Recent viewings

[claws]

Dangerous Relations (1993) - "Hood" flavored Drama about a Father trying to bond with his angry gangsta son. The acting is pretty solid for a made for TV production. There is a bit of unintentional humor however, thanks to the sons hip urban street wear which came off like a costume to me. His colorful thick necklaces would've made Wilma Flintstone proud   3.5/5

Millennium (1989) - Sci-Fi Adventure about time travelling aliens abducting people who are about to die in plane crashs. I fell asleep once or twice because I was dead tired, so I missed out on why the aliens did that. Anyway, fun flick with jaw dropping late 80s fashion by Cheryl Ladd sporting big big hair and too much make up. 3.5/5

[El Misfit]

Rear Window-I gave the dvd for my mum's Bday and saw it last night. Liked Psycho Better, Though.

[lester1/2jr]

Kontroll- checked this out on Rev Powells rec and would agree it is quite good.

      This is one of those movies that blows everyone away at film festivals but somehow doesn't seem to get the wider audience it deserves. What I liked most about it was that the whole thing takes place in a subway which gives it a vibe that's futuristic, claustrophobic, and run down at the same time. I also liked that the guys were all these shlubby losers, like myself. I could RELATE to the movie the way normal people relate to, I don't know, Pretty Woman. Hungary seems like a crazy place. These guys randomly check peoples tickets in the most inefficient way and people seem to give them zero respect. Why are they even there? Who knows. Why not have people pay when they go through the turnstile like every other subway system on Earth. Lots of comedy, a little drama, and even a bit of action. I wouldn't say it moves fast but there are no big missteps. If you watch movies on Saturday nights and have worn out The Matrix, Terminator and related knock offs and a ready for something similarly dark but a little different check it out. Not to sound like an old fart but I thnk younger people in particular should check this out as it really shows what foreign/indy sort of movies are all about (even, yes, the sometimes lagging pace).

4.5/ 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJQnWCPMrII
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"an underground sensation" waaahn waaaaaahn

[Cthulhu]

Kontroll- checked this out on Rev Powells rec and would agree it is quite good.

      This is one of those movies that blows everyone away at film festivals but somehow doesn't seem to get the wider audience it deserves. What I liked most about it was that the whole thing takes place in a subway which gives it a vibe that's futuristic, claustrophobic, and run down at the same time. I also liked that the guys were all these shlubby losers, like myself. I could RELATE to the movie the way normal people relate to, I don't know, Pretty Woman. Hungary seems like a crazy place. These guys randomly check peoples tickets in the most inefficient way and people seem to give them zero respect. Why are they even there? Who knows. Why not have people pay when they go through the turnstile like every other subway system on Earth. Lots of comedy, a little drama, and even a bit of action. I wouldn't say it moves fast but there are no big missteps. If you watch movies on Saturday nights and have worn out The Matrix, Terminator and related knock offs and a ready for something similarly dark but a little different check it out. Not to sound like an old fart but I thnk younger people in particular should check this out as it really shows what foreign/indy sort of movies are all about (even, yes, the sometimes lagging pace).

4.5/ 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJQnWCPMrII

"an underground sensation" waaahn waaaaaahn

Hehe, yeah, Hungary is a crazy place.
I wouldn't say it has a futuristic feeling...it's more of a dream-like atmosphere.

And by the way, the ticket-checking changed here...they are asking for the tickets at the entrances.

[Sleepyskull]

A few hours ago I finished watching: A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) and like its predecessor it receives 10.9 out of 13 stars.

I loved the opening scene with the school bus.  I have always hated riding the school bus, so that scene has a special place in my heart.

[spongekryst]

Just watch a film called "The Sauna"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8IqpZc8Fo
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It succeeded in every way modern day ghost stories fail. It is very creepy, it keeps you guessing the whole time, and had a climax that was actually very intense. The characters, as you can tell, are all guilty fellows that are trying to establish a border between Finland and Russia after a long war. There, they find the titled Sauna in the middle of a swamp by a mysterious uncharted village.

[lester1/2jr]

Cthulhu -well futuristic in the sense that it's artifical and contained with no signs of nature like sci fi scenerios sometimes are. Glad to hear about the ticket taking policy shift

[El Misfit]

For a Few Dollars More- AWESOME, it's better than the first one with a stronger plot, suspense, and has a few comical moments.

[InformationGeek]

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis: There are a lot of things that I can say about this movie, but to sum it up, I love this one.  It is enjoyable and fun to watch.  Great animation, good voice acting, interesting music choices, and a fasincating story.

[Rev. Powell]

BASKET CASE (1981):  Duane checks into a fleabag Times Square hotel carrying a basket under his arm; inside is something about 1/4 the size of a normal person that eats about 4 times the hamburgers a normal person.  Beneath the pic's grubby exterior is a well-told tongue-in-cheek monster story with unexpectedly sympathetic characters; director Henenlotter nails the aesthetic of sleaze and keeps on the right side of the fine line between trash and crass. 4/5.

