Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

tomorrow never comes (1978)     One of my new years resolutions was to lay off the ultra obscure 70's drive in stuff so what do I do:  rent the most obscure 70's formulaic action drive in ready movie there is.    of course, I pretty much loved it.   it's  a stand off movie with Oliver Reed as the cop trying to play mind games to get the guy out of the house where he is keeping Susan George his hooker girlfriend hostage and some method actor guy as the psycho.  He's about as good as brando or James Dean or any other of those vaunted guys but he didn't make it for some reason, probably because he looks more like an extra than a star.   big surprise, it's Reed's "last day on the job" too!  His gold rimmed eyeglasses would make him the envy of any NYC breakdancer circa a few years later.   

                   It resembles a straight to cable action movie from the 80's more than most of the movies from it's era though their is a little "Taxi Driver"  and  "lone wolf MCquade" in there.  Also borrows some of the tension from the disaster movies that were popular at the time.    It got lost in the shuffle because it's a little non descript and I would guess it's available in one of those mill creek 50 packs but it's directing and acting are better than average and quite good in places.

[Sister Grace]

"sleeping dogs lie"  free on demand  -  grace you might like this one.  in the "spanking the monkey", solondz. sarah silverman tradition with a completely gross premise given a story and actors who have to be good enough to keep a straight face.

or a sicker "there's something about Mary"

I'm gonna have to check that out; hopefully tonite.

Today I watched Triloquist... this movie was aweful. The dialogue was so overdone with excessive swearing that it became pointless. The death scenes were also weak. And while I usually find skinny, frail, mute guys sexy...norbert was just annoying  .

[Rev. Powell]

CUBE 2: HYPERCUBE (2002): Eight strangers wake up in a mysterious cube just as in the 1997 hit, although this second generation "hypercube" has some new and deadly tricks to play on its captives.  CUBE 2: HYPERCUBE captures a reasonable amount of the atmosphere of paranoia and existential dread from the original, although the acting is down a notch and the hypercube's new features (involving alternate realities) are too hyperbolic.  May please fans of the original (like me), or it could just tick you off as it's understandably not as effective as the first one, which had a completely unexpected existential feel to it.  Playing Fearnet on demand for free along with CUBE ZERO, which I'll check out soon.  3/5.

DONNIE DARKO: THE DIRECTORS CUT (2001):  A demonic bunny rabbit tells emotionally disturbed teen Donnie the world will end in 28 days.  I was well warned about the "remixed" director's cut, and prepared to be disappointed.  It wasn't as bad as I feared.  The new footage (especially the pages from "The Philosophy of Time Travel") actually make the movie slightly more confusing, but basically it adds little to the film's impact, just makes it take longer to get to the same place.  Richard Kelly's commentary (he's interviewed by Kevin Smith) convinces me he's not really insane, as I feared: he understands the film's resolution is absurd, and deliberately designed it using "comic book logic."  It's an inferior cut to the tighter theatrical release but it's basically the same movie and a nice supplement for fans of the original.  4/5.

[ToyMan]

just finished watching sukiyaki western django. it was very good, in my opinion. most people would be really turned off by the awkward line delivery, but since i'd already seen miike having his actors do this in imprint, it didn't bother me. it was sort of like city of lost souls, thrown into a time machine, into some sort of alternate history, but it had much more mood.

[Sister Grace]

just finished watching sukiyaki western django. it was very good, in my opinion. most people would be really turned off by the awkward line delivery, but since i'd already seen miike having his actors do this in imprint, it didn't bother me. it was sort of like city of lost souls, thrown into a time machine, into some sort of alternate history, but it had much more mood.

This is on my NetFlix que, I've really been wanting to see it. I liked Imprint along with most of his films....

[Doggett]

Barb Wire
AVP R...to the end, this time.

Wish I hadn't bothered.

Still, at least you can see what's going on in Barb Wire.

[Jack]

The Ring - Naomi Watts investigates a killer videotape.  This had pretty good suspense and some interestingly bizarre scenes.  It moved along well, with the exception of any scene involving Watts' morbid creepozoid of a kid.  Watts is so utterly gorgeous, but somehow they managed to make her look pretty plain in this.  At least she fell in the water at one point   I really have to hand it to her, I've seen her in three films now, playing three entirely different characters, and she pulled them all off with complete believability.  The girl can act!  My big complaint is that the movie seems to come to an end, but wait - we've still got ten minutes worth of plot left, please bear with us if you'll be so kind.  Video quality of the DVD was surprisingly mediocre considering the relative newness of the film.  Overall, 4/5.

