Recent viewings

[JaseSF]

Herbie Goes Bananas (1980): Jim Douglas' nephew Pete Stancheck (Stephen W. Burns) inherits racing car champion Herbie the Love Bug and travels to Mexico along with Davy "D.J." Johns (Charles Martin Smith) to retrieve him but while there run across a mischievous orphaned pickpocket named Paco (Joaquin Garay, III) who inevitably gets into trouble but whom Herbie quickly befriends and helps out leading to Paco and Herbie, whom Paco nicknames "Ocho", going on a series of misadventures first on a cruise ship and then later in Panama battling the film's villains - gold robbers John Vernon and Alex Rocco.

This one really stretches credibility beyond its limits having Herbie as a bullfighter and later using bananas as a disguise and with which to fight the film's villains. It has some funny moments here and there but is really more for kids than the previous films having really Paco as the lead protagonist in the story and the other characters just interacting with him and "Ocho" as the pair get into comical misadventures. There's some slight fun early on with Herbie driving around on a cruise ship with Paco hidden inside his cargo compartment. Cloris Leachman as love-starved Aunt Louise Trends and Harvey Korman as the object of her affections- Captain Blythe provide a comedy subplot with Blythe far more interested in his ship than any woman. The final showdown with the villains Vernon and Rocco provide the other main comedy element especially involving bananas and Herbie chasing their small plane. There's not enough racing in this one though. Dumb but kind of fun. **3/4 out of ***** stars.

GoldenEye (1995): MI6 Special Agent 007 James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) tries to stop an arms syndicate with ties to Russia from using a stolen satellite Electromagnetic Pulse "GoldenEye" weapon against London which could cause a global financial meltdown as well as kill numerous people.

Brosnan's first effort as Bond is arguably his best. This is definitely one of the better modern era films although one could see the beginnings here if not even to some extent with Licence To Kill of Bond becoming almost something of a comic book superhero at this point in time. That said, many of the previous films stretched credibility too but yeah it's perhaps stretched a bit too far with this one on a number of occasions especially as it involves a couple of seemingly impossible stunts and escapes and Bond driving around St. Petersburg, Russia in a stolen tank. That said, this film still proves quite good because it has some great villains what with Famke Janssen as a sex crazed sadomasochist/assassin who pretty much steals the show whenever she appears and a startling surprise with regards to the lead villain Janus. Also there's Gottfried John as General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov, a Russian General who uses his position of authority as Commander of Russia's Space Division to help Janus gain access to GoldenEye. There's also some good support for Bond in this one what with love interest Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) helping him following his numerous rescue attempts on her behalf and CIA Agent Jack Wade (played by Joe Don Baker) also turning up to help him from time to time. An enjoyable ride with a few surprises and some surprisingly funny moments, I'll give this one ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

All the talk about the new "Dark Knight" prompted me to pull my DVD of the previous film off the shelf today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrJL5JxEYIw
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Still a great flick. Anytime I can sit through a two hour and forty minute movie and not be bored, they're doin' something right.

Heath Ledger's Joker still gives me chills.

[alandhopewell]

     DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE! (1980)

     I'd nothing better to do yesterday afternoon, so I decided to crack open my PURE TERROR collection, and kill an hour and change until M*A*S*H* came on.

     DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE! was one I'd seen before, ages ago on  the all-night movie show on Channel 19, and again when I bought PURE TERROR.

     As I recalled, it didn't totally suck, so I fed it to the magicbox.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIjuXMRdDUk
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     Nicholas Worth       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Worth

is the best part of the picture, turning in a loud, funny, creepy, over-the-top performance as the killer. The greater part of the film is standard slasher, but mr. Worth is worth watching.

[indianasmith]

Last weekend I watched two new ones:

LOCKOUT: In the near future, the U.S. Justice Department has created an orbital prison satellite for the world's nastiest, most violent offenders.  The President's daughter is an investigative journalist who is convinced the government is using the prison as a cover to conduct human experiments on the inmates to test the effects of suspended animation on space travelers.  As she is taking the VIP tour, there is a breakout and the inmates take over the entire station.  A disgraced ex-CIA agent who was about to be sent to serve 30 years there is instead recruited
to save the girl from the psycho inmates, with the promise of a full pardon if he succeeds.  This was actually a pretty
great testosterone flick with some great performances.

GIRLS GONE DEAD: OK, with that title I expected a topless zombie flick.  Instead I got a slasher flick, and the killer (SPOILER) is a Christian fundamentalist trying to protect her daughter's virtue from corrupt spring break influences.
So instead of naked zombies munching brains on the beach, I see my religion get kicked in the balls (AGAIN) by people who have probably never met an actual evangelical in their whole lives.  Oh well.  I guess I kinda deserved it for renting such a trashy film in the first place.  They can't all be RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD!

