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mechavsmonsters
The group started August 2020 to watch a movie every Monday Night. Movies we like to watch range from Mecha, Monsters, Villian, and anything that has a entertaining value for the group to review. Each week one person in the group picks a movie on a streaming service for the group to watch. At the end of the movie we do a voting and question review which gets summed up to IMDB rating and review system to keep a record of everything we watch.
Movies that end up being watched will end up on here with a rating and review.
With a wide varity of movies being made from indie to Hollywood, everything is open for viewing.
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Creepshow 2 (1987)
Mid to Late 80's Horror Fun
Just recently watched this in a small group to see how the film stands 34 years later. This is when you would get at least something good even if it was low or small budget back then, not like today where a majority of horror lacks good story, acting, and visuals. This is the second movie which wasn't directed by Romero, but his Director of Photographer. This one only had 3 stories unike the first one with 5.
Lets discuss which was the best stories in a voting order. The best story has to be the first with the wooden Indian adorn to the store front. One person amny people wouldn't reconize unless they looked it up is Holt McCanney. It's even hard to know it's him cause he is young and thing, not like today where he plays in serious Netflix drama crime series. The first story is really well done and has good acting in it. It's kind of feels like a little story you would hear around a caamp fire if your were out in the Arizona desert. This one was the favorite of everyone and was really good to see this after many years and watch the peolple that never seen it enjoy it.
To jump to the second best it has to be the third story. It details a woman who seems to have her life in perfect living order that is late after cheating on her husband with a male escort and ends up running over some poor hitch hiker with her car. One of the most famous things said when this came out by kids was "thanks for the ride lady".
The second story in the film was the least favorite. Looking at it now the blonde California boy is very annoying the way he talks. He kees saying Pancho over and over and throwing Spanish lines which is so weird. Did blonde Cali boys speak that way in the 80's? I don't know but it was almost enjoyable when he final gets eaten in the lake monster. The story for the second wasn't the greatest.
Overall this was still a fun watch after some of us haven't seeen this since being kids and seeeing the people that never seen it enjoy it. This was still a fun watch for all.
The stories or scripts for the three shorts we cave a B- only because the second one wasn't as good and blondie was annoying.
The visuals are fine we gave those a B+ Same goes for the direction.
The other fun part is the narration. It gives it a little something to make it a special little film. Tom Savini lays the ghoul in the truck.
Over all we gave the movie a 7 star rating cause it's not like the first, but it is not horrible either. I would say ccheck it out during the October season with some friends for fun.
The Last Narc (2020)
Really Good if your a fan of Narcos on Netflix
The documentary was really well done and gives a great inside story behind the story if you watched the Netflix series Narcos.
The interesting aspect of the documentary is we get to listen to the people who were there during this time. It gives good insight to what happened to the DEA agent in Mexico which is told in Narcos Mexico on Netflix. This and Narcos has been such a great interesting story that I had to watch this documentary twice cause it was that interesting, being a fan of the Narcos series.
The deepest parts are how it makes you think how corrupt the governments and systems are that use it's own people for these missions or jobs to be done only to stab them in the back. This is a rreally good and well put together story and interesting enough that it's amazing it took this long to ever expoe some of the truths that happened.
I gave this documentary a 9 star vote. It has gret story telling, good visuals of the history, and keeps you interested, espically if you watchedd the Narcos series on Netflix. There is so many docs and movies about Pablo Escobar, but this really shows you what happens in Mexico and how people have suffered from being in the wrong place at the wrong time also.
I hope we can see more docs like this in the future, def check it out on Amazon Prime if you can, espically if your into this type of crime stories.
CB4 (1993)
Old School Comedy still brings laughs
CB4 is on Amazon Prime so we took the chance to watch it and see how it still holds up after almost 27 years. I remember seeing this in the movie theater back when is came out in 1993 era. This film really had people laughing back then cause it was one of the first type of swish style comedies knocking the now at the time.
Basically it's using the group NWA as a motive to ride this. The film still has some good laughs after all these years. Chris Rock was young and full of energy in this. Still one of his best films and a end of a era of raw comedy where people weren't offended over every little thing like today. Stars also Charlie Murphy who has always been the comedic shadow of his brother, but always gt some good talent in him. If you grew up in the time where the late 80's early 90's where gangster rap took it like a storm then you have to enjoy this. They really found points to knock other areas of music of that time to.
