Recent viewings

[voltron]

Just Before Dawn - my fave backwoods slasher (next to Rituals). 5/5
Rabid - Classic 70s Cronenberg. Love the scene where the santa gets shot! 5/5
Don't Look In The Basement - Total grindhouse flick. Love it! 4/5
Mountaintop Motel Massacre - Competent and unique semi late entry into the slasher genre. 4/5
Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door - Horrific, shocking and repulsive. Stayed with me for days. Pretty Cool! 4/5 (Knocked down a point because it's soooo friggin' sick).

[Jack]

Decay (2012) - some kids who work at that big atom smasher in Europe show up for work all hung over on Monday morning, and because they're such model employees their boss has them sit in the control room of the 4.75 billion dollar facility, while the grown up scientists go down into the underground tunnels to do some work. Something goes wrong and the people in the tunnels get irradiated which causes them to turn into zombies. And the elevator's broke so the kids have to walk through a bunch of dark, zombie-infested corridors for the remainder of the movie. Well, it had a tiny bit of atmosphere I suppose, and the zombie makeup was well done. But the acting was on such a high school play level that it made the dramatic scenes unintentionally humorous. 2.5/5.

[Jack]

Scarecrows (1988) - some thieves steal three million dollars and then hijack a cargo plane, kidnapping the father and daughter who pilot it, and make their getaway. But one of the thieves bails out with the money, landing on an isolated farm full of scarecrows. The other thieves are none too happy with their comrade and go looking for him. And of course the scarecrows are evil beings who do some nasty things to our crooks. This was pretty good, had decent atmosphere on the dark, spooky farm and the characters actually had some personality. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

"some thieves steal three million dollars" about a billion in 1988 dollars

[Jack]

Alien Outpost (2014) - so in the future some aliens have attempted to invade earth, but failed. They left thousands of their troops behind though, and we've got military bases set up throughout the world to defend against attacks. At one particularly small base (about 10 guys) on the Afghanistan / Pakistan border, the aliens are up to no good and neither are the local militias, so the guys have their hands full. This had good characters and it all seemed fairly realistic, problem was that very little alien-related stuff happened for the first two-thirds of the movie, which was mostly spent with us meeting the guys at the base and watching them go through their daily routine. Still decent enough though. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Rich Pryor tv special - in the first skit, John Belushi is a slavemaster picking out slaves and sending them to their fate which it turns out is hosting a tv special. Thats actually pretty accurate as these things tend to stink and this one is no exception. Variety shows were best left in the hands of the Osmonds and people like that not serious comedic talents.

There was one funny thing where they had Gladys night and the Pips, except it was just " and the pips"

http://youtu.be/LdN27HzoyO4
	Small | Large

2/5 otherwise pretty poor

[claws]

Honeymoon (2014)

Young married couple go on their honeymoon at some remote cabin in the woods by some lake. One night the husband wakes up and finds his wife naked in the woods. She claims she was sleepwalking. The next day he discovers strange marks on her thighs. She claims she was bitten by mosquitos. Soon enough the wife displays strange behavior, like, she forgets how to make french toast and coffee. The husband is convinced that she isn't his real wife, though she claims she still is.

Well, I'm pretty much undecided on this one. I thought the acting was bad in general, and there was no chemistry between the two actors whatsoever. Their lines and acting also came off forced. Other than that there seems to be a interesting movie hidden within but I had issues with the overall "package." I shall see if a second viewing will change my mind. As for now: 2.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986): A Texas Ranger (Dennis Hopper) hunts the chainsaw-wielding cannibal family that killed his brother fourteen years ago, and continues to carve its way across Texas. This late sequel nudges the series in a grotesque comedy direction; Hopper is underused but there are two or three good set pieces. 3.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

SyFy kicked off their "Sharknado Week 2015" fest last night with this pair of cheap-O's...