[Jack]

Arachnid (2001) - an ol' favorite of mine. Some people go to a tropical island only to discover it populated by giant bugs and most notably, a giant killer spider. They shoot it a bunch of times - you won't believe this, but it doesn't have any effect! They run around a lot. The characters are a good bunch, the action moves along well, the effect are all practical (no CGI) and for the most part look pretty decent. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Sunday IN New York or something (1963) - jane Fonda and some hot redhead are the attractions. At first i was annouyed by it's liberal sort of modern day casual sex vibe but it won me over. Fonda meets a guy and has to decide between him and her husband to be. typical stuff. there's alot of screwball comedy and Fonda uses that sort of screwball sex thing she does with Barberella here. It was good. 4/5

[fulci420]

     DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE! (1980)

     I'd nothing better to do yesterday afternoon, so I decided to crack open my PURE TERROR collection, and kill an hour and change until M*A*S*H* came on.

     DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE! was one I'd seen before, ages ago on  the all-night movie show on Channel 19, and again when I bought PURE TERROR.

     As I recalled, it didn't totally suck, so I fed it to the magicbox.

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




     Nicholas Worth       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Worth

is the best part of the picture, turning in a loud, funny, creepy, over-the-top performance as the killer. The greater part of the film is standard slasher, but mr. Worth is worth watching.

I have that collection and watched this one a couple months ago. I agree that Nicholas Worth is truly compelling. One of the most repulsive killers seen in these kind of movies, I feel his sleaziness is only topped by Joe Spinell's performance in "Maniac". Love the primitive electronic score as well. 3/5

I just watched "Born on the Fourth of July" for the first time today. Wow! Having seen and appreciated much of Stone's work this one shocked me with its deep emotional power. I love Platoon, Salvador, and Wall Street but in my opinion this is Stone's true masterpiece. An outstanding performance from Tom Cruise greatly portrays the experience of real life activist Ron Kovic (who cowrote with Stone). This is a film that makes us question our deepest values like family, country, and religion. Looking at the state of things today I feel this film is every bit as important as it was the day it was released. 5/5

Also for a dollar I picked up a movie called "The Runner" due to it having John Goodman and Joe Mantegna in it. This film is greatly damaged by the lead acting of Ron Eldard, who simply does not have the acting chops to keep up with some of the supporting cast. This thriller focuses on Eldard's character who attempts to get out of gambling debt by becoming a "runner" for a tough sadistic crime boss (John Goodman). Along the line he meets Courtney Cox who he shares some terribly written exchanges that bring the film down until we get to see Cox in her underwear. While riddled with problems this is far from unwatchable and has its good parts (some nice music by nick cave and others for one). Best scene for b movie fans would be when John Goodman uses a remote control to get an attack dog to eat Joe Mantegna. Worst scene is Goodman describing the sexual things he will do to our protagonists unborn child, some things are just better left unsaid you know.. .

[indianasmith]

I read Ron Kovik's book, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, when I was in the military.
Granted, it was the height of the Reagan years and I was fully ready to go kill some commies given the opportunity (of course, I was a radioman, so it was highly unlikely the opportunity would ever arise, but I sure daydreamed about it!).  But I found Kovik to be a whiny, self-absorbed jerk.  His endless moaning and complaining about his war injuries and how they ruined his life, to my twenty year old mind, dishonored the memory of every veteran who bore their wounds with honor and without complaint.

Now that I am older, I imagine that most of them probably thought the stuff that Kovik said.  They just had the self-discipline to keep their mouths shut, or else the artistic ability to turn it into powerful poetry rather than narcissistic prose.

Actually, I guess I haven't changed that much.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Barbarella" (1968)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsPkQt2H4YQ
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A pre-"Hanoi" Jane Fonda stars in this campy sci-fi comedy (based on a French comic strip and directed by Jane's then-husband, Roger Vadim) as futuristic sex kitten Barbarella, who's sent to a far off planet to track down a missing Earth scientist. Along the way she battles an alien Queen, gets mixed up in a revolution, falls in love with an angel, and loses her clothes -- a lot.

Lots of nifty, swingin' psychedelic set pieces and plenty of eye candy (Miss Fonda was a serious piece of a$$ back in '68!) doesn't make up for the fact that the leading lady can't act her way out of a paper bag, or that the movie as a whole is totally plotless and simply lumbers randomly from one silly scene to the next.

I was psyched to finally see this cult classic after hearing so much about it over the years but I was disappointed. Oh well, they can't all be gems, I guess.

[Rev. Powell]

Lots of nifty, swingin' psychedelic set pieces and plenty of eye candy (Miss Fonda was a serious piece of a$$ back in '68!) doesn't make up for the fact that the leading lady can't act her way out of a paper bag, or that the movie as a whole is totally plotless and simply lumbers randomly from one silly scene to the next.

I was psyched to finally see this cult classic after hearing so much about it over the years but I was disappointed. Oh well, they can't all be gems, I guess.

Different strokes, I guess. I thought Fonda's underplayed campy acting was perfect for the role. And I wouldn't call the movie plotless---it's more an example of Joe Bob's old line, "there's so much plot in this movie that it's like having no plot at all."