The script is really good and you get your laughs, but sometimes you also can't laugh at something that isn't as fresh also. It's a good film to watch once in a blue moon if you remember the era. I haven't seen the film in 23 years and it brought back a lot of memories of the era. Some in the group didn't even know what to expect cause they never seen it while others have. It's a good fun film if your not offended by every little thing, and this film has tons of offensive things, and that was the point. In all you'll never see something like this again. These are the rare years of comedy that really knew how to take it extreme and have no apology over it.
The visuals and editing is your standard Hollywood level. There is no flaws here and was shot on film which is another thing you won't see in todays comedies. The film eneded up with a rated 6 which is a good number in our book and how it got voted after viewing. it's not the perfect film, but it's also not meant to be serious in any way either.
Good for a time when you need some good laughs.
Andre the Giant (2018)
Interesting History++++
This was on Prime HBO and decided to give it a watch with the group this week. Documentary is always hard cause sometimes it's done bad or the info isn't nothing new, but this gives a whole new light behind a man that lived for this sport.
I can it was interesting knowing where he came from and knowing how hard his life really was. This is a good watch if you want to know about The Giant. There is also a good history of how the sport became bigger and Andre grew with it.
The doc was done well and keeps your attention straight through. It has it's happy moments, sad moments seeing how this man lived. He sure was a champion and did more than anyone dreams of. That shows how once you find the love of something you can never stop and you keep doing it until the day you do stop then life becomes with no meaning. He lived a fun life, a tragic life, and gave all he had to the world.
The interviews are interesting to, I laughhed when Hulk keep doing the Macho Man asking the Giant about the match, and he kept saying NO BABY OIL. Good stuff. The history is a good one to look at, I was a child when the WWF was big in the 80's and didn't follow it hardcore, but I did have it on my TV and knew a lot of the main players.
The group really enjoyed this doc together. Some are huge fans, some don't know much about the world of wrestling, but as a group we enjoyed it and was entertaining. It had a lot of information of his life and the journey. I would def recommend this, even if your not a fan, it's still a good watch.
Rated it a 8, which is for all the work put into it, I just didn't like there wasn't much of his own voice, maybe interviews of him talking about gid feelings and not wrestling would of been good, I just feel it had the missing, thats why it got knocked 2 votes down in the group. Overall the documnetary is very good and def a good watch.
NO BABY OIL
The Town (2010)
Fun Crime Drama
The Town is a good fun crime drama.
Watched this with the group to see what this film had to offer. Let's just say it's a good adventure brinnging us into a world most never known. I don't think it's based off a true story, but built around some of the real stories of bank robbers from the Boston area that did do jobs like this before.
The visual work and special effect are top notch. There is nothing letting you down with that in this movie. Ben Affleck seems to be good at directing and his acting is a little blah, but the entire cast in this film are top notch also. I like everyone and how they played the part. The only issue is Ben Affleck, I felt he should of fund a actor to play his role. It's not becaue he completely horrible it's just flat with him. He did a good job making the movie.
This is one of those films you can enjoy cause it is not focused on a true story with details you have to guide by. The fact is I've seen true stories of the crime crews that would rob trucks and banks in Boston and there is one crew that kind of did it this way, so I do wonder if the script was based off that.
Cinematography was done well. I do have a high respect that this was shot on film cause it looks great. Its hard to believe this is 10 years old already.
I'm not going to get into a lot of spoilers but this is one of Ben Afflecks better directing pieces. like I said if he didn't act in it, I'm sure it could of been even better. Jermey Renner is really good in this.
Our score tally B+ FOR SCRIPT, A- for Acting, A+ for camera, really beautiful film work, B+ for editing, the reason for a 7 is some spots that have script issue, but overall no need to go into deep detail cause the film is good and would watch again down the road.
Halloween II (1981)
Old Fashion Horror
MechavsMonsters group watched this all together. We had a blast watching something from the past still hold up over much of the junk being put out in horror.
