Recent viewings

[Jack]

Anaconda 3 - Sci-Fi Original.  Wasn't too bad;  I hated - detested - the second one, so this was much better.  About average for a Sci-Fi Original.  Had the babe in the tank top, and it followed the typical formula to a T.

Heatstroke - Sci-fi Original.   Really god-awful CGI aliens are on some island, killing people, and some other people are trying to kill the aliens.    So many plot holes and pointless subplots and just dense nonsense that it barely even qualifies as stupid-funny.

Dragon Wars D Wars (or something like that).  Some cool special effects towards the end, otherwise the first two-thirds were boring as hell.  Really awful casting, bad acting, bad script.  Guess they sent the whole budget over to the special effects house and just tried to make do for the rest of it.

[Torgo]

***1/2 out of ****.

I just got a chance to watch the DVD of this flick last night.

If you're a guy this movie will have you cringing and covering your eyes multiple times throughout.  The plot involves a high school girl who is coming of age but just happens to have a mutant set of teeth in her vagina.  The girl named Dawn is played the gorgeous   Jess Weixler (who is 27 years old actually).   She turns in a tour-de-force performance IMO and the rest of the cast is solid throughout as well.  The movie shows surprising restraint throughout but goes for the gore jugular when it needs to and those moments are ones that I'm really surprised that this movie got through the MPAA uncut, especially with how goofy they are when sex is mixed with violence of any sort.

[Psycho Circus]

MIAMI VICE SEASON 2 [1985]



Around 1122 mins of Don Johnson for my viewing pleasure...

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: THE HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND: Eight fashion models wash up on an island moderately haunted by a giant spider creature and fight over the three available men.  Crow: "And people complain that there aren't any strong roles for women!"  Riffing and host segments are forgettable by the cast's usual standards.  3/5.

DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1931): Attempting to "segregate the soul of man," Victorian scientist Dr. Jekyll invents a potion that accidentally turns him into a sadistic sex maniac who looks like a cross between an ape and an ethnic minority. he draws are inventive visuals, naughty near-nudity from sexy starlet Miriam Hopkins, and an Oscar-winning performance from Frederic March as the demonic Mr. Hyde (he could have played the dull Dr. Jekyll in his sleep).  4/5.

DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1941): Spencer Tracy assays the schizophrenic Jekyll/Hyde role in this remake of the 1931 hit. A notch below its model, but it does feature the memorable image of Ingrid Bergman's head as a champagne bottle cork.

[Rev. Powell]

VAL LEWTON: THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS (2007):  Documentary narrated by Martin Scorcese.  A nice review of the classic Lewton films like CAT PEOPLE, CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE and THE BODY SNATCHER.  A good overview to get the newcomer exicited if they haven't yet seen any of Lewton's poetic B-horrors from the 1940s.  The sad thing is that while Lewton was producing these materpieces, he was wishing that he could move on to "serious" movies.  3/5.

[Joe the Destroyer]

Step Brothers- Pretty funny, but awkward at times.  Worth a look . 

The Dark Knight- Second viewing.  Took my newphew.  Still just as good the second time through. 

Shaolin Deadly Kicks- Couldn't get all the way through it.  Just didn't have the fun and camp that bad kung fu movies are supposed to have. 

The Cave (2005)- Boring, awful, by-the-books tripe. 

I just ordered The Cavern as well.  Here's hoping it won't suck as much as The Cave. 

[Jack]

The Gorgon - Hammer Horror film.  Pretty dull actually.  There's a Medusa type creature living in a castle.  Seven of the local villagers have been turned to stone in the last five years.  Everyone in the village is trying to cover this up for some reason.  The most recent victim is the son of a professor, so dad comes poking around.  After he gets turned to stone, the other son shows up.  There's a doctor in town who is investigating what's going on, and he has a beautiful assistant that the professor's son falls in love with.  It lacked any suspense (or even romance) and the characters weren't the least bit interesting.  As always with Hammer Films, the sets and general atmosphere were excellent.

Wild Wild Planet - Italian sci-fi from the '60s.  In the future, some babes and their evil henchmen are going around killing people, or maybe just shrinking them down to 6" tall and making off with them.  Why?  Because the babes are aliens!  I guess this must be Plan 10 from Outer Space.   Lots of pretty women, they get in a fight with the cops and it's panties galore    The special effects throughout the movie are truly some of the most comical looking model work ever put to film.  If you're into so-bad-it's-good, this is a must see.

[asimpson2006]

The thin red line ** out of ****

It was an okay film but it could have been shortened and it would have been better.  I mean do I need to spend 30 seconds looking at POW's?

[HappyGilmore]

Pineapple Express was very funny and well worth the price of admission.  James Franco is hilarious and steals some of the movie from Rogen.  Hilarious.

[lester1/2jr]

chained for life (1951)-  starring the conjoined Hilton sisters.  I'm glad i saw this but I would never watch it again and not because the tranfer quality is so awful.  why not have them on a safari?  or outer space?  instead they are ruminating about life as conjoined twins and having ne'r do wells pray on them.  a little over an hour it feels like forever.   this is no "freaks".  to reiterate, the tranfer quality is incredibly awful too,  people look like ghosts half the time it's so bright.

[Torgo]

DOOMSDAY   (unrated)   **1/2 out of ****

THE ADVENTURES OF HERCULES  (1985)   *1/2 out of ****

21    **1/2 out of ****

[lester1/2jr]

gun crazy (1940's) kind of  by the numbers but very entertaining  film noir.  I liked the scene where the two meet and have this sort of sexually charged shooting contest.  but I thuoght the male lead was too jimmy stewart like and the whole production in general lacked nuance and believability. 

[Torgo]

You Don't Mess with the Zohan   **1/2 out of ****

Hancock   ** out of ****

Critters 2   ** out of ****

[Jack]

Boogeyman 2 (2007).  Slasher with some kids in a mental institution.  They each have a fear of something and are killed in ways that play off those fears.  The female lead was very likable and cute, and the film could have been twice as good if they dressed her in the requisite tight tank top, but no;  she's in multiple layers of clothing.  The atmosphere in the nut house was very good, but other than that, this fails on every level.  The killer appears and disappears at will, usually he's already got one of his victims captured and ready to die.  So there's no stalking, no hope of escape, no buildup of tension, and therefore no suspense whatsoever.  The characters were so obviously just there to die, I mean, it's a slasher and we know that's going to happen, but they need to make some effort to make the audience think they've got a slim chance of surviving.  But they didn't.  I figured out who the killer was an hour before the end, and I'm usually terrible about that stuff.  The killer wasn't the least bit menacing, he was just sort of there.  Cool mask though.

[Rev. Powell]

DON'T LOOK NOW (1973):  In the wake of their daughter's drowning death, a young couple go to Venice to restore a church and meet a blind psychic who says she can see the child. Gothic Venetian locations and an intriguing ending partly redeem this otherwise slow-as-molasses psychological horror/drama. 2/5.

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008): Conflicted vigilante Batman must save Gotham City from the machinations of a sadistic, scarred anarchist calling himself the Joker. The pic delivers the expected summer blockbuster thrills and visual atmosphere, but it's the unexpected psychological (and even philosophical) depth that makes it the greatest superhero movie ever filmed. 5/5.