Recent viewings

[indianasmith]

Last night my wife and I watched STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE together.
It is nowhere near as good as the originals, but that being said, it's also not as bad as some fans made it out to be.
Frankly, what George Lucas did to STAR WARS in the prequels was nowhere near as bad as what Peter Jackson did to THE HOBBIT in his film trilogy!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Savage Streets" (1984)

http://youtu.be/RT9NGNh0HA4
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An all grown up 'n' spectacularly busty Linda "Exorcist" Blair stars in this oh-so-'80s revenge/exploitation cult classic that's kinda like "Death Wish" with better cleavage. She's a tough L.A. high school chick who goes vigilante after a gang violates her handicapped sister and kills her best friend. Sleazy in all the best possible ways.

[lester1/2jr]

La Strada (1954)- kind of a Savage Streets prequel. A sideshow strongman played by Anthony Quinn takes an annoying woman who is kind of like betty Loo who from the grinch on as an assistant as he does his stupid chain breaking routine across Italy. They earn enough in tips to survive and he occasionally likes to get drunk and get in fights and romance the ladies. Betty Loo who doesn't like that and keeps running away, but then comes back as they continue to go from town to town joining up with various circuses and acts who happen to be around. that's their business

It's mostly that but then some tension comes in the form of a clown guy who knows just how to get Zampano, Quinns character, goat. You like Zampano but also see him as kind of a macho dickhead so it's funny when this guy teases him and he spazzes out.

It's by Frederico Fellini so its not going to have a lot of CGI but for what it is it's very good. You really get a feel for what its like to go around poor as Hell Italy like 100 years ago, roaming the land using your corny strongman routine to make a living and at night going to bars and then sleeping in your motorcycle thats outfitted with a trailer type thing.  5/5

[claws]

Goodnight Mommy (2014)

twin boys living in a secluded lake house await the arrival of their mother who just had cosmetic surgery. Her head is all bandaged and her behavior seems rather strict. The boys think she's a stranger and come up with a rather nasty plan to reveal the whereabouts of their real mother.

Engaging psychological art house horror / thriller from Austria. In some way this reminded me of the heydays of Asian horror movies (late 1990s and early 2000s) minus pale ghosts. The trailer enjoyed quite some buzz last fall, and the film really lived up to my expectations. 4.5/5

Stonehearst Asylum (2014)

A new doctor arriving at the Stonehearst Lunatic Asylum on Christmas eve in 1899 soon realizes that the asylum has been taken over by the patients. To complicate matters, the young new doctor falls in love with beautiful patient Eliza Graves who appears to be the sanest person in the entire building.

Even though based on Edgar Allen Poe this is definitely not a horror movie. A drama / romance with a bit of mystery and surprisingly less psychological than one might think. The dark setting and subject matter does inject a certain amount of creepy atmosphere, but there is also a bit of intentional humor to be found. Excellent production values, above average performances - too bad Stonehearst Asylum failed to reach a larger audience. Certainly worth checking out. 4.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

DOUBLE SUICIDE (1969): A poor (married) paper merchant and a courtesan are in love, but since he can not afford to pay off her debts and make her a free woman, they decide to commit suicide together. This adaptation of a classic bunraku (puppet theater) play from feudal Japan is very theatrical (stagehands are visible and play a prominent role in the story), but still moving despite all the distancing.  4/5.

[dean]

Goodnight Mommy (2014)

twin boys living in a secluded lake house await the arrival of their mother who just had cosmetic surgery. Her head is all bandaged and her behavior seems rather strict. The boys think she's a stranger and come up with a rather nasty plan to reveal the whereabouts of their real mother.

Engaging psychological art house horror / thriller from Austria. In some way this reminded me of the heydays of Asian horror movies (late 1990s and early 2000s) minus pale ghosts. The trailer enjoyed quite some buzz last fall, and the film really lived up to my expectations. 4.5/5

After watching the trailer I was pretty excited by the concept: it had all the makings of a great body horror movie but the direction it took was a bit disappointing. Taken on its own I probably would have enjoyed it more but I kept thinking to myself: damn what if it was like this awesome trailer which completely misled me?

[indianasmith]

My wife and I watched THE WAR ROOM this weekend.
This is a purely Christian movie about the power of prayer; if you are a Christian you will probably enjoy it and if you aren't, you probably won't.  But I liked it.  4/5

[lester1/2jr]

The Last Woman on Earth (1960) -

twitter sized review = The Last Woman on Earth (1960) her and 2 poor guys lose it amidst endless morbidity, sexual tension, and drinks 5/5

This would make a good double bill with I Eat Your Skin. It's got a similar beach locale and the writing is the type where they were starting to loosen up a little more when they wrote it, particularly in playing with sexual tension which dominates much of the movie ( particularly in the second half). There are no zombies though. Its sort of like a really trashy Twilight Zone episode. People drink a lot. The guy was def drunk when he wrote it you can tell.

The movie starts off colorfully enough with a cock fight. the woman is horrified but the jerkwad husband guy doesn't care he's like whatever, get me another drink. The woman is sexy if not exactly beautiful. She looked sexy AND beautiful after a few drinks though I'm sure. Something happens where they are like underwater breathing in tanks when some sort of something kills everyone and then they have to figure out how to go on. The husbands lawyer who is with them already kind of liked the wife so now that they are the only three people alive it gets uncomfortable.