Let's get into how the second film leads us to what happened the night Jamie Lee Curtis aka Lori and Donald Pleasence aka the Doctor wonder are, after Michael Myers being shot.
The film moves us into a hospital setting where Jamie Lee Curtis is being treated for her injuries. The movie plays it safe by sticking to the plot of this Michael Myers trying to kill her, but they do take it a little more off the path with a bunch of kills which I feel wasn't needed and was more to just make it have more gore, or to just have much more violence. The film itself is still fun and good.
This being shot on film still holds up to this day with erie feeling and the setting. The camera work is good and the direction seems a little different, but you really have to watch both films to understand.
Donald Pleasence is a awesome actor and we may never see someone like him again in film. The special efffects are ok, but the best for the movie is seeing Michael Myers walk out on fire. That was some really good pratical stuff.
The script is okay, not the best, and it's always hard to follow a first film that is awesome, but that happens when some of the first people who made the film aren't invovled in the second in ceertain job positions. The film is still a classic fun movie for the October setting.
We rated it a 7, because it did go off a bit to showing Michael killing all these people for no reason, some of them. It's still fun and always fun to see it when years go by and Halloween season comes. There is just nothing new like thee olds films.
Once again, good old classic horror.
The Amityville Harvest (2020)
Dead Presidents are worth more!
The fall is a special time of year to watch scary movies. This is not one of them. Our group decided to go ahead and watch it. This is what the outcome is.
The movie has a plot tryng to mix 10 elements into it, which none of them work. The people that greenlit this film should be used car dealers. Where to begin and what to say is tough enough.
The story has a camera team that goes to interview a creepy guy about something to do with the Lincoln killing, yes the President. Magically it turns into a suspense of messy script work and bad everything. The Amityville name is being used for this bad film, sorry digital garbage video trying to connect itself with scamming people thinking it would have something to do with Amityville.
Let's start with the script. It has ideas, it has what we call bad writting. There is nothing making anything we haven't seen or original to the table. It's just another slapped together story that doesn't give anything. F+
The acting is just poor performance cause there is no direction at all. It's basically the effect of bad script writting, bad direction, makes bad performance. I've seen Sadie Katz in her earlier career do some good work, but she is like Jennifer Grey rise to the top and reduced to acting in very very poor flicks like this. The guy who played I guess you can say the Vampire was ok, but once again acting is just a dud in this. I think the director was sleeping or worrried if there was still a jelly donut left in the donut box. Who knows but what a duece.
The worse part also with this movie is the bad camera work all around. The lighting is not pattern to the entire film. it's like super low key to overblown sloppy. I have to say the camera work was very poor. There is something called composition, but that might be to hard. F+
The enitre flick was a bore fest. It had nothing spooky or attention keeping. Just another box art to haggle in the few to spend a buck until people start to see the 10 star epic reviews are basically the people involved somewhere in this mess.
F+++++ ALL AROUND. When a group of 29 people talk and lose attention during a screening party that are votin to review this, that is bad enough. This movie will be forgotten faster then the sound of speed.
Once again how Lionsgate made this>>> I guess if you can suffer a hour and half of your life to watch it, go ahead, but I say find a better classic horror or even the real Amityville flicks cause this one is a stinker.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Good Fun Godzilla FINALLY!
Mecha vs Monsters normally do Monday night movies, but a holiday weekend end of summer was the pick for Friday Night by one of our members.
Let's start off saying this review could go on for hours, but we'll try and sum it up with things we loved and things that we didn't.
Godzilla has been around for decades and your never sure which way they'll go these days when it comes to making a movie. This film was finally something you could love with a little complaining also. Perfect for kids to watch. These days you really need to watch out what pops up in films sometimes covering your kids eyes with your hand, but not here.
The movie leads off with a family that has a tragic loss of a son. The Mother played by (Vera Farmiga) awesome actress, and the daughter played by (Millie Bobby Brown) living life together as Dad is not in the picture. We come to learn that the Mother is working for Monarch, a company that is involved with the Kaiju. The Mother shows up to the birth of the lava Mothra. It then takes a turn where the facility is invadded by these bad guys led by (Charles Dance) another actor we're happy to see. They seem to steal Mothra and kidnap the Mother and Daughter.
