The Movies of November

I saw two TMZ shows about Diddy, and I hate Hollywood. OTOH, I have learned a lot about lights, lenses, and costuming from Justine Bateman’s #SocialMediaVideosCritique posts. IIWII.

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Netflix, original English
Somehow I thought this animated feature about a boy who lived in Houston at the time of the moon race would be about the mission, but it was an autobiography, written several decades later. I enjoyed it anyway, as he explains all the customs and technologies of every-day suburban family life in 1969–most of which were still in effect in State Center in 1985. Mr Radish also enjoyed it; some things were similar in his childhood as well.

Recommended for all my peer with grandkids who don’t understand that a phone used to hang on the wall, and you used to answer it to find out who was disrupting your supper, and TV stopped at midnight. Sit and watch it together, with all your other screens turned off.

Operation Crossbow (1965)

Cable (Warner Film), original German and English
A British homage to their WWII intelligence and spy network, although for some reason the hero is a US officer played by Steve McQueen. It starts with them piecing together the V2 development at Peenemünde so they could destroy it, then they insert a secret agent undercover into an underground forced-labor research facility making a rocket that could hit New York. Lots and lots of explosions at the end. Sophia Loren gets second-billing for two scenes. Some actual historical footage of British air raids over Germany are used–they’re in black and white and a different aspect ratio, but I liked seeing them incorporated into the film.

I imagine in British cinemas the German-speaking scenes had subtitles; lots of British accents among the German army and researchers heheheh, but I was able to understand them.

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)

Cable (Kinowelt), original
A rewatch; still holds up. Caught all the franchise sci-fi fan service, and laughed at all the slapstick. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Wallace and Gromit.

Gonna mess up my end-of-year language analysis, though.

Real Men (1987)

tubi, original English
I recently saw the last five minutes of the Law & Order where John Ritter’s character murders his own unborn son and thought, “He was really good, I really should watch some of his comedy.” Haven’t found Three’s Company where I can easily get at it, but the panopticon heard my thoughts and this buddy comedy with Jim Belushi popped up on my device. Ritter plays a very staid family man and Belushi is a Bond-type federal agent who recruits and trains him on a cross-country trip. The mission: a trade deal with extraterrestrials.

Even when I’m not looking for UFO films, they find me.

I laughed where I was supposed to and marveled at people smoking in bars.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

tubi, original Japanese with English subtitles
The first of a Japanese rubber-monster mini-marathon.
They were all kind of the same, with differences only in the costumes/hairstyles/technology of the humans, but I am honestly tired of “serious films”.

Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

tubi, English
Same thoughts as the last one.

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

tubi, original Japanese with English subtitles
What I forgot, or maybe didn’t realize fully, is that the kaiju can die, and this is as bad as a dog getting murdered.

We’re No Angels (1955)

arte Mediathek, Deutsch
The Christmas films, which I generally hate, started a little early this year. This comedy, based on a French stage play and set in French Guyana, features Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov (Did you know Peter Ustinov had Ethiopian ancestry?) as escaped convicts who set out to steal some stuff from a merchant and his family on Christmas Eve. After eavesdropping a bit, they take pity and help the family with some family/romance/financial problems before hopping on a ship back to France. A pet snake that we never see is crucial to the plot.

I’m not sure it aged well, and I never understood why the wife (Joan Bennett) changed her outfit every hour or so, but I enjoyed seeing a young, relatively unknown Ustinov.

Rodan (1956)

tubi, original Japanese with English subtitles
Toho monster pic without Godzilla.
I laughed a lot, but the end was sad.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956)

tubi, original English
This is a remix of the original (which I have just realized I never wrote about), with some English narration and additional scenes featuring Raymond Burr, who plays an American reporter who covers the story. I think I like this way of telling a story, but I had forgotten how sad the ending is. Also, I can read subtitles, so I don’t actually need stories to be told this way.

Wyatt Earp’s Revenge (2012)

Cable (AXN Black), Deutsch
I can’t handle seeing any more kaiju die, so it’s time to watch some humans die, I guess. I don’t know why it wasn’t available in English, but anyway….it was poorly written and the casting was questionable. Mostly Canadian actors I recognized from Psych and Hudson & Rex, and all too metrosexual/manscaped for the time period portrayed. There’s no way in hell Spike Kennedy moisturized while he was on the lam, FFS! I also got a bit confused by flashed-back events not being presented in chronological order.

Recommended only for Val Kilmer completists, of which I may be one.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Cable (Warner Film), original English
I know everyone loves this one, but I didn’t need it. I was annoyed by the oversaturated colors, the bizarre noises, the weird glitching visual effects, and it was at least half an hour too long.

The AI girlfriend for sale seems like a prediction that’s coming true, and I hate that.

Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Netflix, original English
With the set-up and character already established from the original story, this could have been an interesting story about the origins of evil. Unfortunately, most of it was silly, with gross-out effects that didn’t support actual story-telling.

My fault for watching a horror film made in this century.

Screen appearance: Former Badger’s Drift resident Simon Fletcher, which made me wonder why I wasn’t watching vintage British Krimis instead.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Amazon Prime, original English
Is it weird to see Michael Caine in a comedy? I don’t know. Mostly interesting for the clothes/hair and the scenery in a swank corner of Europe I have never seen. If I’m comparing the month’s 80s buddy comedies (despite their rivalry, Caine and Steve Martin were buddies), I liked Real Men better.

Notable: Directed by Yoda/Cookie Monster/Fozzie/the clerk at Joliet Prison.

Dracula Untold (2014)

Netflix, original English
Good storyline and dialog, and absolutely excellent costumes on everybody. Fight scenes had too much CGI and went on too long for me, but I enjoyed the concept of this origin story, and its retelling.

The IMDB helpfully informs us that the body count is 5687, right up there with Hot Shots! Part Deux, but Vlad the Dragon is repelling the Turks, so it’s OK.