Recent viewings

[JaseSF]

The International (2009): Louis Salinger (Clive Owen), an Interpol agent, becomes obsessed with bringing down a powerful International Bank with secret ties to the foreign arms trade and a bloody trail of murder covering their tracks but the bank also has very powerful friends in high places and trying to bring them down is next to impossible.

Caught this on the Movie Network. It's really quite an effective thriller quickly drawing you into its web of intrigue. I started watching it and couldn't take my eyes off it - just an enthralling experience. Very, very good and fast paced. The story is interesting also and there's just something appealing in rooting on an hero against impossible odds just to see if he can perhaps somehow overcome them or if he'll go down in a blaze of glory so to speak. I really enjoyed it although one does wonder just how Salinger gets around all over the place so easily and effortlessly and manages to pursue so effectively even with only on the chase on foot.  Its positives outweigh its negatives. Not sure if it would stand up so well under repeated viewings however so ***1/2 out of *****.

[Jack]

Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit (2008) - Jack Hunter is a treasure hunter (What a coincidence!) and he heads off to Syria to track down some treasure, and get to the bottom of who killed his college professor / father figure.  He meets up with his (Canadian) Syrian guide, who's basically a b***h until she magically falls in love with him halfway through the movie.  They do all the usual Indiana Jones stuff in a low budget fashion, and then the movie stops dead so we can all take a long look at the beautiful (Turkish) Syrian scenery and meet all the wonderful (European) Syrian people who speak perfect English.  Ah, how educational    It finally picks back up and proceeds in the usual SyFy Original fashion to the end.  Jack was a fairly likable guy, and overall it wasn't a bad way to spend a boring Thursday evening.  3/5.

[3mnkids]

Room of death(La chambre des morts)~ Two men acting like idiots hit a man with their car and kill him. While freaking out about hitting him they find he had a bag filled with money. They take it and dump his body only to find out that it was ransom money for a little girl who ends up dead.... The guys with the money are really secondary. The main character is the female profiler trying to find the killer of the little girl and stop them from killing another child they kidnapped. Its got a silence of the lambs kinda vibe. Its a decent thriller.

[Jack]

The Ghost Galleon (1974) - this is from the Blind Dead movie series - low budget Spanish horror movies.  Luckily I saw the first one before viewing this, so I was prepared for the extremely slow pace and ultra-cheesy...everything.   Some swimsuit models wind up on a 16th century galleon, and some other models and some guys show up later to look for them.  There are of course undead Templar Knights aboard as well.  This does not turn out well.  The atmosphere was fabulous - the galleon is obviously a model, but it looks exactly like you would expect a centuries old haunted ship to look like.  It's perpetually hidden in fog, and the boards creek slowly as our swimsuit models explore it.  That's really the whole point of the movie - the atmosphere.  Everything else is total cheese - the Knights stalk their victims at such a slow speed that you could probably outdistance them even if you were hog-tied, the dubbing is pretty bad but judging by the overall quality of the movie, probably not much worse than the original dialogue, and please don't think about any plot point for more than a couple seconds or you'll be left shaking your head.  Still, if you know what to expect, it makes for a great atmospheric experience.  4/5.

[indianasmith]

Forbidden Kingdom - Long ago the Monkey King defeated all the Warriors that the Jade Warlord sent to kill him with the aid of a magic staff.  But then, the Celestial Emperor went out for 500 years meditation, and the Jade Warlord tricked the Monkey King into giving up his staff, and turned him to stone.  The staff wound up in an antique store in Chinatown, where a kung-fu obsessed teenager winds up with it and finds himself transported to Medieval China and tasked with returning it to Five Element Mountain and using it to free the Monkey King from his stone prison . . .  OK, the plot is silly, but it's worth it to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li do their stuff in the same movie.  My family and I really enjoyed this one.

[Rev. Powell]

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999): A puppeteer discovers a portal behind a file cabinet that provides entry into John Malkovich's head; together with a scheming co-worker he sells tickets to "be someone else" at $200 a pop.  Highly absurd, but still the easiest to follow and funniest of Charlie Kauffman's metaphysical comedy scripts. 4.5/5. 

[3mnkids]

I was in a Christian Bale mood...

