Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

Hundra didn't quite live up to it's Hundra ness but it was okay.

[Jack]

Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor (1990) - repeat viewing.  Some scientists are doing genetic research on alien DNA.  I'll give you one guess how that turns out     So next thing ya know alien beasties are running around (well, plodding along) and killing everybody.  A lot of time is spent with the evil CEO of the company being all evil and trying to cover the whole thing up.  Then you've got the two daughters of a security guard, who was the first person to be killed, showing up searching for their dad.  The first time I saw this I thought it was really stupid and didn't care much for it.  Maybe I was prepared for that this time, or maybe I was just more in the mood for it, but I really enjoyed it.  The characters were fun and likable and everything about it was just pure vintage cheese.  The monsters were a combination of stop-motion photography and animatronic stuff for the scenes where they interacted with people, along with one CGI critter that looked absolutely comical.  There were some cute little touches, like in one scene where the monster is tearing everyone apart and blood is flying everywhere, and there's a little sign on the wall saying "please keep this area clean"     They could have really left out the two comic relief characters though, they were both groan-inducing.  4.25/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Jack I've been trying to find a way to tell you this for the past 7 years, I don't like how you have two spaces after a period.

Anyway, Maze (2000) This was a decent to pretty good rom-dram about a new York artist guy who has real bad tourettes syndrome (as well as not quite as bad OCD, mainly just adjusting the tongue of his sneaker alot sometimes). his best friend is some guy and that guy is not a big part of the story it's his red head girlfriend (Laura linney) that tuerns everyting upside down. She seems to have endless sympathy and patience for I can't rememeber his namer Lionel or something. She is still off and on with the first guy though and it's his friend and his Tourettes is really noticible. He had pretty much accepted he is going to be alone for his whole life so this whole business messes him up.

All the elements are alright but it kinda lacks a certain zazz. the script needs to be punched up, the performances were solid but didn't take you anywhere all that special. At the same time, this is not my type of movie and I will admit it took my 3 days to watch it so maybe i have no idea what I'm talking about. I liked when he would be in an awkward situation with the tourettes, like his attempts at dates. They were very unflinching at showing all that. The female lead wasn't given alot of chances to show her sex appeal, it's not exactly a bodice ripper here.  3.75/5

[Jack]

Jack I've been trying to find a way to tell you this for the past 7 years, I don't like how you have two spaces after a period.

You realize I've been doing it like that for 31 years? Oh, I'll try to change. No guarantees though. 

[lester1/2jr]

even with that yu are still one of the great writers of our time.

[JaseSF]

The Monster Maker (1944): The scheming Dr. Igor Markoff (J. Carrol Naish) plots to use his experiments with the dread disease acromegaly as a means to force a celebrated concert pianist named Anthony Lawrence (Ralph Morgan) into agreeing to give him the hand of Lawrence's pretty young daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay), whose most reluctant to even be in the presence of Markoff, in marriage. Apparently Patricia reminds Markoff of his late wife so he becomes obsessed with having her to the point he decides to inject Lawrence with a fast-moving version of the disease acromegaly that leaves Lawrence deformed and desperately in need of the antidote Markoff has also perfected.

This low budget, mid-1940 mad doctor thriller mixes soap opera elements, given two of the cast of characters seem to be obsessedly in love with someone who doesn't love them back, with its horror thrills (which involves the deformity causing disease and later a gorilla [well a guy in a cool-looking gorilla costume] on the loose). Familiar faces include Naish and Morgan not to mention Markoff's huge henchman Steve (played by Glenn Strange) and his misguided assistant Maxine (played by Tala Birell). All in all, it remains consistently entertaining but does manage to offend on some levels given acromegaly is in fact a real disease and here it's treated almost as if having the disease turns one into an out and out monster. Also the stuff with the gorilla is just plain silly although the lighting and build-up for it being on the loose is surprisingly well done. This one is likely worth a look for bad movie fans. **3/4 out of ***** stars.

