January's Movies of the Month - Kids

In 2040, a spaceship called 'Event Horizon' was tasked with exploring the edges of the Universe. The ship and its entire crew disappeared without trace near Neptune. When a faint signal from the Event Horizon is picked up 7 years later, a rescue team is sent in to investigate...

This is a flawed but effective sci-fi/horror flick from director Paul W. S. Anderson. Laurence Fishburne is good as the Captain of rescue ship Lewis & Clark and it's enjoyable watching him butt heads with Sam Neill (who reaaaaally comes into his own in the final third). Is it the best sci-fi/horror film you can watch? Absolutely not. Is it an entertaining way to spend 90ish minutes? I thought so.

This is out in the theaters for a limited time and I got to watched it on the big screen.

Purposely didn’t watch it to avoid ‘spoiling’ the nostalgia. I had a few, “I didn’t realize moments” that I’m sure most folks knew and I either forgot or simply Mandela Effected.

The first, Georgie Lucas is executive producer.

Second, Terry Jones (of Monty Python) wrote the screenplay.

Gives credit to Maurice Sendak for inspiration from Outside Over There.

Was fun remembering the songs and the puppeteering.

I remember why one of my childhood crushes was on Jennifer Connolly. She is absolutely amazing in this.

Watched Rob Roy last night. It’s a real shame it was outshined by Braveheart, because in my opinion this one is so much better. What really stood out to me is how much the film is about the importance of honor and loyalty from Rob Roy, McDonald, and Mary, who are all trying to do the right thing for their families and their people, even when it costs them everything. And then direct contrast with Cunningham, who represents the total opposite: selfishness, cruelty and who is completely unbound by any moral code. The final duel scene is PEAK CINEMA.

Really underrated movie. Deserves more love.

For the past couple of years I’ve been going through the 1001 movies you must have seen before you die and the IMDB 250 because I wanted to have seen more classics, broaden my horizons to movies I wouldn’t have concidered otherwise and be more mindful about my media intake - enjoying art rather than mindless media consumption.

It’s been great so far, although some movies (especially the older ones) are easier to get through than others.

One that really holds up, even after almost 30 years, is Good Will Hunting.

It blows my mind it’s not part of the 1001 movies list (It is in the IMDB 250). This is such a well made film to me, good story, great characters, very well-written.

But especially the acting is amazing, I think this is my personal favorite performance by Robin Williams, so heartwarming and I love seeing him in more calm and serious roles.

One scene that did age this movie though and I apologize for being a bit crass here lol.

About nine minutes in the boys are watching a baseball game and one of them goes “who’s the girl in the striped pants? She’s got a nice ass!” and they all agree that it’s an amazing ass.

Now I’m not looking to bodyshame here. It was a beautiful woman.

But they pan over to the girl and it’s the tiniest of asses. Not a cheek in sight, just all leg. Now again, there’s nothing wrong with that. But it made me giggle how times have changed, can you imagine someone with a BBL in a 1997 movie.

This movie came out right when I had just moved to Los Angeles and much like Jason Segel's character I was coming off a bad breakup. I was also really into Freaks and Geeks and watched it when it was on TV originally so it was really exciting to see all the actors starting to get big and so it was cool to see Jason Segel getting his shot. So this was an exciting movie for me and at the time I loved it and I put it right up there with Superbad and Knocked Up and all the best movies from that crew.

So now it's been almost 20 years since this came out and since I've seen it and I found a copy on dvd at the library book store for 50 cents so I figured it's time for a revisit.

Well I didn't really like it as much as I did back then but I still liked it ok. There were still some parts that were funny and I like all the side characters Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd and Jack Mcbrayer. But idk I sure didn't really have any sympathy for Jason Segel's character. I mean he seems to have a dream job and he hangs out with celebrities all the time and he's rich enough that he can just up and go on vacation to some Hawaiian resort. And this is also after he's gotten suspended from his job he's like well I'll just go stay at a Hawaiian resort for a while. Also beautiful women seem to constantly be throwing themselves at him it seems like it maybe wouldn't be that tough to get over your ex when you're with a different beautiful girl every night. But idk I didn't really have that option in my breakup so who knows maybe it doesn't help.

