Juice (1992)
Four inner-city teenagers get caught up in the pursuit of power and happiness, which they refer to as “the juice”.
7/10
Very dated, but it holds up. Tupac was a great actor. Kinda echoed his real life of being obsessed with being a thug and wanting respect for being tough.
Omar Epps was good, especially considering he was only 17 and still in high school during filming.
Lost Command (7/10) (1966) w/ Anthony Quinn, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon. Watched on Crackle.
I have an odd history with this film. I saw it on its original release in America (it was banned in France for 10 years) as a kid as one of the drive-in theater double bills we went to every week - I think this was shown with the top-billed Countdown with James Caan. It’s the story of a French paratrooper unit, which is captured at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam at the beginning of the film, and after their release as POWs, reforms to fight the Algerian rebels. Anthony Quinn is the rugged para colonel, has a good cast of French actors. As a kid, I dug the battle scenes and like all war movies, couldn’t wait to recreate them in my backyard at home with toy soldiers or fighting along the canals throwing dirt clods at my buddies. But I was confused as to who were the good guys and who were the bad guys, which is kind of the point of the film - the French paras used some pretty extreme tactics to fight a counterinsurgency war, including torture and summary execution.
i didn’t see the film again but read the book it was based on, Les Centurions, by Jean Larteguy, in the 1980s at Fort Bragg, when it was an underground classic in Special Forces, with worn copies passed from hand to hand in the barracks. I didn’t even realize until recently that it had been filmed.
Reviewing the film now, a lot of the subtext and moral ambiguity of the novel is gone, but it’s still a pretty fair view of the ugly nature of guerrilla warfare. Quinn is good as an officer whose family is of peasant origin and disdained by the officer corps; Alain Delon (who actually was an Indochina vet) is good as the privileged young officer who elects to become a para; George Segal (the grampa on The Goldbergs) of all people is the young Algerian officer in the French Army who goes native and leads the Algerian guerrillas; Claudia Cardinale, luscious as always, is his sister; even Bert Kwouk (Cato in the Pink Panther movies) shows up as a Viet Minh officer.
Worth seeing for an unusual look at 2 wars most Americans are unaware of. Very Hollywoodized in some respects, the combat scenes are 1966 era and not as visceral as modern films like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.
Would make a good double-bill with the docudrama “Battle for Algiers”, more sympathetic to the Algerians (which we also saw at Ft. Bragg - it was also used as a training film for the Weather Underground and the Symbionese LIberation Army, among other terrorist groups), or The Day of the Jackal (the first one), which dealt with the political aftermath of the loss of Algiers and the paras’ attempted coups against DeGaulle.
Best part of the movie.
“You’re right. I am crazy. And you know what else? I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a fuck about you. I don’t give a fuck about Steel. I don’t give a fuck about Raheem, either. I don’t give a fuck about myself. Look, I ain’t shit. And you less of a man than me, so as soon as I figure you ain’t gon be shit, pow! So be it. You remember that, motherfucker. 'Cause I’m the one you need to be looking out for…”
Beavis And Butt-Head Do The Universe
7/10
The Batman 7.5/10
The good - Pattinson, Tuturro, Collin Ferrel, Jeffrey Right, the Atmosphere, the cinematography, the gritty comic book approach.
The bad - Zoe Kravitz and the “White men bad” angle to make the Soy Guevaras fawn and simp.
I loved the slow burn of the movie, I think it worked in this case, the length is 30 mins too long but I get why they needed it.
A great “Detective” comic book movie, let down by casting and decisions to steer the plot into ham-fisted race baiting in order to get the leftcult seal of approval.
Odd movie, A Cronenberg movie which I enjoy. I always watch my doppelganger Viggo! 8/10.
Wyrm
7/10
Beavis and Butthead Do The Universe: 7.5 out of 10. Was a couple of really funny parts The end felt kind of rushed. Worth watching. Smart Beavis is a dick haha
Also saw this at the drive-in as a kid.
The classroom scene and everything immediately after was fucking gold! Haha
There was 1 part that made me actually start laughing out loud. I forget what it was. It might of been the Siri part. The white privilege shit was great also.
Just watched it today and gave it a 6.5 outta 10 , it honestly wasn’t a very good 1st half, I liked the 2nd half much more and loved the ending but it was way too weird and it felt too much like an art project for the first 40 minutes. doubt I’ll ever rewatch it and I usually like weird movies that make you think.
Looks like a way lamer version of The Lobster, which was a solid 4+/5
Much better than The Lobster. “Wyrm” is like a combination of Todd Solondz “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and Jared Hess “Napoleon Dynamite”
I scored it a wtf/10
Elvis 7.5/10
“Hit and Run” 2012. 6/10.
Featuring legendary leading man Dax Shepard and his real life wife Kristen Annie Bell. Solid comedy adventure type movie. Nothing amazing, but a few gold lol scenes/lines. Bradley Cooper as the villain who was violated in jail was a pretty funny bit. I don’t like Cooper and his character in this movie is pretty dumb, but somehow he’s still the best part of the movie.
If you’re planning on watching the new Beavis & Butthead movie, skip this. But if you aren’t at least watch this clip, fucking hilarious.
