Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

Sensitive new Age killer (2000) - gangster-comedy was a genre for a minute thanks to Quentin Tarantino. This Australian guy did it right: brutality not snark. A guy with a wife and a girlfriend who look alike and are both Australian and hard to tell apart is a hitman. His idol is this guy The Snake who killed some guy when he was a little kid, but then he has to face off with him over something. Also, his partner is an a***ole with a mustache who keeps trying to get with his wife and get him killed.

It's a good movie but I want to see Marauders his earlier one. The trailers are awesome they are his movies and the guy who made romper Stomper's other movies. one downside or upside depending on your view are the Syfy continual gunfire without reloading magic guns.
4/5

[ER]

Stop the presses! I am actually going to see a movie today!!!! I'll tell you about it later.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Police Academy" (1984)
A crew of misfits -- including girl-crazy wise-ass Mahoney, gun-nut Tackleberry, retired florist Hightower, and human sound machine Larvell Jones - go through training to become metropolitan police officers, much to the dismay of Capt. Harris, who wants to get them all kicked out.
I hadn't seen this classic '80s moron comedy (which spawned six sequels and a gazillion imitations) in dog years but it's held up surprisingly well and is still quite funny. (I doubt the same can be said for most of its sequels, though.)

"Gameplay: The Story Of The Video Game Revolution" (2013)
Interesting documentary on the history of video games, starting with their humble beginnings with Pong and Atari and taking us through the boom and crash years of the '80s and the resurrection in the '90s thanks to Mario, Tetris, Lara Croft, and many more. A cool trip down memory lane.

[ER]

Went out and saw an actual motion picture today!! A Ghost Story, and I thought it was brilliant.

[lester1/2jr]

Marker (2005) - I really liked this a lot even though the older marker (its a type of animal human hybrid thing) weirded me out. I saw Sensitive new Age Killer the night before and if we're being honest this is more my kind of thing. The dialogue in particular is really good making the characters, especially the main girl, seem like someone I'd actually want to know.

It's kind of a "the lottery" variation a la ceramic head or whatever that movie was called. small town dark weird secrets sort of thing. If you like goats it has a whole goat theme. its one of those movies where as tense as it gets it doesn't forget it's sense of humor. A girl who is coming of age learns a dark secret about her town and herself and it turns everything upside down. One sort of strange character is her cuckolded boyfriend who seems really kind of not the right guy for her? but who knows. At least it wasn't Seth Green.

4.5 /5

[claws]

re-watch

We Are Still Here (2015)

In the 1970s, a mourning couple moves into an old house with a supernatural history. Soon things go bump at night and when a psychic friend arrives all hell breaks loose, literally.
Indie-horror that put online critics in awe. Barbara Crampton as the female lead is pretty good and believable. Tim Burton's ex-muse Lisa Marie as the psychic friend can't really act, and it shows. For a low budget movie this was actually solid, until things get bloody. There's a noticable increase of unintentional humor during the over-the-top showdown that had my guests and me in giggle fits. I'm aware that We Are Still Here is a homage of some sorts, but I don't think the "bad" parts were intentional. 2.5/5 (flawed but worthy)

[FatFreddysCat]

"Burnt Offerings" (1976)
A family moves into a sprawling old estate for the summer and one by one they fall victim to the evil spirit that inhabits the house. A moody, slow-burning suspense flick directed by Dan "Dark Shadows" Curtis that has a lot of similarity to Stephen King's "The Shining," which it pre-dates. (King was apparently a big fan of the novel this film was taken from).

"The Nut Job" (2014)
After their supply of winter food is accidentally destroyed, a wise-ass squirrel and his forest friends plan a "heist" at a gourmet nut shop near the park where they live. Unfortunately the store is being used as a "front" by a gang planning a bank robbery, and they don't take kindly to furry trespassers.
Silly, harmless CGI 'toon fluff with a Looney Tunes mean streak. Fun while it's playing but instantly forgettable. 

[frank]

They are running a Schwarzenegger series on one TV channel here for his birthday and I intend to catch up on a few misses of the newer ones. So far only managed "Sabotage", which was, hmmm, not so good. Maggie is up next and I expect better.

