The Warrior and the Sorceress (1996) David Carradine, Luke Askew, Maria Socas
Yet another Roger Corman produced, Argentinian-made, Sword and Sorcery booby-ganza. Not as many boobies as the previous two, but you get more boob for your buck. (One character has four.)
Fun Fact: This was the first of two Yojimbo (1961) remakes released in 1996, beating Last Man Standing by two weeks.
The Protégé (2021) Maggie Q, Michael "Douglas" Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson
Didn't think I'd like it. I mean Keaton gets top billing in Maggie Q's movie. I expected phoned in performances by the names cast to bring in the audience, a competent performance by Q, third-rate performances by second-rate supporting actors, and a decidedly average story at best. Well, I got none of that. Sure, there were a few cringe moments, like the fight scene as foreplay, but on the whole I give it a Maggie B.
Alien Hunter (2003) James Spader, Janine Eser, John Lynch
Come the early 2000's, before
The Practice and well before
The Blacklist, Spader was desperate for another
Pretty in Pink with Molly Ringwald or
Sex, Lies, and Videotape with Andie MacDowell or
Stargate with Mili Avital. Instead he got
Alien Hunter with
Carl Lewis.
Phoenix: The Warrior (1988) Persis "Ilia" Khambatta, Kathleen Kinmont, Peggy McIntaggart aka Peggy Sands aka Peggy F. Sands aka Peggy Sanders aka Peggy Seagren aka Miss January 1990
Directed by
Ted Striker! Oh wait. Different Robert Hayes. The fun of big boobies, bad dialogue, bad acting, bad action, bad editing, and really shitty '80s synth got to be tiresome by the 20 minute mark.
Hah hah, I searched that movie up. 80's hair and pasties for armor! That's great. A couple of beers and good friends, it'd probably be a laughriot to watch!
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) Daniel Craig, et al
The Rian Johnson ensemble sequel to the ensemble Knives Out (2019). The stars may not be as big in my aged awareness (Jamie Lee Curtis vs. Kate Hudson, Don Johnson vs. Dave Bautista, Chris Evans vs. Edward Norton -- okay, I'll give you Norton -- Christopher Plummer vs., um, sorry, who is Madelyn Cline?), but cameos abound: Yo-Yo Ma, Hugh Grant, Serena Williams, Ethan Hawke, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc. Apparently Angela Lansbury (The Manchurian Candidate) popped up at some point that I didn't catch.
Anyway. Good movie. Good twist on the genre. Any bad reviews you may have seen or heard are by people of questionable intelligence and/or motives.
Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (Original Uncut Version) (originally Lycanthropus) (1961) Carl Schell, Barbara Lass, Curt Lowens, Maurice Marsac
"When a series of gruesome murders rock an all-girl reform school, it will unleash a nightmare of sexual corruption and lupine depravity."
Bad, over-dubbed dialogue torturing the rules of grammar so as to match the original Italian speech patterns; late 1950's era special effects; hot, Italian twenty-somethings playing teenage girls. What's not to love about this movie?
Stop Making Sense (1984) Talking Heads
Talking Heads at their coke-fueled peak.
Okay, I have no evidence that David Byrne ever indulged in illicit drugs other than 1) it was the middle of the Reagan administration and the early years of the so-called "War on Drugs" where practically overnight a dime bag couldn't be found for $100 and cocaine was as cheap as a beer (or so I've been told); and 2) the movie. I mean, have you ever watched it?
I do have to admit, though, David got moves.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) You know who all
The present time stuff was okay but the flash-backs made this movie. It's been a few days and I still choke up.
Fun fact: The only reason that I know this movie was a Castle reunion casting was because I happened to catch Molly Quinn's name in the ending credits. I'm still not quite sure where she appeared in the movie.
The Batman (2022) Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano
Who'd have thought that anyone from the Twilight series could put on a compelling performance? Anyone who hasn't seen [i]The Lighthouse[i] (2019), that is. Granted, Pattinson looked like a broody, sparkling vampire when not in the bat-suit, but he was a compelling broody, sparkling vampire.
side note: Zoë needs to eat a sandwich, or something. Maybe get her mother to cook up one of those voodoo chickens.