July Recommendation: Dark City

 

                                   July is the third installment in what I like to call Awesome 90's Trilogy. While May consist of the true Action/Adventure (The Mask of Zorro) movie we've been missing deeply, June was the f**ked up but funny film that was ahead of its time (The Truman Show), July is the monthly recommendation where it blends film noir and phycological thriller aka Dark City, a movie that tells honestly to your face that your life was a lie and trippy aliens are your puppet masters who play with your strings all day long. People sometimes compare this Sci-Fi classic to The Matrix for which now re-watching this movie I don't really see the resemblance other than robots taking over the world and Aliens somehow taking a hand full of humans and using them as puppets but will have to leave that for another discussion. Anyway, this is another one of these films that continues my huge crush on Jennifer Connelly who if you weren't a 90's kid, that woman was the Rita Hayworth of beautiful women in the 90's. So, let's all sleep now and explore the twisted world of Dark City.

                                   John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he was wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember whether he committed the murders or not. For one moment, he is convinced that he's gone completely mad. Murdoch seeks to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

                                   A lot of people always compare this film to The Matrix, for which I beg to differ mainly because The Matrix is mostly like a cyberpunk science fiction film where they're telling us how corporations are running are natural way of life, and the Agents or the robots are trying to keep everything in order of things. Dark City, I look at this great film as a look of the human mind, and what happens when you wake up to the horror that you’re a guinea pig for an alien experiment. And to be truthfully honest, Dark City has one of the best storylines than it does with the Matrix, for many reasons it starts off in the best way possible, the protagonist wakes up with no memory of what happened and is chased by a group of telekinetic race of Aliens who use this mysterious world as a way to experiment on humans and Rufus Sewell's character is trying to clear his name from a murder he knows is not true while understanding what world he's been living in. Now, how they came to kidnap the humans how they came in existence who knows, all you need to know is that it’s a film that has a simple concept that goes from point A to point B and Point C by the end of the frame. Moreover, the entire film explains itself all within 1 hour and 51 minutes for which really that's the perfect length of a movie you need to have in your movie furthermore if you can make statistics and what makes a perfect Science fiction film Star Wars and Dark City are among those categories. The other thing on what makes this film amazing is that it also incorporates a film noir feel to the film where there's is a hero in the film but the shadowy figures are these stranger like aliens that have a way of screwing with the humans mind though is also set in a dark like New York City that feels like it’s in the 1940's decade to it, and really all of the credit goes to writer/director Alex Proyas, who made it clear in an article talking about the concept of the film "One of the things that we're exploring in this film, is what it is that makes us who we are. And, when you strip an individual of his identity, is there some spark, some essence there that keeps them being human, gives them some sort of identity?" Even Proyas referenced film noirs from the 1940's and 1950's as an influence for the film, also adding science fiction along for the ride as well as to have an element of horror to unsettle the audience, for which I view as smart thinking on his part. The best way to describe Rufus Sewell's career is my first film I was introduced to him was Bless the Child where he played a villain in that movie and A Knight's Tale, we he as well played a bad guy also and let’s not forget the Illusionist basically a cheap imitation to the Prestige. So, in all fairness the first three films I've seen Sewell in were basically antagonist roles this is one of the few films I've actually seen him in where he plays a good guy, and he does a great job playing a man whose both confused and scared at the same time but is also in observer when he begins to understand where he is and is trying to search for answers as to what really happened to his life. In all honesty I don't know how many times I can talk about my crush on Jennifer Connelly because in all honesty, I'll give you at least two to three movies and that's basically shows off her Rita Hayworth side, and that's Dark City, The Rocketeer and for fun I'm going to throw in Top Gun: Maverick, but with this film she does such a great job using her looks to mesmerize the audience especially when she's first introduced singing Sway and she just knocks it out of the park but also doing a splendid job of playing the worried wife because as we all know you have to have that love connection with the protagonist and the lead female and both Rufus Sewell do a great job in this movie. I've always remembered Kiefer Sutherland always playing like the sort of tough guy in certain movies like I don't know maybe The Three Musketeers, add A Few Good Men and let's not forget his most notable TV role in 24, but with this movie he plays a man whose one both sides of the coin and is somewhat disabled but also explains to the protagonist and the audience of what is going on, though sure I do believe he was an excellent bad guy in Phone Booth, but he also does a great job playing the deranged mad scientist who is a guide of Dark City. I also should add one actor in the film, and that's the main antagonist aka Mr. Hand aka one of the Strangers that experiments on the humans, and that's actor Richard O'Brien who’s excellent of playing this creepy looking unknown alien, but what really makes him great to watch is that he really didn't need anything he just needed that fedora duster. But it's really in part of Alex Proyas who based the Strangers on Richard O'Brien himself when he first saw him on the Rocky Horror Picture Show, also quoted saying "I had Richard in mind physically when I wrote the character, because I had these strange, bald-looking men with an ethereal, androgynous quality". And when Proyas visited London to cast for the movie he met O'Brien and found him suitable for the role, so yeah talk about fate reaching out to an extended hand. Out of all the monthly movies I recommend this is one of those films that's a long-lost masterpiece and it truly needs to be seen furthermore to be appreciated again, so if you have the time to pick a movie to watch on a local movie night. Then I would highly recommend watching Dark City.

