Recent viewings

[JaseSF]

Brief thoughts on some recent viewings:

Castle in the Sky (1986): clever Hayao Miyazaki film mixes fantasy with science fiction into an intriguing blend. Likable characters and cool visuals are the big plus here. Plus at heart there's not a bad little science fantasy story here. I liked the robots and the forgotten lost civilization in the sky element. Fun movie but seems a bit too adult at times for what otherwise feels like a kid's film. I'll give it ***3/4 out of ***** stars. On another day, I might be inclined to give it a little less or a little more.

Rush Hour 3 (2007): the third Chan-Tucker Rush Hour outing proves to be the least memorable of the bunch. Basically this just recycles plot elements from the better first two films and moves most of the setting to Paris, France. Still, it manages to entertain and there's worse ways to kill an hour and a half. *** out of ***** stars.

Spirited Away (2001):  at times this brilliant fantasy (yet another from Miyazaki) vividly brings to life a unique and  imaginative spirit world quite out of this world.  It's the story of a young girl disappointed with being uprooted from her familiar settings and being placed into an entire new world for which she seems completely unprepared. Once more the strength or interesting, unusual characters and an immensely likable lead in Chihiro makes this a very enjoyable viewing experience. However, my girlfriend was more than a bit grossed out by some of the scenes in this film especially involving stink monsters and projectile vomiting. Getting past that, this one is a winner.  **** out of ***** stars.

[Bushma]

Rise of the Animals

My wife made the mistake of putting me incharge of finding a movie to watch. I was searching the horror section of Amazon Prime when I found this gem. The people who reviewed the film must belong to tgi website. The movie had a 3.5/5 rating with some decent reviews. The film was about animals attacking and killing humans. Lot of fun, some bad CGI and even worse puppets.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (2007)

http://www.youtube.com/v/fWvpuwatbJM

Ron Perlman returns as the Dark Horse Comics character in a sequel that's even more elaborate -- and wackier - than the original (which is really sayin' something!). This time Hellboy and his freaky friends must stop a representative of an ancient Elf race from breaking a centuries-old truce between mankind and the creatures of the underworld that could lead to all-out war.

Great special effects, bizarre story, funny as hell. Not sure if I liked it better than the first flick but it's definitely worth seeing. So when's "Hellboy III?" I'm on board.

[Jack]

To the Devil a Daughter (1976) - a young nun leaves her convent to visit her father in another country on her birthday. But her father doesn't want to see her so she ends up staying with one of his friends (Richard Widmark). Meanwhile an evil priest (Christopher Lee) is conducting some satanic rituals which cause the girl to be drawn to him. He wants to perform some big ceremony that will, I don't know...turn her into the daughter of Satan I guess. Even though this movie has almost no plot and almost nothing happens for the first hour it still manages to be confusing. Widmark gives a good performance, but his character just isn't interesting. The first 70 minutes are just him and this girl sitting around his house talking, and then a couple of his friends stop by and they talk too. Lee gives an evil performance, and there are a few moments of good Gothic atmosphere, but other than that this just sat on the screen and didn't draw me into it at all. 2.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Vice Academy 6 - Not nearly enough nudity and really half assed scenerios and poor humor. Pretty much exactly what you'd think a movie called Vice Academy 6 would be. 2.5/5

[claws]

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

Johnny Blaze is back this time scooting in east Europe searching for his son before the devil can get a hold of him. Nicolas Cage is over-the-top as usual but the movie is still only mildly entertaining. Somehow all this worked better in the first movie. 3/5

Immortals (2011)

Gods, oracles and semi-gods with pearl white teeth battle each other in the dark, dirty and depressing Year 1228 Bc. Stylized blood splatter, borderline silly fantasy costumes, 300 type of Pectoral action, Clash of the Titans type of tales and legends and Mickey Rourke murdering or dismembering everyone like a crazed serial killer on steroids. Visually stunning confection, not boring. 4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Pandorum" (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItZ-qr9jG8

Lukewarm sci-fi psychological thriller that borrows a lot from "Alien," "Event Horizon" and maybe even a little "Predator," but naturally isn't as good as any of those.

In the future, a pair of interstellar travelers on a massive space ship awaken from their cryogenic sleep unexpectedly - and can't remember who they are, why they're on the ship or where they were supposed to be going. As they explore the seemingly-deserted ship, they soon learn they're not alone.

Cool concept and great set design but gets kinda monotonous after a while because three quarters of the movie are just characters running scared down corridors and through access tunnels.

Forgettable at best.

[Jack]

Grave of the Vampire (1974) - a vampire rapes a woman and she gives birth to a son who's sort of a vampire I guess, though we never see him bite anybody. We never see him act either. Anyhow he tracks down the guy who raped his mom and then we get sidetracked with this horribly boring subplot where he meets a girl and they have boring sex and do other boring stuff. It does pick up a bit at the end, with a somewhat decent climax. 2/5.

