The Drop 2014

Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini are Brooklyn bartenders with some very minimal organized crime connections. Well, at least Tom Hardy wants to steer clear of it, though Gandolfini still revels in his glory days of being respected. When the bar gets robbed, the mob expects our guys to get the money back, but the police are also inching closer to all these illegal activities. Meanwhile, Hardy finds an abused puppy in a woman's trash, and things go from promising to shady real quick.

So far, I've been pretty vague with the plot and I'll leave it at that. It's kind of a slowburner, performance-driven, and basically just a good fuckin' movie. Tom Hardy is cool. James Gandolfini was great. I miss him, and this movie came out a year after his death. Apparently the last movie he dropped before dropping himself, but what a movie it was.

A highlight of the crime challenge. Good shit.

#Review

Dog Day Afternoon 1975

Based on a true NYC bank robbery in 1972, this movie is often regarded as one of the classics, but you don't hear people talk about it that often. Al Pacino was on fire back then. You could tell he was young and hungry, but is the movie as good as they say? Eh, I guess so.

You can tell this movie was a huge influence on Airheads (1994). The hostage situation that garners fans and sympathy while the police try to handle it.

This movie also has Chris Sarandon as a super gay, Charles Durning as the police guy, John Cazale as Sal the co-robber, and Lance Henriksen as another cop. His appearances are brief, but he's bad-ass. His part in in this movie is probably why they wanted him as a Terminator. He blends in. Regular yet creepy. A killing machine.

Yeah, it's a good movie movie. I'd buy it for a dollar.

#Review

Texans!  Is the Lake Texoma Bigfoot a thing?!?

This was on the Travel Channel, which, as I have mentioned here before, should now be called the Bigfoot Channel.
https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/these-woods-are-haunted/episodes/it-came-from-hell-and-ozark-bigfoot

This episode had a dramatization of brothers who had an encounter with some kind of beast. They think maybe it was a Bigfoot. Is this a popular urban legend around that area of Texas? Or, a rural legend, I guess... I'll just call it a legend. You see where I'm going with this. Do people often claim to have strange encounters around there?

Tremors (franchise)

Is anybody here a particularly massive fan of the Tremors franchise? I saw the first one, and some of the second one, on some channel yesterday. Possibly SyFy. Anyway, I just started thinking about how Burt Gummer is sort of the Ash of the Tremors franchise. He's a fairly regular guy who just has so much attitude and gumption (and firepower) that he can prevail, while others perish gruesomely.

I'm contemplating binge-watching as many Tremors movies as I can find for free. I wouldn't do it in the next month or so, probably, because I have a whole bunch of family things coming up soon. But, hopefuly later this summer, or not too long after that, I guess.

Does anyone have a favorite Tremors movie?? I'm not even sure how many of them I have actually seen. The first one, of course, and most of the second one. After that... I may have watched a few scenes from various movies, over the years, just accidentally while channel surfing. I can't say for sure.

Anyway, yeah... if anyone has any thoughts on the franchise as a whole, or whatever, please share.

Avenging Angelo 2002

What the fuck was this? BAD Stallone! Bad!

I don't even know what to say about this movie. It's a romance that isn't charming. It's a comedy that isn't funny. It's an action movie that's boring as hell.

I'm glad I never blind-bought this, otherwise I'd have to avenge myself.

#Review

2023 Viewings

This is for anyone who wants to keep a log of their viewings/ratings every month so please feel free to add yours.

The links for the previous 6 years viewings are here if anyone still needs to access them for reference:

2022: https://trashepics.com/post/30/43/
2021: https://trashepics.com/post/30/37/
2020: https://trashepics.com/post/30/31/
2019: https://trashepics.com/post/30/9/
2018: https://trashepics.com/post/30/5/
2017: https://trashepics.com/post/9/97/

Murphy's Law 1986

Charles Bronson is a cop trying to catch a serial killer with the reluctant help of a dyke he hates. Yeah, he uses that as an insult, but of course, he gradually grows fond of her.