Leading us into the Father coming into play being picked up by, should we say the good guys of Monarch. The Father is brought into Godzilla's sleeping quarters out in the sea at another Monarch location.
Skipping to get to points here. The bad guys show up in Antartica where we see some amazing production design where King Ghidorah is frozen in ice. Some of the most coolest shots and designs are in this location. This is where a little twist comes in with the Mother. She decides to release the beast, giving us she might be a possible villian.
This is where Godzilla shows up to battle. The human story side starts to be silly in areas with the good guys. I mean King Ghidorah is amazing how they did all the CGI and Animation work. The good guys are in the helicopter just sitting there when it's damaged and after tons of times your thinking I'd be jumping out of that thing, the military woman finally commands let's get out. Anyway a battle begins finally with Kaiju which this is what you want to see. I know you have to have some human story in it, but it just feels sometimes they focused to much on to many humans instead of giving us Monster Battle. The Antartica scenes were some of the best in the movie.
Jumping ahead to Rodan coming out of Volcano in Mexico. This is now where another Kaiju returns. There is some really cool shots and it has the old Godzilla movie feeling with the humans running and looking for safety and shelter. It gets better once we get back out to sea when the good guys lead Rodan out to meet with King Ghidorah. One thing that was simple, but really cool is when a fighter pilot ejects and ends up into Rodan's mouth for lunch. The good guys escape in the Marvel Spaceship Plane(yes it's a little Marvel feeling) where the two Kaiju monsters meet face to face for another little battle, but Godzilla shows up and we get more. The military sends a special new weapon to destroy the monsters and it doesn't really work.
Godzilla is now recharging his batteries as they made a huge dramatic scene he was dead. Mean while the Kaiju's around the world are rising as King Ghidorha is doing something to make them rise again. That was some amazing work also for the visuals with him on top of the lava mountain with electric volts ripping out. Awesome job there for visual.
The good guys get Godzilla back and running and then we finally get to Boston for the big battles and destruction of the city we couldn't care much for. I'm not going to go into to much more details, but sum it of here for the story line.
Let's get into the areas of what was awesome and what made us give a 6 star vote. IMDB has a 10 star voting system, we use each star for the movie in the departments that made the film.
THE GOOD: The film is very entertaining and everyone in the group all ages enjoyed it. Even tho we have die hard fans and will rip into areas they felt cheated on. The best thing about the Kaiju is they didn't make them look stupid with weird designs or cheap CGI. Godzilla, Rodan, and the amazing King Ghidorha looked great. You can see they put a lot of focus on them. The other monsters we'll say were just filler for the film. Really amazing work. The film had some really cool visual that I'm sure in a theater brings you in so much more. The Kaiju get a big plus.
THE BAD: The human stories. Yes, I said it. The Mother twist would of been awesome if they stuck with it to the end. I really liked they made her a villain in believing what she was doing was saving the world. It's just hard for us to forgive that she wouldn't have a problem killing everyone elses child, only to save her own in the ending. The Daughter ends up betraying the mom when we get to Boston. As any kid would be confused why this would be happening anyway with the parents acting like this.
Second was the scientist was bland, and sound like Bobby Lee on Mad TV screaming like the North Korean scientist, "I'M A SCIENTIST". Some of the other
characters just had to much focus. This is a Godzilla movie not a build the atom bomb documentary. The human side just had a bit of the cheese big Hollywood loves to add, but they did it wrong. We love the humans to have cheese but these humans seemed on a little ego power trip towards things and it didn't feel like older Godzilla human story. It felt like everyone would kill each other to become the one to listen to. There is issues in the human department, clean up isle 4 please.
The other issue which many pointed out is the Japanese feeling is gone in this. Sure it's a awesome fun film, but Godzilla is a Japan thing, it didn't have that feeling anymore, like it is a commercial for China. It's okay to make it for the world to enjoy, but remember the back story better and add the true region of it with the rest of the world included.
The film overall was very fun. You can't complain to much. Here is the voting from the group.
C+ for story or script, it had awesome Kaiju, but human side a little more work next time.
