Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

LON CHANEY: A THOUSAND FACES (2000): Documentary about Hollywood's first horror star and makeup expert, with a wealth of movie clips. This unpretentious documentary from Turner Classic Movies is as  solid a documentary biopic as you'll find, serving as both a great introduction for newcomers and a valuable reference work for students of Chaney's artistry. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Breaking the Girls (2012) - decent timewaster but it would have needed to be a lot trashier and/or the plot to be more believable to be anything more.

A vampire looking girl who isn't a vampire theres no vampires I'm just saying she'd be a good one, picks up a straight girl at a bar and they get into some very very light lesbianism. It all coalesces into a "hot" movie that longs to be Wild Things or Basic Instinct or something but is more like an okay Law and Order SVU rerun.

plot holes abound ( example slight spoiler: how did the girl getting fired from the bar lead to her being kicked out of LAW SCHOOL?? ) and like all movies nowadays there is tons of innuendo and no nudity. The girls are like 6's .

3/5

[claws]

Clown (2014)

In order to surprise his son on his birthday a Real estate broker dresses up as a clown wearing a suit he found in one of the houses that's up for sale. The suit turns out to be skin from an ancient demon and soon enough the man starts to slowly change in a rather grotesque manner. Some guy familiar with the suit and the curse tries to help while the transforming clown-demon-man must devour five children to break the curse.

Clown certainly had its moments including remarkable scenes of terror in a children's play zone inside a building. There's also some black humor and a few gross out scenes. If anything I thought this was solid but not perfect. I'd rate this 2.5/5 - flawed but worthy.

[indianasmith]

Clown (2014)

In order to surprise his son on his birthday a Real estate broker dresses up as a clown wearing a suit he found in one of the houses that's up for sale. The suit turns out to be skin from an ancient demon and soon enough the man starts to slowly change in a rather grotesque manner. Some guy familiar with the suit and the curse tries to help while the transforming clown-demon-man must devour five children to break the curse.

Clown certainly had its moments including remarkable scenes of terror in a children's play zone inside a building. There's also some black humor and a few gross out scenes. If anything I thought this was solid but not perfect. I'd rate this 2.5/5 - flawed but worthy.

I thought it quite good!  The play house scene was SPOOKY!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Spider-Man" (1977)

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Science dork Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains its powers and abilities. Those skills come in handy because New York is being terrorized by a mysterious hypnotist who makes ordinary citizens commit crimes via mind control. 

I hadn't seen this cheap-n-cheesy pilot movie for the short lived '70s Spidey TV series since I was a kid and it was, as I expected, entertainingly awful. No wonder the show didn't last long.

[indianasmith]

EDGE OF TOMORROW (repeat viewing) - Tom Cruise plays a cowardly Army publicist placed in the front line of battle after he angers a general; he is killed in battle with alien invaders known as "Mimics" and finds himself re-living the same day, over and over again, trying to find a way to prevent the upcoming defeat of all humanity.  Really a pretty good movie (4/5)

MY COUSIN VINNY (repeat viewing) - One of my all time favorites, Joe Pesci is brilliant as a small time lawyer who takes the case when his nephew is accused of murdering a convenience store clerk in Alabama.  Marisa Tomei won a well-deserved Oscar for her role as his girlfriend, and Fred Gwynn is marvelous as a Southern judge.  One movie I will always stop to watch when it is on.  5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Generation X" (1996)

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The new class of super-heroes-in-training at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters battles a mad scientist  who can control people's minds by invading their dreams. So...yeah, basically this is a ripoff of "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" in X-Men wrapping.

Long before Marvel Comics' characters were sure fire box office gold, they kept farming out their properties for low budget TV movies like this. The story is weak, the sets are cheap, and the special effects suck. Finola Hughes provides some eye candy as Emma Frost, but whoever is playing Banshee has the least convincing Irish accent I've ever heard and Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer is irritating as hell as the villain.
"Generation X" aired on the Fox Network as a pilot for a potential series but it never caught on (thank goodness).

[FatFreddysCat]

It was my 9 year old's turn to pick a movie...

"Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" (2010)

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Sequel to the 2003 family hit continues the ongoing battle between canines and felines, but this time the cats and dogs must put their differences aside and fight against a common enemy: the villainous Kitty Galore, whose plans for world domination are so extreme that they endanger both species (yikes!).
Silly kid stuff packed with nods to the James Bond series (including a voice cameo by the late, great Roger Moore as the head of Feline Intelligence, "Tab Lazenby"), "The Silence Of The Lambs" and action flicks in general.

