Drunken Master (1978, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
This was another
timely Patron request from Norma for Asian Heritage Month. I swear I'm gonna get better at these. Like most uncultured viewers of Jackie Chan films, I have yet to watch any of his earlier work before moving onto the Hollywood scene. It's nice to know that he was always a comedic martial arts actor. For the most part, I really enjoyed this movie! It was very entertaining and I was extremely mesmerized by every fight scene that took place. My only complaint is that I wish I could've found the original Chinese audio. I know people enjoy the ridiculous English dubbing that doesn't match the lip movement, but when I started I had the subtitles on and they didn't match the audio. It was just distracting for me. So, a lot of the time I tried to ignore that factor in my plans of reviewing this movie. The English is funny, just off putting for someone who doesn't really watch live action movies dubbed.
The Mummy (2017, USA) | Rating: 1.5/5
This was another studio effort to create the Universal Monster universe...and in short, this one definitely failed. I really like Sofia Boutella and I honestly enjoyed watching her be the new mummy. I think she did the best she could with the script that was given to her...and I'm sure that was a major challenge. The script was not good at all. Much like
Justice League, it was too busy trying to set up future movies than have a clear focus. Not only did we have Tom Cruise's character dealing with the mummy, but we had a Jekyll/Hyde subplot going on. I don't know what the future is going to be with the Universal Monsters, but they've definitely had more failed attempts than successes, which I'll touch on again in my
Invisible Man review.
47 Meters Down (2017, USA) | Rating: 2/5
It's a shark movie. I'm a little indifferent towards shark movies. They're fine, but most of them don't really wow me. I know this movie is enjoyed by many, but I vaguely remember being quite bored with this movie. It definitely has a slow pace, which normally doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't feel slow. I know there are fans of this movie, otherwise there wouldn't be a sequel, but obviously this movie wasn't for me. It wasn't terrible or anything, but I guess I wish there was just a little bit more action or personality with the characters.
The Glass Coffin (2016, Spain) | Rating: 2.5/5
This was a movie I streamed in the ye olde days of Rabb.it. [R.I.P.] It was not what I thought it was gonna be, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. The movie plays out with a mysterious caller instructing our unsuspecting victim to complete certain tasks and...that's about it. Yeah, I really wish I wrote this the year I saw it because according to IMDb, I didn't score this movie very well for some reason. I'm sure if I watch it now, my feelings most likely will stay the same, but I can't honestly tell you what was wrong with the movie. Perhaps it was the pacing or the conclusion. Nonetheless, what I can remember is that this movie definitely has promise.
Baskin (2015, Turkey) | Rating: 2.5/5
This was another movie I remember streaming on Rabb.it; perhaps it was a double feature with
Glass Coffin. *shrugs* I strangely remember this one...granted I watched someone else's review of it recently too. This was a very strange movie and I also didn't expect it to go the direction that it did. At first, I wasn't sure about this movie as it follows a group of men in a van in search of...something, but they end up underground with these odd human-like creatures and some disturbing stuff happens. Yeah, this movie definitely made me raise a brow. I haven't experienced much Turkish horror, if any at all, but this was definitely an experience and not one for the fate of heart.
The Addams Family (2019, USA) | Rating: 3/5
I was surprised to learn in 2019 that the iconic Addams Family was returning to the big screen, but in an animated form. At first, I was kinda critical of the art direction for the character designs, but learned that the animators took influence from their original animated/sketches. Nonetheless, I wasn't planning on making a special trip to the theater to see another cartoon stuffed with dated pop culture jokes and music with a sprinkle of potty humor. I admit that this movie wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I don't see myself returning to this version of the Addams'. It's cool to have a kinda dark, but humorous cartoon for kids like I had in my youth ala
Courage the Cowardly Dog or
Invader Zim (among other 1990s and early 2000s animated series). Personally, I'm content watching the live action movies and even dabbling with the television series. Apparently, I'm assuming, this movie must've made some sort of success for it to gain a sequel, which I will check out on DVD.
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009, Netherlands) | Rating: 3/5
I think this was shown in last year's Halloween Horror Endurance Run or just a regular October stream. I admit I like to challenge myself with these disturbing movies to see if they truly live up to the hype and this movie, among a few others, have been lingering in the back of my mind to tackle one day. So, after watching it, I can understand how it can be disturbing and why it gained some sort of cult following. I personally didn't think it was that disturbing, but moreso on the disgusting end of things. For the most part, I had a few questions, which were later answered by a friend who's a fan of the director Tom Six: 1. How did he come up with such a concept? 2. Why did the main character want to make a human centipede in the first place? 3. Who gave this man money to make this movie and its 2 sequels? Strangely enough after watching this gross little flick, I was a little tempted to check out the Second Sequence and perhaps even the Third. I doubt I would stream something like this again for the public, but the jury is still out for exploring the rest of the franchise.
Greta (2019, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
Despite this concept kinda being done before, I was still intrigued enough to see this in the theater and again on DVD. It's one of those stories where there's something not right about the antagonist and it all ties back to some personal tradegy that gets the protagonist all wrapped up into trouble. One fascinating thing I enjoyed while watching this movie is how Chloë Grace Moretz has slowly spread her wings into various genres in her cinema career. As I said before, this concept is nothing new in the suspense/thriller genre, but it was still entertaining watching how things would unfold for our characters. I thought it was definitely one of the better crazy old lady films, but for sure not the best either.
Host (2020, UK) | Rating: 3/5
Not to be confused by the Stephanie Meyer's film adaptation or the South Korean monster flick. This Shudder exclusive made its way to the shelves of my workplace for me to check out, after hearing about it from
Nightmare Maven. It was only appropriate to make a horror movie through Zoom, since most people are heavily using the FaceTime software during the pandemic. There were also similar screen sharing horror/thrillers that were successful in
Unfriended and
Searching, so why not give it a different paranormal spin. The first time I watched it, I became increasingly restless and disinterested in the characters presented me. Upon the second watch through, I gave the movie a little more of my attention and...I found it to be a decent watch. I wasn't completely blown away, but I was impressed that these group of people were able to film a paranormal movie apart from each other. The movie did offer some genuinely creepy and suspenseful moments during this silly seneance. I'm glad I gave it another chance, because I did enjoy it a little more the second go round.
Megan is Missing (2011, USA) | Rating: 1.5/5
Along with the previous movie, this entry was part of one of the
many movie challenges I undertook on Letterboxd. [Feel free to follow me there!] I have seen this on a few most disturbing movie lists, but definitely not as much as
Human Centipede and other titles I'll be mentioning later on this blog. I skimmed through some of the comments on the site and I was amused by some such as one user being more startled by their boyfriend breaking the silence with a fart and another user being bored by the 15 minutes of the killer digging a hole. From the very start of this movie, when Amy and Megan introduce themselves, I knew I would hate this movie. It is incredibly important to like your main characters in this kind of movie. We have a child predator for Christ's sake! As the movie went on, I could not
wait until Amy and Megan disappeared and that's saying something. Now there are definitely some disturbing parts in the movie in the thirdish act, but the pacing comes to a sudden halt during that 15 minute digging scene (and yes, I paid attention to the time). Overall as a movie, I did not like it one bit. From the jump off in the introduction, my feelings proved true. Despite its glaring flaws and pushing aside my strong negative feelings, I can give a small kudo for kinda adding a little something to the found footage genre.
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