- All You Need Is Death is deeply strange and unnerving.
- Black Moon Rising stars Tommy Lee Jones a a former thief hired by Bubba Smith at the FBI to steal a computer disk that he hides inside an experimental supercar that can drive over 300 miles per hour and is stolen by car thief Linda Hamilton for crime boss Robert Vaughn. Which makes it sound a lot more fun than it actually is. The movie has some goofy charms and a good cast, but it’s not a forgotten ’80s classic or anything.
- There’s a seed of a good idea in Monkey Shines, but things escalate much too quickly, then nonsensically, and finally unpleasantly. It’s never remotely frightening, probably because they (very rightly) couldn’t force a real monkey to actually do any of the things this one is supposed to. It’s not George Romero’s finest hour.
- There’s only so far that likable characters can take you, and the characters in Hot Tub Time Machine aren’t even that likable. It’s dumb fun for a lot of the ride, except when it’s just dumb, but it’s a very lazy comedy.
- Old Henry doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, and the movie mostly just plays itself out, but Tim Blake Nelson is really good in it.
- The best time to have watched D.A.R.Y.L. was 1985, when I was 8 years old. Some (gulp) 40 years later, it’s more than a little silly and dated. There’s a neat little sci-fi idea inside it all, but it’s hardly a home run.
- Death Watch dances around some interesting philosophical ideas—some that many contemporary critic have been a little kind in calling prescient—and it has some likable performances, but it’s just so slow and lugubrious.
I also rewatched M*A*S*H. I don’t think it’s my favorite Robert Altman movie—that’s probably McCabe & Mrs. Miller—but it’s up there.