B+ for directing, it gives us very good stuff, but once again the human side cuts it down
A+ FOR CAMERA, lots of good shots, amazing visual throughout
A+ FOR visual effects, they didn't let us down this time. The Kaiju look awesome
B- FOR ACTING, there is good actors and then there is the actors you clap when or if they die. Good choices for leading roles
D for the concept not having a bit of the Japanese backgorund and making it feel Chinese.
Thanks Again looking forward to the next one.
Joker (2019)
Interesting Way To Go
Joker has always been a unique criminal character with no super power, only using his criminal power.
The movie takes a complete turn how most other comic movies pump out the same story and same story lines. Joker goes the other way which made it unique.
Joaquin Phoneix brings out a unique and awesome Joker that we never get to see besides the Joker in Nolands film played by Heath Ledger. Phoneix brings his A game as a actor to this film. It has a slow burn feeling but really builds him up to what he will become. Treated badly from the start only to find out the worst as it builds the alter-ego.
Things to really like was the Joker isn't so comic book cheese. It seems to take place in a 70s theme time in Gotham. There isn't a massive splash of characters you need to follow and focus on in the moive also. It revolves around a few tiny pieces in his life that end up shattering him to the point of no return.
We viewed this on Monday night in our Mecca Vs Monsters Club and it was a blast to see everyone so involved with the room silence. Joker really is a unique film and we don't know if this will have any more films down the road, but definitely has our attention to watch more of this Joker's future.
The best part it takes a complete turn on how the WAYNE family is murdered. So it would be interesting to see how and why Batman blames him so much for that night in the alley when it wasn't even him this time.
Phoniex delivers a strong performance and has a very creepy body which I'm not sure if he starved himself a bit to play this role. Some of the best scenes is when he is dancing in the childrens hospital being his normal self as a clown. The second best is when he dances down the stairs after finding his Joker. The final best scene is when he goes on the Murray Show, which Robert De Niro plays Murray. Very graphic outcome for Murray.
The movie gets 8 Stars because on how the group voted. There isn't much to say about the bad. I feel they built up a good story of him. How he was just a guy living in the daily grind to survive, to finding out everything in his life was a lie only ending up becoming the Joker.
A- for the script. Good Story telling
A for the direction, director got it done well
A+ for the camera work. Making it feel like we don't need to know the time frame in years, but has the 70's feeling
B for the make up. It seems this is where some of the votes came as they felt the hair could of been more green. The face make up was cool
B for the special effects, some of the scenes you can see they had to layer cgi on buildings and that is fine, but it could of used a bit more touching in areas.
overall enjoyed this film and hope to see something build off it. If they don't make anything more from it, it's still a cool film because it focuses on the bad guy Joker. Kind of tired of good guys. That is what makes this film a huge win, it gives the bad guy a chance to impress us.
Attack of the Unknown (2020)
Serious or Not????
Just a WARNING: *Nudity *N word (If you have young children)
2020 has been the strangest year for finding new movies to entertain. This movie was referred to our Monday Night Mecca and Monsters Club. We rented it on Youtube since we had a 3 movie gift code.
The reason for 2 stars.
The movie starts with a LAPD Swat unit moving in to arrested a criminal (Robert LaSardo). The Swat Team arrives at a downtown Los Angeles warehouse to enter, where a unbelievable sex scene with nudity is. As they surround the building the girl having sex screams "POLICIA" "POLICIA" over and over, louder and louder and the SWAT team is outside the window doesn't hear it. The Swat and Gangsters engage into a gun battle.
The Swat Team is not dressed correctly making it feel not real. The guns have no shells dropping, no bullet damage anywhere. 10 heavy machine guns are firing at a window with no glass shattering. Lacking very much in the whole movie. One of our viewers also pointed out nobody yells "POLICIA" in latin countries. They use other names for the police, but lets not get to techincal. The criminal meeting taking place is also horrible. It seems nobdy did research. The scene could of been more effective for the build up. Just sloppy lines to a big shoot out. The camera work is sloppy also. (Richard Grieco) is the leader of the swat team.
After the gangster is arrested they decide to transport him to a jail and then the invasion begins. The story just drags in parts with to many actors trying to get a actor reel than being used proper to build heavy suspense and make it more scary. The gangster holds a secret about the Aliens which doesn't pan out to be anything interesting enough to make it more suspensful. It's just bad.
