Recent viewings

[Jack]

Star Quest (1994) - in the future the planet's all screwed up so they send a ship to explore another far away planet to see if it's habitable. After 75 years in suspended animation, the crew wakes up to find their captain dead, and it's not long before the second-in-command gets a communication from earth and commits suicide. Then the third-in-command also turns up dead. Hey...something weird is going on here! The characters argue and accuse each other, contemplate mutiny, etc. I enjoyed this. It was a rather languidly paced affair and if it hadn't been for a bit of nudity I'd have sworn it was a low budget made-for-TV thing;  not to mention the last act was just one blatant Alien ripoff after another.  But the characters were interesting and the plot kept me guessing too. They tossed in a twist ending just for the sake of tossing in a twist ending - probably would have been better without it. 4/5.

[JaseSF]

The Perfect Storm (2000): The captain (Billy Tyne played by George Clooney) and crew (played by Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Allen Payne) of the swordfish boat "Andrea Gail"  decide to make a desperate late season fishing trip to the dangerous waters beyond the Grand Banks. When their ice machine breaks down, they have to rush their return to shore if they are to sell their catch before it spoils and decide to risk heading into a deadly storm - one that combines two powerful weather fronts with an hurricane.

There are many startling inaccuracies going on with this film and it truly stretches credibility beyond its breaking point on numerous occasions. Despite this, I actually did enjoy this one on some levels - it does seem to manage to express the love-hate affair many people who work at sea have with the ocean, its main characters are surprisingly likable and do seem quite similar to many of the everyday folks I've often been around back when I myself working as part of a fishing crew. They actually do get some of the equipment right as well. BUT there's no way anyone is going out on a deck in the weather portrayed here or even going near climbing a stabilizer. No sane person heads into the type of storm portrayed here either (although admittedly the characters here don't know the severity of what's ahead). Also no one fishes in as little clothing as some of the characters wear here at times and going into the water would have far more severe consequences as well that what's shown here. Also fishing is a very superstitious type of work and if one has a string of bad luck, one often calls it quits at that time and tries again later. The waves hitting the boat here actually ought to be doing even more damage than is portrayed on screen and much lesser waves would have everything not nailed, screwed or tied down moving around and falling all over the place. The film also is just speculating on a lot of what happened on the fishing trip after the "Andrea Gail" lost radio contact and left out the role in the story played by the Canadian Coast Guard. Despite all of that, this does at heart manage to deliver an entertaining story of people battling for survival against impossible odds and feels rather akin to the 1970s disaster film epics somewhat in that regard - it's just too bad they get so many of the little details so very wrong and that the filmmakers seemed more concerned with delivering stunning special FX than with their story. Still I'll give this one *** out of ***** stars.

Caught in the Draft (1941): Movie star Don Bolton (Bob Hope) plots and schemes to get out of the army draft but by choosing to romance Antoinette 'Tony' Fairbanks (Dorothy Lamour), the daughter of a Colonel (Clarence Kolb), he finds himself reluctantly joining the army despite his fear of guns and hatred of loud noises.

An enjoyable slapstick farce of life in army training, this film rather reminds of the cartoon strip Beetle Bailey on some levels. Bolton is aided with his reluctant army life by his movie agents reluctantly turned army recruits Lynne Overman and Eddie Bracken and most of the film's comedy fun comes from their mixed up army adventures that inevitably land them in trouble with their superior officers including Colonel Fairbanks and of course their typically futile efforts to finally make good and become Corporals upon which Bolton might finally win the approval of the Colonel to marry his daughter. Best gags: the tank run with a beautiful girl steering Bolton's course despite not even being aware of it and Bolton efforts to change into his military uniform inside an hospital without being spotted by his superiors. All in all, I'm give this one ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Die Another Day (2002): A betrayal from an unknown enemy leads to MI6 Special Agent 007 James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) getting captured and enduring fourteen months of torture in a North Korean prison. Eventually Bond is traded for captured enemy Zao (Rick Yune) whom Bond believes knows the identity of the person who betrayed him. This leads to Bond chasing down Zao's trail leading him to Cuba where he meets up with an American secret agent named Jinx (Halle Berry) who also seems to be on the same trail. Eventually the two end up in Iceland trying to discover the connection a diamond mogul/millionaire named Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) might have to Zao only to learn Graves, also being investigated by fellow MI6 agent Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), has created a new potential super weapon, a huge space satellite mirror capable of reflecting sunlight but which can also be turned into a deadly gigantic death ray weapon.

