Recent viewings

[Kaseykockroach]

Deadly Spawn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJGkY210st8
Inarguably a classic.

[Jack]

Quarantine (2008) - the American remake of the excellent Spanish film [REC].  A reporter and her cameraman are doing a story on firefighters, and after hanging out at the station for a while, a call comes in about a woman having health problems.  The reporter goes along with the firefighters to an apartment building, just in time for a zombie outbreak.  The building is sealed off by the CDC/police/military etc.  Comparing this to [REC], there really is no comparison.  Take [REC] and run it past several focus groups and a few committees until it's been reduced to a generic bland mass, and you've got Quarantine.  While [REC] was chock full of little details that gave it believability and a ton of character, this film has none of that.  The main character in [REC] was vivacious and brimming with personality;  the main character in this is little more than a piece of furniture.  And the same can be said for pretty much everything else about this movie.  3/5.

[RCMerchant]

Deadly Spawn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJGkY210st8
Inarguably a classic.

It was originaly titled RETURN OF THE ALIENS DEADLY SPAWN....but seems to have been shortened. And-yes-I agree. One of the BEAST indie horrors of the 80's! 

[indianasmith]

I watched THE GREEN HORNET last night with Seth Rogan.

Have you ever noticed that, whatever character Seth Rogan plays, he is pretty much always playing Seth Rogan?  Which would not be a bad thing, I guess, if I liked Seth Rogen.  But frankly, he annoys me.

All told though, this wasn't a terrible movie.  It had some genuinely funny moments, and some not so much. 

Now that school is out I should be watching a LOT more movies, by the way!

[bob]

Being the glutton for punishment that I am I tackled Uwe Boll's Postal yesterday. Going into this film, as was the case with BloodRayne, I knew nothing about the source material. However, unlike BloodRayne, I throughly hated this and managed to get offended by it. If one can maybe get through the first hour of this film and not be offended this maybe a comedy film, but to me this was junk, pure junk. I guess that's what happens when a film implies that Osama Bin Laden and George W Bush are best friends and there are plenty of gross out moments that are supposed to be funny as is the case with all  Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer movies.

0/5

[Pilgermann]

Winstanley (1975) - A story of the 17th century Diggers, an early English group of people who commune together as sort of Christian Socialists and in spite of living on common land and minding their own business, they're oppressed and treated as criminals by local land owners and aristocratic types.  It's kind of dull at times, but it's beautifully shot and the attention to detail creates a really authentic appearance.  Co-director Kevin Brownlow, who has a huge love of silent films, utilizes a lot of techniques like those found in silent cinema, with a quickly-paced prologue that uses intertitles, minimal dialogue, and a rapid montage near the end.

Fantasy Mission Force (1982) - A group of specialists (I guess) are sent on a mission to rescue four generals who've been kidnapped by the Japanese.  The plot's straightforward, otherwise this movie makes zero sense!  Great fun!

[Jack]

Cemetery Gates (2006) - watched this again.  Some eco-activists break into a genetic research facility and release a Tasmanian Devil.  They end up smeared against the walls of the truck they used to transport it.  It takes up residence in a cemetery where some college stoner types are filming a low budget movie.  Things don't go especially well for them.  It's a horror comedy and manages to be amusing.  The monster isn't CGI, and the gore is played up to comic levels.  I had a good time.  3.5/5.

[Trevor]

I watched the horror that is Ninja Vengeance (1988): all I can say is 

[JaseSF]

The Host (2006): a huge mutant monster with a seeming taste for humans  emerges from the Han river in Seoul, South Korea. The family of one victim captured by the creature, a young girl named Hyun-seo (Ah-sung Ko), sets out to rescue her when they learn she may yet be still alive. However Korean and American authorities stand in their way at practically every turn especially when it is learned the monster may be the host carrier for a deadly virus for every human being who has come into direct contact with it as Hyun-seo's father Park Gang-Du (Kang-ho Song) most certainly has.

This was an entertaining ride, at times surprisingly funny and goofy and at others downright terrifying and horrific. I really enjoyed this although it definitely requires a certain level of suspension of disbelief on several occasions it is still nevertheless great fun, and at times something of a scathing commentary on political and government interference and mismanagement/general cluelessness while also being a film that is often quite gripping with suspense. In the end, it played out a little predictably but still there's far more good here than bad...almost like a Kung Fu revenge movie only without Kung Fu featuring a family basically trying to avenge themselves on a monster. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Jurassic Park (1993): a wealthy entrepreneur named John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) spares no expense to create a theme park quite unlike any other before - Jurassic Park, a park with real live dinosaurs created via a special cloning process. However an unexpected power breakdown allows its live dinosaur exhibits including a ferocious T-Rex and a pack of vicious Raptors to get loose and wreck havoc. Will those still trapped on the island, including a team of scientists and experts and Hammond's two young grandchildren, be able to find any means of escape?

