Recent viewings

[indianasmith]

I watched the new TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Friday night - I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, but this was a pretty entertaining movie.

[lester1/2jr]

Indecent Proposal (1993) - Andrian Lyne is a total badass. He made this 9 1/2 Weeks, Jacob's Ladder and Unfaithful. Maybe those aren't your type of movies but still you can't really f**k with him.

Robert Redford is hybrid of Peter Cetera and Satan trying to tear apart Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore's marriage. Demi Moore is hot as Hell in this as you probably would have guessed. Woody Harrelson as an architect is a little problematic, as is Woody as someone someone would choose over Robert Redford (who appears to have forgone make up in an effort to look less appealing ) but his acting is pretty well on point. Lyne really revels in the emotions and seems to have thought a good long time about infidelity and so forth. i wonder what his wife thinks of that. His attention to detail is excellent and he even throws in some nice comic touches here and there. He doesn't make many movies but when he does they are pretty inspired. This didn't have the greatest rankings on IMDB but I never do know what those people are smoking 5/5

[Jack]

Agency of Vengeance: Dark Rising (2011) - this is a sequel to that Dark Rising movie I watched last week. I guess there's actually a TV series I've never seen as well. Anyhow this one has the charters from the first movie battling demons who are intent on taking over the world. I don't think it was quite as cute and clever as the first movie but it did have its moments. My favorite part was when the antagonist was revealing her master plan to the heroine and the heroin is yawning lol. Pretty darned sexy babes once again; they really know how to do that right. 4/5.

[indianasmith]

I think I like the first one better.
The girls are very cute in both movies, though.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Creature from the Haunted Sea" (1961)

Trailer - Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961)	Small | Large

Director Roger Corman and writer Charles Griffith followed up 1960's "Little Shop of Horrors" with this klutzy slapstick comedy that tries to parody both spy flicks and monster movies. Immediately following the Cuban revolution, a gang of American crooks are trying to make it back to the U.S. with a strong box of gold stolen from Cuba's treasury, but a goggle-eyed sea monster appears and complicates their escape.
The story makes no sense, the random jokes fall flat and the "monster" has got to be the cheapest looking things ever to come out of Corman's Z-movie factory, which is really saying something. The "creature" looks like a trash bag covered in leaves with ping-pong balls for eyes.

Wow. Just....wow.
I couldn't even enjoy this one from a campy, so-bad-it's-good standpoint. It's only January and I think I already have my front runner for "worst movie I've seen this year!"

[claws]

Monsters (2010) (Blu-ray)

A space probe containing alien life crashes in Mexico - six years later the crash site has become a "Infected Zone" to keep the giant tentacled alien creatures under control. Meanwhile two young Americans stranded in Mexico must cross the Infected Zone in order to reach the U.S. Border.
Poetic "Adventure" with elements of Sci-Fi, Drama and Thriller. Those expecting a Jurassic Park type of spectacle will be disappointed. This movie has much more to offer than its creatures, though the very few creature scenes are breathtaking and quite tense. 4/5

[Jack]

I think I like the first one better.
The girls are very cute in both movies, though.

Yeah me too.  I think I gave them both the same 4/5 though, mostly due to the bra and panty factor in the second one.  I have very refined tastes you know 

[Rev. Powell]

"2012 Aficionado DVD Zine: Issue #0": Oh man. Another "mixtape" with the usual suspects: public access embarassments, clips from Bollywood and B-movies, pre-YouTube grossout home videos, porn cartoons, and even yucky FACES OF DEATH type snuff footage. It looks like it was mixed on a broken VCR. The editing experiments are annoying. I could not watch anymore after he looped a one-second clip of "Pokemon" characters talking and ran it for five minutes. I don't know why people send me this stuff; they must hate me. 0.5/5.

[alandhopewell]

    OCCUPIED (2011)
     Another gem in an Echo Bridge multi-pack....

OCCUPIED Official Trailer	Small | Large

     After tons of found footage, drunk/ brain-dead college kids films, this movie was actually ABOUT something, as opposed to another entry in the set, MEADOWOODS....