This has to be one of the most disappointing Bond films in history, it not the most disappointing. Its convoluted and confusing plot is a mess that feels largely like a mash-up of plot elements borrowed from the previous three Bond films starring Brosnan. There's a lot of stuff here that just seems to happen out of nowhere without adequate explanation, exposition or flashback. The characters only feel very loosely defined and the story feels very much like one might find in a mediocre comic book. It just feels mostly like a barebones retread of territory we've seen done so much better before. The best thing this film has going for it is a couple of exciting chase and action sequences, one involving hovercrafts, another weapon enhanced cars and the final showdown aboard the airplane. Sadly though, this film also relies way, way too much on CGI and there's a lot of stuff going on here that never seems convincing as placing Bond in any real danger. Also there's no real on-screen chemistry between Brosnan and Berry and it's hard to buy them as romantically interested in one another. Pike does better in this regard but her character is supposed to be an ice queen so there's limits to what could be achieved with this as well. The villains are colorful but not particularly memorable and this film manages to make its predecessor The World is Not Enough look far better in comparison. In the end, I'm only giving this one ** out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1974)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTr6OTQBBGo
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The British comedy troupe's absurdist take on the legend of King Arthur is, pound for pound, one of the funniest films ever made. You've all seen it, you all know it, it needs no further description. It rules.

[claws]

Star Quest (1994) - in the future the planet's all screwed up so they send a ship to explore another far away planet to see if it's habitable. After 75 years in suspended animation, the crew wakes up to find their captain dead, and it's not long before the second-in-command gets a communication from earth and commits suicide. Then the third-in-command also turns up dead. Hey...something weird is going on here! The characters argue and accuse each other, contemplate mutiny, etc. I enjoyed this. It was a rather languidly paced affair and if it hadn't been for a bit of nudity I'd have sworn it was a low budget made-for-TV thing;  not to mention the last act was just one blatant Alien ripoff after another.  But the characters were interesting and the plot kept me guessing too. They tossed in a twist ending just for the sake of tossing in a twist ending - probably would have been better without it. 4/5.

Sounds fun. According to IMDb this was filmed in 1987 and has many titles: Beyond the Rising Moon, Star Quest: Beyond the Rising Moon, Outerworld.

Ever seen Plaguers (2008)? Very old school with practical f/x and obligatory Alien off ripping:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgkH66HoeXU
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[Jack]

^ Actually the one I saw is this:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114533/ aka Terminal Voyage aka Mission Voyager aka Star Voyager aka Starquest   

And yeah I've got Plaguers on DVD and really enjoy that one.  Wonderful low budget sci-fi with double cheese 

[claws]

^ Actually the one I saw is this:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114533/ aka Terminal Voyage aka Mission Voyager aka Star Voyager aka Starquest   

 

Terminal Voyage didn't show when I put "Star Quest" as two words in the IMDb search thingy. So I thought it was the other one 

[Jack]

^ The only way I found it was by typing in the lead actor's name and then looking for something sci-fi sounding from approximately the right year lol.

[Rev. Powell]

THE THREE STOOGES (2012): Moe, Larry and Curly try to raise money to save an orphanage, and Moe ends up in the cast of "Jersey Shore." Predictable plot, but the impersonations of the original Stooges are spot-on, and the violent slapstick routines are authentic too; not a terrible choice for a time-waster. 2.5/5.