[Jim H]

The Dead and the Deadly - another Hong Kong film.  Feels like an attempt to recapture the spirit of the earlier Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind.  This one is actually pretty different though.  There is more comedy, and the comedy is funnier, but there is a lot less action.  The action sequences are actually extremely good too - but they only make up 3 or 4 minutes of screen time in my estimation.  

Basic plot is Sammo Hung's friend fakes his death to get money (or something, it's a little hard to follow).  Sammo thinks he was murdered and trys to prove it, but can't.  Later, the friend's co-conspirators murder him to get all the money, and the friend's ghost enlists Sammo and a taoist priest (played by Lam Ching Ying, in a role very similar to but actually predating his role in Mr. Vamprie) to avenge.  Only, the weird thing here - this part of the plot ends with a lot of runtime left, and we get a rather random third act involving a woman fighting guardians from hell over one character's soul.  Yeah....  The kind of random plot turn you only ever seem to see in HK films.

Still, solid comedy and the good action makes it a decent 7/10.

BTW Rev...  If you liked the first Basket Case, I'd suggest seeing the other two.  They're weaker than the original, but still worth watching to see the amount of imagination on display.

[Rev. Powell]

BTW Rev...  If you liked the first Basket Case, I'd suggest seeing the other two.  They're weaker than the original, but still worth watching to see the amount of imagination on display.

BASKET CASE was a re-watch for me.  I've seen the second one and wasn't impressed, probably won't watch the third.  I do quite like FRANKENHOOKER and BRAIN DAMAGE, and may get around to seeing BAD BIOLOGY someday. 

[JaseSF]

Dragnet

The Big Rod (1954) (Season 4, Episode 18 ) (Starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Guest starring Diane Jergens, Jimmy Ogg, Michael Ansara, Jan Merlin, Nesdon Booth, Vic Perrin and James Stone. Written by John Robinson. Produced and directed by Jack Webb. Plot synopsis: Friday and Smith investigate the hit and run of a young pregnant woman. Witnesses say that a man was driving the car, a beat-up Hot Rod 1940-1941 Ford.)

There was a real grittiness to this story of hit and run and the speech Friday gives to the driver/killer about how whatever he gets wouldn't be enough and how he's a murderer as sure as if he pulled the trigger of a gun is very powerful, moving stuff. Sadly this story hits all too close to home as a pair of young kids were arrested not far from where I live for drag racing and driving a woman off a bridge and to her death in an icy ocean inlet. The pair aren't even being charged with manslaughter, just reckless endangerment, and will no doubt get a much too minor penalty for the heinous crime they've committed. There was the even present humor one expects from Dragnet at the start of this episode with the hyper housewife witness who's drank a bit too much coffee but it definitely takes a back seat here in this more somber, serious crime story.

The Big Number (1955) (Season 4, Episode 30) (Starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Guest starring Douglas Kennedy, Dorothy Adams, Ben Morris, Jonathan Hole and Simon Scott. Written by John Robinson. Produced and directed by Jack Webb. Plot synopsis: Friday and Smith search for the man behind an armed bank robbery. Their primary clues: the getaway car was a Green Ford Sedan and the suspect had blond hair and bandages on his face.)

In this story, the humor pretty much steals the show from the bank guard, on duty when the robbery was committed, who wants some recognition for those talents of well recognition, recalling numbers and personal details about the people he sees,  he does possess to the neighbour Mrs. Hartford [Dorothy Adams], a bit of a busybody who's certain there's something strange about her neighbour's brother, now staying at her neighbor's house, who has a penchant for throwing stones at her cats. The criminal when he is finally discovered is hardly any real surprise here. Still the episode makes for surprisingly fun viewing.

The Big Hit-Run Killer (1954) (Season 3, Episode 29) (Starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Guest starring James Anderson, Walter Reed, Mary Shipp, Jack Carol and Joe Cranston. Directed by Jack Webb. Plot synopsis: Friday and Smith search for the hit and run driver responsible for the death of a grandmother and her nine year old grandson. Witnesses described a man driving a light tan bakery delivery truck running through a red light as the culprit responsible. Friday and Smith eventually track down the truck and its driver but said driver insists he had lent out the truck to a friend named Paul and it was never returned. Is he telling the truth?)

This was another more serious tone story, very similar in fact to the above hit and run story aside from the fact that here the main suspect Daniel Miller [James Anderson] maintains his claim that he is innocent despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary. Friday and Smith however know they must get to the bottom of things one way or another. This one really keeps the viewer guessing right up to the end.

