Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"Pirate Radio" (aka "The Boat That Rocked," 2009)

"Pirate Radio" - Official Trailer [HD]

An enjoyable period-piece comedy based loosely on actual events. During England's mid 1960s rock n roll revolution, BBC radio wouldn't touch that sort of "popular" music...so a host of "pirate" radio stations set up shop aboard creaky boats in the North Sea (in international waters) to provide Britain's rock-starved youth with the newest music. "Pirate Radio" is set aboard one of these boats, which is full of wacky characters played by Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, to name just a few, and details their battles not only with one another but with the British government, who of course are dead set on shutting the pirate stations down. Entertaining stuff!

[Rev. Powell]

BLUE VELVET (1986): Impelled by his discovery of a severed human ear, college freshman Jeffrey Beaumont's investigates the seedier side of his small town, which leads him to a confrontation with the depraved and dangerous Frank Booth. Featuring one of the best opening sequences ever shot, a  psychosexually deranged performance by a terrifying Dennis Hopper, and a masterfully tense black comedy interlude with "suave" Dean Stockwell, this thriller about the evils that lurk underneath is one of David Lynch's best and (ironically, given the disturbing subject matter) most accessible movies. 5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Depraved (2008) -This had a cool premise but ended up just being a regular horror movie.

A bunch of college age kids are in Germany and sign up for an "urban adventure" in tunnels that go under the city whatever it is Berlin maybe. They are some pretty nondescript characters. The Venezuelan girl seems to lose her accent at various points. Anyway, they go into the tunnels and find these crazy Nazi murals and weird rooms with old stuff in them. Unfortunately, this isn't really explored very much. Instead, it turns to a rote cat and mouse game with torture and people tied to the bed trying to Mcguyver their way out all for no special purpose. The faux Venezuelan is such a wimp it's hard to imagine she'd agree to leave her house much less spelunk into German industrial Hell with random people.

I liked the underground tunnel situation and aspects of the plot but ...hey all it needs is a new cast and way more imaginative writers and a better director also 3/5

[Jack]

Scavengers (2013) - in the future, a salvage crew on a spaceship find an alien relic called a "chaos generator". Nobody knows what it does (and watching this movie to the end certainly won't answer any of your questions either). Another - evil - salvage crew wants the thing and so they have laughably low budget space battles and try to outwit each other to get it. I liked the characters in this, they were going for sort of a Firefly anti-hero approach and did it moderately well. Worst part was the ending, which was 100% setup for a sequel and 0% conclusion to this movie. Oh well, considering how cheap it was, I think they did a pretty good job. 3/5.

[indianasmith]

HOUSE OF HORRORS: THE GATES OF HELL - A low budget production from Brain Damage Films that wasn't too bad for what it was.  Owners of a huge horror attraction open a portal to let Satan and his minions take over the earth.

[Trevor]

HOUSE OF HORRORS: THE GATES OF HELL - A low budget production from Brain Damage Films that wasn't too bad for what it was.  Owners of a huge horror attraction open a portal to let Satan and his minions take over the earth.

Ahh, so that's why I had all those weirdos trampling through my yard a few days back...

[FatFreddysCat]

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014)
X-Men: Days of Future Past - Official International Teaser Trailer - UK

Bryan Singer returns to the X-Men franchise to tie the threads of the "old" team and the retro squad from "X-Men: First Class" together. To prevent total mutant genocide in the post-apocalypse future, Wolverine is sent back in time to 1973... where he hooks up with the younger versions of Prof. X and Magneto in order to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from committing an act of murder that will set the whole thing off. This one took a little while to get goin' but once it kicks into gear it's absorbing, entertaining stuff.

[lester1/2jr]

Kalinovski Square (2007) - This was interesting because it's one the only things I've ever seen about Belarus. Who knows anything about Belarus? It's like the Bhutan of the north: anyone who says they know anything about it is probably lying. This is an irreverent documentary about their dictator guy Alexander Lukashenko by some guy who'd made another documentary about him.

People who grew up in the cold war will see Belarus for what it is: a throwback to the Soviet Union.  It's in miniature though, without the massive KGB aparatus and nuclear arsenal. The political gamesmanship is off the charts, nothing is as it seems. elections are falsified, people who try to come off as concerned citizens are state agents, all with the backdrop of what seems like a pretty mediocre standard of living. It has an added absurdity as the iron curtain is gone and people know this, but still the whole routine goes on.