[indianasmith]

MONSTERS IN THE WOODS - DIRECTOR'S CUT (2017)
This was a freebie off of Amazon Prime.  It was badly shot and edited; they were trying to give it a gritty, grindhouse look but it just came across as being cheaply shot on poor film.  That being said, the plot was fairly original, and the monsters were the best thing about the movie - old fashioned latex and hair costumes, not cheap CGI.  Basic plot: a crew is shooting a horror movie in the woods and find themselves being stalked by real monsters. If you can get it free, or for a dollar, worth a watch.  NOT a $5 movie, though! LOL    3/5

[Rev. Powell]

3-IRON (2004): A mute young man who breaks into people's homes while they are away on vacation encounters an abused wife who joins him in his adventures. Despite the fact that the main characters never speak, this romance about people who would prefer not to be seen or heard is compelling. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Raffles (1930) - "who is the amateur cracksman?" My screen name here like 20 years ago was Raffles in honor of this pretty good movie. Ronald Coleman is kind of a reverse James Bond: a society guy who is also a crook. It's fun to see him inhabiting both worlds and he has a cute (for 1930) girlfriend and there are jokes and so forth. trivia note: this was the last movie MGM made in both silent and talkie formats. I saw the latter version.



4.5 /5 champion cricketeer, amateur cracksman and all around good guy, Raffles should come back as a rapper or super villain

[Mofo Rising]

"Generation X" (1996)

The new class of super-heroes-in-training at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters battles a mad scientist  who can control people's minds by invading their dreams. So...yeah, basically this is a ripoff of "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" in X-Men wrapping.

Long before Marvel Comics' characters were sure fire box office gold, they kept farming out their properties for low budget TV movies like this. The story is weak, the sets are cheap, and the special effects suck. Finola Hughes provides some eye candy as Emma Frost, but whoever is playing Banshee has the least convincing Irish accent I've ever heard and Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer is irritating as hell as the villain.
"Generation X" aired on the Fox Network as a pilot for a potential series but it never caught on (thank goodness).

I met Chris Bachalo, the original artist for Generation X, at the Phoenix Comicon this year, and this series came up. He did his best to defend it, but it was pretty half-hearted.

I haven't seen it. Kids these days don't now what it was like being a superhero fan in the '90s. What did we have? M.A.N.T.I.S. for some reason.

[AoTFan]

I saw Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.  A young teenager's grandpa, who apparently suffers from dementia, fills his grandson's head with stories about "special" children that we went to stay with during the war.  After the grandfather dies in a rather mysteriously way, the boy eventually tracks down an island and discovers a time loop, where children with special powers (known as Peculiars) live in secret.  Among the others children, is the boy's grandfather's former girlfriend, a young lady who, without wearing heavy metal shoes, would float away.  As he gets to know the children and Mrs Peregrine, their shape-shifting teacher/protector, he discovered other, evil peculiars (lead by Samuel L Jackson) are after them all.

Basically, if it you forget almost everything about the book series (which are really good, BTW), and just watch the movie on it's on, it's not too bad, if a bit on the longish side and a little inconsistent at times. 

[Rev. Powell]

LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927/2002): This is a reconstruction of the lost silent horror film LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT, created using production stills and the original script. A man dies under suspicious circumstances; years later a suspected vampire shows up in the house next door. The creative and dedicated restoration makes this project, on one level, a great achievement and a curio for horror historians; but, despite it's legendary status, the underlying movie just isn't very good, with a mystery plot that's both insanely ludicrous and totally obvious (to modern audiences, at least). The only draw is Lon Chaney's makeup. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Protector" (1985)
Two New York cops (Jackie Chan and Danny Aiello) are sent to Hong Kong to track down a kidnapped girl and end up tangling with a ring of vicious heroin smugglers. Of course, lots of bullets fly, many butts are kung-fu kicked, and lots of stuff blows up.
Jackie Chan was already a huge movie star in Asia in 1985 and "The Protector" was intended to be his big break into the global action-film market, but it didn't catch on. It's an entertaining '80s style shoot'em up, but it would take a few more years before "Rumble In The Bronx" finally made Jackie into a cult hero in the West.