The Big Producer (1954) (Season 4, Episode 1) (Starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Guest starring Ralph Moody, Martin Milner, Carolyn Jones and Helen Andrews. Plot synopsis: Friday and Smith investigate obscene literature and photography making its way into high schools. Under the juvenile division, they search for a man named Charles Hopkins [Ralph Moody], who they believe has been contributing to the delinquency of minors, holding drinking parties including minors and involving young girls in scandalous photo shoots, promising to get them into the movies in order to get them involved.)

This was something of a departure from the norm for Dragnet as we learn about Charles Zeeman Hopkins past as a silent era Western movie producer having fallen on hard times leading him to a life of crime. It was a surprisingly arty episode and doesn't quite have the same appeal partly for that reason but mainly because it's just plain hard if not next to impossible to truly feel sympathetic to an old man who is in fact still guilty of plying young girls in order to obtain obscene photographs and produce obscene literature. The crime may seem a bit less serious to us these days but still we are talking about underage girls here even if they are here in reality played by women, including one Carolyn Jones herself, who are certainly older than the 17 years they're supposed to be.

The Big Deal (1956) (Season 5, Episode 34) (Starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Guest starring Dick Ryan, Thomas E. Jackson, Eric Bond, Joseph Corey, Katherine Barrett and George Cisar. Written by John Robinson. Produced and directed by Jack Webb. Plot synopsis: Friday and Smith investigate what they believe to be an organized gang of car thieves. They find very little in the way of clues until stolen cars start turning up.)

Here again we have an episode with a much more serious tone although it does open with a sequence of a police informant hurrying Friday and Smith into his home so he won't be caught having washed and dried his clothes in his apartment which is against the house rules. Actually most of this episode has Friday and Smith stumped and searching hitting several stumbling blocks along the way. We don't even see the criminals until the very end but then we do get a terrific scene in which a woman tied up with the car thieves tries to win Friday over to her side, manipulate him like every other man she's had in her life, but Friday isn't about to fall for her femme fatale routine.

The Big Trunk (1954) (Season 3, Episode 19) (Starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander. Guest starring Dayton Lummis, Richard Garland, James Anderson, Lillian Powell and Emlen Davies. Directed by Jack Webb. Plot synopsis: Friday and Smith investigate the murder of a former vaudeville actress found beaten to death in her apartment. The likely motive for the murder: a trunk, actually filled only with memories, that the former actress had bragged about as her little nest egg she had hidden away.)

This was a very disturbing episode focused on solving the brutal murder of a young woman. The only humor here comes from an opening bit where Smith admits he has a weight problem and is fearful he might not pass the police physical. In the end, Friday and Smith bug an office in the police station hoping that one of the suspected culprits will admit to the murder in the presence of his fellow suspects. A good, strong police story that could probably stand its ground with today's more modern hard-edged shows.

[Jack]

Ghost Town (2009) - Run of the mill SyFy Channel Original.  A busload of college kids get stranded in an old West ghost town, and the ghosts start killing them.  I couldn't care less about the characters, they were completely undeveloped and basically paper thin clichés.  They didn't even bother to include the usual sexy babes.  The backstory of the ghosts is a muddled mess and I never could figure out what they were hoping to accomplish.  It featured the usual low budget CGI junk.  2.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Darling (1965)- poor Julie Christie. She is rich and famous, faces zero consequences for anything she does but...will she ever be HAPPY?  

    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsIF4Qysbf8
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"dirk bogarde"

      Problems: For a movie with such a full array of controversial subject matter (homosexuality, abortion, quasi-swinging) the directing style isn't very hip. No new wave, noir, or really very distinct sort of touches to be found anywhere. (In the US, the presence of decadent activities usually signifies it's going to be something involving a counterculture of some kind but in europe you often have average, non cutting edge sort of people portrayed as taking part, It's just a more liberal culture in general. Still it always seems weird to me, at least at first. Like if you were to see your Mom smoking pot) This is a very good but very "normal" and in some cases even kind of bland movie. The british storytelling style is also just different and I was a little lost in the begining.

   Eventually I figured out that it's like Citizen Kane meets Valley of the Dolls or something. Diana is an aspiring model and actress. She gravitates towards people who can help her career, even if that involves wrecking her own and their marriages. No, she didn't face some hard scrabble upbringing or lose her faith in humanity and thus become ruthless in getting a piece of the pie, she is just ambitious and wants to be famous. To paraphrase leonard cohen, why not ask for more? Diana is just doing what comes natural for someone who is young, blonde, and smoking hot in the city. There's no sermonizing about the decadence and opulence, but it's not really glamorized either. I couldn't exactly relate but it's obviously some peoples reality.

    Some may be turned off by the excessive displays of liberal morality and may just have zero sympathy at all for Diana and I felt that way sometimes but ended up really enjoying it. Christie won the best actress Oscar for the role. It's a little over two hours long. kind of a mini epic. I enjoyed it in part because it's different from what I usually watch. Maybe I will check out that "Pretty Woman" movie some time   5/5