"RoboShark" (2015)

http://youtu.be/fbChoNXBesk
	Small | Large

An alien intelligence crash-lands in the ocean near Seattle and is swallowed by a passing shark...which turns into a metallic robotic creature that can not only attack on land OR at sea, but also understands the value of ... social media. WTF? This dumb-as-a-stump attempt at campy comedy horror has its tongue stuck WAY too far into its cheek. Don't even get me started on the terrible, mugging acting or the ultra cheap CGI effects. Even by SyFy's paltry standards, this one sucked.

"Mega Shark vs. Kolossus" (2015)

http://youtu.be/5f78-ga4bgs
	Small | Large

Now THIS is more like it! Our friends at the Asylum know how to make a disaster epic on a cheese and crackers budget! When a new Megalodon menaces the Earth's oceans the only thing big enough to fight it is Kolossus - a giant, super powered Russian robot left over from a top secret Cold War project. Much blasting, zapping and chomping ensues.

[Jack]

LOL, I MUST see Mega Shark vs. Kolossus 

[lester1/2jr]

conflict (1945) - This was a solid suspense type movie that's part of the film noir thing on TCM. Humphrey Bogart is good but a little random in the lead. He's not really what you think of as devious and is better suited to less evil roles that are tough but have more depth.

A guy is in love with his wife's younger sister. it's not hard to see why, for one the younger sister is nice and the wife is awful. Bogart has had enough so he offs her, but then someone who knows keeps doing stuff like mailing him her rings...or is he imagining it? Another problem is he finally gets the wife out of the way and the sister is being pursued by some other guy. One step forward, two steps back. People don't appreciate the fortitude it takes to murder someone they want you to wait in line like everyone else. Well, no one promised you a rose garden, Humphrey Bogart.

Bogart brings enough of his skill to the role but other than him being famous it doesn't seem like there was a very good reason to cast him. As you can see it wasn't any kind of classic but very solid b picture I enjoyed watching. 4/5

[JaseSF]

The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA (2006): Documentary looking back at Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association and its impact on pro wrestling as well as Verne's impact as a trainer/developer of talent. Actually this was a pretty good documentary mainly because we get a lot of input from the wrestlers and talent who were long term AWA guys such as Verne Gagne, Greg Gagne, Baron Von Raschke, Nick Bockwinkel, Larry Hennig, the Blackjacks, Jim Brunzell, and Bobby Heenan. There's also commentary from Hulk Hogan, Superstar Billy Graham, Ricky Steamboat, Eric Bischoff all of whom I enjoyed as well as Jim Ross and Michael Hayes who seemed to have too much say about a product they didn't seem that informed about.  We learn how Vince McMahon and the WWF basically stole all the bright young talent the AWA developed in the early 1980s (including Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Mean Gene Okerlund and Heenan who were probably the most significant as guys who could talk fans into the seats, they'd also bring in guys like Rick Martel, Tito Santana, Adrian Adonis, Brunzell, Curt Hennig, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Pat Tanaka, Paul Diamond, the Destruction Crew, Boris Zukhov, etc. - the NWA would also take away the Road Warriors from them)  and used similar tactics as were done to Vince himself years lately by those who ran WCW. There's a little too much pro-Vince sentiment here from some guys who come across like they are kissing butt but some other guys at least told it like it was and some even pointed out the truth that the AWA was actually a better product than the WWF until Hogan jumped in 84.

The cover for this DVD is all wrong - it basically features guys most don't really associate with the AWA because the cover showcases most of the talent the WWF stole (why Ric Flair is on the cover is anyone's guess as he was never really an AWA guy although Verne helped train him). The cover should have had Verne, Bockwinkel & Heenan, the Baron, Billy Robinson, the Crusher, Larry Hennig, Mad Dog Vachon, the High Flyers, Zbyzsko, maybe Slaughter, Hennig, Hogan & Lawler.  I know that cover will keep some old school AWA fans from buying this documentary which was actually pretty well done. Some also will never buy it because they blame Vince for ruining pro wrestling.  It did feel a little sad as one realizes that with the deaths of the AWA, later NWA/WCW and ECW, pro wrestling as we knew it back in the day basically died. The AWA was arguably the top organization in the 1970s and early 1980s and one does get a sense of that at least here. The AWA always delivered and was about delivering quality pro wrestling to pro wrestling fans, that comes through as well. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Meatballs (1979): Tripper (Bill Murray) is the star counselor at a kids summer camp called Camp North Star. At camp, kids and counselors as well get into trouble and various hijinks the most of which centers on a competition with rival Camp Mohawk, a next door camp for rich and privileged kids.