          

 

                  

The Northman

 

                                   If you know me as well as you've read my blog, I'm a sucker for some of these historical warrior clan type films from Gladiator to Kingdom of Heaven, and so this movie I felt intrigued to watch because it's a movie about Viking's and it has revenge in the mix so why not give this a chance. And to be fair I was expecting a bit on the predictability side to it, but once I started emerging myself into the Viking world it was a bit on the weird and don't know what to make of it but then realizing that this was something special and most importantly something I've never seen before. The Northman is a passion project that actor Alexander Skarsgard wanted to do, as he made it clear he always wanted to make a Viking movie, though as an actor he couldn't get the right story going so he brought in a writer director Robert Eggers to help him bring his passion project to life and along comes The Northman for which is a blend of both Viking lore and Shakespeare's Hamlet.

                                   Prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) is on the verge of becoming a man when his father (Ethan Hawke) is brutally murdered by his uncle (Claes Bang), who kidnaps the boy's mother (Nicole Kidman). Two decades later, Amleth is now a Viking who raids Slavic villages. He soon meets a seeress who reminds him of his vow--save his mother, kill his uncle, avenge his father.

                                    Why haven’t you seen many great Viking stories over the years? In all truth, I think it's because they always viewed Vikings as mindless brutes who don't care anything but raid and slaughter many villages. For which yes, it's true but I believe there's a lot of intriguing stories to tell not just making Marvel films for Thor, and to be fair I was wanting to watch the TV show Vikings, though I have a good reason I'm very lazy when it comes to binge TV and sometimes, I need to turn my brain off sometimes. Okay, back to normal topic I heard some good things about the film and as always it seemed intriguing mainly because it has a great supporting cast in Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke and Anya Taylor-Joy and a sort of famous Icelandic singer Bjork who wore a swan for a dress (kind of like Lady Gaga before Lady Gaga). And so, watching the movie I must admit was something I'd never quite experience and there was something about this film that gave it both an epic feel to it and a more horrific feel as well, in all honesty I sometimes have the sense that Vikings took a lot of acid, but that's just my opinion. The best way to describe the greatness of this film is basically talking about both collaborators who brought the film to life Alexander Skarsgard aka brother to Pennywise aka Bill Skarsgard, and writer/director Robert Eggers. This is pretty much the first and only time I ever watch a film and could say that one particular star was the center piece of the whole movie and Mr. Skarsgard was really the fore front of making this movie for me, I mean he really did a great job embodying what a Viking should look like moreover show off his ability to question his fate and why he must do also doing a great job playing a Viking/Hamlet who's set for revenge. Robert Eggers who has made past films, such as The Witch and The Lighthouse both films that seem pay a lot of tribute to their folklore when it comes to his films, and granted I haven't seen his past work so this was the first time I actually sat down and watched the Northman from beginning to end, and really the way he was able to blend Norse Mythology to a epic revenge film, it brought a lot of what I like to call twisted excitement to the film with both scared and intrigued when it came to watching the film, furthermore both Skarsgard and Eggers do a great job in bringing this Hamlet like story to life. Now I'm not sure now I want to watch Eggers past work because in fairness I don't want the excitement of this movie be a buzz kill to watching the past work. Now, I'll say again I'm a sucker for these kind of epic warrior films and, there was something about this film that brought a lot of fun/excitement with scariness to go along as well, so if you’re into Shakespeare and Norse Mythology I would highly recommend watching The Northman. 

