Recent viewings

[asimpson2006]

Friday the 13th part VII ** out of ****

I couldn't think this film franchise could get any dumber, sadly I was mistaken.  It was dumb on how Jason got revived AGAIN.

Friday the 13th Part VIII * 1/2 out of ****

Worse than the previous one.  Jason in New York and the 80's teenagers was just awful.

[Jack]

Ritual - one of those Tales From The Crypt movies.  A female doctor has her license suspended and the only work she can get is to move to Jamaica and be a personal physician for a rich guy's brother.  He believes a voodoo curse has been put on him, making him a zombie.  The doctor spends the movie investigating the island's voodoo culture and befriending the locals.  Fairly good overall.  The doctor was very likable and very, very hot.  The story moved quite slowly and was only moderately interesting.  The whole "This is Jamaica mon, we drink and smoke dope and have sex 24/7" was overdone to the point of annoyance.  But did I mention the doctor was hot?

Venom - some kids in Louisiana are stalked by a zombie killer dude.  If you've ever seen a slasher, you've seen this plot.  However, I though the characters were excellent - quite likable, decently developed, and sympathetic.  The atmosphere was another high point, out in the woods at night or in a creepy old house.  The zombie guy was creepy as hell, and drove this huge ugly truck that was almost a character in itself.  The directing was top-notch, well worth a watch.  Now I just have to buy the DVD again since the first one I bought is defective.  Got it used for six bucks, now I just ordered another used copy for seven bucks.  We'll see if that helps.  They want $26 for it new, so I'm still only up to half price.

How to make a monster - totally cheesy horror movie about some video game designers trying to finish a project on time.  There's the heartless manager, the hulking stupid guy, the a-hole intellectual and the shy nerd.  Their motion capture suit comes alive after a power surge and starts killing them.  But the real story is about the intern (Clea DuVall) who starts out all sweet and nice but eventually goes over to the dark side of nasty corporate culture.  Kind of hit and miss, the underlying theme was rather well done but the comically cheesy characters made it impossible to take anything seriously.

[Torgo]

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL  ***1/2 out of ****

Had a blast seeing this. IMO, it ties with Temple of Doom in terms of 2nd best of the series.  I heard some grumping and growling of some people who didn't like it but I had a great time watching and already can't wait for the DVD.

[lester1/2jr]

"the last laugh" (1924) -  by the guy who did "Nosferatu" Marnau.  It was good and unique in that there were no titles.  like, it was silent, but there weren't even any pieces of dialogue.  now thats expressionism!  ironically,  the plot was, I thought, exceedingly simple but then it would sort of have to be.  cool movie though

"africa addio"  (197?)  I really liked Farewell Uncle Tom.  this was of similar quality, but I had to fast forward through the scenes where animals were being killed.  I'm not an animal rights nut, I just couldn't take it, though it got it's point across.  it's very goodand the overall point,  that colonialism was bad but ending it brought new problems for africa, was made well, but having skipped so much of it I got a little lost.

[Rev. Powell]

EVIL (2003):  A movie about bullies in a Sweedish boarding school.  Not bad but very predictible.  For some reason it was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar.  Must have been Sweeden's turn. 3/5.

SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF (1958): Two fugitives wash up on an all-chick, shark-worshipping island. Dumb but watchable due to nice scenery and surprisingly gripping underwater photography.  2/5.

UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929):  Everyone should see this once.  It's only 17 minutes long and it's of enormous historical importance.  5/5.

[Killer Bees]

The Queen

I've always wanted to see this movie.  Helen Mirren as HRH Elizabeth II is just breathtaking.  The main reason I watched this movie is for the infinitely yummy Roger Allam, who gets HEAPS of screen time.  So not only candy for my eyes, but a truly good movie. 

This is the movie that just keeps on giving:

1.  Helen Mirren and cast all do a fabulous job.
2.  The story is interesting and quite touching.  I was crying in places.  Visually spectacular.
3.  The yummy Roger Allam is in it all formal and wearing a suit....
4.  And the sticker price said $29.48, but when I got to the check out it was actually $12.99.  K-Mart, you rock!


And for a complete contrast:


Shoot 'Em Up
I LOVED this movie!  Clive Owen is to die for anyway and Monica Bellucci is gorgeous as always.  And Paul Giamatti is excellent as the bad guy.

Seriously, how could you NOT love a movie where there is only about 5 mins in total that doesn't involve guns and shooting and where Clive is giving it to Monica in full nudity whilst killing bad guys at the same time

THAT guy I'd love to meet!   

[Torgo]

(out of 4 stars)

ROCKY  ****
ROCKY II  ***1/2
ROCKY III  ***
ROCKY IV  **1/2
ROCKY V   *1/2
ROCKY BALBOA  ***1/2 

[Rev. Powell]

KRULL (1983):  I rembered seeing this one about the Cyclops and the glaive from my childhood.  Turns out, seeing it as an adult I was a little shocked at how blatantly it ripped off STAR WARS.  Neither good nor bad, really, but has nostalgia value and it's intended audience of kiddies won;t notice the plot holes.  3/5

FIDO (2006):  The premise is the star in this light black comedy about an alternative past where brain-eating zombies are subdued and kept as slaves.  Very much like a 1950s sitcom, but with decapitations.  The human-zombie love stories are quietly disturbing.  4/5

ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968):  Some may think it's too slow, but this is probably the most horrifying expose of how difficult it can be for a Satanic cult to find a healthy white baby to raise.  5/2

[asimpson2006]

Empire of the Sun: ** 1/2 out of ****

A good film about a about being a POW during WWII.  The only thing I didn't like about the film was that the pace of the film was so slow.  It seemed like it took forever for something to happen.

