What did you watch on this Independant/Canadian week?(07/01-07/07)

The Fifth Element is a fun film, a B movie with grade A production values. However it will always suffer the sin of unleashing Chris Tucker on the world. It is still a 7/10 for me. I have never seen Being John Malkovich.

Bedevilled (2010 Amazon Prime): "A woman subject to mental, physical, and sexual abuse on a remote island seeks a way out." Its a solid film with a lot of serious abuse going on screen or implied. The actually lead of the film is hard to sympathize with. Stars: Yeong-hie Seo, Seong-won Ji 7/10

Doppelganger (2003 Asian Crush): "Hayasaki is an inventor working on an Artificial Body. It is not going well and he is stressed out and on the verge of being fired from the research division of his company. His doppelganger appears to help him out of the rut he has created for himself." This film starts off pretty well and I liked the concept but it loses its way as it goes along. Stars: Kôji Yakusho 6/10

Murphy's Law (1986 Amazon Prime): "An action-packed thriller starring Charles Bronson as Jack Murphy, a cop who is running to stay alive long enough to even the score with his wife's killer." An entertaining Bronson film set during his Cannon years. The dialogue of his young co-star is certainly amusing in its ridiculousness. Female villain! Stars: Charles Bronson, Kathleen Wilhoite, Carrie Snodgress 6/10

Seven Dead in the Cat's Eye (1973 Amazon Prime):"In a small Scottish village, horribly murdered bodies keep turning up. Suspicion falls upon the residents of a nearby castle that is haunted by a curse involving a killer cat." Stars: Jane Birkin, Hiram Keller, Françoise Christophe. 6/10

Black Mask (1996 Amazon Prime): "A survivor of a supersoldier project must fight his former comrades as a masked hero." basically a Chinese comic book movie, not Jet Li's best work. Stars: Jet Li, Ching Wan Lau, Karen Mok 6/10

Enjoy your vacation! I own The Fifth Element on blu ray, but I don't think I have ever seen it. I own the Criterion blu ray of Being John Malkovich and would rate it 8/10. Here is what I watched:

eXistenZ (1999) 8/10
Gunless (2010) 6/10
Rituals (1977) 6/10
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 8/10
The Switch (2010) 7/10
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) 6/10
Let’s Go Up the Champs-Élysées (1938) 7/10
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) 8/10
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) 5/10
We Bought a Zoo (2011) 8/10

Hey-hey, SK!

The Fifth Element is just fun. I like the set design and all the costumes (alien and other). Gary Oldman is The Man, and Brice Willis is tolerable.

Being John Malkovich is weird, but a good weird. I liked it.

Ideal Home (2018) /I saw this last last week, but wasn't around for the thread/
Two gay dudes (we are reminded they are gay over and over, and over again) get saddled with one of the gay dude's grandson. Hilarity(?) and tugging at heartstrings(?) ensue(?). Steve Coogan is Steve Coogan. Paul Rudd is hot. The performances are meh. I did laugh a few times, but it's not a great movie.

21 Jump Street (2012)
Tatum and Hill have to go back to highschool to catch child drug dealers. This movie is hilarious, even the third time around. There's stupid, but it's fun. I too don't understand teenagers, so I connected with the main characters.

Never saw 5th but enjoyed Malkovich a lot in the theater with friends
Enjoy your vacation!

Mausoleum (83) ridiculous, unintentionally hilarious, gory and with ample nudity...pretty great garbage right here

Killing of a Sacred Deer: if not taken literally its very well done...its trippy and odd but its not a literal world but retelling a myth

Dead Pit: silly, fun gore/zombie flick from the '80s

Justice League (rewatch) i still loved it the 2nd time but there are valid complaints out there about it...

Aenigma: Lucio Fulci haunting/slasher set at a university
Very enjoyable and properly violent

Shock: Mario/Lamberto Bava haunting story...very good stuff and creepy

7 Doors of Death: another Fulci and often said to be one of his best! Gore effects were excellent and the 3rd act is wild
Love these old Italian horrors

Spontaneous Combustion: Tobe Hooper (90) a bit out there, a male 'Firestarter' rip off but enjoyable for 'trash film' fans like me

Open House: a snoozer that gets wildly nasty in the last 25 minutes...pretty stupid really with a poor script

Detention Night: 30 year old teens are hunted by a vengeful maniac in this indie crapfest...i kind of liked it:)

The Trek: Hills Have Eyes rip off and not one of the better ones...avoid

Most Beautiful Island: ends abruptly but the tense build up to the final act is heavy duty...what some people will do for $!
Creepy and effective

That is all
Thx Stone🍻

Finished up a couple of series

Marcella (2018) Season 2 - One of those UK crime dramas where the detective is more screwed up than some of the criminals. Still a fairly good police drama. Season 2 was equal to Season 1. There is a surprising ending. 7/10

The Crossing (2018) - Season 1 - refugees from a war-torn country 180 years in the future start showing up in the present to seek asylum in an American town. A good concept which didn't work for the most part. ABC canceled this series before I could finish binging it. 6.5/10

A couple of recent horror movies

Truth or Dare (2018) - A harmless game of Truth or Dare among friends turns deadly when someone -- or something -- begins to punish those who tell a lie or refuse the dare. A mindless curse movie where attractive twenty somethings are killed one by one. Reminded me of Final Destination just not as good. 5.5/10

Amityville: The Awakening (2017) - A desperate single mother moves with her three children into the notorious, supposedly haunted, real-life Amityville house to try and use its dark powers to cure her comatose son. Things go horribly wrong. A Canadian production which goes back to the Amityville well once again. Why ??? Not very good. 5/10

I thought you were going to title it this 'Heatwave Week'

[deleted]

Zulu (1964) Free on "Classic Movie Vault" if you have Roku. 7/10

Tomb Raider (2018) A surprisingly fun movie. Never seen the original. I loathe Jolie. 8/10

Shotgun Stories (2007) "Shotgun Stories tracks a feud that erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, these brothers discover the lengths to which each will go to protect their family." Starring a young Michael Shannon. Same director as "Take Shelter" and "Mud", both of which I enjoyed. 7/10