Although I did revert to form a little at the last minute by reviewing a Jesus Franco film:
The Belko Experiment (2017), in which unseen puppetmasters incite an epidemic of mass murder in a corporate office building…
Europa Report (2013), in which astronauts searching for life on Jupiter’s coolest moon find what they’re looking for…
Get Out (2017), in which meeting the parents is an even bigger nightmare than our hero was expecting…
Iron Doors (2010), in which not everything screwy that befalls one on April Fool’s Day is a prank…
Kong: Skull Island (2017), in which yet another “shared universe” meta-franchise sputters into life…
Mansion of the Living Dead (1982), in which Franco hears someone call Horror of the Zombies the worst of the Blind Dead movies and says, “Agarra mi cerveza“…
Night of the Tentacles (2012), in which the world’s most embarrassing heart attack leads to a pact with Satan even less carefully thought out than usual…
The Vampire’s Coffin (1958), in which Count Laszlo Lavud sees how city living suits him…
and…
Zombie A-Hole (2012), which commendably bears absolutely no resemblance to the movie you just imagined upon reading that title.
#1 by goddessoftransitory on May 8, 2017 - 12:07 am
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Ohhh, man, Get Out!
***SPOILERS***
This film is not only brilliant and touched on a veritable Pandora’s Box of American racist crap–the overcompensation, the fetishism of the Black body, the complacent “good enough” attitudes of Rose’s family and friends in their attitudes towards Black people–no matter what outrageous thing they say at least it’s not the N Word–but its construction is absolute genius. Rewatching it is just as rewarding as the first viewing, because you get to see how every single scene and line slots into the full setup.
Like, at the very beginning, when Chris asks Rose if her family knows he’s Black: she says no. Not yes. Because if they knew ahead of time, their consequent behavior towards him would be “off” enough that he’d be on his toes a lot earlier. White liberals would be much more circumspect and watchful of their behavior if they’d had warning to shape up ahead of time. But because he thinks it’s a surprise to them, Rose’s parents’ behavior can be written off as “trying but awkward,” the kind of crap he’s dealt with all his life, for a lot longer.
Oh, I could go on and on, but will just point out that even in what seems to be a silly little scene of Rodney watching TV, the commercials are, firstly, the famous United Negro College Fund motto “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” which segues perfectly into a commercial for Cialis. Underlining the entire premise of the film with a throwaway joke? Masterful.
#2 by Jared on May 8, 2017 - 6:58 am
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Interesting reaction to Kong; I actually found it a much more satisfying and solid film than Godzilla (and I quite enjoyed Godzilla as well). At the very least, the human characters were a lot more interesting this time around, though possibly at the expense of the monsters’ personalities.
As for the shared universe thing, I feel like this movie got it just right in how far it should reference the wider ‘verse — just a couple of winks in the body of the film itself, then outright confirming the connection with Godzilla in the post-credits scene. Less Avengers:
Age of Ultron or Captain America: Civil War; more The Incredible Hulk or Thor.
#3 by The Rev. on May 8, 2017 - 11:46 am
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Although I’ve not read the reviews yet, I peeked at the ratings you gave the two I’d been looking at and considering watching (Belko and Tentacles), and you seem to have liked them enough that I’ll be bumping them up the queue a bit.
As for the two of them I’ve seen, your rating of Get Out pretty much lines up with mine; however, I will definitely be interested in your King Kong review, as I really enjoyed it.
#4 by The Rev. on June 2, 2017 - 11:12 pm
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Is anyone else finding that El Santo’s site is gone, or is this just a weird glitch I’m experiencing?
#5 by Tangerine Pythong on June 3, 2017 - 7:33 am
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Yeah, I just went to check out the review of ‘Get Out’ as I had finally managed to watch it and it looks like it’s been disabled.
#6 by El Santo on June 3, 2017 - 4:38 pm
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Fixed now. Turns out I forgot to give my hosts the new info when I got my debit card replaced last quarter.
#7 by supersonic man on July 24, 2017 - 5:47 am
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Lots of good stuff here. And thanks for pointing me to Hulk’s placation review, also. It crystallized something for me which was holding me back from reviewing movies like Ultron and Winter Soldier and Civil War.