Recent viewings

[Jack]

Children of the Night (1991) - two girls go swimming in the flooded crypt under a church, which releases some vampire I guess.  Before long the whole town is overrun with the bloodsuckers.  One of the girls teams up with some guy to try to get rid of them.  Meanwhile in a more-or-less unrelated subplot, some priest has a couple of vampires locked in his bedroom and they go through some Hellraiser type thing in there with lots of icky special effects.  So you've got this cheesy, trying-too-hard-to-be-funny thing with the people in the town, and this dark and depressing thing with the priest going on simultaneously.  The lead guy doesn't have much screen presence, the whole thing is just mediocre.  2.75/5.

[ChaosTheory]

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqt5m0OBkjE
Good but kind of overpraised.  It was directed well and Quvenzhane Wallis' acting is seriously next-level (Dwight Henry is also really good), but at the same time it felt like straight up anthropology porn in spots.  Wallis deserves to be nominated for an Oscar, the picture not so much.  7/10

[indianasmith]

OZOMBIE (2012) - A rag-tag group of special forces joins with an American vigilante and his sister, killing zombies across the remote Afghan wastelands, to find the secret Al Qaeda hideout where a zombified Bin Laden is being used to create an undead army of jihadists.  Not as bad as I thought it would be, and definitely played the whole storyline much more straight and serious than I thought they would.  Lots of headshots and blood spatters!
2.5/5

[Leah]

LIFE OF PI (2012)- An Indian teen moves to Canada due to closure from his father's zoo. During the trip across, the ship used to transport the animals and pi's family breaks, leaving Pi all alone on a lifeboat, with a hyena, orangutang, zebra, and a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. During the trip, the zebra is killed by the hyena, as well as the orangutang, and then Richard Parker eats the hyena, and now it's only Pi and R.P. staying together on the life boat, and they have to learn to cope with each other.

4.6/5, good movie to watch, I actually read the book the summer before my senior year of high school last year.

[lester1/2jr]

Paranormal Activity - finally got around to seeing this. The movie was excellent except for the end. Both the original and alternate endings were very underwhelming. still liked it a lot though 4.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Legion" (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE_zSdCzDU

It's the end of the world as we know it!! God has decided to wipe the Earth clean in a new apocalypse, but fortunately for humankind one of his gun-totin' warrior angels (?) decides to break from the ranks and defend us from extinction. The venue for the Final Battle is an out-of-the-way diner in the American Southwest, where a very special baby is about to be born, and which must be protected at all costs.

This flick is a totally bizarre amalgam of bits stolen from "The Terminator," "The Omen," "The Seventh Sign" and even "Night of the Living Dead" featuring cool creatures, tons of bone-crushing action and a healthy amount of Book of Revelations style creepiness. It may not be logical but it sure isn't boring!!

...as an added bonus, I didn't know this till I started watching it but since the action all takes place in the days leading up to Christmas, this flick even falls nicely into the "Twisted Christmas Film" marathon I've had goin' this week. :D

[Jack]

Beowulf (1999) - a futuristic / medieval retelling of the classic tale. Some people are trapped in a castle with Grendel - they can't get out because the place is surrounded by enemy soldiers who kill any escapees because they don't want the evil spreading to their lands. Luckily uber-mega warrior Christopher Lambert shows up, all decked out in a bleached blond buzzcut. Of course the local cleavage lady, Rhona Mitra, immediately falls in love with him. I'm not too sure her outfit would be practical for combat; something might, um...pop out. Anyhow the fight scenes are pretty entertaining. Lambert does so many somersaults and backflips I was half-expecting some judges to hold up scorecards after each tumbling pass. The plot moves along at a decent pace and the movie's got a nice atmosphere to it. Good goofy fun all around. 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

MARLEY (2012): An exhaustive (2.5 hour) chronicle of the life of the world famous reggae legend. Die-hard fans will be thrilled with the extensive interviews and concert footage; as a more casual fan, after an hour I had learned almost everything I ever wanted to know about the man and was ready for the filmmakers to wrap it up---I was shocked to realize I was less than halfway through the movie. 2.5/5 (rastamon gonna rate it hiya).