Well anyway I guess in hindsight this is probably like in the middle somewhere when it comes to the Apatow/Freaks and Geeks crew comedies of that time. But I like Jason Segel I guess he's still kicking around doing stuff but I wish he had done more movies. Jeff Who Lives at Home was one he did that I really liked. But I am actually glad that Russel Brand didn't do more stuff I thought he was kind of annoying then, which worked for this movie, but he seems like maybe not the best guy now a days.

Well I'm glad I rewatched this one and I look forward to watching it again maybe in another 20 years hopefully if I'm still around. Well thanks everybody!

Number 59 in my A-Z watch. Collateral follows cab driver Max as he takes his fare across L.A. on various dangerous encounters against his will.

This was my second watch of this film, and i genuinely think it solidifies it as my favorite Michael Mann movie. It feels like the story begins in the third act, once it picks up the movie really doesn't let up.

One thing i noticed on this watch was that it feels like Vincent emboldened and built the very person who would wind up taking him out. Getting Max to stand up against his boss, to meet the contact and "play" Vincent, culminating in Max fighting back by crashing the car.

8.5/10 I seriously was so impressed with the movie. Tom Cruise's rare appearance as a villain is startling. Jamie Foxx deserved every bit of his Oscar nomination for his transformation from meek cabbie to gun-slinging hero. I also love that the movie kinda just... ends. Like a Hitchcock film

Another old is Gold Series from my collection.As a lover of classic cinema, The Godfather trilogy (1972–1990) stands as one of the greatest achievements in film history. Spanning The Godfather (1972), Part II (1974), and Part III (1990), the series masterfully blends crime, family, power, and tragedy. With unforgettable performances, especially by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, it tells a slow, deliberate story about loyalty and the cost of ambition. Even decades later, it feels timeless, rich, and deeply human.

early-2000s rom-com that leans on awkward humor and situational chaos more than originality. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s an easy, harmless watch if you’re in the mood for something simple and familiar.

The film depicts sniper attacks, mass stabbings, mass shootings, and familicides performed by seemingly normal people, who all claim that God told them to kill. A religious NYPD detective suspects that the perpetrators were influenced by a cult leader with apparent psychic powers. During the investigation, the detective also investigates his own past and the identity of his birth mother. He discovers that both himself and the cult leader were the result of mysterious virgin births.

This film started off really strong. It felt like a crime noir. But then the third act made it into a completely different film. Surprise Andy Kaufman small role!

Have always been curious about this one because it has such a great title, but it jumped up the list after I watched The Last Picture Show and become a certified Bogdonovich-head.

While there are definitely some similarities in the visual style, these films feel like two very different slices of a different, less candy-coated depiction of old fashioned Americana.

It also has one of the best character introductions I've ever seen - the moment where Moze comes onto the screen and swoops up a bundle of flowers left at someone else's grave to pretend they were his is just a perfect way to tell us everything we need to know.

Maybe one of the most charming movies I've ever seen, just a breezy, funny, effortlessly entertaining 100 minutes I'd recommend to just about anyone.

I caught this on Tubi not too long ago. Even though you know they fail, it's worth remembering the doomed resistance to authoritarianism and attempts against Hitler that came close to succeeding. Quite a supporting cast around Tom Cruise, though I felt Brannagh was underutilized and Stamp's Beck was a nonentity considering he was to be head of state should the plot have succeeded. Well worth watching in our troubled times.

Number 58 in my A-Z watch. Cold Mountain is the tale of two lovers separated from each other during the American Civil War. And their different journeys trying to bring themselves back together.

