Recent viewings

[claws]

The Fury (1978)

Shady government "kidnaps" young man with telekinetic powers while the fugitive father of the young man is desperately trying to find him. On his journey he comes across a young woman who is able to psychic connect with his son.
Brian de Palma's follow up to his much acclaimed film Carrie (1976) defies genres on the surface, but I guess its safe to categorize it as a "Supernatural Thriller". You get your typical de Palma stylized visual thrill-moments, fountains of blood and tons of scenes similar to Carrie.
The Fury is not perfect but well made and entertaining. 4/5

Blade (1998)

A human-vampire hybrid (Blade) protects humans from vampires.
Not seen in nearly 14 years so this was a nice re-visit on Blu-ray. Blade still kicks ass, though some of the CGI comes off as dated now. Violence can get rude and nasty at times, and not just in a "comicbook violence" sort of way. Looking forward revisiting the sequels soon. 4.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

WONDERWALL (1968): An absent-minded professor falls in love with the bohemian fashion model next door (a luminous Jane Birkin) when he peeps through a hole in his apartment wall and sees her frolicking in a psychedelic wonderland. It's sort of the ultimate hippie movie: not a lot happens but there are lots of pretty swirling colors, animated butterflies, and long-haired people being groovy. Start your rating at 2.5 stars and add a half-star with each bong rip.

[lester1/2jr]

Who Killed Bambi? - this is an odd, blase sort of horror movie. The pacing reminds me of a 70's grindhouse flick. It's so weirdly lacksadasical that it almost seems like it's actually happening. No one ever gets very excited and the lead actress always seems to be passing out or falling asleep. I mean, a patient just disappeared and there's concerns someone is tampering with medication. Wouldn't SOMEONE, at least one person, have some sort of reaction that would raise their pulse beyond that of a hibernating bear?

The lead is very well cast. She fits the humble, simple nurse role to a T. The director really seems averse to any sort of tension though. The ending is pretty phoned in too. I enjoyed this visually an liked the lead actress a lot but can't really recommend it on it's merits. 3.5/ 5

[JaseSF]

Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972): Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell) manages to somehow create an invisibility spray that can turn anyone or anything invisible. Dexter hopes to use it to help his college Medfield win a scientific award. However when notorious crook A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero) stumbles across it, he plans to use it to pull off an heist.

More of the usual Disney shopping cart style adventure with a group of young people led by a young Kurt Russell and buddies Richard Schulyer  (Michael McGreevey) and Debbie Dawson (Joyce Menges) trying to somehow Scooby Doo-esque save the day for their college. There's lot of car chasing and smash ups in this one and plenty of familiar faces too. Joe Flynn returns as Dean Higgins, Richard Bakalyan returns as Arno's sidekick Cookie. Other familiar faces who pop up in this one include Jim Backus (Mr. Holwell on "Gilligan's Island"), William Windom, Pat Delaney, Edward Andrews, Mike Evans, George O'Hanlon, and Alan Hewitt. Silly fun. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

The Strongest Man in the World (1975): Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell) and friends are back again and once more are trying to save their school Medfield. This time it involves the creation of a super strength formula that becomes the focus of a weightlifting contest between two schools Medfield and State sponsored by competing cereal companies. Returning also are Michael McGreevey as Richard Schulyer, Joe Flynn as Dean Higgins, Cesar Romero as A.J. Arno and Richard Bakalyan as Cookie. New this time around are Eve Arden as Aunt Harriet Crumpley (owner of Crumple Crunch, who sponsors Medfield), Phil Silvers as Kirwood Krinkle, owner of rival Krinkle Krunch, Dick Van Patten as double agent Harry Crumply, William Schallert as Professor Quigley, Harold Gould as Regent Dietz, and James Gregory as Chief Blair. There's several other faces who briefly pop up here many may recognize.

This movie is particularly silly even for a Disney shopping cart movie. It just goes a bit too far in terms of silliness and corniness. These films were kind of reaching the end of their cycle and here we see the stretching out of rather thin ideas. There are some fun bits here particularly involving Russell and Flynn, Romero and Bakalyan, and Phil Silvers and James Gregory too. Also the weightlifting team for Medfield look so laughingly bad it seems cartoonish exaggerated. Has some moments but they are few and far between. Still it has that kind of Scooby Doo-esque feel going on and so many familiar faces, it does prove goofy enough fun I'll be kind and give it *** out of ***** stars.

[claws]

Spellbinder (1988)

Young and successful lawyer rescues beautiful woman from the clutches of her brutal partner. She moves in with the lawyer, and turns his world upside down in the most sweetest way. Soon enough he is threatened by a cult of satanists, as they want their "property" back ...
Supernatural horror thriller that feels like a made-for-TV movie at times. It is actually kind of tame, with not much violence or nudity going on. Enjoyed the distinguished look of the movie - lots of MGM produced movies from that time (1987-1989) shared a seemingly identical cinematographic style. 3.5/5

Spookies (1986)

Group of people traveling in two cars at night end up at a old big mansion inhabited by demonic creatures. One by one they fall victim to or transform into beastly monsters.
Low-No budget f/x extravaganza spiced up with unfunny comedy lacking character introduction. There is no real (or typical) beginning thus the film feels uneven throughout. Equally silly & campy & dull. Definitely Guilty Pleasure material. 3/5

[Rev. Powell]

L'IMMORTELLE (1963): A French professor vacationing in Istanbul falls in love with a mysterious woman, who then disappears. Disorienting and dreamlike, this is a carefully designed, melancholy paradox--MARIENBAD with a touch of VERTIGO. 4.5/5.

