Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

Stephen King double shot:

"Christine" (1983)
High school nerd Arnie Cunningham buys a hunk-o-junk 1958 Plymouth Fury with a dark past, and while he restores the car to its former glory, his friends notice some sinister changes in their buddy. One of the better King adaptations, directed by John "Halloween" Carpenter.

"The Mangler" (1995)
A large industrial laundry factory in a small Maine town is home to a gargantuan steam-ironing machine with a taste for human blood. Sounds like good gory fun, but Tobe ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre") Hooper's take on one of SK's lesser short stories is cheap, poorly acted, and quickly falls apart under the weight of its own ludicrous premise.

[lester1/2jr]

Man of Tai Chi - Keanu Reeves of all people plays a international Dana White type fight promoter who coerces a guy who is trying to save his tai chi ( the kung fu kind not the old people kind though I guess they are the same thing) temple from developers. Reeves' dialogue is stilted and meant I think for Chinese audiences whose English isn't so good. He's not bad as a villain but I woudln't hire him as a bodyguard.

The guy fights people in a weird room and ALSO somewhat confusingly fights in these conventional competitions and becomes more and more aggressive which causes his wise old teacher guy to get mad. It's got a lot of fight scenes and its interesting to see what is state of the art for that stuff but the movie itself is pretty disposable. Very little to distinguish itself from other movies and really needed something that showed there was some sort of unique thought put into it. it could have used some comic relief too, certainly.

watcheable but not a classic 3/5

Pony Excess - ESPN doc about SMU's corrupt football prpgram on the early eighties. it was interesting but didn't have much to say about the whole phenom of college football and why it is the players are valued more than say astronomy majors. Erick Dickerson is the big star and he and others from the team lay out how they were recruited and paid off. they were really good for like a couple seasons then the NCAA pretty much killed the program. As the doc was being made they were beginning efforts to get the whole thing going again (minus the bribes) but I don't follow college football to know how thats going. don't watch many sports docs so was good change of pace
4/5

[Rev. Powell]

GINGER AND FRED (1986): Retired Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers impersonators return for a guest spot on a television spectacular. One of Federico Fellini's last films, reuniting him with iconic stars Marcello Mastroianni and Giulietta Masina, it's a gentle elegiac satire of how television took over society, and a study of those left behind. It has great costumes and numerous TV sideshow freaks (including a ten-teated cow); Fellini's once-aggressive surrealism mellows into bemused quirkiness here.  4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Black Room" (2017)
A couple moves into a home whose prior owner mysteriously disappeared, and soon they discover a secret room in the basement where an "Incubus" (that's a "demon of lust and desire," kids) has been cooped up for decades. Hilarity does not ensue.
...in other words this is basic, cheap T&A horror trash. Aside from some pretty nice eye candy (esp. Natasha Henstridge of "Species" fame, who's aging quite nicely) this movie is utter poop. Avoid.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Tango & Cash" (1989)

Two hotshot L.A. cops - a straight & narrow suit & tie guy (Stallone) and a scruffy loner (Kurt Russell) are framed and sent to prison by a crime boss (Jack Palance). Once they put aside their differences and escape, they kick a lotta ass and blow up a lotta stuff while trying to clear their names.

T&G is an obvious attempt to duplicate the "mismatched cops who become buddies" formula of the "Lethal Weapon" films. Its certainly not Shakespeare but it is a decent butt kicker; Sly and Kurt work well together. It's also worth seeing to check out Teri "Desperate Housewives" Hatcher (at her peak of '80s big-hair hotness) in a bit part as Sly's exotic-dancer kid sister.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Three O'Clock High" (1987)
A dorky high schooler accidentally picks a fight with the hulking new bully, then spends the rest of his day trying to figure out how to weasel out of it. A quirky, dryly funny cult item that still holds up pretty well today (my kids loved it!)

