Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers" (1988)

If only this movie was as awesome as its title!
While searching the mean streets of L.A. for a missing girl, a skid-row detective discovers a murderous religious cult of chainsaw-worshipping prostitutes (?), led by Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen.
 
...yeah, that's the whole plot of this semi-legendary Z-grade horror comedy from schlockmeister Fred Olen Ray. This VHS era favorite is dumb as a box of rocks, but it's got quite a few pretty girls in it and they're frequently naked so therefore I was entertained.

[lester1/2jr]

dumb as a box of rocks,

bit of a cliche there. how about dumb as a...bag of pretzels? ok maybe you're right

T- Men (1947) -



This starts off looking like one of the shorts MST3K would make fun of before the main feature and ends up being a gripping multi layered crime story. A bunch of T Men aka treasury dept agents go undercover to bust some counterfeiters. Right away we see that counterfeiters aren't ordinary thugs, so it takes a bit of doing to just try and locate them. One of the agents gets a tip about a guy named The Schemer who frequents Turkish baths and seems to be a bit of a hypochondriac as he's known for using Chinese herbs and so forth purchased in Chinatown. That's all they've got on him, so the agent just has to go to all these baths and Chinese herb stores. The life of a detective...

If it sounds dry it's really not and it gets more action packed as the story goes. It very quickly stops being an infomercial about the Treasury Department and becomes a serious film noir/ pulp fiction whatever you want to call it movie. Of course, the US would eventually go off the gold standard in 1973 and would essentially start counterfeiting their own money, but these agents still did admirable work, risking their lives not letting guys like the Schemer pass phony bills for their steamroom visitations.

5/5

[claws]

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Aspiring journalist Andrea (Anne Hathaway) lands a job million of girls would kill for - she's now the junior personal assistant to 'Dragon Lady' Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) who is the editor-in-chief for a fashion magazine called Runway. Miranda is a icy and demanding b***h and Andrea is sort of caught in a fish-out-of-water situation as she has no clue about the crazy and absurd world of fashion.

I guess this is what they call a "chick flick" but there's no romance so I shouldn't feel too guilty about always enjoying this?   It's fun entertainment whenever I crave a Streep-fix 4.5/5


That's all.

[Rev. Powell]

BATMAN RETURNS (1992): Batman must deal with two new supervillians---the deformed underground crime boss the Penguin, who launches a campaign for mayor of Gotham City, and the mysterious and sexy Catwoman. Tim Burton really unleashed his inner 12-year old here---a gang of killer clowns marauding through a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, an army of penguins with missiles strapped to their backs---and the result was the campiest (and most fun) Batman movie since Adam West's TV series. 4.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Guardians Of The Galaxy" (2014)

A wise-ass space pirate and a crew of misfits must prevent a powerful artifact from falling into the hands of a very bad intergalactic villain. This fast, funny sci-fi shoot'em up mega-hit  from Marvel Studios has held up well to repeated viewings. Bring on "Volume 2" (this Summer)!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Terminal Force" (1989)
Cheap cops & robbers nonsense from schlock kingpin Fred Olen Ray. A trigger-happy detective (50s/60s B-movie beefcake Richard Harrison, aging terribly) is taken off of suspension to track down a kidnapped girl whose brother is about to testify against the Mob. Yep, that's the whole plot. The flick is slow moving, talky and has very little action; Harrison sleepwalks through the entire movie. At least there were some cute girls in it, and since this is a Fred Olen Ray movie, that means they're required to get their boobs out frequently.
Avoid!

[JaseSF]

The Tic Code (1999): A ten year old boy named Miles (Christopher Marquette), who happens to have a gift for playing jazz on the piano, struggles for acceptance while battling the tics and mannerisms of a disease he suffers from - Tourette's Syndrome. When his mother Laura (Polly Draper) starts dating a new friend he recently made - saxophone player Tyrone (Gregory Hines), Miles hopes he's finally starting to find his place in the world.

Surprisingly good story that seems to give a rare more realistic glimpse into the lives of those who suffer from Tourette's. Great performances from its lead definitely helps and the chemistry between Hines and Draper smokes up the screen at times as well. Sometimes it does seem a tad bit adult for a story told primarily from a kid's perspective but then again, perhaps that's a bit more real too. For some reason, this feels like a movie from a different time (it has a certain 70s vibe to it).  ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

The Next Three Days (2010): John Brennan (Russell Crowe) searches desperately for a way to prove his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) innocent as she's facing life in prison for murder hoping to reunite her with him and their young son Luke (Ty Simpkins). When things go sour in court, Brennan begins to consider the unthinkable - a way to break his wife out of jail.

