Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

DUCK SOUP (1933): Rufus T. Firefly is announced as the new leader of bankrupt Freedonia, but will his penchant for insulting everyone he meets ignite a war? Anarchic, consistently funny (almost every single line Groucho utters is an instant classic), and contains the famous mirror sequence; probably the greatest of all the Marx Brothers movies and an easy 5/5.

[Jack]

It Waits (2005) - Cerina Vincent stars as a weepy drunk, having flashbacks to the night two months earlier when she was out getting hammered with her best friend, and on the way home she flips the car and...no more best friend. Now she's taken a job as a forest ranger so she can sit up in her tower and wallow in a pool of drunken self-pity without interruption. Not only is this an awful way to waste the first 15 minutes of a "horror" movie, but it's totally ineffective as a device of character development. There's a huge difference between developing a character and just giving them a backstory - after all this junk we don't feel as if we know Vincent's character at all, don't sympathize with her, don't like or dislike her. Oh but then finally a monster shows up. It's actually a great creature, nice makeup job and it's very cruel, preferring to terrorize its victims for a good long time before killing them. Of course this is basically ruined by Vincent's character acting all scared during the attacks, and then acting as if she doesn't even take it seriously the next day. 

Sigh...good idea, terrible execution. The forest scenery looks great on this Blu ray.  It's not one of those fancy Blu rays that has stuff like, you know, a menu or anything, but it gets the job done.  2.5/5.

[alandhopewell]

     I watched this for breakfast this morning....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ZxVYQVQTg
	Small | Large

     As it was made by the same folks who gave us MEGASHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS, I really wasn't expecting much. Imagine my suprise when it turned out to be a good movie.

      Much like AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, this film is based on an actual haunting....

http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/allegedhauntings.cfm

with an up-to-date story added on.


     A nearly gore-free, atmospheric film, I recommend it.

[lester1/2jr]

Night of the lepus p**ses me off for some reason.

[Jack]

Mongolian Death Worm (2010) - So over in Mongolia they're having a problem with Death Worms - they're kind of chuckle-inducing but hey, don't mess with the Death Worms. A "lovable rogue" type guy teams up with a cute doctor babe to see what they can do about the slithering menace, but they get a little sidetracked when some gangster types, who have been financing the guy's treasure hunting expeditions, show up to collect their spoils. Meanwhile some guy who runs a petroleum pumping station has been ignoring his duties and concentrating on how to smuggle some treasure he's found out of the country. It's Mongolia, I'll give you one guess what the treasure is But then his boss from corporate HQ shows up and throws a big ol' wrench in his plans. So there's subplots o'plenty which actually works quite well to keep the action going. I enjoyed the characters, they were likable and fun, and of course the Death Worms provide some laughs terror!  4/5.

[Rev. Powell]

FELLINI SATYRICON (1969): Fellini's fragmented "free adaptation' of Petronius' epic poem (much of which is lost) jumps around depicting Roman adventures from a decadent feast to the theft of a hermaphrodite demigod(dess) with a minotaur in between. Almost impossible to follow but always gorgeous to look at, it's a major indulgence from a major director; when extraordinary talent indulges itself, the results are usually worthwhile. 4/5.

[fulci420]

Pusher-After rewatching Drive I decided to check out Refn's first film. Basically a week in the life of a mid level drug dealer that gets increasingly worse as the days go on. Fans of Drive will enjoy this as it shares the graphic violence and intensity of that film's second half. An excellent film that makes me excited to watch the rest of the trilogy.

[FatFreddysCat]

Home today with a couple of sick kiddies (booooo!), just watched this with the boys:
"How to Train Your Dragon" (2009)

[flash(425,350)]http://www.youtube.com/v/88x08ePynt0[/flash]

Comic fantasy about a young Viking who has a knack for "connecting" with dragons, which conflicts with the fact that his tribe has been waging war on them for generations. Fun stuff, action packed and beautifully animated.

[JaseSF]

Sweet Home Alabama (2002):  Melanie (Reese Witherspoon), a southern girl who's made it big in New York City as a fashion designer returns home hoping to secretly finalize her divorce from old beau Jake (Josh Lucas) so she can start a new life with new beau and fiancee Andrew (Patrick Dempsey), the Mayor (Candice Bergen)'s son. Only her return brings back old memories and perhaps sparks with her ex.