Meadowoods - Official Trailer

I really can't squawk, at ten films for five dollars, but why are so many devoid of  substance, or just excuses to torture women?

[JaseSF]

"Batman Forever" (1995)
Batman Forever - Trailer

Third time's the charm? Ehhh, not exactly. This so-so installment introduced a new actor in the Batman suit (Val Kilmer), a new sidekick (Chris O'Donnell as Robin) and a new director (Joel Schumacher) - resulting in an occasionally entertaining, but mostly loud and confused, mess. The story is a muddle, the day-glo visuals are garish and the performances are... well, ugh. Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face is little more than a copycat of Jack Nicholson's Joker, trying and failing  to chew more scenery than Jim Carrey's Riddler (who completely steals the movie). On the other hand, this flick captures Nicole Kidman (as a Gotham City police psychiatrist with a Bat fetish) at her absolute peak of hottie perfection.
So yeah, "Forever" isn't even in the same ballpark as Tim Burton's first two Batman films, but it still looks like solid gold compared to the series' absolute nadir, 1997's "Batman & Robin."

I actually rather like this entry. It reminds me more of the 1960s Batman TV series. I'll take it over any of the Nolan films too. Actually I'd even take Batman & Robin over those.

[JaseSF]

The Santa Clause (1994): When Santa Claus seemingly falls off his roof on Christmas eve, clueless Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) finds himself unexpectedly drawn, much to delight of his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd), into a contract to become the new Santa Claus.

This was a decent enough Christmas movie effort from Disney. Is it at the level of true Christmas classics like A Christmas Story or It's A Wonderful Life? No, but it is one of the better offerings from the 1990s. There is a sense of magic to the proceedings here and it does delve into the realm of childhood belief in Christmas making for some magical and moving family moments. A fun little movie but most of its comedy stems from adults confused about Calvin turning into Santa. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

The Santa Clause 2 (2002): Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) has been Santa Claus now for eight years but things could soon end if he doesn't find a Mrs. Claus within a month and before Christmas Eve. Complicating matters further, Charlie (Eric Lloyd) has ended up on Santa's naughty list.

There was some inventive ideas here and I liked the initial opening premises presented here. I liked the inclusion of other magical fictional and holiday characters. However by the end, things don't come together anywhere near as well as I as a viewer would have liked. The ending feels rushed and everything gets resolved way too easily and conveniently. The first half of this film is better than its second half. Has its moments but is much more forgettable than the original film. *** out of ***** stars.

[lester1/2jr]

Rogue (2007) - this was a little strange because the dialogue and acting was actually kind of better than the monster aspect. The huge alligator part wasn't bad per say but there isn't all that much you can do with that sort of thing besides have some people die, some people escape, and some people get mangled but live. it sort of reminds me of when Dogfish Head came out with a malt liquor made with really good ingredients for like 7 dollars. it was good but kind of what's the point too. Idk, everyones seen this so who cares 4/5

[claws]

6 Souls (2010) (Blu-ray)

Psychiatrist is baffled by new patient who appears to be suffering from multiple personalities. Further investigation reveals that those personalities are actually murder victims...
Julianne Moore as the Psychiatrist gives her usual best, while the script tries to throw off the viewer with new twists and turns by the minute. A bit uneven but still solid.
6 Souls came a long way. Filming wrapped in 2008 and the movie hit theaters in 2010. The U.S. premier was in 2013 after the Weinstein Company sat on the movie for 5 years, and changed its former (and more fitting) title Shelter into 6 Souls. 3.75/5

[indianasmith]

I watched a film called STONEHEARST ASYLUM yesterday.
Pretty high budget, with Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley, but an interesting view of what might happen when the inmates do, in fact, run the asylum!
Definitely worth checking out. 4.5/5

[Trevor]

I watched the new TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Friday night - I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, but this was a pretty entertaining movie.

I missed that when it was on release here: pity - I really wanted to support my homeboy Jonathan Liebesman.