Recent viewings

[indianasmith]

Sounds entertaining!

[vukxfiles]

some episodes of the original Pokemon anime

[Jack]

The Halfway House (2004) - A horror/exploitation/dark comedy.  It starts out with a girl getting kidnapped and sacrificed to a tentacled, one-eyed monster.  The girl's sister shows up to investigate her disappearance, and the cops tell her that several other girls have disappeared previously;  all of them residents of a halfway house.  So the sister goes undercover at the place.  There's not a whole lot of plot - the girls fight, get nekkid a whole lot, and...get nekkid some more.  Guess where the tentacled, one-eyed monster lives?  In the basement of the halfway house?!?  Pretty entertaining shlockfest overall.  I guess my only complaint is that it tosses in a small amount of comedy here and there, which doesn't seem to fit too well.  I'm sure I'll be watching this one again.  Several times probably.  4/5.

[3mnkids]

Harry Brown~ an elderly man(Michael Cain) reeling from the loss of people close to him and tired of the young punks in the neighborhood decides to get a little justice.    Cain was brilliant and the plot, while not original, was well done. I enjoyed this and will probably add it too my collection.

Dorian Gray~(2009)~ A young man stays young and handsome for years while the life like painting of himself shows what he really looks like. eh, it was alright. Worth a one time watch.  It was well acted and beautifully shot but, im not sure really, its just one of those movies you will forget that you saw if you know what I mean. 

[lester1/2jr]

Alligator (1980) - I didn't really like the main guy, he was sort of mumbly and not very charismatic, and the scenes where he is the focus are like something out of a very mediocre cop show from the 70's.  The rest of the movie made up for it though especially the hot redhead scientist lady.  I also liked the hot shot big game hunter guy, the improbable explosions and car crashes (from an alligator?)  and there is even a bit of comic relief in the bigger better and more colorful second half.  after some deliberation,  I accept this movie.

[3mnkids]

Accident(Yi ngoi )~ A group of assassins mode of murder? making it look like an accident. Im not talking your typical cut the brake lines stuff either. intricate, well planned.. accidents. When one of the crew is killed, accidentally?, the leader spirals into paranoia.. I freaking loved this movie. The acting was top notch, the death scenes were amazingly well done, the storyline was interesting.. I cant say enough good things about it.       I will buy this one as soon as I can. 

[Psycho Circus]

I made my dad watch "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and he loved it! 

[Torgo]

Funny People ***1/2 out of ****.  Judd Apatow's most accomplished film to date. Funny and genuinely moving. Just a bit too long though.

[lester1/2jr]

Twin Peaks: fire walk with some donkeys (1992)-          a good way of knowing you have no clue about what is cool is if you've still never seen Twin Peaks but you've seen every episode of Night Court and Photon.  This started out quirky and became confusing. I liked how it was a mystery not told in the usual way. After 10 seasons of 5 different law and order versions, I think the straightforward detective story could use a little shaking up so this was ahead of it's time.  I also liked all the long shots of the very pretty blonde lead, often nude.  I understand that part of the director's style is emulating dreams and that sort of weird subconscious imagery, but I would have prefered more about the actual story and the mystery of the womens death rather than the tawdry soap opera type stuff about the hot blonde and her ....not good relationship with one of the characters.

                 I can see why this show was hip, it's both experimental and distinctly american with all the small town heartland sort of people.  I think the Americana element would come to the fore in a big way in the next 2 decades in a way I never really got into.  It was different and entertaining, if not a home run.  I'd probably rather watch Medium though

[JaseSF]

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): After a mysterious artifact, an ominous black monolith, found buried on the moon sends out an intense signal to Jupiter, a manned space mission is sent to explore that distant planet. Included on the mission are Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea), Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) and three other scientists in suspended animation. Perhaps the most key and vital member of the crew however is an artificially intelligent 9000 computer system named HAL.

In terms of special effects, being faithful to the known science of the time and visual wonder, this film delivers the goods big time. It almost always seems to have something visually arresting occurring. The whole plot with the HAL 9000 computer "malfunctioning" is very well pulled off and while not as epic in some sense as the rest of the story here is, it's actually the most consistently entertaining and thrilling portion of the film. The rest of the film is often very arty and slow-moving which may well turn off many viewers but the plot elements don't really allow for easy interpretation of unfolding events either. Keir Dullea does quite well in an understated performance as key figure Dr. David Bowman and his interactions with the HAL 9000 computer (as excellently voiced by Douglas Rain) and his eventual fate at the end are the most memorable parts of the film. A fantastic viewing experience that challenges viewers like few others. ****1/2 out of *****

A Clockwork Orange (1971): Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowall), the vicious, ruthless leader of a group of young teddy boy thugs is "reprogrammed" and "re-conditioned" in order to become a non-threatening member of the larger community after volunteering for a new experimental government approved crime aversion program. Only the program has unforseen side effects and is Alex really and truly changed after all?