  

                                           

The Boys

 

                         Just finished wrapping up my viewing of The Boys, season 3. Although feel a little bit sad I feel the time is now that I go ahead and talk about what I like to call, is the G.O.A.T of all things Superhero TV shows. The Boys is what I like to call a breath of fresh air sometimes, it's really one of those shows where you just feel sick and tired of the same thing from the MCU, feeling more frustrated of how Warner Bros. is not making a great Superman movie nor getting their s**t together. Well, The Boys is that show were it just brings out so much dark comedy that you want with a lot and well boat loads of WTF moments that makes Ridley Scott wave the white flag and say enough is enough. So, hope you had a nice meal and finished your session with your therapist, let’s talk about The Boys.

                       Superheroes are often popular celebrities, as influential as politicians, and sometimes even as revered as gods. But that's when they're using their powers for good. What happens when the heroes go rogue and start abusing their powers? When it's the powerless against the super powerful, the Boys head out on a heroic quest to expose the truth about the Seven and Vought, the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages the superheroes and covers up their dirty secrets. 

                        On a quick note, the series is based on an actual comic co-created by Garth Enns (who written a great Punisher series, as well as created The Preacher comic) and Darick Robertson, now how they were able to convince publisher's to bring this great masterpiece to life, who knows all I can say is I read a good chunk of the series and it's great a read while it's amazing to watch on Amazon Prime. To be honest we as a generation always have that one piece of comic that really exploits the era or decade, we're living in the 80's they had Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and the Killing Joke as well as Watchmen and 90's there was Batman: Knightfall and the Death of Superman and well the 2000's we have this great piece of work, and sure enough the show finally gets developed. Although yeah Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen are great literature but really the difference, is that this is more of a corporate consuming along with the Superheroes having more of an egotistical problem who really don't care about the people they save just caring about the public image they sell. And really, that's what makes both the comic and TV show so fascinating to endure because this is exactly what you really want to have when it comes to watching Superheroes as well as reading the comic because we now live in a world where corporations are now the big man on campus, and they really control the government. Okay, so now let's get on with the Show, in all honesty I really don't know how I decided to sit down and first watch the show, I think it was one of those things where me and my brother and I think my brother said that Karl Urban aka Pathfinder is staring in this bizarre superhero show and that was enough to sell me in terms of pitching a show for me to binge watch. I don't think we can talk about the greatness of the show without talking about Karl Urban and Anthony Starr who really are the main protagonist and antagonist of the show and the co-stars that help them become what they are. They’re a lot of films I recognize Karl Urban and in truth he's always played the co-star to every film moreover was just the side character, this is defiantly the first TV show where he's the star of the show where he shines and hogs the spotlight and tells his co-stars to piss off, because no matter if he's in the scene or not in the scene he still is awesome as Billy Butcher and to be honest if it were me I'd give him an award for scene stealing. Though yeah, I would rank him as an Anti-Hero, but he does such a great job playing an a**hole who you'd want to punch in the face but then shows sensitive side when you get to know his back story, and Urban does a great job in playing both sides of an a**hole then a caring a**hole. While Karl Urban's character is the a**hole that you want to have on your side, Anthony Starr who plays the Evil Superman aka Homelander does a fantastic job playing this egotistical psychopathic villain that is just so disgustingly evil that you can't even bare to look at him because of how many skeletons he has in his closet, but then is kind of funny when shows his insecurities as well. And both actors both do a great job playing off each other though Starr really doesn't need anyone to help him be a monster to be honest, just Urban's allies are the ones who help him be the man he needs. Jack Quaid aka Dennis Quaid's son, who is kind of the real protagonist of the show because he's in a sense the first person you meet to go on this journey of madness, and really what makes his character great is that at first, he all for this revenge fueled rampage but then meets this one woman, who gives him hope while she is helped by Quaid to feel strong and secure. And really both Quaid and Erin Moriarty who plays Starlight (the sort of Super Girl inspired character) does a great job playing the love couple we all want to end up in the end of the show though we're not sure through the course of the show. Okay, I'm officially going to end this once and for all because I don't want to spoil anything, full disclosure I would review each of the seasons as I did with my review of The Mandalorian, though I'm not sure I want to for many reasons I might need to see a therapist if I go back and re-watch the season so until I the seasons over I might binge it again. But hands down this is one of the G.O.A.T’s of all Superhero shows second is basically a tie with Daredevil and The Punisher, so in all honesty this is a show if you’re tired of watching MCU and DC films this is a show that will make you feel so refreshed by the end of the viewing.

