Recent viewings

[Mofo Rising]

Romancing the Stone (1984)

I'm an '80s kid, so it's surprising to myself that I've never seen this. I watched it when I discovered it was directed by Robert Zemeckis, who is a guy I like.

I didn't realize it was such a breakout hit for most of the people involved. Zemeckis, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny De Vito. As we now know, these people are very established. But it wasn't so until this movie.

As far as the movie, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is what it is, but it's definitely a fun time. I definitely would have sought it out much sooner if I knew El Guapo was in it. I liked it. It's a bit slow to start, and it is very '80s, but I don't feel bad about watching it at all.

[Mofo Rising]

"Men in Black 3" (2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyaFEBI_L24

In the third go-round for Will & Tommy Lee, Agent "J" must travel back in time to 1969 in order to save his partner "K" and prevent yet another alien invasion of Earth. While in the past he meets up with the younger version of "K," played hilariously by Josh Brolin. This one is mostly Smith's show, and the time travel angle is fun. I liked this one better than the previous "MiB" but it still doesn't beat the first flick.

I quite liked this movie. I thought Men in Black 2 was awful, but I still adore the original.

When I first saw the trailer, I thought Tommy Lee Jones voice-overed Brolin's character. Turns out that wasn't the case. I think Brolin really nailed Jones' mannerism and way of speaking. Also, it was a fun film.

[FatFreddysCat]

I quite liked this movie. I thought Men in Black 2 was awful, but I still adore the original.

When I first saw the trailer, I thought Tommy Lee Jones voice-overed Brolin's character. Turns out that wasn't the case. I think Brolin really nailed Jones' mannerism and way of speaking. Also, it was a fun film.

Oh yes, it was WAY better than "MiB 2." The only thing that movie had going for it was Lara Flynn Boyle in bondage gear.

I wonder how much they paid Tommy Lee Jones for his turn as "K" in this one, considering that he was barely in the movie? Josh Brolin did most of the heavy lifting for him. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Capricorn One" (1977)
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Taut suspense/conspiracy thriller about a phony NASA mission to Mars, and the lengths the government go to in order to keep their hoax covered up. Great cast including Hal Holbrook, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson (!), Elliott Gould and James Brolin. Features one of the best aerial chase scenes ever put to celluloid.

[Jack]

The Backlot Murders (2002) - a rock band is filming its first video, but a mysterious assailant in an Elvis mask is killing everyone off. Horror-comedy that really doesn't have any horror, but it is mildly amusing and full of hot babes. The plot drags to a near standstill at the halfway point and doesn't pick up again until near the end. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Galaxy Quest" (1999)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtHM77IRkus

The has-been cast of a long-cancelled "Star Trek" style science-fiction TV show is recruited by a race of aliens - who think their TV adventures were real - to help them battle against a real-life galactic villain in this spoof of Trek fandom and sci-fi geekery in general. Funny stuff, with great FX and an awesome cast including Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen, and Alan Rickman. I've seen this one a bunch of times and it never gets old.

[Jack]

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009) - a guy has the ability to travel back in time, and he uses it to observe unsolved murders and come back to the present and tell the cops who did it (they think he's a psychic). This works good until he decides to go back and see who killed his girlfriend years earlier, and when he returns to the present he finds that the timeline has changed and the killer, who previously only killed one person, is now a serial killer and has killed half a dozen more. So he feels responsible for these deaths, and he's also going a little nuts from all the time travel, and he's determined to travel back again and again in an attempt to catch the murderer.

This was kind of okay for most of the runtime, but the big reveal at the end was excellent. I half-suspected who the killer was, but still the explanation was surprising and at the same time it tied everything together wonderfully. So, 2.5/5 movie with a 4.5/5 ending, I suppose that's about a 3.5/5 total.

[Rev. Powell]

WRONG (2012):Dolph wakes up to find his dog missing; to find him he'll have to deal with a neighbor who's in denial about his own jogging, an overly-attached pizza delivery girl, a detective who focuses on finding the dog's stool sample, and other bizarre characters. Dolph keeps going to his job everyday despite the fact that the indoor sprinkler system runs constantly and he was fired months ago; all of the jokes are like Monty Python members' dreams, played straight. This style of comedy will be intolerable for many, but it's an interesting ride if you can get into the spirit. 3/5.

[alandhopewell]

     TEENAGE ZOMBIES (1959)

     I woke up at four-fifteen this morning, went to the john, couldn't get back to sleep, and decided to make a PB&cheese, some (iced) coffee, and throw this Jerry Warren stinker in the DVD player....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMDDl7A33uU

     Seventy-odd minutes later, I was ready for bed.

[indianasmith]

Gorillas and zombies in the same film?

I NEED TO SEE THIS!!!

[Jack]

Pulsating cages of horror?!?!   

[Jack]

Perkins' 14 (2009) - a cop gets night guard duty at the jail and after some investigation, finds that one of their prisoners is the man who, ten years earlier, kidnapped 14 local children who haven't been heard from since.  What's he been doing with them?  I won't give it away, but it's not good news for the town that's for sure.  Sort of got mixed feelings about this one - on the one hand it manages to maintain a great atmosphere of tension and suspense throughout the whole thing, despite a few too many dubious decisions being made by the characters for the sole purpose of moving the plot in the desired direction.  On the other hand though, I couldn't care less about any of these people, they're not only unsympathetic but downright unlikable one-and-all.  So...I dunno 3/5 I guess. 

[Rev. Powell]

SAMSARA (2011): Wordless, surprising documentary featuring time-lapse photography of the desert at night, Cambodian monks constructing a sand mandala, trips to a slaughterhouse and a sex doll factory, and other visual surprises, all set to a soundtrack of (very good) New Agey/world music. A meditative "what you make of it" experience that's something like attending a slideshow of vacation photos shot by the world's greatest photographers. 4/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Belphagor of the Museum whatever (2001) - Someone else here saw this and I'm too lazy to search for movies so I rented. I didn't really get why the young woman had to constantly enter the museum through some basement construction. Why not just have her be a scientist in the museum. It would have made the stuff with the ridiculously lax security in the museum relatively explainable too.

The whole thing is like a cute ad for the Louvre. an ancient CGI mummy spirit goes around causing trouble. There's no sex and the violence is as soft as they could possibly make it. What I liked about it the most is it was different. in French, not amazing but entertaining 3.75 /5

[Jack]

Killer Mountain (2011) - some climbers get stranded on the side of a mountain so some other idiots are called in to rescue them. And there's like Mongolian death worms living up there for some reason I probably slept through. SyFy Original; the people who made this obviously take as much pride in their work as I do when I'm cleaning the garage.  I looked at the writer / director's other movies and it's just a list of crappy SyFy Originals. Not a trace of originality, not an idea not stolen from some other movie, not an action sequence that wasn't dumb in that "made me roll my eyes" sort of way, not a character that wasn't a paper thin cliche. 2/5.