This is a fast moving thrill ride filled with ups and down of giddying dizziness, nauseating images, beautiful music, startling images of beauty, surprising humor, repulsive violence, showcasing all the highs and even more so the lows to which human nature can strive. At times, it all does seem just a bit too arty. In the end here, who is really good and evil? Those lines are very blurred indeed. The scary thing about this film is how close it seems to be to the world we actually live in today where justice rarely seems to be served as it concerns criminals, violence and sex are everywhere and humanity become more and more desensitized to it all and our governments are concerned with only one thing - maintaining their own power and influence.****1/2 out of *****

[Rev. Powell]

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL (2009): An enigmatic, silent killer is sent on an obscure and complicated mission to kill an unknown man for unexplained reasons; the movie follows him as he meets with a long string of contacts of unknown significance, each of whom gives him a matchbook with further instructions and a bit of dime store philosophy.  Slow as molasses and often wincingly pretentious, but technically it's extremely beautiful, with incredible Spanish vistas and a measured cinematic poetry that's reminiscent of Sergio Leone.  Not for all tastes but worth a shot if your interested in seeing an experiment in pure cinema with almost no plot.  3/5.

MKT3K: SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON: The experiment is an Italian Bond ripoff that has something to do with chewing gum and Amsterdam; it's hard to follow the poorly developed plot, and it doesn't really give the guys lots of material to riff on.  Nothing special happens back on the Satellite of Love, either.  Chuckles here and there, but overall an average to below average episode.  3/5.

PROMETHEUS TRIUMPHANT: A FUGUE IN THE KEY OF FLESH (2009): A mad doctor reanimates his love who died of the plague in an unspecified medieval time and place in this modern silent movie mixing the plots of FRANKENSTEIN and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.  This is easily the worst movie I've seen this year, an experiment that sounded interesting but totally fails do to incompetence.  The inspiration was German expressionism, but other than the fact that it's silent and in black and white, it captures none of the magic of the great films of the era.  Camerawork is mundane, locations are uninspiring, the plot is boring, no one can act, the original musical score is repetitive and irritating.  The dead medieval peasant girl has a navel ring and the intertitles have misspellings; it's almost as if nobody cared.  This is what bad movies would look like if society had never developed sound technology or color film.  AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!  0.5/5.  

[mahoney]

Motorcycle Gang (1957)
was ok, crap jokes & a few dull parts let it down
**

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage [1970]
Brilliant Giallo thriller with an excellent plot twist at the end
****

Basket Case [1982]
First time I'd seen this since I was a kid, still has me in stitches, a bad movie if ever there was one.
***

The Last Man On Earth [1964]
Probably on par with Charlton Heston in The Omega Man, miles better than Will Smith in I Am Legend. Should really read the book as soon as this is the third movie based on the book I've seen. Definitely an inspiration for Romero this one, recommended to anyone who loves Night Of The Living Dead, very similar themes.
***

Thriller: A Cruel Picture/They Call Her One Eye [1974]
I have been wanting to see this for ages due to it's reputation. Didn't bother with the DVD as it's so heavily cut over here, downloaded it a few times but it was either a poor rip of the cut version but I finally got hold of a good copy though it had no subs but I managed to find a subfile on the net for it.
I fully expected it to be along the lines of I Spit On Your Grave, purely out to shock with it's explicit scenes & have not much else going for it but it's actually a f**king great film. The atmosphere this film creates is like nothing else Ive seen, the movie is pretty much silent due to the main character being a mute & there is rarely any soundtrack but when it comes in you can really feel it. Really expected this film to be all about the shock factor but the hardcore sex scenes really didn't seem much more a big deal to me & only helped understand what an ordeal the girl has gone through which makes he revenge even more sweet.
Chuffed with this film, thought it would be one of those you watch just to understand why it has such a name for itself & never want to see it again but it's so much more than that though I can understand why it's not to most peoples tastes but it has so much more artistic merit than some of the other films it gets mentioned alongside. Saying that, I still can't imagine it ever getting a fully uncut release in the UK.
*****

[Leah]

To Kill A Mockingbird
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Troll 2 (Again)
The Shaw shank Redemption

[Pilgermann]

Watched Latitude Zero last night and it's really a lot of very enjoyable nonsense.

[SkullBat308]

The Thaw- 
Poultrygeist- 
District 9- 
Double Agent 73- hilariously bad