     

                               

L.A. Wars

 

                                   This is probably one of the first and maybe the last times I ever have the thought of watching a movie that YouTube sensation Red Letter Media reviews, though granted when I saw that this film was on TUBI, aka cheap imitation to Netflix streaming service. I thought, oh cool this might be worth something to watch, well yes at first but then I slowly realize it’s also a little bit of no, towards this B-Movie action flick. L.A. Wars is, I guess a mix of every gangster movie with a little bit of both Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon, for which I can see Hollywood looking through this script and then just saying to the writers and filmmakers sure you can make this film for a cheap sum of money for finance, because even the producers who were reading this script obviously knew that this was on the crap scale.

                                   Raul Guzman, a small-time drug dealer, starts a gang war in Los Angeles when he takes on Giovani, the most powerful Mob boss in the city. Former police decide to intervene in the escalating conflict.

                                    In most B-movies there somewhat fascinating, in a strange way. For many reasons I guess when it comes to Hollywood their obviously looking for like the trend movie like first there was The Godfather in the seventy's then it was Scarface in the early eighty's then we had the cop films like Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop then producers of whoever financed it because I'm confident it wasn't a major Hollywood Studio so it's obviously maybe independent or running out of money studio, then they all decided okay lets combine all four movies together set it in the worst part of L.A. and make a movie, for which in all honesty makes the most sense when you think about it. The other thing is when it comes to lame cheesy action movies is why are they using so much cardboard boxes? Because the last time I watched Mystery Science Theater 3000 they had a movie called Future War and they set an entire fight scene in a cardboard factory and watching this film it's kind of hilarious watching two kickboxers fighting while there's old cardboard boxes lying around which is funny, but I don't understand the purpose, maybe because its cheap to break? Though when you think about it, they couldn't afford any stunt men, nor any of the padding for protection so I guess in fairness they had to of used cardboard boxes to protect their actors, in the cheapest way possible. With all of the B-movie cliché's that make this film funny, what makes this film unbearable to watch is the lead actor whose name is Vince Murdocco, whom I think is one of the worst actors to ever play a hero type character for many reasons he plays a cop that literally sucks at his job because he prefers killing the bad guys rather than solving actual crimes now if he was a soldier that suffered PTSD, I can get by that but him making inexcusable reasons as to why he slaughter so many bad guys is just so madding to even watch, that full disclosure I had to finish this film within two days which him being the star of the film was just way too hard to even see because I was screaming to shut him up. After watching this decent bad movie I've learned a valuable lesson, leave it to the professionals who insist on watching bad movies for a living like Red Letter Media and Mystery Science Theater 3000. Now as a movie itself, we’ll all I can say is, that's it's on TUBI and the service is free so if you feel adventurous and want to take a step on the wild side and see how accurate Los Angeles is in terms of a crummy s**ty city it still is to this day, have fun and go crazy folks but if you find Vince Murdocco's performance unbearable to watch I totally understand.  