[Dennis]

"Cat Girl Kiki", A young man rescues a stray kitten and takes it to his apartment, the next morning the kitten has turned in to a girl, but not completely, she still has cat ears. Japanese movie with English subtitles, I got it because it sounded like a comedy, it's not. Even though the first part of the film is about the young man dealing with the cat that's now human there's a little more to the movie than that. No big surprises or plot twists but I found that I wanted to see the end just to know what happened.

[Psycho Circus]

"Cat Girl Kiki", A young man rescues a stray kitten and takes it to his apartment, the next morning the kitten has turned in to a girl, but not completely, she still has cat ears. Japanese movie with English subtitles, I got it because it sounded like a comedy, it's not. Even though the first part of the film is about the young man dealing with the cat that's now human there's a little more to the movie than that. No big surprises or plot twists but I found that I wanted to see the end just to know what happened.

Does the young man get jiggy with the cat-lady at any point? Just curious...

[lester1/2jr]

MST3K the starfighters -what can you say?  it's another good episode!  it's not NOT a good episode.  Also, I thinking, this whole movie is an unbelievably boring portrait of life on an air force base.  what if it had a twist ending where they all started speaking russian and we learn that it was all a spy training center and they were then to be sent to America to infiltrate our armed forces!!  Then it would be brilliant!!

[Jack]

Does the young man get jiggy with the cat-lady at any point? Just curious...

Me too    Cats go at it pretty fast and furious, 12 times an hour I've heard!

[Dennis]

"Cat Girl Kiki", A young man rescues a stray kitten and takes it to his apartment, the next morning the kitten has turned in to a girl, but not completely, she still has cat ears. Japanese movie with English subtitles, I got it because it sounded like a comedy, it's not. Even though the first part of the film is about the young man dealing with the cat that's now human there's a little more to the movie than that. No big surprises or plot twists but I found that I wanted to see the end just to know what happened.

Does the young man get jiggy with the cat-lady at any point? Just curious...

Actually the cat girl gets jiggy with him, as does his last and future human girlfriend, it's kind of a strange movie, interesting, but strange.

[Psycho Circus]

I've just finished watching "To Live & Die In L.A." on DVD, that I ordered from Amazon and came yesterday. Wow! Wow! Wow! It's possibly the best film I have ever seen!!!! 

I have been left completely stunned by it. It's basically a film about a cop (William Peterson) and his partner tracking a counterfeiter, the partner gets killed and he teams up with this other guy to nail him. The plot doesn't really give much away (in depth) about each character, you just get a feel for them as events unfold and kind of gauge their respective personalities. Willem Dafoe is in it as the main "bad guy". All the visuals are great, the acting is top notch and this movie contains the greatest, most intense car chase I have ever witnessed. The way the cameras have been utilised is pure genius. Plus, there is a massive, shocking twist about 15 mins from the end, then another, then another! 

Seriously, I was literally on the edge of my sofa and at one point leapt up and down, whilst constantly rambling "Holy f***" and "This is so awesome!" Phew! What a rush.... 

[Doggett]

Friday the 13

2/5
Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it's still rubbish.

Why watch Friday when you could watch Halloween ?


Bride of Frankenstein

4/5

This is the good stuff 


Killer Klowns

4/5

If it had slightly better human characters this film would be pretty much unbeatable.

[Rev. Powell]

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972): Two teenaged girls are kidnapped by a gang of lowlifes and raped and abused. Zero suspense, zero comic relief, zero art, only a willingness to depict naked sadism in loving detail.  SKULL.

CAVE DWELLERS (MST3K):  Ator and a hot valley girl wander around in a fantasy world cursed with a lack of special effects until it's time to climb into his hang glider and drop grenades on the evil wizard's castle.  I don't think the cast was on their "A" game for this outing, but the movie (which may be better known under the title ATOR THE INVINCIBLE) is absurd and entertaining.  3.5/5 stars.