[Jack]

Battle of Los Angeles (2011) - the Asylum's cheap ripoff of Independence Day. There's not a single minute of this film that doesn't contain something laughably stupid. And I enjoyed each and every one of those minutes  4/5.

[fulci420]

Poolhall Junkies (2002)-This is one of those movies that gives you a lot of reasons to hate it (a predictable and cheesy script, some bad performances) but overall you cant help but be entertained. A large part of this is due to appearances by Christopher Walken, Rod Steiger, and Chaz Palminteri who add some professionalism to what is obviously a passion project for Director/star Mars Callahan. Honestly though if you've seen Rounders you've seen a better version of this script with stronger lead performances. Still there is something likeable about a movie that clearly has love for its subject and wants to tell a story regardless of how hackneyed and cliched. Walken's performance in this alone is worth the price as long as that price is low (I paid a dollar!)

The Insider (1999) Wow! Now this was a fantastic movie! Being one of the very few Michael Mann film's I still hadn't seen I checked this out with high expectations and it exceeded them. Pacino and Crowe are the leads and they deliver fantastic performances aided by a fantastic script. Fellow Canadian Christopher Plummer also impresses with a pitch perfect portrayal of 20/20 interviewer Mike Wallace. I wont get into the plot I will just say that if you haven't seen this then you are missing out.

Having gone through the majority of his work now (except Miami Vice and his tv work), I find myself deeply impressed by Mann as a filmmaker. While first and foremost a visual master, he doesn't skimp on characters, and his use of music is fantastic. In my opinion he would be one of the greatest directors of all time even if he never made a film again. It is shame upon shames that "Thief" and "The Keep" aren't on blu-ray let alone remastered dvds.

[Jack]

War of the Robots (1978) - one of those fabulously ludicrous Italian space operas from the '70s, freely stealing anything and everything from more famous movies and reproducing it in quality cardboard. This one has a scientist being abducted by aliens who look like "Lady Gaga's male fan club gone wrong" according to Andrew, and I totally agree. Problem is he left his household nuclear reactor running (the guy in the movie, not Andrew) and it's going to blow up and take out a whole city if they don't retrieve him in 8 days. They've got all the space babes dressed in skin-tight outfits which was a nice added feature. There's a space battle at the end - I actually fell asleep 3 times during it and still ended up watching about 15 minutes of it. The even re-run about 5 minutes of it, just because it was so fabulous they wanted to show it to us twice. Gotta knock a quarter point off for that. 3.75/5.

[Rev. Powell]

COLD SWEAT (2010): Old Argentinian terrorists kidnap young people and douse them with nitroglycerin because they don't like leetspeak. No, seriously! They also keep teen zombies in the basement. Amazingly dumb, but the fact that it's dumb and slick rather than dumb and cheesy makes it more annoying than fun. You could go as high as 2/5.

[tracy]

This Al Adamson film is an amazing hodgepodge of several tries at making a movie.....it's funny and at times disturbing. Tommy Kirk seems lost a lot of the time in some later filmed footage. It has murdering zombies and a maniac and the always dignified John Carradine.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Evolution" (2001)
http://www.youtube.com/v/qAiUZUHcEbQ

Sci-fi action comedy from Ivan "Ghostbusters" Reitman is a variation on the "Men in Black" formula, with two slacker college professors (David Duchovny and Orlando Jones) dealing with an invasion by rapidly-evolving alien nasties that hitched a ride into their Arizona home town on a meteorite. Lotsa bizarre creature effects and Duchovny has fun tweaking his "X-Files" persona while the jokes and alien fluids fly. Funny stuff!

[Jack]

Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) - a drifter wanders into a small town and is taken in by a guy who needs his help to restore an old church. Of course the guy's daughter develops a crush on the mysterious visitor, and if you check the title of the movie, this drifter may have a secret. So then he's abducted by the owner of a carnival and that dude may also have a secret. Looks like there's gonna be a showdown    This was just okay. Fair characters, plot moved forward. Kind'a...meh.  2.75/5.