  

                                      

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

 

                                    There are times when you have a bad day or hear some bad news going on in the world there's really and only one man that can come in and save the day for you. That man is Quentin Tarantino, well unfortunately he doesn't come as an individual person, but his movies in general is what saves the day for any individual whose down and depressed about their jobs or lifestyle. And his 9th film is without a doubt a movie that will give you hope and joy as you cease the next day. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a film that in a sense yes is about three hours long but is worth every minute and more importantly Mr. Tarantino goes back in time to alter time where the Mansion Cult finally get their comeuppances. Staring Leo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in one of the finest performances of a lifetime which is why he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Now having watched this I will defiantly need to have my dad watch this great movie because he's a big fan of Inglorious Bastards. 

                                    Actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) gained fame and fortune by staring in 1950's Television Westerns but is now struggling to find meaningful work in a Hollywood that he doesn't recognize anymore. He spends most of his time drinking and palling around with Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his easygoing best friend and longtime stunt double. Rick also happens to live next door to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) -- the filmmaker and budding actress whose futures will forever be altered by members of the Manson Family.

                                    I think the last time I watched this great movie, was probably when the film was released despite the theater, I was going just suffered a bizarre flooding and it also smelled bad at times. In all honesty the movie itself, is a bit of Tarantino repeating himself from the toe fetish, narration and let’s not forget the panning of a beautiful woman oh, I almost forgot altering the timeline of historical events. Though in fairness the film itself comprehends itself was some great moments along with some great storytelling as well, and for a close three-hour long film yeah it takes a long time to make the slow turns but then it gets into high gear during midst of the second and final act of the film. The movie does blend a great story with historical events that happened, but with a blend of poetic justice, and that's where we go ahead and talk about the Manson Family's involvement in the movie because when I first saw the previews of the film of course I was on board to seeing the movie but I had no clue about the murders Charles Manson's followers have done in the year of 1969 for which cause the loss of Sharon Tate whose in the movie, now at that time learning about that I wasn't sure if this was going to be good or not I did have my suspicions now questions about that but when I heard that Sharon Tate's sister loved the movie I was like okay so, its fine to witness at least as long as the sister to the late Sharon Tate loved it. For which leads to all the way back to when I was sitting in the movie theater and realize now I understand why she loved the movie, it was basic poetic justice in the murderers to Sharon Tate getting their comeuppance. Which I'll admit, when I first saw the movie I honestly didn't know what to think of it at first because this was again repeating Inglorious Bastards, but then when I watched it now I suddenly had a change of heart because in fairness what the Manson Cult did was unforgivable so, I think it's time that we had a movie where they suffered the worst possible death by a bunch of awesome actors like Pitt and DiCaprio. Quentin actually does a fantastic job with the story in blending both the times changing with poetic justice, moreover what the story really focuses on is both men who've had high success in Hollywood but soon gets a crash course of reality when the Hollywood soon begins to change and even the don't recognize it anymore, in addition I believe we all can relate to that concept even if you don't live in Hollywood, because I watch movies all the time moreover was born in a time when movies were fun to watch, as well as movie that come out now I find at times unwatchable for many reasons their the same thing and are nothing new, so yeah I wouldn't say I understand it from a filmmaker or actor's perspective but can relate to it in a different angle. If I had to pick an actor who really was the best part of the whole was no question Brad Pitt, I mean that whole character that he created along with Quentin Tarantino was just pure awesome especially in one of the scenes where I was fearing for my life because almost thought he was going to die but was okay in the end though he punches a hippie, for which you can't beat that. I will say for a guy in his mid-fifties I have to say he does a great job making himself look good shirtless, I mean watching him on screen I almost forgot that this man is on the brink of oldness though to be fair that's not stopping this guy. Margot Robbie does a great job playing the late Sharon Tate, although despite very little of screen time she as I will always dig her sixties dancing. I think if there is any life lessons Quentin Tarantino has ever taught me not to do when it comes to his movies, it's always never pick up any hippie chicks and Margaret Qualley's performance as one of the Manson girls just gave me enough evidence to just say no, though not to judge but I mean when you pick up a hippie chick that hasn't showered for days moreover have armpit hair maybe haven't brushed their teeth, then I'm just going to hit the gas pedal and drive as fast as I can, because the answer to life is always say no to drugs. Even though the film is three hours long with some stuff they could have cut out, I can still say that the film is always a great one to put on and watch from start to finish, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is defiantly one of those films, I would rank in the top ten of movies that can put you in a good mood.

