Recent viewings

[voltron]

Schizo (1976). Great little proto-slasher. 

[Rev. Powell]

SUSPIRIA (1977): An American girl goes to a ballet school in Germany and discovers it's run by a coven of witches.  Though this is indeed spooky, it's far more notable for its sensory assault---the pounding Goblin soundtrack and Dario Argento's bizarre, baroque color schemes---than it is for the story.  4.5/5.

[JaseSF]

Crack in the World (1965): Dr. Steven Sorenson (Dana Andrews) plans on using a novel means to get to the geothermal energy located at the Earth's molten core - he plans on detonating a nuclear blast to finally get access to the core despite the dire warnings of colleague Dr. Ted Rampian (Kiernon Moore) that it could set off a chain of events causing an irreversible crack in the Earth's crust that could have deadly consequences for the whole planet. However Sorenson, who learns he's dying from an illness, becomes more determined than ever to complete his work while he still can.

This focuses far more on the personal dramas facing the three leads, who are involved in a sort of reluctant love triangle than on showcasing all the vast disaster that's reportedly underway throughout this movie. We hear about far more than we actually see although there are some decent FX sequences here and there but nowhere near as much as I initially expected from the film. Still I have to give those who made this a lot of credit - they made the many unlikely events that unfold in this film seem surprisingly believable as the actors playing scientists play them in such a way it becomes easy to suspend one's disbelief as the characters act in such a way they seem to know what they're talking about even though the film's science is very flawed indeed. Still Andrews and Moore command attention whenever they appear on the screen and Janette Scott as Dr. Maggie Sorenson proves a shapely, leggy blonde love interest for the scientists and an added source of conflict between the two leads who eventually must work together to try, if at all possible, to stop the crack after it's unleashed. Some great visuals at the end with a stunning surprise twist. A good, fun disaster Sci-Fi film 60s style - very enjoyable *** out of ***** stars

Starcrash (1978): Space bandit Stella Star (Caroline Munro) and her alien navigator Akton (Marjoe Gortner) are unexpectedly teamed up with galactic police official Thor (Robert Tessier) and police robot Elle (Judd Hamilton) for a special top secret mission assigned by the kindly Galactic Emperor (Christopher Plummer). Their mission: to find the secret weapon planet of the evil Count Zarth Ann (Joe Spinnell) and find the Emperor's missing son along the way if at all possible.

Watched the new DVD of this classic piece of b-movie goodness. It's never looked better to me than it does here. Just fantastic although I was slightly disappointed the DVD lacked Closed Captioning and subtitles as I like to see the dialogue as well when I watch a movie (don't ask me why, it's just something I guess I got into watching movies late at night with the sound turned down). The film is of course great fun with Ray Harryhausen inspired stop motion critters including a giant Amazonian walking statue and the "Gollum" robots, David Hasselhoff showing up to have a lightsaber style battle with said "Gollums", Caroline Munro spending the vast majority of the film in a revealing leather bikini and looking super hot! and Joe Spinnell chewing the scenery as the villainous Count who kind of looks like a fat Satan. The robot Elle has some funny lines too and proves a surprisingly likable, slightly buffoonish droid style hero here arguably more likable than C-3PO. There are scenes here that bring to mind scenes from Jason and the Argonauts, the Sinbad films, Invaders From Mars (1953), Zardoz, Barbarella as well as of course the Star Wars films although of course this doesn't come close to comparing to any of them in terms of quality given its low budget but surprisingly charming FX.  Immensely enjoyable to me personally, I consdier this a bad movie must. On the enjoyability level in terms of this being a fun B-movie, I give it ****1/2 out of ***** stars. I only knock it half a star for a few slow moments here and there.

[Jim H]

She (1982) - yeah, the Sandahl Bergman film.  One of the strangest movies I've ever seen.  It's up there with oddities like Master of the Flying Guillotine for shear craziness.  It defies easy reviewing too.  I'll say this: I was rarely outright bored, and some parts were entertaining.  Also, I liked the main character, there are several bits where his reactions to people are actually really funny.  And hey, it's got Sandahl Bergman naked.  That counts for something, right?  And an exploding Frankenstein monster robot head.  And Nazi samurai knights.  Yeah.

