Recent viewings

[claws]

Jack Frost (1997)

Serial Killer is melted to a puddle with deadly chemicals but his remains live on in snow. He heads to a small town to diminish its population as a Killer Snowman.
Dumb & cheesy with cult appeal. One of the better bad holiday horror movies. 4/5 Cheese

[JaseSF]

I actually like I Am Omega better than I Am Legend but that's just me. Of course both pale to me in comparison to The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth.

The Bishop’s Wife (1947): A struggling Bishop named Henry Brougham (David Niven) hoping to raise the funds to build a large new cathedral asks for guidance from above. What he gets in return is a Christmas angel named Dudley (Cary Grant) who seems more concerned with the happiness of the Bishop’s wife Julia (Loretta Young), his family, servants and friends.

This was quite the delightful surprise. I really enjoyed this and was surprised by the twist in terms of the relationship between Henry and Dudley being far from what I expected it to be.  Grant is terrific and charming to the max as the likable Dudley while Niven does well as the befuddled Bishop who’s kind of lost his way and sight of what really matters. Young too manages to capture and maintain your attention throughout and you soon find yourself rooting for her.

My girlfriend’s sister actually named her special little cat, received as a gift last Christmas, after Dudley from this simple, fun, sweet little, good natured Christmas drama. ****1/2 out of ***** stars.

Home Alone (1990): Following a tiff with his family, young 8 year old Kevin McAllister (MacCauley Culkin) is grounded in the upstairs attic and later accidentally forgotten about during the family’s overseas vacation.  Soon Kevin is forced to grow up and take care of himself especially when a pair of bumbling bandits named Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) target his family household.

Everyone should know what this one is all about by now. Cartoonish, fun over the top violence and laughs galore as young Kevin teaches the idiotic crooks a lesson they shouldn’t soon forget. The film though proves surprisingly touching at other moments the best involving Kevin helping another lost soul find his way back to his family. This never fails to entertain and make me laugh and also manages to move at other moments. Quite good but probably should not be taken too seriously. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992): Hmm you’d think Harry and Marv would have learned from the first one not to tangle with Kevin McAllister yet here they are again, this time with everything ramped up to the max as Kevin ends up accidentally taking the wrong plane and winds up in New York City, again without his family. There he must fend off the nosy hotel staff and later runs afoul of a freshly escaped Harry and Marv.

This is in essence the same film as the first just with everything amped up even more. The cartoon violence is even more over the top and more unbelievable (the stuff Kevin does to the buffoonish crooks here would kill them if it were real) but to be honest, I can’t help but laugh at this movie. It’s a guilty pleasure favourite for certain but I still find myself watching it again every Christmas season.  Tim Curry as the Concierge is really funny in this (and steals the show whenever he appears on screen) as is Rob Schneider although their roles are pretty much limited to the film’s first half. Again Kevin tries to help another lost soul but here it feels a lot less believable than in the first film and honestly a little disturbing knowing all the potential diseases pigeons may well be carrying. *** out of ***** stars.

Christmas With the Kranks (2004): With their daughter Blair finally having left home to join the Peace Corps, one Luther Krank (Tim Allen) decides that for the upcoming Christmas he and his wife  Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) should treat themselves instead to a luxury  cruise  and skip Christmas altogether. However this sits anything but well with the local community used to the Kranks playing a large part in the town’s yearly Christmas traditions.

Honestly I found this movie quite funny. I’ve seen it get many negative reviews but a lot of it resonated and seemed all too true to me. The parts with Nora and Luther trying to hide away from the prying eyes of small town locals abhorred by the idea of their skipping Christmas prove quite funny. Dan Aykroyd as the town’s leader Vic Frohmeyer provides some of the film’s funniest scenes insisting they participate in the Frosty the snowman Christmas roof decoration tradition. The scenes in the tanning saloon, the race for the Hickory Honey Ham and Nora trying to escape from Frohmeyer in her car I found hilarious. I have to admit I don’t think this is a great, great film but I have enjoyed it each time I watched it and in the end, it does seem to portray a good message  of giving and being selfless. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Couchtr26]

I couldn't get to sleep and then watched Begotten. 

Yes, the Golden Fleece of Weird.  I love the bizarre and though slow in points I enjoyed it overall.  Is it sad I'm actually open now to plopping 90 dollars on a copy?  For me, it became interesting watching and coming up with alternate interpretations.  I can find quite a few applicable comparisons and a few things that point to world views I share.  Sad perhaps. 

5/5

Now, I must find the Holy Grail of Weird and give it undying praise. 

PS: Did anyone notice God is either a hypocrite or anti-Semitic?   

[Jack]

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970) - Yup, it's that time of year again    This is one of those utterly charming Rankin Bass productions, with the stop-motion puppets and lots of music.  Narrated my Fred Astaire, we're told the story of Santa / Kris Kringle (voiced by Mickey Rooney), and learn why he does the various things he does, like why he gives presents to children, why he comes down the chimney, etc.  Have I said it's utterly charming already?  The music was excellent as well, except for that "Put One Foot In Front Of The Other" song - I never have liked that one.  4.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

Now, I must find the Holy Grail of Weird and give it undying praise. 
 

Try THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, that's the movie I get the most requests to review. 

[Couchtr26]

Now, I must find the Holy Grail of Weird and give it undying praise. 
 

Try THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, that's the movie I get the most requests to review. 