The prestige~ I could listen to him say rubber ball over and over again.
Reign of fire~ Bale + Matthew McConaughey looking sexy
American Psycho~well, he gets naked.. what else is there to say

Sorry guys   

[JaseSF]

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009): An overweight, illiterate and for the second time pregnant teenage Harlem black girl hopes that perhaps her enrollment in an alternative school might finally give her a chance at a better life.

This movie is an emotional rollercoaster as we see our young lead Clarice Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) strive and search for something, some way out of the hell her life has become. It tackles issues of poverty, incest, sexual and physical abuse at home, teen pregnancy, cruel teasing of youth and more. It feels all too painfully real at times and all too wonderfully unreal at others. The daydream sequences kind of seem a bit oft-putting but are very understandable as a means of escape by our lead character when she's placed under great duress. This film doesn't pull any punches about the harsh reality and all the sh*t thrown Precious's way. It's like she never had a chance in life yet here she is struggling to survive and trying to find a better place for both herself and her kids which is very inspiring. A very moving and surprisingly real, albeit sometimes perhaps for some a bit too brutally real, film, the cast here, especially supporting players Mo'Nique, Paula Patton and yes even Mariah Carey are excellent and very believable in their roles. **** out of *****.

[indianasmith]

I know it won multiple Oscars and I'm sure it is incredibly well done and dramatic . . . but frankly, from everything I saw, it just sounds too darn depressing for me to want to view it.

[Silverlady]

Last night I watched the 1949 version of THE SECRET GARDEN.  I had never seen  it before and was very surprised at home much I truly enjoyed it!

A spoiled, sad, unloved young girl, Mary, (Margaret O'Brien) living in India is suddenly orphaned and sent to 19th century England to live with her emotionally unstable widowed uncle.  Her new home is a dark, gloomy huge mansion set on the moors.  The house is staffed by a strict, overbearing housekeeper, kitchen maids, and her uncle's stern valet.  Mary is allowed free use of the outside formal gardens, but she is restricted to only certain areas of the house in which to amuse herself. That night she hears a child crying, but is told it is only the wind howling. The next day her uncle leaves for an extended business trip.

While exploring the grounds, Mary meets a young boy about her age called Dickson, the younger brother of one of the kitchen maids, and after a while they become fast friends. She tells him about the sounds she continues to hear in the night. Late one evening soon after she hears the crying again and ventures into the part of the house where she is forbidden to go. In a locked secluded bedroom, she discovers she has a cousin, Colin.  The 10 year old boy is crippled and confined to his bed. He is rude, coniving, and prone to throwing tantrums.  But he is also sad and extremely lonely.  She sees a reflection of herself in her cousin, and she is drawn to him despite herself and befriends him. Not long after she sneaks Dickson into Colin's room and the three children form a bond that becomes the very heart and soul of THE SECRET GARDEN.



The film is in BxW with a color sequence that is just glorious. A little slow, a little dated, but very enjoyable.  I feel this one is more for the ladies on this forum.

It's based on a children's book, but it works on so many levels. 

[lester1/2jr]

Student Bodies (1981) -



^that never happens

opening:movie informs us "this is based on a true story"  

that story?  

"26 horror movies were made last year and they all made money".

This is sort of like Airplane! meets Scary Movie. It doesn't have anyone as strong an actor as Leslie Nielson and its not as over the top or even quite as funny as Scary Movie (if you thought that was funny) but I still enjoyed it alot and would watch it again. Not all the jokes are hilarious but some of them are pretty good, it's like mid era Sarah Silverman show  level funny. It's a little restrained, not really any nudity or swearing, but the approach is right and the tone is sarcastic and fun.

The lead actress is really attractive and charismatic. The other players are appropriately slapstick. Student Bodies isn't quite a great movie but it's possibly a great movie to watch in between other movies you are gonna watch ! If that makes sense.

Also, the guy "the Stick" , thats his name, who plays the janitor is AWESOME. He is near 7 feet tall and appears to have Marfins syndrome, like Joey ramone or Vincent Schiavelli but more extreme.  It would be a cliche to talk about his "presence" based on this but it is really unforgettable and he is funny too.  

Here he is (scene below)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts05lJIgVgU&feature=related

recomended  

4/5

[JaseSF]

Watched another dollar DVD from Quality Video Inc.. The following two movies looked like they were probably copied from an EP VHS video but what do you expect for a buck eh?

