Recent viewings

[indianasmith]

CEMETERY MAN [DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE] (1994): Groundskeeper Francesco Dellamorte works at an Italian cemetery where the major part of his duties are to shoot zombies in the head as they rise from the grave; the normalcy of his daily routine is wrecked when he falls in love with a beautiful widow, sees a vision of death, and has to cope with his mute assistant's romance with an underage severed head.  It's a lazy cliche to describe a surreal movie as "it's [insert name of familiar movie] on acid," but I'll do it anyway: CEMETERY MAN is DAWN OF THE DEAD on acid. 4/5.

One of the strangest movies of all time!!!!!!

I watched THE DEAD UNDEAD last night.  Mad Cow Disease transforms vampires into vampire zombies and drives them insane.  Regular vampires try to stop them.  Random college kids get turned into hamburger.  Guest appearance by Forest Ackerman.  Not bad, but not great.

[lester1/2jr]

"the Reef"- this was good but the people in it were young and happy.  I couldn't relate. if i was a character i would have been the 37 yo who was like "this is kind of funny" and " it's a respectable death, let's just go with it".   5/5

[claws]

S. Darko (2009) Blu-ray

1995: Samantha Darko plus friend on a road trip get stuck in small desert town. Visions/encounters of/with unicorns, bunnymen and talking dead kids indicate the approaching apocalypse.

Above average sequel compared to other sequels. Pretty much a failure compared to Donnie Darko (2001). There are some nice visuals (this was actually a theatrical release, so some effort went into the CGI) and atmospheric soundtrack. The rest wants to be weird fantasy and succeeds. I probably enjoyed this more than I should have, and thought it was better than the abomination called Donnie Darko: Director's Cut. 3.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

A REPORT ON THE PARTY AND THE GUESTS (1966): Picnickers are gently but firmly kidnapped and taken to a banquet in the woods in this Kafkaesque totalitarian parable. You spend the entire movie waiting for something unspeakable dreadful to happen, and when the screen does black you realize that it just did. 4.5/5.

[JaseSF]

Hollywood Safari (1997): The Johnson family who train exotic animals for use in motion pictures accidentally lose their pet mountain lion at the same time another mountain lion is responsible for a series of attacks on people. Sure enough, the Johnsons eventually learn their pet has been mistaken for the attacking animal by ambitious Deputy Rogers (John Savage) who's looking to make a name for himself in hopes of becoming Sheriff. Can young Josh (Ted Jan Roberts) and Peter Johnson (Ryan O' Neill) find the real mountain lion culprit before their pet is put down?

This was an incredibly cheesy and downright unrealistic family movie that's pretty painful to get through. The lead villain played by John Savage just comes across as a total jerk who I doubt would ever get ahead in the real world. The ending feels rushed and leaves several plot threads somewhat unresolved. Lots of familiar faces in this one what with David Leisure as the Johnson dad Troy, Don "The Dragon" Wilson and T.J. Roberts both known for their Martial Arts neither of whom do any in this film and Nils Allen Stewart as a villainous poacher. The real star of this one though is the Johnson's pet dog Muddy who probably also gives the film's best acting performance. Surprisingly enough, this movie was followed by a short-lived TV series.    ** out of ***** stars.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971): Secret agent James Bond 007 (Sean Connery) assumes the identity of one Peter Francks in order to find the masterminds at work behind a diamond smuggling operation. While working as Francks, Bond finds himself working with the luscious diamond obsessed temptress Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) and soon finds himself once more matching wits with a familiar old enemy.

This was quite fun to watch and has a certain dark humorous edge throughout arguably more so than many of its predecessors although I suppose they all have this element to some extent. Things get quite wacky and crazy in this one at times what with a moon mobile chase and later a car chase that reminds one of the game Grand Theft Auto. Lots of unusual things happening with machinery and in strange locales with this film. I liked the twists and turns at work here and the final revelation as to the villain behind it all. Still in many ways this was a somewhat disappointing followup to On Her Majesty's Secret Service because that film ended in a fashion that seemed to demand a more serious plot resolution from this film while within this movie, nothing ever seems too serious, perhaps at times to the detriment of the plot. Still it was an enjoyable Bond film, with memorable villains in Charles Gray's take on Blofeld and Putter Smith and Bruce Glover as Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint respectively, a memorable leading lady in Jill St. John's Tiffany Case and it's a treat to see Connery back in the familiar lead role. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Bean: The Movie (1997): A London art gallery sends Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) as their representative in America for the unveiling of famous painting "Whistler's Mother" in a Los Angeles art gallery. While there, he is the in short order rather unwelcome houseguest of one David Langley (Peter MacNicol) and his family. Wherever Bean goes, disaster and chaos seems to follow in short order.

While funny at times, this never truly feels like a really good mix taking Mr. Bean and mixing him in with a wholesome American family. In effect, this kind of waters down the Bean hijinks to some extent and the attempt to make Bean more family friendly feels more than a little forced. The TV series is so much funnier than this film although a few of the same gags make it through yet never seem as effective here as they were in the shorter TV format. It doesn't help that most of the funniest moments come much too early in the film either. Despite this, this has some fun and surprisingly sweet little moments. *** out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"WALL-E" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZisWjdjs-gM
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Sci-fi 'toon from Disney/Pixar set hundreds of years in the future, in which a lonely garbage-collecting robot -- the last of his kind -- inadvertently discovers proof that it's safe for mankind to return to a polluted Earth.

Beautifully animated as usual, the flick contains some rather pointed messages about the environment, as well as about the effects of humanity's rampant consumerism and its tendency to let technology do everything for them. It might sound heavy handed but it doesn't skimp on the laughs, and even has a few tear-jerking moments. I loved it. This may be the best Pixar film yet.