I hear good things.  I need to find The Holy Mountain.  I found El Topo interesting and fun to watch.  It has been a year since I saw it.  I can remember trying to follow.  The only thing that bothered me is while weird (which is very good) I felt less identity with it and tended to see humor more then anything else.  Where as Begotten, I could find things in it that made some oddball sense and could be passed through other imagery.  I do love weird but I find it more intriguing when they make some fascinating sense to me. 

[dean]

Holy Mountain is El Topo's oddball cousin.  The one that rambles and makes little sense.

It is of course brilliant fun.

[claws]

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Little Billy must witness the murder of his parents by the hands of a criminal wearing a Santa suit. Many years later Billy finds a job in a toy store, but Christmas festivities triggers bad memories and killer instincts inside Billy.
"Punish!" Essential holiday viewing  4/5

[Jack]

The Little Drummer Boy (1968) - A little drummer boy hates people and so he lives in the desert with his three animals, which he's trained to dance.  Then some guy abducts him in hopes of making money with his act in Bethlehem, where everyone's gathered for the census.  While there his little lamb gets run over by a chariot, but then the baby Jesus brings it back to life.  Another Rankin Bass Christmas movie, and as charming and sweet as can be.  I give it 5 out of 5 pa-rum-pa-pa-pums.

[lester1/2jr]

Beast of the City (1932)- not that great pre noir. The big star is Jean Harlow and she steals every scene she's in. An annoying police chief wants to stamp out all the speakeasies/ go to war with the mob. Watching this knowing prohibition was going to be repealed soon makes it hard to see him as anything other than an idiot for going along with the stupid government edict and taking it at all seriously. The plot and acting are solid and it moves okay but it's nothing special though probably pretty crazy for it's time with all the gangsters ,alot of people getting shot, and depiction of criminal life.

 3/5

[JaseSF]

It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947): A homeless man named Aloysius T. McKeever actually manages to sneak into and spend his winters secretly stashed away in the boarded up mansion of the second richest man in the world, one Michael J. O’ Connor (Charles Ruggles), while O’Connor  is away in the South during the winter months. Despite his situation in life, McKeever has expensive tastes and quickly takes a liking to the lifestyle the mansion provides. However when McKeever meets one Jim Bullock (Dom DeFore), a war veteran down on his luck and recently evicted by O’Connor to make way for a new hotel, McKeever suddenly decides to risk taking Bullock in not to mention later several of Bullock’s old army buddies and their families also looking for a place to stay until they can find somewhere better.  O’Connor’s lonely daughter Trudy, running away from finishing school, also shows up in the house and meets up with McKeever and Bullock. Trudy takes a liking to them and pretends to be like them in order to fit in eventually convincing her father, a rich and ruthless business man, to play along in the deception for her sake with him winding up pretending to be a butler in his own house, something he agrees to most reluctantly to say the least. In the end, he ends up learning quite a few lessons about life and what it means to be a truly successful man.

While I quite enjoyed this movie, it is all rather fanciful and dreamy and seems quite a distance away from reality. Still it has a certain whimsical charm and is rather appropriate for Christmas viewing although Christmas is hardly its main focus and remains much more in the background of the film’s story. Still I couldn’t help but like this delightful cast of characters and how they get thrown together and end up becoming some type of odd little family. An enjoyable film but honestly I think it’s a tad overrated. Still I’d give it ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[claws]

Reindeer Games: Director's Cut (2000)

After doing time a car thief takes the identity of his dead cell mate so he can spend the holidays with his pen pal girlfriend. Turns out the young woman has a psychotic/criminal brother.
Fun Action-Thriller with snow setting and enough surprising twists and turns along the way. Solid effort from the late John Frankenheimer. 4.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

A TOWN CALLED PANIC [PANIQUE AU VILLAGE] (2009): Three plastic toys---Cowboy, Indian and Horse---chase the aquatic bats who keep stealing their walls to the center of the earth, across the frozen tundra, and to the bottom of the sea, causing Horse to be late for his music lessons.  This breakneck-paced stop-motion animation from Belgium tells its wacky story using genuine kid's logic, so much so that it becomes surreal to adults.  Extremely creative and worth a watch.  4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Wedding Crashers - I'm surprised my DVD player didn't spit this out, unaccustomed as it is to normal fare. This was entertaining enough I guess but I didn't actually laugh. Will Ferrells brief cameo was a highlight. I don't really like Owen Wilson or even Vince Vaughn all that much. I mean, they were okay. Can you sense my huge excitement here? The last Hllywood comedy that really spoke to me was "Not Another Teen Movie"

3/5

[Jack]

Frosty The Snowman (1969) - A snowman comes to life due to a magic hat, but the weather is getting a bit warm for him so a little girl volunteers to accompany him to the North Pole.  But the little girl gets cold on the way, and then the magician who owns the magic hat is after them...problems problems problems.  Luckily Santa shows up to save the day.  Charming, delightful, the whole thesaurus of saccharine synonyms. 5/5.

Fatal Conflict (2000) - Kari Wuhrer stars as an ex-commando/pilot who was in prison, but is now doing secret mission for the government.  A crazy guy and his sister have taken over a spaceship and are threatening to fly it into Los Angeles.  Kari infiltrates the ship and...ah heck, this is all about the eye candy.  No actual nudity, but man oh man, everything but    Awesome cheesefest, silly plot, lots and lots of fun.  4.5/5