Recent viewings

[Jack]

Missile to the Moon (1958) - some astronauts take their new spaceship to the moon (please overlook the fact that the ship we see sitting on the ground looks entirely different than the one we see flying through space. Please also overlook the fact that when they run the German V-2 launch footage backwards to simulate a landing, there's already a small landing pad there on the moon). Anyhow, who should they meet on the moon but a bunch of blue-skinned girls in leotards! But of course. The babes want those guys to stay, so they have to formulate an escape plan. Just cheesy nonsense from start to finish, good silly fun. I watched the colorized version of this and it looks great; could almost be mistaken for having been in color in the first place. Almost. 4/5.

[Bella]

Morning Glory-This movie was surprisingly funny. Rachel McAdams put in a supurb performance and Harrison Ford was also great. 7/10

The Great Gatsby-Fantastic film with special performance by Tobey Maguire, Leo DiCaprio and Corey Mulligan. 8/10

The Campaign-It had some funny moments, but overall it was not a great film. 5/10.

[Rev. Powell]

ROBOT MONSTER (1953): Ro-man, an emotionless alien gorilla in a diving helmet, hunts down the last surviving hu-mans on earth. It turns out it's all the dream of an eight-year old boy, which explains why unrelated footage of battling dinosaurs pops up every now and then. Indefensible, and indispensable. 5/5 (bad movie scale, obviously!)

[claws]

The Ward (2010) (Blu-ray)

1966: young woman is put into a psychiatric ward after setting fire to an old house. Soon enough she suspects a evil spirit is haunting the ward and killing patients, but her attempts to escape fail...
Legendary director John Carpenter tries his hand at psychological horror but the script is lacking smarts and finesse. Think Girl, Interrupted (1999) and Identity (2002) with a killer that looks like a man dressed as a witch. Also, some of the f/x are rather sloppy. Good performances though. 3.5/5

Skinwalker Ranch (2013) (Blu-ray)

August 2011: a team of scientists investigate the disappearance of a ten year old boy who might have been abducted by a unknown force from a cattle ranch. Turns out the ranch has a history of paranormal/supernatural activity. As the team continues to investigate strange things start to happen: dead bats falling on the roof, unmarked vans watching the ranch from a distance,  a giant wolf snarling at night and ghostly figures zipping through the house. Shortly after bright lights can be seen in the sky, are aliens behind all of this?

Found Footage horror with above average production values. This was pretty solid but felt too much like a "real film". People who complain not seeing enough in found footage movies won't be disappointed with this one. However, I think showing less is more effective. 3.5/5

[Bella]

Ted-Had some funny moments and Mark Wahlberg was very good. 7/10

Hard Candy-Fantastic intense thriller with brilliant performances by both Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page. One of my Top 10 film and I highly recommend this one. 10/10

[FatFreddysCat]

"Metalstorm: The Destruction of  Jared-Syn" (1983) - Charles "Puppet Master" Band directed this no budget sci-fi mess that mixes "Mad Max" with some cosmic/mystical nonsense ala "Star Wars." A futuristic law man enters "the forbidden lands" and mixes it up with mutants (one of whom is played by a pre-"Night Court" Richard Moll) to rescue a girl (Kelly Preston, aka the future Mrs. John Travolta!) from a Darth Vader style bad guy. Cheap sets, wooden performances, laughable special effects and nonsensical script make this Cheez fest a particularly tough slog. Originally released in 3-D, for all the good it did. Simply awful!

[Bella]

42-Good story about the life of Jackie Robinson. Felt like I learned a little watching this film. 7/10

Silver Lining Playbook-Jennifer Lawrence was fantastic as was the film. 9/10

[Jack]

Witch Board (Bunshinsaba) (2004) - Korean horror movie in which three high school girls are getting picked on at school, so they decide to hold a seance and put a curse on their tormentors. Little do they know that the town they live in has some skeletons in its closet, and they've awakened a demon from 30 years earlier. Things don't turn out quite the way they had planned. This was pretty good. I watched it before but still found the plot interesting, and it's got some decent atmosphere. Pretty photography in parts as well. The characters weren't well developed at all however. I watched the English dubbed version and some of the girls literally sounded like kitty cats meowing lol. Still decent enough and probably a cut above the usual junk I watch. 4/5.

[Josso]

Foxy Brown (1974)

Surprisingly I'd never seen this before and quickly realised it's one of those movies Tarintino loved (I very recently rewatched Jackie Brown) and nodded to which also caused me to get the Inglorious Bastards (197*) film today. I distinctly remember the first few minutes of this film which makes me believe that I was possibly too young to appreciate the significance of this flick. Massive smile on my face the whole way through the movie, very self indulgent - Pam Grier is ridiculously attractive. I actually don't watch that many 70s films anymore this made me want to get back into it big time.

[Bella]

Django Unchained-I am usually not quite the fan of Tarantino films, but this one was one of his better ones. I especially enjoyed Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal. 7.5/10

[Jack]

Moon of the Wolf (1972) - David Janssen stars as a small town sheriff. A local girl is murdered, and Janssen investigates. Not long after, the police station is attacked by a mysterious intruder who actually rips a cell door right off the wall and kills one of the prisoners. Who could posses such superhuman strength?!?! I liked this, it's just dripping in '70s made-for-TV atmosphere and the cast are a fairly likable bunch. Reminds me a lot of those movies of the week I used to see as a little kid. 3.5/5.

[Bella]

Going The Distance-Drew Barrymore was OK in this film. While the film was suppose to be funny it didn't make me laugh very much at all. 4/10

[Rev. Powell]

TENCHI MUYO! IN LOVE (1996): Tenchi is some kind of magical royal heir; a supercriminal goes back to the past and kills his mother, which means that he and his coterie of psychic female friends must time-travel to mom's high school days to try to assure Tenchi will eventually be born. This feature-length spinoff of a Japanese TV series is generic anime fantasy stuff that makes no attempt to explain the characters or the setting for newcomers, and gives no indication why the show was ever popular. 1.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Miami Connection" (1987) - it's martial arts mayhem when the members of Dragon Sound, a terrible synth rock band who also happen to be tae kwon do masters, mix it up with a street gang who are working for a troop of drug dealing, motorcycle riding ninjas. I swear I am not making this up.  Terrible acting, poorly edited fight scenes, Mullets, and awful music ensue. This movie sucks on so many levels  that it eventually achieves a train wreck level of awesomeness.

This forgotten Z movie was rediscovered a few years ago by the cult film specialists at Alamo Drafthouse, who bought a theatrical print on eBay and loved it so much that they tracked down producer/director/star Y.K. Kim and got his permission to re-release it.

[indianasmith]

DERANGED - Watched this one tonight.  A Brazilian girl about to get married invites her three college friends to a country house in Spain for a bachelorette party, but as the party gets underway she has a seizure and drops over dead . . . and then her friends start being picked off one by one by an unknown killer! Pretty entertaining little slasher, although none of the characters were very likable.