepy. What it turns into certainly is unique; the age of 17 is a big clue.

I can only rate it as average. It's mainly the story and how it seems like it's spinning its wheels at times until we get to the final act and things really get into a higher gear. That's not the only issue I had but it was the biggest one. It's a shame as it certainly had a capable cast (including Besch, Ronny Cox, L.Q. Jones, and R.G. Armstrong), the setting of a rural town in the South is pretty good when it comes to atmosphere and the musical score from Les Baxter is suitably creepy, not to mention quality stuff.

It is not a bad horror movie by any means and there are countless examples of that from the 1980's; but, to me it's not a classic by any means. At least I can say that this had a different and wacky plot and they went all-in on treating it seriously. I imagine the novel this was (real) loosely based on wasn't so odd.

Lethal Weapon 3

Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

Runtime: I saw the 121 minute Director's Cut

Directed by: Richard Donner

Starring: Who you'd expect in these movies, plus the likes of Rene Russo and Stuart Wilson

From: Warner Bros. 

It was not the plan to be away from a few days. But, Tuesday night I saw Up in Smoke again, a movie I reviewed for 4/20 back in 2011. I unexpectly saw this Wednesday evening and last night I did not feel like watching anything. But, later tonight I'll see something and review it for tomorrow. Now, onto this, which I hadn't seen in a long time. It's definitely not the first two (classic) entries in the franchise. I explain why in my Letterboxd review below:

When I woke up on Wednesday I had in mind some movies to watch on TV; this was not one of them. Plans changed for several reasons I won't get into and I can always watch online what I hoped to check out playing on a television station. Earlier in the year I reviewed the first two Lethal Weapon movies and they were both great, as I had remembered them. This one, I knew it wasn't as good and yet I hadn't seen it in years either. Turns out, what I had remembered was correct.

After an opening that is kind of dopey if you think about it (although at least a building is actually blown up, which is pretty cool) Riggs and Murtaugh are briefly demoted, until they happened to stumble across another big case, and they happen to stumble upon a returning Leo Getz (once again, a little of him goes a long way) and they happen to... you get the point. The bad guy ends up being a dirty ex-cop who is greedy. This was explained outright in one scene and yet through no fault of the actor, the character comes off as cliché and bland. He's no Mr. Joshua, that is for sure. Gangbangers are a secondary villain and an interesting moment was when Murtaugh ends up killing a teenaged boy who was friends with his son, and his grief over that happening. Also, Murtaugh is about to retire in a few days, and amazing that is NOT a sign of his impending death.

I can only rate this as “fine” instead of “great” for a few reasons. Aside from the villain, there are various story things to complain about, and not all of the comedy works. Things are not as rock solid as in the first two movies; there are notable moments throughout but overall it's not as strong. Still, I will mention some of those notable things. Rene Russo was cool as an ass-kicking female who starts off not liking the leads but of course she and Riggs fall in love. There are still some amusing moments. And, there are some quality action scenes to see, from shootouts to car chases. It's just that it pales in comparison.

Although, you hear the phrase "son of a bitch" at least 50 times, so that's something I suppose.

Turbo Kid

TurboKid (2015)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Francois Simard/Anouk Whissell/Yoann-Karl Whissel

Starring: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside, Edwin Wright, Aaron Jeffrey

From: Way too many production companies to list

Last night I finally saw this movie, one that has had a lot of buzz even before it was released last year. I don't love it like most do but I didn't hate it either... I explain it in my Letterboxd review below:

This was another random watch for me on Netflix; what I mean was that as I looked through my (lengthy) queue, it was not the original plan to pick this out. But, I suddenly got the feeling that I should finally see this. After all, I had known of this movie even before it came out, and I saw glowing reviews here and elsewhere. So why was I now bowled over by this?

The plot is goofy on purpose: in the post-apocalyptic future of 1997, a random teen is inspired by a comic book character on a BMX bike so he engages in adventures and deals with an eyepatch-wearing Michael Ironside, who plays someone named Zeus.

My first problem with the movie: when it tries to be funny, more often than not it isn't and it just comes off as clashing with the rest of the picture. Characters slowly biking when it's supposed to be a “chase” wasn't amusing to me either. While the film is another one of those things that is in the “tries way too hard” category, when it comes to the comedy aspect... it can be painful. Then, there's the character of Apple... apparently that lead girl is popular with a lot of people; I have no idea why. “The character is supposed to be annoying” is not a satisfactory explanation to me; it's not the fault of the actress, it's that the character was annoying as piss and I hated her the entire time. I was far from bewitched by her charms. Then again, maybe it's just me getting tired of such things as lazy 80's homages, bad humor or movies that rely heavily on over the top graphic gore.

The thing is, a movie that I naturally compare it to (Hobo With A Shotgun, and not just because the director of that was an executive producer on this) I enjoyed more than this. I haven't logged in a review yet but I actually saw it on the big screen and despite it definitely being in the “tries way too hard” category I know I enjoyed it more than this. Once I see Hobo again I'll give it a review to see if I feel the same way.

Yet, I can still say that this was average. There were some inspired moments, Ironside was pretty great as the villain, there was a cool metal mask wearing dude named SKELETRON, and while it doesn't always fit what's on screen, the synthwave soundtrack from artists Le Matos was pretty rad. Oh, and the beginning of the movie and seeing what seemed like at least 15 different production company logos flash by, that made me laugh as even with all of the independent movies I've seen through the years, I've never encountered that many with one motion picture.

So yeah, I wish I loved it like many do; I honestly can only say it was middle of the road for me.