On a serious movie scale...  I don't even know.  A 2 or 3/10?  On a bad movie scale...  I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Hardware (1990) - I saw this when it was still pretty new, probably the first time it was on cable.  I think it was on TMC.  I was probably like 8 or 9 (early 90s).  It stuck with me so much I'd been kind of interested in seeing it again.  I can't say it's a really GOOD movie, but it sure is interesting and has some really good visuals.  And the robot is cool.  Definitely worth watching.  I think overall I'd give it a 7/10 for the visuals and general weirdness alone. 

It really does make me want to see the only other finished narrative Richard Stanley has made, Dust Devil.  I almost bought that super duper 5 disc DVD version, but I missed my chance and regret it now.  Hmm. 

Hey, any thoughts on Richard Stanley, Trevor?   

[Jack]

Mandrake (2010) - Some people go to South America to find some dagger, and once they recover it a tree monster comes to life and starts killing them.  There are also the local natives who want to use them for human sacrifice.  This was an extremely average SyFy Original - the male lead was an okay guy, the female lead was obnoxious, and everybody else was tree monster chow.  The woods around Shreveport LA do not make a very convincing South American jungle.  The monster was kind of cool looking.  If they would have had the babes running around in tight tank tops, this would have kept my interest.  But of course they didn't.  My favorite part was that with 5 minutes left in the movie, the SyFy Channel ran 5 minutes of ad's, and then a 10 minute infomercial for their show Caprica.  I mean, you gotta be freakin' kidding me    2.5/5.

[3mnkids]

I'll sleep when im dead~ Clive Owen returns to his old haunts after the death of his brother.. oh my, what a mess. Zero character development, horrible pacing, and they forgot the ending     Some may say the ending was meant to be ambiguous, I disagree.

Demonic Toys~ yeah, its about demonic toys.     I'd forgotten how bad this movie was. Tracy Scoggins is the worst police officer ever. Its entertaining as hell though.   

Shock Corridor~ A journalist has himself committed to an insane asylum in the hopes of solving a murder so he can write about it and hopefully win a Pulitzer. Its a little bit crazy but thats what I like about it.   

[lester1/2jr]

The Drowning Pool (1975)- If you like that 70's feel this has it in spades. Malenie Griffith is super hot but not in it enough. Paul Newman is great. The bad guys are very typical fo Holywood: not only are they southern but they are capitalists! I don't doubt that there are truths to some of the stereotypes that the south is full of boss hog type "law enforcement" but they ARE stereotypes, probably meant to enforce the idea that the federal governmetn is a divine presence and blah bllah blah. Anyway the stpry is just a little too laid back for it's own good and doesn't really get revved up. Ending was fun.

3.5/5 If you are big into 70's cop movies definately check it out

[spongekryst]

OGRE (2009)- SyFy Originale! So that gives you an idea already. Surprisingly this one was okay. The actors, instead of all being horrible, seemed to vary in talent (good to bad to SyFy regular). The plot is basically The Village (only they really are a colonial village, they're stuck in time due to an evil spell having to do with the Orgre as well) with a killer Playstation 2 monster, to whom they must make annual sacrifices to in order to hold back a plague. The plague is known as "THE SPOTS", where apparently, red spots appear on your skin and you are quaratined into a hole in the ground. An guy with knowledge of black magic casts the above mentioned spell and seemingly makes the town ageless. Enter some modern day teens who are looking for the "Town Lost in Time" and you have a semi-decent SyFy movie.

The blood/gore was cheesy. Then again watched it on TV, so there is a possibility that is it bloodier on the DVD, I know Cyclops was, hahaha.

Recommended if you're into SyFy schlock or just want to watch a decent modern b-movie.

[JaseSF]

Three Men and a Baby (1987): Three bachelors (Steve Guttenberg, Tom Selleck & Ted Danson) find their worlds turned upside down after finding an infant baby left on their doorstep, the daughter of one of them (Danson).

