INDYATMN
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| 71 27% | Escape from L.A. (1996) - Jul 08, 2020
"The ending has a lot more impact than the the first film’s, but the rest of it sticks so closely to the formula, it’s the only part that’s an improvement. Carpenter does a good job of using all of LAs biggest cultural elements to hide the sameness, but he also goes badly over the top in the humor & the social commentary’s less subtle than ever. The surf scene & basketball game are both also dumb, but made me grin slightly & even feel a little suspense, respectively. "
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| 83 63% | Venus in Fur (2014) - Jul 05, 2020
"Seigner's performance is good but, having seen the much younger Nina Arianda perform it on stage, I think she’s miscast. In this role, it’s hard not to notice the difference youth makes. Seigner is certainly just as sexy but her age makes her seem less vulnerable & more of a potential threat from the start. Polanski also has her do an unnecessary goofy dance at the end & fails to end with the play’s more sinister sense of an ambiguous fate for the director. "
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| 83 63% | The Dungeon Masters (2008) - Jun 27, 2020
"In a lot of ways the geeks in this doc are about what you'd expect. Their lives aren't going the way they'd hoped & so they spend a good chunk of it immersed in fantasy & occasionally engaging in overly controlling behaviors when they're not. Watching the D&D games doesn't always add much either. Still, (& maybe cause I'm a geek) their longing & desires are very relatable. The film is also so honest & reveals so much of the heartache in their inner lives I found most of it extremely compelling."
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| 70 25% | Vamp (1986) - Jun 26, 2020
"There are only 2 briefly exciting moments - 1 w/ an elevator & another, a clingy little girl. The movie does throw in some unexpected moments & tries to keep us guessing about who's gone bad, but it still mostly feels like a nothing-special B-movie. Jones is striking but, like most of the heroes, not interesting. (Although Makepeace IS Mel Gibson's TWIN!) There's a stereotypical Asian w/ dumb jokes & even most of the strippers are egregiously lame. They couldn't at least get hot strippers!? "
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| 71 27% | Tales of Frankenstein (2018) - Jun 25, 2020
"I'm a fan of Frankenstein and greatly admire Don Glut's DIY ethic that requires no involvement from major studios/publishers. And the 4 deliberately schlocky stories here all start off well, but end in very banal ways. Only the 1st story offers a surprise EC Comics-style twist, but it's flawed by a story detail we never see. The production design in the 2nd also leaves out a key detail. Like the 3rd, it also offers no surprises at all & the 4th has a fun idea it does nothing with. "
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| 71 27% | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) - Jun 22, 2020
"The asylum’s a fresh set-up & the always compelling Cushing gets a good intro, but meeting the inmates initially feels a lot like a tangent & even after the plot comes together, it’s not much of one. It’s slow & padded with a 60’s version of gore. The good parts highlight Frankenstein’s evilly callous indifference to the pain of others, but there’s not much of that. This is also far cheaper-looking than the other entries esp The Monster’s egregiously schlocky makeup. "
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| 95 94% | Cool Hand Luke (1967) - Jun 11, 2020
"An anti-authority metaphor that I'm sure not just hippies loved. Typical for its time & all the decades that would follow, it presents a bunch of criminals in the most sympathetic light possible by never letting us see any crime other than Luke's drunken vandalism. But like other classic films of its time, its not as simple as it looks - the insights into prison life are unique & the authority figures aren't sadistic, just draconian & indifferent. Best of all: you have no idea how it will end. "
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| 76 43% | Paul Williams Still Alive (2011) - Jun 04, 2020
"An unusually edited film that seems like it could be used in a film class about the potential problems doc filmmakers might experience. There are enough awkward parts that will have you wondering what the filmmaker's even going for (which is better than zoning out I guess). But it's also a fun primer on how much Williams has accomplished & the last 20 minutes builds up to a very moving climax about a man who discovered late (but not too late) that fulfillment didn't lie where he thought. "
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| 76 43% | Licence to Kill (1989) - Jun 04, 2020
"Maybe it's the vengeance against drug dealer plot or all the familiar 80's faces, but never has a Bond story felt more like it could've been turned into a Bronson vehicle. This isn't a bad thing though b/c the very personal stakes are perfect for Dalton's hard-edge & never has a Bond film felt so grounded. Q in the field is also fun. The wheels start coming off in the last 30 mins though when franchise requirements kick in (he's got to have sex & lairs need to explode). But it's not bad. "
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| 81 57% | Die Another Day (2002) - May 29, 2020
"The opening is great: it puts Bond in a position we've never seen him in before & makes the stakes really personal. Brosnan is also at his best, bringing a hard edge to Bond that's belied by puns & double entendres that are more eye-rolling than ever. There are 2 big twists & some cool new ideas (invisible car; ice palace; sword fight), but executed in a very cartoonish way (windsurfing off a glacier & awful shock glove efx). Berry is hot but can't convincingly pull off devil-may-care coolness."
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