Virus (1980): A deadly flu virus is unexpectedly unleashed on the world leading to mass death across the planet. Perhaps the only remaining survivors is a group of 855 men and 8 women stationed on Antarctica. While struggling to survive under such extreme conditions, another possible threat is discovered when a potential earthquake in Washington, D.C. could cause the American Automatic Nuclear Missile Response system to fire and set off a chain reaction in response from the U.S.S.R..

This is the American version of the Japanese End of the World disaster film. Watching this feels more like watching a miniseries or something as the first half focuses on the virus that threatens the world and then suddenly it moves to the survivors in Antarctica and their struggle to survive with finally the additional twist of a need to stop the American weapon systems from firing. All in all, it feels too convoluted and too uninvolved in the characters` lives such that we aren`t really made to care enough for the leading or even the supporting characters. Of course, one must note that the original Japanese version runs much longer (nearly 50 minutes more) so it`s likely there might well be much more character development in said version. The FX are hardly convincing here and the plot seems far-fetched for a lot of the film`s running time. There`s definitely some plotholes here and there too but again it`s important to remember this isn`t actually the full film we have here. As it is, it proves interesting as an end of the world disaster 70s style movie with some fine stars in surprisingly short roles including Glenn Ford as the President of the United States, Robert Vaughn as a Senator, Sonny Chiba as a doctor, Edward James Olmos as a South American survivor in Antarctica, George Kennedy as an Admiral, Henry Silva as an over the top General who`s going off the deep end. The real stars here though are Masao Kusakari as Doctor Shûzô Yoshizumi and Bo Svenson as Major Carter, the two who are sent to America to stop the missiles from firing and Olivia Hussey as Yoshizumi`s love interest the Norwegian Marit. Chuck Connors also has an important role as a British submarine commander named Captain McCloud. Watching this makes me really want to see the 156 minute original version because it feels like watching only part of a story - almost like a cliff notes version although I understand they even changed the ending for the American version. The first half of the film also feels much more believable than its second half. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

Panic in Echo Park (1977): Dr. Michael Stoner (Dorian Harewood) is a crusading young doctor who aggressively tries his best to stop the spread of an epidemic despite the resistance of his hospital superiors and city bureaucrats who insist he must go through proper procedures despite the number of sick in the hospital rising steadily higher. Eventually he uncovers a conspiracy to try and cover up the true cause of the outbreak and strives to bring this news out to the public despite putting himself at huge personal risk.

This 70s television movie feels very much a reflection of its time. It stars a crusading black hero from the poor part of the city who fights overwhelming odds and the resistance of the rich white elite to change. Star Dorian Harewood is immensely likable as our lead here and it`s his strong performance here as a man of the people that makes this perhaps more enjoyable than it ought to be. His Doctor Stoner does seem like quite a guy considering not only does he seem to devote his every waking hour to helping the unfortunate in the local East L.A. hospital but he also strives to get the word out of an epidemic and isn`t afraid to take on whatever fight comes his way to get help his people,, the people of the area he in which lives, needs. The guy never seems to sleep yet is always willing to go that extra mile to lend an helping hand. The blaxploitation style score seems quite a bit out of place until you begin to realize that Dr. Stoner is in some ways very much that black hero who seems to be able to do everything. This was more enjoyable than I expected it to be. *** out of ***** stars

[Pilgermann]

Over the past couple nights my wife and I've watched Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back; my pan & scan VHS copies of the original, non-Lucas-tweaked versions.

[lester1/2jr]

Armored Car Robbery (1950)- The slightly later noirs don't have the guys who talk like the gangsters in the bugs bunny cartoons "meah see" but they are still good.  This is as the title would indicate a very basic sort of story. If you guessed it was a real timey chronicling of an armored car robbery you'd be wrong. The robbery is in the begimning, the rest is running from the law and par usual one of them gets hit and he's gotta "find a doc!"

    Hard boiled would tend to cover it. The gangsters and the cops are kind of the same tough talking no nonsense sort of people. some clever uses of tension and cleverness in general. There a blonde dame who is well cast but nothing all that special. little over an hour 4/5

[3mnkids]

The chaser(Chugyeogja)~Joong-ho is a disgraced ex police officer who now makes his money as a pimp. When a couple of his girls go missing he at first thinks they have run off then he thinks they were sold but he is so wrong.

I really liked this. The performances are good, the plot interesting, and it kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the movie.. especially the last 20 minutes or so. There are a few scenes that are absolutely brutal and the ending isn't for everyone and may p**s you off but its definitely worth watching