Recent viewings

[bob]

5/5

[Jack]

The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984) - David Carradine stars as a greedy SOB who comes to a village where two gangs are fighting over who gets to control the well.  Carradine screws over one group to get money, then the other group, then the first, the second, etc.  ALL he cares about is money - which doesn't make for a very sympathetic character in my humble opinion.  The whole thing is very cheesy;  pretty entertaining to watch.  Maria Socas co-stars as the topless sorceress.  Oh yeah, that's a fine set there.  You know, Carradine and Socas - a fine set.  This wasn't really as good as the other three movies on the Roger Corman's Cult Classics Sword And Sorcery Collection, I'd give it about a 3/5, but the sorceress brings it up to 3.5/5.  Just for her, um, "screen presence".

[mahoney]

Fight for Your Life (1977)
Good exploitation flick with some disturbing scenes. For all the talk that Last House On The Left gets I'm surprised this rarely ever gets a mention. Theres a young boy beaten to death with a rock for god sake! Is short & to the point, never wasting a second & despite some shoddy acting is pretty damn entertaining. Felt the revenge at the end could of been a bit better, after witnessing the ordeal of  the black family I expected a little bit more.
***

The Wild Bunch (1969)
Shockingly this is the first time I'd seen it. Easy to see why its regarded as one of the great westerns. Like all the Peckinpah films I've seen the violence is very realistic and brutally honest. Loved the scenes with Ernest Borgnine & William Holden hanging out & being reflective about their lives. I kind of wished there had been more hanging out scenes with the bunch rather than lengthy shootouts or time spent with the bounty's but thats a minor complaint.
****

Notorious (1946)
A pretty good Hitchcock film though I didn't feel it was as great as most people seem to think. The first twenty minutes with the love story seemed a little rushed consideirng it was important to the plot. Some really typically great suspense scenes from Hitchcock especially when Ingrid Bergman is hiding the cellar key from her husband. Good film but on first viewing at least I would call this a minor Hitchcock film.
***

Scream 4 (2011)
Horrible. I hated this so much. I still am a big fan of the original, I never cared much for the second film & the third was s**t but after so many years & Craven directing I thought it might at least be decent. Stupid script, horrible b***hy characters & felt so light hearted. Disgusting to think that a director that used to be able to make nasty films like the hills have eyes and last house on the left now just sucks studios dicks for a few bucks. Probably will put me off ever watching a film he directs again
*

[alandhopewell]

     I wasn't sure what to expect when I rented this over the weekend, other than that it looked different from the usual crop of "creative mayhem"-type pictures.

     I rather enjoyed it-good, honest performances by the entire cast, and I liked the fact that the TRUE horror wasn't so much this girl-who-is-not-a-girl, but the casual cruelty of the young boy's life, dealing with bullies, and the  distant attitudes of both his parents.

     Definitely not what one would expect from Hammer, but that's not a knock.

[mahoney]

You should seek out Let The Right One In, the original Swedish film which it's based on. One of the best horrors of the 00's so far for my money.

[JaseSF]

Science Fiction Theatre: "The Strange Lodger" (1957): It was very interesting to finally catch an episode of this classic 50s series (thanks to Youtube) - this episode focuses on the potential for one thing, as in matter, to be changed into another,as in energy. Hosted by Truman Bradley, he basically gives us a bit of a science introduction and overall the focus of our story is ultimately on the potential for teleportation. The story itself focuses on a pair of TV pollsters who used a special machine to read what channels people are watching on their TV only they stumble across someone who doesn't seem to be watching any of the known channels but is instead tuned into Channel 84 on which no station is currently broadcasting. They investigate and meet a mysterious lodger at the residence who may be much more than the simple, friendly old man he seems.

This was much ahead of its time. Apparently this, the series last episode, features a government agent/UFO investigator who also gets involved in this investigation along with the lead Bill North (Charles Maxwell). It was a simple, straightforward story but surprisingly fun to watch unfold. Some clever ideas at work here for the time. *** out of ***** stars.

WarGames: The Dead Code (2008): Teenage hacker Will Farmer (Matt Lanter) and all those closely associated with him, accidentally becomes a suspected terrorist threat in the eyes of U.S. Homeland Security's new supercomputer system RIPLEY which has access to an automated military response. Eventually this becomes a deadly game of survival as RIPLEY soon targets Will's home city of Philadelphia for possible decontamination protocols.