Of course this is certainly a thrill ride and it boosts terrific and very convincing for the most part dinosaur effects. It also builds and builds a terrific level of breathtaking suspense that really puts the viewer on the very edge of their seats rooting on the survival of the characters in the film, not that all will ultimately survive. The only major flaw here is the amount of awestruck staring typical of Spielberg films that goes on a tad too much. Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum all do well as the team of scientists/experts brought aboard to inspect the park with Goldblum acting as the seeming voice of reason while Neill and Dern concentrates on survival and trying to rescue/take care of the Hammond grandkids (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards). Great FX, surprising good acting and a perhaps too simple yet amazingly effective in terms of suspense plot make this a winner. **** out of ***** stars.

You Again (2010): Marni (Kristen Bell), a nerdy young teenager turned successful P.R. agent is horrified when she learns the news that her brother Will (James Wolk) is about to marry the girl Joanna (Odette Annabelle) who was her arch-nemesis bully in high school and sets out to show her brother his new fiancee's true colors. Meanwhile her mother Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) is unexpectedly reunited with an old rival in Joanna's Aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) setting up a potential disastrous environment for the impending wedding.

This was O.K. enough for a chick flick that plays out in predictable fashion and is intended to be light-hearted escapist fluff although it does pack an emotional wallop or two with the sometimes all too true bullying scenarios. The familiar cast certainly helps keep things interesting too and Bell, Curtis, Weaver and Marni/Will's Grandma Bunny (Betty White), who mostly acts as the voice of wisdom here, certainly provide some zany laughs at times. A bit of tough slugging at times for this guy but my girlfriend loved it. Decent enough for what it is I suppose...**1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Rev. Powell]

SAINT CLARA (1996): An Israeli girl uses her psychic powers to help classmates cheat on tests, but she will lose them if she falls in love.  A really odd little coming of age movie, tinged with magical realism, absurdism, and Israeli cultural preoccupations.  I'm not sure what to make of this one.  The director went on to make WALTZ WITH BASHIR, which I think is a classic. 3/5.   

[lester1/2jr]

rev- I saw Saint Clara when I was in college and really liked it. I had no idea what Israel was or the israel palestine conflict or was about which probably didn't matter because as a I recall it wasn't about that stuff. I think about that movie sometimes. May need to see it again.


The Gospel Road (1973)-  I guess after they bought all the plane tickets to Israel and cut a couple of alright country gospel songs they were out of money. These are some real low budget reenactments of scenes from the New Testament starring some random people as Jesus and the disciples, June Carter Cash as Mary Magdelene, with Johny Cash Narrating. It was heartfelt but I can see why they don't show it at Christmas every year, even on the country channel or maybe they do. I doubt they do. 4/5 Was on TCM

Here come the Tigers (1978)-    awesome rip off of the Bad News Bears, taped off THISTV.  The kids and even the adults are all likeable wisecrackers, It's got a little bit of the feel good thing and it's very predictable but it's still some good stupid fun. 4/5 really enjoyed it for some reason.

[major jay]

THE HAPPENING
I've mostly heard bad things about this, but I loved it. My expectations were pretty low, but what I got was a good old fashion "end of humanity" cheesefest. It moved at a good pace, I liked the characters, and I liked the "nature strikes back" theme (the gore was fun too). 5/5

[Jack]

Critters 4 (1992) - Yup, this is the one where they go into space     In 1999, a bounty hunter is about to kill the last Critters on Earth, but then the intergalactic government contacts him and says they're the last two members of the species in the universe, and therefore must be preserved.  So they send a capsule for the critters, but it gets lost in space and 50 years later, finally gets picked up by a small salvage vessel.  Of course somebody has to open the capsule and that's not a very good idea.  I enjoyed this quite a bit.  Good cheesy fun.  The characters were entertaining and the plot moved along at an acceptable pace.  4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Let's Scare jessica to Death (1971) - This is is really strange horror movie. Not strange like overtly avant garde but creepy in a really unusual way. LIke I felt like the filmakers and actors were all weirdos.

A woman is released from a mental facility or something and her and her husband leave NYC to go unwind in this rural house.  They bring one of their friends and they meet up with a drifter women who had been squatting at the house. Then all sorts of weird terrble stuff happens. The title is one of those titles that was probably slapped on, but it works in a crazy way.

It's not all hugely original but it left a very distinct impression. The analog keyboard stuff was really nice too. I don't generally keep notes on movies but maybe I shold have in this case because I'm finding it kind of difficult to describe. It's somehow both very conventional and unique. mid budget but home made feeling.
5/5

[indianasmith]

THE BLACK DEATH (2010)

I saw this and it looked interesting - Sean Bean plays a knight sent during the time of the Great Plague to investigate the stories that one remote village had been spared the pandemic by making a deal with the devil.  He takes along a young priest and a crew of mercenary soldiers to go arrest the headman of the village, who was presumably demon possessed.

basically, this interesting premise turned into nothing but an excuse to kick Christianity in the groin for an hour and a half.  Yes, the medieval church was corrupt and at times downright evil, but it also provided a useful check on the power of kings, was the only organization with social mobility, and also took care of the poor when no one else would.  Frankly, knee-jerk Christian bashing requires neither talent nor imagination - it's just a form of self-congratulatory mental masturbation that Hollywood loves to indulge in.  Not even Sean Bean's considerable talent could save this piece of dreck.