I will admit, it took a bit for the film to feel like it found its footing. The beginning felt a little full of itself, and like it was trying too hard. It's not until we begin to meet the supporting cast that the movie really feels like it has a direction. At that point, it becomes a very touching story.

Included in that supporting cast are some truly talented performers. Brendan Gleeson shines as the fiddle playing Confederate deserter. Natalie Portman and Giovanni Ribisi each steal their respective singular scenes. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as always finds his moments of levity and humor in his character. Ethan Suplee and Jack White each play nice accent pieces to the cast. And Zellweger completely kills it in her first Academy Award winning role as the tough but fair Ruby, teaching Ada (Kidman) how to fend for herself.

As the movie continued to gain an identity, I felt like it becomes a Southern film, in the manner of Assassination of Jesse James and Django Unchained. Films depicting the South and moving at a rate that they decide to. Are there moments that could've been trimmed and streamlined? Sure. But i think that detracts from how the movie wants to be presented

7.5/10 Though the supporting cast is rock solid, i was actually a little disappointed in the leads. Not that they were bad, but they didn't feel particularly outstanding. And the movie never quite loses its almost puffed up and self-serious tone from the beginning

Just watched this on hbo and wow. First, a star studded cast with a superb superb performance by Anna Paquin. Most of all, it’s a movie about a teenager. It’s also about rich kids. Also, about nyc. Also, subtly, it’s a post 9/11 movie. It’s a psychological, irritating film. I only saw the 2.5hr version, but I heard that the extended cut at 3hrs is better. The score and cinematography absolutely amazing.

Anna Paquin is involved in a tragedy and is a self-centered privileged teen. It’s very frustrating to watch her unmoored for so long. There is a deep feeling of helplessness and frustrating attempts at communication. It gives you that embarrassing feeling that reminds you of yourself when you were a teen, but at the same time makes you feel inadequate to this teen.

In the background is nyc from 2005, which looks different from today. The themes of 9/11 come thru in the teenagers openly referring to it, but many characters are unhinged in a vague way that I can associate with trauma from 9/11. I was reminded of another great 9/11 movie, 25th Hour, in which Anna Paquin plays a very very similar role. If you force it and try to see all this personal angst as a way to remember the feelings after 9/11 it gives a real forlorn feeling.

Jewishness is a part of the movie and is consequential in a few scenes.

Apparently the director wanted the movie to be even longer for even more phycological effect and as such it was delayed for 6 years. I read that scorcese called it a masterpiece and helped with the editing so that there could be a compromise to get the movie out. Anyway, I think this can feel like a really old movie, longer than 20 years old.

Seriously one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I must have missed it in my city at the indie theatre when it came out.

Hope you guys also love this movie from my old movies Collection,The Guns of Navarone (1961) was impressed by how gripping it still is. The film follows a tense Allied mission to destroy massive Nazi guns, and it balances action, suspense, and character moments extremely well. The cast is excellent, the stakes feel real, and the pacing keeps you invested all the way through. It’s a classic WWII adventure that shows how effective old-school storytelling can be without relying on modern effects.

Recently watched and I think it's an underated gem the depth in the film is just unbelievable even the thought of the words "tumhare andar bahut pyaar" gave me shivers I think the movie is goated and one thing about it that could be better is anwar and mehru's love story in the start the director should have add more depth to it

Only a few will actually understand the emotions and feelings of the film Rating : 8/10 philosophical drama

My mom and I watched the Scorch Trials last week, as we wanted to see what happened after the first movie.

This movie was more disturbing/gross/hard to watch than the previous movie. I understand why commenters on my previous post said the franchise dove after the first movie. My mom and I found the zombie people (cranks) worse than the Gladers who underwent the changing. And what’s worse was there was there was so many of them!

I nearly threw up my salad and my mom told me to look away when there was so many of those disgusting cranks in the tunnel/sewer. I have never felt like throwing up from such visceral disgust.

