Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

SHOCK TREATMENT (1981): A young married couple end up in a city that's actually a giant running television network in this confusing sorta-sequel to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW; Janet is groomed as a celebrity while Brad becomes a mental patient in a hospital show.  It misfires on the comedy on music cylinders; sets and costumes are entertaining, though. Imagine a version of RHPS without Tim Curry; not a terribly appetizing prospect, is it? 2/5.

[Kevin Bachelder]

Robocop early this morning on Netflix.  Even better than I remembered.  Awesome!

I stumbled across it on one of the cable channels the other night.  Just had to stay up late and watch all of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85cL1HisrNc


Kevin

[FatFreddysCat]

"Decadent Evil" (2005)

Another boobs-and-gore quickie from Charles "Puppet Master" Band, starring Phil "The Hardest Working Dwarf in Show Business" Fondacaro as a vampire hunter tracking down a trio of bloodsuckers that work as strippers.

An extremely short flick (around 70 minutes, including opening and end credits!) that nonetheless kept me entertained with the typical Band mix of T&A, cheap gore, and an ugly puppet creature.

[bob]

Best Worst Movie (2009) - This documentry on the fantasic film Troll 2 looks at how it became a cult movie. It gives some insight as to how the movie turned out the way it did. It follows George Hardy, who played the dad a lot who enjoys being associated with Troll 2.

This documentry does exactly what it set out to do and is insightful for fans of Troll 2.

But...my favorite part of the this was during the closing credits badmovies.org, yes this wonderful place, was mentioned

5/5

[JaseSF]

Head Over Heels (2001): Amanda Pierce (Monica Potter), a woman with a long history of bad luck with men moves into a new apartment with four supermodels, a building in which she bumps into Jim (Freddie Prinze Jr.), a man who makes her weak in the knees and it's basically love at first sight only problems arise when she Rear Window style catches him murdering another woman? Her dreams of finally meeting the perfect man might now be shattered. Is all as it seems?

The story/plot for this one is pretty convoluted with numerous unbelievable twists and turns. It's just hard to buy into events presented here but for a dumb romantic comedy, it's fairly harmless enough fluff. At least most of the characters in our story actually prove likable, yes even the models even if they are mostly stereotypes. Some gross toilet humor brings this one down a notch or two. **1/2 out of ***** stars

In Good Company (2004): an experienced ad sales executive for Sports America magazine named Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) finds his life turned unexpectedly upside down when a corporate takeover causes him to be demoted under a very inexperienced supervisor named Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a man half his age. Complicating things further Dan's wife becomes pregnant with their third child and his oldest daughter 18 year old Alex (Scarlett Johansson) winds up getting involved with Carter and needing more money to go to a more expensive college.

This was actually a pretty solid little drama with some comedic moments here and there. This one feels pretty true to life a lot of the time and ultimately reminds us that life can throw us a curbball from time to time and while some things can change drastically, other things remain constant. Good performances and likable characters help keep things moving and interesting. ***1/2 out of ***** stars

[FatFreddysCat]

"20 Million Miles To Earth" (1957)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igpP7IVww_g

The first ever manned rocket to Venus crash-lands in the ocean near Italy upon its return to Earth, releasing a Venusian "specimen" which then menaces the Italian countryside. The U.S. and Italian military chase it around for much of the picture until there's a final showdown at the Coliseum in Rome.

Cheesy '50s sci-fi fun that owes much to the original "King Kong," the story and acting are no great shakes but the old school stop motion creature effects by the great Ray Harryhausen are still cool as hell.

[Rev. Powell]

BLANK CITY (2010): Documentary covering the "no-wave" film movement in NYC circa 1977-1984, focusing on Jim Jarmusch, the Cinema of Transgression, and the connections to performance art and punk rock. Very informative if you're not aware of this period; very few of these amateurish art movies are ever screened (after STRANGER THAN PARADISE, the next most famous example of the genre may just be GEEK MAGGOT BINGO!) Debbie Harry, Steve Buscemi and John Waters (of course) are also interviewed. 3/5.