[alandhopewell]

    KNOCKAROUND GUYS (2001)
A fun, sometimes funny film, great cast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockaround_Guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb4iW5Bb6QY

[indianasmith]

Last night I watched V/H/S - a mashup of five horror vignettes found on some VHS tapes in a house with a dead guy in an easy chair.  A group of thugs are sent into said house to retrieve a VHS tape, but not told which tape is the one they are after - only that "they will know it when they see it."  So the guys split up to look for more tapes, while the unlucky dude in the room with the dead guy pops in one tape after another.  There are some great creepy moments in the movie, and some good scares (plus enough nudity to keep even Jack and Cheezeflix happy) - but the movie as a whole did not work for me.  The connecting storyline was weak, and none of the guys who broke into the house was remotely likable.  I usually need a movie to have at least one character that I care about, and this had none.  But, as I said, some of the vignettes were pretty good, especially the first one - beware big-eyed girls who stare at you in a club and say "I like you!!"  Overall, 3.2/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Superman: Doomsday" (2007)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3keuiWzY-Q

Animated flick loosely based on 1994's classic "Death of Superman" comic story sees the "Big Red S" apparently killed during a knock down, drag out battle with an unstoppable alien assassin known as "Doomsday." Naturally, Earth mourns the loss of their greatest hero.... until he suddenly reappears. However, Lois Lane quickly suspects that this miraculous "resurrection" isn't quite what it seems to be.

This was the debut feature of the "DC Animated Universe" line of videos and it's fun, action packed stuff. Be warned, however, that the intense level of violence makes it unsuitable viewing for the smaller young'uns.

[Jack]

(plus enough nudity to keep even Jack and Cheezeflix happy)

Hey I'm only interested in the characters and plot! 

The Heroes of Telemark (1965) - In WWII, the Germans are producing heavy water at a factory in Norway, and it's up to the Norwegian resistance (let by Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris) to sabotage the installation. But those darned Germans have already prepared new equipment to replace what was destroyed, so their production schedule is relatively unaffected. Perhaps a better plan might be to sink the ferry that the finished product is being transported on? This is an old favorite of mine, with tons of gorgeous winter scenery in Norway. The scene where the resistance fighters infiltrate the factory is great - very tense and suspenseful. It's not exactly the fastest moving story, in fact it gets downright slow at times, but it's still kind of an odd and beautiful thing. Really wish they'd come out with a good DVD of this, I've got it on a DVD+RW that I recorded from my VHS tape that I recorded off TV. 4/5.

[claws]

Evidence (2011)

Four friends on a camping trip are filming a documentary because one of the friends never camped before. After setting up camp and finding odd stuff along the way (a dead fish but no water nearby) they hear strange noises at night. Soon enough a big hairy beast is stalking them and the four friends must fight for survival ...

Surprisingly decent Found Footage Horror that's about on par with Quarantine (2008), quality-wise. Of course there's also some Blair Witch deja-vu. Either way, the guys tend to be annoying at times, the girls come off rather sympathetic I thought. They did a great job at running and being hysterically scared. 4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

The Twisted Christmas marathon continues with...

"Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnEJrwYXXsI

Semi-classic '60s sci-fi schlock (originally aimed at kids) about Martians kidnapping Santa Claus so he can bring Christmas joy to the depressed children of the Red Planet. Overacting, cheap sets, and hilarity ensues. This movie is like a car wreck that you can't look away from.

Terrible movie but it has the coolest go-go theme song ever: "Hooray For Santy (sic) Claus!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oUbqVnsCG8

[Jack]

Dune (1984) - 8,000 years in the future, the planet Dune holds the most valuable commodity in the entire universe. The planet is first taken over by some fairly nice folks from House Atreides, but then the nasty Harkonnen guys invade. The son of the Atreides leader escapes into the desert and teams up with the native Fremen to launch a rebellion. This is an old favorite of mine, I love the sets and overall art direction. It's really unique and makes me feel like I'm in a totally alien environment. The characters were great too, all of them very memorable. Quite an intricate plot as well. The Blu ray looks okay - the regular scenes look fantastic but many of the composite special effects shots suffer from dirt and excessive grain. 4.5/5.