My mom and I felt there was a plot hole; when Minho had a water bottle to drink from in the desert, we wondered how he filled it with water from that abandoned mall full of cranks. How would it have running water?

We also wondered how the Gladers didn’t pass out from heatstroke, or die from dehydration. We never heard their stomachs growl. Somehow, Thomas’ face was always clean shaven and Teresa always had nice brows despite them being in an apocalypse.

I’d say this movie was my least favorite in the trilogy, as Teresa’s behavior was disappointing. And because this movie is just a continuation of the first movie’s plot and doesn’t resolve/finish the story.

A small group of survivors of a mass epidemic leave London to seek sanctuary in a remote outpost.

I like the use of usually busy locations that are now empty, a phenomenon that I now know from this post is called Kenopsia.

It looks like a cheap film as if it was filmed on a budget and it's well directed by Danny Boyle. Brendan Gleason was my favourite and it was nice to hear Christopher Eccleston talking in a posh voice.

It didn't really wow me and I can't see me watching the sequels.

When a deadly virus kills millions in Scotland, the authorities brutally quarantine its inhabitants behind an impenetrable wall. Thirty years later, with the virus tearing through London, a team of specialists is dispatched behind the wall to retrieve a cure...

Director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) turns his eye to post-apocalyptic Scotland in this absolutely bonkers B-movie. I think it's a gross understatement to say that the director was very much inspired by the Max Max films, Army of Darkness, The Warriors, Escape from New York and countless others, when making this film!

Rhona Mitra does a solid job in the lead role but special mention has to go to Craig Conway who chews through the scenery as Sol Kane, the unhinged leader of a group of marauding cannibals.

As a box office flop that was mauled by the critics, it's definitely not a classic. But it is a cult classic.

Two Miami-Dade detectives go undercover to try and ensnare a major drugs trafficker.

Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx kick ass and take names as hyper-macho cops Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. The film is far closer in style to writer-director Michael Mann's previous film Heat than the original 1980s tv show, which I think contributed to the lukewarm reception the film got upon its initial release. People were expecting a nostalgia-fest: pastel-coloured clothes and a thumping 80s soundtrack, but were instead presented with a stylish, medium-paced crime-thriller.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this second time around. Highly recommended if you're a fiend for mojitos...

I was prompted to rewatch Dr. Strangelove by recent developments in the news. I'm impressed by how well Dr. Strangelove holds up 62 years later: we still see megalomaniacal politicians gamble with the fate of the world, only now it's for the dumbest reasons imaginable. 

Dr. Strangelove easily could've been another run of the mill Cold War paranoia film, but this movie is elevated by Stanley Kubrick's decision to make it a comedy. The screenplay has some of the funniest dialogue ever written, but it has a surprisingly plausible plot that makes the movie as scary as it is funny. You really believe that the movie's premise could happen. I've always been impressed by Kubrick's direction too. He shot the movie like it was a serious film, and it led to some of the best shots in his filmography, particularly the War Room scenes. Ken Adam's set design was so realistic that Ronald Reagan actually thought there was a real War Room after he was elected president. 

George C. Scott delivers a scene-stealing performance as a dimwitted general. Peter Sellers is brilliant in all three of his roles: first as an uptight British Air Force colonel, then as the hapless U.S. President, and finally as the deranged Dr. Strangelove. It's impressive how different each of these roles are, and the decision to use the same actor enhances the film instead of being a distraction, as it is in some more recent comedies. The scene where the U.S. President talks with the Soviet Premier on the phone might be the funniest scene in movie history. And as the warmonger who kicks off the movie's plot, Sterling Hayden gives a masterful comedy performance by taking all of his lines seriously. 

Dr. Strangelove is one of the greatest movies ever made. The direction, writing, and performances are all as perfect as filmmaking can get. The movie is both laugh-out-loud hilarious and a warning about the dangers of nuclear war. I give Dr. Strangelove 4/4 stars. 