Despite the film's cover on its video packaging, this film isn't some raunchy 80s sex comedy. No it's actually much more in the vein a kids drama when mixed with understanding young adults: of going to a kids camp, growing up, the problems kids face, and tackles issues of acceptance, friendship, love, etc. Sure there's some fun and comedy included as well. Murray gets to deliver some great lines in this very early film from him. Some may be disappointed by what the film doesn't deliver but I enjoyed what it did have to offer. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Popeye (1980): A newcomer named Popeye (Robin Williams) arrives in the seaside town of Sweethaven looking for his long missing father. There he meets up with Olive Oyl (Shelley Duval) and her family and friends such as Wimpy (Paul Dooley). Eventually his friendship with Olive and their adoption of an abandoned baby named Swee'pea leads to Popeye becoming the main enemy of Olive's ex-fiancee Bluto (Paul L. Smith).

This is something of a mixed bag. It's no doubt very difficult to translate the Popeye cartoon to a big screen film and this film actually does a better job than I expected of it. Most of the characters at least look and act like their originals for the most part, Shelley Duval probably being the most well cast of them all. Still our story seems to drag on at a bit of a snail's pace here at times and this plays sort of like an origin story for Popeye so not all the elements we expect get delivered until near the end of the film and then it doesn't seem like it's quite enough action at least when compared to the cartoons. There also seems like there should be more of a 1930s feel to this than there is. Still there are some enjoyable elements here and there and there's definitely some clever and quirky moments. This one has the potential to possibly be a cult classic of sorts but not sure it ever really becomes that. ***1/2 out of ***** stars. (Yeah I was perhaps a tad generous with these ratings but that's how I felt at the time after watching them).

[indianasmith]

I saw POPEYE in the theater when it first came out and loved it!
Then, 20 years later when it finally got a VHS release, my wife and I watched it together again and looked at one another and said:
"We actually thought this was good?"

[claws]

Fists of Iron (1995)

A young guy trained in martial arts works as a mechanic. One day he and his friend get involved in illegal fighting tournaments at some rich guy's posh villa. There's good money to be made but when the mechanic's friend is killed during a fight the mechanic is out for revenge.

Usually there is lots of cheese to be found in these kind of movies. Acting and dialogue can be borderline bad at times but overall not too bad to dismiss it as a really bad movie. Surprisingly it wasn't too dull either, rather generic and by the numbers. The mechanic is played by Michael Worth who was dabbling in martial arts movies but switched film genres soon enough. Other than that you'll get Sam "Flash Gordon" Jones as a mentor of some sorts, and semi-iconic Matthias Hues always playing the baddie. For brief comic relief there was a 6'8" classic muscle head character with a glass jaw. Oh well. 2.5/5

[Jack]

Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf (2015) - so sharktopus is dong his usual thing swimmin' around eating people, and meanwhile a mad scientist injects wolf and killer whale DNA into a washed up baseball player; I guess she kind of overdoes it because instead of revitalizing his career she turns him into whalewolf. He doesn't get along with sharktopus. And then you've got Casper Van Dien and his totally hot ex-girlfriend trying to put a stop to the ever-increasing carnage. The first two-thirds of this had quite a few humorous touches and the last third was completely dopey but with the characters playing it straight, which I thought worked really well. The mad scientist got all the best lines. Overall I thought it was entertaining as hell One of the better "vs" schlockfests I've seen. 4/5.