[lester1/2jr]

the Afflicted (2011) - this was a little different and crazier than I thought it would be. A horrible demented woman is abusive to her family of 3 girls and one boy. She's not physically imposing but she uses her authority and withholds love and so forth to control them. She's also hyper religious and is obsessed with some local crackpot tv preacher, who is fortunately for her slow on the take in regard to her obvious mental problems and crimes.

If you ever saw the Tara Reid movie The Lake it's kind of like that. fairly intense and unique. disturbing but compelling

5/5

[claws]

Life (2017)

A space probe from mars is retrieved by a space station floating near earth. The probe contains samples of extraterrestrial life that grows larger each time it kills a member of the crew.

Alien (1979) has set the bar pretty high when it comes to sci-fi horror. Even though Life wasn't necessarily copying Alien, but there are and always will be similarities by default once you choose outer space as a setting with an alien on the loose. That said, I thought Life was thrilling and entertaining. The creature is unusual (not if you're familiar with The Abyss) and interesting, the cast is decent though the ending might not be everybody's cup of tea, but it has a fun old school B-Movie sci-fi vibe that screams sequel. 3.5/5 (very good)

[Rev. Powell]

REVENGE (1989): After he fails to avenge his child's murder, an old man father's a son to continue his quest for revenge against the killer. Bookended by parables and filled with Buddhist mysticism, this glasnost-era Kazakhstani film is a strange and spiritual plea for poetry above worldliness. 4/5.

[Trevor]

"The Mangler" (1995)
A large industrial laundry factory in a small Maine town is home to a gargantuan steam-ironing machine with a taste for human blood. Sounds like good gory fun, but Tobe ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre") Hooper's take on one of SK's lesser short stories is cheap, poorly acted, and quickly falls apart under the weight of its own ludicrous premise.

Filmed in a warehouse in Johannesburg 

[Newt]

"The Mangler" (1995)
A large industrial laundry factory in a small Maine town is home to a gargantuan steam-ironing machine with a taste for human blood. Sounds like good gory fun, but Tobe ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre") Hooper's take on one of SK's lesser short stories is cheap, poorly acted, and quickly falls apart under the weight of its own ludicrous premise.

I thought the machine did a workmanlike job.

[lester1/2jr]

experiment in terror - interesting but ultimately not very essential late film noir. A guy wants to make a bank teller help him do a robbery. It never feels very real, why would he go about it this way, when she could easily contact the police at any time. it's not as dumb as leo Fongs "Blind Rage", where they train blind people to rob a bank, but it's not very realistic.

The girl and her sister are both cute and as a later one of these its a little more risque and so forth but ...meh. and it's pretty long too like 2 plus hours

2.5 /5

[Rev. Powell]

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (RIFFTRAX): A crazy doll-maker shrinks people for company. Not really puppets, are they? Another terrible perspective-trick movie from the infamous Bert I. Gordon (this time, people get really small instead of really big like in AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN [which the AotPP characters watch at the drive-in]). The Rifftrax guys add a few laughs to one that would have fit well on MST3K. I'd give the RT version 3/5, wouldn't really be much interested in this on without the jokes.

[lester1/2jr]

twitter sized review pretty much says it all

Case 39 - in J Lo or even J Law's hands this might have been a fun trashy b movie, instead its boring Zellwegger vs yet another evil kid 1/5

[indianasmith]

ALIEN: COVENANT (2017) - I was one of those that was totally unimpressed with PROMETHEUS;  to be honest, I fell asleep during it.  But I had heard good things about ALIEN:COVENANT and decided to give it a try, and was glad I did.  It had a much more coherent plot, the special effects were great, the gore abundant, and the pacing kept you awake and on edge!  The plot - a colonization ship gets a stray radio burst and finds the wreckage of the Prometheus, along with an android named David - and a planet infested with deadly, parasitic aliens that can germinate as spores or as the old, familiar "face-huggers."  Mayhem ensues.  Great movie all the way around!  4.5.5