Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

If this movie is any indication its totally taken over like coke in Miami in the 80's without the glitz. quite the opposite.

[Rev. Powell]

Winter's Bone (2010)

While we are pontifcating about wether or not to set up a no fly zone in Libya, the new ipad and wether republicans hate obama because he’s black or because the Koch brothers are paying them too, our heartland has turned into a Somalia like 3rd world country patrolled by meth gangs. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link we are either a weak chain or not a chain at all.

Winter's Bone tells the story of a girl in the sticks who must find her Dad, who has absconded on bail but not before putting the house up as collateral. He's around somewhere , but the local characters, many of whom she is related to, are generally either unhelpful or hostile to the idea. Why? Her Dad was a meth cooker who somehow ran afoul of the big meth guys who they are all in with/ loyal to/ afraid of. She is raising her younger sister and brother by herself, now she might lose the house and her only chance to save it is finding her Dad and this seems impossible.

Everyone is well cast. It's a great movie. very sad. We are invading Muslim countries to teach them democratic values. what values? to abandon the powerless people in your country to chaos and starvation?

5/5

Wow, WINTER'S BONE really didn't come across to me as a plea for isolationist foreign policy.    But I'm glad you liked it.

[Jack]

Good Guys Wear Black (1978) - Chuck Norris is an ex-commando who was on a covert mission in Vietnam back in the day.  Problem was that the mission was set up by a corrupt politician with the aim of getting the commandos killed.   Yeah, trying to kill Chuck Norris...good luck with that.  In the present day (of 1978) Chuck is your typical everyday college professor/race car driver/martial arts champion type guy.  But the sleazy politician decides to take another crack at killing off Chuck and his guys, for reasons you have to wait for the end of the movie to discover.  This was more of a drama than and action movie (though Chuck certainly kicks some major butt occasionally).  Kind of cool actually.  It kept me quite interested.  Right up to the cheeseball ending.  3.75/5.

[JaseSF]

I liked it too. Much better than I expected it to be. 

[claws]

Ultraviolet: Unrated Extended Cut (2006)

Milla must face something similar to the t-virus, except this one turns people into semi-vampires.
Impressive set design but Sony ruined the movie. I doubt we will ever get to see the two hours version. 3.5/5

The Sea Serpent (1984)

Euro trash about a giant sea serpent gone wild.
Rubber toy for a monster, awkward dialog & dubbing and bad miniature sets. Ray Milland pretty much takes the crown of embarrassment here as a Professor who can predict the creatures next move. Funny. 3/5 Cheese

[bob]

The Return of Chandu (1934). This is part of the Bela Logusi collection that I'm currently watching. I really enjoyed this for a few reasons: I really liked the use of magic, the acting was great, and the story really drew me in rather quickly.


2 thumbs up. 

[JaseSF]

Diabolique (1996): The wife (Isabelle Adjani) and mistress (Sharon Stone) of a cruel tyrant of a schoolmaster named Guy Baran (Chazz Palminteri) together plot to murder him and carry out their plan. Things goes awry however when the body somehow seemingly disappears from its carefully planted location, a female detective (Kathy Bates) begins investigating and pupils at the school claim at one point to have seen Mr. Baran lurking in the background. Just what is going on here?

This vastly inferior American remake of the classic 1955 French thriller Les Diaboliques lacks all the qualities that made that film so iconic and influential that it has been imitated and copied again and again since it first appeared. This version unfortunately is dull, static, unoriginal and lacks the same sense of thrills and chills the original film delivered. The cast tries hard but it just never fully works. None of our leads become particularly sympathetic, at least not at the level required to maintain viewer interest. Stone and Bates get to deliver the movie's best lines but it often feels like dreary, forced one-liners spoken by bitter, victimized women. In the end, this movie is just forgettable and largely comes across as a man-hating affair. ** out of ***** stars. Watch the original instead!

[lester1/2jr]

rev- we don't have unlimited resources. so what are our priorities?

[Raffine]

THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED (1958) An experimental manned rocket explodes and causes a shower of meteors to head toward Earth. Can the nations solve their petty disagreements and work together to stop the planet's destruction?

This is one of, if not the, earliest examples of low-budget Italian sci-fi melodramas which were so common in the 60s. The first thirty minutes or so are the typical talky scenes of people wearing headsets preparing to send the rocket into space.

After the thing blows up and sends huge boulders hurdling toward Earth it gets a lot more interesting - stock footage of mysterious explosions which are upsetting the buffalo (seriously! Just like in ED WOOD!) and tons more stock footage of real and movie destruction make the rest of the movie pretty entertaining, I thought. To add to the drama one of the scientist (a dirty commie Ruskie, naturally) goes bonkers and turns off the AC.

Mario Bava (spelled Mario Baja in the credits) was the cinematographer.

[Rev. Powell]

rev- we don't have unlimited resources. so what are our priorities?

Interesting and extremely difficult question.  My only point was it has nothing to do with the movie you were reviewing.  But whatever it inspires you to think about is OK.

[bob]

I took a break from my Bela 15-pack and re-watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights for the first time since I ws a kid. It's much better then I remember. Two thumbs up.

 

[Kaseykockroach]

Critters, as I finally got around to copying my 4-film collection so I wouldn't have to deal with those damn double-sided discs anymore (I hate double-sided discs >>).
I know this is a random comparison, but the film felt more like Tremors than Gremlins. I don't know, I haven't revisited the sequels yet.

[claws]

Screamtime (1986)

"Some of my best friends are ghosts"

Decent horror anthology filmed in the UK and US. The first two stories are great and creepy, the last one had its moments. Apparently story #2 was remade as "Psychosis (2010)" without giving credit to Screamtime. Boo! 4/5

Carver: Unrated (2008)

Shot on digital video backwoods bleeder. Enjoyed this more on my second viewing. Lots of well done gross out gore scenes. 3.25/5

[JaseSF]

The First Deadly Sin (1980): Edward X. Delaney (Frank Sinatra) is an aging NYPD police detective nearing retirement who is suddenly tasked with an unusual murder case in which the victim was murdered by some type of hammer or axe to the head. Delaney soon uncovers that this may in fact be a serial killer but he cannot convince his higher-ups, ready to put him out to pasture, to listen. Complicating matters even more, Delaney's wife Barbara (Faye Dunaway) is very ill in the hospital suffering from a kidney malady.

Sinatra tries hard and gives a good performance. Unfortunately the movie is just too utterly bleak, overlong and dull at points although the detective work done by Delaney comes across as admirable and the movie is enlivened slightly by some good supporting characters who aid Delaney in his search for information including a medieval weapons museum curator named Christopher Langley (Martin Gabel), the victim's wife Mrs. Gilbert (Brenda Vaccaro) and mortician Dr. Sanford Ferguson (James Whitmore). The killer's motives are never adequately explained but are touched on in an interesting fashion and the climactic showdown between Delaney and the murderer did surprise me with its conclusion. Still this is a depressing film, one you wish had ended a bit differently as it just becomes too much on some levels. I wanted to like this one more but as it is I can't give it more than **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) - GI Joe is an elite, top secret military organization and Cobra is an elite, top secret bad guy organization.  Cobra gets their hands on some nanite weapons which can cause entire cities to dissolve into a green muck, and it's the job of the Joes to stop them.  This was just a big fun action movie.  I loved it    It didn't try to be serious, just entertain the audience.  The characters were really likable, the plot was just as believable as most "serious" action movies, the sets were cool and the special effects were a blast.  Literally   

Oh, and Rachel Nichols is in it: 



4.5/5.