The script seems to be a huge mess. The movie had the resources, where did it go wrong? Most people will say "it's a indie film" The truth is that's not a excuse. The story has moments where it seems it would be awesome to falling flat fast. Not sure if this was made to have a serious effect or to be a comedy at this point. You have actors trying to perform good and just bad dialouge and lazy line drops. So it's confusing to either feel for them or just laugh at them.
The film gets closed in after halfway. Seems one location with 3 rooms and a hallway was recycled. So we don't get much more than that until we arrive inside the spaceship.
There is moments your thinking is the movie focused on overacting lines like the roof scene. It would of been better if you made a ninja vs alien movie.
The camera work is bad. It has no composition, lacks decent lighting, no style. Not thinking about how to make effective moments and visual style for what could of been. The swat member that is dragged away by the Aliens is bad, there is no moment we see a alien tenticle pulling him and the other team just plays it off like ok hes dead. Once again no real effect to make it good.
The actors are just not connecting to viewership. They dont fit the roles they play. The Swat Team is like the underdog squad that failed at a police academy. The jailhouse has a Walter White stunt double and even sounds like him. Jail guards not dressed good. Then we have a video blogger that brings some comedy in but just falls flat again, maybe to entertain tik tok users. The film promotes Tara Ried on top billing, but she is not in the film more than a minute, I feel she is safe cause she doesn't do much but a background story.
The direction doesn't seem professional. Even bad sci fi and monster movies from the 60's up have at least good direction and visual story telling. I feel it is all over the place not targeting point. The resources once again are there, how do you fail to keep your audience? I think it's just the lack of bulding the story better. If this was meant to be a comedy then connect it right. The movie has a want to be Independence Day to Denzel Wahington in Training Day to Comedy Central. It isn't working. That is mostly to poor script research, proper film making, how to use actors for their strengths. Directing is not there, the producers should of done research. I don't know the moive has over 100 producers. What did they produce? cause with a army of producers this should of been something Hollywood becomes scared of. They are mostly laughing saying "YEAHHHHHHHHHHH"
The Aliens weren't bad looking. Wish they'd been used better to make it more scary, intense to believe this could happen any day, maybe? I just feel the lack of the writiing and directing drained this movie for ever having a effect of living on as good to great Sci Fi. I'm sure the movie is confused itself of what it is trying to be. ACTION OR SCI FI!!!!! it could of worked mixing the two, just not this time. Script!!!! Direction!!!!
The visual effects are strong and weak. The only effect that was cool was the ceiling being sucked out showing the spaceship, but just getting to that point is painful cause there is no build ups to why the Aliens would target just two people, the last two swat members in a city of MILLIONS. It doesn't work it out story wise well. Simple things mean so much.
The movie ends with cancer blood being the weapon to kill the Aliens, flying off in a helicopter like Terminator Salvation. To be precise Richard Griecos cancer blood. I did see a lot of copycat or just references in the movie of other good sci fi movies. So I guess that's the way of saying you honor better films than your own.
As a group we watched the movie which seems 15 minutes to long. The group didn't have much to say, more about the errors or long over drawn dialouges that drag it into bordom. I felt this could of been really fun and good if adjustments were better, if the director had film making experience, the producers would of done research. The camera doesn't help either. It's just a mess of good and bad everywhere.
I'm not telling people not to watch it. I'm telling people this isn't the Alien movie that will last into decades of good indie films. They had resources and the chance to make something good, but who knows where or why mistakes like this happen. TRY BETTER.
FINAL REVIEW RATING FROM OUR GROUP
D- for story, could of been something good, but doesn't capture where or what it wants to be.
F- for directing, doesn't really fix the issues right in front of your face, so poor job.
B- for acting, some of the actors can perform we can see that, they just didn't have a good guide to lead them better. Bad script writting
F- for human costume design, Swat Team was badly dressed
B+ for the practical effects of the Aliens. The make up and design was cool.
D+ for the visual effects, good for some things, really bad for others, missed many places it was needed.
F- for the Camera, really bad visual work, lacking lighting style to make it a sci fi movie. Just lazy work or no real experience, also just bad color from scene to scene