Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

The Revenant" (2015)

A lone frontiersman (Leonardo DiCaprio) survives a grizzly bear attack, being left for dead in the wilderness, and brutal winter weather so he can make his way back to civilization and get revenge on the guy who killed his son. 
Westerns are usually not my meat at all but this one drew me right in. A beautifully filmed epic of survival (based on a true story!) that earned Leo a well deserved Oscar.

[Rev. Powell]

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (2017): A cardiologist's odd relationship with a teenage boy reveals a secret about his past, and will lead him to a terrible dilemma in the future. Yorgos "The Lobster" Lanthimos' first official stab at a horror movie is every bit as disturbing as you might hope---which is to say, every bit as disturbing as his comedies and dramas. 4/5.

THE STRANGE ONES (2017): A young teen boy and a man on the lam travel to a cabin in the woods. What looks like it's going to be a slow thriller develops into a slow drama; helped by a low-key but effective performance from the young lead in a tough role, the filmmakers do a pretty good job with no budget to speak of. 2.5/5.

[indianasmith]

KILLING GROUND - This is an Australian film on Netflix right now.  A doctor and his fiancée go on a camping trip in a remote scenic park.  They arrive at their camp and see another tent pitched just upriver from them, with no sign of the occupants.  Gradually, the story of two camping families plays out: the main couple enjoying the wilderness, and the family of four - two parents, a beautiful teen daughter, and a one year old baby in the other tent.  But, as the story unfolds and the two families never see each other or interact, you realize that it is two stories in two different timelines: the family of four was at the campsite a few days before.  What happened to them?  Two vicious convicts from a nearby town happened on the teenage daughter sleeping in the car and wound up brutally murdering the whole family, except for the toddler, who wanders off into the woods. Then the doctor and his girl find the baby - and the ex-cons find them.  This was a hard movie to watch; the doctor is a coward and the ex-cons are two of the most loathsome villains imaginable.  The film never flinches in showing their evil and brutality.  Well done but a difficult viewing. 4/5

[lester1/2jr]

It Happened tomorrow (1944) - decent Twilight Zone-light style time waster. A reporter gets a hold of tomorrows newspaper and attempts to use it to work events in his favor, with very mixed results. Linda Darnell plays a "Nightmare Alley" type fake psychic as part of an act with her Dad. She looks good and is more compelling than the male lead Dick Powell, who doesn't make a huge impression but does well enough I guess.

Here they all are



4/5 not earth shattering but they have fun with the concept and its fun to see what will happen when he goes to where, say , a robbery happens and knows its going to happen but not like what to do about it

[lester1/2jr]

Die Hard - yep I'd never seen it. It was...awesome. maybe could have had a little more about the people at the party? and less of the weird german blonde guys? just nitpicking

5/5

[javakoala]

KILLING GROUND - This is an Australian film on Netflix right now.  A doctor and his fiancée go on a camping trip in a remote scenic park.  They arrive at their camp and see another tent pitched just upriver from them, with no sign of the occupants.  Gradually, the story of two camping families plays out: the main couple enjoying the wilderness, and the family of four - two parents, a beautiful teen daughter, and a one year old baby in the other tent.  But, as the story unfolds and the two families never see each other or interact, you realize that it is two stories in two different timelines: the family of four was at the campsite a few days before.  What happened to them?  Two vicious convicts from a nearby town happened on the teenage daughter sleeping in the car and wound up brutally murdering the whole family, except for the toddler, who wanders off into the woods. Then the doctor and his girl find the baby - and the ex-cons find them.  This was a hard movie to watch; the doctor is a coward and the ex-cons are two of the most loathsome villains imaginable.  The film never flinches in showing their evil and brutality.  Well done but a difficult viewing. 4/5

I found it to be beautiful to look at. The scenery and the camera work are perfect together. The rest of it? Been done better and done with a purpose. This film has no purpose. Basically, you get  ugliness for the sake of ugliness, but in a very well-made package.

The real movie should have started with the final scene of this film. But that would involve getting someone who can create character depth.

[lester1/2jr]

Split Second - this was part of that guys Sunday film noir thing on TCM. It was a pretty good hostage movie where they are all in the desert near Las Vegas, holed up in a ghost town hotel.

They interact and there is tension via: the main guy trying to work on the one guys girlfriend and the other gangster guy has a bullet wound and is he going to die and yadda yadda. Amidst all this there is a nuclear test scheduled to happen in this same area! holy s**t talk about a dicey scenerio. I'd say ... not bad for a late night TCM viewing

3.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Vampirella" (1996)
Roger Corman produced this direct-to-video cheapie based on the cult horror/sci-fi comic book heroine. "Ella," a sexy bloodsucker from a planet of vampires, comes to Earth in a skimpy outfit to hunt down the evil vamp who killed her stepfather. This campy nonsense suffers from a serious case of mis-casting, especially former Bond girl Talisa Soto in the title role -- who's purty but not statuesque or chesty enough to fill out the Vampirella costume. The Who's Roger Daltrey (!), who hams it up big time as the bad guy, seems to be having fun though. I've seen worse but even on a Corman budget this could've been so much better.

