…And All Through the House from Amicus Films’ anthology Tales from the Crypt (Freddie Francis 1972)
Not to take away from Black Christmas as 1) the entire film TftC isn’t holiday themed and 2) Jolly Saint Nick here may not have the onscreen body count to properly qualify as a slasher. But still a fun watch.
And why not throw in this:
I suspect the movie isn’t very special, but a cute trailer/premise.
Denzel was robbed of an oscar for Malcolm X. Training Day was… fine… I guess. But his turn as Malcolm was perfection… The scene at the end with A Change gonna Come playing is probably one of my favorite all time scenes from any film…
And yeah, that this is Washington’s best role is one of the few hills I WILL die on…
Devil in a Blue Dress is my favorite. It kills me that he’s done 3 Equalizer movies but no more Easy Rawlins mysteries. If you’ve never read the books they are excellent.
I haven’t watched this yet, but I do plan to. I’m sure it’s the standard Hallmark Christmas rom com fare, but it’s mere existence is really pissing off MAGA and a lot of male sports fans of a certain ilk, so I’m definitely watching it. Plus, Mama Kelce (Travis and Jason’s mother) is in it. I like her. I think this is her second Hallmark movie.
ETA: For those who don’t know, Hallmark (the corporation) is based in Kansas City and was founded here. Most of their movies are filmed in Canada and a lot of their regular actors are Canadian. This one was filmed in Independence, a suburb of Kansas City. Its filming was a big deal here.
I was ill last week and not really pushing back on what Kidd Jr. wanted to watch, so he started Cobra Kai. It’s…not good, but now we can’t stop watching this slow-rolling train wreck.
One of the overall plot points is what’s making it not good in my book (because it’s pretty unrealistic and well, dumb). The writing is aimed at older teens, which is about the same level as broadcast TV, so nothing to get too excited about. It’s kinda hilarious watching these 50 and 60-something men fighting each other, though.
I think it came up in the film thread at the other site, because I know I had heard of it somewhere before seeing an article Saturday morning.
I started out with a feeling of “I can’t believe that I’m watching this” which changed very quickly to chuckles, guffaws, then pretty consistent delight. Fun movie.
One thing that does irk me about the movie IP is the very western point of view of traditional martial arts. I studied under my dad, and under his sensei (a very traditional, hard ass Japanese karate teacher but ultimately a guy that really cared despite some of his character flaws. May he rest in peace), and probably the biggest lesson that i learned was that a conflict or fight is a failure from a martial artist. If you’re good you shouldn’t be putting yourself in the path of conflict, and when you are in one you should engage as mindfully as you can and with purpose. (Though my sensei did relish the thrill of sparring, he was a tough dude).
You see some of that touched on in the Karate Kid movies, its what makes it compelling but it kind of misses the point by embracing violence and conflict. It is the ultimate goal to be overcome, to prove your worth, when in reality the only thing you need to overcome is yourself. As i see it The Karate Kid IP shows American selfishness, when it should be about developing yourself, and the communal lifting that a dojo brings.
IRL the biggest conflict you’ll ever see in karate schools is mostly politic BS within the org, or with other orgs. But that’s not very sexy
I found it ridiculous and over the top… but so was the original movie. For that, I found it endearing rather than off-putting. I mean… it’s a bunch of grown ass men getting involved with kid’s struggles and fighting each other over that, but with KARATE!!! I also see it as having its tongue firmly in cheek…
Yeah, but for me, that made it fun.
Yep!
Despite the fact that there is tons of fighting, that’s kind of a core concept in the show… that fighting should be avoided (which they often fail to do!). But of course, they constantly fail at that, until they don’t.
I think it is self-aware enough to be a lot of fun. It’s somewhere between pro wresting and a soap opera and set in a bizarre karate-centric adjacent reality. At face value it is spectacularly stupid, but there is just enough deconstruction to make it work despite all its faults and those of the original trilogy.