Recent viewings

[Jack]

Splintered (2010) - some completely unlikable kids (this is a British movie) go out in the woods and happen across a large abandoned building. A psycho lives there and starts killing them. I guess the building had some decent atmosphere but that's about the only good thing I've got to say about this. Plot's been done a hundred times before and almost always with better characters than this. 2/5.

[lester1/2jr]

ffcat = that movie was bankrolled by the legendary Jack Abramoff of DC lobbying infamy

[lester1/2jr]

The Sorcerer and the White Snake - I'm pretty out of the loop as far as HK and related cinema goes but this is pretty good. I've seen Tsui Hark's
Green Snake I think it as called that is the same basic story as this one. It wasn't my number one favorite mainly because I thought it tried to hard to be weird and exotic. This one is quite different.

Jet Li is the sorcerer and two hot girls are the snakes. One of them hooks up with a guy (she can become a person) and all heck breaks loose. There is a lot of CGI and so forth. I couldn't even tell what was really and what was computer animated a lot of the time. There's not much kung fu but a lot of spiritual moving things around with your great magical powers a la the force that I like. The romance works well. It's very hard for them to love each other because she's a snake demon thing and he's a guy and you're not supposed to do that.

Obviously if you're a martial arts purist this is the last movie you want to see and as an old Shaw Brothers guy I as a little miffed at the lack of balls to the wall insanity and grindhouse flavor of those films but it was still fun. 4/5

[Jack]

The Tall Man (2012) - a nurse lives in a small town where many children have been abducted in the past. The locals blame it on a mysterious figure known as the tall man. It's not long before the nurse's kid also goes missing and she's off in pursuit of the kidnapper. I thought this was some sort of horror movie but no, it's a drama. There was a neat plot twist where you realize that everything you thought you knew was all wrong, but other than that it hasn't got much going for it. It seems to think it's being deep or something, but it's not. And could they possibly make Jessica Biel look any less attractive? She was totally hot in that Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. 3/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

ffcat = that movie was bankrolled by the legendary Jack Abramoff of DC lobbying infamy

Y'know, I saw his name in the credits and I couldnt' remember where I knew it from. Thank you!! That's been bugging me for a couple of days now and I kept forgettting to Google it. 

On topic:
"The People Vs. George Lucas" (2010) A very funny documentary that examines the rapidly eroding relationship between "Star Wars" guru George Lucas and his fans, who are irritated by pretty much everything he's done involving the "Star Wars" universe over the past twenty years (i.e. the "Special Editions" of the original three films, the "Han Shot First" controversy, disappointment with "The Phantom Menace" and the existence of Jar Jar Binks, etc.). In between the interview segments there are lots of clips from homemade Star Wars "fan films," some of which I'd like to see more of. (esp. the "Misery" parody where a fan-girl keeps an injured Lucas prisoner in her home till he re-writes Episode III. Haha!)

If nothing else, this movie makes it official that "Star Wars" fans have become just as annoying and bizarre as Trekkies.

[lester1/2jr]

Jack- I was blown away by the Tall Man. I was baffled by the twists and impressed with the whole theme of what to do about children w/ no opportunity in life yadda yadda yadda. Biel didn't look that great I agree

ff- I remember seeing comedian Neil Hamburger when Phantom Menance came out and him doing this joke "Why did Jar Jar Binks cover himself in s**t? ...cuz it's a stupid character." I still haven't seen any of those.

[Rev. Powell]

TWISTER (1989): A man seeks to reconnect with his daughter and her alcoholic mother, who rarely leave the family mansion she shares with her father (Harry Dean Stanton) and weirdo artist brother (Crispin Glover). With interesting characters portrayed by intriguing actors (there's even a cameo by William S. Burroughs), it's a movie that keeps teasing that it's just about to get really good... then it ends. Not to be confused with the 90s tornado movie. 2.5/5.

[claws]

The Sentinel (1977)

It's been only 12 months since my last viewing, but I recently bought the Austrian Blu-ray release of this. The Sentinel in HD? Hell yeah. The print was a bit rough during opening credits, but the rest looks pretty good and is quite a leap above the DVD in terms of quality. HD gives it more dimension, depth and detail.
I never get tired of watching The Sentinel. For future viewings, the Blu-ray is much appreciated.

[JaseSF]

Body Slam (1986): M. Harry Smilac (Dirk Benedict) is a smarmy talent manager whose luck seems to be starting to run out when he unexpectedly strikes up a friendship with wrestler Quick Rick Roberts (Rowdy Roddy Piper) and reluctantly agrees to become his newest wrestling manager. This however immediately makes Harry a quick enemy in rival manager the legendary Captain Lou Morano (Captain Lou Albano). Eventually Harry turns things around by starting up a rock 'n' wrestling act featuring his musical talent the band Kick with his wrestling talent Quick Rick Roberts and Tonga Tom (The Tonga Kid/Sam Fatu).