The activists are much different than the hipsters we see in the streets today. They are people from all walks of life with very sensible, obvious demands. Unfortunately there aren't very many committed people trying to change things. In one village a guy talks about how when he moved there he asked where the church was and they said there wasn't one. They explained that they didn't believe in God, not that they were atheists but that they believed God exists but didn't believe in him. What do you say to something like that? It's that deadening clutch communism seems to have on the soul, even for people living otherwise normal lives.

the director does his best but trying to explain what Belarus is like to people who known nothing about it is a tall order and one he doesn't quite fill. I get that this president is a a jerk but I don't really understand Belarus that much or what it all means. it might have been worth it to kind of give people an overview of at least the recent history of the country. He mostly just shows clips of the president and is like "can you believe this guy?" and cuts to hapless protesters in the freezing cold square of the title.

Not a great documentary but a good one with unique subject matter that the director had to go to some trouble to make. 3.5 /5 it's on yt and dailymotion

[indianasmith]

VANISH (2014) - Right up there with "Never kill John Wick's dog!" is another sage bit of B-movie advice: "Never kidnap Danny Trejo's daughter!"  Especially not when Trejo is playing a bloodthirsty Mexican drug lord!
   But that is what three foul-mouthed, bumbling kidnappers do in this blood-soaked, profanity fueled action flick.  The girl in question is not really on good terms with Daddy, but that doesn't matter - Trejo is going to come after what is his.  However, the daughter has some thoughts of her own on the subject, and they do not bode well for her kidnappers!  Overall, this was a pretty entertaining mess, with a ridiculously blood-soaked ending and some pretty neat character development.  I highly recommend it. 4/5

[JaseSF]

Hollywood North (2003): In 1979, Bobby Myers (Matthew Modine), a Canadian lawyer turned movie producer is excited about setting into motion a film based on a critically acclaimed Canadian novel named Lantern Moon but runs into numerous roadblocks especially when those financing the film insist on an American star. The star Myers finds is an unhinged Michael Baytes (Alan Bates) who insists the film needs to become more American and patriotic and appeal to his paranoid delusions about enemy agents and Iranians. Also spicing things up is Gillian Stevens (Jennifer Tilly), a sultry vixen who has an habit of having affairs on set with her romantic lead co-stars. Meanwhile unaware to Myers, amateur director Sandy Ryan (Deborah Kara Unger) uses his sets to film her own low budget film.

This is basically like watching the making of an unintentionally bad movie, Canadian style. I really enjoy this one on that level. It also says a lot about the differences between Canadians and Americans through Baytes, who comes across as an extreme right wing nut. There's some definite great moments here but it's never quite as good as one hopes it will be. Still I found I enjoyed it quite a bit for its clever dialogues, crazy situations, and the element of seeing an unintentional bad movie in the making. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Hayride 2 (2015) - slasher about some people who lived through the first movie (which I didn't see) and are now sitting around in a hospital talking (and talking, and talking) about the terrible things that happened to them. Once in while an overweight Jason Voorhees wannabe shows up and kills somebody. Good God this was boring. 1.5/5.

[JaseSF]

The Crowded Sky (1960): This tells the story of an impending mid-air collision between a Navy jet with a defective radio and a commercial airliner. We learn the back story of most of the characters involved thereby helping us to relate to them on a more personal level once they are in peril.

Pretty good cast in their early precursor to the later Airport (1970). The airliner Captain Dick Barnett (Dana Andrews) struggles over his inability to connect with his own son and his resentment towards co-pilot Mike Rule (John Kerr) over his being able to do exactly that. Navy jet pilot Dale Heath (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) battles personal problems with his somewhat loose wife Cheryl (Rhonda Fleming) who wants him to stay put at home. Rule is in inner turmoil in terms of the hatred he feels for Captain Barnett whom he blames for him not becoming a Captain and trying to decide whether he wants to remain a pilot of become a painter all while planning to someday marry a beautiful stewardess named Kitty Foster (Anne Francis) who's getting tired of waiting to get married. We also get to know several of the passengers on the commercial airliner albeit a bit more briefly for the most part.

Sure there is a bit too much build-up here and soap opera elements with all the characters involved but when it finally does deliver its climax, it is pretty exciting with some decent FX work for the time period. I enjoyed this one but it does take a tad bit too long to get to its climax. ***1/4 out of ***** stars.

The Hindenburg (1975): This film tells the story of the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937 and the events leading up to it. This film follows the theory of sabotage as it tells its story. Our plot follows one Colonel Ritter (George C. Scott), a German security officer, as he investigates a number of suspects he believes could be tied in with an anti-Nazi conspiracy plot. There's an interesting array of eclectic characters aboard the airship many of whom not-so secretly are not in favor of the Nazis and their actions.

