Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Bandidas" (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLC_JeRa5E

Western action-comedy starring Salma Hayek (yum!) and Penelope Cruz (yum!) as a pair of Mexican gals who take up bank robbing to get revenge on a crooked gang who are stealing land to clear the way for a new railroad. Steve Zahn is a hoot as a dorky Federal investigator who gets shanghaiied into helping aid their cause, and outlaw country singer Dwight Yoakam is suitably bad-ass as the villain.

Highly predictable, instantly forgettable but still a fun watch due to the high cleavage/eye candy content.

[JaseSF]

The Lil' River Rats and the Adventure of the Lost Treasure (2003) (AKA: Lil' Treasure Hunters): A little girl named Molly (Molly Hall) leads a pack of other kids down river on an old makeshift river boat in search of a legendary lost treasure in Confederate gold her grandfather Cappy (Ran Burns) had been telling stories about for years. Molly hopes the treasure will help pay off all her long ill grandfather's medical bills and allow her and her father to remain living on the river but others, with far greedier and selfish motives, are also searching for the treasure and legend has it the treasure is also guarded by a mean and huge old three-toed bear.

Watching this through adult eyes, it's pretty bad featuring lots of bad acting and groan inducing lines. The villains are just downright embarrassingly silly and never seem to truly get their proper comeuppance even though they well deserve some sort of punishment for their misdeeds. Adults also will likely find some of the kids annoying especially the computer gadget kid and the kid whose whole life is eating. This independent film is a pretty amateurish effort all around but despite all that, I suspect some less-demanding kids may actually enjoy this, perhaps relating better to the kid characters around their own age and the element of river adventure riding a raft downshore and of course the excitement surrounding the bear. This one with better resources and better actors could have been much better. As it is, I can't give it more than ** out of ***** stars.

[JoeTheDestroyer]

Rewatched The Unnameable yesterday while the boy slept on my chest.  I didn't remember it being as cheesy as it was.  Not that that's a bad thing.    I also don't remember it being as gory as it was.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Incredible Hulk" (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/v/NWWzve8Z90s

"Rebooted" version of the Big Mean Green saga replaces Eric Bana with Ed Norton as Bruce Banner, who's hiding out in South America trying to find a cure for his Gamma inflicted split personality problem. Unfortunately, a U.S. Government task force led by General "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) is in constant pursuit. When Ross jacks up one of his men with Banner's formula and transforms him into The Abomination, mayhem ensues.

A vast improvement over Ang Lee's morose, depressing 2003 "Hulk" flick, this is what Hulk fans wanna see, i.e. total popcorn action & carnage. 

[Rev. Powell]

JOHNNY SUEDE (1992): Johnny Suede, a young man with a freakishly large pompadour (Brad Pitt), tries to pay the rent, keep a girlfriend, and make it as a musician in the big city. Suede, who's stuck in the 1950s and not entirely sympathetic, is an interesting character but the script doesn't give him much of interest to do. Quirky casting (Tina Louise and Nick Cave in small roles) helps a little but not enough. 2/5.

[Jack]

Wicked Lake (2008) - repeat viewing. Four girls go to a cabin out in the woods, and a family of retarded perverts decides to do a home invasion on them, terrorizing the girls and forcing them to perform various lewd acts. At least until midnight, when the girls turn into immortal witches and turn the tables - quite severely. This is basically an exploitation / horror flick with a wonderfully dark sense of humor. I watched it before and I don't remember thinking much of it, but last night, with a few beers, I had a lot more fun with it. The acting is really good and we even get Tim Thomerson (you may remember him as Jack Deth in the Trancers movies) as a goofy stoned cop who's tracking the girls. Really excellent scene when he finally encounters them, made me laugh out loud. And the end credits are...wonderful    4/5.

[claws]

Wicked Lake (2008) - repeat viewing. Four girls go to a cabin out in the woods, and a family of retarded perverts decides to do a home invasion on them, terrorizing the girls and forcing them to perform various lewd acts. At least until midnight, when the girls turn into immortal witches and turn the tables - quite severely. This is basically an exploitation / horror flick with a wonderfully dark sense of humor. I watched it before and I don't remember thinking much of it, but last night, with a few beers, I had a lot more fun with it. The acting is really good and we even get Tim Thomerson (you may remember him as Jack Deth in the Trancers movies) as a goofy stoned cop who's tracking the girls. Really excellent scene when he finally encounters them, made me laugh out loud. And the end credits are...wonderful    4/5.

