Recent viewings

[Jack]

Popatopolis (2009) - documentary about B movie director Jim Wynorski, following him as he films the movie Witches of Breastwick - in 3 days from start to finish. We get interviews with Roger Corman, Andy Sidaris and Julie Strain who talk about their experiences with Wynorski and the B movie industry in general. The most insightful view comes from Julie K. Smith who tells us that Jim is a great guy in real life but due to ever shorter production schedules he's a real bear on the set. Kind of a failure as a documentary as they never sat down with Mr. Wynorski and got his thoughts or feelings on much of anything. Still a moderately interesting look into the industry. 3.5/5.

Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus (2010) - very typical SyFy Original type thing with laughably bad CGI. Our two antagonists go around destroying stuff in rather comical fashion while the guy who played Urkel on Family Matters tries to rig up an acoustic beacon to lure them into a trap. He's accompanied by a croc hunter and a hot babe in a tank top. It's especially funny when they lure the critters into the Panama Canal and end up destroying most of Panama. Starts our pretty slow and stupid, but around the halfway point it gets fast and stupid; I had fun   3.75/5.

[Rev. Powell]

RESTLESS (2011): A boy with a kamikaze pilot ghost for a best friend and a hobby of attending funerals falls in love with a girl who's dying of cancer. Remaking HAROLD AND MAUDE as a teen romance with a hot Maude and a ghost sidekick sounds like a bad idea, but with some brain-dead acting and a script that's sicklier than Mia Wasikowska's character, it's even worse than you would imagine. 1.5/5.

[Jack]

10,000 BC (2008) - I ordered The Scorpion King 3 but they sent me this instead    Only made it two-thirds of the way through. In Hollywood's version of 10,000 BC, which violates your suspension of disbelief about 50 times in the first 10 minutes, a young guy likes this girl but then their camp is attacked by some bad guys who capture a bunch of them, including the girl, and take them away someplace. The guy and the few remaining survivors set off on the long trek to rescue them, meeting other tribes and over the course of about 5 minutes, assembling a large army to fight them. Characters were nothing, story was nothing, it's just another Hollywood tween movie. It might have at least been entertaining if they were a bit tongue-in-cheek about it, since it's not the least bit believable anyway, but no it takes itself completely seriously.

I dunno, maybe I'll try to finish it tonight.

Ugh.

[Rev. Powell]

LISZTOMANIA (1975): Franz Listz, a huge 19th century celebrity because of his hit version of "Chopsticks," beds a succession of mistresses until the Pope orders him to travel to Germany and exorcise a demon from rival composer Richard Wagner. It's the biography of Franz Liszt if it were directed by Benny Hill working from a script by Federico Fellini; funny, perverse, and astounding. 4/5.

[fulci420]

Over the weekend I watched a few movies including

Reindeer Games-(2000) Wow this was a stupid movie, but not without it's charms. I don't feel like summarizing such nonsense so here's the imdb synopsis

"After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist."

So what's good about this movie?
-Charlize Theron nude scenes.
-Gary Sinise throwing darts at Ben Affleck.
-A criminal named "Merlin" proclaiming "Man they got a s**tload of cookies!" upon discovering said cookies.
-Danny Trejo making a rare screen appearance.

Whats bad
-One of the most ludicrous and terrible plot twists I have ever seen in any movie.
-Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron putting in career worst performances.
-Characters standing around endlessly explaining their motivations.

Yeah so this is pretty terrible stuff but it kind of works in a so bad it's good way, just realize from the beginning that it's completely retarded or the twist will really p**s you off. It is a shame John Frankenheimer had to end his prolific career on this note, for a better late era film of his watch "Ronin".

The Sunchaser (1996)-Michael Cimino's rarely scene final film is no lost masterpiece but deserves more recognition than it gets. Basically a terminally ill teenager convicted of killing his stepfather kidnaps his doctor (Woody Harrellson) leading to a cross country trip to find a magical lake that can cure diseases. Hokey as that premise sounds there is stuff to like here. It's very well shot showcasing Cimino's clear talent behind the camera. On an emotional level I thought it was strong with the bond that develops between the two men being compelling. I think if another less infamous director had made this film it would have gotten an entirely different reception and people would see the positives in it. However due to his own off putting behavior as well as the dismal box office his post Deer Hunter films have brought in this will likely be his final theatrical film.

[claws]

My Week with Marilyn (2011)

Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) arrives in England to film The Prince and the Showgirl. Her erratic behavior is driving pretty much everyone on the set crazy - except for a 23 year old assistant named Colin. They both sort of connect and spend an interesting week together.

Soap-ish Drama (wouldn't have worked any other way) that shows us a different side of the legendary actress. Great performance by Michelle Williams. 5/5 

[fulci420]

The Comedy (2012)
Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric fame stars in this depressing study of aimless mid 30's rich hipsters. Supposedly this was mostly improvised and in this case this is not a good thing. Long stretches of Tim saying increasingly intolerant and offensive thing's to people who stare blankly and don't respond make up much of this film. In other cases his similar looking buddies participate in the improvisation and are all as unfunny and depressed as Tim.

