Monday, October 26, 2020

Movie Review - COVID-19 Lockdown Special (Part 6)

Here are more of the cinematic content I continued to consume between the last post and this one.

Contender (2000)

After the death of the US Vice President, Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen) is President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) leading contender for the post. During the confirmation process, Laine faces a slew of a vicious personal attacks. 

The lengths politicians will go to destroy a candidate’s chance at rising to power. 
The sheer nastiness & all the dirty tricks used to do so. The assault was lead by Shelly Runyon (Gary Oldman).

Outstanding performances by all actors in the movie. Jeff Bridges and Gary Oldman are 2 of my favorite actors. This is a GREAT movie but it is so depressing as it shows the worst of humanity in the quest for power in the most realistic way possible, I DID NOT enjoy watching the movie and I doubt I would ever watch it again for those very reasons. But for those of you who can endure the ugliness of human ambition, this is a MUST WATCH!

Heidi’s Song (1982)

It’s a classic animation by Hanna-Barbera. Heidi (Margery Gray) is a little 6 year old orphan girl who’s just lost her parents. Her aunt then took her to live with her grandpa (Lorne Greene) in the countryside woods. Well loved by all who meets her, Heidi quickly develops a strong bond with her grandpa and the animals in the vicinity.Not long after, Heidi’s aunt came back to take her away to the city for a better life more suited for a little girl growing up. In truth, Heidi was to become a servant girl to a rich man and his disabled daughter Klara. As the rich man is rarely at home, the mansion is run by 2 mean and vicious care-takers.Heidi brings joy to the lifeless home and the 2 girls develop a strong friendship that seems to threaten the 2 caretakers’ position of power. They take every opportunity to find fault with Heidi to remove her from the house.The remainder of the shows how Heidi & Klara save each other from their respective predicaments. This is a great and entertaining cartoon, bearing in mind that this is a cartoon from a more innocent time and for a less sophisticated audience.

The artwork is beautiful BUT I have to say, there are several parts of the show that are very trippy and extremely dark & horrific. So horrific that it may not pass today’s approvals for General Viewership.I won’t be watching it again (not because it's no good but it's just too dated for me) but if you have never seen it before, you may want to have a look. 

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017)This is based on Neil Gaiman's short story. 

Enn (Alex Sharp), a Punk-music loving teen & his friends crash a suburban London party but it was actually an out-of-this world alien cult ritual where he meets Zan (Elle Fanning).Eventually, Enn learns that Zan belongs to a group of aliens who are here to destroy humanity. 

What Zan didn't expect was to fall in love with Enn. She is torn between her responsibility to her people and her love for Enn.I was quite surprised to see Nicole Kidman in there as a Punk Veteran. I could barely recognize her in her heavy make up.This is one of those fairly trippy movies with a lot of Punk music (that I'm not a fan of). Altho' I enjoy Elle Fanning's screen time, this was just not my cup of tea. You have been warned.

Mimic (1997)

New York is plagued by disease spread by cockroaches. Entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) develops a genetically spliced insect, the Judas Breed, that effectively eliminates the cockroaches. 

The Judas Breed was only supposed to have a very short life cycle and naturally die off soon after the disease was gone.However, 3 years later, a giant Judas Breed specimen, so highly evolved that it can even mimic the appearance men, stalks the New York city subway and sewerage networks. But is there just 1 or is there a whole colony?

This is a really good Sci Fi Horror flick by Guillermo del Toro (known for the good Hellboy movies). Plus, I really like Mira Sorvino and can’t get enough of her. This show is worthy of several re-watches. I admit this is not my 1st watch. Even then, I still enjoyed it.So, if you have NEVER watched it before, what are you waiting for? Go watch it already!

Scanners (1981)

A vagrant, Cameron Vale (Steven Lack) was captured by government agents after an "incident" at a mall. The incident was his Scanner powers manifesting.Separately, we also see how rogue Scanner, Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), uses his powers to kill other Scanners. The government is hunting Revok but had little success. Vale seems to be their last chance to do so. 

Vale is guided by Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) to use and control his powers. Vale was tasked to find Revok by infiltrating his acolytes. However, one by one, these Scanners are killed. 

Only Kim Obrist (Jennifer O'Neill) survives. Obrist agrees to help Vale find Revok.A Pharma Company, ConSec, develops a drug, Ephemerol, that's given to pregnant mothers and their children grow up having telepathic/telekinetic powers.

Now this would be groundbreaking material if I was watching this in the 80s or 90s. Even by today's standards, if we can look past the lack of CGI and thus, were unable to manifest visually on the screen, the manifestation of the Scanners' powers, this was a GREAT FLICK! A MUST WATCH if you are a fan of Sci-Fi or Super-Hero movies.

This is the X-Men/New Mutants before any of the successful superhero movies were made. 

The Ref (1994) 

Unhappily married Lloyd Chasseur (Kevin Spacey) & Caroline Chasseur (Judy Davis) undergoes marriage counseling on X’mas Eve.Gus (Denis Leary), botches a robbery at a neighbor’s house and injures himself after being attacked by the guard dog inside, he runs out to find his bumbling & alcoholic getaway driver, Murray (Richard Bright), gone. Lloyd & Caroline just arrived home from as Gus stumbles upon them while looking for Murray and takes them hostage in Lloyd & Caroline’s house as Gus desperately tried to contact Murray for a getaway. But it’s X’mas Eve and Lloyd & Caroline’s son Jesse is coming back from Military School while relatives are coming over for a X’mas Eve dinner. 

The candle-stand headgear they wore during dinner was a riot! 

Despite being 26 years old. I really enjoyed myself watching it for the very 1st time. Lloyd & Caroline’s constant squabbling despite being hostages is the highlight of the movie. I found it to be very funny and enjoyable despite it being a little dated. Go and watch it.

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