Recent viewings

[Trevor]

"Light Blast" (1985)
A post-"C.H.i.P.S." Erik Estrada stars in this delightfully cheesy Italian action flick, as a tough Frisco cop on the trail of a mad scientist who's holding the city for ransom with a face-melting laser weapon. Lotsa car chases, shoot outs and ultra-violence, topped with a heavy layer of 80s sci-fi cheez. Tons o'fun!

You should check that movie's Wikipedia page for even more lulz. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Blast

[Alex]

The House With The Clock In The Wall. A family-friendly Jack Black movie. Fun enough, but no big surprises or shocks in a formulaic but enjoyable film.

Halloween. I was enjoying this latest addition to the series. Not brilliant, but passable enough and then the plot hit came along and just ruined the whole thing for me.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Light Blast" (1985)
A post-"C.H.i.P.S." Erik Estrada stars in this delightfully cheesy Italian action flick, as a tough Frisco cop on the trail of a mad scientist who's holding the city for ransom with a face-melting laser weapon. Lotsa car chases, shoot outs and ultra-violence, topped with a heavy layer of 80s sci-fi cheez. Tons o'fun!

You should check that movie's Wikipedia page for even more lulz.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Blast

Yeah, you mentioned that wiki page somewhere around here recently, which is what inspired me to re-visit the film! :D

[indianasmith]

That Wiki page is a hoot!

[Trevor]

Lucy with Scarlett Johannson: what a strange film.

[lester1/2jr]

Hell - from the cover this looked like a crazy post apocalyptic sci fi but it was really just a typical post apocalyptic arty drama sort of thing. I wasnt impressed and would much rather watch Species with Natasha whats her name which I am doing now.
 
2/5

[Gabriel Knight]

ED WOOD (1994)

Ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams, despite his lack of talent.

Anyone who lurks these forums knows who Ed Wood is, yet this movie based on his work is largely unknown. I never actually heard from it until recently, and yet I consider it the best movie Tim Burton has ever done.
I have no doubts about why it's rarely mentioned: the message is anti-mainstream. The underdog plot is more common than anything, and the fact that Ed Wood never actually achieved success, despite all his effort and optimism, it's a kick in the nuts to all the "work hard and you'll achieve the skies" ridiculous idea that Hollywood keeps vomiting.
While not perfectly accurate, the movie manages to make you feel closer to the characters, and the relationship between Eddie and Bela is amazing, even when it's not quite real. As an independent writer struggling to get my own work noticed, this movie affected my in a deeper level. Not to mention, it's also very, very funny. 5/5

ESCAPE FROM L.A. (1996)

Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

Having watched EFNW a couple of days ago, I had to give this one a go. At first I thought it was quite bad, although in a good way, but after a while (say: a couple of hours) it grew on me. In the words of Carpenter himself:
"Escape from L.A. is better than the first movie. Ten times better. It's got more to it. It's more mature. It's got a lot more to it. I think some people didn't like it because they felt it was a remake, not a sequel... [...] You just wait. You've got to give me a little while. People will say, you know, what was wrong with me?"
He couldn't be any more accurate. While I don't think it's better than the first movie, it's definitely more than meets the eye. The critical view of many faces of society (the Beverly Hills people was a scene worthy of an award), combined with the dystopic touch of Carpenter, and a hilarious mockery of action movies in general, made this an amazing film. It's one of those movies that you can analyze and discuss for hours. Snake is this time forced to rescue a device from a tyrant, only to give it back to another one, which happens to be the President of USA. The conclusion to this dilemma is priceless.

As an argentinian viewer, one thing that was interesting to me was the villain, Cuervo Jones. To me, he is clearly an imitation of Che Guevara, yet in the movie he is peruvian. But, in one scene, he uses boleadoras, a typical weapon of Argentina, which is the country where Che Guevara was from. When the technician is explaining to him how accurate the doomsday device is, he mentions he can "disable a taxi in Argentina", and I highly doubt that choice was a coincidence.

While severely affected by some really awful CGI, the movie has amazing scenes, and details all over the place. For example, when he's talking with Taslima: she says that she prefers Los Angeles because she is free, because nobody judges her, only to get killed seconds after that by a gang. So, which one is better? A fascist society with no crime but less freedom, or one where anarchy and debauchery reigns? Which dictator is worse?

