Accidental Quarantine Watch: Jezebel (1938)

Watched:  05/18/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1930's
Director:  William Wyler

Y'all should know by now I like me some Bette Davis, and one of her early-career films you hear name-dropped a bit is Jezebel (1938).  In all honesty, all I knew about the movie before hitting Play was that it starred Davis, was a period piece of some sort, a melodrama of some sort, and featured cinematography was by Ernest Haller.   I figured on a big studio budget as Davis was, by 1938, a force.  But I didn't think much else about the production.

Given the year, I assume this was Warner Bros. pre-emptive answer to Gone With the Wind, which would arrive soon after and took so long in all phases of production, Warner Bros. had an opportunity to catch up and did so by adapting a screenplay with very similar themes.  Maybe I'm wrong, but the parallels of a romance about a spitfire of a girl in the antebellum south longing after a man she can't have and playing with a bit of a cad and it all ending badly has a certain echo to it.

Comedy Watch: 21 Jump Street (2012)

Watched:  05/15/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Phil Lord, Chris Miller


As it starred neither apes nor robots, I was never a watcher of the original 21 Jump Street when it was on TV.  I knew roughly what it was about, but I don't believe I've ever seen an episode.  Between this fact and the massive pile of comedy remakes that had been hitting since the mid-90's Brady Bunch revival, I was in no particular rush to see this movie. 

But, then I learned it was a Lord & Miller movie and gave it a shot.  All in all, an ideal Friday-night comedy with enough Lord & Miller stuff to make it really work.  The cast is great (special shout out to Ellie Kemper) and there's a ton of really good stuff packed into 90 minutes, even with some pretty pat "high school kids sure are different now!" stuff that's a little hard to buy with only 7 years passed since our heroes supposedly graduated high school.

Pretty clearly there was a lot more shot, as a few things are referred to and it looks like some unused stuff wound up in the credits.  Which makes me reflect on the assignment of Lord & Miller to the Solo Star Wars movie, and their eventual firing.  What did Disney think they were getting, again?

Anyway, the movie is exactly what you think it is, maybe funnier than you'd guess. 

Catch-Up Watch: Good Boys (2019)

Watched:  05/16/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming HBO
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Look, the secret life of boys on the verge of teenhood is hard to capture.  The last time I remember thinking anyone got it was parts of Boyhood and Stand By Me.  It's the last time you're friends with kids who you might not have all that much in common with before you hit middle and high school and become more yourself.

Good Boys (2019) doesn't avoid that idea, but it does show the potty mouthed, sheltered dopes boys are at around age 12, with confused ideas about masculinity, an overpowering need to demonstrate their worldiness and maturity, and one foot firmly on the side of kid-hood and one foot on the side of becoming a teen.  In short, you're a @#$%ing mess.

I don't want to overthink what is a "well, this worked very well at least the first time, but maybe not so well on the second once the shock and surprise value is lowered" comedy, but this movie was, indeed, funny.  And I can just imagine all the explaining parents and those on set had to do with the kids (if they did any at all) about half the things in the movie.

Anyway, writing about what is and is not funny and everyone's sense of humor is all over the place, but some of this felt very familiar, indeed, from a certain age (about 5th grade).   A quick glance at Metacritic is pretty much a roadmap of how this movie just isn't going to land with everyone.  Some seem to think it's just being outrageous and that's bad.  Others seem to have a, shall we say, interestingly sociopathic idea of what *would* have been funny.  I will say, regarding one flavor of complaint I read - it doesn't hurt to know that one of the laws of comedy is stupid repetition.  Or, in fact, if you repeat something, it just gets funnier.  Sort of the way that if you keep doing something, it just increases the comedy value.

But, that's the thing with comedies.  I looked at Amazon to see what was on there, and, man, are there a lot of 90 minute movies out there that just look painful to watch.  And a lot of it is - I have no idea what world the filmmakers are living in where they thought "yes, let's make this movie and, from coast to coast, a lot of people will find this hilarious".  Like, sometimes you're just funny to your friends.

Anyhoo...  this is a very Rated-R movie, so do not watch with the kids. 

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla v. Gigan (1972)

Watched:  05/12/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  First all the way through
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Jun Fukuda

We're in that part of the Showa era of Godzilla where it's kinda for kids and every once in a while there's a bunch of samurai blood shooting out of a kaiju.  Godzilla v Gigan (1972) features about 30 minutes of WWE-style monster fighting at the end of the movie, so it's light on plot and eager to deliver what you paid to see.

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Watched:  05/08/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  First as an adult
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Jun Fukuda


This movie is straight nonsense.

