Recent viewings

[fulci420]

Totally sick today so there's probably going to be a ton of reviews this weekend as I make my way through TMN on Demand.

F.I.S.T-First of all I am a huge Stallone fan so this being one of the select few of his lead roles that I haven't seen I just had to check it out. I kind of wished I stayed away this time because despite some nice performance's from the whole cast this film is WAY to long at nearly 150 minutes. Sorry but even as a fan I cannot advocate any Stallone film being that long and this one certainly drags. Coming from a script from Stallone and Joe Esterhaz this loosely tells the Jimmy Hoffa story. The problem is that despite being an interesting part of history this tale does not really work in a movie context. 1992's Hoffa is similarly dull despite Jack Nicholson in the title role and a script by David Mamet. Not recommended. 

[claws]

Cracks (2009)

1934: things start to heat up at an strict elite British all-girls boarding school with the arrival of a new student from Spain: Fiamma. Swim teacher Miss G finds herself attracted to the girl causing fits of dangerous jealousy in feisty student Radfield who happens to be secretly in love with Miss G.
Heavenly Creatures meets Fatal Attraction. Excellent Drama with great cast, setting, atmosphere. 5/5

[lester1/2jr]

^tough call. I love Fatal Attraction but was weirded out by Heavenly Creatures

[Rev. Powell]

LOST HIGHWAY (1997): A jazz saxophonist is accused of murdering his wife; on death row, he mysteriously suddenly turns into a young mechanic who is released and has an affair with a gangster's moll who looks exactly like the dead wife. A lush and sensuous Lynchian nightmare borrowing equally from horror movie and film noir; much like his succeeding film, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, except more baffling. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

With the young'uns tonight:

"G-Force" (2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o4oGxVG_HM

Kiddie action flick from Disney in which a top secret team of FBI-trained talking guinea pigs (!) investigates a madman's plan to take over the world by controlling of all the appliances on earth. (Yes, really.)

Produced by action-movie guru Jerry Bruckheimer, "G-Force" is just as fast paced (and mindlessly silly) as his films for grown-ups, with impressive CGI, plenty of dumb jokes, and a decent voice cast including Jon Favreau, Penelope Cruz and Steve Buscemi. My boys thought it was a hoot and I found it relatively painless, which is all you can ask from a kid's movie.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Crumb" (1994)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF_uM-7fuwc

Terry Zwigoff's profile of the legendary underground comics artist Robert Crumb studies his life, his work and his extremely screwed up family in a sometimes disturbing but always engrossing documentary. If you've ever read Crumb's comic work you probably think he's some kind of sex-crazed, woman hatin' psycho (and that's probably true to some extent), but ironically, despite that he's the most "normal" member of his clan. When you meet Robert's brothers, you'll be saying "Thank God I don't live next door to that guy." 

Certainly not a film for everybody but if you're a Crumb fan you'll dig this.

[lester1/2jr]

Halloween H20 - Why is this called Halloween H20? There's no water anyway, Jamie Lee Curtis is great and LL Cool J is terrible in this latest installment. The kids who are also on the run from Mike Myers are pretty nondescript. It is pretty good for an of the moment, namely Halloween whenever this came out, movie probably would have been a bit more fun to see it at the time. Curtis does give it a bit of depth and I did ponder the depths if you will of the horror thing as psychological blah blah blah 3.75/5

[JaseSF]

Brave (2012): CG Animated film from Pixar that features a story that seems a bit more common to Disney as a rebellious coming of age princess sets out to fulfill her own destiny but in order to do so she must convince her mother the Queen this is a good thing. Eventually a witch's spell turns the Queen into a bear which doesn't bode well for her as she married to Fergus, the Bear King known for his hatred of bears after losing his leg to the killer bear Mor'du.  Enjoyable story that is surprisingly violent and action packed. Very entertaining with Mor'du making a particular memorable villain. **** out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor (1990) - Some researchers at a lab create a bio-engineered alien. Need I say more? You've got two young girls who show up wondering why their dad, the security guard, never came home from work. Then there's the evil corporate CEO who wants to cover everything up, and a comedy relief doctor who is so out of place in the movie that it attains some level of bizarre so-bad-it's-goodness. The girls are really cute, the monster's kind of cool, the story is told in a strange fashion. Definitely a favorite of mine. 4/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW (1978): A professor and his priest brother solve a plague of murders on an Italian island outside Venice. The kind of mystery where the screenwriter hides the identity of the killer by keeping any meaningful clues away from the audience for as long as possible, making it difficult to care about the story. 1.5/5.

[ChaosTheory]

KILLER JOE (2012) - Incredibly creepy redneck noir about a small-time drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) who gets in way over his head when he hires a hitman (Matthew McConaughey) to kill his mother for insurance money.  Really strong cast, but McConaughey comes completely out of left field and owns it. He deserves an Oscar nom which he probably won't get.
8.5/10

[fulci420]

Loved Killer Joe, not the kind of movie that gets award recognition though even though it deserves it. Unfortunately I watched...

Sssssss(1973)-Decided to put this on tonight when I had some friends over thinking it would be some b movie fun. We all agreed it was the worst movie we had seen in a long long time. The only good part of the movie is when the snake drinks booze. Everything else was pure horrible. It's up in full on youtube but I would suggest nobody ever watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnasfM3UtDc

[FatFreddysCat]

"Bowling for Columbine" (2002)

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

In the wake of the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, documentarian and professional rabble rouser Michael Moore explores America's love affair with guns and investigates the climate of fear, violence and paranoia that helps perpetuate it. Along the way he chats with a strange and diverse group of people including Marilyn Manson, James Nichols (brother of Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols), "South Park" co-creator Matt Stone, and NRA spokesman Charlton "Moses" Heston, as well as numerous everyday Americans whose lives have been affected by guns. 

Darkly funny, disturbing, and occasionally moving, there's something in this flick to p**s off just about everyone, no matter which side of the gun debate they're on.

[Pilgermann]

First Blood (1982) - It's been a long time since I'd seen this and it's still great.  I love the overall mood that's established, the look and feel of the scenery.  The mayhem towards the end perhaps is a bit overboard, but Stallone makes you believe he could do what he does in the film.  Really well acted and a far cry from what modern excuses for action films have become.  8/10

[Jack]

Mongolian Death Worm (2010) - pretty typical SyFy Original type thing about some silly CGI worms that are loose in Mongolia. Our two main characters have to cure a plague that's ravaging the local villagers, straighten out some stuff with the local black market folks, and save everybody from the death worms too. Characters weren't bad and there were plenty of subplots to keep things moving. And there were always those goofy worms to chuckle at. 3/5.