Recent viewings

[ChaosTheory]

HENRY V  - the Branagh version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM

*dreamy sigh*

[lester1/2jr]

I loved Bloodsucking Freaks as a teenager. It was one of the only truly weird movies at the local video store. I like it when they are disgusted at how gross the brainsucking guy is. His other movie The Career Bed is amazing and a little easier to take.

[indianasmith]

HENRY V  - the Branagh version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM

*dreamy sigh*

I am watching that with my World History Class right now!
They are snoozing but I am loving it!
"we few . . . we happy few, we band of brothers!"

[Bushma]

HENRY V  - the Branagh version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM

*dreamy sigh*

I don't know who the enemy is, but I'm now ready to go out and punch someone in the face!!

[FatFreddysCat]

"My Bloody Valentine" (2009)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPMRDqMWKQ4

Remake of the '80s slasher in which a Pennsylvania coal town is menaced by a looney in a miner's outfit who's pick-axing the locals to death. Is it the same nutball who was responsible for a similar Valentine's Day Massacre ten years before, or simply someone picking up where he left off? Kerr Smith ("Dawson's Creek"), Jensen Ackles ("Supernatural") and even Tom Atkins ("Halloween III") -- when's the last time you saw him?? -- attempt to unravel the mystery amidst lots of gory over the top violence. Not the best slasher I've ever seen but not the worst either. Good for a few chuckles and a few jumps.

[Jack]

The Beast of Bray Road (2005) - a werewolf is loose in a small Wisconsin town and it's up to the sheriff and a cryptozoologist to track it down. This is an old favorite of mine; nothing too special, just a fun and cheesy movie with entertaining characters and enough little touches to let you know the people involved actually cared and put some thought into it. 4/5.

Endangered Species (2003) - a cop investigates a series of murders at various health clubs, eventually figuring out that the culprit is an extraterrestrial. First time viewing and I really enjoyed this. It has a really good sense of humor and actually made me laugh out loud a few times. Lots and lots of noodidity in this too. John Rhys-Davies has a good time as the a-hole detective who doesn't like our main guy, and Arnold Vosloo (the mummy from those  Stephen Sommers Mummy movies) plays an extraterrestrial who shows up to help our cop. Some fun special effects in this too, like a van that can turn invisible, so you've just got a set of headlights going down the road. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Killer Must Kill Again - killer's gotta kill I guess. This is pretty silly by most standards but amazing for an Italian movie. A guy tries to get his girlfriend killed and it gets complicated when someone steals the killer's getaway car. The girls are all hot but stupid. Any actual tension is accidental. The music is very cool weird sounds from analog keyboards and wah wah guitar except the eery who's in the house music sounds like aliens. basic but entertaining 3.75/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hancock" (2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZQQgvhn4jg

Will Smith is a rude, crude, alcoholic super-being who's in dire need of an image overhaul, and Jason Bateman is a P.R. executive who wants to help him turn his life around in this action/comedy/drama. The first half is very funny stuff, then it gets unexpectedly dark 'n' gritty in the second half, but it's a fun flick all around. 

[Jack]

Grim (1995) - some people have a seance which apparently summons some monster which lives in a big cave system under their neighborhood. We spend the next 80 minutes or so watching these people make their way through the cave. This doesn't even attempt to make any sense. What's the origin of the monster, what is it there to accomplish? No idea. At one point the cave entrance collapses and everybody talks about how maybe someone will come looking for them in 12 hours. Then ten minutes later they're talking about how they're going to leave. Huh? A guy pulls out an amulet and says to another character "You saw me hurt the monster with this." No we didn't. WTF, did you forget to film that scene or something? Of course the cave is all lit with spotlights even though it's apparently never been explored before. And it is so damned boring, just these completely undeveloped characters slowly walking down passages, talking about meaningless crap forever and ever. 1.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hellboy" (2004)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-TV8iPYpXU

