Greetings, Programs!
I have realized that I have been getting behind on my ever growing backlog of films in my collection. I decided to try to get in as many films as possible every week. I completed the following five last week. Most of them were not good, and one of them you may not have even heard of, but is a fun flick from a bygone era.
Let’s have a look!
Happy Death Day (2017)
If you have seen Scream and Groundhog Day and liked them both, you may enjoy this film.
“A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again, in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer’s identity.”
A fun little flick, “In da Club” is nowhere to be found in the movie despite being in all the trailers I saw for it. Oh well. The lead, Jessica Rothe, reminded me of the actress that plays Supergirl, but she is better. She also resembles Blake Lively too. Jessica does an OK job in the role, and like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, you go from disliking the character to actually rooting for them as they grow in the story.
Have no idea where the sequel will go with this as it looked like the story was complete with the first one, but like everything else that makes money, milk it till it’s dry.
Very low on the blood/gore scale, so you can watch this with those with a weak stomach, or ‘Tweens that have not watched it yet.
3 / 5 Goblins
Happy Death Day 2U will be released on Valentines Day.
Mile 22 (2018)
This one could have been great. It was not, and I think it’s time that Peter Berg and Marky Mark stop working together.
“An elite American intelligence officer, aided by a top-secret tactical command unit, tries to smuggle a mysterious police officer with sensitive information out of Indonesia.”
The trailer showed some promise, and the action from Iko Uwais, (The Raid), looked impressive, but that movie never happened.
There were a lot of issues with this film, but I think that the editing of this movie really hurt it. It was cut like the person was on meth, it jumped back and forth in time constantly. The scenes themselves were like a Micheal Bay movie amped to 11. Shaky cam was also annoying.
Marky Mark’s character had OCD and was constantly snapping a rubber band on his wrist that helped him keep focus. After the 6th or 10th time of then zooming in on his wrist, I wanted to take a knife and cut the damn thing off.
The one thing they did get right, the tough woman, (Lauren Cohan), did not take down a man with her bare fists, she used every weapon at her disposal to take him down and nearly died in the process. Kudos to Peter and the fight choreographers on this.
This was to be the first in a planned trilogy, but it did so poorly at the box office, it is doubtful any further installments will be greenlit.
On the violence/gore scale, it’s pretty explicit, and for those that have a thing about profanity, this movie is not for you.
2.5 / 5 Goblins
The Nun (2018)
This one, where do I start?
New Line Cinema has found gold with “The Conjuring Universe”. The five films have a combined production budget of $103.5 million and have grossed worldwide $1.569 billion.
The wheels may be coming off with this latest entry, The Nun, however.
“A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.”
Like the Annabelle spin-off, The Nun is the second new series; with The Crooked Man getting ready to be the third. Since all of the artifacts shown in Ed and Lorraine Warren’s house, (The Conjuring), there could be several more stories to be told. If this is the quality to be used for new stories, they should quit while they are ahead.
The lack of logic in this film is astounding. Take, for example, this Abbey in Romania is holding the demon Valak, a massive destructive force, but the Vatican leaves it to be protected by a handful of nuns.
The star, Taissa Farmiga is the sister/daughter of Vera Farmiga, clearly looks like a relative of the Lorraine Warren character, share a similar gift of clairvoyance, yet are not related in the film.
Cheap jump scares everywhere, minimal tension, not sure why this was rated R as there was only a couple of shots of a dead corpse. Although blood is shown on the steps of the Abbey, it was about a scary as a broken bottle of ketchup spilled all over the floor.
2.5 / 5 Goblins
Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)
The conclusion of the Toho Studios animated series, I think it is safe to say that Toho can put this series away for a while until someone else can bring some new and exciting ideas. From the bureaucracy storyline of Shin Godzilla to now a “Death Cult”, the series has strayed so far from the trail it fell off a cliff.
I’m not saying that King Of The Monsters will be the be all and end all for Godzilla, but in no way can it be worse than this movie.
“Humanity, their alien allies, and Godzilla all enter their endgame as the powerful destructive entity known as Ghidorah arrives on Earth.”
Confirming why this series went from bad to worse:
“The minimal focus on monster battles was due to Toho Studios specifically asking the film’s creators to take the franchise into a new direction, and cater more to female audiences with a human-focused plot. Director Kôbun Shizuno likewise admitted that he never had an interest in Godzilla, and embraced the opportunity to do away with the old traditions of the franchise.”
I have no faith in Toho making any good Godzilla films any longer.
Roland Emmerich can now rest in the fact that you no longer have the worst Godzilla film produced with your name on it. It belongs to Kôbun Shizuno.
2 / 5 Goblins
The Car (1977)
The treat for the week was The Car from 1977.
“A small desert town is terrorized by a powerful, seemingly possessed car, and the local sheriff may be the only one who can stop it.”
That’s about it folks. A car with no visual driver is killing everyone in its path on, (or off) the road because, ???
A fun dumb thriller that perhaps wanted to be Jaws in the desert, but for those that have not seen this little flick, seek it out.
Starring James Brolin, Ronny Cox, Kathleen Lloyd, and sisters Kim and Kyle Richards in their much younger days. This film does not try to explain why the car is there, why it wants to kill, nor how it came to be. It is a relentless killing machine plain and simple.
Rated PG, the little blood showed looks fake, no gore whatsoever. 
Back in 2004 the Chrysler 300 was released and the first thought that came to me was how it looked like The Car and if there was to another film made, they would not have to do much in the way of modifications. $84K was spent on the 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III. The same company had also designed the Batmobile for the Batman 1966 TV series.
3.5 / 5 Goblins
Ronnie Cox is in the sequel that came out recently, I have not watched it yet, but will very soon.