Snake Plissken, with a bullet lodged in his leg, surfing alongside a crazy dude in a destroyed city? MOAR PLEASE 4/5

[Rev. Powell]

BATTLE IN HEAVEN (2005): A chauffeur falls in love with his boss' daughter, who is secretly a prostitute, and confesses a terrible secret to her. Technically it's quite good, but it's one of those slow, self-important, portentous movies where you suspect the director started each scene by calling out "lights...camera... inaction!" 2/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Frightmare" (aka "The Horror Star," 1983)

Members of a college "Horror Movie Society" visit the tomb of their favorite, recently deceased old time scary movie actor, and decide to steal his body as a prank. Needless to say, this turns out to be a spectacularly bad decision, when the old guy's corpse wakes up and spends the rest of the movie picking them off one by one in various gory ways.

This cheesy but mostly fun early 80s nugget tries to combine the mood/atmosphere of classic horror films (the elderly "horror star" is clearly modeled after guys like Vincent Price and Christopher Lee) with the ultra-violent slasher craze. Sharp eyed nerds will also notice a young Jeffrey "Dr. Herbert West" Combs making his film debut as one of the unlucky students.

[Dr. Whom]

Penguin Highway (2019)

This in an anime in the same vein as 'Your Name' in the sense that it uses a supernatural complication to tell a story about growing up and human relationships. It is visually stunning, and the penguins are cute, but the plot doesn't always make as much sense as it could. I quite liked it, but your mileage may vary.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Last Sharknado: It's About Time!" (2018) 


SyFy/Asylum's signature schlock franchise comes to its way-overdue close as Fin, April, and the gang travel through time from the Jurassic era to the present day (and all points in between) in an effort to stop the first-ever Sharknado from occurring, which will somehow save the universe. Or something like that. 

This series ran out of gas at least three movies ago, therefore this sixth (!) installment is just another shovelful of the usual silly visual gags, D-list celebrity cameos, and crappy FX. The frequent shots of Cassie "Nova" Scerbo's glorious cleavage were a nice bonus. 

Obviously not a must watch but hey, if you'really a masochist like me who's seen the other five, you may as well sit thru this one too and finish 'em off.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Jane and the Lost City" (1987)
A cheap action comedy set in the '40s about a bumbling British colonel, his ditzy-but-stacked blonde secretary (the "Jane" of the title) and a square jawed Indiana Jones type (Sam "Flash Gordon" Jones) braving the perils of the African jungle to find a mythical lost city of diamonds before the Nazis (led by Maud "Octop***y" Adams) can get to it. Cue angry tribesmen, snakes, alligators, spears, and lots of atrocious, mugging acting. A running gag about "Jane's" clothes falling off (which happens every ten or fifteen minutes) was pretty much the only thing keeping me awake by the halfway point of this klutzy "Raiders" wanna-be. Based on a WWII era British comic strip, with which I am unfamiliar. At least the gal playing "Jane" is cute and she looks good in her stockings & garters, but otherwise this one gets the "AVOID" rating from me.

[Dr. Whom]

"Jane and the Lost City" (1987)
A cheap action comedy set in the '40s about a bumbling British colonel, his ditzy-but-stacked blonde secretary (the "Jane" of the title) and a square jawed Indiana Jones type (Sam "Flash Gordon" Jones) braving the perils of the African jungle to find a mythical lost city of diamonds before the Nazis (led by Maud "Octop***y" Adams) can get to it. Cue angry tribesmen, snakes, alligators, spears, and lots of atrocious, mugging acting. A running gag about "Jane's" clothes falling off (which happens every ten or fifteen minutes) was pretty much the only thing keeping me awake by the halfway point of this klutzy "Raiders" wanna-be. Based on a WWII era British comic strip, with which I am unfamiliar. At least the gal playing "Jane" is cute and she looks good in her stockings & garters, but otherwise this one gets the "AVOID" rating from me.

Well, the main attraction of the original 40s comic was that the titular Jane was an ingenue who was constantly losing her clothes and/or getting into scrapes while undressed. So they got the main part right.

[Rev. Powell]

THE FIFTH CORD (1971): Franco Nero stars as an alcoholic journalist investigating a series of murders; he has a connection to all the victims, and no alibi because he was blackout drunk. This giallo has good style and manages a few excellent shots, but squanders a golden opportunity to go deeper into Franco's promising character and create a real sense of danger and menace. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Queen Crab" (2015)
A young girl starts feeding her scientist father's experimental growth hormone to a crab that lives in the pond behind her house. Twenty years later, the crab has grown to ridiculous proportions and begins snacking on the local yokels. Hilarity ensues.
A campy-on-purpose nod to the "giant creature" films of yore, "Queen Crab" uses some pretty cool old-school stop motion effects for the title critter but aside from that the flick is dumb as a box of rocks. Just watch the trailer on YouTube, all the good bits are in it.