This remake of the French movie "Pour Elle" seems to on the surface be an overlong extension of that film. Honestly I did find this went on a bit too long but a lot of it was necessary to fully get all the elements at work in the plot. And yes the plot does seem a bit far-fetched and convoluted yet that doesn't mean the film isn't enjoyable to watch and it does keep you guessing. The fact it makes you root  and care for its lead characters is another plus. Notable performances from standout stars in bit roles also adds to the appeal here - look out for Liam Neeson and Brian Dennehy and Olivia Wilde. That said, I suspect the best parts of this film were taken from the original not to say there's not some clever twists that seemed to have been added. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

The Frozen (2012): Mike (Seth David Mitchell) and Emma (Brit Morgan), a young couple vacationing in the hills in winter, find themselves suddenly struggling to survive following a snowmobile crash that pretty much has left them stranded. Things take another terrifying turn when mysterious noises are heard in the night just outside their tent and a strangely silent hunter (Noah Segen) seems to be tracking and hunting the pair.

This is one of those horror movies that seems a little too low budget, a little too artsy, a little too gross-out with gore, borrows much too much from other much better films, the twist here owing a lot to a certain classic 1960s film albeit in a much snowier setting. This seemed to have some promise but ultimately disappoints and drags on. It will have viewers going "WTF?" quite a bit before delivering a twist ending that will finally explain things in a way that deflates the impact of much of what went before. ** out of ***** stars.

[Rev. Powell]

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN (1966): Housewife Ann turns to prostitution to care for her sick husband, with tragic results. A quintessential Doris Wishman picture, making utter depravity look like a groovy gas, with some of the finest cleavage and crotch zooms and lingering shots of houseplants in her entire oeuvre.  3.5/5.

[Trevor]

"Terminal Force" (1989)
Cheap cops & robbers nonsense from schlock kingpin Fred Olen Ray. A trigger-happy detective (50s/60s B-movie beefcake Richard Harrison, aging terribly) is taken off of suspension to track down a kidnapped girl whose brother is about to testify against the Mob. Yep, that's the whole plot. The flick is slow moving, talky and has very little action; Harrison sleepwalks through the entire movie. At least there were some cute girls in it, and since this is a Fred Olen Ray movie, that means they're required to get their boobs out frequently.
Avoid!

Avoid? The boobs or the movie?

[AoTFan]

I just saw Finding Dory. What can I say?  Take about, everything from Finding Nemo, rehash it, and up the "Wow, what a lucky coincidence!" factor by about fifty and you pretty much have this movie.  I mean, it wasn't bad per se, just felt it had been done a LOT better several years ago. 

[lester1/2jr]

The Chaser - This is one of those Asian movies that is awesome. Obviously Hong Kong did this kind of thing first but I'm not loyal to any nation state in terms of my filmology. This is Korean and it's excellent.

A former cop now pimp is losing a bunch of girls to someone and he can't figure out who he is. He thinks it's possibly another pimp or maybe they are running away who knows.

Well, he's the Chaser so he is gonna chase down the answer and what he finds is grim and awful. there is some comedy too though. I think it was based on a true story but who cares. It's brutal and grim in the right ways. I thought the pimp guy caring about the girls daughter was a little phoned in but still a

5/5

[Rev. Powell]

BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL (1965): A woman kills her rapist and goes on the run to New York City where she falls in with a series of abusive roommates. Doris Wishman's odd framing and flair for melodrama make for a nightmarish experience, and this one works almost as a black satire on pre-Sexual revolution morality, with the female victim constantly blamed and punished for her sexuality. This was the first Wishman roughie I saw and it stuck in my mind, but watching it again years later I was less impressed; I now think ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN is her classic of the period. Still, 3.5/5.

[indianasmith]

HELL ASYLUM  Another early 2000's Full Moon release I rented at the Forbidden Gallery.
This one was really bad; basically, a reality TV show has a group of sexy girls spending the night in a haunted mansion/insane asylum and whoever can last the whole night wins.  Then a horde of angry ghosts kills the camera crew, the guys in ghost costumes who were supposed to scare the girls, and one by one, the girls themselves. Predictable plot, cheesy gore effects, none of the nudity that is the trademark of Full Moon films, and bad acting.  Pretty forgettable overall, although the trailers were kinda fun.  2/5

[claws]

The Veil (2016)

25 years after a religious camp mass suicide lone survivor Sarah joins Maggie (Jessica Alba) and her crew of filmmakers to take part in a documentary. They visit the old site and find a hidden house in the woods containing unseen footage from sinister cult leader Jim (Thomas Jane). In the videos Jim is experimenting with drugs which makes it possible for him to overcome death.

Supernatural Blumhouse horror that sat in Universal's vault for two years, prominently cast with Alba and Jane. There are some interesting ideas and Thomas Jane is actually pretty good (his character reminded me of Jim Morrison) however, with the exception of a few fun jump scares The Veil drags and feels cheaper than it's budget. 2.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: IT LIVES BY NIGHT: A bat researcher is bitten by a bat and starts turning into a were-bat--or at least his hand does. The very obvious, cheap and predictable werewolf plot is not improved by substituting a bat, and Mike and the bots try but they can't get much of a handle on the film to get any real comic traction. Host segments are a mishmash of ideas; the show was already canceled and although there is still a good episode or two left, it feels like enthusiasm is lacking here. 3/5.