I've never really understood how anyone could fail to be wowed by BARBARELLA, but it happens all the time. Maybe it's a case of expectations having been built up too high by its cult reputation. I was lucky: I wasn't expecting it, I just flipped through TV channels one day and saw Jane Fonda tied up with little mechanical dolls with sharp metal teeth chomping on her thighs. I was hooked! I wouldn't be at all disappointed if every b-movie was made in this style.

[FatFreddysCat]

I've never really understood how anyone could fail to be wowed by BARBARELLA, but it happens all the time. Maybe it's a case of expectations having been built up too high by its cult reputation.

Yeah, that could be it. Over the years I've heard so much about it that I might have expected too much from it. I chuckled a few times but aside from that I was looking at my watch a lot and wondering "is this gonna be over soon?"

But damn, Jane was hot back then. That zero-gravity strip tease over the opening credits was positively Oscar-worthy. :D

[FatFreddysCat]

"Ratatouille" (2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3sBBRxDAqk
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Disney/Pixar animated hit in which a French rat with a knack for gourmet cooking comes to the rescue of a once-famed Parisian restaurant, which is now on the decline and run by the incompetent son of its former world-renowned chef.

As usual, it's beautifully animated and funny as hell, with a sweet side. More "adult" than the usual Pixar fare, the kids probably won't dig this one but their parents will.

[JaseSF]

The Shaggy D.A. (1976): Sequel to 1959's The Shaggy Dog has a now grown up Wilby Daniels (Dean Jones) as an attorney looking to run for the district attorney's office hoping to bring down the current district attorney John Slade (Keenan Wynn) whom Daniels suspects of having ties to and being in bed with the area's local organized crime boss Edward "Fast Eddie" Roshak (Vic Tayback). However throwing a wrench into his plans is the return of Daniels being transformed into a shaggy dog named Elwood whenever someone reads the inscription on a priceless stolen scarab Borgia ring - "In canis corpore transmuto".

This was a fun little sequel. Sure it changes a few things from the original and perhaps dumbs down the concept a little but nevertheless it's still enjoyable escapist fare. The funniest bits typically involve a transformed Daniels/Elwood voiced by Jones interacting with Elwood's owner - ice cream salesman Tim (Tim Conway) who hopes to use a talking Elwood to make his fortune and later Tim and Elwood/Daniels effort to save Elwood/Daniels and prove Slade a crook. Of course, Keenan Wynn does quite well in the villainous role. There's also some hilarious chase sequences in this one focused on dumb local cops and dumb local dog catchers all trying to catch an on the loose Elwood/Daniels. All in all predictable for the era Disney fare but nevertheless very enjoyable with a great cast. ***1/4 out of ***** stars.

Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002): This film focuses on three different individual women and the challenges they each face as they make or attempt to make life-altering changes in their lives. First is Delia (Kyra Sedgewick), a spirited and tough working class mother of three who finally decides to retake control of her life leaving her abusive husband behind. Second is Greta (Parker Posey), deep down a very ambitious woman who's become bored with her complacent husband and predictable yet safe marriage. Third is Paula (Fairuza Balk), a pregnant woman on the run from a relationship she's not sure she wants who meets up with a kid hitchhiker who desperately seems to need a ride.

This is kind of an arty film, like something you'd probably expect to turn up in a Women's Studies class. The acting here is first rate with all three stars Sedgewick, Posey and Balk all vibrantly bringing to life their characters and succeeding at making the audience care about them. However in the end, the material is often dark and leaves one feeling unsatisfied with conclusions that feel somewhat incomplete. *** out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Punisher: War Zone" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liABMxEvPAc
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Marvel Comics' vigilante manages to p**s off both the underworld and the FBI when he inadvertently kills a deep cover agent, so the good guys and the bad guys are both gunning for him big time.
The previous two "Punisher" flicks never really hit the mark but the third time is the charm, they FINALLY made a Punisher movie that's true to the comics. Utterly brutal, totally mindless, over the top shootin' sh*t up, blowin' sh*t up fun.

[ChaosTheory]

"Punisher: War Zone" (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liABMxEvPAc
Marvel Comics' vigilante manages to p**s off both the underworld and the FBI when he inadvertently kills a deep cover agent, so the good guys and the bad guys are both gunning for him big time.
The previous two "Punisher" flicks never really hit the mark but the third time is the charm, they FINALLY made a Punisher movie that's true to the comics. Utterly brutal, totally mindless, over the top shootin' sh*t up, blowin' sh*t up fun.

None of the Punisher movies quite work for me, but you know what I like about WAR ZONE?  It looks more like a comic book than any other comic book movie I've seen.  You could take any random number of still shots from it and easily transpose them into a panel.  Also Wayne Knight as Micro!   



I rented 21 JUMP STREET aka RAUNCHY BROMANCE #4396820 OH AND IT'S ALSO A REMAKE/REBOOT/WHATEVER - yeah, wasn't impressed.  I need to stop listening to my male friends when they recommend comedies.  The part where they trip out on the drug was kind of funny.  2/10