Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

it's a rainy Saturday afternoon and I just watched this one with the kids:

"Monsters Vs. Aliens" (2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Dh97BsbwY
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Cartoon sci-fi comedy stars Reese Witherspoon as a bride-to-be who gets struck by a meteorite on her wedding day, causing her to grow to gigantic size. Captured by the government and dubbed "Ginormica," she becomes part of a super secret force of "monsters" who are needed to battle an alien invasion. Great animation, lots of action, and funny as hell. We all enjoyed this one and I'm usually not one for "kid flicks."

[Vik]

Manos: The Hands of Faith
First time seeing it. Honestly, I'm really disappointed. I just didn't find it very interesting.

[indianasmith]

This weekend I watched THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011) - A very nice, atmospheric whodunit that introduces a pretty neat character.  Having never seen the original foreign film or read the books, I now want to do both.

And then there was CAMEL SPIDERS - a Roger Corman cheapo with badly done CGI, no nudity, and some of the most dismal marksmanship in the history of shootout scenes.  Not to mention that the camel spiders were up to four feet long and reproduced from three to several thousand in the course of just a few days.  Pretty awful overall.

[JaseSF]

The Pick-up Artist (1987): A womanizer/pick-up artist named Jack Jericho (Robert Downey Jr.) who seems to have a varying rate of success finally meets his love match in Randy Jensen (Molly Ringwald), a museum tour guide who's fallen into trouble with the mob due to her father's gambling debts.

While fairly straightforward in terms of a plot, one which also seems to stretch credibility on some occasions, I found this surprisingly enjoyable because of the terrific chemistry between leads Ringwald and Downey whose characters make for a believable love match here. This romantic comedy has its funny moments and IMO some truly great lines that ring very true to life about love and relationships. Not as good perhaps as Ringwald's other efforts from this time but still a pretty solid little movie in its own right. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

America's Sweethearts (2001): While his movie's co-stars Eddie Thomas (John Cusack) and Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) are in the middle of a nasty public break-up, a movie publicist named Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal) must try and get his movie stars to work with him to build up public interest in the new film, despite their mutual reluctance to be even near one another, especially given the movie's eccentric director Hal Weidmann (Christopher Walken) is holding the film hostage until he himself decides to unveil it.

This romantic comedy was pretty fun I felt. It was quite funny on occasion and I laughed out loud more than once while watching it. The best scenes typically involve misunderstandings and things appearance wise being mistaken for something they are not. Funniest scene involved a cactus but there's also some funny stuff from the supporting cast especially Hank Azaria as Gwen's new love interest/Spanish boy toy Hector Gorgonzolas. Walken is a hoot too whenever he appears on screen in this. Alan Arkin also makes a funny and memorable short appearance as a wellness guide at an hidden away retreat. Julia Roberts of course plays a very important role here too as Kiki Harrison, who's basically Gwen's gofer but whose secretly developed a crush of sorts on Eddie. **** out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Dark Rising (2007) - repeat viewing.  Two guys and three girls go camping.  The girls are witches (and two of them are lesbians, which is kind of unfortunate for the guy who's in love with one of them) and they have some little witch ceremony where they read some stuff out of an old book.  Next thing ya know there's a demon running around - and a girl in a bikini.  She's like an expert at fighting demons.  This is a horror/comedy and it's fairly amusing.  Doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, but oh well.  3.75/5.

[Vik]

Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Never not entertaining. Mooney is hilarious.

[lester1/2jr]

Enforcer from Death row- If you like both MST3K and Chuck Norris check this out. I have to admit it was pretty good, particularly the first half. it gradually loses steam and the last 20 minutes or so is just a bunch of violence and then it ends apropos of nothing. just ends. There's some  cheey sound effects and bruce lee type music, some pretty girls and even some grueling torture. it looks like it ws made on the cheap and it stars Leo Fong, an asianguy with a texas accent. I would like to see more.  4/5

[Rev. Powell]

EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL (1970): Residents of an institution escape and wreck the grounds with childlike acts of vandalism. The entire cast is composed of dwarfs. Almost plotless, but with moments that stick to your soul like a coating of grime (tiny Hombre laughing at the struggling camel may well haunt your nightmares for years to come). Animal lovers beware. 4/5.

[Jack]

Primal (2010) - a group of friends go out in the woods to research some ancient cave paintings. One girl goes swimming in a nearby pond, which somehow causes her to regress to a primitive state where she grows big pointy teeth and starts chasing everybody around. If she catches someone she kills them and eats them. So the rest of our (dwindling) group runs around trying not to get killed and eaten. This was a pretty good little horror movie - it took itself seriously, the characters were good and it managed to create some suspense and tension. Pretty gross special effects too.  4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Casino Royale" (2006)

Daniel Craig's first turn as James Bond is a "reboot" that brings him back to his humble beginnings. Bond has just achieved the "Double-O" rank and in between chasing bad guys around the world, sparring with his superior officer "M" (an absolutely venomous Judi Dench) and romancing the lovely Vesper Lynd, he has to beat an international terrorist in a high-stakes poker game.

Craig's Bond is much more bad-ass and ruthless than any of his predecessors and though the new, grim-n-gritty Bond took a bit of getting used to (especially since I've been watching a bunch of the Roger Moore oldies lately), I have to say the movie kicked ass and the new generation of 007 films is off to a fine start. Next up: "Quantum of Solace"

[tracy]

Not a great film but the young lady in the poster seemed so familiar....then I realized it was our Daisy from "Keeping Up Appearances",Judy Cornwell.

[alandhopewell]

            WTF?????

[Vik]

Dawn of the Dead (remake)
One of the few really really good remakes. Great humor, characters and action; couldn't be much better.

Night of the Creeps
Surprisingly awesome. one of the greater horror/comedies out there, plus it has an awesome 80s nostalgic feeling. Now I know where they got the idea for 'Slither' from. (Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie.)

[claws]

Dinoshark (2010) Blu-ray

Because of global warming a frozen prehistoric shark is set free and heads to the coast of Mexico. Meanwhile a guy named Trace is starting his new/old job in Mexico, driving boats for tourists. When his childhood friend Rita is found torn in half on the beaches he starts investigating. Trace is joined by Carol, a resort employee and Luis, owner of a bar. They soon find evidence of prehistoric shark activity and bloody hell will break loose during a beach-related fiesta with hundreds of potential victims.

Another Creature Feature produced by Roger Corman and the SyFy channel. The CGI shark actually looks "decent" (while other CGI effects look goofy) and the action moves at quick pace. Local actors provide most of the "rofls" and there is a good amount of semi-candid tourist attraction/resort footage and music. 3.5/5 Cheese.

[lester1/2jr]

alan- I'm intriqued. what was the deal beyond wtf?