Feb 1, 2021

Monthly Media Recap - January 2021

 Welcome to another year of Monthly Media Recaps! 
 
A few reminders:

You can find me on Letterboxd. I don't usually post reviews there but I do record my movie views so I won't forget any at the end of the month.

If a title is linked, it will take you to Amazon if you want to buy the movie, or anything else, and drop a few pennies in the coffers.
 
 
Streaming

Cobra Kai (S3, Netflix) - I don't want to say this season jumped the shark but it's definitely getting a little more soap opera-ish and how many times do you let kids beat each other up before you get the police involved?
 
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S4, Netflix) - I am definitely going to miss this show! The overall story for the final season was great. The final couple eps were crazy but in a really fun way.
 
The History of Swear Words (Netflix) - Seriously, who could host this better than Nic Cage? OK, maybe Sam Jackson but still, this is a lot of fun and a good change from anything else you're watching.

WandaVision (Disney+) - Still airing new eps but it is a real treat! Not only am I interested to see how it unfolds but the work that went into recreating each sitcom style through the years has been top notch.

The Flight Attendant (HBO Max) - Love this show! Definitely a very Hitchcock vibe to it. It's even got a little bit of retro going for it with the title score and split screen shots. Kaley Couco was fantastic and had a lot to do with her character. It's nice to see do something other than "the blonde girl on the sitcom". I wasn't sure they were going to wrap it up by the end but they pulled it off while leaving the possibility for another season. However, it would have to be a really great story.
 
Movies
 
Godmothered (2020, Disney+)
Getting in the last holiday movie of the season and I didn't suffer through it. It was cute, if a little by the numbers. The few tweaks they put on the fairy tale mythology were fun. Lead Jillian Bell really went a long way toward my enjoyment and the fact that it was set in Boston.

Rating:  6/10
 
Thanks (?) to Now Playing Podcast, I made my way through the Bloodrayne trilogy. God help me.
 
Say what you want about Uwe Boll, because everyone else does. Honestly, I'd rather have watched 90 minutes of someone playing the game, it would have been more entertaining. You'd think it would be difficult to screw up a movie where the main character is a hot, female, half-vampire. Boll makes it look it easy. Like the undead, this movie lacks any kind of passion. It's got some of the least interesting fight scenes you'll ever see.
 
Rating: 3/10

So, how do you make a sequel to a mediocre at best movie? Recast your lead (admittedly she's more fun), have a camera operator that makes Blair Witch look like it used a steadicam, and attempt a genre mash of vampires and Westerns that has nothing to do with the video game series. Oh, and definitely keep the bad acting and drab fight scenes.

Rating: 3/10



Cleavage! Lesbian sex! Nazis! Nothing can save this movie. Somehow the acting is even worse than the previous two. And how do you not get at least one actor to do a decent German accent? I usually enjoy Clint Howard when he shows up in anything but even he is pretty flat. Despite what the trailer might make you think, there is no vampire Hitler in the movie aside from a dream sequence. While shooting this, Uwe Boll also did another version called Blubberella using a plus size actress which looks like it would be more fun to watch.

Rating: 2/10



80s horror at it's basic level: horny people go in the woods and get slaughtered. I never thought there was a thing as too much gratuitous nudity but here we are. I get that's the point of the movie and it's not so much the nudity but there's just so many sex scenes. If you've ever watched a Skinemax movie and thought it could use a monster ripping people up, this is your flick. Low budget horror can be a tough sell for me sometimes and this is one of those times.

Rating: 5/10

It might be unfair to compare this to Deadpool but unless you haven't seen it, it would be hard not to. That's not a bad thing, I had a level of fun above what I've had with most DC movies. I absolutely loved Ewan McGregor's Black Mask because it was quite different from anything else I've seen him do.

Rating: 7/10


Blood Machines (2019, Shudder)
Can I explain the plot of this to you? Hell...no. Did I absolutely love it? Pretty much! I've never read an issue of Heavy Metal but this whole thing screams it to me. From the grindhouse type visuals to the weird nudity to the rockin Carpenter Brut score (seriously, check it out!). This isn't so much a movie as freaky amusement park ride, but worth the experience.

Rating: 8/10

This was a childhood favorite of Mrs Dex and we happened to find it on TCM one night. An all star cast heads up this spoof of the old, dark house style murder mysteries. It's the 70s version of Clue! While it is fun, I don't know that someone not familiar with the cast or the famous fictional detectives they're spoofing would find it as enjoyable. In other words, you may need to be 40+ and/or know your 70s pop culture.

Rating: 7/10

Mrs Dex and I have known each other for over 20 years and I only recently found out she had never seen Clue! Naturally, there was no better time after the previous movie. It still holds up amazingly well. The cast is superb and the jokes are witty. Tim Curry running around explaining how it happened is fantastic.

Rating: 8/10

This is the only John Woo film I've ever seen and man does it play into everything I know about Woo's style. It just doesn't feel right in an American movie much less Tom Cruise. If the Bond movies are the standout missions of his career, MI2 is like Bond's ho-hum day to day grind. During the "climactic" final fight, I couldn't help but think of They Live's "put on the damn sunglasses" fight.

Rating: 5/10

Did you watch anything fun or noteworthy this month?
Let me know in the comments.

Year to Date
New: Rewatch: 2
Total: 10

2 comments:

  1. I need to watch Don't F--k in the Woods just because of its great title.

    ReplyDelete