Frankenstein (1910): A young student named Frankenstein attempts to create a perfect human being but the evil inside his mind lets loose upon the world a hideous monster instead. Soon Frankenstein returns home to finally wed his beloved but unfortunately the thing he's created seems to follow him.

This classic from the Thomas Edision Kinetogram is fascinating to watch as one of the earliest adaptations of Mary Shelley's story put to film. The monster is truly a wild and strange looking fellow, really quite unlike any other version. The way it resolves also seems quite different and one could argue it's even a bit arty and representative of the struggle within man between good and evil. *** out of ***** stars.

I also watched some existing footage of 1895-1896 films IMDB claimed had sci-fi, fantasy or horror elements on youtube  although I'm not sure any of these were fully complete and whole - La Charcuterie mécanique (AKA: The Mechanical Butcher): early sausage machine movie which was apparently quite common in the late 1890s - in which a pig is put in a device and then food made from the pig is produced in another side - actually this short from Louis Lumière is pretty obvious about how it accomplishes its trick and calling it a genre film is truly questionable - more in the realm of comedy fantasy I'd guess. With The Execution of Mary Stuart, things are pretty straightforward too - the horror being the execution itself obviously accomplished via a mannequin replacement.

From 1896, I watched footage of the following very entertaining Georges Méliès shorts:

Le Manoir du diable: Probably the first true Horror film short in which the devil torments men who visit a castle and many elements later seen in horror films show up - bats, transformations, a crucifix as defense, devils, imps, ghosts and ghouls.

Une nuit terrible: More of a comedy short than anything as an unusually large bug terrorizes a man trying to sleep who then has a rather unusual way of dealing with it. I laughed out loud at this one.

Escamotage d'une dame au théâtre Robert Houdin: basic magic trick short in which Méliès as a magician makes a woman vanish and later reappear.

Also watch some clips of Rip Van Winkle shorts from this year which was kind of different but to be honest didn't look all that exciting but did seem to have some fantasy elements at work in a few of 'em. Plus watched some shorts from early female director Alice Guy who was a true pioneer in film for her era, producing some of the first film editing tricks and some of the first shorts to actually feature something of a plot. Most of her shorts seem to feature dancing and transformations with surprisingly revealing costumes for the era.

[bob]

The Cable Guy --- I liked this as a kid, so I gave this another look today. This...this didn't age gracefully. I didn't laugh that much. Didn't care for the product  plug for at Medieval Times.

1/5

[Jack]

even with that yu are still one of the great writers of our time.

Oh man you're making me turn all red now   

Quantum Apocalypse (2010) - some dark matter CGI thing is headed towards earth and a low budget film maker's idea of "scientists" are called in to figure out what to do. Oh man, if you're going to make a science-based movie, you've really got to know more about quantum physics than what the Wikipedia article on the subject provides. By the end it becomes obvious the writer had no idea what an actual scientific solution would entail, and the whole thing devolves into some poor actors trying to be all dramatic over some utter nonsense. It's kind of...pity-inducing. There's also a Rain Man guy who shows up just in the nick of time to, well...I have no idea. He's the Rain Man, so whatever he says must be brilliant. Just go with it ya know? The CGI special effects were exactly what you'd expect - low budget and kind'a funny. Probably the best part was the human interest subplot with a family. Dad is the mayor, mom is an icy witch, the son's romancing a cute cheerleader, and Rain Man is making breakfast. Meh, 2.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

Jack I've been trying to find a way to tell you this for the past 7 years, I don't like how you have two spaces after a period.

You realize I've been doing it like that for 31 years? Oh, I'll try to change. No guarantees though. 

I like how you have two spaces after a period, please don't change!