[Jack]

Room 33 (2009) - Some roller derby girls get stranded due to their van running low on gas, but as usually happens there's an abandoned insane asylum in the area they can take shelter at. Problem is there's a crazy little girl who lives in the place, and the ghost of her dad starts killing our characters off. Oh well, these things happen. This was somewhat above average, with a bit of suspenseful atmosphere and it took itself fairly seriously. Still gave us a bit of cheese though as the girls liked to dress rather skimpily. The characters were certainly strong and well developed. Not sure I really understood the ending - hey Jase, was the girl in the red T-shirt supposed to have been the insane killer all along? Or did the spirit of the dead father (or whoever) just enter her at the end? Anyhow, 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998): When thugs urinate on his carpet in a case of mistaken identity, 60s burnout "the Dude" is drawn into a complicated caper involving a millionaire's kidnapped porn-star wife---in the middle of his bowling league playoffs! This is, almost without a doubt, the greatest acid-flashback bowling-noir comedy ever made.  I just filled a big hole in my cinematic education. 5/5.

[JaseSF]

Room 33 (2009) - Some roller derby girls get stranded due to their van running low on gas, but as usually happens there's an abandoned insane asylum in the area they can take shelter at. Problem is there's a crazy little girl who lives in the place, and the ghost of her dad starts killing our characters off. Oh well, these things happen. This was somewhat above average, with a bit of suspenseful atmosphere and it took itself fairly seriously. Still gave us a bit of cheese though as the girls liked to dress rather skimpily. The characters were certainly strong and well developed. Not sure I really understood the ending - hey Jase, was the girl in the red T-shirt supposed to have been the insane killer all along? Or did the spirit of the dead father (or whoever) just enter her at the end? Anyhow, 3.5/5.

SPOILER alert:

Yes possession occurs but I'm pretty sure she's possessed by the little girl as was the crazy girl who proceeded her so the process of killing can continue on...

[alandhopewell]

     I watched this yesterday afternoon....



    And was pleased to see how this little film, probably made for around 50K back in'58, was creepier than some of the current stuff that costs millions.

    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4p14qtjX3Y
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[lester1/2jr]

The Caller (2011) - This was right up my alley. A hot girl who looks kind of like Shakira and is an okay actress gets weird phone calls from some woman and then there are Medium like weird things going on.  Is she crazy, what do the calls mean? 5/5 though the sex scene was pretty lame

[JaseSF]

Secret of the Andes (1999): A young girl named Diana Willings (Camille Belle) hopes to help her archaelogist father find the remaining half a precious lost mystical golden disc believing this will help end the marital discord between her parents and remove any chances of her, being somewhat mischeivous and attention-seeking, being sent to boarding school. Can Diana with the help of her newfound friends Don Benito (Roshan Seth), el Hombre Grande (a shaman who seems to possess magical powers) and sons Lucho (Leandro López) and Sancho Benito (Rodrigo Barrena) unlock the key to finding said disc before suspicious villagers force her father and his family out of South America?

Movie adaptation of classic children's novel proves a bit tough slugging to get through but has bright spots here and there. The performances of Roshan Seth as the likable Don Benito, John Rhys-Davies as troubled priest Father Claver in a village surrounded by cultists and José Luis Alfonzo as the cunning dark villain Lazaro are all quite good. The other key performers here though rarely rise above the level of adequate or average and David Keith in the important role of Diana's father Brooks Willings is downright wooden and Nancy Allen isn't all that much better as her mother Brenda Willings. The film actually proves somewhat of a bore for a lot of its running time and has some disturbing elements too especially with regards to the character of Dr. Golfisch (played by Jerry Stiller), a child psychologist who seems more than a little twisted himself. The best part of the film comes towards the end when Diana and her friends the Benitos set out on their quest with a rather startling and entertaining fantastic segment featuring a mystical well. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Room 33 (2009) - Some roller derby girls get stranded due to their van running low on gas, but as usually happens there's an abandoned insane asylum in the area they can take shelter at. Problem is there's a crazy little girl who lives in the place, and the ghost of her dad starts killing our characters off. Oh well, these things happen. This was somewhat above average, with a bit of suspenseful atmosphere and it took itself fairly seriously. Still gave us a bit of cheese though as the girls liked to dress rather skimpily. The characters were certainly strong and well developed. Not sure I really understood the ending - hey Jase, was the girl in the red T-shirt supposed to have been the insane killer all along? Or did the spirit of the dead father (or whoever) just enter her at the end? Anyhow, 3.5/5.

SPOILER alert:

Yes possession occurs but I'm pretty sure she's possessed by the little girl as was the crazy girl who proceeded her so the process of killing can continue on...

Yeah that's kind of what I thought too.

It would have been cool if the girl in the red T-shirt had turned out to have been insane the whole time (her sort-of boyfriend said she had a breakdown from studying too hard in college) and we'd actually been seeing the movie from her point of view, and she was the killer but was imagining it being someone else.  They did that in another movie I saw - can't really say the name of it because I've just spoiled the entire plot LOL - but that was extremely cool.

[Rev. Powell]

THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (2003): A grandmother and a dog track a kidnapped bicyclist to New York City and free him with the help of a trio of elderly singers. Initially, it's difficult to enter the peculiar, nearly silent retro-world created by animator Sylvain Chomet---which is equal parts slapstick, surrealism, and French impressions of 1920s American gangster movies---but it's well worth the effort. 4.5/5.

[alandhopewell]

     Watched this last night, part of one of those 8-pack sets....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RxebaEloFU
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursed_(2005_film)

    

I'd never heard of this, and wasn't really expecting much. To my delight, it was a really good horror-comedy, sterling acting by Ricci et al, Rick Baker makeup / FX, and Wes Craven's usual flair for mixing the weird with the commonplace.