Watched this with my girlfriend. It's one of her movies. Actually I really enjoyed it. It's a sweet little comedy that ultimately proves to have its heart in the right place despite a little bit of a slow start. The comedy of three totally unprepared bachelors forced to look after a baby often proves quite funny and it's also sweet how much they ultimately come to care for the little girl. Danson & Selleck really shined here I felt, Guttenberg was O.K. too but kind of given less to do.  *** out of ***** stars

The Silver Streak (1976): A slightly wacky book editor (Gene Wilder) travelling on the Silver Streak train to Chicago finds himself thrown into the unlikely role of action hero when he meets and falls in love with a beautiful blonde secretary who ends up entangled in the clutches of a crime boss.

This was quite surprising. Of course, there's great comedy when you've got Wilder paired with Richard Pryor in a film only here they're actually action heroes. It's surprising how well they manage to pull this off yet remain convincing as average joe characters who just happened to stumble into this mess. This movie is endlessly entertaining IMO and a movie I know I could watch over and over again. Wilder's so likable he can even get away with playing a "blackface" character in this one. Pryor's not in it as much as I'd like and his character just seems to pop up out of nowhere but he soon starts to steal the show from there on in. Neat to see Richard "Jaws" Kiel as a huge villainous henchman Wilder must tangle with. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[lester1/2jr]

Hot Tub TIme Machine- I watch either foreign, old or bad movies pretty much exclusively so its always kind of freaky to watch the ones I'm actually "supposed" to be watching. This was good I guess. It had the requisite post theres something about my Mary gross out/ heartfeltedness ratio.

[dean]

Hot Tub TIme Machine- I watch either foreign, old or bad movies pretty much exclusively so its always kind of freaky to watch the ones I'm actually "supposed" to be watching. This was good I guess. It had the requisite post theres something about my Mary gross out/ heartfeltedness ratio.

It's good to watch movies outside of your normal realm, if anything it gives you an appreciation for your favourites, and maybe everynow and then you'll find something you didn't expect and enjoy it.

I enjoyed HTTM, but found it to be a solid 6.5/10. 

[lester1/2jr]

it's weird seeing the good production values and decent acting. it's lkie "come on now, isn't this a bit much"

when you aren't used to it though alot of hollywoo movies seem like some writers therapy session. somewhere along the line comedies got an awful lot "warm" er.

NOt another teen MOvie was the last one that really spoke to me 

[Jack]

Ancient Evil:  Scream of the Mummy (2000) - Some college kids are preparing a mummy for display in a house, which we're apparently supposed to think is a museum.  The uber-nerd kid brings the mummy to life, and from then on it lurks in the background like the villain in a Scooby Doo cartoon.  Meanwhile, the loud idiot kid wants to get drunk, so he goes through the house museum looking for alcohol.  The other kids stand around talking about what a jerk he is, how he's going to get them all in trouble, and how they're going to kick his butt.  This is basically the main plot of the movie - people standing around talking about this guy, looking for him, talking about him, looking for him - I'd estimate it consumes at least 70 of the 86 minute run time.  This is a BORING movie.  Extremely stupid as well, but not the entertaining type of stupid, just the boring type.  Being a David DeCoteau movie, it's mostly aimed at gay guys.  There sure isn't any T&A;  instead we get guys in their tighty-whities and slow, loving camera pans over the crotch area.  1.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

HOME (2008): A French family's behavior becomes increasingly erratic when a major highway opens in their front yard; they eventually wall themselves up in the house to escape the noise.  An obscure metaphor that never gets up to highway speed. 2/5.

[3mnkids]

Mockingbird dont sing~  Its the story of the "wild child" Genie from the 70's. She was abused by her parents for 13 years. She was isolated from the world, tied to a chair, never really spoken too,.. very sad. She couldn't speak and acted like an animal. The movie mostly deals with the people in her life after she is removed from her parents. The therapist, doctors, teachers. Who, for the most part, want to use her to further their career, to get famous, etc.

My only complaint~ Sean Young is just gawd awful. The person she is playing is a real nasty woman but Young takes the character over the top and its just painful to watch.

Its worth a watch but its depressing.