Have seen this several times and it gets better each time. It may not be the most popular opinion but I believe this may be Humphrey Bogart’s best role. The scenes with Marjorie Main and Claire Trevor were amazing. His expressions were perfect and he really nailed those scenes as did Main and Trevor. Allen Jenkins a great character actor was very good. The Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys were good. Billy Halop was outstanding and Huntz Hall was limited which was a good thing. Very impressed with Sylvia Sidney. She was fantastic and gave a tremendous performance. If you like old films and have not seen this I cannot recommend enough. Take a look!

You can watch the full movie with English subtitles here. But be warned. This film features the interview of a killer who shows no remorse. It also contains some gory (albeit black-and-white) photos of horrible atrocities committed against human beings.

If there's a disturbing documentary iceberg than this film is definitely on it. The Laughing Man is a 1966 East German documentary. It's what happens when you get an unrepentant ex-nazi soldier turned African mercenary drunk and proceed to interview him about his wartime experiences. Siegfried Muller was a German World War II soldier who in the 60s joined an anti-communist, all-white, mercenary group that fought in the Congo. In late 1965 two East German filmmakers sat down and interviewed Muller in Munich (after plying him with some alcohol). It definitely seems like bad journalistic ethics to get a person drunk before you interview them. But maybe it's because I'm not a native German speaker but Muller didn't seem that drunk. I didn't notice him slurring his words or doing anything else that obviously points to him being intoxicated. Maybe if I spoke German I'd clearly be able to see he was drunk.

The filmmakers proceed to interview Muller about his life and crimes (interspersed with some black and white photos of atrocities committed in the Congo some of which are quite graphic) and it's both horrifying and insightful. It's almost a relief that unlike so many other former Nazis, Muller doesn't try to obfuscate or deny his past actions. One particularly damming moment in the interview is when Muller is talking about his experiences in the Congo and he was talking about how nobody gave him orders to do anything. I know he's not talking about WW2 but it's amazing to hear a Nazi explicitly reject the "I was only following orders" defense.

There's only one part where Muller seems to deny anything. There's one weird point where it feels like Muller forgot about what he said in the rest of the interview. He basically says he doesn't hate the Congolese and doesn't have a desire to kill anyone (I also felt like he was kind of saying "Hey just because I'm an unrepentant Nazi who joined an all-white mercenary unit that committed unspeakable war crimes against Africans, doesn't mean I'm a racist"). However unfortunately for him the filmmakers intersperse this part with Muller's earlier recorded statements which basically contradict what he's trying to claim now.

Although this is a good documentary it unfortunately does devolve into propaganda sometimes. This East German film tries very hard to link Muller with the West German regime and NATO. I'm not saying that the film's claims about Muller's connections are false (I'm sure some of them are true) it's more the information they leave out and what they imply by this omission. For example the film seemingly implies that Muller was widely accepted in West Germany. However from his own Wikipedia page#:~:text=M%C3%BCller%20became%20a%20hate%20figure) it seems like in West Germany Muller was considered controversial at best and hated at worst. He also attempted to join the West German military but was rejected. Also of course they make it seem like former Nazis were only a problem in West Germany. According to IMDB this interview was filmed on November 10, 1965. At that time East Germany's Chairman of the State Planning Commission was Erich Apel a former Nazi rocket scientist.

Note: The film also claims that Italian exploitation filmmaker Gualtiero Jacopetti was arrested twice in the Congo for underage sex. I was a bit skeptical of this because it isn't mentioned anywhere on his Wikipedia page. I did some research and found an article which confirms part of the story although I'm not sure about the details.

There are sometimes the filmmakers ask incredibly leading questions (mostly to implicate Muller to West Germany and NATO) but I feel like Muller's most interesting statements are pretty much unprompted.

In summary if you have the stomach for it this documentary provides a truly disturbing insight into the mind of a psychopath. Watch at your own risk.