[JaseSF]

Art School Confidential (2006): A young art student named Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) dreams of becoming a great artist and more importantly to him landing his inspiration, dream girl/art model Audrey (Sophia Myles) along the way. Unfortunately for Jerome, no one else seems to think his art as great as he himself seems to believe. Much assorted, sometimes funny, art school weirdness follows along with an unexpected murder mystery with Hitchcockian/giallo overtones.

This was certainly an interesting film that keeps one guessing especially in terms of its many little mysteries but it also makes some statement about the nature of art and just who decides what's great art or not and how much of it is just b.s. (Is what I am writing b.s. after all, who am I to decide what's great art?) Lots of weird and eccentric characters litter this story and many fall into some type of cliche. It doesn't always work though mostly because it proves somewhat unsatisfying and has an underlying misanthropic feel. Still at times, it's quite good especially in terms of the performances given by its stars, its dark humor, and it certainly remains entertaining throughout. A mixed bag of weirdness mixing dark humor, misanthropic undertones, and a curious little murder mystery. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Umaril Has Returned]

It Came From Outer Space (1953)

I caught this one on Svengoolie on Saturday night last week, and I really enjoyed it.

As a kid I couldn't understand the subject matter, but you have a really good "aliens come to Earth in the name of peace and get driven off" movie.   AND, you also get Russell Johnson (our good old Professor) and a young and lovely Barbara Rush. 

And, you also get to hear the original "Visitors From Space" music before it was remastered by Dick Jacobs And His Orchestra for use on WNEW 5's Creature Features in the late 60's up to the show's demise in 1980.

Pacific Rim Easily the best movie about giant monsters and equally giant robots ever made. I regret not seeing this n the theatres.

[Rev. Powell]

THE SWIMMER (1968): Observing that all his neighbors have swimming pools, an indefatigably cheerful man out for a morning jog decides to "swim" his way home; at each stop he talks to a new neighbor, all of whom seem to know something he doesn't. Based on a John Cheever short story, this odd concept works surprisingly well as both a suburban satire and (thanks to an excellent performance by Burt Lancaster) a touching character study of a man who doesn't realize the American dream passed him by. 4.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Swimmer is a cool movie 

[Mofo Rising]

Nostalghia and The Sacrifice.

Bittersweet, because I'm a Tarkovsky fan. These are his last two films.

I had no idea what he was getting at with Nostalghia. Ten minutes of a man trying to bring a lit candle across a pool, then failing and starting again, does not make compelling cinema to me.

The end shot of The Sacrifice is amazing. That single shot of the house burning down is incredible. If you have not seen The Sacfrice, those last moments are amazing. The rest of is pseudo-philosophical no-fun.

I'd love to see some online discussion over this, but I've only seen "Tarkovsky is a genius!"

[Jack]

Red Faction: Origins (2011) - Earth has colonized Mars, but eventually the folks there rebel against Earth authority (this take place in the video game Red Faction:  Guerrilla, which was great). Anyhow, the movie starts several years after those events, and the leader of the rebellion (Robert Patrick) is now an old drunk grieving over the murder of his wife and kidnapping of his daughter. His son is a police officer and soon finds that his missing sister may have been kidnapped by a mysterious group of soldiers, and spends the rest of the movie unraveling the mystery. This was decent for a SyFy Original. The two main characters, the son and a female police officer had some great banter together but it was sort of underutilized overall. The scenes with Patrick seemed to be there only to pad out the run time. Some cool special effects, though of course they were pretty low budget. 3/5.

Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011) - watched this again. Kind of funny - the killer from the first movie actually has an entire organization behind him. Wonder if he advertises in the trades for employees? Anyhow he was nearly killed at the end of the previous movie so his minions set to work bringing him back to life. Meanwhile his protege (Brian Austin Green, you may remember his as the nerd kid from Beverly Hills 90210) would like to take the opportunity to become the #1 serial killer himself, which doesn't sit well with the boss. He kidnaps a couple of kids. Will they escape the evil clutches of their abductors? This was another "decent" one, nothing special but at least a little bit original. Green does a pretty good job in the part, you'd never guess he was a 90210 alumni. 3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

BLUE RUIN (2013): A homeless man reignites an old feud when he hears the man he blames for his father's death is about to be released from prison. Satisfying, if somewhat overhyped, revenge drama. 3/5.

NINJA EMPIRE (1990): A typical Godfrey Ho cut and paste mess: modern scenes featuring Caucasian ninjas are pasted into an older Hong Kong kung fu gangster movie, with no regard for logic. Ho's ninjas periodically explode (!). Savagely bad, but that's the appeal. 3/5 on a bad movie scale.

[Ticonderoga 64]

The Bat(1926)

The Black Cat(1934)

Dark Skies(2013)

Dr.Jekyll & the Wolfman(1971)

Vampyr(1932)

Evil Of Frankenstein(1964)

Stranglers Of Bombay(1959)

Doctor Who: The Web Of Fear(1968)

[FatFreddysCat]

"Under Siege" (1992) - in Steven Seagal's entertaining "Die Hard" variant, the battleship Missouri is hijacked by terrorists intent on stealing its nuclear missiles. Fortunately the ship's cook is Casey Ryback - former Navy SEAL, one-man army, and all around American bad-ass. Tommy Lee Jones is a hoot as the head bad guy, while Erika "Baywatch" Eleniak provides some much needed eye candy (and keeps the movie grom being a total sausage fest). Still ranks as Seagal's best flick, for whatever that's worth.