That's not exactly a criticism, but it is remarkable how, in a short couple of decades, Godzilla went from "manifestation of faults and failures of a nation coming back in the form of an unstoppable behemoth" to "giant friend to the children who likes a good bit of wrasslin' with other giant monsters".  As I said elsewhere, any time you see one of these movies and it stars a kid in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, you know you're often getting a particular flavor of Godzilla that is knowingly goofy.

Tweet Watch: Manos Returns (2018)

Watched:  05/08/2020
Format:  Tweet-a-long on Amazon Prime
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Tonjia Atomic

I don't know.  I don't know what I expected.

Somehow a return to "Manos"- The Hands of Fate, the 1966 zero-budget horror indie out of El Paso, TX, which had neither synced sound nor coherent narrative, and arrived in 2018'ish as a shot-on-video-but-not-great-video and featured simply too much dialog - was kinda just right.

Manos Returns (2018) features - and I want to get this out there, because I missed this prior to watching - the original actor who played The Master and the former little girl who played Debbie, now a grown lady-person still playing Debbie!  Take that, David Lynch and your 25 years later!

Much like the original, I don't understand the movie or what it is trying to do.  At times it seems like it wants to be a parody, and at other times, a straight sequel with some enhancements thanks to the power of video editing. There's genuinely more story to this movie, but with similar outcomes.  And more red bras.  Lots of red bras.

I dunno.  I didn't *not* enjoy seeing the movie, and it is definitely a worthy successor to Manos, whatever that means.  But, you know, beware something striving to be a sequel to Manos.

BTW - seeing this also told me there's a mini-market of Manos ancillary media being produced.  Debbie is going on to make a TV series, there's a Rise of Torgo movie out there, too.  And seemingly other things.  Anyway, proceed with due caution.

Noir Watch: Fallen Angel (1945)

Watched:  05/08/2020
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Otto Preminger

This movie sort of felt like it was all over the place, or like parts of a few movies crammed together and held together by the twin powers of Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell.  Which is a shame, because Alice Faye, with whom I am not familiar, is good in this movie as well, but her plotline feels like it's sliced and diced til it leaves what looks like an interesting role as a sort of bystander on the sideline of her own story. 

Is it a Nightmare Alley look at carnival people and illusion?  Is it a Postman Always Rings Twice story of a girl stuck in a rut of her own making and wanting out, making a sap of a guy to do so?  It is a small town drama about spinsters and a travelling huckster?  It's got all of these elements, and you can see the lines where the stories are fused, but it does stick together.

Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (2002)

Watched:  05/03/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2000's
Director:  Masaaki Tezuka

This movie kind of kicked ass.

Sure, it's from the Millennium Series which is kind of confusing as the movies don't work in any shared continuity, but since we learn "all you need to know is Gojira from 1954", it's pretty dang easy to play catch-up.

Here's your plot:  1999, a series of monsters have been arriving in/ attacking Japan since Godzilla's first arrival in 1954.  A squad has been put together with advanced weaponry to take these monsters on, and has been pretty successful to date.  No more rampages like those of '54 (Toho also uses footage from Showa-era films as "documentary" footage).

But, whoops.  Here's a Godzilla again, with atomic breath and a terrible attitude about people.

Noir Watch: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)

Watched:  05/01/2020
Format:  Noir Ally on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director:  Fritz Lang

This one hadn't really been on my radar, but with Fritz Lang directing - his final American film, no less - and starring Dana Andrews, and both coming off the heels of a movie I thoroughly enjoy, While the City Sleeps, I saw no reason not to give it a spin.  In some ways, and from an elevator pitch angle, the plotting is very similar to 1963's Samuel Fuller directed Shock Corridor, but Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) is a different type of movie, even if the two films definitely share significant DNA.

Doc Watch: Never Surrender - A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019)

Watched:  04/07/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Jack Bennett

I forgot to write this up a month ago when I watched it.  A really fun doc on a great movie, and with terrific participation from darn near everyone who was in it or worked on it.  And, as always, Sigourney Weaver is the coolest.

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

Watched:  04/26/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1990's
Director:  Kensho Yamashita

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) is maybe not the best entry in the series, but it does have a NASA official reviewing footage of the inside of a space craft that has some damage from an exterior source before exploding and says "it must have been a huge monster".  Look, science is just different in a world with Mothras and whatnot.