[BoyScoutKevin]

"Burnt Offerings" (1976)
A family moves into a sprawling old estate for the summer and one by one they fall victim to the evil spirit that inhabits the house. A moody, slow-burning suspense flick directed by Dan "Dark Shadows" Curtis that has a lot of similarity to Stephen King's "The Shining," which it pre-dates. (King was apparently a big fan of the novel this film was taken from).

"The Nut Job" (2014)
After their supply of winter food is accidentally destroyed, a wise-ass squirrel and his forest friends plan a "heist" at a gourmet nut shop near the park where they live. Unfortunately the store is being used as a "front" by a gang planning a bank robbery, and they don't take kindly to furry trespassers.
Silly, harmless CGI 'toon fluff with a Looney Tunes mean streak. Fun while it's playing but instantly forgettable. 

Well, it did well enough that we are getting a sequel to it this August 10. The Nut Job 2 : Nutty by Nature. And they expect that one to do well enough that we will see The Nut Job 3 in 2019. And there also seems to be a TV show in development.

[lester1/2jr]

Is Burnt Offerings the one with Mrs alerdice? I saw that as a kid and it was an early what was that film question. I eventually re saw it

[Rev. Powell]

NO SMOKING (2007): A wealthy young cigarette addict agrees to enter an experimental smoking-cessation program when his wife sues him for divorce, only to find the supernaturally powerful program uses extreme tactics to enforce abstinence---including threatening his loved ones. This oddity is unlike any Indian movie you've seen before; it's Bollywood with Holocaust references and a touch of David Lynch (and, of course, one Bob Fosse-style production number). 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Bedlam - decent but dissaponiting Boris Karloff effort. It's not bad, but too much drama and talkery and not enough horror. An awful conniving man runs an asylum and eventually gets the hot girl of the movie committed to it. A holyer than thou Quaker guy lets everyone know how great he is as the sanitarium becomes a source of entertainment for gross and fat wealthy people in this english place. In one scene they paint a crazy guy gold (its in black and white) and laugh as he drops dead delivering some sort of roman speech or something. A character I liked was the lady who stood motionless like a painting of the Virgin Mary or something

3.75 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Witchery"
(aka "Witchcraft," aka "La Casa 4," aka "Evil Encounters," aka "Ghosthouse 2" - 1988)
A group of prospective buyers (including Linda Blair and David Hasselhoff!) visit an abandoned resort hotel on a remote island off the coast of New England. When a storm traps the group there overnight, they learn that the hotel is inhabited by a ghostly presence that has nefarious plans for each of them.
This is some seriously crap-tacular Italian-made schlock with some good gore bits, but that's about all it's got going for it.
Avoid!

"Spider-Man Strikes Back" (1978)
Peter Parker meets a hot lady reporter who wants his help in finding and un-masking Spidey. Meanwhile, a terrorist has stolen a nuclear weapon and will use it to kill the President of the U.S. unless he's given a billion dollars in gold. Yikes!! Can Spider-Man stop the bad guys without exposing his secret identity to the world?
This flick was edited together from two episodes of the cheesy late 70s "Spider-Man" TV series (though it was released as a feature film overseas and on video), starring Nicholas Hammond as the web-head. It's terrible, but worth watching just to groove on the funky disco soundtrack, and laugh at the hilarious fashions and ultra-cheap special effects.

[A_Dubya]

Last few days I re watched Jackie Brown, saw Nightcrawler, Hard Lessons and Life of Brian for the first time.

[claws]

re-watch

The Void (2016)

A small hospital staff, two strangers with questionable intentions and the local Sheriff must fight off a creepy cult lurking outside the hospital. Soon people start to change into grotesque creatures while the Sheriff is having other-worldly nightmare visions. It appears that the center of supernatural attention lies in the hospital's cellar.

Plenty of buzz for this online funded Canadian horror that finds inspiration from John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (1987) and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). I applaud the intentions and effort that went into this, but The Void also has its share of weak spots. My biggest gripe? When the first creature attacks. ***SPOILER WARNING*** Horror rule #1: make it effective, make it memorable, make it shine. Like, this is the big moment the audience's been waiting for. Showing snippets of the attacking creature, well hidden I might add, grabbing its first victim and pulling away in a scene that only lasts a few seconds AFTER a long and intense buildup to this very moment was rather disappointing. There are a few similar mishaps that didn't gel throughout the movie which to me were kind of irritating. Doesn't make it necessarily a bad movie, just saying it ain't perfect either. Rating: 2.5/5 (flawed but worthy)