[claws]

Psycho (1998)

Gus van Sant's remake didn't translate well into the 90s. Plus, it was utterly pointless. It might have worked as a experimental movie but as a remake it just flat out fails.
There's no charm or charisma, and no magic. Except for Viggo Mortensen who seems to be into the spirit of things none of the actors are sympathetic, and even the great Julianne Moore who I adore comes off unintentional funny trying to appear "tough" and wearing a ... frikkin walkman 
It's good enough for a few laughs though but other than that, what a shame! 1.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Diamonds Are Forever" (1971)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Rm18p8Rl0
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Sean Connery's final turn as James Bond (till 1983's "unofficial" "Never Say Never Again," anyway) finds him globe hopping from Amsterdam to Las Vegas as he trails a gang of diamond smugglers.

Not Connery's best Bond film but still a fun watch. I hadn't see this one in more than 20 years so it was like watching it for the first time. I laughed when I saw Charles Gray, whom I know better as the "Criminologist/Narrator" in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," as the evil Blofeld, and Jill St. John... daaaaaaamn. Talk about '70s hot!!

I borrowed a couple of other vintage Bonds from the library this week so more comments will be comin'.

[Rev. Powell]

CATERPILLAR (2010): A village woman is forced to care for her invalid husband when the Emperor declares him a "Living War God" after he loses all four limbs and his ability to talk in the Second Sino-Japanese war.  A bizarre premise sparks this intense drama about duty; it's minimally exploitative, but there is plenty of caterpillar/wife sex.  3.5/5.

[JaseSF]

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960): An inept, bumbling assistant/would-be botanist named Seymour Krelboyne (Jonathan Haze) working at a skid row flower shop discovers the secret to helping his unusual plant, hoping it will become an attraction at the store, grow - it craves human blood! Soon enough, the plant has grown to enormous heights and becomes quite the sensation but at what cost?

This offbeat little story from director Roger Corman is truly strange. In some ways to me, this film which I've now seen perhaps a dozen times over, comes across almost like weird little poem a beatnik might recite in some out of the way cafe or something similar. There's a certain avant garde, artistic quality to the presentation here and really it's arguably one of the best working films of its type despite being created on an ultra-cheap budget. It proves surprisingly watchable, weird and involving given all the characters seem to possess bizarre, odd little quirks be it the flower-eater, the perennial mourner, the masochistic dental patient or the over the top hypochondriac. The jokes are almost nonstop and play upon the interpretation of language and how one can just stumble into the wrong place at the wrong, is is that right?, time. Whatever the case, this film proves far more entertaining that one might expect given the short amount of time it took to film and it even has some clever and twisted ideas even if the low budget keeps it from becoming as fully effective as it perhaps might have been. Still I'd give this *** out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Live and Let Die" (1973

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlbaxJ4iAn4
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Roger Moore's first turn as James Bond is a funky attempt to mix the traditional Bond derring-do with the then-current "Blaxploitation" craze, as 007 travels from Harlem to Louisiana to the Caribbean on a hunt for a voodoo-worshipping drug kingpin (Yaphet Kotto). As with most of the Moore 007's, there's an equal mix of action and light comedy. Oh, and a very young Jane Seymour (yowza!) provides the eye candy this time around.

[lester1/2jr]

rev- well as a libertarian I can sympathize with going against the status quo on that.

Action Jackson- This is a very good bordering on really f**king good beverly Hills Cop knock off of sorts. Carl Weathers isn't the greatest actor ever but he's likeable and it's a fun movie. The plot is an evil corporate guy, surprisingly good performance by Craig t Nelson, is trying to kill someone or do something to get more power to sell his cars. This part of the movie is a little weak. They should have maybe left out some of the endless corny jokes and focused more on making the plot more compelling and suspenseful.

Sharon Stone is in it briefly and is also topless. She's upstaged though  by Vanity of Prince/ "sex shooters" fame who's excellent and beautiful. She plays a junkie singer which wasn't much of a stretch (wasn't she hooked up with the guy from motley Crue?). Two words came to mind "Hallie Berry". There are some good explosions and action sequences too. I liked when Weathers threw a guy and he went through the window and through the window of the building next door.

good stuff 4/5