Monday Morning Movie Review: Boss Level (2021)

With my busy schedule lately I haven’t had the opportunity to watch quite as many flicks as I was during the height of the long, cold nights of winter, which is why I skipped Monday Morning Movie Reviews last week.  That week also ended up being quite busy, as I’m putting in extra hours in the evenings to stay on top of grades and other projects.

Fortunately, I managed to carve out some time for flicks, and enjoyed a Hulu original, March 2021’s Boss Level.  Boss Level is a sci-fi action movie about a man in a Groundhog Day-style time loop, except he dies every day (usually around 12:47 PM) at the hands of a team of mercenaries, ranging from a sword-wielding Chinese woman to a ballistics-obsessed midget (excuse me—“Little Person”).

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Monday Morning Movie Review: You’re Next (2013)

Another weekend has rolled by, so it’s time for another Monday Morning Movie Review.  While clicking around Hulu I stumbled upon a flick I saw some years ago, though I didn’t realize it at first.

That says something about the similarity of schlocky horror flicks out there—they all have basically the same premise and plot description. Except this one, 2013’s You’re Next, is actually quite original.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Movie Round-Up I

With all the gloomy weather in South Carolina over the past week (please pray for the poor folks in Texas, who are facing truly dangerous weather conditions), it’s been ideal weather for staying home and watching movies.  Surprisingly, Hulu has upped its game a bit in terms of selection.

I’m running a tad behind with today’s post, so I figured rather than diving deeply into one movie, I’d give a quick round-up of several movies, with some quick notes on each.

Happy Viewing!

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Monday Morning Movie Review: The Little Things (2021)

Over Valentine’s Day weekend I partook in a ritual that is increasingly rare:  a trip to the theater.  I’m a bit of a Regal Cinemas loyalist (thanks to their Crown Club rewards program), but they’re all closed, so AMC was good enough.

The choice of the word “ritual” is not mere metaphor:  for me, there really is a certain rhythm and order to movie-going.  It’s not the same as watching a movie on the couch (as this excursion reminded me), but truly is a whole experience.  The theater is the one place I’ll pay $7 for a Diet Coke, and I gladly plopped down $16 for a massive bag of popcorn and a jug of artificially-sweetened carbonated beverage this weekend.

Some movies are meant to be seen on the big screen—special effects-laden epics, for example—but some movies are simply better on the big screen.  The Little Things (2021), which I saw this weekend, was one such film.  It’s a movie I could have easily picked up on RedBox for a fraction of the price, but I think watching it at home would have undermined my appreciation of the film considerably.  Watching on the big screen demands one’s entire attention (especially now that theaters are operating at reduced capacity, making for fewer annoying patrons); watching at home offers myriad distractions.  If I’d seen The Little Things at home, I don’t think I would have appreciated it as much as I did.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Witness (1985)

Just to prove that I don’t just watch cheesy horror movies (and that Hulu actually has more to offer than such films), this Monday I’m reviewing something a bit different:  the 1985 neo-noir Amish thriller Witness, starring Harrison Ford as Detective John Book, a clean cop hiding from his dirty colleagues in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country.

The movie is unique in that it contrasts the grittiness of the city with the tranquility and traditions of Amish country life.  There seemed to be a vague cultural fascination with the Amish that lasted from the 1980s up to around the turn of the century (take, for example, 1996’s Kingpin or Weird Al’s hit “Amish Paradise” from the same year).  The Amish are, indeed, interesting, but I’m not sure what accounts for this brief, generational curiosity in the rural pacifists.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Digging Up the Marrow (2014)

My fifth trip to Universal Studios in the past eleven months is done, and I’ve put another 900 miles on my little 2017 Nissan Versa Note SV getting there and back again.  It was another great trip, but as much as I love heading down there, it will likely be awhile before I return.  Of course, I thought the same thing when I went last February before The Virus hit, and it was the most Universal Studios-filled year of my life.

After catching up on e-mails and some work after getting back, I decided to see what schlock Hulu had to offer.  The quality of Hulu as a streaming service has really taken a dive, and it’s confoundingly difficult to find specific flicks on the service.  I’ve been on a huge Hammer Films kick lately, an Hulu has one or two of their films; it would be great if there was a way I could search for films by studio, rather than just trying to search the names of Hammer’s movies and hoping I get a hit.

Like all cut-rate services, Hulu is also putting more and more content behind additional paywalls and subscription services.  Sometimes I’ll see that Hulu has a movie I’m searching for in my browser, only to log into the app to find I have to add a $12 a month subscription to HBO or Showtime to view it.  No thanks.

I suppose I can’t complain too much when I’m paying $2.15 a month, and I will note one positive of Hulu:  it has dozens (maybe hundreds; I don’t know, because, again, the service is so difficult to search and navigate) of crummy horror movies.  That’s probably a negative for many users, but it’s a gold mine for someone like me, who genuinely enjoys watching bad horror movies.

Of course, there are occasionally gems—unpolished or otherwise—amid the dross.  So it was this evening that I stumbled upon one such precious stone, blemished though it may be:  2014’s Digging Up the Marrow.

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Lazy Sunday XCVIII: More Movies III: Movie Reviews, Part III

I’m trucking my way back from Universal Studios this morning, so why not do another round of movie reviews?  This weekend’s three reviews are all flicks from 2020—a bad year for movie theaters, not to mention everything else—but a good year for movies.

Well, at least I thought so.  These three movies were all movies I enjoyed, but I’m not exactly a tough critic.  I also tend to rent movies I’m likely to enjoy, and even likelier to write about films I enjoy, so my assessment of 2020 releases could be way off.

