Category: Media

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Debaser Film

Escape from New York

That opening theme song is still so great — I did want to hear it more during the entirety of the film, but then again, there’s something satisfying about the fact that it only plays again at the very end. This is still a very enjoyable film, although I’m a pretty big John Carpenter fan, so I’m definitely biased. It’s just such a neat idea and setting for a film, simple and effective, and it all just works. Great cast too. Makes me look forward to when it’s time for my 1996 movie marathon so I can watch Escape from LA (which I don’t remember fondly, but I’m still curious to watch again).

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Debaser Film

Scanners

I don’t think I had ever actually seen this movie, other than that now famous head exploding scene (at least in GIF form). All in all, it’s not bad — I won’t say I loved it, and it dragged on a bit at times, and the acting is iffy (and McGoohan was apparently mostly drunk on set), but there’s still enough to like here, especially the psychic battle near the end, and the end itself. I’m glad I finally took the time to watch it.

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Debaser Film

Stripes

This was one of my favorite movies — or at least comedies — when I was a kid, and it’s funny to watch it now and see that it has a pretty decent amount of nudity. It’s still pretty fun, with a great cast, and yeah, some things haven’t aged particularly well (that ol’ 80s sexism that constantly pops up as I re-watch these movies), but I still got a nostalgic kick out of most of it, and it was fun to see how a lot of the scenes ended up feeling so familiar, even though I’m sure I haven’t watched this since back then (which is probably a sign that I watched it quite a few times).

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Debaser Film

Friday the 13th Part 2

As I was reminded during the opening recap of this movie (and strangely enough, it’s quite extensive, at like 5-10 minutes), the ending of the first film — that sees Jason jumping out of the water to attack the girl in the boat — is a fantastic sequence, and although most of this film is a bore, I really did get a kick out of the similarly presented climax shot. The fact that I wasn’t expecting it made it that much better (and surprising). I’d say that the last half hour or so of this is decent, as we get to the business of what Jason does best, but it takes a while to get there, and that early journey isn’t really that interesting. But again, kudos on that ending.

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Debaser Film

For Your Eyes Only

When I do these movie marathons I usually don’t include the Bond film from that year, since I re-watch them so often, but it had been a while since I had watched For Your Eyes Only, so as I kicked off my 1981 movie marathon, I was in the mood to watch it. I’ve usually considered this to be one of the better Moore films, and I think I still feel that way. The soundtrack is godawful though, which really ruins a lot of the scenes, and the villain is pretty boring. It’s interesting how many parallels I noticed to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service though — on top of the visit to the gravesite of Bond’s deceased wife, we get action on a beach, ski and bobsled action, and he teams up with a criminal not unlike his “father-in-law.” OHMSS is of course the better film.

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Debaser Film

Raiders of the Lost Ark

I figured I’d be taking a longer break after finishing my 1990 movie marathon, but I’ve been itching to get going on 1981, and this Saturday morning, Raiders of the Lost Ark felt like a perfect way to start it. I think I can say that this is probably my favorite film of all time, or at least my favorite action/adventure film. Every single time I watch it I still enjoy it immensely, and I can barely find any faults in it. I also just love this setting so damn much, and that’s why I’m pretty bummed that the next Indiana Jones film they’re making is again going to star Harrison Ford as Indy, since I imagine the setting will be something like the 70s so that it makes sense with Ford/Indy’s age, and that’s not what I really want with this series. I want an old school adventures set in the 40s with the Nazis as the villains, and so that’s why I would much rather they do a reboot.

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Film

Like it’s 1990

Well, here we go, another year-based movie marathon done (previously 1967, 1968, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989), this time for 1990. I started it quite a few months ago, stopped for a while (in part for my October marathon), and then started up again in December to finish it now. There are still a few films that I was originally planning on watching, like Flatliners, The Two Jakes, and Miller’s Crossing, but I felt like it was time to stop and move on to something else — I actually started watching Miller’s Crossing, but for some reason wasn’t getting into it at all, even though I used to consider it a fave. So I end it at 25 movies, which I think is a decent number — and I’ll say it was a pretty good year for films, and I quite enjoyed the vast majority of what I watched. Next up I’ll be taking a little break from marathons to catch up on various newer releases, but the next marathon will be for 1981, and I already have a long list of things I want to watch. Below, the list of all the movies from 1990 that I watched, with links to my short write-ups (or just go to the “1990” tag to see them all together).

  1. Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
  2. Another 48 Hours
  3. Back to the Future Part III
  4. Child’s Play 2
  5. Dances With Wolves
  6. Darkman
  7. Days of Thunder
  8. Die Hard 2
  9. Edward Scissorhands
  10. Goodfellas
  11. La Femme Nikita
  12. Misery
  13. Nightbreed
  14. Predator 2
  15. Presumed Innocent
  16. Robocop 2
  17. Tales From the Darkside
  18. The Exorcist III
  19. The Godfather Part III
  20. The Hunt for Red October
  21. The Russia House
  22. Total Recall
  23. Quigley Down Under
  24. Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
  25. Wild at Heart
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Debaser Film

The Russia House

I don’t have any especially fond memories of this movie, but figured it would still be good to revisit, and hey, it’s a John Le Carré thriller starring Sean Connery. It’s definitely a slow burn, but I did enjoy it for the most part, except for the kinda creepy romance twist between Connery and Pfeiffer (in terms of age difference). Not very exciting as a film, but it suits the story.

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Debaser Film

Quigley Down Under

I do find it to be a pretty interesting setting for a Western, I’ll give it that. It’s not a bad movie, and I did enjoy watching most of it, although it did feel long and I found myself checking the time a few times. I also like the fact that the character Selleck plays is basically a sniper, as it changes up things a bit. Selleck never fully feels like he’s able to put on a proper Old West accent though, but I did really like Laura San Giacomo, she’s great. One thing that did bother me is the way the Aborigines are presented, especially the nudity, as it gives off the uncomfortable thought of why is it OK to portray that kind of nudity (specifically women’s breasts) in a film like this, as opposed to non-Aborigines characters. One of those unfortunate sign of the times.

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Debaser Film

La Femme Nikita

I find it pretty funny that the actual French title of this film is just Nikita, but hey, whatever. This is still a fantastic film, and I really enjoyed watching it — and it helped that I barely remembered the story. Great cast all around, and I really like how it ends. The only things I didn’t like were the score and the sound effects of the gun shooting, which are weirdly cavernous, and just took me a bit out of those scenes. As for the score, it’s by Eric Serra, and looking up what else he had done (other than multiple Besson films) I noticed he did Goldeneye, and on a recent rewatch of that movie I indeed realized just how much I don’t like that score either.