This direct to video sequel to the original WarGames (1983) is actually a genuine sequel. Now it isn't fantastic or anything but personally it surprised me by being more entertaining than I expected and actually bothering to recognize the film that proceeded it making use of a key character and even the computer system from the first film. Of course the concept here seems completely unbelievable as does the plot at times, at others it seems very dumb indeed, but the first film's concept seemed improbable as well. Still I enjoyed this on some levels. It was fun escapist fare that harkens back to that old idea that youth/kids know better and most adults just don't think out the potential consequences of their actions/inventions and the kids have to ultimately come through and save the day. Matt Lanter does fine as the lead and Amanda Walsh is passable as the love interest who, unexpectedly for her, ends up on the run with him. The only really annoying character here is Nicholas Wright's Dennis Nichols as Will's best friend who inevitably is the bad apple who leads Will astray and gets him into trouble. Not bad for a direct to video timewaster **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Vik]

It Came From Outer Space
Fun 50s scifi flick 

[bob]

5/5 --- a real game changer for movies

[Pilgermann]

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) - I actually watched this early August.  I thought it was fairly creepy which is all the more impressive for television movie.  Overall it's pretty slight and almost seems unfinished, but it's enjoyable enough.  Better than the remake in my opinion.  7/10 (thought I may never rewatch it)

Farewell, My Lovely (1975) - A cool mystery flick based on a Raymond Chandler story with Robert Mitchum as private eye Philip Marlowe who's hired by a brutish criminal known as Moose Malloy.  Malloy wants Marlowe to find his girlfriend who he lost track of while in prison.  The simple job leads to some odd twists and turns.  Lots of fun to watch and includes Sylvester Stallone in a small early role.  8/10

Spider Baby (1968) - Wow, this was completely crazy but so fun and charming!  Kind of a precursor to stuff like Texas Chain Saw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses, but not mean-spirited at all in spite of having characters whose degenerative disorder makes them crazy and murderous, even cannibalistic.  Wish I'd seen it sooner, it's fantastic.  9/10

[claws]

The Green Hornet (2011) Blu-ray

Less silly than I thought. Kind of like when Batman meets Mystery Men. Amusing, but then again I have a soft spot for Seth Rogen.
Christoph Waltz was semi-wasted though he still gave the most interesting performance.. Could have done without Cameron Diaz though. Her part wasn't really that important. 3.75/5

[Jack]

Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls (2008) - an Asylum movie, I'm assuming it was made to capitalize on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  As such I was expecting something exciting and lighthearted.  Man, this was terrible.  The guy playing Allan Quatermain is just a block of wood;  I can't remember seeing such an awful lead character in a long time.  They could have left him out of the movie entirely and his absence would have barely been noticeable.  And plot - what plot?  Quatermain has half the map to King Solomon's mines.  He tries to sell it to some guy, but the guy was expecting a whole map - he's not too happy about this ripped-in-half thing.  So that deal goes awry, but a couple of young adventurers just happen to show up wanting Quatermain to take them to the mines.  So they go walking across the plains of South Africa.  Beautiful scenery by the way, outshines the characters by quite a bit.  They walk and walk, have a run-in with the guy who wanted to buy the map, they walk and walk some more, get captured by some natives and blah blah blah, anything that happens get dragged out so long it's almost funny, and it wasn't very interesting to start with. 

I've still got 20 minutes to go so I won't rate it.  Maybe tonight I'll finish it.

[Psycho Circus]

Spider Baby (1968) - Wow, this was completely crazy but so fun and charming!  Kind of a precursor to stuff like Texas Chain Saw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses, but not mean-spirited at all in spite of having characters whose degenerative disorder makes them crazy and murderous, even cannibalistic.  Wish I'd seen it sooner, it's fantastic.  9/10

I've yet to hear anyone say they dislike that movie. 

[Doggett]

Spider Baby (1968) - Wow, this was completely crazy but so fun and charming!  Kind of a precursor to stuff like Texas Chain Saw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses, but not mean-spirited at all in spite of having characters whose degenerative disorder makes them crazy and murderous, even cannibalistic.  Wish I'd seen it sooner, it's fantastic.  9/10

I've yet to hear anyone say they dislike that movie. 

I'm watching it tonight!

 

[Silverlady]

Forbidden Planet 1956

I caught it on TCM yesterday.   Why it was on in the early afternoon on a Tuesday I have no idea?   

Anyway, I've seen this one many times and it still fascinates me.  Some of it is very dated, but in other respects it was way ahead of its time.  STAR TREK stole at lot from FP.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World"

Extremely oddball action/fantasy hipster comedy with Michael Cera as a Canadian slacker who falls in love with the new girl in town... but he has to battle all seven of her "evil exes" (in hilarious video-game inspired fight scenes complete with onscreen power ups, 1-UPs and "life" bars) to claim her as his own.

Yes, it's very weird and very quirky (on purpose), but it was also fast, action packed, had a lot of cute girls, and it was funny as hell. Recommended if your tastes are a little out of the ordinary. Destined to be a cult film.