But I liked these three, at least.  Here are some solid 2020 picks for your enjoyment:

  • Midweek Movie Review: Fatman (2020)” – Man, I loved Fatman.  It’s a very fun premise and a great flick.  Kris Kringle may be jaded and burned out from his job delivering presents around the globe, but he’s unambiguously a good guy; the villains are unambiguously evil.  It makes for a great bit of cinema.  Highly recommended.
  • Monday Movie Review: Unhinged (2020)” – If you’re into tight psychological thrillers with a deadly chase, Unhinged fit the bill.  It also features Russell Crowe in a fat suit, which is humorous.  It’s not the greatest film, but I enjoyed it for what it was.
  • Monday Morning Movie Review: Love and Monsters (2020)” – I really enjoyed this sweet adventure/romance film.  A total screw-up who somehow has managed to survive the monster apocalypse sweeping the globe becomes a man as he crosses eighty-five miles of monster-infested territory to reach his high school girlfriend.  It hits many of the same notes as Zombieland (2009), but does so in a fresh way.  Another big recomendation.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Young Frankenstein (1974)

I’ve been on a major Hammer Films kick, which means I’ve watched a lot of schlocky, exploitation-style horror films and black-and-white psychodramas over the past few weeks.  I’ve finally worked my way through every Hammer compilation and a collection of William Castle films, but I’m still in the mood for corny horror movies.

So, as I cast about for some appropriate Sunday evening viewing, I decided to watch one of my comedic favorites, Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (1974).

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Lazy Sunday XCVII: More Movies II: Movie Reviews, Part II

Last weekend I began looking back on some of my many movie reviews.  This Sunday I’m continuing that walk down movie memory lane with some more film reviews.

The flicks this weekend better reflect my cinematic preferences than last week’s crop; although I loved all three of those flicks, brainy sci-fi thrillers, vampire movies, and goofy buddy comedies probably sum up my movie-going Zeitgeist perfectly:

  • Monday Morning Movie Review: Archive (2020)” – This flick was a slow burn, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.  It’s the only movie I’ve seen (that I can remember) that depicts a robot experiencing jealously, loneliness, and isolation—and ultimately succumbing to her “robo-depression.”  Like any good sci-fi film, Archive explores questions deeper than its slick, futuristic aesthetics suggest.
  • Monday Morning Movie Review: Interview with the Vampire (1994)” – A modern classic, I believe this review was my 666th post.  *Shudder!*  It’s an appropriately demonic tale of vampires in New Orleans—a must-see flick set in the Anne Rice’s vampire universe.
  • Monday Morning Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)” – The new Bill & Ted movie isn’t a great movie, and there’s no consistent logic to the time travel depicted in the film.  But that’s okay—it’s a Bill & Ted movie, after all.  What the movie does offer is tons of warmth and fun.  I really enjoyed this little picture immensely.  It was refreshingly upbeat and wholesome in an age when such films don’t seem to be made anymore.

More movie reviews to come.  Keep on watching!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

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Lazy Sunday XCVI: More Movies: Movie Reviews, Part I

Way back in “Lazy Sunday LVI: Movies” I looked back on some movie reviews and posts analyzing movies.  That was long before I began Monday Morning Movie Reviews as a semi-regular feature on the blog.

Since then, I’ve dedicated more of the blog to discussing culture, especially music.  I’ve also written more about films and the cinema.  Even with large theater chains still closed and film-viewing shifting increasingly to streaming services, movies are still a powerful way to convey ideas and to shape cultural attitudes.  Indeed, I think the importance of film has only increased in The Age of The Virus, as we’re able to consume more and more of it in quarantine.  That our political elites have essentially recommended we just sit around watching television as some heroic form of self-sacrifice is suggestive—of what, I’m not sure, but it can’t be good!

Regardless, during this quieter, slower season, I thought it’d be fun to look back at some Monday Movie Reviews (to be be fare, not all of these were published on Mondays or in the morning, but they’re still movie review!—one out of three ain’t bad, to very loosely paraphrase Meat Loaf).

Here are three for your enjoyment:

  • Monday Movie Review: The Empire Strikes Back” – Seeing The Empire Strikes Back (1980) on the big screen reminded me powerfully just how great Star Wars used to be before the new trilogy ruined it with SJW nonsense and incompetent direction.  Empire is widely regarded as the best entry in the history of Star Wars films for a reason.
  • Morning Movie Review: Brazil (1985)” – This one had been on my RedBox wish list for some time, and I finally rented it on-demand back in October.  It’s a great, dreamlike flick about an excessively bureaucratic dystopia.  Brazil captures the thousand tiny tyrannies of bureaucratization beautifully—and scarily.  That we’re heading down a road towards mandatory vaccination passports and ever-growing globalist conglomerates suggests we haven’t learned the lessons of Brazil.
  • Movie Review: The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)” – I stumbled upon this flick on Hulu, and it was one of those rare gems among the garbage that streaming service typically serves up (and yet, I continue to pay my $2.15 every month for the pleasure of streaming terrible horror movies and Bob’s Burgers).  It stars a very young Jodie Foster as a young teenager living completely on her own in a hostile New England town, attempting to avoid Martin Sheen’s inappropriate advances.  The film is a bit of a thriller, but also an endearing coming-of-age story in which the young Rynn—Foster’s character—learns that life isn’t meant to be lived alone.  As I wrote in the review, “It’s a lost gem, one worth unearthing.”

That’s it for this weekend.  Happy Sunday—and Happy Viewing!

—TPP

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