There is little plot here but we know that Tim lives on a boat and is awaiting a large inheritance from his dying father. He spends his days taking low level jobs and creating akward situations wherever he goes. He also drinks a lot and occasionally has sex with girls too attractive for him.

Yikes I wanted to like this film but this was pretty wretched. I have no problems with unlikeable protagonists in film but there still needs to be a good script and plot around them. If the point of the movie is that this character is aimless then it reaches that point within the first 10 minutes making the remaining 80 seem kind of pointless. Greenberg directed by Noel Baumbach has a similarly aimless and unlikeable main character and that film is IMO 10 times the movie this was.

[claws]

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Re-watched and strangely enough, I still feel underwhelmed. High rating score at IMDb and RT, and EVERYONE seems to be drooling over The Cabin in the Woods. I thought it was alright but I don't get the hype. It's clever, it's fun, it's packed full of homages and there's some great f/x at display. However, the build-up/reveal of the plot seemed even more ridiculous on my second viewing.
I'll continue to scratch my head and rate it 3.5/5 again.

[Jack]

For Your Eyes Only (1981) - a ship carrying a top secret decryption device sinks off the coast of...somewhere, and it's up to Bond (Roger Moore) to retrieve the maguffin before the Russians can get their hands on it. Not really one of the best movies in the series as its barely got any plot; it's just Bond meeting with a contact, then the bad guys try to kill him but he makes a miraculous escape. Repeat for 80 minutes and then stick a climax on the end. Our Bond girl (Carole Bouquet) is both beautiful and can take care of  herself pretty well and makes a nice addition to the movie. Then there's Lynn-Holly Johnson who plays and extremely flirtatious Olympic skater. Sigh, the babes just can't control themselves around Bond The Blu ray looks great, made me feel like I was watching this on its premiere night in the theater. They did a marvelous job restoring all the Bond films. Not the best of the series, but still quite enjoyable. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Sheena Easton 

[Jack]

I love Sheena.  I guess everybody does 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN1WBgS9u_E
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[FatFreddysCat]

My "Twisted Christmas" film festival (which began a few days ago with "Bad Santa") continues with...

"Silent Night" (2012)

http://www.youtube.com/v/2FYCMo7LvuQ

In this holiday based slasher flick (loosely based on the 1984 cult classic "Silent Night, Deadly Night"), a psycho in a Santa suit is slaughtering the "naughty" residents of a quiet Midwestern town. The sheriff (Malcolm McDowell!) and his rookie deputy (Jaime King) are hot on the trail, but unfortunately the town happens to be full of guys in Santa suits for the local Christmas parade, so the killer is always one step ahead of 'em.

For most of its run time Silent Night is a fast paced, action packed slab of gory fun with a sick sense of humor (there are also a few intentional nods to the '80s films that fans will appreciate) but unfortunately it falls apart in its last fifteen minutes or so - it seems like they couldn't quite figure out how to end this thing, so after what should've been a climactic scene it kinda sputters along for a while more till the end credits. Still, it's worth a look as an antidote to all the sickly sweet Christmas movies that clog the airwaves this time of year.

Next up: the "Black Christmas" remake and then "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians."

[lester1/2jr]

The Horseman (2008) - If you're looking for a revenge movie that has a lot of revenge this is your best bet. In Australia, a guys daughter gets into drugs and pornography and dies under mysterious circumstances. The guy sets out to track down and kill all of the people involved in her death and he's pretty efficient. There's a ton of violence and the guy has a remarkably  "good chin" as they say in MMA. The other major character is a VERY pretty black girl with blonde hair. The guys ability to take a punch is a little absurd and I didn't care much for the tint they used on the camera but all in all very entertaining. 4/5

[ChaosTheory]

THE BOURNE LEGACY - More of the doings of Blackbriar and its sister organizations are uncovered in this sort-of spinoff.  While I still question the point of a Bourne movie without Bourne, this was better than I was expecting.  The story is more interesting and digs deeper than ULTIMATUM, and Edward Norton is, as always, marvelous as a corporate baddie.  The whole cast was good, overall; although I find Jeremy Renner to be an awfully bland screen presence but that's probably just me.  My biggest complaint would be that the final chase scene was badly hindered by shake-shake, chop-chop editing.  7/10


THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - pretty much what I expected.  6/10

[FatFreddysCat]

My "Twisted Christmas Film Festival" continues with...

"Black Christmas" (2006)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFJdvQw65o
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Ultra-violent remake of the '70s slasher classic about a sorority house that gets a Christmas Eve visit from an escaped maniac. Lotsa pretty girls, some truly sick gore but otherwise nothin' you haven't seen before in dozens of similar movies.