[Flick James]

BLANK CITY (2010): Documentary covering the "no-wave" film movement in NYC circa 1977-1984, focusing on Jim Jarmusch, the Cinema of Transgression, and the connections to performance art and punk rock. Very informative if you're not aware of this period; very few of these amateurish art movies are ever screened (after STRANGER THAN PARADISE, the next most famous example of the genre may just be GEEK MAGGOT BINGO!) Debbie Harry, Steve Buscemi and John Waters (of course) are also interviewed. 3/5.

I am a fan of Jim Jarmusch, although I am very hit or miss with the general output of artists from that movement. Interesting movement though.

There was a short film I saw in the 80's called Arena Brains (1987) directed by Robert Longo that was a little after the movement, but has a very No Wave feel to it. It had Steve Buscemi, Eric Bogosian, Michael Stipe, and a whole bunch of others, and had that "dirty New York" vibe, from the by-gone days of sleazy New York before it got face-lifted, when it still looked like the New York of Taxi Driver.

Damn, now I've got to see if I can locate that film.

[Flick James]

Mail-Order Wife (2004):

This mockumentary follows a New York City doorman who finds an Asian mail-order bride and allows a New York documentarian to film the experience. The doorman turns out to be a real sicko, and the woman, Lichi, runs into the arms of the film-maker himself, and all hell breaks loose, as we learn that Lichi is not nearly as naive as we are initially led to believe.

I have to admit, I was totally fooled into believing this was a real documentary for a bit. Mabye a third of the way through I figured out that it was a mockumentary, but I firmly believe that there are some that would be fooled outright. I feel sorry for those people, because this film lampoons some of the most unsavory and disturbing elements of the unsavory and disturbing reality of the mail-order bride business. If I were to believe the entire film to be a real documentary, I would have been utterly disgusted by every single person in it. Once I realized it was a mockumentary, I was able to relax and realize was a brilliant and hilarious film this is. It had some elements that remind me of Curb Your Enthusiasm. This film is definitely going to offend the average viewer, but I thought it was bordering on genius.

Highly recommended if you like irreverent humor and don't get easily offended. The "characters" in this mockumentary are guaranteed to make you squirm. It's the kind of film where the unsavoriness of every character would make almost any viewer feel like a saint in comparison.

4.5/5

[claws]

Death from Beyond (2006)

Evil Egyptian Priestess transfers her soul into the body of a dead woman and kills people trying to film a porn. Sounds more saucy than it actually is.

Shot-on-cellphone (?) cheapie with awful CGI and unappealing cast and location. The kind of thing you would find on YouTube filmed by amateurs in their own backyard. How this made it to DVD is beyond me. 0/5

[lester1/2jr]

Behind the Mask:The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) - mockumentary of sorts that's very 90's though it came out in 06. elements of say Blair Witch and Scream are present. blair Witch in the documentary turning into horror aspect and Scream with the analyzing of horror conventions and so forth.  A film crew is following a serial killer! Yeah there's some suspension of disbelief required. Halloween, Friday the thirteenth etc are presented as real historical events. It remeinded me too of that real conceptual Nightmare on Elm Street (3 ?) and Robert Englund has a small but critical role.

The idea of a film crew filming a serial killer is so reality tv and the thing of them not even questioning the morality of it was ballsy. I imagine most here have seen this already but definitely chekc it out if you haven't. Plenty of suspension of disbelief required though and it shies away from that "the visitors" type gut punch.  very entertaining though.  9/10

[Rev. Powell]

The idea of a film crew filming a serial killer is so reality tv and the thing of them not even questioning the morality of it was ballsy.

Did you ever see MAN BITES DOG? The exact same idea but in 1992. 

[lester1/2jr]

wow 20 years ago they were already spoofing reality tv.  I'll have to check it out

[alandhopewell]

      I just HAD to have this....



     I watched it last night, after the missus went to bed; it was every bit as pleasingly bad as I remembered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKkb7DBRaP8

     The Troma release comes with an introduction by Adamson's partner, Sam Sherman, that's a nugget of cheese in itself, plus a short  feature abiout Adamson, and trailers.

[Rev. Powell]

wow 20 years ago they were already spoofing reality tv.  I'll have to check it out

Well the only difference is it wasn't reality TV, just a documentary, but same basic idea: camera crew following around a serial killer, not stopping him or making any moral judgments.

SHOCK TREATMENT (1981) sort of anticipated the idea of reality TV.  Really, so did NETWORK way back in 1976.