I was rather underwhelmed by this. I just looked up my IMDb rating, gave it 4/10. Below average cheese. Maybe I should revisit.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Woman in Black" (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lReemWmO5o

Old-fashioned ghost story set in Victorian England, starring Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe as a recently widowed lawyer assigned to arrange the selling of a secluded, creepy old estate ... naturally, he soon learns that the house, and the surrounding village, both harbor a dark secret that involves the local children.

Slow-burning flick that takes a while to get goin' but the last half is excellent. Moody, dark and creepy stuff with loads of atmosphere.

[Raffine]

"Rebooted" version of the Big Mean Green saga replaces Eric Bana with Ed Norton as Bruce Banner, who's hiding out in South America trying to find a cure for his Gamma inflicted split personality problem. Unfortunately, a U.S. Government task force led by General "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) is in constant pursuit. When Ross jacks up one of his men with Banner's formula and transforms him into The Abomination, mayhem ensues.

A vast improvement over Ang Lee's morose, depressing 2003 "Hulk" flick, this is what Hulk fans wanna see, i.e. total popcorn action & carnage. 

Agreed, a vast improvement over Lee's angst. I did miss the monster poodle, though. 

There's a lot to like in the latter film, but I must admit my favorite moment is when Liv Tyler gives a scowling Norton a pair of purple stretch pants.

[Raffine]

10 RILLINGTON PLACE (1971) A very disturbing film by Richard Fleischer about the notorious British serial killer John Christie. Richard Attenborough is sublimely creepy as the soft-spoken, lisping killer. His Christie would give Hannibal Lector the creeps!

John Hurt is also great as Timothy Evans, who was hanged for two of Christie's murders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TKEXCF5U-g

[JaseSF]

Live and Let Die (1973): 007 James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to New York to investigate when several of his fellow agents turn up dead. The trail leads Bond to an Harlem drug lord nicknamed Mr. Big who seems to have ties to a corrupt Carribean dictator named Dr. Kananga (Yapphet Kotto) who is providing most of the street heroin. Kananga has a strange collection of henchmen/cohorts who surround him including the metal armed Tee Hee Johnson (Julius Harris), voodoo master Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder), a huge hulking assassin nicknamed Whisper (Earl Jolly Brown) who whispers whenever he talks and a Tarot card reader and psychic named Solitaire (Jane Seymour) whom Kananga has read his future but who soon becomes Bond's love interest.

This is an highly entertaining, action-packed movie that mixes elements of the blaxploitation genre surprisingly well with the spy-fi Bond formula.  It's just a lot of fun to watch especially the chase sequences via bus and later boat. It was nice to see a return of sorts to the classic Dr. No element of Bond having help and aids in the form of CIA Agents Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry), Felix Leiter (David Hedison) and Quarrel Jr. (Roy Stewart) amongst others. Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) adds a different element of comedy as well aside from Bond's own funny little quips. There are some sequences involving voodoo ceremonies that are downright weird and the ending does feel a little dragged out but nevertheless this has become one of my favourite Bond films. So much 70s fun. **** out of ***** stars.

Dumbo (1941): The stork finally arrives for lonely circus elephant Mrs. Jumbo but Jumbo Junior is soon revealed to have unusually big ears leading to scorn and ridicule amongst the other elephants and circus folks who soon rename him Dumbo  leading to Mrs. Jumbo lashing out to protect her baby. This results in Mrs. Jumbo being imprisoned as a mad elephant and leaves Dumbo all alone, the only one who'll befriend him is a mouse named Timothy (voiced by Edward Brophy) who somehow sees in Dumbo star potential and eventually Dumbo may just surprise everyone including himself.

Honestly there are times I find the first half or so of this film hard to watch as Dumbo is treated so cruelly by others and there is a distasteful element of circus animal cruelty that seems all too true to life. The pink elephant drunken sequence is also rather nightmarishly disturbing on some levels but I guess also promotes not overindulging in such vices. The ending makes it worthwhile and this one's short running time keeps thing moving along at a brisk, crisp pace. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

EZ Money (2005): A mischievous pair of kids (Molly Hall and Jonas Gustavon) manage to scam Nigerian email scammers but soon discover their scheme has lead the international criminals behind the Nigerian scam to their door searching for their lost millions.  

While this movie feels very amateurish in execution and most the the acting is pretty bad (especially the adults), there are some clever little comedic moments in this one and most of the kid actors aren't too bad in this with Emma Kinghorn standing out the most as six-year old kidnap victim Echo Thompson who manages to give the film's best performance. There's also a goofy comedy setup with Mike Jansen's character Sylis P. Murphy, a CIA agent who specializes in decrypting computer schemes who gets accidentally zapped with electricity during a power surge causing him to add like an escaped mental patient for most of the film's running time. All in all, this is still mostly pretty bad but with some clever ideas here and there. I'll be generous and give it **1/2 out of ***** stars.

Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story (1994): TV film adaptation based on the story of Jim and Jennifer Stolpa who along with their infant child Clayton became snowbound and stranded in the wild where they struggled to survive for four days before desperately setting out on foot in search of help before it was too late for them and their child.

I'd actually seen this adapted on; I think; the TV series "I Shouldn't Be Alive" as well. It's a fascinating story of survival. This TV film version starring Neil Patrick Harris (as Jim Stolpa) and Kelli Williams (as Jennifer) exaggerates some elements and adds other things for dramatic effect but really wasn't too bad at all for a TV movie. I thought Harris and Williams both gave fine performances in their roles. Granted some elements here do seem a bit too unbelievable and seeing a small child placed in such danger can be hard to watch at times. Yet this is a pretty gripping story all the more startling because it's based on a true event. In today's cellphone world I guess things like this are less likely to happen but there's some good lessons to be learned here in any regard. Never take too many unnecessary chances when it comes to the weather and always let someone know where you are and where you're headed when you're traveling. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[indianasmith]

My daughter has recently been becoming more interested in horror stories, and she has been bugging me to watch the classic, original HELLRAISER.  So yesterday we rented it, and today after I got in from the river we sat and watched it together.  I must say it has held up pretty well over the last 20-odd years, although the gore effects were a bit cheesy, the story is still quite chilling!

After that, my wife and I watched CHRONICLE together, and I must say I REALLY liked it.  A very neat view of what happens when three normal American high schoolers - one preppy Class President candidate, one would-be philosophy major, and one loser from an abusive home situation, are all suddenly invested with incredible powers.  It takes a little while to get going, but once it does, the end result is pretty amazing.  Definitely worth a look!!!

[Jack]

Manticore (2005) - repeat viewing. Some American GI's led by that Chakotay guy from Star Trek Voyager are over in Iraq, driving around in a Soviet armored personnel carrier (yup, we've got Bulgaria filling in for Iraq). Heather Donahue looks exceptionally exceptional running around in a very tight tank top early in the movie, but then some flying tiger CGI thingie (a manticore!) attacks them and they all get dressed up in their battle dress uniforms and body armor. Oh well, still got the always cute Chase Masterson as a reporter for GNN hanging out with the marines. They're all stuck in a remote village trying to protect some civilians and calling in pretty comical looking CGI air strikes. This was just a nice entertaining piece of fluff with engaging characters and plenty of action. A little bit of a plot too. The ending was especially chuckle-inducing.  4/5.

[claws]

Few I've watched the last couple of days:

Grindhouse (2007) Blu-ray

Always had issues with Death Proof, but I'm starting to appreciate it more as part of the Grindhouse double feature - even though Butterfly's lap dance is missing and also one of the best songs from the soundtrack. 5/5

Dark Ride (2006) Blu-ray

Five friends on spring break pick up a female hitchhiker and spend the night at a local Funhouse before re-opening after 10 years. Yep, it's Tobe Hooper's notorious carnival-slasher all over again. Atmospheric but lacking finesse. 3/5

Apollo 18 (2011) Blu-ray

Blair Witch in Space: three Astronauts on the moon encounter unknown dark forces. Slick found footage horror that starts interesting enough but the outcome is more than familiar. 3.5/5

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) Blu-ray

Little girl spends quality time with her divorced father and his new girlfriend at some old mansion. The house is infested by little nasty creatures who fear light. Thrilling remake with a slightly bored looking Katie Holmes. 3.75/5

Mimic: Director's Cut (1997) Blu-ray

Underrated bug-terror that still delivers. Often announced (usually around April 1st), this director's cut doesn't really add all that much, but it is the director's preferred version. 4.5/5

[SynapticBoomstick]

Just sat down to watch Chronicle (2012) with the family last night. I wasn't sure if it was worth a theater visit because it looks teen-angsty-with-superpowers. I was wrong.

Yes, it has the teen angst in it but set to a natural (?) level. Anakin could learn a thing or two thousand from the main character's gradual yet total spiral into chaos and hatred, it was pretty good. This movie makes me want telekinesis more than ever now, the flying scenes looked like a lot of fun, but it's the end-game fight that really closes the deal. It just looks awesome.

The film is titled "Chronicle" because it's shot through the main character's video camera as well as those of other characters and devices like phones and news casters, but it's done in a smooth way that feels very natural and easy to watch, not like the typical hand-held look.

Me and the family enjoyed this one and I'd recommend Chronicle to anybody looking for some good popcorn action with the kids or the boys (or girls even!). 4/5