Stylish fantasy/adventure from Guillermo Del Toro, based on the Dark Horse comic book about an inter-dimensional, cigar smoking, beer drinking demon critter who was adopted by humans as a baby and fights monsters for the FBI now that he's all grown up. As you might expect from Del Toro, the flick is a visual treat, with plenty of action, nasty looking creatures and an overall sense of goofy fun. Ron Perlman is great as the totally-deadpan Hellboy. I somehow missed out on this flick back in the day but I was very impressed and will be looking into "Hellboy II" as soon as I can.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam"
http://www.youtube.com/v/cIuK_r0kcQg

This cool collection of four animated shorts from DC Comics kicks off with an epic Superman battle, as Clark Kent travels to Fawcett City to cover the inspirational story of young Billy Batson. When Billy suddenly comes under attack from the sinister Black Adam, he fortunately discovers his Captain Marvel powers at exactly the right moment to help Superman save the day.

The DVD is rounded out by three additional 'toons featuring The Spectre, Green Arrow, and Jonah Hex. Cool stuff for comic geeks.

[Rev. Powell]

A LIAR'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY: THE UNTRUE STORY OF MONTY PYTHON'S GRAHAM CHAPMAN (2012): Ex-Python Graham Chapman reads from his fictional autobiography, with a dozen different animators illustrating scenes in vastly different styles; topics covered include his battle with alcoholism and with sitting on people's faces in all sorts of places. The definition of uneven, with flashes of Pythonesque WTFiness lighting up long, meandering dull stretches; specialized audiences may dig it. 3/5.

[Jack]

Curse of the Puppet Master (1998) - a mad scientist guy is in possession of the living puppets from the previous movies. He'd like to make more so he hires a rather slow guy from a local gas station, who has a talent for wood carving, to work for him (it's a David DeCoteau movie so you'll be seeing this guy in his underwear on more than one occasion). The scientist's daughter soon falls in love with gas station guy, but of course dad's got other - evil - plans for him. This was pretty enjoyable. More character-based, didn't have much of a plot at all, but the characters were well developed and entertaining. Your usual cheesy Full Moon thing. 3.5/5.

[JaseSF]

Watched and enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle (2004). It is kind of a weird mish mash of magic and sorcery, rural settings and Western European like cities with futuristic battle machines and steam powered devices a theme throughout. Definitely has a steampunk feel going on although the story is focused mainly on sorcery as a cursed young woman turned into an old woman much before her time finds herself seeking the aid of a troubled young wizard who mostly just wants to be left alone but feels compelled to do his part to try and stop a mindless war being fought for stupid reasons. This keeps you interested and has lots of cool, fun and unusual characters one comes to like, even some rather unexpected ones. A very enjoyable little film, its only real flaw I guess is that sometimes the characters and their motives hardly seem sympathetic (although this does also seem to make many characters seem more real on some levels). The animation and visuals and also quite enthralling. At times, the animation, especially the moving castle has an almost Monty Python animation feeling going down...In the end, this was better than I expected. **** out of ***** stars.

[dean]

Watched and enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle (2004). It is kind of a weird mish mash of magic and sorcery, rural settings and Western European like cities with futuristic battle machines and steam powered devices a theme throughout. Definitely has a steampunk feel going on although the story is focused mainly on sorcery as a cursed young woman turned into an old woman much before her time finds herself seeking the aid of a troubled young wizard who mostly just wants to be left alone but feels compelled to do his part to try and stop a mindless war being fought for stupid reasons. This keeps you interested and has lots of cool, fun and unusual characters one comes to like, even some rather unexpected ones. A very enjoyable little film, its only real flaw I guess is that sometimes the characters and their motives hardly seem sympathetic (although this does also seem to make many characters seem more real on some levels). The animation and visuals and also quite enthralling. At times, the animation, especially the moving castle has an almost Monty Python animation feeling going down...In the end, this was better than I expected. **** out of ***** stars.

The thing I like most about many of Ghibli's films is that the villains are very ambiguous or not total evil stereotypes.  The 'evil witch' ends up being a bit of a dottering fool who by the end is quite sympathetic for example.  Another example is the Queen of Iron Town in Princess Mononoke.