       

The Queen's Gambit

 

                           One of the very few times other than the Witcher I binge on Netflix, and strangely enough this was the first time I watch a show where chess is exciting for once. In all fairness I wasn't really paying attention much to upcoming shows other than The Boys and Witcher, for understandable reasons Pandemic was kicking my ass and I was in thoughts of becoming Thanos, if you take by meaning. The Queen's Gambit, is what I like to call a, well in all honesty it’s a coming of age story but I guess when you think about it more like a coming of age story with some interest mainly because a lot of what the chess sequences is the fascinating part the other part I have to say is a bit on the meh side but I have to say is a decent quality Netflix series, staring the ever beautiful Anya Taylor-Joy and Moses Ingram who was one of the baddies in the Obi-Wan TV series, and lots of other unknowns. 

                           Set during the Cold War era, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.

                            You know the term Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll? Well, I honestly never thought they can upgrade chess with sex and drugs until I watched this show. In terms of acting wise there's really not a whole lot to say when it comes to Anya Taylor-Joy, and what she does very well is show this woman from a young age learning all the values of life, first as a young girl she seems confused then finds a purpose in life when she first discovers chess but then she begins to realize what a gift she has in terms of finding her opponents weakness, then through the course of her teenage/adult life she begins not make some of the best choices in life but hey neither did Darryl Strawberry but he the guy at least found his calling in the Catholic faith. Moreover, overusing so much alcohol and pills for which again this rest my case about a chess player bringing sex and drugs to world of chess, I'm kind of curious now is any other chess players use booze and drugs to get ready for a chess match. Furthermore Anya Taylor-Joy does such a great job throughout the show being a bit of a shy girl to a confident and sexy woman through the course of the show and she really does such a great job at that, the other actor I will say does a great job in the show as well is Bill Camp who plays the mentor who guides Beth into the world of Chess, and granted he has only two episodes of spotlight, he does a great job all the way through. If there was anything negative I can say about the show is probably the awkward sex that happens during episodes five and six and well, also four I should include that with when she's experimenting with weed, but then she reconnects with some of the guys that she beats and they of course hook up, but as an audience member it just felt way to awkward and I mean Taylor-Joy is too attractive for some of those guys and to be honest she deserve much better just saying, but granted this is a TV show, but in all fairness the real interesting part of this show is the Chess sequences and her character for which they really should of focused more on that then all the dudes who got beat by her and years later they wanted to hook up with her, which is just way to awkward for me. Although all of it is saved during the last episode where she goes to Moscow and face off with the Russian's which to me, I was into the most. In all honesty all of the chess sequences and the character of Beth Harman are interesting and if they focused more of that than having these awkward sex scenes, aftermath I guess I would be interested with this show more or re-watch it again, but really the show itself felt real slow at times and really took me a long time to watch the whole mini-series, but I will admit it’s an interesting show to watch and you'll get some great moments but then I think I'm pretty much, better off not watching the show again unless I feel like wanting to watch it again.