Recent viewings

[Flick James]

The Town (2010)

Not bad, not great. It had some pretty decent performances all around, and I'll have to admit that while I'm not generally a Ben Affleck fan, I liked him in this. I wasn't especially looking forward to the film, but was interested enough to put it in my NetFlix queue and lo and behold there it was in the mail. Some good action sequences. The car chase scene in the last half of the film was particularly well done. I don't know what part of Boston that was since I've never been there, but the narrow streets almost gave it a European car chase feel, and it worked nicely.

I'll give it a 4/5.

[claws]

Silent Rage (1982)

Chuck Norris vs. Unstoppable Serial Killer. To expect: bloody slasher thrills, weird science, Chuck-Fu, bad supporting cast, corny plot. 4/5 Cheese

[Rev. Powell]

BRAZIL (1985): When "Information Retrieval" accidentally picks up a Mr. Buttle rather than a Mr. Tuttle for interrogation, lowly bureaucrat Sam Lowry finds himself butting heads with his own department---a situation complicated by the fact that he's just found his dream girl, and he thinks she may be an anti-government terrorist.  Brilliant, Kafkaesque dystopian satire set "somewhere in the 20th century" that manages to make the thought of paperwork simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. 5/5.

[claws]

The Sports Killer (onscreen title) a.k.a. Killer's Delight a.k.a. The Dark Ride (1978)

Overlooked and underrated Serial Killer flick/Cop Thriller set in San Francisco 'based on real events': a killer in a yellow van picks up female hitch hikers who are usually on their way home from a fun day at hangout places (pool).
There are one or two cases of continuity errors but overall this is a well crafted, well made movie. There is some unintentional humor regarding dated fashion and some schmalzy lounge singing, but that just adds to the charm. Light on the sleaze but beware the nasty pre-killing ritual. It is cringe inducing. 4/5

Twice Dead (1988)

Family of four inherit big old house that is occupied by the spirit of an eccentric actor who committed suicide back in the 1920s. Adding to the stress is a local gang of punks up to no good.
Entertaining haunted house/home invasion movie with urban setting, neat blood spill and a few surprises along the way. 4/5

[Jack]

P2 (2007) - Angela is the last one to leave the office before Christmas vacation starts.  Unfortunately she sticks around a little too long and ends up getting locked in the building.  Her car, in the underground parking garage, won't start, and just to make a bad situation worse, the security guard turns out to be a psycho killer.  A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.  This really didn't do much for me.  A movie like this depends entirely on the viewer being concerned with he plight of the main character, but I didn't feel like I knew her at all.  She's a young businesswoman, that's it.  The acting was good and it was a high quality production overall, but I was left feeling totally uninvolved, like I was just watching a movie instead of being drawn into it.  The ending was pretty good.  3.5/5.

[Jack]

Snowbeast (1977) - another repeat viewing.  This is a made for TV '70s movie, sort of a ripoff of jaws, except with a Bigfoot instead of a shark and a ski resort instead of an island.  Good characters, plenty of '70s melodrama, and a great creature - probably because you see very little of it throughout the film.  The attack scenes on the ski slopes are done very well and almost approach menacing.  4.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Jurasic Park (1993)- I had never seen this. It was okay but generally more appropriate for kids and in the end I probably would have rather watched Sarah Silveman "Jesus is Magic". Laura Dern looks exactly like www.raymitheminx.com and is a scientist and they go to the place and do the thing.  It's like a big science lesson. I kind of wish Newman from Seinfeld who is the bad guy had grown into a massive Dino overlord.

Now I want to see tha apparently terrible parody Chicken Park

3/5

[Jack]

Moon of the Wolf (1972) - another '70s made for TV movie.  David Janssen stars as the sheriff of a small town, investigating the murder of a young girl.  The investigation was pretty interesting, with lots of false leads and suspects.  In the end of course, it turns out a werewolf is on the prowl.  Very relaxed pacing as far as the plot, but overall it was well done.  The screenwriter actually put a few minutes of thought into the dialogue - ah, the '70s.  3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Passion of the Christ - This was one of those movies that you wonder why someone hadn't thought of it before. It's a modern re telling of the last moments of Jesus, with a few flashabcks to relevent new testament stuff. I like The Greatest Story Ever told and stuff like that but this is different because its not just relaying stuff from the bible, it's turned into a regular, modern movie.

Some people might be turned off by the endless suffering of Jesus. He gets beaten up bad by the roman gaurds and then beaten up again all the way to the crucifiction, then he gets crucified. You can see it as a metaphor for survival and life or you can see it as wow this is going on a long time. The supernatural stuff: I liked the image of the devil woman thing and when Judas sees Demons everywhere, that's undersandable considering he just sold out Jesus but the earthquake was kind of a head scratcher and the last 15 minutes in general I wasn't exactly comfortable with.