Russell Watch: The French Line (1954)

Watched:  04/23/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director: Lloyd Bacon

Hoo-boy.  Apparently Howard Hughes realized, after loaning out Jane Russell to Fox for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1952) and watching them make a mint, *he* had a Jane Russell under contract at RKO that he didn't need to loan out at all.  So, he decided to make another splashy musical about Jane Russell on a boat headed for Paris all on his own.  And if people liked a bit of sexiness, he was going to shove Jane Russell into even sexier outfits!  And he'sdrelease the movie in 3D!  Jane Russell would be dancing and standing around as if she were in the room!  You guys get it?  wink wink nod nod need I say more?

Yes, This Is The First Time I Saw This: Tremors (1990)

Watched:  04/21/2020
Format:  Netflix
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1990
Director: Ron Underwood

No, I'd never seen Tremors (1990), and it's just one of those gaps that happened for no reason.  I always assumed it was exactly what it turned out to be, which is something I am not against and often enjoy if you catch me in the right mood.  And, hey, yes, it was exactly that movie.  And that's okay!

It fits neatly in with a lot of movies from the era, while also being generally better acted and produced with, frankly, amazing practical effects.  Good stuff and an entry-level horror I might show a kid.

I have nothing to add to anything about this movie except that I am joining my voice to the chorus that believes this is the prequel to Dune.  Fan theories!  Totally a legit way to watch movies!

KAIJU WATCH: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah - Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) AND Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II

Watched:  04/19/2020/ 04/20/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First/ Firstish
Decade:  2000's/ 1990's
Director: Shusuke Kaneko/ Takao Okawara


I am unsure what I'd heard about Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) as a particular entry in the G-franchise, but it *seems* to be pretty popular.  Godzilla v MechaGodzilla II (1993) may be marginally popular with kaiju fans.  Arguably, GMAOA is aimed at an older crowd, and harkens back to the existential threat of Godzilla as first presented in 1954.  GvMGII seems aimed at a younger crowd, but still works pretty well.

Russell/ Noir Watch: The Las Vegas Story (1952)

Watched:  04/18/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director: Robert Stevenson

Pivoting from the exotic locale of Macao to the oasis in the desert that is Las Vegas, Nevada, Jane Russell drops Mitchum and picks up Victor Mature, Vincent Price and "the guy who will be a bad guy", Brad Dexter.

Catch-Up Watch: Booksmart (2019)

Watched:  04/18/2020
Format:  Hulu Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director: Olivia Wilde

I'd had a few trusted sources go to the mat for this one and been interested in seeing it when it was out, but... didn't.  A few blunt points on the movie:  in many ways, this movie is very, very familiar as a high school comedy about privileged kids and has a lot in common with movies that get routinely dismissed as dumb comedies.

But, sometimes it's about the execution.

Noir/ Russell Watch: Macao (1952)

Watched:  04/15/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director: Josef von Sternberg/ Nicholas Ray


I've been trying to track this movie down for years.  Fortunately, this month on TCM, Jane Russell is Star of the Month on TCM.  And, in any circumstance, Jane Russell is just an excellent idea.

This one has not just Russell as a lounge singer, she co-stars with Robert Mitchum, with whom she was apparently pretty good pals.  It also has Thomas Gomez and Gloria Grahame in an oddly small role for her chops (this is five years after Crossfire and the same year she got an Oscar nom for The Bad and the Beautiful).   Throw in William Bendix (as one always should) and Brad Dexter, and you've got an interesting cast.  Not to mention the large cast of Asian and Asian-American extras and supporting roles.

Disney Watch: Timmy Failure - Mistakes Were Made (2020)

Watched:  04/04/2020
Viewing:  First
Format:  Disney+
Decade:  2020's
Director: Tom McCarthy


My guess is that you're sleeping on Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (2020).  This would be a mistake.  This will be one of the finest movies you could watch this year.

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) AND Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Watched:  04/01/2020 and 04/03/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  Second?  First as an adult
Decade:  1970's

Frankly, on top of and due to Coronavirus happenings, work has been a bear, and - thus - in the evenings I've mostly just been looking for something *fun* when I peel myself out of my office chair and mosey down to the living room.   For some time, my Criterion Godzilla set has been calling to me from the bookshelf, so we finally broke into it a while back and started watching some Kaiju Kraziness.

Proto-Super Reboot Watch: Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)

Watched:  03/30/2020
Format:  Amazon streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1980's

I remember being confused that, in 1981, I was not allowed to see either Legend of the Lone Ranger or Zorro the Gay Blade.   I'd catch Zorro in the summer of 1993 on TV  - summer I graduated high school, and it confirmed what I'd heard from friends at the elementary school lunch table about why I'd not been taken to see a movie about the original superhero.  Legend of the Lone Ranger held a lot more mystery - partially because it was just harder to find and partially because of what little I'd heard.  "It's really violent" I was told.