It was very nostalgic for me re-watching this. Last time I saw it I was a teenager. The 1980s vibe is here big time with DirK Benedict basically playing a variation on his A-Team "Face" character, the whole rock 'n' wrestling thing which was a big part of the 80s albeit in the WWF with Hogan, Piper, & Cyndi Lauper, fast cars, gorgeous women in bikinis including the one and only Tanya Roberts as a love interest for Benedict here and a pretty cool sounding 80s soundtrack to boot. Yeah, I liked this more than I really should have. For a wrestling fan like me, it's a little bit of spot the wrestler and there's plenty of guys involved here including Piper, Tonga Kid, Capt. Lou, The Barbarian &  Teijho Khan getting the most air time not to mention short appearances by the likes of Alexis Smirnoff, The Alaskan Jay York, The Wild Samoans as" Korean" henchmen (?!), Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino, Classy Freddie Blassie, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, Dark Journey, Budda Khan, Pistol Pete, and I believe Sunshine. Billy Barty however tends to steal the show as a foul-mouthed opinionated and certainly not politically correct midget manager. All in all, this movie while it is bad is bad in a good, fun way. It's actually funny at times and at other times, you'll be wondering did I just see that happen? ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[VenomX73]

Body Slam (1986): M. Harry Smilac (Dirk Benedict) is a smarmy talent manager whose luck seems to be starting to run out when he unexpectedly strikes up a friendship with wrestler Quick Rick Roberts (Rowdy Roddy Piper) and reluctantly agrees to become his newest wrestling manager. This however immediately makes Harry a quick enemy in rival manager the legendary Captain Lou Morano (Captain Lou Albano). Eventually Harry turns things around by starting up a rock 'n' wrestling act featuring his musical talent the band Kick with his wrestling talent Quick Rick Roberts and Tonga Tom (The Tonga Kid/Sam Fatu).

It was very nostalgic for me re-watching this. Last time I saw it I was a teenager. The 1980s vibe is here big time with DirK Benedict basically playing a variation on his A-Team "Face" character, the whole rock 'n' wrestling thing which was a big part of the 80s albeit in the WWF with Hogan, Piper, & Cyndi Lauper, fast cars, gorgeous women in bikinis including the one and only Tanya Roberts as a love interest for Benedict here and a pretty cool sounding 80s soundtrack to boot. Yeah, I liked this more than I really should have. For a wrestling fan like me, it's a little bit of spot the wrestler and there's plenty of guys involved here including Piper, Tonga Kid, Capt. Lou, The Barbarian &  Teijho Khan getting the most air time not to mention short appearances by the likes of Alexis Smirnoff, The Alaskan Jay York, The Wild Samoans as" Korean" henchmen (?!), Ric Flair, Bruno Sammartino, Classy Freddie Blassie, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, Dark Journey, Budda Khan, Pistol Pete, and I believe Sunshine. Billy Barty however tends to steal the show as a foul-mouthed opinionated and certainly not politically correct midget manager. All in all, this movie while it is bad is bad in a good, fun way. It's actually funny at times and at other times, you'll be wondering did I just see that happen? ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

I have never seen it - I need to! Thanks.

[JaseSF]

It's on youtube. I've probably overrated it a bit because it's nostalgic for me...

[Rev. Powell]

PINK FLAMINGOS (1972): A couple who keep impregnated women chained in their cellar so they can sell the babies to lesbians for adoption try to challenge Divine for the title of "filthiest person alive." Contains every kind of cruelty, obscenity and freak show behavior you can imagine, notoriously including unsimulated coprophagia and chickens killed during sex. There is some value in pushing the envelope so you can see where the line should be, but even John Waters realized he had gone too far with this one. 1.5/5; higher if you have no qualms about seeing animals killed for entertainment purposes.

[Jack]

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) - the evil Cobra has replaced the President of the United States with a lookalike, and he's threatening to destroy all the major cities of the world unless everyone swears their loyalty to him. Will the Joes be able to stop him in time? This was a lot of fun. Dwayne Johnson is really good in the lead role, there are some absolutely crazy fight sequences - like one that takes place on the side of a sheer cliff with everyone swinging back and forth on ropes and using Samurai swords against each other. Adrianne Palicki looks great as Lady Jaye and there a fun subplots o'plenty to keep things interesting. Great dumb fun from start to finish. 4.5/5.

[Umaril Has Returned]

I just finished watching a very early David Chiang-Ti Lung team-up called Vengeance and is listed as 1970 in the IMDB.  The Shaws were clearly still refining their choreography and sound FX skills, but the story was pretty good. Chiang avenges the murder of his brother (Ti Lung) who is conveniently murdered so a local official can make time with his lover (or sister, story was unclear on that one).  Not a bad way to spend a few hours...

[indianasmith]

My Sunday night double feature was interesting, to say the least!
First, I saw a Chilean zombie movie called ZOMBIE DAWN.
Fifteen years after an outbreak leaves several major cities as a blighted quarantine zone,
a team of soldiers and scientists cross the perimeter to try and figure out what happened.
Their leader, Col. Rainoff, has a secret mission that he has not even entrusted to his most
loyal subordinates. 
Maybe it was watching the whole thing on subtitles, but to be honest, this film was an unfocused,
poorly written mess.  I never was very clear on who was doing what to who and why, and the
ending was a major letdown.  Not really worth the rental.
Next, I watched a more enjoyable film called CAMP DREAD (2014).
A washed up horror director whose SUMMER CAMP franchise was the top-rated slasher film series
of the 1980's returns to the set of his movies, using a reality show to raise funds for a reboot of
his beloved hits - and a chance to reboot his career!  Starring B-movie icon Eric Roberts, with a cameo
by the lovely Danielle Harris, this was a decent slasher with a very little bit of nudity and some interesting
kills scattered through a fairly predictable plot.  Definitely worth the rental, even if parts of the premise
defied all reason.