Oddball Cinema

This isn’t just an Oddball Adventure, it’s an absolutely berserk, preposterous, what-lunatic-thought-of-this production. When Air Force One is shot down on the way to a meeting of global leaders, the president, played by Samuel L. Jackson, lands in an escape pod in the Finnish wilderness. There he encounters a lone 13-year-old boy hunting deer with bow and arrow. The terrorists who destroyed the plane are approaching, and the boy and president must team up to evade them. The plot is Grand High Lunacy, with stunts that rival anything in the Die Hard or Indiana Jones franchises, but it’s engagingly directed and acted with weird fun surprises and plot twists galore. A good movie? No. A fascinating variation on so-bad-it’s-ridiculously-entertaining? Absolutely!

■ Title — Big Game
■ Director — Jalmari Helander
■ Cast — Samuel L. Jackson, Onni Tommila, Ray Stevenson
■ Rating — PG-13
■ ©2014 | 1h 50m | Action, Adventure, Comedy, Thriller, War

A modern-day college professor explores a cavern where some hippies went missing in the 1960s. After a few days nobody's heard from him, so some students go looking for him. No, they don't notify any authorities, and other than the hippies, the professor, and the students, apparently nobody else has ever visited the area during the 20th/21st century despite its location a short drive from the suburbs, so there's no hope of rescue despite the obvious abandoned cars and climbing ropes around the cavern. The details may sound silly, but if you’re a fan of old sci-fi B-movies, you may enjoy the constant introduction of new fantasy nonsense up to and including the wildly absurd ending.

■ Title — Time Trap
■ Director — Mark Dennis, Ben Foster
■ Cast — Reiley McClendon, Cassidy Gifford, Brianne Howey
■ Unrated, suitable for general audiences
■ ©2017 | 1h 27m | Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

■ Watch it free with ads on Fandango:
https://athome.fandango.com/content/browse/details/Time-Trap/1014892
■ Watch it free with ads on Tubi:
https://tubitv.com/movies/516810/time-trap

■ As with most of our online features, you can watch this one whenever you like. Members who watch at the scheduled time may enjoy exchanging comments with other members on this page. If you post a comment before the show, please avoid spoilers. Comments posted after the show may contain any content, but Oddball Cinema encourages members to always avoid spoilers unless there’s some particularly important details you need to mention.

■ Many of the movies on our online events from as far back as March 2020 are still available for viewing. However, titles sometimes move from one streaming service to another. If you find that the links on an old event no longer work, you can search for the current providers of any title here: https://justwatch.com

Two Swedish sisters find themselves in extreme danger when a rock slide tumbles down on them while they’re diving on vacation in Norway. The two have a bit of history: the younger one nearly drowned as a teen in a diving accident for which the elder was blamed. Years later they’re extremely experienced and capable divers, so when one is trapped under a boulder, they immediately execute a plan to get her free. The plot moves in an everything-that-can-go-wrong-does-go-wrong direction, but all the events are connected and believable. The movie was remade in 2023 as The Dive, and both features offer plenty of nail-biting scares and thrills.
Swedish dialogue with English subtitles

■ Title — Breaking Surface
■ Director — Joachim Hedén
■ Cast — Moa Gammel, Madeleine Martin, Trine Wiggen
■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults
■ ©2020 | 1h 18m | Adventure, Drama, Horror, Thriller

■ Watch it free with ads on Fandango:
https://athome.fandango.com/content/browse/details/Breaking-Surface/1599166
■ Watch it free with ads on Fawesome:
https://fawesome.tv/movies/10677399/breaking-surface
■ Watch it free with ads on Tubi:
https://tubitv.com/movies/100016061/breaking-surface
■ Available free without ads to Amazon Prime subscribers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.94badb74-fa96-1c1d-7481-c53230c5a18c
■ Available free without ads to Hoopla subscribers:
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/15804433
■ Available free without ads to Kanopy subscribers (details below):
https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/13250549

■ Kanopy streaming service is available free to holders of DC library cards. DC libraries will issue cards to residents of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and other nearby areas. Visit any branch to obtain your card. Kanopy is also provided free to Loudoun County library card holders who live, work, or study in Loudoun County.

■ As with most of our online features, you can watch this one whenever you like. Members who watch at the scheduled time may enjoy exchanging comments with other members on this page. If you post a comment before the show, please avoid spoilers. Comments posted after the show may contain any content, but Oddball Cinema encourages members to always avoid spoilers unless there’s some particularly important details you need to mention.

■ Many of the movies on our online events from as far back as March 2020 are still available for viewing. However, titles sometimes move from one streaming service to another. If you find that the links on an old event no longer work, you can search for the current providers of any title here: https://justwatch.com

A small-time drug trafficker likes to spend his spare time watching an emergency-medical show on TV. An emergency-medical technician likes to spend hers watching a crime show. The two have never met, but eventually it becomes apparent that there’s a paranormal connection between them. Figuring out this connection and then determining what to do about it takes most of the movie. The action only gets stranger and more ominous as the story approaches a conclusion that may have you questioning reality.

■ Title — The Frame
■ Director — Jamin Winans
■ Cast — David Carranza, Tiffany Mualem, Cal Bartlett
■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults
■ ©2014 | 2h 7m | Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Thriller
■ Distributed by Double Edge Films