I'm not sure how historically accurate this story is (I suspect it isn't all that accurate at all) but I rather enjoyed this film. I felt it moved at a nice pace, established its characters well, and slowly built up the suspense in clever ways until we finally get to the climactic disaster. The cast are quite good here too. Aside from Scott, there's Anne Bancroft as a reluctant Countess who wants nothing more than to get away from Germany, Roy Thinnes as a member of the Gestapo named Martin Vogel, William Atherton is Boerth. Also on hand are Burgess Meredith, Gig Young, Robert Clary, Charles Durning, Rene Auberjonois, and Katherine Helmond. The climactic disaster mixes in real footage with special effects. The special effects that brought the Hindenburg back to life in this film were above par. Yeah I enjoyed it but it hurts that it doesn't seem all that accurate historically. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Into the Storm (2014): We follow storm trackers, thrill-seekers, and ordinary people all of whom seem to end up filming an impending onslaught of tornadoes the likes of which have never been seen before in the town of Silverton.

This is a modern day disaster film. The FX were great especially the climax but the international airport in a small town seemed quite a stretch. We barely get to know most of the characters but the primary focus is on the Morris family of high school Vice-principal Gary (Richard Armitage) and his sons Trey (Nathan Kress) and Donnie (Max Deacon), who's been struggling following the death of his mother. Aside from them, there's a group of storm trackers lead by the extreme obsessive Pete (Matt Walsh) who's determined to film a tornado at close range despite the risk armed with a special armored vehicle named the Titus, a tank on wheels specially designed to withstand great wind force with pylons that dig into the ground as reinforcement. Also we get to see quite a bit of a Jackass style team of morons named Donk (Kyle Davis) and Reevis (Jon Reep) who do crazy dangerous stunts to gain fame on youtube. The latter characters were incredibly annoying although some might find their antics funny. A lot of it also seemed rather unrealistic.

This film hurts with its lack of quality characters and a lot of general dumbness and unbelievable, unrealistic scenes, elements. It is mainly just the special effects that deliver here. Overall I'd say Twister is a far superior tornado disaster film. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Blood Beat (1983) - so there's this family at this house out in the country and for some reason a supernatural Samurai warrior shows up and kills some random people and then comes after the family. There's some girl who can apparently manifest him in her dreams, or maybe she actually is the warrior, and for some baffling reason we even get snippets of WWII footage thrown in. This is all explained by the fact that mom is a very mysterious person (she even wears ponchos). Plot was a muddled mess and the characters were bland and/or unlikable. Got a chuckle out of the overblown theme music during the utterly laughable climax at least. 1.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

PREDESTINATION (2014): A special agent travels back in time to prevent crimes that will occur in the future; on one trip to New York City in the 1980s to stop a bomber, he meets a man in a bar who promises to tell him the strangest tale he's ever heard. Fans of Moebius-strip time travel plots will be in heaven with this adaptation of Robert Heinlein's "All You Zombies"; Sarah Snook's performance should be star-making. 4/5.

[JaseSF]

Topper Returns (1941): Gail Richards (Joan Blondell) makes the mistake of switching rooms with her heiress friend Ann Carrington (Carole Landis) in a dark spooky old house and winds up dead. As a ghost, she seeks the help of neighbor Cosmo Topper (Roland Young), who it seems can rather reluctantly interact with her where others cannot, in solving the mystery of her death.

This film is a really enjoyable mix of comedy with the old dark house mystery tale. For me personally, this is a lot of fun. I love the quick witted dialogue, the humorous situations, the mysterious cloaked killer, hidden rooms and passageways, the mysterious old house filled with spooky people including one George Zucco as the family doctor, Dr. Jeris. Only one flaw is the racial stereotype terrified black chauffeur character although that's clearly a product of that time and era, a character quite common in the 1930s and 1940s. Overlooking that, this one is a hoot and a half. **** out of ***** stars.

The Milky Way (1936): A clueless milkman named Burleigh Sullivan (Harold Lloyd) somehow winds up knocking out the middleweight boxing champion of the world, one Speed McFarland (William Gargan), while trying to defend his sister Mae (Helen Mack) from unwanted drunken romantic advances. With his top prizefighter's reputation hurt, McFarland's manager Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou) tries to build up the newcomer milkman as a top boxing contender arranging for him a series of fixed fights to build up his reputation all the while planning to have McFarland take him down in the end. His plans begin to go awry however when McFarland and Mae really get involved in a legitimate romance.

Lloyd is a delight in this. He's such a charming, highly entertaining showman and comes across as a constant bundle of energy. His interactions with Gargan, Menjou, and Lionel Stander's Spider Schultz, McFarland's tough guy sparring partner, prove funny and unpredictably zany. More entertaining and fun than I expected. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.