"AC/DC: The Brian Johnson Years"
I had to check this out after hearing the about Malcolm Young's passing over the weekend. It's one of those cheap, no-frills "unauthorized" documentaries in which a bunch of U.K. rock critics including Malcolm Dome and Jerry Rutherford (of Classic Rock magazine) give an album-by-album run down of the Brian Johnson-era of AC/DC. Some bootleg-quality vintage live concert clips pad things out to feature length. Nothing earth shattering here, but a fun watch for fanboys.

[indianasmith]

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (2017) - This is the latest (and last?) entry in the PLANET OF THE APES reboot that started with DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES a few years ago.  It's a brilliantly cast, beautifully filmed story of how the new race of intelligent apes led by Caesar is forced into conflict with the remnants of the U.S. Army, led by a psychotic colonel (beautifully played by Woody Harrelson).  The apes only want to be left alone, but the Colonel is determined to destroy them all, lest a new mutation of the simian flu wipe out what is left of humanity.  Great storyline, nice pacing, with a couple of homages to the original film series.  Very entertaining overall!

[Rev. Powell]

LADY BIRD (2017): Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson's senior year at Catholic school, as she dreams of leaving Sacramento behind for an east coast college while battling her strong-willed mother who wants her to save the struggling family's money by attending to a local state school. Greta Gerwig's directorial debut trods well-worn ground but does so confidently, helped enormously by award-caliber performances from leads Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf. 3.5/5.

GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 (2004): In a future increasingly dominated by half-human cyborgs, a pair of special agents (who pepper their interrogations with quotes from Descartes and Buddhist parables) investigate a series of murder/suicides committed by sexbots. I actually prefer this in-name-only sequel to the original: the plot is just as complex and philosophical, but the (appropriately, computer-aided) visuals are even more stunning, with a five-minute glowing cyber-parade sequence that reportedly took a year to animate. 4.5/5.

[Trevor]

Return of the Living Dead 111: yikes 

[Rev. Powell]

FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (1969): The transvestite Madame at a underground Tokyo gay bar becomes jealous of rising drag star Eddy, suspecting (correctly) that he is having an affair with the owner. The gay rock n' roll pot orgies no longer shock, but the surrealistic structure---breaks to interview the actors about their roles, slapstick fight sequences, experimental psychedelic films embedded inside the film, and a jumbled-up flashback-filled timeline---endures. 4/5

[indianasmith]

Today, being off for the holiday, I got to pull a rare double feature.
This morning, before I ever even got out of bed, I watched a movie I DVR's a couple of weeks back:
THE CURE FOR WELLNESS  This is a very creepy movie with a slow build sense of impending doom.  A young Wall Street investor is sent to a spa in Switzerland in order to retrieve the CEO, who has fled the company and its high pressure environment in order to cure himself of his various health and psychological issues.  Upon arriving, he is told that he can't see his boss till the next day, and on the drive back down into the village gets in a car accident which leaves him in a full length leg cast.  The Director invites him to "take the cure" while he is there, and that is when the weirdness begins . . .
Overall very good, a fun watch, with excellent performances.  4.5/5

This evening, my wife and I went to the local theater to see JUSTICE LEAGUE.  I missed the first 5 minutes (the popcorn line was crazy long!), but really enjoyed it a great deal. DC is definitely getting its mojo back: this one was not quite as good as WONDER WOMAN, but definitely better than BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN.  Great effects, and Steppenwolf is a nasty villain!  I also liked the character development and evolving relationships.  I am more than ready for the next movie!  4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Black Sabbath" (1963)

A cool, colorful horror anthology by Italian director Mario Bava, featuring the great Boris Karloff as your host for three spooky tales (he also stars in one): a nurse learns why you shouldn't steal from the dead, a woman is stalked via telephone, and an outsider learns of a family's vampire curse. Fun stuff, and of course it also inspired the name of a certain band you might have heard of.

[lester1/2jr]

and of course it also inspired the name of a certain band you might have heard of.

of course! The Dave Clark Five

Night Train to Munich (1940) - one of those ww2 era movies that wears its (anti fascist) politics on its sleeve but what are you gonna do. It's spy vs spy as the British spy tries to get a scientist guy and his hot daughter out of Germany. The dialogue and so forth is clever even though when they are speaking German its just English with German accents. A little more acceptable in 1940 than it was with Rise of the Gargoyles.

It's a criterion release and  looks significantly better than your typical black and white TCM movie. It's British I think and there is some clever stuff. I liked when he doesn't have his passport so he sneaks up behind the two soldiers manning the gate and compliments them on what a good job they're doing then proceeds through. It doesn't rise to greatness but it's about as good as it could be.

4.25/5