Total Retribution (2011) - a woman is found out in the desert and I guess she's put in suspended animation for 200 years. She wakes up and finds that the space station she's on is being attacked by some troops who are trying to stop some big gun on the station from destroying earth. She joins up with them and we get lots of comically fake shootouts and girls in skintight pants. This is one of those zero budget things with CGI that looks like a PC screensaver from 10 years ago, a convoluted plot and a real sense of genuine bargain-basement stupidity about it. So or course I liked it All those weird and unnecessary plot elements sort of added to the charm, and I guess I just enjoy seeing people with not enough money to make the movie they want - go right ahead and make the movie they want. 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

JULIEN DONKEY-BOY (1999): Disconnected scenes from the life of a mentally disturbed lad and his bizarre family, shot through a shcizophrenic camera. As stylistically annoying as Korine's other movies, but also uncharacteristically boring; very little happens, and Julien is not an interesting character. 1.5/5.

[indianasmith]

NIGHT OF THE TENTACLE - Oh my eyes are bleeding!!   This movie is HORRIBLE!
Dave is an unemployed graphic artist who makes erotic fantasy/sci-fi art to eke out a meager living.
He has a bad heart, and so the devil offers him a deal: a new, fully functional, working heart in
exchange for poor Dave's soul.  But the kicker is, if he "takes care of" his new heart, it will last forever.
So, without reading the licensing agreement, Dave says "I accept" and the new heart appears in his
chest - not in his anatomical chest, thought!  It is in a wooden chest that appears magically on his coffee
table.  And one more thing - by "taking care of it", the devil meant feeding it two live human beings
a week.  Did I mention the heart has tentacles?

OK, that may sound like the film is worth seeing, but it is NOT.  Trust me. I never saw such ugly
women get naked in a movie before.  I am scarred.  Learn from my horrific experience and stay AWAY!!!!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hellraiser: Bloodline" (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLfpZMAJW3k

Fourth film in the series starts off in 18th century France with the story of the "toymaker" who sculpted the original "puzzle box" that opened the gateway for Pinhead and his Cenobite friends... then jumps to the 20th century New York and follows one of the toymaker's descendants through another battle with Pinhead. Finally we conclude in the 22nd Century, where the last member of his family line has laid a special trap for Pinhead in a specially designed space station in orbit around the Earth.

"Bloodline" is slightly cheap looking, but it's an otherwise cool entry in the never-ending "Hellraiser" saga, with plenty o' the usual gory mayhem. I liked the newly added sci-fi element. Considering that the production was marred by tons of behind-the-scenes drama that included the original director quitting in mid-production and being replaced by a guy who supposedly re-shot half the movie and radically re-edited the other half, this was still the last film in the "Hellraiser" saga that was worth a crap.

[alandhopewell]

    STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997)

     I first read the original Robert Heinlein novel in high school, and I thoroughly enjoyed it; 4-x, I see nothing wrong with citizenship being earned, or with executing criminals as soon as you ascertain their guilt.

     I hadn't seen the first film, although I did see part of one of the sequels, and thus, I thought the film was just a "let's kill bugs!" piece of drive-in fodder. I purchased a copy of the film for $2 the other day, and finally saw it night before last.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_(film)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07I_KER5fE

     While I understood that the director chose to see the film as a satire, I chose not to, viewing it rather as I would have watched BACK TO BATAAN or THE STEEL HELMET. Indeed, much of the film does play like an old style WWII movie, and I had a ball.

[alandhopewell]

     DIRTY MARY  AND CRAZY LARRY (1974)

     If the Dictionary had a definition for "Fun Film, 1970's", it would have this picture with it....



    I bought the DVD of this for $2 at the same pawnshop where I got STARSHIP TROOPERS, and proceeded to "yee-HAW!" my way thorugh the film; I had as good a time as when I first saw it in the NAS Memphis Blue and Gold Theatre back in '76.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xE-68P4ao

    The DVD included, among other goodies, a 2005 documentary about the film, with Fonda, George, and the director, John Hough.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Swordfish" (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sOhZ_nBa0w

Needlessly complicated action/techno thriller, with a more-hammy-than-usual John Travolta as a criminal mastermind who draws a famed hacker (Hugh Jackman) out of retirement to help him plan a massively scaled bank robbery. Of course, things go horribly wrong, leading to much destruction of property and gun play.

Also, we get to see Halle Berry's bare boobs, which if memory serves was a major selling point for this movie when it was first released.

This flick is stylish and well made but ultimately it's just empty calories.  Free advice: freeze frame the shot of Halle's boobs long enough to commit them to memory, and then eject the DVD .... cuz they're the only memorable thing about this movie.

[claws]

11:14 (2003)

A car accident told from five different perspectives: the car of a drunk young man on his way to meet his girlfriend is hit by a falling corpse. He panics and runs when a Cop shows up ~ a concerned father looking after his daughter finds dead body and has a hard time getting rid off it ~ three up to no good punks accidentally hit a person with their van ~ on-and-off couple stages robbery and get into more trouble ~ a slutty pregnant girl has to pick new father after her boyfriend is accidentally killed.

Never seen before and even though ten years old 11:14 was a blast to watch. There are similarities to Go (1999) but this one is more grittier. Great cast, fitting music and score and a good timing for story telling. Recommended. 5/5

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)

Young man with the ability to travel in the past saves his sister from a burning house and changes the future by doing so. Now he gets a visit from the sister of his dead fiance who was killed by a serial killer many years ago. Eager to set things straight he travels in the past trying to identify the murderer - with deadly consequences.

I still think Butterfly Effect is awful and overrated, and the sequel wasn't anything to write home about. Part 3 gets it right with decent plot, acting and (urban) setting. Some gory kills and quite a surprise ending during the final twist. 4/5