This romantic comedy is pretty predictable fare. It has some fun moments here and there and Witherspoon is likable and fun in the lead but it's really nothing too special and it's not the kind of film that leaves one with lasting memories. O.K. fare for a one-time viewing but not something I'd personally be in an hurry to revisit. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

The Open Door (2008) - Some girl wants to go to a party with her friends, but her strict parents won't let her, so she sits at home listening to a pirate radio broadcast espousing "philosophy" that would probably be appealing to an angsty teenager.  Meanwhile her friends go to the big party.  The guys are jock douchebags of the worst sort, obnoxious as all hell and looking to get into fights.  The "best friend forever" girl is a manipulative whore.

Turned it off after a half hour. 

[tracy]

"Sword of the Valiant"

This was a pretty tragic film and Sean Connery looked rather flakey in his sparkling green armor....with antlers on the front. I loved the bit when Miles O'Keefe was about to fight and his squire asked him if he knew the armor the king gave him was merely ceremonial...what a time to mention that!

[alandhopewell]

     This was one of four Hammer Dracula films I got for $7.50....



     The last time I saw this was about thirty years ago, and I was swozzled, which would account for my finding it at all interesting. This has to be the dullest of the Hammer Draculas, so boring it makes one wonder how that's possible.

[JaseSF]

Sixteen Candles (1984): High school sophomore Sam Baker (Molly Ringwald) struggles to get through what might just be her worst birthday ever- her sweet sixteen. Thing is, her family so involved with her sister's upcoming wedding apparently completely forgot her birthday, her school crush Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling) doesn't seem to know she exists and she's constantly being hounded by a lovestruck geek named Ted (Anthony Michael Hall).

This romantic comedy classic is great in that it's very funny and has great re-watchability (not sure that's a word but there it is nevertheless). The character of Long Duk Dong (Gedde Watanabe), the Asian foreign exchange student living with Sam's grandparents, may be a stereotype but he and his misadventures prove truly hilarious and often steal the show here. There's also some surprisingly sweet little moments here. Even though a lot of what happens sometimes seems to stretch credibility, one doesn't care because the characters prove so memorable and likable, even Ted and his friends, one of whom is played by John Cusack. **** out of ***** stars.

Clockwise (1986): A stuffy school headmaster named Brian Stimpson (John Cleese), obsessed with being on time for everything finds himself suddenly late for a very important headmasters conference when at the train station he makes a mistake between the direction of left and right. This leads him on a series of misadventures after he convinces an 18 year old female student named Laura (Sharon Maiden) to drive him there after failing to connect with his wife, who at his suggestion has decided to drive little old ladies residing in the local Seniors home around the countryside. Soon misunderstandings abound and a desperate Stimpson finds himself getting deeper and deeper into trouble even though he's unaware of it at first but eventually finding no other way out but to take even more desperate measures. More and comedy zaniness as only Cleese can deliver abounds.

This is a little slow getting off the ground and requires a bit of attention to follow and get all the jokes and quips but does prove pretty fun by the end, even if it's a little uneven at times. Cleese steals the show here as Stimpson and makes this funny. I honestly doubt it would be as funny with any other actor in the role. Sharon Maiden offers surprisingly good support as the somewhat mischievous Laura. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

100 Million BC (2008) - repeat viewing. Back in the '40s, some scientist used a time-travel device to send some folks back to 70 million BC (hence the title). The time travel thingie broke and they were stuck there. So the scientist spent the next 60 years trying to perfect his time travel tech, and in the present day, a team of military guys is sent back to rescue them. After the appropriate number of folks get munched by various prehistoric critters (It's by the Asylum, and features their usual stunningly realistic CGI  ), they manage to get back to the present day, but unfortunately so does a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which chases everybody around downtown LA for the remainder of the movie. This thing is probably about a 2.5/5, but for some reason I've developed an odd affection for it. Probably the good-natured ridiculousness of everything. 4/5.

[JaseSF]

Sleeping Beauty (1959): Disney fairy tale classic in which a young princess named Aurora is cursed by a jealous dark witch named Maleficent to die on her sixteenth birthday after pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. However three kind fairies try and undo her curse and one manages to change the end result of said curse so Aurora will simply fall asleep when pricked with the spindle until she is awakened by true love's kiss. To try and protect Aurora from Maleficent's evil reach, the three fairies adopt Aurora as their own and raise her in secret hoping to outlast the curse the day after her sixteenth birthday but the evil Maleficent has other plans.

I recall this being particularly powerful and downright frightening when I watched it as a child. As an adult, it doesn't quite scare as much but the character of Maleficent is so dark and twisted and so inherently evil her presence still proves powerful throughout this film and the final in which the heroic Prince Phillip tries to get beyond her evil grasp and must face her most dire wrathful powers still has its suspenseful moments. The animation is also quite wonderfully acheived. A classic that well deserves its reputation. ****1/2 out of ***** stars.