4.5 /5

[claws]

Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1985)

Classic cheese still under-appreciated in my opinion. This was a favorite of mine in VHS rental days, and I was jumping with joy when I found and bought the DVD several years ago.
The thing I like most about this movie is its sweaty, backwoodsy rural setting (Texarkansas). And I love how this movie highlight places like its a tour: old abandoned houses, swimming resorts (lake/river), grungy little stores and lonely back roads.
Add a dash of Hixploitation and semi-documentary style Bigfoot tales and your all set for a good time. 4/5 Cheese

[lester1/2jr]

Mountaintop Motel Massacre- didn't finish this one. It started off real creepy but didn't go anywhere and felt very tax shelter ish.

[Rev. Powell]

THE CASSEROLE MASTERS (2007?): Web-only basement surrealism made by what seems to be a dadaist frat; basically, it's like a series of skits that were too insufferable to make it into TRASH HUMPERS.  There's a guy with a painted mustache and a Burger King crown on his head, a guy with a shaving cream beard and a sheriff's hat, a guy who just says "Batman, Batman" over and over, and so on, all talking nonsense for 1:15 while the camera spins around.  All the voices are speeded up or slowed down for maximum annoyance.  Big spoiler: in the climax at the end a guy puts his wiener (a real wiener, not his penis) into a tin of octopus tentacles.  I think it's intended to be played in the background of an acid trip.  Not that there isn't some talent involved: the music was good and the graphic effects, though simple, were at times near greatness.  Though almost no one will get through the first five minutes, there are actually two segments that are fairly good and worth watching.  At about 24:00 there's a segment called "Ask Molock" where an animated British owl explains the afterlife over a series of surrealist paintings; the deranged dialogue which goes on about the "Hall of Mirrors" and aliens actually sounds like it might have been taken from a Scientology lecture.  The second worthwhile segment starts at about 53:00 is sort of a surrealist music video for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" that I'd be willing to break out during the holidays.  (I like it when Santa's eyes start bleeding).  Both of the good segments are all graphics with no actors; whenever it returns to live action  becomes nearly unwatchable again.  1.5/5 as a whole, though to break it down the 2 good sequences (less than 10 minutes put together) are probably worth a 3.5/5 and the rest of it 0.5/5.  Here's the link: http://casserolemasters.blip.tv/?utm_source=player_embedded       

[Jack]

Witchboard (1986) - Tawny Kitaen stars as an unlikable dingbat.  We meet her as she's throwing a party with her boyfriend.  Tawny thought it would be a swell idea to invite her a-hole ex-boyfriend.  He acts like an a-hole to her current boyfriend, the nearly come to blows, and then she gets furious at him - the new boyfriend - for not just siting there and taking it.  I don't care if she did look hot in that Whitesnake video, her bags would be on the front step and the locks would be changed next time she got home.  Anyhow, the ex-boyfriend brings along a Ouija board, and dingbat starts using it to contact the spirit world.  Yeah, super idea.  Besides unlikable dingbat Kitaen and her a-hole ex, the only other character is the current boyfriend, and he's the only person who's sympathetic in the whole thing.  Then there's the comic relief detective, and the way over-the-top comic relief psychic    The plot moves oh-so-slowly and even more predictably.  Can't think of much of anything good to say about this thing.  2.5/5.

[claws]

The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985) UK DVD (16:9/dts)

Not one of Wes Craven's finest moments, but still entertaining for all the wrong reasons. There is actually a decent, fun slasher hidden underneath layers of cheese. And who can forget the dog's flashback? Pure bad movie genius. 3.5/5 Cheese

[claws]

Witchboard (1986) - Tawny Kitaen stars as an unlikable dingbat.  We meet her as she's throwing a party with her boyfriend.  Tawny thought it would be a swell idea to invite her a-hole ex-boyfriend.  He acts like an a-hole to her current boyfriend, the nearly come to blows, and then she gets furious at him - the new boyfriend - for not just siting there and taking it.  I don't care if she did look hot in that Whitesnake video, her bags would be on the front step and the locks would be changed next time she got home.  Anyhow, the ex-boyfriend brings along a Ouija board, and dingbat starts using it to contact the spirit world.  Yeah, super idea.  Besides unlikable dingbat Kitaen and her a-hole ex, the only other character is the current boyfriend, and he's the only person who's sympathetic in the whole thing.  Then there's the comic relief detective, and the way over-the-top comic relief psychic    The plot moves oh-so-slowly and even more predictably.  Can't think of much of anything good to say about this thing.  2.5/5.

I noticed over the years when it comes to bad movies we both have seen, your opinion is usually the opposite from mine. It's like I'm in some weird Twilight Zone parallel world 

I don't care if she did look hot in that Whitesnake video, her bags would be on the front step and the locks would be changed next time she got home.

That nearly killed me lol