[enemy]

Tales from the Quadead Zone - A no budget flick filmed on a camcorder from 1987.  It has a Tales from the Crypt kind of feeling, composed of three different story each with their own twist.  Everything about it was awful, in the best way of course.

Equalizer 2000 - A post apocalyptic film where everyone is short on oil or water, but weapons are aplenty.  Enter the Equalizer 2000, an M-16 with a bunch of rocket launchers screwed onto the sides of it. Lots of costumes consisting of either Camouflage, Shoulder pads, black leather, or ponchos and jeans.

Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters - Originally a Filipino women's wrestling movie that's been overdubbed by Troma.

The Machine Girl - A Japanese schoolgirl avenges the deaths of her brother and his friend with a gatling gun attached to her arm.  It lives up to the hype.  Watch the trailer on youtube and you'll get a good idea of what you're in for.

[Torgo]

KUNG FU PANDA    *** out of ****.

The plot is pretty basic and by the numbers for the most part but the action is extremely well done and Jack Black is great as the title character.  In fact, the action scenes in this animated CGI flick are more well done than a lot of recent live action films that I've seen in a few years.  while not the best animated flick ever, it's a lot of fun and is very funny. A good flick for the whole family to check out together. 

[Torgo]

HULK (2003)    **1/2 out of ****.

In preparation for the release of the The Incredible Hulk reboot this Friday, I thought I would go back and re-watch Ang Lee's 2003 attempt at the character to see what my opinion was of it a few years after my last viewing of it.  While not quite the disaster that a lot of people make it out to be IMO, the whole is still not nearly the sum of the parts either.  While it's admirable that Ang Lee took a Greek tragedy approach to the material, this is still the Hulk we're talking about which is exactly the deepest character in the Marvel universe.  Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly look kind of blank throughout a lot of the movie like they didn't know what to do and Nick Nolte (while distractingly over the top) seems to be the only one trying to have fun.  Sam Elliott does his usual great work and the CGI isn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be.  The CGI looks it's best during the desert scenes on up towards the end IMO.

[Jack]

Heatstroke - The Sci-Fi Channel knows how to make a movie full of babes in bikinis and tight tank tops, and still have it suck.  Some aliens (bargain basement CGI raptors) are on an island.  They kill anyone who steps foot in the woods, however no one is aware of their existence even though they've been there since the '70s.  Some mishmash of characters are investigating the aliens, and the writing has them all acting in the most unbelievable ways possible.  At one point an alien puts its clawed hand through a girl's back and out through her stomach, but due to her main character status, after 36 hours lying on a stretcher she makes a full recovery.

The Dark (1994) - Some giant mole creature is rooting around a cemetery eating freshly buried bodies.  A couple of ex-government operatives are after it, the main guy wants to capture it alive (it secretes a liquid that heals wounds), while the bad guy want to kill it because it killed his partner.  Good guy teams up with a waitress, and there are a couple of grave diggers for some light comedy relief.  Neve Campbell does a pretty lousy job as a local cop as well.  This is very character based, and the characters are pretty good, so that works all right.  No suspense or scares, meh...not bad to watch on a boring Thursday evening.

Backwoods - Spike TV original.  Take the various Hills Have Eyes movies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wrong Turn, swipe ideas liberally from all of them, stew it up into a big low budget mess, and this is what you get.  Wasn't too bad at the beginning, but by the end it was an unintentional laugh fest.  Characters were undeveloped and the plot, well, it's pretty hard to actually get into this movie when you're constantly noticing which movies all these things were ripped off from.

Exorcist The Beginning - and ancient church is discovered buried in the sands of Africa (or someplace).  It was built long before Christianity came to the area, so it's all very mysterious.  An ex-priest is called in to investigate.  Very good characters and excellent atmosphere.  However the first part is all about this spooky church, but then around the halfway point it seems to shift focus to a demonic possession story, which is done fairly well but I liked the spooky church thing better.  The ending has CGI and is way overdone, which is a big black mark against the movie.  Overall however, I really enjoyed it.  One of the best jump scares in recent memory.

[lester1/2jr]

Film Geek- 5/5  edgy, but not pretentious and embraces alot of what my generation (generation x) would have considered corny or sexist. Seinfeld/ Simpsons-like silly/ observational humor is what really carries it though.  Some amateurish acting aside I really enjoyed it but... don't want to say anymore for fear the director will somehow contact me and want to discuss this and other films.

some appreciation of "Happiness" or "Closer"  is probably advised

[asimpson2006]

The Happening ** out of ****

Saw this yesterday with my date.  Didn't like the film too much.  Some miscasts mainly the female lead character who was played by Zooey Deschanel.  I've called her the thousand yard stare girl in this film.  It looks like she's not really focused on what she is doing in the film.  I also found the film to be predictable especially the ending.

Alien 3 *** out of ****

While not as good or or deep as the previous films I still enjoyed the film a lot.