I loved it. all the drinking and sordid tension is right up my alley. One detail I liked: at one point the guy gets hit with a rock and what I liked was he kept paying attention to it like ow that hurt. Sometimes in movies people will get really bad injuries then be fine a minute later. How about having a guy get in a fight then complain about his shoulder for the entire rest of the movie or at least be like "can you drive my shoulder still hurts from that fight we've moved on from".

The cheap o dvd was in black and white but its in color on yt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGoElcdW9fQ

5/5

despite the hard to fathom scenerio the writing was authentic and even sophisticated in places. it made me think too about how different life would be if there were no other people, no jobs, no nothing. took me to a nice place in other words

next up: The last man on earth starring Vincent Price

[Rev. Powell]

DAMNATION (1988): A lovesick man arranges to send his lover's husband on a criminal errand so he can convince her to run away with him. Beautifully shot, but exemplifies every cliche Americans hate about self-important European art films: drawn out plotlessness, crushing ennui, peasant characters who speak like grad students double majoring in poetry and theology. 2.5/5.

[JaseSF]

The usual Christmas viewing (I've discussed these all before for the most part) so I'll just list them and give ratings:

A Christmas Story (1983) - 5/5
A Christmas Carol (1951)  (AKA: Scrooge) - 5/5
Christmas with the Kranks (2004) - 3.5/5
White Christmas (1954) - 4/5
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) - 3.75/5
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - 5/5
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - 5/5
Home Alone (1990) - 4/5
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - 3.5/5
Home Alone 4 (2010) - 2.5/5 (this TV movie version of Home Alone is such a watered down tame remake of the original with some of the worst acting I've ever seen in a movie.The fact they had the audacity to recast the original characters makes this one even worse as they are nothing like their predecessors at all. French Stewart as Marv? Seriously?!)
The Search for Santa Paws (2010) - 3/5 (My girlfriend has this one and wanted to watch it, it's basically a direct to video version of Annie meets Santa Claus with talking dogs. It was 'meh' to me but nothing so bad you couldn't watch it. )
The Bishop's Wife (1947) - 5/5

[Rev. Powell]

THE OVAL PORTRAIT (1972): An old maid becomes obsessed with an oval portrait hanging in her recently deceased uncle's parlor, and learns the tragic story behind her cousin and her forbidden love with a Confederate soldier. The actors aren't up to the challenge of the material, which is why you've never heard of this Poe-inspired ghost story with TV-movie quality production values. 2/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt" (1989)

http://youtu.be/30Wp3YQNc2Q
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An American martial-arts expert travels overseas for a tournament and ends up caught in the middle of a terrorist plot involving evil ninjas. Don'cha hate when that happens? The usual mayhem ensues, of course. 

Granted, the first two "American Ninjas" starring Michael Dudikoff weren't exactly Shakespeare, but this cheaper-looking-than-usual third go round makes them look like solid gold. Dudikoff sat this one out (though he apparently returned for part 4, which I haven't seen) so he's been replaced here by the equally wooden David Bradley - whose butt kicking moves are impressive but he can't act worth a lick. Cheesy, chop-socky fun.

[lester1/2jr]

Bug (2006) - If this had been a sci fi original I would have been impressed but from William Friedkin (Exorcist) I expected a lot more. The general concept is okay but I never bought that beautiful Ashley Judd could be this bar maid with low self esteem and be this character. The various elements that are supposed to drive the plot seem to just sit on the shelf waiting for someone to make use of them.  example: She's a drug user and this is supposed to add to the believability that she's paranoid abut these bugs (or is she?) but we never really see her doing drugs.  The director is perhaps so caught up in the concept he doesn't feel the need to make the case for the situation but guess what you have to.

the screenplay, written by the author of the book, has all kinds of logic and presentation sort of problems. he doesn't understand how to make all this believable so the viewer can get lost in the movie which is too bad because the idea is unique and timely.

2.75 / 5

decently entertaining thriller that is just a few drafts away from being done right.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Doll Squad" (1973)

http://youtu.be/tohStttRiew
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A team of gorgeous female secret agents battle a madman who's planning to unleash a plague on the world. This ultra-cheesy, super-low-budget action/exploitation flick never comes close to living up to its awesome premise or its poster art. The ladies are nice to look at but the flick moves at a snail's pace and the "action" sequences are so poorly staged that they're unintentionally hilarious.
Producer Ted V. Mikels claims that the producers of "Charlie's Angels" ripped off the idea from this movie. If that's the case, gimme "Charlie's Angels" any day.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow" (1993)

http://youtu.be/yaPvFX1KPWo
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This direct-to-video, in-name-only sequel to the Jean-Claude van Damme cult hit was the first major starring role for a young and unknown Angelina Jolie. She plays a rogue robo-chick, who was built to be an assassin, who rebels against her programming. Naturally, she is then pursued across a dystopian future America by an assortment of bad guys. Enjoyable low-budget sci-fi junk.