There's a bit of a clusterfuck aspect going on in which the killer is doing their own thing, but the cops are also trying to catch Bronson, accused of some wrongdoing or another.

What I liked about it is that it was mean-spirited. They killed without discrimination here. The movie is comparable to 10 to Midnight, also directed by frequent Bronson collaborator J. Lee Thompson. Pretty interesting filmography from that guy.

Charles Bronson is the coolest. I should make him my avatar.

#Review

Spider-Verse 2

Miles misses Gwen, who now works for Spider-Man 2099. After his parents nag him about his life choices, Miles & Gwen's paths cross once again, and Miles must stop a universe from getting destroyed. However, he recklessly opts to save a single person over an entire planet. He also finds out he has a nemesis who has some portal and reality-hopping abilities. Can he be stopped? Just when you think you're about to find out... TO BE CONTINUED!

Suffice to say, the movie is inconclusive. He doesn't really get to complete an arc and nothing is resolved, therefore I can't have a strong opinion on it. Don't you hate that? We get some good backstories for our characters though. We also get some a few decent cameos and references to various canon: the MCU, the Venom movies, the Raimi movies, the Garfield movies, and just about every SM inbetween. So it's there if you want it.

#Review

Schwarzenegger is FUBAR

Netflix, 8 episodes, ~45 min each. Arnold is a spy who finds out his daughter is also a spy. They argue a lot before eventually reconciling and making a good team. You've probably seen this plot before.

Now when you mention "Arnold" and "spy", one will inevitably compare it to True Lies, which is a fucking great movie. You may have it in the back of your mind, but one of the best references... is an appearance by Tom Arnold.

The cast is decent. Arnold's T6 co-star Gabriel Luna is in this, and Arnold's character's ex-wife is played by "Alotta Fagina" Fabiana Udenio. The daughter character has trouble deciding whether to bang the funny buff co-worker Travis Van Winkle, or marry her nerdy lame boyfriend Jay Baruchel. Seriously?

In the end, it's an okay enough show. I got a few laughs out of it, and Arnold is always fantastic. He's a 75 year old playing a 65 year old. I think it's great that these old guys like Stallone and De Niro can still play tough guys. I'm fairly certain one punch from Arnold could kill me.

Watch it or don't. I did, and my life wasn't changed, though I was mildly amused. I'm not sure if they said the F word, come to think of it. They merely insinuate it with the title for all I can remember. It wasn't very violent, either. And now Arnold has been hired by Netflix with some made up sounding title "Chief Action Officer". I wonder what that means.

#Review

MANDY (2018) is utterly fantastic

"You owe me an apology. That was the worst movie I've ever seen in my life . . . and it's not even close." Those were the words I heard uttered from a dude in front of me, who had also seen MANDY. The man looked rather normal, so you could assume that his reaction was the result of an amazing film that is not for normal people. And you would be correct in that assumption.

MANDY (2018) - Taking place in 1983, a lumberjack (Nicolas Cage) lives in a secluded cabin in the woods. His artist girlfriend Mandy spends her days reading fantasy paperbacks. Then one day, she catches the eye of a crazed cult leader, who conjures a group of motorcycle-riding demons to kidnap her.

Panos Cosmatos is one of the most interesting directors working today. One reason for this is because virtually every frame in his films is gorgeous to look at. He truly has an imaginary handling of color and light, which creates a vibrant and visually arresting viewing experience. The dark ambient score by Johann Johannsson is intense and helps to produce a disturbing, otherworldly atmosphere. The plot is simplistic and the characters are not exactly deep, but I did enjoy the interaction between them, which is crafted very nicely and is far more engaging than most films with this premise. There is some gory violence and a touch of "B-movie" madness to boot. Casting is spot on, with Cage, Linus Roache (as the cult leader), and Andrea Riseborough (as Mandy) being stand-outs.

When compared to Cosmatos' first film BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW, MANDY has a more conventional narrative that may be more accessible for some. It's still damn weird though, and not for normal people. I HIGHLY recommend this, and it gets a physical/streaming release on October 30th.